Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I still don't own Gilmore Girls. Let the holiday mirth continue...

Luke had his toolbox in hand as he walked down the stairs into the diner. He surveyed the room and noticed Lane wasn't there.

"Lane," he called into the kitchen. "I gotta go help T.J. I should be back in time to close, but if I'm not take care of it okay?"

"You got it Luke," Lane said exiting the kitchen with two plates of food in each hand.

"Thanks," Luke said as he opened the door and walked out into the brisk May evening. Although the days were warmer, the nights were still nippy. He was about to cross the street when he heard a voice call his name.

"Luke," the voice called.

He knew it was familiar and for some reason he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He turned and it became very clear why he had felt tension. There, not 20 feet from him, was Emily Gilmore.

Luke hadn't seen Emily since the night he'd gone with Lorelai to tell her parents they were engaged. Emily had been none too pleased to learn of their intention to marry and she made it perfectly clear without directly saying it. She treated him much as she had the first time he had a formal dinner at her house. Her passive aggressive tactics were in full swing and most of the time Luke didn't even realize she was doing it. Emily Gilmore had a way of telling someone to go to hell straight to their face, but her Cheshire cat smile masked her contempt until later. It was only then, when she wasn't there anymore, that they realized she had put them down in every way possible.

Luke still remembered her reaction to their engagement. He saw her force her lips to contort into an obligatory smile and then the barrage of comments came, all of which added up to Luke being a blue-collar nobody. Luke had tried to sit there and endure while Lorelai tried to steer the conversation to safe topics. Rory kept shooting Luke sympathetic glances across the dinner table. Even Richard seemed empathetic to Luke's plight.

In the end, Lorelai pulled Emily into the kitchen. Raised voices were heard, but nothing clear could be made out. They emerged several minutes later and Lorelai grabbed Luke by the hand and told them they were leaving. Lorelai never told Luke what transpired, although he had a pretty good idea, and Lorelai hadn't spoken to her mother since.

"Luke," Emily said again rushing over to him. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Well actually I'm on my way to help out my brother-in-law," Luke said gesturing toward the toolbox.

"It won't take long," Emily said confidently turning and walking toward the diner.

Luke saw Emily's confident determination in her stride. Not wanting to actually give Emily a reason to dislike him, Luke followed her obediently. Emily stood by the doorway of the diner and surveyed the room.

"Do you have a private table?" Emily asked. "I'd like to speak to you alone."

"Sorry, we're fresh out of private tables," Luke replied. "My apartment is upstairs though."

"Right," Emily said trying to hide her revulsion. "I forgot you live above the diner. I'm sure the aroma up there is wonderful."

"It's better than Glade," Luke replied sarcastically leading the way to the stairs. He pulled back the curtain and allowed Emily to walk before him.

They made their way up the steps in silence and Luke unlocked the door. Emily entered Luke's apartment and took a look around.

"It certainly is small," Emily said.

"Yeah, well it's just me and I don't need a lot of room," Luke said setting his toolbox on the floor.

He walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No thank you," Emily replied walking over to the kitchen table and taking a seat.

Luke closed the refrigerator and turned around looking at Emily expectantly.

"Lorelai has probably told you that I never got along with my mother-in-law," Emily began.

"She may have mentioned something," Luke said taking a seat across from Emily.

"Well, I'm sure she's told you all about it," Emily replied. "She got a sick enjoyment out of seeing me squirm when her grandmother came to town. The woman was awful. She never thought I was good enough for Richard. She wrote him a letter practically begging him to leave me at the altar."

"That's not easy," Luke said casually.

"Yes, well, I realized that I've probably treated you the same way," Emily said. "There's that old saying that says daughters turn into their mothers. Apparently I've turned into my mother-in-law, odious woman that she was."

Emily took a breath before she said, "I don't want to treat you the way my mother-in-law treated me. But you have to understand that I worry about Lorelai. She has had to fight for everything she has. Is it wrong to want her to have an easy life?"

"And life with me will be hard because I own a diner," Luke said finishing Emily's thought.

"To put it simply, yes," Emily said. "Lorelai is struggling with a new business and it could still fail. If it fails she needs some stability in her life."

"I've owned my diner for 20 years," Luke replied. "I think I'm stable enough to support Lorelai should anything happen to the Dragonfly, which it won't."

"You can't be sure of that," Emily said quickly. "It's still a fairly new business. Lorelai has stakeholders to worry about. If that inn goes bankrupt she has a responsibility to the people she's in business with."

"I know," Luke said. "I'm one of them."

"Excuse me?" Emily replied caught off guard.

"I'm one of the stakeholders in the Dragonfly," Luke said simply.

"You gave Lorelai money for the inn?" Emily asked surprised.

"Yeah," Luke sighed. "She was having some financial trouble and I loaned her some money. She insisted on drawing up a contract and dealing with interest and then she was bringing stationary here for me to look at, so I guess that makes me a stakeholder."

"Do you mind if I ask how much you loaned her?" Emily asked quietly.

Luke thought before he answered. "I gave her enough to get the inn open."

"Which was a substantial amount?" Emily asked.

"I suppose to Lorelai it was a substantial amount," Luke sighed, regretting that he had invited Emily to his apartment to talk.

"But it wasn't to you?" Emily replied. "You could risk losing it?"

"I wasn't risking anything," Luke said. "I knew she wouldn't lose it."

"That's a rather foolish way to think," Emily said. "Most businesses fail within the first two years."

"Not Lorelai," Luke replied. "I believed in her. I still do."

"You believe in her that much?" Emily asked.

"I believe in Lorelai more than I believe in myself," Luke said simply.

Emily was taken aback by his answer. She had intended to come to Luke and ask him to be sure marrying Lorelai was the right thing to do. Suddenly she felt foolish and unsure of herself. She hadn't known Luke loaned Lorelai money for the inn. 'Certainly he must be a good financial planner,' Emily thought to herself. 'And he truly loves and believes in her.'

"Look, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I really have to get going," Luke said standing up.

"Luke, wait,' Emily said standing as well.

"I'm sorry," she said simply. "I'm sorry for the way I've treated you. I know it may not seem like it, but I just want Lorelai to be happy. I couldn't look out for her when she was younger. I guess I still want to be able to make sure she's okay."

"She's okay," Luke said reassuringly.

Luke and Emily exchanged a glance before Luke continued, "I know I'm not the man you want Lorelai to marry. I know the thought of me terrifies you because I'm not from Hartford and I don't come from a wealthy family. But you never have to worry about Lorelai, or Rory, when they're with me. Lorelai and I may be getting married this weekend, but Lorelai and Rory have been my family for years. The only thing this wedding is doing is making it official on paper."

Emily saw the sincerity in Luke's eyes. She also saw that somewhere deep down he wanted her to accept him, if not for him than for Lorelai.

"I apologize Luke," Emily said. "I do think you make Lorelai happy. I'm sorry if I've caused any problems between you."

Emily opened her purse and pulled out a small velvet box. "Would you do me a favor and give this to Lorelai?" Emily asked holding the box out to Luke. "I know Lorelai has stopped talking to me, but I'd really like her to have this."

"I think it would mean more coming from you," Luke said not taking the box.

"She won't see me," Emily said sadly. "I'm not even invited to the wedding."

"I know," Luke said. "I'm sorry about that. Rory and I tried to talk to her about it, but—"

"She's stubborn," Emily finished for him.

"Yeah," Luke stifled a small laugh thinking back just how stubborn Lorelai actually was. "I really think it would mean a lot to her if you gave this to her yourself though. I happen to know that she's at home right now."

"You don't think she'd slam the door in my face?" Emily asked him honestly.

"I can't guarantee it, but I'm pretty sure she'll at least talk to you," Luke said picking up his toolbox.

"Well, regardless I hope that you and Lorelai have a happy wedding day. And I hope you'll accept my apology," Emily said sincerely.

"Thank you and consider everything in the past forgotten," Luke replied.

Emily and Luke walked down the steps and into the diner. Before Emily got too far ahead of him he asked, "Would like a donut or some coffee before you go?"

"No, but thank you," Emily replied. Her mind was on what she would say to Lorelai if she decided to go see her.

Luke left to help T.J. with his home improvement project and Emily resolved to go and talk to her daughter, no matter what the outcome.

TBC

A/N: Okay, so since I'm writing fluff and I didn't want to get too heavy I hope that wasn't too sugary an exchange between Luke and Emily. It was just something I'd like to see.