The sound of gunfire echoed through the night air, shattering the silence that had befall the quiet waterfront. For a brief moment Starsky was frozen in place, he couldn’t move, couldn’t speak – he didn’t even feel that he could breath. He stood at the top of the stairs, unwilling to accept what his eyes had seen – unable to believe that his partner’s body had just been riddled with bullets. He had seen Hutch, even in what little light the moon provided he could see Hutch’s blond hair shimmering, like a beacon to his partner’s whereabouts. Though he hadn’t not seen the figure in the shadows, the person they were there looking for. He hadn’t even suspected anything was wrong until the first shot had rang out, and by then it was too late. He saw Hutch stumble and heard a second shot and then a third … he knew there was more shots fired but he wasn’t sure how many, his mind didn’t want to deal with the number of times Hutch had been shot. It felt like an eternity, and yet only seconds had passed. Starsky saw the gunman step out of the shadows and approach Hutch’s still form. He reacted out of instinct and not thought, as he ran down he stairs, drawing his gun. The assailant looked up, obviously startled by the site of the dark-haired man rushing towards him. Starsky aimed his gun and fired off a shot before the shooter even had time to react. The bullet caught the other man squarely between the eyes, an instant, clean kill, his body slumping to the ground. Starsky rushed over to Hutch, dropping down by his friend’s side.
     “Hutch … oh God, Hutch.” Starsky stammered as he looked over his partner’s bleeding form.
Hutch slowly opened his eyes. His light blue eyes were glassy from the intense pain and were not really focusing on Starsky. His lips moved as he attempted to speak but no sound came out.
Starsky reached out his one hand, and placed his palm gently against the side of Hutch’s face. “You’ll be okay …” Starsky told his partner, though it was hard to tell if he was trying to convince Hutch or himself.
Hutch blinked, having to struggle to open his eyes again. He slowly reached out with one hand to grasp Starsky’s hand, that laid against his cheek. There was a great number of things he wanted to be able to say to his best friend, but found himself unable to even speak, he just prayed that some of those things could be understood through his gesture.  Starsky choked back his tears, he knew Hutch was injured badly and knew there was nothing he could do –they had to wait for backup to arrive. Starsky gathered Hutch into his arms and held his bleeding friend close.
     “It’ll be okay, Hutch … you’ll be okay.” Starsky said, his voice almost a whisper. “Please be okay.”
Starsky leaned his head forward to rest atop of Hutch’s, his one hand absently stroking the side of Hutch’s face. Hutch relaxed in Starsky’s arms, gripping the front of Starsky’s shirt as tightly as he could (which wasn’t very tight) the effort to keep his eyes open was becoming overwhelming hard, so he close them – trying to focus all his energy on merely staying alive. Starsky could feel Hutch’s body growing colder with each second that past, and could feel Hutch’s grip loosening.
     “Please hang on, Hutch. Just don’t let go … please don’t let go.” Starsky said, he no longer tried to hide his tears – Hutch was dying and there was no way he could pretend to be brave through that.
Time no longer seemed to have any meaning, and Starsky couldn’t determine how much time had past since the first shot had rang out. There was a sudden ache in his heart, a pain that seemed to tear his soul in two, causing him to cry out in pain, a pain that was purely emotionally – Hutch was dead. He knew he could never live with the intense pain that had settled over him, he knew it was a pain that would never go away. Hutch was a part of him, they were almost two halves of one whole – one could never survive without the other. Starsky knew this was true now, he held Hutch with one arm, and with his free hand he brought his gun to his temple.
     “See you on the other side, Hutch.” Starsky whispered and pulled the trigger.
The single gunshot echoed through the silence, as Starsky limply fell forward against Hutch. The two detectives were almost huddled as they lay dead, in each other’s arms on the cold ground. They would never be apart again.