A/N: Drama, drama, drama, huh? This fic has definitely taken a turn from fluff and fun into something more serious, which I would apologise for, but it's making life interesting at least, right? I appreciate all the reviews and hope you guys will stick with me, come what may. I'll try and keep the faster updates coming for you, but I would also like to dig into a new Zade fic idea that I have going on, so I need to find some balance at some point (so many fic ideas, so little time, and they're not even all in the HoD fandom!) Anyway, here comes another chapter...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 15

"That is quite the arrangement," said Lavon as he came into the kitchen and found Zoe mostly hidden behind a collection of beautiful flowers in a vase there. "Your horse win the Kentucky Derby or something?" he asked with a small smile.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "They're from Wade," she explained. "He's been telling me for days now that he owes me something special since I treated JT so well after his fall," she said, clearing her throat before she could go on. "I told him a hundred times, I'm a doctor and I was just doing my job, but he was determined. I talked him down from jewellery or dinner at Fancie's to a small bunch of flowers, emphasis on small. Apparently small is still pretty big in 'Bama," she said, smiling in spite of herself.

"He thinks a lot about you, Z," Lavon told her with a smile. "Let the man show it if he wants to. Plenty of people in this world want to hide their feelings, not let anyone know about 'em. Let me tell you, that ain't a whole lot of fun for anybody else."

Zoe felt so bad for Lavon. When it became more and more apparent that the George and Lemon relationship was getting rocky, Lavon seemed to start assuming that, at the very least, Lemon's cold feet had to do with him. As far as Zoe could tell, that might not be so much of an accurate assessment. Seeing her best friend's heart breaking caused Zoe pain too.

"I wish I could do something to help," she said, her hand on Lavon's shoulder. "I hate to see you so sad."

"Lavon Hayes'll get over it," he said with a heavy sigh. "Somehow, eventually."

"Good morning, folks" said Wade, bursting into the scene the way only he could. "How we all doin' this fine morning'?"

"Wow, you're extra chipper today." Zoe smiled, right before he kissed her hello. "JT, what has your daddy so very happy?" she asked the little boy in Wade's arms.

"Funny that you should be askin' him that," Wade told her himself. "Because my boy said his first word this morning."

"At seven months?" Lavon checked, one eyebrow quirked.

"Yes, sir." Wade nodded once. "Now, I admit, it was a little garbled and may actually have been as much gas as it was talking, but I don't care," he insisted. "Sounded a whole lot like 'dada' to me."

"That is impossible," said Lavon, shaking his head.

"Actually, it's not," Zoe insisted. "I mean, it is very, very unlikely, but babies have been known to start saying their first words this young. Super rare, but still, improbable rather than impossible."

"See," said Wade with a triumphant look. "Maybe my boy here is just a genius level talker. Score one for dating a woman o' science who know this stuff," he said, holding up his free hand for Zoe to high-five - she didn't leave him hanging.

Honestly, she couldn't stop smiling at Wade's usual exuberance for JT and for life in general. She was really worried about him after the accident, half-convinced that it would take a long time for him to get over it, if he ever did. She should've known better. Wade always bounced back, though she suspected it helped that he now knew about Earl's great efforts to stay sober. It was a long, hard path that his father had started on, but if he was willing to try, that wasn't nothing.

"Thank you again for my flowers," she said then, coming out of her thoughtful daze in time to see Wade setting JT up in his high chair ready for breakfast. "You really didn't have to."

"Yes, I did," Wade insisted. "It's time I got things in order in my life, started treating both you and my boy here how you oughta be treated, alright?"

"I guess I can't argue with logic like that." Zoe smiled, reaching to give him a hug and a kiss when he turned to look her way - Wade wasn't dumb enough to argue with that. "Okay, time for work. I'll see you later. Bye-bye, JT," she said then, waving to the little boy. "Can you say, 'Bye-bye, Zoe'?" she tried, even though she knew the chances of him saying it were practically zero.

All three of them waited to see what JT might say or do. All they got for their trouble was the sight of his tongue and a giggle of laughter.

"Close enough." Zoe shrugged before she finally left for work.

She drove into town without incident, checking in with Addy when she arrived at the practice.

"No appointments 'til nine-thirty," she confirmed, "but you got some test results back, including those bloods we ran for little JT Kinsella."

Zoe practically snatched the folder from Addy's hand and looked inside, eyes moving quickly down the list of potential problems in JT's tests. A huge sigh escaped her then.

"Everything's normal, thank God," she declared aloud.

"Amen to that," Addy agreed. "That poor child has been through enough one way and another."

"Agreed." Zoe nodded, wandering into her office still looking through the rest of the test results.

Not everybody was as lucky as JT. Later, she was going to have to speak to one person about some seriously high cholesterol levels and another about a potential hormone imbalance. Going back to JT's results then, Zoe allowed herself another smile. She was so glad to know he was okay, unsure how she ever would've found the words to tell Wade if he wasn't. She moved to put the folder down when suddenly she stopped. JT's blood group caught her eye and she couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. Moving over to the filing cabinet, she dug around until she found JT's medical file and then Wade's file as well. She flipped through the details to the blood information for first Carrie-Sue and then Wade, and her eyes got wide.

"No way," she said, comparing the two with JT's record. "No frickin' way!"

"Come on now, kid," said Wade, lifting JT out of his highchair when he was all cleaned up from breakfast. "Time you and me was making tracks, leave old Uncle Lavon to his depression."

"So what if I am depressed?" his friend grumbled. "I got a right."

"All because you and Didi didn't work out?" asked Wade, sitting JT on his hip. "'Cause this seems like a whole lot of black days for a girl you only dated for a couple o' months."

"Shows what you know," said Lavon crossly. "Hell, you knew Zoe for, what, a week before you was head over heels in love?"

Wade opened his mouth to argue that point before realising that he didn't know how. Love was a big word that he wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable tossing around yet, but he had these feelings for Zoe pretty much from the get-go, that was true enough. Of course, him and Zoe weren't the real topic here.

"All I'm sayin' is this," he told Lavon straight, "you only ever got this down in the dumps one time since I knew you, and I know we never talked about why that was, but I think you and I both know just exactly what I'm talkin' about. So, you think on that, Lavon Hayes," he said with a look before sweeping out of the kitchen, bouncing JT in his arms. "Yeah, I know," he told his little boy as they headed back to the gate house. "That coulda made more sense, but I made a promise to your Aunt Lemon, and despite what some people will tell ya, your daddy is a man of his word, alright? Alright," he said with a smile as JT put up his hand as if waiting on a high-five and Wade made it happen. "I guess we should swing by Zoe's office later on, see about this thing on your head," he said then, eyeing the sticky bandage with distaste. "Last thing we need is you gettin' anything nasty in that wound o' yours."

JT gabbled something incomprehensible.

"I hear what you're sayin'," Wade replied anyway. "I figure we'll give ourselves the mornin' off, watch a little TV, relax a little, then head into town around lunch time and sweep your Aunt Zoe off her feet. That sound good? Yeah, I think so too," he answered himself, since JT clearly wasn't going to. "And if you could just do that 'dada' thing again when we see Zoe, that'd be great," he added, kissing JT's head as he carried him into the house, bouncing him in his arms. "Here we go now."

Zoe couldn't stop staring at the paperwork laid out on her desk. There had to be some mistake, there just had to be, and yet, there wasn't and she knew it. Of course, if what she suspected was true, she had no idea how she was going to tell Wade. She liked him so much, the very last thing she would ever want to do was break his heart, and yet, she may not have a choice.

"That is an awful serious look on your face, doc."

She was so startled to hear his voice, Zoe almost threw her paperwork all over the floor. As it was, her hand went to her chest and it took two deep breaths before she felt calm again.

"Geez, you're jumpy," Wade told her as he walked further into the office, carrying JT in his arms. "We were just looking to surprise you by comin' by and offerin' to buy you lunch, right, JT?"

As soon as she was within reach, the little boy stretched his arms out towards Zoe. She quickly closed the folders on the desk and took a hold of JT, lifting him effortlessly into her lap.

"Hey, you," she said, kissing the top of his head. "Ugh, what happened to this bandage?"

"Yeah, that's the other thing," Wade admitted, perching on the far side of her desk. "Somebody got a little over-the-top with breakfast this morning. That's mostly banana."

"Nice," said Zoe with a grimace. "We need to change this dressing, baby boy," she told JT. "Yes, we do."

She carried him through to the exam room and sat him down on the table, waiting for Wade to be on the other side and ensure JT didn't try to get away before she grabbed the supplies she needed and then got to changing the bandage.

"On the upside, this is healing really well," she assured Wade as she worked. "A few more days and he won't need to have it covered all the time, you'll just need to be careful about keeping it dry when you bathe him and stuff."

"Sounds good, doc." Wade nodded along. "I'm guessin' there were no problems with those tests you ran either? Figured you would've mentioned it by now if there were."

"Nope, no problems," Zoe assured him, concentrating on JT mostly became it meant she didn't have to look at Wade.

Right now, she just couldn't bring herself to, not when she had to say something so very, very awkward.

"Can I ask you kind of a weird question?"

"Shoot," Wade said immediately.

"Do you know what blood type you are?"

"Uh, yeah. O, far as I know. Why'd you ask?"

"Just making sure our records are correct," said Zoe, shaking her head. "No big deal."

She moved away to put the old bandage in the hazardous waste and remove her gloves into the same bin. When she turned back, she found Wade staring at her.

"What?" she checked.

"Zoe, come on," he urged her, picking JT back up into his arms. "What is goin' on?"

She really didn't want to tell him, not when she could easily be wrong, but if she didn't say anything, Zoe knew the information was going to eat away at her and that was no good at all.

"Okay, you need to sit down," she advised.

"Zoe..." Wade shook his head, but she held firm.

"Seriously, Wade, sit down," she insisted until he did as he was told, settling JT in his lap.

"Okay," Zoe started again, pacing in front of the Kinsella boys. "So, I noticed something when I checked JT's blood tests today. There were no positive results for anything bad, he really is just fine, I promise," she explained fast. "The weird thing is that his blood group is B. According to his file, Carrie-Sue Smith is group O, and I was pretty sure I remembered yours being O. That's what it says on your records too, and you just confirmed it's what you thought."

"Right. So, what are you sayin' to me, doc?"

Zoe stopped her pacing and faced Wade, swallowing hard and taking a deep breath before she delivered the news.

"I'm saying that the chances of two people with blood group O being the biological parents of a child with blood group B are practically zero. Wade, what I'm saying is... there's a very good chance that you're actually not JT's father."

To Be Continued...