AN: Mostly backstory. And a fair bit of fluff to go with it.
One of Juliette's favorite places was a smaller spare room near the back of the house. She thought of it as Avery's record room, since his collection of LPs had engulfed hers when he'd moved in after they first married. Her husband was admittedly anal about his vinyl. He kept them in plastic sleeves, alphabetized by artist and then in order of release date, which Juliette thought was a little overboard, but he'd explained that if he was looking for a specific record it was easier to find.
"I have a system," he'd told her as he rummaged through a box the movers had packed. "The system must be respected."
She had rolled her eyes and waddled from the room to leave him busy categorizing, but she was thankful that he was working his way through the many boxes littering the house. Getting that room set up seemed to be a priority for him and he brought a chair in for her so she could sit with him while he unpacked and organized their records on the shelves. It was slow going. A few times he'd find an album in a box that it shouldn't have been in and he'd mutter about the hastiness of the movers while finding the correct place for that record. A couple times he'd come across something he wanted her to hear and he'd stop and play that album or he'd find something of hers that he hadn't heard and they would listen to that. They found themselves spending a lot of time in there even after he'd gotten everything unpacked and organized exactly the way he wanted. As Juliette neared the end of her pregnancy the chair was replaced with a plush, oversized couch so she could put her feet up. It was cozy; a good place to talk or write or nap together, which ended up happening quite often.
Avery took all of his records when he moved his things out and Juliette remembered how pitiful her sparse collection looked on the nearly empty shelves. It took a while for him to get everything back in its place after he moved back in. A few days of him muttering, once again, about the movers and Cadence banging on the baby gate in indignation at being shut out of the room. Avery was no match for his daughter's tears and more often than not, Juliette would find that he'd let her in and settled her on his lap while he continued sorting through the records. That's how she usually ended up in there, keeping the busy toddler out of trouble so he could focus on what he was doing.
It became their daughter's favorite place to nap. Juliette would put on a record, usually something soothing and slow, and rock Cadence in her arms until she fell asleep. Now that the little girl was older and had apparently given up napping, she loved to visit the room so she could dance and sing.
After their nails were dry and miraculously free from smudges, Cadence led the way down the hall, already telling her mother what she wanted to hear. In that regard, she was truly Avery's child. Her father had exposed her to so many different genres there wasn't much she wouldn't listen to. Often, Juliette could hear her and Avery rocking out all the way from the living room. Sometimes she would go spy on them, watching as Avery strummed an air guitar and Cadence jumped around the room, whipping her hair back and forth.
For her, Avery had disregarded his system and set aside the records she most liked. Cadence had her own shelf and though she couldn't read the album titles, she knew them by the covers. She quickly picked one up and handed it to her mother. It happened to be one of Rayna's earlier records and Juliette knew she'd chosen it because she loved "Best Songs Come from Broken Hearts."
"Good choice," she said as she set the record on the turntable. "You got your mike?"
"Yes," Cadence said, holding her toy microphone up so her mother could see it.
"And I have mine." Juliette gripped a matching pink microphone in her hand. "Let's do this." She turned the volume up and they sang and danced through the entire album until they were both breathless and collapsed on the couch. "Aren't you getting tired?" Juliette asked, trying to hide the hope from her voice.
"No," Cadence giggled.
"Mama is," Juliette said, adjusting a pillow beneath her head.
Cadence leaned against her side, resting her head on her mother's breast. "Can I sing with you, Mama?"
"Let me catch my breath a minute, please." She put a hand on her chest and could feel her heart pounding beneath her palm.
"No, I wanna sing a real song. On a record." She sat up, looking at Juliette with excitement in her eyes. "We can sing together like you and Miss Rayna."
"One day, baby girl." Juliette promised, shifting so Cadence could lie back down next to her.
"And Daddy can work on our album."
"I bet he'd like that." She kissed the top of her daughter's head. "We have to start getting ready for dinner in a little bit but," she interrupted herself with a yawn, "let's just lay here a while."
"I'm not tired," Cadence warned as she wrapped an arm around her mother's waist.
"I know. That's what you told me," Juliette said. She smiled to herself as Cadence yawned and inched even closer. It didn't take very long until she could feel her daughter relaxing, seemingly growing heavier as she fell asleep. "Thanks, Rayna," she whispered. Naps had become rare blessings soon after Cadence's fourth birthday.
Juliette yawned again. Neither she nor Avery had gotten much sleep and he was right, she'd started things when she'd woke up in the middle of the night and reached for him. She moved slightly to grab her phone, which she'd fallen on top of when they'd flopped on the couch. She was planning to set the alarm so they wouldn't oversleep, but saw that she had missed a text from Avery. Hey, baby. Just thinking 'bout my girls. Love you both. Juliette grinned and used her free hand to text him back. We love u too, babe. And miss you. She hesitated, then deleted the last before sending the text and setting her alarm. She dropped the phone beside her and glanced down at Cadence before closing her eyes.
Juliette had promised herself she wouldn't complain about Avery's long hours. Her husband loved making music and she understood how easy it was to get caught up in the studio. She wouldn't nag him for working so hard, especially when he was the one consistently working since she'd taken a step back from the limelight. She did miss him though. When he was at home he was all theirs, completely present as both a husband and a father, but the late nights were becoming the norm rather than the exception.
One of the main reasons she'd vowed not to complain had snuggled into her side, snoring softly as she napped. Avery had sacrificed so much for Cadence and he'd continued to sacrifice, for Juliette this time, after the plane crash. He was by her side at the hospital when she woke up in a state of confusion, not knowing where she was or what had happened and he supported her through the entire ordeal. It took her a few weeks to realize he was doing too much. He'd taken over from Bo, chaperoning her to and from physical therapy and he spent most of his days at her house, waiting on her and making sure she was comfortable. She was grateful, but she realized she had to push him away, back into his life. She wouldn't have him giving up anything else for her.
Avery got an offer for a producing gig that he'd have been a fool to pass up and she insisted that he take it. "You can't stay here and be my nursemaid," she'd said, starting a conversation that would end with both of them in tears. She'd been sitting in the wheelchair with her hands clasped in her lap and she had a hard time meeting his gaze as she told him she thought they should focus on being friends. "It's the best thing for us, Avery. For all of us."
He made it plain that he didn't agree, but said he didn't want to argue. His voice wavered when he'd said goodbye and she'd wanted to call after him and stop him before he reached the door but she knew she shouldn't. She closed her eyes against her tears, expecting to hear the door close as he left. Instead she heard his footsteps coming back into the living room and she looked up in surprise.
He leaned against the doorframe and stared at her for a long moment. "I can't leave it like that, Juliette," he finally said. "We can move as slow as you want. If you want to be strictly friends and co-parents for a year or three or five, I don't care. Whatever you want. But I'm not walking away from you again."
"Avery, look at me," she gestured to the chair. "Stuck in this thing."
"You're going to walk again." He came into the room, stressing the words as he walked towards her.
He sat on the edge of the couch and turned the wheelchair so she was facing him. "For the record, I love you regardless of whether you walk again or not, but I do believe you will."
"I feel completely helpless. This isn't something I can just make happen. I might be in this chair forever and that terrifies me." She couldn't blink away the tears anymore and she wiped her cheek as they started to fall. "Cadence is gonna be walking soon and I want to chase after her. But I don't think I'll ever be able to."
"I've never known you to back down from a challenge." He reached over and wiped the tears from her other cheek with his thumb. "Juliette, you are without a doubt the strongest woman I know and you can do this. I believe in you and I need you to believe in you. It won't be easy, but I know you'll be back on your feet eventually." He paused, hesitating as if he was deciding whether to continue. He put his hand over hers in her lap. "One day," he said slowly. "One day, hopefully not too many years from now, I'm going to ask you to marry me again." He stared into her eyes, allowing that to sink in for a moment. "If you say yes, I'm gonna be waiting for you to walk down the aisle to meet me at the altar. So I can't have you quitting on me now."
His words gave her a goal. When the physical therapy got too hard, she focused on the image of walking down the aisle with Glenn at her side. She thought about dancing with Avery at their reception. They took things very slowly, rebuilding their friendship first and then moving into a romantic relationship. He moved back in a year after the crash and Juliette was chasing after their two-year old by the time he proposed.
A few weeks after her second birthday, Cadence had figured out how to wriggle out of her clothes and her diaper. She hated being wet but she absolutely refused to use the potty. Juliette could sit her on the miniature toilet and she'd wiggle and squirm but wouldn't do anything more than that. But as soon as her mother put a fresh diaper on, she'd wet herself and then cry until she was changed.
Juliette decided to try to lead by example and sat on the toilet with Cadence next to her on her own little potty. Her daughter stared up at her with her eyes opened wide. "See," Juliette clapped her hands. "Mama's using the potty. Yay, Mama!" Cadence joined in, clapping her hands with her mother. "Now you use the potty like a big girl."
"No." Cadence shook her head and then jumped up and ran from the bathroom into the hallway, leaving her pants and diaper on the floor.
"Cadence!" Juliette hurriedly wiped and yanked her pants up before chasing after the toddler. "Cadence Barkley!" She caught up to the toddler at the end of the hall and stood over her with her hands on her hips. She took a deep breath, ready to scold the child until Cadence looked up at her with the most cherubic expression. Juliette sighed and relaxed her arms at her sides. "Baby girl, don't run fr-" Cadence suddenly peed on the floor, interrupting her mother's sentence. They both looked down at the puddle and her daughter wiggled her toes in the wetness and then burst into tears.
"Good grief," Juliette said, lifting the toddler to her hip. "I'm the one who should be crying, kid."
It was warm outside, the weather verging on summer, but she dressed her daughter in a set of zippered pajamas and put them on backwards so Cadence couldn't get out of them. Her daughter was not pleased. "Sorry, baby, but you can't pee on Mama's floor." She shook her head as she walked down the hallway. "And I can't believe I just said that." She carried Cadence to the record room, sat on the floor and rocked her to sleep, singing over her daughter's cries. When the toddler finally nodded off, she carefully moved the little girl from her lap to the carpeted floor. She leaned back against the wall and started dozing, then jerked her head up when Avery called her name.
"Hey," he said, stepping over the baby gate.
"Hey." She cleared her throat. "What are you doing here so early?"
"I had an-" He stopped himself when he noticed how Cadence was dressed. "Clever. I take it the potty training's not going so well?"
"No," Juliette said. "I have half a mind to leave her in diapers until she turns 10."
"I imagine that would make elementary school difficult for her." He leaned over, reaching for their daughter.
"Wait. What - are you cra- what are you doing?" She whispered fiercely, batting his arms away from the sleeping toddler.
"I was gonna move her to the couch."
"Avery, I swear, if you wake this kid up you'll be taking her back to the studio with you."
He glanced down at their daughter again and then sat next to Juliette so the little girl was stretched out on the floor in between their legs.
"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked again, watching warily as he ran a hand over Cadence's hair. "It's just noon."
"I had an errand to run and I decided to stop by and check on my girls."
"Well, let's see. This morning, Cadence pulled every single tissue from a box of Kleenex. She figured out how to take the lid off her sippy cup and dumped water all over the couch. She got a hold of the remote and put it somewhere. I can't find it and I have looked everywhere. We're both still in our pajamas at lunchtime and I just finished cleaning up a puddle of pee from the hallway floor."
"But you managed to get her down for a nap and at least she didn't chuck your phone in the toilet again."
"I love how you can always find the silver lining," Juliette said. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "I still have days where I wonder if I'm doing this right."
"Eh, so she ruined a box of Kleenex and waterlogged the couch. She's 2. The terrible twos, isn't that what they call it?"
Juliette glanced down at their daughter, napping peacefully between them. "I would never call her terrible, but she is…"
"A force to be reckoned with." He finished her sentence.
"I was gonna say busy, but that'll work too."
"I think it's just natural to doubt ourselves. We've never done this before. There are times when I'm so proud of her independent streak but then other times when I miss the sweet baby girl who didn't say no to everything and wouldn't take her diaper off in the middle of the night and fling it from her crib." He chuckled and pretended to throw something across the room. "She has a great arm, by the way. We should get her into softball when she gets older."
"Avery, I'm serious."
"All right." He reached over and took her hand. "You're a wonderful mother, Juliette. You're patient and loving and our daughter is thriving. Is there something else bothering you?"
She shook her head a little, still amazed at how well he knew her. "I was wiping up the floor and it struck me that I could be on tour right now. It was just a little blip of a thought but it made me think about how different things are."
"You can go back to work any time you want."
"I know," she said. "I know I can but I don't really want to just yet. Can you imagine what that kid would do to a tour bus? But if I'm being honest, I do miss some things. I miss that feeling right before a big show, that nervous, excited, fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach. And I miss the little cheese danishes from craft services. Of course, Glenn. Seeing him work with other artists is tough but I wouldn't change anything we've got, Avery. Our little girl is a handful but I'm right where I need to be."
"Right where you need to be," he repeated the words almost under his breath. "So maybe you don't want to headline a national tour right now but you could perform around Nashville. It's been over a year. I know you miss it." He squeezed her fingers so she would look up at him. "I can get you some of those cheese danishes if you want."
She rolled her eyes but gave him a smile. "You know how to woo a girl, don't you?"
"Maybe I do." They sat in silence for a few minutes until he finally spoke up. "Since we're being honest, I didn't go to the studio this morning." Juliette turned to look at him but he kept talking before she could ask the question. "I went to pick this up and then afterwards I couldn't decide on how I was gonna ask you." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a ring box.
She covered her mouth with both hands. "Avery, what are you doing?" she whispered, her eyes growing wider as he moved to open the box. He lifted the lid and she caught a glimpse of a diamond before squeezing her eyes closed.
"Listen," he said. "I know we've had -"
"Hold on." She put up a hand to stop him. "Are you seriously proposing right now? Here, on the floor? I'm not even dressed!" She was louder than she meant to be and they both glanced down at their daughter. Cadence whimpered and kicked her leg out over the carpet but didn't wake up.
"Yes," Avery said simply. "At least I'm trying to. I know. It's crazy. I had this whole other thing planned out but then I went and picked up the ring and I had to come straight home. Right where I need to be. I couldn't wait any longer, Juliette. I don't need an arena tour, babe. You give me that nervous, excited, fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I see you. I love you so damn much and I'm asking," he took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm asking you to be my wife."
Juliette finally looked down at the ring he held. It was beautiful. Completely different from the band she'd had before but still simple and elegant. "Yes." She held out her hand so he could slide the ring on her finger.
"I'm sorry it didn't happen the way you might have wanted."
"You definitely surprised me," she said. She cupped his cheek with her palm, wanting to wipe the concern from his face. She'd been taken aback by his sudden proposal but she wasn't disappointed. "It was perfect."
"Good," he exhaled as if he'd been holding his breath. "I don't plan on ever doing it again."
"You won't have to." She leaned forward to kiss him over their sleeping daughter. "I love you, Avery. I can't wait to be your wife again."
On their wedding day she wore flats, wanting to be as sure-footed as possible. She held Glenn's arm but only had eyes for the man standing at the altar waiting for her. When she reached him she held out her hands, her fingers trembling with anxious excitement and Avery took hers with his own, his fingers steady, strong and sure.