"Hey! What d'ya thinks you's doin'?"
Bo looked over to the doorway, just in time to see a blur of blue dash forward and tackle Nigel to the floor, before standing up and bashing the gun away from his head, then sending a hard punch cracking along Ronny's jaw line. Bo was near enough ready to sob with relief as Luke's eyes met his, and his gentle hand quickly placed the oxygen mask back over his nose and mouth.
"Y'alright Bo?"
But Bo's eyes went wide again as Nigel got up behind Luke, with a gun clenched in his hand. He opened his mouth to cry out to Luke as the butt of the gun raised high above Luke's head. But Luke was already turned around and had crashed his fist into Nigel's stomach, sending the man bent double into the opposite wall of the room. Luke strode forward to grab him, when a hard blow to the back of his neck sent him stumbling sideways, and he slumped against the wall by Bo's bed.
Ronny grinned and stood Luke up, before bringing his fist hard into his stomach, sending Luke sliding down the wall, gasping for air. Nigel started to head back over to Bo, kicking Luke's legs out the way as he did so, but stopped frozen as an alarm sounded through the room. Ronny cursed and grabbed Nigel's arm.
"Come on, I ain't gettin' caught 'cause of these two."
"We're gonna get you Bo Duke, and your friend here to so you just better watch your back."
With that the two men pelted from the room and Luke pushed himself back to his feet to wrap strong, comforting arms around his sobbing younger cousin, gently rocking him as best he could without hurting him, smoothing his sweat drenched locks of hair, his heart wrenching as Bo's muffled cries vibrated through the oxygen mask.
"Luke…Luke…"
"Bo calm down cousin, I'm here it's alright. Ain't no one else gonna hurt ya."
Luke looked down to see the syringe still lodged in Bo's arm, and winced as he carefully removed it, praying that whatever was in there hadn't managed to enter Bo's system. From what he could see, it hadn't but he still needed to warn the doctor's all the same.
As if right on cue, two doctors and a nurse rushed into the room and Luke quickly explained what had happened and gave them the syringe before stepping away, hunched over slightly as he clutched his rapidly bruising middle so the doctor's could get a good look at Bo.
Bo looked over frightened to Luke as the two doctors surrounded him and asked him question after question, albeit gently, but still daunting as he tried to get a grip on what was happening. He answered them one after the other, his words still slightly slurred from the medication. He looked to the doorway as someone called his name and looked horrified as he saw Luke being taken away by a nurse, but calmed when Luke gently shook his head and mouthed 'I'll be right back.'
Now I'm sure glad Luke was in the right place at the right time…ain't it good to see Bo has someone to watch his back?
It wasn't too long before Luke was allowed back in to see Bo, after protesting he was completely fine and that he only had the wind knocked out of him. By the time Luke re-entered the room, Uncle Jesse and Daisy had been filled in on the situation and were with Bo, the head of his bed had been raised so Bo was sitting up and the oxygen mask had been replaced with a breathing tube that snaked round his head and finished just under his nose.
Luke had never been happier to see his cousin's blue eyes dart to the door, and felt like leaping for joy as a small smile spread over Bo's face. He crossed over to the side of the bed and placed a hand gently on Bo's uninjured shoulder, smiling down at him.
"How you feelin' cuz?"
"Like I been thrown from a truck and run over a million times, but other than that pretty good."
Everyone in the room smiled and gave a quiet chuckle as the familiar Bo humor sprung up in his words, despite the fact that his voice was still horribly scratchy and sounded extremely painful. Luke took up his usual seat, just looking in disbelief at his cousin's appearance.
This smiling, joking young man was a complete contrast to what he had seen just a couple of hours ago when no one was sure whether or not he would be able to pull himself from the fine line between life and death he seemed to be walking. But as he carefully studied his cousin's outward appearance, he noticed the humor and small smiles as a mask of how he truly felt. It was only by growing so close to Bo as children that he could see the hidden shine of fear and distress in his eyes, and the tense way in which he held himself, trying to keep the rest of the world completely oblivious to how he was truly feeling.
Luke bit on his bottom lip gently, knowing that Bo didn't want to distress Uncle Jesse, Daisy or in fact Luke himself and was putting himself through the pain of keeping everything bottled up by himself, something which Luke was adamant he wouldn't let Bo do for very long.
After a couple of hours, everyone looked up from their cheerful conversation as the Doctor walked into the room and everyone left as he did a few routine tests on Bo. They all walked down to the waiting room where they had spent the past week, each one of them having had their spirits lifted so much so that when Rosco and Enos greeted them, grim looks on the both of their faces, the three didn't stop smiling but greeted them with open arms, telling them how Bo was.
Eventually though, Jesse realized that the pair was there for a reason other than Bo when they didn't ask if they could see him or how long it would take for Bo to be released.
"So, is you's two gonna stand there all day or are you gonna tell us what it is you came here for?"
This stopped Luke and Daisy's conversation in an instant, and they too looked over to Enos and Rosco.
"Well…uh…you see Jesse…well…"
"Rosco would you spit it out, we ain't got all day."
"Urm…Enos you tell 'em."
"W...why me Sheriff?"
"Cause you're the deputy and I say so."
Luke instantly knew that something was horribly, horribly wrong as Enos took off his hat and started playing with it and he could see tears of guilt and the silent plea for forgiveness playing in his eyes.
"Well….this ain't easy for me to say….but…well…Boss wants Bo….placed under arrest for…suspected arson and Insurance fraud…"
For a moment there was nothing but an awful silence in the room, smiles quickly fading from faces and anger replacing the joy of having Bo back with them in the land of the living.
"Why you…"
Jesse quickly stepped in front of Luke as he started forward, his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. He grabbed the man's shoulders firmly as Luke fought against his grip, and soon Daisy found herself having to hold Luke round his middle carefully to stop him throwing Uncle Jesse off too, screaming hysterically at him.
"Luke! Luke just stop it!"
"Daisy, Uncle Jesse let go of me and let me get to him!"
"Luke, we can't have you thrown in jail now. Bo needs you Luke, he's gonna need you to get him through this."
Eventually, they managed to press Luke firmly into a chair, and Daisy sat next to him, her arms wrapped round his shoulders as Luke's face sank into his hands. Jesse turned slowly to Rosco, having no intention whatsoever for yelling at Enos because he was a dear friend to the family, and he could see that what he had to do was eating him up inside already without Jesse adding his own two-penny worth in. But Rosco…he just stood there with the same grim look on his face, and that was something Jesse just couldn't stand.
"Rosco, I want to know what you think gives you the right to barge on in here and make up such ridiculous charges."
Rosco visibly cowered under Jesse's withering gaze and Luke watched with grim satisfaction as he stumbled over his words.
"Well…I uh…you see Boss Hogg said…"
"I don't give a damn what J.D has to say, you know too well that Bo ain't done nothin' wrong!"
"Now Jesse that's beside the point…"
"Oh no it ain't!"
"No it ain't…"
"I'll tell you what the point is. The point is J.D is tryin' to frame Bo and I just ain't gonna let that happen! Now you git back to that office of yours and tell that overgrown pile of cow dung exactly what I think! Go on git!"
Daisy placed a calming hand on her Uncle's arm, trying to keep his blood pressure down as Rosco ran from the room, stuttering incoherent words and visibly trembling. Enos made a move to follow, but Luke called him back.
"Enos, s'alright you can stay…you weren't the one at fault. Rosco knows Bo ain't done nothin' and it ain't fair draggin' you into his and Boss' scheme, 'sides I bet you want to see Bo huh?"
Enos nodded gratefully at Luke as they all stood up and headed back to Bo's room, each composing themselves before heading in so as not to let Bo know what was going on, there was no need to tell him until they were certain that was going to happen.
"Hey Bo, you's got a visitor alre…."
But as they stepped in the room, one look at Bo's face told them that he must have already got the news. His face was back to the horrible pale color it had been, he was shaking and tears were slipping gently down his cheeks. Luke immediately rushed over and allowed Bo to wrap his good arm around his neck, and sighed as Bo nuzzled his head into his neck and sobbed.
"Bo…"
The doctor looked over from his position by the bed, and shook his head gently at Luke.
"Let him cry, he's gonna need it. Better to let it all out than keep this bottled up inside."
Everyone looked over, frowning and confused at the Doctor who braced himself with a large intake of breath and a gentle sigh.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news…"
Bet y'all are thinkin' there isn't much else that can go wrong for Bo….well remember this is Hazzard County and Duke luck just ain't somethin' that holds out well in this type of situation. Stick around.