"Hey," Luke said when Lorelai walked into the diner that night. "How's your mom?"

"Good," Lorelai replied. She ruffled James' hair and sat down at the counter. Luke slid a cup of coffee in front of her. "You know, something weird happened when I was talking to my mom," she said, swirling the coffee around.

Luke made an inquisitive noise but kept wiping down the tables in the diner.

"Well-"

Lorelai's answer was cut off by the tinkle of the diner door opening and Babette barreling through. "Lorelai, doll, there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Lorelai turned around and practically caught Babette in her arms, "Whoa, Babs, where's the fire?"

"Oh Lorelai, I came as soon as Mory told me! It's about Zsa-Zsa."

"The cat?" Luke cut in, "Did you kill it?"

Babette gasped, "How could you think that Luke?! I love cats more than all the 1967 Jazz records in my attic combined."

"I'm just saying. This is a lot of hoopla for a cat that's not a corpse," Luke replied, tossing a rag over his shoulder.

"Back to the kitchen with you, negative Nancy," Lorelai said as she shooed him away. "Now Babette. What is wrong with the cat Rory forced on me which I then forced on you?"

"Did it get hit by a car?" James ran up to them, mischief in his eyes. "Did it explode?"

Lorelai tugged on his ear "Go help your dad scrape out the mouse traps, you little sadist."

James grumbled and rubbed his ear, but followed Luke into the kitchen.

Babette huffed, "His little butt used to be so cute and squishy. Now, look at him."

"Yep, those were the days. Babette focus. What's wrong with the cat?"

Babette bit her fist, "Zsa-Zsa's pregnant!"

––––––––––––

Lorelai checked James' fear in the rearview mirror where it was getting progressively more horrified the more he read about cat conception and pregnancy on his phone.

"You okay back there, buddy?"

"Mom. They have barbed penises."

"I think the plural of penis is peni."

James scrunched up his face, "No way, that sounds stupid."

Lorelai shrugged, "Hey, I don't want you getting caught out there slipping."

"You have to stop. Never say that again," James ordered.

Pulling into the driveway with a grin, Lorelai undid her seatbelt. "Honey do we need to do a vibe check? Should we dab together?"

"Stop it!" James said. He dive-bombed out the car and ran to the house.

Lorelai smiled. Motherhood was the gift that kept on giving. Speaking of mothers, Emily's words did the dougie in her head.

'Let me learn to like you'. Lorelai shook her head and walked into the house. Therapy was going to be fun. There was no telling the different ways she was going to try and suppress these new feelings!

As she was stuffing her coat in the closet she saw the back of James' at the top of the couch. "Did dad check your homework yet?" she asked.

When James didn't answer she walked over, "Did you hear me?" she asked, only to have James shush her.

Her 8-year-old son was apparently in the middle of a very important phone call on a school night. "Who are you talking to?"

James didn't answer her. "Rory!" he said into the phone, "Guess what? Your cat got knocked up!"

Outraged screeching could be heard even from where Lorelai was standing. She snatched the phone from James. "I should've put you up for adoption after you gave Paul Anka that haircut when you were six. Scram, you little narc!"

James cackled and ran to his room. James needed to spend more time with Luke, he was taking after her a tad too much.

"Rory, hi," Lorelai said, "It's me, your mother who has never done anything wrong in her life. Please remember that before saying any words to me."

"How did Zsa-Zsa get pregnant? She's an indoor cat! How could you let this happen?"

"Like I said. I'm your mother and therefore by law you are not allowed to get mad at me. But...I loaned Zsa-Zsa to Babette."

"You gave my cat away?"

"No, I let Babette babysit on a long-term basis. It's shared custody, truly."

"Mom!"

"Don't blame me! That fluffy little freeloader let a mouse run right passed her. She wasn't earning her keep."

"This news took ten years off of my life, mom. Is her baby daddy a nice pure breed? Like one of Babette's boys?"

Lorelai cringed. "Sorry, kid. Babette said it was 3 legged tom that lives in the back of the house."

"Hopefully her kids come out with all four legs," Rory said with a sigh.

"We can all dream a little dream. Enough about being a grandmother, what's up with you? We haven't talked in like, ten years."

"We text all the time."

"It's not the same without hearing your angelic voice. Tell me what's happening in the Big Apple."

"I got a new job."

Lorelai gasped, "Amazing. What wonderful paper has the impeccable Rory Gilmore on their roster?"

"Boone, Chenowitz, and Black Health."

"Is that a digital thing?"

"Not a digital thing. It's not a paper. It's an ad agency that specializes in pharmaceutical drugs."

Hearing the explanation, a grin split Lorelai's face open, "So you're telling me that you're selling drugs?"

Right at that moment, Luke walked in the door. He frowned, "What did you say?"

"Rory's selling drugs!"

"What?"

"Cool your beans, husband dear. She's working at an ad agency that sells meds."

"Christ, I need an aspirin." He replied, rubbing his chest and walking into the kitchen.

"Stop scaring Luke like that. He's gonna drop dead one of these days."

"And then I'll get all the insurance money," Lorelai replied with an evil laugh. "So you write the ads at this place?"

"I'm an editor."

"Did they not have writing positions open or something?"

"They did and they do, I just won't be applying to them."

"Is the pay crap or something?"

"No. I've decided that journalism isn't the right path for me. I'm an editor now."

"Journalism not right for you? But Rory, that's your dream."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Rory replied, "Mom, it wasn't making me happy. I like my new job. I like editing at this place and I make good money, plus they have a 24/7 snack cabinet. Twinkies and pop tarts as far as the eye can see."

Lorelai twisted her lips and began to process this new information.

"Mom? Say something."

"I don't know what to say. I've never known you as anything other than my little Diane Sawyer."

"I can get some shoulder pads and a blonde bob if it makes you feel better."

"Ew no. Shoulder pads can stay in the fiery hell pit that was the 80s where they belong. Look, if you're sure about this new career change thing, I'm all in. As long as you're happy. And not poor."

"I'm definitely happy and I'm definitely not poor. Listen I gotta go. Keep me updated on Zsa-Zsa?"

"Will do. Love ya."

"Love you too, bye."

Lorelai lowered the phone from her face. She was getting a lot of life changes today.

Later that night, Lorelai was sitting on the toilet, moisturizing her feet, when Luke stood in the doorway of the bathroom. "Didn't you say something weird happened with your mom today?"

"Yeah. She was being nice to me."

"That's the weird part? Emily being nice?"

"The fact that you don't find it weird proves how little you know about Emily Gilmore. She wasn't even that nice to my dad and she liked him."

"You don't think you're overreacting?"

"No, I do not, because listen to what she said to me during this whole personality switcheroo: Let me learn to like you. Can you believe that?"

"I still don't see the problem."

Lorelai stood and put her foot cream back into the cabinet. "The problem is that she's not going to keep this up. She's going to get sick of me and be back to the way she was before. I can't play along until that happens. I'd be up for a fricken Oscar if I could."

"You're not going to try because you think it's not going to work?" Luke crossed his arms. "C'mon Lorelai, that's not fair."

"Don't talk to me about my mom and fair," Lorelai said with a roll of her eyes.

"Why don't you give her a chance?"

Lorelai walked into the bedroom and angrily tucked herself into bed. "No."

"Lorela–"

"I said no. Now shut up and get in bed. I can't sleep without your smell."

Despite her protests, Lorelai still accepted an invitation to have lunch with her mother two days later. Emily had been surprisingly considerate in choosing a restaurant that was equidistant from the Inn and the Gilmore mansion. Lorelai was running late to the lunch. Not purposely on purpose but, she may have volunteered to deal with a difficult couple ten minutes before she was supposed to leave and meet with her mom. When the host walked Lorelai over to her mother, she expected a scathing lecture about tardiness. Instead, her mother gave her a small wave.

"I ordered you a salad," Emily said pointing to the plate on Lorelai's side of the table. "You still like blue cheese and bacon dressing?"

"Yeah." Lorelai didn't wait for her chair to be pulled out for her. She dragged it out herself and plopped down. "Sorry, I'm late." She said, leaning over the table to grab Emily's glass of water. Lorelai took a healthy chug and set it back down.

Emily's lips puckered. "Excuse me, waiter? Please bring a new glass of water and refill my daughter's glass as well."

Lorelai let the waiter take their glasses before propping her elbows up on the table. "Why can't we share a glass? I don't have cooties, I swear."

Emily sighed and shook her head. "Was there an emergency at work? Or was the traffic as awful for you as it was for me?"

Lorelai dug into her salad with a small smile. Her mom was actually giving the whole "be nice" thing a go even though she looked like she had sucked on a lemon when Lorelai drank her water.

"Traffic was fine. I had to deal with a pair of six thousand-year-old retirees. They call every hour on the hour and said that with the nightly rate they pay one of our guys should follow them everywhere just in case they need something."

"Goodness, how difficult."

"You're telling me. I run an Inn, not an old folk's home." Lorelai replied, picking the bacon bits out of her salad.

"How is Michel?" Emily asked.

"Fine. He and his posher than posh hubby are off on a two-week vacation in the cayman islands."

"You and Luke should take a trip. You two haven't traveled since your Swedish honeymoon."

"Nah, we're married to the job." Lorelai put down her fork and looked around, "Ugh, I need some real food. Where'd that waiter go?"

"He's just walked away–" Emily began before being cut off by Lorelai's snapping fingers.

Lorelai snapped at the waiter who frowned and walked over. "Sounds like you're ready to order," he said.

"Yes, I am. What would you recommend?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Lorelai saw her mother massage her temples and shake her head.

"The grilled chicken wrap and sweet potato fries are one of our best sellers if you're vegetarian–"

"Vegetarian? Fat chance," Lorelai said, handing the waiter her menu, "I'll take that."

Emily handed the waiter her menu too. "I'll have the salmon and kale salad. Thank you."

"Coming right up," he replied walking a tad bit too fast from the table in Lorelai's opinion.

At Emily's disgruntled face, Lorelai smiled. "You have to get snippy with them sometimes or they won't pay attention. I like attention."

"I'm sure you do, Lorelai."

Emily took a dainty sip of her water, while Lorelai dug around her salad for any leftover bacon. "I assume Rory's told you the good news?" she asked.

"What?" Lorelai replied.

"The news about her career change."

"I know what the news is, how did you know about it?"

"Well, Rory told me of course. I think it was last week or the week before that, she called me and let me know. I suppose she was so excited she couldn't wait to tell me."

"She only told me a couple of days ago."

"It's not a competition Lorelai. She told you eventually. Isn't it nice to see Rory taking charge of her career?"

"I guess. I mean–can we 3 point turn back to the fact that Rory told you already? Why were you and Rory talking about incredibly life-changing events on the phone? When did that start happening?"

"We were talking. Are we not allowed to do that without your permission? Are you Rory's keeper?" Emily asked, a familiar meanness returning to her tone.

Lorelai threw her fork down. "Rory is allowed to talk to whoever she wants to, she's an adult. I'm just a little curious about why she would tell you something like that before telling me."

"What does it matter, Lorelai? Can't we both be happy for Rory's future?"

The waiter returned and removed their appetizer plates. He set Emily's salad down in front of her. As he went to put Lorelai's plate down, she stopped him.

"I don't want that," she said waving him away.

"Isn't that what you ordered?" Emily asked. She looked at the waiter, "Isn't that what she ordered?"

"Yes, is there a problem?" the waiter asked.

"There is a problem, I don't want this anymore. Take it back to the kitchen, toss it, burn it, I don't care."

The waiter picked up the plate and backed away into the kitchens.

"Lorelai, what has gotten into you?"

"Why would Rory tell you before she told me? I'm her mom."

"This possessiveness you have over Rory is an embarrassment. She is 32 years old, she can talk to whomever she pleases whenever she pleases and if she wants to begin treating you the way you've been treating me for the last 50 years than she very well can."

Lorelai stood up and shoved her coat on. "Rory would never treat me like I treat you."

"Well. I suppose you and her were raised differently." Emily replied. She picked up her knife and fork and started to eat her salad. "It was nice seeing you, Lorelai."