Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It ought to be one of those run of the mill Bluebell things, pretty strange for any other place, but perfectly normal for the town Zoe had decided to call home. Unlike the first time she saw it occur, she never even flinched when Tom came running into the Rammer Jammer to let Wade know Crazy Earl was up on the roof threatening to jump. It had become pretty normal by now.

“Is it that time again already?” she asked from her side of the bar.

“Apparently.” Wade rolled his eyes. “Wanda? I’ll be right back,” he called to her as he headed out.

“Earl’s on the roof,” Zoe told her when she looked ready to get mad about him running off again.

“Oh, right.” Wanda nodded. “I just hope he comes right back after. It’s awful busy in here tonight.”

Zoe thought about it a moment and then got up off her stool. She could always offer to drive Earl home so Wade could get back to work. The last thing she wanted was for him to lose his job, especially when a lot of the other times he had cut out lately was for her.

Hurrying outside, she was concentrating more on putting her jacket back on and keeping her purse on her shoulder than really looking where she was headed.

She went in the general direction of Wade’s voice, singing ‘Moon River’ in the way only he could. It made her smile without her hardly noticing, but unfortunately, that expression wasn’t set to last long.

As father and son sang together, almost reaching the end of the song, Zoe caught sight of them, lit by moonlight on the roof of the building just across the street.

‘Moon River and me,’ they sang together before Earl took a bow to some audience that only he could see - that was when he lost his footing.

“No!” she cried in panic as he slipped.

Wade reached for his father, pulling him back to safety just in time, only for the tile beneath his own foot to give way. Earl grabbed at his son but he had no coordination to speak of and Wade fell, as if in slow motion.

There was nothing Zoe could do but scream.

The world went away. Zoe wasn’t really aware of anything but the pictures behind her eyes playing over and over and over, like a movie that just wouldn’t end. She saw the moment Wade fell most of all, interspersed with flashes of his motionless body lying on the ground, her own hands flying over his limbs, his chest, checking for injuries, then the horrible moment when she first saw the blood.

“Zoe?”

She only realised anyone had spoken when a hand landed on her arm and drew her attention. She was in the hospital waiting area. George was there.

Golden Boy George Tucker. She might’ve smiled at Wade’s voice ringing clear in her head with those words, if her eyes hadn’t immediately fallen on the blood. It was on her shirt, on her pants. His blood.

“I tried,” she said, swallowing hard before any more words would come. “I tried to stop the bleeding but... but there wasn’t much I could do. I’m a doctor, I should’ve been able to do something, anything, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t help him!”

“Zoe, it’s okay. It’s okay,” he told her, pulling her into his arms and holding on tight as she completely fell to pieces.

Other people came after that. Lavon and Lemon and others that Zoe barely saw or heard. They were all so worried about Wade and then worried about Zoe herself, but worrying didn’t help at all.

A million awful scenarios were running through her head all the time, more than any other person could have had, because she knew the complications, the awful consequences that could come with head injuries. She knew too much and right now she wished she didn’t.

“You know he’s tough,” said George beside her. “He’ll be alright.”

“Maybe,” Zoe replied, voice shaking yet. “But if he... if he doesn’t make it...”

“Zoe...”

“It could happen!” she told him, too loudly. “It happens and if it did, I don’t... I never told him.”

“Never told him what?” asked George, turning in his seat to better face her but she looked away.

When her body began to shake with sobs again, he dropped down from his seat onto his knees, taking both her hands in both of his own. He had never seen her like this.

“Zoe, come on,” he urged her. “You know you can talk to me. I know you’re worried about Wade, so am I, but this is... I mean, I know you care about him but-”

“I do,” she said quickly, eyes snapping to meet his. “George, I... I care about you too, you know I do, but Wade and me...”

Her voice faltered and she but her lip, trying to push through. It wasn’t easy.

“It started the day you were supposed to marry Lemon. It was supposed to be casual but... but it wasn’t. I’m not sure if it ever was, but it’s really not anymore, and... and the truth is...”

She never quite managed to spit the words out when suddenly Brick appeared, bringing with him the hospital’s own doctor who had presumably been taking care of Wade.

Zoe shot up from her seat, hardly aware of George hovering behind her as she asked what was going on. She heard only parts of the answer, just the most relevant words hitting her ears and firing into her brain like bullets.

Fracture. Bleeding. Swelling. Complications.

Then the world went black.

“Apparently when you suffer shock and haven’t eaten anything for a whole lot of hours, you pass out. You’d think a doctor would know something like that, huh? Well, I probably would’ve thought about it more, if not for you. You’re a pain in the ass Wade Kinsella, do you know that? But you’re the most charming, kind, addictive, amazing pain the ass I’ve ever known in my life.”

Zoe really wasn’t sure if she was laughing or crying as she gently moved her hand along Wade’s arm. He hadn’t woken up since the fall and until he did the doctors couldn’t know for sure how badly damaged his head might be. Zoe couldn’t think about it right now, she didn’t dare. She just wanted him to wake up already. In fact, there was nothing she wanted more.

“I’ve been such an idiot,” she said with a sigh. “Not that you’re much better,” she told Wade as he slept on. “I keep thinking if you’d just told me how you really felt, or if I’d just realised sooner how I felt... but we’re both too stubborn or too stupid, and now, if it’s all too late...”

She used to be stronger than this, Zoe was sure of it, but then she had never really been in this situation before. Bad enough when Rose had her appendicitis and Zoe hadn’t seen it coming. She didn’t think she could feel worse than that, but this might actually be worse. It wasn’t just the guilt and the fear of loss, it was deep regret that she had left it all too late, that he might really be taken out of the world without ever knowing how she truly felt.

“Wade,” she said, tears streaking down her face as she leaned over, gently moving his hair off his forehead, mindful of the bandage above. “All those times you did favours for me, you never let me down, even when I didn’t deserve it. Please, just do this one more thing for me. Please, please wake up. Wake up and be okay, please,” she urged him, until her voice gave out one more time.

With her head on his chest, she cried like her heart was breaking. Quite honestly, it felt as if it might just be. To think she had mistaken her silly crush on George Tucker for actual love, dismissing what she and Wade had as nothing at all. She knew better now. If anything happened to him, Zoe didn’t know what she would do.

Zoe came out of sleep slowly, her whole head feeling light and fuzzy.

“Hey now, doc.”

She might’ve thought she dreamt his voice speaking to her. It was only when she felt his fingers running through her hair that she believed this really might be reality. Even then, Zoe moved slowly, almost afraid of breaking the spell. She turned her head towards him and saw his beautiful blue eyes staring down at her, a look of confusion written all over his face.

“Wade?”

“What the hell happened?” he asked, frowning some as his free hand went to his head.

“Don’t,” she urged him, moving quickly to keep him from disturbing the bandages or the monitors at all. “Wade, you’re... you’re here.”

“Someplace else I’m s’posed to be?” he asked, still completely bemused by the situation apparently.

Zoe couldn’t care. He was awake and aware. He could talk and he was looking straight at her. He knew who he was and who she was. It wasn’t everything, but the signs were so good. She couldn’t help herself, she just threw herself at him and hugged Wade for all she was worth.

“Oh my God, you have no idea how much you scared me,” she told him, words muffled against his chest. “One minute you were on the roof and then the next...”

“I fell,” Wade recalled, light seeming dawn in his eyes as Zoe pulled back to look at him. “Is Earl...?”

“He’s fine,” Zoe assured him. “I mean, he’s worried about you but he didn’t fall.”

Wade nodded like he understood, but he looked a little confused yet. The shock was catching up to him, Zoe supposed, and she hated that he was suffering at all, but the smile wouldn’t leave her face. She was just so happy to have him back.

“You’ve been cryin’,” he said then, eyes focusing on her face, hand going instinctively to her cheek. “On account of me, doc? Really?” he asked, a little of that church social smile coming back to his face.

Zoe had never been so pleased to see that smile in her whole life.

“Of course, because of you,” she insisted, her hand covering his at her cheek. “I told you, you scared the life out of me, Wade Kinsella. I thought... I just kept thinking, ‘What if he never wakes up? Then I’ll never get to tell him... tell him how much I love him.’”

Maybe it was a little much to say such a thing when he only just woke up, with a head injury and a lot of shock to work through, but Zoe couldn’t help it. She had wasted way too much time already, she couldn’t bear to let another minute slip by with the words unsaid.

“You what now?” he checked, eyes wider than she had ever seen them.

“I love you, you stupid, fuse-blowing, infuriating, wonderful cowboy,” she told him, laughing through a veil of tears. “I really do love you,” she promised, hoping he understood, that he believed her even though she had given him every reason not to. “I would’ve told you sooner, if I’d’ve known myself, but I didn’t. At least, I don’t think I did, but when I saw you fall...” She shook her head, the horrible looped moment playing in her mind again, and way too vividly.

“Hey, I’m okay. I’m okay,” he promised, pulling her close and holding her tight. “I’m just fine, Zoe. More than fine now,” he told her, stroking her hair.

After a few moments, his hands slid to her shoulder, gently pushing her up so he could meet her eyes.

“Hang on a second,” he said then, frowning once more. “I just wanna check it ain’t the knock to the head or the drugs they got me on or something. You love me?”

“I love you,” she repeated slowly and clearly. “You, Wade Kinsella. Only you,” she swore to him.

“Well, that works out kinda nice,” he said, smirking some as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “’Cause I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you that first day you walked into my house, yelling at me about the fuse box.”

Laughter bubbled up in Zoe’s throat and escaped in a strange burst of sound, and then she was pushing forward and crushing her lips against Wade’s own. Mindful of hurting him at all, she didn’t let herself fall into the moment as much as she usually would, and for once, Wade actually seemed to appreciate the chance to breathe.

“Sorry, doc,” he told her as they parted. “Don’t think I’m exactly at my best right now.”

“That’s okay, because you’re going to be just fine now, I’m going to make sure of it,” she promised, curling up beside him on the bed. “I’m going to take care of you. Anything you need, I’m right here. I have a lot of favours to pay back, after all.”

“Oh, yeah?” asked Wade, smirking her way. “I think I like you owing me favours,” he admitted. “’Course I liked it even better when you said what you did about lovin’ me.”

“I’ll tell you every day if you want me to. Every hour if it’ll help,” she promised, leaning in to kiss his cheek and whisper in his ear. “I love you, Wade Kinsella.”

“Yeah, that’ll work,” he said softly as his eyes drifted shut.

He needed sleep and that was just fine by Zoe. It would help him heal and get him back to normal, back to the Wade she knew and most definitely loved. That was all she needed.

Chapter Text

“No!” Zoe cried in panic as Earl slipped on the roof.

Wade reached for his father, pulling him back to safety just in time, only for the tile beneath his own foot to give way. Earl grabbed at his son but he had no coordination to speak of and Wade fell, as if in slow motion.

There was nothing Zoe could do but scream... and that woke her up.

Sitting bolt upright in the chair, Zoe couldn’t catch her breath. It was just a dream, only it wasn’t. Wade really had fallen from the roof, really had been knocked unconscious. His blood really had been on her hands and clothes. Her eyes went to the empty bed and she panicked some more.

“Wade?!” she yelled, darting up from her seat.

“Geez, doc, I’m right here,” he told her, emerging from the bathroom. “Where’s the fire already?”

“Oh my God,” she gasped, rushing to his side and assisting him back to the bed. “You should’ve woken me if you needed anything.”

“I’m a big boy, doc. Been able to go to the bathroom by myself a long time,” he told her, wincing as he pulled his legs back up onto the bed at last. “’Course it’s an adventure with a busted ankle.”

“It’s not broken, just sprained,” she reminded him, pulling the covers back up over him.

“Whatever, I ain’t afraid to tell you that it hurts like hell if I walk on it.”

Zoe just stood there a moment, marvelling at Wade just being Wade. That dream she had just had, it was far from the first time since the actual event that landed him in the hospital with a head injury, a sprained ankle, bruised ribs, and more cuts and bruises than Zoe had seen on one person in quite a while. For a while there, she really had thought she was going to lose him.

“You had that dream again,” said Wade, eyes still closed even as he spoke to her.

“What dream?” she asked, as if she didn’t know.

Wade opened one eye and peered at her.

“Zoe.”

It was weird how it made her smile when he said her name like that. She never minded him calling her ‘doc’, but it had the side-effect of making it all the more special somehow when he didn’t. Of course, it also meant he was having one of his rare serious moments too and that never ended well.

“Yes, I had the stupid dream!” she exclaimed, waving her arms in exasperation. “It’s perfectly normal after the kind of trauma that I went through.”

She almost expected Wade to make a joke about how his trauma was worse or maybe calling her dumb for being so shaken up by what happened still. Apparently, he was no more in the mood for jokes right now than she was.

“C’mere, crazy doctor,” he urged her, gesturing with one hand for her to join him on the bed.

Zoe moved up beside him, glad of his arm around her as she curled into his side, and the kiss he planted in her hair. It reminded her of how they had been in the hospital. For the two days Wade was kept in, she hardly left his side, and was literally next to him in the bed just like this for much of the time.

When he was released, Lavon insisted on Wade taking one of the guest rooms up at the main house until he was healed. It would make it easier for them all to keep an eye on him. As much as Zoe insisted she was going to play nursemaid just as much as she could (and didn’t Wade just love to make jokes about her in a nurse’s uniform) she was going to need a break once in a while.

The danger of the head injury had passed, according to the doctor at the hospital, but Zoe was still wary. There could always be complications and Wade had taken a hell of a blow to the cranium. Besides, with his other injuries, he didn’t get around so well and needed plenty of rest to properly heal. Zoe just didn’t trust him to take care of himself properly and insisted on doing it herself as much as possible.

“You know, being here like this is nice and all, but I’m gonna go stir crazy before too long,” Wade complained. “I don’t think I was built for staying in bed all the time. Well, not to sleep anyway.”

Zoe giggled at that, she couldn’t help it, and that was before she saw the grin on his face that was always so amusing in moments like this.

“Well, if you don’t like the injuries or the bed rest that follows, maybe you shouldn’t climb up on any more rooves,” she advised, only half-joking. “I swear, if I hadn’t seen with my own eyes how guilty Earl felt about what happened, I would’ve taken some serious New York anger out on him,” she said definitely.

“It’s not his fault, doc,” Wade told her, shaking his head slightly. “I chose to go up there, like I always do, and I’m tellin’ you now, I’ll probably do it again too.”

She could argue with him, but Zoe knew better than to try. If there was one thing she knew for sure about Wade, it was how much he loved his father, even if he would try to deny it forever.

“Y’know, before long, this town is going to start calling you Crazy Wade,” she said, only half joking.

“Will you still love me, legacy nickname and all, doc?” he asked, smirking hard.

“Hmm, I don’t know, will I?” she said, pretending to think real hard about it. “I guess I will,” she told him eventually. “Which probably makes me Crazy Zoe.”

“Well, don’t worry on it, doc, because I’ll still love you too, crazy or not,” he promised, pulling her half on top of him as he kissed her deeply.

They were all over each other before long, completely unaware of anything going on around them, including a light tapping on the door, and that door opening to reveal a pair of visitors.

“No. No. No!” Lavon declared loudly, covering his eyes with one hand.

His other hand moved to block Rose’s view of the inappropriate scene, but he missed his target and she side-stepped before he could try again. She was busy laughing at Zoe’s embarrassment and Wade’s complete nonchalance at being caught.

“So, this is what recuperation looks like, huh?” she said smartly, coming further into the room.

Lavon immediately turned to leave, even though the coast was now clear.

“I gotta go bleach my eyeballs,” he muttered as he left.

“Rose, what are you doing here?” asked Zoe with a smile, which faded just a little when she moved and realised her bra was no longer fastened.

She shot Wade a look but he pretended not to notice.

“I thought maybe the invalid might appreciate some home baking,” said Rose smartly, coming closer to the bed. “I figured it was one thing that you weren’t going to do for him anyway,” she said to Zoe, smirking just a little. “Also, I was thinking there ought to be something to mark the occasion of you two idiots finally admitting how you feel about each other, so it’s dual-purpose cake,” she said with a shrug.

Wade sat up some to better see the cake as Rose handed it to Zoe. Just as she said, it had multiple purposes and the icing on the top had literally been divided in two to show it. One side said ‘Get Well Soon’ in slightly shaky icing letters, the other had a heart drawn on it with Z+W inside.

“Well, that is beautiful,” said Zoe, a little stunned if she was honest. “Isn’t it, Wade?”

“Just great,” he agreed, though he didn’t look any more sure about it than she was.

“Decoration is not exactly my strong suit,” Rose admitted, wringing her hands. “I swear it tastes better than it looks. Either way, it’s the thought that counts, right?”

“Of course, it is,” Zoe promised her, putting the cake down on the nightstand and moving to hug her friend. “Thank you so much.”

“Yeah, you did good, Rosie-girl. We appreciate it,” Wade assured her.

“Wow, is he still on the drugs?” asked Rose in a faux-whisper. “He hasn’t called me that since I was around five.”

“It could be a side-effect of the head injury.”

“Or he could be getting soft in his old age.”

“Maybe.”

“Hey!” Wade protested.

“C’mon, we’re just teasing,” Rose assured him. “You gotta let us have some fun after all the drama. You scared Zoe half to death falling off that roof. The whole town is still talking about it non-stop, first the accident and then how you two are all loved up and everything.”

“Huh. I’m the talk of the town, again,” said Zoe, looking at Wade. “What else is new?”

“Mostly seems like I’m the one they’re talking about,” he told her with a grin. “Takes work to be this popular, you know?”

“Like you worked that hard at it.” Rose rolled her eyes. “You fell off a roof, Wade.”

“Please, don’t remind me about that,” said Zoe too seriously.

“She’s still havin’ the nightmares,” he explained, reaching for her hand and pulling her down to sit beside him again.

“I’m sorry, Zoe,” Rose sympathised. “It must’ve been so scary. Well, hopefully the cake will make you feel better, both of you,” she told them with a smile.

“Thanks again, Rosie-girl.” Wade winked at her.

“No problem,” she said, excusing herself to go since her mom was waiting in the car outside.

“She’s such a sweetie.” Zoe sighed. “She actually baked us a cake,” she said, looking over at it on the nightstand. “You hungry?”

“Not for cake” Wade told her, pulling her closer and kissing her long and hard.

“Hmm, somebody’s clearly feeling better,” said Zoe, trying to catch her breath when they parted. “But your timing is lousy. I promised I’d swing by the practice for a couple of hours this afternoon to help Brick out.”

“Now?” Wade pouted.

“Pretty much, yes,” she told him, checking her watch, “but don’t worry, Lavon is here if you need anything.”

“Ain’t something I want from Lavon,” said Wade with a look.

Zoe smiled, leaned in to plant another good long kiss on his lips.

“I promise you can have what you want,” she told him softly, “later. Try being a patient patient for a change, okay?”

“Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice now, does it?” he said, sighing heavily like it was just such a big deal.

Zoe rolled her eyes, getting up off the bed, but before she could get too far she felt a slap on her behind. When she looked back, Wade had his eyes closed, feigning sleep, but the smile gave him away if nothing else.

“I’ll catch up with you later, cowboy,” she told him from the door, watching him reach for the TV remote to pass the time while she was gone.

“I ain’t goin’ anywhere, doc,” he replied, waving with his free hand.

“Good,” she said softly, smiling as she walked away.

Chapter Text

“Come on, come on!” Wade yelled at the TV, specifically at his avatar in the video game he was playing as his thumbs hammered the buttons.

“No. No!” Lavon intoned as he fought back with his own character.

Zoe watched them from the kitchen, rolling her eyes at how dramatic they could both get over a game. At the same time, she had to smile. It was so great to see Wade getting back to normal.

It was eight days now since his fall and save for the strapping on his ankle, it would be tough to tell from this range that he had even hurt himself at all. Most of the cuts and bruises were hidden beneath his clothes and the cut on his head had the smallest possible dressing on it now. He spent a lot of time on the couch, watching TV, playing video games, or just hanging out with Zoe and Lavon, but he was more like himself every day. There wasn’t much evidence that he was ever hurt, but Zoe knew. The nightmare still haunted her at night.

“Aww, damn it, man!” Lavon complained when Wade’s character finally pounded his own into the ground.

“And that’s how it’s done,” his friend told him, grinning wide. “Five bucks, man. Pay up,” he said then, making a gimme gesture towards Lavon.

“You’re playing for money now?” asked Zoe as she came over to the couch with an ice pack in her hand.

“It’s not like I’m working right now,” Wade reminded her. “You know, I’m thinking of maybe taking up video games professionally, if all the competition is as bad as Lavon,” he said, grinning still.

“You caught me on a bad day,” Lavon groused. “Or, hey, maybe I let you win ‘cause I feel bad about you bein’ all injured and stuff,” he tried then.

Wade opened his mouth to make another smart-alec comment but instead gasped with shock as Zoe shoved the ice on his ankle.

“Geez, doc!”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” she told him, grabbing his hand and putting it on the ice pack so she could let go herself. “You know it’s helping. Now, you’re going to be okay here without me, right? I shouldn’t be gone too long, it’s just that Rose really needs to talk, it sounded like a boy problem, so-”

“Doc, it’s no problem,” Wade assured her. “Lavon’s right here if I get in a pinch, but for the most part, I can do for myself. Done it a lot over the years, pretty sure it won’t kill me now.”

He knew immediately he had used the wrong word when he saw her wince. It made him want to apologise but Zoe never gave him the chance.

“Right, you’re fine,” she told herself as well as him, swallowing hard. “So, I’ll go.”

Shifting awkwardly for a moment, she suddenly pushed forward and planted a quick kiss on Wade’s lips. She threw a wave in the direction of Lavon and then she was gone.

The door clicked shut behind her and Wade sighed heavily.

“She’s still real shook up about this whole thing.”

“She loves you a lot,” Lavon reminded him. “Musta been all kinds of scary for her seein’ you fall like that, having you all unconscious and bleeding and everything.”

“I guess so,” Wade agreed, turning to look at his friend. “But worrying about it now ain’t doing any good.”

“She’ll get past it, just needs a little time is all,” said Lavon, considering it. “Time heals all things,” he quoted philosophically. “Most things anyway,” he amended as he heard a tapping on the back door and realised who wanted in.

“Hey, there.” George Tucker grinned as he let himself into the house.

That smile didn’t look altogether natural and genuine to either of the guys sat on the couch. Wade understood why that was. He hadn’t seen George Tucker since the hospital and then he hadn’t said much past hoping Wade got better soon. The two of them had never been left alone at all and Tucker hadn’t come around in all the time Wade had been ‘convalescing’, as Zoe put it. Made him more than a little curious as to why he was suddenly here now.

“Hey, Wade. How’re you doin’ there?”

“Just fine, Tucker,” he said warily. “Yourself?”

“I’m fine. Yeah, I’m doing good,” he said, still with that same awkward grin on his face.

Lavon looked between them and immediately realised he was not needed in this conversation. More than that, he just really didn’t want to be anywhere near it. Bad enough when he was caught up in the middle of George and Lemon’s relationship, he sure as hell wasn’t getting tied up amongst George, Zoe, and Wade if he didn’t have to.

“I got some calls I gotta make,” he said, getting up fast. “Y’know, mayoral stuff” he added, chuckling to himself as he made a quick exit to his office. “Y’all just call for me if you need me!”

Wade shook his head and turned off the TV, settling himself into the couch cushions for something else to do. He had absolutely no clue where to start in this conversation with George Tucker. Honestly, he’d like to avoid having it altogether, but he couldn’t exactly make an exit like Lavon’s, what with his ankle and all.

“So,” said George, sitting down on the table’s edge. “You’re doin’ okay?”

“Think we already covered this,” said Wade with a look.

“Yeah, I guess we did.”

Silence reigned for a few moments more until finally both friends decided to speak at the same time.

“So, about Zoe-”

“Listen, Tucker-”

Another pause and then George pressed forward.

“I just wanted you to know that I understand, and as far as I’m concerned everything with me and you is just fine.”

Wade felt wary of a comment like that, and probably looked much the same.

“That so?” he checked, almost expecting to find this was all a joke or maybe that he was about to get an unexpected punch in the face.

“Come on, Wade,” said George instead, almost laughing. “I mean, you and me have been friends since we were knee-high to a boll weevil, and it’s not like I didn’t know you and Zoe were... well, seein’ each other,” he said, diplomatic as always.

Wade nodded, unsure what words he would say if he even wanted to speak, which he didn’t right now.

“I admit, I didn’t know how serious things had gotten with you two, but obviously, pretty serious by now.”

“Obviously,” Wade agreed. “What can I say, Tucker? Doc’s crazier than a moon bat, but it doesn’t exactly seem to take much for her to get under a man’s skin.”

“That I absolutely understand.” George nodded. “Thing is, Wade, the more I think on it, the more I realise... well, you know, you and Zoe, you just make way more sense than she and I ever could.”

“Wow.”

The exclamation didn’t come out of Wade’s mouth, and George turned around fast, at the same moment as his friend, to see Zoe standing in the doorway. She looked a little surprised to see them talking, or maybe it was just what she had heard said that had her staring wide-eyed at the two of them.

“Hey there, doc,” said Wade, forcing a smile.

“Hi,” she replied. “Um, Rose called again before I even got in the car. Crisis averted, she doesn’t need me right now.”

“Well, me and Tucker here were just havin’ our own serious talk... about certain things,” he said with a look he hoped she understood.

“Seems like it was a talk about me more than things,” she noted.

“For what it’s worth, Zoe, I planned on talking to you too,” said George definitely, getting up from his seat and walking over to her. “I just... I didn’t want things to be awkward with us, any of us,” he insisted.

“Me either,” she agreed, shaking her head. “George, you know, I did think... I mean, I do like you, a lot,” she told him definitely, “but...”

She got no further, her eyes straying to Wade who wouldn’t even look at her right now. This was maybe the worst conversation she’d had in a while. It seemed like no matter what she said, she was going to hurt somebody, maybe everybody, including herself.

“I tried to tell you in the hospital, George,” she said then, eyes returning to his face. “Before then, I’m not even sure I knew how I really felt, or at least, I hadn’t admitted it to myself. Now, it’s so clear to me. Somewhere along the line I just fell in love... with Wade,” she said definitely.

“I figured that out already.” George nodded, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. “And hey, honestly, who can blame you?”

“Well, Tucker, I had no idea,” said Wade, playing the Southern Belle with his hand over his heart and eyelashes fluttering.

He bust up laughing the very next second and Zoe couldn’t help but join in. It was all pretty crazy, but the humour was a good thing, it broke a lot of the tension that she could feel building up in the room. Maybe it was all going to be okay. Maybe all three of them were going to come out of all this relatively unscathed.

“Well, I should leave you two alone,” said George then, his hand briefly at Zoe’s shoulder as he passed by her on his way to the door. “Wade, you rest up, get yourself back to work fast. The Rammer Jammer just ain’t the same without you.”

“I’ll be seein’ you soon, Tucker!” Wade called to him as George finally left.

Zoe let out a breath she hardly knew she had been holding the moment the door closed.

“Wow,” she said coming over to the couch and sinking down next to Wade. “That was... I did not expect that to go so well.”

“Me either,” Wade admitted.

There was something about the way he said it that made Zoe frown, an expression that crossed his face that she didn’t care for.

“Hold on a second,” she said, moving sideways in her seat to better face him. “You didn’t...? I mean, you did not seriously think, even for a second, that if George asked me to, I would dump you for him, did you?” she asked, eyes wide as anything.

Wade forced himself to meet her eyes, looking more apologetic than anything by now.

“I don’t know, doc,” he admitted, rubbing his forehead with one hand. “I just... He’s George Tucker, and I’m... me,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “My whole life, I’ve watched everything he wanted just drop into his lap, easy as lyin’. Anything I ever wanted just seemed to slide through my fingers. Anybody I ever cared about just seemed to get away from me and... Well, then there’s you, Zoe,” he said, gazing at her fondly. “Nothin’ and nobody has ever meant as much to me as you. So, yeah, makes me think one day I’m gonna wake up and find this whole thing was a dream, that you didn’t pick me at all, and-”

Before he could get another word out, Zoe was leaning over him, pressing her lips firmly against his own. A few seconds later, she pulled back, her hand on his cheek still as she met his eyes with a steady gaze.

“Now, you listen to me, Wade Kinsella,” she said definitely. “I know it took me a while to realise what I really felt for you, or maybe just to admit it to myself, but it’s real. Way more real than anything I ever thought I felt for Golden Boy George Tucker,” she said, smiling slightly. “It’s you and me, Kinsella. Nobody else, okay?”

He smiled a crooked smile and reached to pull her completely into his lap.

“Sounds good to me, doc,” he told her, kissing her soundly.

Chapter Text

“I’m still not altogether sure I’m okay with you driving, doc,” said Wade, limping some as they walked out to the car. “Ain’t exactly your strong suit now, is it?”

“For the last time, Wade, I know how to drive.” said Zoe, rolling her eyes. “Besides, it’s either you or me and you still can’t put too much pressure on your bad ankle yet, so I’m driving, okay?” she told him with a smile.

He smiled back at her, but the look wasn’t entirely genuine. Zoe driving a car never did seem to end too well, and Wade already had one serious accident this month. Just when he was doing so much better, he really did not want to get into another one, but somehow, now didn’t seem like the time to say it.

After all, Zoe really had done a great job taking care of him the past two weeks. So much for her having no bedside manner, she sure had picked one up since living in Bluebell. Of course, he didn’t mind her in-bed manner too much either. It still seemed like some sort of miracle to him the way things had worked out. A guy like him and a woman like her, still seemed kind of crazy to Wade, but the good kind of crazy.

“You don’t have to watch me like a hawk,” she said, realising he was staring. “That won’t help the process. In fact, it’ll just make me more nervous and... Huh. You’re smiling,” she noticed then, sparing him a glance while she was paused for another car to pass.

“Didn’t know I was doing either thing,” Wade told her, shaking his head. “I was just thinking is all. You know, I’m thinking maybe it might actually have been worth me falling offa that roof to get where I am right now.”

Zoe winced when he said that. So much for him being happy about their relationship or even trying to pay her a compliment. Maybe Wade ought to have known better.

“You ain’t still havin’ those nightmares, are you, doc?”

“Not as much,” she admitted, putting her eyes back on the road as she drove on. “It’ll fade, I know it will. Now I know that you really are going to be okay.”

“I’m already okay, doc,” Wade promised her. “Gotta wait for the ankle to heal a little more before I go running around on it too much, but everything else is just fine and dandy. You’re the doctor, why am I telling you all this?” he said then, catching himself.

“I know you’re fine, no complications with your head, all other injuries healing normally,” she recapped. “I was there at your last check up and I’ve checked you myself. It’s just... injuries on people you care about are way more scary than on anybody else. I mean, how would you feel if it were me that had an accident and ended up in the hospital with a head injury?”

When Wade didn’t answer her at all, Zoe started to wonder what was wrong. She glanced sideways at him and saw him looking oddly pale. Before she had a chance to ask if he was feeling sick or anything, he spoke up.

“Guess it still messes with my mind some that you care that much, doc,” he said at last. “See, for me, the thought of you in a hospital for anything but doctoring... Damn it, Zoe, I don’t know how I’d handle that.”

He really was that upset about just imagining something awful happening to her. Zoe felt bad for ever putting the idea in his head, but at least now he might better understand the nightmare she had been through. Sure, this whole mess had led to her realising just how deep her feelings really ran for Wade and brought the two of them together the way they probably always should have been, but Zoe wouldn’t live through the him getting hurt part again for the world. Stressful as it all was, she could’ve sworn she aged ten years in the last two weeks.

When she finally stopped the car and pulled on the parking brake, Zoe was startled by Wade’s hand landing on top of hers, and more so by the realisation that there were tears in her own eyes.

“I really put you through it, huh?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” she reminded him, swallowing hard. “I’m just glad you’re getting better now. Almost back to normal, or whatever passes for normal when you’re Wade Kinsella,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, like Zoe Hart would settle for normal anyhow,” he countered, leaning across to plant a kiss on her lips. “You and me, doc. We’re in this for the long haul, right?”

“That’s the plan,” she told him, her hand at his cheek. “You know, I think we’ve kind of shocked a lot of people with this whole real relationship thing. They really didn’t expect me to fall for you.”

“They didn’t expect me to fall for anybody,” Wade reminded her. “Hell, I didn’t expect that either, until this high-falootin’ New York doctor came into town. She sure shook things up some. Wouldn’t have her any other way though.”

She kissed him for that, and one kiss led to another, until they were practically horizontal in the front seat of the car, awkward as that was. It was only when Wade hit his bad ankle on the door that the mood was really broken.

“Probably not the best place for this anyway,” said Zoe, helping him up and then getting out of the car herself.

She ran around to the passenger side, opened up the door and offered Wade a hand out.

“Why we here anyway?” he asked, looking up at the Rammer Jammer’s illuminated sign. “It’s not like I can work just yet.”

“I thought it’d be nice to go out, get a drink, you know?” said Zoe, shrugging her shoulders. “No big deal.”

“No big deal?” he echoed as they walked towards the door with their arms around each other. “Heck, I’m pretty sure this counts as our first official date, doc.”

“I’m not sure,” said Zoe then as she opened the door for them to go inside, “but I don’t think it can really be called a date when more than two people are invited.”

Wade was about to ask her what she meant by that when he suddenly realised the answer for himself. The Rammer Jammer was just chock full of people, which was a little odd for the time of day. When they saw Wade, every single one started applauding and cheering. If anybody had asked, he was pretty sure nobody had missed him much the past couple of weeks. Apparently, he was wrong.

“There’s our favourite bar tender!” said Wanda, rushing over to greet him. “How you feeling, Wade?”

“Just fine, thanks,” he assured her. “’Cept for my ankle, o’ course.”

“Got you a seat right here, buddy,” said George, presenting a stool with a flourish. “Sit your ass down.”

Wade did as he was asked, while George grabbed another seat for Zoe and got her positioned next to her man.

“Feels weird being on this side of the bar,” Wade whispered to Zoe.

“It’s not for too long,” she reminded him, patting his knee. “Make the most of it. You’re very popular around here, as if you didn’t know.”

It was strange because, actually, Wade really didn’t know. He got along with people, mostly women, truth be told, but it actually hadn’t occurred to him that two weeks of not really being around would make people this crazy about seeing him again. Everybody seemed to want to come on over and check on him, buy him a drink, congratulate him on snagging the doc for his own. For maybe the first time in his life, Wade felt like he mattered more than any other person. Even Golden Boy George Tucker had never gotten so much attention!

“Well, we’re awful glad to know you’re on the mend, Wade,” said Lemon, wearing her sweetest smile, “and you can just return that cake box to me any time that’s convenient to you,” she told him, patting his shoulder before turning and walking away

“Always does kinda freak me out when she plays nice,” he told Zoe, shuddering more than a bit. “You got any idea where her cake box is at?”

“Probably Lavon’s kitchen with everybody else’s bakeware,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Say one thing for Bluebell, when somebody’s sick or hurt, they bake up a storm.”

“Well, somebody has to, sweetheart, because it sure as hell wasn’t going to happen if they left it to you,” he told her, grinning wide.

“Hey!” said Zoe, slapping him across the arm. “That’s the last time I arrange a surprise ‘Welcome back to the world’ party for you.”

“Come on, doc, you know I’m just messin’ with you,” he promised, pulling her to him.

They were lost in a pretty nice moment when somebody suddenly cleared their throat good and loud, making them pull part from their kiss. Zoe blinked when she realised who was right behind Wade, and he turned around on his stool to see his father standing there.

“Hey, Earl,” he greeted him, wondering what it was that looked different about him. “You doing okay?”

“I’m fine, son, thank you,” said Earl, nodding his head. “I, er... I been worried about you since... well, I know it was down to me and... you know how I am when I get to drinkin’ and I never meant-”

“Hey, Earl,” he cut in before the old guy got himself into a real state. “I’m okay,” said Wade firmly, meeting his father’s eyes. “No real harm done. I mean you scared the crap out of the good doctor here, and I could use not taking another dive like that one, but it’s not all your fault, okay? I made my choice to get up there on that roof, just the same as you.”

Earl nodded his head, looking fit to bawl as far as Zoe could tell. Even she felt sorry for him at that point, though it didn’t seem like the time to say anything when father and son were having such a moment.

“I’m gonna try harder, son, I swear it to ya,” said Earl, swallowing hard.

“I believe it,” Wade told him, realising now what looked different.

It was the clearness in Earl’s eyes that was new. For the first time in a very long time, he wasn’t even a little bit drunk. Stepping down off his stool with his weight all on his good leg, Wade wrapped his arms around his father and hugged him tight.

“Thanks, Dad,” he whispered as they held onto each other.

A minute later, when Earl had walked away and Wade had re-taken his seat, Zoe still didn’t know what to say. She just put her hand on his on top of the bar and smiled when he turned his hand over to grip her fingers.

“Hell of a day, doc,” he told her, finding a smile of his own. “Reckon I could stand a few more where I’m this popular though.”

“I think the crazy might die down just a little bit once you get back to work and, you know, some other big drama comes to Bluebell,” Zoe considered, “but things won’t change for me. I’ll still think you’re the coolest guy in town, I promise,” she said, leaning into him with a very big smile on her face.

She really was like no other woman he had ever known, and Wade loved her like he never loved anybody else either. He only hoped they really could make this work, because the truth was, he had fallen for her the first day they met. It really didn’t matter that it had taken his literally falling from a great height for her to realise she loved him too. It all worked out in the end, the way things tended to in Bluebell, if you gave them enough time.