Dallas, Texas

"Why didn't you tell me she'd left Austin? I thought you knew how to follow orders!" JR yelled at the man over the phone, if he'd known Sue Ellen was coming to see him he certainly wouldn't have flaunted his relationship with Julie in public. He'd been so eager for her to come and apologise and she had made that move, but his own stupidity had ruined everything. "I'm sorry sir, this wasn't something that was planned, her normal schedule is all college related on Mondays and the Miss Texas event she was at this morning isn't listed in the scheduled appearances list in the local newspaper, it must have been last minute. I can't tap her phone because it's a communal line and I never saw her physically meeting with anyone out of the ordinary today. I don't know how she managed to board a flight out of Austin without me knowing, I didn't even see her leave the college campus. I am sorry sir, everything just happened so quickly" the man apologised and JR sighed, he couldn't do anything about it now, but in the future he'd have to find a new private investigator. "Fine, now, do you have anything new that is of use to me?" he had to get something out of this phone call. "Oh yes sir, I found out who the man is that Miss Shepard spent her birthday with" JR perked up; at least he would have something to throw back at her when they inevitably did fight about this new situation, "well then tell me" he growled, the man was getting more incompetent by the minute. "His name is Billy Frampton, his family own Frampton Industries, a large conglomerate who deal in a number of different industries. He and Miss Shepard have known each other for…" JR's stomach dropped, Billy Frampton was no threat to him or their relationship, he and Sue Ellen were purely platonic, Sue Ellen didn't see Billy at all romantically and Billy had backed off his pursuit of Sue Ellen the moment she and JR met. JR knew all of this from his conversations with Sue Ellen as well as personally being present at the Miss Texas pageant, something magical had happened between the two of them at that pageant and he knew that they weren't the only two people who felt the electricity between them, it was obvious to anyone watching the scene unfold. He'd messed up this time and he knew it, it was all his fault; the events of the past few days were complete retaliation and revenge for her alleged cheating. He would never have gone to that bar and spent an entire day and night in a hotel with some tramp if she hadn't cheated on him first. Though he now knew that that wasn't what had happened at all and he was to blame for the mess they were in. Of course, she was to blame for the initial fight that had made them stop speaking to each other in the first place so he wasn't totally at fault. There were so many variables though, he couldn't guarantee that his afternoon with Julie wouldn't have happened and she wouldn't have seen them anyway, making the situation unfold in a similar way to how it had happened today. He was torn about who was to blame here, knowing he had a part in it, but so did she; he wasn't so sure she would see it that way though. The man stopped speaking as JR cut him off, "I know all about Billy Frampton, no need to go into all the details. Now, I need you to find out whether she's left Dallas yet or not, someone in your line of work shouldn't have too much trouble finding out that information". He ended the call with his orders and stood up, walking to the bar in his office and pouring himself a drink before searching his mind for excuses and justification of his actions, he'd find a way get her back and keep her on his side this time. He always found a way to do the impossible; it was one of his many talents.

"Another" she waved toward the bartender and he poured her vodka on the rocks, her fourth drink of the hour he noticed, though he didn't say anything, he saw people like this all the time in his line of work, somehow they thought a drink would make all of their problems disappear. It was only six in the evening and she still had another two hours before her flight, but she didn't care, all she wanted was to forget the events of the afternoon. She'd arrived at the airport hours before her flight, only realising then that she wasn't able to check in or go airside. Instead just wandering around the airport aimlessly and dazed, her mind piecing together small bits of information and coming to conclusions that were far worse than she would have imagined if she hadn't seen a hint of it with her own eyes. Even though she had barely seen anything incriminating, she had read their body language, she knew what had happened between them. Perhaps if she hadn't been so virtuous and insistent on remaining that way until marriage, then maybe he wouldn't have felt the need to have his secretary fulfil his desires. Did he realise her side of their relationship? She couldn't bring herself to go that far, it was so built into her that it would make her completely worthless if she did, she was deeply afraid of the consequences and of how it would make her look to other people. She managed to deal with the lack of complete intimacy though, why couldn't he? She knew deep down that this wasn't her own fault, but that didn't stop her from blaming herself and wondering what she could have done to prevent it from happening. What she didn't know was that no person could completely control JR Ewing, not his father, not his mother and definitely not his sweet, young girlfriend, naïve of the ways of the world.

Austin, Texas

"Sue Ellen? What exactly did JR do and why haven't you forgiven him already? He obviously cares; look at all of these lovely things", Patricia nagged her for an answer for what seemed like the millionth time, she hadn't explained the situation in any more detail than that they'd had a fight. It was partially true, even if there had been no words spoken between the two of them. JR had decided to take a long-distance approach to making an apology, sending her flowers, jewellery and other gifts to try to make himself look good. She wasn't interested though, she was hurt by his behaviour and an abundance of material items wasn't the kind of apology that would fix their problems. Patricia didn't see anything wrong with his approach though, convinced that some men were just that way, they were easily forgiven of their misdeeds as long as they made up for it in other ways. Sue Ellen knew better than to start a full argument with her mother, but she wasn't ready to talk to JR yet.

"Southfork Ranch" Patricia heard the voice of a woman, it had to be Teresa, it didn't sound like Lucy or Miss Ellie, "hello, may I please speak to JR Ewing, Patricia Shepard is calling" she put on a sweet voice and waited for the maid to go and find JR. She was going to get JR Ewing back in her daughter's life whether Sue Ellen wanted to be with him or not.

To be continued…