This story a response to the Secret Santa challenge. This is a gift to Shiny Jewel. A huge thank you MoonlightGardenias for being the beta for this story. This will be a 2 part story. I'm acting going to post the prompt at the bottom of the page so as to not spoil a few things. Thanks as always to KarenES for organizing this challenge!
**For some reason, when I uploaded this story a few minutes ago, my physical breaks in the story weren't showing up as lines**
Healing
Rayna pulled the sheets back from the bed and tiptoed across the carpeted floor of the master suite in the Penthouse. She'd been trying to get to sleep for over an hour and her mind was still racing, so she was no closer to sleep now than she was when she first laid down. Luke continued to snore lightly as she rummaged through her bags until she found the pack of cigarettes and her phone.
Rayna had never really been much of a smoker, but she did like the occasional drag when she drank liquor. Lately, she'd been smoking more and more. Her mind was a jumbled mess of worry, hurt, and stress. She'd put so much money and pride into ensuring her label didn't fail. Her entire career and future, as well as her family's future, was on the line. Smoking seemed to clear her wandering mind and help her focus.
Rayna quickly made her way down the hall, catching sight of herself in the hallway mirror. The deep purple circles under her eyes were visible even in the dark. She grabbed a blanket from behind the couch and threw it over her arms. She sighed and made her way to the balcony, closing the door behind her.
Rayna looked over the Phoenix skyline, pleasantly surprised by how warm the night air was. She lit her cigarette and reclined back in the chair, closing her eyes as she exhaled a puff of smoke, hoping she'd relax enough to go to sleep soon.
Rayna had several major decisions she needed to make. First, Highway 65 needed a home. Tandy had given half a dozen options of downtown buildings to rent. She still hadn't made a decision about which other artists she wanted to sign to the label. Most pressing was her own albums' release. There were so many decisions about marketing and PR to make. She'd always had a say in which songs would be released as singles, which interviews she'd give, and the overall look and feel of the PR campaign. But now all the decisions were solely hers. It was exhilarating but also terrifying.
But it wasn't just the label that had kept Rayna from sleep. Peggy's death had shaken her. Truth was, it was less Peggy dying and more closely connected to how close Rayna had come to dying yet again. For the second time in a few months, she'd nearly left her children motherless.
It had been a month since the shooting and every loud noise still made her jump. She didn't drive by herself anywhere at night. She often caught herself with a sick feeling in her stomach. It was even worse than the weeks following the wreck. She just couldn't get that funeral home out of her mind.
Teddy hadn't been in a good state in the days following Peggy's death; he'd been non-functioning while planning the funeral. So Rayna had made most of the decisions for the service and burial. There was still something painfully ironic about picking out a casket for your ex-husband's mistress. The three songs played were the songs she would have picked out for her own funeral and the flowers she chose were flowers that Rayna herself liked. Her own daughters and Teddy sat on the front row, crying over the oak coffin laid before them. The whole service felt like an out of body experience. It was like a nightmare that she couldn't quite get out of her head.
Peggy's death had cemented how many things Rayna had left undone in her own life. Her mind flashed to Deacon, his hand outstretched as he accepted the ring she'd held onto for a decade and a half. She exhaled the smoke and licked her lips, enjoying the bitter aftertaste before bringing the cigarette back to her lips again. Since then, they'd kept their distance. In some ways, keeping Deacon at bay was easy. For Rayna, it was easy to lie to herself about her feelings for Deacon when he wasn't around. She was used to it. For fourteen years, she'd lied to herself. God, she was good at lying to herself.
More than once during those fourteen years, Rayna had convinced herself that all she had with Deacon was a deep friendship and shared memories, but then Deacon would leave an after party with some twenty-something blonde and the jealously would damn near choke her. Or he'd throw her that smile on stage that would send her heart racing. It was always like that. For weeks and sometimes months, she'd lied to herself. Then he'd do something and her feelings would drown any notion that she wasn't still completely in love with this man.
Right now, she wasn't even sure where to begin with Deacon. Professionally, he was striking out on his own. She was focused on her label. He was still dating Megan and she was…doing something with Luke. He hadn't forgiven her for the lies. She hadn't forgiven him for drinking again. But then, she'd watch Deacon watch their daughter and everything else would just melt away.
Still, Rayna knew that something had shifted between them. He was now a guy who went to horse races. She was now a girl who testified on behalf of Lamar Wyatt.
She felt her eyes burn from the smoke of her cigarette as she thought about her father. He was still in that prison, without bail. Rayna could almost bet her father was as sleepless as she was. That was another thing she needed to repair; forty-two years of hurt, misunderstandings, and stubbornness, and it was going to take more than a few nice gestures to fix.
Rayna lost herself in her cigarette for a moment, enjoying the mundane pleasure of sucking in and puffing out. She rolled her neck around, stretching out the tight muscles. Her eyes felt heavier and she took another puff.
It was then she noticed her phone lit up with Teddy's name. Concerned, Rayna immediately slid her finger across the face of the phone. It was four am in Nashville, far past time for any normal situation. Breathless, Rayna asked what was wrong.
In a calm voice, Teddy assured Rayna everyone was fine, "but I'm pretty sure Maddie has chicken pox."
Rayna's eyes roamed into the night sky, her mind racing in several different directions. Daphne had gotten the chicken pox vaccine; but, when Maddie was little, the vaccine was still a fairly new thing. Rayna flashed back to the summer Tandy gave her the chicken pox. All she remembered was how gross the oatmeal bath felt and how miserable it was.
Rayna put down her cigarette and asked about Maddie's symptoms.
"Well the red bumps that she won't keep scratching was the first clue. Also the fact that Talia had it last week was a pretty good indicator."
Rayna smiled despite how terrible the situation was. Her daughter was two time zones away, sick and miserable, and her newly widowed ex-husband was responsible for her care. Rayna listened as Teddy recounted how Maddie had woken him up when she couldn't find anything to help her itching. Her temperature was a little over 101 and he'd found some calamine lotion in the medicine cabinet.
Rayna recounted the year that she and Tandy spent their Easter Vacation with the pox. Teddy shared that he'd gotten the damn virus from his 4th grade girlfriend, April. The two shared home remedies for a while and Teddy goggled several other at home cures. Teddy vowed to call the doctor first thing in the morning and would text with an update as soon as he knew anything. Rayna thanked Teddy for everything and asked him to, "Tell Maddie that I love her."
Her ex quickly assured her that he'd had the childhood disease himself and would be able to take a few days off to take care of their daughter.
Rayna bit her lip, remembering the old saying that chicken pox was much worse for adults than they were for children. Maddie wasn't an adult yet but she knew it would still be more severe than it would be for little kids.
Part of Rayna wanted to jump on the first plane back to Nashville. But she knew that it was important for her to stay on the tour right now. Scarlett was Highway 65's only artist and her success was tied to the success of the label.
All of a sudden, Rayna felt an overwhelming chill in the air. Taking one last drag, Rayna put the cigarette out and headed back in the hotel suite.
As she crawled back into bed, lyrics began popping into her head. She found a pen and paper and scribbled down random thoughts. Within a few moments, she had a song about un-finished business, an unfulfilled life, regrets and do-overs. Most of the phrases didn't rhyme or make sense without context but Rayna knew she had something.
Exhaustion seemed to overtake Rayna's body as she quickly reclined against the pillows on her half of the bed. Right before she drifted to sleep, she grabbed her phone and sent a quick text message to Deacon letting him know that Maddie was sick and Teddy was taking her to the doctor in the morning.
Her phone lit up within a few seconds with a quick text back.
"Thanks. Get some sleep."
LATER THAT DAY
Rayna clapped loudly as Scarlett finished her fifth song. The crowd was awesome tonight and Scarlett's stage presence was improving with every performance. Rayna couldn't help but smile. Despite her lack of sleep, it had been a very good day. Tandy had signed a lease to a small brick building two blocks off of Music Row. There was a consensus regarding which songs would be her first and second singles. Her first single would hit i-Tunes in a month, the CD would be released three weeks later. She would stay with Scarlett for two more days, then fly to LA. She was getting a cover-story from PEOPLE and was doing several photo shoots and interviews with national magazines. Things were finally moving in the right direction.
Suddenly Rayna felt Deacon's presence. A second later, she heard his voice and spun around to face him. Perhaps it was twenty five years of familiarizing herself with the scent of his cologne mixed with the soap he always used. Perhaps it was some deep, unexplainable connection between the two of them that caused her to know Deacon was there. Maybe it was that Maddie told Rayna that Deacon would be at the concert tonight and Rayna knew Deacon couldn't stay away from her.
Rayna grinned and looked towards Deacon. He looked delicious, dressed in his black button down shirt and blue jeans but his eyes held a worried expression. Rayna noticed something odd about the way Deacon was running his hand down the back of his neck.
"How's Maddie?" he asked quickly. He'd already checked up on Maddie this afternoon. There was nothing to update beside, "Still contagious and napping," but that had been nearly five hours ago.
Rayna inwardly felt her heart patter against her chest. "Fever is down a little bit but she's been itching like crazy." Rayna raised an eyebrow as Deacon pulled on his shirt sleeve.
Deacon scrunched his eyebrow and asked what exactly the doctor's diagnosis had been.
Rayna smiled, realizing she never actually told Deacon what Maddie had. The quick texts had discussed temperatures and how Maddie felt. Before she could answer her question, Rayna's eyes widened as Deacon's left hand quickly moved back and forth over his right arm. It was only then she noticed a slight bump on Deacon's neck. Her mind searched for any story or humorous tale about Deacon having the chicken pox. When none came, Rayna tilted her head to the side. "I think you are getting ready to experience something new about parenthood." She reached out and pulled his collar down slightly. Her thought was confirmed by a small red dot on Deacon's shoulder, then a cluster of red bumps slightly lower.
Deacon's fingers began moving back and forth over his chest, bunching the material of his shirt. He looked down at his feet then back up at Rayna, questioning why she hadn't finished her thought.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"I'm pretty sure that Maddie gave you the chicken pox."
2 HOURS LATER
Rayna groaned as she walked into Walmart. It was after 1 am and every other store was closed. The tour buses had pulled out of the arena thirty minutes ago, headed to San Diego for the next show.
She could feel several sets of eyes on her and knew the guy in the sweatpants was taking pictures of her with his cellphone. Rayna had no doubt that the pictures of her would be out on a dozen media sites by morning.
Rayna quickly spun her cart towards the pharmacy, then the home goods section, and lastly the grocery store department. A hundred dollars and forty minutes later, Rayna got back into her rental car.
After everyone realized that Deacon had contracted the chicken pox, there was a quick discussion on what to do next. Deacon wanted to fly back to Nashville; but, it wasn't practical. He was already covered in red splotches and his hands kept rubbing his arms. There would be no way an airline would let him fly. Between the long bus ride and the contagious nature of the disease, traveling on with the tour wasn't an option either. Scarlett volunteered to stay behind to take care of Deacon. Nobody thought that was a good idea. Deacon had been stubborn at first, insisting he could take care of himself. But eventually he caved and let Rayna stay behind.
As Rayna's car pulled up to the valet, she let out a breath of dread and anticipation. It had been months since she and Deacon had been alone together for more than a ten minute conversation. She wasn't sure how the next 48 would go. Deacon was a terrible patient and he hated being caged in anywhere. Still, Rayna felt a little excited at the prospect of spending the next few days alone with Deacon. As she grabbed the bags out of the backseat, she gulped. This was either going to go very well or be one huge disaster.
**The Prompt from Shiny Jewel is: When Rayna or Deacon (the author can choose) gets sick on tour, the other takes care of them, going out and bringing back a bag full of things they think will make the ailing one feel better.