A/N: Thanks for the latest reviews, folks. Wow, y'all were so shocked by Wade's reaction, huh? I know it might seem a little over-the-top, but please remember that he's suffering from shock and a little all over the place right now. Believe me, Zoe isn't too thrilled with his attitude either, but if you read on, I don't think you'll be all that disappointed by what comes next. At least, I hope not! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 19

Zoe didn't have words. Usually, she had a pretty extensive vocabulary and knew exactly what to say, even when things got tough and awkward. She was well-educated, well-versed in medical terminology, and had even learned how to be kind and sympathetic in a crisis, working on that bedside manner that everybody said she ought to have. In her personal life, she fostered better friendships, learned to be more understanding, a better person, a better friend. She even hoped she had made some good leaps forward in her ability to love and be loved. Zoe Hart knew a lot, but in the moment when Wade told her he wasn't sure he could ever forgive her for what she had done, she had no words at all.

"I can't believe you're..." she began, only to realise she had no idea what the rest of the sentence was. "We were... I was trying to..."

Every attempt to make some kind of retort to his accusation fell flat. She was in shock, Zoe supposed, because it was the only explanation. Little wonder when she had just been told she had been a part of building a relationship on a foundation of lies. That simply wasn't true and finally she managed to say as much, just as Wade was asking her to leave.

"I'm not going anywhere," she insisted, wrenching her arm away when he reached for her. "Not until you tell me what the hell you're talking about, Wade Kinsella. We built what we had on lies? Seriously? Since when?"

"Since I took a knock to the head and forgot every damn thing!" he yelled back at her. "Geez, Zoe, it wasn't so long ago, you and I were standing out by a fence some place with me pouring my damn heart out, and you couldn't run away fast enough!" he reminded her, making wild gestures with his arms. "Now, you just tell me how we got from there to here without some serious pretendin' going on."

Zoe's mouth opened and closed at least three times without any sound coming out. She couldn't believe this, that Wade would say these things to her. Except when she actually gave herself a minute to process, she realised just exactly why he was making these assumptions. From his perspective, she supposed, she could see that he had a point. One minute, she was leaving for New York, giving no real response to his confession of love, and then, suddenly, they were dating again, acting like fools in love, as if there had never been any problems between them.

"Wade, I never lied to you," she said in a more reasonable tone. "I swear, when I came back to Bluebell-"

"You know, what, Zoe? I don't wanna hear it," he told her, cutting her off without pause. "And if you ain't gonna leave, then I am, because this is all pointless and it's not doing my headache any good either."

He went straight for the front door, wrenching it open to reveal Lavon and AB outside, both looking awkward. Clearly neither one knew whether they were supposed to stay or go. Plus, they probably heard some of the yelling through the uninsulated walls. Wade muttered something that Zoe didn't catch, slammed the front door shut again and strode past her. She gave chase, catching up to him just as he headed out the back door instead.

"Wade!" she called after him, but he didn't stop, heading off into the woods as the light began to fade all around them.

Zoe thought about letting him go, but only for a couple of seconds, before she began rushing after him as best she could in her high-heeled shoes. It was complete stupidity to go running into the woods at this time of night, but she wasn't alone. Even angry at her for some reason, Zoe knew Wade wouldn't let anything happen to her. He had to know she was there, a few paces behind him. He proved it moments later when he turned to yell again.

"What part of my walking away is not clear to you, doc?"

"The part where you're being an idiot!" she told him crossly, tripping on a fallen branch and just barely staying on her feet as she stumbled after him. "Wade, you cannot run away from this!"

"Oh, right, 'cause that's your job, right?" he said, rounding on her so suddenly, she nearly fell on her butt instead that time. "You know, you do a real good line in runnin'. All the way to New York this last time, as I recall, but you done your share of it before, yes, sir. Almost left us all for Boston once, and you threatened more times than that to blow town just 'cause things didn't go how you wanted. Why don't you just go on back where you belong, Zoe? Leave us 'Bama folks to our country ways that you don't seem to understand."

"Because this is where I belong now," she said determinedly. "And not just in Bluebell either. I belong with you, Wade. We belong together and you know it as well as I do!"

She dared him to argue with her. He was doing a pretty good job with that kind of thing tonight, but there was no way he could stand there and deny that they should be a couple, no matter how rough things had got at times.

The way he stared at her then, in the half-light, it was if he was looking right into her soul. It made Zoe shiver, though that could have been the wind cutting in-between the trees. She doubted it somehow.

"I'm startin' to wonder if when I got my memories back you went ahead and lost yours instead," he said, too quietly given the volume he had been yelling at mere moments before. "Did you forget how things went with us before, Zoe? How we tore pieces out o' each other in the worst ways we could? 'Cause believe me, doc, I remember it all now. Every single part. Almost makes me wish I never got my memories back at all," he told her with a sad smile.

Zoe felt just awful for him. She didn't think anything could be worse than watching Wade suffer the loss of all his memories, but seeing how much pain the return of them brought was actually harder to take.

"Now, you tell me," he continued then, "with all that I did to hurt you, with all that we done to hurt each other, why in the hell would you start this whole thing up with me again, unless... unless it's all just you feelin' bad for me bein' in the state I was?"

"Wade, no." Zoe shook her head. "It was never... I didn't want to be with you out of pity or sympathy. Of course, I felt bad for you, but that's not what it was, you know it wasn't."

"Do I?" Wade asked, looking unconvinced. "See, that's the thing, Zoe. I don't see what other reason you coulda had for doin' what you did."

He turned to walk away again and for a moment Zoe let him. She knew what she meant to say, but she wondered if now was really the moment when she wanted to let it out. Maybe there had never been a better time than this.

"Because I love you!"

The words came out so loud into the dark woods, Zoe wouldn't have been surprised if they heard her three counties away. Yet when Wade stopped walking all of a few paces away and turned back to look at her, it seemed maybe she hadn't been as clear as she thought.

"You what, now?"

"I love you, you dummy!" she told him again, almost just as loudly as she walked to reach him, her volume more reasonable as she explained herself, the way she probably should've done before, might've done if he hadn't had amnesia for so long.

"Wade, I know I should've told you sooner. Believe me, there are times when I have wanted to, so much. I think I've actually felt this way for a really long time. Maybe even as far back as last Christmas, when I first asked you to be my boyfriend.

"I knew for sure how deep my feelings ran after you... after we broke up. There's no way it could've hurt so badly if my heart wasn't involved, but then it all went wrong. It took me a while to get past what you'd done, and then, when I thought I was okay, I turned around and proved that I wasn't.

"That night, I... I used you, Wade. I'm not proud of it, but I did, and when I realised that, I felt awful. Then you told me you loved me and I should've said it back, because I knew, I just knew I felt the same, but I was scared. I was so scared of everything going wrong again.

"So, I went to New York and I tried to get everything straight in my head, then Lavon called and said you'd been in an accident. I just dropped everything and flew back here to be with you. There was nothing else I could do, I just had to come back, for you."

By the end of her speech, her voice was down to a whisper. Thankfully, Wade was close enough, Zoe was almost positive he must've heard her. The look on his face proved she had surprised him, though beyond that, she couldn't seem to read what he was thinking at all, whether he believed her, nothing.

"You came back for me?" he checked.

"Yes."

"Because you love me?"

There was a half-smile that went with that next question and it gave Zoe hope that made her return the look.

"Yes, because I love you," she promised, her hand reaching up to his cheek. "Wade, it's been killing me these past couple of months, knowing for sure how I really feel about you, at last, but being too afraid to say anything," she explained. "You had no memories of us being together. As far as you knew, we'd only been dating a few weeks. I couldn't just suddenly say, 'I love you'."

"I was going to," he admitted, leaning into her touch.

"What?"

"Tonight," he explained. "The whole big date in the fancy restaurant thing. I was gonna tell you, tonight, that I love you. Memories or not, it's as true as I'm standin' here," he confessed, hands going to her waist and pulling her even closer. "I love you, Zoe, and I don't know how to stop."

A quiver of fear ran through her, even though things seemed to be going so well.

"You want to stop?" she checked nervously.

Wade sighed. "There have been times when it seemed like it would be easier if I could," he admitted, "but I can't," he told her, with a soft smile. "I swear, you are the craziest, most infuriating, sexiest, smartest, nuttiest little doctor in the whole of the damn world, but I love you, Zoe Hart. I just love you."

It was debateable who moved first, all Zoe knew was that one second they were painfully separated by a couple of feet, and the next, Wade's lips were against hers and they were kissing like it was going out of style. The thrill of it all took her breath away completely.

Zoe wasn't stupid. She knew it wasn't necessarily going to be happily ever after from this moment on, now and forever, because life just didn't work that way, but Wade loved her and she loved him. They both had all their memories, nobody was yelling anymore, so things were looking up. Either which way, it was as good a start as any.

To Be Continued...