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 line from the 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 Tired, Part Three
"I'm tired Luke, how long are we gonna be?" Bo asked sleepily.
"Don't know." Luke answered the ten year old boy who was sitting between him and Cooter in the truck. "Cooter?"
"No idea." Cooter shook his head. "We're ya out chasing girls all last night since ya that tired Bo?" He teased.
"No, there weren't none around the farm to chase." Bo replied sleepily.
"Uhu, ran to fast for ya huh." Cooter teased as he ruffled his hair. "No wonder ya plumb worn out."
Bo looked up at him with a half hearted glare.
"Shouldn't be to long Bo." Luke told him. "Well be home soon."
"Yeah, but I don't think he really cares anymore." Cooter grinned as he noticed that Bo had fallen asleep where he sat between them.
"Luke, I'm tired, when are we gonna stop?" Eleven year old Bo looked up at his cousin questioningly.
Luke ignored him and just kept on walking.
"Luke." Bo called after him.
"Never." Luke snapped, Bo should know how far it was to the farm. At least well enough so he didn't have to ask every other minute.
"Never?" Bo cried out astonished stopping dead in his tracks. "Luke?"
Luke glanced over his shoulders. "Bo, keep up will ya."
"Ain't we ever gonna stop?" Bo asked, sounding a bit doubtful, and yet scared that Luke might mean it. The kid was just way to gullible.
Luke shook his head with a sigh. "Bo, ya got the IQ of a turnip, a small one. Of course we're gonna stop, we're going home ain't we. We'll stop when we get there."
Bo gave him a suspicious look but started walking again.
"I'm tiered Luke." Bo rubbed at his eyes with his knuckles even as he yawned.
"I don't care Bo." Luke stood working on a bolt in the engine. "Ya wanted to come along."
"Yeah, I know." Bo tried to fight off the desire to sleep, he was always happy to go with Cooter and Luke. It had just turned out to be way later than anyone had expected. He was supposed to go to school the next day, he was in enough trouble in school even if he didn't fall asleep in class.
He tried very hard to make his uncle proud of him, but studying didn't come easy to him. He found it hard to sit still, and learning from book just wasn't for him. His uncle understood that, and he never fussed to much about grades, not as long as he did his best. Falling asleep in class was however not something Jesse would allow. If he did that he would be in trouble.
"I didn't think we'd be this late." Bo defended himself.
"Well, we are." Luke told him, the last thing he needed was for Bo to turn whiny on him.
"Bo," Cooter spoke up from the other side of the car. "There's an old backseat in the back there. Ya can get some shut eye so ya manage school alright."
"Thanks Cooter." Bo gave him a grateful look. That was why it was so good to be around Cooter, he didn't look down on Bo for being younger. He still saw him as a friend, and he didn't think he was childish cause he was tired. He found the back seat and laid down on it, he'd nap until the left, and then he'd manage school just fine.
"Here." Cooter grinned and tossed him a none to clean blanket that Bo draped over him. He saw Bo as something between a friend and a younger brother. The fact that Bo had enough sense to know he was too tired to manage school if he stayed up was a good thing as Cooter saw it. The reason Luke got annoyed was because he was tired as well, and it made him short tempered with his cousin in turn.
Closing his eyes, Bo fell asleep to the sound of clanking tools.
"Luke, I'm tired." Bo mumbled as he wondered what time it was. He would have shook his head if he wasn't yawning. At thirteen years he was looking at girls, and he liked what he saw there as well. Still, sitting out all night and looking at Luke making out, or rather being told not to look, was kind of boring.
He was in the front seat, alone, and Luke and the girl was in the backseat, having a great time. Well, he would, he was the one getting to kiss and snuggle.
He sighed, he wouldn't have minded that, but he was a tag along at the moment. Not left behind, but not included either.
Sighing again he climbed out on the car and sat down on the hood, it was a beautiful night sky, so he stretched out on the hood, his back against the windshield and an arm behind his head for a pillow. It was a warm summer night, and beautiful stars.
Lying there gazing up at them he didn't feel as if he was missing out on anything after all. You didn't think the hood of a car could be so comfortable, but falling asleep there while gazing up at the stars, that was something he wouldn't mind doing again.
"Luke, I'm tired." Bo looked up at his cousin with sleepy eyes. Being sick at seventeen was no better than being sick at seven he had decided, but being sick when Luke had just gotten back from the Marines, that was really bad. He knew no one blamed him for getting sick, but he hated being a bother at the best of times. What also served to make it worse was that he never could stop himself from thinking that Luke had been away to war, out in the big world, after all that could he really see his sick cousin as anything but a whiny brat? Still, at times he really couldn't help but whine a bit.
"Try and sleep Bo." Luke said softly, as far as Bo could tell he didn't sound as if he though Bo was just a spoiled brat.
"I can't." Bo raised a hand to rub at his eyes, and it made his skin sting.
"Why not?" Luke sat down beside him on the bed, he sounded concerned. Bo took a small amount of relief in knowing that as long as Luke sounded concerned and not annoyed, he didn't mind.
"It aches all over." He mumbled, it was the fever that had made his body ache, but it really was bad enough to keep him from sleeping. His flesh felt hot and sore, and every touch or movement made it really ache.
"Oh," Luke was familiar with the feeling. He brushed a stray lock of hair away from Bo's forehead. It was getting into his eyes, and that wouldn't make him feel any better. "Tell ya what Bo, I'll go and fix ya a nice cool bath, should take care of the aching and cool ya off a bit, kay?"
Bo nodded, it might be a sure way to cross the line between being a sick cousin and a bothersome cousin, but it sounded so good he really didn't care. Besides he could still hear the genuine concern and tenderness in Luke's voice, and that was enough to reassure him. Luke gave him a warm smiled before he went to fix the bath, then he came back to help Bo there. He was as wobbly on his feet as a new born colt, a three legged one, out on plain ice.
Settling in the water Bo gave a sigh or relief, it did sooth, it soothed him more than he had dared to hope for.
"How ya feeling now, Bo?" Luke asked softly, he was sitting behind Bo and let him rest his head against him.
"Lot better, Luke, thanks." Bo offered a small smile. "Tired and sleepy."
Luke couldn't help but smile. He had missed his cousin so badly when he was away. Bo with his wide eyed innocence, who though he was hiding the fact that he was nervous about what Luke thought about him, when he was really broadcasting it on an open CB channel. The boy thought he hadn't noticed, but even if Jesse hadn't told him, he would have known. So he tried to reassure him, in any way he could.
So even when Bo did one of those cute things to try and keep himself from being cumbersome Luke just let him. At the same time as he tried to keep from laughing, while offering some reassurance.
Now he could laugh though, Bo had fallen asleep in the water. It was easy to tell how worn out tired he had been when he dropped out that fast. Hopefully, he would get better really soon, and then once he had rested a bit they could take up all of their plans that had been put on hold.
Now he let the boy be for a bit, then he would get him back to bed again. Still smiling fondly over how much he had grown Luke noted that he still looked like a child when he was asleep.
The End