Author's Note: A normal day in Hazzard is when the Duke boys get run into the pond. Not so much normal when one Duke boys get run into the pond, and can't get out of there.

Big thanks to JordynD for beta work and Gray Wolf for all the help.

Warning: The warning is placed here for Vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.

Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix….

The Days After The Night Before

Chapter 2: Getting A Friend Out Of The Pond.

"What's happened to him Rosco!" Cooter cried out as he saw him. "What happened? Where's Luke?"

Rosco swallowed and shook his head. "I don't know Cooter, I really don't know. I just came and saw the General in the pond. We gotta get him up now."

Cooter just stood there for a moment. He couldn't even remember what he was supposed to do. Then he saw Bo's head loll in Rosco's hands and years experience of towing cars kicked in. He got back into the tow truck's cab and got it into line with the General Lee. Getting out and attaching the car he then slowly proceeded to haul him out of the water.

Water was streaming out of every hole in the car, slowly draining out while Rosco kept his pace to help keep Bo's head steady.

Looking grimmer than Roscoe could ever recall seeing him Cooter got back out of the cab again. Looking at the General and wondering how to get Bo out of there. He pushed Rosco aside and looked in, feeling sick to his stomach as he saw how Bo's leg was trapped by the bent metal of the door. That was it. He needed to get the door off. There was no way he could free his leg if he didn't get the door off.

Cooter looked at the door, and how it trapped Bo's leg. It was welded shut, and if it hadn't been it would most likely have killed Bo. It had made enough resistance to the force of the blow that it had saved Bo's life. Still, the welded seams had broken and just about given, and it was really the bent metal that still held it in place.

The ambulance arrived, but they saw that there was nothing for them to do before the victim was out of the car, and stood back long enough for the mechanic to work.

Cooter needed to get it off fast, so he brought the tow truck in line with the driver's side of the General, hooked the wire on the door, and pulled it lose. The door came lose with a shriek of metal. It worried him how Bo barely seemed to pay any heed to it, even though it would have had to hurt something fierce.

As soon as Bo was free he was pushed aside by the ambulance attendants who didn't care if it was one of his best friends. They just brushed him aside and ignored him, and Cooter stood there with one hand on the General. It was two members of the Duke family hurt in the crash. One he could haul off to his Garage and fix, but the other, the other he had to trust someone else to take care of… someone he didn't know and it wasn't easy.

They wouldn't let him go with them either- only family. What did they know about that anyway. He patted the cool metal of the General with one hand as watched the ambulance go away. "Bet they wouldn't let ya go with them either in there, and ya sure's family as well."

He noted how Rosco stood dumbfounded and stared down the road as if he couldn't believe it either.

"Rosco." There was no reaction and Cooter shook his head. "Rosco." This time the sheriff turned to look at him. "Rosco, have ya told the Duke's?"

Rosco shook his head and Cooter sighed inwards. It meant that he would be the one who told them. Well, he guessed he would have to. They needed to know, they needed to know so they could get to the hospital.

"I'll go over there and tell them," he sighed.

The look he got from Rosco was one he had hardly ever gotten from him before. It was full of concern, worry, and confusion: nothing like he was used to it being. "Thank you Cooter," Rosco said softly.

Cooter nodded, not up to exchanging pleasantries. He had to perform one of the worst duties he had even been forced to do.

When he pulled up at the Duke farm Luke was crossing the yard over to the barn, and he shouted a greeting even as Cooter turned off the engine.

"Hey Cooter, what mess did Bo get himself into now?" he asked. The last he had seen of his cousin he had disappeared with some girl. Since he had not yet come home he figured he had been having a great time, and had better be ready to take the consequences for it from their uncle. He could see how the front end of the General had taken quite a pounding, even if he was coming up on the passenger side. Yet the missing door and the way the driver's side looked escaped him.

"Cooter?" Luke added when Cooter didn't say anything. If Bo had wound up wrecking the General, and had been reduced to walking to get Cooter, then the mechanic would have been laughing heartily as he jumped out of the cab. The fact that Cooter looked as if had just lost his best friend in the world made Luke plumb terrified.

"Cooter, what's happened?" he demanded. "Cooter!"

Cooter took a deep shuddering breath. "Rosco called me over to pull the General out of the pond. Now I thought y'all had gone and done run him in there, but, when I got there, Bo, he was still inside."

The heartbroken look on Cooter's face was exactly how Luke felt at hearing those words. Like if someone broke his heart. He couldn't believe it.

"Cooter, he, was he?" He couldn't even bring himself to voice the question.

"He was still alive." Cooter managed. "He was bad, real bad but he was still alive. They, they wouldn't let me go with them, or tell me anything, cause I wasn't family. They just hauled him away Luke, and I couldn't do nothing." Tears crept to his eyes and Luke draped an arm around his shoulders.

"We'll go there now Cooter, we'll go there now." He looked around realizing that Jesse had the pick up and Daisy had her Jeep. The General wasn't going anywhere. "Cooter, drop the General down here, we need to take your truck."

Cooter nodded, once more doing his work without thinking. He dropped down the General before the two of them climbed into the truck and took off down the road.

On the way to the hospital Cooter tried once more to explain what had happened, at least as much as he knew of it. It wasn't very much, and Luke felt too torn up inside to pay too much attention to what he said anyway.

They arrived at the hospital and Luke felt just about ready to beat his fist at the wall. No one would tell them anything… only to sit down and wait. Cousin and best friend wasn't enough. There was no one to tell them anything. If they could have some closer family maybe they could find someone who could tell them where he was. That was just it, they were still working on him, and they just had to get a closer relative if they were going to bother a doctor with explaining things to them. If they would just please sit down and wait everything would be alright. In the meantime a parent or a sibling would be most helpful.

Luke wanted to shout at them that there was no parent, there were no siblings. There were no one closer to Bo than he was, but they wouldn't listen to anything he said. Why would they listen to anything he shouted?

Cooter stood trying to reason with them, tried to tell them that he and Luke needed to know what had happened to Bo. Luke went over to him shaking his head.

"It ain't no use Cooter, it just ain't no use," he sighed.

"But Luke, they've got to tell us," Cooter insisted.

Luke shook his head again. "No, we gotta get Uncle Jesse over here. He's Bo's legal guardian. They have to tell him. We have to get him over here, or they won't tell us anything." He motioned for Cooter to follow him out to the tow truck again using the CB to get a hold of their Uncle Jesse.

"At least they got the boy out of that there pond, and I fer sure feel a whole lot better knowing them to boys are getting their Uncle Jesse over there. But I ain't gonna start smiling again afore I know that boy's gonna be alright…."