A/N: Lol, let's try this again. Thankfully, it's not blank this time. I didn't even know you could publish blank chapters. I was half-asleep when I unknowningly hit publish instead of save.

And I made a manip that included Georgia this time.

Richard was off somewhere, so it left the three to eat dinner alone.

Emily asked, "How's the meal?"

"Tasty," Rory said.

"The peppers remind me of a story Sage told me. His mom was cutting up some peppers and then accidentally touched her eyes and started crying so he came in to see what happened, and then she touched his eyes and his mom had to drive them to the hospital while the both of them were crying," Thea explained.

Lorelai, Rory, and Emily were staring at her.

"Yeah, the food is very tasty." Lorelai asked, "New cook?"

"Yes, Marisella," Emily said. "She's introduced us to some wonderful dishes so charmingly specific to her native country."

Lorelai asked, "What country is she from?"

"One of those little ones next to Mexico," Emily said.

Lorelai sarcastically said, "How charmingly specific."

"Is she from Belize?" Thea said, "Because that country is smaller compared to Guatemala."

"Yeah, that might be Belize, because it is smaller," Rory told her. "It's too bad Grandpa's not here though. He likes weird food."

"Central American food's not that weird," Thea said confused.

Lorelai asked, "Where is he eating his weird food tonight? Argentina? Morocco?"

"Akron," Emily said.

Rory asked, "Ohio?"

"Yes," Emily replied.

"Get out of here," Lorelai said.

"I will not get out of here," Emily said, offended.

"No, Mom," Lorelai started. "I didn't mean really get out of here, I mean—"

"Why is Grandpa in Akron?" interrupted Rory.

"I don't know," Emily replied.

"It was just a saying," Lorelai continued with her bit.

"They sent him to deal with some problem with their local office down there," Emily said.

"A saying, you know, like 'save me' or 'get me out of here.' Things like that," Lorelai continued explaining her bit.

Emily said, "Lorelai, would you like me to put a mirror in front of you so you can look at yourself while you have this conversation?"

"Sorry, Dad's in Akron," Lorelai said.

"Yes." Emily explained, "The amenities are atrociously lacking. He had to eat at a coffee shop last night. The whole thing's terribly insulting. He's miserable."

Rory said, "I hate that he's miserable."

Thea was feeling miserable and nobody cared.

"So do I," Emily said. "We really ought to do something."

"Yes, I agree," Rory said.

"Warning, warning," Lorelai said.

"I'm glad to hear you say that Rory, because I thought of a wonderful way to cheer him up," Emily said.

Rory asked, "Cool, what?"

Lorelai said, "Danger, Will Robinson, danger!"

Thea looked at her.

"An oil portrait of you for his study," Emily said.

Thea was confused, "An oil portrait of Rory will make him happy?"

"I tried," Lorelai said. "Have fun."

"It could hang right over his mantle," Emily said. "He'd just love it."

"Well, I guess that would be okay," Rory said, still a little confused.

"Oh, Mom, please, don't make her do this," Lorelai said.

"She just said she would," Emily replied.

"Fine, paint the picture, but don't make her sit and pose for it," Lorelai said. "Paint it from a photo."

"Yeah, Mom has loads of pictures of Rory to pick from," Thea said.

Emily seemed disgusted, "A photo? That's what they do at malls."

"I'll sit," Rory said. "It's fine."

"Just because your own experience sitting for a portrait was bad doesn't mean Rory's has to be," Emily said.

Rory said, "What portrait? I haven't seen this."

"They never finished," Lorelai said with a smirk.

"Three painters started and all three quit," Emily said.

"Why did they quit?" asked Rory.

"She wouldn't stop scowling," Emily said.

"I was going for a Billy Idol thing," Lorelai told her.

"The one from Italy had some sort of breakdown," Emily explained.

Thea rolled her eyes and Rory, horrified, said, "Oh my god."

"Hey, it didn't hurt Van Gogh," Lorelai defended herself. "The guy should thank me."

"A year later, I swear I saw him rummaging through our recyclables," Emily said.

"Well, I'm happy to sit." Rory said, "If it's for Grandpa, why not?"

"Wonderful," Emily said. "I'll set it up first thing in the morning."

"Psst," Lorelai said. "If you want, I can teach you the Billy Idol. Most people focus on the lip thing, but the eyes are just as import—"

Emily interrupted that statement by slamming the salt shaker on the table.

Jess showed up to school late, which was something that Libby didn't question him on, because she wasn't Luke or Aunt Liz.

Thea was sure that Jess was thankful for that.

So at lunch, they gathered around their usual table.

"We need to do something tonight," Aiden said.

"I need to work at the bakery," Thea said. "Fran has a bum hip again." She was worried that Fran's time was coming to an end, but at least Thea knew that Fran seemed to be planning on giving her the Dragonfly and bakery when the time came.

Craig sat down at their and Jess looked at the red-haired boy, almost confused.

"Jess, that's Craig," Libby told Jess.

"Hey," Jess greeted.

"Hey," Craig replied in his deep voice that even Jess looked baffled at. "My dad finally finished building his pirate ship. He plans on sailing it in the lake to piss off Doose."

Sage asked, "Your dad built a pirate ship?"

"Well, it's not really a pirate ship, but it's like a boat he started building while I was in juvie because he was bored," Craig explained.

Jess asked, "What did you do to get into juvie?"

"Dude," Libby started.

"I aided and abetted a murderer," Craig told him.

Thea realized something, "If you were in juvie for five years, how did you order pizza when you were thirteen?"

"I snuck into the receptionist area because the guards accidentally overlooked me," Craig explained.

Todd seemed confused, "What happened?"

"A person did show up with a lot of pizza and the police officers didn't give us any," Craig said. "I got in trouble for that, but I think all of them were amused though."

"You, my dad, and Todd's mom should start a Former Convicts Club," Aiden told Craig. "See who comes out of the woodwork with that. It might just surprise you."

After school, Thea got her answer on why Jess was late to school on her way to the bakery.

Someone had taped off Doose's Market and drew a chalk outline of a man on the sidewalk as well.

Honestly? It was obvious fake, but Doose didn't think so.

"Just try to calm down, Taylor," a policewoman said to Doose.

"Calm down? Why should I calm down?" asked Taylor.

Bootsy, the newsstand owner, added, "Yeah, why should he calm down?"

"I want action, not words," Taylor said.

"Yeah, action not words," Bootsy added, probably because he thought Doose needed an echo.

Doose asked him, "Don't you need to get back to your newsstand, Bootsy?"

"No buddy, I'm all yours," Bootsy said.

Mother of god, maybe Bootsy and Doose were hooking up, Thea thought.

The policewoman said, "We're gonna get to the bottom of this, I promise you."

"A crime was committed right in front of my store," Doose said.

"Now, we can't say that for sure yet," the policewoman told him.

"How come you can't say that for sure? This is a police tape," Doose said. "You're the police, you own the tape!"

"Taylor, we've contacted everyone in the precinct," the policewoman said. "No one knows anything about this."

Doose said, "Well, what am I supposed to do? I've got a dead body right in front of my store!"

"No, you have a chalk outline of a dead body in front of your store," the policewoman countered.

"Meaning that there were two crimes," Bootsy added.

The policewoman seemed confused by that statement, "What?"

"What do you mean 'what?' Somebody got murdered, then somebody stole the body," Bootsy said. "It's open and shut. Bing bang boom."

The policewoman asked, "Is this your son?"

"I should say not," Doose said, disgusted.

"Oh," Bootsy said.

"Look, my partner's doing a headcount to see if anyone in town is missing," the policewoman said. "Until then, just hang tight." She took off.

Rory and Lane went up to Dean to talk. Lane ended up taking off after a few minutes.

The policewoman walked up to Taylor, "Everyone's accounted for Taylor. It looks like this is just an elaborate prank."

Well obviously.

"But it looks so real," Doose said. "Where'd they get the police tape?"

"Kids have their ways," the policewoman replied.

Doose asked, "Who'd be depraved enough to pull a stupid prank like this?"

"Hard to say," the policewoman said.

Thea spotted Jess leaning against a lamppost, smirking at the scene he created.

"I feel weird knowing that it's like my mom is expecting Fran to drop dead at any moment," Sage told Thea.

Thea, Aiden, and Sage were in Sage's room together. Thea was doing math homework in a notebook while Aiden was reading a book for English class.

Thea was confused and a little hurt that Sookie was waiting for Fran to die. She asked, "What?"

"Lorelai and my mom went to the bakery the other day to try and get Fran to sign the Dragonfly over to them but Fran refused," Sage explained. "I found my mom looking up angina and I was confused because I thought she was looking up something completely different."

Aiden snickered, "I bet."

Sage grabbed the nearest weapon, which was a pastel blue stuffed bunny plush, and threw it at Aiden, "Hey, screw you too, man."

Thea and Aiden had matching bunnies, but Thea's was pink with a bow and Aiden's was a green color. Aiden had seen them in a shop and bought three of them as their one year anniversary present.

"Oh, hey, no need to be a dick about it," Aiden said.

Thea sighed and rolled her eyes because boys were so weird. Sometimes she wondered why she was dating two of them, but she loved them and she liked having sex, especially with them at the same time.

Aiden wrapped one arm around Thea's waist and moved them so they were lying down on the bed. Aiden moved so he was top of Thea and started kissing her.

Of course Thea felt the bed move because Sage decided to join in.

Thea held a tray that had saran wrap covering some caramel apple cookies as she walked down the sidewalk with Georgia.

"I don't know," Georgia replied. "That's the thing about pears, right?"

"I guess so," Thea said.

Jess had come up to them, "What's the thing about pears?"

Georgia asked, "does it matter?"

"It apparently does if pears have this thing about them," Jess replied. "You two shouldn't be here, because I hear this is a pretty dangerous corner."

Georgia said to Thea, "It's so weird to see that the guy, who pulls fire alarms and steals baseballs and innocent garden gnomes, is actually caring about us."

"Hey, I just want to make sure that two pretty girls are safe from the murder corner," Jess replied.

"So the Tin Man does have a heart and feelings," Georgia replied.

Jess gave her a look, "Of course I do."

"And yet you don't care about your own uncle's and cousin's feelings," Georgia added.

Jess said, "Of course I care about Belle's feelings."

"You have a funny way of showing it because you brought the whole damn town down on them," Georgia stated.

Of course, Thea didn't really pay attention to the meeting, but the whole town seemed ready to get pitchforks and torches.

Jess asked, "Really? How did I do that?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Georgia said. "You know what you did."

"I'm not really familiar with the blue book laws in this town, so you can be talking about a lot of things. Dropping a gum wrapper, strolling arm in arm with a member of the opposite sex on a Sunday." Georgia pointed at the chalk outline, "Ah. What about it?"

"The whole town had a meeting about you," Georgia said.

"You actually went to that bizarro town meeting? Those things are so To Kill a Mockingbird,'" Jess told her.

"Of course I went. Luke and Libby went there. And when they showed up, everyone started ganging up on them because they want you gone," Georgia said.

Jess deadpanned, "Wow, bummer."

"And they're both yelling at everyone and defending you and Luke paid Doose back for his stupid lettuce losses," Georgia said.

"Wait," Jess said, "his what?"

"And you made them both pariahs," Georgia said. "And you clearly don't give a damn."

"I didn't say that," Jess replied.

"You don't have to," Georgia replied. "Your actions speak louder than words. All they do is stick up for you and you make their lives harder, which is very Holden Caulfield of you. You don't want solutions, you just want problems."

"I didn't know they were coming down so hard on him," Jess stated.

"Playing dumb is not an attractive trait," Georgia said.

"Okay, I get it," Jess stated. Georgia scoffed, "No, no, I do. I get it." He paused, "So did you at least think it was funny?"

Georgia made a face which let Thea know that Georgia had thought it was funny. Georgia was the type of person that found pranks funny, as long as there wasn't a victim and no one got hurt.

"It was kind of funny," Thea replied.

Rory was watching the interaction and Dean came out of the market.

"I got it," Dean said to Rory. He noticed Georgia, Thea, and Jess. "Oh, uh, hey."

"Um, Dean," Rory started. "I don't think you two have met. This is Jess. This is Dean."

"Are you one of Rory's boyfriends? Because I know Thea has two, so I figure that Rory might have two as well," Jess said.

Dean seemed confused by that question.

"No, I just have one," Rory replied quickly. "I'm not into that stuff like Thea is."

Georgia and Thea both took off while Jess was distracted.

The Friday Night Dinner was going to be excruciating because Emily had that oil portrait done of Rory.

When they got to the front door, Rory said, "I wonder if Grandpa's still in Akron?"

"Well, for Akron's sake, I hope he's moved on to Boise," Lorelai said and rang the doorbell.

A different maid answered the door.

Lorelai said to the maid, "Hi. We're the daughter and granddaughters." They walked inside the house and started taking off their overcoats.

"You are majorly crabby," Rory told Lorelai.

"I just have a headache," Lorelai told her.

It doesn't mean you have to be crabby about it. Just take some Tylenol and move on with your day.

Emily came in, "Oh, good! Come, come, come, it's all done, and it's great." She led Lorelai and Rory to the study.

Thea followed even though she didn't want to see the painting. Of course, she was sure that Francine and Straub would be happy to do an oil painting of her if she asked.

When they got to the study, Emily gestured to the painting and said, "Tada!"

"Whoa," Rory said.

Emily asked, "What do you think?"

Thea wondered why the painter had Rory looking up instead of at the book she was holding.

"It's freaky," Rory said.

Thea thought it was terrifying...terrifyingly awful.

"Freaky?" asked Emily.

Rory said, "Well, just seeing me here, up on the wall like that, it's uh... I like it though. It's good, I guess. I should probably take myself out of the judging process."

Emily said, "I think Richard's just gonna love it. It's the perfect thing, don't you think?" Lorelai hummed. "You've got to admit, it turned out better than you thought it would."

"Yeah," Lorelai replied.

"Well, come on, say a little more than that," Emily said.

"It's great Mom, it's fabulous," Lorelai said. "It's just a notch below Rembrandt."

"Well, you don't have to take that attitude," Emily told her.

Lorelai said, "What do you want from me? I'd light some sparklers and jump up and down yelling 'Yay for the painting' but I'm fresh out of sparklers and my feet hurt too much to jump. But I promise next week when I have more energy, I'll write a love song for the chandelier."

Thea sighed because that was just obnoxious and Emily left the room.

"Mom," Rory told Lorelai.

Lorelai went after Emily.

Thea sat in the diner with her friends at the counter while Lorelai and Rory bantered at their own table.

Rory asked, "Luke, where's my toast?"

"Ah, it's gonna take awhile. My big toaster's broken, so I got stuck with just this dinky one," Luke replied.

Jess pushed down the handle on the big toaster and then pulled it up to show that it was working.

Luke messed with the handle, asking, "How did that happen?"

"You're gonna break it," Jess told him.

"It was broken before," Luke told him.

"Well it must've got better," Jess replied.

"Inanimate objects don't usually get better," Luke said. "Did you fix this?"

"Please," Jess replied, like he was above such acts of fixing things.

"Jess..." Luke started.

"I have no idea what you're babbling about," Jess said. "I don't fix things."

Luke started, "But yesterday—"

"I got school," Jess interrupted and grabbed some stuff before leaving.

Georgia just smiled because it seemed like he took some stuff she said to heart.