This is my stab at incorporating the Deacon's illness spoiler that's coming up.

##

Deacon was nursing a headache all day long. He'd taken some Advil, but he couldn't seem to shake the throbbing in his head and the slight queasiness that had appeared along with it. He walked into his house and threw his keys on the counter, then he stripped off his flannel so he was just wearing his t-shirt and lay back on his bed.

A couple of hours later he woke up, headache still ever present. He looked at the clock. Only 8:30. He got up and stumbled to the kitchen pouring himself a glass of water, then he reached again for the bottle of Advil, but this time the pills never made it to his mouth. Somewhere between opening the bottle and picking up the glass of water Deacon collapsed, landing with a thud on the cold terra cotta tile floor.

##

Scarlett walked in the door around 9:30. She'd been having dinner with a fellow songwriter she'd met a few days earlier. The conversation had been creative and energetic, but left her exhausted and all she wanted to do was curl up in front of the TV with a cup of hot chocolate. The lights were on, but Deacon was nowhere to be seen. She walked into her room and changed into a big fluffy robe and slippers before heading into the kitchen to grab the coco. What she found instead startled her.

Deacon was face down in the middle of the kitchen, water glass shattered around him. She kneeled down to wake him, but he was clearly down for the count, and his nose had hit the tile splattering blood on the floor. She ran to her purse grabbing her phone and quickly dialed 911.

On the way to the hospital she thought about calling Rayna and telling her to bring Maddie just in case, but then she thought better of it. Deacon had been depressed lately with everything going on with Rayna and Luke. She knew the wedding had been called off, but there was still a chance that he'd reached for a bottle again in his unsteady state. She put her phone back in her bag hoping this wasn't a repeat of a year ago.

##

Scarlett sat in the waiting room at the hospital clutching a Styrofoam cup. The watery coco from the hospital vending machine wasn't quite living up to her expectations of the drink. As she took another sip a tall thin man wearing spectacles came into the waiting room. "Deacon Claybourne's family."

"That's me," Scarlett said raising her hand.

"Ms. Claybourne."

"Actually it's O'Connor."

He nodded his head. "Ms. O'Connor. You're uncle is awake and is just getting the cut on his head bandaged up."

"Was he drinking?"

"No, his tox screen came back negative, but his blood work is another matter."

"What do you mean?"

"He has cirrhosis meaning that his liver is scared over."

"What does that mean?"

"It's complicated. I've already talked this over with Deacon, he understands the serious ramifications of this."

"Well, he's already stopped drinking so what else can he do?"

"Not much. We'll put him on some meds, and go through some therapies, but eventually he's going to need a transplant."

Scarlett felt a tightening in the pit of her stomach. "How long before he needs that?"

"Considering the seriousness of his condition…I'd say six months to a year."

"And if he doesn't get the transplant?"

The doctor just shook his head making the tightening in her stomach do full on flip flops. "Can I see him?"

"Yes of course. He's in room 260."

##

Scarlett walked in and sat in the chair next to Deacon's bed. His eyes were closed and he had a bandage on his forehead but he opened his eyes when she took his hand.

"Hey there, sorry to scare you like that." Deacon said in a voice far shakier than his normal husky tone.

Scarlett rubbed the top of his hand. "It's okay. The doctor spoke to me before I came in."

"Yeah, looks like the drinking finally caught up with me."

A tear started to roll down Scarlett's cheek. "Yeah."

"Hey, no feeling sorry for me, okay. I did this to myself."

"He said six months."

Deacon breathed deeply. "Yeah, looks like my future ain't so rosey, huh?"

"The doctor did say you're on the transplant list, and I'm gonna be tested to see if I'm a match."

"No Scarlett."

"What do you mean no?"

"You are not putting yourself in danger for me."

"Deacon, a lot of people donate pieces of their liver, I'll be fine."

"I said no, and that's final. And I don't want anyone else knowing either."

"Well you're going to tell Rayna and Maddie right?"

"I don't want them feeling sorry for me. They'll know when it's time, but not now."

"Deacon, she's your daughter you have to prepare her."

"And I will, but it's up to me to decide when it's the right time to do that."

Scarlett was unsure that she should trust him in this, but she knew better than to push it right now.

##

A few days later Deacon was back at home sorting through some boxes of his belongings. He'd never been the orderly type, but he didn't want to leave all this for Scarlett to deal with after he was gone. He pulled down one from the top of his closet that was marked "Rayna." He sighed as he flipped through a series of photos of the two of them in happier days, as well as an ID bracelet that said "Forever" that matched one he'd given Rayna for her 18th birthday.

He slid the cool metal on his arm. It felt strange but familiar to have it back on his wrist. It had lived there for nearly 10 years, and in all honesty at the time, he never thought he'd take it off. He slipped it back over his hand and placed it in a new box marked "For Maddie."

He started sorting through his record collection pulling out ones he wanted to pass on to his daughter. On each carefully chosen record he placed a sticky with a little note such as "Play Dust My Broom when you're feeling the blues, it's the song that got me into slide guitar." Sadness overcame Deacon as he realized he wouldn't be there for most of the big moments in Maddie's life. He knew post-its with a bit of advice were a poor consolation prize for having your father there when you really needed him.

As he placed the Elmore James record into the box he heard a knock on the door followed by a "Hello." He turned around to see Rayna standing in the living room framed by a ray of light coming through the doorway. His heart skipped a beat despite his better judgment. "Hey Ray, what's up?"

Rayna walked in and perched herself on the arm of his couch. "I don't know. Haven't seen much of you this week. I thought I'd see how you were doing."

"Fine, I guess."

"What ya up to?"

"Just sorting through my records." Deacon covered up the box so Rayna couldn't see what he was really doing.

"Maddie's been complaining all week about being locked in the house. I keep telling her the more she complains the more likely I am to extend the punishment."

"Yeah, she's been texting me complaints as well." Deacon turned back to pulling out some of his favorite vinyl.

Rayna wasn't sure why she was feeling so awkward. She and Deacon had been closer than two people could possibly be for the last thirty years, there was nothing she couldn't share with him, no look of his she couldn't read, no sigh of hers he couldn't decipher.

Finally she pushed aside the awkwardness. "Babe, can we talk a moment?"

Deacon stopped what he was doing and turned to face her. "Sure, what's up?"

"Maybe you could come over for dinner tonight, the girls would like that."

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Good," Rayna played with her hair twirling a strand around her finger. "I'd like to get them used to you being around more."

Deacon gave her a questioning look.

"I mean, I know you're with someone else, but I thought maybe we could start spending more time together…as a family."

For some strange reason Rayna couldn't quite read the look on Deacon's face. It was placid, and there was no sign of real emotion behind his eyes that usually were brimming with it. "I'm not with anyone Ray. Pam and I broke up. It was pretty casual to begin with and well, it just didn't seem worth it I guess."

He could see her face light up at the realization that he was completely single and it stung a bit. A couple of weeks ago he would have given anything to see that reaction from her. Despite the pain he'd felt in the last few months, he knew he could never stay angry at her for long, and well, now it really seemed pointless. All of it seemed pointless in fact.

"Well," Rayna smiled. "I know it's been a rough few months, and most of that is my fault, but I was thinking, maybe you and I, we could try again? I'm not saying we're ready for marriage yet, just see where things go."

Deacon rubbed his face and shifted on his boots. He wanted to run to her, take her in his arms and never let her go. He wanted to wrap himself up in her all night, and feel her comforting embrace as she whispered that everything would be okay. He wanted it more than anything, but he knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't be that selfish.

She had spent most of their relationship taking care of him, holding him as he detoxed, cleaning up after him when he was sick on their wooden floors, sitting by his bedside in the hospital as they pumped his stomach. He knew it's what kept her up at night, the fear that she'd have to see him dying in the hospital. That was her worst nightmare when they were together. She'd cry and tell him she couldn't do it anymore, that the thing she feared most of all was the doctor coming out telling her he wasn't going to make it this time.

He couldn't put her through that again. Couldn't let this time just be another variation on the past. He knew she'd have to go through it anyway, that she'd probably be there for him at the end holding his hand as he lay in sweat drenched over-starched hospital sheets, and threw up into a plastic bucket by his mechanical bed, but if he could help it that part would be as brief as possible.

He looked back up into her eyes trying to hide from her what he was really feeling. "I don't know Ray. I'm not so sure that's a good idea." He could see the pain cross her face, see her try to control it like she always did, push it down until she couldn't feel anything anymore. He guessed that's how she endured being with Luke all those months. "Alright," she said shakily. "I just thought maybe, you know, it would be good for the girls to have a stable family for a change. Like you said, Maddie, Daphne, you, and me."

"That was a long time ago Ray. I've had a lot of time to think about things since then, and I think you were right, it's better for us to stay like this, friends, raising her up as co-parents, no complications."

He could see that Rayna was barely holding back the tears, and he looked away so he wouldn't be overcome with the desire to comfort her. He went back over to the window where his records were lined in bins and began leafing through them. "I'll see you for dinner tonight Ray. 7:00?"

Rayna nodded her head, but didn't say anything. She made an attempt to collect herself picking up her purse as she stared longingly at the back of his head and the way his muscles moved as he glided his fingers over the records. "Okay, I'll see you tonight."

Deacon kept his eyes trained on the records until he heard the door close and the sound of Rayna's car starting outside, then he let the tears roll down his face trying to block out the thoughts of what could have been.