Hey everyone :) Do I need to say more this week than "renewal" ? Yippie yeah ! One more year of Nashville. Hopefully full of Rayna/Deacon bliss ... A woman can dream, right ? ;-) Also the season finale is coming up and the anticipation is killing me ... I can't wait to see what happens with our babies.

Thanks for the reviews !

All characters belong to ABC's Nashville.

Chapter 10

Deacon kept his promise and spent part of the next week at Rayna's place in Belle Meade. The girls loved having him around every day, asking him for guitar lessons at every chance they got and enjoying his breakfast and chicken casserole much more than most of the food their mom ever cooked. Rayna gladly admitted that his cooking skills were better than hers, although he wasn't the best cook in this town either.

It warmed her heart to watch him teaching Maddie a new chord on the guitar or helping her with her homework, but she also felt beyond happy to see him bonding with Daphne a little more every day.

Having him by her side every day, co-parenting with him and not having to hide their affection for each other anymore, felt like a full-circle moment for Rayna. She never said it out loud to anyone, but there were a lot of days during her marriage with Teddy and even in her short relationship with Luke, where she wished Deacon was the one lying next to her when she woke up in the morning and that he was the one waiting for her when she got home late. She usually pushed these thoughts away and tried to convince herself that it was the best for everyone if the things just stayed the way they were back then, but she realized now that she hadn't felt completely content in a very long time.

Granted, there were good times and happy moments in her life without Deacon, but she only felt light-hearted, save, genuinely happy and truly loved with Deacon by her side. He didn't do anything particular to make her feel this way, it was just this invisible bond between them which made him her soul mate. It had connected them since the first time they met and no one had ever been able to break it.

While she sat in the kitchen, reminiscing about the past, a cup of coffee in front of her, she didn't notice that Deacon walked through the door and stood next to her now, bent down to place a sweet good morning kiss on her lips. She startled, but leaned into the kiss the minute she felt his warm lips on hers.

"I missed you in my bed this morning," she teasingly complained after she broke away from the kiss.

"Well I already drove the girls to school and since you have no appointment this morning, how about we just go there again," Deacon replied and started nuzzling her neck.

"Mhn, sounds like an interesting idea …," Rayna agreed, took his hand in hers and practically dragged him upstairs and into her bedroom.

Once they got there they had already lost the majority of their clothes, both more than ready to finally go further than just making-out. As much as both of them loved spending time with the girls, they couldn't wait to continue what their daughter had interrupted at Deacon's house.

Although the physical part had never been the most important one in their relationship, they had always been good at it and loved the closeness to each other that only this intimate act could provide.

"Baby, you need to slow down a little when you want to finish this together with me," Deacon growled with a husky voice when Rayna's slender fingers found their way to the waistband of his boxers. Looking up at him seductively and noticing the look of lust in his eyes she let her hand wander even deeper and helped him get rid of his shorts.

When he stood in front of her, clearly aroused and breathing hard, she bit her lips and coyly let her hands wander over his naked body. He'd aged, but he was still the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. His body was muscular, yet not too much athletically trained. She always loved the strong arms and the large hands, calloused from playing the guitar for so many years now. His blue eyes, filled with love and desire, sent shivers down her spine and caused a tingling sensation all over her body.

"You like what you see, Ray?" Deacon asked, a devilish grin on his lips.

Rayna blushed, but didn't answer him and pressed her body against his instead. Both moaned at the contact of their bodies and kissed each other hungrily, before Rayna got out of her panties and no piece of clothing was between them anymore.

Deacon sat on the bed and gently pulled Rayna with him, only to turn her over when the they lay on the bed, so that he was above her now. He left a wet trail of kisses all over her body, taking his time nibbling and sucking at some spots of her body he remembered being particularly sensitive. Feeling her heart pounding in her chest and goosebumps slowly covering all of her body, Rayna pressed her hips against his and signalized that she was more than ready for him.

He placed one more passionate lingering kiss on her lips and when he entered her both of them felt as if they were finally were they belonged. They had waited for this moment for what seemed like a lifetime and they both promised each other silently that they would cherish every moment from now on and make the most of the time they still had together.

"Baby, wake up. It's noon already. The folks at your label are not gonna wait for you," Deacon leaned over Rayna and tenderly placed a few kisses on her cheek and the corner of her mouth. She had dozed off again and was still a little sleepy now.

"I'm their boss, of course they will wait for me," she mumbled, not being fully serious.

Deacon laughed. "Oh look at that. The Queen of Country is in full-on diva mode. What are you gonna tell them if you are late?" he joked.

Turning around so she was facing him, Rayna replied. "Stop mocking me ! I'm just gonna tell them the truth. I got hold up by this incredibly sexy man, who desperately needed a hand."

Grinning, Deacon looked at her and brought his lips to hers. He kissed her hard and rough and caused her to moan when he gently sucked at her bottom lip. Hearing this little sound of pleasure from her, he broke the kiss and teased. "You sure I was the one who needed a hand … ?"

She playfully slapped his chest. "Oh, shut up !"

He only laughed and traced her jawline with his thumb before he laid his lips on hers again. He couldn't intensify the kiss this time though, because his phone started ringing. Grumbling he rolled off of Rayna and reached for his cell phone on the nightstand.

"Yeah," he answered and smiled at Rayna, who had immediately taken advantage of the situation and stolen most of the covers. He moved closer to Rayna, snuggling up to her and pulling some of the covers over him with his free hand.

"Scarlett, what's the matter? Everything okay on the road?" he asked after he had recognized his niece's voice.

Rayna huddled up against him and listened to his conversation with Scarlett. He seemed relaxed at first, but then he suddenly became tense, broke away from her and sat up.

"What did you do? Scarlett, I told you that I accept her decision and I want you to do the same. Your momma's got her reasons. Just leave it at that, okay?"

Rayna sat up as well and questioningly looked up at Deacon. She rarely heard him talk about his sister and he hadn't mentioned her in the past few weeks, so she wondered what this call was about.

"Scar, I really appreciate your help, but this is none of your business. It's between your momma and me, you get that?" Deacon harshly told his niece. He took a deep breath to calm down a bit, but Scarlett continued to provoke him.

"That's enough Scarlett. You heard her. You heard what she said when she was in Nashville and apparently she didn't change her mind since then. And I'm sure as hell ain't gonna go down there and beg for her help. End of the conversation!"

Deacon sighed, because he was annoyed by Scarlett's lack of understanding, but also because he was well aware that Rayna had listened to the whole conversation and would probably ask a lot of unpleasant questions afterwards. He had to deal with that later though, because his niece still wasn't done telling him what her thoughts on the current situation were.

"That's not true. You know what you mean to me, what Maddie means to me. I promised you to fight and that's what I'm gonna do, but we're gonna have to find another way. Your mom is not an option here."

Although Rayna didn't know exactly what this conversation was about, she tried to comfort Deacon by reaching for his hand and gently massaging the back of it. The conversation finally seemed to have cooled down a bit and when Deacon said goodbye to Scarlett and put down the phone, Rayna asked, slightly worried. "What was that about? I just heard that you mentioned your sister … She visited you here?"

Deacon took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face before he explained. "Scarlett called her when I got the diagnosis. She asked her to get tested and it turned out that she is a match, but she doesn't want to do it. Look Rayna, I know that you'll probably understand it less than Scarlett does, but Beverly was here and she looked me in the eyes when she told me that she doesn't want to be the donor and I get it. I know her reasons and I accept that and I'm not gonna pressure her to do something she wouldn't do by her own choice."

Rayna remained silent for a few moments, taking her time to process what Deacon just told her. She felt anger slowly building up inside her, but tried to suppress it and answer as calm as possible. "She could be your donor, but she doesn't want to do it? Why? I mean I get that your relationship with her wasn't- or still isn't easy, but you're her brother after all. If I could save my sister's life, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"Rayna you can't compare your relationship with Tandy to Beverly and me. She thinks that I left her alone when she needed me the most and now we have completely different lives and she just doesn't want to give up hers. She's got a job, a boyfriend, friends … whatever. The surgery is risky and I can't expect from her to give up all that. We are related, yes, but we hardly had a relationship over the past 25 years."

Rayna could see that Deacon fought hard to hold back tears while he was talking about his sister. That subject had always been touchy, because it was connected with a lot of painful memories from his past. She was there for a few of these moments and he had shared a few other ones with her over the years, but she was sure that there were still a lot of things she didn't know about. Searching for his eyes she could see that he was struggling and so she decided to leave it at that for now. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed him, before she got out of the bed and picked out some clothes she could wear at the meeting she had to attend in less than an hour.

For now she accepted Deacon's explanation, but she was already making plans how she could get Beverly to change her mind. She didn't want to pressure her either, but she might be the only person who could save Deacon. Rayna knew that she would be damned if she would not at least try to convince her to help the father of her daughter. The love of her life.