A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, folks. I really didn't expect y'all to be quite so excited about Zoe & Wade heading to Bluebell, but it's cool that you like the prospect so much :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 22

"There's a good chance that I lost my mind somewhere between meeting you and now." Zoe shook her head. "I'm not even kidding. I'm talking medically unsound here."

"I'd say that wasn't altogether flatterin'." Wade grinned at her from the next seat over. "But I'm not catching the blame for all o' the crazy, right?"

Zoe considered for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders. "I guess not. I mean, you're only half the reason I'm headed to Alabama right now, and you're not the one who lied to me about who my father was my whole life," she said bitterly, reaching to buckle up her safety belt.

Glancing across at Wade she realised he already had his done up tight and also that he was breathing a little too fast.

"Hey, are you okay?" she checked, frowning some as he looked at her. "You look a little pale and clammy, like you're nervous. Oh God!" she suddenly gasped. "You're regretting this, aren't you? You don't want me coming to Bluebell with you and ruining your homecoming."

"Zoe, breathe, please," Wade urged her, reaching out to still her hands that were flapping. "Baby, this has nothin' to do with you, okay? I promise you, I could not be happier to be goin' on home for a while, and I will be the proudest man you ever saw in your life when I get to introduce you to everybody as my girlfriend, alright?"

"Okay," she agreed, nodding her agreement, "but then why-?"

"It ain't the going home that bothers me," Wade told her fast, lowering his voice as he leaned in as close as the safety belt would allow. "It's the gettin' there part that freaks me out a little," he said pointedly.

"Oh." Zoe gasped in realisation. "You're afraid of flying."

"Not afraid exactly," Wade clarified, though Zoe had a feeling that was exactly what the problem was, it was only that his fragile male ego was very uncomfortable with anything that seemed like real fear. "I just... I haven't exactly done the whole airborne thing a bunch of times, and... well, I'm just a simple country boy, doc. Much happier with my feet on the ground, you know how it is. Guess that makes me a little less manly than you thought, huh?"

Zoe couldn't believe that Wade thought anything would make her think less of him in any way. True enough, she had never actually said that she loved him, not in so many words, and he never said it to her either, actually, but surely, he had to know what he meant to her.

Looking at Wade now, his eyes closing as he tried to breathe deeply and be calm, Zoe was pretty sure she couldn't love anyone more, though now probably wasn't the time or place to say so. Instead, she put her hand on his at the arm rest between them, entwining their fingers. Wade's eyes opened and he looked across at her, finding her half a smile.

"You're a pretty amazing guy, Wade Kinsella," she told him, smiling widely. "I don't think you really need me to tell you that, but just in case you do, there it is."

"You're not so un-amazing yourself, doc," he told her, grinning right back at her. "You gonna hold my hand all the way to 'Bama?" he said, nodding to their joined hands.

"If that's what you need," she told him easily, only mildly surprised when he suddenly lifted their hands and kissed the back of hers.

A moment later, he was settling back in his seat, clearly trying to relax as the take-off began. Zoe did the same, even though the actual flying part of this trip didn't bother her too much. What had her rattled was the idea of heading quite literally into the unknown. As weird a coincidence as it was that her real father and her new boyfriend came from the same small Southern town, she could not be more grateful for it. After all, facing this new and strange place all by herself would have been so much tougher. She was glad to have Wade by her side, and not just for this trip either. Zoe was pretty sure she could stand to have him with her for a lot of things and a really long time, however crazy that may seem.

'One thing at a time,' she told herself silently as the plane headed up into the clouds and all the way down to Alabama.

"Now you're the one looking a might nervous, doc," Wade told her as they headed through Mobile airport together.

"I'm fine," she promised, waving her hand in front of her face. "I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is the start of heatstroke more than anything else."

"Yeah, it's prob'ly a little warmer than you're used to," he realised belatedly. "Now you know how tough it was on me, those cold winter months in New York. Never known cold like that, but I guess either way, you get used to it eventually."

"I guess," Zoe agreed, nodding her head.

She really did look a little wobbly, Wade thought, and he was not entirely buying her heatstroke story. She had to be nervous, he was sure on that, even if this wasn't the place her real daddy hailed from. Remembering how out of his depth he felt up north, Wade well understood how nervous Zoe had to be coming down south to meet everybody he knew and see the place he called home. All the paternity stuff on top of that, it was enough to rattle the calmest of folks, he reckoned.

"Hey, come on now," he said, reaching down with his free hand and entwining their fingers just as she done for him on the plane. "We got this, okay?" he said, meting her gaze, glad to see her finally smile.

"Yeah, we got this," she agreed, forcing a deep breath through her lungs.

"Hey, Wade Kinsella!" a voice boomed then, catching the attention of both of them.

"Hey, man!" Wade replied in kind, mindful not to let go of Zoe's hand to go rushing towards his friend, but keeping to a steady pace she could match as they headed on over. "How're you doin', Lavon?"

"All the better for seein' you, Wade, m'boy," his friend told him happily. "And this must be the famous Miss Zoe."

"Sure is. Dr Zoe Hart, meet Lavon Hayes. Lavon, Zoe."

There was a moment when Zoe just stared, not moving, not saying a single word. If it was concerning for Lavon it was doubly so for Wade, until finally she shook herself out of it and apologised.

"I'm so sorry, but when Wade told me he knew Lavon Hayes, the line-backer, I kind of thought he was kidding," she admitted, biting her lip guiltily.

"You thought I made up the fact I knew an ex-NFL player?" Wade checked, almost sure he ought to be offended, and yet, he supposed he kind of understood it.

"It's a big deal, Wade!" Zoe told him excitedly. "Lavon Hayes!" she repeated, pointing at the man in question. "He's a legend. Two Super Bowls, four Pro Bowls, which by the way, should've been five," she insisted, turning her head to look to Lavon himself then. "You got robbed in '06," she said very seriously.

"Oh, I like her," Lavon told Wade with a wide smile.

"Yeah, that ain't hard to do," he agreed, squeezing Zoe's hand and finding the way she blushed a little somewhat amusing as well as sweet.

Lavon grabbed the luggage then and led the way to his car to take them on to Bluebell. On the way, he was telling Wade how glad everybody was to know he was coming back for a visit and also how all those same folks were looking forward to meeting Zoe.

That nervous look was soon back on her face and Wade made a point of squeezing her hand and letting her know with a smile that everything was going to be just fine. It seemed to settle her down a little, but Wade knew the nerves were going nowhere until they actually got to town and Zoe got a chance to meet a few more people who would be nice to her and make her feel at home.

"You know, I had to talk Lemon and Annabeth out of this whole welcome home party they had planned?" Lavon explained as he drove, talking loud enough for his passengers to hear clearly from the back seat. "I swear, they would've bussed the whole of Bluebell right over to the airport to give you a real Beatles style welcome off the plane. Even when I talked 'em outta that, they all wanted to gather at the plantation with their banners and cakes and pies and all, but I figured you two prob'ly didn't wanna come in to a three-ring circus affair, especially not at this hour, right?"

"Really didn't," Zoe told him fast. "Not that it's not very sweet that they want to welcome me, and welcome Wade home, I guess. Oh, I'm sorry," she said, turning to her boyfriend then. "Would you have wanted all that?"

"Seriously, Zoe?" he said, shaking his head. "Girl, you know me better than that."

"I don't know," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "You never seemed to mind when all the girls in the clubs were screaming at you," she reminded him with a look.

"Well, who in their right mind complains about somethin' like that?" he challenged her. "If a bunch of people stood around cheering for you every time you did one o' your surgeries, would you complain?"

"That would be weird." Zoe frowned some, though after she considered it, she had to admit the truth. "But, actually, it might be kind of cool too."

"So, that mean I shoulda let the Belles go nuts and have their whole welcoming shindig?" asked Lavon, sounding a little nervous and a lot confused.

"Nah, man, it's better this way," Wade insisted. "I like me a happy audience when I'm performing and all, but honestly? That ain't what I'm looking for when I come home. Right now, I just wanna get into my own place and my own bed... with my own girlfriend," he said, looking across at Zoe.

She was smiling even as she smacked him in the chest for what he said in front of what she would probably consider company. Tough New Yorker chick that she was, she had her bashful moments and she was never cuter than when she did. Honestly, Wade wasn't sure he could find any part of Zoe's character that he didn't love. It was probably something he should tell her sometime, the thought had crossed his mind, more than once, but there never seemed to be a good moment, especially not lately since everything got so crazy.

Besides, he wasn't exactly the 'I love you' type. It would be a first for Wade, to say it to a woman like her, where he seriously meant it anyway. He had loved his momma and he loved old Earl, faults and all, plus a few friends he was real close to, but Wade Kinsella was realising, more and more with each passing day, that he was in love with Zoe, and there was just no coming back from that.

"You okay?" she asked, catching him staring.

"More than okay, Zoe Hart," he promised, leaning across to kiss her lips.

A minute or so later, they were brought out of a real nice moment by Lavon clearing his throat and letting them know they had arrived. Wade sat back in his seat, pointing out the window on Zoe's side.

"See that right there? That's the gatehouse, my place," he explained. "I know it ain't much but-"

"It looks great," Zoe assured him with a bright smile as Lavon brought the car around and parked up, the three of them disembarking at last.

Wade watched Zoe as she wandered forward, taking a moment to just breathe in her new surroundings. Her eyes were everywhere, like a kid seeing Disneyland for the first time or something, when all she was really looking at was his gatehouse, all lit up with it's usual coloured lights, the tumbledown carriagehouse across the way, and the lake in-between. He supposed it'd look pretty different to anything she had seen before, he had suspected it would be all kinds of disappointing after the skyscrapers and bright lights of New York City, but when Zoe turned around to face him then, her smile had never been brighter.

"It's so peaceful here," she said happily, "and so pretty. I love it already," she declared, throwing herself into his arms.

Wade had to admit, if only inside his own head, that he was more than happy to have her there. This amazing woman who had come to mean so much to him so damn fast, standing there in his arms, in the middle of the place he called home. What could be better than that?

To Be Continued...