Wow…you know sometimes a chapter writes itself. I was planning a whole other direction with this, but this is what came about… at any rate, please let me know what you think…Thanks! Jordyn

"Bo," choked out Luke in a hoarse whisper, sitting beside him and gently stroking his hair. "I'm here Bo…I'm here."

He had said those same words so many times….

"I'm here Bo…drop down. I'll catch ya…" promised Luke looking up at his cousin who was hanging perilously to a tree branch.

"I can't!"

"Bo, ya trust me don't ya?"

"'Course I do," answered the eight-year-old without hesitation, still holding on with all his might.

"Then let go!" commanded Luke.

Bo closed his eyes tight and let go, landing in Luke's arms. "You caught me!"

"Told you I would… you okay?"

Bo nodded. "Just spooked a little."

"How'd ya manage t' get up that far anyway?" asked Luke staring up into the tree knowing that Bo never in his right mind would go so far, as scared of heights as he was.

"There was a kitten stuck up there…I went to get him down, but when I got to him, he scratched me an' ran away…an' left me…I hate cats…" he added sticking his scratched finger in his mouth and sucking on it.

"You got too big a heart for your own good Bo…"

"When I get big, I ain't havin' one cat…not one!"

Luke chuckled as the sun started setting below the hills. "C'mon….must be close to supper time," said Luke and, taking his cousin by the hand, led him home.

"I'm here…an' ya got Daisy…an' Uncle Jesse…."

"But not Auntie!" wailed Bo from where he lay on the ground in a heap, huddled next to the freshly dug earth that was his aunt's grave.

"I miss her too, Bo…so much…" admitted Luke, kneeling beside his baby cousin and rubbing his back. "Even more than I missed my own mama."

"She was my mama!" cried Bo passionately, tears falling freely from his blue eyes as he stared at the cold gray headstone.

Luke took the sobbing boy in his arms and started to rock him gently, back and forth, back and forth. Bo simply clung to his cousin's shirt, nervously fingering one of the buttons as he cried.

"S'gonna be ok… "

"Why, Luke?! Why?!"

Luke looked into the baby blue eyes that were searching his own for an answer. It was times like these Luke wished his baby cousin didn't have quite so much confidence in him. He didn't have an answer for him, so he did the only thing he could think to do. He started to sing one of the old hymns his aunt used to sing with them.

Bo responded as Luke knew he would, by singing along. It was soft at first, more sniffling in time with the tune than anything else, but soon he was singing softly, along with Luke, as the soft October breeze dried their tears.

They stayed like that for a long time, just singing old hymns, one right after the other, the dead leaves of autumn blowing about them, their voices choked by the fact that they were missing one member of their trio.

"Bo…Bo…I'm here Bo…I'm back," whispered Luke quietly, taking the camouflage cover off of his shorn head with one hand and gently running his other across Bo's fevered cheek.

Bo opened his eyes. "Luke?!" he asked in a hoarse whisper, thinking it was the fever playing tricks on him again.

Luke smiled at his cousin, gently tracing the scar on Bo's hand from so long ago. "Yeah…s'me brother," answered Luke in a broken whisper. "I'm home."

Bo's lip quivered and, though he was weak from being so ill, reached his arms towards Luke. The Marine gathered him into his arms and held him close, placing a soft kiss on his forehead, his own tears beginning to fall.

"Luke…Luke am…am I dying?" asked the eighteen-year old faintly several minutes later.

"No…no…yer just real sick is all… … but I'm here now….I'm gonna take care of ya … ya ain't gonna die…not fer a long, long time."

"Promise?" asked Bo as the tears welled in his eyes.

"I promise. You rest now. I'll be here when you wake up."

Now Luke was echoing the words again, but this time there was no response as Bo lay deathly still, the only sounds coming from the steady beat of the heart monitor.

"Sir?" asked the doctor tentatively, noticing how lost in thought the young man appeared to be.

Luke looked at the doctor and nodded. "It's him….it's Bo…."

The doctor sighed. "In that case, I want to be frank with you….you can see for your self how bad off he is. There is internal damage, as well as the topical… enough that without the life support, he would not have survived this long. He is incapable of breathing on his own. Since you are the next of kin, we will need your permission to remove him from life support."

"Absolutely not," declared Luke, not taking his eyes off of Bo.

"Sir…you don't understand. We were removing him from the support when you came in… it wasn't that we no longer wanted to provide care for him. It's the fact that right now, the life support is simply prolonging the inevitable. Every day you keep him on support is just another day of pain…for you and for him."

Luke looked at them. "He's unconscious. How can he be in pain?"

The doctor pointed to faint tear marks on Bo's red cheeks. "They've been coming regularly and his blood pressure elevates every time they do. He's hurting."

"But if he's crying…he must be…"

The doctor shook his head. "All it means is that he can feel the pain."

"He's gonna get better," answered Luke determinedly.

"Sir, his chances are…"

"I don't care what you say his chances are. You don't know Bo! He's gonna get better…he will!"

"You're askin' me to keep him on life support?"

"No. I'm tellin' ya. I just got him back and I ain't about to lose him now."

"Sir, he is suffering…."

"He'll fight it…I know he will…he'll fight it…"

The doctor sighed heavily before conceding and retiring from the room.

Luke turned his attention to Bo once more. "I promised you I wouldn't let ya die…don't make a liar out of me Bo Duke…oh God…" he choked a little as he touched Bo's warm cheek. "Prove 'em wrong, Bo….I'm beggin' ya….prove 'em wrong."