The One Where The Lines Get Kinda Blurry

The One With The Last One - Part Two

Brad had followed Jen upstairs to bed where they had talked, often heatedly, until the very early hours of the morning. He had apologised profusely for his attitude towards her and his lack of sensitivity regarding her current emotional turmoil, blaming it on his heavy filming schedule and lack of sleep. She had apologised for not being supportive of how hard he was working and also for her recent emotional outbursts, although she did not admit that the reason behind them was as much the thought of losing David as it was her show coming to an end. Brad had then fallen asleep, leaving Jen lay quietly, physically next to him but a world away in her mind, wide awake and staring at the ceiling, feeling completely trapped and wondering just how she could resolve this situation by doing the least amount of damage to the least number of people. She finally drifted into an uneasy and unsettled sleep at around 5.45am and when she awoke with a start at just gone 7.00am, the other side of the bed was already empty and there was an eerie silence in the house once more.

The final week on the stage 24 set was emotional to say the least. The first table read through of the very last script had drawn tears from every single person in the room, the whole cast and crew forming a giant huddle as they prepared to bid farewell to the ten best years of all their lives. There were no big re-writes or amendments needed this week. The writers had hit it perfectly and there was a collective sigh of relief from the six main cast as all of their characters seemed to be getting their own versions of happily ever after. Since there were no scenes requiring Central Perk in this final episode, that set had already been dismantled, and was soon to be replaced by the airport boarding lounge. The six of them had gasped in genuine despair as they walked in and saw it gone. No more iconic orange sofa, no more Gunther's golden hair, no more Phoebe's stage.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye to the place where we had our first proper on-screen kiss" David sighed, wrapping his arms around Jen from behind as they stood surveying the currently unoccupied space in front of them. "Do you remember that still?" he asked.

"Remember it?" Jen turned her face up to his, "are you kidding me, how could I ever forget it? It's one of my most precious memories of our ten years.... and an important part of our beautiful journey together.... on and off screen."

David kissed the top of her head and buried his nose in her hair, trying to inhale every last drop of scent in case this really was the start of their goodbye. "Now that we are actually nearing the end... I don't ever want it to end..... Your face in rehearsals today..... when you disappeared through those stage doors..... you made me cry real tears and you know those don't come easy."

Jen turned sideways in his arms so that she could nestle her head into his shoulder. She tightened her arms around him and just breathed. Breathed him in and wished with all her heart she could turn back time. She lifted her head after a few moments of intimate silence. "This isn't the end....... not for us..... it can't be...."

Jen returned to the make-up chair for the third time already as she returned from a tearful greeting with her dad, who was here to support her for the tonight's finale. She was so grateful to him for being here, alongside a few of her best girlfriends, but she was still smarting over Brad not making the effort. She was pretty sure that if he wanted to be here in any way, he would have made it happen and that hurt. It hurt her deep to her core. But tonight, she was determined to put him right out of her mind and focus on first of all, getting through the night in one piece, and then secondly, enjoying the final wrap party with her five very special and incredible Friends, and all the other cast and crew who had become like family to her.

David stepped onto the airport lounge set and his heart was in his mouth. He was about to speak Ross's words but the sentiment in his heart was exactly the same. The girl he loved more than anyone in the entire world, was about to turn around and walk out of his life..... maybe forever. Sure, there would be gatherings and social meetings, but they would never again be living these lives. He said his lines. He declared his love for her, grabbing onto her arm and begging her to stay with him, to not leave him....... but she rejected his pleas and disappeared through the doors, and he felt the deep, desperate pain in his heart that Ross was experiencing too. "I really thought she'd stay" he said to Lisa who could see he was genuinely upset and pulled him into a tight hug. He couldn't believe how real and how damned hard this was. He was the strong one. He was Mr Cool. He was the solid, dependable, professional one.... but right now, he understood more than ever how Jen must feel a lot of the time. Unable to keep control over his emotions and unable to stop the crack in his voice or the tears in his eyes. He felt completely broken.

As soon as the cameras stopped rolling and the director indicated he was happy with the take, David sought out Jen and pulled her tightly in to his arms. He didn't try to speak and she understood from the look on his face just how much that scene had affected him. There was chaos all around them, sets being re-dressed, cameras being relocated, but they stood like statues, completely lost in time together, clutching on tightly and wishing they never had to part.

Not too much later in the evening and it was finally time for their big scene. This was the moment that they, and the world had been waiting for, although of course, no one in the audience knew that yet. They were still under the impression that Rachel was on her way to Paris. David had finished up filming his conversation with the answerphone and now they were ready for the big reveal.

"And Action!"

"Did she get off the plane? Did she get off the plane?!"

"I got off the plane"

"You got off the plane..."

David rushed across the apartment to where she was now stood and took her in his arms. The direction was a few seconds of kissing then into the dialogue but it didn't happen. The moment their lips met and they grabbed onto each other Jen lost it. She lost it completely. She couldn't do anything except cling onto him like a life raft. Her arms that were loosely around his neck dropped to his shoulders as she buried her head into him and wept. David held her tightly by the waist, enveloping her in his muscular arms and pulling her body closer to him in an attempt to protect and comfort her. They were rocking from side to side as the director yelled 'cut' but they completely ignored him. Jen moved her arms higher, wrapping them around David's neck and hair and covering her face so the heaving sighs of her tears were hidden. David, thinking she was pulling away began to loosen his grip, but quickly realised that she wasn't at all ready to release him yet, so he clamped his arms even tighter and lower on her waist. They were both distraught and lost in their personal world of pain, living their own torment through the eyes of their characters; only they were about to get their happy ending, whereas Jen and David were still light years away from theirs, or at least that's how it felt to them both as they stood, desperately wishing they would never be torn apart again. After a few more seconds, they sensed Kevin approaching and David reluctantly eased his grip, freeing her as he rubbed her back and wishing he could shelter her from this agony. He saw nothing but the torture in her tearful eyes as Kevin gathered them both in his arms and asked them to take a few minutes to settle themselves before attempting the scene again.

It took nearly an hour to get what they needed as there were many more tears and poignant breakdowns. But finally, they had the shots in the can and they were able to move onto filming the very last scenes of the show in the now emptied and stripped bare Monica's apartment. The direction for these very last scenes was that there was no real direction. 'Feel it, live it, be yourselves and don't be afraid of getting emotional' was all they were told. Jen had not let go of David's hand for the past two hours. She was stuck to him like a limpet to its rock. He had his other hand almost permanently around either her waist or her shoulder, whether the cameras were filming or not. He needed her and she needed him. Oh God, she needed him. She couldn't bear to be more than a few centimetres away from his side, so much so that when she had needed to visit the bathroom, she actually asked him to accompany her, and had taken the opportunity of a few private minutes together to pull him in for an emotional kiss where he was waiting in the darkness of the corridor.

It was finally time. The moment they had all been dreading. The very last scene. As the cameras rolled and they walked across the empty apartment to leave their keys on the counter, there was not a single dry eye in the house. They did it in one take because that was all they had left in them. They were all emotionally spent. And then somehow, that was it. A wrap. The show was over. Complete. It was The End.

There was a tidal wave of tears and hugs as the cast took to the stage for their final bows, Jen and David finding a way of making each other laugh through the tears as they called out each other's names rather than their own, basking in the glory of what they had just created, and determined to wring every last drop of enjoyment out of this night now that the cameras were off and their alter egos were gone..... gone forever. There was no more hope of hiding behind Ross and Rachel. They had been blessed with their happily ever after and were eagerly riding off into the sunset together. And now the one pressing question that remained at the forefront of both their minds was, and what about them? Would they get an opportunity for their fairy tale ending too, or did destiny have other plans in her mind for these star-crossed lovers?