A/N: So, looks like I confused a whole bunch of y'all with Wade's reaction to Zoe kissing on him so passionately. Well, he has his reasons, as you'll soon see. Thanks for all the lovely feedback, folks. On we go! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13

"Hey, Wade."

He turned around fast to find George Tucker taking a seat at the bar. Wade nodded a greeting, only then noticing he must have been polishing the same glass for quite some time, if the clock was anything to go by. His mind really was not on the job today.

"Uh, what can I get you?" he asked George.

"Just a beer, thanks," his friend told him. "Hey, are you okay, Wade? You seem a little distracted. It's not your head is it? 'Cause I could call a doctor..."

"No!" said Wade too fast, slamming George's beer on the bar so hard it spilled every which way. "Geez, I'm sorry, man," he apologised, grabbing his cloth and mopping up the mess.

"Wade, seriously," said George worriedly. "What is wrong? Come on, I know you don't remember right now, but you and me, we've been buddies a real long time. There is nothing you cannot talk to me about."

His gut told Wade that much was true. George Tucker was a stand-up guy, everybody said as much, and he sure had tried to be a good friend to Wade since he got out of the hospital. When he told him he was there for him, to listen if he needed to talk, Wade trusted he could do so in confidence, and man, did he ever need a friend like that right now?

"This is kind of... I don't know, is delicate the right word?" he tried, leaning on the bar close to his friend and lowering his voice a lot.

"I don't know, maybe." George shook his head. "Depends on what you're gonna say, I guess."

He seemed almost nervous when Wade looked at him then, but given he wasn't sure yet what he was about to hear, that was probably normal. The fact of the matter was, Wade wasn't sure he was any more comfortable than George looked right now, but he really did have to talk to somebody.

"Me and Zoe, we, uh, we went on a date last night," he explained then.

George breathed as if with a sigh of relief.

"Oh, is that all?" he checked. "Well, that's great, Wade. I know you like her and she likes you, so..."

"And you also know we were together before, in some way or other, right?" his friend checked. "Because that is one piece of information I did manage to get out of the good doctor. We have been in a more-than-friends place once before?"

"Uh-huh." George nodded, taking a long drink from his beer. "Wade, you know I'm not gonna say more than yes or no to that kind of question, right?"

"Wasn't really a question anyway." Wade shook his head. "And it is absolutely not the point of what I'm tryin' to say. It's just... well, we had this date, me and Zoe, and I thought it went pretty well, all things considered."

"'All things' meaning your amnesia?"

"Right. We talked, we ate. It was... I don't know how else to explain it, it just felt right, you know?"

"Yes, I know." George smiled in such a way that Wade wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but since he got that a lot lately, ever since the accident, he figured it was better just to press on.

"So, dinner was good, movie was... well, boring as all hell to me, but Zoe liked it and that was the point. She said she had a great time and I wasn't exactly not enjoying it myself. Then..." he said, heaving a sigh, "well, then, we got back home to the plantation. We're sayin' goodnight and all and she kisses me, which would've been fine, except she really didn't seem like she wanted to stop."

He wore a look that he hoped conveyed what he meant by that, but Wade had to assume he had failed in his task since George looked all kinds of confused yet. Surely, he had to understand what he was saying!

"Okay, so, Zoe wanted to kiss you, a lot," George recapped, shaking his head slightly. "I'm not sure I'm seeing why that's a problem for you."

"It's not the kissin' that's a problem." Wade rolled his eyes. "What I'm sayin' is, she wanted to be doin' a whole lot more than kissin'. Hell, George, she practically threw herself at me!"

"And you're complaining about this, because...?"

Wade wasn't sure what bothered him more, the question that he was a little confused about answering, or the way George Tucker seemed to have such a tough time not laughing his ass off. For his part, Wade found the whole situation completely not funny. He knew he did have to answer his friend's question though.

"I'm not complainin' exactly... or maybe I am, I don't know," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I like Zoe a lot, it's just she seems to like me a very lot. Maybe more than I can deal with," he tried to explain, checking once again no-one around was listening in before he continued. "She seems to want something that... that I don't know if I can give her," he said pointedly.

At that, George actually did bust up laughing, but before Wade could complain about it, he started talking himself, through the chuckles and giggles.

"Come on, Wade. You have slept with more women than I've drunk beers," said George, gesturing with his bottle before taking another drag from it.

"So everybody keeps on telling me, but I don't remember," he said tightly, hoping that his point might finally land with George then.

Wade knew it absolutely had when his friend stopped mid-sip of beer and stared wide-eyed at him.

"Oh," said George as he pulled the bottle away from his lips. "Oh, right. Wow, so, it's like you're a..." he said, making a vague gesture with his free-hand.

"Exactly," Wade confirmed, glad to realise that neither one of them was actually going to say the damn word.

The truth was, as far as Wade's memories went, he never had sex before in his life, so to have some woman he may or may not have slept with before, but who definitely knew his reputation with the ladies, seemingly wanting to drag him into her bed, it made Wade Kinsella more than a little nervous. If the look on George's face was anything to go by, he didn't know what to say about it any more than his friend did. Well, so much for getting some useful advice. Seemed that wasn't so forthcoming after all.

"I just feel like I need somebody to tell me it's okay, you know?" said Zoe worriedly. "That it's normal, because it is when you think about it, right?"

"Wade Kinsella saying no when you offered him sex is normal?" Annabeth asked, making a face. "Yeah, if that's your idea of normal, then you are crazy pants," she said definitely, turning away to put a couple of patient files into the cabinet.

"But he's not the Wade we all knew," Zoe insisted, both hands slamming on the reception desk perhaps a little too hard. "Or he is, I guess, but he's not. I mean, he doesn't have all his memories of being with me... or being with anyone, now that I think about it," she considered.

Annabeth turned back to face Zoe then, a frown creasing her forehead.

"You know, when you put it like that, I guess it is more understandable," she considered. "For Wade, your date last night wasn't just the first that you two ever had, it was the first date ever in his memory. When you look at it that way, I guess somebody getting ready to... to get busy," she said pointedly, "well, it would be a little overwhelming, wouldn't it?"

Zoe started to wish she never began the conversation when she heard Annabeth say that. Of course, she hadn't thought about this properly from Wade's point of view. She was aware that to him it was their first date, but like Annabeth said, it was actually his first date of any kind ever, at least, as far as he knew. He had no memories of previous dates, of kissing anyone, of sleeping with anyone. He was practically a frightened virgin and she had thrown herself at him without pause.

"Oh, God!" she gasped at the realisation. "AB, I am a horrible person!"

Her arms were folded on the counter and her head soon landed on top of them with a thud. Zoe couldn't believe what she had done, what kind of position she had put Wade in, and then, she had actually been upset when she was rebuffed. What else could she expect in the circumstances? If a guy did to her what she did to Wade, she would be disgusted and angry. She was frankly amazed that he was as calm and reasonable as he was in rejecting her last night.

"Oh, come on, honey," said Annabeth kindly, her hand petting Zoe's hair. "You're not a horrible person, not at all," she promised her, as Zoe peeked up at her. "You just... well, you're acting on your instincts. You've had these feelings for Wade a real long time now, longer than he remembers, that's for sure, and you acted on them. Nobody can blame you for getting a little carried away."

"Wade could," Zoe grumbled. "What if that's it? What if I blew my chance?" she asked, standing up straight again. "We had this one amazing date and then I... well, I pushed my luck, I guess, and now, Wade probably thinks I'm some kind of sex maniac and he'll never want to see me again, which is ironic, because actually, a sex maniac probably would've been his ideal match when I first met him."

"I can't exactly argue with that," Annabeth realised, shaking her head, "but Zoe, Wade has changed since then, and I'm not just talking about the amnesia. You've changed too. You two fell in love and it was beautiful to see. Yes, it did go wrong, but you got past that. You want to fix it, and even though Wade doesn't know there's anything to be fixed, he clearly likes you a lot."

"He did like me a lot." Zoe sighed. "After last night..."

"He'll still like you just the same," Annabeth insisted. "You just overwhelmed him is all. It's a lot for him to deal with right now, but it won't change his feelings. Heck, if losing all his memories didn't do that, I can't see a little overexuberant kissing on your part is going to."

Zoe nodded in agreement, though she was hoping rather than believing that what her friend said was true. Maybe she did just need to apologise to Wade one more time and then things could be okay. After all, guys had tried their luck with her in the past and she got over it. Wade himself had been known to make suggestions that she was never going to agree to in the beginning, but she was never mad at him about it, not really. It ought to work the other way too, she supposed.

"You think you're gonna be okay now?" asked Annabeth then. "Because, I don't wanna seem unfeeling or anything, but you do have patients due to start arriving again pretty soon," she said, looking to the list that proved it.

Zoe drew in a deep breath and let it out slow.

"I'm fine," she promised. "And me and Wade will be fine too, I'm sure. I'll talk to him later, after work. I mean, it'll be okay, right?"

"I'm sure that it will," her friend told her with a smile. "Like I told you, Zoe, just because Wade doesn't remember anything right now, he knows how he feels about you, I'm certain. That kind of thing isn't in your head, it's right here," she said, her hand over her heart.

"You know, Lavon said something like that to me a few days ago." Zoe smiled. "I guess that proves that not only do great minds think alike, they belong together too," she said, picking up the patient files for her next couple of appointments and taking them through to her office.

She did feel better for talking to AB about what happened with Wade, but quite honestly, it didn't solve everything. Even if Zoe did apologise again and Wade did forgive her, that was only half the battle. They could rebuild their relationship and it could be great, she was sure, but the fact was, the guy Zoe had gone on a date with last night wasn't exactly the one she wanted.

It made her feel like a terrible person all over again just to consider it, but Zoe wanted to date Wade Kinsella, and quite honestly, the version that she was dealing with now just wasn't him. Without his memories, well, he was still him and she still loved him, but there were pieces missing, pieces that were part of what she loved about him.

Of course, the whole sex thing was a very small part of the problem. It was so many other things too. Inside jokes, things he used to say, stuff that she couldn't even categorise or label. Whatever it was, it was just missing, and there was an ache in Zoe's heart knowing that even if she could make things right with the Wade she knew now, he was never going to be the man she used to love, not unless he got his memories back.

"I really am a horrible person," she muttered to herself, opening up the next patient file to review the notes, "but I guess I'm just going to have to live with it."

To Be Continued...