Hey guys, first off this chapter has been broken into two chapters, as the placed ended here felt right with what happens. Also no worries on Jonah as you'll see you next chapter.

Enjoy!


"Ya know; I don't think we need to rearrange our whole house for a Christmas party," Wade commented, entering through the back door.

While Zoe decorated the lower level of the house for Christmas, as it is their turn to host the party, Wade was outside getting the backyard set up to look as if the North Pole threw up in their yard. The front didn't like any better, what with the giant Santa, his sleigh with 9 reindeer, 3 snowmen made up a little family, red and white plastic candy canes lined the walkway, and the house was covered in twinkling lights. A handful of dancing elves dressed in green were scattered about on the roof.

Inside the house looked as if all the Christmas ads exploded. Everywhere you looked there was something to do with Christmas. Wade alone had spotted a dozen different Santa's in different sizes, one even played music. Lights and Garland were draped everywhere in eye sight. He did enjoy the random placements of mistletoe spread around the house. A Christmas village lived in a corner of the kitchen, where it wouldn't get knocked over or be in the way. A display he's too afraid to go near, fearing he would break more than one piece to the tiny town. A tiny gingerbread neighborhood lined their kitchen counter. He really wanted to eat the work they spent the night prior building, but Zoe wouldn't let him. And he was debating on if he really wanted to eat the stale gingerbread after Christmas.

"We do if we want our living room to look bigger," Zoe stated, pushing a chair out of her way, so she could move the couch from the center of the room over to the wall, directly across from the entryway. "A bit of help would do wonders," she suggested.

"Don't you think it'll be a bit hard to watch TV with the couch there?" Wade commented, moving to help his girlfriend move the couch to where she wanted it to be. Zoe rose an eyebrow at him.

"Really?" She asked him, giving the couch a push to press it up against the wall.

"What?" He asked, holding back his laughter, not wanting to be in more trouble then he was starting to get himself in. "I only ask because of date night," he quickly covered.

"Date night?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Uh yeah, date night. Where we stay in, I make you dinner, we snuggle on the couch watching one of your romantic foreign films, drinking wine, kind of date night," he explained. "With a little nookie," he smirked.

Zoe rolled her eyes, tossing a throw pillow at her boyfriend. "Nookie? How old are we?" She laughed. "Besides after the party, everything will be put back into place," she told him.

"Old enough to put this project on hold until later and take my girlfriend upstairs to our room to have a private nookie session," he wagged his eyebrows.

"Is that so?" She asked him.

"Oh yeah, I'm gonna have my wicked way with you and knock both of us off the nice list for years to come," he smirked, stalking over to her. "That good with you?" He husked into her ear, lightly nibbling on her ear lobe.

"More than okay," she purred, nipping at his collarbone.


After having fun in the privacy of their bedroom and the shower, they headed out to find the perfect tree, a task that took them far longer than he would have liked. They spent hours looking at trees and to Wade, they started to blend together. If the task of getting a tree were left up to him, they would have gotten the first tree Zoe claimed was the perfect tree only for her to find some silly flaw in it. Never once in his life, has he been exhausted after picking out a Christmas tree. It took him less time to pick out George's Christmas present, which was a gift certificate for a round of golf at the new Country Club, with Don Todd, something the lawyer has been watching quite a bit on TV as of late when his son outright refused to sleep, then it did for Zoe to find the perfect tree. He honestly didn't care if it was a full tree with all its needles, or if it's a Charlie Brown tree. To him, a Christmas tree is a Christmas tree.

"You enjoy decorating that," Wade commented, standing back from the tree that took up a good chunk of the corner Zoe placed it in. He knew it wasn't going to be that easy, especially with the next words his girlfriend spoke.

"Yeah, not so fast," she told him. He had tried to get out of it, even if it wasn't much of an effort. "I need your help bringing the boxes of tree decorations down from the guest room, and it would be really sweet of you to help your girlfriend decorate the tree," she pouted.

"Someone does need to put the tree topper on for you, since you're on the petite side," he smirked, walking upstairs to grab a box or two for her. He wanted to make as few trips as he possibly could.

"In the spirit of giving, I'll let you have that one," she called after him, turning back to the tree to make sure it's standing straight. "Also it's an angel who goes on top," she yelled.

"I'll take it," he laughed, entering the living room once more. "The tree is fine and it won't tip over if you don't pile everything you have in these four boxes onto it," he told her, dead serious.

"Not everything is going on," she informed him. "Just most of it," she shrugged, opening a box to see red and silver garland.

"I'm afraid to see what's left once you're done," he muttered going to get the last two boxes as Zoe got busy decorating the tree.

Before entering the guest room, that is still decorated in a pastel yellow color, Zoe's childhood belongings that Harley hadn't had the heart to toss out resides in the room, Wade went to his room, going to his side of the bed and pulling open the drawer on the nightstand, moving things around until he found the little box that held a ring. The perfect opportunity coming to mind. With the idea forming in his mind, he piles the last two boxes atop each other and heads downstairs, to get everything set into motion.

"Do you think Jesse is going to like what I got him?" She asked seeing Wade place the boxes down, as she strung lights on the tree.

"Babe, he's going to love it," he assured her. "Who wouldn't love building their own pinball game?"

"I know you've said repeatedly that he would like it, but I keep thinking that he might like the bourbon infused coffee more," she sighed, handing the angel to Wade to place atop the tree.

"We already agreed that Lavon needed that coffee for dealing with Mayor Todd Gainey Sr. With as much as he gets on the nerves of our beloved mayor," he pointed out.

"Yeah, you might be right," she laughed, opening another box to see what ornaments laid inside. "Don't forget to plug the angel into the first set of lights there," she reminded him.

"Yep, on it," he told her. "I know my brother and anything where he gets to act like a 12-year-old child, he's going to love," he told her with a small chuckle.

"I'll be blaming you if he hates it," she told him.

"I can handle that," he laughed, looking into the boxes to see what he could put on the tree.

They spent a good 45 minutes putting decorations on the tree. Wade finding the ones that Zoe had made over the years in school, teasing her about how her Rudolph lost his red nose or how adorable she was in her second-grade picture having lost her two bottom teeth.

"Just you wait; your dad promised to hand over some ornaments you made, and I won't be taking it easy on teasing you," she laughed, looking over the tree to see if they still had room for a few candy canes to be added.

"Why do you think I haven't dug that box out of storage yet?" He teased. That wasn't the only reason, there were lots to do with his mom in those boxes, and he felt like he was never going to be ready to go through them. Packed away to be forgotten about seemed okay to him.

Zoe nodded, having a feeling there's more to it than her relentless teasing of him and his handmade ornaments. "That should be everything before the candy canes and tinsel," she smiled, looking the tree over and breathing the fresh pine scent in.

"Hold up," Wade called, keeping the nerves out of his voice. Zoe looked at him wondering what her boyfriend happened to be up too. "You forgot one, and I think it's the most important one of all," he told her.

"Is that so?" She asked; Wade nodded, keeping it behind his back. "Are you going to show me or do I have to guess?" She asked playfully, closing the gap between them, to be standing in front of him.

"If you think you can guess it, then be my guest," he smirked. Zoe rolled her eyes, as she couldn't guess to what one it might be. "Okay, okay," he said, pulling the ornament, which was a clear plastic bauble, the 14K rose gold cushion-cut morganite embraced by swirls of sparkling round diamonds. Additional diamonds traced in milgrain detail to form petals in the center of the engagement ring.

"Wade!" Zoe gasped, covering her mouth with both hands in shock and awe. Her eyes moving between her boyfriend's face and the ornament holding the ring.

"Zoe Wilkes, I love you," he said, taking her hand and getting down on bended knee. "You came into my life unexpectedly, accusing me of blowing the fuse box," he teased. "Since that encounter, you've been the one constant in my life for the past three years. You have given me so much, but yet not enough because I don't think I'll ever have enough of you. We're bound to fight; we are very stubborn people, but with that comes the love we share for each other. And I find another reason or twenty to love you more than I did the previous day. Like this absurd tree," he laughed. "That's you and I want you just the way you are. Zoe Wilkes will you do me the honor of becoming Zoe Kinsella?" He asked, his nerves eating away at his insides as he acted calm.

"Yes," she told him, fighting back her tears, dropping to the floor to kiss her newly minted fiancé.

Wade cut the kiss short, popping the ornament open, so he can slide the ring onto its new home. The tears she had been fighting, won the war and spilled over, racing down her cheeks as she got her first real look at the ring as it sat perfectly on her left ring finger.

"Your…" Wade was trying to explain how he got the ring, but Zoe placed her hand over his mouth shaking her head.

"I know," she told him. The ring was given to her great grandma. She's seen the ring when she shouldn't have been digging through stuff, so she knew that he had talked to her dad about the future and getting permission, and that knowledge had her floating higher than she's every felt before, what with getting engaged and all. "I love you."