AN:Hello everyone,
First of all, thank you very much for your reviews, I was pleased to receive them. Here is the second chapter, as I have already announced it's about Lavon. It's shorter than the previous one because I'm trying to avoid parts of the conversation repeating themselves or being too similar.
Next and last time George will enter the coach house. I already have a few ideas, but I'm going to let myself be surprised how it goes;-)
I hope you guys like it.

(See chapter 1 for disclaimer)

Hostages

2. Lavon

"So you'd be happier if we just left them alone?" Lavon asked George incredulously.

Wade slapped his hand on the table in frustration. "I can maybe understand why you don't want me to go. But for whatever reason you think Lavon isn't the person Lemon should be seeing right now: You have absolutely no right, after what you've done, to determine which people Lemon gets to see." he snapped at George.

George dropped into a chair on Wade's porch and put his head in his hands. "Okay. Let Lavon go."

"Great," Wade snorted.

Lavon had already turned around when George called after him. "Don't you want to take something with you? For defense? A knife or something?

Wade and Lavon both stared at George in shock. Lavon was the first to regain his speech. "Lemon may be upset or angry, but most of all she's scared, confused and desperate. I'm certainly not going to threaten her now, I'm going to try to calm her down," he clarified. "Lemon...she's not a monster. I just don't think she would hurt me." he concluded.

George raised his eyes and looked at Lavon wordlessly for a few seconds with an impenetrable stare.

Then Wade stepped between them. "Well, Lavon, you should be on your way now and George and I will wait here."

Lavon just nodded before walking away in the direction of Zoe's house without another word.

"Zoe? This is Lavon. Can I come in?"

When Zoe heard the voice outside the door, she froze for a moment and looked over at Lemon uncertainly. The latter shrugged her shoulders helplessly, whereupon Zoe called outside in a loud voice: "Sorry Lavon, I'm not feeling well. I think dinner will have to go ahead without me."

An audible sigh sounded outside the door. "Okay. Lemon, I know you're here, Wade saw you. Why don't you just let me in for now?"

Zoe looked questioningly over at Lemon, who bit her lip but nodded in agreement. So Zoe got up and went into the hallway to let Lavon into the house.

After Zoe opened the door, Lavon checked her out from top to bottom. When he couldn't find any injuries, he moved on to look into the room where Lemon was sitting in one of the armchairs.

Lavon seemed to realize immediately that the assumption that Lemon was threatening Zoe didn't really fit. "Oh God Lemon, what happened?" he asked in dismay, glancing back and forth between her and Zoe.

Lemon laughed tonelessly. "I was jilted." she said, although she knew that hardly answered Lavon's question.

"And from the looks of it, I'm not handling it well." she continued. "I seem to have had something of a breakdown," Lemon tried to smile, but she couldn't. "I actually wanted to be more independent, so I sought my help from the woman who got me into this situation in the first place." She closed her eyes briefly to hold back the tears that had welled up in her eyes.

Lavon gave Zoe a questioning sideways glance. She nodded, confirming Lemon's statement. Lavon carefully approached Lemon, leaned forward and gently took her in his arms.

Lemon was no longer able to suppress her tears. In Lavon's embrace, she began to sob without restraint. "Hey, don't worry." Lavon tried to comfort her and stroked her head reassuringly.

The two of them remained in their position for quite a while. At some point, Lemon calmed down enough to free herself from Lavon's arms and look at him. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice choked with tears.

"I didn't do anything," Lavon replied. "And it may take you a while to come to terms with all this, but I'm one hundred percent sure you'll figure it out, and then you'll show George and the rest of the town. Just like Lemon Breeland does." He smiled at her encouragingly.

"I don't know...but I'm glad you believe in me." Lemon looked up at him and managed a small smile as well.

On the other side of the room, Zoe stood with her hands clasped in front of her chest, watching the two of them with narrowed eyes.

Then she cleared her throat to get their attention. "Lavon? Could you come here for a minute?" she said loudly.

"Um," Lavon looked a little confused and shook himself briefly to clear his head. He then walked over to Zoe, who now grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the hallway so Lemon couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"She'll feel better, won't she? It's nothing serious? Lavon asked immediately, concerned.

'No, exactly like Lemon said. It was just a panic attack. And yes, she'll recover," Zoe reassured her friend, rolling her eyes. "I actually just wanted to talk to you to tell you that you'd better go."

"What?" Lavon replied in shock, "Do you think Lemon is worse because I'm here?"

"Nonsense," Zoe said, shaking her head. "To be honest, you've calmed her down more in a few minutes than I did in the previous half hour."

"But why..." Lavon began, but Zoe interrupted him.

"You're here to comfort Lemon, yes, that's good for her, but I'm actually thinking about you," Zoe now explained. "Lemon is crying because she's been left. She's in a bad way because of another man. She's crying for George, Lavon, and as sweet as it is that you care about her..."

Zoe faltered for a moment as she searched for the right words. "Lemon has broken your heart before, and I know you still deeply care about her. I don't want her to hurt you again, even if it's unintentional."

Lavon looked at Zoe with a sad expression. She bit her lower lip but continued anyway.

"Lemon chose George over you back then. Now they didn't get married because, well, George decided against Lemon. That doesn't mean Lemon's decision has changed." Zoe concluded quietly. She looked up at Lavon worriedly, knowing that her words had to hurt him.

Lavon swallowed hard. "You're right..." he said slowly, sounding like he was reluctant to admit it. "I mustn't get my hopes up again right away"

Zoe nodded, relieved that Lavon understood what she meant. "I'm not saying you can never get together, just maybe not right now." She smiled encouragingly at Lavon.

He turned slightly to peer into the room where Lemon was sitting. "Do you think I can really go...?"

Zoe rolled her eyes in amusement. "I'm a doctor. I can handle this."

"Okay," Lavon sighed, "but take care of her."

"I promise," Zoe replied with a slight smile.

Lavon took a deep breath and then went back to Lemon, who looked at him expectantly and with a questioning face.

"Lemon, I'm sorry, but I have to get back. It's late…and dinner is still there… and..."

"It's okay," Lemon finished his desperate attempt to explain. She tried to smile, but even Zoe could tell that Lemon didn't really mean it.

Still, Lavon nodded and turned around so he couldn't change his mind again. At the door, he glanced at Zoe. It was clear that he wished he wasn't leaving after all. Zoe raised an eyebrow suggestively and Lavon finally left, pulling the door shut behind him. The two girls stayed behind.

When Zoe came back into the living room, Lemon immediately raised her eyes.

"You told him to leave." It wasn't a question, but a statement. Zoe looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

When Lemon said it, it sounded pretty bad. As if Zoe hadn't just taken her fiancé away from her. And now she was sending away the only other person who had been a support for Lemon. Zoe sat down in an armchair opposite Lemon as she searched for words.

"He's my best friend," she finally said simply.

"And you're probably right," Lemon replied quietly. "It's not fair to him." She stared into the air, lost in thought, before adding quietly, "I've never really been fair to him. Thank you that at least you're looking out for his feelings."

Zoe looked at Lemon as she spoke. Then she noted, "Still, you wish he'd stayed."

"Yeah..." Lemon sighed. Zoe put a hand on Lemon's arm sympathetically.

They sat like that for quite a while, each of them thinking about their own thoughts. Finally, Lemon stood up.

"I should get back home now. My father will be worried otherwise." She stepped towards the door. "Thank you for your help." She apologized formally. With a few steps, she walked to the shelf and picked up the cake knife that was there.

Zoe watched, amazed that Lemon was actually still thinking about it after all that. She quickly got up too and followed Lemon to the door. There they looked at each other for a moment, unsure how to say goodbye.

After a short pause, Lemon said. "It's good to know that your situation isn't the best either." She smiled slightly.

Zoe had to grin too. "Yes, it's nice when others are just as miserable. Although I don't want to say that my situation is as bad as yours," she added immediately so as not to upset Lemon.

Lemon shook her head. "Being split between two men is very bad, I'm well aware of that." She shrugged her shoulders, "So I wish you the best of luck with them."

Lemon then turned around, and before Zoe knew what to say, Lemon had already left and pulled the door shut behind her.