A/N Angie Cosma posted this on the facebook group: The writers here are amazing! Would love a story about two sisters who meet our guys at a particular place Starsky drags Hutch to try.

Challenge accepted! Hope you like what I came up with! Just a bit of fluff!

To Karaoke or not to Karaoke?

(That is most definitely the question.)

Julie was just putting the finishing touches to her mascara when her younger sister came into the room and threw herself grumpily onto the bed.

"I don't want to go out tonight. I'm tired. It's been a long week and I just want to sit on the sofa and read a book."

Julie rolled her eyes. "It's Friday night. You can't stay home on Friday night. It's against Freia's Law."

Cathie narrowed her eyes at her. "Freia's law? What's that?"

"Fridays without singing or drinking equals nothingness," Julie stated firmly. "A classmate at college came up with that law and I have never fallen into nothingness since. I am not starting now!"

"You could go without me," Cathie suggested.

Julie pretended to clutch at her heart. "That's cold, little sister."

Cathie sighed. "All right then…but couldn't we go somewhere nicer. I don't want to go to Rocky's Ribs."

"Why not?"

"It doesn't sound like my sort of place," Cathie answered. "I don't even like ribs."

"They do other food. It's just the ribs are a speciality. Anyway, they're doing karaoke tonight. It's a special event for charity. My nurse friend, Mary, has asked me to go and I can't say no. Come on, it'll be fun!"

Cathie groaned and looked even unhappier. "Karaoke…that's my definition of hell! People who can't sing crooning into the microphone at the top of their voices and everyone pretending that it's great just to be polite. Ugh."

"Well, it's my turn to choose the place and that's where we're going so get dressed, sort your hair out and let's go!"

Cathie sighed again but got up and headed towards the door. "All right, but I am not being dragged up to sing, okay?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"You hear me? No singing."

"Yeah. Yeah, I heard you little sister. No singing."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Starsky was waiting impatiently for Hutch to finish getting ready. His friend was procrastinating because he really didn't want to go out at all.

"Why can't we just go to The Pits, Starsky? It's been a helluva week and I just want to relax," Hutch moaned, as he stood in front of the wardrobe trying to decide which shirt was the cleanest.

"Nah, we can go to The Pits any old time. Rocky's Ribs is doing a deal tonight and they've got a special karaoke event happening tonight. It'll be great."

Hutch turned round with a look of horror on his face. "Karaoke…No way! Starsky, I am not going to a Karaoke Bar."

"It's not a karaoke bar," Starsky explained patiently. "They're just doing karaoke tonight to raise funds for the kids' ward at the hospital. Remember, Maggie told us about it a few weeks ago and we said we'd go."

"Did we? I don't remember that conversation." Hutch looked nonplussed.

Starsky nodded. "Yeah, we said we'd go so we can't get out of it." Actually, when Maggie had asked, Hutch had been interviewing a witness so Starsky had answered on both their behalves but Hutch didn't need to know that. "Come on, hurry up and choose a shirt already! It's for a good cause. You're into good causes. I thought it would be right up your street, buddy."

Hutch sighed and chose a long sleeved green shirt to go with his beige pants. As he shrugged it on, he said, "Okay, I'll go but you are not dragging me up to sing with you."

"Okay."

"I mean it, Starsk. No singing."

"But you like singing!" Starsky pointed out.

"Yes, I do but not at a place that serves ribs and also allows anybody in front of a mic whether they can sing or not."

Starsky rolled his eyes. "You are no fun."

"Well, if that's true, you could always go without me and have fun by yourself," Hutch suggested.

Starsky clutched at his heart and looked wounded.

Hutch sighed. "All right, you don't have to look so wounded…Geez, I said I'd go, didn't I?"

Starsky turned away before Hutch could see the triumphant grin breaking out on his face. As he opened the door, Hutch following slowly behind, he said, "It'll be t'rrific. You'll see."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Rocky's Ribs was heaving when they arrived. Hutch nearly refused to get out of the car but Starsky managed to persuade him. They had to wait for a few minutes for a table but Starsky didn't mind: he chatted to the family in front and flirted with the group of nurses standing behind them in the queue.

Once they were settled at a table, a waitress came over to get their drinks order and informed them: "If you want to take part in the karaoke, you need to go see the ladies over there. They're taking donations for the Children's Ward at Memorial Hospital and assigning numbers to people who want to sing. The singing will start at eight. I'll come back in a minute and take your food order."

"Great." Starsky stood up. "I'll just go book us in."

"Starsky. Book yourself in…I am not singing!"

"Oh yeah, right, I meant to say I'd book myself in," Starsky said, almost apologetically, and headed over to a table where two women in smart suits were taking money from people and writing down their karaoke choices.

There were two people ahead of Starsky and two women beside him. He glanced at the women appreciatively. He heard the two people ahead choose their songs and watched them hand over their money to the ladies, who were collecting funds for the hospital. They thanked them profusely as they assigned them their numbers.

Then it was his turn. Starsky and one of the women next to him stepped forward at the same time and both said, "I'd like to sing 'New York, New York'."

"Oh dear!" one of the ladies exclaimed. She looked at the woman next to her for inspiration.

"Perhaps one of you could change to something else?" she suggested.

"I've got a better idea," Starsky said. "Why don't we sing it together?"

Julie grinned at him. "That's fine with me. My sister's refusing to join me so I could do with some moral support…even if it's from a stranger."

"My friend's refusing to sing too. My name's Dave, by the way."

Julie held out her hand for Starsky to shake and introduced her sister and herself: "This is my sister, Cathie, and I'm Julie."

"Pleased to meet you," Starsky replied, "And now we know each other's names we're not strangers."

Julie grinned again and Cathie gave him a shy smile.

"Do you two ladies have a table already or would you be free to join me and my friend?" Starsky asked. "We could get to know each other a little better before we have to stand up and sing together."

Julie looked at Cathie, who nodded her head slightly, and replied, "Yes, that sounds like a great idea. Thanks."

Starsky led the way over to their table. Hutch was consulting the menu and looked up, surprised, when Starsky reappeared with two friends.

"Hutch, this is Julie and this is her sister, Cathie. They're going to join us to eat 'cause Julie and I are going to sing together later."

"Okay." Hutch blinked and then sat up straighter, deciding it was time to go with the flow and turn on the charm. Starsky had certainly found some very pretty companions for them to spend the evening with. The night might be fun even after all his misgivings. Cathie sat down next to Hutch and he handed her the menu. Julie waved the menu away when Starsky offered one to her.

"That's all right. I'm having the special rib platter. You can't come to a rib joint and not have ribs," she declared.

"You are a girl after my own heart," Starsky said. "Hutch here hates ribs. He's probably going to have something a rabbit would eat."

"Starsk, you make it sound like I'm a freak," Hutch moaned. "I just want to eat something that's vaguely healthy."

Cathie smiled at Hutch and said, "I don't like ribs either. What are you having instead?"

"Well, I thought the chicken salad looked good," Hutch replied with an echoing smile.

"I think I'll have the same."

The waitress returned with her pad at the ready. "What can I get for you folks?"

"Two special rib platters and two chicken salads," Starsky told her. "And a beer."

"Make that two," Julie added.

"And a glass of water," Hutch said.

"Make that two," Cathie added with a bigger smile.

Starsky caught Hutch's eye and winked at him. Hutch shook his head at his friend's rather obvious gesture but couldn't help smiling. When the waitress returned with their drinks, Starsky held up his glass and offered a toast: "To new friends and new singing partners!"

They all chinked their glasses together and then started chatting about why they had come tonight and then moved on to what they did for a living. By the time the food came they were deep in conversation and felt as if they had known each other for ages.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Number eighteen. It's your turn to sing 'New York, New York'," the announcer called out.

"Oh, that's us," Starsky said with a start. He stood up and leaned towards his partner with a wheedling expression on his face. "Come on, Hutch, join us, you now you got a t'rrific voice."

Hutch grimaced then turned to Cathie. "I will if you will," he said.

Cathie took a deep breath and then squeaked out a terrified, "Okay!"

Starsky thumped Hutch on his back and then he and Julie led the way to the stage. There was polite applause from the other diners.

As the music started and Starsky tapped his foot completely out of time, Hutch shared an 'it's-too-late-to-back-out-now' look with Cathie and they both started giggling. Julie and Starsky started singing the first line completely off key and Hutch rolled his eyes and then joined in, singing the second line loudly to try to steer them back on track. He was pleasantly surprised when Cathie joined in with a strong yet sweet voice that complemented his own.

Starsky and Julie smiled at each other, sharing a look that said, "We were right. We knew they'd have fun once they got here! How could anyone resist karaoke?"