Part 1 – June
“Hutch, would you come on! We’re gonna miss her!” Detective David Starsky called to his partner.
“Would you relax Starsk?”
Detective Ken Hutchinson rolled his ice-blue eyes at his partner. “You know she always calls at six. It’s only five-fifteen.”
“At the rate you’re movin’
it’s gonna be six-thirty by the time we get out of here.”
“Look, I’ve only got a couple
more lines to write. If you would stop
bugging me we could be out of here in less than ten minutes,” Hutch sighed as
he tried to finish his report. “I
promise we’re not going to miss her call!
Would you relax ‘Pretend Daddy’?”
Starsky glared at his partner
for another minute before deciding that Hutch was right. If he kept pushing, Hutch would get
distracted and never finish his report.
He sighed and went back to staring at his desk punctuated by looks at
the clock.
Hutch grinned at his partner’s nervousness. It had been nearly a year since Starsky had been the foster father to an adorable four-year old for two weeks. In that short span of time, she had adopted Starsky as her ‘pretend daddy’ and as such, had him wrapped around her little finger. Now that little Emily had moved to San Francisco with her grandmother, Starsky never missed her call every Thursday. Of course, ‘Uncle’ Ken was extremely fond of the little girl too and also didn’t want to miss her call.
Finally, as promised, the
report was finished within ten minutes.
Hutch put it in Dobey’s in-box and he and Starsky headed out to the
car. Starsky drove as fast as possible
(without the flashing light) back to his apartment.
Once there, Hutch pointed at
the clock, “You see, Starsk! I told you
we wouldn’t be late! It’s only 5:45.”
“Okay fine. You wanna order a pizza? We gotta do it now before she calls.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Fifteen minutes later, the
telephone rang. Starsky dove for the
phone. “Hello?”
“Pretend Daddy? It’s Emily!”
“Hey Princess! How’s my favorite girl?”
“I’m fine. Grammy says I gets to start kiddie-garten in
the fall.”
“That’s great Princess! You’ll be going to school like the big girl
you are!”
“Can I talk to Uncle
Ken? I want to tell him too!”
“Okay Baby. Here’s Uncle Ken.” Starsky said as he handed
the telephone over to his partner who took it with a grin.
“Hey Sweetie. How’re you doing?”
“I’m fine Uncle Ken. I gets to start kiddie-garten in the fall!”
“Terrific! You’ll learn all kinds of really great
things!”
“I know. Grammy says I’m so smart I’ll learn really
fast.” She lisped.
“I’m sure you will. You are a really smart girl!”
“Yeah. Uh…Uncle Ken, could I talk to Pretend Daddy
again?”
“Sure Sweetie. I love you!”
“I love you too!”
“Bye.” Hutch sighed and handed the phone back to
Starsky.
“Princess? You still there or you hang up on me?”
“I wouldn’t hang up on you!”
Emily said with a giggle. “Grammy’s taking me to Disneyland in a week. You wants to come with us?”
“Can Uncle Ken come
too?” Starsky asked and then looked
over at Hutch and mouthed ‘Disneyland’.
Hutch nodded with a grin.
“Yes, Uncle Ken can come
too!” She said as though she couldn’t believe Starsky would’ve thought
otherwise. “Grammy wants to talk to
you. She says you gots details to work
out.”
“Okay, put ‘er on!”
“David? This is Margaret. How’re you and Ken doing?”
“We’re fine, Margaret. How ‘bout you?”
“I’m fine. A little tired, but fine.”
“So what’s this about
Disneyland?”
“Well, she’s been pestering
me to take her and I ran out of excuses.
We’ll be driving down next Friday and going to the park on Saturday.”
“Disneyland on a
Saturday? You think you’re tired
now…just wait!”
“Maybe you’re right, but I
can’t get off work until Friday and I don’t want to try driving that far after
a full day at the office.”
“You got a point there. Okay, Saturday it is. Where are you guys gonna stay?”
“I’ve got us booked into one
of the hotels near the park. I can’t
remember the name of it at the moment.”
“That’s alright. Look, call me when you get into town and
Hutch ‘n me’ll buy you guys dinner.”
Hutch lifted an eyebrow at
this, but after his partner turned a kicked-puppy look on him he melted and
nodded.
Starsky grinned as he
finished talking to Margaret. He hung
up the phone and turned to his partner.
“This is gonna be great! She’s taking Emily for her birthday.”
“It’s only June 1st
today. I thought her birthday wasn’t
until the 21st.”
Starsky shrugged, “I guess it
was the only time she could get off work.
It’ll just be an early birthday!”
Hutch started to say
something when there was a knock on the door.
Starsky went to answer it. The
pizza delivery boy’s eyes widened in terror as Starsky fished for his wallet –
while still wearing his gun and holster.
The poor kid took the money, shoved the pizza at Starsky and bolted
before he could get his tip.
Starsky shrugged, not
understanding the boy’s reaction. He
turned towards his partner with a grin.
“Pizza’s here! Let’s eat!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
The next week crawled by as
Starsky anticipated his day at Disneyland with his ‘pretend daughter’. Hutch found him almost unbearable, as it was
all the curly-haired man talked about.
Finally, it was Friday. Hutch wanted to go to Huggy’s for a beer,
but Starsky insisted on going straight home to wait for Margaret to call to let
them know that they were in town.
They got home at four
p.m. By seven, Starsky was beginning to
worry.
“Starsky, would you
relax? It’s a six-hour drive with a
four year old! Margaret probably had to
stop every ten minutes to take Emily to the bathroom!”
Starsky chuckled, “You’re
probably right. One thing I learned
when I had her for those two weeks – when a four-year old says she hasta use
the bathroom, she really means it!”
Finally, about an hour later,
the telephone rang. Starsky pounced on
it.
“Hello?”
“May I please speak with
David Starsky?”
“You got ‘im. What can I do for ya?”
“Margaret Taylor had your
name listed as one to call in an emergency.
We couldn’t get hold of her son or daughter-in-law.”
“Who is this?”
“I’m sorry. My name is Terry Robbins. I’m a nurse at Memorial Hospital. Mrs. Taylor was in an auto accident.”
“An accident? What happened? How is she? What about
Emily? Did she have a kid in the car
with her?”
“I’m not clear on the details
of the accident. I know there were
three other cars involved, though. Mrs.
Taylor is in critical condition. The
little girl was belted into a car seat.
She suffered minor bruising and a sprained wrist. Otherwise she’s fine.”
Starsky closed his eyes in
relief and fell into a chair as his legs refused to hold him up any
longer. Hutch, meanwhile was following
this one-sided conversation - staring at Starsky with terrified blue eyes.
“Do you know how to get hold
of her parents?” Terry asked.
“Uh…her parents are
unavailable. She was living with her
grandmother.”
“Was?” Hutch whispered in a
frightened voice. Starsky seemed to
notice his partner’s fear for the first time.
He mouthed, ‘she’s fine!’ Hutch
relaxed some.
“Well, we’ll have to notify
children’s services then. She’ll have
to be put into foster care until Mrs. Taylor recovers.”
“No, don’t do that.” Starsky
said hastily. “I was her foster father
for a short time last summer. I can
take her again.”
“Very well,” Terry said. “Do you still have the appropriate paperwork
from your last stint as her foster parent?
The hospital won’t release her without some indication that Children’s
Services would approve.”
“Yeah, I think I got it
somewhere. I’ll be there within the
hour to get her, okay?”
“That’ll be fine, Mr.
Starsky. Come to the pediatric ward and
ask for Debra Harris. She’s our
Children’s Services liaison. She’ll
take care of getting custody transferred to you until Mrs. Taylor is once again
able to take her granddaughter back.”
“Thanks Miz Robbins. I’ll be there!”
As he hung up the phone,
Starsky looked at Hutch and smiled ruefully, “Up for another tour of duty,
Uncle Ken?”
Hutch smiled at his
partner. “Anytime, Pretend Daddy!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The scene in the pediatric
ward was one of controlled chaos. There
were children underfoot everywhere. If
they weren’t in bed, they were running through the playrooms and around the
nurses’ legs. Starsky and Hutch looked
at each other with a grin. They headed
towards the nurses station.
They got directions to Debra
Harris’ office and started off. They
had just passed a playroom enroute to the requisite office when a familiar
voice rose above the din.
“PRETEND DADDY!!!!!”
Suddenly, just as it had been
the first night he had met her, Starsky had a little girl wrapped around his
legs. The difference this time was that
she knew she had the right person.
Hutch caught his partner as
he nearly fell over the little girl. He
leaned down and gently disentangled the little person from Starsky’s legs and
picked her up.
“Hey Sweetie,” Hutch
said. “You’re gonna knock him over if
you jump on him like that.”
“He didn’t fall over Uncle
Ken,” she said as she hugged him.
“That’s because I caught him,
you little monkey,” he answered teasingly.
“I’m not a monkey!”
“Yes you are! A mischievous little monkey!” Hutch said,
rubbing noses with the little girl.
She giggled and then turned
to see Starsky standing there watching them with a smile and a teddy bear.
“Is that for me, Pretend
Daddy?” she asked as she pointed to the large brown bear.
“This?” Starsky said,
pretending that the bear was just an accessory – like a wallet – nothing
special.
“Yeah!”
“Well, I suppose if you want
it, I could be made to part with it.”
Starsky grinned, his violet-blue eyes dancing with mischief. “If you say the magic word!”
“Please?”
Starsky looked at his
partner, “Would you believe it Uncle Ken?
She got it right the very first time!”
She squealed as Hutch put her
down. She ran over to collect her prize
and Starsky swooped her up into his arms.
Then he took a moment to take a good look at her.
She had grown somewhat since
the last time he had seen her when he went to visit her at Christmas time. But what really captured his attention were
the scrapes and bruises that stood out against her fair complexion. The stark white bandage on her forehead
stood out against the darkness of her baby-fine hair. He shuddered inwardly as he thought about what could’ve happened
to her in the accident. He kissed her
gently on the cheek and hugged her as tightly as he dared.
With her good hand, she
clutched her new teddy bear. She gently
put her other hand on Starsky’s shoulder, careful not to make it hurt any more
than it already did. Then she put her
head on Starsky’s other shoulder and he melted. He looked over at Hutch who was looking at the pair of them
affectionately.
“Can I help you gentlemen?”
Came a feminine voice from somewhere behind Starsky. He turned around and saw a woman in a skirt and blouse with a
definite air of red tape about her.
“We’re lookin’ for Debra
Harris?” Starsky said.
“That’s me. You must be Mr. Starsky. Terry told me you’d be coming by. I’m guessing this is little Emily Taylor?”
“That’s me!” Emily piped up,
not lifting her head from Starsky’s shoulder.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you
Emily. Why don’t you go back to the
playroom while I talk to your friend here, okay?”
Hutch reached out. “Come on, Emily. Let’s let this nice lady talk with your pretend daddy. You can introduce me to your new friends in
the playroom, okay?”
“Okay, Uncle Ken!” she said
as she allowed Starsky to pass her over to her favorite uncle.
As the two of them walked
away, Debra led Starsky into her office.
“Now then, Mr. Starsky. If you’ve got the paperwork that Terry asked
you to bring, I’m sure we can get this settled fairly quickly.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
Two hours later, Starsky all
but staggered out of the office - red tape is nothing if not exhausting. He went looking for his partner and
Emily. He finally found them in one of
the playrooms. Hutch was sitting in a
rocking chair with Emily asleep in his lap.
He looked up and carefully waved at the dark-haired man standing in the
doorway with the sappiest expression Hutch had ever seen.
“Hey partner,” Starsky said
quietly. “You ready to go?”
Hutch nodded and stood up,
being careful not to wake the sleeping child.
“We gotta talk to her doctor
before we go. And we oughta stop down
and see how Margaret is doing too.”
Hutch nodded again and the
two of them went in search of the doctor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
An hour later, the three of
them left the hospital. Emily had woken
up but refused to be put down to walk.
Hutch sighed and passed her to Starsky when she got too heavy. The doctor had given Starsky instructions on
how to change Emily’s bandages and how much baby aspirin to give her if she had
any pain.
Margaret, meanwhile, wasn’t
quite so good. The doctors were fairly
certain she would recover. They had put
her into a drug-induced coma and she would be laid up for at least a couple of
months after that due to broken bones and various other injuries. Some of which would require physical therapy
when she was well enough.
Either way, Starsky now had a
daughter for the summer.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they got back to
Starsky’s apartment, Hutch opened the door for his partner who had a sleeping
four-year old in his arms.
“We gotta put her to bed,
Hutch. Could you get the little cot out
of the closet?”
The blond man nodded and went
to retrieve the little folding bed that Starsky had purchased for the last time
Emily came from Grandma’s for a brief visit.
He set it up in the living room as Starsky sat down with Emily and her
little suitcase (retrieved from the car wreck and given to Starsky when he took
Emily from the hospital). He tried to
carefully remove the little girl’s clothes without waking her.
The shoes, socks and trousers
proved no problem. The little blouse,
however, proved to be a problem as the child had in sleep a death grip on the
teddy bear. Starsky sighed in
frustration as he struggled to get the tiny sleeve over the giant bear’s head.
Hutch looked over and
grinned, “Hey Starsk, either wake her up or don’t worry about the nightgown.”
Starsky admitted defeat and
re-buttoned the blouse before tucking the little girl into bed.
The two men watched the
little angel sleep for a few minutes before moving to the kitchen where they
could talk quietly.
“I’m gonna call Dobey in the
morning and take a couple of days off.
Since I’m gonna have her longer than two weeks this time, I gotta
arrange for day care.”
“You’re right, Starsk. You got any ideas?”
“Well, my next door neighbor
is a nice lady. I wonder if she’d do
it.”
“You mean Mrs. Penrose? Yeah, isn’t she the one whose grandkids come
to visit her every other weekend?”
Starsky nodded. “Yeah.
I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”
“There’s also that daycare
center on the corner two blocks down.”
“If Mrs. Penrose can’t do it,
then I’ll check there next.”
“Yeah, okay. Mrs. Penrose probably’ll charge you a lot
less than the daycare place.”
Starsky looked up at his
partner as if suddenly realizing something.
“Yeah, I am gonna have to pay her, aren’t I? Good thing we get paid next week!”
“Don’t worry, Starsk. I’ll help you out with her day care expenses
too.”
“You don’t haveta do that,
Blintz.”
“Hey, I’m Uncle Ken,
remember? I’ll help.”
“Thanks.”
The two men stood in quiet
conversation for a few more minutes before Hutch decided that he had better head
home. Starsky saw him to the door and
then headed for bed himself.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
About three hours later,
Starsky was awakened by a terrifying sound – a child screaming. He bolted out of bed and ran for the living
room. Emily was lying in the bed
tossing and turning, obviously in the throes of a pretty bad nightmare.
Starsky ran over and sat down
on the edge of the bed. He reached out
to gently stroke Emily’s hair as he started a litany of soothing words. After a minute, her eyes opened wide and she
slowly returned to reality. As soon as
she was awake, she threw herself, sobbing, into Starsky’s arms.
“Pretend Daddy! Don’t let the monsters get me!”
Starsky hugged the little
girl and rocked her gently. “It’s okay,
Baby. There ain’t no monsters
here. Don’t worry. Nothin’s gonna hurt you. I promise I won’t let anything hurt you.”
He continued to speak
soothingly to the little girl as she slowly stopped crying. She nestled herself against his chest and he
continued to rock her slowly until he was certain that she had fallen back to
sleep. Then he gently tucked her back
into bed and retrieved the teddy bear from its recent exile to the floor. He put it into the bed next to her and she
instinctively rolled over and hugged it.
Starsky watched her sleep for
a long time. He realized that although
she wasn’t hurt physically in the accident, it was still a very traumatic
experience for the poor child. He
sighed and resigned himself to the fact that there would probably be nightmares
for a while yet.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
The next morning, Starsky
called Dobey.
“Cap’n? I need a couple days off.”
“Why? You sick, Starsky?”
Starsky sighed, “No. You remember Emily? You know, the four year old I had last
summer?”
“Yes…” Dobey said, not sure
he wanted to know where this was headed.
“Well, I got her again. Her grandma was bringing her down to take
her to Disneyland and was in a car wreck.
I got Emily until her grandma is well enough to take her back. I need a couple days to arrange day care and
stuff.”
Dobey sighed audibly. “Okay Starsky. You’ve got until Wednesday.
I expect you back here Thursday.”
Starsky grinned into the
phone. “Thanks Cap’n!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Millie Penrose went to answer
the knock at her door.
“David! How nice to see you! Won’t you come in?” She said.
Then she noticed the little person standing at his side. “Is this your daughter? I didn’t know you had any children! She’s beautiful! She looks just like you!”
Starsky squirmed a little
uncomfortably, “Uh…no, she’s not really my daughter.”
“He’s my Pretend Daddy!”
little Emily piped up.
“Pretend Daddy?”
Millie said with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m her foster dad for a
little while ‘til her grandma gets out of the hospital after an accident.”
“OH! I see.
Well, won’t you two come in? I’m
sure I could find some cookies and lemonade if you’d like.”
“YEAH!” Emily cried happily.
“What do you say, Emily?”
Starsky said quietly. ‘Oh God! I’m turning
into my mother!’ Starsky thought to himself as he realized what he had just
said to the little girl at his side.
“Please.” She said a little
more calmly.
Millie laughed. “Okay, you guys come on in and I’ll get the
lemonade.”
Over lemonade and cookies,
Starsky asked Millie about watching Emily while he went to work. After a short time, they managed to reach an
agreement. Millie would watch Emily on
the days Starsky was at work for less money than the daycare center would
charge. If he had to work on the days
that her grandkids came to visit, she said she wouldn’t charge him at all.
“I’m already babysitting for
free,” she said with a laugh. “One more
child won’t make that big a difference.”
“You sure? It ain’t no trouble,” Starsky said, really
glad for the offer, although he felt that he had to make a token protest.
“I’m sure.” Millie said with
a smile. “My grandchildren will be
happy to have a new friend to play with.
My granddaughter Amy is about Emily’s age. I’m sure they’d get along great.”
“Thanks a lot, Mrs.
Penrose. This really means a lot to
me.”
“Please, you can call me
Millie.” She said with a smile. “You’re
a big boy now.”
Starsky laughed and then
called Emily over from where she was playing with a dollhouse that Millie had
for her granddaughter.
“Hey, Princess. How would you like it if Mrs. Penrose here
looks after you when I go to work?”
“Yeah! She gots good toys.” Emily said with a grin.
Starsky laughed and hugged
her. Then he stood up and placed Emily
on the floor – keeping hold of her hand.
“We should be goin’.” Starsky said. “I gotta take her shopping.
She only had a small suitcase with her at the time of the accident and
the rest of her clothes are in San Francisco.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
“But I need a purple shirt!”
“I see a lot o’ pink shirts,
but no purple. Can’t ya just wear
pink?” An exasperated Starsky asked the little fashion maven standing at his
side in the store.
“NO! Purple!
I gots pink shirts already! I
need purple!”
Starsky rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. We’ll find you a purple shirt.
Now, how’s about a blue shirt too?”
“NO! Purple shirt first!”
‘Okay, you’re a
detective. How hard could it be to find
a purple shirt?’ Starsky thought to
himself. ‘Man! She owns you so bad!’
Starsky looked down at the little girl who was carefully appraising t-shirts with Muppets on them – trying to decide if she liked Grover or Cookie Monster better. Finally, she picked a shirt with Oscar the Grouch and handed it to Starsky.
‘Oh yeah, she owns you! And you wouldn’t have it any other way!’ Starsky smiled to himself and then down at the child who had not only captured his heart, but a purple t-shirt (finally!) as well.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hutch bounded up the steps to his partner’s apartment carrying a couple of sacks from Huggy’s. He let himself into the apartment to find Starsky crashed out on the couch – sound asleep. He looked around the apartment until he found Emily lying on Starsky’s bed, staring up at herself in the mirrors on the ceiling.
“Hey, Sweetie,” Hutch called softly. “What’d you do to your pretend daddy? You wore him out!”
She sat up and climbed off the bed. “We went shopping! He bought me new clothes! See?” She did a little pirouette to model the dress that was her favorite purchase so far.
Hutch smiled as he looked at the little girl. The dress was a patchwork of greens and reds and golds with a little black flower pattern all over. It had short, puffy sleeves that were, along with the neckline and just-above-the-knee hem, trimmed with a thin line of lace. The little sash tied around the back.
“It’s very pretty!” Hutch said as he picked her up. “Now then, Huggy Bear sent dinner for the three of us. Shall we wake Pretend Daddy for dinner?”
“Okay!” She said as she squirmed out of his grasp and went running into the living room. She took a flying leap and landed squarely on Starsky’s chest. He gasped as forty pounds suddenly slammed into his ribcage. He looked up and saw the smiling face of Emily looking at him as she lay on his torso.
“Uncle Ken brought dinner, Pretend Daddy! Let’s eat!”
Starsky, who had gotten the wind knocked out of him, took a moment before answering. “Okay, Princess.” He gasped. “Let’s eat.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Finally, it was Thursday morning. Starsky took Emily over to Millie’s apartment and headed out to pick Hutch up from work.
Hutch looked at the dark circles under Starsky’s eyes and said, “Hey, maybe I should drive. You look awful. You okay?”
“I’m fine. Nothin’ that a coffee I.V. couldn’t cure.” Starsky said with a yawn. “She’s been having nightmares about the accident for the last few days. You ain’t heard nothin’ ‘til you’ve heard a kid screaming in the night.”
“Poor Emily,” Hutch said, shaking his head. “I guess you never think about how scary something like that is to a kid.”
“Yeah. She wanted to see her Grandma the other day. That was a tough one. The nightmares got worse after that.”
“You actually took her to the hospital?”
Starsky shrugged. “I had to anyway. The doctor wanted to check her wrist. We just walked by Margaret’s room. They’ve still got her in the coma. I told Emily she was takin’ a nap and we shouldn’t wake her. I thought she took it pretty well – until about two o’clock in the morning when she woke up screaming.”
“Oh man! The poor kid.”
“Yeah. I hope the nightmares stop soon. I’ll never sleep again if they don’t!”
“Okay Starsk. Let’s leave the Torino here. I’m driving. I’ll wake you when we get to Metro.”
Starsky started to protest and then thought better of it. A quick nap might help. He nodded and got out of the car.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The day passed relatively uneventfully. Hutch let Starsky sleep in the car if there was nothing going down in the district. He also wouldn’t let him sleep anywhere Dobey might catch him.
As they drove back to Venice Place for the Torino, Hutch seemed lost in thought. Then, he made a decision.
“Hey Starsky, why don’t I spend the night at your place tonight? I can crash on the couch and give you a reprieve from her nightmares.”
“You sure you wanna do that?” Starsky asked. “She’ll scare you half to death. I guarantee that.”
“I’m sure. You go on and get her from Mrs. Penrose. I’ll grab some of my things and head over to your place in a little bit, okay?”
Starsky smiled gratefully, “Thanks, partner. Oh…I don’t s’pose you could stop somewhere and pick up some milk, could you?”
Hutch chuckled and said, “Sure, Starsk. I’ll see you in a little while.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky pulled the Torino into its parking spot and walked over to his neighbor’s apartment. Millie opened the door and a look of immense relief overwhelmed her features.
“Oh, David! I am so glad you’re back! I don’t know what to do with her!”
Starsky was immediately concerned, “What’s wrong? Is she sick? Having a tantrum? What’s the matter?”
Millie shook her head. “I only wish it were that simple. Come on in and I’ll show you.”
Millie led the worried man through her apartment and into the bedroom. She pointed at the bed and Starsky gasped. Emily was lying in the middle of the bed curled up into a little ball. Starsky could tell she was awake, but she was staring into space.
“What happened?” Starsky whispered.
“I’m not sure. I put her down for a nap a few hours ago. She apparently had a bad dream and woke up screaming. I tried to comfort her and she just shut down. I think it’s partly because she barely knows me. I don’t know, but I can’t get through to her.”
Starsky walked over to the bed and put himself at the little girl’s eye level. “Hey, Princess. How you doin’? You wanna go home?”
Emily blinked and crawled across the bed and into Starsky’s waiting arms. She didn’t smile. She didn’t say a word. She just allowed Starsky to pick her up and laid her head on his shoulder. Starsky rubbed her back gently with his free hand for a minute before reaching down to pick up her teddy bear. He handed her the teddy bear and she took it without a sound.
“I think I know what happened, Millie.” Starsky said quietly. “The accident has been givin’ her bad dreams. I think she doesn’t know you well enough to let you comfort her.”
“Oh, the poor dear! I’m practically still a stranger to her! She wakes up and neither you nor her grandmother are here. That would scare any child.”
“Well, I’ll take care of her now. Thanks Millie. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Millie tried to say goodbye to Emily, but the little girl hid her face in Starsky’s shirt. Starsky gave Millie a ‘what-can-you-do?’ look and took the child home.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When Starsky got in the front door, he tried to put Emily down, but she would have none of that. She dropped the teddy bear to clutch at his neck with both hands. Starsky held her close as he gently rubbed her back.
“Hey Princess, you think I could put you down? I gotta get my jacket off.”
She thought for a moment and then nodded slowly. He put her down and she picked up her teddy bear with one hand and hugged his right leg with her other. Starsky sighed as he put his jacket on its hook. Then he took off his holster and made a move towards the lock-box he kept the gun in as long as he had a child staying with him. He found himself with a very heavy right leg.
“C’mon, Emily. You gotta let go of me sometime.”
The grip on his leg tightened. Starsky sighed and limped over to the lock-box. Once his gun was unloaded and secured, he picked up the little girl again and headed for the kitchen.
“What should we have for dinner, huh? Uncle Ken’ll be here soon and we oughta be ready to eat when he gets here.”
The body in his arms shrugged listlessly. Starsky’s heart broke at the reactions of the once happy little girl.
“Hey, c’mon! What do ya think? Hot dogs?”
No response.
“Hamburgers?”
Nothing.
“Spaghetti?”
Slight nod.
Starsky hugged her tightly, grateful to have a positive response from the silent little girl.
“Okay, I gotta put you down so I can start cooking,” he said as he used one hand to gently pry the little hands from around his neck.”
Once again, he found himself with an oversized anklet. He sighed and started limping around the kitchen getting together the materials he would need to make spaghetti.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Twenty minutes later, the water for the noodles was boiling and the sauce simmering. Starsky limped from the kitchen and took the apron off of Emily’s head. He had half-jokingly put it there so she wouldn’t get splattered by tomato sauce or boiling water. He didn’t get so much as a snicker from the child attached to his leg.
Hutch knocked before letting himself in. He laughed as he saw his partner limping around the apartment with Emily clutching his leg as though he were some kind of ride. He put his duffel bag down and moved to put the milk in the fridge.
“Hey Starsky, I like your ankle bracelet.”
“You wanna wear it for a while?” Starsky asked dryly. Then he looked down at the little girl. “Hey Princess, why don’t you go say hi to Uncle Ken?”
Hutch knelt down and held out his arms. Instead of being bowled over by the normally exuberant child, he was surprised when she only reluctantly let go of Starsky’s leg and slowly plodded over into his embrace.
Hutch looked up at Starsky, alarmed. Starsky just shrugged and said, “I’ll explain in a little bit.”
Hutch picked the little girl up and she clung to him like a magnet.
After a few minutes, Starsky said, “Why don’t you go wash up for dinner, Princess? We’ll be here when you get back.”
Hutch put the little girl down and she let go of him reluctantly. Occasionally looking back, she walked slowly into the bathroom without a word.
“Okay, Partner, what was that all about?” Hutch turned to ask Starsky.
“When Mrs. Penrose put her down for her nap, she had a bad dream. It was only her first day over there and she barely knows the lady. I guess wakin’ up without a familiar face after a nightmare pushed her over the edge. It’s like she’s afraid to be alone.”
Hutch nodded, “I guess I can understand that. Her parents are in the jug, her grandma is in the hospital and with the nightmares she’s been having about the accident, the poor kid must be terrified that you’ll leave her too.”
“I guess that’s it. The poor kid is in an accident and surrounded by strangers all pokin’ and proddin’ at her and then I go and dump her at a stranger’s house. No wonder she’s all freaked out.”
“Starsky, she’s been in daycare before. It’s just the trauma of the accident that’s creating the problem.”
“So, what am I supposed to do? I mean how do I help her?”
Hutch shrugged. “I don’t know. Just love her, I guess.”
Starsky smiled at his partner, “I do.”
Just then, Emily came out of the bathroom. Starsky looked over at her. “Hey Princess, you ready to eat?”
He got a slight nod from the little girl who was standing there with a newly washed thumb in her mouth.
Starsky busied himself in the kitchen while Hutch put a couple of phone books on a chair at the table. With a flourish, Hutch picked up the child and put her down on the phone books. Starsky brought the dinner to the table and then went back to the kitchen. He came back with the apron that he tied around Emily’s neck like a bib.
“Can’t have your new purple shirt getting dirty now, can we Princess?” Starsky said with a grin. ‘Not after the trouble we had getting it.’ He finished silently.
An apathetic shrug was the only answer Emily gave him. Starsky looked at Hutch and sighed. Hutch met his gaze with a look of sadness that was mirrored in the violet blue eyes of the man standing next to the child.
Starsky sat down and the three of them had a very quiet dinner.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That night, as Hutch was sleeping on Starsky’s couch, the sound of Emily whimpering in her sleep woke him. He sat up and looked over at the little cot. It looked like the sleeping child was well into a fairly bad nightmare. He got off the couch, walked over and sat down next to Emily on the bed. He gently rubbed her back as she tossed on the bed. After a minute, she woke up and looked at Hutch with wide blue eyes.
“Uncle Ken?”
“I’m right here, Sweetie.”
“The monsters were taking you and Pretend Daddy away from me! I tried to stop them! They just laughed at me!”
“Oh Baby!” Hutch said softly as he gathered the frightened child into his arms. “You’re Pretend Daddy and I would never let anything take us away from you. We’ll always be here for you.”
“Promise?”
“I promise!” Hutch said solemnly. “Now, you think you can go back to sleep?”
“Will you stay with me?”
Hutch smiled gently, “Of course I will. Now, let’s get you tucked in.”
Hutch tucked the little girl back into bed and kissed her forehead. She grabbed him around the neck and hugged him. He hugged her back and settled her down onto the pillow. She rolled over onto her stomach with her head facing Hutch. She grabbed her teddy bear and closed her eyes. Hutch sighed at the beautiful sight of the little girl lying so peacefully. He reached down and began gently rubbing her back. After a few minutes, he could tell that she was asleep again. He stood up and returned to his place on the couch.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, Starsky and Hutch took Emily over to Mrs. Penrose’s apartment. She clung to Starsky like a lifeline.
“Come on, Princess! You remember Mrs. Penrose. I’m sure if you asked her nicely, she’d get the dollhouse out for you.”
Emily shook her head. Starsky and Hutch shared a look. Then Starsky pried the little girl off of his leg. He got down on one knee and looked her in the eye.
“Look, Uncle Ken and I have to go to work. I promise we’ll come right home as soon as we’re done. Okay?”
“You really promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die!” Starsky promised seriously.
“O-o-o-okay.”
“That’s my girl! Now, are you gonna be a good girl for Mrs. Penrose while I’m gone?”
She nodded. Starsky gave her one last hug and then Hutch bent down to give his own hug. Millie came up and put her hands on Emily’s shoulders as the blond man reluctantly let go.
“Don’t forget your promise!” She called after them.
“We won’t,” Starsky and Hutch answered in unison as the headed for the car.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Another week had almost passed before Starsky remembered
Emily’s birthday.
“Hey Hutch, we gotta do something special for her birthday!”
“You’re right, maybe we could give her a little party. We could invite Dobey’s kids and maybe Mrs. Penrose’s grandkids. A little cake and ice cream, maybe some pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.”
“Yeah!” Starsky grinned. “We could call her grandma, too! She ain’t out of ICU yet, but last time I checked, she was awake occasionally. It’d be less scary than takin’ the poor kid into the ICU ward.”
Hutch grinned back at his partner. “Starsky, sometimes you are a genius!”
“Sometimes?” Starsky snorted, then laughed. “Okay. You wanna take our lunch hour to pick her up a birthday gift or two?”
“Okay, maybe a little more often than sometimes.” Hutch chuckled. “Let’s hit that toy store on 10th Street.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky collapsed onto his bed. He had never been so worn out in his life. Even fighting Gunther’s bullets or Bellamy’s poison hadn’t tired him out so completely as a 5-year old’s birthday party.
To his credit, all the children involved had a wonderful time and didn’t completely destroy the place. He was pretty sure chocolate ice cream would wash out of his couch. Well, maybe he’d just turn the cushion over. Okay, the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game was a bit of a mess. Next time, he’d just use tape instead of thumbtacks. How was he supposed to know that a blindfolded, dizzy child wouldn’t know the difference between the bottom of his ass and an ass’s bottom?
Emily got lots of presents, including a new Barbie Doll from Uncle Ken; but her favorite gift by far was the beautiful baby doll that her pretend daddy picked out just for her. She quickly took over the little mommy’s role to this little doll. She used the pretend bottle to feed her and then she rocked the baby to sleep, putting it in the little stroller that Starsky bought for just that purpose.
From the other room, Starsky could hear Hutch talking to Emily. “Come on, Birthday Girl. Let’s go to the park and let your pretend daddy recover from your party. You guys completely wore him out!”
He didn’t hear Emily’s reply, as he was sound asleep by that time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Pretend Daddy! Wake up!”
Starsky woke up to the sensation of a four year old bouncing on his stomach.
“Wake up! Me and Uncle Ken gots a surprise for you!”
“For me?” Starsky lifted the little girl off of his torso – allowing him to breathe normally. “You got a surprise for me?”
Starsky looked suspiciously at Hutch, but the blond man’s face remained mischievously blank. He got off the bed and headed out to the living room, where he stopped in his tracks. The living room had been transformed. The ‘Happy Birthday’ banner had been replaced with a handmade one saying ‘Happy Father’s Day!’ Dinner was on the table and Starsky could see into the kitchen where there was another entire cake sitting on the counter.
“Do you like it, Pretend Daddy?” Emily asked. “Uncle Ken drawed the letters on the sign and I colored it!”
Starsky looked at the little girl and then at his partner. He grinned hugely and said, “I love it, Princess. I really love it!”
“Well, let’s not just stand here!” Hutch said finally. “Dinner’s getting cold. Let’s eat!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After dinner and cake, Emily looked at Hutch and said, “Now, Uncle Ken?”
Hutch nodded and the little girl took off. Starsky looked at Hutch quizzically. Hutch grinned and pointed behind Starsky. He turned around to see Emily running back with a small wrapped package.
“Uncle Ken took me shopping for your Father’s Day gift!” She shoved the little box at Starsky. “I picked it out myself!”
Starsky took the present and kissed the top of Emily’s head. He ripped the paper away with as much abandon as Emily had opened her presents with earlier in the afternoon. With the wrapping paper gone, he pulled the lid off of the small cardboard box to reveal a gold chain with a charm on it that said, “Number 1 Dad”.
Starsky could feel his eyes well up and a lump develop in his throat. He grabbed Emily into a giant bear hug.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it, Princess…and I love you.” He looked over at his partner and mouthed, ‘Thank you.’
Hutch smiled at the heartwarming sight before him. He walked over and put his arms around the man and child for a warm group hug.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A week later, Starsky, Hutch and Emily were walking down the hospital corridor to the private room that Margaret had been moved into.
When they got to the room, they were greeted with the site of Margaret Taylor
sitting up in bed. Her legs were both
in plaster and elevated, she still had an I.V. in her arm (the one that wasn’t
broken!) and a slight scar on her forehead from where the stitches had just
come out.
“GRAMMY!!!!!” Little Emily squealed as she ran into the room, clutching a bunch of balloons with ‘Get Well’ written on them.
Margaret looked up and grinned, “Emily!
There’s my little angel! Have you
been a good girl for these nice gentlemen?”
“She’s been a perfect angel,” Starsky said. “Almost…”
“I been good!” Emily insisted.
“I’m sure you have!” Margaret said with a laugh. “Now, tell me all about how you’ve been doing while your old Grammy’s been laid up.”
The three adults listened with rapt attention (and not a few stifled laughs) as the five-year old little girl related her experiences with her Pretend Daddy and Uncle Ken and that nice lady, Mrs. Penrose.
Finally, Starsky noticed that Margaret seemed to be getting tired. So he reached down and picked Emily up and said, “Come on, Princess. Let’s let your Grammy get some rest. We can come back another time to see her, okay?”
“Okay!”
Starsky lowered the little girl far enough so she could kiss her grandmother and said, “We’ll see ya later, Margaret.”
“Thank you David, Ken for taking care of her for me.”
Starsky looked at the precious bundle in his arms. “No, thank you for lettin’ me take care of her.”
Hutch reached out and stroked the little girl’s soft hair. “That goes double for me. Thank you.”
Margaret smiled at the two men as they walked out of the room.
End.