Monk tossed and turned on the narrow bed in the locked room. He was caught somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. A piercing pain and then a brightness pushed at his consciousness. He opened one eye to a vision he hadn't seen in a long time. Trudy! he thought with joy, tinged with sadness, as always.

"Adrian, you've got to get out of here. They're going to hurt you." Slightly irritated, he knew that! I need more information than that, Trudy! A rare instance that he became exasperated with Trudy. Although also at that moment, he realized that this wasn't Trudy; it was just his subconscious talking to him, prompting him, urging him up, and thinking. So he was annoyed with himself, in reality. The vision dissipated. He sat and held his head in one hand. He had an ache on the side where the serial killer had hit him earlier in the year. Randomly he wondered if anytime something happened to him, would there be pain on that side of his head.

Adrian looked around the sparsely appointed room. He didn't see anything he could use as a weapon. He stood slowly. The room spun. Monk pushed against the stark white wall to regain his balance. The dizziness was a side-effect of the chloroform, he knew. Finally, he managed to step to the shelf that held a plastic pitcher and plastic cups. He sniffed the water suspiciously but couldn't detect any poison or other drug. He was thirsty. Another side-effect of chloroform. He took a chance and drank two full cups. Feeling less headache-y almost immediately, he started to think seriously about his situation. He was worried that Natalie might be captive somewhere as well, but he didn't know what to do about that. He had to get free first.

The detective looked carefully at the high window. There was no way to reach it. The bed, no more than a cot, really, was bolted to the floor. There were no chairs in the room. Even if he could reach it, he could see bolts along the window frame. He rubbed his brow.

Adrian slowly circled the sterile room, trying not to make himself dizzier. He sniffed the air. The scent of a familiar coffee was in the air. Stale, but it was there. That was odd. The only time he'd smelled that particular coffee was when he and Natalie had met with the lawyer overseeing the bequest. It had a unique, nutty, sharp scent. Was he in the law firm's building? It was possible. It was still dark. Was it the same night? Chloroform didn't last that long, so it had to be. He paced for a few steps and tried the door handle on each pass back and forth. Then he stopped and took a good look at the door. The hinges faced into the room. Monk studied them seriously, and a small version of his "I solved the case" smile formed on his lips.

He emptied the plastic pitcher into the available cups, turned it over, read the manufacturer's name, smiled again, and then studied the hinges. He pressed the bottom of the plastic pitcher to the center hinge's pin, smirked when the pin loosened and slid up out of the knuckles of the hinge's leaves. He patted the pitcher lovingly. He wished the inventor of Tupperware, Earl Tupper, was still alive. He would definitely shake his hand - sans wipe. He quickly popped the other two hinges and eased the door away from the door frame. He stuck his head out the doorway into a hall lit only by uplights on the floor.

The lights were down by the baseboards. Spaced about a foot apart, they gave enough light for him to see the hall was empty in either direction as far as he could see. But there were also hallways and doors jutting off of the hall where he was standing. He couldn't see cameras in the dimness of the high ceiling. His room had been well-lit once he moved. Maybe the hall would light up if he moved into it. It was a chance he had to take. He had to escape. He had to find Natalie. Then he heard Natalie's voice in his mind. Advice from across the years. "One thing at a time, Adrian." He stepped into the hall.

The lighting remained dim, and he slunk against the wall in the shadows as best he could. At each door, he turned the handle quietly. Doors opened, and rooms were barren of life and looked like they'd been unused for quite some time. Natalie was not there in the basement. Adrian was puzzled but knew he had to get out of the building. He came to a pair of elevators at the end of the second hallway. Monk looked for the stairs he knew were hidden behind a nearby door. He scrambled against the wall in the veil of semi-darkness, feeling for a knob, a latch, or a push bar. Finally, his fingers ran over a long metal bar. He pushed cautiously, slowly trying to be as quiet as possible. He peeked one eyeball in the crack between the wall and the stairwell. Finding no guard, no cameras, nothing frightening except the glaring, bright lights after the dimness of the hall, he ventured past the metal door. He held the door, so it clicked closed as quietly as a heavy door could.

He climbed the stairs with his usual slow and stuttering gait. Trepidation dogged his steps, but he had no choice. He had to save himself and make sure Natalie was okay. He went up three flights, and finally, a sign next to the doorway read "Lobby." He'd passed LL3, LL2, and LL1 to get there. Once again, he found himself peeking out an exit. He saw no one in the marble and glass expanse and ran for the doors. They were locked. Of course, it was way beyond business hours. He didn't have time to pick a lock, even if he had his tools. Again he looked around for what he needed. He spotted it next to the reception desk.

He ran for the heavy fire extinguisher, ignoring the irony that the tool probably caused him to fall for Natalie in the first place all those years ago. He zipped back to the single door next to the revolving door, smashed at it twice, and watched the glass rain down. Triumphant, he ran out onto the street and looked for a cab. He had to go several blocks away from the ultra-dead business zone of San Francisco to find a taxi.

"Hey pal," the cabbie said when Adrian had settled himself in the backseat.

"Hi. Hello. 544 Briarcliff Terrace. Please hurry."

"Sure. Sure."

Adrian stared out the cab window and noticed the window was scrupulously clean, which pleased him, as another part of his brain worried about what he'd find at home.

"What time is it?" he asked the cabbie. His watch and phone were missing from his person, yet his slim wallet was still in his pocket.

"About 2 am," he replied.

"Thanks," Adrian pondered the length of time. It was about eight hours since he and Natalie had pulled into the driveway after a long, weird day. All he could think about now was Natalie's safety. Adrian prayed she was home waiting. Even her worrying would be better than her being kidnapped or hurt somewhere alone. He also wondered who had taken him and why they had allowed his escape, which he had to admit, was far too easy.

As the cab made the last turn onto Briarcliff, he could see his front lawn and the street littered with official cars, some with lights flashing, creating a perimeter around the property. He practically threw money at the driver and leaped out of the cab. He slammed the door and ran up the sidewalk to his house. Their house. He spotted Leland first, pacing, then heard him shouting into his phone despite the hour.

Leland looked up and saw Monk barrelling towards him.

"Monk!"

"Leland, where's Natalie? Have you seen Natalie?"

"Where have you been? How did you get here?" His astonished best friend asked.

"Leland! Focus!"

"She's here, Monk. She's inside. She has a bump on her head, but mostly she's terrified about where you are."

Without answering, Monk tore into his house and saw Natalie on the couch. He spotted tear stains on her cheeks even from the distance between them. She was sipping from a glass of water, and Julie was by her side. He said her name quietly, below the din of cops and investigators in their house.

Somehow, Natalie heard him and turned. The fear turned to relief, and she dropped the glass; the remaining water splashed, the glass bounced on the thick rug, and she ran to him. She buried herself in his arms. No words were spoken as their mouths met in a passionate kiss that tasted of salty tears, fear, relief, and, most of all, love. Stottlemeyer and Disher rushed in just in time to see that kiss, and their mouths dropped open.

Natalie and Adrian's mouths separated, and he kissed her forehead before he pulled her tightly into his arms and tucked her head under his chin. He rocked her slowly in his arms. She sighed mightily, the relief she felt apparent in the sound. He mentally shook his head as he looked around. Every time his home became a temporary police HQ he had to clean for days.

"What happened to you?" Natalie pulled back to look at him as Officer Theodore slipped behind Natalie on his way out.

"Glad you're okay, sir." The young officer said to Monk.

"Thanks, officer. Thanks for being here."

"Anything for you, sir." The hero worship was apparent in the younger man's eyes. Monk actually smiled at him. The officer nodded and left.

Leland took the opportunity to pounce. "I have more questions than I know what to do with right now. But first, we must figure out what happened tonight."

With no restraint, Randy said, "Then we want to talk about that kiss!"

Natalie and Adrian rolled their eyes, and Natalie took Adrian's hand and pulled him to the couch. Leland and Randy followed. Julie stood to make room for her mother and Adrian.

"Mom, Adrian, can I get either of you anything?"

"I could use some water, Julie," Adrian replied with a grateful smile.

"Sure. Mom?"

"No, I'm okay." Julie picked up the glass Natalie had dropped and went into the kitchen. Leland perched on the coffee table, and Randy sat on the chair adjacent to the couch.

"I think it's time you told us exactly what's happening."

"We can't, Leland," Adrian replied.

"Well, what can you tell us about tonight?"

Adrian explained his kidnapping, awakening in the barren room, his escape — Natalie had to smile at the Tupperware reference, although she felt utterly freaked out — and that Adrian thought it was all too easy. He sipped at the bottle of water Julie had brought him. Adrian left out that he knew the building because it was Biderbeck's lawyer's office building. Leland dispatched two squad cars to the scene to take photos and fingerprints and collect any evidence.

When that task was complete, Leland turned his curious eyes back on his friends. "So… what else is going on in this house besides kidnapping and lavish spending of money you didn't have last year?" Randy snapped to attention at this question. His gossipy soul looking for canard to ponder and perhaps spread.

"What do you mean?" Adrian asked, puzzled. Natalie squeezed his hand and raised an eyebrow.

"What did it look like is going on, Captain?" Natalie asked with an arch expression and sarcasm in her voice.

"Something I never thought I'd live to see. The two of you finally figured it out."

"Figured out what?" Monk asked cluelessly. Julie giggled. Natalie again rolled her eyes.

"Us, honey. They mean us." His eyes took on clarity and understanding. He turned to Leland and smiled a soft smile his friend hadn't seen in many years. A comfortable, happy smile.

"Natalie and I are…um… 'together,' if that's what you're asking."

"The kiss we walked in on told me that much. You are definitely together. I just never thought you could manage it. I'm so happy for you both moving forward with your lives. Together. We've all been hoping and wishing for you to see each other as more than friends finally. TK is going to be thrilled for you. I know I am."

Randy chimed in, "Sharona and Benji will be so excited, and I am too."

Natalie and Adrian just looked at their two closest friends and coworkers, and each felt joy erupt inside them because their friends were this happy for them.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a commotion at the front door. Officer Theodore was back in the foyer, dragging someone in a black hoodie. His partner, a young female uniformed officer whom Adrian didn't recognize, was toting several evidence bags and the second arm of the hooded figure. Still a third uniformed officer, also looking to Adrian like he was fresh out of the academy, was carrying a box.

"Theodore, Michaels, Martinez, what is this?"

"We found someone lurking in a hybrid right outside near our patrol car," Officer Michaels volunteered. "When we started investigating further, we found all kinds of weird stuff in the car, so we thought you, Lieutenant Disher, and Detective Monk should see all of it at once."

The hooded figure wrestled out of the police officers' grips and wound up sprawled at Leland's feet. Leland pulled off the hood.

"Marci Maven!" Adrian and Natalie exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, hi, Adrian," Marci ignored everyone else, particularly Natalie.

"Marci, what are you doing outside of our home?" Adrian demanded.

"Well…"

Officer Theodore broke in, "I'll tell you what she was doing. She's been spying on you, Detective Monk, Ms. Teeger."

"Spying?" Natalie repeated.

Martinez stepped forward with the bankers' box he held in his gloved hands. He pulled out a file. He opened it carefully and showed the contents to the assembled group. Pictures of Monk and Natalie from when they moved into the house. Photos from when they showed the contractor the backyard. Leland and Adrian gloved up and looked through more files. More pictures, mostly of Adrian, but some of Natalie with a big "x" over her face.

"Marci, what the hell are you playing at?" Randy demanded as he looked over Leland's shoulder, dismayed by the photos, which could only be called "surveillance." "You are no spy."

"But I got away with it for months!"

Julie snorted at her hubris, "I guess you're about finished."

"No one would imagine you had any interest in us any longer. You basically wrote Adrian off. Adrian received your box, which contained everything you kept that had once been his. You moved on from him and turned your obsessive attention to actor F. Murray Abraham. Did you forget you stopped caring about Adrian more than four years ago?"

"No," Marci sneered from where she was prostrate on the floor. "I found out F. Murray was as dull as dishwater, and he lives mostly in New York City, so he was… geographically inconvenient to stal- to be a fan of." Natalie and Julie frowned, and Adrian looked at Marci with utter distaste.

"Marci, what did you hope to gain?" Natalie wondered aloud, puzzled. "Adrian has no interest in you." Adrian nodded thoughtfully with a squinched expression as if to emphasize Natalie's point.

Marci scowled up at Natalie. "I thought you'd be the one who wound up kidnapped. Not Adrian. That's what they told me. They promised!" She whined that last part. Then she slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized she'd said far too much.

"Who? Who promised you?" Leland roared at her.

Marci shrank back, and two of the officers hauled her to her feet. "I don't know!"

The police, Adrian, and Natalie gave her hard stares. "Honestly," she cried. "They caught me outside your house one night and basically kidnapped me. They paid me for the pictures I took and for information."

"Which you gave them?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah, I thought it would make you go away."

"I'm never going away, Marci. Never." Natalie moved closer to Adrian. He put his arm around her and pulled her to his side. Marci glared at them.

Leland ran his hand through his hair. "How did you contact them, Marci?"

"I didn't. They contacted me."

"How?"

"On this." She handed Leland a burner phone.

He deposited in a bag that Randy had at the ready in an instant.

"What else can you tell us about the people who had you surveilling Monk and Natalie?" Leland demanded.

"Nothing! I swear! Sometimes it was a man; sometimes, it was a woman with a soft Hispanic accent. I don't know them. The people who kidnapped me were not the two of them. I don't know names. I've never seen faces. I dropped things in a variety of locations. I never met a soul in person."

Leland huffed an irritated and frustrated breath. He turned to the three young officers. "Bring her in, book her on stalking, and whatever else you can think of for tonight. Catalog what you found in her car. Good work, you three."

"Adrian!" Marci yelled as the young officers dragged her out the front door, "I'm sorry, really."

Natalie turned into Adrian's arms, and he held her tightly until Randy broke the silence that descended.

"Monk, you are just a chick magnet!" Everyone laughed, and the tension broke.

Natalie finally gave in to her worries, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes. Another bump on the head and some chloroform, nothing too serious."

"Maybe you should still have a doctor check you out."

"I think what I really need is a good night's sleep, and I will be okay." She nodded and smiled ruefully. He was unsure if he was hiding how he felt for her sake or if he was alright. Natalie knew she couldn't hover and baby him and had to take him at his word.

Julie gathered her belongings and said, "Call me if you need me. I will come back." She kissed her mother and then Adrian and hugged them both simultaneously. "I love you both." Next, Julie eyed Randy, "And you keep an eye on my boyfriend." Jason had been moved surreptitiously to Randy's apartment, where he was sleeping on the futon.

"Yes, ma'am," Randy saluted Natalie's daughter.

Leland and Randy moved to follow Julie. Leland stopped and said, "We're posting cops to ensure you're safe. They'll be at the front and the street behind the house. We notified your neighbors."

Adrian shook his friend's hand. "Thanks, Leland. For everything."

"Of course. That's what friends are for," he smiled as he grasped Monk's hand firmly for the first time in a very long time.

When at last they were alone, and each had an ice pack on their head, Adrian sat and told Natalie the rest of the story while their free hands entwined.

"So it was in the basement of the law firm? Why would someone there kidnap you and allow you to escape?"

"I'm wondering if it was to allow Marci to document that we spent a night apart. To prove we'd broken one of the bequest stipulations."

"Hmm," Natalie nodded.

"Whoever hired her clearly wanted information on us."

"Can you believe she was still stalking you?"

"I can't believe she ever started!"

"Why not? You are so sexy and brilliant…." Natalie leaned over and kissed him softly.

"Nat…" His cheeks colored.

"What? It's true!"

"I think we have other issues to consider right now. Marci was obviously watching us, me, for herself at first. Then from what she says, someone approached her. It sounds like Mr. Douglas and Polly, doesn't it?"

"Yes."

"It sounds like they were deliberately trying to stop us from doing the right thing in our attempt to fulfill the terms of Biderbeck's bequest."

"Why would they do that? What could they gain?"

"I guess that's what we need to discover."