Author's Note: I wrote this story in large because I got tired of the way some people will look upon the soldiers of Vietnam. I don't approve of the war, I think it was wrong, but I don't think the soldiers who went there, to defend their country out of their own free will, or because they got drafted, deserves to be treated so badly. This story is kind of to point out that for some of them, the suffering from the war didn't' end just because they were able to return home.

Big Thanks to Hazzard Husker for all the help, and to Uncle Mouse for the help she gave me while having no time to help... ;)

Warning: The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.

Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix…. There is a few people in this story I have to claim responsibility for, and should you want them, I never really is impossible.

For The Red White And Blue, But Also For You

Chapter 1: Every Story Has A Beginning

"Alright boys, time ta get yer lazy hides up an' outta them beds," Jesse gruffly exclaimed as he went into the boys bed rooms. He headed for the window and pulled the blinds letting the sunshine in. As far as he could tell the boys had been up and at it just a tad to long the day before. It was morning and both of them were still tucked in nice in their beds, well, Bo was half out of his. That boy moved so much when he slept that Jesse wondered if there was a bed big enough for him. His left hand was hanging over the floor and his right foot was out on the other side, with the cover half kicked off. Oh well, it presented an easy way to get him up as Jesse pulled the cover off him and tickled his foot until the young boy spun around in a fit of giggles.

Luke was on his belly with his arms under the pillow and the cover pulled up all the way, not any really easy targets but he usually woke up fast enough as soon as you shook his shoulder.

"Is it morning already?" Bo asked stifling a yawn as he sat up on the side of the mattress.

"It's been morning for long enough," Jesse grunted as he shook Luke's shoulder and watched as that boy turned around and blinked at him. "Didn't I tell ya boys not to stay out half the night?"

"We didn't," Luke mumbled sleepily as he sat up. "We's home sometime 'tween ten an' eleven."

"Well obviously ya should've have been home earlier than that," Jesse stated gruffly as he headed for the door.

"Uncle Jesse, there's a big hole in my sock," Bo stated from where he sat on the bed still, trying to dress and looking to where his toes were no longer fully inside the sock.

"Well if ya boys were up like ya should an' working on yer chores, we might make enough on this farm to get ya new ones," Jesse chided. "Now, two minutes, an' then I want to see the two of ya in the kitchen."

"Breakfast?" Bo shone up as he headed over to his sock drawer while Luke sat up and pulled on his jeans.

"An' once yer in the kitchen, I wanna see ya go right through it, outta that door, an' at them chores, then ya can come back into the kitchen an' there's gonna be breakfast," Jesse stated as he left the room, oh them boys, there was some things you always knew what would be coming.

"Hey! Bo, leave of them socks, they's mine!"

Like the indignant cry that came from the bedroom as soon as he had left the room. Jesse had a half suspicion how it came that it was always Bo and never Luke who needed more socks, Luke was just naturally more sneaky than Bo.

As soon as the coffee was on the stove the boys came shuffling past him to start on the chores. Hard working boys needed hearty meals so Jesse usually sent them out to take care of the chores, the time it took them to feed all the animals and muck out the stalls was what he needed to have the breakfast ready. Taking the basket from Luke and cracking the eggs from it into the frying pan as he sent the boys on the way to wash up before sitting down at the table.

"Now sit down an eat yer breakfast," he told them as they came back. "After grace Bo." He served them both and handed them their plates before standing behind his chair and folding his hands. Making sure that Bo didn't try to steal any tastes of the food and that Luke was indeed saying the grace. Bo never could resist the food, and Luke seemed to have grown apart from it in the Marines. One could be cured with a glance or a slap on the knuckles, one had to grow back with love and understanding.

"What do ya want us to do today?" Luke asked as he started on his eggs. "I didn't think that we'd start on the harvest just yet," he stifled a yawn knowing Jesse would not appreciate that at his table.

"Not just yet no, but I want ya to get that fence mended, an' that means going over every inch o' it an' make sure it is all in good order, is that understood?"

"Yeah, but why?" Bo asked, barely swallowing first. "We ain't using that fer nothing."

"Have we ever really used that pasture?" Luke frowned.

"We are gonna be using it," Jesse explained. "Mr. Pringles is taking his daughter so that they can go visit that girls grandma, they's gonna be gone fer two weeks, so I promised him I'd look after his two cows an' that goat he has while they's away. Told us we could keep the milk, so we are gonna let the cows grace in that there pasture." He grinned as he knew what they boys were thinking , and would be thinking.

"That is unless the two of ya would rather head over to his farm couple o' times a day to check on them an' milk them?"

"No," Luke shook his head. "We'll take care of the fence."

"Yes sir," Bo agreed.

"When yer done with the fence I want ya to take a look in the pasture, make sure there ain't nothing in there that them cows can get themselves hurt on." Jesse went on, he knew the best ways to motivate them, they were hard working boys alright. They were just young boys who would rather laze around in the shade or in a cool bar then to work and sweat in the hot sun, and who could blame them?

"One more thing," he stated as they were cleaning of their plates off the very last crumbs, were there even a need to wash them after they were done? Both boys looked up at him to see what he would say. "Tonight, I want ya both here before sunset, I've had to drag ya both outta them beds for a whole week now, an' I ain't minded to keep doing it just cause neither of ya show the sense to know when to hit the sack."

"Alright," Luke was the one who nodded, the more responsible one of the two boys. They got up from the table and put their plates in the sink so that Jesse could wash them. Then they were outside loading up the pickup with all things needed to mend a fence, arguing about exactly how much that was since neither wanted to take more than needed, but Luke didn't want to have to go back for more either.

Jesse was outside later in the afternoon tending to the goats as well as mending Maudine the Mule's old harness when the boys came back. They were grinning and laughing joking with each others as they unloaded everything and took it back into the barn.

"Hey, Uncle Jesse," Luke called out. "Mind if we head out now?"

"Well where are ya going?" Jesse called back. It wasn't as if he had to know, but he always wanted to know where they were. He had the instinct of a father many times over when it came to them boys.

"Well ya see Uncle Jesse," Luke rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger in a thoughtful manner while he grinned and his eyes sparkled. "We heard tell that they were two mighty pretty young filly's down by the lake. Bobby Joe came past an' told us he had seen them gracing…."

"An' now yer gonna go over there an' bother them poor girls," Jesse chuckled to himself. They were Duke boys al right, and they had a good eye for a pretty gal, and they went for what they saw.

"Nah, we's gonna make sure that they ain't bothered," Bo grinned. "It's our duty ain't it? Watching out fer them an' make sure they ain't bothered by some bum?"

"Well alright, ya head off," Jesse nodded. "But remember, if ya ain't here by sunset, yer gonna start the day tomorrow in the woodshed, that clear?"

"Crystal," Luke grinned as he headed for the General and walked around to let Bo take the drivers seat as he usually did.

"See ya later Uncle Jesse," Bo grinned as he slid in through the window of the race car. The General hadn't been in their possession for too long, but was already being looked upon as a member of the family.

There was just something about that car together with them boys, they fit so well together that Luke didn't even chide Daisy about stealing his car anymore. The yellow Road Runner had been Luke's first investment in cars, one he had meant to turn into a race car while the old pickup he and Bo had found was better for getting around the farm. Back then there had been something about Luke that often worried Jesse.

Bo was too reckless for his own good, Luke was too careless. The older of the two could be downright dangerous at times, to himself and to others. Especially with the way his anger could boil up at times. He had calmed down, had calmed down a lot and Jesse was grateful for it. He had been glad when Daisy took over the car because he had been actually worried while Luke kept it.

Back then Luke had been trying to prove something at every turn, prove what he could do, prove how good he was, and prove that he was tough enough. The way he had been tearing up the roads Jesse waited for the bad news just about every other time he went out. He wasn't speaking ill of his nephews, either one of them, but the lord knew they had their faults just like every other man. Bo never stopped to think before he did something, and trusted fully to Luke to get him out of every mess unscathed. Luke always did his best to get him out of there, but he was just too fiercely independent for Jesse to fully trust his actions.

The boy had done a lot of growing up in the Marines. He had learned how to control his anger, to cool his thinking and how to operate from more than his own point of view. These days whatever happened Jesse knew that Luke would take Bo into consideration before he did something rash. He knew that his nephew would think about what the consequences would be before he acted, and it allowed him to live through the days a lot easier.

Still, he hoped that they had heeded him, both boys had been skittering close to slacking lately. Harder to get up in the morning. There had been a time after Luke got back when all he had to do to get both boys up was to put the coffee on the stove. Luke would wake up as soon as the fragrance was in the air, and knew to get Bo up as well. Occasionally he would be still in bed when Jesse entered the bedroom, but that was rare occasion. Lately though, Luke had been the same as Bo, never even stirring before Jesse was there to drag him bodily out of his bed.

Jesse hadn't kept curfew on the children since they graduated from high school but had decided that they were old enough to know when they had to go to bed in able to handle the chores. However, if it went on, the curfew was back on as he was getting fairly tired of it. They knew how the animals needed feeding each morning, and while Bo was just a heavy sleeper who had never been a morning person, it was hinting about bad habit forming with Luke.

The boys came in for supper though, both looking dangerously smug and had obviously had themselves a very good time judging by the cheerful manner in which they acted. He grinned to himself, there was nothing that could defeat that good old Duke gene, they sure had an eye for pretty girls and knew how to have themselves a good time.

TBC

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