A/N: Thanks for the reviews on the previous chapter, peops. Yes, I know, why couldn't Zoe just wait and talk it out with Wade instead of bolting? Well, then she wouldn't be Zoe, would she? ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 33

When Wade realised Zoe was long gone from the gatehouse, he got straight into his car and headed for town. She said something about meeting up with Rose and later Annabeth, so he started by calling on both ladies to see if she had gone to either of their places. No dice.

After that, Wade tried just about every other place he could think of, from the gazebo in town square to the Rammer Jammer, by way of the Butterstick and old Harley's grave. He looked every place he could imagine Zoe running to in such a moment and in every one he came up empty. He was pretty sure even she wouldn't go flying back to New York without a word, and without any of her luggage either, so she had to be in Bluebell somewhere. Question was, where exactly?

Driving into the woods, it was a last-ditch attempt when he pulled up outside of Earl's shack. The old man was out on the porch before Wade was even fully out of the car, smiling wide and clearly glad to see his son. The happy expression faded before Wade ever reached his side.

"You come all the way out here to see me and didn't even bring your pretty doctor girlfriend along?" he asked, a frown creasing his brow.

Wade sighed. "So, she's not here either?"

Of course, Earl was baffled by the question. Though these days he was on the wagon, all those years of drinking meant he confused easy. Heading inside, Wade explained how Zoe had bolted when she overheard him on the phone.

"I guess it freaked her out, hearing me talk about givin' up my career and New York and all," said Wade, sitting down on the edge of a chair and running his hands over his face. "I mean, does she think I meant come back home without her? 'Cause I thought she knew better than that by now."

"Maybe she does," Earl considered, sitting down opposite his son. "Maybe that's what scared the living daylights outta her. After all, the way you was talkin' prob'ly sounded pretty permanent to the pretty doctor. The two o' you, settlin' down in Bluebell together."

That made Wade smile in spite of everything. "Gotta say the thought kinda appeals," he admitted, looking at his father. "You know, I never saw my life turnin' out that way. The kinda thing that... that you and Momma had, I just never figured on findin' that for myself. When I met Zoe, my life just changed and there's no going back now. All those dreams I had about being a rockstar and everything, I had my fill o' that. It was fun, don't get me wrong, and like I said, the money was good and everything, but I think about my future..."

"It ain't what you want," said Earl knowingly. "Son, I speak from experience when I tell you that when you meet that one person in all the world that's meant for you, everything changes. All the stuff you thought you wanted, doesn't matter anymore, because she is all you want."

Wade had to admit it was nice to talk to somebody who understood exactly how he felt and who he could be honest with about these things without feeling like a fool. If anybody had ever been in love it was old Earl, so in love in fact that when his darling Jacqueline upped and died, he went to pieces, irretrievably so, for more years than was healthy for a person. It had taken a lot to get him back on the wagon, back into life again, but they got there in the end. Wade never could've gone off to New York and left him otherwise.

"It's all very well knowin' I wanna give everything up and look to settlin' down with Zoe," he said then, "but her runnin' out the way she did, doesn't exactly tell me she feels the same. She'd have plenty to give up too. More than me, I guess, since New York is all she knows."

"Ain't even so!" Earl declared then, slapping his knee. "That girl is as much a part of Bluebell as she is any fancy-pants city up north. She's old Dr Wilkes daughter, after all, and she fits in here better than some that have lived in this place their whole lives!"

"Yeah, I guess she does." Wade smiled at the very thought. "Still, doesn't mean she's gonna be willing to just be here forever, give up her supersonic space surgeon stuff and everything that's a part of her life up there."

"Don't know until you ask her." Earl shrugged easily, though his expression looked very serious in the next second. "'Course, if she does say no, if she really wants to stay in New York and all, well, then you got a choice to make, son. You wanna give up that life and come home, and I would love for you to do that, if it's what you want," he said definitely, "but if it means givin' up on what you have with Zoe...?"

He didn't actually have to ask if Wade was willing and able to do that, the question was well enough implied. It ought to be a tough choice to make, Wade knew, and yet when he thought on it for all of a few seconds, he already knew his answer.

"I don't know that I could, Dad," he admitted, shaking his head. "She means that much to me, I might just go right ahead and give up my dream so she could have hers."

He was a little surprised by the wide grin that came over Earl's face then.

"Well, now I know you love her enough to do that settlin' down and building a future thing that you talked about," he said happily. "Best you go find your woman now, son, and find out if she loves you enough to say the same," he said, leaning forward and smiling at his son. "For what it's worth, my money's on yes."

When Zoe got back to the gatehouse, barely an hour after she left it, she was surprised to find Wade wasn't there. She had actually expected he would chase her up to the main house to talk but he never showed, which had been a blessing since it gave her a chance to get her head straight, and for Lavon and Lemon to help her with all her muddled thoughts.

She thought she was ready to talk to Wade about what was going on and what their future might hold, so it had been an unpleasant surprise to find him missing from his place when she got there. Maybe he had gone looking for her, not realising she hadn't strayed far. Zoe figured that the two of them chasing each other all over town wouldn't do any good, so she sat and waited.

It took a while, but at last, Zoe heard a car outside and looked out of the window to see Wade getting out of his vehicle.

"Hey," she said from the porch.

"Hey, yourself, doc," he replied, finding her a smile. "I have been lookin' all over for you. Thought's just now occurrin' to me, I never did check up at the house."

"That's where I was," she said, nodding her head. "And then I was here and you weren't."

"Like I said, I was out lookin' for you," Wade repeated, coming up the steps and standing opposite her. "So..."

"So," she echoed back. "I think we probably need to talk, you know, about some serious stuff."

"Probably," he agreed, nodding his head.

Despite their agreement, they both stood there for a while just staring at each other. Zoe had to wonder if Wade was thinking the same thing she was, that if they couldn't agree on what came next, if their ideas of the future ultimately didn't match up, then this whole thing had to be over. Even the passing thought of ending things with Wade made Zoe's heart ache so badly she could barely stand it.

"Um, we should..." she said, gesturing towards the door.

Wade duly opened it and ushered her in first before following. Stood opposite each other in the middle of the gatehouse then, they were really no further forward than they had been on the porch. Somebody had to say something. Somebody had to start this thing and just hope that when they got to the end of it, it wasn't the end of everything between them.

Zoe took a deep breath. "What you said to Bradley," she began, eyes closing before she could even finish the question. "Were you serious? About giving up the band and New York and everything?"

When Wade didn't answer her, she opened her eyes, half-wondering if he would still be there. Of course, he was, but he wasn't answering. She was pretty sure she had never seen him look so awkward.

"Truth is, doc, I don't know," he told her, rubbing the back of his neck. "From what Brad was saying, things with the band... well, that might not be my choice to make. I don't know how much you heard, but the album's not exactly sellin' like hot cakes, and then there was this fight type thing in a club between Mark and Clayne."

"You said before that Mark was becoming a problem," she recalled. "Bad enough to destroy the band?"

"Seems that way." Wade nodded, meeting her eyes. "Trouble is, I'm not so sure that's a bad thing anymore."

Swallowing hard, Zoe tried to keep her breathing and voice even as she spoke again. "Because you wanna leave New York. You wanna come back here to stay," she said, a statement, not a question, because it was the one part she was pretty clear on by now.

Wade sighed and stepped in closer to her. "Look, Zoe, I'm not gonna lie to you, you know that I can't," he said, picking up her hand in his own. "Truth is, I never really belonged in New York anyway. It was this big adventure when it started and I didn't hate it. If nothing else came outta it, I met you and I could not be happier about that, but... but the more we come back here visiting and all, the more I realise that this is where I belong," he admitted, squeezing her hand, "and it's not like you don't fit too. Come on now, you have made so many friends, and your daddy was from here. You could take on your half of the practice alongside Brick, guaranteed job, right there. You gotta admit, it ain't the worst plan you ever heard."

"It's really not," Zoe admitted, blinking back tears and fighting to keep her voice clear, "but it would mean me giving up New York and my whole life there."

She said it because it was true, because the reality of the words being spoken ought to make her think twice, but frankly, the moment Zoe said them, she realised, she wasn't scared. The idea of giving up a job that exhausted her more than it thrilled her these days, friends that she barely saw anymore and had next to nothing in common with, a loose connection to a mother that lied to her all her life, and an apartment that was merely a house not a home, it was almost too easy. Trading all that for Wade, Bluebell, the friends and home-made family she had found here, and a GP surgery that was her legacy, nothing really could be simpler. Zoe was so lost in her own revelation she actually missed a part of what Wade was saying.

"... and even if the band doesn't work out, I could find other work. Might have to get a smaller apartment or somethin', and life wouldn't be so free and easy, but I could make it work, Zoe. If it meant being with you, I could learn to love New York somehow, I guess."

"No," she cut in fast, smiling at the confusion on his face when he met her gaze then. "No, Wade, I don't want you to have to. Don't get me wrong, I love that you would do that for me. I love you, so much that it scares the hell out of me sometimes," she admitted, moving in closer, her free hand going to his cheek. "You are an amazing man, Wade Kinsella, and the fact that you would be so selfless... if I needed any more proof of how great you are or how much you love me, there it is, but honestly, I didn't. I already knew, just like I know that you're right. You belong in Bluebell, and the more time I spend here, the more I am totally convinced that I belong here too," she admitted, laughter mixing with the tears in her voice as she went on. "I know there are some people who will think I must be certifiably crazy for saying it, but I would love to give up everything I have in New York to come live here with you. I want this to be our life, Wade, if that's what you want."

He looked surprised. Zoe couldn't wonder at that since she had kind of surprised herself. She knew how much she loved being in Bluebell, how hard it was for her to just dismiss the chance of taking on Harley Wilkes' half of the practice and everything, but she hadn't been so certain she really wanted to throw away all she had up north to build a new life here with Wade. She knew it now and she had made it as plain as she could to him. Now she just had to wait for his reaction.

"You're serious about this?" he checked, searching her face for a truthful answer that she was more than happy to give.

"So serious," she promised him, reaching out for his other hand so she was holding onto both. "I love you, Wade Kinsella, and I love this wacky town and all it's crazy people. I love the idea of making a life here with you."

"Well, then, doc," he said, smiling then, "I say that makes you just about as crazy as all get out, and I must be too, 'cause that's just about the best plan I ever heard my whole life!" he declared, suddenly grabbing a hold of her and hauling her up into his arms as he spun her around and around.

Zoe was laughing and yelling to be put down as the gatehouse's interior whizzed by in front of her eyes. When Wade set her back on her feet, she still felt giddy, but in the best way as their eyes met.

"I love you, Dr Zoe Hart," he told her definitely. "We're gonna make this work, you know that, right?"

"I'm counting on it," she said, nodding her head, barely getting a breath in before Wade leaned down and kissed her deeply.

As Zoe held on tight to the man she loved and kissed him back for all she was worth, a familiar warmth filled her chest and her feet seemed to leave the ground all over again, even though she knew for sure she was still standing firm. This was love, what she and Wade had, and she had known it for a while, but now it was even more than that. This was home too, her home, in this town, in this house, in his arms. From now on, it was the only place Zoe ever wanted to be.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: Happy ever after ending is coming up in the next few days, folks. Looks like I'm just going to make it before November is out! :)