My long overdue chapter follows, but evidently your reviews don't! So if I don't get at least 6 more, there will be NO NEW CHAPTER. & as you decided you wanted Natalie, I will purposefully defy you – nah, it will be Natalie! Happy reading, pls review! Oh, & check out my new story – Mr Monk goes to the circus!

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Chapter 6: I can't live without you

"Natalie! Natalie! Where are you, you're 1 minute & 34 seconds late!"

Natalie wiped a tear from her face & looked up at Sharona cooking breakfast through his window. "Yeah, I'm just arriving now." She sighed & walked into the building, growing more & more confident that she would be losing her job. Using her key she opened the door, stumbling into Mr Monk, who must have heard her come in.

"Oh, uh sorry, do you need a wipe?" Natalie hoped he'd say no, but reached into her purse anyway.

"No, no… No…" Mr Monk seemed to be in a trance.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" Natalie beckoned him out into the hall, wondering where to begin. "Um, okay. Look, I love my jo-"

Mr Monk cut her off by putting his finger to her mouth. Her heart instantly melted at his willingness to touch her. "I'm not going to replace you Natalie, I couldn't live without you."

His words meant a whole lot more than she thought. Natalie thought he simply meant he couldn't function without her assistance, but he meant he couldn't live without her the same way he couldn't live without Trudy. He would go completely catatonic.

"Thankyou Mr Monk." She pulled him into a tight embrace, and to her surprise, he held her even tighter.

"Adrian! I'm gonna go book some plane tickets because somebody doesn't own a computer." Sharona stopped as she looked out the door at her former boss & replacement willingly hugging. She felt a sharp pain in her heart as she realised she loved him & that he loved Natalie.

Getting no response she simply left, suppressing the tears until she was far enough away.

"Hey, we'd better get going" Natalie broke the hug, "the captains expecting us"

"Yeah" Mr Monk poked his head through the door "Hey, Benji, you gonna be okay here?"

"Yes Mr Monk, I think I can handle it!" Benji rolled his eyes & turned his attention back to his phone.

Mr Monk smiled & motioned for Natalie to lead the way.

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The Captain & Randy were fidgeting, wondering how Mr Monk was taking the news of Trudy's Bracelet not being found.

"Hey Monk" the captain tried, unsure of what was to come.

"Morning Captain" Mr Monk gave a nod of the head. "So what's the case."

"Y-uh-uh… Are you sure you're fine with it all?"

"With what?" Mr Monk looked at him as if he'd gone crazy.

"With… ya know... it…"

Mr Monk raised an eyebrow, surely not understanding. Randy cut in "with Trudy's bracelet not being recovered."

"RANDY!" the captain whipped his head around.

"Sorry… Sorry." Randy turned & left the room.

"Ohhhh, the bracelet, yeah, I'm fine." Mr Monk shook his head, "why on earth didn't you just say so?"

The Captain was starting to get used to Mr Monk's more normal tendacies. "Right, why didn't I, what was I thinking?"

Mr Monk took a quick glance at Natalie & caught her looking at him. She blushed & quickly turned away. Mr Monk smiled.

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"Mr Monk, we're here, we are EARLY, and everything is FINE!"

"But what if Dr Bell was running early, which makes me late & I've never been late & he'd be kept waiting." Mr Monk looked down at her with his puppy-dog eyes "WAITING!" he stressed.

Natalie felt the sudden urge to tackle him & kiss him, but she suppressed it. Instead she just tried to console him. "You cannot be late EVEN if he is running early because your appointment is at 5pm & it is currently 4:57pm. You have 3 minutes & we have looked at 7 DIFFERENT CLOCKS!!!"

Just then the receptionist walked out. "Adrian Monk?"

Mr Monk stuck up his hand, and then unsure what to do with it, slowly lowered it back down before rushing into the room.

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"So Adrian, I heard about Trudy's bracelet." Dr Bell leant forward.

"Mpfh" Mr Monk was clearly distracted.

"Adrian? Are you okay." Dr Bell tilted his head.

"The picture on the wall, it's up- up- up-" Mr Monk tried to turn upside down in his chair with no avail "Upside down".

Dr Bell had no trouble not laughing, as he had worked with these people all his life. "Adrian, if it makes you happy, go fix it."

"NO!" He had not intended for his voice to come out that strong. "This is a test! I mean, I'm supposed to be going forward, not backwards."

For the rest of the session Mr Monk was so intent on not giving into the picture that he missed half of what Dr Bell was saying.

"So, how was it?" Natalie climbed into her car, as Mr Monk did the same.

"The picture… was upside down." Mr Monk looked helpless as he tried to indicate upside down in a seatbelt. "And I couldn't fix it…"

Natalie let out a small giggle. Mr Monk turned, curious, but Natalie brushed it off.

"So, Sharona is leaving this afternoon…" Mr Monk attempted to make small talk.

"Really?" Natalie tried not to sound too enthused, but Mr Monk caught on.

There was an awkward silence as they tried to think of something to say.

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"It's tuuueeessddday!" Mr Monk stressed. "It's chicken pot pie night!"

"Look, I just want to go out! At this stage I don't care what the hell you do as long as it doesn't involve my last NERVE!" Natalie was getting agitated & was glad Sharona had left the previous afternoon, as she wouldn't have to deal with another dinner struggle.

"But the scheeedddduuuulllleee!" Mr Monk began to whine. Natalie snapped & stormed out his door, Mr Monk whimpering after her "Chicken… Schedule… Pie… Natalie…"

Natalie climbed into her car & closed the door, waiting for Mr Monk to either come down, or spend hours making his food. "Natalie! Wa-" he puffed "wait!". She smiled to herself as he got in the car.

"This isn't so bad is it, Mr Monk?" She turned to Mr Monk who was hyperventilating about the schedule. She rolled her eyes & turned back to the wheel. "Okay, we're here, you can open your eyes."

Almost like a scared little boy, he poked his head up & looked out the window. "Do I have to go?" he whimpered. Natalie reminded herself not to bring up the chicken pot pie.

"YES! Now get out of the car & deal with it!" Natalie practically yelled at him.

Walking into the restaurant, Natalie stopped at the front desk. "Table for two" She paused, "Or one & a half." The waiter laughed & showed her to her table.

"Natalie, the forks a-"

Natalie gave him a death stare "I DON'T want to hear it. This is the first night I have actually gotten out of the house in MONTHS & I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMPLAINTS, SO SHUT THE HELL UP OR MAKE YOUR OWN WAY HOME!!" By this time she had attracted the attention of most of the customers in the restaurant. Mr Monk lowered his head & subsided.

The waitress struggled to keep herself from laughing as she tried to take their order. "What will it be tonight?"

"Do you have chicken pot pie?" Mr Monk looked hopeful.

"No" The waitress leant to one side.

"Natalie… they don-" He was cut off by Natalie's expression. "I'll have the- uh- uhhhhhhhh- plain pasta all the same length cooked for 10 minutes with the heat precisely 43/67ths of the way up, cooked in a-" he was cut off again.

I'll have the ravioli." Natalie banged her head on the table, why was this so hard? He had improved, but not so much. She loved him, but he drove her crazy. The waitress smirked & left.

Natalie stayed with her head on the table until a hand touched her arm. She looked up, expecting someone had come to her table. Instead it was Mr Monk. "I'm sorry I'm such a pain." She was NOT expecting that.

"Uh- um- y- wh-" she stammered, trying to come up with a response. Instead she failed miserably & just said "Oh." Mr Monk knew she would be caught off guard, but had decided to say it anyway.

"The waitress came back with their meals. "Your ravioli ma'am. And your pasta…" She trailed off, setting the bowls down & walking away.

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"See that wasn't so bad!" Natalie rubbed his arm as they drove home.

"Natalie?" Mr Monk looked as if he was about to say something really important.

"what?"

"Both hands on the wheel… Please…" Mr Monk seemed to duck, afraid of what would happen next. Natalie gave the text book roll of the eyes & reverted her gaze back to the road.

After a period of silence, Mr Monk turned to her. "But you're right, it wasn't that bad. " Natalie smiled, she had won.

She pulled up outside his house & walked him in. "So I'll see you tomorrow."

It was more of a statement than a question, but none-the-less, Mr Monk replied with "Yep," before walking into his apartment & closing the door on her. Typical Monk.

"Figures he wouldn't invite me in" Natalie muttered to herself as she made her way back to her car. "He'll never get that there's anyone else but Trudy, & he'll never get that other people have feelings, but he is entertaining." She drove back home, yelling at herself to stop talking to herself, god Mr Monk was rubbing off on her.

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Natalie watched him in a daze as he wandered around the crime scene, sometimes being distracted & going back to the same spot again. A new cop sidled up to her. "What a weirdo"

Natalie flicked into defensive mode. "Look mister, this man could solve a case 100 times faster than you, & he lost his wife in a car bombing, so next time you try to bag on someone, get your facts straight on who you're bagging to, coz I'm his assistant & you'd better put your tail between your legs & run off before I get a chance to rip it off."

The policeman scooted of, much to the amusement of Stottlemeyer. "What did you say?" the Captain looked at her suspiciously. "He insulted Mr Monk, didn't he?" Natalie nodded, & went over to Mr Monk.

"Any clues?" She looked over his shoulder & clung onto his arm, & a still amused Stottlemeyer awaited his reaction.

"Uh, yeah, I'm almost there, I think it was the boyfriend, & as soon as we-" Mr Monk looked over & saw the Captain watching intently. Mr Monk gave him a strange glance & turned back to Natalie. "As I was saying, as soon as we get the fingerprints back from the lab, we can arrest him." Surprisingly, Mr Monk had yet to flinch at Natalie's touch.

As they left the crime scene, Natalie gave the Captain a 'suck-it' look, indicating that Mr Monk wasn't scared of her germs anymore.

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