Dukes of Hazzard.

Title: Chance

Disclaimer: Warner Brothers, Paul L. Picard and A Lou-Step own and operate Dukes of Hazzard. No profit has been made and no copywrite violation was intended in the making of this story.

Summary:When Bo's parents return to the Duke farm to reclaim their son, sparks fly. Bo must decide whom he conciders family before fate chooses for him.

Chapter One,

"Bo, you might wanna take the shirt off before ya work on the General." Luke suggested as he popped the General's hood and raised it up to reveal all of the inner workings on the car.Bo looked at his cousin as if he had just grown two heads! Sometimes Luke could be a little forgetful, but this took the cake in Bo's opinion!

"Luke, in case ya hadn't a noticed, it's 54 degrees out here!" Bo said as he raised his arms to indicate the outside world.

Luke, who had wiping off a wrench with an old, red rag, glanced up at Bo and nodded his head.

"Ok, when Daisy kills ya for gettin' oil on yer clothes, don't say I didn't warn ya." Luke said with a shrug of his shoulders as he leaned in under the hood of the car.

Bo remembered vividly when he had last gotten oil on his clothes from working on the General. Daisy had chased him with a frying pan all the way around the yard and even into town yelling bloody murder at Bo.

When Bo had arrived back at the farmhouse, Daisy had some rope ready and she swiftly attached Bo to the wash basin and told him to get busy getting the oil and grease out of his clothes.

Bo flexed his fingers as the memory of his wet, wrinkly and soapy fingers popped into his mind.

Looking first left, then right, Bo unbuttoned and removed his yellow shirt, folded it up and laid it aside.

As he leaned in to help Luke, Bo heard him grunt, "Good choice."

"Cute." Bo shot back as he grabbed a hammer and started to work on banging out one of the General's huge dents.

Meanwhile, inside the farmhouse, Jesse was preparing his famous crawdad bisque when the telephone rang.

Since Daisy was at the Boar's Nest, and Bo and Luke were outside, that left Jesse to answer the phone.

Leaving his spoon near the stove, Uncle Jesse crossed to the phone and picked it up.

"Duke residence, this is Jesse Duke speakin'." He said.

"Jesse? Is that really you, hon?" Said a voice on the other end of the line.

"Mandie? Mandie Maxell, that you?" Jesse asked.

"Yes sir, it is. Me and Russel are comin' by Hazzard to pick up ma boy." She said.

At the mention of Russel Duke's name, Jesse scowled.

He seriously disliked that man for a number of reasons.

One, he was almost always drunk and getting into fights.

Two, he wasn't thinking when had gotten Mandie pregnant and then left her to give birth by herself, and three, when the baby was born, Russel didn't want any part of the boy's life, in fact he had suggested abortion!

Mandie had flatly refused, and since she knew that there was no way she could take care of her son, she gave custody of her son to Jesse, only because she didn't want him to end up in an orphanage somewhere.

When Jesse had come to the hospital, all the doctors would say was that the boy's name was Bo and that he was healthy and could be taken home in a few days.

After Jesse had taken Bo home, he swore to himself that he would protect Bo and love him, and he would never allow Mandie or Russel Duke to see or speak to Bo again, if abandoning him was the best that they could do for him.

"You can't take him Mandie." Jesse said crossly.

"You can't stop me Jesse Duke! Bo Duke is my son and I can take him if I want." Mandie replied.

"You gave custody of Bo to me, and that means he ain't leavin' this farm!" Jesse nearly yelled into the phone's reciever.

"Yes, but I never gave full custody to you. He still belongs to me and I can legally take him from you." Mandie replied cooly.

"Bo has been through enough because of you. Just leave th' poor boy alone an' stay out'a his life!" Jesse ordered as he slammed the phone back down and sighed.

With a slight frown on his face, Jesse looked outside to see Bo and Luke laughing and smiling as they worked on their beloved car. Jesse didn't know if he had the heart to break up their carefree time together, and bring Bo's past down on his head, but if Mandie and Russel were indeed coming to the ranch, then Bo would need to hear the story from Jesse, rather than from his parents.