Season 2, Proposal

     Rachel decides to rush to the airport to meet Ross and discuss their feelings for one another, but Ross returns with a new girlfriend, Julie, and Rachel is hurt and embarrassed. She begins to experience feelings for Ross, and the new feelings become a big burden and she becomes jealous of Ross' relationship with Julie. Drunk one night, Rachel leaves a message on Ross' answering machine claiming she is "over him" and that she has had the closure that she needs. When Ross hears this message, he becomes dismayed and has to choose between Julie and Rachel. After a very heated argument at the coffee house, Ross and Rachel share a second, and extremely passionate, kiss. ("The One Where Ross Finds Out") Ross, still having to decide between Rachel or Julie, creates a list of pros and cons of the both of them. He ultimately decides that he loves Rachel and picks her. When she finds out about his list, however, their relationship immediately ends, having not lasted even an hour. ("The One With The List") Ross gets jealous when he receives a message from a guy Rachel met at the movies. After Rachel sees a video from their teenage years where Ross was filmed planning to ask her to be his date at the high school prom when her date had not arrived, only to miss his chance when her date suddenly turned up anyway, she is touched and passionately kisses him. The two finally become a couple. ("The One With The Prom Video").

      After being together for a week, it is the day of Ross and Rachel's very first date. They are seen returning from a foreign movie and start to kiss passionately but Rachel starts laughing when she feels his hands on her bottom. It's a nervous laugh as they're "crossing that line" but effectively the date is over. For their second date they plan a romantic meal but Ross has to go work first and so he takes her to the museum but because he ends up having to work later than he'd hoped, they miss their dinner reservation. Ross makes it up to Rachel by taking her upstairs to the planetarium and they sleep together for the first time, which results in the two being caught by school children who are watching them the following morning. ("The One Where Ross And Rachel... You Know")

      When Ross and Rachel look after Ben for a few days, Rachel is nervous about never looking after a baby and Ross says it's no big deal, while slipping up that it'll be different for her when it's their baby. Rachel is shocked that Ross has brought this up since they have only been dating for 6 weeks and he is already thinking about their future - which includes them apparently not wanting to raise a child in the city, so they'll move to Scarsdale and have two children - hopefully the girl would come first for Ben's sake of "not feeling too competitive". This freaks Rachel out and she and Ross talk. While talking about all of this, they admit they love each other for the first time and share a passionate kiss. ("The One Where Old Yeller Dies") This foretells the birth of their daughter later in the series.

Season 3, Romance

     Rachel asks Ross what fantasy's he has and he tells her about Princess Leia with the gold bikini, Rachel tells Ross she'll do it for him, which she does. ("The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy.) Rachel's father wants to meet with her and Ross, which results in him not liking Ross, which worries Rachel since her parents can't be in the same room and she doesn't want the same thing to happen with Ross. Rachel invites her father over for brunch with her and Ross and the two eventually appear to be getting along gradually, helping Rachel since she wants her father and boyfriend to get along. ("The One With The Race Car Bed"")

      After almost a year together as a couple, Ross gets jealous when Rachel becomes close with Mark Robinson and Rachel confronts Ross about it, saying he doesn't need to be jealous since she loves him and not Mark. However, when Ross says he is hanging out with a stripper (from the party the night before) as she has a son Ben's age, Rachel becomes jealous and passionately kisses Ross. ("The One With All The Jealousy") Later, on their first anniversary, Rachel has to work so Ross brings a picnic to her work, much to her annoyance since she doesn't "have the time" to do this and she kicks him out of her office. Ross and Rachel argue over Rachel's friendship with her male coworker, Mark, and Rachel announces that she thinks they should take "a break." Ross, thinking that Rachel is ending the relationship, becomes so drunk that he sleeps with "the hot girl from the copy place", Chloe. The next morning, Rachel does not know of the one-night-stand and wants to resume their relationship. However, after Ross fails to stop Rachel from finding out, she breaks up with Ross in an emotional scene that involves Ross and Rachel arguing in Monica's living room while the other four friends were trapped in Monica's bedroom eating wax and both Ross and Rachel are left devastated and heartbroken. ("The One With The Morning After")

      From then on, the two share an almost-on-again-almost-off again relationship. Ross sacrifices the opportunity to be on Discovery Channel in order to take care of Rachel's broken rib in "The One With A Chick And A Duck", and the two share a tender moment when Rachel realizes what Ross gave up to accompany her. She is very touched that he gave this up for her and says it's "the sweetest thing". Ross leaves to let Rachel get some sleep and she sadly says "Yeah, see ya", in a heartbroken/sadly tone while he sits outside her apartment sadly. Ross gets suspicious and is not happy when Rachel goes to see Joey's play with a guy named Tommy. Ross tries to warn Rachel about Tommy for screaming and not being a nice guy, while slipping up that he is jealous before claiming that he isn't when he clearly is, which even Chandler notices. ("The One With The Screamer")

      When Phoebe fixes Ross up with her "bald friend" Bonnie in "The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion", Rachel is clearly jealous when she sees that Bonnie is no longer bald, with beautiful flowing hair. While at the beach, where Phoebe learns the true identity of her birth mother, Rachel convinces Bonnie to shave her head again. When Ross asks her why she did it, Rachel admits that it's because she still has feelings for him and the pair share a passionate kiss. Ross is then seen standing outside the doors of Rachel and Bonnie's bedrooms, forcing himself to choose between them. ("The One At The Beach")

Season 6, Divorce

     After getting wasted and married, the friends go to watch Ross and Rachel as Ross invited them to watch and Joey thinks they are dating again to which Chandler says "Well, I don't there's much dating as they are two bottles of vodka walking around in human form". Ross and Rachel don't realize they're married even after they wake up next to each other naked and can't remember if they had sex. It is at breakfast that their friends tell them that they got married. ("The One After Vegas") Ross, terrified of being divorced for the third time, tells Rachel that he will take care of getting the marriage annulled, only to secretly stay married to her. He reveals this to Phoebe, and after a secret attempt to annul the marriage, she soon becomes convinced that he is still in love with Rachel. He adamantly denies that fact, claiming that their marriage was just a drunken mistake. There are hints that Ross does, in fact, still love Rachel, especially when he offers to let her move in with him when Chandler moves in with Monica. ("The One With Ross' Denial") When she tells him, upon learning of his deceit, that she is now more angry with him than she has ever been before, he responds by asking if she's angrier now than she was "when I said we were on a break?" The two fail to get the annulment because of their previous relationships and differences and Rachel filling in false statements, and they are forced to get a divorce. Rachel signs the divorce papers and moves out, but before doing so, confesses that getting married in Vegas was her idea. The two share a sweet, emotional moment when they both admit if they were to get married, it would be "the one that stuck". ("The One With Joey's Porsche")

      When Ross tries to distract Rachel on Thanksgiving, while Joey talks their friends into pretending to like the food, Ross takes Rachel out into the hallway and she misunderstands him, thinking he wants to get back together with her. Ross is surprised and confused on this and Rachel apologizes to him, saying it's not the time for them, hinting that she would like to get back together with him sometime in the future (which happens about 4 years later). Ross goes along with Rachel's comment, saying "Oh well. Can't blame a guy for trying". ("The One Where Ross Got High")

      When Rachel's sister, Jill, comes to visit, Phoebe notices some chemistry between her and Ross, and promptly informs Rachel, who quickly becomes horrified and paranoid. Rachel accidentally convinces Jill to ask Ross out, even though she is against the idea of them dating. Jill and Ross go on a date, at the end of which Rachel witnesses him taking her to his apartment and shutting the drapes. ("The One With Rachel's Sister") Despite Ross assuring her that he only did that to show Jill his slides, Rachel insists that Ross cancel the next date, which he agrees to, but when Jill is upset about this and Rachel confesses her part, Jill promptly goes back to Ross' apartment to get back at her. Rachel informs Ross that Jill is using him, but he doesn't realise until Jill kisses him. He promptly breaks it off with Jill because he doesn't want to ruin the chance to possibly get back together with Rachel in the future. ("The One Where Chandler Can't Cry"). In an alternate universe, after Rachel catches her husband Barry in bed with the neighbor's dog walker and Ross finds out his wife Carol is gay after Rachel tells him, Ross apologizes that Barry has cheated on her and she apologizes that Carol is gay. It is shown in this episode that even in an alternate universe, Ross and Rachel could end up together. ("The One That Could Have Been, Part 2")

      Later on in the season after Ross becomes a paleontology professor at the New York University, he meets and begins dating one of his students, Elizabeth Stevens, despite it being against university rules. ("The One Where Ross Dates A Student") When her father Paul objects to the relationship, Ross seeks Paul's approval and the rest of the group unsuccessfully try to back him up. Ross is soon shocked to find Rachel and Paul making out at Rachel and Joey's apartment. When Ross flips out at Rachel for making out with Paul, she compares this to when he dated her sister. Ross says it's different, claiming "This is weird for ME!" Ross and Rachel's attempts to get Paul to like Ross derail during a dinner date, especially after Rachel lets slip that Ross has been married three times, including to her. ("The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad") Paul tells Ross that he disapproves of his relationship with Elizabeth and threatens to have him fired if they continue seeing each other. Deciding to continue their relationship, Ross and Elizabeth sneak away to her family's cabin, not knowing Paul and Rachel have the same idea. Rachel is then forced to hide Ross from Paul to keep him from being discovered. While hiding in the bedroom, Ross catches Paul doing an embarrassing little dance calling himself "the man" and "the love machine". When Ross is finally caught by Paul, who threatens to have him fired from his job, Ross subtly threatens to tell Rachel about Paul's dance unless he gives him and Elizabeth his blessing. ("The One Where Paul's The Man") Both relationships soon come to an end at the end of the season; Rachel dumps Paul after he cannot stop crying ("The One With The Ring") and Ross reluctantly breaks up with Elizabeth after concluding that she is too immature for him and that they have no future together. ("The One With The Proposal, Part 1")

      After talking to Phoebe about backup marriages, Rachel visits Ross and suggests that if neither of them is married by the time they're 40, they should get married and mentions that they have slept together, but he tells her that he already has a backup - Phoebe - and Rachel is confused since Phoebe has just told her that her backup is Joey. When Rachel talks to Phoebe about the fact Phoebe picked both Ross and Joey as her backup (and Phoebe reveals she had an agreement with Chandler too), Rachel makes Phoebe choose a napkin that has both the guy's names on and the girls have to choose. When Rachel gets Joey as her backup, Phoebe gets Ross and they switch, therefore Rachel gets Ross as her backup (which foreshadows the fact that Rachel and Ross do end up together and get married). ("The One With The Proposal, Part 2")

Season 8, Daughter

     Secretly, Rachel and Ross do end up sleeping together a month before Monica and Chandler's wedding, which results in Rachel becoming pregnant. Rachel is reluctant to reveal the identity of the father to anyone, but Joey unearths a red sweater left at his apartment, which he, Phoebe and Monica eventually realise is Ross'. ("The One With The Red Sweater") Rachel tells Ross about her pregnancy, after he initially thinks she wants to get back together with him. He at first is angry about the fact that condoms only work 97% of the time, but upon realizing he overreacted, he shows up at Rachel's doctor appointment and says he wants to be there through everything, while assuming they'll be getting married. Rachel says that they are not in love so she does not want to get married and that she can do this alone, which Ross disagrees with. They manage to calm down when they see the ultrasound, but Rachel freaks out when she can't see her own baby on the ultrasound picture, forcing Ross to point it out to her, reassuring her. ("The One Where Rachel Tells...") The two explain their encounter to the friends: Rachel forgot to mail out the wedding invitations and rushed home to find Ross there and he agreed to help her out. However, they disagree as to who came onto whom; Rachel claiming it was Ross and Ross claiming it was Rachel; he accidentally reveals he has their encounter on videotape. He explains that it had been six months since he had sex and he came to Joey for advice. Joey told him a story guaranteed to result in sex, but when Ross kept telling the story wrong, Joey encouraged him to film himself with his video camera. Ross forgot about it all when Rachel came in. The friends watch the tape to settle the argument, and it turns out Rachel was the one who came onto Ross by using the sex story on him. Later on, the two reminisce on the tape, and decide to watch the rest of it to see how they looked doing it. ("The One With The Videotape")

      Ross becomes upset and worried when Joey sets Rachel up with Kash, a co-star from Days of our Lives and is worried about Rachel and the baby. Joey assures Ross that he shouldn't worry because no matter what, there will be a brand new little baby, his baby. Ross comforts Rachel when her date fails due to her telling Cash she's pregnant. Rachel seems to want to start things up again with Ross until she sees him getting a drink with Mona, the girl from the wedding, leaving Rachel sad. ("The One With Rachel's Date")

      While Rachel has dinner with her father, she reveals to him that she is pregnant with Ross' baby. At first she lies that she and Ross will be getting married, Rachel tells her father that they are not getting married, and when he gets angry, she says that Ross called her damaged goods. This results in her father confronting Ross while he is on a date with Mona, offending her by calling her a tramp. Mona is shocked and appalled about this, especially after learning that Ross offered to marry Rachel, but he claims "I didn't want to". Ross confronts Rachel, who promises to sort things out. Rachel eventually manages to talk Mona into forgiving Ross, assuring her that she and Ross are not getting back together. While backing him up, Rachel says "We drove each other crazy! He was possessive, he was jealous, he could never just let the little things go! But, none of that compared to how kind and-and how gentle and thoughtful he is." She also manages to tell her father about the truth about why she and Ross are not getting married, only for him to yell at her over the phone. ("The One With The Stripper")

      Monica invites a high school friend, Will, who was a loser like Ross in high school and has since lost weight and become a gorgeous guy, to her Thanksgiving dinner. However, he reacts very badly when learning that Rachel, who he hated in high school because of her bullying him, will be joining them for dinner. Rachel is immediately attracted to Will, unable to recognise him, but Will is openly hostile and this culminates in his proud announcement that he – and Ross – founded the "I Hate Rachel" club in high school and initiated a rumour that she was a hermaphrodite, which was spread throughout their entire high school. Rachel feels betrayed by Ross, until Monica reminds her that she started a rumor of her own that Ross made out with the school's 50-year-old librarian, though a horrified Ross confirms it as true. Rachel demands that Ross recant the rumour by calling everyone from school, but Monica puts them both in their place by reminding them that Rachel's rumour put Ross on the social radar, that Ross and Will's rumour had no effect whatsoever on Rachel's queen bee status, and that they're having a baby together. Will is completely dumbfounded by this revelation, but takes pleasure in the fact that Ross got Rachel pregnant but isn't going to marry her. ("The One With The Rumor")

      Around the four months time of the pregnancy, Rachel gets to the stage where she flirts with a lot of guys, including Ross, asking him how things are going with Mona, confusing him. He is especially startled that Mona is moving their relationship too fast by suggesting they post Christmas cards together. When she asks him where their relationship is going, he panics and gives her a key to his apartment, only to change the locks because that was the only key he had, and then tells her he loves her when he doesn't really mean it. ("The One With Ross' Step Forward")

      While Rachel is pregnant, Joey takes her out on a date to comfort her due to the fact that she will not be able to date for a while but he ends up developing romantic feelings for her. ("The One Where Joey Dates Rachel") It is at Joey's suggestion that Rachel and Ross move in together, which Rachel agrees to, much to the delight of Ross who has been feeling left out of the pregnancy. ("The One With The Secret Closet") This results in Mona breaking up with Ross when she finds out from Rachel before Ross could tell her, and Joey tells Ross about his feelings for Rachel. ("The One With The Birthing Video") Ross initially becomes angry but gives Joey his blessing. Joey tells Rachel that he loves her but she does not reciprocate his feelings. ("The One Where Joey Tells Rachel") After some awkwardness, the two become friends again. ("The One With The Tea Leaves")

      When Ross and Rachel attend his parents wedding anniversary dinner, they are asked by Ross' parents to pretend to be married since they have told their friends that Ross and Rachel are married, because of the baby coming. Although Ross and Rachel are annoyed by this at first, they agree to go along with it. Ross makes up a story about how he proposed to Rachel and she is amazed and touched by this. However, back home Rachel asks Ross if he just made up the proposal story and he reveals it wasn't made up, but it is how Ross imagined he would ask Rachel to marry him if they were still going out and he thought about it when they were dating. Rachel is deeply touched by this and admits that she would defiantly say yes because it would be something very hard to say no to and she'll think about it. ("The One In Massapequa") This foretells that they do get married again.

      Near the end of her pregnancy, Rachel becomes terrified when she realizes that she knows virtually nothing about how to care for a baby, but Ross manages to convince her that she will be a good mother and she kisses him as a thank you for what he said. ("The One With The Baby Shower") She also becomes jealous and irritated with Ross when he goes out on a date a week before the baby is due. When Ross returns from his date, she tells him that she doesn't want him to date because she wants him to be constantly available to her. Despite her being unreasonable, Ross agrees to put dating on hold to be there for her and the baby. Ross even asks Rachel if she wants "more" than just roommates since she is having his baby and Rachel says maybe, possibly hinting she might still or have feelings for Ross again. However, he assures her he is just messing with her, Rachel having done the same to Ross earlier in the episode, causing awkwardness between the two for a few seconds. ("The One With The Cooking Class") When Rachel is 8 days past her due date, she becomes moody, and snaps at everyone, making everyone around her miserable. Ross, in particular, is on the receiving end of her moodiness. However, he agrees to have sex with Rachel, hoping it might cause her to go into labour. After a few seconds of kissing, Rachel's waters break, and she and Ross share another kiss before going to the hospital. ("The One Where Rachel Is Late")

      When Rachel has a go at a nurse about the fact she can't have her baby next because she is only dilated 3cm, she pretends that Ross is her husband, but stops him as he is about to say something. Soon after, Janice is revealed to be the next woman to come and she thinks that Ross and Rachel are married, congratulating them on the baby, but Ross assures Janice that he and Rachel are not married, they're just having Emma together. After 21 hours of labor, Emma Geller-Greene is finally born to Rachel and Ross, who are extremely happy at her arrival. Janice later stops by and convinces Rachel that Ross will not stay around forever and might meet someone else, which causes Rachel to feel very lonely. She tries to talk to him about the kiss they had, but Ross does not want to have a relationship with Rachel again because it would hurt Emma if they broke up again. However, Phoebe convinces him that it could work out and that he would have everything he has dreamed of since he was fifteen. Joey tries to comfort Rachel while Ross is talking to Phoebe and accidentally proposes to Rachel, which she accepts. In another part of the hospital, Ross decides to try and go for it with Rachel and buys some flowers for her. ("The One Where Rachel Has A Baby, Part 2")

Season 10, Cuddle

     Rachel and Joey decide to talk to Ross about their relationship, while Ross tries to talk to Joey about his relationship with Charlie. Ross confesses his relationship to Joey but Joey chickens out. Ross later walks in on Rachel and Joey kissing. ("The One After Joey And Rachel Kiss") To show them he's fine with the relationship, Ross invites Rachel and Joey on a double-date with him and Charlie. They agree but Ross gets drunk at the awkward date. Joey stays with Ross overnight to make sure he's okay and they talk. Ross realizes that he has been apart from Rachel for so long that he shouldn't stop Joey and Rachel's relationship. He does give Joey his blessing even though it still hurts him because they should see where the relationship is going. ("The One Where Ross Is Fine")

      However, Rachel and Joey soon find it impossible to consummate their new relationship and, realizing their friendship is too strong to take things further, decide to remain friends. ("The One With Ross' Tan") Charlie soon breaks up with Ross to get back together with her ex-boyfriend. ("The One With Ross' Grant")

      When the nanny, Molly, gets sick and can't look after Emma, Rachel starts to agree on letting her sister, Amy, babysit Emma, but Ross is against this. When Rachel questions Ross about this, he says, for one thing, Amy keeps calling Emma Ella. Rachel says she likes that name and Ross says they'll call the next one Ella, shocking Rachel ("The next one?!") and he tries to convince Rachel to not let Amy look after Emma, foreshadowing that Ross and Rachel could or might have another child sometime in the future if they do end up married. ("The One Where Rachel's Sister Baby-Sits")

      When Rachel's dad has a heart attack, Ross goes to the hospital with her and comforts her. Later, when they are at the house Rachel grew up in, she tries to seduce him. He rejects her, however, knowing she is just upset about her dad. When they get back to New York, Rachel tells Ross that they will never fully be "off the table", as there will always be a chance for something to happen between them. ("The One Where Joey Speaks French")

      After Rachel loses her job at Ralph Lauren, Ross comforts her and helps her move her stuff out of her office. The two run into Mark Robinson, Rachel's former co-worker, who Ross was jealous of while he and Rachel were dating. Mark offers to talk to Rachel about a job opening at Louis Vuitton over dinner, which leaves Ross feeling jealous. Ross gets over his jealousy when Rachel reveals that he is married with children, but he is shocked when Rachel announces that her new job is in Paris. ("The One With Princess Consuela")

      Ross agrees to try to work things out with Rachel for Emma since this job opportunity is important to her. However, not wanting her to leave, Ross goes to Ralph Lauren and attempts to get Rachel's old job back for her, which proves successful after bribing her boss. After seeing how much having a job in Paris means to Rachel, he agrees to let her leave for Paris. However, Ross is visibly upset by her decision to leave and is seen to put another bribe in his bag. ("The One Where Estelle Dies")

      Monica throws a leaving party for Rachel ("The One with Rachel's Going Away Party") - during this Rachel talks to everyone about how she will miss them, but doesn't speak to Ross. This makes Ross furious and he confronts her, only for her to tell him she will miss him most of all and the only reason why she didn't speak to him at the party was because it was too hard for her. This revelation leads to a kiss and they end up in his bedroom.

      In "The Last One", it is revealed that they slept together after kissing. Ross then tells Phoebe and Joey that he loves Rachel and doesn't want her to move to Paris. Ross is about to tell Rachel he loves her when she states that sleeping with each other was the perfect way for them to say goodbye and later sees Rachel reject Gunther's declaration of love, causing Ross to change his mind about declaring his love for her. Later, when Rachel has set off to the airport, Ross, regretting his decision, chases after her with Phoebe at his side so he can confess his love to her. When he tells her at the airport, however, she leaves looking flustered.

      Later on, Ross is in his apartment, feeling rejected. He receives a message from Rachel, who repeatedly says that she loves him and realizes that she wants to be with Ross. However, a flight attendant tries to make her sit down and the machine cuts before we can know if she did get off the plane. As Ross tries to make the machine work, we hear Rachel's voice saying that she indeed got off the plane. Ross turns around and Rachel is here, standing in the doorway. They kiss passionately and get back together, both stating that this is where they want to be, that they will no longer mess around and be stupid. Ross then says "Unless we're on a break" but after Rachel gives him a look of disapproval, he adds "Don't make jokes now" and they kiss again.

      In the final scene, they are seen together in the empty apartment, cuddling and holding hands.