Dallas, Texas

Falling into a long line, with Lucy and Jock leading, Miss Ellie following close behind them, JR and Jack somewhere in the middle, and Bobby and Sue Ellen at the end, the Ewing family looked just like any group of recreational riders. They were of mixed ability and usually it would make sense to have the slowest riders leading the pack, however, since neither JR nor Jack knew their way around the ranch, they had ordered themselves differently. No one really minded, Southfork was big enough and open enough that Jock, Lucy, and Miss Ellie were able to ride at a reasonable pace ahead without Jack and JR losing sight of them, even if they were a bit slow, and Bobby and Sue Ellen were just happy to be riding, the speed mattered little to them. Since it wasn't a race and they weren't out on the ranch to get any work done either, it didn't really matter to anyone whether it took them an hour or much longer to explore the land.

The order the family were riding in had been largely unplanned, they'd all left the stables at the same time and there was enough space for them to ride in a horizontal line if they wished to, however, they hadn't, they'd naturally fallen into the line they were in. As Sue Ellen observed the group, she did wonder whether it had been a natural, unplanned move though, or whether subconsciously they had all gone exactly where they were needed, wanted, or where they just seemed to fit. It wasn't that she really thought Jack and JR had sought to ride next to each other, but now that they were, she felt it was appropriate. Both JR and Bobby riding separately from each other and separately from the group at the front benefitted her too, because being the inquisitive person she was, she was still keen to hear about Bobby's date with Pamela. Bobby's vague comments weren't enough to satisfy her, and the previous evening he had promised to talk to her later, so now that they were sort of paired up and were far enough from the rest of the group to not be distracted by other conversations, it seemed like a good time to talk again.

"So, are you ready tell me something less vague about your date with Pamela now? Or am I going to have to play twenty questions and pry the answer out of you one clue at a time?" After falling into a comfortable silence after talking for some time about their horses and how good it felt to be out on the ranch, Bobby's immediate reaction to hearing his sister-in-law speak again was to laugh. Sue Ellen had joined their family as a reserved young lady and in many aspects she still was that reserved young lady, but in other aspects, she'd completely changed. This Sue Ellen was direct, she pursued what she wanted and she persisted even when things didn't go exactly as expected; this Sue Ellen was far from the sad, emotionally fragile young pageant queen and young wife she had once been and he liked her.

Considering her question, he remembered his evening with Pamela, then thought about his conversation with Sue Ellen at Southfork the previous evening; his date hadn't gone as expected and he'd been hesitant to describe why in front of the whole family, so he understood Sue Ellen's curiosity. They were in the middle of vacant land now though and the idea of getting another perspective on the problem did sound somewhat nice, so perhaps it was time to stop speaking vaguely and start answering directly, or at least more directly than the awkward, cautious comments he'd made previously.

"I'll tell you, no more vague comments. Things started well, but not everything went as planned, in fact, they went terribly once she realised the 'awful truth' about me. You said yourself you know hardly anything about her, well neither did I, and neither did she about us. In her world Ewing is a dirty word, I'm sure we're not just Bobby or Sue Ellen to her anymore, we're Bobby Ewing and Sue Ellen Ewing, son and daughter-in-law of Jock Ewing, the man who cheated her father out of a fortune and ruined his life. She's Pamela Barnes, daughter of Digger Barnes, and just like JR and I are deeply loyal to daddy, she's deeply loyal to her own father, to the point where she called me deplorable for trying to explain the situation as I've always heard it. Our date ended soon after that, she walked out on me before our appetisers even arrived; I did go after her, but she didn't want to hear it. That's it really, she's attractive, and nice, and in another life it could work, but not this life, she's a Barnes and I'm a Ewing, there's too much conflicting history for us to be compatible".

Looking around as he finished speaking, Bobby felt more comfortable about the topic of their conversation as he noticed that they had slowed down considerably and were now quite far out from the rest of the group because they'd both been more focused on his story than directing their horses to do anything other than follow the pack. He believed his father's side of the Ewing Oil history story, so much that he would defend him when confronted with a conflicting story, however, that didn't mean he actually wanted his father to know about his efforts to maintain the integrity of the Ewing name. Hearing his father put Jack in his place at dinner the previous evening confirmed to him what he had already known, his father was strong and didn't appreciate his previous business partners or their children trying to claim anything they weren't entitled to.

If the rest of the family knew he had 'dated' a Barnes, he would never hear the end of it. No matter how pretty and nice Pamela was on her own, she was Digger's daughter and she had been brainwashed into believing his family were the enemy; to date her, even once, would raise a few eyebrows at Southfork and would likely make for uncomfortable conversations between him and the family in the future. For that reason, it was best to never mention Pamela again; he liked her, but he loved his family and he wouldn't risk being called a traitor for entertaining the idea that Digger Barnes was anything but the helpless drunk he'd been painted as in his father's stories. His father wasn't a liar and Pamela had said it herself, her father wasn't a man who was fully capable of looking after himself; the truth was clear in his mind, he didn't need to discuss it with Pamela or the rest of his family. This was one situation where it was best to let sleeping dogs lie; stirring up old feelings would not be good for anyone.

"Pamela Barnes", observing Sue Ellen as she comprehended what he was telling her, he knew she was just as surprised by the turn of events as he had been, she was likely quite conflicted about the situation too, because she seemed to like Pamela as a person, but her being a Barnes made everything very complicated. "I know, it's just my luck that the one girl I actually liked and wanted to get to know turned out to be part of a family with a vendetta against my family…" shrugging his shoulders as he spoke, he was genuinely surprised when Sue Ellen responded to his comment critically. "We can't help who we have feelings for. I suppose the question now is, what's more important to you? To her too. Is this the end, or is there more? Are you going to let your fathers and a company neither of you have any future in ruin your chances of finding happiness? I can only go off what I know, but I know that if I'd left everything as it was when I first met JR, I wouldn't be married to him right now. I also know that if I'd stayed with my college boyfriend and never given JR a chance, I'd probably have always regretted it; I knew the minute I met JR that there was something there, and it sound to me like maybe, just maybe, Pamela is more than just a pretty girl to you. Are you willing to just write her off as someone that could have been in another life and then move on?"

Staring at his sister-in-law as they rode alongside each other, Bobby was truly lost for words, Sue Ellen was definitely not the same meek, mild girl she had come to Southfork as, but that was a good thing, she challenged him, and she probably challenged JR. He needed to decide now for himself whether he too wanted to grow. Before she had said anything it had seemed so simple, as a Barnes and a Ewing, he and Pamela were incompatible, now though, he wasn't sure whether it was ok to just leave the situation as it was. Could they possibly build a relationship where being a Barnes and a Ewing didn't matter? He really didn't know, the feud was so much more than just bad blood between Digger and Jock, so it wasn't as simple as Sue Ellen made it sound.

To be continued…