Washington, D.C.

"Darlin', I don't want to bore you with the details, because it's a very complex issue, but simplistically put, American oil consumption is rising and our domestic oil production is declining, leading to an increasing dependence on oil imported from abroad. Now, no one really believes that the OAPEC members are a real threat right now, but with the murmurings around town, it's necessary for me to at least show my face and be informed about what's going on behind the scenes. Ewing Oil is a producer and seller, not an importer, but our business is intertwined with the whole industry and we're vulnerable to price and regulation changes, so as I said, I need to be here. Unfortunately, politics and politicians aren't known for their speedy decisions and my meetings today were essentially just a lot of men rehashing the same things we already knew, so I have a feeling that it's going to take a little longer than I anticipated for anything solid and real to be agreed upon". Listening to the silence on the other end of the line and knowing his wife, JR hoped that she could push past her sadness and worry and understand that he wasn't in control of the situation and unfortunately, even though he intended on being home by Friday, he may have to return to Washington in the near future. The timing was horrible, not only was there a lot of paperwork building up, paperwork he would have to deal with upon his return to Dallas, but his wife was heavily pregnant and even if he didn't necessarily plan on being in the room with her, he still didn't want to miss out on the birth of his first child. He was confident that she didn't have to worry about him cheating, this wasn't a chummy, goodwill visit where the intent was to schmooze the good men of Washington to think favourably of Ewing Oil, this was a simple fact-finding mission, he needed to know what was going on and what the government intended on doing about it. However, even though this was purely a business trip and he was acting like a completely faithful husband, he knew that Sue Ellen still probably wasn't entirely happy about him being so far away for so long; she was attached to him and she didn't like being alone and he felt bad putting her in that position again.

"You never bore me… and I understand, Ewing Oil needs you and I support you. You do what you have to do…" surprised at how chipper she sounded, JR sensed a sad undertone in her words, she was trying hard to appear strong, but it wasn't her natural inclination; she needed her husband and he wanted to be there, but he couldn't, he had other responsibilities. "Thank you darlin'. I promise, I'll try to get things done as soon as possible, but unfortunately, Washington isn't my town the way Dallas is and I don't have quite as much influence here as I do back home", he didn't like to admit it to outsiders, but he trusted his wife to understand his vulnerabilities without using them against him. Smiling to herself, Sue Ellen didn't feel it necessary to dwell on his lack of power, she knew he didn't really want to talk about it, so instead, she decided to boost his ego, "you're JR Ewing, you can do anything", knowing that he would enjoy a few words of encouragement, she waited for him to laugh before speaking again. "I'll be waiting for you when you do come home; I love you and I miss you and I don't like being without you. So please, even if it's the middle of the night when your flight gets in, wake me up, just so that I know you're safe and you're back with me". Blinking to himself at her words, he was surprised by her response, she wasn't angry or annoyed, she was simply a woman in love and she wanted to reassure her husband of his position in his company and their life together and it warmed his heart to know that she believed in him that much. "I'll remember that", he smiled amusedly to himself as he imagined waking her up in the middle of the night just to say hello. It would go one of two ways and with Sue Ellen getting toward the end of her pregnancy, he had a feeling that the reality of the situation would be a lot different to what she imagined. She liked to think that she was still energetic and up for anything, but she was thirty two weeks pregnant and JR could see that it was beginning to slow her down, even if just a little; she was more tired, a little more emotional and found basic physical activities a bit more demanding than she had in the past. In no way was she a write-off, but he had a feeling that she was overestimating her ability to appreciate a middle of the night wakeup call, even if she did love and miss her husband. Hearing her disguising a yawn on the other end of the line simply proved his point to him in his mind, though he knew better than to make a point of her limitations; letting out a small, but audible yawn of his own, he made moves to end the conversation, for both their sakes. "Darlin', I have a few early meetings tomorrow, so I should probably head to bed now, it's an hour later here than it is in Dallas, but I promise, I'll be home on Friday evening", saying a few quiet goodbyes and making plans to talk the next evening, before seeing each other again on Friday, he then ended their call.

He'd finally worked out that even just increasing his efforts as a husband by a little was something that could dramatically reduce the friction in their marriage, and even though he knew he'd probably be tired by the time he got home on Friday, he needed to show her that she was special to him. It may have taken her walking out on him for him to realise that he couldn't just do whatever he wanted without it affecting their relationship, but it made sense to him now to consistently make a point of showing her that he loved her, even if it was just saying it more often and spending time with her. It had never made sense to him in the past, his money, power and the Ewing name had always been his biggest drawcard but with Sue Ellen and their marriage, it was different. Little shows of love meant more to her than grand gestures after long periods of time where he neglected their marriage, because that was really all she wanted, to love and to be loved, everything else was simply a bonus. In a way, it was both easier and harder for him; it was easy in the sense that small things impressed her and the effort required of him wasn't anything dramatically greater than he was capable of, the hardest part was really just changing his thoughts and behaviours to naturally act in such a way. He was working on it though and it motivated him to see that the effort he was putting in did seem to be having an effect; he felt good about their relationship and although the JR Ewing of the past would have scoffed at the idea, he was constantly surprising himself as he realised that marital bliss really did exist.

To be continued…