(LORELAI walks in a daze among the working townspeople, looking absolutely speechless. A couple of men go by carrying a long plank, and she barely gets out of their way in time. She goes around the side of the house, and the camera switches to show LUKE and TAYLOR arguing. LUKE's holding a rolled up blueprint.)
Luke: (Gesturing with the roll of paper.) For the last time, Taylor! Sookie said specifically that they wanted cream paint in the dining room, not this— (gestures helplessly at the bucket TAYLOR's holding) — purple stuff!
Taylor: (snippy) For your information, this is mauve!
Luke: It's purple, Taylor! And we're not using it! Now if you'll just— (He catches sight of LORELAI and stops.)
Lorelai: (stunned) What's going on?
Luke: Taylor, I'll talk to you later. (TAYLOR makes a noise of annoyance and storms off. LUKE walks over to LORELAI.) What does it look like's going on? We're fixing the inn for you.
Lorelai: (Looking at him in amazement.) You're fixing the inn for me?
Luke: (embarrassed) It's not a big deal.
Lorelai: Not a big deal? Luke, there must be fifty people here!
Luke: (shrugs) Everyone wanted to help.
Lorelai: But what about the diner?
Luke: (a little defensive) So it's closed for a few days, so what? I needed a vacation anyway.
Lorelai: Luke, rebuilding my inn isn't a vacation!
Luke: I don't mind. Why should you?
Lorelai: Because I feel bad! (trying to explain) This is my problem, not yours.
Luke: (annoyed by her reaction) Look, are you saying you want me to stop?
Lorelai: No, that's not—
Luke: Because I can tell everyone to go home. Just say the word.
Lorelai: (reproachfully) That wasn't what I meant.
Luke: Fine. What did you mean?
(LORELAI stares at him stubbornly for a second.)
Lorelai: I meant— (She stops herself, looking for a moment like she's about to cry.) This means so much to me, Luke. (She gives him a watery smile.) Thank you. (She hugs him. It takes him a moment to return the hug, and he pulls away quickly.)
Luke: (gruffly) Well, I—Taylor's getting ready to mutiny, so unless you want a pink kitchen, I should get back to work.
Lorelai: (laughs) By all means, hurry. (Neither of them move.) Okay. I'm going to go home and change, but I'll be back soon. (She turns around and walks back towards her car. LUKE watches her go, then turns and walks up the steps into the house.)

(LORELAI returns, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She makes her way through the crowd and into the inn.)
(RORY is painting the wall of the lobby sky blue. She sees LORELAI enter, puts down her roller and leaves quickly. LORELAI walks up to BABETTE and MOREY. BABETTE is painting the trim by the floor; MOREY is painting the ceiling. BABETTE sees LORELAI.)
Babette: Hey, doll. How's it going?
Lorelai: Hi, Babette. (She looks around the room, which is already half painted.) This looks great!
Babette: Oh thanks. Luke put me and Morey in charge after Taylor tried to hide the blue paint.
Lorelai: Thank god. (She puts a hand on BABETTE's shoulder.) I want to thank you two so much for helping.
Babette: Oh, it's no problem, sweetie. Me and Morey wanted to help. Isn't that right, Morey?
Morey: Yep.
Babette: Listen, I was saying to Rory that I felt just sick when I heard about what happened to you. The nerve of that man, just canceling on you like that!
Lorelai: Rory's here?
Babette: Sure, she was painting right beside us a minute ago. (looks around) Where'd she go? (yells) Rory, sweetie!
Lorelai: It's fine, Babette. I'm sure I'll run into her later. (She starts backing away.) I think I'm going to go check on the other rooms now. (She leaves. BABETTE nods and smiles.)

(LORELAI enters the kitchen to see SOOKIE holding a drill over an unfinished counter. SOOKIE sees LORELAI and startles. LORELAI steps back and knocks over a pile of wood leaning against the wall. There's a huge crash.)
Sookie: Oops!
Jackson: (off camera) What happened?!(running up) Sookie, I told you to be careful!
Sookie: I'm sorry!
Lorelai: (to JACKSON) You let her have a drill?!
Jackson: (confidentially) It's not actually plugged in.
Sookie: It really isn't! See? (She tries to demonstrate, and the drill starts up. LORELAI takes a step backwards in alarm.)
Random Guy: (off camera) Sorry! Wrong extension cord!
Jackson: Hey, what did I tell you about the blue cord?!(walks off towards the random guy) You never, ever plug in the blue cord!
(SOOKIE carefully sets down the drill.)
Lorelai: (trying to figure things out) So, you knew about all this?
Sookie: Ooh, that's right! You didn't know! When did you get here? Were you surprised? (She grabs LORELAI's arm.) Hey, you're not mad, are you?
Lorelai: No, I'm not mad. Shocked, maybe. Was this your idea?
Sookie: No, Luke's. He called last night to ask for my permission. And the blueprints.
Lorelai: Wow. (She looks around thoughtfully.) I can't believe he'd do this for us. (SOOKIE shoots her a look.) What?
Sookie: (chidingly) Oh, sweetie.
Lorelai: Why are you looking at me like that?
Sookie: (Leans against the counter, lowering her voice.) Luke didn't do this for me. He did it for you!
Lorelai: (dismissing the idea) Sookie... (She starts to walk around the kitchen, pretending to inspect the counters.)
Sookie: (following) How long is it going to take you to figure this out?
Lorelai: I don't know what you're talking about! (She refuses to look SOOKIE in the eye.)
Sookie: Lorelai, everything he does is for you! He hears you're in trouble, and he's there for you, every time, no questions asked!
Lorelai: He's a good friend.
Sookie: Please! Even I'm not that good!
Lorelai: You know what? I'm going to go check on the construction outside.
Sookie: Will you at least admit I'm right?
Lorelai: No, I won't, because you're not. (She exits. SOOKIE starts to follow, but catches herself on the newly stacked pile of wood, knocking it down again.)
(Cut to LORELAI exiting the kitchen.)
Sookie: (off-camera) Sorry! I'm sorry! I'll pick that up!
(LORELAI shakes her head and smiles.)

(Outside. Camera pans across people painting the outside of the inn, fixing the back steps, planting bushes. KIRK is standing in front of LUKE with a pile of boards, looking angry.)
Luke: These are too short.
Kirk: No they're not.
Luke: (annoyed) Kirk, I asked for boards that were five feet long. As in sixty inches. Did you even measure these?
Kirk: (blinking angrily) Those are sixty inches. And I measured twice.
Luke: You measured twice?
Kirk: Measure twice, cut once, that's my motto.
Luke: Nice motto, but you measured wrong.
Kirk: No, I didn't.
Luke: Yes, you did!
Kirk: No, I didn't!
(LUKE adjusts his cap, pulls out a tape measurer, and kneels by one of the pieces of wood. He measures the board, then snaps back the tape measurer and stands up.)
Luke: You measured twice, huh?
Kirk: I measured twice.
Luke: It's only 23.6 inches.
Kirk: No it's not! (He kneels down and measures the board using his own tape measurer.) See? sixty inches exactly!
Luke: (trying to patient) That's a metric tape measurer, Kirk. You measured in centimeters.
Kirk: What?! (He looks at it.) They told me it wasn't a metric one this time!
Luke: (looks surprised) You couldn't tell?
Kirk: (angrily) I have astigmatism!
(KIRK stomps off. LUKE tosses the short board on a scrap pile, and when a man grabs the board out of the pile the camera follows him as he joins the end of a line. Every person in the line looks bored or annoyed, and at the front of the line, ANDREW, the bookstore guy, is arguing with MRS. KIM.)
Andrew: I told you I need six screws.
Mrs. Kim: Everybody gets five. Next! (ANDREW refuses to move.)
Andrew: But I need six!
Mrs. Kim: Can't have six.
Andrew: Why not?
Mrs. Kim: (firmly) Everybody gets five! No more!
Andrew: But the wood won't hold without six screws!
Mrs. Kim: That your problem! Not mine!
Andrew: When Luke put you in charge of supplies I don't think he meant—
Mrs. Kim: You have five screws, yes?
Andrew: (reluctantly) Yes.
Mrs. Kim: You don't need nails? Hammer? Board?
Andrew: No.
Mrs. Kim: If you don't need anything else, please leave!
Andrew: What I need is one more screw!
Mrs. Kim: Next! (to ANDREW) No! No more screws!
(ANDREW walks away. The woman behind him leaves the supply area carrying a hammer and the camera follows her around the side of the house, where MISS PATTY is standing behind a group of men lowering a ladder from the side of the house.)
Miss Patty: (giving instructions) Good, good—now don't drop it! (The men struggle with the heavy ladder, but she makes no move to help them.) Treat it as you would a fainting lady; lower her gently to the ground. (She gesture with her cigarette.) My, what a strong group of men. I hope you'll be nearby if I have one of my fainting spells. Delicate constitution, you know.
Lorelai: (walking up) Hey, Patty.
Miss Patty: (turning around) Lorelai! You're finally here!
Lorelai: (smiling) Yes, yes I am. I—
Miss Patty: When Luke called me last night I was so glad to be able to help.
Lorelai: Yeah. Anyway—
Miss Patty: (lowers her voice) You did know that Luke organized this?
Lorelai: Yes, I did.
Miss Patty: Very nice of him.
Lorelai: Yes. It was.
Miss Patty: I wouldn't object to him organizing something on my behalf.
Lorelai: Okay...Look, I just wanted to thank you for spreading the word about this. We never would've recruited this many people without your help.
Miss Patty: Oh, it was no problem, dear. Anything I can do to help.
Lorelai: That means so much to us. Really. (She smiles.) Thanks, Patty, I'll see you later.
Miss Patty: Bye!

(RORY is painting the lobby again. She looks up and watches LUKE give instructions to some man wearing a carpenter's tool belt. He notices her and walks over.)
Luke: (appraisingly) This looks good.
Rory: Yeah. It's a nice color. (She continues painting.)
Luke: (He waits a beat, looking like he's debating whether or not to say something.) So Jess told me what happened. (RORY stops and looks at him.) With you and your mom, I mean. (She nods, expression unreadable, and bends down to put new paint on the roller.) How are you holding up?
(RORY closes her eyes for a moment, then stands up.)
Rory: (abruptly) I'm fine.
Luke: Okay, good. I mean, good that you're fine, not that you had a fight.
Rory: Right.
Luke: (uncomfortably) I'm going to go now. (He stops.) Hey—if you need to talk, I'm, you know...
Rory: (smiles) Thanks. (She returns to painting.)

(LORELAI walks along the front porch and passes JESS, who's drilling in a new support on the railing. He looks up as she goes past, then puts down his drill and follows her determinedly.)
Jess: Lorelai!
Lorelai: (turns around) What?
Jess: I wanted to talk to you.
Lorelai: (She studies him appraisingly.) So talk.
Jess: I just want to apologize for the other day.
Lorelai: (not buying it) Right.
Jess: We were just reading.
Lorelai: Yeah, you said that already.
Jess: But you don't believe me.
Lorelai: (coldly) No, I believe you.
Jess: So what's the problem?!
Lorelai: The problem is that Rory broke the rules.
Jess: (crosses his arms skeptically) Really?
Lorelai: Yes! She knew I didn't want the two of you alone in the house together, but she did it anyway!
Jess: So that's really what you're upset about? Rory breaking the rules?
Lorelai: Yes!
Jess: (appraisingly) Because it sure doesn't seem that way to me. It seems like this is more about you not liking me, and taking it out on Rory.
Lorelai: Well, you're wrong. This is between me and Rory, not you and me.
Jess: Are you sure? (He takes a step towards LORELAI, so they're face to face.) I think that's exactly what this is.
Lorelai: (furious, but takes a step back) You have some nerve!
Jess: (shrugs) I'm just calling it like I see it!
Lorelai: I didn't ask for your opinion!
Jess: No. But that's never stopped me before. (He turns his back on her and walks off.)

(Sad la-las in background. LORELAI walks in through the inn's front door to the lobby. Unhappily she watches RORY painting, chatting with MOREY and laughing. RORY feels her watching and turns around and meets LORELAI's gaze. RORY looks pained and after a second turns away. LORELAI goes back outside and sits on the front steps. Fade to black.)

(Third commercial break)