*A/N: MINOR CHANGES. MOSTLY JUST REPLACED WORDS. NOTHING MAJOR. WORKING ON NEW CHAPTER NOW.*

Chapter 6

*Their lips moved in sync, bodies pressed against each other, his hands grabbing hers and forcing them against the wall.

She moaned into him as he moved down to her neck, his lips immediately finding her weak sport. It was as if she hadn't changed at all in almost thirteen years.*

She slowly woke up, the effects of her dream lingering a little longer than she would have liked. Looking through her curtains, she noticed it was still dark outside. The clock on her nightstand read 3:00.

Rayna had gotten four hours of sleep. If she wanted to be pleasant to anyone, she had to have at least one more hour of sleep. She was afraid to sleep again though. The dream had felt so real. Of course it had happened two days ago.

Her conscious weighed her down. She'd slept with Liam, cheating on Teddy, and mentally cheating on Deacon. Now she'd slept with Deacon. It hadn't felt like she was cheating on anyone with Deacon. Everything had just felt right. She smiled at how cheesy it sounded to her.

But it had been true.

She tossed and turned for another ten minutes before falling into a restless sleep. When Daphne woke her up, what seemed like five minutes later, it was almost 6:00.

"I'm up!" She sat up and pulled her youngest daughter on to her lap. "How long have you been up?"

"Not long, but we need food."

"You need a healthy breakfast," Rayna told her, laughing at Daphne's failed trick to have candy for breakfast. "Make sure Maddie's up and I'll see what I can scrape together."

"You're cooking?"

"I can pour cereal and milk into a bowl!"

They both laughed and Daphne raced off to wake her older sister. Rayna leaned her head back against the headboard, closed her eyes, and sighed. She and Deacon needed to figure out exactly where they stood so she could stop having these dreams and restless nights.

But right now, her girls needed to get ready to go to school, which was always fun. Two hectic hours later, both girls were at school and Rayna was trying to figure out what to do for the next few hours.

She made some calls to Bucky and her lawyer about the divorce and then called Liam and apologized again. As she was about to leave for her meeting with Deacon, her father called.

"What do you want?"

"You're still my daughter Rayna," he drawled. "What Teddy did is inexcusable. I'll take care of it."

"We're getting a divorce daddy."

"That's no excuse."

Rayna could tell he was about to go on, but interrupted him. "I slept with Liam. Teddy slept with Peggy. We're even."

"He lied to you Rayna."

"And mom lied to you, I get it. Do whatever you want, but I have a meeting." She hung up without letting him say anything more.

She drove to their meeting spot thinking about the other night, about her dream, and about them. She was early, so she took time to get down to a small stone bench next to the river. They hadn't gone to their spot in a number of years for various reasons.

Rayna remembered when they were younger, seniors in high school. They'd snuck off in Deacon's truck during lunch. He'd sat on one end of the bench with her head in his lap as she stared up at the bright blue sky. They had just been friends back then. Friends before all the complications of their relationship, his drinking, and her career. She thought of a couple other days when they had gone to their spot after they started dating.

Deacon drove up and parked next to her vehicle. He got out and carefully worked his way to the small stone bench next to the river.

When they'd actually been dating, they'd meet there if they needed to get away from everyone. Over the years they stopped meeting. Not that they didn't want to, but Rayna had moved on with Teddy and Deacon knew that he needed to let her go for their relationship to work.

"Did you tell Juliette we were meeting?"

"No. It's none of her business."

They sat down as far away from each other as possible on the small bench. There was about an inch between them. As the silence rang out, Rayna crossed her long legs and absently rubbed at a spot of dirt on her boots. Deacon leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"What's wrong with us Ray?" he finally asked, not looking at her.

"Now or in general?" A small smile tried to grace her face, but she pushed it away. "I'm still technically married…"

"Don't start with that again. You don't love him and it's not like he's been faithful in the past few months!" Deacon couldn't understand how anyone could hurt her like that.

Then again, he'd been in love with her since the day they met.

"That doesn't give me a free pass to sleep with anyone!"

"Do you regret what we did?" He sat up and looked at her. She wouldn't look at him. "Do you regret sleeping with me Ray?"

She'd thought about that a lot in the past few days. Being with Deacon again had felt right. She'd expected to feel guilty after, like her one and only time with Liam, but she didn't. "No," she finally told him. "I don't regret being with you."

"Then why are we like this now? It's not like this is our first time." That got her to smile and actually look at him.

"We've been friends for over twenty years Deacon. The last thirteen we've been just friends." She stopped and stood up to relieve her restlessness by pacing.

"It's hard to ignore all of our history."

"Everyone who knows us, thinks we've been sleeping together since you got out of rehab, that we never stopped actually dating. My father…"

"Your father doesn't know how to appreciate you. He never has."

"My mom had a singer-songwriter friend." She looked at Deacon to make sure he knew what she meant. "Daddy never approved of our relationship because of that. He set up my meeting Teddy after I dropped you off at the rehab center."

Deacon stood up and walked around the bench to stand in front of Rayna. "Even before the alcohol, Lamar never liked me." Rayna took a step forward. "Those feelings never really went away did they?"

"They changed I think."

"What the hell does that mean Ray?" he asked, slightly aggravated. Their moment was broken and Deacon backed up, putting plenty of space between them.

"My feelings for everything and everyone around me changed Deacon!"

"Did you just shut those feelings off?"

"No! I've always cared about you!"

"I never stopped loving you Ray! It's only been you! I haven't had a relationship since you! It's only ever been you." He'd been yelling, but gave up by the last word. Rayna stayed quiet, looking down at the ground. Deacon could see tears shining in her eyes. "Fine, you want me to move on? I will."

He turned around and started back towards his car. He'd reached the road before Rayna came to her senses. "Deacon!" He stopped by the bridge wall. "You can't just say that and walk away!"

"You said your feelings changed Rayna! What am I supposed to do? Stand there and let you tell me how we're better as friends? How, I don't know, us sleeping together shouldn't change anything?" She stood dumbstruck next to her car. "It does change things Ray. That night at the Bluebird changed us."

"Don't you think I know that?! That night at the Bluebird complicated everything again! I remembered how good it felt, just the two of us! It felt like going home and I was scared of that!" She stopped to control her emotions. Deacon stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. "I remembered when we wrote that song, where we were in our relationship. I remembered how I used to feel around you, how no matter what, we could always talk about anything!" Tears were freely falling down her cheeks.

"I never forgot Ray. I got sober for you, I've stayed clean for you." He was tired of fighting her.

"I never wanted to hurt you. If I had known back then that that was really going to be your last time, I would have waited for you. That night I wouldn't have gone to the bar with Tandy, I would have stayed at our place and waited to be allowed to visit you."

"What about now Ray? I'd wait for you forever if I just knew eventually, things would be back to normal, that'd we'd have a chance again."

"We do because of the Bluebird! Everything has just been so complicated since…"

He shoved her against the car door and put an inch between them. His hands moved from her arms down to her fingers, interlocking them with his. She stared up into his eyes as he slowly leaned in to kiss her.