Sweet and Happy…Maybe

Hutch is hurt. Starsky is mad. Real life intrudes.

“HUUUUTCHHHH!! HUTCHINSON! Where is he?”

Starsky tore through the emergency room yelling for his partner. “HUTCH! Where are you?”

“Whoa, cowboy! Don’t make me take you down… again.” A nurse grabbed Starsky’s arm and pulled him into the waiting area. “Dave, calm down! Hutch is okay! Calm down!”

Starsky calmed down marginally and looked at the nurse who had a hold on his arm. “Geri?”

“Yes Starsky, it’s me. I told you I would be seeing you guys again.” She smiled at the distraught officer and friend.

“Hutch? The station called and said he was in the ER. Is he ok? What happened, Geri? Where is he?”

“Slow down Dave. He’s in room four. Dr. Williams has seen him and is going to put a few stitches in his hand in a little bit. He’s okay. He cut his hand.”

“Cut his hand?”

“Come with me. But no more yelling, okay?” Geri kept hold of his arm and guided him down the hall to room number four. She knocked on the door and pushed it open. She stepped into the room, closely followed by Starsky. “Hey, Ken, look who I found in the hall, screaming.” Geri grinned at Hutch then stepped aside so Hutch could see his partner.

“Starsky? Was that you yelling out there? Damn, I thought I was going to have to come out and calm down some drunk!” Hutch grinned at Starsky.

“Drunk? At eleven in the morning?”

Hutch scowled at his partner. “What are you doing here anyway, Starsk?”

“What am I doing here? I got a call from dispatch that you were in the ER. I rushed over here to make sure you were ok! What happened?”

“I needed clean dishes for breakfast so I was washing them. I broke a glass and cut my hand. What did they tell you? Didn’t they tell you that?”

Starsky looked away, then down at his hands. He straightened his cuffs and then looked at Geri. “Hey, beautiful! How ya’ doin’?”

Geri smiled at Starsky and blew him a kiss. “I’m fine, handsome! Thank you.”

“Starsk? Why are you here?”

Starsky gave a big sigh, and looked at Hutch. “They said you were in the ER. I hung up. I didn’t wait to hear what else they had to say. I just got in the car and drove over here.” He looked away. Guilt written all over his face.

“Starsk… did you… you didn’t…”

“I might have…”

“Both?”

Starsky shrugged.

“Red light AND siren?”

“Maybe.”

“Starsk! I just cut my hand!”

“How was I supposed to know that? They said ‘ER’.”

“Oh buddy, come’er.” Hutch held out his arms in a circle, so he could keep pressure on his cut, and Starsky ducked and walked into them, clutching Hutch close to his chest.

“Damn, Hutch. You ‘bout gave me a heart attack!.”

“I’ll go check on Dr. Williams and let you guys … talk.” Geri smiled at the two men she trusted most in the world and slipped out the door.

“What the hell, buddy? Why the panic?”

“Look, Hutch, I… uh, had some bad dreams last night. The call from dispatch woke me up and I guess I mixed the dreams up with the call.” Starsky stepped out of the circle of Hutch’s arms and looked at his hand. Hutch held a bloody dressing to the area near his thumb. He looked up at his face and Hutch pulled the dressing away so Starsky could see it. Blood started welling in the cut as soon as Hutch took the pressure off it.

“Keep that on there. It’s still bleeding.”

“I was washing the dishes and a glass broke. I couldn’t get it to stop bleeding, so I drove over here. I called dispatch, out of habit. Doc says maybe four stitches and some antibiotics.”

“Damn, Hutch, you shouldn’t be tryin’ to shove those hams into them small glasses you insist on using!”

“Uh, well Starsk…” This time it was Hutch who looked away, guiltily.

Starsky’s eyes narrowed as he watched Hutch look anywhere but at HIM. “What aren’t you tellin’ me, buddy?”

“It, uh… wasn’t one of my glasses.”

Starsky narrowed his eyes even further. “If it wasn’t one of YOUR glasses, then whose was it?”

“Look, partner, I can get you another one, okay?”

“You broke my favorite beer glass?!”

“It was an accident.”

“You. Broke. My. Glass?”

Hutch stood up and moved so the ER table was between them. “I didn’t do it on purpose, babe. I told you I would find you another one. It was just a glass.” As soon as he said those words, he knew he had made a mistake. The fire coming out of his partner’s ears and eyes confirmed that.

“THAT was the glass YOU bought me the night we first kissed. ‘Just a glass?’ We were in that crappy bar in Old Town. They had a special offer for those glasses. ONE NIGHT ONLY! And you think you can get me another? It won’t be the same!”

“The thing that matters most, Starsk, was our kiss!”

Both men had raised their voices and the door opened. Geri stepped into the room. “Gentlemen! It’s getting loud in here. Is there a problem?”

They kept their eyes locked on each other’s, and spoke at the same time, “No, no problem.”

“Ok, Doctor will be in here in a few. He’s finishing up another cut. Can I trust the two of you alone?”

They continued to stare at each other, and again answered in unison. “Yeah, you can.”

Geri stepped back into the hall and closed the door. It was all she could do to keep from laughing out loud. “Those boys!”

Hutch’s hand was starting to throb more and he was feeling a little dizzy with standing up. He moved to lean against the table and broke eye contact by looking down. Starsky was instantly around the table and grabbed his upper arms to steady him.

“Hey, hey, buddy. You ok? You got kinda pale on me there. Starsky helped him up on the table and then encouraged him to lay down. “Hutch?”

“Yeah, Starsk. Got a little dizzy. Sss better now.” Hutch closed his eyes. Getting up and moving around had probably not been the best idea he had had today. “Starsk? Did you turn the lights off? Why is it so dark in here?”

“Ya have your eyes closed, dummy.”

“Oh yeah.” Hutch tried to open his eyes. When he opened them, he discovered it was still dark but with bright diamond sparkles dancing around the shadow he believed was Starsky. “Wow. You’re all sparkly!!” He reached his hand up to touch Starsky’s hair. When he released pressure on the cut, it began bleeding again, in earnest. His hand never reached Starsky’s hair but fell down to dangle off the side of the bed. His eyes closed and his forehead wrinkled in confusion as he weakly said, “Starsk?”

“HUTCH! Hey, somebody come, quick!” Starsky wasn’t sure what to do. If he went to the door Hutch might slip away from him. But if he didn’t get help, Hutch WOULD slip away. Keeping his eyes on his partner, he dashed to the door, jerked it open and yelled, “GERI! Someone! Help! My partner…”

Geri ran the short distance to room four and pushed past Starsky. “What happened, Dave?” She quickly grabbed a thick dressing and put it over the cut, taping it so it would stay in place. She hit the ‘panic button’ on the wall. “Dave? What happened?”

“I-I-I don’t know. He was standing there staring at me, and all of a sudden his face got kinda white-looking and he reached over to the table to hold himself up. He asked if it was dark in here. I helped him up on the table. He said I was all “sparkly” and he passed out.” Starsky was standing by the table, his hand on Hutch’s shoulder. “Is he… is he gonna be ok, Geri?”

“What did he say before he passed out?” She quickly put the blood pressure cuff on his arm and checked his blood pressure. She jotted the number down on a piece of paper she pulled from her pocket. She took her stethoscope off her neck and quickly put it on Hutch’s chest to listen to his pulse. Without missing a beat, she pulled a small flashlight out of her pocket, pulled Hutch’s eye lids open and flashed the light in both of his eyes.

The door pushed open and several other ER workers rushed in, followed by Dr. Williams. “What have we got, Geri?”

Starsky moved back, but not too far. He needed to be close enough to touch his partner. Close enough to get to him if he needed to.

“Blood pressure 100/50, pulse 50, regular, respirations 16. Pupils were equal and reactive to light, but a bit sluggish.”

The doctor performed many of the same tasks Geri had and turned to Starsky. “Tell me what happened.” The rest of the staff kept checking things on Hutch.

“He…we were talking. Then his face went all white. He reached out to touch the table like he was dizzy. I asked him what was wrong and he started to lean, so I helped him up on the table. Then he said ‘everything is dark’ and something about me being ‘sparkly’ and he just passed out. What’s wrong doc? Is he going to be ok?”

“Did your partner eat breakfast this morning?”

“Uh, he said he was going to fix something to eat, but he had to wash the dishes first. Then he cut his hand and came here. So, I don’t think he ate. Doc…?”

“Geri, check a blood sugar.”

Geri quickly grabbed a glucometer and lancet and poked one of Hutch’s fingers. Starsky watched as she performed the task. “59, Dr. Williams.”

“Is Detective Hutchinson diabetic?”

“No. I’ve known him for years and he… WAIT! He was fasting for the last three days. He does that now and then. So today would have been the first day he could eat!”

“Does he eat anything when he fasts? Drink anything other than water?”

“He has this health shake thing he mixes up with sea kelp and some liver stuff in it. And water, that’s it. We were on stakeouts the last two nights, so I know he’s been tired, too.”

“Lab is back, Doctor.” Geri handed over some papers. The doctor scanned them quickly.

“Geri, get an IV in him. Recheck his blood sugar every fifteen minutes until it’s back in range. Let’s get some food up here for him, once he wakes up. Cancel XRay for now. Set out my supplies, and let me stitch him before he wakes up.”

“Doctor? Is he gonna be ok?”

“Detective, your partner has a very low blood sugar. Brought on by his fasting and being tired and stressed from the stakeouts. Basically, he fainted.”

“Fainted?? Hutch?” Starsky glanced over at the table where his big-blonde-hulk-of-a-Viking lay, taking up most of the table. “He fainted?”

“Yes.”

Starsky started laughing. “Oh, babe, I’m never gonna let you live this one down!”

And he didn’t.