by: MacSas

“He what?”

“Don’t yell at me, I just figured it out myself”

Clark ran a hand through his hair and sighed. This case was just getting worse by the day. His Lieutenant had lost his grip on the facts and instead was allowing his personal feelings to rule his head. The Hazzard County Commissioner was fretting about the meeting that Lex didn’t turn up to. The Sheriff was waiting to rub every mistake in Clark’s face. And now, Bo Duke had just informed him that Luke might have gone vigilantly on them. Surely things could not get worse?

“When was the last time you saw him?” he asked the younger Duke.

“The day that Lex was supposed to meet up with Boss”

“What” Clark couldn’t help but yell. “That was days ago! You only just now decided to let me know?”

On the other end of the phone, Bo gave a sigh. He knew he should’ve informed Clark earlier, but he wanted to give Luke the benefit of the doubt. He knew that Luke was not the sort of person to run off and do something stupid. He was the thinker. Well, he usually was. However, as much as Bo knew that, he also knew how he would like to react to Daisy’s attack. And he knew that it was possible that Luke had just temporarily lost his good sense. Family was everything to the Dukes. Poke at one of them and you ended up fighting all of them. Bo had put off calling Clark for as long as he could. The only reason he had decided to call now was simply because he was worried about Luke.

“Look” he told Clark now. “Luke told me to go out to the Jensen’s farm which is on the other side of the county. He told me that Mr. Jensen needed help to repair a fence on his back 40. We owe the Jensen’s a favour or two, so I thought nothing of going. What didn’t occur to me, until later, was the fact that Luke had decided to stay behind at the farm. He gave the excuse of waiting to hear about Daisy, but Martin could’ve contacted us by the C.B”

“So you left and when you came back Luke was gone?”

“Well, when I got to the farm, Mr. Jensen said there was nothing wrong with his fencing. But he did need help repairing the chicken house. I just assumed Luke had gotten the message wrong. When I got back to the farm, he was gone. He’d left no note and I couldn’t reach him on the C.B.”

Clark huffed. “And it was only when he’d been gone a few days that you figured he wasn’t coming home anytime soon. And then you made the brilliant decision to inform me.”

“Hey!” Bo yelled. “I know that I should have told you earlier, but you have no idea what Luke and I have been going through. We’re not allowed to see our cousin because you decided it would be better for a mad man to believe that she was dead. This is a time when we should be with her. We should be by her side. But no, you decided that was not okay. And we decided to go along with you. Luke was never going to stay away for too long you know. Daisy is very important to him. So I’m sorry if your little plan has been upended. You did what you had to do, and I did what I had to.”

Clark chewed the matter over for a moment. He couldn’t fault Bo. He probably would have done the same thing, if it were his cousin.

“Okay” he said. “Where do you think he might have gone?”

Bo laughed. “That’s easy. He’s gone to see Daisy”

*   *   *   *

Martin opened his eyes and wondered for a moment at what had awakened him. Except for the moonlight streaming through the partially closed blinds, Daisy’s room was in darkness. Sensing another presence in the room, Martin tensed. “Whoever you are, I’m armed”

A soft chuckle came from the other side of the bed. “With what? They don’t allow weapons in the hospital”

“Luke?” Martin leaned over and turned on the bedside lamp. Luke blinked in the sudden light. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought that would be obvious,” Luke drawled.

“You know this is dangerous, you being here”

Luke sat forward and stroked his cousin’s forehead. “I tried it your way. I stayed at the farm and waited. Nothing happened” He gave Martin a pointed look. “Now I’m doing it my way”

Martin sighed, knowing it was better to admit defeat. He watched as Luke took in the sight before him now that there was light in the room. At least Daisy didn’t look as battered and broken as she had during her first few days in the hospital. Some of the bruises were healing. A large gauze type pad had replaced the thick bandage around her neck. Her forearm remained wrapped and the I.V tubing remained, but most of the lacerations had started to turn into small silver scars. Still, to Luke’s eye the injuries may as well have been as raw as the day Boss found her.

“How could this have happened?” he addressed his sleeping cousin. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“Luke” Martin started.

“Don’t waste your breath Lieutenant” Luke cut him off. “I know what you’re going to say”

“You do?”

“Yeah” Luke looked up at him, taking time to notice the tiredness in the Mountie’s eyes. It was apparent that he’d had a few sleepless nights. Good. Luke was sure Martin would have a few more ahead of him yet. “You’re going to tell me how sorry you are. That if you could’ve prevented this you would have. You’re just as devastated as Bo and I are about this whole thing. Etcetera, etcetera. How am I doing?”

Martin smiled. “Guess I can throw out the handbook apology”

“Yeah” Luke said, taking Daisy’s hand in his. “I know the drill, Martin, and you know this one. We don’t blame you. This could’ve happened at any time.”

“Etcetera, etcetera, huh?” Martin asked.

Luke simply shrugged and went back to his thoughts. Martin leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He was so tired. Luke may be taking a risk by being here, but at least it meant Martin could get some real sleep. Without another thought he slipped into a relieved slumber, knowing Daisy was in the best hands.

*   *   *   *

When Martin awoke, it was to the pleasant and almost forgotten smell of real coffee. The hospital had a machine that dispensed instant coffee with instant milk and fat free type sugar. All of which equalled a bad taste in your mouth and no relief to the stress.

Luke looked at him. “Your awake” He passed Martin a cup of the glorious hot liquid.

“Thanks” he sighed, sipping the drink.

“You know that coffee out there is just …”

“Awful” Martin agreed.

They both smiled and enjoyed their drinks in quiet.

“She’s not awake yet” Luke stated, nodding towards the bed.

“No” Martin said. “She tends to sleep long hours and then wake at odd times for brief periods. She’s still so weak”

“What have they got her on?”

“Now? Shots of morphine at night, valumn during the day, and the tube there ensures that she is kept hydrated. She drinks water and sucks ice cubes, but they won’t let her eat right now. Her stomach is too weak from the drugs.”

Luke sat back and let the morning rays of sun stream over him. He was a man of few words, not that he really wanted to pass time talking about Daisy’s injuries and medication. He just needed to know the basics. It was Lex his thoughts kept turning to.

“Martin, I want to thank you for taking care of my cousin while she was in Canada. Although she hasn’t told Bo or me what really happened between her and Lex, I can imagine the details. I was thrilled when she started talking about you though. She really seems to have taken a liking to you, sort of. Actually, I’ve never seen her this far gone over anyone before. You seem to have been able to bring a calm and peace to her life despite this craziness. For that I am truly grateful.”

“She’s a special woman, Admiral.” Martin smiled. “She makes it so easy to love her.”

Luke arched an eyebrow, adopting his best Big Cousin posture. “Just remember, if you ever hurt her in any way …”

“I get to be fitted for a body cast.” Martin guessed.

“If,” Luke added, “your lucky”

“Point taken” Martin smiled, going back to his coffee.

*   *   *   *

Daisy awoke feeling a sense of calm she hadn’t felt in months. As she opened her eyes, she saw the reason.

“Luke” she breathed.

“Hey cus” he whispered. “Heard you had a problem at the safe house.”

Daisy smiled at the glib remark. She noticed the change in his expression, however, and knew what was coming.

“Daisy …”

“Luke. Your not going to interrogate me too are you?”

Yes, damn it, he thought.

“No,” he said instead. “I’m not going to interrogate you.”

*   *   *   *

While Luke was talking to Daisy, Martin was talking to Clark.

“Daisy agreed to giving us information from the diary?”

“Better than that,” Martin said, keeping his voice low as he spoke into his cell phone. “She’s allowing you to read the entire diary. That way you can pick what you think will be most damning to Lex”

“Fantastic” Clark smiled. “You tell me what you think will be best to use”

“What?” Martin asked.

“Well, your going to read it aren’t you?”

“No!” Martin answered. “I don’t want to know what’s in the book unless she tells me herself.”

“There you go, thinking with your heart again.”

“Clark, you don’t understand …”

“Yeah, I do. You fell in love and lost your senses. Happens to the best of us. But you have got to start focusing on this case again.”

“Meaning?” Martin asked.

“Meaning, sometime soon you are going to have to decide which is more important. The job or the girl.”

Martin was silent for a long time. “Clark, I can’t risk losing her. I’d gladly resign for her.”

Martin heard Clark stumble for words. “What! Are you crazy? Of course you are. Is this what Daisy wants or are you being a hero again?”

“Clark …”

“No, you have worked too long and too hard to throw it all away for a woman.”

“Not just any woman, Clark, the woman. Don’t you think I would be happy joining the Sheriffs department here?”

“Oh brother,” Clark rolled his eyes, hoping Martin was joking as an image of Roscoe came to mind. “Well, at least you couldn’t sink lower.”

Martin chuckled.

“Okay,” Clark continued, serious mood back in his voice. “Where’s the diary now?”

“Daisy says it in her bag at the farm.”

“Right, I’ll get it and bring it in this afternoon”

“Into the hospital? What for?” Martin thought of Luke sitting at Daisy’s bedside, and how Clark would take that news.

“Well, Daisy may have given permission for us to use what we want from it, but you ca imagine the loop holes Lex and his lawyers will try to punch in the fact that she never saw us using the diary. A good lawyer could easily argue that we may have had her permission to use it, but we didn’t have permission to use the bit we did.”

“Uh, yeah, I know your right.”

“By the way,” Clark added. “Luke has disappeared from the farm.”

“Oh, I bet he’s doing just fine”

“He’s there isn’t he?” Clark fumed.

“Um, I guess you could say that”

“Martin, you know how dangerous this is! What if Lex is watching the hospital? Don’t under estimate him. He made the mistake of doing that because he thought he was dealing with country hicks. He’ll be craftier now”

“Calm down” Martin said, lowering his voice as a family with a new baby passed by him and exited the front doors. “Luke’s an ex Marine, he knows how to get in and out of places without being noticed”

“Well, as long as Daisy is well enough to testify …”

“Clark, that’s a little harsh”

“It seems harsh to you because you’re personally involved. I’m not. I want the guy in jail. End of story”

With that the line went dead. Martin sighed as he hung the receiver up. Walking back to Daisy’s room gave him time to reflect. He knew he was too involved. He hadn’t expected to fall in love, but it had happened. He’d been wise with his pay cheques and had quite a nest egg saved. It would be enough to get Daisy and him settled in a new home. He couldn’t imagine not having her in his life.

He reached the door to her room, and looked through the glass panel above the handle. Luke and Daisy were deep in conversation. Martin put his hand on the handle to enter the room, but then thought better of it. Something in Daisy’s quick, nervous chatter and the tense expression on Luke’s face told him that Luke had just learnt about the diary and what was in it. She was making the right choice, he decided, slowly moving away to give the cousins their privacy. After all, Luke and Bo were the most important people in her life. She didn’t know what information Clark would decide to use from the diary. She had obviously decided to come clean to the boys rather than risk them finding out publicly. When Martin had asked her how she thought the boys would take it, she had laughed and said, “Just as well no one knows where Lex is right now”

Martin smiled at the thought of the Admiral finally being able to corner the drug dealer. What a show down that would be! As he walked to the cafeteria to collect lunch for the three of them, he wondered about what Clark had said. Lex was truly nobody’s fool. He would pop up again sooner or later. His ego demanded revenge.

Was he watching the hospital? Had he seen Luke come here? What would his next move be?

Like everything else with Lex – time would tell.