Chapter Fourteen

The clock on the hospital wall seemed to be moving incredibly slow. Wade had been admitted almost eight hours ago now, and still, they hadn't heard anything. Nobody had slept. Some of them were hopped up on caffeine; others did not really need it. They were all there, Lemon, Lavon, Rose, Magnolia, Brick, Fredrick Dean, Shelley, and of course Zoe and George. Lemon was pacing, Lavon was sitting on a waiting area couch with Zoe and George, and Brick was leaning against one of the walls. Rose and Magnolia were sitting on two uncomfortable plastic chairs. Shelley kept escaping to the bathroom because everybody's sullen and antsy behavior only reminded her of just how scared she was. Wade and her had worked together for years after all; sometimes she thought he might just be her best friend. Fredrick Dean kept asking people (mostly Rose) if they wanted him to get them more coffee or something.

"I've got to say, despite bein' a doctor, I am getting' mighty sick of hospitals." Brick said.

"This is all my fault." Magnolia said. Her face was tearstained. "If I hadn't … god, what is wrong with me? I can't do anything right, and now because of me, Wade might-"

"No he won't." Rose said quickly. She wasn't really superstitious, but she did not want anybody to say what they were all afraid of out loud. She looked at Magnolia; she could not remember the last time she had seen her looking so vulnerable. Despite their longstanding rivalry, she could not help but feel sorry for her. Gently, she said, "He won't." she grabbed Magnolia's arm and gave it a comforting squeeze. Magnolia smiled at her through her tears.

"You guys sure you don't want anything? Maybe some pastries or bagels from the cafeteria? They should be servin' breakfast just around now."

Rose shook her head, "Thanks Fredrick Dean. We really appreciate it, but to be honest, I don't have much of an appetite."

Fredrick Dean nodded. He hated doing nothing. He wanted to help, but he just could not think of how.

"I'm sure he'll be okay." Lavon said, more to himself than George or Zoe.

"Yeah, yeah, sure he will. Wade's strong. When we were kids, he fell in the lake, didn't even know how to swim yet, cause we were so little, but somehow, he made it out. He's good like that."

Zoe had not spoken since they had brought Wade in. She had filled the doctors in on what had happened, watched Wade until she wasn't allowed past, gotten all the information the doctors would give her, and then sort of just … fallen into herself. She hadn't spoken, hadn't moved, hadn't acknowledged anybody. She was frozen. In shock, trying to make sense of what had happened, and more importantly, what could happen. What if he didn't … No, she could not think like that. Her thoughts were swirling, and her brain felt weird, sort of like it was numb.

Lemon kept thinking about how many people she loved who had been in the hospital lately. Mostly, it had been Zoe, repeatedly. And now Wade. Lemon loved Wade so very much. He was like an overprotective big brother, and sure, they weren't as close as they had been in high school anymore, but she still cared about him. She remembered when her and George had broken up for a month in high school because she was upset about her mom leaving and she had pushed him away. She had started dating some guy who smoked a rode a motorcycle; it was her whole rebellious streak. Wade had been the one to talk some sense into her. He had not coddled her, not tried to avoid and go around why she was acting so crazy, but just laid it all out. Wade called people out on their shit; it was something he had always been so good at.

She wanted to do something, but she knew she couldn't. She wanted to turn to somebody for comfort, but she knew she couldn't do that either. Everybody who she would normally turned to was just as torn up as she was. They all loved Wade too. George, Lavon, Zoe, her father, all of them were here. Lavon and George kept giving each other stupid, empty reassurances; Zoe appeared to have completely checked out, and her father kept trying to approach things medically, and keep everybody under control despite the fact that he was just as freaked out as everybody else.

Lemon glanced at her sister who was crying all over Rose Hattenbarger. It's amazing how a crisis can bring to people together. It had worked for her and Zoe, maybe it would happen with Rose and Magnolia. She hoped so; Rose would be a good influence. Lemon sometimes felt more like Magnolia's mother than her big sister, and in a lot of ways she had been. She had taken on the role when their mother left. Lemon had been a teenager, and Magnolia was just a helpless little baby. Eventually, their father stepped up and started taking on some of the responsibility, but Lemon would always feel responsible for her sister. She knew that Magnolia blamed herself for what was happening. It was strange, Magnolia always seemed so confident. Now, Lemon wondered how much of that was a mask. What insecurities was her sister hiding under her belle-like exterior?

Shelley came back and surveyed the room. Zoe was catatonic, Magnolia had broken down in tears, and everybody else just seemed terrified out of their minds, though she knew they would never admit it. She watched Zoe. She was probably the only one in town who had never really given up on the prospect of Zoe and Wade. Most of the down didn't know how Wade felt, because he put up a convincing front, and really, most people were paying more attention to the Zoe/Lemon/George triangle. The few who knew (as far as she knew, just Lavon) seemed to have left it to the past. She did not know if Lavon thought Wade was over Zoe, or just figured it was a lost cause. Shelley knew better. Watching Zoe now, how terrified and numb the girl looked, there was no denying that there was something there. If Wade lived through this, and they still did nothing about their feelings, she'd ... the phase if Wade lived through this echoed in her mind, and she excused herself to the bathroom again.

"Can I get you something?" Fredrick Dean asked, but Zoe didn't answer. She had completely tuned out the world; it was a little scary.

Although he had feelings for Rose, she was not the only reason he was here. First, he had always liked Wade. Sure, he had been jealous when Rose had developed a soft spot for the guy, but that was hardly his fault. Wade was a good guy. He had even given Fredrick Dean some advice once. It was after he had ended things with Magnolia, and was trying to get Rose to notice how much he liked her. Wade said he didn't know shit about getting the girl you want the most to see you're standing right there, but if Fredrick Dean liked Rose as much as he said he did, the answer would come to him when the moment was right. Sometimes girls just could not see what was right in front of them, but the most important thing was to stay in their orbit, do whatever you have to do make sure they're thinking of you, even if it seems crazy and makes them mad as hell. It hadn't exactly worked the way he had hoped, and he was still waiting for that moment Wade had mentioned, but even if things weren't romantic between them, Rose was still a big part of his life. As long as that was true, he might have a shot.

Second, he wanted to be here for Magnolia, not because he still had feelings for her, but because he always felt kind of guilty for breaking up with her the way he did, and he knew she blamed herself for what happened to Wade.

Third, he wanted to be here for Zoe. The lady doctor had done a lot for Rose over the years, not to mention the fact that if it were not for Zoe, he never would have realized he liked Rose in the first place.

It was her first Christmas here, and she had gone off on him about leading Rose on. He kind of got the impression that she wasn't really talking about him, that she was taking out some bigger issue. Looking back, knowing what he knew now, she had probably been talking about George. Still, what she said hit him hard, got him thinking about Rose.

He had always liked her, she was sweet, and smart, and they had a lot in common. He had just never seen her that way; she was his friend. It had never occurred to him that she might want something more than friendship from him. He knew he should have seen it before; he did not know how he could have missed it. But after Zoe said it, he saw it. And what's more, he wanted it. He wanted her. He tried to carry on with Magnolia and pretend like nothing changed, but it had. He ended things with Magnolia around May because he could not go on pretending. He should have ended things sooner, but he was really confused, and it took him a while to sort out his feelings. After all, just because Rose saw him that way did not mean he had to see her that way. It would be cruel to go out with her just because he knew it was what she wanted. And he had really liked Magnolia. Well, he had thought he had. However, as time passed and he struggled with his confusion, he realized maybe he didn't like her as much as he thought. It wasn't that Magnolia wasn't nice to him, and lord knew she was attractive, but there was just something about Rose Hattenbarger that Magnolia Breeland simply couldn't touch.

He tried to pursue Rose, but despite what Zoe had told him on Christmas, she just did not seem interested. Oh, she was happy to be his friend, and she urged him to move on from Magnolia, but never with her. He had tried to show her how he felt, but she just never got it. If she ever had feelings for him, she seemed to be over them. In spite of that, he still felt he owed Zoe. What was that old saying, "better to have loved and lost…"

"Dr. Hart?"

He felt a hand on his arm. It was Rose. He felt a familiar shiver, the same one he felt every time she touched some part of him. God, he had it bad, "I think it's best to leave her for now. She's in shock."

He nodded, "I just feel so … useless."

"Join the club."

"You kids shouldn't have to sit here stressing out." Brick said.

"Dr. Breeland, we don't mind, we want-"

"I know, I know." He said, putting up his hand to wave away the explanation, "You care about Wade, and you're as scared as the rest of us. But it's not healthy, sitting here, not eating or sleeping, worrying ourselves sick. Why don't the three of you head down to the cafeteria and get some breakfast." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wallet. "There's no sense for all of us to sit here and stew in our fears. There's nothing any of us can do but wait, and I think we have more than enough people to cover that weighty task. Ya'll go get some food, and bring us all back some, I don't know, bagels or something."

Rose was looking stubborn, like she wanted to protest, and Magnolia looked like she was drained of all energy, but Fredrick Dean thought it was a good idea. Dr. Breeland was right; they were all sitting here, worrying and feeling useless, and it wasn't helping anybody. The best thing they could do was nourish themselves, so if an opportunity came to help, they would be competent enough to do it.

"Come on," he said, before Rose could speak, "There's nothing we can do here. It'll be good to clear our heads, and you know, fill our stomachs."

He held out his hand to Rose. She looked at it hesitantly, but eventually, she took it. He felt the shiver again.

He held his other hand for Magnolia, but she was all numb and tearstained, so it took more than an offered hand to help her up. Rose let her lean on her for support and the three of them headed to the cafeteria. Rose hated Magnolia, Fredrick Dean knew, but here she was helping her, comforting her. Yes, Rose definitely had something no other girl had. He just hated that he could never touch it either.

Zoe kept going over it in her head, trying to think what she could have done differently. She had seen the guy raising the gun; she could have jumped in front of it, taken the bullet for him. After all, it was no less than he would have done for her.

But she knew he would not have wanted her to do that. He would have wanted for her to be safe. He was always protecting everybody, and now she might never see him again. She thought over everything she had gone through with him since she woke up; his visits to the hospital, how concerned he had been for her, how much she had missed him when he went MIA, how he had caught her when she passed out, how much fun he was to talk to. He was supposed to teach her how to cook. He had promised. She had made him promise. It was a promise he had to keep, because if he didn't …

"He was going to teach me to cook." She whispered. She was not aware she had said it out loud. She did not remember where she was, or that there were people with her, but they were all so shocked to hear her speak. George watched her intently, waiting for her to say something else, but she didn't. She just sat there, catatonic.

A nurse came over to them, "You're Mr. Kinsella's family, correct."

She said. George tried to deduce from her tone if she had good news or bad news, but her honestly couldn't tell.

"That's correct." Lemon said.

"Well, he's obviously very beloved. It's nice when a patient-"

"I don't mean to be rude, but could you just please tell us whatever you have to tell us." Lavon said.

Sometime during the conversation, Zoe had come back to earth. She had become aware that she might get some answers, and she had to hear them, had to know, "Is he going to be okay?" she asked, her voice cracking.

Author's Note: Okay, so don't hate me, it just seemed like a good place to stop. Cliffhangers are always fun, even if at the time you hate them. Plus, to be honest, I haven't really decided exactly what is going to happen, because I am not a doctor and I know nothing about gunshot wounds. If any of you do, please let me know, because I write, I do not doctor, and I want this to be accurate but I am a little out of my depth.

That was not the only reason I did that though. I also thought it would be nice to have a chapter that just sort of showed how everybody was dealing with it. They're all handling it differently, but it is hard for all of them. I really wanted to show that they all had different ways of coping, and go back and forth. Fun fact, I forgot I put Shelley in there until I was looking over it to edit, so I added that paragraph just now. Also, the whole, escaping uncomfortable situations to the bathroom thing, kind of my trademark. There are some buildings where I have spent more time in the bathroom then anywhere else.

Also, I have been waiting for the opportunity to explain how Fredrick Dean fell for Rose. I remember when that scene aired, and I was like, "Well, now he has to know Rose likes him, What's going to happen with that" but they never followed it up. I was going to flashback to the actually scene, but nobody has transcribed that episode, and I could not find it to transcribe myself. I think it turned out good though. It may seem a little weird that it took Fredrick Dean five months to break up with Magnolia, but they needed to be together long enough for Rose to lose hope of Fredrick Dean seeing her that way, or else they might have started going out, and that just does not fit with my story. After all, what good is a story about second chances if they got it right the first time?

I was a little worried that it would be sort of inappropriate and insensitive to have all the Rose/Fredrick Dean stuff in this chapter, but I think it turned out okay. I also needed to explain how Wade knew that Fredrick Dean was the one to break up with Magnolia, and I could totally see Fredrick Dean going to Wade for girl advice.

I know you are all anxious for Zoe to deal with the whole love confession, but she hasn't really processed it yet. Until she knows if Wade's going to be okay, I don't think she really can. Priorities, you know.

Now, I know George and Lemon were supposed to have been together for fifteen years, but a small month long separation because Lemon is upset and rebellious doesn't really count.

I have some plans for Magnolia I am anxious to put in play. I know she is not exactly a fan-favorite, but I have a soft spot for her. Maybe it's because she's not a fan favorite. I don't know. I just think she's really interesting.

Also, I just have to say I love my reviewers. You guys are all so sweet, and so complimentary. I mean, some of it is not true, and I think you think I am better than I am, but it is so nice, and you are always reassuring me when I'm worried that I did something wrong, which is just amazing. I love when you quote me to me; it makes me feel like I wrote something that really hit you. I love to read, and I know how I feel when a line or scene or phrasing really hits me, so the idea that I could give somebody else that feeling is just incredible. I really liked what dragonfairy2360 said about them both being the hero. I'm not sure thought of it exactly that way, but now that you put it into those words, I think it is sort of what I was going for. People have been so nice about this story, so interested, and loyal, and I just want to thank you all. If there is anything you want me to address in an author's note, just let me know.

I guess that's it for now.

TTFN (Tigger Rocks. Don't pretend you don't think so.)