A/N: Very sorry... This took longer than I expected it to. Also, I don't know if there's a Valley View Apartments in any part of the world, but if there is, I don't own it. I just couldn't come up with a name for the complex.

The next morning, as he finishes breakfast, the phone rings. It's Captain Stottlemeyer, which isn't a surprise. He... he kind of knows when these things are about to happen. It's a blessing, and a curse.

A girl's been found on the floor of her apartment; no signs of forced entrance, no physical manifestation of a murder -- at least, none that they can see. He's Adrian Monk, the Captain says. They need him. He likes being needed.

A second later, he's on the phone again -- this time, waiting for her to answer. He can't leave without her...

"Hello?" she says finally, after ten rings. She has caller ID. That's why she lets him wait so long -- she never really wants to talk to him, or so he guesses.

"It's... It's me." he replies. "We, er, have a case."

She says she'll be by in ten minutes, but he asks her to make it fifteen instead. It'll be 9:00 in fifteen minutes -- nothing will be balanced if she shows up at 8:55.

She sighs and hangs up on him.

He never feels safe in her station wagon. Especially not when she's driving -- freewheeling into the middle of the road and turning corners so sharply that he either hits her or the car door. She also has this habit of... of shouting out the window at people who honk at her. He asked her once to stop, but she told him that she was raised to drive the way she does.

"I've been doing it too long to quit now," she said. That was the first time he really thought she was crazy.

They pull up to Valley View Apartments with a quick swerve, screeching breaks cutting through the morning air, and he struggles to catch his breath while unbuckling his safety belt. She gives him an evil smile, knowing full well that she scares him more than he ever imagined possible.

"God, you're crazy," he says, readjusting his handkerchief as it slips on the metal buckle.

She laughs, "Only because of you, Boss." and brushes his hands away. She undoes the safety belt and looks at him, expression slowly softening.

"You okay?"

Her eyes are very blue. Very blue and very... sparkly, or something.

"Yes... Yes. I'm fine."

She smiles. "Okay, then. We better get in there before Stottlemeyer pitches a fit."

They get in there. Everyone stands back as he enters, so that he has a clear view of the crime scene. Sharona stands next to him; he can feel her gaze on his face... He turns to the Captain and begins their usual pre-murder-solving discussion of the evidence.

He was staring at her. She knows it probably shouldn't matter -- they stare at each other all the time -- but lately she's been a bit on edge about this whole thing Benjy's brought up. Every time he calls, she's expecting something out of the ordinary. She has dreams that he's sitting in his kitchen talking to Trudy's memory and she shows up, asking if he needs anything fixed. This usually ends with the two of them making out -- he shouts for a wipe every time they break for air.

As if that doesn't frighten her enough, she's started thinking about him at the weirdest times...

"Sharona," he says, snapping her back into reality. "We're -- we're done."

They walk out to the car in silence until she just can't stand it any longer. She's got to say something...

"So... what'd ya find?"

"Not much," he admits. "I have an... idea, but we won't know anything until the body's been through an autopsy."

"Ah,"

"Forensics is... going through the house, now."

"That's good."

She opens the door for him and makes her way over to the driver's side, both of them climb into the car.

"Sharona?" he says quietly, turning to face her.

"Hmm?"

"Do... do you know how to fix sinks?"