Paula Wilshe

   I woke up that morning feelin’ terrific. Well, okay, not terrific, but better than I had in, well, since I…anyhow, that was the first day I was able to roll over in bed without it hurtin’ so much I practically had to take a pain pill just to pour a cup of coffee. Hell, that morning, I made the coffee, a full pot, and strong too, since both my partner and me like it that way.

   My partner, Hutch, was still sound asleep on my couch. He’d been spendin’ every night there since I got home from the hospital, and honest, I don’t know what I woulda done without him. He’s a pal, took care of everything, from the cooking, the wash, the dishes, to takin’ care of me, makin’ sure I was fed, and the dressings changed and all. It had to be tough on him, because in the beginning I couldn’t do much myself at all, not even getting dressed, or getting out of bed without help.

   Sometimes, the pain pills made me so sick I’d throw up, and he was just right there, all calm, all quiet, not makin’ me feel like some kinda stupid little kid or an invalid or anything. He’s really good at that, lookin’ after people—I guess especially me, since I’m the closest thing he has to family. I mean, he’s got family, but he’s closer to me than he is to…anyhow, sometimes I tease him about that, the takin’ care of people thing, I tell him he’s goin’ on "autonurse," just like when flight crews slip the "autopilot" switch in an airplane. First time I called him that, he laughed so hard he spit out his beer. On me, of course, but it was worth it.

   But all this has been really hard on him, and there were moments like that morning when it was really startin’ to show. It was six thirty, and he was still sacked out, still looked exhausted. Thing is, not only had he been doin’ all this stuff for me, he’d been workin’ too, and long hours, wrapping up a case we’d been working on before I—well, before.

   I hated to wake him, but I knew if he wasn’t in on time there’d be hell to pay with Dobey. They were at the point now where all that was left was the reports and some of the interviews, and they’d got an interrogation scheduled for that morning at seven thirty, Hutch’d told me that the night before.

   "Hey," I leaned over him, and talked as soft as I could. "Hutch?" I put my hand on his shoulder, but I didn’t shake him awake, somehow that didn’t seem fair.

   His eyes fluttered open. "Starsk," he mumbled, trying to sit up, but he was all clumsy, and half asleep. "Whass wrong?"

   I tried to help him the rest of the way up, and I sat down next to him. Sometimes he can be kinda dopey in the morning, especially if he hasn’t gotten enough sleep. I didn’t think he’d been sleeping right at all lately anyway, bein’ on my couch and all, but he didn’t believe me when I said I’d be okay and he should go home to his place and sleep, and when I tried to give him my bed and said I’d take the couch he’d gotten all pissy and stuttery, so I gave up. Felt bad about it, though, since I didn’t have to go anyplace in the mornings, and he did.

   Hutch yawned and rubbed his eyes real hard. "Man…" he said.

   "There’s coffee," I told him, handing him the mug I’d brought over, "Maybe that’ll help." I gave him a look. "Sure as hell couldn’t hurt," I added.

   "I hope so," he said, drinking half of it down. He smiled over at me. "Hey, Starsk, thanks," he said.

   I grinned back at him, but really, all I could think was that he looked exhausted. His eyes had that fuzzy thing they get when he’s either getting sick, or he’s so tired he can’t think straight. The hours he’d been keepin’, I figured it could be either one, and it made me feel bad, since he’d been using up all his spare time and half his sleeping time looking after me.

   Had to keep things light, of course, that’s just the way I gotta be with my partner. For somebody who’s as good at takin’ care of people as he is, he hates havin’ anyone do it for him. I think he’s embarrassed. But I couldn’t just let it go, so I took my life in my hands, tilted my head to one side and charged on in. "Hey, Blintz?"

   "Yeah?" He took another gulp of coffee.

   "You feelin’ okay?"

   "Sure, why?"

   "’Cause you look like hell," I told him honestly.

   "I’m fine, Starsk," he said, surprised. "I just woke up…"

   See, that’s another funny thing about Hutch—no matter how bad he feels, no matter how bad he looks, he always thinks no one else can tell, even if it’s obvious. Makes me crazy sometimes, the big dope.

   "You sure?" I pressed.

   Hutch looked over at me, wearin’ the look I call Hutchinson Sincere. "Yup."

   I shook my head. "Hutch, come on…Whatsa matter?"

   He was starting to look irritated, and I wondered if I was only making things worse. "It’s nothin’, Starsk," he insisted, "bit of a headache, and my throat’s a little…I’m tired, I’m just really tired. Nothin’ a couple of aspirin won’t fix," he said. "Okay?"

   "Okay," I patted his arm. I knew there was no way he could stay home today, ‘course, I knew even if he could, he wouldn’t. Somethin’ about that Midwestern Work Ethic, but that’s all because of the way Hutch’s dad is, and I’m not even gonna go into that now.

   Hutch pulled himself together, and took a shower, and got ready for work. He looked a little better, I guess, he gulped down a glass of juice and some aspirin, but he said he’d grab some breakfast at the station.

   I watched him walk down to the car. He was walkin’ sorta slow, and I found myself wondering if he really would get something to eat when he got to work. Hutch gets hung up like that sometimes, like, he’d been so busy taking care of me that he had forgotten to take care of himself.

   Since I was feeling almost human for a change, and a wonderful change it was, I did a whole bunch of stuff around the apartment. Watered the plants, changed the sheets—and I did that because I’d already decided that Hutch was getting the bed tonight and I’d sleep on the couch. For heavens sake, the guy deserved a decent night’s sleep after all this.

   I took out some stuff to make stew, I figured that I could probably get him to eat some of that if I told him there were vegetables in it. I thought about putting some of his sea kelp in it, but then…well, I wouldn’t be able to eat it, have you ever tried that stuff? It’s awful.

   And then, suddenly, it was two o’clock. Hours to go till Hutch would get home, and it had started rainin’ outside, that depressing, damp, drizzly thing that is always such a shock to us spoiled Southern Californians. I tried to watch t.v., but come on, nobody with an ounce of intelligence could sit through more than two game shows in a row.

   Then I started thinkin’ about Hutch, he probably wasn’t feeling great, and he was downtown in the squad room, not even me to take his mind off things. I thought about callin’ him, but instead, grabbed the keys to the Torino, and headed down to the precinct myself.

   "Starsky, what the hell are you doing here?" our Captain bellowed when he caught sight of me. Gotta admit, it was fun, seein’ the surprise on everybody’s faces, they weren’t expecting me back for a week and a half.

   "Hey, Cap," I said, as nonchalantly as I could toss off. "I was getting kinda bored at home, and I…"

   "Thought you’d grace us all with your presence, huh?" he said with a big smile. "How’re you feeling?"

   "Terrific," I said, meaning it. It felt so good to be there, to be almost back to normal.

   "Good for you, son," he said. "Looks like you’re doing better than your partner over there, anyhow."

   I turned toward our desks, knowing Hutch would be there, working on the reports. Well, he was there, but he wasn’t workin’, in fact, his head was propped up on his arm, and I was pretty sure he’d dozed off. "Geez, Cap," I said, "he doesn’t look so good."

   "You know your partner," Dobey answered, "says he’s FINE."

   I nodded, and moved over to my usual seat. As quietly as I could, without making any noise to disturb him, I pulled over the files he’d been working on. He’d already done most of the stuff, but since they were all cases we’d been on together, I was able to fill in the blanks and the times, so I did. It took about an hour, but I fixed ‘em all, and stacked ‘em nice and neat, and took ‘em right into Dobey’s office.

   "Here you go, Cap," I said, "all done. Can I take my partner home now?"

   Dobey grinned, sort of, as much as the man ever grins. "You didn’t have to do that, you know, Hutch would have finished them eventually. And yes, you can take him home, but do you really think that’s a good idea?"

   "Of course it is, Cap, I need to get him out of here," I said, "he’s beat."

   "That’s not what I mean, Starsky, and you know it." He tried to look serious and fatherly, all at the same time, lacing his fingers together and leaning back in his chair. "If he’s getting sick, and you’re just recovering from…"

   "Cap…" I said, trying not to laugh, I didn’t want to insult the guy, he really does try, you know? And I knew what he was drivin’ at.

   He looked at me kinda sharp for a minute, then he went on, "Then I don’t think you should be around him because…Maybe Edith could…"

   "Cap," I said again, but softly. I leaned over the desk, and looked him in the eyes. He knew more than anyone what Hutch had been doin’ for me the last couple of weeks, knew more than anyone how much we always depended on each other, and always had.

   "What?" He asked.

   "Hutch needs some fussin’," I said, as seriously as I could. I didn’t know any other way to say it, but apparently he understood.

   He nodded, and sort of smiled. "Do what you have to do, Starsky," and he opened one of the file folders and started to read, kind of waving me away with one hand.

   "Hey," I said, pausing at the door, "See ya."

   I walked back into the squad room, and I had to smile at my partner. His head had slipped halfway down his arm, and his blond hair was just all over the place. His face was a tiny bit flushed, like maybe he was runnin’ a little fever, and boy, he just didn’t look comfortable at all. Almost made me laugh, but not quite, ‘cause I knew he prob’ly didn’t feel good. I leaned down next to him, trying not to groan, because as good as I felt, you know, I was still awful sore by the end of the day.

   "Hutch?" I whispered. "Blintz?"

   He opened his eyes really slowly, and it seemed like it took him a few minutes to focus, to figure out where he was, what he was doing, and what the hell I was doing there.

   "Starsk," he said in this hoarse voice, looking around. "What the hell are you doing here?" He was blinking up at me, kinda lookin’ like a little confused kid.

   I laughed. "Takin’ you home," I said. "You’ve had it. Dobey wants you out of here now." I put my hand underneath his arm, but he sort of pulled away, and started shuffling the papers on the desk.

   "Yeah, but the reports…" he said, not quite awake.

   "Are done and on Dobey’s desk," I told him. "Come on."

   Hutch didn’t say anything, he just sort of nodded, and the two of us walked out of the squad room and down the hall. In the elevator, he looked at me with kind of a crooked smile. "Where are you taking me?" he asked, and even though he was a little more awake, his voice was still pretty croaky.

   I punched the elevator button. "Takin’ you home, partner, and you’re goin’ to bed," I said.

   "That a proposition?" he asked me, smiling a little more.

   "Nope," I said, "That’s an order."

   He didn’t even mention the fact that his car was still in the parking lot, he was probably too sleepy to even realize it. We both climbed in my car, and I bumped up the heat, since it was still raining, and kind of chilly. As I backed out of my parking space, Hutch touched my arm.

   "Hey," he said.

   "Yeah?"

   "Thanks," he said, with a tired little sigh.

   "Piece o’cake," I grinned at him, patting him on the knee, and feelin’ normal for the first time in weeks.

   Hutch leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes, by the time we hit the second traffic light, he had dozed off again. He was kinda slumped up against my arm, and I couldn’t believe how happy and contented I felt. Hadn’t thought I’d ever feel like that again, truthfully, not after all that had happened---but here I was, keepin’ watch over my partner again, doin’ what we do, whatever that is.

   I headed the car for home, and for some dumb reason, I just couldn’t stop smiling. Suddenly everything about my life seemed to be back in place, swinging back the way it was supposed to be, give and take, me and thee. I’d make him dinner, send him off to bed, and maybe, just maybe, be able to show him just a little bit how thankful I was for all he’d done for me over the last few weeks. Next week I’d be hittin’ the streets again, next to my partner, and everything would be back to normal. Boy, I felt terrific.

THE END