A/N: Thanks for the latest reviews, peops. He's some more developing Zade for you! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6

"Hey, look at this," said Zoe, leaning over the bar to show off the medal hanging around her neck. "I mean, first would've been great, but I guess Brick really can't be beaten in this gumbo game. Still, second is pretty good too," she said with a grin.

"You got quite the round of applause when they gave you that thing," Wade noted. "Maybe you're a little more popular around here than you thought, doc."

"Hmm, maybe," Zoe considered, "but let's be honest, I only got this prize because of you," she said, lowering her voice a little. "You know we really should've put your name on the entry too. After all, it was your uncle's recipe and you did a lot of the work. I never could've made prize-winning gumbo without you."

If she didn't know any better, Zoe would almost think she had complimented Wade so much he actually blushed. Of course, that couldn't be true. Guys that cocky and brazen did not get embarrassed, but it almost seemed like maybe he could be.

"Hey, I am more than okay with you gettin' that prize, Zoe Hart," he promised her. "Just don't forget who was your friend first before all these other folks come along, alright?" he said with a wink, then disappeared down the bar to serve drinks to so many other patrons.

"Okay, now it's startin' to make some sense."

Zoe spun around fast to find George Tucker right behind her, wearing a knowing smile. She was about to ask what he was talking about, when he suddenly explained anyway.

"I overheard a little of what was said there," he told her, gesturing between her and where Wade was standing seconds before. "You know, I thought that gumbo you put into the competition tasted kind of familiar. Wade hooked you up, didn't he?"

"He may have given me some assistance," she said, smirking a little, sure they both knew by now that he had done so much more than that. "Don't tell on us, will you? I like my medal," she said, gripping it tightly with both hands and pouting some.

"Your secret's safe with me," George promised her, clearly amused, as he was supposed to be. "Honestly, I'm just a little surprised. Clearly, Wade is being a real good friend to you. I should clarify that he has always been a good friend to me, but that's different. You know, we're buddies, always have been. Wade with women... well, he's not usually looking to be friends, if you know what I mean."

"Yes, I understand that," Zoe agreed, nodding her head, "but for the record, me and Wade really are just friends. Not that I don't... I mean, I'm not blind or stupid. I absolutely see why half the girls in town are happy to throw themselves at him and everything. I'm just not that type of girl, I guess. Besides, even if Wade were the type for more, dating is completely off the table for me while I'm in Bluebell. This is just a temporary stop for me. It wouldn't make sense to go getting into any relationships."

"George, honey, what are you doin' all the way over here?" asked Lemon as she appeared at his side then, her arm automatically looping through his own.

Zoe almost laughed at the other woman's insecurity, but managed to hold it in, at least until George and Lemon were gone. When she turned back to the bar, giggling like a fool and unable to stop, she found Wade had returned.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing, not really." Zoe waved her hand at him. "It's just, how can a woman as beautiful and strong-willed and presumably smart as Lemon Breeland be so insecure about her relationship?" she asked, shaking her head. "I swear she thinks I want to take George away from her, which I absolutely do not. I mean, don't get me wrong, he seems like a great guy, and it is nice to have somebody around here that has a clue about the greatness of New York, but I wouldn't pursue anything there, not even if he was single. Like I just told him when the subject came up, I am not in Bluebell to date, not even a little."

Wade tried to keep his smile in place even as she said that. It really didn't come easy. He kept on telling himself it didn't matter that Zoe wasn't looking to get serious with anybody in Bluebell, because he was so far from being the relationship type himself. He was hoping for sex someday, that was all. At least, he thought that was what he wanted. It was what he usually wanted. Of course, Zoe didn't seem to be like any other woman he ever met, though if asked, he could never explain what precisely was so different about her. Wade only knew that something was.

"I mean, even if I was going to date, and even if George was single," Zoe went rambling on, "I just can't imagine actually being with him. Once we got past the, 'Isn't New York great?' thing, what would we even talk about? Frankly, I have trouble even imaging him in the city. He's so at home here. I'm sure he made the right choice in coming back, because he seems much better suited to Bluebell."

"Well, doc, I happen to think you are surprisingly well-suited to Bluebell too," said Wade then. "So says the award around her neck anyhow."

Zoe grinned, looking down at said medal for a moment. "Thanks in no small part to you, bestie," she declared on looking back at Wade again. "I really do owe you one for this, and before you make any gross suggestions about what that could entail," she added fast, "what I'm offering is to buy you lunch sometime soon. Sound good?"

Wade nodded his head. "Sure, lunch is good."

She looked thrilled that he said that, before turning away to talk with other folks who wanted to congratulate her on her prize-winning gumbo. Wade loved to see her happy, no question about that, but all this talk of her not dating, not getting involved, calling the two of them friends, best friends even, it made his stomach turn over

Being best friends with Zoe Hart just wasn't going to cut it and he should probably tell her that, but he had no idea how. Probably better just to suck it up and take what he could get, like Wade Kinsella always did, even if it did end up killing him, in the end.


"I'm sorry, Addy, but the truth is right there in your hand. Reverend Mayfair and his wife have syphilis."

Wade came to a crashing halt in the doorway and just stared at Zoe a moment, lifting his sunglasses from his eyes to better see, even though he knew it wouldn't change what he thought he just heard. She looked stunned by the sight of him too, and freaked out at the realisation she just let out some confidential patient information right in front of him.

"Oh no!" she gasped, checking her watch. "I didn't realise it was noon already."

"Well, it is," Wade told her, closing the door behind him and coming right into the otherwise empty reception area of the doctor's office, "and apparently, it's already a real interestin' day, before we even get to that lunch you're supposed to be treating me to."

"I'll just go answer that," said Addy, slipping away fast, though Wade was pretty sure the phone never so much as rang.

"Wade, please," said Zoe, looking pained. "You know you can't tell anyone about this right? The reverend and his wife, I mean. If it got out, if people thought they couldn't trust me... Doctor-patient confidentiality is-"

"Hey, hey, slow down and take a breath, doc," Wade urged her. "I can keep a secret. Trust me, I can," he said definitely. "'Course that's some real wacky news you got right there. Reverend and Mrs Mayfair?" he said, shaking his head. "Prob'ly the last people in town I would've thought of for that kind of' thing."

"People aren't always what they seem." Zoe shrugged.

"Oh, I know that," Wade insisted, "but still, doesn't really sit right, does it?"

"That's what I said," Addy threw in from behind the desk. "Of all the people in this town," she added, shaking her head.

"I mean, if you asked me who's most likely to have results like that come up, I could give you a few names. First that springs to mind'd be Chase Cobb, for example," he said, looking to Addy who nodded in understanding and agreement both, "and his girlfriend, Wanda, I guess, 'cause that's how these things work. Now, those two I could see this happenin' to, but the Mayfairs?"

"Who are these people?" asked Zoe, frowning hard. "Chase and Wanda? I don't think I've met them, have I?"

"Chase Cobb is away in the Navy," Addy explained. "None of us see much o' him anymore, 'cept for Wanda, like Wade said. They've been seein' each other pretty steady for years now, since they was fourteen or so, I reckon. You've probably seen Wanda over at Susie's place. She's the shampoo girl there."

Wade pulled himself up to sit at the far end of the reception desk, watching Zoe as she paced around a little. He was about to ask what had her so mixed up, apart from the idea of the town minister and his wife having an STI, when she suddenly looked at him.

"I'm sorry, Wade, but I think we're going to have to postpone our lunch," she said, pulling off her white coat and tossing it aside, grabbing her jacket from the hook instead. "Addy, I have to go talk to this shampoo girl, see if I can figure this whole mess out. I should be back in time for my afternoon appointments, but if not..."

"I'll move things around if I have to. Anything to get this whole thing figured out and fast."

Zoe smiled and thanked her, and was over by the door before Wade had a chance to catch up to her.

"Guess I'll be goin' to lunch by myself then."

"I'm so sorry, Wade, but I promise to make it up to you, with something even better than lunch," said Zoe, getting his hopes up just a little too high before quickly dashing them. "How about we make it dinner instead? Tonight? Oh, I guess you're working."

"I'm sure I can figure somethin' out." Wade smiled down at her. "Wally owes me a favour."

"Great," she said, smiling back. "So, I'll text you later, but right now, I really have to go."

Quick as a flash she was out the door and gone. Wade sighed and watched her go. She really was a firecracker, no mistake about it. As disappointed as he was to not be getting to have lunch with her, he was certainly looking forward to dinner already.


Zoe hesitated at the door to the Rammer Jammer, looking at her reflection in the glass of the nearest window. She couldn't see much more than her face, but a glance down gave her a really good view of her dress, the one she had taken so long to pick out. Even now, she wasn't quite sure it was the right choice. She and Wade may be going out to dinner, but it was a simple thank you for his help with the gumbo competition. Just a friend thing, nothing more. Not that it meant she couldn't look good, but she was well aware that if she looked too good, Wade might get the wrong idea. Not that the idea seemed so wrong at all when Zoe thought about it, but she quickly reminded herself she was being foolish.

She and Wade were just going to be friends, unlikely as that might sound to anybody else. Just friends was better, safer, much more sensible for both of them. Of course, when Zoe walked into the bar at last and saw Wade standing there waiting for, she might have forgotten all the very good reasons why just friends was her best course of action.

"Wow. I almost didn't recognise you," she said as she walked over to him. "New shirt?" she checked, sure she had never seen him in something so plain or so smart before.

"Even put a comb through my hair, doc," he told her with a grin. "It's not every night the best-looking doctor in town takes me out to dinner."

"Well, I'm afraid Brick was busy so you'll have to make do with me," she joked with a smile of her own. "But speaking of doctor-related stuff, thank you... for earlier," she said then, lowering her voice.

"For what now?" asked Wade, shaking his head and looking a little bemused. "Not minding that you switched out our lunch date for dinner? Hell, doc, I think I came off better in that deal."

"No, not that. I meant... well, the reason why lunch turned into dinner," she said with a look, hoping he understood, mindful of all the open ears in Bluebell. "What you told me about the people who might be more likely than the Reverend and his wife to... have the results that they seemed to have."

It took Wade a second or two, and then he nodded like he understood, though frankly, he still didn't look like he did.

"Maybe you should explain that one to me when we're someplace else," he said then. "I'm guessing you have some idea of where we're headed for this dinner of ours, since you're payin' and all?"

"I do actually," Zoe was happy to report. "After I realised that the only place to eat dinner that wasn't your place of employment was Fancie's, I had to start looking further afield. I mean, this is meant to be a thank you dinner for you, and don't take this the wrong way, but you really don't seem like the Fancie's type."

"I will in fact take that as a compliment, doc," he assured her, his arm around her shoulders like the most natural thing in the world as he steered her towards the door. "So, what's the Plan B?"

"Well, I was looking into restaurants in the area and I found-"

It was as far as Zoe got with that sentence, her attention focused purely on Wade, so she didn't see someone coming in the door they were about to head out of until said person ploughed right into them both.

"Tom Long, what in the heck is wrong with you?" Wade asked the younger guy crossly.

"Wade, you need to come with me," he said, looking and sounding a little breathless. "Crazy Earl is on the roof again."

Zoe was about to ask what exactly that meant when she heard Wade cursing under his breath. His arm slipped from her shoulders and he ran his hand over his face.

"Sorry 'bout this, Zoe, but I reckon that meal of ours is about to suffer another delay."

He looked genuinely apologetic about it, but Zoe was more interested in the why than the what. She had heard the name Crazy Earl mentioned around town, how he was the town drunk or something, but she had yet to encounter him and she certainly didn't understand why his being on a roof meant she and Wade couldn't go to dinner.

Tom was now gone and a few other patrons of the Rammer Jammer went with him. Wade started to follow and Zoe immediately ran after him, catching him by the arm and pulling him to a halt.

"Okay, what am I missing here?" she asked, shaking her head.

Wade sighed heavily, looking about as awkward as she had ever seen him.

"You remember when I took you to the cemetery, see where they laid ol' Harley to rest?"

"Obviously." Zoe nodded.

"Remember how I told you my momma was there too? How she passed a long time ago?"

"When you were ten," she replied, feeling cold just remembering that particular detail.

"Well, from that day to this, about once a month or so, old Earl cashes his government check, buys himself enough liquor to drown out the pain of her loss, and then climbs up on the roof of Nate's Hardware to make damn fools out o' the both of us."

Zoe felt like she had turned two pages over at once, until suddenly the light dawned in her mind.

"He... He's your father?"

"Yup. Lucky guy, aren't I?" he said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry about dinner, Zoe, but I gotta go deal with this."

As he took one step away, Zoe pushed forward, catching his hand and holding on tight. When Wade looked at her with a question in his eyes, she answered without pause. "What kind of friend would I be if I wasn't there for you at a time like this?"

A smirk pulled at Wade's lips. "A damn smart one, I guess. This ain't gonna be a fun night out, doc," he told her, but that much she had already figured out.

"I've dealt with drunk people before, Wade, and he's your dad. If I can help at all, I want to."

The way he looked at her, it was as if she just offered to go pull the moon down from the sky and hand it to him. Just as fast as the strange expression appeared, it was gone, and Wade was Wade again, telling her she was going to have to put on some speed even in those crazy high heels if they were going to get there before it was too late. Zoe didn't argue, just hurried the best she could to keep up with him, glad that he was holding onto her hand still, sure that it couldn't turn out to be that bad of an evening, so long as they were spending it together.

To Be Continued...