diff --git a/src/backend/dataproxy.js b/src/backend/dataproxy.js
index df2ed03b..c16f2cf4 100644
--- a/src/backend/dataproxy.js
+++ b/src/backend/dataproxy.js
@@ -50,11 +50,11 @@ this.recline.Backend.DataProxy = this.recline.Backend.DataProxy || {};
         });
         return tmp;
       });
-      var store = new recline.Backend.Memory.Store(records, fields);
-      dataset._dataCache = store;
-      dataset.fields.reset(fields);
-      dataset.query();
-      dfd.resolve(dataset);
+      dfd.resolve({
+        records: records,
+        fields: fields,
+        useMemoryStore: true
+      });
     })
     .fail(function(arguments) {
       dfd.reject(arguments);
@@ -62,21 +62,6 @@ this.recline.Backend.DataProxy = this.recline.Backend.DataProxy || {};
     return dfd.promise();
   };
 
-  my.query = function(dataset, queryObj) {
-    var dfd = $.Deferred();
-    var results = dataset._dataCache.query(queryObj);
-    var hits = _.map(results.records, function(row) {
-      return { _source: row };
-    });
-    var out = {
-      total: results.total,
-      hits: hits,
-      facets: results.facets
-    };
-    dfd.resolve(out);
-    return dfd.promise();
-  };
-
   // ## _wrapInTimeout
   // 
   // Convenience method providing a crude way to catch backend errors on JSONP calls.
diff --git a/src/backend/gdocs.js b/src/backend/gdocs.js
index c9449916..bd855cd4 100644
--- a/src/backend/gdocs.js
+++ b/src/backend/gdocs.js
@@ -3,14 +3,13 @@ this.recline.Backend = this.recline.Backend || {};
 this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
 
 (function($, my) {
+  my.__type__ = 'gdocs';
 
   // ## Google spreadsheet backend
   // 
-  // Connect to Google Docs spreadsheet.
-  //
-  // Dataset must have a url attribute pointing to the Gdocs
-  // spreadsheet's JSON feed e.g.
+  // Fetch data from a Google Docs spreadsheet.
   //
+  // Dataset must have a url attribute pointing to the Gdocs or its JSON feed e.g.
   // <pre>
   // var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
   //     url: 'https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/0Aon3JiuouxLUdDQwZE1JdV94cUd6NWtuZ0IyWTBjLWc/od6/public/values?alt=json'
@@ -18,77 +17,25 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
   //   'gdocs'
   // );
   // </pre>
-  my.Backbone = function() {
-    var self = this;
-    this.__type__ = 'gdocs';
-    this.readonly = true;
-
-    this.sync = function(method, model, options) {
-      var self = this;
-      if (method === "read") { 
-        var dfd = $.Deferred(); 
-        dfd.resolve(model);
-        return dfd.promise();
-      }
-    };
-
-    this.query = function(dataset, queryObj) { 
-      var dfd = $.Deferred();
-      if (dataset._dataCache) {
-        dfd.resolve(dataset._dataCache);
-      } else {
-        loadData(dataset.get('url')).done(function(result) {
-          dataset.fields.reset(result.fields);
-          // cache data onto dataset (we have loaded whole gdoc it seems!)
-          dataset._dataCache = self._formatResults(dataset, result.data);
-          dfd.resolve(dataset._dataCache);
-        });
-      }
-      return dfd.promise();
-    };
-
-    this._formatResults = function(dataset, data) {
-      var fields = _.pluck(dataset.fields.toJSON(), 'id');
-      // zip the fields with the data rows to produce js objs
-      // TODO: factor this out as a common method with other backends
-      var objs = _.map(data, function (d) { 
-        var obj = {};
-        _.each(_.zip(fields, d), function (x) {
-          obj[x[0]] = x[1];
-        });
-        return obj;
-      });
-      var out = {
-        total: objs.length,
-        hits: _.map(objs, function(row) {
-          return { _source: row }
-        })
-      }
-      return out;
-    };
-  };
-
-  // ## loadData
-  //
-  // loadData from a google docs URL
   //
   // @return object with two attributes
   //
-  // * fields: array of objects
-  // * data: array of arrays
-  var loadData = function(url) {
+  // * fields: array of Field objects
+  // * records: array of objects for each row
+  //  
+  my.fetch = function(dataset) {
     var dfd = $.Deferred(); 
-    var url = my.getSpreadsheetAPIUrl(url);
-    var out = {
-      fields: [],
-      data: []
-    }
+    var url = my.getSpreadsheetAPIUrl(dataset.get('url'));
     $.getJSON(url, function(d) {
       result = my.parseData(d);
-      result.fields = _.map(result.fields, function(fieldId) {
+      var fields = _.map(result.fields, function(fieldId) {
         return {id: fieldId};
       });
-      dfd.resolve(result);
+      dfd.resolve({
+        records: result.records,
+        fields: fields,
+        useMemoryStore: true
+      });
     });
     return dfd.promise();
   };
@@ -109,8 +56,8 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
       options = arguments[1];
     }
     var results = {
-      'fields': [],
-      'data': []
+      fields: [],
+      records: []
     };
     // default is no special info on type of columns
     var colTypes = {};
@@ -128,10 +75,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
 
     // converts non numberical values that should be numerical (22.3%[string] -> 0.223[float])
     var rep = /^([\d\.\-]+)\%$/;
-    $.each(gdocsSpreadsheet.feed.entry, function (i, entry) {
-      var row = [];
-      for (var k in results.fields) {
-        var col = results.fields[k];
+    results.records = _.map(gdocsSpreadsheet.feed.entry, function(entry) {
+      var row = {};
+      _.each(results.fields, function(col) {
         var _keyname = 'gsx$' + col;
         var value = entry[_keyname]['$t'];
         // if labelled as % and value contains %, convert
@@ -142,9 +88,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
             value = value3 / 100;
           }
         }
-        row.push(value);
-      }
-      results.data.push(row);
+        row[col] = value;
+      });
+      return row;
     });
     return results;
   };
diff --git a/src/backend/memory.js b/src/backend/memory.js
index 308557d1..2692c9e3 100644
--- a/src/backend/memory.js
+++ b/src/backend/memory.js
@@ -20,49 +20,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.Memory = this.recline.Backend.Memory || {};
     var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset(
       _.extend({}, metadata, {records: data, fields: fields})
     );
-    dataset.fetch();
     return dataset;
   };
 
-  my.fetch = function(dataset) {
-    var dfd = $.Deferred();
-    var store = new my.Store(dataset.get('records'), dataset.get('fields'));
-    dataset._dataCache = store;
-    dataset.fields.reset(store.fields);
-    dataset.query();
-    dfd.resolve(dataset);
-    return dfd.promise();
-  };
-
-  my.save = function(dataset, changes) {
-    var dfd = $.Deferred();
-    // TODO
-    // _.each(changes.creates) { ... }
-    _.each(changes.updates, function(record) {
-      dataset._dataCache.update(record);
-    });
-    _.each(changes.deletes, function(record) {
-      dataset._dataCache.delete(record);
-    });
-    dfd.resolve(dataset);
-    return dfd.promise();
-  },
-
-  my.query = function(dataset, queryObj) {
-    var dfd = $.Deferred();
-    var results = dataset._dataCache.query(queryObj);
-    var hits = _.map(results.records, function(row) {
-      return { _source: row };
-    });
-    var out = {
-      total: results.total,
-      hits: hits,
-      facets: results.facets
-    };
-    dfd.resolve(out);
-    return dfd.promise();
-  };
-
   // ## Data Wrapper
   //
   // Turn a simple array of JS objects into a mini data-store with
@@ -102,7 +62,22 @@ this.recline.Backend.Memory = this.recline.Backend.Memory || {};
       this.data = newdocs;
     };
 
+    this.save = function(changes, dataset) {
+      var self = this;
+      var dfd = $.Deferred();
+      // TODO _.each(changes.creates) { ... }
+      _.each(changes.updates, function(record) {
+        self.update(record);
+      });
+      _.each(changes.deletes, function(record) {
+        self.delete(record);
+      });
+      dfd.resolve(this);
+      return dfd.promise();
+    },
+
     this.query = function(queryObj) {
+      var dfd = $.Deferred();
       var numRows = queryObj.size || this.data.length;
       var start = queryObj.from || 0;
       var results = this.data;
@@ -119,14 +94,14 @@ this.recline.Backend.Memory = this.recline.Backend.Memory || {};
           results.reverse();
         }
       });
-      var total = results.length;
       var facets = this.computeFacets(results, queryObj);
-      results = results.slice(start, start+numRows);
-      return {
-        total: total,
-        records: results,
+      var out = {
+        total: results.length,
+        hits: results.slice(start, start+numRows),
         facets: facets
       };
+      dfd.resolve(out);
+      return dfd.promise();
     };
 
     // in place filtering
diff --git a/src/model.js b/src/model.js
index 982111f9..72b57040 100644
--- a/src/model.js
+++ b/src/model.js
@@ -65,17 +65,49 @@ my.Dataset = Backbone.Model.extend({
     this.queryState = new my.Query();
     this.queryState.bind('change', this.query);
     this.queryState.bind('facet:add', this.query);
+    this._store = this.backend;
+    if (this.backend == recline.Backend.Memory) {
+      this.fetch();
+    }
   },
 
   // ### fetch
   //
   // Retrieve dataset and (some) records from the backend.
   fetch: function() {
-    return this.backend.fetch(this);
+    var self = this;
+    var dfd = $.Deferred();
+    // TODO: fail case;
+    if (this.backend !== recline.Backend.Memory) {
+      this.backend.fetch(this).then(handleResults)
+    } else {
+      // special case where we have been given data directly
+      handleResults({
+        records: this.get('records'),
+        fields: this.get('fields'),
+        useMemoryStore: true
+      });
+    }
+
+    function handleResults(results) {
+      self.set(results.metadata);
+      if (results.useMemoryStore) {
+        self._store = new recline.Backend.Memory.Store(results.records, results.fields);
+        self.query();
+        // store will have extracted fields if not provided
+        self.fields.reset(self._store.fields);
+      } else {
+        self.fields.reset(results.fields);
+      }
+      // TODO: parsing the processing of fields
+      dfd.resolve(this);
+    }
+    return dfd.promise();
   },
 
   save: function() {
-    return this.backend.save(this, this._changes);
+    var self = this;
+    return this._store.save(this._changes, this);
   },
 
   // ### query
@@ -89,48 +121,48 @@ my.Dataset = Backbone.Model.extend({
   // also returned.
   query: function(queryObj) {
     var self = this;
-    this.trigger('query:start');
-    var actualQuery = self._prepareQuery(queryObj);
     var dfd = $.Deferred();
-    this.backend.query(this, actualQuery).done(function(queryResult) {
-      self.docCount = queryResult.total;
-      var docs = _.map(queryResult.hits, function(hit) {
-        var _doc = new my.Record(hit._source);
-        _doc.backend = self.backend;
-        _doc.dataset = self;
-        _doc.bind('change', function(doc) {
-          self._changes.updates.push(doc.toJSON());
-        });
-        _doc.bind('destroy', function(doc) {
-          self._changes.deletes.push(doc.toJSON());
-        });
-        return _doc;
+    this.trigger('query:start');
+
+    if (queryObj) {
+      this.queryState.set(queryObj);
+    }
+    var actualQuery = this.queryState.toJSON();
+
+    this._store.query(actualQuery, this)
+      .done(function(queryResult) {
+        self._handleQueryResult(queryResult);
+        self.trigger('query:done');
+        dfd.resolve(self.currentRecords);
+      })
+      .fail(function(arguments) {
+        self.trigger('query:fail', arguments);
+        dfd.reject(arguments);
       });
-      self.currentRecords.reset(docs);
-      if (queryResult.facets) {
-        var facets = _.map(queryResult.facets, function(facetResult, facetId) {
-          facetResult.id = facetId;
-          return new my.Facet(facetResult);
-        });
-        self.facets.reset(facets);
-      }
-      self.trigger('query:done');
-      dfd.resolve(self.currentRecords);
-    })
-    .fail(function(arguments) {
-      self.trigger('query:fail', arguments);
-      dfd.reject(arguments);
-    });
     return dfd.promise();
   },
 
-
-  _prepareQuery: function(newQueryObj) {
-    if (newQueryObj) {
-      this.queryState.set(newQueryObj);
+  _handleQueryResult: function(queryResult) {
+    var self = this;
+    self.docCount = queryResult.total;
+    var docs = _.map(queryResult.hits, function(hit) {
+      var _doc = new my.Record(hit);
+      _doc.bind('change', function(doc) {
+        self._changes.updates.push(doc.toJSON());
+      });
+      _doc.bind('destroy', function(doc) {
+        self._changes.deletes.push(doc.toJSON());
+      });
+      return _doc;
+    });
+    self.currentRecords.reset(docs);
+    if (queryResult.facets) {
+      var facets = _.map(queryResult.facets, function(facetResult, facetId) {
+        facetResult.id = facetId;
+        return new my.Facet(facetResult);
+      });
+      self.facets.reset(facets);
     }
-    var out = this.queryState.toJSON();
-    return out;
   },
 
   toTemplateJSON: function() {
@@ -151,7 +183,7 @@ my.Dataset = Backbone.Model.extend({
       query.addFacet(field.id);
     });
     var dfd = $.Deferred();
-    this.backend.query(this, query.toJSON()).done(function(queryResult) {
+    this._store.query(query.toJSON(), this).done(function(queryResult) {
       if (queryResult.facets) {
         _.each(queryResult.facets, function(facetResult, facetId) {
           facetResult.id = facetId;
diff --git a/test/backend/gdocs.test.js b/test/backend/gdocs.test.js
index 6d50bbd5..08af2919 100644
--- a/test/backend/gdocs.test.js
+++ b/test/backend/gdocs.test.js
@@ -168,11 +168,10 @@ var sample_gdocs_spreadsheet_data = {
 }
 
 test("GDocs Backend", function() { 
-  var backend = new recline.Backend.GDocs.Backbone();
   var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
       url: 'https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/0Aon3JiuouxLUdDQwZE1JdV94cUd6NWtuZ0IyWTBjLWc/od6/public/values?alt=json'
     },
-    backend
+    'gdocs'
   );
 
   var stub = sinon.stub($, 'getJSON', function(options, cb) {
@@ -182,7 +181,8 @@ test("GDocs Backend", function() {
     }
   });
 
-  dataset.query().then(function(docList) {
+  dataset.fetch().then(function() {
+    var docList = dataset.currentRecords;
     deepEqual(['column-2', 'column-1'], _.pluck(dataset.fields.toJSON(), 'id'));
     equal(3, docList.length);
     equal("A", docList.models[0].get('column-1'));
diff --git a/test/backend/memory.test.js b/test/backend/memory.test.js
index ba14b0e5..81ec8f80 100644
--- a/test/backend/memory.test.js
+++ b/test/backend/memory.test.js
@@ -29,10 +29,11 @@ test('query', function () {
     size: 4
     , from: 2
   };
-  var out = data.query(queryObj);
-  deepEqual(out.records[0], memoryData[2]);
-  equal(out.records.length, 4);
-  equal(out.total, 6);
+  data.query(queryObj).then(function(out) {
+    deepEqual(out.hits[0], memoryData[2]);
+    equal(out.hits.length, 4);
+    equal(out.total, 6);
+  });
 });
 
 test('query sort', function () {
@@ -42,44 +43,50 @@ test('query sort', function () {
       {'y': {order: 'desc'}}
     ]
   };
-  var out = data.query(queryObj);
-  equal(out.records[0].x, 6);
+  data.query(queryObj).then(function(out) {
+    equal(out.hits[0].x, 6);
+  });
 
   var queryObj = {
     sort: [
       {'country': {order: 'desc'}}
     ]
   };
-  var out = data.query(queryObj);
-  equal(out.records[0].country, 'US');
+  data.query(queryObj).then(function(out) {
+    equal(out.hits[0].country, 'US');
+  });
 
   var queryObj = {
     sort: [
       {'country': {order: 'asc'}}
     ]
   };
-  var out = data.query(queryObj);
-  equal(out.records[0].country, 'DE');
+  data.query(queryObj).then(function(out) {
+    equal(out.hits[0].country, 'DE');
+  });
 });
 
 test('query string', function () {
   var data = _wrapData();
-  var out = data.query({q: 'UK'});
-  equal(out.total, 3);
-  deepEqual(_.pluck(out.records, 'country'), ['UK', 'UK', 'UK']);
+  data.query({q: 'UK'}).then(function(out) {
+    equal(out.total, 3);
+    deepEqual(_.pluck(out.hits, 'country'), ['UK', 'UK', 'UK']);
+  });
 
-  var out = data.query({q: 'UK 6'})
-  equal(out.total, 1);
-  deepEqual(out.records[0].id, 1);
+  data.query({q: 'UK 6'}).then(function(out) {
+    equal(out.total, 1);
+    deepEqual(out.hits[0].id, 1);
+  });
 });
 
 test('filters', function () {
   var data = _wrapData();
   var query = new recline.Model.Query();
   query.addFilter({type: 'term', field: 'country', term: 'UK'});
-  var out = data.query(query.toJSON());
-  equal(out.total, 3);
-  deepEqual(_.pluck(out.records, 'country'), ['UK', 'UK', 'UK']);
+  data.query(query.toJSON()).then(function(out) {
+    equal(out.total, 3);
+    deepEqual(_.pluck(out.hits, 'country'), ['UK', 'UK', 'UK']);
+  });
 });
 
 test('facet', function () {
@@ -167,7 +174,7 @@ test('basics', function () {
   var dataset = makeBackendDataset();
   expect(3);
   // convenience for tests - get the data that should get changed
-  var data = dataset._dataCache;
+  var data = dataset._store;
   dataset.fetch().then(function(datasetAgain) {
     equal(dataset.get('name'), memoryData.metadata.name);
     deepEqual(_.pluck(dataset.fields.toJSON(), 'id'), _.pluck(data.fields, 'id'));
@@ -178,21 +185,21 @@ test('basics', function () {
 test('query', function () {
   var dataset = makeBackendDataset();
   // convenience for tests - get the data that should get changed
-  var data = dataset._dataCache.data;
+  var data = dataset._store.data;
   var dataset = makeBackendDataset();
   var queryObj = {
     size: 4
     , from: 2
   };
   dataset.query(queryObj).then(function(recordList) {
-    deepEqual(data[2], recordList.models[0].toJSON());
+    deepEqual(recordList.models[0].toJSON(), data[2]);
   });
 });
 
 test('query sort', function () {
   var dataset = makeBackendDataset();
   // convenience for tests - get the data that should get changed
-  var data = dataset._dataCache.data;
+  var data = dataset._store.data;
   var queryObj = {
     sort: [
       {'y': {order: 'desc'}}
@@ -253,7 +260,7 @@ test('facet', function () {
 test('update and delete', function () {
   var dataset = makeBackendDataset();
   // convenience for tests - get the data that should get changed
-  var data = dataset._dataCache;
+  var data = dataset._store;
   dataset.query().then(function(docList) {
     equal(docList.length, Math.min(100, data.data.length));
     var doc1 = docList.models[0];
diff --git a/test/base.js b/test/base.js
index bd279965..eb629e25 100644
--- a/test/base.js
+++ b/test/base.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ var Fixture = {
       {id: 4, date: '2011-05-04', x: 5, y: 10, z: 15, country: 'UK', title: 'fifth', lat:51.58, lon:0},
       {id: 5, date: '2011-06-02', x: 6, y: 12, z: 18, country: 'DE', title: 'sixth', lat:51.04, lon:7.9}
     ];
-    var dataset = recline.Backend.Memory.createDataset(documents, fields);
+    var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({records: documents, fields: fields});
     return dataset;
   }
 };
diff --git a/test/model.test.js b/test/model.test.js
index 556eb80a..6d96a365 100644
--- a/test/model.test.js
+++ b/test/model.test.js
@@ -116,15 +116,6 @@ test('Dataset', function () {
   equal(out.fields.length, 2);
 });
 
-test('Dataset _prepareQuery', function () {
-  var meta = {id: 'test', title: 'xyz'};
-  var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset(meta);
-
-  var out = dataset._prepareQuery();
-  var exp = new recline.Model.Query().toJSON();
-  deepEqual(out, exp);
-});
-
 test('Dataset getFieldsSummary', function () {
   var dataset = Fixture.getDataset();
   dataset.getFieldsSummary().done(function() {