Dallas, Texas

Sitting silently for a moment as everything fell into place in her mind, Pam blinked once before addressing Bobby directly, "well, yes and no…" pausing again for a second, she wondered how things had managed to get this far without either of them making the connection. They had spoken on the phone, seen each other in person, and communicated through Sue Ellen multiple times, yet not once had it occurred to her to ask him or Sue Ellen for their surname, and apparently, it hadn't occurred to Bobby to ask her for any further details either. She didn't believe he'd had dishonest intentions in not clearly telling her from the beginning that he was a Ewing, because he had just told her in a casual manner, and now that she thought about it, there had been small hints here and there in their previous conversations, plus, it wasn't such an issue in any other context. She did find the news a bit hard to swallow though; initially she had thought it was serendipitous that Bobby had bumped into her at the skating rink and she had actually had a connection to him in the form of Sue Ellen, but now, now she didn't know what to think. Sue Ellen was a Ewing, by marriage, but still, a Ewing; Bobby was a Ewing by blood, he was a direct descendent of Jock Ewing, the man who had cheated her father out of a fortune, stolen his girl away from him, and not had a second thought about any of it. Bobby was also the brother of JR Ewing, she didn't know all that much about him, but she knew Cliff didn't have much respect for his unethical business tactics, and from what Bobby had just described, Cliff's opinion was fair. She liked Sue Ellen and she liked Bobby, but she was confused, she didn't know how to reconcile her positive opinion of them with her pre-existing negative opinion of the Ewing family and the dirty, evil Ewing Oil company.

"Ewing Oil… you're Jock Ewing's son?" continuing to address him directly, she watched him closely in hope that his reaction would push her one way or the other. She was conflicted, she didn't know how to feel and that frustrated her, she needed to know one way or the other whether she was supposed to dislike Bobby because of who he was, or whether it was ok to feel how she had before. She was attracted to him, but was it ok to be attracted to someone who was the beneficiary of something that had caused her own family so much hardship? "I am. It's not a secret, but it's not something I use as a means of introduction either, that's more JR's kind of thing", watching Bobby as he responded honestly, with a boyish smile and a shrug, she closed her eyes to think for a moment. He didn't understand, he couldn't; he didn't introduce himself as 'Bobby Ewing' with an emphasis on his surname, but he wasn't hiding his social or financial position either, he had a beautiful European sports car, he had his pick of jobs, he had benefitted from a fully funded college education, and he had little perspective on how he appeared. He was wealthy, that much had been obvious for a long time, and hypocritically, it hadn't been an issue for her, in fact she'd quite enjoyed it, right up until the point when she had come to realise his wealth was the direct result of his father exploiting her daddy before disposing of him once he was no longer useful.

"I suppose I should introduce myself then, my name is Pamela Barnes…" Pausing for a brief second to gauge whether she had to further define who she was or whether he recognised her surname the way she had recognised his, she internally sighed as he stared at her blankly for a moment before making a face that indicated he was scanning through his memory trying to make a connection. "…my daddy is Digger Barnes, the rightful owner of one third of the company you work for…" Pausing, she studied his reaction again, this time glaring at him rather than sighing when his facial expression changed, moving from curious to suspicious to amused. "Hm", hearing his curt sound that indicated he had heard exactly what she had said, but he wasn't going to let her in on his thoughts just yet, her glare intensified and she suddenly felt the urge to lash out at him. "Hm? That's it? That's all you have to say? You had plenty to say about all of the things your father's unethical business dealings have allowed you to achieve in life, but the minute you're confronted with the other side of the coin, you're suddenly silent".

Shaking her head in disgust and frustration, her thoughts from earlier returned when he cleared his throat and responded to her accusations and questions, not raising his voice or returning her immense anger, but simply speaking in a calm, but serious tone. "Now wait just a minute, I don't know what story your daddy has been telling, but the way I've always understood the beginning of Ewing Oil was that my daddy, my uncle Jason, and your daddy worked together for a while, then they split and went their own separate ways. My daddy owns Ewing Oil, all of it, even my cousin Jack, Jason's son, understands that, and his daddy hasn't been around Dallas for probably as long as your daddy has been out of the oil business. My daddy has built the company up from nothing and yes, our family is better off because of it, but our wealth has not been made off the back of unethical business dealings and I abhor that accusation". Watching him just sit and breathe for a few moments, Pam struggled with the feelings inside her. He was the enemy, everything about his family was just terrible, his attitude now was proving that, he was brainwashed, or perhaps he was just a louse, he truly didn't see how his father taking advantage of her daddy's vulnerabilities was wrong, and he was prepared to defend everything; despite that though, she didn't hate him. She was frustrated and angry at his complete lack of empathy or understanding for her daddy's position, but she was also still somewhat shocked by the fact that they were in this situation at all, and worst of all she was still attracted to him. She still thought he was good-looking, she was both frustrated and impressed by his calm demeanour, and despite everything he had being paid for by the dirty Ewing money, she still enjoyed the stories he had shared with her and the evening he had organized for them up until a few minutes ago. She disliked him and she liked him at the same time and that was a very new feeling for her, one she didn't know how to deal with.

"I like you Pamela, I really do, but if this is your attitude toward my family, then I think we should end this now", listening to him speaking to her, she didn't know what to say, though she found herself responding easily. "Of course I have a negative attitude toward your family, you're all a part of my daddy's downfall and the reason why my family has struggled all my life. It's been four decades since those men discovered oil in South Central Texas and formed a company together, and in those four decades your daddy has gone from having nothing to having what I've heard described as soon to be the largest independent oil company in Texas. In that same time my daddy has struggled, with alcoholism, with money, with my mother, me, my brother, with the shame and anger of losing what little he had, and with everything else. I don't doubt your daddy is a very rich man because he's smart, but he's not innocent, not at all; as far as I'm concerned, your daddy is at least somewhat responsible for my daddy, and for you to deny that and take such a hands-off approach is deplorable". Glaring at him again, this time not so enamoured by his appearance and ability to stay calm, she then found herself continuing to speak, "you're right about one thing though, we should end this now. If you'll excuse me", standing, she was surprised with herself when she actually moved to collect her purse, pushed her chair in, and then turned to walk back toward the elevator. She was in control of herself, but she also felt as though she wasn't; she had some decency and generally it wasn't considered polite to argue in public, especially not to the point where she ended up walking out on him, but she couldn't take any more, and really, their relationship was going nowhere now that they knew the truth.

Watching Pamela walking away from their table, collecting her coat and then heading toward the elevator, Bobby sat puzzled by what had just witnessed and participated in. He had expected one thing tonight and ended up with something completely different and to be quite honest, he hated that turn of events. It was ridiculous, he had met Digger Barnes once in his adult life, and even then 'met' was the wrong word to use; back in 1969 Digger had shown up drunk at one of the Ewing barbecues, he'd tried to kill his daddy and had been quickly escorted off Southfork. Since then, he hadn't heard much about him or his family at all, not until Jack had shown up and stirred his daddy's nostalgia about 'the good old days' he, Jason, and Digger has spent wildcatting. Of course, he knew about the Barnes-Ewing feud, it wasn't a secret that Digger Barnes was fixated on a twisted version of the truth, or that his son Cliff wasn't fond of JR much at all, but Pamela, his sweet, pretty Pamela, that was a shock to him and he didn't like it. Finishing his drink in one gulp, he thought about things once again, it was just his luck that the one girl he actually liked and wanted to get to know turned out to be part of a family with a vendetta against his family; apparently attractive, kind, interesting, and genuinely normal, uncomplicated women just weren't attracted to him. The problem was, he was still attracted to her, as crazy and delusional as she was acting, and he wasn't ready to let her slip away from him.

"Pamela", hearing someone speaking her name, Pam slowly turned around. He was there, and now she was more confused than ever, because again, her anger was still present, but unlike when she had stormed off a few minutes ago, anger wasn't the sole emotion she was feeling.

To be continued…