A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.

Chapter 3

Deacon sat at the kitchen table at his laptop. He was shopping for things for the baby. Right now he was looking at cribs. He knew that he would have to buy one for his place and one for the nursery at Rayna's house. This situation sucked and every time he thought about Luke with his hands all over Rayna while she was carrying his baby made him sick to his stomach. Another part of him was happier than he'd ever been in his life. He couldn't deny that he was excited about this baby and he was already deeply in love with his child.

"Hey, what are you doin' in here? You look deep in thought." Scarlett walked into the room. She was only in town for a couple of days.

"I am shoppin' for baby furniture of all things if you can believe that. The Squirrel is gonna be here sooner than either of us realize and I thought I would get a jump on it." Deacon looked up from his computer.

"I never thought that I would see you shoppin' for baby furniture. I have to say I like this look on you." Scarlett smiled at him. "I will even ignore the fact that you're callin' my baby cousin Squirrel."

"Don't give me hell for that. This is my first baby. If I wanna come up with silly nicknames I will." He replied.

"I ain't got a problem with it. I think it's good to see you so happy." She kissed the top of his head.

"I didn't think that I was ever gonna be this happy again after the way I found out 'bout Maddie. Now, I'm gettin' the chance to do this from day one and I'm happy and terrified at the same time." He admitted.

"You're findin' your way with Maddie and you'll do just fine with this baby too. I can't wait 'til you find out the sex. I have to keep myself from buyin' every cute baby thing that I've seen lately." She replied.

"I'm doin' the best I know how. Sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head with Maddie and she can semi take care of herself. I don't know what I'm gonna do with one that depends on me for everythin'. I'm pretty excited for that appointment myself. Don't you go buyin' everythin' you see for Squirrel." He chuckled lightly.

"The way I figure it, you did just fine with me. You're the only daddy I've ever known and I turned out ok. You and Maddie just need to spend more time together and get a good feel for each other." She gave him a piece of advice.

"When did you get so wise that you started givin' me advice?" He asked.

"One of us has to use our brain in this situation." She teased him.

He nodded his head in acceptance of that. "What do you say you sit on down here and help me pick out some stuff for the nursery?"

"I ain't got nothin' better to do at the moment." She took a seat beside her uncle.

Tandy glared at her younger sister as she sat a plate of fresh fruit down in front of her. "Eat that, it's good for you."

"Why are you looking at me like that, Tandy? You act like I did something wrong." Rayna picked up a sliced peach and bit into it.

"You know damn well why I'm looking at you like this." Tandy rolled her eyes.

"You can't seriously still be mad at me for gettin' pregnant. You're my sister you're supposed to be on my side here." Rayna sighed loudly.

"I'm not mad at you for getting pregnant. I'm thrilled that you're making me an aunt again. I'm mad that you told the baby's father." Tandy retorted.

"Tandy, you can't expect me to do that to him again. I kinda had no other choice this time. He would have known without me tellin' him that he was the father. And what would I have done if this kid comes out lookin' just like him like the last one did? It'll be fine. He would never do anythin' to hurt this baby or Maddie for that matter." Rayna assured her. This kind of stress was the last thing she needed right now.

"Says the woman who just almost died in a car accident because of him. You learn your lessons the hard way. He has no business being in Maddie's life and he shouldn't be in this baby's life either. If you were smart you'd get him to sign his rights away and wash your hands of him." Tandy gave her two cents on the matter.

"I am not gonna make him sign his rights away. If I did that it would be a fight the likes of which we've never had before. It's not fair to blame him for the accident either. I was driving not him. He doesn't deserve to take the blame for it. If the blame can be put on anyone it's me anyway. I'm the one who caused this if I'd never lied to him about Maddie then he wouldn't have felt the need to go get drunk or if I had told him myself it would have softened the blow for him. And frankly I can see myself raisin' this baby up together under the same roof. I'm just terrified to let myself want that 'cause one of us would only find a way to destroy it again." Rayna sighed and ran her hands over her face.

Tandy reached across the counter and put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Just calm down. I am on your side here. I want whatever you want. I just happen to think the best thing for you is for you to really put some effort into this relationship with Luke. That doesn't mean that you can't give this baby the life that you want to. You can build a solid family life with Luke the way you did with Teddy. The only difference is now everything will be out in the open. It's just something that you need to give some thought to. You just said it yourself you and Deacon can't be together because you will burn each other to the ground. You may as well find another way to be happy."

Rayna laid her head down on the counter. "I can't believe that I let myself get into this position again with the same man no less. I will give what you said some thought, but that's not really fair for me to do. I lived a sham once, I don't know if I can do it again."

"The good news is that nothing has to be figured out now. Right now just focus on the baby and take the rest as it comes." Tandy advised her.

"Like I said I'll think about it. Truly what I want is for me and Deacon both to be happy. I would love if it if we could find that happiness together with our children, but if not, if he's not in my life at all I don't know how to live that way." Rayna admitted.

"And like I said don't stress yourself out. You don't have to choose Luke or Deacon you can choose yourself and your kids." Tandy pointed out to her.

"This is supposed to be a happy time for me. I don't need all this stress and uncertainty. I don't know how to not love my babies' father. I don't know that I want to not love him. I just know that right now I need to be calm and happy for this baby's sake." Rayna replied.

Before Tandy could say anything else Deacon walked in the side door with a cheery smile on his face. "Hello, hello, I come bearin' gifts for the mother of my children."

"Deacon, what the hell are you doing here? What made you think that coming here would be a good idea?" Tandy demanded of him.

The smile on his face didn't falter. "It's nice to see you too, Tandy. As I said I come bearin' gifts for the woman who is carryin' my baby." He sat a cup and two paper bags down on the table.

"Well, don't you think maybe you should go before the press gets wind of this? She can only hide this pregnancy for so long and the media is really gonna have a field day with that. It's best not to give them anymore fodder until then." Tandy stared him down.

"Tandy, it's fine, he can stay. He obviously came over to do somethin' nice for me. I ain't ever gonna turn that down." Rayna turned to smile at Deacon. "What do we have here?"

"This is a smoothie it's got a ton of vitamins in it. It's good for the baby and it tastes good. Then we have a breakfast sandwich and a doughnut. I know that you have an uncontrollable sweet tooth and you're gonna indulge it no matter how much you're not supposed to. Lastly I went out and bought you some prenatal vitamins. I don't know if you already have them, but from everythin' that I read these are the ones that you need. I wanted to bring them over for ya just in case. We already put Baby Claybourne through a car accident I don't wanna take anymore chances with our little Squirrel." Deacon pointed to each item as he spoke.

Rayna opened one of the bags and pulled out the breakfast sandwich. "Bacon, egg, and cheese, you know me too well." She undid the wrapper and took a huge bite. "So good, Baby Claybourne has such a thoughtful and carin' daddy." She spoke as she chewed.

"I see that you're really enjoyin' that." Deacon laughed a little.

"Oh my God, she acts like she was born in a barn when she's around you." Tandy rolled her eyes.

Deacon ignored her in favor of talking to Rayna. "I kinda thought we were callin' the baby the Squirrel now."

"Oh, hell no," Tandy groaned.

"Darlin', I am not callin' our baby that no matter how cute it is that you took the time to come up with that nickname for our child. I don't even know how one comes up with a nickname like that." Rayna laughed.

Deacon shrugged his shoulders. "All I can say is it was an inspired nickname. My pawpaw may or may not have called me that for a little while 'cause I was a damn good squirrel hunter back in my day."

"If that's the case then I can't even get mad at you for comin' up with a nickname like that." Rayna rewarded him with a huge smile.

Tandy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It's hopeless trying to talk to the two of you once you get in a zone. It's like you don't notice anyone else is in the room."

"Tandy, is there somethin' that we can do for you?" Deacon arched his eyebrow.

"I need you two to start thinking about holding a press conference to announce this pregnancy. You can't put it off for much longer. Rayna is already starting to show and you can't hide that forever." Tandy told them bluntly.

"Yeah, I thought somethin' like that might be the case." Deacon sipped out of the coffee cup he'd brought in with him.

"Babe, I promise you that we will take care of it. It doesn't have to be taken care of right now. The minute we go out there and tell the world about it, it becomes a hell of a lot more complicated and rumors start to fly." Rayna took a break from her food to say something.

"If you wanted to you could spend the rest of your pregnancy without saying a word about it. You would just have to deal with the wild speculation and rumors flying. It's entirely up to the two of you. It's your lives and your baby." Tandy threw her hands up. She didn't know how to get through to them if they weren't willing to listen to a word she had to say.

"Tandy, I said we will take care of it and we will. Right now I am gonna relax and enjoy the breakfast that Deacon was thoughtful enough to bring me. It is all I have time for right now. I will deal with everything else later." Rayna was firm when she spoke to her sister.

"I give up. I'm done for today. Deacon, if you can get that woman to see reason than I welcome you to try. I'm going to take this opportunity to be anywhere, but in this room right now. it's early, but I will be down in the wine cellar." Tandy waved over her shoulder as she walked out of the room.

Deacon put his hands in his pockets and laughed. "She's still my number one fan I see."

"She's just bein' my big sister and lookin' out for me. It's somethin' she's done since our momma died. We can't fault her for that." Rayna spoke around a mouthful of food.

He nodded his head. "I know. I just wish that she could be a little nicer to me sometimes."

Rayna paused to finish chewing. "I'm workin' on it. Besides bringin' me food what brings you by today?"

"I was actually hopin' that I can could talk to you 'bout baby furniture." He answered her.

"I think that is a great idea, but you don't have to take care of that. I can take care of the nursery here by myself." She reassured him.

"Yes, I do have to take care of this. I don't want my baby thinkin' his daddy is a deadbeat. I want to buy this." He stressed to her.

She mulled that over thoughtfully for a minute. "Ok, I will let you do that. But, you have to let me buy you a new house. Our kids are gonna spend a lot of time there and I want to make sure that they have the space and the neighborhood they need." She leveled with him.

"Rayna, I can't let you do that. I've spent all the years I've known you supportin' you and makin' sure you shine. I'm ok with that. I want our daughter and our future son or daughter to know that momma can kick ass at what she does and still be a great momma. I'm just a man in this way and I can't let you do that for me. I'm not a nobody or a hanger-on. I've made my own money and I've saved it wisely. My house and cabin are both paid off. I can afford to buy ten houses if that's what I want. If I'm gonna have a place for my kids, then I'm gonna buy it myself. I don't mean that to sound like an ass or like I'm a pig that can't let a woman be successful. This is just somethin' I have to do for my family. I don't need you to provide for us. I need to provide for Maddie and the Squirrel." He gave her a long thoughtful answer.

She smiled at him genuinely. "I can respect that. I do respect that. I'm glad that you care about me enough to want me to reflect well in our kids' eyes. I want you to know that no matter what happens between us I only want what is best for you and our children and I want y'all to be happy. I would be honored if you would at least let me help you pick out the new house you want. I know that you have your own money and don't need me, but let me help you in any way that I can. It's not gonna make you any less of a man in my eyes or our kids' eyes. Especially, not in my eyes. No matter what I will never see you as anythin' less than a man. I know what a man you are."

Deacon nodded. "Ok, if you wanna help me pick out a house and maybe pay for some of it, then I won't argue with you."

"Now that we have that settled let's do some shopping for the baby. I have a lot to show you and I think you're gonna regret doin' this with me." Rayna smirked.

"I won't ever regret doin' things for Baby Claybourne." He just shook his head and smiled.

Deacon opened his front door with a smile on his face. "Hey, baby girl, you don't have to knock this is your home too." He greeted Maddie. He was happy to be seeing her twice in one week. He looked around and was surprised when he didn't see Rayna or Teddy's cars around. He just shrugged that off though.

"I wasn't really sure how to handle it. So, I just knocked." Maddie said as she walked inside carrying her guitar case.

"Well, you don't have to knock I want you to feel at home here too. I bought this place with your momma a long time ago with the thought of startin' our family in mind. I'll get you a key made. You're welcome anytime you want." He put his arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks, Deacon," She smiled up at him.

He tried not to let it bother him that she still called him by his name and not dad. He knew they still had a lot of work to do to get that point, but it didn't make it sting any less. "What brings you by today? Not that I mind you bein' here. I'm just a little surprised that's all."

She shrugged her shoulders and sat her guitar case down in the living room. "You're my father. I wanted to spend some more time with you."

"Well, I love the sound of that. I need all the practice I can get before your baby brother or sister gets here." He sat down in the armchair.

"I kinda hope it's a girl I know what to do with a sister. Another part of me thinks it would be exciting to have a brother though." She took a seat on the couch.

"How you doin' with all that?" He asked her. He wanted to make sure that she was doing ok with all the changes in her life.

"Ok, I guess." Her eyes were downcast.

"Don't do that. Don't try to hide how you're feelin' from me. Be honest with me I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth." He leaned over with his elbows on his knees, so he could be closer to her while they talked.

Maddie threw her hands up in the air helpless. "I'm happy, but I'm also jealous, mad, and confused. I mean my whole world has been blown apart. First my parents got divorced, then I found out my dad isn't even really my dad, and now there is gonna be another baby. One who gets to have you there for everything, gets to have your last name, and doesn't have some sort of limit on the amount of time he or she gets to spend with you."

"That is normal. And you get to feel all that. Just don't shut me or your momma out. I know that you're goin' through a confusin' time anyway with bein' a teenager and havin' all this added drama on top of it makes it worse." Deacon empathized with her.

"It's just not fair. I should get to spend more time with you not just one afternoon a week. This shouldn't be so complicated. I wish I didn't feel like I was being pulled in two different directions between what I've always known and what's true." She sighed and put her face in her hands.

He got up and moved to the couch so he could hug her. "I can't do much 'bout how complicated everythin' is or make it any less confusin' for you, but I can be here and I can listen any time you need me to."

She laid her head against his chest and nodded. "I like the sound of that."

His face lit up at feeling his daughter lean on him and find comfort in him for the first time. "I'll you what with the baby comin' I am gonna need a bigger place. If you're gonna be spendin' more time with me I want, you to help me pick it out and pick your room out. I want you to know that you are always welcome and as long as I have a roof over my head you have one too."

"That could be fun." Maddie agreed with him.

"Then in that case let's do a little house huntin' before we start playin' guitar." Deacon got up to grab his laptop so they could look at houses together.

About an hour later they were having a jam session when there was another knock on the door. Deacon got up to open the door only to find an angry looking Teddy on the other side.

"Is there somethin' I can help you with?" Deacon asked him. He did his best to keep his tone civil. It was one of the hardest things he had to do. It took everything in him not to punch the other man in the face as hard as he could. Every time he looked at him all he could see was everything he had taken from him.

"I'm here to get Maddie. She's not supposed to be here. Her grades are slipping and until they come up we are putting music on the back burner." Teddy informed him. "Maddie, come on let's go."

"Maddie, you stay right where you are." Deacon held his hand up. "I understand that grades are important and I want her to do the best that she can, but you do not get to take spendin' time with me away from her. You don't get to barge in here and tell her she has to leave. This is her home too. In case it slipped your mind she is my daughter not yours. Don't push me on this, Teddy."

"Maddie, I said come on." Teddy ordered her. "Spending an hour or two with her here and there doesn't make you a father. It's being there every day for everything the big stuff and the small stuff. It was being there to walk the floor with her when she couldn't sleep. Or to kiss her skinned up knee when she was learning how to ride a bike and fell. You just contributed a little genetic material you weren't there for her life I was."

Deacon took a deep breath and ran his hand across his beard. "Who's fault is it that I wasn't there? It damn sure wasn't mine. I didn't even know she was fine until a little while ago. You don't get the upper hand with me for that. And you don't get some award for takin' what wasn't yours to take. I mean it, I ain't gonna put up with much more of this. I have rights and I will exercise 'em. This is my time to be her daddy. We have over a decade to make up for. I ain't gonna let you or nowhere else take that from us."

Maddie packed up her guitar. "Deacon, stop it's ok. I will just go." The last thing she wanted to do was make things worse between them.

"Maddie, you ain't gotta go." Deacon's voice was almost plaintive. He wasn't ready for her to leave yet. They needed the quality time together without anyone getting in the way.

"I said she does. You seem to forget that you aren't legally her father. If you want to be a father so badly wait for the one you and Rayna have on the way and don't you try to take my daughter." Teddy raged at him.

Deacon took a deep breath. "Maddie, go on and go. I will take care of this. I promise you I'm gonna make this better."

Maddie nodded her head meekly. "Ok," she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a huge hug.

"Go on, now. I will see you later. I love you so much." Deacon kissed the top of her head before sending her off with Teddy no matter how badly he didn't want to.

"Thank you for bein' here with me today. I know that this is the last thing you want to do." Rayna leaned over and whispered to Deacon. They were sitting in front of a podium getting ready to give a press conference about her pregnancy.

"This is for the good of our baby. I wouldn't be anywhere else." Deacon grumbled back.

Rayna reached under the table and slipped her hand into his. "I still know that you're not happy about it. I'm not happy about it either. If we do this now it'll save us a lot of drama."

Deacon squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Let's just get this over with."

"Hey, y'all, thanks for comin' today. I appreciate you showin' up like this on such short notice. We are gonna keep this short and sweet." Rayna began the press conference.

Deacon gave her a reassuring nod.

"I'm pregnant. That's not gonna have any effect on me making music or buildin' up my label." Rayna announced without any muss.

"And I'm the father. I think that's all we have to say for right now." Deacon took her hand and led her off the stage while reporters hurled questions at their backs.

"Great job, y'all. That was exactly what needed to happen." Bucky was waiting in the wings to praise them.

"Thanks, Buck, that should be one less thing for you to deal with. Now we don't have to bother with all that when I start showin' more than I am right now." Rayna smiled at her manager.

"It's no problem." Bucky looked down at his phone as it rang. "I better go take this." He said before he walked away.

Rayna took both of Deacon's hands in hers and smiled at him. "Thank you so much for that. I know how much you hate our private lives bein' in the spotlight."

"Like I said anythin' for Baby Claybourne." Deacon took a deep breath.

"That's what makes you such a great daddy." Rayna praised him.

"I can't be that great. I barely get to spend time with my first child without it bein' a big deal." Deacon spit out bitterly.

Rayna sighed. "I want you to know that I took care of that. I ripped Teddy a new one for that stunt he pulled the other day. I told him that I don't care how bad Maddie's grades are he doesn't get to tell her that she can't spend time with you. To start off with you and her are gettin' three days a week to spend as much time together as you want. If that goes well then we will just say y'all can spend time together whenever you want to. I just ask that you go along with the rules and what we decide for her."

Deacon arched his eyebrow in disbelief. "Ray, I will co-parent with you and do whatever I can to make this work. I however will not parent with him and let him call the shots with my daughter. I want my rights to her and I wanna be the one on her birth certificate. I don't care what has to happen to make that happen, but I ain't gonna settle for anythin' less than that. He ain't her daddy I am. It ain't fair to me or to Maddie to keep pretendin' that's not the case. I told you once that I just feel like the extra throw away parent. When it comes time for decisions to made regardin' her you don't talk to me you talk to Teddy and I'm just an afterthought. That can't happen anymore. I never want her to feel like she's any less mine than this new baby is. I need you to make it right." He was very adult and he spoke to her calmly.

"Like I said we gotta work our way up to that. I think and I'm sure you'll agree that it's best for Maddie if we ease our way into this instead of throwin' yet another change at her all at once." Rayna reasoned with him.

Deacon frowned, but he nodded his acceptance of that. "Ok, but I will only go along with that for so long. This better not be you tryin' to stall. I will work with you all I have to, but I'm only gonna do that if my concerns are heard too."

"You're right and I promise you that this isn't me tryin' to stall." Rayna put her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

Deacon moved his face closer to hers. "As mad as I still am at you 'bout this Maddie situation, I want it to be different with this baby. All I want is for once to raise it up together under one roof."

Rayna moved her face even closer to his. She could feel the undeniable chemistry surging between them. It was like the calm before the storm. She felt like a lightning strike was about to happen at any second. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

Deacon wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him without breaking the kiss.

Rayna pulled away after a long moment panting with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I can't." She whispered softly. She ran away from him as quick as her legs could carry her.

A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Until next time please review.