CHAPTER 11

Hutch sat beside Starsky watching him carefully. It had been two days since they had discontinued the medication that was keeping him in a drug induced coma and he was finally showing the first signs of trying to fight his way to consciousness. A twitch of his cheek, a barely noticeable flexing of his fingers, the gentle rolling of his eyes underneath the closed lids. As he inched closer and closer to consciousness, the heart monitor beside the bed tracked his progress too, slowly increasing as his heart beat faster, a sign that he was becoming mildly agitated.

"Come on, Starsk…." Hutch murmured to him reassuringly, as he gently patted the back of his left hand. "You can do it….open those eyes for me…." He lifted his hand and gently ran his fingers through the thick unruly curls, smiling as he let one twist around his fingers. "Come on, Starsky…..wake up for me."

Rachel would be there soon and Hutch hoped that Starsky would be awake by the time she got there. She would be so pleased and happy. But Starsky seemed to have some ideas of his own and wasn't about to be rushed. For the past two days, both Rachel and Hutch had reassured him constantly that he was safe now and in the hospital but there was no way of knowing if he had even heard them or understood what they were trying to tell him.

Hutch caught his breath and held it as Starsky's eyes opened just a slit, enough that the tall blond could see just a hint of sapphire blue. "Starsky?" he whispered cautiously, his own heart pounding with excitement "Come on, buddy….open your eyes. It's me….it's Hutch…"

Slowly, Starsky's eyes finally opened the rest of the way. But there was something wrong. Something terribly wrong. Those sapphire eyes stared sightless at the ceiling with no signs of recognition or even awareness in those cobalt depths. Hutch moved so that he knew he was directly in Starsky's line of vision but there was still no change in the dark haired man's level of alertness or awareness of his surroundings. Hutch's hand trembled as he reached out and rang the call button for a nurse.

The nurse and Rachel both came into the room at the same time. "David!" Rachel cried out when she realized that her son was awake, hurrying to his side and gently stroking his cheek. When he failed to respond to her or even acknowledge her presence, she looked at Hutch with a worried and frightened expression on her face. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know." Hutch admitted, meeting her eyes with a worried and concerned gaze of his own.

"I'll page the doctor." The nurse said, backing out of the room.

"David….baby….it's mama…." Rachel said in a soft cooing voice, stroking his cheek again and trying to get him to respond to her. But Starsky remained the same, staring at the ceiling and unresponsive even to the touch of his mother's hand.

The doctor came into the room and after a quick look at Starsky to access the situation, he suggested to Rachel and Hutch that they go to the cafeteria and get some coffee or something to eat. When they were finished in the cafeteria, he instructed them to go to the waiting room. He would talk to them as soon as possible about Starsky's condition. .He mentioned running some tests and a consultation with another doctor. His words did little to ease Rachel or Hutch's worried mind but they did as he asked.

Hospitals and doctors are notorious for making people wait, dramatically increasing both their stress level and their impatience. Unable to just sit still and wait for the doctor to tell them what was going on; Hutch paced the floor in the waiting room like a restless animal in a cage. Rachel finally sighed softly and said gently, "Hutch, please sit down….you're going to wear a hole in the carpet." She understood the tall blond's frustration and anxiety. She was just as anxious and frustrated herself. She had seen the total lack of responsiveness in her son's usually expressive eyes, and she knew that something was seriously wrong with her eldest child.

Finally, Doctor Parton and another doctor neither Hutch nor Rachel recognized joined them in the waiting room. "Let's go to my office, shall we?" Doctor Parton suggested before Rachel or Hutch could ask the doctors any questions. Once they were all settled in the doctor's office, Dr. Parton introduced his colleague "This is Doctor Adams. He's our chief of Psychiatry here at the hospital. I think it would be simpler for me to let him explain what seems to be going on with David."

Hutch and Rachel immediately focused their attention on the other doctor. He looked at them and smiled warmly. In a deep, baritone voice, he said, "From what I've been told about what happened to David in the past six months, his current mental state is no surprise. To put it simply, in order to deal with the pain and abuse that he was subjected to over such a prolonged period, his mind shut down. He retreated to a place deep inside of himself where the pain could no longer reach him…..and now he's lost his way. He doesn't know how to find his way back out."

"But he'll be all right, won't he?" Rachel asked anxiously "I mean with a little time and love…..once he realizes he's not in danger any longer…."

"I wish I could tell you that things would turn out that way for your sake and for Davids. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee that. The mind is a very complex and mysterious organ and in situations like this where the person has voluntarily retreated in order to survive….sometimes they never find their way back."

"That's not going to happen to my son!" Rachel said firmly, her voice rising slightly as she stared down the two doctors in front of her. "Not now….not after all he's been through…"

"I'll be keeping a close eye on him over the next several days. In a week or so, we'll re-evaluate his condition and I'll be better qualified to give you an opinion at that time." Doctor Adams told them

"What should we do in the meantime?" Hutch demanded, glaring at the doctors with ice blue eyes that bore both suspicion and contempt.

"Continue to talk to him, touch him, reassure him that he's safe and that you're there with him. Even though he may appear to be completely unresponsive, our preliminary tests indicate that he can hear you and he can follow simple instructions…he just isn't capable of communicating or acknowledging his surroundings at this time."

"Can we go back to his room now?" Rachel asked

"In a little while. We're going to move him to a private room on the second floor. His condition has improved enough that he no longer needs to be in the ICU." Doctor Parton informed her. "And early next week, I would like to go ahead and schedule the surgery on his leg, as well as get started on some simple range of motion exercises." He smiled encouragingly "Why don't you go on down to the second floor waiting room and I'll have a nurse come and get you as soon as we have David settled in his new room?"