Ransom

Disclaimer: I don't own the Dukes of Hazzard, not making any money, just cheap thrills.


Warnings: Angst, Slash, Established Couple, Mild Violence


Rating: FRT


* indicates thoughts


Ransom
Chapter 4


"I'm sorry sir you can't come back here," a nurse said, grabbing Rosco's arm, pulling him away from the stretcher that Bo lay on.


"Rosco! Where are you? Rosco!" Bo flailed his hands in the air, searching for his lover.


"Nurse it's alright, he can come with us," Dr. Appleby quickly ordered.


"Dr. Appleby hospital policy clearly stat..."


"Hang hospital policy, my patient's needs come before policy now let go of the sheriff," the doctor snapped. "It's alright Bo, you're safe now," he tried to soothe his patient.


"Rosco?"


"I'm here sweetheart," Rosco whispered in his ear, bending down and taking his lover's hand in his own.


Bo calmed the instant he heard Rosco's voice, relaxing now that he knew he wasn't alone in the terrifying darkness.


Nodding to the orderly to proceed, Amos smiled, amazed by how quickly Bo had calmed. Like everybody in Hazzard, he was well aware of the relationship between the two men, and like many, he hadn't understood it at all. Aside from the idea of one of the infamous Duke boys being in love with a man, the idea of a young good-looking man like Bo Duke falling for the middle-aged sheriff was inconceivable. Seeing the two of them together, he was getting the picture and beginning to understand why Bo would be with Rosco, rather than a younger man or a woman. In all of his years of living, most of them as a doctor, Amos had never seen two people more in love. If the tender way Rosco was seeing to Bo's needs was any indication of how their relationship worked, it was no wonder Bo had fallen in love.


"Bo, it's Dr. Appleby son," he softly spoke, not wanting to startle the younger man.


"Doc, why can't I see?"


"I don't know Bo, but we're gonna do all we can to find out, okay?"


"Yeah," Bo whispered, doing his best to hide his fear.


"The first thing I need to do is take a look at you head. You just lay still for me, okay?"


"Okay."


"Nurse, start an i.v., glucose and saline, then get a blood sample to the lab. Have them run a cbc and check his white count."


"Yes sir," Betty replied. "Bo?"


"Yes ma'am?"


"I'm going to be putting an i.v. in the back of your hand now, okay?"


"Yeah," Bo acknowledged, bracing himself for the prick of the needle. *Man I hate needles, glad I can't see that.*


A moment later the i.v. was in place and Betty had hung a bag on the i.v. pole. "Okay Bo, now I need to get some blood from your arm."


"Alright."


"You're doing good sweetheart," Rosco whispered from his perch on a stool next to the head of the exam table.


Smiling slightly, Bo turned towards his lover's voice, "Glad you're here cowboy."


"No place else I'd be," Rosco assured him.


"I hate to interrupt fellas, but we need to take Bo for x-rays now," the doctor said, startling both men.


"Can Rosco come too?"


"He can come as far as x-ray, but he'll have to stay in the hall while we're taking the actual x-rays."


"Okay," Bo agreed. He could tell by the firmness of the doctor's voice that there wouldn't be any use arguing.


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Rosco and Bo were alone now in the exam room. They waited for the doctor to come back with the results of the tests he'd ordered performed on Bo.


"Rosco?"


"What is it Bo? Are ya in pain? Should I get..."


"Rosco stop!"


"Babbling?"


"Just a little," Bo confirmed. "I want to say...well if the doc tells me that this is permanent...."


"Bo? What do you want to say?" Rosco gently asked.


"I don't want you to feel like you have to stay with me," Bo finally replied.


"Not stay? Beauregard James Duke, do you think my love is that worthless?"


"No of course not!" Bo denied. "I just don't want to be a burden is all."


"Bo I love you, taking care of ya could never be a burden, and you couldn't be a burden if you tried."


"Rosco I love you for saying that, but ya got to be realistic cowboy. If this is permanent I ain't gonna be able to do hardly anything for myself. I can't expect you to be taking care of me for the rest of your life, you deserve better than that."


"Of all the...Bo," Rosco began, stopping when the door opened.


"Bo, Rosco, I've got the test results back," the doctor said as he stepped into the room, letting the door swing shut behind him.


"Am I gonna be blind forever?"


"I don't think so, but let's take this one step at a time, okay? First of all there is no skull fracture, that was one of my concerns, though you do have a slight concussion. Now, the blow to your head has caused some swelling, which is creating pressure on the optic nerve. I'm pretty sure that's what is causing the blindness, so once the swelling goes down your sight should return."


"Pretty sure?" Bo questioned.


"I don't believe in keeping things from my patients Bo. While I'm fairly certain that the blindness is temporary I can't be completely sure until the swelling goes down."


"Okay," Bo whispered. Laying in the bed, he tried to process what he'd been told. Finally after a few minutes, he took a deep breath and asked the doctor to continue.


"Well the bullet wound is minor, it only grazed your shoulder resulting in some blood loss. It only needed a few stitches, though it did contibute to your dehydration. Aside from the dehydration, you're slightly anemic as well. Now neither of those is anything to be concerned about, we're giving you glucose and saline in your i.v., that will rehydrate you. The anemia will correct itself as your body replenishes the blood volume, you'll just be a little tired for a few days. Your left ankle is only sprained not broken," he confirmed Bo's earlier diagnosis. "Finally in addition to a nice collection of bruises, you have several cracked ribs, but no other internal injuries."


"So do I have to stay in the hospital?"


"Just overnight, and I'll let one person stay with you."


"Thanks doc."


"You're welcome Bo. Now I'm going to tell your family what's happening while the nurse arranges for a room."


"There ya see, you were worrying for nothing sweetheart," Rosco said as he ran his fingers through Bo's hair.


"Yeah," Bo agreed, forcing himself not to think about the possibility of anything permanent.


Leaning down, Rosco placed a gentle kiss on his lover's lips.


Leroy Watkins pushed open the door to exam room 3, the cheerful greeting dying on his lips when he saw the two men kissing. Sneering in disgust, he braced himself for the job ahead. "Time to take you to your room," he bruskly spoke, silently laughing at the way they jerked away from each other.


"Uh, and you are?" Rosco asked, something about the other man setting him on edge.


"Doing my job, which is to take him to his room and get him settled," Leroy answered.


"Rosco?" Bo asked. Sensing the tension in the room and not liking the tone of the other man's voice, he was getting worried.


"It's alright Bo," he assured. Facing the orderly, he again demanded a name, "Now I want to know what your name is?"


"Leroy Watkins," came the clipped response. "You'll have to leave...sheriff," he said, the contempt in his voice clearly heard.


"No, Doc said he could stay with me," Bo immediately protested.


"That may be, but hospital policy says he can't be in here while I'm transferring you." As he spoke, Leroy grabbed the sheriff's arm and pulled him towards the door.


"I'm going to take care of this, you don't take him anywhere until I get back," Rosco ordered. "Bo I've got to go talk to Dr. Appleby, I'll be right back."


"Alright Rosco, don't be long," Bo acknowledged, trying to hide the fear he was feeling.


The moment Rosco left the room, Leroy set to work with the transfer. "Damn faggot thinks he can tell me how to do my job," he muttered under his breath. Pushing a wheel chair into place, he put the brake on and moved to the exam table. Grabbing Bo's right arm, he roughly began to pull the other man to a seated position.


"Stop it, let go of me," Bo protested, struggling against the rough treatment.


"Don't be a baby," Leroy snapped, jerking Bo upright. Grabbing the blond's legs, he swung them over the edge of the table, ignoring Bo's cries of pain. "Can you stand up or do I need to lift you into the chair?"


"I can stand," Bo said, not wanting this man to touch him anymore than needed. Sliding off the table, he nearly fell when he placed too much weight on his left ankle.


"Damn," Leroy growled. Hating that he had to touch this man, he grabbed his arm and roughly manuevered him into the wheelchair. Removing the i.v. bag from it's pole, he attached it to the pole on the back of the chair and started to move towards the door.


"Wait, Rosco will be back soon," Bo said. Putting his hands on the wheels, he tried to stop the orderly from taking him from the room.


Disgusted and angry, Leroy leaned down and grabbed Bo's right hand, giving it a hard squeeze. "Now you listen here boy, I got a job to do and I ain't catering to a couple of faggots. If you're smart you'll let go of that wheel or you're gonna have another accident, you get me?" he asked, increasing the grip he had on Bo's hand.


"I got it," Bo snarled, trying to pull his hand from the other man's grip. Sighing with relief when Leroy let go, he brought his hand to his chest and lightly massaged it, hoping nothing had been broken.


"Good boy, now let's go," Leroy said, as he pulled open the door and pushed Bo into the hallway.


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"Doc, we got a problem," Rosco said as he came up to where the doctor was speaking with Bo's family.


"What's wrong Rosco? Did something happen to Bo?" Jesse asked before the doctor could say anything.


"No nothing like that Jesse. Doc there's an orderly trying to take Bo to his room and he don't want to let me come along. Something about hospital policy...."


"I'm afraid he's right about that Rosco, but I'm sure we can make an exception. Come on."


"There's more, I was kissing Bo when this guy came in the room, I don't think he liked seeing that."


"What's this orderly's name?"


"Leroy Watkins."


"Alright I'll have a talk with him, how's that?"


"Thanks Doc," Rosco replied with a smile. Pushing open the door into exam 3, he stood in shocked silence at the empty room in front of him. "I told him to wait, if he..."


"Now Rosco I'm sure it'll be alright. Let's just find out what room Bo's been assigned, I don't think Leroy will hurt him any." Stepping back into the hall, Amos hurried to the nurse's station. "Betty, can you tell me what room Bo Duke has been assigned to?"


"Yes sir, um, here it is, he'll be in room 265."


"Thank you Betty. Rosco why don't you go on up to his room? I'll just let Jesse and them know where to find him."


"Alright Doc, thanks," Rosco agreed, hurrying down the hall to the elevators.


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"Bo I'm sorry sweetheart..." Rosco's aplogy died in his throat as he was once again greeted with an empty room. Turning on his heel, he raced to the nurse's desk, "Nurse the patient in 265, where is he?"


"He hasn't gotten here yet sheriff, is there a problem?"


"Are you sure?"


"Yes sir, the orderly would've brought him here first," Carla explained.


"Damn," he cursed. "Call security nurse, tell them there's a patient missing," he ordered.


"Missing?" Jesse snapped from behind Rosco, surprising the other man.


"I just checked his room Jesse, he ain't in there and she says he hasn't been brought up yet."


"Maybe the elevator they took had more stops," Daisy suggested quietly.


"It's only one floor Daisy, how many stops..." Rosco snapped. "Sorry darlin, I didn't mean to snap at ya."


"It's alright Rosco, I know you're just worried about Bo," Daisy smiled, accepting his apology.


"You think this orderly did something to him?" Luke asked.


"I don't know Luke, but I know he wasn't happy about seeing two men together."


"Well then why are we standing around here?"


"We need to have security helping us," Rosco explained.


"Rosco, what's the orderly's name?" Jesse asked.


"Leroy Watkins."


"Alright then, you and the kids start searching, I'll fill security in when they get here, okay?"


"That sounds like a good idea Jesse. What elevator would he likely bring Bo up on?" he asked, turning to the nurse.


"The doctor's elevator, it's down that hall and to the right," she replied.


"Okay, and where are the stairs?"


"There's two sets, one near the doctor's elevator, and one near the public elevators."


"Luke, you and Daisy take the stairs near the public elevators, I'll take the others. Y'all be careful, we don't know what this guy might be doing, or what he's capable of."


"We will Rosco, you be careful too," Luke cautioned.


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"Where are you taking me?"


"Taking you to your room, where do ya think I'm taking ya?" Leroy replied, enjoying the game.


"This don't smell like a hospital, smells like a basement," Bo answered suspiciously.


"Basement? Why would I take ya to the basement?"


"Look mister I don't know what game you're playing, but you better take me back upstairs."


"You ain't in any position to be giving me orders faggot. I told them two fools not to underestimate you. Told them that just cause you're a faggot don't mean you're stupid or helpless. Did they listen to me though? Hell no and now I've got to fix the mess they made," Leroy snarled. "You just remember this boy, I don't like faggots and I ain't as dumb as them other two. You try anything with me and I'll make sure you regret it."


"You're with them other two," Bo realized. "What are you going to do?"


"Same as before, take ya somewhere safe and wait for the sheriff to deliver Turner to me. If you both behave, I'll let you go after I kill Turner, if not, well I can kill three as easily as one."


"You expect me to believe that, you'll kill us too."


"Why would I do that?"


"Cause Rosco can identify you and because you don't like homosexuals."


"Well I won't deny that I don't like faggots, but if I went around killing people just cause I don't like them I wouldn't be very professional. As for the sheriff knowing what I look like, well let's just say he doesn't really know what I look like," Leroy explained, peeling off the latex mask he wore as he spoke. "Now you gonna behave?"


"Yeah," Bo replied. He hated it, but knew he didn't really have a choice.


"Good," Leroy smiled. Pulling a pen and notepad from his pocket, he quickly wrote a message to the sheriff. Reaching down, he jerked the i.v. from Bo's hand, then pushing him forward in his seat, he untied the hospital gown he wore. Removing the gown, he ignored the blond's shivers as he pulled a shirt from a bag he'd hidden down here earlier. Roughly helping the other man to get dressed, he then shoved his feet into a pair of sneakers and pulled him to his feet. "Come on, we don't want to be here when the sheriff gets here," he instructed, grabbing Bo's arm and leading him towards the exit.


TBC


Just when ya thought it was safe, hope y'all liked it. Please review and let me know what ya think.