Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate them.

##

Rayna opened her eyes and lifted her head just enough to look at the clock. 7:27. She lay it back down on the tangled sheets beneath her. She was laying half on her stomach and half on her side, but she was acutely aware that Deacon was lying on top of her. Every inch of his body was pressed against every inch of hers, and his arms were holding her tight. She realized that she'd lost feeling in her left arm, which shouldn't have surprised her considering they had been in this position since they had fallen asleep somewhere around 2:30 in the morning.

Rayna tried to inch her way out of bed to free her arm, but her attempt at an exit was met with an equal and opposite reaction. Deacon pulled her back towards him pressing himself against her and planting kisses on her neck. She reached back running her fingers though his hair as she moaned softly.

"Where are you going?" Deacon whispered in her ear.

"We have to get up, I'm sure the girls have been up for hours."

"They're practically all grown," Deacon said in his sexiest sleepy voice as he once again pressed into Rayna from behind, and his mouth found the curve of her shoulder blades. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Mmm babe, I'm sure they are too, but we also have a doctor's appointment at 8:30."

Deacon stopped what he was doing and sighed then he lay his head down on Rayna's back. The last two weeks had been nothing but doctor appointments followed by waiting and Deacon wasn't sure he could handle another one today.

"Can't we skip it?"

Rayna pushed Deacon off of her sitting up in bed. "No we cannot skip it. You're not going for a physical Deacon, it's not like you have a sprained wrist."

Deacon rolled over on his back and put his hands behind his head so he could look at her. "I know Ray, I just feel like…well everything's always such a big deal these days, everything's so serious. I just want to spend the day having some fun for a change."

Rayna cocked an eyebrow. "Last night wasn't fun?"

Deacon smiled pulling her towards him so she was snuggled up into his arms. "Last night was incredibly wonderful, but I don't know if I would refer to it as fun."

Last night the whole family gathered in the living room where the girls proceeded to sing a song for Deacon that they'd written for him. It was sweet and maudlin which made them cry as they sang it, and then Rayna and Deacon cry as a result. Once the girls went to sleep Rayna took Deacon to the bedroom and told him he wasn't to do anything, that she was going to make the night all about how she could pleasure him. As amazing as every soft touch and sensual lick was the evening ended like all the others did for the past couple of weeks, with Rayna weeping in his arms and Deacon pulling her close as he told her everything was going to be alright.

"All we've done the last couple of weeks is hang around here."

"Well what do you want to do? We can go out. Maybe a nice a dinner? We could go to The Silly Goose, or Mas Taco if you want something more casual? The girls love that place."

"I was thinking about playing somewhere with some friends. I miss doing my Thursday nights at the Bluebird, or even hamming it up on stage at Tooties."

"Why would you want to play at Tooties? That makes no sense Deacon."

"It doesn't have to be Tooties, I'm just saying. It would be nice to do something out of the ordinary, I'm not dead yet Ray, It would be great to act like it for a change."

Of course this made Rayna cry again. "Okay, alright, I'm sorry." Deacon pulled Rayna back into his arms.

"No, I'm sorry. I've been too emotional these last couple of weeks. It's just I want to savor every moment we have together."

"I know you do Ray, and I do too, but we need to stop living like I have one foot in the grave."

Rayna nodded her head. "Well, we do have to get up Deacon, Maddie and I are getting tested today to see if we're a match."

"Okay baby, I'll go shower while you go see how the girls are." He kissed her lightly, and then she was off, running down to check on Maddie and Daphne.

##

An hour later the four of them were at the hospital. Scarlett had been tested a week ago and they'd already discovered she wasn't a match, so it was just Rayna and Maddie today. Deacon was down on the third floor getting some more tests done.

"Do you think I'll be a match?" Maddie asked the doctor. "Since I'm his daughter shouldn't I be one?"

"Well that's not always the case Maddie. I did a transplant last week where a man's son-in-law donated part of his liver to his wife's father. They weren't even related and he was the only match in the family. Are you ready to get some blood drawn?"

Maddie looked at the needle and felt a little squeamish. Rayna could tell she was a little wary. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to sweetheart. No one will think any less of you."

Maddie rolled up her sleeve and put out her arm. "No mom, I want to do it, if there's anything I can do to save dad, I can't imagine life without him."

Rayna kissed the top of Maddie's head. "I know sweet girl, I can't either."

Daphne walked up to Maddie and held her other hand. "If it hurts you can squeeze my hand real tight."

Maddie smiled at her little sister. "Thanks Daph."

##

Fifteen minutes later all three girls were sitting in the waiting room cookies and juice in hand. "It's nice of them that they gave us this even though we didn't donate blood." Rayna said.

Maddie nodded her head. "The doctors here seem really nice. They seem to really want to help Deacon. Right?"

"Of course sweet girl, they're trying their best."

An hour later Deacon came out, a little tired, but looking as chipper as could be expected. "How did my ladies do?"

"Maddie almost passed out when they stuck the needle in her arm!"

"Did not,"

"Did too. I had to squeeze her hand so she wouldn't faint."

"Well you owe your sister then."

Maddie smiled sheepishly at Deacon. "Come on let's get out of here. There must be better places to spend a Wednesday than at a hospital."

"We have to go to school." Daphne chimed in. "We already missed an hour."

Maddie nudged her. "Why did you say anything, maybe they would have let us skip."

"We were not going to let you skip, so don't blame your sister." Rayna said.

The family piled into the car and headed towards Daphne and Maddie's school. "Remember that your father is picking you up today. We'll see you on Tuesday."

"Why can't we live with you guys full time?" Maddie asked.

"I thought you like living with your father."

"I do, it's just. I don't want to be away from Deacon." Deacon reached into the backseat and grabbed her hand. "I know sweet girl, I don't want to be away from you either, but we should really continue our lives as normal. Hopefully it won't be ling before I have a new liver and everything's back to normal."

Maddie nodded her head and kissed him goodbye before running into the school to meet up with her friends.

Deacon leaned back in the car seat after they were inside. "That's the hardest part Ray, leaving the girls. I remember what it was like for you growing up without your mamma. I don't want that for Maddie."

Rayna reached over and took Deacon's hand in her own. "It's going to be alright babe. We just have to have some faith. In better news, I made some plans while you were getting those tests done."

"Oh yeah? What kind of plans."

"There's a country/blues singer I've been wanting to check out that's playing tonight at a honkey tonk down near Broadway. I thought maybe we could go."

A smile spread across Deacon's face. "Now we're talking."

##

Rayna and Deacon walked into the bar and grabbed some sodas from the bartender. They were trying to keep a low profile, but it had only been a few weeks since Rayna's broken engagement to Luke, and people definitely took notice that she'd not only walked in the door, but walked in the door with Deacon Claybourne on her arm. As the music started Rayna noticed a couple of people taking pictures of she and Deacon as they stood in the corner.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea Ray. With everything that's happened in the last few weeks I kind of forgot about all the Luke wedding stuff."

"Yeah, me too."

"Maybe I shouldn't be standing so close to you, we don't want to end up on TMZ tomorrow."

"You know what," Rayna said with a bit of fire in her eyes. "Screw them. If they want something for the tabloids, we'll give them something for the tabloids." Rayna took Deacon's hand pulling him out into the middle of the floor where there were a few couples dancing. "I'm not going to hide that you're mine."

It was an up tempo song and the moment they hit the dance floor Deacon swung Rayna around so that she was in his arms. It had been a while since they'd danced together like this, but they fell right back into the same rhythm they had when they used to dance at barn parties when they were teens. Deacon laughed as the two of them moved to the beat of the music. It was the first time she'd seen him laugh in ages and it was the most beautiful sight Rayna could remember seeing in the longest time.

As the song slowed Deacon pulled Rayna into his arms and she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered against his lips. "Let's give them something to talk about." Rayna kissed Deacon. Not a peck, or even a soft slow kiss, but a full on passionate hands running through hair, tongues battling, lips sucking kiss. They could tell that a dozen or so cell phone flashes were going off but neither one of them cared, they just continued to kiss in the middle of the bar until finally Deacon broke the kiss. He took Rayna's hand and led her through the crowd to the back of the bar. He looked back to make sure that no one followed them, then he pushed open the door to one of the bathrooms and pulled Rayna in.

As soon as they were in there Deacon locked the door and drew Rayna back into another kiss. Hands were moving furiously in such a tight space. Rayna yelped with surprise as Deacon lifted her and placed her down on the sink. "We're going to break this thing," she managed to get out between kisses.

"So what, we'll buy them a new one." Deacon inched his fingers under the hem of Rayna's short skirt as she managed to unzip the fly on his pants reaching in to grab him. Deacon moaned against her neck as he felt her warm fingers wrap around him as she gently stroked him. He pulled down her panties and before either one of them could think better of it they were going at it right there in the tiny 2 foot by 4 foot bathroom. After they both climaxed Deacon pulled back a little taking Rayna's face in his hands. "You know what Ray?" Deacon smiled at her and Rayna smiled back.

"What?"

"Now this is fun."