Disclaimer: Of course I do not own Monk….ha-ha only in my dreams.
Stunned, Shocked, Overwhelmed…These were the emotions playing through Natalie's mind. Never in a million years had she expected to be caught in this situation. Starring down at the piece of plastic in her hand she couldn't help but think and hope it might be wrong. She stood up from the edge of the tub and braced herself against the bathroom sink. Her legs went limp and she collapsed into a heap next to the wall. Tears began streaming down her face as she looked down at the test in her hand and let the realization hit her. What had she done? How was this going to affect Julie, not to mention Mr. Monk? Natalie knew that a baby, especially under these circumstances would be difficult to cope with. She sat up against the wall, tears flowing freely and placed her hand on her stomach. It was strangely comforting to think that a child, her child, was growing inside of her.
From downstairs she heard the front door open and close and heard Julie call out to her that she was home. Natalie quickly rose and composed herself, fixing her face as best she could, and then went downstairs to greet Julie. Despite her efforts, Julie noticed right away her mother had been crying. Her blue eyes had lost their sparkle and seemed slightly dulled by the hints of red. Julie asked her what had upset her but Natalie smoothly lied and claimed she had been thinking about Mitch. Julie accepted this excuse without further prodding knowing it was a tender subject for her mother even after all these years. She went into the kitchen to fix herself a snack as Natalie readied herself to return to Monk. Keeping this from him was going to be next to impossible, but Natalie knew it was extremely important. Natalie knew for certain that he wasn't ready for this. In fact she didn't know if she would ever be ready for something this life changing. It had been difficult enough for him to solve Trudy's murder only to discover that she was pregnant at the time. He had just stared in disbelief at the little booties that had been wrapped in that present he had refused so long to open. He had practically shut down, but with help he finally had managed to return to normal, well as normal as he was before anyway. Eventually he had felt relief in knowing that he hadn't been able to ruin a child with himself as a father figure. How, she wondered, would feel if he knew now that he faced the same dilemma. Finally, she felt as ready as she could to return to Monk. She even changed into a slightly larger shirt out of paranoia, despite knowing there was no way she would be showing at five or six weeks, but with Monk you could never be too careful.
Julie settled into doing her homework and Natalie came and hugged her goodbye and left. She got in the car and made the short drive to Monk's apartment. When she went inside she found him doing his usual never ending housework. Once he saw her he shut off the vacuum and came over to her. He explained that he was glad she was here to help him with his chores. Natalie showed no enthusiasm of course, and Monk began to study her face searching for something. He must have found it because the next words out of his mouth were why you were crying. Natalie was shocked and inquired as to how he had possibly noticed she had been crying less than an hour ago.
"Well, you have on more makeup around your eyes in an attempt to hide the slight reddened puffiness and your blue eyes have no sparkle left which indicates you are sad," Monk analyzed.
Natalie thought for a moment and said, "Oh, well I was thinking about Julie growing up so fast. She will be in college in a year you know. Monk responded with only a nod although inside he was slightly suspicious that Natalie wasn't telling him the whole truth. He let it go for the time being. He wasn't very good with the whole crying and tears thing so he resolved to return to his vacuuming rather than press the issue. Natalie felt relief flush over her that Monk had believed her excuse. She set down her purse and went to the kitchen to get some cleaner so she could help Monk with his favorite pastime. She felt tired already so she settled for a chore that wouldn't require much effort. She grabbed the glass cleaner and returned to the living room to clean Monk's many pictures of Trudy.