Austin, Texas

JR was left dumbfounded as he watched his wife walk away from the table and possibly away from their marriage. He wanted to go after her, but logically, he knew that wasn't the wisest thing to do right now, not when she was so emotionally sensitive and especially since he'd basically given her the entire apology and explanation he'd had planned and rehearsed; he really had nothing more to say, at least nothing that would honestly improve the situation. Watching her for as long as she was visible before she turned a corner and disappeared out of his line of sight, he found himself completely confused about what to do now. He had explained and taken responsibility for his actions, apologised to her and he'd thought that he'd made it clear that he genuinely did want to fix their relationship, so it frustrated him that his efforts apparently weren't enough for her. The secondary thought in his mind after his frustration was worry, worry about the future of their marriage and what that meant, especially since she was halfway through her pregnancy already; and in a thought that was related more to the present than the future, he was worried about his parent's reaction when he arrived back in Dallas alone. His mother empathised with Sue Ellen on an emotional level and would probably understand her decision not to return to Southfork and resume her life as Mrs JR Ewing right now, however, his father wasn't the same way at all and he definitely wouldn't understand why JR failed to bring his wife home with him. To Jock, it was all well and good to try the nice way first, flowers, gifts and apologies, but if that failed to work, he saw no reason why JR should have to continue letting Sue Ellen call the shots. Sure, marriage was about compromises and both parties being happy with decisions, but ultimately, the husband was in control and the wife was supposed to follow, especially when her husband directly asked or told her to do something. For Sue Ellen to be the one making the decisions and JR seemingly just accepting them and not putting his foot down to make her do what he said, would not sit well with Jock, especially since Sue Ellen was carrying the future Ewing heir. Jock had told JR to use whatever means necessary to bring Sue Ellen and their child back to Southfork and JR knew that to his father, that meant anything, even kidnapping her and forcibly bringing her back was acceptable if it proved to be the only way. JR however did have a little empathy and didn't want to alienate her any further than he already had, especially since he actually wanted her back as his wife, not just because she was the mother of his child, so for now, he accepted her decision.

"Are you ready to order sir?" he was brought back into the reality of his current location as the waitress appeared at the table. Looking at his watch, JR decided that although everything was a mess right now, he still needed to eat, and Sue Ellen had said that the restaurant was excellent, "mhm, I'll have the steak, medium and I mean medium, not medium-rare, not medium-well, just medium. Oh, and another", he motioned toward his glass as he spoke, a drink was exactly what he needed right now. "Yes sir, and for your wife?" the waitress assumed that Sue Ellen had just temporarily left the room, though she was quickly corrected, "my wife wasn't feeling very well, so she went upstairs to rest, she insisted that I stay though, said the steak was wonderful…" For some reason, he felt as if it was necessary to give an explanation about her whereabouts, though logically he didn't know why, the young woman was just a waitress, she didn't care or need to know where the man's wife had gone. "Very well sir", she wrote down his order and collected his empty glass before leaving him alone with his thoughts again.

Dallas, Texas

As her flight landed in Dallas on Tuesday morning, Sue Ellen suddenly felt confused and nervous; she was finally back in Dallas, though it wasn't because she wanted to be or felt she was ready to be; the only reason she was here right now was because of the love she had for her unborn child. She had a prenatal check-up later in the afternoon and as much as she didn't want to be in Dallas or talk to her obstetrician, the person who had indirectly revealed JR's cheating in the first place, she knew she had a maternal responsibility to make sure that her child was as healthy as possible. Exiting the airport building and walking toward the long-term car parking area, she crossed her fingers and hoped that her car was still there; she had been gone for over two weeks and JR had been angry for most of that time, so it wasn't entirely unbelievable to think that he'd been mad enough to have her car towed. Entering the parking structure, she sighed with relief as she spotted her shiny black Fiat convertible, just as she had left it; perhaps she'd demonized JR in her mind, or perhaps he just hadn't thought about anything other than finding her and bringing her back to Southfork, and the location of her car was of no relevance to him. Putting her luggage in the trunk and getting into her car, she left the airport, heading downtown toward the hospital as she considered her next move; she had three options, she could check into a hotel and wait for JR to find her again, she could fly back to Austin, or she could go back to Southfork. She sighed to herself as she realised that none of her options were very appealing and none of them really offered a solution to her problems, because ultimately, her problems were emotional, not locational and whichever one she chose, she would still have the same thoughts and issues to deal with.

Across town, JR sat in his office at Ewing Oil as he read over some papers, though his mind was completely distracted and he wasn't really paying attention to the words on the page at all. The sound of his intercom buzzing brought him out of his distant thoughts, "yes?" he snapped at his secretary, though he immediately regretted it, she didn't deserve his bad mood. "Put him on", he listened to his secretary as she explained that his private detective was on the line and needed to speak to him urgently and his mood improved immensely as the man delivered the news he'd been waiting for for weeks; finally he had confirmation that Sue Ellen had left Austin and was back in Dallas. He hoped that she had come to her senses and was returning home to her husband, but he wasn't so naïve to really believe that she was, however, whatever she was there for didn't really matter now, she was back in Ewing territory and he wasn't going to let her leave so easily this time.

To be continued…