Harm Reduction

Story written by: Navy Blue and tlr

We were getting Ben Forest and Hutch's imposed addiction behind us. My partner was healthy again, full of life, and we were just spending one of our days off at the beach, which was perfect because there were few visitors due to the chilly air, wind, and restless waves.

Hutch was sitting on his yoga mat in a relaxed pose, face toward the sky with his eyes closed, and I had my camera trying to capture a stray blond Lab happily rolling around in the sand.

"Mmm," I heard Hutch say. Looking at how fit and happy he was now, you couldn't guess he was just off of heroin. But he was my strong and buoyant partner, so I knew he'd make it, and I'd do everything I could to help him. We were in this together, and we'd weather the storm, come what may. Police work had its challenges, but it's where we were meant to be. A lot of cops would have tossed in their badge and walked away, saying "Who needs this?", but when you're made for something like we are, you kind of roll with the punches and find a way to do it better. Bottom line, we're in it as much for each other as we are ourselves. Me and Hutch, we have a connection, a commitment. We loved the job. We loved each other. Would we ever feel like throwing in the towel? We didn't plan on it, and only time would tell.

"Hey Hutch, I'm gonna go down there and play with that dog, so—"

But a sound from out in the ocean—the sound of a distressed female-grabbed our attention. I started for the water but Hutch dove in first. Her arms were flailing, she tried to sputter and breathe, but got choked instead. Panic flashed in her eyes as she went under. Near us, her surfboard bobbed away.

Hutch grabbed her up from behind and brought her limp body toward the shore. Her lips were discolored and her eyes were almost lifeless. He basically shoved her onto her back to do mouth-to-mouth while I ran to the Torino to summon an ambulance.

When I ran back to them, Hutch had her breathing again and on her side so she could hack up the water and whatever else came with it. I snatched up my beach blanket and covered her.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked wiping some wet hair that covered her face.

She looked at Hutch only. Her hero.

"Cramp," she said with a weak smile, coughing a little. "Thank you for saving me. I was trying to…" Cough, cough. "…teach myself how to surf, but I picked…" Cough, cough. "…a rotten day weather-wise, and should have warmed up first."

We watched her to make sure she was okay, until the ambulance came.

She said her name was Joey, short for Josephine, and Hutch wanted to ride in the ambulance with her to the hospital.

"Really?" I asked him.

Instant attraction. I could feel it between them. And, after Jeanie, he deserved to be happy with a girl again.

I smiled at him. "See ya later."

::::::::::::::::

The later turned into a few days. We had the weekend off too, and he spent it with her, at his place, because she was new in the area, didn't know anyone, and was going to start her new job as an addiction nurse a few blocks from Hutch's cottage.

She was a blonde beauty—warm and charming—and had Hutch wrapped around her little finger.

So Monday morning rolled around and I picked him up as usual, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, wanting us to have breakfast together.

"She made homemade granola bars," he explained with fascination as he held a tray of them out for me. "Go on, take one. They're great."

I gave a doubtful look at the chunky oat, raisin, honey, and peanut whatchamacallit in my hand.

"She makes chocolate chip too."

"Oh well then," I said rolling my eyes and having a seat. "I'm sold."

I watched as she ground the coffee beans she'd gotten from the gourmet shop down the street, and you could tell she really enjoyed making and serving food. Reminded me of Ma in a way, how it always made her feel good to feed people, take care of them, and entertain them. It relaxed her, and she was good at it.

"So," I said as I munched my tasty breakfast. "how you likin' the neighborhood so far, Joey?"

The three of us sat at Hutch's kitchen table, drinking coffee and reveling in the morning treats.

"Liking it fine so far. I dig the ducks."

"Hutch tells me you help people with drugs and alcohol."

I glanced at Hutch, nearly psychically reading the private look that passed between them: He told her about being on heroin.

They know each other for a weekend, and he's telling her something only a select few are supposed to know? He trusts her that much already?

Her expression turned a little more serious and she placed a caring hand over his. "Yes."

Then Hutch gave me a look that confirmed it.

"Great," I said, and meant it. "We need people like you."

She reached for the morning paper folded next to her elbow. "Now if I can just find the right place to rent, something near the center, I'll be set."

Gently Hutch took the paper from her, folded it, and placed it under his own elbow.

"I don't see why you couldn't stay right here with me," he said. "For as long as you need to." They kissed, long and deep, making my cheeks flush. "Or want to."

I stood up and took our empty dishes to the sink. "Guess that's settled then."

:::::::::::::::::

"Hutch," I said when we were in the car on the way to the station. "I know you fall fast, but man, you're really breaking the record this time."

"Can you blame me?" he asked with a sunny smile. "She's perfect."

Hutch, no one's perfect. You thought Jeanie was perfect. And Vanessa. And Nancy. And…

"She's…" He searched for more words to describe her. "Well, we traded life stories, so if you really must know—"

"—I really must—"

"—she was a weekend binge drinker in high school. That's why she ended up wanting to help other people with the same problem. She said she drank because her parents fought all the time, and she got caught in the crossfire until they divorced. It took some time, but she came through it and out the other side a better person. She's a helper, Starsk. I just love…that about her."

I nodded, enjoying the infatuation in his eyes. "I'm happy for you, partner."

:::::::::::::::::

Things settled into a comfortable rhythm for Hutch and Joey. They parted in the mornings with a kiss, sometimes had lunch together when it was convenient, then spent their evenings together. And as far as police work went, he was as focused and dedicated as ever. I didn't interfere with their relationship, and Joey didn't interfere with ours. There really was a good bond growing between the three of us, which became its own thing. She seemed like a genuine, trustworthy person, and Huggy confirmed it when he told me in confidence at his place that he checked into her background and she came up clean. She had dated a lot, but with a charismatic girl like her, what could you expect?

:::::::::::::::::

Months went by. They got closer, and I met and kind of fell head over heels myself, for a new rookie in the department named Marsha.

When Valentine's Day rolled around, Hutch decided to have a get-together at his place with me and Marsha. The music on the stereo was good, Joey and Marsha baked homemade pizza, and Hutch of course floored everyone with song and guitar.

"Oh my!" Joey said clapping her hands and jumping to her feet. "I didn't know you could sing AND play!"

As the girls were pulling out the Twister game, Hutch pulled me into the bathroom.

"Starsk, you're not going to believe this."

I looked around. "Believe what?"

"I'm going to propose to her. She's having my baby."

My jaw went slack. "What?"

"Isn't that something?"

I grinned from ear to ear. "Hey, a little Hutch runnin' around? Can't wait. Congratulations. But please don't corrupt him with your health food regimen. The boy's gotta have a little fun in life."

"I may have a little girl, you know."

"My rule applies either way. Gotta let me spoil 'em."

"I will," he said. "Once in a while." He reached into his hip pocket and pulled out a velvet ring box, and opened it. "Think she'll like it?"

The small but very expensive diamond ring winked up at me in the bathroom light. "I know she will."

"Hey!" Marsha called. "What're you two doing in there? Save some for us!"

Hutch pocketed the ring box, then we went back into the main room, where Joey and Marsha were standing on the Twister pad, ready to spin the arrow.

But that's as far as we got. The music was a little loud, and the girls were singing to it, so the next thing we know, the door busts open and a handsome, burly guy wearing a fringed suede jacket and Clark Kent glasses storms in and grabs for Joey, but he didn't make it. Hutch smashed his elbow into the guy's face and had him cuffed and restrained nose-first against the wall before he could touch her.

The only other person he was that fiercely protective of was me.

I ran outside with my gun drawn to see if the thug had brought any friends, which he hadn't; then went back in to help Hutch with the moose. Even Marsha came to help, after turning off the record player.

Hutch still had him pinned to the wall as I recited the Miranda Warning, but my partner's uncertain eyes looked Joey's way, for answers.

"Joey?"

"He was a patient at my last rehab job. Ron Raymond."

"And?"

::::::::::::::::

The "And?" turned out to be that Ron became obsessed with Joey during his stay at rehab—so fixed on her that they had to transfer him to another center and get a restraining order.

"He kept asking me out," she told us in the cottage that same night after the waves had settled. "I kept turning him down. I told him I wasn't interested, that nurses and patients aren't allowed to date each other, but he ignored me. You have to believe me, Hutch, I didn't lead him on."

"I believe you," he said as he sat down with her on the sofa and slipped an arm around her. "We deal with stalkers all the time. Not to worry. You're here with me now."

I'll take care of you, and won't let anything happen to you, are the words he didn't say out loud, but we all knew he meant.

As if to prove it, he quietly opened the ring box and held the diamond up for her decision.

"Marry me?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

She nodded yes with tears in her eyes and a hand over her mouth to keep her lips from trembling, still nodding as she held her hand out and he slipped the ring on.

They sealed their engagement with a kiss and a hug, and he winked at me over her shoulder. "Got my girl, Starsk," he whispered to me, and I nodded with tears in my own eyes. "And my baby too."

"Yeah," I whispered back. "You sure do."

"Come on," Marsha said taking my hand and pulling me to my feet. "They need some alone time, and so do we. My place?"

"Oh yeah," I said happily as I jumped to my feet and led her out the door. "See ya," I said with a wave to the happy couple.

But they were wrapped up in each other, and Marsha and I left to do our own thing.

::::::::::::::::

With Ron locked up on drug-related parole violations, this new attempted assault charge, and violation of a prior restraining order with Joey, she seemed more relaxed, which allowed for she and Hutch to get on with their lives. It was great seeing them so happy together, and the incident with Ron Raymond only bonded them closer.

"You guys gonna move from your place?" I asked one morning when I picked him up in the Torino.

"Maybe. It's okay for now."

"Has she met your parents yet?"

"Funny you ask, they're coming out to visit this weekend. They like what I've told them so far. How are you and Marsha? You two haven't been socializing much lately."

"I don't know, I think she's moving on."

"From you? How dare she?"

I grinned. "She met this rich businessman who wants to take her traveling around the world. She even quit the police force."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"Her loss, Starsk."

"Don't worry about me. A secretary at the precinct asked me out for the weekend. You know her. Lisa Sims."

"Oh yeah, the one with the dimples and long dark curls."

"The very one."

That weekend we had a double date of sorts, at Hutch's place. The dynamics were completely different from when Marsha and I were there together, though. Joey was showing pretty big but cute under her maternity blouse, Lisa was playing Hutch's guitar, and Hutch was doing all the cooking. All healthy stuff of course.

"For the baby," he explained over his shoulder from the stove.

"But I'm not a baby," I said.

Lisa giggled. "Ken says you are." She looked at Joey. "So you work in a rehab center?"

"I do."

Lisa made a face. "Ew, how could you work with drug addicts all day long? They give me the creeps."

The cottage was quiet for a few seconds, and it was Joey who broke the silence. "Hey, anyone up for a game of Rook?"

:::::::::::::::

The bigger Joey's belly grew, the more excited but nervous Hutch became. I noticed he had a lot of pregnancy and fatherhood books and magazines strewn across his back seat, a child safety seat for babies in his trunk, and a piggy bank to save money in.

One day when we were eating lunch in the squad room, I opened my drawer and took out my blue plushy. "Here," I said handing it to him. "I want the baby to have it."

"Aw, Starsk, I know what that means to you. I couldn't."

"You could. Go on, take it."

Hutch smiled and tucked it inside his jacket pocket.

::::::::::::::::

"So," Huggy said when me and Hutch claimed stools at his bar as he was wiping down the counter, "where you havin' the wedding, Hutch?"

"The beach."

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "Sounds fitting."

"If you need anything catered," Huggy offered, "it's on me."

"Ah, gee," I told him. "We thought you'd be the flower girl."

Huggy gave a crooked smile. "Don't give me no ideas."

:::::::::::::::::

Now it was time to meet Joey's mother, Carla, who came all the way from Michigan. Her father, who lived in Las Vegas and abandoned her long ago, didn't bother. Carla was a nice lady who had flirty hands with me, and not bad looking for her age.

"Are you seeing someone, Dave?" she asked coyly as she stirred her iced tea with a long fingernail. "I've dated younger men."

"I'm very flattered, Carla, but y'see, I just broke up with a secretary, and well…"

"I understand," she clucked as she moved closer to me on the sofa to slip a friendly arm around my shoulders, playing with my shirt collar. "You need time."

She sipped her tea.

I could read the teasing remarks in Hutch's eyes, and we both bit back the laughs that threatened to spill.

Joey changed the subject and distracted her by showing her the maternity wedding dress she hand-made, a knee-length halter dress kind of thing, slinky but classy. Hutch plaited a crown of daisies for her hair, and he wrote a song for her that he would sing at the beachside ceremony.

"Any names for the baby yet?"

"A few," Hutch smiled. "My mother's name is Carolyn, and my father's is Wendell. Maybe Carrie or Wen, something like that. Of course Carly would be nice. We haven't really decided. But no matter what, my partner will be the godfather."

Carla looked at me. "Even though you're Jewish?"

"I'm not Catholic either," Hutch offered.

Joey smiled at me. "Hutch and David are into bending the rules, aren't you, guys?"

Carla looked a little shocked. "But the baby needs to be blessed officially by the Church-"

"Mom," Joey said patiently, obviously naturally skilled at smoothing ruffled feathers with her mom and everyone else in the world, "God will bless our baby, okay? That's all we need."

"It'll be like the baby havin' two dads," I said.

Carla moved about a foot away from me on the sofa with a strange expression on her face, which made Hutch, Joey, and me break out in laughter.

::::::::::::::::

Joey's last month of pregnancy was the worst time and the best time. For such a trim, lithe young lady, she was packing a wallop of a baby inside her. She smiled through her discomfort, and both Hutch and I tried to ease her pain, with massages, meditation, music, reading, naps, cold water, warm baths, acupuncture, herbs, hypnosis, The Three Stooges routines—Mo and Curly natch—and then some.

I called Ma for some advice, talked to Edith Dobey, and any other wise woman I could think of.

They chose a natural birth, and Hutch was even taking Lamaze classes with her, both insisting I take them too. I'd never seen so many glowing, pregnant, beautiful women in one place. A few were Single Mothers Without Partners, and I wanted to graciously volunteer to be a stand-in, but Hutch grabbed my arm and steered me away. Good thing he did, because I needed to focus on the Hutchinson baby.

::::::::::::::::::

You know how good your life can be going one second, and shatter the very next? That's what happened after my first Lamaze class with Hutch and Joey.

I went home, took some cold pizza and root beer from the fridge for dinner, then turned an old Bogie movie on. I thought of calling a lady friend, maybe Charlene or Beth, or Charlene AND Beth, but in the end, didn't, because I was kind of tired and had plans to detail the Torino the next day, which was Saturday. I fell into a restful, peaceful sleep on the sofa, but at three in the morning my phone rang, and I knew it was bad when Hutch was on the line and could barely speak or breathe.

"Starsk," came his gasp. "It…it's Joey. We…she…"

I jumped to my feet and strapped on my gun.

"Hutch, calm down. What's happening? Are you okay? Is she okay?"

When no answer came back except his wretched cry, I called for units and medics to his place and ran out the door.

:::::::::::::::::

I drove like a fool through the streets, gripping tight to the steering wheel, willing myself to calm down. Hutch wasn't calm, so I had to be.

Thank God the black and whites and the ambulance made it quicker than I did. They were loading Joey into the ambulance, and her chest and head were bloody. Hutch climbed in with her, his own shoulder bleeding, but before the rear double doors closed, he turned a pale face and frightened eyes toward me.

"It's bad, Starsk," he said in a desperate plea. "I don't want to lose her."

"You won't," I assured him. "You won't. I'll be there as soon as I can."

The ambulance sped away with siren wailing, and I was met by Captain Dobey inside Hutch's cottage. Two homicide detectives, Jackson and French, collected evidence along with the crime lab, while a police photographer snapped pictures of Ron Raymond's dead body sprawled on the living room floor. The coroner's team was nearby.

I looked to the captain for answers, but he could only offer a somber shake of his head at first. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his face, his voice as grim as his expression.

"He came in and shot them in their sleep, and Hutch returned fire."

I looked down at Raymond's corpse, then stepped over to the bedroom doorway and looked in, seeing a crime scene that belonged in a horror movie. The bed wore blood spatter, and the furniture was shot up.

Dobey didn't say it, but he didn't have to: Self-defense. Case closed. Crime solved. Report written.

"You know where to find me," I said as I ran out the door.

:::::::::::::::::

I wanted to be with Hutch in the emergency room where they were treating Joey, but doctors and security said no. One of the nurses told me that Hutch had a shoulder wound but would be okay, so I should wait in the waiting room.

It was the longest hours of my life, waiting and pacing, doing a little praying too. Huggy came by to offer a steady presence, but he was as upset I was, and we both paced and worried.

We didn't say much, he just squeezed my shoulder from time to time. He said some good, reassuring things but I don't remember what they were.

Sometime later, I don't know how long it was, Hutch came trudging in with a white face and dazed eyes, shuffling right toward me like he was in another world, the twilight zone.

"Gone," he whispered. "She's gone."

He collapsed and I caught him, going to my knees with him, holding the back of his head as he sobbed into my shoulder and clutched me for dear life.

Huggy knelt with us, arms wrapping around us both.

"Why couldn't it have been me, Starsk? I should have saved her, like I…like when…it's my fault."

"No way," I whispered back. "You did all you could."

"I wanted to be a good father."

"You'd have been the best, buddy. The way you are with Kiko? A natural."

Me and Huggy handled him easily as we lifted him to his feet and sat him down on the couch between us. We just sat in painful silence, waiting for Joey's mother to come, and she did, gone her flirty ways, replaced by a misery-stricken carbon-copy that lunged at him with both hands going for his throat.

"You let him kill her!" she shrieked at him, but I moved her away from him. "What kind of man or cop are you?!"

A security guard came in to escort her to a different room, and Huggy went with them. Aanother door to the waiting room opened, and a nurse looked around the corner at us.

"Ken, he's okay," she said, and stepped into the room.

But Hutch was seated on the couch, leaning forward, eyes on the floor, my hand on the back of his head. I don't think he even heard her.

"Ken," she repeated, "your son is okay. He made it. He's fine."

The room was still very quiet.

Hutch slowly raised his head, and I wasn't exactly sure of what to say or do because we were both staring at the most beautiful sight in the world: Hutch's newborn baby wrapped snugly in a blanket, swaddled in the nurse's arms.

Hutch looked as stunned as I felt as the nurse brought the baby over to him and put him in the crook of his good arm.

A son. Hutch had a baby son. Joey had left him a precious gift to hold on to.

"His name is Michael," Hutch said smiling tearfully up at me. "We were going to surprise you." He sat with his cheek against the baby's soft head, rocking him a little, humming a little. My heart filled up with relief and gratitude, this time with happy tears. Now I had two Hutches to take care of.

::::::::::::::::::

Hutch's wounded shoulder in a sling, and me carrying my namesake, we walked into the private room where Carla sat leaning forward in a chair with her face buried in her hands, crying.

"Carla?" Hutch said quietly.

Carla raised her head, and any bad feelings she had for Hutch instantly melted. Fresh tears came to her eyes and her features softened even before he said, "Meet your grandson, Michael," and I placed him in her outstretched arms.

the end