Dallas, Texas

"How are you feeling darlin'?" JR watched his wife as she dressed and got ready for breakfast with the family, she looked and seemed as if she felt a lot better than she had a week ago, but he wanted to hear it from her before he came to any conclusions. "I feel wonderful. Thank you for looking after me", Sue Ellen walked over toward her husband and lightly kissed him on the lips; she couldn't believe how different he'd been acting this past week and she wanted him to know how much she appreciated his efforts. Since her accident, he had been loving and attentive to her needs, making sure that she had everything exactly as she liked and really making an effort to be an active participant in their marriage. He had been making a special effort to come home on time every night and had started spending whatever free time he had with her and they'd actually been having real conversations with each other, not just making superficial comments back and forth as they got ready for cocktails and dinner. He'd even started to tell her about the events in his day again, though only the good ones, he still didn't think it was good for her to worry about his business problems. Sue Ellen turned to walk back to her dresser, but she was stopped by JR's hand in hers, pulling her back to him, "any time darlin', I'm just glad that you're here and that you're healthy. I love you, you do know that don't you?" he looked straight into her eyes, before cupping her chin and leaning down to kiss her, starting off slowly but deepening it as they continued. "I… yes, and I love you too JR", she answered as their kiss ended; she was still surprised by his behaviour, but she wasn't going to question him, this was the man she wanted and she didn't want to break whatever good spell they were in by asking for an explanation.

"Good, now, I've got a surprise for you", he took her hand and led her out of the room, much to her surprise. Sue Ellen thought of protesting, she wasn't wearing any jewellery yet and by her own standards that meant that she wasn't ready for breakfast; however, she thought it best to just let him take her downstairs, he seemed excited to present her surprise to her. Leading her out onto the patio and then toward the driveway, Sue Ellen was confused, though her confusion quickly turned to excitement as she spotted the brand new black Fiat convertable parked in the driveway, "JR!" she gasped and then hugged him tightly before leaving his side to examine the body of the car. "JR, my old car…" she was used to JR spending money on her, but it almost felt like too much for him to buy her a brand new car instead of just having her old one repaired, especially since she had been responsible for the damage to her old car. "Darlin', your old car wasn't worth the money it was going to cost to fix, and to be honest, I didn't feel comfortable with my wife driving around in a car with an accident history. I wanted to give you a gift, so I did. Now, will you take these keys off me so we can go for a drive before breakfast", he grinned and handed her the keys before opening the driver door for her.

"I love my new car, thank you JR", they returned from their drive around Southfork just as the rest of the family were sitting down for breakfast on the patio; "I'm just going upstairs to put my jewellery on, but I'll be back in a moment", she kissed him before walking back inside the house. Miss Ellie watched her son and daughter-in-law as they walked hand in hand from the driveway to the patio; they looked truly happy and she was pleased for them, but inside, she was still concerned about Sue Ellen's mental and emotional state. After the accident, Sue Ellen had gotten the care and attention from JR that she had been desiring, but Miss Ellie was worried that she would fall to pieces again when JR inevitably went back to his normal routine. Although they seemed to be on the same page with each other again, Miss Ellie highly doubted that JR and Sue Ellen had had any real conversation about the cause of the car crash, which even though she had told the sheriff otherwise, was certainly Sue Ellen's fault. The picture of the two of them happy was wonderful right now, and she dearly hoped that it stayed that way, but she had her doubts, and with Sue Ellen's tendency to hold all of her emotions inside of her, it was bound to end badly if they didn't change the way they communicated with each other. The girl that she had spoken with in the car before the accident was deeply troubled, and she highly doubted that all of those problems had just disappeared because JR was paying a proper amount of attention to his wife again. It was a recipe for disaster for them to not talk about their issues, even if they were in a good place presently. Miss Ellie held her tongue for now though, it didn't seem appropriate to say anything to JR in front of the rest of the family at breakfast, but she vowed to herself that she would encourage each of them to try a new style of communication in their marriage. All she wanted was the best for her family, and although they seemed happy right now, Sue Ellen had been clearly lost and miserable just a week ago and she sensed that she and JR were heading for an even bigger fall if they didn't make a permanent change.

"How was your day?" Sue Ellen gave her husband a quick kiss and handed him a drink as he entered their bedroom after work, "good, good. Bought some land, sold some land, made a lot of money" he grinned as he spoke, he'd had a good day at work and there was something about the way his wife was looking at him that gave him the feeling that his day was about to get even better. "Thanks for the drink darlin'", he returned her kiss and asked about her day, he had really started to enjoy their time together again for some reason and he was genuinely interested in hearing about how she was; the accident had reminded him of how much he loved her and how devastated he would have been if he'd lost her. JR stopped what he was doing as he took notice of Sue Ellen's actions, first as she walked into the closet to choose a dress for dinner and second as she stripped down into her underwear in preparation to change outfit. For the first time in months, JR Ewing had an uncontrollable urge to be with his wife; there was no plan or obligation, it was completely random, and it surprised him just as much as it surprised her. "JR?" Sue Ellen jumped as she turned and noticed him standing in the doorway of the closet, though she only had a second to react before he was kissing her, and by that time, she didn't really care to scold him for sneaking up on her. She didn't know what had all of a sudden come over him, but she didn't care, this was exactly what she'd been wanting for months and she wasn't going to complain or question it; she finally felt like she had her husband back.

To be continued…