The next grave was marked:

She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. A few wisps of hair came out of her ponytail and were moved by the slight breeze that just started up.

"I have to go to work now." She said to the two headstones. "I?ll try to come by next week."

And she turned around and went to her car. It was an old Ford Grand Torino, bright red with an obnoxious white stripe down each of the sides. As she started it up she remembered the day she got her drivers license and her father gave her the keys to the old car. He told her that it had to stay with a Starsky. She smiled slightly at the memory.

She drove into the parking lot of Metro's station and she ignored the looks of the officers as she got out of her car. She could never be sure if they were looking at the car or her. She had heard plenty of sexist comments when she was a rookie police officer, and when she made detective at such a young age there was even more to be talked and gossiped about. The fact that her father was a seasoned detective and the captain was her godfather had led to nepotism charges. It took a lot of string pulling to get her to stay in Metro and she was still there due to the fact she was a good detective with sheer determination.

Once inside the building she went over to her desk took off her jacket and tried not to look at the empty side across from hers. She picked up a file that had been placed on her desk and began going over a reported burglary. Two pages into the report the captain came out of his office and walked over to her. "Detective Starsky, I'd like to see you in my office please." And he went back in.

Sighing deeply she wondered what was it now.

She opened the door and when she walked in she gave her one smile of the day to the captain.

"What is it, Uncle Hutch?" She said and looked at the older man with her head tilted a bit.

Kenneth Hutchinson was still good looking even entering his sixties. The only differences between the older, seasoned captain and the young idealistic detective he had once been were the suits that replaced the blue jeans, he was a little thicker around the waist, and he now had thin blonde hair on his head. She noted that the eyes were the same bright blues that they had always been.

He pondered the woman sitting in front of him and wondered when she stopped being a little girl. He noticed, not for the first time, how much she looked like Starsky. She had his same blue eyes and dark hair that curled slightly at the ends. She also had his smile. Not that he'd seen her smile that often lately.

"You're not supposed to call me that on the job, Angel."

"Sorry. Sometimes I forget." She sat down on one of the chairs in the office. "So what is it?"

"You?re getting a new partner." Hutchinson said.

"No!" She replied with venom. "I had a partner, and a good one."

"I know, Angel. Starsky was a good friend and a partner to me as well."

Hutch got up and walked over to her. "It's time to let him go."

"You're not the one he took a bullet for." She said, sadness returning to her voice, turning away so she could not see his face.

Hutch was at a loss. Did she think the he could easily forget about his best friend? How could he explain the partnership that he and Starsky shared? The late nights, the stakeouts, the sacrifices that they both made for each other over the years. The scars that they both had shared were not just physical. The emotional ones ran deeper than that. He was on the verge of lecturing her, but he had to remember that it wasn't just a partner that she missed, but her father as well.

Starsky had fallen hard for a woman whose father turned out to have mob connections. She ended up having the make a choice between her father and Starsky. The father had won out and it was a long time before Starsky felt he was over her.

After Starsky almost died from several bullet wounds after the Gunther incident, Hutch tracked down Rosey's address in Mexico and wrote to her about what had happened. Deciding that a man she never stopped loving was worth more to her than her domineering father with his emotional blackmail, she made plans to go visit Starsky but her father did not want her to leave. This time the father lost.

As it turned out the feelings were also still there on Starsky's end. They were married three months later. Two years after that Angel was born. She got her name because neither Rosey nor Starsky could come up with one they were both happy with. The only exception being Kenneth if the baby was a boy. The nurse in the maternity ward of the hospital told Rosey that she had a "sweet little angel." That had turned into a nickname and by the time the birth certificate was filled out the name had stuck.

Years later when Angel became a cop, Starsky stuck with being a detective so his "little girl" wouldn't be out on the streets alone. Starsky and Angel were on a stakeout to keep an eye on gang activity. Things went bad, her gun jammed and Starsky got between her and a bullet. He was killed instantly. Ironically the bullet had gone through one of the scars left by one of Gunther?s bullets. Odd that he should survive one, only to be killed by another. Since then, Angel had blamed herself, and cut herself off emotionally from almost everyone she knew.

These thoughts all took a fraction of an instant to go through Hutch?s mind. Angel looked at him and said in a resigned voice "So who are you partnering me up with? Some rookie that I'll have to baby along?"

"No." Hutch said as he went back behind his desk and pulled out a personnel file. "He's a transfer from New York."

"Why'd he transfer to Bay City? Not enough crime in New York?" She leaned back in the chair to brace herself. He must be a screw up to have to go all the way across the country for a job. "What's the loser's name?"

"David Hutchinson." Hutch said, smiling at her. "I think you know him."

"Uncle Hutch, of course I know him, I grew up with him! Are you out of your mind? Don't you remember all the crap that happened when you partnered me up with Dad?" She got up and began to pace. "Or did you just like the idea of having another 'Starsky and Hutch' out on the street?"

"I admit, I wasn't to keen on this, but David requested it." Hutch said, watching Angel as she flipped through David's folder. Hutch's wayward child went to college at NYU and fell in love with the city. He went to the NYPD police academy and was looking forward to a long career on the East Coast. After hearing about his 'Uncle Starsky' getting killed he put in for a transfer immediately. It had taken more than a month for it to go through. Hutch had pulled what influence he had left of the people he knew that would look the other way about his son working in the same department as himself.

She left the office not as angry as she was earlier. If she was to have another partner forced on her at least this one knew her. She wondered when she would be seeing him again. This question was answered sooner than she expected.

When she got back to her desk she saw a tall blonde man sitting in her chair, looking at a photograph of her police academy graduation. She suppressed a smile.

"Hey, Blondie, you think you could get out of that chair?" She said, giving in to the smile. It was the first smile in a long time.

A pair of bright blue eyes looked back at her and she found herself looking into the face of her childhood friend. "Is that the way to greet a friend?" He said, grinning back at her

"I think so. You hungry?" she asked.

He got up and stretched. "Starved."

"Good." Some of the harshness went out of her voice. David knew that from their many letters and e-mails that she had to keep up a tough front. Being a female and a detective meant she got no slack either way.

"My car or yours?"

"We'll take mine. I doubt you remember your way around town." she said.

As they walked out of the building David wondered what she was driving when he came face to face with...

It was huge, red, and gaudy. "No, I am not going to been seen riding in that." he said, shocked that it was still running.

"It's a car, get over it." She said, getting angry again.

"Couldn't you have gotten a car from this century?" He asked, wondering her like for that heap.

"I've had it this long, why change it?" She opened up the passenger side door for him and he saw out of the corner of his eye two uniforms suppressing a laugh.

"Well, if you like driving around in a tomato...." He started. The both got into the Torino.

"It's candy apple red." She said, throwing the gear into drive and taking off at an illegal speed.

"You could slow down; this bucket of bolts is liable to fall apart." David said, looking around for a seatbelt that wasn't in evidence.

Angel ignored the slam against her car. "I just want to know one thing: Why are you here? You said you were never coming back." She said.

There was no answer from David. There was nothing for him to say. True, he had said he never wanted to return to Bay City. That was years ago. He had grown up since then.

What worried him was the change in her from the girl he had known. He could see that his friend was hurting, and there was no reaching her. He decided to change the subject. "I can't believe you?re still driving this thing. I thought is would have died years ago."

"I take care of the car. I don?t wrap new cars around telephone poles when I first got my learner's perm..."

"Would you quit reminding me of that!" David shouted. The incident with a first driving lesson, a new car, and a telephone pole was one of the Hutchinson family legends, usually brought up when questions like "Dad, can I borrow your car?" were asked.

They drove in silence until they got to a diner. When they both settled in a back booth he leaned over to her. "My turn. Let me ask some questions."

"Go ahead." She replied.

"How the hell did Uncle Dave get partnered up with you? And why was he even still on the street?" David questioned. David Starsky had been into his sixties as well, but he was still working as a detective.

Angel was about to answer when the waitress came over to the table and took their orders: burgers, fries, and sodas. She waited until the waitress came back with the drinks and she stirred the soda with a straw as she spoke.

"Dad was close to retirement age when I made detective. He shouldn?t have been there. Pure and simple." She sighed, and shook her head. "You remember how he was overprotective of me ever since mom died, he was worried about me." She said this as if she could not believe that anyone could worry about her. "Besides, it's not that unusual an older cop gets partnered with a rookie. I was a new detective, thinking I was invincible. He was stubborn and pig-headed. We were a bad combination." She paused again. "And it helped that he and your father screwed around with the paperwork.?

"Did he get into trouble?" David asked the obvious.

"Hmmm. We both did." She said. "And your father for allowing it." The food came, but she lost her appetite and pushed the plate away. "You know the stupid part? It was his last case before retiring. That was the condition of us being partners. Extreme short duration."

"How did he die?" David asked. His father had been very vague with the details.

"We were on a stakeout, routine. We were just supposed to observe a gang. I witnessed a drug deal, we went to make an arrest. I had a gun pulled on me, my clip got jammed, shot was fired. I was in the way, dad pushed me down, and he got hit." She sipped her drink.

David wiped his mouth and swallowed what he was chewing. "Then what?"

"I picked up dad's gun and I killed the son-of-a-bitch that shot him." She sighed. "The others were afraid to move after I killed their buddy. They were all arrested when backup came." she sipped her drink again and played with her food. "Then the usual, paperwork up the yang, the funeral. Et al."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there. I should have been." David pushed his plate away. He wasn?t hungry anymore either.

"How long have you been in town? Where are you staying?" Angel asked, shifting the subject.

"I've been in town for over a week now. Got a place near the beach." He was lucky to find an apartment so quickly.

"Davy? Do me a favor?" Angel asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Go back to New York." She took out her wallet and left her share of the bill on the table. She got up and left him in the diner stranded without a ride.

It was an embarrassing phone call that David had to make to Metro and explain that his "partner" abandoned him. He sat on the curb and waited for a black and white to pick him up and he plotted his revenge. Something childish maybe.

He had talked to his father and mother at least once a week and he was upset that they had not been lying about Angel's behavior. She had always been like an older sister to him, and his best friend, but now he didn't even know her anymore.

Presently the patrol car picked him up to take him back to Metro. hopefully there would be some work for him to do to keep himself occupied.

Meanwhile Angel was driving around without a real purpose, cursing herself for storming off like that. David deserved better. She picked up the police radio, the only piece of modern equipment in the car and called dispatch. "This is Blue Seven, I am taking the rest of the day off." and disconnected before they could say anything.

[You?re stupid. ] She thought to herself. [ You're pushing everyone away that tries to get through to you, but it just hurts so much]

Despite being early in the afternoon she drove to a bar, went in and ordered a double shot of whiskey. After an hour and three more doubles later she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked and saw a thin, black hand on her. She turned and smiled.

"Hi." She said.

"Is that all you can manage for you?re ole Uncle Bear?" The man said.

"Yup." She answered.

Huggy Bear was still thin and scarecrow-like, but the years had mellowed him out. He dressed more conservatively, but still with style. The gray hair made him look distinguished. He had never married, however, but he never hurt for company of the female persuasion.

He had sold "The Pits" and was enjoying having everything quiet. At Starsky?s funeral he held Angel when she broke down. He was close to both of his friend?s children. Used to handling people that had too much to drink, he took the shot glass away from her. From years of owning a bar he could tell she was already a little tipsy. "Now what are you doing here? It's too early to start drinking." <[> "I did something really bad." She said, her tone of voice saying she did something she shouldn't have. "David's in town."

"And that boy didn't stop in and see me? I'm going to have to have a word with that young man, why's he here?"

"He's a detective now. He was with the New York police department, and now he's come back here to live. Hutch partnered him up with me today." The bar was slowly starting to fill up, so he led her away from the crowd and they sat at a booth so they could talk.

"So what did you do to that boy?" They had gotten into a lot of trouble as children. The practical joke wars were also stuff of Hutchinson family legend.

> "I just wanted to be left alone, so I left him stranded at a diner near the highway." She wondered how she would have to explain that to Hutchinson.

"Heaven forbid anyone tries to reach out to you anymore, Baby Girl." Huggy said to her.

She moved her head away and Huggy gently grabbed her chin and turned her head so she could look him in the eye. "I'm going to say something that you won't like, and I don't care." he said. "This has gone on long enough. I think you like behaving like this, you get all kinds of attention and then you push everyone away. Your daddy's dead and we all miss him, but you're still alive." He got up. "give me the keys to the Torino."

"Why...?" she began. and he cut her off.

"I'm driving you home. Leave it here and you and David can pick it up in the morning. Go home, sleep it off. "

"Sleep?" It's still early yet!" She protested. "I?m not that drunk"

"It hasn't hit you yet. The day's over for you." He said with a note of finality. Angel got up and followed him out to his car. "For an Angel, you behave like the Devil half the time." Huggy complained as he helped her into his car. He dropped her off at her apartment and made sure she got inside alright. He let her use her apartment key at least.

He drove off and made a mental note to call Hutch.

Kenneth Hutchinson never was one to believe in the metaphysical, but this day was enough for him to never doubt the existence of Karma, and silently apologized to Dobey for all the things the he and Starsky did to him over the years.

Both Angel and David had given him more of a headache in this one day than either had done growing up. David came storming into his office ticked off at being stranded. Feeling like David was ten years old again, Hutch sent him to finish up the paperwork that Angel procrastinated doing for the last week. To add insult to injury he had gotten off the phone with Huggy, who informed him that he had pulled Angel out of a bar and made her go home. So at least Hutch knew where she was now. She had cut off all radio contact earlier in the day.

This was not going to work out. They were two different adults. He hoped that he wasn?t going to have to transfer her, or have her relieved of duty. She had numerous appointments with the police psychiatrist, but she was always a no-show. He also knew from experience that she not only needed the job right now, she needed a partner to talk to.

The phone rang and it was a black and white. There was a drive by shooting near a schoolyard.

Hutchinson took down the address and left the office. As he gave the address to David. "Round up your partner and go check it out."

He also gave him the address and directions to Angel's apartment building.

David grabbed his suit jacket and vowed that this time he would be the one driving.

After almost getting lost he found her apartment building, and he had to look at the mailboxes in order to find her apartment number. He started banging on the door.

She answered the door looking like hell. She was already starting to get a hangover, silently she made a promise that would not drink like that again. She was wearing a baseball jersey that had ?Bay City Police Athletic League? on the front, on the back there was her last name and the number 9. David also saw that she was wearing a pair of red plaid boxer shorts. He noted to himself that she had a great pair of legs.

"What ?" she said. Niceties would wait until after coffee.

"We got a case. Drive by shooting." He said, waiting in the doorway.

"Come in, give me ten minutes." He stepped into the apartment. "And quit looking at my legs you little pervert." He gave her a very innocent grin.

"Make yourself at home." she said, going into the bathroom. "What's so special about a drive by? They happen all the time, sad to say."

"Don't know. I think dad, I mean the captain just wants to give us something to do." David said. "And thanks to you for taking off like that." he said, remembering why they went their separate ways earlier.

"No problem." he heard through the bathroom door. He could smell alcohol.

"Have you been drinking?"

"A little. I got interrupted by Huggy, however." came the muffled reply. Water began to run.

}He's still around?" David went right up to the bathroom door.

Angel stuck her head out, toothbrush in her mouth. "Hruuush rissd jiu" came the garbled reply.

"In English please?" he asked.

She took the brush out. Toothpaste was on the corners of her mouth. "I said, "He's ticked at you. You haven't called, stopped by his place, or anything." It was easier to talk without the brush. She shut the door again.