A/N: I know this scene has been rewritten before (pretty sure I've read at least three versions) but none of them went exactly how I wanted, so here's my take on how it should've gone :)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Hart of Dixie belong to Leila Gerstein and other folks who aren't me.

Baby, I'm Your Man

It seemed like a promising start. Maybe Lavon had been right about the only person getting in the way of Wade being with Zoe was Wade himself. After all, she had complimented how he looked in his new shirt and everything. Plus, when she had to pick a table, she strolled right by good old Judson and sat alone. Things were definitely looking up, or so Wade thought. Of course, he hadn't gone making any confessions just yet and wasn't exactly sure if he dared to, but a little progress had been made, and that wasn't nothing.

Of course, whatever he may or may not have planned to do next with regards to Zoe Hart, Wade didn't get the chance to think on it for long before Lemon started kicking up such a fuss. Something about Annabeth and a keychain from Zoe? None of that made a lick of sense to Wade, except for two seconds later when his mind connected all the dots and he realised it actually made a whole bunch of sense, if it turned out that AB was Zoe's secret non-sexual girl-friend!

There was panic written on Annabeth's face and on Zoe's too as Wade looked from one of them to the other. He knew what it was to fear Lemon Breeland when she was in one of her tizzies. He was also pretty sure that whatever sweeping gesture he was going to make to let Zoe know he liked her, there was never going to be a better opportunity than this.

"Hey, that's mine," he said, vaulting over the bar like it was nothing and strolling right on up to Lemon before Zoe had hardly managed to get her butt out of her seat. "My keychain, thank you very much," he said, whipping it off Lemon's finger before she could protest at all.

Annabeth's face was a picture but Wade made a point of not looking at her too much, even as her panic faded into confusion with a side of relief.

"Your keychain?" said Lemon, frowning some. "Wade Kinsella, why on earth would you have such a thing, and from Zoe Hart of all people?"

"Well, come on now, Lemon. You're not that dumb," he said with a look. "This here is a key to the carriage house up at the plantation, or as I like to call it, Wonderland," he said, smirking terribly.

It was only when Lemon's eyes shifted from Wade to a spot on his left that he realised Zoe had walked over to his side. She looked momentarily freaked but thankfully recovered pretty fast.

"Yes, a key to the carriage house," she said slowly, "which I gave to Wade because... because, obviously, we are seeing each other," she added, looking up at him. "Sweetie, you went ahead and lost it already?"

"I'm sorry, sugar pie," he told her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her impossibly close, just because he could. "I promise to be a whole lot more careful with it from here on out," he said definitely, unable to resist leaning in to plant a quick kiss on her lips.

"Oh, that's okay... baby," she said, smiling too much. "These things happen. We should just count ourselves lucky that someone as sweet and kind as Annabeth picked it up for you."

"Yeah, thanks for that, AB," Wade told her. "I owe you one."

"I'm sorry," Lemon cut in then. "You expect us to believe that the two of you are..." she said, gesturing with one hand between Wade and Zoe, "exclusive?"

"Well, I guess it had to happen eventually, Lemon," Wade told her easily. "Never thought I'd see the day either, but when you meet the right person," he went on, turning to gaze down at Zoe, "it doesn't seem like such a big ask to be a one-woman kinda man."

He surprised her with that and he knew it, though Zoe took her turn at delivering shocks when she suddenly reached a hand up behind his head and pulled Wade close enough to kiss. It was no peck on the lips either. He had known better than to push his luck before, but apparently, she was more than willing to really sell the bit, reminding him of a night many months before in the back of his car.

Somebody clearing their throat loudly finally brought Wade to his senses and he pulled back from Zoe to find the whole table of Belles staring, Lemon looking pissed, Delia-Ann even more so, and Annabeth trying in vain to hide a smile behind her hand.

"Uh, we should probably let you ladies get back to your very important meeting now," said Wade, grabbing onto Zoe's hand and walking away.

He figured she wasn't going to protest, at least not for as long as they could be seen, and Wade was right on that. It also pleased him to see that Judson had left, presumably via the back door, while the whole scene at the Belles' table was playing out. If Zoe noticed, she didn't say anything or even flinch at the empty table as they passed by towards the corner spot where Zoe had been sitting before.

"Oh my God!" she gasped the moment she was sure nobody could hear them. "What just happened?" she hissed across the table, her hand still clasped in Wade's own he noticed, probably because she was worried people would be suspicious if she let go.

"Pretty sure I just saved your ass, doc," he told her, glancing back over his shoulder just for a second. "I'm guessing neither you nor Annabeth wanted your little girly-friend relationship gettin' outed tonight, so I stepped in," he told her with a smile.

The look on her face seemed more confused than anything. Not that Wade had exactly expected her to be doing cartwheels, but he had kind of assumed she would be grateful for his getting into the middle of the situation and lying his butt off to help her out.

"Yeah, thanks, I guess," she said eventually, eyes shifting to their joined hands and going a little wide as if she only just realised she was still holding on. "Um, we can probably..." she told him, trying to pull her fingers free.

Wade held fast. "Come on now, doc," he said, pulling her hand closer and kissing the back of it. "You weren't exactly struggling to get away over there when Lemon was watchin'," he reminded her, unable to keep the smile off his face.

Zoe's face cracked into a grin too, her now free hand covering her eyes a moment as she laughed. "Oh my God, I can't believe we just did that. I must be crazier than you are, letting this whole town think we're... you know, together," she said awkwardly.

Wade didn't mean to let the hurt show on his face but he knew it must have been there because Zoe's smile faded fast, and the cute little crease she got between her eyebrows when she was confused put in an appearance.

"Yeah, well, time I got back to work," he said, moving to walk away.

Zoe grabbed his arm before he could get far and pulled him back.

"Wade, thank you," she said, meeting his eyes. "Really, you... you did a good thing, and I didn't mean... You know, there's more to you than people think."

Before he really had a chance to figure out what that meant, she got up from her seat and reached up to kiss his cheek. Next thing, she had picked up her jacket and purse and was heading past the Belle table towards the door.

"Oh, honey?" she called to Wade, looking back over her shoulder. "Don't forget to use your key tonight," she told him with what was probably supposed to be a sexy wink - she still really sucked at that.

"Sure thing, sweetheart," he told her, spinning the key and keychain around on his finger as he watched her leave, all the Belles at the table gossiping in her wake. "Yup," Wade said to himself, pocketing the key and strolling back behind the bar, "progress has definitely been made."

She had to be going crazy. Zoe kept trying to remember if she bumped her head at all today, or if she drank more wine than she meant to, but no. There was no medical or alcohol-related reason for what happened at the Rammer Jammer tonight, which led her to the only reasonable conclusion left open to her - she liked Wade.

It wasn't so strange really. A person would have to be brain-dead, never mind blind, to not notice that he was attractive, because he really, really was, but Zoe already knew there was more to Wade than looks. He could be really sweet when he wanted to be, helpful and kind and caring. He was funny too, making her laugh more than anyone else around Bluebell ever could. They had some raging fights, but sometimes, that was just fun. He always did seem to have her back, like tonight, when her friendship with Annabeth was about to get outed.

'A friend's a friend. Male, female, who gives a damn? You got Lavon, you got George Tucker. As long as you got someone to back you in a knife fight, I'd say you're doing all right in my book.'

His words echoed in her head as she replayed the evening's events. Wade never listed himself amongst her friends, but Zoe knew he was right there. In some ways, he was the best of all of them. Of course, now the whole town thought they were more than friends. It was weird that it didn't really bother her. Zoe should've been pissed at Wade for letting everybody think they were together, but then he never tried to imply she was his latest conquest, like stupid Joelle. Lemon asked if they were exclusive and when Wade looked at Zoe then and talked about being a one-woman man, he seemed sincere. Nobody was that good of an actor, were they?

A knock on the door startled Zoe from her thoughts. The clock said it was almost midnight, so she was wary of who might be waiting for her on her porch. Obviously, it occurred to her it might be Wade, returning her key, but mostly she just thought he would catch her at breakfast tomorrow and give her the keychain then.

Apparently, she was wrong.

"Hi," she said as she opened the door to find him standing there.

"Figured you probably didn't really want me using this," he said, dangling the key from his finger and holding it out for her to take. "Although, I'm thinking now this ain't really a key to your door after all, right?

"Right. I'll get this back to AB tomorrow, without the keychain, I guess. Thanks." Zoe took the key but didn't even try to say goodnight or close the door yet. "Wade, why did you...? I mean, you could've just let Lemon out me and Annabeth. You could've left me to wriggle out of the mess all by myself."

"Well, that doesn't sound like half so much fun as watching Lemon turn three shades of purple when I told her I was giving up my wild ways to be tamed by the one woman in town she really can't stand," said Wade smirking hard.

Zoe felt strangely nauseous and also extremely stupid. To think that for a while there she thought Wade was helping her because he was her friend, or maybe even because he thought of her as more than a friend. After all, he did ask her out for a drink last Christmas. She still wondered sometimes what would've happened if she said yes, but maybe she even read that situation wrong.

"Well, you were convincing," she said, glancing up at him and forcing a smile, even as tears stung in her eyes. "Enough that I might've actually bought it, if I didn't know better. For a minute there, it was almost as if you actually liked me. I guess I need to learn to take a joke or something-"

Before she could get any further in whatever ramble she was going on (and honestly, Zoe had no idea where it was going) Wade's arm was around her back, pulling her closer as his lips found hers.

It was a good kiss, really good, not that Zoe expected anything else. She had been here before, on the receiving end of the passion of Wade Kinsella, and though she might've tried to tell him before that he was nothing special, it was one of the bigger lies she had told in her life. Still, this felt different somehow, meaningful, and Zoe might have been able to figure out why if her brain wasn't so starved of oxygen and her knees weren't buckling under her.

"Zoe," Wade breathed as they parted, his arms still around her. "I do like you," he told her softly. "Hell, if I liked you any more, I think it'd kill me... but I'm not good at this stuff, finding the right words and... and being the kind of guy that makes it work for the long haul. I know that's what you'd want, and crazy as it sounds, the more I know you, the more I think I want that too... with you."

Zoe couldn't really believe what she was hearing. A part of her was waiting for Wade to suddenly laugh and tell her she was so dumb to fall for his joke, but that look he got sometimes, it was back again. The real, sincere, honest-to-goodness truth was in his eyes, and she believed him. She trusted that she could believe him and that he meant every word he said.

"You're serious," she realised aloud. "Wade, you... you're saying you want us to be... together?" she checked, feeling stupid just asking but knowing she had to be 100% clear on this.

"I'm saying I like you, Zoe. I'm saying that thinking about you maybe getting it together with Judson or any other guy makes me crazy. I'm saying... well, kind of what I wanted to say last Christmas when I asked if I could buy you a drink."

"And I rainchecked you," she said, wincing at the memory. "Wade, I had no idea," she told him honestly. "I thought maybe, but you never... you never seemed that serious about it, you never asked again, and you know I could never just be another one of your many, many 'dates'," she said diplomatically.

"I don't want any other dates," he said using her word. "You reading me here, Zoe? 'Cause I thought maybe this time I was making it clearer."

"You are," she assured him. "And honestly? I kind of like this whole being with you idea," she admitted, smiling widely. "I mean, after tonight, the whole town already thinks that we are together," she considered, her arms up around his neck by now, "and it would be pretty bad if we disappointed them tomorrow by telling them it wasn't true. Besides, I kind of liked those shades of purple on Lemon too."

She pulled Wade down into another kiss then, getting lost in a really good moment until, surprisingly, he was the one who pulled away from her.

"Just so we're clear on this, doc," he said, frowning some. "I was kidding back at the Rammer Jammer about us being a couple, but I'm not making any jokes right now."

"That's good." Zoe nodded, gazing up at him. "Because I'm not laughing."

One more kiss sealed the deal on their blossoming relationship. One kiss that turned into maybe a dozen more before they ever said goodnight.

Afterwards, Zoe watched Wade walk back to the gate house then glanced down at the keychain still in her hand.

"A future with Wade Kinsella," she said to herself. "Maybe that's not such a crazy idea after all."

The End