Disclaimer: This is an original story based upon the characters of Gilmore Girls. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit will be made from this story.

Author's Note: Thank you to all who read and reviewed on the last chapter. Your reviews are always helpful and I really appreciate it!

I dropped Luke off and then headed back home to pick up my presents and Richard. About half way to Hartford it started snowing and I was delighted. The sugary flakes fell all around insuring that it was going to be a magical Christmas. I couldn't remember when I had been this excited. I hurried into the house, and then went upstairs to my room. I opened my grandmother's chest, and pulled out the gifts I had carefully wrapped weeks ago. There was a nice wooden mantle clock for Luke and Lorelai, some darling outfits and a stuffed white dog for Alicia, a beautiful new dress for Rory, a new dress for Lorelai, and a pinstriped suit for Luke. They were all wrapped in gold paper with silver ribbon and I had felt so proud of myself when I had put them away to wait for Christmas. Now, as I spread the packages out and thought about each one, they all seemed wrong. As Lorelai would probably say, "You're shopping for your imaginary family—The Reagans."

"Emily? Are you home?" I heard Richard call, and I stood up and hurried down the stairs.

"We have to go," I said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the car.

"Where are we going? Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes, everything is fine," I said as I lead him to the car, and I got in on the driver's seat.

"Where are we going?" he asked again. I looked over at him, locked the door, and started the car.

"We're going Christmas shopping," I said and cranked up the volume of White Christmas on the radio before Richard could use all six of my names.

"Emily, I thought we already went Christmas shopping," he said, reaching over and turning down the volume.

"Excuse me? You meant I went Christmas shopping and it's all wrong, it's all wrong." I said.

"Emily—what do you mean?" he asked more forcefully. I pulled over to the side of the road and looked at him.

"Richard, the presents I bought were from the old, 'Hi, here's a Christmas present that we bought you with little or no thought to your actual tastes and we're giving you it at our Christmas party because we won't see you again before Christmas' Richard and Emily" I said emphatically.

He looked completely lost, "And we're now the…who Richard and Emily?"

"We're now the 'Hi, we spent a lot of time picking out this present for you because we're your parents, in-laws, and grandparents and we care about what your tastes are and we are going to be there Christmas morning and watch you open these presents that we carefully picked out for you and did I mention that we would be there on Christmas morning an occasion we have not spent with our daughter in over twenty years' Richard and Emily," I said smiling.

He started at me and wrinkled his forehead, "Define 'a lot of time,'" he said after a few minutes.

I smiled and pulled back into the street, "Just stay with me and try to keep up Dearest,"

He chuckled and reached for his cell phone.

"Who are you calling?" I asked.

"Lorelai," he answered.

"Are you asking her what time? She told me about four."

"I'm not going to ask her what time," he said.

"Why are you calling?"

"I'm telling her that her mother has officially lost her mind and I am going to commit her."

I reached over and took away the phone and then slapped him on his arm.

An hour later, we were wandering through some place called Sam Goody and looking at CD's.

"Emily, I feel absolutely ridiculous," Richard whispered.

"Hold that thought Dear," I said as I reached into my purse and pulled out my cell phone.

"Hello?" Lorelai answered.

"Hi, it's me," I said.

"Hello Me, where are you?"

"I'm in Sam Goody at the mall,"

"No seriously, where are you?"

"I'm at Sam Goody,"

"Okay, is there some Sam Goody store that's new in town and deals in bath sheets? Are you seriously telling me you're at Sam Goody the music store? What are you…"

"Are you done Lorelai?" I asked impatiently

"Yes, I'm done…what are you doing there?"

"I want to get Rory a CD for Christmas,"

"No seriously," she started again

"Lorelai!"

"Okay sorry,"

"What is she in to these days?"

"Um, I don't know Mom, I guess 3 Doors Down,"

"Three Doors Down from what?"

"That's the name of the band Mom,"

"Okay, I'll ask the man. We'll see you in a little while," I said and hung up before she could make any Twilight Zone remarks.

Two hours later we started for home and I was very proud of myself. In the back seat of the car, I had a new state of the art sewing machine for Lorelai, a 3 Doors Down CD, a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble bookstore, and DVD's of some new movie releases for Rory, more outfits for Alicia, and a gift certificate to the Outback Wilderness Store, and Home Depot for Luke.

"Emily, take a right on that next street," Richard said suddenly.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because it's my turn to be crazy," he said nonchalantly. "Pull up there," he said directing me to a small shop that had white lights all around it.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"Look in the window," he said, and I turned and looked,

"Oh Richard!" I exclaimed.

"What do you think—father of the year?" he asked.

"Absolutely!" I said as we both hurried out of the car.

We hurried home and I enlisted Daniella's help in wrapping the presents and then we took off for Lorelai's. It was snowing when we got to Stars Hollow and it was just perfect.

"Merry Christmas," Lorelai said as she met us at the door.

"Merry Christmas," we both responded and Richard reached down and kissed Lorelai on the cheek.

"How's the arm?" I asked Luke as we came into the living room.

"It's fine," he said.

"Are you resting enough? You're not working are you? Are you doing anything that might strain it?"

"Emily…" Luke started,

"You know, I've read that collared greens can help with healing…do you have any collard greens?"

"How do you turn her off?" he turned and asked Lorelai.

I turned and faced her, "You just keep your mouth shut Young Lady" I said in a mocking voice.

"Yes Mam," she said smiling. "Who wants a baby?" she asked, and both Richard and I held out our hands.

Lorelai smiled and picked up Alicia out of her bassinet and gave her to me. She had a soft velvety sleeper on and her little dark curls delicately crowned her face.

"That's right little girl," I said cooing. "You're Grandma's baby aren't you?" I said holding her to me.

"Oh, I'm hurt," Richard said in a pouting voice, and then felt a hand on his back,

"Hey, I know I'm not that size any more," Rory said from behind, "But I'm still Grandpa's girl right?" And then a large arm went around the tiny waist and he pulled her close to him.

"Always and forever," he said smiling.

We ended up going to the Stars Hollow Christmas Eve parade and it was absolutely lovely. Sookie and Jackson and her children came with us and it was delightful to watch the children squeal as Santa Claus came riding by. Life was so funny, a few years ago and this kind of thing would have driven me up the wall, now I was enjoying it immensely. Stars Hollow was certainly earning it's name that night, it seemed as though the stars had fallen from the sky and landed in the trees. For the first time, I was caught up in the magic of this quaint little town and for the first time I could see why my daughter loved it so much.

I was drinking my hot chocolate out of the Styrofoam cups they were giving out when I caught Richard and Lorelai out of the corner of my eye. They were moving away from the crowd and I saw Lorelai slip her arm into the crook of Richard's as they made their way over to a bench and sat down. There was no way I was going to miss this. I crept quietly away and hid behind one of the bushes where I could hear them.

"We haven't had much of a chance to talk," Richard said quietly as they sat down.

"No, we haven't," Lorelai said back.

"Lorelai…I know you probably think this is my fault. I should have told your mother about the kidnapping, I should have told you about the kidnapping. I just never thought that the person who kidnapped you was still out there, wanting to strike again."

"It's okay Dad,"

"No, it's not okay!" Richard suddenly said fiercely. "What's to stop these lunatics from taking my granddaughter again? They want to punish the rich Lorelai…and because I have the lifestyle I do, you will always live in fear. You never wanted my way of life, and now because of it…"

"Dad…Dad calm down, this wasn't your fault," she said, placing a hand on his arm.

"Yes, yes it is my fault!" he said fiercely. "It was my fault thirty-seven years ago and it's my fault now!"

I bit my lower lip to keep the tears away.

"How?" Lorelai asked.

"Because I'm the father of this family Lorelai," he said, "It's my job to protect you, it's my job to protect your mother, it's my job to protect my grandchildren, and I failed! I failed then and I failed now!"

"Dad," Lorelai whispered after a few minutes, "Daddy look at me," she said and he turned towards her.

"Daddy, I'm right here," she said. "You didn't fail, you came and got me. You came and got me and you brought me back to Mom. Look over at Alicia Dad, she's right there and she's not going anywhere. You went and got her. You brought her back to me." He sighed and put his head in his hands.

"You're my hero Daddy," Lorelai whispered and he looked up at her and smiled.

"You haven't said that to me since you were five," he whispered and suddenly his voice became thick.

"I never stopped thinking it," she said and my futile attempts at holding back tears finally stopped and I let them come.

Richard reached over and put his arm around Lorelai and she snuggled into his embrace. "There's something I need to tell you," he said putting his arm tighter around her.

"You're joining a rock band?"

"Be serious,"

"Yes Sir,"

"Lorelai," he started, "The four days you were missing, and your mother was in the hospital, I just went crazy, I was a madman. You were gone, and then your mother lost the baby…I don't think you know Lorelai how much having children meant to your mother and me. When she lost that baby, and you were gone, we both were devastated, and then I thought I was going to loose your mother as well. And then we found you and your mother got well and I decided to keep my secret to myself. But I couldn't do it, I was so terrified to go through that much pain again, and so I buried myself, I buried myself in work and tried to keep you at arms length—both you and your mother because I couldn't bear the thought of ever going through that again, loving you both so much and loosing you. So, I shut you out…" he stopped for a minute and I could tell he was trying to get a hold of his emotions. He wasn't the only one.

He turned and faced her, and smoothed her cheek with his knuckles. "I love you Lorelai," he whispered. "I'm so sorry,"

"Oh Daddy," she breathed. "It's okay. It's okay," just like she had all those years ago when she had comforted her grief-stricken father as he clung to her in the police station.

"I love you too," she whispered, reaching up and wiping away a tear off of his cheeks. "And we'll just be careful, we'll install an alarm, we'll keep a hawk's eye on Alicia until she's somewhere in her sixties. It will be okay. Come on… let's go back to the parade," He smiled, stood up and offered her his arm. They started back towards the parade and Lorelai turned over her shoulder,

"Are you coming Mom?" she called.

TBC!