The Recovery
Later at the hospital after what seemed to Bo like every test the
doctor's had he was finally returned to the exam room. Given the ordeal
he had endured the hospital had relaxed the rules and allowed his family
to be in the exam room with him. "Bo," Dr. Appleby began as he entered
the room, "I am happy to say there is no internal bleeding, however you
do have a couple of cracked ribs and while your arm were not dislocated,
a tremendous strain was put on them, so you will need to take it easy,
get plenty of rest and no heavy lifting for the next month. After that
we'll have to see how your progress is and decide where to go from there.
I'm prescribing an anti-biotic ointment for your cuts and a burn ointment,
also I'll give you painkillers and a mild seditive. Now like I told you
last night you'll need to alternate ice and heat on your shoulders to
help with the inflamation for the rest of today. Lastly you may need
physical therapy for your shoulders but we won't consider that for at
least two weeks." Turning to Jesse the Dr. said, "So Jesse take this
young man home, make sure he gets plenty of rest and if any of you need
to talk to someone, especially you Bo" he said as he turned back to the
exam table, "call me and I can reccomend someone." Laying a gentle hand
on Bo's forearm the Dr. looked him in the eye and said, "Bo I want you
to rememeber somethin, there is no shame in asking for help, that applies
to physical help and emotional. You've been through a terrible ordeal
and nobody expects you to deal with it on your own. Okay?" Bo nodded
and asked if he could get dressed now, everyone left the room to give
him some privacy. Before he could move Luke returned "Hey, thought you
might need a hand," Luke softly offered.
"Yeah, guess you're probably right," Bo admitted. After Luke had
helped Bo get dressed they headed to the farm, by the time they got home
Bo was exhausted and in pain, taking a painkiller he went back to the
room he shared with Luke. When he woke up a few hours later he saw Luke
sitting in a chair reading a book. "Ain't you got nothin better to do
than sit with me cousin?" Bo asked feeling a little strange. He knew
Luke had been worried about him, knew the rest of the family had been
through their own hell while he was missing and when they thought he
was dead. He knew all of it had been hardest on Luke but he wasn't use
to having Luke hovering over him and he wasn't sure how he felt about
it, and so in a typical Bo move he tried to make light of things. However
this time Luke wasn't having any of it, "Actually no Bo I don't have
anything better to do or anything I'd rather be doing. I know you ain't
use to having anyone hover over you but I'm afraid you're just gonna
have to deal with it for awhile. You were missing for three days Bo,
you vanished into thin air and when we finally found you, we were too
late. You were gone or so we thought, we expected to put you in the
ground and never see you again and if Mike Wilson had gotten his way
that is exactly what would have happened, and you better believe I
thank God he failed. So like it or not cousin you're gonna have to deal
with hovering, ain't none of us wanting you out of our sights right now"
at this point Luke was forced to stop as it had become too hard to speak
around the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry Luke, I didn't mean to worry
everybody." Bo started to say only to find himself suddenly engulfed in
a hug from Luke. "Don't,...Bo you've got nothing to feel guilty about,
I just wanted you to understand how we all feel. Guess I thought if
you know how we're all feeling it'll make the hovering a little easier
to take. I sure didn't want to upset you...speaking of which I hate
to bring this up, but Roscoe's gonna need a statement from you so Mike
Wilson can be prosecuted for what he did to you. So in a day or two
when you feel up to it we'll need to call Roscoe and have him come out."
"Now" Bo stated.
"What?" Luke asked puzzled
"Now Luke, call Roscoe now I want to get it over with."
"Are ya sure Bo? You don't have to rush yourself, he ain't going
nowhere," Luke told him, worried that Bo was pushing himself. But Bo
wasn't going to let himself be put off, "I know that, but waiting won't
make it any easier, just..." When Bo lowered his head and stopped
speaking, Luke reached out and putting his hand on Bo's chin raised his
head until he could see his eyes. "Just what Bo, whatever it is you can
say it, you don't have to be afraid of me you can say anything you need
to. You know that right?" Bo nodded, "Yeah, I just, well...do you think,
I'll understand if you can't, ...but could you be here when I talk
to Roscoe?" he asked quietly almost fearfully. "Oh Bo, of course I'll
be here, whatever you need cousin you've go it." Luke replied.
"Thank you Luke, I didn't want to ask but I don't think I can do it
alone, so why don't you call Roscoe, the sooner he gets here the sooner
I can get it over with." So Luke called Roscoe who arrived a short time
later to take Bo's statement. It took a long time, with several breaks
being neccessary but finally Bo had completed his statement. One of the
hardest things Luke had ever done was to sit there and listen while Bo
gave a detailed statement about his ordeal. He wanted to run from the
room, wanted to be sick, it was one thing to know what Bo had suffered,
but to hear it described in detail was it's own torture. As much as he
would've liked to run from the room, from the reality of Bo's suffering
he didn't, Bo hadn't been able to run. He had been force to endure the
torture Wilson had inflicted on him, so Luke figured the least he could
do was listen. After Roscoe left Daisy knocked on the door to tell them
supper was ready. Deciding he could use a change of scenery Bo, with
Luke's help, slowly made his way to the table. Later that night they
were all awakened by Bo's screams as he was jolted awake by his nightmare.
"Bo? you okay?" Uncle Jesse and Daisy asked as one as they came in the
room. Bo could only nod as he tried to calm down while Luke held and
comforted him. For the next several days Bo continued to be plagued by
nightmares whenever he slept. Being awake wasn't a whole lot better as
then he was suffering from pain.
He hated what this was doing to his family, expecially Luke, Bo knew Luke felt guilty for what he'd gone through. He'd tried several times to tell Luke it wasn't his fault and even though Luke agreed he knew his cousin was still beating himself up over this. He wished there was more he could do but he just didn't have the strength to fight Luke's demons on top of his own. Maybe he should talk to Uncle Jesse, yeah Uncle Jesse'd be able to help, between the two of them they could convince Luke to stop blaming himself. Like he'd told Mike Wilson it was Wilson's decision to kidnap and torture Bo, not Luke's. None of this was Luke's fault, Mike Wilson was crazy simple as that and the only one to blame.
Later after talking to Uncle Jesse the two of them cornered Luke in
the living room. After talking for awhile and not feeling as though
they were getting anywhere Bo decided he'd have to play dirty. "Fine
you know what Luke you're right. It is your fault, you should have
known Mike Wilson had broke out of prison and was after me. Shoot you
should have known when you came home this might happen. If you had
warned us none of this would have happened, for that matter you
shouldn't have come home you should've known Wilson would follow you
here sooner or later." Bo yelled at Luke. Luke was shocked, he couldn't
believer Bo would talk to him like this, "That's not fair Bo, I didn't
have any control over what Mike Wil...," stopping as he realized what
Bo had been doing. Luke suddenly grinned, "sneaky, very sneaky cousin,
allright you made your point and I'll accept it ain't my fault what
Wilson did to you but you're gonna have to accept that I'm gonna feel
bad for you."
"Deal, I don't like you feeling bad but that's better than you beating yourself up for something that wasn't your fault. I ain't never blamed you Luke even when he was tryin to get me to blame you, I wouldn't and I'm not gonna. So I better not catch you at it again after this." Bo told Luke who just grinned even more, "okay, okay, message received."
Thing improved a lot after that, a few days later Roscoe called to
say Wilson had pled guilty to kidnapping and assault so Bo wouldn't have
to testify. Bo was more relieved than he could say at this news, he
hadn't told anyone yet but he had been dreading the trial. Knowing he
would have to relive the torture was hard enough, but knowing he would
have to do it in front of a room full of strangers was even worse. Bo
hadn't realized himself how much the prospect of a trial had weighed on
him until that prospect was gone. It felt like the weight of the world
had been taken from his shoulders, he was almost giddy with relief. For
the first time since coming home Bo slept free of nightmares. Of course
he still had a long recovery ahead of him, he would still have nightmares
but the worst of them were over. Physically he recovered much quicker,
after two weeks it was decided he would need a few weeks of physical
therapy, by the time six more weeks had passed Bo was fully recovered on
a physical level. As time went on the nightmares grew fewer and fewer
until a couple of months after the physical therapy ended the nightmares
had stopped for the most part. Still he had a ways to go on the emotional
recovery from his ordeal. It was six months before Bo could bring
himself to go anywhere alone and even that was rare, for more than a
year he wouldn't go near Cottontail Lane, unless Luke was with him in
the General, even then he couldn't help shaking with fear. The day he
was finally able to drive down Cottontail Lane alone he knew he was on
his way to being okay. A couple of weeks later he faced his final test,
he went to the cemetary to visit his parent's graves. For the first time
since waking from that poison induced coma he could be here and not
imagine himself next to his parents but still alive. He knew then it
was finally and completely over, as Luke approached him he turned to
him and with a peace he hadn't felt in over a year said, "it's over
Luke, thanks to you, Uncle Jesse and Daisy, but mostly you. I finally
feel free and at peace, let's go home." and flinging an arm over Luke's
shoulder Bo steered them to the car and back to their lives.
The End
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