A/N: Thank you for the reviews on the previous chapter, peops. Y'all are very invested in AB getting a happy ending, which I respect, but we're all still here for the Zade, right? I ask because this chapter is full-on all about Wade & Zoe, and while it may not live up to what actually happened with them in canon at this point in the timeline, I kinda like how it turned out, and I hope you do to ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 34

"So, that was when Wally said that maybe we could come to some arrangement, you know, if I was willing to invest my money into the place and all. Seems maybe you weren't so far off with your idea he might want to retire or some such. Could be you're looking at a future business partner right here," said Wade with a grin as he pulled up the car on the plantation.

"Wade, that's amazing," Zoe told him happily. "You hear that, JT?" she called into the backseat. "Daddy's going to own a bar!"

"Uh, half a bar, maybe," he corrected, though it was clear from the smile on his face that he was happy enough with just that. "Don't you go gettin' ahead of yourself, doc," he advised, leaning over the gear shift to give her a quick kiss before they both got out of the car and retreived the little one too. "You know, I'm startin' to think maybe Tom Long had a point the other day about that storm comin'," Wade considered a few moments later, as he and hurried into the gatehouse with JT in his arms and Zoe on his heels. "Wind's whippin' up something fierce."

"You really think it could get that bad? Like, disaster drill bad?" she asked, closing the door behind them then looking back at the view of the increasingly bad weather.

"Tough to say, doc. I mean, we've had our share of bad times with the weather and all. It ain't all sunshine in Alabama," he reminded her, though of course she already knew.

Zoe had seen it snow in Bluebell, though it was a day she would sooner forget, all told. It was unexpected weather for Alabama, but it happened. Besides, she knew what troubles had hit this area long before she moved down from New York. Katrina loomed large in everyone's minds at times. Zoe didn't mind admitting, at least to herself and to Wade, that it bothered her more than a bit to think that kind of thing might be coming their way.

"Hey, now," said Wade, suddenly behind her with his arm around her waist. "It's probably just your standard issue storm," he told Zoe, kissing the top of her head. "Sure, it'll get pretty nasty, but we'll be safe enough. I'll make sure of it," he promised.

Zoe turned around in the circle of his arms and smiled.

"I know I'm safe with you, Wade Kinsella," she told him before making a face. "Wow, that was corny."

"So corny," he agreed, grinning all the same. "But that's alright, doc. You can be corny with me anytime," he told her, planting a kiss on her lips.

JT banging his hands on the tray of his high chair soon had their attention and Wade immediately moved to get his son some dinner. Zoe just stood watching father and son together for a moment, smiling widely at the sight. They really were so sweet and adorable together. Zoe couldn't ever have imagined that the guy she met when she first came to Bluebell being such a devoted father, but she had clearly underestimated Wade Kinsella. He was everything that JT needed in a daddy and everything she needed in a man.

"You turned to stone over there, doc?" he asked her, getting her attention then. "You're standin' still as a statue just starin'."

"Maybe I found something worth staring at," she told him flirtatiously.

"You hearin' this, JT?" Wade asked his son with a grin. "I didn't know better, I'd say Aunt Zoe was payin' me a compliment."

JT giggled and clapped, reaching out his arms for Zoe, straining to get to her. She saved him the struggle and came over, encouraging him to eat his dinner and freeing up Wade to figure out what he and Zoe would be eating themselves.

"Not much here to speak of," he said, checking the cabinet and mini fridge. "Think I'll run up to the house, see what we can snag from Lavon."

"You're going out in that?" asked Zoe worriedly as Wade moved with a purpose towards the door. "What about the storm?"

"Zoe, I'll be ten minutes, tops," he assured her. "It's barely even rainin' yet. I promise you, it's all good. Now, where's that tough chick from New York that I used to date, huh?" he asked her with a look.

"I am tough, mister, and don't you forget it," she said snippily. "I just... I worry about you."

"And I appreciate it," he promised, returning to her for a quick kiss. "But it's like I told you, it's just a regular storm, doc, nothin' more than that. I'll be back," he promised one more time before finally leaving.

Zoe sighed and looked back at JT. Poor kid looked a little bemused and Zoe felt bad. Children picked up on bad vibes and negative emotions. The last thing they needed was for him to start getting scared and worked up just because she was worried herself.

"Daddy will be back before you know it," she promised, telling herself as much as JT and hoping rather than believing she was convincing.

She couldn't help but keep on glancing out of the window at the tree branches whipping in the wind and the rain pattering harder on the window panes. Then suddenly she saw a flash and before she could hardly gasp, a crack of thunder made her jump in her seat. Right away, JT whimpered and made a face.

"Oh, no, baby, it's okay," Zoe tried to assure him, though she was a little freaked out herself by how fast the storm seemed to come on. "It's just a storm. It's nothing to be afraid of," she told JT, even as his lip quivered and his overly wide eyes stared out into the darkening sky.

Within a minute, there was more lightning and thunder in quick succession as the rain beat down on the gatehouse, seemingly from all sides. Zoe could barely see out of the window when suddenly the door flew open and Wade all but fell into the house.

"Well, didn't that just come outta nowhere fast?" he declared, smiling in spite of being soaked to the skin. "He doesn't like the noise much, huh?" he said of JT then, smile fading as he dumped an arm full of food products onto the couch.

Zoe shook her head in the negative, cradling JT close in her arms by now.

"Children's ears are so much more sensitive than ours. It probably sounds ten times louder to him," she explained about the thunder, just as it crashed one more time. "And trust me, it is loud enough for adult ears."

"Can't argue with that." Wade winced a little at the sound. "But you don't gotta worry, bubba," he told JT. "Not either of you," he said to Zoe too. "We should be safe enough in here until it passes."

Zoe nodded that she understood and even believed him, but she had to try almost as hard to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about as she had to try to make JT understand. Kids relied so much on instinct and it was clear that the little boy felt threatened by the storm.

While Wade shifted the food to the kitchenette, dried off and changed out of his wet clothes, Zoe walked up and down the gatehouse with JT in her arms, trying to tell him the truth about thunder and lightning and why it was nothing to be scared of.

"It's just electricity," she said definitely. "And hey, where would we be without that? In the Dark Ages, that's where."

"Zoe, sweetheart." Wade rolled his eyes, coming over to lift JT from her arms. "He's not even a whole year old yet, and you're givin' him a science lesson?"

"Hey, it's never too early to start learning," Zoe said with a look. "You have no idea how much kids take in, even at his age."

"I believe it," he assured her, nodding his head, "but you got more chance of calming him down with the kinda tales my old man used to tell me about storms. Yes, sir," he said, sitting down on the couch with his son in his lap. "Good ol' Grandpa Earl used to tell me and Jesse that we didn't have to be scared of no thunder, 'cause that was just the angels, right up there above the clouds, havin' themselves a bowling tournament."

Zoe sniggered, covering her mouth with her hand for a moment. "A bowling tournament?" she checked, sitting down beside him. "Seriously?"

"I was a kid. It made me feel better, alright?" said Wade, smirking at her. "Your mom never told you anythin' like that when you were little?"

"Not really." Zoe shook her head, smile fading some. "Pretty sure my childhood and your childhood were very different," she said with a sigh, before shaking off any potential sadness. "But don't worry JT, you have the best daddy, and so many people who love you. You're going to have the greatest childhood of any kid ever," she promised the little boy who happily crawled from Wade's lap to hers and gave her a big hug.

"Well, don't you go thinkin' everything about my life was peaches and cream when I was a kid," Wade told her with a look, "and I'm not talkin' about losing Momma," he confirmed, presumably knowing that Zoe was already feeling guilty about feeling sorry for herself for not having her parents around when Wade had lost one of his altogether by the time he was only ten. "Me and Jesse got along better than we do now, I'll admit, but we still fought like cat and dog most of the time. Drove Momma crazy. Earl too, I guess," he admitted, smiling at the memories as he thought about them.

The thunder sounded loudly overhead then, the rain battering against the windows and making JT take fright. Zoe hugged him close and rubbed his back, promising once more that everything was okay.

"I guess that's another good reason for Lemon and good old George Tucker to have called off that weddin' of theirs," said Wade then. "That shindig was gonna be an outdoor ceremony, from what I recall."

"Yeah. Geez, that would've been messy." Zoe winced at the very thought. "Lemon would've so been on the warpath by now, probably yelling at nature itself for daring to ruin her day," she said with a smile then, before a thought occurred to her that took the expression away. "I hope she's okay. She and AB went to Mobile for a little retail therapy."

"They'll be just fine," Wade promised even as Zoe craned her neck to see how bad the weather had become and immediately regretted catching sight of the darkness, pounding rain, and forks of lightning streaking across the thundery sky. "They ain't like you, doc. You got your Southern blood from old Harley, but you still got those fanciful New York ways about you sometimes," he told her, smirking hard as he teased her. "Lemon and Annabeth, they're Southern women, born and raised. They know just exactly what to do in a storm like this, I promise you."

"I believe you," she assured him, leaning into his side and accepting the hug he offered her, as JT shifted to sit in the small gap between her legs and Wade's own. "I still worry about AB though, not because of the storm, but because of her being lonely and feeling so down about her husband."

"That Jake Nass was a real piece o' work," Wade agreed, shaking his head. "Didn't know when he had a good thing going."

"Amen to that." Zoe nodded, holding up her hand for a high five.

Wade didn't leave her hanging, and then they both had to high five JT too, since he was determined not to be left out.

"There has to be a guy around town that AB could date," said Zoe thoughtfully, glad of the distraction from the storm that raged on yet, though at least JT seemed to be getting used to the noise and happy to amuse himself crawling around on the couch over her and Wade. "I'd suggest Lavon if he wasn't already dating Lemon, or George if he wasn't with Tansy now. You're okay with that, right?" she said, peering up at Wade then.

"Okay with what now?" he checked, having been momentarily distracted trying to keep his son from falling off the end of the couch.

"With George dating Tansy?" Zoe repeated. "I mean, she's your ex-wife and he's your friend."

"Yeah, ex-wife," he echoed, shaking his head. "Tansy is her own person, Zoe. I don't think she woulda taken kindly to me tellin' her what to do even when we were together, and now? She'd just about take my head off if I tried."

"But she and George, it's not weird for you?"

"Is it weird for you?" Wade asked her, frowning hard. "'Cause I thought we moved way past that little crush o' yours..."

"Oh, come on!" Zoe protested loudly, only for the thunder to prove it could do better a second later, making her wince again. "Wade, seriously, my crush on George Tucker was just... I don't even know what it was," she said definitely.

The look on Wade's face proved he didn't buy that and Zoe ought to have known he wouldn't. It was, of course, entirely untrue.

"Okay, fine," she said, poking out her tongue childishly. "I liked George because he was the handsome, charming guy who picked me up off the side of the road and because... because he reminded me of New York," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "It just took me a while to realise that I belong in Bluebell way more than I belong in the city, and that George Tucker was not the only guy in town who was handsome and charming," she said, smiling widely by the end.

"Handsome, huh?" said Wade, grinning himself by now.

"Yup, lots of handsome guys in Bluebell." Zoe nodded. "I mean, you have Lavon, Tom Long, Wally, Sergeant Jeffries," she said, giggling madly as Wade's eyes went wide.

"You know something, JT?" he said to his son, picking him up and carrying him over to his new play pen and placing him inside with his toys. "Your Aunt Zoe has a sick sense of humour."

"And you know what else, JT?" said Zoe, following Wade across the room and standing beside him. "That's one of so many things that Daddy loves about me," she said smartly.

"Yeah, well." Wade rolled his eyes. "Maybe I do," he said, wrapping his arm around her back and pulling her close. "I gotta admit, I didn't exactly see you and me getting this far when we first met. Don't get me wrong, I saw some good times comin' outta you and me gettin'... acquainted," he said with a salacious look, "but I figured we'd just be finishin' off what we started on Miller Road that night."

"Oh, please, do not even mention that night!" Zoe urged him, hiding her face in his chest. "I was so drunk... and then I played Dixie with my butt!" she recalled with a groan.

"I'm not so sure either one of us came off too well that night," Wade assured her, hands at the sides of her face as he brought her head off his chest and met her eyes. "Still, I got no regrets. If that hadn't happened like it did, then maybe none of this would have either."

"That's true." Zoe sighed happily as she gazed up at him. "For the record, I don't have any regrets either. I can't imagine my life without you in it, Wade. I don't want to try. This is where I want to be and you are who I want to be with, always."

"That sounds an awful lot like you making vows to me, doc," he said, only half-joking. "Think maybe we've been talking too much about that wedding today was supposed to bring on. Still, you know I feel the same, right? Never did think I was the settling down type, but you're just... Zoe, you are the only woman in the world I could ever think to feel this way for."

"That sounds an awful lot like you making vows to me too, cowboy," she joked, not least because she had a feeling she would cry some real happy tears if she didn't laugh soon.

It didn't really matter as Wade leaned down to kiss her then, the two of them lost in the moment for a minute, at least until another impressive crack of thunder made Zoe squeak against Wade's lips and literally jump back.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, her hand over her chest.

"That storm really is goin' nowhere fast." Wade sighed. "Hey, don't you start freakin' out again too," he told JT when the little boy looked towards the window with a shocked expression. "You're alright, kid, I promise," he said, ruffling the soft blond hair on JT's head.

"He's braver than I am." Zoe sighed, watching fondly as JT got to his feet and moved over to the edge of the play pen, staring hard at the window as if waiting for the next lightning strike to show itself. "He's less than a year old and he's braver than me, that's not okay," she told Wade. "That's... sad."

"He's my boy, Zoe. 'Course he's braver than most," he said proudly. "Still, just 'cause thunder and lightning don't phase him doesn't mean nothin' will. Based on mine and Jesse's reactions as kids, maybe don't book any clowns for his birthday party."

"Yes, birthday party!" Zoe suddenly exclaimed, rushing to the bed where she had dumped her purse and pulling out her notebook. "It's the perfect distraction, we can plan JT's first birthday party!"

"Right now?" asked Wade, amused by her enthusiasm apparently. "We got two months yet."

"These things take time, Wade," Zoe pointed out, sitting down on the end of the bed with her pen poised over the page. "And I really, really need the distraction," she insisted.

"You need distractin', baby, there are better ways," he said with a look.

"In front of him? Seriously?" she asked, pointing to JT who was taking in everything that was happening, as always. "Besides, with this storm making me so tense, I'm really not in that kind of mood. Party planning, that I can handle."

"Fine." Wade rolled his eyes, but smiling just the same. "You obviously have ideas you wanna share, so lemme grab some of that food I almost drowned myself to get, and you can lay it all on me, doc."

To Be Continued...