Fullest Heart

Sand Castle

Sand Castle

After getting off the plane, things between Ross and Rachel were doing really great. Their newly rediscovered relationship had been accepted really well by their now two years old daughter, Emma. It was almost as if the little girl was able to tell the differences on how their parents interact with each other. Maybe their constant touching and kissing made it so obvious that even a two years old would understand that they were madly in love with each other.

Nonetheless, it made the little girl happier than ever since now she was living together with both of her parents under the same roof. It decided almost immediately that Rachel would move in with Ross. There was no way Rachel would move back in with Joey when he just had another generation of the chick and duck roaming around the apartment. Not only that they made the apartment dirty and they often stole Rachel's night cream, Rachel was sure it wasn't healthy to raise a toddler with birds living together with them in such a closed space. Ross and Rachel also thought it was the best thing for their situation if they lived together and it really was.

After they got back together, the bond between Emma and her older brother, Ben was also getting stronger. Now that they were living together it was easier for Ben to meet Emma. Ben would often read the little girl some stories or attempted to show her his impressive Pokémon cards collection, even though the little girl didn’t understand a bit of it.

Whenever Ben and Emma played together, it made Ross and Rachel’s heart warm. They loved watching the two siblings together. So, for this summer vacation, the family decided to go to Leonard’s beach house located in Hamptons together with Ben. It was a vacation house Rachel’s dad had bought recently and had offered them to use. This would be their first vacation together and the four of them were excited about it.

The family drove their brand new SUV they had bought shortly after they got back together with Ross behind the steering wheels.

“Are we there yet?” Ben asked impatiently for the hundredth time that day.

"We there yet?" Emma repeated Ben's question in her baby voice which caused Ben to roll his eyes. Much to Ben's annoyance, his recently turned two years old sister was at a phase when she loved to repeat her big brother's words.

Ross sighed, exhausted. Travelling with a kid and a toddler definitely had taken a toll on him. They kept asking questions nonstop during the entire ride.

Rachel noticed his fatigue and decided to help.

She looked at Ben through the rear-view mirror and smiled, “Just another half an hour, Ben. Hang in there.” Ben still pouted. “You know, you can always play with Emma if you’re bored.” She suggested.

Ben groaned, “But, I don’t want her to break my toys again!”

Just last night, Emma accidentally broke Ben’s favorite robot toy. He cried which triggered Emma’s instantly. Both of the kids were crying and it took a lot of convincing from Ross and Rachel to make them stop. It was a huge mess.

Being an only child for almost eight years made it hard for Ben to share some of his stuff. He was getting used to the idea of being at the center of the attention and having all the toys he wanted for himself. But now, he had a little sister and his dad’s attention was divided. Not only he had to learn how to share his toys but he also had to share his dad.

It wasn’t that he hated Emma or anything, it was just sometimes the little girl was just too much for him to handle. After all he was eight years old and she was two years old. They played with different kinds of toys and she hadn’t yet fully understood the idea of knowing when to stop bugging her brother or stealing his toys.