"Hey Bob?" Julie asked.
"What?"
"Why do you have six fingers on that hand?"
Bob gave her a look that convinced Julie that she should have kept her big mouth shut and not have brought it up. He grabbed the plastic plate and through it against the wall. Leaving splatters of mashed-potatoes and gravy and coleslaw on the wall. Julie felt a painful shock go through her upper arm as he roughly grabbed her hands and forced them behind the pillar for a re-tying. He stomped up the stairs and slammed the door.
"Bob! Bob come back! I'm sorry I didn't mean it! I don't care about your hand!"
Bob opened the door. "Shut up or I'll find something to gag you with!" he said before slamming the door again.
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About half an hour later there was a knock at Bob's door. He got up to answer it but before he did, he looked through the peephole and his eyes widened when he saw the uniformed cop standing outside his door. He turned up his stereo and ran down stairs.
Julie looked up as he practically leaped down the stairs. "What are you doing?" She asked as he untied her.
His hand flew over her mouth as he lifted her up and walked her over to the closet. After he threw her in he grabbed her face and wagged a finger at her. "Rachel," He said. "I swear if you make one single noise. I am getting my knife and I will kill you. I swear I will." He said right before he tied one of his uglier ties around her head and through her mouth. Then he closed the door and ran up the stairs.
"Sir! Let me in, this is the police!" The angry man on the other side of the door said just before Bob opened it.
"Hey. Sorry about the wait. I guess I couldn't hear you. The stereo must have been to loud." He said pointing the remote control at his stereo and turning it down cause it was blearing so loud that it probably would have made a man with a toupee go bald again. "Can I help you with anything officer?" He asked as he tried to look as innocent as possible without looking guilty.
The officer brought down his already low eyebrows and stared at Bob while nodding his head slightly. "Some neighbors heard yelling and got concerned."
'Stupid neighbors should mind their own freaken business and stop caring so much.' Bob noted silently in his head without showing any trace of thought on his face.
"Sir can I take a look around?" The policeman asked.
Bob hiked his shoulders, "sure why not?"
It wasn't long before the officer wanted to see the basement so Bob silently lead him down the stairs. The officer looked around. "The walls are a bit messy." He stated pointing to the wall.
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Julie leaned against the door to listen to what was going on. Though every bone in her body was telling her to scream for her life she was so terrified that if she made a noise then the next thing she would see would be Bob with a knife. And she couldn't bare the thought of someone telling her mom that she had died. So she kept her mouth shut.
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Bob turned and saw the mess he had made earlier. "Oh that. Yeah well you know how crazy those football parties can get."
The policeman looked concerned. "Son, football wasn't on last night."
"Oh it wasn't last night. It was earlier this morning." Bob said hoping that story would fly.
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'Come on Julie. You've got to say something. If you don't then you might not ever see your mom again.' She told her self in her head.
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The officer looked around the room. "Where's the T.V.?"
"We used the one from upstairs and put it back once we were done." Bob said pointing towards the stairs.
"That was tidy of you."
"Yes sir."
"Pretty big T.V. how'd it fit down the stairs?"
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'But if you do say something then you're sure not going to ever see your mom again.'
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"That's an excellent question," Bob started. " And to be perfectly honest…I have no idea. But it did…I can assure you of that."
The policeman nodded as his eyes continued to search the room.
"Now." Bob began. "If you have no other questions then I wish you would excuse me cause I have some things to do."
"Right." The officer said as the two of them started back up the stairs.
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'Its now or never.' Julie thought……………………then…she started screaming and pounding on the door. And she would have gotten their attention too…that is…if the vibration of her pounding hadn't raddled the shelf above her causing a heavy box to fall on her head, knocking her out and causing her head to bleed.
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The officer stopped and held up his hand. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what, sir?"
"I thought I heard something."
"I didn't hear anything."
The officer opened the door and walked down the stairs again. He looked around the room again but what ever it was that he heard had stopped abruptly, as if something had silenced it.
"I'm sure it was nothing." Bob said leading the policeman back up the stairs. But he did send a bad look towards the closet door when he knew the policeman wasn't looking at him. 'Bad move kid…bad move'
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"Hey." Monk said walking over to his couch and grabbing four coasters for his and Natalie's tea that he had made. "You ok?"
Natalie looked up. His voice had brought her back from another one of her frightening daydreams. "Yeah…yeah fine. Why?"
Monk sat down next to her and she moved her feet as to give him room. "Nothing." He said, "its just you had that look again."
"What look?"
"The only look I've ever seen on your face that shows any signs of fear."
Normally she wouldn't allow this kind of talk out of anyone. But she knew that it was Monk who was talking, and that he was only trying to be of some help. "You think I'm afraid?"
Monk nodded. "But…I want you to know…that I have no problem with you being afraid. I understand………at least I'm trying to. So if you're afraid…I'm telling you that's ok."
She smiled at him and grabbed the side of his face. "Your so sweet Adrian. Thank you."
Instead of twitching at her touch…he simply inhaled, smiled (smirked) and nodded.
Just then there was a high-pitched squeak. "That's the tea." Monk said quickly standing up and going to the kitchen. Monk reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a series of small cards that Stottlemeyer had made for him.
Be kind…
Be gentle…
Look in her eyes…
Use any excuse to touch her…
Use big words…
Talk about music…
Comfort her if she is upset…
Ki-
Monk's eyes drew wide. 'That one comes later.' He thought as he set that one down on the counter before him.
Share interests…
Make jokes…
Monk thought about it. 'Better not. I'm not really good at jokes.'
Complement everything…
Kiss hand…
Monk also thought about this one. 'Well I suppose that if I had to kiss her then the easiest thing to kiss would be the hand.' Monk then put all the cards (except the one that should 'come later') back in his pocket and grabbed the teapot and the cups.
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"Hey, what took you so long?" Natalie asked with a kind smile.
"I uhh…" 'Come on Monk think of something!' "I uhh…I dropped something."
"Really?"
"…on my leg."
"I didn't hear anything."
"W-well I sort of caught it before it hit the ground."
"You were sitting down?"
"No…well…yeah a little."
Natalie laughed, "How can you sit down 'a little'?" She asked.
"Well it was sort of a squat." Monk said as he tried to demonstrate while holding two cups and a teapot, a sight that nearly had Natalie cracking up. But she held it in so as to not embarrass her employer.
Monk cleared his throat and began preparing the glasses of tea. He slowly passed one of the cups to Natalie.
"Thank you." She said politely.
He just smiled that boyish smile of his and gave her a little nod. Before taking her first sip she looked over at him, "Hey Monk…" she began. "You're looking pretty hot."
Monk, who was taking his first sip, nearly coughed it all up upon hearing this statement. With wide eyes and a few coughs he gently set down his cup. "Excuse me?"
It was this reaction that made her realize what that must have sounded like. "No-no. I didn't mean that."
Monk's face slightly dropped, but not to the point that she noticed his change of expression.
"I was just saying that you were sweating. Is something the matter?"
Monk looked down at himself and sure enough…he was sweating. "Oh…no-no nothings the matter I guess its just the tea. You know…drinking warm liquids gets the inner body warm causing the outer body to produce moister…you know…sweat."
Natalie smiled and nodded her head. She picked up her cup and went to go take a sip.
"Be careful, its hot." Monk warned, but was too late. Natalie quickly jerked the cup away from her and in the process caused the hot liquid inside to spill over on to her hand.
"Ouch!" She yelled as she set down the cup and grabbed her hand in pain.
"Ooh! Stay there! I'll be right back." Adrian said as he darted into the kitchen. "Hold on!" he yelled from the kitchen as he grabbed an ice cube and ran back into the living room. He knelt before her, grabbed her hand and pulled in to him. He placed the cube on her hand.
"oooo!" she yelped as she pulled away her hand. "That's cold!"
Monk looked up and her and pulled her hand back to him. "Sorry, It's the warmest ice cube I could find." He said sarcastically as he once again began to doctor the burn.
"Adrian…you made a joke." Natalie said with a smile.
Monk looked up. 'Hey what do ya know…I did. Well consider that card done. Hey I'm touching her too! That's two with one blow. What's next…oh yeah kiss her hand.'
Monk looked down at her hand and brought down his head too kiss it. This action was not greatly accepted by Natalie, due to shock so she started squirming her hand around trying to leave his grasp. "What are you doing?" She asked with wide eyes.
"I'm trying to kiss you, hold still!" Monk said as his head was also bobbing up and down trying to touch her hand with his lips.
"Oh………ok fine." She said, steadying her hand.
He smirked at her and bowed his head to her hand and gently kissed it and then he started to blow softly on it.
Natalie smiled at the out-of-nowhere gesture and brought her free hand up to her mouth. "It burned my tongue too."
Monk brought up his head and stared at her for 4 seconds with mouth closed and without blinking before shaking his head softly and saying, "I wont kiss that."
Natalie's eyes grew wide. But she just laughed it off. "Don't worry Mr. Monk…I didn't expect you to."
Adrian also laughed softly and stood up to sit next to her on the couch.
The two of them talked for another 2 hours or so. Natalie appreciated how dedicated of a friend he was to her. She talked to a lot of people about Julie and all they seemed to say was things like 'she'll be fine' and 'you should go home and get some rest'. She didn't need rest…she needed someone…anyone to just talk to her, get her mind off of her worries. She needed Mitch. She needed him to hold her and tell her things will work out. Oh well…at least she had him…though she knew that he would never snuggle with her…or wrap his arms around her and kiss her softly, thank goodness…that would be to awkward………or would it? Either way…Adrian Monk was just what she needed. He could talk to her and make her laugh. He could even be charming in the times that she needed it. He was, without a shadow of a doubt, the best friend she had ever had. And she knew he would stay that way for a long…long time.
After a while Natalie looked down at her hand. "Its still hurting."
Monks eyes fell to the red burn on her hand. He gabbed it gently and pulled her to her feet. "Come on," he said, "I have more ice in the kitchen."
She smiled. "Even more of the warm kind?"
"Yes…even more of the warm kind," he said as he returned the smile.
Still holding her hand, he gently guided her into the kitchen. "Here, sit down."
But instead of sitting Natalie walked over to the counter. "Adrian…" she began, "…why to you have a little card on your counter that says 'Kiss often'?"
Monk brought up his head with eyes wide open. 'Aw craps! How did that get there? I thought I put 'em back in my pocket!' Monk turned around and picked up the card quickly. He then ripped it up and threw it in the garbage. "Never mind that," he said as he placed another ice cube on her burn.
Natalie laughed at his sudden 'kiss related' secret. She watched as he carefully cared for her hand.
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On the drive home, Natalie began to think…about…well everything, mostly about her daughter (surprise, surprise). She was so scared, which was a big deal for her. She had always been the tough one. She hardly ever felt fear and in the rare scenario of her actually feeling fear, she would never show it. No, this was a whole sensation for her. She thought about Monk…and how he was so helpful just by being a friend. It was strange…because normally it was she who was taking care of him…now everything was reversed. Now he was the one helping her get through her fears.
She respected him for that. She was grateful that he would take such an interest in her. Though he was like a child at times…he also had a gentleness and sincerity about him that made a woman feel safe. 'Trudy must have loved him so much for that.' She thought, 'He's so kind and gentile. Sweet and calm' well…maybe not calm…he was known to be a bit of a 'freak out' at times. But all together…she loved him for what he was.
Natalie's car came to a dead stop in the middle of the silent road. 'Love?' she repeated to herself silently. Had she really just used that word in her own thoughts…about Monk…Adrian Monk? It was something that she had never considered before. Could she feel more for her boss then friendship and sympathy? These were the nagging questions that caused her to put her car in reverse, back up, and then make an illegal U turn and head back to Monk's house.
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Ok guys, there…did you think that was a longer chapter? I hope you liked this chapter. I'm so sorry it took me so long to get it up here but I was having a hard time writing it.
Authors Note: When Natalie finds the 'kiss often' card on his counter…Monk says a fraise that I got from my brother-in-law. He (my brother-in-law) says 'aw craps' so often! I had never heard it before and I liked it. It's kinda catchy. So I decided to put it in one of my chapters…this just so happened to be that chapter. So…that line is dedicated to Fro.
The next chapter is coming so sit tight and REVIEW!