Title: Fundraisers and Tea Parties
Rating: Kid-friendly.
Spoilers: Through season 6.
Disclaimer: The quotes belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, as do the characters. But this is just for fun, so we can forgo the lawsuit.
Author's Notes: For OldFashionedGrl – I adore you.
"Fundraisers and tea parties? It's frivolous! And meaningless! She has more to do, more to be! I don't want that life for her."
"You mean my life. You don't want her to be me."
"Emily, no! That's not what I meant."
Except that deep down, it is. And he has known that since the USO fundraiser, he's just kept pushing that thought away, pushing it down. It's different with Rory. She's… she is Rory, and they need a plan because they've already lost her.
Richard takes another drink and leans back in his chair. Closing his eyes, he tries to determine how the life his beloved Emily lives is so abhorrent when it's his granddaughter doing the same thing, living that same life. He sighs, it's too much. He's been in here for two days and he still can't see a way around this. But he knows that something has to be done because Rory will not waste her life. She will not.
~*~
His rage drained completely with the realization of what he was seeing. It was Emily. Forty years ago, but it was Emily. Except that it wasn't Emily at all, it was Rory. And the thought of what she was doing, what she was becoming, soured his stomach. He watched her thank the band and the list of donors, and he wanted nothing more than to shake her, shake some sense into her, shake her all the way back to Yale.
He felt the anger towards Mitchum Huntzberger returning. That man, how dare he? It was all that man's fault, all of it. Except that deep down where he hid things too unpleasant to think about, he knew that it was his fault as well. Lorelai had a plan. And he changed everything. He let Rory cry on his chest and gave in, caved to the girl and her tears. And now look where that had gotten them, Rory was fast becoming Emily and that was not something he could allow. He pushed down the question as to why that was such a bad thing, because it was and that was all there was to it.
~*~
He sighs again, it seems like the hundredth time now, and decides he might as well go up to bed now. The sounds of party clean-up had vanished about an hour ago. Climbing the stairs, he can't help but hope that Emily is asleep. He hurt her, he knows. But he doesn't know how to explain things to her, doesn't know how to apologize yet. Because she was right, he doesn't want their granddaughter to have his wife's life, and he doesn't know how to say that without further hurting Emily's feelings.
He opens the door quietly and can tell immediately that Emily is awake. Oh, she's got her eyes closed, but she's too stiff to be sleeping. He pauses a moment by the bed, but when she doesn't open her eyes, he knows she'll pretend until he himself has fallen asleep. He could kiss her now, giving him this out, but that would end the pretense and the truth of the matter is that he's feeling quite cowardly at the moment. He doesn't have the words to explain yet, so he'd just as soon wait to face her. He's glad there's a business trip coming up.
~*~
He had been worried. He hadn't known what else to do except to call Lorelai. Because Emily was obviously ignoring his calls, ignoring him. But, Lorelai had found her. He had no idea what she was thinking of, buying a plane. That woman could do the oddest things at times. But he heard his daughter's voice saying that her mother had made the bed herself. And he had wondered why he hadn't thought of that himself. When they were first together, first married, she would make their bed herself. Why shouldn't she do so again? Lorelai had said that Emily would be home in an hour. He hoped that was enough time.
~*~
Richard hears the front door open and knows that it's time to face the music. He knows they've only just really gotten over the whole Pennilyn Lott lunch debacle. And he doesn't want to say the wrong thing, the thought of being without her, well it's unthinkable. And so he calls out to her, inviting her to his study.
When she walks in the door he can tell that she's been crying. Lorelai hadn't told him much, but he knows that Emily's feeling fragile. He can see it in her eyes. And while the sting is there in her voice when she tells him she didn't buy the plane, the hurt is lurking there as well.
He takes her hands in his, rubbing her fingers softly. He tells her he is sorry. Sorry that Rory left, sorry for what he said, sorry for everything. And then he tells her that she is beautiful, and perfect, and the only woman in the world for him.
He flinches when she asks if he's sure he wouldn't like more than a glorified party planner for a wife. He can only tell her that it's a different world out there now, and that they both know how capable Rory is, and what she can do in this life. Then he leans in and whispers in her ear things he rarely says, about love and her and them. And just when she's leaning into his jaw, he tells her that he has a gift for her. She smiles when she sees the Birkin bag. And Richard knows that it won't heal the wounds left by this latest exodus, or his unkind words. But it's something he can do to show her that he listens, that he loves her.
The End