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:

"I can always call the school too. I also need to tell them that you're staying with us because of what happened this weekend…" the woman calmly explains.

"Fine. Just don't tell them about uncle Jeremy, cuz they'll make me go with him…" she mutters.

"Baby, I won't. Now I'm going to go take a quick shower, then I'm gonna make you some breakfast and then we can run to Target to find you something to wear to school okay?" Reba smiles.

"Yeah. That's cool. I'm tired…" Cheyenne yawns.

Reba gently rubs the little girl's shoulder and walks out of the room as Brock is leaving. "We're gonna do like you said. I have to tell the school what happened… and after school I'll probably take her to get a few more things…"

"Sounds good. If you need anything call me. I really don't have a busy day today…" he smiles, giving her a hug and a kiss before he walks out the door to work.

It had been a month since the shooting and the Harts had officially adopted Cheyenne. Her family didn't seem to want anything to do with the child so Reba and Brock felt like it was in her best interests.

The funeral was planned for a week after the shooting and even though everything went according to plan, it still devastated the eight year old. The weeks following the funeral were not getting easier for Cheyenne like Reba had hoped they would. The little girl would cry herself to sleep at night, only to be awakened by horrible nightmares that she wouldn't want to talk about.

One morning after a nightmare, Cheyenne insisted on going to school, so Reba let her. luckily it was her day off from work so she would be around if Cheyenne had a hard time. It was barely lunch time when Reba's phone started ringing.

Reba's POV

"Hello?" I answer after the second ring.

"hi, Mrs. Hart?" the voice on the other end says.

"yeah…" I reply, then I realize the number on the caller ID was the school.

"this is Stephanie Jones, the guidance counselor at Riverside elementary…"

I sigh, "is everything okay with Cheyenne?"

"she's been having a rough day. Her teacher brought her to my office after she broke down and started crying in the middle of class" the woman says.

"give me ten minutes. I'll be there" I say, stuffing my feet in a pair of tennis shoes that I noticed by the counter.

"she hasn't talked to me, just sat here and cried. It looks like she hasn't slept well in a few days" the woman says.

"she hasn't. ever since the funeral she's been having nightmares. She had one last night and I tried to get her to stay home, but she insisted on going today" I explain.

"there's spelling bee practice today, so that's probably why. I'll let her know you're on the way…" she says.

"alright. try to see if she'll stop crying.." I suggest.

"I have, she's been this way for a little over an hour" she tells me.

"okay, well I'll see you soon." I say, and then we hang up.

RIVERSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
11:45AM

I pull into the parking lot and quickly sign in. the secretary walks me back to the counselors office where I can hear her cries before I even open the door. My heart breaks for her when I see her curled up, hugging a pillow and the huge sobs that wrack her body.

I sit down next to her, smiling at the counselor. "Cheyenne honey.." I quietly say.

She instantly leans into me and I wrap her in a hug. "shhh, breathe sweetheart…"

She continues to cry for a while and I just sit there rubbing her back. "did her teacher say what happened before this?" I ask.

"she didn't see or hear anything. But did notice Cheyenne couldn't keep her focus, which isn't normal for her. I got the assistant principal to talk with some of the kids in her class, but I haven't heard back from her yet." The woman explains.

I keep rubbing the little girl's back, "I want you to take some big deep breaths, let's try to dry your tears, okay…"

She struggles at first but is finally able to take some steady deep breaths and she's down to silent tears. The counselor smiles and hands me a the tissue box. I gently wipe the girl's cheeks and nose, and keep dabbing her eyes as the tears finally trickle away. She gives me a tiny, sad smile and her face is still red and puffy.

"Cheyenne, we're gonna let you go home early today, and I'll tell the teacher in charge of the spelling bee that you weren't feeling well." The counselor says.

The little girl shakes her head, "I wanna stay…"

I gently rub her back, "honey, you barely got any sleep last night and you've been in here crying for more than an hour. I think you should come home and rest"

She whimpers, "I'm not tired!"

The counselor sighs, "Cheyenne, listen. We can tell you're really upset. You'll feel a lot better if you go home and take a nap. Practice is after school, and if you feel better you can always come."

She shakes her head, still trying to argue, "don't wanna take a nap! I'm not a baby"

"that doesn't mean you're a baby sweetie. It just means that you didn't sleep good last night so we want you to try to get some sleep now" I explain.

She hides a yawn and leans into me. the counselor smiles, "I think it might be good for her if she started coming to see me at least once a week"

I feel Cheyenne shake her head no against my shoulder, I think she's trying to pretend everything's okay. "yeah. This has not been easy for her at all, she needs someone to help her through this"

The woman writes something down on her notepad, "I'm gonna tell her teacher that I want to see her every Tuesday and Thursday during P.E."

"that's fine. My husband and I have been thinking about getting her into counseling for a while now" I say. We've been looking for a good counselor for her, but just haven't found one yet. Maybe we can try this and see if she can get better.

"we can start with this and see how she does. But I really think you should get her home and let her rest." She tells me.

I nod and glance down at the little girl in my arms. Her breathing has evened out and her head is buried in my shoulder. "alright. I'm gonna go ahead and take her, she's asleep"

"I've already signed her out, so you can take her." the woman smiles and stands up to open the door for me.

I carry the sleeping child to the car and gently sit her down. she sleeps the whole way home and I carry her inside, and lay her down in her bed.

She sleeps for two hours before I hear whimpers coming from her room. I quietly walk in and she's in a fitful sleep, again.

I gently rub her shoulder, "Cheyenne sweetie"

She wakes up and pulls the covers over her head. I gently hold the hand that's peeking out from the covers, "hey now, I know you're sad, and probably scared. But I'm right here, it's gonna be okay."

I feel her relax once my hand grabs hers, but the whimpers are still there. "I miss.. mommy.." she cries.

My heart breaks when she says this, but I gently pick up the little girl and hug her tight. "I know sweetheart, we all do. Do you remember the place we buried her?" I ask.

"that weird garden place?" she asks. Still too young to understand the concept of a graveyard, so it's okay if she thinks of it as a garden for now.

"yes sweetie, the garden. Would you like me to take you to the garden so you can see where your mom is?" I ask her.

"you can do that? I thought once she was there you weren't supposed to go back. there's a gate…" she says.

"the gate is there to keep the animals out, like the fence I have around my flowers. You can go visit whenever you want to" I explain.

"can we?" She asks, still trying to understand what happened.

I rub her back, "sure. Just let me get my shoes, and I want you to put your coat on, then we'll go" I make a mental note to talk to the counselor and see if she'll help Cheyenne understand what happened at the funeral. I think that's a lot of why she's so upset now is because she just doesn't understand.

I put her down and she runs off into the bedroom and comes back with her tennis shoes on, but her laces are untied. I bend down to help her tie them and she just gives me a small smile.

I guide her to the car and she climbs in. I can see the uncertainty and sadness still clear on her face when I look back in the rearview mirror at her. I just smile, hoping she'll start to get better soon.

A/N: I'm so sorry that it's been like a year since this has been uploaded. But I finally re read this like 10 times to get a new idea. I've started writing for Glee and Make it Or break it so I have started to neglect my SVU and Reba stories. And these are my earlier stories so they were originally written in 3rd person POV but I switched to writing in first person, so it was kinda hard to think of how to update these. Follow me on twitter if you wanna know when I'm writing! Gleeroxmysocks