This story is set two months after the series ended.


Prologue

It's an apparently normal November morning in Hazzard.

Daisy Duke is running under a lashing and cold rain, her boots splashing water from puddles, her hair soaked and her clothes (a pink shirt and a pair of blue jeans) sticking to her body like parasites. But Daisy doesn't mind, her first thought is to reach him and to ask him why.

Why is he leaving Hazzard? Why so suddenly?

Daisy reaches the Boarding House, climbing the stairs in a rush and opening his door without knocking. She stops on the threshold of the little room, breathing heavily and not minding at the water dripping on the floor.

"Enos Strate, what are you doin'?"

Enos is not surprised to see her, but he catches his breath seeing her like that, her clothes adhering to her body and her soaking hair. His instinct is to stand up, approaching her, inhaling her hair's scent and gently offering her a towel and some dry clothes. But he doesn't stand up, keeping on to pack his baggage, sitting on the floor.

"I'm packin' my baggage", he pretends indifference.

"I see you're packing your baggage, Enos. Rosco told me 'bout it. When did you exactly decide to leave Hazzard?".

Enos shrugs, "Yesterday. Chief Broggi told me there's the possibility for me to enter SWAT, if I want to. He remembered I told him I'd have liked to enter SWAT when I was in L.A., and he called me. So I decided to go", he doesn't look at Daisy while he's telling her a so pitiful lie, knowing she could read in his eyes and then it would be difficult to face her.

Daisy is shocked, "Yesterday? Only yesterday? And…", she catches her breath for a while, "and what 'bout … me… and our postponed wedding?".

She sees him freezing and clenching his jaw before he answers her, again avoiding her eyes, "I'm sorry, Daisy, but I think it's better to cancel all that thing… I mean… it's been all so… fast. It's better to think 'bout it before to…".

"Enos Strate, you're … impossible", Daisy's eyes are now full of tears, a mix of rage and despair, like that day, when there were the prison's bars between them; she remembers how he told her he loved her that day at the lake, only two months ago, and now she can't believe he's running away like that.

Daisy's rage prevents her to see a similar pain in Enos's elusive eyes, a pain she should go deep into, as she knows to do very well especially if it's something 'bout Enos Strate, the man she knows better than anyone else in Hazzard. But her rage and her shocked mind are bringing her away from him, so she slams the door running down the stairs instead of approaching him and reading into his eyes.

Enos remains alone in the little room, sitting on the floor, now covering his eyes with a trembling hand, trying to read inside Daisy's mentioning at their supposed postponed wedding, torn between the desire to believe she really cares 'bout the wedding and the consciousness she's only trying to stop him using his usual weak point.

He decided to leave Hazzard two days ago, after a brief and ravaging talk with John Morton, cousin of Marie Morton, one of the bridesmaids in the wedding day.

A (apparently) casual talk, and John told him 'bout the reported (from Marie) chatting between Daisy, Bo, Luke and uncle Jesse before the wedding. Enos remembers John's words like a nightmare, words that made him conscious 'bout his worst suspicion: Daisy decided to marry him only to save him from prison, and, even after the real thieves got arrested, she went on with that farce because she didn't want to hurt him calling off the wedding, so confirming him her real reason to marry him: pity. And John didn't spare him even the attempt of uncle Jesse, Bo and Luke to stop Daisy from something they're obviously seeing like a wasting of her life.

Oh well, a reported conversation from an ambiguous person like John Morton (who has a crush on Daisy and who's always been jealous of Daisy and Enos's closeness) shouldn't shock Enos so much to convince him to leave Hazzard without talking to the only person, Daisy, who could explain him everything, but that reported conversation fits so much with Enos's suspicion that he doesn't even doubt 'bout it, fearing, on the other hand, to ask Daisy the truth 'cause the pain to know the truth from her would be too much for him.

And now Enos is leaving Hazzard, his heart shattered by unrequited love and by the thought that also Daisy's family (a family he's always felt like his own family) thinks Daisy deserves someone better than him.

So, that rainy November day, in the evening, while Enos is heading to L.A., Daisy is in her bedroom, crying for something that she hasn't yet completely realized.


I've always wondered 'bout Daisy and Enos's feelings in "Daisy ans Enos's wedding" episode, in particular 'bout Daisy's feelings ('cause Enos's feelings for Daisy are clear throughout the whole series). The conversation between Daisy, Bo, Luke and uncle Jesse before the wedding (when Daisy is in her beautiful wedding dress) has always left me a bittersweet feeling (more bitter than sweet): I've never liked her defending that wedding only because "she doesn't want to hurt Enos calling off the wedding" (a so absurd excuse to marry someone, even if you have a strong affection to him), and I've never liked to see Bo, Luke and uncle Jesse trying to stop her.

Thinking back of Enos's sad face and his decision to refuse to marry Daisy (the thing he wants more) when he suspects Daisy is marrying him only to defend him from prison, and his smiling face when Daisy keeps up in the decision to marry him after the thieves are in jail (and it's supposed there's no need to marry him any more), well, it's made me wonder how Enos would feel if he finds out 'bout that conversation between Daisy, Bo, Luke and uncle Jesse that day. A ravaging revelation for him.

This is a short chapter, the prologue of a following long story (or I hope so).

Warning: I'm a slow and a bit lazy writer, so be patient and REVIEW!, 'cause reviews have the power to awake me from laziness. Any hint is welcome.