Jess groaned as the alarm rang in his ear. Knocking it off of the make-shift nightstand, he trudged into the bathroom to take a shower. When the water hit him, the events of the night before came into view.

Leaning his head against the wall, he replayed the night in his head. He didn't want to get upset, and hi tried hard not to, but his instincts made him freak out over the situation. Then, he thought about Rory. None of this was her fault, but he felt the need to blame someone.

"I can't get mad at her...That would ruin everything. I'll just avoid her...yes...I'll avoid her," thoughts raced through his mind.

When he was finished showering and dressed, he went down the stairs to grab a doughnut and get out of the diner as soon as possible.

"You got home late last night," Luke commented while he was scribbling down an order.

"I was out," Jess replied shortly.

"Well next time you are 'out' let me know where you are and when you'll be getting back, got it?"

"Yeah, whatever," Jess said as he grabbed a glazed doughnut and left.

"What's wrong with him?" Kirk butted in.

Irritated, Luke asked "Kirk, why don't you get a girlfriend? Or hell, even a pet?"

"I had a gerbil once...he died. It was very tragic," he bowed his head. "He vell into his own water bowl and drowned."

"Well then get a fish. They can't drown," a man sitting next to him suggested.

"They make the house smell. Mom wouldn't like that," Kirk replied.

"How about a cat?" the middle-aged woman on his other side added.

"Kitty litter gives me a rash."

"What about a dog?" Luke questioned.

"I'm deathly allergic."

"Alright then," Luke grabbed a pot of coffee and walked around the counter to refill cups.

The Gilmore house was strangely quiet as Rory fumbled with the coffee pot.

"Damnit!" she cursed. "We really need to buy a new one of these." She was expecting a reply to her profane ranting, but none came. "I wonder where she is," she thought.

After checking the whole house, Rory concluded that her mom ahd gone elsewhere. "That's strange," she thought. "I thought she'd be up and ready to give me her punishment by now." Her attitude had not changed very much since the previous night.

About a half an hour later, Lorelai came back home. Rory heard her come in and held her breath as she went to greet her. When she got to the entranceway, she stopped. There were tears in her mother's eyes.

"Mom, where have you been?" Rory asked.

"I went for a drive. I needed some time to think," she replied, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Why are you crying?" Rory wondered aloud.

"I..." she sniffled, "I was deep in thought while I was driving, and I was upset and angry and..." she paused hesitantly so Rory cut in.

"Were you crying because of...me?" she asked cautiously.

"Well, partly..." she looked down in unusual discomfort.

"Mom, what is it?" Rory demanded impatiently.

"I ran over Babbett's cat with the jeep!" she said and broke down histerically. Rory looked at her in disbelief. "Not only am I a bad mother," she wailed, "but I'm also an irresponsible driver and a cat murderer!" Rory helped her to the couch.

"You're not any of that, Mom," she said trying to calm Lorelai down.

"Oh yeah? Then why didn't you tell me you were going to have sex with Jess? And why is my mother constantly disappointed with me? And by God why is there a dead cat lying on the road?!?" she dropped her head in her hands.

"You mean you just left it there?" Rory's eyes grew wide.

"What was I supposed to do with it? I was upset and I had a lot of other things on my mind!"

"Mom, I'm..." Rory sighed. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for it to turn out like this..."

"You took a risk," Lorelai said

"I know."

"You're not typically a risk taking person."

"I know that too," Rory looked at her feet. "I just wanted to be...spontaneous for once."

"Well take a drive with no shoes on, or walk around in your underwear or something next time you feel like being 'spontaneous'," Lorelai snapped back. There was a long silence until she said, "I'm sorry. Bickering won't solve anything. I guess I can't really control that part of you anymore, but if you make choices like the one you made last night, I'm going to make sure you take every precaution necessary. I won't let you make the same mistakes I made."

"But Mom, I..." Rory interrupted.

"No buts! I'll make you an appointment with my doctor for next week and..."

"Mom!" she exclaimed, grabbing Lorelai's attention.

"What?" she retorted.

"I'm not going to do it again," Rory looked her straight in the eye.

"What do you mean you're not going to do it again?"

"I don't want to sleep with Jess again. I've worked too hard for what I have and I'm not going to risk it for anything," she said confidently.

"And you're sure about this? You're not lying are you?" she asked with suspicion.

"Mom!"

"Sorry, sorry...I just had to make sure," Lorelai responded.

"Are you ever going to trust me again?" Rory pleaded.

"Don't push it."

"Gotcha," she said, ending the conversation.

A few minutes later, Rory realized that she would have to tell Jess this information too.

"I...uh...gotta go talk to someone," she said, trying quickly sneak out the door.

"Hold it!" Lorelai called, stopping Rory dead in her tracks. "Come clean Ror."

"Mom, I need to talk to Jess. It's important. I'll page you later?" she reacted unsurely.

"What is so urgent that it can't wait?" Lorelai pried.

"Mom, quit prying."

"Don't I have a reason to pry?"

"Not if you have an ounce of trust left in me," Rory debated.

"Go," Lorelai said, pointing to the door. "But be back in two hours. I'll have take-out ready."

"Ok, thank you," Rory started to leave but went back when she remembered something. "Mom...what about the cat?" she asked.

"Oh no! I almost forgot," Lorelai exclaimed.

"Can you face Babbett alone?" Rory questioned sympathetically.

"Um...well...it's going to be hard either way. I guess we both have a lot of explaining to do. You go take care of Jess..." Lorelai answered hesitantly.

"Mom, would you like me to come with you?"

"Oh you don't have to..."

"Mom," Rory stopped her.

"Well, if you insist," her mother responded innocently. Then she grabbed a light jacket and they finally left together.

When they walked up to the doorstep, both looked at each other expecting the other to ring the doorbell.

"Well?" Rory urged.

"Oh, I thought you were going to do it," Lorelai hinted.

"Hey, I'm just here for support," Rory reminded her mother.

"Damn," Lorelai mumbled under her breath.

"Don't you think we should bring the cat up here or something? It's going to look so sad and lonely down there on the road," Rory looked sadly towards the direction of the accident.

"It's dead hon, it will look sad no matter what."

"You just don't want to touch it," Rory taunted.

"Do you?" Lorelai snapped back.

"Well no..."

"Then we don't need to pick it up."

"Yes ma'am" Rory agreed.

Then, Lorelai took a deep breath, closed her eyes and rang the doorbell. The sweet resident came out with a gigantic smile on her face as usual.

"Lorelai! Rory! What are you two doin' over in my neck of the wood?"

"Um....." the couple said in unison.

"Why don't you gals come in? Make yourself comfortable. I just made cookies."

"That's ok," Rory said quickly.

"Yeah, uh, it's kinda nice out here," Lorelai finished.

"What's the matter with you two? You never decline my homemade cookies!"

"Babbett, Mom has something to tell you," Rory said, staring down her mother. Lorelai gave her a glare before turning to Babbett and explaining the situation.

"Maybe we should go inside so we can sit down," she began.

"Oh sure honey, follow me," Babbett gestured towards the living room. Rory and Lorelai had to duck slightly as they entered because of the short doorways specially made for Babbett's short stature. The living room was painted a warm, yellow tone with knick-knacks adorning every shelf and table. Lorelai sat down quickly, ready to get everything off her chest.

"Rory and I got into an argument last night, and this morning I got up early to take a drive and cool off," Lorelai explained.

Babbett listened patiently.

"I was a little...upset as I was driving," she went on. "And when I was almost home, I noticed something run across the street...but I don't think I stopped in time..."

"Oh baby-doll, I'm so sorry. It's always hard to deal with killing an innocent animal," Babbett interrupted. Rory and Lorelai looked at each other with guilt.

"Babbett," Rory said, taking over the conversation. "The animal mom hit was a cat." Babbett's face grew solemn and tears welled up in her eyes.

"My baby?" she let out with a look of horror on her face.

"Well we're not sure," Lorelai added quickly.

"Where is she?" Babbett started to cry.

"Come on, we'll show you," Rory took her by the arm and gently led her outside.

When they got to the road, Rory and Lorelai hesitated to look at the dead animal. Impatiently, Babbett pushed through to examine the scene. When she got closer to the animal, she noticed that it didn't look like her kitty, but it was the same shade of gray. She turned it over with a stick and screamed, "Oh my God!"

"I am so sorry. It was an accident, I swear," Lorelai apologized.

"Honey, I've seen a lot of cats in my lifetime, and this ain't a kitty!" Babbett pointed out.

"What?" Rory and her mother both said.

"Look," their neighbor pointed.

"Whoa..." Rory muttered. Lying before them was a gigantic, cat- sized, sewer rat; face down on the warm cement.

"I can see why you thought it was my precious snookums," Babbett said, drying her eyes. "It's got to be the biggest rat I've ever seen in my life! And I have lived quite a long time."

"What are we going to do with it?" Rory asked.

"I don't know, but I'm not touching it," Lorelai said, squirming in disgust.

"Maybe we should just leave it for the buzzards," Babbett suggested.

"Does Connecticut have buzzards?" Lorelai questioned out of the blue.

"We can just leave it here," her daughter broke the bizarre tangent.

"Why not? It's just a big old rat. I'm sorry, but I don't have much sympathy for rodents on steroids."

"Me neither. You probably did us all a favor by killin' it," Babbett added.

"I'm not sympathizing, but if Taylor happens to stumble upon it..."

"All hell will break loose and scary men in black rubber suits and masks will be brought in to extinguish a herd of giant rodents," Lorelai joked with her daughter.

"Mom, I'm serious. He'll have a hay day with this! He'll call an emergency town meeting and we'll be stuck discussing it for hours on end," Rory retorted.

"But those kinds of meetings are fun! We could bring popcorn!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Mom, please be serious. I do have something else to do today, remember?" Rory hinted.

"Alright, I'll call Luke and have him throw it into the woods," Lorelai said, pretending to be disappointed.

"Thank you." Rory bided her mother and her neighbor farewell and left for Luke's Diner to find Jess. Boy did she have a lot of explaining to do!