“Come on Kira, ya got ta come back down next weekend. We’ll all be starting in on the holiday preparations. You don’t want to miss that do you?” Daisy had taken to trying to convince her new cousin to come back for a visit real soon. Especially since the tension from yesterday seemed to have eased a bit.

“Sorry Daisy, I promised Sam that we’d go out next weekend. I don’t intend to break my promise.” Then Kira added with an evil grin, “Of course, I told the fellas that they’re more than welcome to tag along; though I just can’t picture these two going to the ballet.” Daisy choked on her breakfast as she got the image of any of her cousins duded up to attend the ballet, then being bored stiff for hours as they were trapped there.

Daisy looked over at Jebb and saw that there wasn’t any reaction to the mention of his girlfriend going out with another man. Strange considering how Kira had stated that he had a bit of a jealous streak. “Who’s this ‘Sam’ guy?”

“Daisy, Sam is the judge’s fourteen year old daughter that she told y’all about her first night here.” Bo said before taking a sip from his milk to help the eggs down that had gotten caught in his throat.

“Oh.”

“Plus I told her that I’d take her skating if she aced her last Science test. So I may or may not be doing that, too, next weekend. Look, I promise to check my date book to see if I have any time between cases to come back down here.”

“One thing to be grateful for,” Bo said after setting his milk down. “We get to save on long distance charges. No need for the phone.”

“Just don’t call while I’m in court. That could cause problems.” Looking up, she saw Judd was looking at her and Bo confused, as was Jebb.

Oops. Looking over at Jesse, she wondered how they were going to explain this to them. It had been decided not to tell the whole family about her’s and Bo’s link. Coy and Vance knew since they both were here when Kira arrived. The older family members may suspect, but they didn’t know for sure. Of course that was agreed upon before Jebb had been factored into the equation as well. But here she and Bo (Bo first she thought to herself) just spilled the beans over breakfast. ‘Now how are we going to EXPLAIN THIS?’

Bo realized what he’d let slip and glanced Jesse’s way as well. “It’s alright you two. We might as well fill these two in. Judd should know anyway since his daddy was involved too. Not to mention that Jebb would have needed to know about this eventually.” Jesse poured himself another cup of coffee as he filled his two nephews in on the fact that Kira and Bo shared the same unusual ability that their father shared with Luke’s and Judd’s father.

Of course those two didn’t quite believe it. Before the family loaded up to head on in to church, the two split the twins up to test what they been told. Judd took Bo out and tested them by having him pass a message on to Kira, then had her tell Jebb. When Jebb and Judd compared notes, they just stared at the twins as they tried to process just what this could mean. By the time they all loaded up in the vehicles to head to town, Jebb and Judd’s heads were spinning from the effort of trying to grasp this newest family secret.

Jebb then realized that Kira’d been under the stress of keeping not one, but two very big secrets all week. On the way to church, with Jebb riding with her in her truck, Kira filled Jebb in some of the pieces that Jesse had left out. And here Jebb had just THOUGHT that life had gotten complicated for his girlfriend this week. He was beginning to see that for much of it, he hadn’t had a clue. At least the family was taking everything better about them now. Bo especially seemed to have gotten a better grip on everything this morning. For Kira’s sake, he was glad. Not to mention that he didn’t enjoy being at odds with one of his favorite cousins.




Jebb had just gotten home from Hazzard a couple of hours ago and had already had to duck his mother. It seemed that she’s been busy while he was away. He had gotten home just in time for Sunday supper and had actually been looking forward to relaxing a bit from a couple of stressful days. Those plans however went up in smoke considering that it appeared that the threat to introduce Jebb to the new neighbor that Pauline had swore would be perfect for her son was no threat at all.

The dinner guest was already at the farm house in Placid County when he’d gotten home, tired, dirty, and in need of some serious down time. His father wasn’t home since he’d gone to help his Uncle Carl with a horse that was about to deliver a foal. So it was just him, his mother, his two younger twin sisters, and the young woman that had been invited to supper at the dinner table. It didn’t escape his notice either that his mother seemed to have the entire evening planned down to the tee as well. Moments after dinner was cleared, his older sister Karen called and of course asked for their mother to come and help her with something. Jebb never did catch the whole excuse. So off his mother went on an imagined emergency with both daughters in tow. Leaving her only son to entertain their guest alone.

“So your mother says that you race motorcycles. Maybe you can give me a ride sometime.” Jebb looked back at Mary Ellen; at least he thinks that’s her name. She was the new preacher’s daughter and had behaved very much the lady while his mother and sisters were here. Now in their absence he noticed that her skirt had miraculously gotten hiked much higher up on her leg where she was on the couch and sitting more than just a little provocatively. Gee, thanks Mom. You’ve thought of everything haven’t you? Jebb shook his head. He knew that his mother will have a fit but he had to get Mary Ellen out.

“I don’t think so. Look, I’m not sure what my mother told you, but I’m not interested in going out, okay. I already have a steady girl.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard. You haven’t been seen with any of the other girls in town in quite some time. Your mother even seemed to be worried about that fact.”

“Yeh, well, my mother doesn’t know everything about my private life. I think it’d be best if you went ahead and left.”

“I can’t. Your mother drove me here. I don’t have a way home.” Again that blasted hem line inched up as she spoke. “That is unless you want to take me for that ride, now.” The suggestive smile on her face left no room for it to be mistaken that she wasn’t talking about the motorcycle. Walking out the door, he figured that it’d be best if he just left instead. Let his mother be mad. She shouldn’t have left him alone with that woman no how.




Jebb had gone over to his Uncle Carl’s farm and helped his uncle and dad with the horse. It was late into the night when the two left the barn and headed home. Once back on their own farm, father and son went over the happenings in Hazzard from the past week. John had it confirmed that his son and niece were in fact a couple though he was a bit surprised when his son told him just how close he and Kira were to marriage itself.

When Jebb suggested though that they not tell his mother just yet, John tried to tell his son that putting it off wouldn’t do much good, since they would have to come out about it sooner or later. Jebb told his father that he just wanted to give Kira some time to get used to everything before anything else was sprung on her. Reluctantly, John agreed that it wouldn’t hurt to let it go for a little while but warned him not to wait too long. Especially since it was obvious just where he intended the relationship to go.




Pauline had been more than just a little mad at her son at running out on their dinner guest; and after she had worked so hard on arranging the evening too. That girl was just what her son needed. Sweet, wholesome, someone that any woman would be glad to see her son with. The kind of girl that Jebb should be considering settling down with. Instead he left her alone without a word about where he’d been heading. Mary Ellen did say that he’d come up with some cock and bull story about how he already was seeing someone. Pauline thought she’d raised her son better than to tell such a lie. She happens to know that he hadn’t been out with any of the other girls in town in over a year. He’d been staying so busy during the summer going off to all of them danged races. Even during the off season, he would head into Atlanta a lot to see some racing friend of his. Just about every chance he’d get when he wasn’t needed around the farm, he was there instead. Well, she certainly will have to talk to her son about his behavior from the night before.

Heading on upstairs, Pauline set about to putting the laundry away. She’d already put Emma and Emily’s away. Now it was time to deal with Jebb’s. Opening the various drawers to put the clothing away, Pauline couldn’t be blamed if her hands slipped a little further into the drawers than needed to place the clothes inside. Could she? Putting Jebb’s socks away into his sock drawer, she allowed her fingers to scan the back of the drawer when they brushed something that certainly wasn’t a pair of socks. Reaching in, Pauline pulled out a small wrapped box. Looking at the clock, she realized that no one would be home for quite some time yet. Taking the box, she very carefully unwrapped the paper, revealing a ring box from a jewelry store. Not the one in town either. Opening the box, her heart nearly stopped. Perhaps her son hadn’t been lying after all when he’d told Mary Ellen that he already had a steady girl. Just as carefully as she’d unwrapped the small box, Pauline re-wrapped the ring box and made it look just the way it had before and put it back in her son’s sock drawer.

“Now WHO could he have bought that ring for? And who might he have told about it? Pauline set about now, trying to solve the riddle of just who the mystery girl was. After all, she’d been looking forward to her son settling down for a long time. Why didn’t he say anything to her when she had talked to him about this very same thing last week? Now, who to go talk to about this?




Nearly two weeks later, Kira was doing her best to finish up her paperwork before it would be time to meet up with one of her friends for dinner. Though to be honest, the thought of food was the last thing on her mind. She’d not had an appetite all day and her head had begun to hurt. She must be coming down with something. Looking over at the phone, she decided that it would probably be best to cancel her plans for the evening. The only thing she wanted right now was to rest her achy muscles in a warm bath and go to bed. Maybe she’ll feel better in the morning.

The next morning, Kira woke up to her stomach churning up what little bit of dinner she had forced herself to eat the night before. She called into work, told Mitchell that since he was sitting second chair he’d have to ask for continuances on any cases scheduled for today or handle them himself. She then called her doctor to get an appointment but was disappointed that he didn’t have an opening for today. She’d have to wait until Monday instead. Once finished with the phone, Kira debated going back to bed but just couldn’t seem to get up enough energy to move up off the couch. So instead, she drifted back off where she sat.

Hours later, Kira was jolted out of her sleep by the door bell. Feeling like death warmed over, she considered ignoring the door but whoever was at the bell was very persistent. Climbing to her feet, Kira opened her door only to discover Jebb’s mother standing in the hallway.

“Pauline? What are you doing here?”

“I stopped off at your office and was told that you called in sick today. A woman named Tanya was helpful enough to give me directions to where you live.”

Good old Tanya. If she only knew that she’d just gotten her revenge on Kira for keeping her away from Bo a few weeks ago. Kira turned, not really wanting to invite her aunt in, but rather needing to sit back down to abate the nausea that was creeping back up on her from spending too much time on her feet.

“Did you want me to help you with something?”

Pauline looked at her niece and saw that she obviously wasn’t well.

“I was hoping that I could talk to you about Jebb.” Kira froze on her way back to the couch and turned back to her aunt.

“What about him?” Did she know?

“Well, you’ve been his friend for a while. So I was wondering if maybe you’ve seen him out with anyone, you know, while out racing.”

“Why ask me?”

“Well, like I said, you’ve been his friend. And you’d notice the sort of things that a woman would. I’m just dying to know who she is.”

“She? How do you know that there is a SHE?”

“Oh, well, I was putting away his laundry last week. Same as I always do, when I found a ring box in his sock drawer. And that was right after I’d set him up with a young woman in town but he told her that he already had a steady girl. I swore that he had been lying, right up until I found the ring. Now come on. Do you know who she is?”

A RING? True, they had discussed the idea a couple of times. She’d even checked to see how difficult it would be to transfer to Placid County or any of the surrounding counties. She had found out that the possibility of anyone working in any of those counties needing to be replaced was slim at best. Everyone there was perfectly happy where they were. But Jebb’s already bought a ring.

“Pauline, I’m not in the habit of talking about anyone else’s private life. In my line of work, being able to keep a secret is very important. If you want to go poking about in your son’s private life, I suggest you just ask him.” Kira had wanted to say more but had to bolt to the bathroom as she was overwhelmed by dry heaves as what was left in her stomach made an attempt to evacuate her system. She really didn’t feel like having to deal with Pauline right now. Stepping back out of the bathroom, “Pauline, you’ll have to excuse me for not being a gracious hostess, but I have a date with my bed. I’ll assume you can find your way out.” With that, Kira went into her bedroom and closed her door, blocking out her aunt.

Pauline watched as her niece headed back to bed. There was no two ways about it. That girl was sick. Looking around the apartment, she figured that since she was here, she might as well as make herself useful. She headed into the kitchen to see if it was as bad as Bo had claimed. Checking for what she’d need, Pauline made herself a list and went out shopping for supplies. With that done, she called home to tell her husband what she had planned for the weekend, then headed back into the kitchen to make some soup for her ailing relative.

Once she had the soup made, Pauline went in to check on Kira. Her fever had spiked considerably. Gently, she woke Kira up to see to it that she ate a little something. When Kira opened her eyes, she was confused to see Pauline wiping her brow with a damp rag.

“What are you still doin’ here?” Kira mumbled. She wanted to go back to sleep.

“You didn’t really think that I’d leave you here in this condition with no one to take care of you? Did you? Now sit up a little. You need to drink some of the soup.” Pauline slipped her arm under Kira’s head and sat her up with the ease of a well practiced mother that had long since become experienced at caring for sick children.

Kira really didn’t feel like drinking the soup but figured that it would be best to go ahead and take it so that the next time that her stomach rebelled, at least she’d have something to bring back up. She was getting tired of the dry heaves. Her insides felt bruised from the effort of trying to dispel contents that no longer were in her stomach.

“Now, I just need to know who your doctor is, and I’ll have him come out.”

“This is the city, Pauline. Doctors here don’t make house calls. I have an appointment for Monday.” Kira reluctantly accepted some more of the soup.

“Well, if you weren’t so sick, I’d take you on back to Placid with me. Get you some decent care.” Kira groaned as she pushed the cup of soup away and pulled her blankets back up as she turned back on her side; silently asking God if she wasn’t suffering enough without having Pauline here to take over. “I’ll wake you up later to check on you and make sure you get some more soup.” Pauline took the cup and headed back out of the room. Already, Kira was sound asleep again.

Back out into the main rooms, Pauline began to explore her niece’s apartment. It seemed that there was little in the way of personal belongings in it. No pictures of friends, only the same kinds that one might see hung in a spacious hotel. The only real personal touches were in the bedroom though she really didn’t get a good look in there since she hadn’t wanted to disturb Kira.

In the kitchen, Pauline figured that if her niece never cooked, she might as well put some meals aside to be reheated later on. Home cooking is always better than those horrible prepackaged meals that were already in the freezer. It had been a long time since she had felt so needed. Jebb and Karen were full grown, and Emma and Emily had reached that age where they easily became embarrassed by their parents. Funny how they seemed to get there at an earlier age than the other two had. Going back to check in on Kira, she got her to take some more soup without her completely waking up. In fact, her niece didn’t regain full consciousness for the rest of the day. And to think that her doctor expects her to wait until after the weekend to drive all of the way to the office to be seen.




The next thing Kira could remember, Pauline was once again waking her up. She felt a little better but still shot daggers at her self-appointed nurse when she was roused from her fever induced sleep.

“Now what?” Kira threw her arm across her eyes in an attempt to block out the light from her nightstand.

“What time is your appointment to go see this doctor of yours?”

“That’s not until Monday, Pauline. Let me go back to sleep.”

“It IS Monday, Kira.”

Kira lowered her arm so she could see her aunt. “You’re kidding?”

“No, I’m not. Now I suggest you climb on out of bed and get cleaned up. And since you’re still so sick, you’re in no shape to drive yourself. All the more reason that the doctor should have made a house call. Well, come on. Get up. I’ll have you some more soup ready when you get done.”

Pauline wouldn’t leave the bedroom until she saw that Kira was indeed getting up and was not just going to roll back over and go to sleep. Reluctantly, Kira wobbly got to her feet and dug through her dresser for some fresh sweats and a tee-shirt then headed into the bathroom. Three days. Three days that she’d been sick in bed and missed anything that might have happened on those days.

Once in the bathroom, Kira flinched at her reflection. No wonder the undead couldn’t see their own reflection. They wouldn’t want to scare themselves. If she felt like death on Friday, today she looked it. Looking at her waist length red hair, she began to unbraid it so she could brush and wash it. Funny, she didn’t remember putting her hair back. Reaching beneath the sink, Kira found her secret indulgence; scented bath salts. Sam had given her some for Christmas last year and she was hooked from there. Right now she definitely felt a little indulgence was well deserved.

Hearing Pauline in the kitchen, Kira was also reminded of the fact that her aunt had also been here for three days. And as much as she’d hate to admit it, Kira owed her a bit of thanks. When Kira got dressed and pulled her hair back again, she headed back out to the living room. As soon as she sank onto the couch, Pauline shoved another cup of soup into her hand and gave her the explicit instructions that she was to drink every bit of it. Before Kira could argue back, Pauline slipped into the bedroom and began to strip the bed and set about to getting the bed cleaned with fresh sheets. Once that was done, Pauline insisted on driving Kira to the doctor herself since Kira could hardly hold her eyes open. So out the door they both went, even though Kira really only wanted to climb right back into bed.




Once at the doctor’s office, Pauline understood why the doctor didn’t make house calls. Kira’s doctor was part of a practice attached to the hospital itself. Why Kira preferred such impersonal care, Pauline just couldn’t understand. Sitting in the small waiting room, since Kira had flat out refused to allow her to see the doctor with her, Pauline sat back reading various magazines and had gone back to thinking about the mystery woman that Jebb must be so taken with to have already bought a ring for. How could he keep such a secret from her?

Well obviously she wasn’t going to learn anything from her niece. Kira had made it clear that anything that she knew would remain a well guarded secret. Ordinarily she’d admire such loyalty to a friend but right now it was down right nerve racking. Looking at the door that Kira had gone through nearly an hour before, Pauline wondered just how long it took these city doctors to diagnose the flu and write a prescription. Pauline was about to go ask the receptionist for the third time to check on her niece when Kira came walking out. When she reached for her coat, Pauline was taken aback by the large bruises on her arms.

“What did they do to you?”

“I was almost due to come in for my blood work so they went ahead and drew it while I was here. My veins kept bursting and I just bruise easily anyway. Plain and simple.”

Pauline looked at Kira’s arms and wondered just how much blood the doctor had taken for it to have taken so many attempts to get enough to run the blood work. After all, she just had the flu. It wasn’t as if it was something major. Kira walked over to the receptionist to hand over her paper work and to settle her bill with Pauline closely behind her.

When the receptionist handed her the prescription and receipt, she said, “Thank you. The oncologist should be contacting you just after Christmas to discuss your lab work if they find anything.” Kira nodded her understanding and headed toward the door only to have her aunt grab her by the arm.

“Oncologist?”

“Yes, Pauline. That’s what the blood work was for. I had cancer as a teen. They just do the blood work every year to keep a check to make sure that it doesn’t come back again. Now please, let’s get out of here. I’m tired.” And she was. She’d slept for three days and felt as if she could sleep another three. Glancing over at Pauline, Kira realized that she was already worrying about the blood work and her bruised arms. Great, more mothering. Not that Kira wasn’t grateful for all that Pauline had done, but how does she get rid of her now?




Right after the two had gotten back to Kira’s apartment Pauline set about once again to ensuring that her niece drank the soup to prevent from getting dehydrated. As sick as Kira felt, she really didn’t want to have to deal with Pauline anymore; despite she was only trying to be helpful.

“Pauline, I want to thank you for all you’ve done, but you really don’t have to do anything else. You’ve been here for three days and I’m sure that you have things that you need to be doing. What with Christmas less than a week away. Shouldn’t you be home?”

“Well, if you feel up to the trip, I suppose I could take you home now to take care of you there.” Not what Kira was aiming for.

“I’ll be fine here by myself, Pauline. Besides, I’ll be going to Hazzard in a few days anyway.”

“Well, until you do, you’re still going to need someone to care for you. Now, back off to bed. This batch of soup is about finished. Which would you like me to make next?”

“I don’t care.” Kira mumbled as she headed off toward her bedroom. Then once again, shut the door to block out her aunt.




Pauline had just finished taking the latest batch of soup off of the stove when there was a knock at the door. Pauline went to see who was here to see her niece and opened the door only to find her son standing there.

“Jebb? What are you doing here?”

“I figured that I’d spell ya. You’ve been here for three days. Thought you might like to go home. Plus Aunt Grace is worrin’ herself to a frazzle since you’re not home to help with the Christmas decorating and cooking. I figured I’d do everyone a favor by coming to take over here for ya so you can ease Aunt Grace’s concerns over this weekend.”

“Well I don’t know. Kira is still pretty sick. Plus the doctor drew a lot of blood today. I’m not sure just how much but her arms look terrible...” Jebb’s brows furled a bit. He knew just how much the doctor would have taken. “But I guess I should be getting back home to get everything back on track for Christmas.” Looking hard at her son, she gave strict instructions of how her patient was to be cared for. “You make sure she eats that soup. She’ll not want to, but you’ll have to make her eat every bit of it. And don’t let her get up to try to do too much too soon.”

“I promise, Mom. I’ll take real good care of her.”

“Alright. She’s supposed to go to Hazzard Saturday. You come home just as soon as she heads out. By then, she should be alright to ride that far.”

“I will. I’ll see you then. Bye mom.”

With one final look in on Kira, Pauline left to go home. Jebb quietly locked the door behind his mother while silently thanking God that Kira had never been one to keep a lot of pictures just lying around. Things could have been a bit awkward if his mother had found any souvenirs of his and Kira’s relationship together as she was doing her usual snooping.

Going in to check on Kira himself, Jebb was relieved that her fever was no longer as high as his mother had indicated that it had been earlier. Sitting down on the bed, Jebb slowly began to wake his girlfriend up. When she finally opened her eyes, she pulled a pillow over her head. Not the greeting he was expecting.

“My fever must be up again. I’m hallucinating.” Jebb chuckled as he pulled the pillow away from Kira.

“You are huh?”

“Jebb? Is that really you?”

“What do you think?” Jebb brushed his lips across her forehead.

“Wha...”

“I sent mom home. She was needed there anyway. But don’t worry; she left me with strict instructions on how to take care of you.” Jebb cut her off before she could finish her question. “Come on, sit up.” Kira saw that he had a cup of soup and groaned.

“I’ve had so much soup I think I might drown if I have anymore.”

“Tough. You’ll just drown. Now drink your soup.” He saw the stubborn set of Kira’s mouth and figured that she must be feeling a little bit better if she was ready for a fight. “Or I can just go run my mother down and tell her that she needs to come back.”

Grabbing the cup, “I knew you were too good to be true. I just found out that you have a mean streak.” Jebb laughed at the face that Kira made at the taste of the soup. “There. Happy?”

“Nope. Not ‘til you finish it.”

“You’re as bad as your mother.”

“I had to inherit something from her.”

Kira sipped back the last of the soup in the shoved the cup back into her boyfriend’s hand. “There, now wipe that smirk off your face.”

“And here I was goin’ to ask you if ya wanted to sit in the living room with me, but if you’d rather stay cooped up in here by yourself...” Jebb moved to get off of the bed.

“All right. Just don’t get any more of that soup. I might start sloshing around if you do.”

Jebb reach a hand down to help Kira up. The two then curled up on the couch and watched some made for T.V. movies (In between trips to the bathroom where Jebb would hold Kira’s hair back as she got rid of that blasted soup).

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