Stubborn Love

by onelightshining

This story starts at the point where the Nashville finale left us, with Juliette revealing the depths of her self hatred to Avery, and his reaction to this. What happens next, and more.

1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

Avery was overwhelmed by what he had just heard his girlfriend, Juliette say to him. He was completely taken aback by her words to the point that he was knocked off balance and he stepped back, to rebalance. He took some time to process what she had just told him.

Despite all the pain he felt by her catastrophic mistake, he couldn't help but soften towards her, as she had just opened up and bared all to him. He had always known there was a darkness to her past, and that there was more to her than she had previously let on, but nothing could have prepared him for what he had just heard. The depth of her suffering, pain and self-hatred had been revealed, beautifully, in front of him. He was so confused before, but now, he was an absolute wreck of confusion, mixed with love, pain and guilt. It became glaringly obvious that he'd misjudged the situation before she had made her mistake and he wondered how big a part his actions had played.

So now he needed to decide what he was going to do. His initial anger at the discovery of her infidelity had been dampened by her tears of pain that had washed over him. He felt like she was drowning now, even more than before, and he was the only one who could keep her afloat. He didn't know whether he had it in him to proceed with their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend, but he would never turn his back on her completely. Especially not now, he loved her far too much. To see her like this, hurt him much more than her mistakes ever could.

He slowly walked across the room and sat down next to her. Tears were intermittently rolling down his face. She looked at him, she looked so broken.

"I really don't know that I can be your boyfriend right now, but I could never leave you completely. I want to be there for you, I'm going to help you get through this. You're never going to be alone. I promise." He looked down as his tears quickened their pace.

He watched her sorrowful eyes as they looked up at what she had lost. She continued to cry but managed to whisper, "Thank you," as a quiet sob escaped.

He reached over to her and pulled him to her and held her. Her small frame shook in his arms, overwhelmed as she thought about what she had just admitted to him, the realisation of the reason for her actions and the grief of losing the love of her life.

He whispered in her ear.

"It's going to be okay."