Home is Not a Place

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Christmas away from New York City didn't feel like Christmas at all. Even with beautiful decorations, some family, and a delicious feast (ordered from a restaurant, of course), without her best friends around it just wasn't the same. Thankfully though, with Emma growing older, the holiday season was now taking on a whole new meaning to Rachel. From this year on, she was determined to start new traditions for her little girl and redefine what Christmas meant for them.

On the 24th, they left cookies and milk out for Santa and went to bed wearing matching pajamas sets that Rachel even let Emma pick herself - she went with the bright pink unicorns, of course. On the 25th, they opened presents together, Skyped with the Gellers and Geller-Bings and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD, because it reminded Rachel so much of Monica and Phoebe. Emma babbled incessantly during the first half until Rachel gave her a cup of hot cocoa so she would shut up – and then she slept through the rest of it. Still a success, Rachel thought.

Then on the 26th they exchanged some of the gifts they'd gotten, and on the 27th Sandra and Jill Green took off to London, while Rachel and Emma headed to Tuscany to meet Lisa.

Their days in Italy were everything her co-worker had promised: filled with really good food, really good wine and, much to Rachel's surprise, a whole lot of fun too. Lisa had a really great group of friends who all worked in the fashion industry, having studied together in Milan in their early 20s. They were from all over (Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany) and lived all over too (London, Milan, Berlin). And although they were now living different lives in different countries – some with partners, some with kids – they made the effort to take at least one trip together every year.

Rachel felt very welcome by all. No, it wasn't the same as NY – nothing would ever be, and she never expected that anyway. But it was still nice to feel accepted in a nice little group and have long, stimulating conversations with different people. They talked about fashion collections yes, but also about museum exhibitions they've been to, weekend getaways in cities Rachel's never even heard of and interesting movies they've seen recently – the kind she guessed she would need subtitles to.

But the whole time she couldn't help but think of Ross, because she knew he would appreciate this all so very much. In another dimension, where they were happily together and without family emergencies to tend to, they would have fit in quite nicely as a couple in this little group, and in this continent.

The trip went by quickly though, as did the next following weeks back in Paris. With her mom and Jill still visiting, a lot of her free time was spent out and about – mostly around high end stores instead of actual tourist attractions – and about a week after they left, Ross returned for his second visit.

On his first night there, with a sleeping Emma on his arms and the kitchen table in front of him filled with all the different takeout options she wanted him to try, he filled her in on the situation with his parents, and it seemed like things had somewhat plateaued. The new doctor Jack Geller was seeing was trying a new approach to simply manage his cancer for now and Judy also still pretty much seemed as lucid as Rachel could remember her.

Unfortunately, by then the new project she was working on at Louis Vuitton was running at full speed, so she couldn't take a lot of time off to spend with him and Emma like she'd done before. And since they had also agreed that it would be nice for them to keep at least some of Emma's current routine going, she was still attending the creche during mornings.

So, Ross got to enjoy a lot of his free time to finally explore the city. By the end of his visit, Rachel was sure he had been to more museums in days than she had in months. He'd even found a few children's exhibits to take Emma to, trying to nurture in her the same passion for art and science that he had. And as much as Rachel teased him, she secretly loved him for it.