Twenty-five years, and Deacon had never seen Rayna miss a cue. She'd recovered quickly enough, and the show had carried on without a hitch, but something was wrong.

As soon as they'd come off stage, and before everyone would try to ask for a minute of her time, Deacon grabbed her hand and lead her to an empty backstage corridor.

"I've never seen you freeze up like that, baby. What happened?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"I know when you're fine. You're not fine."

"Am I not allowed to have one bad night?" she asked, annoyed. He had a good idea of what was bothering her, but she visibly wasn't in the mood to talk about it.

"I worry about you, that's all. A lot has happened these last 48 hours, and maybe you—"

"I'm fine," she interrupted, putting an end to the conversation. He watched her walk past him and down the corridor until she disappeared at the corner.

He'd suggested they stay in Nashville for a few more days, she was the one who'd insisted they couldn't miss another show. If something was bugging her, Rayna's first reflex was always to distract herself with work.

When he got back to their dressing room a few minutes later, champagne was flowing, and people were chatting and celebrating. He wasn't sure how it was a smaller tour, and yet there seemed to always be as many strangers hanging around backstage after the shows. Where did they all come from?

Rayna was smiling and conversing with people, but he could see through the facade. He wasn't going to try to talk to her about it anymore, though; experience had taught him it was useless until she would be ready to.

Adria approached him, a glass of champagne in one hand and a bottle of water she handed to him in the other. "Is she okay?" she asked, not even having to mention Rayna's name.

"These last 48 hours have been... eventful."

"Oh." She paused then, smirking. "You know what? It's been a while since Rayna and I had a good old girls' night out."

"I'm not sure it's the best idea."

"Girls' night out is always a good idea." She drank the rest of her champagne in one gulp before she put the empty glass on a nearby table. "I'll bring her back in one piece, I promise." Knowing Adria, Deacon wasn't entirely reassured.

He looked as she headed towards Rayna and whispered something he couldn't make out. "Sold," he heard Rayna approve. His wife grabbed her purse and followed Adria who made her way through the people. Deacon caught Bucky watching them in mild worry.

"Bye, y'all," Rayna shouted over her shoulder as the two women went through the door.

—

It was around four when Deacon bolted upright at the sound of someone pounding on their hotel room's door. Rayna had texted him earlier not to worry and not to wait for her, but he'd still slept with one eye open and his phone on the nightstand.

When he openend the door, he found Rayna standing behind it, smiling. "She's all yours," he heard someone giggle from down the corridor, and he leaned through the doorway to see Adria trying not to stumble to her own room. He waited until he was sure she was inside before he turned back to Rayna.

"Lost my key card," she announced, still smiling.

"It's... in your hand, baby."

At that, Rayna looked down and appeared surprised to indeed find it there. "Oops." She then undertook to insert the card in the slot.

"Ooookay," Deacon said, sliding one arm around her waist, "let's get you inside."

He had successfully half-carried, half-supported her to the bedroom when she threw two arms around his neck and proclaimed as if it was some revelatory news, "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. What about we try to get you undressed and into bed so you can sleep for what's left of the night?"

Instead, she started to walk backwards in what he supposed was meant to be some suggestive move, but which, in her state, just looked rather funny. "Give me one minute," she said, and she disappeared in the bathroom, closing the door between them.

Deacon gave her five before he knocked. "Still alive in there?"

"Don't come in!" she shouted back.

He pushed the door open to find her sitting on the tiled floor, her back against the bathtub and her eyes closed. She'd kicked her boots off and pulled her knees up.

"Waiting for the room to stop spinning?" he asked.

"Yeah," she admitted, miserable. He sat down next to her and put one hand on her knee. He could see she was trying to focus on her breathing.

"Deacon?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think my dad is my father," she blurted out.

Here they were.

Deacon had been waiting for Rayna to utter those words aloud for two days. It was the first thing that had crossed his mind when she'd told him about Watty, and there was no way it wasn't the first thing she'd thought about too. Instead of talking about it, she'd closed off from him and she'd demanded they got back to the tour as soon as they could.

She opened her eyes. "Everyone always say I'm so much like my mom, but my father and I, we are... nothing alike."

"It doesn't always mean something."

"I know, but..."

"Yeah." He would have lied if he'd said he'd never wondered how someone like Rayna Jaymes could be the daughter of Lamar Wyatt. The first time he'd set foot in the Wyatt mansion, he'd had a hard time believing this was the place she'd grown up in, the place that had shaped the woman she'd become.

She groaned before she lay down on the floor, using Deacon's thigh as a pillow. "Babe?"

He rubbed her back. "Mhm?"

"I'm not feeling so good."

"I've got bad news for you, baby, it will be even worse tomorrow."

—

"I'm going to miss you guys," Tandy mused, sipping on her cocktail.

"It's not too late to quit your job and come with us," Rayna suggested.

"Nice try."

It was a scorching summer day in Nashville, and the sisters had opted for lounging in the shade of the patio while Deacon and Daphne were enjoying the pool. Maddie, as for her, had decided to spend the weekend at Talia's since, in three days, the whole family would leave for the western run of the tour and she wasn't going to see her best friend for a while.

"Can't blame me for wanting to spend more time with my big sister."

"You could quit your job and come work for Daddy. We'd spend more time together."

"Oh, you're hilarious."

Rayna put her magazine down and reached for the pitcher on the small table between them to pour herself another glass. She looked over at Deacon and Daphne in the pool, and it made her smile.

She pushed her sunglasses up onto her head. "While we're still here," she told Tandy, "there's something... there's something I need to talk to you about." She paused, hesitating. "I've been turning this over and over in my head, and I don't think there will ever be a good time, so I might as well tell you now."

"You're starting to scare me a little."

Rayna cleared her throat. "I read Watty's letters, all of them, and according to what's in there, he met Mom after you were born but before I was."

"I'm aware of that."

"So I think I need... to be sure." She took a deep breath. "I'm considering asking Watty to do a paternity test."

At that, Tandy stood up without a word, grabbed the pitcher, and started walking towards the house. "This needs a refill," she announced, even though it was still half full.

Rayna got up and ran to catch up with her. "Tandy..."

Once in the kitchen, her sister put the pitcher on the counter and turned around. "What would you like the outcome of the test to be?"

"What do you mean?"

She crossed her arms, defiant. "Do you hope he is your father?"

"I don't hope for anything," Rayna said in all honesty, "I just want to know the truth."

"You've always wanted a way out of this family, and I guess you've found one."

"That's unfair, not to say untrue."

"Maybe Dad's heart attack didn't kill him, but this, this surely will."

This left Rayna speechless for a few seconds. She hadn't expected Tandy to take the news particularly well, but this was a low blow. "I'm not doing this to hurt him. I'm really not. I just need to know."

Her sister shook her head, unconvinced. "This will change things between us too, you know." There was a vulnerability in the way she said it that made Rayna realize this was what Tandy was in fact afraid of.

"No, it won't." She took one step closer and wrapped her arms around her. "I promise it won't," she insisted. "You're my sister, Tandy. And whatever happens, this will never change."

Since the moment their mom had died, it had always been them against the world. She remembered sitting with Tandy in their summer camp's cabin that fateful night, and after the counselor had come to deliver the news, her big sister had grabbed her hand and promised her everything would be alright.

"Maybe that's why I never told you about the letters. Maybe that's what I was afraid of," Tandy admitted, not letting go of the hug. When she did, she looked straight at Rayna, offering a silent apology.

"I get it," Rayna said. She'd never been angry at Tandy for not telling her about the letters. She wasn't angry at Watty or her father either, for that matter. But now that the truth was out, there was no turning back.

Rayna grabbed Tandy's forearm and squeezed it gently. Her sister nodded, gesturing at the pitcher. "Let me refill this and let's get back outside."

—

"This plane is so cool," Daphne raved.

"This is what happens when you get a number one song," Bucky commented, "your label suddenly remembers you exist and even sends a private jet."

Five weeks ago, they had released Shotgun to coincide with the start of the tour's second leg. Against all odds, the single had entered the country charts at number eight and had climbed its way up to the top. Edgehill was throwing them a party in Nashville to celebrate. The family had been on the road non-stop, it was their first trip back home since they'd left.

"Why don't we always travel by private jet?" Daphne wondered.

"Our brand new tour bus ain't fancy enough for you, Princess?" Deacon teased, throwing popcorn at her. Daphne giggled, throwing some back at him in retaliation.

They'd all been in a pretty joyous mood since they'd taken off from Austin. The only one who'd been more quiet was Rayna.

"Maddie, can we switch seats?" Deacon asked. "I need to talk to Mom for a sec."

"Sure."

"Thanks, sweetheart."

Maddie got up to go sit across from her sister, and Deacon settled next to Rayna in the back of the plane. He put one hand on hers so she would stop fidgeting.

"I'm really trying not to think about it," she said, "but I can't help."

It'd been one week since Watty had called Rayna to tell her he'd received the envelope with the result of the paternity test. She was supposed to have gotten one copy at home too. They'd decided they would wait she would be back in town to open it.

"Maybe I should have let things stay the way they were," she went on, "maybe there was a reason Watty hadn't told me all this time, maybe—"

"Don't do this, baby," he stopped her, determined not to let her second-guess herself now. "The truth is always the preferable choice."

—

TBC

A/N: I don't think many of you are reading this one, but THANK YOU so much to all of you who are because I'm having fun writing it.