A/N: Thanks for all the lovely feedback, peops. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep it coming! ;) Now, onto The Gumbo & The Glory!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 5

Wade wasn't altogether the jealous type. He really never had any reason to be, since he almost always got the girl he was going for and never much cared if they stuck with him after the fun was over. He was the one night stand type, maybe a weekend if she was worth it, but for the most part, Wade saw no point in menfolk getting themselves tied up in knots over any woman. Of course, things seemed to be just a little different since he met Dr Zoe Hart.

He didn't know precisely what it was about her. Maybe it was a little bit of everything. Not that it did him any good to be thinking of Zoe that way. She told him plain enough she just wanted them to be friends and so far they were sticking to that. Of course, that didn't mean Wade wasn't hoping someday they might be more friends-with-benefits than just plain old friends, but that was a conversation for another day. Right in this moment, what had him both distracted and crabby was having to stand on the working side of the bar, watching Zoe flirting up a storm with Golden Boy George Tucker.

Well, maybe they weren't exactly flirting. After all, George was engaged to Lemon and those two had been together for fifteen years, plus he was so very far from being the wandering type. Besides, Zoe was the moral kind of girl who wouldn't even sleep with Wade himself because she wasn't the type for a one-night stand, at least, not so far. Either way, he really couldn't see her getting herself mixed up with some other girl's man.

Still, all that being known, Wade was still all kinds of uncomfortable with Zoe and George being so chatty and somewhat familiar. He didn't want to care, but he seriously could not seem to stop staring at the scene. He had almost decided to go on over to the table and break it up somehow, when all at once, George was up from his seat and waving goodbye to Zoe. She was smiling like a fool as she got up too and came right on over to the bar with her empty dish and coffee cup.

"Wow, George is a really nice guy," she said happily. "He was asking me if I was missing New York at all, and then, we started talking about places that we both knew and loved. This restaurant, Per Se, it's just the best, and... well, I guess it's not very interesting to you, but it was so sweet of George to give me a New York conversation fix. I don't think I realised how much I needed that. Such a nice guy."

"Alert the media, George Tucker is a nice guy," Wade deadpanned, putting her dirty breakfast dishes into the tray to go out back. "Hell, doc, that's like announcing that bears crap in the woods or the Pope is a Catholic. George Tucker's middle name is practically 'nice guy'."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Zoe rolled her eyes. "Nice guys are, by definition, not bad. You should know this. You're a nice guy too."

Wade couldn't resist the bait, leaning over the bar to grin at her. "I also do a good line in bad, doc. Just say the word and-"

Her finger on his lips silenced him in a second. "Please, do not finish that sentence. I just got done eating," she said smartly, removing her finger. "Now, I have to get to the practice. Hopefully, there are lots of patients to see. Fingers crossed."

"Knock 'em dead, doc," said Wade, realising fast that he picked completely the wrong phrase and making a face. "Yeah, maybe do the exact opposite of that?"

"I was planning to," Zoe assured him, laughing and waving goodbye as she left the bar.

Wade watched her go and couldn't hold in a great heaving sigh. He really had to get over that girl, or convince her to get under him. One or the other just had to happen sometime soon. She kept on making it all kinds of plain that she just wanted to be friends and he did respect that. Like he told her the other day, after the Founder's Day parade, he would encourage women into bed, but he never forced one yet and didn't plan on ever doing so.

The thing was, as much as she said she wasn't willing, she also liked to flirt sometimes, and as for the couple of kisses they had shared, even Zoe herself admitted she was actively participating in at least one of them. Not to mention how touchy-feely she tried to get on that night when she was all kinds of drunk on cheap wine.

Thinking about it all never did him any good, Wade knew. He didn't exactly hate being friends with Zoe Hart, and he figured, maybe, if he bided his time long enough, she probably would sleep with him at some point. That was something to look forward to, and in the meantime, life wasn't treating him so badly, Wade supposed.

"Wade?" Wally called to him then. "We got a problem back here in the kitchen. Sink's all backed up again. Think you can fix it?"

"Yeah." Wade sighed. "Life is treatin' me real well," he muttered, rolling up his sleeves and going in search of the plunger.

"I figure it could be an easy win for me, since my mom knows Emeril. I can get a recipe from him, or even better, I bet he'd even Fedex me a batch-"

"No, no, no, no," Lavon said forcefully, the force of his tone almost knocking Zoe from her stool. "You cannot cheat in the gumbo contest. Mayor Lavon Hayes will not allow such a thing."

"It wouldn't exactly be cheating." Zoe rolled her eyes, before seeing his increasingly severe expression. "Okay, fine, I'll make my own stupid gumbo. I can at least get the recipe sent over, right?"

Lavon narrowed his eyes. "I guess that'd be okay," he conceded, "but I'm also guessing that your fancy New York chef types won't make real, good old-fashioned gumbo like we do down here. No, sir, you gotta have real Southern blood to know a good gumbo."

"Well, apparently, I do have at least some Southern blood in me," Zoe told him, "but cooking, as you probably figured out already, not so much my strong point."

"Gotta say, I'm not really much of a gumbo maker myself, however..." he trailed off, grinning at Wade as he entered the kitchen.

"What?" he asked warily, looking from Lavon to Zoe.

"We were talking about gumbo," she explained. "Brick was crowing sooo much yesterday about how he always wins the contest, so I said maybe this year there'll be stiffer competition. I was planning on getting a friend of my mom's to send over a batch of his gumbo. He is a highly-regarded chef, after all, but the mayor won't let me," she said, rolling her eyes one more time.

"You don't strike me as a cheater, doc," said Wade, leaning around her to grab a bottle of water from the counter.

"I'm not, not usually," she told him with a sigh, "but I'm also not much of a cook either. I'd love to enter the contest and I figured if I did pretty well at it, maybe it would encourage more patients to want to see me instead of Brick, but that's probably not going to happen."

"Unless," said Lavon, looking between the two of them, "you ask Wade for a little help. You know, his Uncle Moe's gumbo recipe is something else."

Zoe looked hopefully at Wade and was glad to see him smile. "Gotta say, it is pretty kickass, and I can more than do it justice myself, I don't mind admittin'. 'Course, I never usually enter the contest - not really my thing, partaking in these town events - but for you, doc, I guess maybe I could make an exception."

The way he was smiling, Zoe almost expected there to be a catch. Not that she doubted Wade was her friend and would want to help her out of the kindness of his heart, but at the very least, she was waiting on a dirty joke. The suggestion that he would be more than willing to scratch her back if she scratched his, except with sexual favours instead of back scratching, perhaps?

"Just so we're clear, I'm not going to sleep with you, or even make out with you, for a recipe and cooking help, Wade," she said smartly.

"I would never expect you to, Zoe," he told her plain, waiting until Lavon's back was turned before moving in closer and whispering in her ear. "I don't need that kind of bribery to get a woman where I want her, doc."

It was the way he said it more than the words themselves that made a delicious shiver run down her back. Oh, she could more than understand how Wade charmed many a woman into his bed, or the backseat of his car, or just about anywhere two people could get really well-acquainted. He was so tempting sometimes, even Zoe thought about succumbing, but she was determined not to be that kind of woman. She had standards, damn it. At least, she thought she did before...

"So, gumbo," she said then, clearing her throat. "You're serious about helping me, with the contest, I mean?"

"Sure thing, Zoe Hart," he told her, grabbing an apple and tossing it from one hand to the other a couple of times. "We can go shopping for supplies when I get done with the breakfast rush at the Rammer Jammer, cook up your gumbo before I pick up the evening shift. Sound good?" he checked, finally bringing get he apple to his mouth and taking a big bite.

"Sounds great. Thanks, Wade," she said, beaming up at him. "You really are such a good friend."

The smile he had been maintaining even around chewing his food faded a little, she noticed, and Zoe had to wonder why. Wade seemed to go out of his way to be friendly, and yet, he didn't much care for being called a good friend? She almost literally face-palmed when she realised what his problem really was. Wade wanted more than friends, of course, she knew that, but she never really thought before that he might want more than just sex. That would be crazy, wouldn't it?


By the time he got to bed tonight, Wade was damn sure he was going to be like the walking dead, but that was okay. It was all in the aid of Zoe Hart and it was becoming increasingly clear to him that there was nothing he wouldn't do to make the good doctor happy.

He told himself it was all in the pursuit of a good lay. Not that he wasn't perfectly happy being Zoe's friend in a lot of ways, but some sex in the mix would be better. He was pretty damn sure she wanted to, so now he was just biding his time until her want for him over-rode those good girl morals she was carrying around from her high falutin' New York days. She could cave yet, Wade was sure on that, as so many other women had before her.

In the meantime, he couldn't exactly deny that he was having a real good time just hanging out with Zoe, doing the kinds of things he supposed friends did, maybe even folks who were steady dating or whatever. They went out to the market this morning, got all the stuff they needed for the gumbo, then headed back to Lavon's place to take over his kitchen and cook up a storm.

"I'm going to have to go back to the practice later," Zoe said regretfully as she chopped up vegetables the way Wade had showed her. "As much as I wanna beat Brick, and you know I do, he does deserve some time for his gumbo prep too."

"You're too good a person, doc." Wade shook his head, working on deveining shrimp with the ease of someone who had done so many times before, at least he was until he caught Zoe staring at him as if he had three heads. "What?"

"Nothing," she told him, shaking her head. "I was just... You're really good at that. I mean, it's something you'd think I'd be better at, because hello, surgeon," she said, raising her hand, "but it's all so slimy and gross..." she trailed off, making a face. "I'll stick to veggies."

"Good call," Wade agreed, amused by the grossed out expression on her face.

They carried on fixing all the ingredients and adding them to the pot, until Zoe really did have to get back to work and Wade knew it wouldn't be long before he had to go too. With the gumbo simmering to perfection, all they had to do was yell out to Lavon upstairs and asked him to keep an eye on things while they were gone.

"You bring that pot along to the Rammer Jammer for the judging at seven o'clock and you can bet your ass you'll be winnin' a prize, doc."

"Thank you, Wade," she said with real enthusiasm, suddenly throwing her arms up around his neck and hugging him real tight. "I so appreciate your help, you know that, right?"

The next words out of his mouth were about to be, 'How much do you appreciate it?' before he checked himself. Just friends, that was all they were. He had to learn not to turn every nice thing she said into a come on or she was just going to get mad at him and not want to hang out anymore. That would be worse than even being kept in the friend zone.

"You are more than welcome, Zoe Hart," he promised her, glad and sorry all at the same time when she pulled away almost as fast as she had flown into his arms.

"So, I'll see you later at the contest?"

"Yes, ma'am, you will," he assured her, raising a hand in a wave goodbye as she hurried out the back door.

"That was a real big sigh," said Lavon from behind him, letting Wade know for the first time that his friend was even there. "You like her, don't you?"

"Sure, I like her." Wade shrugged just as nonchalantly as he could when the mayor came up alongside him by the kitchen counter. "We're friends as much as you two are. Why not?"

"No, no, no," Lavon said, shaking his head definitely. "Me and Zoe, we're friends, that's true. I never had a kid sister, but I figure havin' her around is much the same thing, but you and Zoe?" he said with a look. "There ain't nothin' brother and sister about that," he said firmly.

Wade opened his mouth to argue in some way but already knew he couldn't. Lavon was absolutely right about his feelings for Zoe, though way off base if he thought she felt that way about him too. Friends really was all they were supposed to be and Wade was doing his best to be okay with that. It was probably going to kill him, but for her he would keep on trying, and just hope against hope that things might go ahead and change some day soon.

To Be Continued...