Author's Notes:Proud as I might be, please note thatthe last chapter was pretty much the extent of my certifiable medical knowledge, so forgive me if this chapter is less accurate. Please note that I do hold nurses, doctors, and medical practitioners of all kinds in the highest regard, and that certain points in this chapter reflect rather stereotypical impressions I have of hospitals in the 80's - you'll know it when you see it, and it would not happen today by any means. Cheers!

Chapter 9: The Morning After

Bright sunlight streamed in through the curtained windows as Bo woke with a groan. Every muscle in his body, sore from his midnight ride, had stiffened and cramped overnight, and his neck had a painful crick from sleeping in the chair. He groaned again as he stood, looking around the room sluggishly. It took about ten seconds for him to coherently reassemble the details of the night before, and about two seconds to be out the study door calling for the Hawkinses apprehensively.

"Mr. Hawkins! Hello?.!" Hadn't they believed him? Had they gone to the police? Bo was about to bolt out the front door when he heard a response from the back of the house.

"Mr. Duke! Back here, if you please!" came an unfamiliar voice.

Tensely, Bo followed the sound along a hallway into a large kitchen, where a sandy-haired older man stood at the stove. He turned around when he heard Bo enter.

"Would you like something to eat, sir?" He turned back to the pans in front of him, poking at the frying eggs and sizzling bacon.

Bo watched him warily from the doorway. "Where is Mr. Hawkins, and…Mr. Hawkins?" he asked, without adding, and who are you?

"Mr. Hawkins and Dr. Hawkins left to see to your cousin and uncle quite early this morning. Dr. Hawkins left instructions to feed you and to ask you to stay here until they call, which they haven't. You may call me Henry," he answered the unspoken question. "I work for the Hawkinses. They told me a bit of what's going on. Would you like to clean up first?"

Bo shook his head as he sat down at the kitchen table, with mixed feelings of relief and trepidation. "What time did they leave? Why didn't they come back here?"

Henry turned again and looked at the young man with sympathy. "They left just after you fell asleep, around two. At the time, John wasn't sure if your cousin might need to go to the hospital. Since they haven't returned or called, that's probably where they are."

"But it's…" Bo searched for and found a clock, "…almost eleven! Why wouldn't they call?.!" His voice was edged with worry.

Henry served up a plate of food and placed it in front of his charge. "I don't know, Mr. Duke, but I'm sure they will." He pulled a set of silverware from a drawer and handed it to Bo, who stirred the food around on his plate without eating any. "Would you like something else instead, Mr. Duke?" Henry asked politely.

Bo looked up, red-faced. "No, sir, thank you. I'm just worried, that's all. I'm Bo, by the way. Mr. Duke is my Uncle Jesse."

Before Henry could reply, the phone rang. Both men jumped at the sound. Henry answered it. "Hawkins residence…May I ask who's calling?…Just a moment, Mr. Carter." The older man held his hand over the receiver and quietly told Bo, "It's a Mr. Jack Carter, of the FBI office in Atlanta." When Bo nodded, Henry handed him the phone.

"Mr. Carter, this is Bo Duke," Bo began, a little nervous at the response he might get.

"Bo! I'm sorry, I only just got your message. It says it's an emergency, what's going on?" came the young voice at the other end. Jack Carter was a younger agent whom Bo had gotten to know a little bit the previous summer.

"Mr. Carter, do you know about any murder investigations going on in Hazzard?"

"Well, no, Bo, but if it's not my case I might not know about it. Why?"

Quickly, Bo explained about the theft and discovery of the General Lee, the involvement of the FBI, and the theories that came from his discussion with the Hawkinses, leaving out the other less relevant details.

"Did you say Agent Brown? Derek Brown?" Carter asked in a hushed voice.

"That's what Cooter told me," Bo confirmed.

"That's impossible! He's my commanding officer, the one who took over the Leavins case after…after Dan Chalmers was killed in that ambush…He's supposed to be on vacation last week and this week, in Hawaii."

"Well, we ain't holdin' any luau's around here. Do you think he…?"

"If it's him. Listen, Bo, I'm gonna have to talk to a few people here and find out more about this. If it is Derek Brown down there, then we'd both best tread carefully. I'll call you back at this same number. Stay put until I get ahold of you."

Bo frowned at his words, the second time he'd heard that sentence this morning, but agreed, and hung up the phone. He walked back over to the table and sat down again, with Henry looking on curiously.

"Did Agent Carter have any information to offer?"

Bo shook his head glumly. "No, he's gonna call back. Said to stay here until he calls."

Henry smiled slightly at the twice-repeated order, and prodded Bo's plate back in front of him. "Well then, until he calls, eat up, so you'll be ready and waiting."

Bo smiled himself at the older man's gentle insistence, and picked up his fork, forgetting his worries for a moment in favor of his growling stomach.

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Like his youngest nephew, Jesse Duke slept until nearly eleven a.m., but no sunlight shone through any windows to wake him. The humming fluorescent lighting looked exactly the same as when he'd closed his eyes, though several more worried faces filled some of the waiting room chairs – families of other patients, he supposed. Jesse looked up at John Hawkins, who had shaken his shoulder to wake him.

"What's going on?" he asked, hoping it was good news instead of bad.

The doctor shook his head. "Not much change. He's a little stronger, his O2 sats are up…"

Jesse smiled, pleased that Luke had gotten better while he slept and not worse.

"…But that's not why I woke you. Bo is waiting for a phone call from us, and I thought you would want to be the one to make it."

Jesse nodded, standing up from the chair. Knowing that Bo was safe, he'd nearly forgotten his nephew would still be waiting. He fished into his pockets for change for the payphone, only to realize that the quarter he'd left the Downings was his last. Jed, a few chairs down, interpreted his sudden frown and pulled a handful of change out of his own pocket. He placed it in Jesse's hand, while John found another white card with the home phone number on it.

Jesse thanked them both, and went down the hall to the row of payphones. He frowned when his first try came up busy, and his second. He returned the change to his pocket and went back to where the Hawkinses waited.

"The line was busy. I'll have to try back in a bit," Jesse explained.

"We can go see Luke while you're waiting," John offered. "The rule in ICU is five minutes' visiting every hour." Jesse readily agreed, and after signing in with the nurse – a different one this time – John accompanied him in, while Jed again waited outside.

As promising as John's report had been, Luke lookedeven better to Jesse's eyes. The pale, exhausted look was gone, and though he didn't wake, his hand curled firmly around Jesse's when he held it. From what Jesse remembered of John's explanation, the numbers on the machine readouts looked close to normal, with that one number – the percent oxygen saturation of his blood – reading 86. John explained that they'd taken another set of x-rays not long ago, which showed the infection in his lungs starting to clear back some, a good sign that the antibiotics were working.

"Mike went home at eight, but he'll be back at six o'clock this evening. He said if Luke continues to improve, they'll take him off the chest tube tonight."

Jesse nodded understanding, but was quiet for the few more minutes he had to visit his nephew. Then John said it was time to go, and Jesse had to leave Luke alone again.

Back outside the ICU ward, Jesse made his way down the hall to try calling his nephew again. This time, all three payphones were occupied, and he had to wait rather impatiently for someone to finish their conversation. The snatches he accidentally overheard were depressing – one woman's son was in a car accident, and she was telling a brother that he might not live – one older man's wife was shot by a mugger, and he was telling a daughter she'd been paralyzed – one young man was desperately trying to stay calm as he told his best friend's mother that her son had OD'd on prescription painkillers, and was now comatose. The older man was the first to finish, and as Jesse passed they exchanged nods of empathetic greeting. Then Jesse was rolling the coins into the slot, punching in the numbers, and listening to the ring, once, twice.

"Hawkins residence."

"Hello, could I talk to Bo Duke, please."

"May I ask who's calling?"

"This is his uncle Jesse."

"One moment, Mr. Duke." Jesse heard rustling as the phone was snatched out of Henry's hands. "Uncle Jesse?.! What's going on? Is Luke alright?" Bo sounded worried and anxious, with good cause.

"Easy now, Bo. Jed and John Hawkins picked us up this morning. We're at Tricounty General. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Uncle Jesse, what about Luke?"

"Luke's…the doctors say he's got pneumonia, and they're taking care of him."

Silence. Then, "How bad is it?"

"He's gonna be in here for a couple of days, I think."

"Can I talk to him?"

"He's sleeping, just now. I'm on a payphone down the hall."

Again, Bo paused before speaking. Uncle Jesse wasn't telling him all of it, he was sure. "I'm coming out there, Uncle Jesse."

"Now Bo, you be careful! Half the county's on the lookout for you by now, and if Sheriff Little catches you in Chickasaw, he'll lock you up for breaking probation."

"I'll be careful, Uncle Jesse. I'll see you in a little while." Bo hung up the phone and looked to Henry, who had gathered his empty plate and was stacking the dishes in the sink. "Henry, is there a car I could borrow?"

Y'know, I sure hope there is a car for Bo to borrow, 'cause I got a feeling he'd run all the way to Tricounty General if he had to.

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A little over an hour later, Bo reached the hospital in Jed Hawkin's pickup truck and parked it in the garage. Had anyone seen him on the road, he was hardly recognizable in his gray wool coat and a large floppy-brimmed hat that covered his mussed blond hair. He'd made his way along the roads that skirted the edges of Hazzard and Chickasaw county, turning onto the main roads only a few miles from the hospital. Leaving the coat and hat in the truck, Bo made for the main entrance to the hospital at a trot. His first shock came when he asked for his cousin's room at the front desk, and was informed that Luke was in intensive care on the third floor. His second shock came at the nurse's desk outside the ward. Jesse and the Hawkinses were nowhere to be found, so he asked the nurse if he could see his cousin.

"I'm sorry, young man, but only immediate family is allowed. His father is in with him now. You'll have to go sit down," she informed him brusquely, pointed towards the waiting room.

"But…" Bo began to protest, but stopped when he looked over her shoulder and saw the visiting policy posted on a brown plastic sign: 'Due to sensitive patient conditions, visiting is limited to close family only, for no more than 10 minutes per hour'. The nurse continued to frown at him sternly.

Nearly floored, he turned and drifted into the waiting room, slumping into the nearest chair. Intensive care? No wonder Uncle Jesse didn't want to tell him. How bad was it really? Luke must have lived through the night – would he make it through the day? Was Uncle Jesse in there watching his last breaths? Close family only. Bo felt sick to his stomach, and tears welled in his eyes. Close family. Bo had no 'close family' – his cousins and his uncle were his only living relatives. Luke was as good as a brother to him, or closer, after all they'd been through together. Daisy was his smart older sister, and Uncle Jesse took the place of the father Bo had never known. There wasn't a family in Hazzard that was closer than the Dukes. Even the nurses here thought Uncle Jesse was Luke's father. Close family only. His tears spilled over as he hugged his knees to his chest, unawares of the other visitors watching him with sympathy.

Then Uncle Jesse was there, sitting next to him and pulling him close while the Hawkinses looked on.

"They told me…they told me I can't go see him…he's in there dying and I can't see him…"

Jesse immediately realized his mistake in not telling Bo the whole of Luke's condition, and now his nephew had jumped to the wrong conclusion. "Shhh, alright, alright," Jesse hushed him, "Luke isn't dying, he's gonna be fine."

Bo looked up with a sniff, wiping his eyes with one hand. "He isn't?" he asked doubtfully. "Why's he in intensive care, then?"

"He was having a hard time breathing when we brought him in, and they've got him on a machine to breathe for him. Now," Jesse added at Bo's fearful expression, "He's doing a lot better since this morning, and once Dr. Walters gets back this evening they're probably going to take him off it. He's getting better," he affirmed, looking Bo in the eye. Then he looked past his nephew at John Hawkins, who was speaking quickly and quietly to the nurse at the desk. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but when he finished he waved the both of them over. Bo and Jesse both got up and quickly joined him.

"Bo, you can go in for a couple of minutes," the doctor informed him, with a stern sideways look at the nurse. Bo nodded, not about to argue. He noted that when he and Jesse filed past, the nurse studiously ignored them, with an expression that reminded Bo of a housecat trying to act like her whiskers hadn't just been tweaked.

Bo's third shock of the day came from finally seeing his cousin lying in that hospital bed with all manner of wires and tubes attached to him. This shock wasn't quite so bad, though, as Uncle Jesse's strong arms were around his shoulders, reassuring him. It also didn't quite seem real to him, for Luke to be so weak, for a machine to be breathing for him. Bo walked up to the bedside, looking his cousin over, and picked up his hand, careful of the IV line. Luke's hand was warm and reassuring, and Bo nearly jumped out of his skin when Luke's fingers curled tightly around his. Bo turned a worried and questioning look on Jesse, who only smiled and explained how Luke had been sedated so he wouldn't fight the tube, but he was getting stronger. Bo smiled himself, finally convinced that his cousin really wasn't dying. He let go of his hand and touched Luke's shoulder.

"Don't you worry, Luke, you're gonna be just fine. I'll take care of the rest," Bo promised him.

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It wasn't until Jesse, Bo, and the Hawkinses returned to the waiting room that Jesse asked softly, "Have you heard anything from Cooter or Daisy?"

Bo shook his head. "I'd only just gotten up when Jack Carter called, and just finished breakfast when you called, Uncle Jesse." He told his uncle about the short conversation with the FBI agent and his suspicion of Agent Brown. "…and then I came straight here," he finished.

Jesse fished his pockets for the last of the change Jed had given him, and handed it to Bo. "Why don't you give Cooter a call and see if he had any luck," he suggested, gesturing towards the now-empty payphones.

Bo tried the garage first, then the Davenport farmhouse, but got no answer on either try. He hung up the receiver and rejoined his uncle.

"No answer," he explained, unsure of whether that was good, bad, or indifferent.

Jesse nodded, sipping at a cup of coffee Jed had brought him. "We ought to figure on what to do next, then," he considered.

Bo frowned. He didn't want to leave Luke, but he couldn't abandon Daisy either, and someone had to clean this mess up. Hadn't he already had this argument with himself? "Uncle Jesse, you stay here with Luke, and call Henry at the Hawkins' if anything happens. I'll handle things," he declared firmly.

Jesse regarded his youngest nephew for a moment, who stood a little taller than he had a moment ago. A year or two ago Jesse might have doubted that Bo could untangle this situation by himself, but now there was no doubting the set in his jaw and the look in his eye. Young man indeed, but a man nonetheless. He reminded Jesse continuously of his father, Jesse's younger brother, and the Duke patriarch smiled at the bittersweet memory. "Alright, then, Bo. Be careful."

Bo smiled, pleased that his uncle had neither tried to dissuade him nor lectured him on how to proceed, and said his goodbyes, already headed down the hall.

Well, now. We've seen ol' Bo outfox those bloodhounds, but trapping a bear is a whole different story. Y'all stick around, now, this is gonna get interesting.