Author's Note: This is taking longer than I hoped and lasting longer than I expected. But here it is – Chapter Four – there is still more to come, but for the time being, I hope you enjoy. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, reviews are massively appreciated.
Chapter Four
Deacon
He was surprised to find out from Juliette that Rayna had left in the middle of the night. Rayna's reason for leaving was not what had surprised him, that was fair enough. Rayna not telling him, not even sending a text was what had surprised him. In honesty, he felt a little hurt.
It wasn't that he had expected Rayna and him to suddenly be together in every sense of the word, after all she had told him that they would need to wait until the girls had left before they could be together in pretty much any meaningful way, but he thought she might at least have given him a heads up. He knew that getting angry and pissy with her at a time like this was not going to help. Rayna had a complicated relationship with Lamar at the best of times. She'd felt unsupported by her father ever since he threw her out of the house when she was sixteen. However, she'd always tried to ensure her girls would have a positive relationship with their grandfather.
It was mid-morning before he got the chance to call her, away from the eager ears of other tour members. The phone just kept ringing, until he heard her answerphone.
"Hey, it's me, listen I'm real sorry to hear about your Dad. They say you might be cancellin' tonight so that must mean it's pretty bad. I know this whole thing has got to be pretty complex for you to say the least, just wanna let you know I'm thinking about you. Okay, bye." He hung up, hoping she'd respond when she heard it, but knowing that there would be a lot going on her end.
The rest of the day passed miserably. Juliette was insistent that her show would not be cancelled and had also demanded that her band take on ten extra songs to make up time. He and Juliette had a very public argument about it in front of the rest of the band. Deacon personally thought putting the show on at all was pointless without Rayna – given that half of the fans would've come to see Rayna, but he wasn't about to get himself fired by saying that to Juliette.
The day dragged on as he and the band prepared the revised set list for an irate Juliette, who in the wake of Rayna's departure appeared to have gone into complete diva mode.
It didn't help that she had her mother's 'sober companion' whispering in her ear, stroking her ego all day long. Deacon couldn't stand Dante. He was an arrogant dick and Deacon didn't trust him as far as he could throw him. As far he was concerned, Juliette, and especially Jolene would be a lot better off without him around. His rage was heightened when he heard Dante had taken it upon himself to fire Avery. Deacon had never been Avery's biggest fan, but as far as he could tell Avery had done nothing wrong and Dante had no authority to fire roadies. His mood was not improved when he discovered Juliette had spoken to Dante about their past relationship, if you could even call it that. By the time he went on stage that evening he was about ready to wring Dante's neck.
Walking off stage to his dressing room after what felt like the longest show of his life later, he turned his phone back on and his mood lightened slightly as he noticed he finally had a voicemail from Rayna. Her soft voice drifted down through his cell phone.
"Hey, oh you're probably in the middle of a show right now. Well, my dad just got out of surgery, and I'm sitting here, waiting for him to wake up. pretty strange day today, just hopin' I'm gonna get a chance to have another conversation with him. Anyways I just wanted to call you to thank you for calling me, and, um, I-I'll talk to you"
He could hear the tiredness in her voice and his heart constricted a little. He had barely had time to process the message when Juliette stormed into the room ranting about how he had ignored her on stage. He was pretty much over Juliette's bullshit at this point and frankly didn't care if she fired him for telling her she should've cancelled her show.
"Why should I have to cancel my show?" Juliette looked at him like he'd just suggested she give up singing for good.
"Because that's what you do when there's a family emergency." He couldn't believe how anyone could be so completely oblivious to basic human decency.
"Know what? Rayna is not myfamily, and let me tell you somethin', she ain't yours either." Deacon was done, shaking his head slightly he made for the door, stopping just long enough to turn to Juliette,
"Yes she is." Then he was gone.
RAYNA
Rayna felt like she hadn't slept in days. So much had happened, so much had changed that day that she couldn't really begin to fathom how to process it all. First there was her father pretty much telling her he didn't want her there, after she'd cancelled a show and flown across the damn country to be there.
Then Lamar's outburst at Watty, which now made a lot more sense after Watty dropped the bombshell that it had in fact been him her mother had been having an affair with. Discovering Tandy had known had been the icing on the cake. She understood why Tandy had kept it from her, just like she had kept the affair from her until recently, but she still felt like she was being kept on the outside, in the dark. She was an adult woman, for god's sake. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She had a right to know these things – and she should've known long before now. She'd gone years believing her father hated her, not understanding why. Whilst not necessarily excusable, his behaviour at least made some sense now. She could at least understand some of his anger now.
Tandy had gone home and she'd agreed to stay, waiting like the dutiful daughter at her unconscious father's bedside. She sat there for at least two hours just staring at him. It was strange to see him like this. Lamar had always seemed a formidable man, he was tall, and his dour demeanour served him well. But now, he seemed somehow smaller, weaker. She supposed it was, in part, due to the hospital bed, but it was still odd for Rayna to see him this way.
She must've fallen asleep eventually. She could feel a weight on her shoulder, but it was not an uncomfortable one, more like a reassurance, something about it was familiar. As she opened her eyes, she thought for a moment that perhaps she was dreaming. Deacon was in front of her, crouched down in front of her chair. How long had she been asleep? A flight from New York was almost three hours, and yet here he was looking at her with those soulful eyes.
She reached forward and felt herself practically collapse onto his shoulder as he reached around her. She felt like he was holding her together, like she'd fall apart completely if he let her go, like she'd be crushed under the weight of the day.
Neither of them spoke for a long time, but she found words were unnecessary. They didn't need words right now, Deacon knew what she needed and he was there to provide it. Words were not important.
When they did finally start talking, it felt good to speak to someone other than Tandy about everything that had happened. Deacon hadn't been there when Rayna's mother had died, but she'd talked a lot about it to him, particularly in their earlier years together. He had been there when Lamar had effectively kicked her out. Deacon had always been a good listener and he understood her, in a way that Tandy sometimes did not, and that Teddy never had. He stayed with her for hours, sitting at Lamar's bedside. They moved between talking and silence. It didn't matter greatly which. They had learned to feel comfortable in each other's silence a long time ago. She could sit for hours, saying nothing, holding his hand, just knowing he was there was enough. Knowing that (albeit behind closed doors) they were together, was enough.
"I should go." He said as he got up. She wished she could go with him, but she knew she couldn't leave her father alone.
"Thank you for coming." She smiled as she stood too.
"You needed me." He said simply, looking at her with sincerity.
She moved into his arms once more, and brought her arms to loop over his shoulders, around his neck. She met his eyes and paused for a moment. She leant forward and brought her lips to his and kissed him. It wasn't a deep, passionate kiss, it wasn't long or drawn out. It was just enough to tell him she was ready. When this was over, she was ready.
DEACON
He arrived back at his house in Nashville, placing his guitar case down by the door, shrugging off his jacket and toeing out of his boots. He headed over to bathroom, undressed the rest of the way and stepped into the shower, turning the faucet and letting the hot spray soothe his muscles.
He felt a sense of peace. Things were finally going in the right direction – more or less. Stacey was out of the picture, Rayna was definitely back in, and once the tour was over, perhaps he and Rayna could start looking at how to move forward properly.
He was relatively sure he knew how this would work on tour. They'd be together, but they'd keep it quiet. They would be strictly professional on stage and off, until they could be sure no one else was around. It would be stolen kisses and sneaking into each other's rooms in the middle of the night, and leaving before morning. Rayna was good at that kind of thing. It wasn't that she wasn't genuine or that she was dishonest, it's just she had a professional persona and a personal one, and she had always liked to keep them separate. So, for Rayna, being professional in front of everyone else would come naturally. He had less of a professional persona to promote and as a result was generally less guarded, but he could manage. He and Rayna were also friendly when he was her band leader, and he supposed they needn't be too different for the remainder of the tour where he was Juliette's band leader.
He hoped once they were back in Nashville for a while, they could start taking steps to at least tell Rayna's girls. He knew it would be an adjustment for them all, but he wanted this, believed it would work this time.
He didn't have long in Nashville, just one night. There was no show that night, but he'd need to be back out on tour the next night, with or without Rayna. He knew it was unlikely that he would get to see much of Rayna for the rest of his time here. She seemed to be settling in for a lengthy stay at the hospital and would be there at least until Tandy returned. Whenever she got chance to leave, he knew she'd want to see the girls before she had to be back out on tour. She would definitely return to the tour – Rayna had always been fiercely committed to her career and hated the idea disappointing fans.
"People pay money to see us play Deacon. They expect us to give them a good show." She used to say to him when he was off his game from drinking too much before a show, or still suffering from a hangover from the night before. By the time he was missing shows she'd resigned herself to the truth, that berating him was futile.
He scowled as he remembered how he had let her down in the past. He shook his head, as if to jostle the thoughts loose. That wasn't him anymore. He was sober now, and he was going to stay that way. He'd gotten sober for Rayna in the first place, and he never wanted to let her down again.
