Anna and Lorelai walk into Miss Patty's Dance studio, where the town meeting was being held. Anna was holding the sodas while Lorelai was carrying the hotdogs. Anna didn't see the appeal of the town meeting like her sister and mother did. Taylor or the Mayor would get up and explain town events then they give the citizens a moment to grumble. If they wanted it to happen, it would happen anyway.
If she didn't go then the rest of the night her family would fill her in on what happened, even though she didn't care. She found it better to go, that way it was an hour or two of discussion after and then they would finally move on to something else. This town meeting was the only one she looked forward to every year because it was the one that had the reenactment plans in it. The meeting already started when they took their seats next to Rory.
Anna sat down and gave her sister and mother a drink. "What'd I miss?" Lorelai asks Rory as she passes out the hotdogs.
"Taylor Doose wants the no-parking zone in front of his store removed. He says his customers are being unfairly ticketed." She fills her in.
"No, it's just because he wants to park there all day." She read between the lines.
"Genius," Rory nods as she looks at the cardigan clad man.
Mayor Harry Porter went over to the podium. "I have been mayor of this fine town for a long time. I tend to think of all of you as my children. Unfortunately, sometimes children have to be disciplined. Now I'm going to say something and I'm only going to say it once . . . we have leash laws, people."
"Daddy's getting angry." Lorelai whispers.
"Rover will not leash himself." The mayor shouts.
"Where are all these dogs running around?" Anna tried to think of a time she saw a dog running around the town.
Mayor decided to change the subject, "I would like to now move on to something of even greater importance. As you all know, this coming Friday is the anniversary of the legendary Battle of Stars Hollow." Everyone in the room except one clapped.
"Where's Luke?" Lorelai whispers.
Gilmore Girls searching the crowd for him. "Up there." Rory points over to Luke who was sitting more in the front. They kept their eyes on him as the Mayor continued to talk about the reenactment.
"Penny will be circulating a sign-up sheet for those of you who would like to participate in the reenactment of the aforesaid battle." Harry points to his assistant.
"He's turning red," Rory whispers.
"Alright, it was a frigid November night, some 224 years ago." Mayor gave the story like he did every year.
"He's shifting in his seat" Lorelai whispers.
"The brave Stars Hollow militias stood in wait for the Red Coats." Harry read on from his paper.
"He's adjusting the cap. It's going to happen." Anna leans forward waiting for her boss to explode.
"Tired and hungry, twelve proud men took their positions in the town's square, braving the elements. . ." With every word that Harry spoke Luke was having a harder time holding it in.
"He's fighting the urge, he's fighting the urge." Lorelai narrated.
". . .and imminent death in their valiant efforts. . ." Harry speaking about them like they were heroes is what pushes Luke over the edge.
"Oh, for God's Sake, do we have to go through this every damn year!" He stood up and shouted.
"Yes!" Gilmore cheered.
"And the urge wins by a long shot!" Rory pumps her fist.
"I didn't know why he even came to this one. He knows what time of year it is." Anna shook her head, snickering.
"I thought we were here to discuss town issues," Luke yells.
"This is a town issue." Taylor defends the reenactment that he participated in every year for as long as Anna could remember.
"Excuse me, who's talking?" The Mayor put his glasses on to look out at Luke.
"It's me, Harry, Luke. You've known me since I was 5 years old." He told him.
"Oh, Luke, yes, sits down." He waved Luke off like he was still five years old, before going back to read off his paper. Luke sat down before the Mayor continued. "Now as I was saying, twelve heroic men assembled with guns drawn ready to meet their maker."
"What are you talking about? Twelve guys stood in a row all night." Luke shot back up from his seat.
"Waiting for the Red Coats," He tried to read over Luke's interruptions.
"Who never showed!" Luke shouted to the amusement of most in the crowd.
"Now, just a minute!" Harry tried to gain control.
"Twelve guys stood in a row all night waiting for an enemy that never showed. They got stood up. They should've been wearing prom dresses." Luke throws his hands in the air at the ridiculousness of reenacting a moment from history that didn't even make a difference. Lorelai and Anna had to cover their mouths as they laughed loudly. Rory was able to bite her bottom lip to stop the giggles from escaping.
"I've had just about enough of this." Taylor stood up.
"Sit down, Taylor," Luke demands.
"Menace," He hisses at the flannel-wearing man.
"Suck up," Luke shot back at him.
"Five bucks says somebody ends up in a headlock," Lorelai whispers to her daughters.
"You're on!" They nod.
"Have any of you ever considered the fact that you're glorifying a war we fought so we could keep land that we stole?" Luke gave everyone a quick history lesson. The Gilmores nod their heads in agreement.
"If you don't like it here in America, why don't you go stand in line for toilet paper in the USSR!" Harry points a finger at him.
"There is no more USSR, Harry." Luke shook his head at the old man.
"A sense of community is so important, isn't it?" Lorelai leans in to tell Anna.
"It's what made our country great." Rory leans over to smile at Anna.
"If that's what you tell yourself these meetings are." She rolled her eyes.
Anna woke up in the middle of the night when she heard familiar footsteps go down the hallway and the stairs. "Oh god, she listened to that damn voicemail again." She rolls over to try and get back to sleep. The need to go to the bathroom stops her from doing so. After she did her business she went down to see her mom and sister sitting on the couch underneath a blanket. She moves to get under the blanket with them.
"I love snow," Lorelai told them.
"Really, I had no idea," Rory said sarcastically.
"Everything's magical when it snows, everything looks pretty. The clothes are great: coats, scarves, gloves, hats." She gushes.
"Thermal underwear, wool socks, ear flaps," Rory listed. Anna groans, wanting to get some wool socks right now.
"Do you know that the best things in my life have happened when it snowed?" Lorelai smiles at them.
"Why, yes, I do." Rory nods, having to hear about it every time snow started falling from the sky.
"My best birthday," She told them.
"Your first kiss," Rory adds on.
"Your first steps. The first you called me mommy. They all happened when it snowed." She turns to Rory then Anna.
"I was probably trying to say mommy get me out of the snow." Anna pushes herself into her mom's side to get her body heat.
"You were a very ambitious baby." Rory giggled.
"I feel good, tingly." She wiggles around.
"That's called frostbite," Rory told her.
"You are mocking your mother, the woman who birthed you." Lorelai reminds her.
"I'm sorry." She apologizes.
"During a snowstorm, might I add," Lorelai had another thing to add to her reasons for why the snow was good luck for her.
"So, how soon is it supposed to hit?" Anna asks. Her mother was always able to tell when a snowstorm was coming.
"Hm… tomorrow . . . definitely tomorrow," She told them.
"Okay, then, tomorrow it is." Rory nods.
"What?" She turned to her eldest.
"You, me, donuts, coffee, standing out in a snowstorm," She gave her the plans.
"At midnight?" She perks up.
"At midnight," Rory nods.
"You are my favorite daughter." She beams.
"HEY!" Anna glares at her mother.
"Well, you're not going to stand in a snowstorm with me." Lorelai defends her choice.
"Yeah, you're right. You can be the favorite, Rory." Anna sinks back into the couch. She would give up being the favorite if it meant staying by the fire.
Rory laughs at how fast she gave up. "So, how many times are you going to listen to that?" Rory looks at the answering machine.
"Until it stops being sexy." She smiles.
"Stop! That's my teacher you're talking about. I have to respect him." She shook her head disgusted.
"Okay, well, if it makes you feel any better, while he's being sexy, he's also being grammatically correct." Lorelai thought of a way that he could remain her respectable English teacher while being her sexy love interest.
"Better. Thank you." Rory nods.
"Sorry I woke you up." She apologized.
"That's okay. It's all fodder for the tell-all. Goodnight." She kissed her mom on the forehead. She got up to go back to her room.
"Goodnight," Lorelai told her. She looked over to tell Anna goodnight, but she saw that she was already asleep. She put the blanket over both of them and put the answering machine in her lap to play it again.
"Do you really have to wear that all day?" Anna looks at Lane who was in her red and gold band uniform. The high top hat had a large yellow feather on it.
"It's supposed to help with school spirit." Lane adjusts her hat.
"Well, I'm sorry for interrupting, go back to Rich." Anna held open the doors to the Independents Inn, for Lane and Rory.
"I just can't believe it. I mean, I sat next to him at practice for months, and then one day I looked over and it's Rich. Rich Bloomingfeld." Lane went back to talking about her crush.
"So, what you're saying is that puberty has been good for the gangly guy." Anna thought about the guy she didn't think much of. He wasn't ugly but he wasn't handsome either.
"Yes the puberty god kissed him on both cheeks." Lane put a finger on each cheek.
"Where is my Biology book? I had it at your house yesterday, didn't I?" Rory looks through her backpack.
"Rory, focus, please," Lane turns to her friend.
"I'm sorry. I just can't find my book." Rory gave her bag another look over.
"Hey, babes, Sergeant Pepper," Lorelai came over to greet them.
"Mom, do you know where my. . ." Rory asks.
"Big scary Biology book is? Behind the desk," She pointed to the front desk.
"Oh, thank God." Rory ran to get it.
"Wow." Lorelai looks over the band uniform.
"Yeah," Lane and Anna nodded.
Rory came back over with a textbook in her hand. "So, is Sookie in the kitchen?" She asked her mother.
"And there she'll stay." Lorelai walks off.
"Okay, so where were we?" Rory looks at Lane.
"I just met my soulmate." Lane reminds her.
"Right, Rich Bloomingfeld. Does he still wear the Star Trek shirt?" She asked.
"Hey, they were different Star Trek shirts. You should give him the Vulcan nerve pinch." Anna gave Lane the pinch.
"I'll think about it." She brushes her hands off of her.
"You're supposed to drop on the floor." Anna pouts.
They walk into the kitchen to see Sookie stirring a pot, "Hey Sookie."
"Hey, kitty cats. Cinnamon buns are over there." She walked over to them letting her sous chef take over stirring. Anna went over to put two in a takeout container.
"Do you have any of those rocky road cookies that you made yesterday?" Rory asks.
"I can scrounge some up. Lane, you need a bag?" Sookie asks as she walks over to make Rory's cookies.
"No, thank you," Lane told her. "So, anyhow, Rich has this amazing hair." She gushes about the boy.
"Really?" Rory asks.
"Oh my God, it's so perfect. It's thick but it's not too thick, and it's got a really good natural wave, so he probably uses way less product than most guys." Lane explained the head of hair that she had been staring at for weeks at band practice.
"Always a plus. Hey, what time is it?" Rory was holding her book, so she didn't want to risk dropping it to check her watch.
"I don't know" Lane shrugs.
"I have to get to the bus stop," Rory told her.
"It's only 6:30. Our bus doesn't come for another 30 minutes." Anna comes over with a container of two cinnamon buns. She had another in her other hand wrapped up in a napkin.
"Dean's meeting me there." She smiles at them.
"But I'm trying to talk to you about this." Lane sighs.
"I know. We'll talk on the way." Rory assured her.
"Here you go." Sookie hands her a bag of cookies.
"Thank you, Sookie." Rory smiles at her.
"Yeah, thanks Sookie." Anna held up her half-eaten cinnamon bun.
"Hey, sweets, I have a locksmith coming to the house today like five-ish, and I don't know how long it'll take, so will you tell Grandma and Grandpa that I'm going to be late, and that I'm having Satan's baby. You pick the order." Lorelai came to ask her daughters.
"I'll relay the time message." Rory offers.
"I tell them about our half-sibling." Anna shrugs casually.
"What is this? You hate rocky road cookies." Lorelai grabs the bag of cookies.
"I do not." Rory took them back.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That must be my other daughter, Schmory." She couldn't think of a name that rhymes with Rory.
"Another half-sibling, my mom was a rolling stone." Anna sang the last part.
"We're leaving now." Rory tried to move past her mom, but she grabbed her backpack.
"Wait a minute. I know who likes rocky road cookies." Lorelai looks over at Sookie.
"Who?" She asks.
"Dean. They're for Dean." Lorelai had a large smile on.
"She's bringing baked goods to a boy. Wow, serious!" Sookie shoulder bumps with Lane, who was annoyed with the Dean talk. She got enough of that from Rory.
"Here Dean, these cookies are for you, 'cause you're keen." Lorelai imitated Rory with a high pitch voice.
"Stop," She whines.
"Rory's in love!" Sookie bumps into Anna. She shook her head, laughing.
"Love, love, love, Dean, Dean, Dean!" Lorelai swayed her and Rory.
"Cookies for the love and the Dean and the cookies for the love and the Dean and the cookies for the love and the . . ." Sookie sang.
"Dean and the love and the Dean and the love and the Dean and the love. . ." Lorelai joined in on the sings. The teens walkout, needing to get to the bus stop.
"I just can't believe it. I mean, I've known him since the sixth grade, but suddenly he's different. He's not gangly anymore. You remember how gangly he was?" Lane looks over at her friends.
"I'm going to have to come to a game or something. I can't imagine him not being all arms and legs." Anna nods.
"I'm sorry, what?" Rory looks up from the textbook.
"You're not listening to me." Lane sigh, it was like the fifth time this morning she had to get Rory back on track.
"I'm sorry. I just couldn't find my bookmark. Okay, go ahead." Rory found the bookmark that showed her what part her class was on.
"Okay, here are the problems facing the whole Bloomingfeld-Kim situation." Lane got to the root of why she wanted to talk to them.
"One, hyphenation would be a pain." Rory jokes.
"Two, he's my band partner. Romance would be completely awkward. Three, he's never even looked at me like I'm a girl or something resembling one. Four, there's no way I could convince my parents he is Korean. But I can't help it, I'm obsessed. Did I tell you about his hair?" Lane turned to them as they sat down on the bench in front of the bus stop.
"It's on his head, right?" Rory asks. Dean pops up from behind her. They did their long stares and flirts over books and cookies.
Anna turns to Lane, "I think we can solve problem three." She put up three fingers.
"How?" She asks.
"With clothes from my closet and a little bit more makeup, if that doesn't do it, you'll just have to mention your period or bra in front of him or something." Anna always wanted to dress Lane up. Until the bus came Anna and Lane talked about the outfits, hairstyles, and even perfumes that could get her Rich.
"Must you two always kiss like the others going off to war?" Rory scoffs at Anna and Tristan making out in front of the school entrance.
She pulled away to tell her sister. "Rory, it's Friday. If the weather is like this all weekend then we won't see each other until Monday." At that thought, Tristan grabbed her chin to pull her back into the kiss.
"Thank god, the car is here." Rory grabs Anna to pull her to the car their grandma sent.
"Call me to let me know you got there safe," Tristan yells at her back. She waves her hand to let him know she will.
"You think you would be more understanding now that you have a boyfriend." Anna closes the car door behind her.
"Dean and I are not like that." She shook her head in denial. Lance, the driver, pulls away from the curb to make the trip back to Gilmore Manor.
"Dean, I know how you can repay me for the cookies. Bring those lush lips over here." Anna gave a sultry whisper as she pretended to launch at her sister.
"Stop it! It was not like that." Rory put her hands up to push her away if she needed to.
"Look like that from where I was seated." She giggles.
"Hey Grandma," Anna and Rory walk into their grandparent's house.
"Hello, your mom wants to talk to you two. Rory, use this phone. Anna, there is a phone in the kitchen." She hands Rory the phone. Anna went into the kitchen to grab the phone.
"Hey Mom," Anna put the phone up to her face.
"Hi. Things are bad out there, huh?" She asked.
"It's crazy. There's snow coming down everywhere, and let me just tell you, saddle shoes are not the best all-weather footwear." Rory looked down at her required footwear.
"Aw, you fell." Lorelai grimaces.
"Twice," Rory told her.
"I scrap my knee." Anna looked down to see her bandage was bleeding through.
"Yikes. I'm sorry." She apologized.
She didn't even notice Emily enter the kitchen until she spoke. "Oh, you poor dear, sit down and I'll clean you up." Her grandma points to the stool. She sat down as her grandma grabbed the first aid kit.
"So what's the deal? Are you coming over tonight?" Rory asks.
"No, I guess I'm pretty much stuck in the Hollow tonight," Lorelai explains to them.
"Bummer… well, we can take our snow walk tomorrow night?" Rory promises.
"Absolutely, alright, now, honey, tell Grandma that you arrived there not a member of the Junior League, I'd like you to leave there the same way," Lorelai told them.
"Call if you get lonely." Rory hoped that she would.
"I will. Bye." Lorelai said.
"Goodbye." Anna hung up the phone. "Mom says she doesn't want us joining the Junior League." She told her Grandma.
Emily rolled her eyes and put a new bandage on. "She sees something wrong with leadership and volunteering for charities."
"She is an odd one. Thank you, grandma. This is a lot better than what the nurse at the school did." Anna hops off the stool.
"I learned first aid while I was in the Junior League." She gave her a wink. Anna smiles at her.
Anna and Rory were doing their homework on the dining table. Richard was reading his newspaper as always. Emily was pacing back and forth as she spoke on the phone. "Well, I don't know what I'm going to do now." She hung up the phone.
"What's the problem, Emily?" Richard asks with his face still in the paper.
"The problem is that Florence cannot get here because of the storm." She told him.
"Florence?" He didn't know who that was.
"Our cook," She informed him.
"Ah. Well, we'll just have to go out." He didn't see the big deal.
"Oh, please, Richard, pay attention. We can't go out. It's miserable out there." She points out of the window at the snow falling.
"Well, we'll figure something out then." Richard shrugs.
"What? What will we figure out?" Emily throws her hands in the air.
"Well, I don't know, but. . ." He trailed off not having an answer.
"I hate the damn snow." She cursed the weather.
"Emily, calm down." He advised his wife.
"This is a serious problem. These Friday dinners are the only proper food the children eat all week." She pointed at the dining table.
"Rory, Anna, are you in any way malnourished or in need of some international relief organization to recruit a celebrity to raise money on your account?" He turned his head from the paper to shout to them.
"I'm good." They call back.
"They're good, Emily." He turned back to his paper.
"Your sense of humor rears its ugly head at the oddest of times, Richard." Emily stared down at her husband, not amused.
"Emily, I am not the mastermind behind some great scheme to spoil your dinner plans and I don't care to be treated as such." He scoffs.
"So you're fine with having no dinner tonight, is that it?" Emily crossed her arms over her chest.
"I certainly am not." He put down his paper to say.
Rory kicked her sister, so she looked up from her Trig textbook. She gave her a pointed look. Anna stood up and walked into the living room. "Hey, how about I check the fridge? I'm sure there's something in there we could whip up." She offers.
"Whip up?" Emily looks confused by the concept.
"Yeah, come on. It'll be fun, I promise." Rory waves for them to follow as the siblings walk to the kitchen.
"Well, come on, Mr. We'll Figure it Out," Emily told Richard. They walk into the kitchen and open the freezer. "Nothing," Emily said.
"Not a blessed thing." Richard proclaims.
"What are you guys talking about? There's ground beef, you don't need to defrost that." She grabs it before opening the fridge. "Look, you have sausages. Have you guys had chili before?" She turned to her grandparents.
"That's prison food." Her grandma looks disgusted.
"Anna's chili is really good." Rory nods to them.
"I can make chili with cornbread." Anna moves around the kitchen to gather the ingredients.
"Oh, Anna, you're not serious about making that." Emily follows her.
"That food you eat at a carnival." Richard shook his head.
"I promise you're going to love it." Anna turns to them.
"But..." Emily looked like she was being forced into a haunted house.
"It's just one night. Now, go into the living room and I'll call you when it is ready. Rory will entertain you." She pushed the three of them out. "I always wanted a kitchen like this to myself." She looked around the beautiful kitchen that had all the latest gadgets. She got to work.
The intercom on the phone ding, "Anna, I got a page saying for us to call home. So, I'll call the house and you pick up the kitchen phone." Rory told her from her mom's old room.
"Okay." Anna waited for the light to go on saying that line one was busy and then she picked up the phone.
"Hello? Rory? Anna?" A familiar but surprising voice answered their house phone.
"Lane?" Anna stirred the chili.
"Where are you?" Lane asks.
"We're at our grandparents. What are you doing at our house?" Rory sat down on her mother's bed.
"Like you care," She scoffs.
"What are you talking about?" Rory asks.
"You're never around when I need you." Lane sat down at the kitchen table in their house.
"Well, you know I have to go to my grandparents on Fridays." Rory didn't see why her friend was upset that she wasn't there.
"I know. You go to your grandparents. You go to Chilton. You have to meet Dean. He needs his cookies. I can't find my books. You remember when Anna got obsessive with Tristan, we made a pact that we wouldn't be that girl." Lane rants.
"Excuse me? Pact? That girl?" Anna yells into the phone.
"We'll talk about it later, Anna. What are you talking about, Lane?" Rory wanted to figure out what was going on. Anna slams the phone down. She was so angry that her sister and best friend were talking behind her back.
The stove buzzing made her bring her attention back to the kitchen. She pulled the cornbread out as her grandma ran in. "What was that?" She looks around to see if there was a fire.
"Sorry, Grandma, I put the timer on so I would know when the bread was done." She turns the timer off.
"Oh, are you alright? You look upset." Emily looks over the tight expression on her normally giddy granddaughter.
"I'm just nervous. This is the first time you'll be eating food I made all by myself and I know it's not fancy like you're used to." She lied, because she didn't want her grandma to pull Rory down the stairs, so they could kiss and make up.
"Well, it smells good." She looked down into the pot of tomato sauce, hamburger meat, sausages, and spices. "What's this?" She points at the muffin pan that was filled with chocolate liquid.
"You guys have vanilla ice cream, so I figure I would make chocolate lava cakes." She put it in the oven, now that the cornbread is done and set the timer.
"What is that?" Emily asks.
"It's a chocolate cake with an oozy chocolate center." She explains.
"That sounds delicious." She smiles at her.
"Dinner's ready. Why don't you get Grandpa and Rory to the dining table?" She grabbed a four matching bowl and plate set. Emily nodded and went to get her family to the table. Anna filled up the bowls with chili and put two pieces of cornbread on each plate. She went out to put a bowl and plate in front of everyone.
Rory and Anna dig in while their grandparents stare down at the bowl. "You want to eat it before it gets cold," Rory told her grandma. Emily put her first spoonful into her mouth.
"How is it?" Anna asks.
"Not cold!" Emily put her hand over her mouth as the chili burned it.
"Mm, it's quite tasty. Emily, we should have this more often." Richard hums in delight. Anna beams in pride.
"What?" She asked in surprise at how fast he was eating.
"Perhaps instead of that horrible salmon that keeps showing up." He suggested.
"That salmon is a fine delicacy." Emily defends one of her favorite dishes.
"Mm, potato, po-tah-to," Richard shrugs.
"The problem with salmon is it dries out fast. I find that if you cook it in Alfredo sauce it's less likely to happen and it's delicious." Anna suggests. Richard's eyes light up while Emily looks horrified.
"Try it again, Grandma. It's probably cooler now." Rory points to the bowl. With Anna's hopeful eyes watching she tried it again.
"Mmm…that's wonderful!" Emily could taste the many flavors now that it wasn't burning her mouth.
"See? Try and dip the cornbread in it." Anna points to the bread. Her grandparents did what she suggested.
After everyone empties their bowls and plates, the stove buzzed. "I'll get the cakes." She got up to go into the kitchen. She put a mini cake on each plate and scooped some ice cream on it too. She went back into the dining room and put a plate in front of each of them.
"Oh, chocolate oozing out, is it raw?" Richard gasps when he cuts into the cake.
"No, it's cooked. It's supposed to ooze." Anna assured him.
He put some cake and ice cream on his spoon then put it in his mouth. "Maybe you should start planning the meal instead of your grandmother." He took another bite.
"This is really good." Emily cleans her plate.
Rory brought down an album from her mother's old room. They were looking through it. "Ah, look at this." Emily points at the baby picture of their mom in a white dress with a bonnet on.
"That's one fluffy white dress." Rory smiles down at the cute baby picture.
"Yes. There were 12 petticoats underneath it. We got it in London, remember, Richard?" Emily told them why it looked so fluffy. He nods and hummed in response.
"She looks like a little princess." Anna stared down at the first baby picture she ever saw of her mother.
"Yes, well, if memory serves, I believe about two minutes after that picture was taken, her highness dumped a glass of grape juice all over it," Emily remembered this was the first and last time she wore that dress.
"Look, Emily, it's Hopie." He pointed to a black and white picture of a pretty young lady.
"Hopie?" Rory asks, never hearing the name before.
"My younger sister," Emily told them.
"Has she ever been here when I was here? I don't remember her." Rory asks.
"Oh, she lives in Paris. Our great expatriate." Richard explains to them.
"She looks like a woman of culture." Anna thought the woman had a posture of elegance and worldliness.
"Oh, my, Hopie, look at you. I haven't seen her for such a long time." Emily smiles down at her sister.
"Maybe we should take a trip this year," Richard suggests.
"That would be nice." She nods.
"Maybe Rory and Anna could go with us." He looked over at his granddaughters making them smile at him.
"I'll start packing tomorrow." Rory beams.
"Oh, is that you guys?" Anna points at a wedding photo of a young couple.
"Yes, it is." Richard nods.
"That is our wedding picture," Emily told them.
"It's an amazing dress." Rory complimented.
"It should've been. My mother had three seamstresses working around the clock making it." Emily smiles down at the photo.
"Do you still have it?" Anna asks.
"It's upstairs packed away somewhere. I'll save it for you if you like. You'll get married at different times, so you both can wear it." Emily offers.
"Oh, Emily, they're too young to be thinking about things like that." Richard shook his head.
"Oh, Richard, please. Every young girl thinks about her wedding. I know I did. I knew from the time I was twelve that I wanted lilies and orchids with a silver bow wrapped around them for my bouquet." She told her daughters.
"I want orchids too." Anna smiles at her grandmother.
"You also knew that you wanted to marry Errol Flynn." Richard took his glasses.
"Really? Grandma had a thing for the pirate guy?" Rory looks at her grandmother for confirmation.
"I did not have a thing for the pirate guy." Emily looks away from them to deny.
"She was mad about him. She even tried to get me to grow one of those little mustaches." He explained to them.
"You're kidding." Anna laughs.
"Richard, stop." Emily scolds him.
"She wanted me to swing from a chandelier." He teases.
"Oh, now you're just being silly." Emily let a small smile slip.
"Luckily I was on the fencing team in college or I would've married Lucinda Lester." Richard went on.
"Actually, Lucinda Lester looked a lot like Errol Flynn." Emily took a sip of her wine and Richards put his finger over his lip to show the mustache she had. "I should've married her. It would've been very modern of me." Emily teases him back.
Anna smiles at their exchange, a lot of the time it seems so formal with them, with her grandma planning the dinner and her grandpa's attention mostly on the paper. It was nice to see them interact playfully like this.
"Wow. Mom looks beautiful here." Rory points at a picture of teenage Lorelai in a beautiful white dress. The laughter immediately left the room.
"Yes, she does." Emily gave that emotionless voice that she gives when she is upset with you, but makes like she's too much of a lady to yell.
"What was the occasion?" Rory, not reading the room, asked.
"Who would like some coffee?" Richard tried to change the subject to not ruin the evening.
"That was her debutante gown for her coming-out party," Emily told them.
"Mom, had a coming-out party?" Anna asks in surprise. She figured mom would have told them that horror story.
"No, she didn't." Richard looked down at his lap.
"Oh." They let out.
"Yes, well, things happen, don't they?" Emily closes the album.
"If you'll excuse me, I have some business calls to make." Richard got up to leave the room.
"I'll go get that coffee." Emily got up to go into the kitchen. Anna and Rory sat down to look at the photo album by themselves.
Rory and Anna were sitting in the car on their way back to their house. "So, how often do you and Lane talk shit about me?" She glares at her sister.
"That's not what happened?" Rory shook her head.
"Don't lie to me, Rory. Pacts are made about not ending up like someone. Like the pact that we won't be like Sally Winfield and shave our heads no matter how bad the break up is." Anna screams at her even though Rory was a foot away from her. "What was the pact?"
"It was when you first started going out with Tristan and you were over to his house every day for like a month. The pact was that we wouldn't be like you and let a boyfriend take over our lives." She admits.
"Well, you broke that pact didn't you?" Anna sneers.
"I'm sorry, but neither of us is the injured party here." Rory points to herself and her sister.
"No, you're not the injured party. I had my sister and a best friend talking crap behind my back while smiling in my face." Anna throws daggers at her with her eyes.
"What did you want us to do?" Rory leans away from her angry sister.
"Confront me. Say, hey Anna we're here too. Stop being a shitty friend." She let out a sigh as she thought about what she just said. She took a deep calming breath and turn to her sister. "I'm sorry for being a shitty friend, next time tell me."
"I'm sorry too for being a shitty friend. Now, we have to apologize to Lane." Rory looked out the window to see they were pulling up the driveway.
"Thanks, Lance, you're a real professional." Anna waves to the man as she gets out of the car.
They walk up the steps to their house to open the door when it was opened for them. Lorelai steps out in her pajamas and jacket. "Hi." She smiles at them.
"Hi. What's up?" Rory wraps her arms around herself to protect herself from the cold.
"Nothing, what's up with you?" She had a nervous smile on her face.
Anna tried to go inside when her mother blocked her. "Do we need to know something before we can go inside?"
"Boy, you're so smart. Right, okay, here we go . . . I've got a boy in the house." She told them.
"Boy... like what a kid." Anna tilted her head in confusion.
"I have a man inside…. The house" She adds on when she realizes how weird that sounded.
"You, what," Rory asks.
"Nothing happened, I swear. He slept the whole night on the couch. And you know him." She started breathing fast from having to run down here.
"I do?" Rory asks.
"And you both like him. I don't know if that's relevant, I just thought that I would throw that in there." After she said that she let them in the house.
Anna closes her mouth to swallow the loud gasp at Mr. Medina sleeping on their couch. "My English teacher is on my couch," Rory whispers to her mother.
"It was the snow. You know how I get, it's like catnip. I was walking, he was there, his car was broken, and we had fiesta burgers. It was the snow." Lorelai follows the girls into the kitchen as she explains. "Talk to me. How are you feeling?" She asked when they didn't say anything. Rory went to check the coffee maker.
"I don't know," Rory said. Lorelai looks at Anna to get a shrug.
"Take a guess: angry, frustrated, or nauseous?" Lorelai gave them examples.
"I'm just in shock." Anna felt almost numb.
"Weird, I feel weird. Has he been here all night?" Rory asks.
"Pretty much," She told them.
"Oh my god, did he go into the bathroom? I have stuff hanging in there!" Rory went to go to the bathroom to take her stuff down. She figured he probably wanted to use it when he gets up.
Lorelai grabs her arm before she could. "Honey, you knew I was going to date him, right? This isn't a total surprise."
"Yes, I knew you were going to date. I just didn't expect him to be here… at our house . . . in the morning." Rory didn't expect to see her mom's boyfriend, she never saw any before.
"I know." She nods.
"I don't remember a man ever sleeping in our house." Anna tried to remember a time they were even introduced to one of her boyfriends.
"Yeah, well, I kind of broke the rules," Lorelai admits.
"God, why is this so weird for me?" Rory pours herself a cup of coffee.
"Because, I should've told you first," She asks.
"No." They shook their heads. Their mom didn't need their permission.
"Because I should have talked to you before I did this." She thought of another reason for them to be mad.
"No." They shook their heads again.
"Because you're afraid he smashed the couch pillows out of shape?" She didn't know why else they would be upset.
"As long as he doesn't drool on them," Anna rubs her face.
"Do you love him?" Rory asks. Anna put her hands down to look at their mother.
"I, uh . . . we had one date. It was a great date, World Series level. But it was just a date. Honey, I promised myself a long time ago that I was going to keep all this stuff separate from you, and I want you to know that that still stands, okay? This was a one-time thing. I'm not going to start just bringing guys home. This is not a trend." Lorelai wanted them to know that they were still number one in her life.
"You can, you know," Rory told her.
"What?" She asked, not knowing what she was responding too.
"She means you can bring guys home. If you like someone you should feel comfortable doing that. We don't want to limit your relationship progress." Anna poured herself a cup of coffee.
"I appreciate that." Lorelai appreciated them trying to be grown-up about this.
"We want you to be happy," Rory told her.
"And I love you guys for that." She smiles.
"Plus, I know you're not a cat person, so you truly will be alone if you don't find someone," Rory adds, making Anna snort.
"Okay, look, someday I will bring somebody home, but when I do I just want to be sure it's the guy." She put her hands in her pockets.
"Mr. Medina's not the guy?" Rory asks.
"I don't know, he might be, but right now it's just you, me, and Anna." Lorelai shrugs. Rory's bedroom door opens, "And sometimes Lane." She said.
"Hey." Lane looked at her best friends.
"Hey." The sibling said back to her.
"I'm going to go wake the man up." Lorelai walks back to the living room to give them time to talk.
"Your mom let me spend the night here." Lane grabs her stuff from Rory's room.
"I tried calling you back all night but the phones didn't turn back on until this morning," Rory told her.
"It's okay, I understand." Lane nods.
"Lane, I'm so sorry. I've been the worst friend lately." Rory apologized.
"I'm sorry too, Lane. I should've been the type of girl you could make a pact out of." Anna puts down her coffee and walks over to stand in front of Lane with Rory.
"No, I just wigged out a little. I get jealous sometimes. I mean, you guys seem to have this great life going and I don't fit in there." Lane explains why she yells at them over the phone.
"That's not true, you totally fit in." Rory shook her head.
"Yeah?" Lane was hoping that her insecurity was just in her head.
"I'm talking about Lego's," Anna said.
"I hope so." Lane wanted their friendship to last until death.
"I will be better from now on, I promise. Twenty-four hours a day at your disposal." Rory gave her word.
"Me too," Anna nods.
"I'm sure the boyfriends will love that," Lane smiles.
"Well, they'll have to, you came first." Rory smiles back.
"That's right. I got dibs." They hug each other. "Okay, I have to go home." She walked to the kitchen door that led to the porch.
"Coffee at Luke's, 2 o'clock," Anna calls to her.
"You're on," Lane smiles.
"And I want to hear all about that hair touching incident," Rory told her.
"Yeah, and I want to hear about the teacher on the couch incident." Lane nods to the living room.
"Deal," They nodded before Lane walked out the door.
"Let's check on this teacher on the couch." Anna and Rory went to peek around the corner to see Lorelai and Max talking and laughing. They slip back into the kitchen as Rory pulls a photo strip out of her pocket. Anna looked over to see it was her parents when they were teenagers. They look to be so much in love. Anna, even with all her daddy issues, couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have him on the couch instead of Mr. Medina.
I can't tell you how hard it was to not write Harry Potter instead of Harry Porter when I was writing the scene for the town meeting.
