A/N Sorry this took a while, I am actually working on getting my first novel published, so editing that took precedence the last few weeks!
A few weeks after the abduction fiasco, Adrian contemplated the painting in the playroom. It was early, and he had risen without waking Natalie. Sleep had been elusive since he'd been taken. So he was trying to think pleasant thoughts instead of worrying about Natalie being taken. His dreams were filled with scenarios he was happy to wake from and find to be just products of his imagination.
He and Natalie had dug the painting out of Leland and TK's garage, where it had been hidden for many years. Adrian had purchased it long ago. Today, it made him consider the day that Dr. Kroger encouraged him to get a hobby after a conversation about needing more in his life than just his job. He hadn't realized at that point he was already half in love with Natalie and was ready to move on. At least, he was pretending to himself he wasn't feeling those feelings. He remembered the session word-for-word.
Out of the blue, Adrian asked Dr. Kroger, "Do you love your job?"
"Do I love my job? Yeah... no, not all the time. But most of the time, yeah, I love my job. Why, what's going on?"
"I just came from court," he'd replied to Dr. Kroger's query listlessly. He heard his own ennui in his head. "They convicted that David Grisham."
"Oh. Yeah, right. I remember him. Strangled his wife. Well... congratulations."
Adrian sighed deeply out loud and in his memory. "It used to make me feel great. But today, all I could think was, so what? This creep's going away. There's ten other creeps out there ready to take his place. What good am I doing?"
"Oh, I'm sure the families of the victims appreciate your work, and the people of San Francisco…."
"Oh, blah blah, blah blah blah…"
"All right, all right, Adrian. Adrian. I understand. Now, you're feeling unfulfilled."
"It's all the same," Adrian complained to the doctor. "Crime scene, witness, suspect, question, answer…."
"Okay, this... this is perfectly normal, Adrian. No job can completely satisfy anyone. There is more to life than just working…."
"I know that!"
"Let me finish," Kroger admonished. "Or cleaning."
"Oh."
"Maybe you should take up a hobby," Dr. Kroger nodded at his patient.
"Hobby?"
"Yeah. Outside of work." Kroger continued to nod enthusiastically. "A creative outlet to express yourself."
"Hobby?"
"Yes, a hobby. It's great therapy. You know, I recently took up ballroom dancing."
"Good for you." Adrian screwed up his face in incomprehension.
"Yeah, well." Kroger chuckled. "Unfortunately, Madeline… She doesn't love it as much as I do, so a lot of the time when I go to class, I don't have a partner." Kroger sighed.
In abject horror, Adrian had replied, "I'm not gonna dance with you, Dr. Kroger. Don't… Don't make me dance with you, Dr. Kroger."
"No. No, Adrian, I am not suggesting…."
"I can't dance with you, Dr. Kroger."
"I didn't ask you to dance with me, Adrian. I was talking about a different hobby."
"Not dancing. Not dancing!" Adrian cried.
"Not dancing," Dr. Kroger confirmed.
"Nothing personal." Adrian exhaled.
Adrian's reminiscence was interrupted when he felt a pair of arms slip around his waist.
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Remembering. Thinking."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes. Fine." He turned in her arms and pulled her close.
"This painting is really lovely."
"I bought it so long ago from one of the other students in that art class you forced me to take. I thought she was talented. Not the one with the nose ring." Adrian had hunted the girl down long after the case with the currency forger and the canvases had ended. The painting was a small glimpse of San Francisco at sunset. Part of the golden gate bridge was visible, the setting sun shimmering off the bay. A thin woman with medium-length blonde hair stood at the boardwalk's railing, back to the viewer, looking out into the water. It had made Adrian think of Natalie and the thousands of walks they had taken over the years. He impulsively purchased it from his fellow art student and hid it at Leland's house.
"I bought it impulsively."
"A rarity for you."
"It is. Still. But I'm trying."
Natalie laid her cheek against Adrian's shoulder. "I know you are, and you're doing a marvelous job."
"What is on our agenda today, sweetheart?" Adrian asked as he twirled a piece of her hair between his fingers, changing the subject.
"The investigation into your 'abduction' went nowhere. Leland couldn't develop any leads because we couldn't give him the one thing he needed - a tie to the building. So now, I guess we have to confront the lawyer ourselves. We have to go there today anyway."
"Confrontation. Not my favorite sport."
"Well, I don't think we'll come right out with it. I think we will do your best sport… detecting."
"Getting down to where I was 'held' will be tricky. Make sure you wear flats." He looked down at her bare feet, a sight he was getting used to when they were home. Her toenails were a bright blue color that looked like the sky on a summer day.
"Our appointment is for eleven-thirty. Do you think that's okay?"
"Yes. It's good. The busier the lobby is, the less chance anyone will see us sneaking around."
Natalie nodded. "I'll make us some breakfast."
He nodded in return and continued to look at the painting that had been his first inkling that his feelings for Natalie had begun to change all those years ago. The scent of eggs cooking and buttered toast drew him from his thoughts and into the kitchen. There were fluffy cheese omelets and rye bread slathered edge to edge with butter on the table. A mug of coffee, a glass of orange juice. And a glass of water sat at his place. He smiled at the life that he was lucky enough to have today. He would never take it for granted, but he also had to act to protect it.
"Thank you, Natalie," his stomach rumbled with gratitude as well.
"You are welcome," she winked at him.
As had become their custom, he cleaned up because she had cooked. When he cooked, she cleaned. Although he had to admit to checking on her work after she was through. She laughed when he bashfully told her. Natalie knew he'd never stop being who he intrinsically was on the inside no matter how much his mental health had improved.
Natalie read while Adrian puttered around the house, straightening, vacuuming, and dusting for another hour. Then, Natalie gathered the receipt folio and the pictures for the monthly visit to the attorney.
𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ
Sometimes Adrian and Natalie could go hours in one another's company without uttering a word. They were each deep thinkers, deeply emotional, deeply pained individuals. It caused them to understand the other's silence and need for solitude. Yet, even with the joy they brought each other, moments of brooding anguish still invaded their world. Certain dates, certain music, certain places could set off a chain of unstoppable feelings. Natalie hid it better, but now that they were together, Adrian had uncovered Natalie's pain, fears, and sorrow were similar to his. She just was able to compartmentalize it better. She definitely had hidden it from him better than he'd hidden his turmoil from her all these years.
Today's silence was not that silence. Today's silence was more contemplative of the future instead of drowning in the past. When they reached the parking garage for Mr. Douglas' building and the car stopped, they realized they hadn't spoken on the half-hour drive and smiled ruefully.
"You okay?" he asked, picking her hand from her lap. He ran his thumb over her soft skin.
"Yes, you?"
"Just mentally preparing for the meeting and what comes after."
Natalie nodded in agreement. "We'll get through the meeting. We're so good at being fake rich now." They laughed a little. This was true. Spending ridiculous amounts of money each month was getting more natural.
They exited the car and walked to the elevators, spines straight, the receipt folio cradled in Natalie's arms like a newborn.
𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ
"Well done, again, Mr. Monk, Ms. Teeger," Mr. Douglas enthused about fifty minutes later as he reentered the sterile conference room.
Adrian nodded and smiled tightly as Natalie acknowledged Mr. Douglas with a quiet" thank you" and downcast eyes. If the attorney noticed anything off, he didn't show it, and they said their goodbyes.
Adrian followed Natalie out into the elevator vestibule and stood close to her as they waited for the elevator. He didn't take her hand or touch the small of her back as had become his habit. He just stood close enough so she could feel the heat of him.
When they reached the lobby, it was far busier than when they arrived. They took advantage of the increased human traffic and slipped into the stairwell beside the elevator bank. Not one of the guards or receptionists noticed. They hurried but tried to act nonchalant at the same time. Adrian stopped and straightened a poster haphazardly stuck to the wall announcing a local harvest festival. Natalie tried to pull him away. If anyone had been observing them, they would have seen a well-practiced comedy duet. It made Natalie think about their time in that monastery on the edge of San Francisco when they had snuck into Vespers to rescue Leland and silently argued over the crooked cross in the hallway.
Once they reached the bottom floor, Adrian took the lead and pushed Natalie behind him firmly. They slunk along the wall silently until Adrian recognized the cross hallway and held up his hand. He looked both ways, but this part of the ultra-busy building was obviously deserted. Adrian relaxed marginally, and when he did, he realized that every part of him that could clench had been clenched. His shoulders came down from where they'd been hovering near his ears, and he motioned Natalie forward. They approached the room of his captivity, door as he'd left it, hinges still off.
"This is it, then," Natalie stated rhetorically. Of course, it was. It looked precisely as Adrian had described it. Down to the number of cups on the shelf.
"Yes. Now that I'm not chloroform-addled, I want to look around more carefully."
"Okay."
They spent twenty minutes in the room and prowling the various hallways and turned up nothing of value for their trouble.
Finally, Natalie ventured, "What do you think?"
"I don't know what to think. Except for the fact that I was knocked out and inconvenienced, and they tried to keep us apart… what was the point?"
"Maybe you were right. It was simply to keep us apart for a night and break the terms of the bequest."
"I think we need to try and find out who benefits if we default. I don't think we have the entire will, Natalie. I think we only have the part that has to do with us. That's where our answer lies."
Natalie smiled brilliantly at him then.
"What?"
"Just you. You are so clever. You cut through the noise to the point where it would take others so much longer. You are just incredible." She kissed him and said, "Let's get out of here."
Once they reached the garage and into the car, Natalie started a web search on her phone. She read aloud, "Once a will is filed, it is a public record, meaning anyone can view it. The original will stay with the court forever. Copies of the original will are available to anyone willing to pay for it."
"I guess we're off to the courthouse."
Natalie started the car and headed to McCallister Street. But, their day was far from over.
𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ
The two stood in an unusually long line. Adrian's patience wore thin quickly, and Natalie sent him on a walk through the courthouse to calm him. When he returned, she was next in line.
They approached the clerk, and Adrian's anxiety caused him to blurt, "We need a will, and we need it right now!"
The clerk looked over the frames of her glasses at him, "Okay."
Natalie laid her hand on Adrian's back and said, "Hi, how are you? My name is Natalie Teeger, and this is Adrian Monk. A few months ago, we were named in a will, and we'd like a complete copy of the will for our files. Is that possible?"
"There's a fee for the printing, but as long as it was probated and filed, there's no reason why not. Anyone can get a copy of a will even if they're not in it. They are public record."
"Thank you. Is there a long wait for the copy?"
"No. You can have it now. May I have the deceased's name?"
"Dale Biederback," Adrian replied in a quiet voice, "B-i-e-d-e-r-b-a-c-k."
"Thank you." She paused as her computer worked. "Alright, here it is." She pushed several more buttons, and the printer behind her began spitting out what seemed like reams of paper.
Adrian fidgeted and fussed with the pen that was attached to the counter with a chain. Natalie stilled his hands by covering them with one of hers and looking into his eyes with the blend of empathy and what he now recognized as the love she'd always given him when he struggled. She'd always been able to calm him and refocus him. Why hadn't he understood what they had sooner? This was a regret he'd carry with him for the rest of his life, he was certain. Finally, the printer stopped.
"Wow, this guy must have itemized every single thing he ever owned."
"Yeah, something like that," Natalie replied as she paid the woman and took the rather large envelope.
"Let's go!" Adrian whispered urgently. He regained his manners, "Thank you, ma'am," he said courteously to the clerk.
"Bye! Thanks!" Natalie called to the clerk as Adrian dragged her through the doors.
When they got to the car, Adrian tore open the envelope with haste, an unusual act that had Natalie raising her eyebrows. Instead of commenting, she started the car. She adjusted the temperature and lowered the radio so she could hear it, and Adrian could concentrate. She watched as he flew through the pages that he recognized. His eyes moved rapidly over the words, and occasionally his lips moved in silent recitation.
Finally, after handing page after page to her, he slowed his reading, and Adrian inhaled sharply. "Natalie!"
"What?"
"Look!"
He handed her the page he'd been reading, and as she read, her eyes rounded, and once again, her eyebrows rose practically to her hairline. "Oh, you're kidding me."
With an ironic grin, Adrian shook his head and said, "I guess we have the answer."