DixieDavenport

Mr.Campbell bellowed, "ANYTHING UNEXPECTED? You mean to tell me that you not only took advantage of my only daughter BUT didn't protect her against getting pregnant?" Before Jake could answer, Mr. Campbell was off on another subject. "Real father? Mr. Miller is your father......." said Mr. Campbell. "No, Sir. Mr. Miller raised me as his own but I recently found out that I was adopted after a night much like the other night. Unbeknowest to my real Father, my Mother forged his name giving me up for adoption to the Millers. Until I ran face first into my Father neither of us knew I exsisted. Mr. Campbell, Luke Duke is my Father." Knowing the Duke boys reputation, he paled to the point of almost passing out. "You're a 'Duke'? My daughter is hooked up with one of those danged Duke boys??" Laura finally spoke, "Dad you never objected before to my seeing Jake." "That's before I knew he was the son of the biggest run around in the State! Laura, you are grounded to this house until you show me proof from the Doctor that you are OK. Got it? And you! YOU, DUKE! Stay away from my daughter until I say so! Not so much as a phone call, you hear?" Jake hung his head for a brief second, then looked up to Mr, Campbell, "Yes, Sir, I hear you and I'll respect your wishes as long as that's what Laura wants. Laura?" Laura knew now wasn't the time to buck her Dad, "Thanks, Jake." She walked to him and wrapped her arms around him. Besides what more trouble could she be in???? "I'll call you when things blow over. I do love you!" She said kissing him. Jake felt really funny about being kissed in front of Laura's parents and ended it soon, though he wanted it never to stop, then said, "I love you too. You know were to find me. Let me know!" his meaning didn't go unnoticed, "I'll go with you if you like." She just smiled. She had no intention of waiting to talk to Jake.

Meanwhile, Bo, Jr. pulled into Jessica's driveway. He climbed out Stormy's window, and walked to the door. He knocked on the door, and before he could say anything, Jessica was in his arms. "Oh, God, Bo! I missed you... I thought..." "Whoa, there!" he said, holding her. "Calm down..." She just stood there for a moment. "I..." "Shhh..." Bo, Jr whispered into her hair. "Now, don't try and stop me from doin' this, 'cause I have to." "Have to do what?" she asked, her green eyes full of fear and worry. "I have to tell your daddy what happened and apologize," he said, firmly. "No, you don't!" she said. "Yeah, I do... I just wanted you to know before I do that... I love you... and if your daddy never lets me see you again, I will still love you more than anything." Tears filled his blue eyes, but he refused to let them fall. "I love you, too, Bo... please don't do this..." she was trying not to cry. "I have to... Is your daddy here?" Jessica nodded silently. "Yeah. He's here." "OK..." Bo, Jr. said. "Here goes nothin'..." ~*~*~*~*~ Jake, in the meantime was out of the car and headed towards Laura's house. He knocked even though he was with Laura though she was behind him. He was greeted byy Laura's mother and said. "Mrs. Campbell, I'd like to have a few words with your husband. You are welcome to stay, also." He smiled. Laura rolled her eyes. She saw impending death for someone! Mrs. Campbell, thinking that Jake was going to ask for Laura's hand in marriage asked him in. ~*~*~*~*~ Mr. Campbell soon joined them in the parlor. Jake tried to clear away the large toad in his throat, then began, "Mr. Campbell, Laura and I have been dating for sometime now, we have gotten really close. In fact, .... well, ....., the fact is, ....., I think I'm in love with your daughter." Jake paused to gage the reaction, took a deep breath then continued, "But, that's not the whole reason that I'm here today. See, I've had feelings for Laura for sometime now." He looked at Laura who had become suddenly very pale. She thought, 'What's gotten into him. He's really going to tell!' "But, the other night we found ourselves in a situation, ....... and, ....... well, ..... we acted on those feelings. I'm sorry for disrespecting you and your daughter, and I want you to know I'll be there for her should the 'need' arise. As a matter of fact I'd like to marry her right now, if she'd have me, but I know she has other plans first......" It was Mr. Campbells turn. "Jake Miller are you telling me that you have taken advantage of MY daughter and then are here in my house to tell me about it?" Jake wanted badly to look at the floor, but knew he couldn't. He looked Laura's Father in the eyes and said, "Yes, Sir. I'm sorry for hurting you, but yes that's what I'm telling you." Mr. Campbell looked at the young man in front of him, "You mean to tell me this is the way the Miller's raised you? To take advantage of a girl then flaunt it in her parents faces?" "No, Sir they didn't. It's not my intention of flaunting anything in your face, Sir. My real father set me straight about being honest about this matter and being a man about my resposibilities to Laura, if anything unplanned happens." Jake was interupted.

Morning found Jake and Bo, Jr. heading to what might just be their early graves... at least in their minds. Jake drove his Firebird to Laura's house, where........... Laura heard the sound of the Firebird in the drive way. She raced to the front porch and down the steps. Beth had not so much as said a word as she drove the girls home the other night. Laura was relieved to see that Jake was in one piece. She opened the car door and got in the passenger side. "Jake! I'm so glad you're here I've been so worried after the other night and then I didn't here from you yesturday at all." Putting that Duke charm on THICK, Jake said, "Well, Honey, I hope you are as glad to see me after I tell you why I'm here." Laura didn't like the sound of that. She leaned back and set up, "Jake what's wrong?" "Laura, Honey, you know that I have had feelings for you for some time before the other night?" Jake more asked than stated. "Ah, yeah, I think so?" She had never seen Jake like this before. "Ok, Look there was a big pow-wow at the house yesturday. Everyone freaked badly about the other night. Before I do what I've come to do I want you to know that I care about you. You are not just a girl I was trying to get into 'bed'." Jake sighed, "Laura, I think that I am in love with you." He held his hand up for her to hear him out. "Firstly, I know we were LESS THAN careful the other night and I want you to know I'll be there for you if we 'messed up'. Secondly, I am here to tell your Father just what I've told you, God help me!" "Whoa, wait just a minute here, there's no need to DO that!" she insisted. "Yes, ........yes, ...... Laura, there are several reasons to do this." He found himself tugging at his collar, "Firstly, We could have really messed up. If we did, your Father needs to know that I am responsible and fully intend to be there for you. Secondly, you are still under his roof, and his daughter, I need to apologize to him for disrespecting his daughter." Laura looked at Jake, "Are you sure you are the Jake Miller I've know now for how long?" Jake looked at her, "Well, Yeah, I'm the same Jake Miller, ah, ...... DUKE that you've known for all this time. I just had a long hard lesson and learned a lot about my 'root's. Now, shall we go have that talk with your Dad?" Laura couldn't believe Jake was going to 'tell' on them. Lord, all they did was have sex! Everyone she knew was doing 'IT'. Her Dad was going to 'FLIP his LID'!!!

Luke felt the front of his shirt becoming very wet with Jake's tears but they were very welcome tears. Luke had worried that Jake would tell him it was none of his business and return to the Miller's home, but he had indeed stayed through the work and the lecture. Luke let it be Jake to end the embrace, feeling that this was something his son had been in need of for quiet sometime now. When Jake did start to step back Luke swollowed the lump in his throat and said, "I just don't want you two to have to meet a child you didn't know anything about and have to try to make up the time that was lost or have kids strung out all over the place -- I want your children, WHEN they do come along too have a whole complete family." Jake finally replied, "Yessir, Dad..." He hugged him again. "And I'm sorry I disappointed you." Luke shook his head. "What's done is done. But... I just don't want you to make the same mistake more than once." "I won't, Luke... Dad..." Jake said, trying to smile through his tears, and failing miserably. Luke patted his son's shoulder. "Now... I hate that you're going to have to do this... both of you, but you have to go to those girls' parents." "I know," Jake said, resigned to that. "I'll go in the morning." "Do you want me to go with you?" Luke asked. "No," Jake said. "I mean, yeah. I want you to. But I can't ask you to. I've gotta be a man, Dad... No matter how hard it is." Luke nodded. "I respect that, Son... I really do." Jake smiled a little, then frowned. "But if I don't show up in a few hours, send a search party... Includin' General Lee." Bo, Jr. looked up. "Same here," he said. "I don't wanna die young." Bo almost laughed at his son's announcement, but a look from Beth put him in his place. BALLADEER: Yeah, folks... You can still tell Bo's in love. I never saw nobody shut him up so quick as that girl does. "Well, I for one think we need to get inside and hit the sack," Jeb said with a grin. "Yeah. Tomorrow's gonna be a LONG day," Jake said. "No kidding," Bo, Jr. said. The boys and the adults all went inside and to bed, including Luke, Dixie, and Cooter, who figured on just staying the night.

Not sure if my spelling is correct, but where was Lake Chickamohoney at? It was teh place where Emory Potter went to get married. May have had a couple weddings there. I would think Chickasaw County but they never ran itnot Little there that I recall. Was it out of teh County and if so does anyone know which one?? Thanks

Dixie nodded, yes. Luke continued, "Six months from the day that I was locked up the guards came to get me. Only telling me that the Judge wanted to see me. Without telling Jesse or anyone else I was brought back here. The Judge gave me a long hard talking to, afterwards he released me and then sealed all the records. If you run a history on me it won't show up, only those who lived it and those in this room right now know what happened." Luke looked them both in the eyes, "Now, fellas between me and Bo here there's not many situations of this matter we haven't been through. Bo, Jr. your Father and Mother have never regretted having you, yeah, they had to get married sooner than they would have otherwise planned. Me on the other hand walked away from a girl I'd likely married in the near future, had she not insisted I tell her that, then I made a complete jerk out of myself trying to see how many 'stars' I could get on my score card, which you were a result of and I regret not being there for you, and then to top it off I get caught in the act with an underage girl. Do you see how much we 'knew it all' back when we were about your alls age? Well, as you see now we didn't know anything and I can only hope this teaches you that you don't know it all, because someday you two will be have to 'confess' your 'sins' to kids of your own too." Luke took a long drink of shine which had not helped one bit up until this point, as he waited to see the response from the young men.................... Bo, Jr. was hanging his head, and Jake looked like he'd been kicked in the gut real hard. BALLADEER: Friends and neighbors, I don't think them two know as much as they did 20 minutes ago. And all because they know alot more. Luke put down his glass of shine. "Boys, I ain't tellin' you this to make you spend your lives beatin' yourselves up. I'm tellin' ya this because I don't want you to be sorry about what you've done one day." At this point, Cooter was ready to say his piece. Before he even got his mouth opened, though, Jeb walked in, having heard about the last night's problems, and being ready to help anyway he could. Jeb began, "Now boys, I've been in your shoes with thesse two more times than even I care to admit. I know ya'll think that its 'easy' for them to tell you that you might want to rethink somethings since they are older and have settled down being married and all. Just remember I lived with them both when they were your age and worse yet, after that I lived through being your age with them both right after that. See there's only about 18 months difference in me and Bo which put Luke just old enough that I thought he thought he 'knew it all'. The point is, .... had I shut up and listened I might have heard that he did know more than me because he had 'been there, done that'. So I can now tell you, yes, there are things I did because I wouldn't listen, just to prove them wrong, Well, it usually worked out that they were right, I was wrong and in trouble, and I now regret a lot of those things." Cooter looked at Jeb with a slight smirk on his face. He remember several of the occassions that Jeb was referring to. Then, he got serious, well as serious as a 'Cooter' can get, "Boys I know ya, don't know alot about me because I haven't been around ya much, so I don't know what ya think of me and I guess that don't matter to much." Cooter watched the boys a minute, "I can tell ya, both but especially you Jake, I've been in your Dad's shoes. I was working at the garage several years ago, when a young lady about 18 wallked into the garage looking for me. See her Mama told her about me after she turned 18. I've seen MY daughter once, for less than a week of her life because she had a grandfather that has seen to it that his money can keep her away. See he told her all along I wasn't any good. I tried my da--est that week to prove him wrong but things went badly. Anyway she found out I wasn't all that bad, but to keep her away from me Granddaddy dearest is paying out the @&& to keep in schools far away. Now, we talk on the phone on occassios but I don't know her. Boys, I was 'with' her Mama once! Yeah, that's all it took!" Dixie squeezed Luke's hand, until now they had let the men deal with the boys, but she just couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Guys I'm not your Mama, not even a Mama yet," she patted her tummy, "but I'd like to tell you something that may help here. See ya know me and Luke got caught in the back seat. There was no mistaken what we were doing there. I wouldn't have been there if I didn't love him and I wa pretty da-- sure even then that I wasn't just another girl or again I wouldn't have been there. That said, I'd now like to tell you what I gave Luke on our wedding night all these years later." She looked at Luke who was smiling widely, and nodded for her to go on. He'd not even told Bo this. Dixie had only told Daisy before she told Luke. "Guys, when I made love to Luke on our wedding night, I was able to tell him and still can tell him, that he's they ONLY man I've ever made love to. To put it in exact terms and not slpit any hairs, he's also the ONLY man I've ever 'been' with. See some people think there's a difference in 'making love' and 'sex', well I wouldn't know since I've ONLY made love to Luke." Dixie and Luke saw the surprised looks on several older faces in that barn as well as the boys. Bo, Jr finally looked up and said, "......I'm sorry, y'all... maybe I did screw up. But the thing is... with everybody but Cooter, things seem to be workin' out." He wasn't trying to be a smart alec. He was just stating what he saw. "I mean, Dixie and Luke, and Daddy and Mama, and Jeb and Debbie... why is it such a big deal? I mean, obviously, me and Jake weren't the first ones to do this." "Yeah..." Bo said with a nod. "You're right about that. But the thing is, we all could have saved ourselves some heartache if we'd had more sense than we did." Jake still looked a little irritated. He didn't know why his personal life had to be a family affair. "Can I go now?" he asked. To be honest, he had been impressed with Dixie's story, and Cooter's had made a real impression. He--, he knew how even he had come into the world. A result of a one-night stand. But still, he was a man, and he figured that 20 was old enough to decide on his own. "You ain't goin' anywhere just yet," Luke said, softly, but with authority. "But, I..." "But NOTHING!" Luke said, still calmly, but scaring Jake just the same. "Jake, you need to tell the Millers what happened." "Like he-- I will!" Jake exclaimed, still not quite having learned not to smart off at Luke. "Like he-- you WON'T!" Luke shouted. "Now sit down. Boy, I don't think a word I said got through that thick skull of yours." Jake answered in a subdued tone, "Yessir. It did. I know what you're sayin', and I reckon you're right. But, Lord, Dad... I just don't know why it's such a big deal when I love Laura, and we're both adults. I can't get charged with statutory rape, and I know she wouldn't run off and leave if she was pregnant, and..." "And, although you've got some good arguements there, there's a simple matter of right and wrong. And, I hate to say it, but you are wrong. Bo, Jr.'s wrong. I was wrong, Bo was wrong, Cooter was wrong, and Jeb was wrong. We all made mistakes, Jake. And instead of tryin' to make yourself and us believe that it wasn't a mistake, just admit it and go on. There's worse things you could have done... but this thing ain't nothin' to try to forget about. Just learn from it, Jake. Learn from me, and Cooter, and Bo, and Jeb. And maybe you won't end up making all the mistakes we did. Jake, is that too much to ask?" Jake couldn't stand the way Luke was looking at him, like he was dying inside because of what Jake had done. "No, sir," Jake said. "It ain't too much to ask. I'm sorry. And I'll do what I can to make it up to y'all." Luke nodded. Now he had to tell them the worst part of their punishment. "Boys, I think Bo'll agree with me when I say this... I think you two need to go tell them girls' parents and apologize." Bo nodded his agreement, but Bo, Jr. and Jake looked like they were both about to be sick. "Uncle Luke, do you have any clue what Jessica's daddy'll do to me?" he asked. "Yeah," Luke said. "I sure do. He'll make you wish you didn't even know the difference in boys and girls yet." Bo, Jr. nodded. "Yeah... But... what if he doesn't let Jessica talk to me anymore? I love her, Uncle Luke, and I couldn't stand havin' her taken away from me like that." They did not go unnoticed by Luke who also had tears in his own eyes, he said very simply, "Jake? ...... Son." and held open his arms. Jake had been raised in a strict family but also a 'cold' one where affection and love for each other was more understood than showed. At first he told him self he was only going to hug Luke, his Dad, because it was expected and that Luke and the others had given them so much attention this last day. Once they embraced in the hug Jake's tears began to flow like opening a flood gate. They stayed in the embrace for several minutes. BALLADEER: "Well, would ya look at that! Both Jake and Luke had been through so much since they had found each other and though Jake had seemed to accept Luke as his Father, it was now apparent that he had openingly accepted Luke as his Dad, also. ........ See any man can be a Father, but it that's a very special one to be a Dad!"

Luke began, "Ladies that was a great supper. Now, boys go grab you all a soda or two since I expect this to be a long talk, then added get a couple of diet's too." Under other circumstances Luke would have told them to grab them all a beer, but not tonight. The five adults walked out to the barn and waited for the young men. Cooter still hadn't head the whole story about what these two had done. "Are you all sure this is THIS bad?" Bo replied, "We found them in the back seat of Stormy and the cave." "THE CAVE?" Cooter emphasized. Beth glared at Bo. "How come everybody in Hazzard knew about this cave BUT me?" Dixie added, "Beth I haven't been to the cave either. We were in the General's back seat at the lake." "Yeah, may have been better to have went to the cave." stated Luke as Bo, Jr. and Jake came inside the barn. Luke asked, "Say Cooter did you pick up any beer?" Cooter grinned, "Nope, better. He held up a jug of Jesse's moonshine. Luke grinned just a little. "Where'd you get that?" "A little storage at the garage. Daddy never would have admitted it, but he liked Jesse's shine real good." Just the mention of Luther Davenport at this moment rubbed Luke the wrong way, he nodded and said tensly. "You're right. He never would have admitted it." Bo, Jr. and Jake came trudging in slowly, neither of them wanting this conversation. "Have a seat, boys," Luke said, in a tone that sounded so much like Jesse Duke it was eerie. In fact it ran cold chills up Bo and Cooter's spine. Bo, Jr. and Jake sat down on two small square bales of hay, feeling like sheep to the slaughter. "All right," Bo said, taking a can of Coke from Bo, Jr. "Now it's time to get down to business." "Oh, Lord," Jake said under his breath. "Oh, Lord ain't half of it," Luke said, hearing his son's mumbling. "Now, Bo, you wanna go first, or should I?" Bo put his arm around Beth. "I'll go." Luke nodded with a faint smile. "Go ahead." He was going to need a bit of shine before he could get his story out anyway. Bo looked at his son and Jake. "Now, boys, first thing I want you to know is, we ain't doin' this so y'all can't have fun. That's not what we're tryin' to do. We're just tryin' to show ya that this fun you're havin' now might not be so good in the long run." Bo, Jr. looked at his father, trying to be a good son and pay attention, when in reality, he knew he loved Jessica and wondered what could be so wrong with it. They were both adults, weren't they? "Did it ever occur to you that you two boys might not marry those girls?" Bo asked. "No, sir," Jake answered honestly. "I was plannin' on askin' her to marry me real soon, Uncle Bo." Bo, Jr. said nothing. But he was planning on the same thing, just not so soon. He was going to get out of college, and make sure Jessica really didn't want to go to college before they got married. But he really wanted to marry her. Bo appreciated Jake's honesty and sincerity. But Bo, Jr. was looking at the floor. Sometimes Bo wished he knew what was going on in that boy's head. "Boys," Bo said, looking ashamed and boyish in a way. "There's alot of things in my life that I regret. And one of 'em is that I didn't wait for this woman right here," Bo said, patting Beth's knee. "Because I love her more than anything, and I hate so much that I hurt her like I did. And another is that I didn't let her go to college before she got pregnant and married me. Now, don't get me wrong, because I'm happy with my life, now. But I wish I hadn't been such a da-- fool for that time before I settled down." Bo, Jr. loved his parents, and he didn't want them to be disappointed in him. It was then that Bo nodded at Luke, ready for his cousin to take over. "First things first," Luke said quietly. "Just how far DID you get with Laura before Bo got there?" he asked Jake. Jake, being Luke's son, said in a knowing vioce, "I am twenty here......." Again Luke gave Jake a smile that spooked Jake into silence. He stepped very close to Jake and said so calmly that it truely frighted Jake and the others. "I KNOW how old you ARE. I can also truely say that you are my son. That mouth sounds so familar its not funny! And it is no more becoming to you than it was when it was MINE." Luke looked at Jake a long moment. "Now, just how far did you go?" Jake said in almost a whisper, "All the way." Luke nodded knowingly. He had figured as much. Luke turned to move back to where he'd been before Jake had gotten smart. As he turned Bo, Dixie, and Cooter saw a look on Luke's face they hadn't seen since him and Dixie had gotten caught and he was about to go to court. It was the most painful look they had ever seen. Beth, saw the look for the first time and had to stop herself from letting out a gasp. Luke started talking just before he turned to face the boys......"I want to tell you both this before I begin and maybe when I'm through you'll understand it better. I and everyone in this old barn love you both dearly. I love you enough to tell you this. I only ask that after you hear it that my telling it wasn't for nothing and you'll get something out of it." Luke took a deep breath. "Ok, I told you all the short version about me and Dixie several months ago. But I think I stopped the story too soon." Luke began, "As I told you, we went out to the lake one night. We ended up 'parking'. A couple hours later there was a flashlight in my face. There were two Troopers there. One knew who's car it was and WHAT was going on. He would have never stopped. The new Trooper being an eager beaver wanted to arrest a Duke if it meant he got us for spitting on the side walk. So there they were. I knew as soon as they identified themselves I was spending the night in jail. See we had both been drinking.There was no way they could charge me with DUI, but they would at the least charge me with public intoxication and indecent exposure. Just enough to make sure I didn't go home that night. I figured if I'd been drinking anyway what difference was a little more so I contimnued to drink my drink. I hopped on the hood of the General Lee. Dixie was scared and she set in front of me. The new trooper asked for ID's. I told him there was no use running my license it was 'valid with 6 points' the car was tagged to me and Bo and the insurance was good. He left to verify what I'd said. Well, the first Trooper, I knew pretty well, I had convienced him to call Dixie's Father which would start War War III but it beat her being charged with drinking too. He agreed until smarty pants came back. He was now about to flip out! He was yelling at me to get my hands on the car now! I looked from him to the other Trooper who motioned for me to just stay put. He walked over to the younger Trooper, they talked a few minutes. When Trooper Mitchell, the one I knew, asked, 'Luke is the information here correct?' I replied 'Yes'. He handed Dixie her license and asked her the same thing. She replied it was. It was at this point Trooper Mitchell handed me Dixie's license and asked me, 'How old are you?' I replied, 'I just turned 21.' He asked me how old Dixie was, I replied 18 almost 19. Dixie looked at me and shook her head no. I said 'No?' The Trooper told me to check the license and do the math. I looked at mine. I still hadn't gotten what they were talking about. I said 'Yeah, I'm 21 and she's eight..........' " Luke took another long drink of shine. Then continued, "She wasn't 18 but 16 going on 17. I was just over four years older than her which made this very illegal. Well, I told you before that her Father pushed the legal system all the way but what I didn't tell you is this: I was charged and plead guilty to, .......... Statatory Rape." Luke paused to let them think about this. "It is a Felony." Both young men's eye were very wide. Luke continued, "To keep Dixie from having to do all those nice little tests and be humilited at a doctors office. I was sentenced to twenty years in prison. There was nothing that Jesse or anyone else could do. Soon after is when Dixie left town. I hadn't seen her since until a she came back to Hazzard this time. Both she and I and, everyone else, fully expected me to serve this entire time. Well, do the math. It, thank God, didn't play out that way. See the Judge was a friend of Jesse's and he wanted to be fair to me, but teach me a lesson. I can tell you he sure as HE-- did a good job! I was transported from here to a work farm thinking that I'd be there the next twenty years, well, the Judge had a plan, today it's called, ..... 'shock incarceration' right?"

By the time Luke and Dixie woke up, it was past lunch time. "I didn't mean to sleep this long," Luke said, running a hand through his messy hair. "Me, neither," replied Dixie. "I'm hungry," Luke said, his stomach beginning to growl. "Let's go see what Beth's got... AND see if those boys are still workin'." Dixie laughed a little. "Luke, you're evil." "Maybe so," Luke agreed. "Maybe so. Comes from bein' raised by Uncle Jesse and comin' in too many times tired and drunk." Dixie nodded. "Well, let's go get something to eat." "And then, I'm gonna call Cooter and see if he can haul @$$ up here to help me and Bo handle these boys." "Oh, Lord," Dixie said. "I wouldn't want be Jake or Bo, Jr. for all the tea in China." "Or all the shine in Hazzard," Luke added. 01~~~~~~~~~~~01 Luke and Dixie went downstairs and Luke fixed them both ham sandwiches with cheese and tomato. They ate, then Luke looked out the window toward the Back 40 and saw Bo, Jr. and Jake, covered in sweat, their shirts long-abandoned on a tree limb, and a pile of rocks. Luke snickered. He WAS evil. But at least those boys were learning their lesson. He walked over and picked up the cordless phone. He dialed Cooter's number, and waited impatiently for his brother-in-law to answer. "Hello?" Cooter said on the other end of the line. "Hey, Cooter?" Luke said. "Lucas Dukas, is that you?" Cooter asked happily. "Yeah, it is." "How's that sister of mine?" "She's fine," Luke said. "But you can talk to her tonight." "Tonight?" Cooter asked. "Yes, tonight, when you get here." Cooter shook his head. "All right, since I'm coming, maybe I should have a reason to come." "Because Jake and Bo, Jr. decided to try making a grandpa and a great-Uncle... or third cousin, out of me." "What?" Cooter asked. "Yeah... They're actin' like jack@$$es like me." Cooter laughed in spite of himself. "Oh, Lord. Well, I'm on my way." "See ya," Luke said. 01~~~~~~~~~~~01 Meanwhile, on the Back 40, ........ Jake had came to a conclusion, he knew he was not meant to be a farmer. It was much to hard to plow a field but when Bo had sent them to plow he thought he had mean with the tractor. "Ya, know when your Dad sent us out here to do this I thought it wouldn't be a problem with the tractor, BUT WITH THE MULE ......" Bo, Jr. replied, "Well, welcome to the family! ........ I knew what he meant. Do you know he told me once about the last time this section of the farm was plowed? He said that Luke, Jeb, Cooter and himself had hide them a jug of moonshine and got drunk. Seems their Uncle Jesse came in early the next morning. Their punishment was plowing this field like we are only it was much hotter to hear him tell it." Jake replied, "In case you haven't noticed it's not winter out here. Next time you have a 'great' plan remind me of this!" "If we live that long!", Bo, Jr. said pointing as he watched Luke and Dixie come onto the porch of the far away farm house. 01~~~~~~~~~~~01 Luke said to Beth who was on the front porch, "I figure you and Dixie would like to join in on this family discussion tonight. Do you think Ruth Ann will keep an eye on the little ones if we have this talk in the barn? That is unless you want the others 'educated' as well. You might want Jesse there it won't be long before he's chasin' girls......" Beth promptly threw a pillow at him, "Hush your mouth Luke!" she exclaimed. He laughed, "Well, he is male and a Duke. Remember other than the vauge details I told a few months ago this hasn't been spoke of anywhere in years and I don't intend to repeat it again." Dixie smiled, "Until the next time." She said patting her still flat tummy. "Oh, but no! That BETTER be a she in there. There's far too many stubborn Duke males around here now!" Luke stated. Beth was laughing at the two. They were ever bit as playful with each other as they had been years ago. "I'm sure Ruth Ann will watch the others." "Ok, when Cooter gets here they can grab a shower and after supper we'll all go have a talk." said Luke as Bo walked up. "How's the 'rock garden'?" He asked pointing to the boys. He knew that the section of land they were plowing only grew rocks. "Say, has that section been plowed at all since we did it after our 'party'?" Bo smiled an evil grin, "Nope!" They both started laughing so hard the girls thought they would fall off the porch! 01~~~~~~~~~~~01 After their long day of hard work, the boys were glad for the shower and a good meal. Jake was sure that their punishment was about over. Bo, Jr. on the other hand knew better and wondered if this was his last meal! "Come on this can't be as bad as you let on. I mean the Miller's are strict too. But they would have let it go by now." "Trust me on this Jake." Bo, Jr. replied before going to the supper table.

The boys walked out to the porch, followed by Luke. Bo, Jr. sat in one rocking chair, Jake in another, and Luke pulled one around to face them. There was authority in Luke's voice when he asked the boys, "What happened last night?" Jake replied, "Like you haven't heard it three times over by now!" Bo, Jr. kind of ducked right about then, only to be surprised. Luke rocked back in the rocker and sized up the young man in front of him. Then replied, "Yep. You are definitely mine!" Bringing the rocker back down Luke looked Jake dead in the eye. "You are right! I have heard this more times than I care to by now. But, the difference is, I'm NOW asking YOU TWO what happened." Though neither young man had been around Luke much, Bo, Jr. had been around him enough to know that any answer at this point was better than none. "Ya, see, after we took you to the ball field we brought your truck back to Dixie, then we took Stormy out to the Boar's Nest and met the girls. They had the night off. We danced, had a few drinks, ....." "That you were to young to buy legally?", Luke added. "Yeah." said Bo, Jr. "Well, I was the one to suggest leaving early and going by the lake." "So you'd thought this thing out real well, had you?" Luke added. "Well, no. See me and Jake got our signals crossed." Bo, Jr. said. Luke smiled, "Signals crossed? I'd like to hear all about that!" Bo, Jr. added, "See, Jake has always had 'something' SHOULD I NEED IT." Luke tipped the chair back totally entangled in the youths tail, "SO, Let me get this right. Everytime in the past, you've 'needed' protection Jake has had it?" "Well, .... um, .... No! ..... Luke, .... ya, ...... see, .......Jake has always told me if I was EVER in need of needing 'something' he had it......" Bo, Jr. studdered. Luke's picture was becoming clearer, "So, you have never actually 'needed' protection before?" Bo, Jr. dropped his head, embarrassed, and whispered, "No." Luke decided to leave "THAT" be for a minute. Looking at Jake he asked, "So. It is MY Son that is "Ever ready, Ever Willing?" Luke left off the rest of the Volunteer Fire Dept's motto, 'Ever ready, Ever Willing, to protect life and property.' "Funny, I've heard those words before. So, Jake, you were prepared?" Jake dropped his head, lower than what it had been, "Not exactly. Usually, yes. But, since I was riding with Bo, Jr. I left my wallet at home." Luke concluded, "Which just happened to have your's and Bo, Jr's. 'protection' in it?" Jake who was just getting to know Luke as his 'Father' had never had to deal with him like this before. It was almost impossible, but, he dropped his head lower, before answering, "Yes." "And this fact didn't stop either of you from going through with your plans?" Luke asked, almost amazed. Both young men looked at each other then to Luke. Then shook their heads 'no'. Luke sighed a heavy sigh. It was way too early or too late to deal with this. "Bo!" Bo hadn't been too far away. He'd been setting just inside the door on the couch. "Yeah, Luke." "What do ya say about you keeping them busy for a few hours. Work the 'Dog Sh--' out of them. If they complain, wake me up, we'll call the other parents right away. If they give you any flake at all, please wake me. We'll call the girls parents and the Millers and get them all out here and have us a nice talk." Luke suggested. Bo was about to grin and Luke's evilness, but held it in. Uncle Jesse had 'taught' Luke a few things about being 'evil'. Bo thought, 'God knows Luke tried him enough.' but replied, simply. "Yes, Sir! There's plenty around here to keep them busy!" Luke replied, "I knew there would be!" See Luke knew what these two needed, but it was just way too early to tell THIS story without something to drink with it and it was way too early to drink! He chose to grab a nap with his wife (and child), then, eat a bite, before having a good old family get together where he told those two boys the 'hard' facts of life -- his life-- that he feared even after they heard it they couldn't truely understand it without living it. He prayed he was wrong! Bo knew his Uncle Jesse and his cousin Luke enough to know what to do with the boys. "All right, boys, you got 20 minutes to eat breakfast, and then I want you on the Back 40. The end that's away from Luke and Dixie's house ain't been plowed in a coon's age, and it needs it. So hurry it up." Bo, Jr. and Jake knew better than to argue with Bo, especially after what Luke had said, so they went to grab breakfast, and put on their boots, ready for a day of he-- on earth. They took turns plowing and moving rocks. And Bo, Jr. found himself wishing he hadn't made such a "great" suggestion the night before. 01~~~~~~~~~~01 Meanwhile, Luke was enjoying a nap with Dixie, both of whom needed it. Luke put his arms around her and whispered, "Sorry I had to go. I couldn't have imagined everything that was gonna happen." "I know, honey," Dixie replied, kissing his cheek. "Don't worry about it." "What's with that?" Luke asked. "What's with what?" "This cheek kissin' thing," Luke said. "I'd like a good kiss, thank you," he added, pulling her close and kissing her passionately. Dixie laughed, then said, "If you actually want to SLEEP, there shouldn't be any kissing, or you'll never make it." Luke agreed. "OK, nap, then." He rolled over and closed his eyes, a smile on his face, and waited. Dixie smiled. "Don' t you turn over, Luke Duke!" He smiled, rolled back over, and put his arms around her.

When Luke got back to the base, he was glad to be on his way home. He had just enough time to take a shower before the General pulled into the driveway. He walked outside to meet Bo. "Well, cousin..." Luke said, "I never thought I'd be gettin' ready to be on this end of this discussion." "I never thought I'd be the one catchin' somebody at the lake," Bo replied. "How's Beth handlin' it?" Luke asked. Bo shook his head as he answered, "Well, not good. I had images of her killing Bo, Jr. even before we found them. But, it seems in the search for them I stuck my foot in my mouth and ended up getting the blunt of her anger. Of course it didn't help when I told her to let me handle it." Luke had given Bo a curious glance, wondering what he could have said to make Beth madder at him than she was at her son. Bo saw the look and began to explain. "You know all the times we've been to the lake with girls and just us guys. Well, I probably know that cave and that area as good as you, Jeb or any other Hazzard guy......." Luke knew this to be a fact. "Yeah, why wouldn't you know that area. That was the first place Jesse let us camp out without him away from home." "Rriiigghhtttt." Bo stressed. "But in all this time it seems I have never taken Beth there and from what I gathered last night hadn't mentioned this place to her." "You're kidding right?" questioned Luke. Then he saw Bo's face. "Well, OK. What was the big deal?" Bo continued, "When we pulled up, Beth was out of the car and yelling. Well, it turns out she was yelling at Jake not Bo, Jr. I intercepted and told Jake to tell me where they were. He 'offered' to go get them......." "Yeah, I just beat he DID!" exclaimed Luke who was now picturing these events for the first time. "It seems that I grabbed his collar to stop him. Then, pointedly asked were they at the 'lake' or the 'cave'." Bo was interupted. "Oh, sh--! You didn't?" Luke saw where this was going. Bo continued, "More than that! When he said 'cave' I took off up the 'unseen' trail without a light." "Which meant to Beth that you knew the place pretty da-- well!" Luke stated. Bo nodded, "Oh, yeah. Problem was, after dealing with Bo, Jr., then talking to you, I then went upstairs to find a furious, very pregnant wife, with very hurt feelings wondering exactly how I knew the cave, why she had never been there and more or less who I'd been there with." Luke rubbed his face. "Whew!!! That's a tall order after everything else that had been going on. No wonder you were still sleeping this morning!" Bo replied, "No kidding. She was ready to shoot me on the spot. By the time she was done, I had to apologize, and tell her about playin' there when we were kids. Next thing I know, I'm rocking her to sleep. Luke, do you know she even asked me if I'd been with anyone else since we got married?" Luke looked at Bo incredulously. "Oh, Lord! You DID say the wrong thing!" Bo shook his head. "I was just glad the truth was no worse than what it was." Luke nodded in agreement. "You're lucky there, cousin. You didn't have time to make a COMPLETE @$$ of yourself like I did." "I made a big enough one to hurt my wife. I mean, she knew that she wasn't my first. But I don't think she knew the full extent of my tom-cattin' days. You know, every time I think about it, it kills me that Beth wasn't my first." Bo said with regret. Luke sighed. He felt the same about Dixie. But he was just glad that Dixie had known everything before they had gotten married. After a while, they pulled in at the Duke farm. ~*~*~*~*~ Bo, Jr. and Jake were getting dressed when they heard the General's powerful engine. Bo, Jr. looked at Jake and summed it all up in one word. "Sh--." ~*~*~*~*~ Luke kissed Dixie as soon as he got through the door. "I missed you like everything," he said. "I missed you, too," she replied. "Now where are those boys?" Luke asked. "Right here, Uncle Luke," Bo, Jr. said, hanging his head. "Well, you two hightail it to the porch pronto," Luke said. As she watched the boys go out the door to the porch, Dixie saw the pain in Luke's eyes she hadn't seen in years. She reached for his arm to stop him, "Honey?" "I'm fine. " Luke aswered her unspoken question. "Do you want company?" She asked, then figured she'd better tell him what she had told Jake. "Luke I told Jake he'd heard the 'short' version about us, but I thought he 'needed' the long version, but I'd save it for you." "Thanks, Darlin'! That's why I love you!", He gave he a strange sarcastic smile. "Hey, I did offer to go with you!" she exclaimed. Luke waved her off, "Thanks anyway. Let me check this out. I MAY need you." Dixie sighed. She knew Luke too well. She also knew he wouldn't like what she suspected he'd hear and would be forced to tell the entire story of their misguided youth.

Meanwhile, in Bo and Beth's room... Beth was setting 'Indain style' on the bed hugging Bo's pillow. As soon as Bo saw her he knew he was also in a 'World of sh--!'. He said calmly as he walked to the bed, "Beth, Honey ......." "Don't you Beth, Honey, ME! Boreguard Duke!" she exclaimed quiet loudly. Bo closed his eyes, bit his lip and dropped his head, much in the fashion that Bo, Jr. had earlier. Bo knew what she was thinking. " 'Lake' or 'cave' " she said calmly. Then very much louder. " 'Lake!' or 'cave!' Bo DUKE, I have known you OVER TWENTY YEARS! Yeah we've went to the lake but never that part of the lake! And I sure as He-- don't know anything about a CAVE!" she was off the bed and shouting just short of screaming. "I DA-- well want to know how you DO? And just how you knew where to find the boys?" Bo rubbed his head. This was going to be a very long night! He said, "...... Honey, you know I've done some things I regret. And... well, that's one of 'em." Beth's eyes welled up with tears. She had known that she wasn't Bo's first, but she hadn't known that he'd been to the lake with other girls enough to know it frontwards, backwards, and inside out. "Oh, honey," Bo said, choking on the knot in his throat. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Beth shook her head as Bo tried to put his arms around her. "You could've told me the truth a long time ago, Bo. I still would have loved you and married you... But now? I'm pregnant with our sixth baby, Bo. And there's never been anyone but you." Bo sighed. "I know, Beth. And I'm sorry. And..." he stopped short before saying what he had to say. "If you want me to leave, I'll go." He looked at Beth, who said softly, "......., Just tell me HONESTLY, Bo. I know I've been pregnant alot through our marriage. Please tell me the truth -- Have you ......" Bo needed to assure her, but was almost afraid to touch her. He stepped closer to his wife, looking down at her, seeing how unsure of him and herself she was at this moment, he tilted her head up to look him in the eyes. "You don't have to ask that, Sunshine. I may have done a lot in my past that I'm not proud of but that is NOT one of them. You have known from the get go that you weren't my first and I regret that. Honey, all of us guys used to camp out there when we were little kids. We played hide and go seek and cowboys and Indians in that same cave. Ya, want to know how I knew the boys would be there? Remember, when Luke and Dixie got caught together? They were parked right where Stormy was tonight. I know you went with us to race just up the road from there before we got married." Beth replied, "I'm sorry, honey." She shook her head. "But it's just, .... he-- sometimes... I mean everybody's heard about the Duke boys and all their exploits, and sometimes I just worry that... maybe I'm not... good enough. Or that you wish you'd never married me... that you could've had your fun for a longer time." By now, the tears were coming down Bo's face. "Honey, don't you ever think that. You and our kids make me happier than anything in the world. Well, except when said kids are getting caught at the lake." Beth sighed, wanting Bo to hold her. She buried her head in his chest to cry, and he put his arms around her, happy just to be touching her again. "Beth, honey, I'll never leave you. And I want you to know that I regret that you weren't my first, but you were the first one I really loved and wanted to be with forever. And you're the woman I want raisin' my kids with me... And there's no other face I wanna see when I come home at night." Beth smiled just a little through her tears and said, "....... Do you really mean that?" Bo smiled at her. Picked up her and sat down on the bed with his wife on his lap. "Yes, Honey I mean every word." They sat that way for a long while not talking just Bo holding her and rocking her like he would one of his children. He would sure be glad when Luke got home. Here he'd let this all happen and put his foot right in his mouth causing him to get the blunt of what Beth would have normally given his oldest son. 01 ~~~~~~~~~~ 01 Back in Montana, Luke was lucky to have caught his superior still awake and checking the fire and the weather. Luke knocked on the door of the mobil base unit. "Terry? How's it look?" He responded, "We have a front moving in. If it gives us water before the wind, we should all be ready to go hom day after tomorrow. With the air drops, if it doesn't jump any lines, we should have it contained by tomorrow night, then it will hopefully burn its self out." "Great. That's great." Luke seemed more relied than he should about this news. Terry, his boss, asked, "What's up Luke? You guys usually like the Over Time?" "Yeah, and any other time I would be glad to stay here for at least a week or two. I'd hoped to even get to town before leaving, but.... "But?" Terry asked. Luke sighed trying to figure out where to begin. "I've got a lot going on at home." "The new wife?" Terry questioned. "Not exactly. We were having a family get together when I was paged. When I told her I didn't know when I'd be back Dixie insisted I listen to her before I left. She has been great up until this about me being gone. So I saw the urgency there and stopped and listened. I was going to tell everyone this on the way home. I just found out I'm going to be a father again!" Terry said, "Congratulations! Again?" "Do ya remember last year when I went home and came back telling you all I was getting married and found out that I had a 20 year old son I never knew about." Luke reminded. "Oh, yeah! Sorry about that. It's hard to keep everyone's home life straight." Terry replied. Luke understood and continued, "Well, I just got a call, mind you in the last 48 hours I have found out my wife is pregnant and now it seems my oldest son, along with my cousin's boy got the bright idea to try to make me a grandfather, and great Uncle, too." "What?" said Terry not quiet understanding. "I know in this day and age this my not be a big deal, but in our family it is. Those two took their girlfriends out to the lake. I'm not sure how far they got, yet, but, I need to find out. Dixie feels she'd be over stepping her place by talking to Jake since we are still trying to get to know each other. I haven't a clue what to say when I get there, either." Luke explained, giving a short cersion. "This could effect your work?" Terry asked. Luke looked him straight in the eye. "You know I'm professional, but can we chalk this up to a family emergency and say it could effect my job, if you can do without me, that is? You know I won't leave if ya need me." Terry knew the people he could count on and Luke Duke was high on that list. He had never asked to be pulled from a fire, usually it was quiet the opposite, so this much be really important to him. "Ok, Luke. Pack up and I'll see if I can have you at home base by noon." "Terry, thanks. I hate to leave you all on this." Luke said. "Just get those boys straighten out!" Terry said. "Believe me, I plan too! Thanks again." Luke replied heading to gather his gear. 01~~~~~~~~~~~01 It was early the next morning when the phone woke Bo, Sr. It had been a very long night and the whole house was still asleep. "Duke Farm." "Bo? You still asleep?" Luke asked. Very sleepily, Bo replied "I was!" "Meet me at my home base camp in about an hour." Luke stated. Bo replied, "I'll be there!" He went upstairs to tell Beth where he was going. "Honey, I'll be back just as soon as I can with that cousin of mine." Beth, who was now up, nodded. "OK. Oh, Bo, did Dixie stay here last night. I think in the mad dash I kinda got lost." Bo nodded. "Yeah. She stayed in the girl's room." "Oh, OK. Well, you be careful, honey," she said, kissing him. Bo grinned. "I sure do like the way we make up," he said. "Me, too!" Beth replied. Bo was still a little shaken by the night before and the questions Beth had made him answer. But he was glad that the truth was no worse than what it was. As Bo climbed into the General Lee, he found himself thinking that maybe he was a lucky man after all.

Luke answered the phone on the second ring. They had pulled out of the fire several hours before and considering the time difference Luke had just layed down for some rest. He figured his wife and family were asleep long ago. "Hello?" Bo painfully said, "Luke?" Luke was now totally awake. "Bo. What's wrong. Is Dixie and Beth OK?" Bo heard the anxiety in Luke's workds. "Yeah, Luke they are fine. Listen. First off, everyone is OK and this will wait until you get home, if this is going to distract you?" "No more than worrying about why you called me in the wee hours of the morning and DIDN'T tell me why you called will. Bo, talk to me." Luke looked at his watch. It had to be 3 am in Hazzard. Bo had taken the cordless phone and had walked away from the house toward the barn where he and Luke could talk without anyone hearing. "Luke. ....... How do we tell our sons what we did at there age is wrong for them to do?" 01 ~~~~~~~~~~ 01 Luke started to speak, but stopped when it hit him just what Bo was saying. The pain in his cousin's voice made Luke hurt, too as he asked, "Bo, do you mean what I think you mean?" Bo sighed. "I wish I didn't. But, Bo, Jr., Jake, Jessica, and Laura went to the Boar's Nest and had a few drinks tonight, and then, from the way I understand it, my son had the bright idea to take the girls to the lake." "Oh, sh--!" Luke whispered. "Did they..." Bo nearly choked on the lump in his throat. "I don't know about Jake, yet, but Bo, Jr. did." Luke sighed, "And..." "And my son didn't even try to be careful." Bo sighed. "Da--it!" Luke said, nearly dropping the phone. "I just don't know what to do, Luke. I was too late to stop it, but what can I do, now?" Luke wished that he were in Hazzard to help his cousin put the boys straight. "I don't know, Bo. But we can't just do nothing and let them think we don't care all that much." Bo agreed. "How could my son do something so stupid?" Luke spoke carefully, "The same way me and you, and Jeb... And Coy and Vance... the same way we did." Bo felt ashamed. "This is my fault, Luke." "It ain't your fault," Luke said. "What we did in the past is in the past. What we gotta do now is set those sons of ours straight." "How're we supposed to do that?" Bo asked. He'd never felt so helpless. "And what if Jessica or Laura is..." he trailed off, unable to complete his sentence. Luke replied, "....... Now Bo, you and I both know that between the two of us there isn't many mistakes we haven't made in that department. If either or both the girls are pregnant then, well, we'll get them through it just like Uncle Jesse did you and Beth. But, I'll be da--ed if either of those two are going to have to meet a son of theirs twenty years too late!" Luke paused. He knew he would be awake the rest of the night (as would his family in Hazzard). "Look Bo, we had a good day here. We have this thing more contained than they figured. Let me talk to the old man I might be able to get out of here before the rest of this bunch." Bo smiled. He knew he could count on Luke. He also knew that Luke was right. No matter what happened they would all get through this. "Thanks Luke. Do you want to talk to Dixie?" Bo was in a better frame of mind now as he walked back to the house. "Yeah, I do." Luke said. Bo opened the front door to find Dixie and Jake setting at the kitchen table. He held out the phone to her and headed back towards Bo, Jr. and the front porch. To Jake she said, "I'll be right back." she took the phone and walked to the living room out of hearing distance of Jake. "Luke?" "I hope you are calmer about his than Bo is." Luke said calmly. "Well, yes and no. I mean there's alot here needing said Honey but I'm not sure I'm the one to say it." she said quietly. Luke replied, "I know where you are coming from. I'm not at all sure me talking to either one will do any good. But, I can assure you that I do intend to talk to them BOTH and also I will assure they will hear me out. How much good it will do, .... I don't know. I told Bo that we did good today. I'll try to get out of here before everyone else. So Jake is there?" Dixie knew how difficult this was going to be on Luke since he and Jake were still getting to know each other. "Yeah, Bo is doing his best to keep them alive until you get here." Luke had to smile just a bit. "That's good, real good. Tell those two when I get there I may kill them and it's 'justifiable homicide'!" "Do you want to talk to Jake?" Dixie asked. "I really think it will be more effective to let him stew until I get there. Besides that will give me more time to figure out what I'm going to say." Luke explained. "Just tell them both that I love them and I'll be home sooner than they might think, ... and I am not happy about it either." "You got it. I for TWO am glad you'll be here sooner than planned." Dixie said speaking for her and the baby. "I love you. Be careful." "Always. I love you two too." Luke said. After hanging up he went to talk to his boss about the fire and the possibility of leaving tonight. 01 ~~~~~~~~~~ 01 Bo did indeed feel better after a talk with Luke. His oldest cousin had taken after Uncle Jesse it seemed, always wise. He found himself praying that Jessica and Laura weren't pregnant. He loved those girls like they were his own. And he didn't want any other responsibilities on their shoulders until they became self-supporting adults. Bo sent Bo, Jr. and Jake to bed, and then went to his own room. When he saw the look on Beth's face, he knew he was in hot water ............... 01 ~~~~~~~~~~ 01 Meanwhile in Bo, Jr.'s room Jake and Bo, Jr. walked into the room and very gladly closed out the rest of the world. Both breathing a huge sigh of relief. Bo, Jr. was the first to speak, "Oh, man! This is not the way I had this night planned!" Jake replied, "You could say that again! I was hoping that Luke wouldn't have to hear the whole story." Bo, Jr. said, "Too late! Dad alreay talked to him. Those two are so close I think sometimes they are closer than Mom and Dad are." "Great!" Jake replied, "Do you think they will tell the Millers or the girls parents." Bo, Jr. said in a most certain vioce. "No, ... they won't tell on us." Jake sighed showing obvious relief. Bo, Jr. was looking at him like he'd lost his mind. "NO, they won't tell on us! They will most likely make us tell them ourselves!" "Sh--!" said Jake. "That's messed up." "They will say its for our own good or it's teaching us a lesson or something but just watch." Bo, Jr. explained. "How mad is your Dad?" Jake asked trying to gauge how mad Luke was. He had just been told by Dixie that Luke said he loved them both and that he was glad Bo had kept them alive so he could kill them. "I got the 'Was I too late?' and 'How careful were we'? questions. That's when he bellered for Dixie and called Uncle Luke." "I take it he didn't like your answers." Jake said. "No. Not at all." said Bo, Jr. "What about you?" Jake replied, "Well, had your Dad not showed up tonight would have went perfect!" he said with a bit of a smile. "I just wished I'd known BEFORE, that you planned on going to the lake so I could have went to the store." Bo, Jr. replied, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I thought of everything tonight, except my wallet and my parents. How did they know where we were?" Jake replied, "I was going to come get you two but your Dad wouldn't hear of if. All he asked was 'lake or cave'." "So that's what Mom meant by Mr. 'lake or cave'. " Bo, Jr. said. "Yeah." said Jake. "You don't think........" He was interupted. "All I know is I said cave and your Dad took off in the pitch dark straight as an arrow toward you." Jake explained. They both looked at each other in disbelief. Bo, Jr. looked at Jake, "Daddy knew about the cave?" "Well, your mama was pregnant with you when they got married." Jake reminded. "But that happened here," Bo, Jr. reasoned. "Unless..." Jake began. "God, no!" Bo, Jr. exclaimed, "Gross!" Jake shook his head. "Anyway, all I know is, I'm gonna die when I have to tell my parents... I mean, the Millers, those parents, about this." "Yeah... but I'm more worried about telling Jessica's parents." Bo, Jr. shivered. "That's gonna be he--." Jake nodded. "What if they get pregnant or somethin'?" "Da--. Never thought of that," Bo, Jr. said.

Bo, Jr. and Jessica knew better than to keep Bo and Beth waiting. Especially considering how much trouble they were already in. They were dressed and down the hill in record time. "I'm driving Stormy," Bo, Sr. said. "You and Jake can ride with me if you know what's good for you. And your mama'll take the girls home." "Sh--," Bo, Jr. mumbled, knowing that he and Jake were already in deep enough trouble with their own parents without the girls' parents being in on it. "Sh--'s sure right!" Bo, Sr. said. As Beth headed over, Bo, Sr. whispered to the boys, "You better get your @$$es in the car if you want to make it home alive." Bo, Jr. climbed into the driver's side window, followed by Jake on the passenger's side. Beth was headed toward the car fit to be tied, but Bo, Sr. stopped her. "Honey, let me take care of it." "You?" she demanded. "You? You Mr. 'Lake or cave'?" Bo shushed her. "Honey, I said I'll take care of it, and I will, all right?" Beth nodded, but gave both boys a look that said that it wasn't over. Jessica and Laura got in the Camaro silently. Bo led out, followed by Beth. Bo told Jake, "You're stayin' with us tonight. I figure it'll keep you alive a little longer." Jake nodded, knowing that he was in for it either way. ~*~*~*~*~ When they pulled into the Duke's driveway, Dixie was there, waiting. Jake shook his head. So much for Luke not finding out the whole story. Beth drove the girls home, then headed straight back to the Duke farm. By the time she got home, Jake was in the shower, and Bo was talking to Bo, Jr. ~*~*~*~*~ "Son, I'm only askin' you this because I love you and Jessica..." Bo said. "Was I too late?" Bo, Jr. hung his head, and answered, somewhat ashamed, "Yessir."...... Dixie was in the kitchen. She had put on two pots of coffee -- Decaf and regular. She figured it was going to be a long night. Beth came in the back door and asked, "Where are they?" Dixie answered, "Jake's in the shower. I'm waiting on him! Bo and Bo, Jr. are on the front porch." Beth headed towards the front porch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dixie knew with the time difference and the major fire Luke was on; that he may not have a chance to call tonight, but she looked at the phone just the same and said, "Ring. Da-- it. Ring." To the celling of the old farmhouse she spoke to the long departed Jesse Duke, "I don't think he'll listen to me, Uncle Jesse. God, how I wished you or Luke were here right now. I can't let this pass until Luke gets here I have to address it." As Jake came out of the bathroom, Dixie was waiting with a large cup of coffee. "Jake. I'm not even going to pretend I'm your parent here and I wasn't at the lake. Believe me when I tell you that your father's and my past isn't all roses and neither is Bo and Beth's, but what we all want for you all is more than we had. You were there the night that Luke told a short version of what happened with us. Now, that this has happened maybe you need the long version. Believe me it's not a very pretty one. What was so natural and 'fun' turned into a nightmare that lasted YEARS........... But, tonight I can't bare to tell it. ............ Your Father will be home soon. I'll save it for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Out on the front porch Beth was still very much upset. Bo wanted nothing more than for her to calm down, but it wasn't happening! __________________ Bo, Sr. finally stood up, and with his most authoritative Jesse Duke voice said, "Beth, I'm sorry, but I need you to let me take care of this!" Beth was angry, not to mention, hormonal. But she knew that tone, and she knew better than to mess with it. She turned to go back inside. "Now, son," Bo said, "I don't approve of what you've done. And I sure hope you were careful, because not everybody's as lucky as your mama and me!" Bo, Jr. nodded, but deep down, he was afraid. He knew that he and Jessica hadn't been too careful, and they were asking for trouble. "Daddy, I'm sorry," Bo, Jr. said, defeatedly. Bo thought long and hard before he asked the next question. Which was, "JUST how careful were you, son?" The look on Bo, Jr's face spoke volumes of what Bo did NOT want to hear. "Ya, see, Dad. I didn't think she'd, ....... ah, ...... I ...... I didn't think, ...... I'd, ...... need,....." Bo, Jr. knew he was stammering, knew he was in alot of trouble, but didn't totally understand just HOW much trouble until ............. Bo yelled, "Dixie........" Defeatly Bo asked, "Does Luke have his cell phone with him?" Dixie heard the pain in Bo's voice as he'd called her name. She went directly to the screen door hoping to keep Bo's voice down so he wouldn't wake the smaller children. "Yeah, Bo, he does. BUT, I'm not sure what he's into or I would have called myself." she paused for just a minute before looking sturnly at Bo, Sr. "I want him home Bo! Don't do anything that will jeaprodize that or you will BOTH answer to me." she handed him the phone.

It was a nice summer evening with a full moon as Bo, Jr. parked Stormy in the clearing by the lake .............. BALLADEER: "A full moon in Hazzard County and four young adults parked at the lake what could possibly go wrong? ------ Just about everything." Bo, Jr. and Jake were quite the charmers. They were good guys, but they were Dukes. And anyone who had known Bo and Luke in their pre-marriage days knew what being a Duke could mean. Bo, Jr. winked at Jake and said, "Hey, I think I'm gonna take Jessica and show her that cave just up the hill." He looked at Jessica, who said, "OK, cool." Jake nodded knowingly, and said, "If Laura don't mind, I'd like to show her the way down that trail where me and you used to play Cowboys and Indians." Laura said nothing, but smiled shyly at Jake. The girls were young, but they weren't stupid. They knew what the boys were up to. But they really didn't mind all that much. The 4 of them got out of the car and walked off to their respective "activities," just in time to miss Beth's voice coming over the CB. "Black Sheep and Stormy, this is Sunshine, come back." ~*~*~*~*~ Meanwhile, on the back 40, Jeb was certainly happy about Debbie wanting to get to know him better but upon considering everything she had just said replied, "Debbie, I know you've got a job to do. And... Well, I for one sure as he-- ain't planning to go back to jail." Debbie sighed. "But this is Hazzard... and it hasn't taken me long to figure out that what you plan isn't necessarily what happens." "Yeah," Jeb said. "I sure wasn't plannin' on fallin' in love in Hazzard on a trip to see my family." Debbie smiled. "Well, I wasn't planning on falling in love here, either," she said, smiling. "But, I can't say that I'm sorry it happened." "Me either," Jeb said. "But, Debbie... I just want you to know before anything... else... happens with us... I've done a few things in my life I ain't proud of..." he ran a hand through his blonde hair nervously. "But, all that's in the past... and..." he looked her in the eyes. "There's noone else. Just you." Debbie smiled. "I love you, Jeb Stuart Duke." "I love you, too," he said, patting her knee. ~*~*~*~*~ Beth wondered what was wrong when Bo, Jr. and Jake didn't answer her call. "Bo, where are they?" she said, turning to her husband. "The Boar's Nest closes at one during the week, now, doesn't it?" "Yeah," Bo replied. "Well, it's nearly 2. And it wouldn't take Bo, Jr. that long to take the girls and Jake home." Bo shook his head. "No... not unless they had another stop to..." He paused, not quite believing that... Well, Bo, Jr. and Jake wouldn't do that, would they? "Oh, Lord!" he exclaimed. "They wouldn't!" Beth exclaimed. "Well, they're Duke's, ain't they?" Bo said, stuck somewhere between family pride and anger at his son. "Bo!" Beth snapped, swatting his arm. "Go get General Lee!" "You're not climbing in and out of windows in your condition!" Bo said. "I'm pregnant, Bo! Not dead!" "Well, we better go get the car before you and Dixie ain't the only ones!" he said with conviction. He took the keys to the Camaro off the pegboard. When he got back with the car, Beth was waiting on the porch. Bo had vivid images in his head of his wife killing his oldest son. She climbed into the car, and said, "Go, Bo!" Bo felt sorry for Bo, Jr. already, knowing how Beth could be when she was on the warpath. Bo may have been married for 19 years, but he still could think like a hormonal teenage boy when he wanted to. And those instincts took him straight to the lake. ~*~*~*~*~ Dixie was in the tub relaxing, when she heard the well-known engine of Beth's Camaro tearing down the road outside the garage. She knew something was up, so she dried off quickly, putting on her robe. Then she ran down the steps to the CB in the garage area. "This is Little Shotgun to Lost Sheep 2 and Sunshine. What's going on?" Beth's voice came back, "This is Sunshine. Seems Black Sheep and Stormy lost their way to the farm. The Boar's Nest closed at 1." Dixie checked the clock and mumbled, "Sh--!" She keyed the mic. "If you need reinforcements, let me know." ~*~*~*~*~ Jake and Laura had returned to the car to "neck" in the back seat. When they heard Dixie's conversation with Beth over the CB, Jake pulled away from Laura and sat straight up. "Oh, Lord!" Jake exclaimed. "If I ain't mistaken, we're all in a world of sh-- when Beth and Bo get here." "We gotta get Jess and Bo!" she replied, making sure she was "decent." "Too late," Jake moaned, when he saw Beth's Camaro swinging into the wide spot used for parking. Jake sighed. He should've known that, with Bo behind the wheel, they weren't going to waste any time getting there. He turned to Laura. "Looks like we're in that world of sh-- already." Beth was out of the car first, yelling, "........ Jake being a VERY wise Duke like his Father KNEW not to tell Beth he didn't have to listen to her! He slowly climbed out of the car window after checking his disheavaled appearance, he said, "Woah, Beth its us....... " Bo was around the car, "Beth, honey, calm down. Please. " then a bit less calm himself, he said much firmer, "Where's Bo, Jr. and 'I don't know', IS NOT and OPTION!" Jake paled just a bit at seeing his Bo like that! Though he had known Bo Duke Sr. since Bo, Jr. and him started school, he didn't recall ever seeing Bo (Sr) that serious ever. He said quiet nervously, "I'll go get him right now." Bo reached out for Jake's collar. "Hold it!" he said firmly holding Jake's collar. "Lake or cave?" Jake closed his eyes partially in disbelief, then sighed, he hope Bo, Jr. had heard the Camero pull up. Jake knew 'what' Bo, Jr. had planned. He said very quietly, "Cave." Laura was simply standing back by Jake's side watching this 'family' event unfold. Beth gasped. "****!" Bo was already moving. "Stay here, Beth. " As Bo neared the cave enterance he saw the camp fires glow, lighting up the cave enterance...... where, unfortunately for Bo, Jr., he hadn't heard the Camaro. He and Jessica had been far too engaged in... other things. Bo, Sr. yelled, "Son, what the HE-- do you think you're doing?" Bo, Jr. sat up immediately, grabbing for his shirt. Jessica was just glad Bo, Jr. had brought a blanket, which she immediately pulled around herself. Bo, Sr. shook his head. "Both of you have 3 minutes to get dressed and meet me at the Camaro. And you all better have a da-- good explanation for this." Bo, Jr. shook his head, a mirror image of his father. He knew that no explanation was going to be good enough to get them out of this one. As his dad walked out of the cave, Bo Jr. passed Jessica her clothes, and then pulled on his jeans. "Da--it!" he said, shaking his head. "How'd they know?" As Bo, Sr. walked back to Beth he took his time. He knew the three minutes there with her without Bo, Jr. would be an eternity. Images of the fire dancing on the cave walls, and on the young adults skin replayed themself to Bo, Sr. as he walked. How many times had he and Luke brought girls out here? said the youthful side of Bo, the Father in him replied, 'At least a couple times too many if ya recall!' Bo hoped he'd gotten there in time, but from what he saw he couldn't be sure. Bo exited the wooded area to see a not happy Beth looking at him for explaination. All he could say right now was, "They be here soon, Honey."

Dixie sighed a bit relieved that she was home alone, then, remembered that she wasn't sure what Debbie's plans were. She had been no where in sight at the farm, Dixie thought, 'Maybe she and Jeb went to the Boar's Nest'. She also knew that Debbie would also have the next day off. Being Hazzard County even in this day and time Dixie decided to leave the door unlocked in case Debbie came in late. She went to the refrigerator for something to drink. As both her and Luke spent little time here her chioces were limited to beer or diet pop. She laughed to herself and said out loud, "As good as that beer looks I guess this is the first of many changes I'll have to make picking up the diet pop." She headed to her computer to check the weather both in Hazzard County and in Montana. Then she figured on taking a good book with her while she soaked in the tub awhile. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On an airplane loaded with Smoke Jumpers heading for a major fire from all reports Luke Duke had highly suggested that his team get as much rest as they could before arriving at the fire. Though the fire was several hours away the adrenaline rush from knowing they had a major fire ahead prevented most of the team from sleeping especially the newer members. Luke, however, was having a hard time himself getting to sleep but more because of thoughts of the future with his family than the fire. 'My family', he said lowly. He had always been very close to Bo and his now quiet large family as well as his other cousins and had stayed very close to his beloved Uncle Jesse before his death but having a wife and now a child of his own on the way he felt so very different about this part of his family. Though he had always been a guide and someone his cousins looked up to as the oldest cousin he was a part of that family. Now, he had a wife and child on the way and he now felt totally responsible for them. Jesse had always been the head of the house and he realized more than ever now he was the head of both parts of his family. Luke was brought back to his present situation be his partner, Randy saying, "We haven't seen a 'hot' one like this in awhile." He saw the far away look in Luke's eyes while saying his sentence. "Luke? You OK? Not missing the 'little woman' already are you? So, how IS married life treating you?" Luke was torn between telling his friend and partner the whole truth and chewing him out for kidding him. He decided he'd go somewhere in the middle, "Yes, I'm fine. And as for the 'little woman' ya do remember she is a trained Correctional Officer who could and would probably handle you just fine the next she sees you for calling her 'little woman' and also I think I'd stay away from the term 'old lady' too were I you, especially since I'm older than her. And, married life is treating me just fine, Randy, just fine. Now, show me what you have on this fire." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the Duke front porch Bo gently swung the porch swing while holding Beth in his arms as they listened to the night sounds of a Hazzard summer night. It wasn't long after Dixie had left that Bo heard Beth yawn and said, "Ok, as nice as this is, I think its time we headed to bed." "Ya, know, as much as I'm enjoying this, I'd have to agree with you." Beth started to untangle her folded up legs from the porch swing. "Ah, Bo. Just as soon as the felling comes back in my legs, then, we'll go to bed." Bo just grinned and promptly decided NOT to remind her about his earlier statement about her age. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the back 40 of the Duke farm Jeb saw Debbie listening intently, yet she looked a bit puzzled. "Ok, I'm loosing you. I just haven't spent as much time in Hazzard all these years as I have since I met you." He paused to let this sink in, then continued, "One of the reasons I've been spending so much time here is to try to get to know you better......." Debbie suddenly felt 'butterflies' form in her stomach like she had when she was a teenager. She had not had those feels for more years than she'd care to admit. She was a lot like Dixie in that she was a work-a-holic. She was the one who used to try to convience Dixie to go out more but Debbie's going out was usually with the girls from work. Jeb continued in more of a question than a statement, "I know by your being a Correctional Officer and all you may not even want to consider this with my past record and probation and all but I'd like for us to see more each other and maybe get to know each other better?" Debbie smiled at the middle Duke 'boy' and said, "Jeb I'd really like to get to know you better. Your past record is just that -- past; and as for the probation you all have completed that." she paused before continueing, "Since Dixie left our 'jail' I've taken some overtime at Tri-Counties where she is. I like it there and it is closer to here. I have been considering a transfer for awhile now and with Luke and Dixie's house well underway I'm sure Cooter would let me stay there after they move into their house." again pausing, "Should I transfer and we get closer, I've got to remind you before we go any further about something Dixie herself had to tell Luke and I believe you guys too. Tri-Counties houses for Hazzard, Chickasaw, and Placid Counties should the Sheriff or anyone else get lucky on anything that would require any of you to be housed for more than 72 hours you'd be with us and I'd have to do my job." Jeb was certainly happy about Debbie wanting to get to know him better but upon considering everything she had just said replied, "................

Looks an reads a lot better than the posts where you only wrote one line. Not sure if you are writing solo or with someone else on another program or if you have a betta reader, but it does look a it better!

Bo and Beth certainly weren't the only ones in love. In the woods on the Duke's property, out of earshot from the house, a young Duke man was professing his love to a young woman... "Debbie, you know that I have spent a lot of time riding the dirt (bike) circuit these past several years. Since Bo, Luke and myself got caught running shine all those years ago I stayed pretty much in Placid County. Probation was hard enough over there, without Boss and Rosco, after leading the kind of care free life we had lived. We grew up hunting and after getting caught the guys took up bow hunting cause we could own no guns, but I never could get the hang of those things. I was more partial to 'bikes' than cars so I took them up......." Jeb saw Debbie listening intently, yet she looked a bit puzzled. "Ok, I'm loosing you. I just haven't spent as much time in Hazzard all these years as I have since I met you." He paused to let this sink in, then continued, "One of the reasons I've been spending so much time here is to try to get to know you better......." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back at Bo's, Dixie and the boys pulled in from taking Luke to catch his flight. Dixie joined Bo and Beth on the front porch. Bo asked, "Did ya'll get him off Ok?" Dixie smiled, "Yes. Ya know he still hasn't grown up? He's still as eager for 'excitement' as he ever was." Beth smiled, "Well, I'm sure glad an 'OLD' man like him can handle all the excitement and physical effort it takes to jump out of perfectly good airplanes into a burning forest, tackle the fire, then hike out." she said with much sarcasim. Dixie had known Beth long enough to know that she was picking on Bo, not Luke, with her statement. Yet, she couldn't quiet follow Beth's line of thinking...... Beth sat up to see Bo's face as she continued, "Well, it seems that my dear husband is concerned with OUR ages, YET, both him and Luke are older than either of US!" Dixie looked at Bo, "Ok, spill it! Worried about ME and Beth? Why?" "Can I have that second helping of CROW now, Please?" he asked Beth, before continueing, "I simply said earlier that I hoped things go as smoothly for you as they have always went for Beth ....... I mean she's been thru this before and you haven't and, well, ..... we are all are not as young as we were once." Bo tried to be tactful. "Bo, that's sweet. Thank you for being concerned about me." Dixie said meaningfully, then added, "But, something tells me you may not have been that tactful the first time ya said it. Remember, I'll find out!" She grinned at Beth who winked back at her. Dixie was indeed feeling just a bit more worn out from all the activity of the day, she added, "Well, folks, as my Grandfather used to say, 'I think I'll head home so you all can go to bed!' " Beth said, "You know you can stay here. There's no since rushing off to town with Luke not home." Dixie explained, "Well, tomorrow is my last day off before I start another work week. I think I'll head home, pull the shades and sleep in tomorrow morning." Dixie knew that at Bo's the day started early as it always had at the Duke farm. She laughed, "Ya, know I don't think I've slept in since before I returned to Hazzard and I have always NOT been a morning person." Beth said, "Well, ya better enjoy sleeping in while you can, Sugar. Cause if you get morning sickness it will start soon. And then, here in a few months the newest member of this family will see to it you don't sleep in for quiet a long time!" With a huge smile, Dixie replied, "Well, it will be WORTH it. I've waited too long to see Luke's face on a child of my own." Dixie started down the steps towards Luke's truck when she stopped, "I know I'm jumping the gun here, but, I'm going on record, SHOULD Beth leave for the hospital, SOMEBODY better call, radio, OR come get me OR I'll disown ya both!" Beth patted her stomach, "NO such luck. We still have a long way to go yet." "Night all." Dixie called as she climbed into Luke's truck. Her poor Aspire was still parked out back of Cooter's garage. Luke and Cooter had deemed it unsafe to drive months ago. BALLADEER: Dixie was heading to the small apartment above the garage, that they had fixed up before her and Luke got married. Dixie and Luke found that they both spent more time at Bo's than they did at garage. That's why Dixie had made the reference that Bo's place would become very crowded if Luke didn't have them in their house by the time the baby was born. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luke was trying to stay focused on the fire and making sure 'his' team was squared away for the flight to Missoula, Montana. It had been awhile since his team had went on such a large fire. Part of him knew that by the time he reached their take off point the others would be all packed up and waiting on him! Yet, he would double check to make sure no body had forgotten something important. While he tried to concentrate on the fire his thoughts drifted back to the farm and the earlier discussion. 'ME? A FATHER?' he thought. It was still hard to believe and would take some time to get used to. He could only pray he would be HALF the Father his Uncle Jesse had been to him and his cousins. He decided to wait until the flight home to tell his crew. They were close and had attended his wedding a few months ago, yet, he knew from years of leadership in the Marines that he needed them to be focused and he needed to be focused so that they would all be on the return flight. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dixie unlocked the door and stepped into the small apartment. She could detect the smell of it being closed up for the past few days. She opened the window to the summer night and flipped on the light, she placed her hand on the still near flat tummy and said, "Well, 'kiddo' Daddy's working and it's just us." She would miss Luke while he was gone, but from years of living alone, she also would enjoy 'HER' time to relax and rest and just be lazy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After taking Luke to the ballfield, Bo, Jr., Jake, and the girls decided to head for the Boar's Nest. Laura and Jessica both worked there as waitresses. It was Jake's turn to drive, but he, Bo, Jr. and the girls knew that Luke wasn't there to save their butts if the sheriff walked in. Bo, Jr. parked Stormy outside the Boar's Nest, having dropped Luke's truck off at the farm. Both boys remembered what Luke had told them about driving his truck after a few drinks. And should Jake happen to accidentally down a few, or should Bo, Jr. have to drive, there would be nothing but trouble were they in Luke's truck. Bo, Jr. climbed out of Stormy, helping Jessica out the window. Jake, who seemed to take naturally to being a good ol' boy, climbed out the window as well, then helped Laura out. They all walked in, and sat down. After a few drinks and a few dances, they decided to head home. But Bo, Jr. had another good idea, but had no clue how much he'd be sorry for it. He decided to take the girls out to the lake and "split up." No one could say Bo, Jr. wasn't a Duke, but, unfortunately, things like that weren't going to go over as well with Beth and Bo as they would have with a single Bo years before....

After watching the chopper land, Bo, Jr. drove the truck back to the house with Jake and Laura in the back, and Dixie and Jessica in front with him. "Aunt Dixie," he said, "I'm happy for ya." Dixie smiled. "Thanks. I'm pretty happy myself." Jessica looked at Bo, Jr. and Dixie saw the sparks in her eyes. She smiled, knowing that the girl was dreaming of a future where she and Bo, Jr. would have kids of their own. Dixie just hoped that Jessica and Bo, Jr. wouldn't wait as long as she and Luke had to get married. She smiled as she watched Jessica gently lean on Bo, Jr.'s shoulder. Almost without thinking, he put his arm around her waist. Dixie smiled again. These two were certainly headed in the right direction. ~~~~ Meanwhile, at the Duke farm... Jeb suggested that he and Debbie take a walk over to where they were building Luke and Dixie's house. Though Jesse had sold off some of the property after Bo, Luke and Jeb had gotten caught running moonshine many years ago, the Duke farm was still a large spread out place. The section of land where Luke was building had been for years referred to as the 'back 40'. It was 40 acres of good farm land with its own enterance to the road so that you didn't have to cross the main houses land to get to it. It had a small stream running through it and was just close enough to easily walk to Bo's, yet, far enough away that both families could have their privacy. The girls cleared the table and started the dishes as Beth and Bo sat on the porch swing. Bo had his arms around Beth as she snuggled in close to him with her feet pulled up on the swing. As he slowly swung the swing he looked down at his now very pregnant wife. They had sat like this on this same swing even before they were married so many years ago. Only these days Beth had just a bit of trouble fitting all of her in the swing, but to Bo Duke there wasn't a more beautiful sight in the world. He looked down at Beth and asked, "You knew? Didn't ya?" Beth looked up confussed for only a second. As soon as she saw the grin on Bo's face she knew he was thinking of Luke and Dixie. "Let's say, .... that I suspected, but no I didn't know." "Suspected, Huh?" he said hugging her tightly, "And didn't even hint to me?" Beth smiled up at him, "And spoil Luke's surprise? I know how close you two are Bo Duke and if you suspected there is NO WAY you could have kept it from Luke. He'd have known you knew something even if you didn't tell him." Bo grinned, "I guess you are right about that. I've never been able to keep anything from Luke." he paused remembering one time he did try to hide something from Luke. He smiled now at the memory. "You should have seem me try to dodge his questions just after I found out about Bo, Jr. I wasn't ready for him or anyone else to know right then. Don't get me wrong and we've talked about this before, I couldn't be happier the way our lives have worked out, but there for a few days until we got everything out in the open, that I was really scared. I was so afraid that I'd let you down, that I wouldn't be able to provide for the three of us. I am still sorry that you couldn't go to college like you had dreamed of ..." Beth simply said, "Well, I'm not. There's nothing about our lives that I'd ever want to change." Through a lump in Bo's throat he managed to say, "I love you. I can't help but worry about Dixie. I hope that she won't have any complications with her age and all......." Bo was interupted by Beth quickly setting up and pulling away from him. "At HER age?" Bo realized to late that his thoughts had been voiced and he was in HOT WATER. "Bo Duke! Do you realize that there is only about SIX MONTHS difference in mine and Dixie's AGE?" Beth asked none to quietly. Bo softly breathed, "Oh, sh--." Beth wanted to at least act angry, but she had to laugh at Bo, who was trying to come up with a response. "Bo, I'm only 34... It's not that old." Bo sighed. "I didn't mean that..." Beth playfully smacked his arm and laughed. "Sure you didn't." Bo sighed. "Well... I didn't." Beth snuggled closer to him. "Whatever. I love you." He kissed her, "I love you, too."

In case any of you were looking for this story as I was, Mary Anne explained that being a Coultrane, she has a tendenancy to to blow things up. I am going to repost this, which may take awhile. It is the sequel to Going Home and Going Home Again. You don't have to start there, but may have time to back track as I try to get this posted again. It is a story written between Bethie88 and myself and I would break it up and tell you where she posted but the first part I have no idea. When I get to the posts she wrote I will note it, but we write so closely alike I don't know who posted what unless I color coded it on the memory stick, but rest assured it wouldn't have been the same without her! Hope this give you a chance to re-read and enjoy again. Going Home-pt. 3 It had been 3 months since Dixie and Luke got married. Luke was working on the house with a little help from Bo, and Jeb, who'd decided he'd stay in Hazzard a little while longer. Beth was now 6 months pregnant, and the fact that she was showing alot only served to make her husband more protective. Bo kept doing things for her, which drove her insane, though she loved him for it. Bo Jr. was on spring break this week, and he was glad to be home. He was hanging out with his friend, and cousin, Jake Miller, alot. Not to mention Jessica Hansen, his girlfriend. This particular day was a little different than most. Everyone was eating at Bo and Beth's, and Dixie Duke had some big news. Dixie said to Beth as they were finishing the last touches on the big Saturday evening meal, "Debbie got off at 4. She should be here any time now." As Beth was adding sugar to the tea she looked out the kitchen window. "Yeah, I can tell its about time for her to show up. Just look at Jeb. You'd think he has had fire ants down his shirt for the past few hours now, the way he's acting." Both friends and cousin-in-laws laughed. Dixie heard Debbie's car first. "Well, there she is." She called to Bo's daughter's, "Girls, you can start putting supper on the table now." In very short order the now large extended family was seated at several large picnic tables in the yard enjoying a feast fit for a King. Along with Luke and Dixie, and Bo and Beth were Jeb and Debbie. Debbie and Dixie had worked together until Dixie transfered closer to Hazzard. The young adults and teens filled up the second table:Ruth Ann, Caroline, Jake and Laura, and Bo, Jr. and Jessica. Finally, seated at a smaller table were Jesse and Michaela who were none too happy about being seated at the 'kids' table! Seeing her chance and acting as Dixie's accomplice Debbie asked, "I haven't been able to come up for a while. How goes the house?" Dixie smiled impishly at Luke and said, "Well, .... that's part of why I wanted all of us together tonight. See, ........" It was at that exact moment in time that Luke's pager he now carried on his side started beeping. Luke got up from the table as the adrenaline hit him, not realizing he was cutting Dixie off. "Let me go see what's up." He headed to the phone in the kitchen to call Base Camp. BALLADEER: "Well, folks, see that there pager on Luke's side is most likely signaling him that he has to go to work. See Luke works for the Foresty Service as the Senior Smokejumper and it's the peak of fire season." Luke exited the house in a few minutes walking quickly towards his new wife. "Honey, we've got a hot one! I've already called Randolph, he's getting the Hazzard Volunteers (Fire Dept.) heading toward the football field to set up a Landing Zone for the 'bird' they are sending for me." He looked to Jake and Bo, Jr. who were as game for action as Bo and Luke were at their ages. "I've got my gear in the pick up. You guys want to bring the truck back?" Both young men were up from the table and as ready to leave their girlfriends and head toward action as Luke was. Luke kissed Dixie and said, "This is a big one. They are calling in Smokejumpers and Hotshots from everywhere. Our Base Camp for this will be Missoula....." Dixie, who had gotten sorta of used to Luke being gone some to all parts of the State, now looked in disbelief as she asked, "Montana?" Luke smiled briefly, "Yeah! I haven't been there since training. I have NO idea when I'll be home." Taking his hand before he could head to the truck, Dixie said, "Well, in that case hear me out before you leave." She put a finger to her husbands lips before he could protest. "I was about to tell Debbie how the house is coming." she said quickly and loud enough to talk over the excited young men who were wanting to see the helicopter land, "It seems you have about seven months to get us in it OR Bo's house is going to get awfully crowded." She let it start to sink in past the adrenaline rush, and the million things going through his mind about the fire. Then, said to Beth who was following her line of thinking, "I figure about the time you are done with these ..." Dixie said tugging on Beth's maternity top, "I, ..... might, ..... just, need to borrow them!" The once peaceful dinner now broke in to pandamonium with all the women's excitement. Finally hitting Luke what Dixie was telling him. He grabbed her to take her into his arms, then stopped short not wanting to hurt her in his joy. "Your sure?" he said with a grin a mile wide on his face. Dixie just shook her head yes. Luke took Dixie into his arms in a passionate kiss. Bo let out one of his trade mark 'Rebel yells'! As everyone gathered to wish the couple Congradulations. From the truck Bo, Jr. who was a bit tired of these 'adults' acting like teenagers called, "Luke. What about the fire?" Luke looked from the truck then back to Dixie. She said, "Go on." She insisted. "But, I think I'll ride out with you all." Luke smiled, picking his wife up to carry her to the truck, he said to Bo, Jr. and Jake. "Ok, guys. In the back." Getting in the back Bo, Jr. said loud enough for only Jake to hear, "Can you believe those four? Yuck! They are acting like, ....." Jake interupted him, "Like I never saw Mr. and Mrs. Miller act. That's for sure! I think its kinda nice to SEE that your parents care for each other." Bo, Jr. was at a lose for words. He had almost taken for granted one of the things that made this family so special. They cared for each other AND they showed it!

Ok, I've read or looked at this entire thread. I learned a lot. First thanks to BoJamesDuke for her comments on mine and Bethie88's stories. When we atrated writing them they were open and therefore posted in the right place, however after a couple totally way off posts we started 'cueing' each other. So like Chet and BL if you want to move Going Home, Going Home Again, Going Home 3 and Danged fool it is fine with me, too. "Another thing I'd like to mention is, at the top of every thread in the forums, there's a "Rate Thread" option where you can rate the quality of the thread from 1 to 5 stars. I think this is an option we should utilize in the FF/RR section. If a thread gets a certain amount of stars under 3, we will move the thread to an "archive" section where the authors may still work on it, but it will not be in the main FF/RR section and will not show up in the latest threads on the main page of HazzardNet. Essentially, we will be giving members a vote in the quality of the Round Robins. The admins will make final decisions, but will take these votes into account when we decide whether or not to move a thread." I have never paid attention to the rating option, BUT I WILL FROM NOW ON!! On Dukes Goes to Dallas I even pm'd one of the writers and showed them like 4 posts put together and made in to paragraphs and how it would read better. As for daisydukeXenosstrait sounding as if she was forced to sign the petition. SIgning it is one thing continueing to post things like "She laughed" OR "He smiled" as an entire post needs to stop!!! And there are several writers that are involved in 5-7 or more 'stories' at once. HOW can you possible keep up with a story line in that many stories???? MaryAnne if you are moving our stories where they go how about moving someo of the RP's that are not stories where they go? See we aren't unreasonable. DixieDavenport

Bethie88 and I have began posting a story on FanFiction.net. We posted there because felt it may have a bit to much 'adult' content for HazzardNet and it also has a place for reviews. Hope if you check it out you leave a review. Dukes of Hazzard Meets Dukes of Old DixieDavenport

Chet talks about 1-2 line inserts in good stories, well me and Bethie88 had several posts into a story when a line had Luke doing something totally out of charactor and thinking of 'sewercide', now I'm sure if Our Luke needed help we'd all see he got it but for this should we go to the manhole out front???? Or the doctor???? DixieDavenport

BROVO AMANDA!!!!!! You said what I've thought for some time!! At least form a small paragragh before posting a new thread. All these 'false starts' to stories makes real stories you try to follow hard to follow, when you have to search back several pages to find it cause someone has added a 2 word sentence to a Role play or a (Rolls eyes) comment! to nine post in an hour!!! Chet wrote: (NO! Everytime I start a story here or get something going someone with a one liner steps in with something that makes no sense at all! I makin a stand! Alot of awesome people have left Hazzardnet because they couldnt stand anymore of this non-sense! Im not trying to scare ya'll away, but its not hard to write it where it belongs! And it aint askin too much!) Amen Chet!! I am with you. I'm not one for sensorship,and believe in freedom of speech, but enough is enough. I'd like to see about half this junk be deleted by HN! As for you 'writers' to move it to the other link go to word pad, copy from here what you want, paste to word pad, copy it all and re-post in the Role play section in one post. 10 mins work, gets us all off your back an out of your so called story!!! DixeiDavenport

As Lori said I've kept quite too long. This is a RR story board. We are not being critical of the 'story' you are writing, more where it is posted. And you are tight we can't 'shut you down' or change your writing 'style', and no we don't have to read it, but if you choose to post something with a good title that people click on it hoping to see a good story following it. It is both disappointing and time consuming when you have to go through many of these RP's looking for a story. Frankly I kept reading this one this far because the side comments were better than the story. Where is this going? Is Enos gonna do the Watermelon Crawl? Sounds more like Bo, Luke or even Cooter, but not Enos. Seen him have a beer in his hand once in the earlier shows before they went to 8pm shows and tuned it down then he only drank buttermilk!!! Rosco was seen taking a 'nip' in his coffee at the men's lodge in the first show, but the only one I could say was supposed to appear even a bit drunk or maybe just crazy was Cooter in Luke's Love Story when he road the motorcycle through the door of the Boar's Nest! As for using song titles, I can see mixing Dukes with some but if you are writing a story at least do a paragraph or two to get it established before you end a post of please post these in the role play section. Way to go Chet, BL, and Lori!! DixieDavenport