Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls
Despite all the faults Emily Gilmore had, one thing that could be said for her was that she did love her husband, her daughter and her beautiful granddaughter. Love was never a problem. The problem was
that she was very old fashioned in her thinking when it came to child rearing. Everything was fine for the first couple of years. The problem was when Rory started getting into her terrible twos.
Before that Lorelai and Emily could respect each other's differences. Emily may have criticized but she never interfered. Lorelai could count on her hand the number of times her mother told her to let Rory cry it out. That quickly stopped after Emily realized that she needed her beauty sleep too. Then she appreciated Lorelai attending to the baby. Lorelai decided to nurse Rory and Emily argued with that but then she read that breast feeding was healthier so she gave up arguing with her daughter.
The problem was when Rory got into her terrible twos; she was what Emily termed as unruly. Lorelai called it being a child. Emily didn't have patience for Rory's childish antics and told her daughter more then once,
"Lorelai you must discipline that child"
"Thanks for your opinion mom," Lorelai answered, "and I do discipline her"
"You know what I mean," Emily said annoyed, "a few good swats on the seat of the pants never hurt any child"
"EW," Lorelai exclaimed, "don't even go there. That's just… ew"
"Lorelai stop acting like a child and start acting like you have one, which for your information you do"
"Mother I'm aware that I have a child," Lorelai said irritably, "I was the one that pushed her out of my uterus and I was the one that was in labor for 14 hours. If I chose not to be a brute it's MY choice NOT yours."
Just then the phone rang. It was the lady that ran Rory's day care center. Emily picked the phone up.
"Hello?"
She paused
"Yes this is Mrs. Gilmore"
Another pause,
"She what?"
Pause,
"Thank you. We'll be there to get her soon"
Emily hung up.
"Enough is enough," she said, "we're doing it my way"
"What the hell are you talking about"
Emily got her keys out
"Rory has misbehaved for the last time. She bit a little boy today. We have to pick her up from school because she's being suspended for the day and now she is going to learn some discipline"
Lorelai heard this more then once before from her mother so she just rolled her eyes.
"Do not roll your eyes at me young lady," Emily said.
She drove to the school and picked Rory up. She insisted Lorelai stay at the house
Emily had driven away before Lorelai could object.
"Thank you for coming to get her," the teacher said, "she's a good girl but she did something that could have hurt another child"
"I understand," Emily said, "and believe me she will be disciplined for it"
She drove home with Rory in silence. When she got home instead of going inside she opened the door to the guest house so she and Rory could have 'a talk'.
"Rory Gilmore," she said, "you know better then to do what you did. It was wrong to say the least. It was harmful. Would you want someone to do that to you?"
"No Gamma"
"Lay down on the bed," she instructed Rory, "On your belly"
Never having been spanked before Rory didn't know what was going on and
she wasn't afraid.
"I want you to understand this young lady," she said, "I love you and this is why I'm about to do what I'm going to do" Rory saw her grandmother lift her hand and (spank)
"Ow"
(Spank)
"How do you think (spank) that little (spank) boy felt when you (spank)
bit him?"
By the time Emily was done Rory was hysterical. Lorelai happened to be walking outside when she heard the commotion.
"What the-," she knelt to Rory's level, "sweetheart what happened"
"Gamma hit me," she explained.
Lorelai glared at her mother. If looks could kill Emily would be six feet underground.
"I didn't HIT her," Emily said, "I disciplined her the way I saw fit"
"Yeah," Lorelai spoke in a quiet but angry voice, "well guess what. It wasn't your decision. You had absolutely NO right to do that mother. She's not your child. She's mine. I'm leaving and you will never see me or my daughter again."
"Lorelai don't be ridiculous"
"I am not," Lorelai said, "being anything but a mother"
She was holding Rory to the comfort of her chest.
"She's my child too"
"No she's not mother," Lorelai said, "did you ever think maybe there was a reason she bit that child"
"If he was bothering her she should have told the teacher"
"SHE'S TWO," Lorelai finally exploded, "How is she supposed to think of those things"
Lorelai took her car and Rory's car seat and drove away with nothing but her ATM card and the clothes on her back. Emily watched her drive away baffled. She wouldn't see her daughter or grand-daughter again for fourteen years.