A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.


Chapter 102

"Here we are, Evie, we are home. I think you're gonna love it here as much as your brothers and sisters do." Deacon had Everly in one arm and his other arm looped through Rayna's. "Watch your step, babe, I know you're sore. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I've got it. You don't have to worry so much. This isn't the first baby I've had." Rayna stepped through the door.

Maddie, Daphne, Deac, Jayme, Charlie, and Jack stood there waiting for them. Behind them on the wall hung a sign that read 'Welcome Home Everly'

"Look at that, Evie, your bubbies and sissies love you so much. You are one lucky little girl. You have Maddie and Daphne for clothes, makeup, and boy advice. You have Deac, Jayme, and Jack to protect you from everythin' bad in the world. Then you have Charlie to teach you to hunt, fish, and how to kick boys' asses when they mess with you." Rayna cooed at her newborn.

"Mom, I don't think you could have said that any better than you did. Especially the part about Little Deacon." Maddie laughed and hugged her mother.

"Hi, baby girl, how are you feelin'? You didn't have to be here today. And you shouldn't be on your feet. I know better than anyone what it's like to be as pregnant as you are." Rayna chided her.

"I can't think of a place I rather be right now. Jimmy and Joel are at the grocery store getting food. I wanted to be here to welcome home my very last baby sister. Her nephew just happens to be laying on my bladder right now." Maddie replied.

Deacon bent down and held Everly up to Maddie's belly. "Evie, say hi to baby Tennessee. He is gonna be here to play with you before you know it."

Everly made a soft mewling noise like a little kitten.

"That was so sweet." Daphne took Everly from Deacon. "Hi, Evie, welcome home."

"I think that Daphne has baby fever. Joel better watch out or she is gonna be pokin' holes in condoms." Jayme said.

"Well, at least he knows what a condom is for. Ray, I know that you're dyin' a little inside right now, but he's at that age and we should be thankful that they feel like that can say anythin' they need to say in front of us." Deacon did his best to hide a smirk.

Rayna shrugged her shoulders. "You're right, I'm glad that they know that they can talk to both of us about anythin'. That is exactly what I want. It only kills me a little bit that our first baby boys are that big to know things like that. I'm sure that it doesn't help that they hang around Jimmy, Joel, Avery, Gunnar, Will, and Mack."

"Ok, kiddos, why don't we go in the other room and make momma and daddy some lunch?" Daphne suggested. She tried to usher them into the kitchen.

"Yeah, let's go do that. I will sit on the couch and give your moral support." Maddie held a laugh in. Her younger siblings were a source of great amusement for her. She just couldn't let them know she thought they were funny or her parents would kill her.

"Babe, let's take Evie, upstairs and show her, her new room." Deacon was excited for his daughter to see her room.

"Yeah, we can do that and I want to get into some more comfortable clothes." Rayna agreed.

"Deac, come help your momma upstairs while I carry Evie." Deacon instructed his oldest son.

"Sure, daddy," Deac agreed happily. He walked Rayna up the stairs while Deacon followed behind them with the baby.

"Thank you, sir, that was very nice of you." Rayna kissed her son's cheek.

"I better go help the others now." Deac scurried off down the stairs.

Rayna looped her arm through Deacon's. "Lead the way, baby."

"I would be happy to." Deacon walked them to Everly's room. He opened the door.

The nursery was painted yellow with pink, green, and blue butterflies stamped on the wall. A sign with Everly's name hung over her white crib.

Rayna rubbed her daughter's cheek gently with her fingertips. "Evie, look at the beautiful room that daddy, the boys, and Charlie made for you. You have to be one special little girl to have so many people wrapped around your little finger."

"You didn't show her the best part yet." Deacon carried her over to the closet. Inside were alternating blue and green handprints with Deac, Jayme, Charlie, and Jack's name above them. They were bookended on each side by pink handprints that bore Maddie and Daphne's names. "Your big brothers and sisters love you so much. So do your momma and daddy. I want you to always know that."

"Babe, I'm real tired, do you think that you could help me change into somethin' more comfortable?" Rayna leaned against his side.

"I can do that." Deacon agreed. He walked her into their room and laid Everly down in the little white bassinet that was on Rayna's side of their bed.

"Babe, you really are the perfect daddy. I can't believe you managed to get all this done while we were in the hospital." She marveled.

"I have my ways and that's all you need to know, baby." He took one of his t-shirts and a pair of his sweatpants out of the dresser. He helped her change.

"Thanks, babe, I feel so much better already." She smiled at him.

"You're welcome, and I have a little surprise for you." He told her.

"Well, now I want to know what it is." She told him.

"Allow me to lead the way." He took her arm and walked her into her closet. On the back wall were seven gold records. Each one had one of their children's names, birth details, and baby pictures printed on them.

"Deacon, you are the best husband in the world. I love this. It is perfect." Rayna gushed.

"I'm glad you like it so much. I figured since we have his and hers closets that we had to match. I have the same thing in mine. I thought it was fittin' since we both have our first platinum records above our closet doors." Deacon kissed her cheek.

"Let's go downstairs to our babies. Everly has a bassinet down there too doesn't she?" She asked him.

"Of course, she does. You said it yourself I'm pretty good at this daddy thing." He laughed softly.

"I'm so glad that they sent Jimmy and Joel out for food. We have the best sons-in-law ever." She observed.

"We have one son-in-law. Don't go marryin' our sweet baby off so soon. She is still so young." Deacon frowned at the thought of giving another daughter away so soon after her sister.

"Let me rephrase. We have a good son-in-law and a good future son-in-law. If I have my way Daphne will marry Joel. He is so good to her and for her. Jeff was her just workin' out somethin' that she needed to. Cody was her givin' a bad boy a spin. Joel is her guy and I know it." Rayna spoke from the heart.

"Let's wait about three and a half more years before we worry about it. Ray, I don't want her married 'fore she's twenty-five." He shook his head.

"I agree with you, babe." She picked Everly up out of her bassinet. "Daddy, help us downstairs."

"I would be happy to, momma." He laughed softly. He loved that they had become these people who referred to each other as momma and daddy.


Casey smiled pleasantly surprised when she bumped into someone she knew backstage at the Opry. "Well, hey, stranger, I'd tell you to watch where you're goin', but I kinda enjoyed that."

"I have no idea where in the hell I'm goin'." Jeremy smiled back at her.

"I can't believe that Jimmy is just lettin' you run around with no one to supervise you. If Maddie wasn't massively pregnant she would be here with me right now. She acts like I can't be trusted to behave myself in public or somethin'." She replied.

"They treat me the same damn way. We are grown ass adults we know what the hell we are doin'." He laughed.

"Or at least we pretend to." She flirted with him.

He took the bait and flashed his dimples at her. "I won't tell 'em that it's all an act if you don't."

"I ain't gonna tell 'em a damn thing that's gonna get 'em on my case any more than normal." She put her hand on his shoulder.

"No, oh, God, no, this is not happenin' right now. This is the last thing the world needs. The two of you do not need to be alone together under any circumstances." JC walked up to them. He knew that alone each of them were bad, he hated to think what they would be like together.

"Jimmy, don't be so damn dramatic. I was just talkin' to the girl." Jeremy rolled his eyes at his baby brother.

JC pointed at Casey. "That ain't just any girl, that's Casey and she's every bit as much trouble as you are."

Casey scoffed at that. She would be the first to admit that she could be bad when she wanted to be, but she wasn't as bad as they tried to make her out to be. "I resent that." She protested.

JC looked between the pair and shook his head. "Bullshit, I don't want either one of you to try to pull that innocent act with me when I know better. You're both chaos in its purest form, wild and untamed. I think if you put your heads together you could burn the world to the ground without really tryin'."

"Casey, what do you say we leave my little brother to his own devices and go grab a drink together?" Jeremy suggested. He offered his arm to her.

Casey looped her arm through his. "I think that sounds like a damn fine idea, Jeremy." She shot a smirk at JC. "We will see you later, Jimmy."

"Jimmy, go home and check on your pregnant wife." Jeremy told his brother before he walked away.

JC put his hands over his face and groaned loudly. He knew without a doubt that those two being lone together was going to end in disaster.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So, picture this. I've got these city hick friends of mine convinced that it's possible to tip a cow and I have them all lined up ready to give it a try." Jeremy waved his beer bottle around wildly.

"Tell me you didn't. Everyone with any sense knows that you can't actually tip a cow and if you do you can seriously hurt it." Casey sipped her double Jack on the rocks.

"I think you know me well enough to know that I did. Anyway just as I'm about ready to tell 'em to give it a try my daddy walks out and starts screamin' at the top of his lungs 'bout what the hell do you idiots think you're doin'. You've never seen a group of people scatter so fast. If my bad behavior woulda stayed that tame I woulda been alright. It only got worse from there. The cops brought me home more times than I can count and my parents had to bail me outta jail more times than I care to admit to." Jeremy went on with his story.

"You did all your really bad behavior when you were on drugs right?" Casey asked him.

"Some of it was due to the drugs, but honestly I can't blame it all on that. A lot of it was I was just a punk kid with too much money that I didn't have to work for. And then you have to take into account that my biological father was an addict and alcoholic and the daddy who raised me is has the same issues. I was just doomed from the start with that, but the poor choices I made are all on me." Jeremy spoke from the heart.

"I'm the same way my poor choices are on me, but before I did bad I did good. I've become so bad 'cause of the good I did. My parents were a mess on a good day and that's sayin' politely. Let's just say that they shouldn't even be considered parents and leave it at that. Anyway, I raised myself and my baby brother when they were too drunk, too stoned, and too busy bein' gone to care, which was all of the time. So, when I got free of them at seventeen and got my hands on all the money I was makin' I really busted loose like a hurricane." Casey shared her own turbulent history with him.

Jeremy took a deep pull off his beer before he responded. "Well, I think it's safe to say that we've both made it out the other side and come out better for it in the end."

"Who says I've made out the other side? I enjoy bein' wild and free. I don't make near the trouble I used to, but I'm still not the girl you wanna take home to momma." Casey laughed at her own shortcomings.

Jeremy leaned across the table on his elbows and got close to her face. "You're exactly the type of girl my momma would expect me to bring home and she would be pleasantly surprised that I didn't manage to knock you up."

Casey laughed even louder at the comment. "I think everyone I know is surprised that I've made it this long without endin' up knocked up and not knowin' who the father is."

"Well, babe, the bar hasn't been burnt down. I think it's safe to say we got here just in time to avoid disaster." Maddie walked up to the table with JC.

"I think you're right. I mean they have behaved themselves for this long, I don't think we can ask them to do that for much longer." JC retorted.

"Look at that, Casey, Jimmy brought the pregnant woman out to be his DD." Jeremy quipped.

"She had to be useful for somethin'." Casey shrugged her shoulders.

"Bitch, you of all people better watch how you talk about me." Maddie pointed a threatening finger in her direction.

"Listen to that, you already sound like a momma. Minus the part where you called me a bitch." Casey smirked at her.

"You are hopeless. You know that?" Maddie rolled her eyes.

"It took you this long to figure that out about her?" JC snorted.

"I know damn well how she is. I continue to keep her around, because I love the goofy bitch. She is the Louise to my Thelma. Everyone knows that, babe." Maddie defended Casey. She could give her hell all she wanted to, but she wasn't going to let anyone else talk bad about her even her own husband.

"Jeremy, I don't know why I even try with her when it comes to Casey." JC signaled to the waitress that he wanted a beer.

"You'll learn sooner or later that it is not wise for you to come between your wife and her partner in crime." Jeremy gave him a piece of advice.

"Jeremy, you just used the magic words yourself, so you can't be surprised when I give you this warning. That is my best friend, so you better not do to her what you do with all the other girls you pick up in a bar. Sure, she's just as bad as you are, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings. If you hurt her you have me to answer to." Maddie gave him a word of warning.

Jeremy gulped. He couldn't believe he was going to say this, but his sister-in-law scared the hell out of him when she got into a mood like the one she was in now. "Damn, Jimmy, if I were you I would sleep with one eye open. I don't know how you live with that girl bein' as mean as she is."

"I learned a long time ago to just let her have her way and my life will be easier." JC shrugged helplessly. He didn't know what more to say than that. He loved his wife, but he knew better than to try to tell her what to do.

"I'll tell y'all what. She sounded just like Momma Ray when she said that. Everyone thinks that she's just like Deacon, but that's not true. She is her mother's daughter and she is scary as hell when she let's that part of her come out." Casey chuckled.

"Ain't no one tellin' me nothin' I don't already know. The Deacon in her makes her unafraid to go toe to toe with me, but the Rayna in her makes her give me glares that look like she's plottin' my death." JC just shook his head.


"Momma, what are we doin' here?" Charlie turned around in the passenger seat of her father's truck to gaze over at her mother in the driver's seat. "And why do we have daddy's truck? I thought he had a rule 'bout you not bein' allowed to drive it."

Rayna laughed at her questions. "You should know better than anyone that I don't listen to what your daddy has to say. I will drive his truck whenever I want to and he can like it or not." They were sitting in what could generously be called a driveway of a big plot of land. It bordered the edge of their ranch.

"What are we doin' here though?" Charlie knitted her eyebrows together clearly confused.

"Well, we are takin' a good look at your new huntin' land." Rayna replied.

Charlie did a double take. "My what?" A grin lit her face that made her look even more like her father than she already did.

Rayna smiled softly at how much her little girl looked exactly like the man she loved. She had a bigger soft spot in her heart for her than she did for the rest of her kids because of how much she looked and acted like her daddy. She loved that the boys were so much like Deacon, but she really loved how much Charlie was like him. "I said that this is your huntin' land. I figured if the boys were goin' to have their big huntin' trips and leave you out then you might as well have your own land that you get say who hunts with you and who doesn't."

"Really? This is all mine?" Charlie's eyes lit up like it was Christmas Morning.

"This is all yours, baby girl. I know how much you love to hunt and I wanted you to have land to do that on. I also know that I haven't been the best 'bout lettin' you be who you are even though I talk a big game 'bout that when it comes to other girls. So, I wanted to give this to you to show you I love you just as much as I love your three sisters and that I love you for who you are. You don't ever have to be anyone, but yourself with me." Rayna took her hand and squeezed it.

"Thank you so much, momma. You have no idea how much I love this." Charlie gushed.

"I want you to understand that this land is from me not daddy. I know you two are best buddies and he will give you anythin' you ask him for, but I wanted to throw my hat into the ring when it comes to that too." Rayna winked at her.

Charlie hugged her mother tightly. "Thank you, momma. I'm glad that you can finally see me for who I am. I was worried that I would have to pretend to be someone I'm not to make you happy."

Rayna cupped her face lovingly. "You only have to be you to make me happy. I don't ever want anyone to try to turn you into someone you're not. You know I also got you this land 'cause I was hopin' that you would help teach your baby sister your love of the outdoors."

"I'd really like it if EJ would come huntin' with me. Even if I do have to buy her that ugly pink camo. It would be nice to have my baby sister like some of the same things I do. I love the boys and I am so close to 'em, but it'd be nice to be close to one of my sisters. I have nothin' in common with Maddie and Daph and they are a lot older than I am, so I don't fit in with 'em." Charlie spoke from the heart.

"Maddie and Daphne both love you very much. I don't ever want you to doubt that. You're callin' the baby EJ?" Rayna kissed her head.

"Yeah, AJ and EJ. The boys and I thought it was cool." Charlie explained to her.

"Well, I think it's pretty cool too. Wanna get out of this truck and take a good look at your land?" Rayna opened her door.

"Yeah, I'd really like that." Charlie opened her door and got out.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Shh, you're ok, baby girl. Daddy's got you. There's no reason for you to be cryin' like that. Your momma will be home soon." Deacon walked the floor with Everly. Rayna had left her alone with him and the boys for a little bit to spend time with Charlie. He was normally much better with his babies than this, but his baby seemed like she was a momma's girl.

Everly only wailed louder.

Deacon put her against his chest so she could hear his heartbeat. "It's all gonna be ok. It's not that bad." He tried to soothe her.

"Daddy, make her stop." Jack stood in the middle of the floor with his hands clamped over his ears.

"Does she have an off button? She's just as loud as Maddie." Jayme observed. He was playing a video game.

"Did you try all the baby tricks?" Deac asked.

"I'm tryin' Henry. She just ain't happy right now, Jayme. I fed her, I burped her, I changed her. She just ain't happy." Deacon replied to his sons.

Deac stood up and took his shirt off. "Let me try, daddy." He took the baby from him and put her against his chest. He took her onesie off and put her chest against his. "There you go, EJ, you don't have to cry. Bubba has you." He put a blanket over her and she stopped crying almost instantly.

"Deac, do not move from that spot with her. I don't know what you did, but you have the touch when it comes to her. She sure does love her big Bubba." Deacon's heart melted watching his oldest son with his infant daughter. He snapped a quick picture on his phone.

"Well, look at that, Charlie, the boys do know how to act when we aren't here." Rayna walked in the kitchen door with her daughter.

"They had to be good for somethin'." Charlie observed.

"You women are cold. She just now stopped cryin'. It seems that she wanted to be with Bubba more than she wanted to be with daddy." Deacon shrugged his shoulders.

Rayna walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Babe, you knew to do skin to skin with her. I think you just wanted the boys to feel important. I love the sweet love those big boys have for their new baby sister." She kissed his cheek.

"I love it too. That's why I let him do it instead of doin' it myself. I want them to feel important." Deacon leaned against her side.

"You're a damn good daddy and I never want you to feel like you aren't." Rayna smiled happily.

Jack ran over to her and raised his arms to be picked up. "Momma, Evie, wouldn't stop cryin'. I think daddy broke her, but Deac fixed her."

Rayna bent over and picked him up with a wince. She was still sore, it had only been a few days since she'd given birth. "Well, I guess it was a good thing that Deac was here then.

Jack nodded his agreement.

Deacon picked Charlie up and smothered her face in kisses before he sat her back down. He wanted her to know she was still just as special even though she wasn't the baby girl anymore. "Did you have fun with momma?"

"I did. She bought me my own huntin' land." Charlie told him excitedly.

"I know she did. I hope that you're gonna take your best buddy huntin' with ya." Deacon teased her.

"Of course, I am. I always want to hunt with you, daddy." Charlie hugged him around the waist.

Deacon bent down and kissed her head. He couldn't remember ever being so happy in his life.


A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope y'all enjoyed it. Sorry for the long wait I've had a lot going on lately. I'm hoping with the unexpected down time we all have the next two weeks I will get back in a groove. Until next time please review.