Author's Note: As usual there is trouble of some sort in Hazzard, and this sort of trouble has Bo in the middle of it. See, it goes like this, while some folks know who Bo is, others think he is someone entirely different...the trouble is, Bo is one of them.
This is based on the episode My Son Bo Hogg, and follows some time after it.
The point about Bo being more 'huggy' was worked out in a joke between me and GrayWolf.
Big thanks to Anakin's Girl 4eva for beta work.
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….
Of chickens and Crankshafts:
This has nothing to do with this chapter as such, this is just something I wanna put her for Daisy, and that is because I want her to know how much she means to me, and the rest of you, well I hope you can get a laugh out of it, and Daisy, I hope that you understand why I am doing this, because if there is one person in the world that deserves the honor, you're IT…..
"Daisy, what's wrong?" Bo asked looking up from the General Lee's engine, seeing Daisy inspecting her hand.
"Ah, nothing really, I was getting the eggs and one of the chickens pecked me." She answered.
"Let me see that." Bo stepped forward and took her hand to look at it. "Don't look to bad."
"No, it was just they scared me." She shrugged.
"Well, bad or not, they don't mess with my cousin and gets away with it." Bo grinned as he took the crankshaft he had been trying to fit into the engine.
"What are you gonna do?" Daisy asked him.
Bo grinned smugly. "I got an understanding with them, long as they behave, I won't even chase them, but if they don't, I will, and if they are mean to you, I'm gonna use this while chasing them….." He tapped the crankshaft with a grin.
Chapter 12: I just feel bad about it all
Jesse woke early in the morning, even earlier than he usually did. Dressing he thought that he could just hear the faint creak from the porch swing outside, but not one of his younglings were likely to be up this early just for the fun of it.
On the other hand, Bo had been really restless, and Daisy as well, ill at ease with what had come to transpire between her and her younger cousin. Not to mention that Luke tended to not always sleep a lot when he was working on some problem. Thinking that way he guessed it could be either one of his young charges, or it might just be the wind.
Walking outside on the porch he saw that it was Bo. He was wearing his jeans and the tan shirt he favored, but he was barefoot, something that led Jesse to believe he had sneaked out quietly in an attempt not to wake Luke up, and that meant he had probably been sitting there for some time.
He looked at him for a moment, taking in the sight of his youngest nephew from a slight distance. Bo was not the one he expected to find sitting on the porch swing all alone, deep in thought. Luke was the one who would be staring into the distance while Bo would seek someone out to ask for guidance. Granted, he didn't always follow the advice he was given, and sometimes even if he did it didn't work out. Yet it wasn't like him to hide away and keep his troubles bottled up inside him.
Not saying anything Jesse walked over and sat down beside him, looking out over the farm.
"How are ya holding up Bo?" He asked gently.
"Okay I guess." Bo shrugged.
"Want to talk about it?" They still hadn't looked at each other, and Bo looked down where his bare feet rested on the floor, while Jesse was looking out over the farm yard.
"Not really, don't think it would do all of that much good anyway." Bo shrugged again, an almost shiver that made Jesse think that even though the sun was coming up there was still a bit of chill to the air. He draped an arm around the boys shoulder, not about to let him sit there freezing.
"Where ya able to sleep at all last night?" He asked. As he had walked past their door on his way to bed the previous night, he had heard some hushed conversation from inside the bedroom. Just enough to let him know Bo had still been awake when Luke went in there.
"A bit, for a few hours." Not really aware of what he was doing Bo found himself leaning a bit against his uncle's strong frame. "Enough I guess."
"Don't really seem like ya had a restful night to me." Jesse noted, the boy looked plumb worn out. There was a tiredness that seemed odd in a body normally bristling with energy. It hurt him to see how much it had worn Bo out. He would have to do his best to make sure he got a hearty meal, and a good nights sleep, and that within the next few days. If not he could very well catch sick from it all.
"I guess not, was dreaming." For a brief moment Bo's eyes were turned upwards at his uncle, but then he looked down again.
"Was it a bad dream?" That question arose from years of having calmed nightmares. He had dealt with Luke's nightmares, and then both Daisy's and Bo's. He had calmed them down after fever dreams, and chased away the occasional monster. The only one that he could never chase away was the one in the clock, not even Luke had been able to convince that one to move away. It had been Bo's time monster; it lived in the clock that had scared Bo half out of his mind when it struck as he walked past it one night. After that Bo refused to pass it alone if it was dark. The boy had been right though, he had always claimed that it was a time monster, and that it would move away when Bo was big enough, because it only wanted little kids.
Jesse wasn't sure of exactly when it had stopped bothering the boy and moved away, Bo had just slowly grown out of his fear until there was nothing odd or scary about walking past the clock.
"I dunno know." Bo shrugged again. "Don't think so, just odd I guess."
"Want to talk about it?" Jesse offered once more. Even at his current age Bo could blurt out the occasional bad dream at the breakfast table. All it took to put him to ease about them was first an assurance that it was just a dream, and then he would give an embarrassed grin as they all laughed. It never seemed to take anything more than that to chase away the monsters those days.
"Not really, an' I don't recall all of it anyways." He had the embarrassed smile Jesse had been thinking about on, but the sad eyes were no part of how it should be.
"I guess it's just because I feel really bad about it all." He admitted.
Jesse smiled as he blessed the boy in his heart. Sweet little Bo, even when he didn't want to talk about what bothered him it always crept out of him if you just sat down with him. The boy had a big heart, and it was so open nothing could stay inside.
"Ya ain't got nothing to feel bad about Bo." He said soothingly to reassure him. "It wasn't ya fault none of it."
Bo looked down again. "Maybe not falling down the sloop and hitting my head on the rock, but all of it after that. Daisy's been right, I've been awful. Can't imagine how ya felt having me talking about wanting to go to Boss Hogg all the time. I'm really sorry about that Uncle Jesse. I really am, but I just didn't know." He broke off and big moist eyes turned to Jesse.
Jesse opened his mouth to try and comfort him, but no sound came out as he realized what Bo had said. They hadn't known how he came by the head injury, and not once during the last few days had he said 'uncle Jesse' as if he didn't feel that he could refer to him as uncle when he wasn't sure that was what he was.
Now he did however, now he did.
"Bo, can ya remember again?" Jesse asked, not sure whether he dared to hear the answer.
He was spared the dread when Bo didn't say anything but merely nodded.
"Ah, Bo." For the moment Jesse himself felt as if he was at a loss for words.
"I remember how I've been acting, making everyone upset the whole time." Bo hunched over even more where he sat. "I'm not sure Daisy can ever forgive me for some of it." He mumbled. "She tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen."
"There ain't nothing to forgive ya for Bo." Jesse said softly as he pulled him closer. "There ain't a single thing for ya to feel bad about. We understand, all of us. It wasn't ya fault ya got hurt, and it wasn't ya fault J.D. tried to use ya either. I'm just glad to have ya back safe and sound."
Bo nodded slowly. "But Daisy was trying to tell me, an' I was just to dang stubborn to listen to her. I said so many things I regret Uncle Jesse." He bit his lower lip as he couldn't bring himself to look his uncle in the eye.
"Bo, ya didn't say one single thing that was so bad ya have to look like a whipped puppy for it. Not one single thing, and we all know how hard it must've been for ya." Jesse used the arm he had around his shoulder to pull him closer. "We understand that."
"Ah, I know that Uncle Jesse, but still." Bo hung his head. "I just don't understand how y'all could forgive me for all of it so easily."
Jesse nodded, he wasn't really surprised by the guilt emitting from the boy. Sometimes he just was too emotional. "Well, I guess Luke and Daisy is feeling about the same way now as ya would if it was them." He said slowly. "Would ya blame them?"
"No." Bo's head shoot up as he stared at his uncle in pure disbelief. "Uncle Jesse, I could never blame them for anything wasn't their fault."
"And neither could them."
"Oh." Bo looked down again. "Was kinda stupid huh?"
"No Bo, not the slightest." Jesse smiled softly. "It's just somethings is a bit hard for us all to sort out, and I reckon ya might need some time to do it. But it's all gonna be okay, if ya can remember now, then there's nothing at all to worry about."
"I guess ya right." Bo looked up at him with the tiniest hint of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, and nothing could have made Jesse happier than seeing that.
"I'm right." Jesse grinned. "I know exactly what those two are gonna do when ya tell them, and it ain't blaming ya one tiniest bit."
Bo nodded, looking at his uncle and giving him a relieved look. "I guess it just was me feeling bad about it all. Knowing some of the stuff I said really hurts. And even if I hit my head, I just can't imagine how I could be forgetting all of ya. Luke's always been right there for ya, and so have ya all, and still I was trying to up and leave ya."
"Bo, I think some of that might've been because Luke and ya had an argument just before ya left. I know how that tears the both of ya apart. Now, most likely ya was just still feeling hurt. I understand that ya needed someone to go to, and J.D. tricked you once before. I guess you just remembered what he told you back then."
"Yeah, but still." Bo shook his head.
"Ain't nothing more to it." Jesse shook his head. "It ain't ya fault that ya got hurt, and it ain't ya fault nothing that J.D. told ya before. Now we both know ya wouldn't hold it against any of us, no more than we could hold it against ya." He ruffled the blond hair with an affectionate gesture. "Does that make ya feel any better?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Bo offered him a small smile, leaning closer to his uncle and Jesse hugged him closer again. Noting that the boy seemed to have finally got everything that had been bothering him off his chest and all he needed now was a good sturdy meal.
"Now, I'm gonna tell ya what to do." Jesse grinned. "Ya gonna go in there, git ya boots on and Luke up, an' I'll cook us up some breakfast. An' then when we've done the chores, we are gonna call Cooter on over here and then we'll have us a dish of crawdad bisque, because we got to celebrate."
"Yes sir, I'll get him up." Bo nodded as he stood.
"An' come here first boy." Jesse grinned as he stood himself and pulled Bo into a hug, smiling both inwards and outwards as Bo wrapped his arms around him in turn. Jesse reached up a hand to smooth those tussled blond locks down.
"Now ya git back inside." He said in a gruff voice, one that was thick with love. "Out here without boots, just ya git inside now."
"Yes sir." Bo grinned and pulled his uncle into one more fierce hug before hurrying inside. The excited chatter that immediately burst out from the boy's bedroom told him Bo hadn't wasted any time telling Luke the good news. He could hear them halfway to collect the eggs, and apparently Daisy could hear them as well because her voice joined right in with theirs.
Once Cooter was informed he couldn't get there fast enough, and to say that spirits where high really wasn't saying enough.
Even though Jesse had made a big batch of crawdad bisque, the pot was scraped clean. Well, he wasn't really surprised. No doubt Bo was trying to make up for all the missed meals during the last few days. That boy could make away with a lot of food at the best of times.
Another thing that didn't surprise him was how long those boys stayed up. When Daisy left for work they were still working on cleaning out the pot, and once Bo was through with it Jesse wasn't even sure if there was any point to washing it.
Then the boys just sat around chatting. Cooter went back home sometime after Jesse went to bed though. Bo and Luke took it as their cue to go to bed.
Bo giving an embarrassed grin as the two of them headed into their room.
"Uh, ya can have ya bed back tonight." Bo grinned as he sat down on the edge of the bed to pull of his boots.
"I was kinda surprised that first night." Luke admitted.
Bo shrugged as he didn't know how to respond to that.
He didn't have to; once more Luke proved how well he knew him. "Don't worry about it, like it would bother me to swap beds with ya for a night or two."
"I just can't believe how I've been fumbling around with everything that I know so well." Bo shrugged as he pulled on his pajamas bottoms before climbing into bed. For the first time in a few days he felt perfectly at ease. He couldn't help but giving an amused snort as he realized what it was that had felt so odd before. Unlike Luke, he wasn't used to sleeping in just his under shorts. He was used to feeling the cotton instead of the sheet.
Yeah, things were back to normal again, and he turned to his side to face Luke as he to climbed into bed.
"Goodnight Cousin." He grinned.
"Goodnight Bo." Luke was feeling the same relief that it was all over and he finally had his old Bo back, as well as his bed.
"Well, I don't know about y'all, but knowing that boy is safe and sound, and back in his own mind makes me feel really good. It's a shame those two never stay safe and sound for very long."
The End
Thank you all for reading, I'll do my very best to reply to all signed reviews, Elenhin