Covenant - #3
Storm Warning
by Otterlady (10/24/99)
Hutch had always known that it would end this way. That he would be the one left behind. Sitting here, leaning his forehead on the cold, unforgiving glass, he wasn't surprised. Watching the life slowly drift away from his friend's body, he felt only resignation. The day that he had dreaded since the beginning of time had finally come. His own personal Armageddon.
From the moment they met, all those years ago, he had waited for this inevitable moment. The other had entered his life like a storm off the ocean; a little hurricane named Dave. Starsky had blown in, tossed Hutch's life around and now he was going back out to sea, dissipating in the morning sun like so much mist. And there didn't seem to be any power on Earth strong enough to prevent it. Not even his love seemed to be enough.
In some ways, he was glad that it would be thus. The thought of his friend being the one left behind was more than he could bear. To go through this agony, alone without him. Hutch hoped that he had the strength to do his last duty once the waiting was over. To hold on until he found the people responsible for taking the other half of his soul. To see them brought to justice. Then, then he would join his friend. He didn't know how, nor even when, but that was the way it would be. Because there was no living with only half a soul.
He knew that the others were grieving as much for him as they were for his partner. It was no secret how much the two meant to each other. Even during this last year, when things had gotten so crazy, they were closer than any two people had the right to be. Most people could not think of one without the other. Huggy always called Starsky Hutch's other half. Dobey yelled their names as if they were one, HutchStarsky or StarskyHutch. Rarely they were apart, not on duty, not off. Now there would only be one. No, not even that. One half, a fraction.
The doctors had told him there was too much damage, that it was only a matter of time. Not to hope. But all he had was hope. There had been so many times when it had seemed as if it would all end. The time Bellamy and the Professor conspired to poison Starsky, the time in the restaurant when Joey shot him. The kidnapping, and too many other times when it was so close. But all those times he was the one to find a way to save his partner, to take control and fix things. Not this time. This time Fate was in control and wasn't going to allow him the chance to fix anything. Fate was a greedy bastard that never gave back what it wanted for itself. And Fate wanted Starsky.
Time passed. Every hour was a minor miracle; every moment he still breathed was a victory. The medical staff was amazed that their patient still lived. They had expected him to go within the first twenty-four hours. They had no explanation for it, he just was.
The need to do something, anything, had forced him back to the precinct. He couldn't bear to sit one more moment beside his partner's bedside and not touch him. If all he could do for Starsky was solve his murder, then that's what he would do. When Dobey's strained voice said those awful words, his own heart stopped. He never knew how he made it to the hospital, didn't remember driving there, racing up the stairs to the ICU ward. He only remembered the fear and the looks on his friends' faces when they turned to him. The sudden joy on the doctors' and nurses' faces when his friend came back. Those were the things he would carry with him the rest of his life.
After that, the waiting started again. The doctors still told him not to hope, that Starsky's heart starting again didn't mean that he was going to survive. Hutch didn't believe them. The wind had picked up again, a force of nature stronger than Fate was fighting on their side. The moment his partner opened his eyes and smiled at him, he knew that they had won.
Fate had lost out this time. Its foe was Love and this time Love was the victor.