Finally I managed to update! It's been a busy period, what with school and and family and friends... ugh!

The parts in italics are Zoe's flashbacks :)

As always, thanks for all the kind reviews the story is getting (I don't know how/where to reply to each of them). I'm sorry if there is any mistake.

Hope you like it!

I DO NOT OWN HART OF DIXIE!

She opened her eyes and realized he was there, next to her and that was the best feeling in a long time. She'd missed him a lot when she was in New York and dreamed about waking up with his arms around her waist, their fingers intertwined. She thought back to old times when they ended up spooning after casual sex: even then she enjoyed being with him, though she didn't know it or, better, she wasn't ready to accept it.

"Hey" he squeezed her lightly as he saw she was awake.

"Hey" she stirred, then, turning to look at him "You sleep well?"

"Yep, like a baby" he chuckled

"Me, too" she put a hand on his chest as he inhaled and exhaled deeply "thank you"

"I never asked you how it was in New York" he realized after a long time that he stared at her in the eyes.

"Oh it was great. I liked a lot being a surgeon again, though I prefer to be the small town GP" she explained and began to list on her fingers the things she'd done "I met my old friends, had serious conversation with my mother... Things like that" she smiled, realizing she didn't do a lot of things actually, her days consisted pretty much in only a lot of work, except the few times she got to hang out with some of her old friends "oh, you remember Gigi?"

"The blond who slept with Judson?"

"Yep" she chuckled as she was reminded of Judson. Actually, the happy moment that came to her mind and made her smile was Wade and her pranking each other "she got married!"

"No way! She found a guy like Judson maybe" he soflty teased her belly and got her to laugh.

"Oh well Martin is really funny. He definitely isn't from Boresville, USA" she said the last words trying to imitate Wade's voice and accent but merely failing at it.

"He really was boring, you have to admit that" he gave her a knowing look "I'm not"

"Ok, he was" she said, huffing "but you weren't being exactly kind when you told me you bet on us breaking up"

"I didn't mean it like that"

"Oh I think I understood pretty well" she pouted.

"I bet. But I didn't want to tell you I did" he looked down"I freaked out"

"Why, what were you trying to tell me?"

He sighed.

"I like you"

"I know but what were you-"

"This. I wanted to tell you I liked you, since I first laid eyes on you" he shrugged, blushing "and that I hated to see you with Judson because I was jealous, because he could kiss you while I couldn't" he trailed off, but when he saw Zoe seemed to be expecting for more, maybe thinking he only wanted her for her kisses, he added "He could hold you, hug you. Smell your hair. I wanted to be with you even though I didn't know it yet"

He took a strand of her hair and put it behind her ear, then caressed lightly her jaw and chin. His thumb quickly touched her bottom lip and she shivered. His hand rested on her neck. She was leaning in to kiss him when a sudden realization hit her. "You made my gumbo"

Maybe it was the fact that he said he liked her since the beginning that triggered it all. He gave her a puzzled look, meaning 'how the hell do you know'. Then he nodded.

"I really thought it was Lavon" she said "you should have told me!"

He didn't answer, so she put her hand on his, that was resting on her neck.

Like some kind of déjà vu, she suddenly remembered of one morning when she'd just woken up in her aparment in New York. She had a strange feeling in her stomach as soon as she sat up.

"I never told you" she thought in a loud voice "what happened..."

She trailed off and he stared at her, confused, wondering what she had to tell him.

"It was at the beginning of my third week in New York and I was still trying to fit back into the hectic life of the city"

The alarm of her pager woke her in the middle of the night, while she was sleeping in the on-call room after 36 hours in a row. She took her pager from the nightstand, the clock ticked past four, she cursed and read the text, there was an emergency and the hospital needed as many doctors as it could. She heard voices coming from outside. More injured are arriving, there are already three ambulances outside!
She so badly wanted to go back to sleep but then decided against it and as she stood up she felt strange, maybe she was coming down with the flu. She got ready and went outside.

"Mrs Donovan, thirty two years old, pregnant, was in a car accident. Conscious, possible rib fractures" the paramedic said as he carried her to the emergency room. She quickly caught up with them.

"Mrs Donovan, how are you feeling?" She asked, showing off her best bedside manners.

"My baby, is he okay?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm gonna check on him now, Ms Donovan" she checked and the picture of a perfectly healthy baby made her realize that maybe she wasn't sick. Was she pregnant? She started going crazy, thinking what she should do, tell Wade or not, keep it or not.

She took care of the patient, then asked a first year intern to take a blood sample from her and got it to run some tests. When she received the response she went outside, took out her phone and dialled Wade's phone number. She kept a finger near ready to push the call button while she read the results.

"But you didn't call me" Wade reasoned.

"I didn't. 'Cause I wasn't pregnant" she informed him shyly.

She started crying. Tears came out from her eyes and she couldn't stop them even if she tried hard.

"Zoe! Are you crying?" A tall, awkward guy approached her "what happened?"

"I'm fine" she whispered, sniffling and wiping the tears away from her eyes and cheeks. She must have been a real mess, she really didn't want Joel to see her like this.