Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters all belong to Amy Sherman Palladino. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit will be made from this story.
It was the middle of December.
Emily was walking around the mall. It was near Christmas and she was looking for something nice for her girls. She had entered tens of shops. Libraries, cd shops, boutiques, perfumeries, but she wasn't able to focus on the shopping. She felt as if she missed something, but she didn't know exactly what. She sat on a bench and put her purse on her lap, opening the zipper slowly before looking for her cell phone. She flipped it open and saw a little envelope flashing. She had received a new message. She pressed the green button and read it silently.
"I wonder what my beautiful wife is doing right now. I'm so annoyed. I can't wait to come home to see your eyes. Richard."
She chuckled lightly. Usually she hated sms. She preferred letters or postcards, but every time Richard sent her those short little messages she liked them.
She looked around one more time and then decided that staying there would be useless, so she walked quickly towards the parking lot. Twenty minutes later she was in her car, her hands on the steering wheel, her eyes firmly on the street, her mind at him.
….
"Richard, what are you doing upstairs? The girls will be here any moment." She yelled from the living room.
Emily stared at the dining room from her armchair and smiled shyly at the sight. The table was prepared for four people. She liked having both her girls in her house. In the last months it was the third time that Rory came home from the campaign trail. She had missed her a lot, but she was happy because of Lorelai, she had still attended to Friday night dinners. From the moment Rory had left to follow her dream of being a journalist Lorelai had changed. She was less cold towards her, and her ironical comments had become more and more affectionate by the time. She had noticed how her daughter had come more than once to her for some suggestions about the Inn and she had become used to her phone calls during the week. But having Rory there was still exciting for her, and for Richard obviously.
Richard joined her five minutes later. He walked towards the drink cart and poured himself a scotch.
"Do you want a drink?" he asked to Emily, smiling at her.
"Richard why are you smiling? And why it took to you so long to get ready for dinner?" She asked annoyed.
"Emily, dear, it's not my fault if you refused to take the shower together. I had to wait for you to finish yours and then I took my own alone. I felt so sad in that big shower. I missed you and I let the melancholy overwhelmed me." He said with a mischievous look.
She gave him an amused look and had to hide the smile that was forming on her mouth.
He helped her out of her chair and sat down on the couch, bringing her with him. She sat on his lap and put her arms around his neck, bending down lightly to kiss his earlobe gently.
He moaned softly and put his glass on the coffee table.
"I thought that after our late afternoon together, you have allowed me in the shower with you." He said caressing her hands.
"You know very well that if I've allowed you coming in the bathroom with me at this time we would be still upstairs." She responded leaning her hear on his shoulders.
"And then? I don't see the problem." He said still caressing her gently.
"It's Friday night and the girls are coming." She responded giving him a scolding gaze.
"You're right. Maybe we could have an after dinner shower…." He said and then bent down to kiss her lips softly.
She responded willingly and let him deepening the kiss. She would have heard the doorbell ringing when the girls arrived, so no needs to stop him too soon.
Lorelai and Rory stood in front of the main door.
"Mom, are you sure that it's good? Maybe it's better if we ring the doorbell, as usual." Rory said looking at her mother.
Lorelai shook her head forcefully and put the key in the lock.
"Rory please stop thinking about the worst. Mom gave me the key and told me that I could use it every time I want. So I'm simply doing what she told me." Lorelai responded annoyed.
Sometimes she wondered from whom her daughter had inherited all that wisdom and politeness. Then she realized that maybe Rory had some of her mother's genes, and immediately tried to forget this thought.
She turned the lock slowly and pushed the door open. They went inside, leaned the coat on the balustrade and walked towards the living room silently.
Both gasped at the sight.
Lorelai covered her daughter's eyes with her hands the moment they entered the room.
"Mom, what are you doing? Let me go." Rory said feeling her mother's hands on her face.
"Don't look, baby. Don't look." Lorelai said aloud.
Emily and Richard jumped at the sound of their daughter's voice. Both turned their heads towards the stairs and saw Lorelai and Rory staring at them. Or better Lorelai staring at them and Rory trying to free her face from her mother's hands.
"Lorelai, what are you doing?" Emily asked sitting next to Richard and smoothing her blouse, closing a couple of buttons with nonchalance.
"I? Did you ask to me what I'm doing? I came here for our usual dinner and I brought my innocent little baby with me. And then I found her grandparents kissing on the couch. And you asked to me what I'm doing? You, what were you doing?" Lorelai responded freeing Rory from her grasp and then sat down on the pink couch.
Emily looked at them a bit embarrassed. She had never expected them showing up like this. And she hadn't even heard the doorbell. Suddenly she realized why.
"Did you use the key?" She asked quickly to Lorelai.
"Yes I did. You gave it to me. Don't sound so surprised. I did it before." Lorelai responded giving her mother a challenging gaze.
Emily swallowed slowly and then looked up at Richard. He put his hand on her knee and smiled.
"It seemed as your grandma and your grandpa are still in love." Lorelai said looking at Rory.
"Yes, they look at each other as if they are still teenagers." Rory responded amused.
Lorelai chuckled. The dinners were getting better and better. Her parents barely criticized her in the last couple of months and now they acted like newly fiancée. She liked it. She liked them more this way.
"Lorelai, Rory I want you know that I'm hopelessly in love with my wife." Richard said playfully.
Emily gave him a sharp look.
"And does Mom know about this woman?" Lorelai responded laughing lightly.
Richard smiled amused and decided that it was the right moment to let his girls know about the afternoon and his wife actions.
"Lorelai, Rory, I want to tell you a story. I need you to listen to me attentively, and please don't interrupt me." He said taking Emily's hand in his.
She looked at him worried. He couldn't do this. He couldn't tell them about Yale.
"Richard." She tried to say but he cut her off.
He cleared his voice and then started telling the entire story.
"I was in my office at Yale talking to that student of mine. She's a smart girl, and quite nice to be honest. We were talking about my last lesson and her assignment. She seemed a bit disappointed by my low valuation. I listened to her explaining her reasons and I tried to understand her. After a while she stood up and said that it was really hot in my office, so she put her sweater off of her shoulders. I looked at her puzzled. I didn't notice the heat in the room before. She didn't stop undressing. I asked to her what she was doing, but she didn't respond. She simply started to unbutton her blouse and in a couple of minutes she was wearing only her bra and skirt. I had a hard time to convince her that what she doing was completely useless with me. I'm not the kind of professor that changed a valuation only because of some courting. But she didn't seem to listen to me. She was absolutely focused on her plan. The moment she grabbed the zipper of her skirt I heard the door opening. I immediately saw my teaching career faded in a second. People would surely talked about that episode and I had no proves to defend myself. I widened my eyes in shock when I saw who was entering the room. Emily. I was sure she would have yelled at me and maybe made a scene. But I was wrong. At least about yelling at me. She swallowed hard and then closed the door behind her. She walked towards the girl and knelt on the floor. Grabbed the sweater and the blouse, walked towards me, kissed my forehead gently and then opened the window behind my desk and simply let the garments fall out, on the yard. Then she sat on my lap and started her speech.
I hope to remember the exact words she used:
"You, little mouse, have to stay far from my husband. Do you really think to graduate because of your body? You're not so beautiful and I suggest you to eat less cakes. Your stomach is everything but flat and your neck is too gross. And about your ass, you need some jogging to lift it a bit. And now go out from this room and let my husband enjoying his wife's presence. If you want that I don't refer this episode to your mother, stay far from Mr. Gilmore. And if you think that I don't know who your mother is, you're wrong. I know her very well."
Emily said looking at the poor student coldly. That girl ran out of my office in a matter of seconds. Maybe she's still running somewhere at the campus." Richard said looking amazed to Emily.
Lorelai and Rory exchanged an amused gaze.
"Good job Mom." Lorelai said.
"Yes, you've been great grandma." Rory added a moment later.
"But I have the sensation that the story is not complete, not yet. Am I right, Dad?" Lorelai said looking straight in her father's eyes.
Richard looked at Emily and she silently pleaded him to not say a word about the rest of the story. But he had seemed so proud in the office that she could tell that his ego needed to tell more about the afternoon.
Richard bent down and kissed her cheek lovingly, before looking up at Lorelai and Rory.
"If I had to be honest this was only the beginning of the story. When that girl went out of my office your mother stood up quickly from my lap and walked towards the door and locked it. She stopped in front of me, her hands on my desk, and gave me a freezing gaze. It was the part I had expected from her. She yelled at me, she called me a complete ass for having let that little mouse behaved like this. She said that I was a spineless jellyfish and that she was simply furious at me for not having stopped the girl. She walked towards me and lifted her hand to slap me. I grabbed her wrist forcefully preventing her to hit me and I forced her on my lap. I explained to her the situation. That I had been stunned by the weird behaviour of my student. I convinced her that I would have stopped the girl before she went too far and then I…." He stopped for a moment.
"And then what?" Both Lorelai and Rory asked expectantly.
"And then I showed to your mother how much I love her." He said innocently.
"Richard!" Emily said and slapped his upper arm.
"Don't tell me that you and Mom made….. in your office. It's disgusting." Lorelai said making a shocked face.
"I simply made her understand how deeply in love with her I am. And I can say that the way she walked out of my office, so elegant and refined, was really unique." He said looking down at Emily.
"Richard I really don't understand how could you tell them all of this." Emily said with an anger tone, before standing up and walking towards the drinking cart.
"Let me say that I like you a lot. I'm really proud of you Mom. Thanks Dad for having told us this story. I feel as I finally know a part of you that I ignored before. And I like it." Lorelai said seriously.
Emily and Richard shared a puzzled gaze. Maybe she had been honest. Maybe sharing with her part of their private life was not so bad.
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