"Next." The St. Lawrence county clerk bellowed without looking up. Why must so many people wait until Friday to come in and get their marriage license? It was the weekend and she was ready to go home.
"We're next Rachel." Santana whispered with giddiness.
"I know babe. You have all your stuff right?" Rachel looked around Santana's front trying to see her hand. She probably should have asked sooner, you know..before they left the cabin, but honestly it hadn't occurred to her.
"Yes, I have my ID and my birth certificate right here." Santana raised her hand and waved the paper around. She looked around the room that they were all standing in. It was your standard dark colored walls and all the workers were behind a large glass window. It had been a bit of a hassle to get everyone through the security check point. They had to remove all their jewelry and empty their pockets, it would be the same process once they went into the court house too.
"Next."
"That's us babe." Rachel exclaimed as they made their way up to the window.
"Alright ladies, I need to see two forms of identification. And you need to fill these out." The clerk handed a clipboard through the window. Rachel grabbed the clip board and stepped over to the side with Santana. The information was pretty simple and it took no time to fill out. "I need you both to initial here and here. I also need the fee of forty dollars." The clerk pointed to two spaces on the form and looked up expectantly. "You have sixty days from today's date to perform a ceremony with two witnesses or the license becomes void and you have to apply again."
"Is there a judge at the court house today that can marry us? We were told there was one in particular who hung around on Friday's." Santana asked as the woman the money and waited for their official document to print.
The clerk looked up from her computer. "Judge April Rhodes is in today, or at least she should be. Judge Ubanks that normally does the marriages had a court case today."
"Okay, we will go see Judge Rhodes then. Uhm, how can we get a copy once everything is done?" Rachel inquired.
"Just bring the completed document back here and we can get you one." The county clerk paused a moment. "Can I ask why you two are getting married so quickly?" Of course it wasn't any of her business, but she was always curious.
"We are planning on adopting a set of twins and being married increases our chances of getting them." Santana explained with a small smile on her was happy when the clerk smiled back with no hint of maliciousness.
"Those twins are going to be very lucky." The clerk smiled before she handed the form through the window to Rachel and Santana. "Good luck ladies."
Rachel and Santana now found themselves standing outside of the judges chambers at the court house. Just like they had thought, the whole process to get inside had been tedious. At least they were here now and by the looks of it they were definitely going to be a while. Santana had counted at least six other couples waiting to meet with Judge Rhodes. People really did like to get married on Fridays.
"Do you two have rings?" Puck asked randomly as he sat on a bench with one of his legs crossed over the other. Quinn sat next to him rocking Davis back and forth, he was quickly becoming a cranky little boy after his bottle.
"No, well not today at least. We're going to save that for our wedding in December." Santana replied as she scooted closer to Rachel.
"How's that coming along? Do you guys need help?" Maribel asked, to be honest she really wanted to help but she didn't want to overstep any boundaries.
Shelby looked back and forth between Cassie and Leroy. "Well to be honest we have everything ordered and most of the stuff either goes to the catering company or the decorators."
"Then let us help pay. We respect that you have your own money, but please let us help..with anything really." Marcus was prepared to whip out his check book right then and there. He knows you can't just throw money at people and expect it to fix things, but his only daughter shouldn't have to pay for her own wedding. His mother would turn over in her grave if she knew that he had went this long without fixing things with Santana.
"Mr and Mrs. Lopez, I am sure we can find plenty of stuff for you to help out with, without you having to pay for anything. Why don't all the parents have a set down dinner together to discuss things. How long are you two staying?" Rachel asked as she looked up at Maribel and Marcus.
"A while, if that's okay. Neither one of us have taken a vacation in years." Santana scoffed but was quickly silenced by a hand resting on her knee. "You're allowed to be upset Santana, we understand. You can say whatever it is you need to say." Maribel expressed with sadness in her eyes.
"Do you know the last vacation we ever took as a family was to California? I was six and you know who I actually vacationed with? Abuelo. He took me swimming at the beach and sight seeing, he took me to Disneyland. We didn't even see you two until it was time to go back to the airport because you were at some big medical convention the entire time. You know what? I'm not doing this with you two today. We can hash things out before you leave, but not today. Today is our day." Santana pointed to herself and Rachel. Everyone stood around trying to find anything to look at for a distraction. It was rare that they seen a true upset Santana outburst.
"Hey! I remember that trip, you brought me all kinds of presents back." Puck exclaimed with a smile on his face. He knew he needed to shift the gears of this conversation before Santana really got upset.
"Everything that Abuelo bought for me, he bought one for Puck too." Santana explained to everyone. "Anytime I went somewhere and you couldn't go, I always brought you presents. Good presents too!" Santana laughed.
"Except for that one time when you thought that because you wanted a pet rat, I would want one too." Puck shivered at the thought.
"Prudence was a nice rat!"
"The thing bit me as soon as you handed him to me!" Puck argued back at Santana while everyone laughed.
"You know, your Abuelo would be so proud of the adults you two have grown into. Both of you have very successful careers and families." Maribel sniffled.
"We like to think so too, Mami." Santana stood up and wrapped her surprised mother in a hug. It was spontaneous and out of the blue but Maribel accepted it none the less. Anytime she was able to hug her daughter was a special moment that she would never take for granted again.
"Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry?" A bailiff stood outside of Judge Rhodes chambers with a slip of paper.
"That's us." Rachel stood up and took Santana's hand as they led the very large group into the office.
"Well, aren't you two ladies just as pretty as a peacock." Judge Rhodes spoke in her strong southern accent. Santana was momentarily taken aback as she stared at the woman. Never in her life had she heard such a strong accent anywhere in New York before. However, to be fair, New York was a melting pot of all cultures and diversities. "Now, how are we doing this? Do you want the regular spiel or did you two have something else in mind that you wanted to say or read?" Judge Rhodes, rested her clasped hands on her desk.
"Uh..we just want the regular..stuff..I guess. We kind of wanted to save all our good stuff for our actual wedding when it happens. So no vows and no rings today." Santana shrugged her shoulders as she looked to Rachel, silently asking if she agreed. Rachel nodded her head.
"We can do that. Who is going to sign off as witnesses? You know it can't be blood related family members." Judge Rhodes flipped over the marriage license that had been laid on her desk.
"Puck and Quinn or Puck and Sue, who ever really. It doesn't matter to us." Rachel looked around Santana to everyone who was standing at the back of the office. "Please don't sign it as Puck though."
"Don't worry, I hadn't planned on it." Puck chuckled as he stepped forward and pulled out his ID. Judge Rhodes hadn't asked for it yet, but he was sure she was going to.
"I'll sign as the other witness, since blondie over here has her hands full anyway." Sue stated as she too stepped up beside Puck to sign the license. Quinn scowled in response.
Once Sue and Puck had signed their names, Judge Rhodes stood up behind her desk. "Who is who ladies?" She asked as she pointed back and forth between Santana and Rachel.
"Santana Lopez and this is Rachel Berry." Santana responded.
"Lovely, lovely. Now you two sweet thangs are sure you want to marry each other? Iv'e been married twice before and you know what they say, third time's the charm."
"Yes, we're sure." Rachel stepped back a little warily.
"Okay. Santana Lopez, do you take Rachel Berry to be your wife, promising to hold her in times of sadness, dance with her in times of happiness, care for her in times of sickness, and stick with her through the good times and the bad?" Judge Rhodes decided that she wasn't going to read from her book this time around.
"I do." Santana responded while looking Rachel in the eyes.
"Rachel Berry, do you take Santana Lopez to be your wife, promising to hold her in times of sadness, dance with her in times of happiness, care for her in times of sickness, and stick with her through the good times and the bad?"
"I do." Rachel responded as well. She couldn't contain the tear that slide down her cheek. She and Santana had already been through so much together in the last three years, this was just putting a stamp on their forever.
"By the power bestowed upon me by St. Lawrence county of New York. I now pronounce you wife and wife." Judge Rhodes looked at the two women who looked back at her expectantly. "Kiss your damn wife!" She exclaimed while clapping happily, everyone else joined in the clapping and began cheering.
Santana suddenly pulled Rachel closer and dipped her backwards, planting an award winning kiss on her lips. She couldn't contain the laughter that began to bubble up. There was a flash and then another as everyone around them began taking pictures, Judge Rhodes included. "All you ladies have to do now is take this back over to the county clerk's office to be filed and you should receive your official certificate in the mail within ten days. I would suggest requesting a duplicate and placing them in two different places just for insurance purposes." Judge Rhodes looked up from where she had stepped back around her desk. She had officially signed off on everything and stamped the license."
"Thank you and in honor of marrying us, would you like to come to the wedding in December?" Rachel asked on a whim.
"I would love to come! Oh, my wife will be so excited." Judge Rhodes clapped her hands excitedly.
"You're wife?" Santana inquired with a raised eye brow.
"Yes." Judge Rhodes spun a picture frame around that was sitting on her desk. In the picture was Judge Rhodes and a taller blonde that Rachel instantly recognized.
"You're married to Judge Holliday?" Santana's eyes widened. After the trial with Rachel and the Porter brothers they never had a reason to see Judge Holliday again, but oh man was this a surprise.
"We've been married a few months now. You know her?"
"Well..not really know, per say. She was the judge for something that..uh..happened to me." Rachel explained nervously. Her palms were starting to sweat, remembering everything that had happened to her was overwhelming.
"Oh..oh! Why didn't I realize that before?! You're the Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry. I didn't connect the names until now...I'm so sorry for everything that happened to you and I am more than happy to have been the one to marry you two lovely ladies. This is my personal address and phone number. Now I don't normally do this, because this is unprofessional and very forward, but just know that if you ever need anything, call me. Also that address is for my invitation." Judge Rhodes winked as she handed the slip of paper over to Rachel.
"We will send you one as soon as they come in." Santana looked over the address and phone number as Rachel passed the piece of paper to her to put into her pocket.
"Bailiff, get the next couple." Judge Rhodes ordered as everyone began to file out of her chambers.
"That was interesting to say the least and very fast." Rachel breathed a sigh of relief Judge Rhodes hadn't mentioned anything else about the Porter brothers.
"Indeed, it was. But now we're officially married and one step closer to bringing our girls home." Santana wrapped Rachel in a tight hug before kissing her again. "Let's get the rest of this done so we can go to dinner and then go home to celebrate properly." Santana husked into Rachel's ear who shivered, hopefully dinner would fly by.
I still want to smack myself in the head for using Marcus as both Santana's fathers name and the main Porter brother. It's too late to change it now, so just know anytime I use the name in this story it will be in reference to Marcus Lopez, unless stated otherwise.