A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. This chapter was written by TamiTaylor

Chapter 2

The last few weeks for Rayna had been a whirlwind ever since Deacon came rushing into the church and begged her not to marry Teddy. The strawberry blonde spent a good 12 hours arguing with Teddy about how she simply could not marry him. Teddy still wasn't taking no for an answer, 5 weeks later and he was still texting and calling her daily to check on the baby and to beg her to change her mind and come back to him. Things with Rayna and Deacon were stable they were trying to find a happy medium on how to raise their child. While Rayna loved Deacon more than the sun, moon and stars she wasn't ready to dive straight back into the treacherous waters and get back together with him. She needed to know that he was serious about being sober and staying sober.

Rayna was sitting on the couch in her apartment picking out her favorite baby boy and girl names in preparation for their anatomy scan at the end of the week. When she heard a knock on her door she assumed it was Deacon because he had promised he would come over and go over the names with her so they could narrow down their favorite ones before the appointment. Rayna put the book down on the coffee table and walked over to the front door and smiled as she opened it. Her smiled quickly disappeared when she noticed that it wasn't Deacon on the other side of her door. It was Tandy and Lamar. She had successfully avoided their calls and obvious visits to her house the last couple of weeks since she called the wedding off and broke up with Teddy.

Rayna sighed and leaned against the door. "Daddy, Tandy. I can't say that I'm surprised y'all are here - because I knew this visit was inevitable." She spoke dryly and stepped out of the way to let them both into the apartment.

Tandy and Lamar both stepped inside of Rayna's apartment and looked around. Rayna eyed them as they glanced around the kitchen and living room. She knew who they were looking for.

"He's not here..." She spoke up "Not that it's any of y'all business if he was here or not." She added

"What in the hell do you think you are doing, Rayna. You threw a life with a good man who would be reliable, dependable and supportive away to be with an unreliable, destructive drunk." Lamar barked, he stood firm in the living room and stared her down.

"Teddy was your choice for me. He wasn't my choice. I don't care how reliable and great he is. He isn't Deacon. He'll never be Deacon, daddy. It wasn't fair to me, him or anyone else involved if I had went through with the wedding. It was wrong." Rayna replied and walked back over to the couch and sat down, pulling her legs up underneath her and placing her hand on her stomach protectively.

"What is your big plan then Rayna? Marry Deacon, raise this baby with him?" Tandy asked her sister.

Rayna shrugged her shoulders at the question. She hadn't thought about what was going to happen between her and Deacon know that she wasn't marrying Teddy and they were planning on co-parenting to the best of their ability. She loved Deacon and she wanted to be his wife and raise their child up in loving and stable home, but she still wasn't 100 percent certain that his 5th stint in rehab was going to stick. Sure he was constantly trying to prove it to her that he was done with the pills and booze, but she had been down that road one too many times with him before.

"I don't have a big plan, Deacon and I are going to be raising this baby with each other one way or another. We aren't together if that's what you're getting at, he's trying to prove that he can stay sober. I love him and I want to be with him for the sake of our child, but I need to know that he is better and that things won't be the same. I'm not stupid enough to put a child through what I went through with him." Rayna paused and rubbed her stomach slowly and looked down at the swell of her bump. "It's not about me or Deacon anymore. It's about the baby." She added

"No, here's what you are going to do. You are going to call Teddy and tell him you made a mistake and you want to be with him. The two of you will get married before this baby is born and he will be this baby's father. Claybourne is not father material and he's hardly husband material." Lamar said firmly, "Conrad is your best bet at being happy and that child having a happy, stable life and family - make the call Rayna." He finished folding his arms across his chest.

"I can't do that!" Rayna exclaimed, "I won't do it. I'm not going to trap him into a marriage because it make you feel more comfortable. I'm not going to ask him to raise another man's baby - when that man is willing and wants to be a daddy." She added, "You can't just bully someone into making a choice they don't want. Why can't you both just stay out of it and let me do what it is that I think is best for me and my child."

"We only want what's best for you, Rayna. I've watched you and had to pick you up off the ground more times than I can count on both of my hands when Deacon's messed up. Just because it's his baby that doesn't mean he's going to change and be everything you need him to be." Tandy tried to reason with her knowing that arguing with her would get them nowhere considering they were all three stubborn as mules.

"I appreciate it, but I think I got this handled. Last time I checked it was my baby. Mine and Deacon's and no one else's. We were the only two people that were present the night this child was conceived. He says things are going to be different that he needs me and the baby more than he needs to drink. I trust him with every fiber of my being. I know being with him is the right thing to do. If the two of you can't be happy for me and accept the fact that I am having his baby - then you can both leave and don't bother coming back. I don't want people in my child's life if they don't approve of their father."

Lamar and Tandy both sat back and looked at Rayna while she spoke. Lamar couldn't sit there and act like he was supportive of this decision of hers but Rayna had never been one to obey him or his wishes - why did he expect her to do such a thing now. Tandy, however was almost certain that it was just the pretty picture that Deacon was painting for Rayna that was drawing her sister back into his grasps. There was one thing that they all three could agree on and that was that they weren't going to see eye to eye on the subject.

Lamar threw his hands up in defeat. "When this blows up in your face as I know it will. Don't say I didn't try to give you a better option." He spoke and turned to walk towards the door and walked out of the apartment.

The loud thud of the door caused Rayna to jump on the couch. She looked down at her stomach and tried to hold back the tears, making sure not to look up and make eye contact with her sister.

"You can go too, Tandy." She muttered lowly.

Tandy looked at her and sighed, "Rayna..."

"Please, just go. I don't have the energy to fight you and daddy on this anymore."

Tandy sighed once again and made her way to the door and walked out of the apartment. As soon as Rayna was alone she allowed the tears she was holding back to fall from her eyes and cascade all over her face.

Rayna was sitting on the exam room table fidgeting with her hands in her lap, her eyes scanning around the room. Deacon was sitting in the corner of the room in a chair bouncing his leg nervously. They had barely spoken to each other since they got into the room, they were both nervous about the appointment and finding out the sex of the baby. Deacon had voiced his preference on more than one occasion, a son. He wanted a son to teach how to play the guitar, play catch with and do all of those boy things that he never got to do with his Father.

"Do you have to go to a meeting after the appointment?" Rayna asked finally breaking the silence that had fallen between the two of them.

"I was going to hit one this afternoon. I went to one this morning before I met you here. I told you I was going to go to two a day for as long as I thought I needed too - but you and this baby are keeping me sober. I don't need the booze."

Rayna had been increasingly impressed with how well Deacon was doing with his sobriety. He had been out of rehab for a few months and he had yet to relapse. While she wanted to take credit for it she couldn't. Deacon had to want to get sober for himself, he needed to want it otherwise, it wasn't going to stick - which is exactly where Rayna went wrong the 4 times before this one. She wanted him to get better, she needed him to get sober and stay sober - her nagging only pushed him further away.

"I'm proud of you of you for being able to stay on the straight and narrow." Rayna smiled up at him, for once in their relationship Deacon was clear minded, reliable and dependable.

Rayna's ultimatum constantly echoed through Deacon's ears on a daily basis. He knew she was serious about him being on his absolute final chance with her and truthfully, he couldn't blame her. He had fucked up and let her down more times than he ever should have. Deacon wasn't going to do that this time around. He wanted to show her that he could be that man that she had always needed him to be.

"You kicked my ass pretty good that day. The thought of losing you to someone else and the thought of losing my baby to another man, makes me sick. I don't want anyone else raising my kid with you." Deacon spoke firmly, he really didn't want Teddy anywhere near his child or Rayna for that matter.

"Deac, as long as things keep going the way they have been - you aren't going to lose me or this baby. We're going to raise this baby together whether we are together or not." She appreciated his enthusiasm but Rayna felt like it was almost too good to be true considering their past.

Before Deacon could respond to her there was a knock on the exam room door and the OB walked into the room and smiled at them both as he walked across the small room and sat Rayna's file down on the counter and turned to face her.

"Good afternoon -Rayna, Deacon. How are you feeling today? Still having an issues with morning sickness?" Dr. Thompson asked her as he washed his hands and stepped next to Rayna, motioning for her to lay back.

Rayna laid back on the exam table and lifted her stomach slightly to expose the bare swell of the bump of her stomach. "Here and there. Mostly in the mornings, the food cravings have kicked in more than anything the last few weeks."

The doctor nodded his head and he pressed on Rayna's stomach gently. Deacon stood back to the side and watched as the doctor talked to Rayna about a variety of different things and did his exam. He felt like they would never get to the anatomy scan of the baby.

"So, are we wanting to find out the sex today or do we want to wait until delivery to find out?" Dr. Thompson asked them both as he turned the ultrasound machine on and got everything set up for the sonogram portion of the appointment.

Rayna looked at Deacon and took his hand in hers and laced their fingers together, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "We want to know today." Deacon responded, looking back down at Rayna and smiling lovingly at her.

The Doctor nodded his head as he squirted the gel onto Rayna's stomach and placed the wand on her stomach and began moving it around. Rayna and Deacon both locked their eyes on the screen as images of their baby flashed on the screen and the heartbeat echoed through the room.

"Heart rate is still nice and strong." The doctor spoke, making note of a few measurements, "Alright, you see that right there." He pointed to the center of the screen, "That's a leg, some long legs too and that right there in the middle is a little girl." He added, "Congratulations, It's a Girl."

"A girl. We're having a girl." Deacon choked back on the tears that had been forming in his eyes since the first image of his baby popped up on the screen. He gave Rayna's hand a tight squeeze and out of reflex leaned down and pressed his lips to hers and kissed her passionately.

Rayna couldn't hold back the tears in her eyes herself when she heard the words 'It's a Girl' come out of her OB's mouth. She could see how excited Deacon was and she was a little taken back when he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She cupped his face with her free hand and kissed him back. "Now you have two girls to fight for." She whispered against his lips and kissed him again.

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