Daisy and Jesse watched sadly as Bo choked on a sob and threw the handle to the old CB down, storming angrily and upset over to a pew and laying down on it, burying his head in his arms with his shoulders shaking. Bo hated conflict…especially with Luke and especially when something happened that he couldn't say sorry right away. To Bo, the longer he left the apology meant the longer the other person perceived the truth behind what he had said to be, and nothing worried Bo more than thinking his cousin thought he hated him. Daisy moved to go and comfort him but Jesse stopped her, sensing their youngest needed the time alone for now. Slowly, they made their way around the church hall, Jesse mingling with everyone else and talking about the situation while Daisy huddled with her friends and sought some comfort from them.
After a while, Bo felt a hand on his shoulder and he was about to tell the person who he believed to be Uncle Jesse when he realised that the hand on his shoulder wasn't like anyone else's he had felt before. He sat up inquisitively and sniffed, wiping the tears from his cheeks when he was met with the kindly face of a young man, about the same age as Luke, who had a slinged arm and a scar down the side of his face. When he spoke, his voice sounded as weary as he looked, but it held tones of happiness and peace in it too.
"Hey there….are you alright?"
Bo swallowed gently; Jesse had taught him that he shouldn't speak to strangers and yet this person seemed to kind and caring that he couldn't help but instantly take a shine to him.
"Not…not really…"
"Sorry to hear that…wanna talk about it?" He paused a moment, seeing the uncertainty in Bo's eyes, smiling and holding out his good hand. "I'm Scott by the way, Scott Brigshaw."
Bo smiled back and shook the hand before he answered.
"Bo…Bo Duke…"
He paused as Scott froze, worrying as he saw a slight spark of recognition in Scott's eyes, wondering if he should know him from somewhere. Scott chuckled as he saw Bo's discomfort and shook his head.
"I'm sorry….I should have recognised you…although you's grown a lot from the last photo's I saw…I'm a friend of Luke's, he was my Sergeant. He showed me a lot of pictures of you, every one you sent was passed around between us….he loves ya a whole lot."
Bo swallowed gently and nodded, interested to meet another Marines that knew Luke, but also saddened again by his words. Luke did love him…he probably didn't so much anymore now that Bo had hurt him and abandoned him on Christmas, his first Christmas back with his family.
Scott swallowed softly as he saw the swallow and watched as the young boy's head drooped again, letting out a small sigh as he gently reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder, squeezing it softly.
"Heck I know I'm just a stranger but…I'm here if ya wanna listen….I probably don't know Luke as well as you do an' all but….I get a feelin' the way yer bein' right now has somethin' ta do with him…right?"
Bo licked his lips a little, unsure why the heck he was even considering talking to this guy…there was just something about him that made him feel as safe and reassured as Luke used to…something in Scott that Bo had been craving ever since Luke had come back home and now he had found it he just didn't want to let it go. Slowly he looked back up and nodded his head, saying softly.
"Yeah…Yeah it does…an' you probably know Luke better than I do right now…."
Instantly, Scott recognised the signs of many cases he had been seeing. He had been travelling a lot recently to try and find his Marine buddies again. Having been one of the last ones to leave the squadron they were in, he had collected up a lot of the stuff that they hadn't had the time to grab and had slowly been returning them over the months since had had gotten back. He didn't have a family to go to, he was an Orphan and his only source of love and compassion came from those he had fought with…he owed them something for that. He was shocked to find however, that the image of each of them being united happily ever after with the families they so often talked about back in 'Nam was not as perfect as he once thought. Instead, the relationships were littered with tension, problems and heartache…some he knew would never recover. He had tried to help each one of them and he had somehow hoped that finding Luke would be different…but again…even the people you thought would be able to handle it the best surprised you.
"Right….I have an idea of what's going on Bo but…why not start from the beginning and tell me…"
Bo nodded softly and sat back in the pew a little, taking a deep inhale and exhale before starting the whole miserable tale.
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Luke staggered back a little way from what he had uncovered in the hay pile, swallowing hard and wondering if this was someone's idea of a sick joke for just a minute.
There laying scared and shacking in front of him was a young woman, only in her twenties with long auburn hair and deep brown eyes that looked to him now with a mix of fear but also a plea for help, as though she was unsure of which to let overtake her. But what captured his attention the most, what started to bring the slow, slight panic up in him was the swollen stomach that protruded from her.
Being forced to swallow the lump in his throat again, he tried to speak some sort of sentence, but found that he could find nothing to say. He slowly put the shine bottle down and put his hands to his hips, shaking his head a little.
"What are you doin' in our barn?"
The young lady looked back up at him, pushing herself up into a sitting position carefully with one hand rested delicately on her bump before saying shakily.
"I'm so sorry…I'm really sorry….I…I was out driving when the blizzard hit an' I crashed my car into a ditch…I just needed shelter….I need help…I'm…"
Luke watched in horror before running over as the woman's face contorted in pain and she gasped aloud, clutching her stomach as he finished the sentence for her.
"In labour…right…"
She nodded, taking his offered hand and squeezing down on it, although with as much restraint as she could, with the pain. Luke frowned a little, unsure of what exactly he could do except speak as soothingly as he could to her and rub her back while she crushed his hand.
Eventually the pain subsided and he helped her to lie back in the hay, stroking the hair gently away from her forehead. He knew there was no chance of getting her to a hospital, not with the weather in such a bad state and also she had to be a fair way into her labour, which would mean even if he could get her to a hospital in this whether there would be no point whatsoever, the baby would be born on the way.
He looked around desperately, wondering what on earth he was going to do. He was no midwife, sure he'd watched Uncle Jesse bring lambs and foals into the world, he'd helped with a few of them and yeah he had listened as he had delivered Mary Kae's baby too….but he had never ever had experience with actually delivering anything on its own.
He couldn't very well send her away though, where the heck would she go? With no houses she would be able to get to in time and no way to call in help…he was her last hope otherwise she would be doing this alone. Sighing softly, he closed his eyes a moment before saying gently.
"Alright…here's what I'm gonna do…" Carefully he explained the situation, making sure to emphasis his lack of experience. "…And so…me deliverin' it here seems like the only option we got…"
The young woman nodded, too focused on her pain and panic at the baby actually coming to really care who was helping her, so long as they did help and right now…to be honest…Luke looked like a perfect candidate to be somebody to do that.
Eventually, as he held the young woman's hand through the next contraction, Luke's brain finally kicked into gear, working out what it is they needed. He didn't like leaving her alone, but they needed stuff from the house and quickly if he was going to bring the little kid into the world and keep it and the mother on it. As he settled her back down, speaking soothingly all the way, he explained quickly what he was going to do; making sure she always felt safe and secure knowing that any panicking would only serve to risk the baby's life.
"Okay…I gotta run back to the house and get some stuff…uh…uh…"
"Grace…"
"Grace…right…I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise."
Grace watched as he got hurriedly back to his feet and ran out the barn door, making sure it was shut to keep the warmth in as much as possible as he ran blindly back through the blizzard to the house.