Sue Ellen set a mug of coffee on the table close to JR. "Thanks for stopping over to drop off John Ross. Between the dry cleaners, hairdresser, and grocery store, it feels like I've got a million and one things to do in the morning as it is."

JR nodded knowingly at Sue Ellen's schedule. "It's no trouble at all. Been busier myself with everything going on now for us."

Sue Ellen smiled with genuine warmth. "Oh, that's right. Bobby mentioned the good news to me. Congratulations on your and Katherine's engagement, JR! I'm sure you're both thrilled!"

JR chuckled lightly in response to the choice of words. "Well, we're both excited for sure, but I can't say that every branch of the family is going to feel the same once we break the news to them!"

"You mean Cliff, specifically speaking," Sue Ellen said pointedly, unable to hide the amusement in her eyes completely.

"Cliff will always be Cliff, but I'm afraid he's not the only one. That's what I wanted to talk to you about, in fact," JR admitted ruefully. It was time to cut with the pleasantries and get to the hard part of the conversation.

Sue Ellen raised an eyebrow. She already had a suspicion about where this was going thanks to John Ross' recent behavior. "This is about John Ross, isn't it?"

JR sighed wearily. "I'm afraid so. He didn't take well to the news of our engagement at all, and what I can't figure out is why he suddenly has a problem with Katherine. He always got along great with her before. So I was wondering if you noticed anything going on with him that could explain this."

Sue Ellen took a sip of her coffee before answering. "Well, there haven't been any major outbursts or anything else too alarming, so I was sort of waiting to see if it would all blow over. But I'm afraid he has given some signs that he's reacting to our divorce."

JR looked confused. "But why now again all of a sudden? He adjusted really well to you and Dusty, all things considered."

"He's at the age where he's noticing more about his peers, what with being in nursery school and also being exposed to education about mainstream environments. And that includes the more common idea of a nuclear family. He hears the other kids talk about living with both parents, hears about it in childrens' books at storytime, sees pictures, you name it. So in other words, John Ross is beginning to see that our situation isn't "normal" and feels that he must show a disagreement towards it, even if he may not fully realize that is what he is doing," Sue Ellen explained seriously.

JR was silent for a few moments, contemplating everything Sue Ellen had told him. He couldn't help feeling wracked with guilt for not even considering the possibility that this could happen. While it was true that the events leading up to their divorce had been anything but pleasant, he had thought (or maybe hoped) that it had happened at a young enough age for John Ross to leave less emotional impact since he wouldn't be able to remember as much about that time. Not to mention that divorce proceedings and other arrangements had been handled in a remarkably civil manner. Now he couldn't help wondering if there had been anything he could have at least said in advance to his son to explain their situation better and possibly prepare him for wanting to compare it to others'.

When he finally found his voice again, JR decided to try doing what he did best when he found himself with a problem: find out more about the details and analyze them. "So, what exactly have you noticed about John Ross that started to set off your suspicions?"

Glad to see JR using his tactical side instead of arguing or denying things, Sue Ellen continued on. "Well, he started telling me a lot about what the other kids say about their parents, always making it a point to say mom and dad. He's also been less cooperative and just more sullen and quiet with Dusty."

JR looked genuinely surprised. "Dusty? But I thought he liked him!"

Sue Ellen looked at JR sadly, then got up from her place at the table to retrieve a picture drawn by John Ross that had been hanging on the refrigerator with magnets. "It's not about Dusty himself but the role John Ross believes he is supposed to replace. Look at this drawing and you'll understand."

JR looked at the drawing. It seemed like a typical four year-old's representation of a family portrait: the parents and children in scribbled fashion with a circle on top as heads along with dots and smiley faces for the eyes and mouth. He couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Sue Ellen pointed to the somewhat crooked horizontal line above one of the heads. "This one is you, JR. John Ross always tries to use that to make your Stetson hat whenever he draws you, never anyone else."

Realization dawned on JR like a ton of bricks. "It's his way of showing how he wants his family to be…"

Sue Ellen nodded in agreement. "Exactly. And he's been trying to get me to come to Southfork more and more to drop him off. It's obvious he's getting himself into some fantasy of us getting back together at any chance he can get."

"So, what exactly can we do about this?" JR asked carefully.

Sue Ellen brightened somewhat at JR's question. "There's a wonderful child psychologist I've been looking into here in Dallas. Her name is Dr. Lacey, and from what I've heard, she specializes in counseling younger children of divorce. I think it would be good for John Ross to start seeing her."

JR scoffed at the suggestion. "My son doesn't need some shrink to tell him what to do!"

Sue Ellen gave JR a warning look. It wasn't often that they had disagreements when it came to what was best for John Ross, but she knew when her ex-husband had them out of pure stubbornness and lack of an open mind as opposed to just having different ideas and she wasn't going to stand for it.

"Our son, JR. And before you write off Dr. Lacey, you should know that it's not a psychologist's job to simply tell people what to do in order to fix their problems. They're there to help them figure out exactly how they feel about things and identify the root causes before finding a plan of action that they can agree on that's best for them," Sue Ellen corrected JR pointedly.

"Alright, alright. You know what's best. But I expect updates on whether he's getting results from this," JR relented.

Xxx

It was later that evening when JR and Katherine decided to pay Cliff, Pam and the others a visit in order to announce their engagement. JR looked around Cliff's somewhat garishly decorated apartment in amusement, wondering how it was possible to have such an awful sense of aesthetics. Cliff, Pam, Mark, and Afton were seated casually around the living room, with only Cliff looking like he'd rather be at the dentist's office than to have JR in his home. Katherine stirred her coffee idly, already used to the same treatment from her half-brother only on a slightly less scale.

"It's certainly not everyday that you deem to grace us with your presence on a social call, JR. To what do we owe this pleasure?" Pam asked in a good-humored tone despite the implications of it practically screaming sarcasm thanks to their past history.

JR showed no sign of being offended by Pam's comment. "You flatter me too much, Pamela! But don't worry; there will be plenty of more opportunities for that now once you've heard our news." He flashed Katherine an expectant look, signaling her to do the honors.

Katherine smiled sweetly, all too-aware of the chaos that was about to transpire. "During the barbecue, JR asked me to marry him…and I said yes! We're going to get married! Isn't this exciting!?"

Silence. Dead silence. Everyone was trying to process the sudden announcement, not quite sure how to react. Cliff in particular looked as if he might never speak again.

After what felt like an eternity, Mark was the one who finally broke the ice and spoke first. While he may have been slightly surprised at first, he now recovered and gave Katherine and JR a genuine smile. "Congratulations to you both. I guess it was only a matter of time, though." He then proceeded to shake JR's hand, to which the latter looked both pleased and surprised by the gesture.

"Thank you kindly, Mark. We're quite excited for ourselves, but who knows if it will be the only occasion we'll have to celebrate. You shouldn't keep a certain lady waiting forever! If you hurry, we may just be able to time the scheduling right for a double wedding!" JR teased knowingly with a not-so-subtle glance in Pam's direction.

JR's smile turned into a brief wince of pain that he barely managed to hide from the sting of Katherine's foot abruptly stamping on his own under the coffee table. It was her way of saying, "Don't do this right now". Although she had never voiced her feelings about it to him, JR knew all too well that Katherine's more recent bonding with her half-sister had instilled feelings of guilt over breaking up her marriage, especially after seeing that Pam apparently still hadn't completely moved on from Bobby. While he felt bad that Katherine was in conflict over her family, she would just have to realize eventually that there was no going back and that this was ultimately for the best. He was confident that with time, loneliness would drive Pam to tie the knot with Mark completely, and she would be much happier the sooner she was established in a happy marriage with him away from being directly connected to the Ewing family. Heck, they could even have barbecues together.

Seemingly feeling relieved enough by Mark's reaction, Pam quickly chimed in. "Yes, congratulations are in order! I guess I'm just surprised it's so soon."

Afton gave Pam a funny look. "They've only been seeing each other for about a year now."

Pam looked slightly embarrassed. "Oh. It's hard to believe it's already been that long," she said in a somewhat wistful tone.

As the conversation mostly turned into excited babbling from the women about the details of planning for the ceremony (with Afton dropping hints about it needing a possible singer, no doubt trying to gain something from the wedding financially at least), Cliff seemed to slowly come out of his catatonic state and fully realize what was happening. "Are you all crazy!?" he burst out suddenly.

Katherine glared at her half-brother, annoyed that he had waited long to start arguing as she had known he would. "Excuse me?"

Cliff finally let loose. "You heard me the first time. You can't get married; it's a disaster waiting to happen! We already just finally escaped from one Ewing marriage and we don't need to try for another one! I mean, even with Bobby being a pretty decent guy when he wasn't siding around the rest of his family and Ewing Oil, it still was a mess. But you have picked the absolute worst Ewing there is to, and nothing good will come out of that!"

Pam-who was already bristling at Bobby being brought up-decided to step in. "Cliff, that's enough! You already knew that this was bound to happen eventually."

"That doesn't mean I have to like it!" Cliff shot back predictably.

Pam was about to retort back, but was silenced when JR held up his hand to signal that he'd try to handle this. "Your sister is right. There's no need for us to continue to fight amongst ourselves. After all, we're going to be family soon enough! I say it's high time we buried the hatchet and ended the whole Barnes-Ewing feud once and for all. What do you say, Cliff? Give us no trouble about this, and I promise I won't do anything else to interfere with your business matters."

While it may have sounded like a supreme sacrifice on his part, Katherine and the others knew all too well that JR's offer wouldn't come with some kind of price, and this was most likely what prompted Cliff's reaction. "Yeah, right! Hell will freeze over before I can trust you!"

Cliff then turned his gaze on Katherine. "And you! How stupid can you get for actually agreeing to this!? Don't you know you're just being used!?"

Katherine was furious by now. "I don't like what you're implying, Cliff!"

JR appeared to have lost his sense of humor. "Same here. I've tried to be nice, but you are way out of line!"

Despite his anger, Cliff looked somewhat triumphant to see that he had touched a few nerves. "Oh, please! You know the only reason that you are president of Ewing Oil now is because Katherine helped you win the contest with the Tundra Torch. It could have just as easily gone the other way if she hadn't."

"It's torque, not torch! And that's total BS! JR won because he was resourceful enough to already know he'd need a big advantage like that!" Katherine defended her fiance.

Cliff shrugged nonchalantly at Katherine's words. "Maybe he could have. But he didn't want to take any chances, so he made sure to charm you into securing his victory. And now he's going to have everything right where he wants it with the biggest tool and dye manufacturer at his disposal once he's married to the president of it. Seems like a pretty financially beneficial union for him, I'd say."

JR finally snapped. Without warning, he lunged at Cliff. A full-out brawl ensued between the two men, and it took Mark, Pam, and Katherine together to finally pry them away from each other.

Pam turned angrily on both Cliff and JR. "Just what is the matter with you two!? You're acting like two kindergarteners fighting over who gets a turn on the swingset first, only worse!"

"Oh, sure! Blame me, why don't you!? I don't have to put up with this any longer! So you two can get out of my house!" Cliff raged as he pointed furiously at JR and Katherine. Flecks of spit flew out of his mouth as he spoke.

"Don't mind if we do. We'll send you an invitation to the wedding just in case you have a change of heart, though," JR concluded smugly. With that, he and Katherine left promptly through the front door leaving Cliff still fuming.

Cliff simply stared at the doorway after Katherine and JR's departure, his brain once again coming to terms with his horrible new reality. "I don't believe this; it's a nightmare! I do NOT want JR Ewing as my brother-in-law!"

Xxx

Outside near where he had parked, JR sighed wearily at the encounter. "Well…that went about as well as I thought it would."

"Welcome to the family…" Katherine replied dryly.

AN: Another million years for an update. We are starting to get more into the later stage of this story, however. I don't know why, but I struggled a lot with the dialogue here. Hopefully, nothing sounded too weird. Anyways, the next chapter is more devoted to just light conversation and some minor wedding planning, nothing too elaborate.