On Wednesday afternoon, Liz stood just inside her garage holding a tray of drinks and smiled at the sight before her. Jess held Doula up so she could touch the newly finished boat, which she had taken to swatting at while Luke moved around it, checking he hadn't missed anything.

"I bet you boys are thirsty after all this work," she commented, calling their attention for the first time; Jess had come in to get his sister about half an hour ago and she'd followed shortly after, just watching the three of them together.

"Liz, you're a lifesaver!" Luke told her, coming back around the front

"Thanks Mom." Jess handed Doula over to her, while taking the tray and she moved to a couple of folding chairs in the corner to sit down.

"Well, we've got to take care of our boys, don't we, Doula?"

"I was thinking since we're done here, we should take the boat out," Luke explained, coming over to take a seat and grab a drink. "Maybe this weekend you and Rory could take a break from making my brain hurt, and come out with Lorelai and me, make a day out of it. There's a great spot over at Wellington."

"You mean you actually expect the two teens that have done nothing without books glued to their noses for the past month to go outside and spend time away from the library?" Liz joked.

"Do you see any books here now?" Jess objected. "Last time I checked, our garage couldn't really be considered a library either." Without replying, Liz stretched her leg back and slid a textbook out from under her seat with her foot. "I'm gonna plead the fifth on that one."

"Uh huh. Well, anyway, I think it's a great idea. And you can take me and TJ out next week, that is, if you haven't found someone to buy the thing by then."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I can put an ad in the paper tomorrow, I guess, since it's finished now."

"I didn't mean you had to-"

"No, I know, but I should. That was the whole point right?"

"To begin with, but Luke, you can keep it if you want whether it's here or somewhere else. Dad left this boat to you, so it's up to you what you do with it."

"Nah, it's alright. We'll take it out a couple times, make sure everything's in order and I'll get it out of here."

"If that's what you want to do, then fine."

"Yeah. Well, I should see how things are going at the diner. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye,"

"He doesn't want to sell it, does he?" Jess asked as the sound of his uncle's truck grew quieter.

"I really think not."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to make sure he has an awesome time so he decides once and for all that it has to stay."

"I knew I didn't send you off to the unwanted baby home for a reason." Liz grinned.

"Thank you for that." Jess replied.

"I don't understand this," Emily repeated. "You said Rory's at the library?"Lorelai nodded and swallowed a sip of her drink.

"She said she would get here as soon as she could, but not to wait for her to start dinner."

"Well, of course we'll wait for her. It's just not right to start eating until everyone's at the table."

"Mom, I'm just passing along her message. You'll have to drum that one into her yourself."

"How is she supposed to get here?"

"Walk. It's only a couple of minutes, she'll be fine."

"I don't like it."

"Mom, this girl grew up in New York city. She knows how to take care of herself, and is that your way of saying that your neighbourhood isn't safe?"

"Of course not, I just-"

"Emily, don't worry about it. Rory will be fine. And I'm sure she knows that if she doesn't feel like walking, she can always call and we'll pick her up. Isn't that right, Lorelai?"

"Yes. I'm sure she knows that."

"What is she doing at the library, anyway? It's the weekend I thought most people her age enjoyed their weekends to be free of schoolwork,"

"She's not doing schoolwork; this afternoon was... um, helping out with some research for the school paper."

"When did Rory join the paper?"

"She hasn't, officially. Mainly she's doing like, proofreading and fact checking, just lending a hand. Tomorrow she will be at the soup kitchen and Sunday is – oh, no, she's taking the day, Sunday, so is Jess. We're going out in Luke's boat for a couple of hours to make sure it's seaworthy. And she'll be working Monday afternoon while Jess starts training on a crisis hotline."

"What on earth are they doing all this for? It sounds as if they won't have any time to sleep."

"No, I was listening to them coordinate these schedules the other day they have at least four hours of sleep planned a night, sometimes more, depending on the load during the day, possibly less if Rory can't get rid of her freakish dreams. But it's all fine."

"What dreams?"

"But why-"

"Hi, everybody, sorry I took so long." Rory called out as she came into the living room and took a seat beside her mother.

"That's quite alright Rory, how was your day?" Richard asked.

"It was good. Full on, but good."

"And how have you been sleeping?"

"Oh, I see Mom told you about my issues. Yeah, um, I've been better, but, they're not too bad now. It was worse in the beginning, but I've managed to throw the books back at her a couple of times, so I'm making progress."

"Wonderful." Richard said after a moment, not entirely sure what she meant, but having decided it was good news. "And what's this we hear about Luke's boat?"

"He finally finished it. Only took him, what, a decade?"

"He's been working on a boat for ten years?" Emily asked,

"His dad started building it when Luke was a teenager," Lorelai explained. "And after his mom died, it kind of just stayed locked up nobody did anything with it for years. But Luke decided he wanted to, so he's been working away at it and now he's done. It looks great too. I mean, I don't know that much about boats and stuff, but it looks good to me,"

"I haven't had a chance to see it yet," Rory told her.

"Well you'll have to take a peek in the morning. Jess can show you."

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway, something smells great! What are we having?"

"Pan seared squab with a dry cherry reduction sauce." Emily explained.

"Squab?"

"It's pigeon." She replied as a young girl appeared in the doorway.

"I know what it is, I'm just not sure I wanna eat it."

"It's delicious, really."

"There's going to be other stuff to eat right?" Lorelai checked. "Vegetables and stuff? And dessert?"

"Would you like Haley to see if she can find a frozen pizza for you instead?"

"Probably not the best idea, I'm pretty sure the last time we had frozen pizza in this house I was ten."

"Well, can you try some of the dinner that was prepared for you then?"

"Oh, alright,"

"It's such a hardship, I know."

"No, it's fine." Lorelai relented, standing to head into the dining room with the others. "I'll just have to keep telling myself its chicken. That'll help."

"As long as you have a plan,"

"I'm all set, let's eat."

Later that night, Lorelai groaned and threw her pillow to the ground as Rory's alarm sounded for the third time in a row.

"Rory!" she called out, stomping out of her room to find her daughter sitting up in bed, fiddling with the clock. "This has to stop!" she insisted, landing heavily on Rory's mattress. "I need sleep!"

"I know and I'm sorry. Couldn't you stay at Luke's until I get this under control?"

"I am not leaving you alone here and temporarily moving from my tiny two bedroom apartment to my boyfriend's even tinier, was never meant to be even a one bedroom apartment just so I can sleep."

"I think it may be your only option at this point. And I really don't mind being left alone, at least I would know where to find you if I need you."

"No. No!" Lorelai repeated, shaking her head. "I'll just... first thing tomorrow I'll go out and buy some ear plugs and then you can set that thing to go off as many times a night as you want."

"If you insist,"

"I do. I just wish the stupid dreams would stop already."

"You and me both," Rory replied, putting the clock down. "Are you going back to bed?"

"Too tired, can't move."

"Seriously?"

"So tired!"

"You haven't slept in my bed since I was four!"

"Sleepy, you're getting sleepy..."

"Fine! Just means when the rooster crows, you'll be that much closer to it," Rory reminded her, but Lorelai didn't reply. Instead she made loud fake snoring noises and Rory reached over to turn off the light.

"So this is it?" Rory asked, slowly moving around the boat, running her hand along the smooth surface. "It's done?"

"It's done." Jess repeated, watching from the door.

"And he's sure that it won't capsize or anything, while we're in it?"

"He's sure. What's up with you? You're acting like you've never been out on the water before."

"So, what time did he-"

"You haven't have you?"

"There just weren't too many boats around where I grew up, ok?"

"How have you never been on a boat?"

"I don't know! It just never seemed to happen. You don't have to make such a big deal out of it."

"Well don't worry. I'll make sure you survive the trip."

"Because you're such an expert on all things nautical,"

"Compared to you I am,"

"Go ahead and joke. But thanks to my upbringing, I can walk down certain streets, alone, on the blackest of nights that you wouldn't dream of going near with an armed guard in the middle of the day. And for your information, I've been on ferries, just not anything that wasn't built by a professional."

"We should stop this before the real mudslinging begins."

"Deal. Are you ready to go?"Rory asked, and Jess nodded, grabbing his back pack that he'd discarded by the door.

"You'd think considering our actual jobs, we would have opted for something other than a soup kitchen."

"Well, we have the experience and they need the help. It's a win-win."

"I guess, but food service?"

"Just remember, this will not involve Kirk or Taylor or any of the other crackpots from this annoying little town." Rory reminded him as they got into her mother's Jeep.

"Woo hoo! Food service."Jess repeated, more enthusiastically.

"That's the spirit." As Rory began to back out of the driveway, her cell phone started ringing. "Can you grab that for me? It's probably mom."

"It's your grandmother." Jess replied, after a moment, holding the phone as if it might bite him.

"It is?"

"The theme from Psycho is playing, so I'm thinking yeah."

"Damn." Rory put her foot on the break and took the phone. "Hello?"

"Rory, hello, it's your grandfather!"

"Oh, hi, Grandpa." She replied, emphasising the last word. "What's up?"

"Well, I know you're probably busy at the moment. Your mother was telling us last night about all that you have coming up this week."

"Yeah, I'm actually on my way off to something right now."

"The soup kitchen,"

"Yes, that's right. Can I call you back?"

"I won't take up too much of your time, I just wanted to ask why it was you were doing all of this."

"Well you should know, you're the one that planted this particular seed in my mind."

"So it is to do with making yourself look better to prospective colleges?"

"That's the plan, I'm not really sure it's going to work too well, should help Jess out though."

"Well, I'll let you go so you can get on with that. And I'm sure it's going to work out just fine."

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later." Rory added before hanging up. "That was weird."

"Which part?"

"I don't think I've ever spoken to him on the phone before." She put the car in drive and started down the road.

"No?"

"Not once. Grandma called, on my birthday, and we've spoken a few other times, but, I haven't ever talked to him."

"Well, now you can't say that."

"Good point."

"So what did he want?"

"To know why I'm killing myself with all this extra study and volunteer work,"

"Right, that's right. This was all his doing, now I remember."

"You're not jealous are you?" Rory checked, glancing over at him. "You are! Just because you didn't instil this desire, that's hilarious!"

"Just drive, would you. Concentrate on the road."

"Ok, but you have to know that you're being an idiot."

"Noted. Now concentrate." Before long they arrived in Hartford, at their destination and headed inside. "Hi, we're here to volunteer," Jess explained to the first person they found in an apron. "From Chilton, Je-"

"Talk to her, she's running things today." The man replied, pointing to a girl near the back of the room and Jess turned to where he was indicating.

"You don't want to turn around." He told Rory. She took a deep breathe before turning very slowly.

"Tell me I'm just having another one of my wacky nightmares,"

"Maybe we can just-"

"No! No, it's not fair." Rory whined, staring at Paris. "We called soup kitchen, how is she here? She's everywhere!"

"She must have super powers."

"I hate her. She's evil."

"You're just tired."

"And whose fault is that?"

"We'll get you a cup of coffee and then we'll get to work."

"I don't-"

"Remember why we're doing this," Jess added and Rory glared at him.

"Fine. Coffee first and then we'll see." She reluctantly agreed, moving over to where there was a coffee urn in the corner. Jess grabbed a couple of cups and filled them before handing one to Rory.

"Ah, I see we have some more helpers," Paris said as she appeared beside them. Rory continued to glare as she sipped her coffee and Jess nodded.

"Yep, thought it was about time we gave something back, so here we are. Where do you want us?"

"We could use some help over at the mac and cheese station, Sheila's been working that section, but I think it's about time she moved on. And one of you could go on into the kitchen as well,"

"Ok, I can do that just let me know if you need me out here." Jess told her and started towards the kitchen, but Rory grabbed his arm.

"We said we were going to stay together today, remember? Experience all this as if we were one?" she prodded, knowing she sounded ridiculous, but she was so far beyond caring.

"We... oh, yeah, uh, is that ok, Paris, if we both go?"

"Fine. Leonard!" Paris called out to the man who they had been speaking to earlier. "Take over at mac and cheese," she instructed. "Sheila, you take five."

"I can't believe you were going to ditch me out here with her." Rory hissed as they headed towards the kitchen.

"It wasn't intentional," Jess returned, "just a reflex."

"Well it was a bad reflex. Very, very bad,"

"I'm sorry, I won't let it happen again."

"You'd better not," Rory warned him as a very cheery blonde came towards them. "Hi, the dictator sent us in here to help."

"Super! How about you get started chopping carrots, and you can wash the dishes?"

"Super," Rory muttered, moving to the sink.

"I think I might like it out here." Rory observed, looking out over the water.

"Really?" Luke asked her. "You're not averse to laying back on a nice sunny day, as other people do all the work and you just get to relax?"

"Not really, no."

"Is that where we're stopping?" Lorelai asked, pointing.

"We're not stoping anywhere."

"So we'll just sit here in the boat, slowly going crazy until we get so desperate for food we have no other choice but to eat one another?"

"I don't think we're going to be here that long," Jess replied.

"No, I just thought we'd drift along for a while, enjoy the scenery. And then head back to shore when you start jonesing for coffee."

"Back to shore? What happened to the coffee I made this morning?" Lorelai demanded. "I distinctly remember making up a thermos before we left your place."

"Time to breathe mom,"

"Breathe? Why? There is no point in breathing if there's no-"

"You're boyfriend is just trying to be funny." Rory explained, reaching into the picnic basket beside her and pulling out the thermos.

"Oh my God! Do you realise I was two seconds away from throwing myself overboard?"

"Good thing Rory's got a little rationality then,"

"This is not funny Luke. You can't make jokes like that with my coffee. It's cruel. And in this case, it almost proved fatal." Lorelai ranted as she accepted the cup that Rory poured for her.

"I know, I'm sorry, I won't do it again until we're on dry land and you can throw a rock at me or something, sound good?"

"You're just lucky you have redeeming qualities, mister." She told him, leaning in to kiss him, now happy that she'd gotten her elixir.

"Now it's my turn to threaten to jump ship," Rory grimaced. Still kissing Luke, Lorelai waved a hand around until she found Rory and covered her eyes. "Yes, because this move works on people over the age of eight," she added sarcastically.

"It's so nice that we can all spend this time together and not harbour murderous thoughts, isn't it?" Jess asked, leaning back in his seat. The other three turned to look at him. "So, I guess I'll be the first one on the menu when we're stranded," he added, based on the looks they were giving him. "Good to know."