Friday is finally here! Poor Monk... Oh, I cannot wait until tonight! Who else is totally psyched? We are definitely going to get some NatalieMonk action! Woot! This story follows in lieu with my other bug stories (and is also a sequel of sorts to Musings Of An Assistant and A Place For Everything), and they went over well in my other fandoms. I hope this will, too. Enjoy, and please remember to review!

Disclaimer: Not mine!

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Natalie Teeger loved her job. Even though her boss was obsessive compulsive, she loved working with him.

She walked around the living room, stopping for a moment to study the pictures of his late wife. She sighed. As close as they were, it seemed like there was a part of him that she just couldn't touch, as hard as she tried or as much as she wanted to. It wasn't as though she couldn't understand that. The death of her own husband had done the same with her. But it didn't make the pain any less.

She studied the pictures for a few more moments, until a frightened shout interrupted her thoughts.

"Natalie!"

Her brow furrowed, and she took off in the direction of the distressed voice. "Adrian? Adrian, what's wrong?" she demanded, reaching the kitchen.

He was pressed up against the counter, looking for all the world like a small child.

She took a step closer and reached out, touching his arm. "Adrian, what is it?" she asked again.

He pointed at the cabinet with a shaking hand. "It's a s-spider!"

She followed his hand and looked, and sure enough, there was a small spider scurrying up the cabinet. She sighed. "Adrian, it's just a little spider. It's not going to hurt you."

He looked at her as though she had lost her mind. "And it's number three on my phobia list! Right after milk and ladders."

She threw her hands up in defeat. "Right. Right. Number three." She pulled off her shoe, and before he could protest about the shoe coming in contact with the cabinet, she hit the spider with a resounding thwap!

Monk flinched and squeezed his eyes shut as Natalie picked up a paper towel and cleaned up the spider corpse, then threw it away.

Natalie washed her hands, then stood in front of her husband, resting her hands on his shoulders. "It's okay, Adrian. The spider's gone."

He slowly opened his eyes and let out a relieved breath, and she smiled and kissed him softly. As she pulled away, she said, "I'm going to go check on the baby."

He nodded, and she gently touched his cheek, then walked away. An assistant's work was never done...

The End

A/N: Well, there it is. I hope ya'll enjoyed this, and please remember to review!