Disclaimer – Nashville is not mine

Author's note – I hope that this chapter is okay, sorry it is short, I just thought it ended in the right place.

Thanks to my reviewers: natbenson (enjoy!), Guest (This story will differ from the show as it will end up being slightly AU, you'll see), swimlets3 (here you go, hope it is okay!), gleek2014 (awh! Sorry, hope this is okay, I'll try and do a happier one soon), Sarah (oh my gosh! Thank you so much! I hope it continues to make you excited!)

Enjoy!


Back in The Limelight

Chapter four

That evening Rayna was sat in Maddie's room whilst Teddy was downstairs in his office working. As she looked at her little girl sleeping softly, she began to strong the soft brown curls on her head. Yet as she looked at her tonight all Rayna could see was Deacon. The way she smiled, the way she slept. Everything screamed the man she was still head over heels in love with. But as she watched her daughter sleep, Deacon's words from earlier in the day kept ricocheting around her head.

He wanted to be Maddie's father. That in its self had surprised Rayna as she thought he held their daughter against her. But as she thought about it she realised that he had always been the sort of person who was traditional. He wasn't asking for much really, not joint custody or alternating weeks looking after the little girl. Just visits, her calling him daddy. In truth as Rayna looked at her baby she realised she had no right to tell Deacon no. She had absolutely no right, because whilst she knew that Teddy would go ape and refuse the contact, Rayna wanted it.

Looking at her little girl she stood up and made her way down stairs and into the study to see her husband. It felt like she was seeing her boss or something, the way she knocked on the door softly. He told her to come in and she did, looking at him as he sat behind the desk. He was still in work clothes, and still had his tie on, just the top button undone. It reminded her of how much Deacon hated wearing a tie, even when they went to a black tie event as soon as they got in the car to go home the tie would be off. It had made her smile, any excuse not to wear one did.

"You busy?" She questioned, folding her arms and looking at him. She'd changed into a pair of leggings and an old tour t-shirt from back in the mid nineties. Her hair was screwed up in a bun and her face was free of makeup. He's married the glamorous Rayna Jaymes, and she often wondered if he wished she was still that woman. Because these days more often than not she was the mother with no makeup on rather than the styled Rayna Jaymes who performed on stage.

"No, come in." He said, putting his pen down, even though he was busy and resented her interrupting him. One thing he hated about her when she looked as she did in that moment was that she always wore an old tour t-shirt or a baggy plaid shirt. Things that were from her past when she was with Deacon. What he didn't know was that most of the oversized shirts and tops had once been deacons. "What's up?" He asked as she sat down in front of him, Teddy not moving from behind his desk as though he were talking to someone at work.

"I . . . I was talking to Deacon earlier." She said, waiting for the eruption from Teddy which was bound to follow the mention of the other man's name.

"What the hell did he want?!" He asked bitterness and hatred dripping from his tone.

"Look, don't go mad but . . ." She began, not quite knowing where to start.

"Just tell me Rayna." He said, not in the soft voice he usually used in public but in the harsh one that was usually reserved for people he disliked at work.

"He wants to be Maddie's father. I mean . . . he wants to spend time with her and for her to grow up knowing he is her dad." Said Rayna, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her husband.

"What?" He shouted, annoyed at even the suggestion.

"Teddy please –"

"I was the one who was holding your hand when you gave birth. I came along and picked up the pieces he had broken and left behind. Whilst he was drowning his sorrows it was me who looked after you!" He shouted.

"He was not drowning his sorrows Teddy, he was in rehab." Rayna replied softly, remembering Maddie was upstairs and not wanting to wake the little girl.

"What the hell difference does it make?!" He shouted back. "I am her dad Rayna; I am the one who furnished her room, who saw her first smile! Not him."

"Teddy I know-"

"No Rayna, you don't." He shouted even more bitterly. "I do not want him around her, and I certainly do not want him being her father."

"You can't stop him Teddy!"

"Yes I can, and I will."

"Teddy-"

"No Rayna, No! Just remember all the times he left you dragging him out of hotel rooms! Remember the pain he put on you, do you really want that kind of person around Maddie."

"HE has changed."

"And what will it take to get him to change back? A bad day at work? And argument with you? And argument with Maddie? Her crying?!" He was still shouting, and Rayna was annoyed, but at the same time she realised in that moment that she was scared of her husband. That she was living with a man who so strongly resembled her father that she was scared what her life was going to become. "He is unstable Rayna! And I don't want him anywhere near her? Understand?" He said it softly, as though it were an apology and would make up for all of the shouting and hurtful things he had just said. But it wouldn't and all Rayna could think about was how much of a better man Deacon was.

"Okay, I'll tell him no."She said, lying through her teeth, before she stood up, kissed his cheek and left him to work. There was no way in hell she was going to listen to Teddy, no way in hell. Now all she had to do was figure out a way to let Deacon be Maddie's dad without Teddy finding out.

Rayna climbed the stairs and stood at her daughter's door, watching over Maddie. In that argument she had seen a side of Teddy that she didn't like, a side that reminded her of her father. It seemed stupid but she remembered the amount of times that as a child she and Tandy would sit on the stairs and listen as their parents fought like cat and dog, until one or the other would last out and slap the other. She remembered the times she would sneak into her mother's music room later on and hug her mum, wiping away her tears.

Her mother wasn't perfect; she hadn't been by any length. But Rayna respected her now more than ever because she had done something Rayna knew she would never be able to do, stay in a loveless marriage for the sake of her daughters. Tandy was always the daddy's girl; she'd stand by her dad claiming his innocence. But Rayna had taken after her mother. That was why as she watched Maddie now she knew that things would change, but she also knew that her life was going to differ greatly from the one her mother had lead.


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