A/N - This chapter may get a little hot. I hope it is not too much. There are a lot of emotions is this one.

**Would love your opinions and reviews:)

CHAPTER 11 Birmingham Part I

Tuesday night, they settled into the Hampton Hotel. They both had worked all day but the excitement of our first mini vacation together had them full of energy. There were no basketball games tonight, so they grabbed a bite to eat and came back to the hotel.

Wade group texted Lavon:

W- how did it go with ruby?

L – good

W- So she is going to come back to bluebell?

L- Umm still up in the air

W- Haven't seen you, where are you

L- Houston

Z- What the hell Lavon

L- don't worry big Z

Z- she is making you move there to see the baby

L- Don't know

Z- What about AB?

L- Lavon Hayes doesn't know anything at the moment.

Wade thanks for doing me a solid, dinner and all

Z- You can't leave us Lavon

W- Take care man, it'll work out

L- goodluck this week

"Zoe, you can't add more pressure on Lavon."

"Man, I really thought she would want to move back. I was so nice to her this time."

"He has time to convince her."

"I have a little surprise for you."

"You do? well alright."

"room service"

"I think you have the wrong room" Wade said.

"room service, Zoe Hart"

"I ordered it Wade"

I thanked the waiter and gave her a tip. Looked under the silver top to a plate of beautifully decorated chocolate covered strawberries. I felt my mouth turn into a smile. Zoe Hart had thought about this trip. She wanted to make it special. Before we got together, I was mainly doing things for her, helping her out. Now she was doing things for me. I poured our champagne and got lost in my thoughts of the pretty little doctor.

I was looking out the window when she walked out.

"Hey"

"You, wow." I couldn't speak. There were no words to describe the person standing before me. I could feel every muscle in my body twinge.

"Zoe, you leave me breathless." I walked towards her. My legs were weak. When our eyes met and it took a while as I was looking at all the places that she wanted me to. I took a piece of her hair and followed it to its end. Two fingers under her chin and kissed the most stunning woman.

" It seems that you like my clothing."

"Yeah, I do baby"

I grabbed the champagne and handed her a flute. I took a drink then rubbed the rim of my glass across her lips. I picked a strawberry, one that had white and milk chocolate, dipped in the champagne and then rubbed it over her lips. She tried to bite it, but I pulled it away just a little. Another thing I had learned about Zoe Hart was even though she didn't know it, she loved to be teased. Then I leaned in close and took a bite of the strawberry.

We finished the flute of champagne as we played our little "strawberry tease.' Zoe asked for another. I am not sure what her plan was but she was loving our game.

I sat down on the bed and began to unlace her light pink corset. She stood before me with her brown hair cascading over her chest, her eyes yearning for me. She pushed my plaid off my arms and I shook out of it. She got down on her knees and slowly moved my white tee up my torso. One side and then the other, stopping after each one to place an open mouth kiss in the newly exposed area of skin. I grabbed another strawberry and placed it in her mouth. I pulled her to my knees and we sucked the strawberry together. I took the stem out and threw it across the room. Our mouths collided.

"Wade, I have been waiting for this since Friday night. That was the single most wonderful night of my life. I know nothing will ever top it"

"Oh baby, I am just getting started. I know you haven't had relationships where you can be open and just enjoy yourself. You can with me, both in bed and out. You never need to feel embarrassed or self conscious with me.'

The whole time I was talking, she was tracing my chest, taking her time. This is unusual for her. Being wound up is her nature so she wants to go full blast all of the time.

"Wade, when we made love Friday. I want that again."

"I can tell, what you want, I think I know you better than you do yourself. You want slow and sensual. That is what I want too.

I love you Zoe Hart, I truly love you."

I moved my mouth over her naval whispering sweet nothings and then from her wrist to shoulder. Her breaths were getting deeper, mine were too. I wasn't exactly used to going slow. I think she knew that which is one reason she wanted it this way.

I laid her down on the bed and took off the rest of my clothes.

I straddled her and kissed her and we both smiled and we smiled as we kissed. I slipped her extremely skimpy, pink, silky undies off as she raised her legs to help. Her legs were smooth. She placed one on top of my back moving up and down, dictating the pace she desired.

I went at her tempo. It was straight up love. Every single push and pull. She moved her fingers through my hair and then barely touched her fingertips to my face and lips, then slipped her fingers in my mouth, then kissed me. It was freakin' sexy. It was actually the first time someone had done that with me. A total turn on, not that I needed it.

"You have brought true happiness into my life. I never knew how much I was missing because I had never had it."

"Ditto"

XXXXXXX

"Oh my God, I am so excited. Wade, how fun is this?"

"Calm down girl". I was jumping and clapping and squealing.

I have never been to a high school tournament of anything, well that is if you don't include the academic team. I wish I wasn't such a nerd in school. It is not that I was a nerd, I was just focused. Okay maybe I was a nerd.

The environment was absolutely electric. There must have been at least half of Bluebell there. There were so many I didn't know that worked out of town or was from Bluebell originally. Wade bought us blue and yellow pom poms, our team colors. He also bought an official State Tournament magazine.

"Here Doc, I know how you like facts. This will have all kinds of statistics and little stories about each school and maybe some players."

"Thanks Wade, you do know me well."

"Wade Kinsella, how are you doing these days?"

"Never been better, Mr. Hollingsworth."

"Listen, before the game starts, we are going to introduce you to the crowd."

"No, no, I don't want to do that. It is these boys time, mine has long past."

"Wade, you will be out there. You are the only Mr. Basketball from that entire area, not just the town. Now we don't know if Bluebell will be back here and the committee wanted to do it at this first game in case they don't get the W."

"How did you know I would even be here."

"The mayor Lavon Hayes. We called and asked him on Thursday last week and he said he would get you the message."

"The mayor had to go out of town so he didn't tell me."

"Be down at midcourt on 11:45" said Mr. Hollingsworth

"Wade, that is so exciting. Who knew I would be dating a jock? Eat that Hannah Buckley!"

"You can come with me, you know I don't like the spotlight."

"I will walk down there with you but not out on court. I want to take pictures."

"Fair enough "

We found our seats which were close to midcourt. They had divided into sections so that CLJJ had a few sections, then Hoover had another quarter, Foley had a quarter and Winfield the remaining. The upper deck was first come first serve. I was reading through the official program and found that I had treated most of the kids in the last few months.

Wade had his arm around me, fingering my shoulder every once in a while. We snuck a few little pecks. He was happy. I could see how much he loved this.

When it was time, we walked down.

"Goodluck, stud." I stayed back but close enough where I could get some shots for Dash and the blog.

"Thanks, Doc."

Before I knew it, he was surrounded by ten to twenty men. All shaking his hand, laughing, patting his back.

The announcer addressed the crowd. "Welcome to the State Basketball Tournament. Please give a warm welcome to CLJJ's own, Wade Kinsella, Alabama Mr. Basketball 1999. Mr. Kinsella still holds the record for the most 3 pointers scored in a tournament, the most assists in a single game and is the 3rd All Time leading scorer. From Bluebell, Alabama, Wade KINSELLLLLLAAAA."

The crowd went absolutely nuts. I was just snapping pictures of him, of the crowd and the pennants and pom poms waving. People started chanting '1999'. It wasn't just our team cheering, it was everyone in the freakin' arena. Of course, Wade smiled, that smile that could light up Times Square, that not a single person on this earth could resist, men and women alike.

The four different teams wanted pictures with him, then the cheerleaders and referees and the people working in the arena. As he was walking towards me, I asked one of the staff members if they would take a picture of Wade and I. I held my pompom, Wade had his arm around me and then kissed me. I felt like a teenager. I had caught the eye of the best looking guy, the best athlete and the best kisser.

As we walked through the concourse, lots of girls and women wanted pictures. Wade did it but whispered "let's get to our seats. They will forget about me by halftime."

"You are unforgettable, Wade Kinsella." His face had that crooked grin that meant he knew that might be true in at least some circumstances and then winked at me. We got to our seats and Wade had to shake hands and hug pretty much everyone in the row above of us, below us and in our own row. Once the game started, Wade was right, it was all about the game.

I went to the concession stand between games and bought hot dogs and a pretzel. Wade eats constantly. He was getting nervous for our game even though he wasn't playing. While I was up there, I talked to a couple of parents of our players as well as Matt and Allison. They said they had to leave right after the game but would love to go out together if we make it to the finals.

"Hey, I thought you got lost"

"Did you think I was kidnapped by your groupies?"

"Funny Doc, very funny"

CLJJ was up ten at half and ended up winning by fourteen.

The band playing our fight song, everyone up clapping. We would play on Thursday morning and if we won Thursday night. The finals would be on Friday. We stuck around the arena until it cleared out.

We went to a little restaurant off the beaten path. It was still full of tourney goers. The streets of Birmingham were filled. Afterwards, we got Wade's car out of valet and went to the Vulcan Park and Museum.

"This statue of Vulcan, The roman god of fire was built in 1904 for the World's Fair. It is the largest cast iron statue in the world."

"Do you like roman and Greek mythology?" I asked.

"Yeah, I used to when I read more."

We walked around the park, hands intertwined.

"Wade, since I have been here, I have never heard you talk about your athletic accomplishments. Lavon hadn't mentioned them. I knew you played football because of the homecoming game."

"People don't like to bring it up because they think it hurts me, like maybe I have regrets."

"Regrets about what?" I wanted to see if he would be honest.

"About staying in town to help take care of Dad."

"Did you have scholarship offers?"

"Yep, but Doc, I wouldn't be with you today if I had taken one of those offers, went to school, married a sorority girl and ended up totally unhappy. I believe in fate Zoe Hart. My body knew you were different almost immediately, feelings that I had never had before. My heart knew a little after that because I would get jealous all the time, My mind finally caught up. I believe everything that has happened to me, bad and good, has brought me to this moment with you."

"I am proud of you, But Wade this whole time, you let me think you don't give a sh** about anything but you do. I am so glad that you have been showing me this side of you. I think the rest of Bluebell sees it now too."

"Doc, Bluebell took bets on how long it would take us to get together since the first week you were here."

"Oh really, kind of like the break up with Judson? "

"Yeah but I knew I could win that one. We just have too much chemistry and everyone but you could see it from week one.

Oh, and Sheriff Bill won the bet."

"Speaking of, Addy just sent me a file."

I opened the file. It was Annabelle's test results. I scrolled through them and then scrolled again and then again. No. No. I collapsed.

"Doc, doc, can you hear me?"

"I'm okay Wade, can we go back to the hotel now?"

"Sure, do you wanna talk about it? I mean in general terms?"

"Not right now."

I took a shower, I let the hot water run down my back. Wondering how I was going to make this call. Wade stepped in with me. He could see the pain in my eyes and my heart. He didn't know why but he knew that this was something I was not ready to handle. Tears started rolling down my face.

He kissed me hard and I responded with as much vigor. I was craving the carnal type of sex. Not because I had it before, I most definitely hadn't. He turned me around with my hands against the cold tile offset by the warm water. His gentle hands and soft lips against the passion of the thrusts. He sucked on my neck and pulled my hair not where it hurt but just enough to know that he was in charge. I wanted him in charge. I wanted to be taken care of.

He turned the water off. Reached for a towel and put it around me and he carried me to the bed. I just laid there. He dried me off and put the covers over me. He rubbed my back for an hour, kissed my cheek a couple of times.

Finally I said, "Wade, thank you for being here for me and with me. I really need to let out some frustration tonight. I am sorry if wasn't good for you or "

"Believe me, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I am ready to be here for you in every way. As long as I didn't take advantage of you. I just could feel you wanted, or needed might be a better word, a release for your emotions. It must be hard breaking bad news to people."

I nodded, curled up into him. "It didn't used to be when I was a surgeon. I didn't know the people so I had zero emotional attachment. Now it is so different. I just don't know if I can do it. How do I tell a mom that her baby girl is showing signs of cancer.?"

I felt Wade's body recoil from me. "Oh god Zoe, I am so sorry."

Then he hugged me tighter than he ever had. He laid his head on my head so we were cheek to cheek. I felt a tear fall on my nose from his eyes. I was in good hands.

"We can go home tomorrow morning. This is just a game."

"No, there is nothing I can do. I will call tomorrow."