"Is that them, Natalie? Come here, quick! I think that might be them." Adrian Monk squinted his eyes he stood at the edge of the Stottlemeyer's driveway watching for the van to appear.

It wasn't long after Leland woke up before he began to get better and grew stronger and everyone was excited as he began on his long road to recovery. But nobody was as excited as Monk when they got the text that wonderful morning and later heard from the doctor that it looked like his friend was going to make it. Now, just one week later, Leland was coming home for good and at long last the things in Adrian Monk's world were finally beginning to fall back into place.

"It's them! It's them!" he said, excitedly, rushing up to his girlfriend and grabbing her by the hand so that she could stand by him and wave to Leland as Randy, Leland, T.K. Jared and Max pulled into the drive. Natalie had just finished setting up lettered yard signs that they had purchased from the party supply store a couple of hours earlier and dropped what she was doing immediately, grabbing a couple of noise makers and hats for them to wear as they watched the van come down the street.

Monk had spared no expense in purchasing the signs which spelled out WELCOME! LS.

In between the exclamation point and the 'L', a star symbol provided a nice break between phrases. Monk thought a heart was a little 'girly' and figured the star could symbolize Leland's role in law enforcement, something he knew his friend would appreciate. But now, as he saw his friend's face through the glass, he realized a heart might have been more appropriate for nothing could express the way his heart swelled as he realized the enormous gift of Leland arriving home safe and alive.

As Randy parked the car, Monk and Natalie ran to the side of the van and were there when Jared and Max helped to wheel Leland's chair onto the lift and held it steady as it was lowered to the ground.

"Good afternoon, Monk. Natalie!" Leland smirked, as he looked the at the elaborate welcome home message which was overshadowed by the huge smile on his buddy's face. "Looks like you two have been busy."

Monk stood up tall and walked beside the chair as Jared pushed. "Yes. I hope you don't think it's silly, but Natalie and I stopped by Party's Inc. this morning and purchased the letters." Natalie stepped forward, grinning at Monk. "We were going to get enough to spell out 'Welcome Home' except Adrian wasn't quite satisfied with that."

"Let me guess…" Leland surmised, looking at the signs for a minute. "There was more than ten letters."

Monk grinned sheepishly and lightly patted his friend on the shoulder then looked over at Natalie. "Does he know me or does he know me ?" he smiled, as Jared tilted the chair back a bit and pushed Leland over the threshold and up into his house.

Because T.K. knew that it was very important for Adrian to be there when Leland arrived, she consented to allow him and Natalie to help set things up in the house so that things would be as comfortable and convenient for him and T.K. as they possibly could be. It would be a little while before Leland would be able to do stairs, so they set up his living room as a bedroom for him, complete with a hospital bed - something that Monk knew a lot about given his recent history. Both he and Natalie were under strict orders to not stay long. And when Leland finally settled in, T.K. allowed just a few brief moments for them to visit before they would have to go. Adrian pulled up a chair beside his bed and gave Leland a hand written list of tips and tricks to convalescing in a living room. The list was written in Monk's own formal block writing, and Leland was very patient because he knew Monk was just trying to be helpful. He had to snicker when he saw #1 on the list was If nature calls, do not be ashamed to ask for help coming to and from the bathroom as, no matter how strong you feel, you will be too weak at first to do it yourself. Memories came flooding back to the time in Monk's own recovery where Leland had to come out in the middle of the night to pick Monk off of Natalie's bathroom floor and he smiled as he realized that Adrian knew from whence he spoke.

Natalie hung around in the background, interacting with Leland and T.K. very little, and instead chose to work with Jared, taking Leland's dirty clothes from the hospital down to the laundry and sorting and folding the clean clothes so that T.K. didn't have to. All in all, it was a very peaceful, if slightly formal get together, but the two couples got through it and Monk and Natalie left about twenty minutes after Leland got home, with a promise that they'd be back as he was up to it.


For the next week, they kept their distance, waiting for T.K. and Leland to give the okay that they could visit. Adrian would call, at least once a day to check on Leland's status and make sure that they didn't need anything. Aside from that, he and Natalie went on with life as usual, adjusting to Julie's status as a free woman and enjoying not having to spend every waking moment trying to prove her innocence.

When the news hit the papers, Peggy Davenport attempted to reestablish contact with Natalie, but the only interaction that Bobby and Peggy were permitted was a formal thank you letter from Julie for their providing bond and the refund check that was due them once the charges were finally dropped. For all intents and purposes, other than uncle Jonathan, the Davenport connection was dead. The Teegers' home was with Adrian now, at least until they found another place to live.

Life living with Adrian Monk was a bit of an adjustment. It wasn't that Monk ever complained, but the longer that the women lived with him in his apartment, it was apparent that it was too small for three people. Natalie felt bad knowing that Adrian had been kicked out of his own bedroom and knowing how particular he was about things, she made every effort to ensure that things were kept up to his standards. That didn't mean there weren't challenges.

For instance, one morning Monk came into the kitchen dressed in a dark pullover sweater and a pair of dress trousers as was becoming his new 'uniform' on days where he would participate in police work. On this particular morning, however, there was something different. It took a few minutes for Natalie to figure out what it was, but when she did it brought a smile to her face thinking that her unchanging man was becoming perhaps a little more adventuresome. She waited until Julie left the house to go meet with a friend and then she came up behind him, wrapped her arms around him from behind and nibbled lightly on his ear.

Monk was taken by surprise but not offended by his girlfriend's initiative. Ever since Julie's arrest, the two had next to no time for romance and he missed their date nights and being able to hold her while they watched movies on the couch.

He shifted away slightly then turned around and held her in his arms.

"And just what was that for, Ms. Teeger?" he asked with a smile.

Natalie raised her eyebrows. "Ohhhh...I don't know...I guess I just couldn't help myself." she smiled coyly.

"Couldn't help yourself?" he said, kissing her neck lightly. "Why is that? What did I do?"

She reached up and touched his face. "I don't know. I guess it's your bad boy look."

Monk looked confused. "Bad boy look?"

"This." Natalie smiled, rubbing the back of her fingers across the stubble on his face then biting her lip. "It looks very...*kiss*...very...*kiss*...sexy." she said, followed by a very long and passionate kiss. When she finished, she pulled back and said in as sultry of a tone as she could muster "What on earth possessed you to make the change?"

Monk's eyes shifted and now it was his time to bite his lip. He squinched his eyes slightly and then took her by the wrists and removed her hands from his neck.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just decided to look like a hobo for the day."

Natalie bobbed her head and then looked at him, perplexed. "You wanted to look like a hobo?"

"Um...yeah. You know...hobo chic. It's all the rage." he said, turning his back to her and walking into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.

The corner of her mouth curled and she folded her arms. "Uh...no. I wasn't aware of this fashion trend. Please. Tell me more. This ought to be interesting."

Monk kept his back towards Natalie as he spun a yarn about how the lastest fashion magazines were all going to hobo gear for that season's offering and how he just thought he would keep up with the times.

"I see." she said. "You wanted to keep up with the times. Interesting story. How 'bout you tell me the truth now. You know you are the worst liar in the world and I'm not buying that Mr. Clean wants to go around looking like a hobo."

Adrian took some bread and put it in the toaster and stared at the coils while it heated the bread.

"You know, a watched toaster never toasts." Natalie said, walking beside him and leaning against the counter so that she could see his face. "The truth."

Monk couldn't lie to her. "Okay. It was wet."

Natalie furrowed her brows. "What was wet?"

"My razor." he replied. "I went to shave this morning and my razor was wet."

Natalie shook her head. "And?"

"I dry it with a towel after each use." he replied.

"You sure you didn't forget?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Okay." she said. "So, you're saying someone used your razor beside you and that's why you didn't shave this morning?"

He nodded then took the toast out of the toaster and walked to the island with it, taking his knife and cutting off a chunk of butter from the stick. "It's not that it matters. I know it was Julie and that's...that's really...okay..." Natalie watched as he simply obliterated the piece of bread while he tried to explain. "It really was my fault because I should have made sure that sh-she h-had her own."

Natalie took him by his hands, and took the knife away. "Go. Sit down. I will make your toast." she said, gently rubbing his back before he took a seat at the dining room table.

As she placed two fresh pieces of bread in the toaster, she continued. "Those are your things, and Julie needs to remember we are your guests and respect your things. I will say something to her when she gets home."

"Oh, no! Natalie, please...don't!" he exclaimed. "She's just getting her life back. I want her to feel like this is her home as well. It's home to all three of us, and I am glad she felt comfortable enough to do that. I'll just drop by the store a little later and replace my razor and pick up some new razors for her and you. The girl kind. In pink. You girls like that sort of stuff. No big deal."

Natalie grinned then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

He looked up at her and grinned back. "Well, now what was that for?"

She smiled and went to retrieve the toast. "Oh, just for being so sweet and understanding."

He sat up a little taller and smiled looking down at his hands. "Well, it's a two-way street."

"Yes, it is. Besides, hobo chic really is very sexy on you." she said with another bite of her lip and a wink.


Leland had been home for exactly one week and was making such good progress in his recovery that Jared was able to return to his apartment. Leland no longer required physical assistance in making his way to the bathroom or in walking out to the car for visits to the doctor. Of course, T.K. was still there to help him, but she was looking increasingly tired, and therefore when an opportunity came for her to go out and have coffee with Natalie, he suggested that she go.

Since Leland regained consciousness, things between the two couples had been much better but that didn't mean that they were entirely well. Leland had spent enough time on his back thinking about how everything had gone down and he knew that if they were ever to get back to some sense of normalcy that they would need to make special efforts to rebuild and attend to their relationships that they had cherished for so long and somehow put the past behind them. The bond between them, though tattered, was still present and even Leland had to admit that he missed what they had. He wasn't quite ready to deal with the breach between himself and Natalie; however, ever since the day in the hospital where Natalie lent her shoulder for Trudy to cry on, the two women were finding more time to interact and were becoming more comfortable communicating with one another on the phone and via text, so he thought it would be a good place to start.

At first, T.K. resisted Leland's idea, insisting that he wasn't ready to be left alone. But he was persistent and ultimately, she assented to his suggestion and gave Natalie a call. When the day arrived, T.K. rushed about the house making sure that everything was in place for her husband while she was gone even while she put on makeup and got dressed for when Natalie picked her up.

"Now, I'll have my phone on me if you need anything." she said hurriedly as Natalie's car pulled into the driveway. "I'll only be gone for a couple of hours."

"Take all the time you want." Leland said. "I'll be fine here right by myself."

T.K. smiled to herself and said nothing in reply as she opened the front door once Natalie knocked and greeted her friend with a warm and friendly hug.

"Well, hello there!" she said, "Won't you both come in?"

Leland sat up in his chair and looked towards the door with surprise upon hearing the word both. Sure enough, not only was Natalie at his door but Adrian stood by her side. Leland batted his eyes. "Monk is going too?" he asked.

T.K. grabbed a folder off the counter that she had pulled together for Natalie to take to Julie once she got home. It was full of information about a few job postings that were available at T.K.'s workplace that she thought Julie might be interested in applying to while she decided what she wanted to do with her academic future. At this point in time, Julie was still too traumatized to reengage in the theater department at Berkeley, and T.K. thought that advertising might be a good creative outlet for her in case she decided to change course. Having taken the folder, she returned to Leland's side and gave him a kiss on the cheek and then answered his question.

"No, Leland. Adrian is not going with us. I have asked him to sit with you while I'm gone and to make sure that you receive your medication on time. I'm not sure how long we will be gone and I would hate for something to happen where you needed someone near and I couldn't get to you."

"T.K.! I don't need a baby sitter." he complained.

"I know you don't dear." she said, patting him underneath the chin then running her hand across the top of his head. "So, don't think of it that way. Adrian is your friend and has been eager to help ever since you got home. You'll be doing him a service as well as yourself if you two just hang together today for a while. Your wife will worry less as well, and you don't want your wife to worry now, do you?"

Leland grimaced and then smirked. "Alright. He can stay. Just have a good time while you're out and don't worry about me."

"You two have a wonderful time together was well." she said as she and Natalie headed towards the door. "I know it will be good just catching up like a couple of guys."

Monk's eyes never left Natalie as she walked out the door. She turned around and gave him a wink and he smiled and waved, watching until T.K. shut the door. With the smile still on his face, Adrian turned around and looked at Leland. Stretching both of his arms out towards his friend, Monk grinned and said "Leeeeland! My friend! How are you doing?"

Leland nodded and pursed his lips. "I'm doing well, Monk. Doing well. Why don't you sit down a while. Relax."

"Oh, no. I'm fine." Monk replied. "Today...I am here for you! T.K. gave me strict instructions as to everything I'm supposed to do so you can just sit back and not have to worry about a thing. I've got it all taken care of, right here." he said, retrieving a list from his pocket.

"Let me see that." Stottlemeyer commanded.

Adrian walked over towards him and handed them list and watched as Leland read.

"Lunch time at 12:30. Ham sandwich with cheese and mayo and a slice of tomato. Prune juice to drink?"

"Gotta keep things moving when you're sedentary." Monk replied looking above Leland's head.

Leland shook his head.

"Give medicine at one o'clock on a full stomach. Take to bathroom at one fifteen...Oh for Pete's sake, Monk. I can make it to the restroom by myself!"

"Leland, you may feel that you are able to do these things, but take it from me, you're not as strong as you think you are. Remember back when I was staying at Natalie's and recuperating…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…that was in your instructions earlier, remember?" he replied.

Monk raised his chin a little. "Well, if there is one lesson that I learned that night it's that accidents can happen very quickly and the last thing we want is for you to go in there by yourself and wind up on the floor like I did – particularly since you're older than me. You know, the older we get the more fragile our bones are."

"I'm just two years older than you, Monk."

"I know that, Leland. I'm just saying…you're not as young as you think you are. Besides, just think of this as payback for then." Monk said looking at Leland and smiling with a devilish glint in his eyes.

Mother of Mercy, T.K. What have you done? Leland said under his breath as Monk merrily made his way to the kitchen to go fill up a glass with prune juice for his friend to drink.


The two women entered their usual coffee shop and even ended up sitting at their usual booth; but four, almost five months of silence and tension still draped over everything like a dark cloud. Ten minutes of closeness on the tile floor of the ICU bathroom was a start in the right direction but both T.K. and Natalie knew that it couldn't heal everything. More work needed to be done.

As they left Leland and T.K.'s house on the way to their destination, they listened to the radio and Natalie had asked how Leland's recovery was going thus far, correctly assuming T.K. needed someone to vent to, but they couldn't stay on neutral ground for long. Nor could they ignore the elephant in the room if they wanted their friendship back, and Natalie still wasn't entirely sure about T.K. but she wanted that friendship back very much -T.K.'s and Leland's. Natalie knew T.K. was who she had to start with, knowing simply from how loyal Leland Stottlemeyer was that he wouldn't think of forgiving her until she made things right with his wife.

They ordered their drinks - coffee for Natalie, iced tea for T.K. and some small treats, and as soon as the muffins were delivered to the table Natalie took a deep breath for courage and spoke. "I need to apologize for what I said to you and to Leland that night that we all tried to have dinner. I seem to have a problem about saying things before I think. I didn't mean what I said to you."

The smile didn't quite reach T.K.'s eyes, but it was a start, at least. Natalie waited patiently for the other woman to say something. T.K. was silent for a few seconds and when she opened her mouth, she took a deep breath as though she was considering her words extremely carefully.

"Natalie, I'm going to say this only once and then we're not going to talk about it again. I can't talk about it again because even now, four months later, it hurts too much.

I'm not holding what you said against you because..well…you didn't know. But I do believe that you meant every single thing you said at dinner. You wanted to hurt Leland and you wanted to hurt me and you did."

Natalie pondered this and replied, softly. "You're right. I did want to hurt you. I wanted everyone to hurt like I was hurting and I wanted everyone to understand how absolutely out of my mind worried I was about Julie being in prison for the rest of her life for something that she didn't do."

T.K. reached across the small booth to squeeze Natalie's hand. "Natalie," she whispered. "You were right about one of the things you screamed at me that night. I…I don't have biological children of my own." T.K's voice faltered over the words and she was horrified that she was going to start crying right then and there but thankfully Natalie was too busy looking down at the booth. "Natalie," she whispered again, a little louder to get Natalie to look at her. T.K. immediately handed her a napkin when she saw the tears flooding Natalie's eyes. "I don't have biological children of my own but Leland made it very clear to me from our first date that if we were to ever be serious that Max and Jared were part of the package. I don't just love those boys because they're part of Leland, I love them because they're good boys and I love having them as a part of my life. If they, God forbid, ever ended up in trouble like Julie did, I don't know what I would do. I'd probably go a little bit overboard like you did and I know that I'd have to stop Leland from singlehandedly solving their case himself. I understand where you were coming from with Julie, and so does Leland. And, we hate it that you spent all this time thinking that Leland didn't believe in Julie."

"Thank you," was all Natalie could think of to say at first, even though those two words didn't seem nearly adequate for the four months of hurt all of them had been through. "I tried to call you the next day and you didn't answer. I'm sorry that I let my stubbornness cloud my mind about you and our friendship and that I didn't try again."

T.K. slowly, carefully, withdrew her hand from Natalie's. "I'm sorry, too." she murmured. "It was wrong of me to force Max to lie for me and tell you that I wasn't home. I…I behaved like a child and that wasn't fair to you." She swallowed. "Natalie, you were cruel to me to bring up James in front of Leland, but I was wrong first and shouldn't have told you about him in the first place. No one in my entire life knows the full story, other than my parents, and I shouldn't have even mentioned his name to you before I told my husband, so I bear part of the responsibility.

I can say that something good has come out of this situation in that it has taught me a couple of lessons. First, you should always strive to be honest with the people you love and not hide things from them. They only end up getting hurt even when that's never your intent. And second, it is always important to forgive. I haven't told Leland about James yet, but I intend to."

Natalie nodded her head and offered T.K. a tiny smile of encouragement and sympathy. "You should."

"I will. And…I forgive you."

Natalie looked at her with a soft smile and nodded. "Thank you. That means so very much. Our friendship means so much to me. I would love if we could just…start over?"

"I would like that too." T.K. smiled.


Weeks of things they hadn't had the chance to talk about sat between them and Natalie laughed. T.K. cocked her head curiously and Natalie laughed again. "I'll bet you twenty dollars that Adrian and Leland can't get through the afternoon without wanting to kill each other."

T.K. smirked, looking at her friend for a long time and without a word reached for her purse and rummaged inside for her wallet. She didn't have a twenty but she had two tens and she laid them on the table in front of Natalie.

"Max and Jared and I already have a pool going. Jared said an hour and Max said thirty minutes. I'm choosing to believe in the man I married and I'm giving him two hours."

The two women laughed.


The ladies had been gone for a little less than an hour and Monk had already freshened Leland's drink, fluffed his pillow twice and taken him for a short 'potty break' before finally sitting down to read him the newspaper. Leland protested, saying that he was more than capable of reading the paper himself, but Monk replied with a smile "No, it is your job to relax. It is my job to take care of you while T.K. is away. Those were my instructions. Just take it easy and let your cares…drift away."

Stottlemeyer raised one eyebrow and laid back in his chair, adjusting himself slightly to the degree that Monk immediately set down the paper and walked over to the chair, pulling Leland forward so he could fluff his pillow once more. "You should have told me you were uncomfortable."

"I wasn't uncomfortable, Monk. I'm fine." Leland said.

"Are you sure? I could get you another drink. Your ice looks a little melted." Monk replied.

"No. It's good. Really. Just sit down. I'm fine. Sit down and read the paper. I'll be fine." Leland said in frustration.

Adrian walked hesitantly towards his seat and began to sit but then half stood up again and looked at Leland. "You sure you're fine? Because I can..."

"Monk! Sit!" Leland barked and Adrian sat.

"Okay, as long as you're fine. I'll just get the paper here and see what's in the news."

"Fine. Read me what's in the news." Leland said, leaning back in his chair.

Monk picked up the paper and carefully unfolded it and then opened it up, shaking it several times. He laid it in his lap and ran his hand over the top of it, then looked at the ink that rubbed off onto his palm.

"Oh!" he said, as he laid the paper back on the table and stood up, walking to the kitchen sink and washing his hands with soap and water. Grabbing a paper towel, he dried his hands and then returned with a three fresh paper towels to his seat.

Leland watched as Adrian carefully placed one of the paper towels in his lap and used the other two paper towels to handle the edge of the paper. He opened the paper with care and laid it flat on Leland's dining room table. Taking the paper towel out of his lap, he then began to run the paper towel over the length of the paper while holding its edges with his hand. Leland watched as he continued this task for several minutes, in his own little Monk world thinking his own little Monk thoughts.

Finally, Stottlemeyer had enough. Raising a frustrated eyebrow, he glared at Adrian. "Monk! What in blue blazes are you doing?"

"It's wrinkled." Adrian replied. "The newspaper is wrinkled. I am flattening it out."

"You're flattening the newspaper." he asked.

"Yes. Your distributor's quality control must be down. My newspapers are never wrinkled." he said.

"Let me guess, at some point in the past you received wrinkled newspapers from your delivery people and you complained. And, from that point forward they were straight." Leland said.

"Exactly. I could call them for you right now if you'd like." Monk suggested.

"No, Monk. It's fine. Actually, I would really prefer that you not straighten out my newspaper for me. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be read."

"But how can you stand that? You're paying a dollar seventy-five for a newspaper. The least they could do is handle it with care and not haphazardly toss it about like it is dirty laundry." Monk replied.

"I guess I'm just not as particular as you. Just read me the paper. Don't worry about the creases." Leland said.

Adrian wasn't happy and looked back and forth between the paper towel and the paper several times before settling back down in his east. He was trying to fight some of his less important compulsions and small victories such as this showed he was getting better. Determining to make the best of it, he was able to will the drive away, took a deep breath and was ready to begin.

"So, what would you like to learn?" he asked, holding the paper up with two paper towels.

Leland looked at him and simply said. "Sports. Tell me what's going on in the sports world."

Monk looked at the front of the paper and noted it stated there was a story about the San Francisco Giants on the back cover. Flipping the paper around, he then opened the paper and turned the pages until he reached the beginning of the sport section. He began to read.

A's stifled by Verlander. Tiger's ace allows only two hits against injury-depleted lineup. By Paul Gaeckle. Special to the S.F. Examiner. First line of the article. Oakland. Dash. Two years after Dallas Braeden's tear-jerking perfect game..." Monk paused and read to himself a moment then looked up with confusion. "Why were they crying?" he asked.

"Huh?" Leland responded.

"Why were they crying if the game was perfect?" Adrian replied.

Leland looked at Monk and scoffed. "Because they were happy." He said, sarcastically.

"Oh. Okay." he responded, blinking once then nodding as he absorbed that thought. "That makes sense." he said, continuing reading.

"Tear jerking game at the Oakland Coliseum, the American League's reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winner stifled an injury-plagued A's lineup by tossing a Mother's Day gem of his own."

"Are these literal gems?" Monk asked.

Leland furrowed his brow. "No, Monk. Figure of speech."

"Good. Because if these were literal gems, they might be difficult to find if he tossed them." he reasoned.

Stottlemeyer raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Justin Verlander wasn't completely unblemished in the Detroit Tigers' 3-1 victory over the A's on Sunday afternoon, but he was sharp, nevertheless. In seven innings of work, the Tigers ace - who battled a blister on his pitching thumb... Oh, gee! That had to be painful, not to mention dangerous." Adrian noted.

"Dangerous? How?" Leland asked.

"You're never supposed to pop a blister. They could get infected and that would be really bad."

Leland lowered his chin and looked at Monk through the top of his eyes, exhaling audibly.

"What?" Adrian asked. "That could be a career ending injury! Is something wrong?"

"Um...yeah. I changed my mind about the paper. Let's watch some TV." Leland said.

Adrian looked surprised. "Are you sure?"

Leland nodded. "Yeah, buddy. Why don't we just watch some TV. See what's on."

Laying the paper down, Monk walked over and picked up the remote and then came back and sat down in his seat with a smile.

Leland reached out his hand but Monk retained custody of the remote.

"I'll take care of this." he smiled "Just relax."

"Monk, I can use a remote." Leland snarled.

"No, Leland, you just rest. I will take care of it." he said, using his phone to look up a set of instructions on how to use a remote.

By now, Leland was desperate for his anger-management yo-yo. Watching Monk fumble around for a bit, Stottlemeyer finally spoke up.

"Monk, it's really simple. Just hand it here."

"No. Leland. You're supposed to be resting. I have it all handled. You're never going to get better if you exert yourself."

"That's not exerting myself."

"Leland, you aren't going to make me have to call T.K. now are you?"

Leland looked at Monk incredulously, then Adrian read aloud. "To change channel, press guide and then press up or down button."

"What are you looking for?" Leland asked.

"Channel 10."

"Hand it here."

"No, Leland, I said I would handle it."

"Fine. What is on Channel 10 that you want to watch?"

"I don't know." he laughed, as if the question were a silly one.

"Then why do you have to...nevermind, it's channel 10." Leland rolled his eyes.

"You'll thank me later." Monk replied with a smile.


Monk settled back in his chair as a documentary on astrobiology played on Channel 10. Stottlemeyer held his tongue for a while. At least Monk wasn't trying to baby him; but, after about five minutes he politely asked him to change the channel.

"What? You don't like this? It's a classic." Monk asked.

Fresh out of patience, Leland replied, "No, Monk. I don't like it. Just change the damn channel!"

"Alright...alright. No need to yell." Monk said, looking down at the remote and pressing the button to get into the DVR library.

"I wasn't yelling." Leland replied. "Wait! You're in the wrong spot!"

"You're yelling!" Monk said.

"That's because you're in the wrong spot. This is where we DVR things."

"DV-what?"

"DVR. Just hand me the remote." he said, trying to get up from his chair and getting a side-stitch as he did.

"Now see! You overexerted yourself. Sit back down and stop worrying about it. I'll back out of where I am." Monk said, just before he accidently pressed the delete button and both men watched the titles disappear from the screen.

Leland put one hand over his mouth but said nothing.

Instinctively, Monk knew that wasn't the right move. "What did I do?" Monk asked.

Leland just smirked and shook his head.

"What?" Monk asked, with a bit of trepidation.

Leland responded by a raised eyebrow. "You may now call my wife."

"W-Why? Why do I need to call T.K.?"

"So that you can explain to her how you just deleted her entire season of Grey's Anatomy."


Two hours into their meet-up, Natalie and T.K. were having a genuinely good time conversing and swapping stories about their boys and the kids. They were in the middle of telling stories about worst "smell" disasters that the two had ever experienced.

"If you think that's bad," T.K. said. "Wait until you hear about the time that I had to buy five gallons of milk for Max's baseball league's season end breakfast."

"Oh, this ought to be good." Natalie smiled.

"Depends on how you define good. I went to the grocery and Max was supposed to go out to the car when I got back and bring in the groceries, but he got all engrossed in this video game instead. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what happened next. Sealed milk cartons. Hot California sun."

"Oh, no!" Natalie said, giggling and covering her face as she imagined the mess.

"Oh, yes! If you think your Mr. Monk is a clean freak, just imagine if he had to clean out a car in which MILK exploded all over the back seats and windows..."

"Oh, my!" Natalie said squinching her nose up and fanning with her hand.

"Not to mention the smell! Oh! That smell!" T.K. said in an animated fashion until she heard her phone go buzz. "Just a minute, someone is trying to reach me." she said, reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out her cell. At the same time Natalie heard the notification ring go off inside her purse.

"Oh, me too." she said, reaching down to pull out her phone.

Both women looked at the messages on their phones and shook their heads.

"Mine is from Adrian. At least he used the term 'Mayday' correctly." Natalie noted.

T.K. laughed. "Well, I wish I could tell you the terms Leland used but I'm afraid it might result in some sort of fine from the F.C.C."

Natalie laughed.

"Now, where were we?" T.K. asked.

"You were telling me about Max and the milk." Natalie replied.

"Oh, yes..." T.K. said.


It was three and a half hours before T.K. and Natalie arrived back at the Stottlemeyer residence and they weren't quite sure what they would find when they got there. The front door was unlocked and the screen door allowed for a gentle breeze to pass through the house making it quite comfortable. Walking up on the porch, the women heard the sound of a television playing some sort of ball game and nothing else. They looked at each other before entering the house.

"I hope they're alive." Natalie told T.K. who just smirked.

"Oh. They're alive. They may not be speaking, but they're alive." she replied.

Walking into the house, T.K. was right. Leland was sitting up on the couch, his fluffy pillow on the floor, and he was smoking a cigar while holding the remote. Adrian sat next to him, staring quietly at the television screen with his hands folded in front of him, saying nothing. T.K. and Natalie gave each other an amused glance then T.K. set down a bag of pastries she had purchased for the next morning's breakfast on the kitchen counter.

Walking over to Leland, she took his cigar out of his mouth and pressed it into an ashtray then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You know what the doctor said about smoking. It will slow down your healing if you smoke." she said to her husband who just sighed and rolled his eyes.

Adrian mumbled something that was unintelligible causing T.K. to perk up and ask him what it was he said.

"I said, that's what I told him." Monk replied. "But he wouldn't listen."

"I wouldn't listen?" Leland said with his voice raising in volume. "Just wait until she finds out what you did to her entire season of Grey's Anatomy!"

"My what?" T.K. asked.

"That was an accident, Leland! I didn't mean to delete them." Monk said, his voice now raising in volume. "Not like the way you have stubbornly refused to do anything you were supposed to while T.K. and Natalie were gone."

"I'm not a child." Leland retorted.

"I know you're not, Leland. I'm not stupid. But, you sure act like one!" Monk replied. "T.K., he was a horrible patient!"

"Enough!" T.K. shouted, as Natalie walked over and sat on the arm of the couch then put her hands on Adrian's shoulders. "Both of you just settle down. I am disappointed in you both. Adrian, you should know better than to mess with a remote. Everyone knows that you're a genius in everything you do but you're dangerous with electronics. And, Leland, what was it I told you to do before I left?"

"You said to be on my best behavior." Leland replied.

"And were you?" she asked.

"Listen, Trudy, you weren't..." Leland said.

"I... don't want to hear about it!" she interrupted. "Now if you'll excuse me for a moment. I need to use the little girl's room. I'll be right back."

Leland shook his head and took the remote and turned up the volume while T.K. was away. Monk simply buried his forehead into Natalie's ribcage as she soothingly stroked his shoulders and the three of them made no effort to talk. A minute later, T.K. came out of the restroom, stopped and shook her head. Walking to Leland, she took the remote out of his hand and muted the volume.

"Hey, what'ja do that for?" he asked.

"I really don't think that our neighbors want to hear what the latest score is for whatever it is you are watching." she said. "And, Adrian. I would like to thank you very much for watching Leland while I was gone. You're a good friend, and it is much appreciated. However, let me offer you a piece of advice."

Monk and Natalie looked up at her as she continued.

"When a man and a woman are sharing a bathroom, it would be very helpful if you, the man, would remember to put the seat down when you're done."

Natalie snickered. "Amen to that!"

Monk turned his eyes over towards Leland and then looked back at T.K. "Well, how do you know it was me, and it wasn't him?"

T.K. raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Well first of all, I pretty much have Leland trained that this is not a problem in our house. Secondly, I noticed that all of my makeup is now sitting exactly parallel to the backsplash, and everything is arranged according to height."

Natalie burst out laughing. "Busted!" she said, punching him in the shoulder.

He then grabbed his arm and said "Ow! I thought you were supposed to be on my side."

She reached her hand out and began to play a little with his curls. "I am on your side. But that doesn't mean I like or appreciate having my backside occasionally take a splash in your toilet bowl."

Monk clamped his eyes shut as the visual image immediately came into mind. "Well, on that note, wasn't Julie going to be coming home soon?" he said.

Natalie looked at her watch and exclaimed. "You're right. She's supposed to be home within the half hour. If we leave now, we'll beat her home."

The couple stood and walked towards the door and Monk turned back to Leland and looked him in the eye.

"Hey, Leland. I know that I drive you crazy sometimes...well, pretty much all the time. But, I just wanted to let you know that I'm very happy you're home and that I got to spend the afternoon with you. It's been a long time. I've missed it." he said.

A soft grin came on Leland's face. "I've missed you too, buddy. Thank you for coming over today."

T.K. gave Natalie a polite hug and then hugged Adrian too and the two of took one step out the door, then she turned around.

"I guess I'll see you around, commander." she said, somewhat awkwardly.

Leland nodded. "Yes. I'll see you at the station, Ms. Teeger."

The two of them looked at one another for a few seconds. Things were not quite well and the emotional wounds were quite fresh, but this was a start. Natalie turned and looped her arm through Adrian's and they began to walk down the front porch stairs. As they did, they distinctly heard Leland ask T.K. "Alright, now tell me. How did things really go today?"