All good things had to come to an end eventually, and the sister cities festival was no different. After everything had been cleaned up and packed away, the parks and rec department retreated to their rooms to pack up for their trip home. Jerry had enjoyed their week in Stars Hollow, but he was glad to be heading home, too. The people in Stars Hollow had been amazingly welcoming, but he had a lot to miss in Pawnee.

It had been surprisingly, actually, how nice the people in Stars Hollow had been. Back home, everyone knew Jerry as something of a klutz who had gotten himself into some ridiculous situations in the past. But in Stars Hollow, no one knew that. They were just as nice to him as they were to Tom or Andy, both of whom were much "cooler" than Jerry could ever hope to be. At first Jerry had enjoyed the break from his co-workers' teasing, but after a couple of days he had actually begun to miss it. It might have seemed harsh to other people, but Jerry knew that they cared.

That was one thing people in Pawnee and Stars Hollow had in common. Both towns were full of caring people. Sometimes they were caring to the point of being intrusive, but they were caring nonetheless. Jerry hadn't visited a lot of other places, but he knew that it was rare to find a group of people who were kind and genuine. He had that back in Pawnee and he knew that if he ever came back to Stars Hollow he would have that there, too.

"Could I get another cup of decaf?" he asked Luke the morning before their flight. As had become their routine over the week, they were back at the diner for breakfast. Luke did a good breakfast, but Jerry missed cooking breakfast for his family. He would be glad to be back home to cook them up a real feast the next morning.

Luke poured him a cup and added a donut along with it. "On the house," he said. "You were probably the least annoying of the bunch this week."

"Wow, thanks," Jerry said, touched. He had never exactly been called annoying before, but no one had ever called him the least annoying either. "This is a great place," he commented, taking a bite of the donut. Almost immediately he accidentally inhaled a sprinkle and had to take a big gulp of coffee to stop coughing. He waited for Luke to start laughing or make a joke about how hard eating was, but it never came. If Jerry was going to be around longer, he thought that Luke could be a pretty good friend. Leslie seemed to know everything about the people in Stars Hollow already. Once they got home, he would have to ask her for Luke's address so he could send them a Gergich family Christmas card when the time came.

On Jerry's way back his table, Babette reached out and stopped him. "Sit with us a minute, sugar," she said, offering him the empty seat across from Morey. "We've hardly talked for a minute all week." She had been wanting to talk to everyone from Pawnee, but some people were harder to carve out time with than others. On their tour of the town she had gotten Andy and April to come in for hot chocolate and a visit with her cats, but a lot of them had been hard at work all week.

Jerry had been on her radar from the minute she saw the group from Pawnee. He didn't seem to do much with the group, but just kind of followed everyone else around. Babette had kind of wondered why he was there with them. "What do you do in the parks department?" she asked him.

"Oh, anything people need me to," Jerry said. "I'm just happy to help."

Babette liked that. People who were willing to pitch in where they were needed were good people. Babette would have guessed that if Jerry lived in Stars Hollow he would have been one of the first to offer newcomers a welcome basket. "We could always use more people like that around here," she said. "This is a great town."

Jerry laughed. "It's wonderful, but my family's back in Pawnee. We've lived there our whole lives."

Babette nodded. "I hear ya. I've lived here my whole life. I was born right in the house I live in now, can you believe it? You couldn't pay me to leave this place." She took a sip of her coffee and squeeze Morey's hand. "I've got everything I need right here," she said. Morey quietly murmured in agreement.

Jerry smiled at them. "I hope my wife and I look as happy as the two of you do," he said.

"When you've been married as long as we have, there's no sense in being anything but happy," Babette said. "We haven't got the time left to be unhappy. You remember that when you get home."

"Oh, I will," Jerry said seriously. "And I'll tell my daughters, too."

"You've got kids!" Babette said excitedly. "I bet they're beautiful."

"They are," Jerry said fondly. "We've got Millicent, Miriam and Gladys."

Babette held a hand to her heart. "Great names," she said. "Morey and I were never blessed with kids, but we've had more cats than I can count. I guess in a way, this town is kind of my baby." Babette looked out the window at the now-empty town square. It was back to being grass and the gazebo, but she could see the festivities of the night before in her head. It wasn't so much about what the town square looked like, but all the memories she had made there. Decades before, she and Morey had gotten married in that very gazebo. No matter what happened, she would never forget the magic of Stars Hollow.

"Well, look after it," Jerry said, getting up from the table as he noticed that his group was about to head out. "You've got a great place here."