"Mom, I'm home!" Rory threw her keys down on a table nearby and walked into the living room where Lorelai was set up in front of the TV with a pizza. "Hey mom." There was no reply from Lorelai so Rory sat down beside her on the couch. Without a word, Lorelai handed Rory a slice of pizza. Just as Rory was settling back to watch TV, her mom spoke.

"So who was the boy?" Rory turned to her mother whose eyes were still glued to the screen.

"Excuse me?" Now, Lorelai turned to Rory.

"On the phone, you cut me off like I was asking for a kidney or something, I deduced that there must be a guy involved. Am I wrong?"

"No, you 'deduced'," Rory put an emphasis on the word that mocked Lorelai. "correctly."

"Do I know this boy?"

"You did once. It was Tristin."

"Tristin, Tristin, oh." Lorelai finally pictured his face. "That cute boy from high school who called you Mary and was a complete ass?" Clearly Lorelai had not forgotten the many times Rory had complained about him and was still holding a grudge.

"He's changed mom."

"What new clothes? New hair?"

"No, new attitude. He's actually a pretty decent guy now."

"A cheetah can change its spots but it's still going to eat the gazelle."

"No more animal planet for you. And besides, we just had coffee it's not like we're getting married or anything."

"So how was it?" Lorelai seemed intrigued.

"It was…weird," Rory admitted.

"How weird, like a dog walking on two legs weird?"

"More like David Bowie in Labyrinth weird."

"Yikes. By the way, dinner with the grandparents tomorrow." Lorelai shoved the rest of her slice in her mouth and walked to the kitchen.

"Wait, what?" Grabbing a slice, Rory stood up and followed her mother to the kitchen. Lorelai was looking through her cabinets.

"Friday night dinners, you remember those right? They kind of feel like a mixture of getting your teeth pulled and hacked in half by a rusty chainsaw."

"Yes I remember them, I just don't know why you would agree to them again."

"I was kind of shanghaied. Luke and I were arguing over wedding things again and the phone rang and I was in the middle of a roll and you know how I get when I'm on a roll in an argument, I don't like to be torn away and I'll do pretty much anything to get back to the argument. Well it was my mother on the phone and she asked if we could go to Friday night dinner and I wasn't really thinking so I agreed. And then later, after the argument, I finally realized just what I had agreed to but it was too late." At the end of the ramble, Lorelai pulled a box of Oreos down furiously from her cabinet.

Rory moved to her mother and gently put her hand on Lorelai's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Ok mom, deep breath. It's ok. We'll go. We'll eat dinner and then we'll leave. How bad can it be?"

"I believe that is a direct quote of everyone in the town before we went to Kirk's little play last spring. And you saw just how bad that was."

"Good point, pass me the Oreos."

"Are you sure we have to go?" Lorelai turned to Rory again. This was about the hundredth time she had asked Rory this very question since they had awoken this morning. Now they were standing on Richard and Emily's doorstep and Lorelai was still pleading to go home.

"Mom, you're all dressed up and we drove all this way. And besides Grandma and Grandpa haven't done anything particularly cruel lately."

"That's because they're saving it all up for tonight." Lorelai crossed her arms.

"Tell you what, I'll run interference. Whenever you feel trapped or something cough twice. Then I'll change the topic. Savvy?"

"Ok, Johnny Depp." Rory smiled and then rang the doorbell. After a bit, the door swung open to reveal a small, timid looking maid.

"Hi, we're the granddaughter and the daughter." The maid stepped aside to allow Lorelai and Rory entrance. She held out her arms to take their coats which they handed over. "A real talker that one," Lorelai whispered to Rory.

"Lorelai! Rory!" Emily strode into the foyer and swept the two of them up into her arms in a hug.

"Oh!" Lorelai exclaimed in shock. "Hi mom." Behind Emily's back Lorelai and Rory looked at one another with confused expressions.

"Come on into the living room and I'll fix you drinks." Emily walked away from them and they followed a few paces behind.

"The calm before the storm I tell you," Lorelai whispered to Rory.

"Or maybe this is going to be a nice evening."

"That's what they said before Kirk's salute to Japanese culture." Rory rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch beside her mother.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Emily asked.

"Club soda," Rory replied.

"Gin," Lorelai said. Emily smiled and fixed their drinks.

"Here you go." They both took the drink she offered them. "Now I'm going to go collect your father. I'll be back in a moment." With grace, Emily exited.

"Ok what's with stepford mother?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"Maybe we've all finally grown up and gotten past all of the bad things that happened between us."

"Or maybe mom's been going to a new pharmacist if you know what I mean."

"Mom! She is trying to make an effort and I suggest you do the same."

"Fine." Lorelai sipped her gin just as her parents entered.

"Hello Rory, Lorelai!" Richard called as he moved to the drink stand to make his and Emily's drinks. Emily glided into a chair.

"Thank you Richard." Richard had handed Emily her drink and then he sat down in his own chair. "So Rory, are you excited to have only one year left at Yale?"

"Yeah, but sad at the same time you know? I'm going to miss it."

"I remember my last year at Yale." Richard sighed in remembrance. "Squeezing in all the classes that I still wanted to take, staying up late for my final finals."

"A regular party animal weren't you dad?"

"Education was important to me Lorelai, but I did party with the best of them."

"Ok dad, I didn't mean to offend you."

"None taken." Richard raised his glass and then sipped. "So how are things at the inn?"

"Great, we've been fully booked for the past year."

"Excellent. You've done a great job with that place."

"Thanks dad." Lorelai smiled, thinking about how nice he was being.

"And how are things with Logan?" Emily turned to Rory.

"Unfortunately, not so great. We broke up."

"How awful," Emily and Richard said in unison.

"Not so much, it was very amicable."

"That's good, and Lorelai how are things with Luke?"

"Very good." Lorelai smiled again, thinking about her fiancée this time.

"Still getting married I assume." Some of her gin slipped down her throat the wrong way so she coughed, twice.

"Ummm, yesterday…" Rory jumped in immediately trying to think of a topic change.

"No, hon, it's ok. Just choked on some gin. Yes we're still getting married. Which brings me to telling you, July 6."

"July 6?" Richard looked at Lorelai as if she had just suggested he strip of his clothes and go dancing in the rain.

"That's when we're getting married. We've got the church booked and a reception hall. So don't plan anything for that day."

"We won't," Emily smiled. Despite the fact that there were men out there that would be far more suitable for Lorelai, this Luke made her happy and in the end that was all that really mattered.

"Good." Lorelai nodded. "And Dad, I know it's corny but it is kind of tradition so I was wondering if you would walk me down the aisle."

With tears in his eyes, Richard replied, "I would be honored." Lorelai smiled.

"Dinner's ready Mrs. Gilmore," the maid interrupted. The whole family stood and began to walk into the dining room.

"You know what, before dinner I'm going to go to the bathroom," Lorelai announced.

"Ok, but we're having some terrible plumbing issues so you're going to need to use the bathroom off our bedroom." Emily waved her hand to the stairs.

"Great, I'll be right back." Lorelai walked up the stairs and into the bathroom.

As she was washing her hands, Lorelai looked into the mirror and realized that she just couldn't stop smiling. For once she had gotten through drink with her parents and not wanted to participate in some crazy murder suicide thing. Lorelai dried her hands and then opened the door to the bathroom. As she walked into the bedroom, she looked around. She hadn't truly looked around this bedroom since, god knows when. Intrigued, Lorelai began to walk around the room and look at things setting out. There was a vanity in the corner covered in her mother's stuff. The dresser was half of her dad's things and half of her mother's. But the most interesting part was the pictures set up on various surfaces. Richard and Emily's wedding photo was set up in one corner. There were a few pictures of people that Lorelai didn't recognize but she assumed they were relatives. Then there were tons of pictures of Lorelai and Rory. Lorelai smiled realizing just how important she and her daughter were to her parents. The pictures showed Lorelai and Rory at various stages of their lives. Here was a sixteen year old Lorelai with a tiny baby Rory. Then there was a gap in the photos where Lorelai had left the house to go live in an inn. Then the pictures resumed their gradual progression up until a recent photo. Lorelai picked up the photo on the nightstand, one of the four of them that was taken last Christmas. As she set it back down, it knocked over a tiny figurine beside it and pushed it into the slightly open drawer below.

"Shit," Lorelai cursed as she opened the drawer further to search for the figurine. There it was on top of some document. Lorelai picked up the figurine and set it back where it had been, but an indention of the figurine was still on the document. Lorelai cursed again and then picked up the document. In an attempt to smooth it out she set in on the nightstand and ran her hand over it. As she was flattening it, she glanced down at it. It was a death certificate. Lorelai was curious why her parents had a death certificate by their bed so she glanced down at the date. It was dated Rory's exact birthday, time and year included. Printed on the name line, 'Baby Girl Gilmore'.