Chapter Five

At Starsky's insistence, Hutch went back to spend the night at the academy. He phoned Huggy from a payphone in reception and arranged to meet him the following day to check out the apartment and see what they could recover from it. Then he went to find Hank to tell him what had happened. He found him playing pool with Evans in the campus bar.

"Hey, Hutch, what are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," Hutch said wearily, as he sat down at a table near the darts board.

Hank took in the tired lines on Hutch's face and said, "Let me get you a beer and then you can tell us all about it."

The young man went to the bar and was back in short order with beers for all three of them.

"Thanks." Hutch took a sip before he said, "Starsky's in the hospital."

"What happened?" Evans asked.

"There was a fire at Starsky's apartment. It was set deliberately. Whoever did it waited until I went out for a run and then started the fire. Starsky was still asleep in bed. He's suffering from smoke inhalation. Luckily, his neighbours must have seen the flames and smoke almost as soon as it started, and called the fire service straight away, or it could have been much worse."

"That's awful!" Hank said. "Who do you think started it?"

Hutch looked at him with an angry expression. "I think it was my ex…but there's no proof yet."

"Oh boy. Really. You think she would really do something like that?"

Hutch sighed and drank some more of his beer. "I don't know. I can't think of anyone else who'd want to hurt me or Starsky."

"How long has Dave got to be in the hospital?" Evans asked.

"They'll probably let him out on Monday. He's not allowed to go to lessons this week and no PT next week. He's hardly got any voice and he keeps coughing but the doctor says there's no permanent damage to his lungs."

"Well, that's good it's not worse," Evans said.

Hutch took another sip of his beer and then said, "I'm afraid we might have to cancel our plans for tomorrow. I'm meeting a friend at Starsky's place in the morning. We're going to see what we can salvage and how bad the damage is. I don't know even know if I still have a wallet. If not, I haven't got any money for eating out until I can get to a bank on Monday and, anyway, I want to spend as much time at the hospital with Starsky as possible. He's very bored!"

Evans and Hank chuckled. Hutch finished his beer and then stood up. "Think I'll go get some shut-eye. I'm beat."

"Hutch?" Hank's voice stopped Hutch from leaving. "We'll come with you tomorrow. You'll need suitcases and bags to put your belongings into – we've got ours that we used to come here. You might be glad of some extra pairs of hands. I reckon it'll be a messy job."

"Thanks, fellas. That would be really great. Meet you at reception around ten tomorrow."

Hank and Evans nodded as Hutch went off to get some rest, ready for what he was sure was going to be an emotional morning.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Oh brother, that looks bad, real bad." Huggy was the first to speak, as the cab pulled up outside Starsky's apartment. Even from the sidewalk, they could see the damage was pretty extensive. Huggy paid the driver and then the four of them clambered out and collected the suitcases and bags they had brought with them from the trunk of the cab. Once they'd slammed the trunk shut, the cabbie sped off.

They made their way up the steps and Hutch opened the badly burned door. The scents of damp furnishings and the smell of lingering acrid smoke were very strong and all of them tried not breathe too much in. One side of the apartment was pretty much destroyed. The sofa Hutch had been sleeping on was a melted, black mess filled with holes where the foam had been burned away. Fortunately, the flames didn't seem to have reached as far as Starsky's bedroom, Hutch noted, so some of their clothes and other belongings might be salvageable.

Huggy spoke: "Reckon we start with the easy stuff first. Evans, Hank, why don't you see what clothes you can find and bag up. Everything's gonna need a wash or two to get rid of the stink of smoke. I'll see to that…Hutch? How about you and me see what's left in the kitchen and in here?"

Hutch nodded and he and Huggy set about opening what was left of the kitchen cabinets. Most of them on one side were destroyed. The one on the farthest right was still in reasonable condition and Hutch was relieved to see Starsky's monopoly box appeared undamaged. He took it outside and added it to the small pile of items that could be put into boxes and stored away at Huggy's.

Most of the kitchen utensils and equipment were melted or burned, they bagged up some things in black sacks and made a pile of bags to be thrown away. That was about it for the kitchen so they headed into the living room. Huggy checked the long thin cabinet by the door and Hutch was relieved to see his jacket with his wallet and watch was still intact and didn't smell too much. Evans came in with Starsky's wallet and Hutch put it into a small bag of things he was collecting to give to Starsky at the hospital.

The shelving unit where Starsky kept a lot of his books, collectible items and records had partially burned and collapsed. Huggy started pulling out pieces of Starsky's record collection from underneath the collapsed unit. He pulled out disc after disc, only to find that nearly all of them were cracked or melted. He heard a sound from Hutch and looked up to see he was standing in the middle of the room, glaring at the devastation. He was white-hot with fury. Huggy thought he looked like he was about to bolt and do something reckless.

Huggy walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Hutch? You okay? Only Starsky ain't gonna like it if I let you lose it over this, man. Just things, brother. Starsky's all right. All this can be replaced."

Hutch gradually calmed down. "Thanks, Huggy. I'm okay."

Evans and Hank came into the room, carrying bags of clothes and holding out a leather wallet.

"Is that Starsky's Dad's police badge?" Hutch asked.

"Yeah."

"Thank God…That would have been impossible to replace," Hutch said, with relief. He looked around the living room and shook his head. "I've just realised something. If Vanessa is responsible for this, she's going to have to pay."

Huggy looked at him uncertainly. "You're not going to do anything foolish, now, are you, my friend? Don't let that crazy woman make you do something that will affect the rest of your life."

Hutch smiled reassuringly. "No, that's exactly right, Huggy. She's the crazy one. Maybe she's the criminal one, too…and I'm going to be a cop. That's the thing, I'm going to be a cop."

Huggy looked at him with one raised eyebrow.

Hutch tried to explain what he was thinking. He looked at Hank and Evans. "Just between us?"

"Of course," the youngsters said.

Hutch took a deep breath and tried to put into words everything he was feeling; all that had gone before and what the future now held. "You know I'm waiting for the divorce papers to come through, and you've heard me say that my marriage didn't end well, but I've never mentioned any specifics to anyone except Starsky…While I was training to be a doctor, it was all right. Vanessa was happy but she got very angry when I quit and it all went downhill from there. She wanted everything her way and blamed me for cheating her out of a lifestyle she wanted and expected to have. She systematically set out to undermine my confidence. She ground me down to where I didn't know who I was anymore. Starsky rescued me…And now I'm doing what I wanted to do all along, training to be a cop."

The three men nodded.

"If I got called to a scene like this as a cop, I wouldn't hesitate to do my job. I'd investigate and help bring the responsible person to justice…but I'd keep to the law. What I'm trying to say is, I think I'm finally stronger than Vanessa. I know who I am, what my job is and nobody is going to make me lose sight of that. Nobody's going to make me operate outside of the law…even Vanessa. She doesn't have any power over me anymore."

Huggy patted his arm. "That's good, brother, that's good."

Hank and Evans nodded in agreement.

Hutch breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That realisation has been a long time coming but I'm finally there."

There was a knock on the door frame behind them, making them all jump slightly. It was Starsky's landlord, Mr Hayes. Hutch introduced everyone to him and then they walked around the outside and the inside of the building, assessing the damage and what would need to be done to make the place habitable again. When they were finished, they piled all of the bags of clothes and few possessions they had rescued into the trunk of the Torino and Hutch drove them all to Huggy's, where they offloaded nearly everything, and then he took Hank and Evans with him to go and see Starsky at the hospital. They enquired at the front desk and found that Starsky had been moved down from critical care to a room on a general ward.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Hey fellas, thanks for coming to see me and thanks for helping Hutch deal with things," Starsky rasped out after Hutch explained that Hank and Evans had been helping him clear the apartment before coming to visit him.

"No problem," Hank said. "Glad to help."

Evans nodded in agreement.

"Why don't you both sit down and I'll go get some coffees?" Hutch suggested. "Starsky, what are you allowed to have? Want anything?"

"Something cold, please," Starsky whispered back.

Hank settled on the chair and Evans sat himself carefully on the edge of the bed. Only Starsky noticed that Evans had winced slightly.

"How bad was it?" Starsky asked.

Hank and Evans exchanged looks before Hank said hesitantly, "The bedroom wasn't too badly damaged. We managed to rescue lots of clothes and some photo albums and other stuff you had in there."

Starsky nodded and gave them a thumbs up. "Living room?" he croaked out.

"Pretty bad. Hutch can tell you more."

Starsky leaned back, feeling pretty tired from the effort of that small bit of conversation. He leaned over and grabbed his pad. He wrote: "Records?"

"Sorry, I'm not sure," Hank said.

Hutch returned with the drinks and handed them around. Starsky held up his pad to him. Hutch winced as he read the question. "Sorry, buddy, I'm afraid those are all gone."

Starsky shook his head and wrote: "Never mind. Just things."

He leaned back and sipped the orange juice Hutch had given him. Suddenly, a look of panic crossed his face. He grabbed the pad and pencil. He wrote two words and shoved the pad at Hutch.

"Pop's badge?"

Hutch reached for a small bag, that he had left by the bedside cabinet, and pulled the badge out and handed it to Starsky, who took it with a huge sigh of relief and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Thanks, buddy," Starsky croaked to Hutch as he reopened his eyes. "Now, the truth…how bad?"

Hutch sat down on the bed next to his friend, facing him. "Structurally, it's mostly okay but the landlord says he'll have to gut the place and re-plaster most of it and then redecorate. It will definitely be out of action for a couple of months. Hopefully, it will be all done by the time we finish training."

"What have you hhh-hhh done with all the hhh-hhh things you recovered?" Starsky had started coughing again with the effort of talking.

"We dropped them at Huggy's. He's storing everything we managed to save. He's going to get a friend to help him wash our clothes for us. Some of them were pretty smoky but hopefully a couple of washes will see them right…Now, stop talking for a bit and get some more rest."

Starsky rolled his eyes. "Okay, Mom!"

Hank and Evans chuckled then stood up. Evans said, "We'll leave you to get some sleep. See you later, Hutch."

Starsky waved a hand to attract their attention. "Ricky? You okay?" he whispered.

Evans kept his face neutral as he answered. "I'm fine. You get well."

Starsky nodded and did a thumbs-up as he settled back against the pillows. The two of them left the room and Hutch looked enquiringly at Starsky.

Starsky grabbed his pad and pen again. "Keep an eye on him. Something's not right."

"Like what?" Hutch asked.

Starsky shrugged. "Don't know. Just something's off," he wrote.

"All right. I'll keep an eye on him."

Hutch settled into the chair next to Starsky's bed and they sat for a while in silence; Starsky dozed a little; Hutch read through the newspaper Starsky had left out for him. Starsky came to and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. Hutch looked up.

"Wallets?" Starsky asked, as practicalities started to occur to him.

"Luckily, yours was in your bedroom. Mine was in my jacket. Smells a bit smoky but it's okay." Hutch took Starsky's wallet out of the bag and handed it to his friend, who stashed it in the top drawer of the bedside cabinet.

"Your grandfather's watch?" Starsky asked with a worried look.

Hutch pulled it out of his jacket pocket. "Same thing. For once, I hadn't left it out on the coffee table!" he said with relief.

Starsky nodded and appeared to be doing a mental inventory of the apartment. He suddenly asked, "Hutch?...The little cabinet hhh-hhh near the front door?"

"Sorry, that was pretty badly damaged, buddy. The boxes inside all seemed to be melted into one big mess by the heat of the fire. We couldn't save any of it."

Starsky swallowed and placed one arm across his eyes. Hutch saw him swallow again and thought he saw a tear roll down one cheek. He moved to sit on the bed next to Starsky. He felt a lump form in his throat. He'd never seen Starsky upset before – angry, yes, but not sad like this.

"What was in there, buddy?"

Starsky grabbed his pad and pointed to the note he'd written earlier: "Never mind. Just things."

"But they were your things. It's okay to feel bad. I'm so sorry for all of this."

"Not your fault," Starsky whispered. "Things can be replaced."

"What was in there, Starsk?"

Starsky bit his lip and then wrote slowly on his pad. He filled the page while Hutch waited patiently for the answer to his question.

"Christmas decs. Ma and me got this tradition. I buy her one new Christmas dec every year and she buys me one. Sentimental worth - not important really."

Hutch hugged him and said, "Sorry. I don't know what else to say."

Starsky shrugged. He wrote again: "Never mind. Least I got Pop's badge – most important possession. Everything else can be replaced."

"Yeah…and you're still here…which is the most important thing of all," Hutch said, mentally starting a list of all the things he was going to try to help Starsky replace. Whatever Starsky said, he was at least partly responsible for his friend's belongings being destroyed and his home made temporarily uninhabitable. He owed him. Big time.

As if he could read his mind, Starsky shook his pencil at him and echoed an earlier conversation: "Stop that."

Hutch couldn't help smiling. "Okay, I'll stop. For now. Get some more rest."

"I can't, I'm starving. How long to dinner?"

Hutch looked at his watch. "At least an hour…Want me to get you a candy bar?"

Starsky grinned at him and wrote on his pad: "Best friend award goes to you!"

"Goof ball." Hutch chuckled all the way to the candy machine and back.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Starsky was fed up. He had been given permission to come back to the academy on Monday by his doctor; but only on the understanding that he attended no sessions at all for the first three days of the new block of training and that he missed all of his PT sessions for the following week at least. Hutch was taking all the orders from the hospital very seriously and hadn't even let Starsky out of his room for meals on the first two days. He and Hank had taken it in turns to bring Starsky a meal, go have their own and then come back for his empty plates. By Wednesday, Starsky was starting to feel like a prisoner.

While Hutch's mother-hen act was getting on his nerves, Starsky had been amazed at the transformation in his friend. The confidence he had been gradually building over the last two months of their training had quadrupled; Hutch was completely at ease talking to the doctors and nurses at the hospital about Starsky's treatment, as the medical training he had done years ago meant he understood the terminology they were using; Hutch had also taken charge with dealing with Starsky's landlord and rescuing any of their belongings that could be salvaged from Starsky's apartment. He wouldn't let Starsky go to see the damage yet and maybe that was just as well. In addition, Starsky could tell Hutch was enjoying looking after him – he realised that Hutch probably felt like he was re-paying Starsky for saving his life, giving him a home, and allowing him time to heal from his toxic relationship with Vanessa.

Vanessa. Starsky didn't know what to think about Vanessa. He and Hutch seemed to have swapped views on the matter. At first, Starsky had been sure that she had been behind the fire, now he wasn't so sure. Surely, there was a difference between controlling someone by emotional or physical discomfort and attempting murder? On the other hand, Hutch had refused to entertain the idea at first but now he seemed convinced that she had been behind it. There was a cleansing flame burning through Hutch; when he spoke of her, it was clear he wasn't in her thrall anymore; he was out from under her spell and determined to bring her to account one way or another.

For the moment, Starsky didn't have the energy to think about Vanessa, the future or anything else. He was bone weary - whatever he might have said to anyone who asked him. Although he'd grumbled loudly to Hutch about being treated like an invalid, secretly he was quite glad of the respite from training. He knew getting through the teaching sessions next week was going to be hard work and he wasn't quite ready to attempt PT as well - even if he was only willing to admit that to himself for now.

At least Hutch had agreed to let him out for dinner tonight. He needed to get out from staring at the four walls of his room or he'd go crazy. Maybe he could persuade Hutch to let him go have a beer afterwards but that might be pushing it. His train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door and he reluctantly dragged himself from the bed and went to answer it. The movement caused him to cough a little and he sighed with frustration. He opened the door to find the head of the Police Academy, Chief Stewart, was standing in the corridor.

"May I come in Cadet Starsky?"

"Of course, sir." Starsky's voice was still croaky, although it had improved a lot from the whispered squeak he had been making at the weekend.

Starsky pulled out a chair and offered it to Stewart and then sat down on the sofa.

"How are you feeling today? You sound a little better than when I saw you on Sunday."

"Yes, thank you, sir. I'm feeling…hhh-hhh…much better."

Annoyingly, his assurance was interrupted by a cough and the Chief raised an eyebrow. Starsky shrugged and tried to smile reassuringly.

"Well, see, you don't rush back to physical training until you're really ready," Stewart advised.

Starsky nodded.

Stewart pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket. "As you know, the results of exams for block one are published today. I thought you wouldn't be up to standing in line to find your name on the board so I've brought your results to you."

"Thank you, sir." Starsky took the proffered paper and unfolded it. He blinked and then grinned. He'd placed in the top ten for Traffic Control, in the top twenty for both AOJ and Introduction to Law Enforcement. He'd done better than he ever thought possible. Not bad out of a hundred cadets. For Defence Tactics, he'd been awarded Honours.

"Very well done, Cadet Starsky," Chief Stewart said. "You should be very proud. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, sir, I will…and thank you for coming to see me at the hospital and again today. I appreciate it."

Stewart stood up. "Well, I try to keep an eye on all of our cadets. We don't want to lose any if we can help it, especially not the promising ones."

Starsky went to stand up but Stewart waved his hand at him. "I'll let myself out. You get some more rest."

Starsky settled back onto the sofa and nodded. Stewart went out and closed the door behind him. Starsky looked at his results again and grinned. He thought about calling his Mom two days early to tell her the good news but he didn't want to worry her with how croaky he still sounded. Hopefully, by Friday evening, his voice would be much better.

As he made himself a drink, he wondered how Hutch had done in the exams. He couldn't wait to find out; he was sure his friend would have done well and it would hopefully cement his new confidence in place. Half an hour later, there was another knock at the door and, when Starsky opened it, he was surprised to see Bee.

"Hi."

"Hi yourself," he managed to say without coughing.

"Can I come in?"

"Yes, of course. Sorry, I was just surprised to see you." He tried not to cough but couldn't help it. "Hhh-hhh….Are you skipping a session?"

"No, I've got a study session. I'm supposed to be in the library researching Patrol Procedures."

Starsky ushered Bee to the sofa and sat down next to her. She took his hand and looked at him intently.

"I was really worried when I got back last night and heard about the fire and you having been in hospital. I saw Hutch this morning – he says you'll be back to all sessions except PT next week. He says you say you're improving. How are you…really?"

"I'm nearly good as new," Starsky said, then coughed again.

Bee raised an eyebrow at him.

"Honestly, I'm okay. The doc says my lungs haven't suffered any permanent damage…Hhh-hhh…It's just my voice is still croaky. He's just told me…hhh-hhh…not to do PT just as a way to get me better faster, really, I'm okay."

"I'm glad. I was really worried about you."

Starsky squeezed the hand that was still holding his. "You said that already."

"When I heard, I…"

Bee swallowed and then bit her lip. She looked at him and leaned forward, her gaze dropping down to his lips. Starsky leaned towards her and brushed his lips against hers. When she responded, he moved his hands to the side of her face, threading his fingers through her hair and pulling her in closer. Bee wrapped one arm around him and buried her other hand in the short curly hair at the back of his neck. After a few breathless seconds, they pulled apart.

"I should probably leave you to rest," Bee said, sounding unsure as to whether she was thinking of him and his health, or trying to escape from beginning what she had told him she deemed a distraction.

"Stay," Starsky said.

"I…I'd like to but-"

"No 'buts', just stay."

Starsky caressed Bee's face gently, willing her to accept what was happening between them, and she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she seemed to have made a decision. She stood up and Starsky felt a wave of disappointment. Then he realised that Bee was offering him her hand and moving towards his bedroom. He stood up quickly, took her hand in his and then kissed her as she walked backwards into the room. After he passed through the doorway, he pushed the door firmly shut.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Later, they lay wrapped round each other. It was a bit squashed in the single bed but neither of them minded. Starsky kissed Bee's shoulder and she snuggled against him even closer.

"This can't change anything," she said, sadly. "I've still got to focus on my career."

Starsky kissed her shoulder again and then held her tighter. "I know."

"I'm sorry. I'm not being fair, am I? I shouldn't have let this happen."

"I'm not sorry," Starsky said. "I like you. You like me. I know you've got to concentrate on your studies and your career. You told me that at the start. We'll just be a bit more than friends but I won't expect anything more for now. Maybe we can work on this being something more one day but, if not, I'm happy just to have this time with you and stay friends. Okay?"

Bee turned her face so she could kiss him. "I really like you, Dave. I care about you. If you still like me once we get through our rookie year, maybe we could see what happens? Would you be willing to wait till then?"

Starsky nodded and kissed her again.

"I won't hold you to it - like it's a promise or anything," Bee said. "If you meet someone else, that's okay, just tell me. If you don't…"

Starsky smiled at her. "I can't see me meeting anyone I'd like more than you but agreed…and same goes for you…You meet someone you like better, just let me know, okay. Don't keep me holding out for you if there's no hope."

They kissed again and then gently held each other. Starsky tried not to cough. Bee pulled away from him.

"I really better go and let you rest now. I've got to get to my next lesson anyway."

Reluctantly, Starsky let her slip from his arms and get out of bed. "I'll see you tonight at dinner?"

"Yes, of course, everything will carry on as normal. Or as normal as we can be." Bee climbed out of bed and slipped into her clothes and tried unsuccessfully to straighten her unruly hair. She laughed. "I'd better go brush my hair before I go to class."

"I think you look beautiful just as you are," Starsky said.

Bee blushed. She lent down and kissed him then said softly, "See you tonight."

Starsky put his arms up behind his head and smiled at her. "See you tonight."

Bee hurried out and Starsky heard her close the study area door behind her. He gazed up at the ceiling and couldn't help smiling.