"Well, I'm glad that I finally have a chance to relax now that the barbecue is over with. As much as I enjoy it every year, it feels as if all the organizing and running everything is half the excitement of it," Miss Ellie joked wearily.

It was a couple hours after the Ewing barbecue had ended, and the family was now gathered in the living room to relax. JR and Katherine glanced at each other expectantly out of the corner of their eyes every so often, waiting for the right moment to break their news to everyone.

Bobby laughed lightly at Miss Ellie's words. "I don't know if the barbecue itself generated that much "excitement" this time around. It seemed pretty calm; no fights for once."

"You make it sound as if you'd actually want something like that to happen…" Jenna said dryly, to which Bobby only smiled awkwardly at.

"Well, it may not be the kind of excitement you usually have in mind, but Katherine and I do have some news of our own we think you all will be interested in," JR spoke up.

Miss Ellie looked up in interest. "Oh, and what might that be?" She sounded as if she already had a guess as to what it would be.

JR gave Katherine a quick glance, to which she nodded in affirmation. It was now or never. "I asked Katherine to marry me today during the barbecue, and she said yes."

Just like that, the room burst into excited babble. Congratulations and questions were thrown everywhere. Obviously, it was something they had been expecting for awhile now.

"This is wonderful to hear! I'm so happy for both of you; I knew it was only a matter of time now," Miss Ellie said warmly to JR and Katherine once the initial chatter had died down.

Bobby stood up, walked over to JR, offering his hand to shake. "Congratulations, JR," he said with a genuine smile.

"Thanks, Bob," JR replied gratefully as he shook his brother's hand. With everything that had happened with the contest, JR was glad to have a nice, brotherly moment between the two of them like this.

Katherine smiled at the positive effect the news was having. "Thank you so much. Believe me, I was as surprised as any of you when JR proposed right there during the barbecue! But I'm just glad we waited until now and not during it to tell you!"

"Quite true. It's going to be enough as it is once the rest of Dallas finds out about it! And we're going to have to start planning the wedding soon, too!" JR added happily.

"No," a small voice spoke up suddenly.

Everyone turned to see John Ross-who had been strangely quiet during the news-sitting quietly on the end of the sofa with a furious expression on his face.

JR looked puzzled, as if he couldn't believe he had heard his son correctly. "Eh? What do you mean, John Ross?" he asked in confusion.

"I mean NO! I don't want you to marry stupid Katherine!" John Ross exploded.

Shocked silence reigned all across the room. Miss Ellie was the first one to speak again. "John Ross! That was a very rude thing to say, and we do not speak to others in this house that way. Now, I believe you owe Katherine an apology," she admonished her grandson.

"No, I don't! It's her fault I'll have to move away from Southfork now!" John Ross shot back.

Dumbfounded by what he was hearing, JR finally found his voice again. "Where is all of this coming from!? You've seen Katherine plenty of times now when she's come here to visit or when we went to places like the park or the fair together! You know her! You like her!"

"I don't care! You're s'posed to marry mom again, not someone else!" John Ross insisted adamantly.

JR was thoroughly confused by his son's words. John Ross hadn't shown any indication that he had been hoping for a reconciliation between him and Sue Ellen. After all, he had accepted her marriage with Dusty easily enough and lived with them more of the time. While it was true that back when the divorce had happened, John Ross was really too young to understand a lot of what had been going on, JR had still believed that he and Sue Ellen had eventually managed to have a healthy arrangement for their son now. So why was this happening now?

Trying to sound as calm as he could, JR made his point clear. "Both me and your mother have explained to you before why that's not an option, John Ross. You know this. Katherine may not be your mother, but she's still going to be a member of this family whether you like it or not. Either way, she's always treated you with respect, so you should do the same. I want you to apologize right now to her."

John Ross crossed his arms defiantly and looked away from his father. "No!" he pouted.

"Then you can go to your room for now until you're ready to talk about this again," JR decided.

For a moment, John Ross looked like he might try to argue, but thought twice after JR raised his eyebrows and pointed towards the stairway warningly. With a frustrated huff, he clomped noisily up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door moments later.

Xxx

Once the atmosphere had calmed down and the family had scattered around different parts of the house, JR and Katherine (who had been uncomfortably silent during John Ross' outburst) finally had a moment to themselves in the den to discuss things between them.

"Sorry about John Ross, Katherine. I had no idea he even felt that way. Some father I am…" JR said miserably.

"Don't beat yourself up over this, JR. Situations like this are bound to have some lingering effects. Of course he's upset. I'm not his mother after all," Katherine reasoned.

JR looked frustrated. "But doesn't it hurt you at all!? I thought you two always got along great, and then this just came out of nowhere!"

Katherine sighed wearily. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little hurt… But I can't expect everything to go smoothly between John Ross and I now that I'm going to be entering a different role in his life. Even if he was happy about this, there's still going to be other problems down the line. So I'd better get used to it, I guess."

"That's true… It will take time for all of us to adjust," JR agreed.

Katherine looked thoughtful. "I'm wondering if John Ross didn't suspect anything because he can't quite comprehend the role between friends and marriage at his age? We didn't exactly make it clear why I was around, did we?"

"Hmm… Perhaps not. But I have a feeling there's more to it than that that we're missing here," JR admitted carefully.

"Well, there's one way we may be able to find out more. Sue Ellen is with him on a more regular basis, so it's possible she would know something we don't. I think you should talk to her," Katherine suggested.

"You could be right. I'll ask if she has some time tomorrow while John Ross is still here," JR decided.

Xxx

It wasn't until a little later that night right before Katherine was getting ready to go home that Bobby approached her on her way out the door. "Katherine, do you have a minute?" he checked.

Katherine smiled at her soon-to-be brother-in-law for the second time now. "I suppose so. What's on your mind, Bobby?"

"I guess I just wanted to let you know that I'm really glad you're going to be marrying JR. A time ago, I might have been worried, but I've seen enough of you guys together and believe that you're just what JR needed somehow. And he's learned a lot from his past marriage," Bobby confessed.

"Really? How exactly do you mean?" Katherine asked curiously.

Bobby looked thoughtful for a moment before he tried to explain. "I can't explain it exactly, but it's like you two are somehow on the same wavelength. Like you're not ever confused by one another's actions. No, it's more than that… JR sees you as an equal instead of just the role of significant other, and he doesn't seem uncomfortable with that either."

Katherine was mildly surprised by Bobby's observation. "Huh. Well, we weren't completely at that point before and I'm not sure we can even say that now. But I do see where you're coming from, I guess." And she knew it was true. If anything, he had grown from the slightly paranoid JR who had been afraid to be seen holding hands in the restaurant with her in front of his business associates back then that she remembered.

"Well, at any rate, it looks like you're going to be my sister-in-law again, huh? Maybe not quite the way I would have initially believed it would have happened, but I'm still glad," Bobby admitted, looking wistful for a moment as memories of his past marriage came to mind.

Katherine shifted her feet uncomfortably. Bobby had no clue as to the real reason behind why she wasn't related to him through marriage by Pam anymore.

Bobby-unaware of Katherine's discomfort-went on, seemingly lost in his own memories. "It's funny. You and Pam are both sisters, both entering this family at points. It's so similar, yet so different when you look at the receptions you've each received…"

Katherine remained silent, knowing all-too-well what Bobby was getting at. While he was just making an observation and didn't sound bitter or resentful at all, it was obvious what the real reason for her mostly more positive treatment from the Ewings had been in comparison to Pam when it came to news of their engagements: Katherine was wealthy and not a Barnes, and those things sadly made all the difference. She realized that she actually felt sorry for her sister. Katherine hadn't been worried at all about telling JR's family about them, but if she had been in Pam's situation, she could only imagine how nerve-wracking it must have been for her and Bobby.

"I doubt there will be much difference when it comes to Cliff's reaction if anything, though. It will probably be even worse," Katherine pointed out with a wry smile.

"Yeesh, I almost forgot about that; you're right. Want me to come along in case you guys need a bodyguard?" Bobby offered. His tone was light, but the tension was also present in his mood.

Katherine waved away Bobby's offer. "Oh, don't worry; I'm sure we can handle it." She wasn't going to admit it to Bobby, but a part of Katherine was looking forward to making Cliff furious with the announcement.

"No, I'm serious, Katherine. Knowing Cliff, I'm afraid he's not going to take this sitting down. After all, once you and JR are married, that will make him his brother-in-law. And he's not going to like that…" Bobby said worriedly.

AN: Looky here, this story isn't dead! XD Sorry for the long hiatus as always. I meant to also include the scene where JR and Sue Ellen talk about John Ross, but I decided to push it to the next chapter so it won't seem so short with just one scene like I had originally planned. (So, if you're sad because you were looking forward to the Sue ellen scene, then you can blame Bobby for it, not me. It's totally his fault for getting this extra scene here into my head. XD) That way, it will be more on par to this one in length with two scenes. After that, I'm not going to spend much in-between time before the wedding, so I'm just going to have it in chapter fifty.