Richard Gilmore had just gotten home from a long three week work vacation in North Carolina. Oh how he despised North Carolina, it was dreadful and he absolutely hated going. More than that he hated to be away from his wife. It had been a month since he and his wife had been on good terms and even though they were still separated he was still in love with Emily and he didn't like to be away from her even if she did not seem to share the same feelings towards him. He knew that he had messed up seven months ago by ignoring her and letting her feelings pass him by, but he was a changed man now. He just missed his wife and would do anything to get her back. When Emily had found that dog in their yard, Princess he believed her name was, he was sure that there were sparks between them once again, but when the dog had gone he hadn't been over as often and they drifted apart once again. Now he was just getting home after three weeks with no contact from Emily and he missed her, his heart ached for her to be back in his life. As he walked towards the pool house he saw a note hanging on the door with his name on it. A smile crossed his lips as it was in Emily's handwriting, so she had thought about him enough to remember when he would be arriving home. Maybe she missed him in her life as much as he missed her in his own. When he got inside he put his bags down and sat on the couch opening the note.

Dear Richard,

Samuel Cartwright is hosting a Charity Auction tonight and as you

are in business together I figured you would want to attend. Meet

me at 12:00 p.m. to discuss the details over lunch?

Emily Gilmore

Richard smiled as his eyes looked over the letter. She was inviting him to dinner and that, for Emily Gilmore, was a big step especially being as stubborn as she was. These thoughts pleased Richard and left him with hope as he went inside to clean himself up, he had thirty minutes until he would see his wife and in that time it felt like years were passing. He had showered, shaved the sides of his face leaving his stubble of a beard, combed his hair, and dressed in a nice suit. He felt like he was back in school and trying to woo a girl into going to some event with him, and in some ways he was. More than anything he wanted his wife to let him come home to her and be the man that she needed him to be, he knew what he had done wrong and he was willing to do anything to make things right between them once more. Hiding the fact that he had been secretly going to lunch every six months for the past 39 years with Pennilyn Lott was the biggest mistake he could have made right next to actually going on those lunches and being the one who had come up with the idea in the first place. Regret filled him everyday and even if Emily could ever forgive him he would never forgive himself because it was too much guilt and had caused Emily far too much pain, and the thought of him hurting her like that was too much for him to bear. She was the love of his life and he had vowed to protect her from day one and here they were at nearly forty years of marriage and had been separated for nearly a year now. Richard sighed to himself, yes thirty minutes was all he needed to talk himself into an anxious mess.

Emily Gilmore sat on the bench connected to her vanity mirror, Richard would be there in less than seven minutes and she was still in her undergarments just staring at herself trying to calm herself down. If she hadn't of overreacted all those months ago at the Harvard/Yale game then just maybe they could have worked it out, but her pride got in the way of what her heart had wanted and she had pushed away the one thing that was always good in her life. As much pain as that secret had caused her, she knew that Richard would have never deliberately hurt her and he hadn't. As much as she had tried to convince herself that he had, in order to make herself feel better about going on a date with Simon McClain, Richard hadn't gone out of his way to hurt her and there was no way around it. Five minutes, she stared at herself in the mirror and sighed, how was it that she had always managed to screw everything up. If it weren't for her Lorelai might still be at home, she would have seen Rory grow up, they would have the life that they should have had from the beginning, and Richard would be in her bed each night, not out in the pool house where he didn't belong. Tears filled her eyes but she quickly blinked them back when she heard the door downstairs open and close, she had forgotten that he always liked to be early- they both did. She looked to the clock, three minutes and she was still sitting in her undergarments forcing herself not to cry. This was not how this afternoon was supposed to go, another thing she would blame on herself.

The evening as of now could have gone two ways; Richard would wait patiently downstairs for his wife in hopes that she wouldn't back out and stand him up and if she did he would go to the pool house and pretend it never happened and move on with his life, clearly she hadn't meant for this afternoon to be a reconciliation; or he would wait and if she didn't show he would march upstairs and confront her and tell her what a fool he had been and that if she would trust him just this once he would spend every second proving to her that she could trust and count on him again. The choice would be his. He waited and waited but time was passing and now it was ten minutes passed time for their meeting and may lightning strike if Emily Gilmore was ever late to anything in her life. He had to choose, the decision to leave and forget might prove to be his best choice, but may also ruin any chance that he had of winning back his wife. On the other hand, to go upstairs might have Emily upset with him for entering her personal space, but if he didn't try now what would make her ever believe that he wanted to in the future? Of course after all this thinking, and an extra five minutes had gone by, Richard had decided that either choice he would make would prove to be the wrong one and he may as well take his chances by seeing what the matter was.

"Emily?" he knocked on the bedroom door that was left cracked open and then continued to peek inside. What he expected to see, clothes everywhere Emily pacing trying to figure out what to wear or decide if she should even attend the lunch, was not what he found. Instead he found his wife sitting at her vanity and crying to herself. His heart dropped in his chest and he felt a pang of guilt race through his veins. This was his own damned fault. He had caused this. "Emily what is it?" he stepped inside the bedroom cautiously and went to her side kneeling beside her and placing his hand gently on her thigh, he was concerned about her.

Emily felt herself jump when she heard her husbands voice, but she couldn't bring herself to answer him as her voice seemed to be caught in her throat. The tears continued to pour and fall down her cheeks and she felt Richard's hand on her leg, sending chills up her spine. "Richard," she choked out and looked to him, my god he looks handsome, she thought to herself and bit her lip. "Wh..what are you doing up here?"

Richard smiled half heartily as he watched his wife bite her lip, she was beautiful but he absolutely hated seeing her cry. That wasn't the Emily the world knew, and when she let him see her in such a state it broke his heart because he always felt that a little bit was his fault each time and there was nothing he could do to help. "Emily," he slid his hand across her leg gently to her hand and entwined their fingers.

Emily quickly moved her hand away and stood up, backing away from him and shaking her head as she tried to fight her tears. "N-no, no don't do that!" she snapped at him. "You can't just come back into my life after eight months and pretend like everything is back to normal, Richard! You cheated and lied to me and we have not been together for months," the tears continued to fall.

"Emily, I did not cheat on you," he stood up and looked at his wife who was broken because of what he had done. "I hurt you and I know that what I did was wrong. I'm a complete fool for letting you go and an even bigger fool for keeping those lunches a secret from you, but I've changed, Emily. I promise you that is true, I am a different man now. I love you Emily Gilmore and I want to prove myself to you if you will just give me a second chance," he pleaded.

Tears fell down his wifes cheeks and her lip quivered as she tried so hard to keep them from falling. "You broke my heart," she got out. "You hurt me and you tried to defend your mistake for eight months after lying to me for thirty nine years!" Emily Gilmore looked at her husband with so much pain in her eyes. He watched the tears fall down her cheeks and he hated that he couldn't fix them, that he had caused this pain, and that he couldn't comfort her the way that she needed to be comforted.

"Emily," he started softly, the pain of having to stand by and watch her go through this alone was clear in his voice, "I made a mistake," he went on. "I didn't see how this would affect you, how it would affect us. Emily I would never do anything to hurt you, and I see now that it was wrong of me to hide those lunches from you especially considering that they were with Pennilyn," he sighed and looked down feeling helpless. He just wanted his wife back, no needed his wife back. "For eight months I've been living in that pool house, Emily. For eight months I've had nothing but time to regret the decisions I've made in my life that brought us here. Nothing pains me more than seeing you so hurt and broken because of me. I love you, Emily, I love you with every part of me and I want to make it all up to you," he watched his wife carefully as she stood a great distance from him as if to protect herself. "Please, Emmy? Just give me one more chance to prove to you that I am the man you fell in love with. I promise you that I will never hide anything from you again."

Emily watched as her husband begged for her forgiveness and it tore her apart on the inside. She had been so hurt, but she hadn't even considered how the separation had affected him. They had been inseparable for more than forty years, since their dating days, and one day she decides to leave him and they are no longer the husband and wife they used to be. He didn't have her by his side any longer, to check his clothes or fix his tie, to make sure he was eating the proper foods at a proper time, to make sure he wasn't wasting away at his desk. He no longer had his best friend to talk to when things were rough at the office, or a golf game had gone bad, or if he found something amusing, she hadn't been there for him to tell. The separation had been as hard on her as it had him and she could see it in his eyes, in the way he had let himself go slightly with his clothes and shaving habits. It broke her heart to see him like this as much as it broke his to see her in any pain. With a shaky breath she let her guard down, something that she rarely did and only with him. The first time he kissed her, the moment they admitted their love for each other, the first time they made love and she let him see her cry. It was rare for Emily to show her vulnerable side, but deep down she knew that she could trust him with anything.

She let her arms slowly fall to her sides and she took a breath as the tears fell slower now. "I've missed you, Richard," were the only words he needed to hear. Without a moments hesitation he went to her and in one swift motion he brought her into his arms and kissed her lips softly and held her close. Emily felt as if the whole world was spinning as she lifted her arms to wrap around Richard's neck, giving him the permission he needed to continue with these actions. It was their first real kiss in over eight months and he was going to enjoy what this moment brought them. In that moment it was only them, in that moment all of the pain had subsided, in that moment a husband and wife fell in love all over again, and what a beautiful sight it was.