A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.
Chapter 2
"I can't tell ya'll how great it is to have all my children under the same roof again. Ya'll scattered to the four winds on me and now I play hell gettin' you all home at the same time. I even have trouble gettin' all the little ones in the house at the same time. They are always on the go too. Football, baseball, softball, wrestlin' it's always somethin' with them." Deacon sat on the couch and just looked at all his children. They were all growing up on him faster than he would like.
"And we have two older daughters that are always out on tour." Rayna added.
"Listen to them lay on the guilt trip, Daph. I think they have finally gotten the hang of this parenting thing." Maddie joked with her sister.
"That guilt trip is more for you than for me. I see them way more than you do." Daphne teased back.
"Deac, Jayme, Charlie, Jack, if you guys go look up in my bedroom there are four bags on my bed. Each one has your name on it. Bring them down here I want to see you open them." Maddie told her younger siblings.
"Jackie, I'll get yours for you. You don't feel good." Deac volunteered to help out his baby brother.
"That's awfully nice of Bubba. What do you say, Jack?" Rayna stroked his hair. He was attached to her side even more so than he always was.
"Thank you." Jack took his thumb out of his mouth long enough to thank his brother.
The other three children ran up the stairs to Maddie's old room.
"Maddie, you have got to stop spoilin' them so much." Deacon hid a grin when he said that.
"Afraid I'm gonna run you out of a job, dad?" Maddie winked at him. It was no secret that Deacon spoiled them all rotten.
Deac, Jayme, and Charlie returned a minute later carrying duffle bags.
"Here you go, Jackie." Deac gave Jack his bag.
"Ok, you guys dig in. I've been excited to see you open these." Maddie encouraged them.
Deac got a duffle bag full of souvenirs from historical sites around the venues that Maddie had played since that was his thing. Jayme got a bag full of memorabilia from the stadiums and arenas that Maddie had visited. Charlie got t-shirts signed by different artists that Maddie had met in her travels. And Jack got snow globes from the different cities that Maddie had been to. Each child seemed to really enjoy their gifts.
"What do ya'll tell Sissy?" Deacon enforced the use of their manners.
"Thank you, Maddie." They all chorused.
"What? I don't get hugs now?" Maddie opened her arms to them. All four of them rushed to hug her. "I love you guys and I missed you so much."
"I was only her sister for eleven years before we had other siblings and she just acts like I don't exist." Daphne gave her sister a hard time.
"Daph, what I got for you, you don't want me to give you in front of mom and dad. Besides that, you came out and visited me on tour a lot." Maddie elbowed her playfully.
"Uh oh, I don't know if I like how that sounds, daddy." Rayna looked at Deacon.
"I think that there is a good chance that daddy is gonna get a phone call in the middle of the night and have to go out and pick some drunks up." Deacon hazarded a guess.
"I can't confirm or deny that." Maddie gave him an innocent look.
"That of course means that I will have to come pick you up from the bar." Deacon laughed. He'd always been really good about going to pick his children up when they had been out partying. He would rather lose sleep than lose one of them because they'd had too much to drink and tried to drive.
JC came in the house through the side door at that moment. "Hey, I don't wanna interrupt or anythin'. I'm just gonna go use the shower. I gotta work on the plumbin' in the bunk house this weekend."
"Jimmy, you know that you are welcome to use the shower. You're welcome in this house anytime. That is why you have a key in case you need something. Just call the plumber and I will take care of the bill." Rayna told him.
"No, I can fix it. I need somethin' to do with my hands. The least I can do is fix that up you're lettin' me stay here without payin' rent." JC waved her concern off.
"Ray, if the boy wants to fix the plumbin' let him." Deacon understood his need to feel useful.
"Jimmy, you're coming out to celebrate my birthday tonight aren't you?" Daphne asked him.
"Of course I am. That's why I'm gettin' in the shower. I don't think you want me goin' smellin' like a foot. I've been workin' on mendin' the fences where ya'll keep your horses since I got back this afternoon." JC laughed.
"Hey, JC, can I have a word with you really quick?" Maddie asked him.
"Yeah, sure." JC shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll be right back. I just need to talk to him for a minute." Maddie followed JC upstairs.
"What do you need, Maddie?" JC asked her.
"I need to know that we can do this and it isn't gonna be weird." Maddie told him.
"There is no weirdness here as far as I'm concerned. We were friends before we started datin' we can go back to that. You're not mine anymore. There ain't much that I can do 'bout that." JC ran his hand over the top of his head.
"You could show me that you still feel for me what I still feel for you. What the hell happened to you over there? This isn't the man that I know. We did a lot more than date we lived together we were practically married." Maddie argued with him.
"Well, you were the one that decided to end our relationship through a letter while I was deployed. I believe the words that you used were I'm the only man you've ever known and you needed to see what else was out there. If it were up to me we would still be together." JC countered.
"I had to know for sure. I couldn't marry you and then wonder later on down the line if I'd made the right choice." Maddie picked up steam.
JC didn't reply verbally. He pushed her up against the wall and kissed her deeply.
Maddie kissed him back and wrapped her arms around his neck.
JC pulled away from her panting heavily. "Is that what you wanted me to do? You're playin' with fire, Cricket. I'm gonna go take a shower and you're gonna go back downstairs with your momma and daddy. We both know where this is gonna lead if we keep goin'. I don't know 'bout you, but I ain't no cheater and I ain't interested in makin' you one. If you want me back you gotta get rid of Wheeler." He didn't give her a chance to reply to that he just walked back into the bathroom.
Maddie stood there with her back against the wall panting. Every kiss and every touch from him set her body on fire. What the hell was she doing with Colt? And more importantly if she was such an empowered woman why was she waiting around for JC to fight for her when she could fight for him?
"Babe, have you seen my watch? I can't find it anywhere." Will looked around his dresser for his watch, but he had yet to find it.
Mack looked through his assortment of watches and picked one up. He had nothing on, but the towel that was wrapped around his waist. "Here, the maid came today and she must have moved it." He pecked Will's lips and handed him his watch.
"Thank you," Will fastened his watch around his wrist.
"No problem," Mack went into the walk in closet and came back out wearing a pair of jeans and a designer t-shirt. Out of the two of them he was the one with a clothes addiction.
"You look nice." Will complimented him.
"Someone is trying to get lucky later." Mack took Will's left hand in his right hand and played with the simple wedding band that was on his finger.
"I like my chances of that happenin' either way. Your mom is in town and the munchkins are with her tonight. That means you and I are gonna be alone for the first time in a while." Will kissed him.
"I guess that'll all depend on how drunk someone gets tonight." Mack teased him.
"I'm not the one we have to worry 'bout. You, Maddie, and Casey are gonna be drinkin' together. I know how you three get from experience." Will laughed.
"You know that I'm an easy lay when I've been drinking." Mack grabbed Will's crotch.
"Boy, you had better watch yourself. We won't make it out the door in time if you keep that up." Will warned him playfully.
"Come on, old man, let's get going. I haven't seen my best friend in forever." Mack urged him.
"Watch that old man shit." Will was laughing and there was no real heat behind his words.
"Here you go, Daph, drink up. I still want you drunk this time tomorrow." Casey handed Daphne a shot.
"Casey, I'm pretty sure that that is what causes alcohol poisoning." Maddie pointed out to her.
"Shut up and do your shot." Casey held up her shot glass. The three young women clinked their glasses together before downing their shots.
"Casey, that was really strong." Daphne coughed.
"That was the idea." Casey laughed at her. "So, no Colt tonight?" She directed at her best friend.
"No, he has to DJ tonight. He won't be back in town until tomorrow." Maddie answered.
"Good. The last thing we need is Jimmy and him comin' to blows." Casey breathed a sigh of relief.
"I would like to think that they are both grown men and they are above that type of behavior, but I know that when Jimmy has been drinkin' all his self-control can go out the window. He once laid a guy out with one punch, because he felt me up a little bit." Maddie replied.
"We are not discussing your man trouble tonight." Daphne put her foot down.
"I agree there." Maddie didn't argue with her on that one. She didn't want to think about her screwed up love life.
Casey ordered them another round of shots and a round of rum and cokes. "I third that motion. Clearly anyone that will take a douchebag over the really hot cowboy that is crazy about her has somethin' wrong."
"Casey, don't start." Maddie warned her. She didn't need Casey, her mom, and herself all on her case at the same time about JC.
The girls did their round of shots.
"I leave you three alone for five seconds and ya'll are already gettin' into trouble." JC walked over with Will and Mack. He had a beer in his hand.
"There she is. The only woman that I would happily go straight for." Mack pulled Maddie into a big hug.
"Hey, Mack, I missed you too." Maddie hugged him tightly.
"Jimmy, we aren't gettin' into trouble we are havin' fun." Casey corrected him.
"Let's just let the group trouble maker answer for us." Will joked.
"She so doesn't speak for me. I get into enough trouble without Casey leading me into temptation." Daphne shook her head.
"Like older men who may or may not be married." Casey arched her eyebrow. "And, Will, you really need to relax. You've gotten so uptight since you became a dad."
"Casey, shut up." Daphne groaned. She had bigger man troubles than her sister. Her last boyfriend of sorts had done a number on her. He was about twenty years older than her. He'd been the process of divorce, but he'd gone back to his wife. It could be argued that she had a classic case of daddy issues because of everything with Teddy.
"Forgive me if I don't want my children seein' me plastered all over the internet lookin' like a drunken fool. Their dada has a tendency not to behave when he gets around his women. They don't need their daddy misbehavin' too." Will rolled his eyes at her. He knew that she was only playing around with him.
Mack ordered some shots before he replied to his husband. "You can leave me and my bitches alone. You know that if you step outta line they are the ones that are gonna help me burn all your clothes."
"Oh please, you know that we wouldn't burn his clothes. We would go after his truck." Maddie corrected him.
Mack took the shots he had ordered and passed them around. "Here's to you, Daph, happy twenty-first, kiddo. I can't believe you're this old already."
They all tossed their shots back.
"Mack, this is unacceptable. You've been in the same room as me for five minutes and you haven't shown me any pictures of those babies." Maddie mock scolded him.
Mack took out his phone and pulled up a picture. "Look at them, Maddie. They are getting so big."
"They are and they are so damn adorable. I can't believe that Lacey is three already and Billy is going on two." Maddie gushed over them.
"Me either they are gettin' way too big too fast on us." Will let out a low whistle.
"I hardly recognized them when I got back." JC added.
"Lacey misses her godparents. Maddie has an excuse she's been on tour. What's yours, Jimmy?" Mack called him out on the apparent personality transplant he'd undergone recently.
"I will for sure come by to see her and Billy. You know that I brought them presents from Aunt Maddie." Maddie assured him.
"I've been kinda busy lately. Rayna is on my back and everyone knows what that's like. Plus, I've been doin' some work 'round the ranch. I will get over to see them as soon as I can." JC made yet another excuse.
"Well, I see ya'll got the party started without me." MJ Waterson was JC's nephew and a close friend of Daphne's.
"MJ, there you are. I was starting to think that you weren't gonna make it." Daphne hugged him. She was already a little tipsy.
"You know what your Aunt Tandy is like. She piled a whole bunch of work on me. Internin' at Highway Sixty-five isn't all it's cracked up to be sometimes." MJ hugged her back.
"Oh, God, I'm feelin' really old right now. It was alright when his sister turned twenty-one she ain't that much younger than I am, but there is no way my nephew is twenty-one now." JC was twenty-eight now. He was inching ever closer to thirty and he couldn't fathom where all that time had gone.
"You're not the only one." Casey told him.
"Casey, you're only twenty-six. If you're old that makes me old. I am too young and too hot to be old." Maddie put a stop to her nonsense.
"So, it's agreed that I'm old?" JC asked incredulously.
"You've always been old to me." Maddie winked at him.
"If anyone in this group is old it's Will. He's thirty-five now." JC protested.
"I am not thirty-five. Kindly learn my age. We are best friends. Juliette, Scarlett, Gunnar, and me are all thirty-four. Rhett is thirty-three, Mack is thirty-one, and Avery is the old man of the group at thirty-five." Will had to set him straight.
"Uncle Jimmy, you made your boyfriend mad." MJ teased him.
"He only wishes that he was good enough to have me on the side." JC scoffed at that.
"I don't know, Jimmy, he may go for you with that beard. I had a beard when we first met and I know he likes that." Mack couldn't let up on him.
"I'm not even gonna argue with that. One of the highest compliments I can be paid is that gay men find me hot." JC shrugged his shoulders.
"Hey, beautiful, is this a private party or can I join too?" Colt slid up behind Maddie and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Colt, what are you doing here? You had a gig tonight." Maddie squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn't sure that JC could behave himself or that she wanted him to for that matter. She would like to see that old spark back in him.
"It got canceled and I decided to come hang out with you." Colt put his lips against her neck and smiled.
"Well, I'm certainly surprised." Maddie replied evenly. She kept her eyes on JC the whole time. She saw his muscles go rigid and his jaw clench.
"Good, I like surprising you." Colt took her left hand and then whispered in her ear. "You're not wearing it."
"That's something we need to talk about. Just not right now." Maddie whispered back to him.
"Hey, Grayson, what's up?" Colt acted like he hadn't heard what Maddie just said.
"Not much. What's up, Wheeler?" JC upended his beer and drained it in one gulp. "I need another beer I'll be right back." He stalked over to the bar.
"Stop starin' at the rearview you ain't checkin' your hair. The wheel has spun and the lights are out there ain't nothin' for you back there. Stop holdin' on so dang tight 'bout time you let go. He's a heart breakin' let you down son of a gun. But I ain't sayin' nothin' you don't know Well," JC was in the studio recording one of the songs that he had been working on with Rayna.
"The day that you stop lookin' back you're gonna find that the future sure beats the hell outta the past. Now he ain't no good I guess he's good as gone. The day you stop lookin' back, girl yeah is the day you start movin' on, yeah, yeah, yeah." He put one hand on one of his headphones so he could hear the music better.
"The sun's gonna come up it's gonna feel good. And after all the rain and pain you've seen I hope you soak it up like you should. Now and then it's gonna stir up but when you hear that old song. But don't let it get to ya baby it's only three and half minutes long. Well," This song was very obviously about Maddie.
"The day that you stop lookin' back you're gonna find that the future sure beats the hell outta the past. Now he ain't no good I guess he's good as gone. The day you stop lookin' back, girl yeah is the day you start movin' on, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh-oh."
"Well now hey girl why you lookin' back like that? Don't you wanna trade tears for laughs and love? That could be us tonight. The day that you stop lookin' back you're gonna find that the future sure beats the hell outta the part. Now he ain't no good I guess he's good as gone. The day you stop lookin' back girl yeah is the day you start movin' on yeah, yeah, yeah. Is the day you start movin' on." JC put all his pent up emotions into that first line.
"Stop starin' at the rearview you ain't checkin' your hair. That wheel is spun and them lights are out there ain't nothin' for you back there." He sang softly. He pulled his headphones off and put them around his beck. He opened his bottle of water and took a long slug out of it.
"That was awesome, Jimmy." Rayna praised him from the mixing booth.
JC gave her two thumbs out from behind the glass.
"Hey, mom, I'm not interrupting am I?" Maddie stepped into the booth.
"No, not at all. What's going on?" Rayna smiled at her.
"Nothing. I just have nothing to do. I need to start working on some new songs so I can get new music out there." Maddie replied.
"I know you do. You don't have to rush it though. You want it to be good don't force it." Rayna searched her daughter's fingers and found that her left ring finger was bare. "I see that that ring is gone."
"I gave it back to him. I told him that we aren't ready and I don't wanna rush into something just because other people our age are already getting married. I remember having a similar conversation with him when it came to sex." Maddie chuckled humorlessly.
"You've gotta do what's right for you. You can't let him talk you into something that you know you're not ready for." Rayna agreed with her.
"I know that. That's what I told him that we can date. We aren't gonna think about anything serious yet." Maddie assured her.
"I can't imagine he took that well. He is Luke's son after all. He's used to getting his way." Rayna commented.
"He wasn't happy about it, but I told him that's how it's gonna be take it or leave it. He didn't walk out the door, so I take that to mean he agrees to my terms." Maddie replied.
"I just had a really great idea. You should go into the booth with JC. You two have always been great together musically and he really needs your help. Not only that I think you could use this song." Rayna just had a bright idea pop into her head.
"Sure, mom, whatever you want." Maddie agreed.
Rayna pressed the intercom button. "Jimmy, I'm sending help in there. I want you to run through the chorus on that other song. It just sounds like it's missing something."
JC just nodded his head. His breath hitched in his throat when Maddie walked in. "Hey,"
"Hey," Maddie smiled at him.
JC handed her a sheet of paper. "Here are the lyrics. You can see where the chorus is."
"I see it." Maddie slipped on a pair of headphones.
Rayna had the sound teach start the music in their headphones.
JC pointed at Maddie right before their cue.
"I don't know why I don't put it out baby. We kiss and the flames just get higher. Yeah I know when I hold onto you baby I'm all tangled up in barbed wire. I get burned I don't learn I'll be back give it time. Yeah I know it sounds crazy, but I guess I like playin' with fire." They stared into each other's eyes as they belted the lyrics out.
"Now, I want you to try the bridge." Rayna instructed them.
"So, let's fire it up one more time." JC sang.
"Fire it up one more time." Maddie came in just a second later than he did.
"Baby just put your lips on mine." They sang in unison.
"That was perfect. That's exactly what that song needed." Rayna praised them.
"Looks like we've still got it." Maddie smiled at him.
"As far as I'm concerned we never lost it." JC put his headphones back around his neck.
"I meant musically." Maddie corrected him.
"I meant that too among other things." JC stared at her intently.
"What?" Maddie felt a little naked when he looked at her like that.
JC took her hand and put it over his hear. "You can't tell me that you don't still feel it. I feel it. It's all I can feel when I'm with you. And it is so much more intense when I ain't standin' right in front of you."
"JC, don't. It only makes it harder." Maddie replied.
"That's not the only thing that is hard." JC looked down at his crotch.
"Don't be disgusting. I'm trying to have an actual conversation with you." Maddie rolled her eyes.
"I'm not bein' dirty, I'm just tellin' the truth. Let me ask you somethin'." JC clenched his jaw.
"What's that?" Maddie asked in reply.
"Why can you be with him, but you can't be with me? Part of your reasonin' was that I'm a soldier and I get called into dangerous situations, but he's in the Army too." JC raised a very valid point.
"No, he was in the Army. He got out. You on the other hand pursued a college degree so you could become an officer. You've been in for eleven years and you basically refuse to quit and let someone else take their turn. Every time you get called away I wonder if this is the time that you're gonna come back to me hurt or worse you won't come back at all." Maddie yelled at him.
"You're askin' me to give up somethin' that I worked very hard for. I worked my ass off to get here, Maddie. You of all people should understand that. That would be like me askin' you to give up your music. I would never dream of it. It's part of what makes you, you. And I love every damn part of you. You can't show me the same courtesy. And I guess if you have so many doubts 'bout if we get married and you wonderin' what you're missin' out on we shouldn't be together anyway." JC yelled back at her.
"You are the same stubborn son of a bitch you've always been. You won't give an inch." Maddie spit out at him.
"And you're a self-centered bitch when you want to be. It doesn't matter who you hurt along the way as long as you get what you want." JC came back with.
"You are absolutely infuriating. Do you know what I've put up with from you? Clearly you've forgotten your juvenile antics with Will. There were Martini Mondays, Tequila Tuesdays, Wing Wednesdays with the beer to go with the wings. Triple Shot Thursdays those were always nice and ensured you were hung over for Free for All Fridays." Maddie listed off for him.
"It's been a long time since any of that happened. You told me that my partyin' was a problem for you and I stopped doin' it so much. I've done every damn thing you've ever asked of me and it still wasn't enough." JC corrected her.
"I came by to see how things are goin' with my golden boy, but I think the better question is what the hell are they doin?" Deacon stepped into the booth with Rayna.
"They are pulling each other's pigtails. That's how two people who still love each other fight." Rayna answered her husband.
"We had quite a few fights like that. From what I recall someone reacted like that over a fifty thousand-dollar guitar." Deacon laughed.
"Shut up," Rayna laughed lightly. "This tells me that there is still hope for them. And I may have a radical idea up my sleeve. I'm gonna keep it to myself for now though."
"They done got on the fightin' side of you." Deacon kissed her neck.
"Stop it," Rayna warned, but there was no heat behind her words.
"Never you know that." Deacon rubbed his beard against her.
"I could stop them or I could go have sex in the lounge with my husband." Rayna pretended to weigh her options. She grabbed Deacon's hand this was a no brainer. "Come on. They are adults they can figure it out themselves." She drug him along by the hand.
A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Don't worry so much about Colt and Maddie, but we had to have a little drama. I plan on fixing things pretty quickly. Slowly but surely all of our old favorites are going to reappear. Until next time please review.
