I was listening to Chris Young's The Man I Want To Be today and thought that would make a good base to a ZW fanfic. This is a one-shot. I recommend you look at the lyrics or take a listen on youtube.
This takes place a few months after Wade cheats. Zoe desperately wants to forgive him but doesn't know how. Wade has done his best to keep his distance but still showing her he cares.
Disclaimer: I do not own Zoe or Wade or Hart of Dixie. I don't own The Man I Want To Be by Chris Young either.
Zoe was pacing back and forth in her room at around 12am. For some reason she couldn't sleep. She didn't know if it was the heat or just the normal can't stop thinking about Wade. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something moving across the pond. She ran to her window and saw that it was Wade pacing on his deck. She missed him and he's been so nice the past few months. She tried to avoid him for a while but that didn't work. They have gotten back on almost friend status. Small chat at breakfast, she still went to the Rammer Jammer for lunch or dinner. But now she sat at a table instead of the bar. She watched him for a few minutes. It was so quiet, all she could hear was the random cricket in the distant.
On the other side of the pond Wade couldn't sleep either and he had to open up the Rammer Jammer in the morning. This wasn't new to him though, ever since the break up he didn't do much sleeping. All he could think about was Zoe and how bad he screwed everything up. Lavon wasn't any help, neither was George. He even tried talking to Earl, that only made it worse. Earl got so mad at him. Wade thought back to that.
"You what? What is wrong with you? She was the best thing that could have ever happened to you."
"I know Earl. You don't think I know that. I was drunk and pissed off."
"Well I don't know how you're going to fix this. Your Mamma would be so mad at you."
"Gee thanks, make it worse. Not only is the town pissed at me, you're sticking the dead on me too."
"Just sayin, Harley too. I bet he'd shoot ya."
"You are no help" Wade got up and stormed off
Wade threw his beer at the ground and stormed into his house. He grabbed his keys off the coffee table, ran to his car and sped off into the night.
Zoe jumped at the sound of the glass breaking on the ground. She watched Wade speed off down the dirt road. She didn't know how much he had to drink and the thought of him driving scared her. She slipt her boots on and went to her own car and followed the settling dust. She saw his car parked in town square and parked hers a few spots down. She looked around to see if she could find him. He was nowhere to be found, she started walking down the street.
"Where is he?" she continued down the sidewalk and then walked across the square. "Not in the gazebos." After searching every shop she gave up and started the walk back to her car. She was walking past the church when she heard faint whispers coming from inside. The door was open so she went in.
Wade was kneeling in the pew that was dedicated to his mom. Zoe stood as still as she could, careful not to make a sound.
"God, please" she heard him say "I've haven't done this since my mama was sick. Since then I've done a lot of things wrong and I haven't been the best guy out there. But I need to fix that and I need your help. I want to be a better man, someone my mama could be proud of. Someone you could be proud of. Someone she could be proud of" he paused for a minute
Zoe was so quiet in the back of the church, she wanted to come out of the shadows but she wants to hear what else he has to say.
"I'm sure you know why I'm doing this. I miss her. I want us to start over. Please help her realize how sorry I am, help her to forgive me. I will do anything. It's going to take a miracle and that's what you do. It was a stupid stupid mistake. I have regretted it everyday since then. She needs to know I'm gonna stay. I know that's the biggest issue. Her damn father gave her these stupid trust issues and I made them worse. I want to be the man she always dreamt she'd be with." he paused again, this time to wipe tears from his eyes
Zoe was wiping her own tears away. She couldn't believe he was actually turning to God for help. He must really be trying to change.
Wade started again. "I wanna change God, for her. She was and is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can't lose her. I have lost to much in my life. I know that's why I cheated. I didn't win that stupid competition and I thought I failed her. So why would she stay with me. But I was wrong and an idiot. I just hope she still believes in us, in me. I love her, my god I love her so much."
"Oh my god" Zoe didn't mean to say anything but it just came out. She started wiping tears from her face
Wade turned around at the sound of her voice. He wiped tears away from his own face and stood up.
They both started walking towards each other. "How much did you hear?"
"All of it, I think"
"I meant every last word, I really did. I want to change, I was an idiot and I'm sorry. For the 100th time, I'm sorry. If you ever take me back I will prove to you that I can be the man you've dreamt of since you were a little girl. I will do whatever it takes. You name it, I'll do it. No matter what happens, I will regret that decision for the rest of my life because I hurt you. I love you and I never want to see that look on your face..."
He continued his apology and explanation but Zoe heard enough. She stood on her tippy toes and kissed him. "Come here." she mimicked his words from last Christmas Eve
Wade was shocked but wrapped his arms around her. They stood like that for a good minute until Zoe looked up at him.
"I love you too. We have a lot of work to do, but I want to start over."
"Thank you" he kissed her again and then looked up at the ceiling "Thank you"
"Let's go home" Zoe took his hand and led him out of the church "Oh and by the way. When I was a little girl I didn't dream of a small town bartender with a twang."
Wade went to respond but Zoe smiled and said "Boy was I stupid"
Hope you liked it :) Just one of my many thoughts on how they could fix Zoe & Wade.