*written with Pendragon1980 (Chance Walker)*

The sun shinned brightly and warmy on the small county of Hazzard. The air was filled with a relaxed state ... all but when Rosco P. Coltrane chased the citizens of his juristiction (usually the chas-ees were the Duke boys). On this fine day though, the Hazzard Garage was without a job to do, excluding the usual tow job of pulling people out of the ditches, one reason why Cooter Davenport always has told his friends and aquantences to try to "keep between the ditches." Bo Duke, and his cousin Luke were there helping, but the older cousin was thinking about going over to the flower shop, then seeing his girlfriend Chance Walker.

Chance Walker's medical offices too, was having a slow day, which isnt always bad for her type of work. Slow days meant everyone was hale and healthy. Chance sat on her front porch, sipping her usual morning coffee and reading the Hazzard Gazzette, her calico cat Ginger sleeping on her lap. Chance would often glance across the street to Cooter at the boys playing around with General Lee. Chance figured they nevered came over bothering her about her cases, she wouldnt bother them about thiers. Besides, she already had a lunch date with Luke that day and didn't want to seem *too* anxious to see him.

As Chance sat watching, the last thing she expected was three little meows come from the area near her feet. Three young and healthy cats sat there, trying to get Ginger's attention. The young cat looked up from her nap at the three larger cats. The young woman looked at the felines as they seemed to greet each other. This distracted her long enough for Luke to slip away to get the roses from the corner florist, and then sneek over.

"Hey Chance," he said handing her a bouquet of roses.

"Hey Luke," Chance answered, smiling warmly and gently taking the roses (and holding them out of reach of Ginger, who had a taste for rose petals) "Why sir, thank y'all kindly, you shouldnt have." Chance over extragrrated her southern accent, almost mauling the drawl. Glancing down at the cavacade of cats at her feet. "brought the cavarly with you, did you? Or are these our chaperones for today?"

"I have no clue, I really hope they aren't though," Luke smiled. "They all took off over here with Catcat leading just before I left to get you these beauties," he said, having called the white cat by name. "Boots and Scooter just followed," he added. Boots was a red and white tuxedo cat with little white 'booties,' and Scooter was the black one. All three belonged to Hilery Davenport, Cooter's cousin. Finally after a few moments of watching the felines himself, Luke held his hand out to Chance to help her up out of her chair.

Chance stood, dislodging a disgruntled Ginger from her resting spot and carefully stepping over her feline admirers. She smiled up at Luke. Chance was usually tall but Luke still stood over her by a good four inches. "Well, I'm glad you could pull yourself away from the General Lee long enough for lunch. You boys seemed deep in whatever you were doing. By the way, where is Hilery? These cats usually arent far from her."

"She's in the garage, in the appartment above. I believe she's busy fixing Bo, Cooter, and herself lunch." he told her. "So, shall we?" he asked, bowing like a gentlemen. His cousin and the older of the two town grease monkeys were watching, amused. Not everyday Luke acted like that ... well not before Chance and himself started going out anyway. She was making him show he was a gentlemen, because he wanted to please her. "Um, question for ya."

"Yes?" She looked expectantly at Luke.

"Cooter asked me if I could ask you when you were bringing your car in. You mentioned something about it needing to be tunned up because it was taking pretty much forever to change gears. He said it'd be a complementary tune up beings you are the town doctor. Also said you were more than welcome to bring it over after lunch if you'd like."

"I'll be glad too. I have to admit the Bronco was crawling when I brought her in from housecalls yesterday. Let me put these flowers in some water and we'll get ourselves some lunch."

"Sounds good to me," he said.

**An Hour Later**

Chance's black Bronco pulled into Cooter's garage, Chance put the big car in park as Luke slide out of the passenger side. Chance relied on this vehicle for the housecalls she made on a near daily basis to folks who couldnt make it into the town. There were parts of Hazzard that required a offroad vehicle.

Exiting the Bronco, Chance came up to Cooter and Hilery and tossed them the keys. "She's all yours, Cooter. Do what you need to do, I won't need her until tommorrow afternoon."

"I guess that means Luke's taking the General Lee up to Hazzard Pond tonight." Bo teased, which earned him a glare from both doctor and Duke.

"Okay Chance," Cooter said. Hilery was busy with her head under the hood of a car a short distance away. She was working outside on the black pickup truck because the General Lee was in the bay where Bo and Cooter had been working on it.

"Hmm," she said, looking the engine over. The young woman had thought it had been a problem with the spark plugs by what the man who had called them about it had said, and the way the car had sounded when she tried starting it, but the plugs were all fine. "I wonder if the air intake is being blocked," she said to herself and peared into it. She found something like a waxy, papery material, but couldn't get a good look at it. She had noted that there had been a lot of bees nearby when they had picked the truck up, but the farmer had said there had been a nest in the tree next to it. Cooter had told her to wait a distance away while he had hooked the pickup to the two truck. He only allowed her to get into his wrecker after he had pulled away from the tree. The reason beeing was Hilery was allergic to bees, but not very severely unless it was multiple stings.

Gently and stupidly, she prodded it with a screwdriver instead of getting her cousin. She was a very independent person and liked doing things herself.

Chance had her back to Hilery, watching Cooter fiddle with her truck, not really paying attention to the rest of the garage. She was sure the insides of her truck looked as foreign to her as the insides of the human body would to him.

Suddenly Hilery let out a startled scream. The object had been the nest that the farmer had thought was in the tree but hadn't been able to get rid of ... which was exactly why he hadn't been able to get rid of it.

Hilery's cry broke Chance out of her thoughts and both she, the Dukes and Cooter whirled to see the mechanic in the midst of a angry clould of bees. Chance knew of Hilery's allegries, since she WAS the town doctor. Thinking fast, she grabbed the fire extingisher from the garage wall as the boys tried to wave as many bees away from the frightened girl as possible. Chance yelled to Hilery "Get down!" When Cooter pulled Hilery to the ground, Chance let the car and the swarm of insects have it with the Co2 spray.

When it was apparent that the attack was over, Cooter tried helping her sit up. She was crying and struggling to breathe. Hilery clung to him like there was no tomorrow. Bo had knelt down next to them to try to help Hilery calm down as Luke looked to Chance.

"She can't breathe, Chance," Luke said worriedly taking the fire extinguisher. It was pretty clear with the way her chest was heaving that she could barly get any air in her lungs at all.

"Luke, get my medical kit out of the back. " Chance instructed. Chance had a small supply of commonly needed drugs in her case. One such was benedryl. Chance filled the needle quickly and without hesitation pumped the medicine into Hilery's arm. Within moments, her breathing became easier and more calm. "Hil.." Chance bend down to get the girl's attention. "Listen to me, you're gonna to be fine. Just keep taking deep breaths. The medicne will help you." Chance kept her voice calm, steady and soothing." To Cooter she said. "I want to get her over to my office, get her on some oxygen and observe her for a few hours. We moved quickly but that attack was a nasty one."

"I know," Cooter said picking her up. She mumbled something and nuzzled against him. He had been like a father to her for hte last five years. "Shh," he said calmingly. Within three minutes they were across the street and walking into the medical office.

"Chance, where do you want her?" Luke asked, holding her bag. Bo was next to Cooter, holding Hilery's hand. He felt like she was a sister to him.

"She gonna be okay," he asked. She had fallen asleep in her cousins arm, mostly due to the benedryl.

"She's gonna be fine." Chance assured him. "Just take her up to second floor to one of the rooms, I'll get Nurse Caine to get her set up with some oxygen and an IV."

"Alright," Cooter said and took her up the stairs. Bo was in tow, leaving Luke and Chance completely alone on the first floor.

Once alone, Chance slowly released a pent up breath. "That was too close. I'd hate to think what might have happeaned if I hadn't been there. That was an as extreme reaction as I've seen one."

"I know," Luke said gently pulling her into a hug. "She's the last person I'd have thought to have that happen." he said honestly. "I'm glad I brought up that thing about your Bronco," he added.

"Oh Sure." Chance teased. "Take all the credit for yourself." She looked thoughful for a minute. "You and Bo better go knock out the rest of those bees before someone else gets stung. Cooter and I will look after Hil."

"Yeah, good idea," Luke said. "But Bo's upstairs," he added. "I'll go do it myself though." Luke turned and walked out the door after giving Chance a kiss goodbye. After another good spraying, he removed the nest and destroyed it promptly by crushing it with his boot... which earned him a sting or two when he did all that but he didn't mind it. He had done what had needed to be done... sides, he knew Chance would love to doctor him. She hadn't yet looked at the stings on his and Bo's hands from when they were swatting the bugs away from Hilery.

While Luke disposed of the nest, Chance had gone upstairs to the second floor to monitor Hilery. After checking on her, she did in fact treat Bo and Cooter for the nasty stings they got from the battle. While she treated Cooter, she talked to him about his cousin. "I want to keep Hil overnight for observation, just in case theres a delayed reaction or a reaction to the benedryl, besides she'll probably sleep the rest of the day and night away. Hopefully, I'll be able to discharge her tommorrow morining."

"I hope she'll be alright," he sighed and then cringed. "Doc be careful!"

"Well, I said hold still, didnt I? You're lucky its just mostly you're hands and not the rest of ya."

"Sorry," Cooter told her as she finished. "I'm just worried about Hilery." he added.

"Hey Cooter, she's awake," Bo announced popping his head into teh area where she was treating him. Cooter's hands were now being wrapped in guase from teh number of stings. Bo's own hands were swollen and wrapped already too. "Awake, complaining, hungry, and groggy," he added under his breath.

"Already?" Chance shook her head. The girl is nothing if not resilent. She entered the room a step ahead of Cooter. "Hil, how do you feel?"

"Hungry," she said quietly. "Tired too," she added looking around. She was tilll laying there, with her head on the pillow, and seemed to not be paying too much attention to things. It seemed like she couldn't focus either. The benedryl was still hitting her hard.

Hilery riggled around under her sheet for a moment, then seemed to have relaxed having become comfortable. "Can I have something to eat?" she asked. It had been a few hours since the incidence at least but Bo and Cooter had been resisting the medical attention for how worried they were, until Chance had threatened them both if they didn't get looked at. Luke had obliged quite readily for his being looked at.

"Just try to rest for now. You can have something to eat later." said Chance and then turned to her concerned friends. "It's getting late, you guys better get some rest too. Come by the in morning and I'll take another look at those hands." When Cooter started to object, Chance put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll take care of your cousin, Cooter."

"I know," he said, nodding. All of them seemed to be pleeding with her with their eyes as htey turned and wlaked away, and left. Cooter went straight back to the garage, got his pickup, and drove home to his farm, and Bo and Luke did likewise.

"Doc?" Hilery asked, still quiet as she looked at Chance.

"Yes, Hilery?"

"Thank you," she said, then rolled to her side and dozed off. The following morning though, Hilery woke up tothe sound of Chance's alarm clock going off. She was still tired, but had slept through dinner and was still hungry, but decided to wait til the doctor had made her rounds to check on her to ask, remembering to be polite.

Chance only had two patients in the hospital that morning. Jack Wilson had fallen off his barn roof while painting it and was resting after Chance set his leg in a cast yesterday morning. And, of course, Hilery. When Chance came to see the mechanic that morning, she had good news. Nurse Caine's report was the Hilery was recovering quickly and showed no signs of reaction to the medication. Ginger was two steps behind the doctor as she entered the hospital room, the cat had taken the habit of accompying Chance on rounds. "Well, How are you, today, Miss Davenport?"

"Hungry," she replied. "Sleepy a little still, but that's probably from the time of day it is. Your alarm clock woke me up. I don't usually get up til around seven and it's six," Hilery pointed out pointing to the clock. "I think I am still pretty tired too from the medication," she added.

"Sorry about that, I like to get an early start. Well, the benedryl should being wearing off soon " said Chance, placing the stethoscope on Hil's chest, listening to her breathing. Satified with that, she check her blood pressure. "As for food, I call down to the cafe for something. Think you can handle some soup?"

"Potatoe?" Hilery asked. She loved potatoe soup. "Or I could go for a scrapple and egg sandwhich or a bacon and egg sandwich with cheese," hilery shrugged. "I don't feel like eatin' much even though I'm starved."

"I'll see what I can do. Cooter, Luke and Bo should be in sometimes this morning. You had us all worried there for a moment, young lady. " Chance's eyes were friendly. "I'm gonna prescribe you some epipen injections in case you ever get caught unawares again." With that, Chance stood and went to the door. "I have some work to do, but I'll check back later to bring you your food and, Hilery, get some rest."

Hilery sighed deeply and looked around. She wanted something to read. She was bored out of her mind and didn't care what she did to releave the boredom.

As Chance exited the room, gently shutting the door behind her. The gentlemen in question, all three of them, came tearing up the steps. Chance held up her hands to stop them. "Hold it. Before you ask, Hil is fine. And you three can visit, quietly, but each one of you needs to come see me about your hands. You first, handsome." She pointed at Luke, indicating he should come with her.

"Thanks again for helping Hilery. I think Cooter would be lost without her. She's a best friend to all of us Chance," Luke smiled, then gave his girlfriend a kiss. "I don't know how Hazzard made it without you." he added. "How's Ginger?" he asked, noticing the cat nearby.

"Hil is good friend to me too, Luke. Ginger is..." Chance looked at her feet and realized that the calico wasnt with her. "doing her own thing at the moment. Probably with Hilary, she seems to attract cats." Entering her office, Chance indicated the older Duke should sit while she unwound the bandages from his hands. "That was a very brave thing you did yesterday. These bites could have been a lot worse." She said, inspecting Luke's hands.

"They weren't bites, they were stings, Chance," Luke said. He understood the doctor was probably a tad distracted by his good looks. "Yeah, I think she did run off to see Hilery. I seen her dart away just after I asked about her." He flinched slightly then relaxed as the last of the bandaging came off his hands. "That wasn't your fault," he chuckled. The bandage had only gotten a little stuck to his hands.

"Uh-huh. I think Ginger gets a little jealous when you come around. She knows my attention is elsewhere." Chance muttered, focusing on the task at hand. "Well, your hands may swell and be tender for a few days, but you should be OK. If it gets too bad, you could try some Neosporin."

"I know, Neosporn for helping it to heal, and I know you're going to say ice next for swelling," Luke said smartly and playfully. He knew what she was going to say because he liked listening to how her days usually went if they weren't too grusome, and she had once told him about a kid comming in when she was in Atlanta with some severe stings but the kid wasn't allergic like Hilery had been.

"I concur, Dr. Duke." Chance retorted. "Anything else to add?" Chance crossed her arms and leaned onto her desk.

"Hmmm," Luke said, pretending to think. "Nope, can't think of a thing." he laughed.

"No surprise there." Chance countered. Their usual banter was harmless and friendly. Before Chance could add to that, Nurse Caine stuck her head in the door. "Doctor, sorry to interruppt, but the delivery from the cafe is here."

"Thank you, Beverly. Well, Shall we? Would'nt want my patient wasting away, you know."

"Yeah, then you need to look at Cooter and Bo, and we can't have Hil getting cranky," he responded.

"Heaven forbid." Chance rolled her eyes. "Tell you what, I ordered enough for everyone. Could you take the food up and send Cooter or Bo down. I would appreciate it."

"Sure thing," Luke said and gave her a kiss on the cheek before slipping out the door and running down the hall to the next room. He slid to a stop knowing the faster things were, the sooner he could eat lunch with Chance. "Hey, Bo, Chance needs ya," he said walking into the room. He didn't send Cooter in first because he and Hilery seemed deep in a conversation about what happened.

"Thanks and Luke, don't let Hil feed Ginger anything, she's getting fat enough as it is." She called after him. She caught Nurse Caine's amused look from the reception area. "Well, she is" Chance added sheepishly.

He heard her as her voice echoed down the hallway while he gave the food to Hilery, hwo had also heard Chance through the open door.

"Yum," Hilery smiled and digged into her food as Cooter looked at his for a second before starting to eat.

"But anyway, Hilery, you shouldn't have done what you did to that wasp nest. You know what htey look like, and you know you are allergic," he lectured with his mouth full of food.

"Cooter, let her be, I think she learned her lesson," Luke said, knowing Hilery had.

"Luke, stay out of it," she said to him firmly and turned back to her cousin. "I'm a big girl Cooter, I know what I did as wrong. I understand that," she said.

"Hey, I can hear you down the hall. You guys leave any for me?" Chance asked as she entered with Bo. The blonde Duke got the same report as Luke and Cooter would probably the same. Ginger immediatly tried to jump onto Chance's lap as she sat down to join her friend. "Beat it." She told the cat sternly.

"Chance, when you tell a cat to leave you alone, all you have to do is say go lay down like a dog. Sometimes they listen. Or you can throw a toy outta the room," Hilery said.

"So, Doc, when will Hil be able to go back to work?" Cooter asked.

"Unlike your cats, Hil, Ginger is more apt at training me than I am her." Chance considered Cooter's question. "I think she'll be back to be discharged after we eat. But I want her to take it easy for the rest of the day."

"Alright," Cooter nodded. "You hear that Hil?"

"Yeah, but let me tell you something Cooter, I quit," she said.

The occupants of the room were stunned for a moment. Then everyone began talking at once.

"I'm serious." she said. Cooter was the most shocked. Hilery had begged for her job at hte garage for years. She had never listened to him about her not working on cars. She loved it that much. Then he found out how good she was and gave her a job... and now this!?

"Um, I htink it's time I get to work." Cooter said. Bo and Luke both agreed to go with him. They wanted to talk pretty much alone about this. It was a total shock.

Chance had stayed quiet. She looked from the departing men to her patient. "That was a pretty quick decision, Hil, anything you want to talk about?"

"I don't know Chance," Hilery said. The truth was, she was scared now. "I just don't know." she repeated and then began sobbing with her head in her hands having put her sandwich down when the subject had turned to work.

"Hey, hey." Chance came over near the bed and sat down in the chair Cooter had just vacated. "Hil, What's wrong? The food can't be that bad."

"It's not the food Chance, and I don't want to tak about it," she cried through her hands. Hilery wasn't usually one to break down.

"Alright, If that's what you want. I'll here if you change your mind." Chance said. Concerned, she headed downstairs where Luke, Bo and Cooter were talking. Coming up to them she asked. "Any idea what that was all about?"

"None," Cooter said shaking his head. "I'm about as dumbfounded as the rest of y'all." He seriously didn't understand. "Unless it has something to do with what happened."

"It's possible, she's been through a traumic experience and may not be thinking right at the moment. She may just need a few days to come back down to Earth. Probably once she's home for a bit, she'll start feeling better."

"Yeah, I think Chance might be right," Luke said running a hand through his hair. "I know a lot of guys how went through that in 'Nam," Luke said.

"I just hope she gets back to normal soon. I love her like a sister Chance," Bo added. "I mean, I can't even believe she quit her job! That job meant so much to her... Then again, fear can make people do strange things."

"You're preaching to the choir, Bo." Chance said, remembering her own experience a few weeks ago with her own emotional experience. Chance had gone on an emotional rampage and nearly ended up killing herself in the bargain. "I'll discharge her now, if you want."

"It sounds okay to me," Cooter said. "Just so long as she's fine." He added sitting down in a chair, letting the cat jump onto his lap. "The cats have been going nuts wondering where she is." He scratched the animal behind the ear.

"Doc, how long do you think it will be before she's back to normal?" Bo asked.

"Can't say for sure. Let's just take it one day at the time and keep an eye on things. Give her a few days off, maybe she'll be more like herself. If not, let me know."

"Alright," Cooter said. "I'll go tell her your letting her go and get her to come down," he said and went upstairs, leaving Bo and Luke behind.

"Chance, what'll you do if she doesn't get over this?" Luke asked, looking into Chance's eyes which he thought were unbeliebably beautiful.

The young doctor scratched her head. "Hopefully, she'll talk to me but, worse comes to worse, I'll make a few phone calls and see if I can get one of my old collegues down here. He's done alot of work with emotional cases. But I hope it doesn't come to that. What she needs right now is a good friend there to talk to, like I did." Chance's eyes softened as she remembered how Luke had given her a shoulder to cry on, literally, during her own crisis. Chance had emerged stronger for it, she hoped Hilery would too.

"Yeah, but Chance, Cooter probably won't be able to pay for all that," Bo said from where he sat to the side. Boss Hogg had some of the highest mortgage rates out there.

"I'm afraid Bo's right Chance. Cooter's best customers are the Hazzard Law but they never wanna pay up or they short change him, and us Dukes, well we're behind on our tabs with him too, which are usually payed after a race."

"I never charge Cooter for medical help. I help people whether or not I get paid." Chance put her hands on her hips, slightly annoyed.

"Alright," Bo said perking up. He had been sitting hunched over thinking, and worrying.

"Thanks Chance," Luke told her and gave her a hug.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Hilery was up and out of bed. She was all ready to go when Cooter ahd gotten up there to tell her about Chance discharging her. She was wearing a faded pinkish colored tank top, and a pair of blue jeans with her boots.

"Cooter, all that I want is to go home to the farm for a couple of days right now," she said when Cooter asked if there was anything he could get her. He nodded as he let her go ahead of her into the stairwell.

Seeing her patient come down the steps, Chance approached her. "Hilery, I need to take it easy the next couple of days. As always, call me if you feel worse and if you need to talk, I'm here."

"Alright," she nodded. "Thanks again Doc for savin' me like that." Hilery added and gave her a quick hug. She remembered somewhat what happened. Chances quick thinking had probably saved her life.

"C'mon Hil," Cooter said putting an arm around her. "Chance, I promise to keep a close eye on her."

"I'll hold you to that." Chance said, returning the hug and handing Hil the package of injections she had promised. "You take care, little girl."

"I'm not little," Hilery mumbled. She was 18 afterall and didn't like being called little or small or a kid.

"C'mon Hilery, I best get you home and in bed," Cooter said and then lead her out the door, giving her a little support along the way. He could see she was still a little drowsy.

***

Over the next couple of days, Hilery still wouldn't take her job back whenever Cooter asked, which he tried to keep to a minimum. Heck it had been a week and he had only asked twice. He tried getting her to talk about what had happened but she kept shrinking away each time. Hilery wouldn't even go near a vehicle being worked on, let alone work on one herself. This worried the older Davenport a lot.

Chance hadn't seen Hilery since she discharged her. Worried about her friend, she headed over the Cooter's. The mechanic, as usual, had his head stuck into a car's innards and didn't seem to notice the doctor coming up to him. Smiling, Chance knocked on the car's hood, causing the startled Cooter to bang his head on it.

"Ouch!" he said comming out from under the hood rubbing his head. "What can I do fer ya Chance, and seriously, there has got to be a painless way to get someone's attention," he grinned. "How ya been?"

"Keeps me in business." Chance replied, grinning. "I'm fine, but I'm worried about Hilery. I haven't hide nor hear of her since the bee attack. How is she?"

"I can't get her to really talk to me about it, and she runs any time i crawl under a car or open a hood." Cooter said, his expression sullen.

"I had hoped it wouldnt have come to this, but you think you could get her to come into my office? Maybe she'll talk to me about it as a doctor."

"I can try Chance," he said. "How's the Bronco runnin'?"

"Great since you cleaned her out. "

"Good," Cooter smiled. "Infact, Hilery's upstairs if you'd like to talk to her now Chance."

"Ok fine, we'll try friend first and then doctor." Chance said, heading for the steps. "And, Cooter, watch you head."

"YOu don't have to tell me twice," he smiled as the doctor ascended the stairs to the small appartment above. Hilery heard the doctor comming up the stairs, nad had been able to hear hte conversation below so she opened the door for the medical person for when she got up to the landing.

"Good morning, Hil." Chance greeted as she entered the apartment. "Just thought I'd drop in for a housecall."

"Hello Chance," the Davenport said sipping a cold glass of lemonaid. "how are you, and what do you mean housecall?" she asked. She didn't want the doc to know she had heard them downstairs.

"Well, Cooter mentioned you're havent been back to the garage. I was wondering if there was something you'd like to talk about...about the day you got stung?"

"Chance...." Hilery said sighin'.

"Hilery, you can trust me. Anything you say will be just between you and me. I'm worried about you, girl, cars are your life as much as medicine is mine. I don't wanna see you throw that away because of one incident."

Hilery took a deep breath. "Chance, when I was like five, we found out about the allergy. It wasn't severe, but the Doc had told me that multiple stings could perhaps kill me. Mom and Dad didn't know what to make of it. No one in either of their families had ever had an allergy. I've always avoided any kind of nest, bees, hornets, wasps, yellow jackets, ect. I jsut I don't know. I never thought i'd find one in a vehicle's engine though. I think now everytime I get near an exposed engine or what not, I fear a nest, I fear a swarm, I fear so much Chance. I'm afraid that a bunch of bees are gonna come out at me again. I see these immages of it each time I get near an engine with the hood up." Hilery said, tears comming down her face.

"It's Ok, Its understandable" Chance sat down next to Hilary and put a comforting arm around the girl's shouder. "We, Cooter, Luke, Bo and I, want to help, though."

"Thanks," she said and hugged her before completely breaking down in tears. "I'm so scared."

"It's OK to be scared. Hell, if i had a penny for everytime I walked into the OR scared, I'd be richer than Boss Hogg right now. But would you be willing to let me help you, as a doctor and friend?"

"Yeah," she said, looking up with bleery, teary eyes.

"Alright" Chance said, giving Hil a quick squeeze. "Come by my office tommorrow. I have a friend from Atlanta who has experience with different phobias, he might be able to suggest something."

"Okay,"Hielry said quietly. "Thank you Chance." Hilery said and gave her a large, bear hug, so tight, that Chances ribs creaked.

"Oof" Chance returned the hug, abeit a bit more gently. "I'll tell Cooter you have an appointment with me on my way out, but I won't tell him for what if you don't want me too." She stood, rubbing her sore ribcage. Smiling, she ruffled the mechanic's hair. "Take care of yourself, little girl, doctor's orders."

"I'm not little," Hilery retorted. The following day, Hilery walked over to Chance's Medical offices like ordered to. She brought her own cats to keep Ginger company and watched the four felines frolicking on the floor of the waiting room. It was a wonderful sight to see them so happy. She had figured the cats wanted to say hi to each other.

"Hello, Hil." Chance greeted her, exiting her office. She motioned for Hilary to join her in her office for the time being, figuring they could talk in private there.

"Hi Chance ... Um, I thought you had a friend here," Hilery said looking around nervously. She noted a few new paintings on the walls.

"Unfortunatly, Dr. Tanner wasn't able to come to Hazzard directly, but I did talk to him over the phone for a good bit about what we can do. We have several options here, but the simplest is just to talk about your fears and, hopefully, confront them."

"Confront them?" Hilery said, a sinking feeling in hr stomach.

"Slowly, when you're ready." Chance reassured her. "But for now, all you have to do is talk."

"Oh." she said. "Okay. I guess I told you a lot yesterday though. Everytime I see teh swarms comming out of the engine at me and I feel the pain from the flash backs..."

The counseling session lasted for over an hour and Chance was pleased with the progress Hilery was making, she would have let the girl talk more than she had some housecalls to make that afternoon. "Well, Hil, I think you're gonna pull through with time." Chance said as she accompanied Hilery to the reception area. "You can always come talk with me if you want, but I'm have you make an appointment with Nurse Caine so we have something definite."

"Okay, thanks Chance. You're a great friend. I mean that. You do so much for others and yet, you don't expect anything in return. Let me get you some ice cream next tiem we talk to or a snack or something," Hileyr smiled.

"My door's always open to my friends." Chance said with a gentle smile. "Go on, Cooter's be worried about you if ya stay too long."

"Alright," she said and left, stopping to talk to the nurse on her way out. The councelling continued for a few weeks. Hilery didn't mind that Chance didn't have a psychology degree, but she was a friend and that is what qualified her in Hilery's eyes.

Some weeks later , Chance and Hilery were sharing a glass of iced tea after one of their session on Chance's front porch. They were watching Cooter, with some help from Luke and Bo, try to keep up with orders and repairs. "You know..." Chance said chewing on an iced cube. "I was going to have Cooter have a look at the Bronco again. But he's so busy, being shorthanded and all, that I really don't want to bother him." She looked at Hilery with a raised eyebrow. Hilery had made a lot of progress last few weeks, but had yet to take the crucial step of actually working on a car herself. She could see the longinf in the girl's face watching the boys do the work she loved so much.

"Chance, I don't know ..." Hilery said, fear in her voice. "not unless you're there the whole time, right next to me, and all that. I don't want to get hurt," she said meakly. "You saved me last time."

"I promise, I wont leave your side for an instant." Chance smiled. "Who knows, maybe you can even teach this old sawbones a thing or two about doctoring cars."

Hilery glaced adn Chance still alittle unsure, but also knew Chance needed her small truck. "Okay, fine," Hilery said even quieter. Chance took Hilery to the Bronco. The problem was the spark plugs. They were gone. "Chance, do you have any spark plugs?" she asked unsure. Not everyone kept them on hand. "If not, I have a few in Jumper's trunk. I'll go with you to get them, or I can myself." The Davenport girl told her.

Chance damn well knew the spark plugs were gone, she removed them herself. "I know Cooter has some. Why don't you go get them from him?"

"Nah," she said. "I'll wait on the porch if you'd like to get them."

"Hilery..." Chance said. "You have to go back sometime. You have alot of strength, more than most. You're ready for this."

"I might later," she replield. "If this goes well then I will. Just get me some spark plugs.

"Alright." replied Chance, a bit disappointed. But Hilery had said maybe later so she played along. Crossing the street to Cooter's, the boys looked up from the enegine they were working on.

"Hows it going?" Cooter aske. He wasnt unaware of Chance's "missing" sparks plugs or the fact that Chance had planned all along to ask Hilery to fix it.

"She's making progress, but she's still scared to take that final leap."

"You think this will work?"

"I think once she starts doing what she loves to do again, that will replace the fear." Chance told them while Cooter handed her the plugs. "Thanks, wish me luck."

She walked back over to Hilery and handed her the plugs. "Here ya go."

"Thanks," she said and replaced the plugs. "That wasn't too bad,"Hilery said. "I think you're right. There wans't really anything to be afraid of." she added. Later that day, she went to cooter and got her job back. Bo and Luke were proud of her, as was everyone else. Soon, business was caught up too, and Hilery took Chance out for ice cream like she promised.

"Chance?" Hil asked while eating her vanilla ice cream.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Thanks again. I know you tricked me, I'm pretty sure of it. But you did the right thing and helped me. You're a good doctor, who is good with her patients. Soon the fear will be gone, if I keep doing my job. I'll never forget what happened though." Hilery smiled after saying what she had needed to say.

"No problem, Hil, we've all been stung at some point in our lives or another.

As time went on, Hilery's fear did dissapper, for which she was thankful, but also knew she owed Chance big time for saving her life, and her career.

---THE END---