On the morning of her 23rd birthday, Lorelai sat in the inn's kitchen chatting with Sookie and feeding homemade applesauce to Ben and Liam. After each bite, the twins would loudly smack their lips and clap their hands. "I think the boys like your applesauce, Sook."

"Do they think I should offer it to guests with kids?"

Lorelai couldn't believe what Sookie was asking. It took her a moment to shake off her disbelief and turn around to look at Sookie. Seeing that Sookie was seriously asking for the twins' opinion, Lorelai slowly explained, "They're ten months old, Sookie. They don't care who you offer it to as long as they get some."

Sookie frowned. "I guess you're right." All of a sudden, her mood brightened and she began moving around the kitchen in a whirlwind of activity.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm packing up some applesauce for you to take home to Jess and Rory. You can ask them what they think."

"Oh, okay," Lorelai replied sardonically. "You do know that I'm not going home for, like, eight hours, right? You don't have to do that right now."

"This way I won't forget."

Lorelai figured it was best to just ignore Sookie and let her do whatever she wanted, so she returned her focus to the twins. Spooning a bite of applesauce into Liam's mouth, Lorelai muttered under her breath, "And your daddy thinks I'm crazy." When she offered Ben his spoonful of applesauce, she started repeating, "Mama, mama, mama."

Despite Lorelai's encouragement, neither Ben nor Liam attempted to speak. Instead, Ben grabbed Lorelai's hand and clumsily pulled the spoon to his mouth. He ended up with more applesauce down his shirt than in his mouth.

Laughing, Lorelai turned to Liam. "How about you? Will you say mama?" Liam remained stubbornly mute, but held his mouth open for his next bite. Lorelai gave him his applesauce, but asked, "Will you do it for extra credit? Jess and Rory would do it for extra credit."

Mia walked up behind Lorelai and said, "I don't think these two understand extra credit yet."

"Probably not."

"What are they supposed to be doing anyway?"

"I want them to say mama."

Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Mia told Lorelai, "I can't get Ben and Liam to say mama, but I can say happy birthday."

"Thank you."

Across the room, Sookie shrieked, "It's your birthday?"

Lorelai was taken aback by Sookie's outburst and hesitantly said, "Um, yes."

"Happy birthday!" Sookie began bouncing around the kitchen, her hands fluttering at her sides. "We have to celebrate. We should go to KC's Tavern. Do you think Luke would watch the kids?"

"He watches them all the time. They're his kids."

"Right, okay, so we'll go to the bar. Do you want to have dinner too? We could eat at KC's or I could make something or…"

"Sookie!" Lorelai interjected forcefully.

Mia had observed the entire exchange and nearly choked on her coffee when Sookie came to an abrupt stop and spun toward Lorelai, almost falling over in the process. "Sookie, calm down. You're getting ahead of yourself. Lorelai may have plans to celebrate with Luke."

"Do you, Lorelai? Why didn't you say something?"

"Seriously? I could have recited the monologue from Hamlet and you wouldn't have noticed."

A deep furrow of confusion appeared between Sookie's eyebrows. "Does that mean you do have plans?"

"Just dinner at home with Luke and the kids," Lorelai answered with a careless shrug. "Luke's going to make something special and has promised not to lecture me about my eating or coffee drinking habits all day."

"Oh, well, I guess we could go out tomorrow night," suggested Sookie. She gave it some more thought and added, "Fridays are better for partying anyway."

"I thought you just wanted to go out for a drink."

"Tomorrow's karaoke night at KC's, so we'll have a drink and see what happens. What do you say?"

"I-I don't know," stammered Lorelai. Biting her bottom lip, she glanced from Sookie to Mia.

"I think you should go. It would be good for you," advised Mia.

"Okay, I'll talk to Luke."

Sookie clapped excitedly. "Yippee!"

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That night, after dinner, Luke took all of the kids into the living room while Lorelai poured herself a cup of coffee. When Lorelai joined them, she found the kids playing together on the floor and Luke waiting for her on the couch. Lorelai intended to sit down next to Luke, but, as she walked past him, he caught her hand and gently tugged her into his lap. "Have you had a good birthday?"

"Mhmm," Lorelai murmured into her coffee mug as she took a long sip. "Though I kinda miss your coffee rant."

Luke snorted. "You hate my coffee rant."

"I do not," objected Lorelai. "I love almost all of your rants, but the coffee rant is my favorite."

"Then why do you ignore it?"

"I really love coffee."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I love coffee. I'm going to drink coffee no matter what, but I still like to hear the rant."

"Why?"

"Partly because it's amusing, but mostly because I know you only do it because you care."

Luke caressed Lorelai's hip affectionately. "I do care. That's why I keep trying to get you to listen to me. In fact, I care so much that I'll double your coffee rant tomorrow to make up for skipping today."

"Thank you," chirped Lorelai. She looked Luke straight in the eye and took another drink of her coffee.

Shaking his head, Luke chuckled, "You're crazy."

"You know you love it."

"God, help me, I do."

Lorelai sank deeper into Luke's embrace. For a while, they sat in silence and watched the kids play. Jess and Rory were pretending to be teachers and were trying to teach the twins about colors and shapes. Ben and Liam were not interested in learning and kept attempting to crawl away only to be herded back into the makeshift classroom by their older siblings. After the first few times that Jess and Rory had dragged the twins back to their game, Lorelai became concerned about how frustrated the older kids were getting with their younger brothers and decided to intervene. As kindly as possible, she told Jess and Rory, "Ben and Liam aren't quite ready for school yet, so you guys need to play something else."

"But, Mommy, we wanna play school," whined Jess.

"You and Rory can play school, but if you want to play with the twins, you need to find something else. What about the blocks?"

Jess scowled at Lorelai, but he didn't say anything as he stalked over to the pile of toys that sat in one corner and found the box of blocks. He pushed the box across the floor and tipped it over in front of his siblings.

Choosing to overlook Jess' bad attitude, Lorelai simply said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," grumbled Jess, still scowling.

"Our kids might be a handful, but at least they're polite," Luke commented with his usual dry humor.

"Funny," Lorelai retorted sarcastically. "Do you think you can manage our polite handful by yourself for a little longer than usual tomorrow night?"

"Sure. Did Mia ask you to work an extra shift or something?"

"No. Sookie wants to go to KC's after work to celebrate my birthday. You don't mind if I go, do you?"

"Of course not. It sounds like fun."

Smiling weakly, Lorelai whispered, "I guess so."

Luke didn't understand Lorelai's lack of enthusiasm, so he waited for her to say more. When she didn't say anything, he urged her to elaborate. "Why wouldn't it be fun?"

"The bar scene isn't really my thing."

"We're not talking about going out bar hopping every weekend. It's one night out with your friend to celebrate your birthday. It's a perfectly normal thing to do and you're overthinking it."

"I know. You're right. I'm sorry. It's just that it isn't normal for me." Lorelai paused to look around the room at the kids and their scattered toys. She made a wide sweeping motion with one arm that encompassed all of the kids as she said, "This is my normal. I mean, come on, we have four kids. I'm either with them or I'm at work. Sometimes, I'm at work with them."

"That is exactly why you should go out for a night and act like a normal twenty-three-year-old."

"I don't think I've ever been a normal anything."

"That's why it's called acting," Luke stated matter-of-factly.

Laughing, Lorelai remarked, "I guess I can survive being normal for one night."

"As long as you don't stay that way. I wouldn't know what to do with you."

"Don't worry, I can't pretend to be normal for very long."

"I'm sure that's true."

"There's no pleasing you. First, you complain that I'm crazy. Next, you say you don't want me to be normal for too long. Then, you imply that it's a bad thing that I'm not normal. Make up your mind!"

"What can I say? I'm a complicated guy."

"Since when?"

Before Luke could continue the good-natured teasing, Rory climbed onto the couch and crawled into Lorelai's lap. She leaned heavily against Lorelai and whimpered, "I'm tired, Mommy."

"I see that."

"Can I sleep now?"

When she checked the time on the VCR clock, Lorelai saw that bedtime wasn't for another hour, but she figured a little extra sleep wouldn't hurt Rory. "Okay, sweet girl, let's get you ready for bed."

"Mkay."

"Good night, Rory," Luke said, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. He took Lorelai's coffee mug and helped her to her feet.

"Night, night, Daddy," Rory called in a tired voice as Lorelai carried her out of the room.

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At Mia's request, Lorelai finished her work a few minutes before the end of her shift on Friday afternoon. Mia promptly ushered her into an empty guest room and handed her a small overnight bag. "Luke dropped this off for you. It should have everything you need to get ready for tonight."

"Oh, goodie," Lorelai responded, grimacing.

"Would you lighten up? You're going to have fun."

"So I've been told."

"You should listen to us. Luke, Sookie, and I can't all be wrong."

"There's a first time for everything," argued Lorelai.

"Like you having a fun night out at KC's with your best friend," Mia countered with a sly smile.

"You better all be right."

"We are, but you'll never know that if you don't hurry up and get ready. Sookie is going to be here any minute."

As if on cue, Sookie walked into the room holding her own overnight bag and announced, "I'm here. Let's get ready to party!"

"See, Sookie's excited. Embrace Sookie's excitement and have a good time tonight." Turning to Sookie, Mia said, "Don't let her convince you this isn't a great idea."

"I won't," Sookie swore, shaking her head emphatically.

"Good. Then I'll leave her in your capable hands." With a final smile directed at Lorelai, Mia left the room.

Sookie dropped her bag on the bed and began pulling out her clothes and make up. "What did Luke pack for you?"

"I don't know. I haven't looked yet."

"Well, now would probably be a good time to do that. I want to leave soon," Sookie informed Lorelai with uncharacteristic bluntness.

The unexpected shift in Sookie's demeanor broke through Lorelai's reservations and, for the first time since she entered the guest room, Lorelai smiled. "Yes, ma'am," she giggled.

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Several hours later, Lorelai and Sookie were enjoying their time at KC's. They had long since finished their dinner and relinquished their table in favor of seats at the bar. Karaoke night started and they sipped gin martinis while watching the initial karaoke performances. As Miss Patty finished singing Piece of My Heart, Sookie said, "Janis Joplin doesn't sing it like that."

"No, she doesn't," agreed Lorelai. "I didn't know Miss Patty could sing. Did you?"

"Oh, yeah. She's here with Babette every week."

"Babette can sing?"

"Um, not really, but she keeps trying. She and Miss Patty will take up as many time slots as they can get."

"Good for them, I guess."

"We should sign up soon. If we don't, we might not get a chance to sing."

Lorelai shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she looked around the crowded bar. "I'm not sure I want to sing. There are a lot of people here."

"By the end of the night, they'll all be too drunk to remember that you sang, if they even notice in the first place."

"That doesn't really make me feel better."

"Please, Lorelai, please, please, please, please, please," Sookie pleaded desperately. "I'll sing with you."

"I don't know, Sook. It just doesn't seem like a good idea."

Sookie signaled for the bartender to bring them two more martinis. "That's why we have liquid courage."

"I don't think there's enough alcohol in this bar to give me the courage to get on stage and sing in front of everyone."

"I'll let you pick the song."

"Why didn't you say so? Now, I'll do it for sure."

"Yay!" cheered Sookie, completely missing Lorelai's sarcasm. She slid off her barstool and hurried away.

While Sookie signed them up to sing, Lorelai finished her second martini and ordered her third. She was silently cursing her stupidity when Sookie returned and gave her the list of songs that were available for them to sing. "You can choose any of these, except the ones that have little stars next to them. Somebody is already singing those ones tonight."

"Probably by Miss Patty and Babette," Lorelai joked, nodding toward the stage where Miss Patty and Babette were getting ready to sing their first duet of the evening.

"Probably, but there's still plenty to choose from."

With a heavy sigh of defeat, Lorelai read through the list of song titles. She was pleased to see that there were several songs that she liked, including some of her favorites, and she only had to review the list twice before making a decision. "Let's sing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

"Ooh! Cyndi Lauper! I love her. This is going to be so much fun!" gushed Sookie. Taking the list of songs, she rushed off to report their choice to the person running the karaoke sign up, leaving Lorelai behind to work on building up her liquid courage.

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As it grew closer to the time they were supposed to sing, Sookie started to get nervous. She finished the martini she had been sipping in one gulp and hopped off her barstool. "I'm going to get us another round before we sing."

Sookie had been gone less than a minute when a man approached Lorelai. He gestured at the martini Lorelai was holding and said, "You make that look really good."

Looking up at the man with a polite smile, Lorelai nodded. "Oh, it is really good. It's the best martini in town."

"Oh, yeah? I'll have to get one."

"Good plan."

"I've never been here before. Just, uh, passing through on my way to Hartford."

"You're a regular Jack Kerouac."

The man didn't understand Lorelai's reference, but he wasn't deterred by that or by her obvious lack of interest, and, in an effort to prolong their interaction, asked, "Hey, you mind if I sit down?"

"Oh, you know what, actually, I'm waiting for someone, so I…" Lorelai let her sentence trail off when the man disregarded her protest and sat down on Sookie's barstool.

"I'm Joey."

"Okay."

"What? You don't have a name"

"No, I do have a name." Lorelai held up her left hand to show off her wedding ring. "I also have a husband."

"So, I guess I should get going."

"So soon?" she deadpanned.

"What?"

"I'm just screwing with your mind, Joey. It was nice to meet you. Enjoy Hartford."

"Enjoy your martini, mystery woman." Joey moved further down the bar to talk to another woman.

Lorelai smiled into her martini glass. "Hm, I like that."

"Who was that?" Sookie asked as she reclaimed her seat and handed Lorelai a fresh martini.

"That was Joey. He's just passing through on his way to Hartford. He was turned off by the fact that I have a husband. I didn't even have to mention the four kids."

"Why didn't you just tell him you weren't interested?"

"Because that isn't any fun and my way was lots of fun."

"Sometimes I really don't understand you."

"That's because I'm a mystery woman."

"Okay. Whatever. Drink your martini. We're up next."

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Luke let Lorelai sleep in as late as possible on Saturday morning, but, eventually, he had to wake her up so he could go to work. Carrying a cup of coffee, he quietly entered their bedroom and crept over to her side of the bed. He sat down next to her hip and gently brushed her hair away from her face. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty."

"Go away," groaned Lorelai, burying her face in her pillow.

"I brought coffee."

Lorelai lifted her head off of the pillow just long enough to say, "The coffee can stay."

"I need to go to work, so you have to get up."

With an agonized moan, Lorelai pushed herself up into a seated position and reached for the coffee. "Am I dead?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I feel dead."

"You're hungover."

"It's all Sookie's fault. She got me drunk. And made me sing."

"I would have liked to see that."

"Joey saw," mumbled Lorelai, rubbing her aching head with one hand.

"Who's Joey?"

"The guy who hit on me last night."

"Should I be worried that I have competition?"

Lorelai took a drink of her coffee before answering Luke. "You have coffee. You win."

"Good to know." He gave her a quick kiss and then stood up to leave the room. "Drink your coffee and take some aspirin. You have twenty minutes until I have to leave for work."

"Okay, boss."

"Ah geez."