Coffee.

Knowing where your home is and always having the option to return.

Lorelai was pacing her room nervously. She was now eleven years old and deemed old enough to enjoy a holiday on her own with a youth group. Her parents had been invited to spend a week on Cape Cott with friends. Emily had been reluctant to accept the invitation and had downright refused to entertain the idea of sending Lorelai away on her own. Richard, though, had convinced both his Gilmore Girls to give this new constellation a go. He had tactically reminded Lorelai that she was always telling them she was now a big girl and could do things on her own, and, in the quiet of their bedroom, reminded Emily that she had to let go of their child at one point in her life and that she would be handsomely rewarded for it by her husband.

But seeing Lorelai so ill at ease and Emily trying stubbornly to blink away the tears as she leaned against the doorframe, instructing the maid what to pack, he was not so sure of the rightness of his plan anymore. His two girls seemed lost. Neither wanted to appear weak in front of the other, but he could see that they desperately wanted to be held and comforted. As he silently observed the two most important people in his life a plan sprang up in his mind. After all who knew those two better than he did?

With a renewed spring to his step, he walked to the kitchen and gathered his supplies for a little family bonding. A pot of freshly-brewed coffee for himself and his wife, a glass of hot milk and some oreo cookies for Lorelai and he was ready. Carefully he carried the tray into the living room … not the representative one downstairs next to the dining room, but rather the private one connected to their bedroom as part of the master suite. Then he got the girls, sure now that his plan would work.

oOoOoOo

His plan had worked … not that he was awake to witness it …

Mother and daughter were sitting on the plush sofa near the large French doors leading out to the balcony. Emily had both her arms wrapped around her child and her nose buried into the soft raven curls of her hair. Lorelai's nose, her whole face, was pressed into her mother's soft bosom, greedily inhaling her unique scent of Channel No. 5 and coffee. She loved this smell. It always told her when her mother was near, it always meant a comforting words and the feel of her mother's arms wrapped around her. Lorelai couldn't help it. She had to blurt out what weighed so terribly on her heart.

"What if I get lost and can't find my way back home?" Lorelai asked hesitantly, her real fear finally coming forth.

Emily drew Lorelai closer into her embrace and kissed her temple gently. Then she tried to reassure her daughter as best as she could, "Nothing will happen, Lorelai. There will be plenty of care takers …"It didn't seem to reassure her daughter at all, though. So she tried to think of another tactic to comfort her little girl. Wildly she cast around in her mind for something she could say. Then she remembered her uncle, who had been a naval officer. He had always spoken of the stars and how they had always helped to navigate ships safely across the oceans. "You look up at the night sky and find the polar star. Then you follow it. It is the only star which doesn't move. It will always guide you safely home and into my arms." Both mother and daughter now gazed out at the night sky and Emily surprised herself by quickly being able to locate the polar star and showing it to Lorelai.

Some moments of peaceful quiet, only interrupted by Richard's soft snores, enveloped this homely scene until Lorelai whispered a request that made Emily almost laugh out loud.

"Of course, you can, darling girl," she chuckled softly, holding her child a little away from her to be able to see her face. "And I will even help you. But now we both have to go to bed. We will do it first thing tomorrow morning."

oOoOoOo

The next morning saw Lorelai and Emily passing by the breakfast table and a rather surprised looking Richard. His wife smiled at him and leaned down to press a swift kiss to his cheek, but was quickly pushed on and through the door to the kitchen by their daughter. Curiously Richard stood up and followed. What he saw made him smile broadly.

With a flourish of her wrist Emily produced one of her pristine white handkerchiefs from the pocket of her trousers and flapped it open before letting it gently flow down onto the counter. Lorelai chuckled a little at her mother's antics before quickly crossing over to the storage cupboard and taking down the coffee tin. She brought it over and poured a small pile of whole coffee beans onto the middle of the handkerchief. Emily lifted all four corners so she created a little bag now containing the coffee.

"Oh no," Lorelai moaned, "we forgot to bring something to tie it together."

Both looked at each other sheepishly. Richard chuckled, but stepped forward.

"Maybe I can be of some assistance to the ladies," he offered. Then, with an equally flourishing gesture he untied his bowtie and slipped it off his neck. Wrapping it multiple times around the little coffee bag, he then tied a perfect bow again.

Emily giggled mischievously and dropped the bag in Lorelai's hand before adjusting the bow so it was symmetrical and straight.

"Now you're all set for your trip and have something to remember us by."