"Lieutenant," Captain Stottlemeyer, holding a cell phone to his ear, called to his second in command. "I can't get a hold of Sharona. Did she change her number or something?"

Randy was writing something on the paper in his faux leather jotter, but it wasn't anything to do with the crime. Just unfocused doodles. His mind was not on his work.

"Randy!" the Captain barked, annoyance clear in his voice, and stance and the way he clenched a toothpick between his teeth, "I need you to call Sharona. We need Monk on this one."

"Sharona won't be coming."

"Why not? Did she quit again?"

Randy looked the captain in the eye, but averted his gaze when the guilt overtook him.

R/S

The rain pelted the sidewalk in a steady rhythm, whetting the streets in front of her house, turning them pitch black, with the light from the street lamps illuminated in the puddles. Randy ran up several steps, pulling his trench coat around him and wishing he had grabbed an umbrella. He pushed the button for the doorbell and took a quick glance round the doorway until Sharona opened the front door.

"Thanks for coming", she said, ushering him into her home. She had already started on a bottle of red wine. "I really don't know who else to talk to, but I need some advice, and I think I can trust you with this."

"Really?" Randy asked, slightly taken back by the admission, but he tried not to show it. "Why don't you ask Monk?"

"I know him. I know what he'll say,"

"Okay, shoot. No pun intended," Randy snickered.

"What pun?"

Randy pointed to his piece.

"Oh." She humored him with a smile, and offered him a place on the couch to sit and some wine. "Listen Randy, this is personal and private, so I need you to keep this to yourself."

"Fine. Go ahead."

"I'm leaving."

"For how long?" Randy asked. Remembering that she had recently taken a short time off to take care of her mother, who had broken her wrist.

"For good."

Randy sputtered on his sip of wine, and began to cough. Sharona handed him a paper napkin and let him cough, but continued talking so she didn't have to say it again.

"I'm moving back to New Jersey, and if things work out the way we hope, Trevor and I are planning to get married again."

Randy having quickly recovered from his coughing fit, stared silently with his hand covering the the wine stained white napkin which covered his mouth.

"Benjy is so excited. He went to Jersey a week ago."

"So, you've made your decision. Why do you want to talk to me."

"I just want to be sure I'm not making the biggest mistake of my life. If I leave, and it doesn't work out, I will have hurt Adrian, I will feel like a giant bitch and I will regret it for the rest of my life, and if I stay and I miss out on a wonderfully normal family life, I will resent Adrian and will feel like a bad parent and regret it for the rest of my life.

"So, either way you'll be miserable and regret it for the rest of your life," Randy joked.

"That's not funny" she answered with a wan smile, and hit him with a throw pillow.

"Will being with Trevor make you happy?"

"I think so." She said, then she bit her lower lip, and admitted, "I don't know. I really think he's changed. He wants to be there for Benjy." She took another sip of wine and continued, "But he's also a terrific liar...Gawd, this could all be a way to impress that uncle of his."

"What uncle?" Randy asked.

"Never mind. It's a long story."

Her phone started to ring, and she sat still, staring at it.

"Are you going to answer that?"

"It's Adrian. He's been calling all night."

The phone continued to ring.

"You've made your decision. How are you going to tell Monk "

"I don't know. Do you think you could…?"

"No!" Randy said incredulously, and then after a few moments, he continued. "Sharona, I hardly know the man."

"What are you talking about? You've known him for years."

"I've worked with him for years. I don't know him."

"Never mind." Sharona finally conceded, "Gail said she'd check on him for a while. Randy, I'm pretty sure I'm just a crutch to him. I know that Adrian can do more than believes he can. This will end up being for the best."

"I hope so," Randy answered.

R/S

"You let her leave!?" Stottlemeyer fumed as they walked up the walk to Monk's apartment building, with Randy at his side.

"I didn't "let" her do anything, Captain." Randy answered, in self defense. "She wanted to leave, so she left."

"And you didn't tell anyone? You didn't call Dr. Kroger?! You should have at least told me! "

Knocking on the door, he turned to Randy, who could only offer, "She told me to keep it to myself."

"Listen, son, I know that you had a thing for Sharona, but I never thought that thing would override your common sense." The Captain muttered. "You should have told someone. What if he's taken a turn for the worse? What if he's hurt? What if he hurt himself?" Stottlemeyer asked pointedly as he then pounded on the door. "Monk, it's Leland, OPEN THE DOOR!"

A few moments later, Adrian Monk came to the door wearing an apron, rubber gloves and carrying a disinfectant spray and a sponge. The Captain pushed his way into Monk's apartment, followed by Randy.

Randy began walking around the apartment, curious, while the Captain tried to console his old friend and partner. Monk's apartment was immaculate, as It usually was, but this time all the windows and shades were opened, filling the large apartment with light and fresh air. The house had been scrubbed clean, and every item in every drawer, cupboard and closet had been removed and stacked in the rooms they were kept in. Even Trudy's pictures had come down from the wall. It was as if the former detective had been taking an inventory of everything in his house, making sure everything was there.

"Have you talked to Sharona yet?" The Captain asked.

After seeing Adrian Monk, so lost and alone, Randy felt like he had betrayed one person in order to help another. He didn't consider either of them to be close friends. Sharona was someone he was attracted to, but it was one sided. He knew that now. He liked her as a person. He liked her son, too, and wished them well. All he ever wanted was for her to be happy, and if her happiness was on the other side of the country with another man, then so be it.

And Monk was someone he had worked with through the years, and had developed an admiration for, but he wouldn't consider the older man a friend. They worked together, and he had some insight into his life due to his proximity to the Captain on the Trudy Monk case, but he was only an observer in Mr. Monk's tragic life. And, now he felt like an intruder in the older man's home, and that he was partially responsible for creating this organized chaos, - this meticulous disaster in Adrian Monk's life.

As the Captain asked Monk questions, Randy couldn't bear to listen to the need in Monk's empty tone, or the older man's plea for someone to care for him and focus him and keep his phobias and compulsions in check, as was his insistence that Sharona Fleming was the only person in the world who could do that, and she run away from him, as has everyone he cared about; his father, his wife, his mother and so on...

Guilt caused Randy to block out the older man's answers to his partner's questions. Leaning against the dining room table, straightening his tie, adjusting the shield on his belt, checking the safety on his gun; anything so that he could be distracted from the exchange between the Captain and Monk. While he was busy adjusting his clothing and his detectives paraphernalia, he spotted some mail overflowing Monk's mail slot, and pulled it out. He shuffled through the junk mail and business envelopes and spotting an envelope with Benjy Howe's name scrawled at the top, and the return address in Newark, New Jersey.

"What about Dr. Kroger?" the Captain asked. "What does he suggest?"

He handed Monk the stack of mail, and the older man stood, walked over to his writing desk and put it on a stack with more unopened letters, not even glancing at the letter on the top. Randy wondered how deeply the denial ran.

"Okay, buddy." The Captain finally said, gently gripping the older man on the shoulder as Randy made a beeline for the door. "We'll be in touch."

As soon as the deadbolt clicked over, Stottlemeyer ran his hand over his face, letting out a dejected sigh. "Come on, Lieutenant, we've got to get back to. Hopefully we'll be able to solve this one without Monk."

"I'm really sorry, Captain," Lt. Disher said, sincerely.

"I know, Randy. Hey, do you think you can put an ad in the paper for a replacement for Sharona?"

"Yes, sir." Randy answered. "But I doubt anyone could really replace Sharona."

"You might be right about that." The Captain smiled. "Despite the way she left, I think I'm going to miss her."

The End.
Please review. And check out chapter 2 of Mr. Monk Saves the Date, which was published earlier this week.