Sat down to write out a story that I had in my mind, and this came out. It isn't what I thought I was going to write at all, but here it is somewhat fully formed. Hope you enjoy it. Reviews are always welcome. They mean so much.

"Come here." Wade said softly. That always got her, the way he said that. It meant everything would be alright with them. No matter what she'd done or how she'd acted to him, those two words let her know he was there and everything would be fine.

She'd come home later than she wanted after a frustrating and maddening day. At work Brick was being a bit of a pompous ass lately. Seriously, it was always one step forward and two steps back with that man. He'd been so rude about her dating Wade since he'd found out that he was her boyfriend. She didn't understand why he couldn't just leave it alone. She'd supported him when he was having a problem with Emily, before they broke up and even after. She'd tried to be understanding and listened to him, but he was not doing the same for her and had been making snide comments about her dating Wade for the past few weeks. She'd had enough and let him have it today. He didn't take it well and told her that he didn't understand why she wasn't with George since he left Lemon for her. She had to bite her tongue on that one since Brick wouldn't hear anything about Lemon being part of the problem. She'd seen clearly lately that there was no future for her and George. She'd told him maybe in the future they would be together, but she knew that would never be. She didn't regret it or anything like that. She'd made the right decision to not jump into a relationship with George right after him leaving Lemon. She realized George was a fantasy for her. She had feelings for him, but they weren't all she thought they were at the time. He was great and what she thought was her ideal guy, but they would not ever work as a couple. She'd be bored with his perfectness, and he'd be disappointed at her inappropriateness. They might like each other and have a lot in common, but they'd be a disaster together. No, she didn't have any regrets about George. She'd told Brick that today which just seemed to make him madder and he pointed out that his daughter sure had to be hurt a lot for her to figure that out. He was so rude about Wade all the time like he thought he was somehow better than Wade or that she was too good for Wade and should know that. She knew it was because Brick was a bit snobbish and thought the son of the town drunk wasn't a good match for a doctor.

He didn't see that Wade was the best match for her - doctor or not - he was the right guy for her. Wade could handle all her craziness and her thinking too much about every little thing. Wade helped her loosen up, let her hair down when she got too uptight about things. Sure he was frustrating and even infuriating sometimes, but he always knew just how far to push her, and usually it was for her own good. Wade got her. He accepted her just like she was. He even seemed to like that she was neurotic and did crazy things. He might tease her, but she knew he could handle all her craziness and all the times she messed up and had to make things right.

But Brick wasn't what was bothering her tonight. It was Earl that was the real problem, or rather her confrontation with Earl, and it was that she knew she'd have to tell him about Earl and that they'd have to talk about George tonight (her feelings for George was not, understandably, Wade's favorite subject), and she knew she couldn't explain without talking about that. She'd have to tell him about Earl because she knew, this being BlueBell, that he'd find out eventually, and it would be better if he found out from her.

She'd got home late and started taking her frustrations out on Wade. She complained because he'd cooked dinner before she got home when he'd promised they could do that together because he was supposed to be helping her learn to cook. She wanted to be able to make a nice dinner for him sometime, though she hadn't told him that. She was already frustrated and that was just the last straw to a day that had been aggravating. She'd messed up yelling at Wade about not waiting for her and neither of them had enjoyed their dinner which was really good. Wade was waiting her out. Letting her go on and on about how he had let her down and hadn't done what she asked him to do. Of course, that just led to her picking on everything else he hadn't done right - though none of it was true. She'd been desperately trying to blame him for something to cover up for what she knew she had to tell him about how she'd messed up today. She knew she'd have to tell him, and that made her mad. She didn't want to tell him because she was scared what his reaction would be, which was likely just stupid on her part, but she was really trying to deflect and even pick a fight with him so she could blame something on him and not have him be so mad or have to tell him what she needed to. She should have known he'd figure it out, figure her out. He knew her so well, and while he didn't like her attacking him and not appreciating his efforts, he knew what she was doing almost immediately. Sometimes that was the most infuriating thing about him. The most endearing and the most infuriating at the same time. She really was just a big mess! Luckily, she was Wade's mess, and he could wait for her to get it together and tell him the real problem.

That's what he was doing now. He was waiting her out. Letting her get herself together enough to tell him what her real problem was. She didn't want to tell him. She didn't want to tell him about Brick or about her real reason for trying to pick a fight, but she knew she had to. He'd wait as long as it took for her to tell him the issue. He was out there on the porch waiting on her to come talk to him, just sitting there watching the sunset and drinking a beer sitting in that damn wicker chair he'd taken from her months ago. She should be mad that he never gave her that chair back. He just took it like it belonged to him and didn't give it back even after her mother left town. Why did he think he could just take her stuff like that? God, she was completely maddening and could not for the life of her understand why Wade even put up with her sometimes. She was really going to act like she was mad about that damn chair? She just had to tell him or she would drive herself crazy, and she knew Wade would wait for her to drive herself crazy and back again if that's what it took.

That's why she was standing on Wade's porch melting at those two words as he opened his arms and whispered again, "Come here, girl."

She let him pull her into his lap and wrap his arms around her. She melted into him hoping that it would all be alright once she talked to Wade. "Wade." She whispered his name into his neck, and he tightened his arms around her.

"What is it, Zoe?"

"I'm sorry."

"I know. What was that all about, girl?"

"I had a bad day."

"Would have never guessed that one." He teased her.

"Wade," she used her warning voice.

"What made your day so bad?"

"Brick." She sniffed, still not ready to tell him about Earl.

"What'd he do this time?"

"He was being mean to me." She felt Wade chuckle at how pitiful she sounded, and she knew he knew this was going to be a big one. "He was, and you should be glad you have such a good girlfriend because he was being mean to me about you." Wade laughed again as he began to caress her arm gently. "I am so a good girlfriend. I defended you to him."

"Really? Do you think I need to be protected from what Brick says about me?"

She sighed. He was going to make her tell it all. "Yes." She tried and felt him give her a slight squeeze to make her tell the truth. "No. You don't, but I had to do it. He was saying stuff that I didn't like, and I had to set him straight."

"Really, and how exactly did you do that?" She tried to kiss his neck to distract him, but he wasn't having it. "It must really be somethin' if you're trying that. Come on, Zoe. Tell me."

She had to tell him. He wasn't going to let her out of it, and she could never lie to him or leave anything out when he was holding her like this. "Well," she sighed, "it turns out he's mad at me because I'm your girlfriend and not with George."

"Really." She felt him tense up.

"And he was going on and on about how Lemon had to be hurt because of me and that it was a shame that she had to go through all of that when I wasn't even with George and am wasting my time with you." She could tell Wade wasn't smiling or amused with her anymore. She felt the tension run all through him. She had to make it right. "I couldn't just let that go. That's why I had to defend you to Brick."

"hmmm?" She knew it was all he could get out as she felt the tension in him.

"Yes. I had to set him straight because he doesn't get to say that." She took a deep breath. It was always hard for them to talk about George, but she needed to give him this, let him know she wasn't waiting to be with George. "You know he won't hear anything negative about Lemon and her mistakes, so I had to let him know that I'm with you because you're the best person for me, not George. You know that don't you?"

He didn't respond for a moment. "Sure?" It was as much a question as an answer. She knew he was putting up his walls because he didn't want to hear this.

"Yes." She took another deep breath knowing she had to ease his mind now. "We haven't talked about this much, but you need to know that I'm glad I didn't try to have a relationship with George after he left Lemon. That's what I told Brick. That George and I would never work." She put her hand on his chest feeling his heart beating fast.

"Uh huh. That it?" He wasn't ready to talk about that. It was the one topic they'd avoided since she asked him to be her boyfriend.

"Wade, you must know that I'm happy with you. Don't you?" He didn't respond, but she felt the tension in him ease just a bit and placed her lips to his neck again, but he wasn't ready for that. He knew there was more and wanted more before he'd let her in tonight. She had to tell him about Earl.

"I guess, but there has to be more to this than you're telling me, 'cause you don't really care what Brick says about you and me together. What else is there?"

"Wade." She whined.

"Zoe. Out with it."

"I messed up, okay."

"What's new, girl?"

"God, you are really infuriating."

"Zoe, don't do that. Just tell me. Come on."

"I yelled at Earl today."

"You what?" That was definitely a chuckle she felt. "What about?"

"About talking about us to everyone under the sun."

"Do you really think anyone in town listens to Crazy Earl, Zoe. He was probably drunk."

"Wade, don't say that about your dad."

"So, what was he saying that was so terrible you had to yell at him."

She had to tell him, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to go there with him after how she'd acted earlier, but how was she supposed to hold back when he had her in his arms like this making her feel like the world outside of them was irrelevant. She couldn't hold back after he'd said those two words, "Come here." He was smarter than anyone gave him credit for. He knew when he said it that she'd be lost and not be able to resist him. HIs usually independent, spitfire of a girlfriend couldn't resist him then. Those two words were her weakness with Wade. Well, one of her weaknesses. Those words and his smile and his sandy hair and his eyes and the feel of his hands on her skin or in her hair and the feel of his arms around her. Basically, she was just weak to everything about him, and no matter how much she wanted to hold back or resist him, all he had to do was reach out and touch her or say those two words, and he knew she would cave.

She was worried about other words now - three little words and Earl. She knew Wade could put up with her and deal with all of her crazy, but she didn't know what he'd do when she told him what she had to tell him.

"Zoe, you want to come back now?"

"What?"

"You were somewhere else there for a minute. Tell me why you yelled at Earl today."

She let out a sigh contemplating trying to put up more resistance. Maybe she could ask him about this damn chair because it really was her and he could have given it back after her mom left. That's what a good boyfriend would do. She could definitely point that out to him, but she knew that wouldn't get her out of this. He would just keep pushing her, so she gave in, "I was leaving work and saw him in the square holding court with the park bench ladies and Tom and Wanda and a few other people."

"And? He does that sometimes, you know."

"I know, but he was telling them how much in love we are and that we're gonna get married and give him lots of grand kids. He was just going on and on about us like he knew everything we are to each other. I'd just had that run in with Brick only to have to hear him talking to everyone like that, and you know those park bench ladies don't like me and just talk about me and my shorts all the time. I was so mad that he'd do that right out in front of everyone talking about us like that, and I told him to stop doing it. He just looked at me and said I was only upset because I knew it was true that I love his son and can't live without him."

"Is that a bad thing, Doc?"

"Yes." she sniffed trying to keep her moral high ground and get Wade on her side on this.

"Is it really?" He leaned back and looked at her and she knew he knew she didn't believe what she was saying and wasn't telling him the real reason she yelled at Earl.

"Well, I don't like people talking about us like that." She was trying so hard to get him on her side, but it wasn't working and she couldn't take him looking at her so intensely. She broke their gaze and nuzzled back into his neck. He let out a little laugh then knowing what she was doing.

"Is that really it?" He wasn't buying a thing she was telling him at this point, and she knew he was going to keep pressing her, but she couldn't, just couldn't get the courage up to tell him. Not yet.

"Yes." She tried again.

"Sure. So you yelled at Brick, then you yelled at Earl. What then? You stomped around town for a while getting madder and madder before you came home and decided you'd be mad at me because of Brick and Earl? That about right?"

"I guess."

"And tell me, girl, why did they get to you like that? I mean it is just people talking. You don't usually mind it, or at least not too much unless they're talking about your shorts. You're real sensitive about those shorts of yours, but not usually when people are talking about us and how we are together or how we're not right for each other. I know you've heard that more than a time or two, and it never bothered you before. Why now?"

"I don't know." She tried again to nuzzle into his neck and kiss it. She needed him to stop pressing her on this. She was too scared to tell him why. She didn't know what he'd do, and she didn't want to do it first.

"Zoe?"

"I'm scared."

"Scared of what?"

"That Earl is right?" She said as softly as she could into his neck hoping he wouldn't hear her.

"What? What are you scared of?"

"That Earl is right." He was still then. Not breathing at all, and she was really scared then until he breathed slightly and said,

"Right about what?"

She sighed. He was going to win. He was going to make her cave and tell him. "I'm scared that Earl is right, that I'm totally in love with you …" she held her breath but he didn't respond. He'd stopped rubbing her arm though he hadn't loosened his hold on her. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't tell what his reaction was to her confession. "I'm scared that I'm in love with you and you don't feel the same and that Earl was right that I want to marry you and have babies with you, and that you won't want that and will go away from me and not hold me like this or say those words that make everything okay for me. And I don't know what to do about that because what happens if you don't feel the same and I've just messed everything up and there's no going back now is there and everything could just be ruined and I don't want that and I'm so scared to be without you and …" He breathed then and tilted her chin up to look in her eyes.

"What are you saying, Zoe?" He said it softly as he brushed away the tears that had started down her face.

She didn't know if she could do it again, but she was gonna try, for him … for them. "I'm crazy in love with you, Wade Kinsella."

He kissed her then. The way she liked him to sometimes. Soft and gentle and slow. Then he said her new three favorite words, "I love you. Zoe Hart, I'm crazy in love with you, too."

"Really, 'cause you know I'm a handful and neurotic and bossy …" He stopped her with a kiss and those words that got to her every time, "Come here."

AN: I've watched that final scene of 2x10 to hear Wade say "come here" over and over again. I couldn't tell you why, but that line just gets to me. It is so Wade making everything better for him and Zoe, and I guess that's where this little dribble came from. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy.