Mr. Monk Plays Dad
PG-13
Summary: Monk joins Sharona and Benjy at a parent-child event at Benjy's school. Possibly some Adrian/Sharona romance in later chapters. Angst for now.
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine (unfortunately).
Please read and review! I'd love to know what ppl think of it! (And for those of you that read My Sharona, I think this one is a lot more in character than that was.)
Chapter 1: Challenge Accepted.
"Relax, Adrian. You look fine."
"No, Sharona, I'm wearing – I don't even know what I'm wearing, but it must have been bathed in various children's bodily fluids."
"And what a nice picture that is." Sharona looked over to see Monk picking at the paint-covered smock he was wearing. "Would you stop? You're going to pick a hole right through it."
"What a shame that would be," he muttered. "Why am I here, anyway?" 'Here' was Benjy's school, where they just happened to be having a parent-child event.
"I told you already," Sharona grunted, lifting a few cans of paint onto a nearby ledge where other parents and children were painting a mural. "This is one of those things where Benjy wanted a male here, and since his father is a low-life scumbag…"
"I'm like Benjy's dad," Monk finished.
"For the day," Sharona quickly added. "I'm not expecting anything terribly fatherly from you, but," she turned to him with a pleading look on her face, "if you could try to act like you're Benjy's dad, I know he'd really appreciate it. And then I'd be happy, which would mean I wouldn't be yelling at you, so we'd all be in a good mood."
Monk gave her a questioning look. "You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?"
Sharona shrugged nonchalantly. She had thought a lot about it. When Benjy first broached the subject, she had thought it was ridiculous. Adrian never was any fun, and if he went, chances were, he would just embarrass them all. But Benjy looked at her with those soulful eyes of his, and she knew she couldn't say no to him. She just knew she had to try and make Adrian realize how important this was to both Benjy and her.
"I just want my son to be happy," she finally responded, hoping it didn't sound fake. It was true – she loved Benjy more than anything – but more and more she found herself wondering how Adrian would react to something like this.
"Mr. Monk, come look at this!" Benjy was suddenly bounding towards the two of them, an excited look on his face.
"If it's a shower, I think I'll be more excited than he is," Monk muttered, garnering an eye rolling and a gentle slap on the arm from Sharona. She took his hand in hers and pulled him after her jerkily, Monk fighting her the entire way.
"Look, do you want me to suddenly lose your supply of wipes after the Pie Your Parent event?" Sharona asked through clenched teeth, faking a smile.
Monk had a panicked look in his eyes, which he quickly masked with a timid smile. "Which way did he go?"
They continued to where Benjy had led them, and when Monk saw where they were, he groaned. "Oh, God, Sharona, I can't do that."
"You can't throw a baseball?" she asked him teasingly. They were standing in front of the dunk tank, where parents and their kids alike were taking turns being plunged into ice-cold water.
"I don't have to…" he stammered, pointing to the tank, where an unsuspecting victim was squealing as she hit the water.
"No, you don't have to go in there," Sharona confirmed. "It's not required that you do everything." Benjy ran up to them again.
"Shane bet me 5 bucks that I couldn't get you to go in the dunk tank," he explained, sniffling and wiping his nose on his hand. Monk grimaced and held a wipe out to Benjy, who took it, looking confused. "But I don't have any money, so I had to come get some from you."
"Benjamin, what did I tell you about making bets?" Sharona chastised him. "You know I don't approve of you gambling."
"It's only 5 bucks, Mom," he sulked. "I shouldn't have made the bet, anyway. I knew I'd lose."
"Not so fast, hon," Sharona stated, slipping off her smock and handing her purse to Monk.
"Sharona," Monk hissed at her. "What are you doing?"
She faced him. "Winning my son a bet." With that, she handed Monk her earrings and shook her hair out. "You ready to dunk me, Adrian?"