BoJamesDuke

Daisy nodded, slipping reluctantly from underneath Bo's shoulders, resting him gently against the pillows, smoothing his hair before kissing his forehead and frowning. "Uncle Jesse....he's burnin' up again...."

Gradually, the churning of his stomach stops and Bo sinks back into the large pillows, panting and crying wishing that all this would just stop, that he could go back into the darkness that was painless and where he didn't have to worry about anything. He hated the tubes that stuck out of his hand, attatched to the needles that he knew lay under his skin. He hated needles, he had had a phobia of them ever since he was little so knowing they were there resting under his skin made him shudder. He hated the way that everyone was looking out for him, it was meant to be the other way round, he was meant to be protecting them. But he was being so weak and stupid that he couldn't.

Daisy wrapped her arms firmly around Bo's shoulder's as he struggled to keep his nausea under control. She knew that he was trying to be strong to show his family he was getting better, even though he didn't feel like it. She heard him gasp as his stomach lurched again and soothingly rubbed his back as he shook his head, getting wearier from the effot of trying to hold it back. She knew it would hurt if he was to throw up, but she thought it had to be better than letting him carry on like this. She looked desperatly over to Uncle Jesse first and then Luke.

He smiled slightly on hearing his Uncle fight for him and was even more grateful when he started hearing of another way to help him breathe eaisier. He wished he could do it on his own but hearing his own breathing sounding so horrible let him know that he just couldn't right now. He jerked suddenly as his stomach gave another violent lurch and his hands went to his stomach as he doubled over. Daisy was quick to start rubbing his back soothingly as she looked worridly to Luke. Bo couldn't help but speak at least one word, if he didn't then they wouldn't know in time. "Sick..."

Daisy took up Bo's hand soothingly as Luke gently dabbed Bo's face, gently encouraging him. "S'alright Bo, just keep breathin' and it'll pass." Bo's breathing was raspy and slow which many would have found disturbing and worrying, but to Daisy, hearing Bo breathing on his own after hearing a machine breathe for him for so long sounded so wonderful. He had to be getting better, the docotrs hadn't told them how far he was progressing yet, but she just wouldn't believe anything else, he had to be getting better, he just had to be. Gradually, the colour started to return a bit to Bo's cheeks, although the infections made him look sicker than he actually was. He breathed in long, raspy gulps of fresh air, enjoying the feeling of breathing proper air.

Bo looked up upset at Luke. He wanted to take it off because the air was making him feel sicker than he already was and he really didnt want to be throwing up in front of everyone as he felt like doing and knew he would do if he didn't have a break from it. He tried to tell Luke, thinking that now the tube was out he could probably talk a lot better. "But I..." But those two words hurt more than he could have even imagined. It felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper up and down his throat along with a couple of nails. He gripped his throat slightly, and then moved his hands to his stomach as it churned sickeningly, knowing he was going to throw up.

Bo had been looking frantically around the strange room, looking for Luke who had promised he wouldn't leave him, and was visablly relieved when his family walked in the room. Daisy walked over before B.L, wrapping her arms softly around Bo, hugging him gently and whispering. "Ah Bo, we were so worried about ya Sugar. You keep on fighting there hunny." He smiled weakly at Daisy and B.L from behind the oxygen mask that he was glad now replaced the breathing tube, althought the fake air made him feel nausious. He reached up to his face to take the mask off.

Luke nodded at Uncle Jesse, knowing that that was what he would have done all along, which is mainly the reason why he didn't try and get Uncle Jesse to do anything else. "Alright Uncle Jesse, we's can interrogate Bo when he feels a little better, though he has to feel miles better than when he had that tube in his throat. Daisy and B.L, if you report back as soon as you's found somethin' important then we's can work from there." Daisy nodded, excited and hooked her arm through B.L's. "You bet Luke." Meanwhile, Bo began to stir, instantly waiting for the choking feeling of the tube in his throat He opened his eyes to see himself alone in a strange room, with a doctor standing over him.

Luke laughed and swatted B.L over the back of her head lightly. "Alright alright I get it, I was hot headed and bein' a complete jackass, now ya happy?" He walked carefully over to Daisy and wrapped his arms around her middle, looking out the window with her. "Daisy....I'm real sorry fer how I acted...I wanna make it up ta ya." Daisy turned in Luke's hold to look up at him with tear shimmering eyes. "How?" Luke smiled and gently wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall. "Well, and you can hear this too Uncle Jesse, we need to get down to what happened to Bo pretty quick before Bo can talk, so that we can confront him with enough evidence that he has no choice but to tell us what happened. I'm gonna stay here and take a look at the wound on his head from where he said he hit his head on the General, see what could have really done it." Daisy nodded, her sprirts starting to lift as she saw the old Luke was really coming back, the one with all the plans and the positive attitude. "Alright, now B.L is gonna go back to Hazzard and team up with Cooter ta see what she can find back there. Daisy, what I want you to do, but you dont have to if you'd rather stay here, is to go back to work at the Boar's Nest and see if ya can overhear anythin'. Uncle Jesse, its up ta you what ya do. I ain't even gonna try and tell ya what you should." Daisy had to laugh at that, not knowing whether or not Uncle Jesse was in the mood to accept the joke. She didn't want to leave Bo here, but she knew with Luke by his side, Bo would be safe and by going back with B.L at least she could help out in a better way than sitting here moping and praying for him to be alright. "Alright Luke, i'll go with B.L and Cooter and see what I can find." Luke smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Thanks Daisy darlin', and I am real sorry for how I's been acting." "That's alright Suagr, just promise me you'll get some sleep at some point." Luke nodded gently. "I promise."

Luke thought for a moment, before rising to his feet and wrapping one arm around B.L's shoulders. "If you and Cooter go poke around town with Daisy and see what you can find, i'll stay here with Bo and see if I can't get some sort of explanation for him. He may not be able to talk but there's still pencil and paper. The best place to go would be the Boar's Nest, Daisy usually finds most of Boss' underhand schemes there." He smiled at her and started to walk back towards the hospital doors with her. "Thanks for this B.L....I guess I ain't been acting geat since all this started...you know, I bet in the end it'll turn out that some girl's told Bo she wants to marry him."

Luke had to laugh at B.L's attempts to get him to relax. He knew when he was thinking rationally that the worry and stress he held at the moment was going to serve no other purprose than making him ill and Bo even more upset if he knew how badly this had affected Luke. He gently reached up and lightly slapped her cheeks, grinning slightly as she jerked away, then turned around and started to tickle her playfully. After a minute or two, he calmed down and got thinking again. "The thing is B.L, if this is something so serious Bo couldn't tell me before, he still aint gonna be able to tell me for a few days. What I need to do is find out more before Bo can tell me so I can tell him what I found out on my own and then he'd have no choice but to tell me the rest. I want to get a look at that wound on his temple....see how he could have done that..."

Luke sighed, rubbing his hands over his face, trying to stop the gentle ache that had once occupied his head turning into a full blown pound. He breathed in deep as B.L wrapped his arms around his waist and closed his eyes, trying to compose himself, chuckling slightly. "B.L i'd never hit ya.....Look I know that I ain't no superhero, but me and Bo's been close every since we was knee high to grass hoppers and...I can't stand the thought that he was keeping somethin' this serious from me....I know he ain't a little kid anymore, but he still knows he can tell me anythin' even if he don't want my help...."

Luke could feel his fraying nerves snap, and before he realised what he was doing, he was on his feet, sharply pushing B.L's soothing hands away and turning to her, standing over her, eyes blazing with a worry filled and frustrated fury. "For god sake why don't you understand?! I CAN'T SLEEP! No matter how hard I try, no matter how many times I count sheep or count the damn ceiling tiles, I just can't! I love Bo! He is my baby brother and seeing him like he was at the lake and then hooked up to that ventilator is all that I see everytime my eyes close!" Tears were running down his cheeks, all the pent up emotion he had while he was trying to be strong for Daisy and Uncle Jesse finally crashing from behind the walls that he had built against them. "He's my baby brother, I should have been able to protect him! I should have seen all this happening but I didn't! I was too wrapped up in my own life that I didn't see him at all! All i ever did was snap and yell at him, no wonder he couldn't come and talk to me!" He angrily kicked an empty glass bottle across the road, where it connected with the wall with a smash.

Luke glared at B.L, why was everyone so fixated on getting him to sleep?Didn't they all see what had happened the last time he had let himself fall into that comforting darkness? He had been jerked awake to find Bo practically choking to death because he was deeply submerged in a nightmare that had Luke been awake and paying attention, Luke could have recognised earlier on and gotten Bo awake and calm again before the nightmare got too serious. But as it was, he didn't and now Bo was going to stay mute for longer than he should have been. And then there was the whole issue with him not recognizing the early signs that Bo was upset and troubled. He had known the signs since Bo was a little kid, and had always managed to catch whatever it was that was bothering his younger cousin before Bo could dwell on the problem too much because exactly this was what would happen if he had done. He put his head back on his hands as B.L glared determindly back at him. He hated the doctor for have tricking him like that, but at the time he didn't have the heart nor the will to be angry at him for doing it. He was too worried about Bo, he was and is so worried for Bo that at that moment nothing else in the whole world mattered. "I just can't B.L, I can't..."

With a sob Daisy pulled sharply away from Luke, crossing over to sit by the window, soon joined by Uncle Jesse who had sighed and followed her, throwing a look to Luke that plainly said 'We're gonna have a long talk later.' Luke sighed and leant back in his seat, rubbing his hands over his face before standing up and walking out of the waiting room and outside the hospital, heading towards the calming gardens so he could compose himself and focus on what needed to be done next. Bo still wouldn't be able to talk for a few days yet, but he needed to get to the bottom of this. Why had Bo lied about hitting his head? Why had he lied about going to the dcotor? He had even lied to Uncle Jesse, which was something you just neevr did if you knew what was good for you. Luke knew that it had to be something pretty serious for him to risk getting a damn good switching. Frustrated, he put his head in his hands and growled. "It don't make no sense!"

Daisy smiled tearfully and looked up at Luke. "Ya got that right. Look at ya, you's look like a racoon with them big ol dark circles under yer eyes. Come on now Luke, the least you could do is try and get some sleep." She hugged him tighter round his waist, the worry for her older cousin now filling her eyes as well as fresh tears. "PLease Luke....having one cousin so badly ill in here is bad enough....I don't think I could cope with two..."

Daisy sobbed and curled more into Luke's comforting embrace. "Oh Luke i'm real sorry...I didnt mean ta yell i'm....i'm just so worried about Bo and...I just want to know he's gonna be alright...."

Daisy gasped as Luke re told what he had found out and she nodded firmly, tears pricking at her eyes, as Uncle Jesse told Luke off, agreeing with him. That was not something he should have kept from the family. "Luke I dont believe you didn't tell us! What if that could have helped the doctor figure out what's happening to him? Did you even tell the doc that Bo hit his head nearly a week ago?!" The tears fell softly down her cheeks as she yelled at Luke.

Daisy was quick to take up a chair next to Luke, seeing the exhausted look and the way his legs seemed to wobble beneath him when he walked. She gently started to stroke the back of his neck again, leaning her head comfortingly on his shoulder. She could tell how worried Luke was through the lack of sparkle in his blue eyes that were now fighting to stay open. She then remember what Luke had been saying the previous day and looked up at him. "Luke...what's happening to Bo? You said you knew something but you wanted me to wait until today for you to tell me."

Daisy smiled sheepishly at B.L. "Sorry, with everythin' going on it just slipped my mind. Luke didn't sleep none at all either I dont think."

Daisy sighed, standing up and hugging her friend before pulling away. "He was but according to Uncle Jesse who says according to Luke, Bo had a nightmare and when he woke up he was so badly frightened that he choked on the tube and wouldn't calm down, not even when Uncle Jesse went in to soothe him. They had to knock him out. The good thing is they removed the tube."

Daisy sighed as she heard about Bo, knowing now that something was very seriously wrong to make him work up into such a state. But she was too tired to worry about it at that moment and the soothing actions that Jesse was doing make her fall asleep

Daisy jerked awake as Jesse re-entered the waiting room, looking over at the older man's weary and worry filled face. "Uncle Jesse? What happened? Is something wrong with Bo?"

As he heard Uncle Jesse's voice whispering lovingly in his ear, Bo seemed to calm a little. But he had to tell him about Luke, if Uncle Jesse could get to Luke then he could be saved. He tried to fight the thing that was lodged painfull in his throat to get the words out, he needed Uncle Jesse to understand. If he didn't he would lose Luke forever

Bo hears all the people talking to him and around him but all it succeds in doing is panicking him more. His mind was still racing with the nightmare, still unable to tell what was reality and what was his dream. He can hear someone telling him to calm down, but as the feeling in his body lessens and he finds he cant move he panics further, recalling the feeling all too well from his dream