Dallas, Texas

"Now darlin', Teresa made you some soup and crackers, and there's some orange juice and coffee here too", JR didn't know why, because she could see it for herself, but he felt the need to explain what was on the tray. "I have to go to work now, but if you need anything else, there's a little bell here for you, Teresa knows to listen for it", he gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked toward the door, turning back toward her for a second before he reached for the doorknob. "I love you Sue Ellen", although he stood closer to the door than he did to her, he still made eye contact as he spoke and Sue Ellen felt reassured that he truly meant it; it seemed a little strange to her that he had suddenly started saying those words freely again, but she was thrilled, not upset. It felt good to finally have his attention again, though it saddened her that she was in no physical condition to really enjoy it. Walking downstairs, JR was surprised to see Jock standing in the foyer speaking to the sheriff, "Fenton" he greeted him and stood next to the two men, joining their conversation; "JR", Sheriff Fenton Washburn was on first name basis with the Ewing family, though he wasn't sure that JR would necessarily be receptive to his request this morning. "As I was saying to your daddy, I need to get a statement from both Mrs Ewings, it's just standard procedure", JR sighed, Sue Ellen seemed ok this morning, but they had only stuck to safe topics of conversation, skipping over the accident entirely. He had to go to work this morning and he didn't particularly want to leave her when she was in an emotional state after giving her statement, which he was sure would be the case, she was an emotional woman and had barely had twenty-four hours to recover from the accident, he couldn't imagine her bouncing back that easily.

"Does it have to be today?" he didn't know whether it was her fault or not, but he didn't care, he felt protective of his wife and he didn't want anyone to cause her any more unnecessary pain, she'd already been through enough with the accident. "Look JR, just between us, although Mrs Ewing's car seems to have driven through the intersection without stopping at the stop sign, the driver of the other car was unlicensed and had no insurance. Right now, I can't make a clear judgement to say that one person was completely to blame, because both drivers committed an offence; however, with Mrs Ewing's statement, I can close the case, citing insufficient evidence to pursue charges. Braddock County doesn't have the resources or the patience to go after minor traffic offenders, and this was fairly minor, no one was seriously injured or killed and the damage to both vehicles was about even; so please, just let me see Mrs Ewing, gather a statement and close the case". JR nodded, he would have preferred that the other driver was charged with something, however, it sounded as if Sue Ellen had caused the accident, and the other driver had just been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. It made him a little angry that Sue Ellen had been driving so recklessly and could have seriously injured herself or his mother, but the sheriff was right, the accident had been fairly minor in the grand scheme of things and it would probably do more harm than good to get angry at her now. "Fine, but let me go upstairs and tell her first, and please, no difficult questions, she's very fragile right now", JR showed more care for wife than he was usually comfortable with displaying, but he wasn't going to stand by and let anyone hurt her.

"Darlin'?" JR knocked on the door and entered their bedroom just as Sue Ellen was finishing her breakfast; Sue Ellen looked up at her husband in surprise, she'd expected him to have left the house ten minutes ago and his presence here now worried her, he was never late to work, something was wrong. "Sugar, the sheriff is here, he needs to get a statement about the accident. Don't worry, you're not in trouble, I promise, and I'll be sitting right there with you. All he needs is a few words from you about what happened, and then he'll close the case"; Sue Ellen nodded as JR spoke, she knew exactly what she was going to say, and none of it involved her talk with Miss Ellie or the subsequent tears that distracted her from the road. She just hoped that Miss Ellie also left out those details when she gave her statement. "I'll get dressed", she whispered before getting out of bed and walking over to her closet, wincing as she realised that her whole body was stiff and the last thing she wanted to do was get dressed and make herself look good, all she wanted was to go back to bed and sleep until she felt better. JR waited and watched as she changed into a casual outfit, brushed her hair and applied a small amount of makeup; she looked so young and vulnerable right now, but she was no less beautiful. As he watched her get ready, his gut reminded him of just how close she could have been to death yesterday and he felt guilty about not appreciating the simple moments in their life together; he truly did love her and losing her would have been heartbreaking.

"I… I turned for a second and then…." Sue Ellen explained her version of events, conveniently leaving out that she had been in tears and had barely even recognized that she was still driving the car; she honestly didn't really remember how she'd driven from SMU, through Richardson and toward Braddock, it was all a blur, one that she didn't particularly feel like revisiting. "And then?" the sheriff needed more information than that, though it was becoming increasingly clear that she hadn't been paying much attention to the road for a lot longer than the second that she claimed to have turned away for; "and then, nothing. I… I don't know. The next thing I remember is the doctor shining a light in my eyes at the hospital. I'm sorry, I really don't remember much else. The doctor said I have a concussion though, and memory loss is a symptom of that. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful", she continued to apologise for her lack of conclusive statement, hoping that the sheriff believed her; she knew that she was probably the cause of the accident, but she would never admit it. "Ok, thank you Mrs Ewing", he nodded at both she and JR and JR stood; helping his wife back upstairs, JR closed the bedroom door and was surprised when she started weeping again, "JR, it was all my fault, I don't remember it, but I know it. What if…" he didn't really know what to say, he'd had exactly the same thoughts, though it didn't seem appropriate to tell her that, "darlin', stop worrying about the past. Nothing happened; you're fine, mama's fine and the other driver's fine. There's nothing you can do now and imagining the worst case scenario isn't going to help anyone", he held her to his chest as she cried, no longer thinking about how late he was going to be when he finally arrived at work, for some reason, that just didn't seem important right now. "Shh", he whispered as she cried, though her breathing was getting steadier and she was beginning to calm, "darlin', I want you to change back into your nightgown and rest", he laid her down on the bed and opened her drawer, pulling out a nightgown and handing it to her.

Half an hour later, she was finally calm and asleep and he felt ok about leaving her alone for a while, Teresa was home, as was his mother, though he didn't want to burden her by asking her to take care of Sue Ellen, she had also been in the accident. Walking down the hall to his parent's bedroom, he knocked on the door, "mama?" Miss Ellie opened the door and was surprised to see JR still at home, she'd expected him to be at work by now, "JR? How's Sue Ellen?" JR sat down on the small couch in his parent's bedroom and explained everything, inferring that Sue Ellen needed someone to look after her while he was at work, though not directly asking his mother to be that person. Miss Ellie was surprised when JR alluded to Sue Ellen's fragile mental state, though she didn't say anything, from the way JR was speaking, it sounded as if he was referring to her shock and guilt related to the accident and that he didn't have any idea of how deep her real issues ran. "JR, I will look after Sue Ellen today and forever, I love her like my own daughter. However, when she's physically recovered, I really think you two need to sit down and talk to each other, and I don't mean five minutes before or after dinner or before you leave for the office in the morning, I mean set aside a good amount of time so that you two can really sit-down and talk. Perhaps you could take her away for the weekend or something, I think the time together would do both of you a world of good". JR was surprised, he didn't quite understand what his mother was getting at, though he didn't really have time to sit and discuss it right now, he'd already had his morning meetings delayed, he couldn't do the same for his afternoon meetings. "Sure mama", he gave her a kiss on the cheek and thanked her for her willingness to look out for Sue Ellen while he was gone before leaving the house and heading into the office. Miss Ellie sighed as JR left; although he appeared to be caring right now, she wondered how long it would be before he was back to being his usual self again, and whether Sue Ellen would have the emotional strength to open the discussion about their problems. She knew JR, he would never willingly be the one to start a dialogue about their issues, so it was up to Sue Ellen to be more outspoken and less submissive. She needed to be willing to say things aloud when they bothered her instead of bottling them up inside, otherwise they didn't have a hope in hell of fixing anything, no matter how much time they set aside to talk.

To be continued…