The Favor
By
Tooki
Starsky knelt next to the granite head stone; he traced the words Judith Garnett with one finger then laid a dozen white roses on the ground. He sighed deeply remembering the day they had met. Judy had been coming out of the hospital where she worked; he had been there to visit his partner Ken Hutchinson who had been wounded in the line of duty. They had literally run into each other at the door. It was love at first site, and when he had finished his visit with Hutch he found her sitting in the hospital lobby waiting on him.
They went out that night and every night there after. Even when she had told him she had a small son it didn't stop Starsky from wanting to be with her everyday. She was the first thing he thought of when he woke up each morning and the last thing he thought of before he closed his eyes every night. There had even been a few late night phone calls when he no longer could stand not hearing her voice. And he didn't mind the trips to the zoo, the playground or amusement park instead of romantic dinners for two or late night strolls. For he found himself falling in love with her four-year-old son too. The boy's father was not in the picture, all thought Judy had never said where he was, just that Josh had never met his father.
Hutch was over joyed that his partner had finally opened up to a woman again. Starsky hadn't exactly batted a thousand when it came to women, for that matter neither had Hutch. He sometimes wondered if they would grow old together instead of with a mate. Hutch was a little lonely with Starsky spending every free moment with Judy and Josh but the look in his partners eyes every time he talked about them more than made up for it.
One afternoon when their shift was over Starsky went to the hospital to surprise Judy but the head nurse had told him that Judy had gone home sick. He hurried to her apartment, and tapped lightly on her door but there was no answer. He knocked a little harder but still no answer. Finally he reached in his pocket and retrieved the key she had given him only a week ago. As he opened the door he saw Judy sprawled on the carpeted floor, the telephone in her hand was dead.
Starsky rushed to her side quickly he took her limp wrist feeling for a pulse, he was relieved to find one. He glanced at his watch it was almost four Josh would need to be picked up at preschool. Starsky grabbed the phone depressed the button so that he got a dial tone then punched in 911. After that he called Hutch to see if his partner would pick up Judy's son.
A moan escaped Judy's lips, her face was so pale it was almost white, Starsky bent over her, "It's alright, Hutch is getting Josh." She nodded ever so slightly.
Finally the life squad arrived and after checking her out and starting an IV they loaded her into the squad and carried her to the hospital where she worked. Starsky sat in the waiting room, it seemed that he spend too much time in hospital waiting rooms. His partner is shot, sick, or his girl friend is dying, he thought of Terri for a few moments. He still had the teddy bear Ollie, even though she had left it to Hutch his friend had given it to him. It had been so hard when she had died, it had been all his fault, it was always his fault.
"How's Judy," came a voice behind him. Starsky jumped and turned to see Hutch holding Josh in his arms. "Sorry I had to bring Josh."
Starsky smiled and held his arms out to Josh who came right to him. "It's Ok. I don't know how she is, or what is even wrong with her."
"I'm sure the doctor will be right out," Hutch said trying to comfort his friend.
But it was another hour before a doctor finally came down the hall looking for the detective. Hutch was the first to see the man coming, he took Josh by the hand saying they were going to look for something to eat. The look on the doctors face was grave and he didn't think little Josh needed to be there.
Starsky nodded to his partner and stood to greet the doctor. "Detective Starsky?" the Doctor questioned. "I'm Dr. Thomas, I have been Judy's doctor for sometime now."
"Dr. Thomas," Starsky shook hands with the man. "What is wrong with Judy?"
"Oh, you mean you don't know?" Dr. Thomas looked startled. "How long have you known Judy?"
"I guess about six months now," Starsky said, the doctor was scaring him badly. "Know what?"
"Judy has cancer," Dr Thomas said. "I shouldn't be telling you this with out her permission but in this case I'll make an exception. She is in the last stages, it was a very fast moving cancer she was diagnosed about five months ago. It was already very advanced then, I guess she chose to ignore the symptoms.
Starsky looked at the man blankly, cancer? Judy had cancer, why hadn't she told him? They shared everything, everything but this. And as he thought back the signs were there, her suddenly getting tired, the weight loss, not feeling well, lack of appetite. "How is she now?"
"Well she is stable, but I don't really think she has much longer." The doctor said. "You can see her now."
Doesn't have much longer, weren't those the same words said about Terri? How could he possibly go though this again? How could he sit on the bedside of the woman he loved and watch her die? Starsky nodded numbly and went to the room number that the doctor had given him. Slowly he opened the door and peered in. Judy was lying in bed wired to several machines.
She smiled weakly as he entered, "Hi Dave," she could tell by the look on his face that Dr. Thomas had given him the news. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
Starsky gently sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand, "Why, why didn't you tell me?"
Judy closed her eyes and two tears slid from under her lashes, "I was afraid you would leave me."
"What? Don't you know me any better than that?" he said almost angrily.
"I do now but we had only be going out a month when I found out," she explained. "And then there was never the right time. I didn't want to ruin the time we had left together, I wanted it to be real not forced."
Starsky nodded in understanding, with Terri it was like they were always waiting for the other shoe to drop. They had to be careful of what they did all the time so that they didn't dislodge the bullet in her brain. "I know." Was all he said.
"Dave," Judy said opening her eyes to look at him. "Will you take Josh?"
Starsky just stared at her for a moment, "Take Josh?" He repeated not quite understanding what she meant.
"I have no other family." She said softly.
"What about Josh's father?" he asked.
She shook her head, "I don't even know who his father was. I was at a frat party and …" she couldn't go on.
"You want me to raise him? Are you sure?" Starsky asked amazed that she would give her son to him.
"Yes, I can't think of a better father and he loves you so." Judy smiled at him. "Please."
"Of course," Starsky said as his eyes filled with tears.
A small hand touched Starsky on the thigh, he turned to see Josh squatting next to him. The little boy had a toy car clutched in his hand, "I brought this for Mommy." He said as he sat the car next to the roses.
Starsky nodded and wiped away the tears that had rolled down his face, he stood and taking the boys hand in his walked back to the car where Hutch was waiting for them.
THE END