This is my first "Nashville" fanfiction, though I have dabbled in writing some other shows on various sites.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Callie Khouri and ABC own it all. I'm just borrowing. (Though I wish I could have Connie Britton's hair and my very own Deacon Clayborne).
This is my take on the immediate aftermath of the season finale. So, without further ado:
Phones Are Ringing All Over Town
The sound of sirens coming closer rattled her bones and shook her back into consciousness.
She felt moisture running down her face, unsure of whether it was tears or blood. Her thoughts turn to her girls. Daphne, so young and full of life. Maddie, not far from the age she was when she lost her own mother in a car crash. She closed her eyes and shivered as she thought of the similarities.
The sounds moved closer as she focused all of her energy on the next breath that became more and more difficult, determined to not put her daughters through what she went through so many years earlier.
And the man beside her ... she would fight for him too. Because she loved him.
Everything was fuzzy.
Not from the pills or the bottle of booze he had downed all too recently. At least not entirely. He knew he hit his head. He felt the shards of glass in his scalp, wasn't sure his ear was there at all. The brutal reality of what had just transpired hit him hard as he shut his eyes to the blurry headlights that appeared.
With the light blocked out, his thoughts turned to the woman beside him. She had deceived him for so many years. She thought he needed protecting. More like she was protecting herself, he thought bitterly. The sound of her struggling to breath in the upside down drivers seat made the bitterness turn to concern.
As he faded out of consciousness, he couldn't help but think that he wouldn't make it if she didn't survive.
"Mr. Mayor?"
Teddy glanced at the screen of his phone, not recognizing or expecting the voice at 11 p.m. "Chief Miller? Is something wrong? Makes me nervous when the chief of police calls this time of night. What's going on."
"Teddy, this is more of a personal nature. There was an accident."
Teddy's heart skipped a beat. He knew the girls were safe in their beds. He had checked on them just before he went to bed himself. "What ... what kind of accident, Phil?"
"A car crash. Your, um, wife lost control of the vehicle she was driving..."
"Oh, God. Is she alive?"
The other man's voice was heavy with tension. "Yes. She was when they left the scene. They are taking her to Vanderbilt. EMS is notifying the hospital to up security ahead of their arrival and to prepare for media inquiries. They'll make sure to maintain her privacy until her family desires to say anything."
Teddy was already throwing jeans and a shirt on, and searching for his keys, when the chief spoke up again.
"Teddy, um ... she wasn't alone in the car."
Her ex-husband froze. He immediately knew. Deacon.
"Is he alive?"
"Mr. Clayborne? Yes. But they both have very serious injuries. Do you know of anyone I should call for him?
Teddy thought quickly. "He's got a niece here in town. Scarlett is her name, I think. I don't have a number for her. You know what, call Coleman. He'll know how to deal with that. I've got to get my girls down to see their mother," he said as his blood boiled. "Deacon Clayborne is not my problem."
They moved around the house in silence, until he couldn't take it anymore.
"I still can't believe you said no."
"I didn't say no. I said I'm not ready. There's a difference." Scarlett looked Gunnar in the eye, as her face softened. "Look. I love you. I do. But with everything that has gone on in the last few months - with Jason, and your music, and my record deal, and you getting arrested - marriage is a big step. We need to get back to where we were before we can even start to think about moving forward."
"Scarlett ... " he hesitated.
"What?"
"Is this about Avery?"
She looked taken aback. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I saw you guys singing together the other night." He leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed his arms. "At his show."
"You were there?"
"For one song." He couldn't meet her stare. "It looked ... Do you still have feelings for him?"
She paused. "He's changed. He ..."
Gunnar didn't wait. He turned grabbed his coat and walked out the door, hearing Scarlett's phone ring as she called his name from the other side of the door.
He was halfway down the block, when he heard her call his name again, closer this time and with more urgency. "Gunnar, wait!" The fear he heard in her trembling voice made him stop and turn to her. She was running toward him, tears in her eyes.
"What is it?"
"It's Deacon. He was in a car accident. With Rayna." Gunnar pulled her into his arms as she sobbed. "It's bad. Coleman just called me. They are taking him to Vanderbilt. I need..."
He took her by the hand and lead her to his car before she could say another word.
Teddy pulled his SUV into the underground garage at the hospital, as the police chief had instructed him.
In his passenger seat, Maddie sat stoically staring out the window in disbelief. Her little sitter was in the back seat, sniffling and crying off and on. It broke Teddy's heart to see his little girls - both of them - hurting like this.
Dammit, Rayna, he thought to himself. How could you do this to them! To me! How could you let HIM do this to us.
He looked over at Maddie again and realized that he couldn't place all of his anger on Deacon anymore. At least not out loud. It would only confuse her even more and that wouldn't be fair to any of them.
They were met by a hospital PR official, whose badge read Delia, as well as a security guard and led up to the emergency department, where two trauma rooms were being cleaned. The young lady from the hospital introduced Teddy to a man in his late 50s, wearing scrubs.
"Mr. Conrad, I'm Dr. Jones, I treated your wife when she was brought in to the center. Let's go some place we can talk." He signaled for the trio to follow him. They were met by a woman with a gentle smile. "This is Katherine. She is one of our best nurses. Why don't you pretty girls go with her so I can talk to your dad."
Daphne, clearly uncomfortable in the emergency department, hastily nodded and moved toward the kind looking nurse. But Maddie remained in place. "I'm not going anywhere. I want to see my mom. Whatever you have to tell him, you can tell me too."
Teddy met eyes with the physician and nodded.
Dr. Jones ushered them into a lounge area and sat in a chair across from the couch where Teddy and Maddie sat.
"I'm going to be very honest with you. She is in bad shape, but she is currently in the hands of some of the best surgeons in the country," he said, looking directly at Teddy. "The next few hours are critical. When the car flipped, her seat somehow moved forward into the steering wheel. She hit the wheel at a high rate of speed with her chest and abdomen. She has internal bleeding and possible damage to her heart. We took her into surgery almost immediately. The surgeons said it could take a few hours." The physician paused to let it sink in.
"What about Deacon?" Maddie broke the silence. Both men looked at the teenager. "He was in the car with her. What about him?"
Dr. Jones looked surprised. "Mr. Clayborne is being treated by another physician. He can only talk to family though."
"Well, he can talk to me, since I am his daughter."
"Maddie!" Teddy couldn't help but shout at her.
"Well, it's true!" she said, looking at him, hurt expression on her face. "You know it. You've known it my entire life."
The doctor looked distinctly uncomfortable at the situation he found himself in, and was distracted when his pager went off for another patient. "I have to check on this. I will see about getting a status update on Mr. Clayborne. Why don't you two go wait in the surgical waiting room we have set up for your privacy."
The pair got up, tension following their every move. Delia led them to a room on the surgical floor, where they met back up with Daphne. Maddie went to sit in a corner of the room, arms crossed, while Daphne immediately sat in her father's lap and asked him what was going on.
He was whispering a watered down response, when the door flew open, revealing a disheveled looking blonde. She looked surprised to see anyone inside. She immediately recognized Teddy.
"Mr. Conrad. I'm so sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here," Scarlett said, launching into an apology. "This is where the lady at the front desk told me to come. She said that someone would come and talk to us about Uncle Deacon. I ... I knew he was in a bad state, but ... I didn't, I didn't think he would ..."
"Scarlett," he remembered her vaguely, knew she was Deacon's niece, as well as Rayna's new singer for her label. Teddy put his hands gently on her shoulders, as a tall young man he'd never seen before and Coleman walked into the room following behind her. "It's okay. You're as much a part of this as we are. This room is for all of us. It's going to be a media circus out there, and it's best that we stay in one place."
Scarlett nodded as she sunk onto one of the couches, the man, who Teddy assumed was her boyfriend, sat quietly beside her rubbing her back.
Coleman motioned for Teddy to follow him outside the room.
"So how is she?" he asked in a low tone.
Teddy sighed. "It's touch and go. They took her into surgery almost immediately. She was in before we got here. She has internal damage to her chest and abdomen. Possibly her heart. It doesn't sound good. I don't know ..." his voice faded as he leaned against the wall.
"Any word on Deacon," Coleman asked, carefully approaching the subject. He saw the fire in Teddy's eyes, but the watched as the defeated man shook his head. "They wouldn't say anything to us. Only to family. And then Maddie said ..."
He couldn't go any farther. Tears formed in his eyes and he looked away.
Coleman nodded in understanding. "Has anyone called Tandy and Lamar?"
"Yeah. They should be on their way."
So, that was chapter one. Next chapter: Scarlett ponders her uncle's future. The media circus begins. Juliette and Avery find out about the crash.