Mr. Monk Gets Lotto Fever

I don't even know where to begin. I guess all I can do is start at the beginning. No matter how foolish I feel.

I was the local lotto girl for awhile and let's just say, my head swelled a little during my fifteen minutes of fame. Okay...it swelled a lot. I can't believe what a diva I turned into! Maybe it was my natural rich girl instinct finally taking over. But that's no excuse. I hurt the people around me. I jeopardized the captain. And I abandoned Mr. Monk.

I know, I know, I know. I should have known better. But I'm not going to lie. I enjoyed the attention. It was such a nice change. Too nice, I guess. But you don't know what it's like taking care of Mr. Monk with no appreciation in return. Okay, so maybe there's some appreciation, but sometimes it just doesn't seem to be enough. I don't mean to be a whiny brat, but I have my needs too. I guess the question is, what are those needs and do I really expect my boss to fulfill them? I need money, so he takes care of that. Even if I complain more than I think I should have to on pay day. Then, of course, I have Julie to think about, but for all of his downfalls, I can't really complain about that. Mr. Monk has been a decent enough constant in Julie's life for some time now.

And then there's my personal life...what's left of it anyways. I've realized the more time I spend with Mr. Monk, the harder it has been to really let go of Mitch. When I first met him, I had an active enough love life, which he made painfully clear in front of Julie. Now, I hardly see anyone. And I'm lonely.

Maybe that's why it felt so good to have so many adoring fans surrounding me. But now that they're gone, I don't know what to do. I guess I just go back to being a lonely Garfunkel. Oh well. I don't know if I even want to think about this right now. Not after the past few weeks I've had. For now, I guess I'm just glad to be back to normal.

In the end, Mr. Monk came to my rescue, well both mine and the Captain's, when we were being charged with rigging the lotto machine. But I know if it had just been me, he still would have helped. Now normally, I would say it's because he needed me back, but this time I think I needed him more. When things got hard, he was the only person I knew to turn to. Maybe he's more than a constant in just Julie's life. I guess in a lot of ways, Mr. Monk already fills most of my needs. And maybe I should just accept things as they are.

Lesson learned. I just can't quit Mr. Monk...I can't quit us.

-Natalie Teeger