On Monday, Thea really regretted her decision to do that 24 hour dance marathon, but seeing the trophy and knowing that she accomplished something her mother hadn't yet, made it worth it.

Although seeing Kirk sobbing face-down in his pancakes made her feel bad, then she remembered how last year how Kirk was parading his trophy around to gloat, so she spared everyone the annoyance of him doing that.

However she wasn't expecting that at the expense of her feet as she sat at a table because her friends could come to her.

Lorelai and Rory walked inside the diner.

"Oh my god," Lorelai said. "Thank you."

"I never realized Luke's was a hundred miles away," Rory said.

"We're lucky it wasn't snowing," Lorelai said. "It would've been the Donner Party all over again, but with slightly better hair."

Thea was horrified by that reference because that was a tragedy.

Lorelai realized something and asked Rory, "Why are you sitting over there?"

"Where?" asked Rory.

"At that table," Lorelai pointed out.

"Huh," Rory replied. She looked at Thea, "Thea's sitting here."

"You sat there," Lorelai pointed out.

"Well, Thea's sitting here," Rory replied with a shrug.

Luke walked over to Thea's (and Rory's table) before setting a plate of chocolate chip pancakes down in front of Thea. It had whipped cream, strawberries, and bananas on it.

"I didn't order yet," Thea said.

Lorelai was peering over at them, "Hey. How come you don't do stuff like that for us?" She was referring to her and Rory.

"I didn't see you win the 24 Hour Dance Marathon," Luke retorted.

Lorelai looked insulted and Kirk sobbed harder.

Emily was talking to the cook from the kitchen, "Do it again, please!" She went to sit at the table. "I'm not quite sure what other way there is to say 'no walnuts in the salad' except to say 'no walnuts in the salad'."

Lorelai said, "Mom, she just made a mistake."

"She doesn't listen, she doesn't care, she has no work ethic," Emily replied.

"She has some work ethic," Lorelai said. "You made her remake the salad four times."

"She dumped walnuts in the salad after the fourth time she said, 'no walnuts'," Thea said. She couldn't believe she was defending Emily, but after the fourth time, she would've been fed up too. "How can she mess up a simple request for the fourth time?" The first time, she would understand, but the second time and third and fourth time...?

Granted, Emily probably terrorized the woman into a mental breakdown.

Emily smiled, glad someone stood by her, "Exactly. I like things done correctly."

Richard added, "Preferably the first time."

"Thank you, Richard," Emily replied.

Lorelai pointed out, "You know, Mom, in Europe, they eat the salad last and the main course first."

"We're not in Europe," Emily said.

"We could pretend," Lorelai stated.

"Really, Lorelai, you can't wait ten minutes for another salad?" Emily said, "The situation's that dire?"

"Four salads ago, no, not dire." Lorelai said, "Right now it's 'your money for nothing and your chicks for free.'"

"Rory? Thea?" asked Emily.

"Mom didn't have lunch," Rory said.

"Fine," replied Emily, getting up to go get the main course.

Richard asked, "Where are you going?"

Emily replied, "Apparently, we're going to be European tonight."

"Oh, wonderful," Richard said. "I was getting so tired of being American day after day after day."

Lorelai said, "God, I'm starved."

"Think about something else," Rory said.

"Like what?" asked Lorelai.

"About that dance marathon trophy that Craig and I won," Thea joked.

Rory laughed, even though she got dumped at that dance marathon.

Richard looked at Thea, "You won a dance marathon trophy?" Lorelai scowled at the reminder because that should've been her trophy.

"Yeah," Thea replied.

"That's wonderful," Richard told her.

"She made Kirk cry into his pancakes the morning after," Rory told him.

"There's always next year," Richard replied.

Emily returned, "Liliana will be right out with the sand dabs." To her husband, she said, "I'm afraid we're going to have to let her go, Richard."

Thea found herself thinking that Emily probably made Liliana cry.

"Oh, if that's how you feel, Emily," Richard replied.

Lorelai seemed disgusted, "You're firing someone over putting walnuts in a salad?"

Emily replied, "I'm going to fire someone over putting walnuts in the salad after she was told not to put walnuts in the salad."

Lorelai stated, "Mom, you know, if you're not a little nicer to your help, you might find yourself in a Frank Lloyd Wright situation."

Richard seemed confused, "Frank Lloyd Wright?"

"What on earth does Frank Lloyd Wright have to do with my salad?" asked Emily.

"And your walnuts," added Richard.

Lorelai explained, "Mrs. Wright apparently had this major problem with her help. She was very rough on them and they totally hated her. So this guy who had worked for her forever, he had finally had enough. I believe the incident was over walnuts, wasn't it, honey?"

Rory replied, "The exact cause has not been proven."

Lorleai said, "Anyhow, Mrs. Wright invites this whole posse of people over for dinner and they're all sitting around eating, and Mr. Disgruntled Servant Guy goes outside and locks all the doors and windows and douses the whole house in gasoline and sets the place on fire."

"My goodness," Emily said.

Lorelai continued her story, "So the house is on fire, and people are freaking out, so they run to the doors but the doors are locked, so a few of them try to get out through the windows, but Mr. Angry-Puss is standing outside with an ax – hacking them to death and so they all died."

"Why on earth would you tell me that story?" asked Emily.

Lorelai replied, "All I'm saying is sometimes eating a walnut is preferable to getting hacked to death or set on fire during dinner."

Emily said, "One of these days I'm going to make you eat in your room."

Thea got up and went to the kitchen. Liliana looked like she had been crying. She went to the fridge and found a can of soda.

"Hey, can you pass me a can please?" asked Rory.

"Did you find it?" asked Richard.

"Yes, I did," Rory said, opening up a can.

"Good, good," Richard replied. He looked in the freezer, "Ah, here we are, ice." It sounded like he was dumping a paper bag full of ice in his glass. "And..." He went over to Thea and Rory, "Chocolates." He passed one to Thea and another to Rory.

"Bless you," Rory replied, opening her chocolate.

"Thank you," Thea said.

Richard said, "So, tell me, how's it going at school?"

"It's good," Rory said. "It's crazy. Not as crazy as what's going down at Stars Hollow High."

"I still remember seeing that guy skateboarding naked and wearing a cape down the hallway," Thea said.

"Senior year," Richard said.

"Yup," replied Rory.

"Thinking about what senior prank to pull," Thea said. "I was thinking about gluing pictures of former and current teachers to the ceiling."

"Ha," replied Richard. "One of my former classmates took apart a car and put it back together around the flagpole. It looked like it got impaled."

Thea and Rory laughed.

"Nice," Thea said.

"Preparing for college can be a daunting task," Richard said. "I remember when I was preparing for Yale."

Rory asked, "Bad?"

"I don't believe I slept the entire year. I didn't even cut my hair for two months," Richard said.

Rory was surprised, "Grandpa!"

"Oh, yes, it was quite a scandal," Richard teased, "But in the end, it was all worth it."

"Yeah?" replied Rory.

Richard explained, "My years at Yale were absolutely the most gratifying ones of my life. Just the sheer freedom of knowing that anything I wanted to learn, I could learn right there. Plus, the history of the place, the heritage...my father went to Yale."

"We know," Rory said.

Richard said, "I also made wonderful friends there. Friends I still have today."

"That must be nice," Rory said.

Richard said, "I'm going to be going back there next week. There's going to be a little reunion of the Whiffenpoofs."

"What is a Whiffenpoof?" asked Thea.

Richard said, "It's an a cappella singing group I belonged to at Yale."

Thea snickered at the thought of Richard being a part of a singing group.

"A signing group?" asked Rory.

Richard said, "A very famous singing group, actually. Like the Beatles, but with better table manners."

Thea said, "I don't think I've ever heard you sing."

"Yeah," Rory replied.

"Well, I'm no Perry Como, but my shower hasn't kicked me out yet. Anyway, a group of us are going to get together at the old alma mater and have a little dinner, swap some war stories."

Rory said, "Sounds fun."

Liliana walked by with a tray, "Excuse me."

"Poor Liliana," Thea said. "There were walnuts in those salads. She's probably going to end up having a breakdown because of Grandma."

"Poor us," Richard said. "You know, you two might wanna come with me next week." He went and gave them another piece of chocolate.

"And go where?" asked Thea.

"To Yale," Richard said.

Rory asked, "What?"

Richard said, "Oh, I don't mean to the dinner, that would be boring for you both, but you might enjoy seeing the school. I even set up interviews for you both with the Dean of Admissions."

Thea was baffled, "You did what?"

"What?" asked Rory.

"Yes, I have," Richard told them. "It'll be a great opportunity for you both. It'll help Rory set up properly for her Harvard interview. And it'll look good if Rory gets accepted into Yale. And it'll help you, Thea, get into Yale since I was an alumnus there. That is, if you both accept. I can cancel the interviews any time, if you don't want to accept it."

Thea really didn't want Richard's hand-out, but honestly, with her 'inciting a riot' suspension, it'll probably help her out immensely. The problem was how will she go about explaining that to the Dean of Admissions?

"No, no, I'll do the interview," Rory replied.

"Wonderful," Richard said and looked at Thea.

"Yeah, I'll go," Thea replied.

"Your mother can come too," Richard added. "It would be a fun little adventure."

"Wow," replied Rory.

"Great," Richard said. "We could drive down, have a little roadside snack, get there about noon. Have a little tour, and then the three of you girls could go off and have fun, and the old folks can have a somber little dinner. I think you'd love to see it. I certainly would love to show it to you."

"That would be nice," Rory said, sounding like she was fretting a little over her interview.

"Yeah, sounds nice," Thea said, even though some dude named Logan was supposed to show her around.

"Wonderful," replied Richard. "Oh, I'm thrilled. Uh, do you wanna tell your mother or shall I?"

Rory said, "Oh, you know what, I can tell her."

Richard said, "All right, you tell her." Liliana went past them again. He looked at the chocolate he held, "Looks like we're gonna need a few more of these."

Rory nodded, "Yeah."

After another Friday Night Dinner was over with, they walked out of the house.

Lorelai said, "Okay, I officially vote that we send my mother an anonymous note requesting that she never make us the sand dabs again."

Rory said, "I'm not sure how anonymous it would be considering she said we were the first people she ever made them for."

They got in the car and Lorelai started the engine.

Rory said, "I have to tell you something."

"Okay," Lorelai said.

Rory started, "Grandpa talked to me and Thea tonight." Lorelai turned off the engine. "Why'd you turn the car off?"

Lorelai said, "I'm just getting the sense that I shouldn't be driving a large vehicle when you tell me this."

Rory said, "It's no big deal."

Lorelai said, "Uh-huh."

Rory replied, "It's not."

Lorelai said, "Then tell me."

Rory started, "Okay. Um, well, Grandpa was mentioning that he and Grandma are going on a trip next week, a driving trip somewhere, and he invited me and Thea to go. And you. He invited you and Thea and me to go on a trip with him and Grandma."

"Where?" asked Lorelai.

Rory said, "What?"

Lorelai said, "Where's the driving trip to?"

Rory replied, "Yale."

Lorelai got out of the car and walked toward the porch with Rory and Thea following her. If this was how Lorelai was reacting to a driving trip to Yale, it was a good thing Rory hadn't mentioned the interviews.

"Mom?" Rory called, "Mom, wait."

Lorelai said, "No, it's okay, I got it."

Rory said, "He's going for some nostalgia thing. For a reunion of, I don't know, the Whiffenhoofs."

"It was Whiffenpoofs," Thea corrected.

Lorelai nodded.

"Not much better," Rory replied.

Lorelai said, "I totally agree."

Rory said, "Well, he got all sentimental and he really just wants to show us the campus. It's no big deal."

Lorelai said, "It's a huge deal."

Rory started, "Mom."

Lorelai said, "There's a reason he wants to drag you out there, Rory. He's manipulating you. Trust me, I know, he's a master at it."

"Yeah, because he set us up to be interviewed with the Dean of Admissions," Thea said. "He said he'll cancel if we don't want to do it."

Lorelai looked at Rory, "He set you up to be interviewed? And you agreed to it?"

Rory said, "Yeah. I did. He said he'll be good for me to be prepared for Harvard and I agreed. If I get into Yale, I might have a chance to go into Harvard. Can't you see that this is a good opportunity for me?" She motioned between her and Thea, "For us?" She added, "I mean, he invited you and I would really love it if you could come, but really, you can stay home. Just please don't make a big thing out of this. This doesn't have to be a fight."

Lorelai started, "Rory."

Rory continued, "We go. We look. Hi Yale. Bye Yale. It's over. No harm, no foul."

"How many more two-word sentences can you come up with?" asked Lorelai.

"You know, it doesn't have to be a total loss," Rory said, taking her mother and leading her to the car.

"Look, as she's leading me back to the car," Lorelai replied.

Rory said, "I'm sure you, Thea, and I can figure out a fun thing to do while they're off at dinner, some cool road trip thing. After the interviews."

Lorelai said, "In New Haven?"

"Well, yeah," replied Rory.

Lorelai said, "Sweetie, have you ever been to New Haven?"

Rory said, "No."

"Take a look at the coffee pot tomorrow before I clean it, that's New Haven," replied Lorelai.

Rory said, "We can make it fun. It would mean a lot to the grandparents, I get prepared for Harvard by doing the interview, Thea gets accepted into Yale, everybody wins."

Lorelai said, "Rory, listen to me."

Rory said, "I know, I am being manipulated. This is part of Grandpa's evil plan to take over my life, abolish my free will, pull me in into the Gilmore world, dress me in pearls, and ruin my life. Did I leave anything out?"

Lorelai said, "Mm, let me see...manipulate, evil plan, no free will, pearls – no, I think you about covered it. Oh, wait – did you call my father the Puppet Master?

Rory said, "No, I did not."

"Always call him the Puppet Master," Lorelai said.

Rory replied, "I will never make that mistake again."

Thea asked, "You know, do you think it would've been better if he didn't tell us and tricked us into going before springing the interviews on us?"

"That would've been worse," Rory said. "He probably only told us because he knows you want to go into Yale and he wants you to be fully prepared for it."

After school let out, Thea and her friends went to the diner, although Craig had passed her the dance trophy since it was her turn to have it for a week.

Kirk had stopped them on their way so he could lovingly touch 'her' – her being the trophy. Thea found it creepy that Kirk had gendered Thea's and Craig's trophy. Then Kirk said, "I'm preparing to win next year's dance marathon."

"Good luck with that," Thea had replied. "I'm not even joining next year's marathon."

So, when they sat down at the counter, Luke said, "Jeez, I hope you're not showing that thing off like Kirk does."

"Oh, Craig and Thea are sharing it," Todd explained. "Craig gets it for a week and then he passes it to Thea to have it for a week and they alternate. He just passed it back to Thea."

"I heard of people sharing animals or kids, but I have never heard of anyone sharing a trophy," Luke replied.

"Yeah, well, I hope no one steals it like they did to Kirk," Thea replied. "Rory's grandparents are taking me, her, and Lorelai to New Haven. Grandpa Richard had set up an interview for me and Rory."

"Ah," Georgia replied. "The perks of being so rich and white."

"Sounds like cheesecake to me," Sage said.

Georgia laughed.

Liberty looked at Thea, "Hey, Thea?"

Thea asked, "What is it?"

Liberty asked, "Think you can get Grandma Francine and Grandpa Straub to get all of us into Yale?"

"I don't think Yale is fully equipped to handle all of us." Thea said, "Though I can ask." 

The doorbell rang and they all went to the door. Thea tried to dress as business casual as best as she could.

Rory went for casual dark jeans and a button down collared shirt, but with a knit zip up hoodie.

So when Lorelai opened the door, Emily and Richard were standing there.

"Your drivers have arrived," Emily said.

Rory said, "Hi Grandma, hi Grandpa."

"Hello Rory, hello Thea, hello Lorelai," Richard greeted, looking ecstatic. "What a perfect day for a drive."

Lorelai clearly wasn't happy about the whole Yale thing, "Sure is."

Emily asked, "You brought an umbrella?"

"And a rain cap," Rory said.

Emily said, "Excellent!" She clearly knew about the Yale interviews, since she didn't even comment on the strangeness of Thea bringing the transcripts or why the two were in business casual attire.

Thea held up her shoulder bag, "I have all our transcripts and other stuff here."

"Wonderful," Richard said. "Here, let me help you with those." He took the bags and headed for the car. He clearly was happy that the two teens were actually doing the interviews and prepared for it.

Lorelai said, "Okay."

As they walked to the car, Emily noticed Lorelai was carrying a coffee travel mug. She asked, "Where are you going with that?"

"To the car," Lorelai replied.

Emily pointed out, "You can't have that in the car."

"I know," Lorelai said.

Emily asked, "Well, then, what are you doing with it?"

"Walking it," Lorelai replied.

Emly started, "Lorelai."

Lorelai said, "Mom, I know I can't have it in the car. It will not be in the car."

Richard asked, "Is that everything?"

"Yes, I think so," Lorelai replied.

Richard said, "All right, then. Let's get this show on the road."

Rory sat in the middle seat as Lorelai opened the back door, holding the travel mug above the door as she rolled down the window. She took the travel mug and held it through the window as she closed the door.

"Now let's see you drink it," Emily challenged.

Lorelai sticks her head out the window and takes a sip. "Mm, good to the last drop."

Emily pointed at Lorelai, "You stay that way until it's gone."

Lorelai said, "Aye, aye, captain."

Emily said, "Let's go Richard." She got in the car.

"All right-y," Richard said and started driving while Lorelai drank her coffee out the window.

She eventually came back in the car and Thea watched as her math teacher, Mrs. Landy, get led out of her house in handcuffs. "Oh, no. Poor Mrs. Landry."

"Why?" asked Rory. She looked. "Ooh, what did she do?"

"She sold drugs on the side," Thea replied.

"Right," Rory said. "They got to make money too."

After getting done looking through the campus art museum, they walked through the campus, Lorelai started saying, "Wow, does that guy look smart. I mean it, he's got the smart look down. The glasses, the furrowed brow, the ticky walk."

Rory said, "The Kierkegaard."

"I really think it's the walk," Lorelai countered.

"Well, we are at Yale, you know," Rory said. "There are smart people here."

"I know there are smart people here," Lorelai said. "I just didn't realize how many. I bet if I pulled my checkbook out now, twelve guys could help me balance it."

"Thirteen if you were near the right building," Richard said.

"Grandpa, that art gallery was amazing," Rory said. "Thank you."

Richard said, "Yale has one of the finest collections of British art in the world."

Lorelai said, "Louvre, schmouvre."

Richard explained, "Oh, I spent a lot of time in that gallery as a young man."

"I'll say you did," Emily replied in a bit of a snide tone.

Lorelai said, "What was that 'I'll say you did'?"

Emily said, "I just remember that that gallery was one of your father's favorite places to bring the ladies."

"What?" asked Rory.

Richard started, "Emily."

Emily said, "It's where you took me on our first date."

Lorelai said, "So, Dad liked to impress 'em with the paintings."

Richard asked, "Why did you bring this up?"

Emily explained, "He was a master of the frown, step back, wrinkle and sigh."

Lorelai asked, "The what?"

Emily repeated, "Frown," She demonstrated by frowning. "Step back," She stepped back slightly. "Wrinkle," she made a face. "And sigh," she sighed.

"I did no such thing," Richard replied.

Emily continued, "And then he'd talk about the paintings he had seen in Paris and the colors of Titian, and by the end of the date, you thought he was the most brilliant man in the entire world."

"Using Titian to score," Lorelai said. "Even Titian didn't do that."

Richard told Emily, "You shouldn't tell them this. They'll think I was some kind of lothario."

Emily, "Well, you were."

Thea was amused by the idea of Richard using the art museum to take women to bed with him.

Richard said, "I was just a young single man who wanted to experience life."

Lorelai spoke to Rory, "Don't ever fall for that line."

"I promise," Rory said.

Richard said to his wife, "You know, Emily, you weren't such an innocent little doe lost in the woods yourself."

"I beg your pardon?" replied Emily, looking offended.

Lorelai said, "They're turning on each other, I love it."

"Why?" asked Thea, wondering why Lorelai found that so entertaining.

Richard said, "I'll have you know, I was happily involved in a very serious relationship when your mother decided she simply had to have me."

Emily replied, "Oh, the size of your ego, I swear."

Richard said, "Linny Lott."

"That mouse?" asked Emily.

Richard said, "Oh, that mouse and I were engaged."

Emily said, "Oh, you were not."

Richard said, "I'd given her my pin, I'd introduced her to my parents."

"So?" replied Emily.

Richard said, "The date was set, invitations mailed out."

Lorelai seemed shocked, "Mom."

"Well, you couldn't marry Linny Lott," Emily defended herself. "That woman needed directions to get to a point."

"Rawr," Lorelai said.

Emily said, "Richard Gilmore, you are going to give these girls the wrong impression."

Rory asked, "What impression is that, Grandma?" She seemed amused.

Lorelai said, "That you were the Helena Bonham Carter of the society set?"

Emily said, "I did not steal your grandfather, I simply gave him a choice."

Richard said, "When you showed up at my fraternity party in that blue dress, I had no choice."

Thea wondered what that blue dress looked like. She doubted it was too revealing.

Lorelai said, "You stole my father with fashion."

Emily replied, "I can't believe you remember the dress."

Scratch that, it had to be revealing to some extent since Emily seemed embarrassed by that.

Lorelai said, "I can't believe you were the other woman."

"Oh, this is ridiculous," Emily replied.

Lorelai said, "Another woman should be saying this is ridiculous."

Emily said, "Will you stop?"

They stopped right next to a trash can.

Richard said, "Well...?"

Emily was confused, "Well what?"

Richard asked, "You mean you don't remember?"

Emily looked around, "Oh my God! There was a bench here."

Richard said, "They moved it last year."

Emily replied, "I can't believe this."

"Me either," Lorelai said. "What if we wanted to sit down?" Rory nodded.

"This is where your father proposed," Emily told them.

"Really?" replied Emily.

"That's right," Richard said.

Lorelai pointed out, "By the trash can."

Emily said, "That's right."

Lorelai said, "Well, that's very romantic...especially if you need to spit your gum out."

Emily explained, "We were going to meet my girl friends who were going to drive me back to school."

Richard said, "And you were angry with me."

Emily retorted, "Because you wouldn't commit to plans for the holidays."

Richard said, "Because I was going to invite you to the house to meet my parents after I proposed."

Emily said, "Which I didn't know because you gave me no indication whatsoever."

Richard said, "Anyway, you had just finished calling me a spineless jellyfish."

Emily replied, "And you got very annoyed, reached in your pocket, pulled out a box and said, 'Here.'"

"And you opened the box, showed no emotion, slammed it close and said, 'Fine,'" Richard finished.

Emily said, "Yes, I did."

Emily and Richard both chuckled and kissed right over the trash can.

Rory said, "That's so sweet."

First Max proposed to Lorelai to end an argument, then Jackson proposed because he wanted to move in with Sookie, and apparently Richard proposed because Emily called him spineless. Thea wondered, Did nobody marry someone out of love anymore?

Emily said, "Oh no, my button broke."

Thea wondered how that happened. How weak were those buttons that it would just break?

"Oh yeah?" Lorelai said. "Let me see."

Emily said, "It just broke in two and fell."

"Well, let me look, Mom," Lorelai said.

Emily said, "It's a broken button, what is there to look at?"

"All right, then," Lorelai replied. "I think there's a bathroom over there."

"What can we do in a bathroom?" asked Emily.

Lorelai said, "Meet George Michael."

"What?" asked Emily.

Lorelai said, "Let's go."

They both took off and Richard led Thea and Rory to a bench so they could sit down. Richard pointed at a building, "See that? That is my favorite building in the whole school."

Thea frowned, "Why is that?"

Richard said, "Because that's where the Timothy Dwight Dining Hall is."

Rory said, "I thought campus food was supposed to be disgusting."

"Not Yale food," Richard replied. "They have the most delicious pot roast you've ever tasted."

Rory said, "I love pot roast."

"Who doesn't love pot roast?" Richard asked, "Are you two having a good time?"

Rory said, "I'm having a very good time."

"Me too," Thea said. Lorelai and Emily weren't at each other's throats and Lorelai wasn't making snide remarks about Yale. The weather was pleasant. It was nice.

"I'm glad." Richard said. "It's nice being able to show this place to another Gilmore generation. You know, one day, when your mother was ten years old, she ran into my office and she said, 'I'm going to go to Yale, just like you.' She actually took my diploma out of my office and put it in her room. She wouldn't give it back to me for about six months. This place makes you remember things. Hopefully, things you're being graded on."

That sounded like a nice memory. Then Lorelai chose Harvard, accidentally got pregnant, got sick of the control they held over her and ran away.

Emily and Lorelai finally returned.

Emily said, "All right, we're all in one piece again."

Richard said, "Oh, glad to hear it." He stood up. "Shall we continue?"

Lorelai said, "Okay, but you're not gonna show me the vending machine where I was conceived, are you? 'Cause I don't think I can take it."

Richard led them over to the Administration Building.

It was very large.

Rory said, "Wow."

Lorelai started, "Lions and tigers and bears—"

"Oh my," Rory said.

Richard said, "It's impressive, isn't it?"

Lorelai said, "Yeah, I'd like to open a checking account, please."

"What is this place?" asked Rory.

Richard said, "This is the main administration building. Professors' offices, the dean's office. Some of the best scotch in the country can be found behind those doors."

Lorelai said, "Not sure how to take that, Dad."

"Come on," Richard said. "Ah, follow me, please." He led them to an office, "Rory, Thea, this is the office of a very dear friend of mine. His name is Harris Fellows and he just happens to be the Dean of Admissions."

Right. The interviews. Thea kind of forgot about that.

"Oh, right," Lorelai said. She must've forgotten the interview too.

"Mom," Rory started.

"And we'll be right here waiting for you two to get done," Richard said.

"You know you don't have to do this," Lorelai told Rory.

"It's okay," Rory replied. "Thea and I want to do this."

Thea looked through her bag and handed Rory her folder.

"You can walk right on out and I wouldn't blame you," Lorelai said.

"Lorelai," Richard started.

"Mom, I want to do this," Rory said. "It's a great opportunity."

"Harris is a very nice man, you two," Richard told them. "I think you two are going to hit it off with him. Come on, I'll walk you in."

He led them inside the office and up to a man in a suit.

The man said, "Ah, Richard."

"Hello Harris," Richard said. "These are my granddaughters, Thea and Rory Gilmore."

Rory went up to shake Harris's hand, "Hello."

"I'll be right outside, waiting for you both," Richard told them and walked out of the office.

"Here's our transcripts and stuff," Thea said.

Harris took them, "Okay, I'll have a look at these. Who's going first?"

Rory shoved Thea forward when Harris was distracted and looked up to see Thea. "Ah, okay." He motioned to a desk, "Have a seat." He closed the door while Rory waited outside.