NEAR DEATHS DOOR

BY P&C PRODUCTIONS

CHAPTER 2

(Monday night…early Tuesday morning.)

He was standing in a dimly lit room full of strangers...soft music playing and the sound of so many voices speaking all at once that it was hard to make out what was being said. Elaborate furnishings and tables with candles and flowers…a party of some sort. He glanced around the room ... to see if he could recognize anyone…a familiar face. That’s when he saw her…a vision of sheer beauty…in a lily white dress…her hair shimmering under the glow of candlelight. He approached her slowly and the crowd seemed to disappear…the voices began to fade in the distance. He took her by the hand and they began to dance…alone now…their bodies moved as one as he held her closer…her blonde hair soft and fragrant…her deep brown eyes staring into his. He felt as if she could see into the depths of his very Soul. The music was louder now but still slow and melodic…The scent of her perfume all too familiar…The warmth of her body and the way his arms felt around her…something about it …something he recognized. He slowly leaned toward her …to taste her tender lips…

He was awakened suddenly by disturbing sounds coming from behind his bedroom wall…he remained in bed only long enough to clear the cloud of a dream that had been interrupted by the disturbance. Wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms, he rose to his feet and made his way to the door slowly…opened it and followed what he now recognized as distinct moans…uncontrollable retching…and then the moaning again.

"Cassie?" He called out from behind the bathroom door…"You alright?"

"No…" she called back in a very weak voice.

He was rubbing his eyes with one hand and leaning against the wall with the other…thinking of going through the door…locked or not…."You need some help?" He asked her.

"I’ll be out in a second." She assured him.

The door opened slowly and a very pale Cassie emerged …holding her arm around her stomach and leaning against the doorframe…"I don’t know what’s wrong with me …my belly hurts…and I feel dizzy." She told him.

Starsky put his hand on her forehead…"You’re a little warm…let’s take your temperature." He said as he went into the bathroom and took the thermometer out of the medicine cabinet and shook it with his left hand…"How long have you felt like this."

"Since late yesterday afternoon…only it wasn’t as bad as it is now." She added.

He gently placed the thermometer under her tongue and escorted her over to sit on the edge of her bed…He noted the time on her bedside clock radio…figuring he would leave the thermometer in her mouth for at least two minutes…it was 4:15AM.

He waited for two and a half minutes and slowly pulled the thermometer from her mouth…from what he could tell it read almost 100 degrees. Cassie laid back down on her bed…pulling her knee length nightgown down as she slid back under her covers…one arm still clutching her stomach.

He left her for a moment and came back with a glass of water and two tylenol to bring down her slightly elevated temperature. She sat up long enough to swallow the pills with two gulps of water and handed the glass back to him…then she rolled herself up in a ball and released a small moan as she tried to position herself comfortably in bed. He decided to stay with her for awhile…till the tylenol had time to take affect…leaving only long enough to grab a washcloth from the bathroom and run the cold water over it so he could wipe her face and forehead. She tossed and turned for about a half an hour…then finally drifted off to sleep again. Starsky felt her head again and after deciding the fever had lessened…he went back to his room…leaving the door to her room open slightly.

It seemed as if he had just laid his head back down when the bedside alarm informed him that it was 7:00AM and time for him to get up for work. He walked out of his bedroom yawning and stretching to peek into Cassie’s

room and see if she was alright…her alarm had went off at 6:30 and she had been lying awake in her bed…waiting for him to get up. Still in pain and feeling sick to her stomach she called to him as he looked in…"Dave…do you think I can stay home…I don’t think I can make it through the day at school." She told him.

"Alright Cassie…" He agreed "I’ll be back at lunch to check on you…sure you’ll be alright here by yourself?"

"Yeah…I’ll just stay in bed…if I feel hot...I’ll take my own temperature." She told him…."It’s just the pain in my belly…when I lay down its not as bad."

He walked over to her and felt her head…she was warm but the tylenol was still in her system…"Try and get some rest…I’ll be back as soon as I can."

He said as he put his hand gently on her face and kissed her on the cheek.

He went through his normal routine before heading out the door for work…then took one last look in her room. She was asleep.

He parked in his usual spot inside the garage and hurried in to meet Hutch…a bag of donuts in one hand and a hot cup of coffee in the other.

Hutch was rifling through some files that he had pulled to research a case that they were about to have to testify in within the next two weeks…He looked up from them only to flash a momentary half smile at his partner.

"Morning Blondie…8:30 right on the nose" Starky grinned at him.

"I’m impressed" Hutch answered…not bothering to take his eyes off the files.

"Come on…you can go through those later…the trial isn’t for another two weeks…let’s go." Starsky urged him…"Gotta’ serve and protect…ya know…hit the streets…keep the peace and all that jazz…"

"Alright…alright…I’m coming.." Hutch mumbled…he read for just a moment longer and then stuffed the papers nice and neatly back into their folders.

"You really need to take these home with you and go over them sometime before the trial…Simons is representing the piece of scum and you don’t want him to be able to trip you up on the stand." Hutch told him.

"I can hold my own…He’s guilty and that’s all there is to it…I’m gonna enjoy watching him take the fall." Starsky said…"You know what your problem is Hutch…you worry too much."

"Somebody has to." He added as he grabbed his jacket and held the door open…"After you."

Once in the car…Starsky told Hutch about Cassie throwing up last night and her fever…

"I don’t know what could be wrong with her…what could make her sick like that all of a sudden?" Starsky asked.

"Could be allot of things…has she been nervous lately…big test coming up at school…maybe boyfriend problems." Hutch was trying to be helpful.

"HEY…" Starsky had a revelation …"You don’t think she could be…..Pregnant do ya."

"Don’t look at me buddy…how the hell would I know…I thought she was still a virgin." Hutch said.

"So did I …but it would explain allot…I mean don’t women get sick in the morning when they’re expecting?" He asked.

"I don’t know Starsky…I guess…I don’t have any kids …so what if she is…what’re you gonna do?" Hutch was curious.

"I’ll introduce a certain dark haired little punk to the pavement.." He said…"After that…I don’t know what I would do." He sighed.

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