I don't own Nashville and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
Juliette sighed happily in relief as she stepped through the door of her house as a mother for the first time. She was thrilled to be out of the hospital so she could spend uninterrupted time with her daughter. No more nurses or doctors poking and prodding her. "You going to sit down any time soon?" Avery asked, disturbing her train of thought.
She shook her head and looked down at their peaceful sleeping daughter in her car seat. "Sorry, zoned out." Juliette laughed and walked over to the couch. She set the car seat down on the floor and beamed at Chloe. "Welcome home, Chloe Rayna Barkley." Rayna had helped her out so much over the past few years – she had even been in the delivery room – that the middle name choice had been decided quickly. Fortunately, Avery – her other coach – agreed with it.
Avery desperately wanted to hold his daughter again but refused to disturb her (he already learned that lesson the hard way, and he still scowled every time he thought about Rayna and Juliette laughing at him). "When do you think she'll wake up?"
"Whenever she's ready." But Juliette ran out of patience in less than ten minutes and scooped Chloe up (luckily, she didn't wake up and start crying). "I don't think I'm ever going to let you go, baby girl. Mommy and Daddy love you so much."
Avery leaned back against the couch and watched the love of his life interact with the newborn. Despite all her fears about becoming a mother, Juliette had taken to it quite well so far. He was proud of her for it. "And that will always be true," he added.
Chloe blinked her eyes open and unfocusedly stared at her mother. Shockingly enough, she didn't start crying because she needed food or a diaper change (they were still trying to figure out what her cries meant). "Can you believe we made a tiny human together, Avery? Like holy fuck."
He glared at her. "No swearing in front of the baby!"
Juliette stifled a laugh. "She's only three days old and doesn't understand us yet so I think we're safe for a few more months. Take it down a notch."
Avery ignored her and ran a hand through Chloe's thick blonde hair, which caused her to whimper but she settled down almost immediately. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little overprotective already." He'd die and kill for this little girl. He had never loved anybody like this before and couldn't wait to see his daughter grow up.
"Don't ever apologize for worrying about Chloe. God, I'm starving but I don't want to move." Juliette yawned and continued to watch her newborn daughter.
Avery stood up and headed towards the kitchen. "What do you want me to get out? Or do you want to order pizza? We can do either of those options."
"Pizza sounds great." Juliette slowly stood up and headed to the kitchen with Chloe in her arms.
"Aren't your arms tired, Jules?"
"Avery, she's only seven pounds so no. Ask me again soon, though, because I'm pretty sure I will have to hand her off at some point." Juliette missed Avery so much sometimes that she couldn't stand it but they had agreed they were better off as friends and co-parents. But it hurt her to be so close to him. She wanted to tell Avery that she still loved him and couldn't imagine moving on, a feeling she never experienced before and that was terrifying. She had fallen head over heels in love with him. It was something she hadn't experienced again until Chloe kicked for the first time – the love had just flowed through Juliette that instant.
He snorted. "I'll be surprised when you willingly let her go. I swear you were going to bite Rayna's head off when she wouldn't give Chloe back a few hours after she was born." That had been amusing.
"Well, Rayna was hogging her and I wanted my baby back." She started laughing at the memory, however, and Avery joined her a few seconds later.
After ordering the pizza, Avery stared at the two most important women in his life and beamed at them. He loved Juliette and had forgiven her for the cheating but he was worried about giving them another chance. Could he trust her not to hurt him again? At least she had started therapy after getting over the initial shock of her pregnancy – it seemed to be helping. "So, you love being a mom?"
Juliette looked up from Chloe and stared into his eyes. "She's the best 'accident' I've ever made. I didn't think I was ready for this but I feel like this was meant to be, as cliché as that sounds. You love this fatherhood thing?"
"Of course I do. Can I hold her yet or are you just never going to let her go?"
Juliette gently deposited the baby in her ex-boyfriend's arms. "This is only because my arms were starting to get tired." She wasn't looking forward to waking up multiple times in the middle of the night but Juliette was determined to do this without the nanny (a nice, experienced woman who knew what she was doing) for the first two weeks. Besides, Rayna had never used a nanny and Maddie and Daphne were (somewhat) well-adjusted as a result.
Avery started rocking Chloe back and forth and bit his lip to prevent himself from saying what he wanted to say to Juliette but it didn't last very long. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. "Screw it. Juliette?"
She stopped playing with the rings on her fingers and looked up. "Yeah? Is the baby okay? Do I need to feed her?"
"She's fine. Baby, I still love you and I'm not angry anymore that you slept with Jeff. Chloe reminded me of what's important and that's the three of us. We can't self-destruct again, not with her in the picture now, so let's do it right this time."
Juliette burst into sobs and he looked at her in alarm. "It's okay – the post-birth hormones are fucking me up. I love you too, Avery, and I'm still so sorry for what I did. I can't apologize enough for that. And I want to make this work too because Chloe is what matters. We have to think about her first. I've been terrified to bring this up in case you got angry again and that was the last thing I wanted. Fuck, am I ever going to stop crying?"
Avery gently set the baby down in her bassinet (which set her off because she already adored her mom and dad's attention) and poured every emotion into kissing her. His forehead landed on hers and they reluctantly pulled apart when they realized Chloe hadn't stopped crying. "So I wonder how often that's going to happen."
She sniffled and picked Chloe back up. "A lot, I'm guessing." Juliette popped open her buttons and began breastfeeding, which quieted their daughter down.
The family of three headed back to the couch and sat in silence. Once she was done eating, Chloe fell asleep again and Juliette placed her in the bassinet before snuggling up to Avery. They still had a lot to work through but Avery and Juliette had gotten through the worst of it the past few months. And they could not wait to find out how truly happy they could be. Chloe meant the world to them both and the newly reunited couple was determined to make it work this time. Nothing could ever rip them apart again; they'd make sure of it.