Rayna was beyond exhausted. She'd been on an incredible high the past few days since Deacon came out of his coma. They were home now, and 31 total days at the hospital suddenly caught up with her.

She knew Deacon wasn't fully recovered although he was doing his best to pretend he was fine. The doctor had warned them that Deacon would most likely suffer memory issues even if they weren't yet apparent.

Dr. Simms had warned them that things would be hard for Deacon as he recovered. "People don't just wake up, and walk back into their lives." He'd said

Coma patients also often suffer depression, drug and alcohol dependency, emotional issues and many other side effects that alter their lives long after initial recovery.

Deacon had no memory of the accident, or the few hours prior to it. He hadn't asked about Vince, and Rayna hadn't yet brought it up.

She was pretty sure he didn't even realize Vince had been part of the accident. She knew she had to tell him soon, but as she pulled the Escalade into the garage the day she brought Deacon home, she suddenly felt ill, and bolted inside the house to puke.

"Are you OK, baby?" Deacon asked as he clamored in with his walker, worried as he found her on the bathroom floor.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just exhausted. Maybe I'll go lay down for a while before the girls get out of school." She said as he tried to help her up from the bathroom floor.

"Dammit." He cursed at how weak he was

"I just wanna lift you in my arms, and carry you up to bed, but I can barely help you off the damn floor." He had tears in his eyes

He was still so weak. He needed a walker for support. She wasn't sure he'd be able to climb the stairs, let alone carry her.

"Did you get out of the car, OK?" she asked

"Yeah, little challenge, but I did it." He smiled

"Sorry I ditched you. I just suddenly felt so sick."

"Don't worry about it. Let me take care of you for a while. Go lay down. I can go get the girls from school."

"Deacon!"

"What?"

"You know the doctor said you shouldn't drive for a while!" she sternly reminded him

"I'm fine, Ray. I'm just a little weak. As soon as I can rid of this damn thing I'll be good as new." He hated the walker, but he needed support. His legs were really weak both from injury, and laying in a bed for so long.

"I feel like I'm fuckin 80 with this damn thing." He cursed

"You look pretty good for 80, baby." She kissed him as she walked by to head upstairs for a nap

"You gonna be OK down there alone?" she asked from the top step

"RAYNA! I'm not an invalid. Please don't treat me like one, OK?" he sniped

"I'm worried about you. I just got you back. I'm not taking any chances." She smiled and padded down the hall before he could argue anymore.

Rayna fell into a restless sleep. She was exhausted, but couldn't get comfortable. She'd get hot, then cold. She'd get a cramp. "Maybe I'm about to start a period." She thought as she flopped back and forth, side to side with no luck getting comfortable.

Then…she suddenly sat up with a jolt.

"OMG…when was my last period?" she panicked

She thought back. Deacon had been in a coma for 29 days. Before that they'd been fighting, and separated for almost a month. They hadn't had sex with the exception of the day in his truck for over 2 months.

"That was April 13th. The police had shown up at her door early on April 14th." She recalled, but her last period was sometime in March. "Around mid-March." She thought

It was now May 15th. "I'm at least a month late." She realized, and decided to keep it herself for now.

"It can't be anyway." She thought. "I'm on the pill."

"It's just stress, and exhaustion." She tried to reason with herself.

"Deacon doesn't need that now. He needs some stress free recovery time." She pushed it out of her mind.

Downstairs Deacon was happy to be home. He was looking forward to dinner with all of his girls.

As he turned to go in the living room to relax he saw the items near the door. His Gibson in its case covered in mud. A suitcase also covered in mud. 2 car seats covered in mud.

There were a couple boxes with a note on top from one of Rayna's PA's

Hey Rayna,

Went to the salvage yard and cabin as you requested.

The small box is from the suburban. I got all paperwork and all personal items I could find out of the vehicle.

The larger box is from the cabin. I collected all personal items left lying around on the floor and from tables and countertops.

The cabin has been cleaned, generator shut off, and locked up.

The car you asked about was stuck in mud on the access road inside the security gate. I found keys in the cabin, tried to get it out, but it's stuck. Keys are in the large box.

Let me know if you need anything else, or have questions.

Hope Deacon is doing better.

Erica

"Just like Rayna to handle everything." He thought as he began looking in the boxes for his wallet, phone, and keys. It felt weird to be back in his jeans without those items in his pockets.

He quickly located his phone and wallet near the top of things in the large box labeled cabin. He reached for the small box labeled suburban to search for his keys.

"Dammit." He cursed as his legs started to feel shaky

He grabbed his walker and headed towards the living room, and the recliner he'd missed so much.

His thought process was a little slow these days, something doctor Simms warned might happen.

After sitting for a few minutes and getting his legs to stop shaking, it occurred to him what he'd read in the note from Erica.

"Why the hell would Rayna have everything packed up, and the cabin closed up? Vince was living there. Where the hell is Vince?" he wondered

He pulled his phone from his shirt pocket and hit the power on button.

"Oh, good, Erica had turned it off. It still had battery life." He thought as he dialed Vince's cell number

A recording came over the line :

I'm sorry. The number you have dialed is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please hang up and try your call again.

He thought he dialed the wrong number. After all, it had been a while, or so he was told.

All he remembered prior to the accident was making love to Rayna in his truck. Working the opry. A crappy ride to the cabin in pure mud. Rayna called him before he went inside that night.

The last memory he recalled was showering and he started drinking with Vince.

The next thing he truly remembered was waking up a couple days ago in the hospital with Rayna's arms around him, a tube down his throat, and pure confusion about where he was, and why.

To him, he went to sleep, had what seemed like a never ending nightmare of familiar voices pleading with him to wake up, but as hard as hard as he tried he couldn't. So many times he'd wanted to yell "I'm right here."

He dialed Vince's number again.

I'm sorry. The number you have dialed is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please hang up and try your call again.

He flipped his phone closed in confusion, struggling to recall anything from that night.

"I was at the cabin. Why did I go back out in the rain and mud?" he wondered

"How much did I drink?" he asked himself

Deep in thought, trying to remember anything about that night he hadn't noticed Rayna watching him from the bottom of the stairs.

He put his face in his hands and rubbed his temples. A dull headache was coming on.

"Another lovely side effect." He sighed

Rayna seeing the hard lines, and worry in his face came and wrapped her arms around him.

"Are you OK, babe?" She asked as she ran her fingers through his dark hair

"I keep trying to remember what happened that night." He answered with a look of confusion.

"The last thing I remember before waking up in your arms the other day was drinking with Vince." Rayna's heart skipped a beat when he mentioned Vince.

"Was I drunk?" he asked

"You did have alcohol in your system at the hospital." Rayna gently answered trying to come up with a gentle way to break the news about Vince's death.

Deacon had only been home a couple hours. She'd hoped for a couple relaxing days before she had to tell him Vince was gone. The police were unable to locate any next of kin for Vince.

She'd had him cremated and his urn was in the hall closet. She figured Deacon would want to handle his ashes and their final resting place.

Until then, she'd ordered a beautiful urn with musical notes, and a hand carved guitar on it. It also had Vince's picture. One onstage when he was in Rayna's band in the early days.

"Did I cause this?" he asked trembling, fearing his drinking finally caused a horrible accident.

"There were no other cars, right? I didn't hurt anybody, did I?" he asked with tears in his eyes

"No, baby. There were no other cars involved."

"I don't know why I went back out that night. I was at the cabin, wasn't I?"

Since the accident Rayna had been able to piece some of that night together. She knew Vince had been driving. The police had told her a Connie Myers had called in the accident.

Rayna had tracked Connie down at the little bar just a few miles from the cabin where she worked. The woman had told her she was dating Vince, or sleeping with him was more like it.

She told Rayna Vince was coming to help her. She'd gotten her car stuck on the muddy access road. Rayna wasn't sure how, or why Deacon had been in the suburban as a passenger.

The woman was very distraught over the accident and blamed herself for making the guys come out on such a horrible, rainy night.

She'd called Rayna a few times to see how Deacon was doing early on, but as the weeks had passed she quit calling. Rayna was sure she felt horribly guilty.

"Yeah, you'd been staying there." Rayna answered honestly

"…because of us, and our problems?" Deacon asked

"Yes, Deacon. We were having problems as a couple. You moved out." She was really feeling uneasy about this conversation. She wasn't sure how much Deacon remembered about Luke and the affair.

Deacon took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

"I love you, Ray. I know you love me. That's probably the one blessing that's come from this whole mess. You stayed by my side the whole time. I know we had problems before the accident, and I remember why. I don't wanna talk about it right now, but I had a lot of doubts about us even after we started workin on things. I don't have any doubts now, Ray. I wanna work everything out, OK?" he smiled and took her hands in his.

"I'm so happy to hear you say that, Deacon. I am truly sorry I hurt you, and I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you." She said with tears in her eyes

"You already proved it, Ray." He kissed her tear stained cheeks

"I'm just sorry I caused this accident with my drinking, and put you through a month of pure hell, missed a month of my kids lives." He said blaming himself for the wreck

"I'm so damn weak now I can't even give you a break and take care of things around here, but I want to, baby. I'll do what I can to help you around here, OK?"

"Deacon, you need to just relax. Don't worry about anything else right now. The doctor said take it slow. You can't just jump back into your life."

"I know, Ray, but you seem so tired and it's my fault. My damn drinking finally got me, and I almost paid with my life." He said starting to cry

"I can't imagine putting you and the kids through that, but I came close. I'm done drinking, Ray. I wanna go back to AA, and get a new welcome chip soon."

"I think that's a good idea, Deacon, but there's something you need to know. I hope you'll still wanna stay sober and keep fighting after I tell you. I don't even know how to begin." She was tearing up already knowing the news about Vince was gonna kill Deacon.

"The accident wasn't your fault, Deacon. You weren't even driving."

"What?" he gasped in complete confusion

"Vince was driving the suburban that night, baby." She watched him for a few seconds letting it sink in, hoping maybe he'd remember something and she wouldn't have to say it.

Deacon had lost his mom just six months ago. His sister was a complete nut case that dumped her kid on them, and seemingly disappeared. They hadn't been able to reach her in months, and now she had to tell him his best friend was gone.

Deacon rubbed his temples again as if trying to make his brain function, and remember anything from that night.

"I don't remember anything, Ray. We were drinking, and watching some western movie. He was really drunk, Rayna. That's the last thing I remember. I had a lot of beers that night too."

"So where is he? I tried to call his cell just a little bit ago. It's disconnected again. Damn Vince can't pay a bill to save his life." Deacon laughed

"Deacon…I….don't know how to even…." She was fighting back tears. She'd been so preoccupied with Deacon she really hadn't grieved herself. Vince was her friend too.

"What, baby? Is he off on some bender? I'm sure he feels horrible. Is that why he never visited me in the hospital?"

"No, Deacon. I'm sooo sorry. He didn't…" Deacon cut her off

"No, Ray. Don't say it. Please tell me he's OK, and just off drinking like he always does to deal with things. He can't be…." Deacon broke down in her arms for several minutes

"Vince and his mama were all I had growing up. I never would have survived without them. He followed me to Nashville to make sure I was OK. He was only 30. He can't really be gone, Ray." Deacon sobbed on her lap as she held him the rest of the afternoon.

He was taking things harder than she'd ever imagined he would. She'd never seen Deacon so completely overcome with grief.

"He didn't have anyone, Ray. His uncle is in Natchez, but he didn't want anything to do with Vince after Rosa died."

"Who handled his final arrangements?" Deacon asked sniffling

"I did, Deacon. I had him cremated. I wasn't sure what else to do, and I was busy with you. It was easiest at the time."

"He deserves some kind of memorial service, Ray."

"I know. I thought you'd want to do something when you woke up." She said as she went to the hall closet to get Vince.

She gently handed Deacon the urn with Vince's picture smiling back at him, and the dates on a small silver plaque 2/18/68 – 4/14/98.

"Thanks for taking care of him, Ray." He said as he took the urn and sat it on his lap

Rayna left him alone for a while as she went to the kitchen to decide what to do about dinner. She came back 30 minutes later. He hadn't moved. He was still staring at the urn on his lap.

"Babe, why don't we put that on the mantle until you decide what to do with…." She reached for the urn, but Deacon held on to it

"No…." he said as he clutched the decorative container holding the remains of his best friend

"OK, I need to go pick up the girls from school. Why don't you come? We'll go to the park. Hopefully wear them out a little so they'll be easy on you tonight." She smiled, but he didn't look up, or respond.

"Come on, Deacon. The girls have missed you. They're so excited you're home."

"I don't wanna go, Ray. You go ahead."

"DEACON, the girls really want to see you. Come on, babe. There's nothing you can do for Vince now, but you have two little girls that have been waiting for their daddy to come home for a month." She tried to coax him, but she could tell he was in a dark place.

"JUST GO, RAY! I'D LIKE TO BE ALONE!" he snapped

"OK, are you sure you'll be OK here alone?" she asked concerned about his current emotional state.

"You don't have to baby me, Rayna. I'm not a damn invalid."

"Deacon, the doctor said you shouldn't be alone. You have a long way to go in recovery still, and it's gonna get harder before it gets easier. Please think about the kids before you….."

"BEFORE I WHAT, RAY?"

"I dunno, Deacon. You're scaring me." She said her lip trembling as she watched him struggle.

"JUST GO, RAYNA! PLEASE! I NEED SOME TIME ALONE. I'D LEAVE, BUT I'M A GODDAMN MESS! TOO DAMN WEAK TO EVEN TAKE CARE OF YOU, OR THE KIDS. I CAN'T DRIVE. I DON'T HAVE A CAR ANYWAY. I'M STUCK HERE TO BE A USELESS DAMN BURDEN ON YOU."