Meanwhile on the streets in Los Angles, Starsky and Hutch were just beginning their day. They had been working on a case concerning drug dealers and as they went to a designated place to make a drug bust, Hutch had an announcemtn to make to Starsky, "Well, Starsky, I have decided to ask Judith to marry me."

"Hutch, you are kidding me?"

"No, would I kid about something like that?"

"No, you would not."

"Well, I am serious, serious enough to buy her a ring."

"Sounds good to me."

"I am going to ask her tonight."

"Hutch, good luck."

When Hutch had finished telling Starsky his plans, they had reached the spot where the takedown was scheduled to happen. There was shooting going on between the people that Starsky and Hutch were supposed to arrest and the other undercover cops that were also involved in the bust.

Hutch carefully opened the car door. He dropped to the ground. He took the rifle with him that was under the car seat. Starsky followed him through the passenger side of the car. They both rolled out of the way of the car. Starsky got up first and indicated to Hutch that he was going in and he told Hutch to cover him.

Hutch meanwhile kept watching the gunfire. One of the other undercover cops, Vince, had gotten hit in the leg and when Hutch tried to pull him out of the way, a stray bullet hit Hutch in the shoulder. Hutch went down. Starsky, who had been on the other side of the conflict, watched Hutch go down.

The gunbattle continued. Hutch lay there motionless. Starsky wished he could go over to Hutch, but it was much more important that they arrest the drug dealers than Hutch's life. Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the battle was over. Only one other officer was wounded and several of the drug dealers were wounded. The rest of the criminals surrendered to the police.

Starsky hurried over to Vince, the officer who was shot and also Hutch. Someone else called for the fire department and the paremedics.

The paramedics came and took the wounded to the hospital. Starsky followed in the Striped Tomato.

When they got to the hospital and Starsky was waiting for the doctor to come out and tell him how he was, he phoned the clinic to tell Judi, but found out she was not in that day.

The phone began to ring at Judi's house. The girls were busy in the kitchen getting the dinner ready. "Hey, Rosey, you are closer. Do you want to answer it for me?" Judith asked.

"Sure," Rosey wiped her hands and went over to the phone on the wall. "Hello."

"Hello. Rosey?"

"Yes. David?"

"In the flesh. What are you doing there?"

"I'll explain later. What is the matter?"

"Hutch has been shot."

"No. David, how bad is he?"

"We are not sure. He is in surgery right now. When I phoned the clinic to tell Judi, they told me that she took the day off."

"David, we are on our way to the hospital right now. Memorial?"

"Yes, Lovely Lady."

"Okay, see you in a little while. I love you."

"Kay. I love you too, and I love you more."

They hung up their phones. She turned to Judi, "That was David. Hutch has been shot. He is at Memorial."

"No."

"Hey, Judi, come here." She held her friend in her arms for a few minutes. "He is going to be just fine."

They stood there in the kitchen holding each other. Rosey broke the embrace and said, "Come on, we have to get to Memorial. Both the guys need us night now. I know that David especially is going nuts."

"Yeah."

"Turn off the stove. All of the cooking we have done so far can be easily started again."

Judith went into one of the cupboards and found some Tupperware containers. They put the containers into the fridge.

Rosey picked up the baby from her carriage where she had been sleeping peacefully since she had arrived earlier. Judith got her puse and they left in Rosey's car. Rosey put the carriage in the trunk. They made it to Memorial in record time. Rosey asked the admitting desk where the emergency surgery was. Judith helped her push the carriage to the third floor. In the waiting room. they found a worried and harried Starsky. When he saw Rosey enter the room, he rushed to her waiting arms.

"We got here as soon as we could." Rosey explained.

"What happened." Judith asked.

"We were trying to arrest a couple of guys. There was a gun battle doing on between the criminals and the other cops. Hutch got shot in the shoulder. It could have easily been me." His voice trailed off when he said the last part.

"David." She held him tight as if there was no tomorrow.

"Rosey, I am glad you came."

"You know that at a time like this, I would not be any place but here." Rosey said.

Starsky looked at directly at Judith who had the baby in her arms. Judith knew that Starsky needed the re-assurance that his little family was okay. She gave Deanna to Starsky and he held her in his arms. Rosey looked directly in his eyes and she could see tears. He kissed the baby on the forehead. She knew exactly how her husband was feeling. She knew that if anything happened to Hutch, Starsky could never be able to live with himself. Besides Rosey and Dee, Hutch was the most important person in Starsky's life. They had been through a lot in the past eight years.

In the next few hours, Rosey, Starsky and Judith tried to make themselves comfortable in the waiting room. The baby slept peacefully in her carriage, only waking up once to be fed.

Then, suddenly, a tired looking doctor in light green hospital scrub gear appeared. "Detective Starsky?"

"That is me." He almost tripped over himself trying to get to the doctor. He extended his hand, "Doc."

"My name is Doctor D. Englehardt, the surgeon involved in Detective Hutchinson's case."

"How is he?"

"He is doing well. He came out of surgery fine. He is a very fortunate man. The bullet was lodged in his shoulder. We were able to remove it. He should be in recovery for an hour or so and then you can see him."

"Thanks, doc."

"Well, I had better get going back to the OR."

Starsky turned to Judith. "He is gonna be OK."

"I can iimagine with a bullet in the shoulder he will be out of here in a week or so and then back to work in a month or so."

Judith, Rosey and Starsky entered Hutch's room.

"Hey, Hutch." Starsky said. He went over to his bed. Hutch's baby blue eyes were closed. His hair was wet with sweat.

Judith commented, "He looks like a little boy in his bed." She leaned over and kissed his forehead.

Starsky decided to herd the two ladies over to the corner. "It may be a while before Hutch wakes up. I do not know if whether it would do any good if you two ladies hung around waiting for him."

Judith protested, "II would like to say for at least a while."

"Okay."

Rosey looked at her husband. "Well, I think I willl head home. A hospital is really no place for a baby. I know you two will call me if there is any change."

Stasrky followed her out the door. He took the baby in his arms and kissed the sleeping infant on the forehead. "Talk to you later, Lovely Lady.'

"Yeah, bye, Copper."

Stasrky pushed the carriage down to the elevator and kissed her again before she left.

Judith and Starsky stayed with Hutch until almost dinnertime. Then Judith went home to get ready for work the next day.

Starsky was dozing in the big chair when he felt a presence in the room. He looked around and saw that Judith had returned. "I could not stay away." She explained.

Starsky left the room to get some coffee and something to eat.

However, by the time he had returned, it looked as if Hutch was going to wake up soon. His eyes were starting to open. "Hey, Hutch, glad to have you back." Starsky said excitedly.

"Yeah, Hutch, glad to have you back too." Judith added.

They pressed the buzzer and the nurse came. While the nurse was examining the patient, Starsky called Rosey with the news.

"Hi, Hutch, how is my favourite cop doing today?" Judith asked the next afternoon as she entered the room. Hutch was still in the hospital.

"Much better now that my favourite lady doctor is here." he answered.

She went over to his bed and gave him a big kiss on the lips.

"How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, but I will be glad to be sprung from this place."

"Yeah, I will be glad when you are out of here, too," she agreed.

"Doc, I need a favour."

"Anything, Blue Eyes, anything."

"I am still a little bit leary about going to the bathroom alone. Can you help me?"

"Sure, Sweetheart."

She helped him get out of the bed. "Take your time," she encouraged him. He sat up, moved a 90 degree angle until his legs were dangling over the side of the bed. She asked him, "How do you feel, Ken?"

"Okay," he flashed his biggest grin at her.

She let him rest, after a few minutes on the bed. "When you are ready for the next step, let me know."

"Sure." He waited a few minutes and then he looked up at her.

"Ready?"

"I think so."

"Okay, " she smiled back at him. She bent over and helped him to his feet. "Slowly, Ken. Take your time."

"Sure."

He stood up on his own two feet and he stood straight up.

"Okay?" she asked.

"So far, so good."

"Okay," He took baby steps to the bathroom.

"You are doing just great," she encouraged him. He got a bit bolder and took bigger steps. "Are you sure ready for bigger steps?'

"I think so," he smiled at her.

"Okay, but don't forget I am here."

"I am glad you are here."

When he was about half way across the floor, he began to feel a little bit dizzy. "Wooooh," he started to say.

She looked at him with concern, "Are you okay?'

"I am not sure. The room started to spin a little bit."

"Lean on me," she grabbed him by the hand. "Don't let go of me, okay?" She put her arms around his waist and held him as tight as she could. "I am here, Ken. Please hang on me until it passes."

"Thank you, Doc."

"No problem, Blue Eyes. But this is not really my idea of the right time to propose to you."

Hutch looked at her for a moment until he realized what she had just said. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

"What did I say?"

"That you want to marry me."

"Well, then will you marry me. Kenneth Richard Hutchinson?"

"Of course." He answered.

"Come on." She helped him to finish to get to the bathroom.

When Hutch was finished and she had helped him back to the bed, she said, "I have something for you, Honey." She reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. She opened it and said, "Kenneth Richard Hutchinson, will you marry me."

"Judith Anne Kaufman, I would be honoured to marry you."

"I hope you don't mind wearing this ring?"

"No, I think it is kind of sweet and I would be happy to wear it." She helped put it on his right ring finger. "I do, however, have a confession to meke," he said.

"Yes," She looked in his eyes and she could see tears.

"I just mentioned to Starsky the day that I got shot that I was going to ask you to marry me."

"You are kidding?"

"Nope, In fact, I had already bought you a ring."

"Hutch, I had no idea."

"Well, in the top right hand drawer of my dresser is a small jewelry box. It is in the box."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, well when I leave later I will go and get it."

"Okay."

Judith spent most the rest of the evening with Hutch and when she left to go home, she make one stop - to Hutch's house to get the ring. It was in the top right hand dresser drawer. She giggled to herself when she found out it was in his underwear drawer. She brought it out and put it in her purse.

"Ken, you did not tell me that it was in the drawer with your unmentionables." She giggled when she brought the small jewelry box out of her purse.

It was the next night. Hutch was scheduled to be released the next day or so to finish his recuperation at home.

He leaned over and took the box from her. She looked at his hand and he still had the ring on it. "I see you did not take the ring off."

"Of course not, I want to show the rest of the female population that I am not available"

"Okay."

" And now, I want the rest of the male population to see that my favourite lady doctor is spoken for, also."

He slipped the ring on her left ring finger as he asked her the same question she asked him the previous nigh, "Will you marry me?"

"Yeah, I guess so." she teased.

"You guess so? Well, maybe when I get out of this hospital bed, I should be able to convince you that marriage would be the best thing for the both of us."

"Why don't you convince me now?"

"Well, a hospital room is not the best place to make love."

"Okay, I guess so."

Rosey and Starsky came to visit Hutch the next evening. Judith had stopped in after work.

She showed the Starskys her ring and said, �Look what Hutch gave me.�

�Hey, pretty nice.� Rosey commented. �So I guess you have trapped Hutch.�

�Yeah, put a ball and chain on him.� Judith teased.

�Any idea when you two would like to get married?� Rosey asked.

�Naw, would just like to enjoy being engaged for a while. Maybe a year, maybe a few months.�

�Hey, where is the baby?�

�Oh, Mrs. Dobey offered to take her for a while. She has been over a few times since I moved back to town and she offered tonight to give David and I a break. She knew that we wanted to come here.�

�That was nice of her.�

Judith looked around the room. She could not help but be happy because of the things that were happening to her. Yes, Hutch may have been in the hospital because of a work-related shooting, but he would be released soon from the hospital. And she had some great friends in the Starskys.

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