The Hunt

Chapter 19

The Alternate Ending

(Okay folks, the 'it was Vance' ending was in my original plotline, but it is obvious some of you were rather disappointed in the outcome. Never let it be said that I didn't at least TRY to please my audience. Therefore, for you people who would have rather seen a whole Bo/Luke thing, here is a Bo/Luke ending. Now YOU get to decide how it ends…just pick your favorite ending!)

Jesse hugged Bo with all his might. Things looked promising for the first time in days. "I knew you'd eventually come back out here, I just knew it! You needed to come back out to this cemetary, back to Luke's grave. It's the first step toward the healin', Bo."

Cooter frowned as he looked at Jesse, who was happier than he had been in days, and Bo, who's hard task had just been made harder by his uncle's misunderstanding. Not sure what to do, Bo simply pushed himself away from Jesse and stared at the ground.

"Bo?" Jesse asked in mild shock. It wasn't like his youngest charge to turn away affection. No, that was more like Luke, his Luke, who was gone forever.

"I didn't come out here to see Luke, Uncle Jesse, I came out here to see you." Bo revealed.

"Me?" Jesse shook his head in confusion.

Bo looked toward Cooter. Cooter took that as his cue that his friend could use some support, so he stepped forward until he stood beside Bo. As the friends stood side by side Jesse stood, waiting to find out what was so important that Bo would show up at the place he had avoided for days just to talk to him.

"I'm……I'm leaving, Uncle Jesse."

"Leaving?" Jesse asked in shock.

Bo swallowed and shook his head. "Uncle Jesse, I can't stay here no more. It's driving me crazy not havin' Luke around."

"Bo you can't leave." Jesse replied, getting stern all of a sudden. "I just lost Luke, don't ask me to let you go too!"

"Billy Kay's offered me a spot on his crew." Bo continued rapidly, as if he hadn't heard Jesse. "I called Coy and Vance this morning…they're gonna come take over at the farm for me. And the money I make on the crew…..I'm gonna send it home and you can use it on the farm."

"Bo…."

"We're always scrapin' ta make ends meet anyway. You can use that money to get yourself a new tractor…maybe even a new truck."

"Bo I don't want….."

"I'll be great, Uncle Jesse." Bo continued as he gave his Uncle a quick tight hug. As soon as it ended, he ran toward the General Lee, wiping some tears from his eyes as he did so.

"I love you Uncle Jesse!" He shot back, reving up the General and peeling out of the cemetary.

"BO!" Uncle Jesse screamed back at the departing stock car. "BO DON'T GO!"

Jesse took off running and ran as long as the General was in sight. Bo willed himself not to look out the rearview mirror. He knew what he would see.

He hated to leave Jesse like that, and he felt bad for leaving Cooter to comfort him, but he figured the goodbye would be difficult even in the best of circumstances. The more distance he put between himself and Hazzard, he determined, the better he would feel.

"Bo Peep to Shepherd. Please come in!"

Bo wanted desperately to turn off his C.B. but he couldn't make himself do it.

"Shepherd, please come in, I really gotta talk to ya!"

"This is Shepherd." Bo heard Jesse reply in a nasally voice. It was more than obvious he had been crying.

"Uncle Jesse!" Daisy exclaimed in genuine delight. "Uncle Jesse, you gotta get over to Tri-County right away!"

"Why? What's wrong? Did Bo…." Jesse fired off, afraid Bo may have been in an accident in his haste to leave.

"Nothing's wrong Uncle Jesse! Everythings right!" Daisy beamed. "Uncle Jesse…..Luke's alive…..and he's at Tri-County!"

"Daisy…." Uncle Jesse replied after a long pause as Bo looked at the C.B. in shock. "….honey it just can't be."

"Does this help it become more convincin'?" A new voice asked over the C.B.

Jesse nearly dropped the C.B. handle. "Luke?"

There was no mistaking that voice. With a huge grin, Bo spun the General in a perfect one-eighty and took off for Tri-County at lightning speed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Just one short hour later, there was a joyful reunion inside room 244 at the Tri-County hospital. As the initial hugging and tears and laughter were being shared, Daisy stayed on the C.B. that had been allowed in the room due to the special circumstance, spreading the news far and wide to all their friends in Chicasaw and Hazzard Counties.

After quite a while, things settled down enough that some pressing questions needed answering, and Sheriff Little was there to explain the situation.

"As you know." Little began. "Everything that happened this last week was a great, elaborate plan by our former Comissioner to put me out of service. As Comissioner, he felt that he needed the backing of all the high officials in the county. And he got the backing of a lot of them, most of our lawyers, some of the force, and even a few doctors. Unfortunately, it was my backing that he could have used the most to further himself, and the only backing he couldn't get."

"Sheriff Little, we already know that he planned to have you killed but what does any of that have to do with why Luke is here?" Bo asked.

"Well, it seems Luke didn't quite meet his demise as quickly as you're Uncle Jesse there thought." Sheriff Little explained. "It seems that the paramedics initially thought he was gone, but a recheck inside the ambulance determined he was still alive."

"Well it so happened that Jamie's girlfriend, Renee, is a nurse here at the hospital, and she was working that afternoon. When she called Jamie a short while after the robbery and explained the situation, Jamie didn't waste any time calling the Comissioner. It then seems that the Comissioner came over to the hospital to……….make sure Luke met his fate. Now the Comissioner can be very intimidating, but no matter how intimidating he was, Dr. Harbin was trained to save lives, not to take them. So, to satisfy the Comissioner while saving his own neck, he released the body of a recently deceased John Doe as Luke, and worked diligently to save Luke's life….and was successful as you can see."

"How did all that slip past Renee?" Cooter had to ask.

"Well, she had never worked with the John Doe, so it was simply a matter of the paperwork switch."

Jesse nodded. "Well, I can kinda see why we didn't learn about Luke here right away, but why didn't nobody tell us about this a couple days back after them boys was arrested?"

"Because…" Sheriff Little replied. "The Comissioner had to be arrested as well….and the formalities and evidence to make that happen wasn't put into place until this morning."

"Ya'll don't know how many times over tha last two days I've wanted to pick up that phone." Luke added, nodding toward the phone. "Sheriff Little finally had it taken from my room up until this morning."

"But you have to understand." Sheriff Little added. "As long as the Comissioner was free, your life was in danger."

"Fella's, I'm about to do somethin' I thought I'd never do." Daisy grined, before getting up and kissing Little's cheek. "Thank you and thanks to Dr. Harbin for all ya'll did to keep Luke safe. I hadn't ever been so happy to hear his voice than I was this morning."

"Happy people usually don't give out that bloodcurding scream you replied with." Luke teased her. "I think she thought she heard a ghost."

"Well cousin." Bo replied, slapping Luke on the back. "You're one ghost that I can't wait to see hauntin' the farm again."

"I take it you plan to stay around for the hauntin'?" Jesse asked, with it sounding more like a command.

Bo sighed and smiled. "Yes sir!"

Well ole' Jesse's gotta be a pretty happy man by now, considerin' he thought he lost both his boys just a couple hours ago.

Luke had to stay in the hospital a few more days, and finally came home to a celebration dinner----Jesse had whipped up a rare batch of his toad liver stew.

"Uh, Uncle Jesse, I'm not quite as hungry as I thought." Luke admitted, rising from the table and volunteering to feed the livestock. Bo ran to help him asDaisy announced her plans to take a shower. Jesse shrugged his shoulders and sipped the stew.

Ummm….now you see why it's rare.

It wasn't long after that that the boys were back to their regular routine, fishin', racin' the General, and catchin' girls. Things were fnally back to normal in Hazzard County...ummm...whatever that is.

The End