For a long time, there was nothing but the sounds of the farm and the cooling evening air in the little kitchen. Everyone had their eyes focused on Bo, except of course Bo himself who was looking down at the table. Daisy and Uncle Jesse couldn't and wouldn't even entertain the possibility of Luke not coming to see them and stay with them on his leaves, and Daisy was very tempted to say something until she was stopped by a look from Jesse.
Luke however didn't notice, he was too intent on watching his kid brother's reaction than anything else. In his heart, he wished that Bo would stand up and give him a hug like he had done when they had seen each other for the first time once more. He wished that Bo would take back all the hurtful things he said and give Luke the forgiveness he craved. But his head told him, as Bo kept his blonde one down, that he had hurt his little brother badly, he had deceived Bo and if the roles had been reversed, he wasn't so sure he wouldn't be this upset either.
After a short while of no one saying anything, Jesse cleared his throat and suggested that they talk after dinner to settle the differences between them and Luke obliged. Truth be told he didn't want to talk to Bo again in case the barrage of hurtful words came spilling forth, but if that was what Uncle Jesse wanted, he would keep up his end of the bargain. He only hoped that Bo would too, he didn't want to go to war again leaving his little cousin's relationship with him in shards…it was one of the few things that kept him sane and alive out there.
And so it ended up that dinner again that night was not as cheery and lively as Luke had imagined back in 'Nam. Everyone was quiet, each one unsure what to say, not knowing what would set who off and to what degree. Luke had to use all his restraint to keep from bolting from the table there and then. This was not how he wanted to remember his family, these memories that were burning themselves into his head were not ones he wanted to sit around telling his comrades when they asked about his leave, which they undoubtedly would do.
All too soon, the meal was over and everyone was congratulating Daisy on another brilliant dinner. Luke noted that she was getting better and better as she grew older and commented that if she kept up like that, she could earn lots of money for it in the future, to which she giggled and blushed, something that finally brought a small smile to Luke's face. They all rose from the table and cleared up….but it wasn't until sometime after that they realised….Bo had disappeared.
Luke took the Hazzard roads and woods on foot, using his skills to easily guide himself through the dense undergrowth and large creaking trees while Jesse and Daisy, along with Cooter, were searching the main roads.
After having a thorough search of the farm, they finally concluded that Bo was most definitely no longer on the land and so the search bad begun. Luke knew….well no…now he was starting to figure he thought he knew Bo inside out and knew most of his favourite hiding places, places he ran to when he felt upset or angry and needed some time to cool down and think things over. But so far every spot he had come to had proved to be Bo-less. He refused to give up though, he had started this whole mess and he would be the one to find Bo and finish it….even though every nerve in his body was trembling with the familiar position of running through dense areas of trees in the dark, not knowing where the next hazard was.
After a good few hours, Luke sighed and leant back against one of the objects of his fears, listening to the quiet night sounds to soothe himself and make himself focus again. This was Hazzard, not 'Nam, he was looking out for Bo not the enemy…although at the moment he didn't think he could find a distinction between the two. Bo certainly thought of Luke as his enemy at the moment.
His eyes snapped open however as he heard gentle whimpers and sniffs and he stood up straight as he tuned everything else around him out and concentrated on the sound, instantly taking off running as he picked up where it was coming from. Bursting through the last line of trees into a clearing, he skidded to a stop and took in the sight before him.
There was his younger cousin, lying in the bottom of a small ravine, blood dribbling down his face from a small, but painful looking gash across his eyebrow as he was curled into the foetal position, gripping his ankle gently as he whimpered with his beautiful baby blue eyes squeezed tight shut.
So many memories came flooding back into Luke's head, images of people, friends laying dying in craters, whimpering with short gasping breaths as their wounds seeped away the last of their lives with the blood filling the shell craters in No Man's Land and for a moment, Luke could do nothing, immobilized by the onslaught of images he always tried to forget.
But, as soon as Bo's whimpers filled his ears again, his mind snapped back to the present and he stopped being the Marine he had been since he was shipped out, and slipped back into his normal self, a feat he didn't think he could ever achieve again once he had stepped out onto that battlefield.
He yelled Bo's name and skidded down the gentle slop of the ravine, falling to his knees beside his baby brother and pulled him into his lap, holding him close and rocking him gently. His face found Bo's hair and he softly nuzzled into it, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of his head and murmuring soothingly.
"It's okay….I've got you now…I've got you….shhhh….I'm here, big brother's here Bo…"
He could feel the younger boy shaking in his arms as he hugged him tight, could feel the warm tears as gentle whimpers turned to small cries and eventually sobs soaking into his shirt. By the pale moonlight now drifting through the branches of the trees, older brother sat cradling younger, he didn't care how long it took, he refused to move until he had checked Bo over and had a proper talk with him but he needed Bo to be calm first. He whipped out his handkerchief, which was actually the one he had stolen off of Bo, and pressed it gently against the wound, soothing Bo as he moaned and whined in pain, hushing him softly.
Eventually, sobbing turned to hiccupping and while the shaking remained it was far less than when Luke had found him. He sighed quietly and removed the blood stained handkerchief, pleased to see he had managed to halt the blood flow considerably and saw that it really was nothing more than a graze. Then he gently manoeuvred Bo in his lap so he could reach Bo's ankle, wincing himself as he pulled the familiar tan boot from his foot with a sharp yell of pain from Bo. Looking over it carefully, all the while being sure to reassure Bo, having a feeling he was in a small state of shock as he had not uttered a word since Luke had arrived, he was relieved to find that there was nothing there broken, just looked like he had badly twisted it, possibly even sprained it.
He softly relayed this information to Bo, who lay in his arms with his head resting gently against Luke's chest and smiled gently as Bo finally looked the older cousin in the eyes, his own baby blue's shimmering with more tears as he choked out.
"Please come home…."
Luke swallowed, wiping away the tears that fell once more down Bo's tanned cheeks with his thumb, before resting his weather worn, scarred hand on it, rubbing along Bo's jaw line gently with his thumb as he used to do when Bo was just a little baby. He had always had an instinct that knew what it was the little baby would want and used it to help soothe him when he wailed…he always had hated it when Bo cried because he used to scream…he still hated it now, because his cousin was such a jolly, upbeat person that crying just made him think back to the helpless little kid he had sometimes grown up with.
Bo snuggled into the hand softly. He didn't care if he was 14 and laying in his 18 year old cousin's arms like a kid, it made him feel safe again, made him feel no pain either in his ankle or in his heart at the thought of Luke returning back to 'Nam, back to face death on a daily basis. Ever since he had overheard his friends on the football team talking about 'poor little Bo' and how they were going to go on through the season if Bo 'went off on another crazy spin' at Luke's leaving once more, he at first tried to deny it. They say there are 5 stages to grief, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Bo had gone through them all in the space nearly 48 hours and he felt utterly drained.
At first he had tried to deny that Luke was going back, he had said he was home and Bo believed him….right up until Luke had told him the truth and he had gotten angry, spilling words from his head with no thought as to Luke's feelings. Daisy's slap had snapped him from anger at Luke to anger at her, and then realised that he had not right to be angry at her at all….or really to be angry at Luke although he still didn't let that go to a degree. He spent the time afterwards when he was alone in his room, soothing the stinging red mark on his face gently and praying softly to god. Anyone who had walked in would have thought him mad and sent him straight to an asylum as he could distinctly remember sitting on his bed and murmuring under his breathe, rocking himself gently as he made all kinds of deals from the ordinary deals of 'Help Luke to stay and I'll never shirt my chores again' to the outright impossible like 'Age me 5 years and make them send me instead of Luke.' The depression stage wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been…he felt the tell tale signs of it at the dinner table when Luke's words smashed his heart in two as he realised how harsh his words to Luke had been and how Luke thought that Bo hated him. That was why he had gone, he didn't want Jesse and Daisy to see or hear him screaming at the sky to god, calling him all sorts of blasphemous names under the sun as he ran. That was why he hadn't seen the small dip in the ground and had fallen into a painful, hysterical heap, laying there huddled into himself, telling himself that Luke wouldn't come now, that he had lost Luke forever because of the stupid war.
It wasn't until now, as he thought back on it all, that the acceptance of what had happened finally came. Of course he hadn't lost Luke to the war; Luke was proving it now by being the same, caring older brother Bo remembered from his childhood even though Bo had acted like a complete Jackass. Luke's hold was making acceptance easier….even though at first things like that would have made it harder to bear.
He sniffed loudly as he closed his eyes and huddled into Luke more, murmuring.
"I'm real sorry Luke….I'm real sorry…"
Luke sighed softly and wrapped his arms around Bo once more.
"I know kiddo….I know…"
"I just…it was easier…it was easier to…as horrible as it sounds….to hate you before you left again….I thought it would hurt less but….but it doesn't. Luke…I do want you to come back on leaves…of course I do….its the saying goodbye part I ain't looking forward to."
Bo looked up as Luke nodded gently, smiling down at him softly.
"I understand Bo….and I can't say that what ya said didn't hurt because it did….but I shouldn't have just assumed this would all go well. I should have known that it would be harder to say goodbye again and I was going to tell you the very day after I arrived back. I just didn't want to ruin our first day back together….I just wish you didn't have to keep finding out from you're friends because it doesn't give me a chance to explain."
For a while, neither cousin spoke, just holding onto each other as Bo finally slipped his arms around Luke's waist, still careful of Luke's injuries even though he said they didn't hurt as bad now.
"Luke….will you come to my game on Saturday?"
Luke looked to him with a slight frown of amusement.
"You think yer gonna be playing with that ankle?"
"Yeah Luke…yeah I am because there ain't nothin' that can stop me doing somethin' that'll make you happy…especially after what I's said and done….I'm so sorry Luke…"
Again the boys embraced and Luke said nothing more about his ankle. He would let the doc decide what would happen once he got Bo back to the farm. Eventually they realised they had to leave. Luke carried Bo up the ravine with ease…having carried injured and dying men up steeper banks than this, carrying Bo was no problem…although he still made a joke about it.
"Dang it Bo….you's grown heavier since I last had to carry ya….yer ego must be getting' bigger…"
And finally, Luke heard the one thing he had been desperate to hear since he got back, Bo actually laughed. He had missed that sound so much, the gentle carefree laugh that was infectious to anyone within hearing range of it. So many good memories could and were brought back just through that one laugh as the two boys walked…well one walked one leant on the other and limped, back to the Duke Farm where the rest of their family was waiting.
Overjoyed, Jesse and Daisy ran to them as they entered the driveway at seeing the two boys with their arms wrapped round each other once more. It was like nothing had changed, almost like Bo and Luke had just come back from a round of hunting a little too late…they looked about as guilty, Jesse couldn't help but thinking. Luke with his sheepish grin that seemed to say 'I know we're out late but we had good reason' and Bo with his smirk that plainly stated 'Know I'm late, really sorry, got other things I need to do.'
Eventually the family broke apart, and Jesse and Daisy took Bo from Luke so as to give his still healing ribs some rest time. He knew the strain should have been hurting them….and he became slightly saddened as he realised that they didn't hurt as bad as they did before…they were almost healed enough for him to go back…and as soon as that was confirmed by the Doc….he would be transported straight back to the hellhole they called a war.
But it didn't last long as he watched Bo joking around with Jesse and Daisy as the ended up practically having to carry the youngster inside and he couldn't help but smile as he looked around him. This was his home and it would be for a very long time to come. Things may change, arguments would be had undoubtedly as he had found out, but there were so many good times waiting for him back here and it was the knowledge that would get him through the darkest days of the war….knowing that when his time for leave came and then finally when his discharge papers finally were made, he would have something to look forward to….he always had.
With a contended sigh as he heard Bo scream for him through yelps of laughter, he jogged towards the house, the yard soon filled with joyous shouts and peels of laughter as Luke engaged in another type of combat in which he was an expert at. Two enemies on one had never been a problem in the Duke Cousin Tickle Wars and that night was no exception.