"So, um…how's your water?" Rory asked Tristan as they sat at the Gilmore's kitchen table surrounded by numerous essays on Tess of the D'Ubervilles.

"Oh, um…it's very clear and, er….watery. Thank you," Tristan replied.

Rory and Tristan bent both their heads over their notebooks, embarrassed at the sound of their stupidity.

"So what time is your mom getting home?" Tristan asked.

"She finishes work at five-ish but she comes home at around six-ish. It gives her just under enough time to get ready and drive over to Grandma's house."

"Why doesn't she just come home earlier then?"
"Cos then we wouldn't be late," Rory pointed out as she highlighted some text.

"Right," said Tristan, giving her a confused look that went unnoticed.

Six o'clock came and Lorelai walked into the house and went straight up the stairs.

"I know, I know, 'Mom, we're going to be late. Grandma's not going to be happy. You do this every week. Blah, blah.' Give me ten minutes." Lorelai yelled. A few seconds later, a thud and a loud splitting sound were heard coming from her room. "Make it twenty minutes, sweetie."

Rory ignored this and handed Tristan a sheaf of papers.

"Here, you go through this lot and I'll go through the rest. We'll meet tomorrow to finalise everything."

They started packing everything up and went to wait in the jeep.

"Mom, hurry up. I'll be in the car," Rory yelled up the stairs as she grabbed her coat and followed Tristan outside.

"Are you sure you don't mind giving me a lift home?" Tristan asked Rory. "You're already running late."

"Nah, mom won't mind. She loves being late," she assured him as she fastened her seatbelt. She checked her watch: 6:30.

Just as she was about to beep the horn, her mom came tearing out of the house with her coat in her mouth.

Lorelai threw her coat and her handbag into the backseat, unaware of the extra passenger there, and jumped into the driver's seat.

She screeched out of the driveway, waving goodbye to Babette and Morey, who sat on their front porch.

Rory went to turn on the heater.

"Don't touch that button," said Lorelai, slapping her hand away.

"Why not?"

Lorelai turned to her with a smile on her face.

"Cos I'm a spy and this is my duped-up spy car, and that button you were about to press is my turbo accelerator."

"You couldn't just say the heater was broken, could you?" Rory said.

Tristan laughed from the backseat. Lorelai's eyes snapped to the rear-view mirror and saw a mass of white teeth shining back at her. The sight blinded her and she slammed on the brakes, the jeep skidding over ice into oncoming traffic. The jeep hit the embankment and stopped. The screeching of more tires was heard and then the sound of crunching metal followed as another car hit the jeep from behind.