Author's Note: It seems a lot of the time my stories are to some extent inspired by one or another creation of my Uncle Vinsmouse's, and it's like it once again. This is no sequel or anything like it, it's just an idea came to mind when I read one of her stories.

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…. The girl however I've got to claim as mine, so let me know if you'd want her once I'm done with this, ;)

Taking a Chance on Love

Chapter 1: The News

Jesse frowned as he woke up by a noise coming from the kitchen. He had heard it too many times not to recognize it, somehow, whenever the boys had one glass too many they never could walk past that kitchen chair, they always fell over it, and one day sooner or later that chair would break.

He just never could figure out how come they simply didn't walk around it, but it was just the way the boys were. Hearing the scraping of someone straightening it up, and then the silent padding of someone who had taken his boots of he figured whoever it was could manage on his own.

If not, they wouldn't have gotten back up again, and Jesse was firm in the belief of letting them pay for it if they had more than they could carry out. Hangovers didn't get anyone out of work as long as he was in charge, and it was a rare thing for the boys to get that drunk. Still they were young, they were allowed to make the mistakes of youth.

Falling back to sleep he was sure he'd know which one it was in the morning.

Sure enough, when he entered the kitchen in the morning Luke was already there, nursing a cup of black coffee and an aching head both.

"I see you were having fun last night," Jesse chuckled as he grabbed the skillet and put it on the stove, grinning as Luke winced at the sound.

"Not as much as ya'd think," the boy mumbled.

Jesse frowned, that didn't sound as if Luke had been drinking them down with his buddies. "So how come ya got that drunk then? If it wasn't fer fun."

"Pure stupidity, I reckon," Luke shrugged. "T'was that or throwing a fist through the wall." Swallowing the last of the coffee he pushed to his feet. "I'll get started on the chores."

Luke came back inside when the breakfast was just about ready, carrying the egg basket and the milk pail with him. Bo and Daisy was already seated at the table, Bo with his hair still damp from his morning shower.

Not commenting on the hangover Jesse served them all up a plate as Luke sat down at the table, saying grace before the boys started eating. Still, he could tell something was heavy on his oldest mind.

"Wanna tell us what's bothering ya, Luke?" Jesse finally asked.

"Not particularly," Luke managed. "See, I don't reckon yer gonna like it none."

"In that case I think it's something I should hear, out with it boy," Jesse told him firmly, putting down his fork.

"Sally an' me are gonna get married," Luke told them looking down.

"Luke, that's amazing!" Daisy exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck while Bo hollered loudly. Jesse however knew what that look in his eyes meant.

"Luke, how far gone is she?" he asked quietly, dampening the others mirth.

"I don't know, she just, that is she came to me yesterday an' said," Luke broke off unable to continue.

"She's pregnant?" Bo burst out.

"Luke!" Daisy chided, smacking him on the arm.

"Well, ya know what ya's got to do then," Jesse nodded. "Does her folks know?"

Luke shook his head, "No, she ain't told them yet."

"Well, I reckon we's best get this done with as soon as possible," Jesse stated. "Ya can wear yer suit Luke."

Luke nodded, knowing what that meant, no church wedding. They'd go before the justice of the peace as soon as possible before anything showed, and the way his uncle pointed it out he knew how disappointed the old man was in him.

"May I be excused?" he asked, unable to eat anymore.

"You may," Jesse nodded. "If ya need some time to think, I'll let ya have that to, but be sure ya do the right thing."

"Yes, sir," Luke pushed off from the table and hurried outside. Climbing the ladder to the hayloft he sank down in a deep brooding.

"I can't believe Luke did that?" Daisy burst out, shaking her head.

"I can, I guess," Bo admitted. "I mean, he'd mean no harm, but he's, well, experienced."

"That don't excuse it Bo," Jesse told him sternly. "I hope yer gonna learn from this, because he's gonna be living with that mistake for the rest of his life."

In the meantime Luke was doing some heavy thinking. He had been aware of the risk when he did it. Sally was a hot head who never thought about consequences. Luke was the smart one, the one who should have known better but right then he hadn't cared. He knew nothing about kids, but he liked spending times with the kids at the orphanage. If he was gonna be a daddy he was determined to be a good one, and he was pretty sure that he could be. He had plenty of experience from when Bo was little.

The though of settling down scared him, but it could be worse, he was fairly sure that his uncle would let them settle down somewhere on the farm. He and Bo could easily build a small house for them, and he'd be able to work the farm as always.

As long as he was close to his family he was pretty sure that he would be able to handle it all. In fact he supposed that he was more ready for it than Sally was, and he wasn't sure about spending the rest of his life with her, but he could live with it if he had to. Never going with any other girls, now that one would be harder, but it was like his uncle said, a man had to do what a man had to do. He'd just have to deal with it.

At least he could still be looking at the girls when he went to the Boar's Nest, because there was no way any girl he wound up marrying told him what he could and couldn't do. Not on his free time when he wanted to cut back with his cousin.

Slipping back down the ladder again he got started on the chores, wishing he could head for the kitchen and get something for his aching head. It was pounding pretty bad and the hard work he was doing wasn't helping none. Yet there was work he had been putting off, more than once, and he was in more trouble already than he knew what to do with. The strangest thing was that for once it wasn't because of a little fat man in a white suit, it was all his own doing.

The two of them had sneaked off, and boy had they done some sneaking at that. Gone off to the pond and spent the night in an old fishing cabin there when her folks were out of town. Luke had taken her home in the early dawn, going back to the farm and slipping in through the bathroom window. Using his knife to open the hatch he had climbed in as quietly as possible, grabbed a quick shower and when he was in the bedroom changing clothes Bo woke up, thinking that Luke had already made his bed, and never knew he hadn't even been sleeping in it. He never lied, no one knew he had been out that late, not even Jesse who always seemed to know even seemed to suspect it. The only thing he did was telling Luke he'd better cut down on the coffee before he burned a hole in his belly.

Well, he got away with it, just as he had before. He had been out with her later than he should many nights, and Jesse never knew a thing. Because the only clue was that Luke was drinking a few extra cups of coffee to keep himself alert, but since that happened every now and again for other reasons, Jesse just didn't seem to think about it.

While he didn't care much for the idea of talking with her parents, that wouldn't happen yet as they were still away, visiting some relative, and she was alone in Hazzard. When they got back, Luke had no doubt he would be running, ducking buck shots. As if he was the only one to blame, it was her choice as much as his. In fact, all he had done was letting her do what she wanted to do. He wasn't sure exactly why he was supposed to be the only one responsible.

Thinking about it he was distracted enough to bring down the hammer on his finger rather than the nail and he dropped the hammer muttering curses under his breath while grabbing at the hurt finger. Cursing louder as the hammer he had dropped landed on his boot instead of the ground.

"Lucas!" his Uncle snapped behind him and Luke sighed. It was just what he needed for his uncle to hear him curse.

"Sorry, sir," he mumbled.

"Language like that ain't gonna make nothing better," Jesse pointed out as he came closer. "Not yer clumsiness of hitting yer fingers, any more then yer stupidity with that girl."

"Thanks fer reminding me, I'd near forgotten about that," Luke told him sourly picking up the hammer again.

"Hold it a minute Luke," Jesse went on and Luke paused, mainly because there was a different note in his uncle's voice. "Here son," Jesse told him and Luke turned around and saw him holding out a glass of lemonade. It had to be cold because there was moisture forming on the glass.

Still Luke made no move to take it, right now he didn't know what to expect, why would his uncle be bringing him lemonade, just to get a chance to lecture him again? It didn't really make sense.

"It might help with yer headache some," Jesse pointed out, stepping closer and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Go on, sit down an' have a drink."

So Luke sank down on the ground while leaning his back against the fence while he sipped the cool lemonade, finding that it soothed both his dry throat and his aching head. The cold glass felt pretty good on his sore finger to, come to think about it.

"Luke, don't ya reckon we should talk any about this?" Jesse asked him in a softer voice than Luke had expected.

"What is there to talk about?" Luke asked taking another sip. "I already know I'm the disgrace of the family."

His voice let Jesse knew just how bad he felt about it. "Now, I wouldn't say that Luke, but we all make our mistakes. We both know what yer mistake here is, an' mine, well, I reckon mine is not giving ya enough support."

"I don't know what yer talking about," Luke told him.

"I reckon ya sneaked off wi' her," Jesse told him thoughtfully. "Don't know exactly what ya was thinking, but I do know one thing, it ain't because ya wasn't. Yer a smart boy Luke, there are times I get to thinking yer smarter than me."

"Oh yeah, that'd be the day," Luke snorted.

"Would ya quiet interrupting me?" Jesse demanded, wondering what had brought that on, usually the boy took pride in his greater intellect. "What I'm trying to tell ya is that I know yer mighty smart Luke, an' I know that I don't really have to worry about them two other kids when they's with ya because I know just what ya can do to look out fer them, but I keep forgetting someone ought to be looking out fer you to. I reckon I ain't been doing that quiet as much as I should. Because I'm thinking if I had, then maybe we wouldn't be here talking about this."

"Look Uncle Jesse, I ain't a little kid no more, I'm a grown man, yer always telling us that a man has to take responsibility fer the things that he does, so quit trying to take the blame fer my mistake. If ya feel like ya can't believe how I could fail ya as much as I did, then tell me so, but don't go trying to make it better by putting me on yer lap like if I's still five," Luke told him angrily. He knew he was out of line by talking that way to his uncle, but it was just something he had to say. To his surprised Jesse didn't get mad, just gave him a sad smile.

"I know yer a grown man Luke, but that don't mean yer on yer own, ya's always a mite to quick to show how independent ya was, but Luke, even if ya made a mistake, yer still my little boy, an' I'm gonna be there fer ya. If yer gonna be marrying that girl an' making a family wi' the little tyke, I don't want ya thinking I'm so disappointed that this ain't yer home no more."

"Then how disappointed are ya?" Luke wanted to know. "In there, it kinda sounded like I'd be thrown out of the family." He knew it wasn't quite it, but at the moment he was hurting, and that hurt had to go somewhere. He knew that no matter what, Jesse would never shut him out, he knew that. It was just that he was angry and he was hurting, when his uncle took the anger away, Luke tried to hide the hurt, and the only way to do that was to cover it with more anger.

"Not so much ya need to be out here hammering yer fingers down to a nub," Jesse told him. "I'm disappointed I reckon, but I got to do some thinking as well. I was telling myself that ya ought to have had more sense being the oldest, but that ain't hardly fair to ya, them other two is big enough now it ain't fair to always make ya out as the one has to know best. Luke, listen to me son, whatever mistake ya made, we're all gonna be here for ya to try an' work it out, I promise."

Luke nodded, taking another sip of the lemonade, starting to feel a little better.

Jesse patted his back, wishing the boy wasn't gonna be put through that. He was thinking that he'd probably done the boy wrong a time or two, because when Luke started trying to show his independence, Jesse had matched it by putting more and more responsibilities on him. He had put Luke in the role of answering for the actions of the two younger cousins, when all three kids did wrong, he always came down the hardest on Luke, because he was the oldest and ought to know better. It wasn't fair to assume he'd always know better, and it was just a crying shame that it took something might destroy his entire future before Jesse came to see that.

Patting the boy on the back again and taking the now empty glass he walked back to the house, hoping he could keep the boy from being miserable for the rest of his life.

TBC

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