A/N: Hi everyone! Firstly, thank you all so much for your reviews, they make me so so happy! I'm so glad you're enjoying. Secondly, I just wanted to drop a quick apology for how... sporadic (is that the word I'm looking for?) the updates have been this time around- or at least that's how I feel. Usually I don't start posting until I'm either finished or exponentially far ahead in my writing, but this story was going in a completely different direction as of 72 hours ago, so there have been a lot of last minute changes. I'm almost done, though, so you can expect regular updates again soon. I think I'm going to stick to every Friday with this story, instead of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday like last time, since this one is far shorter.

Anyways, thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy the rest!

-Em

Chapter Seven

To say that Emily was annoyed with her granddaughter was an understatement. Not only had the girl refused to take any of her suggestions when it came to the food, music and cake, but she had now refused to allow Miss Celine to find her a wedding dress.

"The mall!?" She screeched when Rory told her the next day. "You bought your wedding dress at the mall?"

"Yes," Rory nodded. "I don't see the problem."

She was pacing the apartment above the diner with her cellphone on speaker, while her mother sat on the couch watching her.

"The mall is where you go to buy a pair of shoes, not your wedding dress!" Emily cried. "Why didn't you tell me that you hadn't found a dress yet? Miss Celine could have come and given you all sorts of lovely options."

"I didn't want all sorts of options," Rory argued. "And I didn't want to spend a year's salary either."

"I would have helped you."

"I didn't want your help, Grandma," Rory tried to explain herself. "This is me and Jess's wedding and we want to do it ourselves."

"That's ridiculous," Emily huffed.

"She's serious Mom," Lorelai finally jumped in. "They won't let Luke and I give them money either."

"You're being absurd, Rory."

"I'm being independent," her granddaughter corrected.

"You're being petulant!"

"Mom, let her be," Lorelai sighed. "If this is what they want to do, then let them do it. It's their wedding."

"But-"

"No," Lorelai shook her head. "Let them have their wedding."

"So, was that all you wanted to talk to us about today?" Rory asked after a few seconds of silence. "Because we have a bunch of stuff to work on..."

"Fine," Emily huffed.

"Why don't you come help, Mom?" Lorelai offered. "We're putting together the party favours and centrepieces."

"You're doing them yourself?" Emily asked, her tone betraying her disapproval of this practice.

"Yeah," Rory shrugged. "Come on, Grandma, it'll be fun."

"Perhaps tomorrow."

Rory gave her mother a questioning look, but the other woman just nodded.

"Okay," Lorelai got to her feet. "Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us."

"Bye, Grandma. Thanks for thinking of the dress." Rory quickly closed the phone and dropped onto the sofa. "She's mad."

"No, she's just confused," Lorelai shook her head. "She doesn't understand the concept of a small wedding that you put together and pay for with your own money. She'll come around."

"She's mad," Rory shook her head.

"Yeah," Lorelai conceded. "But she won't be when she sees how pretty you look on Saturday."

Rory wasn't convinced, but she nodded.

- - PAGE BREAK - -

"What the hell is all this?" Luke demanded when he came out from the kitchen and found his wife and step-daughter spread out across three large tables with piles of books, ribbon, flowers, craft supplies and disassembled party favours all around them.

"Wedding stuff," Lorelai explained. "Hey, be a gem and get us some coffee and fries."

"What is it all doing here?" Luke ignored her request.

"Being put together. Coffee?"

"No," he shook his head. "You can't just take over half my tables. You need to move."

"But it's for my wedding!" Rory cried.

"I don't care," Luke shook his head. "Take it upstairs."

"There's no food upstairs."

"I will bring the food upstairs," Luke promised.

"But it's so much nicer down here," Lorelai argued. "You know, with the windows and the eye candy behind the counter."

"I don't care. Move."

"But there's so much stuff," Rory whined. "And we just got it all set up and settled."

"You can not work here."

"Please Luke. Please, please, please!" Rory begged, giving him her very best 'Rory Eyes'. "Don't you want me to have a good wedding?"

"Of course I do!" Luke scoffed. "But-"

"Then don't you think I should be allowed to work here?"

"Fine," he huffed. "But if people come in and need the tables-"

"We'll shuffle," Rory promised. "Thanks Luke!"

"So, how about that coffee and fries now, Hon?" Lorelai asked.

Her husband glared at her and shuffled off, mumbling under his breath about how he was being manipulated.

"Hey!" Lane walked in as Luke left, Brian and the boys following behind her.

"Hey!" Rory smiled up at her. "Hi Brian!"

"Hey, Rory," Brian waved and made his way over to the counter to order.

"Hi boys!" Rory held her arms open for Steve and Kwan to give her a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"We're getting snacks and going to see Halmee," Steve smiled, referring to their grandmother.

"Oh, fun!" Rory nodded. "Well make sure to say 'hi' to her for me."

"Okay!" Kwan jumped around eagerly.

"Steve, Kwan, you ready?" Brian came back over with a takeout bag.

"Bye Auntie!" Both boys gave Rory another hug, waved goodbye to their mother and followed Brian out the door happily.

"So, should we get to work?" Lane asked.

"Absolutely," Rory nodded. "So for the centrepieces, it's three books tied with a bow and a mason jar with a daisy on top."

"Got it," Lane nodded and reached for the stack of book. "Where did you get all these?"

"We raided all the thrift stores from here to Philly and bought anything with a pretty cover," Rory laughed.

"Well that explains why the genres are over the place!" Lorelai frowned, sorting through the piles. "I mean, I was wondering what the Roman Empire had to do with marriage."

"Yeah, don't read into the titles," Rory shook her head.

As they tied the books together, Luke brought over coffee and fries, along with a plate of donuts and a lecture about glitter.

"You cannot open those in here!" he pointed to the assorted vials in their pile of craft supplies.

"But-" Rory started to argue, but Luke stood his ground.

"No," he shook his head. "You can take up all my tables and turn my diner into a wedding factory, but there is no way I'm letting you use glitter in here again. Last time you did that people were picking it out of their food for a month. Never again!"

He reached over and took the vials away.

"Hey!" his wife protested.

"You can have them back when you leave," he promised.

"Fine," both his wife and step-daughter sulked.

"Good. Call me when you need more food," Luke patted them both on the head patronizingly and went back to hiding in the storage room, figuring he would be better off not watching the chaos they were creating in his diner.

- - PAGE BREAK - -

When Emily joined them an hour later, Rory was shocked.

"Grandma!" She jumped to her feet as the older woman walked through the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited, was I not?"

"Of course!" Rory nodded eagerly. "Come, sit! We were just about to start putting the favours together. Do you want some coffee?"

"Alright," Emily nodded and pulled out a chair, wiping it down with a handkerchief before sitting.

"Luke!" Rory turned and yelled in the direction of the store room, making her grandmother wince.

"You bellowed?" Luke emerged, an annoyed look on his face. "Emily, how are you?"

"Quite well, thank you," the older woman nodded to her son-in-law.

"We need more coffee," Rory smiled sweetly.

"You work here, you know where the coffee is."

"Yeah, but I'm really comfy over here," she wrinkled her nose.

"You ruined her," Luke glared at his wife, who was giving her daughter a proud look.

"I didn't ruin her, I perfected her," she scoffed. "So, coffee?"

"I'm nothing but an enabler," Luke grumbled and went to get another mug.

"But you're very good at it," Lorelai offered.

This didn't seem to make Luke feel better, but it certainly entertained Rory and Lane.

"What exactly are you doing?" Emily asked, looking at the cluttered table in front of her.

"Well, we were putting together the centrepieces," Lorelai filled her in. "But we finished that a few minutes ago. Now we're working on the table numbers."

"Excuse me?"

"We're forgoing traditional, boring table numbers and assigning people to tables named after our favourite fictional couples," Rory explained. "The head table is Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights."

"Why would you pick such a morbid couple?" Emily frowned at her granddaughter.

"Jess is broody and moody," Lorelai offered, giggling at her inadvertent rhyme.

"We have a thing for the Bronte's," Rory rolled her eyes at her mother. "It was between Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and we liked the Wuthering Heights quote better."

"Quote?"

"Oh, yeah," Rory nodded. "Each table has a couple and our favourite quote from their book or movie or whatever."

"That's very unique," Emily smiled at her granddaughter. "Well, how can I help?"

"How's your calligraphy, Mom?" Lorelai offered her a set of pens.

"This is what I want them to look like," Rory showed her a sample.

"Alright," Emily nodded and took one of the scrap pieces of paper scattered around the table to practice. "How's this?"

"Grandma, that looks amazing!" Rory gaped at the beautiful inscription. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"I was a debutante in the time of letters," she smiled proudly. "I've held onto a thing or two."

"Geez, Mom!" Lorelai smiled. "You've been holding out on us!"

"You are definitely in charge of the table names," Rory handed the list over. "Go to town."

"Alright," Emily laughed and looked down the list. "Estella and Pip never ended up together."

"No, but they had a good story," Rory shrugged.

"Who is Miracle Max?"

"He's the Miracle Man in The Princess Bride," Lorelai explained. "Have you never seen it?"

"No."

"Stay for dinner, we'll watch it tonight!" Rory offered excitedly. "Grandma, you'll love it."

"I don't know if I can tonight."

"Please!" Rory begged. "We'll have a Gilmore night. Just you, me and Mom."

Rory saw her mother cringe and kicked her under the table.

"Yeah, Mom," Lorelai winced and pretended to be enthusiastic. "Come on!"

"Well, alright," Emily finally agreed. "If you insist."

"We do!" Rory nodded.

Emily smiled warmly and turned her attention back to the list while Rory stuck her tongue out at her mother.

"Anna Karenina?" Emily scoffed. "Really, Rory! And Catherine Barkley? Must you fill your wedding day with death?"

"It's not my fault all the good love stories end with someone dying!" Rory argued.

Emily just shook her head in amusement and got to work on the placards while Rory, Lane and Lorelai started assembling the party favours- Smores Kits.

- - PAGE BREAK - -

When Lane had to leave to go pick up the twins, Lorelai suggested that they pack it in as well and get some dinner.

"What do you feel like, Mom?" she turned to the eldest Gilmore. "Anything on the menu here, or we could order pizza, or get Chinese?"

"Oh! How about Chinese with a side of Luke's garlic bread?" Rory suggested.

"Sounds just disgusting enough to work," Lorelai agreed. "Mom?"

"I supposed I'll have to defer to the two of you for proper movie night cuisine," Emily frowned.

"It's always best to leave it to the professionals- Luke!" Lorelai skipped back to the storage room to ask her husband to make the bread, while Rory dug around in a drawer for a takeout menu.

"So, here or the house?" Lorelai asked her daughter when she returned.

"Whichever," Rory shrugged, trying to listen to the person on the other end of the phone. "No, Al, I don't want your special of the day... Grandma, any preferences?"

"I've always been partial to Kung Pao chicken."

"You like it spicy, eh Mom?" Lorelai smirked.

"Lorelai," Emily rolled her eyes at her daughter.

"What? It was just an observation."

"Nothing is just an observation with you," her mother huffed. "There's always some sort of innuendo."

"Could you two maybe take this over there," Rory put the phone to her shoulder.

"Give me that," Lorelai rolled her eyes and snatched the phone from her daughter, silencing Al and putting in their order. "Let's go back to the house."

"Alright," Rory nodded. "Coffee for the walk?"

"Absolutely," Lorelai nodded. "I'm just going to go tell Luke we're leaving."

- - PAGE BREAK - -

When Emily went home that night, all three women were in an oddly good mood. Emily had thoroughly enjoyed both the food and the movie, and both Rory and Lorelai had had fun watching it with her.

"We should do this more often," Lorelai offered at the end of the night. "It was fun."

"It was, wasn't it?" Emily smiled at her daughter. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lorelai smiled back.

"Well, I guess I'll see you on Saturday," Emily turned to her granddaughter.

"Thanks for all your help today," Rory hugged her.

"It was my pleasure," Her grandmother hugged back. "If you need anything else, just call."

"I will," Rory promised.

Once Emily was gone, Rory headed back to her own apartment for the night, promising to tell Luke that the coast was clear when she got there.