Dallas, Texas

"Tell me, do you and JR know each other well?" handing Jenna her cup of tea, Sue Ellen made what seemed to her to be a natural enquiry after the way the two conversed with each other, quickly and casually, as if they understood one another. She was trying hard to be open-minded when it came to Jenna, after all, she had asked JR about her in the first place and JR had assured her that he was confident they would make good friends. What she knew she should be cautious about though were JR's other assurances, it would be wrong to distrust him when he had also promised her that he had nothing but her happiness in mind when he made plans with Jenna, however, it would also be naïve to completely push aside her knowledge of JR's feelings about Bobby and Pamela. JR wasn't one to just let things go, so she knew when he said he wouldn't be upset if Jenna caught Bobby's eye, that there was a possibility he meant he had already set a plan in motion. Considering how friendlily he and Jenna had been while speaking, she had to wonder too whether Jenna knew more about his opinions on the current state of things than even she did, or, whether she was in fact just as in the dark about what went on in JR's head sometimes as everyone else.

"No, not particularly, I didn't know anything about his life now until he told me; though I must admit there is a familiarity with each other that comes from the life I had growing up here, Southfork and the Ewings only a few miles away". Answering wistfully as she remembered her life in the home in which they now sat, Jenna's words said two things to Sue Ellen, one, that she greatly missed her former, happy family life, and two, that she hadn't been keeping tabs on the Ewings, unlike JR had on her. "Yes, familiarity, it certainly sounds that way when you two speak to each other", smiling, Sue Ellen responded quietly, not saying much, unsure of what to say without digging into details, ones that were bound to bring Bobby into the conversation, fortunately though, Jenna didn't have the same problem.

Taking a sip of her tea, Jenna placed her cup back down on the coffee table before turning and facing her completely as she responded, "mm, well I'm sure he remembers that I bore witness to his making and there's no point in pretending I don't remember full well some of his errors on the way to emulating Jock. Plus, I was Bobby's girl, but my daddy's only child, and sometimes men just can't resist sharing their 'brilliant' ideas, even if it is to the daughter they never expect to have to use such concepts. We're familiar with each other because we understand where we both came from, we also understand who each of us were before who we are now, or at least who we want people to think we are now". Taking their conversation somewhere she hadn't expected, Sue Ellen had to admire Jenna, on the outside she was exactly as ladies of their type were expected to be, but after only just scratching the surface of who she was it appeared that a polite, pretty lady wasn't the only thing she was.

"Oh? Tell me more, who was JR before he was who he is now?" interested in another perspective, Sue Ellen asked Jenna to elaborate, briefly wondering whether it was rude to be so inquisitive but deciding it was acceptable as Jenna had brought it up first and she hardly seemed like the type to be offended by a little curious conversation. It was perhaps a little presumptuous to assume things about Jenna considering how little she actually knew about her, however, it was hard not to see a difference between the introductory conversation they were having and the conversations she'd had with DOA ladies in the past.

Grinning, Jenna heard Sue Ellen's question and immediately had a wealth of information to answer with, though she knew better than to spill everything she had at once. "I won't bore you with the details but let's just say my daddy and Jock Ewing were not all that different to each other, so I understand the sort of things that were drilled into JR to make him who he is today. I'm sure you've experienced it, it's hard not to hear and listen to the way Jock talks at family gatherings, it's not easy to ignore the power and command that comes with those comments, and that's just what you hear in public, in private as I'm sure you can imagine, it's even more intense. Add to Jock's teachings my place in my daddy's life as his little girl and eventually you learn a lot about the world the way men see it. I was also a curious little girl, always snooping around where I wasn't supposed to be, especially at parties, parties where the escapades of the teenagers were much more interesting than anything for children".

Teasing Sue Ellen with snippets of information, Jenna pulled back before detailing her experiences in spying on her older neighbour as a child, before she and Bobby were really an item and before she was the one having teenage fun, not just watching it. She had seen things through keyholes and from behind furniture that even JR probably didn't know had had other witnesses, and at the moment she was far too sober and her relationship with Sue Ellen was far too new to tell all. If Sue Ellen's slight smirk and shrug was anything to go by though, she had her hooked and perhaps one day there would be an opportunity to let a little more slip.

"Enough about my ancient history though, let's talk about you, tell me about all of this. JR tells me you had reservations about being a married woman at Southfork, but you know JR, never the whole story, so please, do tell". Changing the subject, she was interested in a different perspective on what was currently happening in the family she had once been so close to, not only because she was generally nosy, but because if she was to go along with whatever JR had planned, she first needed to really understand where she stood. She also had a genuine interest in hearing how Bobby really was, outside of JR's general comments about him being good but them not being close; Sue Ellen struck her as a little more transparent when it came to answers and that was what she needed to properly understand her place in present-day Dallas.

To be continued…