by: MacSas

“Do it” Lex rasped, looking into the eyes of the man on the other side of the bed.

“Luke … don’t …” Daisy pleaded, trying to suck air into her tired lungs.

Lex smiled. “So you’re the cousin who walks on water, huh?”

Luke’s gaze remained on Lex, his aim remained ready.

Lex licked his parched lips. The pain in his side was almost overwhelming, yet he wouldn’t give into it. Not yet. He tried to stand straighter, to appear unaffected by the mountain of a man in front of him.

“Luke” Daisy whispered, looking intently at his cousin. “Please, don’t do anything stupid”

“Stupid” Lex sneered. “He already shot me!”

Daisy ignored him and focused on Luke. He hadn’t moved an inch since firing the gun. No emotion showed on his face, his eyes stayed on Lex, unblinking. Daisy had never seen Luke so intense, despite him being a fairly serious man. It worried her.

“Go on” Lex goaded Luke. “Finish it. I know you’d rather see me dead than in prison”

Daisy worried that Lex was trying to force Luke’s hand. She knew Lex would rather die than face the rest of his life behind bars. If he wanted to die, that was fine with her, but not by Luke’s hand.

“Come on” Lex continued, trying to keep himself upright as pain shot through him. “Finish it”

Daisy watched Luke closely. There was no sign he’d even heard Lex, yet his sole focus remained on the man.

“Come on” Lex whispered. “You know I wanted to do the same. I had your pretty little cousin screaming, begging for her life. You don’t think I enjoyed each cut my knife made? I enjoyed seeing her bleed, hearing her cry …”

The door suddenly burst open. Martin had his gun aimed at Lex, but addressed Luke.

“Stand down Admiral”

Lex’s rasping breaths punctuated the silence that followed. He held his side as blood flowed, but kept his eyes on Luke.

“Luke” Martin ordered. “Put the gun down. Let us deal with him”

“Yeah” Lex said. “Cos they did such a great job last time. No jail is going to hold me, you know that. I’ll be back for your cousin. Again and again …”

Another shot suddenly rang out. Daisy stifled a scream as Lex hit the floor. For a moment no one moved, then Lex rolled over and moaned. Luke had shot the wall instead of Lex however. He very calmly unloaded his weapon and placed it at the foot of Daisy’s bed.

“Put your hands on your head Luke” Martin said.

As Luke complied, a medical team entered the room.

“He shot me,” Lex yelled as he was taken out on a stretcher.

As Martin placed handcuffs on Luke he looked over at Daisy. Her gaze hadn’t wavered from her cousin, but she now noticed Martin watching her. She looked at him in confusion.

“I’m sorry honey,” he said softly as he turned Luke towards the door. “I have to do this. It’s my job”

Martin saw a flicker of emotion flash over her face. He saw that she realised he was serious about arresting Luke. And, right before she turned her head, he saw something die in her eyes.

*   *   *   *

Bo sighed as he looked across the table at his cousin.

“What were you thinking?” he asked.

“That it would never end for her,” Luke said. “He would find a way to keep haunting her. The justice system can’t deal with his type, Bo”

Bo laughed. “Listen to yourself Lucas. You sound like you’ve gone from mild mannered judge to blood seeking jury. You, of all people, should know better”

Luke’s hands clenched in front of him. “I’ve seen it many times. Guys like Lex are mad enough to be too smart for the system. They always find a way through the cracks. There’s always some loophole only they have heard of. How can you fight that?”

“Not by shooting the man,” Bo whispered.

“He had a pillow over Daisy’s face. He was trying to kill her. No jury will convict me knowing that.”

Bo sighed, struggling with the fact that he would have done the same thing in Luke’s shoes. “You couldn’t have just punched him out?”

Luke shrugged. “I didn’t really think about that. All I saw was Daisy fighting for her life and then I saw red”

Bo couldn’t recall the name of the Biblical character that turned to salt, but seeing the look in Luke’s eyes led him to believe that were Lex standing in front of Luke right now, he’d not fare much better.

Luke leaned forward so a nearby guard wouldn’t hear him. “I wanted to kill him, Bo. I really wanted him dead”

Bo looked at Luke for a moment, and then shook his head. “Well, I guess it’s lucky for Lex that your heart is bigger than that”

Luke smiled at his cousin. The pair sat in silence for a while, before the guard informed Bo that it was time to leave. Beyond the walls of the small visiting room Bo could hear the sounds of prisoners being moved, guards calling to each other, steel doors opening and clanging shut. He shivered inwardly. There was no way that Luke could be sent away for defending Daisy. Luke may have lost faith in the idea of justice, but Bo had to hold onto whatever hope there was. And right now, according to Clark, that hope would possibly lie in a good lawyer with a way of making a brilliant case. Bo had been told earlier in the day that Luke’s aim may not have been to kill, but it had been deadly anyway. Lex had sustained more damage than originally thought.

All of this put Bo in the unusual position of being the pillar that held everyone together. He wasn’t sure he liked that. He’d always been able to look to Luke and Daisy for advice. Now it was up to him to carry everyone along. They had come through the worst, but there was still so far to go. As he climbed into the General Lee, Bo decided he’d pay a visit to Daisy and see if she was doing any better than Luke. He’d never seen the two of them so down, and he didn’t quite know how to help them. He figured he’d stumble through it though. After all, he was a Duke.

*   *   *   *

Bo would discover that Daisy was as stunned as he about what had happened. Hospital staff had moved her to another room, as her one had become a crime scene. Daisy was now more anxious than ever to get back to the farm. Although doctors were reluctant to release her, they had at least gotten her to agree to stay until the end of the week.

“I can’t believe it,” she now murmured. It was about the tenth time Bo had heard her say those four words. But, Bo thought, who was counting. He missed Daisy’s normally cheery smile, her infectious laughter, and her easy way of seeing things. Now, though, she was so … stunned. Like a possum caught in the headlights. That was a feeling he could relate to. All three cousins were now suffering at the hands of Lex. It seemed only Bo had the clear head right now. He reminded himself again that he could do this; he could be the responsible Duke. Everyone normally expected Bo Duke to crack a joke, pull a prank or just generally mess up. Now was the time to prove them wrong.

“Daisy” he addressed his cousin in a strong voice. “I need to know who to call to help Luke”

“You mean a lawyer?”

“Yeah, a good one”

Daisy thought for a moment. There were plenty of lawyers she knew that would be only too happy to help. But only one would be sure of getting the job done. And only one that she would trust with her cousin’s future. That would be Bret.

Daisy sighed. What a mess he would be walking back into. Last time she’d seen him, she and Martin were all but engaged, happy to face a future together. Now Martin had arrested her cousin. Done his job. She knew he’d had no other choice, she would’ve thought less of him if he hadn’t done it. Yet she couldn’t help the sense of loyalty to her cousin. Why couldn’t it have been Clark who came through that door?

“Daisy” Bo practically yelled. She snapped back to attention. “A lawyer, Daisy. Who do I call?”

“Call Bret. He has a practise in San Antonio. I’m sure he’d love to have another go at Lex.”

“Ok, how do I get hold of him?”

“I still have his number in my address book at the farm”

She gave him details on where the address book was.

“Bo” she said softly “You know Luke could be in a lot of trouble”

“I’m trying not to think about that. Luke’s tough, he’ll be okay”

“You don’t know the system like Luke and I do”

Bo frowned. Did Daisy doubt him?

“I don’t have the same criminal degrees that you guys do, but I am not stupid”

Daisy opened her eyes and looked at her younger cousin. He stood in defiance, as if waiting for her to prove him wrong. She hadn’t realised how easily wounded Bo could be. He always shrugged everything off with his country boy attitude; it was almost impossible to tell when he was being serious. She had no doubt, though, that now was one of those rare times.

“Bo, neither Luke nor I have ever thought you stupid. A little lacklustre in your ability to be mature minded maybe, but never stupid. I know that you’ll deal with what has to be done, with the same strength of character that you always face things with”

“Oh” Bo fought the urge to blush.

“What I meant was, even though it seems an open and shut case to us, the system has a way of making things so confusing it just gets too hard to see the simplicity of it”

Bo thought for a moment.

“Well then,” he decided, with a smile. “The sooner I get hold of this Bret fellow, the better.”