Author's Note: Hello. I am sorry it took so long for me to update. I was struggling a little, because I wanted to keep going back and forth between Wade and Zoe's perspectives', but that makes it kind of difficult to include subplots, not all of which I could even think of due to writers block. Also, it has been a while, so I had to refresh myself on what was going on with everybody else back then. Finally, and this really set me back, I accidentally wrote this chapter in first person, so I had to go back and change everything.

Thank you to all those who reviewed. That meant a lot to me, and thank you for not hating me.

Thank you to Mollie, who is always so sweet and encouraging. Your words mean a lot to me.

Thank you to MissyBlue for your comments.

Thank you to M. What you wrote was very kind and flattering and I am glad you seem to be enjoying the story.

I cannot remember if I responded to any of you with accounts, so if I did not, and you would like me to, please let me know.

A small part of dialogue in this chapter was transcribed from the show. It is not mine.

Please enjoy chapter two. There will be another author's note at the end.

Chapter Two

It had been two weeks since "the incident" as Zoe had deemed it in her head. Two weeks of pure torture. Her and Wade had never gotten along, so fighting wouldn't be a big deal. In fact, it would be normal. But they weren't fighting. They weren't anything. He basically kept away from her. Like when she blew the power, instead of coming over to yell at her, he just went out to fix it. And he almost never blew it anymore. She didn't know how he was doing it, though she had not heard the sound of a guitar coming from across the pond in a while.

When she came to the Rammer Jammer, he always got busy serving somebody else, leaving her to Shelley who, if she were honest, was not as good at mixing drinks.

There had been this one time he had served her … sort of. It had been four days after "the incident." She had walked in and George had been sitting at the bar looking perfect. She had kind of been trying to avoid him too, since that night, though not in an obvious way. Wade was being pretty transparent in his avoiding, but Zoe thought she should use a different approach. After all, George hadn't done anything wrong. He was engaged, and had been before they met. He loved Lemon. It wasn't his fault she felt so strongly for him … well, not technically.

She sat down at the bar a few seats down from him, leaving plenty of room for somebody else to sit between them, but not so much that it seemed like she was avoiding him. He smiled over at her and waved. She waved back, smiling awkwardly. Wade came over to George and put two glasses down, one with whatever George had ordered, the other with wine.

"I didn't order this." George had said confused.

"Just figured the two lovebirds would want to sit together." Wade said bitterly. George looked confused, and Zoe went pink. She was grateful he did not get what Wade had been saying, but she felt humiliated. Then, she was furious. How dare he? She wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but when she looked over, Wade was gone, and Shelley was taking the glass from George, saying she was sorry and she didn't get it either, "He's been barkin' at customers all week. Believe me, if I had a clue what was going through that thick head of his I'd put a stop to it because if he doesn't stop this he's gonna put us out of business."

Last week had been the big Homecoming game, and she had helped Lavon throw his annual pre-game party, which had been a disaster. It was really her friend Gigi's fault, but that was another story. She had gotten to spend some time with Judson though. In her efforts to move on and get over George, she had decided to give Judson a shot. They had gone for coffee, and he had come to the party, presumably to see her. They had talked, and it had been nice to talk to a guy without worrying about his fiancé, as bizarre as that sounded. However, the next day, she found out something had happened involving Wade and George and a guy who they had painted blue. Supposedly, the guy had needed medical attention, and Wade had called Brick. Brick! Where was his sense of loyalty; he knew she needed patients. Even if he hated her, Brick, really?

Sometimes Wade ate at Lavon's, but never when she was there. It wasn't that he was mean to her. On the few occasions when they had run into one another, he was usually fairly cordial. He was cold, very cold, but his words were not harsh, mostly because he seemed to want to use as little as possible so he could get away from her. So sometimes there were brief good mornings and I've gotta books, but that was the extent of it.

The bizarreness with Wade and the awkwardness with George were just a couple of the reason's Zoe was relieved to be flying home for Thanksgiving this week. She could not believe that it was already November, or that she had survived a whole two months is Bluebell, Alabama. Well, sort of survived; she was in kind of a weird place right now. She thought about all of this as she headed to the main house for breakfast, but then stopped. She looked around at the Bluebellians. They were dressed in the most bizarre costumes and carrying things that … she didn't even know. And was that a pirate ship?

"I just saw the weirdest thing-" Zoe started, but the moment she said it, she realized she had spoken too soon. Lavon was dressed like a freakin' pirate! And so was Wade! Wait, Wade. Wade was in the kitchen, and he wasn't running from her? Did this mean he was finally over it and things could get back to normal? She hoped so, but he wasn't looking at her, which couldn't be a good sign. Still, he was there.

"Shiver me timbers." Lavon said in his best pirate voice.

Zoe sighed, "I knew this day would come. You softened me up with heat waves and blue people, but I'm not falling for this."

"Oh, this is no joke." Wade said. He was finally looking at her, and while his tone was normal, his eyes were ice cold, "This is one of this town's most revered traditions."

"The early settles of Bluebell were-"

"Hold on now," Wade said, putting his hand up and cutting Lavon off, "I doubt the doc wants to sit and hear the likes of us explain the holiday to her. I'm bettin' there are certain other locals, who could fill her in way better 'an we can, and I'm sure she's just dyin' for an excuse to talk to them. Ain't that right doc?" he picked up something, she couldn't tell what, and put it in his mouth. He was glaring at her now, daring her to say something, but before she could finish processing what he'd said, he put down what he was eating and said something about more supplies. Then he was gone.

She poured herself a cup of morning coffee. She could feel Lavon's eyes on her, but she pretended not to notice. Finally, when she could not longer avoid it, she looked up. Unfortunately, he was still looking at her.

"What's been goin' on?"

"What?" she asked, playing dumb.

Lavon shook his head, "Oh no, don't even try and pretend you don't know what I'm talkin' about. You and Wade have developed a routine since you moved here, and these last couple weeks, that routine has been turned on its axis."

"Maybe we just, you know, decided to be more civil to one another." Zoe tried, hoping, praying, that Lavon would let it go. Of course she wanted to confide in him. His advice would be welcome. His judgment, however, would no be. Simply put, Zoe was embarrassed. Not only had she almost randomly hooked up with Wade of all people, but he had kicked her out. Mr. 'I'll have a one-night-stand with anybody over eighteen and under 200 pounds' had finally come across somebody who he wanted to say no to, and it was her. It did not get much more embarrassing than that.

"Uh-huh." Lavon replied skeptically, "And why don't I believe that?"

Zoe lifted the cup of steaming coffee to her lips, "Lavon, please just drop it, okay? I would think you'd be happy. As long as he's avoiding me, we won't be fighting, which means you don't have to mediate. Plus, it is far less likely that one of us will murder the other now."

"So, he's avoiding you?" Lavon asked. He was clearly trying to trick her into giving something away. She stayed silent. "You know, as your best friend, I must say, I am a little hurt at the lack of confidin' you've been doin' lately."

"Not fair. You're gonna play that card?"

"Yep."

Zoe sighed, "Okay, well, what I tell you cannot leave this kitchen. And that doesn't mean if somebody else is in this kitchen you can tell them, you cannot tell anybody. Ever! Well, I mean, I guess if you want to talk to Wade, I'm not going to tell you anything he doesn't know, but anybody else-"

"I got the point Zoe." Lavon said, interrupting her rambling.

She took a deep breath. It's like ripping off a Band-Aid Zoe, just say it and get it over with, "A couple of weeks ago, Wade and I … well, we sort of, almost-"

Lavon put his hands up, already regretting that he had meddled, "Wait, stop. Don't tell me. I'm beginning to think I don't want to know."

Zoe slammed her cup down, frustrated, "Well, will you make up your mind? It's not like I haven't wanted to talk about it, it's just a little humiliating."

"I lot of girls feel that way after hookin' up with Wade."

"Woah, hey, I did not hook up with Wade." Zoe said, the offense plain in her voice.

Lavon stepped back, his hands going up defensively, "Sorry, just seemed like where you were goin'-"

"Well if you'd let me finish." Zoe said petulantly. Lavon sighed, then motioned for Zoe to proceed, "Wade and I didn't have sex." She sighed, "but we did, almost have sex." She winced, waiting for his reaction.

"You came to your senses?" Lavon asked, assuming what she desperately wished had happened was true.

"Bizarrely, no. As much as I would love to take the credit, he actually kicked me out." Lavon looked at her like she had lost her mind, which she found a little reassuring. A part of her had worried she was jumping to conclusions, and maybe Wade did sometimes kick girls out. She had not known him that long; maybe this was more common then she thought. Lavon's reaction confirmed her initial assumptions however. Wade clearly did not kick girls out, which meant something beyond out of the ordinary must have been going on there that night. She felt like she was missing something, but it was not as though Wade was offering to fill her in, "I know, it sounds insane. Wade kicking somebody out of bed. I mean, after maybe, but before? Anyway, he's been weird ever since."

"You got any clue why he kicked you out?"

Oh, yes, she had a clue. The timing of her exile meant that there was one specific thing she did that prompted Wade's freak-out. She wanted to skip it. Lavon did not know about George, thank god, and she wanted to keep it that way. As far as she could tell only Wade knew, and the less people who knew, the better. It was not that she did not trust Lavon, but she needed to get over George, not dwell on her feelings. Besides, she knew Lavon would judge her. Lavon was not a very judgmental person, but falling for a married man was a justifiable reason to be judged.

She knew she could not skip this part of the story though. For one, it was dishonest, but more than that, she could not get Lavon's insight without it. Lavon knew Wade pretty well. She hoped he could explain to her why Wade was making such a big deal about this. She could understand his pride getting hurt, but he had not been hurt, he had been furious and scary. He had not wanted to finish what they were doing, and she knew he had gone to bed with girls who had other guys on their minds. He must have; guys like Wade were known for doing that. She would also understand things being kind of awkward between them for a little bit, but it had been two weeks, and things with her and Wade were no closer to normal than they had been the day after "the incident." She needed to understand, and she wanted to make things right, which she could not do without Lavon's advice.

Lavon was watching her contemplate. Finally, she made up her mind. She took another deep breath, okay, embarrassment Band-Aid number two, here we go "Well, okay, remember, you swore you wouldn't say anything to anybody-"

"Technically, I never did that." He said teasingly

"Lavon!" he chuckled, half expecting her to stomp her foot.

"Relax. I can keep a secret."

Zoe huffed, "There's this guy that I sort of, well, that I kind of have a little thing for." She put up her hand and held her thumb and pointer finger close to indicate the littleness of this thing. She knew it was more than that, but she did not want to get into that with Lavon.

"Judson?"

"No. I mean, I like Judson, it's just, there's this guy I am sort of trying to get over and when Wade and I were … doing what we were doing, I guess I sort of called out his name."

"Wade's"

Zoe gave Lavon a look. He couldn't be serious? "No. The guy's."

"Ah."

"Yeah. After that, he got all angry and kicked me out."

"That's a little strange."

"Thank you." Zoe said, relieved, "See, I knew I wasn't crazy. I knew I could not be the first girl this had happened with."

Lavon nodded, "You certainly aren't. I know for a fact that last year a girl called out the name Andrew about five times while her and Wade were gettin' dirty and he didn't have a problem."

"Ew, how do you know that?"

Lavon shrugged, "Girl was loud. Anyway, I asked Wade about it, or rather, if it could be avoided, and he said he could try and sound proof his place a little."

"Ew."

"Uh-huh. Anyway, she had been left at the altar by this Andrew for the best man, but Wade didn't seemed bugged. She stopped callin' out Andrew's name half way through, which Wade took particular pride in. Said it was a good night, and at the climax, girl couldn't've picked Andrew out of a line-up."

Zoe tried not to gag at the mental image, "I cannot believe you guys talk about that."

Lavon rolled his eyes, "Oh like girls don't."

"Okay, well, never tell me anything like that again." Lavon nodded. Zoe poured another cup of coffee, "Thank you for confirming how bizarre Wade's reaction was; he's way overreacted. I get maybe his pride was wounded a little, but apparently, that didn't stop him the last time with this left-at-the-altar girl." Zoe took a sip from her mug, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful he stopped it. It definitely would have gone on my list of stupid things I wish I never did-"

"Bet that's a long list." Lavon said.

Zoe gave him a look, "Anyway, the fact that we didn't go through with it, definitely a plus. I can even get over how angry he was when he kicked me out, but ever since he's just been so … well, clearly, he is the crazy one, not me, which is good to know. I have to get to work. You can explain why you are dressed as a pirate later, but, please change before you take me to the airport."


Wade had decided to help out in the town square. It was part of his avoiding Zoe plan. She hated these crazy town things; she thought they were a ridiculous waste of time. Personally, Wade had always loved Planksgiving, though he had never been that involved in the set-up. This year, he figured it might be fun to help out, but more than that, he just needed to be somewhere he knew she wouldn't show up, and helping out with the prep for the Fish-Fry definitely qualified as somewhere Zoe Hart was extremely unlikely to be.

The two of them had barely spoken since it happened. He just couldn't deal with her anymore. Knowing that when he was kissing her and touching her she had been picturing him made Wade's skin crawl. He was still kind of pissed at her; he couldn't help it. He was pissed at George too, but that was a little different. Wade knew it wasn't George's fault that Zoe wanted him. He had just been his normal Golden Boy self. Still, Wade knew that he would lash out as George if he spent any significant amount of time with him, which is why he had been avoiding him. It wouldn't exactly be unfair to lash out at and innocent party, much as he wanted to.

The only real exception had been when Jimmy Praboo, and old nemesis of theirs had come back to town. They had to get revenge, this went all the way back to high school, and as pissed as he was at George, he couldn't just let it be. He had done his best to pretend they were still in high school doing this, and that neither of them had ever met the tine New York doctor with the short-shorts. He only talked to George when he had too, and mostly communicated with Lemon who, once she decided to embrace her high school self, proved to be just fun and rebellious and brilliantly evil as ever. It sort of made him nostalgic, he missed how they all used to be. However, once it was over, everything had gone back to normal. He stayed out of George and Lemon's way and tried not to think about how Zoe probably pretended it was her every time she saw them walking together being all mushy.

Dr. Breeland was working next to Wade, so when the good doctor's phone rang, Wade heard it. He had nothing morally against eavesdropping, especially when anything that could keep his mind off of Zoe was a godsend.

"Dr. Breeland … oh really? … Is that so?" he sounded somewhat amused, "Uh-huh. All right. Okay. Thank you Addie, I'll be right down." When he hung up, he was wearing a huge smile. Clearly something good had happened.

"Good news?" you can usually tell when somebody is feeling proud and wants to share, and Brick's smile was screaming that he did. Since Wade did not care much either way, though Brick's huge smile did make him slightly curious, he figured he would throw him a bone. Who knew, maybe it was something big that could act as a drawn-out time-consuming distraction from all things Zoe Hart.

Brick's smile grew, and he turned to Wade, clearly glad somebody had asked him to share the news of his good fortune, "Well, it would seem that in the homestretch our Dr. Hart is coming up short."

Wade's face fell. So much for a distraction. He tried to tell Brick that he didn't really care, and that he was just trying to be nice, or anything he could think of to get Brick to shut up, but he was still talking.

"The patient who would have secured her thirty percent has come back in and specifically asked to be seen by not her. It's nice how things turn out, isn't it?" he asked triumphantly. It was clearly a rhetorical question, so Wade didn't bother to answer. "Have a good holiday son." He said as he headed off, most likely to The Practice.

Well, this was an interesting situation. Wade did not understand all the legal stuff, but he had heard Zoe talk about it enough to know that she needed a certain amount of patients to keep the practice, and based on what Brick had sad, it seemed she was just shy of making it. It did not take a genius to figure out that if she lost The Practice, she would have no reason to stay in Bluebell. She'd probably hightail it back to New York faster than you could say "See ya." The question was, did Wade want her to leave.

A couple of weeks ago, the answer would have been simple. Even though he never would have admitted to himself why at the time, he knew if this had happened before everything with Tansy and Zoe that night, he would have tried to help somehow. He would not have wanted her to leave, and he would have done whatever he could think of to ensure that she stayed. Sure, he would have come up with some excuse in his head about how she made life in Bluebell more interesting or whatever, but the point is, he would have tried. He would have tried to get her a patient somehow. Now though, things were different. Did Wade want Zoe Hart to stay around? The question rang in his head. As it was, he was avoiding her every chance he got. When he was around her he got angry and hurt and he wanted nothing more than to put as much distance between her and him as possible. Maybe it would be better if she went back to New York. Maybe his life could finally get back to normal.

Would she even want to go back, he wondered briefly. Would she want to leave her precious George Tucker behind? Sure, she was seeing that Vet, Judson now, but it was pretty clear she was still hung up on Tucker. Would she want to stay to be around him, maybe try to win him over? Or would she want to create some distance to help herself get over him. Wade figured it was probably the latter, after all, she had already tried to use him to get over George, and now she was using Judson. She would probably be thrilled with the possibility of leaving Bluebell behind.

"Need a hand?" Somebody asked from behind Wade. It was Lilah, a girl he used to hang around with sometimes. Well, he thought, if Zoe Hart can use somebody to get over somebody else, so could he.


Lavon sighed. He was getting a little fed up with the antics and craziness of his friends/tenants. It was nice to have an excuse to leave the house, even if it just was grocery shopping. As he made his way down the aisle, he saw an unmistakable blonde head. He froze. Lemon and him had not spoken since she had explained to him why they could not be together. He was about to turn to another aisle when he noticed she wasn't moving; she seemed frozen.

"Lemon?" he asked tentatively. She whirled around, as though she had just been spooked out of some sort of trance, "Lavon. What are you-"

"Shoppin' for tomorrow."

She nodded. He could just leave. He knew he could. But he knew Lemon, her looks, her mannerism, and he could tell that she was upset. The look on her face was a cross between shock, hurt, and anger.

"Everythin' okay?"

She nodded, "Fine. Just some … family drama."

Lavon nodded understandingly, "You know, if you ever need to talk about any of that-"

"I thought you said we couldn't be friends." He voice was curt, bitter, but he knew a part of it had to do with whatever had upset her. He saw no point in picking a fight now.

"I know. And that was … wrong. Selfish. I should never have said what I said, never have put you on the spot. I respect you, and George. I apologize."

Lemon nodded, "It's all right. Sometimes, our hearts just get the better of us. We make mistakes." He nodded again, noting the distant tone to her voice, wondering if maybe she was thinking of them. Then, she straightened up, and in a friendly but proper tone of voice said, "Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your kind offer. I appreciate it, and I will take it under consideration. I have to get goin' now, but I will no doubt see you at the fish-fry tomorrow." She started to turn and leave the aisle, but first, she waved, and wished him a happy Planksgiving.


Lilah lay on the bed, and Wade was hovering, teasing her, letting her moan. It felt so good to be here, to not be thinking of her. He was going to bed with somebody else, and he couldn't be happier. It was a lie. Somewhere deep down he knew it was, but he just wanted so badly for it to be true.

Her deep green eyes looked up at him, and he made her moan his name, needing to hear it, needing to hear that somebody was here, that somebody wanted him. Suddenly, he shot up, unable to go through with it. Lilah, surprised, sat up too.

"What's wrong?"

He grimaced, "Lile, you know that this uh, that is, what I mean is-"

"Will you stop babblin' like an idiot and say what you want to say already."

Wade smirked. Lilah was never very patient. She didn't BS, and she liked to get to the heart of things right away, "You know that I'm not, that this doesn't mean anything?"

She snorted, "You mean, do I know that this is just sex, that it's just for tonight, that we're not going to have a bunch of babies and live happily ever after? Come on, Wade, I've known you pretty much my whole life. When you and I come to each other, I know what it is. You don't have to worry about me being some clingy little girl."

Wade sighed, "I know, it's just … it sucks to be with somebody and know that their thinkin' of somebody else, to know that their picturin' its somebody else touchin' 'em."

Lilah's eyes widened for a second in surprise, but then she just smirked, "So what's her name?"

"What?"

"This girl. The one you're thinkin' about; one you're hung up on, one you want to use me to forget. What's her name?"

"There isn't-"

"Are you honestly goin' to lie to me? I can tell when you're lyin' Wade, I always could. I know you."

Wade shook his head. He had not said it out loud yet, but maybe Lilah … he didn't want her to feel like he was using her, but that was the great thing about Lilah, she never felt like that. They used each other; they had been doing it since high school.

Lilah and Wade had actually gown up together. Their mother's had been college roommates, and were best friends, so they would hang out have tea or whatever while Lilah and Wade would play together. Then, when his mom had passed, Wade had gotten mad. Mad at her for dying, mad at his father for becoming Crazy Earl, mad at himself for being powerless to stop it. He had shut Lilah and her mom (Aunt Carolyn, as they used to call her) out. He avoided them most of the time, and was an all-around ass when he did see them. After a while, Lilah started avoiding him too, not wanting to get caught up in his anger and his drama.

When he reached fourteen, he was still furious as ever. He ran into Lilah t the supermarket: it was the first they had seen of each other in years, and right away he noticed that she was different.

First off, her body had matured. Lilah was one of those girls that developed early; she had the sort of figure that could make him salivate. Second, her attitude had changed. As it turned out, she was going through some family issues of her own. They were both angry and horny, and they needed to blow off steam, so they had just done it together, and it became sort of an arrangement; if one of them was pissed at the world and needed sex, but didn't want to have to deal with talking somebody into bed and then sneaking out the next day, they would just call on each other. As they got older, they started to adjust to their lives and how crappy they were. They needed each other less and less, but they always knew that if they needed a warm body …

But now Wade knew how it felt, to be looked at as a warm body when you wanted to be more. It sucked; it really sucked. And as much as a part of him wanted to prove he didn't care, he couldn't do that to somebody, at least, not right now. After asking her though, he knew she meant it. She couldn't care less that he was using her, because she was using him to. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Being used by her was obviously nothing new, and he was more than familiar with how it worked, but everything just seemed different now. Stupid Zoe. He hated her for screwing up his life, for making him care about this sort of stuff.

"I know you do. But I just can't …" Can't what? Can't talk about it? Can't admit it out loud? Both were true he supposed, but saying either of those things would be admitting something, "I'm sort of goin' through somethin'. And yeah, it involves a girl. Honestly, I wish I could talk to you about it, because you'd knock sense back into me, tell me to get the fuck over it and stop feelin' sorry for myself. Thing is, I'm just not there yet. I can't … say the words yet. I'm sorry." Lilah nodded.

"All right. Your choice I guess." She paused, "So, we doin' this or not?"

"You ever think it's unfair that we're always thinkin' of … not each other when we do this?"

She laughed, "It would only be wrong if one of us was more here than the other. But we both know where we are, where we stand."

Wade smirked. That was Lilah for you, and it was enough for him. They started up again, and they kept going for a while, enjoying themselves and trying to forget whatever they wanted to forget.

Once it was over, she looked over at him, smiling one of those I win sort of smiles, "So, Zoe, huh?"

"What?" He asked, surprised.

Lilah directed her attention back to the ceiling above them, "You called it out twice durin' round one, and at least twice durin' round two." She said it with a giggle, and Wade didn't know what to make of it.

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked, kind of annoyed, and a little flustered, but mostly confused.

"I didn't realize I was supposed to." She had been staring up and the ceiling, but now she turned to face him, using her elbow to support herself, " 'Sides, I got a name, I was hopin' if we kept join' you'd might blurt out more information."

He did not love the humor in her voice. He knew she was teasing him, but a part of him couldn't be mad, partially because she was one of his oldest friends, and partially because, well, he sort of thought he deserved it. still, he was a little surprised by how interested she was in finding out about Zoe, "It's not like it's government CIA secrets."

"No, it's what's goin' on in a significant body part of Wade Kinsella's other than his penis, and lord knows that is far harder to uncover. Most people in Bluebell probably don't even know you have a heart, let alone that it's been beatin' for this Zoe."

"It hasn't-"

"Shut it." She said playfully. Wade smirked, "Does she know?" Her tone was a little more serious.

"Does she know what?"

"That Wade Kinsella has a heart?" Wade shrugged, "We use each other because we know the score. If you want somebody to take you serious, see you as more than a lay, you're gonna need to speak up. Else, that's all she'll ever see." She pulled the blanket up and started to drift off, "You can go." It wasn't mean or anything, just a statement of fact. Neither of them had ever seen much point to spooning.

Wade got up and headed for the door, "Happy Planksgiving Lile."

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered, turning over to her other side.


Zoe jerked awake. She tried to remember where she was and figure out what the heck that noise was? And why did her back hurt? Then, the haze of sleep started to lift, and she started to remember. She had changed my travel plans at the last minute. Caleb Hilson had lost his faith in pirate treasure fairytales, so she had stayed up all night working on burying a treasure and making a map. The treasure wasn't much, but she knew it would mean the world to Caleb. Lavon had helped out with the burying, but he was tired, so Zoe had told him she could work on the map herself and encouraged Lavon to head to bed. She must have fallen asleep on the couch.

Looking down, she was relieved to find she had finished before dozing off. That was when she remembered what had woken her. Somebody had slammed the door. She sat up and saw Wade moving around the kitchen.

This could be my chance, she thought. This whole avoiding her thing had gone on long enough, and she was sick of it, so she got up and headed for the kitchen area. He was sitting there eating a bowl of cereal.

"Morning Wade."

He looked up, surprised, "Ain't you supposed to be in New York?"

"Change of plans." She said, grabbing a mug from the cupboard and filling the coffeemaker, "Didn't Lavon tell you?"

"I didn't ask." He said roughly. Then he put his spoon down and started for the door.

"Where're you going? You haven't finished your Breakfast."

"Big Fish-Fry in town today. Don't want to get full." He said quickly.

"But that's not for hours." Zoe argued, trying to get him to stay.

"There's always a lot."

"Wade, stop, this is ridiculous." He didn't stop. Zoe grabbed his arm, and he pulled it away like she had burned him, "Look, I know you're mad at me-"

"Not mad, doc, just not hungry."

Zoe could not help but snort at that. Not mad! Was he kidding! How dumb did he think she was!

She decided to try and bait him; maybe she could draw him out, "Well, good, because you don't have any right to be mad."

It worked. He turned around, the anger plain on his face, "Excuse me?"

"Well, it's not as though I did anything wrong. You're the one who started yelling at me for no reason."

"Are you deluded?" Zoe just looked at him, keeping her face as neutral as possible.


All he had wanted to do was have some breakfast, and now he was stuck have a stupid conversation with Zoe. Worse yet, she was acting all innocent and blameless. She couldn't possibly believe what she was saying. She didn't think she did anything wrong? Please. She was not that stupid.

"You seriously can't think of anything you might have done?"

She shrugged. What the hell was wrong with her? There's oblivious, and then there's just plain heartless. Wade felt himself getting angry.

"What, I was the monster that night, and you were totally innocent? Is that it?" He spat.

She went to the cupboard and took out a bowl, which she then set on the table next to his, "Well, monster is going a little far," she started nonchalantly, like she was the one letting him off the hook for his behavior that night, "but you were pretty rude. You never even tried to apologize." She poured cereal in the bowl and sat down.

Wade felt his blood start to boil. She wanted an apology? Was she kidding? She calls out some other guys name when they were, well, being friendly, and she wants him to apologize!

"You want an apology, huh? All right, I'm sorry I let you try and molest me. Happy?" Wade was going for sarcasm, though a little anger may have crept in. She seemed a little bothered by what he said, judging by the way she looked up, which, in his opinion, was a very good thing.

"Molest?" she asked, putting emphasis on each syllable.

Wade nodded. He was smirking, but his smirk was bitter, "That's right. I was just trying to be a good guy and comfort you because you were all pathetic and gross, and next thing I know, you decide you want to hook up. Can't say I blame you, but …" he shrugged.

"Oh, please." Zoe said with a scoff, "Like you didn't want to."

"I think the fact that I told you to leave implies that no, I didn't want to. Why would I, when you were all gross? You think that's what turns guys on, huh, messy bun, tears, snot, and runny mascara? Because I got news for you darlin', you were pretty much the farthest thing from sexy that night. Only reason I even let you get as far as I did was 'cause I felt sorry for you."

She looked like she had been slapped. Good, Wade thought, She deserved it, after what she put me through that night. He wanted her to feel what he had; humiliated, angry, hurt, and while it was no where near as intense as it had been for him, no where near as humiliating or anger inducing, he knew he was getting there.

Of course, there was another voice in the back of Wade's mind telling him to shut up. It was telling him how sad she looked and that he should take it all back. It was saying that he should go comfort her, do whatever he had to do to make her smile that amazing smile of hers. It was asking him how he could say those things … especially when he knew they weren't true.

She had been beautiful that night, just like she always was, and did she really deserve what he said? Was it really her fault if she liked George? It wasn't like Wade could stop himself from liking her, even knowing he didn't have a shot. How could he blame her for falling for the impossible choice, for doing the same thing he had?

But it wasn't just that she liked him. She could like him all she wanted; that didn't make it okay for her to try and hook up with Wade while picturing George Tucker. Wade may not be a saint when it comes to that sort of stuff, but even he deserved better than that, and he knew it.

She stood up, walked up to Wade, and slapped him. Hard. It stung, but he didn't really care. He felt kind of numb to physical pain at the moment.

"You're an asshole." She spat, and Wade could tell she really meant it too. But it was pretty much what she had always thought anyway. He knew he wasn't polite like her precious George Tucker. He was an asshole.

"An asshole you almost knowingly, soberly went to bed with. So which one of us is more screwed up?"

She didn't answer, just walked around him and out the door.


She could not believe it. She had spent all that time and energy feeling bad, wanting to make things right, to actually reconcile with him. What had she been thinking? She had absolutely no reason to feel guilty, that little scene in the main house was more than proof of that. He did not deserve for her to make things right, and she had absolutely no desire to get back on friendly terms. If he wanted to be like that, fine. She was done.

After she left, she started towards the carriage house; she still had to shower and change into pirate-like clothing.

"Whoa, slow down Big Z."

Looking up, Zoe realized she had almost run Lavon over. Oops. He took in her appearance and his face changed from chipped to concerned. Zoe could only imagine how she looked. Not only had she slept on a couch in yesterday's clothes, her face was probably a mixture of hurt and fury, mostly fury.

"What's wrong?"

"Either he moves out or I do." She knew it was an empty threat. Where could she go? It wasn't like she had moved onto the plantation by choice. Sure, she loved having Lavon as a landlord, and it was cool to walk into the kitchen with breakfast already cooked, but she had not really had any other options at the time, it was unlikely that that had changed.

Not wanting Lavon to poke holes in her threat or try to get her to calm down, and fearing that she might accidentally take her anger out on him, the good friend and innocent bystander, she walked around him as fast as she could and headed for the carriage house.


He thought he would feel good after she left, but he didn't. He felt like shit. He had gone too far, and he was sick of the back and forth in his head.

"What happened?" Wade looked up at Lavon's voice and plastered on the best smile he could, considering. The last thing he wanted was to get into this with Lavon.

"Mornin' Lavon. Happy Planksgiving."

"What happened?" he repeated.

"Listen, I was thinkin' I would put that new fuse box in after the Fish-fry. Where'd you put it?" Wade asked, stalling. He also really wanted to put that fuse box. He had been laying off the electricity since that night so Zoe wouldn't be prompted to come over, and he missed being able to play guitar hero, as well as his actually guitar.

"Why won't you answer my question?" Lavon said, undeterred.

" 'Cause I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then ask me what I'm talkin' about."

Wade sighed, looks like there's no way around this, "What are you talkin' about Lavon?"

"I'm talkin' about how I just ran into Zoe lookin' and soundin' more furious than I ever seen her."

"What's that got to do with me?" Lavon just looked at him, knowing no explanation was necessary, "All right. Maybe I said some stuff, but it ain't my fault she's so sensitive." Wade responded with a shrug, trying his best to sound convincing.

"Would the things you said have anythin' to do with you two almost hookin' up a couple weeks ago?"

"She told you about that?" Wade asked, surprised. He nodded, "What did she say happened, exactly?" Wade was curious both about how much Lavon knew, and what the situation looked like to her.

"Said that you two almost hooked up, told me you kicked 'er out, and she told me why."

"So she knows why, does she?" Wade said with a scoff.

"She seems to have a pretty good idea, yeah." Lavon said, nodding.

Wade shrugged, "Well, whatever. I'm over it."

"So you were avoidin' her because?"

"I wasn't. Our paths just didn't cross."

"Wade-"

"I'm gonna head into town, see if they need any last minute help"

Wade was so relieved to make it out of there. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about this.


"You did a good thing." Zoe heard a friendly voice behind her say. She turned, and saw George. Her knees got a little weak, just like they always did. He is really pulling off that pirate look. I wonder if I'm pulling it off. Maybe he thinks I look ridiculous.

"Well, my parents never really put any effort into stuff like Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, and I'm pretty screwed up. I figure Caleb deserves better."

He chuckled, "Screwed up is probably a little extreme." He said kindly, which made Zoe smile, "Your mom didn't mind that you couldn't come home?"

Zoe shrugged, "It's usually a big party with a lot of people I don't even know. It's not a big deal." He nodded, understandingly. He was really good at that, getting what she was saying. It was one of the reason's she was so crazy about him; he always seemed to understand her, "Speaking of mom's, I heard yours was in town. How's that going?"

He chuckled again, "Um, let's just say, you are not that only person to have a difficult relationship with their parents."

She could not help but laugh at that, "Good to know." Then, a thought occurred to her, "Hey, you and Lemon have probably been looking for a place to live, right? I mean, with the wedding coming up and all." The same nauseas feeling crept over her, the one that she always got when her and George were having a conversation and one of them brings up the wedding. She hated it, but it was a necessary evil. One, because it was relevant to what she wanted to ask him, and two, because it was a good reminder of why she could not be with George, preventing her from doing something stupid or getting her hopes up.

"Yeah," he started awkwardly. Could it be he felt as weird discussing the wedding with her as she did with him? Maybe she hadn't imagined it that day in her office. Maybe he was feeling what she was feeling too. Slow down, Zoe. She couldn't let herself get excited; it would just be setting herself up for more heartache. How was it that she had not even known George a year and he could get a stronger reaction from her than a guy she had been sleeping with for six? "We were awhile back, but we've sort of put that on the backburner. I got my place, and it'd be fine for Lemon to move into with us just startin' out. 'Sides, her family sort of needs her around right now, so." He shrugged.

Zoe's ears perked up at the words backburner, and she had to remind myself that he was talking about finding a place and that the wedding was right on schedule. "Right. Well, the reason I bring it up is, I may be in the market for a place, and I was wondering if maybe you knew of anywhere."

"You're thinkin' of movin'?"

"Yeah, the plantation has seemed a little … overcrowded recently."

He looked at her confused, but she did not want to go into. She just hoped that her lack of elaboration would cause him to move on, and as luck would have it, he did, "Well, I don't know of anything, but you could go talk to Babs Foster?"

"Who?"

"Babs Foster. She owns Babs Foster's Realty."

Zoe nodded, "Very on the nose name."

George laughed, "Yeah, I guess it is."


Wade could not believe it! George Tucker was flirting with Zoe! Right there, in front of the whole freaking town. How was nobody else noticing this? It was one thing for her to be all gaga about him, but he was actually encouraging it. What was he thinking? Wade had known George forever, and he had never had anything against him, but was he serious? Where was his fiancé anyway?

Wade decided he had to do something; he couldn't just stand there gaping at the spectacle that was somehow going completely unnoticed. Slowly, he made my way over.

"Howdy Tucker." he said casually. "Happy Planksgiving."

Zoe shot Wade a death glare, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near him at the moment, but he just pretended not to notice.

"Thanks. Same to you."

"So, where's Lemon?" There was no reason to beat around the bush. He may have been acting casual, but he didn't come here to chitchat.

"Off with the other Belles." He said it with a smile. He didn't even look uncomfortable. Wade knew George did not have a lot of practice in the dating department, but he had to know he had been flirting.

"Don't you think you should go find her?" He heard his voice get a little tense and tried to relax. This is just a casual conversation, Wade told myself. Yeah right.

George looked at him, confused, "Um, she'll kill me if I interrupt her girl time."

"Aw, come on man. I'm sure she won't mind. She's probably hopin' you'll interrupt and talk all mushy to her."

"She's the one who went off. And what's with the sudden interest?"

Wade shrugged. This was impossible and it was driving him crazy. He was done being subtle. Tucker had to know that he had been caught, and that what he was doing was not okay. "Nothin'. Just don't think you should be over here flirtin' while your fiancé is just around the corner."

George's eyebrows went up, surprised, "Excuse me?" he asked. His voice was somewhere between surprise and offense.

"Wade!" Zoe hissed.

Wade ignored her, "All I'm sayin' is, if you're gonna flirt, you should set up some secret meetin' place for you and the doc so Lemon doesn't catch wind of it. Seems kind of self-destructive otherwise."

"If you're implyin' that I have somethin' to hide from Lemon, that I'm behavin' any less than completely faithful to her-"

"Oh, I'm more than implyin' Golden Boy." Wade said, his voice was leaving the casual behind. He stepped closer to George, and he could feel the anger and the adrenaline. He really, really wanted to take a swing at him right now.

"Well, you don't have any right. I don't know why you would think that, but I have never, would never cheat on Lemon-"

"So it's okay to flirt and lead women on so long as you never do anythin' about it, is that it? Real classy George."

"What has gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into me is you're getting married soon, and you're standin' over here flirtin' up a storm!"

"How does that have anything to do with you?"

"Ha! So you admit it!"

"I didn't admit anything. I just don't know why I have to defend myself to you of all people against these bizarre accusations!"

" 'To me of all people?' What the hell does that mean?" he just kept getting angrier. He tried to keep his temper in check, but it wasn't easy.

"In means that my love-life is none of your business."

"No, see, I think you meant somethin' else."

"Like what?"

"Like, who am I to judge with how I treat women. Well, let me tell you somethin' Tucker, at least I'm upfront about my intentions, which is more'an I can say for you. I don't go around tryin' to seduce single women and keep a fiancé on the side."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talkin' about. You want to have Lemon, a fiancé to play house with, but you need to outsource a tiny big city mistress so you can still play doctor."

As the argument escalated, each of them just kept getting angrier. Wade knew he had gone a little far; he didn't really know why. Maybe he was trying to rattle George's cage. Well, if that was the goal, it worked. More than worked in fact, because no sooner had Wade made the doctor comment then George punched him in the jaw. Wade fell to the ground, and when he got up, he saw George looking between his fists and Wade like he couldn't believe what he had just done.

"Wade, I'm sorry. I don't know-" Wade didn't let him finish, he just decked him, and he had to admit, despite how long they had been friends, it felt really good. Wade had wanted to punch George for a long time, ever since that night. He had refrained because he knew it was not George's fault that Zoe felt how she did. But maybe it was. He flirted with her; he should not be doing that. Of course, even if he didn't flirt, she might feel the same. It was quite possible that it wasn't George's fault at all. Still, Wade really wanted to beat him up, and George taking the first swing gave him the perfect excuse. Who knows, maybe him initiating it would help Zoe see that he wasn't some knight, that he was no better than the rest of them.

It's hard to tell how long it went on. They rolled around for a while, and then Brick, Lemon, a bunch of people all came to break it up. A few people asked what it was about, but neither George nor Wade was talking. They were both bruised up pretty bad though, meaning they needed to be looked at. George would go see Dr. Breeland, because of Lemon, which meant Wade was, unfortunately, stuck with Dr. Zoe Hart. Great.


Author's Note: I hope you liked that chapter. Just a couple things. First, some of you might be wondering why I sort of skipped over the homecoming episode. Zoe and Wade did not interact a lot in that episode, and it just did not seem like it would be altered that much, other than the fact that, since Wade did not get Zoe, Zoe did not leave the party, and Judson never went off to sleep with Gigi, which lets me keep him around to add more conflict, because, you know, George just is not enough competition.

Speaking of George, I would like to clarify that I was not trying to make George the bad guy here. Somebody had to throw the first punch in that scene, and initially it was going to be Wade, but Wade was already pissed going in, and he did not punch George right off, so he probably would not punch George unless George said something truly deplorable, and George is sort of confused, because he does not really get what is going on, and he is less likely to say something that would make Wade want to punch him. I also feel like Wade really wanted George to take the first punch so he could justify to himself.

I know Wade is kind of a jerk in some parts of this story, but he's really hurt, and this is supposed to be a little darker than some of my other stories.

I would love to hear what you guys thought of Lilah. There were a lot of reasons for her. It was partially about wanted to have Wade actually doing something other than just avoiding Zoe. I also always sort of thought it would be interesting for Wade to have a female friend who could read him well enough to know how he felt about Zoe, who he might feel comfortable talking to about Zoe, and who would encourage him to be less of an idiot. I know he has Lavon, but I just feel that when it comes to dealing with girls, girls are better at analyzing the situation and giving advice. Besides, due to the change in circumstances, Lavon has yet to figure out that Wade has feelings for Zoe, though he will, I promise. Anyway, the back-story just sort of happened, and I thought it would be kind of cool for him to have this bizarre relationship with this girl, who he cared about, but not romantically, and yet would sleep with. It is a little like how he feels about Tansy I think, except that Lilah was never in love with Wade; they were always on the same page. I did consider just bringing Tansy back, and I would not have been opposed to that because I love Tansy and I think she is adorable, but she did not come back t Bluebell for a while in the show, and I am trying to follow what happened fairly accurately. The stuff that changes changes because of what happened with Zoe and Wade, and I could not figure out how I could use that to bring Tansy back. I think Lilah would be fun to play around with as a character, because in a lot of ways she is sort of like a female Wade, and she's fun to write for. Let me know if you think it should have been a one-time appearance, or if you want me to bring her back. I will take your thoughts into consideration.

Information about Babs Foster Reality came from hartofdixiewikia.

I guess that's it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please let me know what you think, positive or negative. Have a good day.