Disclaimer: I don't own, leave me the hell alone.

The Water's Edge

The moon illuminated the path to the lake before her as the chirping of crickets provided her with a natural soundtrack to the drama that was her life. Rory was in Washington, Sookie was busy planning her wedding, and Luke hadn't forgiven her for the whole go to hell thing. So when she wasn't throwing herself into every project possible at the inn she found herself at the lake, barefoot and lying on the pier, staring up into endless star-filled nights, where she was now located. It was mid-June and unusually humid for a Connecticut summer, but she rather enjoyed the warmth of the night

The stars somehow seemed to comfort her, a familiarity about them that she could not place swept a feeling of peace throughout her body each and every night she occupied here. Her arms made their way behind her head offering her a pillow against the coarse wood of the pier. She sighed heavily and gazed absent-mindedly up into the seemingly endless light. She felt calm as the familiar peace began to over come her and she smiled at the feeling. In a way it bore a strange resemblance to the magic of snow, but in no way overshadowed it, she found this confusing.

When the light from the stars began to strain her eyes she sat up on the edge of the dock letting her care feet skin the water. She giggled as she wiggled her toes in the warm water and the thought of attempting skinny-dipping crossed her mind. No one was near, no one ever was, and rightfully so seeing as bedtime in Stars Hollow was ten and it was well past midnight.

'What harm could it do?' She thought to herself for an instant she thought of skinny-dipping. She immediately shot the idea down, you could never be too sure about the quirky inhabitants of Stars Hollow. She slowly began to lower herself from the pier into the water and gasped aloud as the water became colder the farther she sunk. She stilled herself when she was half in and took a steady breath before using the edge of the wood as leverage to push herself into the lake.

Upon submerging she let out a yelp at the temperature and laughed at herself, instantly wishing that there was someone here to share this with. She swam in place for a moment before deciding to float, the water a much better pillow than the wood of earlier. She again found herself staring up into the night. She smiled at the beauty of the night around her and began to float across the water, completely unaware of the fact that she was being watched.

It had become a habit that he was unwilling to break. She didn't know that he was watching her, but he had to at least see her and this seemed to be the only way to do so. It was only by chance that he knew she came here. Three weeks ago he had been taking a walk, it was late, maybe eleven-thirty, and the night was hot, so he ventured to the lake. No one in Stars Hollow was up much after ten anyway, unless they were having some crazy festival. He began to walk towards the pier where he had once pushed Jess in the lake and found her, lying on her back, arms as a pillow, staring up into the night.

He quickly hid himself behind a tree, hoping that she hadn't heard his approaching footsteps, and apparently she hadn't. So he hid himself and watched her, every day now for the past three weeks, and tonight was no exception.

She looked spacey, just staring like that, but it was Lorelai and the fact that she was just lying there in the middle of the night didn't surprise him at all. With Rory in Washington, Sookie's approaching wedding, and their own status, he knew that she had to be lonely. But he couldn't bring himself to walk over to her, twenty one chances and he was way behind in the count. He wanted so badly to apologize for being such an ass, she had to miss the coffee at least. He however, was a stubborn man who refused to swallow his pride and admit to his own scruples. So for now he would take refuge here, watching her from a tree that was located conveniently at the water's edge, the perfect spot to watch her way into the night.

A/N: If you notice, there's a pretty purple button calling your name, first story, help me out, I'm am not above begging!