Disclaimer: I do not own Adrian Monk or any of the characters of the Monk USA Network television series, nor am I making any money from writing this story.
A/N: This story is a sequel to my version of the Monk series finale, Mr. Monk and the Wishful Thinking. I do not follow canon--and have diverted using my storyline (basically, there's no Molly, Natalie does not end up with Steven Albright and well, you'll have to read it to know the rest!). If you haven't read the story, there may be some elements of this story that will confuse you, because they refer back to "Wishful Thinking." Thanks for all your "wishful thinking" for a sequel. This is just sort of a background chapter setting up for further chapters. Without further ado, here it is!
Natalie Teeger glanced down yet again at the hand holding her own, the large hand that until a month ago had been adorned with a simple silver band, a reminder that he was taken. Normally on a trek to the grocery store she kept her hand on the small of the man's back, her palm rubbing against the itchy material of his thick brown-toned blazer. This was the second time she was making this short journey with his hand bare, though this entire month she had not seen a glimmer of his wedding ring.
She glanced then at her left hand holding an umbrella over her and Adrian's head and the hand's new ring, a perfectly square diamond—no, it really was perfectly square, he had emphatically explained to her—on a thin gold band. Ten karat gold, he clarified—a number not only ensuring its strength, but it was also the perfect number. He certainly had picked out a beautiful ring, and all while she remained completely unaware of his intentions. He must have confided in her daughter Julie at some point, for she at least had been aware of the Christmas day surprise.
Natalie couldn't believe it had been a month since she had accepted Adrian's ring. She had seen the box, sitting by itself behind the tree, a box wrapped in a shiny foil-like wrapping and completely free of any crease or wrinkle. It was immediately apparent to her that this gift was wrapped by Adrian Monk. It was a small box, to be sure, but not too small to give away its secret of jewelry. The meticulous way he had wrapped it gave no indication of its importance; he wrapped all gifts with the same perfectionism.
It was then, after she had detached the tape from the end and lifted the flap to reveal a box, she forsook to continue unwrapping slowly and instead tore into the wrapping, opening the box to reveal a hinged felt-covered box.
If she had looked up at this point she would have seen Adrian Monk staring down at the present in her hands as if it was a leaky balloon holding the remains of the world's oxygen. A layer of sweat had formed unnoticed along his hairline, and he was trying his best not to let his leg shake back and forth at the suspense.
As soon as she placed her thumb on the jewelry box, the tiny creak permeating the suspenseful silence of the room, Adrian abruptly moved off of the ottoman where he had been sitting and dropped to his knees in front of her.
A chill had run up her spine at the sight of Adrian Monk kneeling there in front of her, his shoulders rising and falling dramatically with each breath. He bowed his head, watching from his downturned face Natalie revealing the contents of the box.
A ring. She gasped, a hand moving swiftly to cover her mouth. Adrian held his breath, not wanting to stare at her but wanting to read every change of expression in her eyes, watch the subtleties of her mouth, any pursing of her lips, a wrinkling of her brow.
If a doctor had been there with an EKG machine he most likely would have found temporary arrhythmia in Adrian and Natalie both, a few skipped heartbeats in the moments since her discovery of the box.
She smiled, her eyes suddenly glistening. He finally took a breath.
"Adrian—"
"Natalie," he began shakily. He cleared his throat, looking self-consciously at the ground before continuing. "Natalie, would you… marry me?"
"Yes!" she shrieked, lunging towards him with her arms outstretched. She wrapped herself around him, feeling him reciprocate in kind, his large hands resting firmly on her upper back. She could almost swear he was pulling her towards him as well. It was then that she moved her head back from where she had rested it on his shoulder while they hugged. A moment passed between them as they looked into each others' eyes only inches from each other. It was then that they both simultaneously turned their heads to look—Julie was leaning towards them, a huge toothy smile on her face.
"Julie, maybe you should—" Natalie began to say, feeling a strange teenage awkwardness overcome her, as if her parents had been watching her and her first boyfriend exchange goodbyes on the front porch.
Suddenly a hand moved from her back, trailing its way up her neck and threading its fingers in her hair, gently turning her head.
She was now face to face with Adrian Monk, who was beaming at her, his smile shy but inviting. His face moved towards hers, and their lips united.
A month had passed since that magical moment, a month full of awkward hugs, strange goodnight kisses and inappropriate times she'd slip him a wipe. Though Natalie had expected it from him, Adrian hadn't spoken of or acted upon any inklings of a more physical kind of love, nor did he refer to sleeping arrangements—in response, she convinced herself the current sleeping arrangements were better for Julie right now, being as she would be starting college in July and Adrian Monk only had one bedroom in his apartment. She couldn't bear the thought of leaving her only child alone at home while she stayed with Adrian, who had been safely sleeping alone for more than a decade.
Even so, it hurt to know that even though Monk was presumably capable of a physical kind of love—he had announced to his childhood crush that he and Trudy had 'went all the way,' for goodness sake—he hadn't so much as mentioned it with Natalie.
Adrian Monk was a complicated man. And Natalie couldn't have expected anything their relationship to be anything less than complicated. She had hoped by this point that they would finally consummate the relationship that had lasted for more than half a decade—and yet, it hadn't happened. She wasn't used to—well, waiting; whereas Adrian Monk had presumably remained in a dormant state for at least twelve years. She was accustomed to it; her wild youth was spent plenty busy in that regard, and even Steven Albright had made it swiftly around all the bases. Only in the last couple of years had she slowed down in that way, but not to extent of Monk's monk-like chastity.
Adrian Monk marched to a different kind of drummer—he was the type to make her feel like an innocent again, lightly dusting off the bases without actually touching them.
She should have suspected his intentions, for it was quite clear they wouldn't be the kind of couple that ripped each other's clothes off, starting on the very first day of their engagement. She thought back to that utterly awkward first evening, Christmas day evening, when she and Julie attempted to linger as long as possible at the dinner table in light conversation, moving to the kitchen to clean up as they both waited for Monk's next idea.
"Wait," he said, watching them simultaneously stand, plates in hand, "where are you going?"
"We're going to clean the dishes," Natalie matter-of-factly stated, showing him the dirtied dish. With a little smile she picked up the fork and spoon in her free hand and swirled off toward the kitchen.
"Don't worry about that," he asserted. "I've got it under control."
"I'm just going to rinse them off and put them in your dishwasher."
"Yeah," Monk began, standing up, "but here's the thing. These are special Christmas dishes. They aren't dishwasher safe."
Natalie turned over the plate in her hand, seeing the inscription 'Microwave and dishwasher safe.'
She looked over at him, disguising the triumph she felt. These dishes hadn't been used before, but they weren't really any different than the other dishes, aside from the fact that they seemed to be slightly heavier somehow.
"Adrian, actually they—"
"See, I knew you were going to say that," Monk interrupted. He moved towards her with practiced grace and took the plate from her hand. "I only use the dishwasher for my everyday plates and flatware. These dishes can't be tainted with that everyday water—that's what makes them dishes for a special occasion... like this."
Natalie crossed her arms, flashing him a little smirk.
"How do you propose to wash them, then; hmm? The water going into that dishwasher is your sink water."
"Yes, but the water leaving the spigot is not water that has already touched the everyday dishes. It's fresh."
"You win," Natalie said, throwing up her hands. "I'll wash them in the sink then." She reached for the plate, finding it firmly held in Monk's hand.
"It's okay, Natalie," he told her. "I don't want you to think that you have to take over all the domestic responsibilities now. I can still do the cleaning, and disinfecting, the dusting.... the washing...."
"What do you propose I do then?"
"You can cook," he said with a big appreciative smile.
"Works for me!" Natalie replied, feeling a bit relieved. Adrian had his way of going about things and she wasn't about to make herself more work than she needed--especially if he was just going to re-do the task.
"And take out the trash," he added quietly, his smile fading. "I don't like touching the bags...."
"Of course."
She couldn't help but glance down at her watch to indirectly remind Adrian of the time. It was past midnight and he showed no signs of tiring.
"Well, it's getting a bit late," she finally blurted, watching Julie set her plate back down on the table. "I should—well, I mean... Julie has...."
"I know, it's pretty late. I'm sorry I kept you so long. I'm just so... so....."
"Happy?" Julie interrupted.
"That's it," he said, his smile never wavering. "I'm happy! I didn't want today to end. But I guess it has to sometime."
"Umm..." Natalie began. How was she going to bring this up? Hmmm.....
"Tomorrow then?" Adrian ventured, looking earnestly at Natalie. She almost choked.
"Well, technically it is tomorrow, but...."
"You know what I mean. Tomorrow morning--err, afternoon since I kept you two so long?"
"Of course, Adrian."
Was he really that innocent—that naïve—or simply being respectful? She wasn't a girl of twenty with no more than a goldfish to take care of. Even so, Julie, though she was nearing 18, couldn't be trusted by her mother to go very far alone. Perhaps it was better this way.
He walked mother and daughter to his door, where things quickly became more awkward than either would have liked to admit, being as they were mature adults.
"Merry Christmas, Julie... Natalie. It was great having you both. I, uhm.... I'm really glad you came over."
"The pleasure is all ours, Adrian," Natalie replied, moving towards him and enveloping him in a bear hug. Though she often took the opportunity to hug her employer during strictly boss-employee encounters, she knew very well that all the hugs from now on would feel decidedly different--and they did.
"I'm so excited about you and Mom," Julie suddenly blurted. "That is so cool; you guys are gonna get married! Do you know when yet?"
Monk and Natalie exchanged a glance of utter unknowingness as they broke their hug, and then turned back to look at the teenager.
"We're not sure yet, Sweetie, but we'll be talking about it very soon."
"If you want to—well, you know—I can drive myself home," Julie offered, smiling knowingly at Monk and Natalie as they stood near each other.
Natalie shook her head subtly, glancing nervously in Adrian's direction. No way was she going to have her daughter spend Christmas night alone in their big Victorian house. Julie continued to smile at Monk, which was clearly unnerving him.
"Want to what?" he finally asked, his expression one of utter puzzlement.
"Oh, she's just being silly, Adrian."
"Ha," he croaked, in an attempt to laugh. "Guess you really got me, Julie... eh?" he said with an insecure chuckle. He turned to Natalie to save some of the dignity he figured he had just lost to the precocious teenager. "Tomorrow?" Monk asked her.
"Tomorrow," Natalie replied with a grin.
Adrian and Julie exchanged a hug, followed by Julie stepping into the hallway, leaving the newly engaged pair alone for the first time.
"I just want to let you know how relieved I was when you said yes," Adrian admitted, his shoulder inadvertently twitching. "I played the scene over and over in my mind—and nine times out of ten, it didn't turn out like—"
"How could you think I'd say anything but yes?" she interrupted.
"How could I not," he replied with a shrug. "Look at you. Look at me. You're normal—and beautiful... and young...er."
"You're going to have to stop putting yourself down, or else I'm going to start complimenting you all day until you believe it."
"You already do that," he admitted. "I don't know if I'll ever believe it."
Suddenly Natalie's hands moved to Adrian's shoulders, gripping him firmly and staring directly into his liquid brown eyes.
"I love you just the way you are."
Thinking back to that night, Natalie now felt more of a sense of frustration than anything else. She found herself openly and unabashedly wanting Adrian Monk, checking his butt out when he'd fetch a cleaning supply from under the sink, stopping by his house when she knew he'd still be in his pajamas, his top button undone, feet exposed. She had spent the last half-dozen years falling in love with his mind and now that that little silver band was gone from his hand, she subconsciously permitted herself to fall in love with his body. She'd sit on his couch with him, feeling the warmth of his body next to hers, her hands straying from their customary position on his back, and yet the action was unrequited… Had he no feelings in the matter? Was he perfectly happy to have a platonic relationship? She supposed he might be the type to wait until marriage, but he and Natalie were practically married already. It had been a month since she had said yes to his proposal of marriage. Even so, a question popped up every time he'd overlook a flirtation, a subtle advance from her: was Trudy to remain the sole object of his desire?
Monk had been called on only three cases since becoming engaged, all having been solved more than two weeks ago. It was odd to be free on a weekday. It was Tuesday afternoon and rather than interviewing witnesses or poring over case files, Monk and Natalie were shopping. Now as they walked towards the grocery store they hadn't a clue they were about to become inadvertently involved in a new case, a case that would test their feelings for each other.
A/N: Okay, so this is verrrry important and affects the direction this story will take:
What would you like to see? So this story is more case-based (e.g. more like my stories Mr. Monk And Mrs. Fleming, Mr. Monk And The Haunted Motel, and Mr. Monk And The New Assistant) than feelings-based like my stories Mr. Monk Gets Sick & Mr. Monk And The Wishful Thinking. However, there is the issue of married feelings and things that married people do. I wouldn't dream of getting explicit, but would you like me to address that issue (like a T rating at most)? Obviously since they've taken their relationship further, that means certain things….
Please let me know either way. Please! This is really a big issue and I don't want to post anything further until I get a good deal of feedback on this as well as how the story seems so far!! Are they in character: the biggest question!! Thanks, everyone!