Wow. Thank you all for the comments and feedback with the last chapter. It truly means a lot!

Chapter 13

Louisville

Backstage

Rayna watched Deacon walking away. He'd finally spoken to her, just a few words. But they were first words he'd spoken to her in four weeks. The words he'd said dripped with contempt and were brief. "Get out of the way." But at least he finally spoke to me. That has to be something…right? A month of nothing and he finally said something.

As Deacon raced down the hall she met the gazes of several backup dancers. Great. Apparently that was just as awkward as it felt.

Deacon's Hotel Room

Deacon wiped his tired eyes, wanting to surrender to sleep that wasn't coming. He'd been at two different AA meetings today. The first one was this morning at the hospital. It had been crowded. He hadn't spoken but listened to several other stories.

One woman talked about her kid being taken away by Child Protective Services. She'd cried describing how happy she'd been when she found out she was having a baby. He'd never felt the urge to drink more after a meeting than before one. But today had been the exception.

The second meeting of the day had three people plus the leader. It had been in the meeting rooms of the public library.

He'd stood up and tried to express his feelings but he couldn't get out much. After the greeting and his statement of how long he'd been sober, Deacon realized he didn't know how to start. So he just sat down. On the way back to the hotel, he'd walked into one bar but managed to force himself to leave. He would have been tempted by the ABC stores too but luckily they were already closed.

Without undressing, he laid on the bed and tried to fight the only two thoughts he had. It was the only two things he'd thought about in weeks: Rayna and liquor. He picked up his phone and hit Coleman's name.

Cleveland, OH

NBC-OH Studios

Rayna smiled politely as the interviewer thanked her for being here. She has the audacity to thank me after asking half a dozen questions that were supposed to be off-limits. The reporter had asked about: the divorce, Teddy's arrest, her relationship with Deacon and Liam, Matt Lawson's stories in the press, and how Maddie was doing since the kidnapping. Then she actually asked how I a managed to look so good 'at my age.' What a bitch.

She grabbed her phone. A missed text from Tandy let her know that Maddie had scored a goal during her game. She smiled at the thought.

Juliette's Dressing Room

Deacon looked at Coleman, asking why he was still in Ohio. "Don't you have a city to run? I hear the Mayor is heading to jail."

Coleman didn't directly answer the question and instead asked if he could sit down. "We didn't complete our conversation from earlier today."

The room was quiet but Rayna's voice echoed through the walls. They both paused a minute to listen to sound check before Coleman started, asking how he was doing.

Deacon shot him a look of disbelief. "Really that's the question you're going to ask me? I don't know Coleman. How do you think I'm doing?"

"Deacon, listen…"

"Save your shit Coleman. You knew…You knew that Maddie was mine and you never told me."

"I didn't know, I just...suspected."

"Nine months after you knew Ray and I were together, she had a baby. You knew I didn't remember and you never told me."

"Deacon, I know you are upset but…

"You went to their fucking wedding. She was pregnant with my child when she married him. YOU KNEW THAT." Deacon shook his head in anger. "The night before their wedding, I felt like I was dying. I cried for hours. I CRIED AT YOUR KITCHEN TABLE and you never thought to mention that she was pregnant with my daughter."

"You called me this morning because you walked into a bar last night with the intention of drinking. You said the meetings weren't helping like they normally do. I am here to help you. "

"You went to Maddie's Christening. You probably ate those damn puff things that I hate and smiled as Teddy took pictures of his little girl. You went to her damn birthday parties and her dance recitals. YOU LIED TO ME EVERY DAY." Coleman stayed quiet. "You know, I bet she played her guitar for you when you were over at the Belle Meade. Did you ever think, maybe Deacon would like to see her? Maybe Deacon would like to know his daughter likes playing the guitar?"

"Deacon you knew Maddie growing up, you know her. She knows you. She loves you. You saw her play guitar, you were invited her to birthday parties."

"She knew me? As what Uncle Deacon? As her mother's chump ex-boyfriend who followed her around like some stupid dog? As a roadie in her mom's band?"

"I know you are angry."

Deacon shook his head, trying to make the words come from his brain to his mouth. "Angry? No. For the last weeks I've realized that I truly trusted two people. You and Ray. I thought you both believed in me, believed in my sobriety, believed I'd changed."

"We did. We do."

Juliette walked back quickly, announcing it was time for sound check. Deacon grabbed his guitar and walked out of the room without another word.

Juliette politely smiled at Coleman. "Deacon told me about everything. And I'm making sure he stays as busy as he can. Tomorrow we are working on a new song and we've got a bunch of interviews and stuff…" Coleman admitted that was good but Juliette's polite smile turned into a frown. "Look I'm not trying to tell you what to do but Deacon doesn't want you or Rayna here. He doesn't have much of a choice with Rayna but you can bow out gracefully."

Rayna's Penthouse Bathroom

Rayna sat in her bathtub allowing the hot water to relax her tense muscles. She thought about her latest run-in with Deacon.

It had been this morning when they were all unloading in the front of the hotel. She'd jumped on the elevator, not realizing Deacon was already there. He'd looked straight ahead for the whole uncomfortable ride. She'd called his name twice but then the elevator dinged and he'd just walked away.

The first couple of days she'd given him space. Then she called him, texted him, gone to the cabin, gone to his house. He never came to the door, never answered the phone, nothing. Then they had gone back on tour. Every time she had approached him, he'd turned and walked away. When she would go to his hotel room, he'd never both coming to the door.

I just never expected him to stay this angry for this long. He is still so mad that he can't even yell at me. She'd worried someone would show up and serve her legal papers about Maddie. But he hadn't done that either.

He'd done nothing but ignore her for five and half weeks.

Rayna thought about texting the girls but she knew they were asleep by now. I'll get Teddy. And I really can't take another fight with Teddy about Deacon. Or a fight about his possible jail sentence. Or about how he should resign as Mayor.

She leaned back against the bathtub, trying to relax. Her eyes finally closed, then flew open at the sound of banging to the front door. She heard Deacon's voice yelling her name and quickly jumped out the tub. She grabbed the white towel and tucked it around her body as she ran to open the door

Rayna pulled the material closer together when she saw Deacon's gaze towards the juncture of her thighs. She blushed and breathlessly invited him in.

Deacon shook his head, and leaned against the side door, putting his hands in his pocket. "A while ago, I was at a meeting and this woman was talking about how excited she was when she found out she was pregnant. And I realized, I didn't even know how you found out or how you felt about having my baby. Rayna felt water droplets fall down her legs as she continued to hold onto her towel. "I umm...had been really tired for a few days but brushed it off as just being emotionally exhausted. And I was sore..." She made a hand motion over her chest, "here. Then Tandy brought home this seafood dip stuff and I nearly threw up in the middle of the kitchen."

She expected a smile or acknowledgement from Deacon but found just a cold stare so she continued, "I um...I went upstairs and just knew. I figured I was late because of being tired and worried and I'd gotten off birth control. But then it was like a light bulb thing. I mean I thought I knew. When Tandy came upstairs to check on me, I told her. She went out and bought like 6 tests and brought them back."

She smiled remembering seeing the sticks lined up on the bathroom counter.

"Two were pink if pregnant, blue if not pregnant. One was two lines if pregnant, one line if not. Then another couple said a plus sign meant pregnant and a minus sign meant no baby. Then there was one really cheap looking test that said a circle if not pregnant and a star if it was a positive. I just kept looking at each test. There were pink lines and plus signs everywhere. I just kept looking at it, trying to make it sink in. And then the last test finally showed a star."

"A star?"

Rayna smiled, "Yeah I started crying when I saw it. It was happy crying and worried crying and overwhelmed crying. I came out of the bathroom and told Tandy, 'Deacon and I are having a star' and Tandy said the baby must take after its parents."

Rayna watched Deacon's lip shake and wrapped her arms around herself to keep from reaching out. Deacon kept looking at the floor, clearly lost in thought. She stood there naked, save the white towel hoping he'd asked to come in but instead he just kept looking down.

Deacon suddenly turned to leave and Rayna stepped out of the room. "Deacon…"

Harshly, Deacon yelled back, "Don't." He retreated down the hall quickly without another word. Okay, that wasn't bad. He managed to talk to me for three minutes without yelling at me. Okay he managed to listen to me talk for three minutes and not yell. That is…progress? She briefly thought about throwing on clothes and running after him but told herself not to.

She closed the door to hotel room and walked inside.