Thank you again to everyone who reviewed! And sorry this wasn't up yesterday... Siblings must steal computer at times. (sigh)

To anyone thinking like Beth Smith: Don't worry, his sense of honor will come into play later, as well as good ol' Jesse himself!

Chapter Dedication: To those who always rebel against being told "shut-up" like me and Lou.

I'll Tell the World

"Well, now you'd better stop that running before I'm forced to make you!" Lou shouted at Bo's back, trying desperately to keep up with him, but having difficulty. "I'll use Xavier here to help me too! Don't think I won't!"

"You are not naming that baby Xavier!" Bo retorted, still all but running away from the pesky woman. "No way on earth!"

"I'll do whatever I please, thank you very much!"

"You are annoying, you know that?" he snapped at her, momentarily glancing over his shoulder.

My God, if only he could look in a mirror! Lou thought, angrily gritting her teeth. "And you're forcing me to be annoying, you know that? Besides, I don't seem to recall any reluctance on your part to be with me eight months ago!"

"I didn't think a baby was going to come of it!"

Lou stopped and put her hands on her widened hips. "Oh, so now you're only sorry because there are consequences? You really are that low!"

"Hey, don't you dare go there!" Bo stopped and spun on his heel to face her. He angrily shook his finger in her face. "Don't you dare go calling me low. You're the pregnant one."

Scoffing angrily, Lou couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Well, it's only because of you that I am!"

"So you're going to annoy me to death because I made that mistake?"

"Darn straight," Lou growled. "I'm gonna bug the crap outta you until you give me what I want. You're marrying me whether you like it or not, Bo Duke. This is your baby, and you are gonna help take care of him right beside me."

"Are you so sure the baby's mine?"

Lou's jaw fell and looked like it would just detach from her whole face. Then when she recovered, she firmly planted her fists on her hips and bit out sarcasm. "Oh, no, I'm not really sure… You know I'm a slut and there's only about a one in ten chance the baby's yours." She scoffed angrily and looked like a volcano just waiting to erupt. "Yes, I am one hundred percent sure he's yours! And I have been!"

"Well if you're so sure, why'd you wait eight months to come and tell me?" Bo insisted.

"Honestly?"

"Honestly!"

Eyes narrowed, Lou now looked like an assassin and her voice went cold. "It took Jo that long to convince me you and your cousin were worth it. I wanted to go off and do it all alone, but she finally got through to me."

That struck poor Bo in the heart. "Is your opinion of me really that low?" he whispered.

"No," Lou replied truthfully. "I wanted to do it alone to save us all a heap of crap. But just so you know, every time you tell me I won't name my baby Xavier, and every time you insist you won't marry me, it does sink lower. So if you want a decent chance in my mind, stop saying I ain't naming our son Xavier, and stop saying you won't marry me, because you know you will."

"You ain't and I won't!" Bo growled, brushing past her and hurrying back towards Cooter's garage.

Lou just hurried along behind again, knowing full well how much she was getting under Bo's skin. That was part of her plan to persuade him over to her side, after all.

"See?" she said. "You just sunk about four points on the scale."

"Just do me a big favor and shut-up, will you?"

"Um, sorry, no."

That comment made Bo groan loudly and toss his hands up towards the sky.

"Hey, who are you gonna tell about Xavier first?" Lou asked. "Your Uncle Jesse—ooh, he's gonna be very mad. Your cousin Daisy—she's gonna be shocked and hurt that her great cousin fell so hard. Or are you just gonna let Cooter tell someone and let the word spread naturally?"

Bo's hands quickly came back down as he tugged on his own blonde curls. "I ain't gonna tell no one," he bit out.

"Oh, yes you are."

"No, I ain't."

Quickly stepping in front of Bo and stopping him with a hand to his chest, Lou gave him a very serious look. "Hey, if you don't tell nobody, then you leave it all up to me, and I definitely will."

"You're not going to tell anyone either," Bo said, grabbing her shoulders. "You hear me? You are not telling anyone!"

"Yes I am!" she definitely pronounced, wrenching out from under his grasp. "I will tell the world that I'm carrying Bo Duke's baby!" Quickly, she spotted a simple passerby who she didn't recognize at all and practically ran towards him. "Hey, you!"

The elderly man innocently turned around. "Yes, ma'am?" he said courteously, smiling politely.

Brightly, Lou started to spill the news. "Yeah, you see my baby? The daddy's—" Before she could announce her secret, Bo clamped a hand tightly over her mouth.

Spitefully, she bit his hand and made him yelped as he let go.

"See, he doesn't want nobody to know…" she started again before Bo pressed his hand across her mouth a second time.

No matter how much she bit and licked, he didn't let go this time. After a moment, he tightly wrapped his other arm around her below Xavier and lifted her into the air. Knowing that struggling might result in pain or Bo unintentionally harming her, Lou didn't attempt to wriggle or kick, no matter how much she wanted to. She barely moved as he carried her a few feet away, then set her gently back down, shielded her from the old man and took his hand from her mouth.

Immediately, she looked back at the passerby and started to open her mouth. She didn't really intend to say anything, but Bo didn't know that and quickly grabbed her face, turning it back towards his. "Don't say anything," he bit out strictly.

After rolling her eyes at Bo, Lou threw a glance at the old man, who was still standing there, waiting for some sort of explanation. She simply shrugged.

And the man walked on, muttering to himself about how odd young people were these days, and how he didn't ever understand them.

-+--+-

"What're we gonna tell people?" Luke asked Jo after he'd gotten his outrage under control. Nervously, he was running his hands through his hair and occasionally squeezing his head.

"I don't know," she quietly replied.

"Who do we tell?"

"I don't know," she repeated.

"Do we even tell anyone?" There seemed to be no end to these questions.

How many times do I have to say it? Jo thought. "I don't know."

"Dangit!" cried Luke, angrily whirling towards her. "For once can't you just have something to say, Jo? Can't you just once not tell me that you don't know? Just now, can't you actually have something to say that'll help? Just this once, can't you have an opinion!"

Now, as quiet as she was, Bobbie-Jo Johnson was a proud woman. Though her dignity was silent, it was still wounded by Luke's outburst.

For a moment, she quietly reflected on her thoughts and stared at Luke's angry face, ever so slowly diminishing its ire.

"I say tell the world," she finally said. "Tell everyone in Hazzard and beyond that Bobbie-Jo Johnson is gonna have Luke Duke's baby. I honestly don't see where keeping it quiet's gonna help anybody at all."

"Thank you!" Luke exclaimed.

Jo stood with a steady stare fixed on his face, never wavering. "And I'm glad you think I have no opinion." With that, she brushed past Luke and stalked back towards Cooter's and the car.

"Oh, no I didn't mean it like that," he quickly said, all anger fading as he followed after Jo. He put a hand on her arm and stopped her. "I didn't mean it at all."

She turned a stone cold stare at him, letting the tears remain internal. "Never say what you don't mean, Luke Duke. Life's too short to be ruined by false statements."

Jo left Luke to think over her words as she continued onwards.

See, Jo? she thought. He's like everybody else: he doesn't understand you. No one but Lou really does. You were a fool to ever think different. And despite her efforts, a single tear rolled down her cheek and dropped from her face, silently landing on her stomach. At the moment, she felt like the tear: all but disappearing.

----

"Just don't tell anyone, please," Bo insisted to Betty-Lou. "Especially not Uncle Jesse or Daisy. Promise me you won't."

Lou arched an eyebrow at the request as she slid into the driver's seat of her car, with Jo already in the passenger's seat. "You know I won't promise that."

Quickly, he grabbed a hold of Lou's upper arm. "Betty-Lou, please, please promise me. I'm begging you."

Lou took a deep breath, and looked Bo straight in the eye. "I will promise you that I'll give you time to tell them by yourself. They won't hear it from me unless you fail to tell them." She closed the car door, but rolled down the window to pop one last comment at him. "And we'll be staying at the Hazzard Hotel if you need us."

With that, she drove off directly towards the hotel.

Mentally, Bo cursed her and bit out several inappropriate things for the mess she'd caused. When he turned around, Cooter and Luke were both standing at the edge of the garage, looking at him.

"Hey," he told them, "don't neither one of you say anything either. I'd rather not have Uncle Jesse wring the life outta me or you,Luke."