Dallas, Texas

Dismounting from his horse, Bobby led him over to the pond to drink before tying him to a tree branch. Climbing up a small wooden ladder and entering his childhood treehouse, he sighed loudly; as much as he had tried to convince himself that taking a ride by himself would clear his head, it hadn't and he still felt exactly as he had when he'd left the house earlier in the afternoon, stupid and embarrassed. Forethought and holistic thinking had never been his strong suit, but those weaknesses and his jump the gun attitude had really put him in a bad position, because it was clear to him now that he had made some serious errors in judgement and his plan to regain his rights had backfired, making him look whiny, immature and untrustworthy. Not only was his father annoyed at him for snooping at his private files and attempting to involve himself in a situation he had no reason to be involved in or concerned about, he was also annoyed at him for the petulant, expectant attitude he'd had when confronting the issues, and he'd had no problem telling him that. In addition to being told off by his father for snooping, whining and questioning authority, he'd annoyed JR, made himself look bad by assuming things and offended Sue Ellen.

Leaving his father's office the previous day, after being put in his place, he had spent the rest of his workday in his own office with the door closed, though his efforts at avoidance seemed pointless in the end, he lived with his father, he couldn't hide forever. After dinner, one he was glad JR and Sue Ellen were absent from, he'd attempted to right things with his father, though even in apologising and taking the harsh reprimand his father had for him, he knew that he wasn't completely forgiven and his father wasn't ready to just forgive and move on. Accepting that he wasn't in his father's good books at present, he'd then spent the rest of the evening alone, not daring to leave the house to head into Braddock for fear that his father may interpret his leaving as an act of immaturity, as if he were storming out, not just having fun on a Friday night. The next morning had been a little better though and he wondered why that was; could his mother have more power over his father than he believed? She sure did seem to look at him expectantly at breakfast that morning. Whatever it was, he was pleased that he no longer felt as if his relationship with his father was completely strained and although it was nowhere near what he was used to, he was willing to accept it for now. Mentally reliving their argument, he'd realised that his father had specifically said that he had a plan for his future as well as JR's, so he needed to trust that he did and he needed to behave properly in order to make sure his father didn't angrily change his mind. Knowing that and knowing that he had been in the wrong, he made a commitment to himself to do exactly that.

The rest of the morning hadn't been too bad, at least not until JR and Sue Ellen returned home from their overnight trip, then the atmosphere turned back into awkward, icy and for him, embarrassing. After greeting the family as they walked into the house, JR had quietly pulled him aside and told him that they needed to talk, though since John Ross was currently awake, they would wait until after lunch to do so. He hadn't expected Sue Ellen to be in the meeting, so when they all gathered in the office after lunch, he felt even more uncomfortable than he had the previous day, because although he'd never verbalised his thoughts about Sue Ellen supporting JR even when he had no redeemable qualities, he had a feeling that she knew he was judging. The conversation itself had come as a bit of a shock to him though; instead of JR speaking first, he'd stepped back and allowed his wife to explain the situation, the one he had judged so incorrectly. It was obvious that Sue Ellen had years of etiquette training behind her, because she'd calmly and politely given him her direct, honest opinion, correcting him where his judgements about JR's contract and her submissive nature were wrong and making it known that their marriage was no one's business but theirs; not once had she sounded rude or nasty though. Despite the polite manner in which he had been reprimanded, his sister-in-law's speech definitely hadn't made him feel any better than he had after his conversation with his father the previous evening, and with JR's unnecessary additional comments about knowing his place and minding his own business in the future, he felt about two feet tall when the conversation ended.

Sitting in the treehouse doorway, looking out over the ranch, he sighed to himself again. He had been an idiot, he couldn't deny that and he couldn't deny that the position he was in now was mostly because of his own actions. He had assumed things, he had made judgements, he had acted on his feelings too quickly and he had reacted badly when the topic came up in conversation, but worst of all, he had acted in a manner that made him look like the ungrateful, disrespectful son and JR look like the dutiful, respectful son. There was nothing wrong with both he and JR being a part of Ewing Oil, but he didn't like the idea of JR being a part of it alone, without him, and his father being completely ok with that because he had given up on the idea of having two sons who equally loved and respected the family business. He couldn't deny that JR probably did have a better understanding of Ewing Oil overall, and he definitely had more experience, but at the end of the day, he couldn't pretend that he wasn't hurt by his father's decision not to include him in the future business leadership model and he'd reacted badly to that knowledge. He had to trust his father though, he had to trust that he knew what he was doing and that he understood that he was sorry for his emotional outburst, and hopefully, when things cooled down a little, he would find out what his father's plan for him was. He also needed assurance that despite their argument yesterday, his father's overall love and feelings for him hadn't changed; he couldn't deal with the thought of not being Jock Ewing's favourite son or having his father overly upset or disappointed with him, it wasn't normal and it wasn't right. Things had to get better, they just had to, otherwise, he didn't know what he would do.

To be continued…