A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.
Chapter 2
Rayna hissed through gritted teeth. She could've used a little break from physical therapy, but she knew that it was to help her. On the other hand she'd never been one to always do what was good for her.
"Come on, Rayna, you can do this. Just one more extension of the leg that got the worst of it and I won't bother you again until tomorrow." Dean her physical therapist coached her.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't like you and I just met you." Rayna extended her left leg one more time. She fell back on the couch exhausted.
"That's ok. If you liked me I wouldn't be doing my job right." Dean replied.
"Charm won't work on her, Dean. The only way to get anywhere with her is to be a hard ass." Deacon looked up from his spot in the kitchen. He'd been watching his wife start the rehab process and it broke his heart to see her in so much pain. He was going over the books for Highway 65 for her. Sure, she had Zach for that, but he still wasn't sure how he felt about him. Rayna was the majority stock holder and her word still mattered more than some Silicon Valley App developer who hadn't even been born when they started out in the business.
"Deacon, please don't help him. He's already torturing me." Rayna groaned.
"I'm sorry you're in so much pain, babe, but it's for your own good." Deacon grimaced when she looked over the back of the couch to glare at him.
"Is it time for my pills yet?" Rayna asked She hated to be so reliant on those damn things, but she was in pain that she couldn't even describe.
"It is. I timed them so you could have them before therapy and after." Deacon got up and got her medications.
"You are the best husband ever, baby." Rayna offered him a pain tinged smile.
"You make that part of my job easy. I wanna be the best for you." Deacon handed her the pills and a bottle of water.
"Rayna, for all of our future sessions I'm going to want you to take pain medication right before I come and some right after I leave." Dean packed up his gear.
"I can do that." Rayna took her pills.
"Dean, I'll see you out." Deacon offered.
"Thanks," Dean allowed the other man to show him out.
"Not a problem." Deacon smiled.
"I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but the doctor proscribed her two different types of pain killers. The light ones she's probably going through the candy. There are some that are a higher dosage. If she gets in unbearable pain during the day give them to her. And that's the one she's supposed to be taking at night. That way she may get a little more sleep." Dean explained to him.
"I actually didn't know that. Thank you for tellin' me." Deacon nodded his head and took that information in.
"Also, if you can get her to move around during the day and not just sit she will start to feel better sooner." Dean added.
"I'm workin' on that. This is her second full day at home and I'm tryin' to let her adjust." Deacon replied.
"The sooner you can get her back in her routine the better off she'll be." Dean shook his hand.
"That may not be as easy as you're tryin' to make it sound, but I'll do what I can." Deacon heaved a big sigh.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Dean told him.
"We will be here." Deacon shut the door behind him. He turned around and braced himself to have a conversation with his wife that he really didn't want to have.
"Babe, where's Maddie today? I didn't see her come down." Rayna inquired about her oldest daughter.
"She's still up in her bedroom sleepin'. So is Daphne for that matter. I've given up on school this week. She can start fresh next week." Deacon replied.
"That sounds like a good plan. Maddie on the other hand is another matter. I can't get her to talk to me about what's wrong with her and we saved her from getting fired once I'm not sure we can do it again." Rayna sighed.
"We will figure somethin' out with Maddie. You know she's a lot more like me than I ever knew. She goes inside herself when somethin' is botherin' her." Deacon shrugged stiffly.
"I've always known how much alike ya'll are." Rayna observed his rigid posture. "Babe, you look tense. Is somethin' wrong?"
Deacon eased down on the couch next to her and put his hand on her knee. "We need to talk 'bout some stuff that might be hard for you. Like we need to decide if we really wanna keep all this security 'round. And there a couple people who are comin' over today to talk to you 'bout Carl."
"Deacon, if it's the same to you I rather not talk about him ever again." Rayna ran her hands over her face.
"I know, baby, but this is somethin' that we gotta deal with. You told me in the hospital that this is the scariest thing you've ever been through, but you could get through 'cause you've got me by your side." Deacon spoke to her soothingly.
"Babe, if I could get away with never thinkin' about him again I'd do it. I get what you're saying though. I want to make sure that he goes away for a long time. Who is coming and when?" Rayna relented.
"Some detectives wanna talk to you and they should be here any minute." Deacon answered at the same time the intercom went off.
"Mr. Claybourne, there are two police officers here." The security man reported.
"I guess you better go get that." Rayna gave him a weak smile.
Deacon jumped up and pressed the intercom button. "Send them in." He headed to open the door.
Rayna sat up on the couch when Deacon came back in trailed by two detectives. One was a tall bald man in his forties and the other was a young woman.
"Ms. Jaymes, I'm Detective Banks and this is my partner Detective Jordan." The man introduced them.
"Thank you for seeing us today. I know that you're trying to recover." Detective Jordan added.
"I'd just like to put this behind me so I can get on with my life. If talkin' to ya'll makes that happen faster I'm gonna do it." Rayna retorted.
"Have a seat and let's see if we can't get somethin' settled." Deacon plastered a fake smile on his face. He sat next to Rayna and took her hand.
"Ms. Jaymes," Detective Banks began.
"Please call me Rayna." Rayna insisted. If she was going to have to sit through this she didn't want it to be so formal.
"Rayna, then, we need you to take us through what happened that night." Detective Banks continued.
"I'll be honest a lot of it is still fuzzy. It comes back to me in bits and pieces. I went to the office to get some work done and then he just came out of nowhere. He had a knife. He said that he didn't want to hurt me that the knife was dull. He said something about I was the only person who really understood him. I talked to him I kept him distracted while I called the police. I was so focused on getting home to my girls that I said things to keep him calm." Rayna recalled as best she could. She squeezed Deacon's hand tightly.
"Like what?" Detective Jordan asked gently.
"He told me that he liked to be called Wayne. I asked him if that was his middle name and he seemed pleased that I knew that. I told him that it was because my husband went by his middle name. Of course, that's not true, but it worked." Rayna kept talking.
Deacon looked surprised. She hadn't told him that. "Do you have what you need from her?"
"That should do it, actually. It's a place to start. If we need anything else from her we will let you know." Detective Banks answered.
"There's no chance of him gettin' out on bail this time is there?" Deacon asked.
"Uh, it's highly unlikely. The judge will either deny bail or it will be set so high he won't be able to come up with the money." Detective Banks assured him.
"So, do you think it would be safe to get rid of this intensive security detail?" Deacon needed to help his family by making sure things got back to normal.
"Hold off on that until the bail hearing, Mr. Claybourne. Just to be safe, but like my partner said it's highly unlikely that Hockney will be able to make bail. And there's little chance of him getting of prison for a long time." Detective Jordan tried to reassure them.
"Rayna, Deacon, where are you?" Tandy called when she walked in the kitchen door.
"In the living room, Tandy." Rayna called back.
Tandy looked shocked when she saw the two detectives. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt."
"It's alright. They were just gettin' ready to leave." Deacon told his sister-in-law.
"Before you go, I have just one question for you." Tandy crossed her arms over her chest.
"We will try to answer that the best we can." Detective Banks replied.
"Is it standard procedure to run traffic lights and almost get the people you're trying to protect killed?" Tandy stared them down.
"Tandy!" Rayna tried to call her sister down.
"The officers were doing what they thought was best given the situation." Detective Jordan tried to placate her.
"What they thought was best almost got my sister killed. Our mother died in a car accident, so that's a bit of a sore subject for us. You're lucky that she doesn't sue your asses from here to kingdom come." Tandy flared.
"I understand your frustrations." Detective Jordan replied.
Rayna put her hand over her mouth and stifled a yawn.
"If ya'll don't mind gettin' outta here my wife needs her rest." Deacon stepped in before the situation could get any worse.
"We will see ourselves out." Detective Banks got to his feet and waited for his partner to do the same. They left without another word.
"Babe, do you wanna sit up in here or do you wanna go to your room and take a nap?" Deacon asked.
"Actually, I'd really love to go lay down for a little bit." Rayna's voice was tinged with pain.
"Don't get used to this, but I know those pills hit you hard." Deacon gently gathered her up in his arms and carried her to her makeshift bedroom.
Tandy knocked lightly on the doorjamb of the den a couple hours later. "Hey, you're awake." She spoke softly to her sister.
"Yeah, I don't get to sleep too long with the pain." Rayna winced as she adjusted herself into a sitting position.
"Deacon is spending some quality time with the girls. I was hoping I could do the same with you." Tandy walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. She was holding a photo album in her hand.
"We can do that. Do you wanna tell what the hell that outburst was about earlier?" Rayna arched her eyebrow.
"I'd say I'm sorry about that, but I'm not. With mom and dad both gone you and the girls are the only family that I have left. They should have been more careful with you. I know that it was an accident and they didn't do it on purpose, but I almost lost my baby sister." Tandy explained to her.
Rayna nodded her head in acceptance of that. "In your shoes I probably would have done the same thing." She looked at the photo album her sister had. "What's that?"
"Pictures of mom. I thought we could look at them together if you're feeling up to it." Tandy suggested.
"I would like that a lot. Tandy, I'm telling you that day in the hospital it felt so real. If I had to bet my life on it mom was sitting there in the room with me talking to me. It could be how close I came to death, but I know I'm not crazy. I really think she was preparing me for the possibility that I wasn't going to make it. Thinking about it now I get a chill. I was working on a song with Deacon and I told her that I was trying to find a hook. She said maybe this song is finished or something like that. I think she meant my song was over." Rayna rambled.
"With as close as you and mom I wouldn't be surprised if she was there to help you. Let's not think about that though. Let's focus on the fact you're alive and take a trip down memory lane." Tandy laid the photo album down on the bed and opened it.
"Wow, I always thought that Maddie looked like Deacon, but she looks so much like mom, doesn't she?" Rayna's eyes teared up.
"She really does. She's got mom and Deacon in her that's why she's so difficult." Tandy chuckled lightly.
"Thank you for getting along so well with him by the way. I know that he isn't your favorite person in the world. It means a lot to me that you've been there for him." Rayna took her hand and squeezed it.
"Well, you're my favorite person and his favorite person, so we got along to help you. If you tell him I said this I will deny it, but I'm so impressed with how well he's held everything together. He's been nothing short of amazing with you and the girls. He's taken care of everything around here and at the office. If he has a question about something he should or shouldn't do he asks me. When you're better you and I are going to discuss this whole Zach situation. I've been to the office and I don't trust this guy Rayna." Tandy squeezed her hand back.
"My back was against the wall. I did what I thought I had to do. Now that I've had time to think about it maybe it wasn't such a great idea." Rayna admitted. There were just little things that Zach did that bothered her.
He was supposed to be a minority shareholder and he tried to call way too many of the shots. It was still her label. He had come in and all, but taken over. She would have to do something about that eventually. Right now, she didn't even want to think about the office. She didn't know how she was ever going to be able to go back there after what had happened. It wasn't something she would have to worry about until she was getting around better, but it still weighed on her.
Rayna laid on her side with her arm around Daphne. She stroked her hair gently and kissed her head. "Alright, my little barnacle baby, you're off the hook about school for the rest of the week, but next week you're going back. I know that you want to be around to help and I appreciate that so much, but it's time for you to go back. I will be here waiting for you every day when you come home. I promise you I'm ok now."
"That's what we thought when you were in the hospital then you almost died, mom." Daphne clung to her tighter.
"Sweet girl, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I'm still here though, it is gonna take a lot more than that to keep me away from you, Maddie, and Deacon. You three are the great loves of my life and I will always fight like hell to be with you." Rayna pressed another kiss to her head.
"That's what Deacon said when he told me I have to go back to school. You're fine and he's not going to let anything happen to you. I was scared and I still am." Daphne admitted to her.
"It's ok to be scared. What we all just went through was very scary. You'd have to be a crazy person to not be scared." Rayna breathed in her scent. Her baby wasn't a baby anymore she was a young woman now.
"How come the scary things keep happening to us? First you were in a coma, then dad got cancer, Aunt Bev died, and now you almost died." Maddie said from the doorway.
Rayna waved her over. "Come here, my love."
Maddie crawled into bed on the other side of her mother.
Rayna shifted to her back gingerly. "Put your head on my shoulder. I have one for both of ya." She put an arm around each of her daughters. "I don't know why the scary stuff keeps happening to us. I guess this is God's way of making sure that we can handle it. So far I don't think we've done half bad. It could be his way of showing us that we are better together. Though, I think that lesson is meant more for your dad and me than ya'll."
Maddie buried her face in Rayna's neck and started crying like her heart was breaking.
"Oh, Maddie, what's wrong, baby girl?" Rayna hated seeing her in so much pain.
"I was horrible to you. I was horrible to all of you. I at least apologized to dad when you told me to. I never apologized to you for the emancipation thing or for leaving to begin with. I left the hospital because I couldn't take it. You almost died and I wasn't there. If you had died I wouldn't have gotten a chance to say goodbye to you, because I was being selfish again. I'm so sorry, mom. I never meant to hurt you. I just thought you didn't understand me." Maddie cried harder.
"Listen up and this goes for both of you. There is nothing either of you can ever do that I won't still love you. I know how much you love me too. I carried you both for nine months I know you better than you know yourselves. Maddie, you are so much like I was at that age. You have my will and your dad's passion for life. You are a force of a nature and whoever tries to tame you is only gonna end up gettin' hurt. Whether you mean for them to or not. I was at fault too I should have listened to what you were tryin' to tell me. I did to you what my daddy did to me even if it was accidentally. Since the day I found out I was pregnant with you I've only ever tried to do what was best for you no matter who it made unhappy myself included." Rayna pressed a kiss to her head.
"I should have made you listen and not been such a brat. I know that I can tell you anything. I shouldn't have listened to someone telling me that you were trying to stand in my way and didn't want to see me succeed. I know that's not true and I knew it when I was doing it. But I wasn't as horrible to you as I was to dad. I lied and used the reason he wasn't told he was my father to begin with against him just to get my way. I can see it when he looks at me he's still hurt even though I said I was sorry." Maddie cried with a hiccupping sob.
"I was in the same boat at your age. Your pawpaw told me I could live by his rules or get out. I left. He was asking me to abandon Deacon and music I couldn't do that. That's also how I know just how difficult it is in this business for a young woman your age. Your daddy is still upset with you, because you basically said that he is his daddy." Rayna held tight to both her daughters no matter how many shooting pains went through her body.
"What do you mean, mom?" Daphne had a confused look on her face.
"Yeah, what do you mean?" Maddie was just as confused as her sister.
"This is Deacon's truth and he needs to tell you in depth, but I'll give you the gist of it. His daddy was an abusive drunk. He beat your dad, your mawmaw, and your Aunt Bev for no other reason than because he could. So, Maddie, when you got up in court and said that you would be afraid in the same house as him in his eyes he became JD Claybourne. He fought his whole life not to be him." Rayna told them.
"I had no idea, dad never said anything to me about it." Maddie only cried harder at that news.
"He didn't want you to know or he didn't know how to tell you. His words to me were he didn't know how to tell someone so beautiful and innocent about something so ugly. So, yeah, he's still hurt even though you apologized. Maybe you just show him a little extra love and it'll help the hurt fade. He loves you so much. He loves you both so much. I ain't going anywhere, but if something happened to me you'd still have your dad. He would move mountains for his girls." Rayna made sure to address them as she spoke. She knew that Deacon loved Daphne like his own.
Neither of the girls said anything they just laid there with her.
"What do you say we watch some of that trashy day time tv that Deacon makes fun of me for?" Rayna suggested to lighten the mood.
Both the girls nodded.
An hour later Deacon came in and found both his daughters sleeping and his wife wide awake. "You hurtin'? You want me to move 'em?"
"I'm in so much pain, but no I don't want you to move them." Rayna offered him a weak smile.
"I brought pain medication." Deacon put two pills in her mouth and then held a straw up to her lips so she could drink.
"Thank you, baby." Rayna pointed to her lips in a sign that she wanted a kiss.
Deacon kissed her softly and then he arranged the covers so all three of his girls were covered up. "That's what I'm here for."
Rayna reached out almost frantically and grabbed his hand.
"What is it, Ray? Is everythin' ok?" Deacon looked panicked and concerned.
Rayna nodded, "Everything is fine, but I want paperwork, Deacon. These are your daughters too. I just almost died and I didn't redo my will after we got married. If something had happened to me you would have had to fight to keep your daughters. I want to make you Daphne's legal guardian and I want to fix Maddie's birth certificate to reflect you as her father."
"Just calm down, baby, everything is ok. We will go to the lawyer and have that done. This isn't anything that can't be fixed. We will get the paperwork you want." Deacon kissed her forehead.
"I mean it, Deacon. I want it done as soon as possible. Both these little girls love you so much. And for my peace of mind I need to know that no one will be able to take them away from you." Rayna looked at him imploringly.
"I'll call the lawyer first thing tomorrow and have him come over. Then you can have him fix draw up any papers that you want. Right now, I want to sit here with my three girls until dinner is ready and just be thankful that we are all here together." Deacon drug a chair up to the side of the bed. He gave both Maddie and Daphne a kiss on the head and kissed Rayna's lips. He sat down and took her hand again.
Rayna breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, baby."
"It's nothin'. This is my job. You were strong for me for so long. It's my turn to return the favor." Deacon grinned at her and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.
"I'm sorry," Rayna whispered softly a distant sadness in her eyes.
"Hey, where's your head at? What are you sorry for now?" Deacon tried to make a joke out of it.
"I'm sorry that I kept Maddie from you when she was a baby. That's the biggest regret of my life. I let you think that it was your fault that I kept you two apart, but that was my choice. I could have and should have told you that she was yours. I understand now that you didn't go out drinkin' because you found out you were a father you did it because I had lied to you. I know that I was the person you trusted above all else after the shitty childhood you had. I should have known if you found out you were her father from anyone, but me you would have gone off the rails. That accident wasn't your fault either. I was the one driving and trying to argue with your stubborn ass." Rayna felt the overwhelming need to tell him that. She'd almost died with him thinking that that she didn't think he was a good father. Hell, she'd almost let him die thinking that. She should have told him before his transplant.
"Just calm down and relax, Ray. Let your pill kick in. You're all wound up right now. You don't need to be you're still here and I'm still here. We have the rest of our lives to rehash old bullshit." Deacon tried to sooth her.
"Deacon, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but you're a good daddy to both our daughters." Rayna squeezed his hand.
Deacon put his free hand up to his eyes and let out a strangled sob. "Christ, Ray,"
"I should have told you that a long time ago, well I'm tellin' you now. You're a damn good daddy and our girls are so lucky to have you." Rayna cried with him.
Deacon leaned over and kissed her fiercely. "I love you so damn much, woman."
Rayna crashed her lips against his. "I love you so damn much too, man."
A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. For a change I actually have this whole story mostly mapped out, so you'll be getting very regular updates. I'm going to incorporate stuff from the second half of season five, but with a twist. And then I will continue on from there and give you a glimpse of their future together. I'm in this for the long haul if you guys are. Until next time please review.
