Chapter Eleven

Hutch knocked on the door with a shave-and-a-haircut- rap and rang the bell as well for good measure. Starsky hid a smile. It was nice to see Hutch so eager and happy. A moment later, the door was flung wide by Mac.

"Come on in. Dave, go introduce yourself to my friend, Ali. She's in the garden, I think. Ken, I need your help with dinner."

"Happy to help with the cooking sweetheart but I need something first," Ken said and pulled Mac close for a kiss.

Starsky smirked and took himself off to the living room. As he walked through the open doors to the garden, he spotted a fair haired woman sat cross-legged on the ground with her back to him. She was wearing a ruby-coloured silk shirt above long light blue jeans with holes in. She was holding a sketchbook on her lap, drawing something in pencil on the large white sheet.

"Er, hi. You must be Ali."

The woman closed her sketch pad and turned to face him. Starsky was startled to see it was his art teacher. "Miss Brown?"

"No, you were right the first time. It's Ali. I'm only Miss Brown when I'm teaching. Nice to see you Dave. When Laura mentioned she had a cop friend called Dave, I didn't realise it was you."

Starsky settled himself down on the ground next to her, glad that he had ignored Hutch's advice about his wardrobe and was wearing his best blue jeans, not some stuffy suit.

"What are you drawing?"

Ali opened her sketch book and showed him pencil drawings of ferns uncurling. "I was trying to capture their sense of movement," she said pointing at the pot of ferns Mac had placed under a tree which had shiny green leaves.

"It's good."

"Thanks…From what I remember in the class where we did some sketching, you were getting pretty good yourself. Want to try?"

"Oh no…I couldn't."

"Go on," Ali said. She turned to a new page and handed Starsky the pad and pencil. "Just look at the line and shape to start with."

When Hutch came through to tell Starsky and Ali that dinner was ready, he was surprised to hear the sound of laughter. He saw his friend sat on the ground next to a lovely looking woman. They were both drawing ferns on a sketch pad and giggling as they did so.

Hutch cleared his throat. "Dinner's ready."

"Great, I'm starving!"

Starsky jumped to his feet and offered a hand to the smiling woman.

As they came towards Hutch, he held out his hand and introduced himself: "I'm Ken Hutchinson. You must be Ali. Glad to finally meet you. I've heard lots of good things about you."

The hand that took his was firm. "Me too…heard good things about you. Glad to finally meet you too."

Starsky interrupted: "You'll never guess Hutch…Ali's my art teacher!"

Hutch blinked. "She is?"

Ali grinned. "I'm afraid so!"

Hutch grinned back at her. "Well, you can tell me over dinner whether my partner behaved himself in your class."

Starsky stuck his tongue out at Hutch and asked, "When have I never not behaved myself?"

Hutch shook his head as he led the way to the dining room. "I keep telling you about those double negatives Starsk. You gotta stop using them."

"Yeah, yeah. I ain't never not gonna use them."

"Oh, it gets worse. That was a triple negative!"

"Was it? Hey, that's a first," Starsky said, looking very pleased with himself.

All three of them were laughing as they joined Mac in the dining room and settled down to eat dinner, talking like they were all old friends instead of relatively new acquaintances.

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

The conversation over dinner had been far ranging and filled with lots of laughter. As the four of them tucked into the apple pie Laura had made, Ali asked, "How long have you been partners?"

Starsky and Hutch replied at the same time: "Just over seven years." "Nearly eight years."

The silence that ensued was filled with surprise on Hutch's side and an air of resignation on Starsky's. Hutch's demeanour changed to one of controlled hurt and, suddenly, he only had eyes for his partner. It was as if Mac and Ali were forgotten and there was no one else in the room with them. Hutch fixed Starsky with a look that his partner couldn't pull away from: that special mental connection crackling into life and holding them together in a bond that couldn't be breached by anyone else. He pointed his finger at his friend and Starsky knew then that he was in trouble.

"Why'd you say that Starsk?"

"It's true," Starsky said quietly. "You know I've missed a huge chunk of my life, Hutch. I was stuck in the hospital for months, buddy, and then more weeks at home. You had to manage without me for a long time so I wasn't really your partner during all that time, was I?"

"Starsk, you will always be my partner. You're with me even when you're not with me." Hutch held out his hand to his friend, saying, "Me and Thee buddy. Remember?"

Starsky squeezed Hutch's hand briefly and nodded. "Yeah, I remember Hutch. Me and Thee always."

Hutch's look softened and he released Starsky from the mental union, that was so uniquely part of their friendship, and the world opened up again to include the two women sat either side of them.

Starsky turned back to Ali with a sheepish smile, saying, "In answer to your question, nearly eight years."

Ali smiled back at him, asking, "How long have you known each other all together?"

"We met at the academy…What eleven years ago? Or is it twelve?" Starsky turned to his partner for confirmation.

"Nearly twelve buddy…Is it really that long since the academy? Makes me feel old!" Hutch turned to Mac and asked, "How long have you two known each other?"

"Even longer," Mac said. "We met in High School and then we went our separate ways. I did nursing and Ali went off to do Art and Design at college but we kept in touch."

"When I moved back here and got my first teaching job, I looked Mac up and it was like we'd never been apart," Ali stated.

Mac agreed: "Yeah, it was great to have my friend back and since then we've been getting together at least once a week to catch up and maybe go out and do something crazy once in a while."

"Like what?" Hutch asked, looking intrigued.

"Ah, wouldn't you like to know?" Mac said, laughing.

Hutch and Starsky both protested at the same time: "You can't leave that thought dangling in front of us," and "Come on, give. What have you got up to?"

Mac looked at Ali. "What do you think? Shall we let them know some of the crazy stunts we've pulled?"

"I think if they do the washing up, their reward could be seeing some very incriminating photo albums. What about our trip to Disneyland? The one where we nearly got banned…"

Starsky and Hutch were up clearing the table and turning the taps on before Mac could reply.

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

Mac and Ali waved from the front door step as Starsky and Hutch drove away. When the two men were out of sight, they closed the door and returned to the living room.

"Do you want to stay tonight?" Mac asked, as she collapsed on the sofa.

Ali curled up in the comfy looking armchair and yawned. "If you don't mind, that would be great. I think I drank more than I should have. I feel a bit floaty."

Mac smiled. "No problem. I'll make up the spare room in a bit."

"No hurry."

The two women sat in companionable silence for a moment or two then Mac asked: "So, about tonight…What did you think of Ken?"

"I think he's lovely and I can see he makes you happy," Ali said.

"He does," Mac confirmed with a big smile on her lips. "And what do you think of Dave? So funny that he turns out to have been in your evening class!"

Ali blushed. "Yes, weird. ..Well, he's very handsome and he was really funny tonight…It's strange: he was quite quiet in class. Tonight was a revelation."

Mac fixed her with a look, asking, "In a good way?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Do you see what I mean about what I said to you the other day?" Mac asked. "It is a package deal with those two. I'm still getting my head round it."

Ali looked thoughtful. "Well, it's obvious they're really close and would do anything for each other but I think that's great. I mean I'd do anything for you, Laura."

Mac nodded. "I know. I'd do anything for you too."

Ali smiled and poured them each some more wine. She curled her legs up under her, ready to settle in for a long night's chat.

"Do you like Dave though?" Mac pressed. "You wouldn't mind him hanging around with us more…if things carry on going well with Ken, that is."

"Why wouldn't they? He seems crazy about you. Laura, you're my best friend. I'm already disposed to love the guy you love and I don't mind putting up with his best friend's company too."

Mac sipped her wine and asked, "But did you like him? What would you say if he asked you out?"

Ali grimaced. "I don't think he would. I mean he didn't seem at all interested in the ten weeks he came to my art class so this conversation is redundant really!"

Mac said, "Oh, I think he likes you. When you weren't looking this evening, he was studying you."

"He was?"

"Yes."

"No, I don't think you can be right…You really think he likes me?"

Mac laughed. "Oh yes, he definitely likes you but I promised my source I wouldn't say so you didn't hear it from me!"

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

Hutch was startled from his chat with his plants by a knock at the door. Reluctantly, he put down his watering can and went to answer it. It was Starsky. He was carrying a small cardboard box.

"Hi, come on in buddy. I wasn't expecting you until later."

Starsky headed over to the table in the kitchen and put the box down carefully. "Hey partner, if I get two beers out, could you get two plates, two forks and a large knife."

"Okay," Hutch opened cupboards and drawers and collected the requested items. When he saw Starsky taking a very gooey looking chocolate cake out of the box on the table, he asked, "Are we celebrating something? Did I forget it was one of our birthdays?"

"Nah, not a birthday…but it is exactly eight years since we became partners and I thought we should celebrate."

"Sounds as good a reason as any," Hutch said with a huge grin. "This is a really nice idea buddy."

Starsky cut them both a slice of cake and handed Hutch a beer.

"I got you something."

"Oh Starsk, you shouldn't have done that…That's not fair, not when I didn't know we were going to be celebrating this occasion. I've got nothing to give you."

"It's only a little something but it seemed right to give it to you today," Starsky said, as he stuck his hand into the cardboard box again and pulled out a piece of paper rolled up and tied with a blue ribbon. He solemnly handed it to his partner.

Looking curiously at Starsky, Hutch accepted the gift and untied the ribbon, carefully unrolling the sheet of white paper. It was covered with Starsky's scrawl but obviously his buddy had made an effort because it was just about readable. Comments had been added at a later date with another pen.

It was dated during the period Starsky had been in hospital and was titled Changes and Goals. Hutch slowly read the list while Starsky watched his friend's face carefully for his reaction to the words on the page:

Things that need to change and My goals for the future

Tom says I should make a list of what I really want. Some sort of psycho mumbo jumbo but I'm going to try! Don't know if it will do any good but maybe it will make things clearer in my mind. Here goes.

Change one: Get Hutch to sleep and go home! (Achieved)

Change two: Try something new – both of us. (Achieved)

Change three: Meet some non-crazy women – both of us! (Achieved)

Change four: Eat better – me – you will do it, Starsky. (Still trying)

Change five: Talk about our work future. Plan ahead – both of us. (Achieved)

Change six: Let other people in- but only people we decide together that we can trust. (Made a start)

Change seven: Plan our retirement - well, maybe not just yet! (Still to do)

Goal one: Get out of this damn hospital! (Achieved)

Goal two: Get back to work and back to my partner. (Achieved)

Goal three: Help Hutch get the good things he deserves. (Started but more to come!)

Goal four: Get married the same day as Hutch. (Working on this but looks hopeful!)

Goal five: Have a son so I can name him after Hutch, my best buddy. (Hopeful!)

Goal six: Make Hutch happy. (Only Hutch can say)

Well, I don't know where that all came from but I talked it over with Tom and he said I should try to work on at least two of my goals and two of my changes but, you know what, I'm going to do them all for my sake and Hutch's!

Starsky had added a note in larger writing at the bottom of the sheet. It was in black pen and it read:

Hutch

You're my best friend, my pal, my compass when I'm lost, and I'm so glad I know you.

I'm glad you've got Mac in your life and I wish you all the happiness you deserve. I hope that I can find the same thing with Ali so I can achieve goals number four and five!

Thank you for being my partner for these eight years, for having my back, for never giving up on me. Here's to another eight and another and another!

Love you buddy.

Me and Thee always.

Starsk

"That's beautiful Starsk," Hutch choked out. His eyes were filled with unshed tears and he gave his partner a beautiful smile. He put the paper carefully on the table and pulled his friend into a warm embrace. "Thank you."

When they pulled apart, Hutch asked, "Am I allowed to write something on your list?"

"If you want to."

Hutch found a pen and jotted something as Starsky looked over his shoulder. Next to Goal Six, he had written ACHIEVED!