Dallas, Texas

"…well yes, I can come in today, but I don't understand why you can't just tell me over the phone", Sue Ellen listened as the nurse explained that Dr Danvers had specifically requested to see her in person and that she wasn't authorized to go and look at her patient file to find out the test results. Sue Ellen sighed, it didn't make her feel at all secure to know that the doctor wanted to see her in person to tell her the results, but she reassured herself that it was probably just a standard prenatal check-up and that she would need to go to an appointment anyway. She was sure that the doctor had just requested to see her to combine the two events and save time, but she was still nervous; she had convinced herself that she was pregnant and it would be devastating if the results said anything else. "Sue Ellen?" Miss Ellie walked down the stairs just as she finished her phone call, "are you ready?" in the midst of her thoughts, she'd completely forgotten that they had a DOA meeting, "yes", she picked up her purse and made her way out to her car. Miss Ellie thought that Sue Ellen looked a little distracted, but she didn't say anything, she didn't think it was her place to pry if Sue Ellen didn't want to talk about it.

"I've got a meeting and probably won't be back this afternoon, so if anything happens, you deal with it", Jock finished his drink and left JR's office, his meeting probably wouldn't take all afternoon, but they'd likely end up at the Cattlemen's Club socialising afterwards and he didn't want JR to expect him back. JR was the vice president and he was perfectly capable of overseeing things for the day, so Jock saw no reason to return, it wasn't as if Bobby were there needing his guidance. JR grinned as his father left the building, they'd been busy lately, but today he had a clear schedule for the rest of the afternoon and he was almost finished his paperwork, he could take a long lunch if he wanted to, he had missed doing things like that. Julie quietly worked at her desk, running out of immediate work to do soon after Jock left the building; on her way back from dropping some papers off in Jock's office, she knocked on JR's door, it seemed like the perfect time to offer her services, professionally of course.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Miss Ellie was beginning to worry about her daughter-in-law, she seemed awfully distracted today and now she was turning down lunch plans with some of the DOA ladies after the meeting, it was unusual behaviour for Sue Ellen and she hoped that it wasn't anything serious. "No, you go on ahead, I think I'll just head home, I'm a bit tired today", Sue Ellen bent the truth as she talked her way out of the rest of the plans for the day; she was a bit tired, but she was more nervous than anything. Lunches with the DOA ladies could take hours if they got talking and today she didn't feel like talking nor did she have time to sit and listen, she had to be free in time to get to her doctor's appointment at two; Miss Ellie agreed and they went their separate ways as the meeting ended. Sue Ellen's stomach churned as she looked at her watch, she still had two hours before her appointment and her nerves were getting worse. No longer did she feel secure in her knowledge that it was just a standard prenatal appointment, there was something inside her telling her that something was wrong, there was no reason why Dr Danvers couldn't have specified why he wanted to see her this afternoon and delivered her results by phone, something didn't add up.

"I've missed this", Julie smiled at JR and touched his hand across the table as the waiter left with their lunch orders. She was surprised how easy it had been to get to this point, she had really thought that she would have to flirt a little more, but to her surprise, JR had actually invited her to lunch, completely of his own free will. "Mhm, it's been a while now", JR grinned at her, they used to do this regularly, of course, back then it was more than lunch that they were having, but today he was committed to just lunch. There was nothing wrong with two work colleagues and old friends eating together, not that it would have stopped him if there was something socially wrong with the situation though, he did what he wanted and didn't care about what other people thought. "So, how have you been?" it had been a while since they just sat down one-on-one and he didn't really know what to say but it seemed like an appropriate question to get the conversation started. He knew he had made a good decision in reinstating their friendship when Julie launched into some story about a disastrous date she'd been on with a well-known oilman; she started off being coy but soon revealed details, juicy details, things that he could mentally store away until a later point when they would come in handy. Julie was good at many things, but gathering information was one of her specialties; it was something that she did constantly, even when she wasn't asked to; she really was an asset for Ewing Oil, and she wasn't too bad personally either.

Sue Ellen drove home in a daze, her mind subconsciously numbing any thoughts or feelings until she was safely alone in the privacy of her bedroom at Southfork; only then did she feel free to express any emotions. JR didn't know how long she had been that way, but as he entered their bedroom when he arrived home from work, he immediately knew something was wrong. His wife was lying on their bed in the fetal position with faint tearstains on her cheeks; she was still fully clothed and her eyes were open, but she was largely unresponsive to his presence. He didn't know what to do, he hadn't expected to come home to this and he didn't have a clue why she was upset, but it was clear that something was wrong. He didn't want to get the family involved unless completely necessary, and he didn't particularly feel like getting the doctor to come and visit before he knew the problem himself, he decided to try and see whether he could get any answers though he wasn't sure whether his methods were at all correct, he'd never encountered anything like this before. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he stroked her hair and whispered her name, trying to get her to communicate with him or even just respond to his actions; he needed to know what was wrong before he could fix the problem but he didn't know how to get that information. Sue Ellen was still in shock as her thoughts returned to the present, she didn't know how to process the information that Dr Danvers had given her and she hated herself for thinking so far ahead without knowing anything for sure, she felt like she had set herself up for disappointment. She had really believed that she was pregnant, everything pointed toward it, but her tests had come back negative and Dr Danvers had called her in for an appointment to re-evaluate her symptoms. After questioning her about her life and marriage, he had concluded that she was having a delayed reaction to stress and anxiety from the past few months and that her body had displayed symptoms similar to pregnancy, but she was never actually pregnant. It was devastating and she didn't know how to react, or more importantly, what to tell JR, she hadn't planned on being an emotional mess when he returned home, but she hadn't had much control over anything after she shut their bedroom door, her emotions all coming out at once. It calmed her to have JR whispering her name and stroking her hair, but she was still unsure of what to say, she didn't know how to explain it and every time she tried, she ended up crying and mumbling. JR didn't know what to do, she wasn't making any sense and he couldn't seem to get her to completely calm down; picking up the phone, he did the only thing that seemed to make any sense to him, he called Dr Danvers.