A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.

Chapter 10

Deacon knocked loudly on the door in front of him. He couldn't afford a real producer at the moment, so this would have to do.

Avery opened the door looking disheveled and like he wasn't ready to be out of bed yet. "Deacon, what are you doing here?"

"Long story short I have the Bluebird booked for tomorrow night. I'm doin' a live at the Bluebird album on Vinyl. I was thinkin' that you could produce it. I wanna put it down on analog and really make it old school. I hope you're in for that." Deacon answered him.

"I really love that idea. I guess that means you took that record deal." Avery replied.

"It looks like you and Scarlett did some talkin' 'fore you broke up. I didn't take that record deal I got a better one. I'm now a solo artist and head or A and R over at Highway Sixty-Five. I don't have much money right now, but I can throw a little bit your way if you do this for me." Deacon offered.

"You're in business with Rayna now? That's surprising." Avery retorted.

"We are havin' a baby together. That'll make it a grand total of two. I know that Scarlett told you everythin'. It shouldn't be that surprisin' that Rayna and I are in business together." Deacon looked him in the eyes.

"Scarlett did tell me about Maddie. I would love to produce this thing for you and be involved some way with the great Rayna Jaymes. I love your idea of putting this on analog and making it sound like an old school Nashville recording. I am in for sure. I'm sure that you already have a great set list prepared and I will have nothing to worry about, but getting these songs on track." Avery jumped at the chance to produce for a guy like Deacon.

Deacon handed him a piece of paper. "This is the set list. You just have to worry 'bout gettin' it on track. I know that you will give me your best work."

"I will be in touch with you to do a run through of this tomorrow." Avery replied.

Deacon turned to leave. "Have you heard from Juliette? I know that she's goin' through a rough time right now with gettin' dropped from Edgehill."

"She's doing fine." Avery assured him. He knew that because she was hiding under his covers at the moment.

"Glad to hear it. She's a damn stubborn thing, ain't she?" Deacon walked out without waiting for an answer to his question.

"Babe, you doing ok? This music video isn't too much for you?" Tandy checked in on her sister after the cameras had stopped rolling.

"Tandy, I am fine. This isn't the first time I have recorded an album or music video while pregnant." Rayna rolled her eyes at her sister.

"I know that, but you have never pushed yourself as hard as you are right now when you were pregnant before." Tandy pointed out to her.

"This is what the label needs right now and I can't do anythin' less than that. Until I start puttin' albums out this isn't gonna be a label except on a piece of paper." Rayna reasoned with her.

"Well, Deacon is gonna do his thing and that should make things easier on you." Tandy replied.

"Deacon doin' this Bluebird thing is gonna be great for the label. We just need to be ready to follow that up with some really great stuff." Rayna told her.

"You can and you will. You don't have to worry about that." Tandy tried her best to reassure her and keep her from putting too much stress on herself.

"I have to worry 'bout that. If I don't then things won't go as planned." Rayna retorted.

"You ain't gotta worry 'bout things not goin' as planned. I just went over and talked to Avery. My band is playin' the hell outta the songs and we are gonna do a practice run tonight at the Bluebird. I promise you that things will be ready to go for tomorrow night." Deacon showed up out of the blue.

"Deacon, try to calm this woman down. She is about ready to bounce off the walls." Tandy addressed him.

Deacon put his hand on Rayna's belly and bent over to kiss it. "Squirrel, you're supposed to be keepin' your momma calm when daddy can't be 'round to keep an eye on things. Little boy, if we don't keep an eye on her she will run herself into the ground."

"No fair usin' the baby against me." Rayna said in mock indignation.

"I have to go with what I know will work when it comes to gettin' you to listen." Deacon straightened up.

"That reminds me I have a name for the list of running names for the baby." Tandy told them.

"What is it?" Deacon asked. He was suffering through a list of names he would never choose for his son thanks to Rayna, Tandy, and the girls.

"I was thinking that Parker would be a really good name for him." Tandy answered him.

"I really like that." Rayna's face lit up.

"No way. That is a name that will get him beat up on the playground. It sounds too much like a little preppy banker. I'm sayin' no to that name for the same reason I said no to Easton. That isn't even worthy on the list. You can't name the son of a Mississippi redneck Parker." Deacon protested.

"Well, like it or not this baby is a Wyatt too and that does make him a little preppy businessman." Tandy argued.

"Tandy, this is my son too and I said no, so I need you to respect that." Deacon tried to keep his cool. Rayna's extended family made that damn near impossible.

"Tandy, if he doesn't like it then he doesn't like it and we can't force the name on him no matter how much we like it." Rayna tried to diffuse the situation before Deacon or Tandy could blow up at each other.

"I'm just saying he acts like this baby is only his and doesn't have a bit of your DNA in him." Tandy scoffed.

"I don't think that at all. I just think that this is my son and he is a Claybourne whether you like it or not and I do get a say when it comes to namin' him unlike with Maddie." Deacon argued back.

"Babe, for all intents and purposes this is his first baby and I have to take what he thinks and wants into account. We didn't give him a chance to have a say with Maddie, so we do need to hear him out now." Rayna explained patiently.

"You know what? You don't need this right now. I'm just gonna head over and get ready for my practice set at the Bluebird. I don't expect you to be able to make tonight and tomorrow night. Seein' that you're so busy I would rather have you there with our daughter tomorrow night. I would rather have the kinks worked out before y'all hear it." Deacon turned on his heel and left without another word.

Rayna glared at her sister. "Really? It was important for you to make a stand on that?"

"I just feel like he's trying to steamroll over you and you're gonna let him, because you feel so guilty about the Maddie situation." Tandy leveled with her.

"I'm not lettin' him steamroll over me. I'm just goin' out of my way to let him have a say with what goes on with his baby. And, yeah, part of that is because I kept his daughter from him for so long. Look I know best when it comes to makin' this situation work with him and I need you to let me do that." Rayna spoke to her bluntly.

"Ok, whatever you say." Tandy shrugged her shoulders and sighed. She didn't know when her sister was going to learn her lesson when it came to Deacon Claybourne. He'd been causing her trouble since the moment she met him and that probably wasn't going to change any time soon.

"Deacon!" Maddie and Daphne squealed as they ran up and hugged him tightly.

"Hey, y'all, I'm really glad that you could make it out tonight. I'm so excited to have my biggest fans in that audience." Deacon bent over and kissed both their heads.

"We wouldn't have missed it for anythin' in the world. There is nowhere else more important that we needed to be tonight. As far as I'm concerned the girls and Baby Claybourne are part of this company too and it was important for the three of them to be here." Rayna smiled at him.

Deacon grinned and then he bit his lip. She looked good enough to eat tonight. He would do it gladly and twice on Sunday with a smile on his face. "Well, I'm glad y'all are here. I should go get ready now. I saved y'all some good seats for family." He pointed to where Scarlett, Beverly, and June sat.

"You got mawmaw to come?" Maddie made sure to keep her voice at a whisper no one could know that Deacon was her father or that his mother was her grandmother. It was very unfair if you asked her. The whole world could know that Rayna was having Deacon's baby and that she was dating Luke, but no one could know that Deacon was also her father.

"I'm her baby boy. Of course, she showed up for this. Y'all should go sit next to her. She would love that more than anythin'." Deacon encouraged them.

Maddie and Daphne ran off to sit with June.

"I'm really glad you got her to come." Rayna smiled softly.

"Me too. I didn't want her to miss this." Deacon replied. "I should get up there and get this show on the road."

"Go be great. Your two biggest fans are here for you." Rayna took his hand and put it on her belly.

Deacon smiled when the baby kicked. "Well, now I know I will kill it tonight. I can't let my boy down when he is so excited."

The owner of the Bluebird introduced Deacon and he took the stage. He sat down behind the mic with his guitar and started to play softly. "Distance don't mean a thing. I come when you pull the string. The strings of my heart wherever you are. Just pull and tug and tease. Time isn't all it seems no measure of you and me. Hours turn into days though I'm far away. Just pull and tug and tease. I keep comin' back oh, it's true. I keep comin' back 'cause that's what I do. I'll retrace my tracks to you." He opened with a song that was clearly about Rayna without him explicitly saying the words.

"A heart on the run keeps a hand on the gun you can't trust anyone. I was so sure what I needed was more tried to shoot out the sun. The days when we raged we flew off the page such damage was done. But I made it through 'cause somebody knew I was meant for someone." Deacon found Rayna's eyes in the crowd and sang directly to her. He needed her to hear the words of this song and hear just what she meant to him.

"So, girl, leave your boots by the bed we ain't leavin' this room 'til someone needs medical help and the magnolias bloom. It's cold in this house and I ain't goin' out to chop wood. So, cover me up and know you're enough to use me for good."

Rayna's bottom lip quivered. She could feel the words he was singing to her in her soul.

"Put your faith to the test when I tore off that dress in Richmond on high. I sobered up I swore off that stuff forever this time. And the old lovers sing I thought it be me who helped him get home. One I'd never seen 'til you came along. So, girl hang your dress out to dry we ain't leavin' this room. 'Til Percy Priest breaks open wide and the river runs through and carries this house on the stones like a piece of driftwood. So, cover me up and know you're enough to use me for good." This was his relationship with Rayna in a nutshell he couldn't say it any better if he tried to. With them it was better to do it through song.

Rayna's eyes filled up with tears. She felt every bit of the love she had for him. She also knew it was useless of her to deny that she wanted to be with him no matter what her head told her was the right thing to do.

"So, girl leave your boots by the bed we ain't leavin' this room 'til someone needs medical help or the magnolias bloom. It's cold in this house and I ain't goin' out to chop wood. So, cover me up and know you're enough to use me for good. Cover me up and know you're enough to use me for good." Deacon finished the song and moved on to the rest of his set.

"Ok, it looks like he's almost finished up with his fans and he's gonna be over here any minute." Rayna told the girls and Deacon's family after his set was finished.

Deacon walked over to them with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, how y'all doin'? Thanks for waitin' 'round for me so long."

"Oh, baby boy, that was incredible." June hugged him and kissed both his cheeks.

"Thanks, momma." Deacon smiled back.

Beverly wrapped her arms around her brother's neck tightly. "Well done, baby brother."

"That means a lot comin' from you." Deacon hugged her back.

"Uncle Deacon, you made it happen." Scarlett hugged him next.

"I did my best." Deacon tried to be modest.

Daphne hugged him around his legs. "That was great."

"Thanks, Squirt." Deacon patted her back.

"I'm gonna need a signed copy of that album." Maddie informed Deacon.

"I will make that happen for you. I'm glad you liked it." Deacon's heart was about to burst with pride. He loved that his daughter thought his music was that good. Her opinion meant more to him than almost anyone else's.

"You were my bandleader for entirely too long when what you needed to be was a front man." Rayna had dried tear tracks on her face.

"You really liked it that much?" Deacon asked. Hers was the opinion that mattered the most to him.

"Do you see me right now? I'm still a mess. You did keep comin' back and cover me up at the start of your set. I think it's safe to say those were 'bout me." Rayna praised them.

"There's no way they could be 'bout anyone else." Deacon stared deeply into her eyes.

"I need time. I know I've said that before, but I do. I have to end things with Luke and we need to go slow." Rayna knew what was in her heart.

"Take your time. I will always be here waitin' on ya." Deacon reassured her.

"I just wish I'd had this idea 'fore I went public with him. If I had then I woulda never done it. I was just tryin' to get over you." Rayna admitted to him.

"It's ok, Ray, we can get through this together." Deacon stared into her eyes.

"I think we will. You've never been this strong and stable before." Rayna took his hand and squeezed it. She loved this version of the man she loved. She liked him being in control and on top of things. It took a huge weight off her shoulders. She wasn't going to complain of not having to be in control of one more thing. It all seemed like it was going to be too much for her sometimes. There were times when it felt like she had to be so strong and handle everything else for everyone that she didn't know how she would handle it for one more second much less one more day.

"Deacon! Hey, hey, hey, welcome to this Highway Sixty-five meeting." Bucky greeted him.

"Well, thank you for such an enthusiastic welcome, Buck." Deacon took a seat at the kitchen table with the rest of them.

"He's that happy to see you, because, of the killer reviews on your set at the Bluebird last night. You really exceeded the expectations that any of us had. Why didn't you go solo sooner? You would be bigger than Luke Wheeler if you had." Tandy actually praised him for a change.

"I didn't go solo sooner, 'cause your baby sister needed me to play guitar and write songs with her." Deacon shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I can see how wrong I was to keep you by my side no matter how badly I needed you. I robbed the world from your talent for long." Rayna chimed in.

"With that outta the way we should get down to business." Bucky cleared his throat.

Deacon claimed an empty coffee cup from the center of the table and filled it from the carafe. "What's on your mind, Bucky?" He could tell that the other man was worried about something.

"I think I know what Bucky's concern is. We have you, Rayna, and Scarlett, but we need more artists than that. We need to think 'bout signing someone else to the label." Tandy picked.

"Tandy, we know and we will get there eventually. I know that Deacon probably has enough songs to keep us goin' for a few months. He has so many damn songs that he sells them to make sure they get played by someone on a regular basis." Rayna tried to get her sister off her back.

"Be that as it may we still need more income coming into the label." Tandy argued.

"I have a bad idea if anyone is interested in hearin' it." Deacon knew that if he didn't speak up Tandy would plow over him and not give a damn that she did.

"You're the man who got my sister pregnant twice out of wedlock. I think that all your ideas are bad ideas. That bein' said tell the rest of us what's on your mind." Tandy rolled her eyes.

Deacon just shook her comment off. "This may be the worst idea in the world, but I was thinkin' that maybe we should sign Juliette. She doesn't have a label right now and she will recover from this scandal and bounce back more popular than ever. She ain't the first country artist to tell the establishment to go to hell."

"That is a horrible idea, but it's one that has merit." Rayna couldn't help, but agree with him.

"It's not that horrible." Bucky was thinking of all the revenue that Juliette would pull in.

Tandy held her hand up. "No, no way in hell. She's not just bad for business. It's bad to even think about being associated with her right now. She is radioactive." She voiced her concerns.

"Johnny, Willie, Waylon, Kris, and Loretta. That's just the name of a few country music superstars who over the years have told the country music establishment could stick it and they are considered legends now. She's controversial for sure, but that works in our favor. There are a lotta people who think she is gettin' a raw deal. We would be seen as visionaries for signin' her and tellin' the rest of the world to go get fucked." Deacon spoke bluntly.

"He ain't wrong. It's somethin' that we should really give a lotta thought to." Rayna predictably sided with him.

"This is gonna happen no matter what I think isn't it?" Tandy just gave up on getting the other three to see reason.

"That's a pretty good bet when it comes to these two." Bucky answered her even though her question didn't require an answer.

"She's closer to you and likes you better you should be the one to make the offer." Rayna spoke to Deacon like the other two hadn't said a word.

"I can try my best. This is Juliette we are talkin' 'bout, so I can't promise anythin' at all. I will talk to her though." Deacon replied. The only person in the room who mattered to him was Rayna.

Rayna gasped and put her hand on her belly. "I'm pretty sure that your son agrees with you. Either that or he doesn't like what his momma ate for breakfast."

"I think it's a little bit of both. My son thinks I'm a genius and he can't deal with the undoubtedly crappy food you ate for breakfast." Deacon teased her.

"So, you'll talk to her?" Rayna asked like he hadn't said anything else.

"I will talk to her and let you know how it goes." Deacon promised her.

A/N: Here is the next chapter, I hope y'all enjoyed it. Until next time please review.