92A/N: Last week I really wanted to start writing a new story, but the only problem was that I had no ideas for a story. But then I was talking to Akarana on MSN and she gave me one of her many great ideas to write. Thank you very much! This story is for you!
Chapter 1 – Prologue
"No."
"What?" Luke and Lorelai looked at Taylor in shock.
"No." The man said, his arms crossed in front of him.
"Why not?" Lorelai asked, seeing that Luke was losing his patience.
"I'm not giving you a license to get married."
"Why not?" She asked again.
"Because of your history. Isn't it obvious that you and Luke are not suitable to get married?"
"That's ridiculous." Luke exclaimed, the anger building up inside him. "I think Lorelai and I should decide that."
"I'm sorry Luke, but this town is my responsibility. You and Lorelai both have important roles in this town. We've seen what the two of you breaking up did to this town more than once now. I can't allow it to happen again."
"We're not planning on breaking up. We want to get married."
"I can't allow that. I'm sorry." Taylor tried to sound genuine.
"You're not sorry." Luke yelled. "You think that you can make every single decision in this town. Well, if I want to marry Lorelai I'm going to marry her. Whether you want it or not."
"Not in this town."
"We'll see to that." Luke said, and turned around, ready to walk away.
"You can't get married in this town without a marriage license. And I'm the only person you can get a license from in this town. So without my permission, you're not getting married in Stars Hollow. And I'm not giving you my permission."
Luke turned around and grabbed Taylor by his collar. "Taylor, You…. You…Who the hell do you think you are? Do you really think you can keep me and Lorelai apart? Because you couldn't be more wrong. I'm going to marry her, with or without your permission."
Taylor coughed a few times, trying to catch some air. "Let go of me Luke."
"Luke, you're hurting him." Lorelai said, although she couldn't care less. She pulled on Luke's sleeve. "Come on, let go of him. He's not worth it."
Lorelai's voice seemed to calm Luke down and he let Taylor go.
"Wise decision Luke." Taylor said. "If you ever touch me again, I'm going to file a complaint."
Luke wanted to take a step in Taylor's direction again, but Lorelai pulled him away. "Don't. It's not going to help us."
She directed Luke towards the diner where she immediately climbed the stairs to his apartment, pulling Luke with her. The second the door closed behind them Luke pulled away from Lorelai and started pacing through his apartment.
"That man thinks he can get away with anything. I lived in this town all my life, and the amount of times he pulled tricks like this. I don't understand why he has this much control over this town and what's going on in it. Or why he thinks he has is better said. He's losing his mind. He thinks he can pull you and me apart, after everything we've been through. It's not going to happen. I'll drive to Maryland right now and marry you and we can throw our license in his face when we get back. Let's do that. Let's just drive there and get this over with."
Lorelai remained silent at first, letting Luke rant, but now it was her turn to stop him. She stood in front of him and looked directly into his eyes. "Is that really what you want? To elope and get married just to piss off Taylor? I thought this was about us. About us getting married in front of our friends and family. To show them that we want to spend the rest of our lives together."
"It is. I want to spend the rest of my live with you. That's why I asked you to marry me. But if Taylor doesn't give us our license, what else can we do?" He looked at her, defeated.
"I'll go talk to him. He'll give us the license. I promise. No matter what it takes. I want to marry you Luke, but I don't want to elope. I know that we talked about that once and back then I wanted it, but not anymore. I want a wedding. I want Rory and April to be my bridesmaids. And I want everyone to be there, including my parents."
Luke nodded as he slowly sat down on the couch, letting his head rest in his hands. He thought for a second and then looked up, sighing. "How will we get that wedding?"
"We'll find a way. If we have to we'll get married in Hartford or some other town, but I really want to get married here, in Stars Hallow. Preferably at the inn, where it all started a couple of years ago. Or here in the town square where you threw that wonderful goodbye party for Rory. The party that brought us together again." She smiled at the memories. "This town is where our life is. This is where we met each other all those years ago. This is where our friendship started and where our friendship turned into something more. If hadn't come to this town when I was 17 years old, we wouldn't be getting married right now."
Luke nodded, knowing that Lorelai was right. As much as he hated to admit it, this town meant everything to him as well. And if Lorelai wanted to get married her, he had to make sure that would happen. "I'll go talk to Taylor again."
Lorelai shook her head with a smile. "Honey, I don't think that's such a good idea. Pissing off Taylor will only work in the opposite direction."
Luke looked up at her. "You're probably right."
"I'm always right. How about I go talk to him, okay?"
She could be very persuasive sometimes. She was able to convince him to do a lot of things he didn't want. If anyone could convince Taylor to give them the license it was her. "I guess that couldn't hurt."
"Good. I'll be right back." She pecked his lips. "It'll be fine. We'll have that license in no-time."
He kissed her again. "I hope you're right." And with that, he let her go.
-xxxxxx-
Lorelai walked towards Doose's market where Taylor was running the cash register. She waited until the line was gone until she approached Taylor on the other side.
"Hello Taylor. Can I talk to you for a second?"
Taylor turned around at the sound of her voice. "Lorelai." He acknowledged the woman in front of him. "What can I do for you?"
"You know perfectly well where you can help me with Taylor. A tiny piece of paper that says I can marry Luke." She threw in a smile, hoping it would help.
"You know perfectly well I can't help you with that. We just discussed this." He was immediately annoyed, not wanting to have the same discussion twice.
"Come on Taylor, there must be a way for you to give us that license."
"I don't think there is. This town…"
"Is your responsibility. Yes, I know that. But I love Luke and he loves me and we've been through a lot together. We decided that we want to spend the rest of our lives together, and we want to be married while doing that. All we need is your help with that license."
Taylor turned around at the sound of someone coughing. He helped his customer before turning back to Lorelai. "You were engaged once before and that didn't stop you from breaking up."
"That was then, this is now." She was almost begging. She wanted nothing more than to marry Luke. She had to convince Taylor that this was right.
"Who says you won't break up again? You and Luke have so many issues."
"None that are any of your business." She shot him an annoyed look, starting to become angry because he was intervening in things that he shouldn't .
"They are my business if they affect this town. You and Luke are both well respected citizens in this town and you are a part of this town's economy. Your decisions affect this town. You saw how the town divided in two the first time you and Luke broke up."
"And who's to blame for that?" Lorelai snapped. "You're the one who handed out those stupid ribbons. You made people choose between Luke and me. You split the town in two."
Taylor shook his head. "I only made sure the whole manner took place openly. I made sure everybody knew whose side one was on to prevent problems."
"That's bull." Lorelai shot him an angry look. "You only made things worse."
"It's clearly you haven't dealt with the matter. You and Luke are not ready for marriage. I won't allow it because if you and Luke would get a divorce, the whole town will divide again."
"We won't get a divorce." She was desperately trying to convince Taylor.
"How would you know? You and Luke were both married once. And as I recall both of you divorced within one year. With those track records I just can't allow it."
Lorelai sighed in defeat, realizing it was hard to convince Taylor that she and Luke were right for each other. "I guess me telling you that I love Luke isn't enough to proof to you that I really want to marry him. And that you don't have to worry about us breaking up again because it really won't happen."
"No it isn't."
"Then what can I do to prove it?"
"Therapy." He stated it as if it was the most common thing in the world.
"What?" She looked at him in shock, not really believing what he was saying.
"I want you and Luke to go to therapy. If I get a letter from a psychologist saying that you and Luke are suitable to get married, I will give you the license."
"Therapy?" Still shocked and in her mind already trying to figure out how she could convince Luke to do it.
Taylor nodded and then turned around to help a customer.
Lorelai waited patiently until Taylor was finished, but she had trouble getting his attention again. While Taylor was scanning the articles from another customer she said. "You can't be serious."
"I'm very serious. The only way for you and Luke to get a license is by showing me that letter. That way I know for sure that you and Luke will make it work." Then he turned to his customer. "That's 15.65 please."
The man handed Taylor a twenty dollar bill. "There you go."
"Thank you." Taylor put the bill and the cash register and took out four dollar bills, a quarter and a dime. "And here's your change. Have a nice day."
The man nodded, then took his groceries from the bag boy and left.
"We don't have to see a therapist. Luke and I belong together, and we talked about our issues ourselves. We're ready."
Taylor shook his head. "If you want to marry Luke you'll convince him to see that therapist because it is the only way I'm giving you this license. You are not getting married in this town if I'm not completely convinced that you and Luke are going to make it. And unless you have to buy groceries I have to ask you to leave, because you're keeping me from my work."
"Fine." With a sigh Lorelai walked into the direction of the diner again. She knew it wouldn't be easy to convince Luke to go.
-xxxxxx-
Luke looked up when he heard the bells ring, instinctively knowing it was Lorelai. After she left to go talk to Taylor, he had decided to go to work. It was better to distract himself with that, than to wait upstairs for her. Because the diner was a little overstaffed with him there he had send Zack home so he could help Lane feeding Steve and Kwan.
He turned around and filled a cup with coffee, placing it on the counter. "And?" Luke asked when Lorelai sat down on the stool in front of him.
"Let's say there is good new and there is bad news." She picked up the cup and took a large sip of her coffee.
"Oh boy." He muttered, knowing that nothing good could come out of this.
Lorelai put the cup down. "Taylor is willing to give us a marriage license. All we have to do is show him a letter from a psychologist that says that you and I are suitable to get married."
"And how will we do that?"
"Therapy."
"What?" He shook his head, not liking this at all.
"Taylor wants us to see a therapist."
"No way." Luke said, shaking his head again. "I'm not doing that."
"It's the only way Luke. If we want to get married in Stars Hallow, we have to go see a therapist."
"Then we'll get married somewhere else." There was no way he was going to therapy.
"Come on Luke." She begged. "I want to get married here. It can't be that bad. If we just show this guy how much we care about each other, I'm sure he'll give that letter the second the first session is over."
"You think?" He somehow found it hard to believe Lorelai.
"Of course. We've been through a lot, but we've dealt with our issues. And I'm sure that if we tell that, we'll have that letter in no-time."
Luke knew they didn't have much of a choice if they wanted to get married in this town. With a sigh he nodded. "Okay then. Therapy it is."
T.B.C.