Natalie had scarcely entered the Stottlemeyers' house when T.K. pounced on her. "Let me see, let me see!" she squealed, grabbing for Natalie's hand. She gasped and then sighed. "All Leland could tell me was that it was 'silvery and real sparkly.' Oh, it's just gorgeous!" She suddenly turned and hugged Adrian, who stiffened in surprise. "Well done!"

"Thanks," Natalie said, laughing at T.K.'s exuberance.

"I helped pick it out," Julie said proudly, removing her coat.

"You did? That's so sweet," T.K. said, her hand on her heart and her eyes glistening. "Oh, you have no idea how happy this makes me. I've been on cloud nine all day."

"You'd think it was her own engagement," Leland Stottlemeyer said, his eyes twinkling, as he came into the foyer, taking their coats from them. "Are you serving dinner out here, honey, or should we let them into the rest of the house?"

T.K. elbowed him playfully. "Go on in," she told her guests. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Leland, once you've put those in the guest room, make yourself useful and open the wine."

"Yes, dear," he said dutifully, as Julie giggled at the byplay.

T.K. had gone all out, preparing luscious pork tenderloin, roasted asparagus spears, baked potatoes, and stuffed mushrooms, with bread pudding for dessert.

"I think between this dinner and the one I had last night, I'm going to gain about twenty pounds," Natalie said in mock protest. She pointed her fork at Adrian. "I blame you and T.K. if I can't fit into any of my clothes tomorrow."

"I know a good way to burn calories," Adrian said, his mouth twitching.

Natalie's face turned red, and she quickly took a gulp of wine.

Julie, who had just taken a bite of pork, started choking. "Dear God, not at the table!" she sputtered, taking a drink of water. Natalie thumped her on the back as she coughed.

Leland and T.K. stared at each other, wide-eyed, striving to conceal their astonishment. Had Adrian Monk, of all people, just made a thinly-veiled sex joke?

"Captain Stottlemeyer, can't you arrest him for lewd behavior or something?" Julie complained.

"I'll let him off with a warning this time," Leland said, raising his eyebrows at Adrian. His old friend shrugged apologetically but winked at Natalie, who snorted into her wineglass, hiding a smile.

"Okay, now that you're here, I want details," T.K. demanded. "Start to finish. Where did you buy her ring, Adrian?"

He told the story, starting with showing up at Julie's dorm on the first day of February and asking her permission, and then taking her with him as he went ring shopping. T.K. had to wipe her eyes several times, and even Leland sniffed suspiciously a time or two.

"… so I got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me," Adrian continued. "And then… she fainted."

"I did not faint," Natalie corrected. "I almost fainted."

"I had to catch you."

"But I stayed conscious."

"Barely."

"I didn't hear this part of the story," Julie said, fascinated. "Why did you faint?"

"I almost fainted," Natalie corrected again. "And the reason I almost fainted was because I was so surprised. A marriage proposal was the very last thing I expected that night."

"So what happened?" T.K. said, leaning forward in her chair.

"I sat down and caught my breath, and he brought me a glass of water," Natalie said, with dignity. "And then I said yes."

"Making me the luckiest man in the world," Adrian said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. T.K. sighed happily while Julie rolled her eyes.

"What did you do afterwards?" T.K. wanted to know.

"We… celebrated," Natalie said, and was seized with a fit of the giggles.

"A lot," Adrian snickered.

Julie threw up her hands in protest, appealing to Leland. "Captain? Second offense?"

"I don't know, Julie," Leland said, his mustache twitching. "I'd get out my cuffs but I don't want to give them ideas."

"Oh my God." Julie dropped her face into her hands as the adults laughed uproariously. "I'm going to start wearing earplugs around them, I swear."

"Sorry," Adrian said, hiccuping slightly as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "I'll behave, I promise."

"It's not just you who needs to behave," Julie said, giving her mother a pointed glance.

"Speaking of behaving, I had an interesting conversation with your mother today, Natalie," Leland mentioned. Monk had called him earlier in the day to give him a head's up, so he hadn't been caught entirely off guard by Peggy Davenport's call.

Natalie blanched, exchanging a wary glance with Adrian. "I'm so sorry. What'd she say?"

Julie, who had heard the whole story in the car on the way over, winced in sympathy. She'd ignored calls from her grandmother all afternoon, guessing what her reaction had been.

"She seemed to think I should arrest Monk for brainwashing you. At least, that was the gist of it." Leland calmly popped a mushroom in his mouth and chewed contemplatively.

"Oh God." Natalie rested her forehead on her hand in frank embarrassment.

Leland swallowed. "I told her that I'd file a restraining order against her if she called you, Monk, or me again. I may also have mentioned arresting her for harassment."

Natalie's head snapped up and she stared at him in disbelief. "You did?"

"She hung up on me after that, but I think I rattled her," Leland said.

"Great. Just great," Natalie muttered.

"You didn't get a call from anyone at the Dispatch, did you?" Adrain asked, half afraid to know the answer.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Leland said. "From Susanne Campana, wanting to know if it was true that my former detective Adrian Monk was engaged. Must have been a slow news day today."

"That's what I said," Adrian agreed.

"I said 'No comment,' of course, and then did a run on her, just out of curiosity. It turns out that her brother is a cop. He works Narcotics, down the hall from the Homicide division. I think I can guess who her source was. I'll bet they could hear the cheering all the way down there."

"Adrian, I'll have you know that I gave Leland a stern lecture about not announcing other people's engagements before they're ready to do so themselves," T.K. informed him.

"And then I said, 'Payback's a bitch,'" Leland said, cutting up his last piece of pork. "I seem to remember someone announcing our engagement to my fiancée before it actually even happened."

Adrian blushed hotly. "That was an accident," he said weakly. "It sort of slipped out before I thought about it."

"Well, now we're even," Leland said in satisfaction.

T.K. rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go get the bread pudding."

After dinner, they filed into the living room. T.K. excused herself and came back a few minutes later carrying a stack of magazines and a few books. "Here, Natalie," she said, dropping them onto the coffee table. "These are yours now."

"Oh!" Natalie's eyes lit up with excitement as she gazed at the array of bridal magazines and wedding planning books. "These are great, T.K., thanks!"

Leland motioned Adrian over as the three women began poring over the magazines and chattering gaily. "It's going to be wedding planning mania in here for a while. Let's go get some air."

They slipped out to what T.K. laughingly referred to as Leland's "man cave," a small den off the living room that housed his sports and cop memorabilia, as well as a few leather chairs, a large television, and a small mini-fridge.

"So," Leland began, after he'd tossed Adrian a bottle of water from the fridge and grabbed a beer for himself. "Bachelor party."

"Leland, I don't want a bachelor party," Adrian said firmly. "It's just not my style."

"We don't have to call it a bachelor party," Leland said, gesturing with his beer. "We can call it a 'Welcome Back'" party, if you prefer."

"What do you mean, 'welcome back'?" Adrian said, bewildered. "I'm not rejoining the force."

"Maybe not, but I feel like my friend has returned," Leland said, gazing at him levelly. "The way you were acting out there at dinner? I haven't seen that guy in about twelve years. Welcome back, buddy. It's good to see you again." He stuck out his hand.

Adrian shook it, embarrassed yet pleased. And he didn't bother with a wipe. "I haven't felt like this guy since…"

"Since Trudy was alive," Leland said, understanding.

"Yeah." Adrian sat in one of the leather chairs, contemplating his bottle of water. "I feel reborn," he said simply.

"I'm happy for you," Leland said, settling into another chair. "How's your first day as an engaged man gone so far?"

"Well, considering it started with a dead body," Adrian said, "it could really only go up from there."

Leland chuckled. "True." He took a swig of beer. "Oh, hey, that reminds me. We identified that body. His name was Phillip Victors, and he worked at International Fire Safety, Inc., just a few miles away from the pier."

"Any leads?" Adrian asked.

"His truck — which contained several empty fire extinguisher canisters he was planning on recycling — is missing, and one of his other co-workers didn't show up for work today. We have a BOLO out for both the truck and the co-worker. Apparently his boss saw them arguing last night after work — something about a poker game — and he told them to take it elsewhere. Looks like they did, and things got ugly."

"The murder weapon is probably floating in the Bay," Adrian mused. "But if he used the truck to transport the body, you might find some trace evidence there."

"My thoughts exactly. Believe it or not, I think we'll manage to wrap this one up without you." He took another drink of his beer. "Thanks for the heads-up about Peggy Davenport, by the way. You were right about her trying to call and stir up trouble."

Adrian shook his head. "You should have heard her on the phone with us. She was vicious." His hand tightened around his water bottle. "She made Natalie cry."

"Yeah, Randy and I both got a load of her at Jonathan Davenport's wedding," Leland said. "She's a piece of work. Weddings tend to bring out the best or the worst in family, depending." He studied the label on his beer then toasted Adrian with the bottle. "Here's hoping your maid of honor won't turn out to be a fugitive murderess."

Adrian chuckled wryly. "I hope not." He sighed and uncapped his water, taking a drink. "Natalie is determined to talk Ambrose into coming to the wedding, but I think she's wasting her time."

"Has Ambrose ever had therapy?" Leland asked curiously.

"Not really," Adrian said gloomily. "It's difficult, even with agoraphobia, to find a therapist willing to make house calls. I know he tried phone therapy for a while, but then Trudy died, and we… lost touch."

"Maybe he should try again," Leland suggested. "Being able to go to the wedding might be good incentive. And the fact that he was able to leave his house for Christmas is decent progress, right?"

"That's true," Adrian admitted cautiously.

"Have you guys thought about steering clear of the whole wedding thing and just eloping?"

"I suggested it, but Natalie has her heart set on a real wedding." Adrian shrugged helplessly. "She's never had one before."

Leland frowned. "She and Mitch…?"

"They eloped," Adrian explained. "Because of her mother."

"Ah," Leland said, nodding. "That explains a lot."

"Did you know that she's never even had an engagement ring before?" Adrian continued, still amazed at that fact.

"Aw, poor kid," Leland said, understanding. "I can see why she wants to have the whole shebang this time around. Well, she's got T.K. to help her with the details, and I'm sure Julie's eager to help out too." He grinned. "It isn't every kid who can say they got to help plan their mom's wedding."

"The thing is, I don't think we can afford a really fancy wedding," Adrian said nervously. "Trudy's family paid for ours, or else we wouldn't have been able to have anything nearly as nice."

"You'll figure out something," Leland said encouragingly. "A couple of those books that T.K. gave to Natalie are about doing wedding planning on a budget, finding places to cut corners, that kind of thing. Her family contributed some money to ours, but we paid for most of it ourselves. It wasn't easy, but we managed."

"It's starting to hit me how much things are going to change," Adrian said, feeling relieved to be able to confide some of the thoughts that had started swirling in his brain today. "One of us will have to give up their home and move in with the other — we haven't even started to discuss that yet."

"You'll figure out a way to make it work," Leland said easily. "When you love each other, you do what you have to do."

"But am I strong enough?" Adrian said, voicing one of his biggest fears. "What if I — what if I revert back to who I was before?"

"You traveled through hell and came out stronger on the other side," Leland told him. "I can't see you going back. Besides, you have Natalie to keep you grounded, and Dr. Bell." He grinned. "And me. I promise that I'll slap some sense into you if you need it."

"Thank you, Leland… I think," Adrian said, grinning.

"Anytime, pal." Leland drummed his fingers on his knees, and then leaned forward. "Okay, I'm sorry, but I gotta ask." He lowered his voice. "So when you and Natalie, uh… you know… it went okay?"

It took him a minute, but Adrian finally understood what his friend was insinuating. He leaned forward as well. "More than okay."

"Is that so?" Leland said approvingly.

He couldn't resist bragging slightly, nor could he tamp down a little bit of pride. "All three times."

Leland's eyebrows shot up. No wonder Monk had sounded so damn smug this morning. "I'm almost jealous."

Adrian reddened. "Well, you know. Twelve years of abstinence, then six weeks of anticipation…" He shrugged. "Things sort of… built up."

They both jolted upright in their chairs at the sound of a knock on the door. T.K. stuck her head in the doorway. "If we could tear you gentlemen away from your port and cigars," she said teasingly, "Julie says she needs to get back to the dorm pretty soon."

"Oh… sure," Adrian said. He and Leland followed T.K. back to the living room, where Julie and Natalie were busy packing up their new wedding planning materials.

"We called Sharona," Julie informed him.

"And sent her pictures of the ring," T.K. added, pocketing her digital camera.

"My ears still hurt from the squealing," Natalie said, but she was smiling.

"Oh, good. Now she won't hunt me down and hurt me for breaking my promise," Adrian said — a little relieved despite his jest.

"I'm sure Randy will give us a full report of her opinions tomorrow," Leland said wryly. "Let me get your coats."

The four friends (plus Julie) said their good-byes, and in due course Adrian and Natalie dropped Julie off at the dorm, with Julie promising to come over again soon for a wedding planning session.

On the way back to his apartment, Adrian felt glad they'd accepted the dinner invitation, despite his initial misgivings. He certainly felt better after his talk with Leland, and Natalie seemed in better spirits as well. He supposed the "girl time" had been good for her.

"Is the captain still planning on throwing you a bachelor party?" Natalie asked, breaking into his thoughts.

He grimaced slightly. "Sounds like it. At this point I think it'll be easier to let him plan it, and then I'll mysteriously get sick that night."

She laughed. "It won't work; you're almost never sick."

He slanted a glance in her direction. "Perhaps my lovely fiancée will need me desperately for something that evening."

She grinned. "I don't think so."

"Or maybe there'll be a murder," he continued, inspired.

"The victim will be you if you don't show up," Natalie warned.

He sighed. "I'm not getting out of it, am I?"

"Nope, I think you're stuck." She reached over and patted his knee. "If it makes you feel any better, I think he can be counted on to not plan anything… inappropriate. I bet you'll have fun."

"I doubt it." He sighed as they pulled up to his apartment. "It was an enjoyable evening, but it's good to be home." He glanced at the paper sack bulging with magazines and books in the back of the car. "Do you want to bring that in or leave it in here for tonight?"

"I'll leave it in here," she said, unbuckling her seat belt. "I'll drop it off at my house tomorrow. I'll need to go and get some changes of clothes anyway — I only have one left at your place."

"Eventually, we're going to need to decide what's going to become 'our' place," Adrian mused. "Your house or my apartment."

Natalie nodded. "I know. But for now it's simpler for me to stay here. For one thing, it's easier and faster for me to pack an overnight bag than it is for you."

She had a point.

Adrian followed her into the apartment. "How are you feeling, by the way?" he asked, locking the door behind them.

"I'm fine," she said offhandedly, slipping out of her coat.

"Are you still sore?" he asked, hesitantly.

She turned and looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "It's not too bad. Did you have something in mind?" she inquired teasingly.

"I was thinking we could… burn some calories." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Natalie laughed, shaking her head at him and playfully punching him in the arm. "I can't believe you said that. In front of Julie, too."

He shrugged. "She'll get over it."

Natalie slipped an arm into his as they walked companionably down the hallway.

"You're sure you're okay?" Adrian asked. "Because if not, I can wait."

She smiled at him, and something in her smile made his toes curl. "I was thinking I could use a shower before bed. Why don't you join me?" And she disappeared into his bathroom.

He stared after her, stupefied, but his shock quickly morphed into anticipation as he followed her inside.