NB: Goodness me. It has been a while. A long while actually. The story you are about to read can best be described as the follow-up to LITTLE VOICE. I guess some have waited for this story, some people will read this and have no idea what I'm talking about, and others will just skip this little note anyway. This story has been sitting in the back of my mind since the final chapters of LITTLE VOICE, and it's only now that I think it's about time for it to be shared. I hope y'all feel the same way. PLEASE share your COMMENTS/THOUGHTS/IDEAS/REVIEWS/FOLLOWS/FAVORITES/ FAVORITE LINES OR MOMENTS/HOPES FOR IT TO CONTINUE or WHATEVER ELSE...Here we go again people...a new story...Enjoy..

DISCLAIMER: Characters are copyright of NASHVILLE. I own nothing.

CHAPTER ONE

The hallway was dark and the house was quiet. Morning was slowly creeping through the windows. Squinting at her feet, Rayna did her best to dodge the floorboards that were best known for their squeaking. Accidently stepping out of place, a resounding creak echoed up the hallway. Rayna swore. The last thing she wanted to do was wake the girls.

Tiptoeing past her youngest daughter's room and flying past her eldest's, Rayna practically tripped over her own feet. She closed the door and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes as she walked over to her bed. The clock on the bedside table had just changed. 5:49am.

"Babe," Rayna whispered, pulling the sheets back to crawl into bed.

Deacon stirred, rolling onto his side.

"Babe," Rayna tried again, gently wrapping her arms around his waist to steal his warmth. She smiled as he tried to edge away from her. "It's nearly six."

"Mmmm,"

"We need to get up…Actually, you need to get up…"

No reply.

Rayna frowned, squeezing him tightly to get his attention. "Babe, did you hear me?"

"Mmhmm," Deacon answered sleepily, choosing to make as little movement as possible.

"What'd I just say?"

"It's six and we need to get up." Deacon mumbled, closing his eyes. He twisted and turned. "Your feet are cold."

Rayna chuckled, propping herself up to get a better look at him. She teased him with her feet, running them up and down his legs. He pushed her feet away with his, grumbling something that she couldn't quite make out.

"Hun, we've really-"

"Five minutes?"

"Babe-"

"Ray…" Deacon tried, finally opening his eyes. His vision was foggy but he couldn't help but smile when his gaze met hers. Rayna was grinning, her hair tumbling over her shoulders in every which direction. He loved that she stole every part of his being without even trying. She was so beautiful. He couldn't believe that she was his now. "Ray, just lay with me for five more minutes. It's still dark outside."

"Deacon, I think-"

"I think you think too much." Deacon smirked, deliberately pinning her body underneath his as he turned over to face her. Taken off guard, Rayna's face flushed at the sudden contact. His hands began to wander her body, teasing her as they made a slow descend.

"Mmm Mmm," Rayna shook her head, hiding the smile on her face as she pulled his hands up to where she could see them. "I see what you're tryin' to do and it ain't gonna work."

"I'm gonna disagree with you on that..." Deacon murmured, leaning down to kiss her softly.

Paying no mind to the way that he left kisses on her face, she pretended to be disinterested. "Not gonna work."

"Is that right?"

"That's right."

"How about now?" Deacon smirked, freeing his hands from hers to let them resume their wandering. Rayna's breath hitched. His kisses moved to her neck and he smiled against her skin when he felt her body respond to his.

"I think that we-" Rayna managed, her voice shaky and full of desire.

"Just five more minutes…"

"Only five."

"Only five." Deacon hummed, kissing her lightly.

Instinctively, Rayna responded by deepening the kiss. "Five..."

"Whole..." Deacon whispered between kisses, fumbling to get a good hold on the hem of her t-shirt. "...Minutes.."

Rayna giggled into his mouth and pushed him away as he tried to edge her t-shirt upward.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"What you're wantin' to do here is gonna take a hell of a lot longer than five minutes."

Running his hands under her t-shirt, Deacon smiled. "I think I can find a way to-"

"No, no, no…" Rayna stifled a laugh, bringing her knees up between them. Deacon ignored her, wrapping her in his arms to kiss her. "Mmm Mmm, Deacon."

"Rayna..." he mimicked her, exaggerating his tone as he kept his hold on her.

"Shhh!" Rayna shushed, trying to edge away from him between giggles. "We can't, the girls-"

"They already know that I'm their Momma's boyfriend or whatever the hell it is that the kids are callin' it these days," Deacon chuckled before kissing her shoulder lightly.

"They don't know that we're sharin' a bed." Rayna retorted, flipping hair over her shoulder as she stared at him straight. "And I'd prefer to keep it that way a while longer, thank you."

"Honey," Deacon murmured, pulling her body against his. Rayna rolled her eyes. "I love sharin' a bed with you…I-"

"Babe, did you not just hear a single word I said?" Rayna chuckled, leaning into him as his fingers made lazy circles on her lower back. "I mean, the girls are sleepin' just down that hallway and you wanna get-"

"It didn't seem to bother you last night," Deacon challenged.

Rayna raised an eyebrow. "You're kiddin' me?"

"Because last I checked you were the one that wanted to share your bed with me," Deacon continued, a smirk on his lips when Rayna's mouth dropped.

"You could've said no and gone right on home after the girls went to sleep."

"That wouldn't have been fair on you now, would it?"

"Yes, because last night was all about me."

These last five weeks had been interesting to say the least. After a long, late night conversation at the back of a tour bus, they'd decided to keep their relationship private until they figured out what it actually meant to be together again. They both knew that they wanted this, but if they were honest they had no idea what that meant. A lot of time had passed between them since they'd shared a bed, their hearts, houses, decisions or their lives with each other. They needed time to find and rediscover, they needed to build and relearn. It hadn't been an easy conclusion to come to but they were determined to get it right and make their relationship work this time. Not just for their sakes, but for the people they cared about, particularly Maddie.

Rayna had been easing Maddie and Daphne into the idea of having Deacon around more. Lately, he'd talked with the girls at the end of her nightly phone calls and even jumped in on video chats on a number of occasions. Last week, Daphne had even made a comment about preferring to talk to him over her on the phone. Rayna had pretended to be hurt, but she'd been relieved. The last thing she wanted was for her daughters to be uncomfortable or loathe the idea of her dating someone that wasn't Teddy.

The crazy scheduling for the tour had only allowed them two days out of the whole month to go home to Nashville. They had planned on waiting until the end of the final leg of the tour to tell the girls about their relationship, but that all changed a week ago when Edgehill made a snap decision to put a hold on the tour. Within four hours, a statement had been released to the press and they were all boarding planes that were headed for had been battling a cold for the last few weeks and come down with a severe case of laryngitis. Much to her distain, she'd been ordered to take at least three weeks rest. No tour. No singing. No talking. No nothing. Initially Rayna had found it amusing that Juliette had been put on a complete vocal ban, especially since she seemed to be more vocal than anyone. However, she did empathize with Juliette. There had definitely been a few occasions where she'd battled with the same thing over the years and it hadn't been pretty.

The week was a blur of unpacking, radio interviews, meetings and settling back into being home. Strangely, she'd enjoyed the chaos of it all. That was until her daughters had cornered her four nights ago. One minute Rayna had been asking what they wanted for lunch and the next Maddie had asked if she had a boyfriend. Dumbfounded, Rayna had flat out denied it. Daphne asked if it was Deacon. Rayna deflected the question by asking if she wanted peanut butter on her sandwich. Both girls had pushed and prodded until Rayna finally confirmed their suspicions. She indeed had a boyfriend, and yes it was Deacon. Fortunately, they didn't seem too fazed by the idea. Maddie hadn't been nearly as vocal as Daphne had been about how she felt, but at the end of it all both girls had approved. That had been all that mattered to her, that they approved.

"What?" Rayna frowned, suddenly realizing that Deacon had been staring.

"Nothin'," Deacon smirked, brushing hair out of her eyes. "You're just real pretty is all."

"Shush you," Rayna whispered, kissing him slow as he wrapped his hands around her waist.

Deacon rested his forehead against hers and she smiled. "It's true."

Terror surged through Rayna's body when she heard the pitter-pattering of feet down the hallway. Without thinking, she pushed Deacon away from her and out of the bed. He collided face first with the floor, burying himself under the blankets that he'd taken with him. Rayna barely had enough time to lie back down before her nine-year-old burst through the door.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" Daphne exclaimed, bounding into the room.

Rayna stirred, doing her best to feign drowsiness. "Daphne, Daphne, Daphne…"

"Look!" Daphne chirped, holding up a ten-dollar note. "The Tooth Fairy gave me ten-dollars!"

Rayna's eyes widened. "Ten? What the hell did you just-?"

"You just said a bad word-" Daphne interjected, crossing her arms cheekily.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Rayna groaned, straightening her posture. "That's no way to be talkin' to your Momma when she hasn't had a cup of coffee yet."

"You're just jealous because I'm rich now," Daphne grinned, jumping onto the bed. She seemed to be oblivious to the horror that spread across her Mother's face.

Rayna's heart quickened and she stole a look over the side of the bed where Deacon was laying perfectly still. She was going to kill him. Ten dollars? Really Deacon?

"That's like the same as my allowance,"

"Mmhmm..." Rayna managed as she gave the little girl a gentle push. "Sweetheart, as much as I wanna sit and chat so early in the mornin'...Why don't you go on downstairs and watch some TV?"

Daphne frowned. "I thought that I wasn't allowed?"

"What'd you mean?" Rayna asked distractedly, edging her daughter further off the bed. "Of course you're allowed. I'll be down in a little bit."

"Mom,"

"Daphne, would you just-" Rayna started, trying her best to hide the agitation in her voice.

"Ok, ok." Daphne sighed, walking towards the door before turning around. She grinned cheekily.

Rayna's eyes narrowed. "What are you smilin' at?"

"Nothing. I guess I'm not banned from watching TV anymore-"

"I? You? What?-"

"Bye, Mom-"

"Daphne! Come b-" Rayna called as the little girl disappeared.

Deacon chuckled, struggling to find air underneath the blankets. "She's long gone Ray..."

"Yeah, her and her ten-dollars," Rayna leant over the side of the bed to look down at Deacon as he pulled the blanket off his face. She smiled a sugary smile. "Oh, yeah...Did you know that the Tooth Fairy's bein' real generous these days?"

"What can I say? I'm just a generous kind of guy..." Deacon smirked as he thought about last night, Tooth Fairy duty and the ten-dollars.

Rayna scoffed and threw a pillow at him. "Oh, please."

"Hey, a lot of good can come from generosity Ray...I mean, the things I could've, we could've done in five-"

"Babe," Rayna's face flushed.

"Just statin' the obvious-"

"Well, I'm gonna state the obvious too." Rayna exhaled, pulling the sheets back to get out of bed.

Deacon raised an eyebrow and Rayna smirked.

"Havin' a nine-year-old burst through your bedroom door this early is one thing...But a thirteen-year old? I sure as hell am not waitin' around to see that...and neither are you."