"Deacon isn't my problem," the young redhead snipped, tired of always being criticized and people judging her relationship, "right now, you are!" She was close to tears, though perhaps not quite ready to let them show. "I know he ain't perfect, but nobody is."

"It's more then that, Rayna." The middle aged manger sighed, carefully stepping nearer to the young singer. The girl had become, not only his star client, but very much like his a daughter to him as well, working with someone since she had been 16 did that to a manager. "Rayna, I know you love him, that's obvious, but there comes a time when you've got to accept that... Things aren't going to change. I know you don't want to think otherwise, but Deacon is dangerous, not only to your career, but to you as-"

"Stop it!" Rayna demanded, her voice beginning to quiver just a bit. A couple stay, salty tears fell, and her voice became choked and desperate. Anger, frustration, hurt, a whole mix of emotions fighting for dominance of her tone. "He's not dangerous, he's not a bad guy, he's sick!" Nobody understood him like she did, they were all the other had. "Very sick, but he's an angel, Bucky. Deacon's my angel." She stressed the word 'my' very sternly, "and I'm not going to just abandon him because things are hard. You don't just leave someone you love-who means everything to you- because things are a little rough! I won't do that to him!"

"Rayna," Bucky all but plead for her to listen to him, "I've been here before, I know how these things go. Let me tell you, he's bad news-for your career and yourself." She wasn't listening to him, he has to change the approach, "Rayna, listen to me. You're 23, young, you're successful, and you think you've got it all, that the world is yours. You've made it, you're at the top right now. You think everything is fine and nothing can take you down. It's crucial, in these next couple years how you do things, because every move you make is going to impact your future. You can either become a Loretta, or you could be another flash in the pan. The choice is yours.

She hadn't liked to hear that, but Rayna knew this business was tough, and Bucky knew what he was doing. Bucky had a point too. After a long silence, she sighed. "It would be fun to be a Loretta." She couldn't disagree with that much, "but if that means losing Deacon to do it, then no... I'll be a flash in the pan before I'll leave him. If I have to lose him to do it, I don't want to be a Loretta."

The man bit his lip, shook his head. She was so young yet, so naive. "The choice is yours." It was all he could say. At the end of the day, he wasn't her father, and she would make her own decisions, personal and professional.

"I choose him. I choose him every time, forever. I'll always choose him." There was a determination in her icy voice, set in her stone eyes. "I either have my career and my life with him, or I just have my life with him, I don't care which, but he's not going anywhere."

"So be it." The man nodded, shrugged, there wasn't anything else he could really say or do.

That could have been the end of the conversation, but Rayna kept it going, perhaps only because she had to hear the words out loud, had to convince herself off their truth. "He's gonna do it-change- he's gonna get better. I've known him since I was 16, been his girlfriend since I was 17, I know him. I know him, he's strong. Stronger then he even knows, and he's young to beat this, and I'm going to be there every step of the way because he's my guy. I love him. I will always love him."