I've been tryna' write Luke's marine homecoming into this story, but I never could do it. I was listening to mercyme's 'finally home' and it clicked. I changed up the words quite a bit to fit my fic, in fact they hardly resemble the song. btw its a gr8 song to listen to if ur mourning the loss of a loved one. anyway, on with the story:

OCTOBER 1975

Bo knew that he'd best be gettin' on home soon, Uncle Jesse was probably worried sick over him. But, he'd be even more worried when he saw the condition that his nephew was in. He tried to get up, but it all hurt too much.

It was getting cold out, and the dark clouds above were crying softly, as if they knew the pain he was in. The sun was setting fast, and it would soon be too dark to see.

Then Cooter came tooling down the road in his truck. He stopped when he saw the mess of battered Duke laying sprawled out on a rock.

"Bo, what happened to you?" Cooter rushed out of his truck and over to Bo.

"C-cooter? Th-thank God." Bo tried once again to get to his feet, but he couldn't.

"Bo, who done this to ya?" Cooter realized that Bo'd been beaten upon closer inspection.

"A b-buncha city...dudes in a hotrod...mu-mugged me..." Bo coughed.

"Aw, Bo, you're bleedin' a lot kiddo..." Cooter helped him to sit up.

"I know it..." He wheezed.

Cooter helped Bo to his feet and then seeing that Bo was about to fall over, he picked him up and hauled him out to his truck.

"You're freezin' cold..." Cooter took his jacket off and put it over Bo's shoulders.

"Thanks..." Bo burrowed his soaked head into the worn old truck seat.

"You're gonna freeze." Cooter pulled Bo's shivering frame closer to him.

"Jesse, this is crazy Cooter, you out there?" He said as he picked up the CB.

"Yeah, this is Jesse Duke. Listen Cooter, have you seen anythin' of Bo? He was s'posed to be home an hour ago."

"Yeah, I've got him with me. Seems some no goods ruffed him up but good."

"Is he alright?" Jesse asked.

"I think he'll be alright. I'm gonna get him home right quick. I'll see you then, I'm gone." Cooter set the CB down and buckled Bo in. "You gonna make it?" he asked.

"I-I think..." Bo shuddered.

Cooter pulled up at the Duke farm and by this time Bo was asleep.

"C'mon, buddy." Cooter opened the door and picked Bo up in a bridal carry, bringing him to his uncle, who'd set everything up on the couch to clean Bo up.

"Oh, my boy..." Jesse accepted Bo into his arms. "Whatever happened to him?" Jesse asked as he set Bo on the couch.

"I don't know, I found him like this." Cooter knelt next to the couch.

Jesse first took a towel to Bo's wet hair, not wanting him to end up with pneumonia or a cold, if that wasn't already in the cards.

Then he turned his face toward him and began to dab at his bloody mouth.

"Help me take his shirt off." Jesse started in, and Cooter helped as requested.

"Oh..." Cooter sighed when he saw all the bruises on Bo's chest and sides.

"At least there ain't no open wounds." Jesse sighed as he wrapped some blankets around his nephew.

"Think I should call the doc?" Cooter asked.

"I think we can take care of him." Jesse decided.

"Uncle Jesse?" Bo slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm right here, son." Jesse started in on Bo's raw knuckles.

"I'm cold..." Bo leaned into his uncle as coughes began to attack him.

"Maybe you'd best, Cooter." Jesse suggested.

Cooter got up and went for the phone to call the doc.

"Lets get you in yer bed an' warm ya up." Jesse suggested to Bo.

"Yeah, please..." he moaned.

Once Cooter'd called the doc, he and Jesse helped Bo to his feet. They basically carried him into his bed.

"wanna sleep...kay?" Bo asked.

"You'd best not, Bo. Wait till the doc comes." Jesse started rubbing his arm to warm him.

Doc arrived about 30 minutes later, telling Jesse that Bo had a minor case of hypothermia and that he was to be kept warm. He also left Jesse with an emergency oxygen tank incase Bo's lungs acted up. Cooter went home for the night after the doc'd left.

Bo awoke a few hours later, not so cold anymore. He looked over at the nightstand, the moonlight shining in just the right place so he could see the framed picture of Luke. He remembered how close he was to seeing him again, and a few tears fell from his eyes. He reached into the side table and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil, writing the words that came to his mind to keep from crying them out like a small child.

I'm gonna wrap my arms around my brother's neck

And tell him that I've missed him

And all the things I swore I would say

Words just won't come yet

There's so much I wanna say

There's so much I wanted you to know

I'll tell him all about the man that I became

When he finally makes it home

sappiest chapter i EVER wrote. but i liked it so i don't really care. anyhow, thats all.