Bo and Nora Forever Soulmates MESSAGE BOARD FAN FICTION VIDEOS & PICTURES FAVE SCENES ARTICLES HBS and NORA BIO RSW and BO BIO CHAT ROOM FAVE LINKS BO and NORA HOME PAGE E-MAIL US

On the 7th Day of Christmas   Christmas Eve SoulMates   It was Christmas Eve, and Bo was at Nora’s helping Matthew decorate a small tree. Matthew walked over to the box filled with holiday ornaments and momentos of holidays past. Picking it up he rolled it through his fingers which caught on the rough surface. Looking closely at it he could make out the intials, CB. "Whatcha looking at there champ?" Bo walked over to his son and took the small flashlight from him, looking at the item more closely, he saw the initials, “CB” he mumbled, he looked at Matthew, “Where did you get this?” It was in that box, he pointed to the box where he had pulled the item from. Bo went over to the box and began rummaging through it, Nora walked back in the room. “What are you looking for Bo?” Ignoring her, “Where did this stuff come from?” He pointed to the box. “Mama and Daddy sent it home with me last year, they had cleaned out their attic and that was some stuff of mine they still had from when I lived at home why?” Confused, he looked again at the item he had taken from Matthew, Nora saw that he had something in his hand, “What’s that?” He held it up so she could see, a smile crossed her lips, “Oh,” a small smile crossed her face, “I almost forgot about that……”   Flashback to 1966   “Nora Hanen, will you stop your sulking already?” She turned her head up and glared at her sister, “Do you realize that it is almost midnight on the last day of Hanukah? And I was supposed to be home with my parents and grandparents celebrating? And the reason I’m not you ask, oh that is because my BIG sister, can’t fly by herself, so Nora your not scared of anything you go and fly back with her, on the last day of Hanukah, because she has to work that day because she has a crush on her boss!” Her voice continued to get louder as she ranted. Susannah tried to quiet her down, but it was to no avail. Finally overcome by anger and exhaustiohn, she let the tears fall as she threw her hands up and walked away, right into a soldier with the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. He grabbed her arms, and noticing the tears, “Are you okay?” Speechless, something rare for the rambunctions teenager, she just stared. Susannah came over and started to explain to the young private but his friends were calling to him, “Come on Buch…the flight to LA is finally boarding, if we’re late we’ll be considered, AWOL. He set the beautiful Red head back from him, making sure she was steady on her feet. “I’m sorry Red, But I gotta go, you take care, and he reached into his pocket, it’s not a candle but its close.” He tossed the small flashlight his brother had given him to take with him to the war. She held onto the candle with all her might. “Be safe.” She whispered as he walked away and she lit the “candle” he had given her. ******   “That was you?” He looked at her amazement in his eyes, and as she turned to look at him, there it was, “of course it was you!” He smiled. “What do you mean, ‘it was me?’ Then as realization dawned, “Buch! Of course, where were you going?” “To LA, to catch up with our battalion to go to Nam. “ “On Christmas Eve?” He shook his head, “Yeah, it wasn’t the best way to spend the holidays, but you, I dreamt of you the whole trip, your hair was so long, and you smelled like….lilacs,” Blushing, “You remembered that…” “You got me through many long nights in a foreign country.” “Oh come on you expect me to believe you didn’t have a dozen young girls waiting to welcome you back home?” She put her hands on her hips, challenging him. It was his turn to blush, “Maybe I did, but not one of them….” He was interrupted by Matthew, what’s this?” He held up a crumpled up card from the box. Nora walked over taking it from him laughing…..   Flashback 1975 “Hank, Hank, listen to me!” she yelled into the payphone. “Its not like I meant to be stuck here Hank, you think I want to be in an airport in Dallas while my daughter is in her first Christmas Eve pageant at church?” “I can’t plan the weather Hank, this year it was my turn to attend the law conference, it’s not my fault.” She paused, her anger fading, as the argument returned to its normal dialogue, “You knew you were marrying a lawyer Hank, you knew I wanted to work, and that I wasn’t going to stay home and cook and clean, staying barefoot and pregnant.” She reached into her purse pulling out her wallet, staring at the picture of her daughter, taking a different tone, “Can I talk to her Hank, I know I’m going to break her heart, you think my heart’s not breaking?” a pause “Hi Ricki honey, …no no sweetie, I won’t be able to make it, but daddy will take lots of pictures and then you can tell me all about it…oh Ricki please don’t cry…please…” The tears finally began to fall as she put the phone down on the hook and turned quickly, right into a man in a hurry with the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen, but yet, this time there was something familiar in them, the twinkle, “Miss, miss.” “Huh,” she managed to say, “Are you okay?” “Yes, yes, I’m fine, it’s just my daughter is in her first Christmas pageant tonight in Chicago and I’m stuck here.” “Don’t you have a videocamera or something?” “No” she shook her head sullenly, the final boarding call came across the PA for Dallas to New York, “Well, that’s me, I have to go, but here, he handed her the card, it was a card for a photographer at the Chicago Tribune, “Tell him Buch told you to call, and get some footage of the pageant…its not as good as being there, but you’ll see it together.” He smiled again as his final boarding call came over the speakers, “I really have to go,” he started running away, looked back, “Merry Christmas, Red.” ********   He shook his head, “Jeffrey Laramee, my goodness, I forgot all about him. “ He looked up at her, “Did you call him?” She smiled, “Yes, and he taped the whole thing, I saw it better than Hank did, because he ended up getting there late, and was so far in the back, that video was wonderful Rachel and I watched it together as soon as I got home, and Hank and I watched it….before we made up for the millionth time.” She looked at Bo, questions in her eyes, “But why were you going to NY?” “Board of Directors meeting for Buchanan Enterprises.” “How did you know Laramee?” He smiled, “I met him during the war….you could say he owed me.” “And you gave that favor to me?” “There was something about you even then……” A loud noise as something fell to the ground interrupted them. Looking over they saw Mattew pick up a deck of cards, Nora walked over to him sighing, “Now that had the makings of a horrible holiday.”   Flashback 1984 (*note of history…Bo was with the O’Neills living as Bill Brady)   “Mom, why did we have to go see Aunt Susanna, you don’t even like her, and because of her I am going to miss Christmas with daddy.” Nora tried to hold her daugheter close, but Rachel pushed away from her and with tears streaming down her cheeks, ran from her mother, “Ricki, please..” Not looking where she was going she ran right into a startled gentleman. The man looking at the trembling girl, taking her in his arms to settle her down, and then looked around for whoever she was with. Seeing a beautiful woman approach, he realized this must be her mother, a slight bit taken aback by the fact that the girls skin was dark and the mother was most certainly white, and as she approached he felt like he knew her from somewhere, but not being able to place her, “I’m so sorry,” Nora said as she reached to take Rachel from his arms, he looked into her eyes, as a smile crossed his lips, “I take it she is yours?” She nodded slightly embarrassed, yet couldn’t take her eyes off him, she knew him from somewhere…..”LET ME GO!” Rachel screamed pushing both Bo and Nora away from her. She was too fast for Nora, but Bo snatched her up and walked back to Nora, “What’s the problem?” Ricki looked at the man and with a tear stained face, told him how because of her mother she was going to miss Christmas, he looked at her confused, “Well, isn’t your mother missing Christmas too?” She crossed her arms in front of her, “Hmph, she doesn’t care about Christmas, she’s JEWISH.” He looked towards Nora again, “I’m sure your mother cares about whatever you care about, so what time is your flight delayed until?” “I don’t remember,” she looked at her mother. “We have another couple of hours.” “Well you know what so do I, so how bout I go over to that gift shop over there, find us a deck of cards, and you two go get us some snacks and drinks from the snack bar” he pulled out a twenty and handed it to Rachel, “Thank you.” She mumbled, Nora replied, “That really isn’t necessary” “Look I hate sitting around airports by myself, so you would be doing me a favor, please.” With that he gave her a look, a look she knew she could NEVER refuse, and so they went to get their intended items to return a few minutes later ready to play cards for the evening. As they settled down, Nora held out her hand, “I’m Nora, this is Ricki, and you?” “Names Bill,” they shook hands and then began. Two short hours later, Nora and Rachels flight was called, Nora picked up the cards and went to hand them to ‘Bill’ but he shook his head, “Merry Christmas, Red” He winked and walked towards his own gate. *******   “Bill”, Nora said looking at him inquisitively. A shy smile took over his lips, “It’s a long story.” “I’ve got time.” They went and sat by the fire, Bo playing with the stoker while Nora sipped at her tea, waiting…”It was over a woman.” “Isn’t it always?” she laughed, he looked at her, nodded, “I s’pose it is. Anyway, things had been going bad to worse and Asa and I were not getting along at all. I decided I didn’t want to be a Buchanan, so I left, and I went to live with a nice-working class family, the O’Neills.” A smile crossed his face as he began to continue, “I decided to be Bill Brady, original huh?” “Yeah well, maybe you needed a break from original, Beaufort,” a sly smile on her face, as he looked over at her, a trace of amusement in her eyes, a trace of anger in his, quickly replaced by that twinkle, her twinkle, she shook the thought off. “Yeah, maybe that was it. Anyway, that’s when I met Didi.” “Didi? How many women are in your past I don’t know about?” She tried to act like she didn’t care about the answer, but in truth she was curious, I mean this was the man she had spent several years of her life with, given her heart to, and really there was still so much it seemed she didn’t know. He saw the different expressions cross her face, and knew she was trying not to act concerned, he could hear her mind whirling at a rapid fire rate, and he smiled, “What are you smiling at?” “You.” “Me?” she pointed to herself, “Why?” Lost in her eyes, he reached his hand up and placed it on her cheek and he leaned towards her, “because your jealous.” He whispered. “Jealous, me?” she pulled back from him, “Oh no I’m not, that’s ridiculous, why would I be jealous?” He reached for her again and this time he pulled her towards him. “Because I’m a louse at showing you how much I love you sometimes,” She looked at him, her mouth hung open, “What?” her voice cracked, “Nora, no matter how many women there have been, before or after you, there is only one that was part of me, and that’s you. When I met you, none of my past loves were important because they didn’t begin to compare, no one filled my heart the way you did,” he hesitated, not sure what his next statement would do to her, “the way you do.” Their eyes locked in an intense gaze, and for what seemed like hours but was only seconds they stared at each other, when she didn’t pull away, he pulled her towards him and gently placed his lips on hers. She responded hesitantly at first and then the dam broke, releasing 5 years of pain and tears. As he tasted the salt from her tears, he pulled away, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have..” “No,” she placed her fingers on his lips, “Oh Bo, don’t be sorry, please don’t say this was a mistake.” “You’re okay?” She nodded her head, “Oh, yeah I’m more than okay, if you mean it, you mean it don’t you Bo?” “Yeah, I mean it, I love you. We have a few things to do before you and me can be a we, but I think we can do it, I want to try, do you?” “Yeah, yeah I do, because I love you too, oh Bo, I love you so much.” They leaned in and kissed again. A thud caused them both to look around the room, where they noticed Matthew apparently had fallen asleep on the couch and fell off. Laughing Bo stood up and reached his hand out to help Nora up, "The kid's got timing like his sister." She took it smiling and then he went over and picked Matthew up, “Time to get this little one up to bed.” They took him upstairs and tucked him in and made their way back downstairs. She stood in front of the fire, just looking at it and he walked up behind her, “What are you thinking about Red?” She placed her hands over his that were resting on her shoulders. “I was thinking how strange it was that we had met three times, seemingly leaving an impression, yet when we met here, we didn’t know it..” “That’s where your wrong, Nora, remember we always felt a connection, something bigger than the two of us?” She nodded and whispered, “yes.” “Well, it was all a matter of timing, and we finally got our timing right.” He turned her towards him, “Look, I know a lot has happened, and we have a lot to get through to get back to us, but I love you.” She placed her hand on his face, “And I love you.” With her words spoken he leaned in, and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, “Merry Christmas, Red” “Merry Christmas Bo.”