Gilmore Girls belongs to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB Network.

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Here it is...The long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel to “I Love to Paint!” This fic is quite the opposite of the first story because this story is sad and depressing. Special thanks to Janelle for beta-reading! Please enjoy this story and review!

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Town Selectman Taylor Doose hummed softly to himself as he walked down the sidewalk. He loved his hometown of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, even if he always complained. He continued to walk until he stopped in front of Caesar’s Café, the former Luke’s Diner. He stared at the old diner and memories flooded back to him. Stars Hollow wasn’t the lively town it had been. Three years earlier, the town had lost three of it’s most beloved citizens, and it practically killed the entire town. Taylor hated thinking about it because it depressed him.

Lorelai Gilmore, fiancée of Luke Danes for ten months, had been returning home from a trip to Hartford, no doubt following another confrontation and fight. No one knows exactly what happened, but Lorelai had gotten into a fatal car accident. Taylor had been sitting in the diner when Luke received the news of Lorelai’s death. He had never seen Luke break down before, and it would forever be burned into his brain. Luke had left early and gone back to the Gilmore house, so Taylor didn’t know what Rory’s reaction was, but he knew that she didn’t take it well.

The whole town had gathered to support the two grieving people, but everyone knew that they wouldn’t get over it anytime soon. Luke and Rory spent all their time locked in the Gilmore home, isolated from the outside world. Everyone, even Babette and Miss Patty knew not to bother the two of them. Caesar and a couple others kept the diner up and running while Michel and Sookie kept watch over the inn. Taylor had overseen the construction of a small memorial in the town square for Lorelai, which he didn’t think that Luke and Rory were even aware of.

Taylor hated reliving the funeral, because it was one of the worst days of his life. Lorelai’s parents were surprisingly quiet through the whole thing. From what Taylor had heard about them, he assumed that they would blow up and Luke and blame him for the whole thing, but they didn’t. After the funeral, they made it a point to inform Luke that they were now Rory’s legal guardians and would pick her up the next day. Rory had been right next to Luke when they informed him of this and had in-turn informed them that she was going to stay with Luke. The elder Gilmores, of course, argued that they were her grandparents and Luke wasn’t even family, to which Rory had countered by saying that Luke was the only real family she had left.

Taylor remembered Emily’s next question because it almost caused Luke to nearly go postal on the elder Gilmores.

“What about Christopher?” Emily had asked.

“What about him?” Rory said.

“He’s your father. You should at least stay with him.”

“Christopher maybe my biological father, but Luke is my real father.”

Taylor remembered Luke’s face when Rory had said that; it was so full of love and emotion towards the 16-year old girl. Emily and Richard, seeing as Rory was set on her decision to remain with Luke, had left without another word. Because of legal obligations, Lorelai was buried in the Gilmore family crypt, and Taylor knew that because of that, the elder Gilmores felt like they had their long-lost daughter back.

Three days after the funeral, Luke and Rory disappeared without a word. Taylor remembered the day when he had walked by the diner and noticed both the ‘William’s Hardware’ and the ‘Luke’s’ signs gone and the diner empty. He knew then that Luke and Rory weren’t coming back anytime soon. That was when the town really started to change, was when Luke’s was shut down. Taylor rarely saw a smiling face in the square after that; hell, even he changed. He was now a quiet, relaxed person.

A couple days after Luke and Rory’s departure, Taylor heard from Babette that Richard and Emily had returned to town looking for Luke and Rory. From what Taylor understood, the Gilmores had received a letter from Rory stating that she no longer needed money for Chilton. Taylor didn’t know if that was true, but if Rory had left town, maybe even the state, then she wouldn’t need the money for Chilton anymore. Taylor then heard that Babette that Emily vowed to find Rory and return her to Chilton. However, it was Babette’s response to this that was memorable to Taylor. She had told them, “Good luck with finding her. Rory would never leave Luke’s side. They love each other like father and daughter.”

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The bus ride to the great city of Boston was absolutely horrible. Taylor didn’t even like the city in the first place, and it was worse that his family was holding their annual family reunion there. However, making it worse was the fact that it was early summer, and that he hated dealing with family when it’s hot out. He watched the landscape go by as he continued to think about Luke and Rory. He’d never admit it out loud but he missed them both. Scary to think that Taylor Doose actually missed Luke Danes, he mused to himself. Before long the bus entered the city and Taylor mentally groaned at the thought of his impending doom.

The bus finally arrived at a bus station and Taylor stepped off of the charter bus and took in the sights of the town. He grabbed his single travel bag, put on his dark-colored baseball cap, and walked out of the bus station onto the streets of Boston. Definitely bigger than he was used to. He started walking, trying to find a small coffee shop or café because it was going to takes lots and lots of coffee for him to survive this reunion. He spotted a small coffee shop on the other side of the street, so he went to an intersection and did his civic duty as a citizen and waited to cross the street.

After he finally got across the street and entered the small shop. It was typical of what you would expect. Taylor smiled at the nice, homey feel that it presented. He sat at a booth in the corner and pulled out a small menu, looking over the selection of coffee and breakfast items, even though it was well into the afternoon. His gaze left the menu and looked around the small room. There was only a couple other people sitting in other booths, and one caught his interest. It was a man that has his back to Taylor, but was wearing a faded backwards baseball cap. It reminded Taylor of Luke, and he involuntarily shuddered.

Total deja-vu.

A waitress came over and Taylor gave his order. While he waited, he continued to study the man with the baseball cap. The man continued to stare down at his plate, which contained an English muffin. Taylor didn’t know why the man was so fascinating, other than the fact that he reminded Taylor of Luke. The waitress returned with a danish and coffee and placed it on the table in front of Taylor. Taylor thanked the waitress and started to eat. He was on his second bite when heard the door open and another customer enter. He didn’t bother looking up to see who it was, but he saw whoever it was in his peripheral vision sit at the booth of the man with the hat.

“Hey, dad,” he heard a female voice say.

Wait. That voice sounds familiar.

“Hey. Finally done with finals?” the man answered.

That voice also sounds familiar. Taylor resisted the urge to look up at them, so he maintained his gaze on his half-eaten danish; he didn’t want them to know that he was eavesdropping.

“Yes, finally done with the typical, nearly-impossible Harvard finals. Now we have the whole summer ahead of us. What should we do?” the girl asked.

Harvard? The girl goes to Harvard? My god! Is it really Rory and Luke!

“I was thinking of taking a trip.”

“A trip, huh? A trip to where?”

“Home.”

“Which home? Wait…you mean…?”

“Yeah. Stars Hollow.”

Taylor just had to take a drink of his coffee right at that time. He immediately spit it all back into the cup, as quietly as he could.

That’s all the proof I need!

He bowed his head even further, obscuring his face behind the bill of his cap. He focused on the conversation between the pair.

“Dad, I don’t know if I’m ready to go back.”

“We have to go back sometime, just to show the town we’re still alive and kicking.”

“I don’t know…”

“Look, we don’t have to permanently stay there. Just for like a day or two.”

“Okay,” Rory said.

Taylor heard the man chuckle. “Good. We’ll leave in a couple days.”

Taylor heard the girl sigh, but he didn’t know if it was a happy sigh or annoyed sigh. “We’re going home.”

“Yes, we are.”

“I love you, dad.”

“I love you too, Rory.”

Taylor was processing all the information he was just given. Rory and Luke were living in Boston, only a couple hours from Stars Hollow. Rory was attending Harvard, as she always wanted. She referred to Luke as her ‘dad,’ which caught Taylor by surprise.

Well, he technically is her dad.

“Well, let’s get home. We have some packing to do,” Luke said as him and Rory stood up and left.

Taylor watched them walk down the street. He tried to get up, but found his body to be unresponsive because he’s still in shock over seeing them. He was still attempting to force his mind to accept that they were so close-by, since everyone had figured they were further away. He finally forced his limbs to move and he got up. He pulled out some money and slapped it on the table before rushing outside to see if he could catch a glimpse of Luke or Rory. He looked up the street both ways, but saw nothing.

He sighed. This was definitely major. He had found the two people that the entire town of Stars Hollow missed. He would definitely be on the front page of the Stars Hollow Gazette for this! He pulled out his cell phone and searched its contact list until he found the one he wanted. He pressed the ‘send’ button. It rang a few times before he heard Patty’s voice.

“Hello?”

“Patty, it’s Taylor.”

“Taylor? Why on earth are you calling me?”

“Because I have some big news!”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” she said sarcastically.

“I found them.”

“Found who?”

“Luke and Rory. And they’re coming back.”

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To be continued...