This chapter actaully took me FOREVER to write. For those of you who read Only the Beginning, hopefully this makes up for the crappy chapter I posted a few nights ago. It's over 4,000 words and almost 9 pages. :D

I really hope you guys like it because I've been writing for over 6 hours and its 4 o'clock in the morning, but i had to finish it tonight.

Let me know what you think by reviewing, it really means a lot to me when I get reviews and motivates me more than anything.

Thank you for reading! I wish I could express to you guys through words how much it means to me that you guys read and serioulsy, getting feedback is the best thing ever. It makes me feel so good to know that my wirting is appreciated. :)

"Cheyenne, honey," Reba said, walking into the kitchen where her oldest daughter was sitting. "could you do me a big favor tonight?"

"Baby sit Kyra and Jake so you and dad can go out." Reba looked at her confused. "Dad already asked me and I already agreed because you guys deserve it. Have I told you how much I appreciate all the things you guys do for us? You guys are both so hard working and-"

"Yes, Cheyenne, Van can come over. Only until ten and you guys have to keep your door open."

"Thanks, mom!" Cheyenne said, already running out of the kitchen to go call her boyfriend. Brock came in right after that and glanced at the clock.

"Try to be ready by eight so we can hurry and put Jake to bed then leave right away."

"Why're you in such a hurry? It was your brilliant idea to leave after Jake goes to bed."

"Well, it was either that or come home by eight because he wont go to bed without us saying goodnight."

"I think I would've preferred coming home at eight…" Reba mumbled. Brock took a breath to say something, but bit his tongue and just settled with a disapproving look. "Sorry, this is gonna be a good night. No negativity." He smiled and nodded.

"Thank you." he looked at the clock again. "You should start getting ready, it's already seven."

"Shouldn't you start getting ready? It takes you longer to get ready than it takes me." Brock scuffed.

"I'm gonna get ready while you're in the shower… and while you're getting ready." She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, don't gimme that look."

"What should I wear?" He thought about it for a second.

"Casual." She nodded, then walked out of the kitchen and up to their room. "Cheyenne!" She yelled and about a minute later Cheyenne walked into their room and found her mother in the big closet.

"Yeah?"

"I need help. I'm supposed to dress casual." Cheyenne puckered her lips and stared at the clothing.

"Uh," She paused and continued to look around. "Okaayy… Ooh! These," she grabbed a pair of jeans, "make your butt look good." Reba raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

"You're lookin at my butt?" Reba asked jokingly and Cheyenne shrugged.

"I look at clothing, mom, and I just remember thinking about how great your butt looked in these." Reba shook her head, then shrugged.

"Okay," she took the jeans out of Cheyennes hands and studied them for a few moments. "if you really think so. But I'm not tryin' to win him over or anything, I've already got his last name and three kids of his." She reminded the teenager.

"It's not about winning him over, mom. It's okay to still want to look attractive for your husband." Reba nodded slowly then rolled her eyes.

"This comin from a sixteen year old…"

"I'm just trying to help you… now, a shirt." Cheyenne went back to looking until she pulled a light purple v-neck off a hanger and held it up. "Eh?" Reba shrugged.

"Sure." Cheyenne smiled, proud that her mother accepted her suggestion. "Thank you, sweetheart." Reba said to her as Cheyenne walked by her to leave.

"No problem, mama." She replied then walked out. Reba got the rest of her clothing and a towel then got into the shower. A couple minutes later she heard Brock enter the bathroom.

"Are you gonna tell me where we're goin yet?" She asked from the shower.

"Its nothin exciting." She sighed and rinsed the conditioner out of her hair.

"Do I get a hint?" he didn't say anything for a while, then finally decided on what to say.

"Nobody else is gonna be around."

"Do I get a better hint?" he chuckled.

"No, but you really shouldn't be so anxious. It's nothing super fun." He said while brushing his teeth. Reba finished rinsing her soapy body, then shut the water off. She peeked her head out of the curtain and pointed to her towel that she couldn't reach. He rinsed his toothbrush then handed her the towel that she wrapped around herself before stepping out.

"Outside or inside?" She asked, looking at him in the mirror.

"I'm not tellin' you."

"Moving or sitting still?"

"Either one." She gave him a dirty look and he smiled.

"I gotta get dressed."

"Go ahead." He said, then smirked.

"Get out." His face fell and he slowly walked back into their bedroom. She shut the door behind him, then began to get dressed. She stared at the V cut in her shirt and contemplated putting on a tank top, but decided against it. Why not show off a little? She brushed her teeth, did her hair and had time to put on a little bit of makeup. She walked out and saw that it was already a couple minutes past eight. She went to the top of the stairs and called Jake up, he was already in pajamas and ready to be put to bed. She picked him up and kissed his cheek, then he wrapped his legs around her waist and his arms around her neck. Brock came up stairs and followed them into Jakes bedroom, then Reba laid him down, kissed him goodnight and waited for Brock to do the same.

"Okay, Cheyenne," Brock said as they walked down the stairs. "we just put Jake to bed, Kyra will probably fall asleep as long as you leave her alone. Be. Good." He said, then kissed her forehead.

"Always am." Reba scuffed and Cheyenne gave her a dirty look. "I'm a saint."

"Yeah…" Reba said sarcastically, then kissed her cheek. "Be good. I love you. Thank you. We'll be home soon." Cheyenne nodded and followed them over to the door.

"Don't have too much fun, kids." Cheyenne said, smiling, then shut the door behind them. Reba started walking to the car, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her away from it towards the road and onto the side walk. He looked down at her questioning face and smirked. Reba looked down at their hands and finally laced her fingers with his.

"Do you know yet?" He asked as they walked.

"I think so, but why?" He shrugged.

"Why not? Nobody's there because it's dark. Its nice out, quiet, I think it'll be nice." She nodded. "You look nice, by the way." She looked down at her outfit.

"Thanks, Cheyenne picked it out…" He chuckled and nodded.

"I can tell." They walked up a hill by the park and she saw the blanket he had laid down with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"When'd you do this?" She asked, smiling.

"While you were getting ready." He answered as they both took a seat on the blanket. "It sounded better than a restaurant."

"I agree." She watched him open the wine and pour them each a glass. "Y'know how you said it wasn't cheating because I never even kissed you?" He nodded. "Well, that's not entirely true." He thought about it.

"If you're talking about that one time, it doesn't count."

"Yes it does! A kiss is a kiss, buddy." He shook his head.

"It doesn't count." They both grew quiet as the memory flooded both of their minds.

July 8th, 1979 (eight months since last flashback)

"Reba, what're you doin?" Brock asked her as she sat at the bar with a beer. She shrugged and took a large gulp. "You know you're workin, right?"

"I can multitask."

"You cant drink and work."

"Oh, right… I forgot, I might get fired." She said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes.

"Where's Terry?" She shrugged again and took another drink. "What do you mean you don't know? You were just talkin to him."

"He left."

"Why?"

"We had a disagreement." She answered as he opened a beer for one of the costumers and handed it to him.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked.

"Nope." He smirked and shook his head. "I've just been pickin fights like crazy, I don't know what to do. I'm not happy." He inhaled deeply through his nose and shrugged.

"I've already told you what to do." She looked at him like he was stupid.

"No, Brock."

"Then you're on your own, sweetheart." He said, then walked away to serve another customer. She finished the beer a little but later, faster than she should've, then walked around and opened another one. Brock was still down at the other end of the bar, getting his ear talked off by a drunk, but saw her out of the corner of his eye and shook his head at her. She raised an eyebrow and drank.

"You keep drinkin that fast you're gonna be drunk." He said, walking up to her.

"Good." He smiled and took the beer from her just as she was about to take a drink.

"You cant drink your problems away, Red."

"I know, but it'll make me feel good for right now, that's all that matters." She replied, snatching the beer back and sitting. "And don't act like you've never been there because I know you have."

"Yeah, but I'm a guy…" She raised her eyebrows and waited for a more logical response. "A bad guy. You're, not only a girl, but a good one. I guess I just never saw you as the type to drink it away."

"Guess you've got some learning to do."

"Guess so." A man came up next to Reba and asked for another drink. Brock nodded and started making it. The guy looked at Reba and decided to take a seat next to her.

"Hi." he said. Reba looked at him then looked forward.

"Hi." She replied.

"How're you?" he slurred.

"Ask me again later." He chuckled.

"Bad night?" She shrugged.

"Getting better." She took a drink and looked at him again.

"You look like you need a friend."

"I'm doin just fine, but thank you."

"Well, fine then." Reba let out a sigh of relief. "Is that your natural hair color?" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and nodded. "Quite a thick accent you got." She nodded again and he scuffed. "What have I ever done to you?"

"Why're you talkin to me?" He shrugged, a little thrown off by her straightforwardness.

"You looked lonely… and pretty." He added with a wink.

"I would be flattered if you weren't three sheets to the wind."

"Pssshhhh… I'm on my second drink, thank you."

"I find that hard to believe considering I've been serving you since six o'clock. I made you at least four drinks and two shots. I'd say that's probably your… seventh drink, maybe." he looked at her confused.

"You don't work here!" She chuckled and shook her head. "You're a customer."

"Mmm…" She nodded, slowly. "Brock!" She motioned for him to come over to them with her finger.

"She don't work here." He said to Brock who looked at Reba and attempted to hold back a smile as he nodded.

"Yeah… yeah, she does."

"Wow…" The drunk said in disbelief. He thought about it for a long time before he finally decided to just shrug and go with it. "Don't know how I could forget a face like yours, but if you say you work here I guess I'll take your word." Reba smirked and looked at Brock.

"Isn't he charming?" Brock laughed and nodded.

"Are you done yet? I could use your help." Brock said.

"With what? You've got this under control. It's a Tuesday night, we have eight customers…"

"How're you gettin home?" Reba finished off her second beer and got up to throw it away.

"You."

"Sure…" He said in a sigh.

"I'm switchin to wine." She said, already pouring herself a glass. She polished that off much too quickly, just like the two beers, and went for a second glass. Brock took the bottle and poured her a half glass, then put the bottle away. "What're you doin?"

"Cutting you off." he replied.

"Why? I'm doin just fine."

"Reba, in the two years that I've known you I have never once seen you drunk, which is odd because you work in a bar."

"And?"

"And… I know you don't drink a lot. I know that those two beers already had you buzzin and the one glass of wine you had would've been enough to get you drunk by itself. I gave you a little more, but you should already be pretty numb."

"Are you sayin I cant hold down my drinks?"

"Yes." If looks could kill, Brock would've been dead by the one she gave him. "You never drink and you're not the biggest thing in the world. Sorry, darlin." She rolled her eyes, got down and walked to the bathroom. Before she went, she looked at herself, put her hair up into a pony tail and touched her cold hands to her hot cheeks. When she went back out she saw the drunk guy sitting in the stool next to her again.

"Hey! There she is! The redhead." Reba braced herself, then slowly made her way back to her stool. "Whats your name? I wont forget." Reba looked at him and thought for a second. Brock looked up from the glass he was drying and answered for her.

"Reba."

"Yes… what he said." She said then laughed quietly and sipped her wine. Brock glanced up at the clock on the wall, put the glass where it belongs and went to tell the last customers down at the other end of the bar to leave. They all got up and walked towards the door, calling their friend who was sitting next to Reba to follow.

"See ya later, redhead!" He said, getting up.

"Bye… drunkie." She mumbled and Brock smirked as he wiped down the bar.

"You don't have much room to talk." Brock said after the guy left. "Not tonight anyway."

"Shut up." He smiled at her then got the broom to sweep. "Hey, Brock?" She said quietly, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"Hm?"

"Stop sweeping." He looked up at her, but she didn't look at him. He was going to question it, but decided to just lean the broom up against the bar and give her his full attention. She downed the rest of her wine and hopped off the bar then walked over to him. She stopped a little too close to him, but her world was spinning and she didn't care that much anyway. "I like bein around you." She admitted.

"Okay." he said, holding back a laugh.

"I'm sorry…"

"For what?" He asked, smirking.

"For bein so stupid." She replied, resting her forehead on his shoulder and closing her eyes. He froze up for a second, then rubbed her back soothingly.

"It's okay, you're not stupid. I deal with drunk people everyday, you're the smartest drunk person I've ever met." She lifted her head and looked up at him.

"I didn't entirely mean because I drank tonight." She stood a little taller and pressed her sweet, wine tasting lips against his. His eyes got wide and he gasped through his nose, then put his hands on her shoulders and pulled away from her.

"Okay… you're a little stupid." He said after the shock left his body.

"I know…" She said resting her hand on her forehead and looking down to hide her face. "The worst part is that I want to do it again."

"That doesn't make you stupid, it just makes me irresistible." She dropped her hand and gave him a dirty look and he chuckled.; "You don't know how long I've been waiting for that to happen… and believe me, I want it to happen again too, but you're really gonna regret it in the morning, I know you will… If you were sober and wanted to kiss me, then I probably wouldn't be talking right now." he explained.

"I do wanna kiss you when I'm sober, I just have the guts right now… " He chuckled and nodded.

"That's okay, we'll just pretend it never happened."

"So we can just go back to our boring lives? So we can keep pretending we hate each other in front of Terry? And, you really think that after this it's going to be the same? No, it's either going to keep going on or get reaaallyy awkward."

"Well, what do you wanna do?" Brock asked

"Kiss you." He sighed and thought for a minute. "I cant keep pretending like nothin is going on, Brock. As much as I hate to admit it, I have grown… some kinda feelins for you. I don't know why or what it is… but I have. And, I repeat, I hate it." He smiled proudly. "Stop." She said and he dropped the smile.

"Do somethin about Terry."

"It's not that simple."

"Yes, it is. Just break up with him. Tell him you've lost interest. Tell him you're bored. Tell him you just wanna be single."

"He's gonna hate you if anything happens between us."

"I don't care, Reba…"

"I think I should write this down, just in case I don't remember it all tomorrow." he quietly chuckled then settled into a smile.

"Let's get you home…"

November, 26th, 1997

"Definitely doesn't count." Brock said, then took a drink.

"It does too!" he shook his head.

"You were just drunk."

"Well, obviously it meant somethin." She said.

"Yeah, but… It wasn't like you to do that."

"But I did it." Brock couldn't say anything. He just smiled and shook his head. "Stop lookin at me like that." He didn't listen so she rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

"It only lasted about zero point two seconds, Reba, it was just a peck. That's not cheating on someone." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What exactly is your definition of cheating, Brock?" He looked down and scratched the back of his head, then shrugged. "So, what you're tellin me is that if I walked up to another man and kiss-"

"Pecked." He corrected and she sighed, annoyed.

"Pecked him, you'd be okay with it?"

"No! That's not at all what I said." She raised her eyebrow at him. "I… It's different when you're married, okay? You and Terry weren't married." She smiled a little and he could've sworn his heart skipped a beat. He loved her smile, it was one of his favorite things about her. He had always said she had a contagious smile, when she smiled everyone smiled and she still had the affect on him. A smile spread across his face and he looked her straight in the eyes. Reba sighed and looked away, toward the sky.

"So many stars tonight." She said, breaking the silence. He tore his eyes from her for a split second before looking back at her.

"Beautiful." Reba looked at him and her face fell a little. She cleared her throat and took a small sip of her wine, awkwardly. Brock took the glass from her hand and carefully set both his and hers down, making sure they wouldn't spill, then moved closer and rested his hands on either side of her neck, pulling her in for a kiss. Just before their lips met, Reba looked down. Brock rested his forehead on hers and frowned.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I just… I can't help but feel like you're just doing all of this because you knew how much I was hurting."

"I am. I wanna make you happy. Like I used to." She pulled her head back a little and he removed his hands from her neck and rested them on her legs.

"But if you're doin this just for me its not gonna make me happy."

"I'm doin this for us, Reba. I want us to get better just as much as you do."

"How long is all of this gonna last until we fall apart again?" Brock sighed and shook his head.

"Why do you always gotta do that?" He asked, slightly frustrated.

"What?"

"Talk negative. Think about the worst." She opened her mouth to say something, but he kept talking. "How do you know its gonna come to and end? How do you now we're gonna fall apart?"

"Because, Brock. We're gonna do good for a while, then things will slowly start to go back to how they were and it's gonna kill me." She said, her voice cracking at the end, but refusing to cry. "How long until work takes over your life again? And we stop talking and start fighting again?"

"Oh my god, Reba…" he said, sliding his hand down his face. "I'm trying, okay? I'm trying to be happy and make you happy but it's impossible! You're impossible. I can never please you anymore. Have you ever thought that maybe you've just… you've just fallen out of love with me?" Reba felt like a ton of bricks just landed on her chest.

"No…" She said, looking extremely hurt. "No because if I didn't love you I wouldn't be worried about losing you." She pulled her knees to her chest and bit her lip.

"Well, if we both love each other so much why the hell is this happening? Why aren't we working?"

"I don't know…" She whispered, covering her face with her hands. They sat in silence for what felt like years before Reba finally sighed and stood up. "I'm gonna go." He nodded and stayed sitting without even looking at her. She sighed once again through her nose, then turned and walked herself home. She didn't know how long Brock would be so she didn't know what to tell Cheyenne when she got home, she decided to just go with 'he's getting all the stuff and he'll be home soon.' if any further questions were asked, she'd ignore them and go straight up to bed. When she got to the front door she took a deep breath before opening it. Cheyenne and Van were sitting in the dark living room watching a movie which really made her regret not going through the back door and sneaking upstairs.

"Hey, mama. How was it?" Cheyenne asked from the couch, grinning. Reba nodded and forced a smile.

"It went pretty well, don't forget he," she pointed at Van "leaves at ten."

"I know, I know…" Cheyenne almost turned back to her movie until she realized that only one of her parents had walked through the door. "Wheres dad?"

"Hm? Oh, he's just packin up the stuff he brought to the park. He'll be here soon."

"You didn't wait for him?" Cheyenne asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was gettin eaten alive by the mosquitoes so he told me to just go." She mentally patted herself on the back for coming up with that so quickly. So much for avoiding other questions…

"That's so sweet." Cheyenne said, smiling.

"Yeah." Reba said, going up the stairs. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." The teenagers both replied, then returned to their movie. All Reba wanted to do was get ready for bed and attempt to fall asleep before he came up. She managed to get ready and lay down, but not fall asleep. She laid there and watched her alarm clock and minutes passed. It was almost a half our of watching the clock before she heard the doorknob turn. She quickly closed her eyes and prayed that he didn't see her do that. When she heard him trying to be quiet and tip toe around she was relieved. He got dressed and carefully slid into bed next to her. Minutes later she heard him softly snoring felt that it was safe to move into a more comfortable position to sleep, but sleep was not on her side that night. She tossed and turned all night and mentally prepared herself to go back to being just a mom tomorrow morning.