A/N: I just can't help myself. I'm not usually a quick updater of multi-chapter stories, in fact most of the time I give up on them altogether. Thank you to Nancy, BFD, and an unidentified guest for your reviews of the story. It's nice to get a feel for how I'm handling the characters, especially because even with the absence of Rory I want Lorelai and Luke relatively the same as we see them on the show. Now kick back, relax, and prepare for the wrath of Emily Gilmore. As always, I own nothing.

P.S.: Nancy, aside from the mention of Rachel in Chapter 2 you shouldn't be reading anymore about her unless it's relevant to the storyline, but I promise you she's not coming back and swooping in like she did on the show!

Last time on The Innkeeper and the Diner Owner

I stand up and face Luke. "I'm ready to go now. Thank you so much for bringing me." I reach out and hug Luke. He's stiff at first and I know it's because he's stunned by my hug but he eventually loosens up and hugs back. I'm just pulling back when I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I start to turn around to see why I'm getting the sudden creepy feeling but before I can see what's behind me I hear someone say "Lorelai?" I don't need to finish turning around to know that voice belongs to my mother, Emily Gilmore.

"Mom," I say as I turn around and face her. I'm much taller than she is but her sensible heels, pristine wardrobe, and perfectly coifed hair make me feel as though she's towering over me. "What are you doing here?" My mother just looks at me with her patented stare of disappointment and arrogance. "Am I not allowed to visit my granddaughter's grave? I did pay for this burial plot you know." I bite my tongue instead of telling her Dad actually paid for the burial plot because that's not the first thing you bring up after running away from home and not contacting your parents in six and a half years. "I'm surprised to find you here Lorelai. The hasty note you left us six and a half years ago said you wanted to leave your old life behind, which I assumed included your daughter." I felt the anger bubbling up inside me and I was just about to let a few venomous words slip from my mouth until I felt Luke's firm grip on my shoulder. "No mom, I didn't leave because I wanted to leave my daughter behind, I left because I couldn't go on with my life as it had been before her. I hated that life before I had the baby and I hated it worse after when everyone just pretended that life could go back to the way it was after her death." The pitch of my voice kept rising the longer I talked.

"So it's bad enough you run away, I don't see you for six years, and you berate the way I raised you but I also come to find that you've turned visiting your daughter's grave as some sort of dating activity. Are you showing him what can happen if you're not careful, is this your preferred method of birth control?" I feel like I have just been shot. That was low even for Emily Gilmore. I could see on her face that she regret saying it, even if it had been what she was thinking. "No mom, it's just Luke," I mumbled. I hear him speak up. "That's her way of saying we weren't on a date." I feel bad now; I didn't mean to make Luke feel unimportant, so I turned to him. "You know what I meant, we could be on a date but we're not." Luke just nods at me. He looks so uncomfortable and I know he wants to get out of here. "We have to get going mom, we both have jobs and things that need taken care of." Well Luke has a business to run, I have a date with Ben and Jerry this evening but she doesn't need to know that. "Oh no Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, you're not getting out of this so easily. You think you can run away under the cover of darkness and not speak to us for six years and then when we finally see you again you can just run out? Sorry, but that's not how this works. I don't want to have a fight with you in the middle of a cemetery because it's disrespectful, but there are plenty of things we need to talk about. You and your escort will follow me back to our house and we will talk there." I shake my head vigorously. "Uh uh, not happening. I'm never setting foot in that house again. I left for a reason. I'm not going to that house so you can send me to my room and lock me inside. It won't even work if you haven't sealed up the balcony windows because I'll just shimmy down the drain pipe like I did at fourteen." Emily was fuming now. "You WILL follow me back to the house and we WILL have this discussion." She turned to address Luke. "I assume you drove, you can follow me back to the house."

I was mad. No, I was livid. I barely recognized the fact that I was walking forward and being helped into the cab of the truck. It didn't sink in until Luke was starting the engine and following my mother down the small road. "What are you doing? You can't follow her to their house, the torture chamber of my childhood. Did you not hear my story earlier today." Luke had on his 'I've had enough of this crap' face. "Yeah Lorelai, I heard your story but I think it's awful you just left your parents. Even if you had to leave you could have kept in some sort of touch with them. I know what it's like to lose your parents. I don't want you regretting someday all the time you spent away from them. Even if you go over there today and you fight and you scream at least there was an attempt to mend the fences." I crossed my arms and pressed my forehead to the window. Luke thinks he knows what's best for me but he doesn't. That's fine, I only need him to get me back to Stars Hollow and then I can freeze him out. Until I need coffee, but even then I don't have to say anything to him other than 'I need coffee'.

It's not really in my nature to keep quiet though so after a few minutes of pouting and staring out the window I start to talk again. "Did you not hear her ask me if bringing a man to my daughter's grave was my preferred method of birth control? You actually expect me to sit in a room with her after she said something like that? Of all the cruel things Emily Gilmore has said and done in her life, that's probably one of the worst. You really expect me to go to her house and be civil with her after that?" Luke just grunts at first and then answers me. "No, I don't expect you to be civil. You're both probably going to scream at one another until you're blue in the face. Maybe you'll make up and maybe you won't but you should try. You think you don't want them in your life, but five years down the road if you find out something happened to one of them how are you going to feel? They're still your parents. Don't let the last interaction you have with them be a short note saying you're running away. You don't have to believe I'm right, but I am the only one in this car whose parents are dead." With that, Luke's jaw tightened and I knew that meant the conversation was over. I'm still furious about what my mother said and did today but I'll do this to appease Luke at least; there's clearly something about his parent's death that he's not telling me and it seems like this will make him feel better in some weird way.

We pull into the Gilmore driveway and Luke mutters a "holy crap" under his breath. "Holy crap indeed Luke." I say back. He cuts the engine and I open my door to get out of the truck. I'm halfway to the front door before I realize he isn't following me. I walk back over to the driver's side of the truck. "Well, are you coming or what?" He looks at me like I'm crazy. "No I'm not coming. This is your thing to fight out with your mom; I'd just be in the way. I'll be right here when you coming storming out the front door in a little bit." I forced a laugh at him. "Oh no burger boy, you made me come here, you're coming in with me." I pulled the truck door open and started yanking on his arm to pull him out. My attempt was futile because he's stronger and more solid than I am but he must have gotten annoyed enough because he pushed my hands away and got out of the truck. "Get away from me you mental patient, I'll come in, geez."

My mother was standing at the front door when we came around the truck. "Honestly Lorelai, are you going to play around all day or are you going to get in here? Don't be baited, don't freak out on her first, she'll use it against you. I chanted this in my head on the walk to the front door. I told Luke he had to come in because he forced me to come, but as he was following me through the front door and we were handing out coats to the maid, I realized I wanted him to come in with me because I was scared to come back into this house by myself. It was an irrational fear really because the house itself had never done anything to me, but the people and the memories that inhabited it were what was scaring me and it was nice to have someone that would be on my side in there with me, even if he wasn't going to speak up.

Mom led us into the parlor where, surprisingly, my father was sitting in a chair reading a newspaper. When he heard us come in he stood up; his face was contorted into a stern half smile. "Lorelai, it's been almost six and a half years hasn't it?" I tried to force a chuckle and said "Yeah Dad, long time no see." He was not happy with my trying to make light of the situation. "And who is this?" Dad asked motioning to Luke. Mom spoke up before I had the chance. "That's Luke, Lorelai's 'not a date' male escort." I rolled my eyes at her. "He's a friend mom, not an escort. Plus this is about me not him and we know it so shouldn't we be focusing on what was so important that you forced us to come back here?" Dad reached over to shake hands with Luke while mom's face turned an interesting shade of purple. "Forced? I didn't force the two of you to do anything. I simply asked you to come back to the house to have a discussion that's been six years in the making Lorelai." Oy, when my mother screams, she really screams. Dad is silent and is taking some pity on Luke. I hear him say something about sit down and can I get you a drink. I don't really know what happens between the two of them after that because my mother and I are standing toe to toe and I'm screaming back at her. "Oh and in what way did I know this was going to be a 'discussion' and not a fight mom? Because judging by your snotty little remark about asking if I brought Luke to my daughter's grave as a method of birth control definitely pointed more towards an impending fight than a discussion."

Dad stood up from his chair again. "Emily, did you actually say that to her?" Mom got a guilty look on her face and in a much smaller voice said, "I was angry. " Dad slowly pushed mom down onto one of the couches and sat down next to her. I waved his hand as if telling me to sit down, so I plopped down next to Luke who had his hands folded in his lap and was staring at them like they were the most fascinating things in the world. "Lorelai, it was wrong of your mother to say something like that to you, but you have to understand she's been worried about you for six years, she said something she didn't mean." I scoffed at the both of them. "This is so typical. You have never even tried to understand me and you're always jumping to one another's defense even when the other is wrong. No one in this house cared that I was fifteen and pregnant, and then fifteen with a miscarriage. Not just a miscarriage, I had to give birth to my already dead baby. No one seemed to care how that would affect me as long as the "little mistake" was gone." Now, to be fair, my parents had never called my daughter a mistake (at least not to my face or any of the times I was listening while they talked behind my back). The "mistake" was always a term used by Christopher's parents, but to me, the distinction didn't matter much anymore. Mom turned that awesome shade of purple before starting to scream again. "And this is so typical of you Lorelai. You want to whine and complain about how no one understood what you were going through. You never stopped to think about how this would affect anyone but you. You didn't think about how getting pregnant at fifteen would change Christopher's life or our lives or Christopher's parents. You just wanted to be defiant and have sex with your boyfriend, you didn't think at all. You got pregnant and that was something we all had to deal with, but even when you lost the child you were still as selfish as ever. That was supposed to be our first grandchild. You didn't think about how that loss would affect your father and I, you only thought of how it was affecting you."

I was getting angrier by the second. I had to restrain myself from standing up again. "Oh yeah, how selfish of me for being upset that I got sick and hospitalized while pregnant, then found out my child was dead and still had to give birth to her and then got to come back to a life where everyone wanted to pretend she didn't even exist because now the family name wouldn't be tarnished. Yeah mom, I had it so easy and was acting like a selfish child, you're right." My tone was bitter and my words were full of venom. Mom's eyes turned to slits. "You did have some right to be upset Lorelai, you went through so much at such a young age, but you never even considered what it would do to anyone else. I lost my granddaughter as well. No, she wasn't going to be born under ideal circumstances but she was still my granddaughter. Not only that but I had to watch my daughter fall ill and be hospitalized and go through a tragedy. When you came home from the hospital you were so upset and all you wanted to do was distance yourself from us as much as possible. The only time you would even let me be around you is when you were having those nightmares. I could see how horribly this had affected you by those nightmares but during the day you put up such a wall. What did you expect us to do?"

I just sat there and took in everything she had said. Was I really that awful? I had spent most of my time in my room watching television, only showing my face for meals or snacks, or if I needed a change of scenery. I didn't talk much either. But was I really supposed to talk to them about this? It's not exactly like we we're a warm and snuggly family that shared everything with one another and it wasn't like my mother and I had a super close mother daughter bond even before I ran away. "So maybe I closed myself off a little, but how was I supposed to know you wanted to talk or anything? You never said anything to me." Mom rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in exasperation. "Every time I tried to talk to you from the time you turned ten you made it out like I was attacking you and turned everything into a fight, so I stayed away. Why fight against the current? I thought after losing your own daughter you would realize how much a daughter means to a mother and you would come to me, but I guess I was wrong."

I looked across the room at my mother. She's tough and she knows how to get what she wants. She's strong and she's always in control. I've never seen a crack in her armor until now. "I didn't know you wanted us to be closer mom. I was always such a disappointment to you and Dad." Mom's mouth formed a tight line and she shook her head. "Don't get all self-depreciating now Lorelai. I barely got out of bed for a month after you left and I cried 'round the clock. The maid had to bring my meals to me in bed and I left your father to do just about everything that I should have been handling. You know what it feels like to lose a daughter Lorelai. I lost my daughter as well only she left willingly and didn't even bother to stay in touch with me. You think you're the only one that knows what it feels like to lose a child but you're wrong." Mom was still composed on the outside but her voice was starting to quiver and betrayed her exterior. I had no idea my mother was upset when I left. I honestly didn't even think she would care. Your thought process at sixteen is much different than your thought process at twenty and thinking back on what I did, it was selfish and a somewhat ridiculous choice. I don't regret it of course, I like my job and my friends and the life I've made for myself, but I never thought about how it would affect anyone else.

"Mom, leaving was selfish. I just never really thought it would affect you guys the way it did. I was so hungry for independence and change. I just couldn't bear to live here anymore and go on with my life as if my pregnancy and my daughter never happened. Sure it was easy for Chris who never came to the hospital and just hopped skipped and jumped right over the real responsibility. I never had that option. After a few months you both started pushing me back towards school, back towards college and degrees and a coming out party. Those were trivial and childish things and I had grown past them, or at least I thought I had. I couldn't just pick up my old life where it had left off so seamlessly, and it hurt that you wanted me to."

I could see this was starting to become too much for mom. Apparently dad could see it too because he spoke up instead. "Lorelai, no one expected you to pick up seamlessly where your pre-pregnancy life left off, but we couldn't let you wallow in the past forever. Had the baby lived your life would have been difficult. You wouldn't have had the opportunity to finish high school, attend college, along with many other things. No one wanted you to forget what happened to you, but we also didn't want you to waste the opportunities still ahead of you. You were always a very bright girl. You loved to read and to learn almost as much as you liked getting into trouble. You wanted to travel the world and visit exotic places. We didn't want you to waste the opportunities you had to do all of those things while you were stuck mourning your past."

I guess I understood where dad was coming from. I was going to argue that they didn't know what I wanted but mom spoke up before I could. "We just wanted what was best for you Lorelai. That's all any parent wants is to give their child anything they can dream of and give them all the opportunities they can. We're more fortunate than most Lorelai, we've never wanted for anything and we have the resources to do anything our hearts desired. We just wanted to give you the tools to reach your full potential in life. Maybe though, we went about it the wrong way."

Emily Gilmore just admitted she might have done something wrong. This may be a first to put in the record books. I wanted to jump around and say, "ha I told you so" or something equally obnoxious, but I couldn't. I felt guilty. I'm older now; it's easier to see their intentions. No, they didn't go about it the right way at all but they're Emily and Richard Gilmore and they don't know how to share their feelings. I know I should say something but I'm feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry," is all I can get out. I suddenly become very aware of Luke sitting next to me and how heavy the air is, and how I really really don't like whatever this feeling is I'm feeling right now. "I'm really sorry. There's never going to be anything I can do to make up for that."

My mother got her patented Emily Gilmore smile on her face. "You can start coming to weekly Friday night dinners here. We haven't seen you in so long. It would be one way you could try to make it up for us." Leave it to Emily to already have some sort of "punishment" in mind for me. What could I do though? The guilt was already firmly planted in my gut. "I could do that, I guess." Mom's Cheshire cat grin got bigger. "Excellent, we'll start next Friday, your father and I have a function to attend this Friday." After my mother hatched her master plan the room went silent. I looked over at poor Luke and he looked so uncomfortable and out of place. "Well, Mom, Dad, we should probably get going, Luke has to get back to work I don't want to keep him any longer than necessary," We got up, Luke shook both of my parents' hands and then we were back to the truck and hitting the road Jack.

"Thanks for making me do that." I said to Luke while I was looking out the window. I didn't want to admit he was right about making me go (or at least not have to look at him while I admitted it). "It seemed to have went well. Your mother sure is intimidating though." I laughed. "That's definitely an accurate word to describe Emily Gilmore." Luke fumbled with the radio and turned on some soft rock station that filled the silence in the cab all the way back to Stars Hollow. I guess one thing that could be said for the day is that I wasn't as sad as I thought I would be, but that could have been because I had many other things on my mind. Luke pulled into the parking lot at the Inn and drove around the back to the potting shed. He put the truck in park and I found myself reluctant to get out. "So, uh, thanks for the ride and for dealing with my parents and everything. I guess I'll just go in and have my date with Ben and Jerry and Casablanca alone." I didn't want to be alone. Normally, I liked my solidarity on this day, but today I just wanted to stay near Luke. Something about being with him made everything seem more manageable. That was the first moment I realized that Luke wasn't just my friend anymore he was my best friend (I may even be closer to him than I am to Sookie). I just continued to sit in the truck and he didn't make any effort to kick me out. "If you don't really want to be alone, we can go back to the diner, I can make you something to eat. I'll even refill your coffee without any comments about how it'll kill you." I looked at Luke who had a really small smile playing on his face. "Yeah, going to the diner sounds good right now." Luke put the truck in reverse and headed back to the main road.

I spent the rest of the night in the diner on "my" stool. I ate my burger and drank my bottomless cup of coffee. I watched Luke cook, deliver food, take orders, and wipe the counter about three hundred times in an hour. It should have been boring and it wasn't normally what I do on this day but it made me happy nonetheless. Luke drove me home that night after the diner was closed, even though I told him I could walk back. He even walked me to the door and made me promise to lock it behind me. I told him I live in a potting shed and no one was going to come busting in here looking for valuables and he told me not to assume things. Right before I went inside I thought he was going to kiss me goodnight but he backed away at the last second, bolted to the truck and sped off with a quick double honk of the horn. I went inside and even locked the door behind me. I felt strange on the inside for wishing he would have kissed me instead of running away.

A/N: Well, what did you think of Emily and Richard everyone? Slightly out of character but what other way would there have been to get Lorelai back in touch with them without Rory? She wouldn't have stayed or bothered with them had Emily not shown a crack in her armor (at least in my opinion). I always love reviews; they make me happy! Also, it looks like we're starting to get into flirting Luke and Lorelai territory. It's gonna be a fun ride!