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If there are no pets in Heaven, than I don't want to go, because it wouldn't be Heaven without them.

Lightning Ch#4

Starsky looked at his partner. The blond was on his hands and knees on the hospital bed.

Dobey and Huggy exchanged a look at the doctor's departure and then returned their attention to Hutch. Both were unsure what to make of the strange behavior Hutch was exhibiting.

Starsky was at a loss as to how to proceed. The damn doctor wanted Hutch restrained, but Starsky didn't want to do that to his best friend. But then he didn't want anyone to get bitten, correction, he didn't want anyone else to get bitten. Nor did he want Hutch to hurt himself. He glanced at his captain and Huggy; they looked just as lost as he felt right now.

Starsky moved slowly towards the bed, hand out, palm up "Easy Hutch, it's alright. You don't like that doctor either, do you? Who woulda have thought that there would be two of 'em? Pretty weird, huh?"

He kept moving forward, ever so slowly and he noticed that Hutch was backing further up against the bed's guardrails "Hey partner, careful, you don't wanna-" Starsky's concern rose as he watched the blond scoot as far back as the railings would let him. As he watched, Hutch hit the railing, then lost his balance and fell over backwards, falling off of the bed. Hutch's right leg tangled in the railing and he dangled upside down from the bed "-fall" Starsky finished.

That last word of the sentence was nearly drowned out by ear shattering howls of fear and pain. Starsky rushed around to the other side of the bed to help his friend up. Light blue, fear-filled eyes connected with his "Easy there Hutch, I gotcha"

Starsky reached out to help the blond and could not believe it as the fear dissolved and turned to anger. Hutch snapped at Starsky's hands and growl fiercely "Huuutch" the name came out as an exasperated groan.

"C'mon son, let's get you back into bed" Dobey and Huggy joined Starsky to help him get the injured detective back in bed.

Starsky nodded; suddenly very glad he wasn't alone in this. Huggy and Dobey each grabbed a flailing arm and Starsky got a hold under Hutch's arms and they all heaved up on the struggling man, it was like wrestling with a sack of wet cats.

As they situated the blond back on the bed, Hutch continued to fight, his wicked snarls increasing in volume. He would pull in one direction, then another, snapping his teeth at whoever was closest. Huggy disentangled Hutch's leg from the railing and got a solid kick to the groin for his troubles.

"Oh man, he's has one hell of a kick!" Huggy gasped as he held himself, trying to control the waves of pain that were shooting from his groin. He shuffled over to a chair and sat down.

Dobey and Starsky made short work of putting the restraints back on the snarling blond detective. When they finished, Starsky turned away from the sight. It hurt to see Hutch that way.

"What's all the racket? This is a HOSPITAL! Not a zoo!" The nurse swept into the room and glared at each man in turn, including the one in the bed.

"Sorry ma'am" Dobey went to tip his hat and realized it had been knocked off in the struggle. He scanned the floor for it.

The nurse had a hard time taking Hutch's vitals and the blond struggled and yanked at his bonds and then tried to bite the nurse when she attempted to put a thermometer in his mouth. She gave up after a few tries. When she finished she looked each man in the eye and said "Now, please keep it down it here" She then exited the room.

Dobey found his hat, picked it up and brushed it off. He looked at Hutch for a long moment and then he turned away, saddened by his detective's continued strange behavior.

Starsky cast a forlorn look at the restrained blond and then he started to pace.

"He'll get better Starsky" Dobey said as he watched the dark haired detective walked the small room. It was rather like watching a tennis match with the troubled detective prowling, back and forth, back and forth across the room.

Huggy looked up at Dobey's words "Yeah, Starsk, he's in a hospital now, they'll figure out how to fix what's wrong" He shifted uncomfortably "Could one of you fine gents please get me some ice? Blondie kicked me real hard and I might just want to have children some day"

"God forbid" Dobey muttered under his breath and louder he said, "I'll go, come with me"

"But cap'n" Huggy winced at the thought of standing up and walking in his current condition.

"Come along Huggy" Dobey tilted his head in Starsky's direction. The dark haired detective had stopped pacing and was staring out the window, his shoulders knotted and stiff with the effort of controlling his emotions.

Huggy understood and rose carefully to his feet. Starsky needed some alone time right now.

They exited the room.

Starsky stopped looking out the window when they left and stared at Hutch for a long time. The blond stared back. Starsky reached for Hutch's hand and was once more rebuffed with a snarl. Thus rejected, he backed away, sat down in the hard plastic chair and buried his face in his hands.

----

Hutch wandered for a long time, trying to get his bearings. He looked for familiar streets; his sore head with its pounding headache wasn't helping him at all. It also didn't help that he was much shorter than he used to be. That change in perspective kept throwing him off. Everything looked different from down here.

He also looked for some water. He was parched; his long tongue kept sticking to the roof of his mouth. He passed a few stagnant puddles of water and each one he passed by began to look more and more inviting, much to his disgust.

As he navigated the sidewalks and alleys, he kept an eye out for police and the animal control officer. He also tried to ignore the wide berth people gave him. Mothers pulled their children close or picked them up as he walked by. And even though he did nothing to anyone, people hollered at him and some threw things at him, like rocks and bottles. And sometimes those things hit him, adding to his aches and pains. 'Huh, and I thought people hated cops'

He had avoided looking at himself in window reflections until now. It felt as if this was a bad dream and that looking into a reflected image of himself would make the dream a reality. But, he was curious too. What kind of dog was he, to cause people to react that way?

He saw large plate glass window and slowly walked over to it. The first thing he noticed was that he was big, really big. He estimated his height to be over two feet tall – he chucked at that thought, in his human body, he was a little over six feet tall.

The next thing he noticed was the collar he was wearing. It was wide and made of leather; it also had spikes sticking out of it. No wonder it had snagged on the fence. He focused on his body next. His coat was black and tan; his ears were cropped and stood straight up, looking like triangles. He was a Doberman Pincher.

He looked again at his 'new' ears 'how much did that hurt, to have part of your ears chopped off? And why? What's the purpose?' At that sad thought, his ears dropped down and he had his answer. He looked far more dangerous with them up. With them down, he looked like a hound dog. His dogs ears were tattered and had ragged edges. That could be another reason they were cut, to make it harder for another dog to grab the smaller ear, though it looked like both of his had been thoroughly chewed a time or two. He shook his head, poor dog.

Hutch then noticed how thin he was. He could see his ribs. 'If we hadn't arrested your master for drug trafficking, he should have been nailed for animal neglect and maybe abuse' He rethought that. The drug charges carried a far heavier penalty, pity.

He could see now why people were afraid of him though. This was going to make getting help a little more difficult.

"There he is!"

Hutch turned around at the sound and saw the dreaded white Animal Control van 'Dammit!' He had allowed himself to get distracted and the damn animal officer had spotted him. He bolted down an alley and through several parking lots to get as much space between himself and his pursuer.

After running for a while, he slowed and finally stopped, exhausted. He had very little energy left and was so thirsty that he could have drunk from a toilet. 'Well, maybe I'm not THAT thirsty' He sat down hard and tried to catch his breath and his stomach growled.

"Hi doggy, how're you doin' doggy?" A somewhat familiar voice called from further down the alley "Nice doggy, are you hungry? Huh?"

Hutch turned to see who was talking to him. It was Mickey, Starsky's fink, the little alcoholic snitch/weasel who had tricked him and turned him over to Ben Forest's goon for a few lousy bucks.

'Hey, I thought Starsky ran you out of town for what you did to me, turkey. You just wait till I tell him you're back' Hutch snarled at Mickey and for the first time that day was glad he was a mean looking dog. The way he looked ought to keep the little creep away from him.

"Hi doggy, nice doggy" Mickey pulled a small bag out of his coat pocket and shook it "I got some food here for you, doggy" He flicked his cigarette butt to the pavement and held out the paper bag.

The scent of hamburger wafted towards him and Hutch's stomach growled loudly. Despite his extreme dislike of the fink, the food did smell good. And maybe, just maybe, the little creep had at least one redeeming quality and was kind to animals. When he wasn't drinking himself into a blind stupor, that is.

"Good doggy, here's a hamburger for you. You look awful hungry" Mickey put the bag down and backed away from it "Good doggy, eat up"

Hutch checked the alley, looking for any kind of trap or set-up. He believed in giving people a second chance and the hamburger smelled so good. He moved in and grabbed the bag in his teeth and backed away from the fink. His mouth watered at the smell and his stomach growled again. He eyeballed Mickey, who sat down on a trashcan and pulled out a bottle from his coat, opened it up and drank from it.

Hutch sniffed the bag again, the hamburger smelled good and it was still warm, he carefully ripped the bag open, the burger was wrapped in a popular fast food foil. So Mickey hadn't made the burger himself, which was a plus. He looked at Mickey, who looked back at him. Mickey then took another sip from his bottle.

Hutch carefully unwrapped the foil, taking a small bite of burger and as he did so, Mickey gave a quiet laugh. Hutch quit chewing and stared at him.

"Die doggy, die!" Mickey crooned; a blissful smile crossed his face "One less doggy in the world, once you eat up! That's a good doggy" Mickey cackled drunkenly "A little poison for you, sweet doggy… the quicker you eat, the quicker you die"

Hutch spit the food out, very glad he hadn't swallowed the burger 'I've changed my mind Mickey, you have no redeeming qualities!' Hutch slowly moved towards the would-be dog killer.

Mickey's smile melted and his drunken laugh abruptly halted as he watched the dog spit out the food and headed towards him, stiff legged and staring, in his direction. "G-good doggy, eat up" Mickey stood up and backed away from the big dog, who was no longer interested in the poisoned food, but was instead, looking at him like he was now on the menu. "N-nice doggy, good dog"

'I hate you Mickey, I really do' Hutch stalked the fink down the alley 'I just tried to give you a chance. No more chances, Mickey. You've tried twice now to kill me. Granted, you don't know it's me this time. And the first time, you turned me over to one of Forest's goons, but to my mind, it doesn't make any difference and I really don't care if you know it or not'

"Stay, doggy, s-stay" The Mickey positively reeked of fear and alcohol.

Hutch continued to slowly follow Mickey as the drunk backed down the alley, away from him.

Mickey backed into a corner and had nowhere else to go "G-good d-dog… don't bite me" he whimpered as he pressed his back to the brick wall behind him, doing his best to push himself through the bricks to get away from the angry animal. It was as if the dog knew what he had tried to do to it and now it wanted revenge.

Hutch closed the gap and growled 'When I get back in human form, I'm coming for you Mickey! I'm gonna nail you to the wall for poisoning dogs 'cause I expect I'm not the first dog you've tried to poison, but I'll be damned if I'm not the last!'

Mickey whimpered and sobbed as the massive dog growled and barked at him.

Hutch nodded in approval. He then smelled the distinctive odor of urine and watched as Mickey wet himself. 'Serves you right, fink' Hutch said with satisfaction. He moved cautiously away from the drunk and out the other side of the alley and as he did so, he heard Mickey yell "Mad dog! Help! I'm being attacked!"

'Shit! Not again!' Hutch forced his aching body into a run; he had to get as far away as possible from this area.

----

"Hey Hutch, ya wanna watch some TV?" Starsky didn't expect an answer, so he wasn't surprised when he didn't get one. He had come to the conclusion that he would just keep talking to Hutch and treating him like he was normal, regardless of the blond's odd behavior.

"Whaddya say we watch the evening news, huh?" he waited for a few seconds, just incase his friend choose that moment to respond and when he didn't, Starsky turned on the television anyway. Dobey and Huggy left a few hours ago, each saying that they would return tomorrow. Starsky flipped through an old magazine as he listened to the news.

"…That's all on the world scene. And in local news, the search continues tonight for a dog that is suspected of several attacks today in the Kingston district of Bay City. The dog is described as a large male Doberman Pincher with a brown, spiked leather collar. If you see this dog, call Animal Control or the Bay City Police department, do not attempt to catch this dog yourself. Next up Beth Silverman with the weather"

As the information about the area where this mad dog was, Starsky perked up and paid closer attention. "Hey Hutch, that's where we were on the bust today. I wonder if that's the dog you tackled this morning. I don't think I thanked you for that. Thank you" Starsky looked over at the blond who lay on the bed staring in the general direction of the window, not paying him the slightest attention.

Starsky sighed "If it hadn't been for that damn dog, you wouldn't have gotten hurt" He stood up to look out the window, to see if he could spot what now held his partner's attention. There was a bird on the windowsill.

The blond stared at the bird like he wanted to eat it. He licked his chops.

Starsky shook his head and sat down heavily in the plastic chair and looked back at the news show "I knew I shoulda shot that damn dog when I had the chance"

----

Hutch staggered down yet another alley. He was exhausted. His dry tongue hung out of his mouth. When he had run out of the alley, away from Mickey, he had nearly run smack into the animal control officer. He had to hustle to get away.

He looked for a place to spend the night. He thought he had found a place but a pack of semi wild dogs chased him off. He tried to slake his thirst by drinking out of a puddle but stopped after the first lap of water. It had tasted oily, so he moved on.

It was dark now and far easier to move through the streets. One other meager bonus was his improved night vision. There were few streetlights in this part of town, but it was remarkable how well he could see.

He kept moving.

He found a water fountain and with a little work, figured out how to manipulate the knob with his paws. He really missed having hands. Trying to drink was another problem. Dog lips didn't work the same way human lips did. He had to resort to lapping the water like, well, like a dog. It took some doing, but finally he got his fill of water.

Hutch felt a little better now that he wasn't thirsty anymore. He continued searching for a place to hide. He needed to lie down and sleep. He found himself in a familiar alley 'Hey, I know this place' It led to the back of Huggy's bar 'Finally, I know where I am'

He picked up his pace, a little, then slowed back down as a thought occurred to him 'How the hell am I gonna get Huggy to help me? I can't talk, I don't have hands and I don't look like myself anymore' He sat down behind the back entrance to the bar and stared at the door. Then he noticed the trashcans next to the door. And he smiled a doggy smile 'I've got it'

He rummaged through the smelly cans and found some items he could use and carefully placed them on the ground. After arranging them the way he wanted, he now only needed Huggy to come outside.

'But how do you get a bear out of his den? You make some noise and get him to investigate' Hutch chuckled to himself and knocked over the cans and as expected, the Bear popped out.

"Hey! Get out of the trash, you damn mutt! Aw man! Look at this mess! Leroy, come out here and help me clean this up" the thin black man put his hand on his hips and gave the dog a stern look.

'Huggy! C'mere and look!' Hutch did his best 'Lassie' impression and tried to lead Huggy to the message he had written in garbage.

"Get outta here mutt! Go on, get The Bear don't want the health inspector to see this mess, now get!" Huggy set the cans back up "Leroy! C'mon out here!" he started to put the trash back in the cans.

Hutch lay down next to his message and did his best to look pitiful 'Huggy, please…'

He could hear himself whine and he put his head on his paws to look less threatening.

Leroy came out the door "What's up Huggy?"

"Help me clean this up" Huggy waved at the mess in the alley.

"How'd this happen?" Leroy bent to the task of cleaning up.

"That dog over there" Huggy nodded his head in the big dog's direction, his hand full of garbage.

Leroy stopped and looked at the dog lying next to some trash "Huggy"

"What? Hey, don't just stand there help me pick up, we got customers waiting"

"Huggy, that's that dog" Leroy backed towards the door.

Hutch lifted his head off his paws at Leroy's tone of voice, Leroy sounded scared. Not good.

"What dog? He's harmless, just hungry and wantin' a little of the Bear's food is all" Huggy continued to clean up.

"The mad dog they were talkin' about on the TV, Hug"

'NO!' Hutch felt a knot form in his stomach.

Leroy grabbed Huggy by the elbow "C'mon man! Get back inside quick, before he attacks!" he tugged hard on his boss's arm.

'Huggy, no, please don't be scared' Hutch could only watch as Huggy allowed himself to be pulled into the back door of his bar 'Huggy… please, don't go, please? I need your help' The slamming of the back door was the response he got. 'Huggy?'

Hutch stared at the door for several long minutes and then slowly got up to leave. He didn't want to wait for the cops to arrive. From what little Leroy had said, he surmised that the word was out about a mad dog on the loose and he was the mad dog they were talking about.

He never felt so alone in his life. He started to walk away down the alley when he heard a sound behind him and looked about to see Huggy toss something at him. A bag landed at his feet and he looked up at Huggy.

"Here's a couple of the Bear's best burgers, now scram before the police come. And don't come back, Bears are bigger and meaner then dogs" He slammed the door shut.

'Thanks Huggy' Hutch picked up the bag of burgers and trotted away into the night.

TBC