DaisyMaeDuke

Luke quickly climbed up to the loft to make sure Bo hadn't gone up there on his own. Satisfied that he had not, he hurried back down and ran out the double doors yelling, "Bo!"

Luke nodded. "Thought you'd like it... Bo you want to have another..." Frowning he looked around. "Where'd Bo go?" He wasn't overly worried but at the same time there was too much trouble a four-year-old boy could find on the farm if unsupervised. "Bo?"

Luke held on to the rope and his cousin tightly, just etting the wind blow through his dark curls, swinging back and forth across the barn.

Luke smiled a dimpled grin to her. "Sure thing...come on...Bo you stay put..." With that he led the way up the ladder.

Luke slid off the rope too, spotting Daisy standing quietly near the doors watching them. Hushing Bo, he smiled at her and said, "Hey, Daisy...you wanna have a go?" Despite the close brotherly love that Luke had for Bo, he felt a special kinship with Daisy. The loss of her folks was still new to her and though she seemed to jump back with the happy spirit that characterized her, Luke knew that she was still trying to adjust with all the changes; he knew because only two years ago he himself had been going through the same thing. This commonality made Luke instinctively try to make her feel at ease, and the inward vow of protection he had taken over Bo, now included Daisy as well. (cue BL)

When at last the swinging motion slowed enough to jump off, Luke didn't. Instead he climbed down, hand over hand, with little Bo still clinging to him. It wasn't that he couldn't jump off with Bo. He was sure that he could. It was more the fact that there was a greater chance that something could happen, and while Luke was a risk-taker when it came to himself, he was more careful about his cousins...especially Bo.

Luke went. Taking tight hold of the rope in his hands his feet hanging on too, he jumped from the loft swinging back and forth like a pendelum across the barn floor. "Yah-hoo!"

Luke couldn't help smiling as Bo pounced into his arms, his soft, unruly golden curls bobbing as he did. Luke hugged the little boy tight as he stood. "You hang on tight now Bo...I don't wanna lose ya," said Luke grabbing the rope and situating himself so that Bo was snugly secure in his arms. "You ready?"

Luke swung down, landing on his feet beside Bo. "Alright, get on up there," he invited following Bo up the loft ladder. "Come here," he said holding out his arms for Bo to climb into, knowing full well he would never have to ask twice. Bo never needed an invitation to give hugs.

"Oh haha...you're such a funny guy...you remember when I taught her? You and me was takin' turns swinging down, and Auntie was busy, so Daisy came out to see us... must not have been too long after she came t' the farm..." ****flashback**** "Look out below!" shouted eight-year-old Luke as he took hold of the rope, Tarzan-style, and swung off of the loft, loving the feeling of the air against his face.

"I think she could," began Luke with a reflective twinkle in his eye. "I think she just wanted attention....ya know how girls can be..."

Luke looked to him with a smirk. "Cute...hey lookee here..." He pointed to a picture of Bo, Luke and Daisy, sitting on the loft floor. "Think that's about when we taught her to swing from the rope."

"I can...I just don't wanna take em all away from you...you always'd cry when I took somethin from ya...." With that he pointed to a picture of Bo sitting in the middle of the floor, wailing. "See what I mean?"

Luke nodded. "It works both ways...seems I learned a thing or two from you too...how NOT to pick up a woman for example," he added with a smirk, unable to resist the jab.

Luke looked at him, seeing a look of reminiscence on Bo's face. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" he asked knowing that whatever it was, it must be a hum-dinger to get Bo to fall so quiet so quickly.

Luke coughed uneasily, a habit of his when anything became to uncomfortable. "Yeah, well...I always did like things done my way," he made excuse, looking at the various pictures, never realizing before how in almost every picture of Bo, Luke was at his side.

Luke smiled, although his mouth hid a secret he had never shared with anyone. "Well...actually...I used t' get real upset... if I couldn't be the one teachin' ya," he admitted, his face flushing a little. When he had first come to live with his aunt and uncle Luke had been a broken-heard little boy, having rapidly built up walls to keep all of his feelings pent up inside. That quickly changed when Bo came on the scene. Suddenly, he had someone, however small, that knew and understood exactly what Luke was going through. The older boy reasoned that, likewise, he understood Bo better than anyone and selfishly assumed that he could teach him better than anyone else... and for the most part, as was usually the case with Luke, he was right.

"Did I ever tell ya bout the time I taught ya t' walk?" asked Luke, quickly changing the subject, as he always did when this particular subject came up. Before giving Bo time to object, he took the photo album from him and pointed to a picture of the curly-haired blond, holding tight to the fingers of his six-year-old cousin, and looking towards the camera happily.

"I ain't the one scared of heights Bo, you are," he retorted. "Bigger ya are the harder ya fall I recon...which might explain what is...or isn't under that haystack of yers," he added with a gentle rap to Bo's head making a hallow sound with his tongue and cheek as he did so.

"Yeah," agreed Luke. "S'cuz ya always followed right behind me.. I don't know how many times I dang near tripped over ya. Course, now I trip over yer big clown feet, but still, same difference..." replied Luke with a smirk. It had been a while since they had bantered; he had some catching up to do.

"I love ya Bo," said Luke softly, gently kissing his cousin's blond curls, unable to stop from smiling. ****end flashback**** "Ya sure was cute back then," reminisced Luke softly, before looking to Bo questioningly. "What happened?"

Luke gave him a playful frown, though the baby slap didn't really hurt. "Hey...Dat ain't nice Bo," he said, rubbing his nose, before returning the gesture with a tickle to Bo's side.

Luke merely hugged Bo a little more, under pretense that he was offering comfort to the baby. In truth, though, he was seeking comfort himself, still more shaken than he wanted to admit, especially with his aunt talking about how he was becoming a big boy. "All gone Bo..but it's ok..." he assured, more for himself than for Bo's benefit. "S'ok..."

Luke swallowed hard, now having seen as well as heard Bo speak his first words. He bent down, hugging Bo close to him. "I'm ok Bo..." he said softly. "Dey's jus' baby teef..." he added, repeating what his aunt had told him.

Luke swallowed, hearing the word too, looking down at the tousle-haired blonde baby tugging at his pant leg. He looked quickly to his aunt. "Did...did he say..."