Dallas, Texas

"Good morning Mrs Ewing", Julie smiled at Jock's wife and the two exchanged pleasantries before Julie politely informed her that Jock had left the office to meet Jordan Lee and Punk Anderson at the Cattlemen's Club for lunch and wasn't expected back until later in the day. "That's ok; I've actually come to see JR. Is he free?" Julie looked over toward JR's secretary who picked up the phone and informed him that his mother was there to see him. "Mama, how nice to see you, please, come in", JR was surprised and slightly shocked to hear that his mother was there, she never came to visit him at the office, but he did his best to hide his surprise. Entering his office, they made small talk while he poured her a glass of water before Miss Ellie got to the crux of why she was there, completely shocking JR with her change in tone, it was so unexpected, "JR, I want to know what's going on between you and Sue Ellen and I want the truth. I know Sue Ellen isn't staying at her mother's house, I phoned Patricia this morning and had a most unpleasant conversation with her, apparently she didn't even know her daughter was in Austin, let alone supposedly staying with her. Something is going on and I want to know what", she looked at him seriously as she spoke and waited for his response. JR looked and listened to his mother, quickly making a decision to give her a shortened, sanitised version of the story. However, as their conversation continued, it became increasingly clear to her that he was lying and she needed to hear Sue Ellen's side of the story before she would get any real answers. What worried her more than getting answers though was the fact that Sue Ellen was pregnant, emotional and all alone; if she knew Sue Ellen as well as she thought she did, she was probably feeling pretty low right now, especially if she had spent most of her time wandering and thinking, not socialising or talking. She made up her mind, she needed to go and check that Sue Ellen was ok and hopefully bring her back home with her, because despite JR's insistence that his wife was fine and would be home soon, she felt that that was probably the furthest thing from the truth at the moment. Politely accepting JR's explanation so that he didn't suspect anything, she left his office and asked Julie to find out where Sue Ellen was staying and to inform her as soon as she knew; Jock would understand.

"JR, what the hell is going on?" Jock burst into his son's office in the early afternoon, last night's conversation with his wife was still fresh in his mind and as he'd thought about it, he had begun to get angrier and angrier; even if nothing was going on, it wasn't right for JR to be so ambiguous and indifferent with his mother about his wife's actions. "Going on where, sir?" JR jumped slightly as his father appeared in his doorway unannounced and angry and he was racking his brain to work out what the problem was, as far as he was concerned, everything was just fine in business, and his father had no idea of his personal issues. "At home. You and Sue Ellen. Why isn't she home yet? I went home to get a few papers and I hear the news from Teresa that your mother has flown to Austin to go and sort things out with your wife. That is not news I expected to hear, especially since you've been saying that Sue Ellen is just visiting her mother. So once again, I ask you, what the hell is going on?" JR panicked as his father mentioned that his mother had left Dallas in pursuit of Sue Ellen, he hadn't expected that at all; he'd known she was upset, but to fly all the way to Austin to see Sue Ellen seemed extreme, especially after he'd assured her that his wife would be home in a few days anyway. "Well sir, we've got a few problems, but I'm working on fixing them and things should be back to normal very soon if all goes to plan. I can almost guarantee that she'll be back home at Southfork within a day or two", he hoped that his father didn't question him about what their problems were, because Sue Ellen was right, almost everything wrong with their marriage could be traced back to him. "Almost guarantee? That's not good enough JR; I want that girl back on Southfork by tomorrow at the latest and I'd rather have her come back because you've made the effort to make things right, not because your mama did; she's your wife and first and foremost, she's your responsibility". He paused before speaking again, "if you were going to have problems, why didn't you do it before she was going to have a baby? You took long enough to get there", he knew his comment was a little harsh, it wasn't as if they'd planned on having problems, and it wasn't anyone's fault that it had taken a year and a half for Sue Ellen to get pregnant, but he was angry and when he was angry, he just said what he was feeling. JR had basically lied to him when he'd pretended that everything was fine and from the sound of Teresa's relayed message from his wife, things between JR and Sue Ellen were worse than JR was letting on. "Well, sir, I didn't exactly choose the time. Ever since she's been pregnant, she's been acting peculiar. She's turning into a very unreasonable young lady. I've been to see her though and we've come to an agreement, I have no doubt that she'll be home in just a few days and we'll sort out our problems in no time. Our baby deserves nothing but the best and I know that means a mother and a father, especially ones that are in a loving relationship", he made a few snide comments and played the victim before telling his father what he wanted to hear.

Jock listened and didn't entirely believe JR's act, Sue Ellen was an emotional pregnant woman yes, but JR had to have done something to set her off, especially if she'd fled Dallas, "you've got your mother worried sick. She's looking forward to having that grandchild at Southfork, and so am I, so if you know what's good for you, you'll do everything in your power to get that girl back, even if it means making a few compromises you don't want to make". JR nodded, he wasn't going to argue with his father when he was like this, "yes, sir. I know how much this baby means to you, both of you and I promise, I'm doing everything I possibly can to bring my wife and baby home", he made sure not to repeat his father's words about compromise, only the general idea of getting her back to Southfork. "Good; you know that I'm not going to stand for any more foolishness. Whatever it takes, you bring Sue Ellen home. We want her back at Southfork", Jock spoke in a low, even tone and JR knew exactly what he meant. "I'll do my best, sir", he nodded in agreement; he wasn't exactly afraid of his father, but he knew better than to cross him and he was glad that he already had a plan in motion to bring his wife and child back home to Southfork, and now, with his father's permission, he could take a harsher approach if necessary. "No, don't try your best to make it happen, just make it happen, by whatever means necessary", he gave JR one final warning comment before he turned and walked out of the office; his wife may not be successful in bringing the girl home, but he knew JR would be. As the door closed, JR picked up the phone and dialled the bank and he wasn't at all surprised to hear that she'd withdrawn the entire allowance that he'd set for her; she didn't trust him at all right now and she obviously felt safer knowing exactly how much money she had access to. He then phoned his private detective to get an update on her movements as well as have his mother's movements in relation to his wife monitored. He knew it wasn't much use to fly down to Austin now, his mother would beat him to Sue Ellen because of her head start anyway, however, he wasn't too concerned about their meeting, he didn't believe Sue Ellen would be too quick to open up and talk about their private business, especially not with his mother. As much as he disliked Patricia Shepard, he didn't entirely hate the sense of decorum she'd instilled in her daughters; Sue Ellen was always concerned about how other people saw her, so he highly doubted that she would start mouthing off about his indiscretions, even if she wanted to.

To be continued…

Author's Note: The JR & Jock dialogue was inspired by the conversation they had in the episode For Love or Money, so partial writing credit goes to Leonard Katzman.