"Rory, what did I tell your right before we came into this store?"

Her daughter dropped the t-shirt with the sparkly kitty cat on the front of it. She ran over to her mother with a guilty look on her face. "No touching." And she looked down at her hands, sliding her feet back and forth along the dark carpet.

Lorelai had her hands full. Literally. She had two different outfits for Jess in her hands, comparing the prices and the clearance. Then Jess was in the dressing room trying the other possible outfit on, while she was trying to then find a simple outfit for Rory. Being a girl, Rory had much more vocal ideas on what she wanted to get, something bright and pink. Jess didn't care what he wore, hating that he had to try on outfit after outfit while Lorelai tried mixing and matching to see what she could buy at the lowest prices that looked put together for the visit with his grandparents.

She heard his voice calling to her from the dressing rooms a few feet away. "Mommy! I'm done."

Still holding what was now four outfits in her hands, she walked over to the dressing room door that he was in and said, "Ok, come on out, honey." The door opened slowly and he came out, looking around to see if anyone was around to see his humiliation at having to show his mother his clothes.

The outfit she had him in was a collared shirt with a sweater vest and dark jeans. The hunter green in the sweater vest brought out his brown eyes, which was a plus. But the biggest thing was how his clothes fit. If she was going to pay for new clothes, she wanted them to fit right and last for a while. Setting her load of clothes on the cart that was right by the dressing room, Lorelai leaned down and asked, "How do the pants feel in the waist?" She didn't even wait for his answer, but reached down and felt how snug the waistband was around his skinny body. He was so short for his age, but skinny, so the pants they would find at the thrift stores would either be too short and fit around the waist, or would be just the right length and falling off his little butt.

"These feel like they're not too tight." She wanted to see what they looked like in the back. "Turn around and let…" He shuffled around, and she could see that they weren't sagging in the butt area, which was the other problem she found with the pants at the thrift store. It was almost impossible to find jeans for boys that weren't full of holes or worn out. She had looked and looked before realizing that this was a big enough moment that she had to bite the bullet and go buy him some clothes that would look good on him. She turned him back around and asked him, "What do you think? Do you like these pants?"

He shrugged his little shoulders. "I like the other ones better."

Lorelai tried to remember the last few pants he had tried on. None of them had fit him this good, but she asked, "Which ones? The blue ones? The black ones?"

He shook his head and pointed behind him in the dressing room to where his clothes were laying. "Those ones."

"Jess, you can keep those. But I want you to look nice when you meet your grandparents, ok?" She didn't want to make him nervous, because heaven knows she was nervous enough for the both of them. But there was no way she was going to let him wear his almost white jeans with holes all over.

Jess looked up at her and said, "But they are my favorite." Then he wrinkled his little nose and looked back at the jeans he had on, his fingers finding the price tag on the side, and said, "And you don't have to buy my favorite ones."

Ignoring the twinge of guilt that her eleven-year-old son knew how tight money was, Lorelai stood up and said, "I think these jeans will be perfect." Now she tried to see what she thought about his shirt ensemble. Wanting to see how it really fit, she gently tugged on his shoulders and said, "Stand up straight, bud." She looked at how well the clothes in the department store fit so much better than any of the thrift-store things she had made him try on. His little body tended to swim in most of the stretched out things from the second hand shop, but this made even his small frame look put together and cute in the little boy sense of the word.

She reached for his hand, where the tag hung from his sleeve. She cringed at the fifteen dollar plus tax label. And she started doing math in her head even as she gestured for him to take one more outfit from her hands and try that on. She smiled just a little at the bored and annoyed face he gave her as the door shut.

If the jeans were on sale, for a huge price of twenty dollars, and then the shirt combination was fifteen, she was already at thirty-five dollars just for his clothes. The shirt she had just handed him was a little cheaper, at ten-fifty, so that would save a little that she could justify paying twenty dollars for the new pair of shoes in the cart. She hoped that shirt he was trying on would fit, leaving her with a working total of almost fifty-one dollars.

A working total because that was just the amount with the one child.

When Sookie told her that she would be in a cooking class that Saturday, Lorelai realized she couldn't have Jess looking all dressed up and bring Rory in her daughter's sad excuse for a wardrobe. It wouldn't do to have any of her children looking less than perfect for this time.

So Lorelai picked up the pink dress that she had decided on for Rory. It was a summer dress, still on clearance from last year, so it was a steal for only seven dollars. And she had picked out a pair of black leggings to go underneath the dress, so it could go as a spring dress too. With the leggings and a simple pair of shoes, she added to her total what would be around thirty-four dollars.

Jess came out, and the shirt looked just about the same as the more expensive one. When she told him to go change but didn't hand him any other clothes, his face became hopeful as he asked, "Does that mean we're done and can go home now?"

Lorelai nodded her head and laughed as she saw only the back of his head as he hurried into the stall to change and be done with trying clothes on. She then looked around for Rory, who she found over at the girl's hair supplies trying on different headbands in her hair.

"Rory." She said in a short tone. Lorelai actually thought it was adorable watching Rory put one in her hair, make a little pose in front of the mirror, and hurry over and try another on one. But Lorelai knew that she had told the little girl that she wasn't allowed to touch anything in the store. And although she wanted to just overlook it, chalk it up to the fact that they had been shopping for quite a long time, Lorelai knew that would be the irresponsible thing to do as a parent. So she said Rory's name again, watching her daughter turn around. "Rory, are you touching something?"

Rory's eyes widened, and she shoved the headband back onto the rack before she walked over to Lorelai. "I wasn't touching that much, Mommy."

Shaking her head, Lorelai squatted down so she was in front of her daughter, level with her blue eyes. "Touching at all is not listening to mommy." She reasoned her child through what she had done wrong. "Did Mommy tell you that you weren't supposed to touch?"

Her little head bobbed up and down without her mouth saying anything.

Lorelai hated punishing her children. She hated it. And she never was ever physical with her children. She never spanked them, never ever would she think of raising her hand to her children. That was something her and Chris had disagreed on, especially with Jess. But she would punish them, because otherwise they would never grow up to be people who could operate in society. If they didn't learn to follow the rules that she set up for them, they would never be able to abide by laws, or social rules, or rules at their jobs when they were adults. Lorelai had seen where just letting children do whatever they wanted would lead – many of the children that she had grown up with, the rich, entitled children, they had no respect for rules anywhere. And Lorelai would not let her children grow up to be like that.

So she said, "Rory, you didn't do what was right."

Rory got tears in her eyes. And she said, "I'm sorry, Mommy."

Lorelai pulled her close for a hug, and said, "I forgive you, Rory baby." And then she said, "You're going to lose your reading time tonight." It had become a regular occurrence that the kids would get tucked into bed, and they would have a half-hour to read their books quietly in their beds. It was a time for them to wind down, and to keep Jess' mind off of having nightmares. And it was a calming exercise that helped them fall asleep easier. But it was an easy, and rather painless thing that could be revoked without disturbing their routine or hurting them too much.

And instead of screaming and yelling, kicking and screaming, Rory nodded her head, and said again, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I won't do it again."

Lorelai placed a kiss on the top of her daughter's head, thankful that she had very receptive children. This little kid was more concerned about Lorelai knowing she was sorry that she had disobeyed than she was about losing her reading at night. And that warmed Lorelai's heart, knowing that as long as that remained to be the case, her children would not need much punishing at all.

Then, ready to forget the incident, Lorelai stood up, offered her hand to her daughter, and said, "Are you ready to get out of this place and get home for some wonderful dinner with Aunt Sookie?" Rory's hand flew to hers, and her little head nodded. Lorelai loud whispered like it was a special secret, "I heard she's making something very special."

Jess came flying out of the dressing room, his t-shirt and worn jeans on his body. Throwing the clothes they had picked out into the cart, he raced over to Lorelai and Rory. "What is she making? Is she making hot dogs and macaroni?"

Lorelai pulled his curly head against her as she laughed and said, "I think it's something even more exciting than that!" The thought of such a meal being the best thing in the world would have irked Sookie. And that made her smile even more.

Grabbing the cart, Lorelai said, "And now we go pay for these and get home because shopping sure makes me hungry."

Rory skipped ahead of the cart, her little legs excited to go home and eat, thankfully not concentrating on her punishment. And that made Lorelai happy that she had handled it the way she had, not hurting her kids, just wanting to make them better people in the long run.

Jess had his hand on the cart handle, his little fingers very close and sometimes touching her hand as she pushed the cart towards the cash registers. He was so much more comfortable now that they were on their way out of the store, Lorelai could see just by the smile on his face as he looked around at all the things in the store as they passed.

But suddenly, his hand left its position, and she heard him exclaim, "Mommy! Look!" And he ran excitedly over to a mannequin sporting what Lorelai thought to be a very beautiful black dress. He grabbed the hem on the mannequin, and turned, his eyes bright with excitement, "You would look so good in this dress!"

She smiled at how sweet his gesture was, but she kept walking, "Thanks, buddy, it really is a nice dress." But as she walked by and he didn't move, she turned and said, "You coming?"

He shook his head, pulled on the dress again and said, "Try it on." She opened her mouth to tell him that they needed to go, but he interrupted her, "You made me try on all those clothes. It's your turn."

It was always hard to say no to her kids. And she had to do it so much. "No" to them wanting seconds at dinner. "No" to them pointing at a toy in the windows as they walked to school. "No" to any extra school field trips that costed money.

So maybe it was the fact that indulging Jess in something he wanted that wasn't going to cost her money – maybe that was the reason she found herself in a dressing room, with her clothes on the ground, stepping into the black lacy dress. The material felt so soft against her skin as she pulled it up over her body, in contrast to her normally rough clothing of long sleeved shirts and jeans. Zipping up the back, she turned to look at herself in the mirror. Beautifully embroidered lace framed around the base of her neck, which contrasted against her ivory skin where the seams left off from the sleeveless dress. Lace all the way down hugged her chest and hips, giving her a very nice but not overtly sexy hourglass shape. The dress came a few inches above her knees, making her legs look very lean and long. Brushing her hands down her sides, she let her fingers take in the exquisite make of the expensive dress, and for just a second, she wondered what it would be like to have a dress like this. Even though she had nowhere to wear it, the way this dress made her feel confident but clothed triggered some emotion at not being able to keep it.

But she pushed those aside as she heard her children's voices calling outside of the dressing rooms.

"Does it fit, Mommy?" Jess asked.

Rory, not to be left out of the conversation said, "Hurry up, Mommy! I want to see!"

Not sure why this was such a big deal to her son, she decided to put on a show for him – to make it special. So as she opened the door, she struck a dramatic pose with the back of her hand on her forehead and the other on her hip. Giggles from her daughter told her she scored with the joke. And Lorelai said with a higher than normal voice, "Tell me, my little fashion team, do you think this dress matches my hair?"

She looked out to find two different reactions from her children. Rory was jumping up and down, giggling, her hands clapping together as she said, "You look like a movie star!" The grin on her face touched Lorelai's heart.

But Jess' reaction was completely different. He stood there, staring intently at her, his mouth open. It took a few seconds before he found her eyes and then said in an astonished voice, "You look so beautiful." He then walked over to her and ran his hands along the outside of her thigh, feeling the material. Then he ran his hand along her waist and asked in a very serious voice, "Does it fit you in the waistband?"

She tried to keep a straight face at how he was mimicking her, but in a serious way. Playing along, she put her hands on her hips and said, "I think so, what do you think?"

His little tongue found his top lip, a concentrated look on his face, and he stood there, thinking about it. Then he nodded his head like a decision had been made. "Yes, I think this one will be good." Then he said, "My grandparents will think you look wonderful in this dress."

And it was then that she understood where he was coming from. Where this whole "try on the dress, Mommy" this was stemming from. And she put her hands on his shoulders and said, "Jess, this dress is much too fancy to wear to the park to see your grandparents."

It broke her heart as her sweet boy then turned and ran to the closest rack of clothing and started shuffling through them, while saying, "Then we have to find you one that will be not too fancy but will look as good as that one." Because now she would have to tell him that she wasn't getting any new clothes. She wanted them, as bad as she could want clothes when she was now wondering whether she would have enough money to pay the water bill that month after she got done at the register in the store. Which wasn't much. But what girl would turn down new clothes? And she knew she was going to feel self-conscious in her clothes when she met Camille again, with her husband there. But it was either get the kids new clothes or get her new clothes, and she would never buy clothes when the children needed anything else.

And now to break it to her son. How to tell him that she couldn't afford to buy both. That was her dilemma as he frantically tried to find her a dress.

She walked over, in her bare feet, and said, "Jess."

He was so intent on finding her something that he didn't hear her. Or wasn't listening. "I think there's something right…"

Touching his shoulder, she again said his name, "Jess." And this time he turned around and looked up at her with tears in his eyes. And she knew he knew.

He just stood there, his eyes filling with moisture that found its way down his face. His lip quivered as he tried his best not to cry.

And she soon found her face to be matching his, tears falling down her cheeks as she got down to his level. She hated how intuitive he was. How he could see things that a child his age shouldn't see – shouldn't read into. But he did. Leaving her to deal with the task of making him feel better when he knew that she was trying to do that.

She hesitated over what words to use as she talked to this very sensitive child. Brushing the tears from his face, she just said softly, "Jess," And she searched for the right thing to say. "Mommy has plenty of clothes at home to wear, ok?"

He just shook his head, more tears spiiling out. "No, Mommy, you don't."

"Oh, honey." She whispered, his words like a knife to her protective nature. She just wanted to make him oblivious to the way that they were struggling. To hide how bad things were. But as she looked at her son who was crying because she wouldn't buy herself some clothes, she realized she would just shoot straight with the kid. And she said, "Mommy doesn't get paid until tomorrow. And we have to buy your clothes today. And there's only enough money to buy yours and Rory's clothes."

He sniffed, nodding like he was finally glad she was telling him the truth. Wiping his face on his sleeve, he asked, "When you get paid, will you come buy the dress?" His little fingers reached out to touch the lace on her shoulder.

She wanted to calm his fears. To tell him that she would come the minute she got paid and buy the dress that was upwards of seventy-five dollars. But she knew he would be able to tell if she was lying. And she hated lying to her children. So she took a deep breath and said, "Jess, I don't know when I will have enough money to come and buy this dress. But when I do have the money, I promise I will come here and you and I can pick out the best dress ever, ok?"

Instead of smiling and agreeing with her, he did something that was so beyond his years. So much more than any eleven-year-old would do. But he reached up, and with his little fingers, he brushed the tears away from her face, which only made them run more freely. And he whispered to her, "You're beautiful even without this dress, Mommy."

And those words stuck with her far longer than just those few seconds it took for her to stop crying.

They stayed with her while the cashier at the store asked her whether she had anything other than one-dollar-bills to pay her almost one-hundred-dollar total.

They stayed with her later that night at work when a man got mad because she wouldn't have sex with him and threw his full glass of beer on her, leaving her sticky and glistening.

They stayed with her when one man tried to lick the beer off of her half-naked body while she gave him a lap-dance.

They stayed with her when a man in their hallway whistled and said he could do her if she was lonely.

They stayed with her through her shower that night as she cried while she scrubbed the horribly sticky and gross feelings off of her body.

They stayed with her as she climbed onto the mattress that night, pulling the thin covers over Rory, while reaching for her coat because that was the only thing she could think to keep her warm.

They stayed with her while she drifted off to sleep, his little words that meant so much to her. They seemed to rock her to sleep, assuring her that no matter what happened out there in the world, her children were her life. And what her little boy said about her – it really mattered.