I do not own Hart of Dixie or any part of it (though Wade would be an excellent exception to that)

"Hey"

"You gettin back in here or what?"

"I uhh... that was..." she couldn't quite formulate a response, instead just gesturing back towards the door.

"What? Zoe what? What did Lavon say?"

"That was George.." she looked down as if deep in thought, then shook her head slightly before looking him straight in the eyes "he called off the wedding.." she watched as he mouth fell slightly open "for me." And just like that his eyes closed gently as he exhaled, half laughing at his own painful misfortune.

"Right" he said standing, the frustration now written on his face. He moved quickly into the corridor where just awhile ago he was pushing her up against the wall.

"Guess he's waiting on the porch for me to vacate. Got it!" he grabbed his clothes and made a move for the door, stopping suddenly, with his hand on the knob.

His back muscles tensed and he didn't even have to turn for her to know he was angry, know that the next words would hurt. His voice was low but furious, and he spoke through clenched teeth.

"You know doc, in the spirit of keeping the air cleared or whatever, i came over here knowing full well you're not the one night stand kind of girl. For the first time I made a move knowing it was going to stick. Hoping it was. But you know what, that was stupid on my count. This is on you, it always has been on you to look my way and give it a go. So go ride off into the sunset with George knowing that. I may be your second choice, but you certainly were not mine. But your point's proven – golden boy comes first. And whatever that something between us may have been, consider it officially dead and gone"

And without having turned to look at her, he threw the screen open and stormed off into the night, not faltering for a second as he walked off the step into the full pour of rain. She was so shocked she couldn't get out more than a whisper "Wade.."

She pushed the door of the Rammer Jammer open, fully intending to walk right up to the bar without slowing. Instead she paused for a moment when she saw him, back to her, wiping a glass as Tom rambled on to him about something she couldn't quite hear. This was by no means the first time she had seen him since that night. They had shared at least three sufficiently awkward and angry encounters since, where he instantly felt compelled to up and leave anytime she so much as entered the room. The first few times over breakfast she had convinced herself she was exaggerating, but when he left Lavon mid game when she walked in one afternoon, all doubt flew from her mind.

She took a deep breath, and marched right towards the bar, throwing her bag down on the bar stool to get his attention but not bothering to sit down. She could see his jaw tense in that way that had become all too familiar at the sight of her, as if her mere presence was physically painful. Still she steeled herself and took a deep breath

"You want to see what the thing between us is Wade? Then don't be a baby and run the second there's a bump. Just so you know I could have easily not told you, but stupid me thought to myself 'No he, we, deserve a better start than that' HA. Little did I know you'd be out the door and blaming me! Well guess what? I know you made my gumbo. I haven't forgotten that you stayed with me when Leon Mercy showed up at my house. Or that you brushed the hair out of my face that night in your car, well before any of this really started. You started stocking my favourite wine. I ended anything with Jesse the second I found out he was your brother, even after those horrible things you said. I stopped when the heatwave broke because I realised I didn't want it to be one night. I know that you like those stupid Dixie stop pickles, and that you never take off that necklace. And I really do think it's heroic that you help earl when everyone else just watches him from afar, no matter what you say! He's Jesse's dad too and I don't see him anywhere close! I have no idea why Tansy didn't marry that buffoon with a crossbow but I know it was you who stopped it because you have this overwhelming instinct to protect everyone. And I still have Bora Bora flowers on my mirror because it reminds me that maybe on some level you do believe in relationships. Ok? That's all the evidence I can think of that proves you are not my second choice. Not that night, before or after George came over, and not any time since. So if this thing is "dead and gone" (she said with the most sarcastic air quotes and wade voice she could put on) then that's on you. Not me!"

She fixed him with her most deadly stare and smiled inside seeing the look of pure shock and shame on his face that she had felt when he stormed out of her house. She grabbed her bag and walked tall out of the door.

She barely made it to the road when she let out an exasperated groan. Finally all that guilt and tension was out of her system.

"Please don't tell me that was a your starting sound for round two because I don't think I'm quite ready to go again just yet"

She kept walking. No, he said what he needed to and then got to make his exit, now I want the same. She wanted him to have to wallow with guilt like she had.

"Doc, cmon. You're not even going to let me respond? That's what we do. Bickering doesn't work if it's one sided."

Silence.

"Doc, wait!"

She could hear the sound of gravel as he jogged towards her.

"Zoe!"

He never called her that before that night, and he sure as hell wasn't going to start now. She stopped and turned abruptly, "What? It's dead and gone Wade! Dead and go.."

But she didn't finish as his lips crashed against hers with all the heat and passion she had just been feeling. He broke for air for a second, letting out a breathy "I'm sorry" as he did, before cupping her face and kissing her again. Her mind hadn't quite caught up, but her lips were seemingly moving of their own accord as they moved in a messy clash against his. Again they briefly parted, and again an "I'm sorry" left his lips, and as if he were acting on cue, he muttered the same words twice more as their kiss grew more intense still. Finally she moved her hands from where they had been fiercely grabbing his hair, onto his chest and pushed him away slightly. They both gasped for breath, and before he could get out those standard two words she balled her hands into his shirt and shook her head slightly, "Damn right you are, now shut-up". A small smile played on the corner of her mouth as she realised that they were finally where they had been blindly running to. His grin mirrored hers and they met halfway in a much slower, gentler brush of lips. He lifted her up and squeezed her slightly, feeling her smile against his lips in response as he set her down again. They stood with their bodies still pressed against each other with their faces barely apart. He moved his hands down her arms until they were holding her hands, perfectly within his own. His face broke into the widest smile she had seen in awhile as again he brushed the hair from her eyes. "So, who said I made your gumbo?"