“I’ll give you a choice, Starsk, either we go to LAS VEGAS or we go somewhere away from it all.”
Starsky leaned forward from his perch on the back of his chair and turned down the top of the holiday brochure Hutch was browsing.
“After dealing with that STRANGLER I have seen all of Vegas that I want for a while.”
“Not even for Vicky?”
“Heh heh heh. How do you know I’m not still seeing her?”
Hutch raised an eyebrow. “Are you?”
“Well yes, actually but not like that. You know after her LITTLE GIRL LOST the feeling in her leg I said she should come here and see the doc who worked on me in Hawaii over at Veterans.”
“How did you swing that?”
Starsky flashed his best lop-sided grin. “The doc was a lady…and a very pretty one at that!”

Hutch grinned. His partner was still a man of surprises after all these years. He hated to see anyone suffer and only a few weeks ago after they’d BUST a hood by the name of AMBOY Starsky had gone out of his way to make sure that the teenage hooker and junkie was given as much help as possible to get back to college where she belonged.

“OK, not Vegas. Where then? Hey look at this cruise ship; what about that?”
“Hutch think about it, if it was hell being stuck with all those blue-rinse grannies and singles groups in Vegas think how it would be worse in a ship. Blue MURDER AT SEA if you ask me! Think again buddy.”
“Ok, you choose then.” Hutch handed the brochure to Starsky. His partner closed it and put it neatly on his desk. “Later; right now I’m starved how about a nice Italian meal tonight; a real one, not just a pizza.”
Hutch looked at his friend carefully. One of Starsky’s most attractive traits was his childlike quirks. One of them was that he was superstitious and could find a hundred reasons not to do something if he had a bad hunch about it. One of his superstitions was not to eat in a restaurant where they’d been undercover (with the exception of The Pits of course). Starsky had been avoiding Italian restaurants for over a year now, ever since he got shot when they walked into a VENDETTA killing set-up. “OK, he said. Where shall we go?”
“There’s a new place opened over in Santa Monica, I thought we’d try that. I’ll call Terri and tell her to meet us there; hey, why don’t you call that pretty writer-lady you’ve fallen for, what’s her name?”
“GILLIAN” Hutch said her name dreamily and both men reached for their ‘phones.

They met outside the restaurant. Terri and Gillian were already there and had started to chat together. The two cops were glad to see that they got on. Starsky was happily eating his spaghetti in tomato and pepperoni sauce when Terri leaned over and mopped his chin with her napkin. “Honestly Dave, with tomato sauce all down your chin it’s like eating with a VAMPIRE!” Starsky pretended to try to bite her neck. “Oooh I’m so scared!” she said grinning from ear to ear. Hutch picked up a couple of bread sticks and made a cross which he held up at Starsky. His partner pretended to recoil in terror. “I can not resist him. He’s THE SPECIALIST.”
The two couples went their separate ways for the night.

The next day Starsky and Hutch were ambling into the squad room when Dobey appeared at his door and roared at them to get in there fast.
“I want you two over to the new convention center immediately; someone’s made a threat against The Great Impresso.”
Hutch looked at Starsky and Starsky gazed back deadpan.
“Isn’t he THE PSYCHIC, Cap’n? Can’t he tell if it’s a fake or not?”
Dobey grunted and Starsky sketched a mock salute. “We’re on our way.”

The convention center was being prepared for the city’s an awards ceremony. Starsky and Hutch walked down through the empty theater to where The Great Impresso was rehearsing his routine as MC of the evening.
He was reeling off the movies nominated for one of the categories.
“……TAP DANCING HER WAY BACK INTO YOUR HEART starring Liza Minelli. IRON MIKE starring John Wayne. NIGHTMARE starring Mia Farrow, and BLOODBATH, starring Al Pacino.” When he saw the two cops watching he stepped to the edge of the stage.
“If you’re gonna bet put your money on Nightmare.” He said
Starsky gave Hutch a look and they both shook their heads.
After a long chat with the psychic they agreed to keep a low profile but they insisted that he got in touch with them if he had any reason to worry. “Hey I can see things coming remember? I didn’t call you guys in; it was my agent who panicked.”

Two hours later Starsky and Hutch were in The Pits drinking beer and flirting with the new barmaid. The sound of things crashing to the floor in the kitchen had them running to see what was going on. A whole unit of shelves had fallen down. Angie and the short order cook were trying to rescue food s it slid towards the ground; but the best sight of all was his boss who was trying to keep from dropping a large oven-ready bird; Starsky and Hutch stared as HUGGY AND THE TURKEY seemed to waltz across the kitchen.
The two cops decided that there was nothing they could do so they returned to a booth and planned THE SET UP for protecting The Great Impresso. When Huggy finally joined him Starsky congratulated him on his SURVIVAL skills. “Next time I’m cornered by a Thanksgiving dinner I know who to call.” Huggy gave him the evil eye!
“Hey, talking about Thanksgiving,” Huggy said, “I just had a call from STARSKY’S new LADY. She’s on THE COMMITTEE for the school party and she wants me to cater for it.”

That night Starsky snuggled up to Terri on the couch. “That was really nice asking Huggy to do the food for the school Thanksgiving party, but is The Pits a good venue for the kids?”
“Oh we’re not having it at The Pits; I’ve hired that new disco THE VELVET JUNGLE, they do kids' parties during the day to keep the place profitable.”

Starsky and Hutch never got to the party. They were called out on a difficult case and had to spend the night staking out a farm over in the Simi Valley. Someone was rustling the valuable horses that the owner bred and he was getting threats too. Starsky had brought coffee and the two men kept themselves awake sipping the extra strong brew that Hutch had learned to get used to over the years. Starsky took the first watch and Hutch snored gently in the back seat. At one in the morning Starsky’s bladder was screaming. He reached over and woke his partner. “Your turn to stay awake; I have to take a leak.” Hutch looked out of the car window; three other cars were positioned at strategic points around the farm. “You may have to go some way so no-one sees you”
“If I don’t come back in half an hour call the cavalry.”
Hutch grinned. Starsky set of on what seemed like A LONG WALK DOWN A SHORT DIRT ROAD until he found a spot where no-one could see him. Sighing with relief he went back to the car.

The stake out was called off that evening after a rival breeder had confessed to taking the missing horses and making the threats because he wanted to take over the local market.
Starsky and Hutch were about to start their vacation time – even if they still hadn’t decided where they were going. “I tell you what Starsk; why don’t we stay here and just visit all the places we never got to see.”
“Good idea. But tonight I just want to call for a pizza and watch the TV.”
“What’s on?”
“The awards, dummie. We’ll get to see if The Great Impresso guessed the answers!”
He switched on the TV in time to hear the psychic’s surprised voice announcing … “and the winner is: MURDER ON STAGE 17 starring Vincent Price.”

The next day they went to The Pits for lunch. Huggy and Terri and Gillian were all waiting for them and Huggy was in deep conversation with them. The two cops walked up to the group of their friends just in time to hear Huggy say STARSKY AND HUTCH ARE GUILTY of a lot of things but as far as you two are concerned there is not doubt they are going to behave and keep you in their lives for as long as they can.

************* Six months later******************

Huggy and Hutch walked away from the graveside and waited for Starsky to join them. He was a pathetic sight. He had lost weight in the past couple of days and he hadn’t shaved since Terri died. He stood with his head bowed and his shoulders shook as he wept for the woman he loved. Huggy put a hand on Hutch’s shoulder. “I can’t believe it, only a while ago the four of you were the perfect foursome and then…” Hutch wiped a tear from his cheek.
“Yes, the difference is that if I’d found out about Gillian I’d have stopped seeing her; Starsky wanted to marry Terri.”

Starsky turned and walked towards them and the two men hastily changed the subject.