Disclaimer: ASP and the WB

Author's note: Thanks to all those of you, who reviewed! Those of you, who didn't: Shame on you lol. Just kidding. I love getting reviews, they make my day. So keep on reviewing ;)

Another big thanks to Mareike for proofreading the story!

And now, on with the story

Ice queens and snow princesses

At four o'clock it was rapidly starting to darken outside. Emily was still staring out of the window. During the last hours every possible scenario had played out in her head. What if they weren't found and had to spend the night in the car? The weather forecast had predicted a frosty night with temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though they had blankets, Emily knew that they wouldn't protect them against the cold.

She had thought about getting out of the car and walking back to the main road, but she had come to the conclusion that it would take them at least one hour, and in her case she would probably drop dead after half an hour.

When she turned around to talk to her daughter she was shocked to see her drifting off into sleep.

"Lorelai!"

Lorelai's eyes flew open at the sound of her mother's voice. "What is it Mum? Is there a car?" she asked, her eyes being hopeful.

"No, there is no car." Emily replied quietly.

"Then why the heck are you waking me up?" Lorelai complained.

"Don't you know that you are not supposed to sleep when you have a concussion?"

Lorelai stared at her mother with an incredulous look on her face: "What! Why not? Mum, I am freezing and my head hurts. I am really in no mood to encourage you to play doctor."

Instead of a response Emily removed her blanket and put it over her daughter.

"Lorelai, please do me a favour and don't close your eyes."

Lorelai sighed in frustration. "Fine Mum, but then you have to keep me awake."

Lorelai snuggled into the blanket, but instantly felt guilty when she saw her mother, who now had no blanket anymore, starting to shiver.

"Well Lorelai, what do you want to do? Ask me questions?" Emily smiled at her daughter.

"Any questions I want to ask you?" Lorelai asked with a devilish gleam in her eyes.

She started laughing when she saw how her mother tried to keep her composure.

"Well, that depends on the question. So, what do you want to know?"

Lorelai sat up with excitement, but instantly regretted the rash movement when her head started hurting again. She winced a little, but then focused back on the unique chance at her hands. "Okay, let's see… uhm." Lorelai desperately tried to think of a good question. "Uh, I know. Was there a boyfriend before you met dad?"

Emily had to laugh softly at her daughter. "Well yes there was."

Lorelai inched closer: "Spill! Who was it?"

"Robert Rubin." Emily said and then had to smile again when she saw her daughter's mind working.

"Uhm mum, do you mean THE Robert Rubin? Secretary of the Treasury Rubin?" Lorelai looked at her mother with huge eyes.

"Yes Lorelai, even though I didn't know that back then, of course."

"Does that mean that I could have met Bill Clinton if he had been my daddy? Mum!"

Emily was laughing again. "Lorelai, if Robert had been your daddy you wouldn't have been born. Think about it."

"Yeah, but still…. . It would have been cool, though. Why did you pick dad then?"

Lorelai was not only trying to find out something about her mother, but she was also trying to distract herself and her mother from the cold.

Emily didn't need to think long about her daughter's question. "I just knew it right away. I went to a party with my friends and there he was. He was discussing foreign politics with some of his friends. You should have heard him talking Lorelai, he was amazing. At some point he saw me and before I knew what I was doing I was discussing Germany's position in the Cold War with him. After that I just knew I'd have to have him. I didn't know how, but I knew that night that I wanted to marry him." A soft smile appeared on Emily's lips as she told the story.

"So what happened to Rubin?" Lorelai asked.

Emily turned to look at her daughter. "It was nothing serious with him. We went out on a couple of dates, a harmless kiss here and there and that was it. He was seven years older than me, you know. I simply told him that I didn't love him and that he'd soon find someone else who would. He left Yale a couple of weeks later."

"And then you decided to seduce dad with that mysterious blue dress." Lorelai said softly and smiled when she saw the dreamy look on her mother's face.

"Yes. I knew that I looked fabulous in that blue dress, but I didn't know that Richard would fall for me that quickly."

Lorelai sighed happily. "That's a beautiful story, Mum."

"Yes," Emily said and suddenly her voice took a bitter tone. "And that's what it is by now: a story."

Lorelai wanted to ask her mother what she meant by that, but Emily didn't give her the chance. "Well Lorelai, what else do you want to know?"

Lorelai thought about it for a moment and then remembered a question she had recently read about in one of those magazines she sometimes read for fun.

"Here's a tough one, Mum. If you got the chance to change one thing in your life what would that be?"

Emily wasn't sure what to think of the question. "What exactly do you mean by that, Lorelai?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you would buy the Chanel purse instead of the Prada one. Or you wouldn't get a child after all." Lorelai had meant to be funny, but she noticed right away that she had failed.

Her mother turned her head away again and stared out of the window, while Lorelai was feeling more and more uncomfortable.

"Uhm Mum, you don't have to answer that one. Wait, I'll think of a different question."

Before Lorelai was able to do that though, her mother turned her head back.

"You want an answer, Lorelai? I can give you one. If I were able to change one thing than I would change the day you left."

"Which day?" Lorelai was caught off guard by her mother's question, and wasn't able to think of any other question to ask.

"The day you ran away. If I had the chance to do it again, then I would be at home when you left. I would be there and stop you. I would be caring and understanding and together we'd think of a way to solve our problems. That's what I'd change." Emily explained earnestly. She looked deeply into Lorelai's eyes, before she averted her gaze again.

"Oh Mum…. ."

Lorelai looked at her mother and for once didn't know what to say. She knew perfectly well how to act around her mother, when she was angry or disappointed or simply stubborn, but Lorelai had never known how to act around her mother when she was completely honest and vulnerable.

Emily took the pressure away from her when she broke the uncomfortable silence.

"What about you Lorelai, what would you change?"

Lorelai frowned. Even though she thought the question to be a very interesting one, she hadn't given it much thought herself yet.

"I don't know, I am afraid." She knew it sounded very lame in that situation. "I really don't know."

Emily simply nodded.

Luke was pacing the diner nervously. It was half past four now and still there was no sign from Lorelai. He had tried to stay calm for the last hour, being sure that by now Lorelai would call any minute, and tell him that she had found an amazing shoe store and before she knew it, the whole afternoon had flown by.

It didn't happen, though, and now Luke was really worried. He tried to think of something to do and suddenly it occurred to him and he wondered why he hadn't thought of that before.

When the telephone rang, Richard jumped from the sofa and almost sprinted to get it. He was surprised to find Luke at the other end.

"Mr. Gilmore, hi, this is Luke Danes. I am sorry to disturb you, but have you heard something of Lorelai today?"

Richard felt a knot building in his stomach as he listened to his daughter's fiancé.

"Do you mean that Lorelai hasn't returned home yet?"

"Yes, that's what I mean. Why? Do you know something?"

"Then something must have happened." Richard hadn't really meant to say that aloud.

"Mr. Gilmore, what do you mean?" Luke was getting more and more nervous.

"Luke, it seems as if Lorelai has stopped by our house today, and that Emily has given her a ride. She hasn't returned home yet either."

"Do you think they had an accident?" Luke felt as if everything inside of him was clenching violently. He listened as his future father-in-law sighed heavily.

"I think that's a possibility, yes. Listen, we'll have to think practically now. I am going to call the hospital here in Hartford, and you'll call the one in Litchfield. If they had an accident then they should be in one of those hospitals."

"Okay, but shouldn't we call the police as well?"

"No, they don't begin searching for persons unless they are missing for more than 24 hours."

Luke was just about to ask how Richard knew that, but then remembered that he and Emily had probably found out about it the hard way when Lorelai had run away from home.

"Okay, then that's what we'll do. I'll call you again in ten minutes."

Even though both men dreaded calling the hospitals, they knew it had to be done.

Sookie had left the hotel in Tobin's capable hands fifteen minutes ago, but instead of driving straight home, she drove to Luke's diner.

When she came in Luke was on the phone.

"And you are sure that no one with the name of Lorelai or Emily Gilmore was brought to your hospital in the last hours? - Yes, thank you."

Luke put down the phone and then almost jumped when he finally noticed Sookie, who was standing at the counter.

"Sookie, I didn't even hear you coming in."

"Did you phone the hospital? Why? What's wrong?" Sookie asked frantically.

"It appears that Lorelai and her mother are missing. I just called her father and he is as worried as I am. Now I called Litchfield Hospital, but thank god they aren't there."

"How can they be missing? I mean if they had taken the main road someone would have noticed the accident." Sookie said trying to think of what could have happened.

"I know. I have to call Mr. Gilmore again. He wanted to check with Hartford Hospital. Could you wait till I have finished the call?" Luke asked her – not wanting to get the possible bad news alone.

He was relieved when Sookie nodded and smiled an encouraging smile at him. He dialled and wasn't surprised when Richard answered the phone right away.

"And? Any news, Luke?"

"No, they were not admitted to Litchfield Hospital and from the way you sound they weren't brought to Hartford Hospital as well."

"No they weren't."

Both men fell silent for a minute. On the one hand both of them were glad that the two women weren't in one of the hospitals, on the other hand it meant that they were still out there, and they didn't have a clue where they could be.

"Okay Luke, I am coming to Star's Hollow now. From the way I see it they are somewhere out there and we have to find them. They can't stay out there the whole night. Maybe you could find some people, who would be willing to help us to search for them."

"Of course, I'll do that. Someone should be at your house though, in case Emily comes home or someone calls." Luke interrupted Richard.

"You are right, I'll ask the maid to do it. I am sure she can be convinced by a bonus. I'll be in Stars Hollow in twenty minutes."

Luke didn't even have to tell Sookie what to do. She simply got up and walked to the door.

"I'll inform Jackson and the others. We'll meet at Lorelai's house. You should call Rory."

Luke nodded, he had almost forgotten about Rory. He hadn't wanted to worry her, but now it seemed inevitable that he called her. Luke watched Sookie go, before he threw his apron into the kitchen and locked the diner. Part of him wished that Lorelai would be at her house, smiling innocently at him when he arrived there, and the other part was sure that he would kill her with his bare hands if he would find her there.

Lorelai was tired. For the last hour she had asked her mother every question that had popped into her mind. She had found out about her mother's favourite book, movie, actress etc. Not only was Lorelai tired, but her head hurt as well and slowly, but surely she wasn't able to ignore the cold anymore. She had handed one of the blankets back to her mother after she'd realized that Emily was trying to hide her shaking from her daughter.

Lorelai was worried about her mother. Even in the dark she was able to see that her mother looked terribly exhausted and every now and then she suddenly winced as if she was in heavy pain. Lorelai didn't mention it though, because she knew that her mother would never admit it.

The younger Gilmore woman was surprised when her mother was suddenly addressing her.

"Don't you want to tell me what's wrong between you and Luke?"

Lorelai gaped at her mother. "What do you mean, Mum?"

"Well, usually your eyes glow when you talk about him. You haven't said much about him today, and the few times you did your eyes were devoid of any emotion."

Now look at that, Lorelai thought, she isn't as ignorant as I always thought. Emily was even a little too attentive for Lorelai's liking right now.

"It's nothing. Just the usual stuff." Now that sounded convincing, Lorelai thought sarcastically.

"It was just a question, Lorelai." Emily fell silent again.

Lorelai thought about her mother's question. It would only have been fair to share something with her mother after all the things her mother had shared with her, but Lorelai was in no mood to discuss her relationship with her mother.

"Here's a deal, Mum. I'll tell you about my problems with Luke if you tell me about yours with dad."

All she got in response was her mother's ironic smile.

When Richard arrived at Lorelai's house he was surprised to find quite a commotion there. He entered the house and was met by at least ten people running through the house.

Luke and Jackson were debating something while pointing at the map in front of them. Sookie was busy talking on the phone. Miss Patty, Kirk and Lulu were carrying blankets inside, while Babette was cooking coffee. Taylor, Morey and Michel were discussing the search teams.

Luke was the first one to notice Richard's entrance.

"Mr. Gilmore." He shook Richard's hand as he led the elder man to the table, where Jackson was still staring at the map.

"Luke, it looks like you've got everything organized."

Richard was impressed by the scene in front of him.

"Yeah well." Luke scratched his head, "Lorelai has got a lot of friends. It wasn't hard to convince them to help us search."

Richard nodded. "So, how do we proceed?" He turned to look at the map as well.

"As you can see there are three possible routes your wife and Lorelai could have taken. You and I will take this one, which leads directly through the woods. Jackson and Michel will try the one that runs a little farther north, and Kirk and Morey will take care of the third one." Luke said while he was pointing at the roads to show them to Richard, who nodded all the time. "The others will wait here for Rory. Every team takes two cell phones with them, some coffee and warm blankets." He continued now addressing everyone. "If one team finds them, they'll call an ambulance and Sookie, who'll stay here . We'll all meet at the hospital then. If we don't find them, we'll meet here again. Has everyone understood the plan?"

Luke looked at everyone. Kirk wanted to raise his hand to ask a question, but Jackson stopped him from doing so.

Luke turned to Richard again. "Are you okay with the plan?"

Richard nodded. "Very impressive work, Luke. Rory was informed?"

"Yes, she's on her way. She's worried of course." Luke explained and then turned back to the crowd in front of him. "Okay guys, let's go then. The sooner we find them, the better."

The women helped them storing the blankets into the cars and when they'd finished the men were off.

Sop, that's it. Let me know what you think. Just click on that lovely little button in the left corner and do it. Thank you!