A/N: I feel kind of bad about this fic. It's not the happiest thing I ever wrote... except for the ending, and I wrote it quite late last night so I can't guarantee the quality (though my beta gave it the once over and loved it, so there's that). This was borne out of frustration, quite frankly, because as cute the Wade/Zoe casual, monogamous, whatever it is relationship is in the early part of Season 2, it's not exactly what I was hoping for! Those two need a good sharp shock to make them admit how they really feel, so that's what I'm giving them here! lol

(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and dialogue from Hart of Dixie belong to Leila Gerstein and other folks who aren't me)

Chapter 1

It ought to be one of those run of the mill Bluebell things, pretty strange for any other place, but perfectly normal for the town Zoe had decided to call home. Unlike the first time she saw it occur, she never even flinched when Tom came running into the Rammer Jammer to let Wade know Crazy Earl was up on the roof threatening to jump. It had become pretty normal by now.

"Is it that time again already?" she asked from her side of the bar.

"Apparently." Wade rolled his eyes. "Wanda? I'll be right back," he called to her as he headed out.

"Earl's on the roof," Zoe told her when she looked ready to get mad about him running off again.

"Oh, right." Wanda nodded. "I just hope he comes right back after. It's awful busy in here tonight."

Zoe thought about it a moment and then got up off her stool. She could always offer to drive Earl home so Wade could get back to work. The last thing she wanted was for him to lose his job, especially when a lot of the other times he had cut out lately was for her.

Hurrying outside, she was concentrating more on putting her jacket back on and keeping her purse on her shoulder than really looking where she was headed.

She went in the general direction of Wade's voice, singing 'Moon River' in the way only he could. It made her smile without her hardly noticing, but unfortunately, that expression wasn't set to last long.

As father and son sang together, almost reaching the end of the song, Zoe caught sight of them, lit by moonlight on the roof of the building just across the street.

'Moon River and me,' they sang together before Earl took a bow to some audience that only he could see - that was when he lost his footing.

"No!" she cried in panic as he slipped.

Wade reached for his father, pulling him back to safety just in time, only for the tile beneath his own foot to give way. Earl grabbed at his son but he had no coordination to speak of and Wade fell, as if in slow motion.

There was nothing Zoe could do but scream.

The world went away. Zoe wasn't really aware of anything but the pictures behind her eyes playing over and over and over, like a movie that just wouldn't end. She saw the moment Wade fell most of all, interspersed with flashes of his motionless body lying on the ground, her own hands flying over his limbs, his chest, checking for injuries, then the horrible moment when she first saw the blood.

"Zoe?"

She only realised anyone had spoken when a hand landed on her arm and drew her attention. She was in the hospital waiting area. George was there.

Golden Boy George Tucker. She might've smiled at Wade's voice ringing clear in her head with those words, if her eyes hadn't immediately fallen on the blood. It was on her shirt, on her pants. His blood.

"I tried," she said, swallowing hard before any more words would come. "I tried to stop the bleeding but... but there wasn't much I could do. I'm a doctor, I should've been able to do something, anything, but I just couldn't. I couldn't help him!"

"Zoe, it's okay. It's okay," he told her, pulling her into his arms and holding on tight as she completely fell to pieces.

Other people came after that. Lavon and Lemon and others that Zoe barely saw or heard. They were all so worried about Wade and then worried about Zoe herself, but worrying didn't help at all.

A million awful scenarios were running through her head all the time, more than any other person could have had, because she knew the complications, the awful consequences that could come with head injuries. She knew too much and right now she wished she didn't.

"You know he's tough," said George beside her. "He'll be alright."

"Maybe," Zoe replied, voice shaking yet. "But if he... if he doesn't make it..."

"Zoe..."

"It could happen!" she told him, too loudly. "It happens and if it did, I don't... I never told him."

"Never told him what?" asked George, turning in his seat to better face her but she looked away.

When her body began to shake with sobs again, he dropped down from his seat onto his knees, taking both her hands in both of his own. He had never seen her like this.

"Zoe, come on," he urged her. "You know you can talk to me. I know you're worried about Wade, so am I, but this is... I mean, I know you care about him but-"

"I do," she said quickly, eyes snapping to meet his. "George, I... I care about you too, you know I do, but Wade and me..."

Her voice faltered and she but her lip, trying to push through. It wasn't easy.

"It started the day you were supposed to marry Lemon. It was supposed to be casual but... but it wasn't. I'm not sure if it ever was, but it's really not anymore, and... and the truth is..."

She never quite managed to spit the words out when suddenly Brick appeared, bringing with him the hospital's own doctor who had presumably been taking care of Wade.

Zoe shot up from her seat, hardly aware of George hovering behind her as she asked what was going on. She heard only parts of the answer, just the most relevant words hitting her ears and firing into her brain like bullets.

Fracture. Bleeding. Swelling. Complications.

Then the world went black.

"Apparently when you suffer shock and haven't eaten anything for a whole lot of hours, you pass out. You'd think a doctor would know something like that, huh? Well, I probably would've thought about it more, if not for you. You're a pain in the ass Wade Kinsella, do you know that? But you're the most charming, kind, addictive, amazing pain the ass I've ever known in my life."

Zoe really wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying as she gently moved her hand along Wade's arm. He hadn't woken up since the fall and until he did the doctors couldn't know for sure how badly damaged his head might be. Zoe couldn't think about it right now, she didn't dare. She just wanted him to wake up already. In fact, there was nothing she wanted more.

"I've been such an idiot," she said with a sigh. "Not that you're much better," she told Wade as he slept on. "I keep thinking if you'd just told me how you really felt, or if I'd just realised sooner how I felt... but we're both too stubborn or too stupid, and now, if it's all too late..."

She used to be stronger than this, Zoe was sure of it, but then she had never really been in this situation before. Bad enough when Rose had her appendicitis and Zoe hadn't seen it coming. She didn't think she could feel worse than that, but this might actually be worse. It wasn't just the guilt and the fear of loss, it was deep regret that she had left it all too late, that he might really be taken out of the world without ever knowing how she truly felt.

"Wade," she said, tears streaking down her face as she leaned over, gently moving his hair off his forehead, mindful of the bandage above. "All those times you did favours for me, you never let me down, even when I didn't deserve it. Please, just do this one more thing for me. Please, please wake up. Wake up and be okay, please," she urged him, until her voice gave out one more time.

With her head on his chest, she cried like her heart was breaking. Quite honestly, it felt as if it might just be. To think she had mistaken her silly crush on George Tucker for actual love, dismissing what she and Wade had as nothing at all. She knew better now. If anything happened to him, Zoe didn't know what she would do.

Zoe came out of sleep slowly, her whole head feeling light and fuzzy.

"Hey now, doc."

She might've thought she dreamt his voice speaking to her. It was only when she felt his fingers running through her hair that she believed this really might be reality. Even then, Zoe moved slowly, almost afraid of breaking the spell. She turned her head towards him and saw his beautiful blue eyes staring down at her, a look of confusion written all over his face.

"Wade?"

"What the hell happened?" he asked, frowning some as his free hand went to his head.

"Don't," she urged him, moving quickly to keep him from disturbing the bandages or the monitors at all. "Wade, you're... you're here."

"Someplace else I'm s'posed to be?" he asked, still completely bemused by the situation apparently.

Zoe couldn't care. He was awake and aware. He could talk and he was looking straight at her. He knew who he was and who she was. It wasn't everything, but the signs were so good. She couldn't help herself, she just threw herself at him and hugged Wade for all she was worth.

"Oh my God, you have no idea how much you scared me," she told him, words muffled against his chest. "One minute you were on the roof and then the next..."

"I fell," Wade recalled, light seeming dawn in his eyes as Zoe pulled back to look at him. "Is Earl...?"

"He's fine," Zoe assured him. "I mean, he's worried about you but he didn't fall."

Wade nodded like he understood, but he looked a little confused yet. The shock was catching up to him, Zoe supposed, and she hated that he was suffering at all, but the smile wouldn't leave her face. She was just so happy to have him back.

"You've been cryin'," he said then, eyes focusing on her face, hand going instinctively to her cheek. "On account of me, doc? Really?" he asked, a little of that church social smile coming back to his face.

Zoe had never been so pleased to see that smile in her whole life.

"Of course, because of you," she insisted, her hand covering his at her cheek. "I told you, you scared the life out of me, Wade Kinsella. I thought... I just kept thinking, 'What if he never wakes up? Then I'll never get to tell him... tell him how much I love him.'"

Maybe it was a little much to say such a thing when he only just woke up, with a head injury and a lot of shock to work through, but Zoe couldn't help it. She had wasted way too much time already, she couldn't bear to let another minute slip by with the words unsaid.

"You what now?" he checked, eyes wider than she had ever seen them.

"I love you, you stupid, fuse-blowing, infuriating, wonderful cowboy," she told him, laughing through a veil of tears. "I really do love you," she promised, hoping he understood, that he believed her even though she had given him every reason not to. "I would've told you sooner, if I'd've known myself, but I didn't. At least, I don't think I did, but when I saw you fall..." She shook her head, the horrible looped moment playing in her mind again, and way too vividly.

"Hey, I'm okay. I'm okay," he promised, pulling her close and holding her tight. "I'm just fine, Zoe. More than fine now," he told her, stroking her hair.

After a few moments, his hands slid to her shoulder, gently pushing her up so he could meet her eyes.

"Hang on a second," he said then, frowning once more. "I just wanna check it ain't the knock to the head or the drugs they got me on or something. You love me?"

"I love you," she repeated slowly and clearly. "You, Wade Kinsella. Only you," she swore to him.

"Well, that works out kinda nice," he said, smirking some as he tucked her hair behind her ear. "'Cause I'm pretty sure I fell in love with you that first day you walked into my house, yelling at me about the fuse box."

Laughter bubbled up in Zoe's throat and escaped in a strange burst of sound, and then she was pushing forward and crushing her lips against Wade's own. Mindful of hurting him at all, she didn't let herself fall into the moment as much as she usually would, and for once, Wade actually seemed to appreciate the chance to breathe.

"Sorry, doc," he told her as they parted. "Don't think I'm exactly at my best right now."

"That's okay, because you're going to be just fine now, I'm going to make sure of it," she promised, curling up beside him on the bed. "I'm going to take care of you. Anything you need, I'm right here. I have a lot of favours to pay back, after all."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Wade, smirking her way. "I think I like you owing me favours," he admitted. "'Course I liked it even better when you said what you did about lovin' me."

"I'll tell you every day if you want me to. Every hour if it'll help," she promised, leaning in to kiss his cheek and whisper in his ear. "I love you, Wade Kinsella."

"Yeah, that'll work," he said softly as his eyes drifted shut.

He needed sleep and that was just fine by Zoe. It would help him heal and get him back to normal, back to the Wade she knew and most definitely loved. That was all she needed.

This story is not longer a one-shot (as originally intended) - read on for Parts 2, 3, and 4 :)