A/N: The idea isn't new, it's been used in many Christmas movies, but I'm having SO MUCH fun putting Rayna & Deacon in this situation. Even though it will be a short story, I'll try to post a new chapter every few days until Christmas.
Rayna groans as she opens her eyes. She feels like crap. Her head aches, her mouth is dry. Oh, and there is this vague sense of nausea. Gosh, what did they put in the eggnog at Edgehill's Christmas party last night? She doesn't remember having drunk that much.
She looks at the clock on the nightstand. 7:30am. At least, she doesn't have to get up right away. It's Christmas Eve, and she has nowhere to be. She can afford to stay in bed for a little longer.
She feels Teddy move next to her, and his arm wraps around her waist. "Hey, baby."
Even in her foggy state of mind, Rayna's eyes snap open, and her whole body freezes.
The voice.
It's not Teddy's voice.
She would recognize this voice anywhere.
She's afraid to turn her head and look at the man lying next to her. When she does, her suspicion is confirmed. Deacon. Deacon is lying next to her. In her bed. In her house. The house where she lives with her daughters and her husband. Wait, where is Teddy?
She starts to panic. How in the hell did this happen? She tries to recall the previous night. She was at Edgehill's Christmas party, she's sure of that. After that... after that, she can't remember anything. Her panic skyrockets.
She looks at Deacon who seems to have gone back to sleep. She tries to calm down. There must be an explanation, and the first one that comes to mind is that she's dreaming. Of course she's dreaming. It's not unusual she dreams of Deacon being in her bed. The dreams usually involve another kind of sleeping, but hey. In a bit, she'll wake up and she'll have a good laugh about all this.
Except... except it doesn't feel like a dream. It feels frighteningly real.
Her panic makes a triumphant comeback.
She slips out of bed and heads to the bathroom because she can't think straight with Deacon so close. She shuts the door and looks at herself in the mirror.
Wake up, Rayna. Wake up, wake up, wake up.
She doesn't.
She has to resign herself to the fact it's real. She can't believe she has such a massive memory loss. If she's going to finally surrender and ruin her eight-year-long marriage by sleeping with Deacon, she deserves to at least remember it. And why doesn't she remember? She didn't drink that much. And if she had, Deacon would never, not in a million years, have taken advantage of the situation. And where the fuck is Teddy?
She needs to go back in there and talk to Deacon. She's not sure what else she can do.
He's still sleeping when she sits on the edge of the bed. She gently shakes his shoulder, and he opens his eyes. He glances at the clock before he says, "I thought we'd decided we would sleep in today. Come back to bed, baby."
Alright, now it's insane. Did he drink too? "What are you talking about?"
"We told the girls not to wake us up until nine, remember?"
No, she doesn't remember. She doesn't remember anything. But even if she did, what he's saying doesn't make any sense. "Deacon, what the hell happened last night?"
He must sense she's serious because he sits up in bed, looking concerned. "Are you feeling okay, Ray?"
"I... no! What are you doing here?"
"I... live here," he says, confused. "Okay, now you're really scaring me, baby."
Before she can answer, they hear footsteps in the hallway. Four-year-old Daphne and eight-year-old Maddie burst into the room without having bothered to knock first.
It's like Rayna's worst nightmare is coming to life. She's going to have to explain to her daughters what Deacon is doing in her bed, and where the hell their father is.
But then, something even more insane happens.
The girls act like everything is... normal. Daphne jumps on the bed and calls Deacon Dad. Maddie insists Dad needs to go to the kitchen already because they can't wait for their tree-shaped pancakes, it's a tradition.
"Girls, we said nine," Deacon tells them, pointing a finger at the clock.
"Yeah, but we heard you talking!" Daphne tries to argue.
At this point, Rayna is persuaded she has gone batshit crazy. She doesn't see any other explanation. She has lost it. That's it.
Deacon must have noticed she looks petrified, because he tells her daughters, "Alright, Mom and I need a minute, so you two go downstairs and we'll be there in a bit." Once the girls have run out of the room, he gets up and rushes to Rayna. "Baby, what's going on?"
She's about to speak, but she stops. What is she supposed to tell him? That she went to bed married to Teddy and she woke up married to him? They're going to lock her up. She wouldn't blame anyone who would want to lock her up.
So, she lies. "I'm not feeling so great since I woke up. I think maybe I just need to rest." This isn't even technically a lie. "You know what? You go downstairs with the girls, and I'll join y'all in a while, okay?"
He looks reluctant to leave her alone. "I'll come check on you from time to time."
"Okay."
"And I'm going to leave the door open so you can call if you need anything."
She can't help but smile. "Okay." He doesn't move. "I'll be fine, Deacon," she says.
He leans down to give her a quick kiss, and suddenly she's not fine, but for a different reason entirely. It's been more than nine years since he last kissed her like this. She wants to cry. But even more, she wants him to do it again.
She lets him go, though, and she finds herself alone in the room.
—
TBC