Okie dokie people here is another chapter for you to read. I hope you like it and please review.

Chapter 6: Early Labor is a Pain in the Butt

Bo and Jesse hurriedly arrived at the hospital around the same time Daisy did. The first thing Daisy asked was about Luke's whereabouts. After explaining the situation to Daisy, they all made their way into the waiting room to find Cletus and Enos.

Enos was there, but Cletus had gone back to his car to grab a sandwich. "How's Michelle?" Bo asked. Enos sighed, concern etched all over his face.

"She went inta early labor," he explained. "Them doctors is tryin' ta stop it. They don't want anyone but Bo in there ta see her." Bo complied and wordlessly he left the waiting room.

"She's only seven months along," Daisy pointed out. "That baby prob'ly won't make it if them doctors can't stop it." Everyone nodded in agreement. That's when Cletus arrived back in the waiting room.

"Good," he said. "I'm glad ya'll made it. I jus' came back inside ta tell Enos I gotta git back out on patrol, and Rosco CB'd an' said you could take the rest a the day off."

Enos nodded. "Thanks Cletus," he told his fellow deputy before he left. The three sat around silently, Jesse by himself and Enos and Daisy nestled up to each other.


"Hey honey, see, I told you I'd be here," Bo blurted out as he rushed to Michelle's bedside. "Uncle Jesse bailed me out, just like I said." He flashed her his famous thousand-watt grin. "How ya doin'?"

"How does it look like I'm doing?" Michelle commented nastily.

Bo opened his mouth to answer but changed his mind. Instead he just picked up Michelle's hand squeezed it between his fingers and said, "It's gonna be okay, you just wait."

"You don't know that!" Michelle screamed at him. "Don't say something if you don't know for sure!"

"Sorry sweetheart," Bo apologized. "I'm new at this, I ain't sure what I'm doin' or sayin'."

"It's okay," Michelle answered half-heartedly. She sighed. "I'm just scared."

"Me too, sweetheart," Bo admitted. That's when Dr. Matheson entered the room.

"You must be Bo Duke," he said. After receiving a nod of affirmation from the young blonde man, he continued. "The normal human gestation period is forty weeks, about nine and a half months. As of right now, Michelle is only about twenty-nine weeks along, not quite 75 percent. Your baby won't have high chances if it comes out today. It's mostly about thirty-five weeks before a mother can give birth to a healthy child."

Bo and Michelle exchanged nervous glances. They knew before this wasn't good, but they didn't quite know exactly how bad until now.

"Michelle's cervix is dilated one centimeter, and at ten centimeters is when the mother would start to push in a normal delivery. We managed to stop it from going any farther, but I want to keep Michelle here a few days to make sure it doesn't. When she is allowed to go home, she's gonna have to be on strict bed rest. She'll only be allowed to get up to use the bathroom and shower, but that's limited to no longer than ten minutes at a time, and minimal times a day. No lifting anything heavier than a large book."

Bo had to sit down. The news was overwhelming to him, and he wasn't sure how he could handle it. He wished Luke could be there with him; he wasn't used to handling things on his own. Luke always seemed to know how to make things better, but this time, he couldn't be there with him.

Yes, he could. Once Luke found out the situation, Bo was sure the eldest Duke cousin would help him so he could help his wife. Taking a shaky breath, Bo felt somewhat surged with the confidence to be there for Michelle. All he needed was something he knew he already had: Luke being there for him. Of course, it wouldn't hurt if Jesse and Daisy were there for him too, but Luke was the most important to him.


The next few days went by slowly for all Dukes. Bo didn't feel like working on his and Michelle's future home. Luke could sense something was wrong with the blonde cousin, other than being nervous about the baby. On the fourth night following Michelle's hospitalization, as the cousins lay in bed, Luke decided to confront his little cousin about what he was really thinking.

"Come on Bo," he began. "I know you're not sleeping, so this would be the perfect time to talk to me." He watched as Bo sat up in bed and faced his bed.

"What do you wanna talk 'bout, Luke?" Bo asked.

"What's really botherin' ya?" Luke blurted out. He heard his cousin sigh. "Other than the obvious, that you're worried about your Michelle and the baby."

"I don't know if I'm ready for this," Bo admitted. "I can't settle down an' be a father. I ain't responsible enough. I mean, well ya know how we live. I'm not ready ta give all that up ta be a good father. I ain't ready ta settle down yet an' be responsible fer a helpless human life."

"Bo, yer gonna make a great father," Luke told him. "You can still do things almost the same, 'specially since yer jus' gonna be livin' right here on the farm. An' jus' cause yer havin' a baby don't mean Boss Hogg an' Rosco are gonna stop pinnin' things on us. So it's like ya ain't gonna have no choice but ta stay the same crazy, reckless Bo Duke ya've always been." He grinned and leaned over to ruffle Bo's hair. "'Sides, I betcha money that in fifteen years or so, they'll carry on the tradition on yer son or daughter an' yer just gonna have ta teach him or her all the same drivin' moves you know. Bo, you an' Michelle are gonna make great parents."

"I know Michelle's gonna make a great mom, but I ain't so sure 'bout me," Bo worried. "What if I do somethin' wrong that'll screw the kid up fer life?"

"I don' think ya will," Luke consoled. "Yer a Duke, which means yer gonna love them. Same with any kids ya git in the future. Believe me Bo, there ain't gonna be a more loved kid in all a Hazzard. You'll do jus' fine. If any help, don't hesitate ta ask Michelle."

Bo smiled. "Thanks Luke, yer a real pal," he half-joked.


After eleven days, Michelle was released from the hospital, on the same strict bed rest orders the doctor had previously mentioned. As one would expect, she wasn't very happy about it, and she was grouchy and demanding of Bo. She didn't take out her frustration on anybody except for Bo. However, Bo managed to keep Michelle entertained for about twenty percent of the time.

Michelle, an avid Superman comic collector and movie fan, was kept entertained sometimes with those means. Bo borrowed the first three movies from Cooter, who had an incredibly large movie collection.

On the second day, Bo managed to get in some time to watch Superman II with his wife. They watched it in silence for a few moments before Michelle began a conversation.

"You know, I've always wanted to be like Lois Lane," she told Bo. "When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and work for a newspaper, just cause she did. Then, I thought if I ever had a daughter I'd want to name her Lois."

"Ya would?" asked Bo. "What 'bout if it was a boy?"

"I'd name 'im after Jimmy Olsen," she said, with a sly smirk etched on her face. "We can call 'im Jim, though. James will go on his birth certificate."

Bo laughed. "Ya know, I ain't never thought 'bout what I'd name my kids until I found out I was gonna have a baby with ya."

"Now what do you think?" Michelle wondered.

"A girl, I'd like ta name Rochelle, that way, she won't have the same name as you, but I can still call ya both Shelly." He grinned, and Michelle imitated it. She even laughed. "An' fer a boy, I'd name 'im Hugh, after my daddy."

"Well, how about this. If it's a girl, it'll be Lois Rochelle Duke, and if it's a boy, it'll be Hugh James Duke," Michelle suggested. "I like those names."

"I like 'em, too," Bo said. "Perfect name fer a child with the perfect mom."

"Aww," Michelle cooed. "They'll have the perfect father, too. So I guess they'll just have the perfect parents." Bo nodded in agreement, before picking up her hand and planting a kiss on it.


Though Bo and Michelle shared a few moments dreaming of the day their baby would enter the world, bed rest was not all fun and games. Michelle often had mood swings worse than any other ones she had experienced through the first part of the pregnancy. Almost daily, she would pick some sort of fight with Bo. On one instance, the woman insisted that Bo let her see the new addition and it's progress, but Bo, not wanting to endanger the lives of his wife and his baby, said no, it would only hurt, not help. Michelle rewarded him with a week-long silent treatment.

Finally, on her seventh week of bed rest, and her thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, Michelle was let off bedrest and was allowed to go one with life until she went into normal labor. It only took six hours after being declared free for the labor pains to show up.

That day, Michelle and Daisy had volunteered to bake a few pies for the Hazzard High School's baseball team on that early May afternoon. Bo escorted the two women to the baseball diamond, this time never going over the speed limit.

During the top of the 6th inning, the Hazzard Huskies were leading the Chickasaw Wildcats 7 to 5. Bo, Daisy, and Michelle were all avidly cheering on Hazzard.

"Come on, ya'll can git 'em out!" Bo rooted.

"Just one more strike!" Daisy hollered.

"You guys can do, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Michelle began. Out of the corner of his eye, Bo could see Michelle slump forward as the pitcher, Jake Piedra, pitched strike number three to end the inning. Bo immediately turned to see if his wife was okay.

"Michelle? Honey? What' s goin' on?"

"Now I'm in labor," Michelle explained. "Real labor. Labor that is normal and where the baby will actually come out."

"Already? Ya just got off bedrest . . ." Bo stammered.

"That's why I'm not on bedrest anymore," Michelle said.


A/N: There ya have it, another chapter! Be sure to review!