Authors Note: Thanks to every single person who gave a review! Reviews keep authors going! This is an Alternate Universe. To those who question the two year age difference, in the pilot script which I purchased, Starsky is described to be in his late twenties and Hutch in his mid-twenties.

Otter, a chunky man with red hair, stared at Starsky. "What have you gotten yourself into now?"

Starsky was struggling to pick Ken up. "C'mon, Otter, all I did was open a door at a roach motel and this kid was on the bed, unconscious, with a man sitting by him. Both only dressed in their shorts."

Otter grunted as he helped hoist Ken up and carry him to the bedroom, depositing him as gently as he could. "Pretty kid," he commented.

"Yeah, apparently ole Sal thought so, too," Starsky grimaced. "Check him out and let me know. I'll be in the front room," he said, wanting to give them some privacy.

Starsky sat down on the couch with a sigh, rubbing his dark curls. Though sincerely sorry for Ken, the blond was a complication he did not need. Young and innocent, Starsky thought judging mostly by Ken's appearance.

Another knock and Starsky opened the door to Captain Dobey. Dobey grunted a greeting to him and took no time asking, "What kind of a mess have you gotten into now? Your undercover operation was complicated enough without this."

"What was I supposed to do, leave the kid to Sal? It got far enough and if I hadn't opened the door, the kid would have been raped and who knows what else."

"No, of course you should have stopped the piece of sewage from hurting the kid, but where do we go from here?"

"Otter is checking the kid – Ken – over. Ken hyperventilated when he realized he had been drugged and kidnapped – and molested. I don't think he was raped but wanted to make sure."

A sudden scream had both stumbling their way into the bedroom.

Ken's eyes were wild, and Otter was standing by the bed, arms spread apart in a nonthreatening way.

"I'm a doctor, Kid. I'm not here to hurt you, just examine and help you." Otter tried to explain. "Sorry, Starsky, he woke up and . . ."

"Yeah, I know, he did that when he woke up here with me. Ken, Ken, listen to me, this is my friend, Otter, the best medic in Vietnam. I wanted you to have privacy; otherwise, I could have dumped you at a hospital."

"No hospital!" Ken cried in a frightened tone. "I don't want people to know what happened to me."

"That's why I brought you here."

"Where is here?" Ken asked.

"My cabin," Dobey answered, stepping out from behind Starsky and getting a first look at the blond.

"Captain Dobey?" Ken queried, rubbing his eyes.

Dobey was dumbstruck. "Ken? Kenneth Hutchinson?"

Now it was Starsky's turn to be startled. "You two know each other?"

"Captain Dobey interviewed me about two weeks ago," confirmed Ken.

"Interviewed you for what?" Starsky asked, thinking maybe for records or dispatch. Ken even looked too young for those positions.

"For the upcoming Police Academy," Dobey replied.

Starsky turned unbelieving eyes on his captain.

"Him? He's too young!"

"Starsky, let's take this to the other room," Dobey said firmly. "Ken, I'm sorry this happened to you. I hope you can get past this."

"I'll check him out," Otter promised.

Ken nodded, suddenly seeming very tired. He lay back, eyes staring at the ceiling, still trying to process the past few hours.

The bedroom door was barely shut, when Starsky whirled around at his boss. "How can you let a kid like that in the police force? He said he was nineteen! And he looks young and innocent, he would not survive on the streets. He's been here two weeks and already has been drugged and kidnapped!"

"Starsky," Dobey began, but Starsky had steam coming out of his ears and continued, "I thought all recruits had to be twenty-one!"

"Ken received special permission from the Chief."

"Chief must be crazy, too!" Starsky spit out.

"Starsky!" Dobey yelled, heading off another Starsky rant. "This decision was not made lightly. Chief wanted more college educated recruits."

"So what, he's got three more years before he graduates? Then he could apply," Starsky fumed, pacing back and forth in the room.

"Ken has already graduated from the University of Minnesota. He finished Duluth High School at sixteen, already taking college courses in the summer. He has been a lifeguard, a Sea Scout, and an EMT. Physically, he was a track star and on the swim team. And he pitched for the high school and college national championships in baseball."

"All-American Boy," Starsky grumbled. "And he looks it, too."

"Yes, he looks it!" Dobey yelled, exasperated. "That's part of why we picked him. He could fit in at high schools, places most of our officers look too old for. And before you keep harping on his youth, there was a lot of questions and reservations about a twenty-one-year-old officer named David Starsky going undercover in a mob."

That shut Starsky up for a moment. "There is a world of difference in me and that Kid."

"Two years. Not a big difference."

"I was in 'Nam. It ages you. At sixteen I was more mature than he is now. You can't tell me he went to 'Nam."

"No, he was in college. He wasn't drafted. He doesn't have the experience you have. I'm sure he has a lot of learning to do. And he learned today how most victims of sexual assault feel. I'm not sure how that is going to affect him, but he is going to be in the next academy, whether you approve or not."

"They'll eat him alive at the academy," Starsky muttered. "Well, Captain Dobey, I don't agree with Simmons's decision. But he's the Chief, not me. But I can tell you this: I wouldn't trust that Kid with my life. Maybe he will graduate. But I feel sorry for his future partner."

TBC