Austin, Texas

Over the next few weeks, JR continued to make trips to Austin and Sue Ellen flew to Dallas for weekends. The long-distance relationship never felt too strained because of how often they were able to fit each other into their schedules as well as how busy their individual lives were.

JR had invited Sue Ellen to Southfork for the weekend and the next weekend was Labor Day holiday and the annual Ewing Barbecue. She was quickly becoming a well-known part of JR Ewing's public life when they were seen visiting downtown Dallas together, although the two had not yet publicly debuted their relationship as an official couple, the Ewing Barbecue would mark that event.

Everyone close to the Ewings knew of their official title, but the wider community hadn't been introduced to Sue Ellen Shepard as JR Ewing's girlfriend. Currently she was Miss Texas who happened to be seeing a lot of JR Ewing.

Sue Ellen and the other cheerleaders boarded the bus to San Antonio for the football game and she was in good spirits. JR had a business dinner to attend tonight, but he would pick her up at the airfield in the morning and he'd promised her that they would ride horses tomorrow.

She'd gathered from talking to his family that JR wasn't much of a riding man, he'd always taken more of an interest in the Ewing side of his family rather than the Southworth side, but he had promised her and she wasn't going to let him talk his way out of it.

Elaine, one of Sue Ellen's teammates and sorority sisters, came to sit next to her. "Sue Ellen?" she asked with an uneasy voice which made Sue Ellen worry. She was happy and didn't want anything to mess up her night.

"Yes Elaine?"

Taking a deep breath Elaine spoke.

"Sue Ellen, I hate to ask you this and I wouldn't if it weren't important, but can I ask why you and Clint broke up?"

Hearing the question, Sue Ellen was surprised and then saddened to think about her relationship with Clint, it had been so good, but she had been so hurt by his actions toward the end.

She'd never really had time between breaking up with Clint and starting to date JR and hadn't much thought about taking time to be single, JR had been there and was everything she ever wanted.

"Well first, may I ask why you want to know? I'd rather not go into the details for no reason."

She knew how easily gossip spread and didn't want everyone knowing the specifics of her previous relationship, especially since it was so personal and she was somewhat of a public figure now.

Elaine looked down, appearing uncomfortable.

"Well, Clint and I, we're in the same statistics class and he's been helping me with the assignments, I'm not very good at math you know. We've become quite close, and he asked me on a date, but I didn't want to say yes until I had your approval. I wasn't sure of the relationship you two have. I know you're with JR now, but Clint was your boyfriend for a long time and everyone in the house knew about it. I didn't want to jump into anything and have the other girls turn on me because he was still your man."

"I explained that to him and asked him about your relationship and he said that you two broke up but there was something in his voice that told me it wasn't quite done, so I asked why you two broke up and he got defensive and almost angry, like I shouldn't ask such things. I really just wanted to know what you thought about the whole thing. I would like to say yes, but his outburst scared me a little bit. I like you Sue Ellen and I wouldn't want to hurt you, so I'd never do anything that you asked me not to."

Her words sparked memories in Sue Ellen, the good and the bad. Upon reflection, she could see that she had given Clint false hope when she'd broken up with him. She may have made it seem as if she would one day go back to him, that their breakup was more of a cooling off period rather finished forever. Perhaps at the time it had been, she wasn't sure, but now that she was with JR, Clint was a past memory, not a current thought.

Thinking for a time, she took a deep breath and then spoke. "Clint and I, we had a wonderful relationship, he's kind and patient, but you're right, he does have a darker side and that darker side is why we broke up. I was in the wrong a lot of the time and I know that, it cannot have been easy for him, especially with JR in the picture, but most of the time we were able to solve our problems by talking. I won't detail the reason why we broke up, it's private, but he didn't respect my personal boundaries and let his jealousy overrule his rational thought. In that moment I realised that there was a part of him I really didn't like."

"Clint and I haven't spoken much since we broke up, but I consider him a friend and that's all. If you want to say yes then I have no problem with it. Trust your instincts and don't do anything you don't want to, but if you treat Clint well then he'll treat you well too."

Speaking aloud, she felt relieved for finally verbalising her thoughts and emotions. From the look on Elaine's face too, it appeared she wasn't the only one who was relieved.

Dallas, Texas

Stepping off the Ewing jet, Sue Ellen and JR embraced. She felt much better after her conversation with Elaine the previous night. She hadn't paid much attention to the fact that she'd never really dealt with the ending of her previous relationship and had jumped into a new relationship, but she was now and felt lighter having settled things.

Driving away from the airfield, she noticed a little way into the journey that they were heading toward downtown Dallas instead of Southfork.

"JR?"

"Sorry darlin', I forgot to say we have to stop off at the office to pick up some files, daddy wants to review them before our meeting on Monday."

She accepted his answer but was secretly sceptical; Jock was capable of driving into Dallas himself.

"I'm so excited to finally go riding today."

Suspecting something was going on, she prompted him to see how he would react.

"Err, well, are you sure you wouldn't rather we just drove down to the pond? Horses are so dirty and temperamental."

Chuckling, she was amused by the confirmation of what she'd been told previously. He didn't care much for horses and had only agreed to take her riding because she seemed so interested.

"JR Ewing, I knew it, you don't want to go. But you promised me we could."

Kissing him on the cheek, she pulled back and pouted, wanting what she wanted and determined to get it.

"Fine, I'll take you riding, but you have to do something for me."

Smirking, he answered her pleading immediately.

Tilting her head in confusion, she asked "do what?"

JR had a mischievous look in his eye now and she knew that something was going on, she just didn't know what.

"Well, look in the glove compartment there and you'll find a clue."

Cautiously she opened the glove compartment, finding a small envelope with JR's name and address printed on it.

"Open it," he prompted.

She read the first lines of the small paper and realised that it was an invitation.

"A Night of Music & Dancing. Mr JR Ewing and guest, you are cordially invited to attend the 1967 Dallas Oil Baron's Association Charity Ball…"

Reading aloud, she was surprised, although she shouldn't be considering next week was their official debut as a couple and they would be attending events together more frequently.

Breaking the silence JR spoke, "so, will you go with me? I am taking you riding after all."

Looking away from the road, he grinned at her. She would have agreed anyway, but he loved to make it seem like he was doing people a favour and she'd fallen victim to his plan.

Parking on the street outside the Ewing Oil building, he looked at her for an answer.

"Yes, I'd love to, especially since you're being so selfless by taking me riding."

Laughing, she leaned over to kiss him.

Heading inside, they quickly retrieved the paperwork from the office and then made their way back to Southfork.

JR grumbled a little as the ranch hands saddled their horses but she didn't give in, she wanted to go and was sure that he'd have a good time once they started riding.

They started in a slow jog trot, but quickly moved into a lope. Sue Ellen had riding experience but didn't often get to go riding and JR learned the skills as a child but hardly ever used them because he didn't see the point.

Arriving at the pond, they stopped, dismounted and tied their horses to a tree.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" she wanted to get him to admit that he was having fun, she'd seen the look on his face as they were riding.

"No, I suppose not." Meeting her eye, he smiled and then shrugged, "but don't expect this to be a regular occurrence when you're at Southfork."

They walked around the perimeter of the pond and he told her stories about growing up on Southfork. The outdoors was always more of Bobby's thing, Gary's too, but he rarely mentioned Gary. JR spoke about the hunting trips he'd take with his father and brothers and that he enjoyed the bonding time away from the pressure of Ewing Oil.

He didn't often tell people about his lack of real childhood and only alluded to it in his stories, but Sue Ellen could tell that he would have given anything to be his father's favourite son. He didn't hate his parents, but he knew he'd never been either of their favourite sons and that had hurt him.

"I'm sorry for burdening you with these stories."

Returning to the tree where their horses stood, he apologised.

She felt bad that he thought that by expressing his feelings he was burdening her. Stopping walking, she took his hand and ran her fingers across his palm and wrist.

"JR, look at me."

She looked him in the eye and saw the lonely little boy that he had once been, far from the cocky oilman he could be. It was so clear to her that he buried his feelings.

"JR, you are not burdening me. You forget that I know a thing or two about always wanting to please a parent but never being enough. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, I empathise with your pain. We're all flawed people, but I know that your parents love you, they just don't realise how their actions hurt. We learn from experiences like that though and I know that one day you'll be a wonderful father and you'll have nothing but love for your own son."

Wrapping her arms around him in a hug, she gave him the affection she suspected he hadn't received much of early in life.

"I love you," he whispered, so quietly that if someone were standing a few feet away they wouldn't have heard.

Hearing the words for the first time she was overcome with emotion, especially since she felt exactly the same way.

"I love you too," whispering back, she lifted her head to look at him again, delighted when he moved their embrace from a hug into a kiss, slow and passionate.