Bobby sat in his office and was deep in conversation with another man who sat opposite him.

"So you can't give a definite answer on how long you will take to find my son?"

"Like I have said Mr Ewing, it depends on how careful he is being and how much he wants to stay lost."

"He is not Lord Lucan, he is a scared kid away from home for the first time and I imagine frightened and lonely. I am willing to pay you a lot of money to find him and bring him back."

"And we will Mr Ewing, have no doubts about that, but if it is a time scale you want on this then you may have to look else were because like I have said these things can take time."

"Okay fine, well put as many men as you have got on this and find him."

The man nodded and shook hands and left the office leaving Bobby alone. Bobby knew that what the man said was true there were no guarantees that Christopher would be found; it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He knew is son was smart and if he was running scared and didn't want to be found then it was likely he would stay hidden for as long as he could.

"Damn it!"

Bobby slammed his fist down on the desk; he couldn't bare this feeling of helplessness he had to do something and quickly if he wanted to get his family back together and in one piece. He picked up the phone and dialled a number. The phone rang for several seconds and then was answered. Bobby didn't wait for the other person to speak.

 

"This is Bobby Ewing, I have decided that I want you to proceed with what we previously discussed. I want you to find who ever killed John Ross and Anita Smithfield."

"Okay Mr Ewing and if I can't find anything or you don't like what I find?"

"That isn't an option, I want you to make sure that someone is arrested and found guilty of these crimes and that that person will not be my son or my wife. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes Mr Ewing, I think we do. I will be in touch."

The line went dead and Bobby slowly replaced the handset, he sat for a few moments contemplating what he had just done. He then looked at his watch and stood up, he had a wedding to go to.

Becky and Pamela sat in the waiting area waiting for the doctor to finish his check up on Cliff. As the doctor walked in to the waiting room Becky stood up.

"So how is he Doc?"

"I am afraid your father is still unresponsive, in fact it looks like he is slipping further into this unnatural sleep. At this time I can find very little sign of brain activity."

"So what are you saying?" Pamela asked, "Is he getting worse? When will he wake up?"

"I cannot answer these questions Mrs. Ewing, Mr. Barnes is not responding to the medication we are feeding him to try and bring him out of the coma, so at this time there is nothing else we can do but keep him comfortable and hope that he finds the strength to wake himself."

"So that's it?" Becky shouted, "You are just going to leave him now to rot?"

"We will keep monitoring him and if there is any signs of activity then we will do our up most to try and find a way of bringing him round. But at the moment there is nothing more medically that I can do to bring Mr. Barnes round. I am very sorry now, I have to finish my rounds but please don't hesitate to ask for me if you have any more questions."

The doctor left the room leaving the two women alone. Becky began to silently weep and instinctively put a hand over her stomach. Pam sat watching her niece knowing that there was nothing she could say to comfort her. She could feel a rage building up inside her, she stood up and walked over to Becky and touched the girl on the shoulders.

"Don't give up, he is a fighter and he will pull through. He did once before and he will do it again."
For once Becky accepted the comfort from her aunt and smiled and nodded her head. The women embraced and sat for several moments finding comfort from each other.

" I need to go out for awhile will you be okay if I leave you alone for a short time?"

Becky nodded again and Pamela stood up and left the room. As she walked down the corridor her face darkened, as she passed by Cliff's room and briefly looked through the window at her brother laid helplessly on the bed and strapped up to the machines she felt her body begin to shake. However it wasn't grief or shock that made Pamela act in this way it was anger. Again she set of down the corridor and out of the hospital, someone was going to pay for this.

 

 

 

Margaret, Ray and Donna pulled up outside Southfork and got out of their car. Guests had already begun to arrive and there was quite a gathering around the pool area.

As they walked towards the ranch's side entrance Miss Ellie came out to greet them.

"Donna, how lovely to see you, I am so happy you could come."

"Hello Miss Ellie, you look wonderful."

The two women embraced, they had shared a lot through the years and although distance had separated them they remained very close.

"And Margaret how are you?"

"I'm fine thank you."

"Ray, you haven't brought your beautiful daughter around nearly enough during her visit. Why before we know it she will be all grown up and ready for getting married herself. Tell me Margaret is there anybody special at the moment?"

"No, not really Miss Ellie, I am happy on my own."

"Now that is refreshing to hear, your cousin Lucy was always bringing home a different boy when she was your age."

" Yes she certainly was a live wire was our Lucy." Ray said.
The group laughed and at the same time JR walked over to them.

"Donna, Ray."

"Hello JR, how are you doing." Ray said.

The two men had never been close however Ray did feel for his older brother since John Ross's death.

"I'm fine Ray, business is good. Now if it wasn't for this damn energy commission making waves things would be pretty much perfect."

"Now JR, we will have no business talk today, this is Lucy's day and I want us all to enjoy it as a family."

"Yes mama."

Donna shook her head as JR shot her glance and then tipped his hat and walked of to greet some more people.

"How are they doing Miss Ellie" Donna asked.

"It's hard to say. JR is at the office all hours and he is so closed. I ask him how he is but he never really lets me in, he just talks about business or says he's fine. As for Sue Ellen, well it breaks my heart to see the pain in her eyes. We have cried more tears then I though was possible these last two months. I hope I have been some comfort to her, but I am not sure that anything can really help ease the pain of losing a child. As for Bobby, he is never anywhere to be seen and then there is Pamela and Christopher, I just don't know what to think. It's like a bad dream, Donna I keep praying I will wake up from. I never imagined when they were two little boys that it could end like this."

Ellie's voice began to break and Donna moved forward to embrace the elderly lady. Sue Ellen arrived and the two women parted.

"Hello everybody. Donna it's wonderful to see you."

The two women hugged and without a word being spoken Sue Ellen felt some comfort.

"Miss Ellie, Lucy is beginning to panic as she still hasn't got in touch with Dean, can you please go and calm her down." Sue Ellen said as she Donna released her from her embrace.

"That sounds like a job for the me, as it seems I will be giving the little lady away if Bobby doesn't hurry up and show, excuse me all." Ray said and walked into the ranch, the women went over to the bar to get some refreshments.

Dean lay on his living room floor barely conscious.

He slowly pulled himself up and staggered into the bathroom, his chest was covered in dry blood and his throat was going a deep shade of purple where he had been strangled. God only knows what that lunatic would have done next if it hadn't been for his more sane sidekick. Whatever the reasons for the other man putting an end to the beating he was grateful as he was really beginning to think his time was up. Now as Dean looked at his battered appearance in the mirror he shook his head, what the hell was he going to do, he needed to get their money and fast. After everything that he had done he wanted this over, if he didn't get the money then he might not be as lucky next time. Dean splashed some cold water on his face and then walked towards his wardrobe to look for another shirt, he was late for his wedding.

Bret Foster was sat at his desk when his secretary announced the arrival of Alison Stannard from the DA 's office.

Bret and Alison were old friends and even though they were on opposite sides of the fence they remained close allies and often colluded over trials, plea-bargaining and working out deals. Alison walked into the office and Bret, ever the gent, stood up to greet her.

"Hello handsome!" Alison had a playful, flirty manner, which she had kept despite years being pulled over the coals at the DA's office.

"Hello yourself, this is a pleasant surprise. Sit down."

"Unfortunately, it is business that brings me here today, however before I begin I do believe you owe me a dinner date mister."

Bret held up his hands, "I do, you cooked me that lovely meal and like a true pro I never returned the favour and although I won't make you suffer my cooking I do promise do take you out for a meal sometime soon."

 

"Well I will hold you to that."

The couple looked at each for a moment, although they had never been romantically involved there had always been the possibility. Throughout the years however, work and a string of partners on both sides had always found a way of keeping their relationship purely platonic.
"I have a feeling whatever it is you are here for today I am not going to like it."

Alison nodded.

"Pamela Ewing, I'm afraid I can't hold this one back for you anymore, I know you were trying to get her to communicate with you and with the situation with her brother I have tried to keep the wolves at bay for as long as I could but time is running out. They are going to pull her in again any day and from what I hear there is a search warrant just about ready for our boys to go in and see what they can find. These murders are very high profile Brett and our office needs to be seen to be doing something constructive about them and at the moment your client is about the only lead we have."

Bret nodded.

"Give me a few more days Ally, I will go and see Mrs. Ewing tonight and if I can't make her see sense then she will just have to go along with the consequences."

"Okay, but this could be a big one Bret, maybe the biggest we have ever been involved with. God only knows what the press will make of this, I can just see it now 'War of The Ewing's'." Alison rolled her eyes. "God it sounds like some crappy made for TV movie."

Bret gave a half laugh but he was already distracted, thinking what the hell he could do to convince Pamela Ewing to trust him.

Margaret walked over to the bar and making sure she was out of site from her folks she picked up a glass of champagne.

As she began to sip from the glass and stare out into the distance a voice startled her back to reality.

"You're a little bit young to be drowning your sorrows aren't you?"

Margaret turned round to be confronted by her Uncle JR. Although they had only met a small number of times and had barely spoken more than a few words to each over Margaret had heard enough about him through the years to feel more than wary.

"I just thought I would toast the bride" Margaret replied with a shrug.

" Well, I would take your time with that toast if I was you, because if I know Lucy even if that fiancé of hers does turns up, then it could still take a long time to make her look presentable enough to walk down the aisle. This Texas sun does nothing for the ladies looks you know." JR chuckled to himself at his own wit.

"I thought it was my mother you disliked, I must have been mistaken it seem it is Lucy who holds that prize."

"Don't get me wrong little lady I don't like your mother either, believe me I have enough contempt for both of those ladies and a lot more besides that. Your mother is one ball breaker and I just hope she gets back with your farther because take my word for it they really do deserve each other."

The effects of the champagne were beginning to settle Margaret's nerves.

"Listen Grandpa save the spiel for someone who gives a damn, because I really don't. I may be related to you all by some ironic twist of fate but believe me when I say you Texas in-bred oil dynasties really hold no interest to me what so ever. So you can just take your family disputes and decade old rifts and stick them, well in any old oil well you choose. Later!"

Margaret sashayed away from JR, leaving him momentarily speechless as he watched her walk away, his face suddenly broke into a wicked grin and he let a laugh that was loud enough to make the couple stood near to him turn around.