Three weeks had passed since the opening of the inn. Occupancy was at 90% and Sookie was negotiating an interview time with Bon Appetit magazine. Lorelai should have been happy.

Dean texted her during the afternoon AFTER the night they spent together. His family would be arriving later in the day, and they'd have to keep things on the down low until he was strong enough to get back to his apartment. Sad as that made her, it wasn't as chilling as the conversation she had with Babette when she got home that evening.

"Doll! Doll! I need to talk with ya!" Babette was running through Lorelai's yard and stopped her on the porch.

"Babette, are you alright?"

"We better get inside, I've got a feeling you'll want to hear this!"

"O-kaaaaay….come in. Water?"

"No. Sit. You've been holding out on me!"

"What? Babette, I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."

"It all makes sense. I mean when East Side Tilly phoned me this morning, talking about you leaving Dean's house…"

Dammit. HOW did Lorelai forget that Tilly lived up the street on the corner from Dean's parent's house?

"And then I happen to see ya pull into your driveway, wearin' the same duds you had on last night…"

"Babette, look, I don't know what Tilly said, but you have it all wrong."

"No judgement from me, doll. That Dean is one foxy young man, and you are a hot momma, a cougar, or is it milf? I can't keep up with the lingo these days."

"Babette!"

"No, really sugar, your secret is safe with me. Ya know, Maury is younger than me, so I know where you're coming from. If I had a body like yours, and no Maury a course, I'd make a beeline for that Charlton Heston beefcake myself!"

Yeach. Lorelai was grossed out that Babette knew her secret and that she too wanted to, eugh.

"I covered for ya doll. I told her you had stayed at the inn, and you found some of his pain medication and you dropped it off as soon as you woke up and saw it. I would have stayed the night myself, but Cinnamon 2 has been under tha weather, so I came home, fell asleep, and saw you when I got up to get a drink of water."

"Really Babette, there's nothing going on between me and Dean."

"Sorry sugar, you can't fool me. I've seen the way the two of you are around each other, before he even worked at the inn in those construction belts and sweaty shirts. I mean don't get me wrong, he and Rory were a cutesy high school couple, but when she fell for Jess…"

"Babette?"

"Yeah sugar?"

"What have I done?"

"What? The two of you are adults, legal consenting adults, and you should be starrin' in movies with the way the two of you look, and the chemistry…"

"No, Babette, I mean, we...last night. I've never felt so connected to a person physically or mentally. But he's Dean. This town. This cannot happen for me and have a fairytale ending."

"Sugar, maybe sometimes Miss Patty and East Side Tilly are gossips and they get the crowds stirred up, but you shouldn't let that dictate how you choose romantic entanglements. Maybe the two of you don't show up at Luke's holding hands and smoochin', but you'll figure somethin' out."

Surprisingly, Babette HAD kept her mouth shut and she must have actually convinced EST that things were on the up and up. Luckily Lorelai was on EST's good side, so for now she wasn't too stressed about the secret getting out.

Lorelai missed Rory though, and hated the way their last interaction had gone. Sookie was so happy at the inn and they were so busy that they didn't have time for girl talk, which was probably good.

Luke couldn't make eye contact with her, so either he figured out what happened and disapproved, or he was jealous? That was crazy. Lorelai felt small and alone. Burying herself in work at the inn was her only salvation.