Tuesday afternoon, Lorelai shoved the door to the coffee shop open with the overstuffed black trash bag in her arms. Her eyes lit up when she saw Juliet at their usual table and gave her sister an exuberant wave, which she returned with a bewildered smile.

Lorelai unceremoniously dropped the bag on the table in front of Juliet, tapping it excitedly. "Look through that! I'm gonna get the other one from the car."

Juliet stood up with a frown, following Lorelai out to the Jeep at a half-run. "Do you need help?"

"Sure," Lorelai said, hefting the bag with a grunt and handing it to her sister.

Juliet took the bag, adjusting its weight in her arms. "God, what do you have in here? It weighs a ton."

Lorelai sighed with an exaggerated roll of her eyes as she held the door open for Juliet. "My daughter, Margaret Thatcher, is forcing me to give up every article of clothing I own for the town rummage sale this weekend, but I wanted you to have first dibs on all the stuff I'm getting rid of."

"Ooh, thank you." Juliet smiled, always glad for new clothes that came without the headache of department store dressing rooms. She plopped the bag in the fourth chair at their table and began sifting through its contents, snorting when she saw a familiar zebra-striped halter top and holding it up with a smirk. "You finally caved, huh?"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows enticingly, tapping the top. "Now this would look great on you. You should definitely keep it!"

"Lor," Juliet scoffed, looking down at the top. "Come on. I'm never gonna wear this."

"Please?" Lorelai begged, sticking her bottom lip out and clutching her hands together. "I've had it since I was seventeen! I can't let it go live with some stranger! You can wear it when you go to a mosh pit!"

"Oh, sure, when I go to a mosh pit," Juliet said, rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Your twenties are two weeks away from being over, Jules," Lorelai said with mock urgency, laying the top against Juliet's front. "You've gotta squeeze out every last drop of your youth before it's gone for good!"

Juliet gave her a pointed look. "And a halter top from 1985 is the way to do it?"

"Um, yes," Lorelai said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. When Juliet just rolled her eyes again, Lorelai batted her eyelashes and gave her an overly sweet smile. "Please, Jules? Please?"

After a moment of hesitation, Juliet sighed, balling up the top and stuffing it in her purse. "Fine. I'll keep it in my sock drawer or something."

Lorelai bounced on her toes, throwing her arms around her sister and squeezing tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"No big deal," Juliet said, patting her back with a short laugh.

"I promise, there's stuff in here that's actually cute," Lorelai said, pulling away slightly to keep rummaging through the bag. After a moment, her eyes lit up in sudden remembrance and she nudged her sister excitedly with her hip. "Oh – hey! Speaking of ending your twenties on a high note, Sookie got me Bangles tickets for Saturday!"

Juliet looked over at her with a smile. "Are you serious? That's amazing!"

Lorelai nodded vigorously, beaming. "They're great seats, too. And you, of course, are invited. I know it's not Britney Spears, but . . ."

Juliet ducked her head, rolling her eyes with an embarrassed smile. "I should never have let you look through my CDs."

"Oh, baby, baby," Lorelai sang, making her voice extra nasally.

Juliet scowled, shoving her lightly. "Shut up."

Saturday morning, Juliet hugged her coat tighter around her body as she walked through her sister's town, having been sent to Luke's ahead of Lorelai while she dealt with the growing mountains of clothing in her living room.

"Auntie Jules," Rory called from outside the diner, getting her aunt's attention as she beckoned her closer.

Juliet waved at her, quickening her pace slightly as she hopped up the diner's steps. "Hey! Your mom said she'd be a few minutes, but we can order without her."

Rory didn't answer, tugging on her aunt's sleeve and pointing at something in the window with a smirk. "Look."

Juliet glanced at the sign in the window advertising the rummage sale and pressed her lips together, an amused laugh bubbling in her throat. She exchanged a knowing smile with Rory as she pushed the door open and followed her niece to the counter.

"If you want coffee, you'll have to wait," Luke informed Rory with his usual brusque charm as he came up to them. He jerked his chin at Juliet with a pointed look at Rory, adding, "Or, if you wanna live past forty, you could order tea like your aunt."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Luke, coffee's not that bad for you. I just don't like the taste."

"You keep saying that, but you still haven't shown me the study it's from," Luke said, arching an eyebrow.

Juliet furrowed her brow. "What, my opinion as a Yale Medical School graduate isn't enough?"

"It's because you're a woman," Rory whispered loudly, smirking.

Luke's eyes widened in horror. "It's not because you're a woman!"

Juliet sighed sadly, pressing her lips together. "Just when I thought you were alright."

"It's not because you're a woman!" Luke repeated, his voice rising.

"So, do you think I should give up on the Harvard thing, then? I mean, what if it hurts my chances of finding a husband?" Rory asked, whipping out her patented Bambi eyes.

"No! No! I was just –" Luke sputtered, looking at Juliet helplessly.

"Hey, it's okay," Juliet said gently, placing a hand on Rory's forearm to stop the ribbing. "We're just teasing."

Luke blew out a relieved breath, glaring at them both. "I'll be back with your drinks."

He fled to the kitchen as Lorelai came up to the counter and plopped down on the stool beside Rory, dressed in an outfit that was ridiculous even by her standards. "Margaret Atworthy just dropped off three boxes of city council pot holders and begged me to take her grandson. People are getting crazy, man," Lorelai paused, smirking at the matching expressions of bemusement on her sister and daughter's faces. "What?"

Rory arched an eyebrow at her mother. "What are you wearing?"

"Hey, we have already argued about the sweatshirt," Lorelai reminded her defensively.

"Yes," Rory said, dragging out the word. "But we have not argued about the hat.

"What hat?" Lorelai asked with a smirk.

Rory's eyes narrowed. "The one on your head, Annie Oakley."

"Don't listen to her," Juliet said with a smirk. "I think you look great."

"I'm going to ignore the sarcasm and pretend that was a compliment," Lorelai said, turning to the counter as Luke came back out of the kitchen. "Oh, finally, the coffee cavalry arrives."

Luke's eyes widened. "What the hell do you think you're wearing?"

"A hat," Lorelai said with a gleeful smile.

A muscle in Luke's neck twitched. "Take that off."

Lorelai's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Now that is not yours, take it off," Luke repeated through clenched teeth.

"But I'll have hat hair," Lorelai protested, glancing over at Juliet in confusion.

"I'm talking about the sweatshirt," Luke said, his voice rising in anger.

Juliet looked worriedly from her sister's hurt expression to Luke's irate one. "Hey, just take a breath, okay?"

"I don't need to take a breath!" Luke snapped, his nostrils flaring.

Unconsciously, Juliet shrank back from the counter as Lorelai leaned forward hesitantly. "Luke –"

"Just pour your own coffee," he spat, slamming the coffee pot down on the counter and disappearing behind the gingham curtain in front of the stairs.

Lorelai's mouth hung open. "What was that all about?"

"I have no idea," Juliet said, fighting the urge to run upstairs and beat Luke to a pulp with that stupid baseball cap. She turned to Rory. "He was fine before, wasn't he? I mean, you know him a lot better than I do, but he was fine, right?"

Rory nodded in agreement, glancing worriedly at the curtain. "Should we go check on him?"

"That would be the right thing to do," Lorelai said with an exaggerated sigh. She jerked her chin at Juliet. "You go, Jules."

Juliet's eyes widened and she shook her head vehemently. "No. No way."

"Come on!" Lorelai prodded, leaning forward on the counter. "It's not like he'll tell Rory anything and I'm pretty sure I'm the last person he wants to talk to right now."

"And you're a shrink," Rory added helpfully, raising her eyebrows in that sixteen-going-on-thirty way that drove both her mother and aunt crazy.

"If I talk to him right now, I'll say something mean," Juliet whispered, knowing that the tight rein she kept on her emotional reactions could snap within an instant of someone hurting Lorelai. "And I don't want to do that, because I actually like Luke most of the time."

Lorelai gave her a beseeching look. "Please, Jules? Just make sure he's okay."

Juliet worked her jaw for a moment, before reluctantly standing up with a sigh. "Fine."

"Thank you," Lorelai said with a relieved smile.

Juliet smiled at her over her shoulder as she took a deep breath and pushed aside the gingham curtain. She climbed the stairs hesitantly, unsure of where she was going, and glanced around the hallway when she reached the top of the stairs, giving the only door she saw a cautious knock.

Luke's voice was extra gruff on the other side of the door. "Not now, Lorelai."

"It's not Lorelai," Juliet called back, her voice clipped as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Her head jerked back a little when the door swung open and Luke stepped out, having the grace to look a little ashamed. "I'll apologize to her later."

"Okay, good," Juliet said with a nod, lowering her arms. She took a tentative step after Luke, glancing around the . . . office? Apartment?

Luke noticed her staring and gestured vaguely around the room, his posture defensive. "It was my dad's office. I don't need much space."

"My apartment's not much bigger," Juliet confessed with a nod, laughing uncomfortably. "Resident salary."

Luke nodded in understanding, staring at his shoes. Neither of them spoke for a moment, with Juliet glancing around the room awkwardly while Luke avoided her eyes.

After a few more moments of painful silence, she cleared her throat. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

He finally looked up at her, crossing his arms. "Are you gonna make me?"

"No," Juliet said, shaking her head. She gave him a small smile, shrugging. "But if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

Luke blew out a long breath, sitting down at the table and staring intently at his hands. He was silent for a minute or two, then cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Are you, uh– Are you gonna tell Lorelai? If I did want to talk about it? You know, hypothetically."

She shook her head. "Not if you don't want me to."

Luke nodded again, not looking up from his hands. Juliet looked around the apartment uncomfortably for another few minutes, waiting to see if he'd say anything else. Just as she was about to wave goodbye and head for the door, Luke said abruptly, "That sweatshirt . . . It was my ex-girlfriend's."

Juliet blinked in surprise, then nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I figured it was something like that," she said, pulling out the chair across from him and sitting down. She paused. "Um, where is she now?"

Luke scoffed. "The Congo? Philadelphia? I don't know. I haven't heard from her in five years."

She nodded again, worrying her bottom lip as she considered this. "And, um . . . do you still have feelings for her?"

"I don't know," he said again with a shrug, still avoiding her eyes. "I thought I was over it. I thought I was ready to, uh, to move on. That's why I got rid of the sweatshirt, so I could move on. You know?"

"Oh, I know," Juliet said with a little smirk, prompting an eye roll from Luke.

He began to play with the strap on his watch. "But now. . ."

Juliet considered this for a moment, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "You know, it's probably good that you're finding this out now. I mean, you don't want to start a new relationship if you're still into your ex."

Luke's head jerked up, finally meeting her eyes. "I can't pine for her forever, though."

"No, you can't," Juliet agreed. She gave him a sympathetic smile. "But you wouldn't want to be with someone who's pining for someone else, would you?"

Luke didn't say anything, lowering his eyes to the table again.

"You don't have to decide anything now," Juliet said, reaching out and giving his forearm an awkward pat. "And, um, I know you probably won't want to talk about this with Lorelai until you have, um, decided, so you can always talk to me. If – if you want."

Luke worked his jaw for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks."

When Luke gave no indication that he wanted to talk anymore, Juliet stood, pushing herself off of the table with her hands. "Okay. Well, I should go."

She was halfway to the door when she heard Luke call after her, "Juliet?"

Juliet turned around. "Yeah?"

"You really won't say anything?"

"I really won't," she promised, before giving him one last wave goodbye and closing the door behind her.

A few hours later, Juliet opened the front door to Lorelai's house and walked in, stopping short in the living room when four sets of teenage eyes met hers. She smiled, giving them a little wave. "Um, hi. I'm Juliet."

"Right, yeah, this is my aunt," Rory said, shifting uncomfortably from her place on the floor. "Auntie Jules, this is Paris, Madeline, and Louise."

"Nice to meet you guys," Juliet said with an awkward nod. She turned to Rory, holding up the shopping bag in her hand. "Um, where's your mom? I have the sewing stuff she wanted."

Rory pointed to the air above her head. "She and Sookie are upstairs."

"Thanks," Juliet said, laying an affectionate hand on the crown of Rory's head as she gave the other girls another wave with her free hand. "See you later."

She heard three mumbled "byes" as she made her escape upstairs, blowing out a long breath as she closed the door to Lorelai's bedroom behind her.

"So, she was Wonder Woman?" Lorelai was asking from her sewing machine as she came in.

"Who was Wonder Woman?" Juliet asked, placing the bag on the sewing table next to Lorelai. "Here."

"Angel." Lorelai beamed up at her, pausing her sewing briefly to squeeze Juliet's wrist. She took a breath, pressing her lips together tightly as she glanced back down at the misshapen pants she held. "Uh, Rachel. Luke's ex-girlfriend."

Juliet nodded in understanding. "Oh."

"Did he, uh, did he say anything about her? When you guys talked?" Lorelai asked with forced casualness, focusing intently on re-threading the sewing machine.

Juliet smiled apologetically. "I'm sworn to secrecy."

Lorelai looked up with an exaggerated pout. "Booo. Even from me?"

I think especially from you, Juliet thought, lowering herself onto the bed. "Even from you."

"Whatever. I have other sources," Lorelai said primly, turning to Sookie. "So, tell me what happened."

Sookie blew out a breath. "The rumor is that Stars Hollow was too small for her. She wanted to live somewhere more exciting."

Lorelai lifted her eyebrows knowingly. "But Luke didn't."

Sookie hummed in agreement. "You know Luke. He lived here all his life. He wouldn't even go away for college. I think we're going to have to bury him in that diner."

"Wow," Lorelai said sympathetically. "It's sad."

"Yeah, poor Luke," Juliet agreed softly, her eyes flicking up to meet Lorelai's.

Sookie nodded, standing up. "Okay, well I am done here. I'm gonna stop by the inn for a while and then I am gonna go home and I'm gonna change for the show tonight."

Lorelai leaned forward with an eager smile. "We leave at 6."

"I will be here," Sookie promised, smiling at Lorelai and squeezing Juliet's shoulder in farewell. "Bye."

"See you later," Juliet called after her with a small smile. She turned back to Lorelai, whose eyes were fixed on the rhinestone sweatshirt, an unreadable expression on her face. "Are you okay?"

Lorelai blinked, as though snapping out of a trance. She forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, whatever, right? It's not like I thought Luke didn't have a past. And who am I to talk, you know? I have a kid with somebody else, for God's sake!"

Juliet twisted her lips together in a sympathetic frown. "Well yeah, but I bet you weren't picturing a specific ex-girlfriend who likes the same kinds of clothes as you."

"And who he's still clearly carrying a torch for," Lorelai added, eyeing the sweatshirt on her bed bitterly.

Juliet, unable to tell her sister otherwise, shrugged apologetically. "He did say he's sorry. For yelling."

Lorelai nodded, pursing her lips. She took a deep breath, plastering on a too-bright smile as she stood up, bracing her hands on her knees. "Should we go check on the Brat Pack?"

Juliet nodded, squeezing her sister's hand briefly as she followed her downstairs. The two adults lingered awkwardly in the living room for a few moments as Lorelai figured out what kind of pizza to order, then turned on her heel and walked briskly into the kitchen.

Juliet made to follow her with one last smile over her shoulder when Paris's voice stopped her. "Hey, you're a doctor, aren't you?"

Juliet turned around and nodded, furrowing her brow slightly. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

"That's what I want to do," Paris said almost shyly, twirling her highlighter between her fingers.

An involuntary smile broke out over Juliet's face. "Really? That's amazing! Do you know what kind?"

Paris nodded, glancing back down at her notes. "Cancer research."

"That's amazing," Juliet said again, nodding. She twisted her fingers together hesitantly. "Well, um, I don't know a ton about the research side of medicine, but if you ever have any questions or anything, then you're welcome to ask me."

Paris looked up at her with another nod, the corners of her mouth barely turning up. "Okay. Thanks."

"Sure." Juliet smiled awkwardly at the four of them before heading into the kitchen, where Lorelai was unwrapping packages of Pop-Tarts and arranging them on a plate. "Need a hand?"

Lorelai nodded, handing her a box of blueberry Pop-Tarts. "What was that all about?"

Juliet slid her finger under the cardboard, breaking the seal. "Oh, um, Paris was telling me that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Medical researcher, actually."

"Thank God," Lorelai chortled. "Imagine having to deal with Paris as your doctor on top of being in the hospital."

Juliet ducked her head to hide her chuckle. "I feel kind of bad, since I know how awful she's been to Rory, but –"

"I know, you have your 'Woman in STEM' code, or whatever," Lorelai cut her off with a fond smirk. She glanced over her shoulder at the girls in the living room, lowering her voice to a whisper. "They seem to be getting along okay, though, don't they?"

Juliet shrugged. "I guess. I didn't really talk to them that much."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows in amusement. "What, are you afraid they'll see the words 'I'm sleeping with your English teacher' written across your forehead?"

"Keep your voice down," Juliet hissed, looking sharply over her shoulder. "And, no, I just don't want to bug them while they're working."

"From what I've overheard, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of work going on," Lorelai countered, craning her neck to get a better look into the living room. She took a breath, turning back to Juliet. "Do you think they'd want to come with us tonight?"

Juliet frowned. "To New York?"

"Yeah! I mean, I could give them our tickets, and then you, me, and Sookie can buy cheap seats when we get there," Lorelai said, her smile widening as she seemed to warm even more to the idea. She paused, raising her eyebrows at Juliet for approval. "Would you be okay with that?"

"They're your tickets, and it's not like I listen to the Bangles that much anyway, " Juliet said, shrugging. "Do you think Rory would want that?"

"I'll ask her," Lorelai said, angling her head so that her voice would carry into the living room. "Hey, Rory, come in here a sec!"

A few hours later, after a cramped ride to New York in Sookie's car, getting lost on the way to the theater, and a seemingly endless trek up to their seats, the three adults settled back to watch the concert.

"Hey," Lorelai whispered, leaning across Juliet to talk to Sookie. "Was Rachel pretty?"

Sookie leaned over Juliet, angling her head to hear Lorelai over the music. "What?"

"Do you guys want me to switch with one of you?" Juliet asked, pressing back into her seat so she wasn't in their way.

"No, Jules, you're fine," Lorelai whispered, glancing at her sister before turning back to Sookie. "I'm just curious, was she pretty?"

Sookie nodded. "She was pretty."

Lorelai leaned further forward. "Like, what kind of pretty?"

"Seriously, I don't mind moving," Juliet whispered, glancing between the two of them. Why wasn't Lorelai in the middle? She always sat in the middle when the three of them hung out.

"You're fine, honey," Sookie said, patting Juliet's knee. "What do you mean 'what kind of pretty'?"

Lorelai leaned further forward. "I mean, like, was she a Catherine Zeta-Jones kind of pretty or . . ."

Juliet glanced at her sister, who, in her opinion, looked a lot like Catherine Zeta-Jones, and rolled her eyes.

"She was an Elle MacPherson kind of pretty," Sookie answered, turning back to look at the stage. Lorelai leaned back in her seat, stunned. "Really."

Sookie nodded. "Yup."

"I just – I never pictured Luke with an Elle MacPherson kind of pretty," Lorelai said, her brow furrowed. She saw Sookie and Juliet exchange a smirk and narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Sookie arched an eyebrow. "You're jealous of Rachel."

"I am not!" Lorelai scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Juliet leaned her shoulder against Lorelai's. "There's nothing wrong with being jealous, Lor. It's natural."

"I'm not jealous!" Lorelai hissed. "I have no right to be jealous, we're not dating!"

Sookie snorted. "No, but you wanna be."

"And you guys have been getting closer," Juliet added, lowering her voice. "I mean, a couple weeks ago, you thought –"

"I didn't think anything! It's just a crush!" Lorelai protested, her voice rising. "A harmless, idle crush! I don't care that he's not over his ex! He could pull a Mr. Rochester and have a wife living in his attic, and it wouldn't matter, because nothing is gonna happen between us!"

A woman in the row in front of them turned around and gave them a dirty look, making a shushing noise and putting a finger to her lips.

"Sorry," Juliet whispered. She turned to Lorelai, who was blinking rapidly as she stared straight ahead, and laid a hand on her forearm. "Lor –"

Lorelai shrugged her hand away, her lips pursed. "I'm fine. Let's watch the concert."

By the time the concert was over, Lorelai had returned to a facsimile of her usual cheerful self, giddily telling anyone who would listen that she had made eye contact with Susanna Hoffs as she waited in line for t-shirts.

Juliet nudged her lightly. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

Lorelai turned at the sound of her voice, nodding. "Okay. Do you want a shirt?"

Juliet shook her head as she turned to leave. "I'll meet you where we told the girls to wait."

After a ridiculously long wait for the bathroom during which she seriously contemplated using the men's room a couple of times, Juliet dropped her paper towel in the trash can as she went back into the lobby.

"Auntie Jules!" Juliet's head whipped around at the sound of her niece's frantic voice. Rory was half-running to her, pushing people out of the way as she left. "I've been looking everywhere for you guys! Where's Mom? I need to find Mom."

Juliet put a hand on Rory's shoulder, her brow furrowed in concern. "I think they're still in line for t-shirts. What's wrong?"

"There were these guys sitting behind us and there was this party and – I tried to stop them, Auntie Jules, I swear," Rory promised in a rush, close to hyperventilating.

"Slow down, take a breath," Juliet said, demonstrating with her own breathing. "What happened?"

Rory copied her shakily. "Madeline and Louise left with these guys to go to a party."

Shit. Juliet bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, forcing herself to stay calm. "Okay. How long ago?"

Rory shrugged, brow creasing. "I don't know, like halfway through the concert? I think 'Eternal Flame' was playing, but I'm not sure."

Juliet swallowed hard, trying not to imagine every awful thing that could've happened in forty-five minutes. "They stayed together, though, right?"

Rory snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, those two are a case study in codependency."

Juliet exhaled in relief, nodding. "Okay, good. That's something, at least."

Rory looked at her plaintively. "What do we do?"

"Let's find your mom, huh? If anyone can find those girls, it's Lorelai," Juliet said, earning a weak smile from her niece. She wrapped an arm around her, leading her in the direction of the t-shirt stand.

The line for t-shirts had barely moved since Juliet had gone to the bathroom, and she spotted Lorelai right away, chattering excitedly with Sookie.

"Lor," Juliet called as they got closer, grabbing Rory's hand so they wouldn't get separated in the crowd. "We gotta go."

Lorelai looked at them, her face an immediate mask of concern when she saw Rory's face. "What? What's going on?"

Juliet sighed, pressing her lips together. "Madeline and Louise left to go to a party with two guys they just met."

Sookie's eyes widened. "What?"

"Are you serious?" Lorelai asked incredulously. She blew out a breath, shaking her head as she gestured them all forward. "Let's go get Paris. Come on, move."

Luckily for all of them, Madeline had given Rory directions to the building where the party would be, and after pounding unsuccessfully on locked doors for three floors, they found the girls and pulled them out of some guy's gross apartment.

"Hey," Lorelai barked, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at Madeline and Louise. "I know you think you're invincible because you're sixteen and your – Jules, what's it called?"

"Prefrontal cortex," Juliet supplied from behind her.

"Right, that," Lorelai said with a short nod. "Because that's not developed yet, but you need to know that it is completely insane to take off with anyone you don't know, or drink things that you don't know what's in them, or act like you have a clue when you don't, and so help me God, if you ever pull a stunt like this again, it will not be around my kid! Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Louise mumbled, clutching her jacket.

Madeline didn't look up from her shoes. "Yes."

"Good, now let's go. I can't wait to meet your parents. We have some catching up to do. I think we'll just talk, and talk, and talk all night long," Lorelai said tersely, walking briskly ahead of them.

"I can't believe I thought she was cool," Louise muttered to Madeline as they followed Lorelai.

Juliet gave them a quelling look, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "She is cool, she just doesn't want you to die."

"That would not be cool," Sookie added with a glance over her shoulder, shooting the girls a glare.

Madeline looked at Juliet plaintively. "Is she really gonna tell our parents?"

Juliet hesitated, searching both Madeline's and Louise's faces for any signs of genuine fear, breathing an internal sigh of relief when she saw only petulant indignance. "Look, it's a safety thing. I could tell you so many stories from my rounds in the ER about girls your age that would make you never want to leave your house again. I'm not going to," she promised quickly, noticing their eyes widen a little. "But the world isn't a safe place for young women, and none of us want you to learn that the hard way, that's all. Okay?"

Madeline and Louise exchanged an eye roll before increasing their pace, locking arms, and whispering to each other. Lorelai watched them rush slightly ahead of her, before turning and rolling her eyes in Juliet's direction, who gave her a sympathetic shrug in response.

"Why are you both so annoyingly punctual?" Lorelai grumbled as she bounded downstairs the next day, shoes in hand.

"Because people will die if I'm not," Juliet reminded her with a smile, looking up from the magazine she was thumbing through as she waited on the couch.

Lorelai made a face, flicking her sister's forehead. "Oh. That."

"Besides, it's not like Grandma and Grandpa are ever late," Rory added, watching her mother put her shoes on. "You must just have some weird recessive gene."

"Yeah, yeah, the stork made a mistake," Lorelai quipped, rolling her eyes.

"And thank God for that," Juliet muttered under her breath, earning her a smile from her sister.

Lorelai cleared her throat awkwardly as she pulled her coat on. "Hey, did you talk to anybody today?"

Rory raised her eyebrows. "You mean Madeline or Louise or Paris?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yes."

"Just Paris," Rory said with a shrug. "She decided to let me split the debate time with her."

"Wow!" Lorelai exclaimed, her eyebrows going up. She paused. "Wait, why am I wowing?"

"Because splitting debate time with Paris is like doing that whole 'spitting in your palm and shaking hands' friendship oath thing," Rory said, gesturing vaguely with her hands. She pointed to Juliet, smirking. "She wants your email, by the way."

"Aww, you've got a fan!" Lorelai cooed, wrinkling her nose affectionately. "You should send her an autographed photo of you in your lab coat!"

Juliet rolled her eyes with a fond smile. She nodded at Rory. "You can give it to her. Tell her she's welcome to email me anytime."

"You might regret that in a few weeks," Rory muttered, raising her eyebrows. She watched her mother put on her hat, sighing. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah – oh!" Lorelai exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "I forgot something upstairs, one second!"

Rory's shoulders sagged. "Mom! I'm supposed to meet Lane in ten minutes!"

"Go ahead! Auntie Jules and I'll meet you there!" Lorelai called as she dashed upstairs to her room.

She heard the door slam shut as she slowed her pace, walking toward her sewing table and picking up the rhinestone sweatshirt that was draped over the chair. Lorelai stared at it for a moment in contemplation, before folding it up decisively and bounding downstairs.

Juliet glanced up from her magazine at the sound of her footsteps. "What'd you forget?"

Lorelai held up the sweatshirt. "This."

Juliet nodded, her eyes full of understanding. "You're a good friend."

"Yeah, well, I just don't really feel like wearing it anymore," Lorelai sniffed, looking back down at the sweatshirt to avoid Juliet's eyes. She looked back up, narrowing her eyes at the sad smile her sister wore. "Don't look at me like that."

"Sorry," Juliet apologized with a sheepish smile, standing up. She came over to where Lorelai stood, wrapping her arms around her in a comforting embrace.

Lorelai returned the hug, hooking her chin on her sister's shoulder as she squeezed her eyes shut against a sudden rush of heat, before pulling back and forcing a smile. "Let's go."

Notes: It's been a while! Even though I said I'd be posting a lot less because of going abroad, I had expected to get at least one chapter out this summer, but I had SO MUCH schoolwork that it just never happened. But I'm back in the States, so I'll be back to posting every 1-3 weeks instead of going two months between posts lol.
Also, thank you to tree for proofreading this chapter!
As always, I love feedback, so please let me know what you think!