the chapter after this was written a few months before this one, but i edited that one recently. anyhow, it's 1977. Luke is 21, Bo is 19, an sweeeeeeeet daisy is 20. btw, whys she so 'sweeeet', waylon?
Bo'd woken up sick somethin' powerful last night, an' the doc'd come first thing that morning. It was one of the many nasty winter flus that was goin' around Hazzard, and Bo'd been the first Duke to catch it. Luke prayed he'd be the last one so he could take care of Bo, seeing as how Bo always seemed to respond the best to Luke's care.
Anyhow, doc'd left a prescription for the Dukes to fill out fer Bo, an' seeing as how Luke an' the General were the fastest drivers aside from Bo, who obviously wasn't going anywhere, Luke took off in the General.
Luke'd almost made it to town, when Rosco pulled out from behind some trees.
Luke picked up the CB. "Rosco, leave me alone. Bo's real sick, an' I've gotta get a prescription filled fer him."
"I don't care what your excuse is, you're gettin' a ticket!" Rosco giggled.
"Alright, I'll pull over, but you make it quick." Luke sighed. He pulled the General over and Rosco pulled up behind him.
"Alright, Luke. You was goin' 68 miles an hour!" Rosco giggled as he began writing the ticket.
"Alright, alright, jus' gimmie the ticket so's I can get to the pharmacy." Luke rolled his eyes.
"You don't have so snap at me!" Rosco ripped the ticket off the pad.
"Alright, anything else?" Luke asked sarcastically.
"No! So jus' get on, you riff raff!" Rosco headed back to his patrol car.
Luke got back to the farm, 30 minutes later than he'd expected to.
"Where were you, Luke?" Jesse asked when Luke came in the house.
"Rosco's where I was." Luke sighed as he set the pharmacy bag on the table. "How's Bo?"
"Needin' that." Jesse picked the bag up and headed to the boys' room, where Daisy was kneeling at the side of Bo's bed, caressing his cheek.
Bo'd been mumbling all day, trying to tell Daisy an' Jesse something, but they couldn't make it out.
Jesse put the bag on the side table.
Bo continued mumbling, but Daisy just couldn't understand what he was trying to say.
"You figure out what he needs yet?" Jesse asked Daisy.
"I can't understand him." Daisy sighed.
Jesse went back into the kitchen, where Luke was washing his hands.
"He's tryna tell us somethin', but we can't make it out." Jesse knew that Luke could figure out what Bo was saying.
"I'll come an' see to him." Luke'd been taking care of Bo for as long as he could remember. Wether it be an asthma attack, pneumonia, sickness, whatever it was, he'd always been there for him so, he knew how to translate his desperate mumbles and moans.
Jesse an' Luke went back into the boys' room. Daisy was still stroking Bo's face and holding his hand, and he was squeezing the life out of hers.
"Let me see him." Luke knelt next to the bed, and Daisy went to stand by Jesse.
Daisy'd calmed Bo down some, but he still needed the thing he'd been mumbling for all day: his cousin Luke.
"What's the matter, cuz?" Luke put a hand on his shoulder. Luke could tell that whatever it was that he needed, he needed it bad.
Bo coughed hoarsely as he turned his head towards Luke. "I-I judst wan...you..." he mumbled, almost inaudibly.
Luke was touched by the fact that Bo'd been asking for him all day. "Well, I'm here now..." he comforted. He also knew that Bo had to take his medicine now.
"I'm gonna sit you up." Luke warned as he grabbed Bo under the arms.
Bo moaned and tried to curl into himself as Luke sat him up. "Shhh, shhh. You're gonna be fine." Luke leaned him against the headboard.
"I'll go get some water." Daisy headed for the kitchen.
Seeing the miserable shape that his cousin was in, Luke wanted to ask him what all he felt, but he knew that Bo couldn't really speak. He wanted desperately to help, and Bo desperately needed it.
"Bo, can ya open your eyes?" Luke put a gentle hand on the side of his face.
Bo lifted his heavy eyelids off of his blood-shot eyes. Luke looked into the exhausted, dull, normally bright blue eyes of his cousin Bo. From looking at his eyes, Luke could tell that Bo was in pain, exhausted, and having trouble breathing.
Daisy returned with the glass of water, handing it to Jesse, who handed it to Luke.
Bo'd shut his eyes again, and he was now coughing like a sick frog. But he wasn't a sick frog, he was a sick Bo.
"Hey, hey..." Luke took his hand. He felt the pain that Bo was in with every cough through his hand. "Lay back." Luke gently leaned him back against the headboard.
Jesse opened the drawer and handed Luke Bo's inhaler.
"Here, Bo, here..." Luke put it against Bo's lips. Bo opened his mouth and tried his best to breathe, letting Luke do the rest of the work.
"There ya go." Luke set the inhaler aside and put the glass of water against Bo's mouth. "See if ya can't get a little sip." Luke coaxed.
Bo managed to swallow a small sip of the water. Luke took a dose of pills from the bottle and helped Bo to take them with some more water.
"Alright. I'm gonna lay ya down, now." Luke warned as he took him under the arms again.
Luke noted how sweaty Bo's bare chest and back was, along with how scorching hot he was: he looked road hard an' put up wet. Luke hated when Bo was sick, 'cause it always got as bad as it could get due to his asthma.
Luke removed Bo's blanket and covered him with a cold sheet instead. Bo curled into himself and pulled the sheet around his shivering body.
"It's gonna be cold fer a spell, Bo, but you'll feel better when your fever comes down." Luke rubbed his back.
Once Bo was asleep, the other Dukes headed out into the kitchen.
"What'd he want so badly?" Daisy asked. Bo'd been asking her for the same thing ever since Luke'd gone to go get the medicine.
"Oh, nothin'." Luke went to wash his hands again.
"He was beggin' me fer somethin' all day." Daisy pressed.
Luke didn't want to hurt Daisy's feelings: she'd been sitting there taking care of Bo while he was gone.
"He was jus' mumblin'." Luke dried his hands.
"He wanted you didn't he?" Daisy giggled. "It don't hurt my feelin's none, Luke, everyone knows that you've got that magic touch to make 'im feel safe." Daisy smiled.
"It ain't that he don't love you, Daisy-" Luke started.
"Luke, do I seem mad to you?" Daisy giggled.
"No." Luke sighed a sigh of relief.
"He's slept in the same room with you since he was 4-months-old, Luke. It'd make sense for him to be bonded with ya like that." Daisy smiled.
"It's real funny how things work." Jesse remarked.
"How's that?" Daisy asked.
"Well, when ever Bo's pa was sick, everyone'd try real hard to take care of 'im. He'd calm down some, but he'd never fully relax until Luke's pa with him." Jesse remembered his brothers.
"C'mon, Uncle Jesse..." Luke chuckled.
"It's true!" Jesse continued.
...
That night, the Duke boys were sound asleep: Luke didn't have any chance of waking up any time soon, cause he was exhausted from taking care of a Bo for a few nights. Bo wasn't gonna wake up either, cause he'd been sick for like three days, and it'd settled into his lungs, as usual. The only thing that would wake Bo up at this point was for something to hurt, or if he had an asthma attack. The only think that'd wake Luke up at this point, was for anything to happen to Bo.
Of course, poor Bo started waking up with pain in his chest. He tried to suppress the painful coughs and wheezes, but it wasn't of any use. Now all he could do was hope to all goodness that he didn't wake Luke up. Would Luke wake up if Bo needed him? Do fish swim? Yeah, Luke woke up.
As soon as Luke woke up all the way and registered the sounds, he turned the lights on and knelt next to Bo's bed. Each cough sounded so bad, and by the wheezy sound of the breaths his cousin was taking, Luke didn't know how Bo was getting any air at all... or if he even was. He could tell one thing though: it really hurt, and he'd hate to bring Bo all the way into the world of pain by waking him up, but he didn't have much choice.
"Bo, you awake?" Luke asked gently. He pulled Bo's blankets down a touch to wake him all the way.
Bo responded by opening his tired eyes and nodding softly.
"Thats gotta hurt..." Luke sighed, putting a hand on Bo's shoulder. "I'm gonna roll you on yer back, kay?" Luke asked, taking hold of both of Bo's shoulders.
Bo aimed his face away from Luke as he coughed up a clot of mucus, then he turned back and nodded.
"Let me get that first..." Luke offered as he took a tissue from the side table and put it to Bo's mouth. Bo reluctantly spit it into Luke's hand, wanting to apologize for his disgustingness, but he couldn't speak.
"It ain't yer fault, buddy, you can't help it." Luke reminded him, seeing the slightly embarrassed look on Bo's face. "Now lets get ya on yer back." Luke suggested as he gently rolled Bo onto his back.
"You can shut yer eyes an relax, cousin. I'm gonna take care of ya, you're gonna be fine. Ya don't gotta do nothin." Luke offered, seeing that Bo was very tense, trying to take a load off Luke's shoulders by being tough. Pushing through stuff like this just came naturally to Bo. After all, he was a Duke.
"The toughest guys end up in the hospital the most." Luke chuckled. "Its true, cuz... every time ya push through something 'stead of lettin me help ya, yer endangering yer own health."
Bo let his eyes close as they'd been begging him to do since he'd opened them.
"There ya go. Now you just lie here an don't worry none about me. You're the one thats sick." Luke reminded him. "Very sick." he added sadly.
Luke sat and studied Bo's labored wheezy breathing for a minute or so, trying to decide what the best thing to do to help him would be. Then, remembering he'd completely forgotten to take Bo's temperature, raised the back of his hand gently to Bo's cheek.
"Aw, cousin..." Luke sighed. "You're burnin up, Bo."
Bo opened his eyes and silently begged Luke not to dunk him in the bathtub.
"We'll see." Luke sighed, taking the thermometer from the side table.
"Well, ya got out of gettin dunked." Luke patted Bo's shoulder as he read the thermometer: 101.4
"Ya can't have anymore inhaler, so I think I'm gonna get ya the oxygen that doc left outta the closet, kay?" Luke suggested.
Bo knew he didn't have a choice, and though he'd rather just sleep, he knew that it was best so, he nodded softly.
Bo fell asleep briefly, waking up to find Luke holding oxygen to his mouth and nose, along with a wet towel to his forehead, sporting a very sad look in his eyes. "Bo, yer lungs, cousin..." he sighed. "You're in bad shape, buddy."
That wasn't news to Bo, but he nodded gently anyway.
"I-I'm scared fer ya." Luke admitted, shutting his eyes for a long blink. "It ain't gettin any better, an if you have anymore inhaler yer gonna have them dang muscle spasms, and yer gonna throw up even more than ya already are from bein sick." he sighed.
"can handle..." Bo rasped from behind the mask, and Luke was taken aback by the sound of Bo's voice, or lack there of.
"I know ya can, cousin. I'd just hate fer you to, but I reckon you'll have to." Luke sighed. Then he took the mask away from Bo's face and replaced it with an inhaler.
"Feel any better at all?" Luke asked once Bo was finished with it.
Bo nodded softly, opening his eyes to assure Luke that he was telling the truth.
"I'm so sorry, cousin." Luke sighed, putting the mask back up to Bo's face, along with the wet towel. "I wish I knew why He lets the happen to ya."
Bo soon fell asleep, and Luke put the oxygen away for the time being: they only had so much of it. He went back to his bed to try and sleep, but he just couldn't get his mind off of Bo. It didn't help much that he could hear Bo breathing, a constant reminder of how sick his baby cousin was. He'd seen Bo in a lot worse shape than this, but it still hurt him to see Bo so miserable... it hurt him badly. Sometimes he wished that he had asthma rather than Bo having it, and right now was one of those times.
welpy welpy. thats all i've got fer 2day. yes i do mean day. i wrote this during the day instead of at night like I do normally. anyways i hope that u liked it, bc it took me so long to write. my brother keeps interupting me and asking me why I'm always typing. i cant tell him im writing fanfic, hed laugh till the cows came home, and then some.
