Lorelai, Charlotte and Rory were sitting at a table in Luke's with books spread open in front of them.

"Where's the ladies room? More coffee, please. Does Antonio Banderas live near here?" Lorelai said.

"We do not need to know how to say, 'Does Antonio Banderas live near here?'" Rory rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes we do." Lorelai grinned.

"Mom..." Rory said.

"When we're in Spain, we need to know how to say, 'Does Antonio Banderas live near here?' When in France, Does Johnny Depp live near here?'" Lorelai grinned.

"Good point!" Charlotte grinned.

"When in Rome, 'Does Gore Vidal live near here?'" Rory joked.

Charlotte smirked as Lorelai just looked at her. "You know, you look like me, yet my ways are completely lost on you." She said. "Come on, honey, put that down. You've been studying all day."

"I can't put it down, we've got finals coming up!" Rory said.

"Then how come your sister can spare some time?" Lorelai asked.

"Because I didn't leave the studying until the last minute like some people." Charlotte smirked.

"I just like to know I definitely know everything." Rory rolled her eyes.

"You know everything." Charlotte said.

"Come on, you have a piece of pie sitting there that you've been completely ignoring." Lorelai said.

"Just let me get to the end of this chapter." Rory said.

"Oh, fine. Hey, how important do you think it is to be able to say, 'Help, I'm bleeding from the head?'" Lorelai asked.

"Just bring the phrase books." Rory said.

"No. If we learn all the phrases we need, then the phrase books are one less thing we have to lug around."

"We will never be able to learn all the phrases in every language that we're going to need. Bring the books."

"Coffee?" A familiar voice said next to them.

Charlotte grinned up at Jess. "God yes! I need it being part of this family."

"Hey!" Lorelai said indignantly.

Charlotte grinned at her and started drinking the coffee Jess poured for her.

"So..uh..you free tomorrow night?" Jess asked.

"Should be. Why?" Charlotte asked.

"Meet me at Miss Patty's at 6." He said.

"Miss Patty's? Why?" Charlotte asked confused.

"Just be there. I'll explain everything then." Jess said.

"Ok. I'll see you there then." Charlotte said.

Jess nodded and walked off just as Lane entered the diner. "They're here, I've got them." She said sitting down with them.

"You've got what?" Lorelai asked.

"The brochures for my college." Lane said.

"You seem chipper." Lorelai smiled.

"I am. I have decided to make this whole Seventh Day Adventist College experience a good one. I'm going to look on the bright side, find the silver lining, and make myself some lemonade." Lane smiled.

"Good for you." Charlotte smiled. "And you can always come visit me and Rory at Yale."

"Doubt it. My mom knows they have boys there." Lane sighed.

"Bummer." Charlotte said.

"The campus looks pretty." Rory said.

"Very pretty." Lorelai nodded agreeing.

"It's got two huge parks with gardens and lakes." Lane said.

"Two parks." Lorelai repeated.

"One for boys and one for girls." Lane nodded.

"Huh..." Rory said.

"And you know, I had originally thought that this was going to be a suffocating place with out of date rules and insane restrictions, but boy was I wrong. For example, curfew is up to 9:30. 9:45 if you're going for your Masters. Makeup will be permitted, as long as it identically matches your skin tone. And owning a Rolling Stones CD is no longer grounds for expulsion. You can work the demerits off in the campus clean-up crew." Lane said.

"There's a separate park for boys?" Lorelai asked.

"My life is over." Lane sighed.

"Oh no, no I didn't say that!" Lorelai said.

"You didn't have to." Lane said before getting up and leaving.

"Well done mom!" Charlotte smirked.

"Well, it is over." Lorelai said.

"It's not over." Rory rolled her eyes.

"Every kid in that brochure was awkward and panicked. It looked like the Academy Award audience during Michael Moore's speech." Lorelai exclaimed.

"Hey, why don't you add the phrase, 'Just sit there and look pretty' to that list of yours there, ok? I've got to go back to studying." Rory said.

The following morning, Lorelai walked down the steps carrying her shoes. She quietly walked to the kitchen and filled up the coffeepot with water, then walked over to the coffee maker just as Charlotte walked out of her bedroom.

"Hey." She said.

"Oh! Oh god, Charlotte, you scared me!" Lorelai exclaimed startled.

"Sorry." Charlotte said.

"I've been sneaking around here like an idiot trying not to wake you up."

"I've been up for hours." She shrugged.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because your other daughter set the alarm for 5 so that she could study." Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"I realised last night that at this rate, I will never finish all the work I have to do." Rory said appearing from their bedroom.

"What work?"

"What work? What work, she asks!" Rory exclaimed.

"Well, you know me, takes a little while to catch up." Lorelai said.

"Here." Rory said handing her a list.

"Things to do before graduation. A list, of course." Lorelai read. "Study for finals, senior breakfast, senior awards, finish final edition of the Franklin, organise a new student government, convince Paris to give up student gavel..."

"Oh, and I forgot, man the yearbook distribution table this afternoon at the stupid Senior Palooza. Unbelievable!" Rory exclaimed writing that down on the list.

"Well, I'll be manning the Booster Club Grad Night table at the same time so we can feel stupid and abused together." Lorelai joked.

"I can't finish all this and sleep at the same time." Rory said.

"You have to sleep, it's what keeps you pretty." Lorelai joked.

"Who cares if I'm pretty if I fail my finals?" She exclaimed.

"Rory, you're not going to fail. You're like the smartest person at the school." Charlotte tried to reassure her.

"It's alright for you! You read something once and you have this photographic memory of it!" Rory exclaimed.

"Rory..." Charlotte said softly.

"This shifting back and forth seems to produce better results." Rory said.

"I think you're pushing yourself too hard." Lorelai said.

"I have to!" Rory exclaimed.

"Ror..." Charlotte sighed.

"Yeah ok..." Rory sighed.

"Just relax a bit. You'll be fine." Charlotte smiled.

"Thanks." Rory said quietly.

Charlotte returned home from school that afternoon to find her mom on the phone. She listened quietly until Lorelai hung up the phone. She heard her groan so she walked in. "So no financial aid?" She asked.

"Geez, Charlotte! Make a noise!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Sorry." Charlotte said. "Yale's not giving us financial aid?"

"No.." Lorelai admitted.

"I don't understand, what happened?" Charlotte asked.

"Well, irony of ironies, the money I got from your grandpa took us out of the running for financial aid because it made it look like we have money." Lorelai said.

"Well, send them proof, a bank statement, a letter from Grandpa! Here, take a picture of this couch, no one will think we have money after looking at this couch!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"I tried everything, I swear." Lorelai sighed.

"So what are we going to do?"

"Well we'll just have to use your Grandpa's money." Lorelai said.

"No way! That's for your inn! You were going to open your own inn with Sookie!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"You two are my priorities." Lorelai said softly. "Sookie and I can wait."

"This sucks! This totally sucks!" Charlotte sighed.

"I know..." Lorelai said.

Charlotte sighed. "Anyway, I better get changed. I'm meeting Rory to go and help Grandma choose her graduation outfit. And then I've got this thing with Jess this evening."

"Ok hon." Lorelai said.

"You're still collecting us from Grandma's right?"

"Sure." She nodded.

"Good. See you then." Charlotte said giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't use Grandpa's money yet. Let's think about it for a bit. There must be another option."

"Charlie, I've thought..." Lorelai said softly.

"Well then give me a day. Please?"

"Ok." She sighed. "Hey Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you not tell Rory just yet? I just...she's freaking out as it is about her finals. I don't want her stressing about this either." She said.

"Yeah you're probably right." Charlotte sighed.

"Thanks hon."

"See you later!"

"Bye sweets."

At the Gilmore Mansion, Charlotte and Rory were sat on the couch as Emily walked down the steps into the living room.

"Well, I'm exhausted. I feel as if I've tried on every dress in town." She exclaimed dramatically.

"So is it the blue?" Rory asked.

"Yes, I think it's the blue. I think it's quite suitable for my granddaughters' graduation." Emily smiled.

Just then Lorelai walked in. "Hey guys! Hi mom." Lorelai smiled.

"Hey." Rory smiled.

"Hi mom!" Charlotte smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Emily accused, causing Charlotte and Rory to exchange a glance. They knew things had been tense ever since their mom had paid back the money for Chilton.

"I just came to pick Rory and Charlotte up." Lorelai said calmly.

"You should've seen all the clothes that Grandma tried on today." Charlotte smiled trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah?" Lorelai said.

"She picked out a beautiful blue dress for the graduation." Rory smiled.

"Aw, I'd like to see that, Mom." Lorelai said.

"It needs to be altered." Emily said stiffly.

"Oh, sure. I'll see it at graduation, I guess." Lorelai said. She stood awkwardly for a moment. "So I'm sorry I didn't give you advanced notice that I was coming over."

"I don't need advanced notice, Lorelai." Emily said.

"Ok, you just seem tense." She said.

"No, I'm just tired. And busy. I have a very busy evening ahead of me."

"Oh, I'm sure you do."

The maid suddenly appeared at the doorway. "Dinner's ready, Mrs. Gilmore." She said.

"No, it's not." Emily said.

"I just checked it and it's..." The maid said confused.

"I was in there ten minutes ago and it still had another forty minutes to go." Emily said.

"But it's really brown and..."

"Lupe, please do not argue with me. It's not ready. Now go in there and make the salad." She said. She realised the maid was still stood there. "What?"

"The salad's ready."

"Lupe!" Emily exclaimed causing the maid to go back to the kitchen.

"Mom, it's seven o'clock." Lorelai said confused.

"So?"

"That's your dinnertime." She pointed out.

"I don't have a dinnertime, Lorelai."

"You don't have a dinnertime?"

"No, I don't." Emily said stiffly.

"So all the years I grew up in this house, we did not sit down to dinner at exactly seven o'clock every single night?" Lorelai asked.

"No."

"I just imagined that?"

"Lorelai, I don't know what your obsession with dinnertime is!" Emily exclaimed exasperated.

"My obsession with dinnertime is that it was always at seven o'clock. Now all of a sudden, it's not. Is it because I'm here?" Lorelai asked defensively.

"That's ridiculous!"

"It is. I'm here, and if you served dinner, Miss Manners would insist that you invite me to stay and you don't want to, so you're going to pretend that dinner is suddenly whenever you feel like it." Lorelai said slightly hurt.

"Lorelai, do not get dramatic. Dinner is not ready, and even if it was, I would still not be able to invite you to stay because your father and I have plans tonight. We are eating quickly and then leaving." She said.

"To go where?"

"The Thompsons."

"For what?"

"Book club."

"What book?"

"Lovely Bones."

"This is crazy." Charlotte whispered to Rory who just nodded in agreement.

"Did you like it?" Lorelai continued.

"It's not my taste but I respect the attempt."

"Now I know where I get it from." Lorelai commented.

"We'll have dinner another time, alright?"

"Uh...so, are you kicking us out?" Lorelai asked.

"I told you we have plans."

"Or do you just want to get that dinner of yours that's been ready for ten minutes now on the table?" She asked.

"Lorelai, please!" Emily said.

"Tell me this, if I couldn't stay but Rory and Charlotte could, would you want them to?" Lorelai asked.

"Of course I would, but as I told you, your father and I have plans." Emily said.

"So they can't stay even if I'm gone?"

"No, they can't."

Just then Richard came to the doorway. "Emily, for heaven's sake, it's 7:10! Why aren't we eating?" He asked.

"Oh, hi Dad! Listen...uh... Charlotte and Rory were going to stay for dinner if you guys don't have plans." Lorelai said.

"Of course we don't have any plans. Oh, I'm thrilled, they're staying! You just livened up a very boring night in the Gilmore house." Richard smiled happily.

Lorelai looked at her mother and just shook her head. "Enjoy your dinner. And Mom, get yourself an agent because you're wasting that talent of yours in dinner theatre." She said before leaving.

"Mom, wait!" Charlotte exclaimed and her and Rory rushed after her. "Mom, wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to drive in a circle backwards really fast to reverse the Earth's orbit to go back in time to before I made the insane decision to come here in the first place." Lorelai said dryly.

"You came here to pick us up." Rory pointed out.

"What was I thinking doing that?" Lorelai shook her head.

"You were thinking, 'Hey, wouldn't it be great for my daughters not to have to walk all the way back to Stars Hollow!'" Charlotte said.

"Well, a thirty-mile hike never hurt anyone. God, I can't believe her!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"And I can't believe you!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Why?" She asked confused.

"You were going to leave us here!"

"So you could have dinner with them."

"We never said we wanted to have dinner with them! You said we wanted to have dinner with them and then you stormed out. You forget that I have that thing with Jess tonight so I can't stay even if I wanted to." Charlotte said.

"Ok, I'm sorry." Lorelai sighed. "I just...I finally realised that I can't do this anymore. I can't come back here anymore, I'm done." She said.

"Well, we're sorry. We never should've asked you to pick us up." Rory said.

"It's ok. It's good, actually. Now I can stop feeling guilty for not talking to them. I can go back to the way things were before. We share a nose and that's it." Lorelai sighed.

"So we're going?" Charlotte checked.

"Yes, we're going." Lorelai said.

"Ok, we have to go get my books. Please be here when we come back." Charlotte said and her and Rory walked back inside.

"Are you staying?" Emily asked when she saw them come back in.

"No, we have to go, Grandma." Rory said.

"Alright, I guess we'll just see you at graduation then." Emily said.

"I guess you will." Charlotte said.

"I swear, I don't know what to do with that mother of yours, I really don't. Everything has to be such a scene!" She exclaimed.

They picked up their bags and turned to their grandmother. "I think you're being really stupid." Rory said.

"Really stupid!" Charlotte added before following Rory out of the house, leaving Emily stood there stunned.

That evening, Charlotte walked up the steps to Miss Patty's. She opened the door and frowned when it was dark inside. "What the...Jess?" She said confused. Suddenly the lights were turned on and Charlotte stood, stunned, as she looked round the room. There were music speakers and snacks on a table at the side and balloons everywhere. She was also surprised to see along with Jess, Lane and Dave and the band were there and also Rory and Tristan. "What's going on?" She asked.

"I thought we could have our own prom." Jess said. "I felt bad that we couldn't go to the real thing and I wanted to make it up to you."

"But I thought we were just going to do something on the night." Charlotte said.

"Yeah but then I thought you'd want Lane and Rory here as well so I arranged this so they could come." Jess said.

"You did all this? For me?" Charlotte asked touched.

"Yeah." Jess said putting his hands in his pockets self consciously. "Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding? I love it!" Charlotte smiled. "And I love you." She said softly, going over and kissing him. "I can't believe you did all this for me."

"Yeah, well...you deserve it." He shrugged. On cue, the band started playing and Jess held his hand out. "May I have this dance?" He asked.

Charlotte grinned. "I don't know. Do you have a trust fund?"

"Sorry." He smirked, thinking back to the first time they'd danced together.

"Ah well, I'll take the chance anyway!" She grinned taking his hand and let Jess lead her round the floor.

A while later, Charlotte was stood at the side when Rory and Tristan came over to her.

"So do you like it?" Rory asked.

"Did you know about this?" Charlotte asked.

"Guilty." Rory smiled sheepishly. "You don't know how hard it was to hide it from you. But Jess wanted it to be special so needed it to be a surprise."

Charlotte smiled as she glanced over at Jess who was talking to the band . "I can't believe he did all this for me." She said softly.

"He loves you." Rory smiled.

"Yeah. I know." Charlotte smiled self consciously. She then turned to them. "So you two are ok now then?" She asked.

Rory smiled and took hold of Tristan's hand, smiling at him. "Yeah, we're good." She said.

"Good. Because I didn't want to have to kick your ass." Charlotte smirked at Tristan.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have liked that either." He chuckled.

"But just as a warning, if you mess her around again, I won't hesitate in doing so." Charlotte joked.

"Duly noted." He smirked.

"Uh...hi..." Jess' voice came through the microphone stopping their conversation. "Hi." He repeated seeing he had their attention. "I've been working on this for a while so I..uh..want to thank Lane and the band for practising it with me. So..uh..here goes!" He said nervously, before putting his guitar around him and starting to strum along to Don't You (Forget About Me). When he reached the chorus, he looked over at Charlotte.

Don't you forget about me

Don't don't don't don't

Don't you forget about me

Charlotte watched and could feel her eyes getting moist as she watched Jess grow in confidence and sing with such passion and emotion. After he finished, Charlotte went over to him and hugged him tightly. "I will never forget about you." She said emotionally. "This, you and me, this will never end. No matter what." She said.

Jess held tightly. "I love you." He said quietly.

"Right back at ya." Charlotte gave him a tremulous smile and kissed him.

"Right, let's jolly this up a bit!" Lane said through the mic and then the band started to play a more upbeat song.

Charlotte laughed and held out her hand. "May I have this dance?"

"I don't know. Do you have a trust fund?" Jess smirked.