A Hazzard County Christmas-BoJamesDuke and DaisyMaeDuke

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke looked at Bo, who at that moment let off an impish giggle. Putting his hands on his hips, Luke looked at him sternly, or as sternly as a six year old boy could look at someone. "Okay Bo...what'd ya do with it?"

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo however didn't take the look seriously, continuing to giggle a little before his expression suddenly changed to copy Luke's...or copy in a more exaggerated version of the look Luke was giving him...before bursting back into giggles again, which in turn made Lavinia and Jesse start to laugh and before he knew it, Luke was joining in too. There was just something about Bo's laugh that was infectious, just as his growing enthusiasm for the Christmas time of year would prove to be.

Eventually, Lavinia moved away and started following the tinsel trail down the hallway and picking it up as she went along, prompting a shriek from Bo who toddled after her clapping his hands. As the trio made their way through the small farmhouse, Bo soon took the lead and ducked into the bathroom where the tinsel trail ended. Following him in, the small family couldn't help but laugh as they found all the tinsel piled in the bathtub, Bo having climbed up the step Luke used to get into the bath and to reach the sink to tumble into the bath and sit in the puddle of tinsel happily.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

It was all so comical. There sat Bo...well no, more lay than sat, amidst the bundle of tinsil, holding it up in his hands as if each piece were metallic bubbles, splashing around in it.

Jesse shook his head with a laugh. "Sure is never a dull momen with that boy around..." He was so thankful for the joy his youngest brought into the house.

"You's silly, Bo," said Luke though from the sound of his voice he half-wished he could forget that he was a big boy of six years and go play in the tinsil too. He did the next best thing however, taking a handful and dumping it onto Bo's blond head.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo squealed happily as Luke dumped the shiny tinsel on his head, splashing his hands more as if he was actually in the bath. Looking up at his older cousin with big blue eyes and red and green tinsel splayed out amongst his blonde hair, Bo grabbed his cousins hand as if reading his mind and said happily.

"Wuke tooo!!! Wuke Wuke Wuke!!!"

Lavinia smiled and leant against Jesse as he wrapped his arm round his wife's shoulders, shaking her head as Luke needed no more persuading to jump in the bathtub right alongside Bo. Unlike the kids Luke played with at school, Bo didn't care how old Luke was, he would always ask him to join in whatever childish game he was playing. In a lot of ways, he stopped Luke growing up in the rapid fashion he was. The two year old forced the elder cousin to slow down and just enjoy the simplest of things and for that, Lavinia couldn't be more grateful. As awful as it was that Bo too had lost his parents, the accident had brought Luke something he lost the night he lost his....fun, hope...and the chance to continue being a kid.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

***end flashback***

Luke just sat still a moment, thinking back on the scene, and how happy he had been. He wished with all of his heart that playing in some tinsil could make him feel the same joy he felt back then...he didn't suppose anything could really.

He knew in his heart that Bo still had that joy, that same joy that had spilled over to everyone in the family at Christmas....and normally it would have affected Luke by now too, but of course this year was far different.

Luke had to be the town Santa, not for the kids' sakes, but for Bo's. He just hoped to God he could pull off being jolly when he felt anything but....

[BoJamesDuke]

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A week or so later, Bo was watching from his bed with his foot propped up on a pillow as Luke was finally putting on the Santa suit. It was hard and emotional for the dark haired cousin doing it, Bo knew that much from when he had done the same...however watching it was just as bad. It was almost like an official passing down of the patriarchal role from one generation of Dukes to the next. Luke had been named in Jesse's will as owner of the farm and, in unwritten and unspoken terms, as head of the family unit. Since that revelation however, Luke had been willing to do neither.

As he stood there in that red suit that had once been the garment of his Uncle's during the christmas season though, Luke looked every bit the part. Bo could swear, even through the slight grumblings about the beard and how he really wasn't ready to do this, that he saw his older cousin's chest puff up in pride just a little. As he turned this way and that, it was almost like seeing Jesse in the suit again. Luke's shoulders weren't hunched up, his arms not folded across his chest, his eyes didn't carry the haunted, hurt look they had been. Bo couldn't help but smile as he continued to watch, hoping that this was the first step into acceptance that Luke needed...to seeing that though his Uncle was gone, he still very much lived on in Luke.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke turned back and forth examining himself in the mirror. It had been hard for him, putting on the suit. He could almost smell traces of his uncle still on it, but of course when he looked at himself, he saw only Luke in the place his uncle had been only last year. He sighed softly feeling melancholy but yet with a peace he couldn't explain. It was almost as if the Santa suit had some Christmas magic in it, and amongst the fur trimmings, Luke seemed to find his uncle's warm, loving embrace that he so longed for.

"How do I look?" he asked turning around for Bo to see the full effect.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo swallowed hard as Luke turned to face him, nodding softly with a proud smile to him.

"Just like Santa..." he said gently, looking him up and down with a nod. "You're gonna be great...you'll do Uncle Jesse proud I know it..."

And he meant it. Normally he'd make some wise crack about how it didn't look as good on Luke as it did on Bo, or that he didn't need the padding to fill the suit out...or something like that but now really wasn't the time...or at least it wasn't the time to say it out loud.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke turned back to the mirror as Bo said that, more to hide the flush that came to his cheeks than anything. "I hope you're right," he said softly. For Jesse to be proud of him was the only thing Luke ever strived for. It was one motivation that had kept him going. He had lost it with his death, but now, as Bo said those words, it was almost as if his uncle could still be proud of him...that love and honor and pride....all those things his uncle had worked so hard to instill into them...it was almost as if those things, like Jesse's spirit were, although hidden, still very much alive.

And as these things crossed through Luke's mind, Bo could detect the faintest trace of a smile on his cousin's lips.

[BoJamesDuke]

Of course, Bo wasn't going to miss that. He only wished he had a camera so he could have captured the image forever. The first time Luke had smiled since his Uncle's passing...it seemed like such a monumental occasion for two reasons...one because it was something he and Daisy had thought they would never see again, and two because it meant a plan he had come up with - however devious, decietful and hard to pull off it had been - was actually working and Luke was none the wiser as far as he and Daisy knew.

"You better get movin' cousin...those kids are gonna be goin plum crazy in town waitin on ya...an' ya know Boss ain't gonna take kindly t'you bein late..."

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke nodded. "You don't worry about me....you just stay off that ankle. You need anything before I go? Another pillow? Cocoa?" he asked with concern.

If Luke knew what the ruse was that Bo was playing, he certainly wasn't showing it.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo shook his head with a smile.

"I'll be alright for an hour or so cousin. Daisy managed t'make an agreement with Boss that he'd still get a Santa s'long as she was allowed home t'look after me while ya do it. I'm sure she'll be able t'mother hen me just as well as you can, if not better." he said with a smirk, waving his hand towards the door. "Now go already! I wanna hear all about it when you get back alright?"

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke nodded, picking up the bag that completed the outfit, slinging it over his shoulder. "Alright...," he repled and with a nod headed out the door, the small sound of bells jingling from his belt echoing down the hallway.

Daisy was walking in just as Luke walked out giving a small wave as he climbed into the General, and took off.

"It worked..." exclaimed Daisy softly before running into the house and into Bo's room. "It worked!"

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo nodded a little and stood up once the General was definitly out of sight, taking his shirt off quickly.

"I know and now that he's gone would ya please please please get these bandages off my chest and my ankle...s'bad enough havin em wrapped when they are hurt, its torture when they ain't..."

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Daisy laughed with a nod, going over to Bo and helping him remove the detested bandages. "So...what do you say we go into town and see how he's doin after a while?" asked Daisy giving a tug on a stubborn bandage as she did so.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo yelped as she did, gaspng breathlessly.

"Daisy my ribs are still under there ya know! When ya pull like that, it pulls it tighter!" he cried out, not yelling at her, more exclaiming in pain. "You could go down there an' see if ya want but I's been told by the Doc not t'put any weight on my ankle an' Luke'll suspect somethin if I don't do it and if you don't make me do it. He may be lookin better Daisy but we gotta be careful for a while yet."

He stretched happily as the bandages finally came away from his chest, doing some small turns and stretches to loosen up again.

"He better thank me fer this when all this is over..." he muttered.

Edited November 15, 2010 by BoJamesDuke

[DaisyMaeDuke]

"I hope you're right...hope you don't get a punch in the mouth instead. He may not take too kindly t you foolin' him like this..." remarked Daisy. "Still, at least he's doing it...that's somethin...."

Luke soon showed up, hiding the General some distance away before walking into the crowded town square giving out a big "ho ho ho" to the delight of the children waiting.

[BoJamesDuke]

Bo couldn't help but laugh a little, the thought of getting punched in the mouth or any part of his body slightly appealing. It had been a long time since he'd been able to have a fight or any type of conversation with his cousin, so even that prospect was welcome.

"S'long as I get a reaction, right now I don't care what it is..." he said with a smile, turning to Daisy and hugging her close. "This might actually work Daisy....it might just work..."

Back in town, Luke was soon surrounded by the exitable children of Hazzard. They all swarmed round him like bees to honey, chattering endlessly about what they wanted for christmas and asking questions like what food did he want them to leave out for him and the reindeer, how were the reindeer and of course if the elves had started making the toys yet. Of course, answering these questions would have been easy one by one, but they all melded together in one exictable swarm of noise as they all talked at him together.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Fortunately for Luke, Hazzard was a small town, and with his knowledge of every family in Hazzard, he also knew most of the children, callling them by name, asking about their parents, siblings, grandparents and sometimes even the family dog who accompanied them on trips into town.

The time flew as he sat under the gazebo, listening to every request. No one guessed that the town Santa was Luke, his deep ho-ho-ho and twinkling blue eyes seemed to fit the ideal of Santa so well that those passing by didn't question who it was...he was just Santa, plain and simple.

[BoJamesDuke]

Knowing that fact seemed to bring Luke even more peace than anything had in a long while. The fact his only identity at that moment was Santa made it easy for him to be around people. He didn't have to worry about the questions of how he was coping, what he was doing with himself, the questioning as to why he hadn't been around. These were questions he didn't himself know the answer to yet, and thinking about them had done nothing but make him more upset so he had been avoiding the town and the people in it completly. Venturing into it this way though, opened his eyes to how much he had been missing. The kids all seemed to be so much older than he remembered, pets had been lost and added to families, even the town itself seemed to have changed somehow. The grass looked greener, the sun glinted off the windows just that little bit brighter and its pace was even slower and more relaxing than before. That was why he was content to just sit, that was why he was able to be cheerful and able to interact with the kids in the way he knew they expected - because sitting in that Gazeebo being someone else was exactly what he needed.

Eventually though, he was brought back down to reality when one very special little boy came to sit on his knee...

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke smiled a genuine smile as he put an arm around him, holding him close. It was the youngest child of the Jenson's, the Duke family's neighbors two farms down. "Well now.. little Tommy ...you've grown since I saw you last..." he began wih a pat on the boy's head. "What is it you want for Christmas?"

[BoJamesDuke]

Tommy gave him a big smile as he was lifted onto Santa's lap, swinging his legs a little and nodding as Luke commented on how much he'd grown. HIs little hands were clenched in his lap, almost like he was praying, biting his lip as he prepaired to answer Luke's question.

"Actually...I dun want anythin'...well I do, but I's already written ya a letter and I sent it already...I just wanted t'ask ya for somethin in person.."

Luke nodded a little with a smile, encouraging him to continue.

"See, I dun want anythin' fer me...I wanted t'ask if you could do somethin for some of my friends...well they's not really my friends, they're family friends...but they's real nice people. Dey's called the Dukes and dey losted their Uncle Jesse and now they's really really sad...especially Luke...and I miss them and their car cause they don't go out in it anymore and they don't come see me or mommy and daddy anymore and I miss them lots and lots. I was wondering if you could, maybe, bring their Uncle Jesse back...or if..if you can't do that could you bring them somethin' that'd make them really happy so they can come and see me again?"

[DaisyMaeDuke]

To say luke was taken aback was an understatement. He was lost for words. He soon found them however as he rubbed Tommy's back in a fatherly way. "That...that's mighty kind of ya, Tommy. I'm sure they'd appreciate that...an I just happen t know they all miss you just as much...especially Luke."

[BoJamesDuke]

"I hopes you can help dem Santa...cause I don't think anyone else can 'sides dere Uncle Jesse and he's not here no more..." he said a little sadly, the family not the only ones who missed Jesse's presence in Hazzard.

He soon was looking back up at 'Santa' with a smile though and gave him a hug before sliding off his lap and hurrying away to his mother who was waiting just down the steps of the gazebo. Turning, he gave one last wave as they both walked across the street.

[DaisyMaeDuke]

Luke waved back, though his own eyes were filled with tears. He wiped them hurriedly, knowing the other children were waiting and swallowed hard. He had never realized just how bad things had gotten. He certainly had never realized that anyone missed him...and it had felt like no one had even cared. He found himself smiling at the thought that little Tommy missed him. Bo missed him. Heck, Luke missed himself. Maybe...just maybe...it was time to come back.

He thought all of this in a moment, before reaching out for the next child to set on his lap.