Chef Marie was leading the class in how to make briouat. Anna was feeling an emotion that she never felt in class before, flustered. She was having a hard time folding the small pastries with her chicken filling. Chef made it look easy in her demonstration to fold the small pastries that she had filled to the brim. She thought about doing a smaller amount of filling like others were doing but that felt like a defeat for her.

"Fuck." She cursed when some of the fillings broke through the seams.

"I think this is the first time I have seen you as human." Jaci teased. She never saw Anna struggle with food.

"You never saw me have to stuff something before." She was never good with fillings. She found that she was always over stuff or under. It would either explode in the oven or when you ate it it was all bread and little filling.

"Here's a tip." The chef came over when she saw Anna didn't have any briouat made yet. "Just put half of what you want at the start and when you fold it makes sure to keep the shape of how big you want it. Then before the last fold, you can put the rest of the filling in." She grabs a strip of phyllo dough to show her.

"Thank you." Jaci was happy with the tip. She nudged her friend.

"Thank you for that. It's a very useful tip." Anna nods. It was a useful tip but she hated that she needed it.

"You're welcome." She went to check on the next station.

"Light up, Anna. You're not going to be a natural at everything." She scolds her friend for acting like a brat.

"If this was my first time, I wouldn't be frustrated but this has been going on for years with hand pies, cream puffs, dumplings." She decided that she didn't need to stuff things.

"Why do you think that is?" She asks.

"I guess I like to overstuff my first time, then on my second try, I put too little. I get so frustrated that I have to take a break then I repeat the cycle." She thought about all her failures as she used the tips that Chef gave her to do her first successful briouat.

"I got to see this might be your first successful stuffing." Jaci watches her make her next one.

"I think so too." Anna looks down at the small pastries.


Anna and Jaci were eating their pastries during their lunch break at work. "They taste even better because I struggle with them." She ate her chicken briouat.

"They are pretty good." She ate one.

"Yours is good too. The spice is yummy." She ate the cajun shrimp pastry.

"We're living the life. Learning new food every day and getting to stuff ourselves with them." Jaci rubs her full stomach.

"Definitely." She smiled, thinking about how she was living her childhood dreams. "But, I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of my shift when I'm so full." She wanted to take a nap.

"At least we don't have to deal with customers." She was happy to be in the back.

"True." She stood up to stretch. "Some of these people are too entitled." She felt sorry for the waitresses and waiters, having heard some of their stories of the horrible people that got upset over the silliest things.


"So, your birthday is coming up." Jess and Anna were cuddling on the couch.

"We can have a night of my favorites: food, movies, you, the pets." She didn't want to trouble him. He was busy with his business partners. They were in the process of getting their credit scores up. They were researching the equipment they needed to be a publishing house. Trying to make a connection with local artists. With all that and his day job, he was always on the move. She wanted her birthday to be a day of relaxation for both of them.

"Do you have plans with your friends?" He wonders about her day plans.

"No, I didn't tell them when my birthday was." She didn't know how to approach that topic.

"So, all the pressure is on me." He huffs.

"All I'm asking for is burgers and movies." She laughed.

"But your taste in movies sucks Clueless, The Princess Diaries, Legally Blonde." He thought her taste was that of a middle school girl.

"At least there are happy movies, unlike yours, where someone dies at the end." She points out his love of tragic movies.

"That is life." He likes art that resembles life.

"Entertainment should be an escape." She liked an escape from reality.

"That's the difference I like art while you like entertainment." He thought of them in general.

"Oh, so deep, Mr. Substance." She scoffs.

"You better remember that." He taps her temple. She tickles his sides. "Fuck… I told you about that shit." He wrapped his arms around her to squeeze her tightly enough that she couldn't move.

"I give, I give." She taps his arm. "Damn snake." She stood up when he released her.

"What gift would you want?" He asks.

"Whatever you give me will be fine." She didn't want him getting her anything expensive. He already gave her an apartment to live in.

"Can you tell me? I don't want to guess." He watches her shake her head. "Fine, but I'm not getting a gift receipt so when I get an ugly wall art it will have to hang there." He points at the blank wall.

"Sasuke will knock it over and Naruto will rip it up." She gave a made-up excuse.

"I don't like how fast you made that up… wait you said Sasuke knocked over the mug my coworker gave me." He sat up.

"It was a boob with a pointy nipple, it had to go." She had no regrets.

"I'm going to get you that mug." He teased. "Maybe in the shape of your boob."


Anna started off her birthday like any other being woken up by her mom. The ringing made Jess curse up a storm. Anna took the call into the bathroom. She told her the story of her painful birth. She took a bath while Jess made breakfast. She went to school and walked the pets. She was on the couch reading Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. It was released last year but senior year was so crazy she didn't find time to read the books she wanted to. She got a text from Danni reminding her to water her plants. Jaci took her to see a play in the next town over. She got up to grab her keys. She went into the elevator with Naruto following her. She was humming the Harry Potter theme song when she opened her friend's apartment. "Surprise!" She jumped back at seeing Jaci, Jess, Danni, Loralei, Rory, her Grandparents, Babette, Morey, Miss. Patty, Sookie, Jackson, and Lane.

"Oh my god," She couldn't believe they were here. Naruto ran in and greeted everyone like they were there for him.

"I couldn't let you have a lonely birthday." Jess hugs her. She was from a small town where if you were well-liked your birthday was treated like a holiday. For someone as social as her he knew she wouldn't be happy with a quiet night in.

"Thank you. This is perfect." She knew he hated planning. She felt awkward telling people it was her birthday. In Stars Hollow, people knew because everyone's birthday was on the Stars Hollow calendar. On your milestone birthday, the newspaper would write an article on your life. She was finding that a bigger population didn't mean a bigger social life.

"Come on, you get to see her every day. I want to hug her." Babette pulled him off to hug her.

"Oh Jess, can you get Sasuke so she can meet him." She points at the door with one arm while hugging her neighbor with the other. He nods before walking to the door.

"Oh, a bulldog-like Handsome Dan." Richard bent down to pet the dog that was the same breed as his school's mascot.

"Who?" Rory asks.

"The mascot of your school. Rory, you had to have seen him." He gasped that she didn't know a big part of her college.

"I thought someone brought their dog to school." She thought the guy was brave to walk the dog when he could get kicked out of his dorm for it.

"Oh Rory," She got stuck listening to the history of Handsome Dan.

"Sasuke!" Babette yelled when Jess came back with the kitten.

"She doesn't watch the show," Anna told Jaci.

"An impressive impression nonetheless." She laughed.

"Thank you for letting Jess have the party here." She thanks her and Danni.

"Don't mention it. It's all worth it getting to meet some Stars Hollow residents." Danni had been looking forward to meeting Jackson. They had a conversation about the best soil to plant strawberries in.

"Oh yeah, getting to meet Sookie felt like meeting an idol." Jaci smiled. "We set a double date."

"That should be a lively conversation." She realized how many parallels there were between the couple. Danni loves plants and Jaci has a passion for cooking.

"I'm going to say thank you to everyone." She excused herself to make her rounds.

"Happy Birthday, Anna." Emily smiles when she sees her granddaughter walking over.

"Anna, when did you get Handsome Dan?" Richard had the puppy in his lap.

"Thank you, Grandma….A what?" She tilts her head at her grandfather.

"Yale's mascot is a bulldog," Rory explained before Richard went into the history again.

"I told you guys I got a dog and cat." She told anyone that would listen.

"Yes, but you didn't say it was a bulldog." He pets the wrinkly dog.

"Didn't know it mattered at the time." She found it strange to see him so excited about a messy creature.

"Is it too late to change his name?" Emily asks.

"Yes," She wasn't going to change his name to a mascot of a school she didn't go to. "It goes with Sasuke… It's a show." She explains when her grandparents continue to stare at her. "A good show."

"Well, if it's a good show." Emily rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to check on Sasuke." She walks over to Lane, Morey, Miss Patty, and Babette.

"Oh, he is sweet." Babette petted the cat that was on Lane's lap.

"Yeah, he's the best." Sasuke's head snapped to her when he heard her voice. He wiggled to escape Lane and jumped to her. She grabbed him so he wouldn't dig his nail in to hang out. "He's a little clingy to me."

"A little?" Jess who was walking by with Jaci scoffs. "Never leave your side when you come home."

"He knows who makes his food." She had been making homemade food for them. Considering that most of it was things they already had, it saved her some money. She kept some cat and dog food on hand for days when she was feeling lazy.

"He's like your baby." Miss Patty watches the cat curl up in her arms.

"Sasuke is a mommy's boy." She rocks the purring kitten.

"There's nothing like a cat," Morey smiles.

"So, is the school getting better, Lane?" She asks her friend.

"No, but I have gotten used to all the rules. I put on a plain shirt, pants, and shoes. I head out the door." She found that she wasn't wearing accessories out of school either. Looking at her jewelry box reminded her of those boring detentions.

"That's something I guess." Anna didn't know what else to say.

"She doesn't have a forbidden romance. I'm telling you, Lane, those are the best when you're not supposed to but you give in to your urges." Miss. Patty retells a forbidden romance she had with her dance teacher when she was in her twenties.

"Oh my," Jaci felt herself blushing at the dirty details. Jess walked away when she mentioned her heaving breast.


Anna was looking at the pink carnations in a pot that Danni gave her. She was reading the instructions that she wrote for her. "Please don't die. I see this woman a lot." She waters them. Danni raises these flowers from seeds. "If that happens, Sasuke's going to have to knock you over." The cat whacks her leg with his tail. "What? I can't kill it. You're cute, people will forgive you." She watches his furry butt walk away from her.

"You won't mind knocking it over, right?" She looks down at Naruto. He was happily wagging his tail with a big smile on his face. "Oh, sweet boy."


"Hey, Trix." She walks out onto the balcony where the pink carnations were sitting on the table. "Ready for your morning watering." She waters the plants. "You look good today, girl. Very vibrate. A Lot of bees are going to be on top of you today." She had gotten into the habit of talking to the flowers.

"I think I'm going to get you a cuter pot or maybe paint this one." She looks at the regular brown pot she came in. "I'll need Danni's help repotting but she won't mind."

A loud meow came from the house. "The prodigy making his demands." She looks at the impatient cat. "I'm coming, jeez. I was just having a conversation." She went in to grab their harnesses.


"Oh Jess, look." She stopped in front of the flowers in Walmart. "Let's get Trix some friends."

"I can't believe you went from being terrified of them dying to naming it and wanting more." He looks at the colorful flowers.

"Please." She hangs on his arm.

"Three tops." He didn't need a floral apartment. "Our apartment will not be a garden." She let out a happy yell and grabbed pink hydrangeas, purple posies, and pansies.

"What to name all of you? What to name you?" She wonders out loud.

"Jeez." He sighs, knowing he is going to be expected to remember these names.


"Don't tell Jess I'm here. I am this close to getting him to let me see his book." Danni was at Home Depot with her friend and girlfriend. A boy at school was bragging about his herb garden. The girls wanted to get some to see if they were better than the ones at the grocery store.

"No, you're not." Jaci laughs at her girlfriend's delusion thinking that she was slowly becoming Jess's best friend.

"I won't tell him." Anna put catnip into her cart. "Oh my god, they have tree's here." She looks at the small tree.

"Oh, a tree for the porch." Danni joined her. They end up picking a Meyer lemon tree for Anna. "We should pick another tree so that way we can have two fruits." They picked a gala apple tree. They went around picking their favorite herbs to cook with. Danni advises them on what would do well in their environment and the level of difficulty to keep them alive.


"What the hell?" Jess steps out on the porch.

"The porch is a garden, not the apartment." She knew she went too far when she had to use the credit card that Emily gave her.

Jess looks at the planter hangers on the railing. There were shelves full of plants. "Is that a tree?" His jaw dropped.

"It's a lemon tree. I don't know what happened. A boy at school was talking about his herb garden. So, after school, I went to Home Depot and things spiraled." She knew he would see the money being wasted on this. "Everything is edible. I save money by growing them instead of buying." She wanted to hide behind the tree.

"How did you pay for this?" He asks.

"The credit card." She left out that it wasn't hers. He looked down when he heard a loud purr to see Sasuke rubbing himself on a plant. "CatNip." She explained.

"So, all this is edible?" He rubs the side of his face.

"Yes," She went around naming all the plants.


"Where are we?" She looked at the fence in place that had a lot of plants. "I thought you said no more."

"You know how I didn't get you a good birthday gift." He parks the car.

"What? You planned the party and got me the pizza pan I wanted." She had already made a pizza on it.

"Then just consider this another present." He got out of the car.

She follows him. "Community garden?" She reads the sign.

"In the city, a lot of people don't have backyards so they make places like this." He held the gate open for her.

She walks in and looks around at the individual rising plots. "This is yours." He stops at an empty plot.

"This is mine." She points down at it.

"Yup, you can plant vegetables or whatever you want." One of his coworker's wives ran it. He got some strings pulled to get her name on the top of the waiting list.

"Oh Jess, I love how you indulge my plant addiction." She hugs him.

"The porch does smell nice." He laid his cheek on the top of her head.


"Yeah, yeah… got it… thank you. I'll call you if I have any more questions. Bye!" She hangs up the phone.

"Who was that?" Jess watched her take notes for half an hour since he got home.

"Jackson, I called to see what vegetables were in season. He was so excited that he went on and on. But, all usable information." She flips through her notepad.

"Is that a list of songs?" He looks over her shoulders.

"Yeah, to sing to squashes." She told him.

"Of course. Everyone knows squashes love Bon Jovi." He chuckles at the oddness of Star Hollows.