There are parts of this story that are based pretty seriously on spoilers, other things are just from my imagination. But if you're not looking to have an idea for what might happen further up the road in the season, you should stay away. All others please enjoy my take.

##

Rayna sat at the table in the Highway 65 offices. She looked around at the company that she'd built. This was supposed to be her escape from all the trouble in her love life, her refuge from the drama, but it didn't matter how many walls she'd put up. It had seeped in and found her, and now it was oozing out of her into a tape recorder as she stared at the well-mannered man across the table from her.

"What did you ask?" Rayna said as she refocused on him, staring through his glasses into his charcoal colored eyes.

"Were you and Deacon Claybourne back together when you got into the accident last year?"

Rayna blinked a couple of times. Her natural reaction was to stall, or even to lie, but she wanted to be done with all the lying, and she had resigned herself to the fact that she had to answer the writer's questions.

After all, she had signed up for this. She'd wanted to check off another milestone, be on the cover of Rolling Stone. She had no one to blame but herself. She cleared her throat, adjusted her hands and dove into the situation head on. "Yes, we were back together at the time of the accident."

"Is that when he found out about your daughter? Is that why he relapsed?"

Rayna nodded her head, but didn't feel like committing her voice to eternal tape.

"If it wasn't for that, for the relapse. Would the two of you still be together today? Is the love story as epic as everyone wants to believe?"

Rayna let out a small laugh, then once again struggled to find words. "This isn't a fairytale. I can't say where we would have been today if he hadn't of drank. All I know is we were happy. I was happy. Maybe happier than I'd ever been, and then in a moment it was all gone."

"Do you still love him?" The reporter could see how uncomfortable this question made her, not that he hadn't already noticed her discomfort. "I mean, I know you're marrying Luke Wheeler, but it's what everyone wants to know."

This time Rayna let go and answered without hesitation, as if this was a question she knew the answer to no matter what, no thought process involved. "I have loved Deacon Claybourne since I was 16 years old, and no matter what happens, that will always be true."

The reporter smiled and nodded, he knew he had his quote, and Rayna knew she was in trouble.

##

All week she'd been on edge. Luke couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, but he kept pressing her, saying she was being distant, different. "You seem more interested in the wedding planning these days than me sugar. Where's this coming from?"

"You're being silly Luke, I'm stressed with all these plans to make. That's what happens when you plan a wedding 6 months after you get engaged. Also, Highway 65 has really been taking up a lot of my time lately. It doesn't have anything to do with you, really."

Luke walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "Well, I'm just glad that profile is done. I was getting tired of seeing that reporter. When is it coming out anyway?"

A wave of anxiety ran through Rayna. "It hits the newsstands on Monday."

##

By the time Monday came around Rayna was a ball of anxiety. The doorbell rang and it was a delivery from Rolling Stone. She took the manila envelope from the boy and tipped him. As she pulled the magazine out of the envelope she noticed her hands shaking like a leaf. "Maybe he didn't use it," she thought. "Yeah right." Rayna mumbled to herself. Of course he used it. She just hoped that it was a paragraph hidden somewhere towards the end of the article; something that could be easily skimmed through and overlooked. As she pulled out the copy of the magazine her heart sank. There on the cover wasn't the shot she had approved from the photo shoot two weeks ago. Nope, it was a photo from a concert three or four years ago. She was singing on stage, but she wasn't alone. Her back was pressed against Deacon's and their bodies were turned to sing to each other in the way they always did. Rayna's breath caught in her throat as she saw the headline. "Is Country's Epic Romance Really Over?" Then a sub-headline below under her picture that said "With her wedding to Luke Wheeler only days away, Rayna opens up about her nearly 30 year romance with Nashville's favorite guitar player." She flipped to the first page of the article, and there over a picture of she and Deacon holding each other in a 1994 paparazzi photo was the quote in bold lettering: "I have loved Deacon Claybourne since I was 16 years old, and no matter what happens, that will always be true." – Rayna Jaymes

Rayna felt sick. She sank down onto her front steps just as her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. "Bucky." She picked the phone up and paused a second, then hit accept. "Hey Buck."

"Have you seen it?"

"Yeah, it just came."

"I thought this was supposed to be about Highway 65 and the resurgence in your career, and maybe a little about the wedding. Where did this come from? Where'd he get the info on you and Deacon?"

Rayna sighed. "From me Buck, but I didn't think, at least I'd hoped he wouldn't make a big deal of it."

"Rayna, it's less than two weeks until your wedding to Luke and you told him all about your relationship with Deacon and how you'll always love him. What reporter wouldn't make that the story?"

"I know, I know. I messed up. You don't have to yell at me."

Bucky quieted down. "Has Luke seen it yet?"

"D'ya think I'd be on the phone right now with you if he had?"

"Good point."

"Oh crap," Rayna exclaimed. "There's his truck right now pulling up the driveway. I gotta go Buck." With that Rayna hung up, ready to face whatever was in front of her.