With four overly tired children fighting against bedtime, getting everyone to sleep took much longer than usual and completely wore Luke and Lorelai out. When the kids were finally asleep, Luke and Lorelai retreated to their own bedroom. They began getting ready for bed, falling into a carefully choreographed routine that allowed them each to complete their own tasks without getting into the other's way.

Luke was the first to crawl into bed. As he leaned against the headboard and watched Lorelai move around the room, he wondered out loud, "Do you know what I don't understand?"

"Why tired kids refuse to sleep?"

"No. Well, yes, but that's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

"I don't understand the twins' birthday party."

Dumbfounded, Lorelai stopped what she was doing to just stare at Luke. Finally, she asked, "What is there to understand? They're turning one. People are going to bring them presents and we're going to give those people cake."

"I get that part, but isn't the party you've planned kind of like a picnic?"

"Yes. So what?"

"We were just at the Memorial Day picnic today. Isn't another picnic next weekend a little redundant?"

"Maybe, but it's easy and the kids love picnics. Plus, it's already planned and people have already been invited."

"I guess that's as good a reason as any to have another picnic."

"I'm glad you understand," Lorelai said as she resumed getting ready for bed.

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On the afternoon of the twins' birthday, Lorelai gave Luke a list of things they needed to take to the party and set him to work loading the cars while she fixed Rory's braid, found Jess' missing shoe, and changed the twins into the matching outfits that Mia had given them as an early birthday gift. She had just finished wrangling Ben into his overalls when Luke entered the nursery. "Everybody ready to go?"

"I could use a nap," joked Lorelai.

"Too bad. There's no time."

"Then I guess we're ready to go."

Luke helped Lorelai to her feet. They all made their way downstairs and were just about to walk out the front door when Lorelai suddenly stopped. "I forgot something!" she called as she turned around and ran back upstairs.

"We're going to be late!" Luke yelled after her.

"They won't start without us," she responded, though by that time she was so far away that Luke could hardly hear her. When she returned she was carrying the twins' diaper bag. She held it up and said, "You'd think by now we'd know not to go anywhere without this."

"Do we have everything now?"

"Yes. Let's get this party started!"

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As Luke and Lorelai parked their cars in front of the inn, Sookie bounded down the porch steps to meet them. She lurched to a stop next to Lorelai's car and waited anxiously for Lorelai to open the door. The moment Lorelai stepped out of the car, Sookie exclaimed, "You're late!"

"Hi, Sookie. I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. How are you?" Lorelai replied sarcastically while opening the back door and unclipping Liam's safety harness.

Sookie walked around the car to get Ben out of his car seat. "I'd be better if the birthday boys weren't late for their own party."

"The party doesn't start for another half hour."

"Yeah, but you were supposed to be here five minutes ago to help me start setting up," Sookie lamented as she and Lorelai met at the back of the car to wait for Luke and the older kids.

"Five minutes doesn't count," argued Lorelai. "Especially when you have to get six people out of the house."

"Why couldn't today be the one time you were on time?"

"Because I like to be consistent."

"By that she means she forgot the diaper bag. Again," Luke said, walking up to them with Jess and Rory. The kids were each holding a small stack of gifts and Luke was carrying a heavy cooler.

"Me?" Lorelai gasped. "You forgot it too."

"Who cares who forgot the diaper bag?" cried Sookie. "Why couldn't you make sure she was on time today?"

"Um, because I'm not a miracle worker." Luke's answer was met with a blank stare from Sookie. After a moment, Luke gently shook the cooler get her attention. "I thought you wanted to start setting up. Where can I put this?"

"Right! Food to the kitchen for final prep. Everything else to the pond." Sookie issued the orders while gesturing dramatically at the designated areas.

Jess and Rory immediately started toward the pond, but stopped when Lorelai said, "Wait."

"But, Mommy," whined Jess.

"Don't, 'But, Mommy,' me. We need to set up the tables before we take a bunch of stuff down there."

"The tables are already set up," Sookie assured her.

"I'm good here, if you want to take them to the pond," Luke told Lorelai before she could even ask.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure that I'm getting the better end of this deal."

Laughing, Lorelai took Ben from Sookie. "Okay, Jess and Rory, we can go to the pond."

"Yay!"

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When the pond came into sight, there was a family of ducks swimming near the shore. Liam saw the ducks first and proudly pointed them out to Lorelai. "Uck, Mama, uck!"

Ben bounced excitedly on Lorelai's hip. "Ucky! Ucky!" he squealed in delight.

"I see the duckies. Do you want to watch the duckies swim?"

"Uck!" Liam screeched loudly.

"Uck!" Ben shrieked even louder.

Before the twins could get into a competition over who could yell the loudest, Lorelai hushed them. "Shh. We don't want to scare the duckies away." Ben looked like he was going to challenge her, but Liam looked like he was going to cry at the mere thought of scaring the ducks. "Don't even think about it," she warned Ben. To Liam, she said, "The duckies are okay. We just need to be a little quieter."

"Mommy, can we feed the ducks?" Rory whispered.

"We don't need to be that quiet."

"But can we?" Rory asked again, this time in her normal voice.

"I don't have anything to feed them, but we'll ask Daddy or Sookie to get us something when they bring down the food."

"Okay."

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A short time later, Lorelai was arranging plates and napkins while Sookie laid out the food. They worked in silence until they were interrupted by the sound of the kids' uncontrollable giggling. Distracted, Lorelai stopped what she was doing and looked up to see Luke and the kids feeding the ducks.

She smiled at the sight of Luke sitting near the edge of the pond with the twins in his lap. Jess and Rory sat on either side of their father. The kids were passing around a bowl of breadcrumbs and taking turns throwing handfuls to the ducks. Each time the ducks fought over the food the kids would erupt into new peals of laughter. As Lorelai watched them, a wide grin appeared on her face.

Sookie found the whole scene both sweet and exasperating. Bumping her hip against Lorelai's, she said, "You could try losing that sickeningly sweet smile and actually helping."

"Sorry, Sook, I can't help it. I'm happy."

Sookie glanced at Luke and the kids and, despite her comment to Lorelai, couldn't keep herself from smiling. "He's a good dad."

"The best."

"Do you think you'll be done staring at them sometime soon? We still have work to do."

"I guess," sighed Lorelai. "I might want to stare at them some more later though."

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Lorelai and Sookie barely managed to get everything set up by the time Luke and the kids returned from feeding the ducks. Luke led all of the kids to one of the picnic tables to wait for the first guests to arrive. They didn't have to wait very long because Babette and Morey were early and, within a few minutes, Luke found himself surrounded by most of the invited guests, all of whom insisted on personally wishing Ben and Liam a happy birthday.

It struck Lorelai as funny that her antisocial husband was stuck at the center of a crowd of nearly two dozen people. She was just about to share her insight with Sookie when a voice behind her said, "Hello, Lorelai."

Taking a deep breath, Lorelai turned around to greet her parents. "Hi, Dad. Mom."

With a slight nod toward the other guests, Richard stated, "I hope we're not late."

"You're not. Everyone else was just early."

Sneering, Emily stated, "It's rude not to include the correct time on an invitation."

"I just said that they showed up early. You're right on time, though, quite frankly, I'm surprised to see you at all."

"We were invited."

"I know."

"When you receive an invitation to an event, it's polite to attend. If you didn't really want us to attend, you shouldn't have sent the invitation. Or maybe you could have included a note telling us not to come."

"Stop it, Emily."

"I most certainly will not."

Lorelai gritted her teeth to keep from responding to Emily's thinly veiled criticism of Luke's refusal to attend the annual Gilmore Christmas party. It had been six months and Emily was still holding a grudge, so Lorelai figured that starting a fight wouldn't help. She decided it would be best to divert her mother's attention with something, or someone, else. Looking around, she saw that Luke and the twins were still busy with the other guests, but that Jess and Rory had snuck away from the group to snoop through their brothers' birthday presents. Deciding that they would be the perfect diversion, Lorelai called out to them, "Jess, Rory, your grandparents are here. Stop playing with the presents and come say hello."

"This isn't over, Lorelai," Emily snarled under her breath.

"Will it ever be?" muttered Lorelai as Jess and Rory appeared at her side.

"Hi," Rory said shyly.

"It's Ben and Liam's birthday," Jess informed them.

Richard let loose a loud guffaw. "You're right." Bending down, he held out two brightly wrapped packages. "You two have done an excellent job arranging the gifts. Do you think you can add a couple more to the pile?"

"Yes, Grandpa," agreed Rory, taking one of the boxes

Jess took the other present. "We can do it. We're good organizers. Daddy says so."

"I'm sure he's right."

"You'll wait here?" Rory asked, regarding her grandparents skeptically.

"We'll wait here," Richard confirmed. As the kids ran off, Richard stood up and turned to face Emily. "Do you think you'll be able to behave yourself for the duration of this party?" He had deliberately kept his voice low in order to prevent the kids from overhearing, but hadn't been able to conceal his frustration.

Emily didn't care who overheard her and spoke at a normal volume. "Behave myself? Really, Richard, I'm just…"

Shaking his head, Richard cut her off. "You are once again being incredibly rude to our daughter and you need to stop because I am sick of your petty vendetta keeping me from seeing my grandchildren. Ben and Liam are a year old and we haven't seen them since they were born. Think about that before you say anything else."

"I hardly think that's my fault."

"I disagree. Lorelai has certainly given us plenty of reasons to be upset over the years, but not this time. Children get sick. People refuse to attend events when their spouse is specifically excluded. You need to get over it or you may find that the next time we are permitted to see our grandchildren is at Ben and Liam's high school graduation."

Before Emily could respond, Jess and Rory returned. Emily smiled at them, though it came across more like a grimace. "Did you do as your grandfather asked?"

Nodding, Rory answered, "Yes, Grandma."

Jess tugged on Lorelai's shirt and, when she looked down at him, asked, "Mommy, when are we having cake?"

"Not for a while. Why don't you take Grandpa and Grandma to see the ducks?"

"Okay, Mommy." Jess took Richard's hand. "We have to go to the pond. That's where the ducks swim."

"That makes sense."

Rory grabbed Richard's other hand. "Did you know they have babies?"

"I didn't know that. Did you hear that, Emily? There are ducklings."

"I heard."

"Well, come along then."

"I'm not sure I'm wearing appropriate shoes for a trip to the pond."

"There just shoes. You have plenty of others."

With a heavy sigh, Emily reluctantly followed Richard and the kids to the pond. Lorelai watched them walk away. When they reached the edge of the pond, she released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

"That looked like a lot of fun," remarked Sookie as she came to stand next to Lorelai.

"You have no idea."

"How long do you think Jess and Rory can keep your parents busy with the ducks?"

"Hopefully until it's time for cake."

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For once luck was on Lorelai's side when it came to dealing with her parents and they didn't come back from the pond until it was time to sing Happy Birthday. As Jess and Rory raced to take their seats next Luke and Lorelai, Richard and Emily joined the group of guests standing around the picnic table waiting to sing. Sookie set the cake on the table in front of Ben and Liam, who squirmed impatiently in their parents' laps, and motioned for everyone to start singing.

After the song was finished, Jess and Rory helped the twins blow out the candles, so that Sookie could cut the cake. The first slices of cake were set in front of the twins. Liam took two handfuls of cake and tried to shove both in his mouth at the same time. Ben didn't bother to use his hands at all, he simply leaned forward and took a large bite directly out of his cake. The differing approaches drew a few snickers and several smiles from their audience.

Ben and Liam's obvious enjoyment of their birthday cake even drew a genuine smile from Emily. That one small gesture relieved some of the tension between her and Lorelai and they were able to remain civil for the rest of the party.

As the party came to an end, Lorelai went searching for her parents. When she found them, she said, "Thanks for coming. The kids really liked having you here."

"It was our pleasure," Richard replied.

"We had a good time," added Emily.

Smiling, Lorelai joked, "And with a straight face she said that."

Emily smirked. "Goodbye, Lorelai."

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad."

Once her parents were gone, Lorelai went back to Luke and the kids. Having observed the entire exchange between Lorelai and her parents, Luke asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know. Emily Gilmore is a difficult woman to understand."

Luke grunted in acknowledgment. "Are you ready to clean up and get out of here?"

"God, yes. I can't wait to get home."