Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter! And many thanks to those who have favourited and are following the story. :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from Dallas or the show itself. They ALL belong to TNT.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Chapter 3

Loyalty

"I think that takes care of that!" She finished still reeling from the revelations of earlier in the day. She had used her new found resolve to dominate the turn of events at this meeting causing a few raised eyebrows as she went toe to toe and drove her arguments home. She piled her papers together and place them in her leather briefcase, ensuring that she did not aggravate her wound.

"My, your father would be proud of the way you handled yourself here today sugar, reckon it was a smart move to get into Methane!"

"Thank you Colton, that means a lot coming from you!" She replied a hint of playfulness in her voice, that she did not feel. "My father always spoke really highly of you. I'm glad your part of the new Ewing Global."

"Well now, I wasn't sure that'd make a whole heep of difference to you sugar, considering what's been going on around here lately? " he chuckled with a slither of mischievousness to his query. "I was as shocked as a bolt a lightenin strikin in the same place twice when I heard you'd changed the name of the company, I mean Ewing Global...? Hell... You sure pissed at your Daddy... What'd he do besides killin JR and getting caught to make you this mad sugar?" "Say didn't you marry JR's boy? Whatever it is you sure as hell stickin it to him where it'd hurt him the most aah sugar? It's got damn near everybody in Dallas talking that's for sure!" He boomed with a devilish glint in his eye.

"His the Murdering Son of a Bitch that Killed our Babies THAT reason enough for you!" Roared Christopher... Deathly silence. Not everybody had left the boardroom, horror and embarrassment was etched on their faces. Pamela gasped silently as she relived the moment she had been privy to her fathers treachery, she had to pull on every reserve she had to prevent herself from expelling the contents of her stomach.

"Christopher!" She managed. Giving him a look that only two people who shared a loss as deep as their's, would understand. "Can you excuse us!" she turned to the board members who were by now shuffling papers and squirming in their seats. They silently did as she bid and then she turned. " Colton, as always a pleasure, look forward to seeing you at the fundraiser next week." She extended her hand, he accepted and left without a word.

"What in the HELL was THAT ?!" She charged.

"THAT PAMELA! Was me letting THEM know what a sick, twisted, evil, MURDERING, piece of crap Cliff Barnes is!" He motioned his head to the remaining board members. "THAT PAMELA! Was me letting THEM know that I may not be able to prove it but that he did it... He did it! He had started his tirade across the room but now stood before her. "You really are a COLD BITCH! Ever the business woman huh Pamela! Covering up Daddies mistakes! Heaven forbid anybody should find out! I don't get you Pamela, he continued, why do you persist in shielding him?" The door shut silently... They were alone!

"Don't...! Don't you dare...! I felt sick just then it took everything in me to stop myself from wretching but you wouldn't know that would you Christopher 'cos you're so hell bent on painting me as a Cold Calculating Bitch!" She spat in disgust "After everything I've done, everything I've been doing, there wouldn't be a Ewing Global if it wasn't for me helping to frame my father, without me he wouldn't be behind bars! For a moment he was stunned.

"I KNOW that Pamela but you're acting as if you don't want anybody to know, as if it's some dirty little secret... They were innocent Pamela our loyalty should be to them not to hi..."

"Loyalty?" She interrupted. "You talk of loyalty to me?" Her features angeled and twisted with loathing. "You act like you're the only one hurting, standing there with your pious attitude, where were you putting them first when you ran to Elena, you cou..."

"Don't you bring Elena into this!" It was his turn to interrupt. "When I ran to Elena? Hmm. Well... what'd you expect me to do when YOU lied to me. AGAIN. After I gave YOU a chance to come clean?" He was screaming in her face now, barely containing his saliva as he ranted.

"How can I not bring Elena into this? If you had really loved me or our children, it never would have been so easy to rush back to her?"

"You lied Pamela, you can't excuse that, you knew I loved her, you knew and you plotted and schemed to break us up!" His disdain for her was apparent in his stance, his glare and the force with which he spoke.

"I know. I've said I'm sorry, but I'm not the only one who lied all those times we were together... "

"What do you mean by that?" He demanded.

"You know what, It doesn't even matter anymore! I'm not doing this... It's been done, I'm not gonna spend my life apologising to you. You ask me what I expected? I expected you to put them first." she said simply her eyes filled with tears.

"I expected you to consider the strain you were putting me under when you tried to prosecute me for murder! You never even considered whether my motives might me justified, no just that I'm a COLD BITCH! And in case you forgot Christopher you paraded her in-front of me every chance you got! So yes, I get to bring your precious Elena into it anytime I choose, she supported all your decisions, she's as much a part of this as you or I.

"While you were attacking me, did you take a second to wonder if my life and the lives of our babies were in danger, did she? I couldn't believe how eagerly you pursued me, all the while dutifully supported by her bouncing from boardroom to courtroom like a brunette Barbie and Ken!"

"Tell me Chris were you putting them first when you decided I should go to prison? How lovely that would have been for them! Were you putting them first when you screamed at me about taking them away from me? Or were you driven by your obsession with making me pay?"

"How many scan appointments did you attend? How many times did you stop to ask if everything was OK? Who's feelings were you putting first when you made those decisions, where was your loyalty to our babies then!" He bowed his head and rubbed his hand across his neck, sighing deeply.

"Please don't talk to me about loyalty to our babies Christopher, because whatever else I am, I was loyal to them, they grew inside of ME. You can choose to believe me or not, but I was loyal to you too, it didn't start that way I know but I did love you and I tried to put it right. She looked passed him and made her way to the huge windows across the room. He turned and came to stand beside her his hand in his pockets, silent as his mind registered her words.

"You see Christopher I think that's my greatest flaw, I don't trust or love easily but when I do I'm loyal. I've been like that with very few people in my life but every time I've been burned. I'm done doing that anymore. I'll stick to what I do best, I don't need anybody I'll be fine by myself." She took a deep breath, "I'll make them pay Christopher all of them, my father included but not like this! Not by exposing the shame of their grandfather's part in their reason for not being."

"I'll tell you something Christopher you asked me why I'm shielding my father and my answer is this... I am not shielding my father. I am shielding them; our babies. They deserve better, they deserve to be mourned but not as the babies who were murdered by their sadistic Grandfather, who couldn't see past their Ewing name. I don't want that for them and if you could see past your hatred for my father and your contempt for me You wouldn't want that for them either."

He looked at her and it was a revelation, he could see torture embedded in her features, but there was a dignity he had not noticed before, it was evident in her carriage and the determined set of her jaw, it irked him to admit it but the words she had spoken had touched a nerve... She Was Right. He had been consumed with animosity towards her and in doing so had failed to be the best he could have been for his children.

He was not ready to compute Elena's role in the whole sorry mess but her reasons for not wanting to implicate her father in their childrens' murder had resonated also, once again making him feel strangely uncomfortable, for too long he had viewed himself as her enemy, these emotions were alien to him.

She had been the mother of his murdered children, that would never change and in this briefest of moments he had encountered a side of her and himself he had never acknowledged before, in that rarest of glimpses he had felt he understood her better than he ever had, indeed it gave a renewed clarity to his own actions and a sudden surge of empathy and remorse engulfed him, he did something he had not done with regard to her, since they had parted ways. He reached across to her, he couldn't explain why but in that moment he felt that it was the right thing to do. She withdraw her hand immediately and he felt like a Fool! DUPED. Again!

The withdrawal of her hand was quickly followed by a yelp. He snapped his head round quickly looking down towards her hand to investigate the reason for her pain. It was then he noticed the bandage around it, why had he not noticed that before..? He felt a little ashamed, it was such a visibly glaring injury and yet it had been invisible to him right up until this very moment. He felt as if he was seeing her with fresh eyes, this was Pamela Rebecca Ewing III, not Rebecca Sutter that person never really existed; or maybe parts of her did, he wasn't sure. His mind was a whirlpool of thoughts and feelings he was not able to process.

"What happened?" He was careful to remove any trace of concern from his tone.

"I had an accident with an antique china vase." She explained; she wasn't sure if she was ready to share what had happened between her and John Ross.

"You didn't have that on your hand this morning at Southfork... did you?" He was unsure, he tried to recall but he couldn't."

"No... No I did it back at the Penthouse, earlier." He looked intrigued as he waited for her to expand, he smiled tightly, his eyes forming into accusatory slits when she didn't.

"You and John Ross get a little too eager I'm guessing?"

"No!" She said a little too forcefully and immediately regretted her lack of control.

"Whoa, the Barnes-Ewing merger in trouble already, thought you would have lasted a bit longer this time Pamela?" There was a hint of contemptuous satisfaction in his voice. He didn't know why he'd said that, but as soon as the words were spoken he realised he drew a twisted sense of gratification from the look of anguish on her face. He was conflicted were it concerned her, he could not un-tangle his emotions, theirs was a complicated relationship and he was not sure it would ever un-ravel in a way that made sense.

"John Ross is going to be a father!" She blurted. Each word leaving a bitter taste in her mouth."

He was stunned. Her words plunged like a knife to his gut, he felt as though he had been mortally wounded. His mouth agape, he was barely able to gather a coherent response. Just as he was ready to reply she continued.

"You don't understand," she turned and moved towards the desk trying to place some distance between them; the last thing she wanted was his pity!

"Not with me! I'm not pregnant!"

"I'm sorry I don't follow?" He puzzled.

"It's Emma Ryland, she's having his baby."

"WHAT? How did that happen?" He questioned; In his mind equilibrium had been restored and he felt weirdly comforted that she had not been pregnant...?

"You know if it wasn't all so pathetic, I'd find that funny!"

She retrieved her leather briefcase and headed towards the door. Her phone rang. It was John Ross. Judging by her phone log he had called her twice in the last half hour. She decided to take the call, she never backed down from a fight and she wasn't about to begin now."

"What do you want John Ross?" she asked her voice betraying nothing.

"I want to talk Pamela, I need a chance to explain." His tone was firm, yet not cold it held a note of tenderness.

"OK, I'll be at Southfork this evening, shall we say about 8, I've a few loose ends to tie up here so I'll see you then. She hung up and exhaled a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding as she reached out to open the door.

"That was John Ross I take it?" Her mind was racing, she had forgotten that Christopher was even there, she swiveled her head to look behind her, as she caught his gaze she closed her eyes with resignation and nodded her head in reply, she felt drained.

"Listen Pamela, I've gotta go, I'll see you back at Southfork I guess?"

"Yep, I guess..." He moved swiftly across the room and exited the now open door without a second glance. Pamela watched as he strolled across the foyer towards the lifts. He made a dashing figure, he was still quite the most beautiful man she had ever seen and she would always regret what she had done to him and the repercussions her actions had caused, she would never, however, regret carrying their twins.

Her deepest wish was for them to repair their friendship, it saddened her enormously that they were so awkward and spiteful with each other, she wanted to put their relationship right for the sake and in memory of their children; Ellie and Robert. She shook her head, took a deep breath and headed out, that would have to wait. She needed to focus she had one most important stop to make before she met with John Ross and she didn't want to be late. She closed the door behind her, gaining more and more in confidence and vigor with each step. She was looking forward to her meeting with John Ross this evening. Game On!...

Well that's the 3rd Chapter finished I hope you're still enjoying the ride. I wonder who Pamela's appointment is with? I'll give you a chance to think about, she wont be back till Chapter 5 so have a guess. Sorry to anyone who's feeling a little John Ross deprived he's back in the next chapter, we get a glimpse of his conversation with "Uncle Bobby" and a few other surprise twist too! See you all soon :)