A/N: Thanks to those who have left reviews recently - always much appreciated. This chapter will be the last one you get this side of Christmas, which I hope you will understand. This fic will return in January, of course :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 11

Wade had to admit that, for those that weren't used to it, Planksgiving was probably a lot to take. After all, it wasn't exactly traditional, not outside of Bluebell anyway, and he couldn't have blamed Zoe for feeling a little strange, replacing her best dress and a turkey dinner with some pirate get-up and a fish fry.

As it was, when he finally let old Earl convince him to head on into town square without him and have a little fun, Wade couldn't help but smile at the sight of Zoe with Harley and the rest of the townsfolk, having a fine time, dressed to the nines in a puffy shirt and tricorn hat.

She fit in just perfectly with their crazy small town, which created a whole other set of problems that Wade couldn't even begin to unravel. When they were at U of A, he could almost convince himself she was just some random girl, like so many others. Somebody he could forget, given enough time and effort. Now, she was as much a part of his home as she was anyplace else and probably always would be. The whole town was clearly falling in love with her, and damn it, if Wade didn't know how easy that was to do.

Suddenly, he realised that she had caught him staring at her from across the square and immediately made a point of turning away. He got himself caught up in some of the games and activities, random conversations with people he hadn't seen for a while. Somehow or other he managed to avoid Zoe and the awkwardness that had grown between them over time, until finally, when things were winding down, the sun beginning to sink in the sky, he felt a tapping on his shoulder and turned around to find her standing there.

"Can we talk?"

"'Bout what?" he asked, trying for normal, natural, dismissive even, though he was sure she wasn't buying.

"Wade, please," she urged him with a look, because they both already knew the answer to his question.

Heaving a sigh, he nodded his head, and suggested they take a walk away from the crowds in the square. Zoe agreed easily, and they slipped away, largely unnoticed, as far as Wade could tell.

Though they were side by side, he knew he was leading the way, since Zoe wouldn't really have a clue where they were going. He led her out beyond the rows of stores and houses, where nature took over from manmade structures, and everything was quiet, and soft, and calm.

"It's so beautiful here," said Zoe, her eyes all over the trees and the lake as they went along together. "Also, everybody is so welcoming and friendly. It's nothing like New York, that's for sure."

"This is what you wanted to talk to me about?" Wade checked, feeling just a little pissed that they had been going along for more than five minutes, and so far, that was all she had said.

"No, Wade, it's not," she admitted then, her hand on his arm pulling him to a stop. "Look, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you said that earlier," he reminded her, glancing away. "Not sure I know what exactly you're apologising for though. Do you?" he checked as his eyes returned to her face.

"Yes." Zoe nodded her head, taking a deep breath before she went on. "I'm sorry... well, for a lot of things, actually. For using you, I guess. Even though you seemed happy enough to let me do that most of the time, it wasn't the right thing to do. I'm sorry if I made you feel like less of a person. I'm also sorry that... that I pretended to be asleep when you left my dorm, after the last time we... we were together."

Even in the half-light, he could tell by the look on her face just exactly what she meant. Zoe had heard what he said, Wade was sure on that now. She knew he had wanted to tell her how he really felt about her, but hadn't been able to say it in the light of day.

"Wade, please, tell me how you really feel."

He bristled at her urging, feeling stupid and worthless, even though she just that second apologised for ever making him feel that way.

"Why?" he asked her too sharply. "So you can laugh when I do?"

She looked as if he had slapped her face or some such, which only made Wade feel ten times worse. He really hadn't meant to hurt her. He really hadn't meant to say such a thing at all.

"I wouldn't do that," she insisted, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I know." He sighed, backing up a step or two to lean on the fence, running a hand over his face as he did so. "Geez, Zoe, I don't know how this happened. That first night we met, you were just another girl looking for a good time, and I was okay with that. Hell, I was thrilled about it," he admitted, knowing he could do nothing else if they were going to be real honest with each other at last. "How often does a girl say, 'Come back to my place, we'll have some real fun, and after, please don't even worry about callin' me'? It's like the perfect situation, 'cept that it wasn't, because you're not..."

"I'm not, what?" she asked, stepping forward, try to see him better maybe, as the sun sunk lower and the darkness crept in all around them.

Wade sighed one more time, yet still managed to find her a smile. "Cliche as it sounds, sweetheart, you're not like all the other girls. Hell if I know what it is about you that's so different, but there's somethin', least there is for me," he admitted, pushing himself back up onto his feet as he faced her head on and made his full confession. "I can't get you outta my head, Zoe Wilkes. When I'm not around you, I wanna be. When I am, half the time, I don't even know how to handle it. Seein' you with Judson is just..."

"Probably a lot like how I felt when I saw you with Lily-Anne?" she said, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Wade, come on, you know I like you. I tried not to because... well, because I couldn't imagine that you really liked me."

"Are you kidding right now?" he asked her, incredulous as he had ever been about anything, though he soon realised he probably shouldn't be, in the circumstances.

"Are you?" asked Zoe, shaking her head. "You know the reputation that you have with women, and you can't blame rumours, or George and Lemon, or anybody else for me thinking that, because you made it pretty darn clear yourself. You're the one-night-stand type of guy and I'm... I'm just not a casual kind of girl."

"'Cept that you are," he countered immediately, "or at least, you did a pretty good impression of one these past couple of months."

"I don't... I can't explain that," she told him, hands balling into fists out of some kind of frustration no doubt, "or maybe I can and I'm just a little afraid of what it means."

Her voice got real soft when she said that, her expression taking on the look of a deer caught in the headlights. He never saw her scared before. A lot of other things, from happy to sad, angry to lust-filled, and all kinds of things in between, but never once as terrified as she was in that moment. It made his heart melt right there in his chest, but it also gave him just a little bit of hope on how this whole thing might yet turn out for them.

"Trust me, Zoe," he told her softly, "you are not being scared of whatever this is all by yourself, 'cause I am right there with you."

The smile that brought to her lips was entirely worth putting himself out there.

"That helps, at least a little," she admitted. "Wade, I'll be honest, I don't know what this is between us. I mean, I like you, and I think you like me, and obviously the sex is amazing, but... well, we don't really know each other. I realised that today, when I met Earl, and when Mrs H was talking about your family situation..."

"What did she tell you?" he asked, just a little on his guard now she was saying these things.

"Oh, it was just that your mother passed when you were young, and your father... um, with the alcoholism."

Wade closed his eyes a second, let the horrible truth wash over him, or at least, what seemed like the truth.

"Now I get it," he said, wishing he could laugh, but finding he was unable to do so. "She gave you the full-on Wade Kinsella sob story and now you feel sorry for me, so you're bein' all nice and-"

"Wade, stop it!" Her hand landed on his arm, pulling him back the second he tried to turn away. "Please, I don't feel sorry for you," she said, the moment their eyes met in the little light that was left. "Well, obviously, I do, because anybody would. You've been through a lot."

"So has everybody else in their own way, Zoe," he reminded her. "Come on now, you know it as well as I do. You only just met your real father, Lemon's momma split four years ago now, and there are plenty of other people with losses or crappy situations around here. Nobody has the perfect set-up, the perfect family, or the perfect anything else. That ain't real life."

"I know that," she confirmed, hand still holding onto his arm yet, "and like I said, I do feel bad for you, the same as I feel bad for Lemon and everyone else who has suffered, but what I mean is, I'm not just saying this because of the hardships in your life. Wade, what I'm trying to say is, if you want to, I'd like for us to get to know each other better. Really get to know each other. You know, spend some real time together, talk about things, maybe go out somewhere on a real date. I would love to do that but, obviously, it all depends on if you would want that too."

Her voice was so quiet by the end of her little speech, Wade was pretty sure the crickets could outdo her if they just tried hard enough. It was only because they were standing so very close that he got every word, each one touching his heart, whether he wanted them to or not. It all sounded real nice and so very simple when she said it that way. Of course, Wade knew better than to believe that it was. Stuff just didn't go his way like that, never had, probably never would.

"What about Judson?" he asked, trying his darndest not to spit out the name of the poor guy who hadn't really done anything wrong, as far as he knew.

Zoe frowned some. "I could call him, but I think he deserves to be told the truth face-to-face. So, I plan on breaking things off with him just as soon as we get back to college after Thanksgiving. It's the best I can do, unless you want me to drive over to Mobile right now. You don't, right?"

"Obviously not." Wade rolled his eyes at what he saw as a real dumb suggestion. "But you're serious? About breaking up with him, I mean?"

"Absolutely." Zoe nodded once.

"And about you and me goin' on a real date and talking about stuff and all?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't," she confirmed with a half-smile, "but like I also said, if that's not what you want..."

"You know that it is, Zoe," he told her, his hand coming up to her cheek. "Come on, you gotta know."

Her smile grew wider at that and she leaned into his touch. "I guess I do."

Wade felt so giddy, he was pretty sure he could up and fly away right then and there. Not that he would, of course. He wanted to be where Zoe was. He never wanted anything else as much.

Leaning down to meet her as she went up onto her toes, his lips met hers in a kiss that was nothing like any of the other times when things got heated between them. This wasn't about being physical as such, not about a quick thrill, a need for a release. This was a promise made between them, a commitment of a kind, something special and real, at last.

"We should prob'ly get back to town before it gets any darker," he said softly as they parted, his arm around her keeping her close a while yet. "Else Dr Wilkes is gonna have my hide for gettin' his little girl a bad reputation on her first trip to town."

Zoe smiled and nodded, slipping her hand into his own as they began their journey back the way they came. Wade felt a little strange about it, sure he had never felt so much for another person the whole of his life. Sure that if anybody ever told him this time last year that he would be walking into town in the dark, holding hands with a woman that he was stone in love with, he never would have believed it. Even if it was a little early to be saying such things, he was damn sure it was true.

"People are gonna talk, you know that, right?" he said instead, hardly able to look at Zoe as he went on. "I was kidding before about your reputation, but mine is exactly what I told you. What everybody has told you."

"Wade, I don't care what other people say or think," she promised him. "If you and I are going to see what might be between us, I'm trusting you're not going to be seeing other girls at the same time. That's true, right?"

"Sure, that's true." He nodded without a moment's hesitation.

"And you trust that I'm going to officially break up with Judson just as soon as we get back to U of A after the holiday, right?"

There was a shake in her voice when she said it, like she was letting that old fear creep back in again. Wade pulled her to a halt and encouraged her to face him, even though it was getting tough to make out anything but each other's silhouettes in the dark by now.

"I trust you, Zoe," he promised her faithfully, glad when he realised she seemed to be smiling, her arms up around his neck and holding on tight.

"Then isn't that all that really matters?"

"I guess so," he agreed, kissing her one more time.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: As I said, this is the point where this story goes 'On Hold' for a little while, and I think you'll agree, it's quite a nice place to leave things for a while ;) In December, there will be Christmas fics from me instead. This will be in the form of an Advent Calendar this year, but you will find it in the Crossover section of the site. It is not a crossover, but I have to post it there, because the even-numbered days will be Hart of Dixie fics and the odd-numbered days will be Gilmore Girls. Hope that sounds good to you :)