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It's as Simple as That.

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It smelled like peas.

Peas and some kind of gravy. Lorelai caught a giant weft of a home cooked meal as she stood solemnly on her front porch, not wanting to go in. But, after being cold and wet all she wanted was a hot bath, alone.

She sighed quietly as she pushed open the front door, slipping off her boots onto the brand new rubber mat Chris has just bought. She missed her old, beat up welcome mat. Her old beat up television set. Her old beat up oven that didn't work.

"You're back!" Chris said excitedly, turning the corner from the kitchen and meeting her in the doorway, "Oh my God Lor, what happened to you?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. Really, I really just want to get out of these clothes," she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek to reassure him as she walked past him into the living room.

"Whoa whoa whoa, You aren't 'fine'…. you're soaking wet. You're eyes are bloodshot, what the hell happened?"

"Nothing-," Lorelai said stubbornly, "It's just…I just, got a little emotional watching Rory get on the bus," she lied, turning to the bottom stairs.

Chris walked over to her, placing a hand on her back, "Oh, okay. I mean, it's understandable. You're sad she's leaving I totally get it. Why are you soaking wet?"

"Um, I wanted to wait outside until she was completely gone. It's kind of a me and her thing, I don't think you'd understand," she said coldly, turning around to face him. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone.

"No, no I understand. This is the first time she's going to be away from you for a long period of time. You guys are each other's lifeline, trust me Lor, I understand. But, don't worry," he said, leading her back down the bottom stairs and wrapping his hand around hers, "She's going to do amazing. Better than amazing, she might even be elected president instead," he chuckled.

Of course she would be amazing. She knew that, without a doubt, yet the lies poured out, faster then she could even process.

"I know, I know," Lorelai said sadly.

"C'mon I made you an awesome dinner. Meatloaf and tatertots. I even threw in a few peas to be healthy," he smiled leading her to the kitchen. "Gigi, c'mon time for dinner!"

"Coming!" a little voice screamed from the other side of the door.

"See, this will take your mind off of Rory for a good while," he said, standing behind Lorelai as he tightly wrapped his hands around her neck. He gave her a wet kiss on the back of her head as he held her there, cherishing every bit of her.

She squirmed uncomfortable under his grasp just thinking about Luke's warm embrace an hour before, "Yeah. My mind off of Rory…" she trailed off, looking up at him with a forced smile.

It had been a few days into the campaign life for Rory and she was loving every second of it. Their first stop had been at Yale, which was, of course, amazing. She still had a few friends there on the paper that she got to have dinner with.

Everyone seemed to be getting along fine. Already, she had stacks of business cards and contacts. From photographers to writers to personal assistants to bus drivers, she was introduced to a whole new world that wasn't the bowl of rich trust fund kids she sunk into at Yale.

She had taken a particular liking to Austin. His grungy yet standup image, his breathtaking smile, his ability to make a good political joke. It was all very different to her- he was more of an inner city, grounded and street-smart kid who was brilliant both in art and in…life.

Her hair wasn't very well washed and she was pretty sure she smelled okay, but she could tell the bus thing really wasn't going to fly for too much longer. She was actually looking forward to her break in Philadelphia.

"Watch out," Austin said, bumping her out of the way playfully as he knelt on one leg to line up his lens, "Thanks."

She laughed and moved aside looking out onto the skyline of buildings in front of them, "Really. A skyline shot? Couldn't come up with anything better than that?" She loved challenging him.

He snapped a few dozen pics in silence, only the sound of his camera clicking away as he turned it horizontal and vertical, sideways and upside-down.

"Look," he said, standing upright smiling at her as he pressed the view button on his camera. He brought up an image of the skyline, with young girl, maybe 10 or so, walking her dog with her back to the camera. On her backpack was an Obama sticker, plastered smack dab in the middle of the pink and purple cotton candy colors. The girl looked down at her dog as the dog looked up at the skyline. It was more than brilliant.

"Wow, yet again I make a total idiot out of myself because I completely missed that," she laughed nervously.

" Wow. I made the writer speechless," he laughed, turning to face her as he put his lens back on his camera.

"Well, not speechless. I mean, I could easily write about this moment. You know, paint a picture, take a snapshot with words. I'm just not as observant as you are," she said with a little sarcasm.

"Oh really? Do it then," he said nonchalantly.

"Do what?"

"Paint the picture, take a snapshot with words," he mimicked, smiling as he pretended to hand paint in the air.

"Okay I will."

"Great. And then we will give my picture and your story to a few people and see what the consensus is. I'm a better photographer than you are writer. Loser buys dinner for the winner," he said standing very close to her. He was always so playful, standing close, touching her arm, her leg, her hair. But it came natural to him, almost as if he didn't mean to do it.

"Well, I don't know about the being better thing, but you got yourself a deal," she smiled shyly, whipping out her notebook and flipping it open so it purposely hit him in the face, "Give me a little space for my masterpiece."

"It's all yours," he said, stepping back and gesturing to the New York Skyline as he smiled and walked away. He had the coolest walk she had ever seen, if that was even possible.

...b...b...b...b...b...b...b...b.b.b...b...

It had been a few days since the tent encounter with Luke and it was all she could think about. Day, night, work, phone calls. She virtually cringed at every kiss Chris placed on her and she was beginning to think he noticed.

It wasn't depression, no-not that deep. Just sadness. Sad that she didn't end up with her soul mate. Sad she knew who he was. Maybe it would have been easier if she'd never known him. Sad that she was stuck in a predictable marriage.

It was a sunny day in Stars Hollow, blue skies and no clouds for miles. The town meeting was going to start in about an hour or so and Lorelai wanted to get there early to hang up flyers for a town event she was going to have at the Dragonfly. It was a first for the inn, having an open event for the town to come to. But, it was a nice gesture towards a town that had been so welcoming to the idea of her inn for the last few years. So, she was going to host a Memorial Day Picnic. Of course, Sookie had all these new recipes she wanted to try out, so it was perfect.

Lorelai crossed the town square, leisurely strolling with the poise she always had. She made her way to Miss Patty's, waving at a few neighbors as she walked by. Luke spotted her from the corner of his eye inside the diner. After watching her slip through the studio's door, he put down his notepad and pen.

"Caesar, I'll be back!"

He couldn't stop thinking about her. He darted across the street, looking around to make sure no one was watching him and slipped through the door, sliding it shut behind him.

Lorelai turned around, a little startled as she stopped midway from stapling up a flyer.

"Oh, hey," she said with a small, awkward smile, "What are you doing here?"

Luke walked over to her and stared her right in her eyes as she lowered her hands from the wall she was working on.

"Why did you come?" Luke asked sternly, with extreme seriousness on his face.

"What?" Lorelai asked shaking her head with a little laugh.

"Why did you come to my tent the other day Lorelai," Luke said still looking her straight in the eyes, "I mean you could have kept driving. You didn't have to stop and even if you did stop you didn't have to stay and play cards. Why did you?"

"I….I just wanted to talk to you alone, you know how it is here," she said nervously, fidgeting with her flyers to distract her.

"Well you have a phone right? Why didn't you just pick up and call me on the phone? Have a little chit chat, between two friends right?" He said angrily.

"Luke…I was trying to be nice. I wanted to get away for a little bit from all the craziness and just talk…why are you so mad?" she asked timidly, widening her bright blue eyes.

"Because Lorelai!" he outburst, throwing his hands in the air. He lowered them down and rested one on his forehead in defeat, "Because you got to go home to your perfect house that we rebuilt together and your perfect husband and perfect dog and I got to sleep alone all night staring at an empty pillow next to me that smelled like you."

She eased up her tense body, as she looked at him longingly. She was wearing a gorgeous teal sundress that hugged her body perfectly and her hair sat in loose curls below her shoulders.

"And you got mad when I told you how I felt. You left. You came to me Lorelai, you came to my tent."

"I know, I know…. you're right. I'm sorry," she said quietly, really not knowing what to say.

"I will always be looking at your pillow. There is no one else, and there's never going to be anyone else and…all I'm saying…is that you need to think about why you came to my tent."

She nodded at him. She already knew why she went to his tent. Because he was in there, alone, all sexy and Lukeish, and whether she let herself admit it or not, she loved him. So much. And she had no idea what she was doing.

They stared at each other for a few moments, passion pouring out of their hearts in silence.

"Oh, I'm sorry am I interrupting something?" Ms. Patty said quietly as she slid the door closed behind her, afraid to look at both of them.

"Um…no. Of course not we were just…catching up," Lorelai said breaking her gaze with Luke and moving away from his side of the room, to hang more flyers up. Luke remained still, staring at her every move as she nervously began stapling.

"Oh, okay dear, whatever," Ms. Patty said quickly hurrying over to the front of the meeting space so she could set up her papers.

Luke sighed another deep sigh. It seems like that's all he did lately. He decided to take a seat on the far side of the room, near the back. Perhaps a town meeting would make him stop thinking about Lorelai for a few seconds.

People began to slowly come in as Lorelai continued hanging up and handing out flyers, chatting it up with everyone as if everything were fine, when in fact, she felt like someone had punched her in the stomach a few times.

"Hey babe," she heard Christopher call as she reached up to staple her last flyer on the wall. By now the meeting was getting pretty packed and he waved to her as he found two empty seats.

"Oh, hey," she said forcibly, turning around to face him with a fake smile, "Got us the some good seats huh?" She walked over to him and placed a quick kiss on his cheek, her angle forcing her to look across the room at Luke, staring at her longingly. I honestly don't think I could feel any worse than this.

"Of course," Chris said, moving his jacket so she could sit. She broke her gaze with Luke as she sat next to him, placing her extra flyers on the floor and crossing her legs. He carefully placed his arm around the back of her chair, leaning in to smell her hair and kiss her again on her neck, "I missed you today," he whispered in her ear.

"Oh…yeah?" she said plainly, flinching again at his touch. She hated this feeling.

"Yeah…I thought about you all day. You didn't miss me?" he asked, cheesing as he playfully nuzzled her hair.

"Yeah, I did," she said locking eyes with Luke again who was now blatantly staring, "Chris," she said pushing him away slowly until he sat upright again, "Not right now, we're at a town meeting." She smiled slightly of embarrassment as she put her head down, breaking her glance at Luke.

Christopher looked back and forth between the two of them. He noticed the staring. He noticed it all the time, but he never brought it up.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said placing his hand in his lap, slyly reaching over to her lap and entangling his hand in hers, "I'll just have to be more slick about it." He knew he was showing off. But, part of him felt he had to whenever that guy was within a 37-foot radius.

Lorelai smiled a fake smile once again and turned her attention to Taylor.

…..b…b…..b…..b

"Let me see it," Austin said trying to grab the piece of paper out of Rory's hand, as they walked down their most recent hotel's hallway, on their way to an event in their latest city of Scranton.

"No!" Rory said playfully, whisking the paper to the other side, out of Austin's reach. She was wearing a gray skirt the hugged her hips just right and a loosely hanging light pink top that accented her rosy cheeks. Austin walked very closely next to her as they made their way to the bus outside.

"You can't read it until the judges have spoken. I don't want you to give them any bad ideas," Rory said smiling as she walked up to a guy sitting on a bench outside the bus.

"Fine," Austin said, "Hey dude. Here it's all ready to go." He gestured to Rory's paper as she handed it to him.

"Thanks again for agreeing to judge our little contest here Mike," Rory said.

"Oh, it's no problem. I'm just happy to read about something that isn't the wonderful slanderous world of politics."

He studied the paper intently as Austin looked over at Rory, flashing his bright green eyes at her in suspicion. She couldn't help but smile back, ear-to-ear, completely incompetent when he looked at her like that.

"Well…." Austin said after a few minutes.

"It's…great. Stunning actually. I had no idea a person could turn such a still picture into an action shot. I'm sorry man but I'm going to have to go with Rory on this one," he said handing the paper back to her and getting up to walk on the bus, "See you inside."

Rory jumped up and down with her paper in front of her, smiling with excitement, "See. You aren't the only one with a talent around here."

"Okay, okay you're right. You win. I guess I owe you dinner tonight," Austin said playfully leaning in closer to her like he always did.

"I guess you do," she said nervously, not wanting to look him in the eyes.

"Be ready at 8:30. I'll knock on your room door to pick you up," he said tickling her side as he walked onto the bus. There he went, always touching her again.

She smiled a huge smile and walked on the bus.

….b…b…b…..b…..b…b

It had been a few days since Luke's ambush at the town meeting and still Lorelai couldn't stop thinking about what he said.

There never will be anyone else Lorelai.

Why did you come to my tent Lorelai?

I had to stare at a pillow that smelled like you Lorelai.

Your perfect house and your perfect husband Lorelai.

Ugh. She couldn't get him out of her head. And she already felt horrible about her encounter with him. She had cheated on her husband. She finally had one, and she cheated on him.

It was pretty early in the morning, around 6 a.m. as she walked down the street to Weston's. Summer was in the air and it was refreshing. She left early so she didn't have to deal with seeing Chris, waking up to him. Having him ask her numerous times to shower together and her saying no, not today.

She turned the corner to Weston's as her head turned in 1,000 different directions. The coffee was never the best there. The pastries were okay. It never really was the same. And without even thinking about it, she found her feet taking her to Luke's, standing in front of his door with the sign turned to 'closed'. She took a deep breath in and knocked lightly on the door.

She saw him standing behind the counter, fidgeting with the coffee machine in his normal flannel. As she knocked he turned around, capturing her gaze with his as she flashed him a cute smile.

"What are you doing here?" he asked surprisingly unlocking the door and opening it for her.

"Um, can I come in?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah…come on in," he said, closing the door and locking it behind her.

"Wow…it's been a while since I've been in the place," she said, looking around nervously, "Was it always this small?"

"What are you here for, Lorelai?" he said going back behind the counter and resuming his task of filling up the coffee maker.

"Well..um. I'm not sure actually," she said, slowly walking over to take her usual seat at the counter, trying to make eye contact with him. He kept his back faced towards her as he jammed the filter into the machine, frustrated at everything he was feeling.

"Coffee will be ready in a few minutes," he said coldly. He decided that being cold was the only way for his heart to stop hurting.

"Luke…" she trailed off, watching him pretend to keep busy as she lazily threw her purse in the counter in front of her.

He didn't respond as he took a cloth and furiously scrubbed on a non-existent spot on the back counter.

"Luke," she said, her voice pleading with hurt and pain. He could hear it in her voice, turning around to look her directly in the eyes. Those damn blue sky, slightly watery eyes.

"What Lorelai?"

"I have no idea why I'm here," she said simply.

"I know, you've already made that perfectly clear."

"No, Luke. I have no idea why I'm here. My feet worked together with my heart and brought me here. My brain wasn't included in the decision," she said nervously, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as she looked down at the counter, "What you said really meant a lot to me. A whole lot. More than you know."

He stood there, solemnly, on the opposite side of the counter as she stopped scrubbing and sighed, looking into her eyes.

"And…. I'm not happy Luke. Just like you staring at a pillow that smells like me, I feel like all I do is look at this person everyday, kiss this person everyday, smell this person everyday hoping, waiting, praying that somehow this person will turn into you."

The words tumbled out of her mouth without thought, almost as if his face was enough of a magnet to pull them out of her.

"I'm not happy," she repeated, almost as if it was the first time she allowed herself to hear it, "All I can think about is that night. I came to your tent because…. because I love you and that's never going to change."

She looked so vulnerable and small sitting in that bar stool, spilling her guts to him. He knew it wasn't easy. He knew it wasn't what she wanted to do. But he also knew exactly how she felt.

He walked around the side of the counter, his eyes locked with hers the entire time as came up to her side as she stared at him blankly. He placed his hand on the small of her back, leaning over to her ear and closing his eyes, taking in her scent.

"You know that I love you too. I love you so much. But you're married. And I refuse to be the man in the middle."

He put his head down, resting his forehead directly on her shoulder as he kept her hand on his back. She stared ahead of her, nodding in agreement, small tears already forming in her eyes.

"I don't want you to be the man in the middle. I want you to be the only man. You have always been the only man," she said moving her shoulder away from his head. As he fell forward a bit, she quickly ran her hands through his soft hair, knocking off his baseball cap in the process. He looked up at her and placed the softest kiss on her lips, closing his eyes to savor it even more. She did the same, holding her hand tight in his hair as he pulled away, matching forehead to forehead in one of the most intimate moments he's had in his life.

"Please, don't make me be the man in the middle," he pleaded, in almost a cry.

"I won't. I won't, I promise. I'm going to fix it all."

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