See you at the gazebo
The wedding was beautiful, and fitting and I love that Kirk finally got something right with the decorations, but what struck me as odd was that Jess and particularly Emily wasn't there. I know this was probably an availability thing and additionally with Emily I wonder if they were trying to show that by her finding her new zen it also meant letting go of Lorelai and Rory a bit but it just made me sad. I also thought it would be odd that she would be in Nantucket the night before her daughter's wedding (it's like a 5ish hour trip) I would imagine her to be nearby the night before. She had clearly brought a dress and was intending and was supposed, (AS-P TV line interview) to be there. I feel that for Emily to have been there would have been a lovely conclusion to Emily and Lorelai's path; With all the needling she had been doing about Lorelai and Luke being roommates and ultimately for the whole series. Here is Lorelai still doing things on her own terms but this time she's letting her mother in, just like Emily has always wanted. Plus it would have given us an opportunity to see Emily's proud face which she rarely gives but it always packs a punch when she does, the shot at Lorelai's graduation of Emily and Richard looking proudly up at her is one of my favourite images from the entire show.
Emily stared blearily at her cell phone. Lorelai was calling her, it was almost midnight and Lorelai was calling her. Panic seized her chest. it was the night before the wedding, something was wrong. "Lorelai? what's wrong?" she answered the phone without a moment's hesitation.
"Nothing is wrong Mom," Lorelai chirped happily down the phone. "Get dressed, Jess is going to pick you up in ten minutes."
Emily stared into the dark of her room at the Dragonfly in confusion.
"Mom are you there?" Lorelai asked the excitement leeching from her voice a little.
"I…I don't understand" Emily whispered.
"Mom get dressed, Jess will pick you up, we'll see you at the gazebo" Lorelai told her happily and clicked off the phone.
Emily listened to the beeping noise of the ended call for a moment trying to process the little information that her daughter had given her. She clicked on the light by the bed, and climbed out of the big cosy bed. Hanging on the wardrobe was her dress she was to wear tomorrow. A dusky pale blue sheath dress with cream detailing and a matching jacket. She stared at it for a moment and then turned away, in her still packed overnight bag was a simple cream silk blouse and a pair of brown linen pants. Whatever it was she was about to walk into she somehow felt this was appropriate. Quickly she dressed, pulling her long navy batwing cardigan over the top of her ensemble, quickly applied her makeup and ran a comb through her hair. She grabbed her purse and slipped on her suede loafers leaving her room 8 minutes and 32 seconds after she had finished her call with Lorelai. As she made her way down the Dragonfly staircase the grown up version of the young hoodlum she had once briefly entertained in her house stepped in through the front door. The pair regarded each other, each casting their eyes down the other.
"Mrs Gilmore," Jess gave her a courteous nod,
"Hello again Jess," Emily walked down the remainder of the stairs. "I don't suppose you know what this is about."
"Luke just called and told me to get you," Jess gave her an apologetic smile. "Lorelai was yammering away at him in the background, I figured it was just best to do as I was told," he stepped back and allowed her to pass through the door before walking through and offering her his arm on the steps.
"I came to the same conclusion," Emily regarded his arm for a split second before gracefully accepting the offer and allowing him to escort her down the steps to his car. She pressed her lips together restraining herself from making a comment about his well-used hatchback and instead forced herself to give him a grateful smile when he held the door open for her. She waited for him to start the car before speaking. "What do you do now Jess?"
"I run an independent publishing house, in addition to writing." The young man gave her a wry smile "What do you do now Mrs Gilmore?"
Emily raised her eyebrows in amusement "I am a docent at the Nantucket whaling museum. I deliver talks to the tourists on whaling."
"Scare many kids?" Jess asked as his pulled onto the main drag into Stars Hollow.
"Plenty" Emily returned his wry smile "What on earth?" she peered out the windscreen as they entered the small town properly, the normally tastefully illuminated town was awash with fairy lights and all manner of frivolity.
"Looks like we fell down the rabbit hole," Jess muttered pulling his car in behind Luke's green truck.
Emily climbed out of the car and stared at the decorations in bewilderment.
"Grandma!" Rory called rushing over to greet her an excited look on her face.
"Rory," Emily kissed her in greeting. "What is all this?"
"Mom and Luke are eloping…sort of," Rory grinned at her and pulled her towards the town square where Luke and Lorelai were dancing under a greenery covered pergola.
"I don't understand," Emily tried to take in her surroundings.
"Mom," Lorelai broke away from Luke, moving in dreamy dancing steps. "I'm so glad you're here" she gave Emily a brief hug.
"But…" Emily looked at her mystified as she tried to comprehend with the lights and the colours and her daughter's oh so happy face what exactly was going on.
"Emily," Luke came up to greet her, holding his arms out to embrace her.
"Luke what's going on?" Emily asked allowing him to hug her.
"We're getting married tonight, so we can enjoy tomorrow," her almost son in law told her with a wide smile, his arms remaining around her shoulders. He guided her up onto the gazebo positioning her silently beside Reverend Skinner, indicating to Jess to stand on the other side before running down to corral Lorelai.
Emily gasped as she finally realised what it was she was about to witness as Luke spun Lorelai into Rory's waiting arms and joined them back on the gazebo. Her face broke into a beaming smile as she watched her daughter and granddaughter spin each other around and then Rory escorted Lorelai up the steps. Her granddaughter stepped beside her and excitedly gripped her arm as Lorelai and Luke began their exchange with the Reverend, quickly saying the words and exchanging the rings that made them officially husband and wife.
When the vows were complete the small party climbed down from gazebo and Emily watched her daughter happily hesitate as she watched her new husband. She rested her hand on Lorelai's shoulder making her daughter look up and back at her. Lorelai sent her a beaming smile, a look that was filled with so much joy and happiness that Emily couldn't find the right words to articulate what she had just witnessed meant to her. Instead she returned the smile and removed her hand from Lorelai's shoulder, letting her daughter move into the next chapter of her life.
AN - So these were my 8 AU's as I said at the start if you can think of anything that would lend itself to a oneshot 'remedy'/added scene drop me a line and I will see what I can do (no promises the muse has to strike). Suggestions open until the end of the year. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed them.
