Dallas, Texas

"Pammy, come, sit, have a wonton, it'll make you feel better", standing up to greet her, Cliff pulled away from their hug to point her in the direction of the picnic table where he'd laid out lunch for them, cartons of Chinese food.

"Cliff", chuckling at her brother's predictability, she shook her head and sat down across from him on the wooden bench.

"No, try it", matching her amused smirk, knowing full well that she wasn't nearly as convinced about the healing power of food as he was, he handed her a paper napkin and some chopsticks, encouraging to join him regardless of whether it would actually help or not.

"If it'll make you feel better", taking a bite, she savoured the familiar flavour. With everything going on, eating was the last thing on her mind, but it was lunchtime and although not overly hungry, she could definitely eat.

"See", shooting her the same goofy, satisfied grin he gave her every time she showed any enjoyment of his favourite comfort food, it wasn't so much the food but his enthusiasm that lightened her mood a little.

"Oh yeah, just like magic", letting him think he'd cured all her problems, she knew he knew he hadn't, but that wasn't the point.

"I told you. Now, you sounded terrible on the phone, do you want to talk about it?" clearly concerned, he didn't push her to answer him, he knew he didn't need to, she'd tell him when she was ready.

Unable to think about anything other than her problems now that the light-hearted moment had passed, she didn't bother to pretend there was nothing wrong, simply answering, "it's not just one thing, it's the combination of everything".

"Bobby?" quick to assume her husband was the root of her problems, he showed his bias, although he was no more biased than Bobby was on certain issues. She had friends, she had family, and she had acquaintances, they all had something to offer her if she asked them for it, but no one could understand the complex situation she was in quite as well as Cliff.

"Not just Bobby", shaking her head, she reminded him there was more going on in her life than marital problems.

"But Bobby?" forgetting that he'd as much as admitted to her before that for a Ewing Bobby wasn't such a bad guy, he was insistent that her husband held some responsibility for why she'd sounded so glum when she'd phoned him.

"Cliff", having more on her mind than anything Bobby had or hadn't done, she was overly sharp with him, not realising how she must have sounded until he visibly reacted.

"I'll be quiet, you talk", apologising, he grabbed a carton and a set of chopsticks for himself and waited patiently for her to continue.

"Ok, well, I'm worried about this pregnancy, from the neurofibromatosis hanging over my head to the fact that everyone keeps asking if I've felt the baby move yet and I haven't, to the general unreadiness and frankly, lack of excitement I feel at the idea of becoming a mother. Did you know it's been two months since I found out and I'm only marginally more accepting of the idea? I feel incredibly guilty that that's the case but it doesn't stop me feeling that way. Then I have the stress of worrying about what's happening at work, what's happening with daddy's health and what's happening at home and it all feels like too much sometimes". Giving him a glimpse of what was going on in her head, she really didn't know whether or not she was overreacting to everything or whether her feelings were completely justified. To go with the questions about feeling the baby move were a steady flow of joking comments about the need for Bobby to placate her because pregnancy could make women behave differently, however, seeing as almost nothing about what other people told her of pregnancy seemed to be reflected in her own experience, she didn't know what to think.

"Pam", saying her name, his voice cracking as he did so, he dropped his chopsticks into the carton.

"I know…" seeing the concern in his eyes, she felt like she was about to cry, which must have shown on her face, because the next thing he did was make a joke to cheer her up.

"Is that all?" cracking a smile, he jestingly questioned whether there was more to add to the long list of things already weighing on her mind.

Smiling at his attempt at humour, she still had to blink back tears; she hadn't wanted to come to lunch and start crying but it was beginning to feel like that's how things might go.

"In all seriousness, it upsets me to see you like this, but I am happy you've told me, because I think I can help you", offering her the support and assistance she knew she could trust him to provide, he sounded every bit like the big brother she'd always relied on him to be.

"How?" aware there was nothing he could do about some of what was wrong in her life, she was still interested in hearing what he had to say, because Cliff had a lot of experience with facing challenges on his own.

"Well, for one, you can stop worrying about daddy's health, he's going to do and think whatever he wants with or without you worrying about it. Secondly, if work's stressful, give it up. I know you want to work, but you are married to a Ewing and you are carrying a Ewing baby, use that to your advantage, ask to go away to a spa or something if you don't want to be stuck at Southfork. Thirdly, I can empathise with you regarding the neurofibromatosis, I'll never have children now, but you are, you have no symptoms of the disease, and you have the best care money can buy, so until you have concrete reason to, maybe just try to relax. I can't tell you to enjoy something you're not, but I can say I think you'll be a good mother, even if it's challenging". Addressing her concerns, he was honest with her where he felt he could be and admitted when he didn't know what to say.

"Thank you. You know changing things isn't that easy though, don't you?" thinking about his comments, she appreciated his realism regarding their daddy, she was surprised by his thoughts on her work situation, and as difficult as thinking about her future as a mother was, both from a health perspective and from an emotional perspective, she valued his empathetic, supportive response. The only thing she found difficult to comprehend was how to realistically change her attitude about things; she didn't typically consider herself a worrier, but in the face of frequent doctor's visits, questions from well-meaning friends and family, and the physical changes happening to her body, it was difficult to forget the state of her life and just relax.

"Not really, you know I feel money fixes a lot of problems, but clearly you think differently", shaking his head, he reminded her that he'd always believed life would be easier with the sort of money the Ewings had, despite her reporting the complete opposite.

"Tell me, what's going on at home? Why hasn't Bobby already stepped in to help you with this?" giving her no time to explain why he was wrong, he asked her about the one thing she'd alluded to but not yet detailed, her relationship with Bobby.

"He has, some, but he feels so differently to how I do on so many things", thinking about how delighted Bobby would be to hear Cliff also supported her giving up work to focus on her health, The Store was unfortunately the second thing that came to mind when she pictured Bobby, the first was far more distressing.

"Like what?" sounding suspicious, Cliff's tone didn't surprise her at all, he was her brother, he could read her better than anyone.

"Well, we completely disagree on how he chooses to spend his time. He thinks nothing of socialising with his ex-fiancée and her daughter, and I don't", feeling sick at the image of Bobby blindly allowing Jenna to flirt with him, she reconsidered whether it was really a good idea to have agreed to attending Sue Ellen's dinner party on Saturday when Jenna was going to be there too. Jenna was bringing Richard as her date, but as history had proven with Jack, other men around or not, Jenna had no problem throwing herself at Bobby every chance she got.

"Ewings", scoffing, Cliff rolled his eyes.

"I'm not sure that's an answer", having just told him exactly what he'd expected to hear from her eventually, that her husband wasn't as different to his mental image as she'd originally told him he was, she knew what he was thinking, but that didn't help her situation.

"Hmm", murmuring, his feelings were quite clear, he was not impressed with his brother-in-law.

"So, what do I do?" painfully aware that telling Bobby how she felt didn't always work, she looked to Cliff for a better solution to her problem.

"I can't answer that without knowing what's actually going on, but before you tell me, I think you should try to eat something, you're looking very pale", pointing out how vague her explanation had been, he noted too that her emotions were affecting her physically, and naturally, his solution was to feed her his comfort food.

Appreciating her brother's attempt at normalcy, she nodded and did as he said, reaching for a wonton, ignoring the churning in her stomach, churning she wished she could mistake for her baby's movement but knew was definitely emotional. Eating would help, and even if it didn't, it gave her a little time to collect her thoughts and figure out how to explain the Jenna situation to Cliff without making Bobby sound like the sort of man who she ought to be running from, not to.

To be continued…