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Zoe felt like she was floating. Her once pounding head wasn't pounding anymore and she didn't have a nauseas feeling. Opening her eyes she took in her surroundings, not exactly sure what was going on. The walls were white and she heard an obnoxiously loud beeping. That's when she realized she was in a hospital bed with in IV drip and a heart monitor hooked up to her. Looking to her left she spotted Wade sitting there.

"What happened?" Her shaky voice asked.

Wade looked up at her a small smile escaped his lips. "You're awake." He said as he brushed her hair off her forehead. If Zoe had been her normal self she would have made some joke about the romantic gesture but not now.

"What's wrong with me?" She asked somewhat scared. She remembers being sick but she didn't think it was anything serious enough to land her in the hospital.

"Your doctors not sure, they are running some test to see if they can figure it out." He explained, "Zoe do you remember what happened?" She shook her head no. "You passed out in the middle of town. Luckily Brick was there and he couldn't get you to wake up. So we called an ambulance and the rushed you here to Mobil."

Zoe groaned. If the town didn't think she was a joke of a doctor before they sure would now. What kinda doctor winds up in the hospital as a patient themselves? "Nobody is gonna take me serious as a doctor now."

"Everyone gets sick, even pesky doctors like you."

There was a knock and the two both looked to see a young female wearing a white lab coat. She had a stethoscope around her neck and Zoe assumed she was her doctor.

"Glad to see you are a wake Dr. Hart." She said with a smile as she walked into her room. "I'm Dr. Lobel, I'll be working on your case."

"It's nice to meet you."

"If you don't mind, Mr. Kinsella." The doctor said.

"Oh yeah um I'll be right back." Wade said as he got up from his chair. Zoe on the other hand had a different story and grabbed his hand.

"He can stay."

Pulling up a small chair, Dr. Lobel sat down. "Now I want to discuss your recent test results with you." Zoe nodded. "When you came into the ER this afternoon we noticed that your lymph nodes along your neck were slightly swollen." Zoe touched her neck out of habit. Sure enough her glands were swollen. "Your blood work also came back with a few abnormalities."

Zoe felt a lump form in her mouth, afraid of what the doctor was about to tell her. Wade obviously not understanding what exactly Dr. Lobel was saying sat up in his chair. "So what is wrong with her?"

"We will need to do a biopsy to conform but I believe Dr. Hart here is in the early stages of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. "

"Look I know I'm not a doctor or anything but what the heck is that?" Wade asked clearly aggravated.

Zoe turned to him with tears in her eyes. "It's a type of cancer."

The moment the words escaped Zoe's lips Wade swore the world stopped. This was bad. This was really bad. People died from cancer. His Momma died from cancer. "I want a second opinion."

"I know this is a lot to handle right now, and like I said we will need to do a biopsy to verify, but this cancer is very treatable. I believe we caught it at its earliest stage and with the right treatment you should be able to live a healthy normal life."

"When would I have the biopsy?"

"We would like to schedule it for this evening." Zoe nodded. "I would also like to talk about you receiving a port. I'm sure you already know what that is?"

Zoe nodded then looked over at Wade. "It's a round disk like thing they plant under my skin and it is attached to one of my veins that way it will be easier when I receive my treatment."

"What kind of treatment exactly would Zoe be receiving?"

"The most common form of treatment is a course of chemotherapy called ABVD. It is made up of four drugs, Adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine and decarbazine. We would give it in cycles, and one cycle is given over four weeks. We would give you one dose at day one of the cycle and the next dose on day 15."

"How many cycles would I go through?"

"It is generally six months long with six cycles, however cycles can be delayed if your blood counts are low or you come down with an infection. "

Zoe head was swimming with all the information she had been given. She had cancer. Sure it was a common cancer and she knew the outlook was pretty well but it was still cancer. A disease that many people died from, a disease that she was pretty sure Wade's mom had died from. Shit.

After making sure that neither Zoe nor Wade had any more questions she excused herself. A resident would be in after a while to prep Zoe for her biopsy.

Wade hadn't said anything in twenty minutes, he just held onto Zoe's hand like it was a lifeline and stared at the white wall in front of him.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." She told him breaking the silence.

"Zoe you have cancer, you can't tell me it's not as bad as it sounds." He told her as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Look I've worked around people with cancer, lots of people survive it. And Dr. Lobel she said she thinks they caught it early. I'm going to be fine. I'm going to have the chemo and then in six months I'll be done."

Wade couldn't help but smile as Zoe's optimism. Maybe she was right; this wasn't 15 years ago when cancer was a death sentence. Zoe was going to beat this.

"Just promise me one thing?" Zoe asked him.

"Anything."

"You will be by my side every step of the way?"

"Promise."

"Even when I'm puking my guts out in the pink bucket over there?" She asked with a laugh as she pointed to a pink bucket near the sink across the room.

"Even then." Wade said as he sat down next to Zoe in the tiny hospital bed and wrapped his arms around her pulling her in a hug.