Just something that popped into my head late last night, I couldn’t get to sleep till I wrote it down. If it’s not good, blame it on the gallons of cough syrup I’m taking! Some one please continue where I left off. Thanks, Monk-O-Phile81.



In the Live Chat, TS said he would like to try some directing, but it’d have to be an episode where he was in a coma or something. Here you go Mr. TS. Sir. I think this would be a good one to have Natalie or the whole gang solve. I don’t know, whatever you guys come up with. (Possible Monk/Natalie later?)[/color][/size][/font]



Mr. Monk Takes a Break

Adrian and Natalie sat in a booth at Serintino’s. Now usually Monk didn’t eat out (because that involves human contact, contact with things other people have touched and eating food he didn’t actually SEE being prepared) But these were special circumstances. Neither Natalie nor Adrian felt like cooking (they had been bombarded with cases lately.) nor was there any room. After Monk’s ‘death’ she had moved most of he’s belongings into her house, and now Monk himself was staying there, since Monk ‘died’ his landlord rented his apartment to someone else. There wasn’t any room to move around let alone cook. Ordering out wasn’t an option because the food always arrived cold and ten boxes of Sierra Springs water blocked the microwave. So Serintino’s it was.[/font][/size]</H1> “Mmm. This is really good Mr. Monk. Thank you for suggesting it.” Natalie said between mouthfuls.

“I told you.”

“Huh?”

“I told you, you’d…you’d…you’d” Natalie looked up from her plate to see Monks fingers entwined and pressing on his chest, a pained expression littered his face.

“Mr. Monk! Mr. Monk are you ok?” He collapsed onto the floor. “Oh my god! Mr. Monk! Adrian~” she screamed as she kneeled beside him “Call 9-1-1! Now!” she yelled at the waiter who was just gaping at the whole scene.





“It’s a Jungle Out there…”







“He’s having a what?!”

“A heart attack, ma’am.”

“Wha-ch-check for poison!”

“Poison, ma’am?”

“Yes, Poison, he’s a famous detective, hundreds of people want him dead. Now, Check for poison!”

“Ma’am, we know what were doing. Your husband will be fine.”

“He…” she began, but he cut her off.

“Ma’am!”

OOPS! I posted it twice! Sorry!

GREAT!!! Let me try a bit....

-----
A bit later, Stot and Randy arrive at the Hospital, and their first glimpse from the reception counter met a helplessly Natalie sitting at one of the reception´s chair.
She is laying her cheeks on her hands, elbows on her knees. She is looking down (or this is assumed by Randy, because he could not see her face) but Stot notices she´d been crying, for the drops that keep on spotting the floor.
"Natalie" - Leland calls her in a calm voice, walking towards her.
She lifts up her head, both Randy and Stot stare at a ruined Natalie, nose and eyes red, messy hair, wipe on her right hand, that with a painful and desperate voice tries: "Capt'n....Randy....oh...." - She bursts into tears, while Leland is sitting beside her. He offers her his right shoulder, she lays her head there and he caresses her face with the other hand.
Randy goes to the counter to get more info about Monk´s healt condition.
"Calm down, Natalie" - Stot goes with a calm and cozy voice - "calm down. We know you two have been facing a lot of stressing situations these days, so calm down, it won´t be anything serious, just a nervous breakdown or something.....shsh....calm down..."
Randy comes closer as Natalie starts to breath more efficiently. She takes a deep breath, wipes her eyes and nose, looks at Stot and at Randy, that now is standing next to them, and asks to him:
" What did they tell you now?"
"Well, apparently he had a minor disfunction on his heart, some kind of angine, they are not sure yet."
"But....he...he fainted...he didn´t wake up yet! I think.....oh, Mr Monk......my God.....I tink it is more than just an angine ore some other minor issue......oh, my God..."
" Wait, wait, Natalie. What.... what you wanna tell us??" -asks Stot, with a concerned look. Before Natalie starts to speak, Stot gives a look to Randy and he immediately goes down the corridor to the rooms, looking for more precise informations.
She starts: "We were at Serintino´s, you know, he is staying with me, and Julie, in my house, ´cause his Landlord had rented his apartment, you know, because of his death, not death, fake death, you know..... and part of his stuff is still there in my house, he had nowhere to go, and we were going to have dinner, he recommended the place, even though he wasn´t so much fan of eating out, we have no space on the house, you know part of his stuff is there, because of his death, not real death, you know...... off course you know that!.... and we were there having our meal and he started to....oh, my God" - bursts into tears again - " oh, my God..." - and her words are coming out of her mouth in an almost irrecognizable English, soaked with tears and dispair - " ...he went on repeating I told you, you´d, you´d, you´d...... and then with the hands on his chest, he went down to the floor.......Oh.......I believe he was trying to tell me he was right, again.....and it is my fault.....I know....he....I know.....he... Mr Monk was poisoned! Oh, and this is my fault......"
" No, Natalie. No one´s fault here. Calm down, breathe and tell me again, now try to make a bit more sense, ok? C´mon, breathe......Yes.....Yes...." - Stot is holding Natalie´s head with both of his hands, helping her to put the thoughts in order, and he goes on: " You know Monk´s been target for other's revenge longer than you two met, so, let's figure it out together, ok?Like Monk does, ok?"
Natalie nods her head.
Randy arrives at the reception, with a doctor besides him, and both Natalie and Stot stand up to hear the news.
---------

Before the doctor could say anything Natalie burst out, "Did you check for poison?"
"No, Mrs. Monk, we didn't."
"Well, why the hell not?" she screeched.
"We know what were doing, you don't have to tell us what to do."
" Actually I think we do doctor, Captain Leland Stottlemyer, SFPD. That man is a detective. A damn fine if you ask me, and if we say you need to check for poison, you better damn-well do it! Or I'll arrest you for malpractice!" as he said this he reached for his cuffs.

"ok. Ok. whatever you say captain." the doctor was shocked and hurried off to do more tests.

"He's gonna die for real and its all my fault" natalie wailed.

Natalie's cell rang.
"Hello? Oh hi angel." Natalie said as she tried to control herself.
"Mom, are you ok? What's wrong? you haven't been this upset since Mr. Monk 'died'" at this Natalie began to ball and Disher had to take the phone from her and explain to Julie what was going on.



micheleNasser: Keep writting, I don't mind. As you can see I don't have much to add right now. (curse you evil cold virus!) anywho, keep writting.

In the meantime, Stot cames back to the reception hall, and asks Natalie to follow him. They were allowed at Monk´s room. He was only under observation, no death risk so far.
As Natalie arrives at the room, she founds Monk laid down as he was sleeping, no tubes on him, only the regular ones on his arm. The heart-meter machine was on, and his heart seems beating in a regular compass.
She approaches him, and notices he was sketching a smile on his pale face. Or was only her imagination? With an enormous tenderness, she caresses his hair, lays her hand on his face and let an eyedrop runs her face. Randy arrives at the room, and interrupts her thoughts by telling her about Julie.
"She´s staying at her friend´s house, and she wants to talk to you, as soon as you can. She said you shouldn´t worry about her"
"Thanx, Randy. I will be here, with Mr Monk, until he wakes up. He will wake up, right, Randy?" - she pleed an assertive answer from him, and he looked at Monk on bed, than gave Natalie a warm hug, with no words.
Stot approaches monk´s bed, and then said to Natalie: "You go hom,e Randy takes you there. have a shower, talks to Julie, and then come back if you will. I will be here, taking care of this friend here, until you comes back, ok? I won´t leave him a minute alone, ok?"
Natalie nods her head, and without leaving Randy´s arms, she looks at Monk on the bed again and then both head away.

******COMMERCIAL BREAK********

Anyone else wanna give it a try? i'm gonna have to start getting ready for my performance tonight. (i hope i don't forget any of the words to the songs! It's a musical!) I'm only thinking about that right now. So give it a shot, we won't bite! (too hard)

The doctors tested Adrian for poisoning. They put a rush on the results, because they don't want to be arrested for malpractice, and because with a poisoning every minute counts and they have already wasted enough time. Natalie rushes back to the hospital to wait with the others. She is still frantic and blames herself. When the results of the poisoning test comes back the doctor takes everyone into a consultation room, and Natalie falls apart because she is convinced Adrian has died. The doctor keeps saying, "Calm down Mrs. Monk, it will be okay." They finally get Natalie calm enough for the doctors to share the results with them. It is confirmed that Adrian has been poisoned, with Cyanide. Luckily, he did not eat enough to kill him, but it was enough to give him heart trouble. They would have to wait and see if Adrain would wake up from the poisoning.

Deep inside Monk´s dreams, he was walking desperately on a dark corridor, listening to voices, laughs, and seeing flashes of the murders he had put in Jail. He is terrified, sweating and crying, trying to get at the of this long corridor soon. He starts to run, with his hands on his ears. He can distinghish some voices down below his fears, he can spot Natalie and Leland´s voices, talking. As he speeds up, he can hear their voices more clearly, and there´s Randy over there too. He sees a light, and the three of them over there, talking, in a room. A clear room. He listens to a beep, intermittent beep, Natalie seems that had been crying, Stot and Randy were talking to her. They are in a bright room, light yellow walls, and a bright big round light above a bed. The other voices stopped as he reaches the end of the corridor.
Someone calls him back. He looks and sees Trudy. She is wearing a windy bright-white gown, and her sillouette is smoky. She holds a nice smile on her face, and stretches her right arm to Monk. Adrian shivers, and starts to walk back towards her, but suddenly her face starts to disrrupt, he recognizes the 6 fingered man on there, than Dale the Whale, then an old man, with golden round glasses up his nose and a green moustache, that starts to laugh at him. He looks back the room were his three friends are, and sees they are in a hospital room. He looks closely, and realizes that it´s him there, at the bed. He looks astonished to Natalie, Leland and Randy, tries to talk to them, but something pushes him back to the corridor.
Silence.
He keeps on listening to the beep. And the three voices. Now he sees he´s in the room, laying on the bed, he can listen to everything, he can think clearly, but cannot move or open the eyes. He listens when the nurse arrives, check some things, give no news to the friends, and go away, and also listens when Leland mentions Leo again to Natalie. Something flashes on his mind: he knows what happened. He solves the case, but his temporary physicall limitation do not allow him to tell them.....

" We have to find out who did this, captain, we have to!"Natalie cried, emphasizing her words with a hit on the arm.
"Ok.Ok. Natalie, we will, just calm down. Now you have to tell me everything that happend today. Can you do that?"
"Ok." Natalie said as she took a calming breath."we went to the trainstation to help you out with the conductor case, found the guy hiding in the switchboard room, went to the park, helped you with that case, went shopping, had lunch at your house, then we went back home and put some stuff away and did some organizing. Then we went to Serintino's for dinner."
"Ok. did anything odd happen at the resturaunt?"
"Well, we started off with a female waitress and a waiter brought the food to us. It took a really long time to get the food."
"Captain" Randy leaned in the doorway "We got a call, a waitress was found dead at, Where was it?" he said into his cell "Serintino's? Are you sure?...A dead waitress at Serintino's."
"Uh. Ok. Randy, I'll be out in a minute"
"What are you doing, that could conect to Mr. Monk being poisoned!"
"Natalie, I have one more question to ask you,"
"What?" Natalie replied, impatiantly(sp)
"Why don't you correct them when they call you 'Mrs. Monk'? Just think about that while i'm checking the waitress out, Ok." He patted her on the head like a father would do to his daughter and left....

Natalie stays in the room, grabs a chair an sits beside Monk. She looks at his face, carefully, analysing every inch of it, imagining that the growing beard gives him a much more interesting figure, noticing that his lips became red-normal coloured, and that also gives him a much more interesting figure, and his eye-lashes are long an....Wait! Stop! Natalie, stop it right now! -she corrects herself in her thoughts - What are you thinking, Lady? He is Mr Monk, and you´re definetely not Mrs Monk. Look at his weak situation, c´mon, stop these flattering thoughts! And tell Capt´n you didn´t correct them because... because...... there was no time or room for that, that´s why!
As she finishes this though, an old nurse comes in to check Mr monk responses. As she is checking Monk´s pulse, she goes on: " Do you have any kid?"
"No, no, we´re not...." and gestures denying it.
" Why not?? You´re a beautiful couple, you´re a pretty young woman and this men, I am sorry for this, but this man is.....if I was younger, you´ll have problems with me, dear!!!!!" and blinks at Natalie,laughing after it.
Natalie brushes, looks at Monk again and the nurse continues:" Please, do not be mad at me, I am just an old experienced nurse,old enough to be your, even his mother" - and approaches Natalie - " I am just making you a bit more comfortable, I know how´s difficult when you almost loose that thing that makes your life complete..... But don´t worry, kid, your man will come back to you soon. He´s strong enough, I can tell!"
Natalie decides to keep it like this, she is too tired to explain the whole situation, and she´s also afraid they won´t let her stay if she confess she´s not Mrs. Monk.
"The night shift is mine, so anything you need just press it here,ok? Now try to relax a bit, I won´t come back in at least 1 hour, ok?" says the nurse while leaving the room.
Natalie nods, looks at Monk again and holds his hand.
"...your man will come back to you soon...." Monk keeps repeating to himself, feeling the warmth of Natalie´s hand on his.

It was early, before 7:00, when the doctor made his rounds the next day. As he stepped out onto the Intensive Care floor of the hospital, he glimpsed into a patient room and saw Adrian Monk's wife asleep on the chair beside the bed. He also took in a group of cops bunched together in the hall outside the door, drinking coffee from paper cups and looking as though they hadn't slept.

He stepped up to the group in the hall first and asked for Capt. Stottlemeyer. Leland lifted his hand in acknowledgement, a look of anxiety and trepidation on his face.

"Sir, the tests are not all in. But the preliminary findings show that Mr. Monk did not injest enough of the poison to kill him. However he is not out of the woods. There could be liver and/or brain damage from the effects of the cyanide. We will keep him under observation for now."

"But..." trying to think of a logical question or comment when his head was swirling with fatigue, worry, and overwork was difficult, "will he wake up soon?"
Leland asked.

"We don't know the answer to that. The responses to toxic substances can be very individual. He is strong, I can tell you that. But how this plays out depends very much on him."

"What can we do?" asked Randy, his tie and shirt askew, his face haggard.

"We will do everything possible. There is nothing for you to do but wait and see. You might try to get his wife to rest. She was here all night. We will call her if anything changes."

"Thank you, doctor," mumbled Leland. "Okay, listen up," he turned to the group of cops still standing there. "You," indicating two cops, "get down to forensics and find out how the tests on the pizza boxes and tableware from the restaurant are going. The rest of you get out there and put your ears to the ground. Chase down any leads you can come up with. Randy, you and I are going to talk Natalie into going home."

"Yes sir" came the mumbled responses as they shifted off into various directions.

Leland and Randy entered the room, waking Natalie away. She looks very messy, her eyes were red and a concerned expression explicit on her face. She tries a smile, and then checks Monk, seeing that everything is still the same.
"I....I didn´t say anything otherwise they won´t let me stay." - she told Leland, in a quiet sleepy voice, while tring to fix her hair with the hands.
" Uh? Ah, ok, kiddo, ok." - says Leland and looks at Randy, giving a do-not-say-a-word look to him. "Hey, Doc says his situation is stable, he won´t wake up soon, unfortunately, but you should have a break, ok?"
"I´m ok here, thanx, Capt´n. I will stay."
"No, this is not a discussion, I am ordering you to leave. There will be two men here with him, and doc will call you if necessary. C'mon, let´s go." - and gently grabs her hand and helps her to stand up.
" We have some things to clear up, I wonder if you....´d like to..... - Randy looks at Leland searching for approval - come along....with us?" - finishes Randy.
" Yeah, Randy. Yeah, every help is crucial at this point. So, are you ok to join us?" -goes Leland.
"I dunno.....I am afraid he wakes up and I won´t be around....or gets worse.....it was my fault, and I..." - says Natalie, being interrupted by Leland again:
"Natalie, for the last time, it wasn´t your fault, ok? and you will be a better helper overthere with us than here, doing nothing than felling sorry for yourself!" - oh-o, has he passed the limits in such a delicate situation??
Natalie looks at Leland ashamed, while Randy was speechless stearing at both of them.
"Yes, you´r right, you´re right! " goes Natalie, picking up her stuff and getting ready to leave.
Just before she leaves, she goes to Monk again and give him a cozy kiss on his forehead, saying " We won´t leave you alone, Mr Monk. We will figure it all soon, for you, and take you back home." Then she straightens the sheet, arrange his shoes besides the bed just in case he wakes up, and is interrupted by Leland:
"C´mon, Mrs Monk" says him, ironically, from outside the room´s door.
Monk could not perform it, but from his inside he was giving Natalie an endearing smile.

At Captain´s car ther were no much talk. Randy was just checking some items they had covered already, and Natalie was resting her mind a bit, observing the movement outside.

They reached a stop sign and just as they were pulling out a car came speeding out of nowhere and hit the front driver's side. The unmarked police car went spinning while shots were fired from the back of the criminals' car...

Good!!!

can anyone try to continue it????

Hugs
Mi

Going once! Going twice! Sold! To the next person to open this topic!

When the car stopped spinning, after some seconds of shocking silence, Leland with a cut in his right eyebrow asks for Randy, who is in driver´s seat and checks also if Natalie is ok on the back seat.
With a muffled voice, Randy says hes´fine, fighting with the air bag that popped up on his face, and getting more wrapped in the seatbelt while trying to open the damaged door. He apparently had no injuries, but Natalie was too quiet.
"Natalie? " - asks Leland, looking back with difficult, pressing a handkerchief on his eyebrow to stop the bleeding. She had fainted.
Randy can get out of the car, he feels then some pain on his right ribs, but stands looking to the street where the car that hit them had run away. Some pedestriuans are approaching the car, while the other cars just stopped behind them, and some driver were aiming their car to help.
leland gets out of the car, calling an ambullance while tells Disher to try to get some info about the hitten car from the locals.

Camera zooms out, showing the confusion established, and we are able to hear an ambulance sirene coming from some distance.

As the ambulance arrives, the paramedics jump out and assess the situation. They ask the Captain if anyone is hurt, and the Captain moves towards the car's backseat as Randy approaches the paramedics from talking to witnesses of the scene.

"She fainted right after the accident, we don't know how badly she's hurt", the Captain tells them.

"We need to get her to the hospital and see how bad her injuries are that she sustained or if she was just knocked unconscious. Are you both ok?", the paramedic asks the Captain and Randy.

Randy tells the paramedics that he feels some pain in his right ribs, and the Captain shows them his cut on his face. The paramedics decide to take all three to the hospital to X-ray Randy, and to check for internal bleeding within the three.

The paramedics load up an unconscious Natalie, and Randy and the Captain are also helped inside as the ambulance zooms off towards the hospital.

"OOOOOOOOhh!" Natalie groaned as she came to. "Oh my head!" She covered her eyes from the painfully bright light. She turned as her eyes adjusted to the light filtering in through to window, there was Monk laying in the next bed, still unconscious and still hooked up to an Iv and various formidable looking objects. Their beds were within reach of eachother so Natalie reached over and held Monk's hand, as Stottlemyer and a doctor came into the room, Stott had bought some flowers, Natalie lost concousness again...

Stottlemeyer left the hospital with Randy. Natalie was admitted and Monk was still unconscious. He began barking orders into his cell phone.

"What do we have on that car so far?" Pause.

"Well get on it. I want a name and I want it now."

"What news from the lab? Okay. We're on our way."

Stot turned to Randy and said, "The lab has found something on the pizza box. Let's go."

pizza box? where'd that come from? They went out to eat at a 5 star/cleanest resturaunt in San Fransisco. Sorry if I didn't post that in my story. But good dialauge (sp) I could here Stottlemyer saying that in my head.

QUOTE (MonkoPhile81 @ May 15 2008, 07:01 PM)

"OOOOOOOOhh!" Natalie groaned as she came to. "Oh my head!" She covered her eyes from the painfully bright light. She turned as her eyes adjusted to the light filtering in through to window, there was Monk laying in the next bed, still unconscious and still hooked up to an Iv and various formidable looking objects. Their beds were within reach of eachother so Natalie reached over and held Monk's hand, as Stottlemyer and a doctor came into the room, Stott had bought some flowers, Natalie lost concousness again...

Randy enters the room, leaning himself uncomfortably by the wall next the door, at the bottom of the stretcherwhere Natalie lays, difficulty breathing because of the thighten tracks around his chest.

"Oh, but this seems a deep cut, huh?" -asks the doctor, approaching Leland and looking carefully at the Captain´s eyebrow, while Leland istrying to pinch the flowers in a plastic water jar on the night stand beside Monk´s bed.

".... It takes me five stitches .... and a 30 dollars shirt in the trash bin ..." Leland says ironically, giving up to arrange the flowers, and leaving it clumsy inside the jar.
Answering with a smile, doctor begins:
"Well, Mrs. Monk here is ok, we did take all examinations and X-rays that were necessary, they not revealed anything bad. For the clinical apparent status, she has no major injuries, just deep post-traumatic stress. The shock of the accident triggered a huge injection of adrenaline and moradrenalinein her body, big enough to leave her unconscious for the necessary time to the body recover itself. Soon she´ll be awake, ready for the next round ...." -while says this, signs the medical record attached at the bottom of Natalie´s stretcher.
He gives a comforting smile to Randy and heads to Monk´s bed:
"...but we cannot say the same of your friend here" -speaks now seriously looking at Leland.

Captain´s face changes its feature dramatically, showing increasingly concern as the doctor continues to distribute his talk:

"The conclusive report we received from the laboratory today indicates that Mr Monk was actually poisoned, but not by a common poison, but by something extremely inappropriate to our environment: he was poisoned by Latrotoxina.

"Black Widow!" shouts Randy immediately, cutting the explanations from the doctor.

"That's right, Black Widow, your friend was bitten by a poisonous spider.

Leland looks at Randy with some amazement, while Randy, taking the opportunity to show that he can really contribute with something productive for investigations, continues:

"... also known as latrodectus spp. Producer of a neurotoxic venom, which depending on the amount injected the victim, can cause sharp pain at the bite site, redness, local sweat, headache, goosebumps, problems in the neuro-system and also in the heart. "

Noticing that Leland, astonished is firmly looking at him, continues, now walking around the room and making gestures as if he were in a stage giving a speech:

"... the stronger side effects do not affect the victim immediately, may take 30 to 40 minutes to express itself, and the antivenon for this toxin is easily found, and can be administered both Im or Iv, being the second option the most efficient." - ends Randy, now seeking the doctor's trial to his conclusion, leaving his arm hang loose on Leland´s shoulder, in a self-indulged manner.

"Exactly, Lieutenant.” -says the doctor. “I can see that you have a thorough knowledge about arachnids!"

Randy smiles to the doctor, and looking at the Captain, realizes that once again trespassed the limits. Recomposes himself immediately and becomes very serious, lowering his head and turning up again to Natalie´s stretcher.
Leland, still looking at Randy and with an ironic smile under the moustache, rolls of the toothpick to the other corner and asks the doctor:

"but these symptoms affected Monk almost immediately. It was the bite and then, the fall."

"Yes, Mr Monk is sensitive to the side-effects of neurotoxin, he is allergic to that substance, like many others that we have seen in the tests. For him, the effect is immediate: intense cardiac arrhythmia, which caused the fainting.

Doc goes on, being listened carefully by both officers:

"Then the poison quickly spreads into the bloodstream, causing tachycardia, another classic symptom, and is now moving through his body, is not absorbed or deleted. The immune system of Mr. Monk reacts to this ‘allergy’, and allows this atypical substance circulate indefinitely by the body, not reading it as harmful, also allowing it to control the nervous system and keeping the patient motionless, but conscious."

"Conscious? "- questions Randy

"Yes, conscious but unable to interact."

"What about the antidote, and when we get it?" - Leland question to the doctor

”Antivenon” - corrects Randy, and right after Leland´s look, goes: “ which...is... pretty much...the same thing, by the way!.”

"The spider that bits Mr Monk is not typical here, in the US. This is the intriguing part. It is an Australian species, known as ...

"Redback Spider!" Randy cuts. Again.

"Australian? but ... but how come? " -asks Leland

"Well, I believe that Mrs Monk was right when asked us check for poisoning, her husband must have left some Australian person very angry ..."

Natalie wakes up, a bit dizzy by the almost-latent state she was in, but being able to catch doctor´s last sentence.

"Uhh ...." -she growls, sitting up with some difficult, placing both of her hands in front of her eyes, indicating some light discomfort. Randy promptly moves up to help her.

"Australian?” - she goes. “I..... have some things to fix with an Australian guy ... uhh .... well, big things to fix ......"

Leland reacts almost immediately:

"Randy, take Troops and Barkley with you and go to the restaurant look for some trace of that spider, if it really exists. I will catch up with you later. First let's see how we´ll deal with the antidote…uh….antivenon....whatever "

Randy comes out immediately, saying a loud "too right, mate!"

Leland approaches Natalie:

" How r´ya doin´, Natalie?"

"well...ok..., yes, I think I am ok.... ……yes." - Natalie says, looking immediately for Monk, noticing that he is ok.

"Mrs Monk, so when you feel well, you can go. I am officially releasing you. You do not have any trauma, you are ok." - Doctor gives her a wink, and turns to Leland:

"Do not worry, Captain. We already asked the Health Affairs Secretary a sample of the antivenon, and according to the information I got, it is already on the way up. As soon as we can, we will manage it to Mr Monk and soon he will be well again. And good news: without any collateral damage, he will be back as normal as he always is."

Leland exchange an accomplice smile with Natalie, secretly sharing the image of the 'normal' Monk.

The doctor finishes kindly telling them that he will keep both of them informed, and leaves the room to go on with his shift.

"Natalie, we must check your information about that Australian, we should spot who was the initial target. Are you ok to go on, Mrs. Monk?" - he finishes that sentence with a certain sarcasm in his tone.

"Yes, yes, let's" - Natalie says, leaping from the stretcher and showing an incredible energy.

Before leaving, she looks again to Monk, drowning her eyes carefully on his face, and caressing it with her fingers.

"See you soon, Mr Monk" -she says, gently kissing his forehead.

"C'mon Mrs Monk" - insists Captain, now standing outside the room, and Natalie again notices some sarcasm in the tone of his voice.

Once they both leave the room, Natalie questions:

"Am I noticing a certain sarcasm tone in your voice?"

"Monk has .... well” - Leland takes out the toothpick from his mouth, "he is motionless, but consciously aware!" - says Leland, with a delightful smile in his voice, and gives Natalie a wink, who stopped for a moment, digesting the news

Any1?

Monk closely follows Natalie footsteps echoing on the hospital´s corridor, fading as she and Leland move away from the room. Again Monk feels the loneliness slowly taking the empty room. The Hospital buzzes with people talking half-tone and with the incessant movement of doctors, nurses and patients by the corridors, cars and people unresting noisily in the streets outside, but Monk, even trying to ignore it, feels that emptyness approaching his thoughts once again.
He feels powerless, he knows who, how and why was poisoned, he knows that Natalie is in danger, but there is nothing he can do while in there, confined to bed. He feels fear ... she came back to rescue him when he was about to be poisoned to death. OK, it took quite a while, it is true, but she got the desperation in his eyes and went back to save him. But today, how can she read his eyes if they lie closed to the reality? How could he possibly save her?
Monk feels the burn in his eyes, a tear runs out from the corner of his eye and dies, inadvertently, in the pale whiteness of his pillow

Is this too ? Nobody wants to try? I am afraid I am making this story a bit boring.....

No you're not! I really liked that last part about the pillow. Makes me wanna too!
Keep writing!

During the trip to the restaurant, Natalie explained “the thing” she had with an Australian guy.
Soon after Mitch died, Natalie received a letter from a supposed friend of Mitch, who joined him
in the Air Force. This friend said he had some important information that Mitch would like to came
to his wife´s hands, Natalie. Information about a conspiracy of which Mitch was victim. And then Natalie, still mourning her loss, called that friend to her house to bring the news.
This friend never came to meet her. In the day they had settled the meeting, she eagerly anticipated his arrival by looking out the window, but what she saw was a short man, a skinny short man, with round glasses and long mustache coming close to her house, with an yellow envelope under the arm. She believed to be the supposed friend, but before he could cross the street, a small truck stopped beside this man, he seemed to chat a bit with the passenger, and then entered the truck. Just before this, she thought the man gave her a look trhough the window. She believed he was aware she was there, he could be the friend. This man had a strong Australian accent. There have been other attempts to contact her, but only by phone and nothing very precise. Natalie withdrew that subject a little before meeting and beginning to work with Monk. There was no contact ever again.

Leland did not see any connection between this and Monk´s case, but for precaution, he will put on the fridge this story and use it later, if what they had found on the waitress case did not lead to the solution of the case.

"What have you found?" - asked Natalie

"Well, she was a legal immigrant, came from Argentina, worked in the restaurant for two years, paid rent regularly, had a clean sheet. The only problem is that recently she was seen around with Juan Alvarez, a major drug dealer and convicted murderer, whom we are trying to put behind bars some time ago. We believe that Juan has something to do with this case, because Monk was the only officer who managed to get closer to put him on Jail. Monk took him to court, but the dirty money from drugs and with the connivance of dirt authorities, he was kept outside the prison.”
He makes a pause.
“Well, maybe we are talking about revenge here. " He concludes.

"Authorities? Oh, my God .... authorities may also be Judges? " Asks Natalie, with her hand covering her mouth as in an astonished reaction.

"Yep… unfortunately it may be....”

Leland now speaks very slowly to make himself clear:
“If it is true, Natalie, then we must be very careful because we will stir with very influential, very powerful people. They can block our game whenever they want!” And seeing fear on Natalie´s face, concludes:
“Of course, if this is really the case."

By finishing this sentence, they arrive to the restaurant.

Randy is standing in front of the restaurant, checking his notepad. Once he sees Leland and Natalie, approaches the two in the corner:

"We are waiting for a table, then we can come inside and try to give a more specific look around. We asked for the table where you both used when.....well...You know” - says Randy, gesturing at Natalie.

At the same moment, the three heard a noise of glass being broken in the alley at the back of the restaurant, noise followed by a shot. They saw a figure running away from them, jumping over a fence. Immediately Leland and Randy grasp their pistols and run towards the alley.

"Go inside the restaurant with Troops and Barkley, Natalie. Now!"- Shouts Leland while walks now carefully approaching the alley corner.
Randy follows the captain closely.
Natalie walks to the restaurant door, but is surprised by two men who keep walking side by side with her, holding her arms firmly. And before she could ever think of reaction, one of them puts a humid handkerchief on her face, making her faint almost immediately.
They gently put her in a car and leave the site, driving calmly through the street, without drawing attention to themselves.

There at the alley, Leland and Randy didn´t find anything. Only a broken bottle and the mark of a shot in the garbage desposal bucket.

"Strange ... bullies?" Randy tries.

".... No no .... is not only that ... someone was calling our attention out of ... Oh, God, Natalie! "

Concludes Leland, placing the pistol back in the belt and quickly returning to the front of restaurant, to check on Natalie. Too late.

i only got to glance at this post earlier, wow! Great job! I got nothin, so somebody else continue, please.

Any other ideas???

Natalie wakes up scared, taking a deep breath like when awaking from a dark nightmare. She is blindfolded with both of her hands tied to his back. It seems that she is at a bed or mattress, she is unable to clearly identify it. The place where she is is muffled, she believes to be in a small bedroom, because she is able to feel a fresh breeze touching her right cheek. It should be a small bedroom with a window. She is lying in fetal position, then she realizes she is on a mattress on the floor, when stretches the legs and feels the feet touching the cold ground. She is barefoot.

The room has a distinctive smell, reminiscent smell of laboratory classes she took at high school. But everything is strangely silent. Not even through the window she can hear something. She feels a shiver coming up on her spine, fear takes hold on her. How long is she locked there? She thinks about Julie, is she there enough time for Julie notices her absence? Well, of course Captain and Randy are doing the searches, they must have contacted Julie. She thinks about Monk, and despair begins to take care of her. Monk is not conscious to help them. Without controlling herfears, Natalie starts to cry loudly, compulsively.

Then she hears someone getting up from what appears to be a leather armchair. "Oh, my God, is someone here with me!" she thinks, stopping to cry and breathe almost immediately. She concentrates all her senses to try to hear and figure out what this person will do. She listens that the person is walking by the room.

"Oy, Sheila seems to be in full feather here, mate"

It's a man, he's talking on a cell phone, probably. She can identify another man voice talking back to him by the phone.

"Good onya! Beauty! I'm on my way! "

He approaches Natalie. It seems he's looking at her deeply, then, without saying anything, without touching her, he leaves the room, and locks the door.
Natalie is terrified. She does not recognize his voice, but for sure he is Australian. She stood still, without any reaction, trying to hear something that could help her to identify her location. Only the silence makes its presence now.

This is great...keep posting...

i guess I will give it a try.

Mr monk still is sitting in the hospital bed. In his dreams he is in his aptartment. He is thinking to himself in his typical this is what happen.

Mitch was always claimed as being a so called coward from his last mission. However it turns out the austrilian man was. The day she was supposed to have met the informat he stopped him and told the informat a story maybe something to frame him so he wouldn't reveal it to natalie. However the austrailian man couldn't risk natalie one day finding out that in fact he had framed mitch to make him look like a coward.

He tried to poison her with the spider but, their was a probelm....me. I went to the restaruant with her something the man wasn't expecting and attracted the spider and it bit me. now the man is out there while I am stuck in this room.

Mr. Monk however realizes something is different. That what he feared had happen. That one day another woman in his life that he cared alot for was killed. The setting change and it showed nataile being shot in a parking garage with Monk trying to run to her but, can't and yell

"Natalie watch out!!"

then he looks over and sees Trudy in the car and a bomb going off killing her.

Good job!

here I go again:



Randy enters Captain´s room and deliberately toss a folder on the table.

"Make yourself at home, Lieutenant" - Leland says in an ironic tone.

"Oh .. ... Captain, sorry, but I discovered an important clue"

Captain stretches himself in his chair, gives a deep sigh, and asks:

"Important clue?"

"Yes, see it, Captain. See it you yourself.”

Randy says, pointing to the folder that is in front of Leland.

"Well, let´s see .... uh…poison ... uh ... yes .... waitress ... u-uh"

Leland goes through the notes. Randy follows the reading carefully, with a childish smile on the face. When Leland says: laboratory report, Randy almost screams:

"There! You see? "

Leland calmly raises his eyes to Randy, and after several seconds of silence, said ironically:

"No, MONK, I do not see anything."

Randy begins his explanation, becoming increasingly excited:

"The laboratory report says the poison found in Monk´s blood comes really from the Black Widow that I had mentioned, but the thing is that we haven´t found any kind of spider bite on Monk, right?"

Leland starts to pay attention as Randy says, sits correctly in the chair and says:

"Right. Go on."

"Well, as it was raised at the scene of the crime, there was no spider web or another trail that a spider was there. We didn´t find any trace of poison either. That is, Monk was not stung by any spider, did not ingest poison with the food, but definetely was poisoned."

"Okay, okay, this part I already know. Haven´t we come to that conclusion yesterday, Randy?"

"Monk was drinking mineral water, her favorite brand, right? And the bottle was opened by himself, as Natalie said, right?"

After a few seconds, Leland says:

"Randy, you know that a rhetorical question do not need to be answered, right?"

"Uh? Ahn .... yes ...." - Silence, waiting Leland answer his 'right'?

"Randy, spit it out right now, otherwise I will make you!"

"Yes, yes, Sir! Well, yesterday Troops found a syringe in the trash back there at the restaurant´s alley, remember? And the laboratory test found out that its remains are from the toxin that poisoned Monk.”

He makes another pause, but before Leland stands up, he quickly continues:

"So, someone injected the poison on the water bottle. This toxin is not natural, Captain. It was produced in a laboratory. There is a difference in the chemical composition of this toxin, see "

Randy shows an item on the report to Leland. Leland is interested again on Randy´s theory.

"Yes, but may have thousands of laboratories in the country capable of producing this toxin." Leland says.

"Yes, sir, but because it is produced artificially, it has a ‘life duration’ of 30 minutes only. After that, the poison dissipates the toxin and loses its strength. No matter how it is packaged, even within the ice, it dissipates in 30 minutes."

"Very good, Randy! Now we need to find out the laboratories that are within a range of 30 minutes from the restaurant!"

"We have one more thing, Captain. To compose this toxin in the laboratory, we need a unique substance, found in only one laboratory in the country. And this laboratory is right here in San Francisco."

"This reduces our job dramatically. Come on, Randy. Nice job!”

Leland says, taking his jacket and quickly leaving the room. Randy comes out then, with a winning smile on the face.

[font=Verdana]Leland and Randy arrive at the National Institute of Chemistry and Bio-substances in less than 20 minutes.
They look for the chief scientist to make some questions, and are indicated to a research room, the last one of a long corridor with several Glass rooms, fullfilled with microscopes, glasses with colored liquid inside and people with long white aprons and protection goggles, laid down by tables full of books.

When they reach the indicated room, they read in the door´s glass Dra. Sc. Christine D. Porter. Randy freezes, while the Captain knocks before opening the door.
Standing, behind a white table, looking at microscope, is Christine, a tall brunette woman, with her hair hair held back in a pony-tail. She makes a gesture for them to wait a bit, without raising her head from the microscope. She is also talking on the phone.

Randy enters quickly, right after Captain, and stands aside for Christine, noticing the tubes and cans of various sizes that are in the shlves around the room. Leland takes a seat in front of the table.

"Yes, yes. I can spot that. You're right, you were right all the time. The green cell is really changing. Yes, I catch up with you later then, thanx again "- Christine says, switching off the telephone and looking at the two men who entered her room.

"Good morning!"-She says kindly, sitting at the table.

"Good morning. Dra. Christine, I am Leland Stottlemeyer, Captain of the SFPD, and this is Liutenant Disher. " - says Leland, shaking Dra´s hand.
Randy says 'hi' from where he is, without turning back to look at her. He keeps on looking at the shelves, now observing the books on there, trying to avoid eye contact with the Doctor.

"We need to clarify some questions about a substance that was obtained in this laboratory recently. This substance was used to poison a work colleague, my personal friend. "

"Oh.....Yes, of course, how can I help you?" - replies Christine, kindly.

"Randy, come on here, now it´s your line! C´mon, you know these things, chemicals, substances, toxines, whatever.... explain what we are looking for to Ms. Christine."

"Randy? Randy Disher? Is this really you, Randy? "Asks Christine, looking curiously at Randy.

"... It is .... yes, it´s me!" - says Randy, a way embarrassed.

As he approaches the table he looks carefully to Christine, who stands up to walk towards him. SDhje is a beautiful woman, clear skin, green eyes and with soft freckles above the nose that spreads along the cheeks. Her eyes are rounded, with large lashes, and his mouth well designed stands out clearly in the skin of his face, a shining red color-clear. Randy is embarassed when Christine embraces him strongly, saying "Randy Bluffy Disher! No way! How long? "

Leland is astonished, looking at the two embracing each other, without acting any reaction.

"So you are a police officer, hey? What happened to the little biologist we knew?"

"Biologist? Randy?" - Leland questions with a curious smile in the corner of his mouth.

Randy can not control his feeling enough to react, and to explain it to the captain.
So, Christine continues:

"Bluffy and I were high-school friends! best frriends! he was an expert in spiders, his dream was to be a great biologist, a worls-known researcher. We hide ourselves in the laboratory during brake time at the school, we were constant victims of bulliers attacks. We were kinda two laboratory rats. He, a fatty nerd, with his face full of thorns and his head full of crazy ideas, and I, a skinny nerd, shy, with big round glasses that were larger than my face .... haha .... is was a long time ago!"

"Bluffy Randy?" - Leland questions again, now with a deliberate smile on the face.

"Bluffy Fluffy Randy! "- Christine repeats, tickling Randy´s ribs while keeps on repeating his nickname.

"Ok, Ok ... yes, Christine, it is nice to see you too!" - Randy says, holding her hands to avoid to extend the embarrassing moment, and to not show them that his ribs are still under big pain!

"But you look great, Randy. Great! You are a Liutenant then? Gave up the guinea pigs and strange theories? "

"Randy can be a Lieutenant now, Doc, but did not give up the theories thing...." - Leland says, winking at Randy.

"Christine, as the Captain said, we have a colleague that was poisoned and we need your help to track the guilty out" - says Randy quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Of course, of course, everything that you want ....Bluffy!" - concludes Christine, smiling and winking to Leland.

After almost one hour of conversation, the three are walking to the foyer of the building, when Leland´s phone rings. He stops to answer it as Christine and Randy leave the building and go on animated talking by the building´s courtyard.

Leland receives some information on the possible whereabouts of Natalie. Agents found some important clues. He turns off the phone and sees through the glass door the young couple chatting, the sun illuminating them both and painting a beautiful figure, typical of the spring morning. Randy seems happy, laughing while Christine does not stop touching him, in his arms, in his face and his hands. Leland gives a sigh adorned with a smile, and leaves the building towards Randy to call him through. He shakes Christine hand, and goes:

"C´mon, Fluffy. We have clues to check out."

Randy leaves Christine with a kiss on her cheek.

AWWWWW! how cute. Wait, she's not 'The Guy' right?! Randy needs a girlfriend. Keep writing!

Natalie wakes up with the noise of the door being opened. She is still blindfolded, and her hands keep tied at her back.

She immediately seats in the mattress, barely breathing, waiting for any manifestation from their kidnappers. For one second, she thinks about the possibility of not being them, but Monk or someone else to release her.

"G´day, Sheila!"- says the man with Australian accent.”See, here is his offsider!”

"Good, good. And he is also out of combat, right? "- Asks another man, without any accent.

"Yeah, for sure, knockedout not within cooee...hehe" - ends with a sarcastic laugh.

Natalie heard the noise of some liquid swinging inside a glass bottle, while the second man concludes:

"Then it was how you did, uh? And can we use it again?"

Natalie shivers, imagining what they could do with her.

"Nah, this is bull dust now. But chill out, mate, I have another idea for her."

The heart of Natalie fires, she enters into despair: "Oh, my God, what do you want from me? Please, I have a daughter on my own, she has only me. Please ... "

The Australian gets closer to Natalie, and speaks very calmly by her ear:

"Shhhh ...... no worries, doll. From you we do not want anything .... though I could easily have a naughty with this one…" – as saying this, his fingers crosses her face, until they reach her lips.



She suddenly turns his face to the other side, starting to cry compulsively, making both men laugh at her desperation.



Still laughing, the Australian stands up, and moves away from Natalie, saying:

"Oy, Sheila, has a little water here, on this bottle, you see?" - And the two laugh again, with sarcasm.

"Oh, it's true, you cannot see... but you may stand up and come here to give it a burl if you want!" - saying this, he begins to break several bottles of glass on the floor, filling the room with sharp pieces of glass.

Natalie shrinks in the mattress, completely terrified.


"Oops .... I think now the lady here will have difficulties to move around the room ..... her delicate feet are barefoot .... what a shame, I will be very sad to think that her small feet will be injured ... hahahaha .... well, perhaps someone finds you before you become very thirsty ... . hahaha .... or maybe not! " – says the other man.


Now addressing to the Australian:

"Let´s move. Lock the door behind you, will you? Our job here is done."- and leaves the room.

"Too right, mate! And for you, Sheila, do not worry. The glasses are sterile!"

And leaves the room. He laughs loudly when locks the door from the outside.

After hearing a car drive away and absolute silence after that Natalie pulls herself together. Ok you've got to get out of this. Think of Julie...Think of Mr. Monk, he'd die without you, you almost did without him, he'll be 100 times worse when he wakes up! She thought to herself. Thinking of Monk had renewed her vigor, she began the painful task of pulling her legs through the space between her arms. After getting her arms in front of her she lifted her blindfold and found the room she was in to be vaugely familiar, but there was no time for that, she had to untie herself and sweep up the glass with the blind fold. Maybe she could tear the blindfold in half and tie it on her feet to protect them from the glass, but she'd figure that out later...She looked around the room and listened, there was nothing to tell her where she was...wait! Is that a beaker? Full of water? On a desk? the desk reminded her of the ones back in college. that's it! she concluded i'm in a college labratory!

Captain received a call from the hospital informing that they received the antivenon and will give it to Mr Monk. They needed someone responsible to be there, following the procedures and making any important decision it might have been taken. Leland sighs, look at Randy for a while.

Randy keeps smiling and beating incessantely his fingers at the wheel, following some odd melody from some odd music os his own. Suddenly, he starts to sing:

"O-oh....Cathy...have I said you were always on my mi-ind....o-oh.....Cathy...have I"

"Randy!"

Almost jumping out of the car through it´s ceiling, Randy answers:

"uh....yep, Sir?"

"Take me to the hospital. They need someone there. Cannot be Natalie, cannot be you, so I....damn... must stay there."

"W-why cannot be me, Sir?"

Leland was in a middle of a unsolved jigsaw: should Randy be with Monk, making decisons that might compromise Monk´s life and furthermore, the case? or should him be out here, making decisons that might compromise their lives, and furthermore, the case?
Well, actually he was doing a good job with all this spider-australian-kidnapping-conspiracy. And Leland could always use the radio, the cell phone....

"Oh... well, I needya out here, leading this case. For a while, Randy. Could you?"

Randy received the instructions while leading the captain to the Hospital.
Right after leaving Leland there, he aimed to the SFPD, to grab together all clues they have so far.

Any ideas? I got nuthin!

ola, Randy fans! This is a good catchy point......

in walks "UNEXPECTEDLY NAKED RANDY" (Don't worry, folks, he's wearing shorts). Carry on.

So, what we have here??
Monk in bed, counscious but motionless;
Leland at the hospital with him, with power to decide what to do if the antivenon does not work;
Natalie trapped in a school´s laboratory room, probably tired and weak;
Randy with 'The Case' of his life in hands.
So, what could we have then???

Mi

Is Randy still Unexpectadly Naked?

Don't worry, Topic, I will save you! (from the bottom of the board.)

So does Randy call his mom, I mean girlfriend, now?

top!!!

Great idea!! I was thinking on Monk getting up the hospital bed and saving Natalie, but Julie is just perfect!!! Can I develop it, Bubba??
yes, Randy will be afraid oftaking charge on this case, so hs girlfriend is a nice help! well, she´s not his girfriend YET, but....

hugs
Mi