"We received a distress call. We lost contact with the plane 90 miles west of Nashville."
Avery's mind works and works and works while he waits for any kind of word on the search effort. If not for Cadence, he would be out there now, racing towards the speculated spot- somewhere by Camden or one of the other many small towns out that way, they're thinking. It's tempting to call Glenn or Emily, get someone to come and take the baby, but something stays his hand. Probably because the baby is the only thing keeping him together, and she's already maybe- oh God please no- lost her mother and he can't risk her losing him too...
Search efforts are hindered, he knows this. The storm that may have had a hand in taking Juliette's plane down, the fact that it's night out, the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere and there's so much terrain to cover... He closes his eyes, he lifts Cadence out of her carrier and rocks her gently, aware that she wasn't fussing, but just needing the contact himself. Juliette being so bad off that she'd almost committed suicide had been the wakeup call he'd needed, had made him see that their family was important, that Cadence needed her. That he needed her. And that under all of her terrible decisions and painful actions, she had needed them more than he'd ever realized.
The thought of it being too late makes him feel ill inside, leaves him wanting to scream and cry and rage, but the baby needs him more, so he refrains, gritting his teeth and listening as report after report comes in to the airport security room he's currently taking up a corner of. Finally the agent from before approaches him. His voice is muddled, faint to Avery's ringing ears. But he catches the gist of the terrible news.
"... winds were... struck by lightning... broke apart prior to impact, made it harder to find... no survivors... the search is..."
He swallows hard. He grips the baby until she wakes up with a whimper. Tries to piece together a world that doesn't have Juliette Barnes in it. Fails, and fails again. The first call he makes is to Glenn. What happens after he gets the words out, he's not sure. It takes a few minutes before he remembers Glenn is still in LA, dealing with various managerial things after the award show. "I'm sorry," he says distantly. "I'm so damn sorry." And he hangs up, pressing his face in Cadence's soft skin and finally breaking apart.
This is how Emily finds them, tears streaking down her face too as she lifts the baby out of his hands and tries to soothe her, sits with Avery and mourns the complicated, incredible life that's just been lost to them all.
-x
It's dark and quiet in the room. Everything hurts and she can barely think, much less move. Her eyes flutter open briefly, she thinks she hears a voice, but it all fades away too quickly. The blankets are scratchy under her touch and she crinkles her nose in disgust, trying to push it away but failing to find the strength. Each time she opens her eyes, things are a little different- the pain is sharper, her focus is stronger, the voice is louder. Finally, after what feels like years, she finds her own voice. "Shut up, Jeff, God!"
This gives her pause. Jeff had died months ago- had died to save her, something she still struggles against daily, because dammit, she hated him, wanted to punch his smug face every time she saw it, but then the flashes of memory of his coming to her, trying to get her off the ledge just to plummet over it himself... She fights to sit up, to look, but at the slightest movement, her entire body lights up in pain anew and she cries out, gripping her ribs and trying not to throw up.
"Now look what you did," and dammit, yes, it's that cockroach Jeff's voice and she looks up and over, staring him in the eye. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," he continues on, that smug look still on his face even in death. "Oh wait... you have." He crowds her as he did in life, sitting next to her on the bed. "Before you ask, yes I'm dead. No, I don't know why I'm here. Maybe it's my penance for everything I put people through. Instead of watching over someone I really care about, I get stuck with you." He smirks as Juliette glares at him, still struggling to breathe normally.
"Why... why am I only now seeing you then?"
He tsks at her, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child. "Honestly, Juliette. I give up my entire life for you, my future with Layla, just so you waste it in rehab and then get in a plane crash?" He rolls his eyes. "I expected more out of you, honestly."
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't hold up to your twisted ideals," she snaps back.
That infuriating smirk is back and she wants to smack him again, but oh God she hurts. "It's early yet," he says after a moment. "You could make up for it." Their eyes lock and she wonders again how she can see him so well when everything else around them is dark. "I mean, hell, I didn't sacrifice myself for you just so you'd let yourself waste away in this weird shack thing."
There's a pause and she exhales, risking a quick look around. It's shadowy but he's right- it is little more than a shack, with a bed, and a fireplace, and odds and ends scattered around that she can't recognize in the dark. "Where am I?"
"Hell if I know," he says lazily, getting up and dusting his hands off. "Not where you need to be, that's for damn sure." His eyes are on hers once more and she bristles. "Better get up and start walkin'."
She hates him so much, even now with words like hero and savior echoing around in her head, but dammit, he's right. So she does.
-x
Days pass. No other bodies except for the pilot and flight attendant are found. They're not sure what happened to Juliette's body, but between the storms and general elements in the area, she's presumed dead, and even when suggested to them that they widen the search, try harder, police in the area have a litany of reasons- excuses- why it would be a waste of time.
Avery can't function, much less think about what's next. Cadence needs care, and arrangements need to be made. A lawyer pays him a visit at some point during all of this and he learns that Juliette's will was recently updated, to Avery's surprise, and everything was left to him, with a fair share of Juliette's money set aside for Cadence as soon as she's old enough to manage it responsibly. He never has to struggle to make it again, and it's equally incredible and heartbreaking at the same time because the money means nothing without Juliette, her intelligence, her humor, experiencing it all alongside him.
Glenn and Emily are in and out, trying to help, Gunnar and Scarlett, Will and Kevin, this person and that person trying to console Avery, get him to eat something. All Avery can do is respond whenever Cadence cries, everything else white noise in his head. At some point, Emily puts together a memorial service for Juliette but no one really calls it that, because Avery refuses to listen whenever someone tries to talk to him about life post-Juliette. He can barely breathe whenever he thinks about her cold and alone, unable to be located in those dense trees which he still hadn't seen because he couldn't leave Cadence...
The service, what he remembers of it, is stifling and cold, but nice, he thinks. Rayna and Deacon, Maddie and Daphne are there, as are a number of other people that Juliette knew through her lengthy career in both country music and movies. He barely knows half of them, his hands numb and cold as he shakes hand after hand, only half listening to their well-wishes and sympathies. He's standing near the picture of Juliette that Emily had set up, out of sight and just listening to the general buzz in the massive room, when Maddie approaches, her mother behind her.
"The last conversation we had," Maddie chokes out through the tears glistening in her dark eyes, "You told me you'd help me however you could. You understood me better than anyone really ever has, and you were always so nice to me. I could never repay you for every kindness you've shown me... Thank you. I miss you." She sniffs and wipes at her eyes, resting a hand on the picture before walking away to rejoin her father and sister.
Rayna, to her credit, had kept an impassive look on her face throughout her daughter's speech, but this crumples as she walks forward as well, examining the image of Juliette that Emily had selected, that had taken Avery's breath away when he'd seen it. At her prettiest, with her gleaming blonde hair up in a ponytail and not too much makeup, cooing at Cadence during one of their all too rare days together. She stands for a minute, releasing a soft sigh. "You and I, we had a lot of problems over the years. That's putting it mildly, right? But respect grew out of that. You deserved better than this, you deserved to spend your life with your daughter, watching her grow, giving her everything your own mother never gave you. I'm sorry you won't get that chance now." She hesitates and looks down. "But we're a community, all of us, and we'll make sure Avery and Cadence are taken care of. I promise you that." She looks up at her former rival's picture one last time before turning on her heel and leaving as well.
This shatters what remains of Avery's resolve and he breaks down, right then and there, sinking against the wall and burying his face in his knees, crying for the woman he'd loved, the life they'd lost. Their daughter. Everything. Heaving sobs that apparently are heard in the main room because Glenn starts ushering people out, thanking them for coming, while Emily comes to him, hugs him close and cries with him, trying to sooth him, whispering gently as she strokes his hair.
-x
Juliette isn't sure how she's still on her feet, it feels like days have passed, each step introducing her to a new, burning pain somewhere in her already over-taxed body. Sweat is in her eyes, impacting her vision even more than it already is. She gasps and hisses, gritting her teeth as she stumbles out of a copse of trees and stares blurrily at lights in the distance. "Almost there," Jeff's voice, which had faded in and out of her awareness for the last few hours, sounds off and she groans, wanting him to shut up but also needing the companionship to cling to during the hardest thing she's ever had to do in her life- harder than rehab, harder than childbirth... all of it.
"You can never... take it easy on me... can you?" she pants, hair sticking disgustingly to her neck and throat as she stumbles forward a little more. She notices in the moonlight that her nails, done up so prettily for the awards show, are chipped, broken in spots. It's such an inane, stupid thought that she giggles deliriously before taking a few more steps.
"No," Jeff says simply, following her up a small hill that causes her to trip and almost fall half a dozen times. The descent, thankfully, is easier, gives her a little extra push as she walks faster across the grass, just to stumble to a stop. "Come on, keep moving," he says briskly, urging her on as she gapes at the house now visible through the bushes ahead. This works, she gives herself a shake and continues on, kicking at branches and whatever else that tries to snag her ankle, give her even more trouble.
Each breath has started to rattle worryingly in her chest and even Jeff is looking at her side ways, but now's not the time for talking, she decides as she needs each bit of oxygen to keep moving. She finally makes it to the door of the house, inhales as deep as she can- ignoring the rush of pain from abdomen to collar bone- and knocks with as much strength as she can. Not much, considering, but she keeps on until the door opens, taking away the last support she had. "Help me," she wheezes out, her last memory as her legs give out and she collapses forward, vaguely registering something stopping her fall before solid darkness takes her over.
-x
Avery continues on in his way. Glenn and Emily take care of as much as they can for him, but there are just some things beyond the baby that he needs to tend to, and it gets harder and harder for them to pass off the responsibility every day. Finally, after over a week of his subdued fathering, Emily sits down with him and looks him in the eye. "Avery, this needs to stop. I know you're heartbroken over Juliette, we all are, but Cadence needs you to be strong, to try to move on. Getting lost in the memories and what ifs are doing neither of you any good." She smiles sadly at him. "I know you have regrets, we all do. But we need our Avery back."
He swallows and stares at her, stares at the picture of Juliette in his hand. Their wedding picture. With great effort, he releases a breath, puts the picture down and nods slowly. "I know," he whispers. "I know." She grants him one more night to be lost, and he takes full advantage of it, pulling out all of the photo books with Juliette in them and talking until he's hoarse, a glass of whiskey next to him as he drones on and on about each memory he has.
They fall asleep with their heads together over a childhood photo of Juliette, discussing how Cadence resembles her, but the next morning, when Emily wakes up, it's to a cup of coffee and an active Avery, wandering around the kitchen making breakfast for the lot of them while feeding Cadence a bottle. It's clear he's not entirely whole, in fact he looks like he could fall apart at any moment, but he's trying. It's progress. It's good.
Until the phone call a day later that rocks everything down to the foundation. Again.
All Emily can do is stand there and rub his shoulders, Glenn gawking in disbelief at them from the doorway. "Y- you found her?" Avery's voice shakes in disbelief. Then, the awed whisper of, "She's alive?" that nearly knocks all of them off of their balance at once.
None of them even think twice about a plane, instead hopping in the car, Cadence in her car seat sitting between Emily and Avery as Glenn drives them to the address Emily had gotten after Avery had all but dropped the phone, sinking down to the floor to sit and try to wrap his mind around this new bit of information. "I don't believe this," Avery mumbles again and again, barely observant of his baby's babbling. Glenn is quiet and tight lipped too, Emily replaying everything she'd heard on the phone in her mind repeatedly.
"A man with clear mental issues found her after the plane broke apart, he took her back to his cabin in an isolate area and kept her. She was out of the range of our search, no one had any clue. But when she regained consciousness, she escaped- we're guessin' he took off to run errands or something similiar, and by the time he returned, she was long gone. Took her awhile by our guess, but she found herself at a house and knocked 'til someone answered. They've a teenage daughter who idolizes her so they recognized her and called for help. She's in Camden General Hospital, she's stable but still unconscious..."
The thought that Juliette had been alive, under all of their noses, this entire time, eats at all of them. More than once, Glenn slams his fist against the steering wheel, then glances back and mutters a weary apology as soon as he's sure the baby isn't going to start crying.
Out of everyone in the car, Cadence is the only one happy as can be, playing with her toes and babbling to herself. As if somehow she knows she's going to see her mommy again soon.
-x
Pain greets Juliette again and she hears another set of voices, but they're foreign to her. Definitely not Jeff's. Mostly female, calm, quiet. She groans and twists against her pillow but a soft hand against her shoulder and a quick prick of a needle calms her and she settles back into a restless sleep, fingers twitching against the sheets pooled around them. She feels like she's waiting, listening for something... and then it comes. The last voice she remembers talking to, the voice that had told her 'We're still here.' The voice that had changed her life a good dozen times at least, and would probably at least a hundred more before she's through.
A soft, awed touch follows, ghosting against her face, down her arm, to her fingers. "Juliette," Avery whispers. She groans and turns her head towards him, trying and failing to open her eyes, and he exhales painfully. "It's ok, sweetheart. We're here now. I, I told you we would be, right?" Something splashes against her hand and she panics because Avery shouldn't sound so sad, shouldn't be crying, but he is and maybe something's wrong with Cadence, and...
Blinding light is the first thing she sees, but she blinks slowly a few times and things clear up enough that she can see Avery staring at her, Emily and Glenn behind him. Her vision clears some more and she notices that Emily is holding Cadence and Juliette feels a wave of relief before she focuses for real on all of them. "Y- you all look awful," she forces out through dry lips, cringing at the sound of her own voice.
Avery makes a noise somewhere between a sob and a laugh, pressing a kiss to her forehead as Glenn rushes to get her water or ice chips, something to ease her thirst. "I guess that's what happens when we spend about ten days without you," he tells her softly, staring deep into her eyes. "Never scare us like that again."
"'Kay... I won't... promise..." She's already feeling dozy, which is stupid because she just woke up, but he must notice because he leans over and presses a soft kiss to her lips.
"Rest now," he whispers to her. She stares at him before noticing something in the corner of the room, gaze flickering over to rest on Jeff, still lurking around. But he looks calm now, even raises a hand and gives her a thumbs up before disappearing entirely. She sighs and gives in to the exhaustion tugging at her, closing her eyes.
-x
Back in Nashville, one Layla Grant lays in bed, all alone, looking over her itinerary for the next couple of weeks. After her album had blown up at the same time as Juliette's plane crash, she had received interview request after interview request, autograph signings, offers from one manager after another, and so many tour suggestions that she's not sure where to start first. She sighs glumly and pulls out a picture under all of the mess, finding herself once more staring at the clear love of her life. "Jeff Fordham, you bastard," she says with no heat in her voice. "Putting me on this road and then leaving me to deal with all of the fall out." She scrubs at her face and sniffs, aware that, after everything she'd put Avery and yes, even Juliette through, she'd deserved this. They probably would've been together and happy, the plane accident never would've happened, but she had to muddy the waters and ruin everything.
She hadn't had it in her to watch Juliette's interview for quite a few days after news of her plane crash rocked Nashville. But when she had, her heart had skipped a few beats. To hear the whole story, what Juliette intended on doing that night... Layla had been there before, suicidal and feeling like she'd had nothing to lose, and Jeff had saved her, given her a purpose. Jeff had saved Juliette, just in a deeper, more profound way. Had literally given his life for hers. Not intentionally, but it had still happened.
She sighs and slumps down in bed, rolling onto her side and staring at the picture, once more going over Jeff's appearance, how a man so cold to everyone else could also be so loving to her... She shakes her head and closes her eyes. "I love you, Jeff."
She's half asleep when there's a light tickling sensation down her back and a soft whisper in the air. "I love you too, Layla." She drifts off the rest of the way with a smile on her face.
-x
After a few days in the hospital for observation and some tests, Juliette is allowed to leave. She's incredibly lucky, especially considering that she's the only survivor in this accident. Avery never wants to see the look on her face again as he explains about the days after the plane had crashed, how no survivors had been found and after days of nothing, they'd called off the search and he was too out of it to insist they continue until they found her. "I left you in that crazy man's care," he says. "If I had fought with the police to just look a little further, work a little longer..." His voice fails him and he looks away. "I am so damn sorry, Juliette."
Her hand still fits perfectly in his and he looks up at her, tears glistening in his eyes. She reaches forward and wipes his eyes and cheeks with a small smile, working through the pain to move enough to kiss him. She has a concussion, a minor forearm fracture, a couple of cracked ribs, and a punctured lung, which is why they'd kept her as long as they had. She's well on the mend and about to be discharged though, allowed to go back home, where everyone who had just been honoring her at that memorial service will be doting on her until she's back on her feet. "It's ok," she tells him softly.
He lifts her hand and kisses her palm before sighing. "I bet you can't wait to get back to touring once you're healed up," he says.
"I'm actually thinking about taking an extended break. Have some me time..." She tugs at his fingers. "Focus on what's really important in my life. Our daughter... you..."
Avery smiles at her, liking the sounds of that. "Well, then. Ms. Barnes..." He hesitates, his eyes dark and deep as he stares at her. "What do you say? Once you're a hundred percent... would you do me the honor of going out on a date with me?"
Her smile is bright enough that one would never know all of the trouble she's had the last year as she cups his face and nods. "I would be delighted, Mr. Barkley." They're still grinning at each other, relieved for this first step towards true reconciliation, when Emily returns with Cadence, excusing herself after Avery takes the baby and carefully settles her in Juliette's arms, very mindful of her various injuries. She only fusses a moment before settling, eyes fluttering as she gives in to her need for a nap as Juliette chuckles and coos over her.
Avery watches them for a moment before leaning in and kissing Cadence on the cheek. "I love you, baby girl." He then looks up and catches Juliette's eye. "I love you too."
Her eyes soften and she reaches out for him with her uninjured hand, guiding him in and kissing him. "I love you so much," she whispers against his mouth.
"Let's get you home," he responds. She nods, eager to be back in Nashville, around her people, her friends, her family. Pulling away, Avery presses his forehead to hers, the both of them resting there with their eyes closed, silently recommitting themselves to each other, to their family.