Tandy walked in and found Rayna sitting in her kitchen drinking a glass of ginger ale.

"How are you feeling today?"

"I'm ok, just feeling a little under the weather, I think all this stress and being in the hospital left me rundown. I have a bit of a virus."

"Well why are you up, you should be in bed Rayna!"

"Calm down Tandy, I'm fine. I'm actually going to go up and see Deacon today at the cabin."

"Are you sure you want to do that? He went up there on his own for a reason."

"I know, but if we're ever going to try to fix things we can't stay apart forever. And frankly, I have to know if he even wants to fix things. Plus I'm tired of sitting in this house, I need some fresh air."

"Do you want me to drive you?"

"No, I think this is something I have to do alone."

##

A few hours later Rayna was driving through the verdant countryside near Watts Bar Lake. Deacon's family had owned the land here for a few generations. The cabin had started out as a one-room shack back in the late 1800s, but by now it had expanded to a full house with running water and a wrap around deck that overlooked the lake below.

It had been years since she'd been up here, but she still knew the way as if it was just yesterday. She and Deacon had spent a lot of wonderful weeks hidden away at the cabin, barely getting out of bed except maybe to write some songs, though most of those were written from bed as well if she was going to be honest with herself.

As she pulled through the woods into the dirt driveway she saw him sitting on the porch looking out at the lake. She got out of her car and walked around so she was standing just off the steps.

Deacon was playing around with his Martin when he heard the hum of her SUV. He was happy to see her, but a little nervous at what they were going to say to each other.

She looked beautiful as ever, tight blue jeans, sleeveless blue silk blouse that brought out the red in her hair and the blue in her eyes. All she was missing was her stilettos, but considering she wasn't walking so well last time he'd seen her he thought the flat jeweled sandals looked just fine.

"Miss Rayna Jaymes, out of the hospital and looking just as fabulous as always."

She walked up to the porch and gave him a smile.

"I thought I'd come up and see how you're doing?"

"I'm ok. Got some new songs that I'm feeling pretty good about. Drinking my iced-tea." Deacon raised the glass and swirled the brown liquid around a little.

"You still have that old couch out here on the porch? You are a red neck at heart Deacon Clayborne."

"Well, why fix what's not broken?" Deacon joked, then his voice trailed off a little "cause there's plenty that is broken in my life right now."

She couldn't deny that the comment stung. "I know, and I know I'm partially to blame for that."

Deacon thought for a moment before he spoke, "When everything else has gone to hell I've always had you, always trusted you, and now I'm not so sure I can trust you anymore. I hate that."

"I know, I feel the same way and it's tearing me apart."

Rayna saw the pain in his eyes and she just wanted to hold him. She wasn't sure she should, but she walked up on the porch took the guitar out of his hands and set it down on the table. Then she climbed on the couch and lay down in his arms so they were stretched out along the paisley fabric.

Deacon had been so solitary for the last couple of weeks that the touch of her skin was a shock to his system, but a welcome one. He wrapped her tightly in his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. Whatever problems they were having being like this together always brought peace to each of them, however temporary.

They lay like that in silence for a while. Finally Rayna spoke. "Maddie wanted to come up too, but it's Teddy's week and I didn't want to rock the boat too much."

Deacon wasn't sure if that made him happy or more nervous. What if Maddie had come, what would he have said to her, would she be disappointed in him that he was hiding up here rather than trying to be her dad?

"That's nice, tell her I say we'll have a proper jam session when I'm back in town."

"When are you coming back to town?" Rayna sat up and stretched her legs out across the table.

"I don't know Ray, things are pretty simple for me up here right now, and I think that's what I need."

"You can't hideaway forever."

"I'm not hiding, I'm just contemplating."

"I wish I could hide from this divorce stuff with Teddy."

"Is he being a pain since the accident?"

"He doesn't want me or the girls around you."

Deacon thought about that for a second and looked out at the water.

"Yeah, I could see that after I took a swing at him."

"What!? When did you do that?"

Deacon shuffled a little in his seat, he didn't like admitting to Rayna that he'd screwed up.

"When I was drinking, I found him on the lawn at city hall and took a swing. We kind of got into it a bit."

"Oh Deacon, no wonder why he was so sure you were drinking again. I was hoping to hide that from him. If we want to stay together this is not going to be easy. You made this whole situation a lot worse."

"I know that Ray, you don't need to remind me."

"I'm sorry, I'm just stressed about losing the girls."

Deacon couldn't stand to see the pain in her eyes. No matter what their problems he knew what a great mother she was, and he was sorry that he caused her to have any issues with Teddy and the custody hearing.

"I know you are, and you're not going to lose them, if we can't be together right now, we can't be together. I don't want to make things harder for you."

She reached out and grabbed his hand. He could see the tears starting to form in her eyes.

"I think it might just be best if we cool things down right now, at least until Teddy calms down and the divorce is final."

"Yeah, ok."

They sat staring out at the water a while longer, still holding hands. Then Rayna broke the silence.

"The tour is starting up again in about a week."

"You ok to be doing all that moving around stage?"

"Well I might have to tone it down a bit, but I'll be fine. Especially with my lead guitarist backing me up."

"Oh Ray, I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"You're not quitting on me are you? You don't want to get a reputation that you're always walking out on jobs after what happened with Juliette." She smiled at him in her best seductive smile.

Deacon smiled back. "Yeah? I'm glad you're looking out for me."

Suddenly Rayna got serious. "I need you Deacon, I need the normalcy of having you there, backing me up, especially since the injury."

Deacon thought about it for a second. He wasn't sure that pretending like everything was ok on tour was the best thing to do, but he could never say no to her.

"OK, I'm in. "

"Great! I'll tell Bucky."

"I'll come home on Wednesday. I just need another couple of days up here on my own."

"Alright, lets plan for dinner on Friday with the girls, ok?"

"I thought Teddy had his panties in a wad over that?"

"Yeah, well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him, and it's my last night with the girls for a few weeks."

Rayna kissed him softly and slowly extracted her hand from his.

"See you when you're back in town."

"See ya."

##

By the time Friday came around Rayna was racing around the house trying to get everything in order before stepping on the plane the next day. She still felt under the weather, but was putting on a brave face for the girls, she didn't want them to worry about her. She had forgone her usual gourmet meal for take-out since there was still so much to do. When the doorbell rang she thought it was the pizza guy forgetting something, but when she opened the door it was Deacon.

"Hey, I'm glad you decided to come."

"Well, I couldn't let Maddie down."

At that he saw the girl poke her head around the corner.

"Hey Deacon."

"Hey Darlin, how are you doing?"

"Finishing up the last week of school so pretty good. I just found out my 8th grade home room teacher and I'm with a bunch of friends."

"That's great."

"Alright everyone," Rayna said. "Let's wash up for dinner."

The girls ran and washed their hands and everyone re-gathered around the kitchen table. It felt so normal joking around with the girls, shoving slices of pepperoni in their mouths that for just a second Rayna and Deacon were able to let all the drama of the past month slip away. They looked at each other sharing a smile.

After dinner Rayna put Daphne to bed while Maddie and Deacon played some songs in the living room. He was showing her how to stretch her fingers for a complicated chord when she looked up at him.

"I'm glad you're my dad Deacon."

"Yeah? Well I'm glad you're my daughter."

They smiled at each other and went back to playing their respective guitars. For the first time in over a month Deacon felt like maybe things could work out, at least for him and Maddie. Rayna came out of Daphne's bedroom.

"Alright people, time to say goodnight."

"Come on mom, Deacon was just going to walk me through a Johnny Cash song!"

"Next time. He and I have to get ready for our tour."

"OK, next time. You promise?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't leave you hanging when it comes to Johnny Cash."

He gave her a hug and Rayna walked him to the door.

"That was nice, thanks for having me over."

"I'm glad you decided to come. It means a lot to Maddie."

"It's weird having someone count on me…but nice."

"I count on you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Deacon wasn't sure what to do, he wanted to kiss her, but wasn't sure it was the right move at that moment. He leaned in a little awkwardly, then decided planting a soft kiss on her forehead was the way to go.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Rayna shut the door, leaned against it, and let out a sigh. Whatever this was going to be, it wasn't going to be easy.