Sunday 10:00 am, Country Club:

"That was a nice swing, Will", Richard complimented.

"I missed the ball", Will pointed out, confused.

"Yes, but it had great force"

"If you say so, Grandpa"

"Something tells me you wanna take a break", Richard smiled.

"Can we please? It's freezing out here"

"All right then"

Richard handed the golf clubs to the catty before Will and Luke hopped into the golf cart.

"How's your eye doing?"

"It's not as bad as it looks"

"I can imagine you were in a great deal of trouble the other night"

"Yeah, Mom and Dad were pretty pissed at me"

"They just care about you"

"I guess"

"What's your punishment?"

"Where do I start? I'm grounded for a week, I have back to back diner shifts, and the worst part is, I have to keep an eye on Max when he's at the diner"

Richard chuckled at the last part.

"Well, Max certainly is something else"

"Tell me about it"

"Other than that, school's alright?"

"Yeah, I just have detention for a week. Thanks for calling Headmaster Charleston, by the way"

"Glad to help"

"Can we get something to eat? I'm starving", Will asked as the cafe came in sight.

"Certainly"

They got out of the golf cart and walked into the cafe.

"Richard! Long time, no see!", an older man greeted as they walked in.

"Colton, it's been much too long", Richard replied, as Will awkwardly stood beside him.

"Is this your grandson?", Colton asked.

"Yes, he is. Colton, this is my grandson, William. Will, this is my old friend, Colton", Richard introduced.

"Old friend as in old in age and years of knowing each other", Colton joked, shaking Will's hand.

Will forced a laugh and shook the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you, sir", Will greets politely.

"The pleasure's mine. Richard, we must play together soon, I'll call you?"

"I look forward to it"

"Have a good time, give my best to Emily"

"Thank you, and my best to Diana as well", Richard smiled as Colton left.

"The most incompetent and delusional man to ever exist", Richard whispered to Will when Colton was out of sight, getting a smirk out of Will.


Diner, 12:00 pm:

"How's the homework coming along?", Luke asked Dylan, who had been sitting at the counter for half an hour, working on the same problem.

"It's not. This is impossible", Dylan stressed, used to always understanding the material.

"You'll get it", Luke encouraged before walking into the kitchen.

"Dylan, can you help me with my math homework?", Max, who was sitting beside him, asked.

"Later, I need to do my own first", Dylan answered, not looking up.

"Dad! I need help!", Max called into the kitchen.

Dylan rolled his eyes.

"What is it, Max?", Luke asked, carrying two plates at once.

"I need help with my homework"

"I'm a little busy, bud. Maybe Dylan can help you"

"No, I've got my own to do", Dylan snapped, sounding ruder than he intended.

Both Max and Luke looked surprised.

Dylan sighed, realizing how rude he sounded.

"Sorry, it's just I'm a little stressed, I have a huge trig test tomorrow and all my midterms are coming up"

"If it's too loud, you can go upstairs", Luke offered.

"No, it's fine, it helps me concentrate"

Luke delivered the two plates then walked back to the counter.

"What do we have here?", he asked, analyzing Max's homework.

"Long division"

"Bud, we just went over this"

"I don't get it"

Luke began to help him with the problem when Taylor Doose walked in.

"Everyone! May I have your attention, please?", Taylor announced.

This immediately got Luke's attention.

"What the hell is this, Taylor? I'm trying to run a business"

"I'll only be a minute, Luke. Besides, you look a little busy with your homework"

Luke rolled his eyes and glared at him.

"You have sixty seconds"

"The Stars Hollow annual Christmas tree lighting will take place on Christmas Eve in the town square"

"We know, Taylor, it's the same every year, you don't need to announce it", Babette called from her table.

"It will begin at 5:30 pm and end at, promptly, 9:30 pm", Taylor continued.

"As it does every year", Babette retorted.

"We could use some volunteers, particularly youngsters who are able to do heavy lifting", Taylor said, ignoring Babette.

Taylor's gaze moved to Dylan and he began to walk towards him.

"That's enough of that, Taylor, your time's up", Luke told him.

"Alright then, I would like a fresh cup of coffee", he replied, standing two feet away from Dylan who was concentrated on his homework. He waited for Luke to walk into the kitchen to make a fresh pot then approached Dylan.

"Hi, Dylan", he greeted.

"Hi, Mr. Doose", Dylan replied, not looking up.

"You know, I don't know if you heard my announcement, but I could use some volunteers for the annual Stars Hollow Tree Lighting to help set up"

Dylan was beginning to get annoyed but didn't say anything, he was focused on the same problem he had been trying to get for the past half hour.

"We could really use your help", Taylor prompted.

"I can't", he answered shortly.

"And why is that?"

"I'm busy"

"You're sitting here right now doing absolutely nothing"

"I have school work"

"I have always considered you to be my favorite between you, Jess, and Will, you know"

"I'm honored, really", he muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"This is your town, young man, giving back shouldn't be an issue"

He slammed his pencil down on the counter after attempting to solve the problem and just not getting it.

"I'm not gonna help you set up, Taylor, just leave me alone!", he snapped, louder than he intended, finally looking up from his piece of paper.

When he realized all the diner patrons were looking at him, he blushed.

Luke had just walked out of the kitchen with the cup of coffee in his hand and heard Dylan. He knew it took a lot for Dylan to get angry and Taylor had somehow managed to do that.

"Can't you see he's busy, Taylor?, Luke said.

"I cannot believe you condone this behavior, Luke. It's no wonder none of your kids ever participate in town activities", he huffed, then stormed out of the diner.

Luke rolled his eyes. Instead of pouring the coffee out, he placed it in front of Dylan who looked up at him in surprise, not usually allowing them to drink coffee.

"Thanks", Dylan mumbled, still embarrassed that he had drawn that much attention to himself.

Luke smiled at him.

"I know you're stressed about school, kid. If you want, I can drive you home or to the library"

"I need the background noise to focus"

"Okay, let me know if you need anything else"


Gilmore Mansion, 1:00 pm:

Richard and Will had returned from the country club and back to the Gilmore house, planning to warm up by the fireplace in Richard's study.

"Emily's having her DAR meeting in the living room, so we have to be quiet unless we want to be greeted by a dozen women with fake smiles whose sole purpose in life is attending these meetings", Richard whispered.

Will nodded, not in the mood to be kissed on the cheek by twelve different women then being bombarded with personal questions.

They walked through the kitchen to avoid being noticed but Emily was in the kitchen explaining to Bernadette how one of the ladies likes her tea made.

"Oh, Richard, Will, I didn't hear you come in", Emily smiled, going over to kiss Will.

"Hi, Grandma"

"Oh, Will, your eye looks horrendous"

Will chuckled and shrugged.

"It's not so bad"

"Unbelievable how you still have to serve a punishment for the other night, isn't that eye of yours bad enough?", Emily complained, fixing Will's hair.

"I'm really sorry about the other night, by the way. I didn't mean to ruin your dinner"

"All is forgiven", Emily smiled.

"Well, Will and I were going to go up to my study to warm up, it's beginning to get very cold, so we're just going to-"

"As long as Will's here, I'm sure my friends from the DAR would love to see him"

"I don't think he has the time, Emily, he has to get going soon", Richard tried.

"Oh, hush up, Richard. I'm going to show off my very striking grandson. Lillian shoves pictures of her dimwitted, unfortunate looking grandson down everyone's throats every week"

Richard gave Will an apologetic look as he followed Emily back into the living room.

"Look who stopped by", Emily announced.

"Is this your grandson, Emily?", a lady asked, smiling.

"Yes, he is, this is William", she introduced.

Emily went around the room and introduced every one individually and each of them kissed Will on each cheek.

"Nice to meet you all", Will said, forcing a smile.

"Emily, you never mentioned you had such a handsome grandson", one of the ladies marveled, whom Will had already forgotten the name of.

"Oh, thank you", Will replied.

"I'm sure you have all the girls going crazy", another one added.

Will smiled politely.

"William, that's quite the shiner you have. What happened to your eye?", Lillian asked.

"I was playing badminton and the birdie hit my eye", Will lied, not wanting to embarrass his grandmother, thinking back to when it had happened to one of his friends in his gym class.

Emily looked grateful.

"Do you attend Chilton, like your older sister, Rory?", another woman asked.

"Yes, I do", he answered shortly, not really wanting to continue the conversation, knowing it would just lead to talking about how amazing Rory is.

"Rory was quite the student. How are you doing in school?"

"Fine"

"Well, William, thank you for joining us, I don't want to keep you away from your grandfather too long", Emily concluded, noticing that Will was getting bored.

Will stood up, gratefully.

"See you later, Grandma", he said, as she gave him a hug then kissed him on the cheek.

"Goodbye", Emily responded.

Will quickly walked up to his grandfather's study and found him reading a newspaper by the fireplace.

"How was it?", he asked.

"I got kissed more in that room than I do behind the bleachers", Will smirked, getting a chuckle out of Richard.

"Do you wanna call your parents? They might be wondering where you are", Richard said.

"Yeah, I should probably be getting back to solitary confinement", Will groaned, taking his cell phone out.

"Tell them we're still at the club and you'll be home in two hours"

"Really?", Will asked surprised.

"I won't tell if you don't", Richard smirked.

Will called the diner and his dad picked up.

"Luke's"

"Hey, Dad, it's Will"

"Hey, Will, where are you?"

"Still at the club. Grandpa and I just finished up our game and now we're getting something to eat", Will lied.

"How was it?"

"Surprisingly, fun"

"Good. When will you be home?"

"Probably two hours maybe two and a half"

"Okay, do you need me to pick you up or do you have enough money on you to call a cab?"

"I'm good with calling a cab"

Richard shook his head at that and motioned for Will to give him the phone.

"Hello, Luke? It's Richard."

"Hi, Mr. Gilmore"

"I wanted to tell you there will be no need for Will to call a cab, I can send him home with the valet"

"In a limo?", Will asked happily.

"In a limousine", Richard confirmed.

"That's really nice of you, Mr. Gilmore, but it won't be necessary. Will's fine in a cab, I'm sure he's been enough of a handful today"

"Not at all, Luke. I'll have the valet drop him off soon. And go easy on him when he gets home"

"Can't make any promises", Luke chuckled.

"See you in two weeks"

"Bye, Mr. Gilmore. Can you give the phone back to Will?"

Richard handed the cell phone back to Will.

"Yeah, Dad?"

"I'm glad you're having a good time with your grandparents, kid. But, you're still grounded, I want you home soon and your cell phone on the kitchen table, okay?"

"Got it", Will sighed.

"Good, I'll see you"

"See you"

Will hung up the phone and turned back to his grandfather.

"I've got an hour until I'm officially grounded again"

"So, tell me about this Taylor girl", Richard smirks.

"Nothing to tell"

"There must be something to tell if you fought your friend for her"

"I guess so. I mean, Taylor's great. We have fun together"

"Good. Will I be getting to meet her?"

Will rolled his eyes but smiled.

"I don't know, Grandpa. To be honest, I haven't talked to her since Friday at the football game, either she's mad at me or knows that I'm not supposed to have my phone."

"She'll come around"

"I hope so, I hope this whole thing was worth it", Will mumbled, referring to the fight.

"Well ask yourself, why do you like her?"

"Because she's my girlfriend"

"Why is she your girlfriend?"

Will sighed.

"I don't know", he shrugged.

"Yes, you do"

"I guess it's because she's sweet. I care about her and I think she cares about me. She keeps me in check and talks me out of doing a lot of stupid things", Will explains, thinking out loud.

Richard smiled.

"Will?"

"Yeah?"

"It was worth it.", Richard states, then picks his newspaper back up.


Danes House, 3:15 pm:

The limo had dropped Will off at his house and the only car in the driveway was his mom's jeep. Lorelai had come home early to make sure Will didn't sneak out and was sticking to his punishment; Luke and Lorelai had agreed it was time to be a little tougher.

He walked into the house and found his mom sitting in the living room, watching tv.

"Hey", he greeted.

"Hey, how was it?", Lorelai replied.

"Good. What are you doing home?"

"Decided to come home early", she shrugged, but Will wasn't buying it.

He crossed his arms.

"Really?"

"Yep"

"So, it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact I'm grounded?"

"Maybe a little", she admitted, smirking.

"You seriously don't trust me?"

"Let's see. Do I trust you to condone your own punishment in a house full of electronics and the ability to walk anywhere in Stars Hollow and be back before anyone ever knew? No"

He would never admit it, but she was right. His plan was to meet his friends at the park, get a pizza, then come home and watch a movie before anyone came home.

"So, I guess I should be going up to my room now?", Will sighed.

"You guessed correctly, but first, cell phone, please"

Will handed her his cell phone.

"I'll call you down when dinner is ready"

"Can't I just stay down here with you and watch tv?"

"Will, you know your father's rules better than anyone else, you've been grounded enough times to know the drill"

"Fine", he grumbled, dragging himself up the stairs.

Lorelai sighed, she felt bad for being so harsh with Will but she wanted to see improvement.

A few minutes later, Dylan walked in.

"Hey, Dyl", Lorelai greeted.

"Hi", Dylan replied, not in the mood for a conversation, still stressed about school.

"No diner shift today?"

"Dad told me to come home"

"Why? Are you okay?", Lorelai asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just got a lot of homework"

"Ok, do you want something to eat?"

"No, Mom, I have to get my homework done", he said abruptly.

Lorelai knew Dylan didn't do well under stress, because when it came to school, he was used to always being on top of things. So, she knew to back off; it was that time of the year where all the tests were happening. For the most part, aside from being competitive with Will, Dylan was usually easy going and not prone to starting arguments or not being respectful to his parents and elders.

"I'll let you get to it, then", she affirmed.

Dylan walked up the stairs and to his bedroom.

Will was sitting on his bed, throwing a baseball up into the air then catching it with his mitt, when he heard Dylan's bedroom door close. Being incredibly bored, he got out of his bed and walked to his brother's room.

"Hey", Will greeted.

"Hey, I really can't talk right now"

"Why? Afraid that Dad will yell at you for fraternizing with the inmate?", Will joked.

"I have to study. I just don't understand this topic for trig. We're doing logs and not only do I have a huge test on it tomorrow, I have all my midterms this week", Dylan went on, setting his books out on his table.

"So you're officially in 'Dylan in Distress' mode?", Will laughed at his own joke.

Dylan rolled his eyes, Will made that joke every year when Dylan began to get stressed for midterms and finals.

"Get out of my room, I don't have time for this"

"Relax"

"I'll relax when report cards come out and I won't be grounded because I failed every single test", Dylan retorted, taking a jab at Will's grades.

This wasn't really true; Will got average grades without trying because he was naturally smart. He almost never studies for tests, does his homework when he feels like it, but never actually fails. His grades aren't exceptional, like Dylan's, but it's not expected of him. Dylan, on the other hand, has a higher bar set and is expected to reach those expectations.

"Don't take life so seriously, it's not like you're gonna get out alive", Will joked again.

"You're so annoying! I'm serious, get out"

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving", he surrendered, getting up and walking back to his room.

Dylan spent the rest of the night studying in his room, only coming downstairs for dinner. This wasn't unusual, it was that time of the year and the family knew not to stress Dylan out even more than he already was.


Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Is there anything you would like to see more of or less of? Please let me know, it really helps! :)