Hi guys, here's the next chapter. Thanks for reading, sorry for the delay between chapters, and thanks for your patience! Also, Janet Brown and Aussie Mitcham, since I couldn't reply to your reviews personally, thanks so much for the reviews so far!

Chapter 7

Once in the room, Hutch placed Starsky down on one of the beds and made a quick inspection of the room. It was sparsely furnished, containing nothing but two beds, a dresser and a tv, but it did at least have its own bathroom.

Hutch returned to Starsky, who was sitting where he had been left, blinking. "Starsk, I'm gonna have to talk to the guy downstairs. Tell him we want to stay here for a while, convince him not to say anything if anyone comes looking for us, know what I mean?"

With an effort, Starsky focused on Hutch's face and grinned. "Okay. Don't be away too long, sweetheart."

Hutch appreciated the attempt to lighten the situation. "You bet. I'm paying for this room, I want to get my money's worth." That said, he dug in Starsky's pocket and came out with his wallet, which the knife- and gun-wielding thieves had missed.

"Oh, you're paying, huh?" Starsky asked, amused in spite of his injury.

"Yep. Hey, I'm the one delivering the money."

"My money," Starsky mumbled, quietly enough that Hutch almost didn't catch it.

Hutch hurried downstairs, and delivered his messages to the man at the desk, who was perfectly happy to not draw attention to his new guests, in exchange for Starsky's cash, then ran back upstairs, to find Starsky now taking advantage of the room's small tv.

Hutch rolled his eyes at his tv-loving partner. "Starsk, only you would be watching a movie at a time like this."

"Hey, it's a classic," Starsky replied, not taking his eyes off the screen, "and it takes my mind off things."

"Okay, tv addict, but you're not getting any popcorn," Hutch joked, moving to sit next to Starsky. Cautiously, he poked at the hole in Starsky's clothes. "Get your jacket and shirt off," he instructed, and looked up to see Starsky staring at him in tired amusement.

"You always so commanding with your dates?"

"Shut up, mushbrain," Hutch told him affectionately.

"Oh, that's nice," Starsky told him, pretending to take offence. "I only got this because they saw your fancy uniform and thought you had money."

"Shows how dumb the criminals around here are then. It's the people who stay in that place who have the money." As he talked, Hutch pulled at Starsky's jacket, trying to be careful but still causing a quiet whimper as he pulled it off Starsky's injured shoulder.

"Why does that shoulder always get it, huh?" Starsky asked, gripping at the bedclothes with his other hand and leaning against Hutch slightly.

"Maybe it's magnetic," Hutch offered, looking inside Starsky's shirt.

"Huh?" Starsky blinked at him in confusion.

"You know, first it attracts cars, bullets, now knives. Magnetic."

"Oh!" Starsky got it and nodded, looking down at where Hutch was still poking. "How does it look?"

Hutch bit his lip. "We should get you to the hospital."

"Can't," Starsky told him through gritted teeth. "Someone out there's got it in for you. How do you know they won't try and blow you away the minute we step outside?"

There was silence for a moment as Hutch argued with himself in his head. He wanted to get help for Starsky, but his partner had a point. He'd be no good to Starsky if whoever had left him that note decided to make good on their threat.

Hutch made his decision, as difficult as it was. "Alright. But as soon as we call Dobey and get some backup, then you're going."

Starsky sighed. "Alright. Now how does it look?"

"Not too bad." Hutch wasn't lying, the wound wasn't as deep as it could be, and it was a fairly neat hole. It had to hurt like hell though, and Starsky was losing more blood than was good for him. "I'm just gonna go talk to the guy downstairs again. Don't go anywhere."

"I won't. Don't wanna miss the film." Starsky was obviously trying to appear stoic in front of his friend, but of course Hutch could see through it. Still, he would let Starsky think he had succeeded for now.

Hutch left the room and went quickly down the stairs. The motel owner smirked at him. "Back again Blondie?"

"Yeah. Um, do you have a first aid kit or anything like that around here?"

The man reached under his desk and brought one out, but didn't hand it to Hutch. "It'll cost you."

"What?" Hutch stared at him, not comprehending at first.

As an answer, the man flipped on the small tv behind his desk, and changed to a channel showing the local news. "Looks like you and your pal might be in some trouble there. What's to stop me telling anyone?"

Sighing in defeat as he understood, Hutch brought Starsky's wallet out of his pocket and handed over more notes. "That cover it?"

The man looked at the cash in his hand, considering, then silently handed the kit over.

"Thank you," Hutch told him, with a trace of sarcasm, and ran back up the stairs, to find Starsky sitting where he had left him, but not watching the movie any longer. Hutch realised Starsky had found the news that the guy downstairs had been watching.

Hutch took the remote out of Starsky's unresisting hand and changed the channel back to the movie. "Don't look. It won't help matters."

Starsky tilted his head back to look up at Hutch. "Well, at least that answers our question about the 'wanted' posters." Starsky wobbled slightly, and quickly returned his head to its normal position.

"Hmm." Hutch returned to his seat next to Starsky, noticing the unsteadiness, and placed an arm around him. "Okay, let's take a look at this."

Starsky noticed Hutch's preoccupied tone. The blond idiot was probably beating himself up about all this. Sure enough, a moment later the guilt started.

"I should have tried harder to stop you hitting that guy. If I had then maybe we wouldn't be in this whole mess." Hutch chuckled self-consciously. He had been trying to keep his tone light but the worry in his voice was obvious.

Starsky held up his good hand to stop Hutch before he could go any further. "Hey, I'm the one that decided to hit him, not you. And nothing could have stopped me."

"But-"

"What do you want me to say?" Starsky interrupted. "That it is all your fault?" This was hard work.

"No." Hutch was starting to smile.

"Then it isn't." Starsky nodded decisively. Case closed.

Hutch fixed him up as much as was possible in relative silence after that, while Starsky watched the conclusion of the film. Starsky withstood Hutch's first aid bravely, with only a few gasps when Hutch pressed too hard on the shoulder, and then lay back in relief when Hutch announced that he was done. Making sure Starsky was alright for the moment, Hutch headed downstairs to see if he could contact Dobey, and was surprised to find his new friend in the reception of the motel. "Do you have a phone I can use?"

The motel owner covered the phone behind his desk possessively with a large hand. "Sorry, pal, this one's for employees only. There's a payphone across the street."

Stifling an annoyed sigh, Hutch thanked his unpleasant friend and left the motel, spotting the phone that the man had told him about. Jogging over to it, he quickly checked that no one was looking at him, and then dialled the familiar number for Dobey's office. He let the phone ring for a long while before he decided that it wasn't going to be answered. Hanging up, he dialled Captain Dobey's home number, receiving no answer there either.

Hutch looked at his watch; it was getting late anyway, and if he came back early tomorrow morning, there would probably be no one around while he made the call.

Still feeling guilty for his own part in getting them into this situation, Hutch headed back to the relative safety of the motel, and made his way to the room to check on Starsky.

He never noticed he was being watched by two men.

***

TBC