Author's Note: I don't own Gilmore Girls or this catchy tune by Joss Stone...

Super Duper Love by Joss Stone...

In the presence of all my friends

You stood there holding my hand

And you promise me faithfully

That you will be my only man...

See I'm trying to tell you

Your love is super duper...

Lorelai threw her top on hastily as she spoke to Rory on the phone. "So how is jolly old England?" she asked as she slung her head through the neck opening.

"Mom?" Rory asked. "Mom are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I said how is England?" Lorelai asked again a little louder, still catching her breath.

"Oh, your voice got really muffled for a minute. I thought we had a bad connection," Rory said. "Are you sure you're okay? You still sound out of breath."

"Rory, sweetie, I'm good I promise. I guess I'll have to use Mari Windsor's Pilates for more than balancing my dresser," Lorelai joked. "Now, how is everything with you? How is England? How is Grandma?"

Lorelai watched as Luke flipped through the channels finally settling on a baseball game. He got up off the couch and Lorelai noticed the way his T- shirt clung to every curve in his chest and arms. 'He should really lose the flannel more often,' Lorelai thought to herself while she tried to listen to Rory. Luke walked by and Lorelai couldn't help it. She reached her hand back and pinched his butt as he walked passed her into the kitchen. He gave her a look of surprise, but also one of amusement as he continued on his way. Lorelai tried to focus on what Rory was saying.

"...and then we saw Big Ben and Buckingham Palace and tomorrow we're going to France," Rory finished.

"That's nice," Lorelai said absently thinking about the way Luke touched her just moments before. She tired to shake it off. She felt like the worst mother in world. Her kid was hurting halfway across the world and here she was thinking about Luke, who was mere feet away from her.

Luke walked back out from the kitchen with a glass of water and settled back onto the couch. As much as Lorelai wanted to stay there and stare at him she forced herself to move to the kitchen where all temptation would be removed.

"Wow France," Lorelai said. "I bet Grandma doesn't make friends with the street mimes like we did."

"Who could forget Jean Paul?" Rory reminisced.

"No one," Lorelai agreed. "So how are things with you and Grandma?"

"It's good," Rory said. "I think she really misses Grandpa. Every time we do something it seems like she has a story about when her and Grandpa visited there."

"Really?" Lorelai asked surprised. "She doesn't seem the type to go all 'Somewhere in Time'."

"Well I think she does miss him. How's Grandpa?" Rory asked.

"Oh, I was gonna call him tomorrow actually," Lorelai half-lied. She had thought about calling her father after her fight with Luke, she just wasn't sure tomorrow would be the day.

"Mom, we've been gone a week," Rory exclaimed.

"I know, I know, believe me I've heard it already," Lorelai said.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Nothing," Lorelai wanted to change the subject. "So how are you sweets?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm okay," Rory replied softly. "I've had a little time to think, which hasn't been great because it just gives me more time to see how stupid I was, but I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah," Rory replied. She wanted to ask if Lorelai had seen Dean, but she didn't really have the nerve. "Um, Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you, I mean does everyone know about what happened?" Rory finally asked.

Lorelai sighed into the phone, not sure what to say. She wanted to protect her baby, but she couldn't protect her by letting her remain oblivious to the talk of Stars Hollow. She didn't want Rory to come back to town under scrutiny without her knowledge.

"Well, Dean and Lindsey are separated. Dean told Lindsey he was in love with you," Lorelai said.

"I know," Rory said.

"You what?" Lorelai asked surprised.

Rory decided now was the time to come clean to her mother about Dean's visit to her before she left.

"Dean came over the morning I left. He told me he loved me and that he told Lindsey he loved me. He wanted us to be together," Rory explained.

"Rory why didn't you tell me this?" Lorelai asked slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to add to this whole mess so I ran away," Rory replied her voice slightly cracking. Lorelai could tell she was close to tears.

"Sweetie don't get yourself all upset," Lorelai softened. "I just thought we agreed to talk to each other about things and it seems like this was a pretty big detail to leave out."

"I know, I'm sorry," Rory admitted.

"So what did you tell Dean?" Lorelai wanted to know.

"I told him I couldn't be with him. He said he loved me, but that's when I realized that I don't love him. I mean I guess I do love him but I'm not in love with him. Does that make sense?" Rory asked.

"Honey you have no idea," Lorelai said thinking of her declaration of love to Luke. She had loved Luke for years, but actually being in love with him was a completely different feeling. It was all encompassing and scary and new. It was joy and fear and happiness all wrapped together in a neat little package called being in love.

"Rory I know you said you went to Europe to run away, but you do realize you can't run forever right?" Lorelai asked gently.

"I know," Rory answered quietly. "I just couldn't be there right now."

"Yeah I get that," Lorelai agreed. She had to admit that with the gossip in Stars Hollow at the moment she didn't want Rory there either. "Sweetie just so you know the town doesn't know exactly what happened, but they are all in agreement that Dean is a jerk for telling Lindsey he's in love with you. I don't know how long they're going to keep talking about it. And I'm not really sure how long the story will stay as innocent as it is now, but I need you to be prepared when you come home," Lorelai told her simply.

"Okay," Rory said. "Well Mom I should go it's pretty early here, but Grandma likes to get an early start."

"Okay," Lorelai agreed. "I love you Rory."

"I love you too Mom," Rory replied hanging up the phone.

Lorelai sat at the kitchen table for a moment and just held the phone in her hands. It was the first time Lorelai felt like she and Rory might be back on the same page. She felt so sorry that Rory's colossal mistake had to happen under the scrutiny of Stars Hollow, but there wasn't much she could do about it. So she decided to continue to live her life while Rory straightened out her own.

Lorelai stood up and smoothed out her jeans. She unconsciously ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to look her best for Luke. Lorelai glanced at the clock. She had been on the phone for quite a while. She hoped the baseball game was interesting.

Lorelai walked out into the living room only to find Luke sprawled out on the couch asleep. What was it about Lorelai and movie night that inspired Luke to sleep? She sighed, mainly disappointed that the evening wouldn't finish the way she hoped. She gently walked over to the couch and removed Luke's baseball cap, lightly running her fingers through his hair. She grabbed the blanket and covered him as she had done once before, but this time it was different. This time she watched Luke sleep and studied his features. She couldn't believe how blind she had been to him all those years. Lorelai had always thought Luke was attractive, but the absurdity of her oblivion was laughable. She smiled to herself as she clicked the light off and went upstairs to bed.

Luke woke the next morning and it took him a moment to acclimate himself. He had just had a wonderful dream about Lorelai. He remembered kissing her and wanting to do much more than kiss her. He smiled to himself before he stretched and opened his eyes. He couldn't quite remember where he was when he finally did open his eyes. Luke glanced around and realized that he was on Lorelai's couch. Suddenly he remembered that the dream he thought he had very very real. He thought for a moment about why his "dream" hadn't ended a little bit better and then he remembered that the phone rang. The last thing he remembered was watching baseball while he was waiting for Lorelai. He could have kicked himself. How did he manage to fall asleep?

He threw back the blanket and sat up. He grudgingly picked up his boot and started to lace it up. 'If only I hadn't fallen asleep last night,' he thought, still internally kicking himself. He finally stood up and decided he should get to the diner. He found a piece of paper and a pen and left Lorelai a note on the kitchen table before he left.

Luke walked to the diner and noticed that it was later than usual. Luckily it was Caesar's day to open so he wouldn't be that late. He walked into the diner, which contained only Andrew and Caesar for the moment. They both gave him an odd look as if they were silently questioning where he was last night. 'If you only knew,' Luke thought to himself as he ran upstairs to change and brush his teeth.

Fifteen minutes later Luke emerged and got ready to start the day. He noticed an unusual amount of people gathered in the diner and he wondered if today was another festival or holiday he had forgotten. Babette walked up to the counter and asked for a cup of coffee.

"Hey Babette," Luke asked, "is there something going on today?"

"Oh no sugar, we're just all a little over excited about the news," Babette said.

"News?" Luke asked.

"Oh yeah," Babette continued. "Last night Taylor saw Lindsey buying a pregnancy test at the market. In plain sight I tell ya! Poor girl. So we're all a little anxious to find out if Dean is a bigger idiot than we originally thought. But when Lindsey was in the market with her mom they were talking and the new bag boy Joey told Taylor who told Patty who told me that Lindsey said something about Dean having an affair with Rory."

Luke's faced dropped when Babette finished her last sentence. He didn't know what to say. Being the only other person in town who knew it was true, aside from Lorelai, he wasn't sure how to react.

Babette must have noticed the distraught look on Luke's face because she tired to back track. "I'm sure it's not true Luke. Rory? She's a great kid. That Lindsey is a nice girl but she's just upset. I'm sure she's just making up stories in her head. Poor thing."

"Yeah, stories, right," Luke replied absently handing Babette her coffee. He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't know what Lorelai was going to do either. He sure hoped that Lindsey wasn't pregnant. It reminded Luke of Liz. She got pregnant and Jimmy bailed on her. Maybe he wasn't having an affair, but raising a kid alone was no picnic.

The morning continued and the regular people all showed up at the diner hoping to hear news of Lindsey and her pregnancy test. Luke, usually ignorant to all the town gossip made sure he caught every word. At about 8 a.m. there was an unconfirmed report that Lindsey wasn't pregnant. This information was only preliminary of course. It wasn't until Patty came to the diner at 8:30 a.m. and confirmed that her phone had picked up on Lindsey's frequency and she heard Lindsey telling her friend that she wasn't pregnant that the town quieted down. Although talk of Lindsey's pregnancy was soon squelched, talk of Dean's alleged affair with Rory was still popular. No one could believe that Rory would have an affair with Dean, but they debated about it anyway. It didn't help that Rory was conspicuously off in Europe.

Lorelai walked toward the diner at about 9 a.m. when she noticed how many people were out and about. She shrugged it off and continued across the street. She wanted to see Luke, but most of all she wanted to see Luke with his special pot of coffee.

Just outside the door to Luke's was where they ambushed her. Patty, Babette and a throng of other townsfolk blocked Lorelai's entrance to the diner and quickly asked her questions that she didn't quite understand. She heard something about Lindsey not being pregnant, Dean being a horrible bastard and Rory being too nice to think such things of. Utterly confused Lorelai shouted to quiet them down so she could get the gist of the conversation.

"Hey," Lorelai said putting her arms out. "What is going on?"

"Lindsey isn't pregnant, but she thinks that Dean was having an affair with Rory. Of course we know Rory is too respectable to do anything like that," Patty offered.

"But, that poor Lindsey," Babette continued. "It's like I was saying before she probably just made up some story to make herself feel better."

"But, is that why Rory left town Lorelai? Did she know that Lindsey was going to spread these rumors?" Taylor asked.

Lorelai's head was spinning. Rory and affair were really the only words she had clearly picked out over and over again while they talked. Lorelai suddenly felt very dizzy.

Luke came out from the kitchen and noticed a hoard of people in front of the door. He was going to ignore it when he realized that Lorelai was in the middle of the group and they were all talking over each and gesturing wildly to Lorelai. Luke quickly dumped Kirk's plate in front of him and ran to the diner door. He wasn't thinking clearly he just knew that he had to help Lorelai.

Luke quickly pulled the door open but no one seemed to notice his presence. The crowd was a mass of voices and arms and confusion. Luke pushed through a few people and stood behind Lorelai. Before he knew what he was doing he placed his arms around her waist and pulled her back into him. He reached his head around and Lorelai turned her head to stare at him in shock. He took the opportunity to plant a soft, lingering kiss on her lips, which she willingly returned.

"Good morning," he said softly with a small smile and he took her hand and pulled her into the diner.

The crowd that had gathered to speak to Lorelai stood for a moment utterly speechless. They stared at Luke and Lorelai and then at each other before they erupted in a commotion of words and sounds. By the time they had realized what just happened Luke and Lorelai were halfway through the diner. They followed Luke and Lorelai through the diner door and watched as he pulled her through the curtain and up to his apartment. By the time they got upstairs the commotion downstairs had grown louder. Luke shut the door and locked it and the din slowly faded into the background.

Lorelai ran her hands through her hair. "Wha-, what was that?" she finally managed to squeek out.

Luke was frantically pacing the floor with his hand in his pockets. His eyes were wide as if he couldn't believe what just happened.

"I don't know," he replied, shocked. "I--you were in trouble and I knew I had to help you. I wasn't thinking. I knew what they were talking about. They've talked about nothing but Rory and Lindsey and Dean since 6 o'clock this morning!"

"And so you decided to kiss me?" Lorelai asked.

"They were asking too many questions," Luke explained. "I saw you and I knew I had to get you out of there and get them talking about something else and then this crazy thought popped into my head and I decided it'd be better if they talked about us instead of Rory. I can't believe this," Luke finished still hysterically pacing.

Lorelai stopped worrying for a minute and just looked at Luke crazily pacing, freaking out about what he had just done. She looked at Luke, this man that she loved and she smiled as she walked over to him.

"Stop for a minute," she said placing her hands on his forearms standing in front of him.

Luke stopped and looked at Lorelai. He felt anxious and nervous. He didn't know what else to do at the time and now he was worried. Worried what it would mean for them and worried about what Lorelai was thinking. She wanted to keep their relationship private and so did he, but now that was over. In one impulsive moment he had outed their relationship to all of Stars Hollow.

"Luke," Lorelai said taking his face in her hands. Her eyes looked glassy and he realized it was from the tears forming in her eyes. He suddenly felt very protective of her again and he put his hands on her waist pulling her closer to him.

"Luke, you are the most wonderful man I've ever known," she said pulling his lips toward hers and kissing him lightly.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You took the bullet meant for Rory. You knew they were talking about her and in one crazy gesture you got them thinking about us and not her and you saved me from the vultures."

"So you're not mad?" he clarified.

"No. I'm the opposite of mad," she said wrapping her arms around his neck hugging him tightly. "I think you are the greatest man in the world."

"Well I guess I'm glad I could help then," he said. "I just didn't know what to do," he said as he lifted his hand to wipe a tear that had started to stream down Lorelai's cheek. "You know this crying thing freaks me out and yet you insist on doing it," he teased her.

"I'm crying because I'm shocked and happy," Lorelai explained. "Luke, no one has ever done anything like that for me. I love you," she said sincerely looking deep into his blue eyes.

"I love you too," he replied almost shyly. He still had to get used to telling Lorelai he loved her. It was new. It was great, but he still felt like a teenager declaring his feelings to her.

Lorelai leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, slowly and deliberately lingering for a moment. "You know, you feel asleep on me last night," she whispered.

"Don't I know it," he replied. "I'm not exactly happy about it either." He reached for her hair and lightly ran his fingers through it. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well I'd say a fun game of Twister but you don't seem like the right foot yellow kind of guy," Lorelai replied walking over to Luke's kitchen.

"I meant, what do we do about them?" Luke said gesturing toward the door.

"You make breakfast and I'll deal with them," Lorelai said grabbing his hand and pulling over to the stove.

"What are you gonna do?" Luke asked. "They're gossip whores. They'll never leave us alone."

"Well then I guess we better enjoy this breakfast while we can," she said planting a small kiss on his cheek.

Luke went along with Lorelai's plan. He made her pancakes and eggs and they talked while she ate. It was decided. Luke would stay upstairs until later in the day and Lorelai would exit the diner through the crowd. She braced herself for the inevitable barrage of questions and comments before giving Luke a kiss goodbye and going downstairs.

TBC