A/N: Thanks for the latest reviews, peops! :) Now, back to NYC for Wade & Zoe!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 28

"You sure you can manage all o' this by yourself?" Wade asked Zoe as he helped her out of the cab with her luggage.

"I just have to get as far as the elevator," she reminded him, hefting a bag onto her shoulder and grabbing the wheeled suitcase handle in her other hand. "I'm fine," she promised. "Besides, you need to get home too, and preferably get some sleep before your meeting in... six hours," she reminded him, checking the time on the watch at his wrist.

"Always lookin' out for me, doc," said Wade, leaning down to kiss her briefly on the lips. "You get some sleep yourself, okay?"

"I will," she promised, kissing him back a moment before they finally parted ways.

Zoe turned back at the door to the building, waving to Wade as the cab drove on to take him home. She did struggle just a little in getting all of her bags and case inside, but as she said, once she got into the elevator, the worst was over, or so Zoe thought.

Heaving a sigh, she sat down on her own case as she flew up to the fourth floor. Between all the emotions of the past few days, as well as the travelling, she was genuinely exhausted. While Wade would have to limit his sleep to just a few short hours so he could get to his meeting this afternoon, Zoe was happy to note she could sleep all day and into the night if she wanted to, since work were not expecting her for a good forty-eight hours.

"And I need the sleep," she muttered to herself, getting up just as the elevator doors opened and fighting to drag her luggage out into the hallway.

Turning towards her door, she jumped about a mile in the air when she realised there was someone waiting for her. The fact they were not standing at her door, but sitting leaning back against it was strange to say the least, and when she saw who the man behind the medical journal was, she could not have been more shocked.

"Dad?"

Immediately Ethan Hart was on his feet, opening his arms to Zoe and hugging her tight the moment she allowed him the chance.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as they pulled apart. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I wasn't expecting to be here myself," he admitted. "But your mother called and... well, I had to come," he said with a look that Zoe couldn't mistake.

He knew. Well, she supposed when it came to her paternity, Ethan Hart had known the truth for quite some time, most likely around the time of her parents' divorce or similar. Now, she supposed he also knew that she had been told the truth herself, else why suddenly show up after so long?

"Um, we should get inside," she said, shaking herself out of a daze. "I'm sorry, I'm kind of tired. Would you believe I just got back from Alabama?" she said as she moved to gather her bags.

"I would," said Ethan, reaching to help her.

"Oh, yeah, of course."

Zoe was pretty sure she had never felt so awkward in all her days as she led the way into her apartment and the man she always thought had been her father followed behind. After all this time, always feeling wretched that her dad had seemingly abandoned her. Now at least she knew why, but as Zoe thought about it a little more, she realised she was as angry as she was sad about all this. She was hardly aware of the growl rising in her throat until it escaped and she slammed the apartment door behind them.

"Zoe?"

"You know, I'm not even sure how to respond to that," she said as she faced him, hands on her hips. "I mean, what do I call you these days? Dad doesn't exactly seem right. Would you prefer Ethan? Maybe Dr Hart, keep it professional."

"Zoe, come on..." he said, shaking his head.

Honestly, as sad as he looked, Zoe couldn't care, not right now.

"See, the problem is, I get that you suffered too. Mom lied to you, for years, apparently. She told you that you were my father and that wasn't true. That was wrong and absolutely not your fault, but do you know what I can blame you for, Dad?" she said with a deliberate edge to her tone. "After you found out the truth, you never told me, but you did take it all out on me. Do you have any idea what it did to me to be abandoned by the man I looked up to, not just as my idol and the surgeon I aspired to be one day, but the person I had called Daddy my whole life?"

Zoe heard her own voice cracking and hated herself for being weak. She should be strong, angry, defiant in the face of all this, but she couldn't. In the end, she was still that same little girl inside, the one who only wanted her father's approval and affection.

It didn't matter that Ethan Hart wasn't biologically related to her. He had been her dad too long for her to pretend he suddenly didn't exist, even if that was seemingly what he had done with her after he learned the truth of her paternity.

"I really don't know where to begin," he told her, looking as old and tired as she had ever seen him.

Ethan sank down to sit on the couch, his face in his hands for a few moments. After seemingly pulling his thoughts into some kind of order, he looked up at her and sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Zoe," he told her, shaking his head. "I can't begin to imagine how you feel right now, how much you've gone through in the past few weeks."

"Try the past few years!" she yelled back at him. "My mom's lies only came out in the last few weeks, but you... you just abandoned me, Dad."

She didn't want to cry about it, not in front of him. He didn't deserve to see her crumble. At the same time, she did want him to see her tears, to know how very much he had hurt her with what he had done, or rather what he had not done. He hadn't bothered to stay in touch. Not so long ago, he had even been in New York and quite deliberately avoided her. That hurt so much. She didn't want it to, but it did.

"Zoe, if I could take it back," he said then. "If I could go back and change it, you know I would."

"Do I?" she asked, shaking her head. "I don't know what I believe anymore. I mean, my mother lied to me my whole life, and about something as important as who my real father was. That makes me wonder what else she lied about. Then there's you. You've been keeping things from me for a pretty long time too, avoiding me even when we're in the same city. At this point, I have more trust in my boyfriend and the people from his home town than I do my own family. How bad is that?"

She wasn't really expecting Ethan to answer that question but he looked like he might want to give it a try. Zoe didn't doubt he was sorry, but frankly, she was too tired and emotional to get into this anymore today.

"You know, what? I think you should leave," she told him, folding her arms across her chest defiantly.

"Zoe, I can't just-"

"Yes, you can," she snapped, holding firm. "I heard your apology and I've said everything I needed to say for now. I am beyond tired, so I need you to go. If you care about me at all, you'll just go away, please."

Though she knew she was fast turning from firm to desperate, Zoe couldn't care. It did the trick, got Ethan to his feet and over to the door. The weirdest part was that, as he reached to open it and let himself out, Zoe almost wanted to tell him she changed her mind. There was a part of her that still wanted her daddy, to have him give her a hug and talk to her about cardio-thoracics and be proud of all she had achieved so far. That part wasn't going to win out today, she was determined on that.

"Maybe I could call back tomorrow?" asked Ethan as he opened the door to go.

"Sure." Zoe nodded. "I'll see you soon."

He gave her a half-smile, clearly pleased that she was open to further talks, even if it wasn't right now, and then he was gone. The tears came full-force then and Zoe sunk down onto the couch, sobbing into her hands. The last thing she needed was to have to deal with Ethan on top of everything else, but in the long-run, she was sure it would be for the best to get things figured out sooner rather than later.

Before he started calling again tomorrow, Zoe knew her first priority was to get some sleep. Even with her head as busy as it was, she was pretty sure she would be asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, she was just that tired form the travelling and all the emotions piled on top. At some point, she knew she also had to deal with her mother, since things were all very vague and uncertain there too.

"Too much," she decided as she got up from the couch, her tears finally over, and dragged herself off to her bedroom, muttering all the way. "Should've stayed in Bluebell."

"It was no bad thing bein' back home, boys, that much I can tell you," said Wade, shaking his head. "Almost decided to retire from this rock 'n' roll life entirely and just stay there, leave you guys to fend for yourselves."

"Hey, don't even joke about it, man," Clayne told him with a look. "You got no idea how much I coulda used a trip back to Bluebell. New York is all well and good, but it ain't home."

"You got that right." Jordan sighed. "We all shoulda taken that trip together."

"Not me," said Mark from further across the room. "You're such a bunch of momma's boys, wantin' to run on home all the time," he told them, rolling his eyes. "What happened to our plans to be rich and famous, huh? You forget all about that? 'Cause that kinda thing don't happen in no backwater place like Bluebell."

"Hey, have some respect, man!" Wade told him crossly. "Maybe we couldn't be so famous or have a music career like we got here, but Bluebell is a damn decent place. You sure as hell wouldn't be here without it."

"He wouldn't be here without us either, despite what he thinks," said Jordan with a sneer. "I wasn't gonna tell Wade what you said about him while he was gone, but maybe I will now," he told Mark with a look.

"Hell, I couldn't care less if you did tell him," his supposed friend countered.

Wade looked between the two and then finally at Clayne, hoping somebody was about to tell him what in the heck was going on, because he was not following at all. Clearly something had been said in his absence, and if it had anything to do with kicking him out of Sippin' Whiskey, he would be pissed.

At the same time, a strange feeling came over Wade as he really considered that scenario. If he got kicked out the band, he wouldn't have to be in New York anymore, which would mean he could head on back to the place he most wanted to be, namely Bluebell, his home. With Zoe seemingly coming around to the idea of liking the place too, the possibility could have its upsides yet.

"You shoulda heard this guy when you were gone," Jordan told Wade then, gesturing over at Mark who continued to noodle around on his guitar, pretending he didn't hear or whatever. "Tryin' to tell us all there was nothin' you could do on a guitar that he couldn't, sayin' all the weak songs in our set were the ones you wrote. I swear, I wasn't gonna say any o' this to your face, not least 'cause he was three sheets to the wind when he said it and all, but you got a right to know, Wade. He'd see you thrown outta this band if he could."

"Is that so?" asked Wade, mad as hell that he had come so close to being double-crossed that way, and yet hardly able to keep from smiling at the thought of breaking free of the band without actually bothering anybody else much. "Funny you never said any of this stuff when I was actually here, Mark!" he called across to him.

"You think I wouldn't dare?" the lead singer asked, getting to his feet and setting the guitar aside. "C'mon, now, Kinsella, if you wanna make somethin' of it. Seems to me you ain't got the stomach for a real fight no more, not since that pretty little doctor got a hold o' you."

"Oh, so, that's what this is?" said Wade, getting to his feet and squaring up against the other guy, making the most of the extra couple of inches in height he had over Mark. "Just 'cause I ain't some skirt-chasin' hound dog anymore, that means I gotta get outta the band, huh?"

"Well, can't say that I'd miss you much," Mark told him with an unfriendly smile.

Just when it seemed like somebody was going to have to take a swing to end this thing, Bradley came in from the next room, half-distracted by his cell phone until he suddenly looked up and realised what was happening.

"Hey, what the hell, guys?" he asked, quickly getting in between Wade and Mark, holding a hand up to each of them so they would stay back. "Come on, tell me, what is going on?"

"Nothin' much," Wade explained. "Just this guy decided to start throwing his weight around. Apparently, you don't need me in this band any more?" he said, shifting his gaze from his band-mate to the manager.

Bradley looked amazed at the very idea and then turned slowly to stare at Mark.

"Seems odd to me that you're making changes to the line up without even talking to me about it," he said crossly. "I mean, here I am trying to make you guys stars, setting up all this promo for the album, and while my back is turned for two seconds, you're kicking out the lead guitarist and co-writer on at least half the band's songs?"

Mark looked ready for a fight still, before clearly realising it was getting him nowhere fast. If Wade wasn't going to go quietly and the others were going to back him, Mark didn't have any place to go but down. Bradley sure seemed like he was taking no prisoners either. Even all dressed up in a suit and tie, Wade had a notion their manager could hold his own if the fists started flying. After all, he came from their neck of the woods in the first place too.

"Weren't serious," Mark muttered then, going back to his seat and picking up his guitar again, like nothing hardly happened at all. "Just a joke, that's all."

"Well, ha ha," Bradley deadpanned, looking back to Wade then. "Are you cool, man?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging easily. "I mean, if everybody else did want me to go...?"

"Hell, no, Wade!" said Clayne fast.

"Not a chance," Jordan agreed quickly.

"And I don't want anything to happen here that screws up all these plans I have for the next couple of months," said Bradley, reaching into his jacket for a piece of paper he was soon presenting to the others. "You guys have got gigs, radio appearances, interviews, the works. We do not have time for petty arguments and bad jokes, understood?"

Wade looked at Mark, who didn't react, then at his other band-mates who seemed nervous yet. It was tempting just to walk, to say he had decided that maybe Mark was right and he should leave Sippin' Whiskey altogether, but of course, he couldn't do it. Not to Clayne and Jordan, not to Bradley. More than that, he couldn't do it to Zoe.

For now, at least, she was set to be in New York a while, and she was going through a hell of a time with her folks and all the big decisions she had to make with everything.

The last thing Zoe needed was anybody else rocking the boat. Better for Wade to stay as he was, go to all these events and such that Bradley and the band needed him for, see where it all led.

At the same time, Wade was bound and determined he was going to find time to be there for Zoe just as much as she needed. Mark had given him the perfect excuse to be at least a little flaky where the band was concerned and he might just use that reasoning if he needed it later.

"Wade?" Bradley prompted him for some kind of answer and he turned his head to look at him.

"We're all good here, Brad," he promised, clapping him on the shoulder. "Don't look so worried. I'm not."

To Be Continued...