Chapter 10:

Jo waited at the gate for her father just a bit nervous. She wasn't sure just what he was going to say when he learned that Lukas was in jail for a barroom fight but she had a pretty good idea that it wouldn't be good. She just hoped that having Faith here with her would help keep him from completely blowing his top.

Standing by the stroller, Jo saw her father among the other travelers so she waved him over. With his bags in hand, the general quickly made his way to his daughter and granddaughter and gave both of them hugs as he glanced around while looking for his son-in-law.

"Where's Luke? Didn't he come with you?"

"Actually, no, he didn't."

"He didn't? Why not?"

Jo leaned over to put the infant back into the stroller as she mentally steeled herself for her father's reaction to learning of just why Lukas wasn't with her to pick him up. "Dad, I think I'd better talk to you about that as we head to the car."

Thomas gave his daughter a dubious look before grabbing his bags and followed her to where Joanna had parked the Mustang.

~01~

Daisy cleared some tables as the lunch rush began to wind down a bit and looked up as she saw Enos walking in and head over to the bar to take a seat where he usually did. Knowing that she really couldn't put off talking to him any longer, Daisy went over to take his order.

"Hey, Enos. I haven't seen you in here very much, lately." Daisy took a bar rag to wipe down the counter as she spoke, mainly to give her something to do. "Not for the last week, at least."

Enos looked around bashfully before lowering his eyes to the bar. "I… uh… I've just been busy, Daisy. You know, with the fellas at the jail and all."

"Yeh, havin' the others in there could keep ya a little busy. Listen, I've been wantin' to talk to you. I know that I should have said something to you about the engagement before word got out," Daisy said quickly before she lost her nerve. "I just didn't want to see you hurt, none. You've known that I've been seein' Darcy for a long time and, well, it only feels right to marry him. I've always been very fond of you but I really love Darcy. You understand, don't you?"

Enos looked down at his cup of cocoa for a few minutes before he answered. "Daisy, all I've ever wanted was for you to be happy. I'm sorry that I wasn't the one that could do that for ya, but I am glad that you found someone who could."

Daisy smiled widely and reached out to pull Enos into a tight hug, "I knew you'd understand."

"I know that Darcy's a good man, Daisy. He'll take real good care of you," Enos said as Daisy released him from her death grip.

"I know that, too. Now, how about I get you your lunch now?"

"Sure thing, Daisy," Enos said while trying to be happy for the only woman that he'd ever wanted to love.

~01~

Thomas had ridden to town with his daughter when she took Faith in to the clinic for a checkup. While Joanna was busy inside, the general decided to walk down the street to speak to his son-in-law about getting himself locked up over the holidays. When he was let downstairs by one of the deputies in town, he immediately walked over to stand in front of his daughter's husband's cell and crossed his arms and waited for the explanation that he shouldn't even have to ask for.

"General," Luke greeted his father-in-law with a nod as he felt an eerie case of déjà vu. It had been just over a year since the two had met for the first time and it had been under similar circumstances. Once again, he was locked away after being involved in a barroom fight and the older man had come looking for him down in the cool jail cell.

"When Joanna told me what happened, I didn't want to believe her. Surely the man who had stood before God and everyone else to promise to take care of her hadn't left my daughter alone at home with a one month old simply because you couldn't fight the urge to have a little fun at the local bar again. But here you are, caged up once more. Care to explain yourself?"

"General, believe me, this isn't how I planned to spend Christmas. Obviously, things got out of hand."

"I'll say they did. You and your cousin there getting locked up for beatin' a man to a pulp; or is it alright for two men here in Hazzard to knock the hell out of a third man," Hart narrowed his eyes.

"It wasn't anything like that! Luke was trying to stop me and Ernie, he wasn't fightin'," Bo said as he leaned against the cell bars.

"Then why is it that he was arrested along with you and this other man?" Thomas turned away from Luke and bore a hole into the imprisoned blond.

"Because Boss and Rosco don't pass on any opportunity to lock up a Duke. That's why," Bo snickered. "Ask anybody in town. Go on. There ain't nearly a body in Hazzard who won't tell ya how things really are around here. Rosco ain't nothin' but Boss's stooge. He does whatever Boss tells him to do. Go and talk to the merchants in town. Any one of them will-"

"Bo, that's enough," Luke said quietly from his own cell.

"You honestly expect me to believe that the law in this town is crooked?" Thomas asked but never got an answer because at that moment, Lulu and her brother were coming down the stairs and were arguing the whole time.

"Now, Lulu, I don't think the Boss is goin' to like this none," Rosco said as he stepped out of the way as Cletus came down the stairs behind him carrying a large box.

"You leave J.D. to me," Lulu responded to Rosco then turned to the men behind the bars. "Howdy, Boys!"

"Well hello there, Miss Lulu. You're lookin' mighty fine this mornin'," Luke said politely to the commissioner's wife. He eyed Lulu's green dress with red Christmas flowers. "And festive, too."

"Why thank ya, Luke. I got this dress especially for Christmas," Lulu did a turn to show off her dress.

"It sure looks awfully nice on ya, Miss Lulu," Bo grinned as the kind large woman showed off for the fellas. "What cha' got in the box?"

"Oh, I figured that I'd spruce things up a bit down here since you poor boys are stuck in here over the holidays," Lulu said as looked to the general and offered her hand to the man. "Oh, where are my manners. I'm Lulu Hogg. And you are?"

"I'm Joanna's father, you can call me Thomas."

"Joanna? Oh, you're Jo's daddy! Well, you must be so pleased that she married such an upstandin' fella like Luke," Lulu giggled as she turned to sort through the box that Cletus had clumsily put on the nearby desk.

"Well, I-" Thomas started but the woman continued before he could disagree on the fact of whether or not Luke was all that upstanding.

"Rosco, I need that other box from my car and we need to bring it down here," Lulu said as she sorted through the decorations that she'd brought with her.

"Lulu, I still say that the Boss won't like this," Rosco said as he pulled out a string of lights that he seemed to get tangled up in immediately.

"You let me worry about that. Now, there's a tree that needs to come down here, too."

"What! G-jit! Absolutely not. I have to draw the line right here, Lulu. I can't be havin' you decoratin' a Christmas tree for prisoners," Rosco said firmly as both Duke Boys watched on in amusement. Meanwhile, Thomas was a bit dumb-founded by the exchange.

"Oh poo! Well they wouldn't have ended up prisoners if you didn't arrest them nice boys every time they sneezed." Lulu used some garland to smack her brother with it. "Now that tree might be too much for you to manage. You may need to take some help on up there with you," Lulu said as her face brightened up. "How about you, Bo? Would you mind dragging that thing down here?"

"No, no, no, no! No! He's in lock up and is stayin' in that cell. Now, Lulu, you've gone too far. You're steppin' all over on my authority here."

"I'd be happy to help ya, Miss Lulu. If I could," Bo smirked. Watching Lulu bossing Rosco around was the most fun he'd had since he'd gotten locked up.

"Well ya can't! So don't be gettin' no ideas there, Bo Duke," Rosco said glaring at him.

"Rosco, either you unlock that cell, or I will. Besides, he's only going as far as upstairs to get the tree."

"That's what you think. These Dukes are slippery critters. You let one out, they'll both be out of here and I'll have my hide nailed to the wall," Rosco said with his hands on his hips.

"Fiddlesticks, Bo, you tell him that you ain't goin' nowhere," Lulu said as she snatched the keys from her brother.

"On my word as a Duke, ma'am," Bo grinned as he watched Rosco's eyes bug out as Lulu opened his cell.

"That's good enough for me," Lulu said with a smile. "Cletus, I need you to fetch the other box of decorations, so you go on and get." Lulu then led her helpers back upstairs while Rosco was fussing the whole time.

"I'll admit," Thomas said once he was once again alone with his daughter's husband. "That was a bit of an unusual exchange."

"All just par for the course here in Hazzard," Luke smirked. Sobering a bit, he then straightened and looked back to his father-in-law. "General, trust me when I tell you that this isn't what I want for my little girl. I've been kicking myself harder than you ever could all week. I'm not going to try to change your mind about me. I know that coming from the outside, there just ain't no way to fully understand the way things are here in Hazzard. But don't ever doubt my devotion to my wife and daughter. I may fail them from time to time, but I will always do everything I can to provide for them."

Thomas cocked a brow at Luke and remembered a similar confrontation over a year ago. "I've said this before, Son. You've got balls. I'll give you that much. You've got balls."

Thomas wasn't given anytime to go on since Bo was coming back down with the rest of the decorating committee. Bo stood the large tree that Lulu had purchased for the lower jail into the stand and saw to it that the tree was straight before going back to the cell and pulled the door closed behind him as he continued to smile as Lulu started to give the staff directions on where everything else was to go. Cletus was downstairs bouncing around while Enos was upstairs doing his best to follow his orders as well. Rosco, meanwhile, seemed like he just didn't know what to do.

~01~

Kira looked at her watch and saw that if she wanted to get to the small natural foods store that sold the herbal tea that she'd been using to help settle her stomach lately, she needed to get moving. She had begun to use the herbal tea after Brent and Kevin had given her some when they knew that she'd been getting sick a lot. Considering how sick she'd been this week, Kira figured that she'd better get some extra tea before heading out to Placid. Nearly a whole week in the same house as Pauline was bound to push her to her limits.

Lovely.

On her walk out of the courthouse, Kira saw her friend Brent heading her way. Kira smiled at him as she headed his way.

"Alright, I'm signed up to take the sergeant's exam next month."

"You'll pass it with no problem," Kira said as she grinned.

"You getting ready to head out?" Brent asked since he knew that his long-time friend needed to get home to her family in Hazzard.

"Just as soon as I make a stop at that little shop that you showed me the other day."

"That tea helping any?" Brent asked. His boyfriend had recommended an herbal tea to help Kira with her nausea so he'd taken her some to her hotel Monday night. Brent then made sure that she knew where she could get more.

"Helps enough to get through court at least. I better get going before they close. I'd hate to miss them. I'm out until the sixth. Judge Turner likes his Christmas Break. He doesn't plan to interrupt it for anything."

"Lucky you. At least you get two whole weeks with your family."

"Not so lucky. I get to spend nearly half of that time under the same roof as my mother-in-law. I do get to go home for my boys' birthdays, though. But from tonight to next Thursday, I'll be trying to avoid killing Jebb's mother."

"I'll be sure to keep my ear to the ground for any word out of Placid then. Just promise me if that nausea doesn't go away that you'll check in with a doctor." Kira rolled her eyes. She hated that folks always worried about the slightest stomach ache simply because she'd been so sick in the past. "If you don't, I might call Jebb."

"Don't bother. He saw that I was sick Monday morning," Kira muttered. "Don't ask," Kira added when Brent raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I doubt that he knows that you've been sick for nearly the whole month."

"It's just stress," Kira said as she tried to convince her long-time friend. "Besides, didn't Kevin diagnose it as being Love Sick since I'm not used to bein' away from Jebb and the boys so much no more?"

"And here I didn't think that you were the type that went in for roses and romantic notions," Brent belted out as he gave Kira a hug and wished her a Merry Christmas.

As Brent left, Kira pulled her shoulder bag around and started to dig around in it to make sure that she had everything that she needed before heading out. That was how Jebb found her when he approached his wife wanting to surprise her. He walked over to Kira and slipped an arm around her waist. A bad move considering she wasn't expecting him. Jebb got a sharp elbow to the ribs then before he knew it, his arm was twisted behind his back and he got a face full of the brick wall.

"Well, at least I know you haven't lost your touch," Jebb choked out after having the breath knocked out of him.

"Jebb?" Kira said in surprise as she saw some court officers heading her way. They must be thinking that he was harassing her. Kira released Jebb and motioned to the officers that she was alright. "What are you doing here?" Kira asked as she hugged her husband. She'd missed him this week.

"I figured that I'd save you a drive out to my parents' place for the night. With everything else goin' on in the next two weeks; between havin' to bunk in with the boys at my folks' house, then getting Daisy's wedding together and all…" He shrugged lightly as he finished, "I just figured that tonight might be the only time that we'll get to have some time to ourselves."

"Where are Mikey and Jay, now?"

"With Mom and Pop," Jebb replied. "So, what do you say? Disappear for the night instead of heading on out to Placid?"

Given the choice between spending the night with her husband at the hotel or with him in his old childhood bedroom, there really wasn't much to debate. Forgetting the tea that she'd hoped to go buy, Kira headed off to the parking garage with Jebb and planned to enjoy her time with him while she could.

~01~

Kim packed up for the end of the day and decided to take a few files home with her to keep her busy until nightfall. She couldn't explain it but something felt wrong to her lately.

First Mrs. Miller and her health declining despite the fact that her medication had kept her condition under control for years, then she totaled up the number of women who had come in to the clinic pregnant in the last couple of weeks. All of whom had been on birth control for years. How had that many women beaten the odds of the pills' effectiveness? In addition, there were a few others who had come in for various complaints who were all on medication that should have had them under control.

If she didn't know better, she'd have thought that everyone in town had suddenly just stopped taking any of their medication. Birth control, blood pressure, anti-depressants, even sleeping pills. It was as if all of them had just stopped working for the people of Hazzard.

Making a mental note to talk to Russell over at the pharmacy the next day, Kim locked up the clinic and walked down the street to the garage where she'd parked the General Lee. She figured that Bo and Luke would feel better if they could see their beloved car while she was in town. Plus, it gave her a chance to catch a glimpse at her husband and wave to him each evening before she went home for the night.

Of course she still wasn't used to having to make rounds in the race car but considering that she and Bo hadn't gone shopping for a new car for her to replace her totaled Jeep yet, she'd just have to make do for just a while longer.

Looking across the street at the jail, Kim caught a glance of Bo through the small window in his cell. She blew him a kiss before climbing into the orange stock car and headed home.

~01~

Daisy turned the sewing machine off and lifted her dress, or the part of it that she'd finished so far, and eyed it carefully. She had decided to make her dress look as close to her aunt's as possible with just a little bit of modern flair. She'd even splurged just a bit on the material since she figured that for such a special occasion and the fact that she'd only get married once she should make her dress truly memorable. And who knows, she might be passing this dress down to her own daughter one day.

Taking the bodice, Daisy slipped it on real quick to see if she needed to make any adjustments before she continued. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Daisy got a dreamy look in her eyes as she began to imagine her wedding in only a week and a half. True, it wouldn't be the wedding that she'd always planned but it would be a small price to pay to finally be getting married to a man she loves and having a baby on the way. At least she could still have her uncle give her away and her cousins would be there with her to make it as perfect of a day as possible.

"Daisy," Darcy knocked on the door to the spare room as he called her name. "I thought we were goin' out tonight."

"Don't come in here!" Daisy shouted as she tugged the bodice off and hid it under the rest of the material that was sitting on the bed in the room. "You can't see the dress until our weddin'."

"Then come on out so I won't have to come in to get you," Darcy joked. "I'm hungry and ready to go."

"I'm comin'." Daisy checked her makeup and hair before slipping out of the room, taking great care not to open the door wide enough for Darcy to take a glimpse in to see what progress she'd made on her wedding dress. "Honestly, you'd think that you haven't eaten in a week the way you're carryin' on."

Daisy teased her soon-to-be husband as they headed out. She knew that time together would be scarce after tonight until their wedding since he'd traded some flights with some of the other pilots so that he could get some time off for their honeymoon. But at least she knew that once they were married they'd have all the time in the world together.