Work Text:
Pairing: Lemon/Lavon (Hart of Dixie)
Setting: Season 3 AU, divergence from Episode 2.10 Blue Christmas
When he went storming over to Lemon’s place that night, Lavon told himself she had it coming, that she deserved to feel bad for what she had done, ruining his best chance with Ruby and all. He went in yelling, mad as he had ever been at anybody.
“Why? Why would you tell her somethin’ like that?” he asked angrily, wondering what possible excuse she could make - the answer she gave shocked him.
“Because I loved you, damn it!” Lemon yelled so loud and didn’t let up. “I loved you so much, and then, I started to realise that I still love you, and all you could see was her, and it hurt me, Lavon. It really hurt!”
She paused then, took a breath, seemed to realise he was looking at her with real genuine surprise. When she continued on, she was quieter, but just as determined.
“Please believe me when I tell you that I know well enough that I do not deserve any favours from you after what I did myself. Going back to George the way I did, pretendin’ that what was between us meant nothing at all, but... but I just didn’t know how else to handle things then. I am sorry, I really am, but it doesn’t change what I did or how I feel,” she told him, stepping forward, reaching out to take a hold of his hand, tears shimmering in her eyes as her voice began to shake. “I love you, Lavon Hayes, and I am pretty sure that will be true until my dyin’ day... but I see that I am too late now,” she concluded, swallowing hard, retracting her hand. “I understand if you can never forgive me, if you hate me for what I’ve done and never want to see me again-”
“Lemon.” It was a brave man that cut in on whatever the great Lemon Breeland was saying, but Lavon supposed he had earned the right. “I don’t hate you. I could never.”
He hadn’t meant to soften so easily, to forgive her, to feel so very much all over again. Not that he was ready to start returning her love so easily. He couldn’t. After all, not an hour before, he had been proposing to Ruby. He had reckoned on her being the love of his life. Of course, he also thought the same about Lemon, once upon a time. It was all so very confusing.
When he left her home that night, his mind was in a whirl. Lavon honestly did not know which way was up, and it took a lot of time, a lot of soul-searching before he figured it out. Over the weeks and months that followed, he learned to let Ruby go, to look at Lemon in a new way all over again.
Now, one year on from that night, when all hope seemed lost, Lavon looked across the room at the woman he most loved in all the world, wondering at how things had finally worked out in the end. He had loved Ruby, that much was true, but Lemon was the true love of his life, and deep down, he was sure he had always known as much. Eventually, it just had to work out, and so it had.
“Well, Mr Mayor,” she said with a grin, having seen out the last of the guests from their post-tree lighting soiree. “I call that a very successful event, don’t you?”
“Every event you organise is a success, Lemon,” he reminded her, as if she needed to be told, “but that’s not what I wanna talk about right now,” he admitted, pulling her into his arms and kissing her soundly. “In fact, talking isn’t entirely on my mind at all, ‘cept to tell you how much I love you, and that is a whole lot.”
“You know I am certainly more than glad to hear that,” she said, smiling up at him, her arms around his neck, keeping him close, “and I love you more than you could ever imagine. I’d say this is the finest Christmas I have had in quite a while.”
“I’ll agree with that,” he told her easily, pulling her into one more sweet kiss.