Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! I still don't own the 'Girls.

Last time: Emily went to see Luke and found that he was a good match for her daughter and Lorelai was parading around the house in her wedding dress when there was knock at the door.

Lorelai tossed the phone on her bed and picked up the front of her dress as she dashed down the stairs to get the door. She threw the door open to find her mother standing in front of her. Lorelai and Emily hadn't spoken since Emily had chastised her engagement.

"Lorelai," Emily said.

"Mom," Lorelai replied curtly.

"Is this your wedding dress?" Emily asked.

"No, I'm starring in the next Estée Lauder ad. The camera crew should be here any minute," Lorelai replied, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

Emily just looked at Lorelai for a moment. "Are you going to invited me in?" Emily finally asked.

"I'm not really sure I want to," Lorelai said simply.

"I know you're mad at me," Emily replied.

"Good observation. What tipped you off? Me not coming to Friday night dinner or me not talking to you for three months?" Lorelai said raising her voice.

"Lorelai, please, can we do this inside and not through the open door?" Emily said.

"Fine, whatever," Lorelai said as she turned her back on her mother and walked into the living room, her wedding dress swishing with each step.

Emily closed the door and followed her daughter. "Your dress is lovely," Emily tried to ease the tension.

"Thanks," Lorelai replied. "Luke and I got a real good deal at the town rummage sale."

"You're not serious," Emily said slightly horrified.

"I don't know Mom," Lorelai replied crossing her arms. "After all, Luke isn't exactly the kind of guy who has Vera Wang on speed-dial. We had to cut corners and you were right all those years ago. Our reception is going to be at the diner."

"You're not serious then," Emily said sitting on the couch.

"How do you know?" Lorelai snapped back.

"Because you're being spiteful and you're never spiteful when you lie," Emily sighed. After a moment she added, "Lorelai I owe you an apology."

"You don't owe me anything Mom," Lorelai said stubbornly. "You don't like Luke. You didn't make it a secret, but I thought you would have been civil to him instead of putting him down and making him feel small. Do you know what he felt like after you got through with him?"

"I'm sorry for that," Emily said. "I shouldn't have said the things I did. I didn't mean to demean him."

"Oh yes you did," Lorelai grumbled.

"Well that's why I'm saying I'm sorry," Emily said sincerely.

"Why?" Lorelai asked.

"Why what?" Emily asked surprised.

"Why are you suddenly sorry? It's been three months Mom," Lorelai said. "Could it be you're sorry now because my wedding is in five days and you realized I didn't invite you?"

"I'm not going to pretend it didn't hurt that I wasn't invited to your wedding Lorelai," Emily said. "But I didn't come here for a pity invitation either."

"Then why are you here?" Lorelai asked.

"I told you, I came to apologize," Emily replied.

"Fine, apology accepted. Goodnight," Lorelai said turning quickly as she stomped into the kitchen.

"Lorelai," Emily said following her.

"What?" Lorelai replied upset. "You don't get to do this to me Mom. I'm happy. I've found a man who loves me. And he loves Rory and all my quirks and I love him. We're getting married. He likes that I make stupid jokes when I'm nervous. I like that he wears flannel in 90-degree weather. We love each other and nothing you say or do can change that," Lorelai exploded.

"I'm not trying to change that," Emily said quietly.

"Then what do you want? It's bad enough you've never wanted me to be happy. It's bad enough that this is the second engagement you've made me feel ashamed of," Lorelai replied, her voice cracking.

"I never meant to make you feel ashamed," Emily said softly. "I just want what's best for you."

"Luke is what's best for me," Lorelai replied.

"I see that now," Emily said.

"Really?" Lorelai asked incredulously.

"Really," Emily affirmed.

"And you just had an epiphany? Last night you were lying in bed and all of sudden you were overcome with the sense that I could make my own decisions?" Lorelai asked sarcastically.

"No, I went to see Luke," Emily stated.

"You saw Luke? When did you see Luke?" Lorelai asked.

"A little while ago," Emily said. "I went to the diner."

"You ambushed Luke at his diner?" Lorelai repeated aghast. "Why? Did you come up with a few good one-liners that demeaned his existence and you had to tell him before we got married?"

"No Lorelai," Emily sighed. "Believe it or not I apologized to Luke for treated him badly."

"You apologized to Luke?" Lorelai said her tone perking.

"You act surprised, like I never admit when I'm wrong," Emily replied.

"Uh, you never admit when you're wrong," Lorelai said walking over to the counter and leaning against it.

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him I was sorry for how I treated him. I told him I only wanted you to be happy and now I see that he makes you happy," Emily said quietly.

"He does," Lorelai agreed.

"He told me he loaned you money for the inn," Emily said.

"Why would he tell you that?" Lorelai asked irritably.

"It's a long story," Emily replied, not wishing to go over the details of her conversation with Luke. "He just mentioned that he invested in the Dragonfly and that he believes in you."

A small grin escaped Lorelai's lips and she looked down.

"What?" Emily asked.

"Nothing," Lorelai said. "I guess Luke has always believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. I told him I wanted to move forward with opening the inn before I told Sookie and before I even said anything definite to Rory."

Lorelai studied the floor and suddenly wondered why she decided to tell her mother that detail.

"He said he believed in you more than he believed in himself," Emily offered.

"Did you offer you a donut?" Lorelai asked.

"Why would he offer me a donut?" Emily asked puzzled.

"Luke usually gives me a donut after we make up from a fight," Lorelai said. "It's his way of saying everything is forgotten."

"He told me everything was forgotten," Emily replied.

"Yeah you really don't look like the donut type anyway," Lorelai said.

"Well now that I've apologized to Luke that means you'll be coming back to dinner?" Emily asked.

"Don't count on it," Lorelai scoffed.

"But he said he forgave me," Emily insisted.

"He may have forgiven you, but Luke is soft. He can't resist the Gilmore charm. I, on the other hand, don't forgive you for treating Luke the way you did," Lorelai said forcefully.

"Lorelai I've apologized to Luke and he accepted my apology," Emily said. "What more can I do?"

"You can tell me why," Lorelai said. "Tell me why you treated Luke so badly. Tell me why you can't seem to conjure up an ounce of happiness for me."

"Lorelai, we don't need to get into all this," Emily said. She had thought that their conversation was going so well until now.

"We do need to get into this Mom," Lorelai said. "Has there ever been a moment in your entire life when you've looked at me and thought, 'Wow, I'm so proud of Lorelai?' And taking my first steps doesn't count."

"Lorelai," Emily began. She was preparing to tell Lorelai that she didn't want to have the conversation, but then she looked into her daughter's eyes. Her only child was standing before her in her wedding gown with tears in her eyes asking for the truth. Emily was getting, most probably, her only glance of Lorelai in her wedding dress. The gravity of that was not lost on her.

"I am proud of you," Emily finally let out. "You've built this life for yourself without help from anyone. You've raised Rory to be a smart, responsible girl, you run your own business and you've done it without help from anyone."

"Then why can't you ever act proud of me?" Lorelai asked quietly.

"Because you've done all this alone!" Emily said. "You have no idea what it's like to have a child that would rather live with strangers than you. I want to be happy for you, but I can't because I'm still hurt, I still worry. I worry that a day will pass and then a week and then a month and I won't have heard from you. I live in constant fear that you'll shut me out again. And soon Rory won't come to dinner anymore and then neither will you. I'll go back to being a guest in your life. I'll see you on holidays. When you and Luke have children I won't even know them. You'll have no reason to come see us anymore. Luke is here, your inn is here and you'll have no use for us."

"I am proud of you Lorelai and I'm sorry if I can't say it and I'm sorry you can't feel that I am proud of you, but the hurt still gets in the way. You rejected me 20 years ago and I'm afraid that if I let myself be vulnerable to you again you'll just run off and hurt me."

Emily took a deep breath and sat in the chair at the table. She couldn't believe she had unleashed all the anger and worry that had consumed her for years. Emily hadn't looked at Lorelai and she wasn't sure what her reaction was to her rant. Emily caught her breath and she felt Lorelai standing next to her.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Lorelai said putting a light hand on her back. "I never meant to hurt you and Dad. I just had to live my life and you didn't want to let me. Every time I made a mistake I felt like I let you down. At the time I thought it would be better for me go. I didn't think about you being hurt because I saw myself as a failure to you. I never thought I was good enough or smart enough or who you wanted me to be. I was young. I thought leaving would make everyone happy."

"You don't have to worry about me running off Mom. I own an inn here. I can't get too far right?" Lorelai tried to joke. "I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"I'm sorry that I hurt you too," Emily said softly.

Emily awkwardly held out her arms and pulled Lorelai into a tentative hug. Lorelai was taken by surprise, but returned her mother's embrace.

Emily pulled away and brushed a hair off Lorelai's face. She reached for her purse from the table and extracted the same small velvet box that she had tried to give to Luke.

"Lorelai," Emily said. "I wanted to give this to you. The bride always needs something old and I wanted to offer you this."

Emily placed the velvet box in her daughter's hand. Lorelai held the box and immediately recognized that it was jewelry. She was suddenly frightened that the truce with her mother might end over whatever piece of jewelry was in the box. She didn't want to hurt Emily's feelings, but she further understood that they had completely different tastes in jewelry.

Lorelai cracked the jewelry box and found an exquisite antique necklace inside. It was a delicate platinum chain and dangling from it was a single diamond encrusted with tiny garnets.

"It's beautiful," Lorelai said relieved.

"If you have a necklace already please don't feel you have to wear it," Emily said.

"No, Mom it's beautiful. I love it," Lorelai said.

"I thought you might," Emily said. "It was my mother's. My father had it commissioned for her on their wedding day and she gave it to me on my wedding day. I thought it was only right that you have it now."

Lorelai looked at the necklace for a moment and then glance up at her mother.

"Hey Mom," Lorelai said. "I was engaged once before you know."

"Thank you for reminding me Lorelai," Emily said.

"No, I mean, I was engaged to Max and you never gave me the necklace," Lorelai said.

"I know," Emily replied evasively. "Do you have any iced tea or water?" Emily asked walking over to the refrigerator.

"So how come you never gave me the necklace?" Lorelai asked.

Emily was examining the contents of the refrigerator and trying to avoid Lorelai's question.

"Look at all the food in here," Emily remarked. "Since when do you keep vegetable juice in your refrigerator?"

"It's Luke's," Lorelai replied. "But seriously, how come you never gave me the necklace before?"

Emily finally closed the refrigerator door and turned toward her daughter. "Because I didn't want to waste it."

"Waste it?" Lorelai said putting the box on the table.

"Your relationship with Max didn't seem that serious," Emily explained. "I hadn't even met him and suddenly you were engaged."

"But you feel like my relationship with Luke is serious," Lorelai asked quietly.

"Lorelai you answered the door in your wedding dress," Emily said. "I think that tells me all I needed to know about this relationship."

"Well you're right," Lorelai said. "I know you don't like Luke, but he's the whole package Mom. You don't have to worry about me."

"I know," Emily replied with a small, poignant smile on her face. "I know I don't say it, but I do love you Lorelai."

"I love you too Mom," Lorelai shyly. "Mom?"

"Yes," Emily said.

"Will you come to my wedding on Saturday?" Lorelai asked.

"If you want me to be there," Emily said.

"I do," Lorelai said whipping a tear that trickled down her cheek.

"Then there isn't anywhere in the world I'd rather be," Emily replied standing.

TBC

A/N: Okay so I know I said no agnst at the beginning of this story, but I couldn't help it. It was good angst though, fruitful,I think. :)