Okay so this is a one shot that takes placed in season 1 after Rayna and Teddy tell the girls their getting divorced and show a different sequence of events occurring when Maddie tells Rayna about the conversation she overheard between Teddy and Peggy. It incorporates some lines from other episodes that I thought applied here. Let me know how you like it!

Rayna felt sick to her stomach. She was embarrassed, betrayed and angry as hell. But surprisingly enough, she didn't feel even the slightest hint of jealousy.

"He's still with that woman. The one from the campaign. Peggy."

Maddie's words played over and over in her mind.

She had never thought Teddy would cheat on her. While he had his flaws, loyalty wasn't one of them, or so she thought. All those years back when he had stepped up to raise Maddie as his own, he'd never wavered from his promise. And in return, neither had she.

Rayna had known that things weren't going well between them. At first, they just slowly drifted apart. Rayna couldn't put her finger on the moment, but she did know that one day she woke up and realized that they'd just become co-inhabitants and co-parents. They coordinated the girls' schedules, organized dinners and went through the motions of a marriage. They were good at that, good at being a team for the girls. But, they couldn't keep a conversation that didn't have to do with Maddie and Daphne. Teddy hadn't touched Rayna in months and what was more telling was that Rayna hadn't minded or noticed the time that had passed until Teddy brought it up.

Their divorce had been on the horizon for awhile now and while it devastated Rayna to tear apart the only family the girls had known their whole lives, Rayna knew that down the road it would be best for them to have parents who were happy. After Teddy had left her hotel that night in Chicago, Rayna mourned all of the Christmases, birthdays and lazy Sunday mornings they had shared over the years. It was a lot to say goodbye to even with the knowledge that it was a long time coming.

But what boiled Rayna's blood was the fact that Peggy, another woman outside their marriage, might have had even the slightest bit to do with the heartbreaking decision that they were making, a decision that was tearing apart her babies's world right now. The idea that Teddy's mistress, the woman he had denied cheated on Rayna with was affecting Maddie made her sick.

"You were having an emotional affair the whole time, with Deacon."

Teddy's accusation rang in her head.

Had she? It wasn't the same. She wasn't calling up Deacon telling him how it "felt so right with him" just before shattering her daughters's hearts. Rayna had drew the line long ago and they had never let it be crossed.

Until the elevator in Chicago. And maybe even after singing at the Bluebird with him. If Rayna was really being honest with herself, going up on that stage, singing that song with him, and the way the air felt in Deacon's truck outside. Rayna didn't know what would have happened had it been Deacon knocking on her hotel door instead of Teddy and she wasn't sure if she liked the answer. Maybe she wasn't all that innocent in the end.

The difference was, though, Rayna had done everything in her power to try to preserve and protect her family. She'd fired Deacon, cancelled their acoustic tour together and tried to put as much physical distance between them as possible. Which didn't work out when Deacon joined Juliette's band.

She hadn't done what Teddy just did.

But what the hell did it matter anymore? Rayna had spent the last fifteen years doing the right thing by her family, by her marriage and where had it taken her? Maybe it bought them some good years that she wouldn't trade for the world, but it had just delayed the inevitable.

Before Rayna knew it, her cars keys were in her hand and she was pulling out of her driveway and headed towards East Nashville.

Rayna wasn't exactly sure what she was doing or even why she was doing it. But she was done thinking, done rationalizing and analyzing and controlling her emotions. She was doing what felt right, what felt good for the first time in a long time.

She walked up to the front porch of his bungalow, the one they had once shared years back, and rang the bell.

It wasn't long before he was at the door, wearing blue jeans, a flannel and a pretty surprised look on his face.

"I know I should have called and I shouldn't have just showed up like this," Rayna blurted out.

"You don't have to call, Ray. What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"No, its not, Deacon. Teddy's cheating on me with the woman from the campaign. The same one I went in front of all of Nashville and defended him, saying he wasn't. And lord knows I wanted to believe that was true. He came to Chicago to ask me for a divorce. And then Maddie overheard him on the phone with her…and it's a long story. But what I came here to say is I love you, Deacon. And that's just never not been true. I know how unfair it is for me to show up here and to say this. But when you kissed me in that elevator, it was like I could finally breathe again. Like I was home again, where I belong," Rayna said breathlessly.

There was a moment of silence between them before he stepped towards her and brought his lips to her. He pulled her towards him and into the house. She heard the door slam shut behind them and he pushed her up against it. His lips were like flames running up and down her neck. He was everywhere but at the same time she felt like she couldn't get close enough to him. Her fingers wandered to the buttons on his shirt. But before she could make much progress, his hands were holding wrapped around her wrists holding them back and he'd pulled away from her.

"God, Ray, I love you so much. Lord knows how long I've waited to hear you say that, and for me to get to say it back without it being wrong. I want so badly right now to take you to my bed, to hold you again and wake up with you in the morning. But I can't. I want you. But I don't want you like this. I don't want to have you while you're still married, while another man's ring is still on your finger. I don't want to turn this beautiful thing between us into something dirty, something wrong. And I know deep down you don't want that too."

"Deacon, my marriage is over. I'm not Teddy's. I loved him and loved how he helped raise our family, but my heart was never fully his, babe. I meant what I said."

"Doesn't matter, Rayna, and you know it. You're hurt right now. I know you meant it, but it doesn't change the facts. You need to take some time to heal and just take care of your girls right now. We've messed this thing up so many times, Ray, I want us to have a fighting shot. And we're not gonna get it like this."

Rayna let his words sink in and nodded. She brought her hand to his face and lightly caressed him cheek with the backs of her fingers. He pulled her in and kissed her lips, slowly this time, running his tongue along her bottom lip.

"I think you should go, now. I don't know how much self control I have left in me," Deacon said.

Rayna chuckled and replied, "Okay, I'm going."

"I've waited 15 years for you Rayna Jaymes. I can wait a little while longer, I'm not going no where."

"Neither am I," she said as she walked out the door.

—

Rayna went to bed with a slight feeling of hope and feeling less lost. Before she turned out the lights she grabbed her phone and started to type.

Thank you for tonight. For doing the right thing.

She hit send and put the phone back onto her nightstand. A few moments late she heard it buzz and opened up the message.

Always.