Dallas, Texas

Listening as Mr and Mrs Ewing described the recent happenings in their lives, Doctor Williams nodded and made agreeable comments; they were doing well, surprisingly well considering the reason why they were in marriage counselling additional to Sue Ellen's need for individual therapy. What worried him though was that although he had played a part in helping them repair their broken relationship, they had moved further and faster than he had originally planned and in doing so, he feared that they hadn't quite examined and truly fixed the deeper issues in their marriage. JR and Sue Ellen had come to an understanding that their marriage was about the two of them and their son and they deserved to be happy as their own family before they moved toward doing things to please the rest of the Ewing family or other, outside people. Because of their decision and understanding, they had made serious moves toward building their own lives, starting first with quality time alone together and then moving toward physically separating their lives from the rest of the family by purchasing their own home. Additional to those things, it appeared that they had overcome the first set of issues in their marriage, ones that had more to do with who they were as people rather than because of outside influences; namely, infidelity, learned submissiveness and people pleasing, and great misunderstandings of what the other wanted and expected. However, while all of those changes were positive, he couldn't help but worry that as soon as they achieved their ultimate happy status, which he expected to be in a few months, things would begin to go south again.

From what he understood, JR had committed adultery for reasons related to his overinflated ego, prudish and outdated attitude regarding ladylike behaviour, the ease of access to women who would do anything he wanted, and simply because he could, no one had ever seriously stopped him, so he did what he wanted. Things had changed for the better after Sue Ellen had left him and then only rekindled their relationship after a long break, a lot of promises of change, and a long, honest discussion about what each of them actually wanted in an intimate sense rather than what they thought they were expected to do and not do. For Doctor Williams, he had only had the opportunity to analyse the details of their marriage months after all of their problems came to a head, because Sue Ellen hadn't sought his help until after the birth of their son, so he only knew what he had been told. However, as Sue Ellen was fairly open and honest, he believed he had a good understanding of the situation, at least from her perspective. What he wasn't so sure of though was the change that Sue Ellen believed had happened in her husband, the change JR himself seemed to be certain was permanent. He needed to make sure that his patients were prepared to deal with and overcome future events that could present issues in their marriage, events like the claims Cynthia Moore had made, or the possible temptations of other women at events JR was likely to attend for his job or even just generally in life.

With JR set to inherit Ewing Oil in the next few years, the role JR's younger brother Bobby played in the company was likely to be minimized, however, someone still needed to do the PR work for Ewing Oil and if Doctor Williams' assumptions were correct, JR would allocate some of that work to himself. It was unlikely that JR would intentionally attend parties or meetings for business and pleasure, it was obvious that he did love and want to be with his wife, however, it was also obvious from past events that sometimes love wasn't enough or wasn't even on his mind. Because of that, and knowing how easy it was for people to slip back into old behaviours, Doctor Williams knew he had to help him acquire skills to deal with those situations in a better way than he had in the past. He would have liked to have JR be as willing to work with him individually as Sue Ellen had, because JR Ewing was an interesting man with a lot of complex issues, issues that stemmed from his childhood and overall family life, however, JR wasn't Sue Ellen and getting him to agree to individual therapy was probably a long shot. On the positive side though, he had JR attending and willingly participating in the marriage counselling sessions, so he was sure he could accomplish something and make the monogamous relationship between JR and Sue Ellen Ewing one that would last forever, not just until the next time JR left Dallas on a business trip.

Watching Doctor Williams as Sue Ellen filled him in on what had happened over the past few days, JR felt slightly uncomfortable for reasons unknown to him, because as far as he was concerned, his life was good and he had nothing to feel guilty or bad about. He and Sue Ellen were set to have everything they'd ever wanted; their marriage was exciting, fulfilling and comfortable; having John Ross had opened up amazing new feelings and experiences for him; and he no longer had to fight for recognition of his commitment to Ewing Oil or the promise that it would one day be his. As soon as they moved into their new home and were really able to explore what being a family of three, and maybe more in the future, meant for them, then he was sure things would get even better, especially when his father retired and Ewing Oil became his. With everything as good as it was, he simply didn't understand why he sensed that the doctor didn't seem to be as entirely happy as he and Sue Ellen were. What did he know that they didn't? Hearing Sue Ellen finish speaking, his observation of the doctor became even stronger and for the first time in a long time, he found himself holding his breath in anticipation. He was dreading hearing what the doctor had to say, because with his observational and psychoanalytical skills, anything could come out of his mouth and it may not be favourable toward JR, even if he didn't think he had done anything unfavourable lately.

To be continued…