A/N: For the wonderful Cbird28, who I don't get to talk to as much now as I used to, but she did give me this fab idea for a fic a good while ago, and I thought it only fitting to write and post the story for her birthday. Hope you have an excellent day, my friend. May this AU Season 3 fic bring joy to you... and to anyone else who might like to read it too ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Hart of Dixie belong to Leila Gerstein and other folks who aren't me.

Love You Madly

When Wade got into her path on her way across town square towards the practice, Zoe didn't like the expression on his face one little bit. He seemed mad and that could really only mean one thing. When he started talking about his first and only date with her cousin, Vivian Wilkes, Zoe knew she was right to start squirming. Clearly, her best attempts to stay out of the situation had failed. As much as she had tried to remain neutral, Wade seemed to feel that whatever it was Zoe had said to Vivian, it had directly resulted in her saying she absolutely did not want to go out with him a second time.

"I stayed out of it. I said 'No comment.' I'm Switzerland."

"'No comment'? That's like saying, 'Stay away from him, he's a jerk,' but with fewer words."

When he started getting accusatory that way, Zoe couldn't help but switch from awkward to mad. After all, she had done her best and he ought to realise that.

"I thought you'd be happy that I kept the truth to myself. It wasn't easy, you know?"

"Oh, the truth? Please, enlighten me."

"Any relationship that she were to have with you probably wouldn't last. That's fine for the Susies and the Daisies and the Bambis but you know Vivian's a single mom and she can't afford to get hurt."

"You mean like you did?" Wade snapped at her. "Because you can see the future for everybody in the world, and they're all just like you. How long are you planning on punishing me? Because the last time I checked, you were the one who walked away."

"I'm not punishing you!" she countered crossly. "I'm protecting Vivian because she's family. I was just telling her the truth."

"The truth. Yeah, I got that," said Wade, with no lack of sarcasm in his tone. "Or maybe the truth is I make Vivian happy. Maybe the truth is that everyone in this town can see that I've changed except for you. Maybe you need to ask yourself why it is exactly you don't want me dating so close to home."

With that, he turned to walk away, but Zoe was not okay with that. He may be done with her, but she was far from done with him. Giving chase, as best she could in her high heels, she managed to catch a hold of his arm and pull him back a little.

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?"

"Are you kidding right now?" Wade asked her with a look. "'Cause last I checked, outta the two of us, you're the one with all the fancy letters after your name thanks to that giant brain o' yours. Means you're supposed to be a boatload smarter than I am, doc, so how is it you can't see what is staring you right in the face?"

"The only thing staring me in the face is your face, Wade Kinsella," she said lamely, glaring at him, "and if you're trying to imply that I..." she trailed off then, realising he was implying exactly that.

He thought she put Vivian off of him because she was jealous, because she still wanted him for herself. Zoe should've laughed. She meant to. She meant to let out an almighty chuckle and tell Wade what a big-headed idiot he was for making a suggestion like that. She wanted to do it, but she couldn't, because at the end of the day, Zoe Hart wasn't a liar.

"Is it finally sinking in there, Zoe?" Wade asked her then, a little less angry and a little more triumphant by now. "You finally realisin' how screwed up this whole thing is?"

"I am not screwed up," she countered, an instinctive reaction that she couldn't really justify, but she had to try. "I am with Joel, we are happy. I have the Wilkes, who all love me. If Vivian has decided not to go out with you anymore, then I'm sorry that things are screwed up in your life, but that is not my fault!"

With that she turned and stormed away, but Zoe ought to have known Wade wasn't done with her yet. She heard him yell, loud and clear from behind her, even though she wished she could block him out.

"Keep tellin' yourself that, doc. I know the truth, and if you ever decide to get real honest with yourself about it, so do you!"

It was all she could think about, all day long. Zoe tried to focus on work, and then later, on time spent with Rose, with Lavon, with Joel, but nothing could really hold her interest. She just kept on going back to Wade and what he had said to her, what he had very plainly implied about her feelings for him. As if she could still love him after everything. As if!

The problem was that, the more she thought about it, the more she knew she had to admit, if only to herself, that he was right. She knew when she told Vivian that she would make no comment about her dating Wade that it would lead to her rejecting his offer of a second date.

Zoe wanted that to happen, deep down, she really did, and not because she was worried about her cousin getting hurt. It wasn't that she didn't care about Vivian, of course she did, but the real reason she didn't want Wade and Vivian dating was pure, unadulterated, vivid green jealousy.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

Joel's hand on her shoulder got her attention and Zoe turned to stare at him, worried expression and all, feeling nauseous. Poor Joel. He was such a good guy and he really loved her, she knew he did. She loved him too, that wasn't a lie, but was she really in love with him? Could she really commit to him forever and be truly happy, when she knew there was a possibility of Wade still being an option?

"Joel..." she began, hoping rather than believing the other words would come to her once she started - they didn't. "I wish I knew how to say this."

He looked at her strangely. Not confused, as she might have expected, more just sad. Maybe even resigned?

"Let me take a stab and you can tell me if I'm close," he said, hands clasped together and eyes dipping to the carpet a moment. "You're thinking about your cousin Vivian and how uncomfortable you are to have her and Wade dating. It's made you think a lot about your feelings for him. In fact, it's made you realise what I have known from almost the first day I got here, and believe me, I tried to ignore it." He sighed and shook his head. "Ugh, I've been dreading this day, but I just knew it was coming. I mean, I knew. How could I not?"

"Joel, I don't know-"

"Yes, Zoe. Yes, you do know," he insisted, cutting her off the moment she tried to protest for even a moment. "And I'm... not really mad about it. Honestly, weirdly, as much as it hurts, it's almost a relief to have reached this day, this place where the inevitable has happened. You're in love with Wade, Zoe. I'm pretty sure you always have been, even though you obviously didn't want to be for quite a while. It's true, isn't it?"

She meant to say no. She really, really meant to do that. She had her mouth open ready, but the actual words just wouldn't form, wouldn't come out. It would be a lie. A huge, monumental, horrible lie, and she couldn't tell anymore of those, not to Joel, not to herself.

"I'm so sorry," she said in a rush, hot tears streaking down her cheeks. "I swear I didn't know, or if I did, I didn't want to. Wade hurt me so much, so very much, and to just let him back into my life and my heart, it's such a stupid choice. You're the smart choice, Joel. You're so good for me, you're such a great guy, and I do love you, I swear I do."

"I know that, Zoe," Joel assured her, holding onto her hand tightly, even as his eyes welled up with tears. "I love you too, but when it comes to Wade, you're in love with him, and you always have been. I actually think you always will be."

It was true. All of it, every word, and Zoe couldn't deny it anymore. She hated herself for hurting Joel, because he absolutely did not deserve it, but at the same time, she was feeling a little of that relief that he talked about. Finally able to admit that she still had that same love for Wade inside of her, that it never completely went away and probably never would.

She realised, as Joel told her he needed to immediately pack and go back to the Whippoorwill, that the only thing left to do now was to tell Wade the truth. He deserved that. Vivian did too, though Zoe had a feeling that would be a slightly less complicated conversation.

The more she thought about it, the more she realised, Vivian probably knew the truth already too. Wade said he did, at one time, telling Zoe repeatedly, in the beginning, that she still loved him. She had blown him off then, told him he was delusional, but deep down she had always known he had a point.

When Joel had his stuff together, which didn't take long, he kissed Zoe's cheek and assured her he would always care about her. That in time, he hoped they could get back to being friends, when he had time to get over all they had been through in the meantime. He even wished her luck with Wade, then kissed her cheek and left for good.

At that point, Zoe was on her own, literally and figuratively. Only she could decide on the next step. Only she could decide what she said to Wade, and then, it would be up to him how he reacted. That part scared her more than anything, after what had been said earlier in the day, but later, when she had a chance to get her head together, she was going to have to put on her big girl pants and have the hard conversation. In a lot of ways, Zoe knew, she had already been putting it off for far too long.

Wade was in the bathroom, washing up after a long day of work, when someone started tapping on his door. He grabbed at the nearest towel to dry his face and hands, calling to the visitor to keep their pants on as he hurried to see who was there. He got quite a surprise when he realised who was standing on the other side of the door.

"If you come here to yell some more, doc..."

"I haven't," said Zoe, shaking her head. "I just... I need to ask you a question. Possibly two, but that depends on your answers, so..."

She looked weird. Wade had enough good sense not to tell her as much, but it was the only word he could find to describe the look on her face. There was a chance she had been crying at some point, which made his heart ache, in spite of how mad she made him before. For all that it made no sense, he still loved her. If she was in pain, then he was too.

"Guess you better come inside," he said then, moving to let her in.

"No," Zoe insisted, "I need you to answer my first question, and I need you to be really honest, Wade. No jokes, no screwing around, just the honest truth."

She meant it, he could see that, and so Wade nodded his agreement. Complete honesty, no matter what. He started to reconsider when he actually heard the question.

"Do you still love me?"

All the breath seemed to leave Wade's body and he leaned heavily on the doorjamb.

"Are you serious right now?"

"More serious than I've ever been," said Zoe, lifting her chin. "I just need a straight answer. Do you still love me?"

"Zoe... you should know by now that I will always love you," Wade insisted. "For all the good that does me."

"It might," she told him then, catching him off-guard. "Do you good, I mean. What I'm trying to say is... is that I realised something today. Something important. Something that I probably knew deep down all along, but I was too afraid to admit." She paused a moment to wipe a stray tear from her cheek and then pressed on. "You were right, Wade. Not just today, but all those other times too. You were right when you said that I was in love with you. I was. I am," she insisted, swallowing hard. "I think I've been in love with you for a very long time. It would certainly explain why what you did hurt me so much."

Wade's eyes went to the ground at the very mention of that night when he betrayed Zoe's trust in the worst way.

"It would also explain why the idea of you dating Vivian was so awful. Even though I said I loved Joel, and I did mean that, I knew that I could never feel about him the way I feel about you. Wade, I know we both screwed up, we really screwed up, but if we can still love each other, after everything..."

He couldn't take it anymore. The moment she first admitted to loving him was enough to undo Wade, and then, to hear her talk like it might actually be possible for them to be together, he just couldn't stand it. He reached for her, a hand at her waist, the other behind her head as he dragged her closer and crushed his lips against her own. She didn't fight, didn't argue, just sunk into the moment, into a kiss that was the perfect combination of love and passion and blessed relief to be together again.

"Reckon we must be as crazy as all get out, startin' this whole thing again," he said as they parted from their kiss, arms still around each other.

"Probably." Zoe nodded her head. "But we're still going to try, right?"

"Hell, yes." Wade grinned at her, unable to help himself. "I'm guessing Shakespeare is gone?"

"He is," Zoe admitted, looking pained about it. "He knew, before I ever got a chance to tell him. He saw what was between us, even when I didn't want to see it. God knows what Vivian will say when she finds out."

"Not much." Wade shook his head. "You know, she may not be the same kind of book smart as Joel, but she saw what was goin' on too. Much as I tried to blame you for her not wanting that second date, I'd say just as much of her reason was her bein' able to tell that my heart wasn't really in it. She said some things 'bout you and me. She saw it too."

"So, it was just the two of us that were blind." Zoe sighed. "Why are we so stupid, Wade?"

"I don't know, doc," he told her, pushing her hair back from her face, "but look at it this way, we got there eventually. We're right back where we're supposed be now, together, right?"

"Right," she agreed, smiling up at him, pushing herself up on her toes to claim another kiss which he happily gave to her.

This time, they were going to make it work, no matter what.

The End