Dallas, Texas

"Would you look at that, all eight seats are occupied", hearing his father once again commenting on how nice it was to have Southfork filled with people again, JR actually meant it when he nodded, murmured in agreement, and smiled. His father had always associated a full table with a happy family, even when the people sitting at the table weren't always happy, so his comments now were basically nonsense, but still, hearing him acknowledge the number of people present in a positive way did make him feel good. For years he and his father had had private discussions regarding the two chairs reserved for his future wife and son and for years he had made excuses why they were still empty, now though, he didn't have to, and that pleased him greatly, as did the reason why. No longer did he have to make excuses as to why it wasn't the right time for him to settle down, or have to awkwardly reassure his father that he and Sue Ellen were in fact trying hard to bring John Ross Ewing III into the world; those two things becoming reality had really calmed and stabilised his personal life. The past had been very stressful for him personally, for a long time he hadn't been ready to settle down, then he had and conception hadn't happened immediately, then he and Sue Ellen had managed to conceive, but his infidelity had caused marital issues for them. After managing to reunite and welcoming their son into the world, all had been well for a little while, however, soon enough things had begun to change again, though luckily they were relatively easy to fix that time; deciding to move out of Southfork was a relatively minor issue in comparison to everything they had been through in their relationship.

He was happy now because for the first time in a long time he was back at Southfork and things weren't completely terrible, even though he still disliked Jack and disliked the way his father treated Jack and Bobby in comparison to him. Earlier, both of his parents had actually taken time to speak with him privately, letting him know how pleased they were that he and Sue Ellen had decided to accept their invitation and reminding him how much they missed the family all living together. He had no interest in moving back into Southfork, he'd had a taste of living away from the rest of the family and he had to agree that Sue Ellen had been completely right, it was better for their marriage, their individual sanity, and overall their relationships with the rest of the family. It was nice to hear that they were missed though, and now it was nice to hear his father acknowledging him and his small family as having done something good; he had done what had been asked of him, he had a wife and a son in their allocated seats. What was better than them just being there though was that they were happy to be there; he and Sue Ellen were happily married and John Ross was happy and healthy, their family unit was more than just a façade and that was nice.

At times he wondered how exactly he managed to stay faithful to Sue Ellen and their marriage vows, because he had failed so many times in the past, even when emotionally he loved her and she had been trying in every realm of their marriage to please him. He had analysed it a lot and he had a feeling that it really came down to the fact that if he lost Sue Ellen, he lost everything. He'd actually experienced that before and knew that was no life to live; when Sue Ellen had left him, he hadn't just become a single man, he had alienated everyone and things became extremely difficult in his professional life too. Things were different in business now, because his father had amended the terms of his inheritance of Ewing Oil, but realistically, he was far too attached to his wife and son now, far too detached from his family, and had no friends, so the promise of Ewing Oil meant little in any future scenario where that was all he had. More than that though, he was sure he had matured at least a little bit over the course of his marriage, as had Sue Ellen, and her efforts to be a 'good wife' were no longer the controlled actions of a naïve young lady; they were now a more equal match, in and out of the bedroom.

"It is nice… we're going to have to buy a bigger table if anyone else joins the family though", snapping out of his thoughts as Lucy responded to her grandfather's general comment, JR's somewhat negative mood returned. Unless the extra space required at the table was for his and Sue Ellen's potential future children, he wasn't too fond of the idea of anyone else joining the family; Jack was already too much of an addition as it was. Even the idea of Bobby marrying bothered him a little bit, he didn't have anything against his brother finding a nice woman and having a child of his own, there wasn't a competition to be the first anymore, however, the idea of having to play nice with a whole new set of in-laws was incredibly unappealing thanks to Patricia. He wasn't completely pleased with how things were with his parents, but he did see potential in the position he was in now; if any more people were added to the family pool though, stretching their attention, he would definitely start to be pushed to the outer edge of the family again.

He was nobody but Sue Ellen and John Ross' favourite, so there would always be someone ahead of him outside of his wife and son's preferences and that meant he had to work extremely hard in everything he did just to receive an equal share of the attention he deserved. When it came down to it, that's really why he disliked Jack, his 'cousin' wasn't a transparent person like he claimed to be, but was anyone? No, he disliked Jack mostly because he was essentially a stranger who had managed to walk straight into the role of a son with his father, not the son Jock expected anything of though, just the son he doted upon. Jack was another Bobby, but he was worse, at least Bobby had a solid history behind him, Jack was a peasant being treated like a king, or at least a prince; JR was a king, but a king who had to prove his worth before he was handed the kingdom. There was nothing wrong with working hard for what he had, in fact he expected to do so, it built more than character, it built skills and knowledge useful for future success. The problem he had with working for what he had was seeing everyone else being given things he had to work for; that wasn't fair and his father never seemed to understand when he tried to explain his feelings.

"I like the way you think Lucy", watching his father as he considered Lucy's comment, JR couldn't help but laugh and then feel sorry for his youngest brother as his father's next words came out. "Bobby, you turn some of those first dates you've been having turn into second and third dates and soon enough you'll need at least two more seats on your side…" His father was relentless, it wasn't enough to have one married son and two grandchildren already, he had to plan for more, even when that more was probably still far off. Bobby was still young and as his father had referenced, none of his dates ever seemed to turn into relationships and JR had a feeling that wasn't for the same reason none of his women had turned into girlfriends before he'd met Sue Ellen, Bobby wasn't the same type of man he was. "One day daddy; I wouldn't go looking for a new table just yet though", hearing his brother's response, he returned to a state of amusement rather than feeling sorry for him, Bobby was more than capable of defending himself against their father's pushiness, he just had to want to do so before he did it. Luckily, before his father could move on and start questioning he and Sue Ellen about their plans to add to the family, everyone was distracted by Teresa and Raoul entering the dining room, and soon enough, conversation was back to being between table partners rather than the whole family.

To be continued…