Disclaimer - see chapter 1)
Another week's over and I finally found the time to update! Sorry I let you wait so long, but I hope you think it's worth it.
I know I didn't thank my beta in the head of every chapter but she surely deserves it. So take a moment and give Susan a standing ovation for her dedication. I'm sorry that I jumped in your face the other day. I couldn't do this without you.
Waking up slowly, she realized there was a pair of arms securely wrapped around her.
Her head was resting against his chest as she lay half on top of him, her hand lying limply next to her face. Not lifting her head, she looked up, trying to find out whether he was awake.
"Good morning." His low voice greeted her tired ears.
Brushing her hand over his heart, she smiled against his chest while she snuggled back against him, closing her eyes. "Good morning."
She looked towards the drawn curtains, furrowing her brow when she saw some faint beams of light making their way into the room. "How late is it?"
Shifting to look at the alarm clock, he took a deep breath, settled back, and kissed her hair. "About twenty past eight."
Her eyes widened. "What?!" She tried to sit up, but he tightened his arms around her. "Richard?!" she protested.
"Relax, Emmy." He gently brushed his hand up and down her back. "I took the day off, and you don't have any appointments until noon."
Opening her mouth to say something, she closed it again, processing the information given her. "You took the day off?" Emily moved her head to look up at him.
"Mhm." He smiled, combing his fingers through her auburn hair.
She furrowed her brow slightly. "Why?"
"You mean 'when?'," he teased.
"No, I mean … well, yes, when?" She was visibly confused.
Rolling her over on her back, he propped himself up on one elbow, smiling down on her. "While you were asleep."
"Which still leads me to 'why?'." She shrugged.
Gently brushing her hair out of her face, he watched his finger as it followed her hair line. "Because I thought after all the excitement yesterday evening it would be nice to spend some time together."
"You're awful." Emily smiled.
"You mean as in 'awful nice to be with'."
She had to giggle. "Well, that too."
"Awful sweet to have and hold." Richard bent his head to croon in her ear.
Pushing her hand against his chest, she laughed. "You're not Frank Sinatra."
"I'm glad I'm not." He kissed the side of her neck.
"You are?" Lifting her shoulder to shield her neck from him, she pushed him away to look in his eyes.
Richard smiled. "Yes, I am." When she gave him a questioning look, he shrugged. "If I were he, I would not be married to you."
"And that would be a pity." She winked.
Nodding, he kissed her gently, mumbling against her lips. "It would kill me."
Something in the way he said it changed her mood drastically. Gazing deep in his eyes, she shook her head slightly, her voice not more than a whisper. "Don't talk like that."
His heart contracted at the desperation in her eyes. Trying to smile, he bent down to give her a soul-searching kiss that left her breathless. "I love you, Emmy."
"I love you, Richard." She hugged him close, burying her face in his neck.
Kissing her hair, he took a deep breath. "So... shall we get up and get breakfast or would you prefer to stay in bed with me." He playfully pinched her bottom.
"Hey!" Emily jumped slightly at his unforeseen action. Looking up at him, she giggled. "You're being unfair."
"No, I'm not." He shook his head and kissed her again, pressing her down on the mattress.
"Richard?" She giggled again as he nuzzled her neck. "Richard." Pushing him away, her eyes beamed up at him. "I don't think I'm up for that."
"What? Kissing?" He teased.
"No…?"
Bending down again, he brushed his lips across her cheek. "Good." He kissed his way down her jaw bone, nibbling her earlobe.
Emily closed her eyes, enjoying his attention. Feeling his hand brushing over her stomach and sliding under her pajama top, she smiled. Maybe she could keep up with him... for a while.
Standing behind the front desk, Lorelai stared blankly ahead, the phone against her ear as she listened to the monotone beeping while she waited for the other person to pick up.
"Hartford Hospital, how may I help you?"
Startled by the chipper voice on the other end of the line, Lorelai instinctively pushed the end-call button and put the phone down on the counter with a loud bang.
"If you keep doing that, we're either going to need a new phone or a new desk soon," Michel's voice showed the usual trace of bored annoyance as he walked by.
Huffing, Lorelai glared at his back. She needed coffee. Now.
Sookie was about to chop some carrots when her friend brushed past her, obviously heading for the coffee machine. "Hey." Not receiving an answer, she walked over to where Lorelai was standing, refilling her mug. "Hey. You." She playfully poked her, startled when the dark haired woman jumped at her touch. "Whoa. Aren't we touchy today."
"Sorry Sook." She closed her eyes, sighing. "I just... I found out something that I have to think about."
"Oh, uhm. Okay." The stout woman shrugged. "Hey, if you need to talk …" Pointing towards herself, she smiled.
"Yeah, I know. You'll be there." Lorelai returned her friend's smile.
"Good." Sookie nodded. "Oh!!" Her eyes suddenly widening, she spun around, quickly crossing the kitchen to stir something in a small pot.
Shaking her head, Lorelai hid her smile behind her mug, her thoughts returning to her original problem. Maybe she should talk to Sookie. Taking a deep breath, she sighed. Maybe not.
"Thank you for spending the morning with me." She looked at him from over her shoulder as he helped her with her coat.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come along to your luncheon?" Richard kissed the side of her head, sliding his arms around her.
Turning in his embrace, she smiled. "I don't think Polly and Barb would like that." She put her hands against his chest. "Even though I'd enjoy spending more time with you."
"I could pick you up afterwards," he offered.
Shaking her head, she smiled. "I'm getting there by car."
"Then I'll walk."
"Richard; it's over a mile away." She argued, her eyebrow raised.
Finally giving in, he sighed. "All right, all right." Kissing her forehead, he thought further. "Where do you go after lunch?"
Looking up at him, she cocked her head to the side. "You're not giving up easily, are you?"
"You should be used to that by now. Besides, I took the whole day off. I will get bored if you are not around to keep me entertained."
"Oh, so that's what it's really about," she mocked, her arms sliding up around his neck. Seeing him nod, his eyes sparkling with amusement, she thought about it. "You know, since I have to drive by the club to get to the restaurant, I could drop you off there. You could play a game of golf, and we'll meet in the lounge later."
"That sounds promising. Are you sure I won't interfere with your schedule?" He nodded, letting go of her.
Emily lifted herself up on her toes to give him a peck on the mouth and then took a step back. "Wasn't that the whole point?"
"You'd better be quiet now. I'm already tempted to keep you at home all day. Don't make me act on it."
Giggling, she turned around to walk toward the door while he quickly got his coat and followed her.
Lunch had been pleasant though Barb had raised a suspicious eyebrow at her choice of meal. It was getting harder to find places to go to that had meals on the menu that agreed with her diet without meeting the girls at the same places every time. Still, she managed.
Polly had seemed oblivious even when Barb had made a rather blunt remark. To be sure, though, Emily made a mental note to call Polly in the next few days to find out for certain if she had just been polite or if she truly knew as little as Barb did. After all, Polly was anything but stupid.
Straightening up, Emily discarded the thought for now as she walked into the club lounge in search of her husband.
She spotted him across the room, his back to her. He was sitting with two couples at a table near the picture window overlooking the tennis courts. Recognizing three of the four people, she smiled as she walked closer.
"Emily." Alice Freemond jumped off her seat, throwing her arms around her.
Startled for a moment, Emily did not even have the time to return her hug before she felt the woman pushing her back by her upper arms, eyeballing her. "You look pale, dear." The red-haired woman turned her pale blue eyes to her husband. "Doesn't she look pale, Nick?"
Not giving the man the time to answer, she pushed Emily towards a chair. "Sit. Sit. We were just talking about the gala last week and... oh, I'm sorry, dear. I did not even give you the time to be introduced to Tiffany."
Emily looked at the petite blonde woman and smiled mildly. She was in her early twenties, the ring on her finger showing her martial status clearly; the diamond was so big it kept falling to the side, resting against her middle finger instead of just sitting on top of her ring finger.
"Raymond and she are going to be married next August. We just had a lovely match of tennis."
She looked across the table, smiling at the handsome young man who had inherited his father's freckles and his mother's eyes. "Congratulations, Raymond."
His full lips curled up. "Thank you." Gently taking his fiancée's hand, he was about to say more when his mother spoke again.
"Of course you're going to come to the wedding. We just began planning. Oh, this is going to be so wonderful. Tiffany and I are going to go search for a wedding dress tomorrow."
Emily had to suppress a giggle at the look on the young woman's face. She certainly was not as happy about that particular fact as her future mother-in-law.
The sudden beeping of her wrist watch brought her out of her musings. Quickly turning it off, she looked around the small group and shrugged her shoulder apologetically. "If you'd excuse me for a moment."
"Oh, why, of course, Dear." Alice chirped, patting her forearm.
Forcing a smile, she tried to hide the physical pain the touch had brought with it. Getting up, she looked toward her husband, smiling, then took her purse and swiftly walked to the restroom.
She cursed herself for having forgotten the time. Looking around the room she was glad that there was nobody in sight as she took her pill box and a small bottle of water out of her purse. Looking back at the door, she quickly took out the pills from the compartment labelled 'noon' and downed them.
She was just about to put the water bottle back in her purse when she heard the door being opened.
Quickly throwing the bottle in, she closed her purse, lifting her head to look in the mirror over the sink at the person who had entered the room.
Smiling shyly, Tiffany came closer, standing next to her. "Sorry."
"About what?" Emily asked, a little confused by the woman's behaviour. Had she seen something?
Stepping into the room, Tiffany walked over to stand next to Emily. "For coming in here like this."
"You're hiding?" She smiled knowingly.
The younger woman looked down. "Well, yes and no."
Chuckling lowly, Emily nodded. "Alice can be very ... well, you know her."
"Yes." Tiffany smiled, looking somewhat relieved. "It's not that I don't like her, it's just that she's such a ... 'hurricane' of a person."
"She is something of a hurricane, yes." Emily smiled. "It's just her way of telling you she likes you."
Tiffany looked up, her eyes widening slightly. "You think so?" she bubbled.
Nodding, Emily placed her hand on the girl's upper arm. "Believe me; I know. And there is something else I know." She waited a moment to make sure she had Tiffany's full attention, and then looked her deep in the eye. "If you don't want to go wedding gown shopping tomorrow, just tell her. She will understand."
"But she is so excited about it already. I don't want to turn her down."
"It's your decision. But if you don't learn to turn her down now, you will have her fussing over you for the whole length of your marriage." She shrugged and turned to leave. "Mark my words; the sooner you get this hurricane to calm down, the better for your marriage. Or do you want to wait until she has named your first born child and bought you the house right next to theirs?"
Watching the young woman look down, she nodded, mumbling, "I thought so." Emily walked toward the door, leaving her to her wonderings.
Emily's schedule demanded that they leave soon after she came back.
After they had said their goodbyes and Richard had promised to meet Nick for a game of golf soon, they went to get the car.
Walking toward the dark Jag, Richard turned to his wife, holding out his hand. Wordlessly handing him the keys, she walked to the passenger door, waiting for him to open it for her before she gracefully slid in.
Closing her eyes she took a deep breath while her husband walked around the car, opening them seconds before she heard him sitting down on the driver's seat. She looked at him, watching as he readjusted the mirrors and seat, then catching his gaze.
Smiling at her, he took her hand. "You do look a bit pale." Richard saw her shrug and nodded. "So? Where can I take you?"
"The hospital." She looked straight ahead.
Studying her profile for a moment he furrowed his brow. "Again?"
Emily looked back at him. "They said they'd need to run a few more tests to see if they have to change my diet."
Nodding, he kissed her hand, then let go of it, starting the engine while she turned her head to stare out of the front window again.
She was clicking through some website on kidney diseases when Michel pulled Sookie towards the desk.
"Talk to 'er." He motioned towards a confused-looking Lorelai.
"Uhm. What?" Sookie gave him a strange look.
Lorelai frowned, "I'm with her here; what??"
"She's been sulking all day. Slamming the phone on the desk, not listening to me when I talk to 'er—"
"Why that's not really new." Sookie joked, but Michel went on as if he had not heard her remark, just shooting her a sour look.
"—And she's not 'ad more than three cups of coffee yet."
Sookie's eyes widened. "Really?" She looked at her friend. "Okay, honey; what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Lorelai answered a bit too quickly for it to be true. Realizing her mistake, she winced at the look on Sookie's face. When the two sets of eyes remained on her, she sighed in defeat. "My mom's ill."
"Oh, honey." Sookie rounded the desk to hug her while Michel just gave her a shocked look.
"That bad?" The stout woman searched her friend's teary eyes.
Nodding, she sniffed. Saying it out loud, the reality suddenly caught up to her. She could lose her mother. It stung more than she wanted to admit.
"Come with me."
She felt Sookie put her arm around her waist, guiding her toward her office.
Lorelai slumped down in her office chair and she sighed heavily. Looking up at her friend leaning against the desk, she saw concern clearly written on her face. Absently beginning to play with the sleeve of her blouse, she tried to put her feelings into words.
Sookie studied her face intently, waiting patiently for her to collect her thoughts.
"She said she would die without a donor." Lorelai was shocked at the sound of her own voice. She would not cry. Why should she? Her mother was still alive, right? No need to cry. They'd figure something out. Biting the inside of her cheek, she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I have been researching the web for information. I mean, it's not as if she said what exactly is wrong with her. All I know is that it has to do with her kidneys."
"And you want to find out if you can donate one." Sookie said. It was more a statement than an actual question, but still she searched her friend's eyes for a definite answer.
"Yeah." Lorelai nodded. "I wanted to get an appointment, but every time someone answers the phone I chicken out."
Gently patting Lorelai's shoulder, Sookie smiled compassionately. "Oh, honey. That's okay. Of course you're afraid."
"Well, I should not be. She wouldn't be." Her eyes widened when she realized what she had just said. Was it true? Well, she had not thought about it before she had said it, so it must be. Lorelai rolled her eyes at herself. If only Rory was here. She was the one who had studied at Yale; she would be so much better at psychoanalyzing her.
"I'm sure she's scared. She's just…" Sookie tried to come up with a good explanation, "well, she's Emily." She shrugged, smiling apologetically.
Smiling at her friend, she already felt better. "Yeah, she is." Strangely enough, she really understood what Sookie had meant.
"Does Rory know?"
"No." Lorelai shook her head. "I can't bring myself to tell her over the phone. I mean, you know Rory. For some reason, she loves her Grandma, even though I still don't really understand why. She would move heaven and earth to get on the next plane to be here no matter if she could be of help or not. I don't want her to quit the job because of this. And I am pretty sure my Mom feels the same way about it."
Sookie nodded. Walking toward the door, she shook her finger in Lorelai's face. "Stay here. I'll be right back."
"What? Why?" She furrowed her brow in confusion.
A wide grin graced her friend's face. Still looking at Lorelai, she walked backwards to the door. "I will get you coffee and a phone and then we're going to call that doctor's office again. Oh, and this time I will hold the phone. Michel is right. We don't want you to break it."
Before Lorelai could answer in any way, Sookie was gone. Rolling her eyes, she smiled. Maybe telling Sookie had not been that bad an idea.
Author's note: Well, here we are. And of course now it's time to re-review. ... I like doing that. The only thing I like more is GETTING reviews. #hint,hint,hint#!!
Valerie
Well, you're not really late ... this update is kind of late. I was just so busy.
I'm glad I was able to convey the deep love of our fav couple.
The thing with Lorelai is, that in the show we only heard her talk about the bad times, though I am SURE there were good times too.
Thanks for you kind words!
Miss GoodManners
Yes, I know exactly what you mean. It's going to take a little longer than you might like before hell breaks loose, but you'll have to wait & see ;o).
So you could still feel the problem 'flying high above their heads'? Good. Wow, I really seem to be good #lol#. Yeah, call me Miss Low Selfesteem.
I wanted a 'real' Emily & Richard moment and I'm really glad you liked it!
The grin on my face got wider when reading the next part of your review. The quietness changed... I wanted it to. It's SO good to know it worked!
I hope you're going to like the next chapters as much as you seemed to have liked chapter 4. Thanks for another lovely rELLIEview!
swimmerluver
Thank you. I think you're going to have to wait for a Lorelai/Emily bonding moment, but there's most certainly going to be one. Just ... not yet. I need to use a decent time line. ;o)
LorLukealways
Oh, now. She's not THAT spoiled. They have been through times where he completely abused her, you remember? Now that he knows she needs him, he just tries to be there. You could say that the 2nd heart attack changed him for the better. ;o)
And then: Emily ALWAYS gets what she wants ... sooner or later.
You have a point there about Lorelai getting it from her mother. There is a LOT of her mother in her. She just doesn't want to admit it.
Luke doesn't know all. I am not a LL so I don't think there's going to be much of him there, but he's a strong secondary character, so I had to throw him in at some point. ;o)
gilmore fan
Thank you so much! Sorry for the wait.
Loridhhp
You're right. It is very hard for her to break down in front of anybody. But it's most likely she'd let her guard down when with her husband. Especially in my little universe. ;o)
I am trying to make her believable. We all know how much her pride gets in her way most of the time, but I think I found a way.
Great explanation about Lorelai being afraid. I think you have a point there. Emily is just as afraid though and that's one of their main problem, I guess.
These two are a lot alike. They are stubborn, proud and often cover their pain with anger.
You can't see where I'm taking this? ... I think I'll take that as a compliment. ;o)
Eva Gabor is Awesome
#lol# True. You can snuggle them constantly.
Thanks for the compliment. I think it's their way to not think about what might happen in the future. They try to live in the moment and just show the other how much they mean to them.
RedheadLVR
Yay! Another person who takes the time to review. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee? Please, make yourself at home ... stay. :oD
(Having a weird 'Cabaret' moment here ... strange.)
Well, you could have just left anonymous reviews, but I won't complain now 0:o)
Yes, when Richard decides to actually pay attention, he's a VERY good hubby. I'm glad you liked it so much. It was the only way I could write it, really. I just want to see them this way. #lol#
Branda is going on a date ...
How was your date?! Okay, tell me on MySpace. We don't need the world to know. ;o) It's nice to be kept informed on your life.
If you could make more sense in your next review, you wouldn't be yourself. #lol# Okay, just teasing. ... You could always review more than once 0:o).
ejl
#courtseys# Thank you. It's good that you can envision the characters. That tells me I keep them in character. ;o)
Emily&Richard4ever
Even Emily has her weak moments. They're few, but we witnessed one or two in the 7yrs or GG.
allyrox92
Awwwww! You're making me blush!! Thank you SO MUCH! I'm really trying. :oD
Mary
Yes, I know you love them no matter what, but I'm glad you loved the scene I came up with.