by: LostSheep3

An orange stock car rounded the bend in the road, a sign reading “Hazzard” becoming visible in the encroaching twilight. The blond driver pulled the car to the side of the road, regarding the sign for a long minute.

He had been gone so long that being back seemed almost unreal. Five years is a long time to be away from home, when home is the only place you’d ever known. But being gone hadn’t been right, he wondered if being back would be. He hoped it would.

The blonde’s roots ran deep in this land. His family had lived here for over 200 years, farming and making moonshine. They’d always lived off the land, and now that land was in danger of being taken away, once and for all.

Bo thought back to the day he received the letter in the mail from his older cousin. The letter shocked him, learning that the farm, which had been mortgaged and paid off more times than Bo could remember, was now really and truly in danger of being taken for good. A loan had been taken out for a new tractor – the old one just wasn’t able to do the job any longer. Unfortunately, due to unusually heavy rains, the crop had failed. That was all Luke had said…just that, and asking Bo to come home, if he could.

Now Bo was here…and he wasn’t sure he could continue. The farm, the only true home he’d ever known, lay just a few miles east of where he sat, but it may as well have been hundreds. Coming back after so long was proving to be harder than Bo had ever thought it would be. His family didn’t know he was coming, he could turn around and leave now, and no one would ever be the wiser…but he couldn’t do it. Dukes didn’t run from their problems, they faced them. So putting the car into gear once more, Bo headed for home.

Luke Duke was in the barn, finishing up evening chores…and worrying over the problem with the mortgage, when he heard the roar of a familiar engine heading in his direction. He wiped a hand over his brow, shaking his head, thinking he was hearing things. The General had been gone so long that he figured he was going crazy.

Putting away the grain bucket that he was carrying, Luke started for the house, jumping back in surprise when the General pulled to a stop across his path. “Bo?” Luke was sure his eyes were deceiving him.

Bo Duke slid out of the driver’s side of the orange car, landing on the ground easily with his years of practice. “Hey, Luke.” His voice was hesitant, almost shy.

“I don’t believe it….” Luke stared at the blond, noting changes in his cousin, the older look of him from the young man who’d left. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

“I almost didn’t,” Bo answered honestly.

The screen door squeaked on it’s hinges as it opened, a tall, thin brunette rushing out, calling out to her cousin “BO!!!!!!” Running forward, Daisy Duke jumped into her cousin’s arms, Bo catching her almost by accident in his surprise.

“Daisy….” Bo whispered, hugging his cousin tightly.

“God, it’s good to see you. Where have you been?” Daisy greeted, holding her cousin in a bear hug.

“I’d like to know that too…” said the older gentleman in overalls and a red cap as he joined the rest of the family.

“Uncle Jesse…” Bo said, disentangling himself from Daisy’s hold, but keeping one arm around her as he turned to face his uncle – the head of the family.

“Where have you been? Hardly a word from you in years…and here you are.” Jesse’s face registered his surprise…and an honest bit of anger that his youngest had seemed to abandon the family.

“Uncle Jesse…I’m sorry. I promise – I won’t do that again…please let me come home.” The blonde’s deep blue eyes reflected his pain and sorrow at causing his family worry…and anger.

In answer Jesse nodded once. “Dinner’s almost ready, you kids best get washed up,” he said, turning to go into the house.

“Come on, Bo, it’ll be okay,” Luke said, patting Bo on the back, then leading the “kids” into the two-story white farmhouse.

After dinner Luke found Bo out by the pasture, leaning against the fence and watching the old mule graze on her evening hay ration. Bo turned as he heard footsteps approaching.

“Why, Bo?”

“I told you in my letters, Luke,” Bo answered, turning back toward the pasture.

“You said you felt restless. On edge. You wanted to race, to enjoy life.”

“I did.”

“And yet you always made sure I knew where you were – even if it was just a postcard.”

“I did.”

“I don’t understand, Bo.”

Bo remained silent, looking into the field for several more long minutes before he started speaking. “I left because I felt smothered. Here I was always Jesse Duke’s nephew…Luke Duke’s cousin. I wasn’t Bo Duke…and I started losing my grasp on who Bo Duke was. I needed to find out who I was…and where I belonged…and I thought the only way to do that was to leave.”

“Why for so long? Why didn’t you come back sooner?”

“At first I never intended to stay gone so long. I wanted to come back. But the longer I stayed gone, the harder it was to come back. At first, I was just going to stay gone for one more race, then one more week…one more month. After a year, then two, it just started to get harder and harder to turn the car toward Hazzard.” Bo paused, looking over the pasture, lost in thought. “Yet I wanted to be here. I missed my family, my home…but the longer I stayed gone, the more I feared returning.”

“Then why now? Why this time?”

“Because it was time, and I could help. I hardly spent a penny that I’ve made over the past few years. I spent so much time on the racin’ circuit. Meals, lodging, everything was paid for except the maintenance and gas for General. I saved everything else…It should be more than enough to cover the cost of the mortgage.”

“And?” Luke asked, not believing that that was the only reason.

“I was pursuing what I thought was a dream…and I was miserable. I missed this place…my home, my family…and my best friend.” Bo turned to look at Luke. “Racin’ was our dream…together. Without my best friend…it just wasn’t right.”

“Are you home to stay? Nothing much has changed, the farm is still the farm…and you’ll still be Jesse’s nephew and my cousin.”

“Yeah, I am, if you’ll have me. I’ll still be Jesse’s nephew and you’re cousin…but now I know who Bo Duke is…and where he belongs,” Bo answered with a small smile.

Luke finally returned Bo’s smile and held out his hand to Bo. “Welcome home, Cousin.”

Bo shook Luke’s hand, then found himself tugged into a bear hug. “Thanks, Cousin….it’s good to be home.”