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

Author's Note: Thank you to all who read and reviewed the last chapter. I appreciate it as always. Thank you all for taking the time to do that. I hope you enjoy the next installment.

"Richard, Richard...for heaven's sake. Yes darling, yes I am well aware of what a cellphone is as I am talking to you on one right now. Yes, for the forty-fifth time I apologize for not calling you and letting you know I was still at Lorelai's. Richard...Richard, I'm staying the night here. Yes, she's fine, stop worrying. I'll call you in the morning. Goodbye dear," Emily hung up the phone and at the same time rolled her eyes at Richard's worry and smiled--enjoying the attention.

"Alright, the men folk are taken care of," Lorelai said, hanging up her phone after talking to a baffled Luke telling him not to come over tonight because her mother was spending the night. But, she figured if he knew anything, it was that Lorelai Gilmore came with never-ending twists that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

"Mom, in that closet in the hall, there's two boxes marked Independence Inn, would you grab them for me?"

Emily went to the closet and shook her head at the clutter. "It's amazing that someone who made a career as a maid, could have such a filthy looking closet. If you were my maid, I would have fired you."

"Mother, if I was your maid, I would have fired myself. Could you bring the boxes please?"

Emily did as she was asked and forgot the closet immediately when Lorelai opened the boxes and to her delight it was filled with pictures.

Lorelai smiled at the look on Emily's face as she gently picked up a batch of pictures. There was one of Lorelai and Rory walking together on the grounds of the Independence Inn, one of Lorelai pushing Rory in a swing, one of Rory asleep in her high chair with the remains of chocolate cake around her mouth. Emily chucked and brushed a finger down Rory's face,"When was this?" she asked.

"Her second birthday, she devoured that cake and then fell asleep," Lorelai replied. She followed me around the next few days saying "Toclate take."

"Tell me more," Emily said quietly, "Tell me more things like that."

"She was the darling of the town, everyone adopted her from Miss Patty and Babette to..."

"...Mia" Emily said slowly.

"She was the friendliest kid Mom," Lorelai went on, dodging the Mia comment. "As soon as she could say it, her favorite word was "hi." She said it to everyone everywhere we went. She read like crazy, I couldn't get her books fast enough. When she was six, she read Nancy Drew books in an afternoon. When she was ten, she was reading Dickens." Lorelai laughed at another picture she picked up of Rory and her friends dressed in gaudy dress-up clothes.

"When she was eight, she and Lane came to me and asked me if they and a few friends could put on a play and if I would come to it. I was busy cleaning, said yes and then two hours later they come get me and out on the lawn there is about sixty people. This girl had gone door to door and sold tickets, that she had made herself, for twenty five cents, then because there weren't any chairs not in use at the Inn, she called the Methodist church and asked them for chairs. She had gone to Luke's, and asked for donations for the refreshments. So, here I come, thinking this was going to be a little play put on for my benefit and find out she had orchestrated this entire production."

Emily laughed, but behind the laugh was a bitter pain. Lorelai went on to share other memories of Rory, memories that she would have given anything to be a part of. What would she have given to be at Miss Patty's recital of Peter and the Wolf when Rory played Sonya the duck, or the teddy bear picnic at her eighth birthday party, or the 4th grade spelling bee when Rory won the ten dollar gift certificate to Stars Hollow Books and might as well been presented with the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes. She held pictures of each of the events, but that's all they would ever be to her, pictures to hold in her hand. But...at least Lorelai wanted to share them with her now. Having that now, the fact that her daughter wanted her to know, was more than she had ever expected.

"Tell me more," Emily said

"Well, when Rory was two..."

"No," Emily whispered hoarsely, "Tell me more about you."

Lorelai stopped suddenly and smiled slightly. Although she had hated herself for it, there had always been a twinge of jealousy in her for the perfect angel granddaughter that could never do anything wrong in her parent's eyes.

"I worked, I saved, I went to Business College, I raised Rory, nothing really special."

"Don't sell yourself short Lorelai, Rory is a remarkable young woman."

"She came that way Mom. I just unwrapped the packaging."

Emily shook her head, "No, Lorelai...that girl is the masterpiece of your life."

The words caused a thrill of pride shoot through her like electricity. She felt tears stinging in her eyes. "Thanks Mom," she whispered.

Emily smiled, "Tell me what it is about this place that has such hold on you. I want to understand what you love about it."

"I don't know, a million different things I guess. I love the fact that a wedding or even a birthday is a town affair, I love the knit-a-thons, the living art festival, the winter carnival, it's a magical place. I guess it's the people most of all. When Rory was five, she decided that she wanted to be a ballerina. There was this pink frilly lampshade in the dining hall of the Independence Inn, well it turns up missing and the next thing I know, my daughter has removed the top bar and has it around her waist as a tutu. I didn't have the money for dancing lessons, but then Patty shows up one day and tells me that I've won two free years of dance lessons from everyone's last names in the town that start with G. It was a lousy cover-up, but I loved her for the fact that she not only wanted to give Rory lessons, but save my pride as well. Everyone's been like that, since we moved here. You saw at the party they threw for Rory--everyone always watched over her, and me like we were family."

"How did you and Luke first meet?" Emily asked.

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"You have never cared about the history of Luke and I before."

"I want to know, it's a perfectly reasonable thing for a mother to ask."

"There's a sweet story involved Mom, I don't want you to make fun of it."

"What makes you think I'll make fun of it? I mean do you meet over armadillo meet at the local truck stop?"

"You see! I knew it!"

"Sorry, sorry, I was just kidding. Please...tell me the story."

"I was 28 or 29, and I went into Luke's for the first time, dying for some coffee. I kept following him around, telling him to give me coffee and he kept barking at me that he'd get to me when he could. So, I asked him what his birthday was, tore out the horoscopes and wrote down, 'You will meet an annoying woman today, give her coffee and she will go away.' I handed him the horoscope, told him to keep it for good luck, he gave me coffee and I left and forgot about the whole thing. When he took me on our first official date, he pulled out the horoscope from his wallet. He had kept it all those years."

Emily was speechless, she had never considered Luke capable of such a romantic gesture. "That's lovely," she said smiling and picked up a few more pictures to look at.

"Mom?" Lorelai said after a few minutes.

"Yes?"

"What did you mean before? When I told you that I would have come home if I'd known, why did you say that was why I needed to tell Rory?"

Emily took a deep breath, "Your father wanted to tell you what was happening. They...they were on the verge of committing me...and your father said you had a right to know. I told him not to tell you. I made him promise not to ever tell you. You made your choice." There was a long pause and then Emily went on. "I...I was wrong and...you are wrong for making that choice for Rory. If she comes back, she comes back. She deserves to make that choice for herself."

Lorelai nodded slowly, "She's in Portland Oregon tonight covering a meeting. She told me she'd call tomorrow. I'll...I'll think about it."

Emily nodded, feeling she had made her point and returned to the treasure boxes of photographs. She wanted to see each one, and know the story behind it. There was so much that she had missed. "Lorelai," she said quietly after she had looked at some more pictures. She opened her mouth to speak again and then stopped. "Never mind," she said.

"What?" Lorelai prodded.

"It just...I...never mind," Emily said shaking her head.

"Mom?"

Emily turned and looked at her. "It was never...well..." she swallowed hard and then began again. "You said something a little while ago. You said I can't forgive you for getting pregnant for spoiling the plan. You were right in a way. I haven't been able to forgive you...but not for getting pregnant. I...can't forgive you for running away...for giving up on us, on the idea of our family. You took a piece of me away from me, a very precious piece. I took care of you, the same as your father taking care of you was part of who I was and when I didn't have you any longer I lost that part of me. I...don't know if I can let that anger go. It's going to take some time."

"For me too," Lorelai said quietly, then she sighed and smiled. "I need to tell you something Mom. I've never told anyone this, not even Rory. When Rory was three, we were shoe shopping in the mall when suddenly I smell you. That scent brought back so many memories, of dollhouse days, when you'd come in and kiss me goodnight before you left for a function, when you'd pick me up and hold me." Emily's eyes filled with tears as Lorelai continued. "I followed the lady with your perfume all over the mall, just wanting to hold on to that feeling, wanting...to hold onto you. There were times, I promise, when I really missed you."

Emily smiled, holding back the sob that threatened to come out. "I missed you too," she said gently, and then tugged on a piece of her girl's hair.

They spent the evening looking at pictures, Emily laughing at Lorelai's stories, and Lorelai enjoying after all sharing her life with her mother. They stayed up and watched another movie and by the end, Lorelai was asleep. Emily gently tucked her in and bent down to kiss her on the top of the forehead.

Lorelai woke up for a moment and looked up at her, "Maybe I still need you to take care of me...a little."

Emily smiled, "I'll be in Rory's room. Call me if you need me."

It was a happy mother that snuggled down in her granddaughter's bed that night, feeling at last that she was free. It was still a long road ahead of them, but at least they had finally started. She had no trouble drifting off to sleep, thinking happy thoughts about the days to come. She woke up suddenly when she heard a crash coming from the kitchen. She hurried out of bed, and went into the kitchen to see her very pale daughter drinking cup after cup of water.

"Lorelai?" she was to her in two steps. "Are you alright?"

"I'm so thirsty Mom," Lorelai said between gulps of water.

Emily reached her hand up and felt Lorelai's forehead, "My god, you're burning up. We're going to the emergency room.

"No...I'm okay, I just need to lie down."

"We're going."

"Mom it's the middle of the night."

"Lorelai..." her mother suddenly looked very frightened. "Have you been having that pain. The same one you had before?"

"Mom..."

"Answer me!" Emily yelled.

Lorelai stared at her for a moment then nodded slowly. "But not as bad."

"Let's go."

"Mom, the hospital is thirty miles away, you don't see well in the dark, I can't drive. Let's just wait until in the morning. We'll call the doctor first thing in the morning. Please, I just need to lie down."

"Lorelai..."

"Mom, I'm not going tonight. First thing in the morning."

"Alright," Emily said and helped her back to bed. She brought her some Tylenol for the her fever, and a cold compress for her head. She stayed with her until she fell back to sleep but Emily was up for the rest of the night, watching the rising and falling of her daughter's chest.