Hi All!

Thanks for the wonderful reviews (blush) Kreek, you are one of my muses; I always seem to get great ideas whenever we email that's why this story is now longer. I told a few of you that I was going to finish this story by chapter #8, Oops, well, ah-hem, looks like there is going to be a chapter #9… (sheepish grin)

No, I didn't forget you, Wuemsel, I know how much you love doggy-Hutch...

Lightning Ch. #8

Captain Dobey backed the car out of the garage and maneuvered his way backwards past the paving equipment that was next to the driveway. The officers who had returned his vehicle to him had driven his car right over his newly repaved driveway. Dammit! He'd have to have it re-repaved. He ought to make them pay for it. He returned his thought from his own problems to that of Officer Bentley.

George Bentley was a man with a wife and three kids to support. But now what he had was newly widowed wife and fatherless children. Dobey had tried to talk him out of volunteering for the job. Bentley had complained that he was "too young to be a desk jockey" and that it was supposed to have been a fairly simple, minimal risk venture. Famous last words.

Dobey muttered some foul words under his breath. He still should never have allowed it. Nights like this were the down side of his job. He loved the other aspects of his job. Though he whined about it, he even liked the politics, for the most part. He would never admit that to his men though, especially Starsky and Hutch, they would never understand. He smiled to himself for a moment, before the smile slipped away into the darkness.

But sometimes like tonight, when the awful burden that was wholly his to bear, made it difficult to continue. The grim responsibility of informing the wife of her new status, that of police officer's widow, was his. Nights like tonight, well, they made him want to pack it all in and retire immediately. He knew he wouldn't, not yet. However, the time was fast approaching when he would retire. But for now, he would go to the scene where his detective had fallen, gather what he could of the facts surrounding Bentley's death then drive to the new widow's home and inform her.

It was fitting that raindrops started to splash his windscreen. He turned on the wipers and continued his lonely drive the scene of the crime.

xxxx

Rosie listened as Daddy muttered some words that Mama would have soaped his mouth for. She shoved her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing; the picture in her mind was funny. Mama chasing Daddy with a bar of soap and yelling, "You come back here!" Then she heard Daddy sniffle. He was sad. She almost got up and climbed over the seat to comfort him. Daddy needed hugs. She stopped herself. Uncle Ken needed her more right now, for he had losted his covers.

She wondered why Daddy and Uncle Dave didn't seem to know Uncle Ken while he was under covers. 'Course, Uncle Ken was really good at going under covers, from what Daddy said. When she had first spotted him under Mama's rose bush, she thought he was just a big scary dog. It was only when she got closer to the big dog that she had recognized him.

It was taking a long time to get to wherever Daddy was going. But they finally got there. She felt Daddy stop the car and get out. She waited a bit then peeked over the seat. There were police cars all over and there was a bambulance. She got out of the car and looked around. There was lotsa people around.

She grabbed Southpaw and hugged him; it was so scary; there was so many, loud people around. Where was Daddy? She shut the car door and began to look for him. It was sprinkling, so she pulled her hood up over her hair and began her search. Daddy would be going to Uncle Ken, so all she had to do was follow him. No one seemed to notice her as she made her way through the crowd.

She finally saw her Daddy. He was kneeling next to someone on the ground. Uncle Ken? If it was him, he now had covers. He had covers again. She was glad. She watched as Daddy lifted the covers to check on him. The covers that had been on Uncle Ken's head had red on it. Poor Uncle Ken, he musta gots hurted some more. She moved closer and was able to see Uncle Ken. Only, he didn't seem to have a head. It looked like raw hamburger with noodles and tomato sauce. Daddy dropped the covers back over his head. Her tummy began to hurt and her eyes filled up and made everything all blurry.

"Hey! Get outta here kid! You can't be in here!"

She startled at the yell and looked at the man doing the yelling. It was a police officer. She felt very scared and she backed away, slowly.

"Get outta here, NOW!" The officer started moving towards her.

She got scared, more scareder then she had ever been in her whole life and she was frightened for poor Uncle Ken, he had looked so… wrong.

The uniformed officer hollered again "Go home kid!" He ran towards her.

Rosie turned and bolted away. She would go to Daddy's car and wait for him there. Her eyes filled with tears and she couldn't see real good. She kept running. Behind her, she heard the officer yell at her again, she ducked her head and ran faster. She needed to get to Daddy's car.

xxxx

"What's going on?" Dobey said as he stood up, he was glad of the interruption for the momentary reprieve it gave him after looking at the shattered features of his detective.

"Oh, just some kid was inside the barrier, I chased him out"

"I hope that child didn't see much" Dobey said distractedly as he surveyed the crime scene. Looking for clues, searching for a way to make sense of the senseless.

"A kid from this part of town has probably seen something like this several times ready" The officer shook his head.

"Yeah, maybe, still doesn't make it right though. Parents really need to keep a close watch on their kids, no child should ever see something like this, I don't care what part of town they're from" Dobey wandered off to talk to the crime scene photographer.

The officer went back to crowd control, giving no further thought to the child.

xxxx

Rosie stopped running and looked around. She was alone. Really alone. She stood under the streetlamp and started to shake. She looked back in the direction she had come, and then she turned the other direction. Or was that the way she had just come?

"Uh oh Southpaw, I think we're losted" she looked about wildly "We're really losted!" She went to hug the teddy bear and noticed that he was no longer in her grip. She whipped her head around and looked at the ground, the bear wasn't there! "SOUTHPAW! Where are you? Southpaw! Oh no! You're losted too!"

She than did something she hadn't done for a long time. She stuck her thumb in her mouth and began to suck on it as big wet tears rolled down her face. She hugged herself with her free arm and sat down hard onto the sidewalk. Completely alone, with only the cold light of the streetlamp for company as the raindrops continued to fall.

xxxx

Starsky lay on the couch with the big dog lying half way on top of him. He yawned and looked at his watch. It was 2 a.m. He wiped his hand down his face and watched as the dog lifted its head off of his chest and blinked sleepily at him.

"Hey dog, g'morning" His position was growing a little uncomfortable due to the extra weight on him from the dog. He rubbed the dog's head absentmindedly. The dog made a humming noise as he massaged its ears "Like that huh?" the dog hummed again. Starsky smiled at it "Okay partner, you need to get off of me, I gotta shower and get some sleep"

The dog eased off of him and stepped off the couch with a whimper. It sat down and looked at him.

"What?" He chuckled again as the dog tilted its head from one side to the other. He stopped when he realized what he was doing. "I think I've got the answer, dogs make people crazy, and that's why people talk to their dogs"

"Yeah, but your already crazy, so what's your excuse? Huh, Starsk?"

Starsky walked off to the bathroom and walked in, closing the door after him.

Hutch stared after his friend "Starsk, you are a big softy… and I am very grateful that you are. Don't ever change." He then heard the sound of the shower start and with his improved hearing, heard the glass shower door being slid shut. "Oh my God! I've got it!" he thought as an idea popped into his head, he now knew how he could communicate with his curly haired friend. It was perfect!

It took him a few seconds, but he managed to open the bathroom door, he nosed it shut and looked at the shower door. As expected, moisture covered it. Hutch quietly released the breath he had been holding and limped over to the sliding glass door and carefully began to write on the stream covered door with his nose. The message was simple 'Help me - Hutch'

After a few minutes of showering, Starsky turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Through the steam he saw the huge dog, he let out a startled yell and stepped backwards and his back hit the shower door, then his foot slipped on a wet spot on the floor and he slid down the door until he landed on his butt on the floor.

Hutch watched in amusement at his friend's startled response to his presence in the room. The amusement quickly ended as his message was wiped off of the glass door as Starsky fell to the floor. "NOOO!" He sat down hard and placed his paw over his nose.

"Shit! Dammit dog! How the hell did you get in here?" Starsky got to his feet and quickly wrapped a towel around himself. Then he wondered at his actions. It was just a dog, why was he embarrassed about being nude in front of it?

"I walked, that's how I got in here" Hutch removed his paw from his nose and looked at his friend. He was running out of options for communicating. He looked past Starsky to the shower door. His friend and done a through job of wiping the message away and there was no steam left on the door that he could use… Wait a minute… the mirror! That would have steam on it! He moved closer to Starsky and stood on his hind legs and put his front paws on the counter. His injuries burned with pain, but he gritted through it and stretched forward to touch the glass with his nose "I can almost reach it… just a little more-"

"Uh-uh partner, paws off the counter!" Starsky put his arm around the dog and gently, but firmly pulled it away from the sink. "You have done enough damage for tonight, I gotta brush my teeth, they feel like they've got fur growing on them" He opened the door and nudged the dog outside of the bathroom. He then closed the door.

Dejected, Hutch lay down outside the door. If he knew Starsky, and he did, his friend would be wiping the shower door and mirror. He wouldn't be able to use them to write on again. He would have to try again in the morning. He dozed off.

Starsky wiped everything down and as he did so, he wondered about the dog. What was he gonna do with it tomorrow, correction, later this morning? He couldn't take it to the hospital. They would never let him in there with it. He didn't want to leave it in his apartment; he didn't know when he would be back. Maybe he could talk Dobey into letting him keep it in his backyard… no, the dog might hurt Rosie.

He yawned widely, his jaw made a little popping sound as he did so. He would give it more thought later, right now he had to get some sleep. He opened the door and nearly stepped on the dog, it had sprawled itself in front of the door. Poor thing, it looked as tired as he felt. He shook his head in wonder at himself. In a very short time he had gone from being terrified it would rip his jugular out, to feeling sorry for it. That played into his new theory that dogs made people crazy.

"C'mon partner, get up, ya can't sleep in front of the bathroom door, I might step on ya" He decided to give up on trying NOT to talk to the dog. It was just easier to give in to the urge, at least for tonight anyway.

Hutch lifted his head off his paws and looked up.

"C'mon, out of the doorway, move" The dog gave him a disgruntled look and groaned as it slowly rose to its feet. "Thank you" The dog rolled its eyes and padded after him to his bedroom "Oh, no, uh-uh you are not going to sleep in my room"

The dog nudged past him and carefully climbed up onto the bed.

"No! NO! Off the bed! I will not sleep with a dog in my bed!" Starsky planted his feet and pointed to the floor.

"It wouldn't be the first time, Starsk and knowing you, it probably won't be the last" Hutch grumbled as he lay down on the bed "C'mon ya big chicken, I don't bite… much" He curled up on one side of the bed and put his head down. "Ahhh, now this is comfortable" He closed his eyes and ignored his irate friend. Starsky would get over himself in a minute or two.

Starsky glared at the dog on his bed. Hell! The damn thing was ignoring him. He walked over to the bed and glared harder. The dog started to snore. He was about to give it a push when he remembered something someone said… something about letting sleeping dogs lie. He pulled his hand back and tapped his foot. Finally he threw up his hands and crawled into bed on the other side, all the while grumbling quietly to himself, he turned off the light and he was asleep in seconds.

In the dark, Hutch cracked one eye open, gave a doggy smile and then truly drifted off to sleep.

xxxx

Captain Dobey was walking back to his car when he spotted the stuffed animal. It looked familiar, so he picked it up. It was a teddy bear. He looked at its face and felt a chill run up his spine. He looked at the teddy's right button eye. It was sewn on with red thread. He remembered the day that the eye had fallen off and the only thread he could find was red. He had helped Rosie sew it back on. The teddy was Southpaw. Rosie carried him everywhere. She would pace back and forth in front of the washer and drier until her bear was clean and dry. She would never just leave it lying around.

He whipped his head around, scanning the area, he didn't see her. He ran back to his car and checked the seats. She wasn't there. Then he remembered the uniformed cop chasing a kid out of the area… "Oh dear God, NO! Kramer! KRAMER!"

Officer Kramer ran up to the Captain "What is it sir?"

"That child, the kid you chased off, was it a boy or a girl?"

Kramer gave it some thought, "I guess I couldn't really tell, the kid had a hood over his head"

"What was the child wearing?"

Officer Kramer described the child's clothing and Dobey felt his heart squeeze until he thought it would never beat again. "That was my little girl, Kramer, you chased my child away!" He stomped angrily towards the man.

Kramer wisely backed away "Look Captain, I didn't know… really I didn't… how did she get here in the first place?" His question went unanswered as the Captain ran off to his car.

Dobey climbed in his car and had a call patched through to his wife. He wanted to make sure, very sure, that little Rosie wasn't home, asleep and safe in her bed. 'Please let her be home, please let her be home…' he prayed. But his prayer went unanswered. Rosie wasn't home in bed. She was somewhere in one of the most crime ridden parts of the city and she was all alone.

TBC