Pauline sat beside her husband, John, as they drove toward their son's home. They'd last visited for his birthday back in February. Of course, that was before Kira had been released from the hospital. At that time, she knew that the two were beginning to put their marriage back together. Her son had remembered just enough to encourage him to look past what he couldn't recall to begin to forge a new bond with the mother of his children. Now heading back to Hazzard to see both her son and daughter-in-law, she wondered how the two have weathered the storm of the remnants of Kira's injuries.

John and Pauline planned to spend the Fourth of July week with the family in Hazzard. The two had another hour before they would hit Hazzard, but Pauline had spent the entire ride mulling over the last year that her son and his wife had endured. The two of them hadn't really been able to truly celebrate their tenth anniversary as she had hoped, this time last year. She had wanted them to renew their vows, to finally have the ceremony and celebration that they had been denied when she had been so dead set against the match when they first married. She knew that she wanted to correct that misdeed, on her behalf. It wouldn't make up for her horrid behavior in the earlier years of the pair's marriage, but perhaps it would serve as a way to truly show her daughter-in-law that she not just family, but fully loved and accepted as her son's wife.

She supposed that worrying about Kira's health repercussions from her attack that very nearly took her life on Halloween had caused Pauline to become a bit nostalgic. She had to put her mind toward just how she can show Kira how she felt about her, a decade-plus, after marrying her son.

~01~

Kira awoke and looked up from where she'd fallen asleep on Jebb's lap in their cavern haven. From her position she could see that Jebb had leaned his head back against the wall of the cave and had dozed off sometime after Kira, herself, had. She smiled as she remembered how thoughtful Jebb had been in both getting a new street motorcycle as well as the picnic lunch that they had shared. That was the kind of thoughtfulness that had moved her to fall in love with Jebb when they were younger.

Kira went to sit up and regretted that the movement served to wake Jebb up.

"Sorry... Didn't... mean to... wake... you."

Jebb reached over to help Kira up since he knew that the weakness on her left side made such a simple action more difficult than she'd admit. "Don't be. I didn't plan to fall asleep. I guess I just got a bit too comfortable, too. But I think we'd best head back to the house. My parents will be getting in, soon."

Once Kira was fully sitting up, Jebb moved to stand then reached down to pull her up with him. He then walked with her over to where they'd left the motorcycle.

"I... suppose... so." Kira sighed since she really wasn't ready to head back. "Shame... though."

Jebb handed Kira her helmet as he grinned. "We'll have to make a break for it, again, real soon." He then straddled the bike and helped Kira settle herself behind him. Once her hands were wrapped securely around him, he set about to sending them back toward their home.

~01~

Jay looked up from where he and his brother were building with some blocks as he heard a strange engine sound that he'd not heard out at the farm before and saw that his uncle was looking out of the window before he turned to the three children that he'd stayed with after bringing them back home after their morning away from the house.

"Looks like your parents are home. Why don't we go out to see the present that your dad got for your mom."

Outside, Jebb pulled up a few feet from the front steps. He'll put the bike away later. But for now, this would make it where Kira wouldn't have to stumble far across the farmyard to get inside the house. Once he turned the engine off, he felt Kira lean back and loosen her grip around his chest. By this time, Bo had led the kids out onto the porch, so he called to them as he waited for Kira to use his body to help steady herself as she stood and stepped away from the motorcycle.

"Well, what do ya'll think?"

Mikey cocked his head to the side as he waited for both of his parents to step away from the motorcycle so that they could get an unobstructed view. "I don't get it. Why do you need a new bike?"

"Mom missed being able to ride," Jay stated with new understanding for his father. He turned toward his dad. "So, you did this for mom?"

"Well, it isn't like I didn't get anything out of it. This means that I get to spend some time alone with your mom whenever she wants to go for a ride." Jebb chuckled as he reached a hand instinctively as Kira went to search for the bottom step with her foot. He'd forgotten to grab her white cane on the way out of the house, earlier.

Bo walked over to examine the motorcycle and looked up, "Care if I take it out and go for a spin?"

Kira shook her head. Of course, he was already wanting to try out the newest toy in the family. One Duke Boy in this family can't get a new set of wheels without the others wanting to try their hand at it. "Maybe... later."

"Besides, my folks should be here any minute."

"Which is why I should take a spin now!" Bo chuckled as he winked. "Because as soon as your dad sees this thing, he may fight me for the rights to take it out. Of course, your mother would about have a heart attack if she saw him take off on this thing."

Jebb snickered at both the image of his father riding the motorcycle and his mother's response to it. "In that case, I think I'll go ahead and move it out to the barn."

Kira shook her head as the men joked back and forth on the porch as she decided to head on inside. Behind her she heard her sons contributing to the mock-argument over why Bo should be allowed to take the motorcycle on out for a spin and listened to the laughter of the children as the two men's comments got a bit wilder and ridiculous as they went.

As the others remained outside, she made her way to toward the downstairs bathroom so that she could take care of some business and ensure that she was put together after her nap in the cave. She counted her steps and as she reached the halfway mark between the door and the hall that would lead towards the bathroom as well as the downstairs bedroom, she felt her right foot slide as it rested on something other than the hardwood flooring. Thrown off balance, Kira tried to shift her weight back to her left foot, but the sudden shift was too much for it. She felt her knee buckle as she quickly found herself sprawled onto the floor.

The sound of her fall quickly brought the conversation that was being taken place out on the porch to an abrupt end as each member of the family on the porch rushed in to find Kira sprawled out in the middle of room. Both Jebb and Bo rushed over as she pushed herself up with her right arm as she pulled her left one out from where it had become trapped under herself when she fell.

"I'm… alright." Kira tried to push the men away from her, but they were having none of it.

"What happened?" Jebb kept an arm around her once he and Bo had her on her feet.

Kira gave a small shrug to try to dismiss her fall. "Slipped… I… guess."

Jay looked over to where he and Mikey had been building with their blocks and realized that they had forgotten them when their parents had gotten home. "Uh, oh. I'm sorry, Mom. We left our blocks out. We didn't mean-"

Kira shook her head and held a hand up as she smiled reassuringly. "It's… okay… I'm… fine."

"But-" Jay started as he and his brother both quickly started to pick their blocks up as if afraid that they would be the cause of another fall.

Kira eyed her husband and brother and tilted her head to indicate that she wanted them to reassure the boy since it was clear that he was about to punish himself for his mother's fall.

Jebb took a deep breath since his first instinct was to correct his sons for their carelessness of leaving the blocks out since it had been the cause of his wife's fall. But he could see that, just as Kira saw, that they were already very penitent for their actions. Further correction wouldn't be of any use. It would only serve to make them feel worse about the situation; which would then cause Kira to feel badly, as well.

"It's alright. Your mom's fine. We'll all just be a little more careful, is all."

"Me… included." Kira added since she should have at least looked at the floor a bit while counting her steps across the room. She just assumed that all would be as it had been when she and Jebb had left out a few hours ago. A bad miscalculation with three children in the house.

Bo put a hand on the shoulders of each boy as they finished grabbing the last of the blocks. "In the meantime, how about you take those on upstairs. I think I hear your grandparents' car coming up the drive."

The boys nodded as they raced toward the staircase as Kira finished heading toward the bathroom really quick. Once finished, she went back out of the door and waited on the porch as the rest of the family greeted her in-laws. She didn't dare try to make her way across the farmyard since she didn't care for a second fall in front of her children, or the men, in one day. As it was, she didn't think anyone would notice, much.

The children each were hugging their grandparents as they gave the children small gifts. Jebb could remember back when he was young, his mother wouldn't have approved of him being given a gift from her parents for no reason. He supposed that she'd mellowed a bit as she has aged. Still, he couldn't fault either the givers or those who were receiving the gifts. He had, after all, just gotten Kira the gift of being able to ride on the motorcycle with him for no reason, other than just because he knew she would enjoy it, today.

Pauline looked up and saw where Kira was waiting and saw that she looked a bit better than the last time she'd seen her, while she'd still been in the hospital. She knew that she still had a lot of trouble getting around so moved toward the porch to greet her daughter-in-law. "Should you be standing around, out here? Let's get you back inside and let the others deal with everything."

"I'm… fine… How… was… the… drive?" Kira shook her head since she wanted to wait for the rest to join them in the house. She didn't want to feel like she had to wait for the world to come to her.

"I swear it gets longer every time we come," Pauline glanced over at her son and nephew with a silent question of if she was really okay to be standing in the doorway.

"It didn't help that there was an accident just as we Placid skirted around Atlanta. Then another about an hour later down the road once we finally got past the first one." John took out a suitcase from the trunk of the car as his son grabbed the other.

"Well, at least you know you won't have to worry about much traffic leaving out of Hazzard next weekend." Bo chuckled. "I'll go ahead and head off. But ya'll are going to be out at Jesse's for supper, tonight, right?"

John nodded. "Yep. I believe that we'll get to see the rest of the family there. I'm sure have a few things to tend to until then, though."

Bo then headed back out as the rest made it up to the front porch where Pauline was able to finally shoo Kira back inside.

Crystal grinned up at the older Dukes as she spoke, "I want to show you the upstairs! I can, can't I?"

Jebb chuckled as he remembered that the house wasn't finished upstairs when his parents were last out. "Why don't you lead the way, Chris."

Jay remained with Kira as the rest headed upstairs. He didn't really see why everyone needed to show his grandparents the new guest room that was beside his bedroom. Instead, he wanted to make sure that his mother would be alright with everyone else upstairs looking at the way the house was finished up since his grandparents' last visit.

Kira walked over to the chaise lounge that had been bought to replace the one that had been ruined in the fire. She knew she'd have to have help getting out but if there was one thing she seemed to always have in an overabundance, it was help. Once settled, she noticed that Jay hadn't gone upstairs with the rest.

"Hey," Kira raised her hand and motioned for her son to join her. When he didn't just sit on the lounge chair but snuggled with her, too, she smiled to herself and enjoyed the closeness with her younger son. "Something… wrong? You… didn't… want… to go… with… the… rest?"

Jay rested his head on his mother's arm as he put an arm around her waist as he paused for a moment before asking, "Are you really okay from earlier?"

Kira knew that he felt bad from her fall, but it really had been nothing. "I'm… okay. That… wasn't… my first… fall. And… won't… be my… last."

"I wish things were like they were before," Jay confessed as he felt his mother's arms wrap around him and tighten a bit.

"I… know." Kira wish things were like they had been a year ago, too. But she knew that wishing was pointless. Instead, she had to remind herself on a daily basis (repeatedly) that things could be a lot worse.

Jebb's wreck could have been worse and done more than wiped much of his memory clean. She could have succumbed to her injuries when Shawn had attacked her. Or even the most terrifying of the could-have-beens, the fire could have killed one or all of those at the house. Or he could have taken not just Crystal's doll from the school, but the little girl, herself. If something had happened to one of her children, she didn't think she'd be able to continue living.

Kira raised Jay's head so that he could see her better before she added, "But… we'll… be… stronger… for it."

Jay nodded as he hugged his mother again. "If you say so."

The two remained cuddled together as Kira enjoyed the moment. She knew that her boys were at the age where they wouldn't want many to see them giving any affection for their parents; especially their mother. So, any time she can be on the receiving end of the kind of loving from her son was giving her right now, she'd gladly take it.

The rest soon returned downstairs, and the family all caught up on the ins out and outs that had gone one in both Tranquil as well as Hazzard since their last phone call.