A/N: Sorry for the endless wait. Sometimes my brain just refuses to cooperate.

"The last song we'll do was one of my mama's favorites. She passed away thirteen years ago today, so... Mom, this one's for you."

There's a murmur in the bar before the room goes quiet. It had been Rayna's idea to call Landon earlier and ask if they could do a few songs tonight. He'd been more than happy to oblige.

Tandy's seated at a table in front of the stage, and as Deacon starts to play the first notes of Rose Colored Glasses, Rayna looks at her sister. She can picture them as kids, sitting near the water at their grandpa's lake property, singing it to their mom. It's been a while since her sister last saw her perform in such a small, intimate venue. When Rayna was sixteen and she was starting to play around town, her sister used to come to every show. Even if Tandy never really understood her love for music, she always supported her, and for that, Rayna will be forever grateful.

They had meant to finish the set with Rose Colored Glasses, but when the song ends, voices in the bar shout for an encore, Tandy's being the loudest of them all. It takes Rayna and Deacon three more songs before the audience agrees to let them leave the stage.

On the way to Tandy's table, Rayna makes a stop at the bar to order drinks for her and Deacon. When Landon sees her approach, he smirks. "Let me guess, club soda?"

Rayna grimaces. "I'm sorry about last night."

"Don't be. We all have our bad days. Plus, it gives an added value to this place, you know. I'm gonna put a plaque over there, Rayna Jaymes got wasted here," he jokes.

Rayna reaches over the counter to smack his arm. "Shut up."

He laughs before he juts his chin toward their table. "So, this is your sister, huh?" he asks. "She tried to order three drinks I had never heard of before we found something I actually serve here."

Rayna chuckles. "Yeah, that sounds like her." Landon looks over at Deacon and Tandy chatting, and Rayna notices his expression turns serious all of a sudden. "You're okay?" she asks.

He hesitates before he says, "You know... we're going to miss him around here. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you two, and God knows Deacon deserves this, but... we're really going to miss him."

He's the first person to open up to her about Deacon leaving. Everybody until now had seemed to avoid the topic. Beth even straight up told her she didn't want to talk about it when Rayna tried to.

"Deacon's not selling the cabin. Even if we'll spend most of our time in Nashville or on the road, we'll come back here as often as we can."

"It won't be the same," Landon says, and Rayna isn't sure how to answer to that without sounding like a hypocrite.

She, more than anyone, would miss Deacon Claybourne like hell.

—

"I think Mom would have loved this place."

Rayna smiles at that. "I know."

It's past one, and the sisters are still outside, sitting on the porch. After they'd all returned from the bar, Deacon had sensed the two of them needed some time alone to chat, and so he'd come up with an excuse to head inside.

"I think she would have loved Deacon, too."

Rayna looks at her, surprised. It doesn't sound like something her sister would say. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Tandy smirks then. "Is is safe to expect this one might last until, what, Christmas?"

Now this sounds like something her sister would say.

"Hey!" Rayna attempts to protest, but she can't blame Tandy. She doesn't exactly have what could be called a great track record when it comes to relationships.

There had been Jack who couldn't handle having to share her with the fans and the press. There had been Teddy who, in his own words, didn't get this whole country music thing. There had been Luke who'd seemed less interested in her and more in using her to advance his own career. There had been Mark, and there had been Sam, and there had been Ben, and never, not once, had it felt even close to right.

"It's different, Tandy."

Her sister is serious this time when she says, "I know. I figured." She sighs. "I've never seen you like this with anyone before."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"No, of course not. It's just... it's all going really fast, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Tandy, I..." Rayna starts, but she becomes more emotional than she thought she would be, so she has to stop for a second. "I've been singing about love all this time, but it was just... words. I was starting to think it wasn't for me, that maybe Mom and Dad's marriage had forever ruined the idea of love for me. And it's funny, but my breakdown and all the crap that followed... it's actually the best thing that ever happened to me. Because it lead me to this place, it lead me to Deacon."

Tandy puts her hand on Rayna's knee. "Still, promise me you'll be careful."

"You worry too much about me, Tandy."

"It's my sisterly duty, sweetie." She pauses, and Rayna raises a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn. "And my sisterly duty is also to tell you that now would be a good time for both of us to go get some sleep."

Rayna chuckles at that. "Yeah, you're probably right." She grabs the two empty glasses at her feet, and they get up. "Are you really sure you don't want the bedroom?"

"Don't be stupid, the couch will be fine." As Tandy follows her sister inside, she adds, "There's one thing, though."

"What?"

"We need to set some rules about nakedness around here."

—

Tandy ends up staying longer than planned, and Rayna can finally show her all the places she's been gushing about. When she drives her sister back to the airport, a few days later, it still feels like time went by too fast.

"I hate that we keep having to say goodbye these days," Tandy sighs.

"I know, me too. But I'll be back soon."

"When is soon?"

"Three weeks, top."

"So, it's all decided? Deacon is really moving to Nashville with you?"

"Yeah." Tandy stays silent after that, and Rayna glances at her in the passenger seat. "What?" she asks.

"It's a huge change for him. He's shaking his whole life up for you."

Rayna frowns. "Not just for me. Music is his life too. This is what he wants." Circumstances made it that he couldn't pursue a career in music back then, but she believes this is what he's always been supposed to do.

"From what I've seen these last few days, he has made himself a good life here." She pauses. "If he asked you to stay, would you?"

Rayna doesn't hesitate. "I would."

—

On the way back from the airport, and in the following weeks, Rayna tries not think too much about what Tandy said, but she can't help. What if she turns Deacon's life upside down and things don't go as planned?

The seed of doubt has been planted, and it only grows with time.

—

She finds Deacon on the dock, looking at the lake. He's got his hands in his pockets and he seems lost in his thoughts. He's been mostly quiet since they finished packing the moving truck.

They decided a couple days ago that they would drive to Nashville and make it a road trip. They're in no hurry to get there, after all.

"You're okay?" Rayna asks as she stands behind him, slides her arms around his waist and rests her cheek against his back.

"I'm going to miss waking up to this," he confesses. Rayna is reminded of her sister's words and she tenses. Deacon must sense it because he turns around. "I don't have any doubt, baby," he adds in answer to the question she didn't have time to ask. "It's just... this place has been good to me."

This place has been so good to her, too. She waits a few seconds before she asks, "Deacon, this is what you want, right?"

"Of course," he stresses. "Ray, what's going on?"

"Nothing, it's something my sister said, and... forget about it."

"You shouldn't always listen to what your sister says."

She smiles at that.

No, she shouldn't.

—

Her mind is buzzing with ideas.

She's got enough material for a new album, and if it were up to her, she and Deacon would be in a studio recording the songs they wrote over the summer, but Bucky suggested – insisted – she should do a short tour first. A sort of comeback tour. Fifteen to twenty dates to reconnect with her fans and introduce Deacon to the audience at the same time.

"You need to be seen, you need to perform," Bucky explains as they're sitting around Watty's patio table, talking possible cities and dates.

"I want an acoustic set," Rayna announces, quite out of the blue, and Bucky and Watty stare at her, not sure what to make of that. "I think we should have a big runway that goes into the audience, just wide enough for Deacon and I," she adds.

"An acoustic set?"

"It would only be a few songs, in the middle of the show. Me, Deacon and a guitar."

"I'm not sure, Rayna," Bucky objects. "I think we should stick to what we know used to work. At least for now. Start again right where you left off."

"Buck, everyone knows what happened to me. We can't just go back and pretend it didn't happen. I don't want to pretend it didn't happen. I want to use this opportunity to steer my career in a new direction, to reinvent myself."

Bucky is skeptical, but Watty is smiling, looking at her proudly. This is the most passionate he's seen her in quite some time. This is the happiest he's seen her in quite some time. "I think you and Deacon should meet us at Soundcheck tomorrow. It's time Buck and I hear this new material you keep talking about."

—

"Deacon?" she calls when she gets home.

"Out here!" It's not the first time she finds him on the patio, strumming on his guitar. This seems to be his new favorite place. He smiles when he sees her. "Hey, baby. How did the meeting with Bucky and Watty go?"

She kicks her shoes off before she goes to sit next to him. "They're on board with the acoustic set idea. Well, at least Watty is."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She grins then. "I've got something for you," she announces. "Some sort of... welcome to Nashville gift."

He quirks an eyebrow as she hands him the box she's been hiding behind her back. He takes his time to open the lid, glances inside and smiles. The bottom of the box is filled with guitar picks with his full name on them, and in the middle of it all is a beautifully crafted guitar strap with 'DEACON' stamped in the leather. When he pulls it out to have a closer look, he notices the little tree and the fish carved under the last letter.

"Are you worried I'm going to forget my name?" he quips, but she can see he loves it. She has learned by now he's not good at accepting gifts. Or compliments, for that matter. "Thanks, baby," he adds, pulling her to him for a kiss.

"What's this?" she asks then, waving her finger at the rumpled sheets of paper all around him.

"You know that melody you kept humming all morning? I turned it into a chorus."

"You did?"

"Want to hear it?"

He starts to play, and Rayna watches, in awe. It's... perfect. She'd had that melody stuck in her head for days, and she just couldn't find lyrics that worked, but Deacon did.

She thinks about how she once wrote that the best songs come from broken hearts.

How wrong she was.

Her best songs will come from having met Deacon Claybourne.

—

TBC