A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, folks. Glad you're all excited for what happens next in this story as Wade comes home to the plantation - here it comes! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

Lavon parked the car up and encouraged Wade to get out of the vehicle. He was busy explaining how this was the main house where he lived himself and that Wade's place was the gatehouse around back, when suddenly the front door opened. A pretty young woman in a real crazy dress came barrelling towards Wade and threw her arms right around him. He dropped his bag out of surprise and tentatively hugged the woman back until she finally let him go.

"Oh, I am just so happy to see you!" she enthused, her hands now up at Wade's face as she grinned at him with tears in her eyes. "We were all so worried, and I really did mean to come visit, but things have been so crazy around here. Plus, we didn't exactly want to overwhelm you too soon, what with your amnesia and all. You poor man, you must be so confused."

"Kinda, yeah," Wade admitted, looking across at Lavon. "Little help here?" he begged him.

Lavon chuckled and walked on over, throwing an arm around the woman's shoulders. "This here is Annabeth Nass. Mostly we call her AB. She's my girlfriend."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Annabeth said then, hands flying to her mouth a moment. "I should've started with that. You had absolutely no idea who I was, did you? I am such a darn fool!"

"Naw, you mean well, sweetheart," Lavon assured her, kissing her temple, "and there's no real harm done. Sure, you gave Wade kind of a shock, but he oughta get used to pretty girls throwing themselves at him. That is the way it's always been around here," he said, laughing still as he headed for the front door.

"He serious about that?" Wade asked Annabeth, picking up his bag from the ground and pulling it onto his shoulder. "About girls throwing themselves at me?"

"Um, well, you've had your share of... lady friends," she said, clearly trying to be polite and diplomatic.

Wade wished he knew what to make of that as he followed the couple into the house at last. Of course, now he knew that Lavon was dating AB, that meant his assumption about Lavon and Zoe was all wrong. They had seemed kind of close when they came visiting him in the hospital before, but obviously not that way.

"So, this is my place," Lavon said, leading Wade through the house. "We came in by the front door, but most often when we see you in this place, you come in through the back," he explained, showing him the way to the kitchen and pointing at the door he spoke of. "Not that you ain't welcome around front, but coming from your place, back's just easier."

"Plus, you usually come over for breakfast and obviously we eat that in the kitchen." AB smiled kindly.

Wade smiled back, even as his head spun from all the information. He wasn't supposed to be told too much, nothing big or complicated or whatever, but things like the fact he usually came to the house for breakfast seemed okay. After all, he would be a little stuck just sitting over at his place, wondering where to get food, he supposed.

"There's no kitchen in the gatehouse," Lavon told him. "As you will see when we head over in a little while. You got a mini fridge and such, but you mostly get your meals here, or some place in town. The Rammer Jammer, obviously, since you own the place and all."

"Right." Wade nodded. "Guess that does make sense."

"Well, on the subject of food, how about I whip us up some lunch?" AB offered, clapping her hands together. "What's your pleasure, Wade?"

"Now that is a good question," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry to say I don't actually recall what I like to eat. I mean, I know I didn't care much for the jello and such they were givin' me in the hospital, but other than that..." he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

"Not to worry, Wade, m'boy," said Lavon, slapping him on the shoulder. "I remember just exactly what you like to eat," he assured him, moving up alongside AB.

Wade sat down on the nearest stool and watched the couple work together to prepare lunch. They seemed like nice folks, far as he could tell, and they obviously liked each other a whole lot. They made a really good team and it made Wade smile just seeing them together. Since they were clearly both his friends, he saw no reason not to be happy for them.

"So, you live here too, AB?" he asked then, startling when she dropped the knife she'd been holding and it clattered loudly against the tile.

"Oops," she said, forcing out a giggle as she stooped to grab the fallen utensil. "Ah, no, I don't live here. Not officially."

"But she's here an awful lot," Lavon added in fast. "Which is how we like it."

"Right." Wade nodded, figuring it was probably best not to ask any more about that.

Sure, he didn't remember much, but instinct told him he picked a bad topic there. It didn't take much for him to come up with a different one. After all, wasn't there supposed to be another person who absolutely did live on the plantation? Another person who was also supposed to be a good friend of his?

"So, is Zoe workin' or something?" he asked then.

Thankfully nothing got dropped as a result of that question. Lavon turned around, wiping his hands on a cloth.

"Uh, I don't know for sure where Zoe is," he said, seeming a little awkward about it, though not half as much as when Wade had brought up Lavon and AB's living situation. "But I'll bet she be back around sometime soon," he added then, with a smile that didn't seem altogether genuine.

Wade wished to God he knew what it was about Zoe Hart that had everybody making faces and clamming up on him. True enough that the doctors had said he shouldn't be told too much of what he forgot. Had to let his mind figure things out for itself, apparently. Still, no other subject, no other person seemed to make so many people so damn awkward around him as Zoe. Maybe someday Wade would figure out why, but for now, he'd settle for knowing where she was right then, while his other friends were welcoming him home.

Zoe had to knock three times before he came to answer the door. She wasn't overly surprised by that, though she did start to worry by knock number three that he was either not at home or something unfortunate had happened to him. It was actually quite a relief when he finally appeared in the doorway, though she did feel fit to fall over from the fumes when he opened his mouth to speak to her.

"Hey, it's the pretty doctor." Earl grinned at first, only for his expression to crumble in the very next second. "Are you hear about my boy? Is it bad? Lord help me, if I lose him-"

"Earl, calm down," Zoe urged him, her hand gripping his arm both for comfort and to keep him upright when he staggered and fell against the doorjamb. "Wade is fine. Well, physically he's pretty much fine. Uh, can I come inside?"

He looked a little wild-eyed and a lot confused, but Earl did move aside and let Zoe into the shack. The moment she stepped in, she kind of wished she could step back out again. The smell was not pleasant and the whole place was a real mess, but she had to be here, for Earl's sake, and for Wade's sake too.

Getting Earl to sit down and listen, she tried her best to explain what had happened. She managed to track down some coffee and fed as much of the strong, black stuff into Wade's father as she could, while she answered his questions (repeatedly, in some cases) and tried to get him to understand what was going on.

"So, he's gonna be okay?" he asked one more time, making a face as he swallowed down the last gulp of his next cup of joe. "I mean, his memories that all went away, they'll come back?"

"Oh, Earl." Zoe sighed, perching on the edge of the chair opposite his own. "I can't promise that. Nobody can. The mind is such a fragile thing. It's possible that Wade's amnesia will go away in time, that all his memories will come right back, and he'll be exactly how he was before. There's also the possibility that he'll just get some memories back and not others. Unfortunately, there's also a chance he'll never get any back at all."

She sat and watched as Earl took that information in. It seemed like it sank in a little better than the first few times they went over it, which gave Zoe hope that maybe he was somewhat more sober now than before. Refilling his coffee cup, she urged him to continue drinking it down, just to be on the safe side.

"The important thing is that, physically, Wade is fine. A few cuts and bruises, but no major injuries, no lasting damage to his body," she promised. "Yes, he's having memory problems, but that's... well, people learn to live with it. He just needs everybody who loves him to be supportive and understanding right now."

She sounded like a doctor, which made sense given it was her profession, but Zoe knew that, more than anything, she was just trying to be clinical and distance herself, emotionally, from what Wade was going through. On the other hand, she had to admit she was here with Earl out of something other than professionalism and doctorly duty.

She cared. Zoe wished she didn't sometimes, but she really, really did. She cared about Wade and about Earl too. After what Lavon said to her about trying to be a good friend to Wade, at least until he either got his memory back or learned to live with the fact he never would, she really did want to try. This was her best first attempt, getting father and son reunited.

"I don't think I can stand anymore o' that," said Earl, pushing his coffee cup towards Zoe now that it was empty again. "I just wanna see my boy. Can you take me to him, please?"

"I can," she agreed, nodding her head, "but how about, before we go, I clean up this place a little bit, and you maybe clean up you a little bit?" she said as carefully as possible. "You know, a shower might help you feel better, and maybe a clean shirt too?"

Earl looked momentarily confused by her request, then looked down at himself, sniffed his shirt and winced. Seconds later, he was headed for what Zoe had to assume was the bathroom and she took herself back to the kitchen to wash the coffee cups and such. She tidied up around the place for as long as Earl took to get ready, putting more empty beer and whiskey bottles into the recycling than she was comfortable with.

It had seemed like such a good idea to go sober up Earl and bring him to see Wade, if he wanted to go. She thought she was being a good friend in doing all this, but now, she was starting to wonder. Wade didn't remember his father at all, not his name or what he looked like, and he also wouldn't remember that he was an alcoholic, or more over, why. That might make for a very awkward conversation, actually.

"Earl?" she called to him, having heard the water shut off a while ago and presuming he was almost done getting cleaned up. "I was just thinking..."

"I am all spruced up and ready to go," he said, taking away the end of her sentence as he appeared in front of her, dressed just as smart as she had ever seen the man. "I'm ready to go see my boy, doc, so, please, take me to him, would ya?"

Zoe opened her mouth to answer but no words would come. How could she deny the man a chance to see his son when he had gone to so much effort? When he had been so worried about Wade and what had happened to him?

"Okay," she said eventually. "Let's go."

"Well, I didn't know what I liked before, but I reckon I do now," said Wade, throwing his balled-up paper napkin onto his plate. "That was delicious."

"We're glad you enjoyed it," said AB with a wide smile. "It's gotta be a good sign that you have an appetite too, right? I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure that's always a good thing."

"Prob'ly true." Lavon nodded his agreement when she looked to him for reassurance. "I guess now we're done eatin', I should take you over to your place, Wade. The gatehouse is just over yonder..."

He was getting up from his seat and encouraging his friend to do the same when suddenly the back door opened. Wade turned to look and got a strange feeling in his stomach when he saw Zoe come striding in. He was more confused, however, by the man that followed on behind her.

"Hey," she said with a smile as she approached Wade. "Welcome home."

"Thanks," he replied, nodding once. "We was wondering where you were."

"I had somebody I needed to go pick up," she admitted, stepping aside and gesturing to the man behind her. "Wade, this is..."

"My boy!" the older man exclaimed, bodily throwing himself at Wade and wrapping his arms tight around him.

Wade hardly knew what to think, staring wide-eyed at Zoe over the man's shoulder.

'Your father,' she mouthed to him in an exaggerated way. Blinking hard a couple of times, Wade then hugged his dad back, feeling awful strange and even a little bad about having to be told who he was.

Apparently, this was his elusive father, Earl, who never once came to the hospital to visit. He wanted to ask why, but as the old man finally pulled back and looked him right in the face, Wade reckoned he knew.

Underneath the clean, soap smell that initially came off his father, Wade was pretty sure he could smell something else too. Though he had no idea how he knew, a voice in his head said it was the aroma of whiskey that was assaulting his nose. Then there was the strange uneven kind of look in Earl's somewhat blood-shot eyes. Maybe Wade knew exactly why his father hadn't been to see him before. He had been drunk.

"Been so worried about you, son," said Earl, his hand at Wade's face. "And now the pretty doctor tells me you've lost all your memories."

"Doctor?" Wade frowned. "You talked to a doctor? But you never even come to the hospital."

Zoe sighed, knowing that as much as they weren't supposed to tell Wade too much of what he had forgotten, there really was no avoiding this one. She also couldn't imagine it would make too much difference to anything.

"He's talking about me," she said, raising her hand. "I'm the doctor. I went over to Earl's place to let him know how you were doing and to bring him here to see you, if he wanted to come, which he obviously did," she said, gesturing pointlessly to the man in question. "I just thought... well, who wouldn't want their family around at a time like this?" she said, shrugging her shoulders.

The beaming smile Wade sent her way then was almost enough to make her knees buckle.

"Thank you, Doctor Zoe Hart," he said pointedly. "I appreciate it."

She nodded in acknowledgement, glad when Earl started talking to his son again, taking his attention right away from her. Zoe backed up into the corner, where Lavon sidled up beside her.

"You did good, Z," he told her in a low voice. "Real good."

She appreciated the sentiment, and the sight of Wade and Earl together, the both of them smiling, did make her feel better. Of course, that didn't mean it was going to be at all easy, dealing with amnesiac Wade, not to mention all her mixed-up feelings for the guy.

Zoe supposed she would just have to find a way to deal, in the same way Wade was going to have to muddle through with his memory loss. She suspected it was going to be a steep learning curve for the both of them, but what other choice did they really have?

To Be Continued...