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“What do you mean, Pride and Prejudice isn’t good?” Lorelai asked incredulously, glancing at her daughter over her shoulder as she pushed open the door to the diner. “It has a wet t-shirt scene with Colin Firth! What else does a piece of media need for it to be considered art?”“Crispin Bonham-Carter thinks that yelling all his lines makes up for the fact that he gives Mr. Bingley absolutely zero personality, and their Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine feel like cartoon characters,” Rory argued, pulling a chair out at the nearest open table and sitting down. “Are you not hearing me? Colin Firth! Wet shirt!” Lorelai gestured emphatically at her front. “It’s like Spring Break for girls who read!”Rory made a face. “Yeah, but that pond he was swimming in was all green and swampy. I bet he smelled like a wet dog.”“And an imagined wet dog smell is what hindered your enjoyment of six hours of Colin Firth’s sexy scowl?”“Not everyone finds scowling as sexy as you do,” Rory teased, raising her eyebrows meaningfully toward the counter. “Shh.” Lorelai glanced furtively over her shoulder to where Miss Patty was sitting. “Watch what you say around Hello! Magazine over there.”“Sorry, Lady Chatterley, I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret.”Lorelai rolled her eyes. “It’s not a secret, I just think we should, you know, go on an actual date first before the town starts planning our wedding.”“Can you go get us some coffee, or would that be too conspicuous?”“I’ll try not to drool in your mug,” Lorelai deadpanned as she stood up. “And some pancakes!”Lorelai waved her hand over her shoulder to show she’d heard and approached the counter with a sultry smile. “Hi.”Luke’s eyes flicked up from the coffee filter he was refilling with a shy smile. “Hey.” The bells above the door chimed, and he cleared his throat, ducking his head. “Uh, fresh coffee will be ready in a minute, unless you wanna just roll up a dollar bill and go nuts.”“I can wait a minute or two.” Her eyes narrowed as she glanced over her shoulder to see what caused his change in demeanor, waving at Babette and Morey as they sat down across from Patty. She turned back to the counter with a commiserating eye roll. “And can we get some pancakes?”He nodded, keeping his eyes carefully trained on pouring coffee grounds. “You want chocolate chips?”A delighted smile spread across her face. “We can have chocolate chips?”“Today, you can have whatever you want.”“Wow, I feel so powerful.”“Don’t let it go to your head,” Luke deadpanned, then lowered his voice. “You free tonight?”Lorelai shook her head, making a face. “Nope, dinner at Castle Dracula, remember?” He rolled his eyes slightly at that. “Oh. Right.”“And then Jules is with us all weekend, so . . .”“Sunday?”“Sunday’s good.” She nodded, unable to contain her giddy smile. She cast another wary look around the crowded diner. “So, uh, what do we say?” “Say?” Luke repeated, frowning.“To people, to the town,” Lorelai clarified, leaning forward so he could hear her better. “Do we tell them we’re dating?” Immediately, his eyes darted over to where Patty and Babette sat together, their hands over their mouths as they whispered urgently to one another, while Morey leaned back in his chair, perusing the menu. He wrinkled his nose. “We’d never hear the end of it.”“We’ll never hear the end of it no matter when they find out,” she pointed out with a rueful laugh. He rolled his eyes in commiseration. “Well, yeah, but I don’t wanna deal with it right away if I don’t have to.”“So . . . what? We keep it quiet for a while?”“No, just–” He sighed. “Why don't we just play it by ear?” “Yeah, yeah,” Lorelai agreed, bobbing her head up and down in an awkward nod. “People will know when they know.”“Sounds good.”“Okay, so, Sunday?” she asked again, raising her eyebrows. “Sunday,” he echoed with a short nod. “7:30 good for you?” “As long as you don’t actually show up until 7:45,” Lorelai said with a smirk. Luke rolled his eyes, suppressing a smile as he returned his attention to making coffee. “Pancakes will be ready in a minute.”“Can I use your computer?” Juliet asked, twisting her hair into a claw clip. “I need to write one of those Notice to Vacate Letters to my landlord.”“Of course.” Max nodded, glancing up from his book. “The password is ‘what you egg’, all lowercase, one word.”“Thank you.” She squeezed his shoulder briefly, her brow creasing slightly when she saw he’d switched from the Henry James novel he’d been reading to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. “I didn’t know you liked Harry Potter. ”“My nieces and I read them together, but their mom said this book was too scary for them to read last year, so we’re reading it now,” he answered, tipping his head back to look at her. She smiled, running her fingers through his hair. “It’s sweet that you waited for them.”“I’m their favorite uncle for a reason,” he said with a smug smile. Juliet rolled her eyes affectionately as she continued to play with his hair. After a moment, her smile dimmed. “Hey, is your family gonna be okay with this? Us living together?”“Why wouldn’t they be?” Max asked, his brow creasing. “They like you.”“Well, yeah, but living together makes it a lot more obvious that we’re . . .” She gestured vaguely between the two of them, embarrassed. “Sleeping together?”She ducked her head, blushing. “Yes.”He laughed at her pink face. “Behold, the only doctor in the world who can’t talk about sex.”Juliet ignored that, her blush deepening. “I just wasn’t sure if they’d have a problem with us living together before we’re married.”“There’s an easy way to fix that,” Max reminded her pointedly. She gave him a pleading look. “Max . . .”“I’m sorry, I’m being childish,” he said quickly, with a self-deprecating shake of his head.“No, you’re not.”“I know you need time to think it over, and you were right that we shouldn’t rush into this, but–” He cut himself off, pressing his lips together into a rueful smile. “A part of me hoped that you’d be so sure about me—about us—that you wouldn’t need to think about it at all.”“Max.” Her chest aching, she moved to the couch and knelt beside him, touching his cheek gently. “I’ll always need to think about things. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you, or I don’t want to marry you, I just– I’m not as good at trusting my instincts as you are.”Max laughed out loud at that. “What a tactful way to say that I have no impulse control.”“That’s not what I meant,” Juliet said, lowering her eyes to her lap with an embarrassed smile. She remained silent for a long moment, gathering her thoughts. Finally, she reached for his hand, giving it a brief squeeze. “I’m sure about you. I’m sure I want to marry you. It’s just a question of now versus in a few months.”“When, not if?” he asked, looking marginally reassured. She nodded, squeezing his hand again. “When, not if.”“Hey, is Lane gonna be okay with you sleeping over on Sunday night, or is that still prime ‘thinking about what we heard in church’ time?” Lorelai asked her daughter as they drove through Hartford later that night. “Because Luke and I can wait until Monday. One night’s still a hell of a lot less than five years.”“You guys don’t have to do the cloak and dagger thing,” Rory said with a self-effacing laugh. “I won’t run to Auntie Jules’s again.”“Well, yeah, but if you see Luke without the baseball cap you might not recognize him and think he’s an intruder,” Lorelai said with a sage lift of her eyebrows. “It’ll be like Clark Kent without the glasses.”“You’ll just have to tell him to wear the hat when he picks you up.”Lorelai nodded soberly. “For his own safety.”Rory laughed. “Did he say what you guys were gonna do?”“Oh, the usual.” Lorelai shrugged as she flipped her turn signal on. “Pull a bank job wearing masks of former presidents. I’m Lyndon B. Johnson, he’s Ronald Reagan.”“And then hit a sick wave after?” Rory asked with a snort. “On Kirk’s Slip n’ Slide,” Lorelai said, smirking as she pulled into her parents’ driveway and parked behind her sister’s car. Rory huffed out a laugh, waving at her aunt as she climbed out of the passenger seat. “Hi, Auntie Jules.”“Hey,” Juliet greeted, giving her niece a brief hug hello. “How’d your finals go?”“I think they went well, but I won’t know for sure until Monday,” Rory said, lowering her eyes modestly. “Ooh, finals, great. Tell her the real exciting news.” Lorelai bumped her daughter’s shoulder with her own, smiling encouragingly. “Oh, yeah.” Rory turned to her aunt with a smug smile. “Mom and Luke made out in the storage room last night.”“What?” Juliet glanced over at Lorelai for confirmation, her eyes wide. Lorelai rolled her eyes. “We did not make out. Both tongues remained firmly in their owners’ mouths, thank you very much.”“Ew, Mom.”“But you guys kissed?” Juliet asked. “We kissed, we’re going out on Sunday, we’re having a coconut cake with chocolate sauce on the side for our wedding,” Lorelai confirmed, her face breaking out into a grin. “That’s not the news I meant, though. I was talking about you and Dean.”“You and Dean?” Juliet repeated with a wary glance at her niece. “Oh. Yeah, um–” Rory ducked her head with a giggle, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “We got back together.”“You– wow, that’s great!” Juliet said, plastering on a smile. She gave the girl’s arm a squeeze. “I’m really happy for you.”“And the Oscar goes to . . .” Lorelai muttered under her breath, earning her a kick in the shin from her sister. Juliet rolled her eyes, twisting her fingers together nervously as she headed for the front door. “Actually, I kind of have something to tell you, too.”Lorelai’s gaze immediately darted to the younger woman’s left hand, letting out a breath when she saw it was still bare. “What’s up?”Juliet opened her mouth to speak but was cut off when Emily whipped open the front door, a bright smile on her face. “You're here! Richard, they're here!” she called over her shoulder.“Wonderful!” Richard called back from his study. “Come in, come in, come in,” Emily said, ushering them into the house. “Mom, stop, you’re pushing me,” Lorelai protested with a bewildered frown. “What’s going on?”“I promised your father I wouldn’t say anything until he got here.” Emily rolled her eyes as she led them into the living room. “Richard!”“Say nothing until I get there!”“Well, hurry up!” Emily rolled her eyes again as she headed for the drink cart. “What would you all like to drink?”“Coke, please,” Rory answered, smoothing her skirt against her thighs as she sat down beside her mother. “White wine for me, Mom.”“Same.” Juliet accepted the glass her mother handed her with a small smile. “Thanks.”“Hope you’re not driving,” Lorelai teased in a low voice, nudging her lightly. Juliet rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Shut up.”“So, tell me what's new with you girls,” Emily said as she sat on the couch facing them, glancing in the direction of the study again.“Uh, Juliet finished residency,” Lorelai reminded her mother pointedly. “Oh, yes.” Emily turned to her younger daughter, looking genuinely apologetic. “Your father and I were very sorry we couldn’t be there on Tuesday. Did you get the floral arrangement?”Juliet nodded. “I did. It was very nice, thank you.”“Good, good,” Emily said distractedly, craning her neck to see if her husband was in the hallway. “Richard, dammit!”“Mom, why don’t you tell us what’s going on before you have a coronary?” Lorelai asked, eyeing her mother warily.“Oh, all right. I can't wait for your grandfather any longer,” Emily sighed, relenting without protest. She gave them a secretive smile. “Well, you know I'm very good friends with Bitty Charleston, the headmaster's wife.”Lorelai nodded. “Mmm-hm.”“Well, we had this little arrangement where she keeps me apprised of all the goings on at Chilton. You know, she tells me all the gossip on the students and their parents, and any piece of information I might find useful.” Emily took a breath, pausing for dramatic effect. “Well, this afternoon she called to tell me the class list just came out, and Rory has finished in the top three percent!” Lorelai nodded again. “I know.”“You do?” Emily asked disbelievingly. “Well, who do you know at Chilton?” “Um. . .” Lorelai pointed to her daughter. “Rory?” Emily deflated a little. “Oh.”“It wasn't definite, but I had a pretty good idea,” Rory said with a shrug.Before anyone could say anything else, Richard burst into the living room, his face split open in a grin. “Rory, wonderful news! You finished in the top three percent of your class.” “Oh yeah, Dad.” Lorelai jerked her chin in her mother’s direction. “J. Edgar Hoover over here was just telling us.”Richard’s hands dropped to his sides. “What? I told you not to say anything before I got here.”“Well, you took too long,” Emily replied defensively.Richard heaved a long-suffering sigh. “It’s a simple request.”“Just hang up the phone.”Lorelai held her hands up placatingly. “Okay, good news either way. Let's all agree on that.”“Yeah, congratulations,” Juliet added, reaching over and giving her niece’s knee a squeeze.“I am immensely proud of you Rory. You start late, have to catch up, and by the end of the year, you've overtaken everyone. A true Gilmore.”“Through and through,” Emily agreed proudly. “Oh, and before I forget–” Richard reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and produced an envelope, handing it to Juliet. “Speaking of intelligent Gilmores.”Juliet blinked in surprise as she accepted the envelope. “Oh, Dad, you didn’t have to–”“Of course I did,” Richard dismissed with a wave of his hand. “Finishing one’s medical residency is quite the capital achievement, young lady.”“Well, thank you,” Juliet said, playing with the seam on the envelope with an embarrassed smile. Emily turned to her granddaughter with a smile. “Rory, next week we will have a special dinner.”“Oop, done with you now,” Lorelai muttered into her sister’s ear.“Shh,” Juliet whispered back. “Grandma, all of your dinners are special,” Rory protested, glancing apologetically at her aunt. “Well, this one will be extra special,” Emily assured her granddaughter. “We'll make all your favorite foods, and you can invite some of your friends. “Richard raised his eyebrows with a conspiratorial smile. “There's an excellent chance that presents might be involved.”Rory shook her head. “You guys do not have to do this.” “For the top three percent?” Richard asked with a guffaw. Emily smiled. “We most certainly do.”“So, what were you gonna tell us?” Rory asked as she, Lorelai, and Juliet stepped into the cooling night air after dinner. “Oh. Well, um–” Juliet smiled hesitantly, twisting her fingers together. “Max and I decided to move in together.” She paused, gauging their reactions. “Since, um, since my lease is up in a few weeks. It just seemed like a good time.”“Maybe for you, but who will Ted Bundy bring his pot brownies to now ?” Lorelai quipped with a smirk. Juliet rolled her eyes. “He only did that once.”“And once was enough,” Lorelai said, raising her eyebrows. “Mom,” Rory chided, giving her mother a pointed look. She smiled at her aunt. “We’re very happy for you.”“And very proud that you managed to work up the nerve to ask,” Lorelai added teasingly. “Yeah, well–” Juliet ducked her head, her smile widening. “It was a lot less scary after he asked me to marry him.”Rory’s eyes widened. “What?”Lorelai blinked, doing her best to look surprised. “Wow.”“Wow! Wow! ” Rory repeated, nearly knocking her aunt off her feet as she flew into her arms. “Oh, my God!”Juliet regained her balance, pulling back slightly but keeping her arm around her niece. She glanced up at Lorelai, biting her lip as she searched her face anxiously. “Lor? Say something?”Lorelai took a breath, forcing a smile. “Congratulations, Jules. I’m really happy for you.”“Really?” Juliet asked cautiously.“Of course we are!” Rory cut in before her mother could answer, jumping up and down as she hugged Juliet again. “You’re getting married!”Juliet shot her sister a panicked glance, her eyes wide. “Oh– well, um, I haven’t decided if I’m saying yes or not.”“What? Why not? You love each other,” Rory protested, her shoulders dropping.“We do,” Juliet acquiesced with a nod. “But we haven’t been together all that long, and–”“But you love each other,” Rory said again, as though that was all a healthy marriage needed.When Juliet gave her another pleading look, Lorelai jumped in, putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Sweets, you’re talking to the woman who takes a year to decide what toppings she wants on her pizza; she’s not gonna get engaged on a whim.”“Yeah,” Juliet said with a grateful smile at her sister. “We know we want to get married eventually, we’re just . . . discussing whether now’s the right time or not.”Okay. That was new information. When Max had asked for her blessing the day before, he’d made it sound like he and Juliet had never seriously discussed marriage before. But suddenly, her baby sister, who was never sure about anything, was talking about getting engaged like it was a simple question of timing. When had Juliet become so sure about Max, and how had Lorelai missed it?Juliet was eyeing her warily again. “Lor? You okay?”“Of course.” Lorelai nodded, plastering on another smile. “Just thinking about all the paper we’re gonna need for our giant pro/con list.”“Luke’s gonna be mad,” Rory warned as she watched her mother push two of the diner’s tables together the next day. “Nuh-uh. He can’t get mad at me anymore,” Lorelai reminded them smugly, bringing a chair up to one end of the tables and sitting down. Juliet cast a wary glance toward the kitchen. “Uh, I think he probably can.”“Well, he has other ways to express his frustration with me now,” Lorelai said with a suggestive smile. “I bet he’ll try one of those.”Rory made a face as she sank into the chair across from her mother. “Gross, Mom.” She uncapped a blue pen and opened her notebook to the first blank page, smoothing a hand over the already crisp white paper. She looked up at her aunt expectantly. “So, do you want to start with pros, or cons?”“Um, pros, I guess,” Juliet decided, sitting down in the last empty chair. “But we really don’t need to–”“Hey, if Max sees this list, is he gonna get all mad and never want to see you again like Rachel did in that one episode of Friends ?” Lorelai asked her sister teasingly. Juliet huffed out a laugh. “Probably.”“Make sure to write in Morse code, then, hon,” Lorelai ordered, tapping her daughter’s notebook with one finger. Rory ignored that and began to write. “Okay, pro: you guys love each other.”“Con: he uses way too much hair gel.” Lorelai joked, then twisted her lips together in pretended consideration. “Actually, that could be another pro. I mean, hey, you managed to find the one guy in the world who’s as vain about his hair as you are about yours, you better lock that down.”Juliet rolled her eyes good-naturedly at that. “Look, I appreciate you guys doing this, but I already told you: I don’t need help deciding if Max is the one or not, I just don’t know if we’re ready to get married right now.”“Well, do you want kids?” Rory asked, looking up from her list.Juliet blinked. “What?”“Whoa, little personal, babe,” Lorelai chided with a short laugh. “Because if you guys want kids, you should probably get married sooner rather than later,” Rory pointed out, lowering her pen. “Uh, you do realize you weren’t immaculately conceived, right?” Lorelai asked, arching an eyebrow. “I meant if they were planning to have kids,” Rory sighed, rolling her eyes. She turned to her aunt. “Are you?”“We’ve, um . . .” Juliet hesitated, lowering her eyes to her lap. “We’ve discussed it.”“You’ve discussed it?” Lorelai echoed, her tone carefully neutral. “Like, a ‘we saw a baby in a restaurant and we both thought it was cute’ discussion, or an ‘I’m gonna stop taking the pill’ discussion?”“Uh, definitely not the second one,” Juliet answered with a perplexed laugh.Before Lorelai could press further, Luke came up to their table, order pad in hand. He gave Lorelai a careful nod hello. “Hey.”“Hi,” Lorelai greeted, making her voice exaggeratedly husky as she smiled up at him.He rolled his eyes. “Don’t do that.”“Do what?” Lorelai asked innocently, batting her eyes. Luke gave her a look of exasperation, before lowering his voice. “I thought we agreed not to advertise it right now.”“I flirt with you all the time,” Lorelai argued. “People will pay more attention if I stop.”He rolled his eyes again. “I’m ignoring you now.”“And thus ends the honeymoon,” Lorelai quipped with an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, hey– congratulations,” Luke said, gesturing to Juliet with his order pad. Juliet frowned. “For what?”“You got engaged, right? Or proposed to, or something?”Juliet blinked in surprise. “I did. How do you . . .?” She trailed off, glancing at Lorelai. “Did you guys talk last night?”“No, I–” Lorelai exhaled, pressing her lips together. “I kind of already knew.”“You already knew?” Juliet repeated blankly. “How’d you already know?” Rory asked, surprised. Lorelai shot Luke a glare, and he looked at her apologetically. “Sorry.”She took a deep breath before explaining, “Uh, Max sort of came to the inn on Wednesday and asked for my blessing.” Juliet’s face melted into a soft smile. “He did?”Lorelai nodded. “He was very sweet, he brought me flowers and told me about how nifty he thinks you are.”“And? What’d you say?” Juliet asked, searching her sister’s expression nervously.“I said yes, duh,” Lorelai said with a shrug. “You two love each other, and I don’t wanna be the reason you end up stabbing and poisoning yourselves.”Juliet nodded, blinking rapidly as she stood up. She moved over to where Lorelai sat, wrapping her arms around her sister and kissing her temple. “Thank you.”Lorelai smiled, hugging her back as best as she could manage in their awkward position. “Of course.”
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“Jules, can you do the back of my head?” Lorelai asked, holding the straightener in one hand and putting an earring in with the other. “Yeah, here.” Juliet parked her sister in front of the bathroom mirror, accepting the straightener from her outstretched hand. “And do the thing where it curls under a little bit,” Lorelai said, meeting her eyes in the mirror as she gestured vaguely with her hand. Juliet nodded as she ran a brush through Lorelai’s dark curls, then began to straighten a section of hair. “How do you feel?”Lorelai grimaced at her reflection. “Like I hate this top. It makes me look like somebody’s mother.”“You are somebody’s mother.”“Thank you, Amelia Bedelia,” Lorelai quipped, rolling her eyes. “I meant it makes me look like our mother.” She wrinkled her nose at her reflection again. “Or Carol Brady.”“You don’t look like Mom or Carol Brady,” Juliet promised, moving on to another section of hair. She glanced up with a brief smile. “I think you’re just nervous.”Lorelai let out a dry laugh at that. “Understatement of the century. I’m sweating like a hooker in church; I can’t even take the purse I wanted because it’s not big enough to hold deodorant.” When Juliet remained silent, eyebrows raised, Lorelai gave the younger woman’s reflection a wan smile. “I haven’t dated a guy I was friends with since Chris.”“I know.” Juliet’s tone was gentle, soft with understanding. “Scary.”“Yeah.”There was a long, pregnant pause before Lorelai finally took a breath. “Speaking of scary, did you decide anything about becoming Mrs. John Keating?”Juliet snorted, smiling fondly. “He’d love that comparison.”“Oh, Captain, my Captain,” Lorelai said in an exaggeratedly sultry voice, earning a barely-contained laugh from behind her. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. “So?”Juliet shrugged. “I’m still thinking.”Lorelai sighed. “Look, I know me saying this to you is like telling Bono to start hating orphans, or telling Babette to cool it with the garden gnomes, but you are way overthinking this. What’s your gut telling you?”“I don’t know,” Juliet admitted with another shrug. “Part of me really wants to say yes. I love him, and I know I want to marry him. I just . . .” She trailed off, biting her lip. “Six months?”“Yeah, it’s soon,” Lorelai agreed.“Especially since we didn’t really know each other before we started dating,” Juliet added, searching the back of her sister’s head for any stray curls she’d missed. “I mean, it’d be different if you and Luke–”“Whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here,” Lorelai cut in with an uncomfortable laugh. Juliet rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”“I do.” Lorelai smiled softly. “Do you want my advice?”“Please.””I think you should wait.”“You do?” Juliet asked, sounding surprised.Lorelai nodded. “And this isn’t just the commitment-phobe in me talking. You haven’t been together that long, you’re already moving forward with the living together thing, neither of you is dying, there’s no harm in waiting a few months. He’ll still be there.”Juliet blinked, her shoulders relaxing slightly. “Yeah. He will.” She put the straightener back down, moving her sister’s hair in front of her shoulders, running her hands over it one more time. “What do you think?”Lorelai studied her reflection for a moment, then glanced over her shoulder with a smile. “It looks great, Jules. Thank you.”“Thank you.”Lorelai shrugged with false modesty, then rolled her eyes when she heard the doorbell ring. “Dammit, what is he doing here already? I told him to be late!”Juliet glanced at her watch. “It’s 7:45, he is late.”“I don’t have shoes on, I haven’t packed my purse, I still need to–”“I’ll get the door, go do what you need to do.”“Thank you.” Lorelai gave her arm a quick squeeze before half-jogging to her room in her bare feet. Juliet flicked off the light in the bathroom before heading downstairs, her brow creasing when she saw her niece hovering awkwardly in the living room, chewing her lip as she glanced at the door. “You okay?”Rory glanced over at the sound of her aunt’s voice, a sheepish smile crossing her face. “Oh. Yeah. I just wasn’t sure if I should get the door or not.”“I got it,” Juliet said, patting the teenager’s shoulder as she passed. She pulled the door open, giving Luke a small smile. “Hey.”He nodded. “Hey.”Juliet stepped aside, holding the door open. “She’s almost ready.”Luke nodded again as he stepped inside the house, glancing around the foyer uncomfortably. Noticing Rory, he gave her an awkward wave. “Hi, Rory.”“Hi,” Rory said, returning the wave. “You look nice.”“Oh. Thanks.” He glanced down at his front with a nervous laugh. “Uh, your mom got me this shirt.”“It’s nice.”“Thanks,” Luke repeated, nodding a third time. “Oh, uh–” he held a paper bag out to Rory. “Here. I, uh, wasn’t sure what you were doing for dinner, or if there’s even food here or not, so . . .” “Aw, Luke, you old softie,” Rory said as she accepted the bag with a grin. “Thank you.”“No big deal.” He shrugged, his ears turning a faint shade of red. He looked at Juliet apologetically. “Sorry, I thought you’d be in Hartford already or I would’ve brought you something, too.”“Oh, that’s okay, I’m leaving right after you guys,” Juliet explained, gesturing vaguely outside the door. “Thanks, though.”“Okay, I was utterly unsuccessful at finding my Vicious Trollop lipstick, so I had to wear Spice it Up, which is still pretty, but won’t freak people out when you say it, which is too bad, because–” Lorelai cut herself off when she reached the bottom of the stairs, giving Luke a nervous smile. “Hi.”“Hey,” he greeted, his voice husky. He stepped closer to her and leaned in as though to kiss her cheek, then pulled away abruptly, losing his nerve. “You, uh, you look nice.”“Thank you, you too.” Lorelai’s soft smile melted into a smirk. “ Especially the shirt. You’d have no idea it was fifty trillion percent off.”Luke rolled his eyes, his shoulders loosening at the familiar banter. “You ready? Or do you need to get your socks from the oven first?”“No, silly, it’s May. I don’t need to warm up my socks,” Lorelai said with a mock-condescending smirk. She held her arms out to Rory, giving the girl a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. “Have a good night, sweets. Pizza money’s on the table.”“Oh, Luke brought me a burger,” Rory told her, pointing to where she’d put the paper bag on the coffee table. Lorelai glanced over at Luke for confirmation, her eyes shining. “That was, uh–” She cleared her throat. “That was really nice of you.” After a moment of heated eye contact, she raised her brows pointedly. “You better be feeding me, too, pal.”“Really? ‘Cause I was planning to take you to a monster truck rally,” Luke deadpanned. “As long as there’s a hot dog stand,” Lorelai replied with a smirk. She kissed Rory one more time. “I’ll leave my cell on. Call if you need me.”Rory smiled. “I won’t.”Lorelai chuckled, moving to press a kiss to her sister’s cheek. “Bye, Jules.”“Have fun,” Juliet said, hugging her briefly. “See you–” she paused, pulling back slightly. “Or, no. It’s summer, you don’t have class.”“Some would say I don’t have class fall through spring, either,” Lorelai quipped with a wry chuckle. She shrugged. “We’ll figure something out– ooh! We’ve never both been tied down at the same time, we should do a double date!”“Oh, geez,” Luke muttered under his breath. Juliet nodded, ignoring that. “Um, yeah, maybe. I’ll ask Max.”“Make sure you use your feminine wiles,” Lorelai quipped. She glanced up at Luke, her nervousness returning. “Okay, well, we should go.”“Yeah,” Luke agreed with a small nod. He pulled the door open and, after a moment of hesitation, placed a hand on the small of Lorelai’s back as they walked into the late spring air.There were very few things she’d miss about this place, Juliet mused as she walked up the steep stairs to her apartment, wrinkling her nose at the newly visible mold growth on the wall. She’d always loved the view from her bedroom window, and it was nice to be so close to the hospital, but other than that, she’d be glad to be rid of this place come May 31st. She smiled as Max met her halfway to her apartment door, looping her arms around his neck and kissing him hello. “Hi.”“Hi,” he whispered, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. “Good weekend?”Juliet nodded. “It was mostly watching Luke and Lor flirting awkwardly, but yeah.”Max chuckled at that. “So, more of the same, then?”“Actually, no. They finally admitted that they like each other,” she told him with a surprised smile. “They’re on their first date as we speak.”“Finally. Those two were beginning to rival Odysseus and Penelope.”Juliet huffed out a laugh as she dug her keys from her purse. “Lor said something about the four of us maybe doing something together.” She glanced over her shoulder as she unlocked the door, smiling knowingly at his expression. “Only if you want, though.”“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Max hastened to say, closing the door behind them. “It’s just that–” “Luke’s not the easiest person to talk to?” she asked, setting her keys on the counter. He laughed, ducking his head. “He’s a nice man, we just don’t have much in common,” he explained diplomatically. “I don’t know anything about baseball or fishing, and he doesn’t strike me as someone who reads a lot of Shakespeare in his spare time.”“I think you’re probably right about that,” she agreed with a light laugh. “Maybe we should wait a few months before we try a double date. Let them get settled.”“Okay.” Juliet laughed again, then swallowed nervously as she lowered her eyes to the floor. She took a deep, shaky breath, looking back up at him after a moment. “We talked a lot about you, too. About . . . you know.”“And?” Max asked, his expression cautiously hopeful. “Did you decide anything?”She inhaled shakily again, biting her lip. “Um–”Apparently, her hesitation was all the answer he needed, and he nodded, his gaze dropping. “Oh.”“Max–”He shook his head, attempting to smile reassuringly, even as his eyes misted over. “No, I understand. You think it’s too soon.”“This doesn’t mean I don’t love you,” she promised, hating herself for causing the pain on his face. “You know how much I love you, right?”“I do know,” Max said, his voice choked. He swallowed thickly, forcing another smile. “I love you, too.”“I was so scared to bring up moving in together,” Juliet confessed, reaching for his hand and grasping it in both of hers. “I probably wouldn’t have mentioned it if you hadn’t proposed.”He let out a genuine laugh at that. “I didn’t propose, you found the ring.”“It’s just that I don’t–” She paused, avoiding his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt safe with anyone, even Lorelai, since I was like, fourteen. And even though you make me feel the, um–” She sniffled, lifting a hand to wipe her nose. “The most secure I’ve ever felt, there’s still this voice in the back of my head telling me you’re gonna leave me as soon as I mess up.”He stepped closer, placing his free hand on the side of her face. “Juliet–”“And I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, because it’s not your fault,” she assured him, leaning into his touch. “I’m just worried that if I say yes now, it’ll be because I think it’ll keep you from leaving me instead of how much I love you.” She searched his expression worriedly. “Does that make sense?”Max nodded, wrapping his arms around her. “I love you,” he whispered, stroking her hair. Juliet returned the embrace, breathing a sigh of relief as she nestled into his shoulder. “I love you, too.”Juliet smoothed a hand over her hair as she locked her car on Friday night, then turned at the sound of crunching gravel as Lorelai’s Jeep pulled into the Gilmores’ driveway. She waved at her older sister as she climbed out of the car, followed by Rory, and . . . Dean? She blinked in surprise, but gave the boy a tight smile. “Dean. Hi.”Dean nodded hello, his hands in his pockets. “Hey, Juliet.”“I didn’t know you were coming.” Juliet cringed internally at how that must’ve sounded. “Not that it’s not good to see you, or I didn’t want you to come, or anything, but–”“She just didn’t know you were coming,” Lorelai finished with a smirk, which turned into a pained-looking smile as the four of them neared the door. “And neither do Mom and Dad.”“Oh.” Juliet nodded. Oh, shit, more like . “Grandma and Grandpa said I could bring a friend,” Rory said defensively, her tone suggesting that this wasn’t the first time she’d pointed this out to her mother. “I know, sweets,” Lorelai placated, patting her daughter’s shoulder before ringing the bell. “Well, hello there!” Emily greeted with a bright smile as she opened the door. Noticing Dean, her demeanor cooled considerably. “Well, hello there.”“Grandma, you remember Dean right?” Rory asked with a quick glance over (and above) her shoulder at her boyfriend. Emily gave him a pinched smile. “Yes I do, nice to see you again.” “Thanks.” Dean returned the smile with a nervous one of his own, looking around awkwardly. “Uh, your house is great. It's huge. I've never seen a house this huge before.”“Well thank you. So few people bother to notice the hugeness of the house anymore,” Emily quipped frostily.Juliet and Lorelai exchanged an uncomfortable glance. “Mom, it was so nice of you to tell Rory to invite a friend tonight, seeing as this is her night,” Lorelai said with a pointed lift of her brows. “That was really nice of you.” Emily softened, taking the hint. “It was my pleasure.” Lorelai nodded. “Good.” “Well, don't just stand there. We have a celebration to attend. Come in, come in,” Emily said, ushering them all into the foyer just as Richard emerged from his study. “Oh Richard, there you are. You’re just in time for drinks.”Richard’s smile faded at the sight of Dean, and he lowered the book he was holding. “Hello.”Juliet glanced at Lorelai warily, before giving her father a small smile. “Hi, Dad.”“Juliet, Lorelai,” Richard greeted, his gaze flicking over to Dean again. “Hey, Dad. That’s a big book you’ve got there. I bet it’d make a great weapon,” Lorelai quipped with an uneasy chuckle. “It’s for Rory,” Richard said tightly. He handed the book to his granddaughter, pointedly ignoring the boy beside her. “Here you are, my dear.”“Thank you, Grandpa.” Rory accepted the book with a perplexed smile, then gestured to her boyfriend. “Uh, this is Dean. Dean, this is my Grandpa.”Richard nodded, saying nothing. “Hi.” Dean stepped forward nervously, offering his hand. “It’s, uh, it’s nice to meet–”“Emily, you said something about drinks?” Richard asked, tucking his hand into his pocket. The three elder Gilmore women exchanged a glance at the man’s uncharacteristic coldness. Still in hostess mode, though, Emily plastered on a bright smile. “Yes, drinks. Dean, the living room is this way.”“You know those Animal Planet videos where a baby antelope is drinking from a watering hole and then gets its head snapped off by a crocodile?” Lorelai whispered into her sister’s ear as they followed their parents into the living room.Juliet’s brow creased. “Yeah?”Lorelai shrugged. “I don’t know. Something about this moment made me think of that.”“Here you go, Rory,” Emily said later that night, handing a wrapped box to Rory. “Congratulations, we're so proud.”Rory accepted the gift with a gracious smile. “Thanks Grandma.” She glanced over at Richard, who was still staring daggers at Dean. “Thanks Grandpa.”Richard forced a smile but said nothing. Emily cast an uneasy glance at her husband, then turned back to her granddaughter. “Now go on, open it.” “Okay.” Rory unwrapped the package, her face lighting up at the sight of a set of expensive-looking pens. “They’re beautiful, thank you.”When Richard’s face remained stony, Juliet glanced over at Lorelai anxiously, before turning back to her father. “Um, did you pick those out, Dad?” “Your mother did,” Richard replied shortly. “I thought the top student deserved the top tools,” Emily said, forcing extra pleasantness into her tone. “Thank you so much,” Rory said again, smiling at her grandfather. “Really.”Richard gave her another stiff smile. Rory looked to her mother pleadingly, and Lorelai sat up a little straighter in her chair, glancing at Emily with a falsely jovial smirk. “Uh, well, pens are very nice, but I just bet there is a fabulous fancy dessert just sitting out there in that kitchen of yours.” “As a matter of fact there is.” Emily smiled, lifting her chin to call into the kitchen, “Antonia, please bring out the Twinkies.” “Twinkies?” Juliet repeated in disbelief. Lorelai shook her head with her first genuine laugh of the night, “I can't believe I just heard you say those words.”Emily shrugged wryly. “Well, don't get used to it.”“So, Dean, where are you planning to go to college?” Richard asked suddenly, turning to the boy in question.Dean glanced around the table helplessly. “Oh, uh, well, I . . .”“Geez, Dad, start off with ‘what's your favorite baseball team’ or something,” Lorelai quipped with an uncomfortable laugh. “I’m talking to Dean,” Richard told his eldest sternly, raising his eyebrows at his granddaughter’s boyfriend.“Uh, I don't know yet,” Dean answered, glancing over at Rory.Richard arched an eyebrow. “You don’t?” Dean shook his head. “No, not yet.”Richard let out a condescending chuckle. “Well, what kind of grades do you get?” “Richard, please, don't grill the boy,” Emily pleaded from the other end of the table. “I'm not grilling the boy, Emily,” Richard assured her with an insincere smile. “It's an easy question.” He turned back to Dean. “As, Bs, Cs?”Juliet and Lorelai exchanged another commiserative look.“I get a mixture, actually,” Dean answered.“Mixture?” Richard asked with another patronizing laugh. “What's the ratio?” “Richard,” Emily chided. “I'm just trying to get to know the boy, Emily,” Richard said innocently, spreading his hands. “After all, Rory brings home a young man to dinner, the least we can do is learn something about him.”“Um, he’s from Chicago?” Juliet contributed unhelpfully.“Yeah,” Lorelai added with a vigorous nod. “He outright refuses to eat pizza with cheese on top of the sauce. It’s freakish.”Richard ignored them, still waiting for Dean to speak. “I get a couple A's, couple Bs . . .” Dean trailed off, lowering his eyes to the table. “Few C's.”Juliet closed her eyes, unsure if the boy’s honesty was admirable or stupid. Richard’s eyebrows went up. “Really?”“I'm not great in math,” Dean admitted sheepishly. “Yeah, except who is, really?” Lorelai broke in before her father could comment. “You know, except mathematicians or the blackjack dealers, or–”“Do you know what my daughter Juliet does for a living?” Richard asked, pointing to his youngest. “Uh, you’re a doctor, right?” Dean asked, looking at Juliet for confirmation.“Yeah,” Juliet said, giving the boy an apologetic look before turning to her father. “But, Dad, please don’t–”“Yes. She’s a doctor. Yale undergrad, Yale Medical School,” Richard listed, lowering his chin to stare Dean down. “Do you understand what I’m saying, Dean?”Dean glanced around the table, unsure. “Uh, that she’s smart?”“That this family has standards .” Richard raised his eyebrows as he gestured to Juliet again. “Once upon a time, Juliet’s grades were a ‘mixture’ not entirely unlike the one you described.”“Whoa, Dad, ouch,” Lorelai said with a short chuckle.“Yes, Richard, there’s no need to share that information,” Emily added with a warning look at her husband. Richard took a sip of wine with an affected shrug. “But, when she was informed that she was not living up to the Gilmore standard, she took steps to rectify the situation, and ultimately chose a career path that would properly meet that standard.”“To help people,” Juliet corrected tightly. “So, where’s Antonia with those Twinkies, huh?” Lorelai asked, shooting her mother a look. Richard plowed on. “Rory plans to follow in her footsteps, in my footsteps. She wants to go to an Ivy League school. Did you know that, Dean?”Dean nodded. “Yeah, I know.”Rory looked at her grandfather pleadingly. “Grandpa, please.”“Rory is already living up to this family’s standards, and she should expect that everyone that she spends time with to live up to them also,” Richard said, turning his attention away from Dean to give his granddaughter a pointed look.“Grandpa, stop it,” Rory protested, her brows knitting together. “You can’t talk to Dean like this, you don’t even know him.”Richard pursed his lips stubbornly. “I know enough.”“No you don't,” Rory argued, her eyes misting over with angry tears. “Dean is incredible, and he's special to me, and I bring him here and you attack him.”“I will not be spoken to like that in my house,” Richard warned, his face reddening. “Then you can’t treat Dean like this!”“This is for your own good, young lady!” Richard bellowed. “You are a gifted girl with immense promise, and you should learn very early that certain people can hold you back!”“Dad!” Lorelai chastised, her nostrils flaring. Richard stood up, tossing his napkin onto the table. “I'm sorry, excuse me, I have to work.”Rory blinked back tears as she watched him leave, before standing up, too. “Thank you for the dinner and the gift, Grandma, but I really think we should be going.”“Thanks.” Dean glanced away from Rory’s retreating back to Emily’s stunned face. “Sorry.”“Yeah, Jules, let’s go,” Lorelai agreed, placing her napkin onto her chair as she stood. “Thanks for dinner, Mom.”“See you next week,” Juliet said softly. Emily managed a wan smile at her daughters as they left, before she finally stood from her chair to blow out the candles on the dinner table.As she climbed her porch steps, Lorelai turned to Dean, who had been silent all the way from Hartford. “Hey, do you wanna come in and have some dessert? You never did get your Twinkie.”Dean laughed weakly. “Uh, no thanks. I think I should get going.” “Are you sure?” Rory asked, her brow creased in sympathy. He nodded. “Yeah.”“I’m so sorry,” Juliet said softly. “That he used me and my job to–”“It’s okay.” Dean cut her off with a tired smile. He sniffed, wiping his nose. “Uh, I should go.”“We’ll meet you inside,” Lorelai told her daughter, ushering her sister up the rest of the stairs. She closed the door behind them and blew out a huge breath. “God, poor Dean.”“I know,” Juliet agreed quietly. “I mean, the way he broke up with her wasn’t cool, but . . .”“He didn’t deserve that,” Lorelai finished, pursing her lips. “He’s her first boyfriend. They’re sixteen. It’s not like she announced they were hopping a plane to Vegas and getting married by the first Elvis impersonator they could get their hands on. But because he doesn’t get perfect grades, and he’s not going to Yale, he’s not good enough to even breathe the same air as her.”Juliet shrugged sadly. “Yeah, well, Dad’s a snob. They both are, but . . .”“Dad was in especially fine form tonight,” Lorelai finished, tossing her purse onto the coffee table as she sank onto the couch. She scoffed. “I can’t believe the way he talked about your job. Like there was no way the niece of a doctor could commingle with a mere bag boy. ”Juliet rolled her eyes as she sat beside her sister. “They only care that I’m a doctor when they can use it against someone.”“So, did you and Max talk?” Lorelai asked, changing the subject. “Yeah.” Juliet shrugged again with a slightly wistful smile. “He was disappointed, but he understood.”Lorelai brushed a lock of her hair from her sister’s forehead. “You guys are still moving in together, right?”Juliet nodded. “May 31st, officially, but we’re moving my stuff over little by little.” She turned to Lorelai with a tiny smile. “I need to paint my old apartment before I leave if you know anyone who likes doing that.”Lorelai gasped, hugging the younger woman to her. “I can sing my painting songs!”Juliet laughed, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder, then craned her neck slightly to glance up at her. “What about you? How was the date?”Lorelai beamed down at her. “Oh, Jules.” She shook her head, letting out a giddy laugh. “It was amazing. Like, can't-eat, can't-sleep, reach-for-the-stars, over-the-fence, World Series kind of amazing.”“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Juliet smiled, settling back against her shoulder. “Good. I’m happy for you.”“Good,” Lorelai echoed, resting her cheek against her hair. “Because if tonight was any indication, I doubt Mom and Dad will be.”