Hey all! Day 12 of Christmas brings this one to a close. But the adventure isn't quite ready to be finished. There are a few little universes I have created over the past 12 days that I want to explore more in depth, like you all do. This piece wasn't the original piece to close the 12 days out. That will be published tomorrow under the name of Epiphany.

Thank you all that took the time to read, leave a review, like and follow this one. It's been a fun one to write, and one that I will miss.

Also, this one-shot had already been written a while ago and with not knowing what to do with it, it made sense to place it here.

Enjoy!

Snowflakes of Love

"Rough night, Doc?" His smooth voice washed over her, taking some grime from the day with it. Every night she entered the little bar, she tried to keep her problems at the door, not wanting them to ruin the atmosphere the place created for her. Silly as it may seem the little bar happened to be her one safe haven in the city.

"You wouldn't believe it," she muttered, shaking her head. Tonight like a few nights ago her problems from the hospital clung to her, there happened to be no escaping her job tonight. Those days we're far and few between each other. Most days she can cope without the need of someone else, tonight she's not so lucky.

"You say that every night," he winked, adding extra wine to her glass. She gave him a smile of appreciation at the small gesture.

"It's the truth," she said, taking a drink of her wine. "You have it easy here," she shrugged, earning a hearty laugh from Wade. "What?" She asked with a pout, not finding the situation funny.

"Running this place and working behind the bar isn't an easy feat, Doc. I admit it's nothing like the grueling hours in surgery. But dealing with drunks is a bit harder to deal with than angry patients and family members," he retorted.

She was left alone with her thoughts as he walked to the end of the bar to help out down there. Swirling the burgundy liquid around, she reflected on the day's events leading her to the little bar that easily became her favorite place to unwind after a grueling shift at the hospital.

"Refill for your thoughts," Wade smirked, pouring a hearty amount into her glass once more.

"I love helping those kids, more than the rest of them. I feel like they have more to experience in life and I don't like seeing them in there," she sighed, downing a good portion of her wine. "I do everything I can for every patient," she made it clear.

"I know that, Doc," he assured her, leaning on his elbows to be more at her level and not towering over her. "What happened with the boy today?" He questioned, knowing something had to have happened to the boy that came in a week ago. The same boy she quickly became attached to.

"He is fine and recovering after the surgery early this morning," she smiled. Her smile quickly faded away with what her next words were going to be. "In a matter of days he will be released, and he is going back to the group home, because we can't find his father, he's not on any of the records, which makes me believe that this guy is out there not knowing he has a son," she said, choking up some. The boy's mother is no longer able to take care of her son, the state taking custody away from her.

"Does this have something to do with the drama that will forever be your past?" He questioned, fearing he already knew the answer to his own question.

The first time he met Zoe Hart was the night of her first full shift of being a doctor, no longer needing to do her residency. That had been a year and a half ago now, back when he first opened the bar, having left the law firm he worked his way up at. He enjoyed being a lawyer, for the most part, he just hated working for the greedy rich, well to put it nicely, jerks. He started out helping the little people, and he loved that, but this drive to prove himself as a lawyer saw him taking on clients he would rather go against. So he left the firm and found a little run down bar. The bar being a better fit, and he found out he was rather happy with his life.

After that first night Zoe came in, he rarely saw her. Once every few weeks for the first six months. After that her visits came more often. Now, a day didn't go by that she didn't come in and have a few glasses of wine while they talked about her day, and he would try to make her smile after the grueling days she had at work. He found that even when she didn't work she would still stop in. The nights she worked the overnight shift, she would stop in before going to work and get a bite to eat, leaving all alcohol alone.

Over the 18 months they became friends. Sharing parts of their pasts with the other that they wouldn't dream of telling any other soul out there. Zoe knew things about his family and in return he knew all about the family Zoe could've had and the broken family she was left with.

"It might be," she retorted. "I feel for him, Wade. I wish I could do something more for him." She hated leaving the boy, spending all the time she could afford with him while there.

"Have you thought about adopting him?" Wade asked. He gave a soft chuckle watching her eyes grow bigger.

"I don't think I am ready to be a mother of a 9-year-old," she said holding a finger up. "Secondly, I work a good chunk of the week, thirdly, I don't know how my boyfriend would feel about that," she finished, leaning a bit closer to him.

"You, Zoe Hart would be an amazing mother to any child," he said with a smirk. "Secondly, you always say that you want to cut back your hours at work to start a family and thirdly I know for a fact this boyfriend of yours would be okay with you doing so, because he supports you," he finished, arching an eyebrow.

"You talk to my boyfriend about this today?" She inquired, moving her half full glass of wine to the side.

"Today, yesterday, tomorrow," he shrugged. "Someone needs to keep that guy in line," he smirked.

"Here I thought I was doing just fine in that department," she retorted.

"You are," he smiled. "He needs a good talking to, so he knows what he has," he winked.

"Does he know what he has?" Zoe asked, dragging her teeth over her bottom lip.

"You tell me," he whispered, closing the small gap between them, taking her bottom lip between his own.

"It's not very professional kissing while on the job," teased Wanda, walking past them.

Zoe blushed, looking down, Wade smirked, rolling his eyes at his employee. "As the owner I am rather okay with it," he shrugged.

"She's right, though," Zoe said, getting up. "I am going to go home, and take a nice hot bubble bath and think things over," she told him.

"Give me a minute?" He questioned.

"Wade, no," she started to say, shaking her head. "I'll be fine, really," she let him know.

"I know that, but let me do this, Zo," he said, begging with his eyes. She gave him a small nod. He smiled, going off to catch up with Wanda to see if she could close up for the night.

Walking Zoe home may not have been something he needed to do, it was however something he wanted to do, something he likes doing. It was normal for him to cut out of work early to walk Zoe home. Most nights he would go back to work, the nights he didn't make it back were the nights Zoe needed him to be there, even if she never outright told him to stay. He knowe her.