Author's Notes: Squeamish alert! I rated it T for a reason. Thanks!
Chapter 4: In Stitches
"Bo! Are you alright!" Luke exclaimed, looking from his cousin's face to the bloody wound on his shoulder. Daisy looked past Luke and gasped. Blood was running down Bo's arm and gathering at his elbow to fall to the seat below. The younger Duke jumped at his name, and turned to look at Luke as though he'd only just remembered his cousins were in the car with him.
"I…yeah, why?" he asked blankly.
"Bo, you're bleeding. Did they hit you?" Luke asked the redundant question. Bo didn't answer as he turned his eyes back on the road and saw they'd drifted onto the left side of the road - going 95 miles an hour. With a twitch he jerked the General back into the right lane. Luke picked up the CB again.
"Lost Sheep to Shepard, you still there?"
"I'm here, Luke. I called the Samuels, and the girls just got home, and they're fine, just a bit shaken up. Now will you tell me just what happened out there!" Uncle Jesse demanded gruffly.
"Not over the CB, Uncle Jesse," Luke refused. "We'll be home in a few minutes, but…you'd better call Doc Appleby too, and ask him to come over quick. Did you get ahold of Rosco?" He looked back at his cousin worriedly.
"Not yet, I only just hung up the phone with Jim Samuels. You'd better be home quick, Lucas Duke. I don't like being kept in the dark, especially when you two are involved."
"I understand, Uncle Jesse. Over and out."
Luke hung up the CB mike with a glance out the windshield. They were just approaching the Johnson farm on the main road - just a few more minutes. He turned to Bo, and reached for the torn cloth of his cousin's shirt. "I'd better…"
"Don't!" Bo cut him off. Luke's hand fell back. "Don't touch it, Luke." His voice was edged with pain.
"Bo…" Daisy protested.
"Bo, at least pull over so I can drive!"
"No, I can wait. It's not that bad," Bo insisted softly. Neither Luke nor Daisy believed him.
Uncle Jesse was waiting on the front porch, with his shotgun in hand and within hearing distance to the CB and phone in the kitchen, when Bo pulled the General up in front of the farmhouse. Daisy climbed out and dashed towards her uncle, and he pulled her into a comforting hug.
"Shh, it's okay, it's okay," he soothed, not knowing what was wrong or if it really was okay.
Luke climbed out right behind her, and he was no sooner on his feet than all three turned toward the sound behind him. Bo was leaning heavily against the big weeping willow with his good arm, retching the last of a good picnic dinner. In an instant, Luke was at his side, pulling Bo's good arm around his shoulders. When the youngest Duke's stomach ceased to rebel against him, he slumped wearily against his cousin, and allowed himself to be led up the stairs and inside the farmhouse. Jesse and Daisy follow, the Duke clan patriarch wise enough not to make a bad situation worse with demands for explanations - yet.
While Luke lay Bo on the couch, Daisy ran to fetch clean towels, and Jesse set water to boil on the stove. He rejoined his eldest nephew as Luke was searching Bo for more injuries, speaking to him softly as he knelt on the floor.
"You're gonna be alright, Bo, the doc's on his way, we're gonna take care of you," he murmured. When he found no more obvious wounds, he asked, "Are you hurt anywhere else? Don't you fib now, Bo Duke, this is important."
"No, that's all that hurts, just my arm," Bo whispered. He held his good arm across his face, hiding his closed eyes, but he knew Luke was giving him a dubious look. "I swear. It feels better, now that I'm laying down. Was starting to get dizzy."
Jesse had been watching silently, torn with worry for his young nephew, but knowing that Luke was as good with wounds as himself. A revelation hit him though, and he couldn't keep quiet. "You let him drive like this!" he asked Luke angrily as the dark-haired man accepted clean towels from Daisy and gently layered two underneath the length of Bo's arm.
"I didn't know he was hurt until after I talked to you," Luke responded quietly, then switched and addressed Bo. "Bo, I'm gonna have to cut your shirt off, okay?" His brow furrowed deeper with concern when his cousin only whimpered in response.
With a knife, Luke carefully lifted the cloth of the blue t-shirt and cut through the cotton, first across the line of Bo's collarbone, then down the right side. He peeled the edges away from the sticky coagulating blood and left Daisy to ease the rest of the tattered fabric from under Bo.
"You with me, buddy?" he asked gently.
"Yeah, Luke, jus' don't feel good. 's cold," Bo whispered. Luke looked up to see Jesse there with the heavy quilt off Bo's bed. He lay it across his nephew, leaving the wounded shoulder exposed, and tucked it around him, pulling off his worn boots in the process.
"Thanks, Luke," Bo whispered again. There were tears in Jesse's eyes.
Luke looked back at the bloody wound and was relieved to see that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The bullet had torn a deep open gash across the muscle of Bo's shoulder just below the joint, passing cleanly and hitting neither bone nor artery. Though the deep, wide tear had bled heavily, it was beginning to clot. Doc Appleby should be able to simply stitch him up, and with some rest, Bo would be good as new in a few weeks. Luke sighed with relief, and heard Jesse do the same, knowing he must have come to the same conclusion. Taking a small towel, Luke pressed it tightly to the wound with one hand while preventing Bo from pulling away in protest with the other.
"Easy, Bo, easy, you're gonna be fine," Luke soothed again, holding direct pressure on the makeshift bandage.
Bo relaxed under his grip, taking a ragged breath. "That hurts."
"I know, but it'll stop the bleeding."
Sensing the worst was over, Jesse stopped hovering over Luke's shoulder and moved a few feet to sit down in his favorite chair. Daisy, watching silently up to this point, took the cue and sat down in another chair, while Luke settled himself more comfortably on the floor next to the couch. He held pressure on the gash with one hand, his arm draped across Bo's chest, reassured by the feel of the strong thumping heartbeat and deep breaths under his arm.
"Now, Luke, why am I still up at 3am near worried to death with my youngest lying bleeding on my couch?" Jesse asked as evenly as he could manage.
"Well, Uncle Jesse, I don't rightly know all of it, but I expect Daisy can fill in the rest. See, me and Bo headed out to the lake with Helen and Ann, like we said…"
He was interrupted by the sound of a car approaching outside. Fearfully, Jesse picked up his shotgun and strode to the window.
"Looks like Rosco," he announced, "Followed by Doc Appleby." Everyone relaxed again. Daisy followed Jesse to meet the visitors at the door, while Luke watched from the family room.
"Enos!" Daisy exclaimed at the figure that stepped out of the squad car. Enos and Doc Appleby both walked up onto the porch, and Jesse ushered them in.
"I thought Friday was your night off, Enos?" Daisy asked, standing with him and Jesse in the kitchen. The country doctor immediately saw his charge and joined Luke with Bo in the family room.
"Well, usually, yes, but Rosco is out of town with Boss this weekend, so the operator called me when Jesse called her," Enos explained apologetically, glancing after the doctor.
"Out of town? Where did they go!" Daisy interrupted.
"Well, I don't rightly know, Daisy. Boss told me it was none of my business, and Rosco told me to hush, and that was the end of it. What all happened here? Is Bo alright?" Enos asked finally.
"Oh, I think Bo will be just fine," Doc Appleby announced without looking up from his patient. He'd quickly examined the wound, approved of Luke's efforts, and begun stitching the muscle back together with fine, neat movements of his nimble fingers. Three audible sighs of relief sounded in the Duke home. "He's lost a good bit of blood, but he's young and strong, and with some rest and a few good meals, he'll be back to causing trouble in no time. You're very lucky, though, young man," he spoke to the youngest Duke, who was trying not to flinch with each prick of the needle, "A little to the left, and you might have lost use of your arm. A lot to the left, and that bullet might have killed you."
"Bullet! Someone's been shooting at Bo!" Enos exclaimed.
"Yes, I think this is a story I'd like to hear as well," Doc Appleby declared.
All unoccupied eyes turned to Luke and Daisy.
Luke spoke first, sitting on the arm of the couch at Bo's feet. Enos, Jesse, and Daisy made themselves comfortable. "Well, like I started tellin' Uncle Jesse, me and Bo headed out to the lake with Helen and Ann. We took a picnic dinner, and planned on stayin' out there late, y'know, star-gazing, and talkin'…"
"And kissin'," Bo added.
"Well, yeah," Luke agreed. "So it was getting late, and we lost track of time, and I…well, I fell asleep." He shifted uncomfortably. "I woke up to the sound of gunshots, and I heard Daisy scream across the lake."
"Someone snuck up on you and shot at you? When did Daisy get there?" Enos asked.
It was Daisy's turn to explain. "See, I'd just gotten off work, and Uncle Jesse called me on CB and told me Luke and Bo hadn't come home yet, and asked me to go check the lake and see if they were still there. I headed down there…" She went on to explain how she saw the men in the boat and the two strange cars on the beach, the murder of the two boat passengers, and how some more men snuck up behind her and grabbed her. "That was when I screamed," she added, and told them how the men shouted back and forth between the boat and shore about what they were going to do with her. "Then Bo shows up on the hill…" she trailed off, looking to her cousins to finish.
Luke explained their quick decisions with the Samuels girls, and their plan to get Daisy away from her captors. "Bo was supposed to distract them, and I'd sneak in from behind and get her away."
"I did distract them!" Bo said defensively. "I shot out their tires with my bow, so they couldn't follow us when we got away. They came charging up the hill after me. When I figured they were too far away to keep Luke from rescuing Daisy, I bolted for the General. One of them must have hit me when I was runnin' - I swear I didn't feel anything more than a mosquito bite."
"An' then Bo came down and picked us up in the General, and we got out of there fast…you pretty much know the rest," Luke finished, looking at Jesse.
"Murderers…in Hazzard!" Jesse said slowly, his mind racing.
"And Daisy's a witness," Luke said what everyone was thinking.
"Now, Daisy, did ya'll use each others' names at all?" Enos asked.
"Oh, no, Enos, definitely not!"
"But they saw the General," Bo spoke as Doc Appleby bandaged the newly stitched wound.
"And Dixie is still down there," Luke added, referring to Daisy's jeep, "If they look at the registration, they'll know where to look for her."
"Hey Jesse, you mind if I use your phone?" Enos asked, mentally tallying the phone calls he needed to make. Jesse nodded silently, and Enos slipped out of the room. A moment later they heard him on the phone in the kitchen.
"There now," Doc Appleby said as he adjusted Bo's arm in a sling and covered him back up with the warm quilt. "I'm gonna give you some antibiotics, to prevent infection, and a couple of these," he fished a pair of orange medicine bottles from his satchel, "For the pain." Counting out a pair of each in one hand, he helped the youngest Duke sit up to swallow the pills and some water from a glass provided by Luke. "Two of the antibiotics every four hours," he instructed, handing Luke the bottles. "And two of the painkillers whenever he feels he needs it, no more than every four hours. I don't think I need to add that he shouldn't drive after taking them, nor should he use that shoulder at all for at least a week. Come by my office on Monday, and I'll have a look at how well he's healing."
Luke and Jesse both nodded. They'd both make sure the instructions were followed.
"Now, Jesse, do you have any ice?" the doctor asked, studying Luke's face. In his concern for Bo, Luke had completely forgotten his own minor wounds, and he now sported a swollen black eye and a bruised jaw. Appleby judged that the cut on his brow wasn't bad enough to need stitches, but he brought Luke a bag of ice wrapped in a towel from the kitchen for his eye. With one last survey of his patients, Doc Appleby took his leave. "Unless there's anything more, I'll be headed home. Take care, and good luck with those men. Call me if you need me."
"Thank you, Alan," Jesse shook his hand warmly. Luke and Daisy murmured their thanks, and Bo waved with his good hand from the couch. Enos tipped his hat to the doctor as he passed him coming back into the family room from the kitchen.
"Well, I got ahold of the FBI in Atlanta," Enos explained. "They're gonna send a team down to search the lake in the morning. There's not much we can do tonight, but, uh, I don't want to leave y'all alone here, knowing those men might come after you," he added, looking from Jesse to Daisy - especially Daisy.
"That's mighty kind of you Enos, but…" Daisy began to refuse, but Luke cut her off.
"That's a fine idea, Enos. You can sleep in Bo's bed, and if anything happens, you'll be right here with us." Luke wasn't about to refuse extra protection after a night like tonight.
"I agree," Uncle Jesse approved of the plan, "We don't know what to expect from those men, and I think it's best if we all stick together. I'll sleep in here tonight with my rifle handy, and in the morning when the FBI gets here, we can go get Dixie from the lake."
"Well alright!" Enos said, nervous at the thought of the gunmen but pleased that he'd be here to protect Daisy if anything happened.
Everyone was tired, so it wasn't long before the Duke family and Deputy Strate were settled down for the night. Luke decided to sleep in the family room as well, feeling protective of his younger cousin. He stretched out on some blankets spread next to the couch. Uncle Jesse sat comfortably in his chair, shotgun close at hand, sipping hot tea and eyeing his nephews with concern. Daisy was in her room, Enos in Bo and Luke's, and Bo had long since drifted off to sleep once the painkillers had kicked in. Luke thought he already looked better, with the color coming back to his face. Slowly, he fell asleep himself, to the sound of crickets chirruping in the summer night air, and the soft moonlight streaming in through the windows.
Whew! That was some night for the Duke boys. Hush now, and let's leave them to get some rest. Somethin' tells me they've got a long weekend ahead of them.