Hey everyone - here's something I wrote after the season 3 finale that I forgot about til now. Just a oneshot on how I see Wade and Zoe getting back together. Leave a review and let me know what you think :)
Wade made his way into Lavon's kitchen looking for breakfast. It was the morning after Brando and Sylvie's wedding and he had barely gotten any sleep the night before. His restless night wasn't because of his decision to turn down the franchise offer; that had been the right choice – he wasn't a "tie guy," as Joel had put it. His sleepless night had everything to do with his crazy neighbor. Zoe's declaration of love and her subsequent announcement about not giving up on him or their second chance resonated in his brain non-stop. It took everything in him not to follow her out of that wedding reception like a lovesick puppy dog and it took even greater resolve to stay on his side of the pond all night.
He had to be insane, he thought to himself as he grabbed some ground coffee and began preparing the coffee maker. Now that Earl wasn't so "crazy" anymore, Wade was positive that the nickname would be passed down to him. "Crazy Wade," they'd whisper when he'd walk by. That was the only answer as to why he would even ever contemplate getting back into a relationship with Zoe. She was the crazy one! And she made him crazy too! He lost all logic and reason when it came to her. How could that be healthy for either one of them?! He had every reason to be hesitant about a reconciliation. He just had to remind himself of that every time he even slightly waivered – which happened when she looked at him…or smiled at him…or walked into the room.
Space – he definitely needed his space, he thought as he ran his hands through his hair in an exasperated fashion. What was it about her that made him feel weak-willed and powerless…but also like the luckiest fool alive? He just needed to not think of her for awhile; he needed a chance to clear his head. He wasn't going to go out of his way to physically avoid her, per se, but he would just have to avoid thinking of her…not think about her eyes…or her smile…or those legs. He gave a low groan; this was going to be harder than he thought. He had to put her out of his thoughts. In fact, he'd start by not even thinking of her name.
As he waited for the coffee to brew, he couldn't help but think back to his conversation with Joel the night before as he was getting ready to leave town. After they had watched Zoe leave her carriage house, Joel had turned to Wade, a serious expression on his face. Wade knew he was going to ask him the question that he had been adamantly avoiding since Meatball's disastrous wedding ceremony.
"Do you have feelings for her?" Joel had asked. Wade gave a small imperceptible sigh of relief – that question was less loaded than the one he thought he was going to get ("Are you in love with her?"). "Keep in mind, that she and I are no longer together, so it's not like you really have to protect my feelings or anything," Joel had stated when Wade remained quiet.
Unable to even say the words, Wade had just nodded his head 'yes' in answer to Joel's question.
"I see," Joel stated again for the second time that night. "Are you just going to walk away from her?"
The idea that Joel, of all people, would make him try to feel guilty about following a once in a lifetime opportunity, angered Wade. "It's not like I'd be the first one!" he exclaimed.
Joel gave a sad smile and looked across the pond. "It's the job of my dreams, Wade. If it was anything less than that, do you really think I could have left her?" he asked quietly. After a few tense moments of silence, Joel continued speaking. "Honestly… I thought she was going to follow me to L.A. I mean, I followed her here to Bluebell – left behind New York – everything – to be with her. I was sure she'd go with me to L.A. and then eventually to London." Joel leaned against Wade's car, a pensive look on his face as he scratched his chin. "After she came to visit me in L.A. and we said good-bye, I was sure she'd be back within a week, suitcase in hand with some silly and adorable speech about how she couldn't live without me." Joel was silent for a moment, a faraway look on his face, before he continued speaking, "That week turned into a month and that turned into her putting our house on the market." Joel took another long pause. "I don't know what hurt more, realizing that she didn't love me enough to follow me while I chased my dreams or realizing that she had no intention of waiting for my return…because of course I would have returned to her." He looked at Wade with a resigned look on his face. "I guess it was pretty easy to get over me when all along she still had feelings for someone else…."
Wade remained silent, standing there stiffly, unsure of what to say.
Joel spoke again, "It's all water under the bridge now so it doesn't really matter anymore anyways. She always knew her home was in BlueBell. She'll never leave this place." More silence followed before Joel stated he had to get going so as not to be late to Sylvie's wedding. He left Wade with one last parting thought, though. "Wade, is this corporate job really your dream? Is it worth leaving everything behind?" That last question was loaded with unsaid meaning.
Wade knew he wasn't a corporate kind of guy and if he was completely honest with himself, this opportunity wasn't his dream. Why would he leave his bar the Rammer Jammer – which had been his dream for years – to work a desk job?! Once he finally came to that conclusion, the phone call to the investor had been easy enough to make.
He sighed, grabbing his cup of freshly brewed coffee. He would dedicate all his time and energy to the Rammer Jammer. It wasn't going to be franchised but that didn't mean he didn't have any ideas for improvements that could be made. Besides, that would keep him busy and he wouldn't have time to even think about a relationship….especially not with a crazy, beautiful neighbor, who was to remain nameless.
He wandered over to Lavon's laptop that was resting on the kitchen island and took a seat at one of the stools there. He might as well check his emails and see if any of the bands he had contacted over the past few weeks had gotten back to him about performing at the bar. The laptop booted up right away – it had just been in sleep mode and the internet browser popped up immediately on the screen. Wade rolled his eyes when he saw several website tabs open. He knew who the last person that used the laptop was – that crazy, beautiful, to-remain-nameless neighbor. As if he needed any further proof, he noted that the webpage that had been on the screen when he had started up the laptop was open to her email inbox. He was about to log her out of her email, when one of the other website tabs caught his eye.
Atlanta Rentals
He clicked the tab out of curiosity and a website of apartment rentals in the Atlanta area took over the screen. Out of curiosity, he clicked on a different tab and an Atlanta hospital webpage popped up. In fact, there were 2 other tabs belonging to Atlanta area hospitals and all of the hospital websites were open to the page listing physician positions available. Another tab showed the Georgia Medical Board website and the page was opened to the topic 'Applying for a Medical License in Georgia.'
Just then, Zoe walked into the kitchen. "Hey!" she greeted him warmly, "You're up kind of early." She made a beeline for the coffee and poured herself a cup before heading to the fridge to decide what she would prepare for breakfast.
"Uhhh…yeah, I guess I kind of am…" he said absent-mindedly, trying to piece together all the information he had in front of him. Why had Zoe been looking at Atlanta area jobs and housing?
She continued to try to make chit chat with him about Brando's wedding while he clicked through the tabs again. He interrupted her mid-sentence, "I think you forgot to log out of your email."
She was standing across the island from him, slicing some fresh fruit for part of her breakfast. She paused for a second and looked up at him, "Oh did I? Can you just log me out? I was on the computer yesterday afternoon…" she continued slicing fruit and started again trying to make conversation about the wedding.
Wade interrupted again, "Zoe? What are all these websites for Atlanta hospitals and apartments?" he watched her intently as she slightly faltered from her breakfast preparations. He noted the slight pallor that immediately took over her face.
"Umm…nothing – I just – I – " she stuttered, unable to get out an intelligible thought or sentence. She abandoned her fruit and coffee and tried to make her way around the island, towards the laptop to try to delete all the evidence that Wade had been looking at for the last several minutes. He was quicker than her though, standing up from his stool, and holding the laptop just out of her reach.
"You moving?" he asked gruffly.
"No!" she yelled a little too quickly. "Can I just see the computer for a second?" she asked almost desperately, trying again unsuccessfully to reach for the laptop.
"No," he replied. "What's with all the Atlanta websites?" he asked again, almost angrily.
He could see Zoe's face turning red and her eyes tearing up. "I just – I was just – I don't know…" she finished lamely, quietly. He stood there, staring at her, waiting for an explanation while the utter craziness of her actions weighed down on her. He was dumbstruck; he couldn't decide between lecturing her about how she hijacked people's lives and had to stop her crazy schemes or just storming out of the kitchen and avoiding her for days, if not weeks.
He took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions. She looked like she was about to cry and that was the last thing he was trying to do. He just wanted some answers. "Were you planning on moving?" he asked again, trying to calm his voice a bit.
Zoe stood there, fidgeting nervously. "No….Maybe…" she responded. After several beats of silence and his continued unrelenting stare, she whispered "Yes."
"So, if I had moved away – moved to Atlanta for this franchise offer – you would have moved out there too?" he asked again in a low tone, his facial expressions carefully controlled.
"Yes…but it's…it's not as crazy as it seems – if you just let me explain –" she started nervously, her voice wavering. "What – what if you needed a friend or someone to talk to? I'd be able to be there for you. A new job and a move to an unfamiliar city can be very stressful. Both of those things are actually the most stressful things you can put yourself through and as your doctor…." Zoe continued her discourse but Wade was no longer really listening.
He set the laptop down on the kitchen counter again, glancing at the screen one last time, taking it all in. Joel's words from the night before were at the forefront of his thoughts. Zoe hadn't moved for Joel; in fact, Joel was convinced that Zoe would never move away from BlueBell. "She always knew her home was in BlueBell. She'll never leave this place," Joel's words repeated in Wade's head.
"…big city life can be scary when all you've ever known is a small town…." Zoe was still pleading her case, too wrapped up in her explanations to realize that Wade wasn't really paying attention.
She was going to move to Atlanta – for him. She was going to follow him out there, even after he had run out after she made a speech to the whole town about how she loved him. She was going to follow him after he also told her that he didn't believe in them having a second chance. None of that had mattered to her. She had started looking up places to live and possible job locations for herself in Atlanta. She was going to uproot her life – for him.
"…and, I mean, if there is ever ice or snow in the winter again I have plenty of experience with that from my winters in New York…" somehow she was still talking even though he had remained silent for several minutes. He took some steps closer to her until he was standing right in front of her. "…so, when you take all that stuff into account, it's really not that crazy of a thing to do…" Zoe finished lamely, still fidgeting nervously in front of him.
"Oh no, it's still completely crazy. Actually, certifiable to be exact," he finally spoke. "Why were you really going to move?" he asked, as if she hadn't just spent the past several minutes rambling about her reasons for moving.
She bit her lip and looked down at her hands for a few seconds before responding, "You know why," she said almost shyly.
He placed a hand underneath her chin and tilted her face up so that she couldn't avoid his gaze. "Maybe I need to hear you say why," he said in a low tone.
He could see the worry in her eyes but she held his gaze and he had to smile to himself, looking at his crazy, beautiful, brave neighbor. "Because I love you and I know that we're supposed to be together," Zoe stated her voice stronger than she currently felt.
He looked at her intently for several long quiet seconds, his thoughts a jumble of unanswered questions and strong emotions. Underneath it all though, there was that strong magnetic pull that connected them; no matter how far away they were from each other or who else they were with, Wade knew they would always be drawn to each other. How long could he really ignore that?
She had been the only one to break through all of his walls, all of his defenses, and see him for who he really was; and when she had left, he had been left standing in the ruins, trying to pick up the pieces. He wasn't sure he would survive that kind of pain again.
His hand still under her chin, his thumb gently stroked her jaw. He stared at her, "What if….I had been moving somewhere else? What if they sent me to Austin?" he questioned her.
She shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I would pack my cowboy boots" she stated simply.
His thumb was still caressing her jaw, "What if they had sent me to Seattle?" he continued, taking another step closer to her.
"I have rain boots and an umbrella," she responded, not skipping a beat.
"What if they had sent me to L.A.?" he asked quietly.
She reached up and placed her hands on each side of his face, making sure she had his attention and that his eyes were focused on her. "Wade, I would follow you anywhere."
Again, he looked at her intently for several long moments. Without even realizing what she was doing, her words, her actions had a healing effect on his heart. A slow smile took over his face. He moved his hands down to her waist and pulled her closer to his body. "Really?" he asked quietly.
She raised up on her toes, getting closer to him. "Yes, really," she whispered, "I am crazy in love with you."
He looked down at her incredulously. How could she be so certain of her decision to be with him? Yes, she had caused him pain but he knew, regretfully, that he had caused her heartbreak too. She seemed willing to overlook all that past hurt to be with him again. She was willing to put her heart on the line, his crazy, beautiful, fearless neighbor. More than that, she wasn't running away from him. She was willing to pack up and run with him.
As if sensing his reason for hesitation and basically reading his mind with that insane connection that tethered them together, Zoe, still with her hands cradling his face, murmured, "Wade, we've both grown up in our time apart. We've been with other people and in different relationships and I know, at least for me, all of that just made me realize that I never stopped loving you and that I want to be with you." Her voice trembled slightly as she continued, "And I'm so scared but I know that I can't move on without knowing that I tried everything in my power for us to get back together."
All of his earlier resolve to stay far away from this crazy, beautiful woman flew out the window. If she could let her guard down and let him in again, all in the name of future happiness, then so could he. He closed the short distance that remained between them by lowering his head and kissing her gently. He rejoiced when she willingly leaned into him and returned his kiss.
She pulled away from him after a few moments, "Does this mean that you changed your mind? You think maybe we do deserve a second chance?" Zoe looked up at him, her eyes full of hope.
He smiled down at her, "We're always so backwards with everything…" he stated. Zoe gave him a puzzled look. Wade continued, "Most people get to know each other, start dating and end up falling in love. We're already in love, so where do we go from here?" he asked her earnestly.
She placed her hands on his chest and started fiddling with a button on his shirt, not meeting his gaze. "We're in love? Does that mean…that you…that maybe you still love me?" she asked shyly, her voice getting quieter with each word.
He gave her an incredulous look that she didn't notice since she was too afraid to meet his gaze. "You're kidding me, right?" he questioned. He placed his hand underneath her chin again and tilted her head up towards his so that she was forced to meet his gaze. "I am crazy in love with you Zoe Hart," he repeated her declaration to him from a few minutes prior and smiled – it felt amazing to say those words!
The smile that broke out on Zoe's face made him realize that he wanted to be the only one to make her smile like that. He wanted to be there for all her happy moments; he wanted to comfort her for any sad moments; he wanted to share all life's joys with her.
"Are you free tonight?" Wade asked Zoe. "I would love to take you out to dinner. I'm not gonna mess this up. We're gonna do this the right way this time around." He had to laugh at the way she practically bounced with excitement.
Zoe composed herself slightly before replying, "I would love to go to dinner with you." They smiled at each other, sharing a meaningful glance, before she pulled him down for another kiss. They both knew this was the beginning of something amazing.
They were both too wrapped up in each other to notice Lavon walk into the kitchen, take one look at them and immediately walk back out, grumbling to himself about happy couples ruining his breakfast.