As always, I lay no claim to DOH; only the storylines and the characters I create. I also lay no claim at all to any of the music I mention! You'll find that Darla's taste in tunes is something Bo will have to get used to!

As the days went by, it became apparent that Bo really did have something, and the symptoms were greatest when Darla was around. With no one intent on doing her harm, Darla lightened up considerably. In addition to her striking red hair, delicate skin and gold-flecked eyes, Darla had a pretty smile, an infectious laugh, and a sense of humor that kept all the Dukes laughing with her. It seemed like there wasn't anything she couldn't twist into a joke. Bo couldn't help but smile when they were together, which was most of the time.

"You know, rumors are flying thicker than mosquitoes in the Hazzard swamp about those two," Daisy said quietly. Luke was helping her hang another load of laundry on the line, while Bo and Darla were under the hood of the General Lee.

"You're tellin' me," said Luke. "Yesterday, Miz Tisdale grilled me about whether or not Darla was from 'good family stock' when I picked up the mail."

Daisy giggled. "Maybelle actually chased me down the street when I went to the drugstore, wantin' to know about her."

Luke chuckled; Maybelle was not only the town phone operator, she was also the town gossip, and she took that responsibility seriously. "Guess everyone figures if a girl can hold his attention for more than a few days, she must be the one for him."

Daisy laughed, and looked over at them as they laughed at something. "Maybe they have a point. Have you ever seen him like this before?"

"No, I really haven't," said Luke. "Bo's charmed many a woman, but…she's different. A pretty face might turn Bo's head for a while, but you know how fast he can lose interest. But every time he looks at Darla…it's like he's back in front of the Hazzard Bank again, lookin' at her for the first time."

"She really is the sweetest thing," said Daisy, watching them. "What do you think it is about her, that's got him so smitten?"

Luke thought for a minute as he helped Daisy pin sheets to the clothesline. "I think it's…that she's just herself. She's not makin' a play for him, and she's not makin' him chase her. She just…is what she is."

"Well…she is definitely someone special in Bo's eyes," said Daisy.

Luke nodded, but he face was a little worried. She's someone special, all right, he thought, someone who's not stayin'.


As more days passed, it became clear that what Darla was amounted to several different things. A few mornings after Bernardo and Sid's arrest, Darla proved her worth in the kitchen, making them all huevos rancheros for breakfast. Of course, she also proved she had a much higher tolerance for spicy foods than they did. After three or four bites, she had all of them sweating.

Darla also proved that her driving of the General Lee the first day was no fluke. After breakfast, Darla wanted to go back to Cooter's and get Treasure's racing tack and her silks so she could exercise the stallion at Hazzard's local track. Bo came outside to find Darla in the driver's seat of the General Lee, spinning through the dial on the radio.

"What're you doin'?" he asked, leaning in the driver's window.

"Trying to find something else to listen to," she answered.

"What's wrong with what we had?" Bo asked.

"Nothing; I just like something a little stronger when I drive, that's all."

Bo smiled a little, but didn't argue with her over who was going to drive. As he walked around to the passenger side, he heard a screaming guitar and a guy singing a least an octave higher than he thought was humanly possible.

"Yes!" exclaimed Darla with a victorious laugh.

"What the heck is this?" he said, giving her an incredulous look.

"Sammy Hagar!" she said. "And considering the way you put the General through his paces, I'd say this song is appropriate for you!" She hit the gas and sang along as the chorus came on:

Go on and write me up for 125
Post my face, wanted dead or alive
Take my license n' all that jive
'cause I can't drive 55!

It was louder than anything Bo listened to, but he had to laugh at the lyrics. "Well, I know Rosco would agree it's a good song for me an' Luke!" He looked over at her. "So, um, is this all you listen to?" He was genuinely concerned; could this be something about her he actually wouldn't like?

"No, I'll listen to almost anything," she said. "The music that gets played in the barns at Treasure Green depends on the foremen, so I know a lot of different artists."

Bo tried to listen more, but it was just too loud. "How can you think with this on?" he said.

"How can you think with that caterwauling country playing?" she fired back.

"Hey, there is nothing wrong with Hank!" he said.

They playfully bantered back and forth for a while. Bo extolled the virtues of Loretta, Dolly, Merle, and Johnny, while she praised Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Jon Bon Jovi. They managed to compromise on the Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"So…do you at least like Waylon Jennings?" he asked hesitantly.

She shrugged. "I guess so," she said. She caught Bo's slightly crestfallen look. "But, I really like The Highwaymen."

Bo brightened at that. "Anybody else?"

"Well, I like George Strait," she said, "And I love Vince Gill."

"No kiddin'? Well, you've got that in common with Daisy, she's head over heels for that guy!" Bo laughed.

Suddenly they heard a siren behind them. "Oh, no," Bo moaned.

"Is that Rosco again?" Darla tried to look behind her.

"No, it's Enos," said Bo, and picked up the CB mic. "Enos, what do you want, we ain't doin' nothin'!"

"Sorry, Bo," they heard Enos reply, "But Sheriff Rosco says I gotta check that Darla gal's license; he says he got it on good authority that she's got a fake ID."

"Boss's authority, maybe," Bo muttered. On the radio, he heard a guitar riff that sounded like a car shifting through its gears.

"Yes!" Darla hissed, and turned up the volume. She was wearing a full-of-the-devil grin as she hit the gas. "You'll guide me?" she said, looking over at Bo.

"Now Bo, you pull over!" said Enos. "Please!" he added meekly.

"Well, I'd love to oblige ya, Enos, but I ain't drivin!" said Bo, smiling at Darla. "You wanna talk to Darla, you're gonna have to catch her yourself!" He threw the mic down. "Take a right here!" he said, and braced himself.

They sped down the dirt roads with Enos hot on their tail. Darla couldn't quite make the General Lee drift through corners the way Bo could, which made it harder for her to stay ahead of the deputy's patrol car. They hit a paved road with Enos close behind; they could see a train on the tracks ahead.

Bo looked over at her. "You ready to do this again?"

"Oh, you can't be serious!" said Darla.

"Head for the dip and you'll fly right over that flat car there!" Bo yelled.

Darla bobbed her head in time to the music, and floored the General with a look of determination—and excitement.

She hit the dip in the road and flew over the train, landing with a hard thud on the other side. She hit the brakes and slid to a stop; they both looked over their shoulder in time to see Enos slide to a stop inches from the tracks. The heavy noise of the train couldn't quite drown out Enos's squeal at the close call.

"Well, it looks like he's all right!" said Bo.

"Whoo!" Darla shrieked. "Talk about Kickstart My Heart!" They both laughed. Darla looked at Bo with a huge smile and shining eyes, and said, "Do you do this often?"


And later that night, Darla proved that while she might be "the sweetest thing," as Daisy put it, she was no pushover. And of course, there was no better place to prove that than the Boar's Nest.

With Darla's wardrobe being so small—she barely had more than what she was wearing—Daisy loaned Darla some of her clothes for the evening. When she came out of Daisy's room, Darla was wearing a pair of Daisy's famous shorts. They rode a little lower on Darla, since she was so much shorter, but paired with one of Daisy's tie-front tops and high-heeled sandals, she was still a sight to behold.

Luke raised his eyebrows in appreciation; Bo couldn't help but gulp. Darla turned around once. "Do I look okay?" she asked nervously.

"Shoot, you look whole lot better than okay," said Bo, and smiled at her. Luke heard some of Bo's usual charm creeping back into his voice.

At the Boar's Nest, every head turned when the boys walked in. There was a general shout of greeting from the other patrons, but there was no doubt that all eyes were on Darla. It wasn't just the men, either; several of the women were looking too, and a few of them were less than pleased to see Bo with a strange girl.

Daisy brought the boys and Darla a round of beers. "Hey, and bring us some whiskey shots too, would ya?" said Bo.

"Sure thing, Bo; you want one, Darla?"

"Rum for me, thanks," she said.

"Rum?" asked Luke as Daisy poured their drinks.

"I know; I'm a complete traitor to my Irish roots," said Darla, smiling. "Me mother's family said I be a disgrace, drinking like a limey." She let a thick Irish accent into her speech as she said it, which got a smile out of Bo.

After a round, they started to relax, and Bo and Luke kept Darla laughing with some of their escapades in Hazzard county.

"So, you never figured out they were twins?" said Darla, after they told her about the twin jewel thieves they'd helped to capture. It had taken Darla only a few minutes of their story to realize there were two girls conning Bo and Luke.

"It took us a while," said Luke, laughing at the memory. "Fortunately, we figured it out before either of us got hurt."

"Yeah, and we probably would have hurt each other if we hadn't figured it out," said Bo. "Both of us were so dead sure we were right, we woulda started takin' swings at each other if Uncle Jesse hadn't stopped us."

"I bet you two have taken more than a few swings at each other in your lifetimes," said Darla, eyeing the two of them over the rim of her glass. Bo and Luke both squirmed in their chairs and shot a glance at each other. Darla smiled a little as she sipped at her rum. "Do you see eye to eye more often nowadays?"

"Well…" Bo said with mock seriousness. "Luke's much older and wiser now, and realizes that it's completely pointless to argue with me about anything!" He couldn't resist a smile as he eyed Luke.

"Oh yeah, I learned that, all right," Luke fired back, grinning, "'cause it's pointless to argue with a brick-lined head!"

"You boys recallin' all your shuck an' jives for Darla, here?" said a familiar voice.

"Hey, Cooter!" Bo and Luke both welcomed the mechanic. Darla smiled at him as he pulled up a chair.

"Cooter, can I believe even half of what these two are telling me?"

"That, an' then some, Darla," said Cooter, as Daisy brought him a beer. "They may have crazy stories to tell, but I was there for most of 'em. An' these two got me out of more than one tight corner, I can tell you that."

"Shoot, you've done the same for us, Cooter," said Luke.

They were well into their story about a fortune-teller coming to Hazzard, when they heard a rough voice break in.

"Well, who's this here?" A dark-haired, slovenly man said as he swaggered up to the Duke's table.

Darla looked up at him, then quickly scanned the faces of the men sitting with her. Bo's smile had faded, and she could see his jaw tensing. "Evenin', Ernie," said Luke. He and Cooter hadn't moved from their relaxed positions, but their eyes had turned guarded. This was not someone to be trusted.

"Bo, Luke, this a friend of yours?" Darla said lightly.

"More like their competition," Ernie snickered.

"Really? Well, it's nice that you're so generous, since you let them win all the time," Darla said sweetly, sipping her drink. The boys and Cooter snorted.

It took Ernie a minute to realize he'd been insulted. He scowled at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Darla snickered. "If you don't get it, I'm not going to explain it," she said.

"C'mon, Ernie, you were a six-pack in before we even got here. Now let it go, she's not interested," said Bo.

"Hey, maybe the filly here should make up her own mind!" Ernie said. "C'mon hon, come and have a drink!"

Bo jumped to his feet as Ernie grabbed Darla's arm. But he never got the chance to make a move in Ernie's direction, because Ernie was suddenly on his knees. Darla stood over him; she had his pinky finger in one hand and was bending it backwards until the back of his hand was practically touching his wrist.

"First of all, I'm nobody's filly," she said in that same sweet voice. "And second—sorry, but you're not my type. Because my type doesn't include someone that I can smell three feet before he gets to the table." Ernie just whimpered in response. Darla let him go, but before he could move, she whipped her elbow around and cut Ernie across the bridge of his nose. Ernie hit the ground with a grunt; blood flowed from his nose as he cradled his hand. Darla smiled tightly at him as she sat back down, but her eyes were narrowed.

The boys and Cooter just stared at her as Ernie slunk back to the bar. "How did you do that?" asked Cooter.

"Where the pinkie goes, the body will follow," said Darla. "You can take down a guy twice your size with that move. And your elbow is the strongest joint in your body; you have to get closer to hit, but you can hit a lot harder."

"Where in the Sam Hill did you learn that?" asked Bo.

Darla shrugged. "When you're a pretty girl who works with guys twice your size, you learn things."

Bo shook his head. "Remind me again not to get on your bad side," he said. Luke and Cooter both smiled into their beers.