Natalie said her farewells to the Davenports and made arrangements for the first flight out of San Francisco the next morning, with a non-stop planned arrival in DC by 11:15 AM.

Adrian and Preacher arrived at Reagan International at 10:00 AM so that he would be sure not to miss her arrival. They sat in the first seat in the waiting area where they were able to see arriving flights as they came in.

They hadn't taken time to eat breakfast, so Preacher ran to the Airport coffee shop and brought back two coffees and some donuts.

"Here, man. I brought you something to eat." Preacher said to Adrian who sat tall, holding a bouquet of roses and stretching his neck, looking for Natalie's arrival.

"No. That's okay. But thank you." He said.

"Man, you haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning. You need some nourishment." Preacher said.

"I… I can't." he said, smiling. "I…I'm all jittery inside. Do…do I look okay?" he asked.

Preacher looked at his friend and chuckled. "You look like you always do."

"Really?" Monk said, suddenly looking towards the floor. "That's, that's too bad."

"Naw, man. You look fine. You look just fine." He said, patting him on the back.


At precisely 11:15 AM, Natalie's plane touched down. As usual, Lee had been pretty much wonderful on the flight, sleeping most of the time and studying things the rest of the flight. Abby, on the other hand, had been emotional the moment the pressure changed in the cabin upon takeoff. For three hours of the flight she would not stop crying, making Natalie a nervous wreck. Finally, Natalie was able to coax her to sleep by singing one of the songs that Adrian sang to her when he put her to bed. By the time the plane landed, both children were perfect little angels and one would never guess the turmoil that had just transpired.

The moment Natalie stepped off the plane and rolled the twins out into the waiting area, tears began to flow. Adrian's face beamed and he had a permanent smile etched on his face as he went up to his wife and threw his arms around her and held her tightly. He had been lost without her. Natalie laid her head on his shoulder and rubbed his back, making his lapel wet with her own tears. Having come to a stop, both Lee and Abby began to cry as well, though their parents were somewhat incognizant of this fact. And Preacher wiped away tears from his face as he watched the reunion occurring.

Finally, after a good long while, Adrian pulled back a little bit from the hug and he and Natalie kissed a tender kiss of reconciliation, then he bent down and picked up his children, one by one and cradled them both in his arms. It was a beautiful moment.


As Preacher drove the couple back towards his house, he explained to Natalie that there was room enough for the entire family in the house, and they could stay as long as they wanted. Natalie thanked Preacher, and indicated that she didn't want to go back to his place just yet.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"Take me to the White House, Preacher." Natalie said.

"The White House?" Preacher asked.

"Yes, I need to talk to the President." Natalie explained.

"Natalie, you know you can't just walk into the Oval office. You have to have an appointment." Adrian said.

"Oh, I phoned ahead." Natalie replied. "He'll see me alright."


The Monks were met by the White House Butler and then by Gloria Stoddard who kissed them both on the cheek and greeted them warmly.

"Natalie! Adrian! I'm so happy to see you!" she said.

"Wonderful seeing you as well, Mrs. Stoddard." Said Natalie.

"Please. Call me Gloria, dear. And who are these two beautiful children?" she said.

"This is Lee, Leland Robert. And the other one is Abby, or Abigail Margaret. They are my and Natalie's twins." Said Adrian.

"Twins! Oh my goodness! Natalie, you must be Superwoman. How on earth do you manage? I would not have the energy." Gloria asked.

"Oh, Adrian is a lot of help." She said. "He's an excellent father."

Adrian looked at the floor bashfully and squeezed Natalie's hand.

"I'm sure he is." Gloria said. "Well, I rounded John up after I received your phone call and he is dutifully waiting in the Oval Office for your visit. If you would like, I can take the children into the staff nursery while you visit. I'm sure you have a lot to say."

John Stoddard looked like a disobedient child who had been placed into timeout when Adrian and Natalie entered the Oval office. He barely lifted his head, before motioning for them to sit in the formal sitting area at the far end of the room. Standing up from the Resolute desk, he picked up some papers and walked to sit beside them on one of the two sofas at the center of the room. As he sat, he was far humbler than they had ever seen him.

"Good afternoon, Adrian, Natalie. I would first like to apologize for my actions in recruiting Adrian to his position. It seems that I was so blinded by the political fallout that I forgot the human element. I'm sure that must have been terrifying, and I deeply regret any rift that it may have caused in your relationship." He began.

Natalie and Adrian both sat somewhat stoic through the apology. With everything they had just gone through, neither one of them was about to give him a pass.

John, uncomfortably shifted in his seat and loosened his collar.

"Furthermore, it is my understanding from talking to Gloria that Sharon Grier acted inappropriately towards you in your office the other day." John stated.

This time, Adrian was the one who squirmed. Not only did he not want to think about it; but he definitely did not want to talk about it since it was personally embarrassing.

"We do not tolerate sexual harassment; regardless which gender is doing the harassing. You are being removed from Grier's command and she is being placed upon administrative leave pending investigation. The cover story is that she will be out attending to family duties, but she has been told that she is to come nowhere near you from here on out." Stoddard said.

"How can you guarantee that, sir?" said Adrian. "With all due respect, you promised before that I wouldn't have to deal with her."

"That's where this contract comes in." said John. "You will still have your same title for optics sake, but I'm contracting a new assistant who will be with you at all times until this case wraps up."

Adrian became agitated. "A new assistant! John, do you just get up in the morning thinking how you can rearrange everyone else's life? You're making decisions about mine without so much as consulting me and choosing someone to assist me without so much as an interview. It's not right!"

John looked up at Natalie and then at Adrian. "Adrian. I can assure you that I did not make this decision lightly. I believe you'll be very pleased with the qualifications…"

"John, you're not hearing me…" Adrian said. Natalie touched his arm. "Honey, let him finish."

Adrian clenched his jaw and glared at Stoddard. "Alright, I'm listening."

"Very well." Stoddard grinned, for the first time since they had been in the room. Seems that both Gloria and Natalie knew precisely what button to push to get their husband's to snap to. "Natalie. I've had my personal attorney draw up the terms of the contract which states as follows. You will serve as Adrian's personal assistant at a salary of $900.00 a week for the duration of this case. The job will also include childcare when needed and will terminate at the end of the case as will Adrian's position, should he so choose."

Adrian looked wide eyed at Natalie but was speechless.

"Thank you, John. Mr. President. I accept these terms and look forward to helping the FBI and Adrian solve this case." She said, sticking out her hand to shake his.

"Are you satisfied, Adrian?" asked John.

"Yes. Yes, sir. I am. One question though, do I still have the same access, or can I have access to more if I need it?" he asked.

"Access is typically need to know, and if you have a need to know I have the authority to grant access. What is on your mind?" Stoddard asked.

"Grier said that the entire case for naming ten cities for attacks was based upon some 'chatter', but she would never tell me from whom the chatter came. Something isn't sitting well with me here, and I think maybe that if I knew from whom the information came, it might open up more clues that we desperately need." Adrian said.

John raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "That sounds fine. I will make sure that you have access to any and all records that you might need. I'm as interested in you are to solve this case quickly, and if that helps, I'm all for it."

"Thank you, sir." Adrian said, as Natalie looped her arm through his. "I truly appreciate it. We truly appreciate it."


Later that night, Grier sat alone in her penthouse apartment overlooking city skyline. She drew a warm bath to relax from what had been a very difficult day. She had counted on Adrian remaining silent since there was always some level of embarrassment for the victim in discussing being seduced by a superior. With him being just a tad neurotic and male, she never thought he would talk. That's why she was shocked when she was called to the Oval Office that morning and told that she would potentially face disciplinary charges over the matter.

If this were not enough, she then had to go tell the man she was working with that she had temporarily, and possibly permanently, lost her access to the information that they needed to carry out their plans. She shivered when she thought about the sinister sound of his voice when he told her that he did not like when people had disappointed him and that there was generally a heavy price to pay for those who did so. But, she assured him that she would find another way and he seemed appeased.

Walking into the bathroom, she let her robe fall to the floor and then walked to the shelves about two feet away from the tub and turned the station to classical music in order to sooth her nerves. The station was just finishing its newscast and had launched into weather. There were storms on the horizon. "Good sleeping weather." She thought.

Stepping into the tub, she put a mask over her eyes and let warm water soak into her tense muscles. The radio began playing "Vesti la Giubba" and she let her mind drift into thoughts about what she was going to do to recover. She surmised that Natalie had something to do with her administrative leave and thought about different ways that she would turn it around and have her revenge. Regardless, the Monks would not get by with this outrage!

As Pavarotti launched into the climactic notes of the aria, she became further immersed in the water and the song to the point that she did not hear the man in black enter the room. Neither did she pick up on the sound of him walking over to the shelf, nor when he picked up the radio. No, she sensed nothing at all except the rapturous emotion of the song that played until it was stopped when the radio was dropped into the watery grave that was the end of Sharon Grier.