Just a story I've had in my mind for the last while. Set back in season 3 (ugh) both Zoe and Wade are single are the respective break-ups, during a dream so is visited by someone from her past to show her what her life would have been like if she had made different decisions throughout her life.

21:58pm Zoe lay in the middle of her bed, a light sheet sufficed given the heat of the night. She stared up blankly at her ceiling- recalling the events of her day. All in all it was a normal day for her, since her break-up with Joel she had managed to slot back into her routine of old. Her mornings spent lounging about in Lavon's kitchen before moseying to work and then taking her time returning home. She made civil chit chat with those she met along the way, her and Brick worked together peacefully and her relationship with Lavon was like it had always been. Except as Zoe lay there reliving her day something stood out about it - Wade. Since he and Vivian ended their relationship Zoe hadn't really seen much of him that was until recently. Her mornings spent feasting on pastries and poached eggs were now accompanied by Wade and his bowl of dry cereal. Her civil chit chat mainly took place at The Rammer Jammer during her daily lunch- most of which she ate at the bar and her walks home were frequently interrupted by him giving out about how unsafe it was for her to leave her car unlocked overnight, or how everyone in the state knew she kept a spare house key under the fake rock on her porch. An outsider would claim the friendly banter was slowly starting to rekindle between the two but for Zoe; it was platonic. As the time ticked slowly by Zoe soon felt her eyes fall heavy and within minutes she slipped slowly into a deep sleep….

Once the alarm sounded Zoe began to stir, she slammed it off immediately but it was followed by a ruffled sound in the hallway.

"Lavon, is that you?" she called out but there was no answer.

She sat up in the bed as the noise continued "Lavon, this isn't funny- you know how much I hate ghost jokes." She pulled the winter quilt off herself and swung her legs over the edge of the bed when something jumped out at her- she didn't go to bed with a quilt and she also didn't set her alarm for 6:30am. She was officially spooked as she ran across the room reaching for the door handle and pulling it open.

"Arghhhhhhhh!" She screamed in complete and utter fear as she saw the towering man standing in front of her. Her mind went blank on protecting herself as she began to scream "Stranger danger, stranger danger!" but the man did nothing but smile.

"Hello Zoe…" his soft voice said.

Zoe's jaw dropped and her body froze "Harley…?"

….

"Is this a dream? This has got to be a dream…." Zoe asked as she tried to keep up with Harley who walked briskly through the plantation.

"What did you say, dear?" Harley asked as he came to a sudden halt; indecisive about which way to go.

"I'm in a dream ament I? Because your… your-"

"Dead?" Harley answered "It's okay to say it dear, I won't be offended. I am dead."

"Well then what is going on?!" Zoe pleaded for answers as she followed him across the town square and towards the practice. Harley walked with a spring in his step and a glowing smile on his face as he bounded towards the building that meant the most to him, with the person that meant the most to him following closely behind. He came to a stop once he approached the perimeters of the practice; that was when Zoe finally caught up with him.

"You know for a dead guy you walk really fast…" she caught a glance of his pale face "… what's the matter?"

Harley sighed as he stared at the wooden sign that swung slowly in the summer breeze "Kills me to see just his name up there…"

Zoe hung her head in shame "I know, I'm sorry."

Harley took another forced breath "Let's not get all hot and bothered over that now shall we, we're goin' to miss it."

"Miss what?" Zoe asked.

"This." Harley said as he placed both hands on her shoulders and slowly turned her around so that she was facing the town square meaning she was in perfect position to see a couple, a couple very familiar to her walking hand in hand towards the practice.

"Joel and I…." She whispered to herself as Harley kept his hand on her shoulder "… Harley, what is this? Why am I seeing myself?!"

"Shh… you need to hear what they're saying."

Zoe and Joel passed by Harley and Zoe hands locked together until they reached the front door of the practice. Zoe reached up and pressed her lips against Joel's.

"I hate that you were up writing all night and now I have to work all day, we live in the same house... we hardly ever see each other."

Joel cupped her face and smiled "We have the rest of our lives together… let's not stress over one night."

"I ordered that bookcase we were looking at, should be here next week. It will be a place for us to put all those award winning books you're going to write."

Joel smiled as he kissed her again "Sounds perfect."

Zoe was smitten as she kissed him again and watched him make his way back across the square.

Harley smiled as Joel passed him, Zoe however was not as smiley "So you came here to show me what life would have been like if we never broke up?."

Harley shook his head "I didn't come here, you dreamt me, this is your dream… your mind."

"Sooo… I'm thinking about Joel?" Zoe asked as Harley rolled his eyes.

"This has nothing to do with Joel, Zoe. This is about you. Now shh this is my favourite part." He turned her back around to where Zoe saw a very solemn looking Wade walk by the practice, he avoided eye contact with his neighbour who watched him walk by.

"What's with grumpy guts?" Zoe asked Harley as Harley rolled his eyes.

"Did you not see?!"

"Yeah, he just walked right by. He can be very moody." Zoe said in a passive tone.

"I wouldn't call that moody…" Harley said coyly as he began to walk away.

Zoe made a face and before she knew it they were on the move again. She eventually caught up with Harley who again had that smile on his face. He walked through the square before taking a seat on a bench opposite the church. Zoe took a seat beside him as she looked up at him. The silence between them was sweet, it gave her a chance to really look at him and compare him to the picture she had of him stored in her mind. She came to the conclusion that this version was far greater.

"This is probably one of my favourite spots in town." Harley said softly.

"Why's that?" Zoe asked, aware of the irony that her father's favourite spot was her least favourite.

He shrugged his shoulders "It's central. You can hear the church bells, you can see The Dixie Stop, you get to see the stressed Bluebell mothers collect their kids from school. It's just a lovely spot."

Zoe nodded her head "That's a nice reason I guess. So are you going to tell me why you're here or why I dreamt you here? And not just some vague reason about choices. The real reason."

Harley looked down at her, sincerity in his eyes "Come on, we're going to be late."

…

Harley held open the door of the building for Zoe as they made their way to the next stop. This stop was George's law office. Zoe was only halfway through the door when Harley pushed her against the wall to allow for the oncoming traffic of people coming their way. Harley was silent in anticipation of Zoe's reaction and he was not disappointed as when the woman came through the door with a stroller and 2 kids holding onto the handles, the colour disappeared from Zoe's face and her eyes bulged from her head.

"That's me!" Zoe whispered unable to take her eyes off the stressed out woman who pushed her way through the skinny corridor. This time Harley was the one trying to keep up with Zoe as she made her way into George's office.

George sat at his desk with his head in his hands. He wasn't clean shaven and unusually his shirt was crinkled and tie was sloppily done. His head sunk even further when he heard the noise coming through the corridor.

"George!" Zoe snapped as she parked the stroller in the middle of the office and instructed the two older children to go play on the couch.

"No need to yell I'm right here."

"Well then why didn't you answer your cell?! I have been calling you all morning!"

George sighed "I've been busy, I intended on callin' you back."

Zoe pulled the sunglasses from her head "Just like you intended on mowing the lawn or fixing the window in the boy's bedroom?!"

"Well maybe if you didn't let them play soccer in the house then the window wouldn't need fixin'?"

"They wouldn't be playing in the house if they had a suitable lawn to play on..." Zoe scoffed "… By the way, your mother called this morning."

George, who had returned to his work kept his head down as he scribbled something down on his notepad "I know, I called her back."

"Oh great you have time to call her back but not your own wife!."

"You know how she gets Zoe."

Zoe rolled her eyes "Sure. Well, Brick is gone all day and I have appointments back to back til 3 so I need you to look after the kids."

"What about the sitter?" George cried out.

"She quit..." Zoe said bluntly as she placed a quick kiss on each of her children's foreheads before making her way to the door "…I'll call you later, make sure to answer."

With that, Zoe left the office as Harley took a step back allowing Zoe to watch that version of her rush out of the office and scurrying across the town square. Harley let out a sigh as Zoe took a seat on the top step of the stairwell. She was in disbelief as she looked up at Harley.

"What happened me? Why am I like that?"

"Life happened." Harley answered as he slowly lowered himself down to Zoe's level.

"But, I look so- unhappy."

"You're a working mother of 3. Life is hectic."

Zoe shook her head "George doesn't even look like George. He looks so stressed. What happened Harley? How did we end up like this?"

Harley sighed "The night of Lemon and George's wedding, you never blew the fuse box so when George called to the door, Wade wasn't there. You two dated for a while before marrying and starting a family."

"And then we ended up like my parents." Zoe said quietly.

"Like I said life happened."

"So this is to show me that if I had chosen George, things would have gone horribly wrong and we'd both end up miserable?"

Harley shook his head, she was completely missing the point "This isn't saying that you were destined for an unhappy life with George, but that you made choices along the way that led you to this moment."

Zoe sighed "For the longest time I was convinced George and I would run off together and live this perfect, happy life. Guess I was wrong."

"Or you just chose otherwise." Harley said as he rose to his feet. Zoe watched him stand up as something on the sleeve of his shirt caught her eye.

"Harley are those raindrops on your shirt?..." she asked as she felt some fall onto her face "… why, why are there raindrops? It's like 90 degrees."

Harley nodded his head "We need to get going."

….

Zoe was slightly disappointed to find herself back at on the porch of the carriage house. Harley stared out at the plantation as Zoe watched on.

"Lavon did well for himself, I'm glad you have him as a friend."

Zoe smiled as she stood beside him sharing the view "He's the best…" she gushed "… so what's next?"

Harley hung his head "That's it. This is where I leave you."

Zoe was confused "But, I saw my life with Joel and then George, what about Wade?"

"What about Wade?" Harley asked as he turned away towards the house.

"Well he was my- he's Wade, surely you have one of these little story things for him too?"

Harley sighed "What do you think, Zoe? This is your dream, I'm here because you dreamt me. With George, you chose not to blow that fuse box and with Joel… well you know how that goes. You chose to go to New York, you chose to buy that house. All choices, all by you."

"So you're saying that I am choosing for Wade to mean nothing to me? There's no story for us?"

"I'm not saying that at all…." Harley smiled "…. I remember seeing you at your graduation. You were such a confident young woman, slightly egotistical but strong. You were confident in your choice to come to Bluebell and in the choices you made with George and Joel. Yet, you weren't happy were you?"

There was silence between them.

"You know, it really isn't the best idea to leave your spare key in those plastic rocks, it isn't safe."

Zoe rolled her eyes, where had she heard that before? She watched him pull open her front door and in a desperate attempt to hold onto him she called out after him "Harley, wait! Is this the end? Will we be together again."

That broke Harley's heart "Sweetheart I am with you every day."

….

Zoe shot up in the bed, the sweat pumping from her body as she looked over at her alarm 12:08am. The rain battered against her window as she looked around the room.

"Harley!" she called out but got no reply. She wiped her hand across her face, trying her best to regain some form of calm. As the rain continued to come crashing down Zoe knew exactly what she had to do. She jumped from the bed and made her way to her dressing table where she plugged in her straightener, hairdryer and stood by the bathroom light switch where she flicked it on and off continuously until eventually the light above her blew. She got a fright at first but then made her way to the window where she could see the fuse box sparking away. She smiled to herself, her stomach in knots from the nerves. She didn't even consider the fact that her brand new Ugg boots were going to be destroyed the moment she left the safety of her house, but she didn't care. As she ran down her porch steps and through the trees to where the fuse box was she felt a gust of wind come towards her as the rain fell even harder. Holding the flash light at eye level and the screw driver she won in a Christmas cracker in the other hand she stared at the box of wires and leads. The rain was so terrible she could hardly see what was in front of her but the sheer volume of the rain couldn't prevent here from hearing Wade, who was quickly coming her way.

"Do you have a death wish Dr Hart?!" he screamed at her as he knocked the screw driver out of her hand. Zoe stared up at him, he was soaked to the skin and his hair had turned that dark brown whenever it was wet. The raindrops fell from the tip of his nose as his eyes narrowed with frustration, she didn't mind though because she knew it was coming from a good place.

"Wade I-"

"What are you doin' out in a storm with a screw driver?!"

"Would you just shut up and listen to me! I had a dream." Zoe said with a smile on her face.

"A dream?" Wade questioned, almost afraid to know the full extent of her madness.

"I know that you are going to think I'm crazy…" Zoe shouted, in an effort to be heard over the wind and rain "… but in my dream Harley showed me what my life would have been like if I had never blown this fuse box 3 years ago…"

Wade searched for the right words but there really wasn't any.

"I know how this sounds and I know it's impossible because Harley is dead but-"

"Doc, are you on drugs?"

Zoe let out a little laugh at the sound of genuine fear in his voice "No, I can assure you that I am in as good a mind space as ever."

"Well then why the hell are you out in your pyjamas in the rain?!" Wade could have been specific in saying her cotton shorts pyjamas but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing he couldn't keep his eyes away from her flawless legs.

"Because, I saw my life with Joel and with George and I- I…"

"You what?" Wade pushed her towards answering.

Zoe began to stutter, maybe this was a terrible idea "For the past year I've tried my best to ignore this, I chose to ignore this but I just can't do that anymore."

Wade could feel the shift in atmosphere between the two as the sweet smile that was on her face had vanished and was replaced by the vulnerable stare she carried so well.

"Zoe…"

"Wade, when we were together there were some horrible moments but there was also some good moments, great moments in fact. We can both take blame for our part in those moments but being with you made me a better person and I'd like to think that being with me made you a better person…"

"You did." He said honestly nodding his head as the rain drops that were hanging from the ends of his hair fell onto his face.

Zoe took a deep breath, the knot in her stomach tighter than ever "Wade, I love you. I am in love with you and have been for a really long time now, and you are one hundred per cent right about keeping a key in that rock, it wasn't my finest purchase."

Wade froze; all he could do was stare into her eyes. For a split second he thought maybe that he was the one doing the dreaming so he did what he did best, what he loved doing most when he was around her, what he hadn't done in so long. He threw his flashlight on the ground, took one step towards her, reached out so that his left arm wrapped fully around her waist and kiss her. He kissed her like it was the last time he would ever kiss her, like the first time her ever kissed her. Zoe wrapped her arms around his neck, re-familiarising herself with him and the little things about him that she never realised she missed so much. It was in that moment, a mythical page was turned on Wade and Zoe's story, they had a fresh start, something neither was going to let go of.

From that day on, Zoe and Wade carried out a life the surpassed Zoe's wildest dreams. They had their ups and downs just like any other couple. They fought and argued and pushed each other but they also smiled laughed and loved together. Zoe often thought about that stormy night of 2014 and in particular that dream, the most vivid dream she ever had. Zoe may have reconnected with Wade that night but she also reconnected with Harley, a bond that also remained strong as he kept his promise of always being with her. He was there when Wade and Zoe welcomed their first child, when they married, when they turned soil on building their house. He was there for the good times, the tough times and in times of struggle when Zoe closed her eyes and searched for him, just like she had on that stormy night of 2014.

So yeah, just a little one shot but please let me know what you think! Thanks