Thanks for all the reviews and your time in reading. Also Thanks to Bethie88 for her additions in bold print.

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Chapter 26

In Luke's absence and Bo's broken wrist, the Duke farm had fallen into a not quite normal morning routine of Daisy cooking breakfast, Bo doing the lighter chores or at least the ones he could do mostly one handed, while Jeb and Jesse did the harder ones. It wasn't that the older man couldn't still do them, but for the past few years with strong healthy boys, he hadn't had to do them. It did the older man good to know he could still cut the mustard, but made Bo feel bad that his uncle had to pull part of his weight when Bo himself should be pulling Luke's load. Even with Jeb there it still wasn't the same.

With chores done and breakfast on the table, Jeb, Bo and Jesse cleaned up and headed to the table. Jesse said grace and they all began filling their plates. Bo mumbled under his breath. It seemed even a simple task of filling his plate wasn't easy with his left hand and minimal use of his casted right hand.

"Uncle Jesse, when are we goin' to pick Luke up?" Bo asked, looking up at his uncle. Having Luke home, despite the fact that it wouldn't heal his hand, seemed like it would fix everything in Bo's mind.

"WE ain't goin' nowhere," Jesse said simply. "I'm going to go have a talk with Luke this morning." Jesse paused, then continued, "Before he sees the Judge to find out just what went on with him the other young fella. AND, I intend to do it without interruptions."

"But, Uncle Jesse, I aim to be there when we go to get him... I already didn't get to talk to him last time cuz of dadgum Ruby. And I'll be doggoned if I gotta miss it again!" Bo's blue eyes shone with indignation.

Daisy bite her lip. She wished Bo would learn to hold his tongue before letting it get his behind in trouble.

Jeb had heard about Bo not listening to Jesse when Luke was first arrested. He surely didn't want to end up in the woodshed this trip, so he wisely kept eating.

Jesse appeared more calm than he likely was as he took a sip of coffee. "Beauregard, ... At this point, we are not even sure IF Luke will be home today. But, if that is still a possibility I need to find out what happened so that I can try to talk to the Judge or do something."

Bo really should've learned to know his uncle's tone at this point, but he was young and hotheaded, and his first response was to keep talking. "Uncle Jesse, I need to be there. You gotta understand..."

Jesse replied, "I DO understand. I am going. YOU are not!" Jesse said with a far harser tone than may have been necessary.

Bo blinked, suddenly falling quiet. "Yessir," he said, looking down in shame.

Jesse let out the breath he had held since this conversation began, glad that he would not have to deal with Bo any further. "Son, I understand your's and Luke's bond with each other. Really I do. But you got to understand that there are times like this that I may be able to call in a favor or two if I know what is going on. You'll learn when you have been around this county and the business long enough, you make some strange friends, but they's just may not want to be known as your friend to the public or a 'wet behind the ear kid'."

Bo's face showed his hurt at being called 'wet behind the ears', but he did understand Jesse's point. And if it could get Luke out of jail sooner, that was the most important thing. "Yes, sir, Uncle Jesse," he mumbled quietly. "I understand."

Jesse added, "I may not see you boys as 'wet behind the ears', but there are those that do. So rather than ruffle there feathers, sometimes it is best to let me handle such matters."

Bo started to open his mouth to explain that he really wanted to help, too, when Daisy spoke up. "Well, Bo, could you help me with these dishes? Then I'll help you with the outside chores."

Jesse gave Daisy a grateful looked as she started picking up the dishes.

Jeb was just glad that he wasn't in Bo's shoes.

Bo fumed, "Yeah, I can what, put them up one handed? Ain't like there is a lot of chores we can do even together that needs done outside either." Yes, there was a lot of busy work they could get done, but not the serious stuff. For that, they would need Luke or Jesse or both, as Jeb never really got the hang of some of the farm chores.

Daisy shrugged. "I need to hang out clothes. You can carry the buckets with your good arm... And hand me the clothes to put on the line. Besides, you can rinse dishes one handed."

Jesse gave Daisy a smile of thanks, "Well, I best be getting on to see Luke." He turned to Bo, "I'll do everything I can to have him with me when I get back."

Bo lowered his head respectfully. "Yes, sir, Uncle Jesse." He wasn't keen on the idea of ending up with a sore behind later.

Jeb, Daisy and Bo watched as Jesse pulled away from the farm in the old pickup truck.

Daisy said, "I'm glad you came to your senses when you did. You were really pushing him, you know?"

Bo nodded. "I know. I'm just sick and tired of being treated like a little kid," he grumbled.

"Oh Sugar, we'll all get our chance to grow up. At least Jesse and Luke let you make runs with them. I'm hardly allowed at the stills and you know I can carry my own weight." Daisy replied.

"I reckon," Bo said, shrugging. "But it sure ain't makin' me feel no better about it."

"Come on, let's get busy. You don't want Luke to skin your hide when he gets here do you?" Daisy said hopefully.

Jeb added, "She has a point there Cuz. They have really let you go with them on runs?"

Bo nodded, halfheartedly going to work.

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Jesse arrived at the jail house early and met Rosco who was leaving after his night with Luke and Ralph at the jail. "Rosco I want to see my boy and I'm not takin' no for an answer. I want to hear from him just exactly has been going on here."

Rosco wasn't one to say no to Jesse Duke when he used THAT tone. The two of them walked down to the lower level, where Luke didn't look quite as pleased as usual to see his Uncle.

"Hey, Uncle Jesse," Luke said, his tone a little TOO friendly.

Jesse was let through the gate by Peggy who was currently on duty. Jesse made his way to the farthest side of the cell away from the Green fella. Jesse said in a low tone, "Luke. I want to know why you need to see the Judge before you are released at noon as scheduled."

There it was. Jesse had went straight for the 'kill'. Luke knew that there was nothing he could say in his own defense to get Jesse to understand. He rubbed the back of his neck and tried to think of what to say...

Before Luke was able to speak, Jesse said, "Now confound it, Luke Duke, you best get to talkin' in a hurry."

"Uncle Jesse," he began slowly. "This here ain't real easy to say in present company..."

Jesse's expression told Luke plainly that he wasn't getting off that easy.

Luke finally spoke up. "Somebody made some hateful comments about my family, and I ain't never been taught to let folks talk that way."

Jesse looked from Luke to the young man in the cell beside Luke who appeared to be asleep, which Jesse doubted. He waited for Luke to continue.

"So I, ..." Luke knew no matter how he put this he was admitting he was wrong, but he was trying not to give Ralph any credit in the situation either. "Took care of the matter."

Jesse's eyebrows rose as he looked at the boy. "Just how exactly did you 'take care of the matter,' Luke?"

Luke looked down at his feet. "I... uh... I..." He was at a loss for words, as he felt his Uncle's gaze burning a hole into him. "I think I changed his attitude a bit." Luke said quietly.

Jesse wasn't going to be put off that easily. "And just how did you do that?" he demanded.

Luke looked at his feet again before saying, "I'd taken all I could take and I, ... rang his bell."

Had Jesse not been so angry, he might have been tempted to smile at that, but as it was, he was NOT amused in the slightest. "Lucas Duke, you did WHAT?"

Luke ducked at the sound of his Uncle's raised voice. At the moment he was glad the bars were between him and his Uncle Jesse.

"Have you lost all your senses or do you just like being here? You are standing dressed like a danged pumpkin when you should be at home working. Have you forgotten that you are here because of a fight? SO what do you do, but start another one here!" Jesse was on a roll.

Luke saw an opening, "Now, Jesse it's not like that at all."

Jesse was still in no mood to be messed with. "Then WHAT exactly WAS it like?"

Luke stepped back from the bars as if afraid that his uncle would step closer to the bars and grab him through them to ring his neck. "He was talking smut talk about Daisy." The next sentence just leaped out of his mouth, "Not to mention how he talked to Rob..." The rest of the sentence was left hanging.

Jesse was stunned. "He talked just HOW about Daisy?" Now his eyes were turned to Ralph.

Luke shook his head 'no', "Never mind that I took care of it and if he comes anywhere near her I'll be back here."

Jesse nodded slowly, starting to understand what had happened, and suddenly not so angry with Luke anymore. "If I don't know what happened there isn't anything I can do about it." Jesse said much more calmly.

Luke squared his shoulders, "Uncle Jesse, there's not gonna be anything you can do about it this time. I jumped in with both feet. Peggy heard some of what was being said." Luke shrugged his shoulders. He really wanted to think that he'd be going home with his uncle, but the more he thought about what happened and how it looked to the officers and the judge. Luke knew he would be setting himself up to be highly disappointed if he actually let himself believe he was going home today. He just hoped the judge saw fit NOT to give him the rest of the sentence that he could have gotten to begin with. For the first time since he'd lay-ed hands on Ralph did that possibility cross Luke's mind. Or what if they brought up more charges?

Jesse shook his head slowly. "Luke, I don't know if there's any way to get you out of this now... I'll do my best for ya, boy, but you may have pushed it too far this time."

Luke shook his head, frustrated with the fact that his uncle was so right.

Jesse added, "You know Judge Hardcastle doesn't play. He could very well make you do the 12 months instead of the ten days."

Luke nodded, "Yeah. I thought of that after I'd already grabbed him." He didn't want to admit to Jesse that the thought had only just now started forming in his mind.

Jesse shook his head as he turned to leave, stopping to talk to Peggy as he went out the door. When she confirmed as much of Luke's story as she was able to, Jesse didn't know whether to be proud of Luke or kill him.

Peggy added, "Mr. Duke Luke let himself be baited and he took it, hook, line and sinker. I did hear some of what Mr. Green said. I put it in my report to the Judge. I can't and won't uphold Luke's actions in anyway, but I can see him being very angry."

Jesse said lowly so as to not give the Green fella any ideas, "Are there any other charges against Luke?"

"If you mean from Mr. Green, no." Peggy paused, "I had a job to do and the judge walked in on the incident, so he has a full report from me."

Jesse replied as he headed up the stairs to wait for the Judge to call Luke. "I understand."

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It was nearly noon and as much as Luke tried not to let his nerves get the best of him it wasn't working at all. He would have felt better walking around, but there wasn't a lot of room to walk in the small cell and Luke refused to give Ralph the satisfaction of letting him see him pace the floor.

Rosco came downstairs freshly showed and shaved with Deputy Petticord. Once the gate was secured, Rosco had Peggy open Ralph's cell. "Alright, Green. The Judge is waiting."

Peggy added, "Just as soon as we get you all dressed up here you can go." She was holding not just handcuffs but the leg irons too.

Ralph smirked at Luke as he walked by. "See ya in a few months when they let you outta here," he said as he walked away.

Luke bit his tongue to keep his mouth shut. He knew Ralph could very well be right. He didn't like it but he knew the Judge could do it.

Ralph attempted to take a normal bold step, only to have the chain of the leg iron tighten nearly tripping him.

Had it not have been for Peggy and Rosco he would have fallen flat on his face even though they had cuffed him in the front.

Luke smirked as the other boy tripped. "Yep. See ya then, if you manage not to kill yourself first with those leg irons." With that, he gave a hearty laugh before he sat down.

Peggy shot Luke a look that warned him as she, Rosco and Ralph started up the stairs to see Judge Hardcastle.

With only Deputy Petticord reading something at the desk, Luke couldn't stay seated any longer as he got up and began to pace as the thoughts of not going home today sunk in and with that what it would do to his family, especially Bo. Even with Jeb there, he knew things would still go undone until he got there, not to mention the runs that Jesse was likely making alone.

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In the Courtroom, the Judge was already seated and waiting for Ralph. He had Peggy's incident reports in front of him. He began as soon as Ralph was brought before him, "Mr. Green I have before me two incident reports in which you are involved. The first is attached to a pornographic magazine. I don't really care how you got it or where it came from. Did you in fact have it in your possession?"

"Judge, if Peggy said so, I'm sure we can all agree SHE ain't wrong"? Ralph fumed. "Women never are wrong anyway are they?"

Judge Hardcastle looked down at Ralph, giving him a hard look. Then, looked at Rosco, "That is good enough for me. Sheriff take MR. Green to the witness room."

As Rosco escorted Ralph to the witness room, Peggy was directed to bring Luke up.

Luke was in mid pace when he heard foot steps on the stairs. He turned to see Peggy waiting to be let in the gate by Deputy Petticord. She went to the cabinet and got a second set of leg irons and hand cuffs. She then motioned for Deputy Petticord to open Luke's cell.

Peggy instructed, "Luke come out and turn around so I can get these on you so we can go see the Judge."

Luke gritted his teeth hard to avoid saying anything that his mind wanted to say as he complied with the officer.

As the gate was opened, Peggy said, "Now take slow short steps."

Luke nodded. He wasn't very experienced in dealing with the 'jewerly' the officers deemed necessary for him to wear to see the Judge, but was determined NOT to make a 'fool' out of himself, well anymore than he had already. Luke took the first conservative step.

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In the witness room Ralph looked at Rosco, "So what's with being back here? Shouldn't you be taking this stuff off me so I can get out of here it's nearly noon."

Rosco wasn't sure what the Judge was up to, but he felt sure that this young man was not headed for the front door of the courthouse nearly as soon as he thought that he would be. "That will just be up to Judge Hardcastle, now won't it? Kit, kit, kit!" Rosco giggled.

Ralph objected, "Now wait a minute. We're supposed to be released at noon. He can't keep us here longer."

Rosco shrugged, "If you say so."

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Peggy and Deputy Petticord escorted Luke upstairs. As Luke stepped into the courtroom he only seen Judge Hardcastle and his Uncle Jesse. He sighed a bit figuring that Rosco was now turning Ralph loose after he'd likely spilled his guts about what had happened downstairs. Luke had never thought that summers lasted long enough but had a feeling that this one was gonna last far longer than any had before.

Judge Hardcastle gave Luke a hard look before beginning, "Mr. Duke, I have before me the incident report from Officer Mitchell AND I was privileged to be with the Sheriff when part of these events occurred. So, do you want to let me in on what happened before I came down the stairs?"

Luke took a deep breath. He didn't want to tell the judge about what he had done, but knew he really didn't have a choice, so he began slowly and tried to choose his words carefully. Luke knew his words to the judge held the key to his freedom, "Judge Hardcastle, Sir, I'm not real proud of my actions. Ralph, ..."

Judge Hardcastle asked, "Mr. Green?"

Luke nodded and corrected himself, "Mr. Green had gotten under my skin with how he'd talked to my, ..." Correcting himself again, "His girlfriend. Then, my cousin, Daisy had come to visit me just before you came in the other day. Daisy was more than a bit over dressed for all this heat," Luke had noticed the room temperature rising as he spoke, "I asked her about it and she said she'd change at work."

Judge Hardcastle waited for Luke to continue.

"After they all left, Mr.," Luke had to work to get the word 'Mr.' to come out, "Green said something about how he would prefer to see Daisy in shorts."

Again the Judge waited.

Luke didn't want to tell the next part, especially with Jesse setting behind him, but the only other option he had was to throw away his freedom, "Then, he more than indicated that her and my relationship was more than cousins."

Jesse Duke stood straight up behind Luke, "He said WHAT!"

Judge Hardcastle banged his gavel, "Order! Now Jesse, just calm down."

Jesse Duke hadn't been that mad in a long time, nor had he ever let himself disrupt a court proceeding like that before. "I'm sorry, Your Honor, but I just didn't expect that."

Hardcastle nodded, "Alright, then. Luke proceed, ..."

Luke wasn't sure he wanted to say anything further because now he'd be putting nails in his own coffin, "Well, Your Honor, my reaction was a bit like my Uncle Jesse's but Mr. Green happened to be in front of my face when he said that. Before I knew what had happened I'd grabbed him and well, ..." Luke hoped he wouldn't have to say anymore.

Judge Hardcastle asked, "Then what happened?"

"I'm sure that I said some very ungentlemanly things as MR." There was that word again. Luke was trying to be respectful, but that word was getting harder and harder to say and Not let it get stuck in his throat, "Green was then talking about the type girls that work at places like the Boar's Nest. Then there was more about a 'good time' and how I likely knew that, ... Judge Hardcastle I can't remember too much after that until after you and the Sheriff and Officer Mitchell had gotten involved. I knew that my actions were out of line and I'm sorry to say, I'd taken all I could take from HIM."

Judge Hardcastle and Jesse Duke went way back. He knew that Jesse and his wife had raised all the kids right and there would never had been anything inappropriate going on with the 'kids'. Judging from Jesse's own reaction, he could see where Luke got it from. Truthfully he even understood the reaction, but legally he couldn't over look it. The law was the law and it had been broken right here in the jail and right before his own eyes. He looked at the clock, it was a couple minutes before noon when the boys were scheduled to be released. Legally he had to do something now, or cut them loose. "Deputy, get the Sheriff and Mr. Green from the witness room."

Deputy Petticord did as he was told.

Luke was a bit surprised to see Ralph still in orange and cuffs.

Ralph thought that he was about to get the last laugh as he smirked at Luke, in expectation of being turned free.

Judge Hardcastle directed, "Sheriff that's far enough." He wanted Luke and Ralph apart for the rest of this proceeding. "Now, that I've read the incident reports, heard from Mr. Green before I heard from Mr. Duke, I can now proceed. As you both know, ... when we all gathered here some ten days ago that I was being MORE than understanding when I sentenced you both to ONLY ten days when it could have been a year. I thought that you could work out your differences, but obviously you can't. So, here's what's going to happen, ... I'm gonna give you both enough rope to hang each other, but if you do, you'll hang yourself out to dry. Since you SEEM to like this lifestyle, we'll handle this the way they do upstate at the pen."

Luke swallowed hard. He wasn't sure what the Judge had in mind, but he knew he wasn't gonna like it either.

Judge Hardcastle began, "First off, you two ain't going home in two minutes, ..."

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Yeah I know it was sort of rotten to end right here but I wanted to get a post up and the chapter was getting a bit long.