This idea's kind of been rolling around in my head for a while. I usually only write one-shots, but this one will be a bit longer. This was a strange dynamic for me to write to be honest, JA in all my stories have generally been on the same wavelength. This was one different.

Please read and review if you like it and want me to continue!

"Mama, how much longer until we land?" Her daughter shook the hand that was clenched around her own knee nervously.

"Baby, it'll probably be an hour more." Her stomach lurched at the thought of stepping foot into Nashville again in such a short time period. She wasn't ready yet.

"Is daddy picking us up?" She saw her daughter's eyes fill with hope, and it made her feel guilty for the next words she had to say.

"We talked about this Melody." She explained calmly, trying not to raise her voice with emotion. "The car is going to take us home."

She had to turn towards the window before she could see the disappointment overtake her daughter's face. It was the eyes that got her every time. That was certainly a trait she had gotten from Avery. His entire face could be calm, but his eyes always gave him away. They always drew her in.

She pushed those thoughts away quickly. The last thing she needed to be thinking about was him in that way. She needed to think about how to convince him to sign those damn papers. That was her priority here.

"Is daddy at least going to be at the house when we get home?"

She slipped her sunglasses on, feeling the plane descending. "No baby." She grabbed her daughter's hand, feeling the small fingers entwine fingers with hers. "It's just you and me."

She made her way down the hallway slowly, breathing in the familiar settings. There on the walls was her face, plastered next to platinum plaques. And even though there were other plaques next to her, nobody had as many up there as she did.

She saved this label from imploding, and she would be damned if everyone did not know that fact. Straightening her spine, she walked towards the back office, slamming face to face with a young brunette.

"God I'm sorry." The tanned girl let out apologetically, before letting the shock register on her face. "Ms. Barnes. It's a pleasure meeting you. I'm a big fan."

She clicked her tongue in response, noticing how painfully thin the girl in front of her was, and how her hair was just the tiniest bit too shiny.

"Right." She bit her tongue, trying to control her clear anxiousness. She masked it with confidence instead. "I need to see Avery, is he in his office?"

The brunette, clearly over her star struck demeanor, walked back towards the desk, shuffling papers around. "Sorry, he's in a meeting right now and he asked to not be disturbed."

"Can you tell him Juliette Barnes is here to see him? He should have been expecting me today."

"Do you have an appointment?" The brunette asked, looking through his appointment book for her name.

"No, I do not have an appointment to see him."

"I'm sorry." The girl's friendly tone was almost borderline obnoxious at this point. "He asked that no one disturb him. He is in a very important call. Is it possible for you to wait until he's done?"

For Christ's sake. "Are you new or incompetent?" she spit out angrily. "Are you really telling me that I can't see my husband?"

Even saying the words threw her off a little, but she stayed firm.

"Ms. Barnes…"

"It's Mrs. Barkley to you." Not for long though.

"I'm sorry," the brunette shook her head, eyes wide in embarrassment. "I didn't realize, you were still…"

She rolled her eyes, trying to play off the uneasiness in her stomach. "You might want to start talking to your boss instead of reading tabloids about him." She threw her purse on the assistant's desk roughly to make a point. "I'm going in."

"But he said…"

"I really don't give a shit about what he said." She threw over her shoulder, storming towards his office door and swinging it wide open.

She saw Avery look up from his notepad at his desk and freeze.

"Surprise." She said spit out with a snarl. "Whoever you're on the phone with can wait."

If looks could kill. "I apologize guys, an emergency came up. But think about the deal I laid out for y'all, and give my assistant or me a call back with final word. Highway 65 would be honored to have you guys here."

"We'll definitely think it over. Thanks for your time Avery." She heard a young female voice over speaker, with a male voice chiming behind her.

"No problem. Take care guys." He pressed the speaker button calmly to end the call, looking over at her tapping her foot impatiently.

"Avery, I'm so sorry." She could feel the timid assistant behind her, but she didn't even bother looking. All she could see was the man in front of her, sitting at the desk. All she could hear were the last words they had spoken to each other in person. "I told her you were in a conference call, but she…"

She spun around angrily, leering down at the assistant until she visibly saw her shrink.

"It's alright Hannah." He looked over kindly at her. She almost lost her composure seeing the way he looked right past her to the nobody assistant behind her. "I got through the main points with them."

"Mrs. Barkley, you left your purse outside on my desk." His assistant handed over the large handbag by the tips of her fingers, withering back like she was preparing for another verbal attack.

She clenched her teeth. It was alright for that name to be said when she was trying to manipulate her way in here, but hearing it said with Avery in the room was the height of humiliation. "It's Ms. Barnes. And thank you." She snatched the bag from the fragile brunette's arms, glaring.

She remembered the first time she was called by his last name in public with him. It wasn't even anything significant, just a valet attendant reading her name off the card. But it didn't matter. Her heart still skipped a beat when she had seen Avery's smile in reaction to hearing the name, and she thanked the valet with a larger tip than usual.

She turned towards Avery, sitting herself down on the chair opposite his desk. "Didn't you know I was going to be here today?"

"I did." His outward demeanor was icy. "But it's not like Glenn told me an exact time. Should I have cancelled all my meetings waiting for you to stop by?"

"You could have at least told your assistant you were expecting me."

"I've learned not to expect anything from you anymore Juliette." The words hit her like a blow to the stomach. "Where's Melody?"

"She's with Gunnar and Zoey. I dropped her off before coming here." She licked her lips a little, trying to keep her composure. "She asks about you all the time."

"Of course she does Juliette." He threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "I'm her fucking father. What do you expect?"

She clenched backwards from him. "I was just saying…"

"You're always just saying Juliette. Why are you dangling that in front of my face, like it's my fault?"

"I didn't come here to talk about this." Her voice grew soft but firm.

"You can't say stuff to me like that and expect me to not react." He looked at her with disgust. "You can't be selfish and expect me to apologize. I won't."

"Right. Because apologies from you hold so well." She rolled her eyes, biting back the venom spewing. "But please, continue to sit on your high horse and blame me like it's my fault." She motioned with her hands angrily.

He stood up quickly, hands clenched on the ends of the desk tightly. She could see him trying to calm his breathing.

She had to take control of this situation quickly, before he gained the upper hand here.

"Like I said," She repeated calmly, fighting the storm within her, "I didn't come here to talk about that. I don't want to fight."

"Then why are you here?" He leaned back on his heels, surveying her. "What do you want?"

She pulled the envelope from her purse carefully, tossing it on the desk in front of him.

He knew what the papers were. She could feel it in the way his gaze never left hers, studying her carefully.

"Did you really come all the way to Nashville just to personally give me these?" His left hand, devoid of the gold band, drummed on the desk hard. "Couldn't you just have had your lawyers do your dirty work?"

"Avery, I'm not here to fight." She answered, tilting her face away from his.

There was a time when he would have seen her action and taken her hand, rubbing his thumb softly against hers to implicitly ask her what was wrong. But that time was long gone.

"Then what? Have you all of the sudden gained a conscious?"

That stung, but she swallowed it like a bitter pill. "I thought it would be better to hash all this stuff out in person. We can't avoid each other forever."

She saw him shake his head a little in defiance. "You mean you can't keep my daughter away from me forever, right?"

He was right there. It always threw her how well he understood her motivations. But she knew him too; he wouldn't sign these papers willingly unless she extended the first olive branch. As much as she hated having this conversation face to face, it was the best move towards getting what she needed.

"We have a daughter Avery, and she needs her dad now. I know that." That was the closest to an apology she was gonna give. "We need to be on somewhat civil terms for this to work. We owe it to her."

His eyes, once blazing, seems to mellow a bit at the mention of Melody. "You said she's been asking about me?"

She nodded in response. "Yep. She got the bear that you gave her from Glenn. I have to take it from her at night to wash it while she sleeps. She doesn't let that thing out of her sight."

He smiled softly at the thought. "Glad she likes it. I figured it would be perfect for her."

"It's perfect because you got it for her." She nodded towards him, biting her lip softly.

"I wanna see her while you guys are in town." He said firmly. But his voice held a softness that she gravitated towards. "I'm assuming you'll be headed back to L.A. soon?"

She nodded carefully. "I'm here with Glenn doing a few promo things locally here, but I mainly came to give her some time with you while we work things out in person."

"Thank you." His voice grew soft. "I really needed to see her again."

"You know," she looked down at the floor before looking back up at him, "Despite us… I was never gonna keep you from her. She needs you."

"I know that. And I know you wouldn't do that." He crossed his arms a little, widening his stance. "You let me know when you want to meet with the lawyers to deal with all this legal stuff."

"Sure. We can get that all set up." She said nonchalantly, pushing away anything that even remotely felt like pain. "I changed my number, is yours still the same?"

"Still the same." He nodded carefully. "I can just stop by whenever you want. Where are you staying?"

She paused. "I'm staying at the house."

She had thought to get a hotel suite, but she couldn't take everything away from Melody all at once. That house was the only home her daughter had ever known. And the only home that she had ever known as well, but it was profoundly different now. All Melody saw was her bedroom and her dolls still perched on the ledge of her bay window, like she had never left. She was the one who had to sleep in the king size bed alone.

"The house." He repeated, like she had misspoken. "Ok. Are you guys free tomorrow?"

"I have a press event to promote the new movie. I was gonna drop her by Zoey and Gunnar again, but maybe you could just watch her instead?"

"Babysitting my daughter." He laughed a little at the thought. "Yeah. I think I can do that."

"Great. Come by around 5. " She said tightly, pushing her purse up her shoulder. "And apologize to your assistant for me please. I was in a mood."

He nodded as she gave him an awkward smile before leaving quickly. Tears burned in her eyes as the entire conversation fully sunk into her being.

She was getting a divorce, officially. He had agreed to it without a fight. All her worries about him not being cooperative were no longer an issue.

So why didn't it feel as good as she had thought it would?