This is starting off very loosely spoiler-based according to the rest of the season. I'm not really sure where my version will end up, but I am so disappointed how they have chosen to destroy the relationship between Maddie and Deacon instead of using Maddie's situation to more deeply shadow what Rayna's early years in the music industry must have been like. This is basically my version of how I think it should have gone….

Rayna, 1989

There was a time in a person's life when they had to say enough was enough.

And Rayna Wyatt had had enough.

She stood at the end of the driveway, looking impatiently down the street, watching for a familiar red truck. Next to her on the ground, two bags and a guitar case. It wasn't much, but right now it was all she needed. Behind her in the shadows the Belle Meade mansion where she'd spent the first 16 years of her life rose up larger than life.

She wished he would hurry up.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. She had no idea how on earth Lamar had found out she'd been secretly playing open mic nights around town, but her father had laid down the law tonight and declared in no uncertain terms that her music days were over. He was sending her to a private girls' school in New York until graduation. When she'd found the courage to stand up for herself and tell him in no certain qualms she would not be going to New York, he'd told her to get out of his house.

So she had packed her bags, and walked past her father out the open door. Walked away from everything she knew. Walked away from everything that was holding her back.

To be honest, it felt like she'd just walked out of prison, a mixed feeling of being scared to death and relieved that she was finally free. And she had no idea what was supposed to happen next.

Finally, the truck rolled to a stop in front of her.

She sighed with relief. Deacon.

Watty White was the one who had initially suggested Deacon Claybourne for her guitar player. She didn't know how she would have gotten through the last months without him. She hadn't expected to find that making music with him was easy as breathing.

Then again, she hadn't expected to fall in love with him the second she laid eyes on him either. Deacon saved her. He challenged her. He brought the music out of her in ways she hadn't even known were possible.

"Hey," he got out and came over to her. "What's all this?" He gestured towards her bags as he picked them up and put them in the back of his truck.

Rayna bit her lip. "Can we just drive? I don't want to be late for the show."

He raised his eyebrows. "I guess, yeah."

They were halfway to the bar where the open mic was being held, before Deacon pulled over the truck and turned to her.

"Alright, what's going on?"

She stuck her chin out. "Lamar threw me out of the house."

He stared at her. "What?"

"Yep. Said it was either my family or the music. Said he thinks you've been a bad influence on me, and I need to get away from all of it. He wants to send me away."

"And what did you say?"

Rayna's eyes met his. "Well I'm here with you, aren't I?"

He got quiet for a minute, absorbing all this. "Yeah," he said, putting the truck back into gear, trying to hide the smile playing around the edges of his mouth. "Yeah I guess you are."

Maddie 2016

Maddie Conrad had had enough. Enough of people telling her she was too young, and not ready, enough of people holding her back.

The conversation with Cash earlier that afternoon was still fresh in her mind, and thinking about it just made her resolve stronger.

She stalked through the front door with a determined look on her face.

"What's your problem now," Daphne muttered. She was sitting at the kitchen counter doing her homework, and barely looked up when Maddie dropped her guitar case on the tile floor with a clatter.

"Where's mom and dad?"

"In the music room."

Maddie turned for the hallway that lead down to her parents' home studio.

"You know," Daphne said from behind her. "We were supposed to record for the E.P yesterday with Mom at Highway 65."

For a second, Maddie felt the slightest bit of guilt. "I guess I forgot. We can do it another time."

"I'm sure," Daphne scoffed.

"Listen," Maddie turned back slowly. "I know you don't get it, but…."

"I don't get it!" Daphne cried. "We used to do everything together, and now you spend all your time with Cash and it's like I don't even exist."

"That's because I'm not twelve years old," Maddie exclaimed, her voice rising. "Maybe I just want to do bigger things than recording some stupid cd full of cheesy kids songs about clouds and rainbows."

"Hey, what is going on out here?" Rayna came down the hallway from the music room, having heard the racket. Deacon was right behind her. She glanced from one girl to the other. Daphne was crying now, with tears running down her face.

"I hate you, I wish you weren't even my sister," Daphne whispered.

It hurt Maddie hearing that, watching as Daphne turned and ran for the stairs. She knew her sister was right. But Daphne had to see her side too. Hopefully one day she would.

"What was that all about?" Deacon and Rayna both waited, arms crossed, expecting an explanation.

Maddie stuck her chin out. "I've decided I'm moving out. Cash will be back to pick me up in an hour."

"Like hell you are!" Deacon said vehemently.

"You certainly are not," Rayna said firmly. "Maddie I know you're a little out of sorts right now, and struggling to find your place with your music, but like it or not you are still a kid, and-."

"I filed papers today at the courthouse to be emancipated," Maddie said, trying to keep her mouth from quivering. "Cash helped me."

"Why on earth would she do that?" Rayna tried to calm the panic that squeezed her heart at those words. Next to her, she could see Deacon was ready to absolutely lose it, pacing with his hands in his hair. Do something, his eyes told her.

"Because she knows you turned down a deal from Sony, Mom. You turned down my record deal without even telling me," Maddie said quietly. It had absolutely broken her to find out they'd kept that secret. It was her future, her dreams on the line. And she'd had no say in it at all.

Rayna's face changed.

"Why that little narcissistic…."

"You were sixteen when you went out on your own," Maddie said quietly, pleading her to understand. "You know how it feels Mom, you know how bad I want to be on that stage. I know you love me. I know you think you're doing the best thing, but you're holding me back. I'm ready."

Their eyes met, and Rayna saw so much of herself in Maddie that it hurt. That desperation to want to chase your dreams, the feeling that someone was keeping you from them.

"You know we don't want to keep you from your dreams," Rayna said with a hitch in her voice. "We just want to protect you."

"Now hold on just a damn minute. You're not going anywhere," Deacon cut in. "We made that deal with your moms label for you for a reason, and-."

Rayna put a hand on his arm. "Stop," she murmured, her voice catching.

"What?" he looked at her like she was crazy. "We're not really going to let this happen, are we?"

A look of understand passed between her and Maddie.

Maddie swallowed hard. "I need to pack some stuff."

She headed for the stairs.

Deacon turned to Rayna, furious. "You're just going to let her leave? You know she'll never make it on her own, Ray. She's just a kid."

Rayna sat down on the bench in the hallway, feeling pale.

"I did," she said softly.

"What?"

"I made it," she repeated. "And so did you. And I wasn't any older," she said, tears burning the corners of her eyes. "If we don't let her do this, she's going to hate us forever."

"She'll get over it," he insisted. "It's not the same as it was when we were that age. It's so much harder to get anywhere. The industry will eat her alive. She'll never make it."

Rayna shook her head slowly. "She won't get over it, Deacon, and you know it. Did I get over it? Lamar forced me to choose between music or my family, and I never really forgave him for that. I don't want to force her to choose. She's making this choice on her own and maybe… well maybe that's the way it should be."

He looked so defeated. "It will change her," his voice caught. "You know it will, Ray."

"I know." She slipped her arms around his waist and laid her head across his shoulder. "But what else can we do? Lock her in her room? That won't work and you know it."

"I just don't want to lose her."

It was the longest hour of Rayna's life, sitting in the front room. She kept looking at the clock, watching the minutes tick away. It reminded her of the night Maddie was born, pacing through every painful contraction, counting the minutes on the clock. Deacon was pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair. Neither of them spoke. She could tell he wanted to say so many things, and it was harder than hell not to protest this whole ordeal.

The night her father had kicked her out of the house kept replaying through her mind like a broken record.

Finally Deacon sunk down next to her on the couch, and took his hands in hers. "Baby, do you really think this is the right thing?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "But all we can do is let her know we're here if she needs us, right?"

Over his shoulder, Rayna could see Cash's bright red mustang pull to a stop in front of the house, and what was left of her heart dropped.

Maddie came down the stairs a few minutes later with a couple suitcases and a guitar.

She stood tall as she slung a bag over her shoulder. "I'm gonna go now," she said quietly. "There will be some paperwork sent over. I'm still figuring it all out but… I'd appreciate it if you don't fight me on it."

Rayna had never been so proud and so heartbroken at the same time. She had always tried to raise her daughters to be strong and independent, and that's exactly the kind of young woman Maddie was.

"Maddie, we can help you," she tried one last time. "We can change the Highway 65 contract if you want. Or Sony. If you really want Sony, let me deal with them."

Maddie shook her head. "I need to do this on my own, Mom. I have to."

She hugged Deacon, but he stood stiff shouldered at first until he finally hugged her back.

"I love you, Dad." She whispered.

"Love you too. You know you can…come home anytime. Or call if you need anything," he said with a ragged sigh. Every word hurt.

Maddie swallowed hard and nodded.

Rayna could see how much Deacon was hurting. He hadn't gotten enough time to have her as his little girl, and now she was determined to go off and grow up forever.

"Are you going to say goodbye to Daphne?"

Maddie's eyes shadowed for a moment and she glanced towards the stairs. "She's pretty mad at me right now. I'll talk to her soon."

"Don't wait too long," Rayna said softly. "Sisters are forever. "

Maddie nodded. Then she glanced at both of them once more, then turned around, gathered her stuff and walked out the door.

Only after that red car pulled away from the curb did Rayna let herself fall into Deacon's arms and cry.