A/N: Look at all that lovely feedback. You peops are aces! Thank you so much :) Now, this chapter and the previous one were supposed to be all one thing but it was getting so crazy-long that I split it in two. This one has the talk between Lemon & AB alluded to before and the rest of the Zade date. You're welcome ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10

"You and... and the mayor?"

Lemon winced at the volume and high pitch of Annabeth's question, though she supposed she couldn't very well blame her friend for being so surprised. It had to have come as quite a shock, finding out that not only did George Tucker leave Lemon at the alter because he had feelings for Zoe Hart, but moreover because the ugly truth of his bride-to-be's secret affair had been revealed.

"Before you come down off your squealing fit, you might wanna hear the other secret I've been keeping too long... though not half so long as this one," Lemon considered, downing the rest of her wine in one gulp. "A week or so back, I thought I might be pregnant, and I know for sure now that I'm not, but for a while... well, I thought I might be."

Glancing sideways at Annabeth then, Lemon watched the shock play over her face in waves. This was such an awful lot for anybody to take in and poor AB had never been the best at handling less-good surprises. Lemon felt just awful for having kept so much from her best friend for so long. From here on out, she wanted it to be honesty all the way. Of course, that was assuming AB wasn't about to die from the shock of all she had heard so far.

"Okay," she said eventually. "So, when George was in New York, you had a six-week affair with Lavon Hayes?" she checked, just to be sure, Lemon supposed.

"I did," she confirmed, nodding her head.

"And a week or two ago, you suddenly realised you could be pregnant... and that would've been George's baby?"

"If I had been pregnant, then yes, it would have been, because I swear to you, AB, unfaithful as I was to George when he was gone, I was constant after he returned... more or less. I certainly didn't sleep with anybody but him."

"But you're definitely not pregnant?" Annabeth checked, shaking her head.

"I most definitely am not," she promised, "and before you start worrying that something might be wrong with me, I can assure you that Zoe Hart gave me every test and exam that she could. I was so much poked and prodded in places by that woman, I felt like a turkey on Thanksgiving bein' dressed for the oven," she complained, before sighing, "but I have to admit, she has been an awfully good friend to me these past few weeks. You know, I never saw that coming."

Lemon winced on realising quite what she had said and to whom. To talk of what a good friend Zoe had been, after keeping so much from Annabeth, it was thoughtless at best and cruel at worst. After all, they had known each other so many years and been as close sisters for much of that time. Lemon would hate to think her dearest AB would ever find herself feeling unappreciated or pushed out at all.

"Oh, my goodness, I could just cut out my own tongue!" she gasped, wrapping her arms around Annabeth and hugging her tight. "AB, you know you are my very best friend. You have been for such a long time and even though Zoe Hart and I have become oddly close, I never, ever want you to think that you mean any less to me than you ever have."

"Oh, Lemon, I don't think that," Annabeth assured her, hugging her back. "Like you said, we've been best friends for such a long time and, you know, nothing is ever gonna change that," she promised, moving back to look at her as she gripped her hands tight yet. "I am just so relieved to know you're okay. I'm glad that Zoe did all those tests and everything. I couldn't stand the thought of you being sick. I hate that you even went through the worry of it without my support, and thinking you might be pregnant, and keeping this secret about the mayor for so long," she recounted, shaking her head. "I can't hardly believe it all."

"I'm afraid it's true." Lemon sighed. "And it has been quite the emotional rollercoaster, let me tell you," she admitted as they both sat back against the couch cushions close together. "But, like I said, there is nothing to worry about when it comes to my health, other than a large amount of ever-growing stress, which Zoe seems to think has caused my lack of proper monthly cycle," she explained. "As for my relationship with Lavon... I do so wish I had told you about it sooner and I am sorry, Annabeth, that I never did. It was just such a mess at the time and worse after, when George came home. I treated both those poor men so badly and I was so ashamed of myself for that."

She waited for Annabeth to give some opinion on the matter. Lemon had known there would be shock and awe, but she didn't really expect AB to be mad at her for what she had done. More likely she would have questions and then try to find some way to make it that Lemon hadn't done such a terrible thing in having an affair, even though they both knew darn well that she had. After all, they said some terrible things about Jake Nass for his cheating on AB. How was what Lemon did any different in the end?

"Well, I do wish you had told me sooner, if only so I could help you deal with the drama," she said eventually, "but given the problems I have with keeping secrets sometimes, I can well understand why you did not. It was probably for the best, " she admitted, with a smile that wavered just a little as she went on. "So, what happens next with Lavon? Do you think you and he will...?"

She made some vague gestures with her hands that didn't really mean anything, but Lemon well understood what she was getting at.

"Honestly? I do not have a clue," said Lemon, shaking her head, "but I have decided that I'm not waiting around for things to just happen anymore. This whole pregnancy scare, it made me think a lot about my life and my future. You know, I'm not getting any younger. The truth is, if I want a husband and a child, I need to just make that happen," she said with slightly more determination that she felt in the circumstances.

Didn't someone say, 'Fake it until you feel it'? Maybe they did and maybe they didn't, but Lemon knew she was going to have to put her best foot forward from here on out. She figured if she said it all out loud, and to a friend that was guaranteed to be supportive of her plans, then she would just have to stick to it. She could make this happen, she just had to.

"George has moved on and I need to do the same, if Lavon will have me," she went on. "I'm afraid that part is a little more uncertain. He was there for me with the whole pregnancy situation, such a great friend and amazing support, and then... well, we may have shared a kiss, but since then, nothing."

Annabeth's face just about lit up when she heard the word 'kiss' which made Lemon smile too. It ought to be a positive sign, but in the circumstances, she didn't hardly dare to dream it could be.

"So, make something happen, just like you said!" Annabeth was soon insisting. "Call him up, go see him. Find out what that man is feeling for you these days. Lemon, you deserve to be happy," she said definitely, squeezing her friend's arm.

Lemon smiled at the thought, at the sweet sentiment her best friend had expressed, and the support she was lending her without pause.

"You know, what, AB?" she said eventually, picking up her glass and clinking it against Annabeth's own. "You are absolutely right!"

"You know you could've told me sooner that you actually liked me," Zoe told Wade, after what might be one too many glasses of wine. "You did such a good job of making it seem like all you ever wanted was sex, when Lavon told me you had feelings for me, I didn't believe him at all!"

"It's not like I never tried to ask you out for real," Wade complained. "The one time I offered to buy you a drink, I got a rain check for my trouble."

It took Zoe a moment to recall what he was talking about. Last Christmas, it soon came back to her. It made her wonder what might have happened differently if she had just said yes. She certainly had been tempted, but she was so sure that all Wade really wanted was to get her into bed, she hadn't dared to be too easily swayed.

"Well, at least now we're both on the same page... and we're definitely having a drink," she noted, peering into her own glass.

"And we're finally talkin' about something that's not fuse boxes and snake bites and Golden Boy George Tucker." Wade rolled his eyes. "You realise I don't know too much about you at all, Zoe Hart. Now, don't get me wrong, I like what I know well enough, but we lived across from each other all those months, known each other a whole year now, and I'll bet there's a whole bunch of stuff I don't know yet."

"You know I'm a doctor, and that I'm from New York, and you've met my mother," she pointed out.

"Yeah, and you were raised by Dr Hart, but your daddy was really Harley Wilkes. Plus, you were gonna be some kind of supersonic space surgeon before you come to live down here in 'Bama," he added, grinning when she laughed at his version of her job title. "But there's gotta be more than that to know about you."

"Not really." Zoe shrugged, feeling just a little sad that she didn't have much more to share. "Before Bluebell, my life was all about my career, and before work, studying to get the career I wanted," she admitted, before a thought occurred to her. "And it's not like I exactly know a lot about you either."

"Not much for me to tell myself, doc," he assured her. "Never had a career, just always tended bar, and did odd jobs around town before that. You know Earl, you met Jesse too," he said, spitting out his brother's name like it left a bad taste.

"What about your mom?" asked Zoe curiously. "You never mention her."

She wished she hadn't asked the moment she saw the sadness come over Wade's face. There was every chance that Mrs Kinsella left because of Earl's drinking or something, or so Zoe had assumed. Now she knew better. That look in Wade's eyes only meant one thing - the painful loss that the death of a loved one brought.

"Momma died when I was ten," he said, mostly to his beer rather than her. "Cancer took her. That was when Earl crawled inside a bottle."

Zoe bit her lip, feeling awful. She reached across the table with her free hand and placed it on top of his own.

"I'm so sorry, Wade," she told him, getting his attention. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine," he assured her, shaking it off pretty fast. "You know, I reckon Momma would've loved to meet you. She was the homemaker type herself, no big career dreams, but she liked the idea of those women that were wantin' to go out and take on the world. 'Sides, I think maybe she would've liked any woman who could make me..."

"Who could make you..?" Zoe prompted when he fell quite a while.

Wade cleared his throat and then started over. "Could make me wanna think about getting somethin' more than just sex outta a relationship."

That was quite the declaration from someone like Wade Kinsella. Everybody knew his reputation, the town ladies' man and all. Zoe had never allowed herself to think he could ever be anything else, that he could ever want anything more from her than a roll in the hay, to coin a phrase. She really hadn't believed Lavon, or Rose, or anyone when they told her Wade had real feelings for her, but honestly, a part of her wanted to. As much as she cared for George, or believed she did, there had always been something about Wade, whether Zoe wanted to admit it or not.

The server came over to the table then, asking if they wanted coffee or anything else at all. Zoe checked her watch and her eyes widened when she saw the time. She noticed Wade doing the same thing, then looking to her for an answer on whether they wanted to order more or just get the bill.

"Maybe we should be heading back," she said, almost wishing she didn't have to.

The truth was, she had work tomorrow, not super early, but still. She needed to be sober and sensible. So far, Zoe was having a little trouble with either one. Excusing herself to the bathroom, she made sure to splash some cold water on her face when it came time to wash her hands. Staring at herself in the mirror, she tried for a stern look.

"Do not be stupid," she told herself firmly. "Yes, Wade likes you, it seems like it's for real, but be careful. Be so careful," she said definitely, steeling herself before she headed back out into the dining room.

Wade was waiting for her by the door and helped her into her jacket like a gentleman would. He opened the car door for her too and gave her free reign over the radio on the way home. Zoe smiled and thanked him but didn't touch the dial at all.

"You know, this country music is actually growing on me," she admitted, settling back in her seat and bobbing her head to the gentle melody of the song playing.

"I guess you're adjusting pretty well to this life now," Wade told her, glancing at her briefly before his eyes returned to the road and he drove them on home.

It was a quiet, gentle, uneventful ride, all the way into Bluebell. Wade stopped at the turning there a little longer than Zoe would've expected and then he laughed.

"What?" she checked, frowning some.

"I was just goin' to turn right before I recalled that home ain't the same place for the two of us anymore," he told her, signalling left and going that way instead. "I don't think I am ever gonna wrap my head around you movin' off the plantation to go live with Lemon Breeland."

"Trust me, I question my own sanity sometimes," Zoe admitted with a smile. "I mean, I love my apartment, and honestly, living with Lemon is strangely nice most of the time, but I just... well, sometimes, I do miss my carriagehouse. I miss Lavon, and our breakfasts, and... everything," she said, looking sideways at Wade.

When he suddenly looked back at her with that charming church social smile, Zoe swore she stopped breathing altogether. So much for being strong and oh so careful.

"You know, you can come visit any time you want," he told her, returning his eyes to the road. "It's not like we're all a million miles away."

"I know." Zoe nodded. "I should visit more. I mean, if I'd thought about it sooner, you could've made a right back there and..."

She didn't mean to trail off like that, to be so unclear and even suggestive. Actually, maybe that last one was exactly what Zoe was going for, but she hadn't meant to. Tonight, with Wade, it was making her feel so many things, a lot of which she hadn't entirely expected. Her heart quickened pace all over again when Wade suddenly pulled the car over and turned in his seat to look at her.

"Zoe, I am tryin' so hard here not to screw this thing up," he told her plainly, "but I'm havin' a tough time keepin' up with all these signals I'm gettin' from you. So, could you... could you just spell it out for me already?" he urged her.

She smiled, remembering the day of the Bluebell Battle a few months back, when she had asked him if Southern men understood gestures. He had told her it was better if she just spelled it out clearly for them. It seemed so crazy now that she had actually been asking him for advice about George. That guy was so far from her mind right now.

"Spell it out. Right," she said softly, unclipping her safety belt to lean across the gearshift, her hand going to Wade's cheek as she reached up and kissed him.

Of course, he kissed her back, though he seemed to be trying awfully hard not to get carried away. Honestly, it was all Zoe wanted to do right now, even if it did remind her a little too much of her first night in town and playing Dixie with her butt!

"So," said Wade, pulling back just a little, "you do wanna come by for that visit now, right?" he asked her with a half-smile.

"I really do," Zoe agreed happily, stealing one more kiss before she returned to her seat and buckled herself in.

When Wade put the car into gear and sped off in the direction of the plantation, Zoe was more than happy to go, and so glad that she had advised Lemon not to wait up for her!

To Be Continued...