A/N: Okay so I know I'm the WORST. But life got in the way (new job, new city, new... well, lots o'things). Anyway here's the next chapter and I'm almost halfway done with the next one so hoping to post it by this Sunday. Also, this hasn't had a good read through – still looking for a beta, hint hint – so apologies for typos. Reviews and feedback make my day:)

ZPOV

There was no reason for me to be this anxious. It wasn't like I regretted saying yes. It just felt like a whirlwind. First he proposes. Then we agree not to say anything. Then I'm an idiot and forget my ring... and BAM!

I was literally in a constant swing between professionalism and panic attack. I had five patients scheduled for the day, which I saw as a good thing since it would keep me distracted. But even though I'd walked in closer to noon than nine, by one o'clock half the town was in the office wanting details.

"Did he get down on one knee?"

"How did he propose?"

"Did you see it coming?"

"Are you upset he didn't get you a new ring?"

"When is the big day?"

"Have you two talked about children?"

"Where are you getting married?"

"Who's going to be your maid of honor?"

"You know Zoe Hart, you and Wade aren't allowed to elope. We all expect an invite."

And that was just the tip of the iceberg to the questions I was inundated with. An hour later I wasn't even sure which questions I'd answered, much less what I actually answered with. It wasn't long after the one hour mark that I hit my breaking point and told Brick I was going home for the day.

"That's a good thing too, get right to the planning!" Shula encouraged as I headed for the door.

"Yep! That's exactly what I'm going to do," I shouted over my shoulder. It was pure sarcasm, although I was pretty sure it was lost on her.

I considered going to see Wade, but thought better of it. He had enough going on with the opening, so I headed back to the carriage house, speed walking past townsfolk shouting out a mix of congratulations and questions that I wasn't ready to answer.

When I got home it took me less than five minutes to get into my pjs with a glass of wine. I just needed to relax. The wedding didn't have to be soon. It didn't have to be a huge affair. It didn't have to have the entire town as an audience... did it?

I chugged my first glass of wine like it was water then poured a second glass before making my way to bed. I sat the glass on my nightstand and threw the comforter over my head, burrowing under the covers. A nap would quell the headache and memories of the onslaught I'd just experienced.

It felt like only a few minutes had passed when the sound of the squeaky front door stirred me awake.

"Zoe?" Wade hollered from the foyer. I didn't respond figuring he'd come in anyway. He did, standing in the doorway looking amused. "You okay doc?"

I nodded, slowly sitting up and leaning against the headboard. "Uh huh." He walked towards me and sat on the side of the bed, inches away. "I went to see if you needed a ride home and Barb from the pet store stopped me before I even got to your office and told me you'd gone home to start planning the wedding." I nodded. "Yep. I already made one decision," I validated, nodding my head.

"This should be good," he smirked, twisting so his hands were resting on the bed on either side of my hips.

"Our wedding will have wine. Lots and lots of wine."

He laughed and nodded, leaning in to kiss me. "Good think you're marrying someone with connections to bulk alcohol suppliers."

I took a deep breath, moving my hand up to the side of his neck and followed his lips as he pulled back. He smiled under the kiss and moved back, getting the hint I wasn't ready to stop. I laid down and he followed, hovering over me as we kissed like two people that had all the time in the world.

"I must have gotten a hundred questions from people about us and the wedding in the couple of hours I was at work. I felt like I was a defendant on the stand," I told him as his mouth trailed down the side of my neck.

"You'll be okay tonight," he murmured as he pushed the strap of my tank top to the side and kissed over my shoulder. "Everyone can divert their questions to me."

"Oh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "This is your big debut and I don't think you understand the amount of questions that will be fired at you."

He lifted his head, looking at me. "Well I'm already prepared when someone asks if we're having a dry wedding," he teased, leaning down to kiss me again.

I rolled my eyes, grinning. "More than one. I'm not sure if I answered the question of how you proposed."

"Drunk and slurring," he smirked.

"Don't forget shirtless."

"That's a given."

I laughed and pulled him closer for another kiss. How he was able to relax me so easily, I'd never know. But as someone that had always been wound up like a jack in the box ready to pop, I wasn't planning on ever questioning it.

"Don't forget that I only did it because you're pregnant," he said between kisses.

"Oh god, don't even joke about saying that."

"With triplets?" He challenged, raising an eyebrow. My hands drifted down to his jeans, popping the button and sliding my hand inside his boxers. My hand wrapping around his shaft and he sucked in a breath.

"Shut up," I said as I started moving my hand up and down. Not only had he calmed me down, but he'd made me more confident in the bedroom – to the point that I was getting more and more comfortable initiating things.

"Yes ma'am," he agreed, leaning down and kissing me hard.

We changed positions three times, rolling over on my bed so much that I was surprised we didn't fall off. Our bodies were slick with sweat as we finally peaked. His forehead dropped to my shoulders as we both panted, sucking in as much air as quickly as we could. One of his hands continued to slide up and down my leg slowly. Once his breath had steadied, he rolled over onto his back beside me and shook his head. "Lord woman," he sighed.

I turned to look at him, still trying to slow my heart rate. "What?"

"You're gonna kill me off before we even set a date."

"Kill you off?" I scoffed. "Who was the one that kept slowing down every time I got close?"

"Close to?" He smirked. He was making fun of me because I was a doctor and still couldn't say it out loud.

"You know."

"Do I though?"

"Yes, you do."

"Well wasn't it worth it? Me not letting you orgasm right out the gate?"

"Besides the point."

He laughed and pulled me over him. "I think that's what they call winning an argument."

I rolled my eyes and shifted off of him, scooting off the bed. "I need to start getting ready for tonight.

Speaking of," I said, turning to look at him as I slid my bathrobe on and cinched it at my waist. "Aren't you supposed to be at the bar?"

He sat up and nodded. "Yea, I just took a break."

"An hour and a half long break?"

He swung his legs off the bed and reached for his boxers. "That's the benefit of being the boss. I can take long lunches."

"It's..." I turned, looking at the clock. "Five-thirty. Hardly lunch."

"Fine," he shrugged, walking over to me and kissing the top of my head. "Afternoon delight," he chuckled.

I couldn't help but laugh as I pivoted to look at him. I stood on my toes, letting my lips linger on his.

"What was that for?"

"That's just in case I don't get to do it later. I know it's going to be a mad house."

"Doc, you bet your ass I'm going to be doing that every chance I get tonight. I don't care how busy the damn place is."

I fought to hide the smile that was threatening to take over my entire face. I was still getting used to the PDA, but hell if I wouldn't take him up on it tonight – especially if it got us out of answering questions.

He threw on his t-shirt and hopped his way back into his pants. "Hey will you stop by before we officially open?" He asked as he zipped up his jeans.

"Sure, what time?"

"I don't know, say seven?"

"I'll be there," I smiled. I doubted I'd ever be able to convey how proud I was of him and everything he'd accomplished. "Are we still doing dinner?"

"Shit," he blurted out, leaning his head back. "I'll grab something at Lavon's before I head over. We can eat at the bar?"

I laughed lightly and nodded. "Sounds good."

"Don't say that just yet. I'm planning on making sandwiches."

"Like I said," I began, wrapping my arms around his waist. "Sounds good. Just no mayo."

"I think I can swing that," he agreed, cupping my face in his hands and giving me a quick kiss. "See you at seven. Love you."

I beamed. "Back 'atcha."

He laughed under his breath and jogged out of the house, shoes in hand.

WPOV

I left Zoe's feeling a thousand times more relaxed than I had all day.

Truth be told, I was nervous as hell. I'd never put effort into, well, anything before and so opening the bar was a really fucking big deal. I knew I had the town and Zoe behind me but it was still a big deal. I'd borrowed money I didn't know how I'd pay back if the place went bust. I knew Zoe would get the long hours, being a doctor and all but between my schedule and her fellowship it was hard not to add how this was all going to impact our relationship, to the list.

I made my way over to Lavon's and made a couple turkey sandwiches and grabbed a bag of chips for the road. By the time I got back to the bar there wasn't much left to do. Wanda had finished the inventory after I'd spent a couple of hours going over the process earlier in the day.

"You're gonna do great Wade," she said encouragingly as I sat in the back looking over the list she'd put together and starting to add up the numbers.

"Thanks Wanda," I said, smiling up at her. "Why don't you head home and rest for a bit. We're not opening up shop til eight."

"You sure? I don't mind staying."

I nodded. "Yea, I'm sure. But thanks."

"Sure thing," she nodded heading for where her jean jacket was hanging.

I had about an hour to myself. I wrapped up crunching the numbers on inventory then made my way around the bar, starting on a pot of coffee before going between the two rooms. I tested out the pinball machine for a bit, then changed into the white button down and black slacks I'd brought with me. What? It was the grand opening, I felt like a little fancy was in order. I had just put on some AC/DC over the jukebox and was flipping through the selections when I heard a knock on the window.

Zoe. The doc was early – who knew that was even possible?

I walked over and unlocked the door, stepping aside to let her in before closing it back up.

"Sorry I'm early," she smiled. "I finished getting ready and was restless. I can help out if you're in the middle of something."

She looked beautiful, as usual. But in a thin black lace dress that was so low cut it almost went past the bottom of her boobs and so short that if she bent down I was pretty sure anyone walking by would get a peek at her underwear, there wasn't much she'd be able to do.

"Nothin left to do," I shrugged. "Plus wearing that there's not much you'd be able to help with."

"Why?" She asked, looking down at her dress. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Absolutely nothing," I said, moving to wrap my arms around her tiny waist. "In fact I can't wait see it in a ball on my floor. But it's not exactly something you wear when you have to clean up a bar or move boxes of liquor."

She rolled her eyes, not pushing the issue. "Where's dinner Mr. Business Owner, I'm starving."

I laughed, dropping my arms and heading for the bar. I moved behind the counter and watched her hop onto a stool. This was familiar, just like the million times we'd done this at the Rammer Jammer. I bent down, pulling the sandwiches from the mini-fridge under the bar where I was also storing a few bottle of white wine.

"Turkey on wheat with lettuce, tomato, and cheddar," I announced, opening the Tupperware lid and sliding it in her direction.

"You know just what to say," she grinned.

"Oh, I'm not done yet." I turned, grabbing the pot of coffee and pouring her a cup, before reaching for her brown sugar.

"I knew there was a reason I agreed to this whole wedding thing," she laughed, dumping spoonfuls of sugar into her steaming cup.

From there we started eating and as we got closer and closer to finishing our sandwiches I was getting worried when the chatty doc hadn't said a word. She had been looking from me to her dinner with a nervous smile for the past five minutes. "Okay, what's up?" I finally asked, putting my sandwich down when I had a few bites left.

"What? Nothing." She shrugged.

"When you go more than two minutes without a word, it's either because we're having sex or you're mad about something." At the word "sex" she blushed and I fought against my reflexes not to laugh.

"Neither."

"So what's going on?" I asked, crossing my arms and leaning against the bar. "You know bartenders are known for being excellent at listening."

She rolled her eyes. "There are exceptions," she smirked back. Finally she took a deep breath and put her sandwich down. "Fine, and this has absolutely nothing to do with this," she said, pointing to the ring on her finger. "I've been wanting to ask you for a few days, but we've both been super busy and stressed..."

Sometimes getting shit outta here took longer than herding cats. "So spill. What have you been dying to ask me?"

She bit her lip and took a mouthful of her sandwich. She said words but they were garbled by her chomping on her dinner.

"What's that now?"

She swallowed and pushed her plate of remaining food to the side. "I was thinking we could go to New York for Christmas."

I finally understood the saying ignorance is bliss. That was not at all what I was expecting to come out of her mouth. "New York?"

"Yea, we could even do like the 22nd til the morning of the 25th then fly down and spend Christmas day with Earl and do the friends-Christmas like last year."

I looked at her like she was crazy. Mostly because she was. "But you didn't go home last year."

"Yea, and my mom gave me hell for it when I was there over the summer." She reached over, tugging one of my arms so she could put her hand on top of mine. "Plus, it would be your first white Christmas," She said, clearly trying to persuade me.

"Zoe, I hate the cold," I reminded her. "What else you got?"

"C'mon Wade," she whined. "Two days, three tops. You think I actually want to be there for an extended amount of time?"

"I don't know doc, I didn't think you wanted to be there period."

She sighed and leaned forward. "Please?" She whispered kissing me lightly. "Pretty please." She kissed me again and this time I didn't let her lips go so easily. My hand that she'd been holding reached up to the side of her neck as I dragged the kiss on. "Two days," I murmured against her lips, not opening my eyes. "And we're back for Christmas."

"Deal," she said. I felt her smile against me and I opened my eyes to find hers still shut. They reopened as I leaned back.

"Are we planning on New Orleans for New Year's again?" I remembered clear as a summer's day that we'd vowed to do it between shots the year before, but I wasn't sure if she had the same memory.

"Duh," she grinned, sitting back on the barstool. "We agreed to do it last year."

"Okay, but I'm handling the hotel and stuff this year."

She looked at me tight lipped, and I rolled my eyes. "My Christmas gift again?"

"It's just I knew how busy you'd be with the bar and everything, and I didn't want to add that to your plate on top of everything. Plus," she shrugged, putting on an innocent face. "I wanted to pick the hotel."

I laughed and shook my head. Of course she did. "Well doc, thank you for the great gift – again."

She laughed quietly and hopped off her barstool, heading for the game room. I followed her and watched her smile as she moved around the room. "This looks amazing."

"You saw it like three days ago," I pointed out. It looked pretty much the same, aside from the floor being freshly scrubbed down.

She looked at one of the corners where a table and two chairs were parked. She turned around to face me, crossing her arms and looking upset. "Where's my shrine?"

I shook my head, laughing. She was crazy and I couldn't believe she remembered. I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her. "That's only going up when you're out of town for good."

"Motive to bail?" She teased, sliding her arms up and around my neck.

If I hadn't been 100% sure she was kidding, I wouldn't have been able to hide the dread at even the thought. It was hard enough losing her once, I couldn't imagine going through it again.

"Fine, fine, I'll work on getting the damn thing put together. But it may take awhile, like thirty, forty years..." I trailed off, dipping my head down to kiss her. She pulled herself against me as we stood there kissing like we didn't have a bar to open in half an hour. Before I knew it, I had her pinned against the wall, beside the table that was getting in the way of her shrine, and I had her skimpy dress up passed her hips.

"Wade," she breathed as my fingers hooked into her underwear. Not gonna lie, the thought of christening this place had popped into my head a time or twenty, but her tone made it clear it wasn't going to happen just yet. "We have to stop. People will be showing up soon."

My head dropped to her shoulder, frustrated, and I nodded. She was right and I hated it.

She smiled against my temple, one of her hands rubbing the back of my neck. "Later though."

I lifted my head and smirked. "Damn straight later."

She rolled her eyes and pushed me back a little so she could have some space. She wiggled her dress back down and looked around. "Bathroom?" I pointed to just before the sliding door to the back patio that was just set up with a few tables for now. "Right side."

By the time I had calmed downstairs Wade down, and Zoe had reemerged a few folks had already wandered in. Dash arrived first. He claimed to want to document every second of the grand opening from the first person til the last person left. I had my doubts he'd last til 1AM, but more power to him for wanting to try.

"Zoe!" Dash yelled as she walked through the doorway separating the two rooms. She looked startled but put on her best smile. "Hey Dash."

"Zoe how does it feel to be engaged to a business owner?" He asked, pushing his tape recorder in her face.

"Um, great I guess," she shrugged."I always knew he could do it, and that he would when he felt the time was right. I'm so proud of him." I looked down at the floor, grinning like an idiot. She had always believed in me, god knows why. And even though Dash's online column was read by maybe fifty people, the fact that she'd go on record with that stuff was fucking awesome.

"So he must have known the time was right when he asked you to marry him. How did that all happen? And remember readers of my blog are huge fans of you two, so the more details the better."

"Hey, Dash!" I hollered, getting his attention. "How about we lay off the engagement questions for a sec."

Surprisingly Dash nodded without throwing a fit. "Fine, we can put that on hold." He turned back to Zoe, the mic back to being inches from her mouth. "So Zoe, how do you feel about your fiancee opening up a competitor to the Rammer Jammer where he's worked for close to ten years? Are you okay with knowing that his dream as you put it, is likely to lead to the Rammer Jammer, practically a Bluebell historic landmark, to shut its doors?"

"Umm.." She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. This town had no need for hard hitting questions like that. It was like he was intentionally trying to get a rise out of her – and me.

"Dash, if people are that in love with the Rammer Jammer, they can keep going there. No one's holding a gun to their heads," I answered for her.

"Can I quote you on that?" He asked, approaching me at the bar.

"Sure," I shrugged. "And let's set you up with a drink. You'll be famous at this place – the first person to order a drink."

"Oh hmm, what about a lemonade?"

"A hard lemonade?"

He sighed. "I suppose, if a plain one isn't available." I heard him mutter something about the service and tried not to laugh as I pulled some non-alcoholic lemonade from one of the mini-fridges and handed the glass to him. "One lemonade, no liquor," I announced. "Oh, wonderful!" He declared, taking a sip. "You know, this tastes awfully like the one at the Rammer Jammer.

"Probably because I made those to," I suggested. "Just a guess."

He shot me side eye before moving to a table. As he grabbed a seat by the far wall, a few other people trickled in, including Wanda.

And boy was I glad she showed. Not even ten minutes after she wrapped an apron around her waist a gust of people blew in, and before I knew it both she and I were racing back and forth making drinks. It had been awhile since I'd had to serve this many people at once. I was used to the small groups that nursed drinks for hours.

I tried to sneak peeks at Zoe while hustling up and down the bar. Sometimes I was able to catch a glimpse, but most of the time she was lost in a sea of tall people. "The day has finally arrived," Lavon observed as he finally made his way up to the bar. "Wade's is open for business."

"Yes sir," I said quickly, wiping my forehead with my forearm. I was cursing myself for not wearing a t-shirt, rolling my sleeves up to my elbows wasn't cutting it. "You haven't seen Zoe around have you?" I asked, leaning in. "She's so damn short I'm having a hard time finding her in this crowd."

"Yea," he nodded, scanning the sea of people. I really had no idea this many people even lived in Bluebell, let alone would come out after sunset. "A few minutes ago. Some of the salon ladies were giving her marriage advice. That was my cue to leave."

Ugh. I had promised that I'd divert all that crap away from her. "Alright, well I'll try and find her once things calm down. What can I get you?"

"Uh.. a long island I guess," he said sounding unsure.

"Okay, but I don't want the mayor going down in infamy for being the first one to puke in my bar," I warned.

"Ha. Ha." He shot back sarcastically. "One isn't gonna floor me. Have you seen how big I am?"

"Yes, and you handle liquor like someone a quarter of your size."

"Hey!" He scowled, though it's worth noting that he didn't argue my point.

"SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!" I hear someone start to chant in the group huddled in the main room. The chants continued as I finished making Lavon's drink. What the hell was I supposed to say? Thanks for showing up, spend some money and get shitfaced?

"SPEECH! SPEECH!" The shouts continued, getting louder as more people joined in.

"SLOW DOWN PEOPLE, I GOT THIS!" I heard Zoe shout above the crowd. A few seconds later, I finally saw her. She was standing on one of the tables in the center of the room. I was shocked she was doing this – she wasn't exactly know for her public speaking or public speeches. Well, she was, but more infamous than famous. What made it even more surprising was she seemed completely sober. She held up a glass of white wine and looked around the room.

"I'll keep this brief before I fall off the table or say something completely inappropriate, which, let's face it, is more than likely going to happen." Everyone laughed and I heard mutterings of agreement.

"I think we can all say that this day was meant to happen eventually," she started, her eyes meeting mine and I grinned. For me at least, the words had a double meaning. I knew she and I would get here, and I had hoped that the bar would too. "While Wade has grown and shown us that he is not only able to make an excellent drink, or brew an amazing pot of coffee, but can literally build a bar from the ground up, he is still the same guy we all know and love. He's the guy that will make sure everyone at last call has a way to get home, and the best person to go to for a drink when you need to escape it." A few people chuckled and nodded in agreement. She was doing damn good for being so awful at speaking to crowds. "So Wade," she continued, looking at me again and raising her glass higher. Everyone else mimicked and a sea of glasses lifted into the air as some people turned to face me. God this was embarrassing. "On behalf of everyone here, and everyone that's not, congratulations. We wish Wade's nothing but success, and we love you. To Wade."

"TO WADE!" Everyone echoed before taking a drink. I lifted my hand in thanks, smiling bashfully. This was fucking ridiculous. Everyone needed to get back to their drinks.

The night wore on, and it was past 11 when the good doc finally made her way up to the bar. "Hello there," she smiled.

"Hey," I grinned, sliding a beer over to Jackson, the new mortician in town. I crossed my arms and leaned them against the bar, giving myself a five minute break. "That was some speech you made."

"What can I say? I was feeling inspired," she smiled right back. "Plus it got me out of a conversation about the wedding." She paused, squinting and tilting her head to the side, looking like she was rethinking what she'd just said. "Actually, it wasn't a conversation so much as being talked at. I think that's a better way of describing it."

"Yea, I'm sorry I couldn't be a buffer. I really didn't think so many people would show." I still couldn't believe almost all of the town was still hanging around. I had figured at least half of them would've turned into pumpkins by now.

She laughed a little and rolled her eyes. "Yea, apologize for being a success Wade."

"So have ya'll talked about a date? Personally, fall is my recommendation," Peggy from the Butterstick asked, interrupting our conversation. "It's not too cold, but it's not hot enough to bring out the crazies, if you get what I'm saying."

Zoe turned to look at me, clearly not getting what she was saying.

"No we haven't set a date, but we'll think on your idea," I told her as nicely as I could, glad I could steer the answer away from the doc at least once. "Another rum and coke?"

"Don't mind if I do," she smiled, sliding her glass my way.

I poured her a quick drink, not taking my eyes off Zoe. It was the first time I'd gotten to talk to her since the masses descended on the place and I wanted at least another few minutes.

"So tonight is turning into a massive success," she grinned, looking out towards the huge crowd that was lingering.

"It's a good turnout."

"You should tell Wanda to cut Lavon off though. I saw him playing pool and he's nursing his third long island."

I groaned and nodded. "Thanks for the head's up. I'll let her know. I told him I didn't want him puking at the bar on day one."

"Yea, you'll definitely need to fill any more drinks with just caffeine, then." She paused, leaning towards the doorway that divided the two rooms. "Maybe I should go check on him."

"What's that?" I asked, fully hearing her the first time.

"I should go back there and make sure he's okay," she repeated, leaning over the bar a little. I smirked and leaned forward, cupping her neck and pulling her to meet my lips. She smiled and started to pull away, but I pulled her right back. "Nuh-uh," I hummed rather than said, against her mouth. She laughed into the kiss and I grinned. I couldn't believe I'd get to kiss her whenever I wanted for the rest of my damn life.

A few people around us started whistling, practically cheering us on. That was when I pulled back and saw Zoe's face turn almost beet red with embarrassment. I chuckled as she sat back into her seat.

"You are one lucky girl," I heard a familiar voice say before I saw her break through the crowd. For fucks sake.

Zoe turned to the girl and smile. "Yea, I guess I am." Way to feed that confidence doc. "I'm sorry," she said, looking from the blonde that had moved to stand beside her, to me, and back again. "Have we met?"

"Not officially, although you might know me from Wade," she smiled, extending her hand. "I'm Denise."