jmhenderson
Stephanie wandered around Hutch’s
apartment, fixing the homemade spaghetti dinner she had promised him months
before, but had just never gotten around to it until today. Being Saturday, she was off from Huggy’s,
and the laryngitis that threatened her slightly had given her the night off
from the Jazz Club. It was just as
well. It was rainy and dreary and all
she felt like doing was cuddling up in his arms. Since Hutch had to work today, she decided to surprise him with
her presence and spaghetti all in one shot.
She stirred the sauce, realizing that it was at a point where it only
needed to simmer, and put the cover on it.
She was bored. He’d be home soon, and
that kept her motivated, even though she wasn’t feeling too good. She decided to do a little house cleaning
and keep herself busy until his arrival; then, she was sure he’d find other
ways to keep her occupied.
When she heard the knocking at the door,
she put down her dusting cloth and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She walked to the door, not even thinking
about who would be on the other side of it, and opened it fully.
The beautiful blonde lady who stood
before her caught her completely off guard.
Standing in a baby blue sundress which stopped just above her knees with
white sandals, she was a knock-out. Her
hair was feathered and curled all around her face, full of body as it laid
softly across her shoulders.
“Hi.
Where’s Hutch?” she said, walking through the door past Stephanie,
carrying an overnight bag and a couple of pieces of luggage.
“Excuse me?” Stephanie asked, suddenly
feeling very uncomfortable at her ragged and somewhat too casual appearance.
“Oh, I’m sorry, pardon my manners. My name is Libby.” She looked Stephanie up and down before returning her gaze to her eyes. “Are you his maid?” she asked too innocently.
“Did you say Hutch was expecting you?” Stephanie asked, trying
not to let her tone of voice reflect the anger that rose within.
“Yes, we discussed my coming by here a
while ago. I usually spend my layovers
here with him when I get the chance.”
She smiled warmly. “We always
have such a good time, I just can’t resist him!”
‘A stewardess. Hutch has plans with some bimbo stewardess?!?’ Stephanie’s
thoughts were going into overdrive.
“Mmm, something smells good! Did he have you cook that for us, too? That is so sweet of you!”
“You come here often?” Stephanie asked,
seething.
Libby smiled. “As often as I can. He’s
worth the trip,” she giggled.
Stephanie was furious. And now she felt ten times worse than she had only minutes before. She turned, grabbing the dust cloth and taking it into the kitchen, shoving it under the sink as she tried to maintain her composure. She looked over at her spaghetti sauce and turned back to face Libby, who had followed her in there.
“Hope you two enjoy it,” Stephanie
growled, brushing past Libby as she walked towards the door.
“I’m sure we will, sweetie!” Libby
replied, oblivious to the anger that filled the room.
Stephanie ran down the steps taking two at
a time. Tears filled her eyes and she
wasn’t sure if they were from anger or the heartache that she felt tugging her
stomach into knots. The only thing she
did know was that she had to get away from there. Now. As she ran outside,
the rain pelted on her face, hiding the tears that now fell freely.
Hutch arrived home shortly after 6pm. It had been a long week, and having to work
today didn’t help the weariness that he felt as he walked up the stairs to his
apartment. When he got to the top of
the stairs, he heard music coming from inside.
Pausing only a moment, he turned the door handle and watched the door as
it opened for him without his key. As
the water dripped off from his clothes from the thunderstorm he ran through to
get inside, he smiled. The enticing
aroma of Italian cooking began luring him inside, and he grinned, knowing
exactly what this all meant.
As he walked inside, he heard the shower
going and felt a new burst of energy come over him as he stripped down and
entered the bathroom smiling.
“Hey you delicious woman. This is a nice surprise,” he said, loud
enough for her to hear over the water that cascaded down her.
“Mmm,” she purred. He got in and she turned around, making
Hutch jump backwards, almost knocking his head into the tiled wall behind
him. He felt a sudden deflation as his
enlightened mood suddenly turned towards embarrassment.
“Libby!
What are you doing here?” he asked in shock, standing naked before her.
“I got a layover in town, silly! Who were you expecting to be in here? I told you months ago I’d be back now. Don’t play games, Ken. I know you knew! You even had your housekeeper fix us dinner. I know you missed me,” she said, slinking in
front of him, letting her wet naked body barely touch his. He looked at her blankly.
“My housekeeper?” he asked, his confusion
making him look almost childlike as his hair matted down around his face from
the water.
He stared at her for a moment, and then
realization began setting in. With
fumbling motions, he grabbed a towel that hung over the curtain rod and wrapped
it around him, jumping out from the shower as quickly as possible.
“Hutch?” Libby called, peeking from
around the shower as she watched his hasty retreat.
“Uh, uh … hmm?” he answered, keeping his
back to the bathroom door as he stood in the living room, looking a bit stunned
from this strange turn of events.
Libby cut off the water and dripped her
way to his side. “Hutch?”
Hutch looked over at her, his mouth still
open from the shock. Silently, he
leaned himself back into the bathroom and grabbed his robe from the back of the
door, handing it to her.
Composure finally began to settle in. He looked around at his apartment while she
slowly pulled the robe around her.
There were candles on the table.
The furniture had been dusted and magazines were neatly stacked. The clothes that he had strewn across his
sofa this morning as he rushed to get dressed for work had mysteriously
vanished. The apartment looked good.
Then his face filled with confusion again.
“What housekeeper?” he asked as he turned
himself to face the now covered woman beside him.
“I don’t think she told me her name. Don’t you know her name, honey?” Libby asked
sweetly.
Hutch grabbed the hand that she placed on his shoulder. “What did she look like?” Libby looked at him like he was crazy.
“Brownish red hair, pale, plain. I don’t know. Average.” She replied
snidely.
“Shit.” Hutch swore, gathering the clothes
he had taken off beside the bathroom door.
“Libby, that wasn’t my maid, that’s my girlfriend. Oh God, what have you
done?”
Hutch’s vanity left as he dressed himself
hurriedly, his mind racing in a thousand directions.
“What did she say? Lord, what did you say?”
“Come on, Hutch. I asked her if she was the maid, that’s all. I mean, she was in here cleaning for God’s sake. I told her you were expecting me and thanked her for cooking the
dinner. That’s all.”
“That’s all?! Damnit Libby! Why in the world would you even assume to come in
here like this, after all this time?
Shit.” Hutch sat himself in the
floor, putting on his socks and shoes as quickly as he could. “You need to go. I’m sorry Libby, but really, you’ve got to go. For that matter, so do I,” he said, standing
up. He went in the kitchen and cut off
the low flame under the spaghetti sauce, then rushed back in towards the door.
Hutch left as quickly as he had dressed,
leaving the blonde a bit stunned in his wake.
She walked over and closed the door behind him, then walked into the
bedroom to get dressed.
“Your loss.” She mumbled, gathering her
belongings together.
Stephanie drove around for a good half
hour before stopping at Huggy’s. She
had calmed down a bit, but still felt sorry for herself enough to want a drink
or two. Since she didn’t know any bars
around other than the ones at the restaurants that she worked at, she opted for
Huggy’s, knowing she’d be left alone there if she said she wanted to be.
As she hurriedly walked in, Huggy
immediately noticed that she was upset.
The way she carried herself and the hurt in her eyes were both
noticeable to the perceptive proprietor.
She walked up and sat down in front of
him, placing her purse up on the bar as she tried to look untouched by the pain
that had overwhelmed her earlier. Huggy
watched but did not speak, letting the lady keep her control.
“I’d like a drink,” she told him in a
raspy voice.
“And what would you like, Miss Stephanie?”
Huggy asked, grinning slightly.
“I don’t know.” She looked around as she
tried clearing her throat, letting her eyes fall on a couple in the first
booth. “I’ll have what she’s having,”
she said, pointing towards them.
“I don’t think you want that, not being an
experienced drinker and all. Those Long
Island Iced Teas are not for the faint of alcohol. How about a …”
“I said I’ll have what that lady is
having, if you don’t mind,” she told him in as firm a tone as her hoarseness
would allow, glaring. “And I’d like it
to be right. Don’t go lightening it up
just because I’m the one asking.
Please.”
Huggy sighed, shrugging his shoulders as
he did the lady’s bidding. After he
placed the drink in front of her, he tried making small talk, hoping to find
out what had her so bothered, but with each attempt, she would raise her hand,
letting him know the subject would not be broached.
Not even the downing of her third drink
made her open up to him. He was
grateful when he was called into the kitchen, because he was ready to refuse
her if she asked for another, and it was much easier just walking away without
the conflict.
When he returned from the kitchen, he
found her gone, purse and all, and a ten dollar bill left on the counter.
Worried, he picked up the phone to call
Hutch, hoping to find some answers.
As if on cue, Hutch came through the bar door,
quickly steering himself in Huggy’s direction.
“Man, I was just getting ready to call
you. What’s up with your lady love?”
“Has she been here Huggy? Have you seen her?” Hutch asked quickly, his
face full of worry.
“Yeah man. Been and gone. But not before drinking three of the
strongest drinks I serve in this place.
You gonna tell me what’s wrong?”
“Yeah Huggy, but hand me the phone, will
you? I gotta call Starsk.”
Huggy grabbed the phone and pulled its
cord until it reached in front of Hutch.
Hutch picked up the receiver and dialed.
“Starsky?
It’s Hutch. Look buddy, I need
your help. It’s Stephanie. She came by my apartment to fix a nice
romantic dinner and out of no where Libby shows up, telling her I was expecting
her and … Yeah, that’s her. Yeah
Starsk, I know, damnit! Listen, I was
over at her place, then over at the Jazz Club, then back at her place and now
I’m at Huggy’s. She was here, and Huggy
says she was drinking a little …”
“I said she was drinking a lot…. Especially for someone who don’t
drink at all,” Huggy interrupted. Hutch
looked up at him, knowing Starsky had heard him, then continued talking.
“Yeah.
I know. I’m worried about
her. They said she called in sick at
the Jazz Club, so she wasn’t feeling good to begin with. Now this whole misunderstanding, and, yeah,
would you mind? I figure if you and I
both are out on the streets looking for her … Yeah, thanks partner. Thanks.”
Hutch hung up the phone and began turning around in his barstool, only
to be stopped by Huggy’s hand around his arm.
“Hey man, it’s slow enough around
here. How ‘bout I ride around too,
maybe with all three of us we can find her real quick and get this whole mess
straightened out?” Hutch smiled at his
friend.
“Thanks, Hug. I’d appreciate it.”
Both men left the bar quickly as soon as
Huggy told Diane to take care of things until his return.
Starsky put his jacket on, frowning at the
rain he heard beating on the windows outside his living room. He was worried about Stephanie. Drinking, bad weather conditions, and
driving. Sounded like a deadly combination.
And she was hurting. That sweet
girl who sang like a bird and looked like a dream was in pain, thinking the man
that she loved was blatantly cheating on her.
He pulled his collar up around his neck
and opened the front door, ready to run to his car through the rain. Lightning flashed as he began walking out,
silhouetting the body of Stephanie White, standing in front of his door. It startled Starsky at first, but quickly he
pulled the soaked woman inside. She
looked at him, letting him see all the pain within her as his eyes locked with
hers.
She grabbed him into a hold, willing his
arms to surround her as she shivered; partly from being drenched by the rain
and partly from her anguish finally escaping her.
“Hey, hey. Shhh,” he comforted as she began crying. “It’s okay honey. Really. It was all a big
misunderstanding.” He held her tightly,
hating seeing her in such pain. He led
her towards the sofa, pulling down a blanket and wrapping it around her as he
left her briefly to find some dry clothes for her to change into. He returned only moments later, bringing out
a pair of gray jogging pants with a dark blue sweatshirt.
“C’mon.
Why dontcha go change into these and get yourself dry, okay?” he asked
quietly, giving her a slight grin. She
looked up at him and grinned back, but couldn’t stop the tears that flowed
freely down her cheeks.
“Awe, don’t cry, Steph. It’s not like you think it is. Libby is Hutch’s old girlfriend, well, heck,
she wasn’t really a ‘girlfriend’, more like an acquaintance. She didn’t know Hutch had you. They hadn’t seen each other for months.”
She looked into his eyes again and her
face went blank. When her eyes met his
again, her face bared a painful grin.
“I know he’s your
best friend.” Her voice was barely a whisper, and a look of concern crossed his
face as he listened. “But you don’t
have to cover for him. We’re adults. I can handle it.”
Suddenly she stood up and walked quickly
towards the bathroom, with Starsky right behind her. Feeling like she was going to be sick, she made her way in, only
to find she couldn’t stand anymore and slumped into the floor. Starsky knelt down beside her.
“You gonna be alright?” he asked, stroking
her hair from her face and rubbing her back.
“Drank too much. And I don’t drink.” She
began coughing, revealing the congestive sounds of wheezing from her chest.
“You don’t sound too good,” he told her,
feeling her head for a fever.
“I’ve got a little laryngitis. That’s why I didn’t go to work tonight.”
“Feels more like the flu to me,” Starsky
answered, feeling her face all around with his hand. He helped her up and sat her on the commode, looking at her
closely.
“Sit here for a sec and I’ll go get those
clothes.”
Stephanie did as she was told, only
suddenly sitting up seemed to take more energy than she was capable of
spending. She leaned over into the wall
beside her, enjoying the coolness of it on her face and closed her eyes.
When Starsky returned he found her still
in that position, sleeping against the wall.
He went over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a thermometer, then
gently nudged her to wake her up.
Between the alcohol and the illness that
she was succumbing to, she was barely able to keep her eyes open. Starsky took her temperature and scowled at
the results. She did have a fever; the
thermometer reading almost 102 degrees. He grabbed his cup from the sink and
filled it with water, then got a couple of aspirins from the medicine cabinet
as he put the thermometer back in it’s holder, standing silently as he watched
her take the medication.
“C’mon, Steph. You need to lay down,” Starsky said, placing the cup back on the
sink. He grabbed up the change of
clothes he brought in and Stephanie in one fell swoop. She let him guide her towards his bedroom, and
let him help her out of the cold damp clothes that clung to her body. Once he had her dressed in his sweats, she
looked up at him and put her hand on his cheek.
“Thanks.
I think I need to lay down. Okay?” she whispered, making Starsky grin.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I shoulda thought of that,” he smirked.
As soon as she was stretched out, Starsky
wrapped her in the comforter that lay at the bottom of the bed. He watched her silently as she snuggled into
it and sleep took over easily. Then he
quietly stepped out from the room, pulling the door almost closed.
Starsky took off his jacket and hung it
back up then headed over to the sofa and grabbed up the phone. He first called Huggy’s, and was told that
Hutch and Huggy left in separate cars to find Stephanie. He told Diane that the subject of their
search was at his house, under the weather, but safe and sound, and if she saw
either man to let them know. Then he
tried Hutch’s apartment where he got no answer. He really wasn’t expecting one.
Then he dialed the station and requested a patch through to Hutch’s car. When he was told there was no response, he
figured Hutch was out somewhere looking for Stephanie, and left a message to
have Hutch contact him as soon as they reached him.
He sat there on the sofa and looked around
for a moment, drawing in a huge sigh.
Huggy was the first to arrive back at the
bar. He was grateful to hear the news
that Stephanie was safe, and called over to Starsky’s to find out how she was.
“She’s not too great. Got a fever and can’t talk too well, and
even though I explained the situation to her, I don’t think she’s buying what I
said. Maybe after she sleeps it off a
little. Hey, you heard from Hutch yet?”
Starsky asked.
“Naw, nothing yet. But knowing that partner of yours, he’s
making sure to check every little corner of town in hopes of finding her. You need anything? I’m closing up in a little while …”
“Well, yeah. You think you could stop by that over night pharmacy and get some
cough medicine? I ain’t got nothing in
the house and she doesn’t sound too good.”
“You got it. I’ll be over in about an hour,” Huggy told him. Starsky looked at his watch. It was 10:30pm.
“Okay.
Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Anything for the lady, you know
that. Bye.”
“Bye Hug,” Starsky said, hanging up the
phone.
He got up and walked into his bedroom,
looking at Stephanie as she slept. She
had pushed the comforter off of her, and seemed to draw into herself from being
cold. Starsky gently pulled it back
around her, tucking it around her to help her stay warm. Her eyes opened for a moment, and she looked
up at him, grinning.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, “I’m just
dreaming again.” Her eyes closed and he
grinned, letting his mind wander to his own dreams. Had she dreamt the dreams he had? He tried to shrug it off, but his thoughts would not let it go
that easily.
Starsky turned around, almost jumping out
of his sneakers as he saw Hutch standing in the bedroom doorway. Hutch looked from Starsky to Stephanie, then
back to Starsky again.
“What’s going on? Is she okay?” he asked quietly.
“She’s got a fever and a real bad
cough. And I’m guessing she’s gonna
have one hell of a headache in the morning, too,” Starsky answered softly. “C’mon, lets go in the kitchen. Want some coffee?”
“Sure,” Hutch answered, keeping his eyes
on Stephanie until Starsky pulled the bedroom door closed.
Starsky set up the coffee pot and turned
it on, getting two cups down from the cupboard before sitting down beside his
friend. He rested his head on his hand
as he perched his elbow on the table and looked at Hutch, who stared absently
around him. Finally Hutch turned his
eyes to Starsky, looking a bit lost and confused.
“I don’t know what happened, Starsk. I mean, everything just went nuts today.”
“I know, but you gotta explain that to the
lady in there. I tried,” Starsky told him, getting up and pouring the coffee
into the mugs.
“What did she say when you told her what
really happened?” Hutch asked, looking hopeful.
“She told me I didn’t have to cover for my
best friend.” Starsky watched as
Hutch’s face dropped. “Look it. She’s sick and she got drunk. You know,
she’s damned lucky she made it over here in one piece. You know it as good as I do she ain’t no
drinker. And then there’s the lovely
weather out there.” Hutch watched him,
then a look of confusion crossed over his face.
“Starsk, why did Stephanie come over
here?”
“What do ya mean?”
“What I mean,” Hutch began, his voice and
demeanor becoming a little hostile, “is why did she come running over here to
you?”
“Awe c’mon, don’t you go getting cocky
with me. She came here because she
needed a friend. And you know it! And, correct me if I’m wrong, but your apartment was a little too full with other people for her to
feel comfortable in.” Starsky’s words
were evenly toned and controlled, holding back his anger and hurt from his
friend’s sudden tone of accusation.
Both men stared at one another until a
knock on the door broke the glare.
Starsky left Hutch to answer it, letting Huggy inside. Huggy immediately walked to the kitchen
table, setting the brown bag he’d brought down, and Starsky followed behind
him. Huggy could feel the tension, and
looked between the two men.
“Alright, what’s wrong? Is Stephanie okay?” he asked.
Starsky looked at him and shrugged. “Yeah, she’s okay for now.” He turned away from the two men and pulled
another cup down, filling it with coffee and handing it to Huggy, who
gratefully took it.
“So, how did she end up over here?” Huggy
asked innocently. Hutch looked up at
Starsky, raising his left eyebrow.
“Yeah, Starsk. Inquiring minds want to know,” he said coyly.
“Well, when I opened my door and saw her
soaked and in tears, I guess I forgot to ask why she would bother showing up on
my doorstep,” he replied
sarcastically. Huggy looked at the two
men with some confusion.
“Lemme guess. Stephanie’s in there all sick and her emotions are raw, and you
two are in here fightin’ about her being here?
Look. All I know is she got hurt
because of stuff happening that looked bad but really was nothing but a big
misunderstanding. Now don’t you two get
to arguing over the same kinda situation.
You don’t need that. And neither
does she.”
Hutch nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry Starsk. I just, I don’t know. I’m
just worried about her, that’s all.”
Hutch spoke sincerely, but in the back of his head, he still wondered
why she came to him.
“It’s alright. I know. I’m sorry too,”
Starsky replied. In the back of his
mind, he wondered what had brought her to him also.
After Huggy left, Starsky decided to
stretch out across his couch and try and get some sleep. Hutch stayed in the bedroom with Stephanie,
letting her sleep, but keeping the cough syrup beside him, just in case. He sat in the recliner beside the bed,
nodding off every now and then, only to be awakened by her deep cough and moans
of restless sleep.
By 3:30am, he and Starsky were back
sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee and barely speaking. Each had thought about Stephanie’s arrival
and questioned it: Hutch not quite
convinced of her reasons for being there and Starsky upset over Hutch’s underlying
accusations. Both men sat there quietly
until their attentions were drawn to Stephanie’s coughing.
“You need to take her to a doctor. She sounds awful,” Starsky said, looking
over his coffee cup at his friend.
Hutch looked evenly back at him.
“Yeah.
But there’s not a doctor’s office open at this hour. I figured I’d let her sleep and get as much
rest as possible. She slept a little,
but she didn’t rest. She was tossing
and turning and coughing the whole time.
The tension stood thick in the room as
silence fell between them for a couple of minutes. Finally, Starsky spoke up.
“You think you oughta take her to the
emergency room?”
Hutch rubbed his eyes for a moment, then
looked over at Starsky.
“I’m surprised you didn’t think of that
last night before I got here.
Buddy.” Hutch’s response was
almost cold, laced with an underlying tone that Starsky immediately disliked.
“I don’t know what you’re implying …”
“Oh, I think you do,” Hutch answered
evenly.
“What is your problem?” Starsky asked,
anger rising in his voice. Hutch took a
sip from his coffee cup, then set it hard down on the table.
“My problem,” he began coldly, “is that my
girlfriend came running to my best friend for comfort. Instead of believing in me, she comes to
you.”
Starsky stood abruptly from the table,
staring down at Hutch with pain-filled eyes.
“Put yourself in her shoes instead of sitting there in your
pity-pot. How would you have reacted if
what happened to her had happened to you?”
Starsky stared at Hutch for only a moment,
then turned quickly, walking out of his own apartment. He was angry. Too angry to stay without saying something he might regret. So he left.
Hutch sat there at the table as Starsky
grabbed his jacket and stormed out. He
wanted to sulk. Then he wanted to go
after Starsky and yell at him for trying to make him feel guilty. No, he really wanted catch up with Starsky
and apologize. Damn it, he was
right. And all Hutch could see in his
mind right now was the hurt in his best friend’s eyes.
Hutch got up and ran out the door, chasing
after Starsky with swiftness and determination. Unfortunately, he was too late.
As the rain poured upon him, he watched the Torino pulled away.
Stephanie’s coughing woke Hutch from the
light sleep he had drifted into on the sofa.
She sounded horrible. He looked
at the clock, noticing that it was going on 7am. As he stood, he looked around for Starsky. There were no signs of him. He walked towards the window and looked out,
hoping to see the Torino, but instead only saw the water that puddled on the
sidewalk. The rain was still coming
down, giving him a chill as he stood there, serious in thought. Then he heard Stephanie coughing again and
remembered why he was awake.
Hutch looked down at the pale, sleeping
face below him. Her hair was a mess and
she slept restlessly, tossing and turning now and then. He put his hand to her face, feeling the
warmth that rose beneath it. She
definitely had a fever, and he felt helpless seeing her this way; blaming
himself, as if somehow it was his fault that she had the flu. He reached for the cough syrup and spoon on
the bedside table as he sat down beside her.
“Steph?
Hey baby, it’s me.
Stephanie?” Hutch nudged her
gently, frowning at the moans that came from her. Slowly her eyes opened, looking directly into his. She grinned slightly at him, then began
looking around, not knowing where she was.
Suddenly she sat up, grabbing her head as
the pain of her hangover combined with her fever took over. “Where am I?” she said hoarsely.
“We’re at Starsky’s,” Hutch answered,
looking worried as he shook the cough syrup bottle gently, then opened it.
“How did I end up … oh, I think I
remember,” Stephanie looked around, keeping her eyes from joining his.
“Come on, take this medicine, Steph,”
Hutch offered, pouring the elixir into a spoon. Instead of complying, Stephanie faced him with very cold
eyes. He could see the recollection in
them as she remembered the previous days’ events. All of them.
She took her eyes away from him and turned
herself towards the other side of the bed, getting out as best she could and
walking away from him.
Hutch sighed, putting the cough medicine
back in the bottle from the spoon. He called out to her, only to be answered
with the bathroom door slamming closed.
Slowly he walked over to the bathroom
door. The pain on his face was showing
clearly. On the one hand, he wanted to
burst through that door and grab her up in his arms, letting her know that he
loved her and no other woman would come between what they had. And on the other hand, he knew her well
enough to know that she would understand the truth and only needed time to
compose herself before coming out there to him and talking rationally through
all this.
Hutch walked out to the kitchen and began
making a pot of coffee. He sat at the
table and waited.
He was still sitting there when Stephanie
came out, looking cautiously at him as she grabbed a glass from one of the
cabinets and got some water, taking the aspirin she had retrieved from
Starsky’s medicine cabinet. By the time
she had finished up with that, the coffee was ready. She pulled two coffee mugs down from the same cabinet and poured
them each a cup. She wasn’t
particularly fond of coffee, but hoped the warmth of the liquid would help calm
the chill that she felt down to her bones.
She handed him a cup before sitting down in front of him at the table.
Hutch looked up at her, hoping to see
understanding and caring in her eyes.
He did.
“Steph, I’m so sorry about what happened
yesterday. It was all just a huge
misunderstanding. Libby is a part of my
past, and a small insignificant part, at that. I hadn’t seen her in months. I was just as surprised to see her there as
you were.” His eyes were pleading with her, hoping she could see his
sincerity. She watched him, almost
studying him, then sipped at the coffee.
“I over-reacted. I know that. But when I saw her, and she acted as if you were expecting her …
I just, I didn’t know how to react. And
the more I thought about it, the more upset I got. I just wasn’t thinking clearly.
I’m so sorry, Ken.”
“No, I’m sorry,” Hutch began, “I’m sorry
you had to go through that. I’m sorry
you were put through all that hurt for nothing.” He leaned in towards her to kiss her, only to be stopped by the
choking cough that caught her, making her turn away from him. “You, young lady, are going to the doctor’s
office today. I don’t like the sound of
that cough, and I know you’ve got a fever.”
She looked at him, ready to protest, and
saw in his eyes that her words would be wasted on the effort to try and explain
why she didn’t need to go. Instead, she
decided to change the subject.
“Did Starsky already go into work?” she
asked, looking around the empty apartment.
When Hutch sighed, she could read more
into his facial expressions than his words would tell.
“Starsky left here earlier. We had a little misunderstanding.” He stood up and picked up the phone on the
wall. “But I better call and see if Dobey’s
in yet and let him know I’m taking the day off. You will have an escort to the doctor’s office.”
“What?
You don’t trust me to go on my own?” Stephanie asked too innocently.
Hutch was still smiling when his call was
transferred to Captain Dobey. Even when
the man answered the phone so abruptly.
“Good morning, Captain,” Hutch began, only
to have his words cut off.
“Where the hell have you been,
Hutchinson? I’ve been trying to reach
you for two hours!” Dobey bellowed at the detective.
“I’m at Starsky’s. What’s going on?” Hutch answered, then listened.
“What?” Hutch responded. The look on his face had fallen to
fear. He fumbled, hanging up the phone.
“I, I’ve got to go. Starsky, he …”
“He what, Ken? Is he alright? What’s
wrong?”
Hutch got up almost knocking over his
chair, looking at Stephanie as she stood up with him, trying to restrain a
cough.
“We argued last night, and he left, and,
Dobey said …” he looked away from her, pain filling his eyes.
“What happened Ken?” Stephanie grabbed his
arm, trying to get him to focus back on her.
Hutch looked at her with a pained
expression. His tone of voice was one
of shock. “He answered a call around
five AM about a robbery in progress at a hotel. Dobey said he was shot … oh God.
I’ve got to go see him,” Hutch’s words were strained, then he focused
back on her. “You stay here. I’ll call you as soon as I know
something. There’s cough syrup in the
bedroom. Take it.”
“I want to go with you!” Stephanie said,
ready to go towards the door.
Hutch smiled weakly at her. “No honey, you’re too sick. You won’t do either of us any good if you
get worse going out in this weather and wearing yourself down.” Hutch already had his jacket on and his car
keys in his hand. He ran in the bedroom and retrieved the cough syrup bottle
and spoon, handing them to Stephanie as he kissed her slightly on the
forehead. “I’ll call you as soon as I
know something. Make sure you take
that,” he said, pointing at the bottle.
Hutch was out the door before Stephanie
could speak her protest. She opened the
bottle of cough syrup and poured two spoonfuls, taking the dosage without
thinking about it. She didn’t even
realize when she set the bottle down on the counter that she hadn’t bothered to
put the top back on it.
Stephanie stood numbly as she listened to
the LTD screech away from its’ parking space.
When the phone rang, she picked it up without thought.
“Hello?”
“This is Harold Dobey. Who is this?” his gruffness caught her off
guard.
“It’s Stephanie.”
“Stephanie? Oh, uh, sorry. Listen,
where’s Hutchinson?” Dobey’s voice softened as he spoke to her.
“He already left to go to the
hospital. Captain, how’s Starsky?”
“The hospital? I didn’t tell him …
Starsky’s fine, he only had a flesh wound.
He’s here at the precinct.”
Stephanie sighed with relief, bringing on
a coughing spell that took a few seconds to recover from. Captain Dobey waited patiently for her to
speak.
“Well, Hutch was really upset. He thinks Starsky was hurt bad and after he
hung up with you he left as fast as he could to get over to the hospital.”
“That’s because he didn’t let me finish
talking to him. But don’t you worry,
Starsky is fine and standing a few feet away from me right now. We’ll ride over to the hospital and catch up
to Hutchinson and let him know.” He
listened as Stephanie began coughing again.
“Maybe you should go over there yourself and get checked out.” He
offered.
“Yeah.
Thanks for your concern.
Good-bye, Captain,” she hung up the phone and sat down at the
table. She rubbed at her face,
acknowledging the aching muscles that tried to overcome her. She really felt bad. But even worse, she realized now what she
had caused between Hutch and his very best friend. All this was really her fault.
She had assumed the worse of Hutch when
Libby showed up. She took her self pity
and got herself drunk. Then she showed
up on Starsky’s doorstep. And thank God
he had been a gentleman. If he had
wanted her, she’d have probably given in.
As much as she loved Hutch, she was somehow drawn to Starsky. She was confused, not understanding the
emotions that flooded her.
She had to get out of there. She searched frantically for her clothes,
realizing that she was wearing sweats that were not her own and wondering how
she’d gotten in them. All she wanted
was her car keys. To get away from
there. From everything. And everyone. She had created enough havoc in their lives, almost to the point
of disaster. That was obvious. And to her, it was also obvious that the
best thing she could do is get away from them before something more serious was
caused on her behalf.
When she found her keys, she left her
clothes behind, taking only her purse as she left a note on the kitchen table
and then walked out.
* * * * * * * * * * *
* * *
As Dobey and Starsky walked through the
emergency room doors, they could hear Hutch as he ranted at the poor nurse who
sat behind the admissions desk.
“His name is David Starsky. And I know he’s here somewhere. Now lady, I don’t have the patience to deal
with a bunch of bureaucratic paperwork mumbo-jumbo. You need to get off your ass and find my partner!”
“Hutchinson!” Dobey bellowed.
Hutch turned around, relived to hear a
familiar voice. But when he saw Starsky
standing beside him, his relief turned to joy.
His face went from grim to pure elation as he ran to Starsky and grabbed
him in a bear hold, laughing giddily as he hugged his friend.
“Starsk! You’re
alright! Dobey said you’d been shot …”
“Yeah, but you didn’t give me time to
finish. If you had, you’d have known
that he was only grazed by the bullet and the paramedics took care of him on
the scene. He never had to go to the
hospital! We were BOTH at the
precinct.” Dobey wanted to speak firmly, but knew his tone was of no matter to
Hutch. The only thing that mattered to
Hutch was standing in front of him.
“God, Starsk. I am so sorry. I
should’ve never acted the way I did. I
should’ve known better and shouldn’t have been so damned accusing and
stupid. You’re my best friend. I just wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.
Forgive me?”
“Yeah.
I’ll forgive ya. And you could
make me even happier if you let go of my arm.
You’re hurting me!” Starsky half laughed at his friend as Hutch realized
Starsky’s right arm was bandaged above the elbow and quickly retreated his
hold. “It’s all right Hutch. Everything’s gonna be just fine. C’mon, how ‘bout going home? Dobey is lovely company but I think I’d
rather get home now, if ya know what I mean.”
Hutch laughed as he looked between his
Captain and Starsky.
“Sure thing, pal. Sure thing.
Come on, I want to see how Stephanie is doing. I kind of left her in a hurry to come find you. I told her I’d take her to the doctor, and I
know she isn’t going to go on her own.
Might as well take both of you, and let him look at your arm, too.”
Starsky rolled his eyes, knowing Hutch’s
‘need’ to play mother-hen to anyone he could, realizing to protest would be a
waste of time.
Chapter
Nine
It took a few minutes for them to begin
their journey to Starsky’s place: Hutch
wanted to talk more with Starsky before they departed in their separate cars
towards the apartment. But they really
didn’t have to say much. Starsky knew
Hutch was sorry, and knew why he’d reacted the way he did. As he followed the LTD towards his home, his
thoughts took him back to last night.
Starsky had taken care of her, comforted her, and deep down, he knew how
badly he wanted her. Had she not been
so damned sick, things could have easily been different. He shook himself, urging those thoughts to
leave him, although they didn’t want to budge.
He looked down at the Motorola radio and
let his mind go back to the call; two-eleven in progress at the Americana
Motel. He remembered responding, then
pulling up to it, seeing the gunman through the lobby windows. And the robber had seen him, too. He ran out at the same moment that Starsky
had gotten out from his car, and when Starsky pulled his gun, the man pointed
his .22 at him, firing before Starsky could lower himself from his aim. Had he not turned his body away at that
moment, he might not have been around to even think about his actions now. Instead, he rolled himself, successfully
returning the gunfire and bringing the guy down. In the excitement and rush of the moment, he didn’t even realize
that his arm had been grazed.
As Hutch pulled up in front of his
apartment, Starsky brought his mind back to the here and now. He pulled the Torino behind the LTD and with
a bit of discomfort, put the car in ‘park’ and cut the ignition off. By the time he was ready to get out, Hutch
already had opened the car door for him.
Starsky grinned at his friend.
“I ain’t helpless, ya know,” he said,
unable to remove the grin from his face.
“Yeah, I know,” Hutch told him.
Neither noticed the Mustang’s not being
there. Actually, they were too busy tending to one another; Hutch already in
‘mother nurse’ mode and Starsky too tired to argue.
*******************
As they walked into the apartment, both
were aware of the silence that greeted them.
Hutch looked at Starsky, guiding him to sit on the sofa.
“I’m going to go check on her.”
Starsky nodded his agreement, then let his
body relax in the folds of the cushions, propping his injured arm on a pillow
which Hutch placed beside it before walking towards the bedroom. Starsky’s eyes felt heavy, and sleep was
eager to take him over. His eyes closed
for the briefest of moments when Hutch returned, his face full of worry.
“She’s not here, Starsk. I just checked the whole place,” he said
with concern. He walked over to the
front window and looked outside. “Her
car’s gone. Damn!”
“Maybe she just wanted to go home, ya
know?” Starsky offered, although he didn’t sound convinced by his own
words. He sat up and watched as Hutch
walked through the kitchen.
“Well, she took the cough medicine like I
told her to before I left. Shit. Doesn’t that cause drowsiness?” He watched as Starsky walked in, his eyes
still questioning.
“Yeah, that’s why Huggy got that kind, so
she’d get some rest. Now why do you
suppose she’d leave …” his words dissipated as his eyes fell to the note on the
table. He looked back up at Hutch. “It’s addressed to you,” he said, handing
the piece of paper to his friend.
Hutch took the note, looking confused as
he opened it.
‘Dearest Hutch,
I’m so sorry for all the problems and
confusion I caused. I can’t let myself
come between two friends as close as you and Starsky. I don’t want to be a problem, yet I am, so I’m leaving. I love you guys. This is best.
Stephanie’
“Oh no,” Hutch said, handing the note to
Starsky to read. “She’s blaming herself
for last night.” Starsky stood
silently, reading the words and scowling his brows.
Both headed towards the door. “We need to go find her … straighten this
whole mess out,” Hutch said, saying aloud what they both were thinking.
Stephanie drove aimlessly through the streets. Her coughing had subsided a bit, and for
that she was grateful. She didn’t want
to go home; she knew that Hutch would probably go looking for her there first,
and she didn’t want to be found. But
she was tired, so tired. She thought
briefly about going to his place, thinking the last place he’d look for her was
there. Then she thought about maybe
getting a motel room, but let that thought pass her also, after what had just
happened to Starsky at one only hours before.
Her eyes felt so heavy. She was
drained, feeling weak and worn. Looking
at her face in the rear view mirror, she noticed how pale she was. Even make-up couldn’t hide how she felt.
She kept on driving, having no purpose of
direction about her as she continued down a road she was unfamiliar with. But the trees called to her, waving gently
from a slight breeze as the sun peeked through them. The sun! It had finally
stopped raining. She looked up towards
the sky, seeing that this sunshine would be short-lived thanks to some more
clouds billowing towards her direction.
Or was she heading towards them?
It was hard to tell.
The road began curving, and she watched
the scenery as it passed by. This area
she had happened upon was hardly populated and the foliage was dense in many
areas, revealing wild flowers and hills full of trees and brush. She tried focussing on the beauty of it
rather than on her eyes, which begged her to close them.
As the road continued to curve and bend
through a thicker, more wooded area, Stephanie began to feel the effects of the
medication she had taken. Her mind
struggled with it, trying to remain focussed on the task at hand; finding
somewhere to go rest. The music on the
radio seemed to fade in and out, and she found herself unable to recognize what
was playing. Her body began giving in
to the medication, and slowly her eyes closed.
The last thing she remembered was the
curve that she could not force the Mustang to heed to. As the road turned, the car remained
straight and steady, heading into a mass of trees and wild bushes. Even though Stephanie saw where she was
heading, her medicated mind could no longer respond, not even tapping the
brakes before impact.
Chapter Eleven
As Starsky and Hutch got into the Torino,
Hutch looked over at his friend, his eyes questioning without speaking a
word. They had been to Stephanie’s
apartment, then over to Huggy’s place, and then here, at Hutch’s. There was still no sign of her. Now, with nothing but a glance, Starsky knew
Hutch was asking if he should put out an APB.
Starsky nodded, and Hutch picked up the mike and sent out the
information.
It took less than five minutes to get a
response. As Starsky and Hutch
listened, they heard her personalized license plate tag being called back to
them by the police dispatcher. When
Hutch confirmed it, they were given the address of where it was located, and
the condition it had been found in.
“Oh my God,” Hutch said lowly.
Starsky watched Hutch’s face, paling as
fear swept across it instantly. He
turned the Torino around in the middle of the road, coaxing Hutch to put the
bubble light on top as they sped towards the other end of town.
“She’ll be okay, Hutch. She will,” he encouraged, then to himself he
thought, “Dear God, please let her be all right.”
*******************
Though neither was precisely familiar with
the area where the car had been located, it wasn’t hard to figure out. As the Torino approached, Starsky and Hutch
found an almost hypnotic array of flashing red lights from many different
vehicles that surrounded a thickly wooded area of Riverside Road.
Allowed through by the policeman that
directed traffic around the scene, each man tensed from the sight that
blatantly erupted before them. There
were at least six police cars, an ambulance, a paramedics unit, and three fire
engines. As they drove in as close as
possible without blocking any of the emergency vehicles in, both men leaned
forward, trying to catch a glimpse of her car.
Starsky stopped the Torino and cut the
engine as he put it in park; both he and Hutch getting out quickly as they ran
towards the direction of most of the commotion. They followed a path, most likely made by her car, that led
twenty feet into the woods. That’s when
they saw it.
The once beautiful candy-apple red Ford
Mustang that Stephanie had loved so much was now nothing more than an
over-sized pile of scrap metal. A trail
of broken glass led up to the car for approximately five or six feet, crunching
under the detectives’ feet as they raced to the vehicle.
When they reached the car, both looked
around, searching desperately for a glimpse of Stephanie, but were unable to
see through the web-cracked windows that surrounded her. One door, the passenger side, had been
forced open, and a paramedic was inside with another standing beside him
outside of the car. Hutch ran towards
them, only to be stopped by a couple of firemen that stood around the car.
“How, how is she?” Hutch asked, flashing
his badge, his voice cracking as his despair came through clear.
“She’s alive. Unconscious. Looks pretty
bad, though,” one of them responded monotone.
“Hey! That’s his girlfriend in there!”
Starsky barked, angered by the insensitive tone of the fireman.
The man looked from Starsky back to Hutch,
sorry for his nonchalant response. He
took a deep breath and looked at the detectives again. “She’s pinned in behind the wheel. When we got here, the car was turned over
and looked like it had rolled at least twice before landing here. It hit a couple of trees over there,” he
said, pointing, “then rolled over to here.
Apparently the last tree it hit was stronger than the impact, and that
caused the car to roll. She had her
safety belt on, thank goodness, or she’d have been thrown from the side impact
of the first tree. Luckily a truck
driver hauling logs saw her when it happened, otherwise it coulda been days
before someone noticed anything out of place here.”
Starsky looked at Hutch, who was no longer
listening. His eyes remained focused on
the paramedics working within the mangled vehicle.
“But how is the driver?” Starsky asked,
trying his damndest to be as professional as possible. The fireman looked at him, taking another
deep breath before speaking. When he
was ready to talk, Hutch was also looking at him, his face drawn and his mouth
agape, needing to know.
“I really can’t say. The paramedics have been trying to stabilize
her. She was in shock when we got
here. They’re getting ready to use the
Jaws of Life to get her outta there now.
Once she’s out they’ll be able to do more.” The sympathetic man placed a hand on Hutch’s shoulder. “She’s a strong lady. Held her own through all this already. She’s a fighter,” he offered. Hutch was staring at the car, but nodded,
acknowledging the fireman’s words. When
the fireman looked over at Starsky, he found he was doing the same thing.
Once they had freed Stephanie from the
crumpled metal that held her captive, they immediately laid her on a backboard,
protecting her even still with a neck brace as they gently took stock of her
injuries. She was unresponsive to all
of their attempts to awaken her, and each paramedic looked grimly at one
another as they took her vitals and began an IV.
Neither Hutch nor Starsky noticed. Both were in a kind of shock of their own,
looking at the bloody body that lay before them. Stephanie was almost unrecognizable. Broken glass had bejeweled her skin, making dribbled lines of
blood form unusual patterns all over.
Her clothes were tattered and soaked, and what little skin that shown
uncovered in blood was white and ghostly.
The paramedics ushered over the ambulance
attendants with the stretcher, carefully placing the backboard on top of it and
strapping it on tightly. They then
wrapped her in a blanket and raised the stretcher to waist height and locked it
in place. Gently, they pulled her
through the debris and placed her inside the awaiting ambulance. Hutch was allowed in the ambulance and given
the IV bottle to hold as one of the paramedics joined him, taking her vital
signs again.
As Starsky looked inside, an ambulance
attendant began closing the doors, but not before he saw the tears that began
streaming down his best friend’s face; a look of utter despair as hope began to
fail.
When the ambulance took off and the siren
began to wail, Starsky took one last look at the mangled Mustang in front of
him before wiping a tear of his own and running towards his car.
As he sped down the road and caught up to
the ambulance, he kept fighting the thoughts that told him she wasn’t going to
make it. They had seen so much on this
job. Beatings and bullet holes and a
wide assortment of broken up bodies.
And some of them had looked better off than her and didn’t make it. He gripped the steering wheel hard. Fighting his own doubtful thoughts, he began
to pray.
The hospital was so pale and sterile. Try as he might, Starsky could not get Hutch
to eat or drink, and could not get him to concentrate on anything other than
the door he stared at and paced back and forth to; the door which was closed on
the doctors and nurses who were tending to Stephanie. Though one or two of those in attendance would venture in or out
every now and then, they had no news to offer him as they hastily moved about.
Starsky noticed their eyes as they would
leave her room, trying to read their thoughts as if he possibly could, hoping
to see any kind of hope within them.
But they were professional and experienced, and their stares were blank
and unreadable.
He was also doing a little of the same,
trying not to let show all the emotions and feelings that he desperately
contained. But inside, his guts were
wrenching, right along with Hutch’s.
When Dobey arrived, he too had a look of
despair as he approached his detectives.
Not far behind him was Huggy, looking grim as he brought a carrier of
full coffee cups and a bag with unknown baked goods within. He and Dobey walked over to Starsky as they
watched Hutch pace in front of the door, seeing them and barely acknowledging
their arrival.
Huggy handed the Captain a cup of coffee,
then handed one to Starsky before he spoke.
“How is she?” he asked, looking hopefully
into the blue eyes of the man in front of him.
“Critical,” he sniffed, “doesn’t look real
good.” Starsky sipped at the coffee,
finding it cool enough to drink, and had half the cup gone before he spoke
his next words. “She, uh, lost a lot of blood and they’re
sure she’s got internal bleeding. They
want to take her up to surgery, but they haven’t been able to get her
stabilized yet. She’s been in there
almost two hours now.” He took a deep,
shaky breath. “I can’t get Hutch away
from the door.”
Huggy looked at Dobey as he set the other
cups of coffee and bag on a table, then guided Starsky over to the chairs
beside it. Dobey nodded, then walked
over towards Hutch.
When Hutch’s eyes met the Captain’s, Dobey
noticed the sadness within them; a look of hopelessness that cut through him
like a knife. He’d seen that look
before, when Starsky was the one in the emergency room.
“How are you holding up, son?” Dobey’s
words were gentle and kind, the question asked, though no response was offered
other than the ice-blue eyes that looked mournfully towards him. To Harold Dobey, Hutch looked as if he could
fall apart at any moment. The man was
using every ounce of inner strength to keep his control. As Dobey watched him, he saw that strength
crumbling. Had it not been for the
doctor coming out of the door at that moment, he was sure Hutch would have lost
his ability to maintain himself.
“Doctor?” Hutch asked, his voice
broken. Within seconds, Starsky and
Huggy were also there, surrounding the physician. He looked around at the men who flanked him, his eyes serious and
professional.
“Have you notified her next of kin?” the
doctor asked quietly. Hutch looked
around at the other men, then back at the doctor. Clearing his throat, he began his answer.
“She doesn’t have any family other than a
sister, and she’s flying in from Ohio soon.
She’ll be here in about six more hours.
Right now, we’re all the family she has, Doc. Please, please tell me.
How is she?”
The doctor hesitated, but could not turn
down the man who pleaded before him.
“Well, it took us two hours to get her stabilized. The good news is that the internal bleeding that we thought we’d have to take her into surgery for is under control, so it looks as if the surgery won’t be necessary, at least at this time. She has a few broken bones and some bruised ribs and seventy-two stitches. She also has a fever, but we’ve started antibiotics so that should come down in a while.”
“And the bad news?” Starsky asked, his voice barely over a whisper. The doctor looked at them all again before
answering, sighing deeply.
“Her concussion was severe.” His pause
seemed to last an eternity. “She’s in a
coma. So far she’s been unresponsive to
pain or any other form of stimulation.
I’m sorry, gentlemen. It doesn’t
look good.”
“Jesus,” Hutch muttered, the strain of the
news becoming more than he could take.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Dobey offered,
putting a hand forward as he shook the hand of the man who’d been working so
hard to save Stephanie’s life. The
doctor nodded briefly at the acknowledgement, then turned to walk away.
“Doc?” Hutch called, stopping the man
before he could leave.
“Yes, detective?”
“Will she make it?”
“It’s really up to her at this point. I’m sorry.
I wish there was more I could tell you.
Look, we’ll be moving her into intensive care in a few minutes. I’ll make sure you have access to her room at
all times. Sometimes talking, or
reading to the person, or even playing their favorite music seems to help. Many people believe that the patients can
even hear you in their comatose state.”
Hutch nodded, shaking his hand and the
doctor finally left them. The silence
between the four men was almost deafening.
When the door of the emergency trauma room
opened, they all turned in time to see Stephanie being wheeled out on a
gurney. Had they not known it was her,
they might not have recognized her.
Her hair was pulled back from her face,
shaved in a couple of areas where stitching had been done. There were many places on her face that were
cut, several of them stitched as well.
Dark circles of brown and red encased her eyelids, and bruising from her
cheeks down her neck showed of the beating she had taken when the car had
crashed and rolled. IVs were attached
to her right arm and side of her neck, and an oxygen tube rimmed around her
nose. There was tubing that was taped
to her mouth going down her throat, and the machines that ran all the equipment
attached to her were loaded either on the stretcher or underneath it. The sight was grim.
Starsky didn’t know which hurt him worse;
the sight of Stephanie in the condition she was in, or the sight of Hutch,
looking so pitifully at the lady he loved.
All he knew was that both were tearing his guts apart inside.
A nurse stopped briefly to tell them that
she could be seen in room 228 in about a half an hour, then she followed the
gurney into the elevator.
When Hutch could no longer hold back the
emotion that ripped through him, the other men understood, doing there best to
console a man who could find no relief from the anguish that controlled him
now.
Chapter Thirteen
Starsky hated leaving him. He watched as Hutch just sat there, talking
to Stephanie with pain in his voice, trying to lull her into returning to him;
taking the blame for all that had happened, and begging her to open her eyes. There was nothing he could do to take away
his best friend’s hurting, though if even the devil had offered him the
opportunity, he was sure he would have taken it.
When Hutch had asked him to pick up
Stephanie’s sister from the airport, he couldn’t turn him down. Scared to leave them for fear of the worst,
he couldn’t let Hutch see that. So he
agreed, knowing there was no one else Hutch would have wanted handling the
task.
As he drove through the traffic, he didn’t
notice the people and cars around him.
His mind still clung to the image of her, lying so still in that bed
with all the equipment hooked up to her.
Knowing there was nothing he or anyone else could do to just make it all
better. Dwelling on the thoughts that
maybe, if he’d just not left the apartment like he did, if he’d just had it out
with Hutch and gotten it over with, that just maybe she would not be where she
was right now.
A strong believer in fate, his mind
struggled back and forth with ‘what-ifs’ until somehow he was at the airport,
not knowing exactly how he’d arrived.
He parked his car quickly and headed inside
the airport, checking the arrival times for the incoming flights. Hers was right on time, unloading at gate
thirty-one. He walked briskly through
the terminal until he saw the numbered gate he was looking for.
There was no need to ask anyone to help
him find her. When he saw her, he
knew. The resemblance was remarkable. Her hair was lighter and longer, but the
facial features were positively the same.
And somehow, she recognized him, too.
Introductions were rather informal as he whisked her out from the
airport and into his car. She’d only
brought a small bag with her and her purse and was as eager to get out of there
as he was to take her.
He drove her quickly, trying not to scare
her with his speed as he took her to her sister. She didn’t scare easily.
Or maybe she was too focused on her sister to even notice. She didn’t speak a word during the drive; it
was he who initiated the conversation.
“She’s holding her own, but she’s hooked
up to lots of equipment and she’s in a coma.
Hutch is with her … he hasn’t left her side the whole time.” He looked at her, wanting her to say
something, even if she lashed out at him for letting something happen to her
sister. But she didn’t. She wasn’t placing blame, she just wanted to
see Stephanie.
Starsky watched her when he could,
catching a glimpse of her now and then between dodging traffic and taking short
cuts. Maybe she was in shock from the
whole ordeal. He couldn’t be sure.
Until she caught his eyes upon her. She grinned slightly at him through her
worried eyes.
“It was an accident. My sister will pull through this. I know she will. She and I are all we have in this world.” A single tear slid down her face as she
returned her gaze in front of her, watching as Starsky pulled into the hospital
parking lot.
Hutch stood up as
Starsky entered the room with Stephanie’s sister, his arm around her shoulder,
helping to steady her from the sight she saw in lying so still in the bed. Hutch walked over to her, holding out his
hand. She took it tightly.
“You must be Ken,” she said, smiling
slightly. Hutch nodded.
“I’m sorry we have to meet like this,
Jennifer,” he said, looking haggard from the vigil he stood over the lady he
loved. She smiled sadly at him, then
looked at Starsky.
“I’d like some time alone with my sister,
if you wouldn’t mind. You two look like
you could use a little nourishment and some sleep. How about taking a break?
I’ll come and get you if there’s any change,” she offered. Both men returned her smile.
“Can I get you anything? Some coffee? A soda?” Starsky asked, placing a comforting hand on Hutch’s
shoulder as he waited for Jennifer to reply.
“No, I’m fine right now, but thank you.”
As Jennifer sat in the chair that Hutch
had been sitting in beside her sister’s bed, Starsky led Hutch out of the room,
taking him down to the waiting room.
When they walked in, they found Huggy and Captain Dobey, both stretched
out uncomfortably in chairs on either side of the room, and both sleeping.
“What time is it, anyway?” Hutch asked,
rubbing his eyes with both hands.
Starsky looked at his watch. “It’s going on 9pm.”
Their voices stirred Huggy, who jumped up
suddenly, knocking his leg into a coffee table which abruptly woke their
Captain. Both men walked over to the
detectives, each scared to ask the obvious question at hand. Fortunately, they didn’t have to. Hutch knew what they wanted to know.
“Her condition is still the same. No good news, no bad news.” He plopped himself down on a sofa and pulled
his feet up on it as he stretched out, sighing heavily in the process.
“Her sister is here now,” Starsky began,
taking the other sofa and laying himself down on it, “She’s with her now.”
“That’ll probably be just the medicine she
needs,” Huggy began, “You’ll see.
She’ll be back to her old singin’ self in no time.”
“C’mon, Huggy,” Dobey began, “Let’s go
raid some vending machines and get these guys something to eat. And some coffee.”
Huggy looked down at the detectives, who
had both fallen asleep almost instantly.
He nodded at the Captain and they quietly left, letting the men get some
much needed rest.
*******************
When Hutch woke up, he could see daylight
coming through the windows of the waiting room. It took only a moment to realize where he was and why. He sat himself up quickly.
“Starsk.”
Starsky’s eyes fluttered open, looking
around in confusion before his eyes fell on Hutch and he too, realized where he
was. He looked at his watch and sat up
suddenly. Each man stood up and walked
swiftly side by side out into the hallway, seeing Huggy Bear as he stood
outside of Stephanie's room. Huggy
watched their approach and smiled.
“Sleep well?” he asked. The detectives looked in the room through
the windows, seeing Jennifer as she sat there, talking to her sister as if
nothing was wrong. Huggy’s eyes
followed theirs.
“She’s been in there all night from what I
can tell. Nothing new to report. Dobey finally went home a little after one
this morning, said he’d be back later to see how everyone was doing. I went over to your humble abodes and got
you some clean grubs,” he said, handing over the duffel bag he held beside him,
“I think I’m gonna head over to the Pits, see if it’s still standing or if it
vanished from the face of the earth while I was gone.”
“Thanks, Huggy,” Hutch said, taking hold
of it, “I really appreciate that. I
think I’m going to go in for a little while and see how she’s doing. You go ahead.” He handed the duffel bag to Starsky, who nodded.
“Thanks a lot, Hug,” Starsky offered, then
turned towards the restroom.
“You two look like shit,” Huggy smirked,
patting Starsky on the back.
“Yeah, thanks,” Starsky answered
sarcastically as he walked away.
*******************
When Starsky came out from the bathroom,
he looked ten times better than when he’d gone in. Clean shaven and wearing clean clothes, Jennifer almost didn’t
recognize him as he came out from the bathroom and ran smack into her.
Starsky was instantly apologizing for
almost knocking her off her feet. He
caught her before she went down on the floor, then found himself overly
embarrassed about it. He did that a
lot.
“How’s she doing?” he asked, looking down
at the hazel eyes that looked up at him.
“She’s still the same, although I’m
betting she’s even happier now to know that Hutch is with her.”
Starsky smiled.
“I’m sure a visit from you would do the
same,” she added, returning the smile.
“Hey, you wanna get some coffee? I know Hutch probably wants to stay a while
and …”
“Thanks.
I really think I could use it.”
Jennifer sat quietly across from Starsky,
sipping the steaming cup of coffee that both her hands wrapped around. She looked exhausted. Starsky found himself feeling guilty for the
sleep that he’d gotten while she sat with her sister.
“You shouldn’t feel guilty about getting
some rest. You needed it. I talked to
Huggy; he told me you both hadn’t slept in God-knows-when.”
Had he said his thoughts out loud, or was
she reading his mind? Starsky grinned
over his cup of coffee at her.
*******************
Hutch sat holding Stephanie’s hand,
taking stock of the woman that lay before him.
The doctor had been in and removed the tube that hooked her to the
respirator, noting that she was stable enough to breathe on her own, giving
Hutch a little more hope.
After the doctor left, and a nurse came in
for her rounds, he began talking to her about her sister, then about Huggy and
Dobey and their staying all night.
Finally, the subject of Starsky came up.
“You know, I was so stupid. I got mad at him over something that was all
my fault. I was jealous. There, I said it. I was jealous because you went to him instead of me. It never occurred to me that you couldn’t
come to me; that you felt betrayed by me when Libby showed up. All I felt was my own hurt, and I was too
busy wallowing in self pity to realize how much you were hurting. Then I decided to take it out on
Starsk. You know, he should’ve knocked
my block off for talking to him the way I did, practically accusing him of
things … but instead he just walked away.
And then he just let it go.
Acted like it never happened. I
don’t know what I ever did to deserve him.
Or you for that matter. I wouldn’t
blame you if you never wanted to talk to me again. I swear to you, Libby and I haven’t seen each other in
months. To tell you the truth, I had
forgotten all about her. You, you just
kind of took my breath away, you know?
Your smile, your laugh, your
constantly surprising me every day. I
love you, you know that?” Hutch rubbed
his tired eyes with one hand while clinging to her hand with the other.
“I love you, too,” Stephanie whispered,
squeezing the hand that held her as tightly as she could.
Hutch immediately was on his feet and
standing over her. He put his hand on
her face, touching her, feeling her breath as he looked down at her. Her eyes were closed, and he half wondered
if he’d dreamed it. But she leaned her
cheek into his hand, and her eyes fluttered open, looking into his.
“Hi,” she said, grinning a little through
the grogginess she bore.
Tears formed in Hutch’s eyes. “Hi yourself, beautiful lady.”
*******************
As Starsky escorted Jennifer towards the elevator,
they were met halfway by Captain Dobey, who had not only returned, but had been
up to Stephanie’s room and was coming to give them the great news.
Elated, they joined the Captain and went
upstairs, all enjoying a very happy ‘reunion’ of sorts in the very over-crowded
ICU room. Huggy Bear arrived just in
time for everyone to get thrown out from there, violating hospital rules and
all that with four more people in the room than there should have been. But it was good. It was all good.
Chapter
Sixteen
Stephanie’s discharge from the hospital
took almost two weeks to procure. And
the doctor’s told everyone that she would need more time still to heal and
become '‘herself'’ again. Hutch and
Jennifer were almost arguing over who would be taking care of her, and finally
decided formidably to share in the process much to Stephanie’s amusement. Starsky also chimed in his two cents worth,
and even Huggy, who felt the need to feed everyone as he complained about
missing his waitress so much.
It
was all a very mixed up family picture, but it was her family, and Stephanie felt very grateful for them. Even Captain Dobey came by almost every day,
making sure that ‘his men’ were taking proper care of her. She felt blessed, although somewhat overwhelmed
by them all, and relished in the attention as she became used to it and
accepting of it.
Jennifer, on the other hand, was not as
easy to adjust to all the people around her.
Had it not been for her sister’s recovery and the time process involved,
she was sure she would have fled, going back to the quiet recluse of a person
she’d always been. She was not used to
having so many people around her at all.
Jennifer took care of her sister during
the day time when the guys were working, enjoying catching up on things that
they’d been missing out of because of the distance between them. Even though Stephanie was not in need of
constant care, Jennifer could not help but want to do everything she could for
her. It felt good. And as she became accustomed to the people
that came around every day, she began to understand why her many pleas for her
sister to return and come back home had been ignored.
And of course, there was Hutch. A love at first sight kind of story, her
sister was nothing less than smitten, as was the man of topic.
Not wanting to worry her sister and let
her take blame for things out of her control, she ‘neglected’ to tell her that
she had sacrificed her job to be there for her. If that stupid old man couldn’t be without a secretary for a few
weeks then it was just too bad. Her
options; a choice between her job or being there for her sister, were hardly
worth the second thought she gave it when she packed a few necessities and headed
to the airport. So, here she was, where
she wanted to be, but not knowing what direction she’d be taking next.
But Stephanie knew. Though she didn’t know what exactly was
troubling her sister, she did know there was something.
“Hey,” she began, putting a comforting
hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, “have you thought about maybe staying here, in
California? I can stay under the
weather for a real long time if it’ll help.”
Jennifer laughed out loud. “I really don’t know what I’m going to
do. You have your own life. And it’s here now, not in Ohio. But my life is still back there.”
“I don’t mean to be sarcastic, but what
exactly do you have there that holds you?”
“Mama’s house, my job, a few friends …”
“Jen, come on. Is that all that keeps us separated? ‘Cause if it is, you and I need to have a real serious talk
here!”
“You could always come back with me?”
Stephanie sighed deeply. “Being perfectly honest, no, I
couldn’t. I love it here. The weather, the work, my apartment …”
“Hutch.”
“Yes.
Hutch. I do love him, you
know? And I love you, too. Am I asking too much to want to have you
both here with me?”
Jennifer hugged her sister tightly. “I don’t know, Steph. That’s a pretty big step. I, I need to think about it, k?”
As if on cue, Hutch knocked lightly on the
door then strode in, carrying a big bouquet of flowers with him as he walked
over to Stephanie and handed them to her, kissing her on the cheek.
Jennifer smiled at the happy couple, glad
to see her sister so content.
“How are you feeling?” Hutch asked,
stroking Stephanie’s hair from her face with a loving touch.
“I’m feeling great. Hey, you’re early!” she said happily.
“Yeah, I, well, I kinda left Starsky with
the paperwork on that case we just wrapped up and decided to sneak over here
and … Say, I hope I’m not interrupting anything here?”
“Oh no,” Jennifer joined in, “we were just
doing the ‘girl-talk’ thing, that’s all.”
She stood up, grabbing their cups as she turned towards the kitchen. “How about I give you two some quality
time? You guys never have time alone
here lately, do you? This looks like a
fine opportunity to me!” She hurriedly
put the cups in the sink and grabbed her jacket from the handle of the closet
door. “I feel like going for a walk,
I’m thinking of going down to Huggy’s, okay?”
Stephanie watched her sister as she almost
ran towards the door.
“You want to drive my car? Huggy’s is a few miles from here at least.”
Hutch told her, pulling at the keys in his pocket.
Jennifer half laughed, then tried to
stifle the gesture. “Uh, no, thanks,
but I think walking is just the thing.
You two have a good evening … I’ll be home in a few hours or so, okay?”
Stephanie smiled at her sister, silently
thanking her for the opportunity at hand, yet giving her a look that meant the
discussion was not over.
As Jennifer strolled along the sidewalk,
she began taking in the beauty of the neighborhood. Trees were turning colors here, finally admitting that autumn was
ready to arrive. They had already
turned in Ohio, barren and lifeless as they stood tall, and her last task
before she left to come here was raking the many, many leaves that filled her
yard from the maple and chestnut trees that landscaped it. As she walked along the now somewhat
familiar surroundings, she took deep breaths, willing her mind to focus on the
discussion she’d left when she exited the apartment. But she couldn’t focus on simply one thing. In a way, that was good, because
concentrating on what she needed to was more troubling than she realized.
She didn’t know how far she’d walked or
how long she’d been walking when the Torino pulled up beside her.
“Hey, shweetheart, looking for a ride from
a handsome stranger?” Starsky asked, grinning ear to ear when she looked at
him.
“My Mamma taught me never to ride with
strangers, and you, sir, are looking very strange,” she grinned.
“Awe, come on now, I may be strange, but
you gotta admit I’m kinda cute!”
Jennifer rolled her eyes, trying not to
laugh and encourage him, but she couldn’t help herself when her eyes met
his. Starsky pulled the car up to the
curb and stopped it just a bit in front of her. He jumped out, jogging over to the passenger side and opened the
door, making a grand gesture as he bowed slightly and motioned for her to get
in. She walked towards him, still
unsure whether to get in or not.
“Sure is getting cool out here, isn’t it?”
he hinted.
“That’s why I came out here to walk. It was getting a bit too warm in the
apartment earlier,” she told him, still not getting in the car.
Starsky snickered. “Yeah, I noticed when I went over. That’s why I came looking for you.”
Jennifer looked a bit surprised at his
comment. “Well, now that you’ve found
me, what are you planning to do with
me?” she asked friskily.
“Well why don’t you get in and find out?”
he answered, his tone just as mischievous as hers.
She grinned as she sat in the car, and he
grinned as he closed the door, then got in the driver’s side quickly.
*******************
Stephanie walked around her kitchen,
scrounging as she readied to cook Hutch a nice dinner.
“You sure you feel like doing this?” he
asked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Well, if I really had a choice, I think I’d rather be doing something else,” she cooed, leaning herself into his hold.
“Hmmm.
Your sister’s gone, and Starsky’s on his way to find her, and maybe
they’ll be gone for a while … How are
you feeling?”
Stephanie leaned herself into him more,
rubbing her body against his. “You tell
me,” she purred. She turned herself
around in his arms, placing her hands around his shoulders as she pulled him
towards her, kissing him very intensely.
When their kiss finally broke, he smiled at her.
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” he asked
tenderly.
Stephanie smiled. “The doctor is releasing me back to work in
a couple of days. I think the question
is, are you, uh, up to it.”
Hutch leaned around her, cutting off the stove
that she’d lit only moments before, kissing her neck as he did so. Then he leaned around her other side,
letting his lips pay equal attention to the other side of her neck, slowly
making their way towards her lips, teasing them, as his hands roamed freely
within her robe. Her hands were equally
exploring him, and soon passion had taken over them both, neither able to
speak; only moan in a pleasure that they hadn’t taken part in for far too long. Soon they were lost in one another, enjoying
the feel and touch of each other, lost in a world of their own as their needs
and desires became quenched.
Starsky drove around for a while, giving
Jennifer a sort of tour of the area since before her only time through it was
spent going back and forth to the hospital.
As the silence became a little more than
awkward, Starsky decided to talk the universal language: Food.
“Stephanie and Hutch said you were going
to head over to Huggy’s. You still want
to go? We could get something to eat,
maybe play a little pool or pinball?”
Jennifer’s eyes seemed to light up at the mention of pinball, and she
had to admit, she was a little more than hungry, having not eaten all day as
she tried to keep her sister from doing anything around the apartment. Starsky knew it too, but wasn’t about to
tell that her sister had given him so much information, nor would he tell how
Hutch had suggested that he find her.
Instead, he decided to go with the moment.
“What d’ya say? Hmm?” he asked hopefully.
Jennifer nodded in agreement with him and
he smiled, noting the look of shyness that crept across her face.
*******************
As Stephanie was finally able to cook a
dinner for Hutch and herself, after masterfully pulling away from Hutch’s holding
arms that didn’t want to let her go, the conversation between them began to
focus on her sister.
“I asked her to stay here, in
California. With me. How do you feel about that?”
“Hmm.
Well, I’m fine with it, but what will she do?”
“Do you mean will she move here or what
will she do after she’s here?”
“I guess I meant both,” Hutch answered,
grinning.
“I don’t really know the answer to
either. But I know I miss her so much,
and she doesn’t have that much holding her in Ohio, and, well, I’m going to do
my damndest to convince her to stay. I
did great when I moved here! I got two
jobs and got my private investigator’s license, and best of all, I met you. I just want to see her as happy as I am,”
Stephanie told him, looking thoughtful.
“What does she do in Ohio, I mean,
professionally?” Hutch asked, then picked up his wine glass and took a sip.
“Oh, she’s a professional stripper,”
Stephanie enthusiastically responded.
Hutch promptly spit the wine he was
drinking. Stephanie laughed vigorously,
enjoying his surprise.
“I’m only joking,” she chided, still
giggling as he wiped the wine from his mouth, “She’s a legal secretary for a
lawyer’s firm; the only lawyer in town, actually.”
It took Hutch a moment to recover from his
shock, but he did it light-heartedly, loving her sense of humor as well as
everything else. “I don’t think she’d
have any trouble finding work. For that
matter, she could probably get a job at the precinct. They’re always looking for help here lately.”
“Okay, that makes it reasonable for her to
continue her career from there to here.
But now I need to figure out another reason. You know, another kind of ‘lure’ to make her want to stay,”
Stephanie said in hopes of an idea from Hutch.
He only nodded, looking as if he were trying to think. Then it looked as if he had an idea and was
proud of himself.
“Well, you know, Starsky is taking her out
tonight, and even though we kind of coaxed him into it, he’s been kind of alone
since Sharman left. Maybe …” he
grinned.
“Ah, but that’s another story,” Stephanie giggled, raising her wine glass towards
him. Hutch returned the gesture,
raising his own as he clinked the glasses together.
“Yes, it certainly is.”
The End.
(for now)
(More coming VERY
soon!)