Disclaimer: See initial chapter.

A/N: Thanks to anonymous reviewers.


Hutch woke disoriented, and to the rhythmic sound of an annoying beep, beep, beep, that kept pace with the beat of his heart. He knew that he should know where he was, but he couldn't seem to make his brain work properly. Thoughts came and went, but they just wouldn't stick.

He tried to open his eyes, hoping that, if he could see his surroundings, it would help him to think a little more clearly. The beep, beep, beep that matched the beating of his heart, steadily increased, and it took Hutch a minute to understand that his panic at not being able to open his eyes was the reason behind it.

Heart monitor, he thought, and the incessant beep, beep, beeping, started to slow down as he got his panic under control.

Hospital, his slowly responding brain provided, and that revelation brought another increased tempo to the beeps, as Hutch tried, but failed to remember how he'd ended up in the hospital.

"Starsk?" he whispered as a sudden fear crawled up his spine. He curled his hands into fists and struggled to breathe as the heart monitor started beeping like crazy, sending up an alarm.

"Hutch."

Hutch turned his face toward the sound of his partner's voice, and he reached out, blind, and in terror. His hands grasped at empty air, and Hutch called out for Starsky again.

There was a woman. A woman with a knife and nails the color of blood. She was hurting him, cutting him, calling him a shadow and Stark his lover.

"Starsk!"

Hutch clawed at the bedsheets, and tried to get away from the woman who was looming over him, her dark hair tickling his chest as she drank his blood. Had she been a vampire? Where was Starsky? Was he dead? She'd said he was dead.

"Hey, hey, Hutch," Starsky's voice cut through his nightmare, and Hutch tried to get his heart to stop beating so fast, so that he could hear his partner speak.

"Hutch, it's okay, I've got you," Starksy's voice was strong and close, and Hutch's heart stopped trying to escape from his chest when Starsky took his hand and squeezed. "I've got you. You're safe now. She can't hurt you anymore."

"Can't see," Hutch said when he could finally breathe.

He felt his partner stiffen beside him, but Starsky squeezed his hand. "It's just temporary. Don't worry about it, you'll be seeing in no time. Docs've just got your eyes all wrapped up in gauze, so's that they can heal."

Hutch swallowed, and thought about it, and then nodded. He trusted Starsky, and knew that his partner wouldn't lie to him, not about something like this. Without his eyes, there would be no more Starsky and Hutch. It'd just be Starsky and some other guy.

"Do you remember what happened?" Starsky asked, once the heart monitor had resumed it's steady, beep, beep, beep, rhythm.

Hutch felt a headache building, just behind his eyes, as he tried to remember what had happened. But, his memories were slippery, intangible bits and pieces that he couldn't put words to. The beep, beep, beep began another ascent, and Starsky squeezed his hand.

"It's okay," Starsky said, "just rest. I've got you, buddy."

"'Kay," Hutch said around a yawn.

He slept, and when he woke next, Hutch was first aware of a warm, comforting hand holding his, and the gentle snoring of his partner that could be heard over the heart monitor's beeps. He smiled, knowing that he was safe, that the dark terror lurking just around the corner of his memories, could wait a little longer.

He drifted off again, waking when he no longer felt Starsky's hand holding his own. Panic engulfed him, and he feared that the beeps would blend with each other, until they were no longer separate sounds, but one long, unceasing beep.

"Easy there, Hutch," Starsky's voice carried to him from across the room. "You're okay. Captain Dobey's gonna swing on by later today to check up on you, see if you remember anything. Huggy Bear wants to stop by too."

"How long..." Hutch coughed around the dryness of his throat, and felt a straw placed against his lips. He took a tentative sip, and then drank in earnest when he realized that it was only water, and that he was extremely thirsty.

"You've been hospital bound for two weeks," Starsky answered, anticipating his question.

"Two weeks?"

It didn't feel like two weeks, and Hutch frowned. "Are you sure it's been two weeks?"

"Yeah," Starsky sounded weary, and Hutch wondered how long his partner had been at his bedside. "Two weeks, fourteen hours and...two and a quarter minutes."

Hutch felt the corners of his lips tug up in a smile. "Two and a quarter minutes?" He chuckled.

"Two and three quarters now," Starsky said dryly.

"And just how long have you been sitting by my bedside?" Hutch had a sinking suspicion that his partner hadn't left his side. It only grew when Starsky hemmed and hawed instead of answering him.

"Oh, about two weeks, give or take," Captain Dobey's voice, filled with equal parts humor and chastisement, boomed across the small room.

"Tell me you've come to order him home to get some rest," Hutch said, turning his head toward the sound of his captain's voice. His inability to see suddenly hit him, and he swallowed hard and laid his head back against his pillow. He felt dizzy and there was a dull ache behind his eyes.

"You okay there Hutch?" Starsky's voice was close to his ear, he could feel his partner's breath against his earlobe.

"'M fine," Hutch quickly assured him, waving his hand in the air, only to have Starsky catch it, and draw it toward his chest.

"Yeah, sure you are," Starsky said in a gruff voice. "Don't worry about me, partner, I'm not leaving your side. There ain't no horse that can drag me away, and, though he might be a bit of a nagger, Captain Dobey can't drag me away neither."

"Very funny Starsky," Dobey said, and Hutch could picture the look on their captain's face, it was not amused. "Keep that up and you'll be riding a desk for the rest of your career."

The familiarity of the exchange helped ease some of the tension and fear that had been building inside of Hutch's chest. He laughed and settled back against the hospital bed. His dizziness subsided when Starsky gently squeezed his hand.

Hutch yawned, and frowned, wondering when he'd be able to stay awake for longer than a couple of hours at a time. "Sorry." This is not how he wanted to appear in front of his boss.

"That's okay, I know I ain't the most entertaining of visitors, but, I do have a few questions to ask. If you're up to it."

Hutch heard Dobey settle into a chair, and he steeled himself to answer the questions he'd known were going to come. They were questions that he and Starsky would have had to ask a victim of such a brutal crime.

His throat was dry and hoarse, and his tongue felt swollen by the time Hutch had finished telling the captain what he could remember. He was shaking and sweating, and he simply lost consciousness mid-word.

Before he found himself lost completely to strange, disjointed dreams, Hutch thought he heard a soft, worried exchange between his boss and partner. He hated feeling so helpless and scared.


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