"RUN! Starsky, RUN!"
Hutch could see that Starsky was right in the line of fire and there was nothing he could do to get to his partner in time.
One bullet and Starsky dropped. "Oh my God……" all the colour drained from Hutch's face. He had to get to him, but how?
"Evans Riley, I gotta get to Starsky, cover me" he barked at the two uniformed officers. "Hutch wait………" Riley began but Hutch had already gone. He was sprinting across the parking lot in Starsky's direction. A hail of bullets being fired in his path.
Almost there, almost there "Aaarrrggggghhhh" he was hit, in the left calf. Gotta keep going, come on Hutchinson Hutch gritted his teeth through the pain and continued to run. Thankfully he could hear gunfire being returned and knew that, at last, Evans and Riley were covering him.
He reached Starsky, who was, by now, lying in a pool of blood. Hutch slid into him, stopping just short of colliding with his friend. "Starsk', Starsk' can you hear me? Starsky it's Hutch." Hutch lifted Starsky's head and cradled it in his hands. "Please Starsky, come on wake up"
It was no use Starsky was gone. One bullet that's all it had taken.
Hutch wailed "NNnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Hey Hutch. Hey."
Hutch could hear his partner calling to him, but Starsky was dead, wasn't he?
"Hutch come on, hey partner you're scaring me come on" Hutch opened one eye and then the other and blinked at the light. Presently he opened them fully and looked into the face of his partner. "Starsky?"
"Yeah it's me. Cripes Hutch who'd'you think it was , the grim reaper?"
"Starsky that's not funny" Hutch returned.
"Come on sleepy head Dobey is gonna have a fit, we're already late. I been ringing on your bell for an eternity. As soon as I heard you scream I rushed in here. How was I to know poor baby was just having a nightmare." Starsky laughed.
"Yeah well, it happens." Said Hutch moodily. "I guess I have time for a shower though?"
"No way Hutch, we're gonna be real late and Dobey will have eaten all the candy from the vending machine if we don't get there before nine"
Hutch groaned and threw a boot at Starsky, "If I can't take a shower at least give a man some privacy when he gets dressed"
"I'm going, I'm going" Starsky said, as he left the bedroom and made his way to the couch.
Hutch was still shaken, by his dream when he exited the bedroom some five minutes later. He almost left the apartment without getting his gun. Starsky noticed straight way. "Hey Blintz" he called, "You forget something?" Hutch did not have a clue what Starsky was talking about and looked at him vaguely. "Hutch?" Starsky queried, really concerned.
"I….I'm fine partner, guess still a little bit sleepy, " he laughed, "Why don't you enlighten me?" Now Starsky KNEW there was a problem. "Okay Hutch what's eatin'?"
"Huh?" said Hutch perplexed.
"Hutch, your gun. You forgot your gun. In ten years of being partners, I have never seen you forget to holster up buddy. So I'm asking, what's eatin'?"
"Oh just a bad night Starsk'. Too hot to sleep, ya know?"
"You wanna call in sick?"
"Sick? No, I just want to have this heat wave end so we can get on with our jobs without sweating like a pig all day. I tell you Starsky you've got to get that air conditioning fixed on the tomato."
"hey no comments about my car Hutch, she's sensitive you know. Anyway she was fine with her air conditioning until you started pulling at all the knobs to turn it up. I told you it was fine as it was and then you broke it!"
"I broke it! How in hell………….oh lets' just forget it Starsky it's too hot to argue. Come on!"
They arrived in the squad room hot and irritable. Starsky headed straight for the candy machine. "Starsky, you gotta be kiddin' me!" exclaimed Hutch.
"What?" Starsky's face was pure innocence. He couldn't see a problem with having candy for breakfast and usually neither could Hutch, not where he was concerned anyway.
"Hey buddy it's not like this is something new. I been havin' candy for breakfast for the past 5 years."Starsky grinned, "well only if there aint no pizza!" he laughed.
Hutch rolled his eyes. He really wished Starsky would take more care of himself.
"Hutch you been acting weird all morning, what's going on?" Starsky asked, trying very hard not to get irritated by his partner.
"Starsk' did you ever take the time to stop and smell the roses?"
"Huh?" asked Starsky, even more convinced there was something very wrong with his partner today. "You gotta be kiddin' me Hutch, stop and smell the roses! Is this gonna be one of you're the sweet smell of springtime speeches?"
"No Starsky. But just think about it. You do everything at a hundred miles and hour. And I'm asking do you ever take time just to appreciate what you have, what we have?"
Starsky decided the only way this conversation was going to end was if he indulged his partner. So with a sigh he smiled "Sure I do Hutch. I look at the trees in the morning, when the day is just waking up. I listen to the birds as they sing their merry tune"
"Starsky you're laughing at me." Hutch retorted, hurt.
"I'm not Hutch. Honest. When I was a kid my ma had a flower garden in her window box. We were the only family in the neighbourhood that had a flower garden Hutch. We had pansies and violets and all sorts. In the spring Nick and I would grow daffodils and watch them as they grew. One day, our dad was not working, just for a change." Starsky smiled at the memory. "He and Ma took us out. We got the bus and we left town, went right out into the country side. I was amazed. There were fields and fields of daffodils and growing amongst them were thousands of daises. I tell ya Hutch that stuck with me that day. See I didn't know flowers grew in fields. I thought they only grew in our window box."
Hutch looked at his friend, all wide eyed with excitement and he smiled. "What am I going to do with you Starsky?"
"What?" replied Starsky innocently.
"You amaze me more and more each day buddy. Come on" he patted Starsky back, "Let's get going before Dobey chews us a new butt each!"