Author's note: the events in chapter 26 are part of a dream I had last winter. I knew then that this was the way the reunion scene should play out. Finally, half a year later, and thanks to the help of all you good people, I'm ready to post it. It might, or might not be the reunion you hoped to see, but I hope I won't disappoint you and that you'll enjoy reading it.
Warning: these chapters contain a disturbing scene that might be viewed as senseless acts of violence.
Thanks to the usual suspects!
Chapter 26
They'd tried the front door, but nobody seemed to be home.
The barnyard was covered in silence. Starsky stood in the middle of it. His wife stood a little to the side. "You're sure he's here?"
Belinda answered thoughtfully, "Not a full hundred percent. No. But judging by his appearance, I think he was lucky enough to get this far. Besides, there isn't another farm around here for miles."
Taking a careful step forwards, Starsky meticulously watched the surrounding buildings. They were standing in front of the main house. The wings consisting of large stables and a wide barn containing a hayloft, enveloped the yard like two surrounding arms, leaving an open space to serve as the road entrance where the two arms met.
The barnyard was covered with soft white sand, with pavement heading alongside the buildings. A few white-cottoned clouds in the otherwise crystal blue afternoon air covered part of the farm in cold shadows.
"Hutch?" Starsky's raw uncertain voice was clearly audible across the yard.
He closed his eyes for a second, shutting out his wife, trying to focus on the feelings Lilly had managed to draw out of him an hour ago. What to say to a man he wasn't even sure really existed? What to say to a man whom he'd only seen fleeting images from on television? Who might be the ruthless killer everyone made him out to be?
The brunet opened his eyes, clearing his throat to try again. If there was any truth to the life he'd been leading so far, he would find out now. He decided to just go with the flow and let his senses guide him.
"Hutch?" His voice was firm now, as he started to walk across the yard. Belinda, who had been raised on a farm, had told him that if the man were hiding here, it would probably be somewhere near the barn area, so that was where he was heading.
"It's me… Starsky," he continued to walk. "Would you please come out? I'd like to talk to you."
A few chickens scuttled the dust in front of him as he neared the large barn. He stopped on the threshold, uncertain about what to do next. The dark, dusty space looked hostile, and empty. He walked inside.
"Do you even remember me?" He asked, letting his eyes wander over the barn's interior and the dark hayloft. "I remember you… Well, flashes of you really… I remember you running… then standing still and getting shot."
Starsky hesitated before continuing quietly. "I remember me going crazy over it."
A soft shuffling sound came from above. His head snapped up, suddenly certain that he wasn't talking to thin air. The certainty inside him kept whispering to keep talking. "… I don't remember 'why', though… sorry."
He sighed. "It's so frustrating not to remember. All I remember are some feelings… images."
He carefully walked on, soundlessly, because the floor was covered with a thin layer of dry straw. slowly his eyes got used to the dark as they stole over the shape of massive wooden beams above his head, almost running into the iron bulk of an old tractor as he did so.
"Were we close? Huh? Cos, I really don't know," he said, pulling away from the large metallic farm equipment and heading deeper into the barn. "All I know is I've got this empty feelin' inside me and it just won't go away... Look, if you'd just show yourself, talk to me, maybe we can make some sense of this mess we're in."
Silence.
"Damn," Starsky cursed, shaken a bit by his own confession. He was beginning to doubt Hutch was even here. Maybe it was just a rat he'd heard. However, his heart was telling him a different story, and that ruled his actions right now.
"Hutch…" he continued softly. "I know you're here…"
He turned around, walking slowly back towards the exit. "I know you didn't do it… I know you loved that kid, I-" The brunet stopped talking and walking at the same time. He looked up, confused as to how he would know that.
An image of a daisy drifted by.
"Hutch, the flowers… D' you remember the flowers?" He shook his head, and lowered it with a snort, trying to get a grip on himself as he felt like a crazed preacher man talking to the sky to no one in particular… about a bunch of flowers. "Don't know what that means either though…"
"Me and thee, buddy."
The soft spoken voice descending from the loft seemed to freeze all motion, both outside and inside his body. Starsky felt his heart skipping a few beats as Hutch's presence instantly filled it, making him realize that he wasn't crazy. All the stuff he'd been dreaming, seeing, hearing, all of it… was real. All of it… was part of him. All of it… was true.
"Yeah," he smiled, looking up. "Yeah."
The familiar voice did something else, it triggered a memory. He saw his partner pulling back from him as they were standing in a long dark corridor belonging to a large house, and he heard his own angry voice echo from the past. What about… me and thee? Huh? Buddy? What happened to that? Slowly the image began to make sense
Starsky started to walk around again, his eyes never leaving the loft. Now that he knew Hutch was up there, he could go up, and search for him. But he didn't want to do that. It was better if the man was to come to him.
"Hutch… I remember the trust we had… I-" he halted as suddenly, a whole load of emotions flooded into his voice.
Your soul will remember… Delilah's words, he recalled them.
Tears stung his eyes. "I… Jesus… Hutch… we were… partners…" he stopped as he realized he was ranting. Desperately, he threw his hands in the air. "Will you come out now, please, huh?"
The silence was penetrated by another soft spoken reply. "They'll kill me… Starsk."
The brunet bit his lip, shaking his head. "No, I won't let them… You didn't do it! You-"
Another memory ruthlessly pushed aside all other images: They were standing in a large storage area… surrounded. He saw the blond, gun in hand… ordering him to get out. He gasped at the sudden scene replaying in his head, the words he'd said back then and the words he kept hearing now. Are you crazy! They will kill you!
"You… you threw me out." He spoke softly, facing the floor in astonishment, trembling all over as he started to recall the whole event. "Jesus… you held them off."
He looked up as his eyes started to water. "You got shot… I saw it… And I left you there. Oh… God… I just… left you there!" Too overwhelmed with shock, his anger took the opportunity to slip out. "God dammit, Hutch! Will you come out, now! Please!"
Silence descended once again, around him and in his heart.
A noise came from behind him, from the hayloft. Starsky turned to see Hutch standing there, beneath a sturdy wooden ladder. He wasn't just an illusion, he was real.
His friend… Feelings rushed him. Tears stung his eyes again as he took in the site. A feeling of protectiveness he hadn't felt in a long, long time covered him like a warm blanket. Hutch stood there, looking forlorn, lost, much like he did when they both had arrested Ben Forest.
That memory made him gasp.
The silent blond man in front of him looked so much worse right now. His eyes were sad, broken. Still, Hutch tentatively reached out with one hand as if trying to touch a mirage, not really sure it was there. "Starsk?"
The soft spoken word caused something to explode in the brunet's head. And he remembered. Oh God he remembered… everything! He took a staggering step forwards to slowly close his fingers around his partner's hand. It was shaking. He grabbed it more firmly, feeling the tremors shooting through the both of them.
The warmth… Hutch was real. All of this was real.
He shook his head, too overwhelmed and just smiled.
"I… I had to get you out of there… I couldn't let… Forest-" Hutch's quivering voice was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. "It wasn't your fault … It-"
Starsky just pulled him in, holding him tight in a hug they both so very much needed. He closed his eyes, drinking in the reality and letting a few tears slip.
Hutch just mumbled through a few tears of his own, "You couldn't help it… you couldn't."
The sounds of multiple car engines grew louder, apparently closing in on their position. They let go of each other, and the blond took a frightened step back. "Starsk, I didn't do it… I …"
The helplessness Starsky saw coursing through his terrified partner broke his heart. "I know."
As the blond was standing there, watching the road from the barn entrance in apathy, the brunet knew Hutch had come to the end of the line. He was too tired to hide anymore, too tired to fight.
"I know," he repeated steadfastly as six cars entered the barnyard.
It was too late to run.
Chapter 27
Belinda stood at the sideline, watching. Tears streamed down her face as she recognized the scene for what it was: the reunion of two lost souls. She knew it was right, she knew she'd been wrong, and that she had made a terrible mistake by calling in the troops. Her attention drifted towards the car's driving up the dirt road.
"Protect him!" She shouted as she headed for the first car to head it off, determined to undo what she had done, if it wasn't already too late.
"Bell!" Starsky yelled in fear, but was unable to move, or go after her. He had just found Hutch. He couldn't just leave him again.
Belinda turned halfway, shouting again, angry this time. Her voice sounded shrill, and tearful, "Protect him!"
The dust settled as the cars halted their forward motion in front of the woman standing in their paths. Doors opened, releasing at least three men per car.
Starsky pushed Hutch back beneath the dark recesses of the hayloft, and reached for his gun.
The crowd, consisting of at least twenty people, started to move in his direction as soon as they'd spotted the brunet.
"Listen to me!" Belinda shouted.
Walking in the front line, Helen and her three brothers stopped to look at her.
"You're making a mistake! You're condemning an innocent man!"
"Innocent?" Helen spat out the words. "I saw that man with the blood of Tommy on his hands!"
"He didn't do it! It was probably a setup!"
One of Helen's brothers took a step forwards. "I remember your voice. You called us; gave us this location. You were on our side? What happened? Did he get to you?"
"No, no, no," unable to conceal the despair in her voice, his wife's eyes flew back to Starsky.
Suddenly, sounding from an unseen position in the crowd, Karl's voice rang through the air, shouting out loud, "There he is!"
They all spotted Hutch standing slightly concealed behind the brunet. The bloodthirsty, angry crowd rushed forwards.
Starsky's heart sank into his stomach as he saw his wife being roughly thrown aside. She hit the sand with a dull thud. He looked over his shoulder, spotting his partner taking a step back. Their eyes locked for a moment. The familiar feeling of speaking without words, told the brunet of the pure terror now coursing through the blond's body.
Turning his attention back onto the crowd, Starsky pulled out the gun, which he'd taken out of the glove compartment earlier and had tucked into the back of his pants. He aimed, yelling a warning, "Get back!"
But he might as well have tried and stop an oncoming storm, they didn't listen. He shot one round in front to Helen's feet.
She skidded to a halt.
"Get back! Don't come any closer!" Starsky yelled fiercely.
The crowd behind Helen surged forwards, moving Helen along with them. For a second, Starsky hesitated, torn between saving his partner, and shooting at innocent people gone crazy by the crowds killing mentality.
Someone yelled at Hutch in hateful aggression. "GET HIM! GET HIM!"
The moment of indecision passed as fear seemed to close an icy hand around his soul. "GOD DAMMIT, HE DIDN'T DO IT! HE DIDN'T DO IT!" Starsky was about to fire another warning shot, when a vicious kick in his back, coming from behind, sent his gun sailing through the air… and well out of reach.
He fought off his attacker, who tried to lock his arms behind him, only to have to fight off three more men, while the rest of the crowd ran past him. "NO!" Caught in the fury of the fight he managed to catch a glimpse of a dozen people descending on his partner. "HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" He yelled in despair as he realized he couldn't stop them.
"HUTCH!"
Hutch tried to back away, but there was no escape route left. One man gave him a full blow to the face. He tried to block it, but couldn't block the next one directed at his stomach, or the next one, or the next one.
With each kick the crowd seemed to go more berserk.
He fell down on his knees, and was beaten to the ground where he curled up in a useless attempt to protect himself.
Starsky managed to shake off his attackers as their attention momentarily shifted to the aggressive attack going on in the barn. He didn't waist any time, and ran for the commotion.
"DAVID!"
Belinda's panicked scream made him turn just in time to see Karl aiming at him. With his own gun no less.
Karl smiled.
Starsky stood way out in the open. There was no place to hide. Karl… The man who'd set them up, who'd driven them apart, who'd destroyed his memories, his life… now tried to kill the both of them.
As Karl fired, Belinda jumped in front of the man… and sank to the ground. Shock riddled the brunet's face, but Karl only smiled, and fired again.
No bullets, no sound. The gun was empty.
Starsky didn't wait to see what happened next. He spun around, tears stinging his eyes as he thought of Belinda, her words still ringing in his ears. Protect him!
He dove headfirst into the wild crowd, screaming, beating, and viciously fighting people off. He reached his partner who was lying on the floor, desperately trying to protect his head and chest area… unmoving. He realized Hutch had lost consciousness.
Starsky did the only thing he could think of, and threw himself onto his partner, protecting him from the blows that kept coming, cashing them in himself. He heard the crowd yelling crazy lines like: Get him off! Get them apart! And going even crazier when Starsky held on to his partner like a pit bull.
The scene became surreal. In the midst of the beating, pulling and shoving, the close touch with his partner finally broke down all remaining barriers. He remembered holding him when Forest had first drugged the blond, he remembered Hutch taking care of him after he'd been shot in that restaurant, he remembered Terry; he remembered Gillian.
He remembered what had happened when Karl had injected him. He remembered the forgetting… the pain… the broken bond… so this time, his heart, his soul, his body held on… tight.
Sirens suddenly shattered the air. Reality, presented by half of Bay City's police force rushing onto the scene apparently knocked some sense into the heads of these people, for the beatings stopped.
Within no time the crowd had dispersed.
Groggily Starsky unwind his cramped muscles, stiffly letting go of his partner. He put his feet beneath him, and slowly stood up. Blinking he took in the scene. A dozen or more police cars had come to a halt, their blue and red lights ricocheting off the walls and faces alike.
Both Hutch and his wife Belinda were lying still on the ground.
He closed his eyes, biting his lip to fight back tears. He knew his wife was dead. He opened them again to look at his partner. Unconsciousness had left the blond no longer curled up in a ball, badly bruised, but still alive.
He got down to his knees and picked him up. The man had lost such an amount of weight that he wasn't even heavy. Silently he carried him past the barn doors, and out into the open. He stopped for a brief moment at the body of Belinda. He closed his eyes, pushing away the grief he knew had to be released sooner or later. He could mourn her later. Right now he had to focus on the living. Then he walked on, carrying his friend away from there.
Tbc
