Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, and the shortness of the chapter, but I think you will be please with how much happens despite how short it is. Also, don't hate me. That's all I'm going to say. Check the bottom for a more detailed Author's Note.

Chapter Thirteen

Magnolia wandered around in a drunken haze. She heard a few people whistle as she passed, but she ignored them. This whole trip was becoming disastrous. She had known it would be, but she had hoped …

"Hey there pretty thing." She heard somebody say. She could tell from the slurred voice that whoever it was drunk. In fact, he sounded drunker than she was. She ignored him and kept walking.

"Where you goin'?" the voice was getting closer. She was starting to get dizzy, and she tried to balance herself out. She felt somebody steady her. Maybe he was a friend. People were always friendly to her; she was Magnolia Breeland after all.

"Do you see anything?"

"Don't you think I'd say if I did?" Wade snapped. Then he sighed, "Sorry, I just … I've known Magnolia 'bout as long as I known Lemon. I mean, I seen her in diapers. Smelt her too."

Zoe smiled, "You're always looking out for people."

"Small-towns are like that."

"It's different with you. You have, like, a hero complex or something."

Wade chuckled, "Yeah, kinda doubt anybody would agree with you on that."

"All I know is since I've known you, or as far back as I can remember knowing you anyway, you've never left a distress call unanswered."

He chuckled again, though he was starting to feel a little awkward. Time to steer the conversation in another direction, "Yep, that's me, a fuckin' Superman. Emphasis on the fucking. Not the most heroic superhero, but I've definitely satisfied a few damsels."

"Shut up."

"Ain't you gonna say please Doc?"

"Technically, I did not need your help. I finally get my first patient and it's a freaking snakebite! I simply needed you to take me to the snake. You are my ride, not my help. Very different." She said stubbornly. She would never admit to needing the help of her buffoon of a neighbor.

"Okay, well, you got your ride." Wade said. He seemed a little agitated, but Zoe was more concerned with the fact that he was turning to leave.

"But...but there's a snake in there." She sputtered out. She was from the city. She had never come face to teeth with a snake, and she had no real desire to.

"Probably a few." Wade said nonchalantly. How could he be so nonchalant? It as a freaking snake!

"Aren't you going to come in, too?"

"No, I'm just the driver." Wade replied. She could tell he was enjoying this. Bastard."Say please, Doc." He said, an annoyingly smug look on his face. She wished she did not need him, that she could tell him to hit the road jack, but she had not been here long, and it would be tragic if she died by snakebite before she had a chance to screw Brick Breeland over a few times.

She sighed, and said a reluctant, "Please."

Wade smiled. God, she hated that smile.

"Zoe? Doc? You okay?" Zoe realized she had zoned out, "Zoe?"

"What? Um, yeah." That was strange. It had to have been a memory, but she and Wade had seemed so … antagonistic toward one another. She had felt anger, resentment, annoyance, and frustration in that memory. None of the friendly feelings she's remembered feeling the last time a memory of him surfaced.

"Wade?"

"Hm?"

"Were … were we always friends?" Wade looked at her questioningly, "I mean, I just had this memory, and we did not seem to like each other very much."

Wade groaned inwardly. He had known it was only a matter of time before she started to remember what an ass he could be, "Give me some context."

"Um, well, you had driven me somewhere, I guess, and I was supposed to go into this building, but I guess there was a snake, so-"

Wade started to laugh, "Oh yeah, I remember that. Vividly actually." Of all the things he had thought she might have remembered, that one had barely been on the radar. That was … unless she remembered what he did after they got in the house. Then he would be in trouble. "You, uh, you remember us goin' in?"

"No, the memory cut off after I said please."

Wade smirked. She had been so cute that day. She was still all new, all city, and bossy and self-absorbed. She had been so desperate for somebody to throw her a line, but she refused to take the many he tossed her way. God, she really had hated him back then. He wished he could say he had hated her too, but …

"Yeah, well, that was pretty early on into you livin' here. We had only met one, maybe two weeks ago, and we got off to a … rocky start."

"Why?"

"I don't know. You were a real New York girl back then, Bluebell was too backwards for you, and you wanted to keep your distance from those of us with too much … uh … southern charm. The fact that I was a town Lothario who spoke his mind no matter how crude the thought and that we shared a fuse box and were always blowin' each other's electricity didn't exactly help matters."

"See, I don't get that. I mean, George" Wade tensed at the name, "told me I didn't grow up here. In fact, he found it laughable that I even thought that. But, everybody here seems nice, and I like it. It feels so much like home. Why would I hate it? And why would I move here if I loved New York so much?"

"Well, a lot can change in four years Doc. Bluebell is a great place, but you're Stuck-up New York eyesight couldn't see it right away. You were pretty jaded. Eventually, I guess it grew on you, and I'm glad it did, 'cause else you would have moved off three years back. "

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you cam here for some doctor thing, 'cause you had to, not 'cause you wanted to, but you only had to stay a year. When you arrived, I'm pretty sure you were plannin' on hightailin' it outta here soon as you got the chance."

"I came here because of a work thing? Oh god, am I a workaholic? I am, aren't I?" Zoe groaned, and Wade laughed.

"You can be a little, yeah, but you know, it's noble work. It's not like you're workin' with files or some pointless shit like that, you're savin' lives. And you're great at it. Believe me, you're the heroic one in this car."

Zoe shook her head, "Wade-" she started, but he cut her off.

"I'm serious Zoe. Why, I remember this one time, it happened right around that memory you had, there was this guy got his arm stuck under a plow, you got his arm out and tied him up or somethin'. I don't know the technical talk, but I do know that whatever you did kept him alive until the ambulance could get there."

Zoe listened, awestruck, as Wade praised her doctorly hand. He had a look on his face that she had seen before. It was a look that she could never quite place, "This other time, pretty famous time actually, or should I say infamous, you ruined the town parade, I'm talkin' total, complete destruction, to save somebody's life. You had only just moved here, and you hadn't exactly made the best first impression. Basically the whole town hated you after that, minus me an' Lavon of course. You couldn't tell anybody why you did it because it would break that whole patient confidentiality thing. You became a pariah in one day just to save one person and not even get credit for it. To this day, you still refuse to tell me who it was or what was goin' on." Wade chuckled, "You're mighty colorful doc, always have been."

Zoe was silent for a moment, "Wow. You really think a lot of me, don't you?"

It was pretty dark out, and Wade kept looking out the window for Magnolia, his face shifting and in shadows, but if she did not know any better she would have sworn that she saw red creeping up his neck.

"Um … yeah, well … I just …" he sputtered. Man, this was hard. He had not meant to go off like that. He had just been trying to tell her a bit about her life; what sort of person she was. He should have known it was a mistake. After all, how could he talk about what kind of person she was without getting carried away? Sometimes, it would be a complaint, and sometimes it would be an accolade, but he had never been able to discuss Zoe Hart without passion in his voice and fire in his eyes.

"Stop the car." Zoe yelled. He pulled on the brake so fast he worried he might have given her whiplash. Outside his rearview, he saw what she saw: some guy carrying a passed out Magnolia towards a suspicious looking van. That was all he needed to see. He jumped out of the car.

"Stay here." he said to Zoe firmly. Then he ran in the direction of the van.

He caught up with the punk, "Put her down." He said. The guy was clearly drunk, and hardly ripped. Wade knew he could take him if he had to, and considering what his plans for Magnolia had probably been, he wanted to, but right now, getting her to safety was his first priority.

"Who are you, her body guard?" the guy said in a slurred voice.

"I'm the guy's gonna kick your ass if you don't put her down nicely in the next fifteen seconds."

"Are you threatnin' me?" the guy asked, anger creeping into his slurred voice.

"Wanna find out?"

"Stay here." Wade had said.

"Like hell." She hopped out as soon as he was far enough away and ran after him.

"-ind out?" she heard Wade say angrily as she came up behind him.

"Why don't you an' you're girlfriend just go off and mind your own business."

"Girlfriend?" Wade asked, confused. The guy motioned his head behind Wade. He could not look back, because taking his eye off the punk would be a dumb move at the moment, but he did not really have to look to know who was behind him. Shit!

"I told you to stay in the car." He said out of the side of his mouth.

"Well, I told me not to, and I think I should probably listen to myself, because, you know, I'm me."

Wade groaned. Why'd she always have to make things so complicated? "Listen, you got two witnesses here, all right. You don't want to go doin' somethin' stupid. Now, why don't you just put down the girl, and we can forget the whole thing."

"Or maybe I just get rid of the two witnesses." The guy said, pulling a gun out of his pocket.

"What is this, a gangster movie?" Wade heard Zoe say.

"Not a good time to joke around Doc." Wade said quietly. He locked eyes with the kid, "Listen, we got another friend helpin' us look for that girl. He's nearby, and he could come around any second. Maybe with the police. Don't you think it'd be easier if you just let the girl go, and let us all walk away?"

The kid was still waving the gun around; he did not look like he was likely to listen to reason.

Then, everything seemed to happen in a blur. The gun went off. It hit Wade somewhere. Zoe could not tell if it had only grazed him, or if it was a serious wound. She didn't care; what mattered was that Wade was hit. She couldn't think, or breathe. It was like her heart had stopped. She heard the guy cock the gun, and knew he was going to shoot again. He was still aiming at Wade, so Zoe figured the first shot must not have done the trick. Without even thinking, she ran towards him. She heard another shot go off, and kneed the kid in the crotch. He howled and the gun dropped. He grabbed for her neck. She picked up the gun and pointed it at him. He lunged at her. She heard another shot go off. Then, she was leaning over Wade. Words were flashing through her head, pages of text and pictures of wounds, voices of professors, all telling her what to do.

"Zoe!" she heard George call from behind her. Perfect timing.

"George, good. Wade's been shot. I can't leave him, so I need you to call 911. Then I need you to locate the nearest drug store or grocery store, or, you know, whatever is closest, and get a box of latex gloves, a pair of tweezers, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, gauze, and a pressure bandage. Oh, and a blanket."

George nodded. He was used to this. When Zoe went into doctor mode, you did not argue, or think, you just did.

"Um, I think there's a blanket in the car."

"Perfect. Get it. In the meantime, I need something to apply pressure to the wound. Do you have a clean towel or something? I don't want it to get infected, but if I don't put something on it soon …"

"I'll check the trunk."

Wade went to the car and brought Zoe a blanket and a towel. He called 911, and then he drove off to get the other supplies.

"Come on Wade." Zoe said as she pressed on the towel. She knew she should be using gloves to avoid either of them getting infected, but she could not afford to wait. Infections took time to set in, and they could be healed, but if Wade bled out, that was it. "Wade, are you with me? Are you conscious? Say something!"

"Nice to see you go all super-doctor again." Wade said.

Zoe sighed in relief. She could here the pain in his voice. But he was conscious. That was a good thing. "Stay with me Wade. You're going to be okay."

"And you? Magnolia?"

"We're fine. I mean, Magnolia's passed out, but we're both fine. We're going to be okay. It will be okay. All right?" Wade tried to nod, "No, don't move."

"You gonna doctor me back to health doc?" he was smirking a little, that patented smirk of his that she loved, and his voice was humorous, but it was also weak.

"Yes. Yes, I am. And you are going to be okay."

"And you've been callin' me a hero." Wade said. He started to chuckle, then winced.

"Shhh. It's okay. You're going to be okay." She did not remember the last time she had been this terrified, and considering all that had been going on in her life recently, that was saying something. She looked at his face. His forehead was covered with sweat, and she just wanted to smooth his hair and take care of him, but she knew the best thing for her to do was to keep applying pressure. His eyes were beginning to droop "Wade. Wade! Come on, don't pass out on me. You have to stay awake."

"Believe me doc, I'm tryin'."

"Come on, Wade. Please. Um, talk to me. Tell me … tell me another story. Another save I made. I could use the vote of confidence right now."

He smirked a little, "You're doin' fine, doc. This stuff always came natural to ya."

"Yeah? How so?"

"It just does."

"No. Wade, don't stop talking. Tell me something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Something! Anything! Please, Wade, I can't lose you."

"This is really nice."

Zoe laughed a little, "Having a bullet wound?"

"Having you carin' for me. Carin' about me."

"Haven't I always?"

"Not like this. It was always Tucker first, and the rest of us second, which sucked, especially for me."

His eyes started to droop again.

"Wade! Come on, Wade! Open you're eyes. Open them for me."

She saw him straining to widen his eyes. He looked half here and half in the next world. He was sweating and bleeding, and god, please don't let him die.

"How's this."

"Wider." She said, hoping the goal would help keep him up.

"I can't go any wider."

"Try. For me."

"Never could say no to you doc."

She tried to smile at him through the tears that she had not noticed until now.

"Hey now, don't get weepy on me. I need you to have clear vision for this." Zoe laughed a little, "I like havin' you care about me doc. Havin' you care. I like … I like…"

His eyes were starting to droop again.

"Wade!"

"I like you."

"Zoe!" she heard George call from behind.

"I love you Zoe." She heard Wade whisper.

George came running up. "Did I get everything?"

Zoe looked at him, then in the bag he handed her, "Um, yeah. Yeah you did. You did good George."

"It's kind of nice gettin' to play the Evan to your Hank again. And I just realized that comment implied incest and you need to concentrate, so I'm gonna shut up."

"Go wait for the ambulance."

"Lucky we're in Mobile. If we were still in Bluebell, ambulance would take a hell of a lot longer to get here."

Zoe nodded. George went to wait for the ambulance, and Zoe got to work. Later, she would wonder at how quickly it had all come rushing back, but in that moment, all she could think of was saving Wade.

George and Zoe followed the ambulance. Magnolia was asleep in the backseat.

"He's gonna be okay." George said. He was looking at her with concern, "You did a good job out their, gettin' the bullet out an' everything. And the doctors here are really talented." She could tell he was trying to convince himself also.

She had not had time to process what Wade had said. She was too busy worrying about him. It would not hit her until later. Until, one way or another, this was all behind them.

Author's Note: Wew. Okay, where to begin.

First, I repeat, please do not hate me.

I went over that scene a bunch of times before deciding where to go with it. At first, it was just going to be Wade playing the hero again and saving Magnolia. Then, I thought maybe Wade could take a bullet for Zoe, but something about that read wrong, because he is always saving her, and she is supposed to be becoming more independent as her memories resurface. The, I thought she might take a bullet for him, but I could not figure out a way to write that that made sense, plus, we've seen way to much of Zoe in the hospital in this story. Then, I got the idea about him getting shot and it sort of shaking some of her doctor training to the surface of her mind. That seemed right. Of course, I still had to deal with the gun wielding psycho-rapist dude. Zoe is no karate kid, and if Wade cannot get this guy down before a bullet flies, there is no way Zoe can. Even with the adrenaline rush of seeing Wade hurt, she still would need more. I think that she sort of had to element of surprise on her side. I was thinking I might somehow use her medical knowledge of the human body to knock him out, but I do not know anything about that, and I could not find anything on yahoo. I know it is a little confusing what exactly happened, but I will go into it more in the next chapter. Things were sort of confusing for the characters because it happened so fast and the adrenaline, so I figured it should be unclear to the reader to. Plus, it gives me more time to think.

I am not a doctor. I know nothing about what to do for a bullet wound. I had to use multiple websites, and I still do not know if what I wrote is accurate. I apologize for that.

Here are the websites:

Helium/com/items/1507552-first-aid-for-gunshot-wounds

Theemergencylady/com/treating_a_gunshot_wound_001029

Thesurvivaldoctor/com/2012/07/24/gunshot-treatment/

Ask/com/questions-about/How-Do-Doctors-Treat-Gunshot-Wounds

Wisegeek/com/how-do-i-treat-a-bullet-wound

Ehow/com/how_2062883_treat-gunshot-wound

I also got the Gumbo and Glory scene from the transcript on HartofDixiewikia

I hope it is clear that George is concerned about Wade. They are friends, and George cares about him, but I was not sure I put that across.

In case you are unsure of the Hank/Evan thing, it is a reference to the show Royal Pains on the USA Network. In the show, Hank is sort of like the doctor version of MacGyver, and Evan is his brother. Evan is a math guy, so he knows squat about medicine, but because of the way the show is set up, Hank does not always have what he needs, and has to improvise, hence MacGyver, and if Evan is with him, he will tell him to get this or do that. There is also Divya who helps Hank, but she is also a medical professional and knows about that stuff, so it is not really the same as George helping Zoe. Anyway, that is what that reference meant, and I recommend the show.

I think that's all I wanted to say.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I will try to update soon.

Please review.

Have a nice day.