A Leap of Faith

The Calm Before The Storms

Chapter 2

“The Calm Before The Storms”

Everything happened in a flash and almost blurry. It was almost as if she wasn't even herself these past few days. She'd only remember part of it, it was very hectic. There was something that she remembered as clear as water, it was the look on everyone that had haunted her. Everyone was obviously devastated by the event, however Carol's parents whose were against the whole idea of Carol being a lesbian- which was also why they didn't even attend the wedding years ago, were so heartbroken. Being a mother herself, she couldn't even begin to imagine how it must've felt to bury your own kid. The thought of it sent chills down her spine. The look on Carol's parents were different from Susan's parents, they weren't only mourning for the death of their daughter, but they also showed remorse for shutting their daughter away because of the sexual preference she had chosen.

Judy and Jack were also at the funeral. Even though they knew how much Carol had hurt their son, they couldn't help but feel sad and devastated. After all, Carol was their daughter-in-law at some point in their life. And little Ben, Rachel didn't even have the heart to see the look on that little boy. He was both taken aback by the whole incident and heartbroken at the death of his moms, the two people he was closest with. Everyone was crowding the little boy, as if the little boy was an amusing show to watch, much to Ross' annoyance. The whole thing was already overwhelming for the seven years old and being crowded by their relatives didn't even make it better. Ross had asked Monica for a favor to keep Ben away from their nosy relatives which Monica did the job really well. One look from Monica and they all stepped back. She could be scary sometimes.

Meanwhile, through all the ceremony, Rachel was there beside him the whole time, supporting him, helping with everything she could, whilst balancing her role as a new mom to their new born daughter. These past few days had been exhausting for them, but for her, it wasn't helping for the funeral that made it all hard, being there for him was the hardest thing of all. He was being so tough on the outside, obviously for his son, but she saw right through him. The look on his eyes broke her heart into pieces. He was shocked. He was lost. He was confused. She'd caught him staring blankly a lot. One time she even caught him crying in the middle of the night. It was the night after the funeral, back at their apartment.

It had been decided almost immediately that Ben would stay with Ross from now on. To make it official, Ross had contacted his lawyer to deal with the whole paperworks. Ben would share a room with Ross temporarily, until they could make better new sleeping arrangements. Rachel had offered to move out from the apartment so that Ben could have his own room, but Ross had insisted for her to stay, claiming it would be better for Ben to be with his sister. Maybe it would cheer him up, Ross said. Rachel eventually agreed with him, but still they needed to come up with new sleeping arrangements and soon.

Rachel was feeling thirsty that night, it was over midnight. After checking on Emma who was sleeping soundly on her crib, she tucked her in and made her way to the kitchen. She tiptoed carefully, not wanting to wake her baby up. Leaving the door of her room cracked open slightly, she sighed in relief. As she made her way back into the room after relieving her thirst, she heard soft whimpers coming from a corner in the living room. She turned over and found his figure sitting in the dark in one of the armchairs near the window.

He was crying.

Ross barely cried. She probably had witnessed him cry a few times before. But never like this. The only time he had cried this bad was probably the time they broke up almost six years ago. The revelation caught her off guard for a few seconds. Had it been that long?

She called his name softly as she made her way to him, "Ross.."

He quickly wiped his tears away, hoping she wouldn't catch him crying.