Disclaimer: I don't own Monk. I don't own TM or TK either. If you can guess who TM is and who TK is I will make a donation to your fav charatiry


"Monk," the captain told Monk, "I'm going to tell you a story"
"Yes sir?"
"This is a story that my friend TK told me that her friend TM told her"
"Okay… and is there any particular reason you're telling me this story"
"There is"
"Okay"
"Sit"
Monk sat down.
"The story goes that one day TM went over to her friend, TK's house. That particular day she wasn't supposed to but TK was having an awful day and TM knew as a friend she had to be there to support her friend."
Monk nodded.
"I already know about this," he said, "I-"
"You don't know the whole story," the captain replied firmly.
"Sorry"
"Anyway in the process of TK and TM t a l k i n g," he continued smirking at the joke that he had made, "TK asked TM if she ever got scared"
"Uh-huh"
"TM looked at TK and was silent for a minute."
"Uh-huh"
"Then she answered her question"
"Uh-huh"
"The answer was very simple. It started out as one word. The word was 'yes'"
"And the point of the story is that she got scared at times. Great lesson"
"MONK do I sound like I'm done"
"Sorry. There's more?"
"Of course there's more," the captain replied, "there's a lot more. TK couldn't understand that at first.
"How are you scared," she asked TM, "you seem so brave"
"I am brave," TM said, "but brave doesn't mean not scared. Of course I get scared and of course I don't know how to handle my emotions sometimes. There are times I freak out. Here's the trick though. The trick is that as scared as I get I don't let it stop me from living"
"How do you do that," TK asked TM curiously, "I mean I know you've had bad days… maybe not as much as the rest of us have but I know you've had bad days. The situation of course I know was out of your control but I know you've-"
"Had bad days. Yes I've had bad days. I've had bad nights. I've had bad afternoons. It does happen"
"So how do you not let it stop you from living"
"I don't let it stop me from living because when I let fear stop me from living FEAR wins. I know that it's going to be difficult at times. I know that there will probably be times where I am scared out of my mind. I know that there will be times where we have to take a step backwards. I know all of that. What I also know is that I have a great life. I have a life that is worth living. I don't have a life that is worth letting fear run it."

"So you see Monk," Stottlemyer said, "the point of what I am trying to say is that is that she did have fears yes but she didn't let the fear control her. She controlled the fear. She did have hurt but she didn't let the hurt control her. She controlled the hurt. She did deal with consequences but she didn't let the consequences control her-"
"Let me guess. She controlled the consequences"
"Exactly"
"And the point of this story besides making me feel stupid because I don't get the point of the story or bad because I didn't get it would be?"
"Monk you're up for being reinstated," the captain reminded him.

"Yeah. I'm really nervous about that"
"Exactly. You have to become TM"
"Er. I don't think I'd be to comfortable with breasts and-"
"I DON'T MEAN LITERALLY BECOME HER. I mean you have to think like her"
"Think like her?"
"Yes. You need to tell your brain that you are TM?"
"Huh… HM… okay"
Mentally he started telling himself I am TM. I am TM. I am TM.
"Monk what I mean is you have to follow her example. Remember that time that she was afraid"
"Okay"
"Did she let the fear control her"
"No. She didn't even really think about it really. She just let herself act the way that she thought she should."
"Exactly"
That was the year Monk got reinstated