Dallas, Texas

"Through ordination from God and the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife, whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. You may kiss the bride", the pastor had barely finished his sentence before JR kissed her, not that she minded; she was ecstatic to be married to JR. As he pulled away and looked at her, nothing else mattered, not their friends or family, not the outside stresses on their relationship, not little details or the hours of planning that had gone into the wedding. The only thing that was important was their love, they finally had each other and in the moment, that was all either of them cared about. Their guests applauded but neither heard and for a brief moment it felt like they were the only two people in the world; JR kissed her again before the string quartet started to play the recessional music and they walked back up the aisle together. Sue Ellen had hoped that the dreamy state the ceremony had put her in would last, but the photographs quickly brought her back to reality; she wasn't sure why she'd ever expected everything to run completely smoothly, not with her sister's complaining, her mother's directing and JR's short attention span for cosmetic things like posed photographs. She'd given the wedding photographer a checklist of photos she wanted taken and was thankful that all of the family ones were listed first, then the wedding party photographs and finally the photographs of the bride and groom. The order meant that the group got smaller as the time passed, and she was relieved when they finished taking pictures; nothing had gone wrong and she had one less thing to worry about. Not that it was her responsibility to worry, but that didn't stop her from overthinking it, she'd spent months planning the wedding and she didn't want anything to mess it up.

The newlyweds slowly walked back toward the reception and Sue Ellen took a minute to admire all of the hard work she and Miss Ellie had put into planning the wedding. Southfork had been transformed into the perfect reception location; she couldn't imagine having her wedding anywhere else. The yellow and white theme really was lovely, with hints of peach in other areas of the decoration; Sue Ellen was very pleased with the overall look of the wedding. It made her feel special and important to know that the hundreds and hundreds of guests were gathered there to celebrate her wedding, she was a Ewing, she was a somebody. As they came back to the house, the master of ceremonies announced their arrival and Sue Ellen couldn't stop smiling as everyone applauded when they walked to their table, it was thrilling to be the centre of attention. She thought back to her pageant wins and how she'd felt when she was crowned; being Mrs JR Ewing was definitely better than winning a pageant, not only because she'd won the ultimate prize with her new husband, but because there was no bittersweet side to it. There was no loser in their marriage, her win wasn't another girl's loss, and their marriage was guaranteed not to disappoint anyone today; everyone was getting exactly what they wanted, as far as she knew anyway. JR smiled widely as he and Sue Ellen entered the wedding reception, all of his new feelings still struck him as strange sometimes, he had never felt about a woman the way he felt about Sue Ellen, and tonight he would get to feel even more than emotional pleasure. Everything in his life was perfect, he finally had the whole package, a wonderful woman who pleased both him and his parents and he couldn't have been happier in that moment; all of his previous doubts about their relationship were now just distant memories. At a table on the opposite side of the room from the wedding party, Julie Grey sat glaring at the new bride, Sue Ellen had done it, she had done the one thing that Julie would have loved to be able to do, she'd been the girl who finally got JR Ewing to settle down.

After dinner and the speeches, JR and Sue Ellen made their way around the room, saying a few words to each of their guests, though it proved to be a lengthy and slightly tiring task with the amount of guests they had invited to the wedding. Sue Ellen was glad when it was time for their first dance, she felt like she'd hardly had any time alone with JR all day, dancing with him was magical and she loved doing it. JR held onto his new bride tightly as they danced, enjoying the feeling of closeness that they experienced when they danced together, both physically and emotionally; that although there were hundreds of people watching them, they felt like the only two people in the room. The newly married couple barely noticed when the MC opened the dancefloor and invited other guests to join, dancing for three more songs before resuming their hosting duties; splitting up and socialising with their guests separately for a little while. "Sue Ellen, you look beautiful, I am so happy for you", Paula hugged her best friend; although she'd seen the ups and downs of JR and Sue Ellen's relationship, she was confident that they were past a lot of their issues and would be a happily married couple. Sue Ellen hugged her friend and thought about their relationship, although their lives had taken completely different paths, she couldn't think of anyone who understood her in quite the way that Paula did, she was very grateful to have such a good friend, even if they didn't get to see each other often. Miss Ellie interrupted their reunion with a few people she wanted to introduce Sue Ellen to and Sue Ellen spent the rest of the reception moving busily moving between her tasks as a wife, host, family member and guest. The cutting of the cake and the bouquet toss were the final official duties she had to perform and she was pleased when the MC announced that it was time for the final dance, it gave her time with JR, and secretly she was actually quite excited about spending their first night together as a married couple. As the song ended, JR dipped her and kissed her and their guests applauded; JR took her hand and they walked toward a waiting limousine, saying goodbye to their families and close friends before getting in the limousine and leaving the party.

It was no more than ten seconds after the door of the limousine closed that JR pulled her into his lap and kissed her passionately, her dress spread out covering almost the whole backseat, though neither of them was paying much attention to the fullness of her dress fabric. After a few minutes, JR pulled away, "I'm not sure I said it enough tonight, so I'll say it now. I love you Sue Ellen Ewing, from the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you'd be my wife, I love you, and I always will", he looked her in the eye and cupped her cheek as he spoke, watching her react to his words, especially the way called her by her new name. Sue Ellen's heart melted as he confessed his early feelings for her, "and I love you JR Ewing. I think part of me knew that I loved you from the first moment I saw you", she smiled as she recalled the Miss Texas pageant, she hadn't anticipated how much that one event could change her life, but now, she couldn't imagine her life any other way. JR let out a small laugh as she spoke, he knew that she'd felt the same connection at that pageant, "it took you long enough to call me back", he joked. She'd had a boyfriend at the time of the pageant and he'd still pursued her, technically she wasn't actually a free woman and he wasn't really entitled to expect her to call him, but that didn't stop him from joking that she was the reason for their overdue first date. Sue Ellen laughed, of course he would think of it like that, as if it were that easy for her to just drop everything in her life and go on a date with him. She'd had a lot more going on in her life than just being Miss Texas; technically their first date was only supposed to be a friendly dinner, she'd actually had a boyfriend/fiancé when he'd asked her; "I was a busy girl, I didn't even know you, I had to make sure you were serious before I called you back. You have no idea how many strange men are interested in beauty queens", she grinned. JR was enjoying their little trip down memory lane, it was just what they needed after a night of constant people pleasing, this was all for them, and no one else; "oh, I was serious, and I bet you're glad you made that phone call now aren't you?" He grinned, knowing that she couldn't really say no. "I'm very pleased that I made that call", she smiled at him and kissed him again, enjoying the closeness and playfulness of their interaction; it hadn't even crossed her mind to ask where they were actually heading. She pulled away and looked at him seriously, "I do have one question though", he looked at her, encouraging her to ask, "how long would you have kept it going?" It took him a second to realise what she was asking, "the flowers…well after the large order that accompanied the dinner invitation there was a three day RSVP time limit in my mind before I was ready to fly to Austin and invite you in person. Then you'd have had to say yes, you wouldn't have been able to resist me". Sue Ellen smiled, he was so cocky and confident, and it was strangely attractive, "and what if I was just not interested?" JR pretended to think hard about it before he grinned, "I'm JR Ewing, I always get what I want", he replied before he brought his lips to hers again, staying locked in their passionate kisses until the limo arrived at its destination.

To be continued…

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