Dallas, Texas

"I understand… yes… thank you", sitting in the downstairs office, Bobby was relieved as the call he'd been meaning to get around to making for a while now ended.

"Bobby?" hearing his name, he swung his chair around to face the voice, smiling as he caught sight of his wife standing in the doorway.

"You're up. How are you this morning?" standing, he walked over to meet her, kissing her lightly and guiding her into the office with him. She looked well, it was Friday morning and she'd been home from the hospital since Monday, taking the week off work at his insistence, but he wanted to hear from her that she was feeling better.

"I'm fine. Who were you talking to?" leaning into him, she let him guide her and hold her, playing into his comforting actions, but not before asking for something she wanted from him, a few answers.

"Come here", reaching the chair he'd been sitting in earlier, he pulled her down to sit on his lap, careful not to be too heavy-handed with the bruise on her back.

"Tell me, you haven't changed your mind about moving to College Station have you?" aware of how she felt about the subject and having never received any indication things had changed, he teased her a little before he got to the point.

"No", answering him, she sounded hesitant, as if she wasn't quite sure where he was going, which was understandable considering they had been skirting around the issue for months now, only alluding to it, not directly discussing it for fear of ruining the good in their relationship.

"So you don't want to go?" stating what he knew of her opinion back to her, he didn't expect her answer to be anything other than what he got.

"No, not really", confirming his thoughts, she looked puzzled about why he was bringing the subject up now and why he needed reminding of her feelings.

Deciding she'd had enough of his teasing for one morning, he put her out of her misery and explained himself, "good, because that was the A&M admissions office on the phone; as of this morning my enrolment has been completely withdrawn".

Looking at him with wide eyes, she sounded as if she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing when she asked, "you're not starting in the fall anymore?"

"I'm not starting at all. Grad school has been shelved, indefinitely", explaining himself, he didn't go into all the details, he didn't think he needed to, he thought she'd be thrilled hearing they were going to stay right where they were, but from the way she was looking at him, how he'd expected her to react and how she was reacting were two different things.

"Bobby…" looking overwhelmingly concerned, she touched his face tenderly and whispered his name.

"Pammy", mirroring her actions, he found it difficult to work out what was happening between them.

"Are you sure?" asking him about his feelings, everything became clear. She didn't want to move to College Station, but she didn't want him to give up on something he really wanted either.

"Yes, I'm sure", brushing a loose strand of hair off her face, he assured her that he'd thought long and hard about his decision. He didn't want to leave Dallas if it was going to make her miserable, and he didn't have to now that his father had relaxed his expectations around how his career in ranching progressed.

"Is it because of me?" reaching what was probably a logical conclusion, she looked like she felt guilty about being the reason for his decision, even if she had to be relieved herself.

Not wanting her to worry or make her feel as if she'd pushed him into doing something he didn't want to do, he reassured her again, telling her, "it's because of us. I initially thought a move would be good for us, but I realise now that that was misguided, so I've made moves to make things right".

"Thank you", accepting his explanation, she cracked a smile, letting her true feelings show.

"You're welcome", kissing her, pleased she was already comfortably settled in his lap, he felt good about the way things were going. With grad school out of the picture they were free to focus on their future family now. He expected that by fall she'd be quite visibly pregnant and they'd be well on their way to the happily ever after he'd wanted for them when he'd proposed and married her.

As their kiss came to a natural end, Pam pulled back to look at him, earnestly asking, "have you told your daddy?"

Nodding, he answered simply, "he knows". The truth was more complicated than the two words he gave her, but the truth wouldn't make him very popular with his wife and right now, when they were in a good place again, he didn't think it was necessary for her to know all the details of how he'd come to the decision he had.

"He doesn't mind? I know it was his idea that you go to grad school in the first place", curious, unsatisfied with the answer he'd given her, Pam rephrased her question.

"Daddy is not going to be a problem, trust me", reassuring her, he stayed well away from telling her that it had been his daddy's idea to withdraw his enrolment and stay in Dallas because he didn't want his next grandchild to be raised any further from Southfork than John Ross already was.

"Ok, if you say so", nodding, she appeared satisfied with his answer, despite his lack of details, or perhaps she just didn't want to argue about his father again, they'd done enough of that when they were first married.

"There is one thing he might have a problem with", sure his daddy was pleased that he and Pam staying in Dallas, he knew that all would not be well if Pam insisted on keeping their development a secret much longer.

"What's that?" sounding curious and clueless again, she looked at him with a blank expression as if to say she really didn't know what he was talking about.

Touching her abdomen lightly, he reminded her of what she already knew, "daddy's a proud man, he wants to start telling everyone he's going to be a grandfather again or be allowed to confirm it when asked, especially since it seems half of Dallas already suspects after what happened at John Ross' birthday".

Holding her hand to his, she slowly slid it off her, back onto his lap, pushing back on his and his daddy's insistence that she move things along quicker than she was comfortable with, "I'll tell my daddy when the time is right, not a minute sooner".

Not wanting to argue with her, he conceded that if she needed more time, she could have it, telling her, "whatever you want". He figured that what his daddy had said was correct; she couldn't hide her changing figure forever, soon enough nature would let the world know she was expecting, and if she didn't want her daddy to find out through the grapevine or with his own eyes, she would need to get on with contacting him soon.

"I'll remember that", giving him a sly smile, she changed the context of his comment to cover more than just talking with her daddy, which was fine by him, he wanted to spoil her with whatever she wanted, he actually wished sometimes she'd ask for more from him. If she wanted to do something in her own time then she could, as long as it was done eventually, and if she wanted to dip into using some of their marital assets to have a little fun, he wouldn't complain about that either.

To be continued…