I'm sorry for the delay with this chapter, but I couldn't figure it out. But the good news is I already have the next chapter started, so hopefully I can have that up either tomorrow or Thursday. Enjoy!


"I can't believe our little girl is going to be 6 months next month," Wade marveled, making faces at said girl that sat on his lap laughing at her father. Wade would either kiss her little fingers when she grabbed at his mouth, or pretend to eat her little fingers. "And don't even get me started on the oldest girl tomorrow, one more year and you've got a teen girl on your hands," he stated with a smirk.

"We will both have a teen daughter and a teen son next year, Braxton turns 13 before Ariel, his birthday is only 5 months from now," Zoe corrected him watching his smirk fall.

"Don't remind me," he mumbled, feeling Zoe's hand against his arm, gently massaging his arm. He wasn't ready for his son to be that old yet, he wasn't supposed to grow up that fast, it really didn't feel like that much time had passed since he was holding his son in his arms after he was born. "Is everything done for her party tomorrow?" He asked, kissing his baby daughter's head softly.

"We have everything, you going to be okay in getting it put up while I take her into Mobile?" Zoe asked, running a hand through the little bit of light brown hair Eliza had.

"I don't see the problem on why I wouldn't, how long are you two going to be gone for?" Wade asked, making a face at his daughter, making her giggle.

"Not really sure, a few hours, I can call when we're on our way back," Zoe informed him.

"That sounds good," he smiled, his fingers lightly digging into the sides of Eliza, making her squirm and laugh some more, her little hands lightly smacking at Wade's arms. "Make sure to wake me when you leave in the morning," he informed his wife.

"I already do that," she replied, getting up and taking Eliza from Wade. "When will you be home tonight?" She asked, checking her baby's diaper to make sure it was still good.

"I'm not certain, I might have to stay late and close tonight, loosing Shelley to the flu has messed things up these last few days," he sighed, running a hand down his face. He had moved as many people around to cover Shelley's shifts but that left the late night ones and he couldn't get those nights sorted out so he took them over until Shelley was able to come back to work.

"If you call I'll make sure that I have some dinner left over for you," she told him.

"I appreciate that, but please Zo, I'll just grab a burger at the Jammer tonight, you have enough with getting the kids from your dad's place as it is, enjoy tonight with your dad and Norma," he told his wife.

"You sure?" She asked, looking down at him. Wade nodded his head pushing himself up from the couch, placing a gentle kiss to his little girl's head.

"I'm positive," he assured her, sharing a quick kiss with her. "Is Ma taking her today?" He asked, grabbing the diaper bag and the stroller.

"When doesn't she take her?" Zoe answered him with a question of her own, a smile on her face as they walked outside.

"True," Wade laughed, unfolding the stroller like a pro, placing the diaper bag in the bottom of the stroller as Zoe placed Eliza in the stroller to buckle her up. "When the kids come into the Rammer Jammer I'll make sure they get their work done and fed them a snack but not let them go overboard," he assured his wife.

Braxton and Ariel had gotten back into habit of going to the Rammer Jammer after school when Wade was there working. He made sure they didn't goof off a whole lot and that they got their work done if they had any from school, he'd give them a light snack to tie them over until it was dinner time. Fishing on Wednesday's was something they were trying to convince Earl to do once again, but so far they hadn't made it, school and after school activities were getting in the way and there were a few Wednesday's that Earl had to work but he promised that he would get them out fishing even if it did have to wait until the summer was upon them.

Once at the practice, Wade and Zoe said their goodbyes to Eliza. Jackie had been waiting on them for a few minutes saying she had been early. Zoe would go over and get Eliza when she was done with work. With a lingering kiss Wade and Zoe parted, Zoe getting straight to work with a packed practice filled with patients, Brick and Harley needing the extra set of hands for the day. Wade headed off to what he would soon realize would be a hectic day at the Rammer Jammer where one thing after another just kept happening keeping him busy and on the phone for a good portion of the day.

"If you don't eat the vegetables, if your mother asks tell her you did," Wade told his kids placing a little snack in front of them which consisted of a sandwich, vegetables, fruit and a small portion of chips. He was still in over his head and didn't have the time to watch or make his kids eat the vegetables that were on their plates. He did do his part in giving the kids their vegetables.

"Will do, dad," Braxton replied, eating a chip getting back to his history book.

"Thanks," Ariel told him, not even looking up from her English work.

Wade gave them a weak smile, shaking his head as he walked off ready to deal with the broken stove. He was going to fix it, he didn't know what was wrong with it, but he hated to call someone in to take a look at it. He was ready to cave and buy a new but first he wanted to know if it could be saved first.

He wasn't able to fix the stove and he finally broke down and made the call to see if it could be saved, he had a feeling that it might be easier and cheaper to buy a new one, but he'd wait and see. He got cleaned up and went behind the bar where he felt at ease and quickly relaxed getting back into the swing of the one thing he really enjoyed doing, letting himself get lost in it all.

"You guys should finish up and head over to your grandpa Harley's," Wade told them, coming over to get their plates, smiling when he saw that more chips where left than vegetables and fruit. "You can't be late," he stated making his point clear.

"We know," they called out in unison, getting their books put away. They waved at Wade and headed out.


"I do hope that it's okay if we head to the Rammer Jammer to eat," Norma spoke up, already knowing the plan from when she talked to Harley earlier in the day from when Zoe told Harley that Wade wasn't going to be making it for dinner.

"We don't mind, but why?" Zoe asked looking at her dad and her step-mom.

"We wanted to have Wade included and to us it doesn't matter where we eat as long as we're all together and we know he can take a few minutes and eat with us," Harley informed his daughter, seeing the smile that grew on her face.

"I think he would like that a lot," Zoe announced.

It was light chatter as they made their way to the Rammer Jammer to have their family dinner with Wade. It had taken her off guard when Norma had said something. They had eaten once or twice at both parents place without one or the other, it was a rare occurrence but it did happen when Wade or Zoe couldn't get away from work, sometimes they had to be the one to work late and they wouldn't cancel dinner plans with family because they felt guilty for doing such a thing.

"What are you guys doing here?" Wade asked with a hint of confusion. The dinner rush had just ended and he was more than ready to take a few minutes to himself and rest when he saw his family enter.

"Norma and dad decided we should eat here so you can join us," Zoe filled him in. Wade smiled, quickly taking his little girl from Zoe. "What happened to the window?" She asked with an amused smile. She knew what happened; she was the one to bandage up Chicken's arm.

"Don't ask," he sighed, not wanting to recall the incident with the Truit brothers. "Now that's one heck of an idea," he smiled, joining everyone at a table. Spending time with his family was so much better than taking that minute to himself. He listened as Ariel and Braxton told them all about their day at school, he smiled listening to what Zoe told them that Eliza had done during the day with his mom and he told them about his hectic day at work. He was more relaxed spending time with his family than he had been all day.

Zoe and the kids stayed behind after Harley and Norma called it a night and headed home. Ariel and Braxton had finished their school work already and they offered their dad a hand to help him out, letting him rest for a little longer. It wasn't until Eliza decided she couldn't stay awake any longer that Zoe rounded up Braxton and Ariel who were playing some sort of game on the counter using the condiments as goal posts. Neither mother nor father asked what it was they were doing.

The rest of the night things had gone a lot better than the day had for Wade. He was even able to close early and head on home, but his whole family was still out when he walked through the door. He checked on Braxton and Ariel. He frowned when he did so, not that anything was wrong with either one of the kids, but more so that soon enough they would be too old for him to be checking on at night, soon enough they were going to want their privacy and he was having a hard time trying to wrap his mind around that soon enough he was going to have two teens to be taking care of. He quickly smiled when he checked on Eliza, the last 5 months had gone by super fast for him where she was concerned but it was still slow enough that he was able to cherish each moment he spent with her.

"What are you doing up?" Wade asked, walking into his room to see that his wife was sitting up in bed, reading some romance novel.

"I couldn't sleep," she told him with a shrug, marking her page and setting it down on her nightstand. "You're home early," she commented.

"I was the only one there, figured it wouldn't hurt to lock up and head on home to my beautiful family waiting for me, I just figured y'all would've been asleep waiting for me to come home," he chuckled, crawling into bed.

Zoe smiled, moving to rest her head against his bare chest, her fingers softly running over his stomach. "Since I don't have to be up early tomorrow I figured I could stay up until you got home, I have missed you," she said softly, letting her eyes drift shut, feeling his fingers massaging her scalp as he played with her hair.

"I like the nights you do wait up for me," he smiled, moving to kiss the top of her head. "But I know you're tired so sleep, baby," he told her softly, his own eyes shutting. He laid there in the dark holding his wife, waiting for her to fall asleep before letting himself drift off to sleep.

The next day it was Wade that was waking Zoe up. She didn't want to get up, holding onto Wade tighter, keeping her eyes closed telling him she was tired and sleeping. Wade chuckled softly, he didn't want to ruin their little moment but soon enough Eliza was going to be waking up and Ariel was going to be up and ready to rush out the door for whatever Zoe had planned for mother and daughter on said daughter's birthday.

"You sure you can handle everything?" Zoe asked, collecting her things after she had finally managed to get out of bed, shower and enjoy breakfast with her family.

"Eliza tell your mommy that we have it covered," Wade said, turning his little girl to face Zoe. "My mom and dad are coming over to help out get things done and to help with Eliza, Jesse will be around later and I'm sure your dad will be here at some point, the same goes for Ruby and Henry and if all that fails I've got Braxton to help me out and we both know that he wouldn't do anything to ruin this day for Ariel because he wants to be around for his next birthday," Wade quickly explained. "You have nothing to worry about at all. Go and enjoy your Saturday morning with your oldest daughter," Wade told her.

Zoe smiled, bending down to kiss her husband and her daughter's little nose. "I have set her outfit for the party out but don't put it on her until right before the party so it doesn't get dirty," she told him.

"We've went over this already," Wade told her. "I've got it all covered. I know what to do here, Zo. Now go or I'll have Ariel come in here and drag you out the door," he told his wife.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," she smiled, kissing the both of them one more time before heading out of the bedroom to see Ariel was waiting outside for her. "You ready to go?" Zoe questioned, walking to her car.

"For like ever," Ariel replied, running to the car and getting in. "Mom?" Ariel questioned when they were a few miles away from Mobile. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sweetie you know you can ask me anything, what's going on?" Zoe asked, glancing at her daughter as she drove.

"Do you think dad would be okay if I went on a date?" She asked timidly.

"I know for sure he wouldn't be okay with that," Zoe told her with a light sigh. "Who's the boy?" She asked.

"Ryker," she confessed after a long silence. "Not even maybe like a group date?"

"I'm sure we can convince him of a group date. As in your brother's best friend, Ryker?" Zoe questioned, finding a parking spot at the mall.

"Does Bluebell even have another Ryker?" Ariel asked with a sigh.

"No," Zoe told her daughter. "Let me talk to your dad and figure it out."

"Braxton will be there if that helps," she quickly said, she'd do anything and agree to most anything if it meant that she could go out on a date. She really liked Ryker, he was sweet and funny and he actually talked to her even though Braxton made it clear that they couldn't go near her, they could be friends but he had promised if they ever tired anything he would hurt them, most of them stayed away barely telling her hi when she saw them in the hallway, she found it stupid as they were friends just the year before.

"I'm sure it will help, but let's not worry about that, let's go find some things to buy and enjoy our morning together," Zoe told her daughter, getting out of the car. Ariel sighed and got out of the car, ready to have some fun with her mom, before her party that night.

Most the stores they had went into they had bought something, they had to call it quits when they couldn't carry anymore bags. They hadn't spent a lot; most of what they had bought was on sale. Zoe smiled as Ariel had went on about Ryker, it was easy to tell just how big of a crush her daughter had on the boy, she wasn't so sure about Ariel going out on a date but a group date would be okay with her and she really hoped that Wade would lighten up enough to be okay with it as well.

"Why is Ryker making my little girl blush?" Wade asked, coming to stand next to Zoe. Their house had looked wonderful and just how Zoe wanted it to be. Ariel didn't want a theme for a party; she just wanted to have her friends and family there.

"Because," Zoe said, wrapping her arms around her husband's waist to keep him next to her. She didn't need him to go over there and make a scene in front of everyone embarrassing Ariel in front of her crush. "She has a crush on him and after watching them for the past few minutes, I think he has a crush on her and she wants to go out with him, but she is willing to keep it as group outing and she's even okay if you send Braxton with them for the little group outing," she told him. She decided that it would go over better if she kept the word date out of her explanation.

"I don't know how I feel about that," Wade commented. He didn't want to see Ariel dating because he felt like she was too young to be going out on dates with boys or even interested in boys yet. "How do you feel about that?" He asked.

"Sad because she's my little girl, but she's growing up and boys and crushes are involved in her growing up and it scares me, but I think it would be okay for her to go out with him with a group of people," she confessed.

Wade sighed, wrapping his arms around Zoe, his eyes scanning the scene outside to figure out where his brother had gone with Eliza. "Yeah, maybe."