Chapter 6: Bombs Away

Monk and Sharona arrived back at the restaurant in their street clothes, both feeling out of place as they walked in, but their moods changing when they saw the disaster the captain had been speaking of.

"Oh my," Sharona started.

"God," Monk finished for her. They quickly ran over to Stottlemeyer and his wife, who were sitting amongst a pile of rubble that was formerly the orchestra pit.

"Captain!" Sharona exclaimed, rushing up to him. "What happened?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Stottlemeyer admitted. "Karen and I were out dancing when someone screamed bomb and everyone rushed out. We called the bomb squad, but we were still on the phone with them when the bomb went off. Somehow, the pit was the only place damaged."

Monk was poking around in the debris, trying to find some clue as to what could have happened. There were so many possibilities for who could have been the target – someone in the SFPD, someone in the orchestra, the restaurant owner. A sudden thought came to him as he thought about how the possibilities for anything were endless, and his gaze drifted to Sharona. He tried to tell himself that he had to focus on the bombing – Sharona could wait. But that was where his thoughts were wrong. Sharona couldn't wait. He wasn't going to let this opportunity pass him by.

Sharona was still talking to Karen when he walked over by her. She turned and saw the desperate look on his face and excused herself from the conversation, pulling Monk off to the side. "Adrian, what is it? Do you have something? Should I call the captain over..."

"No!" Monk interrupted. "I mean, no, it's not about the case."

Sharona looked down at her feet. She had a feeling he wanted to talk about the kiss. She wanted to, as well, but she knew they had to wait until this case was solved. The talk could take awhile, and time wasn't something that could be wasted when people's lives were in the balance.

She finally looked up at him and put her hand on his arm. "I know you want to talk about it, but now isn't the right time. We have to wait. This case is going to affect more people, and it's more important that we find out who's behind this. But I promise that as soon as this is all over, we will talk."

He looked disheartened at her words, but then remembered he had a job to do. He couldn't let Stottlemeyer down...if he could solve this; it might help him get back on the force. If he could be a cop again...then he'd really be happy. And if he could be a cop with Sharona by his side, he'd be even happier. His mouth turned up at the corners at that thought, and he practically skipped back to the smoldering pit.

Sharona watched his actions and smirked to herself. The captain was watching the entire exchange with interest, and when Monk went back to check out the crime scene, he decided to interrogate a suspect in this new occurrence. Namely, Sharona.

He sidled his way over to her, checking to see if Monk was watching. "Sharona," he greeted sternly when he arrived, causing her to jump a little and look up at him with questioning eyes. However, unlike Monk, her eyes didn't faze the captain. "I know it's not really any of my business, and usually I don't care about the personal lives of my staff, but is there something going on with you and Monk that I should know about?"

Sharona shrugged nonchalantly, thinking about what Adrian would want her to say. He probably wouldn't want anyone knowing that they kissed. It could just be a one-time thing, after all. To be completely honest, though, she didn't want it to be a one-time thing. She really believed he should be trying to move on with his life, finding someone new to spend his life with, someone that could understand if they weren't his greatest love. She knew she would never measure up to Trudy, but she wasn't trying to be Trudy. She was trying to be herself. Sharona Fleming. And she knew that's all Adrian wanted her to be, too. That's all that mattered.

Finally, she turned back to the captain and answered him. "No, Captain, everything between Adrian and me is perfect."

The captain raised an eyebrow at her and said, "That's what I'm curious about. You two seem to be a bit occupied with something else. And I can't help but noticing that you aren't arguing like usual. Of course, Karen thinks you two are in love, but that's absolutely preposterous. Isn't it?"

Sharona looked a little nervous at his words, but tried to shrug them off. "Yeah, you're right. We barely get along half the time as it is. Why would we be in love?" She laughed timidly, knowing she had probably aroused more suspicion than contained it.

Monk looked over and saw the captain questioning Sharona, which made him a little leery. He knew he should be more concerned with the case, but he couldn't let Stottlemeyer find out that he kissed Sharona! He'd never hear the end of it. Not to mention that Disher would never speak to him again.

He walked over to Sharona and stood beside her, facing the captain. "Is something wrong, Captain?" he asked, rolling his shoulder a little.

"No, no, everything seems to make sense now," he responded, a slight knowing grin on his face as he turned and returned to his wife and Lieutenant Disher.

Monk watched the captain walking away and asked Sharona, "What did you say?"

Sharona turned to him incredulously. "I didn't say anything! I thought about it, but then I realized you probably wouldn't want me to. He asked if there was something going on between us. I think he knows a lot more than he's letting on. And Karen, well, I think Karen's a lot smarter than she acts. We're going to have to tell them something."

"After the case," was all Monk had to say in response. He couldn't put this case off any longer. It was time to get down and dirty (well, as dirty as Monk got, which wasn't dirty at all) with the mysterious bombing of the orchestra pit.