Chapter 1: Stranded

The governor kidnapped Glenn and Maggie and Michonne was powerless to help. Desperate to get medical attention for her bleeding gunshot wound, Michonne decides to take her chances at the prison. Maybe they'll agree to help her in exchange for information about Glenn and Maggie's whereabouts. When she arrives, she is met by a man with a cold python. Too weak to speak her piece, she desperately uses the fence to hold her weak frame up. Suddenly, walkers begin to attack her. She uses all her remaining strength to fight them off, but the fight drains her and she collapses. When Michonne came to, the new group introduced themselves and they agreed to help Michonne, in exchange for her helping them find their friends. Michonne, accompanied by a few people from the new group made their way to Woodberry and launched an onslaught. Michonne got into a fight with the governor and took his eye out before she left him for dead. After the attack, Michonne went back to the prison with the other group and eventually joined their ranks. Michonne, having been a mother herself became very fond of Lori and the two formed a close friendship.

Weeks later, things with The Governor had cooled off and everyone was finally settled in. Lori was 9 months pregnant and would be going into labor any day now. Rick decided to go on another run for everything they needed for the baby. This time he'd need to go far, maybe be gone for days since all the shops in the city had been looted clean. Lori asked Michonne to go with Rick to keep him safe. Michonne was the toughest person they had and Lori slept better knowing Michonne was watching over Rick. She knew Michonne was a noble woman and she didn't feel the slightest hesitant about sending her husband out alone with the exotic warrior of a woman. They packed lightly, only taking enough food and water to last them a few days and some camping gear. They said their goodbyes and headed out.

After days of searching and nearly giving up and returning home, on a cold evening they finally found something valuable. An untouched baby shop in a small shopping center with only a handful of walkers lingering around. They sneakily approached the shop, making sure not to alert the walkers as they both agreed to avoid a fight. Michonne covered Rick as he picked the locks and they made their way inside. They only managed to grab a few things when suddenly the alarm went off, much to their dismay. Michonne ran to the door and saw all the walkers approaching the store.

"Shit. We need to scram." Michonne said. "Rick? What are you doing?" She said when she noticed Rick wasn't behind her.

"We need more. We don't have enough gas to make another trip like this." Rick replied.

Before Michonne could reply, a walker came out of nowhere and charged at her. "I got it. Get the alarm!" she yelled.

Rick ran over to the alarm and disarmed it while Michonne defeated the walker and looked up to see a dozen more walkers approaching the door. They both ran to the door and barred them closed. Within minutes, the store was surrounded and the duo were trapped.

"You think I overshot it?" Rick asked as he breathed heavily.

"Just a little." Michonne sarcastically replied as they both watched from behind the glass doors more and more walkers approach.

"The glass won't hold. We need to grab what we can and get to the roof." Rick said.

Michonne nodded and they proceeded to stuff their bags full of baby supplies enough to last a couple of months. Moments later, the walkers forced their way through the glass and into the shop. Rick and Michonne ran to the ladder that lead to the roof and they barred the hatch when they made it up.

"Now what?" Michonne said as she looked on at the horde of walkers surrounding the shop.

"How much food do we have? Maybe we can wait it out? They'll forget about us soon." Rick replied.

"Not soon enough. But we should stay here tonight. Eat something and rest up before we make any more decisions." Michonne said, mocking Rick's decision making.

"I'm sorry. I just, I want everything to be perfect for the baby. I need to make sure she has enough." Rick said.

"I know. And you're right. Let's just try to make it back in one piece with what we have." Michonne replied.

"Right. We should set up camp before it gets da-. Shit." Rick said as he knelt down and scrambled through his bags looking for his sleeping bag.

Michonne knelt next to him and put her hand on his shoulder before she spoke.

"Rick, its okay. We'll share mine. Its okay." She said, realizing Rick was feeling more anxious than normal. She realized he probably felt guilty about getting them trapped on the roof and she wanted to reassure him.

Rick turned to her and found comfort in her eyes. He didn't notice he was starring until a few seconds later.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks." He said as he quickly got up and took a step back from her and a slight awkward silence followed after.

They proceeded open up a can of baked beans and had their dinner before they used a few building materials that they found scattered on the roof and the tent to craft a small shelter. They opened the sleeping bag and used it as a softer surface to sleep on. It wasn't much - a strong wind could blow it away but it was all they had. It was a tight spot, there was no way they could share without parts of their bodies touching. They slept back-to-back but sometime during the night it got drastically cold and Michonne couldn't stop herself from shivering. She felt Rick turn around and put his arm around her and she instinctively pushed her back into his warm chest. She could feel his heart beating faster against her back and hers was beating out of her throat. His scent and his touch gave her butterflies and she couldn't resist turning around. As soon as she turned, their lips were only an inch apart. She could feel his warm breath on her face and before she could do it, he pressed his lips onto hers. They both shut their eyes as as they kissed and their hands traveled all over one another's bodies. Suddenly, she wasn't so cold anymore, especially when Rick got on top of her and continued to kiss her. Suddenly, Rick stopped kissing her and Michonne opened her eyes to see him looking at the wedding ring on his finger. Suddenly, her own shame kicked in. Here she was, enjoying herself underneath the husband of her best friend.

"I'm so sorry, Rick." She said, the only words she had.

"For what? I did this. I've wanted this... for a long time. Me and Lori haven't been together for a while." He continued.

"But you're still wearing that ring. So you still love her." She replied.

"I want to. But I can't. Not after everything. Not after you." He confessed before he tried to kiss her again.

"Rick, stop." Michonne said. "I can't do this to her. Especially not now. Lori made a mistake because she was hurt. I won't let you do the same thing." Michonne said before she pushed Rick off of her and turned away from him.

She wished she wasn't still pressed up against him as she was sure it made it even harder for both of them to forget about what had just happened, but she didn't have a choice. Rick's body so close to hers was driving her crazy and it felt wrong but she needed his body heat. She would freeze to death or worse, get sick then Rick would have to carry her ass all the way back. She shut her eyes and tried to stay focused on falling asleep. Not allowing her mind to wonder into that place again and she hoped Rick was doing the same. The next morning, Michonne woke up first. She had slept so deep and so recklessly. Sleeping this close to Rick made her feel safe - too safe. She didn't want to wake him so she gently got up. and made her way out of the shelter. The cold morning breeze came in through the opening and woke Rick too. Michonne took a look at the bottom of the shop and found that the walkers were only getting more. It would only get harder to leave. They needed to leave soon. Rick emerged from the shelter and stood next to her. He looked over the side of the building and found that the walkers were still gathering.

"Hey." Rick greeted.

"Hey." She greeted back.

"They're not getting any fewer." Rick said.

"Its gonna take at least four days before they start dispersing." She explained.

"We don't have that much time. We should get going." Rick said.

Suddenly, the slight humor in their tone was completely gone and replaced with a strictly business tone. If this is what it needed to be for them to keep their hands off each other, then so be it - Michonne painfully forced herself to accept. Now that they were well rested and could think clearly, they formulated a plan to grab a walker and use it to escape. And they did just that. Rick used a rope to pull the walker up to the roof and Michonne sliced its head off with her sword. She sliced the walker open and they covered themselves with its guts. The roof exit was overrun and they had to find another way down. Fortunately there was a ladder in the back. They packed up everything they had and made their way down. They remained undetected all the way back to the car before they headed back to the prison, hardly speaking to each other the rest of the trip...