"Dammit!" Ken Hutchinson swore as he tossed another file in the Inbox. "Dobey did this on purpose!!"

The more he thought about it the angrier he became. Realistically he knew he had no one to blame but himself.

Early on their relationship, Hutch had seen the many sides of Starsky's personality. The easy-going almost child-like innocence or the patience of a Saint, to the hard-nosed Detective whom people feared. The most endearing one to Hutch was Starsky's devotion and loyalty. If Starsky made a friend it was for life; the same with enemies. Their partnership became legendary. 'Give it to Starsky and Hutchinson. If anyone can solve it, they can' they often heard. Both admitted it was flattering.

These praises came with a price — there were too many close calls.

Doing one of the most recent, they had set down and talked — really talked — about their personal lives. They discovered they were opposites but they complimented each other. Hutch had revealed why he never went to Minnesota to visit family. He was not welcome. Starsky had never asked why but the question in those dark eyes was there.

Hutch told him that his father had wanted him to be a lawyer. Hutch was gung-ho at first. He could follow in his father's footsteps, make a difference, dispense justice. Those ideals had ended when the elder Hutchinson was suspected of acquitting murderer of a young cousin. The suspect was the child's father.

It was at that moment, at the age of 13, he made the decision to be a cop.

The straw that broke the camel's back, as it were, was the now late Vanessa Hutchinson. Most of the family had approved of her. She was beautiful, sophisticated, intelligent, wealthy, and spoiled. To add insult to injury the match had been arranged. Neither was given a choice. This had delighted Vanessa — a gold digger at heart — and infuriated Hutch. A somewhat romantic at heart, he would have preferred to woo.

Instead, they ended up attending every high society party. Holidays were spent with family only — the only exception was Christmas. That was spent in the best hotel with a shopping spree at Macy's and New Year's in Time Square.

Later, he got tired of the 'sameness' with Vanessa, and divorced her.

The family never forgave him.

Now that he had the dearest person in his life — David Michael Starsky: partner, friend and now lover — where was he? Stuck in Los Angeles — alone. Starsky was in New York, with family, celebrating the 90th birthday of an Aunt born on Christmas Day.

"Thank goodness I can multi-task!", he muttered as he tossed another file into the INBOX. "I miss you, babe", he whispered to the empty chair across from him.

The phone rang, startling him out of his revelry. He glared at the instrument. Probably some irate shopper, he grumbled to himself. He snatched up the receiver and stabbed a clear button. "Metro police. Detective Hutchinson speaking."

"Hi, babe", replied the beloved voice.

"Hi!", Hutch whispered. The sound of his lover's voice had the most soothing — and erotic — affect on him. "How are you doing?"

"All warm and toasty listening to your voice."

"Starsk! We're on an open line!", Hutch whispered, scandalized.

Starsky chuckled. "Hope. Called in our special code with Dobey's permission."

Hutch was amazed. How did Starsky manager these things??

"Cap knows, Hutch", Starsky replied, ever in tune with this man who was dearer than life to him.

Hutch nodded. "Never could put anything over on him."

"Yeah." A pause. "Hutch?"

The change in Starsky's tone of voice caused Hutch concern. "Yeah, babe. Anything wrong?"

"No. It's just that you're about to receive an Express Mail packet."

"Taking lessons from Collandra?"

"Naw. Simple Hutch 101."

As if on cue a young man entered the squad room. "Detective Hutchinson?", he inquired.

Hutch raised him hand. "I'm Hutch... uh... Hutchinson", he confirmed.

The young man held out the envelope. "Sign here, please."

Hutch obeyed, removed Express Mail's receipt, and handed it to the carrier. "Thanks", he said as an afterthought.

The carrier smiled. "Merry Christmas, sir", he replied, and left.

Hutch picked up receiver. "I got it."

"Good. Open it."

Hutch did so and gasped at the contents. "It's a plane ticket!"

"Brilliant deduction, Hutch!"

"From L.A. to New York", Hutch continued as if Starsky hadn't spoken.

"You've got 2 hours to get to the airport, Hutchinson!", Dobey yelled from his office.

"Cap, you were in on this!?"

"Yep. We had to keep you here until the ticket arrived. Now that it's here, why you are?"

"Right, Cap", he addressed Dobey. "I'll see you at ten your time", he said to Starsky.

"I'm looking forward to it, babe. Love ya!"

"I love you, too. 'Bye."

"Bye."

The line was disconnected. Hutch grabbed his coat and keys. "Merry Christmas, Cap. Your presents are in the usual place."

"Same to you, Hutchinson. Yours are with Starsky. I don't want to see either of you until January 5th."

Silence. Dobey looked out of his office, chuckled to himself and went to replace the receiver.

THE MERRY HO-HO END