Dallas, Texas

It was Friday morning and Sue Ellen was supposed to be staying in Dallas until Sunday; JR had only realised that she'd changed her mind when his mother had asked him at breakfast whether everything was ok? Sue Ellen had cancelled the shopping trip with Miss Ellie and she was concerned about their relationship; it was so unlike Sue Ellen to cancel plans on the day. JR had been very surprised when Miss Ellie mentioned it; he had thought that they could talk through their problems this evening, after he returned from work and they had spent a little bit of time away from each other; Sue Ellen obviously had other ideas. Making a quick excuse with his father about why he would be late to work, he left Southfork in search of Sue Ellen, hoping that it wasn't too late. "I'm sorry Mr Ewing, Miss Shepard already checked out", JR nodded at the hotel receptionist's words and realised that the situation between he and Sue Ellen may be more serious than he'd thought. "Did she say where she was going?" he needed to know whether she was still in Dallas or not, "I'm sorry sir, I'm not sure, you could ask the doorman though, she may have taken a taxi", JR nodded and thanked the woman before walking toward the doorman. After handing the man a few hundred-dollar notes, he finally got an answer, "Dallas Love Field, about an hour ago"; he was pleased, the airport was only about twenty minutes away and she couldn't have gotten a flight out that early, if he left now, he'd be able to catch her.

"One ticket" he gruffly spoke the words, not thinking about anything other than getting airside, "certainly sir, where is your destination today?" he realised that he hadn't been very specific, "Austin, as soon as possible", the check-in agent printed his ticket and he quickly walked toward the passenger gate, hoping that she was still there. He looked at his ticket and saw that he was booked on the flight to Austin scheduled to leave in just twenty minutes, if Sue Ellen were still here, they would be on the same flight and she would be waiting at gate three. Reading the ticket, he noticed the price of the flight, he usually flew the Ewing jet short distances and his secretary booked any longer flights for him, so he never really thought about the price of an airline ticket; although having been purchased very last minute, it was still a lot cheaper than he expected. Sue Ellen sat facing a window, she hated the sneaky way that she was leaving Dallas, but she didn't feel like she had much of a choice. Right now, she was confused more than anything else; she had no idea how she was supposed to feel. It wasn't that their discussion the previous night had caused her to love him any less, but she wasn't sure that he returned the same feelings that she had. She wanted him to make the decision because he wanted to, but if she pushed it any further, it would either make him resent her or give in and ask because he felt he had to; neither of those options were what she wanted. He spotted her sitting alone and began to approach her, "flight DAL217 to Austin is now boarding at gate three; passengers in rows fifteen through twenty-three please make your way to the boarding gate". He lost sight of her as the crowds of people stood and lined up to board the plane, and when he finally did see her, she was handing her boarding pass to the flight attendant before she walked into the jet bridge and disappeared from his view. "Damn", it took him a second to realise that he had a ticket, he hadn't intended to actually use it, but he was going to have to; he joined the line and waited, getting more frustrated by the minute, he usually never flew coach and never had to line up. "Please fasten your seatbelts as we prepare for take-off", he did as the stewardess said and hoped that they would leave soon. He now realised why his ticket was so cheap and why he never flew coach, he was crammed into a small middle seat, he couldn't wait for the aircraft to be a safe altitude for him to stand up and go find Sue Ellen.

Sue Ellen sat silently and looked out the window as the plane ascended and levelled; she had packed her bags in a hurry and not thought about packing a book or magazine in her carry-on luggage, so the only thing she had to entertain her were her thoughts. "Hello darlin'", she heard his voice and assumed that she must have been daydreaming, but as she turned, he was there, standing in the aisle looking directly at her. "I must be imagining things; JR Ewing wouldn't be caught dead flying coach", she smirked, sure that she really was just hallucinating. "Excuse me ma'am, may I swap seats with you, the lady and I need to talk", he directed his attention at the older woman seated next to Sue Ellen, she agreed and he handed her his boarding pass as well as some money to sweeten the deal and prevent her from coming back. The third seat in her row was empty and he sat down in the aisle seat, keeping a little distance between them for now; "what are you doing here JR?" she sighed, he probably regretted pausing with his answer last night, but his presence now didn't make up for the fact that he had had those thoughts and hesitations. In her mind, his pause when asked when the right time to marry her was, meant that he didn't know and wasn't planning anything, that he was completely content to just exist as they had been; she didn't feel the same way and she didn't like being the one with the stronger emotions. "You didn't give me much time to explain myself last night, and then this morning I find out from my mother that you left Dallas, so naturally I had to come and make sure you weren't running away from me", he grinned as he finished speaking, she was running, but he was quick and able to catch up. She smiled to herself, briefly hoping that he had changed his mind and he was ready to marry her, but her rational mind quickly kicked in, realising that if he had changed his mind, it was because she had forced him to or he'd given up on fighting, neither option was worthy of the great JR Ewing.

He spent the rest of the hour-long flight explaining all of the things he loved about her and their relationship, but never really saying why he was so hesitant to commit; she was flattered by his compliments, but she definitely noticed his avoidance of any real explanation. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to begin our descent into Austin, please fasten your seatbelts, make sure your seats and tray tables are in the upright position and prepare for landing"; JR buckled his seatbelt and hoped that she believed him, and that everything was right in their relationship again. She looked at him, his face looked hopeful, but she still didn't know whether she could live with such uncertainty; "JR, I… I need time to think", his face dropped at her words, "it's not really you, it's mostly me. I'm sorry; I just think I need a little space and time by myself. I don't know how I feel about what you're saying, and I need time to figure out how I do feel". He was shocked, he never thought that she would be the one to say that she needed space from him, he always had it the other way around with women, though Sue Ellen was definitely different to most women he knew. "I…ok. Whatever you need", he gave in, deciding that it was better for her to return to him on her own than for him to force himself on her; "I'm not saying we're broken up, or that I don't love you. I promise, it's just for a little while", she tried to lessen the effect the little break would have on their relationship. The plane landed and Sue Ellen returned home; JR took a taxi to a private airfield before catching the Ewing jet back to Dallas, using the time alone to think about their relationship and the strange stage they were in right now; already planning a way to get her to return to him.

To be continued…