Author's Note: Thank you IdaBlue, LJD, Alex, KittyKat for your kind reviews. Country2776, I so happy to see you, my friend

As mentioned in the previous chapter, many of the things you will find in this story have their basis in real life. For instance the push by some in the medical community to immediately terminate Down's Syndrome pregnancies is so common that it appears to be the norm. One website tells the expectant parents, "A nurse will tell you that your son has Down syndrome and the doctor will encourage termination. In fact, after you give him a somewhat-unsure "No" the first time he asks, he will press on until the second "No" is more firm, and a little angry." Another mother indicated "I went to my next regular dr's appt and the OB/GYN told me I had to make a decision about termination. I told her I did not want to do that, and she proceeded to tell me that my life was going to be very hard, and it was okay to make that decision and she promises that "God will forgive me." She became so crazed with this that eventually, that shook me out of my funk. All of the sudden I thought, "This is my baby! Why does she want me to end her life?" Well, that was enough for the protective mama bear instinct to kick in- permanently."

Dr. Wood was based upon encounters such as these. And, while this story is definitely fiction, with most names and places mentioned being there only for storyline purposes, other aspects are very real. Because of this and in order to not break the flow of the story with too many author notes, I'm including a 'bonus chapter' which represents the 'sausage making' of the research behind this story. I will post it at the end so that it contains notes on however many chapters we end up with for those who wish to know more. For now, I will keep these notes off to the side as we return to our story.

For over 200 years, Massachusetts General Hospital has been a fixture in the city of Boston. With a sprawling complex of more than 30 buildings, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious research centers in the world, housing a wide variety of disciplines from emergency medicine to pediatrics to cancer research to eye and ear to research and development. The third oldest hospital in the United States, it is associated with Harvard University where it serves as a teaching hospital. It is also the place where Adrian Monk spent the first months of 2020 while he recovered from severe sepsis which nearly took his life.

Given his personal experience with the hospital, visiting was bittersweet. They were good to him there, but he would just as soon never darken the doors again if it were up to him. Nevertheless, with the advent of Simon Cass's death and Baby Monk's condition, it appeared that his relationship with the hospital would continue for the foreseeable future.

Entering the hospital with Natalie on his arm, Monk's eyes immediately drifted towards the gift shop. That was the place, two weeks prior, where he had stopped and talked with Kelsey Gifford for what would be his last conversation with her. She was eating a snack to try to raise her blood sugar and ran into him and Natalie while she was heading back to her shift. Kelsey was a hospital worker who had assisted Monk, along with her friend and fellow worker David Ramos, prior to Monk's stem cell transplant. David was the one who had come calling for help after they found her lying on the floor in a nearby lab less than one hour later. Monk watched when one of his doctors, renowned hematologist Dr. Zola Ianovsky, entered the lab and tried to revive her – to no avail. It was assumed that she had died from some medical episode but when Monk saw the insulin, he knew that it was murder. Despite his proclamation, however, over the past two weeks since her death it seemed that he was the only one interested in finding her killer. The police were being pressured to stop the investigation and Adrian was determined to see that this did not happen. Perhaps he could find a clue that would shake them out of their apathy while he was there. Perhaps.

About four minutes after they arrived, Monk and Natalie were joined by their teammates. Due to Natalie's condition, Leland had dropped the couple off at the curb and Adrian had gone with her. Now that they were together, things could commence.

"Okay, Monk. What's the game plan?"

Stottlemeyer had asked Monk to lead the effort since it had been Adrian's home away from home for three months and since Randy had to keep a certain arm's distance due to Sharona's working relationship with the hospital. They needed to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interests. Monk walked over to the directory on the wall and ran his finger down the list of names until he found the one he was looking for.

"Right here. Jake said to meet him down at the computer lab. Looks like it's in the basement. He has a friend there who he thinks can help dig through old records to see if Cass ever worked here. He should be waiting for us now."

Adrian stepped away from the board and began walking towards the steps. Natalie stopped and cleared her throat. Monk stopped and looked at her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"We are not taking the stairs. Your wife's legs are tired and swollen." She said, placing her hand on her hips. He stared at her only briefly with a slightly uncomfortable look in his eyes, but without so much as a complaint immediately changed direction and led them towards the elevators. While Monk pushed the button with the sleeve of his coat, Randy leaned to Leland and snickered quietly. "Boy, she's got him trained." Leland smirked. "That's called love, Randy. Pure, unadulterated love."

"I don't act that way around Sharona. He replied.

"Maybe, you should." Leland replied as the group stepped onto the elevator.

Burnished steel letters and matching arrows contrasted against rich wood paneling pointed the way to computer lab as the team exited the elevator. But that opulent atmosphere was only a veneer which disappeared when they turned a corner and entered what could be described as late 1970s grunge. Wall to wall asbestos tile floors were accentuated by discarded desks and other items that the hospital no longer used. Furthermore, the dimly lit hallway distinctly reminded Natalie of the old horror movies that she'd catch Julie and her friends watching during slumber parties because they liked the thrill of the fright. Accordingly, she stayed close to Adrian as they walked.

Reaching their destination, they found the door already ajar. The sound of a television playing low in the background added to the ambiance and the smell of pizza wafting through the air completed the scene. In terms of expectations, the atmosphere did little to instill confidence.

"Are you flippin' kidding me?! Get him! Get him! Awe, come-on!" a stocky man in his late 30s shouted from inside the office as threw punches in the air toward the screen. The team slipped into the room unobserved and Randy made his way behind the man, peering over his shoulder.

"Yesssss!" Randy shouted when his favorite fighter landed a punch, causing the man to nearly fall out of his chair and his paper plate full of pizza to come crashing onto the floor.

"What the…?" Wide-eyed, he quickly scrambled quickly to look presentable, brushing himself off and wiping his pizza-stained fingers on his slacks. He stuck out his hand. "C-can I help you?"

Even Randy wouldn't shake his hand at this point and he stepped aside to let someone else take his place. Leland nodded to Monk and Adrian took a step forward, avoiding a potato chip bag that was laying on the floor next to a trash can - the apparent fruits of a toss and a miss.

He cleared his throat. "Um…yes. My name is Adrian…Monk and these are my p-partners. We're from Enterprise Detective Agency to inquire about some information that you may have access to. Jake Kesner said he would meet us here."

"And so, I will." the familiar voice of Monk's nurse said from the entryway. Monk turned and breathed a relieved sigh.

"Adrian, my man!" Jake said as he moved forward with arm outstretched. Clasping Monk's hand, he gave him a hearty slap on the arm and proceeded to take over the introductions.

"Barry, these are the folks I was telling you about. Adrian Monk, my former patient – his lovely wife Natalie- Hi, Mrs. Monk. And their partners Leland Stottlemeyer and Randy Disher. Best detective team in Boston. Guys, this is Barry Pointer, Computer Geek extraordinaire and the guy who keeps this place going. If he can't find it, it ain't here."

"Good to know, Mr. Pointer." Leland said.

"Barry." The man said, pointing to some chairs across the room. "Take a seat if you can find one."

Monk made a disgusted face towards Natalie while he had his back turned to Pointer. She winked at him then squeezed his hand mouthing that it would be okay. Turning back around, he grabbed a chair for Natalie which used up all of the chairs in the room.

"Here, Mr. Monk. Take my chair. I'll go grab another one from outside." Jake said.

Monk shook his head. "That…that's alright. I…I need to stretch my legs a bit. I'll…I'll just stand by Natalie, if that's okay."

"Whatever floats your boat." Pointer replied. "Okay, whatcha looking for?" Barry asked, looking first towards Monk, but when Adrian had stopped interacting due to being distracted by the filth in the office, he turned and looked toward Stottlemeyer.

"We are here to enquire about a man named Simon Cass." Leland said. "Former plastic surgeon. We think he may have worked here once upon a time."

"Oh, is he retired?" he asked.

"Dead." Randy replied. "They found his body in the Charles River last week."

"Sheesh!" Barry said. "And you think that has something to do with General?"

"We're not sure." Leland said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Monk spotted movement. Slowly, he shifted his eyes to the right only to spot a rather large cockroach crawling in the far corner. He scrunched his face up then began to stiffly tug at his clothes to make sure his skin was covered.

Jake leaned forward, "Mr. Monk said that they are just trying to do a background check on the guy – you know, see if he was depressed or maybe if he had some enemies."

"Oh, so it may not have been an accident?" he asked.

Monk nodded nervously, placing his hands on Natalie's shoulders and shuffling to the left when the bug began to crawl across the floor, settling by a nearby cabinet. She looked up at him when he touched her and when she saw his pale countenance and the frightened look in his eyes, she looked around to see the cause. Spotting the culprit near the cabinet, she subtlety took her husband by the hand, discretely moving him further away from the bug to her side. She continued to hold his hand to calm him, and for a while, it worked.

Back at his desk, Barry was logging into one of three laptops he had stationed around him. "Just let me log into the Employee Database. If he worked here, my guess is it'll on the old server. I've worked here a long time and the name doesn't ring a bell, so I doubt he's a recent employee."

"No. He got out of jail not too long ago." Randy said.

"Jail?" Barry said, as the computer booted up. "What'd he do?"

"He was messing around with some patients without consent." Randy said.

Barry snarled up his nose. "Sounds like a real sweetheart. Definitely someone with enemies."

"Gone!" Monk yelped abruptly.

Barry glanced up at Monk and shook his head. "Yeah, and it sounds like it's a good thing."

"He's gone! Natalie, he's gone…gone, gone, gone…" Monk turned a full circle and then began to push items to the side so he could climb up on Pointer's desk. Natalie stopped him, and pulled him back down as the others watched in surprise. Leland stood, not sure of what was going on.

"It's okay." she said, taking her husband by the hand and pushing him to the door. "Adrian is just upset that Dr. Cass died and was gone before…you know…before he could take his testimony on another case."

Leland looked confused until he too saw movement near the cabinet. As Natalie opened the door for Monk to escape, Leland quickly crossed the room and stomped the offending creature. Randy suppressed a laugh and Natalie cringed at the crunch sound it made before whispering to Adrian that it was okay and suggesting that he go take a walk upstairs and see if he could find out anything about Kelsey.

Once she was sure that he had safely made his way to the elevator, Natalie returned to the office. "He's fine." She said, apologetically while returning to her seat. "He's just going to go take a walk."

Adrian moved as quickly as he could out of the basement and back up to the main floor. Finding a bench to sit on, he leaned over and tried to steady himself as the panic attack subsided. After several minutes, he was feeling much better so he decided to look up David Ramos. His hope was that being as close to Kelsey as David was, he would be able to tell him all details of what was happening in her case from the hospital's perspective.

Traveling to the second floor by escalator, he walked the familiar path back to where his exams were done, near the lab where Kelsey was killed. This was David's floor and if Monk's timing was right, he should be about mid-way through his shift at that moment. Adrian made his way to the receptionist's desk where Pamela Brown was busy taking down the name of guests for an upcoming medical conference the hospital was hosting. She spotted Adrian before he even reached her desk and held up one finger.

"So, I have two seats for the luncheon with Dr. Feldman and three seats for the conference. Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asked. "Alrighty then. You're all set. Just show up at eight at the south entrance and your tickets should be ready."

Pam hung up the phone and immediately waved Monk over to her desk, stepping out from behind it and giving him a hug.

"So glad to see a friendly face!" she said as he tried not to react negatively to her invasion of his space. "Been talking with all these hoity-toity PhD's all day and am about to strangle myself with my own phone cord!"

He looked at her with concern and she immediately stepped it back. "Was just an expression, Mr. Monk. Don't take it literally."

He smiled sheepishly and ducked his chin.

"You're not here for an appointment are you?" she asked.

"Oh, no. I…that is Natalie, Leland, Randy and I were just here looking into some information on a case. Something happened and…well, while they are talking with someone in the computer lab, I thought I'd stop by and say hello and maybe see if David was around."

"Ramos?" she asked. "No. David quit last week."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, after what happened with Kelsey and all, I guess he just couldn't stay around. Too many memories."

Monk nodded his head. "That…that makes sense. Did he say where he was going or leave a way of getting in touch with him?"

Pam thought for a moment. "He didn't. But, I think I may have his address in the Rolodex from Dr. Ianovsky's Christmas Gift distribution last year. Wasn't much but everyone got a dinner for two at Sebastian's Steak House on the good doctor."

Monk raised his eyebrow. "Sebastian's? That must have been costly."

"Yeah. I think for the whole floor, all shifts, it was somewhere around $8,000. But, he does things like that from time to time. I guess if you've got it, flaunt it." She smiled. "No, seriously he's not like that. I think he just wanted to say thanks for all we'd done through the year and it was really quite nice."

Monk nodded. "That was a nice thing to do. Now…about David's address…"

"Oh! Almost forgot!" Pam moved back behind her desk and pulled out the Rolodex. At that moment, the phone rang again and so Adrian waited and watched as she juggled three tasks at once – talking to a client, looking for David's contact information and finding a piece of paper to write it on.

"Yeah…just a second, let me get to that screen." She stated, clicking through screens until she reached the one she wanted. "Okay, I need your name, address and a VISA or Mastercard to reserve your seats…sure, I'll wait."

Monk patiently waited for her to finish, his mind wondering how things were going downstairs.

Meanwhile, Pam found David's address card, just in time for the client to return with their credit card. Once again, he watched as she adeptly handled both tasks. There was a reason she was favored highly at the institution.

"Okay, I have Mr. Benjamin Davies, 448 West Pershing Avenue in Bedminister?" she repeated, reaching to her left and grabbing the first scrap of paper she could find to write David's information on. Within seconds she had accomplished the task, passing it to Monk and giving him a thumbs up and good luck before returning to her call. Adrian nodded and took the information which was written on an unused hospital mailer. Carefully folding it in two he placed it in his pocket and took the stairs to the first floor. He checked his phone to see if Natalie had texted and when seeing she hadn't, decided to head outside to get a little fresh air.

Monk walked down the same sidewalk that he had gone down just a few weeks before. It was amazing the strides he had made – the healing that had been accomplished in his body in such a short time. Taking a seat on a bench next to patient drop-off he closed his eyes and tried to relax as the vibrant rays of a Spring sun warmed his face. Sitting there, he tried to put into practice some of the relaxation exercises that he had learned from Natalie and from the Lamaze coach when the twins were born. They knew her childbirth experience was going to be stressful and all they needed was for the father-to-be to come unglued and make it more so. As it went, that experience too had its own story – and while only three years prior it seemed like eons ago.

Monk closed his eyes and took in deep breaths of air, immediately feeling stress melt away from his bones. At one point, he even started to nod off until suddenly the moment was interrupted by the sound of tires coming to a screeching halt.

"Padėk man! Prašau, padėk !" A Lithuanian woman screamed as she exited a van and ran directly towards Monk. Grabbing onto his shirt sleeve she continued to frantically scream and point towards the vehicle in a language he did not know. "Mano sūnus serga! Prašau, padėk man jį į vidų!" Monk looked at her in desperation, trying to interpret what she was saying. Standing, he walked towards the car and she ran and opened the door. "Mano sūnus, mano sūnus. Ar galite jam padėti? Ar galite padėti mano sūnui?"

Monk looked at a boy inside the vehicle who appeared to be around four years old. He was very pale and his lips had a bluish tinge to them. Climbing into the van, he touched the side of the boy's neck to see if there was a pulse. Feeling one, he quickly unstrapped him and picked him up in his arms, rushing him towards the door. About halfway there, however, the boy's body seized up and he began shaking uncontrollably emitting grunts and sounds as he did. Monk nearly dropped him so he gingerly laid him down on the ground as every bit of medical training he had received as a cop disappeared from his mind.

"Someone, we need a doctor!" he yelled as people stopped and stared but did not bring help.

"O prašau. Prašau Paskubėk. Jis miršta!" she said and by the inflection in her voice alone, Monk deduced she was begging for him to help the boy because he was dying. The child's shaking had subsided so Adrian once again swooped him up in his arms and ran with him into the emergency room, begging for a doctor as he entered. Within seconds, an orderly took the child from his arms and laid him down on a gurney.

"Tėve Dieve, prašau, padėk jam!" the woman cried, looking towards the ceiling in what Monk knew was a prayer.

"He's not breathing!" the man stated as he tilted the boy's head back to check his windpipe for foreign objects. "Awe, damn!" The hospital worker immediately picked the child up in his arms and flung the boy's lifeless body over his forearm. "Can't you see he was choking?!" he snapped at Monk, who of course couldn't have because he never checked inside the boy's mouth. Monk took several steps backward in horror at the thought that the child might die, because of him and the emergency worker began slapping the child on the back between his shoulder blades. Five slaps was all it took to dislodge a plastic toy from the boy's throat. The child took in a huge gasp of air but remained unconscious.

The man ordered an orderly to take the child back to room seven. The child ultimately would be okay, but Monk exited the E.R. feeling shattered.

Ten minutes later, Natalie, Leland and Randy came up from the basement and found Adrian sitting in a chair with his head in his hands.

"There you are!" she exclaimed as Leland began to tell Monk about how they had found no record of Simon Cass ever working at the hospital.

"He's going to check the patient database next, but it may take a few days since it is on several servers and quite vast." Leland said. Monk did not stir, and so Leland glanced over at Natalie who made her way to her husband's side.

"Sweetheart? Are you okay? she said, sitting gently behind him and putting her arm around his shoulder. "

Monk slowly turned toward her and looked up at her through glassy and bloodshot eyes. Her lips parted, and she ran her fingers through his hair, looking towards Leland with a concerned look that he read immediately. Monk was in bad shape.

"I think we need to go home." She said softly, pulling her husband up by his arm and then buttoning his jacket up in front. She wrapped her arm around his waist and bid him to walk and he silently lumbered toward the door.

"Is this over that bug?" Randy asked, out of genuine concern. Leland looked at Randy with exasperation.

She hugged Adrian tighter. "He will be okay. It's just been a difficult week. I think we just need to go home and get some rest and start again tomorrow."

Leland drove the couple home and Natalie immediately helped Monk with his jacket and then walked him to the bedroom. Helping him with his clothes, she put him in bed then called Julie and asked if she could watch the kids for the night so Adrian could get some rest. They would pick them up in the morning. She then turned out the lights for him so he would not be disturbed. And he slept.

For the remainder of the afternoon and well into the evening, Natalie heard nothing from her husband. She checked on him a few times and noting that he appeared to be sleeping soundly, she chose not to bother him, instead eating dinner alone and then retiring early just to be near him. Soon, she was fast asleep.

Around 2:30 AM, Natalie rolled over and found his side of the bed was empty. Looking around the bedroom, she saw a stream of light coming from underneath the bathroom door. She waited a few minutes, then climbed out of bed and went to make sure that he was okay. Gently knocking, she heard him whimper and immediately opened the door.

"Oh, honey! What is it? What's the matter?" she asked, moving swiftly to her husband who was sitting in the corner of the bathroom floor, knees to chest, rocking and weeping. She sat next to him on her knees and immediately pulled his cheek against her chest, stroking his face and whispering that it was okay.

Monk clasped to her arm and let her hold him for the longest time until finally he managed to eek out a muffled "I'm scared."

She continued to rock him, unsure of what set him off. "You're scared? Okay. Tell me, what is it that you're afraid of?"

Monk began to cry again. "That I won't be able to do it. That he won't have what he needs – be…because of me."

"Who? The baby?" she asked and he shook his head. "Awe, sweetheart." She said, holding him tightly which just made him cry more.

"My whole life, I've been different. I grew up and I didn't really have any friends and people used to laugh and there was nobody around to…to, you know…stand up for me. It was a miserable life. And then, I grew up and I met Trudy and she showed me what love felt like and then later on you came along and you completed that for me…and…and we made two beautiful children together of whom I couldn't be prouder. And even if we didn't have all of this and even if they weren't…you know…just so utterly adorable - I still would have been over the moon about them because they are a part of us and because I know that they aren't going to grow up feeling just like me. We're giving them a better life and they are happy and healthy and they know love even at this early age."

She continued to hold him and stroke his cheek. "That's because they have such a sweet daddy."

Monk shook his head. "No. It's because of you. Their daddy loves them, but they are strong because of you. But now, I…I think of our third child as he grows in your womb and…and…sometimes I am so terrified that I can hardly breathe."

Natalie stopped rocking him and raised his face up towards her so she could see his eyes. She stroked his cheek seeing the pain in them.

"Terrified of what."

He sat up and wiped his face with his sleeve, a signal to Natalie of how serious things were.

"Of, not being here. Of not being able to cut it. Of having our son, who we know is going to be different than other kids, being laughed at and not having friends and me not being able to be there for him because I'm just too weak."

"Adrian Monk, you are not weak!"

He shook his head yes. "I am, Natalie. Earlier today, while you were with Barry Pointer, a woman ran up to me asking for help with her child – at least that's what I think she was saying. I'm not sure where she was from and she didn't speak our language but she was frantic…and I…I tried to help and the more I tried the more hysterical she became. Her son was around our Leland's age and I think maybe he had a seizure. He was in my arms at the time and I nearly dropped him, he was shaking so bad."

"Oh, honey! What happened?"

"Well, when I finally got him inside one of the hospital workers took him from my arms and immediately knew that he was choking."

"On his tongue? Like from the seizure?"

"No. On a toy. But, you see, I didn't know that…because I was afraid to pick up germs by checking in his mouth."

She looked toward him sympathetically.

"Natalie, the boy almost died because of me."

She sighed. "Adrian Monk that was not your fault!"

"It is too my fault, Natalie. I should have known. We've been trained in that at academy. I know CPR and the Heimlich and all of that but I froze…I simply froze…and if he had died, I would have been to blame. Just like I'm to blame for what is going on with our baby."

Natalie looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean? You're not to blame for this."

"Yes, Natalie! Yes, I am! I should have known we were pressing our luck after having two healthy children. Your family is the normal one. Mine's the one with bad genes."

She sat back and folded her arms. "My family is NOT normal!"

"Oh yes, they are! You come from a long line of entrepreneurs and businessmen and I come from Jack and Agnes – an educator who abandons his family to drive a truck and a mother who allows her eight-year-old to raise himself until he's ten."

"Well, I know your childhood stunk. But, don't assume mine was all wine and roses. My family wasn't perfect and it's had its share of weirdos."

Monk sat back. "Name one."

Natalie thought for a moment, trying to come up with an answer. "Well…there was my mother's uncle Paul. He had this thing he'd do with his eyes where it looked like they were going to bulge out of his head." She motioned with her hands as she told the story. "Mom used to have us watch him just to laugh when we ran away."

"Did your mother ever give you a refrigerator to play in?" he asked.

Natalie thought back. "Yeah, sure. The cook would order a new model and Mom would let us play in the box for days."

Adrian stared at her unflinching. "I didn't say the refrigerator box. I said the refrigerator."

"What?!"

"Four years old, fridge went out and dad had to replace it. Mom wouldn't let him throw the old one away but didn't tell him why. She gave it to us as a gift, hinges and all. Thankfully, he came home early the first time we played in it and rescued us before we were killed."

"Oh, Adrian. That's awful."

"I know it is. Which is why I'm afraid. The Monks – we're not normal. And I am scared to death that when that sweet little baby gets here that he's going to need me and I won't be there. That I will fail him."

Natalie scooted closer to Monk and took his hand. "Honey, that is simply not going to happen and you want to know how I know? Because I know YOU. You are not your parents, you are a wonderful, brilliant, caring man who loves his family very much and I know if our son needs you that you will move heaven and earth to help him."

"But what if I can't?" he asked. "What if I just…freeze or freak out…like with that stupid bug today. Dumb, stupid disgusting bug."

She smirked. "Number one, our son is not a bug. And number two, what happened to the glass half full?"

Monk shook his head. "Oh, I was faking that."

"You were faking glass half full?" she asked.

"Yes. Of course! Since when have you ever known me to be glass half full? I knew. I knew it was my curse."

"Thought you didn't believe in curses."

"It's not that, Natalie. It's just that things always seem to go wrong in my life. The minute I heard them say heart ailment, I knew. I knew it was just like -"

"Just like what?"

A disturbed look appeared on Monk's face and his chin began to quiver. Lowering his head, he again brought his hand up, hiding his face. While he sat that way for over a minute, Natalie watched as tears splashed from his face onto the tile floor. She stretched out her hand and took his into her own.

"Sweetie. It won't get better if you don't talk about it. You want to get past this don't you?"

Monk sniffed and shook his head.

"Then tell me what you were thinking. What was it just like when you heard about our son's heart defect?"

Monk took a deep breath and again wiped his face. She reached up and grabbed a box of Kleenex so he didn't have to use his sleeve. He blew his nose and she held the waste paper basket out for him to deposit the tissue, thankful about the fact that gone were the days where she'd have to double-baggie his Kleenex before throwing them away. He had made so much progress.

Monk leaned back against the wall, and stared into the distance then began to speak.

"There was a kid on our block named Petey Simpson." he stared slowly, stopping for a moment as an image of the boy came flooding back into his memory. He closed his eyes.

"He…he lived right across the street from us when I was nine. Petey was different from all the other kids. He didn't go to the same school as us and sometimes I'd hear them call him names like 'retard' or 'slow' or 'freak.'"

He paused for a moment and a tear rolled down his cheek. His voice cracked as he continued. "And…I remember that I liked him living there because - because, as long as he was there, the kids in the neighborhood, they would pick on him and not on me."

He stopped and looked towards the ceiling through pain-saturated eyes as Natalie heard his confession.

"After a while- I don't know, maybe six or eight months, I'd to come home from school and there'd be Petey, smiling that goofy smile and acting like seeing me was the highlight of his day - and it may have been. It used to get on my nerves but he'd wave to me and then, after a while, I realized that every day he'd be out there at three just waiting for me to come home. That was different in and of itself because nobody really got excited when I'd come home. But, Petey did.

I'd hear him say "Hay-drian" as he waved like crazy – and I remember thinking that the other kids had him all wrong – that he was really nice and that they shouldn't make fun of him."

"Did he live there long? Did you become friends?" she asked.

Monk furrowed his brow and shook his head. "No. I'm sorry to have to admit it, but I was too afraid to get to know him. I wasn't afraid of Petey, because even though he was a big kid, he seemed harmless - but I afraid of how the others might treat me if I hung out with him. I mean, I wasn't mean to him and sometimes I'd even wave back and he'd...he'd laugh. But, other than that interaction from afar, I never really got to know him.

He didn't live on my street but for twelve months to a year and a half. His mother got married again. And one day, he just disappeared.

We heard that the step-father sent him to Sonoma State Hospital - that's where they sent a lot of disabled kids in those days - and even some who weren't disabled, just different - kids with cleft palate - you're not perfect, just lock you away. Down's - you're just a happy idiot unfit for society. It was truly horrifying.

At one point it was called the 'California Home for the Care and Training of Feeble Minded Children' and we later heard that they were practicing eugenics and mass sterilizing residents against their wishes. But what's worse, they used them as lab rats for medical and scientific experimentation - radiation poisoning experiments mainly."

"My goodness. And Petey? What became of him?"

"We heard he died. The family never said what from and it seemed nobody really cared. But I remember feeling sad when I heard about it, because he was such a sweet kid who I guess was my friend. Whatever the case, he deserved much more than he got."

Natalie snuggled up close to him, looping her arm through his, thinking how she would respond. Finally, she laid her head on his shoulder. "Well, no wonder you feel like you do tonight. Those are all really horrible things to have to go through."

"They're part of my curse." He said with a shrug.

She shoved him lightly. "Will you stop! If you want my honest opinion, I think you need to set up something with Troy Kroger and talk with him about some of these things – about how you're feeling."

"So, you think I'm hopeless?"

"Hopelessly gorgeous." She replied, leaning in to give him a kiss on the mouth then caressing his face. "Though I do miss your whiskers. Gives you a mysterious air."

"Keep talking like that and I will do whatever you like." He responded.

"About the beard, or Troy?" she asked, earning a slight chuckle.

"Both." He replied looking at her with a love in his eyes that came from knowing that she was his safe harbor.

"Great. And when you see him, we can go shopping for the nursery when you're done."

He shook his head. "You women and shopping." He smiled, getting up off the floor and then helping her to her feet.

"Woo! That's getting harder!" she said, as she began to waddle back toward the bedroom.

He stopped, taking hold of her hand and she turned. "Thank you." He said softly. "For listening to me and for not giving up on me when I sometimes lose my way."

She smiled. "Oh, I always know you'll come back. And I've never even thought twice about giving up on you, nor will I ever."

They walked back to the bed and climbed in together then turned out the lights. Snuggling closely to him, it felt so good to be near him and to feel his warm touch on her back. She smiled and tried to go back to sleep, but somehow, she knew he was still wide awake.

Finally, after a few minutes she rolled over and flipped on the light.

"What is it? What's wrong now?"

Monk looked at her. "You said you never thought twice about giving up on me. Does that mean you thought about it once?"

The morning alarm rang and with the daylight things seemed a bit brighter. No longer despondent, Monk still felt sad and unsure but stronger than the night before. He started out his day by making good on his promise to set up an appointment with Troy. Picking up his cell phone, he noted that he had received a text from Leland asking him to call him when he woke up and was feeling better.

Monk took the phone into the living room and dialed his friend while Natalie got ready to go pick up the children.

"Hey, Leland. It's me. Adrian...Monk. You called?"

Leland smiled noting that Monk's voice sounded more like himself. "Yeah. Just wanted to let you know that after you and Natalie went home, I got a visit at the agency from Steve Rock. It appears the dead end on Simon Cass at the hospital may not be all that important – at least as far as it relates to Dana Shaw."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Rock stopped by to tell me that they finally found a match in the state database with the blood that was found at the scene of the crime."

"Really? That seems kind of late, doesn't it? I mean usually matches show up right away."

"That's true. But this one was kind of unusual. It came from a prison guard up at Massachusetts State named Daniel Bledsoe."

"Where Cass was housed?"

"Yes."

"So, do they think that he and Cass were accomplices?"

"Um…no. Not really."

"Then what? If they were both at the same prison and it can be proved that they knew one another, why would they not suspect this Bledsoe guy and Cass were working together?"

"Because, Daniel Bledsoe died a year ago in a car accident."