Hey all! Happy Thursday! With as busy as the next 5-6 days, I am not sure when the next update is going to be next week. Nor do I know if there will be more than one update next week.

This chapter didn't end the way I had planned, it went in a different direction. I like it, so I hope you guys do as well.

Enjoy!

"I'll have you know that you wasted a phone call," Zoe told her boyfriend, walking up the steps to the gatehouse. Wade leaning against the railing a half-smirk, half-smile teasing his lips.

"I did no such thing," Wade refuted. "Calling my girlfriend is never a wasted phone call," Wade told her smugly, pulling her into his arms when she got close enough. Zoe sighing in content being in her boyfriend's arms.

"That so?" Zoe questioned, looking up at him, proceeding to wrap her arms around him. Wade dropping his forehead to hers.

"Yep," he told her, kissing her nose softly. "I am never going to pass up the chance to talk to you, if any past boyfriends did they were right idiots," he whispered in the small space between them, his breath fanning her face. Zoe hummed, closing her eyes, taking the serene feeling that draped over her, by standing in her boyfriend's arms. "If no call was necessary does that mean you were headed my way tonight?" He asked, a playful smirk crossing his full lips.

"No reason to be smug about it," Zoe stated, rolling her eyes, pinching his side. Wade laughed, pulling her closer to his body. "How'd you know?" She asked, resting her head against his chest, the steady beat of his heart playing in her ear.

"Sofia," Wade chuckled lightly. "She was rather excited about having a sleepover with her papa," he explained with a smile. "If you wanted me alone, you didn't have to go behind my back to surprise me," he told her. "It's a nice touch, but not necessary," he informed her.

"You can have that talk with my dad," Zoe told him with small giggles. Wade furrowed his brow, looking adorable all sorts of confused. "Harley wanted to have Sofia for the night, so we can have time to do as we please," Zoe informed him. "And a subject came up and I think that it's a good idea that we have a nice lovely talk about things," she told him.

"Whatever this talk, let's do it over dinner," Wade commented, steering Zoe into the Gatehouse where the pasta dish he had made at the Jammer, having done so by staying out of the way of the cook. Just because Zoe wants to talk, he's not going to jump to any sort of conclusion about what the talk is to pertain to. That doesn't mean it's going to be something bad.

"It smells wonderful," Zoe told him, her mouth watering at the savory smell filling the small open layout of the gatehouse. "This is better than the pizza I offered to bring over," Zoe shared, smiling at her boyfriend as she took the chair Wade pulled out for her.

"It's the least I could do," Wade retorted with a wide smile, pouring some Pinot Noir in a glass for Zoe, grabbing himself a beer from the fridge.

"Thank you," she told him, taking the glass of wine from him.

"You should hold out on thank yous until you've eaten the food," Wade teased, taking a seat across from her at the small table in the equally small space for a kitchen.

"I've had your cooking before, it's not that bad," she laughed, taking a sip of her wine.

"It could have gotten worse," he shrugged. Zoe rolled her eyes, moaning as the creamy flavor blasted her taste buds. "Zoe," he warned, squirming in his chair. "What did you want to talk about?" Wade asked, clearing his throat, needing conversation to resume on a less than stellar topic at the moment.

"Something wrong?" She teased, taking a second bite of food, closing her eyes to savor the flavors in her mouth. "Kids," she bluntly told him, taking a drink of the wine to wash the flavors from her mouth.

"What?" Wade asked. He took a deep breath. Who needs a bucket of cold water to cool you and your hormones down when your girlfriend shouts kids at you. It was one of few words to bring him back down to earth.

"It's not the best topic, but we need to be on the same page, a page we can't be on if we don't talk about important things," Zoe told him, pushing the pasta and chicken around on her plate.

"I agree," Wade nodded. "We can't know how to go forward if we can't be on the same page about what the future looks like," he agreed. Kids, marriage, where they're going to live, how Sofia is taking it, all of it needs to be talked about.

"I don't know your stance on having kids," she quickly told him. Wade remained quiet, letting Zoe get it all off her chest. "I don't want a dozen kids," she shared. "I'd like one more. Sofia to have a sibling, a built-in best friend. I never got that, and it can be lonely as an only child," she shrugged.

"I am not sure they're exactly a built-in best friend," Wade sighed. They had each other growing up, but they preferred to hang out with their friends the older they got. It came in handy to blame things on him, not so much when Wade is the one getting in trouble for something Jesse had done. Spending his childhood with Jesse, he couldn't imagine not having him there. "I'm fine with one or two kids, Zoe," he shared. "I want to be with you and however many kids we have is a bonus. Only having Sofia isn't going to break what we have," he told her, placing his hand atop of hers, squeezing it.

"I appreciate that I do, but I don't want you to agree to having one kid if you want to have more than that," she told him, placing her fork down to grab her wine glass, not wanting to let his hand go.

"I can assure you that I have never thought about having kids or how many I want, Zoe," he told her. "I don't want to fight about how many kids we're going to have in the future. Whatever that number is, it's fine with me," he assured her. Zoe smiled at him. She doesn't want to fight about the number of kids they may or may not have either. "What about marriage?" He asked her.

"What about it?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "If this is your way of asking for my hand in marriage, it's a no," she teased him.

"I'm not proposing to you," Wade retorted. "Give me a little credit here," he muttered. "What I am asking is marriage something you see for yourself?" He asked. Leaving off the with me part, not wanting to put that much pressure on her.

"It depends on if I can find the right person to marry," she sighed. "For the longest time after my parents divorced, I didn't want to get married, because I didn't want it to crumble like theirs," she shared with him. "And now I have learned that not everything is like my parents' failed marriage."

"Have you found that special someone that you want to spend the rest of your life with?" He asked.

"I love you, Wade," she smiled at him. "I would like to believe that I have found that person, but I can't speak for you and the things that you want," she quickly told him. "Do you want to get married?"

"I do," he told her with a cheesy smile on his face. "You saw my parents, saw how on the worst days when they were pissed off at each other that they were still there for each other. They made me believe that having that special person in your life is worth every risk out there," he shared. "I plan on marrying you in the very near future," he promised, kissing the back of her hand. It's a promise he has every intention of keeping.

"I look forward to it," she smiled. "Kids, marriage, have been talked about, anything else?" She asked him.

"I do have a question and I don't expect you to have an answer for me, so don't feel like you need to give me one," he told her. Zoe nodded, feeling her nerves flare-up over whatever it is he has to ask her. "It's about Sofia," he said softly.

"What about Sofia?" Zoe asked with a frown.

"I want to know what my say is when it comes to Sofia. If what I think matters. If things work out the way we have talked about them working out, I would be her step-father, and I don't know what that looks like," he told her.

"It means you have a say in what happens to her, just as much as I do and George and AB does," she assured him. "You can tell her no when she asks for something, you can discipline her if she needs it," Zoe told him.

"What about adoption? I don't know how that works," he sighed. He wants Sofia to be his, not in a malicious way where he's taking her away from George. He wouldn't do that to his friend.

"I'm not sure how that works either," Zoe frowned. She's never thought about it. It's something they can figure out down the line. "We can all sit down later on and figure it out when we have more facts on how it works. I wouldn't deny this for you if it's possible," she assured her boyfriend, squeezing his hand.

"As I said, it's not something that I need an answer for," Wade reassured Zoe. "I already love that little girl like she's my own. When it comes to Sofia, I feel like that's the one thing that we need to be on the same page for. I don't want to tell her one thing, only for you or George to say otherwise," he told Zoe his fears.

"I wouldn't do that. I am with you, Wade. Whatever it is that you tell Sofia, I will stand right there next to you backing your choices," she told him. "If I don't agree with something you say, I will take that conversation up with you away from Sofia. We will have a united front where she's concerned, okay?" Zoe told him, wanting to ease the fear he has of being a step-parent.

"I got it," his smile falling flat. Promises are great to make, but he knows how hard it is to keep them. He trusts Zoe and what she is saying, at times you can't help but doubt things. You know that you don't or you shouldn't doubt that something, there's just that part of you that creeps in and forces you to doubt those around you.

"I promise you that I will have your back, just like I know you're going to have mine," she told him softly. "I have never once in the small time you've been back doubting the love you have for my daughter," she assured him, standing up while keeping her hand in his, moving to sit on his lap, dinner being forgotten for the time being. "Please don't forget that Wade," she whispered, cupping his cheek in her hand, the stubble of his beard scratching her palm.

"I won't," he smiled, moving his head, to press a kiss into the palm of her hand. "Now that we're on the same page about a few things, is there anything else you want to discuss?" He asked, rubbing his hand over Zoe's bare thigh.

"Nothing to discuss, other than protection," she purred against his mouth. "Got any?"

"Do I?" Wade asked with a smirk, nipping her bottom lip.

"Wade Kinsella," she shrieked, wrapping her arms and legs around him as he stood to walk the short distance from the kitchen table to where his bed sits.

"Zoe," he husks out, dropping her on the bed, following her to the bed, caging her on top of the bed. "Miss Wilkes," he breathes against her neck. "Marry," he says against her neck, his teeth grazing the sensitive flesh there, Zoe squirming under him, her left hand clutching his shirt on his back, her right hand fisting a handful of his hair. "Me?" He asks, running his tongue over the flesh of her neck.

"Excuse me?" Zoe asked, her eyes growing shut, Wade's lips moving up her neck slowly, kissing the spot behind her right ear.

"Marry me?" He asked, pulling back to look at her. "I know we promised to do this slowly, but I want you as my wife, to have Sofia as a daughter. Screw slow, I know you're the only one for me," he told her honesty cursing through his green eyes, his honesty wrapped around each word spoken.

"Wade," she said softly, bringing his face down to hers, letting her lips slide against his.

"Shh," he whispered against her kiss swollen lips. "Don't answer until you're ready to," he told her, kissing the corner of her lips. "I love you, Zoe."

"As I love you, Wade," she repeated, running her hands down his side, pulling his shirt up as she made her way back up his side. "Show me how much you love me," she stated against his ear, her nails digging into his skin.