(for disclaimers, etc. - see 1.)

22. Christmas, Kinsella Style
'Verse: Lead Me Home
Date/Timeline: December 2012 (post-fic)

"You know, I had my fair share of fancy New York Christmases, but nothing, absolutely nothing at all compares to Christmas in Bluebell."

Jackie's smile was so wide, Zoe was convinced her face was going to split in two, and honestly, it was wonderful to see, not least because that same expression was reflected on the faces of Earl and Wade, and no doubt her own too. They were walking all together through town square and it was as close to fairyland as Zoe had ever seen, surely easily outdoing anything New York could offer.

"It is a special place at any time," said Earl without pause. "All the more so for you bein' back here to share it with me, you and my boy both, oh and Zoe, of course."

"Thank you, Earl," she said politely, not minding at all when Wade squeezed her hand, letting her know without question that he quite agreed himself.

As the older couple started to get a little ahead of them, Zoe tried her best to catch up, only to find it was Wade pulling back on her hand that was slowing her down. She turned to look at him, about to ask if something was wrong, but he spoke up first.

"Hey, uh, I need to say something to you," he admitted, encouraging her to face him, the two of them right in front of the giant, shining Christmas tree.

"What's going on?" she asked, feeling a little nervous when he didn't tell her right away. "Wade, is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing is wrong. Everything is the complete opposite of wrong," he promised her, taking both her hands into both of his own. "Ah, see the thing is, I had a lot of trouble coming up with the right gift for you this Christmas. I got to talking to Momma and Earl about it, about this one idea that I had, and they seemed to think it was a pretty good idea. Not that that proves anything, exactly. I mean, everybody is different and as well as they know you, they can't really be sure-"

"Wade," she cut in, feeling bad about it but knowing she must. "Please, whatever it is you want to say to me, or give me for a gift, you should just do it. I'm sure it'll all be good, right?" she said, swallowing hard in the very next second, feeling as nervous as he looked, because there was one possibility in her mind for what happened next that was a little unexpected, but about to be so welcome, if she was right.

"Okay then," he said, clearing his throat twice before suddenly dropping to one knee.

"Oh my God!" Zoe gasped, realising she had guessed right.

"So, I was just wondering, Zoe Wilkes, if maybe - on seeing this ring that I have here, and being reminded that I love you, more than I ever loved anybody else in this whole world - you would consider marrying me?"

Zoe opened her mouth to answer, but struggled to verbalise, her eyes filling up with tears that made the ring box in Wade's hand turn terribly blurry. That said, she did love the ring she had briefly seen there, and she absolutely loved Wade, with everything she had and was. She wanted to tell him all of that, but instead, she just nodded her head, whispering 'yes' as many times as possible, before he finally realised her answer and got up, sweeping her into his arms and kissing her soundly.

"You know, if you had said no," Wade told her when they finally parted, slipping the ring onto her finger, "I really didn't have a back-up gift."

Zoe laughed even as she cried, reaching up to kiss him one more time, at least until she realised, they had company.

"Welcome to the family, honey," said Jackie, smiling widely yet.

Honestly, that made Zoe almost as happy as Wade's proposal had.