As the car came to an abrupt halt, Luke felt his head bob from side to side, leaving little doubt that he would be feeling the full effects of whiplash after a good night's sleep.

Shaking his head, he attempted to clear it of the dizziness as Will wailed from the backseat. Unlatching his seatbelt, he took a brief instant to rub his hand across his face as he tried to bring enough sense to himself to check on the well being of the child.

Luke fumbled around with the unfamiliar car until he finally located the switch that brought the interior light to life, glad that it was still in working order. Turning around, he leaned over his seat and to attend to the child, holding him still as he gave him a decent yet prompt examination.

"It's okay Will, I don't see a scratch on ya." Luke tried to sooth the infant even as he turned the child's legs and arms over and his head around to check for possible cuts. It didn't take but a few seconds to diagnose the infant with nothing more than a severe case of the frights.

Suddenly realizing that Kathleen wasn't hovering over her son in fear of his injuries, he quickly turned his attention to her and found her slumped against the door that had received the brunt of the damage from the tree.

"Kat?" He whispered, moving in front of her to get a good look. Taking her face in his hand, he was horrified to bring it away again and find blood on his fingertips.

"Good Lord." He stuttered as he heard someone pounding on the window behind him.

When the passer-by who stood outside saw the dark haired man turning to face him, the obvious blood on Luke's upturned hand answered the question he had planned to ask. "I'm going to call an ambulance!" He informed Luke.

Without waiting for a nod, the stranger dashed back to the car that he had pulled over abruptly at seeing the crash. Luke turned his head back to Kathleen when he heard her release a slight moan.

"Kat!" He exclaimed again. "Don't move, ambulance is on the way."

"Jeremy?" She said, a bit confused. "Where's Will? How is he?"

"He's screaming his head off but he's alright." Luke replied. "Just scared. Try to stay still till the ambulance gets here, in case there's anything broken."

"Jeremy." She whispered again. "Take Will and go……before they get here."

"What?" Luke asked in disbelief.

"Get the baby and go." She whispered again. "Steve's place is just around the corner. You……….you should be able to run there and take the tow truck just like we planned."

"You're not making any sense Kat!" Luke exclaimed. "You're hurt and you're bleeding. I can't just leave you here."

"Please Jeremy." She replied. "If you stay here they're going to catch you. If you care about me in the slightest………….then please take the baby and go, so that we can be together again when I am well."

"Ambulance should be here in just a few minutes." The stranger said as he stood outside their window once again.

The crash had diverted Luke's attention, but when he suddenly recalled the events that led to the wreck in the first place, he realized why Kat wanted him to get away. "Okay I'll go but I'm leaving Will here. He looks fine but it's probably a good idea for him to be checked on."

"No Jeremy." Kathleen pleaded. "Take him."

"Kat…." He trailed off.

"Don't waste time arguing, just please take him with you."

Knowing that time was precious and not wanting to upset her further considering her injury, he nodded. "Okay okay." Luke said, soothing her when he saw that she was becoming upset. Finding a clean place on her face to kiss her, he then forced the door open before he reached back and plucked Will up.

"Stay with her." He ordered the stranger, who stood in confusion as he watched Luke dash off into the darkness with a baby in tow. But he didn't have long to ponder the situation as a car which appeared to be orange in color and bearing the number 01 on the doors screeched up beside him in the darkness.

"Luke! Luke!" Cooter exclaimed, quickly climbing out of the window and dashing over to the wreck as Bo struggled onto the doorframe. Finding no one inside other that Kathleen, he turned to the good Samaritan, suddenly assuming it had been him instead of Luke in the car as they had thought.

"You alright?" Cooter asked. "Need me to call an ambulance?"

"Ambulance is on the way, but it wasn't me." The Samaritan replied. "Guy in the car guy just took off runnin'. Went that way." He said, pointing in the direction of the garage. "Carryin' the baby with him."

"Baby?" Bo asked.

"Never mind, jist git back in the car and let's see if we can find him. That boy's actin' plumb loco and I want some answers." Jesse replied as sirens of both the police and an ambulance sounded in the distance. "Think you can handle it, Bo?"

"I'm feeling better, Uncle Jesse." Bo said as he slid back inside in anticipation of finding Luke.

Cooter passed the ambulance and the police cruiser they had asked Sammy to call earlier as he drove in the direction in which Luke had ran.

"Where could he have gone?" Bo muttered as the three of them peered through the darkness with no more than an occasional streetlight to aid in the search.

Seeing the movement of a familiar man to his side, Cooter simply answered by skidding to a halt in the front of Steve's Acworth garage. As he watched Luke place the baby in the cab of the tow truck he found it ironic that his friend had ended up right back where they had discovered the wrecked loaner earlier, having no clue of his connection to the place.

Thinking quickly, Cooter turned into the parking lot to block the tow truck from leaving.

What he didn't realize was that Luke wasn't paying much attention to anything else other getting Will in the cab and taking off.. As soon as he had strapped Will into the truck he slammed the door and ran around the front, headed toward the driver's side.

"Cooter look out!" Bo exclaimed as he watched Luke dart in front of the tow truck.

And the sound of Bo yelling and the squealing of tires were the last things Luke heard before the General tapped against him with just enough speed to cause him to lose his footing, throwing him into the tow truck where he cracked his head and lost consciousness.

XXXXXXXX

The lights were bright and the voices unfamiliar when Luke woke up again. As he opened his eyes, the fuzzy orbs that swam in front of him morphed into bright, circular shaped examining lights, perched above the bed where he lay.

"How are you feeling?" A man in a long white coat asked as he draped a stethoscope around his neck.

"My son." Luke replied. "Where's my son? Where's Will?"

"The baby is fine. One of the nurses is feeding him." The doctor replied. I'm Dr. Lunsford and my concern is with you right now, with finding out how you are. You took a pretty good bump to the head, one of several it seems." He added, gently examining the area where Kathleen had sewn him up a couple of days before. Now suppose we start off with you telling me your name."

"Name's Jeremy. Jeremy Robinson." Luke replied.

"Did he say Robinson?" A police officer asked, stepping into the room from where he had stood waiting outside. "You're Kathleen Robinson's husband, I presume?"

"Yes sir." Luke replied.

"How long do you think he will be here?" The officer asked, turning to Dr. Lunsford.

"Well, I'd like to observe him for a bit, just to be on the safe side. But his tests look good. I have a feeling we'll be able to discharge him in just a few hours."

"And when you do, make sure that the discharge is to an officer of the Cobb County Sheriff's Office."

"An officer?" Luke asked. "Why?"

"Because." He replied. "You're under arrest."

Luke under arrest. Now that's a unique cliffhanger, ain't it?