One Night Changes Everything

When she arrived at the apartment, she had to take a fortifying breath before she faced what lay inside. Bracing herself against what she knew had already broken her heart. Closing her eyes briefly she wondered how it had reached this point.

Nonetheless, she readied herself.

As she opened the door and saw no one in the hallway, she slowly entered. Letting a breath out she walked down the hallway.

“Hello!”

“Natalie!” Stottlemeyer said as he stepped out of the living room.

Natalie tried to look behind him to see if Monk was there, and sure enough she could she the top of his head as he sat in his chair.

“Is he ok? I mean…(finally looking at Stottlemeyer)”

Leland just puffed up with a huge breath and quickly deflated. Gravely…he shook his head no.

Natalie swallowed the sob that had wanted to escape her, repressing the tears that had started to water her eyes. Shaking her head she again looked at Stottlemeyer.

“What should we do?” She asked him.

“I ah, I called an old friend who might be able to help us. I also called Dr. Bell. He was actually in Nevada on some conference but…he said that he would be right over.”

Natalie nodded her head and sniffled.

“Can…can I see him?”

Stottlemeyer smirked at Natalie and lifted up his arm, inviting her into the room by the gesture.

Taking a steadying breath she slowly entered the room.

Monk didn’t move, not even as she entered into his line of sight. The second she took a better look at him, she realized how horrible he looked. It actually made her heart ache to see him like this.

Kneeling down she looked at his hand resting against the end of the arm of the chair. Slowly…she placed her hand on top of his.

He didn’t react to her touch, if anything he didn’t even notice it. And that made her cry. Trying to pull herself together, she tried to talk.

“Mr…Mr. Monk…it’s……it’s me. It’s Natalie.” She said as she searched his face for any acknowledgment, any sign saying that he was still there.

But there was nothing.

Natalie’s eyes shown with tears as they slowly traveled down her face. Her hand caressing his as she tried to deal with what she had caused.

Why did she have to fall in love with him?

It had taken a little over six hours to arrive in San Francisco. All in all it had been a pretty smooth flight. But Sharona was still nervous and frightened.

Benji had told her what had happened. What the Captain had said. Her blue eyes stared at the all to familiar surroundings.

God I missed this place! I even missed Adrian. Who woulda ever thought that I'd say that.

The truth of the matter was......she had missed Adrian Monk more than she had thought possible.

Adrian had become like a brother to her.....and they do say that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

But Sharona......Sharona had felt like something was missing all of these years. Yes she almost always ended up yelling at him, and yes she sometimes wanted to strangle him to death but......but Adrian Monk had become part of her family. Maybe more than she ever knew.

Sharona turned and looked at Benji, as he too stared out into the streets he use to play on. Not much had changed the years he had been away.

For Benji it was turning into a reliving of the best years of his life.

The sun was just starting to set when they reached Adrian's apartment. Benji had made arrangements to stay at a nearby hotel until they could determine just how bad the situation with Monk really was. But until then - they brought up there luggage.

Standing outside in the hallway, they readied themselves for what awaited inside.

Sharona slowly let out a breathe and reached out her hand and knocked on the door.

Both heard footsteps and then the door opened.

Neither of them recognized the person.

"Hello. I'm assuming you're Sharona." Dr. Bell said with a small smile.

Sharona smiled. "Yeah."

"Hmm yes. Adrian talks about you often." Reaching out his hand he simply says, "I'm Dr. Bell. I'm Adrian's Psychiatrist."

Sharona took the mans hand and shook it, even though she was confused.

"It's nice to meet you but um....(Sharona looked behind him)....what happened to Dr. Kroeger?"

Dr. Bell's small smile fell.

"He ah.....he passed away...a few years ago."

Sharona was shocked for a second, but then recovered.

"Sharona! How are yah?" Leland said as he came up and gave Sharona a bear of a hug. Sharona hugged him back tightly as tears formed in her eyes.

It was bad. If the captain was here it was bad.

"Hey..." Randy said quitely as he approached. Sharona opened her eyes to find Randy staring at her with this tender look in his eyes. Sharona couldn't stop the tears as she pulled away from the captain and let herself be hugged by Randy.

"It's been a long time." Randy said as he hugged her back just as fiercely as she hugged him.

"Hey Kiddo! Look at you!!" Stottlemeyer said to Benji. Benji giving the captain a smirk and a firm hand shake.

"Hey Cap...it's good ta see yah." Benji said warmly.

Sharona pulled away from Randy and sniffled as she tried to control herself. She knew Adrian didn't like to see tears. And it wasn't like her to fall apart...not when he needed her.

Slowly she rounded the corner, into the living room...and saw a blonde woman with stunning blue eyes with tears in her eyes and tears slowly sliding down her face. Sitting right next to her was a young girl, she was sitting on the arm of Monk's chair, holding a photo album that she was quite familiar with.

Natalie wiped away her tears from her face and slowly stood. "You must be Sharona."

Now Sharona didn't know what happened and she really had only talked to Natalie on the phone but......instinct was telling her that Natalie was the reason for this turn of events.

"You must be Natalie." Sharona said, not being cold, not even with attitude.

Sharona was here to help her friend...and that's why she needed to keep her cool.

Natalie reached out a hand. "It's really nice to finally meet you."

Sharona shook Natalie's hand and sniffled, her eyes turning to Monk.

"He's been like this for a least a 39 hours." Dr. Bell said as he re-entered the room.

Sharona slowly let go of Natalie's hand and approached Monk. Natalie made a motion with her head, making Julie leave her place by Mr. Monk and walk towards her mother.

Sharona took a second before she began to make the short step towards facing Monk. But when she did.....she was taken back to all those years ago. When she had first met him......right after Trudy had...

Sharona shook her head. Whatever had happened......it had to be big. It had to be really big.

Sitting on the foot rest Sharona stared into Adrian Monk's void eyes. It hurt to do so...but she did it.

"Hey Adrian..." Sharona whispered, but Natalie stared at Sharona as she used Monk's first name.

"It's me......it's Sharona."

Adrian didn't move, didn't respond in any way.

Sharona reached over and held his hand, getting close to him like she use to...getting into his personal space.

"Adrian...(her voice cracking)...Adrian......I know you can hear me." Sharona said as she searched Adrian's eyes.

"I don't know what happened...(she whispered)...but I'm gonna find out." Her eyes flicking over to Natalie, and then back to Monk. "I promise."

Monk's eyes remained void...no change. But Sharona knew he heard her. Slowly she hugged him tightly.

Natalie felt a wave of jealousy hit her as she watched Sharona speak softly to Monk, touch him more intimately then she had ever dared. Well.....until recently that is. She blushed for a second before she could regain her good senses.

Still though.....as she watched Sharona talk to Monk and slowly lift him up from the chair, her jealousy skyrocketed. The way he let himself be helped by her...it made her come to a bizarre thought.

What if Sharona Fleming......was in love with Adrian Monk?