Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long to update but I really have been quite sick lately. It's almost two a.m. at the moment and could not sleep...so I started to write and finally was able to get this chapter jotted down. Hope you all enjoy.

In the hazy seconds between the moment one wakes and the last bit of nighttime dreams slips from the mind, Natalie felt completely safe and warm. Cuddling down into the warmth that was beneath her Natalie squirmed slightly, not ready or willing to wake up. Content in the haziness that encompassed her.

It was this motion that caused one peacefully sleeping detective to slowly open his eyes at the unexpected movement.

Adrian Monk found himself in familiar surroundings…the only thing was…he wasn't use to seeing it this early in the morning…from this vantage point.

Slowly as his groggy eyes tried to open fully, he realized there was a warm weight on his chest…not necessarily unpleasant but…

Monk's eyes shot open as he recognized the face of one Natalie Teeger with her cheek resting against the left side of his chest. White skin aglow with the early morning light making her seem more of a heavenly being than that of a person.

Beautiful...

He hadn't meant to think the word...it just popped in there.

Natalie squirmed once more, about to wake up.

As she moved Monk panicked. Because as Natalie moved...he realized that he had...reacted to the movement.

Shame, embarrassment, fear, and panic mingled into one emotion for him as he realized that he had to move out from under Natalie and fast.

Natalie sucked in a breath and began to stretch as she began to wake...and quickly stopped as she felt evidence that she was laying on top of someone...a very male someone.

Slowly Natalie turned her head to stare up into the eyes of one Adrian Monk.

Both of them just stared into the others eyes, afraid to do anything that would cause the other to react.

Neither of them noticed how close there faces were, but both were keenly aware when both of their eyes dropped to stare at the others lips.

Natalie wanted to kiss him. More than anything she wanted him to kiss her.

But when she looked up into his eyes she saw…fear. That's what she made him feel...fear.

Slowly she pulled away from his face and quickly lifted herself off of his body.

Monk lay there feeling...disappointed? His emotions were so oddly controversial he felt ashamed of himself. But he didn't have long to contemplate them, for both he and Natalie heard an alarm clock going off…and soon heard the sound of Julie walking upstairs.

Neither of them had said a word to each other, but both quickly began to run around and gather everything indicating that he had spent the night there. Natalie quickly grabbed his jacket and ran toward him as he shifted away from her.

Monk tried to get his body under control as he tried to straighten out his clothes. Natalie noticed why he turned away and just draped his jacket over his back and than ran for her bedroom.

Quickly she threw off her dress and began to yank on her usual big t-shirt and baggy sweat pants. Scrubbing off her makeup with a wipe she grabbed from her dresser, she ran back to where Monk now stood wearing his jacket and looked semi-descent. Throwing the wipe away she ran towards Monk as she heard Julie's footsteps get more distinct. Quickly, and even surprising Monk she pushed him out the door and closed it in his face.

Monk stood on the step in front of the door wondering what had just happened? What was he supposed to do? So…he just stood there…waiting. Looking totally confused in a way that only Monk could.

Natalie ran into the kitchen, starting the coffee pot and rushing to seem as though she was cooking breakfast…which was strange to begin with. She never cooked breakfast in the morning. Julie and her would just usually eat cereal or a piece of toast with butter and jam. But she needed to seem like there was a reason she was up so early.

Julie came down stairs, face solemn as drowsiness continued to consume her. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked at the couch to find it empty.

It was odd not to find both her mother and Mr. Monk still sleeping on the couch, but when she turned and found her mother cooking breakfast, she knew something was up.

Julie walked into the kitchen with a suspicious face on, yawning as she made her way to the table and sat down slouching into her seat. Turning her head around she watched her mother cook and noticed immediately that her mother was trying hard not to look over at her.

Julie studied her for a second, her eyes going up and then down her mother's frame. A slow smile came on her face when her eyes made its way to the ground. Julie turned her head away to conceal her smile. Doing so she caught movement at the front door. She didn't move though...not quite sure if she had really seen something...but then she caught a glimpse of who was at the door. Again the smile came back to her face as she sat and watched as her mother began to talk and place a plate and cup of orange juice in front of Julie.

Julie didn't listen though, lifting her cup of orange juice to her mouth she took a health gulp and then placed the orange juice back down. Natalie continued to talk and jabber on as Julie stood and walked over to the front door without a word and opened it.

There stood Monk. Looking uncomfortable, flustered, and even that little glint of fear in his eyes that he always seemed to have. Julie's eyebrows were furrowed in fake confusion, fully knowing why Monk was outside standing in front of their front door - but she was not going to let either he or her mother know that she knew the truth.

"Mr. Monk? What are you doing here so early?" It was hard for Julie not to show her little smile that meant she knew something, but...in this particular case...involving her mother and the man that she loved like a father...she knew it would be the wrong move.

Adrian felt completely lost, glancing from Julie, who seemed to have a glint in her eye, to Natalie - who happened to have a panicked face - left him feeling as though no matter what he did...it was going to be the wrong thing.

But unfortunately the words leaving his mouth would be lost to all, as a car parking behind him made all turn to look who it was.

"I was in the neighborhood."

Pulling up into Natalie's drive way was none other than John Night. Exiting his car with a huge smile on his face that seemed to glow from happiness. Jogging up to the house, Julie pulled Monk into the house with the tips of her fingers as Natalie moved into the doorway to see if it was really John.

As John approached he saw how all three crowded the doorway. Anyone else would have noticed immediately how they seemed to form a tight family unit...but if John saw it he didn't let the thought alter any of his momentum of reaching Natalie.

Just before reaching her, Natalie snuck a look at Adrian, and found that his eyes were already on her. It didn't shock her like it would have a few short months ago...now...now it almost felt as if she lived for these moments. But when John finally reached them her eyes disconnected from Monk's and found her eyes opening wide as John leaned up and kissed her.

Leaning back John smiled up at her as if he had done so a thousand times.

Monk had to keep himself in check as John looked up at Natalie like that. Everytime he saw the man, he felt more contempt for John each time. Natalie glanced over at Monk and immediately saw the very tense set of his jaw. Glancing back to John she immediately began talking. The faster she talked, the less John was there and that meant no confrontation between him and Adrian.

"John! What are you doing here?!" She asked.

"I just wanted to see if you were ok. Last night you looked destroyed when I dropped you off."

"Oh ah...yeah...I'm fine." Natalie said as she began messing with her hair, trying to comb it down slightly. Knowing that it must look like a mess.

John suddenly sniffed the air, as if he caught a scent of something. "Is something burning?"

It only took a second for Natalie to realize that she had left things on the stove. Whirling around she made a mad dash for the stove where her eggs were no black and adhered to the frying pan. John had entered the home and followed Natalie as Julie and Monk stood back and watched the interaction between the two.

John leaned across the sink and opened the window to let the smoke that had formed out of the house. Natalie took the pan to the sink, nudging John out of the way.

"Hey! Are you ok? Did you burn yourself?!" John asked in concern.

It made Monk roll his eyes. The sound of his voice annoyed him beyond Harold Krenshaw's. If it wasn't for the fact that Natalie swore up and down that he wasn't as bad as what he thought of John...he wouldn't even have let him in. In all truth...Monk would have closed the door in his face.

It was funny that as Monk rolled his eyes, so did Julie.

John seemed like a nice guy, in fact Julie had never seen him do anything or say anything that would make her believe he wasn't a good person...but she had this feeling that he wasn't at all what he appeared to be.

Julie had even considered the idea that it was jealousy that was making her feel like John was evil - with her mother going out all the time now... she really hadn't seen much of her mother. Not that they didn't hang out at all but...but it wasn't like it use to be. Julie remembered how it was a few months ago. They would go shopping together, discuss things - stupid things really - but those conversations were but a memory to her now.

Julie knew that she was not a little girl anymore...but...but her mother had been all that she had had for so long that...she almost felt pushed aside now.

Stealing a glance at Mr. Monk she realized that she wasn't the only one feeling anamosity towards John. Smirking she realized that the something that had happened last night was causing a little more anamosity in Mr. Monk's case.

As little time as she had been spending with her mother, Julie had been spending almost all of her time with Mr. Monk. Hanging out with friends less and less and spending more time with him had been extremely weird at first, yet now she was thankful that she was given the chance to get to know the person that was Adrian Monk.

By his expression she could tell that he was angry, and knew that if she didn't do something to distract him he would do something weird and maybe even annoying. So she distracted him by talking to him about the last subject that had been speaking about the night before last. Ignoring what her mother and John were talking about.

"Mr. Monk I forgot to tell you that I found a picture of your old house online!"

Monk was watching as John held Natalie's hand 'inspecting' it as Natalie protested. Thoughts of what happened minutes ago ran through his mind. Images of Natalie's face from moments ago flashed through his mind...but Julie's voice brought him out of his revere.

Shaking his head he looked over at Julie as he heard her say something. "I'm...sorry Julie...you said something?"

Julie just looked over at him with a little smirk. Of course he didn't hear her.

"I said I found a picture of your old house! You know...before Biederbeck bought it!"

Even though John was currently talking to her, Natalie's ear's perked when she heard the name 'Biederbeck'. Head swiveling to the duo, Natalie's mouth opened before she could consult her brain.

"What about Biederbeck?" Natalie asked with curiosity.

Both Julie and Monk turned to stare at Natalie. A twitch made its way through Monk's shoulder as Natalie stared at him, with John still holding the hand he was inspecting.

Monk just stared at Julie in mild shock. "What?" he whispered out.

Julie ran upstairs quickly to grab her laptop. Within a minute she was back with the laptop open and on.

"The previous owners of the house had pictures of the house and put it up online. They tagged it with the address so I'm pretty sure it's the house. It really is a beautiful house." Julie said as she turned her body so that Monk could see the screen.

The second Monk's eyes met the screen it was like he was taken back to all those years ago. Memories...happy ones filtered through his mind. It was the house that he and Trudy bought together.

Natalie saw how Monk's eyes became that dark brown shade that showed he was reliving something. Withdrawing her hand from John - and without sparing him a glance - Natalie approached Monk.

"Are you ok?" Natalie asked in a soft voice as she rubbed his back.

Monk nodded his head distractedly. It was rare that Monk thought back to all those years ago. But in his mind he could still see Trudy's smiling face as he carried her over the threshold. Remembered her radiant smile...and the promise of what the future held for the both of them.

Natalie watched him in concern. Knowing him like she did, she knew that just seeing the house would make him think of Trudy. He stood there just staring at the photo.

"Mr. Monk are you ok? You're really worrying me..." The words left her mouth in a soft scared voice. Her blue eyes trying to find an answer to her question in his. And as Adrian Monk finally turned and looked at her Natalie had to steady herself from the intensity of his gaze. Almost like he wasn't seeing her at all...and almost like he saw al of her at once. As if in that moment he could see behind the act that she had been keeping up for so long now that she herself had almost started to believe her own lie.

John broke the moment by speaking. And of course it annoyed the other three in the room. But of course Natalie couldn't show her annoyance.

"Seeing the house must make you miss Trudy alot. I mean...remembering the house obviously brings up memories of when she was alive."

Three sets of eyes turned and stared in shocked horror as the words filled the room.

Monk was the first to speak. "I think I should be going now."

Julie let him turn half way before immediatly putting down her laptop and offering - "I'll drive you."

Monk didn't protest, only swinging his arm up almost and opening his mouth as if to protest...but one look into Julie's eyes and he knew he was a dead man if he refused. Dropping his arm and the argument he was about to start, he realized that he actually wanted Julie to take him home.

Natalie just followed the two as Julie didn't even bother dressing- still clothed in the clothes from the day before- instead grabbing the keys from her purse near the door and slipping on a pair of slippers near the door. Natalie leaned against the frame of the door and watched Monk head for Julie's car. Resting her head against the frame she watched as Monk walked in the all too familiar sad stride he usually did - but it had never hurt so much to actually watch him than in that moment.

Julie soon was walking past her mother, but was soon stopped by her mother's hand grabbing her and turning her.

"Please be careful. He's been really distracted lately." Natalie said to her daughter as she rubbed Julie's arm up and down.

Julie's eyes traveled from her mother's to John that was still in the kitchen and now trying to clean the pan that had been burning.

"I wonder why..." Julie whispered, more to herself than to her mother.

"What?" Natalie asked not having heard what Julie had said.

Julie's eyes returned to her mother's and quickly said "nothing!".

Natalie smiled at her daughter, and was about to turn and walk back into the house when Julie stopped her.

"Mom!"

Natalie turned with concern written on her face.

"Yeah?"

Julie's soft face soon formed the famous smirk she flashed more than a smile.

"Next time you should remember to take off your shoes before...going to bed."

Natalie's eyes widened just slightly as she realized that Julie knew. Julie's smirk turned into a side smirk as she turned and quickly walked to her car, where Monk already sat...waiting.

Natalie watched them go...wondering why the two most important people in her life were driving away from her...and why a man whom she pretended to be someone else - was waiting in the house behind her for her.

Sighing out she didn't let the tears that had formed in her eyes to fall. Suddenly she felt the same anxiety against change as Adrian did. Because things were changing...and she had never hated change more. Slowly she turned...and closed the door behind her.

Author's Note: So what did you think? Worth the wait? I hope to get the next chapter up soon...hoping I do it during the day...and not in the wee morning hours. REVIEWS I live for them!