(For disclaimer, etc. - see 1.)

11. A Doctor and a Bartender
Characters/Pairings: Zoe/Wade
'Verse/Timeline: canon - Season 2, post-Episode 10, Blue Christmas
Date: December 2012

Wade wasn't sure whether he ought to be offended when Zoe started up laughing pretty loud. After what they had been doing in his bed, it seemed like a weird sort of reaction, one that might make a lesser fella a might uneasy.

"You feelin' okay there, doc?" he checked as she continued giggling into his chest.

"I'm fine," she promised, finally gaining some control. "Actually, I am more than fine, I am really, really good," she promised, propping herself up on her elbow beside him. "I guess I'm just... I'm wondering how this happened. I mean, not that I don't know how, because hey, I was there... here, whatever," she said, waving her free hand to dismiss her muddled sentence. "What I mean is, the Zoe Hart that showed up here less than eighteen months ago could never have imagined that two Christmasses later we would be here, like this. Don't you think it's pretty amazing?"

"I think everything about you is amazing, Zoe," he told her honestly, sure in the very next moment that was just about the sappiest, dumbest thing he could've said.

Wade changed his mind when Zoe leaned down and kissed him like she really meant it. There had been a lot of that going on tonight, from the moment the words, 'I really, really like you,' left her lips, but Wade had a feeling it was going to take a while for him to get used to.

"You know, you're not the only one who up and changed this past year or more," he told her then. "Time was I thought I would never, ever have use for a serious relationship with a woman, and then a certain high-falootin' New York doctor came walking into this very house, in a very fine nightgown, as I recall," he said with a smirk, "and right then and there, somethin' just changed."

"For me too, I guess," Zoe agreed with a wide grin. "Who knew it was so hard to keep from falling for that church social smile of yours?"

"For all your protestin' you fell pretty fast, doc," he reminded her, "or did you forget our little frolic in my car down in Miller Road?"

"Stop it!" Zoe urged him, laughing even as she slapped his hands away when he started to tickle her. "Ugh, that night was not my finest hour. I actually don't think either of us came off too well, actually, but we didn't know each other then. The more I did get to know you, Wade Kinsella," she told him, serious once again, "the more I realised there was way more to you than I thought, and now... well, it's like I said out on the porch, I just really, really like you. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Probably could've been a little more forthcoming myself," Wade admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "But at least we figured it out eventually."

"Yes, we did." Zoe smiled. "Still, I think the version of me who showed up here that first day would have had trouble believing it ever could."

Wade smiled up at her and put his hand to her cheek.

"It's like I told you, doc," he said softly, "crazier things have happened on this kind of night than a doctor and a bartender."

"Very true," Zoe agreed easily, "but very few better things have happened than this," she said definitely, leaning down to kiss him again, and again, and again.