FLASHBACK
2 months earlier
Joyce stood admiring the subtly textured painting on the wall before her. She hadn't been to the California Arts Center in a long time, though, as a student, she had spent many a happy hour here, stoned off her ass and surrounded by the exquisite and sometimes controversial works that had been an inspiration to her in so many ways.
"Amazing isn't it, the way he expresses form without boundary, truth without piety, and.."
"The colors. The dark tones convey such misery whereas the reds... such vibrancy...such...", Joyce repied to the soft voice from behind her.
"Passion?"
"Yes, pass...", she failed to complete her words as she turned to see the rich dark eyes of a well dressed woman. She was slightly taller than Joyce and held such power and grace in the way with which she carried herself. Her mere presence was intoxicating and Joyce felt a strange tingle down below, something she hadn't felt for the longest of times.
"Hi, I'm Bette. I run this place", she said as she extended her hand.
"J-Joyce", she said back shyly and took the offered hand. It was warm and seemed to fit into her own perfectly but more than that, when they clashed gazes, their eyes became stuck and wallowed in the deep sockets of the other.
"I have my own gallery", Joyce blurted out throughtlessly like an eager-to-impress adolescent. Bette just smiled in return.
"Really? I usually just get idle schoolkids and rich businessmen trying to show off to their friends in here. It takes a truly unique soul to appreciate art like this in it's raw and primal essence"
"Well this certainly is..primal", Joyce said back trying to figure out why she was acting like a ditzy teen instead of her professional self.
"Say, do you want to see something? The new Ecio exhibition opens next week and I'd love to get someone elses perspective on it", Bette said with a pleading tone.
"I, well I am a fan of hers but..".
"Perfect"
Joyce's half hearted protests were cut off as Bette took her arm and lead her to the sealed off section in the east wing of the institutute. They spent the next two hours discussing the baroque work of the west coast's hottest young talent, interspersed with stories of wannabe artists and unpleasant dealers, of family and farmers, Boticelli and Batman, the time withered away as they went to Bette's office where the brunette took Joyce's coat for her. Bette couldn't help but admire the well toned form that was wrapped in the unflattering dress.
"So Miss Summers.."
"It's Mrs actually", Joyce butted in.
"Oh", Bette replied sadly unable to hide her disappointment.
"But I'm divorced, I just keep the name so my daughters can have a proper sense of family and..you know, belonging I guess."
Bette's face brightened at the news.
"What about you?"
"No, I'm not married. I was in a long term relationship up until last year though. Tina and I just realised we weren't meant to be, but we're still good friends", Bette said back reviving the comfortable rhythm of their conversation.
Their talk continued and just as they were finishing their third cappuccinos the dark haired woman plucked up the courage to ask the question she had been burning to for the last hour.
"W-would you come to a party tonight? It's at my neighbors house, it's not very often I get the chance to talk to someone on my own wavelength and I really like talking to you. I thought we could talk some more. Say yes, Joyce...please?", Bette said in her usually direct way but felt slightly lazy using the word 'talk,' or derivatives of it, three times in the same sentence.
"I-I can't. I have to get back home early tomorrow", Joyce said back as she placed her coffee cup back on the table.
"It's important to be professional Joyce, but you got to have a life"
This rang in Joyce's mind like it was the mantra she had been waiting a lifetime to hear. For what was her life? An endless cycle of bills, ironing, cooking, cleaning, more bills, making sure Buffy and Dawn get to school on time and get their hefty allowances, more bills, as well as putting up with all the pretentious bullshit that comes with the territory of the art world. It was enough to make anyone use a twelve bore to paint the bathroom walls a new shade of shredded cerebellum.
"Ok"
"Huh?", Bette replied not expecting her new friend to be so open to suggestion.
"Ok, I'll come to the party"
Bette smiled widely and that's when Joyce noticed she was feeling something for her. More than professional courtesy, something even more than friendship, but what, she couldn't say for sure. But she was willing to find out what.
Joyce stepped out of the cab and checked the address once more though it was a little tricky as the sweat of her palm had smudged the words on the carefully folded Post-It note. She wiped her hands on the legs of her smart dress pants and took a minute to compose herself before ringing the doorbell. She really couldn't believe that she was doing this, a woman whose normal friday nights involved watching re-runs of The Golden Girls, re-organizing her kitchen cupboards (which is not a euphemism for something else) and, on occassion, picking up Buffy after Faith had dragged her to a frat party and gotten her girlfriend a little drunk.
She took one last deep breath and switched her phone off, wanting this to be a night of no interruptions, and put it in her purse. Her finger, shaking slightly, pressed the bell and waited nervously until the door swung open and she was greeted by the sight of a young lady in her twenties. Joyce looked her up and down - jeans by Levi, shirt by Sears, hair by Flymo.
"Hi, I er...I'm Joyce...I'm er, a friend of Bette..she invited me...um, she said it would be...I got this", she said a little flustered as she thrust out a bottle of wine to her hosts.
"Er, ok. Thanks... Joyce is it? Come on in. I'm Shane, and this is my girlfriend Carmen."
"Nice to meet you", she said back still somewhat fazed by the situation she found herself in.
"Joyce!", came the voice of Bette, unable to mask her excitement, "I'm so glad you made it, you look great"
"Thanks, so do you", she replied as she watched the soft silk of Bette's dress cling to her like a whisper in the mist. Whatever that means.
Bette leaned in and kissed Joyce softly on the cheek. Usually the Summers house matriarch would be thrown by such a gesture but coming from Bette, it felt almost right, and instantly eased her worries despite now being surrounded by a group of ladies of varying states of attraction.
"Oh, so you're Joyce", started Dana, "Bette's been going on about you all evening. Tell you what, you're even better than she said"
"Dana!", Bette snapped as she blushed in perfect synchronisity with Joyce, "I'm sorry about her"
"It's ok, it's actually nice to able to talk amongst real adults. Usually I just talk to clients or to the PTA"
"You got kids then, Joyce?", asked Carmen as she relaxed back into Shane's warm and possessive arms.
"Yes, two actually. Dawn is fourteen and Buffy is nearly seventeen. The post partum was worth it in the end", she shrugged by way of self deprecation which made the cadre of intrigued woman warm to her immediately.
As Joyce and Bette stood next to each other, they felt strange. Like a paralyzing toxin was seeping through their bodies rendering their oft used powers of speech obsolete. But they were both fluent in body language, and the language was rated R.
"Erm, let me take that", offered Bette as she snapped out of her trance helping Joyce slip out of her, well actually it was Cordelia's, suede jacket showing her slightly too tight lilac blouse making Bette's eyes fixate a little harder.
As Bette hung up the coat, a blonde with slurred legs came over to her. She stumbled a little and wine splashed onto her hand leaving her fingers stickier than Winona Ryder's.
"Nice catch, Bette", said Alice, but due to her consumption of the fermented grape, it came out alot louder than she had intended.
"Shut up"
"I'm just saying, it's been what...eight months since Tina, about time you got back on that horse"
"Alice, shut up!", snipped Bette as she glanced over to Joyce, her skin flushing once more.
"Are you blushing? You never blush, woah, you really like her don't you?"
"Yeah...I do", the brunette said back gently.
"Then go for it, honey", encouraged Alice with a pat on the back.
"Joyce, can I get you a drink?", asked Carmen playing the hostess role to a tee.
"Sure"
Joyce followed Carmen, flanked by Bette, into the kitchen. She felt weird that she couldn't take her arms off the slightly mocha arms of Bette that flowed with ease from the short sleeves of her stunning green number.
"Thankyou, you really have a lovely home here", Joyce said as she took the long stemmed glass.
"Thanks, it's only rented but once Shane and I tie the knot we're going to get a place of our own, right babe?"
"Er yeah sure", answered Shane nonchalantly though inside, as the big day crept nearer, she got more and more scared.
"So Bette tells me you have a gallery?", asked Dana as she searched for some more salsa dip.
"Yes, it's doing pretty well for a small town, we just have a new shipment of Malayan fertility statues"
"Ah", nodded the tennis star as she really didn't want to be dragged into a conversation about art, she was just being polite.
Shane nudged Bette as they opened the patio doors. The doors always got a little stuck so they had to administer a dual shove to get them open.
"You're right, she is a hottie. Now don't fuck this up", she whispered to her friend, wanting only the best for her. After Tina, the bar had been raised high but she had a feeling that this new woman in Bette's life could easily surpass her expectations.
"Don't worry Shane, this is one flower I don't want to crush"
"Dork", chuckled Shane at Bette's shamelessly poetic nature.
"Joyce, do you want to see the outside. Carmen's got it looking really nice, you want to show us Car?", asked Bette as she beckoned the blonde woman over to the door
"No, you go ahead, we'll be out in a minute"
Bette took Joyce's hand and, to the surprise of them both, she didn't whip it away as they stepped out into the cooling evening air.
Their easy conversation took off like it had never been interrupted by several hours of touching up their make up and changing clothes, such was their intent to impress.
"What are they talking about?", asked Alice as she looked out at the pair who sipped wine and laughed like they had known each other forever.
"Does it matter, it's great to see Bette have that sparkle in her eye again. Shame it's with a straight chick", shrugged Shane as Carmen pulled the cigarette from her fiances lips and threw it in the sink.
"Hey, that was my last one"
"That's right, your last one...ever"
"B-but...fuck...I am so whipped", she said with a sigh.
"Maybe later", purred the latina woman as she ran her tongue along Shane's ear.
"You sure she's straight? If I didn't know better...", asked Alice as she emptied the last of the bottle into her glass.
"Does it really matter, love is love", said Carmen, spouting her simple life philosophy between her nibbles on Shane's unpierced lobe.
Back outside, both Joyce and Bette hadn't noticed that no-one had come out to join them. They preferred it really, allowing themselves to revel in the growing intimacy between the two aided by the buzz of the alcohol that they drunk before the party started. Courage was in liquid form this night.
"I wanted to check out the Righettie exhibition", said Joyce as she felt her heartrate on the rise and, for a woman her age, it couldn't be good.
"You have to, it's amazing. Do you think you might want to see it tomorrow? I have the day off and I'd love to have the chance to see it with someone who can truly appreciate it", replied Bette as she felt herself being more and more drawn to the blonde woman.
"I don't know"
"It's just a show"
"Ok then, I'd love to"
"Maybe dinner afterwards", pressed Bette hopefully."I like you Joyce and I'd love to have the chance to get to know you better. It's only dinner, no strings...what do you say? There's no harm in it and I'm sure your daughters would love an extra night of freedom, they deserve it like you do. Go on, it'll show your trust in them"
"Dinner? Do you mean like...a date?"
"You can make it mean anything you like, Joyce", Bette said in a frothy pitch.
Joyce felt herself melting in the deep rich eyes of this beauty. With each smooth action and thoughtful word she was falling under her spell even more but, to her surprise, she found herself not wanting to break the enchantment that Bette was subtly ensnaring her with.
"I love this song", Joyce said as 'California Dreaming' sneaked out of the stereo and floated out the window until it had found the ears of them both. Bette took their drinks and put them on the wooden garden table and stepped in closer towards Joyce.
As Bette took Joyce's hand and slid the other round her waist, the blonde lady couldn't help but flinch. It had been a long time since someone had held her with such tenderness that bordered on reverence. Joyce slipped into the embrace with ease and felt her heartbeat gaining pace as they swayed to the soft sounds.
Not wanting to press matters too far, Bette simply moved into Joyce's body gently, letting the visitor take control of how far she wanted this to go.
"You know, everyone else is inside. Maybe we should go in...get some more wine?", asked Bette.
"It's kind of loud in there and I was really enjoying our...er, conversation", Joyce said with a blush as with every simple gesture that the dark haired woman made she felt herself letting go of her restraints.
"Well I live just next door, we can carry on our talk. I was really enjoying it too, it's not often I get to meet a woman with such a perfect combination of appreciation for the arts as well being so... beautiful", she said and pushed a stray strand of hair back behind Joyce's hair.
Joyce stopped in her dancing and just stared at the woman who held her in her arms.
"I'm sorry, Joyce", Bette started, hoping that she hadn't ruined everything already, "But..well, I like to get straight to the point, and well...I like you, as in like like"
She bit her lip and waited for the blonde woman to respond. She imagined that she had pushed too far too soon and the last image she would have of Joyce would be of her storming throught the party after giving a fierce slap to Bette's caramel cheek.
"At your house...do you have wine?", Joyce asked and they both released a deep breath.
Their fingers stayed locked together as they made their way into Bette's house and opened a bottle. As the brunette flicked through her collection of classic vinyls she found her favorite David Bowie record and put it on.
The turntable spun into life and the soft crackles that only came with twelve inch records spilled from the speakers, Joyce smiled at the tunes echoing throughout the artful house as she stared intently at an original Bieske.
Bette, feeling the effects of the wine, decided to make a bold manouevre. She came up behind Joyce and slipped her arms round her waist and just gently swayed to the music. After the initial shock Joyce melted back into the embrace and mirrored her new friend's moves.
Joyce turned in Bette's arms and stared deeply into her eyes. There was a hunger there that she had not seen for a while, but it was tempered with a respectful understanding of the boundaries that Joyce no doubt had set firmly in place a long time ago to save herself from any potential heartbreak.
Ignoring the wine she had opened, Bette pulled the blonde woman in closer and smiled as she took in every minute detail of Joyce's well aging face. How one eye was slightly higher than the other, how her smile drew flawlessly every time like she had spent much of her youth being forced into entering mother-daughter beauty pageants, how, despite the odour of wine masking their senses, she still smelt like rosehips.
At this point Bette needed to badly to kiss her. As she gave her courage once last tweak she was taken back when Joyce pressed her lips into her own, gently at first but as they sunk further into each other it grew in passion and had them fighting for both breath and dominance.
They were instantly lost in each others senses, the lust that scoured their veins was not simply due to the fermented grape in their systems, but the need to feel more. To feel each others souls in their entireity and swim within the heady feelings that they had brought out in the other.
They pushed back against each other as their lips crashed over and over in a deep down release that both parties had been hungering for.
Bette slipped her arms down and pulled Joyce's blouse from the waist of her pants and flicked each button off without dramatic necessity, just an desperate urge to be with this stunning woman. Joyce surrendered to each touch and nip of her flesh as she reached round and fumbled with the zip at the back of Bette's dress.
Her velvet skin rode under the gliding fingers of Bette as her blouse slipped off her body, the brunette laying teasing kisses over the small secret tattoo of a white flower on the back of Joyce's shoulder.
The heat radiated from their bodies as they lunged at each other, feeling no shame or restraint as they stumbled into the bedroom. As they...
END FLASHBACK
"Woah, Mom! Please! I sooo did not need to hear that", rushed out Buffy as she slammed her hand on the table, mildly freaked at her mother's open admittance of casual carnal pleasures.
"So you had sex with her the first time you met?"
"No, we didn't. We made love", said Joyce as she blushed at being so open with her children about her most sating of moments, but Bette brought out such desires and ease within her it was hard not to surrender to the truth.
"That's...well, still ewwww", added Dawn
"Sorry, anyway the next morning I freaked. I said I had to go and I ran before Bette could untangle herself from the sheets. I drove back here as fast as I could... I couldn't believe I had just done that. Nobody apart from my OB-GYN had been that intimate with me..."
"For god's sake Mom, I don't want to know about that"
"Sorry...anyway, I still had Bette's business card. I wanted to call her, to tell it was all a mistake but I hadn't felt that...loved in so long. I dialled and hung up so many times it wasn't even funny, but I couldn't forget her, the slight tilt of her nose, the feel of her cheek on mine, the way her breasts did that little..."
"MOM!", exclaimed the twin voices of grossed out terror that inhabited the mouths of both Summers daughters.
"Sorry, I'll just stick to the facts. I called her, I apologised, we talked almost every night and I went back to LA the following weekend. After that...well, I think you can guess why I had so many 'business' trips to LA in the last few weeks. I think...I think I love her. Really love her"
Silence once more descended upon the trio of Summers women and they just stared at each other. Guilt, apprehension, confusion, all were now moulded into one encompassing emotive brew that they were all to sup from.
"Mom..", started Buffy as she cleared her throat, "Mom, I'm hurt you didn't tell me, but why be ashamed of this? I'm gay, hell you even helped me with coming out the closet so I could be with Faith. So why couldn't you do the same?"
"I-I'm so s-sorry", Joyce sobbed out. Buffy, not wanting to punish her mother any further, snaked her thin arms around her and hugged her tightly. Her heart went out to her mom who she could tell was having her heart torn from her chest and stomped over.
"I-I've ruined e-everything", she wailed as she sunk her face into her daughters shoulders, letting out all her fear, frustration and regret.
"I-I fucked up...really badly...now I've hurt you...and her. I'm so sorry"
"Shh, Mom it's gonna be ok", soothed Dawn as she too joined in the tearful familial hug slightly worried that her Mom had used the F-word.
"It's not...I've really screwed things up...I just want to tell her I'm sorry...to let me make it up to her...now she's gone...and I don't know where she is", sniffed Joyce as she found a dry piece of the tissue she had been picking at.
"She's over at the Hamilton Hotel", came the voice from behind them.
"Faith?"
The brunette wandered in slipping the spare key that Mrs Summers had given her back into her pocket.
"Look, I know it's none of my business but after all you done for me and B, I thought you should...well y'know...", said the brunette with a blush as Joyce leapt from the chair, sending it toppling to the floor, and crushed Faith in a loving and grateful embrace.
"Thankyou honey...thankyou so much", she gushed as she planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek.
"No biggie Mrs S, now you better get going as I don't know how long she's gonna be there...room 212"
As Joyce grabbed her keys she ran to the door but, once she took the brass handle in her now sweaty palm, she had a moment of hesitation. Looking back to the three young women who were acting so much more mature than she, Joyce's face was a tangled mass of self doubt and confusion.
"Mom...go", Buffy insisted with a warm smile as she nuzzled into Faith's arms.
Seeing the love that wove between the two girls Joyce knew what she wanted, she wanted the same but for her and Bette. Blowing them a farewell kiss she ran out the door and leapt in her car wheelspinning on the way out on to Revello Drive, hoping that luck would be on her side for once.
As Dawn picked up her phone to text the evening's events to her boyfriend, Buffy and Faith just held each other. The love and trust that bonded them had just become a shade more unbreakable with the brunette's efforts at ensuring Joyce had a happy ending too, like she deserved.
"Faith?"
"Mmmm", she groaned back as her hands rode up high on Buffy's body.
"Are you drunk?"
"Huh, no..I haven't...well I have...but I ain't drunk. I had a couple of beers with Bette, y'know she's one pretty cool lady - like ya Mom. I had to get her to stop and think about what she was givin' up if she left.", Faith rushed out with her hops tinged breath tickling Buffy's ear.
"You know you try and be Miss Bad-ass, but really you're just a romantic sappy girlie-girl", she giggled as she turned to face her girlfriend..
"Me? I'm no such fucking thing, I just think...well...", she protested but seeing the sparkle in her girlfriend's eyes she knew she was beaten, "You won't tell anyone will ya, B?"
"Your secret's safe with me, sweetie", the blonde said back with a soft and passionate kiss.
"So what d'ya think?", asked Faith as she hugged her girlfriend to her and inhaled her sweet scent.
"I ...I don't know"
"From what Bette was tellin' me, I think she really wants this to work out with ya mom. It's just hard for ya mom to admit to this shit"
"I guess. But good things come to those who deserve it, right baby?"
"Absolutely"
Cue flashback montage. Eighties style!
(To be continued)
...
(Author's notes - Before you say anything, yes I changed the storylines in The L Word. Tina and Bette are still friends and Angelica never existed. I added a few more nods to 'Buffy Shock', and yes, I am a hopeless romantic)