Dallas, Texas

Heading downstairs after helping her grandma put a distraught John Ross down for a nap, a difficult task that could have been prevented if her grandma hadn't insisted they return home so abruptly for reasons still unknown, Lucy's confusion at the situation only grew as she followed her grandma into the living room and realised they weren't alone. Eyeing the vaguely familiar, pretty brunette lady sitting stiffly next to her uncle Bobby, she wasted no time in questioning just what was going on, asking cautiously, "Bobby, who's that?" as she followed her grandma's lead and sat down opposite Bobby and the woman.

"Lucy this is Pam, my wife", replying in a simple, matter-of-fact way, she couldn't say she really understood the situation any better than she had before, even with an answer to the question she'd asked aloud. "You're married?" looking between the two, she noted they did seem to be wearing wedding rings, so it had to be true, that truth didn't take away from the surprise of the situation though.

"We are", replying, confirming the news again, she didn't know what to think and accordingly, asked for a better explanation, "since when? And why weren't we invited?" She was no wedding expert, but she knew enough to expect to know about the event before it happened, or even at bare minimum know that the couple were a couple, especially for a family wedding. In this case, she hadn't known Bobby even had a girlfriend, let alone a fiancée, before he introduced the lady as Pam, his wife, and that alone was just strange.

"I'll tell you why Lucy, because your uncle was scared, weren't you Bobby? Scared we'd object to you marrying Pamela Barnes", turning her head as she heard her granddaddy's booming voice enter the conversation, she immediately understood some of the unspoken contextual information about the situation. Bobby's homecoming with a new wife was news not because it was a surprise marriage, but because of whom his new wife was. Pamela Barnes wasn't a name she had heard before, so she didn't understand why Bobby would be scared to bring her home, however, she wasn't stupid, this Pamela Barnes was obviously someone significant and that was the issue.

"Wait, you too? Mama, daddy, how do you recognise Pam?" turning back toward her uncle as he replied, she had to try hard not to laugh at the look of complete bewilderment on his face. She could tell the situation was serious from the way her granddaddy spoke, but there was something amusing about Bobby's facial expression, the two moods just didn't match. Again, she didn't understand the situation completely, but what she did understand she found entertaining to say the least.

"She's Digger's daughter", answering Bobby's question in a tone that made it sound like he was saying the most obvious thing in the world, her granddaddy's words themselves were the only thing that stopped her from actually laughing aloud; even she knew who Digger Barnes was, and with that, suddenly she understood why Bobby's marriage was such a big deal.

"Yes, I know that. But for all the talk about Digger Barnes throughout my life I can probably count on one hand the amount of encounters I'd had with the Barnes family before Pam and I started seeing each other". Listening to Bobby, she wasn't sure what to make of his comments; sure, he didn't know who Pam was before he met her, just like she hadn't until now, it was what he did with that information when he did find out that she was sure her granddaddy had a problem with. It made little sense to her that Bobby would really think it wouldn't be a problem to bring a Barnes home to meet his Ewing family at Southfork. She personally had no interest in boys or dating, but even she knew that when she did, there were certain boys that would be acceptable to bring home and others that wouldn't be; the Ewing's had connections and those connections mattered, especially where marriage was concerned.

"You're very young and unobservant then", dismissing Bobby's comment as youthful naivety, her granddaddy seemed to have no time for her uncle. "That doesn't answer the question", replying, it was clear he was not satisfied by the simple answer that Pam was Digger's daughter. It seemed like enough of an answer to her, of course her grandparents knew who Pam was, if she was around Bobby's age then she would have been floating around in the wider social circle for twenty or more years and that meant they'd had plenty of opportunities to know at least of her existence. They did the same thing all the time with school friends of hers, she only had to mention an acquaintance's surname and the questions about whether they were so-and-so's grandchild would start.

"Never mind about your question, I have a few of my own. Let's start with, how the hell did this happen?" Watching as her granddaddy took a seat on the couch opposite her and her grandma, clearly awaiting a long, detailed explanation, it was then that she noticed Jack for the first time, silently taking a seat in an armchair, looking awfully uncomfortable, and surprisingly, shooting Pam a weak smile and receiving one in return. Either Jack knew Pam, or he simply sympathised with her because he too was somewhat of an outsider, she wasn't sure, but what she did know was there was more to the situation than anyone was saying aloud, she could feel it, and that made an already interesting situation even more intriguing.

"We met, we dated, we fell in love and we married, the end", answering his daddy in a tone that indicated he was fed-up with the unfriendly welcome their news had received, she was sure there was no way Bobby could be surprised when her granddaddy answered, "not quite. Keep going".

In her opinion, it only made sense that her granddaddy wanted to know everything, she personally did too, and Bobby was giving them very little to go off. Then there was Pam, she didn't expect the lady to say much considering nobody was asking her anything and nobody seemed that interested in her side of the story, but she had been completely silent so far and that just made her harder to read. She tended to think Bobby had made a bit of a stupid decision in dating and marrying a Barnes, but it was possible she was wrong, though nothing either Bobby or Pam had said so far had convinced her that that was the case.

"What else do you want me to say?" asking a question, Bobby appeared to either be playing dumb or he was genuinely not understanding the question, and this time, she found herself unable to not make a comment. "I think we all want to know the details, you know, who, what, where, why, when and how? You being married to anyone is a surprise, you can't expect us to not be curious", reinserting herself into the conversation that she'd started in the first place, she was pleased when Bobby's facial expression seemed to soften just like she'd expected it to considering she had asked nicely.

"You're right Lucy, I guess it is a surprise. If you can all agree to be civil, we'll tell you about how it came to be", answering, he smiled at her before shooting her granddaddy a look which she interpreted as somewhat hostile, though it was probably for good reason considering how her granddaddy had raised his voice earlier.

"Granddaddy, I think we'd better listen to him", trying to ease the tension between her uncle and granddaddy, she sat back silently when he replied without taking his eyes off Bobby, "I think Bobby had better start explaining if he knows what's good for him". At that point, she knew where she stood; her granddaddy wasn't in a good mood, he wasn't upset with her, but her input wasn't helping the situation either.

It seemed that Bobby understood the situation too, because before long, he began to speak again and this time he was ready to give real answers. "Ok, it began a few months ago, that night I hit my head at the skating rink". Mentioning an event she had been present at, he now had her full attention, for good reason too, where she'd found it interesting that Jack and Pam seemed to know each other, she had to add to that that apparently she wasn't quite as uninvolved as she'd originally thought.

It hadn't been clear to her before, but now that Bobby mentioned that night she was sure Pam was the woman from the skating rink, the complete stranger Bobby had skated into, and if that was how they'd met and started dating, she felt a bit bad for them. Neither the name Ewing nor Barnes had been mentioned that night and if things had developed from there then it was genuinely an honest mistake, one that was potentially soon overtaken by mutual attraction and by the time either of them did identify who exactly they were, perhaps those details weren't so important. She didn't know, Bobby hadn't finished explaining the situation, he'd barely even begun, but what she could tell was that her initial judgement that it was an interesting, intriguing situation didn't even begin to describe what was to come.

To be continued…