A/N - Hey ya'll. I wasn't quite expecting the response I got off the first two chapters. I'm doing my best, but I'm worried. I hope that this is not a big build up to a big let down. You're comments and suggestions are very helpful, not only with material reference, but in helping to get a feeling as to where it might go. Much of this was totally redone based on that. So, keep them coming!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Dukes, and no infringements intended.

HORRENDOUS MIX-UP

CHAPTER 3

LIES

Bo couldn't sleep. He used to dream about having his cousin back, but this wasn't the homecoming he'd envisioned. In his conjured up images, they spent the entire night talking. However, things had changed in the time that his best friend had been gone, and now he laid there thinking back to an era he wished he could go back to; a time when Luke loved him and was his best friend, if only in his own mind.

When Luke told him that he'd joined the Marines voluntarily, it had almost killed him on the spot. They'd been waiting for the letter to arrive, knowing that when it did, he'd have to go, but that was a lot different than volunteering to go earlier than you had to. He listened to all the reasons behind the decision, and though his mind might have understood them, his heart certainly had not. He felt that Luke had betrayed him and was abandoning him in a way that was even worse than his parents. They hadn't chosen to leave, his cousin had. Yet, he never told Luke how he really felt. He knew that Luke was going off to fight in a war that was very real, where they used very real bullets, and that coming home in a body bag was a very real possibility. He understood that because Hazzard had already lost a few of their own. Bo couldn't take a chance on upsetting Luke by making him feel guilty. It might have caused him to lose his focus, which could have resulted in his losing his life. No matter how he felt, that was the one thing that he would have never been able to deal with. He knew that if Luke died, he would, too. Instead, his blood brother promised that he'd come home, and Bo knew that when he promised, he would. A Duke always keeps their word.

A few months after Luke left, some of the older kids at school started telling him that the only reason his cousin joined the Marines was to get away from him.

"Luke's cool, so is Daisy, but you're a dork, Bo," Eli Watson told him.

"Yeah, you're a dweeb!" Eli's brother, Jake, chimed in.

"Everyone knows that you're the dumbest person in Hazzard," Ronnie Freeport said, adding his two cents.

"No cool kid would ever be friends with someone like you!" Eli announced, and everyone agreed.

"If it hadn't been for your uncle, Luke wouldn't have given you the time of day. That old man is so weird, everybody just laughs at him, always going on about family!" Ronnie snickered.

"Luke told my brother, Willie, that he couldn't wait to graduate so he could get as far away from you as possible. He's been dreaming about it for years. The war was just an excuse. Luke was just mad that he had to be the one to leave since he was there first, but he said he'd gladly go if it meant he didn't have to see you no more!" Eli finished, stepping forward and knocking Bo down, as they walked away laughing.

Bo called them all 'jackasses' as he got himself up and brushed himself off. Suddenly, he found himself in unchartered waters: alone. Despite technically being an orphan, that was something Bo had never felt. He trudged back to the farm, missing his cousin tremendously, knowing that if Luke had been there, he would have pounded those guys good.

Bo never entertained the possibility that there was any truth in what the kids had said to him. They were just bullies, and everyone knew it. He didn't believe a word of it, but as days turned into weeks, more and more kids started telling him the same thing. When a handful of adults began reciting the same spiel, Bo couldn't help but wonder. He may have been dumb, but he just didn't see how so many people could be making up a story that had no basis behind it. Besides, the folks of Hazzard weren't known to be intentionally mean. Bo should have realized that all the people involved weren't exactly pillars of the community. At some point, all those who felt the need to let Bo know what was going on had been on the receiving end of Jesse or Luke's anger at least once. Bo didn't stop to think about that. Instead, he would lay in his bed at night, realizing that there was some truth to what they were saying.

"You two are about as opposite of each other as night and day," Bo remembered his aunt commenting one time.

The two cousins were different in a lot of ways.

"Why can't you be more like your cousins, Beauregard?" teachers often asked him. "Luke and Daisy are so smart, and well, you're just..."

Luke was the smart one, and Daisy wasn't too far behind. Bo, on the other hand, was considered dumb by most of the town.

"Son, you're a natural! I don't understand why you don't go out for more of the teams," Bo heard one of Luke's coaches tell him.

Luke had always been athletic and muscular, whereas Bo had been sick and thin. Luke liked to play sports, and it wasn't that Bo didn't, but he hadn't always been able to.

"Bo, don't be running around like that. You're gonna get another attack. Let's go play with the cars instead," Luke told him, trying to divert his attention.

When he couldn't play the games that everyone wanted or even to be outside, Luke still played with him, even when they had to play quiet games in the house. Deep down, if he were honest with himself, he knew that Luke would have preferred to be outdoors.

Eventually, Bo became a good athlete in his own right, becoming a track, football, and basketball star in high school. It still didn't increase his popularity, except during a game when the team needed him, and the crowd counted on him; then they were nice to him.

"C'mon Luke, everybody's gonna be there!" a group of kids hollered.

"Be sure and tell Daisy," one of the girls yelled.

"But leave your cry baby cousin at home!"

"If Bo can't go, then I'm not going, either!" Luke said, taking Bo's hand and storming off.

Luke had always been popular, having lots of friends and girlfriends, where as Bo was not. The other kids just really didn't like him. Except for his cousins, Luke's friend Cooter, Enos, L.B., and Brodie, Bo didn't have any other real pals. In fact, over the years Luke had lost some of his own friends because of Bo. When they nagged him about bringing his bratty cousin along or badmouthed Bo, Luke got mad and refused to be friends with them anymore. He used to say that if they didn't like Bo, they were no friends of his because him and Bo were somewhat of a package deal.

"Remember, Luke, you're the oldest! It's your responsibility to watch out for Daisy and Bo. You've got to take care of your cousins cause their younger, and family's all we really got in this world." Bo could still hear the words that his uncle had said so many times to his eldest.

Bo had always believed that Luke loved him and wanted to be with him, but maybe Jesse had forced him.

"C'mon, Uncle Jesse, please! I'm 11 now. I always take Bo, but sometimes I just want to be able to do things by myself, with just my friends."

"I understand that, Luke, but this just ain't one of those times. I have to go into town. Bo just had another asthma attack, and I can't leave him here alone. I'm sorry. They'll be other times."

Now that Bo thought about it, he could remember several conversations where his uncle had ordered Luke to either take him along or to stay home with him. His own memories were giving credence to the story spreading through Hazzard.

Still, Bo refused to believe that Luke only befriended him because of their uncle. He thought about asking Jesse, but he was afraid. If he discovered it was true, he wouldn't be able to keep up the charade, and he was desperate to hang on to the most important person in his world. Besides, he didn't know if the father figure in his life would be completely honest with him, anyway. For that matter he didn't know whether his uncle could even be honest with himself. He couldn't exactly imagine the Duke patriarch admitting that Luke really didn't like him, and had just been doing what he'd been told all those years.

Just when Bo gave up on the notion of asking, somehow, Jesse heard about the circulating story. He told Bo that there was no truth to it, and Bo clung to that belief until the day came when he couldn't fool himself any longer.

Daisy was still at school working on some project. Uncle Jesse was out in the fields working on something, too. Bo ran into the house, needing to change his clothes so he could go help his uncle. In a span of sixty seconds, his entire world shattered. Everything he'd heard the last few months had been true. The person he loved more than anyone in the world, who he'd thought returned that love, didn't. It had all been an act, forced by his uncle.

He didn't know what to believe anymore. He wondered if his cousin, Daisy, felt the same way. It was bad enough that Luke thought so poorly of him, but in his heart, Uncle Jesse must too. He must have thought that if he didn't make Luke be his friend, Bo wouldn't have any at all. He told himself that he must truly be that worthless if his own family thought that little about him.

He couldn't think and he couldn't breathe, feeling like he did when he got an attack when he'd been little. He had to escape from the house of cards that had just come tumbling down around him. He flew out of the house, forgetting all about changing clothes or working in the fields. He was running as fast and as far as he could, attributing the burning in his chest to the ache he felt in his heart. He didn't know where he was heading, but he knew what he was running from: lies.

He wound up at the Hazzard Pond that he and Luke had spent so much time at. Just a few minutes ago, Bo had very fond memories of the place. He wondered, now, what kind of memories his older cousin had of their times together. Had he rushed off to school the next day, making fun of him in front of his friends just like all the kids said he had? Bo had never felt such an unbearable pain in his entire life, despite battling very serious illnesses as a kid. He fell to his knees, sobbing. Even though his parents had died when he was just a baby, this was the first time that he truly felt alone. He begged the mother and father that he'd never known to come and get him so that he could be with someone that loved him, really loved him. He looked up to the sky as if he expected his deceased parents to come pick him up in something like a space ship.

Bo laid there in the grass, crying until he had no more tears left, waiting for something that wasn't going to happen. Eventually, he fell asleep. When he woke up, it was dark and the moon was already out. He didn't want to go back to the farm, but he was only 16, had no money, and no where else to go.

As he came stumbling up the drive, Uncle Jesse and Daisy ran out of the house to meet him.

"Bo!" Daisy cried, reaching him first and throwing her arms around him.

"Where have you been boy?" his uncle demanded to know, his voice harsh until he got a good look at his nephew's face. "Bo, are you ok?" he asked, his anger being replaced by concern.

"Yes sir. I'm sorry sir. I fell asleep at the pond," he said, glad that he had not turned into a liar like some members of his family.

"Are you sick, honey?" Daisy asked, feeling his forehead.

"A little," Bo replied, telling himself that he still wasn't lying. His heart was definitely ill.

"I kept some dinner warm for you, sugar," she informed him.

"Thanks Daisy, but I'm not hungry. I think I'm just going to go to bed, if ya'll don't mind."

"Of course not, sugar," Daisy said, kissing his cheek.

Bo looked at her, trying to decide if this was just another elaborate lie. When he looked in her eyes, he thought he saw love, and it looked real. He had a feeling that she wasn't a party to this, and that she really did care about him. For that, he was grateful. Then, he looked at his uncle, who once again asked if he was all right. Hearing that he was, he was given permission to go to bed. Before he could get away, the old man pulled him into his arms.

"We was just worried about you, Bo. We love ya so much," he told him before releasing him.

It took every ounce of strength Bo had not to break down right there. He believed that his uncle did love him, but what he'd made Luke do hadn't been fair to either of them.

Nodding, but not replying, Bo went into the house and locked himself in his room.

It was several weeks before Bo could even think about the situation without completely falling apart. In the days that followed, he spent a lot of time in the hayloft, at the pond, and in his room. He had to be in places that were private so he could cry without alerting anyone. In less than a minute, the Bo Duke everyone had known for 16 years died. He doubted that anyone would notice, or care, since they didn't like him anyway. He became quiet, but polite, speaking only when spoken to. He kept to himself, only deciding to continue with sports because he felt he owed the teams. He tried finding happiness with the girls who fancied him, but those relationships never worked out, either, only further re-enforcing that there was something wrong with him. For all purposes, he turned into a loner, pushing even his own family away; a family that had long been considered the closest in the county. He stopped reading Luke's letters, and stopped writing in return, thinking that maybe his cousin wouldn't feel obligated to continue with the farce. That didn't last too long, though, as Uncle Jesse forced Bo to resume the practice. He reminded him that Luke was a long way from home in a dangerous place, and needed the love and support of his family. Suddenly, Bo got a taste of what life must have been like all those years for his cousin. He did as he was told, but his letters became short and polite, only enough to suffice his uncle.

He didn't realize that Luke noticed the change immediately, and it had worried him. Every letter Luke wrote to his cousin posed the question as to what was wrong, but everyone he got back was shorter. Bo politely informed him that nothing was the matter, writing instead about the weather or providing market reports. Getting no where with Bo, Luke wrote to Jesse and Daisy several times, wanting to know what was going on, but no one seemed to have any answers. From Georgia to Asia, members of the Duke family were worried about their youngest, but Bo couldn't see that.

As the weeks went by, Bo learned how to get through the days. The nights were harder, having to look at the empty bed that belonged to Luke. As more time passed, Bo realized that he hadn't been the only one hurt in this situation. His cousin had been a victim, too. He thought about Luke, and how miserable his childhood must have been, having himself as a ball and chain shackled to him. He'd been so desperate to get away from him that he'd ran off to a war thousands of miles away, risking his own life rather than facing the alternative: staying. No matter how much Bo hurt, the fact was that he still loved Luke more than anything. He knew things would never be the same between them. Now that he knew the truth, they couldn't be, but that didn't mean that he wanted him to get hurt. Since he was the reason that Luke went off to Viet Nam, if he were to get killed over there, it really would be his fault.

Bo made a decision, and started compiling a plan. Because he'd been responsible for making Luke's life so miserable for all those years, when he was old enough, he'd be the one to leave. It wasn't fair to make his cousin go. Luke loved the farm, and he had been there first.

By the time Luke came home, Bo would be out of school for a year. That would give him enough time to earn some money and decide where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do. It would also allow him to stay and help his uncle until Luke could replace him. Uncle Jesse was too old to run the farm by himself, and he couldn't very well desert him. Even though what he'd done had been wrong, he had taken him into his home, clothed him, fed him, and loved him as if he were his own. Bo knew that he may have done the wrong thing, but he'd done it for the right reason, and he could no more hate him than he could hate Luke.

For the dumbest person in the county, Bo even came up with a back-up plan. If Plan A didn't work, if he couldn't save up enough money to strike out on his own, or if something else went awry, there was always Plan B. There wasn't much more of a permanent solution than suicide. After finding out that Luke didn't really care about him, he contemplated it, a lot. It would have been a quick fix to all the pain, and there was a little revenge factor included, but something kept him from going through with it. He even knew how he'd do it; he dreamt about it all the time. In his dreams, there wasn't anything scary or painful about free-falling from Widow's Peak. He saw himself stepping out into dead space in those dreams several times. He'd even started frequenting the cliff, letting it replace the pond as his hide-out. The bluff didn't have memories associated with it, and he found it almost serene, sitting at the edge, staring into the abyss.

The first few times he'd wandered up there, he intended on jumping, like he did in his dreams. Yet, something always held him back. A voice called out to him, begging him not to walk off the surface. It sounded like Luke's voice, but he knew that it couldn't be. His cousin didn't know, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. It didn't matter, though; the timing always made him stop, and he no longer went there to jump, only to think. He decided that he wouldn't go through with it unless he had no other choice. For now, it was just an alternative; Plan B, if all else failed.

For the dumbest person in the county, Bo had it all figured out; at least, he had until Luke showed up out of the blue. Nothing could have surprised him more than seeing Luke squatting beside his bed earlier that evening, dressed in military issues, complete with dog tags and matching hair. When the shock wore off, and he realized that Luke really was there, Bo couldn't deny how happy he was to see him. His cousin might not think very highly of him, but he was still Bo's hero, and he didn't want anything bad to happen to him. As long as he was home, he was safe, but now Bo found himself confused.

Luke seemed genuinely happy to see him, too, and the blonde wanted nothing more than to believe it was true, if only for just a few more minutes in life. After the shock wore off, his first instinct had been to tackle him to the floor, but that was his heart talking. His brain reminded him that Luke had been fooling him for a long time, and he couldn't afford to get taken in again. Then the guilt welled up. He may have been miserable for the last year, but he was responsible for making his cousin miserable for a lot longer. He couldn't do that to him anymore. He deserved a nice vacation for the next several weeks, and Bo was going to see that he got it. He couldn't make himself disappear, but he could stay out of his cousin's hair and make himself scare, and that's exactly what he planned on doing.

He knew that Luke wasn't asleep, either; he was probably dreading the thought of having to spend the next forty-five days with him. He thought about letting Luke know that he had no duty left, but decided that some things were better demonstrated than spoken. Having some kind of plan, he finally dozed off.