Dark clouds filled the sky, threating rain. Though those dark clouds were not as black as the one that had passed over Bo and Luke's friendship. Over the past week they barely spoke a word to each other and when they did the words were spoken in anger. Both Jesse and Daisy decided it was best just to stay out of Bo and Luke's fight and not take sides. They hoped that the boys friendship was strong enough to pull through this fight in tact, each day that passed though it seemed less likely that they would ever again be friends. Jesse hoped that the boys wouldn't carry this grudge around with them the rest of their lives. He knew from experience that they would be sorry if they did. Their fight wasn't really about anything major in fact the main reason for fighting seemed to be forgotten already and they just squabbled about small insignificant things. They would fight about small things like whose turn it was to do what chores. Their four years age difference seemed to matter a lot, where as before it never matter to them.
     Bo released the arrow it flew through the air and struck the target just missing the bullseye. Bo frowned.
     "Ain't you ever learned to do that right?" Luke questioned harshly.
     "Oh, like you hit the bullseye every time." Bo responded in much the same tone.
     "More often then you." Luke said.
Bo gave an amused sounding laugh. "Yeah right cousin."
     "It is a fact and you know it. I am a lot better at this then you." Luke said.
Bo just mimicked Luke silently. Luke narrowed his eyes at Bo, a glare which Bo returned. Daisy and Jesse were on the other side of the yard and sighed to see Bo and Luke fighting again.
     "I can do anything ten times better then you can." Luke said.
Bo laughed. "Yeah right in your dreams. I am ten times the driver that you are."
     "Not quite Bo, I am easily the best driver in these parts." Luke said.
     "You think that just because you are older that you are better at everything." Bo said.
     "Well I am." Luke said.
     "News flash cousin. "You AIN'T." Bo said.
Luke glared at Bo and raised his hand to strike him. Jesse who had been watching the fight decided it was time to intervene.
     "BOYS!" Jesse yelled firmly.
Luke seemed to ignore Jesse and he swung his hand to hit Bo. Bo just stared unwavering at Luke. Luke stopped before actually striking Bo, his hand just brushing against the side of Bo's face. Bo never even blinked.
     "If Uncle Jesse wasn't here I'd give you a beating you'd never soon forget." Luke said harshly, in a voice barely above a whisper, so that Jesse couldn't hear.
     "Yeah right you think that you actually could still take me? You got another thing coming Luke." Bo said.
     "You know that I could. I got Marine training I could take you out easy." Luke said.
Bo rolled his eyes. "Oh I am so scared the big bad Marine."
     "Why don't you do us all a favour and keep your mouth shut." Luke said.
Bo glared at Luke, and went to respond, but Jesse had came over and stood between the two of them.
     "That is enough boys." Jesse said firmly.
Bo didn't say anything and walked over to where the General was parked.
     "I'm out of here." Bo said.
     "Good. I hope that you NEVER come back." Luke said.
Jesse and Daisy watched as the General sped away from the farm in a cloud of dust.
    About an hour after Bo left it started to rain. Jesse, Daisy and Luke went into the farmhouse. Nobody saying a word after Bo had taken off.
     Luke leaned against the wall and looked out the window and watched the rain steadily beat down. The storm had gotten a lot strong in the past few minutes. The rain had been just lightly coming down now it had begun to pour. A strong wind had started as well. Luke could hear Jesse and Daisy in the kitchen making dinner. Luke stood silently listening to the steady beating of the rain against the window pane. He hoped that Bo was in somewhere out of the storm. He started to think back to what had happened only a few short hours ago, when he had fought with Bo. He wished he hadn't, he really regretted all the things he had said during the fight, he never meant any of them. He hated fighting with Bo, although Bo was only his cousin he had always thought of him more as a brother, since they had been raised together. Luke took a deep breath and silently cursed himself for losing his temper the way he had, and saying the things he had said to Bo. Daisy had come into the room and placed a hand on Luke's shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts. Luke turned around, slowly, to face her.
     "You okay?" she asked concernedly.
     "Yeah I'm fine."
     "Your worried about Bo, aren't you?"
Luke turned and looked back out the window. "Yeah. This storm is getting quite bad."
     "I am sure that Bo is fine and is somewhere out of the storm." Daisy said.
     "I sure hope so." Luke said, and to himself thought, ‘Considering the last thing that I said to him.'
     The two of them then went into the kitchen for dinner. Luke thought he heard a car pull up outside, he hoped that it was Bo home. He jumped up from the table and looked out the small kitchen window. But there was nobody there, he figured it must have just been the wind. After Jesse had said grace everybody was silent. They were all too worried about Bo. They hoped he was in somewhere safe and not still out driving in the storm. As they sat silently eating their meal they listened to the storm as it steadily grew worse. The wind seemed to howl, and the rain beat so hard against the window that it sounded as though it would surely break it.
      Suddenly, a tree branch crashed through the small kitchen window, startling everyone and breaking the silence. For a second everyone sat in shock, their hearts racing. Luke was the first one to get up, he looked around for something to cover the window with to keep the rain from coming in. He noticed a board beside the fridge and grabbed it. He pulled the branch from the window, and tossed it to one side. Fortunately the board was the right size. Jesse had got up to help and handed Luke nails and a hammer to put the board in place. As Luke covered the window Jesse cleaned up the glass that lay strewn across the counter and the kitchen floor. Daisy sat quietly at the kitchen table. After finishing cleaning the mess up, Jesse and Luke sat back down at the table. Everyone's desire to eat even less then it was before. Knowing how bad the storm was and not knowing if Bo was okay had them fraught with worry. Luke felt guilty about Bo being out in the storm as it was because of their fight he had left the farm, other then that he would be safe at home with them. He felt as though Jesse and Daisy were staring at him with blameful eyes, alougth they weren't. It was just his own feelings of guilt that made him think that they were blaming him.
     Out on Willow Creek road, Bo was driving slowly through the rain. The rain was coming down so hard that he could barely see the road. Part of Bo knew that he should just stop and pull over to the side, but he just didn't want to stop driving. He found that driving always helped him to clear his mind when he was upset. Then there was a bright flash of lightening that struck a tree, knocking it across the road. Bo went to swerve to avoid the tree, but it was too late. The General slammed head-on into the fallen tree. Bo was flung forward in the car, and since he wasn't wearing a seat blet, he was tossed through the windshield of the car. Bo struck his head on the hood of the General he rolled across it. Darkness over took his mind as went unconscious. He fell limply from the car and crashed to the ground. He lay unmoving on the cold wet ground, becoming soaked by the pouring rain.
     It was almost an hour later by the time another came down the road. The car stopped behind the General, finding it curious that the car was just stopped like that. A bright flash of lightening lit the sky and the person noticed the car was crunched up against a fallen tree, and caught site of someone laying on the ground next to the car. The man got out of his car and rushed to check on the person. The first thing he did was to check for a pulse. There was one, though it was quite weak. He wondered how long the young man had been laying on the ground. He carefully rolled Bo over, noticed several large cuts and bruises. He saw the young man was soaking wet, and covered with mud and blood. Noticing the shattered windshield he figured that Bo had been thrown from the car when it hit the tree. He knew that he had to get this young man to the hospital and not knowing how long he had been laying injured he knew there wasn't time to wait for an ambulance. He carefully picked up the unconscious person and put him in the backseat. He figured that the young man looked to be in his early twenties, maybe about twenty one. He hoped that he had found him in time to safe his life.
     An hour later the phone rang at the Duke farm. Luke rushed to answer the phone hopeful that it was Bo calling home that he was okay.
     "Hello." Luke said.
     "Hello is this the Duke residence?" the voice on the other end asked.
Luke felt his stomach tighten with worry, one thought ran through his mind, Bo was hurt. "Yes."
     "This is Dr. Gravis at Tri-County General. I am calling to tell you that Beauregard Duke has been in an accident."
Luke paled and sallowed hard. "Yes he okay?"
     "It is too soon to tell yet. He was badly injured." Dr. Gravis said.
     "We'll be right there." Luke said.
He hung up the phone, his hands shaking, he turned to face Jesse and Daisy.
     "Who was that?" Jesse asked.
     "It was Tri-County General, Bo has been in an accident." Luke said.
Jesse seemed to pale, and his face became drawn with worry. "Is he okay?"
     "They don't really know yet, they said he was badly injured." Luke said.
 The three of them went as quickly to the hospital as they could. The storm was still raging on and prohibited them from driving to fast. They found Dr. Gravis once they reached the hospital.
     "How is he?" Jesse asked, his voice fraught with worry.
Dr. Gravis sighed. "We managed to stop the internal bleeding, but there was a lot of damage and he lost a lot of blood. We figured he was laying injured around an hour before someone found him. He is in a deep comma, and he stopped breathing on his own."
All the Dukes seemed to pale with worry at how badly injured Bo was. The doctor led them to the room Bo was in.
     Daisy buried her head against Jesse's arm when she saw Bo laying the hospital bed. Luke rushed to Bo's side and gently took his right hand and held it between his own. Bo looked so small in hospital. Most his body was covered with bandages or casts. He was hooked up to heart monitor which beat in a slow steady rhythm. There was an IV needle in his left hand, which slowly dripped providing Bo's body with the nutrients it needed. However the most disturbing site for them all to see was the breathing tube that was coming out of Bo's mouth. Jesse and Daisy walked over and joined Luke by Bo's bedside. Luke looked at Jesse with teary eyes.
     "This is all my fault Uncle Jesse." Luke said.
     "No it is not Luke. It isn't your fault at all." Jesse said.
     "Yes it is. If Bo and I hadn't been fighting he'd be safe at home right now." Luke said, he looked down at Bo then back up at Jesse. "If anything happens to Bo the last thing I will have said to him was in a moment of angry, and something I didn't mean."
Jesse put a reassuring hand on Luke's shoulder. "What happened to Bo ain't you fault. You can't go blaming yourself. Bo wouldn't want to. And Bo is going to pull through this fine."
     Nobody spoke another word for several hours. Jesse started to think back to just before his brother Gregory, Bo's father, died. They had been fighting though now Jesse couldn't even remember why. The last time he had seen him alive he had said some things he'd regret forever things he never meant. He had never had a chance to tell him sorry before he died. Jesse often thought that taken Bo in an raising up right in a loving home was a way of apologizing. He had took Bo in and raised him up and loved him as though he was his own child. Jesse pushed the memories of the past from his mind focusing only on the present situation. He looked at Luke sat on a chair beside Bo's bed, still holding on to his hand. Jesse complete understand the feelings of guilt that Luke was going through. He thought to himself he might tell Luke about what happened with Bo's father if he could bring himself to tell the story. He prayed that Bo was strong enough to pull through this, and wouldn't leave them.
     The Dukes spent the night at Bo's side, none of them getting any sleep. Later the next day Jesse and Daisy went back to the farm to get some sleep, while Luke stayed at Bo's side
     "Bo please wake up." Luke pleaded softly.
The only response to his plea was the steady beeping of the heart monitor, and oxygen machine. Luke bit back the tears that burned in his eyes. It pained him deeply to see his cousin laying there like he was. Luke sighed he wished that Bo would wake up and just say this was all some kind of a joke or dream, but he knew that wouldn't happen.
     "I am sorry about earlier. I never meant any of it. I am not mad at you." Luke said, and couple tears slid down his cheeks.
Bo looked so pale and fragile in the hospital bed. Luke say silently for a couple moments just holding on to Bo's hand, praying that at any second Bo would move his fingers or do something to show a sign of life. With every passing minute Luke became more worried that Bo would never wake up and that Bo would die thinking he hated him.
     "Please wake up Bo. I want to tell you sorry to your face. I want to be sure you know I am sorry." Luke said, fighting the growing urge to cry. "You can't die Bo, you can't leave us. I'd miss you so much Bo. You are more then just cousin to me, you are my best friend and have always been like a brother to me."
Luke found he couldn't keep from crying anymore, he hung his head and allowed himself to cry. He didn't think that he would sleep that night, but at around ten the lack of sleep the previous night caught up to him and he fell into a restless sleep were he was haunted by a nightmare.