Cozumel, Mexico

"You're sure I look ok?" Sue Ellen self-consciously assessed her appearance in the mirror again; despite the fact that she saw her own body every day and she was well aware that she was pregnant and showing, she was in complete shock as she changed into her swimsuit and cover-up. The weather in Dallas had started to cool down right around the time she found out that she was pregnant, so she hadn't worn a swimsuit for a few months now and she hadn't seen her pregnant body in a swimsuit, ever; and now that she had, she was still a little shocked and self-conscious. "Darlin', you look more than ok, you look absolutely beautiful. I know that you don't think pregnancy suits you, but even pregnant, you're still the prettiest lady in Texas, and you're definitely the prettiest lady on this island". He wasn't lying, he did think she was beautiful and he wasn't afraid to tell her that, but his motives weren't purely motivated by trying to make her feel better. He was also aware that he didn't have a hope in hell of getting her out of the hotel room and downstairs if he said anything less than overly complimentary, so naturally, he complimented her and tried his best to boost her ego enough to get her to see things his way. Even though on some level, she knew that he had his own motives in trying to get her to see herself as more than she gave herself credit for, she still found herself smiling at his comments and accepting the compliments; a compliment was a compliment and she needed all of the confidence boosting comments she could get right now. "Thank you", she smiled at him and gave him a light kiss before briefly turning around to look at herself from a different angle, she wanted to be completely sure that she looked acceptable before going out in public; her self-consciousness was still there, even if she was trying to ignore it and move past it. "From the back, you don't even look pregnant", JR didn't understand why she gave him an annoyed look, but he didn't question it, he didn't want to get in another long discussion about her body image issues, because it was clear that she had a lot of them. Repressing her self-doubts, she looked at herself one last time before making a snap decision, "let's go", she took his hand and led him toward the door, if they didn't leave the room now then she was afraid that they never would.

"…yes, it's just bourbon and water, and a virgin margarita for my wife, she's pregnant, she's trying to not drink very much alcohol", JR found himself getting annoyed at the bartender as he had to explain what he wanted; for a resort marketed at English-speaking tourists, the man didn't seem to understand him very well. He wasn't a big fan of foreign places, even other cities in Texas were a little annoying to deal with at times; sometimes he didn't want to have to explain what he meant, he just wanted people to listen and pay attention. A medium steak was a medium steak, three dozen yellow roses every day meant three dozen roses every day, and a bourbon and branch meant a bourbon and branch. He liked the way things operated in Dallas, no one ever questioned him about his requests, they knew better than to do that, and most importantly, they understood that he was a good customer and they would do well to make every effort to please him. "Sí señor", the bartender nodded as he finally seemed to understand, "I will have them brought over", oblivious to JR's annoyance, he gave him a friendly smile; "fine, fine, thank you", JR nodded and tipped the man before walking back over to the little palapa hut where his wife was now engrossed in a magazine. Breathing a sigh of relief as he saw how relaxed she appeared to be, he began to let go of his prior annoyance and started working on becoming more calm and relaxed himself. He wanted this to be an enjoyable vacation and even if he was annoyed with the standard of service, he didn't want his opinions to ruin Sue Ellen's holiday, she didn't need the stress or deserve to have to deal with his bad moods.

A mere twenty minutes later, JR began to get antsy as he finished reading the financial magazine and the rest of the newspaper he had purchased for the flight down from Dallas. He made a mental note to purchase a book to read, because sitting and just relaxing was not something he was used to and now that he was supposed to be doing it, he didn't really know how. They had a swimming pool at Southfork and the family spent a lot of time relaxing beside it in the summer, but this was different; in Dallas, he never just sat around doing nothing, he was always reading documents for work or a newspaper, talking to his father or brother, or having fun with his wife. Not wanting to force her to take off her cover-up to go swimming just yet, he cleared his throat dramatically and suggested a walk along the beach; dipping their feet in the ocean was sure to make her want to swim and in the meantime, it was an activity that actually allowed him to exert his energy in some way. JR Ewing simply wasn't used to or suited to sitting still and doing nothing but 'relaxing' for long periods of time. Completely oblivious to her husband's thoughts, Sue Ellen smiled and agreed to the his suggestion; any time she spent with JR was nice, it didn't particularly matter to her what they did during their time together, though she couldn't say she didn't enjoy certain activities more than others. Just being alone with her husband was enough for her, but to be in a foreign country, on a beach, on vacation for more than just the weekend, that was a bonus, and she didn't intend on having anything mess that up.

To be continued…