Ok so I know I said this would be a one shot story but I decided to extend it to 3 more chapter. Some of you that took the time to actually read this story (thank you by the way) wanted to know what Rayna would have said to Luke. This chapter is what I think their conversation would have been like. Enjoy!

You're Just Not Deacon.

I slowly pull my lips from his reluctantly.

"Babe as much as I would love to stay here with you, I have to get back out there."

"Mhmmmm can't we just leave? You've been here long enough, you've talked to all the people you needed to. Come on Ray lets get out of here…together."

He pulls me into another intoxicatingly intense kiss. His hands are all in my hair and he playfully bits my lower lip. I pull back trying to create space between us.

"Deaconnnn…"

"What's stopping you? The girls are with Teddy, we could go back to your place or mine and never leave the bed. Leave with me Ray…Please?"

I place my hands in his and as much as I want to leave with him I shake my head and say,

"Deacon that sounds perfect and I want nothing more in this world then to walk out of here, your hand in mine, and never look back. But I have to get back to this party. I'm suppose to perform with Luke tonight and I have no idea if Bucky was able to get me out of it. Plus you need to talk to Megan and I need to have a conversation with Luke."

He pulls me back towards him and kisses me gently, then places his forehead on mine.

"You're right. Ok, you go out first and I'll be out behind you in a few minutes."

I squeeze his hands, stand up, and run my fingers through my hair trying to fix the parts he messed up.

"Ok."

I walk out of the back room and join Bucky and Scarlett.

"Hey y'all."

"Hey Rayna, I talked to Luke's manager and Luke is insisting on talking to you. He seemed really upset about you saying you didn't want to perform tonight. Maybe if you go and talk to him, tell him you're sick or something he'll let it go."

I roll my eyes at Luke's petty attitude.

"Thank you Buck I really appreciate it. I guess I'll go see if I can find him. Scarlett don't leave without saying goodbye ok?"

"Ok, I won't. Have you seen Uncle Deacon around? I swear he just disappeared right when we got here."

"No idea sweetheart but I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

I walk towards the stage and see Luke talking to his manager. I place my hand on his shoulder,

"Hey, sorry to interrupt but Luke can I talk to you a quick sec?"

"Yeah."

His manager excuses himself and leaves us to talk.

"So, what's going on? Bucky said you seemed pretty upset about me not wanting to perform tonight, is it really that big of an issue or is something else bothering you?"

"I don't know Rayna you tell me."

"Excuse me!"

"I get that we had a little disagreement but to avoid me all night, and then to send your manager over to say you didn't want to sing our song, you tell me what's going on!"

I'm trying be as calm as possible because people are starting to look our direction, so I plaster on my best fake smile.

"Look Luke I don't want to have a conversation about our relationship with all of these people within ear shot of us. And in terms of avoiding you all night? I wasn't aware I was. I had people I needed to network with, and people I needed Scarlett to meet. As for wanting to perform, I don't feel very well and getting up on stage is the last thing I want to do right now. Plus they've been playing the song on repeat all afternoon I doubt anyone wants to hear us perform it."

"Fine we won't do the song then."

He walks away and I am left a little stunned. I don't understand why he is being so hostile towards me right now.

I walk to the bar and ask the bartender for another glass of whiskey.

"Don't you think you should slow down a little Ray?"

He comes from behind me and stands opposite of me. I smile at his remark.

"Maybe. Have you found Scarlett she was looking for you."

"Yeah here she comes up behind you."

I turn around position myself beside Deacon and Scarlett stands in front of us.

"Hey sweetheart."

"Hey Rayna, Uncle Deacon where have you been? I've been looking every where for you?"

"I've been around."

He nudges me and to hide my blushing I take a sip of my drink.

"Ok…Well I'm ready to go. Are you?"

"Yeah sure thing. Why don't you go get the keys from the valet and I'll meet you outside."

"Alright. Rayna it was good to see you."

I give her a hug goodbye.

"Thank you for coming tonight Scarlett. Let's get together sometime this week and talk. Have a goodnight."

"Ok. Just tell Bucky to call me. Goodnight Rayna."

I step forward and turn to face Deacon.

"Goodnight Deacon."

He takes a step towards me and I give him my what are you doing look and look over my shoulder to see If anyone is watching us.

"I'm just going to give you a hug Ray. No harm in two friends saying goodbye to one another…is there?"

I smile and relax. He's right.

He comes forward and gives me a hug and whispers in my ear, "Goodnight Ray."

I hold on to him a little longer then I should have but he pulls away and walks out of the building.

I decide to leave the party not too long after Deacon and Scarlett. Since I wasn't performing anymore there was no reason for me to stay the whole night. I found Buck and Luke on my way out and said a quick goodbye to each of them. I could tell Luke was still annoyed with me but I didn't push it. Tomorrow was going to be a long exhausting day and all could think about was getting home to my bed and going straight to sleep.

I wake up to the smell of pancakes. What the hell…who is making pancakes in my kitchen? The girls aren't home, is Tandy here? I put on my robe and head downstairs.

"Hello? Tandy?"

I look in the kitchen and panic instantly.

"Mornin sugar. You're even more beautiful without all that sparkle. I made you pancakes."

He hands me a plate and kisses me before I have time to react.

"Good morning. Uhhh how did you get in?"

"Buck gave me his key last night after you left. I told him I wanted to surprise you with breakfast in the morning. Come join me at the table."

I walk to my kitchen table stunned. What was he doing here? It's not like we ended the night on a good note, why would he think it would be ok for him to just let himself into my house?

I sit and enjoy my breakfast quietly.

"Is everythin ok darling? You haven't said much this mornin?"

I cough as my food goes down the wrong pipe.

"Uh yeah I'm fine I just got scared. I wasn't expecting anyone to be in my house this early in the morning."

Luke wipes his mouth with a napkin and leans back in his seat.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I wanted to surprise you with a little breakfast. I didn't much like how our conversation ended last night so I thought breakfast would be a good start to fixing it."

I smile and take a sip of coffee.

"Well that was very nice of you. Thank you."

I go back to finishing my breakfast without saying anything else.

I get up from the table taking my plate with me.

"You done?"

I ask as I grab his plate as well taking them to the sink. I begin to wash them and all of the other dirty dishes he left lying around in my kitchen. I finish and grab a towel out of the drawer to dry my hands.

"Thank you again for the breakfast. The pancakes were good, and so was the coffee. I'm going to go up to take a shower and get ready. I have some errands I need to run and I need to go and talk to Bucky about a few things but I'll see you later?"

I walk closer to the door to show him out but instead he walks towards me, spins me around and pushes me up against the counter. Déjà vu hits me and I suddenly see flashes of Deacon doing the exact same thing to me not 24 hours ago.

"Well I could go and you could see me later…or I could join you in that shower."

He looks at me and I can see the lust in his eyes. I push him off of me and get some distance between us.

"I don't think that is a good idea Luke. I appreciate you coming here and making me breakfast but I think we both need to take a little time and think about this thing between us."

"What's going on Rayna?"

I fasten my robe around me and fold my arms over my chest.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is ever since yesterday you've been acting weird around me, pushing me away. I try to kiss you and you avoid it. Now you want to think about this thing between us? What does that even mean?"

"I uh…I can't do this right now. I really need to go and get ready. I promise we will talk later."

"No Ray, I want to talk now. Whatever it is you have to do today can wait until we have a conversation."

"I told you yesterday, do not call me that."

He throws his hands in the air and scoffs

"Are you kidding me right now. After everything I just said that's what you focus in on… the fact that I called you Ray? Seriously?"

I really didn't want to talk to him about this right now. I didn't even know what to say. How do I explain something to someone that I don't even fully understand myself. My feelings when it comes to Deacon are confusing and complicated but was that even something Luke needed to hear? Should I just omit all of yesterday and tell him I can't give him the relationship he wants. That wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to do this in a way that didn't hurt him. But the longer I stand here looking at the concerned expression on his face no matter what I say I am going to end up hurting him.

"Rayna please just talk to me. All I'm asking is for you to use your words and to be honest with me. I know we had a disagreement at the party last night about going public but if you want to wait that's fine. I'll wait until you're ready. I'll enjoy having you all to myself for a little while, and then when you want me to I'll show you off to the world."

He's walked closer to me and is now holding me by my waist. I look down to avoid looking into his eyes, but he grabs my chin and tilts my head up.

"I've had a crush on you for the longest time Rayna Jaymes and now that I got you I don't want to lose you. We'll do all of this your way and in your own time."

I push him away from me gently and look down trying to compose what I want to say, what I need to say.

"Luke…I can't."

"What do you mean you can't. Rayna will you please look at me."

I pull my head up and breath out heavily.

"Luke, I can't do to you what I did to Teddy. You deserve so much more than what I can give you."

His eyes start to water and he turns away from me. He wipes his face and looks back at me.

"I'm not Teddy, I am nothing like Teddy. Our relationship is nothing like what you had with your ex-husband. I love you Rayna. Don't end this before we even have a chance to really start. We have a good thing going here. I can make you so happy Rayna, you just have to let me. You have to stop pushing me away."

I have tears running down my face and I just shake my head.

"I'm such an idiot."

I'm wiping the tears from my face and place my hands on the countertop.

"You're not an idiot Luke."

"But I'm not Deacon either... am I? Rayna, look me in the eye and tell me you aren't throwing what we could have away for him."

I can see his sadness turn to anger.

"I am so sorry Luke. I care about you, I really do. I could keep trying to make this thing we have between us work and I could be happy and eventually fall in love with you. But you and I both know deep down it would all be a lie. You're an amazing guy Luke, and you are going to make someone immensely happy one day. Make her breakfast, put a giant ring on her finger, and parade her around Nashville with this proud look on your face because you can't believe she ever looked your direction in the first place…but that girl just isn't me. I gave my heart away a long time ago. It has always been him, I don't want it to be him, I've spent so many years wishing it wasn't him. I walked into The Bluebird and heard him play one note on that stupid guitar and he had me. He's everything for me, and I truly am sorry I put you through all of this in the first place, but I was scared. Scared of how he makes me feel, scared that all of his old demons will come back, but despite all the hell we've put each other through I still love him. "

He looks at me with this rage that turns into disappointment.

"Love isn't suppose to scare you, or cause you so much pain that you run away. You deserve someone that doesn't cause you that pain in the first place. You deserve someone that is going to be there for you no matter what life throws at you. I was there in the beginning when he would abandon you at a gig because he was too drunk to get out of bed. I was also there this past year when you showed up at my ranch broken all over again because yet again he let you down. Hell Rayna you almost died. It's who he is, and he's going to do it to you again."

He grabs his keys from the counter and heads towards the back door. But before he leaves he turns back towards me.

"And I'm not going to be there for you when he does it to you this time. I'm done."

I stand in the kitchen with tears pouring down my face. Deacon has caused me so much pain, but I have caused him just as much. I am not an innocent bystander to how toxic our relationship became. And if I am being honest I would have stayed with him through his fifth stint in rehab if I hadn't been pregnant with Maddie. She was my excuse to run and hide from everything he made me feel. I ran further away from all of those feelings when Teddy offered me a way out by marrying him and raising Maddie as his own. And Luke was just another excuse, because I didn't want to feel the pain that comes with loving him. We are inextricably tied; we always have been and we always will be. It is time for me to stop hiding and running from the inevitable.