Hello everyone. Welcome to chapter 4 or day 4. We're at the half way point, and I can't wait for you all to see how the rest of the story unfolds.

This chapter is a bit different in that the bold in the italics are just notes.

Enjoy!

Zoe sighed, dropping her book to the bed, losing her place as she did so. She loves reading and learning, and all she wanted to do was to go to school today, but no, she couldn't do that because someone had given her the flu and her dad deemed her too sick to go to school today. The last thing she wants to do is to give the flu to anyone. With saying that, she's sick of being in bed; she's been in bed since she had soup for lunch with her dad. She had been reading the same page for the past 20 minutes, the words blurring together. Earlier in the day she tried laying on the couch, but that was even more boring than laying in her bed. At least in her room she had control over what she listened to and didn't have to deal with the music her dad considers classic country or roll her eyes at the horrible written scripts of her dad's favorite soap opera.

"The great Zoe Hart missing school," Wade commented, entering the room of his best friend, err his girlfriend? He's not sure what label they're going with these days, and he has a plan in motion to change it, but until then he doesn't know the right label to use. School had dragged on for him without her there. He learned that he plain doesn't like school nor did he want to be there without having Zoe there to make school bearable for him.

"I tried to come to school, dad wouldn't let me," Zoe sighed, picking at her blanket. "Do I look sick to you?" She asked, motioning to her face. She felt fine. Even if she had slept most of the day away, not hungry or even strong enough to really be moving about, but being in place for too long was driving her nuts, so she needed to have a change of scenery. She's happy that her dad stayed home to take care of her. Even if it meant that she had to listen to the horrible drama unfold from his show.

"You're still looking a bit paler than normal," he shared, lifting his hand up to feel her forehead. "And you're a little warm yet," he told her, concerned etched on his face.

"Hey, look at that, you could be a doctor," Zoe told him, sarcasm dripping from her tone of voice. She closed her eyes, dropping her head to rest on the wall, missing the look of hurt etched into his face.

"Ya know, I could be," he told her, the displeasure of her words written on his face. "I'm going to go," he said, getting up. "I'll see you tomorrow or not," he shrugged. It's one thing to have your family showing little sign of supporting you in life, he quickly got used to that after he lost his mom, his brother taking off and his dad turning to alcohol. The one person he thought he could count on to encourage him and support him, threw it back at him, and it hurts more than he'd like to admit.

"Wade," Zoe sighed, reaching out for him, letting her hand fall to her bed when he stepped out of her reach. "I'm sorry, of course, I believe that if you put your mind to it, that you can be a doctor or anything you set your mind to," she apologized.

"I accept your apology," he told her, nodding his head. He does accept it, and he knows that she didn't say it to be mean or to hurt his feelings, but it still did, and he needs to be elsewhere to lick his wounds. "But I think it's best if I leave and let you get some more rest," he suggested.

Wade kneeled on the floor next to his girlfriend on the bathroom floor, rubbing her back, waiting for her stomach to be emptied out in the toilet. He feels bad that he can't really help her. Once she gets back into bed, he's going to call in so he can be at home to take care of her.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Wade asked, draping the blanket over his girlfriend after helping her back into bed. He plans on being there for her throughout the day, as much as he can be, though with Zoe it'd be as little as possible.

"I'm positive," Zoe told him. "I'm also positive that I don't need you to take care of me because I'm not sick," she stressed out. Sure she felt sick a few moments ago, but now she feels perfectly fine like nothing is wrong whatsoever. Almost like she can go out and run a marathon if chose to.

"I think the toilet can say otherwise," Wade pointed out, Zoe rolled her eyes. "You didn't sound fine, moments ago either," he tacked on in a serious tone.

"I don't feel that bad, I feel fine now," she told him, trying to get out of bed. Wanting to prove to her boyfriend she was capable of doing things that needed to be done today.

"That may be, but baby, can you please just humor me here," Wade pleaded with her. He knows from past experiences how stubborn she can be when she's ill. It doesn't happen all that often, but she's not immune from getting sick either. He swears that taking care of her when she is sick is harder than taking care of a baby.

"Only because you asked so nicely," she caved, moving to sit up in bed.

"I know you don't like this," he started to say, pressing a kiss to her forehead. He frowned, feeling her skin is cool to the touch. He found it strange that the contents of her stomach got flushed, and yet she doesn't have a temperature. His words trailed off, as his mind started to race on what she could have.

"Wade? Is there something wrong?" Zoe asked her suddenly quiet boyfriend, curious to know what's going on inside his mind.

"Uh, nope," he told her. He knows there is a whole list of reasons as to why she was throwing up without having a fever. "I'm going to go make you a cup of tea," he promised, making his exit from the bedroom, heading straight to the kitchen to get Zoe's tea started.

While he waited he headed to the garage to get her gift ready, wanting to keep his mind occupied on something other than what could be wrong with his girlfriend other than her having the flu. It's a door he doesn't want to open, going down a dark hole on the internet, finding some rare disease he knows she doesn't have but convinced she possibly has. No, it's better to wait a day or two for things to settle down. After all, he's not the doctor, she is.

With her tea in hand, he headed upstairs, pushing any of his self-diagnosis to the back of his mind. He's going to follow Zoe's lead here, she's the doctor and if something is seriously wrong with her, she'd have to know it. Right?

Zoe felt like crying. The very last thing she would ever want to do is to hurt Wade's feelings the way she had. She really hadn't meant to snap at him the way she did. Her dad had been on her, and who is she to argue with a doctor on her health? She gets Wade cares about her, and she may have felt like she was a little flush, but it wasn't because she was sick, it was because of him. It's been a long day of being told she still feels warm or hot and that she needs her rest. And she still can't go to school tomorrow because she did have a fever until the late afternoon and she might still have one.

She wants to be in school. More important than that, she wants her best friend, her...Wade, she wants him and she messed it all up. The gift he bought for her sits in the middle of her bed mocking her. After hurting his feelings there's no way that she can enjoy the gift he's selected for her. He's made the holiday special for her and she's returned the favor by being a jerk to him. She's not completely sure how she's going to make it up to him, either.

Pushing her guilt to the side for a moment, she picked the small square box up, staring at the white wrapping paper covered in the star of David in blue and silver. Ever so carefully she peeled a piece of the wrapping paper off. Torturing herself in opening the gift slowly is a form of payback on herself for what she said to Wade.

Tears formed in her eyes seeing the Star of David charm in gold with a blue glittery filling. Of course, he had to notice that she doesn't have the Star of David on her charm bracelet yet. There's a menorah, a dreidel, and the gold Gelt coin charm with her name written in Hebrew. The charm is perfect. Yet, everything Wade has given her has been perfect.

Setting the charm aside, she noticed a folded piece of paper. She unfolded the paper to see Wade wrote her a note. She debated whether she should read the letter or put the charm on her bracelet. The charm won as she doesn't want to lose it. Out of the four charms, this one means the most to her.

Zoe,

Writing this letter to you might come off as lame, but with you stuck at home being sick, I figured I should write in case your dad refuses to let me see you.

Firstly, feel better, Zoe. School isn't fun when I don't have you here. You made coming to school fun and worth it. I forgot how much I hated school when you were here. I love playing football, but the rest I feel like I could do without.

Secondly, when I saw the little charm, I knew it would fit perfectly on the charm bracelet your dad got you last year. You've worn the bracelet enough to know what few charms you have on it. I thought I would be screwed when you showed up with a new charm, thankfully it was only the dreidel charm.

I did try to look up what the Star of David represents and let me tell you, I couldn't figure out the right meaning of the star, as there are a handful of meanings behind it. I came to the conclusion that it can mean something different for everyone, at least that's what I got out of it. For me, it represents who my best friend is. It represents where she came from. And that's all the meaning I need, but I won't stop you if you tell me what it represents for you. I really don't mind learning more about you, Zo.

Points three through five, I miss you. Don't get sick again. Please?

Lastly, it's okay if you don't like the charm. It won't hurt my feelings any.

Wade

Zoe grabbed a notebook from her nightstand, ready to write Wade a letter back. Gathering up her courage she dropped her pen and made her way downstairs. Getting to the living room she was taken back at seeing Wade sitting on the couch.

"I thought you went home," she commented, taking a seat in the chair closest to her.

"I was going to, but your dad stopped me," he shrugged.

"I'm glad that he did," Zoe told him. "Wade, I am sorry for what I said and how I said it. I can't imagine you as a doctor, but you can be one," she shared with him. "I'd be right there with you," she assured him. "It's just my dad has been overbearing because he is a doctor, and it just got a bit much. I know it's not an excuse, and I can't take it back, I'm sorry," she apologized again.

"I accept your apology, and I want you to know that it hurts that you could think that I couldn't go to school to be a doctor, not that I want to, but to have a crack in the trust we share, it hurt," he told her, being honest.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it or want you to feel like that," she commented, moving closer to him. "Thank you for the charm, I love it," she told him, lacing her hand with his.

"You're not just saying that to placate me, are you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," she told him, shaking her head. "I'm saying it because it's the truth. The note was a nice touch as well," she smiled.

"It wasn't too cheesy?" He asked her with a smirk.

"Maybe a little," she told him. "I missed you today and I'll miss you tommorow, since I can't go because of the fever," she sighed. "I can't help it when I get sick. I feel better when you're here. The Star of David represents where I came from and the struggles that came along the way, that we've overcome. It represents who we are," she told him, trying to recall if she missed anything in his letter to her. "And lastly, why'd you erase yours at the end of the letter?" She asked, shyly.

"Because I didn't mean to write it, and we haven't exactly talked about what we are," he shared. "Do we need to label what we are? We're friends, feeling out what we can be," he shrugged.

"Sure, I guess so," she shrugged.

After lunch, Zoe moved from the bedroom to the living room, to sit with Wade. No matter how many times she tells him that she is feeling better than fine, he ignores it, acting as if she doesn't know what she's talking about. She's trying to let it go, but it does get on her nerves enough to annoy her.

"Baby, I know that I told you I would be home all day to take care of you, but an emergency came up at the Jammer that I need to get to," he told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

"More than okay," she told him, tipping her head up to look at him. "Go, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, like I've been telling you, I feel fine, better than fine," she stated. "You don't even have to hurry back on my account," she promised him.

"I will hurry back," he stated. "If you need anything, call and I'll try to get away as soon as I can," he promised her.

"Will do," Zoe nodded. "Love you, bye," she called after him, as he headed to the front door.

"Bye, love you Doc," he called back, shutting the door behind himself.

Sighing with relief that she gets a few moments of peace from her overbearing boyfriend. Zoe gets settled on the couch to watch one of her all-time favorite holiday movies, not having to deal with her boyfriend's commentary about the ongoing events in the movie, or commenting about how he knew it was going to end. Heck, it's a romantic movie, everyone knows how it's going to end within the first few minutes of the movie.

Pausing the movie halfway through, she gets up to make herself a fruit smoothie and to make herself a chicken salad sandwich. With her food and drink in hand, she heads back to the living room, noticing for the first time, Wade's gift for the day sits on the table behind the couch. Setting her smoothie and sandwich down, she makes sure her hands are clean to pick up the long black rectangle box. A blue and silver bow stuck to the lid of the black velvet box.

A small gasp fell from her lips seeing the stunning gold bracelet, with a star of David as the focal point, the star filled with clear crystal pave. Wrapping the bracelet around her wrist, she struggled for a few seconds to get it clasped together. The bracelet looked stunning against her tanned skin. With the bracelet on her wrist, she picked up the note that lay under the box.

Zoe,

It felt oddly right to leave you a note and a bracelet as you're sick. Takes me back to when I first started the tradition of giving you little gifts. That day in particular it was a charm of the Star of David, for the charm bracelet you stopped wearing after high school graduation. Stating that you outgrew the charm bracelet, I figured it was finally time for an upgrade on the bracelet front.

Like before, if you don't like the bracelet or any of the gifts given to you, please tell me. You're not going to hurt my feelings, it'd be nice to know what type of jewelry you like, so I can get it right, from now on. That is if you don't like it. But I like to think that I know what your tastes are by now.

Feel better, Zoe. I know you keep saying you're feeling fine, but there has to be a reason why you were tossing your guts up in the toilet this morning. And I know it's not from drinking too much last night.

I don't want to fight about it, as you are the doctor here and we don't need a second fight over it like the first time. I like what I do, and being a doctor was never for me, we both know that. Besides that, I only want you to be better. I don't like seeing you sick, even if it's just a little bug of some sort.

Your loving boyfriend,

Wade

Smiling she pulled a few strings over on Wade. He's been far too nice to her this time of year. She enjoys it when he spoils her the way he does, but in the middle of it, she does feel guilty that he's going all out for her. While she ate and finished her movie, she put a plan together, to spoil him for a night.

"Nope, before you say anything, go get cleaned up," she directed him. "I have felt fine for a good chunk of the day, no fever or anything," she stated, pushing him towards the stairs to get cleaned up and dressed.

"Okay," Wade nodded, holding his hands up in surrender heading upstairs to do as told, not wanting to argue over what smelled to be a delicious dinner.

With the room to herself and hearing Wade upstairs doing as she told him to do, she keeps busy, getting the table set, and dinner placed in the middle of the table, the menorah already lit, sits in the window four candles burning. She's not waiting long before Wade is joining her at the table.

"What's the occasion?" Wade asked, taking a pull of his beer.

"No occasion," Zoe told him. "Just wanted to do something nice for my boyfriend is all," she told him. "Wade," she said.

"Uh yeah," he replied, looking across the table at her.

"You know exactly what I like in jewelry so never second guess that, okay?" She asked him. "I absolutely love the bracelet and all the other jewelry you have gotten for me through the years. You know me better than I do most the time," she shared with him.

"Except when it comes to you being sick," he smirked, cutting a bite-size chunk of steak off to eat.

"Except for when I'm sick," she nodded. "I swear it was just a little bug of some sort because it didn't last long," she assured him.

"When it comes to your body you know best," he nodded. "Thank you for this, but you didn't have to."

"I know I didn't have to, but I want to do it. You do so much for me, that I wanted to show you how much I appreciate you and what you do for me. You deserve to be spoiled as well," she shared with him. "And if you play your cards right, I will show you just how much I appreciate you in bed," she told him coyly.

"Royal flush," he winked.