Epilogue

A knock on the door sounded as Ross and Rachel turned to see all their friends quietly walking in, all their eyes lighting up as they stared at the small bundle cradled in Rachel's arms as she lay on the hospital bed.

"Oh my God," Monica awed, covering her mouth as she slowly neared. "Is that… is that…"

Ross and Rachel smiled at each other before turning back to the others.

"Everyone…" Ross began, letting them all come closer. "…we want you to meet… Emma."

All their friends' mouths opened in wide smiles as they all crowded around Rachel's bed.

"It's a girl?" Chandler asked, gently waving at the little baby.

Rachel nodded, unable to stop smiling. "It sure is."

"Hah! I knew it would be a girl! You owe me fifty bucks!" Monica pointed out Phoebe, making her roll her eyes.

"You want to hear her full name?" Rachel asked. Everyone nodded their heads as she looked down at her little bundle of joy. "Emma Monica Green-Geller."

Monica's mouth opened again as she brought a hand to her heart. "You named her middle-name after me?"

"You were the one who gave the name idea," Ross pointed out. "We wanted to name her middle-name after someone special to both of us, and that was you."

"Oh, thank you so much," Monica smiled, hugging her brother tightly. "I love you both so much."

"Do you want to hold her?" Rachel offered.

"Ok," she said, gently taking the baby from Rachel's hands. Monica stared at her in awe, unable to take her eyes off Emma's sleeping form. "Oh my God, she's amazing."

"It's incredible," Chandler commented as Monica handed her off to Joey. "One minute she's inside you and…" he checked his watch, "…forty-seven hours later, here she is."

"She looks so real!" Joey exclaimed, making everyone look at him strangely. "Oh, you know what I mean."

"Ok, my turn! My turn!" Phoebe insisted, gently taking the baby from Joey's arms. "Oh! Oh, you're so cute! Wow, she's so beautiful!"

"Just like her mother," Ross added. Rachel looked up at him with a loving look and he kissed her forehead sweetly.

As Chandler received baby Emma last, he smiled as he studied her facial features. "So, whose features are what?"

"Her eyes are definitely Rachel's," Ross said. "She's sleeping now, but when she's awake you can see how beautiful her big blue eyes are."

"Oh, but she has her father's mouth," Rachel added, taking her baby back from Chandler and gently cradling her in her arms. "Just look at how soft they look."

"Whose nose does she have?" Phoebe asked.

Ross and Rachel looked at each other and shrugged as everyone leaned in to get a closer look.

"Let's hope it's yours honey," Rachel said to Ross as she studied her baby's face. "If it's mine we're going to have some trouble later."

"You're in luck, it looks like Ross'," Monica determined as everyone looked at her strangely. "What?"

"How do you know that?" Ross questioned.

"Mom showed me photos," she replied, answering his question.

Just then one of the nurses came in, knocking on the door to get their attention. "Is this a bad time?" she asked.

"Oh no, please come in," Rachel said.

"Ok, if you're well enough to walk Ms. Green, we'd like to give you and the baby an examination to make sure everything's good," the nurse said.

Rachel gently put Emma in the little crib provided by the hospital as Ross helped her to her feet. With a kiss on the cheek, she followed the nurse out of the room, pushing the mobile crib along in front of her. Her four friends watched her leave with large smiles on their faces.

"So, how does it feel to be a father?" Joey asked Ross afterwards.

"I already was a father. Ben, remember?" he reminded.

"Right, how does it feel to be a father a second time?" Joey corrected.

Ross couldn't help but smile. "Honestly, it feels better than the first time. My first little girl, and not only will I get to be around her all the time, I get to raise her with Rachel by my side."

"Aww, you guys are going to be one happy family," Monica coed.

"Any plans for the future then?" Phoebe asked.

Ross thought about it, unconsciously touching his pant pocket, and a smile appeared on his face. There was one last thing that would make this day perfect, and he knew exactly what he had to do.

"There is one… but I'll need you guys to help me out with it."

…

After her examination, Rachel slowly made her way back to her room, gently pushing Emma's crib in front of her. She couldn't help but peer down at her baby girl. Part of her still couldn't believe she was hers and that she had really gone through the whole pregnancy stage, but the other part of her was ecstatic, not only because she now had a beautiful daughter to care and love, but because she was going to share that care and love with the love of her life.

Slowly approaching her room, the first thing she noticed was that the lights were much dimmer than before. Not thinking too much about it, she opened the door and entered the room, and immediately her breath was taken away.

Dozens of small candles were lit all around the room, emitting a humbling, romantic atmosphere. Soft music played in the background as scattered all across the floor were small white lilies, the flames from the candles dancing along its pedals and right in the middle of it all was Ross, smiling widely as he held his hands behind his back.

"Ross, what is all this?" she asked, still in awe at what he had done to her simple hospital room. Instead of answering, however, he completely caught her off guard when he got down on one knee and from his hidden hands behind his back he produced a single velvet box which made her heart skip a beat. "Oh my God!" she cried, immediately tearing up as her hands flew to cover her mouth.

"I know it's not the proposal I had originally planned for you, but I think the alterations work well," he joked lightly, making her laugh a little.

"Ross, wh-why are you doing this?" she stammered, blinking away tears, though they just reappeared moments later.

"Because I love you Rachel. I always have, and I always will," he replied, small hints of tears appearing in his eyes as well.

"Rachel, looking back, we've been through everything together. We've dated, we've broken up. We married, we divorced. We were friends with benefits, and we had our fallout, and now, we have a beautiful baby girl that we made together. Out of all the things we've been through, we still managed to stay together. We were meant to be with each other. I've never loved anyone as much as I love you, and every day that I'm with you, I feel like my love for you grows. You're the most beautiful and most caring person I've ever met and our daughter is going to have the most wonderful mother in the world."

Ross took a moment to dry his tears on his sleeve, catching his breath in the meantime while Rachel's tears never stopped flowing from her eyes. With a deep breath, he looked up and stared into her gorgeous blue eyes, knowing everything he's said has come straight from his heart and only his heart.

"Rachel, we've always been more than just friends; you're the love of my life and the woman of my dreams, and I can't imagine my life without you and I can't imagine our daughter growing up without a proper family. Rachel Karen Green, will you marry me?"

Ross lifted the lid of the velvet box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring. For a moment, Rachel couldn't move, her eyes filled with tears as she stared at the man in front of her proposing.

"Yes…" she whispered quietly, wiping away her flowing tears. "Yes! Yes, I will marry you!"

Without a second to spare, Ross stood up and immediately they connected in a kiss they will never forget. Their first as an engaged couple. Their first for a new beginning.

"I can't believe you did all this," she said, still in awe as he slipped the engagement ring onto her finger.

"Well, I had a little help from our friends," Ross admitted, making her laugh gently as they held each other in each other's arms.

"Look Emma, mommy's engaged!" she exclaimed to her sleeping daughter, showing her the engagement ring. "I don't think she understands quite yet."

"She will, and she'll see what an amazing mother she has," he said.

She smiled. "And she's going to see an even better father."

They kissed once more before Rachel rested her head against his chest, hearing his heart beat in sync with the music.

"I love you," she whispered, pouring her heart into those three little words.

"I love you too," he whispered back, slow dancing with her to the soft music in the back, with their baby daughter right next to them.

Just like one happy family.

He was right; they are more than just friends.

They're a family.

…

Author's note: And that concludes More than Just Friends! I hope you all enjoyed as much as I enjoyed writing it. Special thanks once again to Soumi97 and Sylvannas for the 'behind the scenes' help. Be sure to leave a review on the story and leave any feedback you wish for me to hear.

By the way, happy new year everyone! Technically this story is late so I guess my new year resolution is to set deadlines I can actually make. On that note, the next story should be out soon so be sure to follow me as the author so you can get updates on when I publish new stories.

Thanks again for all the support guys. I really appreciate it. I'll see you all next time.

~ FE