Warning: Not-betaed. I apologise for all the grammar and spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for Big Mike, Pee Wee, the Hemmingways and Caster.

Luke put down his unfinished ham roll on the table He didn't feel like eating anymore, so he sat back and picked up a magazine. It was just a woman's magazine, but some of the gossip about celebrities were funny. He'd never here the end of it if Bo caught him reading this. Luke found himself getting sleepier as the hours past. It was little past midnight when Luke was woken up by his name being called out.

"Luke?" Luke shot to his feet at the sounds of Bo's groggy voice. It was enough to wake him up completely and he was at his bedside within a second.

"What's wrong, Bo?" Luke realised what was wrong as soon as he asked the question. Bo's cheeks were flushed and one hand on his forehead told him Bo's temperature was rising.

"It's cold." Bo told him, still not completely awake. Luke reached for the call button and waited for the nurse. "My side hurts." Bo continued mumbling, "Luke?"

"I'm here, Bo." Luke picked up his hand, not understanding why Bo's suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

"I don't like the city." Bo rambled, "It's too noisy and the people ain't nice…just Jack's family, but it ain't like in Hazzard. I have you and Daisy and Uncle Jesse in Hazzard. I don't got no one here. I don't like it here." Bo's eyes were cloudy but Luke could still see the desperate pleading in them, "I want to come home. Can I come home, Luke? I won't be no trouble. I…"

"Sssh…" Luke swallowed the lump forming in his throat. God, I did this to him, I made him think he wasn't wanted. "…you can come home any time, Bo. We've been waiting for you to come home for so long." Luke wiped awake the tears that had escaped the corner of Bo's eye. He tried to tell himself that Bo's words were caused by his fever, but it was still a stab to his heart to hear them. "You never should've left in the first place." Luke wanted to say more but the nurse came in then.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she came up to Bo's bed. "He's got a fever." She didn't need a thermometer to see that.

"He's complaining about his side." Luke told her. The nurse moved the blanket aside to check the wound. She put slight pressure on it causing Bo to flinch and hiss in pain. Luke felt Bo's grip on his hand tighten.

"I'm sorry, Bo, but it looks like the sites infected. I'm going to page Dr Radford." She left the room to call the doctor.

"Doctor's gonna be here soon, Bo. He'll make the pain go away." Luke brushed back the curls that were sticking to Bo's forehead due to the sweat beading there. Bo shivered despite the heat coming from him. Luke pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. "You're going to be okay, Bo. I promise."

Bo smiled at the familiar words. Those words had always given Bo comfort because when Luke made a promise, he kept it. Bo knew everything was going to be fine.

The doctor walked in with the nurse. He did a quick examination of the wound to confirm that nurse's suspicions. "Prep him for surgery."

"Surgery!" Luke jumped at the word. He didn't think it was going to be that serious.

"Calm down, Mr Duke. I need to drain the wound. It's standard procedure for infections like this. It'll take me about an hour or so." The doctor reassured Luke. Luke nodded, but he didn't calm down. He wouldn't until Bo is cleared to leave. Two orderlies came to move Bo onto a gurney when Bo called out.

"Luke?"

Luke quickly stepped up to Bo and grabbed the hand that reached out for him. "It's okay, Bo. Doctor's going to help you. I'll be right here when you get back. Okay?" Bo nodded reluctantly. Luke smiled and gave Bo's hand one last pat before they rolled him out of the room. As soon as the door closed Luke dropped onto the bed. He rubbed his face, as if trying to scrub away this nightmare. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. It didn't matter how many times the doctor told him Bo would make a full recovery, it didn't mean anything until he sees it for himself and so far he hasn't. Luke got off the bed and started pacing the room. It already felt like an hour and it's barely been a minute. "Mr Duke?" Luke's head shot up at the voice. He was shocked to see a nurse standing in front of him. His shock turned to fear when he realised what she could mean.

"What happened? Is Bo okay?" Luke grabbed her by the arms, "What happened?"

"Mr Duke, you're hurting me." The nurse said calmly.

Luke looked at his hands on the nurses upper arms. He let go quickly as if realising he was holding a snake. "I'm sorry."

The nurse smiled, "Its okay, Mr Duke." She held up a cup and two tablets. "This is valerian, it'll help you relax."

Luke shook his head. "I don't want to sleep. Bo will need me when he gets back."

The nurse smiled and put the cup of water down. Gently, she took Luke by the arm and led him over to the couch and sat him down. She frowned at the half eaten breadroll on the table. "Your cousin is in good hands. Mr Radford knows his field, but your cousin needs you too. You're no good to him when you're so stressed." She went back over to the table and picked up the cup, "Valerian will only help you relax, not put you to sleep." She held out the tablets and cup, "It's also the doctor's orders. He can kick you out and make you rest properly if you don't take these." It wasn't the truth, but she figured Luke wasn't thinking clear enough to know it. Luke sighed and took the tablets. "There you go, that wasn't so bad now, was it?"

Luke gave her a small smile, "Just so you know, my name's Luke. Mr Duke's my uncle."

"I'm Jenna. Now, just sit here and relax. You own the orange car, right?"

"Yeah, that's the General Lee." Luke answered. Jenna nodded and left the room, gesturing for him to wait. It was fifteen minutes later that she came back with a sandwich, apple juice and a magazine.

"My brother loves cars. I picked this up for him today, but I don't think he'll mind if you read it first." It was the newest issue of the car magazine Luke and Bo liked to read. "I don't think these magazines are to your taste." She smiled at the woman's magazines on the side table. "I've also got you a sandwich and juice. You've been here the whole day and half a breadroll isn't enough." She wrapped up the half eaten roll to throw out. "Hopefully, this plus the valerian can get you through the next hour or so. I'll be at the reception if you need anything."

Luke smiled. He was feeling much more relaxed now. The tablets must be taking effect. "Thanks, Jenna." Luke opened the magazine as soon as Jenna left the room. She was right, the magazine and the tablets worked. Luke felt considerably less stressed, which in turn gave him back his apetite. He started on the sandwich and juice, reading the magazine at the same time. By the time he got half the magazine the door opened and two orderlies came in with Bo, followed by Dr Radford. Luke got up, "How is he, Doc?"

The orderlies expertly transferred Bo back into his bed.

"We've drained the wound. There was quite an infection there, but it's cleaned now. I've put in an IV line to give him antibiotics just to be sure. He's fever come down and should be back to normal with the next couple of hours. The nurses will come in here and check his vitals every hour until it's down." The doctor looked up from his charts to examine Luke. "You look better than when we left here. I take it Jenna convinced you to take the valerian."

"Yeah, she did." Luke smiled, then turned to his cousin, who was now settled comfortably in his bed, "He'll be okay."

"Yes, he will." The doctor left Luke to watch over his cousin. He brought over the magazine and read it while he waited for Bo to wake up.

Bo opened his eyes slowly, it took a couple of seconds to clear his vision and mind and work out that he was back in his hospital room. He turned his head and found Luke reading a car magazine. He smiled, glad that Luke was able to do something aside from watching over him. "It's rude to ignore other people in the room." He smiled when Luke jumped at his voice.

"About time you woke up." Luke grinned at him, "I'm almost through the whole magazine." Then more seriously, "How do you feel?"

"Tired…sore."

Luke nodded, "Doc said you had an infection. He's drained it, so you should be feeling better soon."

Bo sighed, "How long do I have to stay here?"

"Doctor hasn't given us a timeframe yet, but we need to stay in Atlanta for about a week or so. I want to get the guys who did this to you."

"How do you know who they are?" Bo asked worried that his cousin would get hurt because of him.

"Marcus told me you had a couple of difficult customers the day you got attacked." Bo nodded and suddenly it dawned on him.

"It was them. I recognise their voices now." Bo almost pushed himself up, but Luke was quick to keep him against the bed.

"Take it easy, Bo. Don't want you here any longer than you have to be." Luke said gently before removing his hands and sitting on the bed. "Their car must've broken down again, so they took it out on you."

Bo smiled sadly, "I thought I handled them pretty well. Guess I didn't really think it all through. Probably wouldn't've happened if you were here. I ain't got your smarts."

Luke closed his eyes, wondering when his words would stop hurting Bo. "Marcus told me what happened and I saw the invoice. You handled it the same way I would've. You covered yourself so that if they came back to complain, you would have the proof to say they ignored your advice. They're thugs, Bo. You can't blame yourself for what they did to you."

"Still…"

"Still nothing, if I wasn't so stupid the last couple of months, you wouldn't've left Hazzard and we wouldn't be here. Bo, listen to me carefully." Luke waited to make sure Bo was really listening. When Bo looked at him, he continued, "I know I keep teasing you about your brain or lack of it, but it was just teasing. You ain't stupid and I never thought you were. Heck, if you were stupid, there's no way you can drive the way you do and outsmart Rosco on a daily basis."

Bo gave a short chuckle, "Outsmarting Rosco don't take much, Luke. You're gonna have to find a better example if you want to convince me."

Luke laughed, glad his cousin could still joke. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah, I ain't stupid." Bo looked away.

"That's right." Luke turned Bo's head back to look at him, "And don't let me tell you otherwise."

Bo smiled, "How about other people?"

"Heck, I'll deal with them. Ain't noone allowed to call my cousin stupid and get away with it." Luke promised, making Bo grinned. This was the man he grew up with.

"Thanks, Luke."

Luke smiled and nodded, "It's going to be morning in a few more hours. Go to sleep, we'll talk about getting these guys when you wake up and see when you can leave the hospital."

"Okay. You sleep too." Bo closed his eyes. Luke waited until he knew Bo was truly resting before making himself comfortable on the couch. He still felt as if he had a long way to go before he can get the real Bo back, but he was on his way back and when they return to Hazzard, Bo will be back as well. He was sure of it and Luke wasn't going to let him go ever again. Life in Hazzard without Bo wasn't really life at all.

Two days later…

Luke was talking to the doctor while Bo got himself dressed, which was difficult due to his knee. Dr Radford took another x-ray of his knee and determined that it was healing well on its own. He got Bo to lift his leg up, keeping it straight, which Bo managed to do with some discomfort and a lot of effort. It did prove that Bo's knee would be able to heal on its own without surgery, much to everyone's relief. Dr Radford wrapped Bo's knee for support and gave Luke instructions on changing the bandages on his knee as well as the ones around his ribs and wound. He also gave Bo a crutch to lessen the pressure he puts on his left leg. Bo finally managed to get his jeans over his knee and got them on. The left pant leg was cut short to accommodate the heavy bandage.

"You ready yet, Bo?" Luke asked as he came back in with a clear bag filled with Bo's medication.

Bo grabbed his shirt and put it on, fiddling with the buttons. Putting on the jeans seemed to have taken a lot out of him. Luke batted his hands away and quickly buttoned up the shirt, then knelt down and put on his socks and shoes. Bo smiled at how Luke managed to do this as if he dressed Bo every day. "All done." Luke handed Bo his crutch and helped him off the bed. "Let's go."

"Home?" Bo asked softly and longingly.

Luke gave Bo a small smile, "Soon, but not yet. Remember what I told you, we need to wait until Thursday to catch the guys that did this, then we can go home." Luke gave Bo's hair a gentle ruffle. "I promised Uncle Jesse and Daisy I'll get you home."

Bo smiled and started for the door. "Where are we staying for now?"

"Where else? Your place."

Bo's eyes widened, he stopped and looked back at his cousin, "M…my place?"

"I'm welcomed, right?"

Bo frowned, "yeah, but the place is a mess?"

Luke shook his head, "Jason and his wife went there and cleaned it up and Marcus fixed the lock."

Bo smiled, "I'm lucky to have them here."

"Come on, let's go. I borrowed a car from Marcus. He's looking after the General Lee for now." Luke kept a hand on Bo's arm as they made their way to the car. Bo eyed the bag of medication in Luke hand. "Why are there so many?"

Luke looked down at the bag he was holding. "Pain, anti-inflammatory, anti-biotics and nausea."

"Do I need them all?" Bo continued frowning at them.

"Nah, they had too many so they started giving them out." Luke said with a straight face. Bo glared at him, making him burst out laughing, "Of course you need them all!"

"Gonna feel like a lab rat after all them." Bo grunted as Luke took the crutch off him and helped him into the back of the pick-up truck. The doctor's orders were to keep Bo's leg straight as much as possible. Luke put a mat in the back to cushion the ride back to Bo's apartment. The ride wasn't so much of a problem as the walk up the stairs was going to be. Six flights up to the third floor are going to be taxing on both of them.