Family Ties

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The Marianos pulled up outside the Gilmore's house, and Liv looked in warily.

"Hey," Jess said, squeezing her hand, "if it's that bad we can sneak out over the back wall."

Live chuckled weakly, remembering when he climbed over the wall to see her while she stayed here for a month.

"We need a code word, and if we say it, I'll throw the kids over my shoulders and we'll make a run for it," Jess suggested, "how about greenhill?"

"Greenhill?" Liv laughed.

"Yep. Say it and we get out of here," he grinned.

"Greenhill!" Ava sighed, "I don't wanna go," she huffed.

Liv turned around to look at her, "it'll be fine. Just sit there, look cute and smile, say a few cute things and you'll be fine."

"But they're mean," James sighed.

"They love you three," Jess told them, getting out of the car.

"Yeah, because they haven't been a major disappointment to them yet," Liv pointed out.

They got the kids out of the car and walked to the door. As the maid opened the door, Ava stood planted where she was.

"Ava Mariano, get in there now," Liv said through gritted teeth, smiling at the maid.

Ava huffed and followed her in. They were the last ones there - of course - but Emily and Richard hadn't come down yet.

"Thank god we're not late," Jess said, grabbing a glass of lemonade. Lorelai raised an eyebrow at his choice of drink and he shrugged, "driving."

"Where are they? It's 5 past 7," Liv frowned, sitting next to Rory and Alex, lifting James to sit on her lap. Jessica was with her dad, naturally, and Ava went straight to Lorelai, her scowl still on her face.

"They haven't even started putting any food out," Rory said, "it's odd."

Liv nodded, and everyone settled into a comfortable conversation, not noticing Emily and Richard make their way downstairs. They stood back, and watched everyone laugh at Lorelai's attempt to make Ava smile.

"Maybe we shouldn't tell them yet," Richard whispered, "they look happy. I don't want to spoil that."

"You need to tell them, Richard. You don't have much time left," Emily sighed, putting a hand on his arm. They looked at each other, and smiled slightly.

Emily cleared her throat, stepping more into the room, "hello, everyone. Sorry we're late."

"What time do you call this, mom? As a child, I was terrified of being hung, drawn and quartered if I wasn't down for dinner at 7," Lorelai pretended to scold them.

"Actually, we haven't prepared any dinner yet. Your father has some news that he needs to tell you," Emily said, her tone making everyone fall quiet.

"I'm ill," he blurted out.

There was a silence, before Luke cleared his throat, "how ill?"

"I don't have much time left," Richard said, choosing his words carefully.

Liv stood up, placing James down on the sofa, and walked up to him, wrapping her arms around him tight.

Jessica, who was sat on her dad's lap, her arms around his neck loosely, looked at Jess with wide eyes, "is grandpa Richard going to die?"

Jess caught Emily's eye, who walked over to the chair they were sat in, and put a hand on Jessica's shoulder, "unfortunately, yes. But he's in a lot of pain at the minute, so he won't feel that pain anymore."

Everyone looked at Emily, whose eyes were filling up with tears. Ava stood up, and hugged her. Emily was slightly taken aback, before hugging her back and letting a tear roll down her cheek.

"It will be okay, Grandma Emily."

Richard looked around the room as he hugged his granddaughter: Rory had Alex under one arm and James under the other, with tears rolling down all of their cheeks. Lorelai was staring ahead of her, holding onto Luke's hand, Luke having the boys sat on his lap. Jess sat in the arm chair, with little Jessica hanging onto him, sobbing into his neck. And then Emily, hugging Ava, crying silently as Ava patted her back gently. Liv pulled back slowly.

"How long do you have, Grandpa?" She asked quietly, wiping her eyes.

"I've been told I have a year, tops," Richard said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Lorelai stood up, and laughed, "you can't go."

Richard sighed, "Lorelai—"

"No dad, you can't leave," she said, slightly hysterical.

"I don't have a choice, Lorelai."

"Mom, stop —" Rory said.

"No, Rory, no, you don't get it. You can't leave," Lorelai repeated, "you can't leave mom and the girls and your great grandchildren or me."

"Lorelai —" Richard tried again.

"No it's not fair," Lorelai said, her voice becoming strained.

"Lorelai!" Richard shouted, making her stop, "do you really think I want to die? Because trust me, I'd be happier staying here with all of my girls. So don't you dare tell me that I can't leave because it's out of my control and I don't want to."

Everyone went quiet. Liv moved back to sit with James, who was still sniffling, and rested her head on Rory's shoulders.

Lorelai shook her head and walked out, everyone quiet as the front door slammed.

Luke stood up and sighed, "we'll take her home, she just needs it to sink in. She'll come around."

"We can have the boys if you want?" Liv offered, stroking James' hair, "they might all feel better being together tonight, and you can focus on mom."

"Is that okay, Liv?" Luke asked.

"Of course," she smiled, gesturing to the boys to come to her, "come here, you two," the boys walked and sat next to her and James after hugging their dad good bye.

He said goodbye to everyone, and walked out, leaving the older Gilmores with their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

"Alex, why don't you take the kids into the pool house? There are some films you could watch in there," Rory told her.

Once the kids had gone, Liv stood by the drinks trolley and made herself a martini.

Jess stood up, his eyes wide, "Olivia, put it down."

"I think I'm allowed this," she snapped.

"Liv, you don't want to drink that," Rory said, sighing.

"She's right, Olivia. There are other ways to deal with this," Richard said, "you know this isn't a good idea."

"But you're dying and I'm sad," Liv said, her eyes filling up with tears.

"For goodness sake, Olivia, put the drink down," Emily snapped, snatching the drink from her, "you're not the only one affected by this. Yet Rory, Jess and I haven't gone straight to drink, and we aren't alcoholics. So put the bloody drink down and deal with this properly and soberly."

Olivia looked at Lorelai tentatively, before sitting back down on the sofa with her arms crossed.

They talked about the illness some more, before Liv apologised for reacting stupidly.

"Mommy," Liv heard from behind her.

"Yes, sweetie," Liv said, seeing Jessica stood in the doorway.

"I'm hungry," she said, almost shyly.

Jess stood up and picked her up, "we'll sort something out, baby."

"We gave the kitchen staff the evening off," Emily told them.

Liv and Rory looked at each other, smiling slightly, "Chinese?"

"You want to get fast food?" Emily asked.

"I think that'll cheer us all up. Won't it, Jessie," Jess grinned at his daughter, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Come on, Grandma," Rory smiled.

"We'll just get a range of food and have a big buffet," Liv told her.

Richard hummed, "that does sound like a good idea."

Emily rolled her eyes, "fine. We don't have any menus, though."

Jess scoffed, "between those two, we don't need a menu."

I'm back again! I wrote this chapter in half an hour — if I could do that for them all this would be finished by now, but alas. I hope people are still interested - I get notifications regarding votes and adds for this book every day, but if you're still interested just comment a hello, just so I know! Watch this space xoxo

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