Chapter 1

Who Knew Hot Chocolate and a Tiffany Lamp Could Suck So Much?

Saturday was usually one of the busier days at the Inn but Lorelai had worked herself to death the past week and decided on the spur of the moment to take the day off, leaving Michel in charge. He could handle things at the Inn just this once. Of course he griped and complained about it, especially since Sookie was on maternity leave, but at this point Lorelai didn't care. She just needed one day to herself.

The DVD was in the player, the popcorn was popped and the drapes were drawn. Leaning back on the sofa, Lorelai popped a Junior Mint into her mouth and was about to hit play when there was a knock on the door. Sighing, she threw down the remote and got up to answer it. To her surprise, there stood her mother, impeccably dressed in a navy blue suit and holding a Tiffany lamp.

"Honestly, one of these days you're going to just open that door and there'll be an ax murderer on the other side," Emily chastised her daughter as she quickly opened the door.

Lorelai failed to keep the startled look off of her face. "You promise?" she asked sarcastically before taking a calming breath and continued an effort to sound polite. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too, Lorelai," Emily replied, gazing pointedly at her daughter and waiting to be invited inside.

"Sorry, sorry. Come in. So, what do you have there?" asked Lorelai as she stepped to the side, gazing at the multicolored stained glass of the lamp in her mother's hands. As her mother walked past her, she braced herself for the inevitable comment about what she was wearing. Much to her surprise, her mother seemed to have let the moment pass.

Emily walked into the foyer, still eyeing Lorelai up and down, appraising her daughter's attire with a mental shudder. Pink and green striped socks, grey warm up pants, and a 'Barack Obama for President' T-shirt that had either shrunk in the wash or was a good two sizes too small. Clearly she had been right in thinking that nothing good could come of Rory taking that job. She shook herself of the thought, deciding it wasn't worth the inevitable confrontation. Instead, she launched into the reason she had stopped by. "Well, I was attending a wonderful auction in New London when I came across this beautiful Tiffany lamp that I thought would be just perfect for your table. Of course you'll have to do something with those leering monkeys," her voice dripped with disdain.

Lorelai quickly closed the door and stepped between her mother and her beloved lamp. "Shhh…they'll hear you!" Lorelai hushed, her finger raised to her mouth.

"Lorelai!" Emily chided, doing her best to reign in her mounting frustration.

"Look, Mom. It's very nice but I don't need a Tiffany lamp," Lorelai stated flatly.

"Lorelai, just take the damn lamp," Emily demanded holding out the item in dispute. She took a modulated breath and continued, her tone still somewhat forced. "It will look gorgeous on your table and at least this way I know you can't return it like you did the Baccarat candlesticks." The final phrase held a decidedly sarcastic turn.

"Fine. Thanks for the damn lamp, Mom," Lorelai retorted, mimicking her mother's earlier inflection. She rolled her eyes as she took the lamp.

"Oh, that's much better," Emily replied, matching her daughter's eye roll.

The comment Lorelai was about to make froze on her lips when loud, quick footsteps were heard on her front porch followed by a frantic knocking. With a shrug to her mother, Lorelai opened the door revealing a wild-eyed Sookie, pumpkin colored diaper bag over one shoulder, and a screaming baby in her arms.

She walked straight into the house, her voice loud and quivering, "Oh, God, I just had to get out of there!" She tried to shift the wailing baby to her free shoulder and the diaper bag slid down her other arm. Unable to juggle both, she quickly looked at Lorelai who was holding a very large, very expensive looking stained glass lamp. Frantic, she quickly spotted Emily standing further into the house and relief briefly washed across her face, "Oh, Emily, thank God!" She thrust the baby into Emily hands and turned back to Lorelai, "I can't do this anymore." She made a beeline for the couch and dropped onto it with a loud moan. "I don't know what to do. It's just impossible. It's an inhuman task, no one could do it. No one could take care of three small children and deal with Jackson. No one! What am I going to do?" She was working herself up to hyperventilating, her breathing quick and shallow. "I have three kids, Lorelai. Three? I was supposed to have two. Two kids. We agreed on two and now there are three. I can't handle three children."

Mother and daughter watched as the scene played out before them, eyes wide, mouths slightly open, neither knowing exactly what to do. Lorelai kicked into gear first. Rounding the sofa, she put the lamp down on the coffee table and pulled Sookie into a hug, gently rubbing her back. "It's okay, Sookie. I know it seems impossible right now, but it's all going to be okay."

When Lorelai moved, Emily snapped into motion too. She quickly settled the baby more comfortably in her arms, hugging her closely and jiggling softly to try to calm her. She looked down making soft soothing sounds as the baby settled. A small smile of triumph tugged at her mouth when the squirming bundle quieted and let out a gentle sigh, clearly slipping off to sleep. Emily breathed a matching sigh of relief then looked over to the couch where her daughter was trying to calm the distraught mother.

Sookie pulled away from Lorelai's hug and continued, "It's just all spiraling out of control and the more I try to catch up, the more it spirals away from me." She made twirling motions with both hands, "I can't keep up. There just aren't enough hours in the day."

"Sookie, you know it won't always be like this. You're exhausted and sleep deprived and everyone's still adjusting," Lorelai tried to reason. "You'll find a rhythm. You'll get back on track, everything will be fine."

"It's not just the laundry and the diapers and the toys all over the house. For the past three days Jackson's been out at the farm until all hours and when he comes home he's been hunkered down over the calculator. Finally last night he told me that there's some kind of blight or fungus or something. He told me the name, but I can't remember it. Davey and Martha were fighting over the 64-count box of crayons at the time and I was trying to keep Martha from eating tickle me pink and then they woke up the baby."

"Oh honey," Lorelai said sympathetically.

Sookie got up and started pacing in front of the coffee table, her pig tails flying every time she turned and headed the other way. "Jackson thinks we may need to take out a loan on the house and if we do that then we can't do the addition I wanted to do and I don't know how I'm going to survive and not kill one of my own kids. Martha wakes up every time Sarah cries and she's still in our room and Sarah cannot stay in our room indefinitely, and Martha and Sarah can share, but Davey will really need his own room soon."

Emily looked down at the baby who seemed oblivious to her mother's agitated state and loud voice. Clearly she was used to the pandemonium that must be a part of her daily life. Emily walked over to the armchair that was currently at one end of the couch and sat down. Watching the baby carefully to make sure she wasn't going to wake up.

Sookie didn't even pause. "Maybe if we hadn't just sunk all that money into buying new horses and expanding the barn, we'd be able to swing it but now I just don't know where we're going to get the money."

"Oh, Sookie, I'm sorry," Lorelai apologized. "I'd loan it to you if I had it. My money's tied up in the stable renovation right now too."

"No, I'm not asking you for the money. I wouldn't do that," Sookie stopped and looked at Lorelai explaining quickly.

"I know you weren't asking," Lorelai replied. "I'm just saying I'd give it to you if I had it."

"That's so nice of you," Sookie gushed on the verge of tears.

"It's not that nice, since I don't have it to begin with," Lorelai shrugged off the compliment.

"No, but it's nice that you would even want to. Oh God… that makes the rest of this so hard." Ringing her hands, Sookie was clearly fighting back the tears now.

"The rest?" Lorelai asked, leaning forward.

Sookie covered her face with her hands. "I… um… I don't know if I want to come back to the Inn fulltime."

Lorelai tried not to look as stunned as she felt.

"I just, I've got three kids now and when I'm working I feel like I miss so much of their lives. I didn't realize that until I was home these last few months, but I can't even think of not being there with them now and not picking Davey up from preschool and talking to his teacher. When he comes home he has his snack and he shows me the drawings that he made and he actually tells me about his day. I never got that when I was working. I didn't get to hear about how Stuart and Brian let him into the fort and that he shared the tricycle with Missy. He's not the best at sharing things, but that Missy … let me tell you… blonde hair, big blue eyes. She's got him wrapped around her little finger. I'd never know about that if I was working. The sitter would know, she would hear all his little accomplishments and all I ever got were the problems." By the time Sookie finished, she had tears running down her cheeks.

Lorelai rose and got the Kleenex box from the desk. She pulled several out on her way back to Sookie and handed them to her. "I didn't know you felt that way. Why didn't you tell me?"

Sookie blew her nose and dabbed at her eyes. "I was afraid you'd be mad, or worse that you'd think I was letting you down. The Dragonfly was always our dream and I still love every minute of it. I just …" as she trailed off and she looked down, away from Lorelai.

Lorelai leaned down in front of her friend, sure to make eye contact with her. "Sookie, I get it. Your kids are more important and they should be. Things were different when Rory was that age. I didn't work the kind of hours that you do and we lived at the Independence. Rory was there every day after school. She grew up there."

Emily shifted in the chair and looked down at baby Sarah still sleeping in her arms. Listening to Lorelai talk about the time after she left their house was always painful, imagining her and Rory living in that shack, her daughter working as a maid, seeing them only a couple of times a year. She could understand what Sookie meant about missing things. She and Richard had missed so much of their daughter's and granddaughter's lives. They'd never get those years back.

Sookie sniffled. "You're not mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad at you," Lorelai assured her.

"Oh thank God." She hugged Lorelai tightly.

"We'll figure something out," Lorelai tried to sound reassuring. "I don't know what, but we'll figure something out."

Sookie pulled back and asked dramatically, "Oh! You know what we need?"

"To win the lottery?" Lorelai joked flatly.

"No, hot chocolate. The lottery would be good though," Sookie replied. "Do you have any hot chocolate?"

"Um… I'm not sure," Lorelai answered.

"I'll go check." Sookie hurried off to the kitchen

Lorelai sank down onto the end of the couch staring straight ahead.

"Lorelai?"

Jumping at the sound of her name, Lorelai looked over at her mother. She'd been so absorbed with Sookie she had almost forgotten Emily was there.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Emily apologized. "You do seem to have your hands full."

"So do you," Lorelai gestured to the baby. "You want me to take her?"

"No, no. She's fine. She's asleep," Emily said.

"Found it, I've got the milk warming on the stove," Sookie said heading back into the living room. "Luke definitely has a very good influence on your refrigerator. Emily, do you want hot chocolate, or would you like something else? Tea or coffee?"

Emily shook her head. "Don't go to any trouble."

"No, it's no trouble. It calms me down to be puttering in the kitchen, kind of like therapy," Sookie assured her.

"Okay, then in that case, tea would be very nice. Thank you," Emily answered.

"Okay, one tea and two hot chocolates coming right up." Sookie disappeared back into the kitchen.

Emily and Lorelai sat quietly. Each lost in their own thoughts. Sookie returned a few minutes later carrying a tray of mugs that she put down on the coffee table. Lorelai immediately reached for hers and pulled her feet up on the sofa, sitting with her back against the arm and the mug balanced on her raised knees. Sookie put Emily's tea down on the end table next to her, taking a moment to look at Sarah who was still asleep. "I could get her seat off the stroller if you want. She'd probably be okay if you want to put her down."

Emily brushed a hand across the baby's downy red hair. "No, it's okay. She's fine where she is." She looked back up at Sookie. "Why don't you sit down and enjoy your hot chocolate. I'm sure that there are reasonable solutions for your concerns. I'm assuming someone is overseeing the kitchen at the Dragonfly since you've been on maternity leave. Is that someone you would consider hiring full time?

Sookie sat down on the couch and picked up her hot chocolate.

"Well, I could ask François if he could stay on for a while," Lorelai suggested. "I don't know if he'd necessarily be right long term, but he's fine for now. Sookie, I know how you feel about your kitchen. How involved do you think you'll want to be?"

"Wow, I haven't really thought about exactly how I'd do this. I mean … François has all my menus until the end of next month, but after that…" Sookie answered. "He might be okay fulltime. I'll have to think about that. I um… well… I'd want approval on any menu changes, maybe consult on weddings and large parties, and I definitely want to stay involved on the staffing issues."

"Do you have any property or investments or anything you could use as collateral to get a loan?" Emily asked.

Sookie sighed, "No, only the house and that would only cover what we need to get Jackson's farm cleared out and back on track and maybe fix the truck which is broken again. It wouldn't be enough to do the addition to the house and we can't have all three kids in the same bedroom for long."

"No, of course not," Emily agreed.

"Sookie, I hate to say this, but you might need to think about selling your share of the Dragonfly, or at least part of it." Lorelai offered reluctantly

"I can't do that to you," Sookie answered quickly.

"Don't worry about me," Lorelai countered. "I mean, what choice do you have?"

"That does seem like a reasonable solution," Emily commented. "The two of you have built a very successful business. I can only guess what even a quarter interest might be worth at this point."

Sookie's eyes light up as she figured the numbers in her head. "Well, that would be enough to take care of everything we'd need, but sell part of the Dragonfly? Even the thought makes me sad."

"You wouldn't be selling your entire share, only half," Emily reasoned.

"True, and I'd still be involved as an owner and Lorelai would still own her half," Sookie was beginning to accept the possibility.

"Yes, Lorelai would still have the controlling interest with fifty percent," Emily stated.

Lorelai sipped her hot chocolate, still digesting the idea of someone else buying into their dream. "Hon, I don't think it sounds like there's much other choice." She was trying her best to be strong for Sookie while the thought scared her on the inside.

Sookie took a sip of her hot chocolate and slouched back into the couch with a heavy sigh, resting her mug on the arm of the sofa.

Lorelai sighed almost as loudly as Sookie and stared down into her mug.

Emily on the other hand was trying to hide the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, the beginning of a brilliant idea forming in her mind. Of course she'd have to talk it over with Richard first. This was not the moment to propose it; both Sookie and Lorelai needed some time to absorb everything.