Any orginal characters are mine. This is dedicated to the fanfiction auther Adrian and Natalie ((at least I think that's how she spells it))

Some decisions are hard to make. A good example of that is what shirt to put on in the morning, what to eat for breakfast or should I wash the dishes first or straighten up the table.
Other decisions are harder to make. Sometimes you find yourself being placed in a moral situation. Sometimes your heart tells you one thing and your head tells you another. Who do you listen to? Who do you obey? Of course there are times when the answer is easy but there are other times where it can be almost sickening to try and make decisions that you don't know if they are right, wrong or in between.
Then there are the impossible decisions. It's a decision where your heart tells you one thing and at the same time your heart tells you another thing. Little did I know that soon I would find myself in such a predicament. Natalie is my best friend. Sometimes we fight or rather there are times we disagree. Sometimes I act stupid and that pisses her off. There are even times that she gets mad. I can't blame her for that. I don't like it but I can't blame her for it. Still, she is my best friend.
She is always able to make me laugh when I'm feeling like I'll never laugh again. She's there for me when I need her and I'm always there for her when she needs me.
There is an unspoken contract between the two of us that we know we can count on each other. She's been there for me in the middle of the night, at 3 o'clock in the morning sometimes. I would be there for her just like she's there for me.
As far as guys go, Leland is definitely my closest friend. He has always been there for me. We fight all the time of course but that's something guys too. It's almost affectionate.
Most people are there for themselves and their own before considering anyone else. He was always there for me. Yes, I know that I said that before but I need to make sure you understand that it is a true friendship.
As far as family goes there is no question that my best friend is my brother. Oh don't get me wrong… we are as alike as two peas in a pod and different as night and day. We have opinions that don't match up. At times we have been known to get on each others nerves. That's natural and there's nothing phenomenal about it.
My wife, she was more then my best friend. She was the person that completed me. She was the person the made me exist as the person I am. We never fought. At times she would have an idea that I didn't agree with but I'd still hear her out and then do what she said. It wasn't that I was afraid of her. I wasn't. I just knew that she was always right. She taught me the right way to do things I always thought I knew how to do.
I remember one time I did something I was always doing the way she taught me to do. She taught me to keep it loose and talk in a soft melodious tone. Leland asked me what the hell I was doing. I explained that Trudy taught me how to do it. His response was "great. Maybe we should get a doll maker in here to teach cooks how to make food"
Randy heard that and cracked up. (Randy is another friend of mine but at times he can be a jerk)
I finished what I was doing and lo and behold Trudy was right. That didn't surprise me. She was always right. You get more cooperation with a positive interaction when people not only think but know that you are on their side. "Well," Randy said, "I guess even those who don't know what they're talking about can be bright sometimes."
I threw him a look.
"I would appreciate it," I told him, "if you could reframe from insulting her. She obviously does know what she's talking about"
Randy is a very good friend but he can at times be very irritating. Don't even try to suggest he's wrong or he'll get offended. (I could care less if he's offended when he's being stupid).
Here is a classic example of how he pisses me off. There was a case where a man named Charles Hossle was murdered. Somehow it was discovered that the woman (yes it was a woman) that killed Hossle was wearing lipstick. Well Trudy wore lipstick so Randy decided on that alone that she was the one that did it.
If you ever saw an Abbot and Costello routine you might have an idea of what was going on that day. This was weeks before I lost her, she was 5 months pregnant. Leland was away on vacation and I was temporally filling in as captain.
Everything is relatively quiet when I hear a commotion. Everyone is talking at the same time. Actually talking isn't the right word. It was more like shouting. I go into the other room to try and find out what the heck is going on.
I see Randy dragging her in and she's cuffed up
"What is the heck is going on," I yelled at Randy.
"She was wearing lipstick," Randy explained
"Wearing lipstick is not a crime," I told him sternly
"No but killing is. The person who murdered Hossle was wearing lipstick."
Trudy looked at me fear in her eyes and asked, "can this thing hurt the baby"
I knew by 'this thing' she meant the cuffs.
"No," I told her, "I don't think so but you're being upset might"
"That's why I'm trying very hard not to be upset"
I grabbed the keys and took those stupid cuffs off of her.
"Monk," Randy yelled, "you can't do that"
"Randy you're in enough trouble as it is. I recommend you don't talk because you'll only make it worse for yourself"
"Don't you think that-"
"I DO THINK," I scolded him, "CLEARLY YOU DON'T"
"Do you have to yell at me," Randy asked, "I was just doing what I thought was the right thing"
"Well let's let the pointer explain to you why it's not the right thing," I chastised him after Trduy left whacking him a few times with the pointer.
"Hey," he whined, "that hurt"
"What in the hell were you thinking," I asked, "lipstick does not equal the commitment of a crime"
"No but-"
"Randy you are not going to come in for the next week. Maybe that will give you time to think about not doing such stupid stuff as you did. Get you're things and go"
"That's not fair"
I whacked him again with the pointer and reminded him that what he did wasn't fair to Trudy"
A couple of days later I ran into Randy at the store.
"Can I ask you something," he asked
"I think you just did," I teased
"Are we still friends," he asked me.
I sighed.
I was very angry with him for what he did.
"We are still friends," I told him, "but I don't know if I can trust you again… not for awhile anyway"
"Why?"
"Did you really just ask why?"
"She was wearing lipstick after all"
"So were tons of other people Randy. You can't base it on the fact that she was wearing lipstick."
"But-"
"Was there any real evidence that she did it"
"The lipstick"
"Don't give me the lipstick. I mean real evidence. No, of course not because she didn't do it."
"We both know she was sick last year"
"What the hell does that have to do with anything"
So back to what I was saying. Sometimes decisions are hard to make. Sometimes they are a little harder to make. Sometimes they are downright impossible to make. My story all began with Julie, Natalie's daughter… the day she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia