Hey guys, I'm sorry I didn't update last week. My grandma is pretty sick and I've been spending a lot of time up at her place and there's no wifi there for me to post. That being said there will probably be sometimes where I miss updates due to the situation, hopefully you guys can understand that.

A week after her birthday Rory's sitting in her cubicle mainlining coffee and putting the finishing touches on an article before sending it off to editing. She's rereading the final paragraph when her cell phone starts buzzing on her desk. With a quick cast around the office to see if her boss is near she answers with a quiet, "Hey mom."

"I know you hate it when I call you at work but it finally happened," Lorelai blurts out, she sounds rattled and that immediately catches Rory's attention.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"It's grandma, hun." For one heart stopping moment Rory feels the world slip out from beneath her before Lorelai continues. "She finally broke. She called me at work, completely hysterical, just crying and yelling. I think it all finally sunk in and she's not handling it well. I'm in Hartford now trying to calm her down, but I think having you here would really help."

Rory's already sent her article in and is powering down her computer. It's Friday, no one will mind if she ducks out a half hour early. "Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Good, that's good. Just," she pauses for a second and lets out a weary sigh. "Drive safe, okay?"

Rory frowns, she hates hearing her mom sound so drained. "Always. I'll see you soon," she promises. "She'll be okay," she adds.

"I know," Lorelai says but that undercurrent of worry is still there.

After a quick conversation with her boss she flags down a cab to take her to her apartment so she can get her car. It takes awhile to get out of the city but once she hits the open road it's smooth sailing, she turns up the radio and does her best not to think about what's currently going down in Hartford. About halfway there her phone begins ringing again, seeing that it's Logan she realizes that she'd completely forgotten their plans for the night.

"I'm so sorry," she says in lieu of a greeting.

"Hey, where are you? I'm at your apartment but I'm guessing you're not," he replies.

"My mom called," she starts, "Grandma's kind of a wreck right now. Apparently it all just sunk in and my mom called and asked me come. I'm so sorry, I totally forgot about dinner." Dinner with Honor and her family, that is. She's been bugging Logan about all of them getting together since she found out and they'd finally managed to clear their schedules out for tonight.

Logan makes a noise of understanding. "Don't worry about it. Go be with your family, I'll explain everything to Honor, it's fine."

"Tell Honor I said I'm sorry."

"I will. But really, it's fine, she'll understand and we'll just pick another day. On the brightside this gives us more time to prepare for the constant questioning we're bound to face."

Rory rolls her eyes. "Come on, she's not that bad."

"We'll see if you're still saying that after she's grilled you for every single detail you can remember about the past few years," Logan says with a hint of a groan.

"You can't fool me what that tone. I know how much you love her." That's true, in fact Logan's love for his sister was always one of the things she admired the most about him. It had shocked her at first how much they cared about each other, she'd gotten used to the Chilton kids who despised their siblings and fought constantly, seeing Logan and Honor behave like average siblings was a nice surprise. Later she'd realized that they were all each other had when they were growing up; their parents were always working or planning, and they aren't exactly the warmest people ever, it would have made sense for the two of them to band together as kids. The fact that they've managed to retain that relationship all these years spoke pretty highly of the love they had for each other.

"I never said I didn't love her, I'm just saying she can be annoyingly persistent," he counters. "Are you staying there for the weekend?"

"I'm staying tonight for sure, I don't know about tomorrow. I guess it depends on how everything's going."

"Alright, I'm just a call away if you need anything," he reminds her. "How far are you from Emily's?"

She glances around at the scenery along the road for her usual markers. "I've got an hour or so," she tells him.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then. Text me when you get there so I know you're okay please."

She smiles to herself. It's a simple, common request, but it's nice knowing that he's looking out for her and wants to make sure she's okay, even if it's just in the form of a confirmation text. "I will," she promises.

"Thank you. I'll talk to you later," he says. "And tell your mom I said hi," he adds.

She notes that he doesn't say anything about telling Emily hello, but considering that she still doesn't know about their relationship, or that they're even speaking to each other, that makes sense.

"Will do."

)()(

She pulls up to the house just as the last of the sun is disappearing into the night sky, she sends a quick text to Logan and then hops out of the car. At the door she's greeted by an unfamiliar maid who looks panicked and is silently led into the living room.

There are very few instances in her life where she can remember seeing her grandmother look anything other than perfectly poised, the picture of elegance and grace, but this is one of those moments and it easily knocks them all out of the water. Emily is strewn across the couch in a pale pink dressing gown, hair in a disarray, not a stitch of makeup on, and red puffy eyes from crying. Lorelai is perched on the end of the couch and murmuring in soothing tones to her, though Emily doesn't seem to be listening. In fact she looks completely checked out, eyes dazed and mouth slack.

"Mom?" Rory says quietly, still standing in the archway like she's unsure if she wants to go any closer.

Lorelai whips around in surprise and gently pushes herself off of the sofa and walks towards her.

"Hey hun," she says, hands shoved awkwardly in the pockets of her jeans. Rory's eyes stay on her grandmother.

"What happened?" her voice is barely above a whisper and it sounds incredulous to her own ears.

Lorelai shrugs. "I don't really know what set her off, she didn't tell me. She called me earlier, practically incomprehensible, just yelling and crying. I got here as fast as I could. She stopped yelling a little bit ago and she's been like this since," she says with a gesture to Emily's still form.

"What do we do?" Rory luckily hasn't had to deal with grief stricken friends much in her life, at least not friends who had lost someone, and she certainly has never had to deal with Emily Gilmore in a state quite like this. She's seen her grandmother in plenty of emotional situations, she's seen her enraged, yelling and screaming; she's seen her scary quiet when she's angry but doesn't want to show her hand quite yet, though it's obvious she's planning something; she's seen her sad and panicked; she's seen her happy and proud; but she doesn't think she's ever seen her like this, like she's emotionless. It scares her more than she wants to admit, it feels a bit like she's on the verge of losing another grandparent and she wonders if her mom is feeling the same way.

Lorelai shakes her head helplessly and Rory notices that her mom's obviously been crying too. She pulls her into a tight hug and Lorelai latches on fiercely. "We'll figure it out," she tells her mom quietly. Lorelai pulls back and hastily wipes at her eyes, she gives Rory a smile, trying her best to put on a brave face and Rory figures that's the best they can do at the moment, so she follows suit and makes her way to the couch.

She squats down beside it and takes one of Emily's hands in hers, she doesn't even stir. "Grandma?" she says hesitantly. Emily blinks. She doesn't know what to say, the words are sticking in her throat, but she can feel her mother's anxiety radiating in the room, mingling in with the suffocating sadness of her grandmother and she knows she has to do something. So she forces herself to speak, she doesn't think about it, just let's herself ramble and stumble over the words and hopes that some of it makes it through to her. Lorelai speaks with her, interjecting from time to time with her own comments, the two of them just doing their best to get through to her in any way they can.

Eventually the words dry up and she finishes with, "I know this is hard, it sucks and it's unfair, I know," she pauses. "Actually I don't know and I can't pretend that I do. I don't know what it's like to lose a spouse, I can't imagine how awful this has to be for you. But I do know that you're one of the strongest, more tenacious people I've ever met, and I know that grandpa loved you and he wouldn't want this for you. He'd want you to be happy."

Emily, who seemed to have thawed a bit as she spoke, squeezes Rory's hand in response and aims a watery smile at her before glancing past her to Lorelai who's been standing behind her. "You did a good job with this one," Emily tells her.

There's a shocked laugh from Lorelai and a sniffling sound that tells Rory she's been crying again without having to turn around to confirm it. "She's pretty great," Lorelai agrees. "And she's right, mom."

Emily looks towards the ceiling again, tears flowing slowly out of the corners of her eyes and rolling onto the pillow. "I suppose you're right," she says, her words are raspy. "But it's not exactly an easy task to accomplish."

Rory contemplates an idea for a moment before she stands. "I'll be right back." She ignores her mom's questioning stare and ducks out of the room for a minute, returning a moment later with a bottle of scotch and a box of cigars in hand. It's enough of a surprise to get Emily to sit upright on the couch; Lorelai looks momentarily confused before she puts the pieces together and grabs three tumblers from the bar.

"What on earth are you two doing?" Emily asks, sounding a bit more like her usual self.

Pouring them all a drink Rory explains, "You remember the night of the memorial service when I disappeared for awhile?" At her grandmother's nod she continues, "I ran into Logan," she says, she figures that Emily was going to find out about them eventually anyway so it might as well be on her terms. "And we went into grandpa's study, we drank and smoked and we celebrated him, which is what we're going to do now," she says firmly and hands Emily a glass and a cigar.

Emily takes the drink but stares doubtfully at the cigar. "Smoking cigars isn't ladylike," Emily retorts, but it sounds hollow like a habitual repetition of something she's said a hundred times before.

"We won't tell anyone if you don't," Lorelai mumbles around her own cigar as she lights it. She inhales and puffs out a little cloud of smoke. "Come on, mom, give it a try."

She stares between Rory, Lorelai, and the offered cigar before sighing and taking it from Rory's outstretched hand. Lorelai gets them all lit up and once they've settled onto the couches the room falls into a brief silence. Her mom nudges her in the side and gives her a significant look.

So Rory starts talking again, her throat already starting to feel scratchy from use. She shares a story about Richard just to get the ball rolling, her mom picks it up for her, and eventually Emily joins in. She tells them about the first time she met him, it's a story they've heard before but it's nice all the same. She talks about their dates to art galleries, expensive restaurants and Yale football games. She talks about the proposal and their first wedding, she cries but it doesn't seem nearly as heartbroken as before. Lorelai reminisces about the day he bought her the dollhouse, about how despite their rough relationship he was a great man who did what was right for his family and how much she loved him.

They find out what had caused Emily's breakdown in the first place. She'd been looking for tax forms and some other paperwork needed to list the house on the market and wasn't able to find it. She couldn't figure out how to get what she needed on the computer and it had left her feeling useless and lost, like she couldn't take care of herself of her home by herself.

Lorelai's quick to assure her otherwise, "Mom, I can show you all of that. You can do this," she says firmly, leaving no room for argument. "You're an intelligent woman, you'll get the hang of it, and if you need help I'm just thirty minutes away. We'll get through this," she assures, her voice gentle but unwavering in her conviction.

Emily smiles at her, she looks proud and maybe a bit surprised, but pleased nonetheless. Rory feels inexplicably proud of both of them, it's nice to see them getting along, although the circumstances that caused the alliance are less than ideal and she's not entirely sure how long it will last, but she hopes that somehow they can manage to keep it up.

They're all emotional and quickly running out of scotch, but she thinks that this idea of hers might have done its job as well as she'd hoped. Emily laughs as Rory tells them about their trips to the country club, and she smiles wistfully when Rory gushes about how much she'd loved having him as her teacher. It feels like a weight has been lifted off of the room and they can all breathe a little easier now. It's obvious now how much Emily needed this kind of closure, she didn't have someone to rant to anymore like Lorelai and Rory did with Luke and Logan, and it had been a mistake for the two of them to go along with the idea that Emily was handling everything on her own. This wasn't the kind of situation a person should have to deal with alone, people need to be able to lean on someone during times like this and Rory's just glad that they were able to do that tonight.

At some point the maid had brought in plates of small hors d'oeuvres so they weren't drinking on an empty stomach but the platters are practically empty now, just like the bottle of scotch. She feels tired, completely and emotionally drained, but lighter too, a feeling she thinks is echoed throughout all of them. Next to her, Lorelai looks like she's ready to fall asleep where she sits, eyes blinking slowly in the dim lighting, Emily smiles indulgently at her.

"For heaven's sake, Lorelai, just go to bed."

Lorelai startles and blinks rapidly at her like she's trying to clear her vision. "No, I'm okay," she insists.

Emily rolls her eyes and places her empty glass on the side table. "You're exhausted, you need to go to sleep. We'll be fine down here, won't we, Rory?"

Rory nods. "Grandma's right, you've got work in the morning anyway."

Lorelai narrows her eyes at both of them but pushes herself to her feet anyway. "Fine, I can see when I'm not wanted."

"Don't be so dramatic," Emily drawls.

"Can't, it's in my DNA," Lorelai retorts and ducks out of the room before Emily can say anything in reply.

The room is left quiet in her wake, the night quickly coming to a close, but the silence isn't uncomfortable the way it tends to be when she's left alone with her grandmother. It feels more like a time for reflection, the two of them both taking some time to sort through all of the emotions from the night and get their bearings.

"Did you say you were with Logan Huntzberger?" Emily asks after a few moments like she just registered the words that had come out of Rory's mouth earlier in the evening.

Rory ducks her head and nods, grinning.

When she looks up Emily is staring at her with a familiar glint in her eyes and a knowing smile on her face. In a voice tinged with amusement she mutters, "Well what do you know."

)()(

Upstairs in the room that's become hers over the years she gets ready for bed and checks her phone as she's sliding under the soft sheets. There's a message from Logan sent earlier in the evening asking her how everything was going.

Are you still up? She texts him now. It's late and she doesn't want to disturb him if he's sleeping, his work has been hectic this week with board meetings and flights across the country, she knows he's been running on empty lately. Regardless of how tired he's been her phone starts ringing only moments later.

"Hey," she says as she settles against the propped up pillows.

"Hey, how's your grandma doing?"

"Better, I think." She tells him about their evening, how she'd introduced her grandmother to her own little coping mechanism and Logan listens attentively as she rambles on. "I mean, she's obviously not just magically fine now, but I think she'll get there."

"You're a really good person, you know that?" he murmurs.

"If people keep complimenting me like this I'm going to end up with a terrible ego," she tells him.

He laughs. "I doubt it."

"You never know. Hey, did you go to dinner at Honor's?" she asks when she suddenly remembers what their earlier call had been about.

"I did. And just like I said, she totally understood why you couldn't make it, but is eagerly looking forward to having you over another night," he replies like he's repeating something that was said to him before.

She nods to herself as she picks at a loose thread in the duvet. "That's good, but you sound really tired," she observes.

"I'm alright," he says and then proceeds to yawn into the phone.

Rory smirks. "I think it's time for you to get some sleep."

"Is that an order?" he asks teasingly.

"If it needs to be," she shoots back.

There's a little huff of breath from his side of the line like a short laugh. "No need. I'm crawling into bed as we speak."

"Good. Talk to you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," he confirms.

Surprisingly, despite all the commotion from the day her mind is quiet when she lays down. It takes her hardly anytime at all to fall asleep.

Sorry this isn't a particulary long or Rory/Logan centric chapter, but obviously Emily's feelings needed to be dealt with at some point and i remember someone commenting saying that they wanted something like this with the three women and I thought it was a good idea so here we are. Please review!