So no sex scenes in this chapter. But there is some language, though if language offends you I'm not sure why you'd be reading my stories. Anyway, thanks for all your feedback on the last chapter. I don't have a lot of experience writing smut, so I was pretty relieved that you all liked it. Though if you do have any constructive criticism for that chapter or anything else I write, I would love to hear it.

I did hope to finish this story before the show finished. But now I don't think I'll make it. I'm just glad the final season has inspired me to finish it at all. This story has also forced me to do a lot of rewatching of season 1. This show really was good at the start. It's a damn shame about season 3.

Wade woke early the next morning when someone kicked him in his sleep. For a minute he wondered if another racoon had broken in, then all those memories of the previous night flooded back and he grinned. Zoe mumbled something in her sleep and her leg kicked him again, so Wade kicked her back.

Zoe sat up on her elbows, Wade could practically see her brain working as she took in her surroundings, and then him. 'Did you just kick me awake?'

'You kicked me first.'

'What are you, five?'

'If I was, you'd be in serious trouble after last night.'

'Way to be a creep.'

'Hey, so speaking of last night.' Wade rolled over Zoe, who fell back against the bed under his weight. 'Do we need to talk about last night?'

'Hmm, I'd much rather go for the action replay.' Zoe replied with a smile as she pulled him down for a kiss. If Wade hadn't already woken up ready to go, the feeling of her hands tracing over the muscles in his back and shoulders would have had him ready to go in an instant.

Of course at that moment Zoe broke the kiss, she placed a hand over his mouth. 'But I have to get ready for work.'

'Huh?' Wade mumbled under her hand, Zoe smiled and removed the hand, before she patted him on the shoulder.

'I have to shower and get dressed for work, so roll over.'

'Really?' Wade asked as he flopped onto his back. Zoe jumped out of the bed and started collecting her clothes.

'Yeah! Gotta find some patients, keep Brick's hands off my share of the practice for another quarter.'

'You can't be late just this once?'

'No, hey, I might miss an early morning emergency.'

'Like what? Shaving cuts?'

'Well, yeah. You never know.' Zoe grinned and darted out the door as soon as she had her top on. Wade supposed that it didn't matter her top was inside out, since she was just going around the pond to the carriage house. As his morning plans were shot, Wade got up and turned his phone back on. Six am. He kinda felt suspicious about Zoe's apparent need to spend three hours getting ready for work, but there was the off chance that she really would spend it all fiddling with her hair, or whatever. He hoped.

Still, he'd gotten laid last night. Wade wasn't gonna lie. It was fucking awesome to be having sex again. Pun intended.

The sight of Zoe in what was clearly a Belle dress was too much for Wade, he burst out laughing. Zoe glared at him as she sat down at the bar next to Lavon.

'While you're busy busting a rib, I need to two Iced Teas to go.' Zoe ordered, Wade wiped at his eyes as he went to fill the order. Wade got another good laugh when he uttered the Belle's secret word and Zoe shouted the dumbass Belle slogan for the whole bar.

Lavon eyed them both as Zoe told him to pay for the damned teas himself. Wade reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back for a kiss. 'We're undercover, remember?' Wade whispered against her lips when he was done. Zoe blinked a couple of times before she stumbled outside with the Iced Teas. When Wade straightened up Lavon was looking at him with a dawning horror.

'You had sex with Zoe!'

Wade laughed and looked around for anyone listening in. 'Well of course I did Lavon, she's my wife.' Wade replied, emphasising the last word to try and get Lavon thinking straight again.

'Oh god, this is going to be really bad for me. I have to go and be alone now.' Lavon replied morosely.

'Hey wait. I've actually had an idea that would work for you and me. Those two Nascar girls I told you about last week? Well I was going to have to ditch them cos I'm married, but I'm sure they'd love to go on a date with a former NFL line backer.'

'Oh come on, Wade.'

'Hey it's your choice. You wanna be single for the rest of your life?' Wade asked, Lavon groaned in despair.

'I can't believe I'm taking advice on women from Wade Kinsella.'

'Yo, Zoe?' Wade called, pushing into the carriage house. He heard a grunt and other odd noises from the bathroom.

'Wade! Come here, I need you.' Zoe called, which made Wade stop and grin for a moment. Zoe turned on him when he entered the bathroom, looking sweaty and grimy and relieved. 'Finally, I can't get out of this dress. I think they stitched me in.'

Zoe turned her back to him, waving one hand awkwardly at the laces down her back. Wade grinned once again at the dress, seeing her in it before had kept him laughing all afternoon and the kiss had occupied his thoughts all through the dinner service. Needless to say his work hadn't been stellar.

It suddenly occurred to Wade that he should really get her out of the dress. Wade started to pick at the laces, trying to figure out how they worked. 'So what's this whole Belle thing about, anyways?'

'Oh you know, I thought it would help me connect to the Wilkes side of me. But now it's more about pissing off Lemon, god, the stick up her but must be enormous… you okay back there?'

'I'm gettin there.'

'Thought you said you'd dated your fair share of belles.'

'Yeah, but I didn't usually bother gettin them out of these things.' Wade explained. 'For this reason, I don't know why they still insist on wearing em.'

'Charming as ever.'

'Oh, and Lavon kinda knows we had sex.'

'You told him? Before I could? Ugh, not cool Wade.'

'I didn't tell him, he guessed after you left the Rammer Jammer today.'

'Oh… so how'd he take it? Give me some kind of warning as to what I should expect.'

'It was mostly disgust. And resignation. And then he went back to moping about his own love life.'

'Well that's promising.' Zoe remarked as Wade finally got the laces loosened enough for Zoe to work her way out of the dress.

'So is the dress why you sent me that text asking me to come over?'

Zoe stepped out of the dress and turned to face Wade. 'I need a shower.'

'I wasn't gonna mention the smell, but yeah.' Wade grinned, Zoe scowled and slapped his arm.

'Wanna join me? Save some water?' Zoe asked him, pointedly.

'I don't think showering together is gonna save water. But okay.' Wade replied as he pulled his shirt off over his head, Zoe was grinning at him as she unclasped her bra.

'Well that kinda depends on you now, doesn't it?' Zoe smirked.

'You can keep challenging me, I'm always gonna win.'

'I think in this case Wade, we're both winners.'

'They're all certifiably insane! I swear.' Zoe insisted, she sat up in the bed while Wade laughed. 'This has to stay secret, okay? Annabeth thinks that she can't get pregnant because Lemon cursed them all.'

'Hell, Doc. Did you really need to join em to know they's all nuts?'

Zoe grimaced and rubbed at her shoulder. 'Well, today was hell. I can't wait for this week to be over.'

'Why're you doin this at all?' Wade asked as he sat up. 'Come here.'

'What, already?' Zoe frowned at his groin, Wade smirked.

'No I'm just gonna rub your shoulders, but give me five minutes and I'll be ready to go again.'

'Shoulder rub will be fine.' Zoe replied primly as she sat in the v of Wade's long legs. Wade had only just started working at her shoulders when they heard a frantic knocking on the door. Zoe swore and rolled off the bed, searching for her gown. 'Can you put some pants on, at least?' Zoe complained, running a hand through her hair. Wade pulled the sheet up to his waist.

'My pants are all wet from the shower, remember?' Wade replied with a grin.

'Right.' Zoe muttered, her face flushed pink as she left the room.

'Dr Hart.' Crickett hissed in greeting as she pushed past her and into the carriage house. Crickett came up short at the sight of Wade reclining in the middle of Zoe's messy bed.

'So what do I have to do for you now?' Zoe asked, resigned to more hellish belle labour.

'Oh, I'm not here about that.' Crickett glanced at Wade. 'Can we talk privately?' Zoe closed the door to the bedroom, leaving them alone in the hallway.

'What's up Crickett?'

'You're a doctor. You need to break Lemon's curse so I can get pregnant.' Crickett hissed, Zoe looked nonplussed.

'What?'

'I saw Annabeth leaving your office so I made her tell me why, and well. I have the same problem!'

'Huh. Well, okay.' Zoe pushed the door open again and marched back into her room, Crickett followed.

'Do you have a cure in here?'

'No, but I have wine. Which I seriously need right now.' Zoe explained as she poured herself a glass of Merlot. 'You want some?'

'No, I'm driving.' Crickett replied, glancing again at Wade. Zoe sighed and turned to the naked elephant in the room.

'I have to have a private doctor/patient conversation with Crickett, so can you like, find some pants and give us some privacy?'

'Well since y'all asked so nicely.' Wade rolled out of the bed, and using one of Zoe's pillows to shield himself, walked out of the carriage house.

'That's my favourite pillow! I want it back!' Zoe yelled after him as the door slammed shut, she sighed and turned back to Crickett. 'In case you were wondering why I drink so much, that's why.' Zoe explained, stabbing the air in the direction of Wade's house.

With Wade gone Zoe started to talk with Crickett about her medical history and her results from the fertility clinic.

'I wonder if the curse will affect you too.' Crickett mused.

'What?'

'Well, assuming you survive what Lemon has planned, you're going to become a belle too. Will the curse stop you and Wade from having kids? Oh Lord, maybe you should quit now and save yourselves.'

'Okay, first, Wade and I are not having kids, so if this some kind of scheme Lemon dreamed up to get me to quit the Belles, it won't work.' Zoe replied with a scowl, Cricket shook her head, 'Well then I would add that curses are not real. And I will figure out what is preventing you both from conceiving. Just not tonight.'

'Oh, well fine.' Crickett sighed and flounced out of the carriage house. Zoe sat back and thought about the so called curse as she finished her wine. When she finished it she got up and spotted her messy bed, Zoe pondered for a moment before she pulled out her phone and sent a text order Wade to bring her pillow back.

The next day at the Breeland residence, Zoe finally found an explanation for Annabeth and Crickett's so called curse. Fear of Lemon. It was actually very logical, which Zoe was relieved by. She wouldn't be able to look herself in the mirror if as a scientist and a doctor she started to contemplate the possibility of curses.

Of course convincing Lemon that she might be indirectly responsible for the Belle's collective infertility was a whole other bucket of catfish, as Wade would say. All she really did was manage to enrage Lemon more. Zoe spent the night tossing and turning as she imagined the increasingly awful things Lemon might have in store. It got to the point where Wade walked back around the pond buck naked so he could get some sleep in his own bed. Zoe wished she could get some sleep too. She would need it.

'Are you pushing me to lift this so called curse because you actually care about my Belles? Or do you just want to clear the way for you and Wade to start having kids?' Lemon asked as Zoe polished silver.

'Definitely not. Wade and I are not having kids.' Zoe replied, laughing at the thought. Lemon stopped and frowned, her mind ticking over.

'Why not? Are you going to let me stop you too?' Lemon asked sarcastically.

'It's nothing to do with you Lemon. I- I just… we're not ready for that.' Zoe scowled at her own stuttering, no way had Lemon missed that. God, maybe she should have lied and said she wanted a whole football team of kids.

'No, what you just said is that you're not having kids. As in ever. Not that you're going to wait.'

'What do you even care?'

'Oh I don't, I'm just messing with your little doctor mind. Because apparently I do that.' Lemon retorted with a scowl.

'Right. Well then if that's your idea of psychological warfare, it's pretty weak.'

'Yeah, I better just stick to making you do stuff. The cow needs to be milked. I want two buckets, no less.'

'Fine.' Zoe stomped outside, she was in no way looking forward to milking a fucking cow, but at least she'd get a break from Lemon.

By the end of the day Zoe was too tired to feel victorious that Lemon had given up trying to break her. But at least when she got back to the carriage house Wade was waiting to help her out of the dumb dress for the final time. As Zoe relaxed into her bath to ease all the sore spots from the paintball attack, she asked Wade to take the dress outside and burn it down.

Despite the fact that Zoe wasn't really in the mood for sex, Wade stuck around that night. Instead they watched TV and talked. Zoe kept hinting to Wade that he should go over to Earl's in the morning and make nice, maybe invite him over for dinner.

'Really, you wanna have dinner with Crazy Earl?'

'He's not so bad.'

'You're just saying that cos he thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread.'

'I will admit it's nice to be appreciated by a Kinsella for once. I just wish he'd stop talking about grandkids.'

'Yeah, I'd say it'll break his heart when we divorce. But it's so pickled by now I don't think he'd really feel it at all.'

Zoe punched him in the side, annoyed by Wade's talk about his father. It was definitely not because he mentioned their future divorce.

'Be nice to your dad or we're done having sex.' Zoe warned him.

'Good God, I really am married.' Wade replied disbelievingly. 'Does this mean I can start to fart in bed?'

'Try it and I'll shoot you.' Zoe warned him. Wade just laughed.