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:

"WPP?" he suggests.

"Absolutely not. That would rock her world more than this. That's definitely not what she needs, but if that were the case, I'd suggest she go with the Harts and then Reba would be there to help her heal." the brunette replies.

Another detective stands up and walks towards Benson and Bradford, "Got something."

"What?" Olivia asks.

"Josh's brother lives in the neighboring subdivision. He bailed him out, so that's where Josh probably went when we kicked him out before Cheyenne and Ashley came home. He may have gone back there after the shooting." the man informs them.

"Let's go pay the brother a visit…" Tanner tells Olivia.

JEREMY BROWN'S RESIDENCE
QUEENS, NY
6.45pm

Olivia bangs on the door of the apartment, "OPEN UP, NYPD"

Jeremy makes his way to the door and sees the brunette woman through the peep hole, "Can I help you?" he asks, opening it.

"Where's Josh Brown?" she asks.

"Inside. Why?" the man replies.

"We need to ask him some questions." the woman calmly explains.

"JOSH!" the man yells and a second man appears at the door. "SHIT…" Josh screams and tries to run, but Detective Bradford catches him.

"We're not here to arrest you, we just need to talk. Downtown." the male detective informs him.

"Fine. That bitch already arrested me once…" Josh says, glaring at Olivia.

"I can arrest you again if I have to. Murder." she smiles.

"Of who?" Jeremy asks.

"Ashley Brown" Olivia informs him.

"Shit, man what the hell did you do?" Jeremy angrily questions his brother, "First you get pulled in for hurting your daughter now you kill your wife?"

"I didn't kill Ashley! The kid did." he yells back.

"I'll believe that when her prints come up on that gun, which they won't." Detective Bradford says, escorting Josh to the car.

"Cheyenne wouldn't kill her mother… I know she wouldn't." Jeremy defends his niece.

"I believe you…" Olivia quietly tells him, "She's been through too much…"

"If Ashley's really dead, where is she gonna stay?" "Heck, even I don't want her going back to Josh. And she can't stay here, even though I know she'd love to stay with her aunt Nicole for a while, Josh's staying with us because of that restraining order…" the man says.

"Ashley's best friend, Reba Hart has offered to care for her. Cheyenne ran across the street to her house after the shooting, she's terrified. You still might get her aunt to come see her in the hospital, it'd probably help her if she knew at least some of her family cares." Olivia replies.

"Okay. I'm guessing you're taking my brother downtown? Then after you leave, I'm gonna call Nicole and see if she can run by St. Mary's and talk to Cheyenne. I might try talking to my mom too, even though she doesn't like Ashley that much." Jeremy tells her.

"Here's my card. If you think of anything else that might help us please feel free to call." the woman says, hands him a thin piece of paper and walks out the door.

ST. MARY'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
CHEYENNE BROWN'S ROOM
7:10pm

Reba had managed to get Cheyenne cleaned up fairly easily. The eight year old fought a little, but other wise it went smoothly. Her blond hair was clean, dried and hanging in loose curls to just below her shoulders. She was sitting on the bed in a pair of baby pink hospital pajamas watching Cinderella, Reba was in the chair next to her texting Brock.

'what are we gonna do? I can't let her go back to her family with her father…' the redheaded woman sends.

'I'm sure we could take care of her for a while. Until we get something figured out. Her house is considered a crime scene so she can't go back there…' the man replies.

'I'll talk to the detective when she comes back. I don't know if her grandparents would be willing to take her, Ashley said they never really paid attention to them…' Reba says.

'and Josh has more access to her that way too. I don't think he deserves to be around her anymore…' Brock responds.

'alright. I'm not going to say anything until I talk to the detectives. We're probably just gonna hang out here for now.' Reba sends and puts her phone back in her purse.

There is a slight knock on the door and Reba motions for the woman she recognizes as Nurse Johnson to come in. The black haired woman slowly walks in the room and sits down in the chair next to Reba, "how is she?"

"Better. We've got a long way to go before she's 'okay' again…" the woman sighs.

"She certainly looks a lot better. Has she eaten since she was brought home?" Laura asks.

"I'm not sure. But if you want, you can bring up a meal tray, she's probably hungry." Reba answers.

"Honey… do you want something to eat?" the redheaded nurse calmly asks Cheyenne.

"I'm not hungry… I ate with mommy before he…." the blond replies, but can't say anymore because a fresh wave of tears fall from her eyes.

Both women understand the missing piece of her sentence and Reba gets up to sit down on the bed next to her. Cheyenne leans into the woman's side sobbing, "Shhh… baby girl…" Reba coos.

Cheyenne doesn't respond and Reba allows the little girl to sit on her lap. The woman starts rubbing calming circles on the child's back and humming. Nurse Johnson smiles, "Reba, your singing is brilliant. She'd probably love to hear you sing something…"

"Maybe. My singing is only good enough to win that stupid karaoke contest at the Christmas party every year." the redheaded woman smiles.

The other nurse giggles, "fine then. I'll go find Steve and have him bring that karaoke machine in here!"

"Not now. Maybe later if she feels up to it, we can all sing…" the redheaded woman replies.

Nurse Johnson looks at the eight year old crying in Reba's lap and sighs, "Do you want me to go let Dr. Adams know what's going on?"

"Sure. Just, tell her to wait until tomorrow to come talk to her okay? Because I've talked to Brock and we're thinking about taking her home with us. I've just gotta clear it with the detectives first." the redheaded woman replies.

"Alright. I'll let you talk to her. Just let me know if you need anything." Laura smiles and walks out the door.

Cheyenne looks up at Reba, "You really wanna take me home? And let me stay?"

Reba's heart breaks when she says this because every other time she let Cheyenne come over, she was terrified that when she went back home something bad would happen; and it finally did. "Yes baby girl. I've already talked to Mr. Brock and he thinks it's a good idea too."

Cheyenne tries to smile, but tears stream down her face instead. "Good. I don't wanna stay with my uncle or my grandma."

"Why sweetie?" Reba asks.

"Grandma doesn't like me that much and if I stayed at Uncle Jeremy's, daddy…." the little blond girl sadly replies.

"Don't worry. Your dad can't do anything to you ever again. And Mr. Brock and I might talk to your grandma, just to let her know what's going on, okay sweetheart?"

Cheyenne doesn't know what to say so she just leans back into Reba's chest and continues to cry for almost ten minutes until another knock is heard. Reba recognizes Nurse Johnson, but not the second woman, so she motions for them to come in. "Cheyenne honey, it's aunt Nicole…"

A/N: YAY! 2 of my Reba stories updated this weekend… well not really. It's Monday now. But I'm glad I finally found the time to write another chapter of this story; it's really one of my favorites. I hope everybody had a happy 4th of July yesterday! Please review and let me know what you think.