A/N: for ringleader1010 I hope you like it.

It was Christmas Eve, but Michonne Marquand was still sequestered in her corner office plugging away at her opening statement. The trial was six weeks away, but she was fine-tuning her statement. She didn't believe in leaving things to the last minute. It wasn't like she had a place to be anyway.

Earlier that day, her soon to be ex-husband came by to collect their son, Andre from the annual kids Christmas party her office held. Aaron would keep their son until four o'clock tomorrow, at which time, he would drop him off at the lake house.

It was going to be a small Christmas this year. Her family was initially supposed to spend it with her parents and siblings on a Caribbean getaway on the Emerald Isle, a little gem known as Montserrat. It was the birthplace of her mother, Marianna King nee Williams. It was carnival time there and it was supposed to be a happy time for the family. It was the only time this year that everyone's agendas seemed to sync naturally without having to sacrifice other engagements. But no, her husband and her best friend, Aaron Marquand decided to come out to her at Thanksgiving and asked for a divorce. Her parents offered to cancel the family getaway, but she insisted they go. It wasn't fair to ruin the rest of the family's holiday because she wouldn't be the best company at any rate.

After the initial shock which caused her to miss a week off work, she decided to move on with her life. Counselling was never going to fix their marriage anyway, it wasn't like she could compete with her husband's lover, the cards were stacked against her, so why waste time. They signed the divorce papers the week she took off work. It wasn't going to be a protracted affair. She would naturally get custody of their son and their assets would be divided equally, though because of the infidelity she could have insisted on more, she didn't. She wanted their divorce to be as amicable as possible because drama would change nothing but cause a rift and disrupt their son's life.

She also got herself tested just to be sure there'd be no other surprises later on down the road. Her husband assured her he was clean because he always used protection and tested regularly, but he also promised her forevermore and look how that turned out. Her test was negative.

Even though she wore a brave face in public, Michonne still questioned herself in private. She and Aaron were best friends, how did she not know? What did she not do enough of? What could she have done better? Since Aaron's announcement, she often asked herself wondering whether she had undermined his masculinity in some way? Was there something wrong with her? All these questions were all useless of course, but it was her way of checking all the boxes on the form before signing her life away.

In their family life, she was nothing like her work persona. If anything, she ceded all control to him allowing her softer gentler side to prevail in an environment where she didn't have to prove something. She knew her male co-workers called her the 'Ballbreaker' behind her back. But being born female and a visible minority, she was raised being told she had to be twice as good as everyone else to succeed in whatever she did, it mattered not that she worked for her father. Her older brother Tyrese already had a seat at the table and had to earn his way there. However, she was smarter than her brother and she was on track to becoming a junior partner before she turned thirty-four. Ty got the nod at thirty-seven, but Michonne half suspected it was because she was gaining on him and sooner or later she would overpass him. Her father didn't believe in handouts, but she knew the score when she got a brand new car a few months back when she turned thirty-two which was shortly after Ty's promotion. Their sister Sasha, however, avoided the competitiveness between her elder siblings simply by following in their mother's footsteps and went to med school instead.

Nonetheless, Michonne worked tirelessly, but once she walked through the front door, she was a wife and a mother.

Aaron, on the other hand, being the head of an NGO, he travelled often. It was obviously the perfect job to cover his extracurricular activities. But whether home or abroad his family was forefront in his mind or at least so it appeared. He had never missed a birthday nor an anniversary. He was there at her side coaching her through her lamaze classes and at their son's birth. Sure, he did miss some milestones, but so did she. But at no time could it be argued that their son suffered from lack of affection, quite the contrary, he probably had too much of it, but he wasn't spoiled.

Andre was a happy go lucky well adjusted four-year-old, whom his grandfather nicknamed, the little man. He was a three-foot energetic ball of movement with honey coloured skin, the cutest dimples and soft wavy brown curls and pink lips like his daddy, but he had his mother's chocolate eyes and her megawatts smile.

Aaron was her rock, her lighthouse when the storms rolled in, her haven, her one… her love and her best friend. He was the father of their son. Her friends envied the seamlessness of their marriage. On girls night they'd rant and often comment on how attentive and so in tune with one another they were. Wishing they could have a husband with at least an iota of his ability to be so attuned to their needs rather than being expected to be their mama when the man flu came raging in.

Well, it would seem the joke was on her because she had all that, but now she was husbandless because the man who took her innocence and swore to love her in sickness and in health, for better or for worse now swore: "it's not you, it's me."

Aaron moved out right after Thanksgiving, leaving her with having to explain to their four-year-old son why daddy no longer came home. Theirs was a loving relationship from since they were kids. He was her first everything. They were the ideal couple, no drama and never having to say 'I'm sorry', but that was all before Thanksgiving.


Rick Grimes sat alone in his office, it was three-thirty in the afternoon and the folks with young children had left shortly after Santa aka himself disappeared hours before. He had since spoken with his son, Carl and promised to pick him up around four o'clock for Christmas dinner with his grandparents, after which time they would open their gifts because they were about to usher in a new tradition.

The remainder of this wretched day, however, he was destined to be alone when most folks were gathering together with their families for the holidays.

His parents extended an invitation to dinner, which he had not yet decide whether or not he wanted to exercise that option. He would be spending the better part of Christmas with them and his son, so he made no commitment one way or another. At the very least, he could pick up something and spend a quiet night at his condo before heading out to his folks the next morning.

Rick looked to the right of his desk as he reached across to turn off his desk lamp, his eyes landed on the photo of his son, it was the only photo now gracing his office, and shook his head. It was going to be the first Christmas he would spend without his family and as such, he had been in no rush to leave the office and rush home to an empty condo, so he did as much as he could to tie up loose ends on his files, but avoided starting anything new, which would more than likely result in him remaining at the office even longer.

He powered off his laptop and placed it in his briefcase along with a transcript of the deposition, which his assistant had left out at his request.

He reached for his cashmere jacket and put it over his blue sweater which made his blue eyes pop. Today, his attire was relaxed. He also wore a pair of charcoal jeans with his favourite cowboy boots.

Rick closed the overhead lights, exited his office, and locked the door behind him.

As a general rule, whomsoever left the office last would do a walk-through of the office to ensure the copying offices were secured. That afternoon, however, as he walked by Michonne's office he realized she was still there. He knocked on the door. She looked up.

"Hey," he said standing in the doorway of her office.

"Hey, yourself," she replied with a smile.

"I thought you left."

"No. I've been catching up on some work." She checked her watch realizing it was much later than she had intended to stay given that she had an hour drive to the lake house. "Matter of fact I'm about done here too."

She turned off her laptop and packed it away in her open briefcase and closed it. She got up from her desk, retrieved her Burberry Shearling Car Coat from the white leather couch in her office and put it on.

He watched her svelte form as it emerged from behind the glass desk in a red sweater dress that clung to her body like a second skin, black, high-heeled, knee-high leather boots with all the grace of a panther. She was definitely a strikingly beautiful woman, but she was also Ezekiel's daughter; the boss' daughter whose life was just as messed up as his.

She was no longer the girl that he sat next to in torts class on their first day of law school. Then, his deterrent was the sizable pear-shaped rock on her left hand that announced to the world she was unavailable. Now, he knew they were both trying to avoid going home an empty house, so he asks, "Would you care to grab a bite to eat?"

"I thought Santa's duties were over and done with a while ago." She teased.

He chuckled and blushed looking away from her for a second. "Yeah. They were, but like you, I had stuff and thangs to do."

"Thanks for the invite, but my card is pretty full this evening, I have a guy to see about a tree, another about a bottle or two, and a third about some Chinese food, but miles to drive before all that."

Rick looked a little disappointed and scratched his head, so she added, "perhaps another time counselor?"

"Sure. Can I at least walk you to your car?"

"Thanks, I'd like that."


Later that evening having run her errands, showered, and placed an order for delivery, Michonne opened a bottle of Pinot Gris and set about to start a fire. She then cued her Christmas tree trimming playlist to get her somewhat in the mood for the task at hand.

It was time to tackle the Christmas tree. This year she chose one much smaller than what she was accustomed to because it was all up to her to this year to ensure that Christmas was a success. If it was up to her alone, she'd forego Christmas this year because she wasn't feeling at all festive.

Twenty minutes later, Michonne managed to get the tree off the roof of the car and dragged it through the now falling snow into the living room. What a damn mess… why didn't I just settle for a fake tree? She thought. Despite the mess, she knew she loved the scent of that fresh pine smell mingled with cinnamon… there was nothing quite like it. Another glass of wine helped make the task at hand more tolerable.

It was almost an hour and a half later, but her food had not shown up. This was unusual even on a night like this. She was a regular customer and this was her comfort food whenever they were in the countryside. The tree and wine had kept her busy she hadn't noticed the time pass. That said, however, she was starting to feel the effects of the wine on an empty stomach.

It was customary to have their takeout prior to trimming the tree. After dinner, Aaron would wrangle the tree and then watch over the little man as she trimmed the tree. It would end with Aaron lifting Andre up to place the star on top of the tree, something he enjoyed and made him giggle… a lot. Her and Aaron would sing carols and sip eggnog and the family would cozy up on the couch after setting out milk and cookies for Santa. Then they would watch Disney specials until such time Andre fell asleep. He always wanted to wait up for Santa, but somehow never succeeds. There used to be so much love in this place, but tonight, however, it just felt empty.

Almost as if on cue, the mournful sound of Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas" filled the room. The song was hitting home tonight. She had never felt so alone in her entire adult life. She was missing the memories they created in this place and she truly missed her son. She missed Aaron too, but that wasn't allowed anymore, he wasn't hers and for once she allowed the impact to sink in as she cried yet again.

Drying her tears, Michonne drained her glass of wine and went off in search of her phone. She had to speak to her son before bedtime.

"Hey, baby. How are you, sweetie?"

"Mama? Where's Santa?"

"Oh, sweetie, you know Santa only comes after we go to bed. The sooner you fall asleep, the sooner he'll show up."

"Okay, Mama. When do I see you, Mama?"

"Mama will see you when you wake up, baby. Kiss… kiss, sweetheart. I love you baby, good nite." Michonne added after blowing kisses to her son and catching his and placing them on her cheek, which made Andre giggled.

"Love you, Mama. Good night."

After ending the call, Michonne was in the process of calling the restaurant when the doorbell rang. Saved by the bell, she thought.

Opening the door she was expecting to see the delivery man with her food, but there before her underneath the Santa hat were the blue eyes of her colleague and for lack of a better description, her work husband, Rick Grimes dressed in his Santa suit carrying his red Christmas sack over one shoulder and a bag of take-out in the hand before him.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!"