Starsky knocked lightly on Ashley's open door. She looked up from the book she was reading on her bed and smiled at him.

"Hi, Dave."

He crossed the room and sat next to his step daughter. Kissing her forehead, he said, "Your mom said that the sleepover at Karen's got canceled."

There was no missing the disappointment in Ashley's voice. "Yeah. But it's not her fault she's sick. Her mom said maybe we can try again next weekend."

Starsky nodded. "Maybe. We'll have to wait and see how she's feeling, won't we? In the meantime, tomorrow's Saturday, and I don't have to work. I think you and I are a little overdue for a breakfast date. How about it?"

Ashley was quiet for a moment. Then, "Can I ask you something? Why do we have our daddy-daughter days? I know I call you that sometimes, but I haven't always. Where'd you get the idea from?"

A thousand reasons came to mind immediately. As he brushed a few stray hairs out of Ashley's blue eyes, Starsky tried to decide where to start.

He sighed. At the beginning, I guess.

"Remember I told you once about my dad? He drank a lot, and he would beat my mom."

The ten-year-old little girl nodded. "Like my first dad did to me and Mom." She shivered at the memory.

"Yeah, like that. He never touched me or my brother, though. But just the same, he didn't spend much time with us - probably because he was never sober enough or around long enough at one time. He left for good when I was eleven, and I haven't seen him since. And not once do I ever remember hearing him say he loved me."

"That sounds a lot like my dad," Ashley interjected.

"I guess we have a lot in common, huh? I'll tell you something else." How much of my childhood does she really need to know? Oh hell, what childhood? "At eleven years old, I had to grow up overnight. I had nobody to teach me how to drive or how to shave, nobody to prep me for my first date. I know I had my mom, but when you're a sixteen-year-old boy doing all that for the first time, it's not the same. It would've been nice to have a man around during that time in my life. It'd be like if you didn't have your mom to teach you about makeup or to help you pick out a dress for the school dance. My dad wasn't there to see me graduate from high school or from the academy. That probably would've really bothered me if I hadn't been so used to his absence by then."

"Is that when you met Hutch, the police academy?"

The cop shook his head negatively. "No, I met him later. The first couple times his parents came out here to visit Hutch, sometimes I would just sit back and watch how he interacted with his father, and I…well, I got a little jealous."

"Why?" Ashley wanted to know.

"Because Hutch had something I didn't - a dad. And he had a good relationship with his dad. Hutch and I are different in a lot of ways - you know us both well enough by now to see those differences - but because he had the one thing I'd always wanted, part of me felt sort of…one-upped."

"That wasn't Hutch's fault; it was your dad's fault."

"Honey, I know that, but it doesn't change how I felt."

"What did? All the time I hear you talk about 'Mother and Pop Hutchinson.'"

Starsky couldn't hide his smile at the memory. "What changed my mind was the Christmas I got invited to Minnesota. Hutch and I took a five-day vacation, and when we got to his folks' place, I was informed of a two-day father-son trip Hutch and his dad had been planning. This trip is something they've been doing every year since he was about seven years old; all these years, Hutch's dad has made a point of spending time with him - investing in him - and that's why they're so close. Anyway, it turned out that part of the reason for my invitation was because I was to be included on that trip with them. I tried to back my way out of it, saying I didn't want to intrude on Hutch's time with his father, and that's when I discovered that it had been Hutch's idea. I found out later that he wasn't supposed to be an only child, but the baby had died in childbirth. To hear Hutch's mom tell it" - Starsky swallowed and rubbed his neck in embarrassment - "when she and her husband look at me, they don't see their son's best friend; they see his brother. The Hutchinsons sort of adopted me that Christmas, and ever since then, I've been included in those father-son trips. Hutch's dad doesn't have to do that, but in his own way, he's trying to make up for all the years I didn't have someone to invest in me. And he's encouraged me to do the same with you. That's why you and I have our daddy-daughter days. I know I'm not your real dad, any more than Hutch's dad is mine. But I love you just the same, and I'm trying to make up for the time Stephen should've spent with you."

Starsky saw tears forming in his step daughter's eyes. As they spilled over onto her cheeks, Ashley leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the embrace, and for a few moments, neither spoke. Starsky simply ran a gentle hand through Ashley's hair as she cried.

Ashley soon let go, and as she wiped her tears away, she said, "I'm glad you told me that story, Dave. I'm really lucky to have you."

Starsky leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Not as lucky as I am to have you."