Dallas, Texas

Looking around their bedroom as he arrived home from work, but not finding his wife, JR then listened for sounds of life within the house and upon hearing nothing other than the faint sound of Lucy humming to herself as she readied herself for dinner, he then left his bedroom and walked down the hall to the nursery. Smiling smugly as he opened the door and had his suspicions confirmed, but also smiling warmly at the pretty, happy picture in front of him, he knew he had to document it. Leaving the nursery for a moment, he made his way back to their bedroom, grabbed the camera and then re-entered the nursery, snapping a photograph for memories before quietly and gently removing his sleeping son from his sleeping wife's arms and placing him into his crib. As much as he wanted to leave them sleeping in their position in the rocking chair, he knew it wasn't practical nor safe for him to do so and he wasn't about to take any chances. Stirring a little as he was picked up and laid down in his crib, John Ross appeared to be too exhausted to put up too much of a fight and after a few wriggling moments, he settled again. "We must've fallen asleep", turning as his wife spoke, JR nodded and smiled, she looked exhausted but also thrilled; John Ross hadn't been settling well all week and it had been affecting the way Sue Ellen judged herself, so to have had success with soothing him all on her own and to see him settled now was a beautiful moment. Walking out of the nursery and back down the hall to their bedroom together, JR spoke, "you must be exhausted darlin', why don't you take a nap? I'll explain to the family why you aren't at dinner, they'll understand". Wanting and trying to be a more kind and considerate husband, he made a suggestion and although it did briefly flash though her mind to question whether he was hiding something from her and was trying to briefly get rid of her, she couldn't deny that he was right, she was exhausted and a nap sounded wonderful right now. Nodding and thanking him, she changed out of her clothes and into her nightgown; even if John Ross only slept for another hour, it was still an hour of rest that would be beneficial, for both of them.

Awaking and looking at the clock, Sue Ellen sat up in shock as the numbers registered in her mind. 3.03am, she hadn't intended on sleeping for ten hours, she didn't even usually sleep ten hours on a normal night, but having had only broken sleep for the past few days in an attempt to be by her son's side when he needed her, her tiredness had obviously caught up to her. Getting out of bed, she put her robe on and walked down the hall to the nursery; she knew that she wasn't John Ross' only caregiver and the baby nurse was paid to be on duty all night, but she had to check that he was ok for herself. "Mrs Ewing", smiling warmly, Mrs Smith, the baby nurse, greeted her in a quiet, but friendly tone, "he's just gone back to sleep", moving around the room as she tidied, collecting empty bottles, tossing his dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and restocking the diaper change area, she explained a little of John Ross' evening to his mother. Splitting her attention between listening to every word coming out of Mrs Smith's mouth and watching her son sleep, Sue Ellen considered how lucky she was to have the help she did. She didn't know how other women did it, she had only been acting as a 24/7 mother for four days and already it was taking a toll on her. Luckily for she and John Ross though, her exhaustion wasn't something she had to persevere through, if at any point it became too much for her, she could go to sleep for the night and wake up refreshed and ready to be a good mother to him and that truly was a blessing. Gathering that it would probably be a few hours before he awoke and knowing that it was pointless for her to be awake in the middle of the night when he was asleep, Sue Ellen said goodnight to Mrs Smith and John Ross for now and made her way back down the hall to rest for a few more hours.

Awaking in the morning and seeing his wife asleep next to him, JR was relieved. He hoped that her uninterrupted sleep would bring her back to a stable state of mind; they paid a baby nurse to look after John Ross at night so that they could sleep, and she wasn't a failure as a mother if she took advantage of that service. He liked having his wife alert and awake when he came home from work, partially for his own good but also for hers; he'd known her for five years now and in those five years he'd come to learn that she really was a more pleasant person when she was well-rested. Exhaustion led her to be more easily shaken and frustrated and made her less likely to enjoy the little moments and be the mother she wanted to be, so he supported and encouraged her to put the quality of the time she spent with John Ross at a higher priority than the quantity of time. He also encouraged her to step back and allow the baby nurse to look after John Ross during the night for the health of their marriage. Of course he loved talking to her, but he also very much enjoyed being intimate with her in a physical sense and if she was awake all day and night, then by the time they did meet in the bedroom, she was in no mood for anything of that nature. He couldn't help that he was a man of needs and although he was smart enough to know now that the appeal of other women was not worth sacrificing his marriage for, there was still only so much waiting a man could do before his eyes, mind and eventually, body started to wander. Putting it in perspective, he knew that their exciting Sunday in bed, just four days earlier, was enough to sate him for a while, however, he wanted to get Sue Ellen back on their pre-Aspen schedule as soon as possible. She was medically cleared to be with him, they enjoyed being together and he wanted to open up as many opportunities for that to happen as possible. Watching her sleep for a moment and then looking at the clock, he grinned to himself. If his calculations were correct, she'd had ten hours sleep between the time he left her the previous evening and when he felt her slip out of bed at some point during the night, plus the remaining hours since then, she was definitely very well rested now, no matter how exhausted she had been the previous evening. Getting up to use the bathroom and then slipping back into bed quietly, he then gently brushed the hair out of her eyes, as a sweet gesture but also as a gentle physical prompt to wake her, and as if on cue, she turned and opened her eyes a little, smiling sleepily at him as he continued his gentle gesture. Grinning as she awoke, he mentally patted himself on the back for knowing how to get her to see him waking her up early as a good thing rather than a negative; she was predictable in all the best ways and he knew they would have a wonderful morning together.

To be continued…