Hey all, I am sorry for the wait on this chapter; I have had plenty of problems with this chapter where things have been deleted and rewritten, just to be deleted again. I am not a fan of how this one turned out to be in certain places.

This chapter does come from 4x03 The Very Good Bagel.

Enjoy!


The months quickly passed them by as they slowly got ready for the new addition to their family. Things were crazy between them, not just with work, but also as well as the town finding out before they had been ready for that bit news of to leak out. It happened so suddenly when they had a small heated argument in front of the practice about Zoe needing to cut back the hours she worked. Shula and Dash were in what seemed to be a deep discussion as they walked by the couple, gasping when they heard their beloved Zoe is with child and the news from there spread like wild fire.

"I still don't get why you're going for," Wade sighed, sitting on their bed, watching Zoe pack a suitcase.

"How can I fix our relationship if I keep something like this from her?" She asked her fiancée. "We may not see eye to eye on things, but I have to try to at least meet her half way," she explained, shutting her suitcase, having everything she needed packed away.

"I don't get why I can't come with you," he pouted. Zoe rolled her eyes, standing between his legs, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I never said you couldn't come with," she lightly giggled. "You're the one that decided not to come, wanting to give me time with my mom and Ethan. You can still come," she told him.

"I know, but with Wanda out for the next two weeks, I don't have anyone I can leave in charge for even a few days. Not anyone I trust the way I do Wanda," he sighed, pulling her closer to him by her hips. Not wanting her to go by herself.

"And I get that I do," she smiled, pecking his lips for a quick little kiss. "I can handle my mom," she nodded.

"I know you can," Wade stated. "It's the fact she's going to get all bitchy and point fingers at me for not being there," he sighed, falling back onto the bed, bringing Zoe with him.

"And everything that she has to say, I know won't be remotely true, because she doesn't know you the same way I do," Zoe told him, wanting to squash his fears and worries of what's to happen when she makes a quick trip to New York.

She wasn't only going to New York to tell her mom and Ethan her news of the baby, but to escape Bluebell and how the townsfolk were, always wanting to touch her stomach and asking the same few questions repeatedly; she needed a break from them. They meant well; she knew that, but it still got on her nerves a bit more than she'd like to admit.

"I love you," he whispered, seeking her lips out for a kiss. "But we both know it won't be the same, because I won't be there to defend myself," he sighed.

"That's the thing you don't need to defend yourself against her, Wade," stressed Zoe. "If she cared enough to get to know you, the real you, she would suck it up and come down here and see the guy I fell in love with," she stated.

"I know," Wade sighed, closing his eyes. "If she doesn't care, why should you?"

"I want to have a relationship with her or at least try to have one and that means going to her, what she does after this is on her, because I can't be the only one trying," she explained.

And maybe she shouldn't be giving her mom any more chances, but she did find it hard to cut her mom out of her life, even more now that she's going to be a mom in four short months.


"I didn't come at a bad time did I?" Zoe asked, once she got settled on the couch, her mom and Ethan sitting across from her. She made a stop at the hotel to drop her things off, and freshen up before making the trip across the city to see her mom and Ethan.

"Never," Ethan chuckled. "Plans can be changed around," he assured her.

"Honey, what brings you here, alone?" Candice asked, looking at her daughter's hand to see the engagement ring still in place.

"Wade wanted to come; he couldn't get away, and I have a small window to tell you what I have to say," she explained to them. She found it extremely hard to keep her hands from resting on her baby bump. If you looked closely you could see it with her outfit of choice for the day, most days she's happy to flaunt her baby bump everywhere she goes, but it didn't feel right doing that coming to her moms place. Even if she could feel their eyes staying on her protruding stomach, longer than a few seconds.

"Zoe, what's going on?" Her mom asked, having a feeling of what her daughter has to say.

Zoe took a few more seconds than necessary to gather her thoughts watching as Ethan and her mom shared looks with each other before turning to her, with the time she remained silent. "I'm pregnant," she finally blurted out. Unlike with her dad and Earl, she didn't have anything cute to give to them.

"That's amazing," Ethan beamed, getting up to pull her into a hug.

"Honey," Candice sighed, folding her hands in her lap. Ethan taking the chance to leave mother and daughter alone, but staying close just in case he needed to break a fight up. "I know that this is a difficult time for you," she said, only for Zoe to cut her off.

"Difficult time?" Zoe frowned. "I don't know why you think it's a difficult time for. I'm marrying the man I love and having his baby; it's an amazing time for us," she elaborated.

"It may seem that way now, but you haven't spent nearly enough time with him to know how you truly feel," Candice explained with a frown.

"I know how I feel this very second; I miss him like crazy. I know without a doubt how I feel about him; I love him, from the bottom of my heart," she told her mom. "Why can't you just be happy for me?" Zoe asked, closing her eyes, trying to keep her tears in.

"I am happy for you," Candice said, moving to sit next to her daughter, taking Zoe's hands in her own. "I don't want you to make mistakes, and maybe I have been in the wrong here and for that I am sorry," she apologized. "Clearly, you love Wade and he loves you."

"We do," Zoe smiled, nodding her head.

"Then how can I be anything except happy?" Candice asked her daughter. This is the right thing to do, make amends wanting to be a part of her daughter's life and her grandchild's life. "But it is so important that you know, from the bottom of my heart; I will never, ever be called Grandma."

"Yeah, okay, once you know what you want your grandchild to call you, let me know," Zoe teased her mom, feeling better that their relationship is going in the right direction for once.

"I'm throwing you a party," Candice stayed, getting up, going over who needed to be invited and who could come in on short notice to help set the place up for a party.

"Mom no," Zoe protested, following after her mom, not wanting to have a party thrown for her.

"Zoe, dear, let me have this, please?"

"Fine, but a small party," she warned her mom.


After trying to convince her mom on things and people for the party she just has to throw, Zoe defeated let her mom do what she does best and plan the party Candice wants without considering Zoe's wants and needs for the said party for her, and found herself back at her hotel room, having stopped along the way for some food.

Turning the volume on the Tv down, she got herself comfortable on the bed and pulled her phone out to call her fiancé, making sure to video call him. She wasn't left waiting long before he appeared on her screen.

"Hey baby, how'd it go with your mom?" He questioned, shutting the door to his office. With Zoe in New York, he used the time away to get caught up on everything he's been putting off.

"Surprisingly really well," she smiled. "How's everything on your end?" She questioned, rubbing her small baby bump.

"Lonely," he replied, leaning back in his chair. It may only be a day so far, but he still missed his fiancée.

"I miss you too," she sadly smiled at him. "I see your getting work done," she commented.

"Trying to," he sighed, rubbing his free hand over his face. "Your mom, want to explain that?" He asked, getting hung up on how Candice was okay with them having a baby but not okay with them getting married.

"I don't think I can," Zoe sighed. "It took her a bit of convincing that we're it for each other," she explained to him the best she could, because she didn't know what went through her mom's mind to make her suddenly on board with them, and she didn't want to question the reasoning to why and ruin everything.

"I might just have to see that to believe it," Wade stated, looking through some papers on his desk.

"Then you can be my plus one," Zoe said, feigning excitement. Wade gave her a curious look, waiting to hear just what his fiancée is going on about. He felt like he might know and he's second guessing, on whether or not he should've went with Zoe.

"Babe, I'm gonna need a little more information here," he chuckled lightly.

"Mom is having a party, one guess on who the guest of honor is?" She asked him with a sigh.

"I'll be there in spirit," he told her, closing his eyes, trying to come up with a plan, not wanting Zoe to deal with that without him.

From there they talked about a whole list of things going on in both Bluebell and the ongoings of New York, before spending a good chunk of their time talking about their little one and what they still had left to get done.

Wade would have liked to surprise Zoe with getting the nursery set up, but other than the crib and other baby furniture, he didn't know how she would want anything or what she wanted the theme of the nursery to be, and he didn't want to do it in a way that she would hate.


Zoe sighed, standing by the bar drinking her mock-tail, with a lot of disdain, wishing it could be filled with alcohol, as the hour dragged on, the need for wine or any alcoholic beverage would do, really. There wasn't a person in the condo she knew except her mom and Ethan. It didn't matter how many times she was told you had a playdate once when you were little, it didn't help her remember that time or who the person was. And really the longer she stayed at a party that was supposed to be for her; she realized it was a show for her mom. And that, stung.

She stayed out of the way, trying to stay hidden, listening to the jazz music being played on the piano when her little spot got found, and she tried to plaster on her best fake smile, she could muster.

"I expected you'd be wearing overalls and chewing tobacco," her uncle Dexter said, at least that's what she thought his name happened to be, when her mom introduced them earlier in the night.

"Uncle Dexter, would you excuse me?" She asked, not really caring if she got the name right or not, with a disrespectful comment as the one he made, she wasn't going to deal with him, and she'd make sure to scratch his name off the wedding list if he happened to be on it.

"Oh, darling," Candice said, wrapping her arm around her daughter, helping her make her escape further from her uncle. Zoe hmmed, letting her lead her through the party guests. "Look who's here. Daphne Clarke. You did ballet together."

"Right, yeah. In, like, the third grade," Zoe nodded, recalling the summer she spent with her mom and got tossed into ballet classes and not enjoying it as much as the others.

"Yup. Well, I'll let you two catch up," Candice said, rushing off to talk with someone else, Zoe didn't know.

"Uh, so, Daphne, what have you been up to for the past, like, 20-whatever years?" Zoe asked, looking around the party really wishing her fiancé was around to save her from this torture.

"You know, living. Married, divorced. Married again. I'm a realtor," she shrugged, nonchalantly.

"I didn't realize that you and my mother stayed in touch," Zoe said, finding it weird and maybe a little creepy.

"Oh. We didn't," Daphne chuckled. "She read a profile of me in New York Magazine. She called and said she had a client for me to meet. A VIP wanting a vacation home in New York from out of town. Any idea who it could be?" Daphne asked, raising a perfect eyebrow.

"No. No idea. Mm. Excuse me," she rushed out, making a quick haste, wanting to find a place to hole up until after the party ended.

"Zoe!" She groaned for two reasons, one being not fast enough to escape and secondly for the man who happened to stop her. "Remember me? Alexander Blake. Our mothers tried to set us up?" He asked.

"Right," she smiled tightly. She remembered that set clearly, as it was before she started to date Harry, and maybe she should've dated Alexander instead. "Alexander. So what do you do?" She asked, really wanting to be anywhere else in the city right now.

"Uh, I am dean of admissions at Tillington Prep. It's a kindergarten preparatory school. It's a preschool for achievement-oriented toddlers," he explained. Now she had no doubt what her mom was up to with inviting over half the people in this room.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked, groaning internally hearing the doorbell ring.

"Uh, our wait-list is two years out. If you're even thinking of having children, you should sign up soon?" He told her, glancing to her stomach. "You should get signed up; I can keep a space for you for a very limited time," he told her.

"I..." She paused, words failing her with as uncomfortable as she felt being around him. "Have you seen my mother?" She asked, dismissing Alexander as she looked around the living room, not able to see her mom, taking a few steps through the crowded, being stopped once again.

"Aren't you bored? With no opera? Or light opera?" Zoe closed her eyes, ready to walk off and find her mom to tell her that she's going to leave when more people that she didn't know stopped her to complain about how horrible life in Bluebell must have been for her.

"America needs more family doctors, and praise Zoe for going back to her hometown to do what she wants."

"Sharon?" Zoe questioned, vaguely remembering the woman from medical school. When the other woman gave a nod to confirm she had it right, Zoe went on. "Hi. And please tell me that you are still a surgeon and not here to sell me on preschools or real estate?" She asked.

"Still a surgeon," Sharon nodded to confirm she hasn't moved away from what she went to school for. "Went into plastics. I specialize in postpartum reconstructive surgery."

"Do you?" Zoe sighed internally for who knows what time since the party started, seeing the game her mom's been playing along for this party and it only made her wish that Wade was next to her even more.

"Pregnancy can just destroy the female body, so we tighten everything back up. Everything."


"Wade," Candice greeted, pulling the door open when the doorbell rang. "Zoe is hiding somewhere; I am sure of it," she sighed, turning back to her guests.

"I was hoping to speak to you first, anyway. If that''s alright," he spoke, making his soon-to-be mother-in-law freeze mid turn.

"Wade," she sighed, turning back to face him.

"Candice, let me talk," he said, cutting off whatever it is she planned on saying to him. "You don't have to approve of what I do for a living, where I want to live to like me. We don't even have to get along, but we do have a few things in common. We want what's best for Zoe, and as much as we want to stand here and fight over what that is, she's the only one that knows what's right for her," he quickly explained.

"You think I don't know that?" Candice asked him. "You're right we don't have to agree on anything, and yes; I only want what's best for my daughter, much like you do. I have done horrible things in my past where she is concerned, and I regret them," she sighed. "I don't want my daughter to make the same mistakes I had made, is all," she explained to him.

"I love Zoe. And I'm going to fight for us. The choices Zoe makes for her future, for her and for our unborn child are by far not mistakes for anyone," he firmly told her.

"Who am I stand in the way of true love?" Candice questioned. "I'm sure we can find her together," she stated, dragging Wade off with her.

Before Wade could spot his fiancée, she found him, her brown eyes lighting up as she ever so carefully launched herself at him. He chuckled, easily catching her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, keeping herself wrapped up in his embrace, having missed him so freaking much that she just didn't want to let go of him.

"Can't I come surprise you?" He chuckled, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Found a way to make it all work out for a couple of days."

Of course, he could come and surprise her, and she's been wishing he'd been there from the start of this stupid party, needing him to be there in her corner.

"Good, because Bluebell is crazy, but they have nothing on this party," she sighed, leaning into him.

"Not possible," he chuckled, surveying the room. And that's when Zoe started to point people out and explain to him what it is they do for a living. Giving him the tip to stay away from Dexter as he'll think of you as nothing more than some dirty hillbilly. "Maybe this room can give Bluebell a run for their money," he chuckled.


"Baby, time to get up," Wade softly said, placing a kiss to her temple in an attempted to wake her up. Zoe mumbled in her sleep, burying herself further into the blanket on the bed. "Okay, I'll go get those bagels from Paymers without you," he smirked, watching his fiancée sit up and stare at him.

"You will do no such thing," she warned, tossing the blankets off. "We're taking a dozen with us for the road," she told him.

Wade chuckled, helping her out of bed, lightly kissing her, agreeing that she could have as many as she wants because he's not going to be the one to tell his pregnant fiancée she couldn't have a few bagels.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you're having an affair with those bagels," he chuckled, watching his fiancée in heaven over the bagel she's eating.

"Mmm. Oh my God. This bagel is so good. I forgot how good. I can't get over this bagel. I want to marry this bagel," she moaned, a sparkle in her eyes as she watched Wade.

"Dude, you've been replaced," Hunter laughed, joining the couple, Charlie right there with him.

"Laugh it up," Wade muttered, shoving his friend.

"With as much as you two visit this wonderful state of ours, why don't you find a vacation home?" Charlie asked, grabbing a bagel.

"Do you know my mother?" Zoe asked, taking a drink of her juice. With the confused looks she received, she explained the party the night before, leaving out very little.

"I didn't know kindergarten was so hard to get into," Hunter said, shaking his head.

"When it's the ivy league of kindergartens, then it is," Zoe said, finishing off her bagel.

"Talking about the wait list for a kindergarten we won't be sending our kid to is a bit extreme," Wade commented, waiting for his friends to catch on.

"I feel like he's trying to say something, and we're not getting it," Charlie commented, looking at Hunter.

"That's because we're not and it's not our fault either," Hunter was quick to say. "We've been working well past 4, add on another hour or two before calling it a night and then being woken up at 9 for this meet up," he went on to say.

"4? Closing is at 2, what's with the extra two hours?" Wade asked, getting duh looks in return.

"We have to clean the place, and that isn't a very quick job to do. You should know that you've worked at the bar with us, and you own a bar," Charlie pointed out.

"Okay, okay, we get it," Zoe cut in before any fights or arguments could break out, because they don't have the time for that right now. "What Wade is trying to tell you guys is that we're having a baby," Zoe told them, point blank.

"Dude, congratulations," Charlie said, sharing a hug with a Zoe and Wade. "Are you sure you can't handle a little Wade?" He teased in good humor.

"For all, we know it could be Wade dealing with a little Zoe," smirked Hunter, congratulating the couple with hugs.

"Whatever we have we'll be happy," Wade remarked, Zoe agreeing with him. As long as they have a happy baby, they'll be happy.

"We have got to go out and celebrate," Hunter chimed in.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Wade said, shaking his head.

"I do," Zoe told him. "Go have fun with your friends," she urged him. Really, all she wanted to do was go back to the hotel and have a nice little nap. And she knows that Wade has missed his friends, and she wasn't going to deny him time spent with them.

"You sure?" Wade questioned. Zoe nodded, perfectly okay with him going off. "I'll check in and bring back food on my way back to you," he told her.

They shared a kiss, and I love you's before Zoe left them to whatever they were going to do for the day as she took her dozen bagels back to the hotel room to get comfortable in bed and nap and watch daytime TV and simply relax after the last few days.