Disclaimer: I keep on forgetting to add this! I own absolutely nothing! The plot isn't even mine! It was inspired by another author (who shall remain nameless unless she wishes otherwise) who I owe much thanks to and deserves all the credit.

"Reba," she heard him call out to her when she reentered the room. She took one last deep breath and assumed a loving smile before crossing the room to his bedside.

"How you feeling, Brock," she asked him as she resumed the seat she previously occupied. As soon as she did, he reached out and took her hand.

"A little sore, but good, all things considering," he replied. "My head's beginning to hurt less and less." He trailed off and stared at her with a somewhat bemused look on his face.

"What," Reba questioned, beginning to grow a bit uncomfortable from his gaze.

"What were you doing before you came to the hospital?"

"Taking a nap, why," she answered, noticing a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. His eyes seemed to be dancing with suppressed laughter.

"It kind of shows," he teased. At this, Reba jumped up from her seat and ran over to a mirror located in Brock's private restroom. She gasped when caught sight of herself. Her make-up was, to her immense relief, still intact, but in her haste to get to the hospital she hadn't bothered to fix her hair, which now hung in a red, shoveled mane about her face. She also noticed for the first time that her outfit was just about as disheveled as her hair, creased with so many wrinkles it reminded her of a floppy, old basset hound.

"Oh my Lord," she cried out as she attempted to smooth down her hair and tug at her jacket to smooth it out a bit. She heard a few suppressed chuckles escape Brock as she stepped out of the restroom and walked back over to his side.

"It isn't funny," she told him as sternly as she could, but all the while she felt a smile trying to break through her features as well. "Do you realize I've been running around the hospital looking like this?! They probably think I'm some kind of mad woman!" She felt a bit frustrated at first, but when Brock's chuckles increased at her last statement, she couldn't help but let out a small laugh herself and flop back into her chair with relent. Brock, once again, reached out for her hand, but this time he brought it to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss.

"I think you look beautiful," he told her with a look of deep sincerity and passion in his eyes. At this, Reba was speechless; and a bit taken aback, to say the least. It had been so long since they've been a happily married couple that she had forgotten how sweet and romantic he could be at times. She hadn't been prepared for that at all. So instead, she resorted to what she always did when situations became uncomfortable…she cracked a joke.

"I think you've had a bit too much morphine, my friend," she told him, causing him to laugh with amusement. She then slowly eased her hand out of his grasp to pretend to look for something in her purse. When that went on long enough, she put her purse aside and laid her hands casually in her lap, far enough away for him not to be able to reach for them but without making it seem like she was purposely avoiding his affection. It seemed to work for he went on un-phased.

"So where are the kids," he asked. "I don't want them to think anything really bad happened to me."

"They should be here soon. On my way out, I told Van to gather everyone up and bring them over here. That was a good….twenty minutes ago." As she spoke, she lifted up her left arm to take a glance at her watch and unintentionally revealed her left hand to Brock. When he caught sight of it, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Reba, where's your wedding ring?"

"My what," she asked, thoroughly confused. She hadn't had to wear one in so long, the question seemed foreign and strange to her.

"Your wedding ring; where is it," he asked again, pointing to her bare ring finger on her left hand. She looked down and gasped a bit in panic.

"My wedding ring," she repeated, partially in an attempt to stall and partially because she had no clue what else to say, "I…uh…I…." there was a pregnant pause as she racked her brain for a good excuse. "I-I was doing the dishes before I took a nap, and I took it off so it wouldn't tarnish or anything. I guess I was so tired I must have forgot to put it back on."

"Oh," Brock replied, obviously accepting her answer. Reba sighed inwardly with immense relief. That was one thing to remember to do immediately when they got home, find her wedding ring.

"Oh man, I can't wait to get home and change into my own clothes and get into my own bed. I don't know why, but I feel like I haven't been there in forever," Brock interjected, stretching out his limbs in his uncomfortable looking hospital bed.

And there's the other thing, Reba thought to herself as she took in Brock's words. Change into my own clothes and get into my own bed. That would have been okay if all his clothes weren't at his current home with Barbra Jean. That was going to be a major issue. What would Brock think if he went home to find what he thought was his closet full of only Reba's clothes and the rest of the bedroom absent of anything else that made it his bedroom too? How would she explain that? She would just have to make up some phony excuse to get herself out of there so she could go prepare the house for Brock's "homecoming"; not to mention the kids.

"Um, Brock…" she began, but to her immense relief the doctor came in and interrupted them.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing anything, but there's a large crowd of young people waiting in the lobby to see you."

"Oh that's my family, you can send them in," Brock answered, giving Reba a smile that showed his relief that they had finally arrived.

"Alright, I'll go get them," the doctor replied as he turned to go, but in an instance Reba was out of her chair and running after him.

"No, no, doctor, you don't have to do that! I'll get them," she told him before he could leave the room.

"It's no trouble..." he began to insist, but Reba shook her head.

"No really, I'll do it. Besides," she leaned in a bit, "I believe there's a bit of explaining to do before they can come and see him." The doctor nodded, catching her drift.

"Oh yes, well, alright. As soon as you're children are finished visiting, we'll see about sending you home," he said, addressing Brock. Brock grinned happily in reply.

"Here that, honey, I'm going home," he told Reba, to which she just smiled happily.

"Yeah it's great news. I'll go get the kids," she told him. Then without another word she bolted for the door and made her way to the lobby, trying to calm the uneasiness that was churning in her stomach. If she hadn't have known better, she would have thought she had stepped into an episode of the Twilight Zone. Hearing her ex-husband call her pet names again like honey, staring at her so lovingly, complimenting her, it was all too much to take in again. She would be grateful when all this was over and she could go back to getting along with her life without him, the way she had finally gotten herself to accept after years of struggling.

"Wonder how the kids are going to take all this," she said aloud to herself in the elevator, prompting an odd stare from an elderly lady she shared it with. Reba smiled sheepishly at her and turned her head, knowing she had garnered enough looks with her appearance, she didn't need to add talking to herself to the list. The elevator calm to an abrupt stop on the first floor and the doors slid open, revealing Van, Cheyenne, Kyra, Jake, and Elizabeth sitting at the opposite end in the waiting area. Reba took in a deep breath and cautiously stepped out of the elevator.

"Well, here goes nothing."

I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit dull, its one in the morning and I have finals tomorrow. I just needed to get this chapter down before I forgot most of the ideas for it. Oh and I was too tired to reread this, so if there's any grammatical errors, I'm sorry about that too. I promise the next chapter will be better and will contribute to the plot more! Until then!