AN: Hello again,
thank's very much for the reviews. This is now the last chapter of my short series.
Hope you enjoy it.

Hostages

3. George

You'll make it worse if you go in." Wade tried to dissuade George from his plan.

"I have to go though," George said through clenched teeth. He had his eyes fixed on Zoe's house on the other side of the pond, while Wade clutched his arm to keep him from walking away.

"Oh of course, Golden Boy has to handle everything himself!" Wade hissed angrily. "But I think you must realize that you can't improve the situation because you caused it in the first place!"

George took a breath, then turned his head and looked directly at Wade. "That's exactly it. It's my fault. If Lemon really hurts Zoe..." He faltered and had to swallow. "Then it's my fault. That's why I have to at least try to... calm her down."

Wade looked at George very seriously. But there was nothing but honesty in George's face. Slowly, Wade let go of George's arm. "Okay. Then go to them. But if you haven't come back in fifteen minutes, I'll come and check."

George nodded. "Thanks." Then he turned energetically and set off with quick steps.

Zoe and Lemon's conversation was interrupted when someone suddenly banged on the door of the carriage house. "Let me in!"

When Lemon heard the voice, she flinched violently and slapped her hand over her mouth. She had immediately recognized who was at the door. Zoe, however, did not. She looked at Lemon in confusion.

Slowly, Lemon lowered her hand and whispered, " That's George."

Zoe opened her mouth in astonishment. George's voice sounded again from outside. "Lemon let me in right now or I'll have to kick the door down!"

The look on Lemon's face became even more panicked. George knew she was here. With a glance at Lemon, Zoe stood up quickly. "I'll handle this. Take it easy."

Carefully, she opened the door. "George, maybe you could come back another..." She didn't get any further, because George pushed the door all the way open, stormed past Zoe and pushed her protectively behind his back.

"I'm here, it's going to be okay now." He said to Zoe as he stepped across the hallway into Zoe's living room.

At the sight that awaited him there, George stood rooted to the spot. The traces of tears were still clearly visible on Lemon's face as she sat exhausted in Zoe's armchair. She clearly didn't look like someone who had just planned a knife attack.

When George had entered, she had jerked her head upwards. Now the two of them stared at each other wordlessly. Neither managed to avert their eyes or say anything until Zoe hurriedly stood between them, blocking George's view of Lemon.

"What on earth are you doing? Have you lost your mind?" Zoe snapped at him angrily, putting her hands on her hips.

"I...well..." stammered George, visibly unable to cope with the new situation. Then he focused on Zoe and took a deep breath before answering.

"I was just at Wade's, and..."

"What did you want with Wade?" Zoe interjected, frowning slightly in confusion.

"Um, well, make some kind of peace I guess, or at least a ceasefire." Zoe tilted her head, unsure what to make of this development, but then nodded, prompting George to continue.

"Well, I was with Wade and then he said he saw Lemon come to you." George kept his eyes fixed on Zoe as he spoke. "I didn't believe him at first, but Wade was pretty sure. Yeah, well, and then I got a call from Bill. He told me I had to watch out because Lemon was walking around town with a knife in her hand."

Zoe gave a short, incredulous laugh as she finally understood what was going on. "You came because you thought you had to protect me from Lemon."

George looked anything but amused. "Yeah, I guess." He replied hesitantly.

"Did you really think I was going to attack Zoe?" For the first time since George had entered the carriage house, Lemon now said something. George took a step forward so he could look past Zoe to Lemon.

"You've known me for fifteen years," Lemon's voice trembled slightly, "and you believe I could hurt someone with a knife?"

George opened his mouth but didn't make a sound. He turned his gaze to the floor. Lemon nodded, a bitter expression on her face. "Good to know." she mumbled, just loud enough for George to hear her words.

Zoe tried to make the situation better by attracting George's attention again. "Lemon wanted to give the knife back to someone. It's here." She pointed to a shelf behind George. And she didn't attack me." She clarified.

"I can see that," George replied, his eyes still on the floor. Then he looked uncertainly back at Lemon. "What's going on? Are you all right?"

Lemon stood up from the chair and glared at George. "Do I look like I'm all right?" she asked him angrily. She looked him firmly in the eye and didn't even try to hold back the tears that were now running down her cheeks. It was as if she wanted to make it clear to George that she was in a bad way.

George half opened his mouth, not knowing what he actually wanted to say. Lemon didn't let him have a word.

"Of course I'm not all right. I should have been married today. I even wanted to be." She burst out angrily. "And even if you don't seem to care about the fact that we would have gotten married yesterday: the last fifteen years have meant something to me. You've meant something to me." Lemon's voice had become softer and softer. As she continued, she almost whispered. "You still mean something to me, unfortunately."

George swallowed hard. "I... um..." he stammered. "Our relationship meant something to me, too." He finally said quietly.

Lemon shook her head at his words. "Maybe it did. Just not enough."

George carefully took a few steps towards Lemon. "I'm sorry." He reached out to place his hand on Lemon's arm. Lemon flinched away from his touch. " Don't!" she hissed.

George bit his lips. "If there's anything I can do to make it better...you just have to tell me how."

Lemon looked into his eyes and in her expression, now that the anger had subsided, there was mostly pain and sadness. "Just go," she whispered in a choked voice. "Go. Please."

George tried to hold her gaze for a moment longer, then slowly lowered his hand, turned and walked back to Zoe.

Zoe led him out of the living room into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind him so that Lemon was alone again. Just before the door closed, George looked back again. Lemon had sunk back into her chair. Her eyes watched George and Zoe leave the room and tears streamed down her face. Then the door was closed.

"Can you explain why Lemon is here?" George asked after they had both stood there in silence for a while.

"I can't. You know about doctor-patient confidentiality." Zoe replied.

"But she's not ill. She's here because of me." It was a mixture of statement and question and George wasn't sure if Zoe would even answer.

"I think Lemon just made it more than clear to you what's going on." Zoe said after a short pause.

George just nodded. He looked embarrassed and kind of lost as he stood in Zoe's hallway, his eyes darting to the door Lemon was sitting behind every few seconds.

"You're surprised she's like this, aren't you?" Zoe couldn't help but ask, George just seemed too confused.

"I... Well, I of course knew she wasn't happy." George tried to justify himself to Zoe's indirect accusation. "I just didn't think she'd be so bad."

Zoe raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "It was... It should have been her wedding. The best day of life. For Lemon, it must have felt more like a nightmare. You can't have seriously thought that wouldn't hurt her."

"No, but..." George hesitated, then sighed heavily. "It's just that even though we've known each other for so long, I've rarely seen Lemon like this. Over the last few weeks, we've been constantly fooling ourselves and our relationship just hasn't worked out. Not on either side. So I kind of assumed, well, it's not so bad for Lemon as well."

Zoe stared at him for a moment, speechless. "Yeah basically I think you're right, if she'd loved you she'd probably be a lot worse off now. But since I was pretty involved in that relationship, I know that Lemon has been trying everything to keep it going lately. She wouldn't have done that if she didn't really want it to work. So I'm not surprised by how she's feeling.

George didn't answer for a while, then he whispered. "I'm such an idiot."

Zoe didn't try to convince him otherwise. As much as she had wanted George to leave Lemon and choose Zoe herself, his behavior tonight had clearly not been very smart.

"You should go now." Zoe stated instead of reacting to his comment.

"I should." George agreed. "Do you think we can meet for coffee tomorrow?" Even George himself didn't seem convinced by his suggestion. The fact that his ex-fiancée was sitting in the next room crying made the situation even more awkward.

Zoe shook her head in response. "You know George, the way you reacted tonight showed me that this whole break-up thing isn't over. I don't want to accuse you of anything. But I get the feeling that you've never thought through the consequences of your decision. You need time. Maybe we'll have a chance at some point afterwards, maybe we'll be happy with someone else." Zoe couldn't suppress a small smile at these words. "In any case, I think we should leave it at that for now."

"Actually, I'm thinking the same thing after tonight," George admitted. "Good luck with your someone else," he added with a wink. He had noticed the look on Zoe's face and knew that the someone else was Wade.

Zoe nodded, grateful for George's insight and bid him farewell with a few words before finally returning to Lemon.

"I'm pathetic." Lemon said quietly as soon as Zoe had sat down. "I wasn't going to let George see me like this. I don't want him to think I care that much."

Zoe immediately reassured her, though. "If anyone should be ashamed of your tears, it's George himself. And believe me, he is. You've at least made him feel guilty about what he's done." With a slight smile, she added: "Even I have to admit that he deserves it."

Lemon managed a shaky smile as well. "Thank you. I think I'll be leaving now too. But I'm glad you made it clear to George why I'm miserable and why it's okay."

It wasn't until long after Lemon had left her house that Zoe realized Lemon must have overheard the conversation in the hallway to know what Zoe had made clear to George.