Well everyone, I made it back in one piece! Now, I need a vacation from the vacation:) Anyway, thanks for your patience, and thanks for all the feedback.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Dukes, and no infringements intended.
UNCLE, UNCLE
CHAPTER 25
LOST
"Oh God, Luke! I hope she's alright," Bo prayed aloud.
"Me too," Luke agreed. Seeing the look on Bo's face, he reached over and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find her."
"We don't even know where to start looking," Bo argued.
"Let's start with her friends, and take it from there."
As dusk began to settle on Hazzard, the uncles were no closer to finding their niece than they had been when they started. They'd looked everywhere, and were quickly running out of places to continue searching. As their options dwindled, their panic grew.
Checking in at home base, and with all the others who had volunteered to help search, Luke hung up the cb and looked at Bo. The blonde was gripping the steering wheel, staring blankly into space.
"I don't know where else to go," Bo said flatly.
"Well, we can't stop now."
"I don't want to stop. I just don't know where else to go," Bo corrected. "It's getting cold, and she never remembers to take a coat."
"Maybe she did this time," Luke offered, trying to remain optimistic, though he knew that when it came to jackets, their niece was as much a scatterbrain as his cousin had been.
"What if something happens to her, Luke? After we just got her back?"
"She'll be ok, and we'll find her. Maybe we should start back tracking. I mean, how far could she have wandered on foot? She's only seven," Luke reasoned.
Bo's eyebrows shot upwards, recalling a time when he'd only been five. Ashley was older, bigger, and smarter than Bo had ever been, so that flashback was of little comfort. It did, however, jog another memory.
"I'm going to run away from home, Uncle Bo!" Ashley had threatened.
"Yeah, I remember doing that once," Bo replied. "Never tried it again," he added, chuckling as he thought about his first experience with the world, alone.
"You did? How come?" the little girl asked, forgetting that she was mad at him for something or other.
"I don't even remember, anymore. Me and Luke had a fight about something, and he told me he never wanted to see me again."
"He did? But, Uncle Luke loves you," Ashley stated, scooting closer to her blonde uncle.
"I know that. He loved me back then, too, but sometimes when you live with someone, you fight. Then you say things you don't mean, and you're sorry. It don't mean that you don't love the person anymore, just that you got mad when you probably shouldn't have."
"Did you and Uncle Luke ever have any other fights?"
"Sure princess, lots of them."
"But you always made up?"
"Of course."
"What happened when you ran away?" Ashley probed, forgetting now that she had ever been mad. This was better than any story she'd ever been read. Well, except for Snow White..., and Cinderella..., and Sleeping Beauty. Ok, it was as good as any book they'd ever read to her.
"Well, at first I went to the old Mill, the one by the pond. I thought for sure that they'd find me there, and beg me to come back home. Ending up staying there overnight, and I sure didn't like it, and they didn't come get me, neither, or so I thought. Figured by morning, they did want me to leave, so I started walking."
"How far did you get?" Ashley asked with wide eyes.
"Almost to Chickasaw county," Bo laughed.
"That's a long way!"
"Tell me about it. My feet had blisters for two weeks," Bo agreed, grimacing as he remembered how badly his little feet had hurt.
"Did your Uncle Jesse come and get you, and bring you home?"
"He sure did, right along with Luke. We told each other we was sorry, and forgave the other. They told me that they looked at the mill, but didn't see me. I was hiding in the back, so I guess I hid pretty good. I wish they would have found me. My feet wouldn't have been so sore. Anyway, I swore I'd never run away again. I didn't like it on my own."
Ashley climbed into Bo's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't want to run away anymore, either," she told him.
"Well good, I'm glad, cause me and Uncle Luke would miss you terribly."
"You would? Cause I'd miss you, too," Ashley confessed.
"We sure would, princess. And we'd keep looking until we found ya. Then we'd spank you when you got back home," Bo forewarned her.
"Okay, well I really don't want to run away now. I love you, Uncle Bo."
"I love you, too, Princess."
"Luke, I've got an idea. Just a hunch, but we ain't got any place better to look," Bo said, turning the General around.
"Go for it, Bo," Luke replied, giving him his blessing.
Several miles later, Bo pulled into the dilapidated mill. The years had not been kind to it, and it appeared ready to fall over at any minute. Hazzard had a lot of old buildings like that, and it was time that the County Commissioner hired a wrecking ball before someone, probably a child, wandered inside one of them and got hurt. Bo just prayed that Ashley was there, but wouldn't be the first casualty.
"The mill?" Luke asked, glancing at Bo. "You told her the story, didn't ya?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let's hope she's followed in her Uncle Bo's footsteps and she really is inside."
Crawling through an opening in the boards, the boys cautiously entered the unsteady building. Shining the flashlight, they didn't know if they'd even be able to make out the form of a child. There was so much junk scattered everywhere that a part of them hoped she hadn't spent a great deal of time there.
"Ashley?" they both called, as they walked around. Remembering that Bo had hidden himself well, they didn't want to overlook any nook or cranny. "Ashley?"
"Ssh," Luke instructed his cousin, waving his hand. "You hear that?"
Standing in total silence, the uncles thought they heard a whimper coming from the opposite side of the room.
"I sure did," Bo said, as they both hurried to find the source.
Being extra careful, the boys knew that it could be a wild animal as well as their niece making the noises. Sometimes babies sounded like babies, regardless of what species they were. When they got close enough for the light to illuminate the figure, they could see it was that of a small child. Curled up in a ball, the girl was shivering and crying.
"Ashley!" Bo and Luke shouted simultaneously.
Luke reached her first, but only by a fraction of a second. "Ashley, sweetheart, can you hear me?"
"Uncle Luke," she called, through chattering teeth.
"Yeah pumpkin, it's me, Uncle Luke. Uncle Bo's here, too."
"Uncle Bo?" she repeated.
"Right here, princess."
"I want to go home," Ashley cried, as Luke picked her up and cradled her in his arms.
"That's exactly where we're going," Luke told her, getting himself to a standing position while still holding his niece. "She's freezing Bo, let's get out of here."
Exiting the building in one piece, Bo went to the trunk to grab the extra blankets they always carried. Helping Luke wrap her up, he held onto her while Luke crawled in the window. Then he carefully slid the lax form of the little girl back to his cousin, as he rushed to the driver's side. Hazzard had been experiencing a cold spell, and if she'd been out the entire night, she was undoubtedly frozen, especially since she wasn't wearing a coat.
"Should we take her to the hospital?" Bo asked his cousin.
"No, I think we should take her home, but call Shelly and have Doc Appleby meet us there. We'll have her checked out."
"Shelly, this here is Bo, you got your ears on?"
"Go ahead, Bo. Any luck?" the social worker asked.
"Yeah, we found Ashley, but she's plumb near froze to death. Do us a favor and call Doc Appleby and ask him to come to the farm and check her out. Luke don't think we need to take her to the hospital, but we will if you can't get a hold of him."
"Okay," she replied. A few minutes later, Shelly told called them back, letting them know that the country doctor was on his way to the farm.
"We're almost home, Ashley. Just hang on," Luke told her.
Pacing in the living room a little while later, two anxious uncles waited on word about their niece's condition. The door to her room opened, and Doc Appleby stepped out.
"Relax boys! She'll be fine. She is frozen, but with lots of blankets and warm liquids, she should thaw just fine. You'll just have to watch her to make sure that she don't come down with a cold or pneumonia. I know they say that exposure doesn't cause that, but in my experience, there's enough of a coincidence to believe it does, and she was cold long enough to possibly get very sick. If she starts exhibiting any symptoms, call me early. I'll give her a shot of penicillin, and we'll nip it in the bud."
"Thank you," the boys both said, breathing a sigh of relief.
By the time Bo and Luke arrived at the farm with Ashley, Shelly and Doc Appleby weren't the only ones waiting for them. David Dudley, Cooter, and some of the other searchers who had heard the news that Ashley had been found were all there to welcome her home. Unconscious, she wasn't aware that she had her very own fan club. After receiving the news that Ashley should be fine, the crowd began to disperse, understanding that the family needed to be alone.
"I'll pick up her things in the morning, and bring them out to ya, so don't worry about them," Shelly said.
"We need to get together soon, too," David added. "The Samuels' lawyer has already filed a petition seeking permanent custody. We're going to file our own."
"Okay, we'll call you tomorrow," Luke said. "Thank you, again, both of you."
"Yeah, we really appreciate everything you've done for us," Bo said, as he and Luke both hugged Shelly and shook hands with their lawyer.
"Don't mention it," they replied, walking out together.
Bo and Luke watched them pause by their cars, talking for a few minutes before driving away.
"You know, she's pretty good looking, cuz. I just might ask her out," Bo mused.
"Not if I ask her out first," Luke responded.
"Well, we can worry about that later. Right now, there's another lady that's wanting our attention," Bo stated, draping his arm across Luke's shoulder. "You go on in. I'll make her some hot chocolate."
"You sure?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, go on," the blonde told his cousin.
While Bo searched for the cocoa and marshmallows, Luke quietly opened the door to the little girl's room; the room where his aunt and uncle had once slept. Pausing in the doorway, he couldn't believe how much things had changed. It wasn't that long ago that he, Bo, and Daisy weren't much bigger than Ashley, herself. Glancing at the bed, he laughed at the number of blankets that Bo had piled on top of her. He walked in quietly, not wanting to disturb her if she were still sleeping. She was, so he sat on the bed, gently. Slowly, she began to open her eyes, and this time, she looked more alert.
"Hi!" Luke whispered, gently brushing her long hair away from her face.
Ashley's brown eyes wandered around the room. "Am I home?" she asked, obviously surprised by her surroundings.
"You're home sweetheart," Luke assured her.
"How long do I get to stay?" Ashley asked, lowering her eyes.
"Forever," Luke told her, truly believing now that they would win their custody case.
"Really?" Ashley shrieked, bolting upright and into her uncle's arms.
"Really," Luke confirmed, wrapping as many of the blankets around her as he could without totally disrupting the bed.
A minute later, Bo entered carrying a tray with three mugs.
"Hi! How ya feeling, princess?"
"I'm cold, Uncle Bo," Ashley replied, though the chattering and shivering had subsided
"Well maybe some hot chocolate will help warm you up. How does that sound?" Bo inquired.
"Hot chocolate?" Ashley asked, looking at the cup. "With marshmallows?" she added.
"Of course! What do you take me for? Uncle Luke?"
Ashley Marie giggled as Luke propped her up against the pillows. Setting down the tray on the stand next to the bed, Bo handed her a mug, then gave one to Luke before picking up one himself.
"Uncle Luke says that I'm home for good!" Ashley announced after taking a sip of her cocoa.
"He did, did he?" Bo questioned, casting a sideways glance at his cousin. "Well, he's right! You are home, for good, and no one is ever going to take you away again!"
After several minutes of silence, Bo asked her again how she was feeling.
"I'm still cold, but not as bad," she replied.
"Well, maybe now you'll remember to take your coat, but there better not be a repeat of this, you understand?" Bo told her. Despite everything else that had happened, running away was not something he was going to give Ashley permission to do.
"Are you going to spank me Uncle Bo?" Ashley asked, batting her long lashes at him, remembering his threat to do just that if she ever ran away.
Bo looked at Luke, who shrugged, telling him it was his call. "Because of everything that's happened these last few weeks, no! But if you ever take off again like that, you won't sit down for a week after we find ya. Got it?"
"Got it," Ashley agreed, nodding her head, and thankful that her behind was safe for the moment. Then remembering that she had two uncles, she turned to Luke. "Are you going to spank me, Uncle Luke?"
"What Uncle Bo said? That goes for me, too," he told her.
Taking her empty cup, Bo set it down on the tray next to his own. Luke handed his mug to his cousin, and the two uncles began to converge on their niece. In a game they called 'tickle,' Ashley was tortured by four wiggling hands, but it was a torture she loved.
"Stop, stop!" she giggled, when she could take no more.
"Say it," Bo and Luke told her.
"Okay, okay! Uncle, uncle!"
"Okay, that's better," Bo told her, winking as he tucked the blankets around her.
"It's been a long day," Luke observed. "We all need some sleep."
As the little farmhouse was thrust into darkness, things were almost back to normal. Total peace of mind wouldn't come until Bo and Luke had a piece of paper saying that they had full custody of Ashley Marie Duke.