Disclaimer: This is an original story based upon the characters of Gilmore Girls. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Thank you to all who read and reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it as always. So, now the crisis is over, Alicia is back home and the Gilmores can get back to living their lives. Christmas is coming and even though it's coming a month late, I hope you enjoy spending Christmas with the Gilmores. Here's your next installment!

The sun was blaring through the opening in the curtain and the newly fallen snow gave an added brightness to the light as I finally gave into it's attempts to wake me up. I had been in and out of sleep for awhile, trying to ignore the sun but it was no use. It had to be about eight o'clock in the morning and I wanted to sleep until at least eight-thirty. Instinctively I reached my hand across the bed but felt nothing on Richard's side. That was strange—maybe he had decided to go into work early to take care of things before the holidays. Poor baby—he was so tired and he must have gotten up so early. I snuggled back into my pillow for a moment, it was so nice to be back in my own bed. For the first night in months I had slept soundly, for the first time in over a week, it didn't feel like I was a heart attack waiting to happen, the terror was gone and it was wonderful to be free at last.

I luxuriously turned over in bed and then sat up straight in shock when I looked at the time. The alarm clock read 12:30—12:30 in the afternoon! I hurried out of bed and put on my room, feeling very foolish. No sooner had I put on my room than Richard walked in, carrying a tray full of breakfast, complete with a rose in a glass vase. He didn't say anything, just motioned for me to get back in bed. What in the world had I done to deserve this man? I sat back down on the bed and he put the tray over me, then came over to his side and sat down next to me. I glanced over at him between bites of scrambled egg. The last week seemed to have aged him. He looked old, and worn out. Yet there was a tenderness added to the features I knew and loved so well. The bites between the looks at Richard became fewer and fewer and then I finally put down the fork and turned my head to him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, putting one hand behind my back. I nodded and reached up and brushed his cheek with the back of my hand.

"I can't imagine what this must have been like for you," I whispered, "Reliving it, all over again."

He smiled sadly, "I can't imagine what this must have been like for you," he countered. "You thought she was your friend, and all this time, all these years."

I nodded, "Yes," I simply said. I couldn't say any more as I thought of the woman who had put my family through so much simply because she had hated me. What had I done? Had I insulted her in anger? Had I unintentionally demeaned her? What had fueled this woman's hatred for me for so many years?

I shook my head like I was trying to ward off the thoughts of Lorraine and turned back to my breakfast.

"What time are we going to Lorelai's tonight?" I asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "I do need to do some work at the office for a few hours. She said something about a town Christmas Eve parade tonight."

"I'll call her," I said, "Luke is coming home from the hospital today as well." Again at the thought of my son-in-law at the hospital, I felt a lump in my throat. I watched Richard stand up and start tying his bow tie. To think I had come so close to dying, so close to leaving my darling Richard, and my girls and Luke had saved me. Luke—the man I had been so vile to in the past. Richard turned and looked at me. "Emily? Are you sure you're alright?"

I swallowed hard and in spite of that, I could feel the tears spill over onto my cheeks.

Richard walked over to me and knelt down next to me. I brought a hand up to his cheek.

"You're the love of my life—do you know that?" I whispered.

He brought a hand up to caress my cheek and leaned in to tenderly kiss me. After we had broken the kiss he looked me in the eye and whispered.

"You are my life,"

I smiled and brushed my tears away as I reached over and tied his tie. "We are ridiculous you know that?" I said. "Here I am in bed at 12:30 in the afternoon, and you're not at the office and we're behaving like teen…" he cut me off as he brought me to him again and I relaxed into the kiss, my little speech completely floating away.

"Don't be long," I said, smiling as we broke the kiss again.

He smiled back, "Not a chance,"

I laid back and finished the rest of my breakfast, and then reached over to the phone to call Lorelai.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hi it's me," I replied.

"Hello Me," she said. Oh it was good to hear the sunshine in that voice again!

"How is everything? Is Alicia okay?"

"Yes, she's fine. The doctor checked over at the hospital and she wasn't hurt in anyway. I moved the crib into my room last night. I think she'll be sleeping in the same room with me until she goes off to college, and even then, I will probably have to move in with her."

"I understand," I said. "What time do you want us tonight?"

"Well, actually—I was wondering if you'd do me a favor."

"Anything,"

"Luke gets out of the hospital today, and I don't want to take Alicia all the way over there to get him in this cold. Would you mind going and picking him up for me?"

"Sure, I'll get dressed and go get him within the next hour okay?"

"Thanks Mom,"

I hung up the phone and went into my closet, feeling happy. I had never realized before how much I loved being called "Mom." There was a stage she went through when she was about fifteen where she called us Richard and Emily and it made me furious—which was why she probably did it. There had been a few times over the years when she had referred to me as Emily and it had stung. Now, as I hurried to get dressed I realized how lucky I was that out of all the people in the entire world, I was the one that Lorelai Gilmore called Mom.

When I got to the hospital, Luke was all checked out and waiting for me. "How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Oh, a little sore, but fine," he said as we walked out to the car. I opened the door for him and watched him slide in carefully.

"Thanks for doing this Emily," he said.

"My pleasure," I replied as I got in on the other side. I started the car and started driving away.

Neither of us said anything for a while, and I think both of us were thinking of the irony that just two years ago, it would have been torture to put us together in the same room together, let alone in a car just the two of us. Even since that time, though our relationship had improved over leaps and bounds, we haven't been alone together all that much. Suddenly I found myself pulling over on the side of the road and turning to him.

"What is it?" he asked.

I looked down at the floor and waited for a few minutes before I began, searching for the right words. "I've never been a person with much self-confidence," I said, and Luke looked at me incredulously. "I'm a person with a lot of pride, but there's a difference between pride and self-confidence. Particularly after I got married, I felt inadequate, I felt I wasn't good enough for Richard, and his mother at every turn demeaned me and threw it in my face that I wasn't good enough for him. I felt like I had to put on a show so much of the time. And then all of a sudden, there came this little person who I didn't have to pretend for. She just loved me for who I was. And then one day it seemed like she just left me—left me all alone, and for years she was still in my house under my roof and it felt like she might as well been a thousand miles away. For years I tried to get her back, tried to control her and get back the little girl that I had lost. And then one day she told me she was pregnant, and then one day I was coming down the stairs to go to a symphony dinner and there it was—a note saying she was leaving. A note saying she didn't care to be in my house anymore."

"Emily…" Luke said. "You don't need to tell me this."

"No, I do," I said and I felt like for the first time I could say it to him. "Lorelai leaving me was the darkest time in my life. For sixteen years, I went through the day trying to pretend I didn't have a daughter, so it wouldn't hurt so much and then at night I would cry myself to sleep. When Lorelai and Rory came back into our lives, because they needed money, I told myself that I couldn't go through loosing her again. I couldn't do it. I knew as long as she needed my money, I could pretend she needed me and everything was okay. It scared me to death when you came on the scene because I thought—this is it, she's going to marry this guy and that will be the end of me. I didn't want her to be with you because I could see how complete she was with you."

Luke nodded slowly, "I guess I could understand that," he said.

"Luke, I know years have passed and I know that everything is better now but I wanted you to know…I wanted you to know how I felt."

"Thank you Emily," he said. "I appreciate that,"

"So—the other night, in the alley way, how much of the conversation with Lorraine did you hear?"

"Not much," he replied. "I saw her level the gun at you and I just had to act,"

I put my head down and took in a sharp breath., "Oh Luke, do you blame me for all of this? For Alicia's kidnapping and getting shot? I don't blame you if you do,"

"I don't Emily," he said. "I never will,"

I turned and faced him, "Thank you for saving my life," I said, my voice catching in my throat.

"Hey," he said, "Thanks for giving birth to mine,"