Disclaimer: The characters belong to Callie Khouri and NashvilleCMT. I'm just borrowing them.
A/N: In my AU world, episodes S5E8 – 11 of NashvilleCMT do not exist and Rayna lives on. I am new to fanfic. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!
It was finally finished and Rayna was proud of what she and Deacon had created. The concept album was done and it stood as a testament and celebration of their love. Bucky wanted it desperately to be a commercial hit, Highway 65 needed it to be, but it didn't really matter to her. It was their truth and it was cathartic to delve into her past with Deacon, to once and for all go there and put those memories behind them so that they could move forward and make new ones together as husband and wife, as a family. It hadn't been easy to revisit some of those dark places, but there were good times too that stirred memories of joy and peace and a love so profound that goodbye was just a hiccup in time until the next hello.
She sat here today at peace, fulfilled, her love actualized. Her life and love with Deacon has been and likely will continue to be, far from perfect, but she knows without a shadow of a doubt that he's the one for her. He's her heart and soul and at the center of her creative process. She's seen him grow immensely since that first time she laid eyes on him when he was a brash guitar slinger at 19. She's grown, too. She's learned to trust and be vulnerable and to love fully thanks to him. To have his strength in her life every day and have him be a father to her daughters is a blessing.
Today she is at peace and feels loved, but she can't help but think one last time about how they got from goodbye to hello.