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   "Yeah, you really have it soft now, Starsk," Hutch half laughed as his best friend, David Starsky, unwrapped his lunch.

   "Hey, what can I say?" David answered, as he shrugged his shoulders.

   "Well, at least it is better than the take-out stuff you always want. What did she pack for you today?"

   "Let's see...Tuna sandwiches, chocolate cupcakes (which I know she made from scratch) carrot sticks and some plums for dessert."

   "You know, in a couple of months, eating like that and your stomach will forget all about take out."

   David just shrugged his shoulders and gave Hutch a look as if to say, "Yeah, yeah."

   It was a usually beautiful day in Los Angeles and the two detectives had decided to get away from the precinct for lunch. They were in a park near some large apartment buildings. Just when they had finished their banter, David heard a small whimper.

   He told Hutch to be quiet. Both heard the sound a few times and then David asked, "What is that sound?"

   "I don't know, Starsk, but I don't like it," Hutch answered.

   "I wonder where it is coming from."

   "I have no idea."

   "Well, that is it. Let's go investigate it."

   Both detectives got up from the park bench and started to look around. However, as they got closer to the garbage receptacle, they noticed the sound got louder. David stated to Hutch, "It is getting louder. Sounds like it is coming from there."

   "You are right, Starsk."

   David opened up the garbage receptacle and noticed a baby inside it. "Hutch, this appears to be the source of the noise."

   "You are right, Starsk."

   "What do we do now, Hutch" David asked.

   "Well, get the baby out of there first, Starsk."

   "Yeah. okay." David lifted the little baby out of the garbage bin and cuddled it in his arms. The baby appeared to be a newborn. The umbilical cord was still attached and it was wrapped in a filthy blanket. "I have no idea. Maybe a teenager who was too scared to tell her parents."

   "Well, Starsk, I guess we had better get this little one to the station and let Captain Dobey handle it."

   "Hutch, any idea what might happen to the baby?"

   "Probably it will end up in a foster home, under the care of Children's Services."

   "You know, Hutch, Rosey and I have not discussed kids yet, but I wondering if she would love a baby."

   "Starsk, a baby is a lot of work. That's probably another reason the girl abandoned him. She was overwhelmed by what she knew would happen if she kept it."

   "Well, let's get out of here."

   Hutch put the lid back on the garbage holder. They grabbed the rest of their lunches and headed toward the car. With the baby in his arms, David got into the passenger side of the Striped Tomato and Hutch took the wheel of the car.

********

   "Lovely Lady, I have something I wish to discuss with you." It was later that evening. Rosey and David had finished dinner and the dishes were done and put away.

   "What is it, David?"

   "Nothing you did."

   "Okay," she smiled at him.

   They were both sitting on the couch enjoying an after dinner drink of wine.

   "Hutch and I found an abandoned baby today."

   "Oh no! How?"

   "In a garbage bin. From what the authorities could determine, he is a newborn. The cord was still attached. They have him at the LA Medical Center, Neo-natal Unit."

   "Is there anything wrong with him?"

   "No, just precautions."

   "That is good. David, how are you holding up?"

   "Lovely Lady, it was very emotional. The baby was in a filthy blanket."

   "David, how are you holding up? Come here." He moved closer to her and she could see tears in his eyes. She held him in her arms. "David Starsky, you are something else. You really do care about what happens to the baby."

   "I sure do. Hutch and I turned him into the authorities and Children's Services have taken over the case. We did a little digging and we found out that the baby will be placed in a foster home as soon as he is released from the hospital."

   "And forever lost in the system..." Her voiced trailed off.

   "I was thinking about asking you if you would like a baby."

   "In a few years."

   "No, I mean right now. Lovely Lady, you should see him. He is so adorable. Hutch and I did a little homework and we found out there is a shortage of foster homes in LA."

   "A baby is a lot of work."

   "I realize a baby is not a toy."

   "David Starsky, you want to foster the baby, don't you?"

   "How could you read my mind?"

   "But I know what you are saying. This baby has no parents. When I was in Mexico, I saw first hand child poverty. You know, the more I think about this, the more maybe it is not such a bad idea."

   "Rosey, are you saying what I think you are saying?"

   "Yes."

   "Lovely Lady, I love you."

   "David Starsky, I love you more."

   "You are the greatest." He took her in his arms and kissed her.

   "Tomorrow, I will call Children's Services and put the wheels in motion..

   "Thanks." He said with a lump in his throat.

   "You know, it will be nice to have a purpose in my life. Not that I don't enjoy staying home and taking care of this house. However, there is a little helpless baby out there who needs someone to change the bad break he got."

   "You are so right."

********

   Rosey called Children's Services the next day.

   The Children's Services' Social Worker was a really nice woman. Her name was Betsy Chernack and she looked she was about 30 years of age. She had long dark hair and green eyes. She was about 5' 7" and weighed about 160 lbs.

   Betsy made an appointment with the Starskys that afternoon, at 2 p.m.

   David was not really working on a case that involved him putting in long h ours and he was able to be there. Instead of wearing his usual jeans and shirt, he came home at noon, changed, took a shower and put on the three-piece baby blue suit that Rosey had seen him wear on their honeymoon. He knew it made her crazy and she always told him how good he looked in it.

   Rosey chose a really nice blue suit for herself with a long sleeved jacket and a short skirt. When he saw her in it, he said she looked sensational. Underneath the jacket, she wore a nice free blouse.

   Betsy arrived promptly at 2 p.m.

   Rosey offered her something to drink. David chose his usual root beer. Betsy chose coffee.

   While the coffee was brewing, Betsy asked them to fill out some forms. She also did a quick calculation based on a scale of 100 to see how suitable they were and they scored in the 90s.

   Betsy had one concern - "The baby needs a place to sleep and it appears as if there is only one bedroom here."

   "Couldn't we fit a crib in our bedroom? After all, the baby will sleep most of the time and a crib in our room would be okay." David offered.

   "Yes, you are right."

   "I am impressed as to how big this place is. Plenty of room for things you are going to need for a baby - playpen, carriage, etc."

   "You mean to say, we may be able to have the baby in our home?" Rosey inquired..

   "I would probably say ninety percent sure. I just need to check some of your references, go over these forms. Give me a couple of days."

   "Okay," Rosey answered.

   "Thanks for coming," David said.

   "Well, thanks for having me." Betsy said as she finished her coffee. "I will be in touch."

   David walked her to the door. He shut the door behind her.

   "Well, what do you want to do now?" Rosey asked him

   David went over to her and put his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear, "Well it is only 4 p.m. I have the rest of the afternoon off, in fact the rest of the day. It is too early for dinner…" His voice trailed off.

   "I think I know where this is leading. David, will you make love to me?"

   "You never need to ask for that." He said as he took her hand and led her to the bedroom.

********

   There was a knock on the Starsky's front door. It was Friday morning, two days since Betsy's visit.

   David was already up and gone to work. Rosey was doing a few things around the house. She went to answer the door. It was the mailman with a registered letter for Mr. and Mrs. Starsky. She signed for the letter and thanked the mailman. She closed the door and opened the envelope nervously.

   She let out a 'yippee'. She reached for the phone and dialed her husband's number at work. He had not gone out with Hutch on the case they were working on yet.

   "Guess what I got in the mail?"

   "No idea," he answered.

   "Approval by the Children's Services"

   "You are kidding."

   "Would I lie about something like that."

   "Nope."

   "What does the letter say?"

   "Pretty well we have been approved to foster the baby."

   "Does it say when we can pick him up?"

   "Whenever the hospital releases him and we can get the house ready. The baby needs a few things."

   "Yeah."

   "David, I am going to call Betsy Chernack. She said that Children's Services would supply stuff."

   "Sounds good."

   "See you later, David. I love you."

   "Bye, Lovely Lady. I don't know whether I will be home for dinner or whatever, but I love you too and will see you later."

   Rosey called Betsy and the two women went shopping for that afternoon. Many of the things that they were able to get were donated to Children's Services, but some things such as the crib and a car seat had to be bought new. They also bought some clothes for the baby.

   David was able to get away at his usual time and he booked off for the weekend. By the time he got home, Betsy had left and the store had delivered the things for the baby.

   Rosey was waiting for him in the living room when he came through the door.

   "Hi," he said to her.

   She rushed over to him. He took her in his arms and she said, "Hi, there. How was your day?"

   "Great since the letter came. You know, this calls for a celebration."

   "It sure does."

   "You didn't start dinner yet, did you?"

   "I didn't know whether or not you would be home for dinner."

   "Well, Lovely Lady, go put on your best dress and get all dolled up. You and I are going out for dinner. Then when we come home, we'll put the crib together."

   "David, I love the idea."

   "I knew you would. Any excuse to take my best girl out to dinner."

   "Yeah."

   "Maybe by tomorrow at this time, there will be another person in this house."

   "Yeah."

   They broke their embrace.

   Rosey got into the shower. While she was getting her make up on, David took his turn in the shower. Then they both got dressed. David had chosen his baby blue three-piece suit. She chose a burgundy dress with spaghetti straps and matching short sleeved jacket. When David saw her in it, he gave her a wolfish whistle. He laughingly said, "Why don't we stay home and celebrate without going out to dinner?"

   "Nope, David, I want to go out."

   "Well, okay, Sweetheart," he said in his best Bogie voice. "Besides, I want to show you off." He drew her in for a quick kiss. "But I want to celebrate later like we did the other afternoon."

   "Of course, David, you old devil."

   "Hey, I can't help myself if I am so in love with you I want to show you the best way I know how."

   "Yeah. Let's get going. I am starving."

   He took her hand and together they left the house and headed to their favorite neighborhood restaurant. They had discovered a surf and turf restaurant soon after they came back from their honeymoon. It became their favorite fancy restaurant when they needed something a little more special than Mom's Restaurant, near where David worked.

   David was in a mellow mood. The case he and Hutch were working on was going well and the news of the baby had made him even more relaxed.

   They had decided to order a bottle of wine with their dinner, the same kind that they had had on their second date.

   After dinner, before they headed back home, they decided to take a walk along the street and look in some of the shop windows. The evening was lovely. The stars were out and it was not raining. They held hands and just enjoyed taking their time getting home.

   It was around ten when they finally got home. David retrieved his tool kit from the living room and went to work to put the crib together. After he was done and it appeared as if the structure would not come apart, Rosey made the bed ready with a fitted sheet.

   Rosey and Betsy had also found a chest of drawers which Rosey and David were able to squeeze into their bedroom. Rosey and David started to put the baby's clothes in the drawers.

   After the tasks were done, the Starskys decided to retire to bed early. After all, David wanted to celebrate their great news the other way

********

   The next afternoon, Saturday, the Starskys found themselves at the hospital picking up the baby. The hospital nursing staff had named the baby after David because he was the one who more or less found him that day. David and Rosey gave him an unofficial second name and he became unofficially David Aaron Starsky, or DAS, for short.

   Betsey and Rosey had bought a car seat for the little tike and it was already in place in the front seat of the Striped Tomato.

   David picked him up from the hospital bassinet. This was the first time Rosey had seen him and she fell instantly in love with him. He had the most beautiful blue eyes, like David's, and lovely blonde hair. Now she knew why David wanted to foster him. DAS was sleeping peacefully in David's arms. David motioned for Rosey to come over to him.

   He placed the baby in her arms, ever so gently, being careful to support his head. Rosey looked to David for approval. He kissed her gently on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "You look so good. I think you'll do just fine."

   The head nurse came over to the Starskys and said, "Go to the front desk. There are forms you need to fill out. I think you guys look great with David. He is such a good baby. Every one of the nursing staff on the floor is in love with him. They are so envious of you."

   David picked up the diaper bag Rosey had brought with her and they headed toward the elevators.

   David couldn't keep his eyes off her all the way down to the ground floor and the lobby. He knew he had made the right decision approaching her earlier in the week regarding DAS. He knew it was going to be a difficult task.

   They filled out the forms and left the hospital with the baby. David put the baby in the car seat. Rosey climbed into the back seat.

   DAS went right to sleep after they put him in his crib. The hospital had given them several cans of baby formula that DAS had been using. When they got home, Rosey and David made several bottles of it so they would be ready when DAS got hungry.

   The Starskys spent the rest of the day enjoying the baby. Just like the head nurse had told them. he was such a good baby and only woke up every four hours to be fed.

   They had their first visitor that evening. Hutch knew that they were picking up the baby and he decided he wanted to see the newest member of the Starsky household. When he showed up at the door, he had the biggest teddy bear that Rosey had ever seen with him.

   When Rosey went to answer the door, and she let Hutch in, David came out of the bedroom. "Hey, who is your new friend?" He asked.

   "I was at the store and I could not resist it." Hutch's excuse was.

   "Well, come on in." David offered. "And your friend is welcome, too."

   When Hutch was inside and they were sitting around having a cup of coffee, he asked, "Where is he?"

   "In his bed." David answered. "He looked over at Rosey, "Want me to go get him?"

   "Sure."

   David went to get him. "Here he is," David observed when he returned. "Want to hold him, Uncle Hutch?" He motioned Hutch to come over and hold him. "You have to support his head."

   Hutch said, "He sure is small."

   "Looks a little better than he did when you saw him last."

   They spent the rest of the night just enjoying the baby. Daddy David was in his glory. He was completely in love with the baby and wanted to hold him and feed him. They brought out the Monopoly board and played a few rounds. Of course, even David's new role in life did not change the fact that he was a terrible Monopoly player. But he was more interested in showing off DAS and he was not concerned about how badly he was losing.

********

   "Okay, Kiddo, now that this is finished, let us go and see what's going on with the rest of the house." Rosey had just finished changed DAS and she was going to lie down on the couch. for a while.

   It was Monday morning. David had already gone to work.

   Suddenly Rosey thought she heard the Striped Tomato pull up A moment later, she heard the front door open.

   David entered the house with a large bunch of flowers in his hand.

   "Hi. David, what are you doing home?"

   "Hi Lovely Lady. The department was so impressed with the fact that we are fostering DAS that they gave me the whole week off."

   She went over to him and he drew her in for a kiss. "Why the flowers?"

   "Do I need an excuse to buy my lovely wife flowers?"

   "Nope."

   "Well, they are just to thank you for being you. For taking in DAS and just for being the most wonderful wife in the whole wide world."

   "Well, they are lovely."

   "Here, let me put them down and let me take the baby. How is our favorite little one doing?"

   "He just ate and I was finished changing him and I was going to lie down on the couch with him. I am still a little tired from last night."

   "Come here. Take DAS with you. You go lie down on the bed. I will put the flowers in some water and I will lie down with you. If he wakes up, I will take care of him."

   "David Starsky, you are something else."

   "Hey, he is my responsibility too. I am a little bit tired too. Just because you got up with him doesn't mean I slept all the way through."

   Rosey took the baby from him and went to lie down. Meanwhile, David picked up the flowers, and went and found a vase and put them in some water. He went into the bedroom and lied down on the other side of the bed. He put his arms outstretched on the bed with the baby between them. She rested her head on his arm. They both were lying facing each other on the bed. He leaned over and kissed her.

   He did not fall sleep. Instead, he was content to stroke her cheeks, stroke her hair, run his hands gently all over her, just do little gestures of love while she slept.

   The baby was just content to sleep knowing the two people he depended upon for food, clean diapers, and a warm place to sleep were there to make sure his every need was fulfilled.

   Around lunchtime, David was starting to get a little hungry. He knew there was still some spaghetti left over from the previous night's dinner. He carefully removed his arm from where it was. He leaned over and kissed her gently on her forehead. He went into the fridge and found the container with the spaghetti. He found a pot and put the spaghetti into it. He went over to the stove and turned it on.

   Meanwhile, Rosey woke up and she realized David was gone. She got up and put the baby in his crib. She went looking for her husband. She snuck up behind him and put her arms around his waist. She kissed him on his neck. He turned around. "I woke up and you were gone."

   "I got hungry. He moved in for a tender kiss. "Want some?

   "Sounds good." She came up for air. "I'll set the table.

   David and Rosey spent the rest of the week that David had off enjoying the baby.

   They did come to the conclusion that the Starsky household should become a two-car household. Rosey needed a small car because she needed to go places and do errands while David was at work.

   Several days that week they spend checking out car dealerships and later on in the week, they became the owners of a second hand four-door medium green Comet.

   Actually the Starskys found that in the months to come they used the Comet as the family car. It had four doors and was easier when the three of them went out rather than the Striped Tomato.

   The next six months flew by in record time.

   The baby grew like a weed and it seemed as if he changed overnight. He was a very happy baby. David and Rosey loved him as if he was theirs. He was never without love.

   He was a normal baby. He did all the normal things that babies do at the right time. He smiled at six weeks and.

   David continued to take an important role in DAS's life. Every time he came home from work, the first thing he did was to go and find the baby. When DAS started to recognize the important people in his life, David was one of those. Many evenings when he was not working, he took over the care of the baby and gave Rosey a break.

   When DAS was six months old, the Starskys decided to start the legal process and make him an official Starsky. David consulted the lawyer at headquarters regarding what their options were and he assured them that their chances were good that the court would grant them legal custody.

   However, since the lawyer's field of work was not adoption and family law, he did recommend a colleague of his, a lawyer by the name of Matthew Sutton. Matthew came highly recommended and they were able to hire him.

   During the next few months, the legal process went through the courts.

   There was a hearing held at Family Court and after several days of calling witnesses on both sides, during which Hutch, Captain Dobey, Betsy Chernack and several of the neighbors were called to testify the suitability of the Starskys as parents.

   In the end, the court ruled in favor of the Starskys and on 8th month anniversary of S&H finding the baby, David Aaron Starsky became the legal child of Rosey and David Starsky.

   The happy couple celebrated by holding a small party at their house.

THE END