Lorelai, Anna, and Rory were walking toward Luke's. "It still hurts." Lorelai cradles her left wrist.

"Do you need stitches?" Rory asked.

"Probably." She whines.

"Well, then we should go to a doctor." She suggests.

"No, no doctors. You go into a hospital, you don't come out again." She shook her head.

"Well said, Ida Morgenstern." Rory rolled her eyes.

"Either you go to a doctor, or we do homemade stitches." Anna gave her two options.

"I don't need a doctor or stitches. I need pancakes. I'm starving." Lorelai wanted to get off the subject.

"Can I just ask…." Even though Lorelai said no, Rory kept ongoing. "What on earth you thought you were doing?"

"I thought I was being a self-sufficient woman." She said, making her daughters scoff.

"You don't know how to cook or fix anything. I wouldn't call that self-sufficient." Anna snickers.

"My wrist is already in pain, must you attack my pride too." She glares at her youngest.

"You hate ladders, you hate heights." Rory brought them back to the problem at hand.

"We needed our rain gutters cleaned." She reminds her.

"Yeah, well, hire somebody." She gave another solution.

"Oh, well, aren't we suddenly a Rockefeller." Lorelai didn't want to pay someone when she was still paying her mom off for their school and the bank for fixing the house.

"Well, it's better than you killing yourself." Rory looked down at her bandaged hand.

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm just being dramatic. It's what I do." She sighs.

"No more ladders." She orders.

"I promise." After a few moments of silence, she said. "I think I have gangrene."

"You do not." Anna and Rory could see where this was going and they didn't want any part of it.

Lorelai wasn't about to let them spoil her fun. "And vertigo."

"Oh boy." They sigh.

"And one leg suddenly feels shorter than the other." She pretends to limp.

"This is gonna be the Vanity Fair paper cut incident all over again, isn't it?" Rory looks up at the sky praying to god that this will pass quickly.

"Or the time she hit her big toe on the coffee table." Anna sighs. She whined about those minor injuries for a few days.

"Wow!" She peeks under her bandage.

"Leave your bandage alone." Rory scolds.

"Look, it's turning purple, but a glowy purple. Look!" She shoves her wrist in their faces.

"No, thanks." Anna pushed her hand down.

"Hm. Maybe our rain gutters are radioactive or made out of some kind of alien metal so that when I cut my hand I got infected with an extraterrestrial substance that is altering my internal makeup. Ugh, maybe I'll turn into a superhero." She imagines herself fighting Taylor who was trying to make everyone in town wear sweaters even though it was summer. "Or, maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and suddenly be able to shower fast."

"We'll go pick out your cape after breakfast." Rory pats her back. Anna held the door of Lukes open for them to walk in.

After taking off their jackets, they sat down at a table. "God, I'm starving. Must be from the loss of blood." Lorelai was going to work her injury into every topic.

"Yes, that must be it." Rory played along.

"I'm getting pancakes with a side of pancakes. Where's Luke?" She looked around for flannel.

"I don't know. Storage room?" They look around for him too.

"Oh no." Lorelai sighs.

"Caesar's cooking." Rory gasps.

"He sucks at breakfast." Anna whines.

"Anna, go cook." Lorelai nods to the kitchen.

"What? No, then we could have stayed home and I could have stayed in my pajamas." Anna wasn't going to work on her day off.

"I guess we can get doughnuts." Rory sighs.

"Wait here." Lorelai walks up the stairs to Luke's apartment.

The girls looked up when they heard someone walking down the stairs. Anna smiled while Rory frowned at seeing Jess. He sat down next to Anna. "Morning." He gave her a peck.

"Morning. Do you know when Lukes coming down?" She asked.

"Asking for another man when I'm right here, what a way to kill a man's pride." He put his hand over his heart.

"If you want my need for Luke to go away, then you'll have to get me good pancakes." Rory cleared her throat. "You have to get us good pancakes." She corrected herself. Rory nods in approval.

"I can't do that, Caesar's cooking." Jess looked over his shoulder into the kitchen.

"Well, then we're going to need to see the man behind the stairs." Anna points to the stairs.

"Your mom up there, so I assume he'll be down soon." He reassures her that she will get her pancakes.

"You can always count on her to annoy someone to get what she wants." She was filled with pride.

"A talent that many wish they had." Rory nodded.

"Sure." His tone said otherwise.


Luke was sitting at a table in the diner watching a small television set when Lorelai knocked on the door. He got up to unlock and open the door. "Hey," She greets.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Oh, uh, Rory and I just hit the video store. Now we're on our way home to eat a large amount of something you would not approve of. I thought I would see if Anna would want to join." She pointed upstairs.

"Sounds good." He sat back down.

"What are you doing?" She closed the door.

"Oh, watching TV." He pointed at the small box.

"Ah. Wow, that's cute. Is this the first time it's been away from its mother?" She made a baby voice.

"It's a very good TV." He defends it.

"Hm, black and white, coat hanger antenna, really bad reception." She looked at the fuzzy screen.

"It's fine." He cut her off.

"Don't you have a fully grown TV upstairs?" She teased.

"Yeah, well, Jess is upstairs." He told her.

"So is Anna?" She wasn't comfortable with them being alone for a long time.

"When Jess is upstairs, that means the stereo's blaring, and the place is a mess. It doesn't matter who is with him. I just needed a little privacy." He likes it quiet.

"So, you came downstairs?" She looked around the place.

"Yes." He nods.

"To sit on an uncomfortable chair in an empty diner that smells like onion rings." She didn't see why he let the teen push him around.

"Yes." Luke knew if he pushed Jess, he would leave for the night. He would rather have the teen upstairs than on the street.

"Calgon, take me away." She sat down.

"It was very peaceful until two minutes ago." He glares.

"Hey Luke, do you ever think that, uh, maybe you should get a bigger apartment?" She suggests.

"I don't need a bigger apartment." He shook his head.

"That place upstairs was your father's office. You turned it into an apartment. It was never meant to be lived in." She reminds him.

"It's fine." He held firm.

"It's too small for two people. It's too small for one person if they have any kind of life." She thought he looked sad sitting down here. He deserves his own space.

"We'll make due, we just need to organize." He wasn't going to give up on his home.

"No, you don't need to organize. You need to move." His apartment was filled with boxes of Jess's stuff.

"I like my apartment." He argues.

"It's not just your apartment. Jess lives there also." She knew from raising two teens, that they need their own space. Every teen wants privacy.

"Jess is fine." Luke let him have the apartment to himself most nights.

"Are you sure? Because he could be pinned down under a box for a year in that place and you wouldn't know it until the neighbors started to complain about the smell." After seeing the hazardous apartment this morning she was worried about her daughter being up there.

Rory walks in. "Hey, Luke."

"Rory, perfect, get her out of here. Go." He demands.

"But, uh, okay, fine. I'm leaving. Think about what I said." She got up.

"Oh, hey, did you ever hire anybody to do that work for you?" He turns around to get her before she leaves.

"What?" She turned around but kept her hand on the doorknob.

"The rain gutters." He reminds her of her current problem.

"Oh, no, not yet. Are you offering?" She smiled.

"No, actually, I was thinking about Jess." He told her.

"Uh, Jess?" She forces the smile to stay on her face.

"Yeah, he's always looking for a little extra cash. He doesn't make that much here, and, you know, I hate to think of where else he might try to get it, and it could help your guys' relationship. It can be a win for everyone." He explained.

"Huh?" She wasn't convinced.

"I mean, you've been complaining that Anna spent all her time here now. That's because of Jess. If you get him to feel comfortable at your house. They'll spend more time there and I can go upstairs. And you don't have to pay him the same as you would someone else, you save a little, he keeps busy." He had thought out this argument knowing she didn't care for him.

"Yeah, well, maybe. Um, I have to check with a couple of people I'm supposed to hear from, but if they can't do it, then sure." She turns the doorknob ready to get out of there.

"Great, just let me know." He went back to watching TV.

"I will. Bye." She hurried out, completely forgetting to get Anna.


Luke walks into his apartment having to kick some clothes and boxes out of his way. Jess and Anna were making out on the couch with the music blaring. He puts his tiny TV down and turns off the music, making them separate. "Sorry, Luke." Anna blushes at him seeing her eat his nephew's face.

"As long as you guys stay upright?" He wasn't ignorant to think they wouldn't do things, but he hoped they would be responsible and keep him in the dark about it.

"Hear that we can do it against the wall or you could ride me while I'm si..." Jess's voice got muffled by Anna's hand.

"Are you trying to kill me of embarrassment?" She was thinking of smothering him right now.

"Jess, what is wrong with you? I told you to treat her like a lady." While he was waving his arms around, he knocked over the little television. "Great! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

"Whoa, geez, what the hell?" Jess watched as Luke threw his clothes that were on the floor up in the air.

"I can't stand it, I'm going crazy. This place is awful. I can't live like this anymore." Luke yelled.

"Just relax." Jess rubs his eyes.

"I can't relax. I can't sleep. I'm having nightmares about being chased around by boxes with arms and they tackle me and pile clothing on top of my face and secure it around my head with packing tape and I'm just lying there choking while you're sitting in the corner laughing, putting gel in your hair with a switchblade!" Anna had seen Luke freak out a few times in her life, but nothing like this. He looked ready to pull his hair out with his baseball cap still on.

"Should I be putting a tongue depressor in your mouth right about now?" Jess teases.

"We're moving." He orders.

"What?" Jess didn't want to go through the hard labor of moving.

"Tomorrow." He told him.

"What are you talking about?" Jess asked. They couldn't move when they didn't have anywhere to go.

"I'm talking about you and me going out, getting a paper, and finding a new place to live." Luke pointed outside.

"But I..." Jess didn't see anything wrong with their living situation now.

"No buts. Ten o'clock tomorrow morning I want you up, washed, moussed, and ready to leave, end of the story. Anna, go home. Jess, go back to bed." He orders.

Anna gave him a peck on the lips before getting up. "Goodnight, have fun house hunting." She waved as she left.


Lorelai is sitting on the couch, trying to set the new clock she got. Anna sat down next to her. "Thanks for hiring Jess."

"You can thank Rory, she convinced me. Said I need to be the bigger person because I'm the adult." She made a face.

"Still I appreciate you putting in the effort. I know Jess can make it hard to get close to him." While he never gave her a problem, she saw him put up his walls with everyone else.

Rory walks through the front door "Mom? Anna?"

"Come here, come here, come here," Lorelai called.

"I'm here, what's the matter?" Rory sat down on the other side of her mom.

"Okay, that should do it." Lorelai put the clock down.

"Do what?" Anna asked.

"Wait." She put her hand up.

"What are we waiting for?" Rory stares at the side of her mother's face.

"Patience, grasshopper." She stared at the clock.

"Are we close?" She asked.

"Very close. Hm, getting closer." She waited for a minute to pass.

"Should I get chips?" Rory wondered how long this would be.

"Ready, and…" They stare at a digital clock. When a minute passes, the clock starts making pig noises.

"The clock is grunting." Rory tilts her head.

"This, my friend, is a state-of-the-art CD/clock radio that enables you to wake up to the barnyard animal of your choice," Lorelai told them.

"Does it have cows?" Anna asked.

"Yes, it does. I have selected the perky piggies. You might choose the cheery chickens or the goofy goats." She gave them their options.

"That is closest to a farm that I ever wanna get." Rory smiled at the clock.

"Amen, sister friend." Lorelai nods.

There's a knock at the front door. "I'll get it." Anna got up to answer the door. "Hey." She smiled at her boyfriend.

"Here." He tosses her a CD.

"The Shaggs?" She looked down at it. "Oh, this is the all-female group you were talking about."

"Good to know that you listen to me. For a while, I was worried you only saw me as a pretty face." He walks into the house.

"Oh, I do, but once in a while, something you say sneaks in. I didn't expect you to be so punctual. I thought Luke was going to have to drag you by the ear to do the dirty job." She closed the door.

"Yeah, well, it was this or continue apartment hunting with Luke." He shrugs.

"I can't believe you left, I would want a say in where I'm going to live." Anna and Rory got a say when they picked this house.

"I can't argue with that man for another second. If he wants to live in a pink apartment that is his problem." He scoffs.

"Oh pink, I'll get you a unicorn poster." She teases.

"Hey, ducks!" Lorelai screams in excitement along with quacking.

"We got a new alarm clock." She explained.

"Bet I know what the lead story in the Stars Hollow Gazette is gonna be tomorrow." He still couldn't believe they had a town newspaper.

"Anything with me in it is a headliner." She smiled.

Lorelai walks to the front door with Rory. "Hey, did you hear the ducks 'cause they're great? Oh, Jess, you're here, terrific." Her smile went from wide to strain.

"So, um, would you like to come in?" Rory offers after they stood for a second in awkwardness.

"Oh, yeah, come on in. Sorry, it's just. . .so exciting about the ducks that, uh. . .do you want something to drink? You have good timing 'cause we shopped yesterday, and in addition to a case of Maybelline Fresh Lash Mascara, I also bought some of that new, uh, freaky Coke with the lemon in it. It's very addictive." Lorelai and Rory walk into the kitchen. Anna grabs his hand to drag him along.

"You can sit, you know." Rory was getting annoyed with him. She talked her mom into giving him the job to help their relationship for her sister's sake and he was just standing there.

"No thanks." He let go of Anna's hand to put his hands in his pockets.

"So, Jess, what's new?" Lorelai tried to start some dialogue.

"Not much." He shrugs.

"Jess and Luke are looking for an apartment." Anna tried to help the conversation along.

"Oh, you guys see anything good yet?" She hands him the soda.

"Nope." He took it from her.

"Well, you know, there's some cool places over on Peach. Or on Plum. Hm, Orange. Any of your fruit-named streets are pretty nice." She walks over to Rory. "Okay, well, I guess you should get started. Um, there's a ladder right out front and some buckets and gloves and stuff on the porch. If you need anything else, just walk against the wind."

"Come on, I'll show you." Anna grabbed his arm to pull him outside. "You're not even trying." She hissed.

"What do you want from me? I took the coke." He opened the can to take a sip.

"I want you to at least talk in sentences." She sighs.

"Be nice to my sister. Be nice to Luke. Be nice to my mom. You know you're very high maintenance." He smirks.

"Jess." She whines.

"Fine, I hate small talk but I will do it in sentences. Even though it's clear that she doesn't like me and doesn't want to give me a chance." He sighs.

"That's all I ask. You won't have to pretend for long. Soon, you'll like these people." She wraps her arms around his neck to pull him down into a kiss.

"Promise, promise, promise." He said in between kisses. "Now, you get back in there m'lady before the mistress of the house sees us and I get fired." He pats her bottom as he pushes her to the door.

"I'll sneak out to see you later." She winks before slipping back inside.


Lorelai and Anna were in the kitchen. They were taking several containers of Chinese food out of the refrigerator. "You know we should probably feed him." Anna thought of her boyfriend working on the roof.

"Oh yeah, go get him." Lorelai nods.

"I was thinking you could get him. Food is a great way to make friends." She needs to give this friendship a push.

Lorelai sighed as she walked outside. Anna was happy that she was able to come back with Jess. "So, um, basically everything here is chicken. You've got garlic chicken, Kung Pao chicken, Szechuan Chicken, chicken in brown sauce, which looks and tastes remarkably like the Szechuan Chicken except it's got these red peppers in it and if you eat them, you die. Plate?" She held out a plate.

"I thought I'd, uh. . ." He put up his dirty hands.

"Oh, the soap's on the counter." She nods to the sink.

"So when was the last time you had those gutters cleaned?" He washed his hands.

"It's been a while." She admits.

"Yeah, I found an I like Ike bumper sticker up there." He threw in a playful jab. If he couldn't do that, then he didn't want to have any relation with her.

"Is it really bad?" She smiled knowing it was that bad.

"Well, it won't be by tomorrow." He grabs a towel to dry his hands.

"I like hearing that." She hands him a plate and fork.

"So you guys aren't too hot on vegetables, huh? I thought that was just you." He shot Anna a look to say my god it's genetic.

"I eat vegetables with things like on burgers or on pizza but I'm not going to eat it by itself." She defends.

"There's green pepper in the Kung Pao." Lorelai pointed at the Chinese container that held them.

"My mistake." He put some food on his plate.

"So, are you a healthy eater like Luke?" Lorelai asked.

"No. No one's a healthy eater like Luke. Yule Gibbons wasn't a healthy eater like Luke." Jess scoffs. The man went overboard with vegetables.

"Wow, it's been ages since I've heard a good Yule Gibbons reference." Lorelai let out a genuine laugh.

"Many parts of a pine tree are edible," Jess remembers the wildness thing he read from the guy.

"That's right. God, I wonder what the research process was like to get that information." Lorelai nods.

"I'd say fairly painful." He put the fork down to show he finished making his plate. Lorelai grabs it from him to put it in the microwave. Anna gave him a thumbs up when her mom's back was turned. He rolled his eyes at her wide smile.

"Huh. Here. So how's school?" She asks after starting the microwave.

"It's still there." He sat down at the table. After she finished making her plate, Anna sat down across from him.

"Are you on any teams or anything?" Lorelai sat down next to him.

"No, no, no." Jess shook his head.

"Not a jersey guy?" She asked.

"No, definitely not a jersey guy. Though the thought of throwing a ball at some jock's head isn't entirely unappealing…. Look, I'm not good at this small talk thing." He felt more awkward by the minute.

They glanced over at Anna who was staring at them with delight on her face. "You're doing okay. Cold egg roll?" She held out a Chinese container.

"Why not?" He takes a bite and regrets it.

"Bad?" She asked, seeing his face.

"Oh yeah." He nodded but kept chewing.

The front door slams and Rory yells. "Mom!" Lorelai rushed over to meet her.

"I'm so happy." Anna gush.

"That's what I'm here for." He said after swallowing the egg roll.

"My bracelet, it's gone." Rory cried.

"Oh, crap." Anna looked down at the heart bracelet she had on. "I got it here."

"What?" Rory ran in to grab her wrist but dropped it when she saw which bracelet she had on. "Not that one, you thief. Dean's one."

"The one he made you." Lorelai gasp.

"Yes." She nodded.

"I didn't know you took the thing off." Anna always saw the leather bracelet on, even when it didn't match her outfit.

"Well, when did you first notice it was gone?" Lorelai asked.

"When he pointed out that I wasn't wearing it," Rory said, making Lorelai and Anna grimace.

"Oh, not good. What did you say?" She asked.

"That I had a rash and that I had to take it off until it healed." She looked around the kitchen.

"Nice save, Gretzky." Lorelai nods.

"It's not here, it's not here. God." She ran to the living room. Her mom went to help her.

"Jess, you didn't take it did you?" Anna narrows her eyes.

"Why would I take it?" He tilts his head.

"Because you got bored and thought it would be a fun prank. It's not a big deal if you did Jess. I'll just put it back when no one is looking and she can magically find it." She didn't want all the progress he made today to go down the drain.

"Here." He slid it over to her.

"You need to pick up a hobby or something." Anna put it in her pocket.

"I found it in the yard. I was only going to hold on to it until one of you started freaking out about it. I didn't think she would freak out this bad." He wanted her to know he didn't go out of his way to do it.

"Probably because Dean noticed and freaked out about it." She knew the tall teen probably acted like Rory murdered someone over the missing bracelet.

"You think I'd be a good guitarist or maybe I'll learn to make balloon animals." He got up to grab his plate from the microwave and put her plate in.

"As long as you don't do clown make-up, the balloon animals sound cool." She smiled.

"If I don't do the makeup then what's the point?" He sat down to lean back in his seat.


Anna was outside with Jess holding the ladder as he climbed down with a garbage bag when Rory walked towards the house with her head down. "Rory, look what I found in the yard." She held up the leather bracelet.

"Oh my god, I couldn't believe you found it." She grabbed the bracelet and held it close to her chest.

"It was by luck that the sun hit and I was able to see it." Jess watched as Anna lied smoothly.

Rory tackled her into a hug. "Thank you so much. I know you don't like Dean, so you giving this back to me means a lot."

"Dean has his issues, but we all do." She shrugs

"Mom, look what Anna found." She ran to her mom who was standing on the porch. She came out when she heard Rory's excited screams. "Put it on and make it tight." She held out her wrist.

"Oh, I'm cutting off circulation here, baby." She tied it tight.

"Oh, look at it. It looks even better than before, doesn't it?" Rory was thrilled to have it back on.

"I think the time away from home did it some good." Lorelai agrees.

"Okay, when I get back, we celebrate." Rory was ready to go all out.

"Where are you going?" Anna watches her sister run through the yard.

"To tell Lane she can stop praying." She yelled back.

"You found it?" She looked at her youngest.

"Yeah, it was in the yard." She shrugs.

"Where in the yard?" She crossed her arms.

"Over there, why?" She pointed at the middle of it.

"I'm just wondering where you found it because we've been looking all over. Why are you getting defensive?" She looks between her and Jess.

"I'm not, I'm just wondering why you're acting like I committed a crime." She tilts her head.

"Just tell me how you found it." She felt like something was wrong.

"I came out here to hold the ladder for Jess and the sun hit the bracelet. That's how I found it. It's a good thing too because tomorrow Morey was going to mow the lawn." Morey had a sit-down lawnmower so he would mow the lawn for them.

Lorelai wanted to push more but didn't want to get in another fight with her daughter over the teenage boy. "Here's your money." Lorelai hands Jess his wage for the day.

"Thanks." He took it from her.

"We're going to watch It at Luke's." She told her mom.

"Alright, have fun." She watched with worry as her daughter went off with her boyfriend.


Anna and Jesse were sitting on the couch watching It when Luke walks in and takes a sledgehammer out of the closet. They get up to follow the man as he walks across the room and swings the sledgehammer through the wall. "Oh my god." Anna hid behind Jess as the debris went everywhere.

Luke hands the sledgehammer to Jess. "That's your room. Finish up. We'll hold hands and skip afterward." He walks out of the apartment with no explanation.

"Are all the adults going off the deep end?" Anna screamed.