a/n this story may look familiar. I took the original down and have made corrections and additions to the fic. I hope it reads a little better, and is a little less confusing. Reviews love and I'm starving for affection.

Mirror

by Ann Peek

Chapter 1: The Best Day

"No!" Randy's body tensed as he had that sensation of falling that you get when you are dreaming. He was in the middle of a nightmare when MurderRuss's new hip-hop tune blared from his cell phone. That, more than the dream, jerked him from sleep. He got his bearings, half-trying to remember what the dream was about as he reached for the phone on his bedside table and looked at the time. He braced himself as he flipped the cell phone open, knowing that not a lot of good news comes at 2 a.m.

"This is Disher," he croaked sleepily into the phone, and then listened as a familiar voice from dispatch told him where he had to go to meet Captain Stottlemeyer. It was another nightmare. Two bodies were found at Richmond Park: a woman and a boy. Great, Randy thought, just great.

He quickly dressed and, as he did so, started some coffee for his travel mug. He didn't bother to shave, but he did finger comb his hair. No one really cared what you looked like at a crime scene at two a.m.

It had been quite a while since he got one of these. A call when he was very off duty. One that would ruin his day for days to come. He remembered, about two years before telling Natalie that he was almost used to the gory details of the homicides he investigated. He didn't quite tell her the whole truth. He never got used to it when it was a kid. Especially when it was a young kid. Thinking of that memory brought back the nightmare he'd been trying to remember was about and he smiled wanly to himself. In his dream Randy saved Natalie's life. He was a hero, and he'd have to be sure to let her know that.

Half an hour later, he rolled up to the crime scene. Yellow crime scene tape up. Uniformed officers, detectives, dogs, the whole nine yards, were busy trying to gather information as quickly and accurately as possible. He swallowed the last sip of coffee in his cup before he exited his vehicle, and within a few steps had his notebook out and flipped open to a blank page.

"Hey," he said to Captain Stottlemeyer, realizing that the Captain might be about as alert as he was this early in the morning. "Any new information?"

"Not a lot. So far we've got a woman and a small boy. We don't even know if they're related. The boy was stabbed. Apparently he was killed somewhere else and brought here. I'm not sure how the woman died - there are no marks on the body that we can detect. We have the M.E. on it, and we're sending out officers to ask questions door to door." Stottlemeyer reported blearily. "I had to start the morning dressing down Officer Murphy. When he called he just started talking about the case without even checking that it was me he was talking to. Now Karen's upset..."

Randy's gave him a quizzical look. "Karen?"

Captain Stottlemeyer wasn't in the mood for games. "Karen Stottlemeyer. My wife. Do you know another Karen who sleeps next to me who'd be upset to be woken up and given detailed information about two grisly murders?"

A big sleepy smile spread across Randy's face, and he said, before he could stop himself, "You're back together? Congratulations!!"

"Congratulations for what?" Came a Jersey accented voice from the past. Randy spun around, to see Sharona Fleming, walking clumsily through the grass in high heels, with her boss, the famous detective, Adrian Monk. She looked like an angel. Well, she looked like an angel in tight, acid wash, boot cut jeans, a tank top, and a little bolero jacket over that.

"Sharona!" Randy ran to greet her and hugged her tightly. "You're back! When did you get back?"

"Randy," Sharona protested, trying to shrug out of Randy's grip. "Get off of me! I haven't been anywhere...Will someone get him off me?!"

"Knock it off, son." Stottlemeyer said as he grabbed Randy by the shoulders and pulled him away from Sharona. He lead the younger man about 8 feet away from her. He did this with a gentle affection, and enough sternness that gave the message: 'cut it out, or else.'

"I just can't believe she's back." Randy said, excitedly, as he went to try to hug her again. The Captain stepped in front of Randy, placing a hand on his chest, while Sharona tried to hide behind Monk. "Wait! Where's Natalie?"

Randy looked at Monk, who looked at Sharona who looked at Stottlemeyer, who shrugged. All of them were oblivious to what he was talking about. 'Who's Natalie?' was the zeitgeist thought of the moment.

"You know Natalie," Randy explained. "Natalie Teeger. Monk, she's been working with you for the past 3 years." He knew they were kidding him with their silence. "She was hired after Sharona left...She has a daughter named Julie who's 16 years old." There was no response except for shocked silence. "You met her when she hired you to solve a case, after she stabbed an intruder to death with a pair of scissors." Nothing. "She always called you "Mr. Monk..." he persisted.

"Mr. Monk," Adrian said aloud, trying on the name like a brown jacket. It was almost like a title to him, and he liked it. Monk turned to Sharona and said, "Sharona, would you call me..."

"No, Adrian," Sharona shot back, then she grinned slyly and said, "Have you been seeing another nurse behind my back?"

Adrian Monk didn't know how to respond, because he really didn't get the joke, but chuckled self consciously when Leland and Sharona did, so he wouldn't be left out.

Captain Stottlemeyer was concerned for Randy, but he didn't have time for this. Not here and not now, so he said, "Randy, why don't you go home and try to get some rest, and we'll talk tomorrow." It may have sounded like a suggestion to the untrained ear, but to Randy, who had attuned himself to the Captains whims (with mixed results, he'd be the second person to admit) this was not a suggestion. It's was very nearly an order.

Randy's face fell and he looked like he was about to be sick. "Yeah," He replied weakly. "Maybe I should..."

Sharona saw the change and was concerned. "How about if I drive him home, Captain? That is, if he can manage to stay on his side of the car."

"Thank you, Sharona." The Captain breathed out. "I appreciate that."

"No problem. Come on, Adrian."

"Sharona, I kinda need Monk on this one," Stottlemeyer confided in a hushed tone. "How 'bout if you take Randy home, and give me a call when you get home. I'll make sure that Monk makes it home okay."

Sharona handed Stottlemeyer the packet of wipes from her purse and headed of to her beat up Volvo with Lt. Disher in tow.

The first few minutes of the car ride was an uncomfortable silence permeated the atmosphere, as Sharona drove. When she glanced over at Randy he looked, she couldn't tell, either sick or distraught. Finally she asked, "Are you okay? Do you want me to pull over or anything?"

"I don't know," Randy sighed. "It feels as if you've been gone for years. Have I really dreamed about 3 years of my life? Three years where Monk had a new assistant? Three years without you? It seemed to be real." Then again, Sharona, now, driving him home, also seemed real. He put his head in his palms, and tried to reason out what was real and what was not, hoping he wasn't losing his mind. He was hoping he wasn't becoming like Monk.

Sharona looked straight ahead, concentrating on the road. "So, you said I've been gone. Where did I go?" She asked, trying to keep Randy talking.

Randy thought for a moment. There was just no tactful way to tell her so he just said, "You and Benji went back to New Jersey with your ex-husband"

"Really" she said, taking the information in.

"Yeah. It was pretty sudden. Out of the blue, actually. I didn't even know that you were seeing him."

Sharona considered this and was silent for a moment. Then, she began to snicker, and then to laugh out loud. "I went back to Trevor? Trevor Howe?" She was incredulous.

"The man who cheated on me more times than I can count? Who left me to raise Benji by myself while he partied like a frat-boy? The man who only sniffed around Benjy and me when he could get something from us? Who never voluntarily paid child-support in our divorced life? Do you really think I'd do that?"

Randy felt suddenly defensive. She was asking him to explain his motives when all he was doing was telling her the history of her leaving in a dream he'd had. "It didn't really make sense to me, actually." Randy said in his own defense, although he wasn't really sure why. Then he added, "Monk really fell apart." He hoped that would help. "He was really upset."

"That's good to know." Sharona stated, half-sarcastically. "I mean that you would think that he'd miss me-If I were gone."

"I missed you, too." He said quietly, not sure weather she heard him. As they drove along in silence, he watched her. He used to do that a lot, until she caught him gazing at her. Then he'd turn away, and jot something in his notebook. This time when she looked over at him she smiled. It may have been a pity smile, he wasn't sure. He'd take it. He had always been attracted to her to some degree, but he didn't appreciate until now how beautiful she was to him. She was illuminated.

"So, tell me about this, um, Natalie," Sharona prodded. "The one who always calls Adrian, "Mr. Monk".

Randy closed his eyes and tried to picture her. Was she the dream? Now he had to wonder. If she was, how much could he remember? "Let's see...She's about our age, um, thirty-something. Petite, Blond, Pretty. No nonsense attitude. She has a daughter named Julie, who's 16. She has a great smile...but that could be because her father owns Davenport toothpaste."

"You own Davenport toothpaste, Randy..."

"Her father owns the company." Randy amended.

"Oh, really?" Sharona mused. "So, Monk's new nurse is a socialite?"

"No," Randy explained. "Natalie isn't - I mean, she wasn't a nurse and she wasn't a socialite. She kinda rejected the whole "money" thing, and her family had a lot of it. I went to her brothers wedding. At least, I intended to. I got hit by a car and broke a bunch of bones. The pain medication made me loopy for days...or weeks. It was awhile."

"Sounds like fun." Sharona laughed.

"Well, also, the bride turned out to be a murderess. Monk solved the case, and I helped..." It sounded a little weak to Randy's ears. I helped. That's what a child says when he isn't making as big a mess as they could be, in the vicinity of actual work. That was probably what Randy was doing - only he was too loopy to know.

"Even in your dreams, Monk's solving murders?" Sharona seemed to be able to read his mind.

Randy blushed, and looked down at his lap, thinking that it all seemed so real. How could it have been a dream? He was out of work for weeks. He remembered when his friends visited him. Stottlemeyer made sure he had groceries, and brought Jared and Max to play video games with him. He remembered Natalie, Monk, and Julie coming to visit, to give his mom, who'd been taking care of him, a rest. Natalie helped him take care of some bills, Julie read to him from The Jungle Book, and Monk deep cleaned his whole apartment in the span of a few hours. His apartment had never been so clean. Monk even dusted the filigree work on the pagoda that sat in the front entryway in his apartment. How could that have been a dream?

Sharona noticed that Randy seemed distracted and asked, "How about Adrian?"

"What about him?" Randy asked, his full attention on Sharona again.

"How was he doing "without me""? She clarified, taking her hands off the steering wheel for a second to make quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

Randy hesitated.

"What?" Sharona asked with a frustrated edge to her voice, after noticing the pregnant pause.

"He was actually doing a lot better..."

"Without a nurse?" Sharona asked. "Are you kidding me, Randy? Are you saying that the prom queen handled Adrian better than a trained nurse?"

"She didn't really "handle" him." Randy explained. "I think that was the difference."

"Yeah Randy," Sharona breathed out, irritated by the whole Natalie-dream-thing. "You were dreamin'."

After a tense beat, they both chuckled at her comment and the air was clear again. .

When she drove up to his apartment, Randy noticed that Sharona was unbuckling her seat belt, and said, "You don't have to walk up with me. I'll be fine."

"But I promised the Captain..." Sharona protested.

"I'll be fine," he said again, a little more forcefully.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. And it'll save me time and steps if you just let me go up alone. If you walked up with me, I'd have to walk back down to make sure you got to your car all right. And then I'd have to go up two flights of stairs again. I can't help it, I'm a gentleman."

She smiled at him again. He missed her smile.

"Maybe I'll see you at the station tomorrow?"

"Count on it." He waved to her as she drove off.

The first thing Randy did when he got back to his apartment was to turn on his laptop. He was on the Internet in seconds. He googled everything he knew about Natalie Teeger. Her address, phone number, her parents, her late husband, Mitch Teeger and anything else he could think of. He used every trick he could think of and even tried to improvise a few new tricks. There were Natalie Teegers, but none of them fit the Natalie Teeger he knew. Wrong age, wrong race, and wrong area of the country. Born the wrong gender. The same types of things came up when he tried to find information on Julie Teeger. When he finally shut down his laptop he had enough time to get, maybe, an hour of sleep. That was if he fell asleep the very second he turned off his computer. With all the worries he was having about dreams, he wasn't sure he wanted to fall asleep. Instead he took a shower and got ready for work. He'd come in a couple of hours early and read the report on last nights murder.

End Chapter One.