Tristan and Jess left soon after Lorelai had come home, sensing that she wanted some time alone with Charlotte and Rory.

"So how was Luke?" Charlotte asked again.

"You set it up, didn't you?" Lorelai asked them both. "And don't lie because I know Jess has been saying stuff about me to Luke as well." She added.

Charlotte and Rory exchanged a glance, not knowing whether their mom was mad or not. "We might have." Charlotte admitted.

"Why?" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Because you deserve to be happy, mom! We wanted to cheer you up." Charlotte said.

Lorelai sighed. "So you thought trying to set me up with Luke would make me forget about your dad?" She asked.

"Not forget." Rory said. "Just...well, dad doesn't deserve you. You deserve someone who will be there for you, who keeps their promises."

"Like Luke." Charlotte said. "Luke's been there for you through everything even when he didn't need to be. And he's been there for us too."

"We wanted you to be happy." Rory said.

"Sorry." Charlotte sighed. "So I'm guessing it didn't work?"

Lorelai couldn't help but smile. She was touched that her daughters had done it to make her happy and she thought back to that kiss with Luke.

"Wait a minute..." Rory narrowed her eyes. "I know that smile."

"Yeah you had it when you started dating Max." Charlotte said.

"And you had it after telling us about dad." Rory said.

"Oh my god, something did happen, didn't it?" Charlotte exclaimed excitedly.

Lorelai couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm. "Ok, yes, something may have happened..." She admitted.

"Tell us!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Ok, well we were just talking. Or more like I was talking and he was listening." Lorelai joked.

"Like always." Rory joked.

"And he was saying all these really nice things and I don't know...suddenly I just saw it." She shrugged.

"Saw what?" Rory asked.

"The look. That look that Sookie's been going on about." Lorelai said.

"Ah, the 'look him in the eyes, it's right there' look." Charlotte nodded knowingly. "I've seen that look."

"Yeah...and suddenly it was like I just realised there and then that maybe..." Lorelai started.

"Maybe what?" Rory asked.

"Maybe he was the guy." She shrugged.

"Please say you told him that." Charlotte grinned.

"I did. But I may have showed him as well." Lorelai blushed slightly. "Luke and I kissed ok?" She admitted.

Charlotte squealed and launched herself at her mom, giving her a hug. "This is so great!" She exclaimed.

"It's about time." Rory smirked.

"So you two would really be ok with this?" Lorelai asked.

"Are you kidding? We set it up, mom!" Charlotte laughed.

"I know but...you two are my priorities. If this is going to be in any way weird for you, just say." Lorelai said softly.

"Mom, we love Luke." Rory said sincerely.

"Yeah, he's always around the house anyway. It's not like it's going to be any different." Charlotte smiled.

"Really?" Lorelai asked.

"We're happy for you, mom." Rory smiled.

"So what, you kissed and then came home?" Charlotte asked.

"Not exactly." Lorelai said. "He asked if I wanted to go upstairs so I did and..."

"Ok do we want to hear this?" Charlotte grimaced.

"Stop it!" Lorelai rolled her eyes. "We talked, that's it. We drank some beer he had and then we talked. Really talked. About us, about what it might mean, about what we both want."

"And?" Charlotte asked.

"We agreed we both wanted it. But we also agreed we were going to talk to you two and Jess first." Lorelai said.

"Aw that's sweet." Rory grinned.

"So you're really both ok with this? If we start something...?" She asked.

"Of course we're ok with it!" Charlotte said.

"Yeah, you deserve it mom." Rory smiled. "We should probably head to bed though. It's getting late."

"Yeah you're right." Lorelai said. "Breakfast at Luke's tomorrow?"

"Absolutely." Charlotte grinned, getting up with them. She went over and hugged her mom. "You picked a good one, mom." She said quietly.

Lorelai smiled and kissed the top of her daughter's head. "I know." She said softly.

"Night mom."

"Night sweets." Lorelai smiled and watched them head to their room before heading upstairs herself.

Jess had returned to the diner and headed up to the apartment. He found Luke sat on the couch watching something on their tv. "Hey." Jess said heading over to his bed.

"Did you enjoy it?" Luke asked.

"What?" Jess asked.

"Meddling in other people's lives." Luke said.

"Don't know what you're talking about." Jess commented.

"No? So you had no hand in making sure that Lorelai and I would be alone in the diner this evening?" He said.

"Nope. Guess it was a coincidence." He said.

"Huh. Interesting." Luke said.

"Yup." Jess said. "Ok well I'm going to..." He said gesturing to his bed.

"Would you have a problem if something happened with me and Lorelai?" Luke suddenly asked.

Jess turned to look at him. "Why, has something already happened?" He asked.

"Maybe." Luke said. "Would you have a problem with it?"

"Doesn't make a difference to me." Jess shrugged.

"Really?" Luke asked.

"It's your life." Jess commented. "Plus she's doing me a favour distracting you. It will get you off my back."

"So there was a motive to your antics then." Luke said, smirking slightly.

Jess glanced at him and smirked. "Perhaps." He admitted. "Night Uncle Luke."

"Night Jess." Luke said, getting up to head over to his own bed but he had a small smile on his face as he did.

The following Friday Lorelai, Charlotte, Rory, and Emily were sitting in the living room of the Gilmore Mansion in complete silence.

"Well, this is nice, isn't it?" Rory said trying to make conversation between them all but her mom and Charlotte were being stubborn and not very helpful. "So, Grandma, Grandpa is travelling again, right?" She asked hoping to have more luck with her.

"Yes, he is." Emily replied.

"Business must be good then." Rory said.

"Seems to be."

"That's great. Isn't that great, Mom?" Rory said.

"A jig is forthcoming." Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Mom's business is great, too. I mean, not that it's without its problem, you know, but they're usually funny problems." Rory said. "Like...uh...oh! Mom, why don't you tell Grandma about the mouse?"

"What mouse?" Emily asked.

"Mom?" Rory begged.

Lorelai sighed. "There's a mouse at the inn." She said.

"Is the place dirty?" Emily asked imperiously.

"No, it's just surrounded by this thing called nature and...mice happen." Lorelai said.

"Mice carry diseases, you know."

"It's a tiny little field mouse, Mom."

"I don't care how big it is, it's still a rodent." Emily said.

"Let's just change the subject, shall we?" Lorelai suggested, giving Rory a look when she saw her smiling slightly.

"You should set a trap." Emily continued.

"Got it covered."

"Just make sure you don't use poison."

"Got it covered, mom."

"They will eat the poison and then go into the walls and die, decompose, and the entire place will smell."

"I've got it covered, but thanks." Lorelai said.

"I just have to say, I don't know why you're the one sitting here with an attitude. I'm the one who should be mad." Emily said.

Charlotte snorted.

"And I don't know what you're upset about, young lady." Emily said.

"Let's not do this, ok Mom?" Lorelai said.

"You slagged off my boyfriend in front of me!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Well he's beneath you! You should be with someone with a proper family." Emily said stiffly.

"He is from a proper family." Charlotte said gritting her teeth.

"Really? Then where are his parents? Why is he living with his uncle in that diner?" Emily said not being able to hide her disgust.

"It's not his fault what his parents are like. But Luke is his family and Luke is probably the best thing that's happened to Jess. They might not be high society like you, Grandma, but they're good people and they don't deserve to be talked about like this." Charlotte said. "And I love Jess. Nothing you say will break us up." She added, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Anyway..." Emily said ignoring what Charlotte had said. "...as I was saying, I should be the one upset and angry. You're the ones who just walked out of here last week without saying a word."

"Because we couldn't get a word in! And you were insulting our friends. Do you think we would really sit around to hear that?" Lorelai said.

"Your father and I were shocked and upset." Emily said.

"So what else is new?"

"You didn't give us five minutes to digest the news."

"What, that Chris threatened to take my kid away from me?" Lorelai said. "Please mom, just find the off switch."

"You simply dumped it on us and walked out. I hardly think that's fair."

"Mom, it doesn't matter! It's over. Let's just move on, ok? We came here to have a nice evening, so...come on, let's have it." Lorelai said picking up a newspaper from the coffee table.

"Something smells good." Rory commented.

"Braised lamb shank." Emily said.

"Oh, braised lamb shank! I love a lamb shank when it is braised. Don't you Charlie?" Rory asked her sister.

Charlotte couldn't help but smile at Rory's attempts to get peace between them. "Yeah a braised lamb shank isn't bad." She relented.

"Oh my god!" Lorelai suddenly exclaimed.

"Reading in front of other people is extremely rude, Lorelai." Emily said disapprovingly.

"Shauna Christy shot her husband!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"What?" Emily said.

"Shauna Christy, you remember Shauna Christy!"

"Yes, I remember Shauna Christy, she was a lovely girl."

"Well, apparently this lovely girl came home to find her husband giving the nanny a nice little bonus package. And they say good help is hard to find." Lorelai quipped.

"That's just gossip."

"Gossip? The man was shot thirty-five times. He looks like a sprinkler system." Lorelai said handing her mother the paper.

"I can't believe this!" Emily said reading it. "Shauna was always such a nice girl. She was bright, cultured, well-spoken."

"And apparently a big Annie Oakley fan." Lorelai joked.

"This is not funny, the woman committed a crime." Emily said.

"Ok, fine."

"This is a tragedy."

"My bad, sorry." Lorelai said.

"A man is dead, a young woman ruined."

"Consider the subject dropped."

"At least she had a husband to kill." Emily commented after a moment.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Lorelai said smiling sweetly at Rory.

The following morning Lorelai, Charlotte and Rory were sat at a table at Luke's having breakfast.

"Bless you." Rory said as Lorelai sneezed.

"Thank you. Urgh, I hate having a cold!" She whined.

"We know you do." Rory said.

"Urgh, it's bad enough being sick, but anybody can have a cold!" Lorelai groaned.

"We know they can." Rory said.

"I mean, I'd like to have a good illness, something different and impressive. Just once I'd like to be able to say, "Yeah, I'm not feeling so good, my leg is haunted."" She said.

"See, there's a reason why you only take one packet of TheraFlu at a time." Charlotte smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Lorelai groaned.

Just then Luke brought their food over. "Alright, two lots of pancakes, two fried eggs, two sides of bacon." He said setting the food down in front of Charlotte and Rory. "Chicken noodle soup, side of mashed potatoes." He said placing it in front of Lorelai.

"Thanks, Luke!" Charlotte smiled tucking into her food.

"Thanks." Lorelai said.

"How's the cold coming?" Luke asked.

"It's fine." She said.

"Any better?"

"It's fine." Lorelai repeated.

"It's the third day in a row you've ordered soup for breakfast." Luke pointed out.

"Oh, thanks for the tally." Lorelai said.

"You know what helps get rid of a cold?" Luke said.

"I want to say a kiss but even I know that's the wrong answer." Lorelai joked. "How about endless vague questioning first thing in the morning?"

"A healthy immune system." Luke continued.

"Damn. My second guess." Lorelai said.

"And you know how you get a healthy immune system?"

"Remember when we weren't dating and you couldn't care less? That was fun, wasn't it?" She joked.

"Is it eating nothing but crap all day and blowing out your brain cells with coffee?" Luke smirked.

"No." Rory said.

"That's right, no." Luke said.

"Why are you helping him?" Lorelai exclaimed.

"No seemed like the right answer." Rory shrugged.

"No is the right answer." Charlotte nodded.

"Eat a vegetable now and then, maybe some high fibre cereal in the morning." Luke said.

"Listen, Grandpa, my soup's getting cold."

"At least eat the carrots in the soup this time, not just the noodles." Luke sighed.

"I promise." Lorelai said. Luke nodded and went to walk away. "Hey Luke?" She said.

"Yeah?" He said turning back.

"Thanks for caring." Lorelai smiled softly.

Luke smiled. "I'll always care." He replied before disappearing into the kitchen.

Lorelai smiled and turned back to the table where Charlotte and Rory were smirking at her. "What?" She said.

"Nothing." Charlotte smirked.

"No, nothing at all." Rory grinned.

"Eat your food." She grumbled, knowing they were teasing her.

Charlotte finished her food before anyone else. "Right I'm off. I'll see you later." She smiled walking up to the counter where Jess had appeared and was reading a book.

"Hey." Charlotte smiled.

"Hey." Jess said leaning in to give her a kiss.

"So?" Charlotte said.

"One sec." He said flicking through his book.

"Jess!" Charlotte laughed.

"Relax." He smirked. He glanced down the counter where Luke was. "I'm out." He said before turning to Charlotte. "Let's go."

"Ok." Charlotte grinned and she followed him out of the diner.

"Ladies and gentlemen, an entire conversation in ten words or less." Lorelai joked.

"A true meeting of the minds." Rory smirked.

Just then Tristan walked in and headed towards their table. "Ok, so...uh...please don't hate me, but I already ate breakfast." He said.

"See, nice full sentences." Rory grinned.

"What?" Tristan said confused.

"Don't ruin it." Lorelai grinned.

Charlotte and Rory awoke the next morning to find Lorelai sat in the chair in their room staring at them.

"Geez, how long have you been sitting there?" Charlotte groaned sleepily.

"Not long. An hour...and a half." She said.

"Why?" Rory asked.

"Because."

"Because why?" Rory asked.

"Because today is the last first day of high school you're ever going to have." Lorelai said.

"You're insane." Charlotte said.

"I'm not insane, I'm just sentimental, and you're both grown." Lorelai said.

"We're not grown." Rory rolled her eyes getting out of bed.

"Yes, you are. You're both grown up and soon you'll be going off into the world." Lorelai said dramatically.

"Not yet." Charlotte said.

"But soon. And after you spread those wings and fly away, I won't have the opportunity to give you this." Lorelai said handing them both a piece of paper.

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"It's your bill." Lorelai said.

"Our what?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows wondering why their mom was acting so crazy today.

"Yeah. I've been crunching the numbers, you know, adding up what you've cost me over the years, raising you, clothing you, feeding you and stuff..." Lorelai continued.

"Mmm..." Rory said getting ready for school.

"Yes, I've itemised everything here by years and income ratio. I thought you could factor it into your student loan." Lorelai grinned.

"Oh boy." Rory said.

"One thing that's painfully obvious here is that you've used an extraordinary number of diapers..."

"Or our mother has gone insane." Charlotte commented.

"I'm going to go take a shower." Rory said.

"Really, it's cost a fortune. What were you using all those diapers for?" Lorelai said.

"We were building our 'make Mommy go away' castle." Rory joked.

"Alright, you got home too late last night and I didn't get a chance to talk to you." Lorelai admitted.

"Ah I knew there was a reason you were acting more crazy than usual." Charlotte smirked.

"I got home at ten last night and you were already asleep." Rory pointed out.

"Well, I was trying to watch The Legend of Bagger Vance again." Lorelai shrugged.

"Ok, so what did we miss?" Rory asked.

"Ok. Kirk asked me out." Lorelai admitted.

"Shut up!" Rory laughed.

"Yesterday he came to the inn and asked me to dinner." Lorelai said.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Charlotte grinned.

"Sweet?" Lorelai said confused.

"You should wear your dress with the ponies on it. I bet he likes ponies." Rory teased.

"Girls, I can't go out with Kirk!" She exclaimed.

"Why?" Charlotte asked.

"Uh...may I remind you that I'm dating Luke? And if Luke finds out, I'm pretty sure he would ban Kirk from the diner for life." She said.

"Aw poor Kirk!" Charlotte smirked.

"You never know, Luke might not mind." Rory smirked.

"Girls!" Lorelai exclaimed but then she saw them laughing. "That's not funny." She grumbled.

"Sorry but how else would we get our entertainment?" Charlotte grinned.

"Why don't you just tell Kirk the truth?" Rory said.

"Because Luke and I have only been dating a week. We didn't want it out yet." Lorelai sighed.

"But surely this is different. He would understand you telling Kirk." Rory said.

"I guess...but I feel so bad. Kirk was so...serious asking me." Lorelai said.

"You'll find a way to let him down gently, don't worry." Charlotte said.

"I guess." Lorelai sighed.

"So you have your swearing in ceremony today?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"At three, do not be late." Rory warned.

"I won't be late." Lorelai said.

"Ok, I have something to tell you now." Rory admitted.

"What?"

"It's about Grandma."

"What?" Lorelai groaned dreading the answer.

"She's coming today." Rory admitted.

"No!" Lorelai groaned. She looked at Charlotte.

"Hey, don't look at me. She invited her." Charlotte said gesturing to Rory.

"Mom, I'm sorry. She found out about it, she called...I couldn't keep it from her." Rory said. "She's my grandmother."

"So?"

"You'll be sitting there listening to the ceremony, you hardly have to talk at all. Plus you'll have Charlotte with you." Rory said. "Please mom!"

"Urgh fine! But you owe me!" Lorelai warned.

"Sure. I'm going to take a shower. See you later." Rory said going off to the bathroom.

Lorelai pouted at Charlotte. "You could have stopped her."

"How? It's Rory." Charlotte said. "Look, I'm not that keen on seeing Grandma but it means a lot to Rory so let's just try and get through it without any bad words exchanged. For Rory's sake."

"When did you get so grown up?" Lorelai pouted.

"Guess it comes from going to a private school." Charlotte joked.