BEM: Aw thanks for the reviews guys

Mel: We really appreciate it

BEM: quietly We'd like more though

Mel: Anywho, there are a few OCs that talk in here, so if they're not in the show they belong to us

Chapter 2 (Rose is Rose)

A few days later the Dukes arrived in California at the starting line for the Cannonball Run.

"You know this looks a lot more like a costume party than a race," Bo remarked causally leaning against the side of the General with his arms folded across his chest.

Daisy stood on the seat of Dixie looking around curiously, "Hey Luke," she called down, "You seen Coy anywhere?"

"Nope," Luke replied.

"Coy is coming?" Bo asked raising an eyebrow.

"You need a team of two," Luke explained, "you and me, Daisy, Coy, Vance and Maria."

"Maria?" Bo asked, "who's Maria?"

"That's right you haven't met her yet," Luke remarked as Daisy hopped down from Dixie onto the ground, "she and Vance have been married for quite a while now."

"How come I've never heard of her?" Bo asked as Daisy began looking around the floor of Dixie frantically.

"Coy and Vance aren't our normal topics of conversation when you come to visit," Luke pointed out, "they didn't have a big gathering, none of us were invited."

Bo nodded suddenly feeling guilty that he never invited them to his wedding, though that would have been hard to explain…

Daisy scrambled looking for her bracelet, when had she lost it? She began searching under the seat when she felt something cover her eyes.

"Guess who?" came a voice from behind her.

"Coy!" she exclaimed excitedly turning around and giving him a bear hug, "I haven't seen you in such a long time!"

Coy smiled, "Well, I've been busy, you won't believe how hard it is to get time off."

"Oh, where do you work?" Daisy asked.

"Financial place, I'm a record clerk, it pays the bills," Coy replied shrugging.

"Hey Daisy," said Vance waving from not far away, beside him was a tall Hispanic brunette who waved as she stepped out of a black car with Black Tilly 2 painted on the side.

"Is that Maria?" Bo asked nudging Luke.

"Yeah, that's her, come on, I'll introduce you," Luke insisted grabbing Bo by the arm and dragging him over.

"Vance, Coy, Maria, how you been?" Luke asked smiling.

"Pretty good," Coy replied then looked up, "Bo? That you?"

Bo nodded and found himself being engulfed in a group hug by Vance and Coy.

"Where have you been?" Coy asked as Bo hugged him.

Bo just simply said, "around," he tried to move his hand which was currently tangled in Coy's hair which was just as long as it has been when he came to visit Hazzard with Vance. His hair was bright blond and Bo found himself suspecting that he dyed it.

Vance laughed as Bo tried to get out of their embrace by ducking causing, Coy and Vance to bump heads.

Bo took a good look at Vance whose hair reminded him of Mr. Fantastic's, a little white at the temples but other wise black, they were all older and for once not wearing the same clothes that they'd worn every other time they'd met, but all the Duke cousins were together at this race.

Maria cleared her throat and nodded her head at Vance.

"Oh, sorry, Bo this is my wife Maria, Maria this is my cousin Bo," Vance introduced.

"I've heard all about you," Maria replied smiling and shaking Bo's hand.

"I wish I could say the same," Bo sighed, "so you're racing with Vance?"

"Yeah," Maria then realized Bo didn't know anything about her, "I used to drag race in New York, that's where I grew up."

Bo nodded as Vance kissed her on the cheek.

"Any kids?" Bo asked as Vance pulled out his wallet.

"Jeremy is 11 and Ella is 13," he replied smiling handing the wallet to Bo who smiled as he saw a young boy and girl.

"Shouldn't you be with them?" Bo asked thinking about how hard it had been for him to decide to come out with a son much older and a wife who was staying at home.

"They're staying with my sister," Maria explained, then smiled at Bo's concern "don't worry about us."

Bo nodded and handed the wallet back.

"Nice car you have," he remarked casually, what kind?"

Vance led him over to the car, "'73 Plymouth Barracuda, found it at a used car place, painted it black and then christened it Black Tilly 2"

"In honour of Uncle Jesse?"

"In honour of Uncle Jesse."

"Why black?"

"It was neon green before," Maria pointed out.

Bo nodded and began looking around the car curiously after convincing Maria to pop the hood. If he'd been paying attention to anything but his family or the car he would have noticed a group of young men and women watching them.

"So Rose, you think I'll win?" Dustin asked smiling at the blonde on his arm.

"Of course," she replied dreamily, "I'm going to go take a look at some of the other cars, I'll see you before the race starts," she broke away from him quickly and began examining the General.

"Dustin you shouldn't get involved with her," Harry insisted, "she's just looking for an adrenaline rush for the race, as soon as it's over she'll leave you, especially if you don't win!"

"Who are those old men?" Kylie asked gesturing over to the Dukes, "You think they're going to race?"

"Most likely," Dustin said shaking his head, "and they'll lose miserably to me and my Rose."

"Rose is going to leave you," Harry repeated as he watched her duck her head into the bright orange car.

"This is nice," Rose noted looking at the General's interior, "doors are welded shut," she remarked, "must be a real racing car."

"Excuse me?" came a voice from behind her causing her to snap her head up, whacking her head on the top of the window area.

"Ouch," she remarked turning to face the speaker, "you could have given me a bit more warning."

"Sorry, but what are you doing?" Bo asked folding his arms across his chest.

"Looking at the car," she replied then smiled, "you're Bo Duke, aren't you?"

Bo nodded.

"You know my Dad was a huge NASCAR fan and would talk about you to my Mom, she had a major crush on you after she saw your picture," Rose said then stopped, "is this your car?"

"It's the one I'll be driving,"

"You know most Cannonballers get arrested," Rose remarked as casually as she could, "You ever had to outrun a police car?"

"All the time, I normally end up making them crash" Bo responded then realized that probably wasn't the best thing to say.

Rose's eyes lit up, this guy could drive faster than Dustin and had an idea how to stay out of jail while on the road, "Can you hold an extra passenger?"

"Why?" Bo asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well," said Rose smirking and placing a light kiss on Bo's lips, "I could provide some entertainment…"

Bo blinked a couple of times to clear his head, "I…uh… no."

Rose frowned as Bo turned and headed back towards his cousins, she made sure no one was watching and climbed into the backseat of the General.

"Jane did you see that?" Kylie whispered into the ear of the brunette in front of her, "Rose just climbed into that car."

"What is she doing?" Jane asked walking towards the car carrying her knapsack, she casually leaned against the car, and whispered harshly, "Rose what the hell are you doing?"

"Hitching a ride," Rose explained as she shuffled through Bo's duffle bag, "do you have a blanket I could use?"

"You're going to hide in the backseat?" Kylie asked in shock, "Rose get out right now before the driver comes back, or Dustin will freak!"

"Oh who cares?" Rose asked as she snatched Jane's bag and looked through it, she pulled out a black afghan and threw it over her shoulders, "anyway this guy is a better driver."

"How would you know?" Jane shot back, "he's a random old man who you don't know."

"He's Beauregard Duke," Rose hissed back ducking down and using the blanket to cover herself up, "now take your bag and go."

"Wait, you mean the NASCAR driver?" Kylie asked in awe, "Can I come too?"

"Of course not, now go before he sees you," Rose snapped as Jane took her bag and left.

"Rose, what are we supposed to tell Dustin?" Kylie asked frantically.

"Tell him I don't feel well, now go."

Kylie shrugged and turned to leave bumping into Luke's shoulder.

"Sorry," she grumbled as walked around him.

Luke climbed into the passenger side of the General and Bo hopped into the driver's seat.

"So who was that girl you were with?" Luke asked nudging Bo.

Bo rolled his eyes, "I don't know."

"I can not see you settling down and having a family," Coy added startling Bo who hadn't seen him standing outside the passenger's side.

"Hey," Bo began but Coy left and was climbing into Dixie.

"You do have to admit you have quite the reputation in Hazzard," Luke smirked, "you know Swamp Molly's niece is still saving herself for you."

"You have got to be kidding," Bo said as Rose felt the car move, it took all her willpower not to let out a small squeak of surprise.

Meanwhile back on the Kent farm, Martha, Clark and Lex were sitting in the kitchen.

"He just left?" Lex asked, "That doesn't seem like Mr. Kent…"

"We haven't heard from him," Clark sighed.

"You know Mrs. Kent, sometimes no news is good news," Lex tried to reassure, "look, I have a flight to Metropolis I need to catch and I will tell people to keep their eyes open for him."

"Well…" began Martha then leaned her head in her hands, "thank you Lex, this not knowing what's going on is driving me insane."

"No problem Mrs. Kent, I'm sure he's got a good reason," Lex replied as he left the house.

Clark gave his mother a hug as if to say "don't worry".

They sat in silence for a while, until Martha pulled the bracelet out of her pocket and showed it to Clark.

"I found this by the phone," she said, "I can't figure out who it belongs to."

Clark took the bracelet from his mom was held it up to the light.

"That's the General Lee," Clark pointed out and then flipped it over, "It belongs to someone named Daisy and from a guy name Bo."

"What would Bo be short for?" Martha asked, "and why would Daisy be at our house answering our phone?"

"Bo…Bo…" Clark repeated, that sounded familiar, where had he heard it before?

"General Lee?" Martha asked as it dawned on her what Clark had said earlier, "did you just give the car a name?"

"No," Clark explained, "it belongs to a racecar driver named…Beauregard! That's what Bo stands for, Bo Duke, Daisy must be his girlfriend or something…"

"Your father always did like cars," Martha laughed, "but…" she frowned, "if he met up with some friends, why did he say it was a family emergency?"

Clark shrugged, "Maybe they're distantly related, don't worry about it mom."

"It's in my nature to worry about your father," Martha smiled, "and you…did you finish your homework yet?"

Clark groaned and headed upstairs after handing the bracelet back to his mom.

It was a pretty quiet day for the Kents, not so much for the Dukes because Bo and Luke had had an eventful drive so far.

"Hang on Luke," Bo called swerving the car to the left.

"Bo, watch out for the…trees!" Luke called.

Bo quickly jerked the steering wheel to the left causing the car to go on two wheels.

"Yeehaw!" Luke and Bo cried as they slid through the trees.

Rose let out a shriek but neither Duke noticed.

The police car stopped and went to go around the trees giving Bo and Luke a few second lead, which you know is a good thing.

Bo set the car back down on four wheels and weaved through traffic, eventually the sound of sirens stopped and they just cruised in silence for about an hour.

"So why'd you leave?" Luke asked Bo curiously, he'd never asked it during all these years, but his curiosity was too much this time.

"I just wanted to go somewhere where my record wasn't haunting me, we're getting older Luke," Bo replied sighing, he'd expected the question to have come sooner, "I love our adventures when I come to visit, but I'm not sure I could do it full time anymore."

Luke nodded, "You know all of the Dukes haven't been as close since you left, I mean we rarely saw Coy and Vance in the first place and Daisy's got a job as a lab assistant in Atlanta, and I've been helping Cooter out a bit, taking odd jobs when the income is needed."

"So what happened?" Bo asked turning to his cousin, "I mean, why do we need 1,000,000.00 prize money all at once?"

"Rosco took over once Boss Hogg passed on," Luke explained, "as you know, but he's been after me to pay more and more for seriously ridiculous things to make up for stuff Boss took out of his paycheck."

"Such as?"

"The cop cars we wrecked when we were younger," Luke sighed as Bo laughed, "we don't need $1,000,000.00 mind you but he's asking for a lot more than I have saved up and we need it in 2 weeks."

"So what would you do, besides pay off the farm if…when we win," Bo replied turning back to the road, he knew Dixie wasn't too far behind them, but he couldn't see her in the rearview mirror.

"I was hoping that maybe…well, Vance was talking about moving back to Hazzard with his family, maybe build a small house on our land for them, Coy was thinking about the same thing, but you'd get quite a bit too, what would you do?"

Bo was about to reply when he heard someone sneeze, "Bless you," he and Luke said looking at each other.

"That wasn't you?" Luke asked, then looked in the backseat and poking the black bundle he hadn't remembered packing, to his surprise it moved.

Rose took the blanket off her head, "Hey," she said smiling at Luke.

Bo jumped up in surprise and caused the General to swerve all over the road before he got control of the vehicle again.

"Who are you?" Luke demanded in surprise.

"My name's Rose," she said sitting up, "that feels better," the long braid that had been in her hair had begun falling out in places making her hair have a frizzy look.

Bo glanced over his shoulder, "Didn't I tell you that you couldn't come?"

"Yeah," Rose replied taking her hair out of the braid and letting it fall around her shoulders, "but I did anyway."

"How long have you been back there?" Luke asked curiously.

"Since the start of the race," Rose replied putting her hair in a loose bun, "it's hot under that thing, I screamed when you went on two wheels, I'm amazed you didn't hear me."

Luke looked at Bo, "How did we miss that?"

Bo shrugged, "Maybe the yeehaws were a bit loud."

"Can I stay?" Rose asked hopefully then pouted, "Pretty Please?"

"You might as well," Bo replied, "we can hardly stop anywhere to let you off."

"Thank you Mr. Duke," Rose said smiling and giving him a hug from behind, she did the same with Luke.

"Call me Bo," Bo sighed, "this is my cousin Luke."

"I know who you are," Rose gasped pointing at Luke, "I didn't realize…both of you, aw this is going to be great!"

Luke gave a small wave, "How old are you anyway?"

"23," she replied yawning, "I'm not great at driving but I enjoy being in a race."

"Thrill seeker," Luke concluded.

"Exactly," Rose replied smiling, "and I can tell you that when you were out driving those police cars that was a big rush, I want to do it again."

Luke laughed, "I like this girl, Bo, try and get some sleep I'll take over driving for a while."

Bo was about to protest but Luke grabbed the steering wheel, so Bo climbed into the backseat.

"You take shotgun," Bo told Rose who climbed into the front seat, she was wearing shorts that looked as though they had come out of Daisy's closet, a long sleeved red shirt and beat up runners.

Bo laid down in the backseat and drifted off to sleep.

Rose watched another car pass them in the opposite direction, "So where are you from?"

"Small place called Hazzard, Georgia," Luke replied, "what about you?"

"Vancouver,"

"Where's that?"

"Oh, Canada," Rose explained, "I was born there I grew up in Los Angeles, I wish I lived in Hazzard, your conversations sounded so interesting."

"Trust me, they have crooked cops there, always after anyone with the last name Duke," Luke sighed, "this ol' cars has been through more than the average human is put through."

"Tell me," Rose insisted.

Back about a mile was Coy and Daisy.

"I don't know how you can stand jeeps," Coy said as he leaned back, "just find it weird not to have a top or doors on a car."

"Well Dixie isn't put through the same kind of abuse as the General," Daisy laughed, "so the doors that keep you inside aren't needed, anyway, we have seatbelts."

"No offence meant, I'm just saying," Coy replied holding his hands up.

"I don't know why the race started so late," Daisy remarked, "we didn't even leave till 5:00pm."

"The sponsor this year doesn't want the racers hurting other people, he figured that by starting later there would be fewer people on the road," Coy explained.

"Doesn't he realize that tomorrow we're just going to be driving just as long in just as much traffic?" Daisy asked.

"Maybe he's not the smartest person around…"

"If he's smart enough to be able to earn $1,000,000.00 and willing to give it away," added Daisy, "he's smart enough for me."

Coy shrugged and nodded off.