A little kickstarter chapter...for now...

'You should have heard them, Tandy. They sounded so good together I almost had to leave the room.'

'Where are the girls now?'

'They're staying with Deacon tonight, I dropped them back there a couple of hours ago. I thought it would be best, Teddy needs to get a good night's sleep and the girls could use a little distraction - it's been a rough few days.'

Rayna poured boiling water into the two mugs she'd set on the side, the kitchen dark but for a couple of under-cabinet lights. They talked quietly, partly so they didn't wake Teddy, partly because of the strange, muted air that had loomed over the house since Rayna had brought him back to it and washed the blood from his clothes and the hospital smell from his hair. It had been less than a week since she'd seen Peggy's lifeless form being wheeled into the back of a coroner's van, and she'd been having trouble sleeping herself.

'How long do you think Teddy's going to be staying in the spare room?' Tandy asked, picking up the mug Rayna slid towards her.

'As long as he needs to. I've had to give him sleeping pills, he's been having awful nightmares Tandy. I found him pacing the hallway the other night, just shakin' his head over and over. Lord knows how long he'd been there.'

Tandy sighed heavily, eyes firmly on her cup. 'It's good for the girls to be out of here for a little while.'

'Yeah,' Rayna nodded. 'It is.' She eased herself onto a stool and leaned her elbows on the countertop, blowing steam from the top of her tea. 'He needs them, and they want to be here for him, but they're just children, it's been really stressful for them, bein' around all this.' She looked over at her sister, who gave a stilted nod.

'Teddy doesn't mind them being at Deacon's?' she asked, still avoiding eye contact.

'Oh he has bigger fish to fry right now. I thought it might have all made him really possessive over Maddie, you know - someone dies, you want to pull everyone you love closer to you, but,' Rayna shrugged, 'I think he knows Deacon's just tryin' to help.' She rolled a kink out of her shoulders, thinking back to that afternoon, the melody she'd heard still twisting its way around her head. 'That song they wrote, Tandy. It was incredible. Deacon and Maddie, writin' songs together.'

Tandy studied her, leaning back against a cupboard and tipping her head to one side.

'So much has changed,' Rayna said quietly, a hint of awe in her voice, picturing him sitting there with both of her girls, singing like their voices were made to blend with each other's. 'So much.'

'Do you miss him?'

'I think given the awful circumstances Teddy's in at the moment, it would be insensitive of me to even think about missing Deacon.' She picked at a stray crumb, a remnant of Daphne's breakfast, probably. 'But I have to say, everything that's happened these past few days, it's hammered home just how grateful I am to have him in my life at all. People you love can be gone, so easily. I've been painfully reminded of that too many times already this year.'

'Well,' Tandy said, not one to push Rayna back towards Deacon, not that she had ever needed to - the universe seemed to do that all on its own, 'he is in your life, despite everything. And in Maddie's too. Maybe that should tell you a lot.'

Rayna nodded slowly. Maybe it should. Maybe it already did.

#

She heard Daphne before anyone else. It was cold outside, her breath issuing a foggy cloud around her, and she shuffled on her feet, waiting for someone to let her in.

'Mom!' Daphne said, her ponytail bouncing as she pulled the door open.

Teddy had been watching daytime TV when she'd left, in sweats and a T-shirt with a blank look on his face. She'd made him coffee and tucked a blanket around his shoulders, handing him a plate of scrambled eggs and making him promise to eat them. It was concerning, seeing him so listless, not knowing what to do.

Deacon's house, contrastingly, was full of life, and she welcomed the warm air and the sound of music on the stereo when she stepped inside. It seeped into her bones and chased away a little of the chill she'd felt since she'd knelt at Peggy's side and watched her die. It had rattled her, the shock of it all, the way her face had turned grey and horribly, morbidly still. It made Rayna feel ill to think of it, of the horror that had washed over Teddy, of her disbelief that someone had pulled a gun and killed a person, right there in a busy parking lot barely after nightfall.

When she hugged her children in greeting, grateful to see their faces happier, her chest burned in fear of what could have been. A slight turn of events and the innocence of their young lives would have been shattered, their father lying in a hospital morgue instead of Peggy, so soon after they'd very nearly lost their mother. Rayna tightened her arms around Daphne and kissed Maddie's temple, pushing the thought away.

They had no idea what had really happened, of course, and Rayna hadn't told anyone other than Tandy and the police. Teddy hadn't said anything about it, not to her, not to anyone else, but then he hadn't said much at all, the only real break in his silence the press conference he'd had to give the day after that had taken all of his energy and left him a mess.

'Hey,' Deacon said, emerging from the kitchen laden with mugs, and Rayna felt a jump in her stomach, the intensity of her desire to see him heightened in the midst of the turmoil going on around them all.

'Hey yourself,' she said, taking two of them from him before he dropped them, and he smiled at her gratefully. 'One of these for me?' she asked, eyeing frothy cocoa and feeling her mouth water.

'Sure is - we thought you might need a little warmin' up when you got over here. Pretty nasty out there.'

'Well,' Rayna said, wrapping an arm around Maddie, who used the opportunity to pinch a marshmallow from the top of her mother's pile of whipped cream, 'you thought absolutely right - thank you. How's everybody been?'

'We've been baking brownies,' Daphne said, as though the question needed no further answering.

'These two are some impressive chefs Ray,' Deacon said, 'I don't for the life in me know where they got that from.'

He gave her his best cheeky look and she shook her head, settling herself on his couch. The memory of sitting there wearing nothing but his shirt while he strummed his guitar and sang quietly to her flashed involuntarily through her mind and she tried not to think about that night, or any of the nights before it. Now was now, and here he was, perched on the table opposite her with rips in his jeans and warmth on his face.

'We wrote more music,' Maddie told her, sitting down next to her, 'and Deacon taught me some new chords. He's really good Mom.'

'Oh I know he is,' Rayna replied, licking a dollop of cream from her lip, 'why'd you think I stole him all these years?'

'Well,' he said, 'these little ladies are better than both of us Ray. Some serious talent we got on our hands here, that's for sure.'

Rayna watched the girls beam at him, but the joy on Maddie's face faltered after a moment.

'How's dad doing?' she asked, her brow furrowing into a line too deep for her years. They'd been through too much recently, and Rayna felt more protective of them than ever. It wasn't that they were fond of Peggy, not in the least bit, but the finality of death and the sadness they felt for their father had them both out of sorts. She looked around at the guitars on the floor and the dusting of cocoa powder on Daphne's nose and knew she'd been right that Deacon would be good for them.

'He'll be okay sweetie,' she told Maddie, squeezing her hand. 'It'll take some time, but he'll be okay. I thought we might make him a nice dinner tonight, what do you think?'

Maddie nodded, leaning her head on Rayna's shoulder. 'I think that would be good.'

Daphne headed for the kitchen on a hunt for the remnants of their brownies, pulling her sister with her and telling Rayna they'd saved one each for her and for Teddy, and she watched them disappear until she felt Deacon's eyes on her.

'Thanks for having them,' she said, brushing his knee briefly, 'really. It's a big help.'

'Anytime Ray, anythin' I can do you just let me know.' He reached down before she could pull her hand away and closed his fingers over hers, and she saw on his face a shadow of the worry she'd seen the night in the hospital.

She'd been in one of the family rooms, Teddy next to her with his face in his hands, waiting for a doctor to come out and tell them what happened next. Tandy had hurried there as soon as Rayna had called; she'd taken Daphne to a friend's on the way, but Maddie had insisted on being with her father, and Rayna hadn't been able to say no. She'd been in the chair on Teddy's other side, the combined shock in the room palpable, when Deacon's voice had sounded through the open door. He'd been scared, acutely so, and Maddie's head had snapped towards Rayna, Teddy oblivious.

'Rayna Jaymes,' he'd said in a rush, 'is she here? I need you to tell me if she's here.'

'We have no patient by that name sir.'

'She might be under a different name - Wyatt, or Conrad, I don't know. Look can you please just cut the bullshit and tell me if she's here?'

'Sir, you need to calm down,' the receptionist had placated him, to no avail. 'Ms Jaymes isn't a patient here.'

'There was a shootin', I know her ex-husband was involved and a woman was... please just-'

'Deacon,' Rayna had said, hurrying into the corridor.

'Jesus, Ray,' he'd breathed, his eyes closing momentarily, and he'd crossed to her in two strides and pulled her to him roughly. 'Jesus. I thought…'

'It's okay, I'm okay,' she'd shushed him, her arms belatedly wrapping around him. She'd felt numb, stunned. Sick. Deacon had broken the embrace enough to hold her at arm's length, inspecting her for damage and seeing the blood that had dried into her shirt.

'I'm fine, Deacon. It's not my blood.'

'What the hell happened? It's all over the news, the police are after some gunman, they said you'd been seen with Teddy earlier, no one knows what's goin' on Ray.'

Rayna's throat had closed up, the numbness wearing off with every second she'd felt Deacon's familiar hands on her, the reality of the night's events seeping in as she'd looked at his pale face. 'It - it was Peggy,' she'd spluttered, trying to keep herself together. 'Peggy's been shot.'

'Teddy's wife?' Deacon had asked, the realisation that that made more sense hitting him. She could tell he'd reacted in a blind panic, that his first thought had been of her, just like it always was. 'Shit. Is she okay?'

'No, no, she's not okay.' She hadn't needed to say anything else, swallowing down the bile that had threatened to rise.

'Is Maddie here? Is she alright?'

'Maddie's fine, she's with Teddy. He's not doing so good.'

'Shit Ray,' he'd repeated, shaking his head, still not relinquishing his hold on her. He'd pulled her closer again and she'd buried her head in his chest, letting him make her feel safe for a moment, needing him to. A million thoughts had raced through her head, confusion and fear battling for prominence.

'Deacon?' Maddie had said in a small voice, appearing in the doorway. She'd looked from one to the other, clearly aware of Deacon's concern for her mother's safety, and he'd let go of Rayna and held out his arms, kissing the top of Maddie's head when she'd moved towards him, not sure what at all to say.

Everything had changed since that night. The careful distance they'd been keeping from each other while they navigated Deacon's changing relationship with Maddie, their own relationship a very big elephant in a very small room, had been shattered in an instant, snapped back like an elastic band. Since he'd reluctantly left her in the hospital, understanding that Teddy needed her, he'd been calling her every day to ask how everyone was doing, to see how he could help. He asked if he could drop Maddie off at soccer practice, if Daphne had homework, aware that keeping life as normal as possible was best for the girls, that it would help them to be stronger for Teddy while he grieved.

He asked what was happening with Rayna's record, told her about his day just to keep her on the phone longer, and every time he said goodbye she could hear the reticence in his voice. For Rayna's part, she held the phone to her ear and listened to the dial tone whenever he hung up, savouring his every word, replaying their conversation, letting herself indulge in how good it felt to be closer to him again. They weren't supposed to be getting closer, it wasn't supposed to be at all about them, but she could feel the shift, the box creaking open.

It took everything she had not to fling the lid back and dive in headfirst.

She retreated her hand from his, her face soft. 'Thank you, really.'

'How's Teddy holdin' up?' he asked, glancing at the door to the kitchen. They could hear the girls half-heartedly squabbling and Rayna sighed.

'He's not great. He's havin' a hard time gettin' his head around what's happened, but, it's not just that…' She looked towards the door again, trying to decide how much she should say about what she'd seen. A small frown creased his face and she felt an overwhelming need to tell him everything, to let him help her make sense of it, because it made no sense at all.

'The man who shot Peggy…he was there for Teddy, Deacon,' she said in a low voice. 'He walked right up to him and pointed the damn gun at him - I was gettin' into my car, I saw it all. Teddy fought with him, and when the guy fired he missed him and…well.'

'What the hell?' Deacon asked sharply, sitting up straighter and moving unconsciously closer to her.

'I don't know who he was, or why he was there, but it was weird - he just appeared out of nowhere and went straight for him, calm as anything.'

'Why would anyone try to shoot Teddy? I mean I know he's the Mayor and all but he can't have pissed anyone off that badly, can he?'

'I don't know,' Rayna replied, her eyes on him while she considered. 'I don't know what goes on in that office and I wouldn't be sure he's exactly squeaky clean, but... he's Teddy, you know? And then there's Tandy, she's been really-'

'Mom, we cut it into a star for you!'

Rayna looked up, her face changing in an instant. 'Well y'all sure know how to make your momma's day. We should probably wrap that up sweethearts, I think it's time we headed home. I've gotta go to a meeting this afternoon, your aunt Tandy's gonna be stayin' with you.'

'Can't you stay with us?' Daphne asked. 'Aunt Tandy doesn't know how dad likes his cereal with just enough milk so that the flaky bits float, and he needs to have his cereal exactly right now he's sad.'

'What's your meetin' about Ray?' Deacon asked, looking at Daphne's upset face as Rayna smoothed her hair back.

'I'm goin' over some track changes with Liam now Jeff isn't up my…face about the record. He's only in town for a few nights so I gotta get it done now.'

Deacon nodded, brushing a hand over his chin. 'Listen,' he said, 'How 'bout I go over there for you? We've talked about the record, I know what you wanna do with it. I can go through it all with Liam.'

Rayna stared at him, surprised. He was right, they had talked about it - she'd stayed on the phone with him a couple of nights before until far later than was probably appropriate, talking while she changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed, going through every detail about every track, just like they used to do: the ones he'd heard, a couple he hadn't, the ones that felt a little out of place, what she thought just wasn't quite there.

At Daphne's tug on her sleeve and Maddie's quiet, hopeful look, she let out a breath. 'Are you sure Deacon?'

'Sure I'm sure,' he said, nodding decisively. 'Now let's get those brownies to go, huh girls?'