Title: "How it all Began"
Author: AngelaRB
Rating: PG-13 for a little bad language
Chapter 1
"Hey Monk, there's your girlfriend." Detective Stottlemeyer looked over at his partner
with a sly grin on his face. As expected, Detective Adrian Monk was wide eyed and terrified
at seeing the tall, pretty blonde with the spectacular smile that had had talked about non-stop
for the past few weeks.
He had been replaying the first time they met, six weeks earlier, in his mind over and over again.
"Excuse me?"
Adrian looked up from some paperwork and immediately got a mean case of dry mouth. She was here...
oh my god, she was actually here. He had been reading this woman's column for years, and he had her beautiful face memorized from the little photo that appeared beside her name in the paper every day.
Trudy Sullivan was even more stunning in person, and Adrian was starting to realize that he was staring.
"Are you okay?"
Her brow was furrowed in a way that made him believe that she either thought he was really scary or really unstable, so he pulled himself together a bit.
"I'm fine...I, uh...I think I had some bad Chinese food." He wanted to bang his head against the wall. Bad Chinese Food?? Real slick, Monk.
"Oh. Well, I hope you feel better." She flashed him that smile again and he felt dizzy. "Is Captain Davis in?
I'm Trudy Sullivan with the San Francisco Tribune, and I have an appointment with him at 2:00. I know
I'm a little early..."
"That's okay! I think he's in his office." He pointed in the direction of the Captain's office. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you.
"Okay...well...I'll be heading back there now..."
"Alright..."
"Are you sure you're okay." She still had that look of concern on her face.
"I'm just peachy." Oh for Christ's sake Monk, Peachy???
She threw her head back and laughed the softest, most sincere laugh he had ever heard. "You're cute...Mr...?"
"Monk. Adrian Monk. Detective Monk...
"Okay then Mr. Adrian Detective Monk, it was very nice to meet you. And I hope that Chinese food you had is good to you." She knocked on the Captain's door, he looked up and invited her in when he saw her through the window, and before Trudy closed the door behind her she looked back at him and flashed him that smile one more time.
Unfortunately, he and Stottlemeyer got a call about a homicide across town so he was gone when she and the Captain's meeting was finished.
That was six weeks ago, and after thinking about her every waking moment of the day there she was once again, sitting on a park bench writing in a notebook.
"Jesus Christ, Monk, go talk to her." Stottlemeyer was sitting behind the wheel eating an enormous cheeseburger with fries, so he probably had time to go say something to her. His typical lack of confidence when it came to all things that had to do with women started to kick in, and the thought of walking up to that spectacular woman scared the living daylights out of him.
"She probably won't even remember me."
Stottlemeyer rolled his eyes at him and said, "Everyone remembers you, Monk. You've been talking about that woman for over a month now, so you had better get out there and get her phone number or I'll kick your ass."
His partner always knew exactly how to get him to do something he was too nervous to do on his own. He slowly inched out of the unmarked police car they were eating lunch in, walked across the street to the small park, and stood before the woman of his dreams. She was wearing a pale blue dress with tiny darker blue flowers all over it and the way she was sitting made her look like she was from another time. She looked out of place surrounded by the big city atmosphere of San Francisco. Trudy looked as though she belonged under a tree in a meadow with a perfect blue sky and birds singing all around her.
He had that case of dry mouth once again. "Miss Sullivan?" He was amazed that he was able to squeak those two words out of this mouth.
She looked up and smiled so wide that Adrian nearly swooned. "Mr. Monk! How are you??"
"Wow, I can't believe you remember me."
"Of course I remember you! Please have a seat!"
He sat next to her and spoke a bit of small talk for a while (she showed him her notes about a story she was writing about corruption in the city government) until Stottlemeyer honked the horn of the police cruiser, signaling Adrian that he was finished with his burger and it was time to go. "Oh, dammit, I have to get back to work. My caseload is huge right now. "She actually looked disappointed that he was leaving. Adrian found that amazing. He rarely got the chance to spend time with women, and when he did he always sensed that they weren't all that interested in anything he had to say. The thought went through his mind that maybe that was simply his imagination and lack of self-confidence, but that was crazy. Women like this simply didn't go for men like him.
When he got up to leave, Trudy stood up with him and kissed him on the cheek. Adrian had to brace himself because his knees turned to jelly.
"Are you doing anything tonight?" Trudy grinned at him. "And don't say 'working' because too much work isn't healthy for anyone."
"Uh...Well...Um...If you put it that way I guess I'm not doing anything." Careful Monk, you're going to make an ass out of yourself and she'll never want to speak to you again.
"Good. Because there is this spectacular new restaurant in my neighborhood that I want you to take me to tonight. How does 7:00 sound?"
"Uh, ah...Excellent."
"Great! Well, you'd better get going because your partner doesn't look like he's enjoying having to
wait for you."
Adrian looked across the street, and it was certainly true that Stottlemeyer was flashing his signature scowl at him this very moment. Great. He said goodbye to Trudy, made it halfway across the street, and then remembered that he forgot something. He turned to her, but she already knew what he wanted.
"It's 555-8233." Adrian grinned shyly at her and nodded thanks, and before he got into the car she yelled over to him again. "And don't worry! The restaurant doesn't serve Chinese food!"