Domestic Dispute

Hutch is married to Jill, a social worker. When the father of a family she has been working with takes his wife and kids hostage, the domestic dispute ends in a shootout, wounding Hutch. But the simple domestic dispute case turns into anything but when it leads into the re-opening of a cold case murder, and the murderer will do anything to keep it shut, including killing Hutch, Jill and Starsky! This story takes place 4 years after the end of the show. Don't own them and I'm not making any money from this.

Chapter 1

Shafts of the morning sun poked their way through the bedroom window and hit Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson square in the face. Turning his head to avoid the glare, his eyes fell on the still sleeping form of his wife beside him. The sun caught the red highlights in her shoulder length strawberry blond hair spread across the pillow, burnishing them into red flame. He still couldn't believe his good luck in finding Jill. After one failed marriage, he never thought he would marry again. But Jill made it so easy to love her. Hutch reached out and twisted a red-gold strand around his finger. Jill stirred, but didn't wake up so he leaned in to press his lips against her temple. She stirred again and this time her meadow green eyes opened.

"Mmm-good morning-" the smile that Hutch loved spread across her face.

"Good morning, sweets." Hutch leaned over to brush his lips across hers, but before he got that far, he felt claws in the middle of his back. Cleo-short for Cleopatra for her regal bearing- his wife's cat, had climbed on him. She apparently had been in her usual place on the bed, sleeping at Hutch's feet.

"Cleo! Get off!" The gray tortoiseshell cat, startled by his voice, jumped down from the bed. "Damn cat!'

Jill smiled. He didn't really mean it. He pretended to dislike her, but he really didn't. The cat just chose the wrong moment to make her presence known sometimes.

"Now where were we?" Jill could feel his already hard manhood pressing against her bare thigh. His extraordinary sky blue eyes glowed with passion and love as they held hers. Jill had never seen in any other man's eyes what she saw in Ken's. Hutch shifted so his body covered hers and his lips molded to hers in a hungry kiss, his mustache tickling her nose. One hand brushed her thigh as the other one came up to gently squeeze her breast. She gasped.

"Ken Hutchinson, you said I wore you out last night."

"That was last night. I'm a new man this morning. And can I help it if you're so sexy that I can't keep my hands off you?" he nuzzled her neck, his mustache tickling the sensitive skin there.

Just then the phone rang.

"Ignore it." Hutch said over her mouth. But Jill turned her head, causing her husband to groan in disappointment.

"Come on, Hutch, you know we can't do that. We both have jobs that require us to be on call day and night. It could be Dave-or Gretchen-or Captain Dobey."

"If it's Starsky, I'll kill him." Hutch muttered, but he allowed Jill to shift so she could answer the phone on her nightstand. Smiling at the jab to his partner, Jill sat up and reached for the receiver to sweep it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jill, it's Gretchen."

"Hi, Gretch. What's up?"

When Hutch heard it was her boss and not his partner or his boss, he sighed at the inevitability of their fate and swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand up. Jill was treated to a tantalizing view of his taut backside as he walked into the bathroom to take his shower. It was all she could do to keep her mind on what her boss was saying.

"I'm sorry to wake you so early, but there's been a development in the Rogers case. You need to get down here as soon as possible."

"The Rogers case. What happened?"

"Joe is back." Those three words brought Jill back to harsh reality. She was a social worker and Joe Rogers was the abusive husband and father of a family she had been working with.

"Did he go to the house?" Jill had grabbed her robe to wrap around her and was now sitting up on the bed. Cleo had jumped back onto the bed and Jill was stroking her back.

"Yes. A neighbor noticed and called us."

"Oh, my God." Jill closed her eyes against all of the awful pictures that scenario crowded into her mind. The outburst also brought Hutch back into the bedroom. He had wrapped a towel around his waist. She covered the mouthpiece of the phone and whispered, "Joe Rogers is back" to him. Hutch swore under his breath and whispered to her, "How did that happen?" Jill just shrugged, not knowing the answer to the question. Hutch went back into the bathroom.

"O.K. I'll be there in half an hour. Bye, Gretchen."

Jill hung up and scurried into the bathroom where Ken was now standing at the sink, shaving.

"Gretchen didn't know how Joe got there. A neighbor called. I'm guessing he escaped. If he was paroled, I didn't know about it." Jill continued the side conversation started on the phone with her husband.

"Not a chance. We put him away for a long time. Wasn't there an injunction against him to stay away from Molly and the kids?"

Jill nodded. "But you know how effective they are against someone who is determined to get to someone else." she said wryly.

"Yeah, but that also means he has violated the injunction. That's enough to put him back in jail. I'll call Dobey." he went back into the bedroom to make the call. Jill took a quick shower, washed her face and brushed her teeth, then started to walk back into the bedroom, but the big hulk that was Hutch blocked the doorway. "Hon, I really have to get dressed. I told Gretchen I'd be there in half an hour."

"You aren't going." he said flatly.

"Ken, don't start. It's my job."

"No, it isn't. Not any more. It's a police matter now."

"Molly trusts me-Joe, too, to a certain extent. I can talk to them."

"Dammit, you are the most stubborn woman I have ever met! You aren't going. Let us handle it, Jill."

"Yes, I am. I can help, Ken, I know I can. I have to do this for Molly and those kids." Jill stood her ground. In their year and a half of marriage, even though they had met through their jobs, their fiercest arguments had always been about the clash sometimes caused by their respective occupations-her social work and his detective/police work.

When she used that kind of logic, Hutch knew he was losing this argument. He slammed his hand on the door jamb. "Dammit, Jill! Let us do our jobs!"

"Dammit, Ken, let me do mine! While we're standing here arguing, Joe could be doing who knows what to Molly and Jake and Allison and Jason and Mary. Do you want that on your conscience? I don't."

She had him there. Hutch pushed a hand through his blond hair.

"All right, but we'll follow you over there. I'll call Starsky-"" After Molly Rogers had finally agreed to press charges against her husband, Hutch and his partner had arrested him and testified against him at his trial.

The mood remained tense between them as Ken and Jill went through their daily routines and dressed. Even Cleo sensed the strain and hid under a table. Silence persisted through breakfast and was only broken when Hutch's dark haired partner Dave Starsky arrived. He bounded in like an overeager puppy when Hutch opened the front door.

"Good morning, good morning." he greeted them, then teased Jill, "Hey, Jill, when are you going to leave this big lug and run away with me?"

"Don't give her any ideas-" Hutch muttered. Then Starsky became aware of the tension between his partner and his wife.

"What's the matter with you two?"

"I'm going to the Rogers'. He disagrees with my decision." Jill gestured over her shoulder at Hutch.

"Well, if I get a vote, I agree with him. From what he told me, this could turn into a dangerous situation."

"Save your breath, Starsk. I've used all of the arguments against it. She's made up her mind."

" I can take care of myself. I'm not arguing with you, too, Dave. We don't have time. I'll see you at the Rogers'".

Without even giving her husband a good-bye kiss, she brushed past the two cops and ran to her Mustang. Jill threw herself in, gunned the engine and backed out of the driveway to take off down the street.

The two men walked to Starsky's car, a red Torino with a white racing stripe, in silence and got in. Silence prevailed as Starsky concentrated on driving and Hutch stewed about Jill.

"One brave lady-" Starsky finally broke the stillness.

"No, Starsk, she isn't." Hutch looked at his partner, his anger rising again. "She's the most bull-headed, impossible woman I've ever met and it's my lot in life to love her. She thinks she's so brave, but she's not. She's so vulnerable. She thinks she can change the world-change people. And I'm the world's biggest fool to let her do this. God, if anything happens to her-if that creep Rogers lays one hand on Jill, I will tear him limb from limb."

"Are you through?" Starsky asked at the end of his partner's rant. "I agreed with you, remember? And just what could you have done to stop her-handcuffed her to a chair?"

"Hey, that's an idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

"I'm joking, Hutch. You know you couldn't do that. So it seems to me the only way through this is to make sure nothing happens to Jill."

"You're right." Hutch scrubbed his face with his hand, then reached out and put his hand on Starsky's shoulder. "Thanks, buddy."

"All right. Now fill me in on what you know about this situation."

"Gretchen called and told Jill that Joe was at the house. A neighbor had called the office. I don't know why they didn't call the police. Joe wasn't paroled so we're guessing he escaped. I called Dobey before I called you. That's all I know. I didn't get any more out of Jill since we started fighting at that point." Hutch pulled a face. "God, I hate fighting with her."

The radio squawked.

"Control to Zebra Three-"

Hutch leaned over and plucked the hand set of the radio up.

"This is Zebra Three. Go ahead." Hutch released the button to listen.

"Shots fired. 734 Segundo Ave."

"That's the Rogers place. " Then another thought hit him at the same time it hit Starsky. "Jill!" They chorused as they looked at each other. As the Gran Torino leaped forward under Starsky's push on the accelerator, Hutch said into the radio, "We're on it."

He put the hand set back and slammed the portable red bubble siren on top of the car as Starsky picked up speed. Hutch tried to push horrible images of his wife lying in a pool of blood as that Rogers creep stood over her out of his mind, but they persisted.

"God, why did I let her go? Can't you go any faster?" he shouted at his partner impatiently.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Starsky shouted back. "This is the city, you know."

Despite Hutch's perception that they were going slow, they pulled into the Rogers' driveway in record time. Jill was nowhere to be seen. Starsky and Hutch rolled out of the Gran Torino and raced over to the nearest uniformed officer.

"What's happening? Where's Jill Hutchinson-the social worker?" Hutch grabbed the surprised uniformed officer by the front of his shirt.

"I don't know anything about a social worker. I guess she's inside. The guy just started shooting."

"Jill!" Hutch let the officer go and started to run toward the house, but Starsky stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulders. "What are you doing? Let me go! Jill's in there. I have to get to her." Hutch was shouting at his partner again as he struggled against Starsky's grasp.

"You're a cop, Hutch, not a husband right now." Starsky replied quietly. He was reminding Hutch of his first duty at the moment. "I can't let you go in there like this. I'll go."

"Ken!" The sweet voice Hutch had been afraid he would never hear again wafted over the still air as Jill emerged from the back of the house and saw him. Hutch bolted away from Starsky's grasp and ran to his wife. He caught her in a bear hug and pressed his lips to hers firmly, then cupped her face in his large hands for a moment as he looked into her green eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "Oh, God-I-was-so-worried-" he rained kisses all over her face as he spoke and his hands roamed over her arms and torso to check for any injuries.

"I'm all right. I tried, Hutch, but Joe wouldn't listen. He wouldn't listen to me."

"It's ok, hon. I'm sure you did all you could." Hutch drew her to him again in a reassuring hug. He smiled into her hair. This was so like her: ignoring the dangerous situation she had walked into, all she could think about was her failure to reach Joe. She pulled away and looked at Starsky who had joined them.

"Hi, Dave."

"Hi, yourself. I'm glad you're all right." he enveloped her in a friendly hug. Jill understood from the very beginning of her relationship with Hutch that he and Starsky came as a matched set so she had grown to love Starsky as a dear friend.

Just then the captain of the SWAT team came over to them.

"Mrs. Hutchinson?"

"Yes?" Jill pulled out of Starsky's embrace and turned around to look at the other cop.

"What did you see in there?"

"You were inside?!" Hutch turned on his wife, his anger rising. "And you let her go in there-alone?" he shouted at the SWAT cop.

"Sargeant Hutchinson, she was already there when we arrived and she was not in the house. She was on the back porch. Mrs. Hutchinson, it would be helpful if you could tell me what you saw."

"Joe has them all in the dining room-it's off the living room towards the back of the house. There's a French door between the two. Molly is sitting in a chair. The three older kids are on the floor. Baby Mary is in Molly's lap. They were all crying." In empathy Jill's green eyes filled with tears as she relayed this information. She wiped them away with her sleeve, but they refused to be stymied. Hutch put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed in reassurance, his anger gone. She smiled up at him gratefully.

"What kind of weapon did he have?"

"A gun. It wasn't like Hutch's. Smaller." Her husband's gun was her only point of reference when it came to handguns." And I saw a rifle leaning against the china cabinet."

"Was there ammunition?"

Jill shook her head. "I didn't see any. Of course that doesn't mean there isn't."

"Where is Mr. Rogers-in relation to them."

"He's between the two windows on the side." She gestured toward the house. "The kids are right in front of him. If he starts shooting, they'll be the first victims."

The sound of glass breaking and a gunshot rang through the air followed by a taunt from Joe Rogers:

"Hey, cops, I'm still here. Hey, send in that pretty lady social worker again-or better yet, send in that cop husband of hers and his partner-the ones that tried to put me away." he cackled.

Starsky and Hutch looked at each other as a realization dawned on them.

"So that's what this is all about? He used Jill to get to us. We're his real targets." Hutch vocalized what they were both thinking.

"Hutch, that's absurd. I never mentioned I was married to you." Jill protested his theory.

"Obviously he found out." He became angry. "If that's what he wants, then bring him on." Hutch pulled off his coat and shoved it into his wife's arms. "Let's go, Starsky."

"You aren't going in without these--" the SWAT team captain reached into the van and took out two bulletproof vests. Starsky and Hutch tore off their shirts, slipped into the vests and put their shirts back on.

The two men started toward the house. Before they could take a step, another gunshot pierced the stillness of the morning and this one was so close that Jill felt the air around her move as the bullet whizzed past their heads. She screamed in terror as Hutch pushed her to the ground with him. When another shot wasn't forthcoming, the blond man pulled his wife up.

"Get her out of here!" Hutch pushed Jill toward the SWAT van as he and Starsky pulled their guns and, squatting, headed for the house.

Starsky went in low through the front door. He saw Rogers in the living room. Joe fired at him. The bullet went wild. Starsky returned fire, but missed as Joe ducked. Hutch came in from the back, skidding to a stop in the doorway between the living and dining rooms.

"Rogers!"

Joe twisted. He had a clear shot at Hutch. But, before he could fire, Starsky got off two shots. One hit Rogers in the back of the leg, the other went high into his back. Joe went down, but not before two shots boomed from his gun. Horrified, Starsky watched as Hutch jerked from the hits and his upper thigh and left shoulder-out of the range of the protective vest- bloomed with blood.