A/N: If anyone has read my other story, It Was You, this isn't related to that, it's just a one-shot I've had sitting on my computer for a while now and decided to finally post. Who doesn't need more Literati fluff in their life? Reviews would be wonderful!

A week after they got back Rory walked into the apartment, beaming as she threw herself onto the couch next to him. She had been happy for a long time now, something that made him even happier, but this was the kind of joy that came from something exciting happening. Something recent. She told him that she had made an important decision, one that would affect him, as a writer. He laughed at the thought of what it could possibly be and waited for the answer.

She proudly proclaims that she has decided on her favorite kind of punctuation. He grins and gives her a small kiss, tells her he didn't realize she'd been trying to pick one. It's random but cute and he asks what symbol is lucky enough to have her favor. At first he is confused.

A hyphen? Seems too insignificant for Rory if he stopped to think about it. Not exciting or mysterious, just something used to connect things.

Don't you want to know why, she prods him and she is beaming, bubbling with the excitement over this grammatical decision. He tells her she's got his interest and she takes a breath before smiling even wider and answering.

Because I have one now, and I never realized just how beautiful they can be.

He starts to ask her what that means but she interrupts him by thrusting a piece of paper into his hand, a copy of an approved name-change form.

Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Mariano

His heart stops in his chest for a minute and his breath hitches as he reads it again, skimming the rest of the form to make sure its real. Before he gets too excited he has to ask, make certain. He reminds her of the conversation they'd had months before, in the midst of planning, choosing between different flowers and listing important songs.

I think with work, it would just be too hard to change. I actually have some people who recognize my name now; I'd hate to risk losing that. Plus I know Mom and the grandparents would die if I weren't a Gilmore anymore.

He'd just shrugged, said that the ring and the vows were all that mattered, she could keep her name the way it was, they way it had been for the previous 26 years of her life. He never understood why women still did that anyway, until now.

What do you think?

Her voice snaps him out of his musings and he gives her a smile that was meant to be simple approval but becomes embarrassingly goofy.

He asks her what made her change her mind so easily.

The honeymoon. I enjoyed being referred to as Mrs. Mariano a little too much and left work early to go to city hall today. I though this was the best way, I can have both.

The hyphen made it possible; she could have both. Keep the identity she had formed as a journalist and as a daughter and granddaughter, and add on the fact that she was now officially his.

Not in the possessive, annoying way of some boyfriends past. Just in the simple fact that she was his and he was hers, always had been really. He smiles again at the thought and pulls her to him for a real kiss.

He decides then that he's a fan of hyphens too, and he'll try to throw a few extra into his next book, for her. Put them into print permanently, the way she had put one in her identity, permanently.

As he hesitantly pulls away he tells her it's got a nice ring to it, and then in a much quieter voice he thanks her. She smiles again and gazes at him, the sapphire of her eyes coming closer as she leans into kiss him again.

He decides that hyphens are underrated; after all, they connect things.