Laconia, New Hampshire

"So, are you excited?" knowing that she was reaching with the word 'excited', Sue Ellen asked anyway, all she really wanted to do was prompt her younger sister out of the quiet, reflective mood she had been in since they'd left Louisville after refuelling the Ewing jet. Although Kristin was a confident young lady, she was also probably very nervous and a little apprehensive right now, it was only natural, she'd never been in such a different situation before; however, with the outgoing personality Sue Ellen knew Kristin possessed, she had no doubt that the nervousness would disappear once she familiarised herself with her new surroundings. Snapping out of her inner thoughts, Kristin noticed that they were coming in to land, and although she was a little nervous, she answered with a broader, more honest answer, "nervous excitement. I'm looking forward to the orientation events, moving in next weekend and starting classes next week, but I'm also a little worried that I'll do something wrong and disappoint everyone". Looking down as she spoke more openly with her sister than they usually did, she was pleased when Sue Ellen quietly reassured her that as long as she tried her hardest and behaved as she knew she should, no one would be disappointed in her. It was nice to know that she had someone in her life that understood that perfection wasn't an easy goal and the pressure was hard to deal with sometimes, and it was nice to have reassurance that she would be fine. Deep down, she was confident and excited, but the situation she was walking into was a little intimidating and she did need the encouragement Sue Ellen was giving her.

As they landed at the small airport and exited the Ewing jet, transferring to the chauffeured vehicle that was waiting for them, Sue Ellen was pleased as she observed her younger sister, she looked happy and excited and it confirmed to her that they had definitely made the right choice. It would be good for Kristin to get away from Texas for a while and the controlled and enriching environment her new school offered was the perfect location for her to work on discovering her own interests and planning goals for the future she wanted for herself, not just what their mother wanted. Everything would be just fine, she was sure of it now.

Dallas, Texas

"Mr Ewing?" knocking on the door, Diane entered when JR told her to; "this just arrived for you. There is no return address or sender information", giving him the information about the envelope before he had a chance to ask, she then handed it to him and left the room. Intrigued by the mystery package, JR wasted no time in opening it, though as he saw what was inside, he really wished he hadn't. 'Congratulations on the birth of your son', seeing the words printed on the card, he hoped that someone was just three months late with their well wishes on John Ross' birth, however, he knew that was wishful and delusional thinking, especially when a photograph fell out of the card. Feeling ill, everything suddenly became very real, in the worst way; after almost two decades of playing the field before finally settling into a happy, monogamous life, complete with one wife and one son, his past actions were now coming back to haunt him. In all his years of 'enjoying female company', very few times had he had this kind of thing happen to him; he was smarter than that, he knew what the Ewing name meant and what was at risk if he didn't protect himself from manipulation, blackmail and the consequences of being close to women who enjoyed a similar lifestyle. Because of that knowledge, with very few women did he not use protection, and combined with his commitment to his wife over the past few months and recollection of only one encounter where he'd not followed his own rules, always maintain control and always use protection, there was only one woman, girl really, that the envelope could have come from.

If it hadn't made him feel so uneasy, he would have found it ironic that after almost two decades of acting exactly as he pleased, only now did his actions seem to have consequences. The timing couldn't have been worse and it was almost karmic when he thought about it, as if some higher power had finally gotten around to looking at his file and had decided that his apology and changed attitude toward Sue Ellen simply weren't enough and he needed to try harder. It wasn't at all what he wanted to deal with right now, but it was a very real situation, for he, his marriage, his career, his public image and his relationship with his family, and he had to deal with it. Although there was a chance that he wasn't the father of the baby in the photo, the girl was obviously an easy lay and could have been with dozens of other men, there was also a chance that he was, so he couldn't just ignore the situation, it wasn't something that was just going to go away. The whore who had infected both he and Sue Ellen with chlamydia had almost ruined their marriage for good once, they'd managed to get over that situation and move on though, but now she was back and on the brink of breaking the relationship again and the thought of that made him angry. Unfortunately, as vividly as he recalled the immediate consequences of their actions and the effort it had taken to get Sue Ellen back on his side afterwards, he had no real recollection of the night they'd spent together and had no knowledge of the surrounding circumstances, a fact that he hated. He hated that he wasn't in the position of strength in the current situation and he knew that he had to do something about that before he made any move to respond; he couldn't and wouldn't move forward blindly, that wasn't who JR Ewing was; so, picking up the phone, he dialled a familiar number. If he were going to come out on top, then he needed more information, luckily for him, he was JR Ewing and he had the means to get the information he wanted when and where he wanted it.

To be continued…