Author's Note: This is Bo and Luke's life together, from the first year Bo was with them, until when Luke leaves for the Marines, and one year after he gets back. It is all different events, but they all begin with more or less the same phrase. I thought it might be fun to tell their lives together by something that keeps happening. This follows on the same line as 'It's Cold,' and some of the events are even similar with the ages. There is also an Easter egg in there, if you can spot the movie line from the newest Dukes of Hazzard show, but I ain't telling which part it is in...

Big thanks to Earendil Eldar for beta work.

Warning: The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.

Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix….

I'm Hot, Part One

Luke looked up from where he sat on the floor, frowning, it was true that he didn't know much about babies, but he knew they weren't supposed to scream as much as the one Martha was holding was. Bo had been screaming for a long time now, really long. It was a bother, but there was really nowhere in the house where he could get away from it, and he wasn't supposed to go outside either. So he had to stay inside and put up with the screaming.

He frowned again, glancing over at the baby. His aunt was trying to sooth it, but it did little good. Luke put down the toy car for a moment, looking closer at the baby. It had been with them for about five months or so now, so it was just about a year old. Still so tiny it was really no good though. It couldn't even play with cars, if it got its hands on one of Luke's toy cars, it only tried to eat them.

That was why Luke didn't allow him to get his hands on them, he did not need to get drool all over his nice cars. It was yucky.

There was one more thing he couldn't understand about it, how could people always be saying how cute it was? It had been screaming so long now that the face was all wrinkled up and red, and that was not cute. A kitten was cute, and they weren't half as much a bother, and still his aunt and uncle insisted on keeping the baby rather than getting a kitten or a puppy.

No, it sure wasn't cute now, not the slightest. He stood and walked over to his aunt. "Why is he screaming all the time, Aunt Martha?" He asked. "He's making my ears hurt."

"He's screaming because it's so hot Luke." Martha said softly as she once more tried to sooth the baby. It was a very hot day, and little Bo was the one who suffered the most from it.

"I'm hot to, and I don't scream like that." Luke snorted and Martha chuckled.

"He's just a baby Luke, it's the only way he can express himself. The poor little tyke really is to hot though."

"Is that why he's wearing a dress?" Luke asked with a frown as he fingered the garment that the baby wore. It was white with pale blue stripes on it, and it seemed to be the only thing he wore, and a boy with a dress was just wrong.

Once more Martha smiled, she had sewn it for the baby just because the last few days had been so hot. The more loosely fitting garment would leave him a little cooler. "It's a shirt Luke." She told him with a smile. "It only looks like a dress because it is big and loose fitting. Or he would have been even warmer."

"It looks like a dress." Luke insisted. "Are ya sure it ain't?"

"Perfectly." Martha smiled. "Don't worry Luke, I wouldn't make your baby cousin wear a dress." It might resemble one rather closely, but it was in truth a workman's shirt he was wearing. It was the length of it that made Luke call it a dress.

Luke shook his head and went back to playing with his cars, the baby really was a bother at times, after all you didn't see him make such a fuss just because it was a little hot.

"Luke, Is hot Luke." The whiney voice of a baby that sounded quite cranky woke Luke up. He looked over to the baby bed with the high sides that his cousin occupied. The sides were high, supposedly to keep him out of trouble. Maybe it kept him from climbing out, but it didn't keep him from making a nuisance of himself Luke figured.

Sometimes he wished that he still slept in their aunt and uncle's room, like he had when he was even smaller and slept in the crib. When they moved him to the bed however, they had also moved him to Luke's room.

"Is warm Luke, hot." The child whined again in that high pitched voice of his. One small hand holding on to the slime wooden bars of the bed. At least Luke thought it was bars, kind of like a cage, kinda fitting as well. Bo could be a little monster at times.

If Luke knew one thing about kids it was that one tiny child, could make a whole lot of trouble, more than anything else no matter how much bigger it was.

Like when Bo tried to peek into a bucket that stood on the floor, and over turned it, with the result of milk spilling out over the entire kitchen floor. The worst was that their aunt didn't even punish him for it, she said it was her own fault for letting Bo get at it.

Now Bo grabbed the bars with both his small hands and shook them. "Luke!"

By how high his voice had rose already Luke could tell it was only a matter of time before he started screaming at the top of his lungs. Like he always did if he thought they were ignoring him, which Luke wished he could do at times.

"What is it?" He demanded as he threw back the covers and got out of bed. He walked over to Bo's bed and leaned over the side.

"Is hot." Bo whined, giving the bars another shake before pounding a small fist against them. "Is thirsty."

"Why can't ya let me sleep through the night." Luke groaned, though he had to admit that with the sides of the bed, Bo couldn't very well get up and get water for himself. Nor could he even reach the tap in the kitchen. "If I get ya water, will ya go back to sleep then?" He asked. Bo nodded, and Luke sighed as he headed to the kitchen.

He climbed up and filled a mug with some cold water for his younger cousin. When he got back, Bo was standing up in the bed, holding on to the top of it. He greedily reached for the water and gulped it down. Clutching the mug with both of his small hands while Luke stood watching him.

"Still hot." He pouted as Luke took the mug away from him and put it on the small table that was between their beds.

Luke frowned, it was a warm night, maybe the pajamas that Bo wore was a bit to much, even if their aunt always dressed him in it before putting him to bed.

"Okay, we'll take ya pajama jacket off, and then ya had better let me sleep." He decided, unbuttoning the two buttons on the front of it, and carefully pulling his arms out of the sleeves. He had helped them do that enough times to know you couldn't bend Bo's arms around as much as you might want to, and then slipped the pajama jacket over his head.

"Sleep now Bo." He insisted as he hung the garment on the side of the bed.

"Hug first." Bo insisted, holding up his arms.

Luke reached over the side to hug him, wincing as the wet sloppy baby kiss Bo aimed at his cheek missed and smacked in his ear instead. Then Bo lied down again and Luke searched out his bear from the beneath the blanket he had kicked off, and placed it in his cousins arms again, stifling a yawn. Bo hugged the bear close and was soon sleeping even while Luke was making his way back to his bed.

"Luke, I'm hot." Three year old Bo tugged at Luke's hand. "Really hot."

Luke turned around to look at him, he was sweating, and did look rather hot. No doubt he had been running around like crazy, like he always did. It was never any surprise to see him running around at top speed, back and forth out in the yard. There never seemed to be a purpose to it either, except when he was chasing the chickens, which he wasn't allowed to do. Or when he was trying to catch up with the goat, who had enough of being patted for the time being.

Luke could understand that, who wanted a three year old hanging on to your fur for an hour at a stretch.

"If ya so hot, why do ya got ya jacket on?" He asked. Aunt Martha had put it on him before they went out, and while Bo wasn't supposed to just take it off and leave it on the ground like he usually did, he wasn't supposed to give himself heat stroke by wearing it either.

"Cause Aunt Martha said I wouldn't get no pie if I did." Bo pouted. "An' she's making that pie with the apples, an' she told me she was, an' it's really, really good. An' I really want some, but she said I wouldn't if I took it off, but its hot." He finished his whining.

"Bo, she didn't say that." Luke shook his head. "She said ya wouldn't get any if ya went and chased them chickens around. An' she said ya could take off ya jacket if ya got to warm as well."

"I thought it was if I took it off, an' I really like it." Bo gave Luke a very confused look, then he glanced over to the chickens, a really thoughtful expression on his face, Luke guessed he had been chasing them after all. "Ya sure?" He turned back to face Luke, his face all wrinkled up in a frown.

"Yeah."

"Oh." Bo looked towards the chickens again, then he shook his head so that his blond locks danced around his head. "Not good."

"Come here Bo." Luke sighed, he started to slip Bo's jacket off him, and left it on the wooden chair near the door where they would be able to find it easily. "And ya ain't never supposed to chase them chickens, ya should know that by now." He suspected Bo would still get pie, because he had tried to obey, and because they all knew he could never resist chasing the chickens.

TBC

Thank you all for reading, I'll do my very best to reply to all signed reviews, Elenhin