During the last week of summer, Lorelai rearranged her work schedule so that she had extra time to get Jess and Rory ready for their first day of kindergarten. On the afternoon before the first day of school, Lorelai left the twins at the inn with Mia and took Jess and Rory to the diner.

When they reached the diner, Lorelai led the kids to a table and helped them into their chairs. She asked the server to bring strawberry ice cream with sprinkles for Jess and a hot fudge sundae for Rory. The promise of ice cream kept the kids sitting quietly at the table while Lorelai crept behind the counter to grab her favorite coffee mug. She had almost reached the coffee maker when Luke stepped out of the kitchen to intercept her.

"No," he stated forcefully.

Putting on her best pout, Lorelai raised her coffee mug toward Luke. "Please, Luke. Please, please, please," she pleaded.

Luke's eyes narrowed and his lips twisted into a suspicious frown. "How many cups have you had today?"

"None."

"Plus?" asked Luke, raising one eyebrow.

"Five, but yours is better."

Hooking one finger in the coffee mug to pull it down so that he could fill it, Luke said, "You have a problem."

"Yes, I do," Lorelai willingly admitted. As she took her first sip of coffee, her eyes drifted close and she let out an appreciative moan.

Rolling his eyes, Luke remarked, "I hate to break up your little love affair, but you might want to go rescue Jess and Rory."

Lorelai was lost in a state of bliss and in took her a moment to realize Luke had spoken. "Hmm? What?"

"Babette and Miss Patty found the kids," he explained, nodding toward the table where Lorelai had left Jess and Rory alone and where they were now being fussed over by Babette and Miss Patty.

"Oh, no! I better go before Miss Patty convinces Rory that she wants to do ballet."

"Is she still trying that?"

"Every chance she gets. Can you imagine Rory trying to pirouette?"

The idea of Rory attempting to spin on one foot caused Luke to wince. "We can't afford the medical bills. You better get over there."

"Don't worry. I'm on it," Lorelai assured him before rushing across the diner to save the kids.

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At dinner time, Lorelai returned to the diner with all four kids. Luke met them at the door to help Lorelai with the stroller. Immediately, he wanted to know, "How did it go earlier?"

Unamused, Lorelai cocked one eyebrow and curled her lips. "Well, hello to you too," she quipped sarcastically.

Luke rolled his eyes at Lorelai, but leaned over the stroller to kiss her cheek. "Hello. Did you take care of Babette and Miss Patty?" he repeated while leading his family to an empty table.

"What am I? The Godfather? No, I didn't take care of them, but I did persuade Miss Patty that Rory isn't quite ready for ballet."

"You mean we're not quite ready for Rory's first broken bone."

"I'll never be ready for my baby to be broken. Any of my babies."

"Ready or not, it will happen eventually. It's part of growing up and two of your babies aren't babies anymore."

"Yeah, Mommy," agreed Jess as he climbed into his seat. "We go to kinduh-garden now."

"Nooooooo," Lorelai wailed, dramatically collapsing into her chair. "I'm not ready. I feel like I just blinked and, all of a sudden, my babies are going to kindergarten."

With an exasperated sigh, Luke pointed out, "It didn't happen that fast, Lorelai."

"Yes, it did. If I'm not careful, I'll blink again and they'll be going off to college."

"Stop blinking."

"That's wonderful advice. Why didn't I think of that?"

"I don't know. Why didn't you?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Lorelai seethed, "You're infuriating."

"I know and you can't do anything about it because I control the kitchen."

"You wouldn't refuse to feed me."

"Wouldn't I?"

Lorelai tickled Liam's feet, then unbuckled him from the stroller's front seat and lifted him into her lap. "No, you wouldn't because if you don't feed me, I can't feed these guys."

"You're right," Luke conceded. He freed Ben from the stroller. Holding the baby against his chest, Luke whispered, "What do you say, little man? Should I let Mommy have dinner even though she called me infuriating?" He paused as if he was waiting for Ben to respond, then said, "Oh, you think I should give her a veggie burger?"

"I don't want a veggie burger!"

Ignoring Lorelai, Luke spoke directly to Jess and Rory. "Do you two want your usuals?"

"Yes, Daddy," they replied in unison.

"I want my usual too," grumbled Lorelai.

Luke placed Ben in the front seat of the stroller and buckled his harness. "We'll see," he said as he retreated to the kitchen.

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For the second evening in a row, Luke met Lorelai and the kids at the door of the diner. "I thought you were eating at home tonight?" he asked as he led them through the diner to an available table in the far corner.

Rory stopped next to the table, put her hands on her hips, and looked up at her father with a scowl. "We're cel-la-ra-brating, Daddy," she sassed.

"What are we celebrating?"

"Kinduh-garden," Jess announced confidently. It was clear that Jess thought the answer should be obvious and, if it wasn't, that Luke should be smart enough to figure it out.

However, Luke was still confused and directed his next question to Lorelai. "Didn't we do that earlier with cookies?"

"We started celebrating with cookies. Then, we celebrated with a trip to the park. Now, we're celebrating with dinner with Daddy. Later, we'll celebrate with ice cream."

"Isn't that a lot of celebrating?"

"You can never celebrate too much, Luke," Lorelai explained. "Especially when it's something as important as the first day of school."

Luke held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Sorry, my mistake."

"We'll forgive you. This time."

"Gee, thanks."

"Are you able to have dinner with us?"

Looking around the diner, Luke tried to gauge how much time he could spare. "I should have time to eat in about twenty minutes. Do you want your food now or later?"

"We'll wait for you."

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When Luke was ready to take his dinner break, he and one of his servers made several trips between the kitchen and the table to deliver the celebratory meal Lorelai had requested. Each time Luke approached the table, Rory was telling Lorelai a different story about her new best friend. As soon as he had placed the final plates on the table and sent the server away, Luke sat down next to Lorelai and asked Rory, "Who's your new best friend?"

"Lane Kim."

"You'll have to invite her over to play."

"Maybe. She said her mommy has lots and lots and lots of rules." Leaning forward, Rory quietly divulged, "Her mommy doesn't let her eat ice cream. Ever."

"How awful!" exclaimed Lorelai.

Nodding solemnly, Rory replied, "I know. Lane says her mommy is a tyrant. Daddy, what's a tyrant?"

"Someone with lots and lots of rules," offered Luke, repeating Lane's simplified definition. Wanting to avoid any further discussion of tyranny, he quickly shifted his attention to Jess. "What about you? Did you make a new best friend?"

"Uh huh. I made lots of friends."

"Do your friends have names?" prodded Luke.

"Duh."

"What are they?"

"Jenny and Mary and Joanna and Sarah and Mandy and Nicole and…"

"Whoa!" interjected Luke, effectively cutting off the rest of Jess' list. "Are all of your friends girls?"

Jess sat up straighter and, with a wide grin, proudly declared, "Yes!"

"He's a ladies' man. Just like you, Butch," Lorelai teased, her shoulders shaking with barely restrained laughter.

"Ah geez," groaned Luke. He massaged his temples in an attempt to ease the headache that was starting to form behind his left eye while muttering under his breath, "Don't call me that. I've told you not to call me that."

With an enigmatic smile, Lorelai acquiesced, "Fine, Lucas." Luke glared at her, but Lorelai wasn't sure if he was angry because she had called him Lucas or because they both knew it wouldn't be the last time she called him Butch. She decided it didn't matter why he was angry, so, ignoring Luke's glare, she refocused on his distress over Jess' friends. "Does it bother you that Jess' friends are all girls?"

Luke was shocked by the accusation. "Of course not!" he insisted, accidentally speaking more loudly than he'd intended. His outburst attracted concerned stares from the people at the neighboring tables. After mumbling a few half-hearted apologies, Luke told Lorelai, "I was just curious." This time he made sure not to raise his voice.

"I don't know why. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense that Jess is friends with all the little girls in their class. He's used to spending all his time with Rory."

"Rory spends all her time with Jess, so, following your logic, she should be friends with all the boys."

"Not really. They're different kids, Luke. Jess is more outgoing."

"I know that. I just think it's weird that he's friends with all of the girls and none of the boys."

Jess had long since grown bored with his parents talking about him and started tapping his fork against his plate. Now, he put his fork down and sighed, "Daddy, I'm not friends will all of the girls."

"Yeah," Rory chirped. "He's not friends with Lane."

A deep frown marred Luke's face. "Why not, Jess? Don't you like Lane?"

"Lane's not s'pose to play with boys," Rory answered for Jess.

Confused, Luke glanced at Lorelai, but she just shook her head, indicating that it didn't make any sense to her either. Lorelai tilted her head toward Rory, silently telling Luke to ask the question they both wanted answered. Luke hesitated for a second before complying. "Why can't Lane play with boys?"

"Her mommy says so. I dunno why."

"The woman really is a tyrant," scoffed Lorelai.

"Lorelai!"

"Sorry, but she is."

"You don't even know her."

"You know I'm right."

"I hope you're wrong."

"No ice cream. No boys. She's a tyrant," Lorelai concluded.

"Why are we even talking about this right now? I thought you wanted to celebrate."

Lorelai's eyes lit up and she danced happily in her seat. "I do! Our babies are in kindergarten."

"We're not babies!" squealed Jess and Rory.

Gasping, Lorelai clutched at her heart. "And after we're done celebrating, we'll hold a funeral for my poor mama's heart."

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A month later, Jess and Rory were loving kindergarten and Luke and Lorelai had survived their first few encounters with Mrs. Kim. Unfortunately, their peaceful routine was disrupted on the first morning of October when Jess woke up sick.

Luke was pacing the room with Liam while Lorelai nursed Ben when Jess shuffled listlessly into their bedroom and whimpered, "Mama, I don't feel good." He crawled into the bed, curled up next to Lorelai, and began to scratch desperately at his forearm.

A quick inspection of Jess' arm revealed several small red bumps. Lorelai became worried when she lifted Jess' shirt and saw more red bumps spread across his stomach. "Luke, look at this. Is that what I think it is?"

Grimacing, Luke confirmed, "That's chickenpox."

Lorelai groaned and let her head fall heavily against the headboard. She took a minute to panic. Then, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, she made a list of things that had to be done. "I need to call Mia so she can get someone to cover my shifts. You need to call the school and tell them Jess and Rory won't be there for at least the rest of this week. I also need you to go Doose's."

"Wait, why isn't Rory going to school?"

"If Jess has chickenpox, so does Rory."

"What about Ben and Liam?"

"I don't know," admitted Lorelai, chewing on her lower lip. "I'll call the pediatrician while you're at Doose's."

"Okay. Do you think I should get Buddy to cover the diner?"

"No. I think we'll be okay as long as you go to Doose's before work."

"What am I supposed to buy?"

"Children's Tylenol. Lots of baking soda and oatmeal. Calamine lotion and cotton balls. However much calamine lotion you think is enough, double it. Oh, and oven mitts! A pair for each of them."

"Oven mitts?"

"To keep them from scratching."

"Right. I'll go as soon as they open."

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When he returned from Doose's, Luke set the grocery bags on the kitchen counter and went searching for Lorelai. He found her laying in the middle of their bed with all four kids sleeping around her. Creeping across the room, he said, "The groceries are on the counter."

"Thanks."

"Did you call the doctor?"

"Mhmm. Jess and Rory will be sick for a week or two, but Ben and Liam should be fine. The twins have my antibodies since they're breastfeeding, so there's almost no chance that they'll catch chickenpox."

"Well, that's a relief. Do you need anything else before I go to work?"

"No, I think we're good."

Luke leaned over the bed for a goodbye kiss. "You'll call if you need me?"

"Yeah," Lorelai murmured against his lips. "I'll call."

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For three days, Luke went to work and Lorelai stayed home, but by day four, Lorelai was exhausted and forced to admit that she could no longer handle all four kids on her own. Jess was clingy to the point that he wouldn't let Lorelai out of his sight which was making it difficult for her to take care of the twins. As a result, Ben and Liam were fussy and out of sorts. To top it all off, Rory was refusing to eat anything Lorelai put in front of her.

At her wits end, Lorelai finally broke down and called Luke at the diner. She cried with relief when she heard him answer the phone. "Luke?"

Luke was alarmed by Lorelai's obvious desperation and started to ramble. "Lorelai? What's wrong? Why are you crying? Are you okay? Are the kids okay?"

"We're fine. Sort of."

"Sort of? What's going on, Lorelai?"

"I don't think I can do this anymore. Jess has attached himself to my side, the twins won't stop crying, and Rory refuses to eat."

"Why won't Rory eat?"

"She only wants mashed potatoes and I can't make mashed potatoes. Even if I knew how, I couldn't do it because the boys won't let me."

"Whoa. Okay. Everything's gonna be alright. I'm on my way."

"What about the diner?" sniffled Lorelai.

"Doesn't matter. I'll be there soon," Luke promised. When he heard Lorelai disconnect the call, he hung up the phone and turned to the diner, shouting, "Okay, everybody out. We're closed. Let's go! Food's on me."

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After a quick stop at Doose's, Luke entered the house carrying a large bag of potatoes. He was met at the door by Lorelai, who was holding the twins and had Jess wrapped around one of her legs. All four looked like they were about to burst into tears.

Luke dropped the grocery bag on the floor and stepped forward to take Ben and Liam from Lorelai while pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. "Where's Rory?"

"Asleep on the couch."

"Okay. I've got her and the twins and the potatoes. You and Jess can go take a nap."

"They just ate, so they should be okay for a while."

"We'll be fine. Go upstairs and don't worry about us."

Lorelai didn't need any more convincing. She lifted Jess into her arms and trudged wearily up the stairs.

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It was nearly time for dinner when Lorelai woke up alone. She wandered out of the bedroom and down the hallway marveling at how much better she felt after a few hours of sleep. As she walked past the bathroom, she heard Luke's voice coming from the other side of the closed door, but he was speaking too softly for her to understand what he was saying.

Lorelai opened the door to find Luke sitting on the floor next to the bathtub reading Curious George Goes to the Hospital while Rory sat in his lap covered in calamine lotion and Jess soaked in an oatmeal bath. Leaning against the door jamb, she listened to Luke read the rest of the book. When he was finished, she said, "Good story, but you lost a couple of book worms."

"Ben and Liam are napping in their portable crib in Jess and Rory's room. They'll probably be awake soon though."

"Good. I need to nurse. Now."

"Um, you also need to call your mom back. She called while you were sleeping."

"God, that woman has the worst timing. Did she say what she wanted?"

"No, but I'm guessing it has something to do with Rory's birthday."

"I bet she wants to remind me that Rory's birthday is soon, as if I don't know. She probably also wants to tell me that she planned a birthday dinner for Friday night and expects us to be there."

"Tomorrow is Friday."

"Like that will stop her."

"At least we have a reason not to go this year."

"Ha! I had the German measles in the fifth grade, I still had to show up to the Christmas party. My polka dot dress matched my face and still I had to sit through twelve courses."

"You do know you're not in the fifth grade anymore. You can just tell your mother no."

"Yes, because Emily Gilmore always reacts so well to being told no."

"Do you want me to deal with her?"

"Yes!" Lorelai accepted eagerly. Almost instantly she changed her mind. With a sigh of resignation, she added, "But I should deal with her myself."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm going to need it. If I survive, I'll see you at dinner."

"We're having mashed potatoes."

"Oh, good. Something to live for."

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As Lorelai walked into the kitchen with Ben and Liam, Luke took Ben from her arms and handed her a plate of mashed potatoes. He easily made the exchange while brushing a kiss across her cheek. "How did it go with your mother? What did she want?"

Lorelai let out an agonized moan as she crossed the room to take her seat between Jess and Rory. "Ugh! First you butter me up with food and kisses, then you go in for the kill. One mention of Emily Gilmore and all possibility of joy ceases to exist."

Sitting down across, Luke asked, "Why are you always so melodramatic after a phone call with your mother?"

"How can you ask that? You've met the woman."

"I have, but I still don't know what she wanted."

"She wanted exactly what we thought she wanted."

"Dinner tomorrow for…"

"Friday night," interrupted Lorelai, desperate to keep Rory from learning that she was going to miss her birthday because she was sick. "That's right, she wanted us to come to Friday night dinner, but I told her we couldn't make it. I think I got us uninvited to the Christmas party."

"How'd you do that? That's over two months away."

"I told you, Emily Gilmore doesn't deal well with the word no."

"Maybe she'll change her mind," Luke suggested optimistically.

"Don't you think we should focus on surviving the chickenpox and maybe one or two other holidays before we worry about my mother's annual Christmas party?"

"Isn't it the one event of your mother's that you actually look forward to?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't start looking forward to it until December. She'll forget my then."

"Good. That gives us plenty of time to complete the change of address."

"Huh?"

"Clearly you've moved to the land of denial."

Smiling sardonically, Lorelai responded, "No, I'm just vacationing there for the next six to eight weeks."

"Enjoy your stay."

Lorelai toasted him with a spoonful of mashed potatoes. "Thanks. I plan to."