~ Mine ~

How Was I To Know?

"You okay?" Brandon questioned hesitantly as he slowly rose from his kneeling poison, next to Reba, to retrieve the wet washcloth on the edge of the sink.

"I th-" Reba began before leaning right back over the toilet once more. Brandon quickly knelt back down, pulling some of her stray hair out of her face, and calmly rubbing her back for support. He watched intently as she dry-heaved a moment longer before she collapsed on the rim of the toilet seat, exhausted. She'd been back and forth from the bathroom for at least three hours before Brandon had arrived, and that was an hour ago...

"You're good at this." She mumbled softly as she shifted into a siting poison, leaning up against the side of the sink.

"Taking care of tired and sick pregnant women?" Brandon questioned with a laugh. He'd helped two different women through four different pregnancies, he was sure he'd seen it all.

"I have too much practice." He said jokingly, causing her to laugh softly in response. He could tell how exhausted she was as he watched her try to control her heavy breathing.

"Are you sure you don't want me to just call Doctor Slater and tell her you won't be making it in today?" Brandon inquired softly, handing her the damp wash cloth, in which she accepted graciously.

"Last one before the holidays, got to squeeze in all the screen time I can with the little one." She replied sweetly before running the wash cloth over her face. She normally would have just considered postponing the appointment for a day or two but with Christmas just around the corner, literally, she couldn't afford to skip out.

"Alrighty then let's get going," Brandon said as she grabbed her hand and helped her to her feet, setting the wash cloth down. Holding onto Brandon's left arm, she allowed him to steadily lead her to the door.

~~~~~

"How about Anthem?" Reba wondered aloud, as she looked out the window of Brandon's Ford F-150, on their way back from the Doctor's office.

"No," Brandon said sternly, not even bothering to look over his shoulder or away from the road.

"They'll call him Ant." He added a moment later. Not even bothering to retaliate, Reba looked on, thinking silently to herself.

"Avalon?" She asked after a few moments had passed.

"Hell no." Brandon immediately answered, causing Kelly to laugh from the seat next to him. She'd scheduled a lunch date with Ashley Arrison, the wife of her band member Aben and a fellow friend. Once they had finished she'd asked Ashley to drop her off at the hospital just before Reba's appointment had ended.

"And why not?!" Reba argued back. She actually liked that one.

"No brother of mine will be called Ava." He said shaking his head as if she were crazy.

"What makes you so sure it's a boy?" Reba inquired back, causing him to pause a moment. He'd been so used to referring to the unborn baby as a boy because of his expecting wife.

"Then she's not dating until she's forty," Brandon answered honestly, looking over to a smiling Kelly, who was quite amused by her husband and mother in-law's bickering.

"And I'm still not letting you name her Avalon." He continued. You couldn't tell unless you really knew him but Brandon was quite protective when it came to his family, behind that tough and gruff exterior of course.

"How about Ranger?" Kelly questioned softly. She and Brandon had probably gone through six or seven baby books before agreeing upon a middle name for Remington and she remembered circling Ranger as a possibility.