His Prison, Her Prison

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Enos didn't know how long he continued the precedure. He just kept doing it, falling into a steady pace.

By the time Doc Michaels came back and gently placed a hand on his shoulder it made Enos jump so hard he almost dropped the cup he was holding. The doctor smiled and strode over to Bo to check his vitals. "You did good deputy...the fever's going down."

"You don't think I gave him too much of the stuff do you?"

"It wouldn't hurt him. It's just a balenced mixture of salts and sugars. Used all over the world to fight dehydration."

"Good..." Enos said drowsily, glancing over at the barred window he saw warm rays of sunlight illuminating the world around the prison. He'd been there all night, "Hey Doc can I sleep in one of those beds over there? I don't think I should be driving. Also can I use your phone? I gotta call into Hazzard PD and tell them I ain't comin' to work today."

Besides, he didn't think he would have left the prison anyway, until he knew for sure Bo would make a recovery.

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Micheals nodded and pointed to the empty bed across the way, taking the cup from the deputy and placing it on the side.

"Sure thing deputy, the phone's at the nurses station tell them I gave you permission to use it."

He smiled and turned back to Bo who had now fallen back into what Enos thought was unconcciouss but the Doc smiled and shook his head.

"Just asleep....this is taking a lot out of him, plus the fact he has no one except you to help him fight....any word on if his family changed their mind?"

Enos shook his head sadly and whispered.

"No....i told him when he kept asking for them that they couldn't come back 'till visitin' hours....I might ring 'em and tell 'em exactly what's wrong with Bo....what good it'll do is beyond me though."

The doc nodded but frowned as he saw the bandages, stained red, wrapped round Bo's wrists which were unhandcuffed.

"What's gone on here?!"

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Enos rubbed a hand over his face, "Doc I'm sorry. I'll take full responsibility. I had the guard take the cuffs off 'cause he just kept jerking up and cuttin' deeper."

The doctor pondered for a moment, "Alright...alright...But if anything happened-"

"Doc, I already said I'd take responsibiltiy."

"No not that, if he's having suicidal behavior I have to know about it. Especially if the cuffs are off."

Enos thought for a moment, Bo was pretty depressed last night, but he was also delirious from the sickness. "No sir."

Michaels let up some of the tention in his shoulders. "I believe you. Why don't you go make that call."

Enos was about to leave the room but stopped and looked back, "Hey Doc, did you ever find out where he got it from?"

Michaels sighed, making it clear something was still bugging him, "No...never did find out specifically."

Frowning, Enos turned on him a little, "So you didn't know for sure?"

"No, I knew it was the water that sector of the prison was given, thankfully the water around here tastes so bad nobody drinks it anyway unless they have to. It's quite a miracle nobody else got sick."

"Then what's botherin' you?"

"I don't know where it came from to begin with...Cholera follows bad conditions, but it just doesn't make sense. I've always been careful. Moreso than most prison doctors you'll meet and even the careless ones rarely see anything like this."

WIth a nod Enos walked down the hall to the nurses station, suprised to see an all male staff. In retrospect he didn't know why he was so shocked, this was a male prison, he wasn't suprised some females didn't want to work there. "Hi, I'm deputy-"

Before he could even finish one of them pointed at a black phone sitting on the desk at the opposite side of the room. First he'd call Uncle Jesse and Daisy, then Rosco to tell his boss he wouldn't be at work that day. Crossing his fingers he dialed the Duke number.

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Jesse and Daisy both looked up from their breakfasts and over to the phone before looking back at each other worridly. The only calls they ever got during breakfast was if something bad had happened.....and with Luke in a 4 year coma showing no signs of ever waking up....they immidiatly feared the worst. Jesse rose, noting for the 4th time that morning that his big toe was hurting....which only confirmed his suspisions....

"Duke Farm, Jesse Duke speaking...."

Daisy listened in as Jesse fell quiet, only ever saying a couple of words like

"what d'ya mean....he can't be...but how..."

The one sided conversation sounded ominious in iteself and her stomach immidiatly twisted, rendering her unable to finish her breakfast. She rose from her seat and stood next to Jesse, wrapping her arm around his shoulders as he rung off the phone.

"Who was it?"

Jesse licked his lips, a frown creasing on his face to show his anger but Daisy could also see the fear shining in his eyes.

"Uncle Jesse....what's happened is it Luke?"

Jesse shook his head.

"No....that was Enos....about Bo..."

Daisy frowned too and let her arm slip from Jesse's shoulder to rest her hands on her hips, obviously angry after she had told Enos to keep them out of Bo's side of things, but Jesse too could see the fear leap to her beautiful eyes.

"Well what did he want?"

"Daisy...Bo....Bo's very very sick....he's got Cholera...."

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Daisy's heart skipped a beat. She'd heard stories about people in South America and Africa, and how a case of Cholera could kill in hours if it went untreated. It was the most feared disease on the Orgon trail. Then she asked the question she thought she would never ask again, "Is he alright?"

"...Enos says Bo had a hard time last night. Sick with fever. Dehydration. Cramps all over. But he was gettin' better by the time morning came around. Doc expects a full recovery..."

Her uncle spoke with slow tones, not angry, not sad, as though he was confused about the emotion he should be feeling. Daisy made a move, she decided to speak the question that had denied her sleep all through the night. "Uncle Jesse...what if we're wrong?"

"What?"

"What if Bo didn't hurt Luke on purpose?" tears were on the corners of her eyes, "And what if he died before we could say sorry for treating him the way we did?"

"...If he was innocent." her uncle pondered.

"Yeah," Daisy said, the sliver of doubt had spiraled out of control into full blown doubt, "If he was innocent."

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Jesse sighed and looked up at Daisy.

"Then there's only one thing we can do...."

^^^^^

In Atlanta, something else was occuring for the Duke Family, something they had endlessly been waiting for for four years....in that small hospital room, the man named Luke Duke gently groaned and fluttered open his eyes, staring confused around him at the white room he didn't recall seeing before.

The last thing he knew, he was in a dark space, charging in to get his younger cousin....when he got hit over the head....when he had briefly come to he had found his younger cousin sobbing over him, telling him he was sorry....it was a mistake....an accident....and he had known then what had happened....but couldn't form any words as someone slipped an oxygen mask over his face and the blackness he had been living unknowingly in for 4 years overwhelmed him as his cousin was dragged away from his side in handcuffs....

He looked around wildly for someone, anyone to tell him what in the hell was going on....

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Bo woke up in dizziness...his whole body ached. And his wrists felt worst. Glancing down at them he strangely found himself no longer handcuffed. What had happened? Seeing the dark spots of dried blood a dark chill came over him. He couldn't remember much of the night before. Little glimpses of dreams that could have been real or dreamed up. The faint taste of some fowel mixture of sugars still lingered in his mouth.

Closing his eyes because it hurt to keep them open any longer, he found himself remembering what Enos had told him about Luke. Deep down he'd always known the news would be bad...that didn't make it hurt any less.

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Luckily Luke hadn't woken too far from the hourly checks that the nurses made on him, and Luke couldn't help but smile with a slight laugh as the nurse came in and reeled slightly at the sight of Luke's blue eyes looking straight back at her as she walked in. she quickly recovered though and very nearly skipped over.

"Well! Welcome back to the land of the living young man! I must say there are some people who are gonna be mighty pleased to see you awake...."

One word alone came to Luke's still quite addled brain, but it was enough to get what he wanted to say across. his throat was sore from many years of un use and he had to swallow several times to get it wet enough he could croak out a word.

"Bo...."

The nurse looked down startled from reading the monitors around Luke. everyone of the doctors that had examined Luke had expected some sort of brain damage....but he was moving his hand just fine as he reached up to touch her arm with one hand and rolled his head to look at her asking again softly.

"Bo...."

She bit her lip, not knowing what he was referring to but seeing the look in his eyes she knew it was important.

"I'll just get someone for you...."

In a rush she snagged several doctors and directed them to his room before hurridly calling the Duke family

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Why did it seem most bad news was delievered to them either by Rosco or by the phone? That was the question that Daisy thought as she strode over and picked it up. "Hello?"

What she heard practically made her do a backflip.

She went sprinting out to the barn, kicking off her high-heels so she could get there even faster, "Uncle Jesse! Uncle Jesse!"

The smile she had when she busted through the doors was a smile many people thought they'd never see on her again. "Uncle Jesse!"

"What is it?" He said, a bucket full of goats' milk in his hands. Even seeing her only smiling brightened his day.

"It's Luke!"

From her expression he knew it was not a bad thing.

VVVVV

Sometime around midday Bo woke up fully for once, it took him a while, but his eyes adjusted to the world around him. Warm sunlight filed through the barred window, and what it didn't illuminate the overhead light did. Looking around he didn't see anybody at the desk. He didn't try to sit up, knowing it would only result in massive pain in his already throbbing head.

When he looked toward the window however, he saw something that made hs heart flutter a little with grattitude. Enos was asleep peacefully on the bed closest to the window. Curled up with his hands under the pillow he looked like he hadn't gotten a good nights sleep last night.

And Bo knew why. Enos was the one that was helping him drink that solution. The deputy had stayed up with him all night.

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Daisy and Jesse were to the Atlanta Hospital quicker than they had ever gotten there before and practically burst into the room, Daisy in tears as she gently flung her arms round her older cousin's neck at seeing his blue eyes wide open, Jesse repeating the action when she pulled away.

"Luke! Oh god Luke we's thought ya were never gonna wake up!"

Jesse pulled away and noticed the confusion in Luke's eyes and softly said.

"Luke....ya been out fer 4 years....ya took a hard blow to the head son...."

Luke frowned, he didn't care about that right now....he continued looking to the door for a moment before looking to Daisy and Jesse, saying firmly and worridly.

"Bo?"

Jesse instantly mistook the fear in the young man's voice for fear that Bo would be back to get him and was quick to reassure.

"Luke s'alright. Bo's been put away fer a long time, he ain't gonna get ya now where he is, the state pen..."

Luke's expression soon turned to one of questioning to horror...in his mind he was yelling at his Uncle, asking him why the hell Bo was there and why his Uncle had let Bo be locked up....he said now pleadingly and heartbrokenly, feeling like he was gonna cry as he could only say out one word

"Bo....."

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Four years...how was that possible? Four years of his life gone just like that. In a dark place in his memory he remembered Bo getting taken away by Rosco. But it didn't make sense, why were Daisy and Uncle Jesse acting like it was a good thing? No way Boss could have convinced them Bo did anything wrong.

His uncle put an arm on Luke's shoulder, "Bo ain't gonna hurt you again."

Although he had brain damage, it was effecting his speach but not his notoriously quick intelect. Bo must have paniced and hit Luke in the head when he came to rescue the younger cousin. And Bo had gone down for attempted murder or assault or something like that.

This couldn't be happening. This. Could. Not. Be. Happening.

VVVVV

Daisy was so happy, happier than she'd been in a long, long time. For the first time in four years, it seemed like all their suffering hadn't been for nothing. Like there was a chance they could have something resembling the family they had before.

What Bo had done would always scar them. But now...they had a chance. Now that Luke was awake they might just make it.

Of course she hadn't forgotten about Bo's sickness. But after the good news they'd gotten Daisy saw no need to wreck anybody's mood.

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Luke couldn't believe the joyful looks on his Uncle and Daisy's faces....this was nothing to be happy about! Bo was in jail for something he didn't even do and they were happy about it, hadn't it appeared even tried to help the youngest Duke out of the situation.

His jaw clenched and he angrily shrugged his shoudlers away from Jesse, frustrated that he couldn't tell them anything but Bo's name and also at the way they kept misinterpreting what he wanted when he said it. He wanted Bo beside him, he didn't want Bo to be kept away from him, but how could he get them to understand that with just one word.

It was only really Bo who could tell what Luke wanted just by looking at his body posture and the emotions in his eyes because Bo was the one that Luke spent the most time with, created a brotherly bond with that lasted through so many things....but now if his suspicions were correct and Bo had been sent down for attempted murder or assult...then it looked like he wouldn't be seeing his cousin for a long long time....hwo on earth could Bo survive in prison by himself? How could he be sure that Bo wasn't already dead?

The main reason he had suddenly been jerked from reality was because of a painful throbbing in his wrists and his head feeling like someone was pounding through it with a jackhammer....and he heard someone calling his name softly although when he had prised his eyes open there was no one there and the pain had gone as quikly as it had come....

With tears in his eyes, he sniffed and tried to blink them away so Jesse and Daisy wouldn't see...but it was pointless as they trickled softly down his cheeks. He whispered quietly, despairingly.

"Bo...."

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Bo wasn't able to get back to sleep. The pain in his wrists was too much, and the various cramps all over his body. Not having anything better to do, he looked at the picture of his family. It was worn out along the edges from his looking at it so much.

Bo gently closed his eyes and held the picture close to his chest. Searching his memory desperatly for the warmth he felt when he was near his family. The love, the affection he had not known for so long...

When his eyes closed, he tried to clear his mind, and slow his breathing. Consentrating only on that feeling he yearned deeply for. He hadn't been able to even remotely remember that feeling for about three and a half years. Another comfort that had disapeard from his life. Why did it feel like the longer he stayed in prison, the more hopeless he felt?

But instead, he could have sworn he heard a familiar voice whisper something in his ear:

"Bo..."

It snapped him out of the daydream. God...it must have been the antibacterials. He could have sworn he'd heard someone whisper his name.

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Jesse was shocked as Luke shrugged away from his touch and watched as the gentle tears rolled down his cheeks before looking worridly up at Daisy as Luke whispered Bo's name once more.

He didn't know for sure why Luke was so upset, but it had seemed like he had gotten more distressed and upset when he had been told Bo had been sent to prison....

He reached over the railings of the hospital bed and gently wiped away the tears on his cheeks then guided Luke's chin up so he could look his oldest charge in his blue eyes, ones that he had not seen for four years.

"Luke....I wish ya could tell us what was the matter son....it's obviously Bo....ain't it...."

Luke nodded, but before Jesse could continue Daisy had jumped in.

"Luke we know what he did to you hurts emotionally but he's gone to prison for 15 years! You won't have to see him for a long time...."

Luke's jaw clenched again and he furiously shook his head, this time trying a demanding voice to see if maybe they understood that better, pointing to the bed with his finger.

"Bo!"

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Daisy couldn't believe what was going on, she knew it sure as her Uncle, but she was nowhere near admitting it. Same as he was.

Both knew they couldn't handle the guilt that would spawn from what her oldest cousin was trying to tell them. "Uncle Jesse...I think I'm gonna call Cooter, don't think anybody's told him yet."

Uncle Jesse nodded, "Go on."

She went to the phone all the way on the level underneath theirs. Knowing all it would do would sadden her uncle if he knew what she was doing. Despite the seperation of an entire floor she still looked from side to side before she dialed the number. When the prison opperator asked what extention she wanted she told him...and waited.

"Hello?" A male voice said from the other end of the phone.

"Hi, my name's Daisy Duke, I'm callin' to talk to the doctor in charge of one Beaureguard Duke."

"That would be me."

"...I just wanted to know if he's alright..."

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Daisy heard a small sigh on the other end of the phone and her stomach instantly tied in knots....she prayed and prayed in the short silence that fell that she wasn't too late.

"Miss Duke....I'll be frank....he's looking better but....its still touch and go. He's got Cholera as I'm sure the good deputy here told you and the...symptoms arn't the best for Bo to deal with in the condition he's in."

Daisy frowned and tried to stop her heart leaping into her throat. She swallowed gently.

"What d'ya mean the condition he's in?"

"Well....he's severly malnutritioned....which means he is incrediably weak and just doesn't seem to have either the strength or the will to fight this thing off....he's suffering at the moment mild but painful cramps all over his body which could turn severe if the anibacterial medicines we have him on don't start to work....I can't say he's stable right now Miss Duke because we won't know for certain for a while yet...."

Daisy sighed softly, tears coming to her eyes despite her telling herself they shouldn't be there for Bo.

"Well what are ya gonna do to get his strength up?"

"Well...we'll try getting some food into him soon....but the best thing would be to have the love of his family with him....and I know that you told the deputy that you don't care what happens to him but...personally from what I've heard in his bouts of delerium....I don't think he has done what he has been sentenced for....he needs you all now more than ever and...."

The line went silent except for a murmuring in the background before the Doc returned to the line.

"I'm sorry I have to go, patient requirements."

"Yes I understand.."

"Goodbye Miss Duke..."

The line went dead and Daisy slowly put the phone back on its hook and leant against the wall, her hand going to her mouth.

"What have we done..."

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

Daisy didn't go back up to Luke's room immediatly. She just sat there...in the loby. Paying no attention to the people passing her she just stayed there with her hands folded in her lap.

As she thought she realized something. Daisy had always known that if Luke woke up her family would always feel the scars of Bo's heinus sin. But every night since that horrible incident she had prayed that they could be a family again.

Only now did she know for sure. The family would never be the same. Not because of Bo's mistake, but her's.

How could she have been so blind?

Was it because she had been so quick to condemn and abandon Bo, that as time passed it would become harder and harder to be forgiven. That it would just be better to believe he was guilty...

She knew what she had to do. Daisy would have to face this mistake right then and there. Running up to the elevator and taking it back up to the next floor she couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably.

Unable to get there fast enough, yet at the same time she wished she would never reach her destination.

By the time she got back to Luke's room she was shaking like a leaf. "Luke..." She whispered her next sentence, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear so she wouldn't have to say it again, "...Bo didn't mean to hurt you did he?"

Luke stared at her, an unreadable look in his eyes. Clearly shocked she'd come up with it. But sure enough a small smile and nod graced his features.

Immediatly she collapsed to her knees. A hand lingering over her mouth as tears slid down her cheeks. She made no move to stop them, too shocked from the information she'd been given, "Oh god...oh god. Oh God. Oh God...."

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Luke watched as Daisy slid down to the floor and Uncle Jesse ran over to catch her. He was, despite his smile and nod of relief that Daisy and now Jesse finally understood, still shocked that his family really did believe that Bo had intentionally hurt him so bad.

He watched as Jesse tried to sooth Daisy and it was then that Luke realised that something was horribly horribly wrong. Daisy wouldn't be so broken about just feeling guilty for believeing that Bo had tried to hurt him...what was going on? But, frustraitingly he could still only get out one word, the name of his younger cousin. How in the world was he meant to know what was happening if he couldn't talk properly.

Jesse knelt on the floor with Daisy, wrapping her in his own arms and rocking her gently whispering.

"Daisy....what's going on? What's happened to Bo and I know you's been down and phoned the jail so what's going on...."

Luke looked over more scared than ever now as Jesse asked what was going on with Bo...something was wrong he could somehow feel it....he looked over at them both and said questioningly

"Bo?"

[Qualapec the She-Wolf]

How could she have been so ignorant. So stupid. That was the only real word to describe it.

And she couldn't imagine how her cousin felt, four years Bo had gone without them in prison.

Only then did the full force of the last couple days hit her. Enos had been right. She regretted how simply she'd discarded the idea that Bo was innocent. Even how she'd treated Enos, who was right from the start.

All the while she'd blamed Bo for tearing their family to shreds, but now

she had nobody to blame but herself.

"Daisy....what's going on? What's happened to Bo and I know you's been down and phoned the jail so what's going on...."

Through the sobs that wracked her form she struggled to get the words to tell them together. "He's alive...But the doc said he..."

Uncle Jesse urged her on, she knew it was hard on him too, but also that if he fell apart she'd get even more broken, "But?" He tempted a worried look in his eyes.

Daisy took a deep, shaky breath and tried to stabilize herself, "The doc said it's touch and go...that Bo may not have the will to fight it..." She looked from her Uncle to her oldest cousin.

"Bo," Luke hissed again, recovering from the shock of the news, he tried to sit up in bed but moments later lossed the strength and sank back down to his pillow.

"Now you just stay put," Uncle Jesse said sternly. He then turned to Daisy, still crying in his arms, "Daisy...baby girl?" he used the term of endearment he hadn't used since Daisy was about seven or eight. It got her attention. He continued, "We've...made a horrible mistake...four years worth of it too. But it won't do us any good to sit around here and cry about it. We feel the guilt but it was Bo who's suffering the consequenses of our choice. The most we can do now is start trying to make up for it as soon as possible. Right now that means gettin' there when he needs us."

VVVVV

Bo sat alone, contemplating the massive changes his life had taken in only the past twenty four hours. The sunlight filing into the room made silouettes out of the bars on the window. Prison bars that had become the very limits of his world.

He knew he wouldn't get out for a long time. Next year he was eligable for parole, but that didn't mean they'd give it too him. And even if they did, what did he have to look foreward to when he got out? Nothing...

Prison was hell...and he had nothing beyond the gates.

Quite frankly, as he saw it, he had nothing to really live for.

~She-Wolf

[BoJamesDuke]

Luke listened into the conversation, Bo was alive but it was touch and go? That meant that Bo was ill...Bo was ill and alone in jail...in a prison hospital with bars at his window and nothing to look forward to for many years to come except more and more and more bars and routine days...possibly for the rest of his life...

It didn't take a genius to figure out how Bo would be feeling, and Luke got even more worked up. He once more tried to push himself up to get out the bed with the same result. Jesse stood up with tears in his eyes, as did Daisy and rushed back to Luke's side. It was Jesse who spoke in a firm but worry filled tone.

"Luke...we're gonna go to Bo alright....and as soon as we know anythin' else we'll call here and get 'em to let ya know....but ya can't git outta this bed right now, ya ain't strong enough...just stay here until we get back....alright?"

^^^^^

Bo's peace however was short lived....he cried out loudly as a sharp pain raced through the muscles on his back and arched off the bed screwing his eyes up tight to try and stop the tears leaking down his cheeks.

Oh god how he wished his family were here to help him through this....but they weren't...they could never be because they still believed that he tried to kill Luke....

He felt someone beside him, heard someone talking to him but all that he could do was continue to cry out as wave after wave of pain flooded his nerves, taking him to the brink of unconciousness and threatening to tip him over into the blackness...