Sookie is mad that Lorelai cleared a plate: "You've gone nutty!" Sookie is worried that she's going to make Lorelai mad, but knows she has to tell her friend that she's become a crazy control freak. Lorelai's doing everybody else's job. She even rearranged Sookie's refrigerator, switching meats and vegetables. Lorelai has turned into Emily. This accusation does not sit well with Lorelai, who would never think she was anything like her mother. Yesterday when I did the dishes while talking to the cats about where I should hang a clock...that's when I knew I had turned into my mother. You allow the fear five seconds, and then you have to move on. Sookie tells Lorelai she has to go home because she keeps falling asleep in her office -- once on a stapler, leaving a "Swingline" impression on her skin all day. (Best line reading of the episode.) Lorelai admits that she's feeling burned out. She says she'll take a break. Lorelai then turns into me: "Not this week, because stuff's been piling up. Not next week, because...God." Sookie pushes Lorelai out of the Dragonfly, declaring her break to be right now. Lorelai complains that she doesn't have anyone to hang out with. Sookie promises she'll hang out with Lorelai sometime this week, since she needs a break, too. And you know, television babies can always wait to be fed. Lorelai beams, happy to be released. We hear Michel shout as a Chinese Checkers board flies by in the background. "Do it again! Do it again!" cheer the Fake Kids. Sookie tells Lorelai to hold it together and then leave. Lorelai shields her eyes and runs away. We watch Sookie walk down a hallway because, why not.

Lorelai approaches a gardener on the front porch, but stops herself before she corrects him. She gets a cell-phone call. It's Rory, asking if this is a bad time. Lorelai says she's trying not to be busy. After a few seconds of tense small talk, Rory tells her mother she was just standing on the corner of Bark and Cheese. Lorelai smiles: "Bark and Cheese? Really?" Rory says it still looks exactly the same. Lorelai asks if there was a tiny Italian dog in a basket barking the entire time. Rory says there wasn't, but that she had a flashback. Lorelai teases Rory for having to eat a piece of cheese with her coffee, though Rory insists she used the right word for cream. But she wasn't going to be a whiny tourist, so she tried to pull it off like she wanted cheese with her coffee: "Stinky cheese. The worst, don't forget." Rory says she knows French and a bit of Spanish, but that her Italian isn't very good. Lorelai says that being trilingual is plenty for a young lady. Rory takes a deep breath and apologizes. Lorelai says it's okay. "I screwed up," Rory says. "I screwed up so bad. I handled everything wrong. I keep reliving everything over and over. It's such a mess. I just want to fix it. I have to fix it." She asks her mother for a big favor. Rory's written Dean a letter, and she wants Lorelai to give it to him, since Rory can't mail it to his apartment. "It's a big favor," Rory says again. She insists that this will make everything better, and that she can't wait until she gets home. Isn't she coming home in two days? Anyway, Lorelai says that if Rory gets her the letter, Lorelai will get it to Dean. Rory thanks her a few times. Lorelai tells Rory to have some espresso and Limburger for her. They tell each other that they love each other, and hang up. Lorelai starts to correct the gardener's planting, but Sookie screams from inside the inn at Lorelai to leave. Commercial.