Austin, Texas

A month had passed and Sue Ellen's re-evaluation of her priorities and although her life was still very busy she was managing to juggle everything better than previously. With classes ending soon she was glad to have a small break between semesters, even if the upcoming summer would be spent back on campus to make up for a class she'd had to drop earlier to fit everything in her schedule after taking on the duties of Miss Austin.

Dallas, Texas

JR Ewing sat in his office high above the city of Dallas reading over drilling reports, Julie standing behind him rubbing his shoulders. What they had was nothing serious, just a fun, casual relationship that worked for both of them. He was free to do whatever he wanted, not ready to commit to any one woman yet and so was she although she would have gladly settled down with JR if he offered, they both knew that.

Hearing a knock on his office door, his father's voice followed.

"JR, I'm coming in."

Announcing himself, Jock walked in, not waiting for a response, being the boss allowed him to do that.

"Oh, hi Julie, I thought you went to lunch?"

Questioning Julie, Jock again didn't wait for a response, simply addressing JR next, as he'd intended to do all along.

"JR, don't make any plans to go out after dinner tonight, you and I need to talk."

Nodding and verbally agreeing, JR wondered what his father wanted to talk about at home that they couldn't talk about in the office, a question that lingered in the back of his mind all afternoon.

Austin, Texas

Sitting on a picnic rug in the park, Sue Ellen's mind drifted to the upcoming Miss Texas pageant. It was to occur on the first Saturday of July and she was quietly preparing herself for the biggest competition of her life.

She had been in many pageants, but none that were state-wide and the fear of disappointing her mother, herself, her acquaintances and the people of Austin was always on her mind.

"Sue Ellen?"

Waving a hand in front of her face, Clint's frustration at the revelation she wasn't listening to a word he said began to show.

"Are you even listening to me? If you wanted alone time, you could have told me, but if you remember, you asked me here, you asked me how my day was and now when I start to tell you, you just switch off. What is wrong with you today?"

Embarrassed at fact that he was right, she had asked him the question and then ignored his answer, she held his hand in hers and looked him in the eye.

"I'm sorry, I'm just distracted. The pageant is coming up soon and I'm afraid of disappointing everyone. You have my attention now."

Sighing, Clint accepted that Sue Ellen's attention wasn't always on him. Most of the time he didn't mind supporting her, she was more needy than he was, where he could make decisions without taking into account everyone else's opinion, she couldn't, or at least didn't want to.

Today he was frustrated because he wanted her opinion on a problem and she couldn't even give him enough of her attention to hear what he had to say, however he knew her and he knew that to get what he wanted from her he needed to give her what she was looking for from him first.

"You'll do fine. Your best is all you have to give, anything more is impossible. Besides, it's only a beauty pageant; there are more important things in life."

Not meaning it to come out as a criticism, his true feelings showed anyway. He didn't particularly care whether his girlfriend was Miss Austin, Miss Texas or just the nice girl he'd met a year ago before she'd held the titles she did now. When they were married it wouldn't matter, she would be Mrs Clint Ogden and there would be no need for a Miss anything title. That said, he still hadn't found the right time to propose so there was no way she could know his imminent plan for her to drop the Miss from her name.

"There are more important things in life? Yes Clint, I know; I'm not a child. Just because winning a pageant isn't the same stress as being a doctor or lawyer or an engineer, doesn't mean that I don't get nervous about it."

Laughing lightly at the contrast between her child-like pout and asking him not to treat her as a child, he attempted to steer their conversation in a more positive direction.

"Hmm, I don't think Doctor Shepard really suits you, Doctor Ogden I could deal with, but then I'd never see you, with all those late nights. I have a better suggestion though, how about becoming Mrs Ogden instead?"

Speaking the words casually, he pulled a small, black box out of his pocket, causing her to gasp.

Looking the ring over, Sue Ellen knew what it was, she'd seen it before and had been wondering when the occasion would come that she would see it again, that time being now apparently.

"I'm not sure, a doctor gets paid more than a wife and they're more respected. Give me five reasons why should I choose the wife role?"

Playing along, she giggled at the look on his face. Obviously, he hadn't planned on her saying anything other than yes so he had no pre-prepared list of reasons exactly why she should marry him, however that didn't stop him from trying.

"Ok then, first and most importantly, I love you and want us to spend the rest of our lives together. Hmm, number two, I love how we are together just like this, it's the definition of contentment. Number three, you're beautiful and charming, what man wouldn't want to marry you? Number four, you will make a wonderful mother someday, and I want to be the father of that child, and the final reason why is…"

Moving to place a long, slow kiss on her lips, he didn't pull away for a long while.

"That. Husbands can kiss their wives like that and they don't have to stop. I promise you, there is so much more where that came from.".

Mentally having already said yes, Sue Ellen realised she had yet to verbalise her response.

"Yes, yes, I would love to be your wife."

An hour later, they walked back toward the sorority house hand in hand, completely smitten with each other, and said their goodbyes.

Walking into her room it finally hit her, she was getting married; they were going to be husband and wife and still hadn't properly figured out their relationship.

The same worries she had had when she had originally found the engagement ring came back to her. How was her mother going to react? How soon did Clint want to get married? How would he react to the idea of a long engagement so that she could still compete in the upcoming pageants? What about her modelling career? Would he accept her as a working wife? Would they live in his apartment or find somewhere new? His apartment was small for the two of them plus a baby and she'd always dreamt of raising her family a traditional white house, so while fine, it wasn't her ideal.

Confused and frustrated, she lay down. There were so many questions she didn't have answers for and so many variable responses to those questions. Maybe they hadn't thought things through as well as they thought they had.

Dallas, Texas

Thinking as his family finished eating dinner, Jock Ewing looked around the dining table. Only he, Miss Ellie, JR and Lucy lived fulltime at Southfork. Bobby was away at college and only came home during semester breaks and occasional weekends and Gary was off somewhere in another state, travelling, in jail, running away, no one quite knew for sure. The house could use more people and he'd like to see JR help contribute to that.

"JR, I'll meet you in the study."

Reminding JR of their plans as Teresa cleared their plates, he waited until she'd left to stand and leave the room himself, walking through the foyer and living room into the home office.

"What was it you wanted to talk about daddy?"

Appearing a few minutes later, JR seemed unaware of what the purpose of their discussion was.

"How many seats are there at the dinner table JR?"

"Eight, but you can see that. Why did you need to ask me?"

"I'm getting to that boy. There are eight seats, and how many people filling those seats?"

"Four sir, sometimes five; you, mama, myself, Lucy, and Bobby when he's around."

Looking off toward the family portrait hanging on the wall, he was quiet for a few moments before returning his gaze to his son.

"Ewing Oil is my legacy. My father never left me anything when he died. I've always planned to rectify that and make sure to leave my sons something they can be proud of. Your mama and I had been hoping that you'd come to this decision on your own, but you'll be twenty-eight next week and you're still living the life of a young bachelor with no plans to settle down so I thought it best to say something. I would never tell you to stop having a good time, but I want you to think very seriously about your own legacy. You're my first-born son, carrying on the family name, but so far, there is no sign of John Ross Ewing III. Do you want Ewing Oil to have no heir apparent when you're my age?"

Laying out his thoughts, JR stood speechless.

"You want me to go and produce a son?"

"Well yes and no. What would really make your mama and I proud would be if you took that charm that you seem to have and directed it toward finding yourself a suitable lady to settle down with. We don't want any old baby, we've already got one of those and we love her dearly but John Ross Ewing III needs to come from good stock. A Ewing wife should be suitable for a Ewing life. We want you to find a wife, not just some stranger."

Frowning, JR said nothing, but his expression said a lot. Marriage was in his future one day, but right now he was enjoying the single life and was not ready to give it up.

It had just been a suggestion, something to get the thoughts going in his head and Jock knew not to expect a change too soon, so when JR nodded and excused himself he wasn't overly surprised.