Bo and Darla are back! I originally intended this to be a one-shot, but I decided to make it the first chapter of this story instead. It has been re-worked since I originally posted it; I guess I got a little too OOC for some. That's what happens when this writer gets too attached to a story!
As always, I lay no claim to DOH. Only Darla and whatever other characters I create.
You were licking your lips and your lipstick shining
I was dying just to ask for a taste
We were lying together in a silver lining
By the light of the moon
You know there's not another moment to waste
And then you took the words right out of my mouth
Oh - it must have been while you were kissing me
You took the words right out of my mouth
And I swear it's true
I was just about to say I love you
-Meatloaf, "You Took the Words Right Out Of My Mouth"
Darla was in the passenger seat of Jesse's pickup, singing to the album she'd just picked up at the Meatloaf concert in Capitol City. Bo, in the driver's seat, was laughing and singing along as best he could. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to everything Darla listened to-and she did listen to everything-but there was no questioning her love of music. In the month since Darla had come back to Hazzard, when she and Daisy weren't knee-deep in wedding plans with the Hazzard ladies, she wasn't far from a music source, whether it was a radio, a record player, or a concert. When she'd heard Meatloaf was coming to Georgia, she'd begged Bo to take her. He didn't know why Darla wanted to go to a concert by a guy who named himself after a dinner staple, but he had to admit, he'd had a good time. The music wasn't Waylon, but it was a fun sound. And seeing her get up and sing and dance with a bunch of other guys and girls, who apparently knew all the words and choreography to a song called "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," had made him laugh out loud.
"Oh, Bo, thank you! I've wanted to see Meatloaf for ages!" said Darla. "It seemed like the farm crew would play Bat Outta Hell on a continuous loop sometimes! I've always wanted to see him live! I know it's not your kind of music, but thank you!"
"Well, I'll tell ya what, Darla darlin', you can take the words right out of my mouth any time," said Bo, reaching for her hand.
"Gladly," said Darla, reaching across to kiss him. She'd been aiming for his cheek, but Bo turned his head and kissed her lips instead. "Bo, watch the road," she giggled.
"Shoot, I been driving these roads half my life, you think I can't drive 'em and kiss the prettiest girl in the world too?" Bo smiled as he tried to kiss her again.
"From the stories you told me about your 'shine running days, I'm sure you can," she said, smiling, "but it still makes me nervous."
"Aw, heck, in our 'shine runnin' days, we drove at night with the headlights OFF! This is easy!" said Bo.
Darla laughed and leaned back toward the window. "Hooh! That's a perfect song for a hot summer night like this!" said Darla, hanging her arm out the window. "Is it always this hot and still?"
"This time of year? You bet," said Bo, wiping his own forehead. Then a smile slowly spread across his face. "But you know, uh…there's all kinds of ways to get some relief from it."
"Really?" Darla couldn't quite see Bo's face in the reflection of the headlights, but she'd bet her new album and a whole lot more that he was wearing a very mischievous grin. "Did you somehow put air conditioning in the barn? Because that's where I'd be."
"Well, I can't get ya no air conditionin', but I can get ya a great swimmin' hole," he said slyly. "The others ain't expectin' us back for a while, it'd be a good chance to cool off."
"Hmmm, and here I thought you liked it hot with me," said Darla with a grin.
Bo gave her a shocked look and laughed out loud. "Oh honey, you know I do," he said, "but ya know, a late night swim could still be fun." And so could other things, he thought. With the exception of the first night Darla came back to Hazzard, they'd hardly been able to get any time alone. Bo knew Uncle Jesse was trying to keep them apart at night as much as possible, to get them to the wedding date with a minimum of gossip. There were a lot of folks who already assumed there was another Duke on the way; that was one reason Darla wanted to wait until after the late harvest to have the wedding. But Bo didn't know how he could possibly wait that long to spend a night with her again.
"Esta mal, Bo Duke," Darla laughed. She knew what wavelength Bo was on. "You are bad. Okay, a swim would feel really good right now. Where are we headed?"
Bo laughed again. "You'll see," he said, and turned Uncle Jesse's pickup off the road. If he hadn't been so intent on the evening ahead, he might have caught a glimpse of the squad car sitting back in the shrubs on the side of the road.
Rosco didn't see Bo and Darla; he just saw the pickup turn off the road and head up a deserted trail. "Ooh. Ooh! Flash, you see that? That there's Jesse; I'll bet he's headin' for a still site. He's off to check his brew! Ooh, it's good news, khew-khew!" He couldn't believe he was going to be lucky enough to bust Jesse Duke on his overnight shift. He reached for his CB. "Enos, this is your superior officer Ros-COE P. Col-trane! Ya got yer ears on, come back?"
"Yessir, Sheriff!" Enos answered.
"Listen, you git up here to Route 36 and assist me with arrestin' Jesse Duke! He's headed for his still site by Miller's Pond. He's brewin' up shine and we gonna git 'im!"
"Gee Sheriff, I don't really think Uncle Jesse'd do a thing like that; it'd get all the Dukes in trouble again," said Enos.
"Enos! Now you just hush, ya hear? Hush! And git up here and assist me! Over an' out!" Rosco threw down his CB mic and waited eagerly.
"Where are we?" asked Darla.
"Well this here, Darla, is still site number five," said Bo. He grabbed the blankets they'd sat on at the concert from the bed of the pickup, took her hand and started to lead her through the trees. "This was one of Uncle Jesse's favorite sites to brew, 'cause of Miller's Pond."
"Clean water source, huh? No mineral deposits?"
Bo was surprised. "Now, I thought you didn't know anything about moonshine!"
"Doesn't mean I don't know anything about brewin'," she said, smiling. "I'm 'alf Irish, remember?" she finished, letting her mother's Irish brogue run thick in her speech. Darla's accent tended to vary by the day. She was gradually losing her Spanish accent, although she still tended to mutter in Spanish when she was mad. And after a few months in Hazzard, she was picking up on the Dukes' speech mannerisms as well. But she could still pull off the accents of both sides of her family when she chose to.
"Many was the McCarthy wider-woman, what spent her time running from the Cardai, while makin' their rare ol' Mountain Dew, as the song goes. An' we don't just know about brewin' the Irish whiskey; we know mead too," she went on.
Bo had to replay about half of what she said in his head before he got it all. Darla chuckled a bit before she went on in her usual voice. "I used to help Mama's family brew mead. My brews were pretty good."
"Mead?" Bo could see the ledge overlooking the pond ahead.
"Honey liquor; you might know it as honeywine. It's a traditional drink at Irish celebrations. Mama's family will be bringing a bunch for the wedding, but I can probably make some if someone around here has a bee hive. And the best part is, Boss and the ATF can't do a thing to you for brewing it, because it's not considered hard liquor by the revenuers."
"Now, Uncle Jesse'd love that part!" said Bo. The moon suddenly went behind a cloud, plunging them into darkness. Bo felt his way through the last few trees carefully. "Here, c'mere," he said, and pulled Darla in front of him.
"What are you doing?"
Bo wrapped his arms around her from behind. "I want you to see somethin'," he said, watching the sky. "Right about—now."
"But—oh!" Darla exclaimed. The moon had come back out, bathing everything in pale light. Miller's Pond was an almost perfect circle of molten, sparkling silver in the middle of the trees. It took her a second to realize that the pond was literally glittering.
"It's beautiful," she breathed. "What makes it sparkle like that?"
"Quartz," said Bo. "There's a lot of it up here in these parts, and when the moonlight's right, it lights everything up, like this."
Darla continued to gaze at the sparkling lights dancing on the rocks and under the water's surface. "It's beautiful," she murmured again.
"Mmmmm, not nearly as beautiful as what I'm holdin' on to," said Bo, and bent to kiss her cheek. He let his lips move down her neck, and his arms tightened around her waist. Darla twisted in his arms to face him. "I thought you wanted to swim," she teased, "or did you just bring me up here to take advantage of me?"
"Me? Shoot, would I do that?" said Bo, faking total innocence.
"Hmph," said Darla, but she smiled as she kissed him. "Guess you can't take advantage of a girl who's willin'. Now c'mon, it's hot."
"I'll say…" Bo pulled her closer.
"Quit it!" Darla laughed and started picking her way down the steep slope toward the water. Bo dropped the blankets at the top of the hill and started to follow, unbuttoning his shirt as he went.
The slope evened out a little as it met the water. They could hear the sound of the water falling over the rocks as the pond trickled over into Miller's Creek. Bo tossed his shirt onto the branches of a nearby shrub and started to kick his boots off. He couldn't help stealing glances in Darla's direction. She'd already tossed her shirt and was bent over working on the high-heeled sandals she'd borrowed from Daisy. She didn't have the long legs Daisy did—Darla was by far the shortest one in the family—but her legs were rounded with muscle borne of being a jockey, and when she paired that with the super-short shorts that Daisy favored…well, what man in his right mind wouldn't stare? Bo thought. He'd seen more than one boy at the concert staring at her instead of the stage. Suddenly, he realized he was staring, and Darla had caught him; she was staring back at him over her shoulder with a thoroughly amused look. "You gonna swim in those jeans? 'Cause I'm not waitin' on ya," she said, as her shorts dropped to the ground and she kicked them away.
Bo's breath caught, and he gulped as the moonlight glowed on her pale skin. It's a good thing that water's so cold, he thought, or I'd be overheating pretty quick. He turned to undo his belt, when he heard a splash and a shriek. He looked and saw Darla standing waist-deep in the pond with soaking-wet hair, her arms wrapped tightly around her.
"This water's freezing!" she squealed.
"Oh, didn't I tell ya why Uncle Jesse loved this site? It's a spring-fed pond," Bo replied lightly.
"Ooooooohhh!" yelled Darla through clenched teeth; she knew Bo had left that part out on purpose. She smacked her hand hard on the surface and sent a spray of water at him.
"Hey!" he yelled as the water hit; it felt like snowflakes on his skin. Darla kicked another spray of water at him. "Oh, you wanna fight now, huh?" Bo heard Darla laugh in response as she sent another spray at him. "Okay, two can play at that!" Bo yelled, running in after her. He gasped as the cold water hit him, then jumped and tried to grab Darla. She jumped back and twisted away from him, and Bo felt the water close over his head. He jumped back up and threw his hair back. "Whoah!" he yelled, in a much higher-pitched voice than usual. "Dang, I'd forgotten just how cold this is!"
"Yeah, sure ya did!" Darla fired back, swimming back up to him. Her eyes were wide with the cold, but she was smiling, despite her teeth chattering a little. "I won't need to stay in here very long," she said. "I'm already thoroughly cooled off."
"Mmmmm…" Bo pulled Darla closer; despite the cold water, he could still feel the heat of her skin as his arms slid around her. He lowered himself so he was level with her. "I could help with that," he murmured.
Rosco and Enos parked their cars at the bottom of the road that led up to the still site. "Now, Enos," Rosco whispered loudly, "you just follow my lead as your superior officer. Jesse's still should be at the top o' the hill right there. Now we're gonna approach 'im by stealth! We gonna sneak up on 'im, and we're gonna yell 'freeze!' and we gonna cuff 'im and stuff 'im! Oooh, it's gonna be a good night tonight, khew, khew!" Rosco was practically giggling.
"Alrighty, sheriff, but I still don't believe Uncle Jesse'd be brewin' no shine up here," said Enos. That was technically true—he knew exactly where the Dukes were brewing shine, and it wasn't here—but he wasn't about to say that to Rosco.
"Oh Enos, hush! I know Jesse's brewin' shine, what with Bo fixin' ta marry that Darla gal. It wouldn't be a proper Hazzard weddin' if there weren't no shine ta bless the union! Now come on!" said Rosco.
Enos shook his head; apparently, a wedding was even more of a reason to try and bust the Dukes. He had no idea why Jesse would come up here, but he knew it wasn't for shine.
At the top of the hill, Darla wrapped one of the blankets from the concert around her like a towel and started to wring the water out of her hair. Bo dumped their clothes in a pile, grabbed the other blanket and started to rub his own hair dry. Darla loved the way it curled when it was damp, whether it was from swimming or from sweating through chores on the farm.
"Now I've caught you staring," Bo said with a smile at her.
Darla looked a little sheepish, but smiled back. "I've always loved your hair," she said. "Have I ever told you that?"
"Um, no," said Bo, laughing a little. "In fact, I don't think I've ever had a girl tell me that before."
"I wanted to be a blond growing up; I hated having red hair."
"Really?" said Bo, running his hand through a section of her damp auburn hair. "I've always thought your hair was beautiful; it was one of the very first things I noticed about you."
"Well, not so much the red hair; more the pale skin that comes with it," said Darla. "I get sunburned walking from the house to the barn; that still drives me nuts. Jonas got the gitanos dark skin; I got the snow-white Irish skin. I always wondered what I'd look like with a tan, but it's just not in my genes to find out."
Bo spread his blanket out and motioned for her to sit down with him. "I like your skin," he said softly, and kissed her shoulder. "Uncle Jesse once said you had milkmaid skin."
"Really?"
"Mmm-hmm," he murmured, letting his lips trail lightly up her neck. "Pale, creamy skin like that, he said it reminded him of the farmer girls who used to milk the cows every morning."
Darla couldn't help but laugh. "That hardly sounds romantic."
"Well, it made me think more about you," said Bo, "not that I need much encouragement to do that." His lips started working across her throat; Darla sighed and tilted her head back. She caught the look in his eyes, and she had no doubt about how Bo wanted this evening to end. Suddenly, Bo leaned back; Darla let out a little squeak as Bo pulled her down on top of him.
Bo spent a moment looking up at her. Her damp hair, which had a reddish cast even in the silver light, fell in ribbons around him. Her shoulders and back had come free of the blanket, and her skin glowed milky-pale in the moonlight. He let his fingertips trail down her sides; she bit her lip, and he felt her start to move under his touch.
Bo reached up and cupped her cheek with one hand. "Will you marry me?" he whispered.
Darla laughed softly. "I'm pretty sure you already asked me that, seeing as how I have a ring from you." She glanced at Livinia Duke's ring glittering on her left hand. "Or were you dreaming when you asked me the first time?"
"Sometimes I think I am in a dream with you," he said, "and I'm so afraid I'm gonna wake up and find you're still gone. That time without you was the darkest of my life, Darla; I don't ever wanna go back there." His thumb traced across her lips. "Sometimes I still can't believe you came back; that you're here with me."
Darla smiled a little. Sometimes, she couldn't believe she'd taken this leap, either. She knew she was talk of the town in Lexington; the wealthy heiress running off to marry a country boy, there was no way the gossips could resist that. That thought pricked at her conscious sometimes. Not so much the gossips; she could live with that. But she still wondered if not returning to run her family's farm was the right decision. She was still a Verdes, even if the name died with her.
Then she looked at Bo; his eyes, almost black in the moonlight, were full of love as he looked up at her. She'd lived without that love too, and thought she'd lost it forever. The pain in her heart had been nearly unbearable. She knew she couldn't live without that love, or without him.
"This is where I'm supposed to be. And I'll never leave you, Bo," Darla whispered, and kissed him.
Bo felt that spark ignite between them again; an overwheming desire that was almost beyond his control. He reached down and pulled the blanket out from between them, and groaned as he felt her skin press against his. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeper. He felt heat course through him; the feeling was familiar now, but still intoxicating. His hands moved up her back and tangled in her hair, the scent of her skin filled his nose—
—And suddenly, everything went south.
"FREEZE!"
Rosco and Enos jumped out from the trees, guns drawn. Darla and Bo both jumped; their heads snapped around toward the sound. When they saw Rosco and Enos, Darla let out a shriek and tried to push herself off Bo, but in doing so she drove her knee squarely into Bo's stomach. Bo let out a loud groan and rolled over.
Meanwhile, Rosco and Enos suddenly realized exactly who and what they were looking at. Both of them screamed and backpedaled. Rosco plowed backfirst into a tree, but Enos wasn't so lucky; he launched himself right off the edge of the slope; they heard his high-pitched yell as he rolled end-over-end and splashed into the water.
Darla yanked the blanket around herself again; Bo sat up, gasping for breath, and tried to wrap the other blanket around him. "Dang it— Rosco—what the hell—were you thinkin'?" he grunted. "Are ya outta yer mind?"
Darla ran over to the ledge and saw Enos desperately trying to right himself, wiping the water out of his eyes. She could hear Bo still trying to catch his wind from when she'd kneed him. She looked over at Rosco; he was still frozen against the tree. His eyes were round as saucers. He was casting about for something to say, but was clearly at a loss for words.
"Well Bo," she said frankly, "if you were living in a dream with me before, I'd say we're both wide awake now." She looked back at Bo. Suddenly, she started laughing. Bo stared at her for a second, then he started laughing too. Darla walked back to him and sat down hard, still laughing; Bo put his arms around her. Enos suddenly reappeared on the ledge, sopping wet with water pouring off him, breathing hard from his walk up the hill. Bo and Darla took one look at him, and the surrounding hills echoed with their laughter.
"You two are really somethin', you know that?" said Luke as he closed their bedroom door later. Once Rosco had recovered from the shock of catching Bo and Darla, he'd slapped them with whatever fines he could think of. Once they'd gotten home, Jesse had shaken his head in exasperation at the two of them; Luke and Daisy had both gotten a good laugh out of it.
"Nah, she's really somethin', Luke," said Bo, flopping back on his bed and staring at the ceiling.
Luke couldn't help but smile at Bo's cheesy grin. "You look like the cat what caught the canary," said Luke, "and you didn't even catch it!"
"Not tonight, thanks to Rosco," said Bo, still staring at the ceiling.
"Hmph," said Luke. "Just be careful from now on, okay? You get caught again and it won't matter what you say, Uncle Jesse'll have you two at the altar within the hour."
Bo laughed softly. "Yeah, he probably would," he agreed. "Although to tell ya the truth, I don't think I'd mind. I mean, I know Darla wants a weddin', and I'm more than happy to have one, but I just wanna marry her."
"Well, we can't rush it too much," said Luke, "or the shine won't be ready."
Bo chuckled again. "True—I just don't want to wait," he said, and turned to face Luke, his face suddenly serious. "I've never loved anyone like her, Luke. And I've never been in love like I am with her. I just—I guess I'm just afraid of losing it, is all."
"Well, I don't think you're going to, Bo," said Luke. "She loves you. There's no question in my mind about that. Before you know it, you'll be standin' at that altar sayin' 'I do.' You got nothin' to worry about." Then slowly he smiled again. "You know that's why Rosco chased y'all up there; he thought Uncle Jesse was goin' to check a still!"
Bo laughed again. "Yeah, he'll probably be chasin' us all over Hazzard these next few months, tryin' to catch us with it 'fore the weddin'. Good thing we ain't the only Dukes that know how to make 'shine!"
Luke laughed with him. "That look on Enos's face had to have been priceless," he said.
"I think Rosco's was just as good," said Bo, and they both laughed again.