Chapter one – 2 of a kind

It was just before midnight & the rain was cascading down the windows almost like a waterfall.

"You've got to be kidding me, it's like the re-enactment of Noah's Ark out there" Natalie whined.

"Well you could always stay here till the rain lets up" Mr Monk suggested.

" I s'pose I'll have to. Just do me a favour & try to keep the cleaning to a mini-"

Natalie was cut off by the sound of the vacuum cleaner roaring to life. 'Well, there goes a goodnight's sleep' she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. As she began to walk up the stairs to the guest room, she could faintly hear the sound of the phone ringing. Wrestling with Mr Monk to turn the vacuum off, she picked up the phone.

"This is Natalie" Natalie called into the phone.

"Um, is- is Adrian th-there?" a startled & confused reply came back to Natalie.

"May I ask who's calling?"

"Um, this is Sharona"

Natalie realised that this was his former assistant and handed the phone to Mr Monk.

"It's Sharona" Natalie explained, waiting for his exaggerated reaction – as she hadn't contacted him in over 3 years.

Mr Monk managed to look worried, confused, excited, & angry all at the same time. His assistant found it hard to keep a straight face.

"Sharona. Sha-rona. Sh-ar-oooo-na. Sharo-na." Mr Monk greeted her, he tried to put all his conflicting emotions into his greeting. She giggled that sweet sound he had come to love & miss over all those years. He smiled his goofy smile before checking himself & putting back on his solemn face. Mr Monk turned to Natalie & saw that his smile did not go unnoticed.

A small & hopeful voice could barely be heard saying "Hi Adrian, sorry I haven't been in contact, please don't be mad, I just needed to hear your voice, to know that you're still alive".

Mr Monk sidestepped towards his painting of Trudy above his mantle, he bent to his left side before he adjusted it a seemingly impossible 3 degrees. Natalie looked on in awe as the man usually so strange & conserved sat down & poured out his life to a woman who left him without so much as a goodbye.

"… and that's what's happened to me, so what about you?"

Almost disbelieving, Sharona managed to get out "Y-you were h-hugged by a n-naked man?"

Adrian threw his head back and laughed. 'God it feels so good to hear his voice again' Sharona thought to herself. Adrian got back up, readjusting Trudy's picture.

"Adrian! Leave the picture, it's fine!" Natalie could hear Sharona's annoyed tone.

"but-"

"Leave it!"

Adrian shook his head in defeat and returned to his couch. A surprised Natalie was left wondering whether she would ever know her boss like his former assistant did.

"Benji & I were wondering if maybe we could come & visit for a while, things aren't going great up here – Trevor & I got divorced about a week or 2 ago & I needed a break."

Natalie watched as again Mr Monk struggled with his emotions. She emitted a rather loud giggle as she saw him go from sorry, to upset, to happy, to distressed & finally settled on ecstatic.

"Yeh, sure… I mean of course! You could stay here if you didn't want to rent a hotel" Mr Monk realised what he said and tried to fix it "I mean, um, if you wanted to, to save money- not that you needed to-but I only have one guest room- someone would have to sleep on the pull out bed &-"

"It's fine, really, I'll only be here for the weekend & I'd love to stay with you Adrian. I'd better go, I'll see you in a few days – if that's alright." Sharona could hardly keep herself from smiling, as she wondered if he's changed.

"3 days? That's great, perfect, perfect…"

"Goodbye Adrian" Sharona hung up the phone.

Natalie watched him repeat 'perfect' as the realisation set in with her that Sharona is coming back, and she could face losing her job. She could feel the tears welling up, so she quickly grabed the phone from him, & dashed to the kitchen to put it away. Once in there she quickly wiped her eyes, & wondered why it bothered her so much.

"Goodnight Mr Monk, I suppose I'd better get some sleep. They both climbed the stairs & called it a night. Natalie fell fast asleep right away, exhausted from the long day, while Mr Monk suffered yet another sleepless night.

Startling her out of her deep sleep, the song "What I like about you" erupted from his stereo causing her to jump up, almost upsetting the contents on the bedside table. Natalie jumped back, waiting for Mr Monk to rush over in a state of panic, but nothing. She looked up and was taken aback by the sight of Mr Monk waltzing with his duster, in her room!

"Ahem… Mr Monk" Natalie called out. He stumbled over himself, almost falling into the stereo before fumbling for the off button. The flow of music ceased & he turned to Natalie who was on the floor in hysterics.

"Well, I'd better buy some more wipes" she managed to squeeze out in between hysterics. Natalie stuck out her hand and a reluctant Mr Monk took it, using all his might to pull her up. She shook her head before he turned to leave.

"Goodbye Mr Monk" Natalie called out all knowing.