Hey all, happy Monday! Sorry for the bit of wait with this chapter. There's just been a few different factors as to the non-updates going on. The good news is that I have now gotten this story finished. Those chapter's will be posted Wednesday, and Friday.

Enjoy!

"Zoe, I told you that we don't have to do this now. Take a few days and get your thoughts in order," Harley stated, placing his book down, his daughter joining him in the living room.

"I've done all the thinking that I need to," Zoe told him, taking a seat on the couch. "I'm here for you, I'm not going to abandon you now. That's not the person I want to be," she said with a soft sigh. She hates that she's barely gotten to know him on a level where kids know their fathers, and here she is on the verge of maybe losing him already. "I just got you in my life, I'm not ready to give up on having you in my life. Are you ready for that?" Zoe asked. She doesn't know where he stands on it all. He pretty much told her about his cancer, but she wasn't ready to hear more and basically ran off.

"Zoe," Harley sighed, resting his hand on top of hers. "I'm not ready to lose you and that's not going to happen," he told her. Zoe shook her head before he could promise that he'd be there, because you can't make a promise like that when dealing with cancer.

"Don't you dare try to make a promise you can't keep," she warned her father. She doesn't need him to make fake promises. What she needs is for him to be here.

"I wouldn't do such a thing," he told her. "What I was going to say is that I'm going to do whatever it takes to be here. I wanted you here and now that I got you here, I'm not going to be the one to leave you," he explained.

Zoe smiled, getting up to hug her dad. It's going to be a hard fought battle to make it out of this, but she's willing to be here for him. She doesn't know what the next few steps are going to be. Cancer hasn't been something she's had to deal with before, and it seems like her worst nightmare come true, but none of that matters, not if she gets to keep her dad around. To her, having her dad cancer free is the goal for the future.

"There's a doctor appointment next week to learn what options are available," he informed Zoe.

After being told he had cancer, he wasn't in the state of mind to figure out what he wanted or needed to do. His only concern had been Zoe and how he was going to break the news to her. Now that she knows, he can feel somewhat relieved and figure out with his doctor the right steps he needs to take to beat the cancer. He doesn't want to give up. Now that he has Zoe in his life, he wants to be there to see so many things with her. Wants to see what her future holds.

As her father, he wants to be there, witnessing what little firsts she has left to accomplish. To walk her down the aisle, to his first grandchild. To spoil said grandchild. On top of that, he wants to watch her flourish as a therapist, whether she keeps her office in the practice or if she moves to her own place. He wants to be there in Zoe's life, to see her accomplish so much and everything she sets her mind on doing.

One of his biggest regrets in life is listening to Candice and waiting until Zoe was of age to get involved in her life. What he should have done, and what he wishes he would have done, is fight for his daughter. Part of why he didn't do it is because he was scared that Zoe would resent him from ruining the life she had with her mom, the other part he was worried that she wouldn't want anything to do with him, because what does he know about being a father?

"Okay," Zoe nodded. She'd have to make her mind rest until the doctor's appointment, because there's not a single chance that she's going to miss out on something that big. "I meant it when I said I am going to be here every single step of the way," she told her dad.

"I won't blame you if things get too heavy, and you want to leave, I won't hold that against you," Harley told her. He wouldn't either. It's going to be a long road, and he doesn't expect her to be there until the end. She's free to leave at any point where she finds that it's too much for her.

"I haven't learned much about being a Wilkes, but I have learned that isn't how a Wilkes goes about business," Zoe stated, looking right at her father, challenging him to tell her otherwise. He didn't. "When things get hard, that's when you're going to need me the most. Why would I abandon you in your time of need?" She asked.

"I appreciate that I do," he smiled softly at her. He's dealt with cancer in his family, with his dad. He knows how hard this can be, and he doesn't want his daughter to feel bad if she can't be there at every stage. "It's going to be hard, and I don't want you to feel like you have to be there, when that isn't the case," he shared.

"I get that, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's going to be an uphill battle, I get that, I do. But you can't do this alone, and I won't let you battle this by yourself. No matter how hard it is going to be for me, it's going to be harder for you, and I am not going to leave you when you need me the most," she told him, leaving no room for him to debate where she stands or have any doubts that she is going to leave him when he needs family the most.

"Okay," he told her. "How'd things go with Wade?" He asked, ready to be on any other topic than that of his cancer. They're going to have chats about cancer for quite a while he's afraid, and he's already over it. And he wants to know what's going on in his daughter's life.

"It was just ice cream," Zoe stated, not wanting anything to be read into what they were doing, because they're friends, or on their way to being friends. She has a lot to deal with herself, everything with her own office to be set up and working with her father having cancer to really sort out her feelings. Whether or not she has them for Wade. And he's still dealing with his late wife, because that much is all she knows. "We're friends," she shrugged. She is curious to know what it is he wants to discuss with her over coffee. She glanced at the clock to see how long it's been, and wondered how much longer Wade would need to get Alex to bed.

"Am I keeping you from something?" Harley asked, watching his daughter glance at the clock

"Never," Zoe told him. "Wade invited me over after he got Alex to bed, and I want to think it's about his late wife, but I can't be sure, and I'm second guessing if I should even go over there," she confessed. It's not like she has the time to find anyone else to talk this over with, and she likes being able to go to her dad for advice.

"I think he's probably as nervous as you right now, and I think it would be best to hear him out. You can't be left in the dark and I know you've been waiting on Wade to tell you, but if you don't go over there tonight, someone in town is going to slip up and tell you. Is that what you want?" Harley asked. Zoe shook her head.

"No," she sighed. She wants Wade to tell her on his own time, but she knows that time is slowly dwindling away, because someone will let it slip on accident and that will be worse yet.

"Did you take the time to think that maybe he is ready to share?" He asked. "He wants to move on, and it's not easy on him," he said, letting the rest of the sentence hang in the air.

"I have been telling him that he needs to share with someone," she said. "And it would be wrong to deny him," she told herself. She's not sure if she's ready to hear what he has to say.

"Then you have your answer, sweetie," Harley told her.

She might have her answer, because she's not entirely sold on if she wants to go over there or not. She likes Wade, and with him telling her everything that led him to her bar in New York, what that would mean for them? If anything at all.

Wade quietly shut Alex's bedroom door, making sure the nightlight was in working order, before leaving his tuckered out son to sleep the night away. He made his way downstairs, keeping the thoughts of locking his front door and making an excuse to Zoe when he saw her next far from the forefront of his mind. Entering his kitchen, he stood before his coffee maker, debating if he really wanted to be making coffee at such a late time at night. He knows he invited Zoe over to talk over coffee, but honestly, if he has a cup of the black bitter liquid now, there's no way he's going to sleep. Instead of making a pot of coffee, he found some caffeine free tea in his cupboard that he didn't even know he had, checked to make sure it wasn't outdated.

He would wait for Zoe to show up before heating the water up for their tea, making sure Zoe would be okay with having tea over coffee, if not, it wasn't a problem, and he would make her a cup of coffee. With not knowing when she would show up, he checked to see if he could spot her, which he couldn't. Deciding that he had time, he headed upstairs to clean up the mess Alex made while in the tub. More water finding the floor than the drain, but what was a little water spillage when your son was happy and carefree?

With the bathroom clean and dry, he grabbed the dirty clothes, wet towels and any other random article of clothing that littered the house on his way to the laundry room to get them washed. He may be a few days behind on the laundry. With the first wash going, he felt like he had a lifetime to wait for Zoe to show up. He walked room to room picking things up, as it wasn't overly dirty, as Alex is learning to pick up after himself.

He had just run out of things to keep him busy and his mind off of a few things. The big one being Zoe, who should be here any second, and the other one at how empty the house feels with the majority of his late wife's stuff gone. He gets why his dad had a hard time getting rid of his mom's stuff. The second it's gone, the home you created doesn't feel so much like that home you created, just an empty shell of that place. Wade tries to make the house feel like a home, warm, full of life and filled with love for Alex, but he can't do that for himself.

Sighing to himself, wondering what he should do to pass time. Their house wasn't ever messy or dirty, so it didn't leave him with a lot to do. It would be awhile yet before he would have any clothes to fold. It wasn't overly late, but his bed was still calling his name, except he wouldn't do that to Zoe. There's something there, something he wants to figure out what it is with time. That something having been there since New York. The more he gets to know Zoe, the more that something grows. Kinship of sorts is there between them. He does want to be her friend, and figures that after this time of knowing each other, that hey, they're friends at a certain level. They may not be the best of friends, but there's time for that level of friendship later on. First, he needs to confess to Zoe what happened.

Jumping slightly at the sound of his phone ringing in his pocket, he pulls it out once he gets his bearings back, seeing that George is calling. He almost hits the ignore button, letting George think that he's called it an early night. Sighing, he knows he can't do that as he answers the call. George has done him a huge favor today, and the last thing he wants to do is disrespect his friend by ignoring him.

"Hey man," Wade answers, falling back on his couch. "Everything go okay?" He asked, he can't imagine the call being about anything else, not tonight.

"Oh yeah, it went alright," George told him, sounding exhausted. Road trips can do that to you, no matter how far you actually travel. "Just wanted to let you know that I got everything dropped off," George let him know.

"I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you," Wade sighed, letting his eyes drift shut. "I owe you for doing this," he let his friend know.

"Wade," George stated, shaking his head, even though his friend couldn't see him. "I didn't do this because you would owe me a favor, I did it because you're my friend and that's what you do for friends," he stressed.

"I know, I know," Wade repeated himself. "It was still a pretty big ask for you," he sighed. "Friend or not, you didn't even think about telling me no, you just did it," Wade said. George has always been like that, willing to help when and where he can. When they were growing up it annoyed Wade that George was like that, didn't understand, and he still doesn't understand how George can always be on like that.

"Saying no didn't even cross my mind," George told him, being honest. "Though it wasn't just for you," George told him. A good chunk of it was, because he wants to see his friend happy again. George is all for letting Wade take his own time and pace on moving past it, because he can't imagine it would be an easy thing to do. "I had another motive and while this gave me the perfect excuse," he informed Wade.

"Does this have anything to do with a ring for a certain someone?" Wade asked, teasing his friend.

"It very well might," George replied. He spent a good chunk of his life dating Lemon Breeland. Thought she was the great love of his life, they planned on getting married, but it didn't happen, as they realized they weren't happy with each other. You can easily fall out of love with someone easier than you can fall in love. "I just…" George sighed, letting the rest of his sentence float away.

"Annabeth is going to love it, because you picked it out. And if she does hate it, she's not going to say no because of it. Getting a ring that she likes won't be that huge of a deal," Wade assured him, certain that is the direction his friend was going in.

"It's not just that," George said. "I've done the whole proposal before and look how that turned out," he stated.

"You can't think like that, George. You both said no," Wade shared, helping George remember that bit. Lemon had said yes at first and within a couple of weeks of planning the wedding is when they both said no. "You don't have that much bad luck, Tucker," he joked.

"I might!" George huffed.

"Do you love AB?" Wade asked, standing up.

"What kind of question is that?" George asked, sounding slightly offend at Wade's question. "Yes, I love her," he answered.

"And she loves you, correct?" Wade asked, walking to the window to see if he could spot Zoe making her way over yet. She wasn't.

"She does," George smiled.

"Then that's all you need to know to go forward with popping the big question to your girlfriend of the past year and a half," Wade told him.

Wrapping up his call with George, he headed upstairs to check on Alex, seeing that Zoe wasn't in sight yet. Pushing his son's door open, he saw Alex's little eyes flutter shut. Smiling softly, Wade entered the bedroom to sit on the bed, wanting to know what was going on with his son.

"What's the matter, bud?" Wade asked, softly, gently rubbing his son's back as Alex laid on his side.

"Bad dream," Alex sleepily retorted. "Sing?" Alex asked, shifting to look at his dad in the room illuminated by a train nightlight.

"You want me to sing?" Wade asked, trying to recall a song he could sing to his son.

"Uh-huh," Alex stated, nodding his head.

"Okay," Wade said, figuring out the song he could sing. It's the same song that he had sung to Alex when he was a newborn, and he wouldn't go back to sleep in the middle of the night. The words had fallen from his mouth and by the time he had been on the second verse Alex's cries quieted down and when the chorus came around he was out like a light. Just like he is now.

As Wade sang, he watched as Alex struggled to stay awake to listen to the whole song, but he was soon out once more. Wade didn't stop when he noticed Alex sleeping. He kept singing, finishing the song, wanting to make sure that Alex was out to the world around him. Wade pressed a kiss to Alex's forehead, fixed his blankets and headed back downstairs.