Deacon walked into his house, turning on a light as he headed toward the kitchen. The past 72 hours felt like seven years, but at the same time felt like seven moments.

Three days ago he had been trying to decide whether or not he should go to the Opry to play with the girls for their debut, about whether or not he could be around Rayna and not break down about the cancer, the transplant, the possibility that his life was coming to an end.

Now, three days later, so much had happened. Rayna knew about his cancer, about what had caused it, about what he was facing. And she was insistent on being there for him. No matter what.

And the girls knew and it was as painful as he could tell the way that Maddie wouldn't quite look at him that he was breaking her heart. It was the worst feeling in the world.

He felt so much love from having Rayna there, on his side. It was hard to leave her earlier after she got home from her day of taking care of Sadie, taking care of Juliette-just like she always did, but after three days, he needed a shower, he needed a change of clothes...he needed to take a breath and recenter.

He saw the light blinking on his answering machine and reached over to press it. As the message from Dr. Rand's office played, it washed over him.

He still had cancer. His tumor was still growing. He might still die. And leave Rayna. Leave the girls. Break their hearts.

He sighed and wrote down the appointment time for the next day. Even with everything that had happened during those three days, life was still marching on and for him, it might just be running out.

Rayna slipped from the arms of the girls and carefully crawled out of the bed, trying not to wake the girls. She headed toward her room, pulling the covers back on her bed and slipping between the sheets.

The past three days felt like a marathon. Her body ached, she was exhausted beyond belief, but she also had this wash of feelings-her love for Deacon was so intense, but the potential pain of what might come next also was mixed into all of it.

She rolled on her side and reached for her phone that lay on the table next to the bed.

Love you she texted.

Love you back he responded.

Miss you already she wrote.

There was a pause, then a response from him.

Me too.

Come back.

I will.

Now.

Now?

Now.

Rayna lay against the pile of pillows, the phone silent in her hand, her body suddenly no longer tired, but still aching-now for Deacon.

On my way was his response.

;-) she answered back.

Huh? He asked.

Just come and don't text while you're driving she typed.

Deacon pulled his truck into the driveway behind Rayna's house. For years this had been a place the felt mostly off-limits to him. It was the home she'd made with Teddy, where she lived with her family. The years that he'd been in her band, before things ended with Teddy, before he knew about Maddie, they had worked so hard to keep a hard line between that personal and the professional. It was the blurring of that line a few years earlier that had ended their professional relationship and nearly so much more.

That had never really changed in the few weeks that he was with Rayna before he found out about Maddie, before the accident. Rayna had tried to get him to come over to stay a night when the girls were with Teddy, but he'd refused. It still felt like Teddy's house to him back then.

After he knew about Maddie everything was so different. It felt like he had the right to come into this house, now and then. His daughter lived there. And to be honest, seeing Luke in Rayna's house just made him want to assert his presence a little bit more. He could tell it made Wheeler uncomfortable.

It seemed to unsettle Rayna a bit too and if he was being honest, he liked that as well. It was one thing for Rayna to decide she couldn't be with him, but he was never going to make that an easy choice for her.

And now, he was here. Rayna had asked him to come back and it wasn't going to be to sit on the couch or go in the music room or…

He looked up at the kitchen window and could see her there, leaning against the counter. She had probably heard him pull up and was wondering what was holding him up.

Nothing but the memories. Same as always.

Rayna took a long drink from the glass of water she'd poured while she waited for Deacon to come to the door. He'd been sitting in his truck for nearly ten minutes and it was taking all she could muster to not go out and see what was going on with him.

But she'd listened to what he had said at the cabin and she knew that he was struggling with everything going on in his life. She wasn't going to let him run off and hide, but she was going to try to give him his space when it seemed like he needed it.

Like right now. Sitting in his dark truck. In her driveway.

There was a light tap on the door and she walked over and unlocked it.

"Hey," she said, her voice quiet and low.

"Hey," he responded, then leaned in and kissed her. "Thanks for inviting me back."

"You get that shower?" she asked, looking down at his fresh clothes.

He nodded. He looked at her, her hair tousled, the worn t-shirt from the Bluebird and he couldn't stop himself-he pulled her to him, pressing his body against hers, his lips against hers, kissing her deeply. Her hands ran up his back and kneaded against his shoulder blades. He wasn't sure he could wait much longer.

"You want to come upstairs or you just going to take me in my kitchen?" she teased when they finally pulled apart.

"I've never been upstairs," Deacon replied.

Rayna held out her hand. "Well, maybe it's about time you saw the rest of the house."

Deacon followed Rayna out of the kitchen and through the wide, grand hallway toward the front staircase. He wasn't kidding-he'd never been upstairs in her house, via the front stairs or the back. Honestly, this might be the first house he'd ever been in that had two sets of stairs like this one. He looked up at the brick work.

"I know...it's a bit much," Rayna said. "Sorry, I usually go up the back way, but this way we don't have to go past the girls' rooms."

"Ray...we don't have to…" He felt a little weird, sneaking in here while Maddie and Daphne were sleeping in their rooms.

She stopped and turned back to him, her hand still firmly locked with his. "Deacon, I want you here. I need you here, with me. So, stop fussing and come upstairs with me."

The corners of his mouth tipped up slightly as he suppressed a laugh and followed her up the stairs. Rayna had a way of getting what she wanted. No matter how long it took or what she had to do.

She led him down the dark hall, pausing at the door to what he assumed was her bedroom.

"Haven't had you in my bed for a long time, Deacon Claybourne," she whispered.

And honestly, he'd never been in "her" bed...she'd come to his and they had shared beds, but this was the first time for him in her bed.

She led him into the room and even though his boots he could feel how thick and rich the carpet was. This was no flea bag hotel along the highway or starter house in the suburbs. No, he was in Rayna Jaymes' mansion, in the master bedroom, about to get into her king size bed where…

Deacon stopped short of the bed.

"What's the matter?" she said as she took a half step back from him.

"I'm just not sure about…"

"About what?" she asked. He could tell that he was interrupting her flow of the evening.

"No, it's fine," he responded, taking another half step toward the bed and then stopping again.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, sliding her arm around his back, pulling him close again.

"Is this...do I have to,,," he stammered.

"What is the matter, Deacon?" she asked, now stepping back from him.

"I'm not sure I can sleep in the same bed that you shared with Teddy and Luke," he finally admitted. "Sorry…"

Rayna looked at him and laughed as she pulled her t-shirt up over her head revealing her amazing breasts.

"Teddy liked a firm mattress. Way too firm. Luke demanded one of those number beds that adjust. Me, I'm a fan of memory foam. The good kind...so no worries. The frame belonged to my grandparents and I'm not giving that up, but this is a new bed, Deacon."

Deacon chuckled, sat down on the bench at the end of the bed and leaned over to pull off his boots.

"Good, because I'm not sure I could have made it out of here without some resolution to what you started downstairs."

Rayna came over and slid onto his lap, facing him, her now bare skin pressing against him. "Good, because I'm not letting you out of here until we finish what we started."

She reached up and started unbuttoning his flannel shirt, easing it back and off his shoulders. She leaned in and kissed the skin along his chest, then moved up and began to kiss his lips, more urgently with each one.

He stood up, carrying her to bed. He set her down on the duvet and unzipped his jeans. Her hands reached up, helping him shed the denim.

He finished undressing and slid into the bed with her, suddenly not giving a damn who had been in this room and when. Right now it was just he and Rayna. And for the moment, it felt like there was nothing else left in the world.

TBC