As the blue light of the full moon shone through their bedroom window and washed over their blanketed forms, Natalie laid her head on Adrian's chest and they had the talk that they should have had weeks prior.

"Alright, I have to know. What did you say to Gloria Stoddard that was able to make John do what he did?" Adrian asked.

"Oh, I just told her what happened, and I talked to her wife to wife. She and John have not always had the easiest of marriages, but if there is anyone who lives with a constant fear concerning their husband's welfare it is the first lady. I appealed to her in that sense and I let her know not only what Grier had done, but how John was acting and how unnecessary it had been. We would have cooperated with him had he just talked to us. As it stood, his rash action hurt both of us greatly.

"Well, it seems to have resonated with her." He replied.

"Yes. It does. Honey, I want to apologize to you for not giving you a chance to tell your side of the story. I was wrong for doing that and probably could have saved us all a bunch of grief had I just simmered down and listened." She said.

"You were upset. Rightly so. And, so was I. I was honestly more upset that they had upset you than I was over myself at the time I talked with you, although before, when I didn't know what they were doing, it was pretty scary. I am sorry that I didn't get a chance to tell you about what they were doing with Grier before they blasted it on the news. These kind of career choices are things we should talk with each other about together. And, I never would have handled it that way if I had been given a choice." He said.

Natalie rolled over so that she was lying face to face with Adrian, placing both of her forearms in a straight line across his chest, and focused on a button on his pajama top. Then she smiled.

"There's the smile I love." He said, leaning forward and kissing her. "What's it about?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about how marriage has brought out another side to you that I didn't anticipate. Who knew that Adrian Monk could be so sensitive to another person's feelings?" she said.

"What does that mean?" he asked, not sure whether to take it as a compliment or insult.

As if reading his mind, she quickly added. "Adrian, you've grown so much since I first met you. When we first met you were all wrapped up in you. You could be protective, but sometimes I wondered if you were protecting me or some service I provided for you that you didn't want to lose. I don't feel that way now."

He listened.

"Do you know the moment I first knew that I was falling for you?" she asked.

"No. Tell me." He said.

"It was when we were in that traffic jam. You were the most difficult and cantankerous human being imaginable on that trip, but when you pushed fear aside and unbuckled your safety belt to come save me…like my white knight on his shining stallion." She said.

"Or your defective detective on his police car?" he replied.

"NEVER call yourself defective detective. I know that Randy and others have called you that through the years. But, you're who God made you to be, and if you weren't the way you were there would be so many more bad guys out there roaming about and probably a lot more people would be dead.

You're brilliant and handsome and have a heart of gold. Lucky me!" she said. "Of course, you loved Trudy too much to even consider a relationship with me at the time, so I had to suppress my feelings. Then, I sorta gave up on anything happening between us and decided I would go for second best. Adrian, I loved Stephen, but he was always second best. I never stopped loving you."

Adrian smiled and kissed her forehead. "Do you know when I knew I first loved you?"

"No. No, I don't." she said.

"When I had to go on the run and faked my own death. I had to leave you. I didn't know if I ever would see you again. But, I knew for your protection I had to go and I couldn't tell you. That killed me inside." He said.

"When I thought you were dead." She said, "My world came crashing down around me. I was utterly heartbroken. Devastated. And then to have it happen at the hands of Leland, our friend. Painful beyond words."

"We had to do it that way." He said.

"Oh, I know that now. But when I saw that newspaper article and how 'Leland Rodriguez' had solved a case…" she began to cry "My heart was absolutely overwhelmed with the greatest joy and relief and an overwhelming urge just to get back to you as soon as possible. I jumped right in my car and went over to the police station and confronted Leland."

"He told me you were upset." Adrian replied.

"Upset! I was a bundle of emotions. I was angry, upset, excited, relieved, frankly I was overwhelmed. I felt like beating him to a pulp for hiding it from me. He told me not to go to you…" she said.

"You almost got us killed." Adrian replied.

She chuckled. "Yeah, there goes that impetuous spirit again... Wow! Now there is a moment of self-realization. When I get upset I tend to act before I think."

"You care." He said.

"About you. About us. Adrian. I never want to let anything ever happen to drive a wedge between us ever again. The past couple of weeks have been awful. I don't want to do that any more." She said.

"I agree. We need to better communicate. I'm willing to work on that." He said.

"Me too." She said, kissing his chest and laying her head beside his neck.

As her warm breath wafted across his Adam's apple, he bit his lower lip.

"Hey Natalie…" he finally said.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Do you…do you wanna neck?" he asked in the most endearing manner possible.

She stifled a laugh and then looked up at his face with a smile, biting her lower lip.

"You know. I thought you'd never ask." She said, as they enveloped their arms around each other and began to kiss, bathed in lunar rays.


At 7:00 AM their bliss was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was Preacher. He opened the door just a little and poked his head in as the couple stirred from their sleep.

"Hey guys." He said, not looking their way. "I'm sorry to have to wake you two up, but we've got trouble and I thought you would like to know."

"What? What's wrong?" asked Adrian.

"It's Sharon Grier." Preacher replied.

"Grier! I thought we weren't going to have to deal with her anymore!" Adrian said.

"You're not." Said Preacher. "She's dead. Electrocuted in her own bathtub. Just came over the police scanner. I'm heading over there now. Thought maybe you'd like to check it out." He said.

"We'll get ready." Natalie replied.

"Yeah." A dazed Adrian said in agreement. "We'll be downstairs in a few minutes."

As he shut the door, Adrian and Natalie looked at one another. Grier, dead? That was not news they expected to wake up to.

"Grier is dead?" Adrian said.

"I'll jump in the shower, since it takes me longer to dry my hair." She said.

"What are we going to do with the babies?" he asked.

She looked at their sleeping little bodies and thought. "I guess we will have to bring them with us. As long as we're in DC, however, I need to find someone we can rely on in order to watch them."

"I agree. It'll be awkward today, but we've got no choice." He said.

"I could always call in Hurricane Peggy." She said.

"Not enough room for her." he replied.

"Oh, I know there isn't enough room in Preacher's house for another person." She said.

"No. Not enough room in the city." He replied.

She shook her head. "Oh, Adrian. You know you like her. And she even complimented you."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes. She did. She is happy we found each other and says you are perfect for me." She said, walking into the bathroom and turning on the water.

"Hmmm… well what do you know?" he replied. "Well as long as she treats my wife with respect, that's all I need."

"See you out here in 15 minutes." She said behind the closed door.

"Okay. See you then." He responded.