A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers.

Chapter 3

Rayna was standing in the doorway of the spare room in her condo. She had moved out of her one bedroom apartment in Midtown and found a darling little 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath condo in the 12th South Neighborhood of Nashville. The spare bedroom was perfect for the nursery — it had a lot of natural light and storage for the massive amount of things that Rayna had purchased and either been given from friends and people she didn't even know at different labels in town. She was nesting at least that was what all of her books said. They had been putting furniture together and rearranging the room a million times for weeks and Rayna still wasn't completely in love with the room. She didn't imagine that she would be setting up a room for her daughter in a home that Deacon wasn't going to live in too, none of this was how she pictured it or wanted it to be.

Deacon was moving all of the furniture into the middle of the room and laying plastic over everything so that they could paint. He was pretty much staying at Rayna's more often than not to help her out around the house and get things ready for their impending arrival. Rayna's due date wasn't for another 4 weeks and they were in full blown panic mode trying to get everything done. Luckily, Deacon had finished most of the things at his place before he started helping Rayna with the nursery at her house.

Rayna walked into the room slowly and plopped down in the rocking chair and watched him as he opened up the pale pink paint can. "You don't think her room is going to be too pink do you?"

Deacon chuckled and shook his head, "Babe, you wanted pink — are you second guessing it already?"

"Maybe, but I don't think we really have time to change it now." Rayna shrugged slightly and rubbed her stomach slowly. "What if she hates pink?"

"If she hates pink, we have a few years before she can make it known that she hates it." Deacon tried to assure her.

Rayna smiled faintly at him and rubbed her stomach as the baby kicked. "You're right." She smiled at him again.

The closer Rayna got to her due date the more anxious, she became. She was scared to death to become a parent — she had no idea how she was going to do it and furthermore, had no idea what was going to happen between her and Deacon. He had been nothing short of amazing since she told him she was pregnant with his baby and she had called things off with Teddy. He was understanding for the first time in their entire relationship of her needing space to figure things out. They still hadn't talked about what they wanted once the baby was born. Their daily conversations consisted around the baby, Rayna's mood swings and her food cravings. They weren't together — that was a certainty. Rayna had made a promise to herself and to Deacon that there would be no sex until they worked things out, but that had lasted all of two-seconds by the time her second trimester hormones kicked in and they were making love twice a day.

Deacon winked at Rayna and went back to getting everything set up so he could begin painting the room. "My mom said she was going to send some paintings for you to hang up in here if you wanted. She also wanted me to tell you that she would be here when she's born to help." Deacon spoke as he dipped the roller into the paint pan and soaked it before starting to paint the wall.

"That is awful sweet of you. I think that would be the perfect thing to add to her room, a painting from her grandmother." Rayna rocked in the chair and watched him slide the roller over the wall and covering the wet pink paint over the dull white wall.

"She wanted to give you and her something special as a baby gift." Deacon spoke

Rayna propped her hand up on the top of her stomach and leaned back in the chair to get comfortable. Deacon bent down and gathered more paint on his roller. Rayna couldn't help but admire his backside as he bent over in front of her - Rayna had always enjoyed the way his jeans hugged him in all the right places.

Deacon noticed that she was checking him out and he winked at her. "Are you checking me out?" He teased her, he had read in her baby books that her sex drive could either increase or decrease — but he had never imagined that it would have increased as much as it had. Rayna had always been pretty up for anything, but her being pregnant was an entirely different ball game. Deacon has left in the middle of a gig or meeting on more than one occasion to rush over to tend to Rayna.

"I'm not..." Rayna stammered over her words and felt her cheeks turn fifty shades of red

"Uh-huh" Deacon chuckled and went back to painting the room. "So, you never did tell me if you had given anymore thought to those list of baby names."

They had been looking at baby names for the last four months and had finally narrowed their list down to three potential names. Deacon really loved Brooklyn Marie, while Rayna loved Emily Jean - their 3rd choice was one that they both loved but neither of them were dead set on. Deacon had picked out Kalyn as a first name and Rayna loved Leigh for a middle name.

"I'm still weighing our options, I personally think we're going to have a better idea of what we want to name her once we see her. Until then, I think we should still go with Kalyn Leigh - it's the only one we both agree on and like equally."

"Kalyn Leigh Claybourne," Deacon spoke out loud, "it still flows right off the tongue. It ain't very country music though."

Rayna laughed and rolled her eyes at him, "I didn't realize we had to name our child something that all of country music will be content with. Are we having this baby together or with the whole damn world?"

She had been pretty successful at keeping the majority of her pregnancy private from the media. The gender, the due date, etc was all a mystery to the outside world. Neither Rayna nor Deacon had wanted to share everything regarding the pregnancy, it was a special time between the two of them and they were content with sharing it with each other and their close friends and family.

"We're not, we picked out a few other names we liked. We don't have to decide right now, but we do need to decide before she's here." Deacon shrugged and continued painting.

"Yeah, I know - Tandy and I really want to get some monogrammed blankets and stuff, but we haven't been able to do that since we haven't settled on a name." Rayna sighed and picked up a teddy bear from the basket of stuffed animals next to the chair. "Teddy called today, by the way."

Deacon cringed when Rayna said Teddy's name and he gripped the handle on the paint roller tightly. Ever since she had called the wedding off and broke up with him, he was still trying to get back in her good graces and be a part of her life and the baby's life. Deacon hated the very thought of it and hated Teddy even more for trying to step in and keep his own child from him and in turn try to take something that didn't belong to him. It was his baby, not Teddy's and Rayna was his, not Teddy's - at least she used to be his. He was still bitter about the fact that Rayna went 3 months before she ever even told him that she was pregnant with his baby. He honestly believed that had he not walked into that church and begged her not to marry that prick — she would have and she would have raised their daughter with Teddy.

"What the hell did he want?" Deacon snarled as he forcefully painted the remainder of the wall.

"He knew that I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, he wanted to know what he said and how I was feeling."

Rayna knew that Teddy was still a rather sore subject when it came to Deacon and she couldn't blame him. She had almost done something that they couldn't come back from, she almost married a man she wasn't in love with because he was the safe choice and her father approved of him. She never wanted to hurt Deacon and she knew that a small piece of him resented her for ever even entertaining the idea of raising their baby with another man.

"What makes him think he has a right to know what the doctor had to say to you at your check up for our baby, he does realize that the kid ain't his. Its mine. What the hell are you even doing still talking to him, Rayna? I thought we were past this." Deacon turned around to look at her

"We're just friends Deacon, it's not like I'm doing anything shady behind your back and it's not like we're together." She paused, "We're having a baby, that's it." Rayna looked down at her stomach and rubbed it protectively.

Deacon dropped the roller back into the pan and paced around the room, Rayna's last words stabbing him in the chest like a thousand daggers. "That's it? That's all this is? Just us having a baby, Ray...you can't tell me that you honestly think that all this is between us is just us having a baby." Deacon threw his hands up in the air and sighed heavily, "You told me last night after we made love that this felt right. We felt right and that us raising our baby together felt right. Did you even mean it when you told me you loved me? Have you meant anything that you've said these last 5 months, Rayna - I can't keep pretending that I'm ok with waiting around for you to make your mind up."

"Deac..."

Rayna teared up and looked down not wanting to make eye contact with him, she knew he was hurting and she didn't mean for her words to come across has harsh as they had. The truth was she was scared. Scared of what would happen if she took him back.

"Babe, of course, I love you and of course I meant it all. I've loved you for the last 12 years, do you honestly think that I wouldn't still be in love with you now? Even if everything is so completely fucked up between us?" She wiped a tear that had rolled down her cheek away and looked up at him, "It does feel right, I want to raise this baby with you. These last few months have been more perfect than I could ever imagine, but I'm scared Deacon. We don't know what's going to happen once she's here. Things could change, we could change. I don't think I am ready to throw my heart back into the fire like that."

Deacon bit the corner of his lips and tried his best to hold back the tears that were forming in his own eyes as Rayna spoke. He never imagined that she would be having his baby and they wouldn't be together. Deacon knew that things were going to be different, his daughter wasn't going to live in the same house as him. He wasn't going to be able to sing her to sleep, or get up in the middle of the night to feed and change her or even dance around the living room at 3am when she was cranky and wouldn't go back to sleep. Rayna was going to be the one that did all of those things with their child.

He walked over to her and knelt in front of her in the rocking chair, Deacon cupped Rayna's cheek and wiped the tears on her cheek away with the pad of his thumb.

"Don't be scared, Ray. I know I have managed to let you down more times than I ever should've but that ain't gonna happen this time. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." Deacon whispered lowly and pressed his forehead against hers and locked his eyes on her. "Don't give up on me, don't give up on us. We can do this together. We owe it to our daughter to try."

The tears flowed from Rayna's eyes as he spoke, without saying a word Rayna wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his and kissed him passionately. Deacon was a little taken back when Rayna's lips crashed with his, but he brought his free hand resting on her thigh up to her face and cupped both sides of her face in his hands — their lips against each others' in a heated kiss. Deacon drug his tongue across her bottom lip in attempt to gain access to her mouth when Rayna parted her lips and he darted his tongue in and tangled his tongue with hers. Rayna slipped her hand down his neck and across his chest slowly popping the buttons of his shirt open and not stopping until she had successfully unbuttoned them all and slipped the plaid top down his lean and toned arms and discarded it onto the floor. Deacon moved his lips across her jawline as he kissed his way down her neck and to the swell of her breasts. Rayna tilted her head back and let out a low moan as Deacon's lips brushed against her breasts and he looked up at her. Deacon took note of the look of lust and want in her eyes and pulled away from Rayna and pulled her out of the rocking chair and down onto the plush fur rug on the nursery floor.

Deacon hovered above her slipping his hands down her body slowly until he reached the hem of her sun dress and he lifted it up slowly. He attacked her neck with his lips once more as he hooked his hands in the waist band of her lace panties and pulled them down her legs and tossed them to the side. Rayna's hands raked through his hair roughly, as Deacon's hands roamed freely across her body and his lips left marks on the exposed skin of her neck and chest. Deacon shifted enough to undo his pants and boxers and push them down off his hips, before he hovered back above her and positioned himself at her entrance.

"Are you sure?" He whispered into Rayna's ear

Rayna nodded her head slowly, "Yes. I want too. I want you."

Their lips crashed back with one another's as Deacon slid himself into her slowly — the sensation warranted a small moan to escape from both of their lips.

"I'll be easy." Deacon moaned lowly and moved his hips slowly against her and tangled his hands in her hair.

Rayna clutched his shoulder blades tightly with her hands, digging her nails into his skin as their bodies moved with one another slow at first and then a little faster as Deacon picked the pace up, gradually. It didn't take long for either of them before their breathing became ragged and Deacon's hips became more erratic and forceful with each and every thrust into Rayna's warmth. Soon they were both falling over their edge from their orgasms, their moans echoed through the room as their names bounced off of the walls as Deacon came spilling into her warmth, soon after Rayna's own release.

Deacon buried his face in the crook of Rayna's neck and panted. "Damn, woman I do believe you are trying to kill me." He muttered and kissed her softly.

"I didn't ask you to this time, Deac." Rayna ran her hands up and down his back slowly and kissed the top of his head.

"You didn't say no or try to stop me either." He smirked

"Touché"

The pair laid there in comfortable silence, both trying to regain a normal heart rate and breathing pattern when Rayna felt a huge amount of pressure in her lower abdomen and a gush of fluid. Deacon's head shot up and looked at her.

"What the hell was that...?" He asked panicked

Rayna looked at him with a terrified look on her face. "I think my water just broke."

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Deacon exclaimed and climbed off of her and pulled his pants back on and helped her up out of the floor. "We gotta go. We gotta go to the hospital." He ran around the room and looked for the hospital bag for the baby and Rayna and grabbed them both.

Deacon helped Rayna change and helped her out of the condo and out into his truck. He loaded the bags into the back and drove to the hospital as fast as he could. Rayna sat in the passenger seat clutching the arm rest and groaning ever so often. "She can't come yet. It's not time, it's too early." Rayna cried through a contraction as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

"It's ok, babe. It's all going to be ok, I promise." He took her hand and squeezed it. "I got you." Deacon pulled into a parking spot and turned the truck off. He jumped out and got Rayna out and rushed her into the ER. "My girlfriend's in labor. We need a room, ASAP." He exclaimed.

The nurse looked at him and handed him a clipboard with paperwork on it. "Name?"

"Jaymes, Rayna." He spoke as he took the clipboard and filled it out for Rayna as quickly as he could.

The nurse got them set up into a room in Labor & Delivery and left them to get settled in before the doctor came in. It felt like 5 seconds had passed from the time that Deacon parked the truck and helped her out and into the hospital. Rayna closed her eyes and tried to regulate her breathing as the contractions came and went. Deacon sat in the chair next to her bed and rubbed her arm slowly.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked

Rayna shook her head and turned to look at him. "No, babe. I'm ok for right now." She whispered lowly

"I guess this is all kinda my fault ain't it?"

"It's not your fault. She was ready to come out and give her mama and daddy one hell of scare in the process." Rayna smiled faintly at him.

"She's marching to the beat of her own drum already. I can't imagine who she gets that from." He kissed the back of her hand softly.

"I have no idea." Rayna laughed lightly,

Before either of them could speak again there was a knock on the door and Tandy rushed into the room and over to Rayna's bed side. "Rayna. I came as soon as I got your message, what did the doctor say?"

Rayna looked up at her older sister and shrugged, "Well, he obviously said that we are having a baby. She didn't want to wait to make her entrance into the world on her induction date - and decided she wanted today to be her birthday." She took her free hand and rubbed soothing circle on her stomach slowly.

Tandy glanced at Deacon and faked a smile. "Deacon, I think I can handle this from here. Thank you for bringing her and thank you for sitting her until I got here. You don't need to worry now." Tandy spoke dryly

Deacon chuckled lightly shaking his head and looked down at the floor. "Tandy, you are insane if you think I am lettin' you anywhere near my baby before I get to hold her first."

"Excuse me?" Tandy snorted,

"I believe ya heard me. That's my baby, she's about to have. Not yours, I am this child's father and I ain't going anywhere — you are more than welcome to stay in this room until Rayna starts pushing, but then your ass is out in the waiting room with everyone else that's here." Deacon stood firm and gave Tandy a warning look.

Rayna stared at the foot of the bed as the two shared dirty looks and harsh words with one another. She didn't want to get involved or caught in the middle of the argument, even if she knew it was inevitable. One thing was for certain, Rayna did not want the baby born into a hostile environment.

"Rayna, you need to talk some sense into this idiot." Tandy rolled her eyes

"He has a point, Tandy. I love you and while I would love for you to be in here when your niece is born — you can't be. I don't want her born into a room full of negativity and hostility. Deacon and I need to do this on our own. We're having a baby and becoming a family. We want to do this just the two of us. No one else." Rayna kept her voice calm and steady and hoped like hell that Tandy didn't flip out on her.

"And you are sure that this is what you want?" Tandy asked

Rayna nodded her head, "It's what I want."

"Then that's what'll happen" She sat down in the chair next to the contraction monitor and looked up at Deacon who was wiping Rayna's forehead and feeding her ice chips every couple of minutes.

For the next 3 hours Rayna's labor progressed and her contractions grew stronger and closer together than when they had first arrived at the hospital. She was laying on her side while Deacon rubbed small circle on the lower part of her back to ease the pressure from the contractions and labor pains.

"I hate you. I hate you so much." Rayna groaned as she gripped the railing on the hospital bed as another contraction hit.

"I know you don't really mean that, it's just the pain talking." Deacon replied and applied more pressure to her back. He wanted so badly to take her pain away. "Ray, are you sure you don't wanna get that epidural?" He asked

Rayna shook her head several times and looked back at him. "No, I don't want her born all drugged up. I want to do this naturally."

Deacon sighed, "You're in pain, baby — it may be a good idea to get it to ease some of your discomfort."

Deacon grabbed the damp washcloth off of the rolling tray next to the bed and wiped it across the back of her neck and across her face.

"We already talked about this, Deacon. I don't want it. My body was made for this - I'll be alright." Rayna tried to assure him but the truth was — she was terrified and a small part of her wanted the epidural.

"Just think about it, please." He spoke

"If it gets to be too much I will. Especially, if it'll make you feel better." Rayna smiled faintly.

"It will make me feel better. I don't like seeing you in pain, Ray." Deacon kissed the side of her face softly

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours later, Rayna and Deacon were in the delivery room alone with a set of nurses and their OB. Rayna was fully dilated and 100% effaced, she was ready to push. Rayna laid back on the bed covered in sweat with her legs in the stirrups and her left hand clutching Deacon's tightly.

"Ok, Rayna - the hard part is almost over. All you gotta do is give me a few big pushes and she'll be here." Dr. Thompson spoke up from the stool at the foot of the bed at Rayna's legs. "On the next contraction I want you give me a real big, push."

Rayna nodded her head slowly and screamed loudly as another contraction hit and she pushed as hard as she could for 10 seconds and fell back onto the bed. "I want the epidural. It's too painful. She's too big." Rayna begged,

"It's too late for an epidural, Rayna. You're gonna have to do this the all natural way the way you wanted." Dr. Thompson spoke

Rayna groaned in displeasure and screamed again as she pushed once more with the next contraction. "I hate you, Deacon. I'm never having sex with you again." She yelled loudly.

Deacon kissed the top of her head softly, "I know you don't really mean that, but alright." He whispered lowly and kissed her head again, as Rayna pushed and screamed again.

"The head and shoulders are out. One more big push and you'll have a healthy baby girl." Dr. Thompson encouraged her.

Rayna shook her head tiredly. "I can't. I can't do it anymore. She's gonna have to stay in, I can't do it."

Dr. Thompson looked at Deacon and motioned for him to keep her focused to get her to push again. Deacon nodded his head and looked at Rayna.

"Baby, listen to me. You can do this, I know you can do this. She's almost here. Our baby is almost here, all I need you to do is give us all one more push and then we can hold our daughter. You are so strong, Rayna. You are the strongest woman I have ever known. I'm right here, I got you. Push for me, babe." Deacon squeezed her hand and kissed her cheeks, and wiped the sweat from her brow.

Rayna cried softly and looked up at him, "I'm too tired, Deacon." She whispered lowly.

"I know you are but you don't have much more to go." He whispered back and wiped the tears from her cheeks and kissed her again. "Let's have a baby, Ray." He whispered against her lips and squeezed her hand reassuringly again.

Rayna nodded her head and pulled her legs back and brought her chin to her chest as another contraction hit and she screamed loudly as she pushed harder than she had before. "SHE'S TEARING ME APART." She screamed out.

Seconds later the baby girls' wails flooded through the room as the doctor pulled her out the remainder of the way and laid the baby on Rayna's chest to allow the nurses wipe her off. "Congratulations, it's a girl." Dr. Thompson smiled at them, "Dad would you like to cut the cord?" He looked at Deacon.

Deacon nodded his head with tears in his eyes and took the scissors from the nurse to cut the umbilical cord. Rayna cried as she looked down at the brown eyed, blonde haired, tiny baby laying across her chest. She ran her finger along the baby's face and smiled through the tears. "So, you're the one that's been kicking me and keeping me up all night." She choked back

Deacon leaned his head against Rayna's and looked down at the baby on Rayna's chest, their baby. He wiped back the tears that had fallen from his eyes and kissed the side of Rayna's head. "She's perfect, Ray, just like you." He whispered against her temple. "You did so good, baby."

Rayna looked up at him and reached up to cup his face. "We did good." Rayna corrected him and pulled his face down to hers and pressed her lips to his. "I love you, Deacon."

"I love you, Rayna." Deacon whispered against her lips and kissed him back.

Rayna and Deacon stared down at their new daughter in awe of how perfect and beautiful she was. She was Deacon made over with his eyes and his hair. The only thing that remotely resembled Rayna was her nose. Rayna didn't need a DNA test to tell her who Fathered this child. She had known it from the second the pregnancy test turned blue and light up like the neon lights of Downtown Nashville. This baby was Deacon's child. His and hers, together. They had created this tiny creature.

"I don't know how I feel about the name Kalyn Leigh now." Rayna admitted, as the nurses took the newborn to get cleaned up, measured and weighed.

Deacon was sitting in the chair next to Rayna's bedside his eyes staying focused on the nurses in the corner of the room with his newborn daughter. He had always had a gut feeling that she was his, he never believed that she could possibly be Teddy's. Rayna had always swore to him that she and Teddy were safe when they were together, she and Deacon on the other hand were never that good at being safe — more often than not they were too caught up in the moment to even stop to think about protection, since she was on the pill.

"You don't wanna name her that anymore?" Deacon spoke slowly, he about jumped up out of the chair when the nurse pricked the baby's foot with a needle for blood work and the infant wailed out in pain.

"Now that I have seen her, she doesn't look like a Kalyn to me. She looks like a Maddison to me." Rayna admitted, "And I know we did talk about Maddison for a possible name,"

Deacon turned his attention to Rayna when he heard the new name she was pitching.

"I like Maddison, we could call her Maddie for short." Deacon reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "What about Miranda for a middle name, after my mama?"

Rayna laced her fingers with his and smiled softly. "I love that. Maddison Miranda Claybourne. It's perfect, just like she is."

"Just like her mama." Deacon smirked.

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