Feedback: But, of course! You know I need it!

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing. I do feel like they own me, at times. But if I did own them (grin) I know how I'd use them...And how I'd let them use me…..

Authors Note: Things over the next few chapters are going to get much more serious. Warning: This chapter is going to deal with sexual assault, but not graphically, mostly the aftermath of it. Thanks to everyone reading it! Thanks for any and all reviews!

Chapter Nine

Jenny had awakened from her nightmare. One that Starsky was sure she'd have again. Heidi held her tightly, whispering in her ear, trying again to quiet her sobbing. Her tense body began to relax, her breathing slowed.

"I…I'm okay. You can let me go now." Jenny said.

"Are you sure, babe?" Heidi questioned. She could feel Jenny's body tense up again, as Jenny groaned and tried to push her away.

"You're hurting me!" Jenny yelled. Heidi had completely forgotten about the bruising Jenny had sustained. "And don't ever call me babe! Ever!" She ordered. She was staring deep into her cousin's eyes. At this moment, nothing about Jenny look even vaguely familiar to Heidi.

"Let her go, Heidi." Starsky instructed. Heidi looked around her cousin at Starsky, who gave her a nod, letting her know not to push the issue. She let go of her hold on Jenny. He had a feeling that the phrase 'babe' was not something she was going to tolerate anytime soon, if ever again. He also knew it probably had something to do with what the poor girl had gone through.

"Hey, Jenny why don't you come sit next to me for a while, 'kay?" He leaned forward showing his cuffed hands, flashing a million dollar smile. "I promise I won't hug you!" He joked, flipping his head, inviting her over.

She slowly crawled over to Starsky, wincing with certain movements. He could tell that she was in pain, both physically as well as emotionally. The sight tore him apart. She propped herself up against the wall on the left side of him, again drawing her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Protecting her space. She stared at the ceiling, letting out a deep, heavy sigh.

"Yeah, I know how you feel." Starsky said, joining her in staring at the ceiling and sighing.

"You think you know how I feel?" She said sarcastically.

"Well, maybe…Why don't you tell me how you're feeling, and I'll tell you if I was right."

"Nice try, but I don't really feel like talking about anything right now." She placed her chin on her knees.

"That's fine. We don't have to talk at all…If you don't feel like it, that is." He looked out of the corner of his eyes at her.

They sat in complete silence for several minutes.

"I hate them, Dave!" She finally spoke. "I really, really hate them!"

"I know kiddo, I hate them too!" He looked over and watched the tear fall. For now, that was all they needed to say.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Rebecca and another armed man were headed their way. Carrying their weapons out in front of them, making their rounds through the room. As they came to the trio against the wall Rebecca hesitated. She looked at Starsky, who addressed her first.

"So, I guess tonight's out of the question, hey sweetheart." She just stared at him. The look of disgust in his eyes seemed to bother her. "Hutch always said I knew how to pick 'em? Guess he was right! So what are the chances of you takin' these cuffs off 'ey?"

"I didn't mean for…" She wanted to explain herself, but he cut her off.

"Didn't mean what? Didn't mean to hurt any of these people? Didn't mean for any of this to happen? Well, forgive us for not givin' a damn about what you did or didn't mean to do!"

"I needed to find out where your partner was? I had no choice, I am sorry. Whether or not you believe me."

Jenny let out a noise. Not a cry, not a scream, not an audible word. Just a noise. Starsky looked at her.

"I'm sorry 'bout your friend there, too." Rebecca said to Starsky. He snapped his head back to look at her. That comment enraged him even more. He couldn't breathe for a moment.

"Sorry?!" He was staring at her with the coldest blue eyes, she had ever seen. "You have got to be kidding me?" They were lucky he was restrained.

Rebecca and her accomplice continued on their way. It took a moment, but then it hit him. She needed to find out where Hutch was? They didn't have him? Who did? Where the hell was he?

Starsky heard a commotion and loud voices. He looked up to see two of the armed men shoving two heavy-set men through the ballroom doors. He noticed they were dressed like the 'undertakers' he and Hutch had taken note of earlier.

XXXX

Hutch and five other agents from the FBI, including Bernstein, were all gathered around the table, staring at the audio box, listening for any information that could be helpful to them.

They heard a brief period of struggle and protest, nothing serious, just enough by the two agents, to make it believable.

The new hostages were shoved into the middle of the room. They took a seat on the floor like everyone else was. When their captors were far enough away, they spoke, of course, for the benefit of the men upstairs.

"I count nine so far, armed with semi-automatic weapons. Two stationed at the entrance from the lobby, two at the elevators, three by the kitchen, and two to the right side of the room by the window." In nothing more than a whisper, they relayed the information they had accrued so far. The two gunmen by the massive window would periodically peek through the blinds, assessing the situation outside.

The two agents looked quickly around the room, scanning it for the dark-haired detective, fitting the description their friend upstairs had given. Immediately they spotted a curly haired man, mid-thirties accompanied by two females, one late-twenties, one in her 'teens', both blonde, sitting against the wall near the back of the room.

They informed Hutch of their findings. The younger female seemed slightly injured, some bruising on her face and arms. His partner appeared to have his hands bound behind him, some minor injuries, but both seem to be fine otherwise.

Hutch thought for a moment, Jenny, facial bruising; Starsky, 'minor injuries?' No telling what he had gotten himself into. He could imagine how Starsky got his injuries, but what the hell happened to Jenny? He was hoping that Starsky's presence didn't have anything to do with Jenny's injuries, for his partner's sake. He knew how Starsky would blame himself. He was just thankful they were alright.

XXXX

"Hey Jenny?" Starsky started. "I need to ask you something…I need to know…" He stammered, stopping in mid-sentence, lowering his head to look at his jeans. He couldn't find the words. Heidi was sitting on the other side him, listening, trying to see how he was going to go about this delicate conversation.

"What is it?" She asked, not really wanting to go where this was headed.

He took a deep breath, but still didn't speak…pausing for what seemed an eternity. "It's about…I mean…I want to know…" He struggled once his voice finally returned.

"Dave, don't." She had to stop him. The lump in her throat was strangling her. Then it hit her. She was a victim, a victim of rape.

"I need to know which one of them 'hurt' you?" He asked as gently as possible. He was pretty sure what the answer would be, but he needed a positive ID on them. He wanted to know for sure, who was to blame.

She didn't answer right away. She noticed how he intentionally avoided the 'R' word! The nasty, four-letter word. Rape, that's what it was, but why did that word hurt so much to say? Why was there such a stigmatism attached to that word, especially for the victim. After all, she was the victim! But she felt guilt, anger, filth, shame, embarrassment. A whole plethora of emotions, she had yet to figure out. The physical pain she felt, was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling inside, deep inside. She didn't want anyone to know what had happened to her. No one could possibly understand, she thought. She never wanted to hear that 'R' word spoken. She couldn't even think about having someone ever touch her again. No, she would never allow that to happen.

"Please, don't ask me any questions." She begged Starsky, feeling herself gag. Oh god, she thought to herself, please don't let me throw up!

"Okay, it's alright. I'm sorry." He apologized. He knew not to push it, but the anger he felt towards these men, was consuming him. He needed to let it out, on someone.

They sat, once again, in silence.

The two new captives slowly made their way towards the three of them. Facing the trio against the wall, the older of the two gentlemen spoke…

"You Detective Sergeant David Starsky?" He asked in almost a whisper, barely audible to Hutch.

"How'd you know that? Who the hell are you?" Starsky questioned. Hutch sighed in relief at hearing his partner's voice.

"I'm Special Agent Owens. This is Special Agent Greene." He said pointing to his companion. "We're FBI/HRT division."

"You're 'who' with 'what'?" Starsky blinked, not quite believing what he'd just heard. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Hutch was listening, praying that Starsky kept his cool.

"Are you gonna get us outta here?" Heidi asked Agent Greene.

"We're working on that, babe." He responded. Starsky saw Jenny cringe. "Just keep your voices down. Your partner's upstairs as we speak, with Special Agent Bernstein."

"Hutch? He's alright? You've got him? What happened?" Starsky rattled.

"There's time to explain that later." Owens said, looking at both Starsky and Jenny, who had yet to speak, assessing their injuries. "Are you two okay?" He asked, reaching out to touch Jenny's arm and examine her injuries. Jenny quickly pulled away, startling the agent.

"Don't touch her." Starsky warned them. "She's fine, just don't touch her."

He looked back at Starsky, "What the hell happened to her?"

Starsky looked at him, shaking his head. "I said, she's fine, let it go!" The agent found the look in Starsky's eyes threatening. Hutch knew something bad had gone down. He hoped the agent dropped it, like he was told.

Jenny sat closer to Starsky, her thigh touching his. It felt like she wanted to crawl behind him, between him and the wall, if she could. She felt protected by him. Safe. Which Starsky found ironic. She trusted him, only him.

xxxxxxxxxx

Rebecca walked over to the group of hostages. "Great, if it ain't the wicked witch of the west coast." Starsky said curtly to her, wanting to get a rise.

"Listen," she started. "I just wanted to let you know, they're planning on taking some of you guys with us when we leave here." Her eyes were darting back and forth through out the room, trying to keep an eye out for her co-conspirators.

"Why are you telling us this?" Starsky asked.

"Thought you'd like to know that your little friend there is one of the lucky people they've chosen to take with us." She said quickly, signaling at Jenny with her head.

Hutch who was still listening in, glared at Bernstein. "You can't let this happen." He said.

Starsky looked at Jenny who was looking up at him. He couldn't stand the look in her eyes. Now he knew what deer in the headlights meant. He felt her whole body start to shake.

To Be Continued

Chapter Ten

"You can't let them do that. They can take me, but not her!" Starsky pled. "Look, you obviously told them I was a cop. I'm a much better hostage. No cops gonna hurt another cop. You have to convince them to leave her here!" He had to get these damn cuffs off. "Get the keys to these cuffs, tell them I have to go to the bathroom, anything! Just do it!" He was beginning to feel desperate.

Hutch felt the hopelessness his partner was feeling. He could hear the fear in his voice, even through the crappy wire the agents were wearing.

"I'll see what I can do, no promises! I don't have a lot of say here. None of this part was planned. It's not my fault."

"Well sister, as far as I can tell, you're as much to blame as the rest o' them. You had a choice and you made it!" Starsky dismissed her justification for her actions. She stormed away.

"You can't let them take her, Dave. Not after all she's been through." Heidi cried.

"I know." He said quietly, with his head down. He looked back at the agents sitting in front of them. "Whatever the plan is, it better happen soon." He warned. He looked back at Jenny; he wasn't going to let them take her again!

XXXX

Inside the suite on the top floor, Agent Bernstein was briefing his men. Laid out on the table was a blueprint of the hotel. There was approximately ten agents, plus Hutch, listening in. During the briefing the other officers were either checking their weapons, or securing their bullet-proof vests.

"I'm sorry Detective, you're gonna have to sit this one out." Bernstein informed Hutch. He explained that it was against regulations for him to be allowed to be involved in any tactical operations.

"With all due respect to your agency sir, but you know what you can do with your regulations! It's your fault he's down there in the first place." His face turning red with anger. "You think I'm gonna trust you jerks to save his ass?"

"Now look Hutchinson," he sounded just like Dobey! "I know you're upset, I don't blame you. But you don't have a choice, dammit! You interfere in any way, and I'll run you in for obstruction. Got it?"

Definitely sounded like Dobey.

"Yeah, I hear ya." Hutch excused himself. "I gotta go for a walk. That's not against any laws is it?" He said sarcastically.

"Just make sure you stay on this floor." He ordered.

"Don't worry. Where else could I go?" Hutch left the suite.

He knew exactly what he had to do. He headed for the elevators. There were two agents guarding them. Hutch walked straight up to the older of the two officers.

"Listen, Bernstein wants you two inside now. I guess we're getting ready to move and he wants you brought up to speed." He informed them.

He said it with such conviction that the two FBI agents didn't even question its validity. They immediately left their post and headed for the hotel room.

Federal Bureau of Idiocy Hutch thought to himself with a grin on his face. He pushed the down arrow for the elevator, wishing Starsky was here to do it for him. I'm comin', buddy!

XXXX

Heidi was now sitting on the left side of Jenny with Starsky on the right. Jenny was leaning her head against her cousin's shoulder. Starsky's tailbone was beginning to hurt him, he had been sitting in that same position for some time now. He tried to reposition himself but there wasn't much room to move. He ended up hitting Jenny with his knee pretty hard, right on her upper thigh. She groaned and moved quickly, he didn't know if he had hit someplace that had already been injured, or if she was just reacting to his knee itself. He just looked at her.

"Sorry. Did I hurt you?" Was all he could think of to say to her.

"It's okay. It's not like I made of glass." She seemed irritated with his concern for her. He knew that victims do go through a range of emotions, hostility being one of them.

"Yeah, you're tough, I can tell. That's what I like about you." He said raising both his eyebrows in a Groucho Marx fashion. He joked, trying to neutralize her mood. Yeah, like that was a good idea!

"What's that supposed to mean?" She shot back angrily.

"Nothin,' I didn't mean…" She didn't respond. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, I swear." He quickly recanted his comment, changing the tone of his voice as well.

"I know, I know!" She put her anger in check, at least for the moment. She lowered her head closing her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Hey," Starsky lowered and bobbed his head trying to make eye contact with her. "You holdin' up okay? Is there anything I can do?" He asked with a shrug of his shoulders and a boyish grin. Keeping his voice to barely a whisper, he didn't want the strangers around them to hear their conversation, including the agents that had just joined them. Addressing the fact that his hands were handcuffed, he went on, "I've got two ears and a couple of shoulders I could lend you, if you need them?"

She relaxed her legs, sitting Indian style, shifting herself to face him. Starsky mirrored her actions, Heidi followed suit.

"I'm okay. Really, you don't have to worry about me…" She paused. "Dave, we don't have to tell anyone about what happen, do we?"

He tilted his head to one side, furling his brow. "Whadya mean?"

"I don't…" She swallowed slowly. "I don't want anyone to know…to know what happened to me. I just want to drop it and forget it. Promise me you won't say anything!" She looked at her cousin. "Heidi, you won't tell, will ya'?"

"Well, of course not, if you don't want me too. I'll do whatever you say, sweetie!" Starsky gave her the thanks for the help look.

"Jenny, I'm a cop!"

"You think I don't realize that?" Her eyes pooled with tears. "Your job is to protect people. I'm asking you to protect me. Please, don't say anything."

"Jeez, Jenny. They have to pay for what they did to you!" Starsky argued. He also knew, from experience, both on the street and the classes they took, that she was not going to get over this assault simply by sweeping it under the rug, acting like it never happened. She needed to get help, professional help. "They've got people you can talk to 'bout this, people like you, they understand, they can help…"

"I want to let it go. I don't want to talk to anyone! I don't want anyone to know, can't you understand that?" She begged. "Please!?"

"Honey, you know this wasn't your fault, right? You didn't do anything, what happened was wrong." She didn't speak, her bottom lip quivered. Starsky looked deeply into her young blue eyes that were starting to pool with tears. He wanted to reach out to her, to hold her. These damn cuffs. She was feeling shame and disgrace. How could he get through to her? How could he help her? "Don't ask me to do this."

"I just did!"

He swung his legs around and pushed himself back up against the wall, his gaze finding the ceiling, once again, sighing heavily.

xxxxxxxxx

Rebecca and two other of her 'friends' approached Starsky. One of the men reached down to pull Starsky to his feet.

"These nice men have agreed to escort you to the bathroom." She went around to Starsky's back and undid the cuffs. He turned around to face her; there was something in her eyes. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something. "Now, you be a good boy," she continued. "Remember, we still have your friends out here."

Well, it looked like he was headed to the lavatory, whether he had to go or not. This wasn't exactly going to be the opportunity he had hoped for. They still had Heidi and Jenny, he had to behave himself.

The two muscle men escorted Starsky to the men's room, leaving the ladies with Rebecca.

She knelt down facing Heidi and Jenny. "Okay, we only have a couple of minutes, time for some girl talk." Rebecca was primarily talking to Heidi, she knew Jenny was of no use to her at the moment. "You need to tell him, this wasn't my idea. My brother owed this guy a ton of money. By us helping him with this one job, he was gonna forgive the debt." Heidi just stared at her with a very stoic expression on her face. "I wanted to help him, I didn't want to see them hurt my brother! I never thought it would go down like this. Could ya' tell him for me?"

"You've got a hell of a lot of nerve, bitch!" Heidi cursed, not hiding her pure abhorrence for the woman.

"They've agreed to take him with them, but they're also gonna take her. They feel she's weak, the perfect hostage, non-threatening." Rebecca tried to explain.

"He won't let you take her." Rebecca said.

"He doesn't have much of a choice. Hopefully it won't come down to that." That comment confused Heidi.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Inside the bathroom, Starsky was flanked by 'Abbott and Costello', as he had labeled them, on either side of him. They escorted him to the urinal against the far wall.

"Make it quick." 'Costello' said. He was a thin, dark-haired man, slightly older than his friend. 'Abbott' was a short, stocky man with red hair and freckles. Now that he thought about it, he looked more like an over-weight Howdy-Doody, Starsky thought. Both men left Starsky there and turned their backs, giving him as much privacy as he was going to get. He unzipped his pants.

"This may take a minute." He said looking over his shoulder. "I don't work well under pressure, guys." Seeing how he really didn't have to go at all. He stood there, shifting his weight from leg to leg. After realizing that he wasn't going to be able to pee on command, he zipped back up. "Sorry guys, didn't mean to disappoint you." He turned around and faced the men, folding his arms across his chest, moving towards the wall on his left. "So which of you, or your friends, are responsible for hurting my friend out there?"

The two men looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders. "It wasn't us, we don't believe in hurting women like that. We both have sisters." Abbott spoke.

"Yeah, well apparently some of your friends don't feel the same. They hurt her in the worst possible way. When this is over, I'm comin' after them, personally." Starsky's seemed to be looking right through them, not even blinking. "And if you don't tell me who it was, I'm comin' after you, too!" It was a threat and a promise all wrapped up in one.

Both men looked at each other, they knew he was a cop, and didn't want to bear the possible repercussions for a crime they had nothing to do with. There was resolve in their eyes.

'Costello' started throwing everyone under the proverbial bus. "All we know is that Carlos and Jace were bragging about what they did to her."

'They?' He was pretty sure it was both of them, but it didn't hit him until he heard it. Starsky couldn't stand it when kids or women were hurt. This time it was both, she's only eighteen, he thought. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes for a brief moment, then returned his stare to the duo in front of him.

'Costello' continued. "We all told them that they did wrong, that's not what we're here for. They didn't care, we just couldn't stop it. We kinda had our hands full. But then Moose started talking 'bout what he'd…"

"Jesus, him too?" Starsky needed to vomit, he wanted to—He felt dizzy, all the blood rushed from his face. He became as pale as his Nordic partner. Placing his right hand against the wall and leaning on it for support, he looked at the floor. "I'll kill 'em." The words just slipped out of his mouth, but he meant it. Starsky rubbed his head with his left hand. She's gonna need a helluva lot of help, he thought, rubbing his temples with the fingers of his left hand.

"Listen mister, I'm sorry 'bout your girlfriend." Starsky winced at the comment 'Abbott' had just made. "Most of us don't agree with what happened. All we wanted was the score. Quick, 'in and out!' That didn't happen. Now all we wanna do is just get outta here, safe and sound. We'll deal with those three when we get to Mexico. You don't start nothin' now. You or your friends will wind up getting' hurt."

Starsky nodded in agreement, not for his own safety, but he had to think about theirs.

"Let's get back to the others." The red-head finished. They escorted him back to the ballroom. Strange thing was that Abbott and Costello almost felt sorry for Jenny's attackers. They knew, somehow, the detective was going make them pay.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Starsky and his male companions returned. Rebecca quickly ended her conversation with Heidi and stood. Starsky approached Rebecca, standing less than a foot away. Raising her hand to his eye level, using her index finger she motioned for him to turn around, holding up the cuffs in the other hand.

Starsky reluctantly turned around, placing his hands behind his back. Rebecca carefully placed the cuffs back around the detectives' wrists. Both of Starsky's fists were clenched. The anger he was feeling over what he had just learned, showed in his body language. Rebecca reached down and pried the fingers of his right hand open. Starsky was looking straight ahead, keeping up his completely statuesque facial expression. She took the small keys to the cuffs and placed them gently in his hand, folding his fingers around them.

It wasn't easy for Starsky to keep from showing any expression, whatsoever. She turned him around to face her, giving him a little shove against the wall, just for show. There it was again, that 'something' in her eyes…He slid down the wall, resuming his seat on the floor between the two ladies. Rebecca collected her companions and returned to their duties. Starsky took the small keys and placed them in his back pocket for the time being, waiting for the perfect moment to use them.

He heard loud voices in the hallway again. Men yelling orders, someone protesting briefly. The ballroom doors opened and a tall blond man was shoved into the room….

"Hutch!" Starsky gasped.

To Be Continued