Well, here's the end. This was certainly challenging, but I had a great time writing it. Thanks for the reads and reviews!

Rayna sighed with exhaustion as she placed a lid on the vending machine hot chocolate. Maddie hadn't asked for it, but she'd used hot chocolate as a coping mechanism since she was a small child. Sure, it was obviously a naïve thought to assume that a packet of Swiss Miss could rid the world of all its problems, but Rayna knew that it had always come closest.

She walked back to the waiting area, extending the warm paper cup to her daughter and smiling reassuringly. Maddie accepted the cup quietly and nodded her thanks.

"So," Rayna began, shifting her weight in the especially uncomfortable chair. "Do you think you'll ever drink coffee like the rest of us?"

Maddie shrugged.

"I just like hot chocolate."

Rayna took a sip of her own hot vending machine beverage, quickly dismissing it as some lethal toxin and sitting it on the ground at her feet.

"I talked to Talia's mom. They're watching her closely. They think she'll be fine."

Maddie nodded, staring intensely at the paper cup in her hand.

"What did they do to her?"

"Well," Rayna shrugged. "I don't know exactly. She's probably on an IV for dehydration and hooked up to some monitors so they can watch her breathing and everything. Sometimes they might give someone an oxygen mask if they're having trouble, or…"

She trailed off; vividly remembering the time when Deacon was so far gone they had to intubate him to make sure he didn't stop breathing. It was the night after Vince died, she remembered. They hadn't told her how bad he was or that they'd done the procedure; they'd just let her wander in. Her blood went cold as she recalled walking into his room and seeing him lifeless on the bed with a tube down his throat. She remembered the feeling of her knees buckling and the harsh wails escaping her lungs as she sank to the icy tile floor, certain this was the time he'd never come back to her.

"Or what?"

Rayna shivered, forcing herself back to reality.

"Huh?"

"You said 'or' and never finished. Or what?"

Rayna gave another sympathetic, albeit reassuring smile and placed her hand on Maddie's knee.

"Nothing. She'll be fine from this, but I think they'll send her for some therapy. She'll probably need a lot of help dealing with whatever is really happening. She hasn't had a healthy outlet or anyone to support her and help her work through her feelings. I think this was just a cry for help gone wrong."

"I don't know. I guess," Maddie shrugged, still fixated on the hot chocolate cup. "Does Deacon know we're here?"

"Well, he's been calling. I texted him and told him you and I had stepped out for some ice cream, but I don't think he's buying it. I was kinda hoping you'd tell me what happened before I made that phone call," Her fingers made their way to Maddie's head, stroking her hair behind her ear. "So do you wanna talk about it?"

Maddie sighed.

"Not really. She made me go to this stupid party I didn't want to go to. We got into a horrible fight and she got drunk. That's it."

"That's a short story," Rayna pressed on, still playing with Maddie's hair. "What'd you fight about?"

"Nothing. It was completely ridiculous."

"Okay. How'd you end up at Woodmont Park?"

Maddie fidgeted.

"I was driving her home and when I noticed she wasn't waking up I pulled over."

Rayna nodded, lowering her hand back to her lap. Her next question was the one she didn't want to ask, but knew she had to.

"Did you drink anything?"

Maddie grew frigid, slowly drawing into herself.

"Maddie?"

Rayna's voice was soft; almost soothing. She needed her daughter to understand that she wasn't angry—that she'd be there for her no matter what mistakes she made.

"No," Maddie shook her head and Rayna let out the breath she wasn't even aware she'd been holding. "Everyone was trying to get me to, especially Talia. She got really mean and said some really hurtful things when I wouldn't. I lost my temper and threw a drink in her face. That was the fight. Can we go home now?"

Maddie raised her eyes to her mother's for the first time since Rayna had brought her the hot chocolate. Her eyes were red and her face was puffy; she looked beaten.

"You don't want to wait 'til you can see her?"

"No. They said it could be hours before she's awake."

Rayna nodded, digging her phone out of her purse.

"I'm going to call Deacon real quick so he'll stop worrying. Then we can go, okay?"

Maddie nodded in agreement, though she was unable to shake the agonizing feeling gnawing at her. She hurt for her friend and felt partly responsible for not taking better care of her, but she also hurt for her parents. Rayna had been so careful to be understanding since she'd shown up at the hospital, but Maddie couldn't help but feel like she'd disappointed her. The gut wrenching feeling of knowing she'd likely disappointed her father was also overwhelming.

Perhaps it was buyer's remorse for putting herself in the situation at all, or maybe the disappointment was subtly showing through Rayna's grace. She couldn't tell one way or the other, but the thought was making her sick.

"Mom?" Maddie grabbed Rayna's hand as she walked away, forcing her to turn around. "How mad is he going to be?"

Rayna smiled softly, kneeling to Maddie's eye level.

"He'll be worried about you, sweetheart. I think he'll also be very grateful that you're okay."

Maddie cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrow.

"So I'm supposed to believe he won't be angry?"

"No. He's your dad, Maddie. And I'm your mama. You broke the rules. We'll both be furious, but I figure that can wait 'til tomorrow."

Maddie closed the door softly behind her, kicking off her shoes and placing them neatly on the mat in the foyer. She took in a breath as she gathered her surroundings, finding that the only sign of life came in the form of a dim light shining from the living room.

She trudged forward apprehensively. She was pretty sure of what was coming; she knew Deacon had a temper, drunk or not. She'd seen it a couple of times, the worst being when someone tried to blatantly plagiarize one of his songs. He'd once told her that a song was like a child. You create it, nurture it and build the foundation for what it's going to ultimately be and where it's going to go. She liked the metaphor at the time, but seeing his reaction to something to do with one of his songs and knowing that she was his actual child and had screwed up so royally kind of scared the hell out of her.

She stepped into the living room, Rayna in tow.

Deacon was already standing by the couch, hands on his hips as his flannel pants and t-shirt hung loosely off him. His face was completely stoical, while his eyes shifted intensely back and forth from Maddie to Rayna.

They were full of worry, Maddie saw. There was also a small bit of relief, but to her surprise there was no anger. She let her breath out quietly, watching as he nodded softly to her mother.

Rayna kissed Maddie on the temple and squeezed her shoulder, saying nothing as she slowly turned and walked out of the room.

Maddie stared at the floor and listened carefully to each soft thud her mother left behind on the staircase.

Here it was, she thought. This was the part she dreaded.

She braced herself, completely fearing the unknown words that she knew were about to come out of his mouth.

She'd expected him to yell. She may have even expected him to judge her, or simply walk away. What she hadn't expected was him to swiftly approach her and wrap his arms around her tightly.

She also hadn't expected to feel silent tears fall on her head.

Her breath was shaky as she wrapped her arms around him, embracing immense comfort for the first time that evening.

"Deacon?" She sought him out with her voice, never once unwrapping her arms from him or unburying her face from his chest.

"Hmm?"

"I thought about taking that drink."

She knew her mother had told him all that she'd revealed, but she'd left that part originally. She wasn't sure why she'd kept it from Rayna—it wasn't even something she'd done on purpose, but it had been weighing on her mind heavily along with everything else. It wasn't until that moment that she felt comfortable enough in her vulnerability to say it out loud. Maybe, she thought, she'd saved it for him because she knew he would understand.

He didn't say anything; he only gripped her tighter.

They stood like that for what felt like hours. It was just them—a scared girl and her father, trying their best to build something great on the ruins of a life they never got to have. Four years had brought them a long way, but there was still so much to be learned; to be shared.

"We'll go get your car tomorrow."

That was all he said, still not letting her go.

She sighed, knowing fully the odds of her actually getting to drive her car anywhere but school were slim to nil for a while.

"How long am I grounded?"

He pulled back slightly, finally looking her in the eye. He didn't blink, breathe, or hesitate in any way.

"Forever. Definitely."