Dallas, Texas

Having made the mistake of not listening to his mother's words properly and agreeing without thinking about what he was agreeing to, JR now stood next to his wife in the airport arrivals terminal as he waited for Patricia and Kristin's flight to land. The baby shower was planned for later in the day and although he had no plans to be at Southfork while it was happening, he had been unable to think of a good excuse fast enough to get out of meeting his mother-in-law and sister-in-law at the airport. However, despite the fact that he wasn't at all looking forward to seeing Patricia, she brought nothing but trouble and unpleasantness with her wherever she went, he was still in a relatively good mood. As much as he disliked her, he loved her daughter and for that, he was willing to put up with Patricia; he loved seeing Sue Ellen happy and he loved being the one that was largely responsible for her happiness, especially after their recent rollercoaster of relationship developments; if Sue Ellen was in a good mood, then so was he. Returning her mother's call had been awkward for Sue Ellen after the way their previous discussion had ended and although she still didn't particularly want to see her family in person, the thought of facing her mother now wasn't as scary as it had been previously and she wasn't dreading it the way she had in the past. She and JR had reached a new point in their relationship and the way she felt as an individual as well as a spouse meant that even if she still had moments of quiet submissiveness, she wasn't the pushover she had been in the past and her mother's empty threats were nothing but words. It had taken her years to figure out, but she understood it now, she was the more powerful one in their relationship and it was silly for her to fear her mother's wrath and punishment; Patricia needed Sue Ellen and JR more than they needed her and it was stupid to act as if she held the upper hand.

Spotting Patricia and Kristin walking toward them, JR put on his friendliest smile and turned on his Texan charm, "Patricia", nodding at his mother-in-law and ignoring the glare she was giving him, he didn't let her negative vibe ruin his good mood. Patricia Shepard was an annoyance he had to deal with, but she wasn't a real threat, she could glare all she wanted, he didn't care what she thought, not anymore. In addition to having been married for over two years, the fact of the matter was that he and Sue Ellen hadn't done anything wrong and it was ridiculous for her to treat him as if he were some horny boy who had deflowered her teenage daughter. Technically, that judgement wasn't entirely inaccurate; as her husband, he had had the honour of being her first and only, even if she had been twenty two and he thirty at the time, not teenagers at all, though it hadn't stopped her mother from treating her as such. However, the fact that he and Sue Ellen were intimately involved at all though was beside the point; they were all adults, even Sue Ellen, and despite what Patricia liked to believe, she was no longer the main authority figure in her daughter's life. That was JR's place now and even he was learning to be a little lenient when it came to using that authority; if anything, their history together had proven that they were in a better place when they held a near equal amount of power in their marriage, at least in principle. It was fine for Sue Ellen to be the quiet, submissive wife and JR to be the authoritative husband in a general respect, but beyond that, at the heart of their marriage, they needed to have open communication and equality of choice with each other. Finally, after almost five years together and two years of marriage, it appeared that they had reached a point in their relationship where they both understood their needs and what worked for them and to be opening their relationship to new ideas and experiences was difficult enough to begin with without Patricia making them feel bad about it.

"JR", Patricia curtly spoke his name and continued to glare at him as he collected their bags and then returned to his place next to her daughter as they left the airport. It wasn't that she hugely disliked JR Ewing or disliked the idea of her daughter being in a marriage where she actually gained some kind of satisfaction and enjoyment from her role as a wife, it was just that she had high moral standards and she was easily offended. She was annoyed, from what she had observed lately, neither JR nor Sue Ellen's behaviour indicated that they had much regard for social politeness any longer and it infuriated her to see that all of her hard work was coming undone. She didn't like the idea of her daughter being seen in any way other than as a perfect lady and she could already see the corrupting influence JR Ewing's immorality was having on Sue Ellen and she didn't like it one bit. Although the evidence in front of her stated nothing more than that JR and Sue Ellen appeared to be a polite, happily married couple, she still didn't like where she assumed their relationship had gone and what was beneath the surface. She had raised Sue Ellen as a lady and she had expected her to remember the rules and guidelines she had been raised with and to live by those teachings, whether she was in public or private. Broadcasting their intimate moments, or even being as casual about it as she had appeared to be was enough to cause Patricia to express her disapproval, no matter how antiquated, silly or nosy it seemed to do so. She reasoned that someone had to be responsible for keeping Sue Ellen on the right track and if neither she nor JR were going to do it, then the task fell to her and she wasn't going to sit back and say nothing. She relied a lot on Sue Ellen's name and reputation to get her things and if she could make sure that her reputation stayed favourable, then she would do just that, and the first step to making sure that happened was making sure Sue Ellen understood that just because she was married, didn't mean she wasn't still a Shepard. Staying quiet for the moment, knowing that it would be easier to get to her daughter without JR present, she stuck with general topics of small talk on the way back to Southfork; she and Sue Ellen would have a real conversation later, but right now was not the time or place for that conversation.

To be continued…