Winter break went by uneventfully. Liberty usually had to work at the diner, Thea worked at the bakery, and Sage helped his mom out at the inn, trying to make sure that a disaster didn't happen. 

Sometimes, when Thea had a day off due to a slow day, she and Sage usually spent some alone time together in his bedroom. 

For Christmas, Sage had gotten her a female ragdoll kitten, that Thea named River, since he remembered that she had mentioned wanting to get a cat a while back.

Lorelai wasn't a cat person, so it made Thea love River even more, especially when River would roll around on Lorelai's stuff, getting fur everywhere and Lorelai would try to pull the item out from underneath the cat and River wouldn't budge, glaring at Lorelai. Thea would flick her head and River would get up and move away because she listened to Thea.

Thea eventually bought River a cat tree and a large scratching post to use. She even set up a litter box in the upstairs and downstairs bathroom. Thea had gotten River a cat bed, but River preferred sleeping on Thea's bed.

Besides that, Aiden eventually came back from Wisconsin with his aunt and uncle. He had taken pictures with the new camera that Thea had given him and was bursting with stories about his trip. He had also brought back different cheeses that he had gotten. 

Georgia, too, had stories to tell, and decided that with all the cheese that Aiden had brought back, they'll talk about their trips with a cheese party.

However, it was planned at Aiden's house, but since Sage mentioned it to his mom, Sookie 'accidentally' ended up making a giant cheese spread for them at her house which included: almonds, walnuts, candied nuts, crackers, fresh fruit, marinated olives, hummus, artisan meats, sweets, and had herbs and flowers for decoration. Sookie had given them Pinot Wine to drink since it usually went with cheese.

Georgia had seemed annoyed that Sookie was the one who had taken over the cheese party, but conceded that Sookie had made it better.

The party went fine, Aiden was happy to say that his dad's life sentence had been reduced since his case has been looked over and they thought his life sentence was a little too much since what Aiden's 'mother' had done to Aiden and his unnamed friend, considering the circumstances and decided to reduce the sentence, even though it had been eight years since the murder. They figured that since Aiden's dad hadn't fought the sentencing believing he deserved it, that he showed remorse for his actions, and good behavior while incarcerated, they figured they could reduce his sentence or give him parole.

So, Aiden said that his dad would eventually go on parole; eventually. He didn't get a set date to be released, but it was being considered.

It was a happy moment for Aiden and Georgia really couldn't top that story, besides that she had gone to the zoo.

There was some kind of dog adoption thing going on in town, so Thea went to go look at the dogs. She wasn't really much of a dog person; she just didn't like the way they breathed in her face and they had some kind of best friend energy that she didn't like having. She was fine with other people's dogs on the other hand. She just didn't want a dog.

She was fine with cats because they were like an anti-social roommate who had their own thing going on.

However, there were adorable puppies that Thea thought were cute.

Lorelai came over and looked at the dogs, "Hi! Oh, hi! Hi!" She went to the one that Thea was looking at. "Rory, look at the baby!"

"Mom," Rory said, shaking her head.

"Aw, Buttercup was found cold and wet hovering under a hydrangea bush along Highway 26," Lorelai said. "It's a sad highway."

When Thea thought of 'sad highway' she thought of the Highway of Tears, where indigenous girls and women were murdered.

Rory asked, "As compared to all the other happy highways she could've been abandoned by?"

Lorelai read from a card, "'Her lineage includes cocker spaniel, golden retriever, bouvier des flandres—'"

"Gesundheit," Rory interrupted.

"Thank you," Lorelai said. She continued reading from the card, "'—and rottweiler.'"

Rory read from the card, "'Buttercup is a special dog. She's extremely skiddish and tends to react badly towards blonde haired female, brunette males, children of either sex, other animals, red clothing, cabbage of anyone in a uniform.'"

Thea wondered who abused the poor dog.

Luke and Liberty came up to them.

"Hey, we just found the doggy version of you, Luke," Lorelai said.

A man came up to them, "Can I help you?"

"Do not let these two anywhere near a dog," Luke told the man, referring to Lorelai and Rory. "They can barely feed themselves."

"Shut up, you!" Lorelai said. "We'd be excellent pet owners, thank you. We're taking good care of Thea's cat."

Lorelai never really bothered to learn River's name, since River didn't like Lorelai very much.

"You cannot be serious," Rory told Lorelai. She knew that Lorelai couldn't take care of a pet.

"We could get him a pretty bowl..." Lorelai stated.

"Buttercup's a female," Thea pointed out with an eye roll.

"...and a new name..." Lorelai continued.

"Mom," Rory said.

"...'cause this 'Buttercup' thing really has to go," Lorelai finished.

Thea pointed out, "Remember Skippy the hamster?" Thea never really forgive Lorelai for taking the hamster back to the pet store.

Liberty asked, "What happened to the hamster?"

"I can't believe you would bring up Skippy," Lorelai told Thea.

"If she didn't, I would have," Rory replied.

Luke asked, "What happened to Skippy?"

"Nothing happened to Skippy," Lorelai replied.

"She took Skippy back to the pet store because he kept biting her every time she stuck her hand in the cage," Thea explained quickly.

"He'd laugh," Lorelai replied.

"Uh, hamsters don't laugh," Libery stated.

"Oh, this one laughed – trust me," Lorelai told her.

"So she finally got fed up," Rory added.

Luke seemed incredulous, "Of being laughed at by a hamster?"

"Well, yeah," Lorelai replied.

"She refused to clean the cage and stuff Kleenex in it every day," Thea said. "I kept taking it out, because Skippy seemed to like me."

Liberty looked horrified, "Oh my god."

"So, she took the cage back to the pet store where they bought him, waited for the sales guy to go behind the desk, put the cage back on the counter and leaves," Thea explained.

Luke said, "You abandoned your hamster."

While Lorelai tried to justify her cruelness to a hamster, Liberty looked at Thea, "Hey, come on, I want to see River. I bought some toys for her." She and Thea ended up taking off to go play with the cat."

Mr. Conn wasn't in school that day because apparently he had gotten pneumonia, so a substitute was in.

Everything went good. The sub had them put the burners against the wall with the 3D cell display. The display was set ablaze and they kind of laughed about it, until they realized the fire was blocking the only escape route and one kid opened the window and they, minus the sub who ran for the wall with a fireproof blanket, all hopped out of the window.

"What the hell are you all doing out here? Get back to class!" That was Coach Rivers. He was clearly very interested in watching the girls' softball team work out.

"We're not going back inside a burning classroom!" yelled Thea.

The coach went to the window and peered inside. The classroom was still smoky but there was evidence that a fire had taken place.

The worst part was that while Thea was talking to Liberty about something, because they shared the chemistry class, some kids, with sewing needles they stole from the home ec class.

That really hurt and according to Liberty, Thea had little bloodstains on the back of her shirt.

Of course, Thea told the principal not to worry about it. She wasn't going to sue the school and she didn't really want Lorelai to know about the incident, since it really wasn't a big deal to her.

The kids ended up suspended.

It made sleeping difficult while trying to sleep at night.

Ah, the joys of the first day back to school after winter break.

Thea had forgotten about the Friday Night Dinners, so she ended up getting dragged to one.

Richard wasn't there, so he was still recovering.

Emily ended up asking, "So, Thea, what's going at your school?"

"Uh, we accidentally set fire to a 3D cell display and five kids stabbed me in the back with sewing needles that they stole from the home ec class while we were standing outside waiting ," Thea said.

Lorelai choked on her food, "I'm sorry? Five kids stabbed you with sewing needles? Why wasn't I made aware of this?"

Thea wished she kept her mouth shut, "It's not really that big of a deal. They got suspended."

"It is a big deal if kids stabbed you in the back with sewing needles," Lorelai countered.

"They got suspended," Thea replied.

"They should've been expelled," Lorelai said.

"Whatever," Thea said. "It's over and done with."

Emily asked, "So, how's the squab?"

"It's good," Rory replied.

Emily prompted, "Lorelai?"

"It's the best tiny, weird bird I have ever eaten," Lorelai stated.

"I'm glad," Emily replied, smiling in an almost creepy manner.

Lorelai asked, "Why are you smiling like that?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Emily.

 Lorelai pointed out, "You're smiling."

"I'm happy," Emily replied.

Lorelai said, "That's not your 'I'm happy' smile."

"Well, what smile is it, Lorelai?" questioned Emily.

"That's your 'I've got something on Lorelai' smile," Lorelai said.

"Rory, your mother must be very tired," Emily told Rory.

"She works a lot," Rory said.

Thea considered if she would be able to leave the house and not be noticed.

"I grew up with that smile – I know that smile," Lorelai stated.

"Tell me about school," Emily told Rory.

"Well, my French final went pretty well," Rory replied.

"You can change the subject," Lorelai told Emily. "I know the smile."

"Whatever you say dear," Emily told Lorelai.

"I've used it a few times myself," Lorelai added.

Thea wanted this conversation to be over and done with.

"Mom," Rory stated.

Emily said, "So, tell me about Parents' Day?"

"What?" asked Lorelai.

"Parents' Day?" said Emily, "Next Wednesday? When all the parents are supposed to go to classes with their children all day long?"

Lorelai said, "The Chilton newsletter came out today!"

"Yup," Rory replied.

"Right," Lorelai said.

Emily asked, "You didn't read yours?"

"Not yet," Lorelai said.

"Ah," Emily replied.

Lorelai started, "But you knew that—"

"Well—" Emily replied.

"Hence the smile," Lorelai finished.

"Lorelai, you're really being silly," Emily said. "There's no evil plan a foot here. I simply brought up a subject I thought we could all talk about."

"Oh, right," Lorelai said.

Emily said, "I'll try another subject – the color blue is very pleasant isn't it?"

"It is," Thea said, just to have something to say.

"Mom, not everybody can wait outside the mailbox for the Chilton newsletter to arrive and then instantly memorize the contents in three seconds," Lorelai told Emily.

"I'd like to weigh in on the blue color subject, too, please," Rory said, trying to break up an inevitable verbal fight.

"You have your priorities far be it from me to question them," Emily told Lorelai.

"Just because I don't read the newsletter doesn't mean I don't care about my daughter," Lorelai said.

It was clear that Lorelai doesn't care about Thea and it was very clear that Lorelai really cared about Rory.

Emily asked, "So are you going?"

Lorelai asked, "To what?"

It was clear what Emily asked.

"To Parents' Day!" exclaimed Emily.

"Why don't we talk about it next Friday when I've actually read the newsletter?" Lorelai said, "I guarantee it'll be more fun."

"It's on Wednesday," Thea stated.

"Wednesday?" asked Lorelai.

"Yup," Rory replied.

"If we talked about it on Friday, then you would've missed it," Emily said.

"Its okay, Mom, you don't have to be there," Rory said.

"I guess we can talk about how you missed it," Emily told Lorelai.

Thea almost laughed at that.

"I won't miss it," Lorelai said.

"Mom, it's not a big deal, you're busy," Rory said.

Emily said, "You know what – I'll go!"

Lorelai said, "What?"

"Why not?" asked Emily. "You have to work. I, as you have insinuated, have no life, therefore I will go sit with Rory at Parents' Day."

"I'm not busy, I'm going. I will be there – that's it," Lorelai said. "End of story, okay?"

"Fine," Emily replied.

"Fine," replied Lorelai.

Emily asked, "So, did you read on page two about the mother/daughter talent show?"

Lorelai choked on her food.

"You okay?" asked Rory with a smile.

Since Rory and Lorelai were going to be out of the house, Thea invited her friends over to watch movies together.

While Thea got the popcorn and other snacks ready, Rory was saying, "Mom, I have to go! It's almost eight o'clock!"

Lorelai asked, "Wait! Have you seen my orange suede clip thingy?"

Yes and it was in the garage where it belonged because it was hideous.

"Top right hand drawer," Rory said.

"It's not there," Lorelai replied.

Rory huffed and went upstairs saying, "Did you check in your purse?"

"Yes," Lorelai replied.

Rory asked, "Under your scarves?"

"Yes!" replied Lorelai.

It was thankfully quiet for a few moments.

"Bye!" said Rory.

"Bye!" called Lorelai. "Wait, wait, wait!"

Rory said, "Mom, come on! Mr. Medina's going to be here any minute!"

"Okay, just tell me one more thing," Lorelai called. "Where's the silver dangly bracelet?"

"I'm wearing it," Rory replied.

"Why are you wearing it?" asked Lorelai.

"Because it's mine since Thea got it for me for Christmas," Rory replied.

There was a pause, "Hey, can I borrow you silver dangly bracelet?"

"I'll leave it on the table for you," Rory told her.

The doorbell rang.

Lorelai asked, "What was that?"

Rory replied, "The door bell rang?"

While Rory and Lorelai bantered about the doorbell ringing, Thea went to the door. Liberty, Georgia, Aiden, Sage, and Mr. Medina were standing there, all of whom who were looking a little disgruntled.

Liberty walked in, said, "I'm home, darling," and went straight for River, who was lying on the back of the couch. She picked up the cat and kissed the top of her head as a greeting.

"I'm sorry, but my mom's not ready yet," Thea told Mr. Medina. "Come on in."

Georgia, Aiden, Sage, and Mr. Medina tried cramming in through the door at the same time, before Mr. Medina stepped back and allowed Thea's friends to go in first before following after them.

Lorelai had gone back upstairs for some reason.

"Hi," Rory greeted.

"Rory," Mr. Medina greeted back.

"Can we get you something?" asked Rory. "I mean, we don't really have anything besides the food that Thea brought from the bakery where she works at. But if you wanted something and we had it, I'd be happy to get it for you."

"I'm fine," Mr. Medina said.

Thea's friends bickered over what movie to watch first while Rory and Mr. Medina made awkward conversation over bottled water.

Mr. Medina and Rory ended up joining the group to sit down in the living room.

"So, uh, what are your plans tonight?" Mr. Medina said.

River jumped out of Liberty's arms to hide, somewhere.

"I'm going over to my friend, Lane's, house," Rory replied.

"Movie marathon over here," Georgia said for Thea. "And we're watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre first, bitches!"

That was the end of the discussion on that.

"Sounds good," Mr. Medina said.

"And you guys are...?" started Rory.

"Dinner, movies – the usual," Mr. Medina said.

"Right," Rory replied.

Aiden put the movie in.

Mr. Medina cleared his throat, "This is a little uncomfortable."

"Yes, it is," Rory agreed.

"But the thing is, if things go well, the way I hope they're going, then we might be doing this again," Mr. Medina stated.

Rory asked, "Sitting uncomfortably while Thea and her friends try to watch a movie and her cat hides somewhere?"

Mr. Medina laughed, "Seeing each other outside of school."

Thea and her friends looked at each other. Can this be even more awkward?

"Seeing each other outside of school," Mr. Medina said.

"That's okay," Rory replied. "I am fine with this whole you and my mom thing."

Mr. Medina looked at Thea, who just gave a thumb's up, "I'm fine."

"Well, good," Mr. Medina said. "I'm glad."

"Well, I better go," Rory said, getting up.

"It's good to talk to you, Rory," Mr. Medina said, also getting up.

"You too, Mr. Medina," Rory stated.

Thea kicked Georgia in the ankle to get her to not to say anything, because Georgia had opened her mouth to say something, no doubt, 'It's good to get rid of your awkward asses'.

"Why don't you call me Max?" Mr. Medina said, "Just when we're out school."

Rory turned to him, "I don't think I can do that."

"Why not?" asked Max.

"It just sounds wrong – disrespectful. I mean, you're my teacher, Mr. Medina, and if I start to think of you as a 'Max' – even as a part-time 'Max', it just seems like it'll get too confusing," Rory said.

"How 'bout this, then – we'll come up with non-Chilton names for each other. When we're not in school, I'll call you Rebecca," Max said.

"Oh my god," Liberty muttered.

Thea agreed.

Max said, "And you'll call me..."

"Norman?" replied Rory.

Thankfully, after bantering about the names, Rory handed over the silver bracelet to Max for him to give to Lorelai, before taking off and then Lorelai finally came downstairs.

"There's money on the table for pizza in case you get hungry later," Lorelai told Thea, trying to act like she didn't think of Thea as a grave mistake in front of Max.

The two left and Aiden went to go see if there was money on the table.

Surprisingly, there was, probably for Max to see a box of pizza on the coffee table and think Lorelai was being a good mother.

It was rather uncomfortable that Rory was sitting at the counter with Thea, Sage, and Georgia. Aiden had to run off to the bookstore for his part-time job, so he couldn't make it.

Sookie and Jackson entered the diner, bickering about something.

"I can't believe you won't just sell them to me," Sookie was telling Jackson.

"And I can't believe you're being so small minded," Jackson retorted.

"My stuffed friend squash blossoms are extremely popular with the customers," Sookie said.

"Yes, I know," Jackson replied.

"People come from all over and demanded the fried stuffed squash blossoms," Sookie told him.

Jackson replied, "That's exactly my point!"

"So, what's going on?" asked Sage.

"I'm asking your mother to try stuffing something a little different this time," Jackson said and held up something.

Sage asked, "What the hell is that?"

"A zucchini tush," Sookie told him.

"Gross," Thea said.

"It's just a temporary name," Jackson told them.

Sookie said to Jackson, "You want me to serve my customers a genetically engineered vegetable that's named after a butt?"

Jackson explained, "Hey, this is an all-natural vegetable hybrid that's perfectly safe, completely delicious, and yes, it looks a little odd but you can put in on the map!"

Georgia asked, "Have you been eating your own weird creations?"

"I want the blossoms," Sookie stated.

"Fine," Jackson replied. "You wanna think small, think small. I'm done." He left.

Sookie sat next to Sage at the counter.

Rory asked, "Jackson invented a new vegetable again?"

"Clearly," Georgia stated.

"It's too bad that bowling league didn't work out for him," Rory said.

"Yeah," Sookie replied.

Lorelai came in with skates over her shoulder, "Hey, look I found them."

"Where?" asked Rory.

"They were in that drawer with the roasting pans," Lorelai explained.

"Cool," Rory said.

Sookie said, "Ooh, skates!"

"Rory and I have a skating date," Lorelai said.

Sookie seemed confused, "Without Thea?"

"I have to go to work at that time," Thea lied, since she wasn't invited.

"Yeah," Rory replied. "I'm Nancy Kerrigan."

"And I'm Tonya Harding," Lorelai said. "I'm gonna do the whole shoe lace coming untied – nervous break – let me start against act and everything."

Luke came over to the counter, looked at the skates, and laughed. "When was the last time you put those things on?"

"Oh, you are constantly trying to ruin my fun," Lorelai said.

"Do they even fit anymore?" asked Luke.

"Yes, they fit," Lorelai explained.

"Come on," Georgia said, taking Thea's arm. "We're going to do something."

"Bye, Mom," Sage said to Sookie.

"Bye, Apple Pie," Sookie said to him.

Sage's face turned red.

Apparently 'Apple Pie' was a nickname for Sage because when he was younger, he always wanted to eat apple pie constantly. Sure, Sookie called him that every now and then, but not often, especially when he got older.

Thea came home after spending stargazing at the Dragonfly Inn with Aiden and Sage to Lorelai and Rory having another spat.

"Forget it, it's not important – I just don't think I can go," Lorelai said.

It sounded like she was trying to get out of going to Parents' Day.

"Okay, fine," Rory said.

"So, if you could give this book back to Max tomorrow – that would be great," Lorelai said.

Rory asked, "Why don't you just give it back to him the next time you see him?"

"Because I'm not sure when that would be and he should have his book," Lorelai said.

"You see him all the time," Rory stated.

"Rory, could you just—" Lorelai dropped the book on the table, "—give it back to him, okay?"

Rory asked, "Are you breaking up with him?"

It seemed about right to Thea. Lorelai's relationships never lasted more than two months.

Lorelai asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Well, he hasn't heard from you and now you're asking me to give him the book back," Rory explained.

Lorelai asked, "How do you know he hasn't heard from me?"

"He wanted to know if you were going to Parents' Day and then he mentioned that you guys hadn't talked lately," Rory said.

"He shouldn't be asking you about me," Lorelai said.

Rory demanded, "Why are you breaking up with him?"

"Because it's not working out," Lorelai said.

"But you seemed so happy," Rory told her.

"It's not right – that's all," Lorelai explained.

Rory asked, "So, that's why you're not going tomorrow?"

"No, I'm not going tomorrow because of I was going to talk to the principal at Thea's school about the kids stabbing her with needles," Lorelai said.

Thea was surprised at that because she wasn't made aware of Lorelai arranging a meeting with the principal over the 'Backstabbing' Incident.

"That's crap and you know it," Rory said, upset.

Lorelai started, "Hey—"

"When have you ever shown an interest in what happens to Thea? You're using her as excause so you can avoid Mr. Medina and you promised you would go and – hey, do whatever you want. I don't care, just leave me and Thea out of it. And give him the book back yourself," Rory said. She went to her room and slammed the door shut.

Thea went up to her room. Jesus, why were Rory and Lorelai having more spats than usual?

In the morning, Lorelai went with Rory to Parents' Day, which Thea wasn't surprised about.

However, the English teacher was late to class since they had to wait ten minutes before the teacher arrived and let them in.

After taking attendance, the teacher said, "Sorry, class, but there's a test today."

Georgia sounded horrified, "What?"

"None of that now," the teacher said and passed out the tests.

Thea looked at her test, which was a copy of a worksheet that they did the other day. She turned to see the teacher picking up a plate covered with Saran wrap and going underneath his desk with it.

So, this 'test' was just an excuse for him to eat breakfast. All right...

And Thea wasn't called down to the principal's office for this 'arranged meeting' over the Backstabbing Incident, so Thea doubted that Lorelai arranged a meeting and was just lying to Rory to get out of going to Parents' Day.

And after the worksheet was completed and turned in, they didn't get it back.

So, Thea was pretty sure that it was just an excuse for the teacher to eat breakfast.

"A kid got stabbed in the neck with a pencil in the locker room."

"Thanks, Aiden. I could've gone through my day without knowing that," Liberty said, dryly.

"Well, the kid shoved the pencil stabber and they got detention," Aiden said, motioning to the lunch detention table. There was a boy with a square gauze band-aid on his neck, that looked like it had some blood on it.

"I guess he wanted to up the stabbing game after the Needle Stabbers," Georgia joked.

Thea's back ached a little at the reminder and Sage reached over to rub her back gently. "Don't remind me." She winced as her back seemed to give an uncomfortable throb at the memory, "Besides, I was calling them The Backstabbers."

"That's a good one," Liberty said.

"My mom was trying to wiggle her way out of going to Parents' Day at Chilton and was trying to break up with Max," Thea said.

Georgia shook her head, "Figures."

"We should watch Silence of the Lambs," Aiden said.

"I need to read the book," Thea stated.

Liberty asked, "There was a book?"

"Yeah," Thea said.

Something must've happened at Parents' Day because Rory was pissed at Lorelai for some reason. So, when Friday rolled around, things were still tense.

So, when they walked up to Richard and Emily's house, Lorelai said to Rory, "Look, let's just refrain from fighting in front of the grandmother, okay?"

"Fine with me," Rory replied.

"The last thing I need tonight is a confrontation with my mother," Lorelai stated. She rang the doorbell.

Emily opened the door.

Lorelai said, "Hi, Mom. Boy, the roads were a mess out there tonight." They walked in.

"Rory, Thea, go upstairs, please," Emily stated.

"Is everything okay?" asked Rory.

"I have to talk to your mother, please go upstairs," Emily said.

Rory started, "Well—"

"Now, Rory," Emily ordered.

They went upstairs.

"So, my mom asked Jackson out," Sage told Thea.

Thea nodded, "And what did he say?"

"He agreed to it," Sage said. "Well, actually, she asked him if he wanted to go out to dinner sometime, and he said yes."

"That's cool," Thea said. "How do you feel about it?"

"I'm fine with it," Sage said. "It's going to be weird since I help out in the kitchen and they might start flirting with each other."

"That would be awkward," Thea agreed.

Sage put his arms around Thea's waist and kissed her.