They sat with her for the rest of the night…watching her carefully …taking turns in shifts again. The Nurses came in and out…taking blood and changing her bags. They also hooked up a new machine…to keep an eye on her heartrate…now along with the sound of the respirator…was a constant beep…beep…from the new machine. The Nurse that hooked it up told them
to watch it especially during a seizure…in case her heart should stop.

One more thing to worry about.

Morning came and Hutch was watching Cassie as Starsky slept. The morning sun had just begun to shine through her curtains…He walked over to them and spread them open…flooding the room with a bliding light and waking his partner.

Starsky squinted and rubbed his eyes as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Mornin’ partner." Starsky said in a groggy voice. "Hey…why don’t you go on home and take a shower…then you can come back and I’ll go…we both need a break." He said as he streched his arms up and then behind his back.

Starsky was up till 3:00am while Hutch slept between 11:00pm and 3:00am…that was the shift…both were tired…and both were in need of a shower.

"Alright…I’ll be back in about an hour and a half…then you can go…I’ll pick us up some breakfast…ok." Hutch told him.
"Sure you’ll be alright here by yourself?"

"Ya…I’ll be ok…if she has a seizure, I just hit the button and watch the monitor…but she hasn’t had one all night…I think we’ll be fine." He said.

"Now get outta here will ya."

Hutch gave Starsky a light pat on the back and a half smile before leaving the room. On the way down the elevator…and all the way to his car…he thought about Starsky. He didn’t know how much more of this his partner could take…it had been almost a week barley eating…barley sleeping. Starsky looked like hell…and Hutch was concerned about his health.

He opened the door to his car and slid in behind the wheel. The trial was one week away…He still had to testify…but if he had to do it alone…he might as well not even show up. They won’t convict without Starsky to back him up…and it looked like that wasn’t gonna happen.

Starsky persuaded Susan to get him a cup of coffee when she came on duty…Susan was getting used to having him around and was more than happy to do this for him. She and the rest of the Nurses were taken by the two detectives and by their commitment to Cassie.

When Hutch got back to the Hospital he found Starsky staring out of her window…lost in thought. He crept up to him slowly and tapped him on the shoulder…scaring the hell out of him…apparently he hadn’t heard him enter the room.

"You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that…you almost gave me a heart attack." Starsky told him.

"You need to be more alert…what we’re you thinking about just now?" Hutch wanted to kmow.

"Jim…she watched him die in this room…for all I know…in the same bed ...now here she is…not even a year later." Starsky looked up at Hutch.

"Sometimes I feel like I’m being punished for somethin’…I mean…every time I get to feeling good about my life…somethin’ happens…I prayed that I wouldn’t have to take care of her that night…now I might loose her…do I deserve this Hutch? First Terri…now this…what’s next?"

He was feeling guilty…maybe a punishment for his thoughts…for the way he felt about her. For the way he loved her…he knew it was wrong.

"You haven’t done anything wrong…things happen…that’s all…everyone has pain to deal with…you think your being punished…for what…for being a cop…for being a friend…for opening your heart to her. You just gotta hang in there
buddy. I brought you something to eat…then I want you to go home and get cleaned up…clear the cobwebs out of your head and come back...I’ll be here."  He told him. "We’re gonna get through this."

Just then they heard the monitor beeping faster and as they turned around they saw her body shaking…a seizure. They both ran over to her and Hutch hit the button as Starsky held onto her The Nurses came and the seizure ended…her heart monitor began to beep steady and slow again…she had made it through. Hutch looked at Starsky with a look of relief and Susan walked over to them and smiled.

"She did just fine…the medication is working…she handled this one well."

Then she turned and walked away…leaving them alone again.

As they sat down to open the contents of the brown paper bags that Hutch had brought back with him…Starsky saw something else in the corner of the room.

"You brought your guitar…that’s a great idea…she’s never heard you sing."  Starsky said to him as he opened his coffee container.

"I brought something else too." He told him. "I didn’t know how you would react to it, but I was hoping you wouldn’t mind."

"What is it?" He asked…and Hutch got up and walked over to the guitar…lifted it up to reveal what he had hidden behind it.

"Ollie…why did you bring Ollie?" Starsky said with a confused look.

"I figured it wouldn’t hurt to put him on her bed…for some reason when I  got home…I saw him looking at me and I thought about Terri…maybe she would want Cassie to have him. I thought I’d ask you if it would be alright." Hutch explained as he held Ollie in his hands.

"Terri would like that…she’d probably give him to her if she were still here…sure go ahead." Starsky thought it was sweet of Hutch to do it…but Hutch has always been so sensitive…It was a typical Hutch move.

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