Chapter Text
Disclaimer: I don't own the Dukes of Hazzard, not making any money, just cheap thrills.
Warnings: Slight slash element, but this story is focused on Daisy.
Rating: FRT
italics and/or * indicates thoughts
Summary: Daisy has a new man in her life. Sequel of sorts to Won't Let Go
Surprising Love
Chapter 1
"You can't be serious!" Bo cried out, shocked at Daisy's news.
"I know it's a surprise, but you don't know him as well as ya..."
"We know him well enough to know that he can't be trusted. Come on Daisy, he's always trying to put me and Luke in jail," Bo tried to reason with his cousin.
"Luke, talk to him, please," Daisy cried, turning to her older cousin for support.
"I'm sorry honey, but I don't think any of us understands why you'd want to date Rosco."
"Uncle Jesse?"
"Did he threaten ya or something, is that why you're going on a date with him?" Jesse asked, trying to understand why Daisy would do this.
"I can't believe y'all! Bo and Luke fall in love and you deal with that, but you're acting like it's the end of the world that I want to go on a date with Rosco."
"We're just trying to understand Daisy, that's all," Luke explained.
"We don't want to see you getting hurt cousin," Bo offered.
"I'm sorry sweetheart I didn't mean to upset ya, but...well why don't you explain it to us?"
"Explain it? Uncle Jesse I'm a grown woman, I shouldn't have to explain to my family why I want to date anybody. I knew y'all wouldn't be thrilled, and I knew ya'd be surprised but I sure didn't expect this!"
"Now Daisy..."
"Don't you now Daisy me Bo Duke! I don't owe you, any of you an explanation. Rosco asked me for a date and I said yes. You don't have to be happy about it, but you better not any of ya cause me any trouble!" she warned them, stalking towards the hallway.
"What about Enos?" Luke quietly asked, stopping her in her tracks.
"What about him?"
"I thought you had feelings for him, I know he has feelings for you."
"Maybe he does, but ever since he found out about you boys he ain't hardly said a word to me."
"I'm sorry Daisy, we never meant for you to suffer cause of us," Bo quickly apologized.
"Bo's right," Luke agreed.
"Aw Bo, Luke, I don't want y'all to blame yourselves for the way Enos is acting. That's his doing, not yours and the truth is, well even without you boys' relationship he probably never would work up the nerve to say anything. I'm real fond of Enos, but the truth is we could never be more than friends, especially now."
"What do you mean?" Bo asked.
"When Jud's ghost came back I tried to keep my fears to myself, it worked too, most of the time. There were times though when I couldn't hide it. Enos was in the Boar's Nest a couple of times when I was obviously upset, but he never even asked me what was wrong. I guess he probably thought it had something to do with y'all and he sure ain't comfortable talking about you boys. That's what I meant, I mean heck even Hobie asked me if I was okay! I just can't forgive Enos for ignoring me when I needed him. If he really did love me I don't think he'd let his discomfort keep him from making sure I was okay."
"You're right about that Daisy, but that don't explain why you're dating Rosco," Luke said, still confused.
"I'm not going to explain either, y'all are just gonna have to trust that I know what I'm doing," Daisy responded. Turning back down the hall, she walked to her room. Stepping inside, she quietly shut the door behind her and walked over to sit on her bed. *Dang it! Now what? Maybe I should have Rosco pick me up somewhere else, or I could meet him somewhere. No! I ain't gonna sneak off to meet him like we're doing something wrong. I got as much right to date who I want to as they do and they're just going to have to accept that.* With renewed determination, Daisy went to her closet and started going through it, trying to decide what to wear on Sunday.
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"Ouch!" Rosco yelled as the razor nicked his skin. Placing his hands on the sink in front of him, he stared into the mirror at his reflection. "What am I doing? I'm a fool to think that a girl like Daisy could ever really want to date me," he berated himself.
"Rosco son, are you alright?" Evelyn Coltrane asked from the other side of the bathroom door.
"Yeah mama, just nicked myself is all."
"Are you sure? Maybe you should stay home..."
"Mama! It's just a nick, I ain't dying or anything," Rosco interrupted.
"Alright son, I'll leave ya be now."
Sighing with frustration, Rosco moved to the door and threw it open. "I'm sorry Mama, I got no call to be snapping at you like that."
"It's alright dear, I'm just worried about you," Evelyn softly said, laying one hand on his arm.
"There ain't nothing to worry about."
"Really?" Evelyn asked, taking his shaking hands in her own and squeezing them lightly.
"Well maybe I'm just a bit nervous," he admitted sheepishly.
"You know I hate to bring this up, but you don't think that Daisy is playing some sort of game with you do ya?"
"No ma'am," Rosco said with certainity, surpising himself as well as his mother. "I know that the Dukes don't exactly like me, not that I've given them much reason, but Daisy wouldn't do that."
"She's used Enos' feelings against him," Evelyn pointed out.
"That's different," Rosco protested. "She only does that when she's trying to help her cousins out of some trouble. Trouble they usually didn't do anything to get into," he explained. "The truth is that most of the time when they get in a mess, it's cause they're trying to stop one of Boss' schemes. Ain't nothing like that going on though this time, so there wouldn't be any reason for Daisy to play with my feelings."
"I suppose there's nothing I can do to talk you out of this date?"
"No Mama, there isn't. Now if you'll excuse me, I should finish getting ready," Rosco politely answered. Moving back into the bathroom and shutting the door, he finished shaving. Slapping aftershave on both cheeks, he then ran a comb through his hair, afterwards brushing his teeth. Done with his preparations, Rosco moved back to his bedroom and got dressed.
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Daisy sat at her dressing table applying her make-up. Wearing a simple dress, she smiled at her reflection, pleased with her selection. Though it hadn't been easy to decide on what to wear since Rosco hadn't told her where they were going. She knew that he didn't have a lot of money. So thinking that they would most likely do something simple and inexpensive, she opted for a casual dress.
Hearing a car pulling up, she glanced at her clock, surprised to see that it was already seven. Sending up a prayer that her family wouldn't scare Rosco off, she hurried to finish getting ready.
Taking a deep breath, Rosco willed his hands to stop shaking and climbed from behind the wheel. Forcing himself to put one foot forward, he slowly began to walk towards the front door of the Duke farmhouse. Had anybody been watching, they would've thought he was on his way to his execution, not a date with a beautiful woman. Luckily nobody was watching, though only because Jesse had threatened to tan some hides if they didn't stay away from the windows. Finally reaching the door, Rosco gave the wooden barrier a sharp rap.
"Hello Rosco, come on in," Jesse greeted him, holding the door open for him.
"Jesse, um, is...uh, Daisy ready?" Rosco nervously asked.
"Not quite, why don't you come on in and wait," Jesse suggested.
"Thank you," came the quiet reply as Rosco finally stepped inside.
The sight of Rosco standing just inside the door, nervously wringing a non-existent hat had the Duke patriarch reconsidering his objections.
"Would you like a cup of coffee Rosco?" Jesse asked, trying to put the other man at ease.
"No thank you Jesse, I'm fi..." Rosco stopped speaking, catching sight of Daisy moving into the room. "Hello Daisy, you look pretty as a picture," he greeted his date, wondering again how he'd gotten so lucky.
"Thank you Rosco, you look very nice yourself," she smiled at him, surprised at the warm glow his words had caused.
Bo and Luke sat on the couch, staring at Rosco in open-mouthed shock at his smooth compliment. This was a side of the county sheriff they'd never seen before and they weren't sure what to make of it. Giving each other a confused look, they shook their heads as if to clear them of a fog and realized they'd missed some of the conversation.
"I wasn't sure what to wear," Daisy was quietly explaining.
"What you're wearing is perfect darlin," Rosco responded, his voice filled with admiration. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah."
"Rosco, you take care of her," Jesse warned.
"I will Jesse, ya ain't got nothing to worry about," Rosco assured the older man. With those words, Rosco took Daisy's arm and led her outside.
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"Come on Luke," Bo said, coming to his feet and heading towards the door.
"Now you boys hold on," Jesse called, stopping them in their tracks. "Just what are you planning on doing?"
"We're gonna follow them, make sure Rosco don't trying anything." Bo explained.
"Beauregard James Duke, do you really think I'm gonna let you boys spy on your cousin?"
"Uncle Jesse we have to do something!" Bo protested.
"Bo's right Uncle Jesse," Luke added. "You don't really think Daisy going out with him is a good idea, do you?"
"Doesn't matter what I think, or what you think. Just what do you think Daisy is gonna do to you boys if she catches you spying on her? You know she will too," Jesse cautioned.
"So we just let her go out with Rosco of all people?" Bo asked. He couldn't believe that his uncle was suggesting that they let Daisy date the county sheriff.
"That's exactly what we do Bo."
"But Uncle Jesse!"
"Daisy's old enough to make her own choices Bo, and just like she respects you and Luke's choices, she deserves the same respect."
"That's different, she knows that we'd never hurt each other. You can't say the same about Rosco," Luke pointed out.
"You boys don't really think Rosco would hurt Daisy, or anybody else for that matter, do ya?"
Several minutes of uncomfortable silence followed, until finally the boys admitted the truth of Jesse's words. "No sir, I guess he wouldn't, least not on purpose."
"Bo?"
"I suppose you're right," came the reluctant admission. "Guess if we ain't following Daisy, we might as well go get a drink at the Boar's Nest," he suggested to his cousin.
"Sounds good to me," Luke agreed.
"You boys just make sure you don't go anywhere but the Boar's Nest," Jesse ordered.
"Yes sir," they acknowledged before heading outside.
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"We ain't really going to the Boar's Nest are we Luke?" came the expected question as soon as they were inside the General.
"I don't think we got much choice Bo, they got too much of a headstart on us now," Luke pointed out as he put the car in gear.
"We could drive around, maybe we'd spot them," Bo suggested.
"Or maybe they'd spot us first and Uncle Jesse is right about one thing for sure."
"What's that?"
"Daisy would be furious if she caught us spying on her."
"Yeah she would. I'm just worried Luke, what if this is one of Boss' schemes and he's setting Daisy up for something."
"I know Bo, I'm concerned about that too. I'm really surprised that Uncle Jesse isn't worried about her as well."
"So now what?"
"Now we go to the Boar's Nest and have a beer, maybe if we think about it for a while we can figure out where they might've gone."
"Alright! I knew ya hadn't given up," Bo entusiastically replied.
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Enos Strate stared at the road where only moments ago the sheriff had driven past his speed trap, headed towards Cedar City. He couldn't believe what he'd just seen, his friend and boss was obviously on a date, and that was surprising enough. The fact that the girl in the car with him was Daisy Duke hurt more than anything Enos had ever felt before. After finding out about her cousins, he had been real uncomfortable around Daisy, but that didn't mean he didn't love her; he thought she understood that. He wasn't sure what hurt more; the fact that a man he admired had betrayed him or that the girl he loved was dating a man she knew he considered a friend as well as an employer. With a cry of wounded rage, Enos pulled away from his assigned post and drove as quickly as he could towards the Boar's Nest.
TBC
Well hope y'all liked ch. 1. Please don't forget to feed the muse with reviews.