A/N are at the end!

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

BLOOD BROTHERS

CHAPTER 21

"YEE-HAW"

Keeping with their original plans, the Dukes' agenda spanned a several day period. The difference on the return trip was that Bo was awake and more able to take in much of the scenery that he'd missed on the drive there. He still got tired easily, and the doctors had explained that he would. They warned the family not to let him overdo it, especially in the very beginning. Patients were raring to go after such a long illness, but they'd exhaust themselves without realizing they were doing it until it was too late. Bo was told to continue to take naps, and they were all warned that if tired, Bo could still faint on them. They promised it should diminish over time and with proper diet and rest, but if it didn't, they needed to let the staff in Atlanta know. Bo's care was being transferred to them rather than Doc Appleby, and Jesse was sure that their friend would understand. So Bo still slept in the car, surrounded by pillows and leaning against Daisy, but the atmosphere was much lighter on the ride home.

"You know, ya'll, we'd get home a lot faster if you let me drive," Bo informed them.

Luke looked at Jesse, silently determining who wanted to respond. Jesse did the honors. "We want to get home in one piece," he said.

Though pretending to debate the safety and wisdom of Bo's rather fast driving abilities, the family couldn't have been happier. Bo was getting well, and the day he'd be behind the wheel of a vehicle wasn't that far in the future.

On the fourth day, late in the afternoon, four pairs of eyes watered as they saw the sign welcoming them to Hazzard. Not long after that, they were pulling into their farmstead. Looking around to see what shape it was in, they were distracted by three people on the porch.

Coy, Vance, and Cooter were indeed on their porch waving frantically, and jumping down as soon as they saw the car. Jesse had called them several times to let them know how Bo was doing so that they could relay the information to everyone else in town. The last time had been two days ago to say that they were coming home. He had said what day they'd be home, but he hadn't had any idea of what time they'd be arriving. He wondered if they'd been standing there all day.

Stopping the car, they slowly climbed out, stretching their own legs while helping Bo and Daisy climb out of the back seat. His feet hadn't touched Georgia soil for more than sixty seconds when Cooter had his arms wrapped around him, getting to him first.

"Welcome home, buddy," he told him. "It's good to see ya." Cooter had hoped that this day would come, but like most everyone else, he had his doubts.

"Thanks Cooter. It's good to see you, too. And it's good to be home," Bo told him.

Releasing the recently released patient, Cooter made his way to the rest of the Dukes, welcoming each of them back. Jesse thanked him for helping the boys keep up the place while they'd been gone. It looked just like it had when they'd left it.

Coy went next, followed by Vance, both of them happy to see their cousin looking so much better than he had when he'd left.

After standing outside for a while, Coy, Vance, and Cooter suggested that they go into the house. They promised that they'd come back and start unloading the car in a minute. Letting Bo go first, he was once again taken by surprise when a loud group yelled 'welcome home, Bo.' They looked around to find their house filled with people. Most of the Hazzard folks were there, and a few Dukes had once again come to see the miracle patient. None of them really realized just how true that statement really was. The transplant Bo received really was a relatively new procedure, and Bo Duke was now among the successful case studies.

By late evening, Bo was starting to prove the doctors right. He could be easily tired, and after sitting all day in a back seat with Daisy, and then enjoying a party, he was just beat. Luke, Jesse, and Daisy started putting out the word that Bo needed to go to bed, and people began leaving, promising to stop by again when they'd have more time to visit. Before he knew it, Bo was shuffled off to his room and tucked into bed. Both Bo and Luke couldn't have been happier to see their own beds, not realizing how much they'd missed them until they did. Coy, and Vance were going to sleep in sleeping bags on the floor again, but Jesse made it very clear that they were not to stay up talking all night. Luke assured him that he'd see that they didn't. Bo tried, but Luke put an end to it right away, and within minutes Bo was quiet.

"He looks great," Coy whispered to Luke, thinking that his cousin was already fast asleep.

"I always look great," Bo mumbled back, forcing all of them to laugh until they heard Jesse's strict warning of 'boys!' The rest of the night was spent in silence, for once, obeying Jesse's orders.

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The next morning everyone, except Bo, got up early to tend to chores as if nothing had happened. He was so tired that he slept through everything going on around him. Jesse knew that the day would come when he'd be rounding Bo up to do his share of the work, but that was a little ways in the future. If he could sleep through all the commotion, he needed it.

In the kitchen, a huge breakfast was being prepared. All of the relatives were leaving after the late morning meal, and the Dukes knew that sausage and flapjacks was hardly adequate to thank them for everything they'd done, but for the moment, it was all they could do. By the time the food was on the table, Bo was up and dressed, and Cooter and Enos had also come by. There had been so many people in the house when they'd gotten home, that the family hadn't really had an opportunity to really tell everyone all that had happened.

"So, you mean to tell me, that you and Bo now have virtually identical blood running through your veins?" Cooter asked, scratching his head and cocking it to one side, as he tried to comprehend what Luke had just told them.

"Yeah," Luke said, snatching a big bite of his food since he'd been doing most of the talking.

"That's just really incredible," Coy stated.

"Kind of like your twins or something," Vance added.

Bo and Luke looked at each other across the table, each giving the other permission to reveal the secret. Bo wanted Luke to do it, since it was still an issue that affected him more.

"Not exactly twins," Luke said. "I'm better looking." After everyone stopped laughing, Luke added, "but we did find out that we're not cousins."

"What?" everyone asked, unable to believe what they'd just heard.

"What do you mean you're not cousins?" Vance asked.

"Shoot, I've know you twos most of your whole life. I say you're cousins," Cooter said, as the others mumbled more words of disbelief.

"What we found out was even better," Luke countered, stretching out his hand across the table towards Bo. The boy looked at it for a minute, giving a grin, then putting his in Luke's, who tightened his around Bo's. "We're not cousins," Luke repeated. "We're brothers."

At first, everyone thought that Luke was talking about being brothers in the metaphorical sense of the word. It took several tries to convince them that they had actually ran tests and confirmed that they had the same father. Between Luke and Jesse, they explained what had happened, leaving them all dumbfounded, but not all that surprised. It some ways, it explained a lot of things about the boys.

Still unable to believe the new lines on the family tree, they began gathering up their things. One by one, they started leaving the farm saying that they needed to get a move on before it was lunch time. As the sun sat high in the sky, the house once again belonged to just the immediate family. It shouldn't have been a surprise that the first place the boys ended up was in the barn, checking to see that their motor was still in tact.

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Luke didn't know what woke him, but he jerked awake with a start. For a minute, he couldn't place where he was. He hadn't been home for long, and his mind couldn't grasp his surroundings. He remembered dreams he'd had in the past: dreams surrounding Viet Nam. He hadn't had one of those in a long time. He hoped that they weren't returning. Then he remembered another dream, the worst dream of his life; the one where he'd held a dying Bo. For a minute, he panicked, not sure whether it had come true or not. Slowly, it dawned on him that he was back home in Hazzard in his own bed. He closed his eyes for a minute, remembering that Bo was okay and that they were brothers. He smiled to himself, then turned to look at his brother in the next bed. Discovering it was empty, he jumped to his feet.

"Bo? Bo?" he called softly, going to the bathroom to find it unoccupied. Padding through the dark living room, he saw the door open in the kitchen. Quickening his pace, he opened it, stopping when he stepped onto the porch. Bo was sitting on the swing, staring up at the stars, and tears were streaming down his face.

"Bo? What's the matter?" Luke asked in a terrified tone. Taking a seat next to him, he put his hand on his shoulder, facing him while he asked again what was wrong.

Bo raised his hand, and tried to wipe off his face, but the tears wouldn't stop. "Nothing's wrong Luke. I'm sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't, and something is wrong, Bo. Please, tell me."

"I just never thought I'd see Hazzard again," Bo whispered.

Though Luke had refused to believe it, deep down, he knew that he'd felt that same way. He was just better at stuffing his feelings so that he could ignore them. Hearing Bo say that, knowing just how scared he must have been without ever really being able to even talk to him about it was about enough to break Luke's heart. "Come here," he said, pulling Bo into his arms. He let Bo cry, shedding a few of his own as they sat there in silence for quite a while.

"You never gave up, Luke. Never. You've always been the strongest person I know. I wish I was more like ya," Bo told him, after he'd cried himself out.

"No Bo, that wasn't strength. I couldn't deal with it. I just couldn't handle it. I couldn't afford to lose you, and I thought that if I admitted that I was scared, I would. That's why I couldn't talk to you like you wanted, and I'm sorry about that, I really am. You're the one that had to go through everything, and you never gave up. That makes you the strongest person I know, and I don't want you to ever change."

"I wouldn't have been able to do this without ya. I wouldn't have made it," Bo confessed.

That admission terrified Luke. Despite his denial of the facts, he'd been petrified that Bo wasn't going to make it. In a voice thick with emotion, he replied, "well, I don't care how ya did it. The important thing is that you did. You made it, and you're going to be just fine. I can't tell you how much I love ya, Bo, or how glad I am that you are my brother."

"Thanks Luke, for everything. I love you, too, brother."

They sat that way for a little while longer until both of them started getting sleepy. Out of habit, Luke reached up to mess Bo's curls that weren't there. His cousin had come outside without his trusty hat, and in his half asleep state, Luke hadn't caught himself in time. "Hey Bo!" he said, suddenly becoming very alert. "Guess what?"

"What?" Bo asked in a sleepy voice.

"You've got a little peach fuzz growing on the top of your head. Your hair's coming back."

Bo raised his own hand to confirm what Luke had told him. "Feels weird," he said, but was still happy to think that some day in the near future, he may no longer look like he was trying to impersonate Telly Savalas.

"Come on, Bo. Let's go to bed," Luke suggested, helping his cousin up and into the house.

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Ecstatic to finish the dream of building their own race car, the boys started making plans almost immediately. They hadn't taken into consideration one important factor, though; money. With their extended stay in Minnesota, and everything else that had taken place, Luke's savings had been almost completely drained, and Jesse's finances weren't much better. To make matters worse, it had been a hard year for all the farmers having to endure the elements and other setbacks in the market. Their finances just weren't going to allow them to move forward, yet they still kept searching. If they were lucky enough to find what they were looking for, maybe they'd be able to make some kind of a deal. They had a motor and no car to put it in, and months later, things still weren't looking any better.

Boss Hogg was holding an annual race, and the boys had really thought they'd be able to enter and win. They didn't see any competition that could hold a candle to their customized engine. Jesse knew that the boys were disappointed, and swallowed his pride. Hat in hand, he asked his old friend, J.D., for a loan. He wasn't terribly surprised at the ridiculous interest rates and terms that he was extended. Daisy ended up saving the day by offering to go to work for him as a waitress at the Boar's Nest, if he gave her uncle a loan at more favorable terms. The boys didn't want them to do it, but they showed their own Duke stubborness by ignoring their pleas.

In Bo's first real adventure since being sick, the boys had found a car, bought it, painted it orange with a confederate flag on the top and the number 01 on the side, and they'd named it after one of their civil war heros, General Lee. As Luke had suggested, a horn that played Dixie had been installed. They'd even welded the doors shut to mimick a true race car. Unbenowst to them, the car had been involved in a robbery in Captial City, and the robbers had hidden their stash inside. Bo showed just far he'd come as the boys dodged the robbers and won the race with him behind the wheel. He was dubbed a natural born driver, inventing the famous General Lee jump in the process. His hair had grown back, and he could even climb in and out of the welded doors without an effort. He only had one more test to pass; his most important one.

Bo and Luke had made several trips to Atlanta in the same months that they'd been trying to find a permanent home for their engine. Bo would be tested, then have to go back for the results. With the exception of one change in medication, everything so far had been fine. Everyone knew that they wouldn't breathe easy until Bo made it past the one year mark; six months had been great, twelve would be better. As they'd done throughout their lives, Luke went with Bo on that day, watching as they drew the blood, in essence his blood, from his brother's arm. He watched as it filled the viles, hoping that it was still doing its job.

Having returned to the big city a few days later for the results, Luke hugged his brother when they were told that he had passed. A few more instructions and reminders, and the boys were sent on their way, not having to return for another year. Laughing and singing on the drive home, Bo found a perfect ready-made ramp. He couldn't resist. Giving Luke a sly look and a devilish grin, the brunette knew exactly what was about to take place.

In a move that Bo had discovered and was beginning to perfect, it was Luke that had not yet grown accustomed to an automobile flying through the air. It somehow seemed unnatural, but he had to admit, under different circumstances, he would have found it exciting.

"Bo!" he called, but received no reply. "Bo!" he called again. As he felt the General sail upwards, he grabbed on to whatever he could find, screeching out a "nooooooooo!"

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-haw!" Bo yelled, drowning out Luke's voice.

Landing safely, it took the older Duke brother a minute to remember how to breathe. Seeing Bo laughing so hard felt good to Luke; something that seemed so impossible only a short time ago. He wanted to laugh, too, just because he was happy that Bo was happy, and healthy. However, he didn't want to encourage him to continue doing a stunt that he considered dangerous. They'd had enough trouble; they didn't need to go looking for more. Somehow, Luke knew it would find them. The maneuver had come in handy a few times, but Luke just didn't think it was worth the risk, and Bo was starting to look for any opportunity he could to show off his new skill. Attempting to curb his baby brother from doing the crazy stunt again, he gave him his best annoyed look.

"Bo! I don't think that's what the doctors had in mind when they told you to take it easy!"

The End

(You know how it turns out:)

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A/N - Okay, it's over. It's been quite an experience, for all of us I'm sure.

First of all, special thanks again to TS Blue for working out that little problem in Chapters 18 and 19. It saved the story.

At the beginning – a long time ago in a galaxy far away – I noted that this might not follow how the General Lee came to be. After working on the topic for two stories, I decided to focus on the motor, and leave the beginning of the General as the writers had done. I apologize to any General lovers out there who wanted to see more of him.

I also wanted to add a little note that while this is ff, I realize that this is truly a fairy-tale ending. Cancer is one of the most powerful words known to man. Many of you relayed personal stories to me over the course of this story, and if I hadn't had my own experiences, I wouldn't have been able to have written this. Leukemia is so terrible in not only that it is 'cancer,' but that it so often affects children. While most of the information is as accurate as I could find, I was shocked to discover one fact. In 1973, the survival rate for this disease was less than 5 percent. Today, those rates have improved, though not nearly enough. Yet, I think sometimes we forget to acknowledge all those who dedicate their lives to the field of medicine. I have my own love-hate relationship with them, but without them, there would be no improvement.

Anyway, thanks to all who have written and reviewed. It really kept me going. I've been working on another one, and it's about 75 percent done. I will probably begin posting in the next few days. I'll warn you right now – it's long! It also doesn't follow suit with angst situations that necessarily have happy endings. So, if you have to have to have happy endings – it might not be for you:)

Thanks again!