Thank you so much for the wonderful comments. This show hiatus sucks but writing is helping.

Chapter 10

Deacon pushed his way inside the hotel, trying to avoid the fans and the paparazzi. He thanked Glenn for the key as he took the white card from him, looking at the number. The traffic had been awful, putting them nearly an hour behind schedule. Ray had texted him, letting him know she and had left for lunch and had stuff to take care of. "See you backstage tonight."

He had just enough time to throw his stuff down in the room and get a nap before soundcheck. He put the card in the lock and laid his guitar down, not even caring enough to flip on the lights. He emptied his pockets of his wallet and cell phone and caught sight of the bed in the mirror.

He let on a confused smile as he saw Rayna laying on his bed, propped up on her elbows. He turned around and gave her the once over. She was wearing her old red boots, the kind that cost more than his mortgage. His eyes trailed up her bare legs until it reached her blue jean skirt. It was short, really short and the way she was laying caused it to ride up more. He scanned upwards, taking a few seconds to appreciate her red tank top which was cleaning to her breasts.

"Hey," she whispered with a grin.

Deacon walked over to the bed, carefully placing one knee between her legs and crawling up her body. He led a trial of quick kisses up her bare leg, then down the other one. She gasped when he moved further, his hands moving her skirt further up. He lifted his head up in a smirk when he realized there was nothing underneath.

Rayna groaned as his hands pushed up her shirt, taking care to kiss her stomach before letting his tounge explore her belly button. He kissed his way up her body, licking the cotton material of her shirt, before explore the topping of breast and making a long path up her neck.

He leaned a "hi" before kissing her deeply. She sighed against him as she hooked a leg over his waist bringing his lower body to press against hers. Between throwing his shirt off and lifting up her skirt he got the general idea. "Babysitter." "2 hours." "Pants off." "Shut up."

90 Minutes Later

Rayna walked out of the bathroom, wrapping the towel around her while Deacon slung another white towel around his waist.

"So a deals a deal, right?" asked Deacon playfully wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling at the folded terrycloth.

"Fine no more kisses from Liam no matter how innocent they are and I'll limit the kicks. But so help me if that woman ever tries to get in your bed again, I'll rip out every root of her fake blonde hair."

Deacon pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. "I like you jealous."

"I'm not jealous. I'm just trying to avoid being arrested for assault. But newsflash, you are way more jealous of Liam than I am of Jolene. I mean…what is that name?"

Deacon laced his fingers through hers. "You never did tell me how you managed to get into my room. That is a breach of security."

Rayna smirked, "A girl has to have her secrets."

"Betcha I could make you tell." He tugged at the material again causing Rayna to grab her towel and run away. She squealed as she ran around the room with Deacon quickly catching up to her. "Okay okay I'll tell but in twenty minutes I have to sneak out in a laundry cart."

Juliette's Backstage

Deacon asked how Juliette was doing and she just shrugged. "Mama called her sponsor but then Glen caught her at the bar ordering a drink."

He gave her a sad look. "It really is one day at a time."

The blonde wiped a tear away and asked why he finally got sober. "I know you said you got sober for Rayna but why then?"

Deacon leaned against the wall, really not wanting to bring up this topic now. "My fourth rehab treatment, I made it all the way to graduation. 90 days clean and sober. Rayna and Coleman were at my little ceremony….God they were so proud of me. But I knew, I knew it wouldn't last."

"How long did it last?"

"Eleven weeks, two days. Ray found me in a bar near Leiper's Fork. I thought she was going to yell at me or cuss me out but she didn't. She just told me to get in the car and drove back home in silence. She put me to bed and figured I'd passed out. Instead I sobered up listening to her sob in the bathroom for hours."

"That must have been hard for you."

Deacon put his hands in his back pocket. "Me? No…I was feeling very little pain. But that was the night I realized she was leaving me. It took her a while to finally do it but then she did. And no matter how much I begged her to come back or how much she wanted to come back, she didn't. And I knew the only way to get her back was to get sober."

Juliette softly smiled. "Well you got her back now. That has to mean something."

Deacon rubbed the scruff on his face. He hated thinking about that time in his life. As part of his recovery, he never wanted to forget how far down he'd gotten. But damn it was hard realizing that a few months later she'd move out. It took over thirteen years for him to get her back. The thought alone made him sick.

Rayna's Room Backstage

Rayna sat down on the arm of the couch. "How bad was the interview?" she asked Buck feeling herself tense up.

He took a sip of his own drink. "I haven't seen it. I just got an email with the low-lights of the first two segments. The rest is airing now. Kenter spent most of the first part explaining how Teddy and Peggy embezzled money and basically called Teddy dumb and a crook."

"How detailed are we talking?"

Bucky shrugged, "According to the email, Paul had bank account numbers and specific days. Reporters have been calling and emailing me all day. But the good news is, even Paul Kenter is saying you had no idea what was going on."

She let out a self-deprecating laugh. "So Rayna James is just clueless and stupid but she's not a crook."

Liam walked into the room, "Don't forget, she also looks pretty damn good in that dress."

Rayna shot him a look of warning. "I told you earlier…."

Liam interrupted, "Hey you said I can't try to feel you up on stage. But seriously, if we can't even flirt in the dressing room, what do we have left?"

Rayna's Penthouse

Rayna fell back on her bed with the phone to her ear. "I don't know, my lawyers say that I can't testify against Teddy because we were married at the time and the only way I even know it happened was because he told me…"

Deacon asked how the kids were handling it.

"I love that you ask about them. But I haven't told them anything yet. I figured we'd wait until the morning and try to explain it to them then."

"We?"

"Yeah, I was getting to that. Teddy is flying here in the morning." There was silence on the other end for a minute. Rayna sighed, "Look I'm not thrilled about this either. But Teddy is insisting."

"and let me guess where he'll be sleeping."

Rayna sighed, "The girls are doubling up tomorrow or Daphne will sleep with me and Teddy will get her room."

Deacon let a groan. "Okay so will I still see you lovely ladies for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Yep. Maddie is actually excited it." Silence hung in the air for a second before she whispered "I love you."

Deacon smiled against his cell phone, "I love you. Night."

"Night."

Nashville

Coleman hung up the phone and looked out his window, finding the moon high in the sky. Several journalists had called him for a comment after Paul Kenter's interview aired. Most of them called because he'd been a former mayoral candidate, losing to Teddy. He'd been the one who brought the affair to light in the first place.

But the last phone call was different, from the same guy from this morning. That journalist hadn't cared that he was beaten by Teddy Conrad. Instead he wanted to know about his relationship with Rayna and Deacon. This time he only asked about the paternity of the "oldest girl."

Normally, Coleman would have just ignored it but the journalist used a name this time: Mike Lawson. He hadn't heard that name in years and he had to reach into the cobwebs of his mind to remember how he knew the guy. Then it had hit him; he'd been Deacon's roommate in his last stint in rehab.

The truth was, he's always had his suspicions about what happened back then, but didn't know anything for sure.

He wanted to wait until the morning to call but knew he couldn't. He let the phone ring a few times before a sleepy voice answer.

"Rayna, I'm sorry this can't wait."