Nashville Episode 3.16 I Can't Keep Away from You

After finding out Deacon has cancer, Rayna is ready to fight his illness head on. But Deacon has other plans. He tells her all that's left to do is wait on the transplant list, but he won't do it with her by his side. Rayna challenges him, but Deacon is resolute. It's his illness, and he's going to make the decisions. She's made all the other decisions for them. He tries to push her away, but Rayna refuses to leave. She even smashes one of his guitars to make him listen. Deacon admits that he blames himself for his sickness, and he's trying to protect her and Maddie from the pain of losing him.

Rayna finally convinces Deacon to stop fighting her, and fight for them. She tells him they are meant to be together, and they should spend the rest of their lives enjoying their time together. She and Maddie are strong enough to handle whatever happens. Deacon finally relents. The hardest part will be telling Maddie.

Maddie is overjoyed that they're finally together, but her joy is cut short as Deacon breaks the news that he's sick. Luckily, she has her parents and Daphne to support her.

Meanwhile, Juliette is due in three weeks, and Avery is calling her every hour to check in. The Triple Xs are on the road, heading to Chicago to open for Rascal Flatts in Chicago! Gunnar is trying to deal with his feelings for Scarlett. He asks about Caleb, but Scarlett's worrying about returning to the stage where she had her very public breakdown. Gunnar distracts her with setting up their band's new Twitter account. The Triple Xs need a profile photo!

Scarlett finds flowers from Caleb in her hotel room. Gunnar tries distracting her again, this time from Caleb, and inadvertantly reads cruel tweets about Scarlett and her breakdown. The guys try to stop her, but Scarlett grabs her laptop, determined to address the haters. Later, they return to find her an emotional wreck. She was just trying to tell them what actually happened. Gunnar has an idea: Scarlett can tell her side of the story through a song.

Armed with a killer new song and the support of her friends, Scarlett gives an electric performance of "My Song," proving she belongs on that stage, and the audience goes wild. After nudging from Avery, Gunnar seems ready to express his feelings, but he's interrupted. Caleb flew to Chicago to surprise Scarlett... after one date! Later Gunnar goes to her hotel room to talk, but she's not there. Did he wait too long?

Avery calls Juliette again, and she asks when he got so paranoid. But Avery just missed her, and he wants to sing their daughter a song. Juliette apologizes, and holds the phone close as Avery sings "This is What I Need to Say."

Back in Nashville, Will has found success writing "Broken Song" with openly gay songwriter Kevin Bicks (guest star Kyle Dean Massey). Luke likes what he hears, and tells the pair to move on to a love song. But when Kevin realizes Will isn't comfortable around him, he's not interested in continuing the partnership. Will tries to write the song on his own, but Layla (Aubrey Peeples) makes him realize he shouldn't write a love song if he's never been in love. He goes back to Kevin, seemingly ready to share his secret.

Layla is dealing with her own confusing, nebulous relationship with Jeff. She finally realizes she's trying to change yet another man who is incapable of loving her, and makes a decision. Jeff will be her manager, and nothing more.

And after spending the day helping the still-heartbroken Luke with his new song, "Can't Help My Heart," Sadie returns to her car to find her abusive ex-husband Pete waiting for her. He's been stalking and terrorizing her, and has escalated since Sadie revealed she was a victim of domestic violence on Good Morning America. Sadie pulls out the gun she bought illegally, hoping to scare him off, but Pete comes right at her. They struggle over the gun and it goes off. As Pete falls to the ground, dead, Luke drives up. Sadie, horrified, is still holding the gun.