Author's Notes: Well, let's see - I've thanked my beta-readers and my reviewers, but y'know, I don't think I've taken the time to thank a lot of the other authors out there. See, I love to read as well as write, and there are some great and fun stories out there - some of which I'm still waiting and hoping for updates on (so if I'm on your alert list - this means you!). There's also other authors out there with a great deal of imagination and promise, that I'd love to see reach thier potential. So, thank you for writing!

As for notes actually related to this story - oh, yes, I almost forgot - I do realize that Cooter, L.B., and B.B. Davenport were presented in the show as cousins, but as Flynne so aptly said to me, "every timeDoH needed someone new, they dragged some mysterious cousin out of the woodwork" - and I decided I like them better as brothers. So that's how I wrote it.

I also havea bit of lifelong advice to impart, that my parents told me when I was a wee lass ofsix years old. Sometimes, in life, in books, in fanfiction, you'll come across a word you don't know: go look it up. That dictionary became my best friend, as I'll bet you can guess, and a lot of those words sneak thier way into my writing and my daily vocabulary and I don't even notice. Then, someday, maybe you too can challenge your friends to find a word in a GRE study guide that you don't know the meaning and usage. :-D

Chapter 4: The Kindness of Strangers

When Cooter woke to the dawn sunlight the next morning, he got up slowly, scratching and stretching. Before going into the bathroom, he looked into each of the two guest rooms - originally the bedrooms of the Davenport boys - and was somewhat surprised to see the blankets of neither bed disturbed. Then again, Luke had fallen asleep on the couch yesterday afternoon, so he'd probably crashed there last night too. Unconcerned, Cooter savored his nice hot shower, the heat easing tense muscles. Afterwards he quickly dried off and dressed in a reasonably clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Hey Luke, you up?" he called down the stairs ahead of him. "I don't got much for breakfast, but…we…can…"

The living room and kitchen were empty, and the silent farmhouse echoed Cooter's voice. He looked out the windows to the front porch and yard, but neither showed signs of life. Then he noticed two folded pieces of paper on the kitchen table. Cooter already had a good idea of what was in them when he snatched them up. The first was addressed to him, in Luke's scrawling handwriting:

'Cooter - I'm sorry. I had to go. I borrowed a few things - I'll make sure they get back. Watch over Bo, Daisy, and Uncle Jesse for me. - Luke'.

The second was addressed to Jesse and Daisy, but Cooter read it anyway.

'Uncle Jesse, Daisy - Don't worry about me. Pray for Bo instead. I'll be back soon. - Love, Luke'.

"Oh no," the mechanic said aloud. Notes in hand, Cooter ran for the white pickup parked outside, leaving the door wide open behind him.

Yeah, I had a feeling Luke was planning something like this. There ain't a Duke born that wasn't stubborn as a mule, when his mind is set. Let's just hope he don't end up in the hospital next to Bo, or worse, in a green grassy field next to his momma and daddy.

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Uncle Jesse didn't take the news so well at first. "He's what?"

Cooter offered him the notes, which Jesse snatched up and read. Luke had said he didn't want Cooter to tell, but he didn't make him promise. "He's gone after the Flanagans," the mechanic repeated in a hushed voice. The troopers at the doorway to the hospital room were straining to listen in. Even Daisy, sitting by her unconscious cousin's side, could barely hear. She got up and joined her uncle and friend by the window.

"I don't think I heard you right, Cooter. I could swear you said Luke's gone after the Flanagan brothers," she said, just as quietly.

Cooter nodded affirmatively. "I tried to talk him out of it, but he was gone when I got up this morning. Took some of my camping gear with him."

Daisy looked up at Jesse worriedly. "Uncle Jesse, I don't like this. It ain't like Luke."

Jesse looked thoughtful. "I reckon it's more like Luke than you think. He ain't one to sit and hide, and he don't have many options. He figures the best thing he can do for us and Bo is catch the two that really done it, and come back with a clear name."

"But Uncle Jesse, they could be anywhere by now! He's breaking his probation for sure, and they could hurt him, even if the cops don't catch him first!"

"I didn't say I ain't worried about him. I'm jus' sayin' I understand it, is all."

"What about us? What are we gonna do?"

"Well, we're gonna keep our ears on and our eyes peeled for any sign of him, and if he needs help, we're gonna help him. Until then, well, we're gonna wait while Bo goes in for surgery, and we're gonna be here when he wakes up." Jesse's eyes settled on his youngest nephew.

By all accounts, Bo was doing well, considering. The first few hours had been the worst – he had lost so much blood from his mangled leg, the doctors were hesitant to offer any hope. They'd immediately brought him to the operating room to set his broken femur in place and repair the damage done by the bone to blood vessels and muscle. Not long after, he was rushed back in when scans showed internal bleeding in his abdomen.

While the Duke family watched and prayed overnight, Bo stabilized, and his broken bones and bruised body developed no more complications. The doctors were concerned about the damage to his neck and back, as one of them had told Jesse, though they were amazed that he didn't have more serious head injuries from the high-speed impact with the pavement. They guessed, from the way his arm broke, that Bo had shielded his head from the worst of it. Now another night had passed, and they all played the waiting game; to wait for him to come out of it, to wait for him to heal enough to cut back the sedatives that kept him sleeping so soundly.

Before long, a nurse came to prep him for another surgery, this time to set permanent pins in his leg and strengthen the break against the strong muscles pulling at the bone. She shooed the Dukes and Cooter out of the room, and they waited in the hallway, eyeing the two guards with restrained dislike. The men were just doing their duty, but even Jesse couldn't help but resent their presence. When Bo was brought out on his bed and wheeled down the hall, one of the troopers followed, under orders to stand guard even at the operating room doors.

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Anna smiled sweetly at the young man who sat at the counter of the roadside diner, pouring him a second cup of black coffee. He was handsome, with unruly dark brown hair and a country tan showing below rolled blue-plaid sleeves. The waitress noted, with hope, that he wore no wedding band or other lover's token. He looked worried and sad, with a distant expression in those tired blue eyes. Some instinct made her want to hold him tight and tell him everything would be just fine.

It took her two tries to get his attention, and he seemed surprised when he finally heard her, as though he'd forgotten he was sitting at the counter of the Sweetwater Café. "I said, can I get you anything else, sugah?"

He looked down at his empty dinner plate and pushed it forward. "Ah, no, thank you, ma'am."

She tried not to be offended when he didn't hardly seem to notice her, but she smiled again when she picked up his plate. Gathering some other dishes with it, she carried the load out back, where an older waitress stood talking to the line cook. Anna set her burden down and joined their idle talk. When the opening came up, she gestured out front towards the young man, and asked Sheila's opinion with raised eyebrows.

The older waitress leaned back a little to get a clearer look, and glanced from Anna to the haggard young man. Finally, she shook her head. "You are some piece of work, Anna May."

The pretty young woman laughed lightly. "What do you mean?"

"That boy there is nothing but trouble, I'll tell you right now. You keep your distance, honey, or you're liable to get burned."

"How do you know?"

"Oh, believe me, I know."

Anna looked out at him wistfully. "He looks so sad…"

Meanwhile, the line cook was taking a good look at the young man too, with a squint that was trying hard to remember something barely seen and quickly forgotten. He shrugged. Maybe he'd just seen him in the diner before.

After checking her hair and straightening her uniform, Anna returned to the front of the diner. It was late and very quiet, and the young man was one of a handful of customers scattered about the counter and booths. The Sweetwater Café was in an out-of-the-way corner of Sweetwater County, no longer a major trucker's stop since the state highway was built through Hatchapee. Now it was mostly locals who frequented the diner, though the young man was certainly an exception.

It was so quiet that Luke jumped at the sound of the bells on the door jangling someone's entrance. He carefully looked, and was relieved to see just another local man walking in. It had been a long time since he'd last seen the Sweetwater sheriff, but he was sure the man would remember him on sight – no officer of the law soon forgot an encounter with the Dukes.

Luke yawned despite the coffee, rubbing a hand over his face and hair. After leaving Cooter's in the middle of the night, he'd driven through Hazzard, first checking the Flanagans' old farm, then motel and hotel parking lots for the Flanagans' car. With no results on either, he drove on through Chickasaw, Choctaw, Hatchapee, and Sweetwater on the same night-spot search. He hoped they hadn't gone far, but he had no luck that night. Around dawn he'd given up and returned to one of Uncle Jesse's old hidden still sites to sleep for a few hours in the back of the General. Luke slept poorly, too alert for sounds that might be the sheriff or state troopers sneaking up on him, and eventually he gave up on that too.

By late morning, he was back on the road again, somewhat at a loss for what to do next. Flanagan wasn't very common a name, so he might search the yellow pages and hunt around to see if the brothers had a permanent home somewhere, but he doubted they did. Finally, he pulled over near the Choctaw County line and cut the engine, trying to think. Since he was getting tired of the lonely silence, Luke turned on the radio, listening to a few songs while he stared out the window. It was a news bulletin that caught his attention and turned his luck.

"In breaking news, police in Sweetwater County have reported that the Sweetwater Regional Bank was robbed by a lone armed suspect earlier this morning. Investigating officials believe this to be the fourth of a string of armed robberies committed across the state in the last month, including the robbery in Hazzard day before yesterday where suspect Beauregard Duke was hospitalized following an escape attempt. A second suspect, Lucas Duke, remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous, although officials are not ruling out other individuals who may be involved. Luke Duke is described as…"

Luke turned off the radio and started the car in one movement. Sweetwater. With the law looking for him, it was like trying to get honey from an angry beehive, but if the Flanagans had been there, that's where he'd start.

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Now Luke sat in a little diner on the outskirts of town, looking at a clock on the wall that ticked 10:03 and 45 seconds…50 seconds…55 seconds…and on, while he wondered what to do for the night. He was saving what money he had for gas and food, and he figured signing his name on a motel ledger was as good as writing "ARREST ME" across the back of the General Lee – unless he went to one of the seedier motels, and frankly sleeping in the General was probably safer and cleaner. Then again, he didn't want to drive all the way back to Hazzard for a safe place to park, but he didn't know Sweetwater well enough to know where to hide either.

So he sat at the counter of the diner, with a full stomach at least, sipping coffee gratefully as the pretty red-headed waitress refilled his cup unasked. A part of Luke felt bad that he'd accidentally ignored her earlier, when she was obviously trying to gain his attentions. Since he'd scoured the county all afternoon and night with no sign of the thieving brothers, he was trying to guess at their next move, but he was getting past the point where he could think very clearly.

Luke jumped again when the bell jangled on the door, but it was just someone leaving. He stifled another yawn and turned back to his coffee, only to find the cup empty again. Here came Red, refilling it with a smile, and this time Luke gave her a friendly smile in return.

Pleased to get some response, Anna set the coffee pot down and leaned against the counter. "You in some kind of trouble, sugah?" she asked lightly.

Luke looked at her wide-eyed, but realized she meant nothing by it. "No, why?"

"You seem awful jumpy, that's all."

Luke shrugged casually. "Just a good ol' boy down on his luck, I suppose."

Anna was curious. He spoke with a northern Georgia accent, but he wasn't from Sweetwater, and why would he be here this time of night if he were from somewhere nearby? "We don't get many strangers in here. They usually stick close to town. I'm Anna May Goldthwaite, by the way."

He shook her offered hand. "I'm Luke…" He stopped short, mentally cursing himself for the slip.

"Luke…?"

"Just Luke."

Anna smiled. "Well, 'just Luke', does a good ol' boy down on his luck have a place to stay for the night?"

That caught Luke off-guard. The Duke men were known to move along fast with women, but not that fast. "I…uh…Miss Goldthwaite, that's kind of you, but…"

Anna blushed and her hand flew to cover her mouth as she realized how the offer sounded. "No, no! I meant…I live with my brother, not far from here, and we've got a lot of spare rooms – my mama used to run it as a bed and breakfast – I just meant, if you don't have a place to stay, you're not gonna find much open this time of night, and if you want…" she trailed off, knowing her tumbling words probably didn't improve her indiscretion.

Luke smiled and shook his head. "Thank you, but I…I wouldn't want to be any trouble, it's alright."

The waitress smiled again. "Oh, it's no trouble at all! We'd be glad of the company - it gets kinda lonely, just the two of us, when that big ol' house used to be full of people coming and going all the time. In fact, my shift ended just a few minutes ago, and Chet will be by to pick me up soon. You can meet him, and I'm sure he won't mind."

Luke yawned a third - or tenth? - time. It was getting harder to refuse, and it would solve a few problems just now. Besides, she seemed nice enough – as long as her brother didn't mind, Luke reckoned it would be alright. He didn't need a Sweetwater boy angry with him for some imagined violation of his sister's honor. "Well, if you really don't mind, and it's okay with your brother, then I'd be much obliged, Miss Goldthwaite."

"Call me Anna, please. Oh, that looks like Chet there!"

A beat-up old pickup truck pulled up out front, headlights briefly flashing across the diner's large front windows. Anna was quickly walking towards the kitchen when Luke turned back around, shedding her apron and reaching for her purse. She said goodbye to a couple of unseen persons, and returned with a smile. Luke, in turn, pulled out a couple of bills from his pocket to pay for the meal and coffee, but the pretty little waitress stopped him.

"This one's on the house, hon," she said brightly. She seemed so delighted Luke had accepted her offer that his objection failed on his lips, and he pocketed the cash. She waved for him to follow her outside.

Chet, Anna's brother, was a burly man slightly taller than Luke, with the same red hair, cut short, and a bushy red moustache. He climbed out of the pickup truck as Anna approached, with an annoyed expression on his face, until he saw Luke. Then his annoyance melted into a friendly smile.

"Howdy, there!" Chet greeted the newcomer, holding out a hand. Luke shook it and greeted him in return. "Anna, who's this nice lookin' fella? I ain't gonna hafta beat him up, am I?" he asked his sister in a joking tone, though Luke wasn't entirely sure he was joking.

"Chet, this is Luke. He's from out of town, and he doesn't have any place to stay for the night - I was thinking he could room with us for a day or two."

Luke held up a cautionary hand. "Now, I don't want to impose. Just a night would be more than generous, as long as it's okay with you, Mr. Goldthwaite. I can always find a spot to sleep in my car."

Chet Goldthwaite smiled and shook his head. "No, we'd love to have you!" He clapped Luke on the shoulder. "Come on, go get your car, Luke, you can follow us back to the house - it's not far. And please, call me Chet."

"Well, I'm much obliged, Chet, thank you! I'll be right behind you." Ahh, Southern hospitality. With a brief nod to Anna, Luke turned and headed for the General Lee.

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The Goldthwaite home was huge, every bit the southern country inn. It was also set well back from the road on the same little-used county lane the diner sat on, with hardly any traffic and fewer prying eyes. Luke felt safe enough, hidden from the local sheriff for the night. He had nothing to bring with him from the General, since he hadn't been back to the farm for any of his belongings, so he just climbed out and followed Anna and Chet inside.

Anna commented on his lack of personal effects, to which Luke just shrugged and said, "Like I said, down on my luck. All I've got is the shirt on my back and a sleeping bag in the trunk."

In the entranceway light, Chet studied his haggard features, and smiled and nodded as though he'd come to a decision. "Well, we can fix that! Anna, why don't you show our guest to a room upstairs - the one in the back, with the nice view - and get him a towel and one of my spare razors. I'm sure I've got some clothes that will fit you - you look about my size, though they might be a little loose on you."

Luke tried to refuse again, but the burly man would have none of it, and he sent Luke upstairs with his sister. Anna was all smiles, especially when he marveled at the room she brought him to. It was easily the size of his, Daisy's, and Jesse's bedrooms put together, with its own bathroom off to one side and a brilliant seated window looking out over the moonlit meadows behind the house. The bed look inviting enough to fall into now, but Anna dutifully provided him with a huge fluffy towel, a razor, shaving cream, and a comb. Then she left, closing the door behind her.

Luke was positively overwhelmed, that in the midst of this storm of troubles and worries, here was a sheltered port, at least for the night. He hadn't forgotten about Bo or the Flanagans by any means, but at least he didn't have to keep looking over his shoulder for blue lights and badges, as he had all day.

By the time he'd finished cleaning up, he felt better than he had in days. Chet had stopped in while he was in the shower, dropping off sweatpants to wear for the night and a clean set of clothes for the next day. The burly man also told him through the shower curtain that he and Anna were headed off to bed, and that if Luke needed anything, Chet's room was right at the top of the stairs. He distinctly didn't mention where Anna's bedroom was, and Luke didn't ask. Luke thanked him again, and the house was quiet by the time he pulled back the covers on the bed. He lay back with a contented sigh, pulling the covers up around him, and didn't wake until morning.

Y'know, it's amazing, the kinds of friends you make with a friendly smile and an open heart. Though, I don't suppose it occurred to Luke to remember that old saying, 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts' - I wonder if that applies to red-haired Irishmen too?