A/N: Thanks to those who left reviews on the previous chapter. Here's one more to enjoy! ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 28

Zoe didn't think Susie could do anything more crazy and over-the-top with her hair than the day not long after she first moved to Bluebell, the first time she ever saw Wade talk Earl down from the roof of the hardware store. Apparently, she was wrong.

"Never mind Crazy Earl," she muttered as she stepped out into the street and winced at the sight of herself in the plate-glass front of the salon. "They're gonna start calling me Crazy Zoe," she said, sighing and shaking her head.

Turning around to head for home, Zoe actually screamed when she saw who appeared to be standing on the kerb staring at her. Sure, she had heard car doors and expected somebody to be there, but not this particular somebody.

"Mom?" she asked, willing to believe this was some kind of weird dream rather than reality.

"Is this how it's always going to be now?" Candice huffed. "Every time I come to visit, you're just going to scream at the sight of me?"

"Of course, not," Zoe assured her as they met in the middle of the sidewalk. "I just... What are you doing here?" she asked helplessly.

Candice put her bag down on the pile of luggage already at her feet and reached to hug her daughter.

"You call me out of the blue to ask for the number of a private investigator, you won't even tell me what you want with him," she said, pulling back to look Zoe in the eye. "Then you add that you're staying in Alabama, probably forever, don't even give me a chance to react before you hang up, and that is the last I hear from you. Did you really think I was going to leave it at that?" she asked, staring hard at daughter.

"Maybe?" Zoe ventured, one hand going to the back of her head and pulling at the pins that were already uncomfortably digging into her scalp. "You didn't need to rush all the way down here, you could've just called me back."

"Yes, because you're so good at replying to your voicemails." Candice rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I actually wanted to see you, and judging from the state of your hair, it's a good thing I did. This place is making you lose your mind," she said, glancing around and seeming to shudder at the thought of being in Bluebell too long.

The last thing Zoe wanted to do was fight with her mother anymore, but she had her limits.

"Mom, I know you think New York is the best place in the world, and it's not as if I don't love it too," she said definitely, "but if you're going to be here, could you please not treat Bluebell like it's diseased?" she urged her. "It's... it's my home now," she said, shrugging in a 'What can you do?' kind of way.

If the look on Candice's face was anything to go by, she was about to tell her there was an awful lot she could do and that she was going to try it too.

"Yes, you made it very clear that you've decided to make a home down here." Candice nodded. "What I'd like to understand is why?"

Zoe opened her mouth to start giving an answer to that when suddenly she spotted two of her very good reasons just across the street. She hadn't really noticed that she had started smiling uncontrollably, not until her mom pointed it out to her.

"Zoe, you look like you have a hangar in your mouth. What is the matter with you?"

"You wanted reasons why I want to stay, Mom," she said, glancing at her. "I can give you two right now," she said easily, waving at Wade to come on over to join them.

"Well, hey there, doc. Fancy seein' you here, and with you lookin' so fancy too," he joked, kissing her hello.

"The things I do for the people in this town," she said, rolling her eyes. "Susie's really hard to say no to. Hey, little man," she said to JT then, lifting him out of Wade's arms and into her own. "There's somebody here I'd like you to meet. John-Thomas Kinsella, this is my mom, Candice Hart. Mom, this is JT, Wade's son. You remember Wade, right?"

"Who could forget?" said Candice, finding a smile for Wade who grinned back at her.

"Mrs Hart," he said, nodding politely.

"Candice, please," she insisted. "You have a beautiful son, Wade," she told him, smiling more genuinely at the little boy then.

JT was happily playing with Zoe, laughing as she pretended to bite off his fingers. Zoe didn't even realise she was the centre of attention until she suddenly glanced up to find both her mom and her boyfriend staring at her. It occurred to her then that her introductions probably hadn't been as thorough as they should've been.

"Oh, mom, I should explain..."

"No need." Candice waved away her concerns. "Your father... Ethan," she corrected herself awkwardly. "He explained that you and Wade were... close these days, and that you were helping to look after the child too."

There was something about the way she said 'the child' that made Zoe bristle. She noticed the tension in Wade's expression too and didn't like it one bit.

"His name is JT," she told her mother with a look. "And honestly? I don't think I could love him any more than I do, could I, baby boy?" she said to JT then, kissing his cheeks until he squealed and laughed some more.

"Well, we sure as heck couldn't love you any more than we do, doc," Wade promised her, reaching to take JT back into his arms, "but I guess we should be gettin' outta your hair since your mom is here and all."

"Thank you, Wade," Candice said politely. "I'm sure you understand that Zoe and I have a lot to talk about," she said with a pointed look at her daughter.

"You two ladies have fun, alright?" said Wade then, leaning in close to Zoe and whispering in her ear. "You need savin' later, just yell. I'll bet we'll hear you from across the pond."

"I might take you up on that," she said, loud enough for her mother to hear, since Candice wouldn't know what she was answering to. "I'll see you later," she told Wade then, kissing his cheek and then the top of JT's head before the Kinsella boys walked away.

"Well, you three make an interesting little family."

Zoe bit her tongue at first then wondered why she was bothering.

"Come on, Mom," she said then, acid in her tone that she just couldn't help. "Parents don't have to be biological to raise a kid. At least me and JT both know I'm not really his mom. It'd be much worse if we were keeping the truth from him, wouldn't it?"

"Zoe..." said her mom, the name coming out like a warning somehow, but Zoe couldn't care.

"I have Lavon's car around the corner," she said, moving to pick up two of Candice's cases and leaving her to bring the rest. "Let's go."

"Oh, my Lord!" Lemon gasped her hand at her chest as she looked across from the back door of Lavon's house and caught sight of Zoe exiting the car. "Well, isn't that just an interesting choice of hairstyle for our Dr Wilkes," she said as delicately as she could.

Lemon wasn't usually one to pull her punches, especially not where Zoe was concerned, but lately she had come to realise that out and out insulting the good doctor in front of Lavon or Wade never ended well. Her boyfriend followed her gaze now and a deep chuckle escaped him.

"Yeah, Susie really went to town on Big Z," he noted, the laughter dying in his throat when he saw the other woman exiting the car now, toting bags as she and Zoe went towards the carriage house. "Huh. Zoe didn't mention her momma was coming down here to visit."

"Maybe she didn't know." Lemon shrugged. "It's not a problem, is it?"

"Could be," Lavon considered. "Far as I know, Zoe and her mom don't always get along so well, you know, with her lying about who Zoe's father was and everything."

Lemon nodded in understanding, staring at Zoe and her mom until they had completely disappeared into the house across the way. Sometimes she forgot that Zoe had been through some family trauma of her own, believing one man to be her father when in fact it was another. Of course, now Zoe bore the name of Wilkes, that was at least a constant reminder that she was Harley's child. That might just be another reason why Lemon tried harder to be at least a little pleasant around her. After all, Harley had always been so kind to her.

Lavon put his arms around Lemon then and pulled her around to face him.

"Anyway, thought you had some place you had to run off to," he said with a look, "or was that an excuse just to get away from me?"

"As if I would ever want to do that." Lemon smiled, reaching up to kiss his lips. "You know how I feel about you, Lavon Hayes," she said definitely. "This whole town oughta know after that display we put on last week," she reminded him, colouring some at the recollection.

When Lemon asked Lavon to perform with her at Dash's Gilbert and South-ian show, she had planned on the town at large seeing them together, considering them as a couple, just to judge what the reaction might be. When it came to the night of the show itself and they sang their love song together, she hadn't been able to resist kissing Lavon when it was over. The crowd had erupted in cheers and applause, at least after the surprise of it all had subsided. Now it seemed Bluebell was happy enough to see Lemon and Lavon as a pair, and with George Tucker seemingly done being bent out of shape by the whole thing, it was all working out pretty well.

"Go on, now," said Lavon then, stealing one more kiss before pushing her gently away. "You get to your Belle meeting or whatever, before I change my mind and decide to keep you here."

"Tempting as that is," Lemon agreed with a smile, "I really do have to go, but I'll see you later."

"Sounds good to me." Lavon grinned back at her, raising his hand in a wave as she walked away.

When she was gone, his eyes drifted back to the window and the view of the carriage house. Zoe and her mother could be reconciling, which would be nice, but they could just as easy be screaming at each other before the day was done. Lavon hoped for the former, but he was bracing accordingly for the latter, just in case.

It was getting pretty late but somehow Wade just didn't feel sleepy. He couldn't help wondering what was going on over at the carriage house with Zoe and her mother, a part of him just wanting to go on over and find out if he were honest. He would never leave JT, not even for a minute, not even when he was sleeping soundly, and even if he didn't have his boy to worry on, Wade had no idea what excuse he could make to go on over there and interrupt in any case. Late as it was, the ladies were probably sleeping by now... or throwing things at each other, but he couldn't hear any crashing around or even raised voices.

Flipping off the TV that he had barely been watching anyway, and couldn't ever hear with the volume so low, Wade ran a hand over his face and got up from the couch. He glanced out of the window as he headed towards his bed, stopping walking when he realised he could see movement around the pond. Next thing he knew there were light footsteps coming up onto his porch and Wade moved to open the door before anyone decided to knock.

"Hey," said Zoe, smiling tiredly through the gap in the door.

"Hey, yourself, doc," he greeted her, ushering her inside, the both of them talking in whispers, mindful of JT sleeping.

"I'm sorry, I know it's late. I just... I really needed to see you."

"Things not so good with your mom?" Wade checked, feeling the knot in his stomach grow when Zoe looked away.

It had occurred to him when Candice came calling that maybe she had a notion to convince her daughter she was a fool to want to stay down in Alabama when New York was waiting on her. Wade didn't want to believe Zoe could be stolen away like that, but he couldn't help but worry about it, even if only a little.

"She... she said she understood my attitude with Ethan. I'm not sure she totally approves of me changing my name to Wilkes, but like I told her, she picked my father, not me," said Zoe, shrugging her shoulders.

"That is true." Wade nodded. "She, uh... You guys talk about you decidin' to stay here?" he asked, dreading the answer but knowing he had to know it all the same.

"Surprise, surprise, she doesn't like that either." Zoe rolled her eyes. "But it's like I told her, it's my life. She already decided enough for me, lying about Ethan and Harley and everything. From now on, my choices are my own, and I choose Bluebell," she said with determination. "I choose you, Wade. You and JT and my life here," she told him again, presumably realising he needed that confirmation.

Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her soundly and Zoe kissed him back, so very sure in her decision and her love for Wade Kinsella. She didn't even need to ask him if she could stay over tonight, he was already leading her towards his bed and she went willingly. Let her mother wonder where she was in the morning, Zoe didn't care at all.

Of course, not everything was perfect. At some point she would have to tell Wade about the PI she hired, and God only knew what that guy would find out about Carrie-Sue. Still, for now, things were going pretty good and Zoe was holding onto that, as she and Wade laid down together in the dark, safe in the knowledge that they were both just exactly where they belonged.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: And that's where we leave our happy couple until the new year. It was tough to find a good place to stop. I didn't want to leave you all on any major cliffhangers, but there are a lot of threads to tie up in this story yet and there was no way to get them all squared away properly in the time I had to do it. Rest assured, I will be back in January with further updates, and in the meantime, you can look forward to the last chapter of 'One Step At A Time' later this week, and a Christmas miracle themed one-shot of the Zade variety sometime in December :)

(Depending what other fandoms you're into, you may also enjoy Christmas miracle themed one-shots for Firefly, Timeless, and Avengers, plus an Advent Calendar if you're into Gilmore Girls and ship Rory/Jess!)