Watching Tansy walk away for good was like a knife through George Tucker's chest. He loved her. He really loved her, but he was losing her, her and that stupid dog he had grown so fond of. He wasn't really sure if he made the right decision choosing Bluebell over Tansy, after all Tansy may have been the one. But Bluebell was such a huge part of who he was. He could never really leave.

He thought about going to the Rammer Jammer, but he really wasn't in the mood to see Lemon and be reminded of his last failed relationship, so he got a beer out of his refrigerator and sat on his bed.

As the night went on he drank more and more and as he did he got angrier and angrier. Angrier at himself, angrier at Tansy, but mostly angrier at Zoe. Good Lord was he pissed at Zoe Hart.

The words Tansy said played through his head.

"I just can't be in the same place as Zoe Hart."

"As long as we're in Bluebell she'll be around, and you say you don't have feelings for her and you probably believe that's true, but… I don't."

If Zoe had just kept her mouth shut about her feelings for him none of this would have ever happened. He would still have Tansy and he would still be happy. Actually, if Zoe Hart had never come to town in the first place he'd be happily married to Lemon Breeland. Just why did she feel the need to ruin every happy ending he had a shot at? In the end she never picked him, it would always be Wade Kinsella for Zoe Hart but for some reason she just couldn't stop breaking his heart.

"Well no more" he said as he stood to his feet. He was going to have a talk with Zoe, he was going to make sure she never screwed anything up for him again.

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Zoe took a deep breath as she entered her bedroom. She felt awful; more awful than she ever had in her life. She had made a complete and total ass of herself at that freaking prom- George hated her, Tansy hated her, and everyone who was in that gym knew what a crazy mess she really was. Not to mention she still felt like hell over the breakup with Wade. Everything was a mess.

She calmed down by telling herself she'd figure out how to fix everything in the morning, but the truth was she knew she'd never figure out how to fix the mess that was her life.

She thought that getting some air might help her, that and drinking herself stupid, so she grabbed a bottle of vodka and a blanket and headed outside but before she could make her way out the door she was startled by a loud pounding at the door.

"Hello?" she asked as she opened it. "George" she gasped.

"Hey" he said angrily as he walked inside. "I want to talk to you."

"Okay" she said nervously as her cheeks reddened slightly. She really wasn't looking forward to getting wrung out for the second time of the night. She knew she was out of line telling George she loved him while he was with Tansy, but she had just been trying to be honest about her feelings.

"Tansy dumped me" he seethed.

"I- I'm sorry" Zoe replied. "I tried talking to her tonight, I told her that she was the one you wanted."

"Yeah, do me favor will you? Don't talk to anyone for me ever again. Clearly you suck at it."

"George, I'm sorry" Zoe said shakily. "I never meant to ruin this for you."

"Really? Because I think you did. What the hell were you thinking showing up tonight?"

"I don't know!" she yelled as she threw her hands up. "I don't know, ok? I'm sorry. I know I screwed things up for you, I know I put my foot in my mouth, I know I made an ass of myself. I never meant for any of this to happen, I was just trying to…"

"Just trying to what?" he interrupted.

"Be happy" she answered sheepishly. "Since Wade I've just felt so terrible all the time, and I was just trying to fix it!"

"You are so damn selfish, you know that?" he scoffed. "You'd rather trash someone else's relationship than be single for five minutes!"

"George, I just wanted to tell you the way I felt. I was just trying to be honest, I thought maybe you felt the same way…"

"That explains the other day, but why did you show up at the prom? I already told you I wasn't interested."

"I met this guy online, and I knew he'd be there…"

This made George even more angry, in fact he was pretty sure that he'd never been so angry in his entire life. Zoe hadn't even been there to see him, she was there to see another guy! For someone in love she had certainly moved on pretty quickly. He took a steadying breath before speaking again.

"That guy you were dancing with?" he asked through gritted teeth.

She nodded as her eyes staid fixed on the floor. "He turned out to be a jerk" she shrugged.

"Good" he scoffed.

"Good?" Zoe asked mystified.

"It's what you deserve Zoe" he added bitterly. "You deserve a jerk, you deserve everything bad that comes your way."

"What?" Zoe repeated. "George…"

"Shut up" he interrupted angrily. "You have caused me nothing but trouble and heartache since you blew into town, you know that? You got me to fall for you, trashed my relationship for Lemon, picked Wade over me, and now you've chased Tansy away!"

"I- I'm sorry" she said through tears. "I never meant to hurt you. I- I love you."

This left George even more enraged. Zoe didn't love him. Why did she want to keep screwing with his mind? Why couldn't she just leave him the hell alone. Before he realized what he was doing he lifted his arm up and struck her in the face. She made a loud noise as she hit the floor and it snapped George out of the trance he was in. He had just hit a woman. He never imagined himself as the type of man that could do that. He felt an overwhelming sense of guilt before something occurred to him- Zoe Hart had driven him to do this, this was her fault too. He couldn't even recognize himself and it was all because of her.

"Don't say that!" he yelled loudly. "Don't tell me you love me because it's a damn lie!"

Zoe tried to say something, but all that came out was a loud sob. She laid on the floor completely stunned. George had hit her. George. George her friend. George who she loved.

"Get up" he said as he pulled her by the arm to her feet.

She struggled to pull away and shield her face, but she felt so much weaker than him.

"Stop your crying" he said as he threw her back onto the floor and kicked her. "Shut up! No one here feels sorry for you Zoe, no one here cares!"

She made a desperate attempt to crawl away but he quickly followed after her.

"You deserve this Zoe" he said angrily. "In fact, you deserve worse than this!"

"George" she whimpered as she lifted her bruised face and looked up at him. "Please."

"Oh God" he gasped as he looked into her tear-filled eyes. All of his anger melted away and was replaced with a different feeling. He felt awful, a hundred times worse than he did after the first time he hit her. She looked so desperate, so scared, and vulnerable. She was hurt, and he was the one who did it. "Oh God, what am I doing?" he said urgently as he knelt down next to her. "Zoe" he said softly as he placed his hand on her arm gently.

Zoe recoiled from his touch and crawled further into the corner of her bedroom.

"Zoe" he said as his voice broke. "I- I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened, I got so angry."

"No" she cried harder as she pushed herself closer into the wall. She wished she could disappear completely.

"Zoe" he begged, but he wasn't sure for what. He wanted to call her an ambulance, but he knew that he'd basically be calling the police on himself. There wasn't anything he could do to make her feel better, but couldn't leave her like this….

Zoe tried to stop crying, but she just couldn't. She had never been hit by a man before in her life. She felt so helpless, and completely at his mercy, and he had hurt her, badly. And this was George. George Tucker. Her George Tucker. She loved him, and he hated her. Hated her enough to beat the hell out of her.

"What can I do?" he asked shakily.

"Leave" she answered quietly, hoping her answer wouldn't draw even more of his wrath. "Please" she added softly.

"Okay" he said hesitantly. "But, you should get checked out, you might have a concussion" the words felt so bizarre as the came out of his mouth, being the good guy came naturally for him but this time he wasn't a good guy. He was the guy who had just beaten up a woman; he was the reason for that look on Zoe's face.

As he walked away, Zoe struggled to stand to her feet. She wasn't really sure what she was going to do next. She needed help, but she was too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened. Besides, who would believe her? This was George Tucker, everyone in town loved him. No one would believe that George hit a woman, Zoe wouldn't even have believed it if someone had told her before this.

She tried her best to calm her sobs as she walked unsteadily to her bathroom. After all, she was a doctor, she could figure out how to help herself. She gasped as she saw her reflection in the mirror for the first time. She prepared herself to see bruises, but her face was so swollen already. She knew it would only get worse. She touched her face softly, but quickly winced. God, this hurt like hell, if she ever had a battered woman as a patient again she would be much more sympathetic. Then it hit her- she was a battered woman she was a victim.

George's words came back to her "You deserve this Zoe. In fact, you deserve worse than this!"

He had been so ruthless, so angry.

She ran her hand over the side of her body where she had been kicked. She wasn't sure if she had any broken ribs, but she knew there wasn't much she could do for that anyway. Overall, her wounds all seemed fairly superficial. She just needed rest, rest and to forget about all of her problems. But she didn't feel safe in her room anymore. She had just been attacked a couple a feet away from where she was standing, it didn't feel safe. She thought she might feel safer at Lavon's, he'd be home soon and that would keep George away. He could give Lavon and Annabeth some story about how she'd got in an accident or something if they'd ask.

She looked around and when she didn't see any sign of George she began to run as fast as she could.

"Whoa" she heard a voice call out.

Wade was the last person she wanted to see, well- almost the last person…

"Doc, where's the fire?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked shakily as she stared at the ground. It was dark out, and her hair was covering her face she knew Wade couldn't see her bruises. She just had to stop him from getting suspicious for a minute and then she could get away.

"Why are you taking off like a bat out of hell?"

Zoe shrugged. She wanted to avoid talking out of fear that the shakiness in her voice would give her away.

"Doc?" Wade asked as he moved closer to her. "What's the matter? Someone else get voted prom queen?" He was trying to lighten the mood by making a joke, but the truth was that the way Zoe was acting was scaring the hell out of him.

Zoe rolled her eyes. Figures Wade would tease her now. "Look Wade" she sighed. "I've had a really bad night, do you think you could just leave me alone?"

"Hey" he said gently as he placed his hand on her arm.

It reminded Zoe of the way George had tried to comfort her after he had beaten her, and before she could think she jerked away violently. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, landing on her sore ribs.

As she screamed out in pain, Wade quickly knelt to the ground.

"Doc?" he asked concerned. "Oh my God" he gasped as he finally got a look at her face. "What-what happened to you?"

"Nothing" she muttered as she sat up and tried to gather her wits.

"Oh my God" he repeated as he looked at her even closer. "Someone hit you!" he yelled angrily.

"No" she answered shakily. "No, I just fell. I-"

"Walked into a door?" he scoffed.

"I'm fine" she sighed as she struggled to stand to her feet.

"Zoe, who the hell did this?" he asked he subconsciously formed his hands into tight fists.

"No one" she said as she struggled not to cry again. "Wade, please just drop this."

There was no way Wade was going to drop this, but for the moment he was willing to let it go. Zoe looked like a mess. She was bloodied and bruised, her makeup was smeared, and he could tell she was about to fall apart at any second.

"Come here" he said softly as he took his sweater off and wrapped it around her arms.

"What?" she asked as she looked around disoriented.

"Shh" he comforted her. "It's okay Zoe, I'm going to take care of you. I got you now, it's okay."

Zoe wasn't sure why, but Wade's words made her feel better. For the first time since she let George into her room she felt safe.

Please Review if you like it! I'll continue if there's interest.

A note to those of you reading my other HOD stories, I fully intend to finish To Make You Feel my Love, Run Right into You, A Wonderful Surprise, and Until You, don't worry. I just crazy busy towards the end of the semester and felt a little unmotivated to write for this fandom after the Zoe/Wade breakup. But I loved the finale, and hopeful for next season!