NB: THANKYOUTHANKYOU readers and reviewers for taking time to read BRAVE FACE. It's taken a little longer to update this and I apologise, I wanted to make sure that the building up in this chapters is right and I needed time to make sure that the chapter was reader-worthy..PLEASE KEEP your LOVES/HATES/FAVOURITE LINES OR MOMENTS/HOPES/PMS/COMMENTS AND WHATEVER ELSE COMING...I really appreciate every single one...with my babbling over, enjoy chapter twenty five..

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

"Chocolate or strawberry?"

"Neither."

"Neither!?" Rayna exclaimed, stepping back from the freezer to look at her daughters. "What is the world comin' to? Y'all love ice-cream."

"I don't eat it." Maddie muttered as she sat on a stool next to Daphne.

"Since when?" Rayna frowned.

"Since I don't."

"Yeah you do." Daphne smirked, leaning away from Maddie as she spoke. "…What about the other night at Dad's-?"

"-Seriously, shut up." Maddie breathed, glaring at her younger sister.

"You're being stupid..." Daphne shook her head. "You're just mad because you couldn't go to Tahlia's-"

"-You know what?! You're-"

"-Hey, come on girls…" Rayna sighed, closing the freezer door with her elbow as she put both tubs of ice cream on the counter. "I know y'all want some…chocolate or strawberry?"

"Mmm…both." Daphne nodded.

"How'd I know you'd say that?" Rayna smiled.

"You're so gross, aren't you full?" Maddie asked, leaning on the counter as she watched Rayna fill a bowl with ice cream. "You ate double what I ate for dinner. That's disgusting."

"You're disgusting." Daphne mumbled, eyes wide as she watched Rayna put a big bowl of dessert in front of her. "Mom, you know what? Your dinner, it actually tasted real good."

Rayna chucked the ice cream scoop in the sink. "It did, didn't it?"

"That's coz she didn't cook it…Deacon did." Maddie smirked.

Daphne's face lit up and she nodded. "That explains a lot. Wait, how did he cook it? He's not even here."

Rayna looked at her eldest daughter, her expression straight. The girls weren't aware about the restraining order, but Maddie had a look on her face that made Rayna think she might have been wrong.

Maddie shrugged and opened the strawberry ice cream tub. She put a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. "That's whose car was out front, right? It was Deacon's…"

"How'd you even?..." Rayna started. "He was only droppin' dinner-"

"-You guys, I don't care who cooked it…But I do know that's what I'm eating tomorrow night, and the next night, and the night after that." Daphne chimed, breaking the conversation between Rayna and Maddie. "It tasted amazing!"

"But we're stayin' at Aunt Tandy's tomorrow night…You can't eat that if we're not even here." Maddie made a face.

"Yeah I can," Daphne cocked her head as she had a mouthful of ice cream. "I'll just take it with me, duh...Mom, I can take my own dinner right?"

"Hon, if you really wanna be takin' leftovers to your Aunt's that's fine by me...Although, I have a feelin' she'll be orderin' pizza so you might change your mind very quickly."

"I'll just eat both..." The little girl sighed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I'm gonna need a lot of comfort food while we watch the CMA's at Aunt Tandy's…Watching it on TV stresses me out. Mom, I dunno how you do it…all that waiting to see if you win…Don't you freak out?"

"How old are you again?" Rayna joked, clearly amused by her youngest daughter's stream of conversation.

Daphne grinned. "I hope you win."

"You said you wanted Juliette to win." Maddie smirked.

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did, just before."

"So did you."

"You said it first!"

If Rayna had been paying attention, she probably would have been offended. She had been too busy trying to figure out the best way to approach the subject of the CMA's and Deacon. It's now or never. She cleared her throat, leaning against the counter in front of them as she absentmindedly stirred her melting bowl of dessert. Both girls looked at her curiously.

"Girls, there's somethin' I need to talk to you about."

"I didn't do it!" Daphne spoke quickly, shoving her spoon into her mouth to mask her guilt.

Rayna's eyes narrowed. "You didn't do what?"

"Nothing, I didn't do anything. Forget I said anything. What'd you wanna talk to us about?"

Maddie laughed, quickly biting her tongue as she watched her little sister turn bright red. Clearly this wasn't about the cordial stain on the carpet in the lounge room. Daphne had been dancing around the coffee table before dinner, intentionally dancing in front of the television while she sang at the top of her lungs. Maddie had gotten angry and tripped Daphne with her foot to shut her up. That was when disaster had struck. Maddie had gone to look for Rayna while Daphne scrubbed the carpet, but she stopped short at the window when she saw Deacon's car. The girls decided to keep it a secret and hoped that Rayna wouldn't find out.

Rayna decided to overlook it and sighed as she focused her attention back on what she'd wanted to talk about. "Ok…um…so tomorrow night is the CMA Awards."

"We know that already." Maddie shrugged.

"Right, and…" Rayna drawled, pushing the ice cream bowl aside. "Usually for events, things like this people take someone with them, you know, kind of like-"

"-A date?" The girls spoke in unison, both trying to read their Mother's facial expressions.

"Hang on, are you taking us?!" Daphne beamed.

Rayna cleared her throat again, trying her best to keep eye contact with both girls as she fumbled. "Mmhmm, just like that and no honey, I'm not takin' you…Uncle Deacon, Deacon has asked me to go with him to the CMA's as…his date."

"I knew it." Maddie hummed, looking into the melting strawberry ice cream tub as she smirked.

"Knew what?" Daphne cocked her head.

"Nothing, just listen."

Rayna pursed her lips, keeping her eyes on Maddie. "So I wanted you both to know that we're, Deacon and I are together, we're seein' each other."

Daphne's mouth dropped as she turned to look at Maddie who seemed rather disinterested. "Whoa, hang on...Deacon is Mom's boyfriend!? Like Uncle Deacon? We know him!"

"Duh," Maddie scoffed. "What else does seein' each other mean?"

"So you're like boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

"Mmmm, I guess, if that's what you wanna call it." Rayna nodded. "Girls, how do you think you feel about that? Deacon and me?"

"I…" Daphne piped up, leaning on her elbows as she looked at Rayna. "I like Uncle Deacon, I mean I like him a lot, why?"

Rayna looked at Maddie. She furrowed her brow as she forced out her words. "I dunno, I guess I like him…What do you want me to say?"

"Ok." Rayna exhaled, the tension relieved. "Because you know how these things go, events like the CMA's…People take lots of pictures and if Deacon and I go together, they'll be takin' lots of pictures of us and stuff like that."

"Like all the photos in the magazines." Daphne nodded, understanding what she meant.

Rayna smiled weakly, recalling the media circus that had gathered outside the girls dance studio a few months back. Rayna had scrambled to get the girls in the car, shielding them from the angry flashes and cruel remarks as they ran. Over the years, they had taken it in their stride; they were not strangers to the media attention that their parents attracted. However, that didn't mean that she liked it when it happened.

"Mmhmm, like that."

"-Mom, people are always takin' photos...You and Dad are like celebrities." Maddie shrugged.

"We're public figures." Rayna corrected. "People are way too interested in what's happenin' in our private lives…and I need to know that y'all are ok with this before I can agree to go to the CMA's with Deacon."

"Why?" Daphne asked.

"Because, y'all are what matters most to me is why."

"It's not like you haven't been to the CMA's with Deacon before anyways." Maddie clarified, looking at Daphne who looked confused. "Mom and Deacon, they used to date."

"What? When?"

"Before you and me were born."

"That's like forever ago." Daphne pondered, eyes wide.

"Actually, it was fourteen years ago. It was right before Mom and Dad got married…They dated for ages."

Rayna did a double take, puzzled as to where Maddie's edginess was coming from. She thought that Maddie would be happier that she was being honest about this, especially after she'd walked in on her when she'd been on the phone to Deacon that afternoon. Apparently not. All of Maddie's talk about Deacon, the little references and barbed comments were disconcerting. It was making Rayna feel a little uneasy, she couldn't figure out if Maddie was for or against the idea of her and Deacon. She decided to ignore it, stomaching the thoughts that were starting to circle.

"Well alright, enough of that." Rayna started quickly. "Are you done with that bowl of yours? You might wanna think about gettin' your behind off that stool and up to bed."

"But we didn't even get to watch a movie yet?" Daphne whinged.

"You know what honey, it's kind of late now that I'm thinkin' about it."

"Mom, it's only 8."

"Exactly, bedtime."

"It's Friday." Daphne shot, swinging back and forth on the stool. "When do we ever go to bed early on Fridays?"

"Sometimes I dunno who the parent is in this relationship." Rayna giggled.

"Please Mommy." Daphne pleaded, batting her eyelids.

"You did not just do that." Maddie shook her head as she laughed.

"Ok…" Rayna sighed. "Only because it's Friday, that's the only reason I'm lettin' y'all stay up."

"Yes!" Daphne screeched.

"But if we're gonna be watchin' a movie…I'm gonna run upstairs and have a quick shower." Rayna grinned.

"What? Why?!"

"Because I'm the Mother and I want to."

"You take forever." Daphne grumbled.

"You really do." Maddie nodded.

"So do you two." Rayna raised her eyebrows, pointing at her daughters as she dropped the bowls in the sink. "It takes you ages to choose movies…I'll be finished way before you decide what we're watchin'."

- NASHVILLE -

"Mom! Daphne's bein' a complete hog down there with the TV remote…" Maddie called, pushing Rayna's bedroom door open. "And she wants to watch Princess Diaries again…If you think I'm gonna watch that stupid movie for the hundredth time you're crazy."

No reply.

Maddie ventured further into the room and listened; she could hear the water running. Rayna was still in the shower. She looked around the empty room and her eyes set themselves on the walk in wardrobe. Since she had overheard her parents arguing yesterday she'd been every kind of confused, unsure of what to believe about either of them anymore. She had thought they were arguing about her, and then she thought they were arguing about Peggy, but it didn't take long to figure out that they were actually arguing about Deacon.

That's what confused her, them arguing about Deacon. Maddie knew her Dad had been the one to have an affair, not her Mom. She'd found out the hard way when she'd seen him kiss Peggy after he'd said it felt right to be with her when Rayna had been out on tour. That had been a horrible day; she still wished she'd never gotten home early. Her Dad was the one who'd had an affair, yet her parents had argued about Uncle Deacon. Maddie thought back to the argument.

Emotionally, you were havin' an affair the entire time that we were married, you and Deacon…you always chose him.

Maddie flipped the switch and the light flickered on in Rayna's walk in wardrobe.

I don't want him anywhere near our daughters. Not Daphne, and I sure as hell don't want him anywhere near Maddie.

"Why not me?" Maddie spoke out loud, startling herself as she hesitantly took in her surroundings. Why did her Dad hate Deacon so much? Maddie didn't understand it; she always thought that Deacon was like family.

She wasn't even entirely sure what she was looking for, but she walked to the middle of the wardrobe and spun around, coming to a stop when she was facing the set of shelves her Mom had been sitting in front of this afternoon when she'd been on the phone to Deacon. Maddie's mind reminded her of what she'd walked in on.

And I'd be lyin' if I said I didn't love you right about now, I love you.

Until today, she'd only ever heard her Mom say that to her Dad. Today Rayna had said she loved Deacon and by the way she said it, Maddie knew that she had meant it. Maddie realised why Teddy got agitated every time she or Daphne mentioned Deacon, but it didn't explain why he seemed to hate him. She was sure her Mom hadn't had an affair; well she thought she was sure. Maddie didn't want to be wrong, she'd already lost respect for one parent's choices, and she didn't want to lose it for another.

Unable to stop herself, Maddie slowly dropped to her knees in front of the shelves; curious as to what Rayna had tried to hide when she'd unexpectedly appeared at the wardrobe door. She pulled at baskets, photo albums and hats until she sat face to face with a tin box. Maddie raised an eyebrow.

Why would Mom want to hide this old thing?

She jumped as the tin scrapped against the wooden shelf when she dragged the box out and set it on the floor. Pulling the lid off, she began to rifle through the box; letters, sheet music, photos of Daphne when she was a baby, photos of her first day of school, a marriage certificate, files, manila envelopes. Maddie frowned, letting her fingers linger over one of the envelopes. It had her name on it; there was one with her name and one with Daphne's. She assumed they just held more baby photos, birth certificates and those embarrassing kindergarten arts and crafts paintings. Maddie stared long and hard at the contents of the tin box scattered around her. Why would her Mom want to hide this box? It didn't make any sense.

Maddie looked at the wardrobe door and froze. She couldn't hear the water running anymore. Without thinking, she clumsily shoved things back into the box and put it back where she'd found it. She threw the hats, baskets and albums back around the tin box and hoped that Rayna wouldn't notice they'd been put back differently. Maddie switched the light off and awkwardly crept to the bedroom door, holding her breath as she heard Rayna humming away in the bathroom.

"Hey Mom?!"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not really in the mood for watchin' movies, I think I'm just gonna go to bed." Maddie fumbled, quickly hiding the envelope she'd taken behind her back when the bathroom door flew open.

"What?!" Rayna moaned, pulling the towel tighter around her body as she made her way around the bed and into the wardrobe. "You mean you're gonna make me sit down there with your sister by myself?! What's she wanna watch anyway? Let me guess, Princess Diaries?"

Maddie laughed uneasily, stepping from one foot to another as her fingers tightened around the envelope. "You're the one who said she could choose a movie."

"No! Come on! I should have just sent her to bed." Rayna cried.

"Mmhmm, well I'm real tired so I'll see you in the morning Mom. Love you."

Rayna frowned, stepping backwards out of the wardrobe to meet her daughter's gaze. Maddie was gone. "Alright, night honey."

She heard Maddie's bedroom door click shut and she shook her head, trying to place what had just happened. "What on earth?"

"Mom!" Daphne screeched from downstairs. "Hurry up!"

Rayna jumped, pulling the strings on her pyjama pants tightly as she made her way for the door. "I'm comin', I'm comin'!"