AN AMBULANCE'S SIREN
When Daisy opened her eyes, the morning light was already filling the room.
She yawned and she sat up, looking at the little room around her until her mind realized she wasn't at the farm; she stretched her arms and she yawned again.
Enos was already at work, and, looking at the alarm clock on the night table, she wasn't surprised: 8 a.m.
Daisy got up, staring at his white t-shirt and black trousers resting on the bed, and smiling with a sense of loss: she didn't manage to talk to him about detective Molise and Colt, she didn't manage to convince him to open up.
Walking to the little kitchen, she noticed a cup in the sink: he had just a cup of coffee before to leave. Daisy shook her head, disappointed of her deep sleep, so deep she didn't even notice his waking up and his leaving: if she had woken up, she'd have cooked breakfast for him.
Heading to the bathroom she sighed, wondering if every woman in love was so worried of her man's feeding, like a mommy; Daisy thought that, after all, the most meaningful phrase of love was "are you hungry? Did you eat?" and that thought made her smile.
When she came out the bathroom, she noticed a sheet stuck on the wardrobe's mirror: a message for her.
She took the message and she read it, smiling at Enos' rounded, childish and clear handwriting, perfectly reflecting his personality.
Since you're sleeping really deeply, I won't wake you up. Hope you're having sweet dreams.
I'd like to stay here, looking at you sleeping, but I have to go.
Thank you for the soup and the sandwiches. Thank you for staying, I really loved to talk to you, I needed it.
Make yourself at home.
See you later.
Enos
She read again and again his thanking her for her staying, and she blushed thinking of him looking at her while she was sleeping.
She placed the sheet on the table and she answered him:
Thank you for not trying to find a dramatic way to wake me up, sugar. I hope I didn't hurt you too much when I kicked you off the bed, I'm so sorry.
Whenever you want to talk and whatever you want to talk about, I'm here.
I love you,
Daisy
Massaging the back of his neck with his right hand, Enos listened to Rosco, detective Colt and detective Molise talking, a new day of patrolling waiting for them.
"Sleepless night, deputy Strate?" Detective Colt noticed Enos' gesture and winked at him, "I suppose your fiancée didn't let you sleep"
Enos blushed and looked away, "I… no… I slept pretty well," he kept on massaging his neck, blushing at the thought of Daisy sleeping on him, her left long leg across his lap, her arms around his waist and her head on his left shoulder: he couldn't even move, and, when he woke up, he had pain in all his muscles, but he didn't regret that pain, a sweet pain for a sweet reason.
"What?" Rosco looked in confusion at Enos and at detective Colt.
James Colt turned to Rosco, winking at the Sheriff, "Miss Duke's jeep is parked in front at the Boarding House, this morning, and it is was parked there yesterday evening too."
"It isn't your business, James," detective Molise glanced at detective Colt and then he focused again on Hazzard's map, "so, what abandoned barns and stills we should check, today, sheriff Rosco?"
"Uh… yeah…" Rosco traced a line on the map, his mind still at Daisy Duke's jeep parked in front of the Boarding House. Fiancée? Enos too talked of Daisy as his fiancée, and Rosco couldn't deny he was still surprised of that sudden and surprising evolution. Too many things were happening since Enos' coming back from L.A.
As detective Molise and Rosco talked about their plans, detective Colt kept on looking at Enos with a smile on his face.
What was behind that smile? Was it a friendly and knowing smile or a teasing smile?
Enos couldn't trust him, and that awareness saddened him: just the year before he would have answered that smile with a shy smile, taking it as a knowing and friendly smile of a fellow officer and friend.
Not now: he wasn't in the mood for joking. Was he really unable to trust his colleagues?
The pain of the betrayal he faced hit him with all its strength, again and again. He felt again like a wet and wringed rag. He felt again that anger: he was angry to himself because of his inability to stand up, he was angry to himself because of his naivety, and he was angry to himself because he wasn't able to hate people who shattered him.
"Yeah, it isn't your business, detective Colt," he snapped at detective Colt, surprising everybody in the room, and surprising himself too as his anger grew more and more, "don't talk any more of Daisy Duke. I don't want to hear her name from you. Never again," he had a deep breath trying to wash away that anger, but it was pointless, "I… have to go, now. We have to find that bomber," he walked away and he went out the Police Station, realizing he was shivering, and realizing that, for the first time, he was angry not just to himself but also to people who betrayed him: he hated them because they stole his trust in people.
He's always thought of other cops like a family, but actually that trust was gone.
He couldn't trust detective Colt and Molise, and it was why that day, at the Hospital, he didn't tell them he truth about his beating. It was why he couldn't work with them, now, talking and smiling as if they were friends.
He reached his patrol car and he drove away, starting his lonely patrolling.
When the second bomb exploded, destroying Boss' office at the Boar's Nest, late in that morning, Daisy's jeep was caught in that deflagration.
Driving to the town, Bo and Luke hear the explosion: a brief look at each other and they headed to the smoke in the distance, realizing, the more they came closer, what was that smoke's origin, and noticing, in shock, Daisy's jeep lying on its left side and Daisy's motionless body near the car.
"Daisy" Bo ran to Daisy, taking her in his arms as Luke called for an ambulance, "Daisy, please, open your eyes. PLEASE, Daisy!"
When Daisy opened her eyes, she looked at her cousins in confusion, her head pulsing and her left leg motionless because of a throbbing pain as she tried to move it, "A bomb. Bo, Luke! I was driving to the Boar's Nest when I heard the explosion. Dixie… I've lost…"
"Don't worry, Daisy. The ambulance is coming. You were near the Boar's Nest when the bomb exploded and your jeep left the road because of the blast," Luke tried to calm her down, "but an ambulance is coming."
"I don't need any ambulance, Luke. We should warn Enos, Rosco and those detectives about the blast," Daisy tried to stand up just to realize she simply couldn't do it: the pain in her leg was excruciating.
"Daisy, please, I think your leg is broken," Bo wrapped his arms around her, preventing her fall, "and you're bleeding."
Daisy touched the left side of her face, then looking at the blood on her palm.
"You have a cut on your forehead, and it's bleeding," Luke explained her what was now clear to her too, "and you've probably had a concussion. So, please, stay calm 'til the ambulance comes."
Exhausted, Daisy buried her face against Bo's shoulder, "Oh Bo, Luke. I was really hoping that bomber was already away Hazzard, and I was really hoping those detectives were goin' to follow him, leaving Hazzard. I HATE what's happening here."
A frantic speaking at the C.B. with Luke after hearing his friend calling for an ambulance, and Enos drove to the Boar's Nest, his heart furiously beating in his chest.
"Oh please God. Save Daisy. Take my life but save Daisy." Not Daisy. It couldn't happen.
Finally at the Boar's Nest, he ran to Daisy, Bo and Luke, finally having a deep breath of relief as he realized Daisy was conscious and she was smiling at him.
"Oh Enos. I'm OK, don't worry, sugar."
He knelt down by her side, his eyes lingering on her jeep, "you were really close the Boar's Nest when the bomb exploded, Daisy. If you had been closer… or inside it," he shook his head trying to control his panic, "you risked to die."
"And Cooter too. Fortunately the bomb exploded when he was having a walk with us, but if he had been…," Bo shared Enos' panic, shaking his head as his older friend.
"That bomber is really dangerous. We have to stop him before he really kills someone," Luke was keeping his mind focused on the problem, controlling his rage and worrisome, "but now, Daisy, it's time to go to the Hospital," his head turned to the ambulance finally there, its coming announced by its siren.
Daisy observed Enos' eyes staring at the ambulance and his body stiffening, and she was glad it wasn't raining: she was more worried of his possible reaction than of her injuries.
"Enos… I'm OK, don't worry," she smiled again and she tried to draw his attention to her, "just a visit to the Hospital and I'll be back home."
He turned to her, his eyes initially empty and then slowly focusing on her, "How do you feel?" his voice still distant.
"My head hurts, and my left leg too. My leg more than my head," she kept on smiling, doing her best to hide her pain: they were similar, they didn't want to worry people they love.
"I think her leg is broken and she's had a concussion, 'cause when we arrived she was unconscious," Bo explained it both to Enos and paramedics.
"My leg is probably broken, Bo, but I have no concussion. My mind is more lucid than your one, now," she let paramedics take her from Bo's arms and lay her on the stretcher, "Enos, stop looking at me that way, please, I'm fine," she smiled despite she was starting to panic at the sight of his panic, panic reflecting panic, then she looked for Luke's eyes.
"Daisy is fine, Enos," Luke rested his hand on Enos' left shoulder, reading Daisy's silent request of help, "I know you're worried because of my call, but now everything's OK, buddy."
Enos nodded silently, then he looked at the paramedics, "Can I hug her before you bring her to the Hospital, please? I'm her fiancé."
Daisy sighed in relief and rejoiced at the nonchalance of his calling himself "her fiancé". She opened her arms and she hugged him, "At least I won't kick you off the bed for a while," her voice a whisper in his ear.
He blushed, he looked at her in surprise and he finally smiled, "Daisy Duke, you're really…," he didn't complete his statement and he kissed her, a sweet and brief kiss before to let her go, "unless you'll decide to hit me with your crutch, just to wake me up."
She burst out laughing, forgetting the pain in her leg, "Enos Strate, you're really incredible."
Bo glanced at Luke, "What are they talking 'bout?"
Luke shrugged, folding his arms and looking at Enos and Daisy with a smile on his face, "I don't know, Bo, I can't know everything," then he turned serious, "I'm glad Daisy is fine and she's joking with Enos, but that bomber is still out there."
Bo scratched his hair in frustration, "You're right."
His eyes on the ambulance going away, Enos clenched his fists: his rage was changing direction, focusing on the man who nearly killed Daisy. In order to catch him, he probably needed not just Bo and Luke but also detective Colt and Molise: he had to trust them.
