Author's Note: This is a story I wrote about the Dukes and their first years at the farm. I tried to keep it with them from the point where they got to the farm, and carry on throughout a couple of years. It's a growing and learning experience for all of them. There are also notes at the end of each chapter, a credit of sorts to a father from his son.

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….

Learning To Love…

Chapter 42 …Someone to Hunt Down Monsters

It had been a good day Bo thought, Luke had played with him which made it a great day. It was just too bad the night wasn't going the same way. He was scared to sleep because of the way the shadows was moving across the windows. It was scary, he knew it was just shadows, and that there was nothing dangerous about them, but he was still scared. There was only two safe places at times like that, Uncle Jesse's bed, and Luke's bed. His own bed could do if Luke was in it with him, but it was easier to get to sleep in Luke's bed, then to make Luke go and sleep in his.

"Luke," he whispered quietly, the easier it was to wake Luke up, the less he minded that Bo did it. "Luke," he repeated a bit more loudly.

"What?" came the sleepy murmur from the other bed.

"I can't sleep Luke," Bo whispered again.

"Go back to sleep."

Bo got a feeling that Luke wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying.

"I can't Luke," he insisted. "I'm too scared to sleep."

"There ain't nothing here to be afraid off," Luke pointed out.

"Maybe not to you, but there is to me," Bo informed him. "I don't care if it ain't fer real, I'm still scared…."

"Well, what do ya expect me to do about it?" Luke demanded, a bit grumpily.

"Can I sleep with ya?" Bo pleaded. "Don't matter if they's real monsters or not, they always go right away when ya let me."

"Bo, I don't wanna have ya in my bed," Luke stated.

Bo pouted, Luke had started objecting more to it after Bertha Jo threw him out the window, and that was another reason why Bo was still mad at her. Before, Luke didn't mind as much, but when it hurt him, and while he still had the cast on his arm, Luke didn't want his little cousin in his bed. Even now when the cast was gone, Luke seemed to have gotten used to chasing him off even before he got in.

"Please," he whined loudly.

"No," Luke repeated rolling over.

"Please…." Bo repeated in a high pitch whine.

"No Bo, I wanna sleep," Luke insisted.

"But ya can still sleep, an' then I can to," Bo reasoned.

"Go to Uncle Jesse," Luke groaned.

"I don't wanna go to Uncle Jesse, I wanna go to you," Bo put bare feet on the floor and padded over to rest his hands on Luke's mattress. "Please Luke, yer the best fer chasing off monsters ya know, I need ya."

"An' I need to sleep…" Luke insisted, but Bo heard the change in his voice, the one that meant he was giving in.

"I need to sleep to, but I can't if the bad monsters are there," Bo pointed out to him, slowly hoisting himself up on the bed. "I need ya Luke, Uncle Jesse can't chase them away like ya do…" Bo laid down and stretched out beside Luke, though on top of the covers, when he had gotten this far he knew that his cousin wasn't gonna throw him out.

"Yer getting too big for this," Luke sighed as he gave up and pulled the cover over Bo.

"Ain't ever gonna be too big to need ya," Bo smiled softly.

"I know that Bo," Luke sighed softly as he saw Bo getting sleepy, watching his eyes drift close. "But ya won't be able to do this when ya get bigger…" he mumbled to himself. Bo was already asleep. While he still liked it at times, he was worried if Bo got bigger, and still couldn't sleep without him. Kids got picked on for things like that. He didn't always get along that well with Bo, but he did love him, and didn't want him to get picked off.

Since Bo was already asleep, and he wanted to sleep, he slipped out of the bed and went over to Bo's bed. It got a bit crowded to sleep with Bo beside him, and if Bo wasn't using his bed, there was nothing to stop him from using it.

Jesse grinned as he woke the kids up, "Ya know Luke, I could've sworn it was Bo I put to bed here," he teased.

"Yeah, but he woke me up saying he couldn't sleep, so now I'm tired," Luke complained.

"Did he say why he couldn't sleep?" Jesse wanted to know.

"Something about monsters, it always is," Luke sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"So he wanted to sleep with you huh?" Jesse smiled knowingly. When he was the same age Luke was now, it was Luke's and Bo's daddies that wanted him to keep them safe from monsters, he was pretty sure that when he got older, it was something Luke would remember fondly.

"Yeah, when will he start growing out of that?" Luke wanted to know as he pulled on the socks his uncle handed him.

"I don't know Luke, but don't be in a hurry to wish for it," Jesse cautioned him. "Bo'll grow out of things before ya know it, remember how he used to sometimes sit in yer lap behind the couch there, an' ya told me ya miss it at times."

"Well, yeah," Luke admitted, pulling on his shirt.

"When he grows up more, he's gonna grow out of this just as he grew out of that. Little boys grow up Luke, faster than ya know."

"I'm growing slow," Luke corrected him. "Real slow."

"Too fast for me," Jesse smiled. "I keep thinking about when ya first got here, ya was younger then, and smaller."

"I know, I can see that on the doorjamb," Luke stated, referring to the doorpost where Jesse marked their height as they grew.

"And even before that Luke, when ya was as small as Bo was when y'all got here. I remember how little ya was back then. Ya was the cutest little boy, I'll never forget those times."

"What's so awful good about being little?" Luke wanted to know as he pulled on his boots.

"Well Luke, it's hard to say exactly, it's just me wishing ya could stay my little boy forever I reckon." Jesse told him softly.

"But I thought ya needed me to grow up an' work on the farm," Luke pondered.

"Luke," Jesse bent down to his level. "Don't ever think ya have to be more grown up because I need ya that way. I don't want ya to lose yer childhood thinking that ya have to grow up too quick."

"But Uncle Jesse, I could help ya better. I could help ya make shine," Luke pointed out.

"Luke, we are doing good, I don't need ya to grow up that bad," Jesse assured him. "Taking care of you three kids is my responsibility, and I enjoy doing it. The three of ya is the best thing ever happened to me, the best things in my life, ya don't have to think that ya have to grow up faster."

"Okay," Luke agreed. "But I can still help ya, ya know."

"Oh, I know," Jesse grinned, ruffling his hair. "I'm very proud of ya Luke, because I know just how good ya can be." He smiled at his oldest, his precious boy, just as precious as Bo and Daisy. "Now go on, go get the eggs so we can have breakfast."

"Okay," Luke agreed. "Can I have coffee for breakfast Uncle Jesse?"

"No Luke, ya can have buttermilk," Jesse smiled softly.

"I hate buttermilk," Luke objected.

"Then I reckon ya had better stick to regular milk," Jesse chuckled. "Now run along, get the eggs while I get Bo up."

"Okay," Luke hurried off, he wanted to drink coffee, he remembered how his daddy sometimes gave him a little coffee in a cup when he sat with him, calling him his big man, though he put some cold water in it to keep it from getting too hot. He thought about it while he collected the eggs. His uncle didn't want him to get big, but he wanted to, so when he got inside he dragged a kitchen chair over to the stove, getting out the heavy skillet and getting read to start frying the breakfast.

"Luke, get down from there," Jesse sighed as he saw him. "Yer not supposed to be at the stove," he told him as he lifted him down from the chair.

"I wanted to help," Luke offered.

"If ya really wanna help, then see if Daisy still remembers how to spell them words she an' I was working on yesterday."

"I don't wanna work with Daisy," Luke objected, that was not at all what he wanted to do.

"But ya wanted to help," Jesse smiled.

"Why can't she learn to do her own homework?" Luke frowned. "She never likes it when I help her."

"Yer just full of questions today, ain't ya Luke," Jesse chuckled as he started frying the bacon. "Same as always."

"So how come ya ain't got any answers yet?" Luke wanted to know, he wasn't being rude, but he could tell his uncle was in a good mood, and then he usually didn't mind some teasing.

"Well, go get Bo then, an' make sure he's ready for breakfast." Jesse suggested.

"Okay," Luke pushed the chair back in it's place, going back to the bedroom to get Bo.

"Thanks for letting me sleep with ya," Bo beamed as Luke came in, he had one sock on, but was playing with the other, at least Luke thought so, since it seemed to have a car or something in it. "Wasn't any more monsters, they left when I got to sleep with ya."

"Ya know something Bo," Luke started as he took the sock and emptied out a red race car. "It ain't gonna matter if we're in the same room, or the same bed, I'm still gonna chase off the monsters."

"I know that," Bo nodded as Luke helped him on with his sock, and took out a green race car from the leg of his jeans. "But Uncle Jesse is always saying yer getting real big, an' yer always getting bigger, an' if ya get big enough, yer not gonna let me sleep with ya anymore, so I wanna do it now."

He had such a sad look in his blue eyes Luke leaned forward and hugged him, feeling like he'd bruise his ribs on the race car Bo had in his shirt. "Bo, I ain't gonna grow too big to chase away monsters," he promised him. "Even when we're both bigger, if yer really scared, ya can come sleep with me."

"Promise?" Bo asked as Luke removed the racecar.

"I promise, how many of these have ya got on ya?" Luke wanted to know.

"Only one," Bo hauled out the last one. "They thought my clothes was a tunnel," he beamed. "Thanks Luke," He leaned forward and hugged his older cousin.

"Come on now Bo, lets get ya to the table, ya can ride piggyback," Luke offered, feeling a bit bad for having snuck out on Bo, and figuring that maybe he shouldn't do that again as Bo climbed up on his back.

In credit of the man that told me that there was no monsters, but never managed to prove it.

TBC

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