What leads to Home.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
5.
Zoe stared up at the night sky from her apartment window.
She couldn't see any stars, not one, even though she had seen a couple of helicopters. You could always see the stars in Bluebell. The lights from the city were too bright to see anything but helicopters.
Zoe sighed and muttered, "Well, you'll just have to do."
Closing her eyes, she said, "I wish...for a sign. Any sign at all that will tell me what I need to do. Where I belong." She vaguely heard her phone ringing in the background but other than that, nothing. She opened her eyes and sighed. Just then her phone beeped and she knew she had a message.
"Hey Zoe?"
She stopped, knowing that voice.
"It's Wade. I-I just need you to know something...that, um, that...I'm fine!"
Zoe frowned at his voice which had suddenly taken an angry tone.
"Ya, I'm great and the town is great! We're all...all...all good...yup. All...all that." She heard him sigh and listened again. "But let's just say-on the off chance- in a weird world, that the town missed you. That I missed you. You know, if-if we did miss you, then Lavon would be sulking around and Lemon would be picking fights with the door-to-door salespeople just to bicker with someone. Don't even get me started on Rose and Tom because that's scary territory."
A smile had made its way to Zoe's face as he spoke. They missed her. They actually missed her.
Wade sighed again and continued, "Of course if I missed you-if I actually missed the fights, the power shortages and the shorts? Well then I would be kicking myself for letting you go. For letting you leave and even for letting you think for one second that you didn't belong in Bluebell."
In the time Wade took to pause Zoe was bouncing up and down, squealing slightly.
"I know it's late but I should have asked you to stay in Bluebell and-and to have stayed with me. Wither you like it or not, people love you here in Bluebell and even though I know that you're probably living the high life there in New York, you should know that there will always be a place for you here. All you have to is come back."
There was a pause and then he hung up the phone, leaving Zoe's apartment in silence. She stood there, still for a moment before picking up the phone.
-Bluebell-
Lavon was smiling.
In all the years that Wade had known the Mayor, that particular smile wasn't a good thing. Even worse, was the fact that Brick and George were sitting beside him at the bar and they were also smiling.
Wade was seriously starting to worry as he walked over to them. "Hey, boys?" he said cautiously, "What can I get you?"
"Three beers," George said, "We are just celebrating the good news."
Wade got the three drinks and placed them on the bar as he asked, "And what are you celebrating?"
"The new doctor in town."
Wade froze, leaning on the bar, and stared at the three men. They just smiled back and Brick said, "I realised that the full practise was too much so I got a new doctor to help. George drew up the papers last week and Lavon was kind enough to give her Zoe's old house. She starts next week."
Wade glared at the three men, his hands gripping the side of the bar. He was obvious to the fact that the rest of the bar was silent now, stunned at the news of the new doctor and weary of Wade's reaction.
"So," Wade said in a tight voice, "It's as easy as that, huh? You can just replace Zoe like she was never here."
Brick sighed and replied, "She's been gone for nearly two months, Wade."
"So?" he exclaimed, "That doesn't mean that we act like she was never here in the first place! We can't pretend that she didn't change things in this town, that she-."
Wade stopped and shook his head. He turned around and walked out from around the bar. "Shelly, close up!" he ordered as he passed his stunned friend and kept walking until he reached his car.
Later that night, he still hadn't wrapped his head around the fact that someone was taking Zoe's place in Bluebell.
He looked out the window of his house and saw the lights on in Zoe's old house but turned away and sat down on the couch. He couldn't believe that someone was going to replace Zoe in Bluebell; it just didn't seem right. He sat back with his eyes closed, his head resting on the back of the chair.
A minute later, all the lights went off in house. He sat there seething in the dark, gripping the arm rests of his chair. This woman could take Zoe's job, she could take her house but she was not allowed to blow the fuses like Zoe!
Wade stood up and hurried over to the other house, which was also in darkness. He jumped up onto the porch and banged on the door with his fist.
"Whoever you are, you better get your ass out here!"
Finally the door flew open and there, standing in bare feet, shorts and a shirt, was Zoe Hart.
Wade was in shock, not really believing that she was standing in front of him in his favourite shorts and what he was sure was one of his shirts.
She looked at him with those big brown eyes and said, "I got your message." Wade didn't respond, still not actually having the ability to speak.
"And I realised something. New York may still be great but I love this town. I can visit New York anytime I want – and you will be taking me on weekends away to that city – but...Bluebell is my home."
Wade was standing there throughout the whole speech and the first words that came out of his mouth were "Does this mean I can buy you that drink now?"
This time Zoe froze before answering. "Well, will you fix the fuse box?"
Wade smiled widely and another smile soon appeared on Zoe's face, causing her to bit her lip and look so adorable, Wade just had to kiss her. And he did just that, taking her face in his hands. When he pulled away, Wade looked into those big brown eyes and for the first time in nearly two months, everything was right.
"Seriously, though...go fix the fuse box."
"You were the one who broke it! You go poke it with a stick!"
-A week later-
Wade walked into a crowed doctor's office with a box filled with papers and files. He looked at Addie over the heads and gestured at the box and at Zoe's closed office door.
Addie nodded, smiling, and the patients caught sight of him. "Are you helping the new doctor, Wade?" Mrs James asked him, in a worried voice.
Wade nodded and replied, "Oh ya, I thought I should give this new Doc a hand since she's new in town."
The patients looked at each other with worried faces. This new doctor had Zoe's nickname? Well that just wouldn't do.
"Well, I'm taking the boys to Dr. Breeland," said Mrs Mackensie, "I just don't trust this new doctor." As she said this, the other patients nodded and Wade wanted to hug all of them for their loyalty to Zoe.
"Why do I get a sense of déjà vu?"
Everyone turned to Zoe Hart leaning against her now open door, a white doctor's coat on and a smile on her face.
"Dr. Hart!"
"You're back!"
Zoe smiled at her patients and replied, "Yup, I just couldn't stay away. Now...who's first?"
As her first patient, stepped into the exam room, Zoe caught Wade's eye. He winked at her and brought her box into the office.
Out the window he saw one of the old ladies-who had been sitting in the office only a second ago for a headache- hurrying across the street. Wade smiled.
In ten minutes, the whole of Bluebell would know that Zoe Hart was back in town and back where she belonged.