It's Time for a Change

A/N: I OWN NONE OF THE RECGONIZABLE REBA OR SVU CHARACTERS!! This is a Crossover AU story!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

PREVIOUSLY:

"Where you going that you need five coats?" he asks.

"Queens." she answers.

"It's no colder there than it is here." he states.

"I'm working the Brown case. Incase you didn't know, they took it from us. But not from me anyway." she explains.

"Be careful. We'll miss you." he says.

"Thanks John." she replies.

"Ready Elliot? I'm hungry." she looks at the man sitting across from her.

"I've been ready. Waiting on you." he says.

She smiles and makes her way towards the door. He follows behind her and they walk out of the building and get into his car and start heading to the restaurant.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ST. MARY'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
CHEYENNE BROWN'S ROOM
QUEENS, NEW YORK
5:30pm

Ashley sat on the uncomfortable green chair next to her daughter's bed, watching her take a nap. Her fever had gone back to normal, and the nurses had left them alone for the past 20 minutes. She wished she had some family to call, but her parents had died two years ago, she was an only child, and her husbands family didn't like her.

Reba quietly entered the room to check on Cheyenne. She notices the little girl asleep and smiles. She puts a few DVD cases on the side table, "I found these. I thought Cheyenne might like them, and yes Finding Nemo is in there."

Ashley smiles in return and says, "I'm worried about what's going to happen when we get home."

"You'll be fine. That detective gave you her number, and I'm sure they're keeping a close eye on your husband." Reba reassures the woman.

Thirty seconds later, they hear a knock on the door and Reba goes to open it. She sees a uniformed officer standing there, smiling, "I'm Officer Nicholson. Your request for protective detail has been approved and you and your daughter will have one officer with you tonight and two with you 24-7 when you get home."

Ashley smiles, "Thank you. Maybe she'll sleep better knowing that there's someone protecting us, I probably will too."

"No problem, and I'll bring you home when she's released." Officer Nicholson replies.

The blond woman nods as the officer leaves the room. Cheyenne wakes up because she heard the police officer's voice. "Mommy?"

"I'm right here honey." the woman answers.

"Who .. Who was that?" Cheyenne asks, yawning.

"His name is Officer Nicholson, he's going to be standing outside the door tonight, it's what they call protective detail, its sort of like the president's secret service." the woman explains.

"So he's like, going to make sure no one but Reba gets in here?" the little girl skeptically asks.

"Yep. That's how it works, and if someone tries to come in that's not supposed to, he makes them leave. He'll only let the doctors and nurses, Olivia and her other detective friends in here." Ashley reassures her daughter.

"Okay. Did Reba ever find Finding Nemo?"

"Yes honey, I did. It's sitting on the nightstand." Reba answers.

"Yay. Can you put it in for me?" Cheyenne asks.

"Of course honey." the redheaded nurse replies.

"Thank you." the little blond says.

Ashley looks at her best friend and smiles, "Hey Reba, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, I know you've had a wild day." the older woman replies.

Ashley nods and looks at her daughter, who is now glued to the talking fish on the TV, "Sweetie, mommy's just going to talk to Nurse Reba for a few minutes okay? I'll be right back."

"Promise? You're not leaving are you?" the little blond asks, not taking her eyes off the TV.

"Yes honey, I promise, I'll come back." the woman reassures her.

"Kay." Cheyenne says, and doesn't notice them leave, because she's too busy paying attention to Finding Nemo.

The two women step outside the room and Reba is the first to talk, "What's up?"

"I just had no idea, I mean, I would always hear them upstairs yelling at each other, but I was so stupid, so blind, not to realize that he was hurting my baby." Ashley says, her eyes filling with tears.

"It's okay. Sometimes we don't always see the big picture, but be thankful that he's only hit her, and he hasn't done anything more, there were no signs of sexual assault when we examined her." Reba replies.

Ashley sighs and blinks several times, trying to hold back the tears, "I just wish I had some family around, that we could stay with, because he's in lockup for assault of a police officer, but his whack job for a brother will bail him out in a few hours."

"You'll be here overnight, and Officer Nicholson and whom ever else they assign will be your protective detail once you leave here." the redhead calmly says.

"I know, but still, I wanna know why he's hurt my baby." Ashley cries.

"I know you do honey, but listen, she's safe now. The detectives aren't going to let anyone hurt her or you ever again." Reba reassures her.

"I'm acting so childish. I'm crying." Ashley scolds herself.

"No, no you're not. It's okay." Reba gently says.

Ashley leans on her best friend's shoulder and silently cries. Reba wraps her in a hug. A few minutes later Ashley realizes how long they've been there like this and pulls out of her friend's comforting hug.

"I, I have to be strong for her, I can't let her see that I've been crying, I just can't." the blond woman says.

"I know this is a lot for her, and you both to go through, we have some therapists here now, that she can talk to, or you can. If you want, I can refer you." Reba offers.

"Maybe later. I don't know if she's going to even talk to Detective Benson tomorrow." Ashley replies.

"Think about it. It might help her in the long run." Reba calmly says.

"I know she's content right now, her movie's on. And I'll be checking on her throughout the night. But I have other patients that I need to get to." the redheaded nurse reminds Ashley.

"I know Reba, I… just needed someone to talk to for a minute. That wasn't eight or a inanimate object." Ashley tells the woman.

"It's okay. That's what friends are for, to help when you need them." Reba kindly says, and walks away to check on her other patients.

Ashley walks back into her daughter's room to see her laughing at the TV. She smiles, sits down and looks up at the screen.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

MANHATTAN CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
5:45pm

Josh Brown sat in his cell, waiting for the guard to let him make his one phone call. Finally a tall African- American man arrived with a set of keys. Josh smiled, "Can I make my call now?"

"Yes Mr. Brown, ten minutes." the man says.

Josh gets up from the bench and follows the man to a room, with a telephone on the wall. He picks it up and dials his brother, Jeremy, who lives in Albany.

Three rings later and a man with a deep voice answers the phone, "What's up?"

"Jeremy it's me, Josh. I got arrested by this stupid chick cop. I slapped her partner." the man explains.

"Damn you're stupid. Why'd you slap a cop?" the man chuckles.

"Cheyenne ran off. I waited until morning to find her, and she told the chick that I hurt her." Josh answers.

"Idiot. I told you not to hit her, you never listen to anyone." Jeremy replies.

"Can you bail me out, please?" Josh begs.

"How much man?"

"800, dollars." Josh answers.

"Fine, but you know it'll take me a while to get there you're in freaking Manhattan." Jeremy angrily tells his brother.

"Duh. I knew that." Josh says.

"Whatever." Jeremy hotly says and hangs up the phone.

Josh turns around and looks at the guard, "I'm done," and snickers.

The man nods in agreement and leads him back to his cell, where he sits planning his next moves after he gets out.