Anna and Rory walk into the living room of their grandparents' house where their family was waiting for them. "I'm sorry I'm late. Hi Grandma, Hi Grandma." Rory greets them.

"Hello," Anna stretched it out for everyone in the room.

"Hello, Rory. Hello Anna." Richard put down the newspaper.

"Oh, now he closes the paper," Lorelai mutters under her breath. The man had been reading, ignoring their conversation until his grandchildren entered.

"Hey, Mom, we stopped by the bookstore on the way here." Rory put her backpack down on the coffee table.

"You got them?" She claps.

"I got 'em!" She took the books out.

"Got what?" Emily asks.

"We are starting to plan our Europe trip." She smiles.

"The day after graduation, we are gone." Rory and Anna sat next to their mother.

"Well, that sounds very exciting." Richard beams at their excitement to travel.

"Lorelai, what are these?" Emily picks up the books.

"Those are guidebooks." Lorelai thought it was obvious.

"Europe Through the Backdoor. The Rough Guide to Europe. What kind of guidebooks are these?" She read the titles in confusion.

"The cheap kind." She wiggles her eyebrows.

"They have all the good information about backpacking and staying in hostels." Rory had looked up the reviews.

"Backpacking and staying in hostels?" Emily couldn't believe her ears.

"Who's backpacking and staying in hostels?" Richard looks up from reading the back of a book to ask.

"We are." They pointed at each other.

Emily and Richard look at each other before laughing. "No, you're not." Emily giggles.

"What a ridiculous thought." He chuckled.

The girls stared at them wondering why they were laughing. "We are. We're going to backpack around Europe." Rory said slowly.

"Yes, I know, it's fun to tease your grandmother, dear. They're going to backpack across Europe, Richard." She told him like she was playing along with a child.

"I heard, sounds delightful. Perhaps we should join them." Richard went along with his wife's joke.

"That sounds wonderful. Tomorrow I'll go out and buy some cutoffs." She said, making her husband laugh with glee.

"Guys, we're not kidding." Lorelai got them to stop.

"You're telling me you're seriously going to traipse across Europe with your possessions strapped to your back and sleep in a room with thirty other people?" Emily was no longer amused.

"Yes." She nods.

"No." Richard was horrified at the thought of what could happen to them. "It's not safe. I forbid it. Call our travel agent."

"But we want to be spontaneous. Jump a train to Paris, head off to Spain." Rory explained why they did it this way.

"Oh no, it's raining in Spain. But since the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. . ." Lorelai recited the rhythm.

"Looks like Italy for us!" Anna wanted to taste all the food Eupore had to offer.

"Mamma mia!" Rory and Lorelai put on an Italian accent.

"You can still travel around aimlessly and stay in a decent hotel." Richard didn't want them to sleep next to strangers.

"We wanna do it cheaply," Lorelai told them.

"We'll pay." Emily offers.

"No." She wouldn't be able to enjoy herself if she knew her vacation was on her parent's dime. "Grandma, it's going to be fun." Rory had been looking forward to this all her life.

"Besides, why pay hundreds of dollars a night when we're only going to sleep there." Anna was planning on leaving in the early morning and going back at midnight after eating dessert.

"Kids do this all the time." Lorelai thought it was an exciting way to travel.

"Yes, but you're not a kid, you're a grown woman. What are people going to think when they see a grown woman bunking down with a bunch of twenty-year-olds?" Emily wondered how her daughter didn't have a care in the world about what others would think.

"Well, if the twenty-year-olds are cute, they'll probably think, Lucky!" Lorelai sings out the last word.

"Grandma, don't be upset. It is going to be great." Rory didn't want them to worry.

"What's so traumatic about a night without a bed anyway? My survey shows those who have had the opportunity to be a refugee for a night have their perspectives broadened and enjoy the experience." Emily read the book before handing it to her husband "Richard, this book is encouraging them to sleep in a park like a squirrel."

"It's okay, Mom." Lorelai didn't want them worrying either.

"It's going to be great memories for us." Anna smiles.

"My first trip to Europe, I went to Paris and stayed at the Ritz." Emily thought that was a trip to remember.

"Well, I tell you what, if it'll make you happy, we'll go to Paris and eat out of their dumpster." Lorelai made Emily drink her wine and Richard threw his glasses to the side.


Luke is leaning on the counter, reading a book. Jess was working the floor while Anna was in the kitchen. "Move." Jess barks with the coffee pot in hand.

"What? Oh, sorry." He moved when he saw he was in the way.

"What are you reading?" Anna leaned against the pass-through window to ask.

Jess whips around to see that his uncle was in fact reading a book. "Are you reading?"

"It's nothing." He didn't take his eyes off the book.

"I never saw you reading." He looks over his shoulder.

"Will you just. . .I read." He slammed the book shut.

"What do you read?" He leans on the counter next to him.

It took him a second before he answered. "Invoices, expiration dates."

"I stand corrected." He takes Luke's book.

"Hey!" Luke yelled.

"Bring it here, I want to see." Anna waves for him to come over.

He walked over so they could look it over together. "Hidden Romantic Gems of the Restaurant World… Well, well, well."

"I would like my property back, please." He put his hands on his hips.

"Planning something special?" Anna took the book to skim through it.

"No, nothing special. I'm just taking Nicole to dinner on Friday and I wanna find a place." He snatched the book from her.

"Sounds special if you have to research it." Anna flips the burgers on the grill.

"Sounds special indeed." Jess nods.

"Will you two stop saying that word, please? And yes." He sighs at the stubborn teens.

"Find anything good?" Anna asks.

"Every single description in here talks about tablecloths and dish design, nothing about the food." He found it useless.

"You are really going through an awful lot for this lawyer." He thought it was too much for a woman he talked to twice.

"I think it's sweet." Anna chimed in.

"She's not a lawyer. I mean, yes, she's a lawyer, but she's also a lady and a very nice lady who probably expects good food with her fancy plates and sparse yet elegant décor." He wanted to meet her standards.

"You're pathetic when you're in love." Jess teases.

"I'm not in love, I'm dating. This is what you do when you're dating." He taps the book.

"It's not what I do when I'm dating." He leaned back to peck Anna's cheek.

"Well, Anna's a lucky girl. Work. I'm going upstairs." He went up to the apartment to read in peace.

"Fine, but if a horse-drawn carriage shows up here, my throwing up will be eternal." He yelled at his back.

"We rode in a horse-drawn carriage together." She smiled smugly at him.

"You're going to burn the fries." He nods to the deep frier. She cursed as she ran to rescue them. He laughs as he opens his book to read, seeing that all the tables were good.

Dean walks up to the counter. "I gotta place an order."

"Talk into the clown." Jess didn't look up from the book.

"I am," Dean smirks.

He sighs before looking up. "What do you want?"

He looked at the paper to read. "Six burgers, three with cheese: two cheddar, one Swiss. Two plain, one with chili, cheese, and onions on the side. Your memory's that good?" He asked when he saw Jess wasn't writing it down.

"You're screwing with me." Jess couldn't believe that there were that many picky eaters in one group.

"I'm placing an order." Dean didn't see why he was confused.

"For all of Connecticut?" He didn't think Dean had that many friends.

"For the construction crew next door." He told him.

"Oh, you're Taylor's errand boy now." He nods.

"And you're Taylor's waitress." He mocks.

"Say that a little closer." He leaned in.

"I thought you had a girlfriend." He rolled his eyes.

"Give me your order and get out." He put his book down to grab the order pad.

"Service with a smile. Uh, six burgers, three of them cheese: two cheddar, one Swiss. Two plain burgers, one chili burger with cheese and onions on the side. Three ham on rye: one mayo, one mustard, one combo. A combo means mustard and…" He continued to read.

"I know what a combo means." Jess was not one to be called stupid.

"Sorry, guess that confused look is just how your face is." Dean shrugs.

"Do you wanna talk about this outside?" He points his pencil at the door.

"Men are so ridiculous." Anna came out of the kitchen. She leaned against the counter to grab the paper from Dean's hand. "You sit over there." She pointed Dean to the table by the door. "Do not talk to each other." She ordered before walking into the kitchen.


Luke and Caesar took over in the diner, so the teens were eating in the apartment. "I got something you'll find hilarious." She pulled the invite from her purse to give to him.

"Friday, February seventh, six o'clock p.m. Join the girls for a toast, a hug, a wave to the mommy as they wheel her off, dinner at Sushi Sushi, and then back to the hospital for a formal viewing of brand-new baby Georgia. RSVP at your earliest convenience. P.S. gifts are not necessary, but always appreciated." He reads. "Is this an invitation to a birth? How did she know it's going to be that day?"

"C-section." She explains.

"Oh, so you'll be going for the sushi." He hands her the paper.

"And to see the baby. It's my baby sister. That's so weird to say. I never thought I would get another sibling." She used to wish for a baby sister when she was younger. A little girl that would follow her around and look up to her. "It's sad that I'll only see her a couple of times a year."

"I think you're forgetting something." He hated when she got that far-off sad look on her face.

"What?" She turns to him.

"I have a car so we can go anywhere at any time we want." He points out.

"You would spend your free time with a child for me." She smiles, touched.

"Oh no. I would drop you off and find something to do until you need a ride home." He laughs at the thought of entertaining a child.

"Jerk." She playful pushed him.


"Anna!" Rory ran into the courtyard where her sister was watching Roger and Eleanor rehearse their roles for the play. The fact that Elanore was clueless about Roger's crush is astounding. He joined the drama club so he could play her love interest.

"Yes," She was glad to get away from the awkward tension.

"Sherry is in labor. We have to go." She told her.

"That wasn't part of the plan." She grabbed her backpack.

"Will you just get a move on?" She grabs her arm to pull her away.

"Bye Roger, Bye Eleanor." She waves to her friends. "Do you think there will still be sushi?" She asks her sister.

"I swore the things you worry about." Rory sighes.


The teens step off the elevator and walk up to a woman they saw once at a baby shower. "Maureen," Anna called her name when they got closer.

"Yes?" She turns around to see who was talking to her.

"I'm Rory, this is Anna. We're Christopher's daughters…. You called us to come down." She reminds the woman when she keeps staring at them.

"Rory, Anna, thank God you're here. Sherry's gonna be so happy to see you. She's a basket case. Well, who wouldn't be, right?" She rubs her temple.

"Where's everyone else?" Anna looks around the waiting room.

"Oh, they're working." She said like it was obvious.

"What?" Rory asks.

"Well, we had all planned on next week, but Sherry screwed up, so what can you do? Thank God you're here. She'll be thrilled. She's feeling a little abandoned. Now, she's right in there. Do not mention how fat she is. For some reason, she's extremely sensitive about that today. Okay, kisses." She gave them air kisses before grabbing her purse. "I'll call you later to find out how everything's going."

"Wait, where are you going?" Anna didn't want the adult to leave. She has never been in a situation like this before.

"I've gotta get back to work. I'm swamped today." She grabs her coat to drape over her arm.

"You're leaving us here alone?" Rory couldn't believe she begs them to come just to leave.

"Believe me, I would love to stay, honest, but it's impossible. What can I say? Sherry screwed up. Anyhow, you'll be fine. If you need anything, call." She shrugs.

"I don't have your number." She pointed out.

"Sherry's got it." She walks away.

The girls look at each other, both lost as what to do. "I guess we will go there." Anna and Rory walk into Sherry's hospital room.

"Sherry?" She closed the door.

"Rory? Anna? Oh my God, I'm so glad you're here." She was relieved to have more people there.

"How are you?" Rory asks.

"This wasn't supposed to happen now." She shook her head.

"I know." Anna was distracted by the new bleach blonde hair-do she had. She much prefers her natural hair color.

"Christopher's out of town. I think Maureen called him and left a message but it doesn't matter because he's not here. Where's Maureen?" She looks at the door, waiting for her friend.

"Oh, well, she had to go back to work, but she said she'd call later," Rory told her.

"She's at work?" She couldn't believe her friend left her.

"Yes." Anna nods.

"I'm lying in a bed. God knows what's gonna happen." She began to breathe heavily.

"Well, you're going to have a baby," Rory stated the obvious.

"And she goes back to work. I would love to go back to work, but I can't because I have to stay here." She waves her hand around at the hospital room.

"Well, yeah, because you're going to have a baby." Rory thought everyone seemed to be missing the big thing that was happening.

"She's not here. None of my friends are here. Christopher isn't here. No one is here. No one but you two. Thank God you're here. I don't think that I could do this by myself because this wasn't supposed to happen until next week. I wrote it down. I wrote it down. I wrote it down!" She sobs.

"Can we help you with anything?" Anna hides behind her sister.

Sherry thought for a second before her eyes lit up. "Grab my phone." She nods to her purse.

They took a seat next to the bed after doing so. Rory put on the headpiece as they helped her reschedule her workweek.

"So, we'll see you next Friday at three. And once again, sorry for the short notice. Okay, bye." She hangs up.

"Great, who's next?" She asks.

"Um, Sheldon Harnick." Anna looks at her planner.

"Try and set him for Wednesday." She told them.

"Okay." Roy nods.

"Oh, and don't tell him I'm pregnant. He hates pregnancy." She told her temporary secretaries.

"Oh, how about a plumbing problem?" She asks.

"Sounds good." She nods.

A nurse walks into the room. "Okay, so how are we doing?"

"I'm not sure." She shook her head.

"Well, don't be nervous. Everything's going to be just fine. I just wanted to check on you and to see who's going to be with you in the delivery room while it's happening." She needed to know so she could get that person ready.

"Oh, my fiancé's on his way. He's on his way, right?" She looks at Anna.

"Yes, he's on his way." She nods, having made that call.

"Okay, so when he gets here, he'll come in with me." She told the nurse.

"And if he doesn't get here in time?" She asks.

"Then we'll just have to wait." Sherry shrugs.

"I'm afraid that's gonna be a little tough to arrange. Once it starts, that's it." The nurse was shocked at how many women came in not seeming to know anything about the birth process.

"Okay, well, then I guess it's either Rory or Anna. Right?" She turned to make sure they were okay with it.

Rory looks at Anna. "Oh. Absolutely." She nods. They put up a divider, she just wouldn't look past it.

"Okay, then I'm gonna get you a gown and some gloves so you'll be all set in case you have to go in." The nurse let her know.

"That sounds great." She gave a tense smile.

"I'll be right back." She walks out of the room.

"Okay, where were we?" Sherry turns to them.

"Rory, stay with Sherry, I have to call Jess. I forgot we had a date." She walks out of the room with their shared cell phone. She dialed the number as fast as she could when she closed the door.

"Hello?" Lorelai answers.

"Mom, I need you." Anna felt hopeless. It scared her that she was going to move states away in less than a year and here she was calling her mom at the first sign of discomfort.

"What's going on?" She asks.

"No one is here but Rory and I. Someone has to go in and I agreed. I don't want to. Oh my god, the nurse is getting a gown and gloves. I don't want to see them cut her open. I know I'll look past the divider. I know I will. I have no self-control." She paces in the hallway.

"What? Where do you go? Who's getting cut open?" She was only catching bits and pieces with her talking so fast.

"In the delivery room. Mom, I need you." Her whimper breaks Lorelai's heart.

"What hospital?" She asks.

"Boston Memorial." She told her.

"Okay, I'll get there as fast as I can. Tell Sherry to hold it until I get there." She was digging through her purse for her keys.

"The nurse said it doesn't work like that." She wouldn't be freaking out if it did.

"I know, honey. I'll be there." She sighs, hating her being under this pressure.

"Thank you, I love you." She hangs up after her mom says it back.


Anna was so happy to see her mom come through the door with Rory who went out to fax some papers. Sherry was on the phone. "Yes, I'm having them faxed over right now. Yes, that's right. Well, I'm not sure if the numbers I have are the numbers that you have. That's right, that's bad. Uh-huh. Well, I think you should, too." She covers the bottom half of the phone to ask Rory. "Did you get those things faxed?"

"Sherry, hang up." Lorelai grabs the phone from her.

"No, I have to finish this call." She tried to reach for it but Lorelai moved it. "Hi. Uh, Sherry's gonna have to call you back. Yeah, I promise. Okay, goodbye." She hangs up.

"No, that was work." She whines.

"Sherry, you really shouldn't be working right now." She put the phone on the dresser by the door.

"I can't just stop everything because I'm. . ." She stopped talking because saying the words would make it real.

"Having a baby. Admitting it is the first step, honey." Lorelai finished for her.

"I'm not ready. I had it planned. Christopher was supposed to be here." She wasn't used to her plans not working.

"I know." She nods.

"I don't know what to do." She was clueless in this situation. Everything she researched had left her head.

"Well, the first thing you have to do is calm down and stop working." She took her papers off the bed.

"Okay." She nods.

"And the second thing is, you need to tell me why you're sitting like that." Sherry was sitting on her feet.

"Maureen told her that Howard Stern said that if you squat, it makes the baby come out faster." Anna had to help her get in that position.

"Okay, as long as you have a sane reason from a reliable source." She tilts her head at that logic.

"I'm scared," Sherry admits.

"I know. It's scary, and it hurts like hell. And remember, when it comes out not to look at it too hard until they give it a good cleaning, or you'll think you gave birth to phlegm. But, um, once they give it a good scrub, it's just unbelievably cool." She knew what it was like to be in the hospital by herself.

"Yeah?" She only had her mother to talk to about birth. She romanticized the whole thing.

"Well, look how good they grow up. Not bad, huh?" She nods to her teenagers.

"I hope I get that lucky." She smiled at Anna and Rory.

"I've got a good feeling." She put the papers next to the phone.

"Thank you." She smiled. "Lorelai?"

"Yeah?" She turns to her.

"My ankles are starting to hurt." She didn't want to move on her own and fall off the bed.

"Okay, grab an arm." She nods to her daughter. Anna grabs an arm while Lorelai grabs the other to help her lay down.

"I'm glad you're here." She smiled up at Lorelai.

"Well, at this moment, you probably should be." She smiles.


Anna was at the nurse's desk asking if it was okay for Sherry to be jogging when Chris came running in. "Dad! Great, you're here, Sherry is going to be so happy. They're about to take her in."

"I'm just as happy to be here." He smiled out of breath. They turn the corner to see Rory and Lorelai getting coffee from the vending machine.

"Lor, Rory!" He greeted them.

"Oh, thank God you're here, Chris." Lorelai was so happy she wouldn't have to go in there.

"I must've broken fifteen different laws getting here. I don't even remember where I left my car. I thought I wasn't gonna make it." He didn't even remember most of the drive here.

"Well, take a breath, you did make it, and Sherry's gonna be thrilled." Lorelai reaches out to squeeze his arm.

"Where is she?" He looks at the different doors.

"Come on." They walk into Sherry's room, where she's being transferred to a gurney.

"Sherry!" He ran to her side.

"Christopher, you're here! I can't believe you're here. I didn't think you'd make it." She felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

"Are you kidding? You think I'd miss this." He kissed her forehead.

"No, I'm sorry. It's just, I'm in a lot of pain and I can't think straight." She squeezed her eyes shut.

"I take it this is your fiancé." The nurse went to the top of the bed, getting ready to wheel her out.

"Yeah, this is him. This is my Christopher." She grabbed his hand.

"Well, Christopher, are you coming in with us?" She asks.

"Try and stop me." He smiled.

"Okay, let's go then." They start wheeling her out of the room.

"We'll be right here, waiting." Rory waved when they went past them.

"Have fun." Lorelai couldn't help but feel some bitterness.

"Have fun?" Her daughters look at her with narrow eyes.

"Well. . ." She shrugged. It just came out.


Anna called Jess while they were waiting. "Hey, did you get sushi?" He answers the phone.

"No, just bad coffee." She bought a soda from the vending machine. "It was just me and Rory. I had to call mom because if dad didn't show up I would have had to go in. Thankfully he showed and now I'm waiting."

"So, Luke came home from his date." Jess knew she would want to know.

"How did it go?" She grabbed the soda. She walks aimlessly down the hallways.

"It looked like it was going well. She came back to the diner. I assumed he was going to get lucky, so I offered him the apartment for an hour. He got offended." He scoffs at Luke not knowing how to read a woman's body language.

"I don't think Luke is the type to sleep on a first date." Despite his scruffy looks, he was a prude.

"Yes, him and his gentleman ways." He snorts.

"You didn't try to sleep with me on the first date." She pointed out.

"Yes, I waited for the fifth because you are a classy lady." Jess snickers.

Anna stopped at a window that showed all the babies. "She gave birth. I see her. Georgia Hayden. She is so cute. I always thought newborns all blur together. But she's perfect." She stares at her little sister.

"I'm talking about sex and you bring up babies. Totally a mood killer." He huffs.

"I hate to be the one to tell you, but they go hand in hand." She laughs.

"That's why despite you being on birth control, I wrap it up." He threw himself down on his bed.

"I want one." She smiles at the babies wrapped in pink and blue blankets.

"Um, I see what I can do in six years." He crossed his ankles. They spoke on the phone until he went to sleep.