"This ain't a joke Zoe. I hope you're talking about sick in the brain because trust me girl, I got that message loud and clear." He was still angry, but he tried to make a joke. I turned around to face him with the tears streaming down my face. His face changed from angry to concerned.

"But you don't mean that kind of sick do you?" Wade asked, rubbing his neck with his hand and looking down at the deck. I shook my head no and tried to wipe my tears away. I could tell he was embarrassed by his outburst now that I had revealed why I had been gone so long. He took a few steps closer to me and wrapped his arms around me to calm me down, and for the first time in six months, I felt a sense of comfort. I breathed in his smell, the smell that I had longed for after my countless stays at the hospital. After a few minutes, I had calmed down and he led me over to his porch swing. He sat next to me while I mustered up the courage to tell him.

"What kind of sick do you mean Doc?" He looked at me this time and his demeanor had changed completely from that of a few minutes ago. His voice was gentle and his facial expressions were kind.

"Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia." I heard him take a big sigh.

"Leukemia?" He took a big breath in, "When did you find out? How serious is it?"

"About three days before my flight back to Mobile. And it's not as serious as it could have been." I couldn't help but laugh. It was all just too ironic that as soon as I was ready to be happy that this would happen.

"And that's why you didn't come home…"

"I couldn't, I was scheduled for surgery two days after that. And then when that one didn't work, another one four weeks later. And that seemed to be successful in keeping it from spreading really, but we're trying a new method of treatment in pill form, so I have an appointment to set everything up in Mobile in a few days. But if that hasn't worked, then I have to start chemotherapy and radiation," I didn't dare look at Wade because I knew he'd just feel sorry for me, and that wasn't what I needed.

"Zoe, I'm so sor-" I interrupted him before he could finish.

"No, don't be sorry. I deserved everything you said, because it's true. All of it, I left without an explanation for most of Bluebell and I didn't contact anyone when I found out I wasn't coming home."

"You don't need to be sorry Doc, obviously, you had a lot more on your mind. I just wish I would've known. I wish there was something I could've done, or just been there at the hospital for you." I felt more guilt being piled on as he said that.

"I know, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just figured everyone in Bluebell was mad at me for leaving on such short notice, and you'd be mad because I couldn't tell you how I felt before I left. I meant it when I said I was ready to come back home and have everything with you." I dropped my head down.

"Like I said, don't be sorry. So how'd this all happen anyway?" He picked up my hand and held it.

"Well I was finishing my residency at Belleview and I was feeling really worn down and just crappy overall. I was late, like really late, so I figured I should probably take a test. I did, and it was negative so I tried to forget about it. But one day I felt really shaky. I didn't trust myself enough to do a surgery, so I watched, and it's probably a good thing too. I passed out in the OR and the next thing I remember is waking up in the emergency room with tubes in my nose and an IV in my arm. They told me what they found and it was all a whirlwind from there. Surgeries, medicine, blood samples, MRIs, CT scans, everything. It's a type of blood cancer, so they're hoping that if these pills don't work, then chemo will. So we'll see." He remained silent, but his facial expression did all the talking for him.

"Who else knows?"

"In Bluebell? No one, I wanted you to know first because I felt that I owed you an explanation before everyone else. But this was just the first of many tough conversations I'm going to have," I said as I stood up from his porch swing.

"Where are you going?" He stood up and followed me.

"To tell Lavon and Annabeth, now that you know, it's not a big secret anymore."

"Let me come with. I love you Doc, and I want to be here for you, every step of the way. I want to be with you, I want to hold you, I want to keep you safe." He ran down the couple of steps to me on his lawn.

"I want that too." I whispered before he kissed me. It was a soft, gentle, but passionate, kiss that left me head spinning, for real. When we separated I closed my eyes to regain my composure.

"You alright Doc?"

"Yeah, I'm perfect actually." I smiled at him and he grabbed my hand as we walked back to the main house.

"You ready?" He asked me as we approached the back door.

"I already got the hardest one over with, so hopefully it's easy sailing from here."

"Before we go in, I just want you to know how truly sorry I am. For everything, for that stupid girl, for everything I said about you, for everything I didn't say to you, for all of the things I thought about you when you didn't come home, and for the way I treated you tonight. I feel awful 'bout it." He had sad eyes, and I immediately forgave him for his previous behavior.

"Like I said, it's okay Wade. I love you, and that means that sometimes, we just have to forgive each other." I gave him a small smile as he opened the door.

"Well look who it is AB? And both smiling, might I add." Lavon joked as he looked up from his dessert at the table.

"Not for long Lavon, there's something serious I need to tell you," I explained as I sat down on a chair at the table across from Lavon and Annabeth. Wade took the seat next to mine and held my hand underneath the table.

"Okay, what is it? You're scaring me Zoe." Annabeth said after I took a minute to gather what I was going to say in my head.

"You see, the reason I didn't come home right away was because I have cancer." I blurted out and both Lavon and Annabeth gasped.

"What do you mean cancer? Like skin cancer, right? The kind you have removed in one doctor's visit and then you're fine?" Annabeth asked nervously.

"Not so much, I have acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It's a type of blood cancer that makes me produce too many white blood cells that are malignant."

"Well acute means small right? So that's good!" Annabeth tried to find the positives in everything and that's what I loved about her.

"It's actually named that because of the short amount of time it takes from getting the disease to it killing you." I felt everyone at the table take in a sharp breath. Wade was still holding my hand, but he had the other one on his face.

"But, it's going to be okay I think, they caught it early enough that they are hoping with treatment it goes away. There's a 30-40% chance that I will have chemo and radiation and be completely normal." I tried to comfort them because I knew how it felt to be finding out news like this. I had faced this myself only three months before.

"You didn't tell me that Doc." Wade whispered and I looked over at him and noticed he was crying.

"It's going to be fine, and if I'm not, I can always send Gigi down here so you guys can get your city girl fix." I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

"No, don't do that, how can you joke about this?" Lavon said, looking up from the table.

"Because I've had three months to process. And I've come to the conclusion that whatever happens happens, and I'm not going to waste however much time I do have on this earth being all sad and mopey. I'm going to make them worth it until I can't anymore." I had expected them to be upset, but I didn't realize just how upset they'd be. Lavon stood up from his chair and walked back into his office and slammed the door. That definitely wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

"Oh, Zoe, I'm so sorry, he's just surprised is all. You're his best friend, and I think he feels like he just got you back, and now you're being taken away from him again. I'll talk to him." Annabeth walked back to the office and I took this as our clue to leave.

"Well, you should probably get this girl to bed, I'm tired now more than ever." I looked at Wade who still had an expression on his face like someone had just killed me in front of him. He stood up without saying a word and walked back to our houses hand in hand, but silent.

When we got to where we had to separate, Wade hesitated, not knowing what to do, so I took the initiative.

"Hey Wade, maybe you could stay the night? I know we're taking things slow, but in light of the situation, I want to live every moment to the fullest and embrace each opportunity." I was nervous he would reject me, but I saw a small smile flicker across his face.

"Of course," He agreed and I led us back to my place. He was pretending to be okay with all of this, but I knew he wasn't.

"Wade, look at me." I said as I tipped his chin up to face me, "Stop worrying, everything's going to be fine, I promise, now get that sad look off your face and come be happy with me, please?"

"Alright." He agreed again and let a smile cover his face this time.

"Good." I went into the bathroom to change into my pajamas, and I knew what I was about to do was probably a bad idea, but I had missed him, and I wanted to feel his body again. I came out of the bathroom in new black lingerie, which I had bought just for the occasion. I stepped out of the bathroom and Wade's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Doc, I don't know what you-" I interrupted him by kissing him, hard. My tongue begged for entrance inside his mouth and finally he granted me access. I grinned through the kiss and after a few solid minutes of a full-blown makeout session, he pulled away.

"Zo, we really shouldn't, I don't want to hurt you, or make anythin worse than it already is," Wade protested.

"Wade, please, I've gone six months without sex, and if I have to have chemo, that will kill my sex drive completely, so if you want to have sex anytime in the next few months, now's the time," I begged him as he debated in his head.

"What if I played the 'I have cancer, give me what I want' card?" I joked, but he didn't find it funny like I did. I forgot that he was still digesting the news, while I had made light of the situation.

"Sorry, too soon?" He nodded his head, but he still had the idea of sex on the brain.

"Zoe, I want to do things right this time, I want to give you everything, and I want to take things slow. Sex doesn't really fit that description."

"What if we don't have time to take things slow?" I swallowed hard and waited for his reaction. "Is it because you don't feel the same way you used to? Or is it because I look different? I'm not stupid, I know I look gross now. I've tried to eat more, but I have no appetite; my hair is dull and stringy now; I look like a bag of bones basically and it's gross, I know that." I couldn't even look at him when I said that, I knew this would happen. I wasn't the same girl I was when I left Bluebell. My eyes welled with tears for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

"I'm sorry, this was stupid, I'm just going to go change. You can go home if you want." I turned around to head back into the bathroom while I wiped my tears from my face.

"No, Zoe, that's not it! That's not it at all! Sure, you look a little different, but that's because you have cancer! I think you're just as beautiful as you were the day you left Bluebell. And sure, in the beginning I liked you because you were hot. But after I got over the initial shellshock of your physical beauty, I saw how amazing you are, both physically, mentally, emotionally, everything." He grabbed my arm to stop me from storming off into the bathroom. I winced and he released my arm immediately.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you!" He was instantly worried when it started to bruise.

"No, it's okay, it didn't even hurt, I just bruise really quickly now. I promise, it doesn't hurt at all," I plead as his eyes locked on mine and I felt like I could see everything he was feeling. Wade had always been that way though, she could read him like the back of her hand.

"See, I barely touched you and I'm hurting you. It's not that I don't want to, trust me, I do. And when the time is right, we will." I nodded at his response, but I wasn't happy about it.

"What now?" He said in a happier tone.

"It's just, by then I'll be really gross. I'll probably be bald and tired all the time…"

"Doc, it doesn't matter what you look like, I promise." He leaned in and kissed my forehead. I accepted the kiss and just stayed snuggled into his warm embrace for a few minutes. Eventually, we parted and I told him that I was going to go change if nothing was going to happen tonight. I came back out in one of his old t-shirts that I had brought with me to New York and a pair of shorts on and my hair up.

"Now that's a sight to see. My girl in my clothes. You must know how to take a man's breath away." I blushed at his comments and made my way to my bed. He shrugged his jeans off and removed the t-shirt he had worn to dinner.

"That's not fair! We can't have sex, but you can tease me like that! You're practically naked!"

"And you weren't four seconds ago? Plus with a body like mine, who doesn't want to show it off. And I never told you to change girl." I grinned when I heard him say that, it made me feel like things were getting back to normal again.

"Hey Wade?"

"Mhmm?"

"What are we? Like I told you how I feel, and you told me how you feel, but what exactly does that make us?" I asked nervously and bit my lip.

"Well what do you want us to be?" He propped his head up on the pillow as he asked me.

"I think I made that pretty clear, don't you think?" I laughed, but again, nervously.

"Than it would be my honor if you would accept the title of Wade Kinsella's girlfriend, that's how they do it in New York, right?" He laughed when I hit him in the chest with my hand.

"Well I'm not really into New York guys, sorry." I winked at him and he feigned rejection. We both laughed for a few seconds.

"No, but for real, I would love to be your girlfriend Wade Kinsella."

"Good, because I would love to be your girlfriend too Zoe Hart."

"It never stops with you does it?" I grinned, knowing that Wade wasn't holding any grudges. I was really worried when Lavon told me how mad he was, which got me to thinking this was all just because I told him I was sick.

"What can I say, I'm easy on the eyes and smooth with the jokes. It doesn't get any better than that." I could feel his smirk even though my back was to him. He snuggled up to me and put his arms around my waist.

"God you're so tiny now. I feel like I could just crush you. Roll over on top of you like a baby."

"What kind of analogy even is that?" I laughed at his attempt to make a joke. I pushed the thoughts of Wade only being here out of pity out of mind for another day and decided to just enjoy the moment now that I was finally back in Wade's arms.