Bo was jogging out to the school parking lot just as Uncle Jesse and Luke were pulling up to the curb. Jesse looked a little confused, but pleased that his nephew had been released without having to be signed out this time. "Well, what have we here? Looks like you made it out alive, what did I get a call for then if I didn't hafta come sign you out?"

Bo tried to explain what had happened in the office, but about half way through, Jesse got confused in the story he was being told, so he figured he'd better just go in there and hear it straight from Principal Leighton. As he walked away, Bo turned to Luke, who was leaned up against the truck. "What does vindication mean?"

Luke's eyes squinted a little in question, "Why, have you been vindicated?"

"Maybe," Bo continued, and then tried to cover his tracks. "It ain't that I don't know what it means, I just was wondering if you knew."

Luke smiled, "I know what it means alright, so if you know what it means then use the word in a sentence."

Bo was prepared for that, "Vindication can be a wonderful thing." He grinned back at Luke.

Now Luke laughed right out loud at Bo. He'd played this game enough with him to know what was happening. "So let me see if I'm following this okay…someone said that to you, and now you need to find out somehow what that means without going anywhere's near a textbook. How'm I doin' so far?"

Bo's smile faded a little, but perked up as he caught the sight of Arnie and Caleb walking with their fathers from the front door of the school. Both boys were being led away with red and puffy eyes. Bo looked back at Luke, "On second thought," he grinned, "I'm pretty sure I have a good idea what it means after all."

For dinner that evening, Daisy had finally used up some of the tomatoes that she had blanched and frozen from the last harvest to make up a wonderful spaghetti sauce. She had even spiced it up with some hot sausages and jalapeno peppers, because the boys liked their sauce extra spicy. Luckily she had saved some milder sauce out for Jesse, whose stomach couldn't tolerate that kind of upset anymore. However, the gash on Bo's lip prevented him from having any of the sauce tonight as it sent pain searing throughout his mouth. Daisy felt really bad for Bo, who had to sit and watch everyone else enjoy the spaghetti while he made a grilled cheese sandwich with the Italian bread from dinner. She had also regretted the way she had tormented Bo that morning, causing him additional discomfort. When she heard of Bo's ordeal in school today, she decided it was time her baby cousin got a little TLC. After dinner, she did the dishes for him, as he was still on dish duty, and made a comfortable spot for him in the living room.

"Get over here, Bo, let me help you a bit with your aches and pains tonight." She patted some pillows that she had laid on the rug in front of the fireplace. Bo groaned a little as he sprawled on his stomach across the pillows, resting his head on his arms folded under him. She helped him take off his shirt and put a little oil across his shoulders and began a soothing back massage. She hadn't seen much of him since Luke had been back, and she hated seeing him in pain, so she was anxious to help him get back to his old self now. "There you go, hon. Just relax a bit and tell me everything that happened today. I heard you finally caught a break with Mr. Leighton."

Bo closed his eyes and felt the stress of the day melt away under Daisy's gentle touch. He proceeded to tell her all about the volleyball, the shower room, the scene with Arnie and Caleb, and finally the event that had happened in the Principal's office. Daisy listened intently as she continued with his back rub, and she seemed totally engrossed in his recollection of his day. Uncle Jesse and Luke were at the kitchen table, enjoying a friendly game of cribbage and were listening to Bo's story as well. At first, Jesse wasn't sure how he felt with the idea that Bo had refused to obey his principal in the office, as he had taught his boys and Daisy to respect their elders. Then again, he had also taught them to fight against the underbelly of authority, and decided that Bo had made the type of stand that a young man has to make every now and then, so he decided to just let it be. At least it had all turned out okay in the end.

After giving him his back massage, Daisy promptly sent Bo to bed. It was only 7:30, but she insisted that he needed a good night's rest after his ordeal today. Of course Bo could have argued with her, but he could see that Daisy was really trying to be motherly toward him, and he just couldn't bring himself to do anything to hurt her feelings. Besides, he was feeling so relaxed after his massage that the thought of crawling into bed actually sounded pretty good. He wished everyone a good night, managed to sneak his math book under his shirt and retired to his room, closing his door behind him.

After about a half hour and passed and he had taken a proper beating from Uncle Jesse at the cribbage board, Luke decided he was going to retire early as well. Upon entering his and Bo's bedroom, he found Bo lying on his stomach across his bed, his head propped on his hand while he worked on his math homework. Without looking up from his paper, Bo explained, "I'm in bed, Daisy, I just gotta finish my math paper for school tomorrow."

Luke smiled, then walked up behind Bo and collapsed on top of him on his bed, carefully, so not to hurt him too badly. The impact, as gentle as it was, still caused Bo to groan in slight discomfort. Still not looking up, Bo admonished Luke. "If Daisy catches you roughhousing with me, you're gonna get it. I'm supposed to be resting, remember?"

Luke ignored him as he slowly placed his arm around Bo's neck in a mock headlock, "It's only roughhousing if you decide to struggle." He took a moment to peek over Bo's shoulder at the paper he was working on. After a moment, Luke replied, "The answer is C equals 12."

Bo's pencil stopped for a moment. "For real?"

"Yup."

Penciling in the answer given to him, Bo smirked in his direction. "Betcha can't figure out the next one."

Luke tightened his grip around Bo's neck a little. "Don't try to shuck and jive me, cousin. Do your own homework." Luke climbed off Bo's bed and dropped down on his own mattress.

At that moment Daisy walked in carrying a cereal bowl. Bo grinned in Luke's direction with a "You got lucky" smile. If Daisy had walked in a moment sooner, Luke would have been chastised. "Bo", she scolded, "I thought I told you…"

"Now, Daisy. I had to finish my homework. You know I can't get in no more trouble at school. This paper's due tomorrow. I'm resting, I promise. Beside's I'm on my last one now." He quickly finished his equation, looked to Luke for a nod, assuring he had the correct answer, and then tucked his worksheet in his book.

Daisy smiled. "Okay hon." She walked over to his bedside, placing her hand on his cheek. "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm fine. Thanks again for the back rub. It felt great. Really helped with my muscles."

She brushed his bangs out of his eyes and smiled at him. "Anytime, sugar." Then, revealing the bowl she had carried in with her, "I brought you a dish of ice cream for dessert, and thought the cold would help the swelling in your lip." She took the first spoonful out from the bowl and brought it to Bo's mouth. "Open wide."

Bo flashed a quick smile to her as he took the spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. She watched as he swallowed it down and sat up to take the bowl and spoon from her. "Thanks, Daisy. It's just what I was in the mood for."

"Hey! Where's my ice cream?" Luke pouted as he sat up on his bed.

"Don't worry, hon, I got a bowl for you, too." She left for a moment, returning with a second bowl, handing it to Luke. "Here you are, sweetie. You're in good hands, too." She brushed her hand through what little hair Luke had left and smiled down on him. She turned again to Bo. "Do you need anything else before I call it a night?"

"No thanks, Daisy. I'm sure I'll manage okay. Good night."

Daisy leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Good night, baby. Sweet dreams." She then kissed Luke on the top of the head and wished him a good night as well.

Bo's eyes followed her out the door and watched as she closed the door behind her. Bo's eyes then immediately went to Luke, who sat with a stunned look on his face. Bo tried to hide a smile, as he had a good idea what Luke was about to say.

"Wow! She sure has turned maternal toward you, hasn't she?"

Bo continued his ice cream, trying to act casual. "Don't know what you're talking about." He grinned.

"Really? I thought she was gonna spoon feed you the entire bowl."

"Nope, just the first. She does that because that's the spoonful that she sneaks the Tylenol in. She doesn't think I know about it, but I do."

Luke looked surprised. "You know about that?" Now it was Luke's turn to knowingly chuckle a little.

"Yup, I have for years now, and I take it you've known about it too. She knows I hate to take pills so she tries to sneak them to me. It's usually in ice cream, sometimes pudding or Jell-o. Whenever I'm achy or if I'm running a fever, I can usually count on her coming up with some type of dessert she can smuggle some medicine in." He shrugged, continuing to eat his dessert. The idea that Daisy had tried to dupe him didn't seem to bother Bo at all, so Luke had to ask.

"And you've let her do that all this time, and you've never told her that you know what she's doing?"

Bo stopped eating for a moment to explain. "I dunno. It makes her happy to take care of people, and lately she's had her sights on me. It doesn't bother me, and I know she's trying to help. Besides, she's run interference for me with Jesse quite a few times since you've been away, so I really don't want to risk her not being on my side right now." Bo picked his spoon back up. "Besides, why risk losing dessert?"

"Still, her babying you has got to get on your nerves from time to time."

Bo gave him a smirk and pointed his spoon at him. "Oh, no more than you giving me all the dull arrows to go target practicing with, or when you and Cooter 'fixed' my motocross bike so it couldn't go higher than third gear after I dumped it last spring. I could go on and on about that kinda stuff if you'd like me to."

Luke gave a slightly embarrassed smile and shook his head. He studied Bo for a moment as his cousin hungrily continued his dessert. All this time he had thought of Bo as naïve, a little gullible and maybe just a little shy in the thinking department, and as it had turned out the boy had been a step ahead of them all along. He thought back to the conversation that he and Jesse had at the picnic table a few days earlier. Maybe it wasn't Bo who couldn't decide if he wanted to be six years old or twenty, maybe it was the rest of them who were having a hard time seeing how much he had grown up.

"Listen, Bo." Luke confessed. "I want to apologize for going off on you the other day. You were right, I had no call to holler at you like that."

Bo lowered his head slightly. "That's okay. You weren't completely wrong to do so. I had been getting into a lot of trouble at school, and most of it had been all on my own. I deserved it. I really don't know what's come over me this year. My head just couldn't get around the idea that you really had gone away, and I really missed you." He paused a moment as he scraped the bottom of the bowl for the last scoop of his ice cream. "Just the same, it was no excuse for all the slacking off I did at the beginning of the year. Now I'd better concentrate on behaving myself or I'm really gonna pay for it, bigtime."

This reminded Luke of one pertinent detail that he wanted to further discuss with Bo. "I still can't believe you looked right at Leighton and told him 'no' when he told you to get over to his desk for a whippin'. I don't know whether to think you're really brave, or really crazy!" Luke laughed and shook his head.

"Really scared and really stupid's probably more like it." answered Bo. "Man, I shudder ta think what would've happened if that Mr. Kent didn't come forward. As far as I'm concerned, the man's a superhero."

"Well, either way, I'm glad it all turned out okay for you." Luke gathered both of their ice cream bowls and joined Bo on the edge of his bed. "And I also wanted to tell you, you weren't the only one missing his cousin those first few months, or any of the other months. I really missed you, too."

Bo smiled, stretched and yawned. "I'm glad you're back, even if it's only for a short while. You're still planning on getting a racecar started right after you get back permanent, right? We can still do that, right?"

"You bet we can! It's the only thing I've been thinking about. Now that you've finally got your driver's permit, we can go for a drive this weekend and you can practice your sharp turns and such out on Miller's Drive. You just get through school tomorrow, and then we'll have the weekend." He tussled Bo's hair as his younger cousin continued to yawn.

"Man," Bo said sleepily, "I'm wiped out all of a sudden. I'm gonna call it a night and get some sleep. See you in the morning, Luke."

"Okay, good night."

As Luke closed the door behind him, he turned to Daisy, who was in the kitchen wiping down the table. "Gee, for some reason poor Bo can't seem to keep his eyes opened."

"Yeah," Daisy answered with a smile. "Those good muscle relaxers will do that sometimes. I only gave him one, and he needed a good night's sleep."