Chpt 3

Emily awoke and went downstairs. Michele stopped her at the bottom of the stairs and gave her the note Lorelai had left.

"Oh, merci Michelle." Emily said. "Are you going to this party tonight?"

"Do not be ridiculous." Michele answered wrinkling up his nose. "This whole town is crazy." He added before returning to his work.

Emily took a seat in the lobby and opened the note. 'Didn't want to wake you. I'll be at the house until 5:00. Rory will pick you up around 4:30. Lorelai'

Emily looked at her watch, it was 4:17. She went upstairs to grab her jacket. She wished she had a warmer jacket, but her clothes hadn't arrived yet. She wondered what Richard would think when he found out where she was. Then she told herself that tonight she wasn't going to think about him at all. Tomorrow was another day and she would think about it then. She looked around the small room and sighed, 'how did her life get to here?' She sighed and turned the lights off and went back down to wait for Rory.

Rory was downstairs when Emily got there. "Rory." Emily smiled.

"Hey grandma." Rory said giving Emily a hug. "I'm so sorry about grandpa. What happened? Can I help?"

Emily put her hand on Rory's arm. "Let's not worry about this now. Nothing can be fixed tonight anyway. So let's just go enjoy ourselves, shall we?" she said walking outside.

"OK grandma." They walked towards Rory's car and Rory noticed Emily shivering a little. "You should've put on a warmer coat. You're going to freeze." She said as they were getting into the car. Emily got in and closed the door, "It's the only one I have with me right now."

Rory hated that her grandparents were fighting and wanted to fix it, but could sense that tonight was not the night to try. Instead she decided that she would do her best to make this a happy night for her grandmother.

"We have some extra coats at the house, we'll pick one up when we pick up mom."

Emily nodded, and they drove into town.

Lorelai heard the car pull up from in the kitchen. She hollered up to Luke who was getting changed upstairs, "They're here hon!"

She heard Luke come down the stairs and head over to the door to open it. She loved having him stay here. The more time they spent together, the less they spent at Luke's apartment. It was like he was slowly moving in, and she didn't mind at all.

Rory walked up the steps to the front door, carrying bags of Christmas presents. She was surprised when Luke opened the door. "Oh, hi Luke!" she said giving him a warm smile.

"Hey Rory, here let me get those for you," he said taking the bags from her, "Your mom is in the kitchen baking her clothes again." Rory giggled and Luke shook his head. He looked out and saw Emily grabbing something out of Rory's trunk, and called out, "Just leave those Mrs. Gilmore, I'll get them." Emily looked up and saw Luke standing at the door. She nodded and put the heavy bags back down, and headed to the house. Luke dropped off the first set of bags and went out to grab the others.

As they approached each other Luke said to Emily, "The girls are in the kitchen, and there's tea on the stove."

"Oh, thank-you. Be careful Luke, those bags in the back are quite heavy." She said as he opened the trunk.

"Yeah, it's probably her laundry. She always brings it home on the weekends." He said picking up the two bags with ease. Emily was amazed at how easy he made that look. She headed into the house to warm up before they went out again. She held the door open for Luke, then followed him into the kitchen, and took a seat at the table with Rory and Lorelai. Luke walked through the kitchen and into the laundry room on the porch. "How can you wear so many clothes in just a week?" He called out to Rory from the other room.

Rory smiled at Luke as he came back into the kitchen, "It's not my fault, it's the weather. It's all about layers."

Luke shook his head, "You're as bad as your mother." He walked over to the cupboard and brought out two mugs. "Did you want a cup of tea Mrs. Gilmore?"

"That sounds wonderful Luke, and I told you to call me Emily." She said while taking off her coat.

Luke walked over to the stove and picked up the teapot that he had warming on the back. "Can I turn off the oven now, or do you have something else to toast?" he asked Lorelai.

"Don't turn it off yet hon, Rory's got her mitts in there." Lorelai said while pulling on her socks.

The trouble with Lorelai was that Luke could never tell if she was kidding or not. He opened the oven and sure enough there were Rory's mitts. He pulled them out and set them in front of Rory. He gave her a funny look then walked back over to the stove.

"Why is the laundry in the stove?" asked Emily.

"It makes it nice and warm, and kind of crunchy." Explained Rory. "That reminds me, mom, grandma needs a warmer coat if she's coming with us, and mitts and a hat too."

"I put the extra stuff in your closet, I'll get it." Lorelai said getting up.

As soon as Lorelai went into Rory's room, Luke sat down in Lorelai's chair. "How's your tea Mrs….Emily?"

"I will admit I was a little hesitant about drinking tea from a mug, but it's actually very nice." She said.

"I put a little peppermint in it." Luke said. He still was uncomfortable making conversation with Emily so he turned to Rory. "Remember that I'm doing your oil change tomorrow." He said to Rory.

"I'll just leave the keys here for you Luke." Rory said pulling the keys out of her pocket. "You know you don't have to do that."

"Well there's no point in you paying someone to do something I could do for free." He said. Lorelai came out of Rory's room with a coat and mitts for her mom. "I tried to find you a hat, but nothing I have would really suit you."

"That's fine Lorelai, thank you." Emily wasn't used to feeling like a charity case. She watched as Lorelai walked over and sat on Luke's lap, and noticed how Luke didn't even flinch or pause in his conversation with Rory. He just wrapped his arm around her like it was normal. Lorelai looked at Rory and jumped in their conversation. "While Luke's changing your oil we can decorate the cookies."

Luke looked at Lorelai, "Are you going to bake cookies tomorrow? Because if you are I'll bring over my spare fire extinguisher." Lorelai pretended to look hurt and then playfully elbowed Luke in the ribs.

"Actually Sookie bakes the cookies, we just decorate them." Lorelai said.

"I'm glad to hear that. Even if you didn't burn them, they would probably taste like socks." Luke said squeezing Lorelai's ribs, making her laugh.

Rory loved seeing her mother this happy, and she had never seen Luke like this either and it was very nice. She was initially nervous that it would seem awkward, but it never did. He just fit. Chris always came with tension, Max was close but not quite a fit, but Luke…it just worked.

Emily wanted to say something to Lorelai about how improper it was that she was sitting on Luke's lap, but being exhausted from her own problems and not wanting to start the evening off on the wrong foot, she decided to remain silent this time.

"What time are we going over?" asked Rory once Lorelai stopped giggling.

"In about an hour or so. They're still just setting up right now. Light up isn't until 7:00, and then the real party starts." She said excitedly looking at her mother.

"What exactly do you do at this thing? And is the whole thing outside?" she asked not sure if she should regret her decision to go along.

"Most of it is outside, but Miss Patty's dance hall will be open, and you can sit inside and have coffee and play cards, or scrabble, or crokinole, and gossip about everyone." Explained Lorelai. "Don't worry mom, you'll have a good time."

They sat around and talked for a bit before Luke motioned Lorelai to get up, "I better get going," he said standing up, "I'll see you guys later, though."

Emily looked at Luke, "Are you not coming to this thing?" she asked.

"I'll be there, but I said I'd help them fix the gazebo before it starts." He explained, then gave Lorelai a quick kiss and headed out.

Emily smiled at Lorelai. Lorelai looked at her mother, "What?"

"Nothing." Said Emily.