Lorelai walked from the doctor's office to the small park across the street. She saw her doctor once a week and after three months she felt hope surfacing through her armor of despondence. She made a habit of regrouping after her session by relaxing on a bench with a cup of …what else…coffee.

Lorelai knew that rebuilding herself after two years of self destruction was not going to be easy. Nothing was easy anymore. Rory was trying to make her way in the world of cutthroat journalism and Lorelai wisely gave her space and a monthly care package of chocolate, nice undies and the like. Her parents were aging and requiring more patience than Mother Teresa could possibly summon. Luke decided that the third time would not be a charm and cut her out of his life for good. In one uncharacteristic move after another, he decided to casually date not one but two women and actually introduced April to them. This broke Lorelai's heart more than the fact that he would jog a couple mornings a week with "Blond Cheerleader Coach" by Lorelai's house. Even though his actions screamed "MIDLIFE CRISIS!" , Lorelai figured that maybe karma was taking up a full time residence in her life and she had better get over herself. Thus began her journey to good Dr. Carroll.

Dr. Carroll was tall, red headed and played lacrosse in undergrad. She was a guest at the Dragonfly and spoke at a conference held there in last January. Lorelai listened in at her speaking engagement and filed her name away for future reference. On some level, her subconscious knew that therapy was in her future.

So, Lorelai found herself on what was becoming her favorite bench in front of her favorite sculpture in a nameless park in Litchfield. For some reason, the sculpture charmed her. It was a tree made of twisted bronze cables. The branches waved with each passing breeze and made a soft tinkling sound due to glass leaves fixed to the metal branches. The leaves were made from recycled glass and varied in color from indigo, emerald and golden brown. Lorelai could sit there for hours with her eyes shut, feeling the breeze on her face and listening to the soothing sound from Calliope, her new friend, uh, tree.

There are some things even an Ivy League graduate therapist cannot change.

Lorelai felt some one sit down next to her. Her eyes flew open. She scolded herself for being so careless. It was definitely not her brightest decision to sit in this park week after week, not really paying attention to her surroundings. It was late afternoon and the place was pretty empty, except for Lorelai and the stranger sitting next to her on the bench. She turned to face him or her and found herself engulfed in a very intense stare.

He was younger than she, thirtyish with a head full of dark, wavy locks. His eyes were light blue…what else…flecked with gold. He had a slightly Roman nose, a fair complexion and a full, (bite able?) mouth. She was filing all this information away because she figured she would have to be able to pick him out of a lineup after he mugged her.

Or worse.

At least karma sent someone beautiful to rob her of her identity, twenty two dollars and her jeep keys.

He coughed to get her attention. She began to move. He tugged on her sleeve.

"Excuse me. May I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure." Definitely a polite criminal.

"What is it about this sculpture that has you studying it, week after week?"

Lorelai stood to her full height, accentuated by her boots and began to walk away. This guy obviously had some problems. This park is across the street from a building full of therapists. Who knows what this guy's issues could be? What had she been thinking, sitting here week after week? Litchfield isn't Stars Hollow. Her taking her safety for granted set off a memory of a similar rant that seared her heart.

Now is so not the time.

"Miss? Please, wait a minute! I'm sorry to bother you…" His voice trailed off and he was working a muscle in his jaw, composing himself. He began to walk toward Lorelai, his hands out stretched, his voice pleading with her.

"What is it that moves you about this sculpture? Sometimes you stare at it with such sadness, such anger! You even yelled at it. And at times…you seem…lulled? Soothed by the sounds, perhaps?"

"Are you stalking me? What do you want?"

The man looked at Lorelai directly, and put his hands in his front pockets. He was wearing jeans and a worn t-shirt the color of his eyes. His eyes were serious and he seemed to be gritting his teeth.

"I just want an answer to my question, please."

Lorelai studied him for a moment and wrapped her arms around her waist. She tapped her foot for impatiently and then just figured what the hell.

"Sometimes when I look at that tree, I see children playing under it...children I was supposed to have! Other times, I see a young girl lying on her back, looking up into the sky…lately, I see a woman on her knees, crying. So ends our little conversation, Ok, Buddy? I've shared more with you than my doctor at my last session! Thank you! Thank you! I'll be playing in this corner of the park for at least six more months…don't forget to tip your waitress and local mugger on your way out!" Lorelai ended her rant with a sarcastic wave and turn to leave.

The man grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it. When Lorelai turned to him she was greeted with a grin.

"And the Oscar for overreacting to a polite question …from a complete stranger … in a secluded park at dusk goes to…?" When Lorelai looked at him questioningly, he rubbed his hand over his forehead in fake anguish. "Are you done or do I have time to check in with my therapist? Because Lady, after that performance I'm definitely due for some couch time…"

Lorelai stared at him, her expression totally unreadable. The man went silent, afraid that he offended her that he went too far this time. He held his breath, waiting for her next diatribe and felt a slight squeeze of his hand.

She was smiling at him. He smiled back. They were still holding hands.

Four thirty AM on a humid August morning found Luke Danes jogging down Peach Street with Sandra, a high school teacher who made healthy living her daily mantra. Just the kind of woman that he should be with, he reasoned to himself, right? She never ate anything white or preprocessed. She loved to exercise and absolutely adored the outdoors. Hiking and camping were second nature to her. She offered to lavish Luke with hot oil massages and promised all the tantric sex he could possibly handle.

No one more surprised than Luke himself when he began not one but two casual," friends with benefits, eventually" type of relationships instead of trying it again with Lorelai. Maybe it was the only way to finally get her out of his system. They obviously were not meant to be together, ever.

That is what he would mutter to himself whenever he caught a glimpse of long legs and raven hair out on the streets of town.

So, when he had as much of Sandra as he could take, he would get together with Trish, an accountant whom Luke met through his sister Liz. Trish was called in to help out TJ and Liz when they got audited by the IRS. She was easy going, quiet and a Red Sox fan. Trish was not a lot of work.

With juggling two women and visits from his daughter, Luke was a busy man. He introduced April to Sandra and Trish to keep things from becoming complicated. April was unimpressed with both of them but tried to be open to the changes that her father was making in his life. She felt, as the catalyst who was the cause of all the upheaval anyway that she didn't have much of a choice. Compartmentalizing his life was second nature to Luke. That was old news.

So where the hell was her jeep?

Luke had run down her street for weeks and her jeep was always there. Sometimes he'd quickly scan the windows and could swear that he saw the curtain move. He'd tell himself it was probably the dog but he knew it was Lorelai.

A car horn blared behind the two joggers. Sandra let out a yelp and almost peed in her pink spandex shorts. Luke scowled and turned around to flip off the driver.

Who, happened to be Lorelai, of course.

She smiled and waved as she drove around them, pulling in to her gravel drive with a flourish that would make Danica Patrick proud. Lorelai slammed the jeep door, gave Luke and Sandra a saucy salute, and strolled into her house. Sandra shrugged her shoulders and continued her run. Luke fought with every fiber in his being not to stomp up Lorelai's drive, pound on her front door, and find out why the hell was she out all night, and before she could open her mouth to answer he would fuse his lips to hers and…

Luke Danes was standing out in the middle of the street watching Sandra's spandex clad bottom bounce into the distance. Fatigue hit him in endless waves and he turned to walk back to the diner, still wondering where Lorelai was all night. He cursed himself because in spite of everything, he really wanted her home behind her curtain.

If Luke knew where Lorelai had been until the wee hours of the morning, he would not have been any more surprised than the woman herself. She actually spent the night on that very park bench, talking to the man who stopped her with a question.

Was it the smartest thing she had ever done? Well, yes and no.

Curiosity and sheer loneliness tipped the scale over common sense and unease.

His name was Leo Eustathios. He was a sculptor. In fact, the tree was his creation.

She didn't buy it at first. It seemed too convenient to be true.

He pulled out his iphone and googled himself for Lorelai to see. His name and picture were listed on the alumni page for the Art Institute at the University of Chicago. He brought up different websites that featured his work. An article from the New York Times stated that he was in the running for one of those genius grants. He was an only child. His mother died of ovarian cancer when he was twenty three. His father was a math teacher in a private school in Vermont.

Leo turned off his phone and turned to her. "Your turn, ma'm."

Lorelai looked at him and sighed, "Prepare to run screaming from this spot."

Ten hours later, she looked at her watch absolutely astonished.

Exhilarated, Lorelai gave Leo a bone crushing hug and thanked him for a wonderful evening. He walked her to her car and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She drove away from the park feeling lighter than air.

She did not exchange phone numbers with him on purpose. Not that she wouldn't mind seeing him again, she just was not healed enough yet. For some reason, her heart was still in hock to the rugged diner man who was trying his damnedest to forget her existence. She was not going to use anyone to try to get over Luke. Been there, done (and failed) horribly at that.

Driving home, she decided not to over think the situation. She was deemed a little bubble of happiness and she relished the experience of being seen in a new light by a new person. Even after sharing the war stories of the last couple years, he did not run screaming into the night and he did not shy away from asking the hard questions. She thought that he was interesting rather than interested. Lorelai did not feel she was being conceived as a lonely cougar (god, she hated that word) and if he wanted a little action, Leo did not bring his A game of seduction to the conversation.

She wasn't insulted. She was relieved.