Lorelai walked through the front door to the Crap Shack the next morning. "I'm back!" She called.

"We're in the kitchen!" Charlotte called.

"Ok! So I couldn't make up my mind so I got both 'The Shining' and 'Bringing Up Baby.' Now, I know you're thinking that one's a movie about a homicidal parent and the other one's about...hello..." She said as she walked in and saw Sookie, Rory and Charlotte standing in front of the kitchen table.

"Hi." Sookie said with a nervous smile.

"Hi Mom." Rory smiled just as nervously.

"Ok, what did you break?" She joked.

"Nothing." Sookie said quickly.

"Well, the broiler. But this came for you and Max." She said as her, Rory and Charlotte moved out of the way revealing a wrapped present on the table.

"We're thinking it's a wedding present." Charlotte said quietly.

"Huh." Lorelai said checking the tag on it. "Yep. Lorelai Gilmore and Max Medina. Well, I guess news doesn't always travel fast."

"Are you going to open it?" Sookie asked.

"No." Lorelai said.

"But aren't you curious at all?" Sookie asked.

"No!" Lorelai said. "Just leave it there. I'll take it back tomorrow."

"But there's not a return address." Rory pointed out.

"Well isn't there a card with it?" Lorelai asked.

"Nope." Rory said. "Oh, maybe there's one inside."

"Rory..." Charlotte said.

"With the return address on it." Sookie added. "But that means you would have to open it to find out."

"You don't have to mom." Charlotte said.

"Why are you siding with her?" Rory asked Charlotte.

"Because this is obviously hard for her!" Charlotte pointed out.

"It's fine, give me a knife." Lorelai said trying to avoid an argument between her daughters. She cut open the package and then teared off the paper.

"Oh cool, an ice cream maker!" Rory exclaimed. Even Charlotte looked impressed.

"It's a Musso Lussino 480!" Sookie exclaimed excitedly.

"Somebody sent me a fascist ice cream maker?" Lorelai frowned.

"It's an Italian design with a stainless steel body and a chrome finish." Sookie exclaimed.

"And no card. Perfect." Lorelai sighed.

"Jackson just got in his apple crop! Ooh, we can make cider ice cream!" Sookie said.

"Yes we can. Using his ice cream maker." Lorelai said. "Il Duce here is going back."

"To where? Maybe it's an orphan." Rory said.

"An orphan ice cream maker?" Charlotte smirked.

" She's right. We would be giving it a home." Sookie said.

"Ok, once again, this is a wedding present." Lorelai said. "And seeing as I'm not getting married, it's against the rules for me to keep this."

"But isn't there a rule about late presents?" Charlotte asked coming round to the idea of the present seeing as what it was.

"Yeah!" Sookie exclaimed. "Like if it arrives after a certain date, you don't have to return it."

"Exactly!" Rory said.

"Nice try." Lorelai smirked, amused by their tries.

"It's true!" Sookie said. "I saw it on Martha Stewart as she was doing one of those double programs and..."

"Sookie." Lorelai sighed.

"She said that if it arrives after ten weeks..."

"Ok stop now. This is a wedding present and until I find out who sent it, no one is going near it. Now come on, we're watching 'The Shining'." Lorelai said and walked out of the kitchen.

"I bet Max would have let us keep it." Sookie said quietly.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Come on." She said following her mom to the living room.

********************************

Charlotte and Rory were sat next to each other in their Shakespeare lesson at Chilton where their teacher had just told them they were going to have to perform an act from 'Romeo and Juliet' in groups and that it was a big part of their final grade. Charlotte looked round as their teacher handed out the acts and started to dread what was about to happen.

"Act five." Madeline said.

"Act five." Louise said.

"Act five?" Paris asked Rory with raised eyebrows.

"Act five." Rory sighed.

"Why don't they just sew our sides together and rename us Chang and Eng?" Paris said.

"Ooh I'm act five as well!" Charlotte said with forced enthusiasm.

They all walked out of the classroom. "Rory! Charlotte!" Henry ran up to them.

"Hi Henry!" Charlotte smiled at him.

"Hey! Act three, sword fight. You?" He asked.

"Act five, death scene." Rory said.

"Nice." He nodded. "So, uh, tonight at 8 o'clock?" He asked.

"I'll tell Lane." Rory smiled.

At that moment, Paris walked up to them. "Rory, Charlotte, sorry to interrupt. Hi Henry." She said. "See, we're all standing over there trying to work out a game plan and a rehearsal schedule for our project and I'm sure whatever the three of you are talking about over here is so much more fascinating and important. It may even be fun. But I would really like to get an A on this assignment and in order to do that, I'm afraid you're going to have to discuss whatever it is you're discussing another time, ok?" She said before walking back to Madeline and Louise.

"That was scary." Henry said.

"Try having her in your class." Charlotte joked.

"She's going to be a lot scarier when she gets an megaphone in her hands." Rory sighed. "Bye Henry." She said before her and Charlotte joined Paris, Madeline and Louise.

"So, I think we should meet in the cafeteria. The acoustics are good and similar to the Grand Hall, and..." She stopped noticing Rory and Charlotte stood next to her. "Oh, well look who decided to show up."

"Sorry." Rory said sarcastically.

"Save it." Paris said.

"Well, well, well, look who's back from suspension." Louise suddenly said her gaze moving past them and looking down the corridor.

"Tristan got suspended again?" Rory asked.

"Like you hadn't noticed he'd been gone." Charlotte smirked, receiving a glare from her sister in return.

"What did he do?" Rory asked the others.

"Took apart Mr. McCaffey's car and put it back together in the science building hallway." Madeline told her.

"You're kidding." Rory had to laugh.

"Yeah but he didn't do it by himself. Duncan and Bowman were there too." Louise said.

"Plus the mechanics that they paid to actually do the work." Madeline said.

"Well anyone stupid enough to hang out with Butch Cassidy and the Sun-dunce kid deserves whatever they get." Paris scowled.

"How did he fall in with those guys?" Rory asked glancing down at the guys Tristan was joking around with.

"The new school year started and there they were, all side by side." Madeline shrugged.

"And dressing the same." Louise said.

"Trust Tristan to get in with the troublemakers of the year." Charlotte joked, going to follow Paris, Madeline and Louise but stopped when she had noticed Rory stop and look down the corridor. "Hey, you coming?" She asked.

"What? Oh yeah." Rory said turning round and following Charlotte.

*******************************

The following day, Charlotte and Rory walked over to a table where Madeline, Louise, and another boy were sitting. "Hey." Rory said.

"Hey." Madeline said.

"We're the Monkees." Louise and Charlotte said in unison before grinning at each other.

"Where's Paris?" Rory asked.

"She'll be here in a minute. She said she had to go get some things." Madeline said.

"Hi!" Charlotte smiled sitting in between Rory and the boy at the table. "I'm Charlotte and this is Rory." She said.

"I'm Brad. From the third period Shakespeare." He replied.

"He's apparently the answer to our lack of boys problem." Louise said rolling her eyes.

Rory looked around. "Well, maybe we should start while Paris is getting whatever she's getting." She said.

"Without Paris?" Madeline said doubtfully.

"That could be lethal." Louise agreed.

"We could at least decide on what motif we want to do." Rory tried but was interrupted by Paris walking in with a box of stuff.

"We're doing traditional Elizabethan." Paris announced.

"Elizabethan? But I thought the point of this was to..." Charlotte started saying.

"The point is to get an A and not to make Romeo and Juliet into some lame Vegas lounge act." She said. "Besides, we have the death scene. It's classic and the most famous scene. Who are you?" She asked noticing Brad for the first time.

"I'm, uh, Brad. From the third period Shakespeare." He said. "Ma'am." He added causing Charlotte to smirk.

"Ok. So I want everyone to read the chapters on acting I photocopied for you all. Everyone should know it by heart by Friday and if you even try to miss a rehearsal, you better bring a coroner's note." She said placing a sword on the table.

"Please tell me you didn't just have that lying around." Rory said.

"We're short on boys." Paris continued. "So that makes you Romeo." She told Brad. "Louise, you can play the Friar..." She was saying when Tristan suddenly walked in and sat down next to Rory.

"Well, well, well! The gang's all here." He said with his trademark smirk.

"This is a meeting." Paris said stiffly.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late." He said with mock sympathy.

"What do you think you're doing?" Paris asked getting annoyed.

"Well Professor Anderson forgot to include me when she made up the groups, so she told me to pick one." Tristan said glancing at Rory and giving her a smirk.

"Fine, you have four other acts to choose from. Take your pick." Paris exclaimed.

"Yeah but Summer's in act 1, Beth and Jessica are in act 2, Kate's in act 3, and Claire, Kathy, and Mary are in act 4. So this is the only one free of ex-girlfriends." He said.

"So we're being punished for our good taste?" Paris glared at him.

"Aw Paris, you hurt me. Do you no longer have any need for me at all?" He joked.

"Yes, we have a great need! You can be our Romeo." Louise smiled triumphantly.

"Brad is Romeo!" Rory exclaimed.

"Sure he is." Louise said sarcastically. "Take an eye test. Tristan is Romeo. Brad can be the second guard on the left."

"Ooh and Rory can be Juliet!" Charlotte grinned.

"What? No!" Rory exclaimed giving her sister a death glare.

"She's kind of right, Paris." Madeline said. "Tristan was born to be Romeo."

"I'm the director and I get to decide who's born to be what, and Brad is Romeo." Paris exclaimed angrily.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Louise said under her breath.

"What?" Paris said glaring at her.

"I just think someone is letting her personal feeling interfere with her leadership." Louise said. "Tristan is Romeo. Just admit it."

"I don't want to give the most important part to someone who can't even manage to stay in school." Paris said but everyone could see she was relenting.

"I'm just going to say one thing. Fifty percent of our final grade." Louise said knowing she had Paris at that point.

"Fine, but I swear if you bail on this, you'll pray you get suspended." Paris told Tristan.

"Sure ok." Tristan said getting up. "I've got to run." He said. "Are we done here?"

"Rehearsal tonight!" Paris called after him.

"Good. So now Brad can be Friar Tuck and I can be Juliet." Louise smiled sweetly.

"Wrong." Paris said. "Charlotte's right. Rory's Juliet."

"Did Paris just agree with me? That's a first." Charlotte joked.

"Hey!" Louise protested.

"Juliet's supposed to be chaste." Paris pointed out.

"Oh." Louise said.

"Then..." Madeline said.

"And she has more than three lines."

"Oh." Madeline said losing interest.

Paris looked over at Rory. "You're Juliet."

"What, why?" Rory protested. "Why can't Charlotte be Juliet?"

"Please! I'm rubbish at learning lines. You know that." Charlotte said.

"Well what about you?" Rory asked Paris desperately.

"I'm the director." She said as if it was obvious. "You're Juliet." She repeated. "You're the best public speaker here, you've definitely got that waif thing down and you'll look great dead."

As Paris starting going onto the next order of business, Charlotte smirked at Rory. "Tristan and Rory sitting in a tree..." She sang under her breath.

*****************************

Later that day, Lorelai walked into the living room wearing the Juliet headpiece. "What dost my ladies think?" She said, causing Rory and Charlotte to look up from where they were sat in the living room.

"That you're going to be late for the joust?" Rory smirked.

"I meant what dost thy ladies think of thy lovely headdress crafted by thy mother's hand artful hand?" Lorelai grinned.

"It pleaseth us mucheth but...uh...hath my beautius mother lookedeth at the time?" Charlotte grinned.

Lorelai looked at the clock and took the headpiece off quickly. "Oh crap!" She said racing upstairs to get ready for her date. The phone rang and Rory went to answer it taking it into the living room.

Meanwhile, Charlotte felt her own cellphone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and opened the text. She sighed and put it back in her pocket. A few seconds later, Lorelai raced back downstairs just as Rory came back into the room looking stressed.

"Hey, have you seen my bag with the beads and the fur?" Lorelai asked. "Oh found it!" She said picking it up from the table in the living room.

"We're rehearsing here now." Rory said.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"Our Shakespeare group." Rory said.

"Why?" Charlotte asked confused.

"Paris didn't want anyone spying on us so now we're rehearsing in Stars Hollow." Rory said. "This sucks!" She exclaimed.

"Well, at least we don't have to drive to Hartford now." Charlotte said. "What's the problem?"

"Tristan is in our group." Rory said as if it was obvious.

"So?" Charlotte said.

"Tristan's in our group and Dean lives here and this sucks!" Rory exclaimed exasperated.

"Ok you're so going to need a few more vowels here for me for me to understand what you're going on about." Lorelai said.

"I have to tell him!" Rory said.

"Tell who?" Lorelai asked.

"Dean!"

"Dean?"

"Yes Dean! I have to tell him that Tristan and I...kissed at that stupid party." Rory said.

"Oh..." Lorelai said.

"So?" Charlotte said.

"I have no choice." Rory said. "And Dean's going to hate me!"

"You and Dean were broken up when you and Tristan kissed." Lorelai said.

"Yeah but it was the day after Dean told her he loved her." Charlotte said.

"Charlotte..." Lorelai warned.

"What? It's true." Charlotte grumbled.

"Ok just calm down." Lorelai told Rory. "I really have to go now but don't be too hasty. Dean doesn't have to know."

"He does! Because if Tristan sees Dean tonight he'll tell him!" Rory exclaimed.

"Ok calm down. Just get there early tonight so you can catch Tristan before he runs into Dean. Do the rehearsal and then say bye. No problem." Lorelai said. "Right I really have to go now."

"Mom!" Rory said.

Lorelai sighed. "Just...do what you think is best ok?" She said softly.

"I'll see you both later." She said before leaving.

Rory sighed and sat down. "What am I going to do?"

"Stop being a drama queen?" Charlotte suggested.

"Ok what's up with you?" Rory asked.

"Nothing." Charlotte said quickly.

"It's obviously not nothing. You're being mean." Rory frowned.

"Jess and I kissed." Charlotte blurted out.

Rory's eyes widened. "What? When?"

"Day before yesterday." Charlotte admitted. "I found him on the bridge after school. I was going to apologise to him for shouting at him the day before and I told him how sweet it was that he fixed the toaster for Luke. But then he started acting like a jerk again so we got into another fight..." She said.

"Ok..." Rory said confused as to where this story was going.

"I was saying how I was sick of him playing games with me and then he kissed me." Charlotte sighed, putting her head in her hands. "And I've been avoiding him ever since."

"Why have you been avoiding him?" Rory asked amused.

"Because...I don't know! I just don't know how to deal with something like this. I've never felt like this about someone before. God, I've not even known him for that long and I already feel like we're so...I don't know, connected." She said.

"Wow...you've really fallen hard." Rory said softly.

Charlotte looked up at her. "Yeah.." She admitted. "But I don't know how he feels. I don't know if he just kissed me to shut me up or whatever. And then there's mom..."

"What about mom?" Rory asked confused.

"She's going to freak when she finds out!"

"No she won't." Charlotte raised her eyebrows at her. "Ok maybe a bit. But I thought you two settled your differences about Jess. You said she respected your judgement." Rory said.

"Yeah but that was when she thought Jess was just a friend." Charlotte pointed out. "She's so going to freak and I don't know how to tell her."

"Well you have to at some point. She's going to notice at some point." Rory said.

"She's still going to freak." Charlotte said. "Remember how much she freaked when she found out about you and Dean."

"I know but she came round." Rory pointed out. "She'll come round to the idea of you and Jess as well."

"She won't. I know she won't."

Rory sighed. "Ok, now who's being the drama queen?" She joked.

Charlotte pouted. "Mean." She joked.

"Look, why don't you talk to Jess first? See how he's feeling and then if he feels the same as you, then you can think about how to tell mom. Because you have to. The longer you keep it a secret, the more hurt she'll be that you kept it from her." Rory said.

"Yeah I know." Charlotte sighed. She gave Rory a small smile. "Thanks Ror."

"What are sisters for?" Rory shrugged.

Charlotte smirked and then her face lit up. "Hey, how about I pretend to be Dean and you can practice how to tell him about you and Tristan?" She said.

"Seriously?" Rory raised her eyebrows.

"Yes seriously. Come on." Charlotte grinned sitting down on the couch next to her.

"Ok." She said rolling her eyes. "Dean..." She started.

"Yes?" Charlotte said in a deep voice.

"Charlie!" Rory exclaimed.

"Ok serious now." Charlotte smirked.

"Ok..uh...Dean, remember last year when we had broken up and we weren't together anymore because we had broken up?" She said.

"Good mention it three times. Keep going." Charlotte grinned.

"And...uh...there was this party, this Chilton party and I went and...uh...Tristan was there. And somehow, I'm not really sure how, we ended up in a room together and...we kissed." Rory said.

"You and Tristan?" Charlotte said.

"Yeah.."

"On the hand?"

"No."

"Cheek?"

"No! Charlie!"

"He kissed you or you kissed him?" Charlotte continued.

"Kind of both."

"So you kissed him?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"I already told you three times! When we were broken up!" Rory exclaimed.

"Ok, word of advice? Not a good idea to yell at him right now." Charlotte said.

"Sorry."

"When during the break up?" Charlotte continued.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how long after we broke up did you kiss Tristan?"

"Uh...the night after..."

"You mean the night after I told you I loved you?"