ABOUT TIME
By Mrs. Starsk
Blondie
It’s been a hard and long
month. It seemed all criminals had gone out on the streets, and all cops were
doing double shifts, long stakeouts. A living hell that had everybody exhausted
at the end. When this rush ended, the whole department would’ve made a party to
celebrate, if everybody wouldn’t have been that bone-tired.
Starsky and Hutch hadn’t
escaped to that heavy work time either. They’d been cooperating with Vice or
the Division that needed more support. But as they always did, they tried to
put some fun in everything they did. The bond between them made it possible as
they were always teasing each other, joking or just talking to help each other
stay alert during the long stakeouts.
Now that the bad guys seemed
to be caught or at least the ones still free, were calming down, everything was
going back to a normal rhythm. They finished typing the last reports, and left
them for the Captain to see.
“Well, partner, let’s get out
of here, before something else happens,” said Hutch dropping his last form in
the In-tray on Dolby’s desk with one hand and holding his jacket with the
other.
“Right behind you, Blondie,”
answered Starsky doing the same with his report and taking his jacket from the
back of his chair.
They both left the squad room
quickly before anybody could ask them to stay. They ran to the garage and got
in the Torino.
“Hi, Hug,” they both greeted their friend as they
entered The Pits.
“You coming for work?” he
asked watching them as they sat at the bar.
“Nope…” Starsky grinned.
“Things got quiet at last.”
“Yeah, seems the bad guys’ve
decided to have a break, and so have we,” added Hutch.
“Well then, 2 Huggy specials
for my friends to celebrate.”
“Sounds good to me” said
Starsky scanning the place looking for some female company. Suddenly his eyes
caught sight of two women sitting alone in one of the booths. He then poked
Hutch in the ribs. “Hey, Blondie, look at those beauties…,” he said indicating
in their direction.
Hutch turned around and found
the girls had also noticed them and were smiling invitingly at them. “Seems
you’ve learned something from the Master,” he teased. “They look exactly what
we need right now.”
“I’ll ignore your comment
about who learned from whom,” Starsky frowned. “Don’t wanna miss the chance of
a good relax,” he winked at Hutch and patted his shoulder.
Both smiled at each other and
got up taking their beers that Diane had just poured, and went straight to meet
the ladies.
“Good evening” greeted Hutch
politely. “Would you mind to have some company?”
“That’d be nice,” said one of
the girls. She had long brown hair, a very nice smile and very bright green
eyes.
“What d’you think?” asked
Starsky to the other. This one was blonde, but her hair was shorter and her
eyes were light blue.
“Of course I’d like some
company too” she replied seductively.
Both girls moved to the back
of the booth, making room for them to sit. As the guys took their seats, they
exchanged mischievous glances after taking a good look at the girls’ shape when
their short skirts moved up as they slid in their places. The tops they were
wearing showed very much too, all their attire leaving not too much to
imagination.
“I’m Dave and he’s Ken,”
introduced Starsky.
“I’m Gina and she’s Caitlin,”
the one beside Starsky made their introduction too.
“I don’t remember seeing you
here before” said Hutch.
“It’s the first time” Caitlin
answered. “We’re on vacation and have decided to get to know some interesting
places in the country.”
“And perhaps meet some
interesting people too” added Gina looking intently at Starsky.
The partners were annoyed
with their easiness, and their eyes met again in a surprised look.
“What do you do?” asked
Hutch.
“We got our degree in
marketing, and decided to take some time off to relax from studies” said Gina.
“Besides, this is a way of
finding opportunities,” added Caitlin.
“What about you?” asked Gina.
“We’re cops” replied Starsky.
“And you have to wear your
uniforms all day?” she said, caressing Starsky’s hand. “You must look great!”
“Thanks for the compliment”
said Starsky, “but no, we don’t wear uniforms any more.”
“Yeah, we’re plain cloth
cops, detectives” clarified Hutch.
“Wow! How exciting it must
be” exclaimed Caitlin taking Hutch’s hand.
“It is, though it’s not
always easy. There are ups and downs…and even difficult times” Hutch went on,
turning to look at Starsky with sad eyes and Starsky met his gaze.
“Well, I suppose it’s not
like the movies. The good guys not always win,” said Gina.
“Right…” said Starsky turning
to her. “Yet we still have a very good record as a team. In fact we’re the best
team” he added proudly.
“Have you worked together for
a long time?” Caitlin asked.
“We met at the Academy and
we’ve been together since” explained Hutch.
“We were apart for a short
period when we came out of the Academy, but we made our captains go crazy till they
teamed us first as uniformed cops…” Starsky went on.
“Then we made up to
detectives, and here we are still getting along for almost 10 year now.”
“He says getting along…” said
Starsky winking at the girls. “I’d say I’m suffering him” he teased grinning at
Hutch.
“Who’s suffering whom?”
retorted Hutch laughing too.
The girls exchanged gazes
frowning, feeling like something very strong was between these two men. They
could communicate with their eyes only, without even saying a word.
Diane interrupted them
bringing their orders. Huggy had told her to wait for the girls’ order till the
guys’ were ready and take them all together.
The four of them started
eating and their previous conversation was replaced for compliments about the
food they had in front of them and sharing from one plate and the other.
Starsky, as always started to steal some fries from Hutch’s plate, saying they
were more crispy than his own and Hutch frowning, but nevertheless enjoying
this routine they always shared.
Gina and Caitlin continued
observing their behavior and began feeling uncomfortable, like being out of
place and not belonging to their world. Few words were spoken till they
finished their meals.
“Wanna have some dessert? Or
you’d rather go some other place?” asked Starsky.
“No thanks. Actually, it’s
getting late and we must be going” Caitlin excused them, looking at Gina
expecting her approval.
“Yeah, we’ve been traveling
all day and we’re tired. Maybe some other time…” Gina left the words fly.
“We understand. We had a very hard time
these last days” Hutch explained grinning at the girls. “We’ll surely be glad
to meet you any time and show you around. There are good places to go dancing
and have some drinks and lots of places to enjoy.”
“Thanks, Ken. We’ll appreciate
that,” said Caitlin politely.
“Here, take this,” Starsky
said giving them their card with their telephone numbers. “You planning on
staying long?”
“We really don’t know,
but…we’ll let you know,” Gina smiled at him, taking the offered card. She was going
to call Diane to bring their bill, but Starsky stopped her.
“Our treat” he smiled his
best smile.
“Thanks again” she accepted
for both of them. “Well, nice to have met you,” she added kissing him on the
cheek.
“Nice to have met you too,
girls” he replied kissing her back.
Hutch did the same with
Caitlin and then they stood up giving the girls room to get out of the booth.
The guys kept looking at their backs admiring the view.
The girls didn’t turn around
to look at them and as soon as they were outside, Gina broke the card in pieces
and got rid of it. “What a waste of time, Caitlin. So gorgeous and so engrossed
in their private world,” she added shrugging.
Caitlin just smiled fondly and both girls went straight to their rented
car.
“Well, buddy, no luck this
time” grinned Hutch.
“Yep, just you and me again,”
Starsky replied wiggling his eyebrows jokingly.
“Come on, you dummy” Hutch
kicked him under the table.
“Ouch!” exclaimed Starsky
laughing now.
“Maybe it was a sign before
we made a bad performance. We’re exhausted, and we probably couldn’t…” he
winked his eye mischievously.
“Hey, I never failed
before…why would it be different now?” Starsky pouted as offended by his
friend’s words.
“Let’s have another beer
before we leave.” Hutch signaled Huggy asking their drinks with his raised
hand.
Huggy had been watching all
the time, and had enjoyed it too. He took the drinks himself. “What happened to
those beautiful ladies? I’m sure you got them bored with your cop ‘n robber
stories.”
“Wrong, Hug. They were tired
from their trip. We’ll get together some other night to finish what we
started.” Starsky explained smiling.
“You sure?” Huggy teased him.
“What’s wrong, Huggy?” asked
Hutch. “D’you know something about them that we don’t?”
“Not about them, Blondie…not
them.”
“What d’you mean?” Hutch
persisted.
“Oh, come on you two. Stop
it.” Starsky interrupted. “Are you gonna give us those beers?”
“OK, ok…seems you’re really
bone-tired…You don’t get some teasing.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Hutch
taking his jar and taking a long swallow from his cold beer.
Huggy shook his head grinning
and returned to the bar. <<nothing about them, ma’ friend…>> he
said to himself.
The guys finished their
drinks in two long gulps. “Want another?” Starsky asked.
“Nope, I had enough.”
“Yeah, me too. And just two
girls saying ‘no’ just once, doesn’t mean we have to get drunk.” Starsky
grinned at his friend. He was feeling a little light headed.
“Right, buddy. That doesn’t
mean we’re losers.” Hutch smiled back feeling a little dizzy too.
“Think we better ask Hug for
his room upstairs. I rather don’t drive tonight.” Starsky said.
“Me either.” Hutch accepted.
They then headed for the bar
to ask their friend.
“Hey, Hug, would you mind if we
borrow your room for the night?” asked Starsky.
“No problem. What’s the
matter?”
“You didn’t slip anything
strange in our drinks, did you?” teased Hutch.
Huggy frowned. “You’re
offending me, ma’ friend. Who d’you think I am.” He said seriously, but then he
grinned. He searched for the key in his shirt front pocket and tossed it to
him.
Hutch took it and laughing
both guys went upstairs.
Once inside, Starsky got rid
of his jacket and holster and ran to the bathroom.
Hutch watched him grinning,
and after taking off his jacket and holster too, he sat on the bed and buried
his face in his hands.
“Hey, Blondie, what’s the
matter?” Starsky asked concerned. He went to his friend and kneeled in front of
him.
Hutch lifted his head and
found a very worried Starsky. “Just tired, Starsk. Nothing to worry about.” He
smiled fondly. He then stood up and headed for the bathroom.
Starsky watched him from the
bed and remembered other time in the same room long time ago. He took off his
snickers and spread eagle over the bed. Those images of Hutch suffering from
his withdrawal didn’t want to go away. <<Why remember this now? This room
has good memories too. Like when he was healthy again. When he came out of that
nightmare and I had him back with me…Yeah, I got my partner back>> he
smiled as those sad images were replaced with the healthy, strong and handsome
man that was his partner. <<Yeah, we fought so many bad times, during our
time together. The plague, botulism, my shooting…All those things were worth
fighting for because we knew we were gonna be together again>>
Hutch came out of the
bathroom to find his partner occupying almost all the bed. He smiled lovingly
at the image. “Are you gonna take all the bed for yourself? Or you’re gonna
share it with me, Gordo.”
“I rather share. I feel
lonely without you near me.” Starsky moved on the bed making room for Hutch to
join him.
“That sounds inviting,
buddy.” Hutch went to the bed and took the free place his friend left. He
stretched and jokingly he kicked Starsky on the side as if by accident.
“Hey!!! Just take your side,
big boy…You wanted to share.” Starsky teased, pushing him almost making him
fall.
Hutch laughed. “Can you
imagine IA officers seeing us fighting for some room in the same bed?”
“Dryden and Simonetti’d have
a heart attack for sure.” Starsky joined him laughing. “We knew there was
something more intimate between you two” he tried to imitate Dryden’s voice.
Both burst out laughing heartedly.
“I always wondered if they’re
that clean and straight with rules as they pretend to be.” Hutch said when he
sobered from his laughing.
“Me too. Maybe all their
attitude is just to clean some dirty past in their lives.” Starsky added.
“Enough about those two. Now
tell me, what d’you really think Huggy meant when he asked you if you were
really sure we’d meet Gina and Caitlin again.” Hutch straightened up on his
elbow facing Starsky resting on his back with his eyes closed.
“Give it a break, Blondie. He
was just teasing us. Besides, what if he knew something about them? Not that we
were gonna marry them or something.”
“I surely wouldn’t.” Hutch
laid down again on his back. “Did you notice how easy was to approach them? We
could be the bad guys and they surely wouldn’t get rid of us that easy.”
“Yeah, and maybe if we’d
insisted a little, we surely would be in bed with them by now.”
“Seems I’m getting old,
Starsk.”
“Uhh??”
“Yeah, I’m not enjoying a
one-night stand, a good laid, just for the sake of it as I used to. Seems I’m
for something more lasting.”
“Ever-lasting love…yeah,
you’re right, Blondie. The white-fence-with-garden house dream I’ve always
had.”
“Near the beach too, if
possible.”
“Aha…Coming home after work
to enjoy a good meal, a good talk about the day’s events. Sharing the good and
bad things that you went through during the day with your life partner.”
“We haven’t been very lucky
with this dream, have we?…We fell for very special women, and one way or the other,
things didn’t have a happy end.”
“Seems the only constant in
our lives is the Me & Thee thing.”
“Uhumm…” Hutch agreed, and
they both remained silent for a while.
“I’ve thought a lot about
that, you know?” Starsky turned on his side facing Hutch, who did the same his
attention caught by those words.
“About the Me & Thee
thing?”
“About all that we went
through together…You know? While you were in the bathroom, the first thing that
came to my mind was the time you’d been…”
“Hooked. You can say it, buddy.
After all this time, I can handle it…I’m sure that if not for your help, your
unconditional help, I wouldn’t get through it. I would’ve ended like any other
junkie, ruined for the rest of my life.”
“Both of us would’ve been
ruined for good, Blondie…I wouldn’t’ve leave you alone.” One pair of blue eyes
fixed on the other one.
“There were many other times
when you saved my life.”
“You did the same. You gave
up all your personal life when I was shot by Gunther’s men. You were by my side
all the way through my recovery. I wouldn’t do it without you, I’m sure of
that. I did it for you, buddy.”
“Oh, come on. You’re too
stubborn to give up on life. You would’ve made it anyway.”
“I could say the same about
you.”
“It’s not the same, and you
know it. You’re stronger than me emotionally. If something ever happens to me,
you’ll get over it easier than me. On the other hand, I’m sure I would’ve died
if you hadn’t come back from the shooting. I couldn’t get over it if something
ever happens to your life.”
“I got over Terri because you
were there for me all the time. If things would’ve been different, I’m sure I
wouldn’t be able to go on without you.”
“Well…things are getting too
soapy, and you don’t like soapy scenes.” Hutch tried to deviate the conversation.
It was taking a strange direction, and that was making him feel weird.
“Hutch…have you ever think of
us growing old together?”
“Telling our children our
cop-life stories.” Hutch tried to lighten the conversation, Starsky’s look was
making him nervous.
“I’m serious, Hutch. ‘cause I
did think about it.” Starsky straightened on his elbow now, resting one hand
over Hutch’s chest.
This simple gesture sent a
shiver down Hutch’s spine. Then he turned his face again to look at Starsky,
and what he saw in his friend’s eyes was very different from what he’s always
seen in them. There was love, but other kind of love, not that of friends.
“S-Starsk…what…?”
Starsky leaned over Hutch
till his lips brushed Hutch’s. a light and short kiss, but enough to ignite a
big fire inside both men. They separated, their eyes fixed on each other. No
word was spoken. No sound other than their breath rate.
Hutch put his hand over
Starsky’s, pressing it in its place, his gaze never leaving Starsky’s eyes.
Starsky lowered his head
again like in slow motion till his mouth was again covering Hutch’s mouth. This
time his tongue outlined Hutch’s lips. Hutch’s lightly parted lips encouraged
Starsky to probe his entrance and soon both tongues joined in a frantic dance,
deepening the kiss. At the same time their hands hurried to hold each other’s
heads in place, fingers entwined in brown curls and blond strands respectively.
Suddenly Starsky ended the
kiss, panting for air and his body aching in arousal. A deep moan escaped the
blond’s mouth, and his eyes opened abruptly looking in awe at Starsky, his
breath also agitated, and his face flushed with arousal too.
“Aren’t you gonna run as far
as you can from me?” Starsky wasn’t sure about the reason of that moan, nor of
what he was seeing in his friend’s face.
“Wh-What…I mean, why?” asked
Hutch when he found his voice.
“It’s something I’ve been
wanting to do for some time now.” Starsky explained, waiting for his friend’s
next move. Hutch remained still. “Well, you didn’t escape, you didn’t kick me
in the ass. What shall I expect then, Hutch. Aren’t you do or say anything?”
“Seems it was something I’ve
longed for a long time too, Starsk.” Hutch said calmly, his hand on Starsky’s
cheek now.
“Why it took us so much time
to make a move then?”
“Don’t know. Maybe we both
were too concentrated on women.”
“I don’t know exactly when I
changed the way I looked at you. It felt weird at first, but I just started noticing
every gesture, everything you did or say had a new meaning for me…And most
important, I realized there was anybody that could replace you in my life.”
“I could say that the change
in my feelings about you came to light when I almost lost you after the
shooting.”
“And we both were too afraid
of what the other would think to take the chance and make a move.”
“Something like that…What
made you move tonight? Is it the alcohol and tomorrow you’ll regret it?”
“’course not!” Starsky answered, the hurt for those words clearly
showed on his face. “I could say the same ‘bout you.”
“Take it easy. I was just
teasing you. But I really want to know what happened to you that you decided to
face it.”
Starsky softened his
expression again. “Maybe this room and all the memories. What we talked about
our dreams and that we both agreed on the Me & Thee thing. Don’t know
exactly what it was. I just saw you here beside me and your face seemed
different. Your eyes seemed to look at me in a different way and just couldn’t
help it…I needed to kiss you and put an end to this doubts.”
“And if I ran from you, you
could’ve blame on the exhaustion mixed with the alcohol.” Hutch smiled lovingly
at him.
“Right.” Starsky smiled back.
“What’s next in your agenda?”
Hutch’s long fingers outlined Starsky’s cheekbone.
Starsky turned his face and
kissed Hutch’s palm. “To tell you I’m in love with you, Blondie. I’ve been for
a long time now.”
“That really sounds great,
‘cause I’m in love with you too, Gordo.” This time it was Hutch who lifted his
head to get to Starsky’s mouth and they joined in another deep kiss full of
love.
When they separated, they
both started laughing heartedly. “What a pair of fools we’ve been.” Starsky was
now resting on his back with Hutch leaning over him.
“Yeah, wasting our precious
time chasing girls, when we could have something better together.”
“Seems we’ll have to work
hard to make up for all that wasted time. Think you’re up for the challenge?”
“Anything as long as we’re
together, Gordo.”
“Well, well, well…About time
you two made up your minds.” Huggy was standing at the door watching them. A
broad smile lighting his face.
Both guys jumped sitting on
the bed, surprised for their friend’s presence. “Huggy, when did you come in?”
Hutch asked nervous.
“Not long ago, but enough to
see you’ve finally put an end to that indecision of yours.”
“Indecision? You mean, you
knew, Hug?” Starsky was surprised by what he’d just listened.
“That was what you referred
to when we mentioned the girls, right?” Hutch added, now things fitting in
place. “But how? What did we do? Have we been that obvious?”
“Don’t worry about being
obvious, nothing much different for the rest to notice. But I’ve known you two
for a long time, Blondie and I did notice things had changed between you two.”
“What was different tonight
in your opinion. Because now I’m thinking you were expecting that this would
happen tonight with no more delays.” Now was Starsky’s turn to ask.
“Something in the way you
interacted tonight, although you were accompanied with those pretty ladies.
Can’t describe it exactly. It just made me feel that if you didn’t take that
step tonight, I would’ve push you two into it. I couldn’t go on watching you
wasting time with women and not getting to the real thing you had at hand.”
“So…it doesn’t bother you
that we had become…” Hutch said shyly.
“What…lovers? ‘course not,
Blondie. Not my direction, but nevertheless, if you two are happy, I’m glad for
you too.”
“Thanks Hug. You’re a Friend
with a capital F.” Starsky was now in front of him and hugged him tight.
“Well, I’ll go downstairs
again. I think you two still have things to do.” He turned to the door. “Ahhh,
and please lock the door and don’t be very noisy. I have customers that may not
want to hear some things, you know what I mean.” He winked at them and left
them alone.
“I wouldn’t imagine that he
knew.” Hutch was pacing the room shaking his head incredulously.
“I didn’t either.” Starsky went
back to sit on the edge of the bed. “Come here, I’m not finished with you.”
Hutch turned in his direction
watching that incredible man in front of him. “I know, buddy. I’m not finished
either. But we have to think about what we’re gonna do now at the station, with
Cap. Dobey and…”
“Each step at a time,
Blondie. I have other idea for the rest of the night. There’ll be time for
thinking in the morning.” He opened his arms inviting his now lover to join him
in bed.
Hutch smiled contented and
hurried to enjoy the next step. Surely they’ll be plenty of time to talk about
the rest of the world when they were finished.