Still Not Talkin' About It

This fun little one shot is one that I started right after 2.15 "They Don't Make 'Em Like Daddy Anymore" but then forgot about it. I ran across it the other night, re-watched the episode and now I have finished it. It's just missing/extended scenes from that episode, that I felt were necessary to explain why Avery told Zoey that he was "still not talking about it." You know the girl was bugging him about it constantly on their drive to the gig with Deacon. So this is my theory on how that happened.

Love to hear your thoughts! Let me know what you think in the reviews!

I own nothing.

"We're going to run out of gas."

Gunnar looked over at Zoey, rolling his eyes at her. "No we aren't."

"Then why is the fuel gauge sitting on the 'E'?" she asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"It's not -" Gunnar looked at the dashboard and halted his words immediately.

Glancing up from whatever he was doing on his phone, Avery looked too. "She's right. Also, that," he said, pointing to the gas station sign up ahead, "Is the last gas station for about seven miles."

"If I'd a known that you two were going to gang up on me, I wouldn't have offered to drive," he said, grudgingly pulling his truck into the old service station.

"Well it's a good thing I was paying attention. Between you not ignoring the gas gauge, and him," she pointed at Avery, "glued to his phone since we left town, we would have gone another three miles and been stuck on the side of the road. I don't want to piss Deacon Clayborne off. Never seen the man mad, but I can't imagine it would be pretty."

"It's not," both men said simultaneously. Gunnar put the truck in park and hopped out to put some gas in the tank.

To her right Avery's phone started ringing. She looked over to watch him take the call. She couldn't help but notice the small smile that appeared on his face as he answered. He glanced over at her then opened his door, stepping out of earshot. Considering all the rumors running rampant around the Bluebird about his relationship status with a certain superstar, Zoey's curiosity was peaked. Unfortunately, there was no way to hear the conversation without being too obvious. So she decided a quick nap was in order while the guys were out of the truck. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the back of the bench seat.

Leaning against the back of the bed of the truck, Avery talked quietly into his phone. "Hey. Sorry about that. Zoey was being nosy."

Juliette giggled on the other end of the line. He could tell she was walking somewhere, the familiar sound of her stilettos hitting a marble floor echoing in the phone. "It's okay. I got your text. You guys are playing with Deacon tonight?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, as if she could see him. "Just a small club outside of town. Nothing major. But it will be fun."

"I'll bet," he heard her sigh quietly. "Wish I could be there."

He stepped forward, a few steps from the truck, pacing slightly as they talked. "Hmmm. Me too." he pushed the sadness out of his voice, knowing that she would be coming home soon. "But tell me about LA. What does Howie V have planned for you."

"Avery, we've already been in the studio," she said, unable to keep a twinge of excitement at bay. Avery could tell by the way she started talking faster. "He made this big production of it. I've never experienced anything like it. There was a horn section and a string section and a harp ..."

He was taken aback by what she was describing. That wasn't her sound. "A harp? Really?"

"Yeah." She sighed as she continued talking. "It was ... different."

"In a good way?"

She paused. "Honestly, I have no idea. He said he'll have a final cut for us tomorrow. It was so much fun, though. The energy in the room was ... amazing."

"I'll bet." He tried to push some joy into his voice, but he wasn't sure he succeeded.

"Not as fun as being in the studio with you, though." Her voice turned to a whisper. "Especially considering what happened in the studio after we had the vocals done."

He blushed lightly at the memory. The night when they had spent hours laying down the track for her song, things had gotten heated in the sound booth. Not that either of them were complaining. "Yeah, I sure hope nothing like that happened with Howie V."

Hearing the burst of laughter from her mouth made him smile. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about in that department."

"That's good to know," he said, clearly not really all that worried about it. He heard a door shut in the background. "What are you doing now?"

"Well, we just got in a limo, and are headed out for drinks and then dinner."

"Sounds great."

"Honestly," she sighed, "I'd rather be in jeans and a tshirt going to watch you guys play with Deacon."

"No. This is a great opportunity for you. You are right where you need to be," he said as he watched Gunnar finish up with the gas and hop back in beside his girlfriend. "Plus, you would rethink that if you were stuck in this truck with Zoey and Gunnar bickering the entire trip," he said with exasperation filling his voice, causing Juliette to laugh again. "When will you be back?"

"Um," she paused, thinking it over. "Probably late tomorrow. You're working tomorrow night, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll just meet up with you when I land, okay?" she asked.

"I can't wait," he said softly, hoping she could tell how much he really meant it.

"Avery, I ..." Juliette hesitated, an untold emotion filling her voice. "I miss you."

He smiled, looking down at his feet, shuffling them across the gravel and back toward the truck. He knew what she really meant, and he felt it too. "I ... miss you too. Stay safe. I'll see you soon. Bye."

Hitting the end call button, he returned to the cab of the truck to find Gunnar and Zoey fussing over the radio. He rolled his eyes as he opened the door and climbed in next to her, causing the argument to stop instantly. He looked up as they both stared at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Gunnar responded quickly, but Zoey was clearly biting her tongue.

Avery wasn't stupid. He knew what people were saying around work and he knew that Zoey and Gunnar had heard it too. So far they had been nice enough to keep their mouths shut. He knew that Gunnar wouldn't say anything, but Avery could tell that Zoey had about reached her breaking point. He was proven right about a half a mile down the road.

"Okay, screw it," Zoey muttered to herself as she looked over at him. "I have to ask. Juliette Barnes. What's going on with you two?"

He shook his head at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You suck at lying," Zoey said, rolling her eyes at him. "I saw you guys at the Bluebird the other night at Deacon's recording. She was practically glued to your side the whole night. And though I didn't see it myself, Becca says she saw you kiss her. And that phone call you'd been waiting for all day, I saw the name that popped up on the screen and the look on your face when you answered. Don't deny it."

"You watch too much CSI," he said, looking away. "I'm not talking about it."

"Please!" Zoey begged."Just give me a little something. I'm not going to call TMZ or anything."

"Nope," he repeated, though he couldn't keep the hint of a smile off his face.

She saw that he wasn't going to break, so with a pout on her lips, she turned the radio back up as they drove the last few miles of their trip.

At that same moment, as Juliette hung up the phone, she looked up across the limo to find Glenn staring at her, smirk on his face.

"What?" she asked, attempting to sound nonchalant about the whole phone call. She was pretty sure she failed miserably.

Raising his eyebrows at her expectantly, she knew him well enough to know where this conversation was about to go. She braced herself for it. "You and Avery, huh?"

A smile formed on her face involuntarily at the sound of his name. How did that happen? she couldn't help but wonder. She was never going to be that person. She wasn't that lucky. Until now, anyway. "Yeah. Me and Avery."

Her manager looked at her like he could see inside her soul. He had known her longer than anyone who was in her life and she was pretty sure he could tell that what she had with Avery was very different. "How long has this been going on? Was I blind and missed it?" he asked, curiosity hanging on every word.

She shook her head. "Nothing happened until last week."

Glenn chuckled. "It was a long time coming, that's for sure. I think Emily and Bo had $20 bucks riding on when it would finally happen."

"They're both fired," she said deadpan, knowing that her manager knew better. She sighed happily, looking out the window at the posh Beverly Hills neighborhood they were passing through. "I didn't know it could be like this, Glenn."

"You look happy. Not that you need my blessing, but I think he's good for you. I was hoping this is where it was headed, but I wasn't going to say anything," he said gently.

She wasn't usually the girl who spilled her thoughts and feelings, but she had to tell someone. It might as well be Glenn. "It's funny, you know. For the first time in my life, I am with someone that I can actually see a future with. No one's ever made me feel like I deserved that before. But with him ... I don't know. I feel complete."

A soft smile formed on her manager's face and he looked at her like a father would his daughter. "You know what they call that?"

"What?"

"Love."

Looking out the window out on to the busy LA streets outside, Juliette smiled, the word repeating over and over in her head.

The Bluebird was filled with cheers and applause as Avery, Zoey and Gunnar turned the stage back over the Deacon. As the older man passed behind Avery, he whispered into his ear, "She's waiting in the back hall for you." Avery nodded, big grin on his face.

"Gunnar, watch the board for a second," he asked heading straight for the back, not seeing the look his two fellow performers gave each other behind him. They'd both seen Juliette out in the crowd during the song.

Turning the corner, he suddenly felt her arms around his neck and her soft lips pressed against his. After the surprise wore off, he leaned into the kiss that intensified with each passing second. He lifted his hands to her face, brushing her cheeks with his fingers. It wasn't until the sound of Deacon's first song ended and the applause rang out again, that she pulled away from him.

"Hey."

He leaned his forehead against hers and pressed another kiss to her nose. "Welcome back. I missed you."

"I missed you too." She glanced back toward the main room where Deacon had launched into another song. "I didn't want to cause a scene out there."

Avery laughed at her gently. "Yeah, that kiss might have done it. As it is, all my co-workers are talking about us. This isn't going to make that stop."

"I warned you about that the other night," she said, still wrapped in his arms as he shrugged. "That was quite the welcome back present you gave me back there. You guys were amazing! I love the song... Did you write it?"

"Yeah," he said, looking away for a second.

"When?"

He gaze met hers again. "Last week. a few days before the Opry show."

The both knew the implications of that. She thought that the lyrics rang a little bit true, but this just confirmed it for her. He wrote the song about her, before she confessed anything to him over that stupid casserole dish of pink macaroni, that never did get eaten. "After you made me sing in the streets?"

"What can I say. I was inspired."

She smiled up at him, a twinkle in her eyes. "You should get back to work."

He grinned and held out his hand to her. They walked back into the main room and stepped up into the booth, both acknowledging Gunnar with a nod. Avery ignored the raised eyebrows from his friend as Juliette found a stool to sit on in the corner and he got back to work.

"Playing with friends who get me and my music. It makes all the difference."

Juliette looked down at her hands, taking in his words, wishing things in her world could be that simple.

"Hey, you okay?"

Looking back up, she smiled. She didn't want to think about any of that stuff at this moment. "I'm great. I'm home. I really did miss you." She moved over to his side of the sofa and pressed a kiss to his lips. "You know, last night, I was all alone in that big fancy hotel room and all I could think about was how we never finished what we started the other day. When we got interrupted..." she drawled, accent suddenly thicker, her fingers running up and down his chest.

"Oh yeah?" he asked, a mischievous grin playing on his lips. "You should have called. We could have ... figured something out ..."

Juliette laughed. "That would have been about the time you, Gunnar and Zoey were in the truck headed back for Nashville. That would have been downright cruel, wouldn't it? If I had called you and told you what I was thinking about?"

"Yeah, probably. You know what, though. We are all alone now." He stood and pulled her up next to him, kissing her again and leading her back toward her bedroom.

"Yes ... yes we are."