It was Hutch's day off, and he was planning to spend all of it with Starsky at the hospital. As he walked down the corridor, he passed a janitor that was starting to mop the floor. Hutch nodded to the man in acknowledgment, and continued to his friend's room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and Hutch didn't even notice that the janitor was staring at him as he strolled down the hallway.
Before walking out the front door of his apartment Hutch had picked up a book to read in case Starsky wasn't awake when he arrived. However, when he opened the door to Starsky's room, he saw that his hospitalized buddy was staring up at the ceiling.
"Counting the cracks on the ceiling again, are we?" Hutch smiled as his partner looked at him.
Starsky returned the grin while shaking his head negatively. "No, I finally got tired of doing that. I was just laying here thinking about Melissa and Ashley. Do you suppose that whoever did this to me is going to go after them, too?"
Hutch hadn't told his friend who the culprit was. Starsky knew about Melissa's abusive marriage, and when she had first told him about it, he hadn't been very happy, to say the least. If he knew that Stephen was his assailant, he would have been furious, and Hutch knew Starsky needed his rest in order to get well.
Because he didn't know what Stephen was after, Hutch could honestly answer Starsky's question. "I don't know. Whatever he wants, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't get it."
"Yeah, I know you will. Hey, what book did you bring?"
The brunette was soon sorry that he had asked. It was an informational book on the Venus fly trap, a plant Hutch had been considering adding to his collection. Hutch began rambling about what he had read up to this point, but stopped when he noticed that his chattering had put Starsky to sleep.
Laughing softly, Hutch said to himself, "Of course. I should have known this book would make him take a nap. Well, if it works, it works."
Starsky slept the better part of the day away, knowing his best friend would be there when he woke up again. The third time he awoke, Hutch was rising from the chair to leave.
"You're going already?"
"Starsk, I've been here all day. Melissa and Ashley are supposed to be coming by in a little while to see you, so try to stay awake, all right? I'll check on you tomorrow during lunch."
Hutch winked at his friend, then left the room. He passed the janitor a second time, and out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the strange man staring at him. Hutch suddenly had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.
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Melissa and Ashley were making their way to the hospital at that very moment. Ashley couldn't stop thinking about her mother's prayer from a few nights earlier. Even though she recalled very little about her father, Ashley did remember that he hit her...often. She couldn't ever figure out exactly what it was that she had done to cause the abuse, but she always tried to do better. It never seemed to work, though.
In any case, the child decided that Dave had to be told about her daddy coming after him. Her mom had no idea that she had heard her prayer, so Ashley had to talk to Dave alone.
"Ashley," Melissa said, "you're being awfully quiet today. Is everything all right?"
Nodding, Ashley responded, "I was just thinking about Dave. He is going to be okay, isn't he?"
Melissa smiled. "Of course he is. Hutch is going to make sure that nobody comes after Dave again."
Ashley hoped so. For some reason, she let her mind wander back to her father. The last time she remembered seeing him, she and her mother were pulling out of the driveway, and he was standing at the door of the house, yelling something at them. She couldn't make out what he was saying, and anyway, she was too busy crying to pay attention.
Ashley saw that her mom was turning into the hospital parking lot, and she asked, "Mom, can I talk to Dave first?"
Melissa agreed, and the mother-daughter pair proceeded to get out of the car and walk across the parking lot into the hospital.