Double Duke Trouble

[B.L. Davenport]

Luke swells with pride he'd alway known Bo looked up to him and even idolized him which usually meant he had to watch everything he did and said, sometimes that could be annoying when Bo was too young to make some of his own decisions.

"Thanks Bo that means alot ta me hearin' that but I just don't want to do somethin' now that ya wouldn't be so proud of."

*sniffs wipes his sleeve across his nose straightening his shoulders nodding*

"I promise cousin I'll keep going, it won't be easy I already know that but I'll won't give up cos I'm a Duke and Duke's don't give up and cos I really got somethin' to live for now if for no other reason than to live out the things you would be doing if ya were still here."

Luke couldn't explain it nor did he want to try but he had a feeling of peace and comfort as if Bo was hugging him after a bad nightmare like he used to do when Luke first came home from the war and the night terrors would come and disturb his sleep waking himself and Bo along with Uncle Jesse and Daisy although they never let on but Bo was always there to make it all go away and more than once they'd stay awake the rest of the night and talk.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo nodded, swallowing and straightening up.

"Then...I...I gotta go cousin....I gotta move on brother. As long as your certain in yerself that ya can move on....an' I know fer certain that ya mean it....I really gotta go...."

[B.L. Davenport]

Luke closes his eyes those words ripping the hole in him a little bigger but he now realized he wasn't the only one suffering from losing Bo and it was hurting Bo even in death to see him 'Luke' losing it like had and that was the last thing he wanted was to hurt Bo so he had to gather all his strength now and move on,help Uncle Jesse with the farm like they always had and there was still Daisy to watch out for as well.

"I.....I don't want ya to go Bo but I knew ya would have to as soon as ya knew for sure I was ok, and I am I promise ya cuz on my word as a Duke I ain't gonna wallow in my grief or do somethin' stupid. It's gonna hurt for a long time not havin' ya but I'll be ok now.....I.....I love ya Bo."

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo choked a little, nodding and standing up

Yeah....I love you too Luke...an' I'll always be watchin' ya....up there....and hearin' ya when ya pray every night....an' if ya need ta talk....tell me somethin'....all ya need ta do is pray Luke an' i'll hear....an' i'll do somethin' ta let ya know i've heard....or if ya do somethin' ya think you wish I could have been here for....I'll let ya know some way I was...you take care brother....

Holds out his hand that had once, and still did, hold a scar across his palm from where him and Luke had sealed the brotherly bond by becoming blood brothers.

[B.L. Davenport]

Luke choked back a sob listening to Bo's farewell speech, looking at the hand he stuck out his own with the matching scar clasping the transparent hand.

"Ya can count on that brother ya always have known everything important and not so important in my life and that ain't gonna change now. We'll still be sharing everything just like we always have just in a different way now."

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo clasped the hand tighter, knowing now that Luke could feel him and Bo could feel Luke's clasp in return. He could hear people calling him now, feel as they started to pull him away from his older cousin.

"Always Luke.....never forget I'm with ya....110%....all the time....I love ya so much....g'bye Luke...."

With a small chuckle and a wavering grin, he added cheekily, wanting to make Luke smile before he left for the final time.

An' Keep it 'tween the ditches ya hear?

[B.L. Davenport]

"I won't forget.........g'bye until we meet up again some day"

Luke chuckles at Bo's comment and wanting Bo to be certain he was ok shot his own parting cheeky reply.

"I ain't you Bo"

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo laughed and nodded, knowing now that Luke would most certainly be okay. He would have his moments, but then again Jesse and Daisy would be there to catch him as would Bo...

With one more final squeeze of Luke's hand and a slight nod, he closed his eyes.....

And suddenly....all Luke found himself holding was air and hearing the slight whisper of

I love you brother....

[B.L. Davenport]

Luke let his hand fall draped over his knee smiling and whispered back to the walls of the cave if anyone had seen or heard him that is.

"Love ya too little bro"

Luke sat in the cave another 10 minutes before gathering himself up and getting in the General Lee driving off into the sunset toward the Duke farm. Jesse met him at the door giving his oldest a tight bear hug sensing something different in Luke than he had been hours ago. He was at peace now Jesse could feel it in his muscles and see it in his eyes.

B.L. had been ready to make good on her threat to go after Luke to the point of climbing into her car as he drove up in the farm yard. Exiting her car she gave him a hug and then climbed back in the car pulling out and heading home herself it was time for the family to be alone for a while and start putting their lives back together.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo watched from high above, his family reunite and pull together once more as they always had done. It would be different now for all of them, Bo included, but because each and everyone were Dukes, the youngest knew that his family would be okay.

He could continue to be with them and help them as he always had done just, as Luke had said, in a completly different way. There would be tough times ahead for the family, but they would get through them because no matter what, the Duke family was a unit...whether or not they were miles or worlds apart.

There was a connection there that would never be lost and a love that would never be forgotten. They would all be together again someday but until then it was Bo's job to make sure they stayed the same family he knew and loved.

He turned slightly as a hand lay itself on his shoulder, and looked smiling into his Aunt Lavinia'syes, eyes that still held the sparkle he had known in childhood. He smiled back at her and wrapped an arm round her shoulder, walking to where his parents now stood, along with Luke's and Daisy's.

He may have lost the chance to be with his family back on earth, ended his life there....but up here, another life had just begun...a new life that although would never make up for the real thing....would provide him with all he needed for eternity and beyond.

[B.L. Davenport]

THings returned to 'normal' on the Duke farm and in Hazzard County for those left behind. Luke raced General Lee at least twice a month but realized he had to also pick up the slack on the farm and willingly did so. A few years later Luke married a girl noone ever even thought he'd think about that way. He and B.L. we're married in the little church in town and lived on the back 40 of the Duke farm and raised a family, having 3 kids 2 boys and a girl.

Daisy went back to work at the Boars Nest and her social life that had been on hold while Bo had been sick. There were hard days and then there were really hard days the hardest being that first christmas and Bo's birthday because even in adulthood he'd looked forward to both through a child's perspective. But with the helpt of their friends the remaining Dukes got through both. The pain lessened but was never quite forgotten.

Daisy married Cooter another match no one ever expected. The couple lived at the Davenport farm and, had a couple of kids of their own and everything was at least mostly perfect for the two remaining cousins.

[BoJamesDuke]

And although the pain was always remembered, as the years went by it lessened more and more, and the occasions that were the hardest for the dukes swiftly became the most fun as they grew with their children and celebrated those days with them, able to relive the stories of their brave younger cousin and keep his spirit alive in the children that were to follow them.

As promised, Luke continued to pray to Bo, as did Daisy, even though he knew somewhere Bo was watching over their families and keeping them safe, protecting them in anyway he could. Everytime a bullet just skimmed the roof of General Lee or the General only just made a jump, he was sure it was Bo giving him that extra helping hand.

As Bo had said, he very muched lived through his older cousin, but he also lived in the race car they had built together and driven in together even in his finally days. The engine's rev was very much like Bo's excited whoops of joy, the running motor the pulsing beat of Bo's young heart in a race or just speeding round the back roads.

Bo lived on in Hazzard County even after he had gone, and lived on up above, where he waited for his older cousin to join him once more to continue their adventures, keeping up the Double Duke Trouble that the truly inseperable pair were always known to lead.

THE END