It was the weekly Friday dinner. Lorelai, Rory, Anna, and Emily are sitting at the dinner table eating. "Grandma, can I have some baby pictures of you and Grandpa?" Rory asked.

"Any particular reason?" Emily looks over at her granddaughter.

"Yeah, we're doing this visual family history project for school." She explains.

"We need at least two. Rory and I don't want our project to look exactly alike. Dad said that he'll do what he can to get his demon parent's pictures. If they show up on photos." Anna glares down at her plate at the thought of her other grandparents.

"Oh. Well, if it's for school I suppose I could dig something up." Emily nods. She couldn't disagree with the second part of her statement but felt like she shouldn't encourage it either so she simply ignored it.

"And I need some of Mom too." Rory glares at Lorelai.

"I thought we already had this conversation." She sips her water.

"Yeah, but I don't believe you." Rory scoffs.

"Mother tell her." She turns to Emily.

"I don't have any baby pictures of your mother." She told them. Anna stares down at her plate. She had a feeling that she saw her mom's baby picture before and she was trying to remember when.

"Thank you." Lorelai raised her glass.

"How could you not have any baby pictures of Mom?" Rory asked.

"Because when your mother was seven, I came downstairs and found her burning all of her baby pictures." She remembered how horrified she was when she saw her standing over a flaming trash can.

"Why would you do that? I'm sure you were a cute baby." She scolds her mother.

"She was. She was very cute." Emily agrees.

"Four, three, two, one." Lorelai counted down.

"In most respects." She sips some white wine.

"We have lift-off," She motions with her hand.

"What does that mean?" Rory wonders.

"Nothing." Lorelai shook her head, not wanting to discuss this.

"I don't see what the problem is. You certainly grew into it." Emily didn't understand Lorelai's hatred for her baby picture.

"Grown into what?" Rory was getting more and more curious about this baby picture.

"As a child, your mother had an unusually large head," Emily told her.

"The best thing about it was that she would tell me constantly. My first complete sentence was big head wants dolly." She mimics a baby's voice.

"I can't imagine it being that bad." Rory thought her mom and grandma had to be exaggerating.

"It wasn't. It just affected her balance a little." She shrugs.

"Okay, can we please talk about something besides my formerly huge head?" Lorelai demands.

"Are these new chairs Grandma?" Rory looks down at her chair.

"Why, yes Rory, they are." Emily smiles.

"They are?" Lorelai looks down at it.

"Wait, there is a baby picture of mom, remember when we got snow in and I made chili. Rory found that photo album in mom's room. She was in a white frilly dress." Anna perks up when she remembers the picture.

"What, one survive?" Lorelai gasp.

"It was in your room." Anna raises an eyebrow. How could she have not known?

"The last place I would think to look." She sighs. She felt like a Skeksis thinking she killed off all the Gelflings but she didn't. Now that surviving Gelfling is grown up and coming back to get her.

"Oh right, I'll grab it before we leave. I'll have it back next Friday." Rory told her Grandmother, who nods in approval.

"You can't tell the chairs are new, Lorelai," Emily asked her daughter.

"They look exactly like the old ones." She nods.

"Oh, they are new. Thank god, thought I was going crazy…. They're nice." Anna complimented them when she felt her grandma's stare. They were similar to the old ones, but when she sat down it was higher up in the back then she remembered. She was wondering if she was shrinking or never noticed it before. She thought she had to notice or the thought that it was higher would have never crossed her mind. She went around in circles in her head until Rory brought up their family tree project.

"Are you sure they're new?" Lorelai asked.

"Of course I'm sure. I bought them. I got them from a dealer up in Maine last summer. He just finished restoring them." Emily scoffs.

"I don't see any difference at all." She took another sip of water.

"Well, the arch in the back is higher and they have completely different legs." She explained the differences. Anna looks down to see that the legs were different.

Lorelai looks down before looking back at her mother. "Hmm, no difference."

"Of course I could only get ten of these, so I'm two chairs short of a set." Emily decided to ignore her daughter and continue on about the chairs.

"You're telling me." She teased.

"Lorelai, do you realize how rare these chairs are?" Emily had enough of her silliness.

"No." She shook her head.

"I've searched for three years for them. I've combed every fine antique store on the East Coast and this is all I could find. I blame Peg Mosley." Emily made the chairs sound like her Moby Dick.

"Hm, Peg Mosley. Evil, evil woman." Lorelai hissed.

"What did Peg Mosley do?" Rory asked.

"She lured these two German children to her gingerbread house and then she tried to eat them. Pass the artichokes please." Lorelai nods to the plate near her mother.

"I made the mistake of telling Peg all my favorite special spots and that woman moved in and completely wiped them out. You can't find a decent Biedermayer hutch in all of Connecticut. I'm desperate for new sources." She passes Lorelai the plate while describing her dilemma.

"What about Kim's Antiques?" Anna asked.

"What's Kim's Antiques?" Emily wondered how she would know about an antique store.

"Didn't that burn down?" Lorelai hopes they would take her hint.

"Our best friend Lane, her parents have this great antique store in Stars Hollow," Rory explains.

"Is that so?" Emily turned to Lorelai. "Why haven't you ever told me about it?"

"Oh, I don't know Mom. I guess it got lost in my big head." She pointed at her head.

"Maybe you should come to Stars Hollow and I'll take you there. Like Saturday. You can come to see the town." Rory offers.

"Oh yeah, Grandma, you should come. It'll be a lot of fun." Anna would love to see a showdown between Mrs. Kim and Emily. It would be a match for the ages.

"Don't you two have to study?" Emily asked.

"I can put off studying for one day." Rory waved her hand to say it wouldn't be a problem.

"Yeah, there's always Sunday." Anna nods.

"I'm working." Lorelai butted in.

"No one is asking you to do anything Lorelai. This is between the girls and me. I accept your offer Rory, Anna. I would love to spend Saturday with you." Emily rolls her eyes at her daughter before smiling at her grandchildren.

"Great." They smile back at her.

"Well, I'm just sorry that I'm gonna miss it." Lorelai smiles, happy to have gotten out of it.

"Eat your artichoke, Lorelai." Emily points at her plate.


Rory, Anna, and Lorelai are sitting at a table. Luke brings their plates to them. "Okay, French toast with bacon crispy. Pancakes, two eggs over easy. A chili omelet with hash browns."

"Yummy." Anna grabs the pepper and salt to season her hash browns.

"Oh." Lorelai looks down at her plate.

"What?" Luke sighs.

"You put the eggs on top of the pancakes." She pointed at her food.

"Oops." Anna and Rory let out.

"What?" He was confused now that the teens were looking at him like he messed up.

"Yeah, well, it's like two eyes staring at me. See, I can't eat it like this." She explained the issue she had.

"Hence the oops." Rory hummed.

"What are you talking about? You always order the same thing." He pointed out they never had an issue until today.

"Yeah, but you usually put the eggs on the side so that my breakfast is not ogling me." She explained her issue.

"It's the same food." He argued.

"Hmm, yeah, I need the eggs put on the side." She demands.

"You want a brand new plate." He couldn't believe her sometimes.

"Here you go." Anna grabbed her fork and carefully put the eggs on the side, so they weren't on the pancakes.

"Thank you." Lorelai nods before looking at Luke as if saying look how easy that was. Luke rolled his eyes and sighed as he walked away. "So what time does the judgmental express arrive?" She asked them.

"Grandma gets here at noon," Rory told her.

"Hmm." She hummed out her response.

"Are you sure you won't do lunch?" Rory asked her one last time.

"Oh no, I can't, lunch is bad." She shook her head.

"Umm, this is the definition of brunch. It's lunch and breakfast put together." Anna said in between bites.

Rachel walks over to the table. "Lorelai, you're here. Good. Don't move."

"I won't." She said to Rachel's back as she walked away.

"What are you doing at lunch?" Rory brought the subject back up.

"She's doing nothing," Anna said after watching her mom fail to come up with an answer.

"Hey you, eat your brunch omelet and I have very important things to do." She taps her daughter's plate.

"Like what?" Rory pushed.

"Well, at noon I have to not have lunch with my mother." She looks down at the table like she was checking her planner.

"Very nice." Rory glares.

Rachel walks back with a pile of photographs in her hand. "So I'm developing my pictures from the Firelight Festival. Some amazing stuff. And I'm thinking maybe there's a book here, faces of small-town America. . ." Anna perks up to look at the pictures. Rachel took breathtaking photos, there was a reason she was picked for all these big projects.

"Ah, you should feel safe, you don't live near these people." Lorelai sips her coffee.

"Exactly. And the very last shot on my roll was this." Rachel hands Lorelai a picture of Luke and her sitting on a bench.

"Wow. When did you take this?" She looks down at the pictures. Anna looks at the picture of her mom smiling at Luke. If you didn't know, you would think they were a lovely couple.

"When you weren't looking." Rachel smiled.

"What's that?" Luke came over with a coffee pot to fill up their mugs.

"Oh, it's a picture of us." Lorelia showed him.

"Us?" Luke question. Rachel grabs it back to put it in her pile. Luke stared down at it.

"Rachel took it," Rory explained to him.

"No duh," Anna laughs, getting a glare from her sister.

"At the Firelight Festival." Rachel looks at him the same way Lorelai did in the picture.

"Oh, sure, yeah." He nods remembering seeing Lorelai that night. He filled up their coffees getting a thank you from all of them.

"Do you wear contacts?" Rachel looks between the picture and Lorelai.

"Me? No." She shook her head.

"God, you've got amazing eyes. Doesn't she?" She turns to Luke.

"Oh, yeah. Sure, I guess. . . I mean, they're, you know, placed well. . . . symmetrical. I'm gonna get some more coffee." He stuttered before walking away with his empty coffee pot. Rachel shook her head at his awkwardness. She put down the photos for them to look at.

Rory hands Lorelai a photo of an old building. "Oh wow. Mom, look at this."

"What is that?" She took the picture from Rory. Anna leans to the side to look at it.

"It's an old abandoned inn I ran across when I was exploring the other day." Rachel looks at the picture they were looking at.

"This is Dragonfly. I totally forgot about this place." Lorelai remembers the Inn when she first moved here.

"Well, it doesn't look like it's been operational in years," Rachel told her.

"Look at all the trees. It's pretty…. Oh, I'm buzzing." Rory takes her pager out of her pocket.

"What have I said about buzzing in public?" Lorelai teased.

"It's Lane. 911. That's trig. Gotta go." Rory read the page.

"Bye. Take a . . . yeah." Lorelai pointed to her plate.

Rory took a toast from it. "Bye Rachel." She waves her toast to the lady before taking a bite.

"Bye." She smiles at the teen.

"I finished, so I'm going to start my half shift." She grabs her plate to take it in the back. She would only be able to do four hours before her grandma got here. Luke said she could take the whole day off, but she felt bad since she forgot she was scheduled when she offered to give her grandma a tour.


Anna and Rory were sitting on the porch waiting for their grandmother to arrive. "I hope Grandma will like it here." Anna stares out, waiting for the car to pull up.

"Me too." She nods her head.

Emily pulls up the driveway. They walked to her car. "Grandma."

"Rory, hello. What a lovely day to. . . ugh." Emily got out of her car and closed the door. She moved to hug them when her heel got caught in the grass. "I guess putting in a walkway never occurred to your mother." She struggles to get her heel out.

"Oh, actually it occurs to her every day on the way to work. Here." Rory grabs one arm while Anna grabs the other to help pull her heel out of the grass.

"Thank you." She looked down to see her expensive heels were now covered in dirt. They walked into the house.

"Are your shoes okay?" Rory closes the front door behind them.

"They're fine. Just a little muddy that's all." Emily sat down on a chair by the door to take them off. She didn't want to track mud into the house.

"Here give 'em. I'll clean them for you." Rory held out her hand.

"Oh, you don't have to do that." Emily watched as Rory took them.

"Mom found this great shoe cleaner. It gets out pretty much anything." She led them into the kitchen. She walks over to the cabinet to grab the shoe polish.

"Do you want anything to drink? We got ice tea, chocolate milk, and some french soda." Anna mentions to Madeline that she liked a soda she tried at her party, so she brought her a case.

"Iced tea would be nice." She nods. Anna opens the fridge to grab the jug. She went to the cabinet to grab a cup. "Oh my god. There's nothing in here." Emily held the fridge open.

"It is normally full of leftovers, but we just clean it out. We haven't gone grocery shopping yet." Anna poured ice tea into the cup. She was regretting cleaning out the fridge. Not that Emily would have reacted better to a fridge full of old take out containers.

"It's the Grapes of Wrath." She looked into the empty space.

"Don't worry. We eat fine." Rory pours some cleaner on a cloth and starts wiping off Emily's shoes.

"No food, hardly any drinks. Do you at least have plates?" Emily closed the fridge that was making her worry.

"Yes, we have plates." Anna guided her over to the cabinet that held the plates.

"There are women in bikinis on them." Emily pulls a plate out of the cabinet.

"The original Charlie's Angels. It took us years to get a complete set. You can find Kate Jackson and Shelly Hack pretty easily, even Cheryl Ladd. But, Farrah Fawcett and Jacklyn Smith are a little harder to come by, but still accessible. The real trick however is to find Tanya Roberts. We have three." Rory brags about their finds.

It would impress some people, but not Emily Gilmore. Not that she would let that show to her grandchildren who look proud of their naked lady plates. "You have three Tanya Roberts?"

"Yup." They nod.

"And I was worried, silly me." She puts the plate away. "Thank you. How are you doing with those shoes?" She took the cup of ice tea from Anna before turning to Rory.

"All done." She hands Emily the shoes.

"That's amazing. What is that you used?" She looks down to see that they were shiner then they were this morning. She put them back on.

"I don't know. We got it off one of those late-night TV ads. Apparently it also gets the rust off nails and hinges, waxes your car, and weatherproofs windows and doors." Rory remembers her mother jumping up to grab the phone. She said that it would be able to take the stain out of her favorite shoes and it did.

"Well, isn't that nice?" She wondered how they thought to buy it as a shoe polish.

"Okay, about today. I think I should give you the grand tour of the town. So, we can start by walking to Kim's Antiques, which takes us through all the good sites." Rory let her know what they were doing today.

"Well, uh, Rory, I don't think I wore the right shoes for the grand tour. Why don't we just drive?" Emily didn't think she could walk around all day in these heels.

"You can borrow some of my mom's shoes." The girls walk ahead to go up the stairs.

"Uh, no, I don't think so. Rory, hold on a minute." Emily stopped them, not wanting to wear anything of Lorelai's.

"Grandma, you will be missing the true Stars Hollow experience if you don't walk. Trust me." Rory turns around to tell her.

"Alright, but I won't wear anything with rhinestones or zebra stripes or anything that has batteries or that sings or makes animal noises or moves on its own." Emily made her list of demands.

"Grandma, we got it. You want to wear the fuzzy ones that light up." Anna calls down from the top of the stairs before running into her mom's room. She crackled as she listened to her grandma screams of no while Rory assured her that they would get her normal shoes.


Emily, Anna, and Rory are walking through Stars Hollow. "I feel ridiculous," Emily complains. She was wearing white sneakers with a matching gray tweed skirt and blazer set.

"You look great," Rory told her for the twentieth time.

"I feel like a Clydesdale." She felt that the shoes were too clunky. It made her feet look much bigger than they were.

"You look like you're comfortable." Rory knew the shoes didn't match her outfit but didn't see the big deal.

"People are staring." Emily looks around at the town people who were wondering who the woman they never have seen before was.

"Because you look great." Anna stretches out the word great like Tony the Tiger.

"Yes, what a shame your grandfather isn't here. He'd fall in love with me all over again." She smiles sarcastically as they walk up the Kims pathway. They walk in through the front door. "I think we came in through the storeroom." She said even though she didn't know why the front door would lead to the storeroom.

"Nope, this is it." Rory points to the room.

"This is the antique store?" Emily looks around at the stacked furniture.

"You have to dig but you can find some great stuff here." Rory points down a pathway they could walkthrough.

"It's a fun adventure," Anna told her.

She scoffed but decided since she was here she would have a look around. She walks down the near pathway Rory pointed out. "This is ridiculous. No one can run a quality business like this. This place is dusty and disorganized and you can't possibly. . . . Oh, now that is gorgeous. Look at the woodwork. It's exquisite. I wonder if it has a mate." She stopped in the middle of her rant when a cabinet caught her eye.

"Grandma, look at this. It's got like little flowers all over it." She pointed at a writing desk.

"It's very pretty." She looks it over.

"Is it something special?" Rory didn't know anything about antique so she didn't know if it was worth anything.

"Do you like it?" Emily asked.

"Yeah." She nods.

"Then it's something special." She smiles.

"Hi." Lane walks over.

"Grandma, you remember Lane." Anna points to her friend.

"Yes, I do. Nice to see you again." Emily nods.

"Same. Uh, Rory, Anna, can I talk to you two for a sec?" She points to her two friends.

They look over at their grandma. "Go, talk. I have a lot of looking to do here." She waved them off.

The teens walk into the kitchen. "Problem," Lane told them.

"Hit me." Rory nods.

"It's been a week since that party, and still he has not called." She sighs.

"Henry." Anna wondered why he didn't call. She gave him her number, so he didn't even have to look it up.

"He said he'd call." Lane couldn't believe she was waiting around for a Korean boy to call her.

"Maybe he's been busy." Rory reasoned.

"Maybe he has a girlfriend." Lane shot back.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend," Anna told her.

"A tiny perfect Korean girl that his parents would love and approve of." She huffs.

"Lane, you are a tiny perfect Korean girl that his parents would love and approve of." Rory reminds her.

"No, they'd know." She reasoned.

"Know what?" Anna asked.

"Know that I listen to the wrong music and wish I could go blond without looking like an idiot. Or that I'd take a whopper over kimchi in a heartbeat." She didn't know why she let herself get her hopes up over him. Her parent's idea of a perfect guy was not her perfect guy.

"Now you're just going crazy." Anna thought that kimchi was much better than a whopper. Then the thought of a kimchi burger came into her mind and her mouth was watering.

"So he doesn't like me, he's not gonna call. It's not the end of the world. I'll live. I'll go on. There's always college. Unless my parents get their way, and then it's, I take Jesus to be my lawful wedded husband." Lane's depressing thoughts brought her back to the matter at hand.

"Lane, with all due respect to your fiancé, Henry will call," Rory told her.

"No, he's not." She shook her head.

"Well then why did he talk to you all night. ." Rory asked. Anna smiles, not having known that.

"Well. ." She tried to reason but Rory went on.

" . . and follow you around everywhere you went. ." She went on.

" 'cause . . ." She failed to come up with a response.

". .and ask you to dance six times?" Rory puts up six fingers.

"Was it six times?" Lane blushes.

"It was six times. And he did not ask you to dance six times because you're a good dancer because to tell you the truth and as much as I love you, you're not." Rory shook her head.

"Really?" She smiles.

"You are an embarrassment to the art of dancing," Anna told her. "Henry will call. He is probably nervous that your parents will pick up. I'll let him know a good time to call."

"Thank you." She smiles at her friends.

"That's mid-nineteenth century, four different kinds of wood." Mrs. Kim's voice made them go to the doorway. They watched her and Emily barter over the cabinet.

"Is it missing an inlay?" Emily asked.

"No." She shook her head.

"I thought it was missing an inlay." She insisted.

"Perfect condition!" Mrs. Kim was just as stubborn as her.

"How much?" She asked.

"Thirty-five hundred for the pair." She pointed to furniture.

"You must be joking!" Emily scoffs.

"No. No joke." She shook her head, not understanding why people thought she was a kidder.

"Well, they're nice, but they're certainly not that nice." She shook her head.

"Not a better pair on the East Coast." She told her.

"Two thousand." Emily offered.

"You're from Hartford." Mrs. Kim looked her over.

"Yes." She nods.

"Ah." She let out a noise of realization.

"It hardly matters where I'm from. I know these pieces are overpriced." Emily denied that where she's from had anything to do with her attitude.

"Look on the bottom." She told her.

"They're not signed." Emily didn't believe that there would be signed antiques here.

"Look on the bottom." Mrs. Kim repeated herself.

"Are they signed?" She was starting to wonder if they were now with how insistent she was.

"Look on the bottom!" She nods to the cabinet.

Emily leans down and looks. "They're signed." She gasps in amazement before turning to the other woman. "How do I know that's authentic?"

"You have my word." She said.

"And a letter of authentication?" Emily pushed. She wasn't going to pay for a fake signature.

"That too." She nods.

"It's like watching the Williams' sisters." Lane never saw anyone go back and forth with her mom so quickly before.

"I knew it would be gloriest, but I never thought it would be this good." Anna's eyes were glued to the two women.

"I wish we had popcorn." Rory stared at them.

". . .Insulting!" Mrs. Kim gasps.

"I won't take it." Emily shook her head.

"Then someone else will!" She shrugs.

"Eventually, maybe." Emily shrugs back at her.

"I can wait." She didn't want this woman thinking she was desperate for business.

"So can I." Emily wasn't in dire need to redecorate her house.

"That's my last offer." She stayed firm on her price.

"I'll think about it." Emily looks the other way like she was about to leave.

"I'll waive the tax." Mrs. Kim was never one to let a sale walk away.

"And throw in delivery." She turns around to look at her.

She let out a sigh before agreeing. "We appreciate your business."

The Gilmore walks out of Kim's Antiques after Emily got everything squared away with Mrs. Kim. "I like that woman. And you know what? I like these shoes." Emily smiled at her granddaughters.

"You're becoming one of us, Grandma." Rory pushes the gate open to let them out of Kim's yard.

Emily let out a laugh before pointing to the left. "This way?"

"Yeah." The girls nod.

"I love this street." Emily was in very high spirits.


Anna opens the door to the inn to let her sister and grandmother in. "So, what do you think?" They turn to Emily.

"Well, I think it's very nice." She looks around the place. It was nicer than what she imagined, which was more of a motel than an Inn.

"Mom's office is right back there. Oh, and you have to see the dining room. They got the chandeliers from one of Martha Washington's houses." Rory was excited to give her grandmother the tour of this place. She felt like it would give her a better understanding of her daughter.

"Do you spend a lot of time here?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. We work here a couple of afternoons a week, and we help out with special occasions. They have a lot of weddings here. I work in the kitchen while Rory helps set up and host." Anna explains.

"I wonder where mom is." Rory looks around for her.

"Oh, don't bother your mother. I'm sure she's busy." She didn't want to intrude when she made it clear that she didn't want to see her today.

"Oh no, she'd want to say hi." They walk over to the front desk, where Michel was. "Michel, where's Mom?"

"Off with her boyfriend." He didn't look up from his paper.

"What boyfriend?" Anna looks over at Rory who shrugs her shoulder.

"Small, dark, wanted in four states." He put the paper down to look at them.

"Okay, well, do you know when she's coming back because my grandmother's here and we want to say hi," Rory said before he could shoo them away like he was about to.

"Your grandmother?" He smiled at Emily.

"Emily Gilmore." She stuck out her hand.

"Michel Gerard." He shook her hand.

They had a conversation in French. Anna never saw Michel smile so much before. It was normally a smile at someone's misery that lasted a few seconds then back to his natural bitch face. Rory butted in when the flirtatious laughing started. "Okay, well, we better go find mom."

"It's been a pleasure meeting you." Emily smiled at him.

"The pleasure is all mine." He smiles back at her.

They walk towards the center of the lobby. "What a charming man." Emily let out a dreamy sigh. Anna and Rory look at each other still in shock at what just happened. It seems that Emily had a way with the difficult people in Stars Hollow. It made Anna want to introduce her to Taylor.

"Mom, hi." The girls waved when they saw her signing off on something.

"Mom, hi." Lorelai walks over to them.

"Lorelai, it's quite a place you've got here." She complimented her.

"Oh, well it's not really my place, I just work here so. . I thought you were gonna go antiquing." Lorelai thought about the Dragonfly. For so long she thought about the Independence Inn as hers but it wasn't.

"Yeah, we did. And then we had lunch." Rory told her.

"Oh, really? Where?" She knew that no place would be good enough for Emily.

"Teriyaki Joe's." Emily smiles.

"You're kidding." Lorelai laughs.

"She picked." She was surprised when her grandma picked it even after they explained the food there. Emily didn't seem like the type to like BBQ but she did.

"You did?" She narrows her eyes at her mother.

"It looked festive." She didn't see what the big deal was.

"I can't picture you at Teriyaki Joe's . . .or in jogging shoes. What's up working girl?" She never saw her mom wear anything but heels.

"Well, Rory decided that we should take the grand tour of the town and that meant walking. I hope you don't mind, I borrowed your socks also." Emily explained to her why she was wearing her shoes without asking.

"Oh, I don't mind. I wish I had a camera, but I don't mind." Lorelai assured her.

"I'm gonna go show her the grounds," Rory told her.

"Oh yeah, good. On the way back, show her the gym. Jump on the treadmill." Lorelai moved her arms like she was jogging.

"See you later." Anna rolls her eyes.

"Make sure you stretch first," Lorelai told Emily, who also rolled her eyes.


"This is the pond. You see that duck with the dot between her eyes. That is Puddles. She was my science project. I let her retire here." Anna pointed the duck out as they walked along the pond.

"She looks like a good duck." Emily nods.

"She is." She reminds herself to bring some bread next time.

"So the horses are up on that hill, and the tennis courts are over there." Rory pointed out.

"It's certainly impressive." Emily looks around the place.

They walk towards the potting shed. "And this is my favorite place," Rory told her.

"The tool shed?" Emily laughed.

"No, this is where we used to live," Anna explained that it was more than a tool shed.

"What?" She looked in between them.

"Right when we moved here, this was our apartment." Rory smiles

"But. ." For once Emily was at a loss for words.

"I know it looks small, but it's really pretty. Come on." Rory opens the door for them to walk inside.

"See we had our bunk beds right over here. We used to pretend that it was a castle or pirate ship." Anna pointed to the spot where the beds used to be.

"Mom put up this pretty curtain around the tub so that it looked like a real bathroom" Rory grabs the curtain that was hung up. "And we would just sit outside at night when the Inn would have parties and we'd listen to music and feed the ducks and. . ." She explained the amazing childhood they had.

Emily couldn't take it anymore and walk out. "Grandma? Grandma wait, what's the matter?" They ran after her.

"Nothing." She put on her shades to stop herself from crying.

"Did something happen? Are you sick? Is it the teriyaki?" Rory asked.

"I'm fine. It's just getting late, I have to go." She hurried off nearing running into a small guy.

"But. . ." Before they could go after her, Rune stood in front of them.

"Hey. Do you mind?" He nods to the shed with a bunch of sheets in his hands.

"You could go around, you lazy bastard." Anna sneers at him. She hated it when people wanted others to move out of their way when they could go around. The man scoffed and went around them muttering under his breath. "Little troll." She glares at him as he slams the door.


Anna got off the phone with Henry and went to Rory's room where she knew she could find the girl she needed to talk to. "Hey, Lane. Why haven't you called Henry back?" She leaned against the door frame.
"She said the message is too casual and he might think he was calling the hot blonde he met the other night," Rory explained.

"What was wrong with the message? He went over what he was going to say to me. It sounded fine. He wanted it so if your parents heard it, they wouldn't grill you about him. I explained to him it didn't matter what he said your mom would grill you anyways." Anna took a seat on the bed with them.

"Luckily, they didn't hear it." Lane nods.

"Okay, so what's wrong?" Anna tilts her head.

"If I call him back then he's probably gonna ask me out on a date. And if we go out on a date then it could lead to another date, and then I'll have to introduce him to my parents. And once I do that, they're gonna like him. Because he's Korean and he's gonna be a doctor. And then once that happens, that's it. It'll be over. He'll be hideous to me. Now I'm a Lou Reed gloomy." She pouts.

The phone rang, and Rory answered it. "How about you call him back? Go on the date without your parents knowing. Maybe if you fall in love with him before introducing him to your parents then you won't care that they like him." Anna turns to Lane.

"I don't know." She sighs.

"You never know if you don't try." Anna pushed. Henry talks about Lane all the time. She didn't want her friend to be heartbroken. She figured if it worked out, then both of her friends would be happy.

"Grandma wants to talk to you." Rory hands her the phone.

"Hello?" Anna said.

"Hello, Anna. So I know that orchids are your favorite flower. What is your favorite color?" She turned the page on her notebook to Anna, so she didn't get the information mixed up.

"Red." She told her.

"Good. What music do you like? Nsync like Rory?" She asked.

"No, I don't like Nsync like Rory." She raises an eyebrow at her sister.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Lane narrows her eyes at her friend.

"Well, what do you like then?" Emily asked.

"Linkin Park." She figured they wouldn't be too much for her grandma to handle.

"That is a good choice." Lane pointed a finger at her to tell Rory to follow that lead.

"I never heard of them. I can't wait to see you Friday." Emily's cheerful tone came through the phone.

"Okay. See you then." She hung up the phone.

"What was that?" Anna looks over at Rory.

"I'm just as lost as you." Rory shrugs.

"Sounded like some sick take on the Gallup survey. I gotta go" Lane got off the bed.

"Call him," Rory and Anna told her.

"Will do." She gave them a thumbs up before walking out.


Rory, Anna, and Lorelai are sitting in the theater, waiting for the movie to start. "She actually asked if you like the Backstreet Boys?" Lorelai put some popcorn in her mouth.

"Except she called them Backside Boys." Rory giggled. Anna wishes she answered the phone now.

"Ha! That is a high comedy. What inspired that woman?" Lorelai laughs.

"I don't know. It was weird." She shook her head.

"Sudden interest in pop music. I sat her down to listen to a Prince song once, and she looked like she was having a stroke. Wait a minute, I know what she's doing." She gasped when the realization hit her.

"What?" Her daughters look at her.

"She's trying to be your pal now. Ah, that sneak. You spend one day together and she wants to know all about you. She's picturing you guys chatting about boys, and painting each other's toenails." She laughs at the image. Anna shrugs, not seeing anything wrong with that. Kirk, sitting behind them, clears his throat loudly. They turn around to look. "Oh, hey Kirk. Are you getting a cold? You know you should try that dinametichemphemital. Knocks it right out. Don't drive a forklift though, 'cause it'll make you drowsy."

Luke and Rachel walk in holding hands. They sit down in the front row. "Oh wow, when's the last time you think Luke's been to a movie?" Rory looks at the couple.

"I don't know but I think the guy had to crank the projector by hand." Lorelai jokes.

"Do you mind?" Kirk leaned forward to ask.

Lorelai turns around. "Kirk, the movie hasn't even started yet."

"I like to have silence in order to cleanse my mental pallet and achieve calm before enjoying a motion picture." He told her

"Oh, you got that out of a book." She scoffs, facing forward. She watches Luke and Rachel talking. "Luke looks happy, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he looks happy." Anna nods. They watch as Luke whispers into her ear.

"And they seem right together, don't they?" She asked.

"Just right." Rory nods.

"Good, good, he deserves it. So I did the right thing by butting in the way I did." Lorelai was now worried that Rachel might bolt again. If she did then she would feel guilty for pushing Luke when he knew better.

"Oh yeah, Luke needed the push." Anna watches the awkward dance between the two in the diner. Rachel would try to court him while Luke kept his guard up from being hurt by her too many times.

The lights dim and the movie, Queen of Outerspace, starts. "So if Rachel turns out to be an evil fembot and murders Luke in his sleep, I'm not responsible am I?" Lorelai whispers to them.

Rory thought about it before saying. "Only in an intergalactic court."

"Good. And Rachel seems really great." Lorelai nods, hoping that she made the right decision.

"You are now officially disturbing not just me but every person in this theater." Kirk leaned forward to tell them.

"Kirk, you're the only one who's disturbed." Lorelai shots him a glare before watching the screen. A cell phone goes off. Lorelai looks around and discovers that it's Kirk's. He tries to answer it, but the ringing wouldn't stop. "Uh! Shhh!" She hushed him.

"Hello?" He put it up to his ear, but it was still ringing.

"Shhh! Shh!" All the Gilmore girls were shushing him now.

"God, don't you hate that?" Lorelai laughs.

"Hello? Dammit!" Kirk runs out of the theater. Lorelai laughs. She turns forward to see Luke looking at her. She waves to get a wave back from him.


Lorelai rings the doorbell to the Gilmore manor. Emily answers the door. "Hello, hello, hello." She smiled widely at them.

"Wow, Mom, hi." Lorelai hasn't seen her mother this cheerful in a long time. "Uh, check the rubbing alcohol." She whispers to her children.

"How was the drive?" Emily asked.

"The drive was fine." She told her.

"Good." She nodded but didn't move to let them in.

"The foyer looks great." Lorelai looks over her mother's shoulder.

"I have a surprise for you." She smiles at Anna and Rory.

"The rest of the house ran away?" Lorelai teased.

"No." Emily smiles.

"No." Lorelai was at a loss as to what was going on.

"Rory, Anna come with me." She pulls them in and leads them up the stairs.

"Okay, so, I'll. . . I'll follow you then. Great." Lorelai walks in and closes the door behind her. She followed them up the stairs.

They go into a bedroom, which Emily has redecorated for Rory. "Voila." Emily motions to the room. The room that had a few bouquets of sunflowers and framed a N'ynic poster on the wall. There were blue pillows and stuffed animals on the bed. A pink robe was on the bed with a pink crowned lamp on the nightstand.

"Oh my…. Um Grandma, what is this?" Rory looks around the room.

"This is your room. Anna, yours is the next one over." She pointed to the right.

"What?" They look at her in surprise.

"Since you guys have been spending so much time here lately, I thought you should have a special place all your own." She smiles at them.

"But you didn't have to do this." She looks around the room. It wasn't her style at all except for the sunflowers, but she appreciated the thought and effort she put into it.

"Do you like it?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's beautiful." She nods.

"Do you see the NSync poster?" Lorelai whispers to Rory as she walks into the room.

"Thank you, Grandma." Rory and Anna hug Emily.

"You're welcome, sweethearts." She squeezed them.

"Come on, Rory. Let go look at mine." Anna pulls Rory to the next room.

They open the door to find orchids, a framed Linkin Park poster, red pillows, and stuffed animals. "Look it's Hello Kitty." Rory picked up the notepad.

"So cute." Anna opens the closet to see that she bought clothes for them.

"Mom seems to be freaked out." Rory looks over at the wall that was not covering up their mother's shouting.

"You know that mom is paranoid about Grandma taking over her life." Anna saw the teenager in her mom whenever grandma got too overbearing.

"She does try to, but I think she has the best intention." Rory defends both of them.

"Most parents always do." Anna nods as they listen to their Grandma yell about the shed.


Rory, Anna, and Lorelai are walking on a sidewalk in Stars Hollow. "You're awfully quiet." Rory pointed out.

"I am." She nods.

"You hardly said anything at dinner." Anna felt bad that they got their mother yelled at.

"I was chewing." She sighs.

"You didn't say anything on the ride home." Rory thought she would unload in the jeep but she stayed silent there too. She didn't even turn on the radio.

"I was concentrating." She shrugs.

"I never seen you concentrate on driving before." Anna was normally concerned with how little attention she paid to the road.

"Well, I feel I've gotten sloppy with this whole 10 and 2 hand position thing." She put her hands up to show the position.

"Mm-hmm." Rory let out an unsatisfied noise.

"Yeah seriously, the other day I caught myself doing a 9 and 4." She held her arms out like she was gripping the steering wheel.

"Mom. ." Anna whines.

"Well, if left uncorrected, that can only lead to a 6 and 12, or worse yet, an 8 and 11, which is not only dangerous but damn uncomfortable." She finally looked at them since she left Rory's new room.

"Talk please." She begs.

"I just wish sometimes that certain things could be different." Lorelai let out a long sigh.

"Like what?" She asked.

"Like, um, wouldn't it be great if once, just once, I could make my mother hear me. I mean really hear me even if it was just for one second." It was impossible for her mother to see things from her perspective.

"Are you talking about the rooms?" Anna asked.

"The rooms, the potting shed, my entire life after age 6." She couldn't remember a time where she felt heard by her mother.

"It's my fault." Rory sighs.

"Mine too." Anna hung her head.

"How is it your guy's fault?" She put an arm around each of them.

"We shouldn't have taken her there." Rory sighs.

"Oh, girls." She rubs their backs.

"We just thought if she saw how we lived and how pretty it was with the lake and the swans. . ." Rory explained.

"That she'd do a happy dance?" Lorelai smiles at their good intention, but she could have told them that it would end up like this.

"No, that she would see that we had a good childhood. She would know that you took care of us. That way there wouldn't be so much resentment for you running away." Anna explains their thought process behind showing her the shed.

"Oh honey, me running away from them is always gonna be a big deal. There is nothing you two can do to change that." Lorelai thought it was sweet that they wanted to try and fix her relationship with her parents but something left scars.

"Can I ask you a question?" Rory looks at her.

"Yes, I would date Steven Tyler." She nods her head.

"Can I ask you a question whose answer wouldn't horrify me?" Rory made a scrunch up face.

"Oh, go ahead." She nods.

"Do you think you and Grandma will ever be able to talk about all the things you've gone through?" She asked.

"No." She answered with no hesitance.

"You didn't even consider it." Anna whines.

"I'm sorry. . . . No." She shook her head.

"Why?" Rory asked.

"Because it would just end badly." She knew the past could never be brought up without it ending in tears for everyone. She couldn't tell them she was sorry or wrong, since she didn't regret it. She loved her life and it wouldn't have turned out this way if she didn't run away.

"It doesn't have to." Rory pushes.

"It would be like the first 15 minutes of Saving Private Ryan but at least those guys got to be in France," Lorelai told them.

"You've never tried." Anna sighs.

"Oh no, that's not true. I have tried. I have tried my whole life. But my mother and I speak a different language. I talk, I think I'm being clear, and all she hears is Blah blah blah Ginger." She made a talking motion with her hand.

"But if you won't talk and she won't listen, then how is anything ever gonna change?" Rory could see the pain between them. She wanted to heal it.

"I don't know." She whispers as they walk into Luke's Diner. Rachel and Luke are cleaning up. "Don't tell me you're closed?"

"Would it change the outcome if I did?" Luke counted the tips he made for the day.

"No." She told him.

"Three coffees." He knew their orders.

"Yes please." Rory smiles.

"Any pie to go with that?" Rachel collected the ketchup and mustard bottles.

"Oh, pie!" Lorelai and Anna cheer.

"We just had cake at Grandma's." Rory reminds them.

"Yeah, but that was crabby cake, let's have happy pie." Lorelai looks at Rory.

"Yeah, beside crab cake isn't dessert. It's a meal. Luke has dessert pies." Anna reason.

"Have whatever you want as long as there's coffee." Rory laughs.

"I'll put on a fresh pot." Luke goes to make the coffee. Lorelai sat down at a table. Rory and Anna sat on the counter as they waited.

"So, what pies are left?" Anna asked.

"There is chocolate and cherry." He told her.

"Oh, I'll have a slice of chocolate pie with vanilla ice cream." She orders.

"You don't need that much sugar before bed," Luke told her.

"Oh come on, I'm a paying customer." She reminds him.

"No, your mom is the paying customer." He corrects her. He put down the cups of coffee. Rory took two to give one to her mother.

"My mom would let me have the ice cream." She told him.

"Let's why I have to be the one to put my foot down." He gave her a pointed look. "What are you smiling at?" Luke raises an eyebrow to a smiling Rachel.

"Watching the two of you interact is adorable." She brushes past him to get the pies.

"Rachel, can I have ice cream with my pie?" Anna yells to the woman going in the back.

"No ice cream," Luke yells.

"She's going to get me the ice cream." She smiles

"Yeah, she probably will." He sighs.


Anna, Rory, and Lorelai are sitting on a blanket in front of the old dragonfly inn. "So what do you think?" Lorelai asked them.

"It's got a great view." Rory looks up at it.

"Yeah. And good highway access." Lorelai nods.

"Which will be great for guests to find." Anna smiles at the fixer-upper.

"I love that window back in the . . ." Rory wasn't sure what the room was supposed to be.

"Library? Oh no, lobby. No, uh, bathroom?" Lorelai didn't know what the room was either.

"I'd get that decided before you open." Rory laughs.

"Or you can make it a triple threat." Anna teased.

Sookie came out of the Inn to yell, "There's absolutely no kitchen space here. How are we supposed to open a bed and breakfast when there's no place to cook breakfast! It's just a bed. We'll have to charge half price."

"We'll build a new kitchen, Sookie." Lorelai calms her down.

"I'll need plenty of ventilation. And an area for an outdoor fireplace for barbecues. Plus storage. Where do these people put anything? Ooh! And a pantry. And a canning room. And I'd love to smoke our own meat." Sookie adds things to the list.

"Absolutely." Lorelai waves to her to get everything she wants.

"I don't know if this is gonna work. I mean, I have to do some floor plans. Where is that plumbing?" Sookie walks around the corner to find it.

"Wow, your own inn." Rory smiles at her.

"Cool, huh?" She beams up at the building.

"It's gonna be a really big job." Rory looks at the porch that had a railing hanging off it.

"Mom got a new handyman/boyfriend." Anna teased.

"How's he doing?" Rory asked.

"He put a tip jar on the reservation desk. Michel tried to beat him senseless with the reservation book." She groans as she thinks about the new headache she had at work.

"Yeah, how did that go?" Anna wonders if Michel got a good hit on the small man.

"Oh, Rune got away," Lorelai told them.

"Really?" Rory thought for sure that Michel would be able to catch him.

"Well, Michel can't run in new shoes," Lorelai told them the excuse he gave.

"So, how long do you think before you guys own this place?" Rory asked.

"Oh sweetie, it's going to be a very very very long time." Lorelai needed to get them through college and culinary school before she could buy this place, but she wasn't about to tell them that.

"You think it'll still be here?" Rory asks. They looked up when they heard the screen door fall down.

"I think we got a shot." Lorelai nods to the door.