Anna was in the kitchen learning from Richard how to make a family recipe. She had a notepad to document it. Emily had yelled for them to hurry up. Richard assured her there was no reason to rush perfection. "Now, we are ready." He put on two mittens to carry it out. Anna had a basket of rolls. Richard walks in carrying a casserole dish. "Here we are, a treat for the masses." He put it down.

"Smells good." Rory sniffs.

"Oh, this is my favorite thing to eat as a boy. My gran used to make this for me whenever I was feeling a little sad. You know, if my cricket team lost or a girl I fancied turned up her nose at me." He put a large serving onto Rory's plate.

"Well, then load me up because there was this cute chick at the pharmacy today. I used my best material on her and nothing." Lorelai hands her plate over.

"Richard, at least let Pina serve it." Emily didn't know why she was paying the woman tonight.

"No comment on my lesbian hilarity. My, how far we've come." She pouts at her joke being ignored.

Richard had already finished plating. "Pina will serve tiny, proper servings. Johnny Machete needs to be presented in a heap." He took a seat after handing the plates out.

"Johnny Machete?" Rory asks

"Cool name, right? I think I'll do that when I open up my place. Give my dishes names like Bruce Hammer." Anna sat down after putting down the rolls.

Rory took a bite to comment. "It's delicious."

"It's not bad." Lorelai agrees.

"It's twelve different colors." Emily pushed her fork around to get a better look at what was inside this dish.

"Come on, Mom, eat it." Lorelai thought it was a nice gesture that Richard wanted to share something from his childhood with them.

"It looks like someone already did." She did that when she dissected it.

"Emily," Richard warns her that he is starting to feel insulted.

"I'm sorry. I'm happy you're happy, and to prove it, I will take exactly three bites of this before I throw it out." She took her first bite like she was on Fear Factor.

"So, good food, good company. Now, let's move on to good conversations. Rory, Anna, what is new in your life?" He looked at his grandchildren.

"Well, funny you should mention it. . ." Rory shares a look with her sister.

"Now?" She asked.

"Why not?" She shrugged.

"Okay, I got into Gillespie's Culinary Art School." She announced.

"Congratulations honey, you got a talent you can't waste." Emily got up to give her a hug

"Amazing, you can bring Johnny Machete with you now." Richard copies his wife's actions.

"Don't, they'll kick you out," Emily whispers. They sat down to continue eating.

"Rory, say your news." She taps her sister's shoulder.

"I got my college acceptance letters back." She told them.

"Harvard, Princeton, and Yale." Lorelai listed.

"And after giving it a lot of thought, I have decided. I'm going to Yale." She yelled out the college's name.

Her grandparent looks up from their plate before going back to eating. "Did you hear that… Yale!" Anna cheers.

"I'm going to Yale!" Rory said it again so they knew they weren't hearing things.

"That's where you went, Dad." Lorelai pointed at him.

"You liked it, remember?" Rory was waiting for a reaction.

"Pass the Johnny Machete, please," Emily asks.

"Pass the. . ." Lorelai was confused.

"I don't understand. I thought you wanted me to go to Yale." She thought they would be over the moon.

"No, we didn't." Emily denies.

"Absolutely not." Richard shook his head.

"Mom, Dad, look, I know we've had our differences over where Rory should go to school, but that's behind us now. She's going to Yale, and that's good. Really good." Lorelai figured they had to be doing this to not anger her.

"Nothing but smiles." Anna put a large one on her face.

"We're all very happy about it," Rory reassured them.

"Everybody in this room named Lorelai is over the moon about going to Yale." She told them.

"Which means that everybody else in this room not named Lorelai can be equally over the moon about going to Yale." The grandparents allowed a smile to break through.

"I'm getting the champagne." Richard stood up.

"I'm calling the Talbotts." Emily shot out of her seat.

"Oh, make sure you gloat over that dimwitted son of theirs who couldn't even get into Brown." He laughed.

"She's going to Yale!" They cheer. They start to walk away, then both turn back to kiss Rory.

"When I get back, I'll teach you the fight song," Richard promises.


Anna and Rory were at the counter in Weston's Bakery. They were placing an order for their mom's birthday. "So, that's a four-foot chocolate cake with individual vanilla cupcakes on top spelling out "Happy 16th Birthday Lorelai"?" Fran read their order.

"That's right." Rory nods.

"Would you like buttercream or whipped cream frosting on that?" She asks.

"Can you do both?" She asks.

"That's a lot of frosting." She worried about it being too sweet.

"Can we alternate like one layer whipped and the next buttercream?" Anna gave another option.

"Can do." Fran wrote it down. "What time do you want to pick it up?"

"Miss Patty will pick it up around five," Rory told her.

"Alright, you're all set." She completed the order.

"Thanks, Fran." They picked up their bags to head out.

Lane walks in. "We have a glitch."

"What?" A glitch this close to the party wasn't good.

"Well, apparently, the world's largest pizza was 122 feet, 8 inches." Lane was holding the World Record book.

"No." Anna didn't want to hear that.

"It says it right there." She pointed at it.

"Well, obviously we can't do that." Rory sighes.

"Obviously." She agrees.

"So, then, we'll have to make it the largest pizza in Connecticut." Rory changes the phrasing.

"Litchfield made one last year that was 98 feet." Lane had already thought about it and researched it.

"Pete said the biggest they could do was a twelve-footer." Anna crossed her arms.

"Maybe you could make her the world's biggest something else." Lane closed the book.

"Like what?" Rory asks.

"I don't know. Taco?" She said the first thing that came to mind.

"It would be impossible to keep a taco shell that big from cracking." Anna shook her head.

"And, the world's biggest taco would be a little difficult to serve." Rory pointed out.

"Well, it would be more of a commitment." She nods.

"How about we don't say anything and give her a big pizza?" Anna thought a large pizza would be jaw-dropping on its own.

"But, the world's biggest pizza sounds impressive. Can we lie to her?" Rory asks.

"I can do it." Anna nods. Rory gave a pointed look to ask if she really could. "It's not a big lie and she'll enjoy it so I can do it."

"Alright, that's settled. So, how's the music selection coming?" She asks Lane.

"Good. I've decided to choose one song from each year in Lorelai's life. I'm almost done, though I hit a snag in 1974." She was happy to be selected as the DJ.

"Bad year?" She asks.

"It's making the year of the Macarena look inspired." She sighs in frustration.

"What about No Woman No Cry?" Anna wonders.

"It doesn't fit in with the other songs." She rejected the suggestion.

They walked out of the bakery and headed down the street. "Hey, can you stash this at your house 'til the party?." Rory hands Lane some shopping bags that were filled with decorations.

"Ironic, isn't it? You have to hide things at my house for a change." She took the bags.

"Life has come full circle." Anna hummed the Circle of Life.

They run into Jess coming out of the video store. "Hey. I got the video for tonight."

"What'd you get?" She asks.

"Almost Famous." He told her.

"I don't want to hear anything when I choose Clueless tomorrow." She put her hands on her hips.

"I don't think we can compare the two." Jess cocks his head to the side.

She huffs at the statement. He thought because the movies he picked were deeper than hers that his taste was better. "And I want sushi tonight." She stomps her foot.

"Oh, come on, now you're just trying to punish me." He rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm not." She lied. "We got burgers last night like you wanted when I picked Ed Wood."

"You love burgers." He pointed out that it wasn't the same.

"Yes, but I was in the mood for pasta." She countered.

"Fine but tomorrow, we are eating Thai." He compromises.

"That's so cute. You're like a sweet old agoraphobic couple." Lane listens to them go back and forth.

"Thank you." Jess nods.

"I gotta go find 1974." Lane waves as she walks off.

"I gotta go do something for the party." Rory hated feeling like the third wheel.

"So how is the party planning going?" He wraps an arm around her waist as they continue down the street.

"Good, the pizza is becoming more difficult but we'll manage." She updated him.

"Good, if I have to go to this thing I better get pizza." He squeezed her hip. "Getting ready to be amazed." He pulled her into the diner.

"I don't think anyone is amazed after watching something for the tenth time." She rolled her eyes.

"It has not been ten." He counted in his head. "It's only the fifth."

"Still… it's the third time you pick it in a roll. Too much." She whines going up the stairs.

"I need it after watching your crap." He opened the door to the apartment.

"The nerve…. How about from now on we can't pick the same movie in a month?" She negotiated.

"Deal." They shook hands before picking up the phone to order sushi.


The Gilmore sisters were sitting in class when Paris came in with her nose bandaged. "Oh, Paris, hi, you're back. I. . .oh my God. What happened to your nose?" Rory asks.

"You had it done." Madeline was excited at the idea.

"Finally." Louise had been telling her to do it for years.

"I did not have it done." She sighs.

"Yeah, if she did then why would she come back when it's still healing." Anna thought that would be dumb.

"True." The girls nod.

"Did you fall?" Rory got them back on subject.

"No, I didn't fall. I had it pierced." Paris made their jaws drop.

"You what?" Madeline gaps.

"Oh my God." Louise couldn't believe it.

"Why would you do that?" Rory's eyes widened.

"Because you told me to go out and do something crazy." She blames her.

"Yes, but I meant to have some ice cream, go see three movies, buy a new purse. I didn't mean to poke a third hole in your nose." She defends herself.

"Well, come on, let's see it." Anna bounced in excitement.

"It's not there anymore because, within an hour of having it done, my nose swelled up to four times its normal size, blocking all nasal passage, making it impossible to breathe. I went to the emergency room, where they pried the thing out of my nose and shot me up with antibiotics. I spent the night with an ice pack strapped to my face." She told her story.

"You know you're sensitive, why didn't you get the good stuff?" Anna got slapped on the shoulder by her sister. "What? She is allergic to everything."

"I bought the most expensive one there for that reason, but it turns out I was allergic to the crap metal hoop that I paid $19.95 to have jammed into my nose," Paris confirmed.

"Did you take a picture?" Louise asks.

"No, Louise, I did not take a picture. I was a little busy trying to get air to my brain cells, a burden you've not yet faced." She sneers.

"Paris, I'm so sorry. I . ." Rory's cell phone rings. "It's Pete I got to take this…Hello?" She moved to the side.

"Was it a stud or a hoop?" Anna asked.

"It was a stud shaped in a heart." Paris's face said that she wanted new friends.

"Oh, cute." She coos.

A boy walks up to them. "Can I take a picture of your nose?"

"Are you suicidal?" Anna tilts her head.

"I'll give you ten dollars?" He offers.

"I will not let you look at my nose for ten dollars, you sick job. Beat it, now!" She pushed him towards the door. "Come back when you have a twenty." He rushed away.

His friend was laughing, having officially put him up to it. Anna walks by his desk, bumping it with her hip hard enough to almost tip him over. He yelped and scrambled to steady himself.

Rory hangs up the phone to give them judgmental looks. "What? Just making lemonade here." Paris sat down.

She turned to her sister. "My hips sway naturally." She claims her desk. Rory sighes taking her seat as class starts.


Rory and Anna were each wheeling a hand truck cart full of soda cases out of the market. Jackson walks up to them. "Rory! Anna! What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, well, we're trying to transport all the sodas for the party in one trip, which seemed a little silly when I first came up with the idea and it's rapidly growing in its stupidity." Rory was struggling to hold it up.

"You know, I never took you for being thoughtless, but I guess I was wrong." He yelled.

Anna put down her cart. "Look, Jackson, I don't know what's wrong but unless you're going to talk calmly then go away. You're a grown man yelling at two teenage girls in the middle of the street."

He takes a moment to compose himself before going on. "Sookie is hurt that you didn't include her."

"She is pregnant, so we figure she could just enjoy the party for once. And Pete is mom's favorite place to order pizza." Anna reasoned.

"Jackson, you know we would never purposely hurt Sookie. We'll come over to talk to her if it makes things better. We wanted her to relax." Rory apologizes.

"Is there some way she can be included?" He asks.

"We don't have party favors." Anna thought of the one thing they forgot.

"We were planning to give everyone bibs." Rory thought they could do better.

"Good, I'll let her know." He was happy to give good news to his pregnant wife.


Anna was waiting for Jess, seeing that he said he would drive her to school. He rushed downstairs and out of the diner. "Where did you park?" She follows him out.

"What?" He looks back at her. She should know he parked it in the same spot every time.

"It's not in the usual spot." She pointed to the empty space when they rounded the corner.

"What the hell? Someone is going to die." He ran back to the diner.

"Jess!" Anna rushes after him.

"Get off the phone!" He yelled at Luke when he entered the diner.

"What?" He looks at him shocked.

"I need the phone! Get off the phone!" He got into his personal space.

"What's the matter?" He asks.

"Someone stole my car." He was ready to take it from him.

"Nicole, I'm gonna have to call you back." He hangs up. "What do you mean somebody stole your car?"

Jess picks up the phone and starts dialing. "I parked it right around the corner and now it's gone."

"Why would you park it around the corner?" He always parks his truck in sight.

"Because that's where I parked it. How the hell can the police department have an answering machine?" He hangs up the phone.

"Look, let's just calm down." He tells him.

"Who would steal that car? It hardly ran." Anna worried when they drove far.

"Well, you know these chop shops, they can make a buck out of anything," Luke told her.

"I am gonna kill whoever did this. I'm gonna find them and kill them." Jess points at the ground, implying they would be six feet under soon.

"Listen, just go on over to the school, I'll take care of everything." Luke pointed across the street.

"No, I gotta talk to the cops." He shook his head.

"I'll do that, go. You don't wanna be late for your first class, right?" He put his hands on his shoulders.

"Well, yeah, but what about Anna? It's too late for her to catch the bus." He pointed at his girlfriend.

"It's fine. I can miss today. I got last-minute things for mom's party. I'll go to Sookie and help with the party favors." She shrugs.

"Okay, well, then just walk on over to the school and I'll take care of the rest." He pushed him towards the door.

"Fine." He sighs.

"Alright, have a good day. Study hard, don't worry. Just leave the car to me." He opens the door and pushes him out.

"So what did you do with the car?" Anna saw his smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" He walks behind the counter.


Emily, Richard, Rory, Anna, and the maids were singing to Lorelai in the dining room. "Happy birthday dear Lorelai, happy birthday to you."

"You can take the cake into the kitchen now, Teresa," Emily instructed.

"Wait, aren't I supposed to blow them out?" She watches her cake get carried away.

"Oh, Teresa can do that." She waves her off.

"Mom, it's tradition for the person whose name is on the cake to do the blowing." She pouts.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought only children liked to do that. Should we bring it back out and relight it?" Emily puts her hands together.

"No." She looks down at the table.

"Well, would you like to make a wish and blow out the tapers?" He put his hand on the candlestick.

"Why am I being mocked on my birthday?" She was normally the one that did the playful teasing.

"Because that's the Gilmore way." Rory smiled.

"Let's move into the living room for our dessert, shall we?" Emily put her napkin on the table.

"Let's shall." They start walking to the living room. "How're we doing on time?" She whispers to her daughters.

"We've got time for cake," Rory told her.

"Are you sure? 'Cause I don't wanna miss the fancy party you're throwing me." She had been waiting for months after she found them whispering to each other with a list of ideas.

"Don't worry, it's just a party at Chuck E Cheese." Anna teases.

"What are the three of you whispering about?" Emily asks.

"Nothing." They answered.

"Champagne?" Richard went to the bartending cart while the rest of them sat down.

"Trying to get me drunk so I forget that you wouldn't let me blow out my candles?" She put her purse by her feet.

"Oh, dear, is this going to be another one of those stories that you tell people for the rest of your life like the bunny story?" Emily rolled her eyes

"His name was Murray, Mom." She crosses her arms.

"Oh, Emily, you had to bring that up?" Richard sighs.

"How could you think I wouldn't notice you gave away my rabbit?" She threw her hands in the air.

"Because you were four and terrified of the thing." Emily crosses her legs.

"I was not terrified, I simply respected his space." She elbowed her kids to let them know that was a lie.

"You slept in the maid's room for a week." She reminds her.

"I wonder where Murray is now." She took a glass from her father.

"In a shoebox somewhere, I assume." He hands the teens their sodas.

"Grandpa." They whine.

"Very nice, and on my birthday." She sips.

"Once again, a toast to Lorelai on her 36th birthday." He sat down next to his wife and raised his glass.

"35th." She corrected him.

"Really?" He lowered his glass and looked off to the side.

"You're doing the math?" She gasps.

"Right, sorry. To Lorelai on her 35th birthday." He raised it back up.

"Hear, hear." Anna cheered.

"Thank you for the toast, thank you for the dinner, and, uh, in the spirit of the evening, Mom, I have something for you." She opened her purse.

"For me? It's not my birthday." She was surprised that she was getting something.

"I know, but here." She hands Emily an envelope.

"What is this?" She took it.

"It's from Murray. It's taken him this long to write it partially because of the hurt and pain and partially because he has paws." She teases while Emily opens it.

"What is this?" Emily stares at the paper. Anna was on alert when all the joy in her grandma's voice was gone.

"That is what I owe you." She told her.

"What do you owe me?" She uncrosses her legs.

"For their school. I promised you I'd pay you back and now I have every cent. Thank you again for helping us out. There's no way they would be going to pursue their dreams if it wasn't for this money. If it wasn't for you." Lorelai was the only one smiling in the room.

"You're welcome." She said flatly.

"Okay, so. . ." She was going to move on.

"You must be very relieved." Emily wasn't ready to do that.

"Excuse me?" It was her turn to be shocked.

"Your debt is paid, you owe us nothing." She wants to rip up the paper.

"Well, yeah." It was relieving to be out of debt to anyone.

"You don't need us anymore." She got to her point.

"Um, I didn't say…" She looks at her daughter, wondering how this went bad. They were wondering how she didn't see this coming.

"You don't have to deal with us. You don't have to come over for Friday night dinners. It all works out beautifully, doesn't it?" Her voice was slowly filling with venom. Richard was rubbing his temples.

"This isn't about that, Mom." She shook her head.

"Oh no?" She mockingly tilts her head.

"No, I owed you money and I paid you back." She was doing what she was supposed to do.

"I don't want it." She held it out.

"I can't believe you're mad that I'm paying you back." Lorelai wasn't going to take it.

"I'm not mad, I just think it's extremely unkind of you to use this occasion to inform me you won't be coming over anymore." She was hurt, that was something worse than anger.

"I didn't say that." She denies.

"This says that!" She waves the paper.

"Mom, let me ask you something… wouldn't you rather we came over here because we wanted to, not because of some threat you're holding over our heads?" Anna didn't like her mom adding her to this.

"Oh, and you would come here voluntarily?" Emily scoffs.

"I always said I would pay you back. This is not a surprise." She didn't know why she was so thrown off.

"No, it certainly isn't." She got her answer.

"Grandma, you know I'll come over every Friday and for Tea during the week." Anna sits on the arm of the couch next to her.

"I know but soon you'll be in Philadelphia. I can't ask you to drive over three hours two times a week. That would be 12 hours on the road." She pats her knee.

"Mom when Dad gave me the money, one of the first things that jumped into my head was that I had to pay you back." Lorelai would feel weird spending it on anything else when she had a debt.

"When Dad gave you the money? When Dad gave her the money?" Emily turns to her husband.

"It was her money." It wasn't right to keep it from her.

"It was from that investment, Mom," Lorelai told her.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stay out of this." Richard didn't need her defending him.

"Why are you mad at me?" She didn't know why he was upset.

"I told you not to tell your mother about that money." He yelled.

"Dad, I swear you didn't tell me not to tell Mom." She would have remembered that.

"Why do you think I met you that day at a restaurant, Lorelai? Think." He points at his forehead.

"You kept this from me, Richard?" Emily held up the check.

"I knew you would be upset." He knew how much Friday night dinner meant to her.

"You lied to me." She couldn't believe he would do this to her.

"I had to give it to her. I was legally obligated." It would be illegal to keep her money.

"You're also legally obligated to your wife." She reminds him of his vows.

"Mom…" Lorelai tried to clean up her mess.

"Don't you talk to me!" She snaps.

"Now, you're overreacting." Richard wanted to remind her that she was upset about losing time with her so shutting her out wouldn't help.

"Don't you talk to me either!" She glares at him.

"Don't be mad at Dad." Lorelai hated when they fought.

"Stay out of this!" Richard didn't want Emily to think they were working against her.

"I just…" She wasn't only trying to help. "Mom, please. Just because I gave you this money doesn't mean we're never gonna come over here again. We will come over. Maybe not every week, but there will be the occasional Friday night dinners."

"No, there won't." She shook her head.

"Grandma…" Rory was going to tell her she could come to dinners.

"I don't need anybody doing me any favors. You are released from your obligation, Lorelai. Have a nice birthday, have a nice life, I'm going to bed." She got up to go upstairs. Richard follows his wife. The maid came out to put the slice-up cake on the table.


They were walking through the town square. Lorelai looks at her daughter who inherited her motor mouth. "You're quiet. I know they were upset, hon, but trust me, they'll calm down."

"Why did you have to do that tonight? They were throwing you a party. Everyone was in good spirits." Anna glares at her mother.

"I borrowed that money, I was able to pay them back tonight so I did." Lorelai thought they should be happy to get their money.

"I know you did, but you had to have known that they'd get upset. You had to know that Grandma would take it personally. You knew what it would mean to her when you handed her that check." She didn't think her mom was a fool.

"I thank her. I gave her credit for you guys going on to have great futures. I'm not sure if you're aware of how hard it has been for me these past three years to be indebted to my parents. I decided a long time ago that I was gonna live my life without their help, but I went to them and I took their money and I'm not sorry I did, it was the right thing for you guys, but I don't need their help anymore." She didn't know why everyone in her family was getting upset with her.

"Fine, but you don't have to throw it in their faces like that." Rory didn't like seeing her Grandma upset either.

"I paid back a loan. You're supposed to pay back a loan. I have Polonius and the entire banking system on my side." She reminded them she did nothing wrong.

"I just think you could've done it differently." Rory crosses her arms.

"How?" She asks.

"I don't know." She looked down at her feet.

"Take a shot." She challenges them.

"You could have gone there on another day, not Friday night. Give her the check and say see you on Friday." Anna snaps. Rory's eyes went between them not wanting a big blowup.

"Anna, my relationship with my parents is very different from your relationship with them. You only know the warm and fuzzy Richard and Emily, and I only want you to know the warm and fuzzy Richard and Emily because they're your grandparents and they love you, but I have a different history with them and it was not all warm and it was definitely not all fuzzy. So do not judge me for repaying a loan that I always intended to repay, that I told them from the beginning I would repay. I will not let them make me feel guilty for doing that and I will not let you make me feel guilty for doing that either." She tried to get her to see it from her point of view.

"Who cares about what they did in the past?" Anna scoffs.

"Excuse me." Her mom took a defensive stance.

"Anna." Rory didn't want this to go too far.

"It's not hard to figure out that they were mass control freaks who use their authority to try and plan out everything in your life. You felt more like a doll to them than a person. But, clearly, they are not the same people. They've never tried to manipulate me into changing my career plans. They defended me to their friend when they tried to persuade me. Yes, sometimes Friday night blows up in our faces but there have been more good nights than bad. You can't lie to me and tell me you haven't enjoyed yourself. I hope for both our sakes when I'm older I don't hold onto a grudge for the mistakes you made." Anna was furious at her mom for holding onto her teenage anger.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lorelai didn't know she had done anything to give Anna something to hold onto.

"We are not doing this. We worked hard on this party. We love each other. We will not yell out hurt feelings. We can talk about this calmly another day." Rory put an end to it.

"I'm sorry, I'm yelling at you for bad timing, and look at me." She admits.

"It's fine. I didn't…" She felt like crying over some unknown thing she did to hurt Anna.

They walk down the street some more. Lorelai sees a large group of people gathered for her birthday party at the dance studio. A crane is lowering the huge pizza onto a stage. "Oh my God. What is that?" She gasps.

"The world's largest pizza. Almost." Rory told her.

"That is amazing." She would take Rory's advice and enjoy tonight, looking around she could see they work hard on this.

"You like it?" She asks.

"I love it. Thank you, honey." She gave each of them a kiss on the cheek.