This story starts after Brock and Reba have been separated for about a month. Enjoy!

"Mom?" Cheyenne tiptoed blindly into her mother's room. "Mom?" she whispered again.

"Hmmm." An exhausted Reba groaned, turning over. "What do you want Cheyenne, it is 2:30 in the morning."

"Can I talk to you?" Cheyenne obviously had no idea what she was asking as she climbed into bed next to her mom.

"Cheyenne." Reba grunted. "I'm trying to sleep!" Reba sat up and turned to Cheyenne. She figured that if she came to her at 2:30 in the morning, she must need to talk about something important. "Okay," she said trying to wipe the tiredness from her body. "What do you need?"

"It has already been a month…when are you going to let daddy come home?" Cheyenne didn't hide how she felt at all. She got straight to the point.

"Cheyenne," Reba sighed. "That isn't up to me. We need time apart." At that moment she was the only one who knew how much she was desperately wishing for Brock to be home, to help her explain everything, of course.

"But I miss him!" Cheyenne cried out. Little did she know that she was not the only one feeling grief over her parents' separation.

"I know, honey." Reba tried her best to console her daughter. "I miss him, too." Gentle tears began to form in the strong redhead's eyes. That night they tried to cry their pain away. Little by little they were trying to move on.

"Daddy?" Jake padded into his father's dark, silent room. He walked over to Brock's motionless body and gently shook him. "Daddy?"

"Yeah buddy?" Brock knew that Jake had been having nightmares, and he figured it was another one of those nights. He tried as best he could to sound awake.

"I had a bad dream daddy." Jake quivered.

"Come here." He lifted the boy into his bed next to him. "It is all over now. Everything is going to be okay." This was still new to Brock. Reba was always the one who comforted the children when they were having bad dreams. Ever since the separation he had to step up and actually take care of his children.

"No! It is not okay!" Jake cried suddenly, and quite harshly. "Mommy isn't here!" he knew he shouldn't have been thinking of his own selfish feelings, but he knew exactly how little jakey felt.

"Shh." He soothed Jake back to sleep, whishing Reba could be with them, to help their son, of course.

Brock and Reba both awoke to find that their children had gone back to their own bedrooms.

"Today is the day." Brock thought sadly as he trudged into the kitchen to attempt breakfast.

Fifteen minutes later, Brock had made eggs for everyone. Hopefully they tasted halfway decent. "Kyra! Jake! Breakfast is ready!" based on how fast they made it down the stairs, they probably wouldn't even notice if the food was terrible, they were just glad to eat.

"Thanks dad!" Kyra and Jake both said in unison.

Seeing the sweet, innocent boy, and the beautiful, sassy girl, only reminded Brock of Reba, and how much he truly missed her, taking care of the kids and such, of course.

"I'm done!" Kyra announced. "Me too!" Jake followed right behind her. They both handed their plates to their father.

"Kyra, why don't you get ready." he told his youngest daughter. "Let's go get you dressed Jake!" he declared, scooping his son up in his arms. "We are leaving at 10:00" he poked his head into Kyra's room to let her know.

"Dad?" Kyra spoke up from the passenger side of Brock's pick up truck.

"Yeah?" he glanced at his daughter, then back at the road.

"When are you coming home?" her voice was questioning, but also angered and a bit hurt. She turned to look out the window while waiting for her father to respond. "I hate this."

"I'll be home as soon as I can." He smiled trying to convince himself as well as Kyra. To be honest, he had no idea when he was going to come home. He had no idea if he was coming home at all. His thoughts were interrupted as he turned into the driveway of what used to be his home. There she was. The beautiful redhead that he had fallen in love with 20 years ago with a gorgeous smile. Just as he put his truck in park, Jake and Kyra ran up to the porch.

"Mommy!" Jake yelled. She laughed with joy, the most joy she had felt in a long time.

"I missed you so much!" she said hugging her children tightly. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Brock. He looked wonderful. "Kids, why don't you take your stuff inside." She ordered, looking down the drive at Brock who was walking toward her.

"Hey." Brock smiled in his simple, charming way as he made it to the porch.

"Hi." Reba's greeting was short with a hint of shyness in her voice.

"Here is Jake's pillow." He handed it to Reba as an awkward silence fell. "he had another bad dream last night." He continued. "He said everything was not okay because you were not there with us."

"Yeah," Reba looked down at her feet. "Cheyenne said something similar." Remembering the night before, her heart broke a little more.

"Well I guess I should be going." Brock turned to walk away, but quickly turned around. "Reba?"

"Yes?" she looked at him with such hope and anticipation in her eyes, it scared Brock, what if this wasn't what she wanted?

"Never mind." He spoke softly and walked to his truck.

Reba's hopes had just been shattered. She sighed heavily. "There's always next week." It pained her to think that way, but it was the only way she could survive. She looked forward to next week as she walked through the door.

One chapter down… what do you think ? review please ! (: