That evening, Adrian did not sleep at all. He had hurt Natalie deeply and that hurt him. He wanted a chance to explain to her, to help her understand. But how could he do that when he barely understood it himself? Up until this point, Monk felt he knew himself pretty well – at least regarding this. But that evening had turned his understanding on its head.

As he laid awake, staring at the ceiling, he pondered how he could have possibly gotten everything so drastically wrong. How could he have gone through all the time and trouble to give his Natalie the date she deserved, only to wind up breaking both of their hearts in the end?

Natalie hadn't changed. She was the same adventuresome, demonstrative, loving woman she had always been. For him to have expected her to be any different just because they were dating was just dumb. It was himself that he had misjudged. He was the one who had reacted differently to their dating relationship than he would have ever anticipated himself doing. He was the one who had opened the door to physical closeness, from their lying next to one another in the hospital and her giving him his baths to their nightly ritual on the couch – it was him. He had encouraged their relationship to head in this direction and quite frankly, he was as surprised by it as anyone.

To be fair, Adrian didn't have a long track record to judge what 'normal' for him would be like in a dating relationship. In truth, prior to Natalie, Trudy was the only woman he had ever been close to in that way. And, if his approach to dating relationships were to be judged by that standard, then two words would describe how it would be. Tame and Traditional.

But that's not how it had been with Natalie. Dating Natalie was an entirely different breed of cat. They began as friends and the love grew gradually. But when the floodgates of romantic passion opened for them, what had been a source of comfort (her physical touch), unleashed a primal drive within him compelling him to want more. In short, when their acts of physicality - the kissing, the sustained times of snuggling on the couch, the activation of all five senses in relationship to their interaction - collided with his touch starvation and deep love for her – there were fireworks. It was really quite shocking but also invigorating. Adrian had told himself that he should be repulsed by such things, but instead, he had relished in it and he wasn't one bit ashamed.

That was, until that night. Up until that point, Adrian now realized, he and Natalie had been playing with fire around a powder keg. Tonight, that powder keg went off. And he was ashamed – not that he had felt these things towards her nor that he had wanted to go upstairs with her to be with her in that most intimate of ways, but that he had hurt her and that he had done so when it all could have been avoided.

He should have been honest with her and shouldn't have just assumed that she knew him so well that she would have known that there were boundaries as to where their physical relationship could go, at least at this particular time. He shouldn't have tested those boundaries and pushed them right up to the edge, to where they had almost reached the point of no return. He should have been honest with himself that being with Natalie was not at all like being with Trudy. They were two very different women, and at this point in time, he was a different man than he was thirty years ago. He only hoped that it hadn't destroyed his romance and relationship with Natalie forever.

The next morning, he was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on some coffee when Natalie came downstairs at her usual time. Neither one of them was hungry, but he at least encouraged her to eat a little toast and join him while they read the morning paper. She didn't want to talk, and he was okay with that. What he wasn't okay with was the tension in the room and the feeling that he had royally messed up their relationship. She was formal and polite, but not herself at all. He guessed he deserved that and wished he could fix it, but he didn't know how.

At 9:30 AM the phone rang and it was Commander Stottlemeyer, letting them know that there had been a body found on Grant Avenue near Lombard. Adrian was in the bathroom shaving when he heard it come in. He listened as Natalie took the call and spoke to Leland, getting the details of when and where. Then, he heard her ask Leland if he could stop by and pick him up, indicating she would not be "tagging along" with them that day. This disturbed him, but he said nothing, as he dried his face and walked back out into the living room, looking to see where she had gone.

She spotted him first and walked up to him with a sack lunch in one hand and a note in the other.

"That was Leland on the phone. He said there has been a murder down on Grant. I told him I'm not feeling up to going out today and asked if he could pick you up. I'm not sick, so don't worry. He and Randy should be here within the next minute or two since he was driving when he called. Here. I packed you a lunch." She said, handing him the sack and the note with the details of the crime on it, but not looking him in the eye.

Taking the lunch, he reached out and touched her arm. "Natalie…about last night."

She drew in a deep breath and looked up at him, and from the puffiness around her eyes, he knew she had been crying. How horrible he felt that he had caused her tears.

"Adrian it's alright. It's already forgotten. I'm fine. Don't worry. It's okay."

But of course, he would worry about it. He would worry about it all day and until they got it resolved.

He smiled slightly, then leaned in to kiss her. She turned her head and they both gave each other hesitant kisses on the cheek.

"I love you. You know that. Don't you?" he asked.

She smiled sadly. "I do know that, Adrian. Be careful today. I'll see you tonight."

He nodded, then looked out the door, seeing Leland pull up outside.

A few moments later, the three men were off, and Natalie watched as they pulled away, her heart aching inside at the questions which plagued her mind. Had she fooled herself? Or was she just overreacting? Who could say? All she knew is that she longed to be with Adrian, to bring back that comfort and warmth of just being beside each other, to bring back that sense of trust. She had taken a risk, trying to push Adrian further than he wanted to go and she was afraid now that she had messed things up and that he would want to return to being just friends- something she was afraid she wouldn't be able to do. Oh. What had she done?

Randy was the first to speak as Leland pulled out of Natalie's driveway towards the murder scene, saying that Natalie didn't look very sick to him. It was only Leland's immediate glare in the rear-view mirror that prevented Randy from saying anything else. For that, Monk seemed grateful.

Leland continued to watch his best friend carefully as they proceeded towards Grant Street. Natalie rarely took days off at crime scenes, even when she was sick, and he could tell from the moment that Monk got in the car that something was off. For one, Monk hadn't noticed or said anything about the chewed gum that Randy had just spit into Leland's cup-holder. That wasn't like him.

Leland had long since come to terms with the idea that even on his best day he wasn't half the detective Monk was, but he could sense that something was wrong between Monk and Natalie. But Monk didn't look like he was in the mood to talk about it, so Leland wasn't about to bring it up. It would be better for Monk if it was something he could work out and work through on his own.

Leland admired Monk's ability to compartmentalize and today was no different. It was obvious to him that something was troubling his friend, but he was still able to focus and pay attention and get the job done. The evidence Monk found within minutes of arriving at the scene would later play a significant role in solving the case, something that would undoubtedly put Randy in a foul mood when he found out.

It wasn't until the three were back at the police station in Leland's office that what had been bothering Monk began to surface. Leland watched as Adrian walked into his office and began to pace like an animal in its cage. He reminded himself not to say anything while Monk hovered around his desk and began touching lamps. Then, he and Randy watched as Monk walked over to the door and peeked outside making sure that Leland's secretary was otherwise engaged, and then shut the door to Leland's office.

Randy opened his mouth as if to ask what was going on, but Monk beat him to it.

"Leland...Randy...um." Adrian began.

Leland looked over at Randy as if to tell him to stay silent and let Monk talk and both men waited patiently for him to speak. Monk looked uncomfortable- the way he looked when he wanted to talk about something that was hard for him but didn't know how to start.

"If we're not busy right now, that is, if there's nothing that needs to be done that's time-sensitive about the case or another case we have to work on...w-would the two of you mind if I asked you some questions?" he said.

"About the case?" Randy immediately asked. It wasn't often - or ever, really - that Monk wanted to ask him questions about an ongoing case and Randy wanted to take advantage of this opportunity while it lasted. "See, the victim was stabbed with a screwdriver..."

Monk turned away and touched the lamp on Leland's desk once more. Leland pulled it back to where Monk could no longer reach it, and Monk stopped.

"N-no," he stammered. He looked down and took a moment before looking back up at his two friends. "N-not about the case. It's personal. I need some advice. It's, um..."

"About Natalie and why she isn't here?" Randy interjected. "You want us to help you figure out what you did wrong?"

Disher shrank back at the intensity of Commander Stottlemeyer's glare and tried to quickly recover. "N-Not that you did anything wrong, I just - she isn't here, she's always here, and you said you wanted to talk to us about a personal thing."

"Randy, shut up and let him talk," Leland barked, motioning for Monk and Randy to sit down.

"What's going on, Monk?" Leland asked, his voice quieter. "You don't really...ask for advice very often."

Monk moved the picture of T.K. on Leland's desk to make it even with the one of Leland and his boys. Leland looked annoyed and moved T.K.'s picture where it was originally, then waited for his friend to say something. When nothing was forthcoming, he sighed. "Monk, us giving you advice will work better if you tell us what's bothering you."

Monk looked nervously at his friend. "Can I...ask you a question?"

Leland's attitude softened. "Of course you can, buddy. Go ahead. Nothing said in here will go further than the three of us." The commander looked at Randy.

Monk looked apprehensive but spoke more quickly this time around. "Can I ask you a question about T.K.?"

Leland hesitated at the unexpected request but nodded his consent. He knew that Monk wouldn't ask anything inappropriate. "Sure. What about her?"

"How did you…know?" Monk began. Moments went by before he was able to ask his next question. "You and T.K. weren't together very long before you...how did you know so soon? How did you know that she was your answer?"

Randy looked puzzled. "His answer to what?"

Neither Leland nor Adrian paid him any attention.

Leland was silent for a long time and Monk worried that he might have asked too personal of a question. They had been friends for thirty years and talked about a lot of things over those thirty years, but to this day there were still certain topics they didn't talk about in too much detail. The downfall of Leland's marriage to Karen was one and the first few months after Trudy's death was another, along with a few other personal things. He wasn't sure yet where T.K. fell in the topic category.

"Monk, I could tell you a list of things like how she supports me and how she's better at dealing with me being a cop, or that Jared and Max liked her from day one, but none of that is going to help you because my relationship with T.K. is different than Randy's relationship with Sharona, and both of them are different than your relationship with Natalie."

Leland quickly moved away his cup-holder of pens and pencils when Monk reached out like he wanted to examine the ones that weren't even.

"It wasn't one big revelation that made me know," he continued. "It was a lot of little things that showed me how well she fit into my life and how I couldn't let this one get away."

"What he said, for me too," Randy said after a few moments of silence. "About Sharona, not about T.K." Leland glared at him and Randy held up his hands. "Sharona understands me. She supports my music career, which is a really, really big deal..."

Leland decided to hurry up and cut Randy off before he and Monk heard about the latest exploits of The Randy Disher Project. Meanwhile, Monk had indeed taken one of his pencils and was writing something down in his notebook. Leland decided to leave him be for the moment, at least he wasn't touching the lamps anymore.

"Um...after that...how did you - when did you know it was time to take the next step?" Adrian asked.

Leland paused. For the most part he thought he had a decent grasp on how his best friend's mind worked, but at the same time surely Monk wasn't thinking of marriage so soon. He and Natalie had only been dating for a month, and Leland knew how long it had taken Monk to get up the nerve to propose to Trudy. Leland was also confident Monk wasn't referring to sex as the next step. So, after those two things, he was out of ideas. Monk was clearly trying to hint at something without saying the words out loud and Leland doubted that talking to him one-on-one later, without Randy around, would yield different results. Thus, he gave the safest answer he could, one that would ideally cover a wide variety of scenarios.

"There's not a time-table to follow, Monk. You'll just know when the time is right. Every relationship is different. What worked for me and T.K. won't necessarily work for you and Natalie. You'll know, though."

The confused look on Monk's face told Leland that he hadn't been any help at all to his friend. But Randy was nodding, in what could best be described as barely-contained excitement, and the police captain turned his chair a few feet to face Monk.

"Don't worry, man, I can totally help you out with this." He said, reaching out and touching Monk on his arm. "I can see now why you came to us. Trudy was, uh, your only one, wasn't she?" Randy didn't wait for an answer. "Now, before anything, you have to talk to Natalie and figure out where she is."

"Where she is? She's at the house. I don't understand."

"No. Where she is parked – mentally. What are her thoughts? Sharona and I had to talk about it, because, I mean, she already had Benjy, and Benjy's grown, and she didn't want to start over with the whole kid thing, which of course started a conversation about birth control. Natalie, um, that's her business, she probably already knows what works best for her, and I can take you to the store and show you what type of protection I buy because, well… you haven't done that in, what, thirty years?"

Monk looked across Leland's desk at him in horror. Leland without prompting reached in his desk and handed his stress-relief yo-yo to Monk.

As Randy continued, Monk begged, "Leland, please, for the love of humanity, make him stop!" He then reached for the lamp on Leland's desk and Leland shook his head moving the lamp back to where Monk could reach it.

Leland rubbed the back of his neck in secondhand embarrassment for his friend. "Randy, what in this conversation made you think that Monk would be talking to us about sex?"

Randy looked chagrined. "He's not?" He turned to Monk. "You're not talking about...?"

"N-no!" Adrian cried in indignation. "Why would I talk to the two of you about that?! For Pete's sake, I don't even talk to Natalie about that!"

Randy's face got serious. "You really should. Someday. Julie's the same age as Benjy, Natalie might not want more kids." He turned to Leland. "Right, Commander? You've got two kids that are grown or almost grown, I assume you and T.K. had a talk about whether or not to have more?"

"Shut up, Randy," Leland growled, his face clouding over. "Monk wasn't asking about any of that and you know what happens when you assume."

Monk stood up from his chair remarkably fast for someone that still needed his cane to walk long distances. "Thank you both very much for - not helping me at all. Now, I'm going to leave and go for a walk and think about things." He turned back to Leland. "Of course, if that's okay with you. If you don't need me for anything else."

Leland held out his hand for his yo-yo. "Monk, you can't leave. I drove you here. I'm your ride home, remember?"

"I'll call a cab." Adrian replied.

"You hate cabs," Randy interjected.

Monk glared at Randy. "I think after being given advice by you about…that… and all those other things my mind will be more than occupied so that I won't even worry about how disgusting the cab is."

Leland ordered Randy to leave and go call Monk a cab and then spoke to his friend when Randy was gone. "I'm sorry about Randy, buddy," he said, quietly. "He means well, you do know that, don't you?"

Monk twitched his shoulder uncomfortably and Leland, unfortunately, took that as a no. "If you want to talk more, you know what my number at home is."

Monk nodded and went to retrieve his cane where he had left it resting against the door to Leland's office. He pulled a neatly folded piece of paper from his notebook and dropped it on Leland's desk, and then he was gone.

Leland unfolded the note - ten perfect folds, he thought ruefully, of course. He wouldn't expect less from Monk - and then barked out a single laugh when he read what Monk had written in his perfectly symmetrical block-letter style handwriting.

SINCE WHEN DOES RANDY HAVE A MUSIC CAREER? SHARONA MUST LOVE HIM VERY MUCH IF SHE SUPPORTS THAT.

Adrian walked out of the police station and then took a stroll down the city streets. He had lived in the San Francisco area all of his adult life and had rarely taken time just to view the sights. He saw several things that made him turn away, reminding him why he lived away from that part of town, but then he saw other things that captured his attention. He watched as an elderly gentleman held the door open for his wife and then she took him by the arm with a smile as they walked out of her doctor's office. A couple of blocks later, he sat down in a park where the laughter of a child caught his ear as the child giggled "Daddy!"

Monk had been through a lot in his life and had seen many things that others never dreamed of – many of which he wished he hadn't. But there was a lot of life that he had never gotten to experience that he wished he had. He had gotten to experience the love of a woman. But the tragedy of the loss of his wife had held him back for so many years, that he had almost missed out when love came around the second time around in a most unexpected way. Trudy had wanted children, but he was afraid. Now, years after her death, he had regrets about having told her no. After talking with Randy, he considered what Disher had said. There were so many things that Natalie and he hadn't talked about, children being one of them. And now, he wondered if it would be something she would want.

And then there was the issue of sex. He knew that he couldn't do that with her at this present time, no matter how badly both of them wanted it. He didn't know if it was part of his upbringing or if it was just the way he came, but he felt there was a proper order to how relationships were to go – and while he tended to ignore how others chose to live their lives, for him, he knew of only one context that he could engage in that particular activity and feel comfortable. Natalie obviously felt differently about the timing aspect of this, which was something they probably should have talked about before things had gotten so serious between them.

But they didn't. They hadn't talked about any of this, and he knew why. It was just too darn uncomfortable and it felt like it was presuming a certain end to their relationship that neither one of them was supposed to know – although he himself pretty much knew what end that he wanted with Natalie very early on in their relationship.

And so now here he was. Stuck in this mess of his own making, simply because he couldn't have an honest adult conversation with the woman he loved. As he continued to walk down the street, he mentally kicked himself for being so weak, and he felt clueless as to how to fix things or how to proceed from there.

Sheerly out of force of habit, he made a right at the corner and entered through a gate into a lovely garden. As he continued to think, he stopped and leaned against a tree, and then looked up and saw where he was. Directly in front of him was a black and grey tombstone inscribed with the words:

TRUDY ANNE MONK

1962-1997

BELOVED WIFE AND MOTHER

He swallowed. "Trudy." he whispered as he sat down and stared at this monument that he had visited so many times before. Only this time, he immediately knew things were different, and he knew why. Trudy wasn't there. She was gone. And the biggest surprise of all? He wasn't sad. The last time he saw her, she told him it was time to say goodbye, and now he knew why. She was telling him that he didn't need her anymore. For so many years, the visions and dreams of Trudy were the glue that held him together in the wake of her death. But he hadn't seen nor heard anything from her in so long and he had been okay. Of course, he would always love her. Nothing could ever change that. But he no longer needed her presence to help him go on. He had been able to let her go and was now able to stand on his own.

For the rest of the afternoon, Monk sat there, resting in the sunlight and thinking through the various events of his life and how he happened to end up at this particular location on this day. As he considered this, he knew that there were two people in his life that he would go to when he wanted or needed advice. Leland Stottlemeyer and Trudy Monk. On this day, he had naturally gone to both of them, and neither one provided the solution to what was troubling him. And, as the sun began to set and the cool breeze began to blow through the trees, heralding the coming of night, Adrian stood to leave. He smiled and walked over to the tombstone then kissed his hand and laid it on the stone.

"I've got to go now. I know you're not here anymore, which is good for you. But, I sorta wish you were here to help me figure out the answer to this problem. You were always so good at that sort of thing." He paused and listened, but there was only silence, then he said goodbye and turned to walk away.

He had walked no further than three steps when he heard a voice. It was not hers. It was his own. "Natalie is your answer. And you know what you must do."

He paused for a moment as that sunk in, then he nodded, walked to the tree where he retrieved his cane, and then pulled out his phone and called a cab. It was getting late, and he needed to get home. He didn't want Natalie to worry.

As he hung up the phone, he placed it back in the pocket then smiled. Trudy was right. He didn't need her or Leland to tell him his answers. They had been within him all the time.

Natalie jumped when at 6:38 PM, she heard a car door shut as a taxi dropped Adrian off in her driveway. She peeked out the window and saw it was him, then ran to check her appearance in the hall mirror before calmly walking to the door to let him in.

Monk raised his hand to knock but dropped it again when he heard the door being unlatched from the inside and looked up as Natalie quickly opened it. His eyes crinkled slightly when she looked at him and gave him a relieved smile. Then, she pulled him inside and into her loving arms for a tight hug.

"Adrian, I've been worried sick! I talked with T.K. about an hour ago and she said that you left the station somewhere about three-thirty and that you wouldn't let Leland drive you home. Where were you? I was afraid that…I thought that you…"

He held her tightly in his arms as a tear ran down her cheek, and then held her even tighter as she buried her head into his neck and quietly sobbed. He kissed the side of her head telling her not to cry, and then kissed her gently on the cheek telling her that there was no need for her to worry and that all was okay. When she pulled away, she started to use the side of her hand to dry her tears, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a clean cotton handkerchief and used it to personally dry her tears.

"I'm sorry." She sniffled. "I didn't mean to come unglued like that. It's just…it's been a really hard day."

"I understand." He said, stroking her hair. "And, I suspect that I am likely the cause of that. Here. Come on into the living room with me and let's talk." He said, leading her to the couch while he walked quickly to the refrigerator and brought back two bottles of water.

Returning to the couch, he sat down beside her, opened her bottle of water and his and took a sip before setting it down on a coaster and turning to face her. Taking both of her hands in his, he took a deep breath, determined to be honest with her about how he felt, no matter how hard that would be.

"I…I took a walk."

"With your cane? Wasn't that hard?"

"No. It was okay. I just needed to get out and think for a while, to be alone so I could figure out what was happening – about what happened last night."

"Adrian, that was all my fault. I'm so sorry…I shouldn't have…" she said.

"No, Natalie! It wasn't. It wasn't at all. I don't blame you in the least. I can't even entirely blame myself. What happened was, well, normal – considering how close we've been in recent weeks. It was a very natural thing. But…what happened wasn't okay. It wasn't okay what I did to you, how I let us go so far and then…"

"Oh, Adrian! I'm the one who pushed us in that direction. You were just sitting on the couch about to nod off when I came over to you and…"

"No. I bear the responsibility for what happened and how I handled it. And I want to apologize for hurting you. That was never my intent. I never want to hurt you. I never want to make you cry, and yet I did. And, I'm sorry for that. Will you forgive me?"

Natalie looked at him in the eyes. He was such an innocent at times. Forgive him? How could he possibly think this was his fault?

"Adrian. There's nothing to forgive. I'm the one to blame here. I'm the one that tried to seduce you. I tried to take advantage of our time alone and…" she said, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Natalie, you do know it takes two to tango, right?" he said, placing his hand under her chin. "Please don't cry. I don't like to see you cry."

"But I'm the one who initiated it." she sniffed.

"I am a grown man." He countered.

"I know you are, but you were just minding your own business and even had us reorganize my cabinets…

Adrian chuckled. "Well…They did need reorganizing... besides, I…I thought maybe it would be safer that way."

Natalie paused and looked at him quizzically. "Safer… from me?"

He looked down and bit his lip. "No. From me. Natalie, I love being with you every moment we're together. But…when we're together like that, sometimes, it's not safe for me to be that close to you."

She furrowed her brow and he continued. "Natalie, sweetheart. You're making me feel feelings that I haven't felt in… in EVER! Not even with Trudy. I mean, Trudy and I…we did…but you've awakened things in me that I didn't even know existed…and frankly…I am feeling a bit overwhelmed."

Natalie softened at this admission of feelings. "I didn't mean to overwhelm you. I just wanted to show you how much you mean to me and how much I love you."

"But, Natalie, you do that every day by your encouraging words and your giving spirit. I have never had to doubt for a moment whether or not you love me and believe me, for me, that's a huge gift. We don't have to…you know…for me to know that."

"I know we don't, Adrian. But, here's the thing…I love you so much that I want to express that to you in EVERY way possible…including…THAT!"

He smiled and then furrowed his brow. "Why?!"

"Why what?"

"Why would you want to do…that…with…me? You could have any man you wanted."

"Well, apparently not. I wanted you and you told me no."

He sighed. "Natalie. You've got me. You have me entirely. And, I didn't tell you no…exactly. Just…not yet. We're not ready sweetheart. That's all I'm saying. It's too soon."

"So you're saying that you didn't pull away last night because you didn't want me…"

"Not at all."

"Oh! What a relief! And… you're also saying that you're not ruling out that someday we might…"

Monk swallowed. "You never can tell."

She leaned back and looked at him. "You never can tell? Never can tell?!" she said, pulling away from him and mock punching him in the arm. "What kind of answer is that?"

"Well…" he laughed. "What do you want me to say?!"

"What I want you to say is, yes Natalie…I foresee a day where it may be entirely possible that I will not drag you into your kitchen and make you reorganize your friggin' pantry with me because I am too afraid to make love with you!"

Monk opened his mouth "Natalie Jane! I would NEVER say such a thing!"

Natalie's expression turned serious. "You wouldn't?"

"No! Absolutely not!" he replied, shaking his head. "When have you ever heard me use the word 'friggin''?" he said, looking at her and flashing his dimples at her as he grinned.

Natalie grabbed a pillow from the couch and started hitting him with it, causing him to laugh as he grabbed a pillow from the other side and began hitting her back – actually, hitting her pillow – he would never strike her, even with a pillow.

Finally, she walloped him hard enough that he collapsed backwards onto the couch. The two burst into laughter and she went in for one more strike, but he grabbed her by the wrist and took hold of her waist, snatching the pillow from her hands and pulling her down on top of him so he could deliver a fiery kiss.

When at last they moved away, she looked dreamily down at his face and smiled. "You win." She said.

He looked back up at her and smiled. "I win? What do I win?"

"Anything you want." She said airily, leaning down and kissing him some more.

He kissed her back and then leaned away. "Anything?"

She looked at him. "Yes, anything…except perhaps if you're wanting to clean out the front hall closet."

He chuckled, but then grew serious. Taking a deep breath he then looked at her nervously. "Okay, if you really mean it" he closed his eyes. "Then I'm going to have to ask you for something that is not going to be easy for either one of us. But, I think right now, at this present juncture, it…it may be necessary."

Natalie sat up and moved to the couch cushion beside him. "Alright. Go ahead." she said, nervously.

He took her by both of her hands and looked in the eyes. "Natalie…today, when I went for my walk, somehow, I wound up at the cemetery by Trudy's grave."

Natalie's eyes dropped. In spite of how many times she had been there with him, due to the intense love he and Trudy shared, she couldn't help but feel a little insecure when the connection between Monk and his late wife came into view.

"No sweetheart, it wasn't that way. I wasn't going to talk to Trudy. She's gone, and honestly, I'm glad for her. I'm glad she's finally happy and not having to take care of me."

Natalie looked back up and smiled. "Why did you go there?"

"Honestly, I think it was habit. It was a place I went so often just to think. And, I just kinda stumbled in there. But, it was a good thing I did. Because, Natalie…after last night, I've been so torn up knowing that I hurt you, that I just didn't know what to do. I even tried to talk to Leland and Randy about it."

"Randy?!" Natalie said with surprise.

"Yeah. Don't ask." He replied. "But, going to the cemetery today, it turns out it was exactly what I needed. I just needed to clear my head out a little and focus and realize that I've known the answer all along. Natalie. You're my answer. And I think I've known that all along, but I really knew it as I sat there today. And…here's the thing…I know this, and I am kinda still working some things out internally, but I'm willing to move forward, but I just need you to be a bit patient with me."

A tear rolled down Natalie's eyes and she smiled. "But of course. I can be patient. I mean, how many years has it been so far?"

He laughed. "And, I need you to know that no matter what or how trying this might be, I love you."

"I know that, Adrian." She said, taking his hand. "And I love you."

"And, just one other thing. As soon as I get the all clear from Dr. Werner in two weeks, I think, it's time for me to move out."