"Dang blasted!" Boss Hogg exclaimed, causing his loyal, well… mostly loyal, sheriff to jump.

"Here we go again." Rosco muttered under his breath.

"I'm losin' money, Rosco! I'm losin' big money! There ain't no one to man the diesel pumps, I've got Defects takin' my fuel for free, and the business's gone down so bad we's startin' to look like a ghost town!"

"Boss, I think you're bein' a little overly dramatic; the business ain't that bad."

"Ain't it? Rosco, I make more money bein' the Hazzard County probation officer than I do sellin' whiskey, contraband, and watered-down beer!"

Rosco shook his head, resituating Flash in his arms.

There was a long pause. "Wait a minute." Boss Hogg checked his pocket-watch. "Oh, I knew I was forgettin' somethin'; I was supposed to meet the Duke boys fifteen minutes ago!"

"Wh-where?"

"Well at the courthouse numbskull! We just got it put back together after that no-good-nephew-of-mine blew it to pieces."

"Oh yeah."

Rosco'd nearly forgotten about the courthouse; he and his deputies had been operating out of the Boar's Nest ever since it'd been blown up by Hughie Hogg and his goons. It'd been rough these past few days, with the Jackson case, and now his 'accidental' death. Despite what everyone else thought, Rosco had finally managed to get something through that thick head of his, and that Jackson did deserve death. After what he'd found out, and what Cooter had told him, he decided to do some digging of his own. What he found made him sick to his core.

Yesterday, he bought a bouquet of flowers and drove for nearly an hour just to visit a young man who would never walk or speak again because of what Jackson had done to him when he was twelve. It'd been four years since he hurt him, but Rosco could tell, the boy was still devastated.

He couldn't imagine Bo having to go through that. It was heartbreaking to watch someone struggle alone, especially with something such as that. He suddenly wondered who else knew. Who else knew what Jackson did to kids? Cooter, no doubt, Christine, maybe, the folks in Osage, definitely, the Dukes, not a clue. As it should be, Rosco thought. He knew he could never bring himself to tell Bo, or any Duke, that Jackson molested kids. That night when Bo had come so close to an unspeakable fate, that was enough to convince Rosco that Jackson needed to be gone. However, with the Hogg brothers having practical ownership of him, it was almost impossible to do, until now. God, how Rosco wished he could have been there. How he wished he could've watched Jackson die a painful death. Justice for the children the sick man had killed, raped, and broken. Justice for the boys and girls who couldn't find peace with themselves after they'd been hurt.

Suddenly, Rosco was jostled from his thoughts by Boss Hogg snapping his fingers in front of his face, causing the sheriff to jump once more.

"Wh-what?" Rosco mumbled.

"Peabrain! I was sayin' that since I missed the meetin', we might as well head over to the Duke farm to make sure everythin's right and orderly." Boss Hogg explained, aggravated.

"R-right."

Boss Hogg grabbed his hat off the hook and walked out the door, Rosco following. As they walked out into the bar room of the Boar's Nest, headed for the front door, Rosco found himself pulled aside by Cooter.

The wily mechanic handed the sheriff a folded piece of paper. Rosco almost began to unfold it, but Cooter stopped him.

"Don't open it." Cooter growled in a low voice.

"Why?" Rosco asked.

"Where're you goin' right now?"

"Th-the Duke farm."

"Perfect. Now, I need you to deliver this to Bo."

"Why? What is it?"

"It's the answer to all our prayers."

Rosco looked down at the paper in his hand. Somehow, this didn't feel right, but he knew that it was.

Now ain't that funny how our hearts can think one thing… and our brains think another?

As Rosco continued out of the bar and to his patrol car, he naturally wondered about the paper. The answer to all our prayers, huh, he thought.

The ride out to the Duke farm was a slow one. When they got there, they were intercepted by the General Lee and his mysterious pick-up friend. After some convincing from Boss Hogg that they didn't want any trouble, General let them through.

With his paperwork gathered, Boss Hogg knocked on the front door. Rosco stood behind him at a distance, leaning against the hood of his patrol car. No one answered the door. Again, Boss Hogg knocked.

"Maybe they ain't home." Rosco remarked.

Just then, the door opened, and Bo leaned out. Boss Hogg was taken aback, jaw slightly agape. He suddenly remembered the way he looked when he returned from Hollow Hill. On the right side of Bo's face, his cheek was bruised. On the left side, he had a bruised eye and another bruise on his jaw. His hands were bloody as well.

"If it's Uncle Jesse you're lookin' for, he and Daisy went to Capitol City for some plywood and fencin'." Bo announced.

Boss Hogg held up his paperwork. "Actually, I forgot about your quarterly check-in. As county probation officer, I took it upon myself to visit, just to make sure things are in order."

"Yeah, well, everythin's fine, so why don't you just go ahead and leave?"

"Alright, fine, county probation officer's done." Boss Hogg snapped his fingers. "Now I'm justice of the peace, and I can tell that everythin' ain't fine, so me and my sheriff are comin' in."

Rosco sighed and walked away from the patrol car, towards the house. He climbed the steps, catching the door before Bo could slam it in his face. They fought each other for control of the door.

"Bo, let us in!" Rosco growled.

"You ain't got a warrant!" Bo argued.

Rosco let the door shut, putting up a barrier between him and the Duke boy. He pressed his ear against it, listening to Bo quickly lock the door, and slide to the floor on the other side.

Rosco smiled a bit. "I remember when you were younger, you used to get a kick outta scarin' me, you and Luke. I'm sure you remember, you used to hide under my desk, waitin' patiently. I'd sit down, and you'd wait for about ten minutes. Then, you'd grab my legs, and you eventually learned to take the cushion off the deputy's chair with you.

"Then, when you got older, you and Luke would hide in the supply closet, waitin' for someone to walk by. When the time was right, you two would jump outta there, and give anyone standin' there a heart attack."

It was silent for a moment, and Rosco and Boss Hogg exchanged glances. Then, they heard the door unlock, exchanging glances once more. They entered cautiously, finding Bo sitting at the kitchen table.

"You got five minutes, make 'em count." He explained.

Rosco pulled out a chair, sitting down across from him. "You can start by tellin' me what happened."

Bo's baby blue eyes flickered up towards him. "Don't matter, it was an accident."

"What kinda accident?"

"Why're you wastin' your time here?"

"Because I can, now tell me, what happened?"

"It ain't none of your business, Rosco."

"It is, too, my business. Look at yourself, Bo, you look like you just came walkin' outta Hollow Hill."

"Don't… talk to me about that… place!"

There was a moment of silence; the tension between Bo and Rosco was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Hey, where's Luke?" Boss Hogg asked.

"What?" Bo replied.

"You said that Daisy and Jesse were out to Capitol City. Well, where's Luke?"

"H-here."

Rosco tapped on the table softly, thinking. "If I go talk to Luke right now, is he gonna have bruised knuckles?"

"No."

"Now, Bo, you know, and I know, that you can't lie to save your life, so tell me the truth."

"You ain't gonna find any bruised knuckles on him, 'cause he don't bruise easy… I do."

"What happened?"

"He… he tried to kill himself, but I stopped him. I… I made him promise to never do it again. I was only tryna help him, but he lost it. After hittin' me a couple times, he threw some stuff, broke my car. Rosco, I don't… feel like he's even my cousin anymore."

"It's gonna be alright, we'll figure somethin' out. I-in the meantime, Cooter wanted me to give you this. I dunno who it's from or what it's about."

Rosco fished the paper out of his pocket and handed it to Bo. He then looked around to see that Boss Hogg had gone missing.

"Excuse me for a second." Rosco said, getting up.

Bo nodded, focused on unfolding the paper.

Rosco walked down the hall to find Boss Hogg standing in the doorway of the Duke boys' bedroom. He saw Luke sitting on his bed, bandages around his wrists, holding a broken, toy car in his hands. Boss Hogg slipped away.

"Not dealin' with this mess. If you need me, I'll be out in the car." Boss Hogg remarked, taking a drag on his cigar.

Rosco watched him leave, then turned back to the room. He took a deep, shaky breath, before entering. As he sat down on the bed next to Luke, he removed his hat and began fidgeting with it.

"You think Bo'll ever forgive me?" Luke asked, not making eye-contact with him.

"Depends on who you ask; I might have a different answer than Bo." Rosco explained.

"Which would be?"

"Classified information."

"Very funny."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"I didn't mean to hit him, and I didn't mean to do any of this." Luke gestured with the toy car. "I know how much this old thing means to Bo, and I feel awful. If I'm bein' honest, I dunno what came over me. One minute I had my head in the game, and the next… I didn't. I feel like I'm just diggin' my own grave some days."

Rosco tapped Luke's bandaged wrist. "You keep this up and you will be six-feet deep. I know that you went through a lot in Vietnam; I know it ain't always easy to keep yourself together. But you ain't alone here, you got people who love ya, and'll always be there to talk. Bo, he looks up to you, has his whole life. You can't take it out on him though. Now, I know you two are close, and I know Bo can really test people's patience sometimes, but you gotta understand that pullin' these things is riskin' somethin' with Bo that's a lot more valuable than anythin' else in this world. You gotta consider him too, I mean, who else does he got in this world? Nobody, that's who."

Luke sighed, refusing to look Rosco in the eye. "Can you promise me somethin'?"

"What?"

"Not a word of this to Uncle Jesse and Daisy. Today never happened, you got it?"

Rosco smiled, standing up. "Why? What happened today?"

He put his hat back on and walked back to the kitchen. As soon as he did, a balled-up piece of paper hit him in the face.

"Just as I was startin' to think today couldn't get any worse, you give me that. Y'know, sometimes I dunno if people are tryna help… or if they're tryna make things worse." Bo shook his head, wiping his eyes. "I need a drink."

Bo walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him. Rosco looked down at the crumpled ball of paper in his hands. He pulled it open, quickly reading what was written on it, typed actually. When he finished, he pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that there was no way to undo the damage that was already done. He figured he ought to leave before something else happened, something that was out of his control.