A/N: So, for those that don't know, updates didn't happen for the better part of two weeks because I had major internet problems; however, I am back now and hopefully there will be no more delays :) With regards to all the lovely feedback - thank you, reviewer-peops. You are so kind! :) Now, finally, it's time for Wade to tell Earl that he's a grandpa... and some other stuff happens too ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

When Wade pulled up outside of what was clearly his father's house, Zoe had sort of expected him to get out of the car, but he didn't. He shut off the engine which told her they must be in the right place, but then he just sat there, arms resting on the steering wheel as he stared at the funny little shack that Earl called home.

Zoe glanced across at JT strapped into his seat beside her. He was half-asleep already, lulled into slumber by the car ride. No doubt he was so tired after being up half the night with the pain of his teeth coming through. Lack of sleep was probably most of the reason Wade had got mad at George so easily, though telling him he ought to take a nap too didn't seem like much of a plan.

Of course, Zoe didn't really blame Wade for the blow-out between friends. She meant what she said before, George had done the wrong thing and she would be having words with him about it. In the meantime, she realised she should probably say something to Wade.

"Just so you know," she said in a quiet voice, "this kid is out like a light. Maybe it'd be better to leave him here with me while you talk to your dad anyway, see how he's doing?"

"Yeah," said Wade, seeming to snap out of a daze at the sound of her voice. "Wish I knew how he was gonna take this," he added, shaking his head, and then suddenly he was properly in motion, hopping out of the car and closing the door behind him with a little too much force.

Zoe winced at the sound, looking at JT who wriggled in his sleep, his eyes popping open then.

"Hey, buddy," said Zoe gently, her hand on his leg as she let him know she was there and everything was okay. "Daddy got a little loud with that old car door, huh? I don't think he's thinking so clearly right now. Lots on his mind," she explained, even though she knew JT could never really understand.

He reached for her hand, grabbed onto a finger and giggled. Zoe smiled, she couldn't help it. He really was the cutest kid and usually pretty darn happy, teething issues notwithstanding. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she unhooked the straps on JT next and lifted him from the seat, pulling him into her lap.

"Well, Daddy's in there now telling your Grandpa Earl all about you. You might meet him today, or maybe some other day, that depends..." she stopped before she said anymore.

Even though it really wouldn't make any difference to a six-month old if he was told his grandfather was a drunk, Zoe just couldn't bring herself to say it. It just seemed unnecessary and wrong somehow. JT didn't seem to care either way. He lifted a little fist to rub his eye and yawned.

"Still sleepy, huh?" she asked. "Yeah, I get that. It's probably a little stuffy in here," she noted then, reaching over to crack a window.

JT seemed to noticed the window then and fought to turn around in Zoe's lap to better see. She helped him out and they both peered out of the glass, JT putting his hands against it as he gazed at the world.

"What can you see, huh?" asked Zoe, holding him close with one arm so he didn't fall and pointing with her other hand ateverything she could see and name for him. "We have lots of trees, and a fence, and a big blue sky, and that's Grandpa's house."

There wasn't much more than that to say. Zoe was only glad that JT wasn't old enough for eye spy or anything because it would be the world's most boring game right now. She stared at the house for a minute, wondering how long Wade was going to be, if this whole trip would be a waste because Earl wouldn't even be in a fit state to meet his grandson at all.

Zoe's attention came right back to JT as he pressed his face against the glass and made noise. It was nothing like words, that probably wouldn't happen for months yet, though it was possible. If anything, the sounds he was making sounded more like a tune than a sentence.

"Are you singing for me?" she asked him, amused by the idea as she turned him back around in her lap and watched him yawn some more. "Aww, sleepy singing. Well, you carry on, kid, because Aunt Zoe doesn't know any lullabies," she admitted.

JT looked up at her with bright eyes and a smile that was so much like Wade's on those occasions when he really meant to be sincere. It surprised her somehow, though she wasn't sure why.

Before she knew where she was, Zoe was singing, but not a lullaby, or even anything she might usually have found herself humming to herself in the shower. It must've been because of where they were, she might have thought so, if she was giving it any attention, but she wasn't. She was on her second chorus of 'Moon River' before she realised she had more company than just JT by now.

"Oh," she gasped as she glanced up to see the faces of both Wade and Earl at the window. "Um, hi. I was just... I'm sorry," she said fast, feeling sick.

As if it wasn't embarrassing enough being caught singing at all, but that song, the one that was so much a part of Wade and Earl's life for some reason, and here she was taking it over, right in front of them. It felt so wrong.

"Don't you go apologising, pretty lady," Earl told her, opening the car door to let her out. "That was just about as beautiful as the way my Jackie used to sing it."

Zoe stepped out of the car, carrying JT, unsure what she was supposed to say to Earl. When she looked to Wade she was doubly confused. She didn't know for sure who Jackie was, but Zoe's best guess would be that she was Wade's mom, who had died so many years ago. Seeing the look on Wade's face, what seemed to be tears building in his eyes, she could hardly bear it. It didn't matter, because he shook off whatever he was feeling in a second, reaching to take JT from Zoe and presenting to him to Earl.

"Well, here you go, old man," he told him. "This here is your grandson. JT, say hello to Grandpa Earl."

Zoe watched from two paces back, never feeling so much like an intruder as she did right then. She folded her arms over her chest just so she had something to do with her hands and marvelled at the sight. It was really something to see three generations of men from one family together like that.

"I just feel bad about the way things went down." George sighed, taking a long sip from his beer. "I was tryin' to do the right thing-"

"Well, of course, you were, honey," Lemon agreed from the next stool over. "That horrible store would be a blight on our little town and I, for one, am glad you are doin' all you can to stop it."

George smiled at the support but ultimately still felt bad.

"It's not like I think I was wrong to stop Large Mart comin' here," he insisted. "I just wish that maybe I'd given Wade a little more time instead of going straight to Earl like I did. I just made everything a whole lot worse," he said sadly, setting his bottle down with a loud thunk.

"No," Lemon insisted. "You are just doin' your job and what is best for this town, George Tucker," she said definitely. "Now, how on earth can you feel bad about that?"

"I feel bad that Wade got so upset about the whole thing," he reminded her. "And little JT too," he said, wincing at the memory of the poor child, screaming his head off throughout.

"Well, my goodness, George." Lemon rolled her eyes. "I can say without a doubt that Wade Kinsella does not have an evil bone in his entire body, but he could never once be accused of being the smartest man in a room," she said definitely. "Plus, that child of his, well, to speak the truth, I think there might be something wrong with him."

George looked up at her with some surprise at that remark, as did Annabeth from her other side. So far, she had kept quiet, just barely listening to Lemon and George have their discussion as she ate her own lunch, but now she was interested in where the heck her friend was going with this latest rant.

"You think there's something wrong with JT?" asked George, clearly just as confused as AB.

Lemon was adamant. "Oh, come on. I never get within five feet of that child when he's not bawlin' his head off."

"Oh, my Lord!" AB gasped, hardly knowing she had even said the words out loud until both Lemon and George turned to stare at her, as well as a few other patrons of the Rammer Jammer.

"AB?" her friend said curiously. "What has gotten into you?"

She meant to bite her tongue, she really did. If asked, Annabeth Nass could honestly not have explained what came over her, but the look on Lemon's face and all the things she had been saying about Wade and JT, it was too much. It was way too much on top of the things she had said about Zoe, who was actually real nice and a great doctor, plus there was that whole curse thing that was probably stopping AB herself from getting pregnant.

"Lemon," she said, hopping down from her stool. "That child hollers when you come near because you... you just stress out everybody in a five-mile radius. I love you like a sister, Lemon Breeland, you know I do, but so help me, you have got to realise the negative effect you are havin' on people, and babies, and... and people who wanna have babies!"

The next moment, Annabeth was sweeping out of the Rammer Jammer to a smattering of applause that was soon silenced when Lemon cast a glare at the rest of the patrons. Then she looked at George who seemed to be fighting a smile.

"Well, that was... unexpected," he said, running a hand over his mouth.

"I can't think what she's talking about in any case," said Lemon haughtily.

George knew that he understood exactly and that, when she thought about it, his fiancée could probably figure it out too.

They stayed at Earl's place maybe an hour or so. Zoe worried about feeling like a spare part once it was clear that Wade's father was closer to sober than drunk and things were going well between the guys. JT seemed to love Grandpa Earl on instinct and it really was adorable to watch them together. Wade seemed proud as anything of his boy and of his father too, as Earl promised not to sell his land to anyone for anything.

"This place here, it ain't much, but it's my grandson's inheritance," he said definitely, grinning wide.

Not that the smiling seemed to be exclusively for JT. Zoe certainly got her share of smiles and compliments from Earl too. Wade did have to correct him at least three or four times when Earl insisted that Zoe was both JT's mother and Wade's girlfriend, but she didn't mind so much. The first title was, of course, impossible. The second, however, felt kind of okay.

When they were driving home, Zoe watching JT happily watch the world shooting past the window, she recalled what had happened before they ever went into the house. It made her feel bad all over again and she knew she just had to say something about it.

"Wade, I'm sorry about before," she told him, watching his confused expression as it appeared in the rear-view. "I mean, about the song. I didn't-"

"Doesn't matter, doc," he told her definitely. "Earl's right, you did sing it pretty well."

They were back on the plantation by now and Wade pulled the car up outside the gatehouse, getting straight out to come around to the back to get JT out next. Zoe had the straps unfastened before he got there, passing the seat to him before following JT out.

"I didn't know that your mom used to sing it," she said, still stuck on her apology, though Wade didn't seem all that bothered by it.

"Just about her favourite song," he said, smiling at the memory it seemed. "Feels right that JT got to hear it the way she woulda sung it for him."

Zoe smiled too as he looked from the baby to her, though she found she had to swallow pretty hard before she could speak again.

"It's an honour to step in for her on that one."

Wade nodded and then headed for the house. Zoe grabbed up JT's baby bag and followed him up the steps, into the gatehouse.

"Well, that all went better than I thought anyway," said Wade as he took JT out of his car seat and put him down on his playmat with his toys. "Earl won't be sellin' that land for anythin' to anybody, not now he knows he got a legacy to leave it all too," he said, parking himself on the floor, all of his focus on his son. "I mean, I know he cares well enough for me and Jesse, but a grandbaby? That's a whole other thing."

"Jesse is your brother?" Zoe checked, perching on the end of the couch.

"Yup."

"And he doesn't have kids?"

"Not last time I saw him." Wade shook his head then looked up at her wearing an expression that was a little too serious. "My brother is not my favourite person to talk about, doc," he said pointedly.

"Sorry." Zoe winced. "Again."

Wade smirked at that. "You have a real habit of apologisin' to me today."

"Yeah, sorry about that," she said, smirking right back because she knew very well what she said.

They both laughed at the joke. JT seemed to as well, which was incredibly cute. He was reaching for a ball that was just a little too far away, doing his best shuffling stomach-crawl until he made it.

"Well, look at you, goin' and doin' for yourself already," said Wade proudly.

"He's got that independent streak, just like Daddy," Zoe told him with a smile.

It sounded too much like a compliment for Wade to take it any other way. It was weird how that kind of thing affected him when it came from her, more than anybody else. He kept on reminding himself that she was just helping out for JT's sake and everything, but there were times when he wondered, when he hoped, if there wasn't just more to it than that.

"Thanks for comin' with me today, Zoe, to see Earl and all," he told her, picking JT up and putting him back on the mat when he started getting too far away.

"It's no problem," she assured him, literally waving away his words. "You know, you talk about my apologising too much, but you seem to have a habit lately of saying 'thank you' to me every three seconds," she pointed out. "So, how about this, I will stop apologising for every little thing, if you will stop thanking me for everything I do. We're friends, right? We don't need to be worrying about this stuff all the time. Deal?" she said, crouching down near to where he was sat and holding out a hand for him to shake.

"Sure," he said after a minute, gripping her hand and shaking on it, "it's a deal, doc."

"Good," she told him with a smile, before looking to JT. "Well, I should really go," she said sadly, running her hand gently over the baby's head. "Aunt Zoe has lots of things to do, and work to head to before too much longer. You know, I seem to have a lot more willing patients since I started playing babysitter for you, kid. You're a win-win, awesome to hang out with and great for my reputation," she told the happy child. "Well, you be a good boy for Daddy. He's a good guy and he's had a tough couple of days," she said definitely, dropping a kiss onto JT's head before she got up and turned to leave.

"Hey, doc?" said Wade just as she reached the door, causing her to look back at hm. "If you got some time tonight, I'll be working at the Rammer Jammer from nine until late. Maybe I could buy you that drink that we never got around to havin'?"

Zoe opened her mouth to answer and then closed it again. He seemed serious, just like at Christmas, which was clearly what he was referring to. Though there were a million reasons she could think of to say it probably wasn't a good idea, none of them seemed to matter all that much as she looked at Wade then.

"Yeah," she said eventually. "I think I'd like that."

To Be Continued...