Road Trip
December 19, 2000

Teaser

Rory was buried deep in the book she was reading. Not schoolwork - that had been finished hours ago, leaving her free on a sunny weekend afternoon to sit on the porch and read a book so thick and heavy she had to rest it against the porch railing.

A glass of iced tea slid toward her and she looked up, distracted and wide-eyed. Then she smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

"Thought you could use some refreshment," Lorelai said, taking a deep breath. "Spring."

"Almost."

"You should go outside and play."

Rory just looked at her.

"Fine, maybe I should go outside and play," Lorelai remarked, but she didn't move. A moment later, something fell out of the tree just beyond the porch. At first she thought it was a leaf knocked loose by the wind, but she and Rory saw at the same time that it was a small bird, which righted itself and stood on the ground, flapping its wings like it didn't know how to use them.

Rory just looked at Lorelai. She wanted to rush over and help it, but she knew if she touched it, the other birds would shun it because it smelled human.

"How can they do that?" Rory asked, watching the bird with compassion. "Just throw their own child out of the nest without instructions and expect it to be able to fly."

"They're birds," Lorelai answered, but they were both watching and rallying for the baby bird. "There comes a time when you have to strike out on your own. See what you can do for yourself. And if you fall, you fall, but if you fly..." She smiled. Flying was good.

After a moment, the bird got it figured out. Its wings moved and suddenly began to pick up air. It was flying.

Rory watched it until it swooped out of view, then went back to her book. Lorelai remained on the porch, a smile still on her face, listening to the birds above chirp. It was spring.

_ _ _
1.

The lobby of the inn looked as though it had been invaded. There was no room for the guests to even try to walk, which they probably wouldn't have anyway. It was far too frightening. The harpist was playing "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Lorelai was afraid Michel was going to jump up and start singing the Marsellaise like in "Casablanca."

Military uniforms were thrown everywhere, over chairs and on tables and, oh, heavens, there was one on the chandelier. Not to mention the troop of GI Joes marching across the floor, some of them flopped over in the heat of battle. And boxes. Boxes were everywhere.

Rory walked into the inn and went straight to her mother as though she was used to the chaos. "Hi, Mom. What's up?"

"Nothing a nuclear bomb couldn't fix," Lorelai responded brightly.

"How was school?"

"Mom, it's nine o'clock. No kilt. Obviously, there was no school."

"What are they thinking, cancelling school without telling me," Lorelai said. "Shouldn't you be out getting into trouble?"

"Probably. Maybe later," Rory replied. "Looks like you could use some help here. What's going on, anyway?"

"The reunion of the original WWI flyers."

"Looks like they're going all-out." Rory took a seat on the floor and tried to make the fallen GI Joes stand back up. They continued to flop over dead.

"All out doesn't even begin to describe the degree of psychotic detail involved in this event." Lorelai sighed, wondering why she'd agreed to do this in the first place. Then she remembered: old guys with lots of grandchildren who would take up lots of rooms in the inn, bringing in lots of profit.

"I know what you need," Rory said.

"My special order extravaganza centerpiece authentic WWI biplane to arrive by FedEx this morning?"

"Better than that."

"Better than that?" Lorelai asked. "You mean like having my very favorite daughter here offering to get me a cup of coffee from the kitchen?"

"Exactly like that," Rory responded, getting up from the graveyard of fallen GI Joes and heading toward the kitchen. She paused when she saw a pair of legs sticking out from behind the inn's main counter. She leaned over until she could see Michel, sitting underneath, the telephone clutched in his hand. "What're you doing down there?"

"I am inspecting the dust bunnies, what does it look like?" Michel asked, picking himself up and dusting microscopic dust particles from the pants of his suit. He stood behind the counter and surveyed the mess.

"You forgot the telephone," Rory pointed out and pushed open the door to the kitchen as Michel dived back under the counter, into his comfy hiding place to retrieve the telephone. It began to ring as he set it on the counter, watching another group of strapping young men in brown shorts carried in another impossible amount of boxes.

"No, no, you've got it all wrong," Lorelai told them. "The bombs need to go in the big conference room." One of the UPS men started off in that direction. The next one walked up for her approval. She looked inside the box. "Bandages and medical supplies go in the grand ballroom." The UPS man continued to stand there. "Follow him," she suggested, and he started after the first UPS man. "Whoever came up with the idea for those brown shorts should be a saint."

"And whoever thought up the idea for this party should be shot at sunset," Michel added, standing next to her, holding the cordless telephone. "It's for you."

"Why do I have the feeling this is not going to be good news?" Lorelai asked, taking the phone. "Oh, because you're smiling."

"I am not," Michel informed her. "I am wincing because I am standing on the little man with the gun."

"Hey, leave GI Joe alone!" Lorelai protested, turning her attention to the telephone. "This is Lorelai Gilmore," she said, picking up the poor doll now crippled by Michel's expensive loafer.

_ _ _
in the kitchen

"Hi Sookie," Rory said, walking over to the coffee pot.

"Mmm! Try this!" Sookie said, ambushing Rory with an outthrust wooden spoon. Rory replaced the coffee pot without spilling and turned to accept the nibble.

"It's good," Rory said, thinking a moment. "What is it?"

"Mustard sauce," Sookie said. "For the party tonight. I was thinking, mustard gas...mustard sauce."

"Good call," Rory agreed. At that moment, Sookie took a misstep and stumbled forward, trying to save herself from falling by throwing her weight backward, where she flailed her arms into the pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. She was going to go down, but Rory acted quickly, grabbing the cook's hand to try to steady her. After a second, the ringing of the pans stopped as they ceased their disturbed swinging.

"Close one," Sookie said to Rory, who smiled at her, calmly picking up the cup of coffee she'd poured for her mother and going back into the lobby.

Lorelai was sitting in a chair, telephone in her hand, staring blankly. Rory walked over to her and put the coffee in her hand, frowning as she watched her mother drain the cup and hand it back to her without a word. Rory pulled up a chair. "What happened?"

Lorelai turned to look at her. "It's not coming."

"What's not coming? The WWI flyers? They're going to miss their own party?"

Lorelai shook her head. "The plane centerpiece thingy. It didn't make FedEx. It's not going to be here."

"The plane centerpiece thingy was important?" Rory guessed.

Lorelai nodded sadly. "They weren't sold on the inn or its charms or anything, but then when I mentioned we could have a theme and decorations they started to come around and then when I suggested the plane centerpiece thingy, they started to smile and talked about their grandchildren and how proud they were to have served this country...it was the plane centerpiece thingy that made them decide on us. They're going to be so disappointed. And do you know what it's going to be like to see their wrinkled papery little faces when they're disappointed because there's no plane centerpiece thingy? It's going to be terrible. I might cry. Michel might cry."

"That would be terrible," Rory commiserated.

"I will not cry," Michel interjected.

"Come on, you said you wanted to take the plane centerpiece thingy home, that it would look nice in your living room."

"Michel has a living room?" Rory asked.

"We have a living room," Lorelai told her.

"I just never thought of Michel as having a living room before," Rory noted. She looked at her mother. "Maybe you need some more coffee."

"All the coffee in the Starbucks factory won't help," Lorelai said and Rory just looked at her. There was no problem that couldn't be solved by caffeine, as far as Lorelai was concerned.

"Where's it coming from?" Rory asked. "Maybe we could go get it."

"They're in Washington DC, baby," Lorelai said. "There's no way we could drive down there and back in time."

"Why not? You said you needed it. We could do what FedEx couldn't," Rory said.

"Wow, that has the ring of the impossible about it," Lorelai pointed out. "I'm going to get some more coffee." She took the cup from Rory's hand, exchanging it for the car keys. "You go put some gas in the car and pick up some road trip food and we'll be on our way."

"What about all this?" Michel asked, sneering toward the uniforms, the bombs, and the GI Joes.

"You should have no trouble setting things up," Lorelai told him. "Sookie can help."

"That woman is a walking time bomb," Michel said darkly.

"Then it's all settled," Lorelai said, pushing her way into the kitchen.

_ _ _

Rory walked into the cafe. "Hi, Luke," she said.

He looked her over. "Did you know the dye used to create the color red contains environmental contaminants that seep into the groundwater and kill worms we need to aerate the soil?" he asked.

"Nope, didn't know that," Rory replied, pulling down the sleeves of the red sweater she was wearing. "Can I get two cups of coffee and a stash of sandwiches to go?"

"How many sandwiches are in a stash, again?" Luke inquired.

Rory shrugged. "Five or six?"

"Five or six," Luke grumbled. "You feeding an army or something?"

"Something," Rory replied, playing with the sugar packets on the counter until Luke returned with a brown paper bag and two tall cups of coffee. "Mom and I are going to DC to pick up a centerpiece thing."

"When are you going?" Luke asked.

"Today," Rory replied. "Why? You gonna miss us? We'll be back in time for ice cream tonight."

"No, I could really use a ride into DC," Luke replied.

"Why?" Rory asked.

"Because cars caused the death of the ozone layer and enslave us to countries that control oil and would like to see us dead," Luke told her. Rory just looked at him. "My truck died a final and lingering death." She nodded, this time understanding.

"No, why DC?" Rory asked.

"I need to get some dishes."

"K-Mart has dishes."

"These are special dishes," Luke told her.

"I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind if you came with us," Rory said, glancing around.

"Good," said Luke, pulling off the apron he was wearing to protect his grungy jeans and flannel shirt. He took the key out of the cash register and slipped it into his pocket, following Rory out of the cafe, where he flipped the sign to "CLOSED" and locked the door behind them.

"You're closing? But you never close," Rory said.

"Joy of being a small-business owner. Make your own hours," Luke told her gruffly.

"But then where will the mayor and the police chief get their grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch?" Rory asked.

"Cholesterol. Better for 'em if they don't eat that stuff anyway."

"We're talking about bachelors, Luke. They'll starve if they don't have a place to get a meal."

"I'm a bachelor," Luke pointed out. Rory raised her eyebrows. "All right, kid, you win." He twisted the key back in the lock and flipped the sign back to "Open." Then he pulled the door closed and started down the street.

"You're just going to leave it?"

"Miss Patty'll keep an eye on things, won't you?" Luke said as they passed the dance teacher who was standing in the doorway to her studio puffing on a cigarette.

"Miss Patty keeps an eye on everything," the woman told him. Luke shot Rory an "I told you so" look and they continued walking.

_ _ _

Lorelai was on the phone behind the counter of the inn, watching as Michel organized military uniforms by size, checking them off the invoice with a flourish. "It's an emergency --"

"Just as it was an emergency when you came to us for the loan for Rory's schooling," Emily Gilmore told her daughter. "I don't see what's so urgent that you have to postpone --"

"I didn't say I was going to postpone it, just that we might be a little late, is all."

"Oh, I'll be sure to tell the cook that you'll arrive 'a little late.' Any idea where that falls on the clock?" Emily asked.

Lorelai contemplated the ends of her hair, wondering how they would taste. Her coffee cup was empty. Her mother didn't even have to work to make her crazy. "I don't know," Lorelai said as calmly as she could. "Rory and I are going to DC to pick something up, so if there's traffic --"

"Washington DC?" Emily inquired.

"No, Mom, Springfield, DC." Lorelai said.

"That's hours from here."

"Which is why I called to let you know we might be late for dinner," Lorelai repeated.

"I'm coming with you," Emily declared.

"No, you're not."

"I've been meaning to go down there to pick up some paperwork for the DAR, and the transmission on the Mercedes has been a bit slippy."

"Paperwork for the DAR?" Lorelai asked, wishing she'd heard wrong and knowing she hadn't.

"Why yes, Lorelai, you know that your great-great-great grandfather was a patriot of this country."

"There's a DAR branch in Hartford," Lorelai pointed out. "Oh, my god, I can't believe I just said that. I can't believe I knew that. What is wrong with me?"

"This is special paperwork."

"And they don't have a special envelope and a special stamp to send you the special paperwork?" Lorelai inquired.

"I'll expect you in 30 minutes," Emily said and hung up.

"Yeah, well this better count as a dinner!" Lorelai yelled, but of course she was yelling into a dial tone, but it made her feel better. At least until she turned and saw the inn's part time employees who were helping to organize the party were all staring at her. A moment later, it didn't matter because her beautiful daughter was walking in with the car keys in her hand and wonderful, wonderful coffee in her other hand.

"Luke, what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked.

"Observing the effects of overcaffeination in crazy women," he retorted.

"Mom, Luke's coming with us," Rory said.

"Luke can't come with us. Your grandmother's coming with us."

"Grandma's coming? Cool," Rory said.

"No, not cool. Not cool at all. My nice road trip day with my daughter is turning into a living hell. Why do you need to go?" Lorelai demanded of Luke.

"He needs dishes," Rory replied.

"Has the entire post office gone out of business?" Lorelai asked. "Will I now be driving to a little post office box in Arizona to personally deliver my credit card payment?"

"They're special dishes," Rory explained.

"Just like the special paperwork," Lorelai added. "You can't come with us."

"Why not?" Luke demanded.

"Because my mother sent herself an engraved invitation, didn't you hear me?" Lorelai asked.

"Jeep seats four," Luke said. "Carpooling. Good for the air and the trees."

"Not to mention the oil cartels who want us dead," Rory added with a special smile for Luke.

"What?" asked Lorelai, but Luke was smiling at Rory. "Okay, fine, we'll go. We'll all go. Michel, you want to come? You could ride on the handlebars."

"This is an Armani suit. It will go nowhere near any handlebars," Michel told her.

"That's a relief," Lorelai said. "I will have my cell phone turned on if you need anything. Like a personality transplant."

"Goodbye," Michel said in his snotty french accent that made it sound like he was saying a very insulting, bad word.

"He's not really French," Luke snarked as he climbed into the back of the Jeep.

"What do you know about it, Mr. Never Left Stars Hollow?" Lorelai sniped back.

"Mom," Rory warned.

"Wait, do I need a passport for this trip?" Luke inquired.

"Yeah. You do. The special dishes passport," Lorelai informed him. "The I hope my mother doesn't kill you passport." She turned her head to address him as she pulled out into traffic. "The my mother thinks for some strange reason that we're dating passport."

Luke frowned at that. "How about the look where you're going passport?" he suggested as a car jammed on its brakes to avoid hitting them.

"That too," said Lorelai, pouting and giving in to looking as miserable as she felt.

_ _ _
2.

"Rory, go get your grandmother. Try to convince her not to come. Pretend I've got tuberculosis," Lorelai suggested, faking a cough.

Rory rolled her eyes and got out of the jeep, going up to the door of her grandparents' house and ringing the doorbell. Lorelai watched her go and then eyed Luke in the rearview mirror.

"What?" he demanded.

"Special dishes? Please."

"They're made without lead-based clay or paint. Handcrafted by men and women on the welfare to work program. Do you know what happens to your packages when you put them in the mail?"

"The nice man in the white truck takes them away?" Lorelai guessed.

"If you're lucky. But more often, it gets thrown in the bottom of some bin where it gets stomped on and thrown into the snow."

"And even though they're magical dishes, they're still subject to breakage."

"We're all subject to breakage, Lorelai," he told her.

She frowned and took a swig of her coffee, because there wasn't really a comeback for that one. "You're a downer," she informed him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I wonder what's taking so long."

"I'm pretty sure she hasn't been sold into white slavery."

"This is my mother we're talking about."

"You could go in and get her."

"Rory can take care of herself," Lorelai decided, eyeing the door anxiously, wrapping both hands around her cup of coffee which was dangerously approaching empty.

_ _ _

"Rory. How good of you to come. Where's Lorelai?" Emily asked.

"She's waiting in the car. Sorry we're late," Rory said. "There was traffic."

"Isn't there always," Emily intoned. "But never mind, because it gave me time to have this prepared for us." She stepped into the dining room and reached for an enormous picnic basket on the table. "Help me with this, Rory."

Rory moved to help her grandmother pick up the basket. "Sure is heavy," she said.

"We can't go without provisions," Emily told her. The two of them managed to maneuver the basket to the door, where Emily picked up a straw sunhat and a large pair of movie-star sunglasses. Rory just looked at her. "You're never too young to start caring for your skin," Emily informed her, plucking another hat from the hat rack. "Here, put this on."

Rory did as she was told, but with a bit of an amused look as she placed the wide-brimmed hat on her head. She understood why her mother didn't get along with her grandparents, but sometimes it was fun to go to their house. They had all kinds of funny hats and things and even though she was sixteen, it was sort of fun to play dress-up every now and then. And dress-up was something she thought her mother would have an appreciation for. Emily reached over to tie the floppy brimmed hat underneath Rory's chin and the two of them picked up the picnic basket and went outside.

_ _ _

"What is that?" Luke cried at the sight of the two women hauling the large basket between them.

"I think it's Yogi Bear and Godzilla's lunchbox," Lorelai said.

Luke jumped out of the jeep to help, easily taking the basket from Rory and Emily and putting it into the back of the jeep, where it put considerable strain on the shocks. "You realize what this is going to do to your gas mileage," he said to Emily.

"Lorelai, there's a strange man trying to steal our lunch," Emily called, with a glare at Luke.

"Mom, you remember Luke from Rory's birthday party," Lorelai said as the three of them approached the car. She almost had to smile to see the way her mother looked at Luke, with his five o'clock shadow and backwards baseball cap. "Rory, what's on your head?"

"It's a sunhat. Grandma gave it to me."

"This is a jeep, not a covered wagon," Lorelai pointed out.

"Rory has beautiful skin. I would want her to get suntanned or freckled like some people I could name," Emily said.

"Luke, could you hand me the baby oil? I forgot to slather it on so I could work on my leather-faced sunburn." Lorelai replied. Rory started to get into the front seat, leaving Emily and Luke staring at each other, equally horrified.

"This will never do," Emily said. "Rory, let me sit in the front seat."

Rory started to get out of the car and Lorelai grabbed her arm. "Protect me," she requested.

"For heaven's sake, Lorelai. I'm your mother. I taught you to drive. Rory."

"Mother, you had your driver teach me to drive," Lorelai pointed out. "Rory, stay."

"It's okay, Mom," Rory said, getting out and getting back in in the back seat.

Lorelai moaned and reached for her coffee cup, which was empty. Luke saw the desperate act. "Why don't you sit with your granddaughter, Mrs. Gilmore?" he suggested, and watched the amazement on Emily's face as he formed a complete sentence.

"Thank you, Duke," Emily said.

"Mom, turn up the hearing aid. Luke. His name is Luke," Lorelai called as Emily got into the back seat next to Rory.

Emily settled herself. "Your mother's manners were always atrocious. I always tried to do something about them, but she's always been headstrong."

Luke looked to Lorelai, almost for permission, before he climbed into the front seat. She punched the gas and jerked the Jeep out of the driveway.

_ _ _

Things didn't look so good at the inn. Michel was being pulled in all directions, trying to steer incoming guests around the stacks of boxes and uniforms and party things and deal with messengers at the same time as checking guests in. The telephone would not stop ringing.

"One moment," said Michel, holding up a finger to the guest standing before the counter, as he grabbed the telephone.

"Just a moment," he said to the person on the other end of the line, as one of the other lines continued to ring.

The guest standing at the counter turned to his wife. "I thought we came here to get away from the chaos," he said.

"Just a moment," Michel said to another person on the telephone, not missing the guest's comment. "We are momentarily short-handed, m'sieur," he said. "Please, sign here."

The guests exchanged a look. "Maybe we should go someplace quieter," the wife suggested. She and her husband turned and began to thread their way out of the inn.

"Wait! Come back! We will be quiet! Like little mice! Hey!" Michel yelled. But the guests were gone. "Yes," he said into the phone, but the line was dead. He glanced up to notice a man in a bakery uniform juggling a gigantic pink bakery box. "Kitchen deliveries go in the back," Michel insisted.

"Your problem now," the delivery man said, depositing the enormous box directly in front of the counter.

"Sookie!" Michel yelled as a pair of small boys began to hurl replica WWI grenades at each other from the neatly stacked foxhole of them in the living room. One of them hit the harpist in the head and she stopped playing.

"Hey!" the harpist yelled, going after one of the boys.

"Help!" Michel screamed. "Help! Help!"

"What's going on?" Sookie demanded, as much as Sookie ever demanded anything, as she emerged from the kitchen. "Hey, it's here!" She grinned. "This needs to go into the grand ballroom. Are the tables set up yet?"

"No, the tables are not set up yet. The telephone is ringing, the decorator is not here, the harpist is killing children of guests and the Gilmore child abducted her mother leaving me here all alone!" Michel said, beginning to tremble as the phone screeched ring after ring. "I do not need coffee, I need help!" Michel informed her.

Sookie just looked at him. "There's no reason to yell," she said, looking intimidated. "There's never any reason to yell. I'm just going to go...cook." She backed out of the room into the kitchen, letting the door close solidly behind her.

"You. Over here. Now," Michel insisted. The harpist just looked at him and began strumming a death march. "Yes. You. Answer this."

"I'm a harp player. Not a receptionist," the harpist sniped.

"I will help you carry your harp to and from your car."

"Every day for a month?" she negotiated.

"Oui, oui, every day for a month," Michel gave in.

"Now you're talking," said the harpist, grabbing the phones like a pro.

_ _ _

"You could slow down," Emily leaned forward to suggest to Lorelai.

"We're already running late, thanks to the traffic and the picnic basket and the little house on the prairie hats," Lorelai said.

"You're the one who insisted on stopping at that rest area," Emily pointed out.

"It would be a whole lot less pleasant in here if I hadn't," Lorelai informed her.

"If you wouldn't drink so much coffee," Luke began.

"Lay. Off. The. Coffee," Lorelai said.

"It is a fact, Lorelai," Emily said. "Drinking coffee is --"

"I'm sorry, when did the volume of my pee become good in the car conversation?" Lorelai demanded, revving the engine and pressing harder on the gas.

"Lorelai, please."

"Speeding releases hydrocarbons into the atmosphere --" Luke began, but was silenced by Lorelai's look.

"Let's play a game," Rory's small voice came from the backseat. Lorelai glanced at her child in the mirror and saw her looking small and unhappy.

"Yes. A game. Good idea," Lorelai backed her up. Anything to keep them busy so she could drive.

_ _ _

Sookie was sitting on a stool in the kitchen when the grocery man walked in. She wasn't cooking, so she didn't look happy. "I got a deal on out-of-season strawberries. Handpicked," he said.

Sookie barely even looked up.

"did you hurt yourself?" he asked, then looked around. "Did someone die? Is the inn closing?"

Sookie shook her head, and the grocery man pulled up another stool.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Michel yelled at me," Sookie said.

"Want me to get him for you?" the grocery man asked.

"Wouldn't do any good," Sookie said. "Lorelai would never let him yell at me."

"She's not here?" the grocery man asked.

"She had to go pick something up," Sookie said, catching the grocery man's worried look. "She'll be back." He nodded. "You said you had strawberries?"

"You've got to see these, Sookie," he told her and withdrew a little green plastic carton from his bag. Her eyes widened and she took one, biting off a piece. Then she choked, her face going sour. "They're not ripe!" she said.

"That's not possible," he said.

"Look for yourself!" she cried, shoving the other half of the strawberry in his face. "Out of season strawberries. See what you get?"

"I only get the highest quality. You know that."

"Do I hear voices in here?" Michel asked, poking his head into the kitchen.

"No. We left. Goodbye," Sookie said.

"Ah. Grocery man. I need your help." Michel marched over to him, separating the grocery man from his bag of supplies he'd brought and forcing him into the lobby.

Sookie started after them, but then a strange sound came from the stove. She turned just in time to witness the mixture in the pot bubble up and explode, sending mustard spray across the room. "It's never done that before," she said, going to tend her pot.

_ _ _

"Q. Quality Inn sign," Rory called.

"Quality, hah. Just look at that sign," Lorelai said. "Our sign is much prettier."

"Arizona," Luke called.

"Where?" Emily demanded.

"In front of that blue car," Luke said. "That's 35."

"You're really good at this game," Rory told him.

"R. Interstate sign," Luke replied, as though to prove her point.

"Will you give her a chance?" Emily asked.

"Are you saying I should let Rory win?" Luke demanded. Emily gave him an indignant look, which suggested that was exactly what she'd been saying.

"It's okay," Rory said. "Playing's more fun than winning. T, by the way. Tire shop."

"She certainly didn't get that attitude from me," Emily said. "Are we there yet?" Emily leaned forward to ask.

"No, and stop looking out my window," Lorelai replied, setting herself to giggling.

"Well then can we stop to eat lunch?" Emily inquired. "It's half past twelve and I --"

"Did we miss feeding time for the zoo?" Lorelai asked.

"That was uncalled for," Emily said. "It's important to eat at regular times each day. Just because you're a hooligan who --"

"She just called you a hooligan," Luke said.

"I heard her. I bet she thinks you're a hooligan, too," Lorelai said with a grin for him. He almost smiled back. "Look at you," she said.

"Excuse me? We were discussing lunch before you started flirting," Emily said.

"I don't flirt," Luke snorted.

Emily glanced at Rory, who nodded, backing her up.

"We'll eat when we get there," Lorelai said. "It's only another 20 miles. Shouldn't take too long..."

As she said it, they rounded a bend in the road, exposing the fact that there was a long line of stopped cars. "Or we could just stop here," Lorelai amended, bringing the car to a stop.

"Minnesota," Luke noticed.

"Mom, is that red light supposed to be on?" Rory asked.

"What red light?" Lorelai asked, and Rory leaned up over her shoulder to point. "You're going to put my eye out with that hat."

"Sorry," Rory said, undoing the knot and setting it in the back seat. "That red light," she pointed.

"Hm, no," Lorelai said. "But I'm sure it's nothing."

"What's nothing?" Emily asked, suddenly sounding concerned, as though Rory had pointed out a bomb and timer device underneath the car. "If it's a red light, maybe we should check it out."

"That's right, I forgot you used to be a mechanic," Lorelai said to her mother.

Luke leaned in close to Lorelai, drawing a curious look from her. He glanced at her as though to say, I'm just checking the light. "It's nothing," he diagnosed.

"Would anyone else who doesn't own a car and doesn't drive like to weigh in?" Lorelai asked.

"I can drive," Rory replied with a shrug, disqualifying herself.

"That's my girl," Lorelai said. They inched forward. No one said anything. Lorelai flipped on the radio, swirling through static until she found a song she liked and started to hum along to it.

"You're humming," Emily said.

"You have a problem with humming?" Lorelai demanded, but she stopped. "I suppose you don't like the music, either."

"It's fine, mom," said Rory, ever the peacemaker.

"And they're not exploiting poor drummakers in Indonesia?" Lorelai looked to Luke.

"Not as far as I know," he told her.

"Good," Lorelai said, breaking into a smile. The car inched forward again. She started doing a little dance in her seat. Suddenly the road in front of them opened up and Lorelai said, "Now we're going places!"

She shifted gears and pushed on the gas, but the engine sputtered and died.

"It's not supposed to do that," Emily remarked.

Lorelai frowned and cranked the engine again.

It's definitely not supposed to do that!" Luke cried, jumping out of his seat and pulling off his flannel overshirt to beat back the flames that had begun to dance around the edges of the hood.

Lorelai scrambled to get out of the car. "Can I help?" she asked.

"It's out," Luke told her.

"Any idea what caused it?" she asked.

He sniffed. "When's the last time you put oil in this thing?" he asked.

Lorelai shrugged and he just looked at her. "I'm sure it could be worse," she offered.

"Oh, Lorelai --" Emily cooed from the backseat.

"Just a minute, Mom," she said, and turned back to Luke. "What are you trying to say?"

"Lorelai --"

"In a minute!"

"MOM!" Rory yelled and Lorelai looked up. Her daughter and Emily had gotten out of the car. Lorelai focused behind them and saw an SUV speeding around the bend, headed directly for the poor, disabled Jeep.

Luke grabbed Lorelai's arm and the two of them jumped onto the shoulder of the road seconds before the SUV, brakes screaming, crashed into the car, smashing the back end and flipping it around before it came to a stop.

_ _ _

3.

They stood there, astounded, staring. "I can not believe that just happened," Lorelai said.

"I can't believe he didn't even stop," Rory said, a small tremor in her voice.

"I can," said Luke, moving to inspect the damage to the back end of the Jeep.

"I got their license plate number," Emily said. "Lorelai, give me your cell phone. I am calling the police right now. And then I'm calling the auto club to get us out of this mess." She held out her hand insistently. "Lorelai, please. This is no time to play games."

"I'm not playing games, Mom, I don't have a phone," Lorelai said.

"Who goes on a long drive without a cellular phone?" Emily demanded.

"You, apparently," Lorelai muttered.

"Don't think I didn't hear that," Emily said, turning to Luke.

He barely looked at her. "Radiation. Brain cancer."

"Of course," Emily said, turning away from them. "I should have known. This is just perfect."

"Stop fighting!" Rory cried, surprising them all. "Nobody got hurt! It's not like something bad happened. The car just broke down."

"Oh, baby," Lorelai said, reaching for Rory, who pulled away.

"You're the one who started this," Rory said to her mother. "I don't know why you have to be so mean to each other all the time."

Lorelai looked unbearably sad and said nothing. Emily looked equally guilty. Luke looked uncomfortable, as though realizing for the first time that he was surrounded by women. Crazy ones. And maybe that wasn't the best place for him to be.

"Rory, you know that when your grandma and I fight, it's because we have a long history. And it doesn't mean that we always mean it. This is just the way we are," Lorelai said.

"I don't want it to be the way things are," Rory told her.

Lorelai looked as though she knew she was treading on broken glass here, and nodded, closing her mouth and walking around to the back of the car. "Need some help?" she asked Luke.

"Put it in neutral. We can push it to the shoulder before more cars come," Luke told her. Lorelai went to do what he said and Luke eyed Emily. "You. Help me."

"I couldn't possibly --"

Luke grabbed Emily's hands and planted them on the back end of the car, showing her how to push. He gave the Jeep a shove, watching Emily's hands slip from the back of the car. Luke sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Car's coming!" Rory called a warning.

Luke looked at Emily warningly. "Look, lady, you're built like a horse and I know you can do this --"

"Young man!" Emily said, offended.

"Push the damn car!" Luke ordered, and Emily did. With Luke's help, they shoved it off the road onto the shoulder. He looked at her. "You okay?"

Emily nodded, slightly winded, but smiling.

"You okay, Grandma?" Rory asked.

"He said I was built like a horse," Emily said, but her tone was more amused than offended now.

"You did a good job," Rory said.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Rory," Emily said.

"I just get so tired of all the fighting all the time," Rory said. "I know Mom thinks she's being clever, but ..."

"She does come up with a turn of phrase every now and then, doesn't she," Emily admitted. "I wonder where she gets that from."

"I wonder," grunted Luke, brushing past them to check under the hood.

_ _ _

The Inn was running with military precision under the watchful eye of General Michel. The grocery man dutifully carried boxes into the ballroom from the lobby, clearing it out. There was already room for the guests to walk. And the guests were beginning to arrive to check in for that evening's event.

The harpist was checking them in with precision. They stood in an absolutely straight line, and when one of them accidentally moved out of formation, it took only one glare from the harpist-turned-desk clerk to bring that person back to attention.

"What is that wonderful smell?" one of the arriving guests asked Michel, who was directing traffic.

He sniffed the air haughtily. "I believe it is bread."

"You bake your own bread?" asked the guest.

"No, I do not personally bake bread," Michel told her. "However the cook --"

The guest didn't care. "They bake their own bread!" she told her husband excitedly, seizing his arm. "I love this place already!" They went to join the tidy check-in line and Michel surveyed the room. He almost had to smile to himself at how well things were going.

_ _ _

Lorelai leaned over Luke, who was leaning over the engine. "What do you see?" she asked him.

He raised his head and looked at her. All he really saw was her. And he didn't want to have to admit it, but since he was all about honesty, he did. "I don't know a damn thing about car repair," he told her. "I run a cafe. What do I know about engines?" He took a step back, wiping his engine-greasy hands on his jeans. "I suppose that makes you think less of me."

"You make the most wonderful coffee in the world. Why would I expect you to be an auto mechanic?" Lorelai asked, leaning over the engine.

"You really think my coffee is good?" Luke asked.

But Lorelai didn't seem to hear him, because she was too busy exclaiming "Ah-ha!" She looked at Luke, who didn't seem impressed when she held up what looked like a flopping dead piece of plastic. "Ah-ha!" she repeated, more loudly, for effect, holding the plastic thing over her head triumphantly.

"Ah-ha!" Lorelai repeated insistently.

"I think mom found something," Rory said.

"What is that?" Emily asked.

"I think it's the creature from the deep," Rory said.

"It does look rather like an eel," Emily admitted. "Have you ever had eel?"

"To eat?" asked Rory, shaking her head.

"Our cook, Florence, makes wonderful roast eel. We'll have it next Friday," Emily said.

"Eew," Lorelai said pointedly. "But, ah-ha!"

"I'm guessing this is what's wrong with the car," Rory said, taking the plastic from her mother and playing with it, shaping it into a circle, placing the broken ends together. It was some kind of belt. "All we need is some glue and we can put it back on."

"I suppose you're opposed to glue?" Lorelai asked Luke, who merely nodded without saying a word. "Good, cause we don't have any."

"There has to be some way to fix this," Emily said, indicating the belt, because she certainly wasn't going to touch it.

"We can use some chewing gum and some dental floss. Oh, why isn't MacGuyver here to save us?" Lorelai intoned.

"There's no need to get sarcastic," Emily told her.

"Oh, there is every need," Lorelai said.

"Anyway, if you had a cellular phone like a civilized person, we could call your friend MacGuyver and he could call the Auto Club," Emily said.

Rory snickered. Lorelai tried to hold back a laugh, but failed. After a second, even Luke was laughing, and Luke never even smiled, let alone laughed. "Oh, fine, the joke's on me," Emily said, but not badly-spirited. Even a little jolly.

After a moment, the laughter subsided. Luke stared at the scarf tied onto Emily's hat. "That silk?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you," Emily said as Luke walked toward her. She took several steps backward when he got too close, but he kept coming. "Lorelai, your strange friend is attacking me!"

"Hold still!" Luke ordered, planting his hands on Emily's shoulders. She looked too afraid to move. Luke unknotted the scarf and whipped it from her hat. "Let me see that," he told Rory, who handed him the broken engine belt. He tied a knot in the scarf and compared it to the belt. The size of the loop was exactly the same.

"Exploitation of silkworms?" Lorelai asked him when he handed the scarf to her.

"Natural fibers. Tensile strength. Able to withstand heat," Luke told her.

"You Tarzan. Me Jane. Jane no understand Tarzan jungle speak," Lorelai said.

"I think he's saying you can use it to replace the belt in the engine," Rory said.

"Smart kid," Luke commented darkly.

"No!" cried Emily. "That's an Hermes original."

"Do you want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere and be eaten by bears, Mom?" Lorelai demanded.

"Don't be silly. There aren't any bears. This is the interstate," Emily said.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at Emily, took the scarf from Luke, and moved to try to get the scarf-belt where it belonged.

_ _ _

"Finally!" said Michel at the sight of the part-time interior decorator who also sold housewares at the local department store. She was the one who was going to transform the boxes of bandages, bombs and GI Joe dolls into a theme party in the ballroom. "Where have you been?"

The woman looked at him like he was insane. "Where's Lorelai?"

"She had a small emergency," Michel said. "I will help you."

"No, you won't," said the decorator. "Where are my supplies?"

"In the ballroom, like you asked," the grocery man arrived to report. "All of them." He turned to Michel. "Look, can I go now? I said I was coming here to make a delivery and that was hours ago."

"Dismissed," Michel said. The grocery man left, the decorator went into the ballroom, and Michel returned to his post at the front desk, where all the guests had been checked in and the harpist was paging through his copy of House Beautiful. "That is my chair," he said.

"You're welcome," the harpist said sharply, vacating his chair and stomping away. She went past her harp toward the door.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"Home. My shift's over. Get that for me, will you?" she fluttered a hand toward the harp. Michel sighed, remembering their bargain, and got back up from his chair.

_ _ _

"All fixed," Lorelai said, leaning back with a satisfied look. "There is nothing like manual labor to make a girl feel like she's really accomplished something." She smiled down at the engine, then shared the look with Luke. There were streaks of grease all over her face, and her hands were stained black.

"You've got a little --" he said.

Lorelai reached up to try to brush it away, but only made matters worse because her hands were so dirty.

"Here," Luke said, pulling a packet of tissues out of his pocket.

"What is that?" Lorelai demanded.

Luke looked at it, then at her as though she'd gone insane. Oh, wait, what was he thinking. This was Lorelai Gilmore. "Tissues," he said gruffly.

"You carry a packet of tissues in your pocket?" Lorelai demanded. "Are you secretly my grandmother?"

"You never know when you might need tissues," Luke said seriously, moving in closer to dab Lorelai's face with it.

She jerked back. "Is that thing clean?"

"Your face is covered with motor oil. You think that's clean?" Luke asked her, moving in again. They were standing very close and Lorelai noticed he had a very odd look on his face. Almost as though he were in pain. More so than usual. He touched her very gently with the tissue.

"Maybe I'd better do that," Lorelai suggested softly.

"Here." Luke said, bunching it up and shoving it into her dirty hand. He stomped away and Lorelai gave him a long, hard look before she shut the hood of the car and started cleaning herself up.

"Young man, what are you doing with that?" Emily cried as Luke pulled the picnic basket from the back of the jeep and set it on the ground. "That is an antique! Watch where you set it."

"Wood. Came from nature. Can't hurt it," Luke said gruffly as he carelessly put the basket down in the grass off the shoulder of the road and started digging for the spare tire.

"Lorelai, cats groom themselves that way," Emily said, catching her daughter licking the tissue in her hand and then rubbing her face with it. "I have Evian." She opened the picnic basket and started rummaging through it until she found a small bottle of water, which she opened using a bottle opener.

"Need any help?" Rory asked Luke, who had the spare tire and the jack and was now confronted with how to remove the tire when the bent back bumper was jammed into the tire. He looked at her. "We could use a lever," she suggested. Luke nodded, and Rory found a piece of wood, which they wedged under the bumper. With the two of them pulling, the bumper popped off in no time, clattering to the paved shoulder.

"What was that?" Emily jumped from where was laying a table on an embroidered tablecloth near the side of the road.

"Hold this," Luke said, putting the bumper into Lorelai's hands. She just looked at it.

"You doing okay?" she asked, looking from Rory to Luke and back again.

"This I know how to do," Luke said.

"Me too," Rory added.

Lorelai nodded, and looked over at her mother, who was buttering bread for their meal contentedly. She nodded, almost satisfied.

_ _ _

"Wow," breathed Sookie when she emerged from the kitchen to check out the decorated ballroom. It had been transformed into something like a movie set, with the cake at one end and the rest of Sookie's buffet laid out along a long table. Round tables with olive green tablecloths filled the rest of the room, each with a GI Joe centerpiece and place cards. Bandage gauze had been used as streamers, adding to the whole battlefield turned celebration effect.

"This is the definition of tacky," Michel sniffed.

"Something's missing," said the decorator, scanning the perfect room.

"Lorelai," said Sookie.

"Where did she go, anyway?" asked the decorator. "Is everything all right?"

Michel rolled his eyes and Sookie nodded. "She just went to pick up the centerpiece thing."

"That's what's missing," said the decorator. "The biplane reproduction."

"Where would you put it? There is barely room to walk," Michel exaggerated. But he was right. The ballroom was exactly large enough to hold the tables and nothing more.

"We could hang it from the ceiling," Sookie suggested helpfully, drawing horrified looks from both the decorator and Michel.

"No," said the decorator. "Everything's perfect without it." She nodded, turned out the lights, and the three of them left the ballroom, pulling the door closed behind them and placing a "do not disturb" sign on the door until the party was ready to start.

"Lorelai's going to be upset there's no room for the centerpiece when she went to get it," Sookie said.

"I cannot wait to tell her," Michel said.

_ _ _

4.

The group sat by the side of the road, eating the enormous lunch Emily had pulled out of the picnic basket. The Jeep was once again balanced on four fully inflated wheels, ready to go.

"This is nice," Lorelai said, munching.

"You haven't even touched your caviar," Emily scolded. "Neither have you. Eat up," she directed at Luke.

"I like it, Grandma," Rory said.

"You're spoiling my kid," Lorelai protested mildly.

"You've spoiled her already," Emily said.

"I thought I was ruining her life by raising her trashily," Lorelai shot back.

"I'm not listening to any more fighting!" Rory singsonged, grabbing a paperback out of her bag and stretching out on the grass to read it.

"We weren't fighting," Lorelai said.

"I agree," Emily replied. Then the two women looked at each other, quite frightened that they were agreeing with one another.

"What are you reading?" Luke asked Rory.

"Thoreau. It's for school. You'd like it."

Luke shook his head.

"You didn't like a book about a guy who went off to live by the rules of nature in the woods all alone?" Rory asked, incredulous. "I underestimated you. I'll have to be more careful."

Luke nodded, then sneaked a bite of the caviar, chewing it thoughtfully.

"Time?" Lorelai requested.

"I know for a fact you recieved a watch for Christmas two years ago," Emily said.

"I must have hocked it to pay for Tiny Tim's crutches," Lorelai remarked.

"It's two-thirty," Luke said.

"You can tell that from the position of the sun?" Lorelai asked.

"No, I have a sundial on my wrist," Luke said.

"Was that a joke?" Lorelai teased, and for the second time in one day, Luke almost smiled. "I think it was a joke. Quick, take cover! That's the last sign the world's going to end."

"What time do we have to be back?" Rory asked.

"Oh, now," Lorelai replied.

"Help me load up the basket," Emily requested. "We can take care of our errands and be back in Stars Hollow before sunset."

"What are you going to do in Stars Hollow?" Lorelai asked.

"I'll help you, Mrs. Gilmore," Luke offered, helping gather the trash from their meal without even complaining about excessive product packaging.

"We have to stop at the first service station and get a real belt for the engine," Rory pointed out to her mother. "And we should probably get a real tire."

"You're such a smart kid," Lorelai said. "Even if you're wearing a dumb hat."

"Mom," Rory warned, as Lorelai grabbed the sunhat away and ruffled Rory's hair. The two of them ended up in a girlish tug of war wrestling match, giggling.

_ _ _

Their first stop was at a small, white house in Maryland on the outskirts of Washington DC. The sign hanging on the front porch read, "Proud Headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution" although it looked more like an antique store.

"I'll just be a minute," Emily promised as she got out of the car.

"Your mother's not bad," Luke ventured.

Lorelai looked at him, astonished, but said nothing. She wasn't feeling particularly mean or spiteful at that moment.

"I think she likes you," Rory leaned forward to tell Luke.

"Nonsense. Grandma doesn't like anyone," Lorelai said, but her heart wasn't in it.

"She makes me miss my father," Luke said.

"She's nothing like your father," Lorelai said. "Oh, except for the crazy part."

"Mom, have you ever wondered about how everyone in Stars Hollow is a little bit...interesting?" Rory inquired.

"As compared to what?" Lorelai asked. "You've lived there your whole life. All small towns have interesting people living there. And people in cities are interesting, too, they just keep it to themselves better."

Emily returned and got into the car. "Why is it so quiet?" she asked. "Were you talking about me?"

"No," Rory answered and Emily looked at her.

"Well, I must say, they had the most wonderful patterned quilt in there," Emily said.

"Mom, you hate crafts," Lorelai said. "You wouldn't even help me with my diarama in second grade."

"It's never too late to learn a new skill," Emily said. "Rory and I could learn together."

"Rory's going to Harvard. She doesn't need to know how to make a quilt," Lorelai said.

"You're going to Harvard?" Luke asked.

Rory nodded. "It's my dream."

"Good school," Luke said.

"Where are we headed?" Lorelai asked him.

_ _ _

Their next stop was at a small, run down store near a river bank. There was no sign out front as Luke got out.

"Lock the doors, Lorelai. You never know who might be lurking at the waterfront," Emily said.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at her mother in the rearview mirror, then turned to look at her daughter. "Remember when we went wading?"

"I was five," Rory replied.

"I miss wading. We should go wading more often," Lorelai said.

"I never understood the point of wading through water. Why not just swim if you're going to get wet?" Emily asked.

"You used to take me wading," Lorelai reminded her mother.

"Yes, I suppose I did," Emily said, falling quiet, her lips forming a small smile.

Luke came out of the shop with a huge box in his hands.

"That's never going to fit in the back with the bumper," Lorelai said. A moment later, Luke came around to the driver's side window. "It won't fit in the back," Lorelai guessed.

"Not with the bumper," Luke said.

"What are you suggesting? That we leave my bumper here? I need it. It bumps. Quite nicely," Lorelai said."Never mind," said Luke, pulling open the passenger door. He dumped the dish box into the footwell of the front seat and then climbed in, resting his feet on top of the box so he was all folded up.

"That can't be comfortable," Lorelai remarked.

"Then drive faster," Luke told her.

"Your wish is my command," Lorelai said, blinking her eyes and nodding her head like Jeannie on I Dream of Jeannie.

_ _ _

"We have to go to the Smithsonian some day," Rory said wistfully as they drove past the museums in the nation's capital.

"We'll come back. Now that we know where it is," Lorelai said.

Rory nodded, but she continued staring out the window until the buildings were out of sight.

"I'm sorry we don't have time to stop now," Lorelai added.

"It's fine," Rory said.

"Next day you have off school. Maybe you could even call in sick when there's a big test. We could play hooky. It'll be fun," Lorelai suggested.

"It would be fun," Rory said, a little mischeviously.

"Why are we stopping?" Emily demanded nervously.

"This is the place," Lorelai said, parking. She remained seated, though, looking at the warehouse-type building. "It's almost sad. We've got everything we were looking for. The journey's at an end."

"Sun's going down," Luke added glumly.

"Journeys are supposed to end," Rory pointed out. "Otherwise, they wouldn't be journeys. They'd be..." she looked for the right word. "Never-ending."

Lorelai nodded. "Come in with me, oh wise one, and give me a hand."

Rory got out of the car and the two women walked into the shop.

"You like her, don't you?" Emily asked Luke, breaking the silence.

He grunted a neutral reply.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand the language of the apes. What was that?" Emily asked.

"I see where she gets it," Luke said.

Emily regarded him. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to clean yourself up a little. Starch the shirt. Shave. Put your cap on the right way."

To appease her, Luke picked up his baseball cap and turned it so the bill shaded his eyes from the setting sun. Then he looked at her.

"See, you're halfway there. That wasn't so difficult, was it?" inquired Emily.

Luke grunted.

"It won't fit in the back," Lorelai returned to report. "Is there any string in the picnic basket?"

"Of course there is, to tie up the leftovers in parcels of brown paper," Emily answered. "What do you need with string?"

Lorelai just grinned and didn't answer, closing the door again. Alarmed, Emily got out and so did Luke, in time to see Rory and Lorelai hoisting an ugly plane-shaped object onto the roof of the jeep and wind it with string to tie it down.

"That will never hold it. It wasn't designed to be used on roofs of cars," Emily warned.

"It'll hold fine," Lorelai said, giving it a tug. "See?"

"Should be okay," Rory replied.

"And she's studied physics," Lorelai added.

_ _ _

At the inn, Michel sat behind the counter, his chin propped on his hand. The telephone wasn't ringing. He looked almost bored.

From the ballroom came the sounds of chatter and Charleston music. The party was in full swing. Sookie bustled out of the kitchen with a tray precariously balanced in her hands, on the way to refill one of the buffet trays in the ballroom. "I can't believe they didn't make it back in time," she said. "Do you think they got in trouble?"

"Oh, please. It Friday night. Have you not heard of rush hour?" Michel pointed out.

Sookie just nodded, looking a bit baffled. They didn't get much rush hour in Stars Hollow, it being such a small town. "Hungry?" she asked. "I'll make you a plate."

Michel started to say something nasty, but then he said, "That would be nice."

Sookie and Michel just looked at each other, surprised by the exchange. Then Sookie continued bustling into the ballroom and Michel returned to moping at the desk.

_ _ _

"Home stretch," Lorelai announced to the quiet car. "Good thing, too, I need some coffee."

When there was no answer, she looked back and saw both Rory and Emily asleep in the back. She turned to Luke. "You're still with me?"

"I'm here," Luke replied.

"Not very talkative, are you?"

"There you go, stating the obvious," Luke grumped.

"Sounds like I'm not the only one who needs coffee," Lorelai said.

"That stuff'll kill you," he warned.

"You're worried about my health? That's so sweet!" Lorelai said, glancing again in the mirror. "You know, when she was a baby, she loved taking trips in the car. Didn't matter where we were going. She'd sit in her car seat and look out with those big baby eyes like it was all new and exciting. Which I guess it was." She smiled. "Home stretch."

They were at the top of a hill and Lorelai accelerated as she headed down it. Suddenly there was a crunching, breaking noise and the car picked up speed. "What was that?" Lorelai asked, jamming on the brakes.

"Mom?" Rory asked sleepily, rousing and rubbing her eyes.

"Lorelai!" Emily declared, likewise shaken awake.

"I see it," Lorelai said. Picking up speed going downhill had given the plane replica the lift it needed to take off, string or no string. It sailed now, off into the night, dipping low and then catching another wind flow that carried it higher.

"Amazing," Rory said.

"It's free now," Lorelai said.

"I can't believe we went all that way for nothing," Emily said.

"It wasn't nothing," Lorelai said. "You got your paperwork and Luke got his dishes and we had a picnic lunch and drove past the Washington monument --"

"And sat in a car for hours," Emily added.

"And sat in a car for hours," Lorelai echoed, her voice giving the words a completely different meaning. It was good to be together.

_ _ _

They pulled up at the inn, tired and rumpled. Luke began to wrestle his dishes from the seat, but Lorelai said, "Leave them. I'll give you a ride after I get some coffee."

Luke nodded, and they headed inside.

"Well?" demanded Michel.

"Mission accomplished," Lorelai reported.

"Sookie left us food," Rory said, noticing the plate sitting on the counter.

"That is mine," Michel intoned. "Yours is in the kitchen."

"Get me some coffee, hon," Lorelai called as Rory trooped into the kitchen, followed by Emily and Luke. "How are things here?"

"Everything is in perfect arrangement."

"And the party. How's the party?"

"The party is ongoing," Michel said.

Lorelai nodded. "Nobody noticed it wasn't here?"

Michel looked at her, deciding whether he should point out there was no room for it anyway. "Everything is fine," he said, as Rory returned, handing Lorelai a cup of coffee.

"Now it is," Lorelai said, gulping it down. Meanwhile, Emily was nosing about the inn while Rory and Luke chowed heartily on heaping plates of food supplied by Sookie. Lorelai went over to the cracked-open ballroom door and looked in, at the decoration and the people, listening to the music. And maybe seeing there was no room for a big plane replica that had taken off flying.

"It's nice," Luke said to her, appearing at her side.

"They're happy," Lorelai smiled. "I'm happy."

"This is really quite a nice place," Emily remarked.

"Thank you," Lorelai said quickly, before her mother could but qualifiers on it, like 'if only you had...' She could see the qualifiers coming.

"Thanks for the trip, Mom," Rory said.

"Anytime, sweetie."

"We'll have to do it again," Emily suggested. "Just the four of us." They looked at her like she'd gone insane. "Oh, what am I saying? Where's a phone so I can call a driver? I have to get home." Michel showed her the telephone and she dialed as Rory, Luke and Lorelai peeked back in at the original WWI flyers, celebrating their anniversary in style.

The end.