With the new ground rules in place, Adrian felt much more comfortable going into the office. He would do his thing and give a report out to Grier, and soon he knew he would solve the case. Or, so he thought.
Sitting down at his desk, he turned on his computer and studied the various things he had looked at the day before. The crime scenes, the methods, and the damage. He stared at the data and accessed data on the FBI's servers to look at actual crime scene photos. But, he still had the same mental block as before. Something was just under the surface in his memory banks, but in the rarest of instances – he couldn't draw it out. "Dang it, Natalie! Why aren't you here?" he said out loud.
"Has Natalie gone someplace?" asked Grier, entering his office.
"Oh, good morning, Director." Adrian said with a twitch of the neck. "Uh, yes. She is visiting family in California."
"I see. I suppose she took those two beautiful little rugrats with her then?" she asked.
"Yes. Yes, she did." He replied.
"Well. She deserves it. I hope she takes some time and just pampers herself." Grier said.
"I'm sure she will." He replied, looking back at his computer.
.
"Say, what are you working on?" she asked.
"This? Oh. The case. Just looking over evidence. By the way, you never told me who told you about the chatter." He said.
"No, I didn't. Truth is, I'm not at liberty to divulge my sources." She said, sitting on the far edge of his desk and crossing her mini-skirt covered legs a few feet from him.
"Not even to your Associate Director?" he asked, instinctively not looking towards her.
"Well…perhaps. If you'll have dinner with me tonight." She said, leaning in seductively.
Adrian suddenly became very uncomfortable. "Um…I…uh…" His mind froze. Come on, Monk! Think!
"What do you say? You have to be lonely without the wifey at home. And, I have this wonderful recipe for Salmon Teriyaki that I wanted to try. It would be a shame to have to eat it alone." She purred.
"Sorry, but I'm um…" he fumbled over his words, then looked around his desk, spotting Natalie's photo. "I'm fasting!" he finally spat out.
"Fasting?" Grier answered, crossing her arms in displeasure. "Since when?"
"Since, um…this morning. I have been putting on a few pounds and decided to go on a fast so that I can look my best when my wife…to whom I'm very happily married…comes home. But thank you for asking." He said.
Grier stood and walked behind Adrian's chair. Resting her forearms on his shoulders, she leaned in close to his face and whispered in his ear. "I think you look great."
Adrian swallowed hard and shifted positions nervously in his chair. "Th-thank you, Director Grier, but I…"
"Oh, Adrian – please, call me Sharon." She said, standing up and sitting on the desk directly in front of him.
As Adrian straightened a few papers on the desk and adjusted the angle of his computer monitor, she reached forward and put her hand just under his chin.
"Adrian, look at me!" she said, raising his face to where he was forced to look straight at her.
Leaning towards him, she said "Have I ever told you how incredibly sexy a man with a mind is to me?"
"No. Not really. But, do you really think that is appropri…" he mumbled.
"Oh, Adrian. We're two consenting adults. I know you're lonely. And what Natalie doesn't know won't hurt her." she smirked, running her hand through his hair.
"Wh…wh..what are you saying?" he said in disgust.
"I'm saying ...I'm tired of talking!" she said, taking his face in her hands and kissing him full on the lips.
Utter horror rushed through Adrian's veins and his eyes screamed in terror as he watched this woman do what was only Natalie's prerogative to do. Quickly, panic overtook him and he reached for his desk to push himself away. Grier would not let go. Finally, he jumped up out of the chair, breaking Grier's grip and nearly toppled her from the desktop. Grabbing his jacket he rushed out the door in a frenzied daze. He had to get out of there. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to go.
Grier stood up from the desk, and straightened her skirt and then sneered. Sitting down in Adrian's chair, she opened his notes to see what information he had derived thus far. Realizing how little he had accomplished, she sat back in a huff.
"You mean I did all of that for this?" she said in frustration. Picking up the phone, she dialed out. After a moment, the other line picked up.
"This is Sharon...Yeah. I did what I said I was going to do... No. He's got nothing. I don't get it. Most brilliant mind in law enforcement with total access to all our data, and he hasn't picked up a single thing. I guess we're going to have to force the issue. Have someone claim responsibility... Yeah. I'll have my operatives kick it into gear in Texas. Monk would be good to lend legitimacy to this case, but he's not absolutely required... What? Okay. I'll get right on it." She said, hanging up the phone.
That evening at Ambrose and Heather's house, Natalie sat around the dinner table with the Monks and the Stottlemeyers. With the exception with Adrian not being present, it was like old times. But then again, he was present in everyone's thoughts and spirits as talk about him, his life growing up, and the change they all had seen in him since he and Natalie got together dominated the conversation.
"Was Adrian always interested in crimefighting?" Natalie asked, enjoying the chance to get to know things about her husband that she had never heard before.
"Oh. Oh yes. Adrian was always an adventurer. When dad used to read to us from Sherlock Holmes, he would always play Sherlock and I was always Mycroft, Sherlock's eccentric brother. He never begrudged me if I would find a clue, but most often he would find them first because he was more willing to stick his neck out. I'm sure he's loving the job at the FBI." Ambrose said.
"Why do you say that?" TK asked.
"Well, when he was probably six years old, Dad took us to a drive-in movie theatre where they were showing the movie G-Men with James Cagney. He got really interested in the FBI through that, and we used to even play cops and robbers with Adrian as the G-man coming to arrest me, the mob boss. Then, in high school, I know he used to be into the reruns of that show The Untouchables about Elliot Ness. Even though Ness technically wasn't FBI, it was still right up his alley. I figured with him being so adventuresome, he'd end up joining the FBI or CIA once he got out of college. But then, he met Trudy, and he became a cop." Ambrose said.
"That explains why he had me go to the bookstore before the store opened that one time so that we could pick up the Biography of J Edgar Hoover the minute it hit the shelves." Leland added.
"Wow. The things I'm learning. I'm sure you're just full of stories!" Natalie said, relaxing in good company.
Just then, her cell phone rang its familiar tune.
"Oh, that's me. Just a second. Could be my parents wanting to know where we are." She said.
Walking to her purse, she pulled out the phone and saw that the call was coming from Adrian's cell phone.
She furrowed her brow. "That's odd. It's Adrian. He's been texting me to give me space. I wonder if something is wrong?"
As her friends at the table stopped talking to let her take the call she answered, "Hello? Adrian are you okay?"
"Natalie. This isn't Adrian. It's Preacher." The officer said.
"Preacher? How how are you?" she asked.
"I'm okay. It's…it's Adrian. Something has happened." He said.
Natalie's heart sank and she stumbled to find a seat. "S-something's happened? Is he okay?"
Fear and concern struck the faces of everyone present at the dinner table.
"Physically, yes." Preacher said. "Mentally…not so much. I …I don't know what has happened. I can't get him to make any sense. He…he just came rushing into the house and upstairs yellin' and hollerin' that he needed some mouthwash. Lot's and lots of mouthwash. I'm surprised he doesn't have chemical burns on his lips because he gargled for over an hour and used up two whole bottles of the stuff and then brushed his teeth and lips about 4 times."
"What? Why did he do that?" she asked.
"He wouldn't say. He just kept pacing and saying something like 'Natalie, I didn't do it. It wasn't me. Oh what am I going to do? It was all her. I tried to stop her.' Over and over and over again he kept saying it. I tried to get him to calm down, but then he just sank to the floor and started crying. He kept saying your name and saying he was sorry but it wasn't him. I…I don't know what he's talking about. I've never seen him like this. What do I do?" Preacher said.
Natalie was relieved that something hadn't happened to him physically, but she quickly slipped into her old role as nurturer and protector when she realized he was having some sort of mental crisis brought on by some 'she' that had thus far remained unnamed.
"Put him on the phone." She said.
"I…I'm not sure he can even respond to you. He's just sitting there now staring and muttering to himself." Preacher said.
"That's okay. He'll listen. Please, just put him on the phone." She said.
Preacher walked over to Adrian, who was oblivious to his presence, and tried to give him the phone. When he wouldn't take it, he held the phone up to Adrian's ear and told Natalie that she could speak.
"Adrian. Adrian, honey. Can you hear me?" she said.
Adrian continued to stare straight ahead, as she called out his name a couple more times. Finally, he blinked as he realized that it was her. He looked at the phone and then took it from preacher. Putting the receiver up to his ear he finally spoke.
"N-Natalie?" he said.
"Adrian, yes. It's me, honey. It's Natalie." She said.
"OH NATALIE! I'm So Sorrrrrrry!" he cried, mumbling intelligible things into the phone that sounded like pure gibberish to her.
"Adrian, slow down. Listen to me. Honey. It's okay! Slow down. What happened?" she said tenderly.
"Natalie...it was awful...I...I was in my office and…I told him that I did not want to work with her…but she just came barging in…" he sobbed, gulping in big breaths of air between phrases.
"Who? Who came barging in?" she asked. "Grier?"
"Y…Yes…." He said through tears. "Sweetheart…I didn't want for it to happen…you have to believe me…."
"What? What did she do, Adrian." She said. "What did she do to you?"
"I told him to make her not to work with me." He said, mangling his grammar a bit.
"You told who?" Natalie asked.
"John. John Stoddard." He said.
"You told the President that you did not want to work with Grier. But she is working with you anyway?" She said.
"He promised I wouldn't have to." Adrian said.
"That's fine, Adrian. What did the woman do to you?" she asked.
"Oh, don't make me tell you…" he cried. "I can't tell you."
"Adrian, I promise, you can tell me anything. Honey, I love you. You can tell me anything. You're not in trouble." She said.
Adrian sniffed hard…."Oh gosh….mucus…mucus….wipe! I need a wipe!"
Preacher rushed to his aid and handed him both a box of Kleenex and a packet of wipes.
"ADRIAN! FOCUS! What did that buh…w-woman do?" she asked in frustration. Suddenly she heard him blow his nose on the other end. She cringed.
"Sh…she….oh gosh…"
"Adrian! Tell me!" she ordered.
"She kissed me! She kissed me! Oh crimeny…I'm I'm so sorry, Natalie. I told her I didn't want…she wanted me to have dinner…I told her I was fasting…she, she wouldn't take no…" he said.
Natalie put her hand to her face and closed her eyes as he rambled on. She knew in her heart of hearts that he was completely innocent in the matter, not only because she knew how he felt towards her but also the idea of swapping spit with someone like Grier was likely to send his germaphobia into overdrive.
"Okay…Adrian…honey…listen to me." She finally said. "I believe you and I trust you. Pull yourself together. It's okay. I'm not mad at you. I know you didn't want that to happen."
"I didn't. I'm so sorry." He sniffed.
"Stop apologizing. Calm down and take a deep breath and go let Preacher make you a soothing cup of tea or something. Just relax. It's going to be okay. I promise. Don't beat yourself up any more. I'm not mad at you. I love you. And.. And, I'm coming home. Don't worry about a thing. If John Stoddard won't do it, I will take care of Ms. Grier!"
