Once they were back in their room and alone together again after their dinner with Lorelai, the awkwardness between Lee and Amanda returned. Amanda had immediately crossed the room to begin unpacking since they'd had no chance to do so when they'd first arrived.

"I…uh…I guess we should…" Lee swallowed hard and gestured to the bed. "Uh…you know, get ready to turn in for the night."

Amanda had to stifle a laugh because his nervousness reminded her of her own battle with nerves that long-ago night when they'd first had to share a hotel room for a case and they'd pretended to be newlyweds. "Lee…" she began softly as she paused in her task to meet him and reached for his hand. "You don't need to be nervous," she attempted to comfort him as she lightly squeezed his hand.

"N-nervous," he stammered as he pulled his hand from hers, not sure he could handle her touch at the moment. He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not nervous. I mean, why should I be? It's not as if we've never shared a room before, right?"

Amanda rolled her eyes at him attempting to revert back to his old mode of serious denial. Unwilling to let him backpedal again, she firmly took both of his hands in hers, looked him square in the eyes and replied, "But, we both know it's different this time. I know we've been flirting for awhile and on some casual, no-pressure dates, but ever since you locked the door to our office the other day; when you kissed me the way you did-"

"You kissed me back if I recall," he cut in.

"I did," she replied with an affectionate smile. "And I don't regret that for one second, but ever since that happened and since you said what you said about getting to really know me…well, that changed things between us." When he nodded in acknowledgment, she went on, "But that's not a bad thing…or at least I don't think it is. And this…" she nodded to the one bed in the room. "It doesn't have to be a big deal. Like you said, it's not as if we've never shared a room before…or for that matter, spent the night in each other's arms. I'm sure you remember the night we spent in the swamp all huddled together just trying to stay warm."

"Yeah, I do," he responded in a low, husky voice as he also recalled having quite a vivid dream that night that he was sure was a result of having her so close all night. "But I wasn't really thinking about us sharing a bed as much as I was about what comes before…you know…getting undressed for bed." He was on board with their mutual decision to wait awhile longer before consummating their relationship, but he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to control his physical response to her if he were to watch her get undressed and had been trying to figure out a tactful way to broach the subject without causing her…or himself…any embarrassment.

"Ohhhh," she responded as realization struck. "Well, there is a bathroom if you're worried about that. We can just take turns using it to change if that will make you more comfortable."

He breathed a sigh of relief that she was being so understanding. "Yeah, I think that would be good." He released her hands and gestured toward the smaller room. "Why don't you go first since you're half-unpacked already?"

"No, I think you should go first because one of us still has to call Emily Gilmore and I think that will go a lot better if I do that…you know, talk to her and ease her into it, one mother to another."

He nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right." He crossed the room to reach for his suitcase, extremely grateful that he'd had the foresight to pack pajamas since he'd been so unsure of whether or not he should take her flirting at the office seriously. When he turned back to face Amanda, he saw that she already had the Gilmore file in hand and was perusing it, he assumed looking for the Gilmores home number. "So, I…uh…I'll just see you in a bit."

"Yeah," she replied absently without looking up as she looked for Emily's contact information. Once she found what she was looking for she quickly dialed and when Emily came to the phone, she greeted her pleasantly, "Hi, Emily. It's Amanda…King. I have some good news for you regarding your daughter.

"You found her and you're bringing her home?" Emily asked excitedly.

"Oh no, not quite that good, I'm afraid. I mean, we did find her, but as I told you this morning, we can't force her to come home to you, but we did work out a compromise that I'm sure you'll both be happy with." She wasn't yet ready to reveal to Emily Gilmore where Lorelai was until she knew the woman would agree to her daughter's terms.

"Compromise?" Emily questioned warily. "What kind of compromise could possibly be reached between her coming home and not coming home? There is no compromise there and I distinctly recall telling you just this morning that I wanted you to bring her home. Isn't that your job?"

"No, Emily, it's not," Amanda gently explained. "Our job was to find her and we did that, but if you're not interested in seeing her based on the terms she's outlined, I'm afraid that I won't be able to help you anymore. I can't violate her right to privacy."

"Her rights?" Emily questioned hotly. "What about my right to know that my daughter and granddaughter are safe and alive?"

"Please understand that while I sympathize with your situation as a mother myself, since Lorelai is legally an adult, you really don't have that right any longer…or for that matter, your granddaughter since she is Lorelai's child, not yours."

"Well, that's just ridiculous!" Emily snapped. "I demand that you tell me where my daughter is!"

"Ridiculous or not, that's just how it is," Amanda responded, still keeping an even tone in an attempt to avoid upsetting the other woman any more than she already was. "As for telling you where she is, as I already said, I can't and won't do that until I have your assurance that you'll agree to a few things that she asked for. She's agreed to see you, but only on her terms."

Emily snorted. "I might've known that daughter of mine would pull some kind of petty extortion like this." She thought for a moment about the situation and came to the conclusion that it would be better to agree to Lorelai's demands and at least have the peace of mind to know where she was than to continue not knowing anything at all. Sighing in resignation, she inquired, "What terms?"

Amanda explained precisely what Lorelai had asked for and once Emily agreed, she finally gave her the location and directions to get there, setting up a specific time for them to meet.

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After hanging up with the agent working Lorelai's case, Emily rose from her normal perch in her living room armchair, walked to the bar and poured herself a double scotch on the rocks, quickly downing half of it just as she heard her husband's voice from the foyer.

"Emily, I'm home!" he called.

She took a deep breath to steel herself for greeting him after the stressful day she'd had. Pasting on a bright smile as he entered the living room, she greeted him with, "Hello, Richard. How was your trip to the New York office?"

"Fine, fine," he answered. "But I'm going to have to get with the finance manager to get him to have a talk with the financial institution that provides our corporate credit cards. I received the strangest call this afternoon that my secretary forwarded from my main office about my card being used for flights to and from Washington, D.C. and for cab fare in D.C. They were concerned because I had just used it a couple of days ago to book my round-trip flight to New York. So, of course, I had to explain to those imbeciles that I could hardly travel to two places at once."

Emily cringed. She'd hoped that her use of his company credit card would skate by unnoticed since her husband never dealt with things as trivial as the office credit card bills. That's why the company had an entire finance team to handle such matters.

Her change in expression did not go unnoticed by her astute husband. "Emily…" he began in a warning tone. "What did you do?"

"Well, you gave me an extra card in case an emergency should arise while you're off on one of your business trips, don't you remember?" she defended herself.

"What on earth kind of emergency could you have had that required a trip to D.C and back? Did the DAR suddenly find some heretofore unknown relic that may or may not have belonged to someone of historical significance?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Richard," she sniped. "This was much more important than that."

"I should hope so considering that I have to account for every penny I spend on that card," he responded in a huff. "Emily, what were you thinking about spending that kind of money on a whim?"

"It was hardly a whim. This wasn't some frivolous expense, Richard; this was about our daughter. Just after you left for your trip yesterday, I got a call from those useless federal agents your friend put onto the task of finding Lorelai and our granddaughter."

"I need a drink for this," Richard shook his head and marched to the bar. As he tossed ice cubes into a glass more forcefully than necessary, he demanded, "So, let me guess, you felt the need to fly to D.C to harass Austin about it? And might I remind you, he's our friend, not just mine."

"Oh, please," she scoffed. "He's a work associate of yours. I'd have never met him if not for you. Besides, if he were that good a friend, he'd have put his best on the job to begin with."

"Emily, did it ever cross your mind that perhaps he has a budget to contend with on the job?" He questioned and then added with a pointed look, "As do I."

"That's beside the point. My trip to 'harass' him, as you put it, worked out for the best. He finally put a pair of competent agents on Lorelai's case and they found her in a matter of hours."

Richard paused mid-pour, his eyes widening in surprise. "They found her that quickly; after all these months of dead ends?"

"Yes, and not far from here…in a little town called Stars Hollow, about a thirty-minute drive away."

"Does that mean she'll be coming home soon?" he inquired while trying not to get too excited by the possibility since he knew all too well how strong-willed and stubborn Lorelai was, much like the woman she was named for, his own mother.

"No," she replied sadly. "But she has agreed to see us and maybe once we get there, we'll be able to talk her into coming home."

With a shake of his head, Richard finished pouring his drink, took a sip of it and replied skeptically, "I wouldn't get your heart set on that idea, Emily. She's been gone for five months now and not once in that time has she tried to contact us."

"I know, but her being willing to see us is a start, isn't it?"

"Agreed, but promise me you won't badger her like you normally do. No talk of coming home and for God's sake, no more talk of her marrying Christopher. While you and I both agree that would be the best thing to do and what she should have done two years ago when we learned she was pregnant, that will only set her off again."

"Christopher," she snorted. "I can assure you that won't be an issue. After I ran my normal errands when I got back from Washington, I returned home today to a rather nasty message on the answering machine from Straub. Those new agents on the case apparently tried to question Christopher, but you know how they are when it comes to their precious boy." She was still bitter about the "girls like that" crack Francine had made when discussing their children's situation and her suggestion of sending Lorelai away. She supposed it all turned out the same though; Lorelai had chosen to send herself away from her own family.

"Be that as it may, I don't think the subject of Christopher should be brought up at all. It only serves to make her angry and irrational. We don't want her taking off again, do we?"

Emily sighed. As much as she wanted her daughter home and wished Lorelai would concede and do the right thing by her own daughter, she knew her more practical husband was right. If they put too much pressure on Lorelai, she just might run again and much farther away than Stars Hollow. "I promise, I'll be on my best behavior."

"Thank you," he responded, but he didn't quite believe it. If his wife was desperate enough to use his company card behind his back, what would she do once she was face-to-face with their runaway daughter again?