Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixie

Prologue

Dr. Harley Wilkes walked nervously through the door of his lawyer's office. He'd received a phonecall that it was urgent that he came in but he couldn't receive any further information.

"Good afternoon, Harley. Glad you could come in so soon."

"Good afternoon to you too. You sounded serious on the phone so I rushed over here as fast as I could."

"Yes, well I think you should sit down for this."

The men both sat down, looking really uncomfortable.

"Well, I better just get it all over with" his lawyer said as he intwined his fingers and leaned forward on his desk. "This morning I received a will of a woman called Candice Hart and you are named in it."

He stopped to see Harley's reaction. It was one of confusion and shock. As Harley did not proceed to say anything, the lawyer continued.

"Mrs. Hart passed away last night. She and her husband and daughter were in the airplane that crashed in the Rockies. Neither she nor her husband survived, but the one year old daughter did. Apparently, as was only first reviled in the will, she was your daughter too, Harley."

"What. I have a daughter ?" Harley was in complete shock.

"Yes, so it would seem. Apparently, Mrs. Hart had a blood test done shortly after her daughter was born and it showed that her husband was not the father and apparently you were the only other option. I understand completely if you want a paternity test done, and quite frankly would advise you to do so myself."

Harley just sat there dumbfounded, so the lawyer continued to talk.

"Now, in her will, Mrs. Hart states that if anything were to happen to her or her husband the child, Zoe, should be put in your care, that is, if you would take her" he said, ending in a questioning voice.

"Zoe" was all that Harley said.

"Yes, that is the name of the girl, Zoe Hart"

"And were is she now?"

"She is with a social worker in Denver, pending your response"

"My response?" Harley asked confused.

"Yes, waiting to hear if you'd consider taking her into your care"

"Well, of course. She is my daughter after all" Harley said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Harley, think about this for a minute. You did not really know this woman, now did you? Who is to say that there weren't countless men and you just sounded most responsible"

"I'm sorry, but Candice chose me to look after her daughter and quite frankly it doesn't matter to me if she's my daughter or not" Harley said, quite sternly.

The lawyer took a moment to gather himself, he clearly was a more cynical man than Dr. Wilkes. "Well, if that is your decision..."

"It is, now when will she get here?" Harley asked, cutting the lawyer short.

"Uhm, well, I have to contact social services in Denver, they'll arrange her traveling plans and will draw up all the documents, it should be no more than a day or two before she's officially yours."

"Great, now if there is nothing else, I'm going to check into a hotel and let you get started on that" Harley said as he stood up, shook the dumbfounded lawyer's hand and left his office.