It was a few nights later and their mayor had been absent since the night Sheriff Bill came and got him. No one in town had any idea on where he was or what was going on. The whole town was worried about him. Zoe and Wade were worried about him but they had another little thing that they needed to worry about. "Is he doing any better?" Zoe asked. Wade shook his head, collecting his thoughts.
"He's scared shitless, Zo. I've never once seen him like this," Wade sighed, dragging a hand over his face. "I don't know what to do. My Ma's got him settled in the best she can and she's there for him, but I don't think it's enough for him, not like having his own Mom."
"Is there possibly something that I can do? Maybe I can step in and fill that void; do you think that would even work, would you even be okay with that?" Zoe rambled asking as many questions as she could, before Wade silenced her, placing his hand on top of hers. Having Wade wake her up in the middle of the night, to look at Braxton's throat and seeing what she had, she was scared, but she had to remain calm telling him that Braxton need to be at the hospital, no questions asked. On the way in she had explained the whole situation to him.
"I think it has a good chance of working and I'm more than okay with that," Wade told her. He saw how worried and concerned Braxton was when Zoe was in a coma, he knew that Braxton would be more than okay to have Zoe there with him right now. He was relieved when Zoe had come with them to the hospital to begin with. Harley had come over to stay with Ariel before they had left, because Zoe didn't want Ariel to be stuck doing nothing at the hospital while they waited. "Come on, let's go see him," Wade told her, holding his hand out for her to take. Zoe easily slipped her hand in his and walked down the hallway to where the room was at.
Zoe had yet to see him since they got to the hospital nearly an hour ago; she really didn't want to overstep her boundaries here, with the doctors and nurses in and out of his room it was easier to wait in the waiting room then anything. With all the progress that they had made together, stepping in to be his mother was a line that they hadn't crossed since they had fought about it and the last thing she wanted to do was fight with anyone today of all days, not when they needed to be focused on Braxton. She had went through this with Ariel a little over a year ago, so she knew to an extant what they were going through.
"Hey buddy, look who I got to come see you," Wade whispered, seeing just how out of it his son was. He would do anything to help his son, to take his son's place. Seeing your kid in fear and pain was never an easy task to do. Braxton smiled, holding his hand out for Zoe. She smiled, gripping his little hand in hers, placing a gentle kiss to the top of his head. She could see that he had relaxed some but he was still worried. She ran a hand through his hair, softly singing him the same lullaby that she would sing to Ariel, soothing him the only way she knew how.
Wade squeezed his mom's shoulder walking past her to go to his son. He took Braxton's little hand in his and saw the smile that he flashed him, before looking back at Zoe. Wade was happy to have Zoe there with him. She had easily eased the fear from Braxton; Wade on the other hand was trying not to let his fear be seen by anyone. He had no idea that his son waking up in the night with a sore throat would lead them to be in the hospital while they got Braxton prepped to take his tonsils out. There was no way that Wade could relax until Braxton was out of surgery and everything went well. Seeing the nurse's walk into the room, Wade pressed a kiss to his son's forehead, whispering he loved him, he saw Zoe do the same thing, before Jackie had joined them, taking the place Zoe had been in.
After they explained things to Wade and they had wheeled Braxton from the room, Zoe found herself on his lap. Jackie had excused herself leaving the couple alone. "He's going to be okay," Zoe whispered, kissing his cheek.
"You don't know that," Wade pointed out a little harsh, Zoe let it go. She was nervous for Braxton, but she knew just how tough that little boy was.
"I do know that, Wade. He's tough and strong and he can bounce back from anything that's thrown his way. He's been through so much already, this is nothing compared to that. He's going to be just fine, Wade," Zoe told him, rubbing small circles on the upper part of his back. He let his head fall onto Zoe's chest, her free hand, caressing his scalp.
"That's the thing, Zo, he's been through shit that he shouldn't have been through for a kid his age," he sighed, closing his eyes. Zoe pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "You can't promise that he's going to be okay, that he'll make it out of this," he whispered, choking back a sob.
There was no way that she could promise him that, because she didn't know, she just wanted to keep things positive for Wade, but with him thinking the worst was going to happen it wasn't going to be easy to get him to change his mind, she had learned that quickly when it came to Wade. "I can't promise things that I don't have any control over, you're right about that, Wade, but that little boy still has a lot of life to live and you can't think the worst no matter how easy it is Braxton is going to be just fine."
"I know," he whispered, tightening his hold on Zoe. "I've heard the horror stories, they're kinda everywhere, and I hate that I can't do anything for him when he needs me the most," he sighed.
"You're doing everything that you can do by being here Wade, that's enough," she whispered, resting her cheek on top of his head.
They let the silence take over as they waited for what felt like the whole day for them to bring Braxton back. Jackie had kept herself busy coming and going from the room every so often. Both Wade and Zoe had their phones on silent not wanting to be distracted from what was going on. Zoe had called Harley to see how Ariel was doing and promising her that once Braxton was back in the room that she could come up and see him.
When Braxton was back in the room, the tension had eased up on them and they sat around, Braxton wanting to hold Wade and Zoe's hands. Zoe found that as they sat there and watched the cartoon that Brax had picked out, that whatever the future held for her and Wade that she would always be there for Braxton as long as he wanted her to be around. Her mind had drifted off on her.
"Why do you treat her like that Braxton?" Zoe sat next to him at his therapy session, waiting to hear what he had to say, she was going to listen to everything he had to say, take it all in and come up with the best way to ease whatever was going on his head.
"Because I loved my Mom and she left me," Braxton explained. Both adults in the room could see that he had more to say, so they remained quiet letting him have all the time he needed to finish what he wanted to say. "I feel that if I let myself get any closer to Zoe then she's going to leave as well. I've already heard that she's only going to be in town for one year, I don't want to get hurt when she leaves," he stated sounding defeated. Zoe took his hand in hers, getting him to look at her.
"I'm not going to leave you, Braxton. It doesn't matter if I live in Bluebell or on the moon, whenever you need me, I'm going to be there for you, no questions asked," she told him. She was certain that she wouldn't be leaving Bluebell in the short time she's been there it's been more like home then the city had ever been to her.
"You mean that?" He asked just a little bit skeptical. Zoe nodded her head.
"Every word, you're special to me, Braxton," she responded softly, easing his fear away.
"Can I live on the moon with you? That would be so awesome!" He exclaimed. Zoe giggled, leaning back in her chair, Braxton keeping his hand in hers, liking the way it felt, like he had a mom again.
