Chapter 35

Vic's sympathetic pregnancy stopped almost immediately after Reba assured him nothing was wrong with her or the baby. He went for a jog and felt really great enough to eat the big dinner Reba had made and felt even better to put the moves on Reba that very night. He was even well enough to go back to work the next day. Reba thought it was so sweet that he was so worried about her and the baby but that didn't stop her from teasing him or telling everyone else that came across her path. Reba thought it was hilarious, while Vic didn't think so, when he would walk into the office and people would ask how his little bundle of joy was doing and they would do this while patting his stomach. He didn't talk to Reba all morning.

"Honey…" Reba said on her lunch in the break room. Vic was sitting at the table, alone, eating the sandwich he had brought with him. Reba sat next to him but he turned away from her. "I'm sorry but you have to admit it's a little funny."

Vic rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. "I didn't think it was very funny. I was trying to find out what was wrong with me."

Reba chuckled and placed a hand on his arm, which he rejected. "This is ridiculous. Why do we always fight about dumb stuff, now come on, you were taking a pregnancy test." She said with a laugh. "How do you expect me to react?"

Vic shrugged. "I don't know but I was hoping you wouldn't find out."

Reba laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder, this time he didn't reject it. "Why are we even talking about this? It's over and done with and we discussed why you were feeling that way so it doesn't matter anymore. I'll talk with everyone and ask them to quit making fun of you."

Vic shook his head. "Don't, I don't need it to seem like my wife needs to fight my battles for me. Their only playing around anyway, it will pass and everything will go back to normal soon. Don't worry."

Reba smiled and leaned in to kiss his lips. Vic happily accepted the kiss and eagerly kissed her back. "Hey!" a voice said as they walked into the break room. Reba broke the kiss and smiled when she saw Stacy standing near the doorway. "What did Mr. Slaton say about public displays of affection at work?"

Vic shrugged and gave Stacy a smug smile. "What can I say? She just can't keep her lips off me."

Reba and Stacy rolled their eyes. "You sure do have a big ego." Reba said.

"Among other things." He said with a suggestive smile and wink.

Stacy shook her head, not wanting to really hear that and grabbed the bottle of water she came in for. "Resume with what you were doing but be careful. I mean with Vic in his condition…"

"Get out." Vic said angrily as Stacy and Reba laughed. Stacy left and Vic turned to Reba who was trying not to laugh. "You see what you started. Why did you say anything?"

Reba frowned. "I thought we were past this." Vic pouted and Reba smiled. It was quite cute when he pouted. "Vic come on, this is dumb. It was just a joke. You're taking it way to seriously. We have other things to worry about."

Vic chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, like this baby shower we have coming up at the end of the week." Cheyenne and Kyra thought it would be sweet to throw Reba and Barbara Jean a double baby shower. They decided to put aside their sisterly differences and plan it together. It was supposed to be a surprise but considering Cheyenne was planning it, it didn't stay a secret for long.

Reba furrowed her eyebrows. "We? You are not invited. You will be out doing whatever with Brock, Jake, Van, and Henry."

Vic frowned. "Why am I not invited?"

Reba chuckled. "The shower is for woman only."

"A shower with nothing but women…" He smirked. "Sounds like paradise to me."

Reba rolled her eyes and took half of Vic's sandwich. "Why do you have to make it sound dirty?" She asked taking a bite of the sandwich. "I mean it's just…this is good." She said checking the sandwich. "What's in it?" she asked taking another bite.

"Deli Select roasted chicken lunch meat with mayo and pickles." Vic had to chuckle a bit. After she took his sandwich she seemed to forget about telling him off for having such a dirty mind. Her mind now focused on the sandwich.

Reba took another bite and stood up. "This is really good but its missing something." She said, searching in the tiny refrigerator, seeing if there was anything she could add.

"Ranch? He asked jokingly. She always added that to everything.

Reba shook her head. "No, I'm over that. Ah…ha!" she said holding up some chocolate syrup. She sat down and Vic made a face as she opened the half eaten sandwich and poured chocolate over the pickles.

"Do you really think that is a good idea?" he asked, a little worried because of her and the baby.

Reba put the chocolate down and closed the sandwich. "I have been good with eating and I think I deserve a treat." She said biting into the sandwich. "Hmmm…this is good, not as good as the chocolate I had in Italy but it does the trick." She said with a smile.

Vic shook his head and took his own half of the sandwich. "I'll stick with just mayo."

Reba shrugged and bit into the sandwich again. "Your loss, it is good tho…" Reba suddenly stopped and didn't do anything. She just sat there holding her sandwich with her eyes wide.

Vic saw this and put down his sandwich. He placed his hand on her shoulder in concern. "Reba, honey, what's wrong?" She set down her sandwich slowly and stared down at her lap. "Reba, please, you're frightening me here."

Reba lifted her head and Vic saw that her eyes were lit up and her beautiful smile graced her face. "I think the baby liked the chocolate too." She grabbed his hand and placed it slightly off the center of her stomach. "Feel." She simply said.

Vic didn't know what to think when he felt the small flutter, like a butterfly flapping its wings, under his hand. "That's the…?" Reba nodded. Vic smiled and rubbed his hand over her stomach. It was the most amazing feeling he had ever felt. There was actually a baby in there, a baby that he made with Reba, their child. It was truly amazing. "Wow."

Reba nodded and smiled. "Yeah, it's amazing isn't it?"

Vic nodded and removed his hand very quickly. He then stood up and threw the rest of his lunch away. "I think I better get back to work." He mumbled.

Reba nodded and seemed a bit confused at the sudden change of his demeanor. He walked out and left a very confused Reba alone. He seemed distant. Was he still suffering from the sympathetic pregnancy or whatever he blamed his nerves on? She didn't know what was wrong with him and what made him suddenly change. She frowned but then chuckled when she felt her baby kick again. "I don't know what's wrong with him either." She said, sighing. She had better get back to work too. She would have a talk with him tonight.

Reba was happy she planned on having a talk with him because the minute she left the break room he seemed even more distant and weird around her. Reba just didn't understand. They rode to work together everyday and so they always left together. He didn't say anything the whole way home and didn't even order anything or put up a fight when Reba asked for him to stop for frozen yogurt. He acted strange. He didn't say much during dinner and when Reba excitedly announced she felt the baby kick, he seemed to distant himself even more. Reba didn't like this. She still planned on having a talk with him that night.

Reba slipped into her green maternity nightgown and waited for Vic to come out of the bathroom. She hoped the nightgown helped. Usually, if she was half naked, he seemed to confess more, concentrating more on her body than what he was saying. She positioned herself on the bed and smiled when she saw the door open. Vic turned off the bathroom light and walked out smiling.

He walked around to his side of the bed and slipped under the clovers. He turned to Reba and smiled. Reba gave him a suggestive sexy smile and leaned in for a kiss. "Good night sweetheart." He said, giving her a small peck on the lips and slipped down into the covers, turning off the lamp in the process.

Reba sat there, lips still puckered, eyes closed, very still, and wondering what in the world just happened. She looked down at Vic, who had his eyes closed, with confusion. Did he just turn down….? Reba shook her head and turned off her lamp. She wasn't going to take this sitting down…or lying down rather. She slipped under the covers and scooted towards him.

She snaked an arm up his chest and blew into his ear…nothing. She paused and leaned up; kissing the spot on his neck that would make him fall to his knees, if he was standing up that is. As she kissed his neck she heard a gentle snore. Reba pulled away and her mouth dropped. He fell asleep! She moved away from Vic and turned on her side. She couldn't believe he fell asleep on her. She supposed talking with him was out of the question. She would just have to leave that for tomorrow. She sighed and went to sleep herself.

Reba awoke the next morning to find Vic already awake. She heard the shower going and got a wicked idea in her head to join Vic in the shower. She slipped out of bed and out of her nightgown as she walked into the bathroom. Reba pulled the back of the curtain and stepped inside, smiling as Vic finished rinsing shampoo out of his hair. Reba walked up and wrapped her arms around his back, causing him to jump.

"It's just you." He said sighing.

Reba let go and put her hands on her hips. "Who else would it be?"

Vic shook his head. "Nobody, you just never expect someone to join you in the shower." He argued as he put the shampoo back on its shelf.

"Except when I join you in the morning." Reba smiled and stepped towards him, wrapping her arms around him once more. She felt his breathing becoming irregular as she caressed his chest. She smirked knowing she had him. Reba turned him around and pulled him into a passionate kiss, which only lasted about two seconds.

Vic shrugged her off. "I'm sorry but I have to get dressed." He said stepping out of the shower. "It's nice and warm for you." He said walking out of the bathroom. Reba frowned. That was the second time he denied her. Was she that fat? She had to wonder as she looked down to her stomach. Reba sighed and figured she better get her shower.

Reba walked into the kitchen to find Vic had set a plate of scrambled eggs, fruit, and toast for her on the table. She smiled when she saw the jar of chocolate sauce on the table. He knew her so well. Vic was standing by the stove and fixing himself an omelet. Reba walked up to him and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for making breakfast." She wrapped an arm around his waist.

Vic smiled and kissed her cheek in return. "You're welcome."

Reba turned him around and pulled him into a jaw dropping kiss, trying to get some reaction out of him. She placed a hand on his rock hard chest, loving the feel, and racked her nails across his abs. Reba felt him kiss back eagerly but pull away just as quick as she had pulled him into the kiss. "You should eat." He said stepping back to the stove and now flipped his slightly burnt omelet.

Reba frowned and stomped off to the table and began to eat her breakfast. She failed again. Was she really that repulsive? She stabbed at her eggs and forcefully ate, not wanting to talk to the man sitting next to her who seemed to think that nothing was wrong. He was happily eating away at his burnt cheese omelet. She glared and stuffed an apple in her mouth to chew to prevent her from blowing up.

She was in a huff all the way to work and he didn't seem to notice. He just turned on the radio and ignored his wife trying to put the moves on him. He didn't even seem distracted when she put her hand on his inner thigh. This made her even more angry. She could only draw one conclusion from the way he was acting and she really didn't want to go that rout and she really hoped that she was completely wrong.

Reba didn't like the way the rest of the week went either. He seemed to distance himself from her at night and in the morning he was always up and out of the shower before she was even completely awake. They had gotten as far as passionately kissing before he ended it, finding some excuse to push her away.

Reba had done everything she could to get his attention. She tried greeting him naked at their bedroom door, nothing. She tried seducing him at night with sexy nightgowns, nothing. She tried a romantic dinner for two while the kids were out, nothing. She even tried a sexy, well, dirty movie, nothing! She had tried so many things that she couldn't even remember them all. She even tried things she would have never even thought about doing before but she was desperate. Reba felt she had done everything she could to get his attention but just pounce on him and force him to give in. Maybe that was the answer.

By the day of the double baby shower Reba had given up. She just let Vic go on like nothing was wrong and she let herself go on in misery. He still didn't want to talk about anything. He kept saying nothing was wrong and he was fine. Reba had to admit he was very good at hiding it. He was all smiles and would still give her the sweet loving kisses but he never went any farther than kisses. Anyone else could see that he was fine but Reba knew better because he kept turning her down. He was always all over her, usually.

Reba sighed and gave a strained smiled as she opened her last gift, a very adorable yellow Elmo t-shirt with a pair of cute baby jeans and a beautiful hand made blanket. "Thank you so much Stacy. Thank you all, these presents were wonderful." She said gesturing to the pile next to her.

"My mother made the blanket." Stacy said.

Reba smiled. "Well, tell her it's beautiful and thank her for me."

"I would like to thank Cheyenne and Kyra for this wonderful shower." Barbara Jean said cheerfully.

Cheyenne gave a giggle and flipped her hair. "Well, it was really nothing."

Kyra, who was sitting next to her mother, rolled her eyes. "You did really nothing while I decorated the living room."

Cheyenne glared. "I helped!"

"Doing nothing but pointing and Saying, 'No Kyra it goes there', is not helping."

Cheyenne frowned. "I sent the invitations and I got a really big paper cut from it too." She said holding up a bandaged finger. Kyra again shook her head. She knew it was hopeless. The main thing was that they got the baby shower thrown and Barbara Jean and their mother were having a good time.

What the sisters didn't notice was that their mother wasn't having the greatest time. She was trying but it was really hard when she was so concerned about what her husband was doing and why he was pushing her away for the past week. Reba sighed and got up from the couch as best she could.

"Where are you going mom?" Cheyenne asked as she handed another present over to Barbara Jean.

Reba just gave a strained smile. "I am going to get something to eat."

"Just remember…" Kyra said stopping her mother again, "Don't eat the boiled meatballs. Cheyenne made them." She said smirking. Cheyenne stuck her tongue out at her sister. Stacy and Barbara Jean excused themselves for a moment as they followed Reba into the kitchen, knowing something was wrong.

Reba rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen. She sat down on one of the stools and grabbed a plate as she filled it with crab cheese. She grabbed the chocolate syrup and dumped a big glop of it on the side of her plate. "Should you really be eating that?" Stacy asked as she sat on the other stool.

Reba shrugged and dipped the crab cheese into the chocolate. Stacy immediately took the plate away and Barbara Jean took away the crab cheese she had in her hand before she could eat it. "Mean." She said crossing her arms.

Stacy smiled and put the plate far away. "Vic would never forgive us if we let you have whatever you wanted. He gave us strict orders to not let you eat too much unhealthy food."

Reba scoffed at the sound of Vic's name. "Vic's an a**." She simply stated.

Barbara Jean and Stacy's eyes widen. They had never heard Reba really swear like that before. She always had her own cute swear words like porpoise poop. This was something new and they had an idea of what or rather who is the cause of it. "What did he do?" Barbara Jean asked.

"That's just it…nothing." She said a little frustrated. "The man, I swear I have done everything but dance on a pole for him and still nothing."

Their eyes widened again. "You mean you two haven't…?" Barbara Jean said, trying to make it discrete.

Reba shook her head. "Not in a week."

Stacy rolled her eyes. "A week, please honey, come back to me when you two haven't hit the sheets in over three months okay."

Reba turned to Stacy. "You and Bill?"

She nodded. "Yup, not now, but when we were having our first baby, we went through a stage where we didn't have any kind of intimacy for over three months. It was just a big turn off for me."

Reba shook her head. "That's the thing, it's not me, it's him." She said throwing her hands up in the air. "He doesn't seem to want anything to do with me." She then looked down at her hands shyly. "I am kind of scared that he might be having an affair." Reba mumbled.

Stacy shook her head and took Reba's hands into hers. "Vic would never cheat on you. He loves you. I have never seen a man love a woman and care for her the way Vic does for you. He would go to the ends of the earth for you. He waited so long for you. He would never do anything to jeopardize what you two have."

"You know there is a trick." Barbara Jean said smiling as she picked up a boiled meatball. "It's what I used to do to get Brock's attention, before I got pregnant."

Reba rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Barbara Jean, do you know who you're talking to."

Stacy shook her head at the ditsy blonde. "She doesn't need to hear anything like that." Stacy turned her head back to Reba. "Look, you need to go to your husband and just talk to him when he gets back tonight. Just make him listen and tell him how you feel."

Reba sighed. "And if that doesn't work?"

Stacy shrugged and smiled. "Pin him down and just do it." Reba laughed and shook her head at her crazy friend. "There's the Reba laugh we all know and love. Now come on, this is a party. We are supposed to be having fun."

Reba nodded and got up. "You know…" Barbara Jean said stopping them both. They turned back to her. She had the plate of Cheyenne's meatballs in her hand and was munching on one. "These meatballs are not half bad." She said popping another one in her mouth. Reba and Stacy cringed.

Later that night after the party was over, everyone had gone home, and the house was cleaned up, Reba lay on her bed in one of her sexiest nightgowns she owned. You could almost go as far as saying it was more naughty than sexy. Reba figured she would give Vic one last chance and if this outfit didn't work she was just going to sit him down and force him to tell her the truth about what was wrong, whether she would like the answer or not.

Vic walked into their bedroom and shut the door. He was immediately greeted by Reba giving him a naughty smile. His eyes widened and his heart began to pound as she clawed the bed toward him. 'Grandma in her underwear…uhhh…Mom in her underwear, no too gross, dad in his underwear, even worse, Reba in her underwear, too hot,' He thought to himself. Nothing was working as Reba continued to walk towards him. He could feel his body reacting fast as she placed her hand on his chest. He gave out a whimper as her hands drifted. "I need to take a shower." He said quickly. 'A cold shower.' He thought to himself. He pushed her hands away and quickly walked towards the bathroom.

Reba fumed as she watched him walk away. She wasn't going to let him do this. She stomped past him and shut the bathroom door before he could get to it. "No." she said angrily.

Vic gulped. He knew avoiding her wouldn't last forever. Now she was going to force him to talk. "I need a shower."

Reba shook her head and stepped towards him. He stepped back. "No, we need to talk." She repeated the process of stepping towards him until he fell back onto the bed.

Vic sighed. He hoped she wouldn't take advantage of him. "What do you want?"

"You!" she said with a red face and crossed arms. "But you don't seem to want me!"

Vic shook his head. "That's not true."

"Then why have you been denying me all week. You normally would have jumped at every chance when I made advances toward you."

"Its nothing." He said waving it off.

"Are you having an affair?" she asked bluntly.

Vic's eyes widened. "No! No, why would you even think that."

"Then what is it?" she said, letting the tears finally fall. She sat next to him on the bed and cried. "Because I feel like you are disgusted by me. You have been turning me down and I just feel so...lonely. Is it because I'm fat? Ugly? What? I need to know so I can fix it."

Vic's heart ached for her. He didn't realize he was making her feel like that. He turned to her and took her face into his hands. "You are not fat, you are not ugly, and I don't even want to hear those words come from you again. I love you. There is nothing wrong with you. You are perfect."

Reba sniffed. "Then what is the matter? Why have you been turning me down?"

Vic sighed and turned back around. "It's the baby."

Reba looked up in confusion. "The baby?"

Vic nodded. "When I felt the baby kick, it was just like this thing hit me. There is a baby in there and I know it will probably sound crazy but I just felt like we shouldn't do something that could scar our baby for life."

Reba chuckled and wrapped an arm around him. "Honey the baby doesn't even know what we are doing." She paused for a moment and turned to the side. "At least I hope not." She mumbled.

"What?" Vic asked, looking up.

Reba shook her head. "Nothing, now listen. The baby doesn't know Vic. He or she has no clue as to what mommy and daddy are doing." She said smirking.

Vic shrugged and sighed. "I just felt weird, like my baby was watching me or something."

Reba chuckled. "The baby can't see and the baby doesn't know what is going on. As long as you keep mommy happy…" she said caressing his chest, "Everything is fine."

Vic chuckled. "Mommy isn't happy?" he asked

Reba smiled and pulled at the ends of his shirt. "She will be soon."

Vic pulled the shirt over his head and they lay back on the bed. "Do you know how many cold showers I had to take?" he said chuckling.

Reba smiled and shrugged. "I don't think you will need one tonight. You have to make this whole week up to me." She said smirking.

"I'm going to be dead by morning aren't I?" he asked shaking his head. Reba chuckled deeply and pulled him close. And for the first time in a week Vic went farther than just a passionate kiss.

End of Chapter