A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.

Chapter 38

Natchez, Mississippi 1992

"Baby, I'm sorry about all this. I know that this is our first real tour that has gotten any kind of exposure and now we have to take this detour and clean up the mess my family made." Deacon apologized as they laid in his old bedroom with Scarlett sleeping peacefully in between them. He hated bringing Rayna and Vince here, but they really had no other option and it was familiar to Scarlett. He wanted to do at least that much for her with as crazy as her life was about to get.

It had taken a couple of hours to clean up the trailer from the mess Paul had made of it when he beat June. And from the things the paramedics and police had left behind. Deacon and Vince had both hurriedly taken down the yellow crime scene tape and cleaned up the fingerprint powder before Scarlett could notice that anything was amiss.

"Deacon, don't worry about any of that it doesn't matter right now. Your momma is more important. I really wish that you would have told me all of this sooner. I could have helped you through it." Rayna laid her head on his chest.

"I'm embarrassed and ashamed. If it wasn't for Scarlett I wouldn't have brought you and Vince here. I hate this house I spent the worst years of my life here. In every corner of this house I have nightmare inducing memories of some horrible thing that my father did to me. I should have stayed. If I'd stayed he wouldn't have touched her. I was supposed to protect her and Bev. Now look at what a mess everything is." He broke down crying finally. He'd held it all in while they were at the hospital.

"You are one of the kindest sweetest men that I have ever met, Deacon. The fact that you went through what you went through and you're still that way tells me how strong you are. I don't ever want you to be ashamed or embarrassed around me. You can be whatever you need to be with me and I won't ever tell a soul. What's ours is ours, babe." She ran her fingers through his hair.

"What did I do right enough to deserve you?" He leaned over Scarlett to kiss her.

"You took me in when my daddy threw me out and you have been so supportive of me. How could I not love you?" She asked in reply.

"You put up with a lot of bullshit from me and from Vince. I know that we aren't easy to deal with when we are together. And now you're agreein' to take my niece in for who knows how long. You heard what Bev's doctor said they think she needs long term treatment. They don't know how long it is gonna take. We are on tour and it's gonna be hard with a little girl." He stressed.

"Vince gets on my damn nerves like no one else in this world, but he's also like the big brother I never had. I love the idiot even though I want to kill him. You two are my family, babe. No matter what you do I'm still gonna be there for you. Scarlett has no where else to go we will make it work. We aren't on tour for much longer if nothing else Buck can watch her while we are on stage. Look at it this way it'll be good practice for when we have one of our own." She grinned at him.

He gave her a dirty look. "Rayna, that's not funny after the scare we had last month. You're nineteen I'm twenty-two. We are both too young to be parents right now. I'd love to have kids with you one day, but I have no clue how to be a father or if I'd even be a good one. I didn't have a good role model growin' up. I had my pawpaw thank God, if not for him I probably wouldn't be able to play guitar the way that I do. He taught me everythin' I know."

"I'm sorry, you're right I shouldn't play with you like that. There's no doubt in my mind that you're gonna make an amazing daddy, babe. Look at how attached Scarlett is to you. She lights up every time you're around and she clings to you. You're a natural born father. When the time is right more than anything I want a little boy who looks exactly like you and has your cute little grin." She teased him.

"I love you so damn much and there is no way in hell I deserve you." He told her.

"I love you too and I'm the one who doesn't deserve you." She smiled at him.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ray, you ready for this? Luke and Jimmy just showed up." Bucky's voice brought Rayna back to the present.

"As ready as I'm ever gonna be. It's your job to keep me from killing him. Lord knows I almost did yesterday. Self righteous son of a bitch." Rayna grumbled. She plastered her stage smile on her face.

Luke walked into the room with Jimmy and took a seat. "Alright, we prepared an agreement for you that we think will work to your satisfaction reagardin' this whole situation." He tossed a legal document down on her desk.

"What's this?" She picked it up and looked it over.

"It's a pretty straight forward contract to have Juliette come out on the road with us for this tour. It's basically the same contract that we had in place for Will. The only difference is because Juliette is a bigger name artist she gets a longer set and more money." Luke explained.

"What do you plan on doing about your broken contract with Will?" Bucky asked.

"We will buy out his contract and give you an additional ten million on top of that." Jimmy answered him.

"Does that sound like somethin' you would be interested in?" Luke directed his question at Rayna.

"Yeah, that sounds like something that we could work with. I think that concludes our business here. I'm sure you're in a hurry to get on the road and start your tour. I don't want to keep you any longer than that." She replied curtly. She didn't want to spend a moment longer with Luke than she had to.

"Alright, here's your check. And if you'll sign that I'll get Juliette to sign it." Luke laid a check down on her desk.

She took the check and signed the contract. "Pleasure doing business with you."

"What sounds more interesting to you the proposal I have for a potential vendor or the quarterly earnings report?" Tandy looked over at Deacon. She was sitting with him while Rayna took care of business with Luke.

"Which one will put me to sleep quicker?" Deacon asked in reply.

"The vendor proposal. It's pretty boring and you should be out within a couple of paragraphs." She chuckled.

"I'm sorry I don't mean to be so damn cranky with you. It's just my sister hasn't been by to see me after I did this for her. I ain't seen my niece since I woke up. And my wife is in a meetin'. I miss my boys somethin' terrible and I'm just in an all around shitty mood." He sighed.

"It's ok I don't take it personally. Rayna warned me that you can be crabby when you're sick." She smiled at him.

"Have you seen my boys today?" He asked her.

"I have and they were both in extremely good moods. They have quite the little personalities now. Jayme is such a people person. Your mom was singing to him and he was just cooing away at her. Deac was content to just have his bottle and then lay on the play mat with Elvis beside him." She reported.

"Sounds like my outlaw and my rebel." He grinned. "Do we know anythin' more 'bout Teddy?"

"God help my poor sister if they live up to those nicknames." She shook her head. "He's facing some pretty serious charges. Corruption, embezzling, solicitation of a prostitute, misusing city funds. The list goes on and on. He could spend over ten years in prison. It's just a mess."

"I don't know what he was thinkin'." He sighed loudly.

"Neither do I. I don't think they'll even let him out on bail because they are afraid he's a flight risk." She replied.

"I need to get my ass out of this hospital. My girls need me right now." Being confined to the hospital bed was killing him.

"Deacon, you aren't leaving this hospital until the doctor says you can." Rayna walked in the room just in time to hear that.

"Babe, I'm goin' crazy here." He groaned.

"How's he doing today, Tandy?" Rayna asked her sister.

"He's doing very well. That man is a walking fool. He's walked around the whole ward three times today. They say that most patients don't go that far that fast." Tandy smiled.

"That's what I like to hear. It means that he is going to get out of here that much sooner." Rayna went over and kissed his cheek.

"Now that your keeper is here I'm gonna get going. You keep doing what you need to be doing so you can get home sooner. I'll be back to read you that business proposal the next time Rayna needs a break." Tandy kissed his cheek and left.

"Ray, where's my sister? She hasn't been to see me. I know that we've had our differences, but this isn't like her. I haven't seen Scarlett either and I know that there is nothin' that could keep her away." His intense eyes bore into her soul.

"There are some things I haven't told you. I needed to wait for you to get stronger before I said anything." She bit her lip nervously.

"What's goin' on?" He asked.

"Beverly had another break down. Paul is in a coma and they don't know if he is gonna come out of it. He had a bad reaction to the anesthetic. They are hopeful once they flush all of it out of his system he will wake up, but right now they don't know. On the plus side his transplant went very well. Anyway when she found out about it she just kinda lost it and had to be committed." She told him.

"This is my fault. I should have done this sooner. The only reason I didn't was because I wanted to hold on to the mad." He went into his natural state of blaming himself.

"Don't do that to yourself, babe. Not everything that goes wrong is your fault. I can't do this self loathing thing with you right now. I have way too many other things on my plate right now. No one could have asked anything else out of you. You did your part and then some. It's gonna be ok, you have nothing to be sorry for." She kissed the top of his head to temper her words. He needed some tough love at the moment.

"I wanna see him, Ray, I need to see him. First I wanna see my sister though." He seemed to take what she said in stride.

"Ok, let me call a nurse to get you a wheelchair." She replied.

"No, I'll walk. Just get me some damn pants. I don't wanna show the whole fuckin' hospital my ass." He snapped.

"Alright, I'll help you." It wasn't worth it to argue with him once he got an idea in his head.

She helped Deacon get a pair of sweats and a t-shirt on. A nurse came and unhooked his IV so he could walk around freely without having to push the IV pole with him.

Beverly laid on the bed in a heavily sedated state her eyes were open and glassy. Scarlett sat in a chair with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Hi, Uncle Deacon, you look so good." Scarlett got up and hugged him gently.

"Hey, sweetheart, how is she?" Deacon looked at his sister with sympathetic eyes.

"They have her drugged up right now, but physically she's ok. She just dropped her basket again." Scarlett was so used to dealing with her mother's instability that it didn't phase her anymore.

"They will just readjust her meds again and she'll be fine. It's the gettin' it balanced out that's the hard part." He nodded in understanding. "Can I have a minute alone with my sister please?"

"Sweetie, come on. Let's go get a cup of coffee and let those two have some time." Rayna put her arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room.

Deacon walked over to Beverly's bed and took her hand tentatively. "I'm here, Bev, I've always been here. I was never more than a phone call away if you needed me and you knew that. You knew I'd do anythin' for ya. What did he do to you? This is what I was worried 'bout when you said you let him back into your life. He always destroys you even if he's not tryin'." He bent down and kissed her forehead. He slid a chair up to the side of her bed and just sat there holding her hand. He stared off into space and his mind traveled back more than twenty years.

Jackson, Mississippi 1992

"Bev, can you hear me?" Deacon sat down in the chair that was next to her bed.

Beverly stared at him blankly like she was seeing right through him.

"That's ok you don't have to talk you just need to listen to me." He reached out and took her hand. "Momma, is gonna be ok. They are releasing her from the hospital today and we are taking her home. Scarlett is gonna come home with me until you get better. I promise you that I'm gonna take good care of her."

Beverly managed to squeeze his hand.

"I'm so sorry that I wasn't here, Bev. I should've been here to protect all three of you from him. This is my fault it's on me and I'm gonna spend the rest of my life makin' it up to ya'll. I should have never left." He apologized with tears in his eyes.

"Not your fault." She managed to get those three words out.

"Thank you for tryin' to make your baby brother feel better. We are gonna get you into the best program money can buy and we are gonna get you well. Until then you just focus on you and we will take care of Scarlett for as long as you need." He promised her. "I need to go now and get momma home, but you call me as soon as you can." He kissed her head and got up.

"Love you, baby brother." She half smiled.

"I love you too, Bev." He smiled back at her.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Deacon, babe, if you wanna see Paul too you need to come on before the nurses come track you down for making an escape." Rayna came back in with Scarlett and pulled him from his thoughts.

"Ok, just give me a minute to get up. This is the hard part." He slowly got to his feet. He kissed his fingers and touched them to Bev's forehead. "Love you, Bev." He turned to Scarlett. "If she needs anythin' let Ray or me know and we will take care of it."

"I will, I'm so glad you're ok. I'm sorry for not comin' to see you. I just couldn't lie to you. You always know when I'm lyin'." Scarlett told him.

"It's ok. You have nothin' to be sorry for. Come see me later. I need the company or they are gonna have me up here sedated when I lose my mind." He replied.

Paul was hooked up to an assortment of monitors and he had oxygen in his nose to help him breathe. The good news was he was breathing on his own without the help of a ventilator. His vitals were all great. It was one of those situations where he could wake up at any moment and be fine or it was possible that he would never wake up at all.

Deacon held on to the door frame for support. "It's funny I don't see a monster layin' there. I see a world weary, battered old man. He didn't seem so small or so frail when I was younger. He was like the boogie man. Or one of those stories that get told around a campfire designed to scare the shit out of little kids. Only difference was he was real and he made every day a nightmare. His face haunted me even in my wakin' moments." He mused thoughtfully.

"It's because you're a man now. Everything seems bigger and scarier when you're a kid. You realize now that you don't have to be afraid of him and he has no power over you anymore." Rayna told him.

"I don't think that's it. I mean even a couple of days ago I still dreaded hearin' the sound of his voice. I sometimes loathed lookin' in the mirror for fear that I would see him starin' back at me. I came incredibly close to bein' just like him. All I know is whatever feelings I was still hangin' onto aren't there anymore. Maybe I just finally accepted the things I can't change. Either that or I let go of the guilt. Either way I feel good I feel lighter. I just wish it hadn't taken me losin' you and more than half my liver to see that." The words he was saying didn't make sense even to him, but he knew his wife understood him perfectly.

"You never lost me, Deacon. Even when I chose another man over you I was still yours. I will always be yours. I promise you that." She replied.

"Wanna take me back to my room and take a nap with me?" He turned away from his father.

"That sounds like the best idea you've had in forever." She took his hand so he could lean on her if he needed to.

Deacon sat up in his bedside recliner watching TV. Rayna had to run out for a little while and he was on his own for the time being. He pushed away the remnants of his lunch. He just couldn't eat hospital food. The very thought of it made him want to puke. A frown marred his handsome face. He was bored out of his mind and he didn't even have his guitar to keep himself entertained.

"I have something for you that's gonna take that frown off your face." Rayna pushed the boys' stroller into the room.

His face lit up. "You brought me my dudes."

"They can only stay for a little while, daddy, but I thought you'd like to have bottle time with them. I can't do anything to get you home to them any quicker, but I can bring them to visit for short periods of time. They miss you just as much as you miss them. They were not happy that daddy wasn't there to give them their morning bottle." She handed them to him because he couldn't lift them.

"Hi, my boys. Daddy missed you so much. I'm gonna get out of here really soon and then we will get back to our routine." He kissed both of their heads and breathed in their scent.

"Want me to sit in here or go wait outside while you spend time with them?" She asked. She got their bottles out and handed them to him. It always amazed her that he could feed both of them at the same time so well. He took to being a father the way a duck took to water.

"You don't have to leave as a matter of fact I don't want you to leave." He started feeding them.

"Then I will stay right here while you feed them. Bucky is gonna come pick them up in about an hour. Do you want him to bring you anything?" She pulled out of her phone.

"No, I don't want anything. Maybe you and I can do something for dinner though." He replied.

"I just got a text from your daughter asking me to go to some huge concert with Colt tonight. What do you think?" She read the text that Maddie had just sent her.

"Well, I mean it would be good for her to get out of the house and be a normal kid given everythin' that is goin' on right now. I don't see what it would hurt." He offered his opinion.

"I'm gonna let her go. This thing with Teddy is really hard on her and maybe if she goes out with her friends and has some fun her mood will improve." She said after thinking it over.

"I think you're right. She needs to go be a kid. This is a lot for an adult to handle." He agreed with her.

JC had a set of speakers on a dolly he used it to put them on the back of a truck. He got off the truck and wiped the sweat from his brow using the back of his hand. That was it he was officially done with the job that he had been paid for and now he could either get out of there for the night or go watch the rest of the bands play.

"JC!" Maddie waved him over to where she and her group of friends stood.

"Hey, Maddie, I didn't know that you would be here tonight." JC eyed the red disposable cups that she and her friends held in their hands.

"It was a last minute thing. Luke got us all backstage passes." Maddie replied.

"How are you getting home tonight? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that that's not water in those cups." JC asked her.

"Relax, Grayson, my dad arranged for us to have a limo. No one is driving." Colt clapped him on the back.

"I'm relaxed I was just askin'." JC shrugged his shoulders.

"We are headed to an after party in a little while. Colt knows one of the performers from where he DJs. They rented a space out to keep the fun going if you wanna come." Maddie told him.

"Yeah I heard about that. I think that some of the roadies and the sound techs are gonna head over. I may see you there. I gotta get goin' though I have to get a ride back to my truck." JC excused himself.

The space that had been rented out for the after party was an old warehouse. A band was playing and there was alcohol flowing in overabundance.

JC made the rounds with his co-workers, but he made it a point not to drink because he had to get himself home. "Hey, Cross Eyed Cricket, how you doin'?" He walked up to Maddie and her friends.

"JC, there you are. I've been looking all over for you. They won't believe me that Will Lexington is your best friend." Maddie slurred drunkenly. She threw her arms around his neck.

"Will is my best friend." JC confirmed for them with a chuckle. "Now, you behave yourself and I will be back to check on you later." He shook his head and walked away. The next time he walked over to the group he saw an older guy with a ponytail hassling Maddie.

"Hey, let go of my arm." Maddie tried to jerk her arm away.

JC didn't think he just reacted. "I believe the lady told you to let go of her." He prided the guy's fingers off Maddie's arms and pulled her to his side. He turned around and put himself between her and the other man. "Where's Colt?" It amazed him that he just walked off and left her like that.

"He went to get us more drinks." Maddie replied.

"Cause that's exactly what you need more to drink. Fuckin' teenage babies." JC grumbled under his breath.

Colt walked back up at that moment and handed Maddie another drink. "There you go."

"Hey, try stayin' with your girlfriend when she's this drunk there are bad guys out there." JC seethed.

"Don't worry about it. Like you said she's my girlfriend." Colt shot back.

The guy with the ponytail tapped JC on the shoulder. "What did you do that for? I was just talkin' to her."

"Well, she just didn't want to talk to you. Take a walk, pal. And keep your damn hands to yourself." JC spit back.

"What if I don't?" The guy tapped JC on the shoulder again.

JC pushed him back a little bit. Not enough to hurt him just enough to move him back. "It's not advisable." He could see in his eyes that he wasn't just going to walk away. "Cricket, hold my hat." He took his cowboy hat off and put it on Maddie's head.

This time when the guy tapped JC's shoulder he took a swing when he turned around to look at him.

JC saw the punch coming and ducked it. He rammed his shoulder into the other man's stomach and tackled him to the ground. The two commenced to rolling on the floor fighting.

"Hello," Rayna answered her phone sleepily. She sat straight up in bed as she listened to what her caller had to say. "Ok, I'll be right there." She hung up the phone.

Daphne stirred when Rayna moved.

"Shh, go back to sleep, baby girl. Momma has to go out real fast she will be right back." She rubbed her back to put her back to sleep.

She threw on a pair of jeans and one of Deacon's t-shirts. She pulled her hair up into a quick ponytail and grabbed her purse and her keys. This was like déjà vu for her. This was far from the first time she'd gotten a call like this and the subject of the call had even been in the same condition as the person she used to get these types of calls from.

Half an hour later she pulled up in front of the police station and walked in.

"Ms. Jaymes, what can I do for you tonight?" The officer sitting behind the desk asked her.

"It's Mrs. Claybourne tonight and I'm here to pick up my daughter, Maddie Conrad." Rayna replied with a tight smile.

"Of course, Mrs. Claybourne, just let me get the responding officer for you." The young man replied.

Luke came in a second later. "Rayna, I guess I shouldn't be all the surprised to see you here."

"And I shouldn't be surprised to see you either. These two do have a knack for gettin' in trouble together." She sighed.

"Mr. Wheeler, like I told Mrs. Claybourne the responding officer will be out to speak with you shortly." The officer told Luke.

A young female officer led Maddie and Colt out a moment later. "Mrs. Claybourne, Mr. Wheeler, we are goin' to release them into your custody with no charges filed and without anythin' goin' on their records."

"Thank you, so much." Rayna gushed.

"Colt, what the hell happened to you?" Luke asked when he saw his son's black eye.

Colt rubbed his forehead. "Don't ask, dad."

"Maddie, where did you get that hat you're wearing?" Rayna asked.

"I don't want to talk about it, mom." Maddie took JC's hat off.

"Colt, you're gonna tell me what went on or I'm gonna tell them to take your ass back to a holdin' cell." Luke demanded.

"Everything was fine and totally chill until Grayson decided that he was gonna be Mr. Macho I'm a Green Beret Guy and get into a fight for no reason. If it wasn't for that there would be no problem here." Colt rolled his eyes.

"That's not what happened. Colt walked away to get us a drink and this guy came up and grabbed my arm and just generally being a creep. JC walked up and saw it and he yanked the guy's arm away. The guy didn't like that so he took a swing at JC. Well JC got the better of him so some of his friends jumped in and it got out of control." Maddie explained.

"JC is here and you were just gonna let him sit in a cell all night after he did this to protect you?" Rayna was not happy with her daughter about that. She was pissed off anyway and that only added to it.

"No, I just hadn't gotten that far yet." Maddie replied.

"If this doesn't take me back in time about twenty years I don't know what does." Rayna grumbled under her breath before she turned to the desk officer. "I wanna post whatever bail needs to be posted for James Grayson."

"I'll have them bring him out to you." The officer replied.

JC walked out not long after with an officer that had sergeant's stripes on her uniform.

"Do I need pay his bail?" Rayna asked the woman.

"No, he's not bein' charged with anything and nothing is gonna go on his record. As far as I'm concerned there need to be more men in the world like him, Mrs. Claybourne. He was obviously defendin' your daughter from a very real threat. The man who he got into a fight with has a history of druggin' young women's drinks. I don't want him to get into any trouble with his commanding officer for bein' a good guy. Though I recommend that you take him to the hospital to be checked out. They worked him over pretty good." She told Rayna.

"Aunt Ray, I'm fine. You should see the other guys." JC tried his best to grin, but his lip was swollen to twice the normal size. He had a cut across the bridge of his nose and one over his eyebrow. His left eye was almost swollen shut. His knuckles were puffy and bloody. He walked stooped over holding onto his ribs.

"Come on we will talk about it on the way home." Rayna gestured for him to walk over to her.

"Thank you again for bein' so understandin' ma'am." JC thanked the officer he had walked out with.

"No, thank you, for bein' such a wonderful young man and thank you for your service. My husband is in the army as well. There's no sense gettin' you in any trouble." She replied with a smile.

"Colt, I told you to get Maddie out of there so ya'll wouldn't get in any trouble. I had it handled. Sorry 'bout your eye. I didn't mean for that to get so outta hand. I tried to get ahold of that guy 'fore he could get to you. I was a little slow." JC told the younger boy.

"It's no big deal. You did your best." Colt nodded at him.

Luke went to JC and shook his hand. "Thank you for defendin' my boy and makin' sure that he didn't get hurt. If you need anythin' at all you let me know. I owe you one."

"No problem at all, Mr. Wheeler." JC replied. He took his hat from Maddie and put it on his head with a wince. "Thanks, for holdin' my hat, Cricket."

"Come on, Jimmy, I'm takin' you to the hospital." Rayna put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'll be fine, it's nothin' some aspirin and a beer won't cure." JC shrugged off her concern.

"My God, you couldn't be more like Vince if you tried sometimes. Don't argue with me." Rayna shook her head at him.

A/N: Here is the next chapter. So, the plot thickens. I had to add a little something extra in there with Beverly and Deacon's dad to keep things interesting. It looks like Deacon has finally found the closure that he needed with his past. The triangle with JC, Maddie, and Colt is heating up. I promise that there is still some really great stuff in store for this story. Until next time please review.