Dallas, Texas

Moving around the dancefloor effortlessly with his wife by his side, JR came to a smooth stop and clapped with the rest of the crowd as the band finished playing and started talking to the audience. Barely able to hear what the singer on stage had to say, he could very clearly hear Sue Ellen when she leaned into him and whispered in his ear, "JR, do you mind if we sit down? I'm feeling a bit dizzy".

"Dizzy? That's the second time today", taking in her appearance beneath the dim lights, he couldn't tell whether she was pale, though she was clearly a little unsteady. The dancefloor could be a stifling place at times so it was easy enough to think perhaps she just needed to get out of the crowd, however having heard her complaints about feeling a little off earlier in the day he suspected their surroundings had little to do with her condition.

"I know. I thought it was just all of those numbers blurring in front of my eyes, but I don't see any numbers here. I'm sure I'm fine, but it might be best to sit the next couple of songs out", holding his arm tightly, she suggested leaving the dancefloor in the same way she'd suggested taking a breather in the middle of their meeting at the bank that morning, out of necessity.

"Of course darlin'", ushering her out of the tightly packed area, he worried that something was seriously wrong, relieved when she announced, "I'm sure I'll feel better soon, I did this morning", as they reached their table. If she, the worrier of the two of them, was this optimistic about her health turning around without intervention then perhaps there was no need to be concerned after all.

"I hope so", answering her, he caught the eye of a waitress and without much effort at all he soon had another drink and some water on the way for them.

On the other side of the dancefloor, as the intermission between songs began, Jenna excused herself to the ladies room, leaving Jack single but not lacking enthusiasm. Spotting his cousin and his wife, he grinned to himself and strode towards the couple, waving as he caught Bobby's eye and laughing to himself at the sight of Pam turning around to see what her husband was focused on, or more likely who.

"Bobby, I don't know your lovely wife very well, would you mind if I stole a dance from her?" looking between the newlyweds, he read two very different expressions on their faces as he spoke, zest and relief.

"No, as long as you don't try and steal her from me", slapping his shoulder good-naturedly, Bobby's joke amused him, though it elicited a definite brief glare from his wife.

"I promise. Pam?" holding out his hand, he hoped to break the tension in the air. It was clear as day that she wasn't fond of Jenna, not seeing her around or hearing allusions to her presence, he couldn't do much about that, what he could do though was offer her a distraction, the second best dance of her life.

"Sure", meeting his eye, Pam accepted his offer, then returned her gaze to Bobby, giving him a sheepish smile, perhaps having realised she was overreacting to his potential insinuation that Jenna had been stolen from him. Then, taking his hand, she followed his lead as he pulled her into the crowd of dancing couples, away from her husband and thoughts of his former lover, at least for now.

Standing still, Bobby watched as Jack smoothly whisked Pam away from him, keeping his eye on them before losing sight of the pair.

Turning around, he headed back to the table, arriving just in time to catch sight of Sue Ellen hurrying off away from her husband, leaving JR sitting alone.

"JR", sitting down, he nodded hello to his brother, waiting a few seconds before asking, "is Sue Ellen ok?" hoping he didn't sound as if he was accusing him of doing something to upset her.

Shaking his head, JR took a drink, paused, and set his glass down theatrically, "well, she says she is, but she's also run off to the ladies room on account of feeling a little more than just dizzy, so I'm not sure I trust her judgement".

Confirming Sue Ellen's departure had nothing to with him, JR's comments still didn't make things sound good, though based on his own experience, sometimes women did know what they were talking about.

"It's probably the Caribbean sun. Pam had a similar experience when we were in Hawaii but she recovered quickly", he didn't know anything for sure, especially having only caught a glimpse of Sue Ellen in her unwell state, however, when Pam had reassured him she would be fine, she'd ultimately ended up being right.

"We've been back a week now, I'm not sure she can blame the Caribbean sun", laughing lightly, JR's response told him that despite being sceptical of his explanation, he appreciated his efforts.

"The Texas sun then", shrugging, he casually offered an alternative option, still of the same mind that if Sue Ellen herself wasn't too concerned, things were probably fine, especially when he considered that Sue Ellen wasn't known for being stoic.

"I'll mention it to her", accepting his suggestion, JR's tone told him he still wasn't convinced, though there wasn't much they could do whether they had a plausible answer or not.

Turning his attention to a waitress who seemed to have noticed his reappearance and arrived bearing a new drink for him, he accepted the drink and thanked her before returning to JR and addressing something that had been on his mind all evening. "There's something I wish you would have mentioned to me".

"What's that?" doing his best impression of an innocent man, JR's question appeared almost genuine, but surely it wasn't.

"That Jenna was going to be here tonight", pointing out the obvious, he frowned at the chuckle that immediately followed in response.

"Oh no, that wasn't my news to deliver", distancing himself from the situation, JR offered no further comments.

"How do you figure that?" having a fair idea about why JR might have hidden the details from him, he wanted to hear his thoughts before he pushed back on his deception.

"It's like Sue Ellen said, Jenna suggested it to her, she told me, I told Jack and Jack told you. You didn't hear about tonight from me to begin with an we haven't spoken about this or anything else since an invitation was issued to you yesterday. Jenna being here is not some ploy to get in-between you and your new bride", taking no responsibility for what had occurred, JR even managed to justify it, reminding him that he and Pam were the final invited parties, not the first.

"I didn't say it was", thinking the friendship between Sue Ellen and Jenna was too much of a coincidence to be just that, he did believe JR had some hand in it and that ultimately did have something to do with him and Pam, however, he hadn't accused his brother of orchestrating a run-in tonight. In his opinion, it was reasonable to expect his brother to give him a heads-up about the situation because even if he didn't know anything about Pam's feelings towards Jenna, he knew full well he and Jenna had history.

"No, but am I wrong to assume that's what you were thinking?" smiling smugly, JR picked that he was bound to have some reaction to the presence of his ex-fiancée, which of course, he did.

Ready to respond, anything he had to say was pushed aside when JR looked past him and muttered, "speak of the devil", because without even looking over his shoulder, he just knew what was happening.

Resisting the urge to turn around and confirm his thoughts, he sat looking straight ahead, watching JR's smug grin turn into a softer, more concerned expression as Sue Ellen returned to them, unsurprisingly with Jenna by her side.

"How are you feeling darlin'?" standing up to greet his wife, JR's ability to at least appear like he cared only made his lack of communication about Jenna more irritating.

"Not so bad now. I think the pills and the water helped", sitting down, Sue Ellen gave an answer that was comforting to him to hear. He cared about his sister-in-law and he didn't want to see her unwell or upset, unfortunately he couldn't say JR felt the same way about his brother-in-law relationship with Pam.

"I'm pleased to hear that", clearly genuine in his response, JR appeared surprisingly affectionate towards his wife, apparently forgetting they weren't alone as he whispered something in her ear causing Sue Ellen to smile warmly.

Pulling his attention away from his brother and sister-in-law, Bobby found himself on the receiving end of Jenna's attention again as she brushed against him and announced to the group, but mostly him as JR and Sue Ellen were lost in their own world, "I'm so glad we all came out like this. It's fun, isn't it?"

"It is", admitting he was having fun, he kept quiet about why he felt that way, because despite what she wanted to think, it was Pam's presence that really made the experience for him, not hers.

"I feel like dancing. Will you dance with me?" running her fingers down his arm to settle on his hand, she stood up, gently pulling him up with her.

"Somehow I feel like that wasn't a request, but a demand", laughing, he met her eye and shook his head, though he didn't deny her what she wanted.

"You never could say no to me", flashing him a smile he knew well, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and led them out onto the dancefloor.

Falling into an easy, familiar movement, beyond that of two people who knew the same dance at a routine level, he couldn't deny there was something there between them, however, thinking it was different to saying it, not that there seemed to be any difference to Jenna.

"It feels so natural, doesn't it?" swaying to a slow, romantic tune after dancing energetically to the songs that had come before it, she picked exactly the right, or wrong, time to address their shared experience.

"Jenna", looking down at her, he was well aware that natural movement or not, they weren't in high school anymore, things had changed, he was in a different place in his life now and so was she. Reminiscing about how well they fit together and what a perfect couple they had been was not healthy for his marriage or whatever relationships she was participating in nowadays.

"What? You can be married to Pam and friendly with me, it doesn't have to be one or the other", looking up at him innocently, she argued that they could be friends without it having an effect on his marriage, which sounded perfect, but he didn't necessarily believe it to be true.

"It's not that simple, you know that", wishing she'd understand that being friendly with her was more complicated than being friends with anyone else, he couldn't necessarily blame her for not seeing that because when they had been in a relationship, firstly platonic, then romantic, she got what she wanted where he was concerned, usually without even having to ask. She hadn't grown up hearing much of the word no, not from her daddy, not from him, and he imagined not from the men she'd been with since they'd separated, so to have him pushing back on her requests now was new for her.

"Why? Does this bring up memories?" knowing that's exactly what was happening, she nudged him in the direction of confirming it, likely to feel that even if she couldn't have him, he still cared, at least somewhat, which was true.

"Well, yes", unable to deny it, he simply confirmed her thoughts. Of course dancing with her brought up memories, how could it not? She was his first love and he hers, it would be stranger to him if he felt nothing upon being around her.

"I'd like if one day you could look at me and not think about the way things ended between us but instead about all the good things we had before that", placing her hand on his cheek, she played the part of an old lover looking for forgiveness perfectly.

"It is like that, I remember all the good things, but you have to understand that I can't easily forget how things ended. You also need to realise I'm married now, so even if we do rebuild a relationship, it can only be as friends", telling her how he felt, that he didn't hate her, but he wasn't jumping to reunite now that she was back either, he reminded her too that they weren't the only people she needed to consider anymore.

"I am sorry you know, I was young and stupid, I didn't know what I wanted and then when I went after what I thought I wanted I realised I'd left behind a pretty good thing", going a step further than she had in previous conversations, she apologised for her quick, unexpected departure from their previous life together.

"I'd like to believe that, but your lack of contact tells me otherwise", aware of how much time had passed between the past and present, he was hesitant to trust her timeline of events, even if she did sound sincere. She had had plenty of time to call, or write, or even come back, but she hadn't, and even when she had returned it hadn't been specifically for him, if it had been surely she would have reached out to him, not left it up to chance like their meetings had been so far.

"Would you have taken me back if I had contacted you?" avoiding a difficult discussion about her absence from his life, she didn't offer him the same courtesy.

"I don't know, and I don't care to think about it either. My only point is that you can talk about regret as much as you want, but your actions speak for themselves", annoyed that it was seemingly about him when it had been her decision to leave he reminded her again that there was little point in talking about his decisions when they hadn't settled hers.

"I'm sorry. I can't change the past now", stating the obvious, she looked dejected, like she knew she'd messed up, which she had.

"I know", agreeing that what had happened had happened, he appreciated that even if they couldn't go back, she could see where things had gone wrong.

"Do you think you can forgive me?" asking a lot of him, her eyes glistened as she held his gaze, appearing hopeful that the answer was yes.

"I can try", unable to stay angry with her when she showed she was making an effort, he did what he could, not promising anything more than what he knew he could give her.

"Thank you", cheering up almost immediately, she did what came naturally to her, to them, she pulled him into a hug, kissing his cheek and squeezing him friendlily.

Aware of the lingering nature of their embrace, he didn't think too much of it until they separated and instead of the expected view of Jenna and a crowd of dancing couples moving past them, he saw Jenna, couples dancing, and his wife and cousin, looking respectively upset and surprised.

To be continued…