Authors Note: I got this idea from a role-play story with a friend. What would of happened if Rayna and Deacon had gotten married before she had gotten pregnant. What if they had been trying to get pregnant? Would it of worked out? It's just a different look at what we think would have been more a possibility had it happened.

I own nothing but this story. All characters are owned by Lionsgate and Music City Productions.

Chapter One:

A 27 year old Rayna Jaymes sat at the kitchen counter in a tiny two bedroom apartment that she shared with her husband and his best friend. The apartment was mostly furnished with a man's sense of style. She had only been officially living there for a 6 months and had yet to put her touch on everything, but there were little traces of her own style throughout the small space. It was certainly cleaner than it had been in the past before she had moved in. Vince and Deacon both were slobs. The only time Deacon cleaned up was when Rayna was coming over or staying over. Or so Vince claimed anyway.

With three weeks off from the tour Rayna was trying to get in as much sleep, writing and socializing with friends and family as she could before they headed back on the road for another few months on the road for the back half of the tour. Rayna was perched on a bar stool at the counter slumped over a notebook and surrounded by several crumpled up pieces of paper. She sighed as she heard the front door open and Deacon walked into the apartment.

"Ray!" He called out for his wife and looked around for her. "You home?"

"In the kitchen" She called out to me

Deacon walked through the living room and around the corner to the small kitchen, he let out a low whistle when he saw all of the papers scattered around the room.

"Writin not goin good?" He kissed the top of her head

"I've had this idea in my head for days and it's not coming out the way I want it to on paper." Rayna sighed and tossed the pencil down onto the paper and turned to look at him. "How was your day? You snuck out early this morning."

"I had to get a little writin done." Deacon spoke as he walked around the counter and to the fridge and grabbed a beer.

Rayna nodded her head slowly and watched him closely. "Did you get it done?"

"Yeah I did and I started another song once I finished it, but I figured I oughta come home and see the Mrs." He winked at her cracking open the beer and drinking half of it.

"Well, maybe you could help the Mrs with her song."

Deacon walked around the corner and stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders. "That's what I'm here for." He grinned, "Maybe I can even help you relax."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I thought maybe we could take that notebook of yours and my guitar in the bedroom and we could write a little and maybe practice baby makin some more. I don't think we've quite perfected it just yet." He leaned forward and kissed her neck.

"You still wanna keep trying?"

Rayna smiled faintly up at him and grabbed her notebook from the counter and hopped off the barstool.

"Of course I do."

Deacon spoke as he grabbed his guitar from the living room and walked down the hallway and into the small bedroom. Rayna followed him into the bedroom and shut the door behind her, she tossed the notebook onto the bed.

"Flash me that pretty little ring Mrs. Claybourne." He grinned and sat down on the edge of the bed with his guitar.

"You aren't sick of asking me to do that? It's been 3 months, babe." Rayna smirked and held her left hand up to him to show her simple white gold solitaire diamond and matching wedding band.

Deacon beamed with pride when she flashed the ring at him. "I ain't ever gonna be sick of it. # of the best months of my life."

"Are you glad we did it?" She asked quietly as she walked and sat down on the bed next to him.

"I'm so damn glad we did it. You agreeing to marry me was on of the first good things to happen to me."

"You don't think we're too young? Or I'm too young, really? I mean, Tandy thinks we may have jumped the gun a bit and she really thinks that we are rushing things with trying to start a family this early in the marriage." Rayna shrugged,

"I don't think we rushed it nor do I think we are too young. You ain't as young as your sister thinks." Deacon sighed and took her hand in his, "We will have a baby when the time is right for us." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her hand softly.

Rayna watched Deacon lift her hand to his lips and kiss her hand. The last 11 years with him by her side had been nothing short of amazing. He was her best friend and the most amazing partner she could ever had hoped for. She loved him and he loved her with every fiber of their beings. She wasn't sure when they had decided to try to have a baby. It had come up before they decided to get married and after a pregnancy scare that Rayna and Deacon were both certain was going to result in a positive pregnancy test. When the test had come back negative - they had really started talking seriously about their future. What they wanted and what they didn't want - one thing that they both agreed on was that they wanted to have kids, but they didn't want to have one until they were married. Before Rayna knew it she was a 26 year old planning a wedding to the love of her life and making plans about a family.

"I know we'll have a baby when the time is right. I just, I don't know, Deac. We've been trying since we got married and I'm not pregnant." She sighed, "We haven't even had a moment where I thought I could be."

Deacon kissed the side of her head and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "It'll happen. Don't let Tandy stress you out."

"What if it doesn't? What if I can't have any? Will you still wanna be married to me?"

The idea that she may or may not be able to give Deacon the children he wanted crossed Rayna's mind with each and every negative pregnancy test. Would he still want her if they couldn't have any of their own? Would be want to settle for adopting or not having any at all? Rayna worried about the possibility all the time. Her trying to get pregnant was almost an unhealthy obsession - she was constantly researching and charting her temperature, tracking cervical mucus, all of the things that she read helps in the trying to conceive process.

"I will always wanna be married to you even if we can't have a baby. We will have a family." Deacon promised her.

Rayna smiled faintly at hime, "Vince doesn't count."

"Vince counts he's always here." Deacon laughed

"Only because he doesn't wanna move out and you won't make him." She teased and flopped back down onto the bed. "Maybe that's why we aren't, my body is shy and doesn't like to put out when Vince is home."

Deacon chuckled and shook his head at her. "We both know that is a lie, Ray. You put out." He paused for a moment and looked down at her laying on the bed, strawberry blonde hair sprawled out across the grey comforter. "Why don't we move out? We're gonna need a bigger place." He suggested

"I don't know. I would love to move and get a place that's just the two of us. It's a big commitment is all and we're already barely home."

Deacon moved to lay on the bed next to her and propped his head up on his arm. "Let's just do it. Maybe we can find a little place in East Nashville. You love how vintage those houses are."

"Why don't we stick a pin in it and see where we are after the tour is over and we can decide if we want to take that step and try and buy a house."

Deacon smiled, "I think we can handle that." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers softly.

Rayna kissed him back, "Help me with this song, please."

Deacon sat back up in the bed and nodded at her. "Alright, what do you got so far?"

"Basically, a chorus and maybe a bridge." Rayna sat up and grabbed the notebook off the foot of the bed.

"Ok tell me where you wanna go with it."

Rayna shrugged slightly, "I woke up the other night when you went out with Vince and Jimmy - I had this nagging feeling to write about how we've been trying and we want to have a baby and it's not happening. I tried to ignore it, but the idea keeps coming back to me.." She sighed, "You know how I get when I get lyrics in my head it won't stop until I put them on paper."

Deacon nodded his head at her. Ever since they had been trying to get pregnant he had noticed that it was truly effecting her emotionally and mentally each time they had a negative result.

"I don't know if it'll be too personal to release."

"If you wanna write it let's write it. We don't have to release it." Deacon assured her,

"I want to write it. I want our baby to know how much we wanted her." Rayna toyed with the corners on the leather notebook sitting in her lap.

"Let's write it." Deacon spoke and grabbed his guitar. "And I've told you a million times before, I only make boys."

Rayna couldn't help but laugh at Deacon's last comment. "Baby, you don't know what you make yet." She laughed and nudged him with her bare foot.

"Don't you want a boy?" Deacon grinned at her.

"I do but you know I want a girl too." She smiled at him, "I just want them to be happy and healthy." She opened the book and flipped to the page with a few scribbled down lyrics on it.

Deacon watched her lovingly. "I really want a son."

"Oh, babe. I know how badly you want one. I can practically taste it when you kiss me and that's even when we aren't having sex." Rayna winked at him, "You better start giving your boys a pep talk about only releasing boy swimmers then."

"We've had a talk. They know I need a boy." Deacon joked,

Rayna smirked, "This is what I have so far, " She paused and looked down at the paper,

I've been given so much

a husband that I love.

So, why do I feel so incomplete?

With every test and checkup

we're told not to give up

He wonders if it's him and I wonder if it's me.

All I want is a family, like everyone else I see.

And I won't understand it, if it's not meant to be.

"That's all I have, " She whispered

Deacon sat there staring at her as she sang the lyrics she had written down. Tears began to well up in his eyes by the time she finished. Rayna put the book down and looked at him, frowning.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

"I can't give you a baby. This should be easy."

Rayna teared up herself watching him break down on the inability to have a baby. She had never once stopped to think about how badly he wanted one or even thought that maybe he wanted one just as much as she did- if not more. Rayna always thought he was going alone with having one, because she was ready. Ready to be his wife and ready to be the mother to his children. She put the book down on the nightstand and moved to face him, cupping his face.

"Deacon, look at me. Maybe it's not easy because we want it so bad and we're ready for one."

He looked up at her with tears filled in his eyes threatening to break through the barrier and began cascading down his face. Deacon loved Rayna and he hated himself for not being able to give her this one thing that she wanted. A baby.

"Maybe we should just stop tryin so hard and start having fun again and it'll happen." He muttered lowly,

Rayna nodded her head at him and rested her forehead against his. "I don't want to do it like this. I don't want to feel so stressed out over the fact that we're trying so hard to get pregnant and having to do all of this extra stuff to have a baby. Maybe we just need a not preventing yet not trying attitude towards the situation."

"Yeah let's just have fun. I'm content with going back to the days of careless and spontaneous sex with you" Deacon replied

Rayna smiled, "You always did like it more than you do now, didn't you?"

"I just love being close to you, the passion and intensity of sex with you is an added bonus." Deacon whispered

Rayna looked down and blushed. They had been together for 11 years and she still felt inadequate in the bedroom compared to his experience. He was only 3 years older than she was, but his sexual encounters were doubled compared to Rayna Jaymes'.

"I'm not very good,"

Deacon cupped her own face and rubbed her cheek with his thumb, "Darlin that's just not true."

"Babe, it's ok. I know having to teach someone literally everything about sex and then marrying the same virgin wasn't your first choice."

Deacon wrapped her arms around her and kissed the side of her head a few times, "Baby Shh," He whispered softly,

Rayna melted into his embrace, "I don't wanna hold you back or make you feel like you have to be with me because you took my virginity."

"Listen to me crazy woman. I'm with you because I love ya and cause I taught you to have sex the way I like it. Ray, I would've married you even if you had made me wait until our wedding night to have sex. I want you, sex or not sex."

Rayna teared up and looked down, "You mean that?"

"Of course I do."

Rayna pressed her forehead back against Deacon's and locked her eyes on his. "Don't you break my heart, Deacon Claybourne."

"That's the last thing I wanna do, Ray." He scrunched his forehead up.