Baby Love

Chapter 34

Word Count: 2554

Nobody's POV

"Oh bloody hell, it's the mother of your child!" Clara screamed through the phone. Joe's jaw dropped in surprise. Averie furrowed her eyebrows confused at what was going on.

"One second, Nugget, it's for work," Joe calmly told Averie before stepping out into the hallway. He could still see her as Olivia grabbed her attention. "What do you want?" Joe's demeanor hardened as he returned to his phone call.

"What are you doing in Nashville? I just saw those damn paparazzi pictures of you, my daughter, and Taylor Swift. What the hell is going on, Joe?"

"I'm visiting my girlfriend's family," Joe calmly answered, but the annoyance was clear in his tone.

"Why is my daughter there?" Clara asks, sounding annoyed by Joe.

"Averie has been spending time with Taylor, she's become a big part of our lives now," Joe explains simply, "I'm actually trying to put her to bed right now, but we can talk later," Joe tries to quickly hang up without causing more of an issue.

"A part of her life!?! You never even told me that you were dating someone new, what about Julie?" Clara angrily shouts through the phone.

"Julie passed away last year, she was in a bad accident," Joe bites his lip. He's hesitant about sharing any more details about Averie. That's not her business anymore. She walked out. She left her, without anything more than an I'm sorry and dropped her at a Safe Haven drop. Thankfully, Joe was able to claim her within the 24 hours but it was so stressful. Averie also had small traces of drugs in her system, which Joe suspected was from Clara's new boyfriend.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that," Clara apologizes, but her tone unwavering, "she's my little girl, Joe. Can I please just see her, even over the phone?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Joe furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced at Averie. She was carefully petting the top of Daisy's head while Piglet was tucked in her shirt. She had recently started doing that a lot so that she'd always have a free hand to pet the cats with. It worked well, especially when she was going up the stairs. This way she would hold onto the banister to keep from falling over.

"Daddy? Look!" Averie was standing on the bed, just behind the railing now to show Joe the mohawk she had managed to make. Olivia was taking her place beside Averie, making herself comfortable.

"Wow, that's so cool, Nugget!" Joe praises her instantly, hoping to make Clara a little jealous in the process.

"Is that her? She sounds so big," Clara sniffles, sounding tear eyed.

"She's four now," Joe deadpanned.

"I know, I birthed her. Nine hours of labor isn't something you forget easily," Clara reminded him, snarkily.

"You seemed to do that pretty easily," Joe huffed while he tried to direct Averie to lie back down with his hand motions.

"That was a bit low of you,"  Clara scoffed.

"Daddy?" Averie whimpered, as she watched anger flood his facial expressions. Why was he fighting, who was he talking to? Was his work being mean to him? Is he going to jail? Mommy went to jail once.

"Aves?" Clara tried to get through, even if it was useless.

"It's okay, Nugget. Daddy's okay, you're okay, look even Dibbles is okay," Joe tried to shift the focus anywhere else but this phone call.

"Who you talking to?" Averie reached out for him once again.

"Nobody," Joe took a step back effectively rejecting Averie's need for comfort once again.