The Energy Conference was well under way and the City hall was filled to capacity with politicians and Oilmen young and old.

"Punk, I don't care what they say by bringing in these new provisions it will just send the price of crude sky high. We don't want another recession, not many of us independents survived the last one."

"I know what your saying JR, but we got to look at the big picture as well. As a man who's made his millions in oil I feel it's only right now to hold up my hand to some responsibility and support these issues."

"Yes but you've retired so it's easier for you to walk away, us boys who are left are the ones having the live drained out of us my the likes of Donna and her cronies."

"Hello boys." Marilee Stone walked over to them and kissed them both on the cheek.

"Punk you old dog you just get better with age, now make a girl happy and tell me are you alone."

Marilee put a hand on Punk's shoulder and squeezed it slightly. JR looked on in amusement at Punk's uncomfortable expression. Suddenly a voice broke up the rendezvous.

"Marilee, how lovely to see you."

Mavis stepped between her husband and the other women and gave her innocent smile.

"How is life treating, you look good."

"Why thank you Mavis."

"It's nice to see that even in your 60's you can still work the crowd as a single lady."

JR guffawed and as Marilee excused herself and made a hasty retreat the three of them could barley keep in their laughter.

Booby had just arrived and was looking for Ray and Donna, he wanted to show his face and then leave. The issues of this conference were the last thing on his mind and once he had given Donna some moral support he planned to leave. As he scanned the crowd to no avail he suddenly saw a familiar face. He walked towards the attractive blonde lady.

"Tracy, I thought that was you."

"Bobby, how are you?"

"I am fine, actually I am great. Bobby the years have certainly been kind."

Bobby smiled and gave her an admiring glance.

"You look wonderful. What brings you back to Dallas and to the this shindig, don't tell me you are to hustle some of the rich politicians."

"Be careful Bobby," Tracy laughed, "not only are my hustling days well and truly over I am actually married to one of these 'rich' politicians."

"Well congratulations, so where do you and your husband live."

"We are in Washington mainly, Thomas is involved in many of the environmental groups and I have become somewhat of an advocate as well. In fact that's the reason I am here, a friend of mine from one of the groups is giving a talk and I came along with her to help steady her nerves."

"It look like you are really enjoying your life, you seem passionate about it."

"Well you know Bobby I always had a passionate streak, or have you forgotten that."

"No I haven't forgotten," he said and smiled with a twinkle in his eye.The two held each other's stare for a moment and then looked away as Carter McKay walked over to them accompanied by a blond lady in her early fifties.

"Bobby, I see you have caught up with my daughter. Did she tell you she was happily married to a hell of a man?"

Tracy ignored her fathers comment.

"Bobby, I'd like to introduce you to Madeline Brown. She is the reason I am here today and my inspiration and role model. Madeline this is an old friend of mine Bobby Ewing"

"Tracy please, with an introduction like that I can only stand to disappoint. Mr Ewing, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am glad to see an important Oil man like yourself is here today and hopefully taking on board the issues that are been raised."

Bobby nodded, he was slightly taken aback by the energy which this women seem to carry with her and also the fact that she was stunning, with her piercing blue eyes and golden skin and hair.

"If you have time later on I would love to speak with you in more depth but if I can I need to drag Tracy away to come and help me prepare for my speech."

"Sure, Tracy it was good to see you, I have to go anyway and find Donna and Ray before the afternoon is over and they think I have jumped ship."

 

The two former lovers embraced and Bobby turned to Madeline.

"It was nice to meet you and maybe we will see each other later on in the day."

"I'll look forward to it."

Bobby nodded at Carter and made his way through the crowd.

"Its such a shame that Ellie decided not to come, did she give you a reason? When we spoke on the phone this morning she was just fine."

"The thing is Mavis, grandma hasn't been herself lately. I think the whole episode of bringing granddaddy's body back from Africa has really shaken her up. In fact I'm worried about her, she seems to have gotten old overnight."

"I think I will pop and see her tomorrow she if I can't get to the bottom of what is upsetting her. It will also give me a chance to check out this new husband of yours."

Lucy and Mavis laughed, "I thought he might have been with you today."

"Well he's really not an oil man, so I decided I would spare him the agony. I'm regretting it now though I am really missing him. How soppy do I sound, I'm a grown women in my forties and I am talking like I did when I was a teenager.

"You're in love Lucy, and that's nothing to be ashamed about. I will let you into a little secret. Sometimes when I see Punk in first thing in a morning I still get butterflies in my stomach."

Lucy squeezed the older women's arm.

"Well I pray that I can be half as happy as you to for as long as you have been."

JR was stood alone at the bar when he suddenly spotted Sue Ellen; he quickly walked over to her.

"Sue Ellen we need to talk," he took hold of her arms and held her towards him.

"JR please, we have said all there is to say, please just let me go." She looked at him deep in the eyes "just let me go," she whispered.

JR kept a tight hold of her. He thought back to all the years that he had mistreated her. It was no wonder she didn't believe him. He had told her so many times that he loved her and then cheated on her. Now, however things were different, the thought of her going made him feel sick, how could he convince her to stay? He needed her.

Once again Sue Ellen struggled to release herself from him, she finally pushed him away, "Goodbye JR" she said and without looking back she walked away. JR watched her go for a moment and then followed her, walking up behind he grabbed her arm again and marched her into a corridor of the main room where they were alone.

"JR for gods sake leave me alone."

"I can't, I love you and I am not going to let you walk out my life again, not again."

"You have no choice JR, I am not a possession you can decide that you want back. It's too late it's over. Sue Ellen once again began to walk away from him. JR shouted to her.

"Okay, if you want this revenge to stop then it will but please I'm begging you don't walk out on me now. I've lost John Ross I don't want to lose you" he said, the desperation now in his voice.

Sue Ellen stopped for a second frozen by his words.

Pamela was sat in the police station with Brett as District Attorney Alison Stannard entered the room with two police Officers.

"Mrs Ewing we have just done some forensic test on a gun that we found hidden in your bedroom and the gun matched that of the weapon that was used to kill Miss Smithfield."

Pam looked at Brett with a scared look on her face, "that's impossible."

"Mrs Pamela Ewing I am officially arresting you for the murder of Anita Smithfield anything you say…."

"If you really don't love me then leave, but if you do.."

Sue Ellen felt a cold chill run down her spine. If only JR knew how she really felt. No matter how much he had hurt her, she still loved him. Sue Ellen turned back to JR and looked at him for several seconds in silence.

"Where did we go wrong Sue Ellen?" he asked

"JR, where did we go wrong?" she asked, "When I first met you, you made me feel so special. I was so in love with you, but then after we were married you became distance. It was like I had lost you, you made me feel that I wasn't worthy of your love and you have continued like that ever since."

"Sue Ellen, I don't know what happened, I know I've done stupid things but I did love you. I remember the times we had at Southfork before we were married. The horse rides and walks we took around the grounds, you made me believe you cared about me, I could open up to you in ways that I couldn't talk to anyone else. You made me feel loved and wanted. He replied

"JR I did love you!" Sue Ellen said, "More than anything in this world, but then I realised what sort of man you were and that hurt me more than anything. I wanted to be the only women you needed, but I wasn't. I would have done anything for you."

"I can't explain why I did the things I did, just after we were married things felt different" JR said

"The only thing you cared about was the chase, once you got what you wanted that was it, you got fed up" she said

JR thought back to John Ross's birth. The night of the accident when he thought he had lost her. He remembered the fear he felt, sitting beside her bedside pleading with her to wake up. Where had he gone wrong, he had truly loved her, after all these years he still loved her. Life was slipping away from him, he was getting older and who knows how much time he had left, he had to make her realise that he did love her. "Sue Ellen, I did love you, I still love you, I know I've hurt you badly and I wish I knew what to do to make things better, but I don't. I remember when John Ross was born, I was desperately afraid that I was going to lose you that you were going to die. When you came home from the hospital I really wanted to make things up with you, I wanted to accept John Ross as my own and try and build a new life with you, but you rejected me" He said

"I had to, you had hurt me so much and I rejected my son, because every time I looked at him I saw you," she said

"At that point you didn't know who his father was," JR reminded her

"JR, that's where you're wrong, John Ross always had your eyes, the minute I looked at him I saw you, I knew he was yours" she said "Beside a child that beautiful couldn't of been Cliff Barnes' son"

JR looked at her, was she telling the truth "Why couldn't you tell me that, it was ages before I found out he was mine, I missed out on the early months with him. He said

"We both did JR" she replied "Do you realise how much you hurt me, forever chasing other women, when all I wanted was for you to love me and only me"

"Sue Ellen, none of them meant anything, I never left you for any of them" he said

"You even slept with my own sister and then you believed her when she said she was pregnant with your child. Do you know how that made me feel, you didn't believe John Ross was yours?" she said

"Sue Ellen I told you at the time, I couldn't put Momma and Daddy through the scandal that she was going to open up" he said

"Do you remember the time after the shooting, we became so close I thought that I had found you again, everything felt perfect I had you and our son."

"I remember" JR said

"Then the day of Lucy's wedding, you cheated on me with Afton. In our own bed, I couldn't believe it" Sue Ellen said

JR looked at her, how did she know about that. "Sue Ellen you weren't perfect you left me and took my son to live with that cowboy"

"Dusty loved me. He wanted to look after both me and my son, and at that point I knew I didn't have a future with you" she said

"Did you truly love him more than me?" JR asked

"Dusty came into my life when I thought I was incapable of feeling anything. I had been hurt and betrayed by you and Cliff; I was unable to love my own baby. He taught me how to love again and made me feel like I was a worthwhile person. He was everything I wanted you to be, but I don't think I ever loved him the way I loved you.

JR couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew now that she loved him and he loved her, he wasn't going to let her leave him. He needed her and she needed him. They were bound together by an invisible force that couldn't be destroyed. No matter where they were in the world, there was something that would always pull them back together. JR knew he had missed her when she left Dallas and he remembered that when she thought he was dead, she came back.

JR continued "Sue Ellen, whenever I felt down, it was always you I wanted around. I remembered when we lost daddy, we went to look for him and you promised you would stay at Southfork with John Ross until we returned, but you left"

"I know, but I had to. What you never realised is how much I loved you and when you were hurting I just melted. I knew if I stayed I would never be able to leave you. Whenever you were hurting part of me hurt as well. JR…" she broke off, unsure of whether she could say her next words, she then looked at JR "JR I love you so much, all I ever wanted was for you to be faithful to me"

JR sat closer to her and put his arm around her. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I treated you so badly. Everything in my life was geared towards making Ewing Oil a success and having power, power was the most important thing in my life"

Dean sat alone in the lounge at Southfork.

It was the staff's day off so he found himself in the strange situation of been alone in the large house. That was all except Miss Ellie who was asleep upstairs. He was feeling agitated, he had just got another message on his cell phone reminded him that tomorrow was the deadline to pay off his debt.

"Damn it"" Dean muttered to himself and punched the side of the wall as he poured himself another scotch. The irony of his money problems and his plush surroundings wasn't lost on him. For the hundredth time he berated himself for not getting the money for the job that he had done before he had done the assignment.

"Damn that bitch." He said mysteriously.

After what he had done he deserved his money, he needed the money his days were numbered and Lucy Ewing Hillman would be a widower before the first week of there marriage was over.