T.K.'s haunted figure stood with head bowed and shoulders shaking as Sharona pushed open the door and led everyone inside. Jared and Max stayed close to Randy's side until T.K. turned around and quickly wiped at her eyes, motioning for her stepsons to come sit in front of her.

"Come here, boys," she said quietly.

Jared and Max glanced at each other and without a word sat down in the two chairs in front of T.K. Their stepmother knelt in front of them.

"The doctor just came back and talked to me. Your father..." T.K. took another breath and continued on. "Your father made it through the surgery, and, there were complications. They say, he's in a coma, but the bleeding has stopped. They don't know when...or if, he'll wake up."

That was all it took for the energy to be sucked entirely out of the room and for Max to stand up and push T.K.'s hand away from him, pushing past everyone and running out of the room. Jared sat still for a moment and said nothing, then quietly excused himself and followed his brother out of the room. There was no mistaking the tears that stained the young man's face.

Sharona quickly dashed out in search of the two young men and as she did Randy was the first to speak. He stepped cautiously closer to T.K. and said with confusion, "I - we were all here. They said there was nothing life threatening."

It didn't escape Natalie's attention that for as emotional as T.K. had been earlier and as loud and heart-wrenching as her sobs had been, she was just as quiet and composed now, except for the steady flow of tears that streamed down her face that betrayed her. "They don't know what happened. One of those complications they told me about, and my husband's in a coma." T.K. soon broke down as she opened her left hand. "They had to take off his wedding ring before the surgery and they gave it back to me."

Adrian swallowed and looked at her hand. There was the ring, the ring he had guarded so carefully so as to not lose it, the ring that was supposed to mean a life of happiness for his friend, separated from its owner in a most unnatural way. It wasn't supposed to go this way. The ring didn't belong there. It belonged on Leland's left hand, and Leland belonged with T.K. His Trudy. His answer. They deserved to be happy. This wasn't supposed to happen.


Later that evening, the sun had set and everywhere one turned in San Francisco's General Hospital, television sets were turned to the exact same station. Normally, the screens would play a variety of cable television programs, but Sharona Disher had seen to it that each set was turned to channel ten in deference to her former employer, about whom she was growing progressively worried.

It had started around a half hour earlier, as soon as Jared took Adrian in to see Leland. Outwardly, he had taken the news of his coma like a man, not allowing his countenance to shift or his friends to see how he really felt inside. Natalie had been there for support, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when he walked into the room. Leland was on a ventilator and his pallor was very grey and death-like. When Monk first saw him, he went stiff as a board, then turned around, went out into the hallway and wept. He wouldn't say much, even to Natalie as she tried to soothe his rattled nerves, only that it reminded him of when he first saw Trudy, moments before he said goodbye.

Recovering from the initial shock, Monk went back into the room and quietly placed his hand on Leland's arm. The commander's skin was ice cold as a result of his blood circulation diverting itself to other areas where it was more needed for life-saving purposes. So, he tugged Leland's blanket up higher so that he could be warmer, then patted the blanket in place. Monk said nothing, as pain filled his eyes.

Natalie rested her cheek against his shoulder and caressed his back as they stood there. Then, after just a few minutes, a nurse came in to check Leland's vitals and Monk walked with Natalie to the door. Looking Jared and T.K. in the eyes, he quietly thanked them for letting him see his friend and then trudged down the hallway, like an automaton, back towards the lobby with his Natalie beside him, her hand on his side.

For the next twenty minutes he said nothing, only stared, and it wasn't until the former Mrs. Leland Stottlemeyer walked into the lobby that he began to rouse. He hadn't seen Karen since the divorce and after what Leland had gone through during that time and her less than amicable attitude since, he wasn't particularly happy about her presence. He stood, ready to go tell her that she needed to leave, forgetting completely her two sons that were stationed behind closed doors in their father's ICU room.

It was the first spark of energy he had felt since the shooting, the first time where he didn't feel so helpless – as if there were something he could do for Leland., something he could do to help the situation. But, just as quickly as the spark was lit, it was quenched as he watched T.K. walk out to the lobby and warmly greet her husband's former wife, taking her by the hand and leading her back to Leland's room. Looking confused, he sat back down unsure of what to make of what just happened – unsure of what to make of anything at all.

Natalie witnessed the scene as well but was less confused. She understood that Karen was the mother of Leland's children and they had been married for twenty years and shared the bond of the boys. But, she couldn't help but feel a sting as she observed T.K.'s relationship with Karen, a woman who had caused Leland misery and aggravation for years, was still warmer than her relationship with Natalie at that point in time. If Natalie had it all to do over again, she had to admit she probably wouldn't have changed her actions; however, at the end of this road she was full of regret for the collateral impact that Julie's case had on each of their relationships and she hoped that somehow, some way, the breech could be repaired.


By nine-thirty, Monk's tics were on full display. He stood up and paced, then straightened up magazines and brochures to where they were all evenly spaced and in perfect order. Next, he got himself into some trouble with one of the doctors, when he grabbed a patient's chart and started straightening the papers inside the folder. Finally, he scared a woman out of the room when he stole a surgical mask from the nurse's supply cabinet and physically placed it over the face of the woman's child who had been brought into the E.R. due to having the flu. Natalie had watched him throughout the night as he progressively got worse, and tried very much to be the calming influence that she normally was; however, when he put the mask on the child, she stood up and grabbed him by the hands, dragging him over to sit by her and telling him settle down before he got them kicked out of the hospital. He went with her and sat, but by this point his mind was off in another world, and it wasn't long before he was standing again and examining the horizontal blinds on the hospital's windows for presence of dust. Running his finger across the blade of a blind, he marched over to the nurse's station and began to criticize them for the sanitation level of their facility and berate them for likely making people more sick. Natalie again stood up and took him by the hand, but this time he turned away from her, putting both hands on the side of his head and beginning to pace like a caged animal.

"Adrian! Stop! Listen to me!" she said. But he wouldn't listen.

"It's all my fault." He said. "It's all my fault Leland wouldn't' be here if it weren't' for Julie going to jail and Julie wouldn't have gone to jail if I would have done my job right and found the necessary evidence to put Jenna away forever."

"Adrian, it's not your fault!" Natalie said. "You're just torturing yourself. Stop!"

He stopped and looked at her. "No. I'm a curse."

"What?" she asked.

"I'm a curse. A curse. Bad…bad, bad."

Natalie began to cry and reached out to touch him, but he turned away. "Adrian, honey. Sit down. You're scaring me. Please, come sit down with me." But he wouldn't listen. Instead, he continued on his way, off in his own world where he was trying to do everything he could to create order, as if doing so meant that he was somehow in control. This activity lasted another twenty minutes until there was nothing left to straighten and nothing else to be put in order. Once again, he sat down, but went back to saying nothing.

At eleven o'clock the evening news came on and everyone's attention was suddenly turned to the top news story of the night.

"Good Evening. I'm Clyde Pitman, And I am Bernadette Reno and this is your eleven o'clock Channel 10 Live news update."

"Our lead story tonight:" the male anchor said, "The city of San Francisco was rocked today by news that decorated police veteran, Commander Leland Stottlemeyer, of the SFPD's homicide division was critically wounded this afternoon in an altercation at the Edith Head Theatre in the Presidio. The assailant, Jenna Anne Ryan, was a convicted felon whom Commander Stottlemeyer had put in jail some eight years ago, for the attempted murder of San Francisco's famed detective, Adrian Monk.

Mr. Monk, as you will recall is closely associated with Davenport heiress, Ms. Natalie Teeger, mother of Miss Julie Teeger, a student in the theater department at Berkeley. Miss Teeger was recently accused in another murder, but anonymous sources tell us tonight that it has been determined that Miss Teeger was innocent of the crime and another Berkeley Student, Miss Melody McKnight, the sister to Jenna Ryan, is the prime suspect.

You can't make this up, folks.

At this time, it is not clear what happened to bring about a change in suspects but what we do know is that Police, led by Port Police Captain Jeff Lewis, descended upon the Edith Head Theatre in the Presidio this afternoon where Ms. Ryan was holding Miss Teeger in a hostage situation.

In an effort to free the girl, Commander Stottlemeyer was shot and Ms. Ryan fell from a catwalk to her death.

It is unclear if charges have been dropped against Miss Julie Teeger at this time, and her attorney, Mr. Harrison Powell was not available for comment; however, if our sources are correct, Miss Teeger could be a free woman as early as tomorrow.

Commander Stottlemeyer remains in critical condition at San Francisco General Tonight. We will keep you posted as we learn more about this story.

In other news…"

As the anchors moved on to the next story, Adrian stood up and began to pace again. "Lewis. Why was he even there? We had things under control. That wasn't even his jurisdiction."

Natalie stood with him. "No, it wasn't. Randy is dealing with him, I think."

"Randy." Adrian thought. "Randy is supposed to be taking care of Julie. He can't look for Lewis and take after Julie too."

Natalie reached forward her hand and touched him on the arm, throwing a concerned look towards Sharona and then looking back at Monk. "No, honey. Don't you remember?" she asked. "Julie is staying with Mrs. Baylor tonight while Randy is taking care of some police business."

Monk closed his eyes and put his hand to his head and said nothing. Natalie put her arms around him to try to get him to come sit back down but he shrugged her hands off his shoulder. "I've got to find out why Lewis was there. Why was Lewis there? He didn't belong. I have to find out, why he was there." he said, not knowing that he was repeating what he had said less than one minute before. "Did they re-arrest Julie?" he asked.

A look of concern came upon Natalie's face as she walked up to her boyfriend and tried to get him to focus on her, but for those few minutes, Adrian Monk's mind had gone someplace else – off in its own world, oblivious to the world he was in.

"Honey, please come sit." she said.

Again, he shrugged her off, looking past her toward the nurses' station. "Why aren't they in there helping him? I'm going to go talk to them."

"No, Adrian. They have a job to do. Come sit with me." she said, but he ignored her plea.

Natalie watched as he went and began pestering an older nurse who took him by the hand and physically drug him out toward the waiting room then pointed for him to sit down. He stood in the middle of the hallway looking lost then looked down at his hand where the nurse had been touching it.

Natalie reached in her purse for a wipe to go hand him but before she could a young pretty nurse came up behind him and put her hand on his back and got his attention. She handed him a wipe, said a few words to him and then handed him a slip of paper. Natalie's eyes narrowed as the younger nurse smiled, patted his arm and went away. Mindlessly, he pocketed the slip of paper and walked back into the room.

Natalie quickly made her way to his side, wrapping her arms around him and walking with him towards their seats. He stopped and looked at her.

"Did they rearrest Julie?" he asked. The look that Natalie got on her face when he said this was enough to catch Sharona's attention.

Sharona had been sitting in the waiting room reading through a magazine waiting for Randy to pick her up. Randy had left earlier and said he would be back after he took care of some police business, so Sharona stayed on for moral support. She didn't have much to do in that regard since Natalie was working with Adrian, until that moment when she saw the look on Natalie's face. It was a look of fear. And then she looked at Adrian, and she knew precisely what was going on.

Putting down her magazine, she walked over "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no." she said, walking up to Monk and taking his face in her hands. "Adrian! Look at me. Don't you dare do this." She said, gently slapping the side of his face with her hand. "Get back here. You are not having a psychotic break right now. You hear me? Adrian?!"


Natalie backed away while Sharona worked with Monk, talking to him in the stern but loving voice that only Sharona had.

Natalie sat down in the corner of the room and hugged herself, then started to cry. It was all too much. For weeks she had been nothing but worried about Julie, and now that she was finally seeing some light at the end of that tunnel it seemed everything else was caving in. She had ruined her relationship with the one close woman friend she had and now her boyfriend, whom she loved more than life, was sitting across the room in a state of mind she couldn't reach, requiring his former nurse to try to talk to him and bring him out of wherever it was that he had gone. Could things get any worse? She didn't want to know.

After about twenty minutes she noticed that Sharona's tone of voice was changing and had become softer. She was telling Monk that everything was going to be okay, and every so often Natalie would hear him respond, but she couldn't tell what he had said. Finally, Sharona patted him on the shoulder and asked him "Are you going to be okay? Do you need anything?" to which he replied, that yes. He needed his Natalie, and a cold bottle of water, knowing she would only get him Summit Creek.

Sharona smiled and then nodded over towards the corner where Natalie sat, and Monk turned his head to look for her. He looked awful, but his eyes were registering a clarity that wasn't there before and when he saw her, he looked relieved. Standing up, he excused himself and walked over and sat down next to Natalie. She looked him in the eyes and caressed his cheek.

"Welcome back." She said softly.

He leaned in and kissed her. "I'm sorry I worried you." Was all he said, as he laid his head on her shoulder and then stayed with her on that couch for the rest of the night.

When at last he had fallen asleep, Natalie reached into his pocket and just as she had suspected, the young nurse had handed him her phone number. Call Jessica at 415-555-9987, was all the paper said. What was it with Nurses and Adrian? Maybe it was the vibe he gave off sometimes that he needed to be taken care of. Hmmph... Natalie thought, as she took the piece of paper and wadded it up, placing it in her purse after she did. Jessica can go get her own someone to take care of. She can just stay away from Adrian.