by: MacSas

Luke stood in the doorway of Daisy’s room and allowed the feeling of relief at being back at the farm to warm him. As he entered her room and looked at the little knick knacks she’d collected over the years, he realised it hadn’t been that long ago that he’d sat in this room and waiting. Waiting to hear if his cousin was alive or dead. He’d had a lot of time to think while he’d been sitting on her bed waiting. And one thing he had decided was that Lex had to die. He wasn’t ashamed to admit it, to himself at least, but he would have preferred to have made his one shot a kill shot. The only thing that stopped him was Daisy being in the room. She had already seen too much violence, lived through too much anger. Killing a man in front of her had seemed too brutal. It would have been so easy though, he acknowledged now, and it would have solved a lot of problems. Least of all being the one he now faced. Luke had been told that the lawyers working for Lex were screaming premeditation. They believed that Luke had every intention of killing their client; that he had used his vast knowledge of the justice system in order to maybe get away with attempted murder. Luke wasn’t an egotistical kind of guy, but he knew that there was no way that he would be found guilty. Lex’s high priced lawyers were right. He had operated inside the law, just enough, to be a free man at the end of any trial. He frowned. There was no way he was stupid enough to tell anyone that though. Bret had told him to talk to no one. That suited Luke fine. He had nothing to say anyhow. As far as he was concerned, what had to be done was now done.

As he sat on Daisy’s bed he wondered at how things had turned bad so quick. Luke knew that Daisy had been devastated when she and Jeff had parted ways. He had taken many early morning calls from his teary cousin, needing his assurance that life would go on. She still kept a photo of her and Jeff in happy times on her bedroom cabinet. As Luke gazed at the amateur shot, he felt a small burst of anger at Daisy. How could she have let Lex fool her? She was smarter than that. At least Luke had thought so. Now he wasn’t so sure. Look at all the damage that had been caused by one silly mistake!

Luke sighed again, realising that he wasn’t really angry at Daisy. He couldn’t blame her for being blinded. Different women had fooled both him and Bo over the years. There was even a time when Bo had been dating a woman that Luke had sworn he’d seen commit a robbery in another county. It had created a real fuss between them, until they realised that the woman concerned had a twin, and that she’d been using Bo as an alibi for her sister. He and Bo had healed from that experience. Just as Daisy would heal from her experience with Lex.

“Lucas” he called, opening the door. “You here yet?”

Bo entered the kitchen and noticed the coffee cup on the table. He turned as Martin came through the door.

“Looks like he’s here” he said. “Luke, where you at?”

“In here” came the soft reply.

Martin and Bo walked down the hall to Daisy’s room. Luke glanced up, smiled at Bo and acknowledged Martin with a brief nod.

“I come in peace” Martin half joked.

“I have no grudge,” Luke said simply.

“What are you doing in here?” Bo asked.

“Just thinking” Luke replied, standing up.

“How about I make some fresh coffee?” Martin suggested.

Both cousins agreed.

“You sure your okay with him?” Bo asked when Martin had left.

Luke waved the question off. “I’ve got no problem with him”

“Daisy sure does” Bo said.

Luke looked up, a little stunned. “I thought she had the impression that the sun rose and fell on the Lieutenant”

Bo laughed. “Well, the sun has set on him alright. Big shot lawyer friend of hers came to Hazzard and Martin seems to have been put on the shelf”

Luke pondered that for a moment. “She’s not thinking straight Bo. Give her a little room to breathe. She really does love this guy, you know”

“Yeah, well, she has a funny way of showing it”

Luke raised his eyebrows at the off-handed comment. “You and Daisy having some kind of trouble of your own?”

Bo hung his head. This wasn’t the kind on thing Luke needed to be bothered with. It was his first day home, he needed to be able to relax and enjoy being free. Not get in the middle of a fight between his cousins. They had to make plans for Luke’s trial. “We had a few words” he shrugged.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Nope. We dealt with it already”

Luke didn’t believe that for a second. Bo had a most expressive face, and Luke could tell that Bo was schooling his thoughts about Daisy. He also knew that this was Bo’s way of protecting him. Truth be known, Luke would have loved to sort out the fuss between his cousins. It sure beat thinking about his trial. But if Bo wasn’t going to talk then Luke wouldn’t push the subject. He was tired and just wanted to lie on his own bed in his own room and sleep a dreamless sleep.

“Coffee’s ready” Martin called from the kitchen.

“Come on” Luke led Bo out to the hall. “We’ve got some things to discuss”

Bret pulled up outside the farmhouse. He shut off the car engine and turned to look at Daisy. “I wish you would reconsider this. Staying in the hospital a little longer wouldn’t have done you any harm”

“Bret, I just need to be home. There’s not much else the doctors can do anyway. I’m done with laying around, I want to help Luke”

Bret sighed as he opened his door. “Okay” he agreed.

Helping Daisy get out of the car, he noticed the General parked outside the farmhouse as well. “Guess Bo and Martin are here,” he murmured. “This ought to be fun”

“Please” Daisy said, as she made her way to the house. “No more macho posturing”

Bret snorted. “Macho posturing? There’s no such thing”

Daisy turned to him as she opened the kitchen door. “Oh yes there is. You two are prime examples of …”

She stopped when she noticed Bo, Martin and Luke sitting round the kitchen table. “Oh my gosh” she squealed, rushing to give Luke a hug.

“Hey cousin” he greeted her.

“How did you get out?” she asked.

“Boss Hogg” he answered simply. Seeing the disbelieving look in her eyes he smiled. “Turns out he can do more than one good deed a century”

“Last time was back in ’45” Bo informed Martin and Bret. “Was such a shock to the county, the old timers still talk about it”

Daisy shook her head in wonder. “Boss put up bail money for a Duke?”

“Well” Bo said, “He maintains that if anyone is going to put a Duke away it will be him. Besides you know how he feels about city crooks in his county”

Bret pulled a chair from the table and nudged Daisy towards it. Seeing the cold look Martin bestowed on the lawyer, Luke quickly turned tactics.

“Bret, I’ve been reading your notes, and I like the way you think”

“Your happy to have me defend you then?”

“Of course” Luke nodded, taking his seat again.

“Don’t even know why this is going to court,” Bo moaned.

“Lex’s lawyers are suing for premeditation” Bret addressed the group. “The thing is, they have been very quick to pick up on the fact that Daisy didn’t see Lex’s face that night, and therefore can’t be 100% sure it was him that attacked her” Bret waited for the murmuring to die down before adding, “They want the judge to believe that Luke shot Lex out of sheer malice”

Bo laughed “Why?”

“Luke didn’t want Daisy with Lex”

“That simple, huh?’ Bo asked.

Bret shrugged. “Bigger cases have been won and lost on less than zero”

Martin softly laughed. “You know, the best thing Luke could have done was kill Lex” He paused to look at those around him, before his somewhat knowing gaze rested on Luke. “Justifiable homicide. No trial, no prison. Most of all, no Lex”

Luke met Martin’s gaze, and gave a slight nod. He knew the Mountie would never reveal what he believed Luke had truly done. He also knew that it would never be spoken of between them. There was simply an understanding that Martin knew Luke had done what Martin himself would’ve liked to do.

Luke moved his gaze to Bo. “Why don’t you show Bret where he can bunk for the night?”

“Sure” Bo answered, leading Bret to the back of the house.

The ticking of the kitchen clocked was noisy in the dim silence that followed. Daisy cleared her throat a few times, as if preparing to say something, then deciding not to. Finally, Martin excused himself from the table. “I need to check in with Clark” As he headed for the door he noted, “The reception seems to be better outside” Daisy was unsure if he was referring only to the phone reception.

She absently rubbed a small spot between her eyes where a dull ache was beginning. Luke placed a glass of water along with some pain medication in front of her. She hadn’t even heard him get up.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“For what?” he asked.

“For coming home and bringing trouble with me. For getting you involved. For the fact that you now have to stand trial”

Luke leaned over and squeezed her hand. “We’re family. This is what families do”

Daisy smiled through her pain. “No, they don’t. Not all families”

“Well, this one does” Luke said. “Things will be okay again”

“Sure they will” Daisy sighed, as she watched him walk out of the kitchen.

It was one of those rare times when she didn’t believe what Luke had said.