 After Rachel and Ross <unk> get married while on vacation in Las Vegas during season five , Schwimmer had initially objected to the idea of having his character Ross divorce her – his third divorce – because he felt that it was taking it " too far . " The actor explained that " The whole arc of the relationship was weird then ... because for [ Ross ] to be able to move on enough to marry someone else and then go back to being in love with Rachel later just went a bit too far . " Rachel and Joey 's romantic storyline was conceived because the writers wanted to delay Ross and Rachel 's reunion further . Crane felt that pairing Rachel and Joey during season ten " was for the greater good " because " It was inappropriate . " However , the cast initially protested the idea , fearing that Rachel , Joey , and Ross would ultimately become <unk> characters and audiences would either " resent Joey for going after a pregnant woman , or resent Rachel for rejecting him , or resent Ross for standing between the two of them . " Meanwhile , the writers also approached the concept of Rachel 's pregnancy and baby tentatively , worrying about how they would include it in the show because they did not want Friends " to become a show about a baby " while " On the other hand , we don 't want to pretend that there isn 't one . " According to Robert Bianco of USA Today , the critical success and popularity of Rachel 's pregnancy is ultimately responsible for " propel [ ling ] the show to the top of the ratings " . When it finally came time to write the series finale , " The only thing [ Crane and Kauffman ] absolutely knew from very early on was that we had to get Ross and Rachel together , " deciding , " We had <unk> the audience around for 10 years with their ' will they or won ’ t they , ' and we didn ’ t see any advantage in frustrating them " any longer . However , at one point the writers had <unk> ending the series with Ross and Rachel in " a gray area of where they aren ’ t together , but we hint there ’ s a sense that they might be down the road . " Ultimately , Crane and Kauffman relented in favor of giving the audience what they want . 
