For the Purpose of this story I've made up my own timeline:
Starsky was excited. Tonight he was going to meet up with Terri and "pop the question" she didn't know it of course. He and Hutch hoped to finish early at the precinct when he heard a call come in saying that shots had been fired in a liquor store near to where Terri lived. Without a moment to lose, he and Hutch rushed out of the door.
What greeted him was a sight that would live with him for the remainder of his days. Terri, his beloved Terri was lying on a stretcher; the paramedic was explaining to Hutch that she had been shot.
Starsky could barely hear anything; his mind was focussed on Terri. For an instant he couldn't move but then he knew he had to comfort her. He was afraid to touch her, and had to shake himself mentally to remind himself that she wasn't made of glass.
At the hospital he stayed with her until the morning light shone through the window and then reluctantly he left to allow Hutch to take him home.
Sitting in the torino, with Hutch driving, he suddenly became aware of how many notices there were for funeral signs. It had never occurred to him before.
It was the day after Valentines Day. He and Terri should be celebrating. He should be sitting in this car telling Hutch his news. He should be going over to Huggy's bar and toasting his soon-to-be new bride. Instead all Starsky could think of was funerals and what life was going to be like without her.
Hutch remained respectfully silent, only nodding occasionally to let him know he had heard.
Starsky appreciated the silence. All he could think of now was getting home, getting cleaned up and getting back to the hospital.
He thought he might propose anyway. He could buy the flowers, he had the ring. He would get down on one knee and make sure Terri knew before she…. before she…. before she died, how much he loved. How proud he would be if she consented to being his wife.
They let Terri home after some tests. She had a big decision to make and Starsky had to let her make it on her own. He hadn't agreed when she told him what it was. He would have preferred her to lie flat in bed for as long as she needed to. Anything that would have meant she could stay with him. But that was selfish and he knew it. Why did it hurt so God Damned Much!?
"Marry me" two little words and he had never seen so much love in her eyes as he had in that moment. He didn't need an answer. He knew it wouldn't come. Instead Terri finally succumbed to the bullet in her head.
He never told Hutch that he had proposed, but he guessed that Hutch already knew. Hutch was grieving almost as much as he and when, two weeks later, they opened Terri's package and Hutch got Ollie Bear Starsky couldn't help feeling a little jealous that she had given the bear to Hutch and not him. However after Hutch read out Terri's note, Starsky understood and neither of them could help but let the tears flow.
So Starsky kept the ring that Terri never wore, Hutch got Ollie Bear and Starsky got a silly book "How To Win At Monopoly". Whenever he looked at the book he laughed and whenever he looked at the ring he cried.