I completely tried to have this up earlier, but brothers... ech.

Alasse and anyone thinking along the same lines (that I might twist it so that Jo and Lou's babies aren't Bo and Luke's): Nope. The children really are the Duke boys'. No shuckin' and jivin' from the twins! I'm afraid if they tried that, ol' chatty Lou wouldn't be able to keep her big mouth shut. :D

EVERBODY: I have about 8 more chapters planned, but if anyone's got any bright ideas, PLEASE voice them!

Now, time for the boys to get in just a little more hot water with the girls...

And time for a nice, long chapter for once...

Back Off, Darlin'

"Go ahead and just pick one, Lou," Bo grumbled, tiredly running a hand through his hair. "Jo was outta here an hour ago."

Lou turned her gaze from the assortment of silver and gold engagement rings to Bo with a quirked eyebrow. "Jo's tastes are too simple for her own good," she replied.

"And yours are too intricate."

Lou rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to find one that's not too simple, but not too expensive for you to pay for either."

"Just pick one and I'll find a way to pay for it." His voice dropped to a quiet grumble. "You're already making me pay in sweat as well as cash."

This was the second stop of the day, the first being the courthouse to purchase a marriage license, the future third being a visit to the hospital for a checkup on Lou's baby. Luke and Jo had accompanied them, but as Bo had already said, Jo was quicker to select her ring and get out, putting that couple at the hospital already.

Not quite gently, Lou slapped Bo's arm. "Contrary to your belief, I am trying to help you out here."

"Uh-huh," Bo mumbled sarcastically.

Finally deciding to put the argument to an end, Lou pointed out a simple, fairly cheap—as far as engagement rings in Boss Hogg's jewelry store went—ring to the assistant behind the counter. After the associate put in a small box and Bo paid, the two walked side-by-side out of the store.

"Aren't you gonna put my new ring on my finger?" Lou insisted.

"Will your torture of me never end?" Bo whined, already opening the small jewelry box and retrieving the ring. Reluctantly, he slid it on Lou's extended finger.

"Probably not," she said, examining it on her finger. "I plan on tormenting you all during the engagement, and then most of the marriage… I don't know, maybe I'll let you slide on past after a few years…"

Loudly, Bo groaned at that.

And that only inspired a smile in Lou. She took private joy from Bo's irritated state, and quite frankly loved tormenting him.

As she walked back towards the General Lee, she noticed people across the town square pointing and talking. She sighed heavily. "Small town charm comes back to bite me."

"What?" Bo asked.

Gesturing, Lou explained. "All we do is tell a couple of people and go to buy a marriage license… Then the whole town's already talking."

Bo's gaze followed along Lou's finger to the group of people across the square. Groaning, he slapped his hands over his face. "That's just great," he muttered.

"Isn't it though?" Lou chuckled. Turning her gaze away from the spectators, she spied a poster on the wall of the building she was passing. "Whoa, hold up."

She stopped, and at her exclamation, so did Bo.

"Hazzard County Fair," she read from the advertisement's gaudy announcement. "This weekend…" She turned a smile to Bo. "I'm guessing the Fair's still a pretty big deal out here?"

He nodded.

"Well then, are you planning on going?"

"I'll probably go," he admitted.

Lou proudly held her head high. "Fine, then I'll go too. Where my fiancée goes, there I go… Most of the time."

-+-+-+-

Friday night, and Lou and Jo had nothing to do. They were just sitting around the Duke house with a silent Uncle Jesse as their only companion, seeing as Daisy had to work and the boys had run off to only God knew where an hour or so previous.

Finally, Lou, who was impatiently attempting to keep her attention on a book, slammed it down. "Why the heck do I feel like this has happened before!" she growled. "Jo, why on God's earth are we just sitting around like old maids while the boys are out probably playing around? I am not spending the rest of my life like this, and I ain't spending tonight like this either. Let's get out and go somewhere!"

One of Jo's brows raised questioningly. "Where is this somewhere?"

Lou was already out of her chair and attempting to pull Jo to her feet. "Doesn't matter!" she exclaimed. "We'll find somewhere to go!"

Somewhat reluctantly, Jo went along.

"Uncle Jesse, we're going out!" Lou yelled, already halfway to the car. Already much happier, she slid into the driver's seat.

-+-+-+-

After a bit of deliberation and searching, the Johnson twins' car pulled up in front of a building with a sign that read "The Boar's Nest." Interesting name, Lou thought, pocketing the keys.

"A bar?" asked Jo. "Um, 'case you don't remember, Lou, we ain't supposed to have alcohol till the babies are born. Doc said it could cause complications."

Smiling at her sister's constant noble attitude, Lou climbed out of the car. "Aw, Jo, just 'cause we're going into a bar doesn't mean we gotta drink. This is the only place in Hazzard with any action tonight. I'm willing to bet the boys are here, too."

As Jo followed Lou towards the Boar's Nest, she said, "Is it just me, or do you always have to be around them?"

"Nooo," Lou drawled. "They just happen to be everywhere I want to go. But it is fun to pick at them. And they are the reason we're in Hazzard again."

"No, we're here because of Yvonne and Xavier."

"And they're here because of the Duke boys." Lou's eyes traveled around the crowded bar until they rested on a familiar face. "Speaking of which…" Slowly, she began to make her way in Bo's direction.

But then she caught sight of his companion: a flirty, skinny, pretty little blonde. And angrily, her pace quickened.

"Sure, I'd love to go to the fair with you—" the blonde was saying as fuming Lou barged into the conversation.

"Well now, hello there," she bit out. "Who the heck are you!"

Annoyed by the flamboyant, non-explanatory pregnant woman who'd just interrupted her work, the blonde raised an eyebrow. "Janie Adams," she said. "What's it to ya?"

"Everything," Lou returned, placing her fists on her hips. "Do you know who I am?" Lou could see Bo squirm and try to slide away, but she kept an eye on him and he stayed put.

"Should I?" the blonde asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, yeah," Lou answered. "Well, right now my name's Betty-Lou Johnson, but mighty soon it's gonna be Betty-Lou Duke. This guy here's mine." Taking Bo by the arm none to gently, Lou let it be obvious that she wasn't happy.

"What gives you the idea he's yours?" The blonde chick just as harshly grabbed Bo's other arm, fire in her eyes.

"Oh, honey, I've got rights."

"Uh-huh, and what gives you these 'rights'?"

Lou brought her hand to the woman's face, wriggling the finger on which her new engagement ring sat. "This here ring on my finger," she laid the same hand over her swollen belly, "and this here baby curled up in my gut. Both are compliments of him." Anger escalating, she tipped her head towards Bo, who was now looking extremely frightened. "So you'd best just back off, darlin'."

Now the blonde quickly turned on Bo. "Why didn't you tell me you were engaged?" she thundered. "Perverted moron!" And she laid a slap right across Bo's face.

"Hey, don't you lay a finger on my fiancée!" Lou shouted right back at her. And before she realized it, her fist snapped out and hit the woman in the face.

Before she did it a second time, Bo quickly grabbed her and held her back. "Whoa, just calm down, Lou!" he whispered in her ear.

She did, and her anger simmered down.

The woman held a hand over her face as she scowled at Lou and Bo. "Neither of you are worth the effort." With that, she turned on her heel and left.

As Bo let go of her, Lou realized that half the people in the bar were staring. "What are y'all lookin' at?" she grated. Quickly, they all resumed their previous business.

Bo exhaled sharply as Lou faced him, relief evident on his face. "Well, thanks for sticking up for me, Lou, but—"

And then she slapped him, throwing about as much power as she could behind it. Much more than the blonde woman had been able to muster.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, holding a hand over the already reddening splotch on his face. "What was that for?" he growled.

Lou had to grit her teeth against a million nasty things that wanted to leap from her mouth at him and explain. "I told you before I wasn't gonna tolerate any foolin' on your part," she bit out. "And now you know I mean business. I ever catch you doing that again—flirting with another woman—and I'm gonna literally kill you."

"No, you said after you became Mrs. Duke," Bo corrected. "You ain't Mrs. Duke yet."

"I'm as good as there!" she retorted. "We're engaged so I will be Mrs. Duke!"

-+-+-+-

Jo sat and watched her sister explode at Bo's little flirt, and at Bo himself. At that, she shook her head. Little Lou never could quite control her temper, she thought.

And as her eyes took in the bar's crowd as they quickly averted their stares from the couple, she spotted Luke… and, as she was half expecting after Bo, his little flirt. Her cool gray eyes took in the woman's appearance with hurt twisting in her gut. The woman was small, dark-haired, shapely and dressed to kill in a fairly revealing outfit.

So he leaves me behind like that for a woman who hasn't lost her figure to pregnancy, Jo thought, taking a deep breath and sitting down at the nearest empty table, nestled away in a corner. And here I was thinking him honorable. He doesn't care about you, Jo. Stop fantasizing. No love, no special care. You're just a fly in his butter, stuck in his way.

Her quiet face never let anything show about her thoughts, but inside she was crumbling. When a waitress—luckily not Daisy Duke—came by, Jo insisted she just wanted water, and she sat back to watch people much happier than she.

She wasn't looking up when Luke spotted her in the corner, but she did look up just as he was bidding the little lady goodbye. And then, making her heart flutter in spite of herself, he walked over her way. The smile on his face was tight and hid guilt behind it—guilt at being caught in the act of… cheating. Because when you looked at it, really looked, that's what it was.

"Hey, Jo," he said easily, taking the table's other seat. "Why are you here?"

"Lou dragged me along," she replied.

"Oh." His gaze traveled over to Lou herself, still arguing with Bo. "Did she purposely come to blow up at Bo like that?"

"Not that I know of."

Luke let the conversation drop away, and Jo didn't pursue.

No, she silently debated with herself whether or not to mention Luke's little companion she'd spied a few minutes ago. Eventually, she decided affirmative. "Who was that lady with you a minute ago?"

"You saw?"

She nodded.

"An old friend of mine," Luke hastily lied. "Trisha Barnes. I've known her forever. Just a friend. Nothing special."

"I'm not stupid, Luke."

"Right," he said, staring at the table. "So I guess you… guessed?"

"Yes. Thanks for trying to spare me." Fully intending to run right at the door before she found herself in tears, Jo started to rise.

Luke grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Jo, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

"Doesn't change the fact you did."

"I know," Luke replied. "But I'm never going to do it again. You're it for me. You're my fiancée now and you're going to be my wife pretty soon. You'll be the only woman in my life, Jo. I'll make sure of it."

Those kind words just made little Jo smile.

Aw... You just gotta love poor Jo, huh:) Update's coming soon! AND THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!