Chpt 2
"I'm sorry mom, but that's not possible." Lorelai said, not wanting to fight, but not wanting her mother to stay even more.
"Lorelai, whether you like it or not, we are family, and family helps each other out." Said Emily in a stern voice.
"Not this one!" Lorelai exclaimed. "There has got to be somewhere else for you to go."
"I can't believe you're not going to let your own mother stay with you! After I lent you money for Rory's school…."
Lorelai held up her hand, "Don't even play that card mom, I've paid you back in full. You can't hold that over my head anymore."
"It would only be for a couple days I'm sure." Continued Emily.
"Just a second ago you said there was no hope of you and dad getting back together! I'm really sorry, but no!" Lorelai was not going to let her mother manipulate her into this one.
"Lorelai!…"
"Mom!…"
They just sat there and stared at each other. Finally Emily stood up and grabbed her purse. "Well, I guess I'll be going then."
Lorelai let out a sigh, why did everything have to be so hard with them? In a calmer voice she said, "You know as well as I do that it just wouldn't work. We're just too….different."
Emily looked down at Lorelai, "I'm sure you're right Lorelai, now do you know the number of any good motels or shelters?" Lorelai rolled her eyes at her mother's guilt attempt.
"Mom, you know I'm right, and you don't have to stay in a shelter."
Emily's eyes almost lit up. Lorelai stood up and put her hands up in front of her. "You're not staying here either!" she quickly added. "I just mean that I'm sure there are nicer places in your new price range."
Emily flopped back down into the chair. "What am I going to do. I've never been…alone before. I'm not the independent type." She had the scared-sad look on again. Lorelai felt a headache coming on.
"Mom, you may not have been independent, but you're stubborn and relentless, and that I'm sure that'll do just fine." Lorelai said while rubbing the tension out of her neck. Emily looked at her confused, not sure if that was an insult or a compliment. Lorelai sat back down again, propped her elbows on the table and placed her face in her hands in an attempt to block out her mother so she could think for a moment. She sat like that for almost a minute. Emily was about to say something to break the silence, when Lorelai dropped her hands and looked across at her mother.
"OK. Here's the deal: I have an extra room at the inn you can stay in for one week. During that time you can either work it out with dad, or you find yourself a job…"
"Emily's eyes widened, "A JOB!?"
Lorelai lifted her hand to silence her, "Or you will find a job and a new place to live."
"…But Lorelai!" Emily looked floored by this decision.
"One week mom, and during that time I don't want you interfering with my life, or my work in any way. If you do, I will personally drop you off at the nearest shelter myself." Lorelai looked at her mother and waited for the reply.
Emily was as white as a ghost. A job? She had never worked a job her entire life. She had honestly expected that Lorelai would have caved in and let her stay there, but she didn't. She wanted to convince Lorelai otherwise, but found for the first time in her life that Lorelai was holding all the cards, and she didn't really have a leg to stand on. She was stuck. In a strange way she actually admired Lorelai for the way she presented her argument. This deal would have to do for now. She would try to view it as a break from all the tension at the house, and all the gossiping and whispers at the club.
"All right Lorelai…I accept."
Lorelai froze for a second thinking, 'why did she accept so fast?' She went over the deal in her head again making sure she hadn't left a big loop hole there somewhere that her mother was going to use against her. Not finding any, she hesitantly said to her mother, "Good... I'll just call Michele then and let him know not to book that room for anyone."
"Fine."
"Fine." Lorelai answered, and went to get the phone.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
It took almost two hours to get Emily all settled in her temporary home. The hardest part was getting her to call Richard to tell him where to send her things. After procrastinating it almost to the point of exhaustion she finally dialed the number and was relieved that Richard's valet answered the phone. She gave him the address and told him only to send her clothes and her toiletries, as she didn't currently have room for anything else at the time. Lorelai had gone to the kitchen during the phone call so as to give her mother some privacy, and had explained the whole story to Sookie.
Sookie was empathetic towards Emily's plight, "She must be a mess right now."
Lorelai raised an eyebrow, "She'll be fine, and don't let her see you pity her, or she'll have you in the palm of her hand."
Sookie rolled her eyes, "I think you're being a little dramatic."
"No I'm not. Ooh and try not to small talk with her about me or Rory or even Luke, because she'll just flip it around somehow to torture me with later." Lorelai was nervous about her mother staying so close to her Stars Hollow life, it had doom written all over it.
Sookie shook her head at her friend's insecurity around her mother, but knew better than to try to talk her over it. "Let's talk about something else."
"Good idea. How's Jackson holding up?"
"Well Taylor offered to write his Christmas speech for him, and to plug the tree in for him, and to oversee the decorating and performance schedule for him." Sookie said while going over to put another pot of coffee on.
"Oh, man. Why doesn't he just tell Taylor to back off?" Lorelai asked.
"Because as much as he hates to admit it, he needs the help." Sookie explained.
Lorelai nodded. "So what time are you going over to the square tonight?" she asked.
"I told the baby-sitter 4:30. So I should be there before 5:00. What about you? Did you have any luck convincing Luke?" Just then Emily peeked her head in the kitchen.
"Lorelai? Are you in here?" she asked.
Lorelai sighed, "Yes mom, come on in."
Emily walked in looking around at the same time. "Very nice. Ooh and that smell…marvelous!"
"Hello Emily." Said Sookie, "I'm finishing up some baking for the party tonight. Gingerbread men, shortbread, mincemeat tarts, nanaimo bars…Ooooh sit! Try one of these!" Sookie said excitedly placing a cookie on a napkin in front of Emily. Emily pulled over a stool to the counter and sat down before trying a bite. "Mmmm. Sugar cookies. I haven't had one of these in years. Very good Sookie."
Lorelai walked over to the coffee machine and poured herself a coffee. "Mom? Sook? Anyone want a coffee?"
Sookie shook her head, "Remember, I'm off coffee for a little while again." She said rubbing her tummy.
"You're pregnant again Sookie? Congratulations." asked Emily. "Lorelai never told me that." She finished, raising her eyebrows at her daughter.
"Well, I just found out myself and I asked Lorelai not to tell anyone, so it's my fault." Sookie said saving Lorelai.
Lorelai appreciated that. "Mom, did you want a coffee?"
"No thank you. I haven't been sleeping much as it is. But I will have another cookie if you don't mind. I haven't eaten much lately either." Emily added sliding her napkin over towards Sookie who was already getting her another one.
"Well why don't you have something a little more filling than a cookie. We have hot soup and sandwiches left from lunch." Said Lorelai. "Besides we can't have you eating all the sugar cookies before tomorrow."
Emily looked at her, "That sounds wonderful." She said sliding her cookie to the side for the moment. "I thought you said the baking was for some party tonight."
Lorelai scooped her mom up a bowl of soup. "Oh, well it is, except for some of the sugar cookies. Rory and I have had a tradition ever since she was little, that every year we decorate sugar cookies and hang them on the tree."
Lorelai set the soup and a sandwich in front of her mom. Emily looked at her, "Is Rory coming into town tomorrow?"
"She's coming in tonight for the party, and staying over." Said Lorelai.
"Is the party here?" asked Emily.
"No." said Sookie, "It's in the Town Square, it's the pre-Christmas, Christmas party. It's like a rehearsal for next week's real Christmas party. My husband is the MC this year."
Emily looked confused, "Why are you having two?"
"My husband needs the practice." Said Sookie.
"Hey, I heard that!" said Jackson walking in the back door carrying Davey. He smiled at his wife and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Smells good in here." He said reaching for a cookie. Sookie swatted his hand with the wooden spoon. "Did you have any lunch yet?"
"Yes I had lunch at Luke's." Jackson looked up at Lorelai. "Oh that reminds me, I need you to ask Luke to repair the railing on the gazebo before tonight."
Sookie looked at Jackson, "Why didn't you ask him when you were there?"
"I did, and he said 'no', so Taylor told me to get Lorelai to ask him." Jackson smiled over at Lorelai, then placed Davey in the high chair that was kept in the kitchen. He turned back to Sookie, "I just changed him and fed him so he's all smiles for you." Then to the baby, "Aren't you, you're all smiles." Then Sookie joined in the baby talk, "Yes you are."
Emily thought they were a very cute family, a little overboard with the baby talk, but nice none the less.
Emily looked at Lorelai, "So why won't your boyfriend help out his friends, Lorelai?"
Sookie jumped in sensing the tension rising, "He will help out, he just says no so that Lorelai can convince him otherwise. It's a routine that has been going on for years." She smiled at Emily. "You should watch them sometimes, just when you think Luke's holding strong, Lorelai says something to him or sometimes even just smiles at him and suddenly Luke drops everything and does whatever she asked."
"It's not like that Sookie!" Lorelai exclaimed, feeling like she had better defend poor Luke.
Sookie turned to look at Lorelai and gave her a soft smile, "That guy is over the moon for you Lorelai. I bet he'd lay down in traffic if you asked."
Emily watched as Lorelai blushed, she couldn't remember ever seeing Lorelai blush. Lorelai noticed her mother staring at her, misreading her mother's thoughts she said, "And no mother I'm not going to test out Sookie's theory."
"That's not was I was thinking." said Emily.
"Oh really?!" said Lorelai, giving her mother that 'yeah right' look.
"I was actually thinking that I might go to this Christmas party tonight, after all, you did say Rory was going to be there, and I never had a chance to see her last night at dinner because of…." Emily paused, "well you know."
Sookie remembered the whole 'situation' Emily was going through, "I think it would be a nice way to get your mind off everything for a while." She said patting Emily's hand.
Lorelai flinched, ready for the glare from her mother because she had told Sookie about her mother's personal affairs. But it never came. Instead Emily agreed. She got up thanked them for the soup and said she was going upstairs to have a rest before they went out. Lorelai was shocked, after watching her mother leave the room she turned back towards Sookie and Jackson, "It started out as such a beautiful day?!"
Sookie giggled at Lorelai's expression, "You'll be fine. At least Rory will be there as a buffer."
Lorelai hung her head. Jackson cleared his throat, "So about the gazebo…?"
Lorelai lifted her head, "Don't worry about it, I'll just make sure he agrees before I tell him we're taking my mother with us tonight."
TBC