"When will any of this stop? I'm beginning to regret ever inviting them to stay with us…" Emily continued her rant in the car, as Lorelai and Rory sat on each side of her. "I mean honestly, she stole your jeep!"

"Yeah, what'd like to know is how she took my keys without me noticing." Lorelai chimed in. "Almost have to admire her for that…"

"I suppose you truly don't know how luck you are, until you meet the devil child of someone else." Emily sighed. "To beat it all, Elisa is completely clueless to this entire catastrophe."

"Devil child?" Lorelai couldn't help but repeat the phrase.

"Well, she's certainly no saint." Emily remarked.

"No, no she's not… it's just… wow, I never would have expected that from you." Lorelai continued to be impressed with Emily's understanding and judgment of the situation. It was so unlike Emily to be on Lorelai's' side, that it nearly felt wrong, but yet it brought a lot of comfort to Lorelai to know her mother was beside her on something.

"What if she wrecks?" Emily asked, her voice raising again. "What if she hits another vehicle? This has gone completely too far! That child is headed straight to prison."

"Prison?" Rory, who had remained silent and allowed her mother and grandmother to rant, accidentally let the question come out. She had intended on staying completely quiet as long as possible, but the word "prison" caught her attention.

"I'm sure she means juvenile hall." Lorelai corrected.

"At seventeen?" Emily raised her eye brow. "She'll be eighteen in just a few weeks. She's far past juvenile hall. She'll be lucky if they'd let her off on probation. The shame… a Gilmore in prison. Oh, it disgusts me to imagine it."

At that moment, Lorelai realized how heavy the situation was. She hadn't considered the fact that Emalisa could be put in prison. That was a tiny thought that had escaped her mind as she dialed the police's headquarters to report her missing jeep. Lorelai knew that Emalisa would deserve every ounce of it, but Lorelai wasn't that kind of person. She'd never be responsible for a child being behind bars.

"Don't be silly, Mom." Lorelai finally replied. "She wont go to jail. I won't press charges."

"Lorelai, you've called the police…"

"Yes, I know, but we'll just explain that she's my crazy, screwed up kleptomaniac niece who took off in my car, and that it's all alright now, we don't want to press any charges. We just want to taker her back inside and strap her down to her bed so nothing like this happens again."

Emily gawked at Lorelai for several seconds, "You don't intend to tell the police all of that…"

"Of course not, Mom." Lorelai smiled. "I'll leave out the part that she's my niece. We don't want them to think any more of the Gilmore family belong in a psych ward."

Perhaps Emily had finally developed a strange sense of humor, or for once in her life understood Lorelai's. Or, maybe she wasn't joking at all when she replied, "You're right, we don't."

They pulled up into the Gilmore driveway. Rory couldn't help but wonder what Elisa's reaction would be. After the fight they had the night before, she was sure that Lorelai and Elisa would not be able to work through this together. Things were much worse now, Lorelai had proof that Emalisa was a thief, but Rory honestly expected Elisa to deny it anyway.

"Mom, I'm not so sure I should go in there…" Lorelai replied as she stepped out of the car and looked at the house. "I can't be help responsible for what happens if I step into that house."

"I understand." Emily replied as she swung her purse strap around her shoulder. "And you won't be."

"I won't be?" Lorelai asked puzzled.

"Held responsible." Emily clarified. "Now, let's go." Emily began walking up the driveway. A little confused, but still very impressed Lorelai and Rory followed after her.

As soon as the door open, Emily heard footsteps running towards them. Elisa darted out from the sitting room. She appeared very upset and her eyes were red and puffy from excessive crying.

"Elisa?" Emily asked, fearing that something horrible had happened. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Mother!" Elisa threw herself into Emily's arms. "Emalisa has ran away!"

Lorelai and Rory gently stepped into the foyer, softly closing the door behind them. Lorelai reached over and pulled Rory closer to her.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked. "Did you hear about the jeep?"

"Jeep?" Elisa asked obliviously.

"Emalisa stole Lorelai's jeep this morning." Emily explained simply.

Elisa looked back down at the letter she had in her hand. "I guess that's how she planned to get away…" her voice sounded broken and weak. It bared no resemblance to the voice she so often used.

Emily took the letter from Elisa's hand. She read it quickly. "She must have planned to steal the jeep all along…" Emily finally replied. She handed Lorelai the letter.

Dear Elisa (mother),

I suppose I've always been a disappointment to you, it seems that I have been for many years, but what you may not know is that you are a disappointment to me as well. I'm not a child any longer and I've thought long and hard about what my life is to be if I stay here in this family. It is a not a pretty sight, therefore, I am leaving. I know you, mother, and I know you'll try to find me. You'll fail if you try. I'll be far from here by the time you even see this letter, and my tracks will be covered perfectly. I can take care of myself, and I plan to do just that.

Em.

Lorelai folded the letter and handed it back to Elisa. Who was still sniffling and crying.

"The police know that my jeep is missing." Lorelai replied solemnly, trying not to send out any emotions. "I'm sure she'll be found soon."

"Am I that bad?" Elisa asked. She raised her head and stared at Lorelai. "Am I so bad, that everyone runs away from me?"

Lorelai gazed at the broken woman for several moments, and though she tried to deny it she felt pity for her sister. Lorelai could never forget all of the pain, however. The relationship between her and Elisa was soured many years ago, and it was best just left alone. Lorelai didn't want to even try answering the question, instead she opened the door.

"Are you leaving?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. We'll just have your driver take us home." Lorelai replied.

"But your jeep…"

"I'm not worried about the jeep right now." Lorelai guided Rory out the door. "I'll talk to you soon, Mom." She closed the door behind her.

Later that night, Rory sat in her room and read through many of her old diaries. She had started writing them when she was seven, and continued to write till this very day. One thing she noticed in every entry was that she always made a reference back to her mother.

April 23, 1994

"Today was exciting! We moved into our new house! It's big! Mommy says we will live here until we get really old and the house has lots and lots of cats… I wonder if we could have puppies also… puppies would be more fun!"

October 1, 1997

"Jr. High is so boring! When are we actually going to learn something other than the founding of our town? Don't get me wrong, our town is great, in a storybookish, Cinderella kind of way, but what I think people in Stars Hollow don't understand, is that there is a world outside of Stars Hollow...

Mom got promoted to full time manager today. She's really proud of herself. She says she has to take a couple of business classes at the community college and then she can get a pay raise. After that, we're going to start saving up for a car. Mom said we could start a college fund too. I'm sure we won't need much, I know I can get a lot of scholarships for Harvard if I try really hard."

June 2, 1999

"Today has been so bad. Mom broke her leg! We've been at the hospital all day long, and hospitals make me so nauseous. There's just something about the horrible smell that is always lurking in the halls. I'm really glad that she's okay, but I know she's been in a lot of pain today. She never cried though. She's so much stronger than people know. I hope one day I can be as determined and strong as she is."

Rory's reading was cut short when her door opened and Lorelai stepped in. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but Dean is on the phone." Lorelai handed Rory the phone.

"Thanks." Rory replied. Lorelai exited and closed the door.

"Hey, did you get everything straightened out?" Dean asked.

"Sort of…" Rory replied.

"What do you mean sort of?"

Rory took a deep breath and began to explain. After she finished explaining, Dean was left speechless.

"What is your mom gonna do?" He asked. "She can't afford to just go buy a new car…"

"I know." Rory replied. "She'll figure something out. She always does."

"If you need anything…"

"I know." Rory replied. "Thanks, Dean."

"You're welcome." Dean replied, happy to oblige. "Good night. I love you."

"I love you, too." Rory hung up the phone. She closed her dairies and walked into the living room where Lorelai was gazing through old photo albums.

"I guess we've both been reminiscing tonight." Rory said as she sat down beside her mother.

"I think I've figured it out…" Lorelai said blankly.

"Figured what out?" Rory asked.

"Why Elisa despises me so much."

'Why?"

"I have everything she's ever wanted." Lorelai turned the photo album around so Rory could see. "Look at this, almost every day of your life has been captured on camera. Well, at least until you were nine. We kind of slacked off after that. The film as getting way to expensive. We had a small fortune in pictures. "

Rory turned through the album pages. "I bet Elisa and Em don't have an album like this…"

"I bet they don't either." Lorelai agreed.

"She's jealous." Rory concluded.

"And all this time I thought she just hated me because I didn't conform to their lifestyle..."

"Well…" Rory began. "You can't fix the relationship between her and Em, but you can fix the relationship between you and her."

"Maybe…" Lorelai whispered softly. "Then again… Elisa is a very bitter woman. It's always been so much easier to just keep her away."

"I think she's hurting pretty bad right now." Rory thought back to earlier that afternoon. "I don't think she wants to be the mean person that she's become…"

"Yeah." Lorelai sighed. "You're probably right." She stood from the couch and closed the album. "But no one forced her to be that way, Rory. She's done all of this to herself."

"But…"

"The best thing to do, is leave her alone. Let her and Bailey deal with this. Emalisa is their daughter and their responsibility. Not mine. I'm sorry that she's had such a miserable life, but that's her own fault." With that Lorelai ended the conversation.