Dallas, Texas

"Seth Stone… I don't understand… Martin Hurst's company… Ewing Oil has made far more deals…" JR drunkenly grumbled about the Oilman of the Year award as Sue Ellen quietly made commiserative comments and helped him out of his tuxedo. She empathised with him for his loss, because he was probably right, he worked damn hard and he deserved to be rewarded for his efforts, however, apart from losing the Oilman of the Year, they'd had a rather nice evening together at the Oil Baron's Ball, and she didn't want to focus on the negatives of the situation any longer. "I know, I know; it should have been you up there", she whispered gently as she slid his shirt off his shoulders and began to work on getting him out of his shoes and pants, "I don't know what the silly people on the committee were thinking". She spoke in soft, low tones as she undressed him and she began to feel more like his mother than his wife as he pouted and complained when she tried to get him to put his pajamas on; sober JR could be childish sometimes, but drunk JR was even worse. "Come on, let's go to bed, you'll feel better in the morning", she kissed him lightly and led him over to the bed, and despite his resistance and insistence that he didn't want to go to bed, she was entirely unsurprised when he fell asleep almost straight away. Leaving him to sleep, she prepared herself for bed and fell asleep fairly soon after he did.

JR awoke on Sunday morning with a hazy recollection of the previous night and a terrible headache. "Sue Ellen?" he called out for his wife as he awakened, though squinting at the clock, he realised why she wasn't in the bedroom; it was a little after ten in the morning, and having had only two drinks at the ball, there was no way she was hungover, so she would have been up hours ago. Sitting up, he smiled to himself as he spotted the glass of orange juice, two pills and pot of coffee that had been placed on the nightstand; Sue Ellen had a few weaknesses, but none of them related to her domestic skills. Half an hour later, he wandered down the hall in search of both his wife, and hopefully some food to settle his stomach; "you wrote this all by yourself? It's very creative, I like it" he stopped outside Lucy's bedroom door as he heard Sue Ellen's voice, and he continued to listen as curiosity got the better of him. "Mhm, we're focusing on creative writing in my English class at the moment, and with Thanksgiving next week, my teacher wanted us to use our imaginations to come up with a story where our own families were Pilgrims", JR could almost hear the pride in Lucy's voice as he listened outside the door. "It's very good, thank you for sharing it with me", Sue Ellen felt proud and a little emotional as she and Lucy spoke. She'd thought that she'd lost Lucy's attention and adoration forever, but times like these gave her hope and allowed her to see that she was just growing up and becoming more independent, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't ever need her again. "…and you know what, I think your grandma and granddaddy would like to hear it too, especially since they're two of the main characters…"; JR listened outside the door as Lucy hesitated and became shy, and he found himself grinning with pride as Sue Ellen used her maternal persuasion to talk Lucy into sharing her story with her grandparents. It pleased him greatly that he'd married a woman who tried so hard to be the perfect wife and from the evidence in front of him, looked like she would make a wonderful mother, she was a natural with children. JR listened and sensed that the conversation was about to end, and not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, he knocked on the door, as if he were just walking past. "Oh, hi uncle JR. Thanks Sue Ellen", Lucy brushed past him as she left the room and he was pleased to have Sue Ellen alone. Sue Ellen was more than surprised at JR's pleasant mood as he appeared in the doorway, she had expected him to still be upset and angry about last night, however, if he wasn't going to mention it, then neither was she.

Four days later, on Thursday morning, JR awoke after a difficult night's sleep and instead of being pleased and looking forward to the holiday celebration and the day off work, he was instead filled with feelings of dread and apprehension. Ultimately, the day was going to be a good one, they were finally going to give their families the news they'd been waiting years for and he knew that everyone would be thrilled, however, before they got to that point, they had to deal with Patricia Shepard and all of the stress and anxiety that came with her arrival. It wasn't really his own sanity that he was worried about as much as it was Sue Ellen's. He disliked Patricia, but he dealt with her in a polite manner, however, Sue Ellen and her mother had a difficult relationship and no matter how hard Sue Ellen tried to keep things neutral and good between them, there was always conflict, and conflict was the last thing she needed right now. He may not have been the best husband to her, but that didn't mean that he didn't care and feel protective of her, and when it came to her mother, Sue Ellen was extra sensitive; their already tense relationship combined with her pregnancy hormones gave him no doubt that he would be dealing with his wife's tears before noon. Looking at the clock, he relaxed back into the pillows, they still had over an hour before they had to be up and downstairs for breakfast, and being a pregnant woman, Sue Ellen needed all the sleep she could get. He really was thrilled that she was pregnant and since learning of that development in their relationship, something inside of him had changed. It wasn't that he hadn't loved her before, but now that she was carrying his child, the heir to the Ewing name and fortune, he had a deeper understanding of what love really meant and he felt more connected to her than he had in months. It was something he couldn't really explain, but despite the fact that he loved his life as a bachelor and then as a husband who occasionally enjoyed the company of other women, he really was looking forward to having his own little family and he felt protective of that new development. No one, especially not Patricia Shepard, was going to ruin this for them.

To be continued…