1974. MY OCD IS LETTING ME GET AWAY WITH NOT PUTTING THEIR AGES AS LONG AS I KNOW IN MY HEAD WHAT THEY ARE AND THEY ARE THE SAME AS THE LAST CHAPTER just this once, idk why. I DON'T OWN THE DUKES OF HAZZARD AND I SITLL DON'T HAVE A REAL GENERAL LEE *makes pouting face*
"What if he don't never come back?" Daisy sobbed.
Bo was heading out to the barn to clean Maudine's stall. He got inside the barn and found Daisy, her back facing him, and she was crying.
"Daisy, what's the matter?" Bo slowly walked over to her.
"Oh, Bo!" Daisy turned around and ran to hug him.
"What's wrong?" Bo asked as he hugged her back.
"Luke, Bo, it's Luke..." Daisy cried.
"I know, I miss him, too." Bo rubbed her back.
"What if he don't never come back?" Daisy sobbed.
"He will, he told me he would." Bo choked his own sobs back as he remembered the day that Luke left:
FLASHBACK TO 5 MONTHS AGO, BO IS DRIVING LUKE TO THE BUS STOP WHERE JESSE AND DAISY ARE ALREADY WAITING TO SAY GOODBYE.
"The time that I'm gone will fly right by, you'll see. You got school to work on, finding parts for our motor, girls to chase, fights to start..."
"What are we all gonna do without you?"
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Bo. Uncle Jesse has spent the better years of his life taking care of us. Make sure that he's alright. That'll give you something to do: looking after Daisy and uncle Jesse." Luke put a hand on Bo's shoulder.
Luke knew that the whole experience of not having is older cousin around was going to be hard on him, but that taking care of their family while he was gone was going to mature Bo a lot, in a way that Luke and Jesse were unable to mature him over the years.
"I'll try."
"No, you gotta promise me." Luke knew that if Bo made a promise, he'd keep it, he was a Duke. He also knew that it would give Bo something to live for, a reason to push through the hard times.
"Okay, I promise." Bo sniffed.
"And I'll make you a promise: I'll do everything in my power to get back to y'all, Duke's honor." Luke smiled.
"I know you will." Bo wiped his eyes.
"You do your best in school, don't start fights unless they really deserve it, chase only the best of the best girls, and most of all, don't you give up on nothin', 'cause Duke's never give up."
"I won't." Bo tried to smile.
"And Bo, I don't wanna come back to have to hear that you've died because you 'forgot your inhaler' okay? So you keep it with you, promise?" Luke chuckled.
"Yeah, I promise." Bo managed a laugh.
They pulled up at the bus stop and Bo turned the truck off. Luke took Bo's right wrist and turned it face up, gently running his finger over the scar that was on the palm of his hand.
"No matter how far apart we are, I'm always your brother." Luke gripped his hand. Bo couldn't speak, instead he just looked at Luke with watery eyes that said: 'I love you, too'
"You be a good boy, Bo." Luke one arm hugged him before they got out of the truck and Luke said goodbye to Jesse and Daisy. Then he turned to Bo and wrapped his arms around him, Bo returning the favor.
"You remember what you promised me, cuz." Luke fought back tears.
"And you remember what you promised me." Bo struggled with the same thing, losing his battle.
"I love you, Bo."
"Love you, too, Luke."
And that was it: Luke got on the bus, the remaining Dukes waving and saying that they loved him until the bus was out of sight.
BACK TO PRESENT TIME FIVE MONTHS LATER:
"Duke's don't break their promises." Bo reminded Daisy.
"What if he can't help it?"
"He said he'd try everything in his power, and he's a hard workin' relentless guy, Daisy, he'll come back, I know he will."
"I hope so." They hugged for a few more minutes and then they both cleaned Maudine's stall together.
Once they were finished with that they drove into town to pick up some things. Daisy went into the store and Bo jawed with Cooter while she shopped.
"Alright, Bo, let's go!" Daisy called. Bo headed back over to the truck and handed Daisy the keys.
"You drive."
"Alright." Daisy climbed in the drivers side.
Bo pulled out his inhaler and began to use it.
"You alright?" Daisy asked.
"Sure." Bo wheezed, still trying to get control of his lungs.
"You need me to stop?" She asked.
"No, I'm fine." Bo replied.
Daisy didn't know why, but Bo had managed to keep an inhaler with him at all times, something that all of the Dukes, especially Luke had been trying to make him do since he was 5. Now he did it without a fuss or bother, and he never forgot. Daisy wondered if it had to do with the fact that Luke wasn't there to help him anymore so maybe he had to depend on himself? Good does come of hard things. She thought to herself.
That night after diner, Jesse sat Bo and Daisy down to talk to them about their parents. There wasn't much else to do, and it was clear that everyone missed Luke so, looking at pictures might help them cope.
"This is your father when he was your age, Bo." Jesse pointed to a picture.
"Is that you next to him?" Bo pointed.
"Yeah, Bo, that's me. I didn't have a white beard yet." Jesse chuckled.
"Your daddy looks just like you, Bo." Daisy remarked as she studied the picture.
"You are the spittin' image of my baby brother." Jesse smiled at his youngest.
"He do kinda look like me, don't he?" Bo smiled.
"He sure do. Like I've told you before, he had asthma too. It wore off when he was around 13 I reckon."
"Who forced him to use his inhaler?" Bo chuckled.
"Well I did, and then there was Luke's father, he was always nagging him about it."
"Luke certainly picked up that trait." Bo laughed.
"Oh, here's your father, Daisy, on his wedding day with your mother."
"He'd better be." Bo laughed.
No one got the joke until a few seconds later, and they just looked at Bo with a weird smile, but didn't give him the satisfaction of laughing.
"She's so pretty in that wedding dress." Daisy studied the picture.
"My older brother sure chose a lovely woman to marry." Jesse smiled. He didn't only mean her looks, she was a very kind woman.
"Hey, is that aunt Lavinia?" Daisy pointed to another picture.
"Yeah, that's your aunt Lavinia when we was still dating." Jesse looked at the picture.
That was how they spent that night until 11:45, looking at pictures and laughing at memories.
da end of dis chapter!
