A/N: Title taken from the Fame on Fire song of the same name.

Since Richard isn't going to get sued by Jason in this fic due to him and Lorelai hiding their relationship. So, Richard isn't kicking Jason out of the company and badmouthing him to people.

Due to the above, there would be no friction between Richard and Emily, but I have decided to go through with Emily's separation from Richard.

I like to think that Richard hid putting his pension up as collateral, so Emily took that as a final straw, with Richard hiding his lunch mistress and him canceling all those invites without Emily's permission had built up to it.

It turned out that Floyd decided to sue Richard and Jason, because there was a non-compete clause in Jason's contract. And something about stealing a client that was off-limits, even though Jason and that client were friends.

Then Floyd agreed to drop the lawsuit once Richard and Jason agreed to work for him, but they'll have their own company under Floyd's umbrella. 

Although it turned out that Richard had put his pension as collateral on all of his loans, which was reckless. 

It turned out that the drugs that had been placed on Anthony was on the back driver side tire.

Anthony had said, "I know I'm stupid, but I'm not that much of a dumbass. Back in my heroin days, even I hide my shit better than that."

The police had talked to him about pressing charges against whoever planted drugs on him because it was a crime, but Anthony shrugged it off, because he didn't know who did it and he just wanted to move past the whole ordeal.

So, they didn't press him in on it, even Thea wished he did, because it was Dean, but they had no proof against him besides a theory, even though a P.I could've found evidence against him.

But Anthony wanted to move past the ordeal and forget about the situation.

Paris had dragged Thea down to the bookstore where Fleming was reading from a book. He had drawn a large crowd of people to listen.

Fleming read, "'I saw then what I had not seen before. I saw the stoop of his shoulders, the lines on his face – like a map of a country I had once traveled with him. I hoped these marks of age reflected wisdom, but I feared they were merely tokens, purchased with lack of sleep and the kind of artificial goodwill that's squeezed from a man in the public eye like oil from a rag.'"

Thea noticed how Sage and Aiden made a face at that passage even though there were applause. Thea nudged the both of them to clap, because Fleming was Paris's mentor, so they clapped politely.

"Thank you. Thank you. You're very kind," Fleming said. A woman approached Fleming and whispered in his ear.

Thea was sure that Fleming's penchant for barely legal girls was predatory, but he wasn't dating one of his students that were in his lectures, so he technically didn't have abuse of power. Also, it probably would've done no good to send in a report about him, because he was a star professor, tenured, and did stints at other ivy-league schools.

The woman said, "Thank you, Asher Fleming, for that very moving excerpt from your new novel 'Jaglon'. It is an absolutely electric book."

Thea wondered why the book couldn't have been named something different.

The woman continued speaking, "Now, Professor Fleming has been kind enough to give us one hour, so if you'll just line up behind the table, you can get your book signed and then take them over to the cash register to purchase them." She spoke to Fleming, "If you're just follow me."

"My pleasure," Fleming replied.

Rory sat down next to Paris, who said, "God, he was great. Wasn't he great?" She glared at Aiden and Sage.

"I find the amount of women in here pretty impressive," Sage replied. Thea stomped on his foot, "I mean I think he wrote about himself."

"The title of the book is also impressive," Aiden said.

Impressively bad, went unsaid, Thea noticed.

"Yes, he was very impressive," Rory agreed.

"Look at all these girls, just flocking around him," Paris added. "They're so obvious."

Thea honestly didn't see the appeal in Fleming.

"He sleeps with freshman students," Sage said. "They're not freshman."

"Anthony's older and he's a freshman. He can't possibly be the only mid-twenties freshman here," Rory said.

The redhaired woman stood nearby.

"Hey, did I show you this?" asked Paris. She opened the book she was holding, "Look."

Rory read, "'To a wise, willful, wonderful woman.'"

"Props for alliteration," Sage replied.

"Thanks for pointing it out Sage St. James," Aiden replied.

"That's me," Paris said. "He dedicated it to me."

"Sorry to break it to you, but he probably writes that on all the women's books," Thea pointed out.

"And he probably wrote that book dedicated to all the women he boned," Sage added.

"There's Doyle," Aiden replied, looking at the man, who was holding cookies. "Oh, he has cookies."

He went towards Doyle, who said, "Well, this was a royal waste of my time. However, there were cookies. Here, hold some so I don't look like a pig." Doyle handed some cookies to Aiden.

Rory asked Doyle, "You didn't enjoy the reading?"

"I wasn't here to enjoy the reading," Doyle explained. "I was here to cover the reading for the paper to go along with the review of the book. And then I arrive only to realize that every single available girl at Yale is here, including four of my reporters."

"I'm not here on paper business. I'm here because I enjoy books and because I read books," Rory said.

"I'm pretty sure that at least ninety percent of these women here enjoys reading books," Sage pointed out.

"Please," Doyle replied.

"I do," Rory said.

"And I'm pretty sure that's kind of rude to assume that these women here for Fleming's looks," Thea replied.

"And Paris?" asked Doyle.

"She's with us," Rory replied.

"And Anna and Cassie?" asked Doyle.

"They probably came together because they enjoy Fleming's work," Aiden replied.

"Everybody's here because Fleming's an intellectual dreamboat," Doyle said.

"I'm here because Thea asked me to come," Aiden replied.

"Well, I'm not here for the dreamboat," Rory replied.

"He's not even that dreamy," Thea pointed out.

"God, that man," Doyle said.

"Careful, Doyle. Your crush is showing," Sage said.

"Here, have a cookie," Doyle crammed a cookie in Sage's mouth.

Sage made a face as he grabbed the cookie, "God, this cookie is horrible." He held it to Aiden, "Here, try."

Aiden took the cookie and took a bite, "Oh, yeah. It's like eating dirt."

"Let me try," Thea asked Aiden.

"No, we gotta protect your tastebuds from these awful cookies," Sage replied.

Thea went and took a cookie from Rory and took a bite. She grimaced slightly, "Yeah, these are bad."

"We tried to warn you," Sage told Thea.

"Yeah, you did," Thea replied. "And I love you both for trying."

Emily rushed towards the stairs holding her coat and purse.

"Mom," called Lorelai.

Emily stopped on the first step, "Lorelai. Rory. Anthony. You're early." She was surprised to see them, but she was trying to hide it.

"Um, yeah," Rory replied. "We didn't hit any traffic, so..."

"Well, i-it's nice to see you," Emily replied, going to the sofa, and placing her coat on the back of it.

"Where were you?" asked Lorelai.

"When?" asked Emily.

"Just now," replied Lorelai.

"O-oh," Emily said. "Well, I had to run out to the store."

"To get what?" asked Lorelai.

"They were out," Emily replied.

"Emily," called Richard. "The girls and Anthony are early." He was carrying a bowl of ice.

"I see that," Emily said. "Is that ice?"

"Yes," Richard replied. "We need it to make the drinks." He scooped out ice and put it in the glass, spilling some on the carpet. "Oh, shoot."

Anthony was a little bothered by the fact that Richard used his hand to scoop out ice to put in the glass. He was fine when he used his hand to get ice, but other people...? No. It was kind of gross. It reminded him of Sage complained about how Lorelai ate ice cream straight out of the carton and Sookie proceeded to make milkshakes with the same ice cream that Lorelai was eating.

Also, he was pretty sure he could feel the tension from how weird Emily and Richard were being.

"You should take the bucket into the kitchen the next time," Emily told Richard as she picked up the floor ice.

"Yes, that would've been the smart thing to do." Richard said. He turned to Lorelai, Rory, and Anthony, and very cheerfully said, "Well, I was making drinks."

"We can see that," Anthony replied.

Emily came around to sit on the sofa, smiling and cheerfully said, "So, uh, Rory, Anthony, how is school?"

"It's going," Anthony replied, awkwardly. People being creepily cheerful made him nervous. It reminded him of his cousin, Elijah, who was creepily cheerful, then he got arrested for murdering six of his coworkers because they were dicks to him, and he spared only one guy because the coworker was nice to Elijah. Or the way his parents acted after they got into an argument when he and his siblings were younger.

"It's fine," Rory replied. "Um, I just got an A on a paper."

"Oh, well, that's wonderful," Emily replied, clutching her purse.

"You gonna let go of that purse, Mom?" asked Lorelai.

"What?" asked Emily.

"Well, you're holding pretty tightly to your purse there," Lorelai explained. "You look like someone's Tante Flickman."

"Oh, well, I uh, just..." Emily set her purse beside her, looking very reluctant to do so. "There." She patted it.

Lorelai said, "Okay."

"It's new," Emily added.

"The purse?" asked Lorelai.

"Yes, it's new," Emily said. "I'm trying to break it in."

"Sure, otherwise you'd get blisters," Lorelai replied.

For some reason that sprung a memory of Anthony getting blisters on his palms from playing on the monkey bars at school when he was in the first grade.

"Well, here we are," Richard said, coming over to them with a full tray of drinks and passes them out. "Lorelai." Lorelai took a martini.

"Thank you," Lorelai said.

"And soda for Rory and Anthony," Richard offered.

Anthony took the hand ice soda that Richard offered him. "Thanks."

Richard offered the tray to Emily, "Emily?" Emily took the other martini. "Well, good." He set the tray down and went to stand behind Emily.

Emily was looking at Anthony in a weird way. Or specifically at his shirt. He glanced down at it.

"Uh, so...cheers," Richard said.

"Cheers," Lorelai replied.

"Cheers," Rory said.

"Yeah, cheers," Anthony muttered. They all took a drink.

"So, Rory, Anthony, how's school?" asked Richard.

"Fine," replied Rory. "I just got an A on a...paper."

"Oh," replied Richard. He looked at Anthony.

"I watched a guy fall halfway down the stairs, stand up, and fell the rest of the way," Anthony replied. Emily and Richard gave him weird looks. "He's fine. He got up and continued walking." They stared at him, "I live in Florida so it's not the weirdest thing I saw." They looked at him, "I once stayed in The Clown Motel in Nevada that was next to a miner graveyard."

"Ah," Emily replied.

"There's a clown motel?" asked Lorelai, looking at him.

A maid entered the living room, "Dinner's ready."

Lorelai was confused, "It is?"

Emily checked her watch, "It's only just seven now."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the maid replied. "What time did you want dinner? You didn't tell me, so..."

"You know what? It's all right," Emily said. "We'll just eat now."

"Now?" asked Lorelai.

"Okay," replied Rory.

Lorelai started, "But what do we do with our—"

"Just take your drinks to the table," Emily said, getting up to leave.

Lorelai started, "Take our drinks to the—"

"Oh, I'll grab the cocktail napkins," Richard said, grabbing some napkins off the drink cart and rushing off to the dining room.

"But – Mom, you left your purse," Lorelai replied.

"Oh, yes," Emily replied, turning back reaching for her purse.

"Mom," Lorelai started.

Emily stopped, "What?"

"I was just kidding, Mom," Lorelai replied.

"Oh, you," Emily said, smiling and pointing at Lorelai in a 'you little rascal' way, before going to the dining room.

"Uh, okay, so every time they ask you about school or traffic, just do a shot," Lorelai told Rory.

Anthony asked, "Did they have an argument before we got here? Because they acted the way my parents did every time they argued and before my mom takes off to stay in a hotel for a night or two." 

"I don't know," Lorelai replied, but they got up and went to the dining room.

The awkward silence over the dining table was awkward.

The maid, Anthony needed to learn her name, came in and took their plates. "Thank you," Lorelai said to the maid. Lorelai cleared her throat, "So, what's for dessert?"

"We're not having dessert," Emily replied.

Rory asked, "We're not?"

"I-I'm on a diet," Emily replied.

"Americans are extremely fat," Richard added.

"I think they prefer Rubenesque," Lorelai clarified.

"You're not fat, Grandma," Rory told Emily.

"Well, thank you, Lorelai," Emily said.

Rory looked at Lorelai, who shrugged and said, "She was close."

Anthony grimaced slightly; Emily and Richard definitely did argue before they arrived. His mom sometimes called him and Blake by the wrong name when she was distracted by trying to act like everything was fine. A few times she called Zoe by the wrong name, and Zoe would go, "I am to pretty to be one of my brothers."

"Well, okay," Lorelai continued speaking. "If we're not having dessert, then...we should go?"

"All right," Emily replied, tossing down her napkin and standing quickly.

"See you next Friday," Richard replied as he got up.

"Oh," Lorelai replied.

Rory said, "Thank you for having us."

"Oh, wait," Emily said as she headed for the kitchen. "The Gordons' gave us some wonderful chocolate last week. They brought it back from Belgium. You can take it with you." She went into the kitchen.

"No, Mom, that's okay," Lorelai called after her. "We're fine."

"There are really good chocolates, Lorelai," Richard told her.

"I'm sure they are, Dad," Lorelai replied.

Richard called after Emily, "Did you find them, Emily?"

Rory said, "Grandpa, we can just get them next time."

"Oh, nonsense," Richard said. "You can eat them on the way home." He called out, "Emily?"

"Here they are. I've got them," Emily said. She was holding three red paper bags. She handed them to Rory, Lorelai, and Anthony, "One for you, one for you, and one for you. Enjoy?"

"We will," Lorelai replied. Richard kissed Rory on the head and there was more awkward silence.

"Okay, uh...we're leaving now. Have a good evening and get some sleep."

"All right," Emily replied as they left the dinning.

"Good night," Richard said, and Emily waved bye.

Anthony stopped and looked back at them, "Is everything all right between you two?"

"Everything's fine," Emily replied with a creepy big smile. "No need to worry."

Rory came back, took Anthony's hand and led him to the front door and outside.
Anthony closed the door behind them.

"What the hell was that?" asked Lorelai.

"I don't know," Rory replied.

"Jack Nicholson and Angelina Jolie just kicked us out with parting gifts," Lorelai stated.

"Dessert to go," Rory replied.

Lorelai said, "As much as the thought of an early end to Friday night dinner and dessert for the road appeals to me, that was just weird." She looked at Anthony, "Sorry you to witness all that."

"I've had worse," Anthony replied. The one that springs to mind was the dinner before he got kicked out of the house. He knew his parents were mad at him, but he couldn't figure out what he had done. Then they threw him out.

Rory looked in the bag and held up a tinfoil swan, "She made a tin-foil swan."

Lorelai said, "What was up with the drinks and the dinner she knew nothing about, and where was she coming from, anyhow?"

"I don't know," Rory replied.

"She had to 'run to the store'," Lorelai said, "Since when?"

"I don't know," Rory repeated.

"And she came back with nothing," Lorelai continued. "Ooh and the purse. Did you notice the purse?"

"They say people change as they get older," Rory said. "I just didn't think it was all in one week."

"There is something wrong here," Lorelai said. She spotted a car in the driveway, "Why is my mother's car here?"

"Like I said, they probably just had an argument, and Emily is probably just going to stay in the hotel for a night or two, like my mom does after she argues with my dad," Anthony replied. "Nothing to worry about."

"But my mother never parks her car in the driveway, because the car might drip oil and make a spot on the concrete, and then life as we know it would end," Lorelai said.

"It's to make a quick getaway in case Richard comes out to continue arguing with her," Anthony replied as Lorelai went to peer in the car window.

"What are you doing?" asked Rory.

"Just seeing what's in her car," Lorelai replied.

"Why?" asked Rory.

"Because – I don't know," Lorelai replied. "I just feel like something's up."

"The wall blocking your ears from hearing what I just told you about them arguing?" asked Anthony. Lorelai shushed him.

The door to the house opened.

"Someone's coming," Lorelai said.

"Who?" asked Rory.

"Mom," Lorelai replied. "Hurry." She pulled Rory, who pulled Anthony over to somewhere.

"What are you doing?" asked Rory. They went to hide in some shrubbery, "Good shoes, good shoes, good shoes."

"I'll buy you new shoes," Anthony told her as they ducked down to watch as Emily got in the car with some dry cleaning. She proceeded to take off.

"She's leaving," Lorelai replied in disbelief.

Rory asked, "Do you think she might be going to stay in a hotel?"

"I don't know," Lorelai replied.

"She could be meeting friends," Rory tried to think of something nicer.

"Tonight?" Lorelai asked, "After dinner?"

"Possibly," Anthony replied.

Lorelai sighed, "I think you might be right, Anthony." She sounded a little upset, "My mom might not be staying here tonight."

Anthony patted Lorelai on the shoulder, "It'll be okay. She just might need a night or two away and they'll make up." He held up the gift bag Emily gave him, "Do you want this Belgium chocolate?"

Lorelai seemed to be debating it, "Fine." She took the bag from him.

Lane had invited Thea and her friends to the gig that was happening on Friday, so they all went to it. Rory couldn't go because of the Friday Night Dinner obligation.

"You know, I think they sound a lot better without Zach," Georgia told Thea as Hep Alien played.

"I agree," Thea replied.

After the band finished, the audience cheered for the band. Lane and her band-mates talked to one another on stage, most likely complimenting one another.

"Brian, honey!" a woman called to Brian.

Brian went to the table where his family was at. There was a guy wearing a Zorro costume for some reason.

Gil took off to go find his wife, while Dave and Lane leaned against the stage for a moment.

"What do you think so far?" Georgia asked Jess.

"If they keep that up, they might end up popping out another kid," Jess replied, looking off to the side.

Confused, Thea looked to see where Jess was looking. Gil and his wife were making out.

Two girls had gone up to Dave, but judging from the way he motioned at Lane, the two girls were trying to flirt with Dave, but he was telling them that Lane was his girlfriend.

Judging from the way the two girls left and the way Lane was glaring at them, they must've figured death by drumstick was not on their to-do lists.

Dave pointed out his parents and kissed Lane before heading to his parents and Lane came over to Thea and her friends, practically glowing. She asked, "What do you guys think?" She hugged each of them.

"I'm wondering what's up with Zorro over there," Aiden said, pointing.

Lane looked, "Oh, that's Brian's sixteen-year-old cousin. Apparently, he goes everywhere dressed like that."

"Still not as weird as Anthony's family," Liberty pointed out.

"Belle, there's a difference between weird and criminally insane," Jess told her. "And Anthony's family is criminally insane. Dressing like Zorro everywhere is weird, but there's a chance he'll grow out of it. There's no chance of growing out criminally insane."

"I don't think they qualify as criminally insane," Thea replied. Jess started counting down on his fingers as she really thought about it. Everyone in that family had been arrested... "Yeah, okay. You're right."

"Damn straight I am," Jess replied, grinning because he loved being proven right.

Georgia was passing out non-alcoholic drinks while Lane looked around the club area.

Thea asked, "What are you looking for?"

"I wish my mom was here to see us perform," Lane replied, taking the plastic cup that Georgia handed her. "But she's probably busy with her replacement daughter."

"Okay, she is not replacing you," Liberty told Lane.

"Then why is she wearing my clothes and eating my apples and probably sleeping in my bed and plotting to take my position at Luke's?" asked Lane.

"Don't worry about the position at Luke's," Jess told Lane. "He really likes having you there and won't replace you. I like having you there because he doesn't complain about me showing up late all that much."

"Your mom probably misses you and is trying to fill the loneliness," Aiden pointed out. "And she probably doesn't want to get a pet."

"She doesn't really like having pets," Lane replied. "She has a lot to say about pets, like they're musty, having to clean up after them, that their fur would get everywhere..." She was listing off her mom's complaints on her fingers.

"She should get a cat though," Sage said. "It'll be like having an apathetic roommate who only wants to hang out sometimes."

Thea patted Lane's arm, "Don't worry, Lane. I'm sure she'll come around eventually, and you can finally have your mom back. But 'til then, you have us...and Rory and Anthony."

"I know I have you guys, but I wish they came too," Lane admitted. "It would've been nice having my full family here to support us."

Although Rory did end up giving Lane the Belgium chocolate to make up for not attending the gig.