"Richard she's being impossible" Emily came down the stairs frustrated by Lorelai's determination not to wear a dress.
"Emily calm down, I'll go up there and talk to her" Richard had his fix it voice on, the one that drove Emily through the roof.
"Oh yes because that will do a whole lot of good"
"Emily" he tenderly placed his hand on her shoulder, comforting her. Before going upstairs to remedy the situation between the two. He approached the door and knocked "Lorelai, it's your father can I come in?"
"Yeah"
He entered and sat on the window bench next to her, brushing the hair from her eyes, "Your mother said you wouldn't wear the dress"
"I don't wanna go dad. I don't feel well"
She did look a little pale but it was probably just nerves, he signed, "what, do you think I want to go to this thing? I don't. But it's important to your mother and therefore it's important to me"
"I don't wanna wear the dress"
"Lorelai, I know it's annoying, believe me I get it. I used to hate wearing ties but there are certain situations that require you to wear a tie. And over the years I got used to it. Although it does help to have a wife who won't let you leave the house without a spare one in your briefcase.
Come on, wear the dress. It'll make your mother really happy and me look good"
"Dad"
"What if tomorrow we go and get ice cream from the club, just don't tell your mother"
Lorelai looked up, considering her options. "Fine, I'll wear it"
Richard smiled, "thank you honey, I'll leave you to get ready" he left the room and went downstairs where Emily was pacing the hallway.
"Well? Oh she's not doing it is she. I knew I shouldn't have got you to do it. I swear that girl-"
"Emily, she's just getting ready, she won't be long"
"What? But how?"
"Sometimes you just have to talk to her on her level, no screaming involved. Although she did say she wasn't feeling well,"
"Richard don't be so naive, that's just an attempt to get out of it"
"Maybe you're right,"
"Of course I am. Ah there you are, we can get going now. What on earth is going on with your hair?"
"Muuum"
"Emily, come on. We better get going if the want to be there on time"
The family piled into the car and set off.
"Dad, can you slow down? I don't feel great"
"Are you okay?" Richard turned around to look at his daughter in the back seat.
"She's fine Richard" Emily said frustrated
"Well she doesn't look fine"
"Richard"
"Do we have any water"
"No Lorelai, you can get a drink when we get there. Stop complaining" Emily was positive her daughter was just being as over dramatic as normal and was determined to ruin their day, but even she had to admit Lorelai was looking rather pale.
"Dad, pull over!"
"Lorelai!" He turned to see his daughter hunched over the seat gagging. Quickly he turned back and pulled to the side of the motorway.
"Oh for goodness sake" Emily sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Emily!?" Richard moved to the side of the car to help Lorelai out and to the side of the road. Meanwhile Emily had gotten ahold of the wet wipes that had been in the glove compartment since Lorelai was a baby and was trying to clean the back of the car. "That's not important right now. The girl needs to go home"
"Richard we can't bail this late"
"I think they'll understand" Richard waited till Lorelai was finished before leading her back to the car. He went to the back and searched for something Lorelai could use to throw up in while Emily called her friends at the fundraiser to explain their absence.
"There's a plastic bag under the boot Richard '' Emily called to him in between calls.
"Ah, great" he smiled as he found it. He folded it up into a bowl shape and brought it to the back seat, kneeling down beside Lorelai. He placed the bag on her lap and then put the palm of his hand to her forehead, feeling it was very hot he pushed her knees into the car and buckled her in.
"Dad, I'm sorry"
"Don't be. And don't worry about your mother, I'll deal with her you just focus on getting better okay"
"Thank you daddy" he kissed her on the forehead and made his way into the driver's seat as Emily got into the front still speaking on the phone.
"Oh yes Christy. It's a real shame to miss you. Oh Lorelai has a bug of some sort she's just been sick so we can't very well come. I know it's awful. Well give my love to everyone. I'll see you then. Bye" She hung up the phone, turning round to Lorelai who was leaning against the window, "are you okay?"
"Yeah mum, I'm peachy" Lorelai responded sarcastically before throwing up again into the bag. Emily winced and Richard chuckled.
They drove home and rushed Lorelai up to her room. She got changed and then collapsed into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
"Lorelai?" Richard entered his daughter's room an hour after they had got home. When he entered, Lorelai stirred and looked at her father, "I'm going to the pharmacy to get some medicine, and the shop is there anything else I can get you?"
"Ice cream- chocolate"
"you got it" He turned and left. From her room, Lorelai could hear her parents talking downstairs,
"Chocolate ice cream!" Emily sounded repulsed by the concept.
"I'm going to go get it"
"the maid can do that"
"you fired her, so no she can't"
"I did?"
"Emily, please I need to do something. I can't just stand around here waiting. And you need to talk to her"
"But-" Emily began to protest but Richard held her, and kissed her forehead.
Grabbing the keys from the table he swept out of the house, saying "I'll see you later dear" leaving Emily alone. She sighed and went into the kitchen.
"Lorelai" Emily opened the door cautiously. She sat on the end of the bed, "you need to eat something"
"Mum," Lorelai said, sitting up, "what is this?" she looked down at the piece of toast.
"Its mashed banana on toast" Emily looked proud of herself, "you remember, you love it when your sick"
"Yeah, I remember. Is dad back, he was going to bring ice cream"
"Lorelai, you're sick. You can't live off of ice cream." She pushed the plate towards Lorelai who looked at it, trying to hide her disgust
"Thanks mum" Lorelai took the toast, looked at her mum and then at it. Took a deep breath and bit into it. Immediately she dropped it and ran to the bathroom, spitting it up and throwing it up. Emily sat there stunned. She hated the sound of people throwing up, and gagging. To Emily's relief the front door opened, Richard was home, so she got up, moved the toast onto the plate and put it on the bedside table and went down to greet her husband.
Coming out of the toilet Lorelai saw the toast and picked it up, going into the bathroom to flush it down the toilet. She had always hated it, but it made her mother so happy to do something for her and so Lorelai would always pretend to love it. Coming out of the bathroom her father opened the door to her room with a crystal bowl of chocolate ice cream, she smiled as she walked over to the bed. "Thanks daddy," Lorelai said weakly as she took the bowl from him. Richard looked to plate on the bedside table,
"Your mum's banana concoction I assume, where is it?"
"toilet"
"You ripped it up into little pieces so it didn't clog, didn't you?"
"Of course dad, I'm not about to pull a Frank"
"I'm sorry, a what"
"Some mothers do 'ave 'em"
"Some mothers have what? Are you insulting your mother?"
"No dad, it's a TV show, a joke"
"oh, I don't get it"
"Clearly"
Richard chuckled as the front doorbell went and seconds later Emily appeared at Lorelai's door with a bunch of flowers with a card attached and a teddy bear that was holding a heart saying 'Get well soon'. "Christopher stopped by to bring you these. He said he would call at 7"
"awww that's so sweet" Lorelai said smiling and taking the bear
"He's a good lad that one" Richard said nodding his head
"Richard, would you go find a vase to put these in, I need to speak with Lorelai" Emily handed the flowers to Richard.
"Of course Emily, I need to get started on the soup anyway"
"Soup!?" Emily looked at him surprised
"Yes Emily, soup. Since you fired the maid I thought I would make chicken noodle soup and mashed potato. My Father's idea, a full proof way of curing any kind of sickness, excuse me" Richard got up and left the room.
Emily looked at Lorelai pointedly "It was very nice of Christopher to bring this over"
"It was wasn't it"
"what is going on between the two of you. You keep me as shut out of your life as possible. I never know what's happening. Why do you always keep me out of the loop"
"Mum, did I tell you Christopher and I are going to start dating?"
"You are, oh that's excellent. Do you know where he's taking you? We can talk about girl stuff and get pedicures, and go shopping for a new outfit, you need to match the lighting, it can't be too soft. And music, you'll need a different dress if you're going dancing, do you know if he's taking you dancing?"
"Mother, please. We haven't discussed it"
"Well we will have to have him over for dinner to get to know him"
"Mum, come on you've known him since we were in diapers, why do you need to get to know him?"
"Well it's not the same"
"How mum, he's the same old Christopher"
"But he's your first boyfriend"
"Your forgetting Royston Sinclair the 3rd, Brian Huckins oh and Todd something"
"what, who?"
"never mind"
"This is your first highschool boyfriend, going on actual dates and stuff. Oh I used to love this thing, the dancing the romance"
"Okay mum, do you wanna date Chris because I think there's a bit of an age gap there"
"Lorelai, you're lucky. It's Christopher, that means we get to invite Strobe and Francine over. Oh this will be so much fun"
"Your nuts"
"Lorelai!- Oh my God, do you smell that? something's burning. Richard, Richard" she hurried out of the room a worried look on her face. And Lorelai sat there chuckling, as she took the card Christopher had written to her and read it. A few minutes later Richard entered the room carrying a tray of soup and mashed potato. Emily followed him with the flowers and placed them on Lorelai's dresser as Richard put the soup on Lorelai's lap. "Oh Richard, don't make her eat it if she doesn't want to"
"It's up to Lorelai Emily."
"It looks disgusting" Emily peered into the bowl
"It looks great. Thanks dad"
Richard smiled, "I take it you won't have any Emily"
"I will eat one mouthful before throwing it down the garbage disposal"
Lorelai laughed, "well your missing out mum, it's really good"
"I'm so glad you like it. In fact I'm going to pour a bowl for myself. Come on Emily" The pair left the room and Lorelai ate her food as the phone beside her rang. She looked at the clock above her door, 7 o'clock on the dot, and picked up the phone.
"Chris"
"Hey Lor, my parents told me you were ill"
"I'm just glad I got out of going to that stupid dinner"
"Oh yeah well I missed you, no one can make a group of grown men quite as uncomfortable as you can"
"well I'm glad my presence was missed"
"your presence lights up any room"
"your sweet"
"Did you open the bear yet?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh come on you didn't find it?"
Lorelai grabbed the bear and studied him closely, "Oh my God!" Christopher laughed on the phone as Lorelai pulled out a small bag of chocolates from the space between the bear and the heart, "you got me secret chocolates!"
"not just any chocolates, vodka infused ones from Belgium, I was saving them for a special occasion. This seems like a good time"
"Thank you Chris, this is amazing"
"Anytime, you get better now okay"
"oh wait before you go"
"yes?" Christopher sounded worried and intrigued
"I told my mum about us, I didn't really have much choice. Now the good news is that my mum was so happy, so there will be no hanging or stoning. The bad news is that she was so excited there is going to be a full blown festival. Hundreds of peasants will be killed, battles paused. Now the Queen is trying to rearrange her schedule but Elvis should be coming so either way..."
"...at least the King of rock is going to be there" Christopher laughed, "It sounds good, although I'm not sure how your father is going to take it"
"Oh he'll be fine, he loves you, and so do I"
"I love you too" Christopher said and they hung up the phone. Lorelai lay back down. All things considered, it wasn't a bad Saturday.