Dallas, Texas

"So, young lady, you've gathered us all here, now what?" breaking the silence in the room, Jock made eye contact with his daughter-in-law and held her gaze as he waited for an answer. He had reluctantly agreed to join Ellie in her quest to 'make things right' with JR, but that was all he had agreed to do. As he had told Ellie the previous evening and JR earlier in the day, he had nothing to apologise for, because he had no regrets, and from his perspective, JR had had a darn good life and neither he nor Sue Ellen had any valid reason to be complaining about the way he had been raised. He was present at the family meeting for three main reasons. One, because his wife had pestered him into making an appearance, or as she called it, an effort; two, because he needed to hear what was really being said about him, because so far he had only heard bits and pieces of conversations that had occurred; and three, because once he knew the allegations against him, he could defend himself. What he wasn't present to do was apologise or coddle his son and daughter-in-law because they decided it was necessary.

"Now, we talk, listen to each other, and try to gain some understanding of different perspectives, respectfully. Contrary to popular belief, family meetings aren't supposed to be like a trip to the principal's office, there is no authority hierarchy, we're all adults and this isn't a business meeting, no one is the president, vice president, secretary etc., we're all equals and with that comes equal rights. We all have the right to speak and have our opinions heard, but equally, we all have the responsibility to listen to what everyone else is saying too. That's what this meeting is about, talking, listening, and trying to understand each other. I know what I want to gain from this meeting, and I think I have an idea what JR, and Miss Ellie want to gain from this meeting, and I know it won't be easy, but I do think it's possible; we all have to try though, and when I say all, I mean all".

Speaking to JR and Miss Ellie, but more specifically Jock, Sue Ellen held eye contact with him until her eyes began to dry and she had to blink, breaking the gaze they were locked in. She wasn't afraid of Jock Ewing, he wasn't her boss, and although he was JR's boss, he really didn't have much to take away from him if he did decide to be an immature jerk and punish JR for daring to have an opinion on his position in the Ewing family. Businesswise, JR and Jock had legally sorted everything to do with the future of Ewing Oil, and he had made it perfectly clear he didn't like it when JR wasn't at the office to handle his workload, so there was no threat of him taking the company away from JR. Personally too, she and JR weren't in a bad position, they lived away from Southfork, in a home they owned themselves, and they had John Ross, the grandson Jock definitely wanted to maintain contact with, even if he wasn't happy with them. It wasn't right to use John Ross as a bargaining chip and she wasn't going to verbally do so, but she wasn't stupid and neither was Jock, they both understood the guidelines without having to say so. John Ross was her and JR's son and whether Jock wanted to admit it or not, she knew he knew he had to be a reasonable person if he wanted to keep his grandparent privileges. Her mother had already lost her grandparent privileges, they hadn't explicitly told Jock and Miss Ellie that, but it had to be fairly obvious by now, and that made the possibility of it happening to them even more real. Miss Ellie was safe, she had nothing but love and adoration for John Ross, and respect for JR and Sue Ellen as his parents. Jock though, he wasn't so safe, he loved John Ross and he was beginning to really enjoy spending time with him, but he needed to remember where John Ross had come from and the life he lived outside Southfork Ranch boundary lines. John Ross wasn't really the topic of conversation at present though and she wasn't going to drag him into the conversation until someone else did.

"JR, why are you so silent? Don't you have anything to say about all of this? No one else seems to be saying it, but if I understand correctly, all of this comes down to you and your supposed mistreatment; is that correct, or is there some other reason why we're all gathered here today? It's all hunky-dory to say we're here to 'talk', and 'listen', and 'understand' each other, but if no one has any idea what that means then it means nothing. Speak up now, and please, be a little clearer with your words than your wife was, we're not all seeing that quack that calls himself a doctor, we're not all aware of the vague, nonsense definitions attached to those words. We have work in the morning too, so let's get started, I don't intend to be here all night", staring at his son as he spoke, he waited for him to say something, anything, because he had been surprisingly silent so far and he wasn't interested in sitting around for much longer listening to Sue Ellen's inane comments. Left alone Sue Ellen was a nice lady, but when she got involved in anything of any importance she had a way of blowing everything out of proportion, and right now that's exactly what she seemed to be doing. JR didn't look like he wanted to be present in their conversation any more than he did, and although Ellie had said the previous evening that she wanted to talk with JR and try to clear her conscience, she was silent now, and that told him something very important. Sue Ellen was pushing a subject no one but she wanted to discuss and somebody needed to either humour her and go along with it, or cut her crusade short.

Silently glaring at his father, JR cleared his throat before growling his response, "of course I have something to say about this, in fact, I already tried to tell you this morning, but did you listen? No. You objected to every point I made and then you cut our conversation short and didn't talk to me for the rest of the day. If you want a clear conversation now though, I'll give you one. I'm angry, at you, at mama, and at myself, and I don't think I should have to explain why, not again". Turning his attention toward his mother, he continued speaking, his sharp tone no less harsh than the tone he used to address his father, "mama, Sue Ellen tells me you have something to say to me? Now would probably be a good time to start…" Allowing some of his frustration to slip out, but maintaining his cool, he downed the rest of his drink and waited for someone to say something. He was angry, but he was also annoyed and hurt; he had allowed Sue Ellen to talk him into giving his parents another chance to explain things, even after he had already tried with his father and heard nothing at all from his mother, yet despite Sue Ellen's efforts and his time allowances, everything was still exactly the same. Was it really worth it? He didn't think so, not anymore. Nothing was ever going to change, no matter how much time he allowed, so it seemed stupid to him to lower the wall around the vulnerable part of himself, he would either be taken advantage of, or hurt even more than he already was. He had no desire to feel any worse than he already did, so he was ready to just give up and continue with the distant, unfair relationship he had with his parents, however, before he really had a chance to make that decision, let alone announce it, his mother surprised him. "Oh JR… I don't know how to start, but please, just hear me out…" letting out a loud sigh and meeting his eye as she began to speak, something in the way she presented herself to him made him listen. He didn't necessarily want to hear what she had to say anymore, she had been silent and indifferent for much too long, but for some reason, he was listening. Perhaps this was the progress he had been hoping for, or not, but whatever it was, at least it was something more than his father's ranting, Sue Ellen's over explaining, or the silence that they all seemed to fall into when nobody was directly speaking to anyone else.

To be continued…