Careful What You Say

52

The boys find themselves in unrelenting heat, working unbearable hours, and tempers flare.

 

Author’s Note: Thank you to Lapfordlass for being my beta for this story.

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Tensions were running high for the two detectives, not just because of the oppressive heat plaguing the Bay City area, now going on two weeks. Fatigue was a bigger culprit. The partners had been working 18-hour shifts, because half the precinct was out with some stomach bug that had been unrelenting. The day found them bickering once again, but it was different today, because the jabs were personal.

Just before exiting the Torino to inquire about the last call they had received, Hutch said so as to continue the previous debate,” Ya know, Starsk—”

“GO TO HELL, Hutchinson!”

“Back at ya, Gordo,” came the snarled reply as Hutch hesitated getting out of the car.

As if on cue the ground rumbled and Starsky hit the ground. After resetting his footing. Starsky glanced over his shoulder to see that Hutch was in the middle of the street passing the Torino. That’s when he saw it. A manhole cover was coming towards his partner.

He hollered, “Huutchh!?” That was all that he got out before the exploding shop knocked him off his feet again. He heard his partner’s agonized scream as he faded into darkness.

* * * *

As Starsky began to wake, he was confused, disoriented and was in tremendous pain. The ringing in his ears and the jackhammer pounding in his head made him extremely nauseous. He had glass and wood shrapnel imbedded in his back, head, and arms. He couldn’t believe he had been unconscious long enough for it to get dark. “I musta been out longer than I thought.” He closed his eyes and opened them again, but there was nothing but darkness. Instinctively he called out for Hutch from a place of fear. There was no response from his partner.

Then he remembered what happened.

“Oh God, Hutch, HUTCH!” He yelled.

Frantically trying to move to get to his partner, Starsky was not able to get to his feet due to pain and nausea. So, he pulled himself along in an army style crawl, stopping at times to listen for the pinging sounds from the Torino’s cooling engine. He kept hollering for Hutch; there was no response, though. Starsky finally reached the Torino by feel of the fender; he knew he was at the front of the car. His heart rate quickened as his hand hit some warm wet liquid. He brought his hand to his nose and sniffed: blood.

“Oh Hutch. HUTCH ANSWER ME, ANSWER ME DAMNIT!” Starsky said in a panicked voice.

He found Hutch and started running his hands over his partner, trying to ascertain the damage. There was a lot of blood, too much blood. Just then a man approached them and said he had called for help and several ambulances.

Starsky thanked him and said, “Do you think you can tell me what his injuries are. I lost my vision in the explosion.”

The man said, “Yes. I’m Frank by the way.”

“I’m Starsky and this is my partner Hutch. We are police officers.”

Starsky asked Frank to use the mic and contact dispatch and advise them there were two officers down. After making the call, Frank took in Hutch’s injuries and relayed the information to Starsky.

After a couple of moments, he took Starsky’s hand and said, “Put pressure on this abdominal wound.” Starsky put his hand on Hutch’s profusely bleeding abdomen. Then Frank said, “I’m no doctor but even I can tell both his legs are broken. There’s the abdominal injury you are putting pressure on. His breathing is ragged. His left hand is pretty swollen He also has a head bleed that I’m putting pressure on.”

“Thanks,” said Starsky.

He continued to croon softly to his partner, ignoring his own injuries attempting to help Hutch, just as Hutch had done for him on previous occasions. Amongst the chaos, Starsky heard the first of many rescue personnel arrive on the scene. A medic ran over to where Starsky and Hutch laid in the street and introduced himself as he tried to remove Starsky from Hutch to administer care. Starsky was reluctant to relinquish hold of him; ultimately, he knew he had to.

Jack (a second paramedic) arrived on scene. He said, “Starsky, it’s Jack. Let me get a look at you while Jesse helps Hutch.”

“Jack, I can’t see. How is Hutch? Help him please.” Starsky started getting worked up, remembering what had happened to his partner. “A manhole cover struck him during the explosion. Oh God, we were arguing and he took a couple of seconds to regain his composure before getting out of the car. That’s why he was in the street during the explosion.”

“Just relax Starsky, we’ll get you both ready for transport and to the ER where they will get ya sorted out. You have some significant injuries yourself,” said Jack.

“No, no, don’t worry about me, help my partner, please.”

With physical contact with his partner broken, due to medical intervention, his fear rose and  with the adrenaline abating, he vomited and passed out.

* * * *

At the emergency room, both men were evaluated and rushed to surgery. Starsky was being treated for a skull fracture and required a craniotomy to treat his life-threatening, elevated intracranial pressure, while Hutch was surgically treated for a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen and bilateral compound fractures to both legs.

Dobey had arranged it so that, even though his men were in the intensive care unit, he had them in the same room. He knew that if one woke and didn’t know where the other was, the staff would have hell to pay. Hutch woke three days later, his blond lashes fluttering open as he tried to talk, but couldn’t.

Dobey said, “Easy, you’re still intubated. They’ll remove the tube in a little bit. Just relax. Starsky is in the other bed.”

He moved so that Hutch could see his partner. Captain Dobey informed him that Starsky had not regained consciousness yet. He went on to say that Starsky had suffered a skull fracture that required surgical intervention for increased pressure and he had stitches in many places from shrapnel.

At hearing this, a tear slid down Hutch’s face. This didn’t go unnoticed by Dobey and he said, “This isn’t your fault.” He knew his men had been bickering more than normal as a result of the long hours and the unrelenting heat. Plus, the medic, Jack, had relayed what Starsky had told him on scene.  “Do you hear me, Ken?”

At this, Hutch nodded briefly and looked away guiltily. He knew his words were the reason his partner was laying there unconscious in that bed. He could hear his granddad‘s words: “Ken, be careful what you say especially when you’re upset with people. As once a word is out there it can’t be taken back. Although words don’t physically hurt a person, they can do just as much damage as a physical blow.”

Once Hutch was extubated, he asked the Captain in a rough raspy voice how Starsky was doing. He added “Captain, this is all my fault. Starsky and I had been arguing we weren’t paying attention to the surroundings and now he is hurt.”

“Hutch,” said Dobey, “it was purely an accident. There was a gas leak in the area that caused the explosion where you were both injured so you can just stow the Hutchinson guilt trip for now and that’s an order.”

“Yes sir,” he said as he drifted off to sleep.

* * * *

Hutch awoke a short time later in intense pain. The pain was so bad that even breathing hurt. He was disoriented and calling for his partner.

“Whoa there, Captain America, you just relax and be still. Ok?”

“Huggy?”

“Yeah, man it’s me. I’m keeping watch over the two of you, as your fearless captain had to head back to his station and take care of the other boys in blue.”

St- St- Starsk?”

“Yeah, Blondie, he’s here. He’s right here to the left of you.” Huggy moved back so that Hutch could glance over and see his partner. Huggy said, “He’s still playing sleeping beauty.”

“How is he?”

Huggy said, “Well, Curly has lost a few of his curls and he’s banged up pretty good. The paramedic had informed the ER staff and Dobey that Starsky said he was not able to see when he woke. However, he’s not the orthopedic nightmare you are. They’ve determined that there isn’t structural damage causing the vision loss though.”

* * * *

“H- Hu–Hutch!” Early in the morning the next day, Hutch heard a fearful plea coming from his partner.

“Hey Starsk, I’m here, I just can’t get to ya right now.”

“Hutch, how long?”

Hutch said, “The accident  was 4 days ago.”

“Awe man, it’s been four days and I still can’t see,” Starsky said, as fear grabbed a hold of him.

Hutch instinctively tried to move closer to his partner to offer comfort. An intense flash of pain brought him up short and a yelp escaped his lips, just as a nurse was entering the room. After she had completed her assessments and provided pain relief, discretely Hutch asked Mary if she could get him closer to Starsky so he could provide support to his partner.

Mary was familiar with these two detectives and their closeness. She stated, “I’m surprised I haven’t thought of it before now.” To Starsky she said, “Mr. Starsky. we are going to take a ride, so hang on.”

“Wait. Why, what’s going on?” Starsky pleaded. He hated sounding so desperate and needy but was feeling quite scared.

“Gordo, just hang on.”

Starsky couldn’t make out the noises he heard and then felt his bed move. Then there was the familiar touch going across his cheek. Reflexively, Starsky brought his hand up searching for his partner. Hutch caught it and gave it a hard squeeze and didn’t let go. The gesture was simple and well known, it was also so very grounding. Hutch saw the relief wash over his partner.

“You okay, buddy?”

“Am now,” came the reply.”

“Me too.”

That was the last thing either one said as they drifted over into medicated slumber, still holding one another’s hand.

Dobey came back to the room to find his detectives both asleep and connected. He thought to himself they will be fine, whatever the outcome. He sent up a prayer of thanks and for continued healing for them both.

* * * *

About a week later Starsky had awoken from a nap while waiting on his partner to return from another surgery on his right leg. His head was killing him, and it felt like white hot pokers were jabbing him in the eyes and he instinctively called out for Hutch.

Huggy said, “No man, this is the dark part of this brotherhood, ya dig?”

“Yeah Huggy, I dig. How long have I been sleeping?” asked Starsky.

Before Huggy could reply, Nurse Mary came and asked Starsky how he was doing.

Starsky told her about the new head pain and pressure he felt.

“Well David, this could be the start of your eyesight returning. We’ll call Dr. Marks and let him know about your symptoms. I’m sure he will come in to check on you.”

About 35 minutes later, Dr. Marks appeared and did some assessments on Starsky and then sent him down to radiology for some scans.

Starsky said, “Hug, will you be here in case Hutch comes back while I’m out.”

Huggy assured him that he would be here waiting on Goldilocks to return.

When Starsky returned to the room, he was slightly disappointed that Hutch hadn’t returned yet. Starsky said, “The doc thinks my vision is returning and that hopefully in a couple days I might start seeing things much better than I can right now.”

“Wait, you can see now?” asked Huggy.

Starsky said, “Well not exactly, but I’m starting to see some very fuzzy white and dark patches. The Doc says it’s the beginning of my vision returning. However, he was careful to tell me that it may improve or it may stay there. He cautioned me to not get too excited or worried, that these things take time and everyone is different.”

“Oh that’s great news, Curly.”

“Yeah,” he said sleepily.

As Starsky was waking from his much needed nap he heard the commotion in the room, realizing that Hutch was returning from surgery. He called out, “Hutch?”

Huggy said, “The White Knight is trying to claim your sleeping beauty award, my friend.”

As Amber was completing her assessment and getting the patient situated, Starsky asked her to get him into a wheelchair so that he could be next to Hutch when he woke up. He said, “He does not do well with anesthesia and can be a real bear.”

At first, she was reluctant to accommodate his request, stating he was supposed to be lying down to ease his head pressure and headache.

Huggy cut in and said, “Blondie here can be a wild tiger, and about the only thing that calms him is his partner.”

Soon Starsky was in a wheelchair next to Hutch, with his head laying on one arm and his other holding his partner’s hand, both asleep nonetheless. It was the moan and murmuring of a nightmare that woke him.

“No, no, please no, don’t take him. He’s too good for Hell, please no take me. I’m sorry Starsk,” came the week but tormented murmurings.

“Hutch, hey buddy, com’n wake up for me, huh?” After a few attempts of coaxing, he was able to free the nightmare’s hold on his partner.

Then there was a weak, “Starsk?”

“Yeah, I’m here, buddy and not going anywhere.”

“I can see that. What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to get a good look at ya.”

“Wait, you can see now?”

“Yes and no,” came the response, “It’s no longer as black as hell, but the flashes of light sure hurt like it though.”

“I-I-I’m sorry,” Hutch said.

Starsky realized that Hutch was apologizing for the argument. “Me too,” came the reply.

* * * *

A few weeks later, Starsky and Huggy entered what was now just Hutch’s hospital room.

“Hey, Blintz, you ready to blow this pop stand, huh?”

Next thing Starsky knew was an orange was hurled at him with Hutch saying, “Don’t say blow, I’ve had enough of that.”

“Yeah, I guess we have,” Starsky said, after catching the flying projectile.

“Good catch.”

“Thanks,” came Starsky’s reply.

They looked at each other and in unison said, “Let’s go home, partner.”

The End