Chapter 30

Starsky prowled the small hospital room like a caged panther – albeit a panther with a heavy limp and a bandaged arm and chest. He wanted out and he wanted out now and for the hundredth time he looked out of the window down to the parking lot for signs of Hutch's LTD.

It was 8 days since he'd been brought into memorial suffering from three gunshot wounds. Two, those in his forearm and thigh had been cause by Dr Isaac. The third, the one that sliced open a red, bloody trail across the ridge of his shoulder was the legacy of the shot Hutch had taken to get to Isaac. All three wounds were healing well, but after the previous month of incarceration in Isaac's hospital, Starsky was more than glad to be going home.

That night, 8 days ago, Hutch had carefully untied Starsky from the chair and had carried the brunet from that white room. He had fussed over Starsky until the curly haired cop had showed signs of regaining consciousness and then had finally left his buddy to go to the mock nurses' station and call for an ambulance, a coroners wagon and Dobey, in that order. The ambulance arrived first and was loading the brunet into the back when Dobey's car arrived in a blaze of lights and cacophony of sirens. It had taken the blond cop a long time to try to explain to his Captain what had happened. Shock had set in and Hutch shook uncontrollably so that eventually the ambulance technician took control of the situation, threw a blanket around Hutch's shoulders and installed him in the ambulance too.

Captain Dobey stood at the door of the vehicle and looked at his two men. Starsky was once more awake, hooked up to drips and monitors and whilst Hutch was being treated, the black man looked at the blood soaked, curly haired cop.

'Can you tell me what happened?' he asked Starsky.

'Hutch shot me, that's what happened.'

'You mean…..' Dobey leaned in to keep his voice from carrying over to Hutch. 'You mean he's still not right?' Dobey hissed, touching the side of his head with his finger.

Starsky grinned weakly. 'He's fine. I'm fine. We're good Cap'n. We both remember who we are. Hutch just shot me, that's all.'

'It was all I could think of to do to save his life' Hutch mumbled through chattering teeth.

'You mean you meant to shoot him?'

Hutch nodded. 'Course. He told me to.'

'You did?' Dobey asked Starsky.

'Kinda, yeah.'

'And you tell me you're both fine?'

'Absolutely.'

The Captain took a step back shaking his head and looking from one man to the other. So long as he lived there would always be times when he just didn't get it. This was one of those times. He closed the ambulance doors still shaking his head and watched as the big white vehicle set off to the hospital. Only in the days that followed did the Captain get the full story from Hutch and later Starsky and when Hutch filed his full report and the coroner had finished with Dr Isaac's body the case was finally closed.

Three days later, whilst Starsky was dozing on his bed and Hutch was sat at his side poring over a crossword puzzle, there was a knock on the door. The blond looked up, expecting to see Huggy or Dobey. His smile turned to a frown when the two FBI agents walked into the room and came to stand at the foot of the bed. Gently Hutch prodded his partner awake. Starsky opened one eye and regarded the two suits balefully.

'Well if it aint Laurel and Hardy' he mumbled and shuffled up higher in the bed.

'Detective Starsky, we're um…..we're glad to see you feeling better.'

'Yeah, I just bet you are.'

'What do you want?' Hutch asked, throwing his crossword puzzle down on the bed.

'Is that any way to greet the men who're here to revoke the warrants for your arrest Detective?'

'Fine, you've revoked 'em. They should never have been issued in the first place' Hutch snapped.

'Your actions amd Detective Starsky's connections……'

Starsky cocked an eyebrow. 'My connections to what, or who?' he asked.

'Why to Joseph Durniak of course. With your background……'

Starsky flung the sheets on his bed back and was half way out of it, wrestling with the drip needle in his arm before Hutch managed to restrain him. The two men leaned heavily on the table bearing the remains of the brunet's lunch. 'If I had two workin' arms I'd show you what my "connections" mean' Starsky snarled.

The agent smiled. 'Now see that's the Starsky we've come to know and love. The one that loses it at the drop of a hat. We'll be leaving now gentlemen. The case involving Durniak is now closed.

Starsky shrugged Hutchs arm away.

'What do you mean closed? Hey….c'mere.'

The two suits stopped at the door. 'It's closed. Once again your luck has saved your career.'

The angry brunet looked around him. With one arm strapped to his chest for support and with his leg still strapped heavily he could do nothing more strenuous than pick up his half eaten bow of Jell-o and throw it at the door. The desert spattered harmlessly against the wall but the sentiment was heartfelt. The suits left swiftly and Hutch snorted softly.

'Wow! Great aim Starsk. Next time try somethin' really hard, like a pillow. That'll show 'em.'

But Starsky was gazing sorrowfully at the mess on the paintwork. 'Damn' he said quietly. 'What a waste. It was Strawberry, my favourite.'

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Hutch pulled into the parking lot at 3.00pm much to Starsky's relief. He'd had pain meds, a promise of steroid injections into his shoulder and a paper sack containing antibiotics and more pain meds. He stood at the door to the room and drummed his fingers on the door as Hutch walked along the corridor with a small case containing his clothes. Within 5 minutes he was dressed and had hijacked the nearest nurse for a wheelchair.

At the door to the hospital, Starsky got up, kissed the nurse on the cheek and followed his partner to the waiting car.

'Took you long enough' he grumped as Hutch pulled out into the traffic.

'I had to finish the reports and since I had no help….'

'I can't type. My hands all bandaged up' Starsky waved the bandage triumphantly.

'What about the other hand?' Hutch snapped. Paperwork was not his favourite pastime and he'd had enough of it in the past week to last a lifetime.

'Uh uh. The Doc said bedrest.'

'You can type in bed.'

'Not with your hands full of pretty nurse you can't. What did Dobey say?'

Hutch sighed. 'He said no.'

Starsky sat up straighter in his seat. 'No? He can't refuse. He said no last time and look what happened.'

'According to the powers that be Terry Nash is dead, and now Isaac is dead too. You know there are bigger fish behind this and I know there are too, but the FBI in their infinite wisdom have once again closed the case.'

Starsky's fist slapped into the window of the car and he grimaced. 'What about the guys working with Isaac? He didn't do this all on his own. There were others behind this. They're the ones we need to get to. This isn't over.'

'You said that last time Starsk. I agreed with you then and I still do, but Dobey won't hear of us taking them on and the Feds say they don't exist.'

'So once again we chalk it up to experience huh?'

Hutch shrugged. 'I guess that's about the size of it, yeah.'

'I don't believe it. I can't just forget. It doesn't work like that. I mean….I just……oh my God!'

Hutch slammed on the brakes. 'What? Are you ok? What?'

Starsky looked over his shoulder back up the road. 'Oh my God Hutch! Did you see that?'

'What? Someone you recognise?'

'No.'

'Then what?'

'That girl, with the ass and the long legs and….'

Hutch's foot hit the gas so hard that Starsky was flung back into his seat. 'Starsky, so help me if you ever look at a girl's ass again….. It's dangerous, with a capital D. If you remember the last time Dave Starsky drooled over a girl's ass he woke up as Ethan Quade.'

Starsky grinned and settled back into his seat. 'Yeah, true but what's life if ya can't live dangerously and have a whole lot of fun huh?'

'There's fun and then there's…. Starsk, there's another one there. Are they all linin' up just to taunt us?'

Starsky leaned his head back against the headrest. 'They're just here to celebrate the fact that we're back.'

'We?'

'Yeah. Starsky and Hutch. *We're back, we're bad, you're blond an' I'm mad. Me and Thee, Who else?'

*With apologies to Lethal weapon!