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

Author's Note: Thank you for all the feedback. I enjoy it a lot. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope you enjoy this next installment.

She stared at her daughter, only allowing a small smile to creep into her features. Friday night dinners would continue! She kept her hand clenched on her purse because she felt like clapping them together in excitement like she did when she was a little girl. Thankfully, she was able to cover excitement quickly with an order about the dress code. She didn't want to show too much excitement in front of Lorelai. She just wanted to hold on to the joy she felt. She didn't want Lorelai to ruin it with some snide comment. She looked at her daughter for a moment, under the distraction of Richard and Rory coming to meet them. Her girl was so beautiful.

Emily turned to her other little girl, and suddenly tears were stinging in her eyes. She remembered back to a night long ago, when the exhausted sixteen year old mother had been walking the floor with a screaming infant at three o'clock in the morning and she had volunteered to take over for awhile so her daughter could get some sleep. She remembered taking the infant in her arms, walking the hall back and forth, murmuring comforting little sounds she had almost forgotten how to make. The baby calmed and began to coo softly. Emily gently sat down in the rocking chair in the nursery and brought the baby forward. Such big blue eyes! It was like going back in time. She reached up and wrapped a finger in the soft black hair--it curled perfectly. How could a mistake be so perfect? The baby reached up her hands in a happy motion as if to say, "It's okay Grandma, everything will be okay now." Emily brought the child to her and kissed her cheek. This beautiful creation was no mistake.

"It's an honor to be your grandmother Rory Gilmore," she said, her voice shaking. Rory hugged her and she felt herself losing control more. She cursed herself for being so vulnerable.

"Come on, I'll walk you guys to your car," Rory said and she felt Richard's strong hands on her shoulders. Rory put her arm around her and she put her arm around her girl. It felt so good. There was a time when she was sure she had lost this one too, the one that sat for portraits simply because she loved her grandfather, the one who came out to society when she didn't have the slightest clue what that meant, simply because she wanted to make her grandmother happy. It had killed her the day Rory had turned against her as well, humiliating her at the DAR function after scaring the daylights out of her when she didn't come home. But here they were, with their arms wrapped around each other. She turned and looked at Rory as they walked--my how the time had gone.

"Earth to Grandma, come in Grandma," Rory said a few minutes after she walked out in the dress Emily had bought her for Hopie's dinner party.

"I'm sorry Sweetie," Emily said still in a daze.

"What's the matter? Does it look that bad?" Rory asked, turning and looking in the mirror at the black silk gown.

"Oh...Heaven's no," she went towards her and tenderly fingered a piece of her granddaughter's hair. "You look radiant."

Rory turned and smiled, "Thanks Grandma. Thanks for all of this, it's all just amazing...Grandma...are you alright?"

Emily seemed to still be in a daze as she gently caressed the girl's hair and the eyes of a child seeing her first porcelain doll.

"Grandma?" Rory prodded as she noticed that her grandmother's eyes were shining and her lower lip trembling a little.

"Well, are you ready to go?" Emily asked, grabbing her shawl and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Grandma...wait, sit down for a minute," Rory said and pulled her grandmother to a chair. "I know you don't get that choked up over my beauty."

Emily smiled, "Oh of course I do...Grown men cry when they see how beautiful my granddaughter is."

"Grandma," Rory prodded, her eyes serious.

Emily looked up at her, her eyes sad, "You'll think it's silly."

"Try me," Rory said.

"It doesn't go outside this room?"

Rory nodded.

"It's just...right then," she stopped and swallowed to try and gain control, "You just looked so much like your mother."

The girl said nothing, just hugged her grandmother tightly. Emily held on to her and choked out a few sobs, "Don't tell her okay?" she whispered.

"Why?" Rory asked.

"Because I love her," she whispered as she held tighter to her granddaughter.

She knew Rory didn't understand but she felt her nod and when they seperated, Emily placed a hand on Rory's cheek. "Thank you for coming with me Rory." she said.

Rory hugged her grandmother again, "You're not alone Grandma," she whispered.

"Well young lady," Richard said, his voice getting husky. "We keep saying goodbye."

"I appreciate you both so much--for everything, thank you," Rory replied and after a few moments she bit her lower lip and looked down at the ground, when she looked up there were tears in her eyes and that set Emily off again. "I didn't think it was going to be this hard to say goodbye...again," Rory said and reached up and wiped her tears away. "I love you both,"

Richard and Emily both hugged her to them, "We love you too," Richard whispered, and cupped his hand on the back of her head.

"One thing?" Rory asked still hugging the two of them.

"Anything," Emily responded.

"Take care of Mom," she said and with that, she turned and walked back to the party wiping away her tears.

The grandparents watched her go for a moment and then Richard put his hand on his wife's back and opened the car door for her.

"Richard,"Emily said as she watched Rory, "If things had turned out the way they were supposed to then we wouldn't have Rory."

"I know Emily," Richard said as he placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, squeezed it and then drove away.

She was delighted when her daughter called her the next night out of the blue just to "see what's up." She had half a dozen things to do for the symphony board fundraiser the following day, but she put all that aside when her daughter called. They talked about Rory, about the inn, they debated the spa idea a little more, and then Lorelai said she had to go. The next night the phone rang again, and Lorelai had a question about planting daffodils of all things. Emily had wondered if this was the same girl who at twelve had told her gardening was disgusting. She told her that it was too late for planting daffodils and the conversation ended. The next night, when Lorelai called and told her she desperately needed to borrow Emily's tea service because they were having a tea the very next day at Dragonfly Inn, Emily had wondered if her daughter had gone crazy.

"No, I'm not doing anything. Of course, I'll bring it over right now," she said to Lorelai on the phone.

"What on earth is wrong with that girl?" she said to her husband as she packed up the tea service.

"She actually wanted to borrow the tea set?" Richard asked, as perplexed as his wife was.

"Yes, and yesterday she called and wanted information on planting daffodils--daffodils Richard! This s the same girl who would even touch the been sprout in a Dixie cup she brought home from Kindergarten."

Suddenly, Richard realized what was happening and she placed his hand on his wife's elbow. "Emily, she's lonely."

"That's ridiculous Richard, she's got Sookie, she's got the whole nut bin town, why in the world would she come to me if she was lonely."

"I think that's exactly what she's doing," Richard replied.

She doubted it all the way to Stars Hollow, but when she saw her daughter's face when she answered the front door, Emily knew her husband and been right. When Lorelai invited her in and asked her to have a cup of coffee her, a warmth went through Emily like a warm bath.

She's lonely...she's lonely and she came to me.

They talked about nothing inparticular, the inn, the DAR, Richard's job, and then Lorelai swallowed and said, "Guess what...Luke and I are back together."

Emily wasn't thrilled about the news, but she saw the look in her daughter's eyes and at that moment, with the two of them sitting that awful couch and drinking coffee, her daughter could have told her she was dating Jethro Clampett and Emily wouldn't have cared. "That's good," Emily said. "You seem happy."

"I am," Lorelai replied smiling.

"That's good dear."

There was a long pause of conversation but it wasn't awkward. Both just were genuinely enjoying the other's company. Then Lorelai turned and looked towards Rory's room.

"I didn't think it was going to be this hard," Lorelai said, looking down and fingering the rim of her mug.

Emily took a long sip, "Well, it's what all mothers go through, letting go of their children."

"I know, its just that...I mean even when she was gone to Yale, she was home every other weekend, we talked on the phone everyday, emailed everyday, and now...she's really gone. Twenty two years is a long time, you love someone, you raise them, you care about them, and then...they leave."

Emily tried to steady herself against the wave of emotions that came with that last sentence. Not only was her daughter confiding in her, something she had rarely done in the thirty-nine years she had none her, but she was also describing exactly what Emily herself had felt all those years ago.

"For Heaven's sake Lorelai, she's not dead. You'll still have your relationship," she scolded, feeling an odd desire to laugh at the sheer irony of it all, and cry at the same time.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes and Lorelai looked at her mother, "Why didn't you ever tell me you came to the Independence Inn and met Mia? Why didn't you tell me you asked her for pictures?"

"When did you find that out?"

"At the wedding, Mia told me,"

"Of course she did,"

"Mom, why didn't you tell me?"

She turned to her daughter and looked at her long and hard, "What would you have said? That I was being controlling? Interfering? Manipulative?"

"That's not fair."

"Why did she tell you anyway?" Emily asked.

"Because..." she said quietly, " I told her that I thought I had to leave your house because I was an embarrassment to you. I couldn't stand that anymore. She told me that's wasn't the impression she got when you came to see her. She said you asked for pictures."

"I thought you left because I was a controlling dictator,"

"Yeah...there was a little of that too," Lorelai smiled and shrugged, trying to lighten the mood and then she reached over and placed a hand on her mother's hand. "I seriously had no idea how hard it was Mom."

Emily turned towards her daughter, her heart beating quickly with nervousness. "I got through it. You will too."

Lorelai nodded, and Emily smiled an encouraging smile at her. "Well," she said, "Your father will be wondering what happened to me, I better go. Thank you for the coffee," Lorelai nodded and stood up to take the coffee cups back into the kitchen.

"Lorelai..." Emily called after her when she was almost to the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"I was never ashamed. Hurt, sad, disappointed...but never once ashamed."

Lorelai took a step back, surprised by her mother's revelation. She nodded in understanding.

"Why did you call me?" Emily asked Lorelai, when she came back in to the living room. "Why didn't you call Sookie? Or Luke?"

Lorelai sighed and then shrugged, "I wanted to talk to someone who knows what this is like, who understands how awful this feels."

Emily put her hand on her daughter's shoulder as they walked to the door. "I do," she replied. "I do understand."

Lorelai nodded, "Thanks Mom."

"See you Friday," Emily said as she walked out to the car.

"See you Friday," Lorelai replied.

"Emily, I'm starving," Richard complained at 7:40 on Friday night. "Can't we start without her?"

"You know better than that," Emily replied, looking at her watch. "She'll be here soon."

"She must get this from your side of the family. Gilmore's are never late," Richard huffed, shaking his paper in frustration.

"I'll call her cell," Emily said, "She's probably just stuck in traffic," she dialed the number, intending to lecture her daughter on leaving enough time to allow for traffic jams. To her surprise, she didn't answer her cell. She called her house and there was no answer there either.

"No answer?" Richard asked.

"No," Emily said, "Maybe she got stuck at work," she said, dialing the inn and intending to give her daughter a lecture on calling if you aren't going to be able to make it to some place.

"Hello, Dragonfly Inn, Michel speaking," She wondered if he perpetually sounded annoyed when he was working.

"Hello Michel this is Mrs. Gilmore, is my daughter there?"

"Ah no, Mrs. Gilmore, she left here about four o'clock to have a date with Mr. Scruffy Diner Man and left me here to cover for her."

Emily felt a short stab go through her, and she pursed her lips together. "I see," she said after a minute, "Well, you have a good evening Michel."

"Thank you Emily," Michel said sweetly.

She went to her address book and looked up the number for the diner. She was annoyed that she actually had the number for the diner down in her notebook as one of the contacts for her daughter. A diner!

"Hello Luke's, this is Zach,"

"Is Lorelai Gilmore in your establishment?" Emily asked curtly.

"Ah no, she and Luke took off awhile ago Mam, can I take a message if she comes back in?"

"Yes, you can tell her that her mother called!" she said, raising her voice and slamming the receiver down.

"Emily?" Richard asked putting down the paper.

"I knew it, I knew this would happen I just knew it," she said pacing back and forth.

"Knew what?"

"I knew that as soon as that moron came back into her life that it would change. I knew it!"

"Emily, maybe she just forgot, lost track of the time."

"No Richard, she just chose not to come. Don't you know that's the way it works with Lorelai Gilmore? She wants you around just as long as you don't say or do anything that happens to not fall in line with her perfect little world, or as long as someone else more important comes along...well, say goodbye to our daughter dear, because someone more important just came along."

"Emily, you're overreacting."

"I am so stupid Richard, I am so unbelievably stupid. I mean after the other night, I thought we..." she shook her head, "I am so stupid."

They ate in silence, both missing Rory and missing the way their family was when she was around. After dinner they read for a little while, when the phone rang and broke the silence

"If that's her I don't want to talk to her! I don't want to hear her excuses!" Emily said

Richard picked up the phone, "Hello? Luke?" he said in surprise. "Um…no, she's not here. She never came here." Emily turned to him and suddenly noticed that a deep furrow had lined Richard's forehead--he was worried. "Yes, yes if we hear from her we'll have her call you."

"What is it?" Emily asked

Richard seemed dazed, "Um...that was Luke, and he said that Lorelai left him over three hours ago to come here. She was supposed to meet back up with him."

For a moment, the two parents just stared at each other in silence. Without saying a word, Richard went to the hall and grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. Emily sat down on the couch. She was delayed by traffic--that was all, she had to have been delayed by traffic. She looked down and saw that her hands were shaking.

"Lorelai! We are leaving! Please acknowledge that!" she shouted up the stairs. If there was one thing that drove her mad it was when her daughter ignored her. She could take the yelling, the insults, the fights, but when her daughter simply refused to acknowledge her. In years to come she would remember everything about that moment, the way Richard was complaning about his scarf, the scent of the polish on the banister. She would remember exactly the way the note felt in her hands and the way the feeling seemed to go out of her legs when she opened up the letter and read the words,

Dear Emily and Richard,

I am leaving here with Rory. I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore. It's time for me to leave. Don't bother looking for me. I will call when I get settled.

Lorelai

She would always remember the fear that started in her chest and seemed to squeeze the life out of her. She couldn't hear Richard call her, all she saw were those words on the page. She felt Richard lean down and take the note out of her hands. "Richard, what do we do?"

"I'll call the police," Richard said, his voice shaking.

Richard had lasted for five minutes after that when he said he was going to go look for her. She had never seen him looking so shattered. She walked the halls, the quiet causing her anxiety to grow. She didn't know it was possible to be so scared.

"Do you have a description of the two?" The dark haired policeman asked her

"She's um...sixteen, dark beautiful black hair, the biggest blue eyes you've ever seen. The baby turned a year old last month and she has dark hair as well...um."

"Do you have a picture.?"

"Yes," she said, walking over to the mantle, "We took one last week,"

It was then that the poor mother completely gave herself over to this living nightmare. She clenched the picture in her hand , too scared to cry, too scared to move, too scared to breath. If having children meant feeling like this--it wasn't worth it. Nothing was worth this.

The phone rang and she ran to it, "Lorelai?"

"No Mrs. Gilmore, it's Luke,"

"Luke, have you heard from her? Is she okay?"

She would always remember where she was when she heard Luke's voice, heavy and scared. She would remember how her legs felt numb, how heavy the phone felt in her hand.

"Okay, yes, we'll be there," she hung up the phone and barely heard it clatter to the ground. She would always remember the sound of her footsteps resounding through the hall as she ran out the door, the smell of the polish on the stairs. She saw Richard's car approaching from the street.

"Richard!" she screamed and he careened up the driveway.

"Luke, just called," she cried as he got out of the car and ran up to her. "His number was in her wallet. Richard, she's been in a car accident. She's hurt...She's hurt badly."