Author's Note: This is a story I wrote about the Dukes and their first years at the farm. I tried to keep it with them from the point where they got to the farm, and carry on throughout a couple of years. It's a growing and learning experience for all of them. There are also notes at the end of each chapter, a credit of sorts to a father from his son.

Warning: The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.

Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix….

Chapter 1 …A New Home

Jesse smiled softly as he stood in the kitchen doorway and looked into the living room. Six members of the Duke clan had been lost on the very same day, three of his brothers and their wives and it was an immense tragedy on a small clan. Yet he had not found any time to really mourn them. He had shed a few tears but most often he found himself smiling rather then crying for each of them had left something behind. The sweetest treasure a man could ever find in his life, their offspring's.

Two boys and a girl, they aged five, three and a baby of just six months. There was a head full of dark hair that was running a toy car around the circular rug in the living room. The young boy was old enough to understand what it meant that his parents were now dead. He had already lost a baby brother in his short life and Jesse's heart ached for him. When he first was told the boy had thrown a fit of anger yelling at them that they were lying and his parents was not dead. No one could find it in their heart to chastise him for his anger, and once he had wore himself out and slept some he had turned to a sad but watchful little boy. He was playing with the car but he was also mindful of Daisy.

The girl was sitting playing with her doll. She was yet too young to fully comprehend the situation and upon arriving to the farm she had run in to hug her Uncle. There had been two spare rooms so they had gotten two of the children's beds from the loft and set them up. Putting the crib for the youngest in their own bedchamber. Daisy would feed her doll, dress her and take her for walks. She would also be heading out into the kitchen to learn how to be a good mommy from her aunt. Martha included the little girl as much as she could, wanting her to focus on happier things and thus taught her how to roll out a dough and how to bake things.

The baby was on a blanket on the floor most of the time, right now he was in a corner of the living room and the blond haired toot had a baby toy as far into his mouth as he could manage. Occasionally making noises and occasionally grabbing hold of something else, he would pull his legs up over his stomach and grab on to his feet. Making Luke wonder what the heck he was doing, and what he was doing it for.

Jesse smiled as Daisy headed over to the baby. She had seen babies before but it was the first time the two children met their youngest cousin. Luke seemed to keep his distance, something that Jesse didn't really understand. Daisy however was taken and adored the baby. Her attempts at playing with the boy didn't always go to well though. She had handed the youngling her doll, only to find out that to little Beaureguard everything was a chew toy. That wasn't something she was too happy about so the doll games were out of questions.

Trying to change clothes on him made him start screaming and Martha had to explain you had to be a lot more careful with a baby than with a doll. Looking at the kids Jesse marveled over them.

Luke was running a full race now with as many as five cars going around the track, of course they would all crash into each others. Something that Daisy wasn't too happy about.

"Yer gonna wake up me doll," she exclaimed.

"Dolls don't sleep." Luke pointed out.

"She does too," Daisy insisted firmly. "But yer waking her."

"Children," Jesse decided it was time to step in before there was an argument. The kids could not be expected to adjust with no problems, and while they were all good kids it was a hard time for them. He knew from his brother that Luke had the Duke temper and could get quite mad. Daisy to, was a feisty little girl when she wanted to, and the children was learning how to adjust to live with each others. Daisy had never had any interactions when playing with her doll before, and Luke was used to drive his cars around as he pleased, of course there would be collisions there as they learned it.

"Now Daisy, I'm sure that some playing ain't gonna disturb yer doll none," Jesse smiled as he hunched down. "An' Luke, how about yer coming with me an' helping me while the doll takes a nap?"

"Okay," Luke shrugged as he got up from the rug. He didn't seem to be too happy about it but he had also been raised to mind his elders and he did. Jesse was trying to interest him in the farm by taking him with him to feed the animals. Allowing him to get an apple and feed Maudine the Mule with, as well as helping Jesse carry in fresh hay for her. The chore of mucking out the stall wasn't one Luke was very interested in, and as he was really too small for it Jesse figured that could wait for later.

Jesse knew he would be giving the children some chores really soon, but he wanted Luke to be comfortable with it before he made it into a chore. Getting the eggs was one the boy could handle fairly easily. He wasn't too fast because he liked to search in the hay too much to do it quick. One thing Jesse had to admire though, Luke wasn't scared off as the first hen pecked him on the hand. He glared at the hen, and he for sure wasn't happy about it but he wasn't scared off.

Just as Daisy was an average seized pretty little girl Luke was neither tall nor short for his age, but he was determined. Luke didn't care much for being restricted by his size or age. Now he was following his uncle with his hands shoved down into the pockets of his jeans.

"I need to mend the fence over yonder, think ya can give me a helping hand?" Jesse asked him softly.

"Okay Uncle Jesse," Luke nodded.

Loading some boards on the pickup truck Jesse asked him to carry out a hammer and a box of nails. He grinned as he saw Luke climb up on the back wheel to be able to put the things in the truck bed. Once he was done he jumped down and ran back over to his Uncle. Jesse gave him a saw and told him to be careful as he carried it.

Telling the boy to get into the cab he got in behind the wheel and drove off to the section of the fence that needed to be mended. The posts was still good, but the boards between them needed to be replaced.

"Now, we need to get those here old boards off," Jesse explained as he reached for the crowbar in the truck bed. Luke beat him too it though, the boy grabbed hold of the first board and started pulling with all his strength. When the board wouldn't budge for him he gave it a kick before turning around.

"I need that," he declared pointing to the crowbar.

"Luke, I think it's a bit too big for ya." Jesse smiled at the boy, he sure had determination, there was no doubt about that.

"I can do it," Luke insisted.

Jesse allowed him to take it and give it a try, and sure enough the boy had a very rough technique, but he did get the job done. Leaving him to tear off the boards Jesse focused on measuring the new boards up and sawing up the correct lengths. Next he discovered that Luke considered nailing them in place to be his job to. His father had been allowing him to play with some old bits of wood and Luke sure did know how to drive in a nail. A few of them turned crooked and had to be pulled out again. Jesse explained to him that since it was a fence and there would be animals and people nothing of the nail could stick out so anyone could get hurt on it. Luke had his hand wrapped around the hammer right by the head but he hit the nails steadily.

"Can I hammer more?" he begged when he was done.

Jesse looked over at the fence, he would never have guessed that a little boy would be that much help. Oh, he and his brothers had been working from an early age, but Luke's parents hadn't exactly been farmers and he didn't think Luke had been working on a farm before.

"Tell ya what, when we get back to the farm, ya can have them bits that got left over, an' ya can make whatever ya want out of them." He ruffled the boys dark hair and watched as he grinned.

"Really?" Luke shone up.

"Yeah, but we need some other nails," Jesse told him thoughtfully. "Ya don't need two inch nails fer just the boards."

"I need two of them," Luke stated as he climbed up to put the hammer back in the truck bed. "Please Uncle Jesse?"

"Alright, two of them," Jesse nodded loading the rest of the things up. Raising children was fairly new to him and Martha since they had never had any of their own. He wasn't sure exactly what he should and shouldn't do all the time. Yet Luke had been a great help for real, so what was the harm in indulging him in a couple of two inch nails.

Arriving back at the farm he put all the left over bits on the ground and then shoved Luke where to put the hammer away when he was done. He gave him the two inch nails and watched him put them in the back pocket of his jeans. Then he got down a box of smaller nails, giving them to him and kneeling down to his level.

"Now, Luke, ya know we have animals here on the farm an' they's walking around. Ya have to be very careful with the nails. If you drop one on the ground, ya must find it again, if there is a nail left on the ground they can get really hurt, ya understand that don't ya?"

"Uhu," Luke nodded. "I ain't gonna drop any."

Jesse smiled at him. "Alright then, have fun."

"Uncle Jesse, I need the saw to." Luke was holding the box of nails in both hands, giving him a very serious look.

"I don't know Luke, the saw can be dangerous." Jesse frowned.

"Please Uncle Jesse, I can't make nothing if I can't use the saw." The baby blue eyes was turned to him in a pleading and Jesse gave in. After all, if he could handle a crowbar, chances were he could handle a saw as well.

"Alright," Jesse gave in. "but Luke, I don't want ya to hurt yerself. If ya need help I want ya to come get me, okay? That saw is very sharp."

"But that's the whole point with them," Luke frowned.

"Yes, it's the point with saws." Jesse had to keep himself from chuckling. "But I want ya to saw the wood, an' not yerself. Now, ya promise me ya get me if ya need help."

"I promise." Taking the saw in one hand and the nails in the other Luke walked back to his small pile of plank bits and sat down. Keeping all the tools in one spot so he would be able to keep track off them.

As he headed inside Jesse could already hear him hammering.

"What is Luke doing?" Martha asked as he stepped in through the kitchen chair. Daisy was standing on a kitchen chair and stirring batter in a bowl.

"He helped me with the fence, and was a good help too, so I gave him some bits of wood an' told him he could hammer all he wanted." Jesse chuckled.

"Should he be using them things all alone?" Martha asked worried, wondering when a bleeding child would come running screaming at the top of his lungs.

Jesse shrugged, "he seems to know what he is doing with them, an' that's the best way to learn anyway. Don't worry, he's gonna be fine."

"I'm helping Aunt Martha to make a cake." Daisy declared to get some attention.

"The baby's in the crib for a nap," Martha explained. "I thought I'd make something for dessert."

"I'm helping," Daisy lifted the spoon out of the bowl so that Jesse could see the batter drip off it.

"Ya sure are at that," he declared. "Where's yer doll?"

"She's sleeping, so I put her wi' the baby, cause he's sleeping too." Daisy leaned back over the bowl again to keep stirring it and Martha shrugged.

Jesse reminded himself that he should probably make a crib for the doll. The children's rooms was still fairly bare. Daisy needed some things so that she could play with her doll. Martha could make her some more clothes and he could make a crib easily enough as soon as Luke was done. For the moment that boy seemed more then content to play with his cars though. He had just short of a dozen different cars. A few wooden but most of them was made out of metal and one even had doors that could be popped open.

Not having anything that needed doing right at that moment Jesse figured it was time to read the newspaper. The kids sure could keep you busy enough that there was no time for such things. Sure enough, he was able to read a few pages but then the boy in the crib started wailing and he went to fetch him up.

The baby was lying screaming his heart out and he hurried to pick him up. "Is he hungry or something?" he asked as Martha hurried over wiping her hands on her apron.

"Seems more like he needs to changed to me," Martha smiled. "Jesse, keep an' eye on Daisy there in the kitchen an' I'll change him."

Beaureguard quieted down as he was changed and Jesse was able to go back to his newspaper though he was keeping an eye on the baby at the same time.

"Jesse, supper is almost ready, tell Luke to get in here and get cleaned off." Martha called to him and he dropped the newspaper back on the table to head outside.

"Look Uncle Jesse!" Luke cried out as soon as he saw his Uncle come towards him. Luke had been busy Jesse decided. At first he could only see some bits of planks nailed together to a square, but then Luke demonstrated how it was a garage, and there was even a door to be opened. The two inch nails was hammered into the sides for it to swing on.

"I made it for the cars," Luke declared proud as a peacock.

For a little boy playing Jesse had to admit that he was mighty impressed. While he had obviously tried to make all the sides the same, one was a tad longer and one was a tad shorter, and the sawed line wasn't the straightest Jesse had seen. It was just something special when your kids did something and you were so very proud of them. It appeared as if Luke wasn't quite done either, for he had been sawing more than what he needed for the garage and there was some bits nailed together even if Jesse couldn't tell what those were supposed to be. He knew one thing though, if Daisy needed a crib for her doll, Luke should probably have something so he could continue his building.

"It's mighty good Luke," he encouraged him. "Really good there. Now, yer aunt has supper ready so we need to put everything away an' go wash off."

"Can I do more later?" Luke wanted to know looking up at him.

"Maybe not later today, ya need a bath today so ya can go to school tomorrow, but I promise ya that ya can do more later." Jesse assured him starting to pick some of the wood to help him clear it away. He found a spot out of the way in the barn and put it down while Luke climbed up on the work bench to fit the hammer in its place. He hung the saw up on its peg and jumped down, running out to fetch the box of nails.

"I didn't drop a single one," he declared holding out the box to his uncle.

"That's good Luke," Jesse smiled as he took them and put them on the shelf.

"But I got some that bent," Luke pulled a handful of bent nails out of his pocket. "They are pokey."

"Well ya did good keeping track of them," Jesse took them and put them in an empty paint can where he kept more bent nails. "Now go on inside an' wash up."

Helping Luke to wash his hands he uncovered a pair of scraped knuckles, a few bruises and a splinter that he pulled out. The boys woodcraft had obviously not been without any incidents but that was to be expected anytime that a boy was playing.

In credit of the man who let me play with his tools, and who thought that a power drill was a good toy for a five year old kid, letting me drill the wood propping up the door of his car full of holes….

TBC

Please review, the Cricket is hungry…….