Author's Note: This is a Christmas story, and I am posting it because Halloween is coming up… I am doing it this way because it's tradition to post Christmas stories during Christmas season, and those of you who know me very well will not be surprised by this but just shrug and wonder why I ain't still locked up in the hotel with the soft padded room and hug-yourself-jackets, the answer is, they were booked full….. ;)

Anyway, this is meant to be a cute little story about how the Duke kids gets to celebrating Christmas and I hope y'all will enjoy it.

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 am impossible.

Big City Christmas

Chapter 2: In The Big City

Bo had stopped crying but he was still a bit sad, and he was started to miss the rest of his family, even though Luke had done his best to comfort him. It was hard, because Luke really didn't know what to do. In Hazzard it was easy, if he was in town and something happened there was plenty of places he could go. Like when he and Bo was playing and Bo tripped and cut his hand. It didn't bleed a lot, but Bo was crying so Luke let him ride piggy back over to the post office where Miss Tisdale helped them clean it off and gave them each a cookie. They didn't even have to take a number like Uncle Jesse always had to do. Luke had been trying to, but he couldn't reach them and Bo was crying, so she just took them into the office behind the front room and made it all okay.

Almost everyone in Hazzard was like that, you could knock on any door if you were thirsty and needed a drink of water or something, or like when he missed the school buss and had to call uncle Jesse. The big city wasn't like that, he wasn't sure exactly what it was like, but he knew it wasn't like Hazzard.

"Luke, my feet hurt," Bo complained as he trudged beside him. Luke was mostly walking around, hoping to find some way to make sure Bo got back home.

"We can rest for a bit if ya want to," he offered Bo.

"I wanna go home to Uncle Jesse, can't we go home, please Luke?" Bo begged.

"I can't go home till Santa has come," Luke reminded him. "But don't worry Bo, I'm gonna make sure that ya don't miss him."

"Promise?" Bo asked again.

"I promise," Luke nodded and gave Bo a hug, which Bo rewarded with kissing his cheek.

"Luke, my feet still hurt," Bo whined softly.

"Alright, ya can ride piggy back," Luke knelt down so that Bo could climb up on his back.

"I'm hungry," Bo whispered into his ear as he leaned his head on Luke's shoulder.

"I got one more apple," Luke told him. He had given Bo most of them, dead set on taking care of his little cousin.

Bo shook his head. "Tired of apples Luke, can I have something to eat, please?"

Luke didn't have to look into his blue eyes to feel the power of them. He felt so sorry for having dragged Bo into this, and he was starting to get awful scared maybe it hadn't been such a good idea either. It had seemed like a perfect plan, but only for him, not for little Bo in a big city. What if Santa got so mad at him for dragging Bo into it he never came back to the farm?

"Okay Bo, I just need to find something good, can ya wait till I do that?" He had brought his entire savings with him, which wasn't much at all, but it would be enough for Bo to eat till he could find a way to get him back home. He walked into a big store and smiled as he found a hamburger restaurant, buying Bo a hamburger and fries. It was so much that Bo wasn't able to eat all of it so Luke got a little for himself as well.

"Love ya Luke," Bo kissed his cheek again and smeared ketchup on him but Luke didn't mind. He was just so happy he had Bo for his cousin that he hugged him.

"Bo, can ya come with me, an' keep yer eyes closed?" he asked.

"Why?" Bo asked while he nodded.

"I can't tell ya, but it's real important," Luke told him.

"Kay, but only if I get to ride piggy back," Bo told him and Luke knelt down again for him. The reason was that Luke had spotted a toy store and walking inside it he bought a little red match box car and a small blue rubbed ball, that way, if something went wrong, Bo would get that much for Christmas, and he would think Santa had been there and left it for him.

For the moment though he left it in his pocket and sat down with Bo on a park bench to do some thinking.

"Luke, are we gonna be here long?" Bo asked him trying not to cry. They had been away awfully long and he was getting mighty homesick. When he and Luke slept over at Cooter's or Enos' house he sometimes got homesick and wanted to go home in the night, but it had never been this bad. Cooter's mama was great when you was sad, she was so nice to you, and she would take Bo and tell him a story until he fell asleep. Enos' mother had taken him home in the middle of the night once when he started to feel sad because he missed his aunt and uncle, now it felt a hundred times worse.

"I don't know Bo," Luke told him. He was getting desperate for a way to get back home, and he was doing his best to think about something.

"I wanna go home Luke," Bo cried silently and Luke wished he knew how to call the farm in Hazzard, but he didn't. In Hazzard you just asked the nice lady at the phone company to connect you to wherever you wanted to call, but he knew it didn't work that way in the city, they wouldn't know where the Duke farm was.

He was trying to comfort Bo when he realized something, it was getting pretty late now but he had seen a sheriff station earlier, and uncle Jesse had told him that a sheriff was the same everywhere. They were supposed to help you with all kinds of things. Thinking about it, Joey in school said he got lost once in the big city an' the sheriff helped him find his mama and papa again.

Lifting Bo up to carry him Luke walked back along the streets until he found the right house and knocked on the door. Bo was still crying in his arms and didn't really notice where they were, and Luke got worried when no one answered the door. Trying to be as brave as he could he pushed at it, and walked in when it opened. Looking around he spotted a man sitting behind a desk and walked over there.

"Hey there, what's wrong children?" the man asked as he heard Bo's quiet crying and looked up.

"Sorry to bother ya sir, but I kind need some help finding a way to get my cousin back home," Luke told him.

"I wanna go home," Bo whimpered. "I miss Uncle Jesse an' Aunt Martha Luke."

"Are you lost?" the man asked as he came around the desk and kneeling down in front of them.

"Not really, I guess," Luke frowned. "We's in Atlanta ain't we?"

The man nodded. "I'm Deputy Johnson, can you tell me your names?"

"I'm Luke Duke, an' this is my cousin Bo. I didn't mean to bother ya or nothing, but Bo ain't supposed to be here, so I need to find a way to get him back home," Luke explained. The nice deputy kept asking questions, and Luke answered the best he could. Bo had stopped crying, but it was mostly because he was distracted by the Sheriff badge that was now pinned on his shirt while he wore a too big hat on his head. Deputy Johnson had done that so he wouldn't cry anymore, and seated where he was in Luke's lap, Bo was okay for the moment.

Luke felt like crying when the deputy told him that he had gotten a report about two missing children in Hazzard that everyone was looking for. Finding out that he knew who they were because everyone was searching for them Luke started crying. He was sure that meant he had just been more bad than he had ever been before in his life, and when he got back his uncle would punish him so bad. He couldn't help it, he was scared and this was one time when his uncle wouldn't comfort him.

He tried to explain why he had done it, and that Bo wasn't supposed to be with him. He tried to explain that he had just wanted to make sure that his cousins would get their presents, and that he didn't want to be so bad, but he wasn't sure if the nice deputy understood it. Even if he knew that they never really did lock up children in jail, if people thought that he had run away, and taken Bo with him, maybe they would make an exception, and Luke didn't want to go to jail. If he did, he'd never get to see Bo, or uncle Jesse, aunt Martha or even Daisy, Cooter and Enos ever again. So he just couldn't help crying.

The sheriff deputy was still nice, Bo had fallen asleep so he put him down on a couch they had there and then he sat down trying to talk to Luke and offered him something to eat. Luke didn't want anything though, but it was a long time until his aunt and uncle could get there. Luke knew they were on the way because Deputy Johnson said that they were.

After a while Bo woke up and he wanted something to eat, so Luke tried to explain he still had a little money left and wondered if there was anything he could buy for his cousin. Deputy Johnson got food for them but he refused to take Luke's money for it. He said that they always fed prisoners and little lost boys. Luke had to smile a bit, because Bo declared that he wasn't lost at all, he was with Luke and Luke knew where they were. He had the badge and the hat on him again and begged Deputy Johnson to let him go into a cell for a little while, he even was brave enough to let him close the door.

Luke would have loved to do that to but he was too scared, so he didn't. He found a corner to sit in and tried to be invisible. Bo found him though, and came over with some papers and a few pencils, declaring that he wanted to make deputy Johnson a Christmas present and Luke had to help him.

Since it took his mind of his fear for his uncle Luke helped him and together they made a few drawings, a really good air plane and Luke knew how to fold both a bird and frogs out of paper, the frogs could even jump. When they were done, they folded one paper around it all and gave it to the deputy, telling him he couldn't open it before Christmas.

Bo had just settled down on the couch as deputy Johnson tried to make him take a nap when the door opened. Luke saw his uncle, and he saw Bo run to him so he ran himself. Only he ran in the other direction and darted in behind the desk.

"Luke!" Hearing his aunt's voice he crawled in further under the desk.

Jesse gave his wife a small smile and handed her the little boy he was holding. Bo was already telling all what they had been doing, very excited by the adventure.

Bending down by the desk Jesse reached in and pulled Luke out where it was easier to talk to him. The boy didn't resist him, but Jesse could see in his eyes he was scared. "Now what has this all been about Luke?"

"Bo wasn't s'posed to go with me," Luke defended himself. "I was supposed to go, not Bo, I didn't mean to take him with me, I tried to get him back home."

"An' that ya did a good job off," Jesse nodded. "Luke, we've been scared to death when we couldn't find ya, thinking what could've happened to ya. I ain't really mad right now, but I've been very worried for ya both so bad."

"Are ya gonna get mad at me when ya stop being worried?" Luke asked carefully.

"I don't think I will this time," Jesse told him thoughtfully. "Luke, is this cause I had to punish ya before?"

"Kinda," Luke admitted. "Aunt Martha said that Santa wouldn't go to a house if there was a kid there was naughty."

"So ya ran away because ya was thinking Santa wasn't gonna bring ya anything?" Jesse asked wishing the boy had just asked him about that.

"No," I did it so that Santa was gonna come for Bo an' Daisy," Luke explained. "Ya said that if there was a naughty child in the house Santa wouldn't come at all, an' I couldn't let them miss Santa cause of me could I?"

"So let me see if I get this right," Jesse said patiently. "Ya thought that since ya misbehaved, Santa wouldn't come to Bo an' Daisy either, so ya ran away from home, and Bo followed ya."

Luke nodded slowly.

"Luke, why did ya run away, didn't ya understand that we were gonna worry?"

Luke shook his head.

"Luke, how could ya not understand that?" Jesse asked him.

"Why'd ya worry about me if I's bad?" Luke asked in return.

"Hush Jesse, this ain't the time for that," Martha had a half sleeping Bo in her arms but knelt down to hug Luke just the same. "Luke, there is something very important ya have to understand right now," she told him slowly.

"Your uncle and I love you very much, and we have been very worried about you. We are not bad because this is really our fault more than it is yours, so I don't want you being scared of being punished, okay?"

Luke nodded slowly.

"Come on then," Martha smiled. "Lets go on home."

"But what if Santa don't come if I do?" Luke asked her worriedly. Apparently this was a time when she understood better than their uncle did.

"We're gonna talk about that tomorrow," Martha told him. "But I promise you Luke, ya don't have to worry about Santa not coming cause we go home now, but we need to get you and Bo both home to bed."

"Kay," Luke agreed and told the nice deputy goodbye, giving him a small hug and thanking him for all that he had done for the two cousins. Especially thanking him for being so nice to Bo, then he followed his aunt and uncle out to the car.

His aunt settled the two boys in the backseat of their car and Luke wrapped an arm around Bo's small body to keep him safe as he slept in the car.

"Close those pretty blue eyes now Luke," Aunt Martha told him as she turned around in her seat and reached out to brush her hand over his cheek. "Little boys need plenty of sleep, and it's very late for ya to still be awake."

"Aunt Martha?" Luke started quietly.

"Yes Luke," she urged him on.

"Are ya sure yer not mad at me?"

"I'm very sure son," she smiled. "I don't want ya to worry about that Luke. We're not mad at ya, we ain't gonna spank ya or punish ya for this in any way, so don't ya worry about it now an' get some sleep."

"Kay, night Aunt Martha, night Uncle Jesse," Luke pulled a corner of the blanket they had spread over Bo onto himself and closed his eyes. Having been worn out tired he fell asleep instantly.

When they reached the farm many hours later they carried the two sleeping boys inside without waking them, and thanked Rita Davenport who had come over to stay with the little girl until they could come back with the boys. They were all exhausted so even though they had to get up early in the morning they decided to let the boys sleep in.

TBC

Please review, the Cricket is hungry……