3/?

Summery: Getting to know your wife.

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The two women sat looking at each other. The silence stretched out for several minutes as neither occupant of the room was sure what to say.

Eventually Joyce cleared her throat, "Hmm we ah had wild sex last night?" she blushed as she realised what she had just said, "Oh god that sounds rather vulgar. Sorry, that wasn't really the best way to start what is obviously going to be a very awkward conversation!"

Lorelai laughed breaking some of the tension, "You heard that huh," Joyce nodded. "It's probably as apt a description as any considering our clothes ended up in some weird places," she pointed to her panties still hanging from the light fitting and what was obviously Joyce's draped over the top of an empty bottle of champagne. "I'm Lorelai by the way."

"Oh, sorry. I'm Joyce, Joyce Summers."

Lorelai could not help the mischief coming to her eyes as she shook her head. "No you're not!"

"Yes I am. I may not remember anything that happened after entering the Seaview Bar, but I remember my name. I've been Joyce Summers for the last twenty-one years and before that I was Joyce Lynn," stated Joyce a little catch in her voice.

"Sorry Joyce, you have no idea how much I'm sorry. But you're no longer Joyce Summers," sighed Lorelai as she scooped up the paper from the floor again and walked over to squat on the side of the bed next to the other woman. "You don't have any heart problems do you? I don't want to have to take you to the hospital or anything. I have this thing about not liking to see my family members in pain..."

Joyce could not help laughing at Lorelai. "I never thought I'd meet someone that could rival my daughter's best friend in babbling. And no, I don't have any heart problems, although I've just had a tumour removed from my brain, but my doctor's given me a clean bill of health."

"Well that's good..." mused Lorelai losing her train of thought as she studied the blonde before her. She looked to be several years older than herself, maybe as much as ten years older! However, she still had a mature beauty, 'She must have been drop-dead gorgeous when she was younger? At least I have taste, even when I'm totally smashed!'

"So why the concern about my health?" asked Joyce curiously.

"Well, I wanted to be sure before I showed you this," Lorelai explained as she handed the piece of paper to Joyce.

Joyce took the piece of paper with trepidation, looking into Lorelai's eyes trying to discern why she was so sorry! She glanced down at the paper, her eyes going wide as she realised that it was a marriage certificate. Joyce skimmed over the document until she found the names, going a little pale, "Oh my god!" she exclaimed looking back to her 'wife'.

"So Mrs Joyce Gilmore, what do we do about this?" smiled Lorelai smugly.

Although Joyce was still somewhat in shock, she still had enough control of her faculties to realise what Lorelai had just asked. "Why are you assuming that our name should be Gilmore, Mrs Lorelai Summers," she smirked back.

"Well because Gilmore sounds so much more dignified," replied Lorelai her eyes twinkling with the absurdity of the conversation. They both knew they were trying to put off the more serious part of the topic.

"I disagree," Joyce shook her head. "Summers has as much dignity about it as Gilmore. Besides Summers has that warm sounding image, where as Gilmore is just... I don't know! Weird."

"Are you saying my name sounds weird," Lorelai asked in anger, but her eyes still twinkled with mirth.

"I thought we were still talking about which name we were going to use? Because if we go for Summers, you won't be Lorelai Gilmore, will you?" laughed Joyce before becoming serious. "What are we going to do?"

"Well we could always go with Summers-Gilmore or Gilmore-Summers! Although Gilmore-Summers sounds kind of seasonal. Like 'oh isn't this just like that last Gilmore summer'." Lorelai shook her head, "No it would have to be Summers-Gilmore if we went for a double last name."

Joyce gave a real belly laugh, unable to say anything for several minutes. When she finally did, she wiped her tear-filled eyes looking at Lorelai, "God that was good. I haven't laughed like that since before the doctors discovered my brain tumour. Thank you. Somehow, I don't think I should ever introduce you to Willow," she giggled lightly before once more, turning serious. "No I meant, what are we going to do about this?" She held up their Marriage certificate.

"Oh!" Lorelai blushed looking down at her lap. "I guess we try and get it annulled!"

"So you're not gay or anything?"

Lorelai looked up curiosity in her eyes, "Well until this... No. But I guess I must be at least a little gay if we tied the knot and had wild sex last night. How about you?"

"I guess I must be the same. I did do the whole experimenting thing in college, but that was before I got married... the first time."

"Oh I knew there was something else I missed out on, not going to college! I must check with Rory, see if there's been any of that with her!"

"Rory?" frowned Joyce.

"My daughter. She goes to Yale. She's travelling around Europe with her grandmother at the moment. God knows how I'm going to explain all this to them!"

"I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my daughter, Buffy either! She's attending UC Sunnydale. This year's been really hard on her, what with my illness on top of college," sighed Joyce. She looked speculatively at the younger woman, "I don't mean to be rude, and it's not a pick-up line. But you don't look old enough to have a daughter in college."

"Hey we were both obviously very intimate last night. So pick-up lines would be pointless now," giggled Lorelai. "I got pregnant with Rory when I was sixteen. Hence the no college thing for Lorelai," she smiled, although Joyce caught the little catch in her voice.

"I'm sorry. You really wanted to go to college, didn't you?" Joyce said softly as she took Lorelai's hand into hers.

"Yeah," said Lorelai as Joyce held her hand. "I mean I've always loved Rory, she's been my reason for getting up in the morning for the last nineteen years. All I've ever wanted is to make sure she had a happy home where she felt free to express herself. My own childhood was so hard... There was no love there, not really... But yeah, I'd have loved to go to college," she sniffed.

"I'm sorry," Joyce said again. She looked curiously at Lorelai for a moment, "You're not related to Richard and Emily Gilmore are you?"

Lorelai looked at her wife, "Ah yeah, they're my parents. You know them?"

"Only in passing. They were friends with my late mother and father. And I sold Emily some artwork a couple of years ago. I own a gallery back home," clarified Joyce.

Now it was Lorelai's turn to frown as she remembered something Joyce had said earlier. "You said your name use to be Lynn. My daughter went to school with a girl called Madeline Lynn, any relation?"

Joyce laughed, "This is so weird! Yes, Madeline's my niece."

"Hey, how about we finish this conversation over breakfast?" asked Lorelai. "It seems we have a lot to talk over and it's gotta be better on a full stomach!"

"Are you sure you want to go out there," Joyce asked releasing Lorelai's hand, having not realised she still held it, to wave at the door. "This looks like the honeymoon suite. Are you sure you want to endure the comments and looks?"

"Hey, what we did may not be the norm but it's not illegal, we're both consenting adults and I've never been what most people would call conventionally minded," smirked Lorelai. "And anyway if things go wrong I'll just tell them you plied me with drink before forcing me to marry you," she laughed getting up and walking over to retrieve her underwear.

"And how do you know you didn't ply me with drink and force me to marry you," chuckled Joyce climbing out of the bed and joining Lorelai in gathering their scattered clothes.

"Well you're the one with all the lesbian experience remember!" Lorelai pointed out as she pulled a chair over so she could reach her panties from the light fitting. She looked them over realising they were no longer wearable, she held them up for her wife to see, "And look it looks like you used your teeth to pull my panties off."

Joyce blushed deeply as she looked at Lorelai still standing on the chair holding up the said item, "And how exactly do you know I used my teeth?" she asked curiously.

"'Cause that's what I would have done," Lorelai laughed.

"Well I guess you'll hafta go without," smirked Joyce.

"Ohh you wish," replied Lorelai climbing down and pulling several drawers open before holding a pair of panties up in triumph.

"Oh well a girl can dream," Joyce declared a twinkle in her eye.

Lorelai stuck her tongue out as she quickly gathered her clothes together and headed for the bathroom.

After they had both taken a quick shower, separately, the two newlyweds felt ready to face the world, or at least a hotel full of guests! Both stood at the door staring at it. Joyce looked at her wife, "So..."

"So..."

"Are we going out there?" asked Joyce the nervousness in her voice.

"Hey how bad could it be?" mused Lorelai as they continued standing in front of the door.

"Let's order room service," suggested Joyce.

"Okay," agreed Lorelai quickly heading over to the phone.