TITLE: Afraid to Sleep
RATING: M
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any recognizable characters from the Reba show. I would have made Reba the movie by now.
SUMMARY: a tragic accident brings two of the most unlikely people together in a time of loss, confusion, and nightmare riddled dreams. Set around right after Van got his arena football contract.
WARNING: So….I would not normally write an entire story like this, but I had a dream that sparked this thought and it can no longer be ignored! Be advised, there are character deaths, and I'm not entirely sure where I'm taking this yet. Just please bear with me.
OKAY, SO BEAR WITH ME BECAUSE THIS IS OBVIOUSLY GOING TO BE DEPRESSING FOR A FEW CHAPTERS BEFORE IT STARTS TO GET HAPPIER. IT WILL GET HAPPIER, I PROMISE, BUT I KNEW WHAT I AM WANTING TO DO WOULDN'T MAKE SENSE OR BE REASONABLE UNLESS IT WAS UNDER MORE EXTREME CONDITIONS SUCH AS THESE, AND I HOPE YOU DO NOT KILL ME FOR THE CHARACTER PAIRING AND AT LEAST TRY IT. ONE READER DID GUESS, SO I WILL REVEAL THAT I AM LEADING TOWARDS A REBA/VAN PAIRING….I'M HOPING TO BE ABLE TO WRITE THIS TO WHERE NOBODY SHOOTS ME FOR IT. LOL
Ch. 2: Laid to Rest
As promised, the next morning Kyra and Jake returned with fresh clothes for Van and Cheyenne. Elizabeth was now wide awake and Kyra had been thoughtful enough to bring her favorite doll for her to play with. Dr. Morris came in, looked at her and said she would need to come back in two weeks to get the stitches taken out, and in six weeks to have her cast removed, and that other than that she could be discharged from the hospital. Reba was thankful she could come home. She knew she had to begin what would be the hardest day of her life. She had four funerals to plan, and family members to call. "Kyra, will you please get Elizabeth home. Van and I have some things we need to tend to." She said. Kyra understood immediately, and knew the best thing she could do to help her mother was to look after her niece and little brother. "Sure Mom….um Mom….this might not be the time…but I'm going to start moving my stuff back into your house. It's best if I keep busy." Kyra said trying not to cry. "Honey, it's going to be hard for you to go into that house right now." Reba said gently. "it's hard at your house too, and what you and Van have to do today is going to be harder. I'll get a couple of my friends to help that way it's all done by the time you and Van get home." Kyra said, letting a few tears fall down her cheeks. Reba hugged her daughter tight and kissed Jake's head. "Elizabeth, be good for Aunt Kyra." Van said and handed Elizabeth to her. "Ok Daddy" Elizabeth said and they all parted ways.
"Van, I don't want to do this." Reba said as they climbed into her car. The bodies had already been moved to the local funeral home. "Neither do I Mrs. H" Van said and patted her hand as she pulled out of the hospital parking lot and drove to the funeral home to plan everything.
"Mr. Montgomery, Mrs. Hart, we are very sorry for your loss. We've never seen anything like this before." The director said and Van held Reba's hand tight. Van was extremely thankful they had found someone who actually cared. If they had been dealing with someone who only wanted their money he knew Reba would have killed the man by now. After an hour and a half everything was planned out. The funerals were in three days. Reba insisted they all be together and all buried next to each other. She couldn't handle it any other way, especially multiple services on multiple days. Reverend Parks was notified and he expressed his deepest sympathies for the two. The bodies were too badly damaged to have open casket viewings.
As they climbed back into the car Reba broke down and Van immediately leaned over and wrapped her in a hug as he began to cry as well. "What am I going to do without Barbra Jean sneaking into my window every night? Without her and Brock taking turns coming to me to complain about the other and insist I help them work out their problems? Without Cheyenne there to give me fashion advice, or Henry there running around with Elizabeth?" she sobbed into his shirt. Van rubbed her back in soothing circles. "Van, I lost the only man I've ever loved." She whispered and he pulled her away from him and looked into her eyes. "Mrs. H, I'll be here for you I swear." He said and she sniffed "Van I'm so sorry, this is just as hard on you as it is on me." "It's hard on me. I lost a lot of people I loved, including my wife, but you have more people to be strong for than I do. I don't know how Mrs. H, but we will all make it through this." Van said. Reba gave a forced smile and patted Van's shoulder. "Thanks Van, I appreciate that. I didn't know you could be so grown up." "Come on, we need to get home and call everyone and let them know. Get out of the car; I'm not letting you drive in this condition." He said and Reba did as he said and they switched places and went home.
When they arrived home Elizabeth ran to the door and once Reba picked her up, she wouldn't let her put her down. Even when Van, Reba and Kyra assumed the difficult task of splitting up the list of friends and family they needed to call. With all of them combined it took about thirty minutes. Reba's parents had died as had Brock's mother so it was more friends that they considered family that they had to call.
Later that evening after dinner they all sat in the living room trying to keep themselves from thinking about the funeral, but it was useless, Reba had to think about the speech she insisted on giving. "Mom, you don't have to speak, everyone will understand." Kyra said and Reba shook her head. "Yes I do, there's things I want people to know about them." She said and Kyra knew her mother was trying to put on a strong front for everyone. "I'm going up to my room, I have some extra school work to take care of since I missed most of Friday and I have a project due on Monday." Kyra said and Jake got up with her. "Kyra will you help me with my math? I'm lost since I missed the lesson and just got the assignment." Kyra nodded and led her brother upstairs and Reba hung her head. No one was acting like themselves and it only depressed her further. Elizabeth sat on the floor playing with a coloring book. "Van will you please get us both a glass of wine?" Van nodded and got up and headed to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with two glasses of red wine.
"Mrs. H, if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep on the couch tonight." He said after they had sat in silence together for a while. She looked over at him in understanding. "I know, I closed the door when I went up and saw it open earlier. I can't go in there yet, I can't blame you for not being able to sleep in there right now." Reba said. "Honey, what are you drawing?" Reba asked when she noticed Elizabeth had found a blank page in the back of the coloring book and was coloring on it. Elizabeth got up and sat between Reba and Van. "I had a dream last night." She said as she handed the book to Reba. Her eyes filled with tears as she saw the little girl had drawn four figures with angel wings. "What did you dream?" Reba asked with tears silently streaming down her face. She looked over at Van and saw he was choked up as well. "I dreamed they were in heaven like you said, and that they are angels watching over us." Elizabeth answered and Reba pulled the little girl into her lap and hugged her tight. "I love you so much Elizabeth." Reba said and smiled her first real smile in two days.
Reba and Van finished their wine, and Elizabeth had fallen asleep stretched out in their laps. "You can put her in my room tonight Van." Reba said as Van lifted his daughter off of the couch and up the stairs. Reba followed him to her room and shut the door quietly behind them. Reba saw pajamas laid out for Elizabeth and for Van on her bed, and she knew Kyra had once again braved entering that room for them. They woke Elizabeth up and Reba ran a bath for her and wrapped her cast in plastic so they could clean her up a little before putting her in bed. Once Elizabeth was tucked in Van went to the bathroom down the hall for a quick shower while Reba went into her bathroom for one.
Reba stepped under the hot water and immediately never wanted to leave. For the moment it seemed to wash away all of her problems. It was exactly what she needed. She had a rough few days ahead of her, and while in the shower she prayed for the strength to be strong enough to handle it all. When the water ran cold, she got out, dried off, got dressed and walked back into her room to find Van asleep on her bed next to Elizabeth. He'd obviously come back to check on her and had fallen asleep. He was tired, neither one of them had slept well in the hospital the night before; and she didn't have the heart to make him sleep on the couch. It was fine for a nap, but sleeping on it the whole night could make anyone a little sore. She moved the covers out from under Van with a little difficulty, and it woke him up. "Mrs. H, I'm sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep here, it's just that.." Reba cut him off. "It's okay Van, get under the covers and go back to sleep." Reba said and turned off the light and got in on her side of the bed. "Thanks Mrs. H" he said as he yawned. Reba gently situated Elizabeth more comfortably in between them before closing her eyes and drifting off.
"MOM! HELP ME!" Cheyenne cried and Reba ran towards the intersection as the truck hit the car. She ran to the wreckage and pulled everyone out. Setting Elizabeth aside, who was crying, as she immediately began CPR on Brock. Reba looked up towards the sky "Please God no!" she said and as she looked back down she was performing CPR on Cheyenne. "Don't die! Don't DIE!" she cried
"NO!" Reba screamed and jolted awake. Van woke up when he felt the bed jerk and he heard her scream. Reba started crying and Van reached over Elizabeth, who apparently could sleep through anything, and hugged her. "You had another one didn't you?" Van whispered and Reba shuddered and nodded as she cried. Van got out from under the covers and went around to her side of the bed. "it's okay" he said gently and Reba sobbed into his night shirt. After she got calmed down she looked over at Elizabeth, thankful she hadn't woken her. She thought to herself that she was just like Brock and Cheyenne that way, and that thought made her throat close up. "I'm sorry I woke you up Van, and I'm thankful I didn't wake anyone else up." She whispered. "I checked on Kyra and Jake before I came back in here to check Elizabeth. Jake fell asleep with his TV on and Kyra with her headphones in." he explained and she nodded her head in acceptance. "Thank you Van, I'm okay now." She said and he went back around to his side of the bed and he fell asleep within minutes. Reba, on the other hand, lay awake in the darkness too scared to go back to sleep, praying it wouldn't be like this every night that rolled around. She finally dozed back off into a fitful sleep a couple of hours later just before the sun came up.
Reba felt the bed shift and she groaned. "Elizabeth sweetie, settle back down for five more minutes okay?" Reba asked as the body moved closer to her. She reached out to put her arm around Elizabeth and jerked wide awake when she realized she was touching Van instead. She sat up and saw her bedroom door was open. Elizabeth had obviously woken up and Van had obviously rolled closer. He drooled on her pillow and she rolled her eyes. "Van, wake up." She said and nudged him. He awoke with a start. "Mrs. H what's wrong?" he asked. "Nothing, Elizabeth is up and you scooted awfully close." She said. "Sorry" "Come on, I'll make everyone some breakfast." Reba said and got up and headed downstairs.
When they arrived downstairs Reba was surprised to see Kyra and Jake up so early on a Sunday, what was even more surprising was that Kyra was cooking. "Honey what are you doing?" Reba asked "making a witch's brew" Kyra retorted and Reba looked at her daughter and laughed. Kyra looked at her mom puzzled. "Mom, why are you laughing?" "Thank you Kyra, I needed that." Reba said after calming down and walking over to her. "You did something normal." Reba explained and Kyra nodded her head in understanding. "If you're wondering why I'm up so early it's because Elizabeth got out of bed this morning and came into my room and told me Van had fallen asleep in your room last night. I figured you guys were pretty tired after a night at the hospital so I told her not to bother you, and she got hungry." Kyra explained and Reba nodded her head and yawned. Van sat at the table playing with Elizabeth and Reba felt a pang in her heart. She would never see Cheyenne playing with her baby girl again. Reba fought back tears and seated herself at the table. She had a long couple of days ahead of her.
The next couple of days past and the day of the funerals arrived. Reba didn't even want to get out of bed that morning, not sure if she could stand in front of all of those people and keep it together. It was Tuesday and Kyra and Jake hadn't been in yet that week. She knew she would have to send them back the next day. After today, everyone had to try and begin the process of moving on, as impossible as it seemed.
Every friend of the family seemed to show up for the funeral, as did every long lost relative that Reba never really remembered getting in touch with. She didn't feel much like talking to anyone, neither did anyone else. The funerals proceeded and when they arrived to the graveside portion Van squeezed Reba's hand, trying desperately to give her some form of comfort before she got up in front of everyone. Reba smiled weakly at Van and took her place in front of everyone. "Hello everyone, thank ya'll for being here today. We lost these four people way too soon in life. Especially little Henry, I loved that little boy, which was something I never thought I'd be able to do considering. I even came to love Barbra Jean, she annoyed the crap outta me, but she was the sweetest person anyone could ever meet. Cheyenne, my oldest daughter, all mothers love their children unconditionally, and with all their heart. I watched her go from a vain teenager, to the beautiful caring young woman everyone here knew. Brock, my ex-husband, I loved him too, as awful as that might sound, but truthfully, he was the only man I'd ever loved, and what he did never erased those feelings. I saw him change and become a better person, and try to be a better husband to Barbra Jean, and to be a better friend to me. Our family is probably considered the most functioning dysfunctional family in all of Houston. My husband knocked up his dental hygienist, left me for her, our teenage daughter got pregnant and married her high school boyfriend, Brock and Barbra Jean bought a house three doors down from me, and instead of hating each other, and tearing each other apart all the time, we loved each other, and cared for each other. I loved all of them." Reba paused and tears streamed down her face. She looked over at Van who was holding Elizabeth and he nodded his head. "I take that back" Reba said so quietly it was hard for anyone to hear.
"I love them, not loved." Just because someone dies, it doesn't mean you stop loving them. I never really did get why anyone automatically said "loved" right after someone passed away. I can promise you, the feeling doesn't die with them. Today we put to rest four of the people I love most. I love all of you, I don't know how we are going to get on without you, but I know somehow, we will." She finished and sat back down with her family.
They arrived home a couple of hours later and Reba sat down on the couch. "Alright ya'll, come here. I want to talk to everyone while I still have the energy to." She said and everyone sat down around her. "Kyra, you and Jake need to head back to school tomorrow. I don't want ya'll falling anymore behind in your work. Van, you need to see when the team needs you back in Denver, and I'm going to finish things up, quit my job and start a new one." Reba said. "A new job?" Kyra asked. "I'm going to sell real-estate. I have my license, and I can't work in that building anymore." Reba said and everyone nodded. "I know this is going to be tough, and that we don't want to do it, but we have to start trying move past this. It doesn't mean we will forget them, or what they meant to us, it just means that we are going to try and make peace with it." Reba said, and as she did, she prayed she could do everything she just said for the sake of her family…..TBC