Jess and Rory pulled up to her grandparents' house promptly at 7 PM.

"Just in time!" Rory sighed with relief, "We were cutting it close today."

"Rory, your grandparents know we both have jobs."

"You've met my grandmother. Do you think she'd take that as an excuse?"

"Fair point. Oh look, your mom's pulling in."

"Damnit, now we're late!" Jess smirked in response, waving to Lorelai and Luke as they pulled in.

"I'd have thought you'd want to be late this time, especially after the last one," Lorelai joked as she walked over, giving Rory a hug. "Hiya, kid."

"Hi, Mom," Rory hugged her, "That's exactly why we don't want to be late. No need to add fuel to a fire."

"You know that sitting here talking about it is actually making you later, right?" Luke chimed in. Lorelai turned to him and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm surprised you're so eager to get in there yourself," she said pointedly. Luke averted his gaze.

"Fair point. Why don't we just try again next week?"

"We're going," Rory insisted, pulling her mom by the arm towards the front door and ringing the bell. "Oops, too late. No way out now."

"Mean daughter! Have I taught you…oh, hello!"

"Hello," said the new maid politely, "May I take your coats?"

"Thank you so much," Lorelai replied. Turning to Rory, she muttered, "I think that's three this month. New record that hasn't been seen since you were in high school."

"Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore are in the parlor, if you'd just follow me," the maid said softly, beginning to gesture.

"Addison! They know where we are! Please go and check on the roast."

"Yes, Mrs. Gilmore," Addison said, cursying as she left. Lorelai led the group into the parlor.

"Mom, Dad," Lorelai smiled. Emily nodded.

"Drink, Lorelai?"

"Martini, my usual way," she said, sensing her mom's no-nonsense mood.

"Rory?"

"Same for me, please," Rory said, her nerves starting to catch up with her.

"Luke, a beer?"

"Just a scotch, if that's alright. Thanks, Emily," Luke said. Emily rolled her eyes. After a short delay, she turned to Jess.

"Jess?"

"…a scotch, please."

"Fine," Emily nodded, turning around. Jess looked at Lorelai and Rory.

"Right answer?" he smirked. Lorelai nodded.

"Yeah, the fact that you hate scotch is irrelevant," Rory muttered.

"What was that, Rory?"

"Nothing, Grandma. The house looks great. When did you decorate for the season?"

"We had it done last Thursday," Emily said, "But it feels like it might be too much. Richard and I were talking about it earlier today."

"I love it, Mom. It's great."

"I knew you'd think so," Emily said, not unkindly, "You have such a soft spot for this season. Cold, damp, depressing…but you always did love it."

"Always?"

"Since she was a little girl," Emily nodded at Rory, starting to smile, "It's why I thought of the Romanovs…you know, last time." At this her smile faded, and she shot a withering glare at Luke. Lorelai sighed deeply.

"Well, relatedly, we wanted to let you know that we've decided on a date. Relatively."

"Decided on a date relatively? What does that mean?" Richard asked, raising his glasses.

"We've decided the month. We'll have to confirm some of the other plans to get a firm date. But Luke and I are getting married in February."

"…you can't mean…"

"Yes, Mom, this February."

"But that's impossible! Be reasonable, Lorelai. That leaves you less than three months to put together your entire wedding! How are you possibly going to make it work?"

"We've already started."

"Mom's been coming to do some of the prep near Philadelphia. There are so many more options near us," Rory said, not thinking, until she saw the look Emily shot her. She shot her mom a panicked look and immediately stopped talking. Her mom rolled her eyes.

"I mean, we haven't gotten far on anything yet, but we've gotten a few things done, and it's not going to be crazy. Simple, local…"

"Like everything else you do," Emily snarked, emptying her drink, "Anyone else need a refill?"

"Please," Rory and Lorelai answered in unison. Luke and Jess exchanged an amused look. Emily walked over and refreshed their drinks. She sighed deeply.

"Well, we know you'll do what you want to do. What's next in the planning?"

"Well, next weekend I'm going up to see Rory and look at some dresses, florists, you know, whatever."

"I do not know 'whatever', Lorelai. It doesn't sound like you have much of a plan."

"We'll figure it out. Either way, should February work for you both? I'm assuming you're not wintering in Europe or anything." Richard narrowed his eyes.

"You know we only go to Europe in the fall, Lorelai."

"It was a joke, Dad," Lorelai sighed. Emily looked over.

"I suppose that will work, Lorelai. Though I would like a proper invitation this time."

"I'll see to it that Miss Manners sends you one," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes.

"Dinner's ready!"

As they closed the front door behind them, Lorelai let out a deep sigh, to be matched almost immediately by Rory.

"That was…"

"Rough."

"I was going to say intense."

"Rough."

"…yeah."

"You guys survive?" Lorelai said, looking over at Luke and Jess, almost as an afterthought. Jess nodded grimly.

"I mean, I can still taste the scotch, but other than that, I should be able to recover. Luke?"

"I'm just glad it's over," Luke grumbled, "Why are we doing this so often again, anyway?"

"We always did, when Rory was around," Lorelai reminded him, "It only makes sense to now. But I'm not sure why I'm justifying trying to keep us in misery."

"Because it's the right thing to do," Rory said, more certainly, but with a certain resignation, "We're going to keep doing it. It's just going to suck sometimes."

"A lot of the time."

"Sometimes for me. A lot of the time for you."

"Bad loinfruit! Haven't I taught you how to lie to Mommy for her own good?"

"I'll work on it," Rory laughed. "But yeah, we'll get back into the swing of it. And I'm sure she'll relax soon, Jess."

"Really? You're sure?"

"…the lying for someone's own good thing only applies to Mom, doesn't it?"

"Yep."

"You're screwed."

"I'll take my screws where I can see them."

"And on that note," Lorelai said pointedly, laughing as she pulled Rory in for a hug, followed quickly by Jess, "It was good seeing you guys. And Rory, I'm excited for next weekend. Did you tell your boyfriend he's going to have to share you?"

"Somehow he handled that news better than I would," Rory quipped. Luke rolled his eyes.

"And on that note…bye to both of you," Luke said, pulling them in for a hug. "Jess, it still okay if I come?"

"Of course, as always," Jess smiled, shaking his head, "We're looking forward to seeing you guys. But remember, if she's on the couch, you're on the bed."

"Don't be an ass," Luke retorted, as he and Lorelai got into her Jeep. Jess and Rory piled into his car, and pulled away.

"So that was fun," Rory kidded as they started driving. Jess smirked.

"Yeah, about as fun as pulling teeth. Or the Sanders Stack. Thank God that's gone by the way."

"Thank Brock."

"Fair enough."

"You excited about helping your mom next weekend?"

"Of course! Nobody deserves this more than her…and Luke, of course. I'm so happy for them."

"And Luke and I should…"

"Continue staying out of it until we tell you otherwise."

"Simple enough. I'm glad they're finally doing it."

"Me too."

Rory smiled, looking out the window. Of course, it hadn't been a fun Friday Night Dinner (did such a thing exist?) but she was relieved it hadn't gone worse. She knew on some level that things were going to remain tense for a while with her grandmother, but it seemed like Jess and Richard were getting along well, and ultimately, Rory knew that she wanted Friday Night Dinners to be a part of their lives for a long time to come. Whether or not that was realistic would probably depend on how they continued to go, but at this moment, she felt optimistic about them becoming a part of their future.

Jess, meanwhile, was in the midst of his own reverie. Dinner had been fine, and he knew those dinners were important to Rory, so that was a relief. But really, he was absorbed in thoughts of his writing, as he had been most of the night. It had really started to take off again lately, and there really was no accounting for that except for the life changes that were taking place around him. He was excited about the work, but of course, wanted to focus on all of the other things he had going on in the moment. It was also interesting to him that he didn't seem to get blocked or struggle with his writing when life brought them to Stars Hollow, or filled up with more of these family obligations. It really interfered with his Truncheon work more than anything, which was fine- he was able to manage that for now. For the moment, things seemed to be going pretty well, and he decided to just let things continue to flow.