This Is How You Do It

[BoJamesDuke]

Hey all, me and Daisy are back with another rr. This time, we've planned it out so it shouldn't just suddenly fade into nothingness LOL.

This is for BoJamesDuke, DaisyMaeDuke, BL Davenport and possibly RogerDuke to write on only. Please do not add your own posts.

Many thanks, hope you enjoy

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Bo pulled the General Lee to a screeching halt in the dusty yard of the Duke Farm, the sun glinting off the bright orange paintwork and making the rebel flag on top look prouder than ever. All the chores had been done earlier in the day, the animals were all having a lazy day it seemed - including the chickens who didn't run from the stones and dust the tyres of the General Lee kicked up. It seemed like they were too lazy to care...or by now they had just gotten used to it which wouldn't have surprised anyone in the family.

Anyone would think that on a day like this, the boys would just spend the day fishing or racing or skinny dipping... but no. As usual, Bo and Luke were locked in a debate...not an argument, a debate. Everyone who knew the boys knew the big difference betwee those two words...mainly there weren't any punches being pulled and neither boy was mad at the other.

Bo shook his head, his blonde curls bouncing as he did, sliding out the window of the General as he commented to his older cousin over the roof...

"I'm tellin' you Luke, there is no way you taught me how t'fish like that. You never had the patience t'do it. It was Uncle Jesse."

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke shook his own head as he, too, slid out of the General Lee's passenger side window. "I did teach ya t' fish...just like I taught ya t' stand...an' talk...an walk..." The older Duke boy shook his head again, stepping out of the car, saying with finality, "You just don't remember nothin'... unless it's got two long legs stickin' out from under a mini skirt," he added with a smirk.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo raised his eyebrows, pointing with a smirk back over at Luke as he got the fishing poles out the back of the General.

"Hey, that there is true for both of us an' you know it, you can't just pin that on me."

Carefully he slid the poles out from the back of the General, leaving the equipment box in the back for Luke to get, heading towards the barn.

"You can't have taught me t'walk an' talk an' stuff though...I mean you musta only been like...5 or 6?"

[B.L. Davenport]

While this debate was going on between the two, their long legged female cousin Daisy Duke was inside the farm house preparing them some lunch knowing they'd be hungry after their fishing trip. She had seen the General Lee pull into the yard and she stuck her head out the door to tell them to come eat.

"Lunch is ready, hope ya'll caught enough fish fer supper t'night."

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke reached into the trunk, grabbing the tackle box out of the back as well as the stick of speared catfish, taking both inside, though leaving the trunk lid open to air out.

"If I recall you was about a year old when you said your first words..." he said simply, though a small smile was on his face at the memory.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo nodded with a wave to Daisy as she leaned out the door to call them in for lunch, dumping the things inside the barn door where he would go back to in order to put them in their rightful place later. Hey, it was lunch and to be honest he was hungry. Jogging inside after Luke, he managed catch what Luke was saying.

"You really remember that far back cousin?" he asked, interestedly. All debate about who taught who what was gone now, he never really knew much about himself when he was a little kid so hearing this kind of thing was always interesting.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke smirked as he slipped the fish off of the stick and into the bucket of water Daisy always had ready when the boys went fishing. "Course I do," he said, knowing full well that the family would not doubt him. Luke Duke had a mind like a steel trap. He only forgot what he chose to forget, and those first memories of his baby cousin were ones he cherished.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo went to the sink and started washing his hands, glancing over his shoulder at Luke. He knew that from the word go both he and Luke had been as close as brothers, maybe even closer. But just how big a role Luke had played in his early years had never really crossed his mind before, he just assumed that Luke was too young to take much part and figured he'd be much more absorbed in other things than his baby cousin.

"Kay then.....how'd it happen? Any of it?"

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke chuckled giving Bo a playful shove as he "fought" with him for the water. Truth be told, he could have gone to the bathroom to wash up like most people would have done. But having an opportune time to spray Bo with water, didn't happen every day...he had to treasure these moments when they came. With that he pursed his lips and under pretense of washing his hands allowed some water to accidentally-on-purpose spray Bo in the face.

"Your first word came out 'cuz ya was so scared..." informed Luke, continuing to wash his hands as if the accidental shower never took place.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo spluttered as Luke hit him in the face with the water, scowling at him before taking his hands out from underneath the water and shaking them in front of Luke's face, sending the water every which way over Luke. He then proceeded to wipe his hands through Luke's hair as a towel, all the while speaking as though nothing had happened although the grin on his face was as big as a chesire cats.

"Scared? Was I lookin at you an' yer ugly mug?" He bantered as he dried his hands up for real on a towel.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke smirked, turning Bo's head towards him before giving him a playful cuff upside the head. "Cute..." He shook his head, running both hands through his curls standing them more topsy-turvy than usual.

He casually made his way to the living room motioning Bo to follow him. "Actually though, it was my face... kinda..." he added with a smirk.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo snorted with laughter, eaisly taming his curls back down to what they were like before. HIs weren't as wild as Luke's were, his usually had some kind of form they took abd bounced back into eaisly. He followed Luke into the lounge.

"See I dont told ya all these years that you gotta be careful who ya look at..."

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke looked at him. "What a funny guy," he said sarcastically. With those parting words, he ent to the bookshelf in the corner, thumbing through books until he came to one, taking it back to the coffee table and flopping down on the couch, picking up the book and thumbing through it. "There," he said gradually handing the open album to Bo. "That there is what got ya t' say your first word," he said pointing to an old picture of a little boy, no more than five years old, with plenty of dark, curly hair smiling wide, despite the two fron teeth he was missing.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo took the album carefully, still standing up, looking at the picture that Luke pointed to, unable to help taking one last parting shot. It wasn't that he didn't know when to stop, it was just that bantering like this was so fun that when he got in the mood it was hard to stop.

"Awwww this little guy's cute....who is he?" he said with a smirk.

He knew who it was of course, there was no mistaking Luke's dark curls, bright blue eyes and wide grin. The only way anyone could ever doubt it was Luke in the picture was because he wasn't wearing plaid. Sitting down next to Luke with a chuckle, he looked at a couple of the other photos.

"So what happened?"

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke couldn't help but smile a little at Bo's banter, before giving him that trademark look that Bo knew so well. With a twinkle in his eyes, though his face remained perfectly straight, Luke returned calmly and matter-of-factly, "If he's cute, it must be me."

He removed the picture from the album, looking on the back. "August...so you weren't quite a year old..." he began putting the picture away carefully. "I came runnin int' the house fer somethin...an' you was layin' on the floor playin' with your toys..."

****flashback****

"Auntie!!!! Auntie!!!" shouted Luke as he rushed in through the door, his blue eyes filled with excitement over the nest of newly hatched chicks he'd discovered. So filled with excitement, and his eyes searching for his aunt that he never saw Bo's toy dumptruck on the floor...not until he tripped over it and landed with a thud on the hard wooden floor, blood immediately beginning to ooze from his mouth.

[BoJamesDuke]

Lavinia came running out quickly at the thud, thinking it was Bo at first....he couldn't walk yet but boy that little kid could already crawl his way into a trouble. She breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Bo still laying on the floor however frowned at the look of horror and his quivering bottom lip as he stared at something across the room.

Looking up, she bit her lip as she saw Luke getting shakily to his feet, blood dribbling from his mouth. Hurrying over, she knelt down to Luke's level and took his chin gently in her hands. Gently she started moping up the blood dribbling down his chin with her hankie, saying gently.

"Oh Lukie....this is why we tell you not to run in the house baby....you never know what's gonna be in here...are you ok?"

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Tears gathered in the little boy's bright blue eyes, scared at the sight of the blood. His mouth felt funny, and as he stuck the tip of his tongue to where he cold taste the blood coming from, he looked at his aunt with a horrified expression on his face. "My...t-teef...auntie... my teef!" he cried pointing to his mouth where, sure enough, a wide gap showed where his two front teeth had once been. "Dey's gone!"

[BoJamesDuke]

Lavinia looked in his mouth and smiled a little, reassuringly, as she saw the gap. It shouldn't have been too long before they were due to fall out anyway, she could already see the adult teeth starting to show underneath his gums even through the blood.

"Aww Luke don't you worry about that! They're just your baby teeth darlin'. They were about ready to fall out anyway. Before long you'll have brand new adult teeth there which shows that yer getting to be such a big boy!" She said softly, carressing his cheek gently.

To say that Luke was advanced in his thinking for his age was an understatement. Sometimes it was like talking to a mini adult, and a large part of that she believed was down to the fact that he took a lot of responsibility of looking after Bo on his shoulders. As soon as Baby Bo arrived at the farm just months ago, Luke had really come out of his shell and started to act like a proper 5 year old, and concequently had also grown up a lot because of the death of his parents.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke looked up at her, his eyes hopeful. "I am?" he asked with a small whimper, glancing to Bo who watched him from the floor. He wanted to be a big boy...especially since Jesse had told him that one day Bo would look up to him.

[BoJamesDuke]

"Of course you are Luke."

She said with a smile, running a hand through his wild dark curls softly as she finished wiping the last of the blood from his chin tenderly.

"And just think, the tooth fairy is gonna sure be pleased to know two of your teeth have gone instead of one. It don't matter if they're under your pillow or not, she still knows that they're gone and she'll pay you double because of it! Especially since you took such good care of them."

During the commotion, Bo hadn't moved an inch, watching the scene in the kitchen curiously. He was at a loss as to what to do...half wanting to cry and half wanting to just watch what was happening. One thing for sure though was that the little kid was worried. When neither Luke nor Lavinia was looking as they went back into conversation, he pushed himself into sitting and leant forward to get on his hands and knees, crawling over to them both slowly.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke nodded a little, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. His mouth felt funny, but he didn't say so; Auntie said it was fine, so it must be. Tentatively he stuck his tongue through the gap. "Feels funny..."

[BoJamesDuke]

Lavinia giggled as he did, shaking her head softly with a smile.

"Yeah it will for a lil bit Luke, takes time to get used to change remember. Soon enough though you'll feel yer new teeth startin' to grow. Losin yer baby teeth is somethin to be proud of, shows yer growin' up like I said..."

She stopped dead though as a small whimper from by Luke's feet sounded, little Bo sitting there tugging as Luke's pant leg...although it wasn't just a whimper...it was a whimper that sounded remarkably like...

"Wuke...."

[DaisyMaeDuke]

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..."

[BoJamesDuke]

"I...I think so..." Lavinia said, her eyes wide with excitement and pride as she looked to Luke then back to Bo who was still, being unaware of what achievement he had made, tugging at Luke's pant leg and saying worriedly.

"Wuke...wuke....wuke..."

[DaisyMaeDuke]

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.