Like Father, Like Son Chapter 3
From the moment Luke and Bo entered the hospital on stretchers, they were seperated from each other.
Doctors swarmed around both of them, rushing them to the ER, but that was as close as they got to each other.
Thankfully, Luke had been awake for the trip to the hospital, so he knew that Bo was really hurt bad, but none of the paramedics would give him any specifics.
Since he had been lying down, Luke had only glimpsed Bo's blood covered hand, and that was it.
Now, exactly two hours after arriving, Luke was in a room, waiting for news on his cousin.
Luke's injuries hadn't been that bad. Only two broken ribs and a sprained arm, along with the common cuts and bruises.
Uncle Jesse and Daisy were there with him, having come within the first thirty minutes.
Enos had been kind enough to go out to their farm and tell them what had happened.
"Luke, stop fidgetin', Bo's gonna be ok." Uncle Jesse said, noticing Luke's restless fingers.
Looking up, Luke let go of the loose thread on his blanket that he had been messing with.
"I know that Uncle Jesse, I jus..." Luke said, breaking off his sentance.
"We're all worried about em, Luke. We jus' gotta calm down an wait." Jesse replied.
Luke sighed and nodded his head.
He still couldn't believe that Sheriff Little had actually fired at them like he had.
Sheriff Little must have gotten tired of trying to be nice about it, Luke guessed.
While Luke was thinking about the crash, several doctors were in the OR, trying to save Bo's life.
To the doctors, it was hard to believe Bo was still alive, because he had massive internal injuries, including several broken ribs which were pressing against one of Bo's lungs.
Besides the broken ribs, arm and leg, Bo also had a concussion, which was to be expected from the type of accident he had had.
"Sir, losing breath sounds on his right lung." A nurse said.
"What? I thought we had that one stabilized!" The doctor said as he looked at the nurse.
"Well, not anymore, sir." The nurse replied.
The doctor ordered that the intake of oxygen Bo was recieving, be increased, and he also ordered several more IV's, including a bag of Ringer's Lactate TKO.
The IV's and O2 helped to stabilize the lung a little while the doctors proceeded to look at the lung.
The lung was extremaly damaged, barely functioning at all.
Blood, and a ton of bruises surround the area around the lung, forcing the doctors to take it easy while they patched up the damaged lung.
Finally they got the lung stabilized completly, and all of the internal bleeding stopped.
Next, they set Bo's broken limbs and put them in a cast before they moved him to Luke's room, per Luke and Uncle Jesse's request.
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Two days slowly passed, and Bo was still unresponsive.
The doctors assured the Dukes that Bo's behavior was normal, and to just give him time.
Luke tried to remember this as he talked with his cousin, trying to get him to wake up.
Even Uncle Jesse and Daisy talked with Bo, but nothing seemed to work.
Finally, Luke started to talk to Bo about random things, hoping to get him to respond.
"Bo, remember our dream of goin' on the NASCAR circuit? Well, that ain't gonna happen unless you wake up." Luke said, as he watched his cousin.
Not one word, or moan came out of Bo, so Luke then threatened to take Bo's current girlfriend to the next dance in two weeks, hoping that this would get a rise out of the sleeping Duke, but nothing happened.
Luke talked for hours on end, never taking his eyes off of his cousin. He never stopped begging and pleading with his cousin to wake up, always hoping that the next time he spoke was going to be the time when Bo woke up.
"Bo, now come on, you've slept long enough." Luke said in an almost pleading voice.
With a sigh, he lowered his head and closed his eyes, but his head snapped back up, and his eyes opened when he heard Bo mumble, "Jus five more minutes."
A smile spread across Luke's face when he heard Bo speak.
"Bo, better get up, or Uncle Jesse's gonna whoop yer tail." Luke warned.
Suddenly, Bo's eyes snapped open at the threat. He gulped and looked at Luke like a deer caught in the headlights.
"I'm kiddin, Bo!" Luke said with a slight chuckle.
Bo gave a slight, tired sigh as a small smile came to his face.
"It's great ta have you back, cousin." Luke said as he patted Bo on the shoulder.
"Why? Did I go somewhere's?" Bo asked.
Luke snorted as he replied, "You have no idea!"
'Bo nearly dies an he asks 'did I go somewhere's?' uh, yeah cousin, I'd say ya almost went somewhere's!' Luke thought as he continued to smile at his cousin.
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Several days passed, and Bo slowly grew stronger.
His leg and arm were still in a cast, and the bruises on his chest were slowly healing up, but he was still confined to the bed, which was something he didn't like one bit!
Luke, on the other hand was allowed to get up and walk...well hobble around a little, just so long as he took it easy, which he did.
Uncle Jesse and Daisy came to see Luke and Bo every single day.
They were glad that Bo was awake and getting stronger, and they were all looking forward to the day when Bo could go home.
The family was sitting around Bo's bed, talking when all of a sudden they heard a loud shriek coming from somewhere outside.
They all looked towards the door as it opened and a small boy, who looked to be no more than twelve years old, ran in and fell to the floor.
Tears lined the boy's face as he looked up at the Dukes.
Bo looked at the boy carefully.
The boy was short, around 5 ft tall, with short, brownish hair, which was a little lighter than Luke's hair. He also had blue eyes which at the moment were filled with tears.
Small specks of blood from several yanked out IV lines coated the boy's hospital gown, which was all wrinkly, suggesting a hurried flight.
"Well, hi there, cutie!" Daisy said with a smile on her face.
The boy looked at her uncertantly before he looked back at the door when he heard footsteps approaching.
Quickly he slid under Bo's bed, but not before begging the Dukes not to tell the doctors he was there.
Bo, who didn't know what to say, only nodded his head as he looked down, watching the boy scoot under his bed.
He looked back up and at the door as he also heard the footsteps approaching.
Not two seconds later, the door opened and two doctors walked in.
"Sorry to inturrupt, but did a twelve year old boy by the name of Tyler Gorden come in here?" One of the doctors asked as he looked around the room, looking for the runaway boy.
Slowly, all of the Dukes shook their heads and watched as the doctor's left, closing the door behind them.
Once the doctor's were gone, Tyler crawled out from under the bed.
He stood up and backed up against the wall, staying as far away from the Dukes as possible. Seconds ticked by without Tyler making any eye contact, or any contact at all, for that matter, with any of them.
Bo regarded the obviously frightened child carefully. He could tell that the boy was practically afraid of his own shadow, since the boy was shaking like a leaf, taking breif glances at them.
Feeling sorry for the boy, Bo decided to try and reach out to Tyler and hopefully become his friend.
Taking a deep breath, Bo asked,"Why were you running from them?"
Tyler looked at Bo carefully, before he decided to answer the question.
"I don't trust em'. They killed my momma."
All of the Dukes looked at each other, completly shocked at Tyler's words, before Bo patted his bed, right beside where Daisy sat.
"Why don'tcha sit down up here?" Bo offered.
Slowly Tyler pulled himself up on the very edge of the bed, keeping a wary eye on Bo and Daisy.
Bo gave a small smile as he said, "Don't worry kiddo, I don't bite."
Tyler returned the smile and relaxed a little.
He didn't know why but he liked these people and thought he could trust them.
Slowly, and with slightly more trust, Tyler took a good look at all of them, holding their gaze for several seconds before he looked to the next person.
"Well, ya'll know my name, but I don't know yer's." Tyler said, looking down for a second, before he looked at them.
"Well, I'm Bo Duke, that's ma cousin Luke, an my cousin Daisy, an this is our Uncle Jesse." Bo said, pointing out his family to Tyler, who again looked at them all, but this time with a slight smile on his face. After several seconds, Tyler hopped off the bed and shook hands with all of the Dukes.
"Nice ta meet ya'll." He said.
Daisy smiled and hugged Tyler as she replied, "It's nice ta meet ya too, suga'."
Tyler smiled when Daisy hugged him, deciding that he really liked it when Daisy hugged him.
He was really starting to like this family, and not just because they were being nice to him, but it was rather because they had this air about them that was so trustworthy that anyone who met them, knew that they could trust the Dukes.