"Zoe?" Wade continued as he stroked her cheek. "Baby wake up! Can you hear me?"
"The paramedics are on their way" Lavon said as he ran back over to the couple. "Has she woken up?"
"No" Wade said frustrated. "Her- her head is bleeding she must have hit it against the floor- can you grab a towel?"
"Yeah" Lavon answered urgently.
"Those bruises on her arm? Were they there before?" Lavon asked as he grabbed her arm softly.
"What?" Wade said as he looked down. "No- no that wasn't there... Oh my God, could she have been attacked again? Earl's dead…"
"I don't know, but something's really wrong" Lavon said scanning the room.
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Wade and Lavon sat together in the waiting area waiting to hear news on Zoe.
"You know, I never want to be here again" Wade said looking at the floor.
"No one likes the hospital" Lavon replied sympathetically.
"I mean I never want to be waiting to hear if my girlfriend, who I just found covered in blood, is okay. I never want to find Zoe like that again. My God, this isn't fair."
"It isn't" Lavon agreed.
"Maybe she just fell" Wade said as he got up and paced nervously. "Maybe she just fell, and she'll be fine…"
"Maybe" Lavon said hopefully.
"God, you don't think she did this do you?"
"I honestly don't know" Lavon replied.
"I should have made sure she was okay before I left her. She was upset, I shouldn't have left her alone like that…"
"You can't stay with her 24/7…"
"It's bad enough that I let her get attacked, then I let George Tucker scare her, now I let her-"
"Hey-" Lavon interrupted. "None of that is your fault."
"Wait a minute" he interjected. "What do you mean George scared her? What are you talking about?"
"Nothing" Wade replied. "It doesn't matter. It's just- she needs to be okay."
"She will be" Lavon said. "Look, even if she was the one who did this. We can help her."
"God, to think that she'd want to…. Because of what he did to her. It makes me wish the son-of-a-bitch was alive so I could kill him myself."
"We don't know that Zoe tried to hurt herself, she could have just slipped and hit her head."
"Excuse me" a doctor interrupted. "The two of you are here for Dr. Hart?"
"Yes" Wade responded quickly.
"She's awake, she'd like to see you."
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"Zoe" Wade said as he ran into the room. "What the hell happened baby, are you okay?"
"Yeah" she responded shakily as he hugged her. "I'm fine."
"What happened?" Lavon asked gently as he sat next to her and rested his hand on her arm.
"I- I'm not sure" Zoe said.
"What do you remember?" Wade asked.
"I was going to the bathroom, to brush my teeth, and then I don't know it just all goes blank..."
"You can tell us the truth Zo" Lavon said softly.
"I am" Zoe said confused.
"Let's not give her the third degree" Wade said to Lavon.
"Third degree about what?" Zoe asked. "What do you think I'm lying about?"
"Zoe, we don't think you're lying" Lavon said. "But if you did something to hurt yourself…"
"What?" Zoe asked shocked. "No, no I'd never do that. Wade, I'd never do that. You believe me right?"
"Of course I do" he said softly as he hugged her. "Just- you don't remember what happened at all?"
"No" she replied. "I mean I remember feeling a little dizzy. I must have passed out. That can happen after a concussion."
"How'd you get that bruise on your arm?" Lavon asked.
"What?" Zoe answered looking down at it. "Lavon, I'm covered in bruises. It must be from before…"
"I don't think that was there before" he interrupted. "And why is your lip bleeding?"
"I must have bit my lip when I fell. Look, I get that you guys are in over-protective mode because of what happened. And it's sweet, really, but I'm fine."
"I just have a bad feeling about this" Lavon said looking down.
"Well stop it" Zoe said. "Because nothing's wrong. The doctor even said I can get out of here as soon as I finish this paperwork, so if you two would let me work on it for a few minutes we can all go home…"
"Okay" Wade said as he kissed her head. "Me and Lavon can go get some coffee, do you want anything?"
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure, because you never got your eggs-"
"I guess I am a little hungry" she admitted. "I'll have a granola bar. If they have one."
"Of course" he said as he kissed her head. "I love you."
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"I just feel like we're missing something" Lavon said to Wade concerned.
"Look, Zoe said she didn't hurt herself, and honestly, I really can't see her doing that. What she's going through is… terrible but, I really think she wants to get better. It just really doesn't seem like she wants to kill herself."
"Maybe someone hurt her again."
"Lavon, you're being a little paranoid, don't you think. It's like Zoe said. Her falling makes the most sense, with her concussion and all."
"I just keep going back to what you said about George Tucker. What do you mean he scared her?"
"George- he found out what happened and he ended up kind of forcing himself on her."
"That makes no sense, why the hell would he do that?"
"I don't know because he's Tucker. Every damn week a different woman is the love of his life. I guess when he found out what happened he decided this week it's Zoe. But she wasn't ready for that…"
"Of course not, but what do you mean when you say forced himself?"
"He was like whispering in her ear and trying to kiss her even though she was trying to push him away."
"You don't think he would have-"
"No. I'm not his biggest fan, but even I don't think he'd ever do that. But then again I never imagined my father would have either so…"
"Did he seem mad?"
"What?"
"At Zoe- did he seem mad? Do you think he would have…?"
"Are you saying you think Tucker broke in and attacked Zoe?"
"I'm just asking if you think it's possible. Is there anyone else who'd want to hurt Zoe?"
"No, no one would want to hurt Zoe. She's Zoe. Look, all we're going to do is drive ourselves crazy if we put the whole town on trial every time Zoe falls down. The girl's clumsy. She fell, end of story."
"Yeah" Lavon said "you're right." But inside he couldn't shake the feeling that there something bad had happened.
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