"What you need is to just let him go"

"I mean i'm pregnant. It's probably his. I just, I gotta at least talk to him. I mean he's sick..."

"Right and you've tried to help him but you cannot help somebody who doesn't to help himself. You want him to be the father? Do you have any idea what could happen to you or to that baby if he was?"

Rayna knew Tandy was right. Her head was telling her the exact same thing but her heart...God her heart.

"I need to talk to him" Rayna chokes down a sob. Her eyes pleading with Tandy to understand "I can't keep this from him Tandy. I just can't"

Tandy shakes her head in a mixture of frustration and disbelief. She'll never understand Rayna's inability to let go of him but she's a big girl and she guesses it's up to her " Well you know my feelings on the subject"

" I do know how you feel..." Rayna responds blandly, all too aware of Tandys feelings towards Deacon. Tandy has never seen Deacon anything but drunk. She hasn't seen the real Deacon. The Deacon that can make her laugh, the Deacon that can send her heart racing with just a single flash of his smile, the Deacon that sets her on fire with a single touch. The Deacon she misses so much...

"Do you want me to wait in the car?" she asks, pulling Rayna from her thoughts. She shakes her head no and hugs her sister tightly. She watches Tandy descend the steps to the cabin and climb in her vehicle, noting in the back of her mind that she never hears her start the engine.

Rayna slides open the glass door and creeps inside, mindful not to startle him. She takes a deep breath and steels herself for the conversation to come. She honestly doesn't know how he will take it. The knot in her stomach tightens as she watches him. What the hell am I doing here? Maybe Tandys right. Maybe i'm a fool to think this will change him, that becoming a father will be the thing that finally gets rid of his demons. She blinks away the tears that are threatening to fall and squares her shoulders as she eyes Deacon hunched over the kitchen work top.

As she looks over him now, he is barely recognisable. His once muscular frame is frail and his skin has taken on a yellowish tint. He is a far cry from the man she had met 11 years ago. Her mind drifts back to the first night she'd laid eyes on Deacon Claybourne. She'd fell in love with him in all of ten minutes, maybe even less if she was honest...

Rayna exited the stage to uproarious applause. She was still relatively new at performing and her guitar skills left a lot to be desired. This worried her but the response she had received from the crowd tonight was enough to assuage her fears for now. Tonight was her very first gig at the Bluebird. Watty had offered to buy her a drink as a way of celebration and she had gratefully accepted. She took a seat to the left of the stage and waited for him to return. Watty brought her drink over a few minutes later and set it on the table carefully.

"I'll be right back ok. There's a lot of buzz about you tonight Rayna...great job up there..."

Rayna beamed and nodded her head. She watched as he left her table and approached two gentlemen, shaking their hands eagerly. Rayna scanned her surroundings then, taking in the intimate beauty of the place. She drank in the history and the magic that was the Bluebird Cafe. It was then that she noticed him. Removing his guitar from its case, his muscles rippling with every movement. He was wearing ripped jeans and a v neck t shirt that accentuated his muscular frame to perfection. His hair was swept back and he had just the right amount of facial hair. For a fleeting moment she found herself wondering what it would feel like under her finger tips and noticed her heart beating a little faster in her chest. She swallowed and tried to remove her eyes from his beautiful face. He must have felt her gaze on him as he slowly turned his head. Their eyes met and he gave her a flirty smile. Rayna felt her cheeks flush and her breath hitch in her throat. God he was handsome. Probably the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. She offered him a shy smile in return before averting her eyes quickly, fiddling with the ends of her hair.

What's wrong with me? she thought as she tried to focus her attention on something other than this good looking stranger, instead choosing to play with the straw in her drink, suddenly finding it the most fascinating thing in the world. It wasn't long though before her eyes were, once again, trailing across to where he stood. He looked up again just in time to see her gaze flit back to her drink ,a ghost of a smile on her face.

Deacon shook his head, laughing gently. He finished tuning his guitar and placed it carefully on a stand at the back of the stage before turning and making his way towards Rayna. Butterflies started to hammer in her stomach as she noticed him approaching. Her head started swimming and she felt breathless. She tried desperately not to show how effected she was by him.

"Well hey there" Deacon smiled warmly at her "I don't think ive seen you around here before. Names Deacon Claybourne. Nice to meet ya"

He leaned in then to shake her hand and her heart skipped a beat. God he smelt good.

"Hi i'm Rayna" She reached out her hand to shake his and was amazed by the energy that surged between them. He'd felt it too and laughed nervously. She smiled at him then, her bright blue eyes sparkling. He couldn't explain the feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach but he knew he'd walk over hot coals just to get another one of those smiles from couldn't be falling for her...could he? He needed to change the subject.

"So, um, are you a musician?"

"Eeerm yeah actually. I just played my first set here tonight" She smiled proudly.

There it was again, he thought. That million dollar smile. I'm officially a dead man.

"Well i'm sorry I missed it but hopefully i'll see you around again soon?" He asked more a question than a statement. He had to see her again. Needed to see her again.

She beamed and dipped her head bashfully "Yeah i'll be around" He smiled back at her and nodded his leave. Rayna watched him as he took to the stage. It couldn't be love...right?

God it had all been so much simpler back then. He'd been so much simpler then. She was broken from her reverie by a loud crashing as Deacon knocked over a few empty bottles in his attempt to get up from his slumped position. Her eyes burned into his back. His shoulders tensed as if sensing her presence and he took a long pull from the bottle in front of him.

"What do you want?" He sneered not turning to look at her, not daring to look into her eyes. He wasn't sure he could bare the disappointment, the pity at having once again bailed on rehab. At once again failing the woman he loved. He wasn't sure he could hide his own anguish at having failed her.

Rayna stood, momentarily frozen. She fidgeted, wringing her hands nervously as she searched for a reply . She tried desperately to wrack her brains for the right way to start this conversation but to no avail. The silence was almost deafening.

"What do you want Rayna?" He said again, anger permeating his tone, his hands shaking. He wasn't sure if it was from the alcohol or the fact that Rayna was stood just a few feet away from him.

"We need to talk" she replied, more timid than she would have hoped. She took a tentative step forward, unsure of how he would react. She moved towards him,carefully side stepping the vinyl she had watched him propel across the room minutes earlier. Their lifes work cracked and broken on the floor. How appropriate. She thought to herself.

He turned as he felt her edge closer. Her perfume filled his nostrils. Intoxicating him. God he loved the way she smelled. It was arousing yet strangely comforting to him all at once. God he missed her. He pushed those thoughts down. She wasn't his anymore. She'd moved on.

"What are you even doing here right now? Shouldn't you be with good old Teddy Conrad?" he countered slamming the bottle on the work top looking her dead in the eye. Hoping she wouldn't see the turmoil etched across his face "I heard about y'alls engagement" He smiled ruefully. "I guess congratulations are in order. The best man really did win" He scoffed taking another long gulp from the almost empty whisky bottle.

Rayna stopped in her tracks. How had he heard that?

"Deacon I..."

"Save it Rayna" Her engagement to Teddy had just solidified what he already knew about himself. He wasn't good enough for her. He was a failure and she deserved so much better than him. "I don't need your pity. Is that what you came here to tell me? That you've moved on for good. That you've finally found a man who deserves you..."

Rayna sighed heavily. Feeling tired all of a sudden. This was not going the way she had hoped. She could feel Deacon bristling with anger. An explosion was imminent she was sure. She backed away into the safety of the living room. Her attention falling to the spot where he had proposed only one month earlier. A wave of nausea hit her then. She was unsure whether it was the pregnancy or the onslaught of memories and emotions that were hitting her like a freight train. She watched him down the rest of the whisky bottle and her heart sank.

"Deacon please dont do this to yourself. You were always enough for me. I loved you more than anything...I still love you..."

Deacon felt a swell of anger course through his body at that "GOD DAMN IT RAYNA!" He launched the bottle he was holding across the room, hitting the wall a fraction away from Rayna's head. She jumped and placed her hands over her ears, barely containing the scream that escaped from her lungs. Deacon recoiled then. Seeing the look of fear on her face was enough to shake him to the core. How had it gotten this far? Rayna sobbed uncontrollably, gasping for breath as Deacon sank to the floor, his head in his hands...