{"id":228,"date":"2022-11-27T23:27:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T23:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/?p=228"},"modified":"2022-12-08T04:46:13","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T04:46:13","slug":"december-tbd-the-answer-by-m-h-e-priest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/?p=228","title":{"rendered":"December 8th: The Answer by M H E Priest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tag to Starsky’s Lady<\/em><\/p>\n

Author’s Note:<\/span> Thanks to MatSir for the suggestions.<\/p>\n

A few hours after partaking of Huggy’s “patented” hangover cure, Starsky and I were finally out of the grunting and stumbling stage and began putting the Monopoly game back in its box.<\/p>\n

Knowing it would never be a good time to ask this particular question, I did so anyway. “So, Starsk, did you ever ask Terry to marry you?”<\/p>\n

He stopped separating the money into piles. “Yeah, I did, right before she was discharged.” He returned to his task, never once looking at me.<\/p>\n

“You wanna talk about it, buddy?”<\/p>\n

He finally looked at me, shot me his apologetic smile. “Yeah, I do. Sorry I never told you before. Guess I was still kinda\u2026 shocked.”<\/p>\n

I smiled back with what I hoped was an understanding one. “So, she said no.”\u00a0 Half question, half statement. A ploy on my part to get him to get it off his chest, maybe ease his suffering some.<\/p>\n

He didn’t speak for what seemed like an eternity. Just as I opened my mouth to say something that might soothe him, he looked up at me with an unreadable expression on his tired face and said flatly, “She said yes and no.”<\/p>\n

I figured she said no because she probably thought he asked out of pity and obligation, but yes, too? I stayed quiet, not knowing how to respond.<\/p>\n

He sighed, picked up the pile of 100s, then tossed the bills in the air. “She said yes because I was her best friend and everyone should marry their best friend.” He reached across the board and, with an enigmatic smile, squeezed my knee.<\/p>\n

As Starsky’s best friend, I was flabbergasted. All I could do was stare at him.<\/p>\n

He chuckled. “She said no because she thought I should marry my best friend and that wasn’t her. Otherwise, we’d be off-balance. Whatever the hell that means. Then she said I was already kinda married to my best friend.”<\/p>\n

I gulped. It was then that I knew why Terry gave Ollie to me and not Starsky. “Mmmme.”<\/p>\n

Starsky shoved the board to one side and hands-and-kneed it to me. Sitting back on his haunches, he placed his hand on my cheek and it felt like heaven. Then I recognized the look he was giving me when he thinks I’m not paying attention. The look I’ve never seen him give anyone else, not Helen, not even Terry.<\/p>\n

I put my hand over his, smiling so big my cheeks ached. What I had suppressed for so long looked like it was gonna happen. Somehow I didn’t shake like an inexperienced teenager when I kissed that rugged palm. His wide, crooked grin sent waves of relief over me.<\/p>\n

“Let’s, uh, get comfortable, ‘kay?” he asked.<\/p>\n

I worked hard to keep my voice even. “Sofa or, um, bed?”<\/p>\n

He laughed and it sounded warm and loving and excited. “Your call, partner.”<\/p>\n

I stood then helped him up. “This changes things, ya know.”<\/p>\n

He shrugged. “Maybe a little, Blondie. You’ve always been my best friend, my home.”<\/p>\n

I swallowed hard so I won’t choke. “You’re my home, too, babe. Have been since we met.”<\/p>\n

His grin was nothing short of the happiest I’d ever seen. We bumped noses as we went in for our first kiss (awkward but spectacular). I knew they would only get better.<\/p>\n

Later that afternoon as he napped, I whispered, “Thanks, Terry.”<\/p>\n

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Tag to Starsky’s Lady Author’s Note: Thanks to MatSir for the suggestions. A few hours after partaking of Huggy’s “patented” hangover cure, Starsky and I were finally out of the grunting and stumbling stage and began putting the Monopoly game back in its box. Knowing it would never be a good time to ask this … Continue reading “December 8th: The Answer by M H E Priest”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fic","category-sfw","category-slash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}