Please be warned this chapter involves a sensitive topic that I have only alluded to so far. I have deliberately chosen not to be too graphic but just thought I should warn you.

Thankyou to everyone for your kind reviews. And yes Brook5, I guess I'm a Hutch girl!

Chapter Four

Long after blowing out the candle Nikki lay in the darkness and hugged her sister. Somehow Jess had already drifted off to sleep and she could hear her rhythmic breathing.

"You could sleep through an earthquake!" she whispered over the top of her sister's head. It amazed her at how easily her baby sister could fall asleep in their dump of a home almost every night.

She, on the other hand, would lie awake well into the night. She chose not to analyse that too closely and told herself she was just being protective. She had never been afraid of the dark. At least not until Michael moved into their home. A shudder ran through the length of her spine and she hugged her sister a little closer.

Her stomach let out a dull rumble and she pulled the edge of the frayed blanket up a little higher. If she couldn't eat anything substantial to allay her hunger then at least she could be warm. Well as warm as she could be under a threadbare piece of dirty fabric that had once been a blanket.

Nikki felt warm tears beginning to run down her cheeks and she screwed her eyes shut. "God, what a mess!"

She tried to stifle her sobs and managed to keep quiet enough that she didn't wake her sister. Not that it made any difference to her rising state of distress. They had been gone from home for a month. In that time she had found them somewhere to "camp" as Jess called it, stolen some bedding from a local charity drop and managed to beg or steal something for them to eat every day. Well at least enough for Jess to eat every day. She had lost count of how many times she had told her sister she had already eaten when there wasn't enough to share. The river sufficed as a bathroom where they could wash under the cover of darkness but they both still looked decidedly grimy and she knew it would soon be time to try getting some more clothes from somewhere.

Now the weather was getting colder and she had no idea what to do next. They couldn't stay hidden inside a drainpipe indefinitely and there was no way she could take them home. Her mother had called her a liar and Michael had … well Michael had weaselled his way in somehow. Because everyone knew that cops were the good guys and her mother had taken his word over her own daughter. She had said something about a spoilt, jealous teen wanting her mother to herself, behaving like a child and making up stories. Nasty stories.

The tears began to flow afresh as she recalled the last time she had seen her home and knew she would never see it again.

It had been a windy night. Their mother was out at a PTA meeting and not due home for another hour. As Nikki sat in her bedroom listening to records she had a feeling of someone watching her. The wind was blowing the tree branches against her window and she got up to close the blinds. Her skin was crawling and she immediately knew that Michael was behind her before she had even turned around.

She whirled around to face him and smelt the beer on his breath, even from half way across the room.

"What does Mom see in you?" she wondered, not for the first time.

"Hey Sweetie, watcha doin'?"

"Don't call me Sweetie! My name is Nikki!"

"Oh come on. Just bein' friendly. What's wrong with that?"

"You mean besides you being my mother's fiancé?"

"Just leave me alone! You might have my mother fooled but you don't fool me!"

Michael had taken a few steps across the room towards her and Nikki had backed further away. She was almost against the wall before she realised.

"You know, this could be fun. If you let it be."

Nikki tried to sidestep the groping hands that were coming for her but nearly tripped against something on the floor. She heard a sharp snap as a record gave way under her foot. The noise was enough to distract her pursuer for a moment and she ducked under his reach. She ran towards the stairs and was half way down before she realised Michael wasn't following her.

Her heart froze in her chest as her mind registered the sounds coming from the landing. He wasn't coming after her because he was heading for Jess's room. She reacted without thinking and turned to sprint back up the stairs. As she reached the top she could see Michael leaning in the doorway and a sour smell of beer wafted across towards her.

"Well if you ain't gonna play, maybe Babycakes here will."

Nikki screamed and lunged towards the monster standing over her sister. Michael turned towards her and managed to deflect her assault and slam her against the door. Her small frame was no match for his more athletic build and she struggled in his grasp.

Nikki lay in the dark and tried to quell the rising panic. She didn't want to rehash the night she decided to run but the memories were overwhelming. The sound of her screaming had woken Jess and the terrified girl had sobbed as her sister was physically slammed against the wall several more times. Each time the duo moved closer and closer to the stairs.

Finally Michael had slipped on the top stair and taken Nikki tumbling with him. As they hit the floor below Jess had stood at the top of the stairs and screamed. When Nikki got up and Michael didn't it was then that she saw her chance to escape. It wasn't a planned escape and now she kicked herself for all the things she hadn't thought to grab on their way out. Not that her mind had been registering much beyond a primal instinct to run. Fight or flight. Well she had tried to fight and now the only choice was flight.

Slinking out through the front door and into the darkness Nikki tried to ignore the last question her sister had whispered to her.

"Is he dead?"

I hope so!

God I hope not!

He can't be!

Is he?

Nobody will believe me over him.

Where are we gonna go now?

Hutch walked down the stairwell repeatedly whistling a snippet of some tune he had picked up on the radio that morning. He couldn't remember any of the words, hence the whistling but it was a tune that he couldn't get out of his head. If Starsky had been with him he would have cracked a joke about a stuck record but Starsky wasn't there so he kept on whistling.

Hutch smiled to himself as he recalled Starksy's parting shot as he hurried out of the locker room. Apparently a heavenly body had fallen to Earth and his partner had been the official appointee to make first contact.

"Have fun buddy," he commented to nobody in particular as he crossed the parking garage to his car. He pulled his jacket a little closer to his chest and realised the temperature had dropped significantly since the afternoon. Winter was on its way.

He pulled out onto the road and started to head towards home. He hadn't decided if he wanted to pick something up for dinner or make do with whatever was in the fridge. While he was busy debating with himself he almost missed the first road detour sign. He slowed down and looked ahead to see that the road further up was closed. The city was doing some maintenance work overnight and his usual route home was closed. He swung over into the merged lane and turned off down a side street. It wasn't long before he found himself heading out on the long road that curved around the bay.

The stretch of docks that was lit up and busy soon gave way to another stretch of derelict buildings. The Port Authority was in the process of tearing down and replacing the well used but worn out warehouses but it was a long way from finished.

He would have continued on down the port road but something caught his eye. For a worksite that was unsafe and sealed off there shouldn't have been anyone in there, especially at night. So why were there lights?