A/N: Would you believe it? As soon as I put my story up, I had a review! I've never gotten one that fast! For those who didn't get what show Connie Kendall, the café girl from Ohio, is from I'll tell you. She's from the radio show "Adventures in Odyssey". Now to the shout-outs!

Amymimi: Aww, thanks!I'm glad you love my work!And I love new "Monk" stories with mysteries, too.

Monker (who already gave me a nice review on my message board): Thank you! And I figured you would get what show Connie was from. Just for that, you can co-moderate a section on the message board if you want. Again, thanks for your very, very kind words!And I'm also glad you thought I pulled off putting a character from a different show in this story. And she's from a radio show! Anyway, thanks again (and again, and again. . .)!

sg1niner: Sorry for the confusion, but I had to take the story down because I had to fix it. But thanks for being my first reviewer! You managed to beat Monker and Amymimi!

Chapter Two: Beating Danny Haze
As soon as I said those words, we made a run for it. I was running the fastest, naturally. When we reached the SUV, Natalie fumbled with her keys. While she was doing that, she dropped them. "Come on, come on, come on!" I said, way too fast for my own preference. I looked over my shoulder and saw Connie smiling and talking to the criminal. I watched her nod her head and point in my direction. I looked back over at Natalie who seemed to be close to getting the right key. "There!" she said triumphantly. She unlocked the door and got in. "Natalie!" I whined. "Open my door!" I jiggled the door handle, and Natalie tried to open it up, but it was too late, the man had seen me was coming up to greet me. With what, I didn't know. But I was banking it was very painful.

"Yo Mr. Monk!" he said, in a friendly type voice. Was this really the man I had pinned murder on? He seemed too friendly. "How's it?" he asked me. I didn't know what do. I was frozen to my spot and didn't know what to say.

Then, I heard a thud. The man standing in front of me, fell face first onto the ground near my feet. I looked up and saw Natalie with a tire iron in her hands that grasped the said item tightly. She dropped the iron and took out her cell phone. She smiled as she dialed a number, mostr likely the Captain's. "Hey Captain," Yep, I was right. "We seem to have an escaped prisoner here." she said into the phone. Her face turned from pride to pure horror. "Then who the Hades is this!" she yelled, causing me to jump. She sighed for the hundredth time that day. "Yes sir. I'll get right on that." she hung up and dialed three numbers. 9-1-1. . . I thought. Natalie put the phone to her ear as she said, "Well, Mr. Monk, we seem to have a twin on our hands."

"A twin?" I asked her when the ambulance showed up, along with the Captain and Disher. "I thought he only had one brother?"

"I thought so, too," she said. "But apparently he has a twin brother that, obviously, knows you from somewhere." she gave me devilish looking grin. "You uh, haven't been out partying somewhere have you?" she asked. "Look who I'm asking - the guy who hates parties!" she said, throwing her hands up in the air and letting them fall back down, slapping her thigh.

"I don't hate them per say," I told her. "It just ties into my fear of crowds. That and the noise. . .the noise grates on my nerves." She looked annoyed, yet I sensed that she felt sympathy towards me. I hate that, I thought bitterly. I don't want sympathy, I just want to be treated like everybody else. I want to be. . .normal. Is that too much to ask?

We made our way to the ambulance where we saw an EMT carefully helping the mystery man's right arm into a sky blue sling. The EMT steeped back when he saw us and I then noticed that the strap of the sling was twisted and slanted slightly that no one would catch it- except me.

I rolled my shoulders and proceeded to fix the strap. the man stared at me in confusion. "What's your problem, bra?" he asked me. I stopped fixing the strap (it was done anyway) and looked at the man sitting in front of me. "Excuse me?" I asked him. "Di-did you just call me a. . .bra?" I managed to say. . .the last word very quietly. The man rolled his head back (as did Natalie) and laughed. "No, no, Mr. Monk," he said after he calmed down a bit. "It's pidgin for 'brother'." I looked on in confusion, but I nodded my head politely and said "Oh," I cleared my throat and began to ask him something else. Something less embarrassing - for me anyway.

"Speaking of brothers, are you the brother of David Haze?" the man's face turned solemn as he said, "Yes. I'm Danny, by the way. But anyway. . .what has Dave done now?"

"He killed your other brother, Dillon." Natalie answered him for me. Her face seemed like she was showing him sympathy now. At least it isn't me. . .

Danny's face fell and he looked as though he was going to cry. "I can't believe this!" he screamed. "How could he just kill Dill! He was our baby brother! How could he do that! How!" Danny had jumped up now and was pacing back and forth. I watched the scene unfold in front of me. Natalie stood behind Danny and rubbed his back. "I'm so sorry for what happened," I heard her tell him. "But you don't have to worry anymore. David was arrested just half-an-hour ago." Danny looked at Natalie and smiled woefully. "Thank you." he said softly. The way they were looking at each other stirred something inside me. Could it be jealousy? No, it was probably concern for Natalie.

"You wouldn't want to go out with me say, tomorrow night?" he asked her, his eyes seemingly pleading with her. I knew it! I thought proudly. Natalie smiled (though Daa-nny had caught her off guard) and replied. "I'll have to think about it," she told him. I was so happy she didn't say yes, that I did. "Yes!" the pair looked at me as if I had grown another head. When they didn't see me do anything else strange, Natalie turned her attention back to Danny. "Why don't you give me your number, and I'll call you tomorrow morning? Okay?" she said.

Danny nodded and pulled out a pen from his shorts pocket, along with his wallet from which he pulled out a business card. What impressed me though was that he managed to do ths with one hand. Though he did hold the business card with his right hand. He then wrote down his number on the back. I know this, because I snuck up behind him and peered over his shoulder to insure that he wasn't pulling a fast one.

Natalie saw me do this and shot me a dirty look that said "Get in the car now before you get it!" Again, I wondered to myself what "it" was. But I wasn't about to find out. I turned and walked back to the SUV. I stood there, watching my assistant smiling and laughing with Daa-nny. After a few minutes, she waved good-bye to him and came up to me. She still looked happy, so that was a good sign.

But then, she slapped me in the arm. "What is the matter with you!" she yelled at me. I didn't say a word I just looked at her and rubbed my arm where she had hit me. "Why did you do that?" again, I didn't answer her - I just stared at her. "Answer me, Mr. Monk!" I sighed and looked at the ground. When my thoughts were gathered, I looked back up at her. "I was just trying to protect you," I told her. "I don't want you to be dating a con-artist." Natalie's angered face turned softer, but she still appeared to be angry. "I can protect myself," she told me. "I don't need you're help." she pointed to the car door. "Get in."Without a second thought, I got in the car.

Once, we were on the road again, I starting thinking about what happened. Since Natalie was in no mood to talk to me right then it was easy to let my mind wander. I thought about how upset Natalie was at me. I hadn't meant to make her that angry, I was just trying to keep her safe. I tried to keep Sharona safe while she was with me, but I had failed to do so. I mean look what happened; she re-married her jerk of an ex-husband! I'm not going to let Natalie marry a jerk like Trevor, I declared to myself. She's not only my assistant. . .she's my friend. And I don't have too many of those. If I want to keep her, I'm going to have to make sure she doesn't fall into the same trap Sharona fell into.

Later that night, as I lay awake in bed, I devised a plan to keep her with me. Suddenly, an idea hit me like lightning. I sat up and turned my bedside lamp on. Then, I picked up my phone and dialed a familiar number. I waited for the person I was calling to pick up the phone.

"(Yawn) Hello?" Disher answered, yawning hugely.

"Hello, this Adrian - Adrian Monk."

"Monk? What in the world are doing calling me at this hour? I need my sleep, you know. I'm not you." He replied, snippily.

"I-I know, Lieutenant, I just need your help with something. And no, it doesn't involve any of my phobias."

"Well, in that case," he said. "I'm listening."

I smiled broadly and gave Disher the details of "Operation: Keep Natalie". We talked over the plan straight through the night and into the early in the morning. It was around five when Disher started yelling at me for keeping me on the phone for so long. He said a short goodbey, than hung up. I smiled again to myself and got out of bed, ready to put "Operation: Keep Natalie into action.