Author's Note: I think you'll like this one. Thanks to everyone who reviews—you guys are great!

Chapter 12: Back in Savannah

Bo smiled as he walked into the bedroom he shared with his older cousin Luke. The older boy was sprawled out in the same position he'd been in when he hit the sack last night—on his back, covers pulled up over half his torso, one arm resting on his stomach, the other flung back near his pillow. His head was cocked to the side with his mouth hanging open slightly. Bo wondered with a snicker if he'd drooled.

As he watched the steady rise and fall of his cousin's chest as he breathed, his memory drifted back to a time shortly after Luke had first gotten home from the marines...

He had gone to bed early that night, and had slept soundly despite Bo's restless tossing and turning across the room. It had been hard for Bo to get used to sharing his bedroom again after three in half long years of having it to himself while Luke was at war. After a relatively sleepless night, Bo had woken early and crept out of the house to do his morning chores. When he got back it nearly noon, and Luke still hadn't stirred.

"Maybe you should go in an' wake him," Daisy suggested as she set a steaming plate of pancakes on the kitchen table.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. It's his first day home, and the boy's been through a lot. We should probably just let him sleep," Jesse said, remembering his own sleep starved years serving in the army during WWII. When he'd finally come home, he'd slept for 18 hours straight.

"Well maybe you should at least go check on him," Daisy insisted. It had scared her to see how thin Luke was, the hollow look in his eyes, and the fatigue that seemed to weigh down the young man's body. He seemed a mere ghost of the music loving, sly smiling cousin he'd once been. Now that he was home and safe, she was terrified that they'd lose him again somehow, and couldn't stand to have him out of her sight.

"Please Bo?" She half begged. Bo looked at Uncle Jesse, asking permission with his eyes.

"I s'pose it wouldn't hurt. Just don't wake him 'til he's ready." Bo nodded, then left the table and quietly tiptoed back to their bedroom.

As he walked inside, he stopped short, eyes widening in horror at the sight before him.

"UNCLE JESSE!"

Kitchen chairs clattered on the wooden floor as Daisy and Jesse rushed back to the boys' bedroom. There stood Bo, white as a sheet and badly shaken, and Luke sitting up straight in bed, looking alarmed and a bit perturbed.

"What in sam hill is goin' on? What happened?" Jesse demanded breathlessly.

"L-Luke...Luke...he..." Bo stammered, pointing at his cousin as if he were something out of a horror flick.

"What? Bo—what about Luke? What happened?" Daisy cried, grabbing the blonde boy by his shoulders and shaking him slightly.

"Are you alright?" Jesse asked Luke, who sport a look of utter bewilderment.

"Yeah...I was just sleepin' an' then I heard a yell. Next thing I know y'all are in here an' Bo's standin' there lookin' like he saw a ghost or somethin'." Luke's voice was laced with concern and guilt. He'd obviously scared his young cousin—but how?

"He...I came in an' he...he had his eyes wide open...like he was dead or somethin'. Lyin' on his back there...I coulda sworn he was dead!" Bo shuddered as he spoke, unable to erase the terrifying image. Luke just sat there for minute, looking shocked.

"Bo—I..." he swallowed, then ran a hand through his tangled brown hair. "I was sleepin'."

"B-but ya had your eyes wide open—I saw!" Bo said.

"I know...it must be somethin' I picked up in the marines. I don't realize I'm doin' it. It's just...when your out on patrols an' stuff...ya gotta be alert. And it's just something ya end up doin'. I didn't mean to scare ya." Bo looked at him for a minute, slowly recovering from his scare.

"So...ya sleep like that all the time?" Luke shrugged sheepishly.

"I guess so. I don't really know—I'm sleepin' while I'm doin' it." Jesse guffawed at the attempt to humor, Daisy snickered, and Bo allowed a shaky smile to grace his lips.

"M' sorry I woke ya like that," he said, a bit embarrassed. Luke chuckled.

"I'm sorry I scared ya like that. I remember the first time I saw a guy doin' that when we was out on patrol—dang near wet my pants, I was so scared." They all laughed at the comment, and Luke eventually came down to eat his pancakes. Bo had only caught him sleeping with his eyes open a few times after that. Only on nights following particularly long and stressful days. And it didn't scare him anymore.

His mind wafted back into the present. Luke's eyes were closed as he slept, so that meant that he wasn't sleeping too deeply. Bo decided to wake him.

"Psst. Hey Luke," he whispered from his seat on his bed. The older boy didn't stir.

"Luuuuke. Hey Luke," Bo persisted, louder, trying his best to sound annoying.

"...wha? Go 'way."

"Lukey Dukey, wakey wakey," Bo called, muffling a snicker. Lord knew he couldn't help himself.

"...m'Bo stop it...go'way," mumbled Luke, bating his hand in the air.

"Luke...come on now, you been sleepin' all day!"

"...don't care...sleepy...tired..." Unable to control himself any longer, Bo walked over and yanked the quilt off of Luke and threw it on the floor. Instantly his older cousin curled into a ball and growled.

"Knock it off, Bo. Give it back...come on, Bo. I'm serious...I'm gettin' mad..." That was all the warning Luke gave before hurling a pillow at Bo's head. Sent a couple steps backward by the blow, Bo only laughed harder. Which made Luke madder.

"Bo Duke, you got to the count of three to gimme that blanket an' get outta this room before I whup ya good! One..." Bo snickered, ignoring him.

"Two..." Seeing the glint in Luke's eye, Bo knew he had two choices: either stay and get into a brawl with his not-in-a-good-mood-after-I-wake-up cousin, or he could run...and still get into a brawl with his cousin. He chose the more fun of the two.

"Three!" Luke watched in surprise as Bo dashed out of the room, quilt in hand. His usually settled temper flared, and he lunged out of bed.

"Bo! Come back here! I'm gonna tan your hide!"

Jesse watched in amusement as Bo raced through the kitchen and out the door, grinning widely and followed by a rather disgruntled Luke, who was clad only in his pajama bottoms. There wasn't a day went by that he didn't thank God for his boys. Life sure would be dull without them.

Bo ran out to the barn and scrambled up the wooden ladder to the hayloft, Luke hot on his heels. He raced over to a far corner and stopped, clutching the quilt to him as he caught his breath.

Luke stopped short when he saw Bo standing there grinning like that, and he couldn't help but melt.

"Ya know, one of these days..." he began with a chuckle. Bo laughed.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. You're so funny when you're mad. Here, ya can have your blanket now," he stretched out his arm to hand it to Luke, caught off guard as the older boy let it drop to the floor and pulled him into a headlock.

"Aww, Luke..." grumbled Bo as he struggled in his cousin's grasp.

"Nope—I told ya you were gonna get it!" Luke shouted as he gave Bo a noogie. They wrestled a bit more in the hayloft before finally tiring themselves out and collapsing against the large mounds of hay stacked on the floor.

"We ain't done that since we was kids," Bo commented. Luke just shook his head and smiled. He could remember Bo waking him up that way when they were small, standing by his bed and calling, 'Lukey Dukey, wakey wakey,' in the singsong whine all children have.

"Ya know, I always hated bein' woke up that way. Why did ya wake me up anyhow? An' don't tell me 'no reason' either or so help me..."

"No, there is a reason, I promise." There was a moment of silence; then Luke broke it impatiently.

"Well, what's the reason?"

"I wanna go back to Savannah." Luke frowned, turning to study his cousin's face.

"Uh...why?" He watched as Bo shifted uncomfortably. What could be so hard to say?

"I wanna...um...I wanna see Robbie's grave."

'Lordy, he said it like there was something wrong with asking such a thing', Luke thought with a pang of empathy.

"Oh, well that's not a problem. Ya want me to go with ya?"

"Yeah, I was hopin' ya would want to."

"Well, did ya wanna leave right now?" Bo shrugged.

"As soon as possible would be great." Luke smirked.

"I got one condition."

"What's that?"

"You drive. I'm gonna sleep."

Balladeer: So the boys left for Savannah once again. This time, though, it was only gonna be a day's trip.

"Hey, stop at a gas station up here, will ya? I wanna use the phone," Luke said after waking from an hour- long snooze in the passenger seat.

"What for?"

"Well, I just remembered that we never called Brenda or Cindy after we got back. They're bound to be worried." Bo groaned and slapped his hand on his forehead.

"Dang it! They're probably worried sick, Luke! How could you forget?"

"Hey, how come I gotta do all the rememberin'? You got a brain. Though it be small," Luke added with a slight grin.

"Cute. Real cute."

Bo ignored Luke's chuckle as he parked in front of the gas station. They slid out through the windows and ambled over to the payphone. As Luke dialed the number, he remembered with a sinking feeling the last conversation he'd had with Cindy. The promise he'd made to call her as soon as he found Bo and got things sorted out.

"Boy, did I blow it," he said to himself as the line rung through.

"Hello?"

"Uh—Brenda?"

"Luke?"

"Yeah, it's me." There was a scuffle on the other end, and suddenly Brenda's voice was replaced with Cindy's.

"Luke!"

"Hey."

"Where have you been? Why haven't you called? Do you know, we've been worried sick!

"I know, I know. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry! You're sorry! I...I had no idea what happened...I didn't know what to do..." Luke sighed as he heard her break into tears.

"I'm an idiot, Cindy. I just... things have been so hectic..."

"Are you okay? I s Bo okay? What happened?"

"We're all fine. Jake and Tom are on their way to jail. Everything's fine."

"Where are you?"

"Actually, we're back in Savannah for the day. Bo wanted to see Robbie's grave."

"Well, why don't you stop by later for dinner? Mom's cookin' some potato stew." Luke smiled.

"We'll do that."

"Alright. Thanks for finally calling."

"Yeah, I'm real sorry for makin' ya worry."

"It's okay. Having you over for dinner should make up for it. See ya tonight."

"See ya. Bye." Luke hung up the phone and turned to Bo.

"She was mad?" Bo guessed with a small grin.

"More or less."

"I know one person who's gonna be madder at ya."

"Who?"

"Nancy Jane," Bo answered, reminding Luke of his present "steady" girlfriend.

"Shoot." Luke stopped short, wondering how he could possible choose between Nancy and Cindy. His thoughts were cut off as Bo started laughing.

"Boy, you sure got yourself in one fine mess this time, Luke! Ya should see the look on your face!"

"Why don't ya just mind your own business an' stay outta my personal life?" Luke said sharply, walking away and sliding into the passenger window of the General. Bo just looked after him, wondering what he'd said wrong.

"Sheesh, can't ya take a joke?" He muttered as he slid in behind the wheel. They made the rest of the drive in silence.

Balladeer: Now ain't such a good time for them boys to be fighting, considerin' what's goin' on across town.

Brenda Wheeler had just closed the door after her daughter, Cindy, left for work. An hour before they'd received the happy news that Luke and Bo were safe, and now all she had to worry about was cooking dinner.

Three harsh knocks sounded at the front door, and Brenda frowned as she turned back to answer it, wondering if Cindy had was coming back because she had forgotten something.

As she pulled open the door, she was taken off guard as a man barged through, grabbing her and covering her mouth with his gloved hand.

"Don't scream," he whispered sinisterly. Then she knew. It was Jake.

For all those who don't know, a "noogie" is when a person rubs their knuckles really hard and fast against your scalp. It's really annoying and somewhat painful.