Dallas, Texas

Standing beside the closed gate to the paddock where the petting zoo had been set up, Sue Ellen scanned her eyes from Paula's son James as he fed a calf from a bottle over to John Ross as he attempted to chase the bunny rabbits, no match for their speed even if he had mastered walking some time ago.

"I haven't seen your mama or Kristin yet, are they here?" changing the topic of their previous conversation, Paula broached a subject she'd put almost no thought into when planning John Ross' birthday party.

Naturally, her college roommate and friend had questions about her family, she knew them well, the answer was simple though, likely to her disappointment. "No, Kristin's still away at school and my mama and I haven't spoken in months".

"That's news", sounding thoroughly surprised, Paula looked pleased, she'd always been a supporter of breaking away from Patricia's tight control and to hear she had finally cut the cord between them was very positive.

"Old news", waving her hand, Sue Ellen gave her friend a look as if to ask to end that particular discussion. They were celebrating something happy, her son's birthday, and she didn't want to bring the mood down by going over something that hadn't weighed on her mind for a long time now. Her mother had mailed a birthday card and sent a few gifts for John Ross which was a nice gesture, but that didn't change much about their relationship. To her mother's credit, she hadn't asked for anything when sending the gift, she hadn't called to make her feel guilty, and she hadn't turned up at the party uninvited, her distance was appreciated and she was happy to leave it at that.

"Understood. Any new news then?" respecting her wishes, Paula moved on without issue.

"With me? Not yet. I presume you've heard rumours of developments in the family though?" Knowing Paula knew of her miscarriage because they'd been in contact during her recovery, she didn't wish to talk about that time in her life again, nor did she wish to talk about the future of her family yet, and seeing as she still didn't think her everyday life was very interesting, she skipped to the next best thing.

"Whisper a hint and I'll let you know", grinning, Paula's expression was of no surprise to her; she'd always been interested in gossip and now was no different.

"About Bobby and his wife", giving her friend the hint she'd asked for, she left her comment hanging, waiting for Paula to bite.

"Well, I heard Bobby eloped, but I'm guessing that's not the news, so, do tell", always fascinated by the goings-on at Southfork, Paula was all ears, exactly as expected.

Looking around, she confirmed that no one was paying attention to them specifically and then explained herself, "ok, well you can't spread it around, it's still supposed to be a secret, but…"

Over in the next paddock, Bobby slipped away from assisting Ray and a couple of the other ranch hands with the horses as he spotted Jenna standing at over by the fence.

Following Jenna's gaze, it didn't take him long to work out why she was there in the horse pasture. "She's beautiful", standing beside her, he pulled her eyes but not her attention away from her daughter.

"How do you know?" looking up at him, she smiled and dared him to explain how he could know which of the many children was hers.

Shrugging, as if it were obvious, he explained himself, "like mother, like daughter".

"We look that alike?" sounding surprised, it was almost as if she'd never heard that her daughter looked like her, which just simply couldn't be true.

"Some", answering her nonchalantly, it didn't take him long to work out what her angle was when she responded, "well I'll take that as a compliment, thank you".

Amused, he chuckled, "I don't think you need me to tell you how pretty you are".

"No, but I like hearing it", admitting she knew exactly how attractive she was, she gleefully accepted his roundabout admiration.

"Jenna", having previous experience with her, he could see where things were heading and he gently reminded her about the boundaries they'd discussed.

"No, I know", patting his hand in a seemingly friendly, not flirty gesture, she appeared happy enough to respect that the past was the past and what was acceptable then wasn't necessarily acceptable now.

"Good. So, is she as spirited as her mother?" pleased that she understood, he turned the discussion back to Charlie, a safer topic of discussion than their previous relationship.

"I don't know; you'll have to give me your perspective on that. Charlie", pretending she couldn't just answer the question herself, she turned away from him for a second and called over to the little blonde girl he'd thought so much about recently but had yet to actually formally meet.

Up at the house, Pam pulled the sliding door shut behind her, walking a few steps onto the patio before stopping as she realised that it wasn't going to as easy to find Bobby again as she had imagined. Despite the fact that Sue Ellen had a problem finding and keeping friends, it appeared she had had no problem finding people to invite to her son's birthday party. It was likely that most of the invited guests were Ewing family friends rather than specifically JR and Sue Ellen's friends, but whoever they were, there were a lot of them, and the one Ewing she wanted to see wasn't going to be easy to find in the crowd.

Spotting her father-in-law, happy to see at least one person she knew, she walked towards the pool, approaching him as he stood chatting with a group of men, "Jock, I'm sorry to interrupt but have you seen Bobby?"

Turning to address her, he was warm in tone, most likely because he liked her now that she was pregnant, however, despite warmth, he didn't deliver the news she wished to hear, responding, "no, I'm sorry, not recently. I'm sure he's around here somewhere though".

"I'll keep looking", smiling politely, she excused herself from the group.

"Say, Pam, I hear you're looking for that brother of mine", taking very few steps, she stopped as she heard her name and turned to face the voice, looking up at her brother-in-law who'd extricated himself from the group he was with.

"I am. Do you know where he is?" not ordinarily interested in talking to JR, this time she felt differently; she could name on one hand the people she knew well at the party and in looking for Bobby she welcomed any help coming her way.

"Last I saw him he was talking to his wife from a previous life, though that was a while ago now, he could be anywhere", sidestepping the question, JR's answer was not what she'd had in mind when she'd asked him what he knew.

"JR", shaking her head, she looked at him stone-faced, unamused, both that JR was so gleefully unhelpful and that Bobby was supposedly with Jenna.

"Jenna. Yes, I think I heard her congratulating Bobby on his second child", clarifying what didn't need clarifying, JR didn't shy away from reminding her of the complicated situation Bobby and Jenna were in together.

"You love causing trouble, don't you?" unwilling to give her brother-in-law any more information or emotion than he was already working with, she turned the conversation back on his attitude.

Laughing, he sounded good-natured and genuine as he replied, "I was only trying to help". It wasn't true, she knew it and so did he, he was stirring the pot because he could, but he did sound convincing and she couldn't deny that.

"I'm sure", not interested in staying to talk with JR, she shook her head and turned to walk away, leaving him to return to his previous conversation.

Just over a hundred feet from where Pam stood, on the grass next to the driveway, Jack stood beside Jenna, watching as she kept an eye on the way Bobby and her daughter Charlie marvelled at a magician's tricks. Having been pulled into the group by Jenna as they passed him on their way over to where the magician was performing, he knew he wasn't her first choice for party companion, however, as it appeared Bobby and Charlie were getting along well it didn't take much to figure out that Jenna wanted an equal amount of attention. He couldn't give her the quantity or quality of attention she likely craved, nor did he want to, that was a complication he didn't need in his life, but he did enjoy flirting with her and he had nothing to lose by doing that.

"So", interrupting the momentary silence they'd fallen into watching a bouquet of flowers appear out of nowhere, he made moves to approach the one thing that consistently interested him about Jenna.

"So?" looking at him as if to say his question made no sense, her confusion was understandable considering he hadn't explained himself yet.

"No Richard, again", stating what seemed to be a fact he left his comment open-ended. It was obvious that whatever Jenna and Richard had it wasn't love, but he'd always known that, what he wanted to know was how she seemed to do whatever she wanted and get whatever she wanted all while keeping Richard happy.

"I'm beginning to think you don't actually like me at all, I'm just a convenient way to get to Richard, he's all you ever want to talk about", rolling her eyes dramatically, she didn't exactly answer his question, more just pushed back on his comments, referring to the fact that they'd met in a business capacity.

Chuckling, he turned the conversation back to her, "no, I just think if you were my girl…"

"Go on, this I'm interested to hear", appearing gleeful at the prospect of hearing again how irresistible she was, she turned so they were face-to-face rather than standing beside each other.

Shaking his head, he ran his hand over her cheek, "you would have already heard it, but you don't let me close enough to tell you what I feel". He didn't intend to make her his girlfriend, she wasn't single and he wasn't interested in being in a relationship, and considering it seemed that she loved to flirt with any man named Ewing, he wasn't exactly special, however, he did enjoy the game and just once he'd like to get further with her than a dance and a kiss.

"Maybe you're right, maybe we should change that", playing with his shirt collar, she held eye contact with him. He didn't understand how Richard was so unfazed by her behaving the way she did with men outside their relationship, but he certainly wasn't complaining.

"Not here", aware they were standing in the middle of a child's birthday party, a petting zoo to one side of them, a magician to the other, and guests all around, he couldn't think of a less appropriate place to see where their mutual attraction was taking them, but that didn't mean he wasn't tempted.

"Where then?" whispering in his ear, she sounded keen not to postpone their next interaction.

"Follow me", looking around, seeing that Bobby and Charlie seemed to be off in their own world, he took her hand and led her away, intending to take her somewhere they wouldn't be disturbed. Technically she was Richard's girl, and before that she'd been Bobby's, but Bobby was married and Richard was nowhere to be seen or heard from, so if she was insistent on exploring their relationship who was he to say no?

Making her way down to the stables, following a lead as to Jenna rather than Bobby's whereabouts provided to her by a younger woman she vaguely recognised from the single DOA meeting she'd attended, Pam hoped she'd finally find what she was looking for this time. She couldn't think of anything that Bobby and Jenna had to do alone together in the stables, away from the party guests, so she dreaded to think what finding them there would actually look like, however, if Jenna was going after her husband then she deserved to know it and she deserved to see what Bobby was doing about it.

Walking through the stables, past the tack room and stalls, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she began to wonder whether she was ever going to find her husband, because from the looks of it, he wasn't there.

Ready to turn around and head back to the party, she stopped dead in her tracks as she heard a rustling sound followed by a woman's giggle and a man's muffled words. "Bobby? Jenna?" calling out she received no response, though the distinct creaking of wooden boards above her left her with no doubt as to where the two were.

Saddened by the idea that her husband would take his ex-fiancée up into the hayloft, a place he'd taken her when they wanted to sneak away from the main house to be alone for a little while, her sadness turned to anger as she heard muffled whispers and the unmistakable sound of a zipper closing. Appalled by the brazenness of the two, before she knew what she was doing, she was halfway up the wooden ladder. She didn't want to see her husband being intimate with another woman, not in any form, but she was angry and adrenalin was a funny thing.

Peering into the hayloft, she gasped in surprise as she laid eyes on a man and woman she'd never seen before as they quickly worked to make themselves presentable. "Oh, I'm sorry", thoroughly embarrassed that she'd interrupted two people that weren't Bobby Ewing or Jenna Wade, she apologised and attempted to descend the ladder, however, haste, clammy hands and not looking where her feet were going meant that instead of climbing down as planned, she took the quicker, more dangerous route, falling.

To be continued…