"Hey Luke", Rory said as she perched on one of the stools in front of the counter.

"I assume you want coffee?" he replied.

"You know me so very well", she said smiling.

He poured her a cup of coffee and asked "Where's your mom?"

"Oh, she was being slow so I left her back at the house. She was trying to decide whether to wear the gold leopard-print top or the black embroidered one. I personally voted for the t-shirt with Hootie and The Blowfish taking their names a little too seriously with a real fish but she wanted to go a more conservative route." Rory said, as she reached over the counter to grab a doughnut.

Luke looked lost. "Hootie and the- oh God. Bad, bad picture." Luke said as he walked away, looking a little queasy. "Great, now I'm going to have to go through years of therapy to get over that experience" He muttered as he went to take a tables order.

Rory just giggled.

Just then, Lorelei entered the diner. She looked around for a moment and, on glancing her daughter, rushed over to her and sat down next to her. "Rory! How could you" she began, in a slightly raised voice. "How could you leave your only mother all by herself, to fend of the gods of wardrobe emergencies? We are a team. We are Thelma and Louise, Bonnie and Clyde, Sonny and Cher, The Three Stooges. Do you think any one of those esteemed people abandoned their partners when they were in need? No! Do you think that when Thelma decided to drive over that cliff, Louise jumped out the passenger door? No! Do you think that if one day, Curley's hair wasn't curly enough Moe and Larry just abandoned him? No, they most certainly did not. I am hurt that my own flesh and blood would abandon me in my time of need. And now I will probably need extensive psychiatric help if you don't want your super-cool party mom to turn into Mommy Dearest- or worse, Emily Gilmore." Lorelei finished her monologue and drained Rory's cup.

"Wow," Luke said, walking behind the counter to get her own cup of coffee. "How do you not use up all the air in the world?"

"Hey, you and Luke can go to a therapist together!" Rory said, looking up at her mother.

"Why does Luke need a shrink?" Lorelei asked.

"I told him about your t-shirt." Rory replied.

"Oh", Lorelei nodded wisely.

"It was not an image I needed in my head this early in the morning." Luke said, handing Lorelei the coffee.

"Poor Lukey, we are a bad influence on him." Lorelei said viciously attacking the coffee.

"Slow down, you're going to give yourself an aneurysm." Luke said.

"Slow down you die." Lorelei said, looking Luke in the eye.

"Well would you at least like me to get you a needle so you can inject the caffeine straight into your bloodstream?"

"Yeah, that would be great thanks."

Luke just grunted and walked away.

"Sometimes I swear that man has the vocabulary of a farm animal." Lorelei said to Rory.

"Just call him Babe." Rory replied, smiling.

Luke walked back over to the counter.

Rory looked up at Luke. "Hey, um where is Jess?"

"Upstairs, why?"

"I have a book to give him. Can I go up?"

Luke shrugged.

"Thanks." Rory said as the walked upstairs.

Lorelei just watched her go.

"What's wrong?" Asked Luke, picking up on Lorelei's grim expression.

Lorelei looked over at him, surprise etched on her face. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Luke looked skeptically at her then shrugged and began to walk away.

"By the way, I like your shirt." He said.

Lorelei glanced up at him. "Thanks." She said, ducking her head to hide her smile.