A/N: So, not too many Zade readers around these parts anymore, huh? That's a shame, but at least I have a few readers/reviewers, and for them, I am grateful :) Now, on with the show...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 2

"Well, this is becoming quite a habit," Wade grinned big as he pulled his car up alongside Zoe Hart, wandering aimlessly along the dirt road, a bottle of red wine dangled from her hand. "Let me ask you this, doc. You just walking down this here road hopin' I'd come on by, offer you another ride?"

She stopped walking, so he stopped the car, but Zoe didn't immediately answer his question or even look his way. Instead, she put the bottle to her lips and seemed to have to tip it up an awful long way before she got another hit from it. Only when she had swallowed did she turn his way.

"I have had the worst first day," she said sadly. "Your other doctor, Brick Breeland, he absolutely, positively hates me, and because I didn't know some old guy was blind but memorised the eye chart, I got this other guy run over!"

She made it all sound so dramatic, and even though Wade wasn't seeing it all in quite the same way, he did feel bad for her. Poor girl needed a friend, he reckoned, and some place to sit down before she fell down, if the way she was wobbling around was anything to go on.

Leaning over, he opened up the passenger side door. "Why don't you hop in?"

Zoe took a step closer, put her free hand on top of the car and leaned down to stare in at him. A slow smile crept onto her lips.

"Are you offering me a ride, Wade?" she asked, the way she said it putting the entire scenario into a real sexual light.

Not that it hadn't occurred to Wade that Zoe was attractive, or that in her current state she might well be amenable to certain offers he might make to her, but now probably wasn't the best time to be making advances. Girl was hardly standing after all and even Wade had standards.

"I am offering to take you back to your carriagehouse, Zoe Hart," he told her, clearing his throat before he went on, "and that is all."

Heaving a sigh, she suddenly threw herself into the passenger seat, then reached to pull the door closed behind her. The momentum born out of the extra strong yank she gave said door, pitched her over to the driver's side, the top half of her ending up decidedly in Wade's lap. That was when she bust up laughing.

"You are drunker than a boiled owl, girl," Wade told her, sitting her upright in her own seat. "Seriously, all this from one bottle o' cheap wine?" he asked, picking said bottle out of her hand and checking to see if it was empty.

"Not even a whole bottle," she confirmed.

For the sake of steadying his nerves as well as not adding to her current state of inebriation, Wade drank down the final drops of wine then put the empty bottle down in the footwell out of harm's way. He was about to start driving, trying to ignore the feelings Zoe had already given him when she landed in his lap, as well her soft, compliant self slumped down in the seat beside him. The problem was, she couldn't seem to figure out how to strap herself in.

"Seriously now?" he muttered, leaning across the gear shift to help her out.

Zoe started laughing again, her hands flapping a little, then landing on his arms as he fastened her safety belt. When Wade tried to pull away, she held on tight.

"Hey, Wade," she said, all sing-songy voice and soft eyes.

He meant to answer her. He certainly did not mean to kiss her, but when she suddenly lunged forward and started kissing on him, it was pretty much a no-win situation for Wade. Zoe really wanted this and who was he to deny her in her hour of need? Of course, with her strapped in and him still having the belt looped around him, albeit unclipped, they soon found themselves getting a little stuck. Her unable to get herself unfastened, the both of them with their arms tangled in straps. Before long, she pulled away and started laughing again and then Wade started laughing, because honestly, it really was one of the dumbest situations he ever found himself in.

Since Zoe was in no fit state, it was Wade who got them both untangled, then decidedly returned to the driver's seat and strapped himself in properly, ready to head home. After double-checking Zoe was safe and secure, he reached to put the car into gear.

"Okay, probably best we head home to bed now, and though I can hardly believe I'm saying this, I think maybe it should be our own separate beds."

Glancing sideways at Zoe, there was a part of Wade that almost hoped she might argue that point. When she said nothing, only made a comfortable sighing sound and slumped further down in the seat, he realised it just wasn't going to happen. He would sleep with a woman when she was drunk, if she was willing and able and all, but not when she was half unconscious. There was still too much of the gentleman in him to go that far. His momma had seen to that, God rest her soul.

Driving back to the plantation, Wade pulled up the car right outside the carriagehouse, unclipped his safety belt and turned to find Zoe fully asleep beside him. She really was something to look at, as if he hadn't noticed that before, but in sleep, even an alcohol-induced one, she was practically angelic. He smiled in spite of himself, almost glad they hadn't got further than kissing before, because Wade had a feeling this was not just another woman to lure into bed. There was something special about Zoe Hart. Heaven only knew exactly what it was about her, but there was definitely something.

Getting out of the car, Wade moved around to the passenger side, opened up the door, unclipped Zoe's belt, and picked her up out of the seat with ease. She murmured and stirred in her sleep, taking little persuasion to put her arms up around his neck and hold on. It was easy enough to carry her, not least because she weighed nothing at all, and Wade couldn't deny her soft, warm, sweet-smelling body felt pretty darn good in his arms.

Opening the door to her place was a little awkward, but he managed, kicking it gently closed behind him as he took Zoe over to the bed and laid her down. She didn't seem all that willing to let go of him and Wade hated to make her do so, but he knew he had to.

"Not right now, sweetheart," he told her softly, getting her properly laid down and throwing a blanket over her, tucking her in as best he could. "Maybe some other time, okay?" he whispered, leaning down to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead and walking out to leave her to her sleep.


"Well, if it ain't our local hero."

Zoe turned around at the sound of Wade's voice, unsure if she was blushing at the compliment or the hazy memories from two nights ago. Either way, she fought the heat in her cheeks and walked over towards the large establishment bearing the name 'Rammer Jammer' over the top in red neon.

"I don't know about hero," she said, shaking her head. "I'm a doctor, it's just what I do."

"Well, from what I heard, you did a bang-up job," Wade insisted, continuing to bus the empty table to his left as he talked. "George Tucker told me it was the last thing he expected to happen at his engagement party, but he also told me even Brick Breeland himself had to admit you were pretty impressive, getting that baby delivered and all."

"Dr Breeland said that?" Zoe checked, eyes widening with the surprise. "Wow. Maybe there's hope for me yet."

She was happy about that part, about people thinking she did her job well, even someone like Dr Breeland, but it was hard to keep focused on that alone. Her mind kept on wandering. It had been wandering for hours now, which was why she had been wandering around town, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with the information Mrs H had given to her.

"Zoe?"

Wade's hand on her arm got her attention more than his saying her name. The frown on his face made her think maybe it wasn't the first time he had tried either.

"You okay?" he checked.

"Yes and no," she admitted, wondering for a moment why Wade's face had grown blurry before realising it was the tears building in her eyes.

She quickly swiped them away and dropped down into the nearest seat. "Uh, so it turns out that Dr Wilkes, the guy who really wanted me to come and work here, he wasn't just a doctor who saw me as a good fit for his practice. Turns out that he... he was my father."

The clatter of plates and cups in the tray as Wade sat down even more heavily than Zoe had told her he was almost as shocked as she had been by that little revelation. Clearly, Harley wasn't the obvious type for a secret love child.

"You're...? Old Harley was...? Wow."

"Yes, exactly," Zoe agreed, almost amused by Wade's floundering, but only almost. "I wasn't sure I believed it myself, at first, but I called my mom. She didn't really have any choice but to confirm it." She sighed. "So, it turns out my whole life is a lie. Not the part where I'm a doctor and everything, but just about everything else. My dad, Ethan Hart, is not my dad, which actually explains a lot, now that I think about it, but... This was so not what I expected when I came here," she admitted, shaking her head.

"Well, I don't think anybody expects news like that," said Wade, still looking bemused. "Dr Wilkes' daughter," he said as he stared at her a moment. "You know, the weirdest part is, now that you say that, I can kinda see it."

Zoe wasn't sure how to feel about that. "Really?"

"Well, I mean, don't get me wrong, you're much prettier than ol' Harley ever was," he said, smirking more than a little, "but yeah, I guess there's some kind of family resemblance in there."

"Thanks, I think," said Zoe, shrugging her shoulders. "I really don't even know what to think about all of this yet. Um, but Harley, he was a good guy, right?"

"Best of all folks." Wade shrugged. "Hey, and I'm not just sayin' that to make you feel better or whatever, he really was that good. Took care of everybody in town, delivered most of us into the world, I guess. He, uh... he helped out a lot, with my family, when... well, when we needed him."

He looked away when he said it, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. Wade was just about as awkward as a person could be and Zoe wondered why. She almost asked what it was that his family needed a doctor for that he was so loathed to talk about, but she never got the chance.

"There you are!" said a tall, darker skinned man. "Wade Kinsella, get your butt back in there. This bar needs tendin'!"

He disappeared as fast as he had appeared and Wade got up to follow him.

"That's my boss, Wally," he explained. "Seems to me I should be gettin' back to work."

"Yes, you go. I'm fine," Zoe insisted, getting to her feet too. "I should probably head back to the plantation, get some sleep. It's been a weird couple of days."

"Yeah, I get that," Wade agreed, nodding his head.

Just when he had turned to go, almost disappearing completely in through the front doors of the Rammer Jammer, Zoe called him back.

"I, uh... I'll admit I'm a little vague on what happened two nights ago, but I remember enough. So, thank you, Wade."

"For what?" he asked, watching her curiously.

"For being a friend, I guess," she said, shrugging her shoulders one more time. "For not... well, for being a friend," she repeated, sure that was better than getting into details.

From what she could remember, she had more or less thrown herself at Wade when drunk on cheap wine, and though he had responded for a while, she was pretty sure, he hadn't taken advantage of her. She woke up on her bed, covered by a blanket, absolutely certain that nothing more than a little kissing had happened. The outcome could have been very different, but it seemed Wade really was the good the trustworthy guy he seemed to be. Like she said, he was a good friend.

"You're welcome, Zoe," he told her with another winning smile that was almost enough to make her knees go weak, reminding her why she might just be tempted to throw herself a him again sometime, when she was sober perhaps. "I'll see you at home, I guess."

"I'm sure you will," she said, nodding her head, and then he was gone, back to work before the boss could get any more mad at him.

Zoe turned on her heel and headed for the plantation, for the place she was calling home, at least for now. It was strange, but after only a couple of days, the name already seemed to suit the place.

To Be Continued...