Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own the characters

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. I know that this Emily is a bit different than what we are used to, but I hope you like it. Enjoy and as always Please Review!

Chapter 8

It had been two weeks since the showdown at her mother's house and Rory had been throwing herself into work. She was starting to show now and her clothes were getting tight; she had been meaning to go to the mall and get some new clothes, but just hadn't found the time and to be honest shopping alone isn't all that fun.

Rory pulled up to what is now her house and saw her grandmother's car sitting out front and was pleasantly surprised to see that Emily had made the 5-hour drive to come see her. She continued around the large driveway to the side of the house and parked her SUV in the garage. She walked into the house and saw the maid looking quite frightened and skittish and could only imagine what her grandmother had said or done to make her look that way. Emily Gilmore certainly had a reputation when it came to the number of maids she had gone through. "Good afternoon Mary Ann." Rory said as sweetly as she could but still caused the poor thing to jump. "Where is my grandmother?"

The maid looked at her with wide eyes, wondering how someone as sweet as Ms. Gilmore could be the granddaughter of that ostentatious woman she had just encountered. "She is in the front sitting room Ms. Gilmore; she got here about 20 minutes ago." With that she did a small curtsey and quickly went as far in the opposite direction as she could very quickly.

Rory made her way to the front sitting room where she saw her grandmother sitting with a martini in her hand. "Good afternoon Grandma, what a pleasant surprise!" Rory exclaimed as she walked into the room. Emily stood up and Rory gave her a hug.

"Good afternoon dear, I just thought that I would come over and we could go shopping. You mentioned the other day that you need some new clothes and I also figure you would like some new bedroom furniture for the master bedroom. I highly doubt you want to sleep in the same bed that your grandfather and I slept in; it is hardly your taste and to be honest the room could use some updating." Emily put her arm around Rory and started walking towards the door. "I was thinking that we could go to Raymour & Flanigan; they have a lot of young styles that I think you would like. We also need to start buying all the furniture for the nursery and deciding how you want to decorate it. When do you find out if it is a boy or girl?" Emily was just beaming, she was completely in her element and she was so excited that Rory would be living in the house and she could still come over and visit whenever she was really missing Richard.

"I find out at my next doctor's appointment Grandma, it is in two weeks, would you like to come with me?" Rory waited for her grandmother to respond. She really didn't want to go to her appointment alone and her and her grandmother had gotten a lot closer recently, so she really wanted her to be there with her.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world sweetheart." Emily smiled fondly "Just give me the date and time and I will be there." Emily felt her heart swelling with happiness, after years of always being excluded from every big life event, she was finally being willingly included; that was all she ever wanted, was a good relationship with her daughter and granddaughter, although it looked like the damage to her relationship with Lorelai was permanent and that made her sad.

"It is the Tuesday after next at 5:30, they were willing to work around my work schedule." Rory smiled and then grabbed her purse. "Well we better get going since we have a lot of shopping to do, and I will drive since you have had that martini." Rory started to walk to the door with her purse over her left forearm. "How about we hit the furniture store first and arrange delivery, then head over to the mall and go to A Pea in the Pod to get some new clothes?" She linked her arm with her grandma, grateful for this woman and grateful for the changes she had seen since her grandfather's death that allowed her to form a closer relationship with her.

"That sounds Wonderful Rory, let's go." Emily responded happily. The two of them walked out to the garage and got into the SUV. This was the first time Emily had seen it in person so she was excited to check it all out. "Oh Rory, I just love it! It screams you."

The exterior of the SUV was a beautiful bronze and the interior was dark chocolate brown leather and wood grain inlays. She had gone with the limited model, which came standard with an entertainment system and navigation as well as wifi. It was a beautiful vehicle and the third row seating was a nice bonus; when the third row was down, the cargo space in the back was amazing.

"Thank you Grandma, I am in love with it, I am so glad you convinced me to get all the accessories." Rory backed out of the garage and headed to West Hartford to get their shopping done.

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Several hours and several thousand dollars later, Rory and Emily were pulling back into the garage. She had gotten a beautiful bed set from the furniture store. The bed was beautiful; it was called the Tiffany collection and had a beautiful silver finish on the heavy wooden furniture. The bed had a cream-colored leather inlay with crystal tufting and the drawers were adorned with a silver snakeskin inlay and beautiful crystal pulls. She had gotten the bed, two nightstands, a dresser with mirror, and a chest of drawers. She had also gotten a gorgeous purple bedding set with some off-white fur and some silver sequined accent pillows. She had also gotten a new lamp and decorative candles and a beautiful picture frame for her nightstand as well as a large mirror for the wall and various other wall decorations. Overall she was very happy with the way the room was going to look, the furniture was large enough that it would fill the space, and with a room the size of that master bedroom that was quite a feat. After they had finished buying the furniture for the master, they had bought a new couch and chairs for the front sitting room, it was similar to what was in there already but it had a slightly younger feel to it. The final room they had bought for at the furniture store had been the nursery; she picked out a beautiful gray and white crib that she fell in love with on sight; it had a curved side with raised molding creating an oval, the rails were straight across and with a white border and grey slats. She knew that it would fit with either a boy or a girl and the bedding she would buy later would define the theme. She got a coordinating dresser and changing table as well as a plush grey rocker. Once she found out if she was having a boy or a girl, she planned on going to pottery barn kids to get all the wall decorations, crib bedding, and accenting pillows and other décor. She had already decided to turn the room that her grandmother had made into her room when she was a teenager into the nursery; she had talked to the designer her grandmother had recommended about turning one of the walls into floor to ceiling shelves and planned on replacing the carpet with a plush off white carpet. All the furniture was scheduled for delivery the next day and she couldn't wait to see it all set up.

After the furniture store, they had gone to A Pea in the Pod to get her a maternity wardrobe. There were just so many cute options to pick from that she went a little overboard. First she got herself some appropriate maternity business wear to wear to work; she got several suits as well as some knee length dresses that would work both on their own for casual daywear as well as with a blazer at work. She got several pairs of jeans and leggings as well as a wide assortment of tops, tunics, and sweaters. The ladies that work there were happy to help, especially when they saw the black card that Emily had pulled out at the very beginning in order to let them know that there were no limits. She had so many bags when they left that Rory had to bring the car around the ladies that worked there carried them all out to her car for her.

Luckily, Mary Ann was waiting for her when she walked through the door. "Good Evening Mary Ann, I have several bags in the back of the car, could you please get Georgette and carry them all up to my room and put them away? Also, can you find out if dinner is on schedule to be served at 7?"

Mary Ann smiled at her and responded quickly and quietly "Yes Ms. Gilmore, dinner is still on schedule for 7 and I will get Georgette and get your bags upstairs right away. Is there anything that you would like washed or sent to the cleaners before we put them away?"

Rory thought for a minute before responding. She would need clothes for work tomorrow as well as the next day since the dry cleaning was typically a 2 day turnaround, she didn't have plans to go anywhere the following evening so she wouldn't need any of the dresses back before then either. "Yes, on second thought, please leave two of the suits and coordinating tops in the closet and then take anything that needs dry cleaning to the cleaners and wash the rest of them tomorrow during the day. Thank you Mary Ann." Rory easily dismissed the maid and then turned to her grandmother who was just smiling as she took her granddaughter in. "Well Grandma, we have about 30 minutes before dinner will be served, would you like a drink?" she asked as they made their way to the front room.

"I would love a martini." Emily replied happily. She was so pleased with the way Rory was falling into the society life with such ease, it was where she belonged and she was so thankful to have this new and wonderful relationship with her that she had always hoped for but had never had before. "I was thinking that I would stay here tonight and through the day tomorrow, make sure that the old furniture is taken over to the storage unit and the new furniture is set up correctly. After that, I think I will head back to Nantucket; how does that sound?"

By that time they had made their way into the front sitting room and Emily had started to make her drink. "I think that sounds wonderful Grandma. I have to work tomorrow and should be home around 6:00; considering you have a 5 hour drive, I assume you will be gone before I am home, but if time allows it and the delivery shows up early enough, would you like to meet at the club for a quick lunch? I get an hour, that should be enough time."

Emily happily agreed and the two of them fell into an easy dialogue about all the new furniture as well as the need for some new tapestries. Rory had always loved her grandmother's style and décor, but she really wanted to bring her own touch to the space as well. They made plans to go shopping the following weekend to get some more things for the house and then they each retired to their rooms. It felt weird for her grandmother to sleep in one of the guest rooms, so she offered her the master bedroom, but she politely declined telling her that it didn't feel right sleeping in there anymore and confided in her that she had actually switched to one of the guest rooms in the days following Richard's death. She just couldn't sleep in that bed without him in it. Rory pulled her grandmother into a hug and told her how much she loved her. She could see the toll her grandfather's death had taken on her grandmother, she was thinner now and you could just see something missing inside of her; she was trying to learn how to be Emily Gilmore without her Richard and it was obvious that it was a very hard thing for her to do.

"Come on Grandma, it is late, lets get to bed okay?" Rory linked arms with her and they walked upstairs together. "I will see you for lunch tomorrow if you aren't up when I am for breakfast, I plan on eating at 6:00 and being out of here no later than 6:30. I have some work I need to catch up on, so I have been going in early so I can get stuff done before the office really comes alive." She knew her grandmother had taken to sleeping in, so she doubted she would see her for breakfast but she still extended the invitation anyways.

"I will probably just see you for lunch dear, 6:00 is awful early for this old lady." She laughed and kissed Rory on the cheek then headed to her room. Today had been a wonderful day and she felt better than she had in months.