Five Times Luke Held Bo (And One Time He Didn't)

First time was the night before he left for the marines. Bo didn't even try to be subtle about his intentions when he fumbled across the room and slithered into his bed in the middle of the night. Buried his wet face in Luke's chest and demanded to be held. The kid hasn't done that since he was seven, and those times he used to just make himself some room wherever he could and promptly fall asleep again. He can't even count all the times that he's woken up to find his cousin asleep in the foot end of his bed.

But not this time. No sneaking around. Just silent tears and begging. Didn't exactly make him feel any better about leaving his family to fend for themselves in the midst of revenuers and crooked police officers. With his faith sealed for him he stepped onto that greyhound to face the three hardest years of his life.

Second time was when he came home. Bo was ecstatic from the very first second and it lasted all day until he passed out on the couch after the best meal he can ever remember coming out of Daisy's kitchen. Sprawled across the entire thing like some lazy cat who can't be bothered to leave any space for anyone else. Luke made some space anyway. Made the effort to lift his cousin's upper body high enough for him to settled down underneath. It's weird seeing Bo that big, he's always been his baby cousin and now he's almost a foot taller than him. Since when did the turnip have a right to get taller than him anyway?

That afternoon he spent telling stories all the while never taking his hand out of Bo's soft curls.

The third time was when the revenuers and Rosco finally caught up with them and put them in jail. And there went the family business, all that hard work down the drain because of a careless move. Now, spending a night in jail is nothing new for them, but the fact that they actually were guilty for once made a difference. This wasn't just some charge made up to keep them out of the way long enough for J.D to get away with his newest scheme. They couldn't just break out and run this time.

So the night before their trial they huddled together on the old cot in their jail cell. Wrapped his arms around his cousin and held him close because who knows what'll happen to them when they got to prison for the rest of their natural born lives. Maybe he'll never get to see his sunny kid cousin ever again

The fourth time was after Bo came out of his amnesia, scared and confused. In Luke's opinion using his cousin like he did was a new low for Boss, even worse than that time he tried to frame them when everyone thought they were dead. (When in fact they had spent a rather silly day running around buck naked trying to get home with their dignity intact.) Confusing an innocent kid like he did, turning him against his own family and turning him into a Hogg against his own will.

Generally it would qualify as a hug, it was one, too up until the point where Bo started crying.

The fifth time was the night they both left home to follow their dreams of fast cars and the winning circuit of NASCAR. Found a cheap motel just before the border to Florida, Bo insisted on spending one last night in Georgia before they left their old lives behind. They even shared the bed that night. Wasn't comfortable by any means, the sheets were starched stiff and the mattress soggy in the middle from too many people having slept on it through the years, kind of like their own beds at home. But they made it work somehow.

That night with Bo's head tucked under his chin Luke couldn't help, but wonder if they had just made a mistake.

Then one time it was Bo that did the holding. It was the night that their Uncle Jesse died. The rebuilt farm house was a quiet as a tomb, no more drafty walls and creaking floor boards. He regrets fixing it up, it lost all of it's character in the process, became just like any other house. Their bedroom now upstairs with their new bed waiting for them. It was the last thing the old timer ever got for them, letting them know he was fine with their sinful relationship, that he wanted them to be happy.

That nigh they sat on the porch drinking the last of Jesse's stored away whiskey in his honor. Just him, Bo, Daisy, Cooter and the cold metal of Bo's ring stroking against his skin.