Stories Untold

Biggest Fears

Cousin order, eldest to youngest: Luke, Vance, Jeb Stewart, Daisy, Jud, Coy, and Bo.

Luke's biggest fear was failing his cousins. When he'd gone MIA in the military, after being captured by enemy forces, he'd walked for hours on end to get back to Bo and Daisy. Once he'd gotten home, he found out that Bo and Daisy had nearly fallen into depression and gone crazy (respectively) and he vowed that as long as he lived, he'd never let his cousins feel like that again. He did his absolute best to hold up that promise. After a while, he started to fear failing them.

What helped him understand that as long as he was alive and well, he couldn't fail them. What else helped him was when insomnia reared its head and he was laying awake at night, he could listen to his blonde haired cousin who lay in the bed to his right. Just the sound of Bo breathing as he slept helped ease Luke's mind.

Vance's biggest fear was the same, but he didn't fear failing all his cousins. He feared failing Coy. As long as he could remember his daddy and Coy's ran 'shine together, leaving the boys at home with the wives until he passed and they where passed on to Jesse. Ever since he was young, Coy had been there, there was hardly a memory he had that didn't have Coy in it.

So after the Merchant Marines, he and Coy had gone off on an "adventure" and Coy ended up getting lost and attacked by some animal (he wouldn't say what it was). Ever since, Vance promised him that he would protect Coy to the best of his ability. It helped to know Coy was okay. So long as nothing happened to Coy, Vance was okay.

Jeb Stewart and Daisy both feared losing their freedom. For Jeb that meant taking his bike and putting him on house arrest. For Daisy it meant being locked up in cuffs and throwing away the key. Jeb got over it by riding for hours on end (which drove Jamie (his girlfriend) absolutely crazy) and knowing that if he abided by the law, then his bike stayed his. For Daisy is was spending hours outside and knowing that the Duke land was hers (and her families) and she wasn't leaving.

No one really knew what Jud's biggest fear was, but most assumed it was somewhere along the lines of Luke's.

Coy and Bo both feared abandonment. Bo from all his family. Coy from Vance. Bo's always had that fear, ever since he can remember. It was probably due to the fact that when he was two or three years old, his parents crashed their car on a shine run. He was in the car because Bobby and Bonnie couldn't find anyone to watch their high-maintenance son. All their friends where out somewhere and Jesse, their usual sitter, had been on a 'shine run too.

When they crashed, Bonnie was dead immediately, taking glass to the head and a tree branch slicing her neck. Bobby wasn't so lucky. His wounds where severe, but he wasn't dead right away. Bo had to watch him die. Ever since then, he'd woken up with nightmares and panic attacks and had a major fear of abandonment.

Coy, when he'd gotten lost in the woods, had fallen into a boar pit. He shouted for hours, trying to get someone to help. When the hunter came by, all he did was laugh and throw down some dirt and rocks down. Then he walked off. It got dark and when Vance finally found him, Coy was curled up on the floor sobbing, scared, and alone.

Since then, Coy wouldn't go anywhere with out Vance if he could help it. Hell, it didn't even matter that Vance was in the next room, all the blonde boy wanted was for his cousin to be there.

Bo didn't want his family to leave him, just like Coy he feared abandonment. From all his family. Luke, Vance, Jeb Stewart, Daisy, Jud, Coy, Jesse, even Cooter. His entire life revolved around his family. So it was safe to say that his biggest fear was losing them.

The Duke kids all had their fears, but that's what families for. To help when the fears took over.

Where would the Dukes be without family?