A/N: I wrote this story for my best friend, whom I've owed a story for like 3 years now. This time, she asked for a fake!married fic for Richonne, and that was the golden ticket! Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you like the way it turned out! My debt is paid!

Just Married

Constable Rick Grimes' feet hit the pavement in a steady rhythm as he hastened to his partner, whom he'd left at the very back of the community. The way his weight came down on each step provided a hint as to how deep he'd retreated into his thoughts. His reverie wasn't linear, wasn't coherent, and it didn't make much sense. He was somewhere in the middle of thinking about his upcoming conversation with Michonne, his recent conversations with Jessie, his family's future in Alexandria, and his very short, very strange, and very alarming meeting with Deanna.

Three minutes ago

"Rick, thank you for coming," Deanna greeted from behind her desk with that ever-present smile that was a cross between welcoming and nurturing.

"No problem," Rick returned as he took a seat, glad for the reprieve from the cold outside.

"I hate having this conversation from behind a desk. The formality, it's...well, I think it's intimidating, but I also think it highlights the importance of the topic, so...I deal with it. And yet I never know how to start," she admitted with a chuckle.

Rick gave her the tiniest of smiles. He wasn't on the defense or anything, but he wasn't sure what the meeting was about. He and Michonne have been doing a good job for the month and a half that they've been constables. The job basically consisted of walking around in their uniforms. The most action they've had is a drunk and disorderly situation and a loud noise complaint. Oh, and someone becoming belligerent because they felt their ration was too small. That kind of action was more interesting for Michonne, who didn't have a policing role in her previous life, but he liked watching her enjoy it.

"I've seen you with Jessie these past couple of weeks," Deanna began. "I've seen you talk to her, laugh with her. She seems to have made it her business to help you acclimate."

"Yeah, I guess you can say that."

"You seem to...not mind," she said carefully.

Rick remained quiet for a beat. "I mean...she gave me a haircut when I first got here. That was nice. Kind of brave, considering what I looked like," he chuckled, even though he didn't think what he said was funny. "She was the first person besides you and Reg that I spoke to. It's been...fine. And she really...does care. Yeah. It's nice."

"I saw you kiss her at the welcome party. I only caught it for a moment," she rushed to say, splaying her hands innocently and bowing her head. "Total accident. But I did see it. I think it's even better that you two have gone on to really take to each other."

"I don't mean to be rude, Deanna, but can you get to the point?"

"You've been struggling not to lead since you got here. I see it in your eyes, Rick. When I say something or make a decision, your mind starts running with how you would've done it differently. Better, in your opinion, I'm sure. I see it. And it makes me feel good. That may shock you, but it does. It means you care about this community. It means you want the best for it. I see that it's not about you, your ego, or at least it's not just about that. It's about doing it the best way. It makes me feel good, because it means that I have backup. It means there's a very good chance you'll understand what we're here to talk about.

Rick," she continued as she leaned forward and linked her fingers, "When I think about Alexandria, I think of it in permanent terms. There's a reason we're all still here, whether we fought and clawed our way to safety or we accidentally took the clearest road to salvation. There is a reason we're here. The end hasn't happened. People endure.

It's also a fact that if you're safe long enough, you thrive. That is my vision for Alexandria: a thriving community. A society."

"That sounds plausible," Rick said, eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what the first part of this conversation had to do with the second. At first, he figured Deanna was going to somehow reprimand him for...talking and laughing with Jessie, and he had a comeback ready for her.

"I encourage people to get close here," Deanna continued. "I encourage them to look, to feel things out, and to try. I encourage them to think about the future. It'd be disingenuous for me to say there isn't any pressure, because I do impress upon them, everyone here, the importance of...guaranteeing the future," she said with that signature smile.

We have to guarantee the next generation, Rick. You have to."

Deanna let him absorb and break down all that she'd said.

Rick almost had it. He was almost there.

"What?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"Two couples have formed as a result of this...immense privilege that we have."

Rick shifted in the seat as he questioned his comprehension.

"There isn't a clock. Per se. We scout for people, hoping to find those with special skills. But we also scout in order to create...variety. I'll say that you and Jessie are the first to...naturally click. Before I even had the chance to have this conversation. Although, Jessie is well aware. She came to me and said she's chosen-Am I going too fast? Should I give you a moment?"

Rick stared at her, breathing through his mouth.

"Rick?" Deanna called cautiously.

"Are you saying you want me and Jessie…?" he asked with a heavy twang as he leaned forward.

"She's completely on board. It's your responsibility," she pressed, her smile gone. "And it's non-negotiable. Not at this stage. Of course, I don't expect you two to jump into bed. Things will take their natural course."

"There is no natural course," he said slowly, brows still drawn together in confusion.

"You like her. Don't let this new responsibility intimidate you from that fact."

"Deanna-"

"It doesn't matter that you already have kids," she cut him off sternly. "She does, too, as you know. It doesn't matter. She's a single mother. You're a single father..."

"You think I'm just gonna be sowing kids-"

"Oh no, we will keep a sharp eye on the genetics. I plan to create family trees. There won't be-no, there will be none of that. That's another reason we scout. And it's also why I'm glad people are taking their time instead of jumping each other's bones with abandon. It's clear you need to think about this," she said as she stood.

"I don't need to think about anything," Rick said as he looked up at her. He felt like he was having an out of body experience. It didn't help that the weight he'd lost while on the road had him feeling like he was drowning in his shirt and uniform jacket. Carol still hadn't gotten around to taking them in.

"Sleep on it, Rick," Deanna suggested. "I do plan to have this conversation with the rest of your group. Maggie and Glenn and Abraham and Rosita should have an easier time accepting it."

She walked around the desk and waited for him to stand. When he kept staring at her, mouth agape, she gave him a hint. "You can resume your duties now."

Rick slowly stood. At his full height, he looked down at her. The inside of his mouth dried.

Deanna smiled and swept her arm toward the exit. "It's gonna be okay, Rick," she said with a light chuckle. Really, when she'd first met him he'd been reticent. Menacingly so. His current speechlessness was a shocking, and comical, contrast.

"Come on," she said, realizing that she'd have to physically guide him out of her house.

"Deanna," Rick said faintly as they began to walk. "Deanna, I'm already married," he blurted, his voice stronger this time as he halted their walk. He swallowed past his dry throat.

"You're not married," Deanna said confidently.

"I am. What? I am."

"Your wife passed, Rick," she reminded him gently. "You told me that."

"I'm remarried. Recently. Father Gabriel married us."

"Who?" she asked with the tone of someone who didn't believe him.

"Michonne."

Deanna frowned. "You didn't say anything of the sort during the interview."

"Strategy. I didn't know you. We didn't know you. So. I am married. Jessie's gonna have to-And we're expecting."

"What?"

Rick almost asked the same question. What?

But he couldn't stop his mouth. His brain was checked out, had been since he realized what Deanna's point was. "She started getting sick on the road, so we know. I have to go, Deanna," he said as he backed away from her. "Michonne's waiting."

He turned and headed toward the exit, leaving her in a state of bewilderment. He took no satisfaction from that fact. He had no idea what he'd just said or done. But his hands were clammy, his ears were hot, and his mouth was dry again.

Now

"So, are you in?" Julia asked hopefully, her gap the focal point of her smile.

"Sure," Michonne answered with a benign smile of her own.

"Great. I just know that with you on board, the rest of your group will be, too. Especially, um, him," she said, surreptitiously pointing at Rick, who was fast approaching. "Although, on second thought, he'd probably be there anyway, for Jessie. Okay, so we'll meet at my house today at five to start planning."

"I will try my best to be there," Michonne said.

"And if you can't, I will give you a full update tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good."

"Perfect."

With that, Julie swiveled her seven-month-old belly around and walked away.

Michonne leaned against the golf cart she and Rick used to quickly get from one end of the community to the other and hoped she wasn't going to regret her new commitment. Switching gears, she turned to her partner, curious about his meeting with Deanna.

"Hey," Rick greeted.

"Hey," she answered, wondering about the odd look in his expressive eyes.

"What was that?" he asked as he cast a suspicious look at Julie's retreating form.

"Christmas party slash gift exchange. I was just roped in. Well, she asked, and I said yes. I'm not sure why I did. Apparently, the Planning Committee would really like me to join."

Rick turned another suspicious look toward Julie, imagining the "Planning Committee" to consist of a bunch of women who wanted to perform a weird ritual to impregnate Michonne.

"I'm thinking the whole gift-giving part will require a run or three," Michonne continued. "We gotta talk to Glenn and decide how plausible this even is."

When he turned the odd look on her, she slowly asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm having...a weird day. Which is weird in itself, I mean there are no more weird days. There are bad days, worst days, shitty-beyond-belief days. Come on."

He grabbed her hand and led her away.

There wasn't anyone within ear shot, but, still, he felt they needed privacy.

He took Michonne eight footsteps down from the golf cart.

Face and shoulders tense, Michonne waited for him to drop the bombshell, the thing, the horrible thing that would ruin everything.

"They have weird things going on here," Rick began conspiratorially.

"Okay," Michonne said with bated breath.

Rick's words came tumbling out. "Deanna wants me to have a baby with Jessie to guarantee Alexandria's future and the future of society. Apparently, that's what everyone does here. They know they have to make babies, sooner or later, so that's why she recruits, to find more people, to add more variety, and makin' babies is non-negotiable, even though she doesn't force it, but it's expected, and she saw me kiss Jessie at the party a couple weeks ago, and she's seen us talkin', and she's taken that to mean that we're gearin' up to have kids, and apparently Jessie's aware of this? I told her we were married."

Michonne narrowed her eyes. "That you and Jessie are married?"

"No, you and me."

Michonne was silent a moment. "Is this a joke?" she asked jovially. "It's been a long time since someone played a practical joke on me. Is this one?" she asked, looking around for signs of someone hiding and waiting for her to make a fool of herself.

"I told her we're having a baby," he said seriously.

Still, Michonne waited for it. She waited for the gotcha, for him to reveal that he was trying to trick her.

Her smile disappeared when nothing happened. "You've been hearing things again," she surmised.

"No."

"Seeing things."

"No."

"Where were you?"

"With Deanna," he stressed. "I know. It sounds unbelievable, and I don't know if you should take me at my word about not hearin' things, because honestly...This is crazy!" he whispered fiercely. "I knew there was more to this place. I mean, two pregnant women?"

"You want me to believe that you not only participated in this conversation, but you told her we were married?!" Michonne asked, her voice rising with each word.

"Keep your voice down!" Rick whispered as he looked around feverishly.

Dread seized Michonne's heart. Grabbing his face, she spoke in a soothing and reassuring tone. "Rick? I'm here for you."

"Oh my God."

"No, listen. I'm here for you. You're my friend. We've been through this before. You're gonna be okay. I don't know what's going on, but we'll come out on the other side of it. Together."

"Yeah, more than you think. Listen to me," he implored as he took her hand and led her closer to the wall. "Think about this: what is the future of this community? I'm talkin' from Deanna's point of view, now. What do we wanna leave behind? Do we wanna leave anything behind? Do we plan on dyin' out and lettin' the kids fend for themselves? Judith? Hmm? That is the logic behind this. Think about it. She said we have a responsibility to guarantee the future, that we all survived for a reason."

He granted her the same grace that Deanna had granted him earlier and watched her break down what he was saying.

"We're all expected to be in on this Michonne," he said to help her along. "Sooner or later."

Acceptance streamed through Michonne, and she went numb. "You...you told her we're married."

Rick nodded, relieved that they were now on the same page. "She plans to have this conversation with everybody. I wanna warn them, but I'm still..." He exhaled to communicate his disorientation.

"What did you do?" she asked sternly, frowning.

"What are you-"

"Why did you take this? Why did you accept it?"

"Michonne-"

"I've never known you not to be able to handle a situation, Rick."

"This situation?" he asked incredulously. "You expected me to handle this situation? You expected me to expect her to say something like that to me and be ready for it? Michonne, it was completely out of the blue. What would you have done?"

She was bereft of an answer. As things stood, there was still a tiny part of her that doubted this conversation even happened. Maybe this was still a ruse. Maybe he'd met with Deanna, and...they were planning a surprise party for her. Maybe he'd killed Deanna and dumped her body somewhere. That made more sense than what he was telling her.

"It's okay," Rick said. "You don't have to believe me. Just be ready for when she talks to you. Maybe you'll do better than I did."

Then Michonne remembered. "Hold up. You told her I'm pregnant."

Rick stared at her. He swallowed. "Honestly? Michonne. I have no idea where that came from. You don't know what it was like in there."

She would laugh at him if she wasn't so freaking implicated. "What happens if I tell her you lied?"

"I get paired with Jessie, and you...Which one of these guys you want givin' you a baby?"

"Ew," she said quietly, grimacing. No one in Alexandria was cute. Except Scott. She's never been with a bald guy before. He might be good to father her child.

With that thought, she gave Rick her best imitation of Claire Huxtable's humor me smile, blinks and all. "What happens in nine months?"

Rick raised his eyebrows noncommittally.

Michonne, however, took it to mean something else. "If you say we're having a baby, I will lock you up."

"Is that one of our kinks?" Rick asked. He didn't know what possessed him to make such a quip, but the naked shock on Michonne's face was worth it. "Oh shit," he said as he looked past Michonne.

"What?" she asked as she turned around, unwilling to face another surprise. "Oh." Her stomach wiggled nervously.

Deanna was coming straight at them.

"You talk to her," Rick said behind her as he dipped his head.

"Me?" she asked, barely moving her mouth. Deanna was smiling at her, and the wiggling in her stomach increased in intensity.

"Last time I talked to her, you wound up pregnant!" Rick reminded her vigorously.

"Fucking hell."

Michonne was feeling increasingly hot in her uniform as she and Rick waited in the Monroe sitting room for Deanna to come back with the camera and tripod. Really, did Deanna have a choice but to believe them?

It was Rick. She was nervous because of Rick. The man had laser-sharp focus. He was always ready, competent as hell. He always took his time, as much as he could, and he tended to brave otherwise overwhelming pressure very well.

That man had walked away from her to meet with Deanna. The man that returned…

She looked at him sitting next to her.

"Handle it," Rick said, his tone saying he wanted no part.

She inwardly cursed. Deanna had ruffled Rick, which left her ruffled. If he was in trouble, then she was in trouble. Which made her wonder if she aligned her identity too closely to his. Just because he couldn't handle Deanna, shouldn't mean that she can't. She's made it through some crazy shit through sheer will. Her will.

Deanna walked in with the camera and tripod, and her armpits began to perspire.

While Deanna busied herself with setting up the equipment, Michonne mouthed to Rick move closer. They were supposed to be newlyweds.

"Okay, we're ready," Deanna announced with a smile after she set up the shot. "And we're recording...now."

"Is this protocol?" Michonne asked. "Do you record all of the couples?"

"I don't," she explained as she took her seat on the chair behind the tripod. "We have them register, but only couples who intend to procreate. Since you're still pretty new here, and you didn't disclose this the first time...I just want it on record. It can be destroyed later. Relax. This is a casual conversation."

Right, Michonne deadpanned internally.

"So, you married recently," Deanna prompted.

"Father Gabriel married us," Rick said for Michonne's sake.

Michonne turned sharply to him. "Right. Yes," she confirmed as she returned her attention to Deanna.

"How did it happen?" Deanna asked her, blinking once.

It was then that Michonne wondered if she was fucking with them, if she knew that Rick had lied to her and she'd decided to force him to follow through.

"We'd actually been together for a while, um, just a couple of weeks," she answered. "But there'd always been an attraction. Always," she repeated with a lift of her eyebrows as she looked at Rick, referring to the various times they've checked each other out. And gotten caught.

"But something changed that day, that night, I mean. We came across Father Gabriel after escaping Terminus, as you know, and survivors from that community...we didn't kill all of them in our escape. We should've listened to Rick and gone back to make sure they were dead, but we figured they were gone. They weren't, and they came after us. They ate the leg of one of our own. He was Sasha's boyfriend."

"Yeah," Deanna said softly. "She didn't talk much during our interview, but she did answer me about the people she's lost."

"Well, we killed them. Viciously. We set a trap, and we just...went ham. For lack of a better word. Watching Sasha lose Bob, he'd gotten bitten, and some of our people were missing, and things just weren't...great. But it did make us realize that we wanted to marry each other. I realized it before Rick. After what I did that night, bringing up marriage wasn't gonna scare me. So I brought it up the next day, after we buried Bob. And he was completely on board."

She looked at him then, and her smiled slipped at the tender look in his eyes. He was literally gazing at her, and she wondered if he remembered that what she was saying did not actually happen.

"When did you know you were in love?"

Michonne tore her eyes from him and looked at Deanna. "Excuse me?"

"When did you know you were in love?"

"Why don't you answer that, honey?" she prompted Rick.

"Uh. I knew I loved her…" Rick racked his brain for a time when he could've fallen in love with Michonne. "It wasn't any one moment," he decided. "I love Michonne's...rebirth, if that makes any sense. She was a hard woman when I met her, with good reason. And to watch her bloom again, connect...It was inspiring. And she holds her own like no other. That's another thing."

Rick swallowed uncomfortably, because his dick was getting hard. Right there, in the middle of all this.

Licking his lips, he continued. "Her strength: she does not stay down; she does not cower. She's, uh...she's a great partner. She's a great everything. And...nothing makes me happier than watching her with the kids. She has her own separate relationship with them, especially Carl. She reached him when I couldn't. Michonne is so amazing, there isn't any one thing that made me fall in love with her. And I'm still discovering her."

Michonne reminded herself that this wasn't real. It wasn't real. If she'd sounded like that when she'd been talking, then she understood why he'd been looking at her. Maybe he'd been marveling at her ability to weave a neat lie.

He looked at her, and she quickly cut her eyes to Deanna. She held herself statue-still, because Deanna was looking at her and smiling like the groom's mother after he spoke his vows to the love of his life. Michonne felt exposed by the look, and it took all of the discipline that she had not to break eye contact.

"And you?" Deanna asked her.

Michonne wanted to end this. Now. She almost rolled her shoulders to alleviate the tension brought on by Rick's words.

Licking her lips, she tried to sound as relaxed as possible. She failed at first, but, eventually, she found her groove, although she couldn't recapture the breeziness with which she'd spoken earlier. A tightness remained at the corners of her lips. "I fell for Rick...It's exactly what he said: there wasn't any one moment. His strength is first and foremost. I was captured by...his ability to get back up. He may need some help now and then, but he leads and survives despite where he is mentally or emotionally. It mirrors me. I can't talk enough about his relationship with the kids. He'd do anything for them, and I find that intoxicating. He has a certain swagger about him," she chuckled genuinely, despite herself, and that was when she knew she needed to shut up. "I'll end it right there," she said, her face warm.

"If you don't understand my method now, I hope you will eventually," Deanna said to both. "We can't have survived just to die out. And to be very frank, if anyone owes it to the world to make some babies together, it's you two. Congratulations. I can't wait for the little one."

The frigid air was a refreshing balm for Michonne as she stepped out of Deanna's house. She felt like she was coming out of a daze.

Rick fell into step beside her and noted the far away look on her face as they headed for their post by the golf cart. "You didn't do any better than I did," he commented plainly.

"Shut up. We need to tell everyone. I mean, do we really need to stay for this?"

"You wanna abandon food, water, shelter, and security, because she's crazy?"

"Don't tell me you didn't think about it."

"I did, but...I don't know yet. The good thing is that she's not rushing us, so at least her crazy's manageable."

"I'm so disturbed," she said, the glazed look coming back into her eyes.

"You did good in there," he tried.

"Oh, speaking of which: Father Gabriel? Really? You couldn't have Hershel marry us, or Glenn, or Maggie, you went with Father Gabriel?"

"He's a priest!"

"A sinfully cowardly one!"

"Wow, really?" Rick deadpanned at her unsubtle choice of words.

"This marriage is cursed. We'll be torn apart by the first obstacle thrown at us."

Rick smiled. "What about you? You called me honey. We would not call each other honey."

"Oh, yeah?" Smiling with interest, she faced him and crossed her arms. "What would we call each other?"

Rick shrugged. "Baby? Babe? Maybe sweetheart?"

"You'd call me sweetheart?" she asked, softer than she'd have liked.

He shrugged again, a rosy pink creeping up his neck beneath his sun tan. "Maybe."

"You have some nerve, blushing and calling me sweetheart after you've been sniffing after Jessie. Tell me something, at what point did you realize you were fucked?"

The image of a panicky Rick finally overwhelmed her, and she burst into uncontrollable laughter that had her doubling over.

"What?" Rick asked, wanting to be in on the joke.

Trying to compose herself, Michonne asked, "At what point did you realize shit wasn't sweet? What did Deanna say to you that made you pull my name out your mouth all of a sudden? Tell me again."

Rick's blush intensified with his embarrassment. "Look, she was insinuatin' things."

"Uh huh."

"She's seen me talking to Jessie, and she started saying that it's my responsibility to guarantee the future of society with her."

"So, a couple of conversations between the two of you had Deanna seeing visions of sippy cups?"

"She saw me kiss her at the welcome party."

"Oh, right, right."

"I think what freaked me out even more is that Jessie knew about this. This conversation happened because of her. She went to Deanna and said I choose him."

Michonne laughed, and, although the sound tickled Rick's ears, he wasn't amused.

"That's honestly what you get," she said.

"There's nothing serious between me and Jessie."

"I know that."

"You do?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah," she answered, raising her eyebrows.

"How?"

She cocked her head to the left. "Come on. Do you really want me to say it?"

"Please, enlighten me."

Michonne smiled, and then she walked away from him, shaking her head as she continued their way to the cart.

"Come on," Rick persisted as he followed. "Tell me. Obviously, you know somethin' I don't."

"Oh, no, we both know this, sweetheart," Michonne corrected as she stopped to face him.

"And?" Rick prompted.

Michonne licked her upper lip and then invaded his personal space, bringing the tantalizing smell of her vanilla lotion with her. With a sultry tint to her voice, she said, "We both know I can have you. We both know that as soon as I say 'go' or 'okay,' this will happen. If I say 'Rick, I want you to eat my pussy until you're satisfied,' it will happen, and I dare you to stand there and say I'm lyin'. Ain't shit happening between you and Jessie."

With the hint of a smile on his pink lips, Rick swallowed. What he wanted to say was that he was incredibly turned on.

Michonne didn't need him to speak, however, because his arousal was all over his dilated pupils. Content that she'd made her point, but no less scorched herself, she stepped out of his personal space.

Hips cocked to one side, Rick tried his hand. "We both know...that if you'd been in there, you would've pulled my name out your mouth."

"Slow your roll," Michonne warned him.

"Oh, please. Who was it gonna be? Who else? Who would you risk getting married and having a baby with?"

"Daryl's hot," Michonne pointed out.

"Da-" He barked out a sudden laughter that made Michonne jump. "The man gave you fleas!"

Michonne's face went numb, and it had nothing to do with the chill in the air. "How the hell do you know that?" She had never told him about that affliction, because the idea of him knowing she'd walked around with fleas had embarrassed her at the time. It still did.

"Because he told me."

She rolled her eyes hard. Of course Daryl wouldn't be embarrassed about telling someone he had fleas, let alone that he gave them to someone else. "Nevertheless," she resumed with as much dignity as she could muster, "That was a while ago. It seriously would've been a toss up between you two."

"If you were gonna choose Daryl for anythin', Michonne, you would've done it when y'all were out looking for the Governor all those times, and you never did."

"How would you know?"

"I kept my eye on things."

Now that piqued her interest. "Oh, you did, did you? And what would you have done if you'd seen something?"

"Daryl woulda had a lot to do on the grounds all of a sudden, and I woulda been in the driver's seat."

Pulling on her undergrad drama club acting chops, she said, "I hate to break it to you, Rick, but...you didn't look hard enough."

With that, she let silence do the rest of the work.

"You're lyin' out ya teeth," Rick said.

"I'm not lying."

"Michonne. Michonne."

"Woah, don't walk up on me like I cheated on you."

"You're lying. You and Daryl didn't do shit."

She blinked once and then decided to let him off the hook. "No, Rick. Dary and I didn't didn't do shit."

Rick stepped back from her and took a deep breath. And then he walked away.

"I was kidding," Michonne said with a confused smile.

"I know that," came his gravelly reply as he kept walking.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on," Michonne said as she hastened to catch up with him. She stopped him with a hand to his chest. "We were joking, but you're completely serious right now. What am I missing?"

"Nothing," he said, avoiding her eyes, and he tried to walk around her.

"Don't lie to me," she said as she stepped in his way. "Come on, Rick."

"It's stupid. It's nothing," he said, his head down. He unclipped the walkie-talkie from his pants so that he had something to do with his hands.

"I'll decide that," Michonne said as she crossed her arms.

Rick shook his head, a small admonishment of himself and his overreaction. "There's a reason why I've been waiting for you to say 'go,' Michonne. I've been waiting for you to be comfortable enough, comfortable with me, not just my kids. The thought that while I was busy waitin' you got busy with someone else pissed me off. I was mad at myself. I don't-I don't wanna miss out on you."

Bashful now, he chuckled. "I haven't done the whole courtin' thing in a long time, and I've never courted anyone like you."

Michonne wasn't aware that she'd stepped closer to him until she realized that she was breathing his crisp cologne. She was completely taken by his candor. Only a herd of walkers stood a chance at tearing her eyes away from his. "If courting's what's on your mind, Rick, you're off to a hell of a start," she said quietly.

"Yeah, I know. This whole thing isn't exactly how I-"

"Kiss me," she commanded. When he raised his eyebrows to check that he'd heard her correctly, she shrugged and said, "I don't know what I've been doing or not doing, or saying or not saying to make you think I'm not comfortable or ready enough to go there with you, but I am. So kiss me. Now."

Rick slipped his hand past her uniform jacket to mold it to her fleshy waist and lightly squeezed, sending Michonne's heart rate up in excitement, before he covered her lips with his in a kiss that was beyond their most vivid fantasy, one that rendered place and time inconsequential. The touch of their tongues warmed them to their toes and expanded everything they thought they felt about each other. As far as first kisses went for both, it was the most consuming, deeply so.

"Wow. Oh my God," Michonne breathed, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Wow. You've been robbing me of that this whole time. I want you to take me there often."

"Michonne," Rick yearned as he rubbed her lips with his. "I'm not satisfied."

Hormones alive with fiery desire, she captured his lips in another kiss that whisked them to their new favorite place, the one that consisted only of the other.

The End