All usual disclaimers apply, I don't own the rights, I don't get money and this is for entertainment only. Please excuse any errors; they are entirely mine.

Lightning
By Starsky's Strut

The weather outside was anything but delightful. It was four in the morning and the drug bust had to go down despite the inclement weather. Rain came down in sheets and the skies were filled with nature's fireworks and the air was filled with the cracks and booms of thunder and the incessant hiss of rain on the pavement and builds.

Starsky and Hutch were oblivious to anything but the job at hand.

Hutch slammed his perp into the chain link fence as Starsky grappled with his.

Starsky lost his footing for a fraction of a second and the perp bashed him on the chin with a solid right hook. Thrown off balance, Starsky fell backwards, first into some trashcans and then into the wet garbage itself. He flailed about trying to get back on his feet, but he was finding no purchase in the wet, filthy alley.

Hutch glanced over his shoulder and saw his partner struggling, he whipped his perp around and cuffed him "Sit down!" He bellowed, "Don't move!" he shook his index finger in the perp's face.

The man nodded. The blond cop had a you move; you die look on his face. The perp nodded once more and sat down hard. He didn't want to die.

Starsky's suspect whistled sharply. Down the night, rain darkened alley, a massive Doberman Pinscher raised its head. Another sharp whistle and the dog was headed towards his master. As the dog hurtled towards them, the perp pointed at Starsky and hollered, "SIC 'IM!"

The dog changed directions and aimed for the fallen human.

"SHIT!" Starsky rapidly scuttled backwards on all fours in a crab walk. He reached for his gun. He didn't want to have to shoot the dog, but he didn't want to get bitten either. He kept fumbling for his holstered gun with his garbage greasy fingers as he simultaneously tried to get to his feet. Despite the rain, the hair on the back of his neck rose.

"STARSKY!" Hutch yelled, his friend wasn't fond of dogs and would like them a lot less if he got bit. 'Dammit!' He wasn't sure if he could make it in time to intercept the dog 'shoulda used my gun…' he thought as he leapt for the dog.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Hutch moved to intercept the dog as it leapt through the air at Starsky. As Hutch's arms circled the dog's neck, there was a deafening boom and blinding flash of lightning, for a second the flash illuminated the scene with the brightness of the sun. The brief lightning flash illuminated Hutch and the dog. Both arched in pain of the lightning strike.

They hit the pavement with a sickening thud.

"Huuuuutch!" Starsky blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the spots that blocked his vision from the brightness of the flash. He rubbed his eyes, then shook his head and finally cleared the spots from his eyes.

He scrambled to his feet and raced to his fallen friend's side. Starsky tenderly brushed the wet blond hair back off Hutch's forehead. "Hutch! C'mon buddy!" With shaky fingers, he felt along side of Hutch's neck for the carotid artery and found it. He put his ear over Hutch's nose and mouth to catch any sound of breathing over the sound of thunder and rain. Nothing! He almost panicked. What next? Then in his head, he heard his CPR instructor's voice '…Breathing is often inhibited by the tongue…when that happens…head tilt, chin lift…' Starsky did just that.

Hutch then inhaled, exhaled and continued.

'Thank you God!' Starsky wiped the moisture from his eyes "Hey, Hutch, yer gonna think this is funny, but I just did the CPR ABC's backwards… ya know? A – airway, B- breathing, C- circulation … well, I did it CBA…" Starsky broke off his babbling. A movement caught his eye.

The dog was beginning to stir. Starsky eased Hutch's arm away from around its neck. He stood up and grabbed the dog by a back leg and dragged it away from his fallen partner. He then noticed the perp he had been trying to collar was sneaking away down the alley. He pulled out his gun and pointed at him.

"Freeze whipo! Get yer ass back here before I put hole in it!" He waited a heartbeat and then realized that Hutch couldn't comment about it 'actually being a second hole in the guy's ass.' He rapidly handcuffed the man and ran back to Hutch's side, kneeled next to his head and checked him again 'still breathing, thank God!'

"MEDIC! C'mon! I need a paramedic back here!" He hollered in the direction of the other officers that were on this bust. He would have used the radio he had been given for the bust, but he had lost it in the scuffle and it was buried in the trash somewhere.

He sat on the wet pavement by the blond and eased Hutch's head into his lap and then he leaned forward over Hutch, spreading one side of his jacket out to help keep the rain off the blond's face as he waited for help to arrive.

A couple of uniformed officers ran to his side from down the alley "Hey, Sergeant Starsky! You okay?"

"Hutch needs an ambulance! Hurry!" Starsky again brushed the wet hair off of Hutch's forehead 'Hang in there buddy, help's on the way'

One officer called for assistance on his radio, the other took charge of the suspects.

"What the hell happened? We didn't hear any shots… just a loud thunderclap" The uniformed officer glanced about trying to figure out what had occurred.

"Lightning, he got hit by lightning" Starsky kept lightly stroking his friend's face with his knuckles and occasionally checking his pulse 'still there…good job partner, keep it up' "C'mon Hutch, wake up, please?" He patted the still face, trying for any kind of response and getting none.

"Oh shit…" The cop shook his head. Stabbings, shootings and beatings, he understood, but acts of nature… He radioed for additional help, then collected the handcuffed suspects and loaded them in a waiting police van.

The wail of the ambulance mingled with the thunder that still rolled through the city, the flashing lights accompanied the flicker of lightning. The rain continued to fall; it rattled on the trashcans but Starsky never heard it and barely felt it. His focus was on Hutch.

"C'mon partner… wake up… wake up" He traced a fingertip over Hutch's eyelid and looked for a flicker of movement; there wasn't any, just his chest rising and falling steadily. Starsky swallowed hard. "Hutch…"

A patter of footsteps approached and a hand squeezed his shoulder "Hi, I'm Bart Simmons; I'm a Paramedic with the Bay City Fire department… What happened?" He knelt next to the downed detective and reached for his stethoscope so he could start taking vitals.

"L-lightning, he was hit b-by lightning" Starsky didn't look up from Hutch's face; he didn't realize that he was shaking from shock and fear for his partner.

"You sure about that?"

"'Course 'm sure! Dammit, I saw it hit him!" He glared up at the paramedic and grabbed him by the front of his jacket "HELP HIM NOW!"

"Okay, okay, calm down" Bart put his hands up in a conciliatory manner; it was never a wise move to piss-off the armed. As he took the fallen detective's vitals, the rest of the ambulance crew arrived.

Starsky released the man's jacket "I'm sorry, I'm just worried…" He glanced at the medic and then returned his gaze to his fallen friend.

"It's perfectly understandable, we'll do our best for him" Bart couldn't imagine what it must be like for the poor detective. A lightning strike, crap. The poor victim, he was likely in for a long hard road to recovery, if he recovered. Bart stopped and refocused on the now, just get the man to the hospital and let the doctors do their thing.

Starsky helped them to load Hutch on the gurney; he moved from Hutch's head to his side and took the blond's hand in his own as the gurney was wheeled to the ambulance.

One of the paramedics started to ask the distraught detective not to board the ambulance, but Bart shook his head at his coworker and waved him off.

Starsky climbed in and sat on the bench next to Hutch, still holding his hand, his eyes fixed on the blond's face, and he stayed that way all the way to the hospital. One of the paramedics draped a blanket over the worried brunet's shaking shoulders to help ward off the chill from his soaked clothing.

Hutch's clothing was cut off and high flow oxygen was administered. They searched for any external wounds that the lightning could have made. The most of the damage would most likely be internal though. That kind of damage and the extent of the damage would have to be diagnosed at the hospital. They could do nothing for that now.

Once at the hospital, one of the nurses made Starsky let go of Hutch's hand and sent the dripping detective to the dreaded waiting room, where he began to pace anxiously. His sneakers squishing with rainwater with each step as he paced and the blanket swirling outward with each turn he made.

Captain Dobey arrived a short time later. He watched his worried detective pace like a caged lion for a moment "What happened?"

The pacing stopped. Starsky's head snapped up; soaked curls bobbed with the motion "Lightning" Worried midnight blue eyes connected briefly with his Captain's brown ones. "He got hit by lightning" The pacing recommenced.

"Oh shit" Was the brief reply. "Any word from the doctors yet?" Dobey pulled out his handkerchief and mopped his brow.

"No" More pacing "Shit Cap, how am I suppose ta protect him from lightning?" He stopped pacing to look at Dobey, expecting some answer.

"You can't, Starsky, it was an act of God" He put a hand on the brunet's blanket covered shoulder and squeezed.

"'Act of God'! Why would God wanna hurt Hutch? He's a good man-" He broke off as tears threatened. His eyes turned meet to his captain's, again wanting some kind of answer.

"It'll be fine, Dave, really" Dobey mopped his brow again.

Starsky nodded, accepting what Dobey said, but it also registered that his captain called him by his first name. Dobey only did that when he was truly upset.

Starsky went back to pacing.

Dobey sat down to wait. He was good at waiting. He hadn't always been that way, but with these two detectives he got a lot of practice in. He called Huggy to bring Starsky some dry clothes. He definitely did not need two sick detectives on his hands.

Huggy had arrived with a change of clothes for Starsky and stayed to join the vigil.

Starsky changed into the dry clothing and had stopped pacing at some point. He was now sitting next to Dobey, flipping through an ancient magazine without even looking at the pages when he heard Hutch howl. The sound chilled his blood and he was up and running down the hall, drawn to the sound like iron filings to a magnet.

As he pushed the curtain a side, a nurse fell back into his arms. Reflexively he caught her and stood her on her feet. "What's goin' on?" He moved closer to the bed where his partner was attempting to roll over on to his stomach.

She brushed at some blood spots that dotted the front of her uniform "He BIT me!" She held her hand out for him to see.

Starsky threw a startled look at her "Huh?"

She lifted her damaged hand to her face and peered at it, blood dripped from crescent shaped bite "Damn it! Human bites are nasty…" She looked up the hall towards the desk "HEY, get me some help in cubical eleven, STAT!" They needed to restrain the injured detective before he hurt himself or anyone else.

Starsky moved to Hutch's side, the blond had finally managed to roll over onto his chest in bed and was pushing himself up with his hands "Whoa, steady there Hutch, ya need to stay in bed" He put his arm around the blond and tried to encourage him to lay back down. He was nude, as they hadn't finished examining him. The blanket he had been coved with had fallen to the floor during his struggles with the nurse.

Hutch lifted his head glared at Starsky; his upper lip curled and exposed his left incisor.

Starsky stared back into Hutch's eyes, they were wild and there was no recognition in them. "Easy there partner" Starsky reached out to cup the blond's jaw; the blond gave a throaty growl and snapped at Starsky's hand. Only his excellent reflexes kept Starsky from being bitten.

"Hutch! What the hell's wrong with you?" Dark eyebrows furrowed in question. He moved back to the bed, once more reaching for the blond, who had made it to his hands and knees. "S'okay partner, I know ya hate hospitals but they gotta finish checking ya out first…" He reached out again, speaking softly "easy there… does it hurt to lay down? Is that it? Huh…?"

Hutch slowly turned his head back towards him; his head lowered a bit as he made eye contact with Starsky and held it.

"Hi there Hutch, happy to see ya up partner… Ya really had me worried this time…" Starsky stopped for a moment. Hutch was still looking him directly in the eyes. The only thing he moved was his eyes and he hadn't blinked yet 'that's strange' Starsky took another step forward with his hand out to touch his friend's shoulder as the blond had started to shake, possibly from the strain of holding the somewhat awkward pose he was in and possibly from the cold air on his nude body.

Hutch growled and bared his teeth. Starsky stopped and stared, a thought crossed his mind 'what if that lightning has fried his brain?' He had no more time for such thoughts as help arrived in the form of a two of large orderlies. They brushed past him and reached for Hutch.

Hutch's growls increased in volume. The orderlies moved to each side of the patient and moved to restrain him. Hutch nearly lunged off the gurney and snapped his teeth at one orderly's throat. The other grabbed him around the waist and pulled him away in time to keep his coworker from a nasty bite to the neck. But he got a solid kick to the ribs for his troubles.

Starsky waded in, unable to stand back and watch. His friend was obviously frightened or feverish and didn't know what he was doing. All he had to do was touch him and Hutch would calm down. He was sure of it. Hutch hated hospitals and needles, but he would respond to Starsky even if he were delirious.

"Stay back! We'll handle this!" the black haired orderly snapped as he and his coworker struggled to subdue their patient.

"He's my partner, he'll listen to me" Starsky growing increasingly worried, he didn't want to have to see Hutch restrained or sedated "Hutch, listen to me, you have to calm down, their just tryin' to help ya" He edged closer to his combative friend "Just lay back down partner, it'll be okay, I'll stay right here" He slowly stretched his hand out to catch a hold of the blond's flailing right hand.

Hutch batted Starsky's hand away. The orderlies pushed the blond back down onto the bed and flipped him over. Hutch kicked and swatted at them. They then proceeded to restrain him with belts and leather cuffs.

Starsky was appalled. When he had gone undercover at Cabrillo, similar restraints had been used on him. He hadn't liked it and knew Hutch wouldn't like it either. "Stop that! You don't need those things! Hutch, Hutch! Calm down…" he edged closer to the gurney.

"Sir, you need to leave now. He has to be restrained before he hurts himself or others" The nurse grabbed his sleeve and tugged "You can come back when he's calm-"

"Ta hell with that noise! I ain't goin' no where" Starsky moved to Hutch's side and fixed the nurse with a look that had backed down more criminals then he could remember.

The nurse was unimpressed. "Get back sir, or you will be escorted out of the hospital"

"He's my partner an' I ain't goin' no where!" Starsky didn't even look at the nurse; he was too focused on his still battling partner. "Hutch, c'mon blondie, knock it off before they sedate you" Worry tinged his voice. It wasn't working. Hutch wasn't listening to him. He grabbed a flailing hand and held tight.

"Partner, calm down, please! I'm here, I'm right here… s'okay Hutch, just relax-"

"What's going on in here? What's all the ruckus about?" A tall thin doctor pushed his way past the throng of onlookers.

Everyone spoke at once, prompting the doctor to holler for quiet. When it was achieved, somewhat, as Hutch still grunted and snarled incomprehensible words. "All right, much better. Now, you" the doctor pointed at the nurse "What is this all about?"

The nurse shot Starsky a 'so there' look and replied "This man was struck by lightning, according to that police officer there" she pointed to Starsky "And I had just started to take another round of vitals when the patient just went berserk – he BIT ME! I then called for help and the orderlies arrived and, well this is the result" she finished lamely.

"What's wrong with my partner?" Starsky had to hold tight to Hutch's hand as the blond kept tugging on it trying to pull it from the brunet's grasp and the blond's snarl's increased in volume with each tug.

"Lightning, huh? Well, what can happen and seems – I am stressing the word seems – to be happening is that lightning and electrical injuries can, and do, affect the brain"

Starsky gasped.

The doctor held up his hand "Most times the patient returns to normal shortly afterward. I can not say with any certainty at this juncture. It's far too early to tell. I have to ask you to leave now and I will be back to speak to you further on this subject as soon as I get some more information. Just please go back to the waiting room…" The doctor swept his hand in the direction of the waiting room.

Starsky nodded, too shaken to say anything at that point. 'Affect the brain' Oh God, no He shuffled back to the dreaded waiting room.

"What happened?" Dobey was standing in the doorway of the waiting room. Huggy stood directly behind him. Both sets of brown eyes were on the dejected detective.

"He's not positive, but the doc just told me that the brain CAN be affected by lightning" He held up his hand to forestall any questions from the two men "He doesn't know for sure yet and it may be a while before he does. The doc said he would tell me after he's done checking Hutch over"

Dobey placed a hand on the forlorn detective's shoulder "It'll be all right son, I know it will"

"Yeah, blondie will be back in action before ya know it Starsky. Hey, ya know, he might just get a free perm outta that lightning" Huggy gave a watery laugh at the joke.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Dobey snapped.

"Hey, didn't mean nothin' by it, Starsky knows that" Huggy looked at the worried detective. "Just tryin' to lighten the mood" His expressive brown eyes connected with Starsky's.

"Yeah, sure" Starsky grunted and resumed his pacing.

TBC