Lorelai sat on the bed holding a picture frame in her hands, her finger glossing over the silver embossing lining the edges of one of her favorite pictures of all time. It was her and Luke many years ago, pushing the kids in a tire swing. Somehow, whoever was taking the picture had managed to get all five of their faces in it, smiling and happy. The kids were young then, three, four and six. So many years younger than they are now. Lorelai looked them over and smiled. She reached out her finger and ran it over the trace of the six-year-old's body. Her pigtails had ribbons tied at the end of them, she was missing three front teeth, but she was grinning loud as can be.

Her Emma. Lorelai remembered the day she was born. It was a perfect spring afternoon, and even though Lorelai was cursing like a sailor, she had never felt more alive than she did that afternoon. She was in labor with Emma for twenty-three hours. The doctor had told Lorelai that if she'd lived fifty years earlier, both she and Emma probably would have died in childbirth. Lorelai had lost so much blood with that girl. But when Emma came and she looked into those beautiful blue eyes, it was as if all the pain in the world had disappeared. All of the heaviness in her heart had lifted and in it's place had come a love that she didn't realize even existed. There was this something in her arms, this baby girl who was so perfect. So utterly perfect that Lorelai hadn't even imagined it could happen that way. Lorelai remembered Luke's expression when he saw her. He smiled. Luke seldom smiled, but whenever Emma bounced into the room, he couldn't help it.

Lorelai remembered how they'd named her. Lorelai had been dead-set on calling the baby Emma. She wanted to honor her mother and she thought Emma was a good name; it could go with any child. Not only was it old-fashioned and beautiful, but it was also new and modern and it had a bit of oomph to it. Lorelai liked that. However, Luke wanted Allison. For some reason, he'd had the desire to name his child Allison ever since Lorelai had made him watch The Notebook with her. Well, he wouldn't say that was why, but Lorelai was positive of it. All diner men have sensitive sides, and that was his. Unsurprising to their friends, Lorelai and Luke picked the name by drawing out of a hat. Lorelai put Emma in the hat, and Luke put in Allison. Since Lorelai held the baby, Luke drew. And of course, he drew the name Allison. Lorelai remembered what happened next perfectly. The doctor looked at Luke and asked him what the baby's name was, and Luke replied, "Emma. Her name is Emma." Lorelai fell in love with the man all over again when he did that. So her name was Emma. Emma Lorelai Danes.

She was a lot like her mother, so the name fit her nicely. She was extremely stubborn, even as a young child. She was the protector of the family. Whenever Luke and Lorelai fought, Emma would take her siblings hands, put them in their rooms and turn on the radios so they wouldn't hear it. Emma could always cheer up her younger brother and sister. They adored her. Whenever Lorelai looked at Emma, she was amazed. Absolutely amazed by how incredible she was. As she grew up, she got into acting, and singing and dancing, but she was never that good at any of the three. But she tried. She ended up running track, just like her father. Luke used to say she ran like the wind but she ate like the devil. She just loved to feel the cool air at her back, and she loved eating junk food. And who could blame her, she'd spent nine months inside of her mother before ever meeting the man who created her.

Today Lorelai's little Emma was now a big-time journalist in New York City. She was beautiful and loved to read. She was married to a high-society man and came home to visit often. She went by Emma with her friends, but Luke always called her his little Rory. When she was two, she'd gone through a phase where every day when Luke came home she'd greet him at the door by roaring and putting her claws up. They'd roar at each other until dinner started. And so, she became his Rory.

And then there was Lydia. Lydia came out with a smile that just made you feel like everything was okay in the world. Lorelai had thought Lydia was the perfect name for her since Lydia the first was always the same way. Lydia was born with blue eyes, but just a few days later they surprised everyone by turning brown. Nobody knew where it came from, but apparently Luke's grandfather had eyes the color of dirt, and so that's where Lydia's came from. But mixed with Lorelai's dark hair, she was a real beauty. Even when she was born she was lean. She was twenty-five inches long, but she was only six pounds, which on a twenty-five inch long baby, isn't very much fat. Lorelai always loved Lydia because Lorelai lost half her baby fat when her water broke, and the other of it she lost when Lydia came out.

Lydia kept her sensitive side all the time while growing up. She blended into the background easily, but she was always hard to miss. There was something about Lydia that captivated everyone. A quiet desperation to her, maybe. When Lydia looked at you, she really looked at you. She looked deep into your eyes and it was almost like she could read right through you. She was amazing at reading people. She used to come home late at night and Lorelai would be cooking dinner, and she'd go up to Lorelai, tap her on the shoulder, and just stare into her eyes. She did it every day for three months, and when she was done, every day, she would say to Lorelai, "Mommy, you're the happiest girl in the whole world." And Lorelai would always have to agree with her.

When Lydia was sixteen, a friend of hers had gone out and vandalized school property. Lydia was at home when he called her, a complete wreck because he knew he'd done something stupid. He kept threatening to hurt himself, and Lydia would try and comfort him. She'd tried to go find him, but she had no cell phone and her car's battery had died, so she was confined to the house, waiting for him to call back. When he'd finally called back, she'd listened on the phone as he shot himself. Lydia had been devastated. She'd been so traumatized by the incident she didn't know what to do with herself. All she knew was that she wanted to help people get out of that situation. And so she'd gone to school to be a therapist. And she'd done an excellent job. Lorelai was so proud of her quiet little girl. Lorelai sometimes chuckled because however much Lydia had come into the world with the resemblance of Lorelai's famous "L" sister Lydia, she'd grown up to be the spitting image of Laura.

A year after Lydia was born, William Richard came into the world. He was a big boy. Lorelai hurt every time she even thought about the eleven-pound baby she gave birth to. She decided after William never to give birth to a big baby again. He was perfect though. He looked like a mix of his grandfather and Luke. Broad shoulders, handsome grin, and he came out wearing a backwards baseball cap and talking Economics to all the babies in the cribs next to him.

When William was a baby, the only vegetables he'd eat were squashed yams. Emma used to tease him whenever she tried to get him to eat, calling him "Yammy boy." The name had stuck and all around Stars Hollow, William was known as "Yam." He and Luke would go walking down the street, or they'd play football in the yard and everyone would look at them and say, "Well, there's Butch and Yam." They were inseparable, Butch and Yam were. So it was no wonder that Yam had grown up to be a running back for the football team. His broad shoulders and fast legs had moved him up to first-string his sophomore year, and mixed with his amazing math capabilities, he'd done just fine in school. He'd even recieved a full-ride scholarship to Yale, playing on their football team and graduating first in his class as an Economics major. He'd gone on to graduate school and become a TA for his grandfather, watching as other young, brilliant minds tried to conquer Global Economics. Of course, nobody could match up.

Lorelai stared down at the picture for a minute and looked at his face. Dark hair, blue eyes. Everything she ever wanted. She remembered why they'd given him the name they had. He was different. There was no luck involved; there was no waiting until he popped out to see what suited him. As soon as they'd found out it was a boy, Lorelai and Luke had picked the name right off the bat. They'd had a fight two months after Lydia was born. Neither of them could remember why, but they both remembered that it was bad. Afterwards, they'd came back together and talked through it, each of them forced to forgive the other for the many wrongs they'd forgotten to correct. When they'd found out they were pregnant again just a month later, they'd chuckled. Luke had always said that make-up sex almost made fighting worth it, but Lorelai had never believed him until Yam had come along. They'd decided to name him after the two greatest men they knew: their fathers.

Lorelai and Luke had realized sitting on the cold table at the obstetrician's office that the only reason Lorelai was pregnant was because of their fathers. Both Lorelai and Luke had learned about forgiveness from them, and it was that lesson that gave them the courage and strength to move on together. Luke had told Lorelai when they were dating about the time he'd tried to drive his father's truck when he was fourteen and he'd ended up crashing it into the hardware store, causing thousands of damages. He remembered how his father had rushed up to him, pulled him out of the car and asked him if he was okay. He'd never scolded Luke for driving the truck, even though most parents would have. He'd understood that the worried look on Luke's face was enough of a warning to him. In that instance, when Luke thought that his father was going to disown him forever, his father had mercy on him. He took him inside and said to him, "Son, you're my son no matter what, and I love you. Always forgive those you love because the ones you love are the only ones who can hurt you." Lorelai's story was similar in virtue, if not in actuality. Pregnant at sixteen and miscarried just a few short weeks later. Years later, telling her father and having him wrap his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest. He'd never once scolded her, just took her into his arms and showed her an incredible love she'd never felt before. It had healed her, just like Luke's father's love had healed him. Their fathers had given them the greatest gift of all, Lorelai knew as she touched the picture frame one last time and set it back on the bed stand. They'd given them the ability to move on, be healed, and forgive.

"Lorelai," Luke's voice interrupted her, and she looked up to see him standing at the doorway, his hair more gray than before. She smiled. There were lines on his face and he was heavier than he had been when he was younger, but to her, he was as handsome as ever. She knew he felt the same way. She wiped a tear from her eye and stood up, heading towards the doorframe to meet Luke. He smiled at her and took her hand, leading her downstairs. "Dance with me," he said.

She smiled up at him and let him lead her outside, surrounded by happy couples all around. He pulled her close and she rested her head on his chest, watching the couples moving all around her. She smiled as she stopped on a breathtaking young woman in white. The woman caught her eye and smiled, and when Lorelai smiled back, she could feel the tears filling in her eyes. She watched as the young woman tapped her partner's shoulder and when he turned around and looked at her, Lorelai couldn't help but feeling prouder of her son than she had in her entire life.

As she scanned the room, her gaze landed on each of her children. She noticed how incredibly happy each of them looked. There were smiles, and sparkles in their eyes. Lorelai couldn't help but let a tear fall on Luke's shoulder as she looked up to the midnight sky and thought about how far she'd come.

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Between who you are and you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

She smiled and watched as a star twinkled in the sky. She listened to the sounds of laughter all around her. She took a breath of the fresh air that surrounded her. She smelled the perfumes of all the different women on the patio, and she looked up at God and smiled. Maybe forgiveness was right where I fell, she whispered softly. But now I know, salvation is here.