Bo opened his mouth to respond.

"I don't know, you tell me."

In surprise he turned around, because the words had not come from his mouth.

Luke Duke stood there with arms crossed, wearing gray garments that matched his cousin.

"Luke!" Bo exclaimed, both in surprise and relief. "How did you get in here?"

"Same as you, assaulting a military official." He replied, eyeing the Mantooths especially.

Charlie laughed out loud. "Looks like you're not any better at math now than you were when you initially tried to replace that fifty grand." He sneered. "Two doesn't outnumber four."

"Yeah, you see, you gotta have at least five to do that." Horace laughed, holding up five fingers before he gave Charlie a playful jab on the shoulder.

"Oh you can't hold it against 'im, Horace, he's a Hazzard County boy. You see, the schools there are on a limited budget, so they have to distribute the funds where they're most needed. So they've always took 'em outta arithmetic and sunk it all into their FFA programs."

As the four laughed, Luke shook his head. "I'm sorry, Horace, did you say it'd take five?" He asked, holding up his fingers as Horace had.

As Horace laughed and nodded, the door behind the Dukes opened up again, delivering into the yard Cooter, Enos and Pete, all wearing the prison issues!

"Lets see now…." Luke began, pointing to each member of the group as Horace's laugh quickly stopped. "One, two, three, four, five. Now we may be a bunch of dumb Hazzard County boys, but from what you just said, I believe that means we got more than you."

Now the doctors and Mantooths stood nervously looking at the rooftops where the guards stood watching. From a far off distance, the sound of a whistle could be heard. At the whistle, all of the guards turned and disappeared from their posts!

"What the…." Dr. Foster began, speaking for the four of them. He chose not to finish, instead, taking the time to turn and make a run for it.

As the others followed his example, Bo was the first to take off in pursuit. While he would easily enjoy getting his hands on any one of them, he especially sought out Horace. After all, he was the one who had probably come the closest to taking Bo's life when he disconnected his oxygen supply at the cemetery. He was a good runner, Bo learned. He reached the fence at the far end of the yard before he turned around swinging, catching Bo across the jaw.

Luke set his sights on Charlie as he had dealt very little with the other three. He caught up to him and tackled him to the ground, delivering the punches he so well deserved.

It wasn't hard for Cooter to decide on Dr. Dewberry, especially since he had learned that Dr. Foster would never have shown up and the experiments would never have taken place with Bo had it not been for the hypnotist.

Enos was left to deal with Dr. Foster which was a pretty good match. The doctor was on the elderly side and while Enos was a law officer, he wasn't as built for brawling as the Dukes or Cooter. He caught up to the doctor and caught him by the arm, swinging him against the fence.

Pete McDonald stood just enjoying the view for awhile. He hadn't seen a good old fashioned Hazzard County rumble like this since his last trip to the Boar's Nest.

And so the four friends fought with nary a guard to put a stop to it. Each of them experienced a yo-yo effect in their brawl, sometimes gaining the upper hand, sometimes finding themselves on the bottom. But as time wore on, it became very clear that the good ole' boys would come out victorious in this one.

As Bo wrestled Horace down for the last time and raised his fist to deliver a knock-out punch, he was stopped by Luke.

"Hang on Bo!" Luke commanded, grabbing his punching arm.

"Why?" Bo asked, turning toward his cousin and wondering if his own face looked as sweaty and bloody as Luke's did.

"'Cause we're gonna do this right." Luke replied.

Bo looked around and noticed that Dr. Dewberry was on his knees with Cooter behind him. The rugged mechanic had the doctor's arms locked behind him with his own, preventing him from changing positions or doing much moving. Pete administered the same treatment to Charlie while Enos had Dr. Foster in a similar position. Luke gently pushed Bo away and took Horace, putting him in the same humiliating position as his friends.

"Now listen up." Luke announced to the four prisoners who found themselves kneeling in a row. "My cousin here's got a few things to say and ya'll are all gonna stay quiet and listen or else."

"I do?" Bo asked.

"Yeah you do, Bo. Tell 'em they're the scum of the earth. Tell 'em they ain't worthy to polish your boots. Dang it, tell 'em whatever you need to!"

Bo was flabbergasted. He never expected this opportunity. Not in a million years. He quickly found himself pacing back and fourth in front of the group, a million thoughts going through his head. He was so busy pacing and thinking that he didn't hear the faraway cheers from the cell block where the prisoners watched from their tiny windows, or his Uncle Jesse commanding him to 'let 'em have it.' from outside the fence where he had watched the whole exchange unnoticed.

"I supposed I could do that, Luke." He finally said, walking over to Horace. "I supposed I could tell you that you ARE the scum of the earth." He then walked to Charlie. "And I supposed I could tell you that you AREN'T worthy to polish my BARN boots." He then walked to the doctors. "And I supposed I could sit here and tell the two of you how I would just love to take the pair of you off somewhere and feed you so many drugs you'd be madder and act crazier than a wet hen." He then stood up. "And I could say all of that and every bit of it would be true. But most folks who know me pretty well, know that I'm the type to let my actions speak for me."

With that, he walked over to Horace, delivering a right cross that sent him to dreamland. But he didn't stop there. Charlie was the next to receive the courtesy, followed by Dewberry, then by Foster. As Foster fell to the ground, out cold, Bo looked up at Luke. For the first time in weeks, he gave his cousin a big heartfelt smile. With a laugh, he ran over and topped it off with a hug.

Luke enthusiastically returned the hug, scolding Bo a bit when his younger cousin picked him up in the air. "Feel better now?" Luke asked, patting his back when his feet finally touched the ground again..

"Almost." Bo admitted, pulling away from Luke. "But I'm countin' on Pete there to complete the puzzle."

Pete and Luke looked quizzically at each other then at Bo, noticing a mischievous grin and a twinkle in his eye that hadn't been evident in a long time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Uncle Jesse woke up earlier than usual the next morning. It wasn't that there was anything to do or anywhere to go, it was just one of those mornings where one wakes up spontaneously, seemingly completely rested despite the early hour.

Because it was too early to even start breakfast, he chose to lay in his bed and ponder on the events of the day before.

Despite his bad ankle, he had leapt for joy outside that prison fence as he watched his youngest nephew knock out each of the men who had been responsible for all the misery he had endured. He was convinced at that moment that nothing could be more satisfying for Bo. He was almost right.

He later learned that Bo had asked Pete to direct them to the prison morgue. Each of the Hazzard boys had hoisted an unconscious opponent over their shoulder, following Pete as he lead the way. Jesse later learned that the group had secured each of the opponents in a wooden box, just as Bo had been. He laughed to himself as he imagined how they must have felt when they finally came to. It seemed to be poetic justice.

Jesse had watched with satisfaction after the events as Bo gave Major Edwards a handshake and heartfelt thanks. It was the Major who had arranged for the guards to go on 'break' at just the right time. And because he had been there, all the security cameras had went down at the most opportune time After the fight had ended, it was 'discovered' that a terrible mistake had been made in the sentencing. Hitting a military official only merited a warning for a first offence. Therefore, all the warrants and any other paperwork showing that they had even been there had been destroyed. Of course, the other prisoners weren't going to say anything. Pete had a pretty strong following there. And it helped a lot, too, that the warden owed Major Edwards a favor.

So, with a stop by the church on the way home, the Dukes returned to the farm that very night, the biggest problem on their minds being how they were going to raise the money for the roof repair. But the solution to that problem lay in the beat up mailbox. Luke had been sent an unexpected yet sizeable check, a compensation for his voluntary efforts in accepting the reversal drug eventually administered to Bo.

Jesse was lulled back to the present when a soft rain began to patter the metal roof.. Unable to help himself any longer, he threw the blanket aside and tiptoed to the boys' room. Opening the door a bit so the bathroom light could shine on their faces, he noticed that each of them sported some ugly bruises and nasty scratches from the fight. But the smiles on their faces were two of the most amazing things he had ever seen. They were smiles of contentment, of satisfaction, and most importantly, peace.

As he pulled the door closed once again, he noticed that it was beginning to get light outside. Trudging toward the back door, he sat on the stoop and watched as the shadows gained color, form, and identity. As he thought about how things were truly alright once again, he smiled contently as the rain fell on him.

Aw, don't ya just loooooooooove those happy endings?

THE END