(Okay you guys. I refer to the real NCIS team briefly in this story. I don't know if they would truly be the team for this job, but they were the first thing that came to mind.)

I DO NOT OWN MONK OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH MONK :( Except this story of course :)

THE TRUTH

Chpt. 1

Adrian moved methodically around the crime scene, noticing every inconsistency, every little thing that was out of order. He reached over to a pile of books and adjusted them slightly, until they were perfectly straight. Then, Adrian saw what he needed. He reached under the table, next to it's leg, and retrieved the condemning piece of evidence. He smiled and began his "here's what happened". Natalie smirked and thought to herself..'He's so unbelievably intelligent...I guess with intelligence comes the...oddities.' She smiled to herself and patted Adrian on the back. Him and Natalie walked to her car and she got in. Adrian was standing outside of the car looking at something on her door. "What is it Mr. Monk? Mr. Monk? Hellooo?"

"Natalie you have...something...here..." He said while retrieving his tweezers and scratching at her door.

Natalie sighed, got out of the car and went around to his side.

"Mr. Monk, what are you doing?! Stop scratching that!"

Adrian scratched and scratched the door until the bit of grass was removed, leaving an even bigger "something" on her door.

"Mr. Monk! Look at my door! How do you expect me to pay to get that fixed?"

"What? Natalie you have plenty of money."

Natalie scowled at him and rolled her eyes. Adrian looked at her innocently, and she sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

"Okay...Okay Mr. Monk just get into the car. Don't worry about it." she grumbled.

They got into her car and drove away.

They reached Adrian's apartment in about twenty minutes. They had ridden the entire ride in silence. Adrian was a little scared of Natalie, so he hadn't said anything. They walked into his apartment and Natalie sat down on the couch.

"So, Mr. Monk what do we need to do now?"

"Today is the day I clean and polish all of my light bulbs. I haven't done it in exactly 2 weeks, and my lights are becoming dim."

Natalie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. 'Why did I HAVE to ask...' Natalie reprimanded herself.

"Mr. Monk, I haven't ever cleaned or polished my light bulbs, and there's nothing wrong with them."

"Natalie, I have been doing this since I moved into this apartment and I am not stopping now."

"Well why haven't you ever asked me to help before?" she asked.

"I usually do it at night, when I can't sleep, but I just thought since you were here..."

Natalie stood up slowly and sighed. "Where do we start?" She asked in an agitated tone.

Natalie and Adrian had been cleaning and polishing the light bulbs for two hours. They had only finished 4 of them. Every time Natalie would try to move on to the next one, Adrian would stop her and show her "all the spots she missed".

'I can't believe it's me and Mitch's anniversary and I am sitting here polishing light bulbs...Oh Mitch, I miss you.....' Natalie thought. She sniffled and changed her train of thought to keep from crying.

"No, no, no Natalie." Adrian said as if he were scolding a young, naive child. "You have to rub the wipe completely over the bulb......Get into those crevices there....Natalie...no Natalie you have to-"

"Mr. Monk! Stop! I'm tired of polishing these light bulbs! Just do it yourself!" She huffed and walked into the kitchen.

'What is wrong with Natalie? I know this type of thing bothers her, but she doesn't usually yell like that...' Adrian thought.

Adrian followed her, still polishing the "dirty" light bulb.

"Natalie, come on.."

Natalie leaned back against the counter, looking at Adrian. She sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead. ".......Okay Mr. Monk, okay, okay, okay. I will help you, but you have GOT to stop criticizing how I do it okay?"

Adrian nodded and walked back into the living room, with Natalie following behind him.

After two more hours of polishing, they were finally finished. Adrian thanked Natalie and she walked to the door, on her way to leave.

"Natalie? Um.....Can you take me to get groceries?"

"Mr. Monk, we just sat here for four hours polishing those stupid light bulbs. Why didn't you mention this earlier!?" Natalie growled.

"One thing at a time Natalie. If we had gone to the grocery store, we couldn't have polished the light bulbs."

"Mr. Monk, it is Me and Mitch's anniversary today. Can I please just go home?" She asked, on the verge of tears.

"So........you can't take me to get the groceries?"

"Mr. Monk! I can't believe you! This is the one day that I really just want to be alone and think about Mitch and all you can think about is yourself. You ALWAYS think about Trudy! Why can't I have this one day?! You are the most selfish human being on the planet! I just can't believe you! If you want groceries, you can go get them on your own!" Natalie stormed out of his apartment and ran to her car.

Adrian and Natalie both immediately regretted their actions.

'God why did I just say that? I probably really just hurt him. What is wrong with me? I didn't mean to hurt him...He probably doesn't even want me to come back now..." Natalie thought as she drove home, sobbing out loud.

'I shouldn't have asked her that. Why can't I control what I say? I always realize that I'm saying the wrong thing after it's too late... Natalie's right...I do always think about Trudy...' Adrian sat on the couch with his head in his hands, and Natalie's voice rang through his head.

'You ALWAYS think about Trudy! Why can't I have this one day?! You are the most selfish human being on the planet! I just can't believe you!'

'I can't believe myself either...Natalie, I'm sorry...she's probably not going to come back...' Adrian trudged to his room and laid on his bed.