Here's the beginning of Part 2, which picks up during the Pilot Episode:
Juliet's cell phone rang five minutes before her lunch break ended. She rolled her eyes as she answered, half expecting it to be her mother, who seemed to have a sixth sense for when she had no excuse to dodge her calls.
"She got in!" Lorelai. Thank God.
Juliet's eyes widened as the initial relief wore off, and the meaning behind Lorelai's words sunk in.
"Chilton? Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack, baby!" There was a pause. "I probably shouldn't say that while you're at the hospital, huh?"
"Oh yeah, say it three times here and one happens. Like Beetlejuice," Juliet deadpanned, smiling and waving at another resident as they left the cafeteria. "But it's six times if it's over the phone, so you're in the clear."
"Whew! Thank God!" Juliet smiled, able to see Lorelai wiping fake sweat from her forehead in her mind's eye. "Anyway, I just got the letter, and I had to call and let you know."
"I'm glad you called. Have you told Rory yet?"
"Not yet. She's stopping by after school, so I'll tell her then. You know, give her a plaid skirt and let her guess," she sighed dreamily. "I'm just so proud of her, you know?"
Juliet opened her mouth to answer, but Lorelai was on a roll. "Well, duh. Of course you know. You've been along for the whole ride, and you're just as proud as I am. Ooh, hey! We should go out to celebrate! You're not working this weekend, right? Wanna have a night on the town with me and our girl on Friday?"
"What does a night on the town with a fifteen-year-old girl entail? Apple juice shots?"
Lorelai laughed. "Ice cream, duh!"
"I should've known. I can't on Friday, though. Dinner with the parents, remember?"
"Ugh, I forgot. Remind me why you put yourself through that every week?"
"Uh, it keeps Mom from showing up at my apartment unannounced and disapproving of everything in it?"
"Ah, a pre-emptive strike. Want to come over after you're done? Crash with us for the weekend?"
"I guess I can squeeze you in. We can do the ice cream party on Saturday night," she checked her watch. Shit. "I have to go, but we're still on for tomorrow, right?"
Ever since Lorelai had started business school, she and Juliet made a habit of meeting at the same coffee shop in Hartford every Tuesday and Thursday, but sometimes more sporadically if Juliet's work schedule didn't allow it.
"Yep. See you tomorrow!"
"Tell Rory congratulations for me, okay?"
"I will!"
Juliet hung up, chugging the last of her tea as she dumped her trash and put her tray away, jogging to make her afternoon rounds.
Juliet opened the door to the coffee shop, rubbing her arms to warm up from outside. She looked to the counter, furrowing her brow in surprise when she saw Lorelai at the counter, smiling and waving at her. She usually breezed in five minutes after their agreed-upon meeting time.
Juliet was struck, as she often was, by how beautiful her older sister was. Even in a plain long sleeve and pants, Lorelai managed to be glamorous and feminine, making Juliet feel even more shapeless in her baggy scrubs and face that hadn't worn makeup all week. She was tempted to pull her hair out of the messy knot she'd tied it into this morning and let it fall down to her waist, but thought better of it.
"Hey!" Lorelai said brightly, moving her coat and scarf from the stool next to hers so Juliet could sit down. "I got you a chai latte already, it should be out in a minute."
"Thanks," Juliet smiled as she lowered herself on the stool. "Did your class get out early or something? You're never here before me."
"I decided to give you some competition for the Miss Punctuality crown."
"That's Doctor Punctuality to you, missy," she said as the barista placed their drinks in front of her. Holding her breath as she passed Lorelai her coffee, she continued, "Besides, if anyone's my competition for that title, it's Rory, not you."
Lorelai snorted, raising her eyebrows in agreement as she took a sip of her coffee. She swallowed and put the cup down, facing Juliet head on.
"Actually, I need some advice."
"Shoot."
"Well, Rory starts Chilton on Monday, and of course that's great, but, oops! Her Mommy got so excited about her finally using her whole brain at school that she forgot that Chilton costs money."
Juliet frowned as she reached for the cinnamon shaker in front of her. "I thought she got a scholarship, though. Isn't that what you guys applied for?"
Lorelai shook her head, closing her eyes in a barely concealed effort to remain calm. "We didn't qualify. I just found out last night. They said it was because my income is too high, but really. . ."
"It's because your last name is Gilmore," at Lorelai's nod, Juliet worried her lip between her teeth. "I mean, I could –"
Lorelai shook her head. "Don't start, Jules. You don't get paid enough to afford that."
"And my trust fund obviously isn't an option," Juliet said with a rueful smile.
After Lorelai left home, Richard and Emily had rearranged their assets so that Lorelai was cut off from her trust fund, and all the money that had been in it was placed in Juliet's. However, when they discovered a few months later that Juliet not only knew where Lorelai was, but had been sneaking out to visit her once a week, she'd been cut off too. In theory, the money now belonged to Rory, but not until she was twenty-five, so it would be no help to them now.
"Sookie says Mom and Dad are my only option," Lorelai sighed, playing with the lid on the to-go cup.
Juliet hesitated a moment, running through every possible solution before coming to a frustrating conclusion.
"I think she might be right," she whispered, placing a hand on her sister's knee.
Lorelai sighed again. "I know. I'm gonna go see them after I leave here. I was just hoping you knew of another alternative I hadn't thought of yet."
"Sorry."
"Eh, it won't be that bad," Lorelai said with a shrug, taking another sip of her coffee. Then, placing the cup on the counter deliberately, she shifted her focus to Juliet. "Sooo, how are things at General Hospital? Any good stories?"
"There was a code brown on the third floor."
"What's a code – oh, gross! That's not what I meant!"
Juliet shrugged with mock nonchalance. "Should've been more clear."
After bidding Juliet goodbye, Lorelai climbed into her Jeep and drove the short distance from the cafe to her parents' house. She sat in the driveway, nursing the coffee refill she had gotten just before leaving.
Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell, blinking in surprise when her mother answered instead of a maid.
"Hi, Mom," she said.
"Lorelai! My goodness, this is a surprise. Is it Easter already?" She fought the urge to roll her eyes. For all Emily Gilmore complained about how little Lorelai visited her, she sure gave her a hard time when she did.
"No, I finished my business class, and I thought I'd stop by."
"To see me?"
"Yes." No, to put itching powder between your sheets. Why else would I be here?
"Well, isn't that nice. Come in."
Following her mother inside, she glanced around the house, searching for something to stimulate conversation.
"The place looks great," she said, because nothing else came to mind.
"It hasn't changed." I'm trying here, Emily, why can't you?
"Well, there you go," she laughed nervously. "Juliet told me to tell you hi for her, by the way."
"Why would she need to do that, Lorelai? We see her once a week."
She bit her lip as they walked to the living room, forcing herself to refrain from saying something stupid like, Well, I see her twice a week, and sometimes more than that, so ha!
Right then, Lorelai wished she had taken Juliet up on her offer to come with her. Never mind the fact that she was a thirty-two-year-old woman who couldn't hide behind her little sister every time she was nervous, or that their parents probably wouldn't be as willing to hear her out if they felt like she and Juliet were conspiring against them.
Just as the silence was becoming unbearable, her mother said, "So, you're taking a business class?"
"Yeah, at the college twice a week. I'm sure I told you."
"No, you didn't," Emily said snidely. Lorelai clutched the sides of her pants, itching to run or break something.
"Emily, I'm home!" Dad. Thank God. Richard Gilmore was low on the list of people she'd want as a buffer between her and her mother, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
"We're in here!"
Lorelai waved at her father as he walked into the living room. "Hi, Dad."
"What is it, Christmas already?"
"Lorelai was taking a business class at the college and thought she'd drop in to see us," her mother's tone showed how much she believed that explanation.
"What business class?"
"The one Juliet told us about, remember?"
"Ah," Richard nodded, clearly not remembering.
With a deep breath, Lorelai explained to them why she was really there, and was almost home free when her mother held up a hand and said,
"I want a weekly dinner."
"What?"
"You and Rory will have dinner here every Friday night. That's what your sister does, and her work schedule is far more demanding than yours."
Lorelai scoffed internally at the thinly veiled barb. It was laughable how Emily could take the seemingly endless pride she had for her little sister's career and turn it into envy. Juliet was one of the only things she and her parents had in common, why did she seem to be the largest sore spot in their relationship?
"She doesn't want to go!" Lorelai said as she answered the phone without pretense.
"Who doesn't want to go where?" Juliet asked, knowing that she could be talking about anything from her Jeep breaking down to Diane from Cheers not actually wanting to leave Sam.
"Rory! She met some dreamy guy, and now she wants to stay at Stars Hollow High so they can go steady or something!"
Juliet sucked in a breath. "And you've already gone to Mom and Dad for money?"
"Yup," Lorelai said, popping the p. "By the way, we'll be at dinner with you tomorrow night. And every Friday night for the foreseeable future. Oh God, you should've heard Emily. 'Why should Juliet need to pass a message along through you, she's always here even though she works so much harder than you!'"
"And then you told her that I call and complain to you about them as soon as I get in my car afterward?"
"You'd be proud, I actually held back from saying that!"
Juliet rolled her eyes. "She's ridiculous. When I'm there, I get nailed for not joining the DAR like she wants me to, or for using my medical degree to work as a doctor instead of marrying one. But when she's talking to you, she can't stop singing my praises."
"What's that called again? Trianglefication?"
"Triangulation?"
"That's it! That's what that was, right?"
"Yeah, that's what she's doing."
"Look at us! Sigmund and Carl better watch their backs!"
Juliet laughed, and then sobered when she heard Lorelai suck in a shaky breath and whisper fearfully,
"I think I'm turning into Mom."
"Oh, Lor, no. Why would you think that?"
"I was so mad at Rory, Jules. I'm still a little mad, honestly. I told her she was throwing her life away for a guy just like I had. I told her she had to go to Chilton whether she liked it or not," she paused, and Juliet could hear her sniffle. "Did I do the wrong thing?"
Juliet hesitated. "I mean, maybe the 'throwing your life away' thing was a little much. But you'll apologize for that, and Mom never apologized. And she should go to Chilton. A little tough love when she needs it doesn't make you a bad mom."
"I know. But I don't know know, you know?"
"No," Juliet said, her brow furrowed in confusion.
Lorelai exhaled, and Juliet could hear her shifting around. "I just – I swear my voice sounded just like hers today. It felt like I was the mom in Titanic, you know, when she's lacing Kate Winslet into that corset? What if I'm doing the same thing? What if this guy is her Leonardo DiCaprio?"
"Then he'll be dead in a few days, so you won't have to worry."
"I'm serious!" Lorelai insisted, and Juliet held back a comment about how the Titanic references indicated otherwise.
"Lor, it's not like you're forbidding her from seeing him. If he goes to Stars Hollow High, she'll still see him all the time."
"I know," Lorelai repeated.
"You're not Mom," Juliet promised. "Just the fact that you're worried about turning into her shows that you aren't."
She heard Lorelai sigh in begrudging acceptance. "I want to be a cool mom."
"You are a cool mom."
"You promise?"
"You pretty much raised me, so I think I would know."
"I guess you're right. Hey! If I raised you, then my firstborn is a doctor! I must've done something right!"
"There you go!"
Juliet dressed for dinner after her shift was over the next night, pinning her long hair into a braided chignon. She zipped herself into a pale pink dress and took a deep breath as she grabbed her coat, purse, and the overnight bag she was bringing to Lorelai's house that weekend.
"It won't be as bad tonight," she reminded herself, "Lor and Rory will be there."
She repeated this mantra over and over on the drive to her parents' home, envying her sister's longer commute from Stars Hollow. The twelve minutes between Juliet's apartment and the Gilmore mansion never seemed like enough time to prepare.
She pulled up to the driveway, noting the absence of Lorelai's Jeep, and sat in her car for a minute. Part of her wanted to wait for Lorelai and Rory to pull up before she got out, but her mother would likely see it as a slight if the three of them came in together. Taking one more steadying breath, she made her way to the front door and rang the doorbell.
Emily opened the door, her face falling a little when she saw that it was Juliet at the door and not Rory (and Lorelai).
"Hello, Juliet. You're early," her mother commented, smiling politely at her and pressing a brief kiss to her cheek.
"Oh, my attending let us out early," Juliet explained, taking off her coat.
"How nice," Emily said, then reared back as she took in her daughter's appearance. "My God, Juliet, I thought you were topless. That dress is nearly the same color as your skin!"
"Oh, well, I'm not," Juliet said with a forced chuckle, because she couldn't think of another response.
"Hmm. Well, your father's in the living room. Rory and your sister haven't arrived yet," Emily told her, leading the way to the living room.
Juliet looked down at her front. Was her dress really that similar to her skin tone?
"Richard, Juliet's here!"
Her father looked up from his paper. "Hello, Juliet. How's work?"
"Good! Lots of interesting patients. A lady with dementia tried to strangle me today."
"Good Lord!" Richard exclaimed, putting his paper down in shock.
"Juliet! That is not an appropriate topic for dinner!" Emily chastised.
"Sorry," Juliet ducked her head, sitting on the sofa. "How about you, Dad? How's your work?"
"Mm, no strangulations for me, but I was tempted a few times," he said drily, turning a page in his newspaper. Juliet laughed, while Emily shot her husband a look of exasperation.
They were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell, and Juliet immediately relaxed as her mother stood to answer it. The reinforcements had arrived.
She overheard voices in the foyer but wasn't able to make out any actual words. After a moment, Emily returned, her hands on Rory's shoulders, presenting her to the living room.
"Richard, Juliet, look who's here."
"Hey, smarty-pants! Congratulations!" Juliet stood up, opening her arms to hug her niece.
"Hi, Auntie Jules," Rory visibly relaxed as she hugged Juliet, then smiled cordially at Richard as she pulled away. "Hi, Grandpa."
"Rory. You're tall."
Rory glanced at her aunt, as though asking for confirmation on this observation. "I guess."
"What's your height?"
"Five-seven?"
"That's tall. She's tall," he announced to the room. "Is she as tall as you, Juliet?"
Juliet smiled at Rory. "Pretty close. I've still got about an inch on her."
"Hi, Dad. Hey, Jules," Lorelai came in, giving Juliet a one-armed hug.
"Lorelai, your daughter's tall," Richard informed her.
"Oh I know, it's freakish. We're thinking of having her studied at M.I.T.," Lorelai said, as Juliet wrapped an arm around her waist. They shared a smile when their father went back to reading his paper.
Emily came up to them with a tray of drinks. "Champagne, anyone?"
"Sure. Thanks, Mom," Juliet said as she took a glass.
"That's fancy," Lorelai commented, grabbing a glass with her free hand.
"Well, it's not every day that I have all three of my girls here for dinner on a day the banks are open."
Lorelai and Juliet shared another glance at the pointed comment but refrained from saying anything.
Their mother continued. "A toast - to Rory entering Chilton and an exciting new phase in her life."
"Here, here," their father kept his eyes on his paper.
"Well, let's sit everyone," Emily said, gesturing to the couches and sitting down. "This is just wonderful. An education is the most important thing in the world, next to family."
"And pie!" Lorelai joked, her arm still around Juliet's shoulders. The room was silent except for Juliet's pity laugh, with a half-hearted chuckle from Rory following a second later.
After another minute of awkward silence, Lorelai pushed her sister forward, sitting her on the couch so that she acted as a barrier between Lorelai and Emily, and grabbed her hand, squeezing it once before letting go.
As they walked into the dining room after dinner was announced, Juliet whispered in Lorelai's ear,
"Do I look like I'm naked in this dress?"
Lorelai looked at her, furrowing her brow. "No! You look like Liesl Von Trapp!"
"Okay, good! That's what I was going for, but Mom said –"
Lorelai cut her off. "You look cute, Jules. Cute and clothed."
An extra chair had been added to the dinner table beside the one Lorelai usually sat in. Rory sat down at Juliet's usual place, while Lorelai and Juliet sat next to each other. Emily frowned at her daughters, clearly having intended for the sisters to sit across from one another, but said nothing.
"Auntie Jules, how's work?" Rory asked, breaking the silence that had once again settled over the table.
"Not boring, that's for sure! Today, actually –" At her mother's warning look, Juliet abruptly cut herself off. "I'll, uh, I'll tell you later."
Emily changed the subject. "Rory, how do you like the lamb?"
Rory smiled at her grandmother. "It's good."
"Too dry?" Emily asked, and Juliet shared a smirk with Lorelai at their mother's blatant favoritism.
"No, it's perfect."
"Potatoes could use a little salt, though," Lorelai said facetiously, and Juliet kicked her under the table.
"Excuse me?"
"So, Grandpa, how's the insurance biz?" Thank God for Rory.
"Oh, people die, we pay. People crash cars, we pay. People lose a foot, we pay," Richard said, spearing a piece of lamb.
Juliet nearly made a comment about how people paid insurance companies before they died, crashed cars, and lost feet, while still having to pay insanely high deductibles, but she held back. This was not the time or place to discuss the socioeconomic disparities of the American healthcare system.
"Well, at least you have your new slogan," Lorelai quipped, smiling awkwardly.
Their father rolled his eyes. "And, how are things at the motel?"
"The inn? They're great."
"You got promoted last month, right, Lor?"
"Yeah! Executive manager. I get my own nameplate now," Lorelai did a little shimmy in her seat.
"Oh, that's wonderful," Emily said with a polite smile.
"Speaking of which," Richard announced, "Christopher called."
Juliet resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Speaking of which? How is that a 'speaking of which'?"
"What did he say, Dad?" Juliet asked.
"He's doing very well in California. His Internet start-up goes public next month. This could mean big things for him," Richard said, turning to Rory. "Very talented man, your father."
"She knows," Lorelai said defensively, reaching blindly for Juliet's hand and squeezing it almost to the point of pain.
"He always was a smart one, that boy," their father continued. "You must take after him."
"Dad!"
Lorelai dropped her hand, standing up. "Speaking of which, I'm gonna get a Coke. Or a knife."
Juliet whirled on her father. "Why would you say that?"
"Christopher is a smart boy."
"He's a smart grown man, Dad," she reminded him. Feeling her self-control starting to slip, she stood up, forcing calmness back into her tone. "I'm gonna go check on Lor."
Her mother stood up too. "I'll come with you."
"Mom –"
"Or, I can go alone, and you can stay and keep Rory and your father company," Juliet sighed, following her mother into the kitchen, where Lorelai was vigorously scrubbing a pan. "Lorelai, come back to the table."
"Give her a minute, Mom."
Emily shot Juliet a glare, looking between her daughters. "Is this what it's going to be like every Friday night? The two of you come over here and gang up on me?"
"How are you being ganged up on? Were you at that table just now?" Lorelai asked incredulously.
"Yes, I was, and I think you took what your father said the wrong way."
"The wrong way? What was open to interpretation?"
"In my professional opinion, Mom, there was no 'right way' to take it," Juliet said, kicking herself for weaponizing her job title before the words were even out of her mouth.
As predicted, it didn't go over well. "I have no interest in your 'professional opinion' right now, young lady!"
"Why would Dad bring up Christopher?" Lorelai asked. "Was that really necessary?"
"He likes Christopher!"
"Why? He's a jackass," Juliet spat.
Her mother's jaw dropped at her language. "Juliet! That's an awful thing to say!"
"Well, it's not like he's here to get his feelings hurt, is he?" God, Jules, can you start acting like you have a Psychology degree anytime soon? This is how we tell patients not to behave.
"Perhaps if your sister had married him, he would be!"
"Not this again, Mom," Lorelai sighed.
"When you get pregnant, you get married. A child needs a mother and a father."
"Do you think that Christopher would have his own company right now if we'd gotten married? Do you think he would be anything at all?"
"Yes, I do," Emily insisted. "Your father would have put him in the insurance business and you'd be living a lovely life right now."
"He didn't want to be in the insurance business and I am living a lovely life right now!"
"That's right, far away from us."
"Oh, here we go," Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"You took that girl and completely shut us out of your life."
"Not completely!" Lorelai insisted, pointing to Juliet and realizing belatedly that that was the wrong thing to say.
Emily laughed bitterly. "Oh yes, how could I have forgotten? The clandestine meetings you two had for six months before Juliet would tell us where you were! And that you were working as a maid! With all your brains and talent. Your sister is a doctor, Lorelai, while you're still in the exact same place you were at seventeen!"
Juliet glowered at her mother. "Don't compare me to Lorelai, Mom."
"Then stop inserting yourself where you're not needed, Juliet!" Emily shrieked, then turned back to Lorelai. "Just imagine where you and Rory would have been if you'd accepted a little help!"
"Hey, I accepted help!"
"Oh that's right, you were willing to take your fourteen-year-old sister's allowance when you ran away from home, but too proud to accept anything from your own parents!"
"Well, I wasn't too proud to come here to you two begging for money for my kid's school, was I?"
"No, you certainly weren't. But you're too proud to let her know where you got it from, aren't you?" Lorelai said nothing, glancing over at Juliet in embarrassment. "Well, fine, you have your precious pride and I have my weekly dinners. And now you get to see your sister more often, Juliet. Isn't that nice? We all win."
Emily turned on her heel and left the kitchen, the door swinging behind her. Juliet watched her leave, then looked over at Lorelai, who was blinking rapidly at the ceiling. Wordlessly, she walked over and wrapped her arms around her sister. After a moment, Lorelai's shoulders slumped, and she buried her face in Juliet's shoulder.
"I hate her sometimes," she whispered in a choked voice.
"Yeah, me too."
The younger Gilmores stood on the front steps after dinner, the cool night air a welcome reprieve from the stuffiness of the dining room. Lorelai looked like a washcloth that had been wrung out, and Juliet felt the same way. Putting on a small smile, Lorelai turned to Rory.
"Honey, can you go warm up the car? Auntie Jules and I need a minute."
Rory opened her mouth, looking like she was about to protest, but accepted the keys from her mother anyway. Once Rory's back was turned, Lorelai leaned her head on Juliet's shoulder, sighing.
"Do I look shorter? Because I feel shorter."
"It's hard to tell with the heels," Juliet said, resting her head on top of her sister's. Lorelai huffed a weak laugh, making Juliet smile at the small victory.
"Want Rory to ride with me? Give you a few minutes where you don't have to be nice to anybody?"
She felt Lorelai nod after a moment. "If she's okay with it. I don't want her to think I'm freezing her out or something."
"Okay."
After another minute, Lorelai lifted her head up and gave Juliet's arm a squeeze as they made their way over to Lorelai's Jeep.
"Hey, Rory, want to practice driving my car?" Juliet asked, sticking her head inside the window. "We barely got to talk at dinner."
Rory's eyes flicked between the two of them warily. When Lorelai smiled reassuringly at her, she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the passenger's seat.
"Thanks," she said, accepting the keys from Juliet. Then turning to her mother, she asked, "How about we stop for coffee? Auntie Jules has never been to Luke's."
Lorelai turned to her incredulously. "What? How have you never been to Luke's?"
"Hi, I don't drink coffee, remember?"
"He doesn't just have coffee!" Rory insisted. "There's burgers, and fries, and pie! And he has tea too, right?"
"Oh yeah," Lorelai snickered. "He'll do a little happy dance when you order it, Jules. He won't be able to believe we're related!"
"We'll meet you there," Rory said with a good-natured roll of her eyes. She looped her arm through Juliet's, and they walked to her Honda.
As Rory turned the key into the ignition, Juliet broke the comfortable silence between them.
"So, your mom says you don't want to go to Chilton?"
Rory glanced over at her aunt with a sigh. "She told you?"
"She tells me pretty much everything," she said apologetically, smiling fondly at how her niece was driving exactly the speed limit. "But I bet if you asked her to keep something from me she would."
"Yeah, I know," Rory only briefly took her eyes from the road to look at Juliet sheepishly. "Did she tell you why?"
"Something about a boy?" She took Rory's blush as confirmation. "You know, you guys will still see each other even if you don't go to the same school. Your town is smaller than the hospital I work at."
"It's not that small."
"It's hyperbole," at her niece's eye roll, she continued, "Do you want to know why I think you really don't want to go?"
"Why, Auntie Freud?"
Juliet laughed, shaking her head. "I think you're a little scared to switch schools."
"What? I'm not scared! Why would I be scared?"
"You've been in school with the same kids since you were five, Rory. And you've never liked change very much."
Rory frowned, focusing intently on her hands' position on the wheel.
"And, I mean, Chilton will be a lot harder than your old school."
"That's why I wanted to go there! I'm so bored at Stars Hollow High!"
Juliet gave her a look, raising her eyebrows.
"Don't you think you'll still be bored if you stay?"
Rory pursed her lips. "I guess."
"I get it, you know. Not wanting to try something new. When I went to med school after college instead of marrying some rich guy, I was so scared. I don't like not knowing what's gonna happen."
"Why'd you do it?"
"Because I knew what would happen if I didn't change anything," she shrugged, "and doing that was scarier than not knowing."
Rory rolled her eyes again, but she was smiling. "I hate your Psychology degree."
Juliet huffed out a laugh, and Rory turned the volume up on the radio, signaling she was done talking for now. The rest of the ride passed in companionable silence, except for The Cranberries playing over the speakers. Before too long, Rory parked in the town square behind Lorelai's Jeep, and handed Juliet the car keys as they got out.
Lorelai was waiting for them outside of her car, and looped an arm through each of theirs as she walked.
"So, nice dinner at the grandparents' house," Rory commented.
"Oh yeah, her dishes have never been cleaner."
"You two seemed to have a nice talk with Grandma."
Lorelai cringed. "How much did you hear?"
"Not much. You know, snippets."
The sisters exchanged a look, and Lorelai turned back to Rory, raising an eyebrow. "Snippets?"
"Little snippets."
Juliet scratched her nose sheepishly. "Did you hear me call your dad a . . .?"
"Yeah."
Lorelai smiled wryly. "So you heard everything?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Well, the best laid plans," Lorelai opened the door for them as she walked into the diner, sitting at the nearest table with three seats.
Rory sat down across from her mother. "I think it was really brave of you to ask them for money."
Lorelai sighed, taking off her coat. "Oh, I so do not want to talk about it."
"How many meals is it gonna take till we're off the hook?"
Juliet turned to Rory. "Off the hook? Now that I'm used to having you guys there, I'm not going to another one of those dinners alone again!"
"Aw, my poor, defenseless, baby sister!" Lorelai clasped Juliet's hand dramatically. Then, her eyes widened and she turned to Rory with a smile. "Wait, does that mean. . . ?"
Rory smiled, glancing over at Juliet. "Well, my shrink and I talked it over, so. . ."
"Oh, honey, you won't be sorry," Lorelai said, squeezing Juliet's hand in thanks. Her jaw dropped as a man came to their table with an order pad, and her grip on Juliet's hand slackened.
"Wow. You look nice. Really. . .nice," she stuttered.
The man blushed, ducking his head. "Yeah, I had a meeting earlier at the bank. They like collars."
Lorelai laughed, staring dumbly at him. Juliet furrowed her brow and glanced over at Rory, who rolled her eyes with a smirk, suggesting to her aunt that the vibe between Lorelai and Man in Blue Shirt was not a new one.
"You look nice too," he said, trying and failing to hide a smile.
"I had a flagellation to go to," Lorelai quipped. There she is.
Blue Shirt Guy glanced down, then looked at Juliet as though noticing her for the first time. "Who the hell are you?"
"Luke!" Lorelai admonished, the spell between them evidently broken. "That's my sister."
"Right," he said, nodding as his eyes widened in recognition. "You mentioned you had one of those."
Juliet smiled warmly and held out a hand. "I'm Juliet."
He accepted her hand, shaking it. "Luke."
"I figured," she said, gesturing between him and Lorelai. "Nice to, um, put a face to the name."
"Yeah, you too," Luke blushed again, clearly pleased to learn that Lorelai had mentioned him to her sister. "What'll you have?"
"Coffee. In a vat," Lorelai said.
"I'll have coffee also," said Rory. "And chili fries."
"That's quite a refined palette you've got there," he pointed to Juliet. "I'm assuming you want coffee too?"
"Oh, no thanks. Do you have tea?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You adopted or something?"
"Just recessive genes, I guess," she said evasively. Lorelai squeezed her hand reassuringly.
Luke nodded, sensing there was more to the story but not prying. "Is peppermint okay?"
"That's great, thanks," she smiled quickly at him as he walked away, then turned to her sister with a teasing smirk and raised eyebrows. "He's cute, Lor!"
"Shut up," Lorelai said through clenched teeth, her face turning bright red.
Juliet made an exaggerated kissy noise in response, and Lorelai pinched her forearm. Hard.
"Ow!"
Lorelai made a show of turning to Rory, who was fighting to keep a straight face. "So, tell us about the guy."
"You know what's really special about our relationship? The total understanding about the need for one's privacy. I mean, you really understand boundaries."
"Tell us about the guy!" Lorelai insisted.
"Make it stop, Auntie Jules," Rory pleaded.
"Is he dreamy?"
"How about we talk about a different guy, Lor?"
"Jules!" Lorelai whispered urgently as the guy in question came to their table bearing gifts.
"Coffee. . .fries. . . tea. Tea. I think you might be my new best friend," he said to Juliet sarcastically.
"Told you so!" Lorelai chortled, pointing a finger in her face.
"I'll make you a bracelet tomorrow," Juliet deadpanned. After Luke left with a roll of his eyes, Juliet whispered to Lorelai, "With beads that spell out 'Favorite brother-in-law'."
"I'm going to dump this on your head," Lorelai threatened, holding up her mug of coffee.
"You wouldn't waste it!" Rory giggled.
"I guess you're right," Lorelai sighed, then smiled evilly again. "Tell me about the guy!"
"How about Auntie Jules tells us what Grandma wouldn't let her talk about at dinner?"
"Ooh, yes! Gross hospital story!"
"Okay, so: My Brush With Death," Juliet began, straightening in her chair as she launched into a highly dramatized retelling of her story.
Notes:
Here's the beginning of Season 1! I used the show's script pretty heavily here, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think I changed it enough that it doesn't feel like you're just watching the show, but let me know if it's too much! Also, fun fact: I used to work in a nursing home, so I have a lot of experience with dementia patients getting violent lol.
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think! I love reading the comments people leave on my stories! I also realized that when I'm reading fanfiction, I often don't comment/leave kudos even when I really like a story, so I'm trying to do that more often too.