Wade came back down the stairs - on his butt - an hour later feeling more like himself, and hopefully looking more like himself too. He still needed a haircut, but hopefully he could call Susie and have her come by to give him a trim. The sooner he looked normal enough, the better as far as he was concerned. He needed to show everybody that he was still the same Wade Kinsella they'd known for years. He just moved a little differently now.

So far Lavon and Zoe hadn't seemed too put-off by the change. He desperately hoped everyone else could take it in stride too.

As he made his way into the living room he noticed his fitted plaid shirt felt a little snug. It was definitely tighter across the shoulders, which made sense considering the work he'd put in lately. After the first few weeks of basically being bedridden, he'd started working out harder than he had since his high school football days. "Your back and arms are taking over for your leg and have to be twice as strong!" His physical therapist had drilled that into his head during countless reps on the shoulder press and the lat machine.

And it had worked. He was stronger than he'd been in years, especially in the last few years when the comforts of fatherhood had slipped a few extra pounds on him.

Now, the jeans were another story. They were actually a little loose, riding a bit lower slung across his hips than normal. And the leg…

He hadn't wanted to ruin his favorite pair of jeans. Since a loose pant leg flapping in the breeze just looked plain ridiculous, he'd opted to fold it up and tuck it into the back of his waistband. Not perfect, but it had worked, and it had helped to pad his butt a little during the descent down the stairs.

That staircase was going to get old fast.

Slipping on his boot was the last piece of looking like the real Wade Kinsella again. It felt great stepping into his perfectly broken-in workboot. He'd understood why rehab required everyone in trainers, but bright green accents and neon orange laces would never be his style. Strangely he had only been able to locate the right one, which was really all he needed, but still he wondered where the other one was. All the other shoes in his closet had matches - why was this one missing?

"Hey Zoe?" he called out to her as he sat down on the comfy living room sofa. He had a feeling that he'd found his new temporary headquarters, at least for the time being. "What happened to my other boot?"

She came out of her office - finally in pants, he noted - and sat down beside him. "Uh, they had to cut it off when they still thought they could save your leg." She looked at him, almost as if she didn't know what to say. "They disposed of it, along with everything else. It wasn't going to be salvageable."

"What do you mean, 'disposed of?' They just threw it away?"

"Incinerated it, actually. It was considered medical waste." She gave him an appraising glance. "Along with your leg."

"They burned my boot? AND my leg?!" He didn't know why this was the first time he'd even thought about what had happened to his limb after it was removed from his body. It hadn't even crossed his mind until now. "Is that normal?"

Zoe shrugged. "That's what usually happens. I guess I could have requested taking it home for burial, but that seemed… uh… I didn't think anyone would have appreciated that. It was pretty… uh… mangled."

"You saw it?" For some reason, the idea of her seeing his leg - not attached to his body - bothered him.

She shook her head. "No; I just saw the xrays beforehand. I had to give approval for the procedure."

She was the one that had to make the call? Of course; as his wife, she would have been called upon to sign off on his behalf. It still came as a surprise. "Shit. I didn't know that."

Zoe looked like she was about to start crying. "I'm so sorry, Wade… if I had thought there was any other way..." The tears brimmed over. "It's my fault."

His heart broke as he saw guilt streak across her face. "Zo, it is not your fault." He pulled her into his lap. "This is not your fault. None of it."

"You must hate me," she sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

He held her close letting her cry and hopefully release the pent up guilt that surely must have been weighing her down for weeks now. "Zoe, look at me." She did. "I don't hate you; I'm proud of you. You made the right call. From what I hear, it was my leg or my life. I don't know how you were strong enough to make that call, but I'm glad you were. I don't know if I would be able to make any decision at all if the roles had been reversed." A brief vision of Zoe lying unconscious and mangled crossed his mind. He shuddered, wrapping his arms around her even tighter. "Let's never find out, okay?"

She buried her head in his neck again, giving a small, furtive nod.

"It was the right call, Doc." he whispered, nearly overcome by the thought of her wrenching decision. "I couldn't ever make a decision that could take me away from you, darlin'. You did what had to be done."

They sat on the couch together for a while longer. Wade was relieved that Zoe had confided her guilt; he didn't want her carrying feelings like that. He knew they both had a lot of healing to do and hopefully, this might help them do that.

Wade finally broke the silence. "What do you say we get the kids home?"

"Are you sure? I know how important it was to you that they didn't see you earlier. If you need more time, I'm sure they could spend the day with Lavon and Lemon. They aren't expecting you until tomorrow."

Wade thought about spending another night in the Gatehouse and quickly dismissed the idea. He was home now and wouldn't go back. He knew he had some time to make up for with the kids. Six weeks was too long to be separated from them. Part of him regretted keeping them away this long, but after what happened when he was a kid, Wade knew that he did what needed to be done. Seeing your parent hurt or sick - it left deep marks on a kids. He wasn't going to put his kids through that.

But he was better now, well, as good as he was going to get anyway. He didn't want to put it of another moment. He wanted his kids home.

"Naw, it's time." He pulled out his phone and shot Lavon a quick text.

Bring those munchkins home. I miss them!

It didn't take long at all before the door banged open and a tornado of pink cotton, long dark hair and an endless stream of words swirled into the house.

"Mom! Mom! Can we make Daddy a welcome home sign? I have crayons but I need some really, really, reeeaaaalllly -" her arms spread wide and her eyes shut as she envisioned her sign "-big paper! Oh, and streamers; do we have streamers? Can we make streamers?" Cora was twirling around the room now, looking up at the ceiling as if trying to figure out where best to hang the streamers.

Wade loved the sight of her. She'd grown up so much in six weeks, looking more like her momma every day.

"Or you could just give me a hug." Wade's deep voice startled her. She whirled around.

"DADDY!" Cora was immediately on him, clambering all over him and covering him in kisses.

"Hey there, beautiful. I missed you!"

"Daddy! I can't believe you are home! We were supposed to drive to forever to get you tomorrow." The way she dramatically threw back her head and elongated the "eeeevvvvveeeeerrrrr" made him smile. Cora was always unintentionally hilarious and wonderfully dramatic. He and Zoe had often lamented that if she was like this now, what would 14 be like? As he pulled her into his arms, he was beyond thankful that one day, he would be able to find that out.

"I couldn't stand to be away from you a moment longer. So I went out to the interstate, stuck out my thumb and hitched my way back to you and your brother." Cora giggled as he tickled her.

Zoe stood at the kitchen island and watched the interaction. Cyclone Cora was all over Wade, telling him everything that had happened during his six weeks away. Their little girl was sunshine itself. She radiated joy.

Zoe liked to think that, had she had the kind of upbringing she was able to give her kids, maybe she would have been like Cora. Freedom to run and play outside, a town full of people who love her, parents who adored her and each other. Yeah, it was easy to be bright and happy when you had all that going for you.

Of course Parker had all that too, and yet he was so… Zoe didn't know quite how to describe it. One thing was for certain, though: Parker was a Kinsella male through and through. No doubt about that.

She was always amazed at how deeply he felt things. He'd cried for hours about a dead bird they found on the patio, then kept bringing it up for weeks. She wished she knew how to help him manage his emotions better - not to bottle them up (and then fall into said bottle) like Earl; not to force a "no skin off my back" attitude like Wade had held for years.

She'd hoped for a few more years to figure something out, but Wade's accident had made things even more difficult. Her son was drowning in his emotions; try as she might, she wasn't getting to him. She'd hoped that Wade's return would help. After seeing Parker bolt up to his room the moment he saw his father, she wasn't sure it would.

Zoe understood Wade's reasons for not letting the kids see him in the hospital. She hadn't agreed with him, but he had made it very clear how important this was to him, and she'd honored that the best she could. The day she'd driven them up to Birmingham had been a betrayal, she realized now; at the time, though, she'd thought it was her best option to pull their son out of a funk.

Parker had grown increasingly resentful of Cora as the weeks dragged on with Wade away. All Zoe could think during the long drive up was "Parker will see Wade and they will both feel better." It hadn't worked. In fact, Parker had been worse since the visit. She was thankful he was only 7 and not 15, or she'd be searching for drugs or alcohol. Actually, she HAD checked. Luckily, Parker seemed to simply drown his hostility in video games and maybe a few more cookies than she would have liked him to have. Not ideal, but she'd take it.

"Where is Parker, anyway?" Wade asked from his spot on the sofa, Cora still wrapped around him.

Zoe sighed, "he's probably hiding in his room again."

"Park is always up there." Cora chimed in helpfully.

"He is, is he?" Wade asked as he slid Cora off his lap. "Come on Bumble Bee, let's go check on your brother." Zoe watched as the two of them made their way to the stairs. Cora following along behind Wade, not a bit phased by his missing leg, or the black crutches that made it possible for him to get around. Nope, not bothered a bit. He was her daddy and that's all the mattered. Cora's constant chatter still going strong, as usual. Now she was filling him in on what seemed to be every bad thing Parked had done over the past weeks - which consisted mainly of not playing with her enough and calling her names. When Wade reached the bottom of the stairs he handed Cora his crutches, "fly these up to the top of the steps for me Bumble Bee." She headed right up, thunking the crutches against each step as she made her way to the top, Wade not far behind her.

"Please get through to Parker." She whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her, but needing the words said out loud anyway. "Please."

Hello everyone-

Thanks again for reading and commenting. I hope you like this chapter, I personally love the image of this swirling pink-clad mini-Zoe climbing all over Wade and covering him in kisses. It just made me happy and the story needed some happy.

Several of you have asked about a prosthetic for Wade, and that is something I'm planning to cover pretty soon. I really appreciate all your feedback. It's gotten me thinking about how to handle a few things in up coming chapters. Also, nope - she hasn't seen all of him yet, but she will soon!

If you have any questions or ideas, please share them. I love reading what you have to say, it really makes me think and that's always a good thing.

Thanks!

-E