"I'm here." Lorelai announced as she walked into the diner on Thursday afternoon.

"You don't have to announce your presence the bell does that for you." Luke told him.

"I wasn't talking to you." Lorelai replied. "Sorry I'm late; I got held up at the inn." She apologised to Jess.

"You're here now." Jess shrugged. "Luke that's it I'm done for the day."

"What?" Luke was a little confused.

"I told you I needed the afternoon off, you said it was fine." Jess reminded him.

"Right." Luke recalled the conversation.

"Can I get some coffee to go?" Lorelai asked.

"Sure." Luke went and poured her a cup.

"Thanks hun." Lorelai gave him a quick kiss before following Jess up the stairs.

Rory was sat going over the course guide for the next semester's class for Yale, when she heard the door open, she look up and smiled.

"Hey Mom, Jess."

"Hey kid." Lorelai smiled before sitting on the couch with her coffee.

"Make yourself at home." Rory suggested wondering what was going on.

"Grab your purse and make sure you have your credit card." Jess told her.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to spend some quality time with my granddaughter while Jess takes you out." Lorelai explained.

"Out where?" Rory asked Jess.

"It's a surprise. You might need shoes as well."

Rory tended to wear slippers around the apartment or just socks.

"Libby and I will be fine." Lorelai assured her. "You can call and check in if you get worried."

Rory looked at Jess.

"Okay." She conceded. "Let me just get my purse and shoes."

"You know where everything is." Jess told Lorelai.

"Of course. I can manage to baby-sit my granddaughter for a few hours."

"Thanks for doing this."

"It's for a good cause."

'.;.

"I can't believe you ask Mom to babysit." Rory said as they got into Jess's car.

"She's the one person I knew you would agree to leave Libby with." Jess shrugged.

"You mean other than you?"

"Other than me." Jess agreed.

"So where are we going? And why do I need my credit card?"

"It's a surprise."

"What kind of surprise?" Rory inquired.

"The kind that if I tell you what it is it won't be a surprise anymore."

"Fine." Rory hit the button for the CD player, not sure what to expect because although Jess's taste in music wasn't quite as eclectic as Lane's but she didn't expect a CD of lullabies. "Something you want to tell me?"

"I took Libby out for a drive to get to go to sleep last week remember, I just hadn't gotten around to changing the CD."

"Right." Rory nodded.

"Honestly."

"I believe you. Thousands wouldn't."

"Rory." Jess sighed.

"I'm only kidding."

"I know. So you're okay leaving her with your Mom?"

"It had to happen sometime." Rory stated. "Mom loves her almost as much as we do."

"She's going to give her everything she asks for when she's older isn't she?"

"Probably." Rory admitted. "But you'll probably be just as bad."

"One of us has to the voice of reason."

"We've got a while to figure it out." Rory told him. "But Mom will teach her to pout."

"Well that means Luke will give in."

"Luke has always given in where Mom was concerned. I'm pretty sure if Mom had given him a good enough reason the whole Nicole fiasco would have never happened."

"Actually I think the whole Nicole thing was what made him realise he was in love with her." Jess suggested.

"Where are we going?" Rory asked.

"Not a chance." Jess stated.

TBC