Chapter 2 Dating
Standard disclaimer: I don't own Monk.
Notes: Thanks for reading!
"Mom! I'm home!" Julie yelled out her greeting as she slowly opened the door; she wanted to make sure she didn't surprise anyone. Through the curtains she had spied her mom standing very close to a man, her hand resting on his. Unfortunately his back was turned, his identity still a mystery. When she had the door fully opened, Julie was completely shocked to see who was beside her mother. "Mr. Monk! Hi there-" She was too puzzled to continue and weakly waved 'hello'.
"Julie, I'm so glad you're home!" Natalie practically skipped across the floor. Grabbing Julie in a bear hug, Natalie laughed as she attempted to lift her off the ground. "I'm so happy my baby is home safe and sound!"
"Careful, Shorty, you're going to hurt yourself!" Julie squirmed out of her mother's grasp and dropped her luggage to the ground. While looking over her mother's head, Julie noticed how sheepishly Mr. Monk was looking at her. "Hey Mr. Monk, how have you been?"
"Hi Julie, I'm okay, I mean, I'm good- How was your trip. You're home early, aren't you?" Adrian glanced at Natalie, hoping she would take charge of the conversation.
"Julie, honey, why don't you take your bag upstairs and unpack?" Natalie retrieved the luggage from the floor and handed it to Julie "Get yourself comfortable and then we'll talk. Are you hungry? I can make dinner early if you want."
"Could we have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches? Please?" Julie was hungry for simple comfort food after six days of eating takeout and hotel food. Natalie nodded okay and Julie loudly stomped up the stairs, swinging her bag over her shoulder.
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Julie quickly dumped the contents of her bag into her laundry basket and decided to take a quick shower. She felt covered in road grime and wanted to get into some lounge pants and a sweatshirt. As she dressed, Julie wondered if she had imagined everything from earlier today. Could Mr. Monk and her mom really be involved? Sure, Mr. Monk was really nice, in his own odd way, and he and Mom were totally best friends. And they were together all the time and Mom was always taking his arm and hugging him. - Julie began to consider the possibilities of them dating. Maybe it really wasn't such a crazy idea after all. Julie was very fond of Mr. Monk, especially after the 'Wait for Trudy' talk he had given her almost two years ago. But did this mean he was over his Trudy? Did he solve her case? Was Mom now his Trudy? Julie's mind was now filled with a hundred questions.
She padded barefoot down the stairs, stopping half way down when she saw her mom and Mr. Monk in the kitchen. In a fine choreography, they were working together as they fixed dinner. Julie couldn't help but notice how easy they were with each other. They stood side-by-side, occasionally their arms grazed and they blissfully looked at each other. Julie cleared her throat and stomped down the rest of the stairs.
"Julie, dinner's almost done. Why don't you just sit at the table and rest?" Natalie met her daughter's eyes and smiled. "What happened with your trip? Why did you decide to come home early?" Natalie poured the soup into cups and patiently waited for Adrian to cut the grilled cheese sandwiches into perfectly square pieces.
"Most of the trip was fun – the first five days we went to different acting seminars and met with theater groups. But on the sixth day we went to a sound stage to meet with some TV writers and directors and they were so flakey. We were supposed to take a tour of the studio today, but my friends and I saw enough yesterday. So that's why we came home a day early.-What's been happening here?" Julie looked expectantly between her mom and Mr. Monk as she ate her dinner.
"Well, we worked on a very interesting case. This man had been framed for a crime and we uncovered the actual guilty person." Not wanting to go into the gruesome details, she gave Julie a brief synopsis of the case. By then Natalie had finished her meal and rose from the table, clearing her dirty dishes. When she came back to the table, she noticed Adrian had pushed his untouched plate to the side. Since Julie was just finishing up, Natalie cleared the rest of the dishes. "Julie, would you mind coming into the living room? I, I mean, Adrian and I want to talk to you about something important."
Julie cast a glance at Mr. Monk, who quickly looked away after making eye contact. Julie got up from the table and headed into the living room, gleefully expecting them to confirm her suspicions. Natalie took Adrian by the arm and guided him over to the couch. Reading his discomfort, Natalie whispered in his ear to "sit down and breath" as she pushed down on his shoulder. When Julie sat in the chair directly opposite them, Natalie began. "Julie, we know this may seem unexpected to you- "she sat down and slipped her hand into Adrian's hand, "but Adrian and I have decided that we want to be together."
Adrian held his breath and slowly looked at Julie, his chest tight with uncertainty. He was relieved to see a small grin creeping across her face. Gaining confidence he asked Julie "Do you approve of us, I mean your mother and me, you know, dating?"
Julie broke out into a full smile "Oh my gosh- of course I approve!" She practically jumped over the coffee table and hugged each of them. "So, I assume you had a dinner date here. I couldn't help but notice the fresh flowers on the kitchen table. What else have you kids done? Been to the movies? Gone out for dinner and dancing? Played miniature golf? Gone bowling?"
As they exchanged flustered looks, Julie laughed. For once she was the one subjecting them to the third degree. She wasn't surprised that they didn't answer her random questions; she had fired them off willy-nilly, not giving them a chance to answer. After several minutes of more questioning, Julie was unable to suppress a lion-sized yawn, "Well, even though this is very exciting, I'm going to take a nap. I'm exhausted from my trip, so I'm headed upstairs. I Love you Mom. And I love you Mr. Monk." Julie hugged them once again and shuffled up the stairs.
"See, I told you everything would be fine!" Natalie snuggled down next to Adrian, resting her head on his shoulder. They sat together quietly for a few minutes before Adrian shifted on the couch.
"Natalie, all those 'date' things Julie mentioned, did you miss us not doing them before, you know, before we- we made love?" Spoke in barely a whisper, Adrian's voice was tinged with regret. He knew he loved Natalie but somehow felt they had missed out on some of the romance in their relationship.
"Do I regret what we've done? Not at all. But maybe we did rush things forward a little soon. Why? What are you suggesting?" Natalie sat up and rubbed his arm "Did you want to go out on a date or two?"
"Could we? I love you, Natalie, completely. I just feel like we should maybe slow things down a bit. I don't want to miss out on anything with you." He found the idea of courting Natalie simply enchanting. This was what he had missed. Adrian placed his hand on top of her hand and softly kissed her.
"I don't want to miss anything either. So, I guess this means we're officially dating?" Natalie let out a satisfied snicker. "This means you need ask me out and make all the arrangements, right?" After thinking a moment, Natalie became serious and placed her hand on the side of his face "And how many dates do you suggest we go on before we make love again?"
Adrian caught his breath and shrugged; this was something he hadn't considered. "Whatever you think is proper?"
"Okay, I say ten dates, because, you know, ten is your favorite number. Just remember this was all your idea, okay?" Natalie stood up and held out her hand to Adrian. "Come on."
He took her hand but remained seated. "Why, where are we going?"
"I'm walking you to my front door. You are going home." Natalie tugged at his hand until he stood up. Taking his arm, she escorted him to the front door. "You need to start planning our first date."