A/N: YAY Hart of Dixie! I'm so in love with that show right now, especially Wade. :) I was thinking ahead, and this the short two-parter that came of it...

Here's your (long) backstory:

A year or so ish later... The exact time doesn't really matter, just that Zoe and Wade were together for a decent while, in love, but it fell apart. They were both stupid, scared…whatever. For a while they completely ignored each other, but decided to stay living on the plantation cause neither of them wanted to move. Neither has really dated anyone serious since either. By Lavon's urging, they started all hanging out together again, and realized they could be actual friends. But of course, there was a reason they got together in the first place- the spark still exists, and lately, they've both been feeling it. Longer glances, small hidden smiles, a light innocent touch that lingers… they think they're being subtle, but of course Lavon sees what's going on. The problem is, it wouldn't be a story (or Zoe's life) if George didn't make things complicated. George dated Tansy for a while too, but they didn't last as long as Zoe and Wade did- they had fun together, and still care for each other and remain friends. After they broke up, George went to go work with his dad for a while to take a break from Bluebell and meet some new people. Now George shows back up in town, and within a few days, asks Zoe on a date. She doesn't know what to do or how she feels about it. She gets drunk and Lavon lets her vent and feel sorry for herself, since that's clearly all she wanted to do at the time- and she was in no state to have a serious conversation. Now the next morning... no one sets her straight like Lavon… and apparently Lemon (who have been dating for a while now too).

So there you go... Enjoy!


Zoe walked into the kitchen, giving Lavon, who was leaning on the counter playing with his phone, an unenthusiastic "Hey".

"Well good morning to you too sunshine. You look…miserable." She was in a pair of sweat pants and a loose fitting flannel shirt. As he was almost positive Zoe Hart would never actually purchase anything flannel, he was guessing it was a piece of Wade's wardrobe she never returned.

Zoe just gave him a mean look as she reached up into a cabinet for a bowl to eat her cereal.

"So…you wanna talk about it? I got… 10 minutes before I have to get to my meeting," he said looking at his watch. "I will listen to yo' drama for 10 minutes. Even though this is ridiculous, and I seriously think we've had this conversation before. Right? About a year ago? Did we go back in time? Do I need to tell Lavon Hayes of the past what to tell future you?"

Her glare showed she didn't appreciate his flippant attitude.

"Lavon come on this is serious!"

"Hey you already know where I stand," he defended, hands in the air.

Zoe just looked down at her breakfast, clearly miserable. Lavon sighed, picked up his cell phone to send a quick text, then said, "Ok Z look- here's how I see it. I know George Tucker is like a girl's fantasy or whatever. And he is a great guy, sure. And you're worried that if you don't date him, it'll be in the back of your mind forever…" he said this in a yadda yadda yadda kind of way, which still Zoe did not appreciate.

"Seems to me," he continued, "every time you try to date George Tucker there's some reason big enough to hold you back. Last time it was because you didn't want everyone thinkin' you were a homewrecker—"

"I wasn't!"

"Right. But then you got with Wade… Do you even still like George? You haven't seen him in a while."

"Of course I like George! We've got tons in common! We like the same books, the same movies, and we have fun conversations!" That even sounded lame to her ears. Lavon gave her a forced "that's awesome" smile, but dropped it quickly at her look.

"Come on you know what I mean, Z. Do you want to date him? Marry him? Have all his little lawyer babies?"

"It's just a date Lavon!"

"So?"

"I don't know! No. Well, maybe. But…"

"But you don't want to hurt wade. Don't lie." He pointed his finger at her before she could open her mouth to deny it.

"Lavon Hayes sees what's been going on. And I think you're both idiots. I've been telling you both this for months."

"If I did go out with George you know it would kill him." Lavon said nothing, knowing it was pretty much the truth. It would be like a punch in the gut to Wade.

"I don't want to hurt him like that Lavon." Zoe's voice was incredibly small as she said this.

"Z- if there's always something holding you back… Dating somebody shouldn't make you feel guilty, right? You let him go pretty easy the first time. Got over it pretty quick after you and Wade made it official. And that was a while ago. Do you still have feelings for the guy? I thought this got settled before. Decided not to date."

So did she. But now she was confused again.

"Okay Lavon I'm here what's the emergency?" Lemon walked into the kitchen.

"Zoe is. I've got to run, but you gals go ahead and talk this out."

"Zoe?" Lemon asked incredulously, and Zoe at the same time practically shrieked, "What? You called Lemon? Lavon!"

He knew that they weren't exactly best friends, but he actually thought Lemon could help her better than he could.

"Well… come on Z, Lemon's had basically every relationship scenario there is happen to her—"

"Thank you sweetie," she interrupted, not at all thankful.

"And… you've come out on the other side a better person is what I'm sayin'!," he finished. Turning to Zoe he said, "Who better to talk you through this than her? Especially since it's about George again. And I really have to go." He leaned in for a kiss from his girlfriend, but as soon as she mentioned George's name her body and complete attention shifted to Zoe.

"Wait what?" Lemon asked. "Are you and George datin' now? Did he come back here for you? Why did I not hear about this?" Lemon was clearly more concerned she didn't know the juicy piece of gossip than the effect it was having on Zoe.

"See you later," Lavon just rolled his eyes and walked out with a wave no one noticed.

"No, no we're not dating, we're… not doing anything. Yet, I guess. I don't think. He asked me out, but….ARHGH! I don't even know!" She dropped her head down onto her arm.

"Wait but what about Wade?" Lemon leaned in, in full gossip mode.

Zoe looked up. "What about Wade? We're not together anymore, remember? Broken up."

"Hah! Like that matters. Come on- neither of you have dated anyone in months. Not since you've been broken up. For Wade? That's unheard of. And Lavon says-"

"Oh well if Lavon says, clearly it must be true!"

"Zoe- he's not accusing you of anythin'- you have to know he's always rooted for you the two of you. And so what if he has noticed somethin'? Is there somethin' to notice? Is that the problem with George now too?"

"I don't know what's going on with Wade. Or if there is something going on with Wade. We're at a really good place right now. We're actually friends… but lately, I don't know…things might be happening, and I don't know if I want them to, if we wanna go down that road again, or if I want—"

"To start datin' George?"

Zoe looked at Lemon, wondering if this would be awkward to talk to her about.

"Look you don't have to stay, if you've got other things to do…"

"Zoe, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye about everythin', but you're Lavon's best friend. And I'd like to think we're friends enough where we don't want to see the other one quite so miserable…"

Did she really look that miserable? She looked down at herself. Maybe she should stop wearing Wade's clothes. They were just so soft…

"Look, George and I, it was mostly the timing that was always off, you know? After," she looked at Lemon awkwardly, "your wedding didn't happen, I didn't want to be a rebound, or have the entire town shun me. Then he started with Tansy and I… had Wade."

"But what if now is when we're supposed to try?" she continued. "And it will be this perfect thing, and we'll click and live, you know…"

"Happily ever after?"

She grimaced. That sounded ridiculously juvenile. When she dated Wade, that picture perfect fairytale life turned into a more realistic, yet still happy and content one. But she was still a girl. It was still in the back of her mind. And no fairytale she had ever heard of had the heroine ending up alone. But she wasn't sure if the guy in her so-called fairytale picture was still George.

Lemon looked at her. They were more similar in mind than either of them would ever want to admit.

"I get it. It's a scary thought, to think you're letting a chance at that perfect life slip past you."

Zoe looked up, and the two girls had a moment of clear understanding. They both at one time thought they could have the life they always dreamed of with George Tucker. Lemon knew that it was never meant to happen. She and Lavon were happy together.

"On paper George and I still make so much sense," Zoe reasoned. "We get each other, we click. It makes sense."

"Does that end with a 'but'?" Zoe didn't answer.

"You don't have to talk yourself into anything, Zoe. You shouldn't have to talk yourself into loving someone. If there's something holding you back? Something important enough to make you not dive in head first, to seriously think it's not worth it? Now I know I've made my fare share of mistakes, and changed my mind, but if there's something I've learned, it's that you can't ignore the voice in the back of your head forever. You're hearing it for a reason… and if it's held you back both times? Maybe that means something…"

Zoe let out a hrumph. "Lavon said the same thing." Lemon smiled.

"And…?" she encouraged her to continue.

"All I can think about is how much it would hurt Wade. I know that he would act like it didn't bother him; he'd pretend it didn't matter, but I know it would kill him. I don't want to hurt him like that. The look on his face would kill me. It was why we almost didn't get together the first time—well, beyond the sleeping together part. He always thought he was my second choice. That he was a placeholder for George."

"Was he?"

"No! Well maybe when we were just sleeping together he started as something to take my mind off things, but that doesn't mean I didn't care about him! And look what it turned into! He let me just be myself like nobody had before. Just me. I didn't have to live up to any ridiculous standard I had in my head. It was just… so easy. I mean yeah, we fought all the time, but it was still just so…"

"Perfect? You know I've learned the hard way that there is no universal "perfect" relationship. But there can be perfect for you."

"Argh, I don't even know why I'm making a big deal out of this. Wade and I haven't been together for almost a year!"

"Wow has it really been that long?"

"I know, right? Seems like yesterday we were fighting over the fuse box."

"You know Lavon never told me the specifics. What exactly happened?"

"Honestly, I think we just got lazy. Too proud and stubborn. You know us, always yelling about something. Then one of us says something we don't mean, but you can't take back, and before you know it I'm yelling 'if that's the way you feel then maybe we shouldn't be together anymore' and he yells 'fine' and next thing you know it's a week later and we still haven't talked to each other. We were both too stubborn to apologize. I guess he didn't think what we had was worth fighting for."

Lemon didn't believe that for a second. "Did you? Think it was worth fightin' for?"

Zoe's strained face told her all she needed to know.

"Good Lord Lavon's right you two are as stubborn as two blind mules."

"You know I feel like I should take offense to that!" Lemon just smiled.

"So is there somethin' going on again?"

"I don't know! Maybe... But we're friends. And it's nice. But we've kinda started fighting again- it's like how we were before, you know?"

"With all the sexual tension?"

Zoe smiled shyly, and again Lemon had her answer.

"But since George's been back he's kinda backed off a little, so I don't know what he's thinking, or know if he would even want to—" Lemon reached out her hand to cover Zoe's.

"Zoe Hart I'm going to stop you right there. When it comes to you, Wade Kinsella would drop anythin', or anyone, to be with you. Any time, anywhere. Everybody knows that."

Zoe didn't have a response to that.

"Can I ask you somethin'? In five, ten years, what do you picture your life like? Kids? Buyin' a house maybe? Or buyin' the practice from Daddy when he finally retires? That wasn't your picture five years ago, was it? Pictures can change Zoe, there's nothin' wrong with that. Mine did. And I'm so much the happier for it." She gave that time to sink in.

"Now what about reversin' that?"

"What?"

"Picture George with another life. A wife that's not you, 2.5 kids, dog and a white picket fence… Or Wade?"

Images ran through her head. Wade with a blond, Tansy look-alike, a horde of blond kids, and she had to stop right there. She grimaced, and didn't want to imagine it any further.

"Which makes you feel more nauseous? I know when I was still engaged to George, and just the thought of Lavon dating any other woman hurt me more than anythin'? I should have realized…"

She let Zoe think.

"Listen, you're a grown woman, and you can make your own choices. And like the rest of us, you're human, so we all make mistakes. Sometimes you can't be afraid to make them. Can I ask you somethin' else?"

"Sure."

"Would it be the other way around this time?"

Zoe knew exactly what she meant. Would she be using George this time? To forget and move on from Wade?

She didn't have the answer to that.

"Well," Lemon folded her hands on the counter. "Seems to me Zoe Hart that you, are at a crossroads. You have two wonderful men that would love you and make it their goal to keep you happy."

"Helpful."

"Or you have a third option." Zoe stared at her.

"Choose neither. You know I heard Tom and Wanda fightin' last night. They might be on their way to a divorce so you could always wait for Tom to be available," she joked, and Zoe chuckled.

"I tried being alone the first time and it didn't last very long."

Zoe looked down again and started in a sad voice, "There's a fourth option you know. I could always take a job with my father, wherever he is. Get away for a while. Clear my head."

Lemon cleared her throat. "Well, then. With that I think you'd be breakin' more than just two hearts. Lavon loves you, and Annabeth and Cricket, Tom and Wanda, Shelly, Rose would be miserable you know how that girl worships the ground you walk on. My daddy likes you. And I know we're not the best of friends but I think I'd miss you too. Things would be a lot less interestin' without you here." Zoe gave her a sad smile.

Lemon picked up her purse, ready to leave. "Let me know if you need anything," she put her hand on Zoe's arm. "And who you chose. You know I'd just hate to be the last one to find out."

She laughed at that.

"Hey lemon? Thanks".

"Any time, Dr, Hart."

.

.***.

.

Zoe took a deep breath, before knocking on the door in front of her.

When it opened, she smiled.

"Hey. Can we talk?"


A/N: Hope you liked! Conclusion coming soon! I would love to hear what you think!

-heratulipsia