third person pov
rachel waited in the airport, flowers in hand, for ross. everyone else waited in the girl's apartment, hoping to see a happy couple stumbling through the door.
"i'm telling you, she went to the airport, and she's gonna go for it with ross!" monica exclaims, cleaning the kitchen around her. gianna stood with her brother, chandler beside them as they watched monica.
"oh my god. this is huge. this is bigger than huge." phoebe begins to pace around the kitchen. "this is like, all right, what's bigger than huge?" she turns to joey and gianna, uncertain expressions covering their faces.
"um, this?"
"yes." there is a pause in conversation as monica glances at gianna, joey and chandler closely.
"guys, you got your hair cut?" she asks, pointing at the trio's hair. gianna thread her fingers through her fresh hair, or rather, what wasn't pulled back into the bun at the back of her head.
"yes, yes, we did, thanks to vidal buffay." chandler smiles, jostling phoebe's shoulders.
"cause, you know, if you don't look good, we don't look good." phoebe smirks, speaking in an accent. "i love that voice." she giggles to herself before noticing gianna fiddling with her hairline. "oh! you haven't even seen the best bit! gianna!" the group turns to the blonde, watching her flush a deep shade of red.
"oh, phoebe, i don't know."
"c'mon! don't you like it?!" phoebe pretends to be hurt, a shocked expression on her face.
"pheebs! no!" she pauses, "alright." gently, gianna pulls her hair from the bun, her fingers tangling with the front before revealing her fresh bangs. windswept rather than proper and straight. feather-like and not full.
"oh my gosh! gianna!"
"gigi!"
"yeah, yeah i know! they were growing out and i loved them so much when i had them last time, so i asked phoebe to fix them up!" gianna continues to deepen in shade, glancing around the group. her gaze lands of chandler and he couldn't try to pull the smile away from his lips. an exasperated laugh falls from his mouth and the front door bursts open.
"airport, airport. ross, not alone. julie. arm around her. oh! cramp, cramp!" rachel couldn't string sentences together, breathing out hard as she doubled over in the doorway.
"ok, i think she's trying to tell us something. quick, get the verbs." chandler makes a joke, and rachel is quick to throw her purse at him.
"you, you, you said he liked me!" she shouts, continuing to hit him until ross appears in the doorway, and not alone. "you, you slowpokes!" rachel teases, wiggling her finger at ross and the girl.
"that's all right, rach, we got the bags. hi, hello, julie, this is my sister monica." ross starts the introductions, hugging everyone as he goes around the room. "chandler, joey." he continues, "gianna and phoebe. everyone, this is julie."
"julie." rachel breathes out, gesturing towards the girl still in the doorway.
"hi, but i'm not here, you haven't met me. i'll make a much better first impression tomorrow when i don't have 20 hours of cab and plane on me." julie smiles, waving to everyone.
"and bus."
"oh my god."
"you gotta here this story-"
"-and the chicken poops in her lap!" rachel interrupts, the group turning to her. "oh, i'm so sorry. i just gave away the ending, didn't i? oh! it's just, i just heard this story in the cab, and it is all i can think about." everyone could tell her laugh was forced, watching as she reaches for a glass in the cabinet.
"this is amazing. i mean, how, how did this happen?" monica stammers, stepping closer to rachel.
"well, ross and i were in grad school together."
"but we haven't seen each other since then. well, i land in china, guess who's in charge of the dig!" ross smiles, pointing down to julie beside him.
"julie! julie, isn't that great? i mean, isn't that just kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck fantastic?" gianna's eyes widen slightly as she watches rachel.
"it's just an expression." she adds quickly, swallowing hard.
"well, we just wanted to say a quick hi, and then we're gonna go see the baby." ross explains.
"and then we've gotta get some sleep."
"yeah, it's really 6:00 tomorrow night our time."
"well, listen," chandler begins, standing beside gianna, "don't tell us what's gonna happen, 'cause i like to be surprised." he jokes, gianna quickly slapping the back of her hand against his arm. ross and julie bid goodnight, shutting the door quietly behind them. the rest of the group turn to rachel slowly, watching her expression soften, her lips turning down into a frown.
*
the next morning, gianna sat flicking through a magazine at the counter of the coffee house, letting rachel fill her cup when it was empty. behind her, the door swings open, ross and chandler wandering to the counter.
"hey, rach, can i get some coffee?"
"yeah, sure." rachel smiles sweetly at ross, gianna continuing to read her magazine.
"thank you."
"hey, rach, can i get-" chandler begins to ask, his hands sitting on top of gianna's shoulders softly.
"did you talk to him?"
"not yet."
"then, no." rachel's expression was blank as she stared at chandler, his hands curling into gianna's shoulders with fear.
"uh, ow." gianna murmurs, turning back to raise an eyebrow at chandler.
"oh! sorry, i'll just-" he leaves to talk to ross without finishing his sentence. gianna keeps her eyes on the boys seated on the couch, watching chandler talk to ross about julie.
"here's your lemonade." rachel smiles, handing ross the glass.
"i didn't order lemonade."
"oh. well then, you better go take that back because they're gonna charge you for that." rachel rambles, ushering ross to get up.
"but-"
"go, go, go, go, come on! well, what did you find out?" rachel takes the seat ross was sitting in, begging chandler to tell her what ross said. gianna sat quietly at the counter, magazine held open by her fingers as ross reordered his drink beside her.
*
"pheebs, you know what i'm thinking?" monica wandered from her room and towards the kitchen table where phoebe and gianna sat together.
"oh, ok! how, it's been so long since you've had sex, you're wondering if they've changed it?" phoebe asks, and gianna's features twist in discomfort.
"no, although now that's what i'm thinking." she mutters, standing from her chair to get a drink from the fridge.
"all right, so what were you thinking?"
"well, i was thinking, that you gave the guys such great haircuts, i thought, maybe you'd like to do mine?" monica suggests and phoebe's face lights up.
"ooooh, no."
"why not?" monica laughs, moving aside to let gianna sit back in her seat.
"because, i'm just, i'm incredibly anal and an unbelievable control freak." phoebe mutters, continuing to play with her deck of cards.
"no you're not!"
"i know i'm not, but you are, and i was trying to spare your feelings." phoebe replies, not noticing monica's stare on her as she sits beside gianna. behind them, the phone begins to ring.
"hello? oh, hi. yeah, hold on a second." joey answers the phone, glancing over to ross. "ross, it's julie." he throws the phone to him as ross leans forward to take it from joey's hand, resulting in the phone sliding to the floor.
"hello? hi."
"hi. anybody know a good tailor?" chandler enters the apartment, walking through the kitchen and taking gianna's drink from her hands.
"hey!"
"need some clothes altered?" joey looks over his shoulder at chandler.
"no, no, i'm just looking for a man to draw on me with chalk."
"why don't you go see frankie? my family's been goin' to him forever." joey suggests. "he did my first suit when i was 15. no wait, 16. no, 'scuse me. 15. all right, when was 1990?" joey rambles, gianna shaking her head in her hands at her brother.
"you have to stop the q-tip when there's resistance!"
"ok, ok, sweetheart, i'll see you later. okay, bye. what? oh, that is so sweet! no, no, ok, you hang up." ross continues talking into the phone, pacing around the coffee table and ending up sitting beside rachel who was pretending to be engrossed in her magazine. "ok, ok, one, two, three. well you didn't hang up either. ok, no, no, you hang up. you, you y-" rachel reaches quickly for the phone and shuts it off. the group lets their jaws drop slightly, noticing ross' blank expression.
"sorry, i thought you were talking to me." she smiles sweetly. behind the sofa, chandler leans back against gianna's chair, turning to see her shuffling over slightly. she pats the free half of the chair gently, waiting for him to share the seat with her. as he sits with her, his arm shyly goes over her shoulder, which he would silently argue was so she didn't fall, but he knew it really wasn't.
"rachel! i'll just call her back." ross shakes his head cheerfully. standing from the sofa and going to the window.
"okay. okay!" rachel stands quickly from the sofa, abandoning her magazine and forcing monica to shuffle over so the rest of the group could gather closely. "how did this happen to me? how did this happen to me? a week ago, two weeks ago, i was fine! ross was just ross, just this guy. now he's rrroooosss! oh, this really great guy that i can't have!" she moans, resting her chin on her hands, monica wrapping an arm around her.
"sweetie, i wanted you to have him too." monica replies, rubbing rachel's shoulder softly.
"i know you did. i'm just gonna deal with it, i'm just gonna deal with it." rachel soothes herself as ross comes by to get an orange, making kissing noises into the phone. "oh, i gotta get out of here!" rachel exclaims, quickly taking her bag and shutting the front door behind her.
"ok, i don't care what you guys say, something's bothering her!"
*
the next morning, everyone bar ross and rachel sat around the girl's coffee table, a beautiful breakfast spread laid out before them.
"you know, i think i was 16." joey mumbles, sitting back in the armchair.
"please, just a little bit off the back!" monica is still pleading with phoebe to cut her hair.
"i'm still on 'no'." phoebe replies, taking a bagel for her plate. gianna wanders over with a glass of orange juice in hand and sinking into the sofa beside chandler. he smiles to her as she readjusts, hand reaching over to take the bagel from his hands.
"hey!" his voice is quiet, but gianna just smiles sweetly, tearing a piece off and handing the bagel back to him.
"uh, morning." rachel pokes her head out from the door of her bedroom. "do you guys think you could close your eyes for just a sec?"
"no, no, no, i'm not falling for that again." joey smirks, holding his pants up firmly.
"what's going on?" gianna asks between mouthfuls of orange juice.
"well, i sorta did a stupid thing last night." rachel grimaces, holding the door shut slightly.
"what stupid thing did you do?" chandler continues before the entire group's jaws drop.
"bon giorno tutti!"
"eww!" phoebe gets up quickly and retreats to the kitchen. gianna's eyes narrow, body hot with anger.
"ok, paolo, why don't you just go get dressed, and then you be on your way, ok, bye-bye." rachel pushes paolo back into her room and shuts the door behind her.
"rachel, how did this happen?"
"i don't know, i just kinda ran into him last night." she mutters, crouching down at the coffee table.
"where?" gianna scoffs.
"at his apartment. is this juice?" rachel tries to change the subject, pouring herself a glass of juice.
"whoa, whoa. and the fact that you dumped him because he hit on phoebe?" joey adds, raising a good point.
"i know, i know, i'm a pathetic loser." rachel holds her head in her hands, breathing deeply.
"honey, you're not pathetic, you're sad." monica tries to comfort rachel, only receiving an exasperated cough.
"people do stupid things when they're upset." chandler adds.
"my god, if i has a nickel for every guy i wish i hadn't-" monica glances around at the expressions in the group "-but this is about your horrible mistake." behind them, the front door opens, julie and ross stumbling inside together.
"hi. sorry we're late but we were-well there was touching."
"hey, hey ross." paolo exclaims, exiting rachel's room. ross' expression summed up the group's feelings of the italian.
"hey, paolo. what are you doing here?"
"i do raquel." rachel's face falls with distaste, her hands holding the air around her frustratedly.
"so, uh, he's back." ross mumbles as paolo walks to the kitchen.
"yeah, he's back. is that a problem?" rachel taunts, standing opposite ross.
"no, not a problem."
"i'm glad it's not a problem." gianna turns to see phoebe in the kitchen with paolo.
"ok, you're gonna have to not touch my ass."
"well, in spite of the yummy bagels and palpable tension, i've got pants that need to be altered." chandler interrupts, using gianna's thigh and the arm of the sofa to stand.
"hey, chandler, when you see frankie, tell him joey tribbiani says hello. he'll know what it means." joey smiles, leaving the bathroom.
"are you sure he's gonna be able to crack that code?" chandler leaves the apartment, and monica begins to plead with phoebe about cutting her hair.
"all right. ok, but, but you have to promise you will not be all like control-y and bossy and monica about it!" phoebe exclaims, the pair standing from their seats.
"i promise."
"all right. now some of you are gonna get cut, and some of you aren't. but i promise, none of you are gonna feel a thing." phoebe mutters, fiddling with the ends of monica's hair.
*
now, after phoebe's attempt of cutting ross' hair went haywire, rachel, joey, gianna and ross sat in the living area awaiting any sign of life.
"how is she?" ross jumps quickly as phoebe exits monica's room.
"it's too soon to tell. she's resting, which is a good sign."
"how's the hair?" he continues.
"i'm not gonna lie to you, ross, it doesn't look good. i put a clip on one side, which seems to have stopped the curling." phoebe explains, gesturing with her hands.
"can we see her?"
"your hair looks too good, i think it would upset her." phoebe answers joey, watching as he nods in understanding. "ross, you come on in." he follows in behind phoebe, leaving the tribbiani siblings and rachel in the living area.
"how're you doing?" joey asks quietly, catching rachel's elbow before she walks away.
"i'm ok."
"ooh, that bad, huh?" joey's eyebrows raise in sincerity, gianna nodding gently behind him.
"what?"
"look, i can sense when women are depressed and vulnerable. it's one of my gifts." joey explains, sitting on the coffee table to be directly opposite rachel on the sofa. gianna wanders behind them, and into the kitchen, still engaging in the conversation.
"when i saw him get off that plane with her, i really thought i hit rock bottom. but today, it's like there's rock bottom, then 50 feet of crap, then me." rachel groans, holding her head in her hands.
"you gotta tell ross how you feel!"
"come on, how can i just tell him? what about julie?"
"what about her? they've only been going out for two weeks! ross has been in love with you for like 10 years!" joey exclaims, reaching out to hold rachel's hands. gianna returns from the kitchen and leans over to rub rachel's shoulders lovingly.
"i don't know. i don't know."
"look, rach, rach, i've been with my share of women. in fact, i've been with like a lot of people's share of women." gianna raises her eyebrows at joey before he continues. "the point is, i've never felt about anyone the way ross felt about you." there is a pause before the front door slams dramatically.
"yo, paisan! can i talk to you for a sec?" chandler calls, pointing out joey. he wanders from the living area into the kitchen beside gianna as they look at chandler. "your tailor, is a very bad man!"
"frankie? what're you talking about?"
"hey, what's going on?" ross asks, clapping chandler on the back before seeing his hurt expression.
"joey's tailor..." chandler pauses, digesting his words "...took advantage of me."
"what?"
"no way. i've been going to the guy for 12 years!" joey argues, shaking his head.
"he said he was going to do my inseam, and he ran his hand up my leg, and then, there was definite-"
"what?"
"cupping." chandler chokes, choosing his words carefully. gianna's eyes widen slightly.
"that's how they do pants!" joey disagrees with chandler, demonstrating with his hands. "first they go up one side, they move it over, they go up the other side, they move it back, and then they do the rear." joey gathers the expressions he was receiving. "what? ross, ross, would you tell him? isn't that how they measure pants?"
"yes, yes it is. in prison!" joey's eyebrows raise slightly, watching ross closely. "whatsa matter with you?"
"what? that's not?" joey pauses, thinking about what ross said for a moment. "oh my god."
*
"even mary tyler moore would've been better." monica groans, sitting between chandler and ross at the table. gianna laughs softly to herself, standing beside chandler's chair.
"i like it. i do, i think it's a ten." ross teases, chandler laughing with him. beside him, gianna shoves his shoulder playfully, watching as he glances up at her, face full of joy. gently, chandler scoots over on his seat, patting the space beside him for gianna.
"thank you. my hair is very amused."
"come on, monica, things could be worse." chandler adds, an arm now thrown over gianna's shoulders subtly. "you could get caught between the moon and new york city. i know it's crazy, but it's true." monica huffs before getting up and retreating to her room quickly.
"thank you!" phoebe scolds, following behind her quickly. gianna hits chandler again, giggling like a school girl when he jostles her shoulders teasingly.
"well, i gotta go. bye." ross stands from the table and turning to the window. "bye, rach!"
"wait, are you leaving?" she calls, standing alone out on the balcony.
"yeah, that's kinda what i meant by 'bye'!" rachel beckons for ross to speak to her on the balcony, chandler and gianna sitting quietly at the kitchen table before joey turns to face them from the sofa.
"hey, when the doctor does that hernia test..."
"that's ok." chandler answers, glancing down at gianna as if to say 'seriously!'. she couldn't help the smile tugging at the corners of her lips, the flush rising up her neck and how deep the pit in her stomach seemed to be. and joey watched them from the sofa, a soft smile on his own lips as to how at home gianna seemed. she'd definitely found her people.
*
not edited.
welcome back chickadees! season two is underway!
i've taken lots of time to plan out the next two seasons entirely! so there is definitely lots of chapters coming your way, and a whole lot more consistently!
i hope u are all well <3
love, pipes x