*A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long! I had writers block on this story until yesterday.*

*Rayna*

She resisted speeding, realizing getting pulled over would take even more precious time that she didn't' have. She pulled into her driveway, relieved and worried at the same time when she didn't see Deacon's truck.

It was late, so she opened the door slowly and as quietly as she could. Teddy sat in the dining room, papers strewn all over the table, covering most of it.

"Rayna? What are you doing here? The girls are asleep."

"Was Deacon here?" She was breathless and just realized she forgot to grab her coat.

"Rayna, what's wrong? Where's your coat?"

"Was Deacon here?" she repeated, getting impatient now.

"No. What's going on Rayna?"

"He knows," and she ran back out to her car. There were a couple bars that Deacon used to hang out at. Rayna knew one in particular that he'd go to. As far as she knew, only the two of them knew.

*Deacon*

When he got in his truck, he didn't think, he just drove. Ten minutes later he pulled into the parking lot of the bar he used to frequent every night until closing. He stayed in his truck, staring at the door. It would be so easy to just go in and drink himself into oblivion. To drink until he couldn't remember that Rayna had lied to him, had kept him from knowing about his own daughter. His hand rested on the handle to release the door, but he didn't move to open it.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he ignored it. His fingers itched to be around a glass that he could toss back. He hadn't had to deal with such a persistent urge in years.

If he had felt like drinking, he'd go to a meeting. No meetings of any sort crossed his mind, one hand tapped on the wheel. His hand tightened on the door handle and Rayna opened the passenger side door and sat in the seat.

"Have you gone in?" She asked it casually, shutting the door.

"No."

"Do you want to?" She turned to look at him now.

"Yeah."

Sadness flicked over her eyes, before she replaced it with worry. "Do you want me to drive you home so we can talk about how we're going to tell Maddie?"

He turned to look at her and saw the worry. Deacon realized then that he didn't want to disappoint Rayna again.

"No. Follow me."

Rayna leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and stepped out of Deacon's truck. He waited until she was back in hers. He pulled out of the bar's parking lot, Rayna following suit. They drove for about half an hour before Deacon pulled onto a gravel driveway. Rayna recognized the beach house immediately. Her breath hitched and she wanted to turn her car around and drive as fast as possible away from the house.

Instead, she parked next to Deacon and they both got out. "You still own this?"

"You paid well." He took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Deacon held it open for Rayna. She was hesitant at first, memories flooding her brain, but she stepped into the house, hitting the light switch next to the door. The house lit up and Rayna remembered the first time Deacon took her to their new house.

Everything was exactly the same, the white furniture, the white walls, the floor to wall windows along one wall, giving a spectacular vision of the beach. Deacon stood behind Rayna, putting his hands on her hips. She resisted leaning in to him, unsure how mad he still was at her.

"Since we left this place, I've had flashbacks. Every couple years I'll wake up from a dream, remembering a few good days we had here. I still haven't remembered that night. I can remember a few days later getting a glimpse of your car leaving, though I don't recall you being here that day."

"It was actually the next day. I had Tandy drive me out here to talk to you. I wanted to tell you about the baby. Tandy and Daddy didn't think that it was a good idea, but Tandy still agreed to drive me out here." She took a step forward so his hands weren't resting on her hips and turned to face him.

"Why didn't you?"

"All the way up she told me what a bad idea it was to tell you. When we got here, you were throwing everything you could lift." Rayna forcefully pulled her mind out of the memory. "We were both worried you'd hurt the baby on accident. We couldn't have lived with that if you did."

"Then Coleman came and took me to rehab."

"Yeah, and I met Teddy." She leaned back against the white couch, folding her hands in her lap.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Rayna could see that he wasn't as mad as he was before, his body relaxed, his eyes looking out through the wall of windows. "I never thought there was a good time. If I asked Teddy about it, he didn't want to tell you. I used to think it was because he wanted to protect Maddie, but now, he just doesn't want to share her. He doesn't want someone else to come in and be a better father than he is."

"We've never gotten along."

"Now that you know, what do you want to do?" Rayna left it up to Deacon to decide if he wanted to tell Maddie.

"I want a drink."

"I called Coleman before, let him know you weren't drinking."

Deacon nodded and started wandering around the beach house. Rayna stayed leaning against the couch. "I can remember being on the couch with you. You were wrapped in a sheet, I think I was in boxers, it's a little fuzzy. I can't remember after that." He sat down on the couch. Rayna moved around and sat on the other side. "I know I asked you to marry me, but I don't remember it. I don't know if I'm blocking it out 'cause I don't want to remember or if I will eventually."

"I said yes and then the next day, you woke up with a hangover. If you had remembered then what you asked, everything would be different right now. You got blackout drunk and asked me to marry you. I was so hurt the next morning. I felt betrayed and I didn't know how to help you, to keep you sober." Tears gathered in her eyes, a few falling down her cheeks. Deacon edged closer to her and wiped them away. "I'm supposed to be helping you, not the other way around," she laughed lightly.

Deacon chuckled and leaned his head back on the couch. "What do we do Ray?"

"We can tell Maddie. She'll be mad at me, but we should tell her."

"What about us Ray?"

Her green eyes met his. "We can either stay friends, like the past 13 years or pretend that's all we ever were, or we can try to carefully work out way through a relationship again."

"I spent 13 years pretending to not have feelings for you, and I can tell you it wasn't fun." Rayna laughed fully now, throwing her head back. "Watching you with Teddy, wishing I had never touched a drink so I could be in his place. I'd rather not go through that again, even if it's not Teddy at your side."

"Okay, let's try this again." She smiled as Deacon moved in to give her a kiss.

"When should we tell Maddie?"

*A/N: As always, comments/reviews are welcome!*