Work Text:
Comfort Zone (Sweet Music Man 4 and final)
By TLR
Plot: Starsky and Hutch reunite in Brooklyn.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Brooklyn.
Rachel Starsky's house smelled of fresh bread and her third pot of chicken soup. Hutch sat propped in a chair near the window, one arm still bound from his injuries, his frame thinner and paler than Starsky had seen him since the virus, but his eyes were alert in that steady, calm Hutch way.
“Hi, Ma,” he said giving her a kiss on the cheek with a bundle of flowers.
“David,” she said with a hug. “Come in, it's been too long. Kenneth needs you.”
Not needing to be told twice, Starsky made his way into the sitting room and reached down to give him a hug. “Don't get up, Blondie. How you doin'?”
Hutch looked him over with relief in his eyes. “Better now. Doc says it shouldn't be too much longer I'll be on my feet. You're looking pretty good.”
Starsky set his duffel under the coffee table and sat down next to him. They drank in each other with the closeness of memories.
Starsky signed his left arm cast with a flourish. “So when you’re back on your feet, we head home, right? Back to Bay City.”
Hutch lowered his eyes. “That’s the thing, Starsk. Bay City, yes. Police work? I don't think so. I think we should find something else, and not music, because I'm kind of fed up with road life right now, or maybe I just need a break from it, who knows?”
Starsky tapped his cast with a smile. “Yeah, I can see why you need a break. But you're good, Hutch. I hope you know that.”
Hutch shrugged indifferently and looked out the window.
Rachel brought a tray of soup and bread and tea, and set it on the coffee table, not wanting to interrupt their talk. She quietly returned to the kitchen and resumed washing dishes.
“Thanks, Ma!” Starsky called over his shoulder. Turning back to Hutch he said, “I can't see us doing anything else. I mean we could, but you're a good cop, Hutch, and I miss the way we worked together.”
Hutch shook his head, half-laughing. “I don't know. We could teach at the academy, or hell, open a bar or diner together. Even a donut shop.”
Starsky laughed and scoffed wryly, “Yeah, donut shop.”
“I can see it now, Gordo, you'd eat all the profits.”
“Speaking of eating,” Starsky said handing Hutch his mug of soup and picking up a piece of bread for himself, “I'm hungry, let's eat.”
Silence settled between them, unresolved, but the one true thing they knew was that it felt good to be back together again.
::
The call came two mornings later.
Rachel was slicing apples when the phone rang. She answered, listened, then gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
“David, Ken. It’s your friend Mr. Brown.” She held the receiver out with a worried look on her face.
Starsky took it and spoke. “Hug, what’s up?”
“Bad news, man. Your squad room got shot up. Some ex-con dude named Reardon... swore Dobey ruined his life. Dobey was shot once in his office. Burke tackled him at the captain's door, saved Dobey from a second shot but he got hit himself… Both are in ICU.”
Starsky’s face went slack as he slowly hung up and told Hutch what happened.
When he was finished, Hutch pushed himself off the couch and reached for his jacket. Without further words, Starsky helped gather Hutch's things and they were on their way out the door with a goodbye kiss to Rachel's cheek.
::
Memorial Hospital.
The ICU waiting room was crowded. Edith Dobey sat with little tearful Rosie while Cal paced the floor, trying to be a man but looking more like a lost boy.
Starsky crouched to Rosie’s level. “Hey, sweetheart. Your daddy’s tough. Tougher than any bad guy. He’s gonna pull through.”
She nodded solemnly, not quite believing, but comforted by his gentle tone. She looked up at Hutch and raised her small arms to him, and he picked her up in his good arm. “It'll be all right, Rosie.”
Edith sat crying into a tissue. “I prayed this would never happen,” she said looking from Starsky to Hutch. “Please help us.”
“We will,” Starsky said kissing her hand, fighting memories of losing his own father to the line of duty.
::
Starsky and Hutch entered Dobey's hospital room, where beeping machines, tubes and medicine sustained him. His big frame looked vulnerable against the hospital sheets.
Starsky’s voice was slightly trembling as Hutch clasped their captain's hand. “Cap'n, it’s us. Hutch is back. You hang in there. We’re gonna take care of this.”
As they left the room, fellow detectives Simmons and Babcock met them with red eyes. “Good to see you, Hutch,” Babcock nodded.
“Starsky,” Simmons said quietly. “I’m sorry but Burke didn’t make it. He… he saved Dobey. Took that second bullet meant for him. We just came from informing his girlfriend.”
Starsky closed his eyes, while Hutch’s hand went to his shoulder.
“Burke deserved better,” Starsky said in a small voice. “He was a good cop.”
“Hero,” Hutch said with as little bitterness as he could. “And we’re going to make sure Reardon pays.”
::
The Police Chief himself returned Hutch’s badge and revolver later that day. “I never thought I’d see you back, Hutchinson. Bay City needs you.”
Hutch accepted both, and Starsky helped him into the shoulder holster.
::
Reardon wasn’t hard to trace. He’d been seen near the docks in drug-fueled rants about payback, waving his pistol in bars--a washed-up ex-con with nothing to lose.
Starsky and Hutch canvassed the area together, their rhythm clicking back in like it had never left. Questions asked, leads followed, instincts sparking.
Huggy tipped them to an abandoned warehouse near the waterfront. Reardon fired from the rafters, bullets pinging down. Starsky dove left, Hutch right, the old choreography of survival, even with the blond's left arm in a cast.
“Reardon!” Hutch’s voice cut through the echoes. “It’s over! Give it up!”
“Over when Dobey’s dead!” Reardon shouted back.
Hutch fired a warning shot, pinning him, while Starsky circled quietly. When Reardon leaned out again, Starsky tackled him from the side, disarming him and cuffing him, breathless, voice low and rough. “This is for Burke.”
::
When the dust cleared and Reardon was processed at the precinct, they went back to Memorial. Cal and Rosie were asleep in the chairs in the waiting room, while Edith met them in the doorway of Harold's room.
Starsky took her hand. “We got him, Mrs. Dobey. How's he doing?”
Tears filled her eyes. “I think he's coming around. Thank you.”
::
Some time later, the captain’s eyes were open, his gaze faint but alive.
“Captain,” Hutch said gently.
Dobey’s lips tried to smile at the sight of his wife and favorite detectives, even gave a slight wink to Hutch. “Welcome home, Hutch.”
Hutch leaned closer. “Yeah. For good this time.”
The captain didn't know about Burke yet. Starsky and Hutch thought it best to tell him later.
For now, things were looking up for the Dobey family. Edith leaned over to kiss his cheek while Starsky and Hutch went to tell Cal and Rosie the good news.
::
Later outside the hospital, dusk wrapped Bay City in purple and gold, and the Torino gleamed red under the streetlight, familiar and waiting.
Starsky leaned against the driver’s side, hands in his pockets. “So, partner. Good to be back, huh?”
Hutch smiled faintly, sliding into the passenger seat. “Whatever you say.”
Starsky started the engine, the familiar rumble filling the air. “Good. Never did like the idea of bein’ your road manager.”
As they cruised down the street, Hutch looked out at the Bay City landscape, then back at his partner. “Sure feels like home.”
Starsky's smile was big and genuine, and in spite all that happened, this was the best he'd felt in a long, long time. "It sure does, partner. It sure does. Welcome back."
::
Two weeks later, Starsky and Hutch were in Dobey's home helping the captain walk to the dining room table where Edith had a welcome home dinner for Harold. He was to finish recuperating at home with help from visiting nurses, but his favorite detectives were at his beck and call.
“Easy does it, Captain,” Hutch said holding to one of his arms to support him.
Starsky held to the other arm in the same manner. “No rush.”
Cal and Rosie were pouring drinks and getting silverware for everyone, and light jazz was playing on the stereo.
“Now this is what it's all about,” Edith said when Harold was seated at the head of the table and she leaned down to give him a kiss. “Family and friends.”
Harold looked around at the faces at the table, then smiled at Starsky and Hutch. “Taught 'em everything they know.”
The End