Dallas, Texas

Galloping over and dismounting from his horse, Ace, as he saw Pam's car parking outside the stables, Bobby prepared himself for the worst but hoped for the best. He only wanted good things for their marriage, but so far, things weren't exactly going well. From their wedding night argument, to their cool welcome at Southfork, to Pam's refusal to act like it was their home, followed by the awkward reintroduction to Cliff, and now Pam's insistence he stay well away from her father when she told him the news, their three day marriage was full of more downs than ups, which genuinely surprised him. He hadn't expected everything to be easy, a Barnes/Ewing marriage was always going to be controversial, but he'd assumed they'd be tackling the issue together more than they actually seemed to be.

Tying Ace to a post, he met Pam outside the stables, greeting her with a kiss before addressing what had been on their minds since getting back from Austin. "How'd it go with your daddy?" He could only hope it had gone well, but reading Pam's facial expression he could tell that probably wasn't the case.

"About as well as can be expected", shrugging, she answered vaguely; considering they hadn't been expecting a happy reaction, he had an idea about what had happened, but still, it would be nice if she just said that.

"What does that mean?" seeking clarification, he got it, and she was right, it was what he expected to hear.

"It means he hardly reacted, until he heard the name Jock Ewing", admitting to him that his father and hers were once again the problem in their relationship, Pam looked at him helplessly.

"Then?" assuming there was more to the situation, he asked for that explanation, but this time Pam wasn't interested in updating him.

"I don't want to talk about it", verbally brushing him off, she also took a step back, indicating that she was quite serious.

"Pammy", thinking he could convince her otherwise, he stepped forward and took hold of her hand, though naturally his small efforts to bring them closer again didn't really fix anything.

Dropping his hand and stepping back again, her frustration with him and their situation became clear, especially when she verbally told him as much. "No, Bobby. You'll never understand the damage your daddy did to mine and the consequences we all live with. I don't want to talk about it, I've had to live with it my entire life and that's short compared to the life my daddy's had to live because of yours".

"Pam, that's not fair", answering her, he said what he thought. They had been through this before and agreed not to let their family problems of the past be their problems, but that didn't seem to apply now that they were married. He couldn't change who he was any more than she could change who she was, so they could either deal with it, or continue to argue, and while he wanted to deal with it and move on, she seemed determined to continue to make it an issue. He had made an effort with Cliff and would have made an effort with Digger if she hadn't protested so much, but instead they were back at the beginning, where his daddy, and therefore he, was the enemy and she couldn't bring herself to think otherwise.

"No, but nothing ever will be. I love you and I know you love me, so you're going to have to trust me on this, you'll never be able to understand, so please, if you want us to be able to live in any kind of happiness, just forget trying to empathise with my situation". Responding, her comments only further confused him, now, instead of wanting to dwell on the problems their families were causing, she wanted to stop trying completely. It was complicated and he didn't know where to go to from there.

"Ok, so what can I do to help?" unsure of what he really could do, he asked the obvious question, not wanting to confuse her the way she was confusing him, though naturally as always seemed to be with women, she had a lot on her mind that she wasn't saying, even when directly asked.

"Realistically, nothing", replying, Pam didn't give him much to work with, shrugging, as if it were that easy to do nothing and move on with their lives without issue.

"So where do we go from here?" curious about what exactly she had in mind when she told him to stop trying to empathise with her and how she saw their future playing out, both long-term and short-term, he didn't have to wait long before she let him in on a few of her thoughts.

"I propose we keep our families apart, like we did when we were dating, and we don't try to interfere where we're not wanted", outlining her thoughts, her tone told him she wasn't joking, that she really seemed to think she was suggesting something reasonable.

Listening to her suggestion, Bobby was far less convinced than his wife, though his immediate reaction was to ask for clarification about what he'd heard her suggest. "Avoidance?"

"Precisely", nodding, she confirmed that he'd understood her correctly, though it wasn't much comfort to him.

Sighing, he shook his head and looked at her, willing her to crack a smile and tell him she was joking, but having no such luck. "Pammy, that's not going to work. You can't avoid my family forever, you can't even avoid them temporarily, we're living with them". He could understand her wish for things to go back to how they were when they were dating and their parents didn't know of their relationship, but that was the past and they couldn't go back anymore, even if she wished to.

"You might be, but I know where I'm not wanted", reminding him that she hadn't changed her mind since leaving Southfork on Sunday, shortly after arriving, Pam's comment did little to further their conversation, but he took what he could get and went with it.

"Fine, so we get our own place, doesn't that just make it harder to avoid our families?" Querying her train of thought, he wasn't completely against the idea of getting their own place, he'd already been planning on doing just that when he started grad school in a few months, he just didn't really see how separating themselves from their families solved any of their issues in Dallas.

"No. We get our own place for ourselves and no one else. We visit our families separately, at their homes, without each other depending on who's going to be where", explaining herself, Pam made some sense, though her plan did nothing to alleviate the tension within their families, nor address any long-term issues. They were married, at some point their parents were going to have to get used to it and learn how to live with the idea of potentially seeing their new in-laws every once in a while, especially if they ever wanted to have a nice holiday season again, or in the future when they eventually had children.

"Pammy, I don't mind the idea, but isn't it a little impractical?" he didn't really need to question the idea, he knew it was impractical, but still, he wanted Pam to have a chance to realise that too, though she seemed determined not to.

"I don't think so", shaking her head no, Pam's comments didn't surprise him, though he did wonder how she saw the world and assessed situations. It was somehow incomprehensible that they move away to College Station for a fresh start because they had lives in Dallas, but somehow it was also unfathomable that she be flexible enough to open her life in Dallas enough to share it with him. His family would get used to her, as would hers to him, eventually, she was overreacting to the present shock of the situation as if its impact would be felt long-term.

"I do", disagreeing with her perception that it wasn't impractical, he prepared himself to explain when she answered, "how so?" seeming oblivious as to the reasons why they couldn't just go back to their former separate lives.

Assessing how to explain, he thought it perhaps better to avoid rehashing the argument about College Station again for now and instead remind her of the immediate consequences of their marriage.

"Well, firstly, I don't know how your family did things, but my family has drinks and dinner, every night. It's not really optional", perhaps it was silly to be so caught up in tradition, but he generally liked the life he and his family lived and he wasn't really interested in overthrowing it completely, he wasn't much interested in annoying his father any more either.

"Oh, so JR and Sue Ellen have dinner with your parents every night?" bringing attention to the fact that his brother and sister-in-law were an obvious exception to the rule he'd just stated, Pam did make a fair point, though he also knew it wasn't that simple.

"Well, no, but daddy insists on regular family dinners, at their home or Southfork", it was true, his daddy was fond of family time and made a point to comment on it anytime the family was together, or apart. JR and Sue Ellen didn't host or attend nearly as many dinners or events as Jock would have liked and everyone knew about it, which was exactly why he didn't feel like rocking the boat just now. He already had his daddy in his ear about his controversial choice of wife, he didn't need to hear the comments that would follow him changing his entire lifestyle to suit Pam's whims.

"Your daddy seems to have a lot of say", replying only to the fact that his father had an opinion and she didn't much like his opinions, Pam's comment wasn't particularly helpful in terms of contributing to the conversation.

"He's the patriarch of the family, of course he has a lot of say", defensive of his father and his family, he also empathised with Pam's perception of his father, considering she hadn't really seen any of his good qualities. It was a tough position to be in and it was hard to act reasonably towards both sides.

"Yeah, well I don't have to listen. I married you and only you", firm about her opinion and position, Pam showed no signs of willingness to compromise, even if it was what he wanted.

"I know, but things are different now, we're married, we can't just live the way we were before. Our families don't have to be close, they don't even have to like each other, they just have to accept that you're my wife and I'm your husband and that means we do things together and there may be some overlap so they'll have to get used to it. We can't keep our relationship a secret anymore so whether we live with my family or not doesn't really have much bearing on what everyone thinks about us. We can get our own place if you think that's best, but please, don't pretend like that will solve everything". Trying his best to reason with her, to explain to her that they had to try to do something to heal old wounds and move on, he was surprised when this time she appeared to soften and actually listen to what he was trying to say.

Nodding thoughtfully, Pam's whole demeanour seemed to relax as she listened to him this time, and when he finished speaking, she took a few moments to think before responding. "You're right, things are different now, I wish we could go back, not on our marriage, but to the blissful ignorance that existed before we officially announced our relationship".

Taking a step toward her, Bobby nodded himself before touching her hand, appreciating that she didn't flinch or reject his small show of affection this time. "I know, I want that too, but we can't go back, we can only go forward. I want us to do that together, to share a life, not some sort of fragmented relationship that only somewhat resembles a whole marriage".

Squeezing his hand, Pam looked him in the eye as she replied, "so do I, but how do we do that? My daddy is not happy and I don't blame him, from his perspective I've betrayed him. He doesn't want to see you or hear about you and I want to respect that. Then there's your family, I'll always be the Barnes that married up, the woman you chose to needle them with, a constant reminder of old feuds. I don't want to live with that day in and day out".

"I don't know, I don't have all the answers, what I do know is we can't just give up", he wanted to reassure her, to help her, but it was true, he didn't have all the answers.

"That's nice to say Bobby, but what does it mean?" seeing through his optimism, Pam looked for more, to which he finally knew what to say.

"It means we try, and I think the first step is showing everyone we're serious about this, we're married and no amount of snide comments or complaints is going to change that. I will talk to my family and make sure they understand how important you are to me. I can't make them love you, but I can show them how hurtful their scepticism and negativity is, make them realise that the way they're treating us isn't the way love works". He couldn't fix everything, he knew that, but the very least he could do was try to take responsibility for his own family's role in their situation.

"It's not that simple", answering his optimism with realism, Pam was right, but that didn't mean he had to stop being optimistic.

"No, but neither is separating our lives and acting as if none of this is happening", they couldn't go back, they had to go forward, she had to realise that by now.

"So what now?" finally appearing to trust his judgement, Pam looked him in the eye and smiled weakly, clearly still hesitant and unsure but also ready to listen instead of just hearing what he had to say.

"I'll talk to my mama, she's already halfway on our side, she's just surprised that's all. Once we have mama's support then we're halfway to getting daddy's, she can be very persuasive like that. The rest of my family shouldn't be as difficult, Jack and Sue Ellen already like you, Lucy pushes things sometimes but she's generally harmless, and JR has a big mouth but an even bigger life plan, one that doesn't include an angry wife or disappointing daddy. You're my wife now and it's time everyone started treating you like it".

Doing his best to sound confident in his plan, he was well aware that he was downplaying the personalities of his family members and it might not be as easy as he made it sound, but he had to try, that was what everything came back to. He had to at least try to make a difference to their situation otherwise nothing would change and for him trying meant starting with his family, people he knew and loved and was confident were capable of extending love and kindness towards his wife, even if she was Digger Barnes' daughter.

"Oh Bobby, that's all I want, to be your wife, for you to be my husband, and for our families to be happy for us", holding out on showing much emotion while he described his family, it was only when he mentioned their marriage that she really reacted, breaking eye contact, looking down and then back up before hugging him.

"I'm going to try", whispering into her ear as he held her close, he was relieved. All was not well, they hadn't really solved anything and they weren't even really on the same page about how to go forward, but at the very least they weren't in any worse position than they could have been judging from earlier parts of their conversation.

"Thank you", mumbling into his shoulder as they embraced, Pam said nothing else beyond that, but he didn't blame her. They had a long way to go, but at least they were on the way there together now.

To be continued…