* I don't own Monk. This story is dedicated to Theicemanace as she was the one that inspired it.

Randy Disher was a good man but he was a bit of a goofball sometimes. He was always the one that was punished and/or reprimanded but his friends and his boss truly loved and appreciated him as well.

They didn't let him know that often and far too often they would focus on his faults. One day after a major messup he was called into the captain's office.

Just as he was about to punish him for his major messup he looked and noticed there were tears in his friend's eyes.

Imediately Leland went from being angry to being worried.

"Randy what's wrong," he asked

"I just can't do anything right. I'm such a loser. I always mess up"
Leland could see his friend wasn't trying to get out of his chastisment but instead genuinely hurting.

"Sit down," he told his friend gently. Randy reluctantally obeyed.

"You know, when I was about your age I did something about 20 times worst then what you did," Stottlemyer began

"You did?"

"Yes I did. I was working a tripple shift and I was very tired. Jennifer was just a baby and Karen was sick with the flu so I had been up for about 4 days straight caring for Jennifer. Anyway I won't go into details but I accidentally shot a little boy."

"Okay two questions," Randy said, "one, did he live and two, were you punished for what you did"

"Yes to both of those questions," Leland replied, "He did live and I was severely punished for what I did."

"I guess-"

"I deserved it but I didn't need it. I needed a friend to lean on. I needed someone to assure me that everyone makes mistakes. I needed someone to let me know I was appreciated even with the mistakes I made."

Leland paused

"Randy what you did, arresting the wrong person because you weren't looking at the right information and letting the suspect go was VERY wrong. Under normal and ordinary circumstances you would be punished for it. Having been in your shoes however I'm not going to give you what you deserve. I'm going to give you what you need. I want you to listen to me very carefuly okay"

Randy nodded and gave Leland his full attention

"While I don't condone what you did I want you to understand that I know what you're going through. Y-you're like a nephew to me and I love you. Anytime you need to talk, I don't care if it's 4 o'clock in the morning you just give me a call"

Randy thanked him and walked out of the office feeling better"
"And Randy," Leland called, "if anyone asks you were punished for what you did… understand"

Randy grinned at his friend

"Perfectly captain," he said

"Good," Leland replied, "see you later"