Chapter 17

Half an hour after the two men had deposited Starsky onto the big soft bed in the main bedroom of the cabin, Hutch heard the sounds of tires on the dirt outside. Leaving Huggy where he was on the chair in the bedroom to keep his eye on the brunet he walked out of the bedroom and looked out of the window. He saw Dobey getting out of his familiar dark blue car along with a young man and a young woman. They walked into the cabin and the younger man smiled anxiously.

'Hi Ken. How's David? Cal asked looking over Hutch's shoulder. Dobey's eldest child was all grown up now and had dropped the title "Uncle" from the detective's names a couple of years ago, although he still regarded both Hutch and Starsky as family. Cal, now 23 had recently married and now Hutch recognised Charmaine Dobey, Cal's wife standing uncertainly in the doorway. She was a fifth year medical student and due to qualify any time soon. Hutch smiled at her and then his Captain.

'So this is the Doc huh?'

'Yup. Charm is here to look after Starsky' Dobey explained.

But Hutch put his hand on the big black man's arm. 'It's not safe Cap. If anyone finds out she was practicing without a licence she'll be struck off before she's even practicing. We can't do that to her'.

'She insisted. What could I do? An' apart from that, who else is there?' Dobey hissed.

The young women walked forward confidently. 'I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions Hutch' she said gently. 'Besides, I love you two almost as much as Cal does. I'd do anything for you, especially if one of you is hurting. Now where's David?'

The big blond smiled warmly at the woman and nodded his head to the door in the corner. 'In there. How much did the Captain explain?'

'Enough to get me up here' she said, already unfastening her doctor's bag. 'But you can fill me in'.

'Ok. He was a hell of a mess when we found him. He's thin. I don't think he's had a lot to drink. He looks dehydrated. And he's covered in sores. From what I got out of the guy I found with him, he's been tied on a bed, in one position for a week. We managed to get him cleaned up in the shower a little, but he's….um. Well I think he was left on his own for the best part of seven days without any um…..facilities. His body is burned and blistered where his jeans have been. But the worst thing is he seems to have been living on a diet of water and heroin and not much else'.

Charm's face set into an expression of anger and compassion. She nodded at Hutch. 'Ok, lead the way'.

He showed her into the bedroom of the cabin and to the brunet who was still rocking back and forth on his side on the bed. His eyes were staring wildly around him now and as the door hinges clicked he jumped absurdly at the small noise and mumbled under his breath, his hands shaking against the towel around his body. Hutch crossed to the bed and bent down until he was on eye level with his partner.

'Starsk, Charm's here to take a look after you. Will you let her look at ya partner?'

Starsky stopped rocking and his wild eyes focussed on the blond and then on the black women. 'Ya g gonna give me m more stuff?' he asked shakily.

'No Dave, not just now. I just need to look where you're hurting' she said softly.

'No…don't wanna…..just gimme the s stuff huh? Hurts, I'll b be better if….gimme s some more' the brunet pleaded, holding out his arm to the young woman.

Hutch looked away, his stomach turning somersaults as he watched his partner begging for more dope. He squeezed his eyes shut and would have put his fingers in his ears if he could have. But if his friend had the strength to go through this ordeal, then he'd be strong for Starsky and be right there by his side, the whole time.

Charm bent over the smaller man and tried to take a hold of Starsky's infected wrist, but he pulled it away from her angrily. 'Are ya g gonna give me more?' he asked, a little louder.

'No honey. Not right now'.

'NOOO, FUCK OFF' the cop yelled, rolling over to get himself out of her reach. 'LEMME GO….LEMME….I NEED M MEDICINE' he yelled again and tried to get himself off the bed, falling onto his knees on the hard wooden floor. Huggy and Hutch both went towards him, but Starsky was shaking now, clutching at his stomach and moaning. He leaned forward and threw up on the floor boards before falling onto his side and commencing his rocking again, his arms wrapped protectively around his stomach.

Despite his protests, the two men took a hold and pulled the curly haired man back onto the bed where he immediately got himself back into his foetal position and ducked his head down to his chest, shutting out the world.

Charm took the sight in her stride and walked around the far side of the bed where she could see the pressure sores decorating Starsky's backbone and hips. Softly she pulled the blood stained towel away from the centre of his body and winced at the cracked raw skin and blisters. The pressure sores down his back, although they were red and raw, she decided, would be fine left uncovered and clean. The acid burned skin, however, would require time and antibiotics to heal.

She reached for the brunet's wrist again and kept tight hold as the man tried to wrench his arm from her grasp, growling at her deep in his throat. It was an animal sound and Starsky had reverted to his animal instincts.

Hutch took a hold of the wrist and Charm investigated the wound.

'It's infected. He needs antibiotics and…' she looked at the swellings around some of the puncture wounds along Starsky's arms. 'They gave him Mexican Brown didn't they?'

The blond shrugged. 'Dunno, why?'

'Because it isn't as well refined as White heroin. And the contaminants cause abscesses along the veins. He'll need treating for those too'.

'What about the addiction? Can you do anything for the withdrawal?' Hutch asked knowing just how much pain the smaller man was going to go through.

Charm shook her head. 'If I was qualified, I could probably prescribe Methadone. But that can be addictive in itself, and in any event I can't get hold of any. And I can't give him too much for the pain because the most effective drug would be a morphine based pain killer and that would upset the addiction. He can take Aspirin or Paracetamol, or a combination of the two for his general pains, but they won't do much good for the withdrawal. I'm afraid it's just going to be a long hard slog for him'.

'Hutch could hardly bring himself to ask. 'How long will he be before he….?'

The young woman pursed her lips. 'You say he was given at least 20 shots?'

'Uh huh'.

'Well he's going to be taking his withdrawal cold turkey. This cold turkey phase usually occurs between 8 and 24 hours after the last intake of the drug. Right now, he's well into it. There are a lot of symptoms as the body starts to get all it's feelings back. Most people will have similar symptoms, diarrhoea, aches and pains, cramps in the stomach, vomiting, sweats and cold chills. He's gonna feel like he's dying and this is gonna be a tough time for you too. A lot of addicts will go straight back on the drug and its up to you to keep him out of harms way. If he can manage to carry on he's likely to have the symptoms for between 4 to 8 days. Unfortunately still not much help is available at this stage the only thing to do is take painkillers and diarrhoea tablets which may help a little and get him to drink plenty'.

'Then I'd say that maybe by tomorrow he'll be able to recognise you. Maybe even have some lucid moments. But after the cold turkey stage the battle is still on. This is just the start of the recovery period. The next step is to get the brain sorted out, as the craving is still there and he'll still want his fix. Its then he's gonna really need you Hutch. The main thing to try and do is keep him occupied. Addicts at this stage often fail because they have nothing to do'.

'Addicts! Shit I hate that word! It's not his fault. None of this is his fault and yet he's an "adddict" with all the shit attached to that word. Like he could help any of this! And the craving? Oh yeah. Believe me, I know where you're coming from' Hutch said, then cast a sideways glance at Huggy and Dobey. His mind flew back over the years to Huggy's small room, the candy bars, the chequers games and the vitriolic, evil things he'd shouted at Starsky as his partner locked the door, suffered the verbal and physical abuse and kept him safe.

Charm's eyes widened slightly but she said nothing, instead poking around in her bag for various items. She took out gauze, bandages and an antiseptic cream.

'Can you hold him still?' she asked as Huggy and Hutch positioned themselves one either side of the rocking man. He moaned and tried to jerk his hands from them but they held on grimly as Starsky yelled at them, his words making very little sense. Charm worked quickly and efficiently to clean and debride the wounds around Starsky's wrists, then slather cream on them and bind them up in clean white dressings.

Starsky's cries quietened slightly and as they let him go, he once again curled up and started to rock, grasping at his stomach and occasionally groaning.

Finally Charm took out a syringe and filled the barrel with a clear liquid. 'It's a broad spectrum antibiotic' she explained as she came back to the bed. Starsky looked up at her approach and his eyes settled on the syringe. He rolled over and groaned again. Holding out his arm patiently he looked up at the woman

'Thank you' he whispered as he closed his eyes and waited expectantly.

But instead of injecting the drug into the vein in his arm, Charm aimed for the muscle of his upper arm and his eyes flew open again.

'NOOO' he roared, lashing out his leg and knocking the doctor sideways so that she landed on the floor. She stayed where she was while Hutch launched himself at his partner, using his body to hold the smaller man down. Starsky was weak but determined and Hutch was loath to hurt his partner. It made it difficult to hold the brunet on the bed, but Hutch gritted his teeth and hung on as Starsky's rasping voice changed from curses and groans to sobs. Hutch's heart hammered in his chest as the brunet shed tears of fear, pain and frustration.

'Please' he cried, his tears wetting the front of Hutch's shirt. 'Please just g gimme something….hurts….so much. Need some….just gimme, please….help me,' his pleadings stopped in a long, protracted whimper and a strangled sob and he leaned over the bed and heaved dry heaves. Hutch rubbed his back and looked over at Huggy who was looking after Charm. She sat up and grinned.

'Kick like a mule, hasn't he?'

'Hutch smiled back. 'Yeah, and he's as stubborn as one too. Hopefully that's gonna help him get through'.