As another Friday Night Dinner came to a close, the Gilmores sat in the dining room eating dessert. The table was silent, apart from the sounds of forks hitting plates, until Emily looked over at her youngest daughter.

"Juliet, how's your residency going?"

Juliet turned to her mother with a polite smile. "Good! I'm done in May, so my schedule's easing up a little."

"Oh, how nice," Emily said, smiling as she took a bite of cake. "Perhaps now you'll have more time for dating."

Fuck.

"Mom –" Juliet began, looking at Lorelai in a panic.

Her mother plowed on. "You're not getting any younger, Juliet. I'd already given birth to both of you by the time I was your age."

"Well, hey, I'm even older than she is," Lorelai pointed out, defending Juliet the best way she knew how. "And I'm not married."

"Yes, but you've already given us a grandchild," Emily gestured to Rory with a proud smile, then raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Besides, I've already given up on your getting married."

"Mom!" Juliet admonished. Lorelai rolled her eyes with a bitter laugh, reaching for Juliet's hand under the table.

Emily pretended Juliet hadn't spoken, leaning in conspiratorially to her youngest daughter. "My friend Caroline Furman from the DAR was telling me that her son Lawrence works in the financial department of your hospital. You should stop by his office and say hello sometime."

"Isn't Lawrence Furman married?" Richard asked, raising an eyebrow as he took a sip of coffee.

"Divorced," Emily said shortly, then turned back to Juliet expectantly. "He's very handsome, Juliet. Shall I give him your number?"

"I'll think about it, okay?" Juliet promised with a tight smile, giving Lorelai a look of commiseration.

"I don't know why I bother," Emily sighed forlornly, rolling her eyes.

Juliet ignored her, turning pointedly to her sister. "So, how's the inn, Lor?"

"Mom's having a huge wedding there this week," Rory piped up excitedly.

"Really?" Emily arched an eyebrow. "Glad to know those haven't gone out of style."

"Just for the Gilmore sisters, apparently," Juliet said under her breath.

Lorelai chuckled, elbowing Juliet with a conspiratorial smile. "It's a double wedding."

Juliet glanced over at her, smiling fondly. "Aww, like the one we were going to have with Emilio and Rob!"

"Emilio and Rob?" Richard asked, frowning in confusion.

"Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe," Lorelai clarified.

He still looked confused.

"They're famous actors, Dad," Juliet said.

"Hm," their father nodded, still not looking as though he fully understood.

Emily pursed her lips, glancing dismissively away from her daughters. "Rory, how's Chilton?"

"I have to pick a team sport to play," Rory said, playing with the frosting on her plate. "It's a requirement."

"Do you know what you're gonna pick?" Juliet asked her niece.

Rory frowned. "I'm not sure. I'm not really the athletic type."

"I told her she should go out for the debating team," Lorelai said with a smirk.

"It's not a sport," Rory reminded her.

"It is the way the Gilmores play," Lorelai quipped.

Juliet snorted, remembering the near fistfight Lorelai had gotten into with another student at a debate tournament.

Emily clearly remembered too, and changed the subject. "So, what are your choices?"

Rory looked up, thinking. "God, there's like a thousand of them: basketball, lacrosse, swimming, track, golf –"

"Golf?" Emily sat up even straighter in her chair if that was possible.

"Yeah."

"Well, your grandfather is a golf player," Emily began.

"Oops," Lorelai said under her breath.

Their mother either didn't hear, or chose to ignore Lorelai's comment. "He plays every week at the club. He could teach you to play like a pro!"

"Emily," Richard warned.

But his wife was on a roll. "Why, he could take you there tomorrow! It's perfect."

"It's not something you can teach in an afternoon," he protested, holding a hand up.

"That's okay," Lorelai said hastily, looking at Juliet for help. "Rory can pick something else."

"Yeah, Mom, I ran cross-country in high school, remember? I can help her with that," Juliet offered.

"I remember you consistently not placing at cross-country meets," Emily said, arching an eyebrow. She turned to Rory. "You can use your mother's old golf clubs tomorrow. They're upstairs gathering dust along with the rest of her potential."

"Man, she took us both out in one swing," Lorelai whispered to Juliet, then sighed as she addressed their mother. "Mom, can I maybe talk to you for a minute?"

"We're having dessert."

"I know, but I'd like to talk to you fast before the sugar sets in and makes me crazy."

Emily stood up, rolling her eyes. "You are the oddest person."

Lorelai rolled her eyes as she got up, patting Juliet's shoulder to tell her to stay seated.

After a moment of awkward silence, Richard looked up from his plate, still frowning. "What have Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe been in?"

As the three of them left the house after dessert, Lorelai turned to her daughter with a sympathetic smile. "Oh, man, you got completely blindsided! I'm so sorry."

Rory shook her head. "That's okay."

"I tried to stop it, I swear. We both did," Lorelai said.

"I know. I'm probably better suited to golf than cross country anyway," Rory said, looking at Juliet apologetically. "No offense."

"None taken," Juliet waved a hand dismissively.

Rory looked between them nervously. "Will it really be that bad?"

Lorelai shrugged. "It might not be."

"Maybe there's a golfing champion in there that's just been waiting to come out until now," Juliet said, bumping Rory's shoulder with her own.

Lorelai grabbed her daughter's arm excitedly. "Ooh! Wouldn't that be cool? You could be on Corn Flakes boxes when you go to the Olympics!"

Rory rolled her eyes, smiling at her mother. "Or maybe you guys could come with me?"

Lorelai shook her head. "Rory, I love you. I would take a bullet for you. But I'd rather stick something sharp in my ear than go to the club with you. Besides, I have to work tomorrow."

"Fine," Rory sighed, then turned her doe eyes on her aunt. "Auntie Jules?"

"Sorry hon, I'm working too."

"But not on Sunday, right?" Lorelai asked, glancing at Juliet as they walked to the cars.

"No, not on Sunday," she confirmed, unlocking her door. "Wanna do something?"

"Yeah, come down to the Hollow after your shift tomorrow!" Lorelai put an arm around Rory, raising her eyebrows. "We can debrief about Happy Gilmore over dinner!"

"Sure, sounds fun," Juliet smiled, glancing over at Rory. "Want me to pick you up from here so you don't have to take the bus home?"

"You are my favorite aunt," Rory said, climbing in the passenger seat.

After what felt like the longest shift of her life, Juliet pulled into the driveway of her parents' house. She waved at her father and Rory as they got out of his Jaguar, both of them looking significantly happier than she'd expected.

"Hi, you two! How was it?"

"Well, she's no Arnold Palmer yet, but we certainly made progress," Richard said, smiling as he kissed Juliet's cheek briefly in greeting. "Did you know Rory's going to Fez?"

Juliet nodded. "I did! You guys talked about her travel plans?"

"Oh, yes, a great deal. I'll have your grandmother dig out some of our old guidebooks for you to look through," Richard said to Rory, still beaming.

"Really?" she said, eyes wide with delight. "That'd be amazing!"

"Of course," he said amiably, then turned to his daughter. "How was your day, Juliet?"

"About as normal as a psych ward gets," she said, shrugging. "It sounds like you guys had fun, though."

"We did, indeed. She's a brilliant young lady," her father said, smiling down at Rory, who glowed at his praise.

Juliet felt a familiar twinge of jealousy in her stomach. The last time she could remember her father looking at her with that much pride was when she'd graduated from med school. He'd never been in awe of her brilliance simply by spending a day with her. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember the last time they'd spent an hour one-on-one, let alone an entire day.

"Yeah, she is," she said, smiling at the brilliant young lady in question. "Ready to go, Rory?"

"Yup," Rory said. Impulsively, she gave Richard a quick hug, which he returned with a surprised smile. "Bye, Grandpa! Tell Grandma I said bye too!"

"I will, Rory. I had a wonderful time today," he said genuinely, opening the passenger door of Juliet's car for Rory. "Juliet, always nice to see you."

Juliet waved back as she and Rory got into her car. "You too, Dad. Tell Mom hi for me."

Richard nodded with another smile, backing away and waving as the two of them drove off.

Juliet turned to Rory as they got on the main road. "Oh, sorry, I didn't even ask if you wanted to drive. Want me to pull over real quick so you can practice?"

"That's okay. I already have way more than the required number of hours," Rory said, shaking her head and holding a rainbow beret out to her aunt. "Where's this from?"

Juliet laughed out loud as she glanced at it quickly. "That was your mom's. Your dad gave it to her as a joke for her fifteenth birthday."

Rory looked at the hat with newfound interest. "Dad bought this?"

Juliet nodded, her heart breaking a little at how hungry Rory was for even the tiniest bit of information about her father. She took a breath, trying to push through the resentment she felt toward Christopher and remember the time when she was a seventh grader with a massive crush on her sister's boyfriend.

"Oh yeah. Once, he dared your mom to wear it to school for a week, and when she said no, he tried to get me to do it," she said with a rueful smile, thinking of the other things Rory's father tried to convince her to do after Lorelai refused.

Rory chuckled, looking over at her. "Did you?"

"No! Are you kidding? That thing's hideous!" she laughed.

Rory laughed, contemplating the hat further. "What were they like back then?"

Juliet smiled, reminiscing. "Cool, fun. They always let me hang out with them and their friends after school. I felt so grown up, riding in the back of a high school kid's car. They all treated me like their collective little sister. Your mom pretty much only hung out with girls, except for your dad."

And, if our luck had been different, you would've had a couple of half-siblings who were really close to your age, she thought as they pulled into Stars Hollow.

Juliet pointed to Luke's. "Are we meeting your mom here or back at the house?"

"Here," Rory answered.

Juliet parked in front of the diner, and the two of them walked inside, Rory still staring at the hat.

Luke was almost immediately in front of them when they walked in, a look of surprise replacing his smile when he saw Juliet.

She raised a teasing eyebrow. "Did you think I was my sister? Because my hair's red."

"No, I – uh, no. And it's like a reddish-brown, from a distance it looks like – I didn't think that," he stuttered, blushing.

Juliet smiled at his embarrassment. She would be offended by the look on his face – embarrassment mixed with disappointment – if she wasn't so used to men mistaking her for Lorelai and being disappointed when she wasn't, or if she didn't find this man's awkward crush on her sister incredibly amusing. Rory smirked at her, and Luke finally noticed the hat she was holding.

"Interesting hat," he said drily, following them to their table and filling up a mug of coffee for Rory. "Tea?"

"Yeah, thanks," Juliet said, putting her coat over her chair. "And do you have chicken tenders?"

Luke nodded. "I have chicken tenders. Anything else?"

"Lor's meeting us here, so she'll want a cheeseburger. Rory, what about you?"

Rory shook her head. "I'm not hungry. I had a big lunch at the club."

"You sure?" Juliet asked, raising her eyebrows. She was tempted to just order something for her anyway, knowing her niece wouldn't be full much longer.

"I'm sure," Rory said definitively, nodding.

Luke nodded again, walking behind the counter. As he walked into the kitchen, the bell rang at the door as Lorelai walked in, holding a plate full of chocolate cake.

"My God – this day. The swans, the tulle, my head," she groaned, sitting down with Rory and Juliet. "Where's Luke? I need him to make me the largest cheeseburger in the world!"

Juliet waved a hand. "Already took care of it."

"Aw, you're such a good provider," Lorelai smiled, patting her arm. She sighed, widening her eyes dramatically. "The wedding is a nightmare. We got these ten boxes of creepy larvae that are supposed to swarm into beautiful butterflies on the wedding day. They swarmed a little early! And, I didn't even tell you! It's twins!"

"Twins?" Juliet asked, frowning.

"The double wedding! It's two sets of twins getting married!"

"No!" Rory gasped. "Identical?"

Lorelai nodded gleefully.

"Did you know that genetically, their kids will be siblings, not cousins?" Juliet informed them, an amused smile on her face.

Lorelai giggled, shaking her head no. "We just thought about how it'd give you an automatic hall pass because there's no way there won't be some accidental hanky-panky between in-laws!"

"Gross," Rory said, wrinkling her nose.

"So, Rory's golfing adventure. Tell me!" Lorelai said, leaning forward on the table.

"It was fine," Rory said, shrugging.

"Dad was all smiles when I picked her up today," Juliet told her sister, looking over at Rory with a fond smile. "I think he was ready to adopt her."

"That's because she's the sweetest kid in the whole world," Lorelai said, smiling proudly. "She must get that from you, Jules. Okay, golfing. Continue."

"Okay," Rory thought for a moment. "Well, uh, by the end of the day, I could even hit the ball. Sometimes it wasn't my ball, but the intentions were good."

"Well, good intentions and no physical exertion whatsoever is what the game of golf was built on," Lorelai quipped. "What else happened?"

"We had lunch around one," Rory said. "I got the French Dip. It was quite good."

Lorelai's brow furrowed. "Quite? What's with the 'quite'?"

Rory glanced over at Juliet, looking confused. "What do you mean?"

"You don't ever say 'quite'," Lorelai said with a light laugh. She turned to Juliet. "Have you ever heard her say quite?"

"She's said quite plenty of times," Juliet said, kicking Lorelai under the table with a 'stop being weird!' look.

Lorelai forced a smile. "So besides the 'quite good' lunch you had, what else happened?"

"Nothing," Rory said with a shrug. "We played, I met his friends, I took a steam."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow, looking over at Juliet. "You took a steam?"

"Yeah. I sweated out all my toxins and I stole a towel," Rory said, smiling.

"Wow!" Lorelai said, smiling uncomfortably. "Sounds like you really had a good time."

Rory nodded. "I did."

"And that's good! Right, Lor?" Juliet asked her sister pointedly.

"Of course!" Lorelai took the hint, smiling again at her daughter. "Sorry – I just – I'm surprised. I thought you were gonna be bored."

Rory glanced down at her hands. "I was kind of surprised too. I don't know – it was pretty there. And Grandpa and I talked a lot."

"You talked?" Lorelai asked, almost longingly.

Rory nodded. "I told him about our backpacking trip. He thought it was a great idea."

Jealousy coursed through Juliet again as she and Lorelai exchanged a brief, sad smile, and she knew her older sister was feeling the same way.

She loved her father, there was no question about it, and she knew he loved her and was proud of her accomplishments. But Juliet still wished she'd had the kind of relationship with him that involved talking about things, not just polite chit-chat. Juliet hadn't even told her father when she applied to medical school.

But Richard seemed to like Rory, which wasn't surprising, everybody liked Rory. It was just hard watching her niece be the daughter her parents always wanted, while she and Lorelai were still the daughters who weren't good enough.

Notes:

Again, I'm breaking Episode 3 into 2 parts because it just got too long. Also like the Pilot, I used the show's script more heavily than I want to for the rest of the story, but we haven't quite gotten to where Juliet really affects the show's canon. Let me know what you think!