Monk was on his front lawn, hoisting a pair of twins in their infant years high in the air. All three of them were laughing & for once in his life, Mr Monk felt completely carefree.
"Adrian!" a strong female voice came from the gorgeous woman standing in his doorway. "Put the small children down!"
Bowing his head in defeat, he swung the twins back down. A black car pulled up to the kerb, going unnoticed at the time.
"Well, I suppose if I can't lift small children" a mischievous smile spread onto his face, "I can always lift you". Monk roared & began chasing her around the lawn until, breathless, she was caught in his arms.
The mysterious car rolled down, revealing Sharona & her son, Benji. Sharona watched as this man, her former boss, pulled a woman unknown to her into a lengthy, passionate kiss. She contemplated coughing quietly to get their attention, but instead stepped out of the car.
"Hey… Adrian, hey" Both Monk & the stranger pulled away from each other.
"Sharona" his tone was evidently icy. Probably from the three years she had cut off contact from him & the rest of the force. "What are you doing here?"
"Look, I know I left without saying goodbye, and I'm sorry, but I knew it would be harder for me If I said a proper goodbye, and faced you breaking down. Things didn't work out with Trevor, so now I'm back here…"
She awaited his outburst of joy. Nothing. "For good" she reinforced. Still nothing. "Um, Adrian, I was expecting a bigger reaction, or a reaction at least".
"Look, I'm sorry Sharona, but you left for 3 years without even so much as a goodbye. You haven't contacted me until now, and expect everything to be just the way you left it. So I'm sorry if I'm not exactly ecstatic that the next chapter of my life will fall apart the same way it did before." The two kids peered out from between Monk's legs.
Holding back her tears, Sharona tried to change the subject. "Cute kids, whose are they?" Never in a million years would she expect the response she would get.
"Why mine & my lovely wife Natalie's of course". Sharona's eyes widened & fell to their hands. Seeing Trudy's bracelet on Natalie's wrist was more than she could bear.
"You got married & didn't event tell me?"
Obviously stressed by Sharona's sudden appearance & assumed friendship he retorted "Well ya didn't exactly make it easy to contact me. In fact it was so far from easy it probably hadn't even heard of it!"
Sharona was doing her best to keep herself from completely breaking down, but to no avail. Trying to end the conversation before tears began to stream down her face she mumbled "Well, uh, it was nice to see you again, but I need to get settled in at Gails."
"Bye" Monk muttered under his breath before turning & wrangling the children into the house. Sharona stepped off the kerb & climbed into her car. The tears were cascading down her face, ruining her carefully applied make-up & dampening her shirt.
"Mom?" A timid Benji asked, after watching the entire scene unfold.
"Not now Benji!" Sharona practically shouted before careering out of the street & making the short but silent drive to her sister's house. She was not getting her job back, and was definitely not getting her Adrian.