Lorelai, Anna, and Rory were walking to Luke's. "But my question is, how did that happen? How was it that suddenly everyone in the world was saying music has charms to soothe the savage beast when it was written breast." Lorelai had been on this since she discovered the mistake.
"I don't know. At some point someone misspoke and it just caught on." Rory led them across the street.
"How do things like that catch on?" Lorelai asked.
"Maybe, because savage breast sounds ridiculous. I mean what is a savage breast? It sounds sexiest, probably why people went with beast." Anna thought the answer was simple.
"But, still you don't just change a word in a quote to make it famous, you throw the quote away." She didn't let go of her argument. Abby sighed, rubbing her temples. If Lorelai wanted to argue she would, even if no one was disagreeing with her.
"Mom, please, you're driving me crazy." Rory sighed. She had been bugging them about this since last night when she read it in one of their textbooks.
"I mean, did some guy like say it at a big rally of some sort and everyone went home and started saying it that way and then it just spread from there?" Lorelai gave her theory.
"Yes, exactly." Rory nods.
"Oh, now you're just trying to shut me up." She opens the door to Luke's for them to walk inside. They froze when they saw no one was there.
"Oh my God." Lorelai gasps, never seeing it like this.
"Wow." Rory had the same reaction.
"I've never seen it empty when nothing is going on in town." The only time Anna ever saw Luke's empty was when there was a town event.
"Just one of those weird lulls happens occasionally." Luke came out of the kitchen to tell them.
"Can we sit wherever we like?" Rory was excited to have the diner to themselves.
"Wherever you like." Luke shrugs.
"Wow." Rory's eyes went wide.
Lorelai looks around the place. "Such luxury I never dreamed of."
"Where do you wanna sit?" Rory looks at her mother and sister.
"So many choices." Anna hummed.
"I don't know. Um, how 'bout this table with its unobstructed westward view of the wide cosmopolitan expansive Klump Street?" She pointed to the left.
"Tempting. Do you know that on a clear day you can see all the way to the garbage cans behind Al's Pancake World?" Rory nods that it was a good option.
"Hm. Or we could sit in the corner, you know, the Mafia table so that no one can come up behind you and whack you with a cannoli." Anna pointed to the right.
"Whack you with a cannoli? Oh, because he left the gun and took the cannoli." Rory giggled.
"You're so my daughters." Lorelai was filled with pride.
"Aye aye aye." Luke was getting a headache from listening to them.
"Hey, let's sit at the counter." Lorelai pointed.
"Nah, the counter, those are not the power seats." Rory shook her head.
"Yes, but with no one here. We can sit at either end and play bagel hockey." Lorelai explained why she wanted to sit there.
"Ooh, bagel hockey! Oh boy!" The girls cheered.
"Just sit at a table." Luke pointed to a table that was in the middle of the room.
"Oh, you're awfully rude for a guy who only has three paying customers." Lorelai guides them to the table.
"Okay, 3:30 on Friday, my debates at Chilton. Write it down." Rory told them as they took off their coats and sat down. Rory was forced to join the debate team by Paris.
"Already written." She took off her gloves.
"Good." Rory grabs a menu.
"Are you prepared?" Lorelai asked. Anna laughed at the question, seeing who she was co-captain with her.
"Please. Paris has us beyond prepared. I now know more about doctor-assisted suicide than I ever cared to." Rory crossed her arms on top of the table.
"Cheery topic." Lorelai looks at her youngest.
"Paris seems cheerful about it." Anna heard enough about it from Paris. The girl was obsessive with the topic and spoke of it constantly.
The phone rings and Luke pick it up. "Luke's. Uh-huh. Hold on a second….It's for one of you." He nods to the teens.
"What?" They asked.
"Yup." He nods.
"But who knows we're here?" Rory asked.
"This whole morning has been a little Twilight Zone-y." Lorelai stares at the phone.
"Maybe it's the future us calling to warn us of our deaths. You go get it." Anna nods to her sister. Rory rolled her eyes as she got up to answer the phone.
"Or Outer Limits-y." Luke filled up the sugar containers.
"What?" Lorelai asked.
"Great show, just as eerie, same era, but no one ever references it." He told her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't speak geek." Lorelai put her hands to her chest, making like it was a true apology.
"Yup stepped right in it." He shook his head
"Hello? Lane. How did you know I was here?" Rory walks over to the window, stretching the phone cord across the diner. Anna moved Rory's mug so she wouldn't knock it over.
"Hey, watch it," Luke warned her.
"Yeah, duck Harvey." Lorelai teased.
Jess came down the stairs. When he saw Anna, he went over to give her a peck on the lips. "Good morning."
"Morning." She blushed.
"Morning Jess." Lorelai had a fake cheer in her voice. He gave her a nod in acknowledgment before going over to make himself a cup of coffee. "He's a morning person."
Anna sighed. She wished they could at least be civil with each other instead of grudgingly putting up with one another. Jess sat down next to her with his coffee. "I got them."
"Oh good, we can watch them tonight." Anna nods.
"What's them?" Lorelai asks.
"Documentaries about haunted places." She told her.
"Sounds fun, why don't we all watch it together." She suggested.
"It's a date, they don't want you there," Luke spoke up for the quiet teens. "An odd date, but still a date."
"Bye. Think fast." Rory tosses the phone to Luke, who catches it cleanly.
"Whoa, impressive. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lorelai looked at Rory after she sat down.
"What?" She asked.
"Goalie for the bagel hockey team?" She nods to Luke.
"And bump Schmitty?" Rory pouts.
"Schmitty's over the hill, he's washed up, put him in Cooperstown. Suit up, kid!" Lorelai yelled at Luke.
"Call me if anyone sane walks in." Luke goes into the kitchen.
Sookie, Lorelai, and Anna were sitting in the Chilton auditorium waiting for Rory's debate to start. "Do you see your dad?" Lorelai asks Anna. The man said that he would be here.
"Nope." She answered after looking around.
"I don't either. Hey, what does he look like?" Sookie searches the room.
"If you don't know, why are you looking?" Lorelai asked.
"I'm looking for a guy that looks like a guy that you could be with, only I'm deducting seventeen years off his age and I'm adding an all-boys private school uniform and a Yankees cap." She explains.
"And does your head hurt?" Lorelai wonders.
"Yeah." She nods, getting a laugh from both ladies.
"If everybody could please take their seats, we'll begin. That includes all the members of the debate team." Mrs. O'Malley stood on stage. After everyone got settled in, she spoke again. "Alright, the topic for today's debate is doctor-assisted suicide."
"That's pleasant." Sookie thought it was heavy for a high school debate.
"Let me introduce the debaters. On the Hillside Academy team, we have Brad Lankford and Nancy Waterford." She introduced the other school first. "And on the Chilton team, we have Rory Gilmore and Paris Gellar."
Sookie, Anna, and Lorelai cheer loudly while everyone else is silent. "Were we not supposed to do that?" Sookie looks around.
"Maybe no one noticed." Lorelai kept her head down.
"It was fun though." Anna smiled.
"Each team will have three minutes for their openings, three minutes for rebuttals, and two minutes for their conclusions. They will be judged based on content, strategy, and style. I will be the judge, along with Mrs. Gladstone." Mrs. O'Malley explained the format. The four students she introduced came up to the front. "We'll choose which team will take the pro or con side with the toss of a coin. A member of Hillside will make the call."
"Heads. No, tails, I mean tails!" Brad changed his mind when he saw Paris's face.
She flips the coin. "Uh, it's heads. Chilton will pick pro or con."
"Pro assisted suicide." Paris stared down Brad.
"Alright. Whenever you're ready, you may commence." The teacher walks off stage.
"Thank you." Paris sat down.
Rory walks to the podium."There are many vantage points from which to consider doctor-assisted suicide. Serious consideration draws from ethics, law, medical practices, philosophy, psychology, public policy, and religion, all topics I plan to explore in the next two minutes and forty-six seconds."
"Geez, look at that kid, he's shaking." Lorelai nods to Brad
"Ooh, and pale." Sookie took her eyes off Rory to look at him.
"He looks all white and tiny." Lorelai grimace.
"That's Brad. He used to go to school here, he transferred to get away from Paris. Being on stage with her right now is going to make him barf." She watched her old classmate.
"Your dad is here," Lorelai said, making her turn to the door. She waves at him with Sookie before her eyes went wide at seeing the woman from the Christmas card standing next to him. She turns back in her chair to listen to Rory.
Paris was tearing the other group's argument apart. "I think this is Paris's version of fun," Anna whispers to her mom.
"Oh definitely." She nods. Sookie tries to subtly look at Sherry, who's sitting towards the back of the audience. "Hey, circus lady, what's with the contortions?" She asked her friend who was trying to turn her head back without moving her shoulders.
"I'm trying to sneak a peek at the girl Christopher's with." She turns forward to tell her.
"But you see, the entire concept behind the word sneak is not having people notice you, and what you're doing is shouting notice me." Lorelai whisper-yelled the last part.
"Tell me you're not curious." Sookie raises an eyebrow.
"I'm not curious." She shook her head.
"We already saw her on the Christmas card." Anna didn't see what the excitement was about.
"In-person is much different," Sookie explains.
"We'll meet her in a matter of minutes. Now, come on, watch the tiny shaking boy get shorter." She nods to Brad.
"Two minutes for conclusions." The teacher told them.
Lorelai purposely drops her tissue. She leans over to pick it up while glancing back at Sherry. Anna and Sookie shake their heads laughing. "You sneak a little peak?" Sookie smirks.
"Shh." Lorelai hushes her.
"Professor Bomar of the Willamette University of Law has prepared a lengthy summary that I'd like to use in my remaining time," Paris said.
"Time." Mrs. O'Malley told her.
"What?" She asked.
"That's it, time's up." She held up the stopwatch.
"Oh, but if I could just have a few seconds to rebut their charge of the cruelty of the act." She requested.
"We take it back!" Brad yelled.
"You can't take it back, it's a debate." Paris glares.
"Okay, that's enough cruelty for one day, Paris. Your team has won. Congratulations." The judges didn't need to discuss it. There was a clear-cut winner.
"Really? Thank you. Thank you very much." She smiled at the crowd. They clapped for them as they shook hands with their opponents.
"She has a nice smile, it is a shame it only comes out after beating someone into the ground." Anna stood up to stretch.
They walk to the doorway to sneak a peek at Sherry. She was standing outside the door with Chris. "Uh! There they are." Sookie pushed them back before they could get spotted.
"I see them. What do you think?" Lorelai asked.
"She's got good hair," Sookie said the first thing she noticed.
"Yeah." They nod.
"She has amazing boots." Anna eyes the heels she was wondering. "You think she is my size?"
"Why are you trying to break my heart, by the idea of sharing a closet with her." Lorelai put a hand over her heart.
"Well, your feet are bigger than mine, so I can't share shoes with you." She shrugs.
"Plus she's been sitting for an hour and her dress is perfect. Not a wrinkle? How does she do that?" Sookie sneaks another peek.
"She must be a witch," Lorelai suggested.
"Or she's doing that no-hose thing." Sookie gave a realistic answer.
"Yeah. She is a chic, good hair, wrinkle-free, no-hose-wearing witch." Lorelai went on with her theory.
"You ready?" Sookie looks over the Gilmore girls.
"Yeah." They walked towards Christopher and Sherry.
"Hi there, you two." Lorelai got their attention.
"Hi Dad," Anna greeted.
"Hey Lorelai, Anna. You guys get to meet at last. This is. . ." He looked over at the beautiful woman next to him to see if she wanted to introduce herself.
"Sherry." Lorelai beat them to it and shook the woman's hand.
"Nice to finally meet you." Sherry smiled. "It's great to meet you, Anna. I've heard many wonderful things. I can't wait to get to know you."
"I've heard a lot of great things about you too." Her dad had been calling more and talking about his girlfriend to prepare the girls to meet her.
"Yeah, I recognized you from your Christmas card," Lorelai told her.
"Which I'm sure you mocked mercilessly." Chris knew her well.
"Did not. Others, yes, but not yours. You guys were cute, and the puppy was cute." Lorelai denied. Sookie clears her throat. "Hey, this is Sookie."
"Nice to meet you." Sherry shakes her hand.
"Nice to meet you. You have a very smooth dress." Sookie couldn't take her eyes off it.
"Oh well, thank you. It's the fabric." She ran a hand over the dress.
"The fabric. Uh-huh." Sookie nods. Anna bites her lips to stop herself from laughing at Sookie's disbelief.
"Hm. Uh, Chris, I've told you about Sookie." Lorelai turns to her ex.
"Yes, you have, the famous Sookie." Chris stuck out his hand.
"The famous Christopher." Sookie shook his hand.
"I hear you're the greatest chef after Alan Ducasse." Chris complimented.
"After Alan Ducasse? Who, who said after?" Sookie worried. Anna let a giggle out at that.
"Hi, Dad! You came." Rory came out at the right time before Sookie could ask any more questions.
"Of course I did." He said. Anna had to stop herself from scoffing. She could count more things he missed than the things he came to.
"Sorry, I'm still getting used to it. I'm glad." Rory apologizes.
"Honey, um, look who Dad brought." Lorelai nods to Sherry.
"This is Sherry. Sherry, this is Rory." Chris introduced them.
"Oh, finally, finally, finally. I am so beyond thrilled, I can't tell you. All he does is talk about you. I couldn't wait to meet this amazing person." She smiled, putting a hand on Chris's arm.
"Well, she lives up to the hype, let me tell ya." Lorelai let her know.
"Is my face turning red?" Rory whispered.
"Oh yeah, beet red." Her mom nods.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I put you on the spot. I've just been looking forward to this." Sherry tried to calm down her excitement.
"No, no, it's okay," Rory reassured her.
"Um, will you excuse us for a minute? Rory and Anna just wanted to show me something around the corner here and we'll be right back." Lorelai pointed back. They walk down the hall and into the auditorium.
"He brought Sherry," Rory said.
"It would appear so." Anna nods.
"This is a little. . ." Rory felt awkward.
"Yeah." Lorelai agreed.
"Did you talk to her? Is she nice?" Rory asked.
"She's a witch," Lorelai told her.
Rory rolled her eyes and looked at her sister. "A little eager, but it's to be expected when you meet greatness." Rory sighed, not knowing why she expected a serious answer from either of them.
"So, what do we do?" Lorelai asked.
"What do you mean?" The teens wondered.
"Come on, come on, come on. We gotta put on our hostessing hats and set a game plan here." Lorelai told them the whole reason she pulled them away.
"Oh yeah, I guess it would be impolite if we didn't ask them to hang out with us." Rory agrees.
"So what do we do? Hit the vending machines?" Lorelai thought of what they were planning to do.
"Invite them to Luke's?" Anna said the first place that came to mind.
"Does she look like a diner chick to you?" Lorelai asked.
"Probably not." Rory agreed.
"I wish he had told me she was with him." She could have planned this better.
"Where else can we invite them?" Rory wonders.
"Al's Pancake World." Lorelai thought of the next best place.
"No, it's Friday. He does his prefix menu on Fridays." Rory reminds them.
"Ugh. Well, there's always our house. I can make something." Anna offers.
"It's a mess." Rory sighs.
"Might be the safest?" Lorelai agrees with her youngest.
"Okay." Rory nods.
"Why didn't he mention that she was with him?" Lorelai was annoyed with him surprising them.
"I don't know." Her daughters shrugged as they walked back to them.
"It's just more of an impression than something I probably actually heard." Chris was trying to convince a paranoid Sookie.
"But maybe someone implied that I was after him?" Sookie pushed on.
"Oh, Sookie, you know what, you are the greatest chef in the world, bar none." Lorelai calmed her down.
"Uh, thanks." She blushed.
"So, um, are you guys doing anything now?" Lorelai asked.
"Not really." Chris and Sherry shared a look. "No, we're pretty free for the rest of the day."
"Well, why don't you come back and see our place?" She offers.
"Oh, that would be great." Sherry smiled.
"Yeah, Sherry would love that. Thanks, Lor." He appreciated it, knowing she wasn't completely comfortable with it.
"I was hoping we'd get a chance to see where Rory and Anna live and their rooms." She wanted to see their world and hope to welcome them into hers.
"Oh, my room isn't a big deal." Rory wasn't comfortable with the perfectly put-together woman seeing her messy room.
"Oh, and the books. I've heard all about the books. I can't wait to see the books." Sherry went on.
"Well, let's go and see the books." Lorelai led them down the hall.
Lorelai, Anna, and Rory rush through the front door. "Rory gets the living room, Anna gets the bathroom, I'll get the kitchen!" Lorelai instructs.
Anna went to clean the bathroom. When she was done, their guests were sitting in the living room with her mom and sister. "Hey, sorry I was a while but I was getting out the good toilet paper." She sat down next to her dad.
"No, you're fine. I was just telling your sister, how cute your guy's uniform is. I went to private school too and our colors were white and bright red. I look hideous." She told them.
"Oh, she's being self-deprecating. You looked cute in that outfit." Chris argued.
"No no, I looked like a peppermint stick. I swear that's where my addiction to clothes comes from. Trying to make up for all the years of having to wear the same thing every day." Sherry shook her head.
"I get that. Every weekend outfit feels like a critical decision." Anna knows the feeling.
"Well, we should go shopping sometime for clothes or whatever." Sherry offers.
"Yeah, we could do that. We can all do that." Anna looked at Rory, who agreed. "I love your boots by the way." She turns to Sherry.
"Thanks. We got to go soon, okay?" She wanted them to know she was serious about building a relationship with them. They agreed with that idea.
"Hey, drinks. Who wants something to drink? I've got water, soda. . ." Lorelai stood up.
"Uh, just water for me," Chris told her.
"Me too." Sherry nods.
"Oh, making it easy, I love it." She gave a strained smile.
"I'll help you." Sherry stood up.
"Oh, no, uh, well, okay. Sherry, you don't have to help me." Lorelai shook her head.
"No, I want to." She insisted.
"Great." Lorelai and Sherry walk into the kitchen. A few minutes later, Sherry brings two glasses into the living room.
"Everything okay?" Chris asked.
"Yup, she found apple juice." Sherry passed him a glass as she sat down next to him.
"Anna, you want to come in and make some food," Lorelai called from the kitchen.
"Oh yeah." She got up to go to the kitchen to see what she could make.
Lorelai grabs her arm. "Wait before you start cooking." She used the cell to call the house phone. "Hey Rory, can you get that!"
"Let the machine pick it up," Rory yelled back.
"No, it could be important." Lorelai pushed.
"Okay." She gets up to answer the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, it's me. I'm still in the kitchen. Um, listen, I just wanted to tell you that Sherry just asked me if she could go out with you guys tonight just the three of you, and she sort of trapped me into saying that I could get you guys out of the Friday night dinner, which she knew all about. But I told her she had to run it past you first, so I can still get you out of it. Although, it might be a good idea to get a Sherry night out of the way because it seems kind of inevitable. So if you're okay going with her, just say, um, Sorry Leonard, we've got company, I have to call you back." She whispers.
"Sorry Leonard, we've got company, I'll have to call you back." Rory hangs up the phone.
"How about you?" Lorelai looked at her youngest.
"It's fine with me, Leonard." Anna shrugs.
"Okay, I'll see you out there." Lorelai walks out with two glasses of apple juice.
Anna opened the fridge to see they had a can of crescent rolls, roast beef deli slices, and cheese. She made a french dip crescent. When she got them in the oven, she made the sauce.
She brought out the finished products. After everyone took a bite and complimented them, Sherry spoke to them. "Anna, Rory, can I run something by you?"
"Oh sure." They nod.
"Your dad and I are around for another night, and he's sick of me." Sherry pats his knee.
"Not true." They shared an adorable look.
"Anyhow, I was wondering if you wanted to do something with me tonight, just the three of us," Sherry asked.
"Oh, sure, that would be nice." Rory and Anna nod.
"Really?" She smiled.
"Yeah. I mean, um, if it's okay with my mom because we do have a Grandma/Grandpa dinner tonight." Rory made like they didn't already have the conversation.
"It's fine by me." Lorelai lied.
"Great. Oh, of course, this does leave you a sad little orphan." Sherry looked at Chris.
"Oh, that's okay. I'll have one of my patented White Castle bachelor dinners." He jokes.
"Or you can come with me tonight. Uh, if you want." Lorelai hopes that he would be able to entertain her parents since the girls weren't there.
"To your parents?" That wasn't his ideal night.
"Yeah, 'cause with Rory and Anna not being there I might need a hostage." Lorelai didn't want to be the center of their attention.
"Oh, yes, do it." Sherry agrees.
"Okay, it's good grub. You sure they won't be mad?" Chris looked at Lorelai.
"Hi, they like you." She smiled.
"True." He nods.
"Great. Well, we should go get cleaned up for tonight then. Thanks for having us over like this." Sherry stood up making them all stand up.
"Any time." Lorelai nods.
"So, we'll swing by around six?" She told the girls.
"Oh, sounds good." Anna nods. Sherry went to put her coat on.
"Bye, sweetie." Chris kissed his daughters on the cheek.
"Bye Dad." They smiled.
"Bye Leonard." He teased Lorelai before following Sherry out.
Later that night, Anna was in the living room as Lorelai walked down the stairs. "Honey, hurry, they said six. Where Rory?"
"She's talking on the phone to Lane. It's six Dad time so it's more like six-thirty." She didn't have to put her shoes on for another fifteen minutes.
"But Dad time is now linked to Sherry time and that Sherry seems awfully punctual." She reminds her.
"That is so annoying." She put on her flats.
Chris called from the front door. "Hey, can we come in?"
"Yeah, come on in. Hey." Lorelia and Anna walk to the door.
"You look great." Anna smiled at Sherry.
"Oh, thanks, you too." She smiled back. Rory came over with a coat in her hands. "Hi there, you ready to go?"
"All set." Rory nods.
"Okay, so we won't be too late, probably around ten," Sherry told Lorelai.
"Okay, well, if you wanna grab a drink after the movie, Rory's got the list of places that serve minors." Lorelai teases.
"Nah, I got a flask in my purse." Rory lifts her bag.
"I got some other things in my purse if you're down." Anna winks.
"Okay, I'm gonna have to drink a lot of coffee to keep up with you three." Sherry smiled.
"Damn, our secret has been revealed." Lorelai does a playful pout.
"Bye love." She gave Chris a peck.
"Have fun" He told his girls.
"Bye Sweets." Lorelai nods.
"Bye." They waved, following Sherry out.
Anna was up in Luke's apartment with Jess. "So, how was your evening with the stepmother?" Jess passes her a mug of coffee before sitting down on the couch next to her.
"She is not how I imagine." She sips her coffee.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I always picture my dad girlfriends as being dumb bimbos. But, Sherry is perfect like cyborg perfect. She's beautiful. She's a good driver and works for L'Oreal. She loves my dad and wants to get to know Rory and me." She couldn't find a fault in the woman, it made her seem inhuman.
"That's a good thing, right?" He asked.
"It is, it's just different." She shrugs.
"So, are you okay with me not meeting him?" Jess didn't want to meet him, but he also didn't want her to hold it against him.
"No, my dad is trying, but he is still not consistently in my life. I could care less what he thinks about you. What we need to do is work on my mom's opinion." She turns her body towards him.
"That would take a lot of work." He whines.
"Who's fault is that?" She raised an eyebrow. "It's just going to take a little time. I'm telling you all you have to do is come around the house more and be yourself."
"I was myself around her before." He huffs.
"No, you were angry and frustrated that day. I'm not saying you guys have to be best friends, even though you both have the same taste in movies and music, but I would like to be in the same room as the both of you without feeling like if I leave the room one of you will kill the other." She reasoned.
"I will put more of an effort when she makes her awkward small talk." He compromised.
"That's all I can ask for." She leaned over to kiss him.