Scarlett opened her eyes and looked over to see her mother still asleep in the bed. It had been two days since the surgery and Beverly was recovering well. They had moved her from the ICU to a regular room on the surgical floor and given Scarlett a chair that pulled out into a bed to sleep in if she wished.

"You know you don't have to stay here, watchin' me sleep," Beverly said from her bed, her eyes still closed.

"I just want to make sure you have everything you need," Scarlett said quietly. She pushed the light blanket off her legs and stood up. "I'm going to go check on Deacon and see how Rayna is doing."

"Well, don't let me keep you," Beverly replied.

Scarlett stopped at the door, started to say something, then turned and walked out of the room. If she had learned anything in her life, it was that there was no reasoning with her mother.

Scarlett walked into Deacon's room and looked over where Rayna lay sleeping in a chair much like the one she had just gotten out of in her mom's room. It wasn't protocol to let someone stay in one of the ICU cubicles, but the chair had mysteriously appeared the night before as Rayna was falling over asleep in the straight back chair they had brought in for her earlier that day.

Scarlett walked up to her uncle and brushed a hair back from where it had fallen toward his eyes. She had so rarely seen him still, lying asleep like this. Except he wasn't asleep-he was unconscious and no one seemed to be willing to say when or if he was going to wake up.

She had pressed Caleb to tell her what to expect and unlike earlier with the details about the transplant, now he was unwilling to tell her much. Which had driven her to the internet. She knew these first 72 hours were crucial in predicting if Deacon would or would not recover.

"How does he look?"

She turned to find Rayna now awake and sitting up. Scarlett shrugged.

"I keep thinking the next time I wake up, he's just going to be sitting there in the bed, asking me where Maddie and Daphne are, if I can bring him a guitar and that he's got a verse, a chorus and a bridge for a new song," Rayna said, a small smile crossing her face.

"He'll be doin' that soon enough," Scarlett answered. She went over and sat on the end of the chaise near Rayna's feet. "He's got way too much to live for, Rayna."

Rayna nodded, then a few tears leaked from her eyes. She reached up quickly to brush them away. "I know...but…"

"It's hard, isn't it?" Scarlett replied.

Rayna nodded. "They said this part can take up to 24 hours as well. He looks warmer and feels more like himself." She pulled her phone out and looked at the screen. "Tandy's bringing the girls up before school. I'd better go meet them."

"I'll stay here with him," Scarlett replied as she reached out and took Rayna into a quick hug. "I know he knows we're here."

Rayna returned the embrace and then stood up. "I hope so. I dearly hope so."

"Can we sign to him?" Maddie asked as they stood next to Deacon's bed.

"Of course," Rayna said as she put her arms around the girls. "I'm sure he'd love that."

She watched Deacon's body as the girls began to sing. The hypothermia treatment had been stopped the night before and they had slowly been warming him up since then. His cheeks finally had a bit more pink to them. The next test would come later that day when they would try to take him off the ventilator. They'd do that for the next three days. And then…

"Mom!" Maddie exclaimed. She pointed to Deacon where it looked like was grimacing. "Is he in pain?"

Rayna reached up and pressed the button to call the nurse. She then moved over next to Maddie and reached to take Deacon's hand.

"You're okay, Deacon. You're at the hospital. The surgery went well and your liver is doing great. We're all here with you. C'mere girls, just put your hands here on his arms," she directed Maddie and Daphne.

"Okay, let's sing something," she said as she continued to hold Deacon's hand. "I'm sure Deacon would love to hear you."

As the girls began to sing, Deacon's face did relax. Rayna looked up to see a nurse at the door.

"Did you need something?" Kelly, the nurse asked.

Rayna nodded, let her hand slip from Deacon's and moved over to the door. "He had a reaction, when the girls first began to sing. Is this a sign of him waking up?"

Kelly smiled. "It could be. Let me page Dr. Rand and we'll have him come take a look." She patted Rayna on the arm and turned to leave the room. "But, it could be a lot of things, so…"

Rayna nodded. Don't get your hopes up, was the unspoken message. She turned back to the girls. "That sounded really great."

Maddie leaned forward and ran her fingers over the stubble that was beginning to appear on Deacon's cheek, which now was slack and unmoving. "Is he gonna wake up, Mom?"

Rayna moved over and slipped her arm around Maddie. "We're just gonna have to wait, keep him in our prayers and we'll see."

Maddie turned and tucked herself into Rayna's arms. She could feel her daughter crying. Daphne moved over and also put her arms around Rayna.

It just wasn't fair. None of it was.

Gunnar pulled up in front of the hospital and looked down again at his phone. Meet me at the hospital? Need to get out of here. - Scarlett. He was about to send her a message saying he'd arrived when the passenger door opened and she slipped into the car.

"Thank you for coming. I don't think I coulda managed another minute in there," Scarlett said as she pulled the seatbelt across and hooked it.

"How's Deacon?" Gunnar asked.

Scarlett shrugged. "The same."

"How's your mom?"

Scarlett grimaced. "The same. I mean, I don't know why I thought she'd be any different. It's not like it was half her liver that makes her mean."

"You want to go somewhere? Get out of here for a bit?" Gunnar asked.

Scarlett nodded. "Yeah, maybe just for a while. Can we go back to your place and work on that song for a bit?"

"Sounds good," Gunnar replied as he put the car into gear and headed toward East Nashville.

Rayna watched from the hallway as Caleb and two other doctors from the team assessed Deacon. After a few minutes he came out into the hall.

"Is he waking up?" she asked.

Caleb shook his head. "Not that any of the monitors have indicated, but we wouldn't necessarily expect that right now."

"So what caused him to do that, to act like he was in pain?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her body, trying to protect herself from the words.

"It's hard for us to know. I mean, he could have a level of consciousness, but there's a lot we don't know about this stage. He's not sedated, but he's also not breathing on his own."

Rayna stood quietly, taking it in. "So, we just wait?"

"Yes, we wait-and we hope for the best. You can to keep focused on that, Rayna. There's still a lot of hope."

Rayna stood waiting outside the curtained area in the emergency room. Finally, the curtain was pushed back and a doctor invited her to come into the small exam space.

"He's gonna be fine. We pumped his stomach and he's not going to feel very good when he wakes up, but he should be just fine," the doctor explained. "But, if you think you have any way to convince him, you need to get him back in rehab. The next time he might not be so lucky."

"I know," Rayna replied as she went in to find Deacon, once again, in a hospital bed.

She waited there for him to wake up-waited the rest of the day while the tour bus went on to the next gig and they found someone else to be the opener for that night's show.

"Hey."

She opened her eyes to finally find Deacon's open as well.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Tulsa," she answered, dully.

Deacon looked down and found the IV going into his arm. His eyes closed, then opened up again.

"Shit, Ray-I'm sorry. I…"

She stood up and picked up her purse and put over her shoulder. "I know, Deacon. But I also know I can't spend anymore nights sitting in a hospital waiting for you to wake up. You need to get better, babe. Or I...well, I can't do this again."

Deacon nodded. "Let me fix this," he finally responded.

She handed him a packet of papers. "You're booked on a flight tomorrow morning to Minnesota. It's a place called Hazelden. They're supposed to be the best."

"Thanks, Rayna," he responded.

She paused by the curtain. "Don't thank me. Just get it right this time, Deacon. Cause three strikes and I'm out. Got it?"

"I got it," he replied.

It had been a lot of years since she'd sat in a hospital waiting on him to wake up. And to be fair, this was and it wasn't about his drinking. This was about needing the liver, but also about having to wait too long for it. She found that bit of rage beginning to fill back up in her-why did this have to happen to them now when they had everything else they wanted? Why had it taken Beverly so long to say yes?

"Rayna?"

She turned to find Deacon's sister there, sitting in a wheelchair with her own IV pole.

"Bev."

"I think we better talk," Deacon's sister said, her face with that same hard look Rayna had seen so many times before. It made Rayna feel like someone had just walked over her grave.