A/N: I see y'all are getting excited/nervous about the Battle of the Bands in those reviews (thanks for taking the time, by the way!) so I guess it's about time we got on down to Tricky Ricks for the big event! ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 7

Tonight was the night. For days, Wade had confidence aplenty about what he was doing, how well this night was going to go for him and the band. How they would absolutely slay at Battle of the Bands, and then he would have the money for his bar, and everything would be great. He kept on telling everybody that was how it would be and he even believed it, for a while. Then reality started to creep in, and somewhere along the line, the nerves started to follow.

It didn't help that they were so far down the running order. Hearing all those other bands, real good, talented people, that the whole crowd cheered and clapped and screamed for. Wade didn't know if they could measure up. If he could measure up.

Self-confidence always seemed to be his strong point, he was well aware, and when it came to things he knew how to do, he was plenty confident. Of course, none of those things really mattered all that much. They weren't life-altering in the way this could be. He never had all that much to lose, until now.

Pulling out his cell, he checked for messages, but there were none. The last he had received was a half-hour ago, from Zoe, letting him know she had got caught up but would be there just as soon as she could. She hoped she to make it to Tricky Rick's before the new and improved Mattress Police went on, but wished him all the luck in the world, just in case she didn't.

Wade was sure he would feel better if she was there to tell him he could do this. Actually, maybe that would be worse, having her there to see him fail. He was hardly aware that any of what he was thinking was coming out of his mouth, until somebody called him on it.

"You know, if I ever told anybody I had seen Wade Kinsella nervous about anything, they'd never believe me," said Tansy with a wry smile. "But then, I guess that's the kind o' thing only an ex-wife should have seen, right?"

She was trying to make him smile too, he knew it, but for once in her life, Wade was pretty sure even Tansy wasn't going to know the right thing to say to achieve that. As well as she knew him, and she really did, this was a whole other level of panic he was feeling. Four beers and a couple of whiskey chasers hadn't managed to quiet the voices in his head, telling him over and over what a loser he was, what a fool he was going to look when this whole thing went to hell, how screwed he was going to be when Zoe decided he wasn't worth her time.

"Hey, come on, Wade," Tansy urged him, her hand at his elbow as she sat down beside him. "You know you shouldn't be so freaked out about this, right? It's just a Battle of the Bands. I mean, sure, it'll be amazing if you win, and havin' heard you guys play, I'll bet you really could, but if not, nobody's gonna strap you into the electric chair or anythin' so serious. Life as we know it will not be over."

Wade wished he shared her confidence. Not that he thought he was actually going to die if they didn't win, because obviously, that would be a crazy idea. Still, if he failed, when Zoe had put so much faith in him, when he had allowed himself to really believe he could make something of himself... Wade couldn't even bear to think about it, yet at the same time, he couldn't seem to stop himself either.

"I don't even know why I'm doin' this," he said then, eyes forward, because he couldn't stand to see sympathy, or worse, pity in Tansy's eyes. "You know as well as I do, Wade Kinsella is a loser. I ain't ever gonna amount to anythin'. No, sir, that is not what I was built for, all this achievin' and stuff. That's for guys like Tucker and Jesse and... and folks that just aren't me."

Tipping his head back, he downed the rest of his beer, wiping his mouth on the back of his wrist right after. Turning on his stool, he wobbled just a little, before finally coming to rest, facing Tansy.

"You know, I did things all wrong with you. I never treated you the way you deserved, and Tansy, I am so sorry about that."

"Wade, you and me... that was a long time ago," she reminded him, the sweetest smile on her lips. "At the time, sure, you hurt me plenty, but I got over it. I had to. Truth is, I was just so damn in love with you back then... but like I said, it was a long time ago. No offence, but I am over you now. I moved on, and you did too. You got Zoe in your life now, and even though she and I weren't exactly bosom buddies from the start, even I can see that she really loves you. You obviously love her too."

"I do," he admitted, knowing it was true, "but maybe that's the problem, Tans. Maybe I love her too much. Hell, maybe she loves me too much, though God knows why she would."

Wade wasn't even sure he was making sense anymore and he also wasn't sure he cared. He did love Zoe and he did believe she loved him too, no doubt about it, but that just meant there was more to lose when he screwed up. Not if, but when, because Wade Kinsella always screwed up, everybody knew that.

Turning right around on his stool, he called for the bartender and ordered another beer and another whiskey too. He half-expected Tansy to stop him, but she didn't say a word, and when he finally looked to see why not, he realised, she was gone.

"Zoe Hart, where the hell have you been?!"

She honestly wasn't sure what to think when she stepped into Tricky Rick's and was immediately confronted by an angry Tansy Truitt. With her arms folded across her chest and a hard look on her face, she was a little scary. Zoe couldn't imagine why her being a little late to Battle of the Bands was enough to incur her wrath.

"You see your boyfriend over there?" Tansy said then, pointing to the bar where Wade was sitting, throwing back a shot of whiskey, if she wasn't mistaken. "God knows how many drinks he has had, and you and I both know, the man can hold his liquor pretty well, but he started slurring his words already, and he and George are supposed to be on stage before too much longer."

"He's getting drunk?" Zoe asked of Wade, shaking her head. "Why would he...?"

"I don't know for sure," Tansy admitted, softening a little as she went on to explain. "I tried talkin' to him, but he didn't make all that much sense. He's nervous, I guess, but this ain't no regular stage fright. Wade's not the type for that anyhow. It's like... like he's pinnin' everything on winnin' tonight, but instead of that makin' him want to try his hardest, he's just... givin' up."

Zoe couldn't understand what she was saying, or maybe she could, if she really gave it some thought. After all, she knew better than most what a deep inferiority complex Wade kept hidden behind the false front of bravado he showed the world. He often felt like he was second-best and Zoe was well-aware that she hadn't helped with that. After all, she had favoured George over him for a while, and at one time, even his own brother, though that hadn't been a deliberate thing. Poor Wade.

"I'll talk to him," she told Tansy, immediately moving towards the bar.

She had trouble getting through the throng of people crowded into Tricky Rick's, and by the time she made it to Wade's side, he seemed less depressed or worried, and much more angry and belligerent, mostly in the direction of George Tucker. Zoe didn't really think they would come to blows, though it started to look like maybe she was wrong, when George's expression started resembling a thunder-cloud, and still, Wade kept pushing him.

"Okay, that is enough!" Zoe yelled then, physically putting herself between them. "George, please," she urged him, when he seemed set on fighting yet.

On seeing her, he softened some, raised his hands in surrender, then made a gesture that suggested he was done with the whole thing. Zoe hoped that didn't mean Battle of the Bands, though she wasn't sure she could blame him if it did. Wade was behaving like an ass, but she would like to think she would be able to help with that.

"Wade?" She turned to look at him then, not loving what she saw when she did. "Look at you," she said with a sigh, helping him up from the barstool he had just then sunk back onto. "Come on, outside for some fresh air."

When she tried to help him, he shrugged her off, walking under his own steam to the back exit. Zoe didn't take offence, just followed close behind and hoped when they got out of the busy bar, maybe, just maybe they would be able to figure things out.

To think they had both been looking forward to this night for days now. To think that Zoe had actually thought her luck was in when she managed to stave off an unpleasant incident in town. If not for good communication and quick-thinking on her part, Lavon would have had Tom Long all set up to propose to Wanda, with a horse no less! Everybody knew that Tom was terrified of horses, and besides, Wanda had her own flash-mob proposal planned, which would have been totally ruined.

Thankfully, all was well, or so Zoe had thought, until she got lost on her way to Tricky Rick's. It was only one wrong turning, and she figured it out fast enough. She had been glad to realise she had arrived before Mattress Police took their turn on stage. Of course, right now, Wade didn't look fit for singing or playing, or even walking a particularly straight line.

As they got outside, she watched him take a deep breath of fresh air and immediately seem to regret it. His hand came up to run over his face, and then, he just stood there, staring out into the darkening sky.

"Wade," she said softly, right at his shoulder, "what is going on with you tonight?"

"Nothin'," he told her, in a similarly muttered tone.

"Wade?" she tried again, reaching out a hand to his arm, trying to turn him but he wouldn't give at all - that was when the frustration started to get the better of her. "You said you would talk to me about anything that was bothering you," she reminded him. "You promised me that."

"Yeah, well, you weren't here to talk to!" he suddenly exploded, rounding on her with anger flashing in his eyes.

Zoe reeled back without really meaning to. He hadn't scared her, not really, just taken her by surprise. He actually seemed to have surprised himself too, and not in any kind of good way.

"I'm sorry," he said then, shaking his head. "I am, I'm sorry, baby, I just... I can't do all this," he admitted, waving one arm in the general direction of the bar.

"Why? Come on, Wade, you were so confident about winning Battle of the Bands," Zoe reminded him, but mindful of approaching him when he was so upset and drunk still. "You were so positive about it."

"Yeah, well, now I'm not," he told her, sounding less all-out mad now, but still frustrated, and very, very sad. "When are you gonna get this into your pretty little head, Zoe Hart? I am a loser," he said, a hand over his heart like he was pledging allegiance. "You can make all the big plans you want, but you gotta know, any part o' your life that has me in it is headed in just one direction - right down the drain. Ask anybody," he told her again, arms spread wide now, as he presented himself for inspection. "Wade Kinsella is a loser. Always has been, always will be. That's the cold, hard truth, sweetheart."

At the last word, he turned his back on her again, and Zoe swallowed hard, feeling sick. She hated that he felt this way, hated that life had kicked him in the face so many times, he actually believed he was worthless. It would be awful to hear from anybody, but most especially from someone she loved so much.

Taking a deep breath, she forced back the tears building behind her eyes and moved around in front of him, getting in his face as much as she could, given the difference in their height.

"You really believe that? That you're such a loser?" she challenged him. "Because I don't. At least, I didn't until right now, in this moment. You know, the only thing that is going to turn you into a loser is giving up, and I don't believe you would do that, not when you already worked so hard," she said firmly. "The Wade Kinsella that I know, the same one that I fell in love with, he is capable of so much. You are, Wade," she insisted, meeting his eyes, fighting a losing battle now with the tears in her own.

"You can do anything you put your mind to. I thought what you wanted was to win this battle and get the money to start your own bar. If that's not true, if you really don't want that, then fine. Don't do it. I don't care. It will not change how much I love you or what an amazing person you are. Nothing can change either of those things," she said, her hand at his cheek, making him keep on looking at her and listening to her, even when he seemed quite ready to turn away again.

"But if you do want that dream you told me about, if you want that bar that you planned and talked about all this time, then you have to fight for it. I'll be right here to support you, always, but you have to want it, Wade. You have to stand up and really try. That's no guarantee that you'll win tonight, I can't promise that you will, but it's a possibility. You could do it, but I know that you definitely won't if you don't at least try."

Even blinking as fast as she was, Zoe still couldn't see straight. She was crying now and knew she might as well give into it. What surprised her more than her own emotion, was seeing the same in Wade. In all the time they had known each other, as close as they had gotten, she had never once seen him cry. He came close a couple of times, but this was the first time she actually saw a tear escape his eye, running down onto her hand that was at his face still.

"I do," he said then, visibly swallowing hard before he could go on. "I wanna try, Zoe. I just..."

"I know." She nodded, when his voice trailed away to nothing. "I get that it's scary to try and risk failing, I honestly do, but like I said, I'm right here," she promised, edging ever closer. "And I'm going to love you no matter what. You cannot screw up so badly that I won't love you any more, Wade. That can't happen."

When he pulled her into his arms then and held on so tight, Zoe let out a long sigh of relief. She had got through to him, made him understand. She hadn't been sure if she could, especially when he was so drunk, but thank God, she had done it.

"I love you so much, Zoe," he said softly near her ear.

"I know," she told him, smiling as she pulled back to look at him, aware that another band had just started playing inside the bar, doubtless the last before Wade and George were supposed to go on. "So, what do you wanna do? Honest answers only," she insisted.

Wade took a deep breath before he answered her. "I want my own bar," he admitted, "which means I need to at least try to win this thing," he added, looking past her to the building in which his destiny now waited for him.

Zoe smiled widely. "Okay, then we need to get you some coffee, stat."

"The winner of Battle of the Bands 2013 is... Mattress Police!"

Wade felt eight foot high as he walked up on stage with George Tucker and the rest of the band to claim the first prize award and the cheque for $20,000. It was hard to believe it was real, that this whole thing wasn't just some crazy dream he would wake up from any second.

They won. He won. That meant he was good enough. More than that, it meant for tonight at least, in this one instance, Wade Kinsella was better than the rest. As he looked down from the stage into the crowd, he saw Zoe, with Tansy alongside her, the two of them cheering and clapping, like the craziest pair of groupies any band ever had.

Of course, it was more than that. Zoe loved him. Wade knew that for sure, perhaps more now than he ever had before, and maybe for the first time since this whole real relationship between them started, that didn't seem so scary. In fact, it seemed like the greatest thing in the whole world.

Heading back down from the stage, Wade watched George grab a hold of Tansy and all but toss her in the air, he was so happy. Then suddenly Zoe was throwing herself into Wade's own arms, holding on tight, telling him just how proud she was of him and how he had done so well tonight.

"Thank you, Zoe," he told her, pulling back to meet her eyes, one hand pushing her hair back behind her ear. "I mean it, if you hadn't gotten here when you did and talked to me that way... You are honestly amazing, you know that, right?"

She grinned up at him, looking more beautiful than ever to his eyes. "I know that I have an amazing boyfriend who just showed the whole of Alabama what it is to rock!" she said joyfully. "And you're going to open an amazing bar, Wade, and make it a real success. I just know that you will."

"Yeah, I guess I know it too," Wade agreed, finding he might just actually mean it, as he leaned down to kiss Zoe Hart, letting her know in just any way he could how very much she meant to him, tonight and always.

To Be Continued...