Chapter 7

Because You'll Want Some More…

After dinner, the dishes were quickly cleared. Luke insisted that he and April would load the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen so Lorelai literally pushed her parents back out onto the patio telling her father to "light up that fire pit already."

As the door closed behind them Emily rolled her eyes up to meet her husband's gaze. "Do you have any idea what these sum ores are that she's been going on about all day?"

"Not a clue, my dear," he replied wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her over to the U-shaped seating area at the end of the patio. He leaned over the low slate table and gently pushed down on one edge of the center panel. The other side rose up and he lifted it out.

"You know we've hardly used this thing. I hope you remember how it works," Emily fretted staring down at the pipe and grate hidden inside the table as Richard stowed the table top cover behind the love seat leaning against the house. "Do you need one of those lighters?"

"There's a built in igniter," he answered as he rounded the side of the house where the wood was stored.

Emily shrugged and sat down on the end of the long sofa that faced the rest of the patio.

Richard returned carrying several pieces of wood which he arranged into a tepee shape in the fire pit. Then he sat down right next to Emily squeezing her into the corner of the sofa as he leaned forward and partially across her legs to open the panel on the side of the table with the fire controls. His free hand came to rest on her knee.

She tried to slide over but there was no where to go. "Would you like me to move?"

Richard looked up at her, a gleam in his eyes, "Not on your life." He gave her knee a squeeze and pressed the button that brought to life the gas flame below the wood. Sitting up, he kept his hand on her knee and used the other to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Something about the way she'd styled it this morning was softer than usual. His hand lingered on her face, his thumb brushing along her cheek bone. He watched her eyes open wide as he leaned in, but she made no move to stop him. Their lingering kiss was tender, loving and held an undercurrent of their long shared passion, but he kept himself in check. Pulling back slightly, he gave her a couple of light kisses before leaning back. Her eyes fluttered open and a smile played at the corner of her mouth just as they heard the door to the house opening and voices from within.

"Luke, don't forget the napkins," Lorelai called back as she emerged from the house. She walked over to the seating area and placed a platter piled high with marshmallows on the wide rim of the table that surrounded the fire pit. Then she handed each of her parents a dessert sized plate and a long wooden skewer.

Emily eyed the skewer warily. "What do I do with this?"

Lorelai laughed, "You toast your marshmallow."

"I haven't roasted marshmallows since I was a boy," Richard remarked happily. He picked up a couple of marshmallows, pushed one onto the end of his skewer then switched with Emily taking her empty one and putting the other marshmallow on it.

April brought out two plates and put them down next to the marshmallows; one covered with Hershey bars that had been broken in half arranged neatly on the plate, one side plain, the other almond and another one piled high with graham crackers. Luke brought out a tray containing mugs, a pot of coffee and the napkins which Lorelai snatched from the tray and handed out.

She held the plate of graham crackers out to her parents. "Take one, and break it in half," she instructed and they each did as they were told. Her mother looked a bit uncertain, but her father's eyes sparkled with boyish enjoyment. "Okay, put a piece of Hershey bar on one of your graham cracker halves," April and Luke were loading up their plates too. She quickly looked around. "Everyone have a marshmallow?" Luke and April were sitting on the couch opposite her parents each holding a marshmallow loaded skewer. Lorelai held hers up as she stood in front of the loveseat all eyes on her. "Okay, one, two, three, everybody toast!" She held hers into the fire and slowly the others followed suit.

"Now, what?" Emily asked trying very hard to set aside her distaste for this whole idea.

Lorelai sat down on the edge of the loveseat leaning forward to keep her marshmallow in the fire. "Well, now we wait for the marshmallow to get all toasty and melty." She pulled hers out of the flames to check it. It was barley turning golden around the edges, no where near ready.

"We made s'mores at camp, but we used the Bunsen burners in the chem lab. It was the funniest thing." April said looking at her marshmallow then putting it back into the fire.

Lorelai decided hers was toasted enough and pulled it out. "Okay, marshmallows out of the fire," Richard, Emily and April played along. Lorelai shot Luke a questioning stare.

"What?" he replied defensively, "I like mine a bit more well done."

Watching her parents, she continued the instructions, "Put the marshmallow on top of the chocolate then cover it with the other graham cracker and pull out the stick." Lorelai picked her s'more up off the plate. "Now, smush."

Richard pressed the top graham cracker down and marshmallow oozed out the sides. He picked the whole thing up eyeing it merrily.

"So try it already," Lorelai encouraged.

He took a good sized bite. "Mmmm…."

"Mom?" Lorelai asked. Emily was still looking at the concoction on her plate. She hadn't pushed the top graham cracker down as enthusiastically as her husband had. Hers was balanced precariously on the top. "Go ahead."

Emily watched as Richard took another big bite of his then shrugged. She lifted the plate up with one hand and held it under the s'more as she picked it up, squishing it together so she could take a small bite. She kept her face neutral as she chewed and swallowed putting her plate back down.

"Well?" Lorelai demanded with excited impatience.

It wasn't really her kind of dessert, but she didn't want to disappoint Lorelai. "It's surprisingly good." She took another small bite, this time she got more chocolate and almond with the marshmallow and graham cracker. It wasn't half bad.

"It's wonderful," Richard said and promptly finished off his first s'more and started to roast another marshmallow. "So, explain this name to me, Lorelai, sum ore?" he said sounding it out awkwardly.

"Well, they're so good you'll want s'more," she deadpanned drawing out the last word with emphasis.

There were a few seconds of silence then Richard broke into deep hearty laughter. Lorelai giggled along. Emily looked at her husband as though he'd lost his mind. It just made him laugh harder. "S'more," he choked out laughing so hard tears began to pool in the corners of his eyes and he wiped them away. His laughter caused Lorelai to laugh louder and April to start giggling. Even Luke chuckled at the scene in front of him.

"I fail to see why that is so side splittingly funny?" Emily asked. Richard turned to her mouthing words with no sounds coming out. The look on his face was her undoing. She began to shake her head and her deep throaty laughter joined the sounds of everyone else.

Several minutes later, when everyone had wiped the tears from their eyes and gotten their breath back, Emily repeated her question.

"It's not the name itself but the fact that all day long, the number of times Lorelai or April has said that word, you and I, both highly intelligent people in my opinion, never understood what it meant," he explained and began chuckling again.

Emily rolled her eyes, but Richard saw that they still glittered with amusement.

"Oh, I seriously need my camera," Lorelai looked to April.

"I know where it is. I'll go get it," April said, then got up and went into the house.

"Lorelai, haven't you taken enough ridiculous pictures today?" Emily tried to keep any harshness out of her voice. She felt sure that she looked a mess and wasn't fond of photos that weren't professionally taken. "Luke, may I have some of that coffee, please?"

"Sure." Luke said, pouring her a mug of coffee and taking it around to her side of the fire.

"Come on, Mom, I promised Rory that I'd send her pictures," Lorelai replied to her mother's objection. She had promised to send her daughter the pictures, but she was also going to keep some of them herself.

"I really don't think Rory wants to see a picture of your father toasting a marshmallow," she protested.

Lorelai laughed, "Oh, trust me, that's exactly what she'd want to see a picture of."

"Well, what about those absurd photos you insisted on taking of your father and me in the grocery store?" Emily countered clearly mystified by her daughter's actions. "Why would Rory want pictures of us grocery shopping?"

"Actually, I'd like a copy of that one you took of your mother pushing the cart, if it's not too much trouble?" Richard asked.

"Sure, Dad," Lorelai answered with a smile, "no trouble at all."

"What on earth are you going to do with a photo of me pushing a grocery cart?" his wife demanded indignantly.

"I think I'll frame it for my study," he replied with a smirk.

"You'll do no such thing." She countered.

"Yes, I will," he replied. "We don't take nearly enough photos, Emily, and the ones we do have taken are formal, nothing relaxed. Lorelai, I'd like copies of all of them, the one outside The Clam Shack, the ones at the frozen banana stand, everything."

April returned with the camera and handed it to Lorelai.

Realizing that they were not going to resolve this particular disagreement right now, Emily let it go for the moment and decided Lorelai would take the pictures anyway and it wasn't worth fighting over. She would however discuss the framing of any such photos with her husband again at a later time.

Lorelai took a picture of Luke watching April toast another marshmallow then turned to her parents.

Richard dropped his hand to Emily's knee, as he toasted his marshmallow. She stiffened slightly, but as he began stroking it gently with his thumb she relaxed some. He saw Lorelai turn in their direction with the camera and eased his fingertips lightly around to the back of her knee, one of his wife's particularly ticklish spots. He felt her shudder and saw her leaning forward out of the corner of his eye. Lorelai was snapping away with her camera. Emily grabbed his wrist with both hands and tried to pull it away, unsuccessfully suppressing her giggles, her eyes crinkling beautifully. She was beaming, and he could feel his own foolishly lovesick grin.

After a few seconds, he allowed her to pull his hand away. "Richard Gilmore, I cannot believe you just did that!" she exclaimed. Richard dropped his hand back onto her leg just above her knee and squeezed gently. "Don't you even think of doing that again," she warned.

He turned and looked into her eyes "You have my word, Emily."

After a moment of silent communication, the tension eased from her muscles a bit. She tried to sneak looks at the others to see their reactions. Lorelai still held the camera and was smiling at them sweetly. Luke's face was in shadow, and April had already returned her focus to the marshmallow she was toasting.

"So, Lorelai, are you going to put some of these pictures into that album you were working on?" April asked taking her marshmallow out blowing on it to extinguish the tiny flames at the edges.

"Um… yeah… maybe," Lorelai answered trying to sound matter of fact, like there was no big deal about the album.

"What photos are those?" Emily asked Lorelai, working to keep her tone light and only sound mildly curious.

"Oh, just some pictures I've had floating around, you know kind you always say you're going to put into an album and never do," she explained with a casual wave of her hand.

"What kinds of photos, Lorelai?" Emily asked wanting to know what was important enough to her daughter to put in an album.

"Oh, there are a bunch of you in there," April quickly answered with a big smile on her face.

Emily tried to school her features, but couldn't keep from smiling a bit, her eyes glittering, "Really, like what?"

Lorelai looked momentarily stunned then plastered a smile on her face.

"Yeah, some of the three of you when Lorelai was a baby, like when you brought her home maybe and her christening I guess, one of you and Lorelai next to a snowman," April answered completely oblivious to the slightly uncomfortable shifting of her father next to her as he carefully watched for Lorelai's reaction. "One of your wedding, a graduation, some with Rory. You know, just regular family pictures."

Emily nodded slowly, "Ahh." She took a deep breath and adjusted the napkin in her lap.

Richard knew his wife wouldn't ask, "I'd like to see that album when you get it together."

"Okay, Dad," Lorelai agreed with a slight shrug as she stared down at the plate in her lap.

Knowing his daughter, she would conveniently forget, but he planned to remind her.

"Well, I'm going to call it a night," April announced as she got up. "I want to check my email and see if I can catch a few of my friends online before going to sleep."

Everyone said goodnight to April as she went into the house. Then Lorelai moved over to sit next to Luke. She leaned against his side comfortably, slipped off her sandals and pulled her feet up onto the cushion next to her.

Richard leaned back against the sofa opposite them and draped his arm across the back of the couch absently playing with the ends of Emily's hair.

"So, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Lorelai asked.

"You weren't at the beach very long today. I thought you might like to spend the day doing that," Emily suggested.

"Sounds good," Lorelai said with a yawn.

Emily shivered as her husband's fingers brushed against the back of her neck.

Richard turned to look down at her and asked, "Cold?"

"No," Emily answered then took a deep breath and stood up. "We better get all this cleaned up before Lorelai falls asleep," she gestured to her daughter who was yawning again, her eyes half closed as her head rested on Luke's shoulder.

"What? I'm up?" Lorelai replied her words slurring sleepily as she sat up.

"It's fine Lorelai. Your mother and I will take care of this. Why don't you go to bed," Richard replied as he began stacking the dishes onto the tray.

"No, it's my mess, I'll help clean it up," Lorelai said rising and started to gather all of the remains of their s'mores.

Emily, Luke and Lorelai brought all the dishes into the house as Richard made sure the fire was put out.

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Emily sighed and closed her book with a low thud. Richard knew that she was preoccupied with something. She hadn't turned a page in several minutes. Perhaps not even since opening the book. Richard closed his own book and placed it on the nightstand next to him. He took off his reading glasses and put them on top of the book before turning to look at his wife. The icy blue of her pajamas highlighted her fair skin and auburn hair. Her gaze was fixed on the closed book she held in her lap and her glasses had slipped a little bit down her nose. He gently covered one of her hands with his. Startled out of her thoughts, her eyes slowly found his. "What are you thinking about?" he asked warmly as his thumb stroked along the side of her hand.

She sighed again before speaking. "I just keep replaying what April said about the album Lorelai was making. I didn't know she had those pictures, did you?"

"No," he answered simply.

Emily bit her lip considering something. Richard squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Do you think she took them with her?" she finally asked.

"It does seem the most likely possibility," he said.

Emily nodded and looked back down at the book.

The unspoken thought that their daughter had wanted to keep some memory of their family hung between them. Richard took the book from her and held out his hand for her glasses. He placed them both with his on the nightstand and turned off the lights with the switch by the bed. Then he settled down against the pillows and held out his arm. Emily immediately eased down next to him resting her head on his shoulder, her hand over his heart as he wrapped his arm around her. Squeezing her gently he kissed the top of her head. "It is a nice thought," he remarked quietly. He felt her nod her head against him and snuggle in closer. Before long both had slipped into a peaceful slumber.

Notes: First of all my continued thanks to everyone who posted a review since the last update: RiskaSG(x4), GilmoreGirlsnOCRock, Valerie, pjt-gg, lilienprinzessin, LorLukealways, Miss GoodManners, Mary, gilmoregirlsalwaysforever, and gilmorefanforever. I really appreciate all those who take the time to post their comments.

Also, my continued thanks to UnaVitaSegreta, Melanie and Cira for their suggestions, ideas, and critiques as this was developed.

A note on the older pictures mentioned in this chapter, while Emily said that Lorelai destroyed all the pictures of herself as a child, we know from "Love, War and Snow" that there was a photo album with at least one baby picture. Also, I think she didn't destroy them all and there had to be negatives around somewhere for reprints.