I sprinkled a couple of vague spoilers in here, but this one shot will probably have very little in common with how the show actually turns out. Just thought I'd have some fun imagining. I thought about writing lyrics to the song Rayna sings, but I knew I couldn't do the title justice so I thought I'd just leave them up to your imagination.
##
The concert was almost over. She played the single as well as all the songs she was hoping would be hits from her new album. It had dropped today to as much fanfare as she'd hoped for, despite Will Lexington's album being released the same day. She'd feared that the new and shiny: the tight abs, the sparkling eyes, and the pearly white smile would overshadow all the genuine work she'd put into the album, but in the end her artistry, along with the millions of adoring fans she'd gained over the past two decades, were here saving grace. There were 50,000 people in the stadium tonight reassuring her that her album, and hopefully her new label, would be a success.
She'd sung Ball and Chain with Luke, and He Ain't Gonna Change with Juliette. Despite the controversy surrounding Juliette these days, the audience screamed just as loud for both. There was just one more song to sing tonight, and Rayna had decided that despite her sparkly outfit, and her 4-inch high heels, it was going to be a slow one, a soft acoustic number that represented her more than any other song that she'd sang here tonight.
She stepped up to the microphone, commanding the crowd as only someone who'd been doing this practically her whole life could do. She looked out into the audience. The lights were shining so strong she could barely see past the first row, but there in the corner she spotted Maddie and Deacon, and right next to them Daphne and Tandy. The rest of the performers, Scarlett and Juliette, as well as Luke were just off stage watching from their shielded perches.
As Rayna took the microphone in her hand a little shot of nerves ran through her but quickly went away. She knew this is what she had to do.
"Hi Y'all. I hope you've enjoyed tonight's show. I have one more song left for you tonight. It's not on the album. In fact, I only wrote it in the last few weeks, but I hope you enjoy it. I've always taught my girls that everyone makes mistakes. It's what makes us human, but the real test of who you are as a person is whether or not your able to own up to those mistakes and learn from them." Rayna smiled and laughed a little at herself. "Well, turns out I'm just as human as the rest of you, and I've certainly made my share of mistakes, and this is me owning up." Rayna looked back out at the audience finding Deacon with her eyes. "I wrote this song for someone that I care about very much. A person who I wouldn't be here tonight without. It's called Wrong For the Right Reasons, and this is for you babe."
Most of the 50,000 people out there probably assumed she was singing the song to Luke. That her current beau was the inspiration for the heartfelt display of emotions, but Deacon recognized the words he'd said to her that day in the kitchen right away, and knew this song would be for him. A lump formed in his throat and he squeezed Maddie's shoulders a little tighter. The crowd settled down and went quiet as the first few bars of the melody rang out and echoed through the stadium.
When it was over, the audience erupted into applause and Rayna exited the stage. Deacon took Maddie's hand in his own and pulled her backstage. "Come on, let's go see your mamma."
As receptive as the crowd was, Rayna got the exact opposite response from Luke the moment she stepped behind the curtain. He grabbed Rayna's arm spinning her around so she was facing him.
"What the hell was that Rayna?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That song. That was a love song. You're dating me, but you sang a love song to another man."
Rayna pulled her arm back so she was out of his grasp. "It wasn't a love song Luke, it's an apology."
"Rayna I might not be the smartest man in the world or the most talented, but I know a damn country love song when I hear one, and I'm guessing that one was for Deacon."
At that moment Deacon and Maddie appeared behind stage, but hung back with the rest of the stage crew that were trying to give Luke and Rayna a wide berth as they started to make an increasingly larger scene.
"You're being ridiculous Luke, and you're overreacting."
"I'm being ridiculous? Rayna, what are you doing? I thought things were about us now, that I was your present and your future?"
"They are, you are."
"Fine, then I don't want you seeing him anymore."
"What are you thinking? He's a friend, and not to mention Maddie's father, I can't just cut him out of my life."
"I have a child with Jennifer, but you don't see me hanging out with my ex Rayna, and you certainly don't see me writing songs to her."
"Well I'm sorry that you don't have a good relationship with your ex, but Deacon and I aren't you and Jennifer. We care about each other and we're always going to be in each other's lives, but that doesn't mean you and I can't be together."
"My god Rayna, don't you see it? It's twenty years ago all over again. We're still up there on the top of that damn stalled Ferris wheel, and all you can think about or talk about is Deacon. Why can't you just admit it to me."
"Admit what?"
"That you're still in love with him. I wanna hear you say it."
Rayna shook her head avoiding the question, and tried to turn away noticing for the first time the crowd of people watching them."
"We're making a scene here Luke, let's discuss this later."
This didn't cool Luke down at all, instead it escalated his anger and he shot back. "No Rayna, I want to discuss it now. I just want you for once to be completely honest with me. Hell , if you can't be honest with me, at least stop living in denial and be honest with yourself."
Rayna had tried to calm herself down, but her defensive nature kicked up and by this point she was screaming back at him with just as much fervor as Luke was giving her. "What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to be honest, I want you to admit that you still love Deacon, that he's always going to be between us."
"Fine, you want me to say it, you want me to tell you that I love Deacon. I love Deacon, I've always loved Deacon, and I always will love Deacon in a way that I will probably never be capable of loving anyone else. You happy?" Saying those very private words out loud, not only to Luke, but in front of everyone at the venue took a toll on Rayna, and she all of a sudden she seemed tired and beat.
Luke looked at her a moment holding her gaze, then he turned around and made a beeline for the exit. He brushed past Deacon and Maddie as he headed out and gave Deacon a little push on the chest knocking him back a foot or two. Everyone quickly cleared and the only two people who were left standing there were Deacon and Maddie. Rayna looked up and saw them there. She could see the concern in Deacon's eyes, but after the exhausting conversation with Luke it was almost too much for her to deal with at that moment. Before he could walk any closer to her she held up her hand. "Can you just take her home. I can't deal with this right now." Deacon nodded his head then looked at Maddie and gestured for the two of them to head out.
She'd been holding onto her feelings for so long, keeping them bottled up so tight to protect herself that the release was like a tidal wave that overwhelmed her both emotionally and physically. Rayna sat down on an apple box, head in hands and cried.
##
Deacon and Maddie sat in silence on the way back to his house until they were just a few blocks from his front door. Finally Maddie spoke. "So mom's still in love with you, huh?"
"I guess, yeah."
"You don't seem surprised."
"Well, your mom and I have loved each other since we were teens, even if it shifts and changes it never really goes away."
"So you love her too?"
"Always will."
"Then I don't understand why she's been dating Luke?"
"I don't want to give you one of those 'when you're older you'll understand' lines Maddie, because I always hate it when adults say that to children, but relationships are more complicated than just love. Your mamma and I have a lot of water under our bridge. Not all of it good."
"That's why she wrote that song for you tonight? As a way of apologizing for the bad stuff."
Deacon let a slight smile appear on his face. "Yeah, something like that."
"It was a pretty song."
"Yeah honey, it was a real pretty song."
That seemed to satisfy Maddie for the time being. She sat back in her seat and looked out the window as they continued on their way home.
##
The next day Deacon dropped Maddie off at school and headed over to Rayna's. She let him in and then walked back over to the living room. Deacon followed behind concerned with how sad she still looked. "You okay? Yesterday was a big day?"
"I'm fine. Just annoyed that Luke chose to do that in such a public place."
"Well, you could have just walked away Ray. You got pretty heated yourself."
"I suppose, how much of it did you hear?"
Deacon shifted in his boots. "Well, pretty much the whole argument."
Rayna nodded her head. "Luke always was jealous of you."
"Yeah, I could see how a big country star with millions of adoring fans and the queen of country hanging on his arm would be jealous of an old alchie guitarist playing 100 person venues."
"Well you were always more talented than him Deacon…and you've always had me."
"Yeah, about that. Did you mean it? Or were you just trying to piss him off?"
Rayna made a laughing sound that was almost inaudible, but Deacon picked it up. "You know I meant it. Have you ever doubted it?"
Rayna looked up into Deacon's eyes holding his gaze for the first time since the accident. Of course they'd looked at each other a hundred times since that day, stealing furtive glances, darting to connect, then quickly looking away, but this was the first time they let themselves really look the way they used to, the way they knew would make them just want to look longer.
Rayna opened her mouth to say something but before she had time Deacon had pulled her into his arms and took her mouth with his own. The kiss was searing and electric, but it was oh so slow. Finally after a minute Deacon pulled back resting his forehead against Rayna's while still holding her in his arms. They stood there in silence just holding each other.
Deacon ran his fingers around Rayna's neck, tracing a chain she was wearing, then he pulled on it releasing the object that was hanging on it from the confines of her blouse. "What's this?" he asked.
As he continued to pull it up he took the circular object in his hands and was shocked to realize that it was the engagement ring that he had tossed into the pile all those months ago.
"Where'd you get this Ray? I thought this was gone forever. I tossed this away at the crash site."
Rayna smiled and ran her finger over the ring as well. "I know. I saw you do it. I guess by the time all the flowers started to die the city of Nashville figured that it was more of an eye sore than a tourist attraction so they boxed everything up that wasn't rotting and sent it to Edgehill. Apparently it sat in a closet there for months until I split from them, which is when they sent it over here. The box had been sitting in my study for weeks. I've been so busy, and really didn't feel the need to relive those memories, but a couple of weeks ago when the girls were at school I started thinking about my fans, and how nice it was to show me all that concern, so I sifted through the box to see what they'd left me. You can't imagine how surprised I was when I found my ring squeezed between a pink teddy bear and some type of scrapbook containing photos of me with hairstyles I'd rather forget."
Deacon laughed, "Yeah, you did have some crazy hair in the 90s."
"Don't talk 'Mr. I think I'd look good with a mullet.'"
They both laughed enjoying the moment. Deacon ran his fingers over the ring then he slid them back over the chain until he'd found the clasp. He carefully unhooked it and slid the ring off of the chain. He took Rayna's left hand in his own and placed the ring on her ring finger. "It's a ring Ray, it's meant to be worn on your finger." Rayna reached up and stroked his face with her right hand. "This is a promise. That we're not going to give up this time, we're going to try to work through all our shit. Okay?"
"Okay babe."
"So I want you to wear this until maybe one day I replace it with a real ring."
Rayna ran her hand onto his chest and started playing with the top button of his shirt.
"This is a real ring babe, it's the only ring I've ever really wanted."
Deacon smiled then kissed her softly. Then he let go of her hand. "I should go." As he turned to leave he felt Rayna grab his arm and pull him back towards her. He looked at her with questioning eyes.
"The girls won't be home for another few hours," she said mischievously. "I thought maybe we could start working through some of those issues now."
A smile broke across Deacon's face and he let out a deep chuckle before scooping Rayna up by the ass. She wrapped her legs around him and ran her hands through his hair. "Is this what you had in mind?" Deacon asked playfully.
"This could work," Rayna responded between kisses as he carried her up to the bedroom.