I tweaked a lil bit here and there on this chapter and added chapter nine... please please review!Tissue Warning (need I say more?)

Luke fumbled his way into the room and dropped into a chair next to his cousin's bed.

Tell me this is just a dream… this can't be happening.

He carefully picked up Bo's pale, lifeless hand and closed his over it.

"You're so cold, Bo," began Luke, his voice trailing off. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. "C'mon, Bo, wake up."

Luke was answered by the steady beats of Bo's heart monitor. "Bo…" began Luke as he affectionately pushed Bo's blond hair away from his eyes, revealing a large stitched cut. "Damn it, Bo, who done this to ya?"

The lump in Luke's throat was growing larger. "Bo… please…c'mon, buddy… please wake up…"

He couldn't hold it in any longer. Holding his cousin's hand in both of his own, Luke let the tears fall. "Bo… please, cousin. I need you. Don't you give up on me. C'mon, Bo, please wake up."

Bo didn't move. Luke tenderly hugged Bo's hand, his mind thinking back to all the things they'd done together. He smiled sadly as he recalled the day Bo first came to live with Uncle Jesse, Aunt Martha and him…

"He sure's tiny, Unca Jesse," observed six-year old Luke as he stared at the small sleeping boy in Jesse's arms.

"Well, Luke, he's tiny now. He's been sick. But you wait. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if the farm life agrees with this youngin' and he grows taller than all of us."

It was then he heard it for the first time. His baby cousin was crying.

"What's wrong with him, Unca Jesse? Make him stop!"

Martha gently took Bo from Jesse, cuddling him and shushing him, as Jesse turned to Luke.

"Now Lucas, babies cry…"

"I know Unca Jesse, but not like that! He's so sad…"

Jesse had called Luke over to him and held him in his lap. He stroked Luke's dark curly hair as he talked. "You're right, son. I think our Bo is sad."

"How come?"

"Well, Luke, you 'member when you came to live here a few years ago?"

"Kinda… I was just a kid then…."

Jesse laughed softly. "Do ya 'member how ya felt way back then?"

"Yea. I was sad that Momma died… and Daddy. An' I was scared too."

"Well, little Bo here feels the same things. He jus' can't say it, so he cries. He misses his Momma and Daddy. An' he prolly is as scared as you was."

Luke got up from Jesse's lap and walked over to where Martha was sitting, trying to soothe Bo.

"Hey, Bo…" Luke took one of the tiny hands in his and grinned with joy as the tiny fingers closed around his thumb. "Hey, Bo… don't cha cry. We'll take care o' ya."

Little Bo looked up at his cousin and to the amazement of Jesse and Martha stopped crying.

"That's right, Bo. You're ok. I won't let anythin' happen t'ya… I promise."

"Some promise," muttered Luke. He reached over and placed his hand on Bo's ashen cheek. Luke shuddered as he felt it. It reminded him of one thing... no, one person: PFC Bobby Lee Whittier. Bo's cheek felt exactly the same as Bobby Lee's wrist felt… as he lay dying after being shot by enemy fire.

Luke closed his eyes, trying desperately to clear the images from his mind; however it only succeeded in merging them together. Now, instead of Bobby Lee, it was Bo who had been shot; Bo who lay in the jungles of Viet Nam bleeding to death; Luke dragging Bo to safety, and Bo dying in Luke's arms, clutching his hand as the last wave of death overtook him.

"Bo. You can't leave me cousin…" There were so many things he wanted to say. He opened his mouth to speak, and closed it again. He remembered how, when Bo was little, he would trot out every night before going to bed and after hugging and kissing Uncle Jesse and Aunt Martha would run to Luke to hug him and say, "Love ya, Luke." Luke cried harder, as he realized there had been so many times he could have told Bo that he loved him and instead had ignored him or simply told him to "knock it off an' go t' bed."

"Bo… can ya hear, me cousin? I… wanted to tell ya ... ya remember how we cut our fingers way back when we was kids an' became blood brothers? Bo… you…." Luke was choking on his words. "Bo... you've always been like a li'l brother t' me. I- I love you, Bo. You gotta wake up. Please, buddy, just wake up. I need you, Bo, please..."

Luke didn't know why he happened to look at Bo at that moment. He watched Bo's chest as it slowly rose and fell. Luke didn't have time to question why Bo's chest didn't rise again. The answer came in the sudden monotone of the heart monitor.

"No!" screamed Luke. "No! No! Bo!"

Several doctors and nurses raced into the room.

"You have to leave, son."

"No… Bo! Bo! Damn it, Bo! Don't die!"

A nurse gently took Luke by the arm and escorted him out, shutting the door behind him. Luke banged his fist hard against the door. He then slowly made his way to the waiting room, knowing what he would have to do and not knowing how to do it.

"Luke, you ok?" asked Jesse as Luke walked into the waiting room, his face as white as a sheet.

"He's gone, Jesse. He stopped breathin'. He's gone." Luke's voice gave out. He collapsed into a chair and buried his face in his hands. Poor Daisy was cryin' her heart out, but Luke heard none of it. All that he heard was the steady tone reminding him that Bo was dead… Bo was dead….