"Lorelai! Can you be punctual for once in your life?"

Lorelai sighed. "Hi, mom. Nice to see you, too, mom."

The new maid took her coat, while her mother kept inquiring about Lorelai's whereabouts and the reason she was late.

"Now Christopher tells me you were stuck at work. Some conference you had to cater? I say that is no job for the owner of a hotel."

"I didn't cater it, Chris must have misheard me. I overlooked it – as the owner, I have to overlook conferences to make sure it's nothing that would be bad for my image. Like a conspiracy theory conference."

"What on Earth are you saying?"

"Exactly. Imagine you open the newspapers and the headline says: Hartford's established Royal Hotel hosting meeting for flat earthers. Would you like that?"

Emily huffed. "Of course not."

"See, me neither. Is Rory there yet?"

"Rory is here."

Lorelai walked into the living room, where her husband and their daughter were already seated.

Lorelai beamed at her daughter. "Well, if it isn't my busy, busy Yale student."

"Hi, mom," said Rory and got up to hug her mother.

"You're so busy lately, way too busy to visit your poor, old mommy."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Mom …"

"It's okay, I forgive you."

"Martini, Lorelai?" Emily asked.

"Please." She looked around. "Where's dad?"

"Still busy at work."

"So he can be late but I –," Lorelai started but was silenced immediately by Christopher's and Rory's warning looks.

Luckily, Emily didn't seem to have heard her. "It's got something to do with Jason. Don't even ask me."

Christopher rose his brows at Lorelai suggestively, who just shrugged. She hadn't talked to Jason in a long time.

"Anyway, that's why he's late. Here's your drink, Lorelai."

"Thanks, mom."

Emily sat down. "So, what is new? Christopher tells me you have news?"

Lorelai almost spat out her drink. "What news?"

"That's what I'm asking you."

"You know which news," said Christopher. "You know. The big news."

"Oh."

Shit. Lorelai had totally forgotten that they were about to share the news of them getting a divorce. "Uh … we should wait for dad." She didn't want to be screamed at twice, it was better to wait. She could take her screaming in unison parents more than them, screaming at her individually. If they both scolded at the same time, she found it was easier to zone out and not listen to them.

"Fine, let's wait for your father," said Emily.

Alas, Richard was in a very foul mood as he returned home during dinner. He went right for the drinks and then started a rant against Jason the moment he sat down at the table.

Lorelai was quiet listening to this, knowing well enough that her own father was talking about her ex-boyfriend – more or less. He would freak if he found out about them. He would freak about her and Christopher's arrangement in general. Or them getting a divorce. Or his son in law dating his secretary, which was the most cliché thing that Chris had ever done.

Thus, Lorelai stayed quiet as Richard asked, "So, what's new with you?"

Christopher stayed quiet as well.

Rory saved the day by starting to talk about Yale, her classes, Paris, and the Yale Daily News.

While Lorelai's parents concentrated on their granddaughter, Chris and Lorelai exchanged a look.

Tell them, Chris mouthed. Lorelai shook her head.

Sadly, their non-verbal conversation didn't go unnoticed.

"What's that, Christopher?" said Emily.

"Uh," Chris made.

"Oh, yes, right! You had news, too. Go ahead then."

"Maybe … that's one for Lorelai," Chris chickened out.

"What the hell? It's about you, too."

"Yes, but –"

"Mom. Dad," Rory interrupted, "just tell us."

"Okay, uhm – well, we, Chris and I, we …"

All eyes were on her. Lorelai was nervously cracking her knuckles, cursing her husband silently for being so scared of Richard and Emily. She couldn't blame him, of course; he had impregnated their then fifteen year old daughter. But that was nineteen years ago, all bad blood was gone now. They loved Rory, they even loved Christopher. They loved Lorelai, though their way of showing it was a bit unconventional.

Lorelai swallowed. No. She wasn't ready. "Chris and I decided to take a trip around Asia."

"What?" Rory immediately said. "Without me?"

"Well, that was our surprise for you. We wanted to ask you to join, of course. Surprise! Do you want to go to Asia during the summer holidays?"

Rory screeched. "Of course I want to! This is amazing!"

"These are indeed very great news," Emily agreed. "Why were you so nervous to tell us?"

"Because that means you wouldn't see us for two months," Lorelai replied, and Emily laughed.

"Don't worry, we're going to Europe. To visit my sister again, after three long years."

"Oh, that's good, then." Lorelai stared at her food.

"This is big! I am so excited!" Rory was practically shaking. "Did you hear that, grandpa? I'm going to China! And Thailand! And Korea and – and other countries that we're going to see!"

"That's wonderful, Rory, we can exchange travel stories once we're home," Richard said.

"Yeah, that's amazing," Lorelai mumbled. Christopher opposite her shook his head lightly.

"You lied to Rory."

"I lied to everyone."

"Yes, but you lied to Rory."

"Uhm, hello? You could have said something, too!"

"You chickened out."

"You chickened out first!"

"I wasn't ready to tell them about Naomi or Sherry or Gigi!"

"You didn't have to. I wasn't gonna tell them about Jason or Max or Luke, though there really is nothing to tell about Luke."

"This is fucked. We can't lie to Rory."

Lorelai groaned. "I know."

"Call her. We have to tell her tonight, before she tells everyone about that Asia trip you're planning."

"Excuse me, we are planning this trip."

"No, Lor. I had no idea about this. And you saw Rory's face, she really believes we are going."

"Maybe we should just go –"

"Lorelai."

"Fine." Lorelai muttered and started dialling Rory's number. Waited a moment –
"Mom?"

"Hi, honey. Are you back in New Haven?"

"Considering I left five minutes ago, no, I'm not."

"Great, then get your ass off the phone, turn your car and join us at the condo for a cup of coffee. We have to tell you more details about the trip that grandma and grandpa shouldn't hear."

"Uhm, okay. See you there, I guess."

Lorelai hung up. "She'll be there in a few."

"Are you ready for this?"

"She's our daughter."

"Yeah, she'll understand." Chris nodded.

"No chickening out."

"I promise."

"Yeah, me too."

Rory stared at them. "So … the trip was a lie?"

"I'm so sorry. I really didn't know what else to say. I completely fucked up and I will speak about this whole evening in my next therapy session for sure."

"Oh, right, how was the session today?" Chris asked.

But before Lorelai could answer, Rory shouted, "Excuse me, can we concentrate here?"

"Sorry, sorry. Yeah, of course."

"So you're getting a divorce."

"It's for real this time."

"What do you mean for real this time? Did you want to get divorced before?"

"Yes, uhm – ten years ago."

"Ten years ago?" Rory shook her head in disbelief. "This is insane."

"Did you never wonder about me dating your teacher? Or me, dating your grandfather's business partner? Or your dad having a second child that is not mine?"

"Oh, I know you've been in an open marriage for some time. I figured it out a while ago. But divorce … I never thought you'd get divorced."

"Well, that's on me," said Chris softly. "I really, really care about Naomi."

"What he's saying, he loves her."

"I do."

"And we said we'd get a divorce as soon as someone would fall in love."

Chris nodded. "And I fell in love."

"He even brought her here, which is against the rules."

"Sorry, Lor."

"It's fine. But see, kid – love is a complicated construct. I love your dad and he loves me, too. But the love we have for each other is just different. It's a love that's been there for years and we just got so used to this and each other. We love each other like siblings."

"Ew," Rory mumbled.

"Uhm, excuse me, it's not like we're still sleeping with each other."

"Oh," Rory made.

"Yeah, we haven't done that since Max, I think."

Lorelai nodded. "Yup. Before Max and Sherry was the last time."

"Yes, and that was weird. Did you enjoy it?"

Lorelai shook herself. "Not really. It felt like –"

"I don't get it," Rory interrupted, "why didn't you just tell them that dad has fallen in love with someone else? You didn't have to tell them the whole shebang."

"That's true, but we have to think about the future. They will find out about Gigi, and then they'll want to know more. And I really don't want them to know the whole story."

"They don't have to find out about Gigi. If dad moves in with Naomi, they don't ever have to see him again."

"Oh, you forget that they love Chris. They'll still want to see him again and I just have a feeling that one day they'll find out about your half-sister. Then they'll do some research and find out about Sherry. They'll ask me if I knew about them and I will say yes, because I can't act as if I didn't. They will ask me why I did not care, and I will tell them that I dated your teacher at this time. And then they'll explode and probably kill me."

"I think grandma and grandpa will be more understanding than you think," Rory said. "You've been married for seventeen years. Most couples don't even make it to seven, but when you two hit seven years, you said screw it, let's just be in an open marriage. I know you did this for me and for them, and they will understand and respect that. Maybe they'll freak out at first, yes, but they'll calm down after a while. Dad fell in love with someone else, and that's not his fault. They'll understand eventually."

"Wait until she tells you about Luke," Chris interjected, and Rory's mouth fell open.

"You have someone else, too?"

Lorelai sighed. "No. I really don't. He ended it before it could start."

"Which is really dumb of him."

"It just hurts a lot." Lorelai looked down. "It's weird, because he's not like the men I usually go for."

"Yeah, he's different. Which means he could have been the right guy for a change."

Lorelai smiled at Chris. He was so supportive, just like a best friend should be.

"Okay, now who is Luke?" Rory asked, turning Lorelai's attention back to her.

"Luke … who exactly is Luke?" Lorelai smiled lightly, before telling her daughter everything about the two times she met Luke Danes.