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 5: Look who's here...

"Uh, Jesse," Rosco started as he came over. "How's… how's he doing?" He looked down at Flash as he spoke.

"He's doing alright I suppose," Jesse nodded. "We want to file a report about it."

Rosco nodded. "I thought ya might, I thought I should come over here, an, uh, make sure that he was okay, and uh, see if ya wanted to file a report, and uh…" he swallowed and scratched Flash behind her ears.

It was odd to hear Rosco without his usual giggling, but there was no doubt about it that he was serious. It was almost the way Rosco had been before when he was still known as an honest lawman.

"He was sleeping but as soon as he wakes up we can see if he's up to telling ya about it," Jesse nodded. He hoped that Bo would have settled down as he woke up. He turned around and led the way back into the house. Rosco let Flash down on the floor and stood inside the kitchen door looking uneasily while he fidgeted slightly. Jesse looked into the living room, smiling as he saw that Bo was still deep asleep. Cooter sent a suspicious look Rosco's way, but settled down as soon as he realized that Rosco wasn't going to arrest anyone for something that they hadn't done.

"Why don't ya sit down fer a moment." Jesse offered as he took down two mugs and filled them up with coffee.

Rosco nodded. "Ye know Jesse, I think that I will, see, I didn't know, Jesse. I just thought that, ya know." He broke off since not even he himself knew what he was trying to say.

Jesse nodded once more as he sipped at his own mug.

Flash stood beneath Rosco's chair for a moment, waggling his tail, but then he made his way over to the living room instead where the boys were. Cooter smiled as the dog made his way over to the couch, whining silently as she put her paws on the couch and reached her nose up to sniff at them.

"Hey, hey, look who's here," Cooter grinned. "How ya doing Flash?"

"Ah, come here Flash, that's a good dog." Luke reached down his free hand and scooped the dog up. Flash took advantage of it to put her paws on his chest and reach over to lick Bo in the face.

"Hey, Flash, don't wake him." Luke hushed the dog as Bo twisted in his arms. Flash ducked under Luke's arm to lick Bo again. This time Bo opened his eyes.

Cooter reached over and took Flash from Luke, hoping that the blonde Duke boy would be able to go back to sleep.

Bo however blinked a few times and brought up a hand to rub at his eyes, and then feel his moist cheek. Frowning at Luke as if he thought it was him.

"I think Flash's really eager to see ya." Luke smiled at him. "How ya feeling cousin?"

"Better, I think," Bo said quietly as he looked between him, Cooter and Flash. "Not as cold, just chilly, an' it ain't hurting too bad."

"That's good." Luke smiled at him. "Rosco's here," he added quietly.

Bo nodded. "I figured he would, unless Flash has taken to borrowing the patrol car."

Luke could have laughed out loud as he heard him joke, instead he hugged him.

"Come here Flash." Bo gave a small smile as he sneaked out one arm from under the blanket. Cooter grinned and hoisted the dog over, with a small stop at Luke so he could hold them. Flash gave him another face-wash as Bo scratched him behind the ears.

Hearing that his youngest nephew was awake Jesse led Rosco in there. Bo looked up and gave him an uncertain look, you just never knew what was up when you were dealing with Rosco. It could take any turn at all.

Rosco sighed as he sat down. "Bo, can ya tell me what happened?" He asked as he got out a note pad and a pen. Bo tightened his grip on Flash and swallowed.

"I, I was with Kerry-Marie," he began fumblingly. "She had chores ta do, so I left really early, an' I was just heading home," He broke off an' swallowed. "I never even saw 'im coming. Hit me side on and sent me into the pond, an' I couldn't do nothing about it, he just kept on as if nothing had happened. But I didn't see anything more cause then I was in the water an' I didn't know what to do." He paused to draw in a quivering breath and Luke rubbed his back soothingly.

Rosco was writing it all down, asking questions, and urging Bo on gently. All he could tell him was that it was a pale blue sedan, that was all he had seen of the car.

Roscoe listened patiently, Luke was actually rather impressed. He had never thought that the giggling Sheriff could be so sensitive. He pretended not to see when Bo turned his eyes down to Flash as he spoke. He was hugging the dog and was murmuring with his face almost buried in the soft fur. Yet Rosco kept his eyes on his notepad and pretended not to see anything at all.

Bo swallowed again, leaning into Luke as he finished it. He hoped it was finished. He didn't want to have to go back to the beginning again.

Jesse could tell by the look on his face that he needed to focus away from it. Since Rosco came the soup was still on the stove, so now he filled up a bowl of it, bringing it out to the boy.

"Here Bo, about time ya got to eat this," he smiled as he handed the bowl to Luke for him to hold. With Rosco there, Bo wasn't about to let himself be spoon fed no matter what. His hand shook slightly, and he did spill some. Still, it was hot and filling, and as good as his uncle's soup ever was.

"There's plenty of that there on the stove out there," Jesse nodded as he motioned towards the kitchen. "An ya need a lot of it."

Luke nodded. Bo appeared to be worn out. He looked exhausted and he was still pale. Luke guessed it wasn't much to hope for that he wouldn't catch sick at all. Bo was a strong and healthy young man, and he hated to think of it but he would most likely take sick from it.

Rosco stood up and cleared his throat. "I'll see what I can do. Tell Enos to keep an eye out for the car, he ain't gonna, that is, we'll try an' apprehend him, ya, ya take care now Bo," Rosco broke off looking around for Flash. "Come here now Flash, Daddy has work to do." Scooping the dog up in his arms he hurried for the door.

Luke watched him go shaking his head. "Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen him like that before."

"I'm pretty sure I ain't never seen him like that before," Cooter nodded as he took the empty bowl from Luke and put it on the coffee table.

"Ya want anymore?" Luke asked, but Bo shook his head. He couldn't eat anymore at just that time. He needed to let it settle a bit first.

"Tired," Bo murmured as he pulled his arms in beneath the blankets again.

Luke nodded slowly. "Want me to help ya into the bedroom?" he asked.

Once more Bo shook his head. "Nah, it's starting to get nice and warm here, I wanna stay here." He snuggled down a bit further, pulling the blanket tight over his shoulders.

"Ya are starting to thaw up a bit," Luke smiled as he sneaked in a hand beneath the blanket as he touched the back of his hand to Bo's chest. He wasn't anywhere near as cold as he had been: just a little chilly and that he could accept.

Cooter grinned as Bo snuggled down a slight bit further and leaned his head against Luke's chest. He hadn't really expected to think of his friends as 'cute,' but that just was. It was the way all he could see was a mop of tussled blonde hair that Luke cradled to his chest. It was cute because he had seen Bo and Luke grow up and all the times when Bo came like that. He had never been a very shy kid, but there was a few times when he would hide with his face in the folds of his aunt's dress or his uncle's trousers rather than face someone.

It was interesting that the boy who chatted happily with a revenuer, never mind him being raised by a moon shiner, would shut up tighter than a clam when some other people came over to chat. The boy could come running at full speed and throw himself around Cooter's neck, and you never even saw him coming. Sometimes you couldn't even tell whether he was trying to wrestle you down or was simply hugging you. With that kid it had sometimes been hard to tell the difference.

All the old wives had always called him cute, and all the mothers thought it was sweet how the eight year old boy would call their daughters pretty and bring them flowers. They even called it sweet when he was nine and was seen kissing a girl from his class in school behind the church. Claiming him to be just a boy and having no idea of what it meant. It was funny how they changed their mind about it later when he was older. They certainly didn't think it was sweet anymore when their daughters didn't always get back home before midnight.

Cooter grinned thinking that since Bo seemed to be coming around fine he'd be chasing them again in no time.

He was not so sure when Bo woke up with a cry and tried to break away from Luke.

"Hey Bo, easy now buddy," he mumbled.

"It's okay Bo, It's okay, ya safe now," Luke tried to sooth him. Bo still tried to break away and Luke let him, moving away from him so that there would be nothing restraining him anymore. Once he had kicked off the blankets and gotten away from Luke Bo started settling down a slight bit again. Still now he was shivering since he didn't have the warmth of the blankets anymore.

"Have ya settled down now?" Luke asked softly. "It was just a dream"

Bo nodded slowly. He was starting to feel really cold again and started to try and sort out the blankets to pull them back on.

Luke leaned over and helped him. At least there was still some warmth in them.

"Wanna go back to sleep?" Luke asked, he had a strong feeling that Bo wasn't quite ready for it. His guess was confirmed when Bo shook his head.

"Okay," he smiled at them. "Cooter, why don't ya grab that checker board over there an' we can have ourselves a game?"

Bo nodded and pushed himself up so that he could sneak out a hand to move the pieces. Cooter moved the small coffee table over and set up the board while Luke went and got Bo another refill of the tea. He played nice, not wanting to take advantage of the fact that Bo was too distracted to win. It just wouldn't be nice. He wanted to take Bo's mind off the things that had happened, not gloat over him.

Bo had been slower to learn because he was too impatient for the game in his youth. Jesse had still taught them both though, and they were both really good players. It also worked very well as a distraction. Cooter was content to sit and watched. He leant backwards in the chair and relaxed, but soon was found getting up to get Bo another refill of the tea. It was a good thing that Jesse had put a large pot to boil. It seemed it was really helping Bo. He added a generous amount of sugar before he brought it back to Bo. Not only because Bo liked it sweet, but also because he had heard that sugar helped you to deal with shock. He had no idea if it was true or not, but it certainly couldn't hurt any.

Bo tried to arrange the blankets to be covered as much as possible while still holding the mug and having an arm free for the board.

Then Luke reached over and took the half full mug away from him as he started to drift off to sleep again. Smiling softly he took Bo's arm and put them in under the blanket. Cooter grinned once more as he saw it, though he was wondering a bit about what the two of them could do while Bo was asleep.

At the sound of the first soft snore Luke got up from his chair and headed out into the kitchen. Cooter followed and grinned as Luke put the cookie jar on the table and filled two glasses with milk. They could talk a bit easier with out disturbing Bo, but if he had another nightmare, they would know about it instantly.

The two Duke boys tended to get that cookie jar out when something was bothering them and they wanted to think about it. Luke sat dipping the cookie in his milk thoughtfully as he looked across the table at Cooter.

"I just don't like it Cooter," he said softly. "For once I think Rosco's actually gonna be doing his job, but I just don't like it."

"I don't like thinking that there is anyone around these here parts that could run a poor kid of the road, and then leave him in a pond," Cooter stated as he reached for a second cookie. "Now, I know a couple of people here that would run y'all of the road if they could, and all of them fathers to them girls y'all have been chasing. But not a single one of them would leave him there and not make sure he was okay."

"I'm not even sure they would do that," Luke looked up at him. "Now, I've been chased of a farm or two for bringing them home too late, an' both Bo and me have been sent on our way with a round of buckshot a few times as well. But to hit the General head on?"

Cooter nodded, "Just don't sound like anyone we know."

"How bad of is the General?" Luke asked looking out the window.

"Pretty bad," Cooter shrugged. "Ain't gotten a good look at him yet, but, I can tell already that he's pretty bad. Nothing I can't fix though."

"Good, having him wrecked ain't gonna make Bo feel any better." Luke glanced out the window again. "I reckon that the sooner we get him fixed up, the sooner Bo'll start feeling better."

"I reckon you're right." Cooter nodded. "I'll take him with me when I go, an' I'll get working on him right away then."

"Thanks Cooter." Luke gave him a warm smile.

At that time they both looked out when Bo started muttering in his sleep. Once more the confinement of the blankets was starting to make him distressed. He was pushing at them and twisting as he came more and more awake.

"I have ta admit it, I'm getting kinda worried here about that boy. Shouldn't he be doing better than this by now? An' we still don't know who it was went an' did that ta him…."