Adrian's cell phone rang at eleven o'clock Monday morning. His heart leaped when he saw Natalie's name on the display, and he answered eagerly. "Hello?"

"Hi," Natalie said. "I'm at home and you're not."

"You're home now?" he said, getting to his feet reflexively. "I thought you wouldn't get back until later this afternoon." He'd been planning to leave Ambrose's house right after lunch.

"We decided to leave a little earlier than originally planned. We just got here about half an hour ago. Where are you?"

"I'm at Ambrose's."

"Oh," she said, relief in her voice. "I thought maybe you'd caught a case."

"No, it's been pretty quiet on that front, thank goodness." Suddenly inspired, he asked, "Is everyone else there, too? Sharona and Peggy and everyone?"

"No, it's just me and Julie, now. Everyone else has gone home."

"I know you just got back, but do you think you and Julie could come over here, just for a little while? There's something both of you should really see."

"Sure, I guess." She sounded puzzled, but agreeable. "We'll be there in about twenty minutes."

After their conversation, he was too excited to sit down, so he joined Ambrose in a last-minute tailspin of cleaning while Jack escaped upstairs to shave and change clothes.

The minute Adrian saw Julie's car pull up to the curb, he hung up the broom and dashed outside without even stopping to wash his hands first.

Natalie emerged from the car and all but jumped into his waiting arms. They hugged fiercely, each savoring the other's warmth and scent and touch. "I really missed you," he whispered into her ear.

"I missed you too," she said, resting her cheek against his shoulder. "That's why we came back so soon – I was missing you, and Sharona was missing Randy, and T.K. was missing Leland. So we decided to get an early start back home."

"I'm glad you did," he said, easing her back so he could look at her. His eyes widened, and he let out a long, appreciative whistle. "Wow, look at you."

She was dazzling. Her skin was fresh and dewy, and, from the feel of it, satin-smooth. Her hair seemed brighter, somehow, and tumbled healthily around a rosy face and glowing eyes.

"We went to a spa, one about an hour north of here, in Napa," she told him. "I've been buffed and wrapped and polished and massaged, and I can't even remember what else. It was two straight days of solid pampering."

"And you left all that for me?" he said, grinning like an idiot.

Her smile was slow and flirtatious. "Like I said, I missed you."

He would have kissed her, then and there in full view of the neighborhood, if not for Julie's impatient cough.

"So, what is it that we really have to see?" Julie asked. She looked just as radiant as her mother did, although the effect was somewhat spoiled by the annoyed expression on her face.

"Oh. Right," he said, remembering why he'd asked them over in the first place. "Come inside."

He showed them in, and Natalie's reaction was just as he'd imagined. Julie, too, forgot her annoyance in her amazement.

"Look at this place!" Natalie said in disbelief. "It's incredible!"

"It's like an actual house now," Julie agreed, wide-eyed. "Maybe the décor could use a little updating, but it's nice."

Ambrose and Jack hurried downstairs just then – Ambrose had spilled Windex on his shirt, necessitating a quick change of clothes – and broke into nearly identical smiles at the sight of the two women.

"Ambrose!" Natalie all but squealed, and threw her arms around him. She then shocked him senseless by kissing his cheek with a loud, hearty *smack*. "I am so proud of you! This place looks great!"

Embarrassed, yet highly gratified by her embrace, Ambrose flushed deep crimson and stammered, "Dad helped."

To Jack Monk's utter astonishment, he received the same effusive treatment from his soon-to-be daughter-in-law. He grinned, rather foolishly, and said, "I take it you approve?"

"It's amazing!" she said, fairly bouncing in excitement. "Have you cleaned out the whole house or just the main floor?"

"Oh, we've done the whole house," Jack said, glancing up the stairs. "Except the attic, but we'll get to that eventually. And we turned the study into an office for Ambrose."

Natalie stopped bouncing and her eyes grew huge. She exchanged a dumbfounded look with Julie. "You cleaned out the study?" she breathed. "Oh, this I have to see." She grabbed Ambrose's arm and started for the stairs.

They went over the whole house, but Natalie was most impressed with Ambrose's new office. The walls had been repainted a pale green. Ambrose's NSIMW award plaques had been relocated to this room, and they were neatly hung on the wall behind the polished oak desk, upon which his computer, scanner, and printer sat. She noted with pleasure that there were two framed photos on his desk – a recent one of her and Adrian, taken at the medal ceremony, and one of Adrian and Trudy from their wedding day.

The rickety wooden chair she remembered was gone, and a comfortable-looking burgundy leather executive office chair stood in its place. A wide oak bookshelf held copies of the manuals he'd written, as well as encyclopedias and dictionaries (in various languages), and other reference materials. A black upright tower fan, fairly new, stood in the corner. The windows were flanked by bold mulberry-colored curtains instead of the ugly, dusty beige ones that had hung there previously. It looked like a wonderful place to work.

"This is really nice," Julie declared. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear it wasn't the same room."

"It turned out well," Jack agreed. "I wasn't too sure about the curtains at first, but Ambrose was right, they really class up the place."

"Forget instruction manual writing, Ambrose – maybe you should be an interior designer," Natalie joked.

Ambrose smiled bashfully. "One redecorated room does not an interior designer make," he said, but he looked enormously pleased.

Back downstairs, Ambrose insisted on making lunch after learning that Natalie and Julie hadn't eaten since their breakfast prior to hitting the road that morning, and Jack insisted on helping him. Adrian sat at the dining room table with Natalie and Julie as they told him all about their relaxing bachelorette weekend at the spa (which had been planned by Julie, but paid for by Peggy Davenport).

"It was an incredible weekend," Natalie said, linking fingers with Adrian under the table, "but I'm glad to be home." She squeezed his hand. "So, what were you up to while we were gone?"

"I stayed here most of the time," Adrian said.

Natalie was taken aback by this. "You spent the whole weekend here? How did that happen?"

"I came over on Saturday morning to talk to Ambrose about the ceremony, and when Dad found out you'd be gone until Monday, he said I should stay here with them so I wouldn't be so lonely." He shrugged. "So I did, and… as it turned out, I wasn't quite so lonely."

"That's great," Natalie said, beaming at him. "I'm really glad you had company."

"Yesterday, I invited all of the groomsmen over, plus your dad," Adrian continued cheerfully. "We grilled burgers."

"You did?" Natalie stared at him. He actually seemed happy about it. "Was it Leland's idea?" She'd asked the captain to check in on Adrian at least once, and she thought maybe he'd put the idea forward.

"No, it was mine," he said. "I got the idea while I was talking to Leland, though."

Natalie very nearly felt dizzy. He had initiated and engineered a social gathering of his own free will. She felt like she had stepped into an alternate universe, one where Ambrose Monk's house was clutter-free and Adrian Monk enjoyed socializing.

"Way to go, stepdad," Julie said with a grin. She nudged her mother. "See, I told you he'd be just fine by himself."

"You weren't that worried about me, were you?" Adrian asked Natalie, slightly pleased that she'd cared so much, but a little irritated, too. He was a grown man, for heaven's sakes, and he'd survived just fine on his own when she had been in the hospital.

Before Natalie could answer, Julie broke in. "Oh lord, you should have heard her on the way up. 'I hope he's going to be okay,'" she said in a high-pitched falsetto. "'Maybe I should have found someone to stay with him while we're gone.'"

"Shut up, Julie," Natalie muttered, flushing with embarrassment.

Julie opened her mouth to reply, but further conversation was prevented when Ambrose and Jack came in bearing a platter of sandwiches and a jug of fresh lemonade.

After lunch, Julie elected to drive home by herself so Adrian and Natalie could ride together in his car.

"Don't you need to get your suitcase?" Natalie asked, after they'd bid his father and Ambrose good-bye and started outside. "Or did you already put it in the car?"

"I didn't bring one," Adrian said. "I hadn't planned on staying until I'd already gotten here, so I just borrowed some of Ambrose's clothes and things."

He kept walking toward the car, but turned around a few seconds later when he realized Natalie wasn't beside him any longer. She had stopped dead in her tracks and was staring at him in shock.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You borrowed somebody else's clothes?" she asked, pronouncing each word slowly and carefully.

"Ambrose's, yes," he said, a little impatiently. "He's my brother, after all, and I knew his clothes would be immaculate. And they were." Shaking his head a little, he reached out to grab her hand so he could lead her to the car. He'd enjoyed his time with his father and Ambrose, but he was ready to go home.

She pulled her hand from his grasp. "Adrian, you borrowed somebody else's clothes."

"Yes, I did." He was exasperated now. "So?"

"So?" She kept staring at him. "I go away for three days, and all of a sudden you're… you're voluntarily staying over at your brother's house, and borrowing his clothes, and inviting people over to socialize."

He reddened. Put like that, he could understand, a little, why she felt so discomfited. "I didn't plan on any of that. It just sort of… happened," he said lamely.

"Maybe I should go away more often," she said, resuming her walk to the car.

"Bite your tongue," he said, frowning at the very thought of it. He pressed the button on his key fob to unlock the car doors.

She grinned at him as she opened the passenger door and slid inside.

After they'd driven a few miles in silence, he gave her a sideways glance. "'Maybe I should have found someone to stay with him'?" he asked.

Her cheeks reddened. "You seemed so sad when I left," she said defensively.

"Of course I was sad," he said. "But that didn't mean I couldn't take care of myself for a few days."

"I know." When he gave her another sideways glance, she repeated, more forcefully, "I know. I just… I was worried."

He was silent for a long moment. "It's true that… in the past… I wasn't very good with being on my own. But that isn't the case anymore."

She started to speak, but he cut her off, saying, "And I'm not saying I like being without you. But I don't want you to think that you can't go away for a weekend with Julie or whatever because you need to stay with me. I can handle it."

"I know you can," she said softly. "I told Ambrose today that I was proud of him, but I don't think I've told you that yet, and I should have. I'm really, really proud of you."

He carefully pulled into their driveway, put the car into park, and turned it off. Julie, he noted, had beaten them home. "You're proud of me because I'm a grown man who managed to survive the weekend by himself?"

She smiled. "That, and I'm proud of you for a lot of other things. For driving, and helping me with all the wedding planning, and taking care of me after the accident, and so much more."

He rolled his eyes, and she pressed, "Adrian, just look at yourself now, and think about how you were only a year ago. Hell, six months ago. Look at how you've changed. It's really remarkable."

He shrugged. "I have you to thank for it."

"No, you don't," she insisted. "Maybe I was the catalyst, but you changed yourself. You should be proud of what you've accomplished. I am." She tilted her head. "And Trudy would be, too."

She could pay him no greater compliment. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"You're welcome."

They smiled at one another, and she patted his hand. "Let's go inside before Julie thinks we got lost trying to find the front door."

"Okay," he agreed.

Before he could open his door, she leaned over and kissed him, softly and sweetly.

"Four days," she said, her eyes warm with promise.

He grinned. "Four days."