Hi! I wanted to send out a huge thank you to all those who read and commented on my first published fan fiction "Time." The response was incredible and have encourage me to keep writing new material. Thank you, thank you so much! I hope you all enjoy my latest story. -Love Misty
"We should start thinking about expanding this place east," Rick said. He and Michonne were making their last rounds through the Alexandria Safe Zone before ending the workday. They stopped near the back wall where the construction crew led by Abraham were burning the walkers they cleared from half a block of houses.
"East is going towards the city. Could be risky to be so close and I don't think we have the numbers yet to make clearing out areas easier." Rick nodded at Michonne's argument, he knew it wasn't time yet and he knew Michonne was gong to object, but he would use any opportunity to get a conversation going between them nowadays.
"Yeah, but east means getting closer to the Potomac River. Won't have to worry about running out of water, can fish, and swim. It's worth a shot, I do remember you saying somethang to that effect a couple of months ago," Rick smiled.
"You forgot the part where our lives were dependent on taking that shot."
Michonne takes a moment to remember how lost they were only a short two months ago. After being hit with setback after setback since the Governor had made his return, it took a passionate plea from Michonne to get Rick to understand that surviving was not enough to live. Michonne also remembered later that very night, her and Rick picking at the last few bits of squirrel meat while the rest of the group slept. It was almost déjà vu to the night they had the unfortunate benefit of encountering a group of men that threaten to rape Carl and Michonne, tried to beat Daryl to death and promised to murder them all until Rick intervened in the most brutal of fashions. But that night they weren't in any imminent danger and instead of talking about how small the squirrel was, Rick decided that night to confess his attraction to Michonne.
"Yeah well here we are thanks to you," Rick said, his words interrupting Michonne's solo walk down memory lane. Rick wanted to ask her again if there could be an 'us'. Confessing to Michonne that he wanted something more with her than just a friendship was hard for him. He at the time didn't even know where he got the courage to even confront her with his romantic feelings for her, where ever it came from, here it was again trying to get Rick to open up.
"Stop… thanking me. I wasn't the only one who wanted to give this place a chance." Michonne spoke quickly, "Glenn, Carol even Daryl wanted to go forward. I'm just the one who spoke up first."
"And I'm glad. I'm glad it was you." Rick stepped closer to Michonne, making the distance between them much smaller. Michonne glanced over Rick's shoulder and saw Abraham looking in their direction. "Michonne…"
Michonne moved her eyes back up to Rick's face, she didn't want to look at him directly because she knew he'd see her regret. Michonne felt remorse for being afraid to move forward with Rick. They with Carl had become a family unit, for a moment, she thought it was only going to be just them after the fall of the prison. Rick and Carl were the answer to Mike's question. They were her future, she knew this, so why did she turn down Rick? Every fiber in her body wanted to rain kisses down Rick's bearded face when he had proposed them beginning a new stage in their relationship. Every fiber, but it took a nanosecond for her brain to order her mouth to say "no." And right now, her brain was sending the rest of her body, its marching orders.
"Rick… our shift's over. I got to get back home, Carol and I planned a special dinner for Sasha. She's stll having a hard time adjusting." Michonne moved back, she could see that Abraham was no longer watching and that the construction crew had finished their work for the day as well. Pretty soon, folks would be coming towards her and Rick. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay." Michonne turned and began to walk down the quiet streets of Alexandria.
"Michonne, wait." She does what Rick asks of her and turns back towards him. With one hand on his holster and the other rubbing the stubble beginning to form on his face, Rick contemplated his next words. Removing his hand from his face he walked with purpose towards Michonne and took her face into his hands. "Do you really only see us as friends?"
Touching the back of Rick's hands on her face, Michonne fought within herself to not kiss each of his fingers, instead she removed his hands from her face and once again steps back.
"Tell Carl and Judith I said hello." "Jessie too…," Michonne said, she turned around and continued on her walk home.
Rick walked in the door of his home and was greeted by Kyle, a black Labrador whose previous owners died during the Wolves attack.
"Hey buddy," Rick bent down and scratched behind the dog's ears as it excitedly licked his face. Carl was the one that wanted to adopt Kyle, they hadn't had a pet since the world turned and Rick was grateful that Kyle was able to bring some joy to the house.
"He's been missing you all day," Rick looked up to see Jessie standing by the kitchen entrance, she was drying her hands off as she walked towards them.
"Is that right?" Kyle sniffed around Rick's jacket, hunting for a treat he thought could be within one of the pockets.
"I missed you too," she said. Rick quirked his eyes at Jessie, frowning slightly. Jessie chuckled, "I mean the food has gotten cold, I was expecting you home like twenty minutes ago." She smiled at Rick and Rick smiled back. From the outside looking in, one would assume they were watching a husband and wife talk, but as far as Rick was concern that was furthest from the truth. Rick gave Kyle one last rub and walked past Jessie towards the kitchen.
"Sorry, I wanted to re-inspect the walls after the crew was done." Rick washed his hands in the sink and picked up the plate of mashed potatoes, green beans and a small portion of meat. "Good thing for microwaves, I'll just heat this up. Thank you."
Jessie sat at the kitchen table while Rick waited for the timer to stop on the microwave.
"Carol came over," Jessie was fiddling with her nails, "about an hour ago, she put Judith to sleep. For some reason I've yet to master that job." She then moved up to her hair, re-doing the ponytail. "Last time I checked on Carl, he was reading."
"Ron and Sam?" Rick could sense that something was wrong and Jessie was beating around the bush to tell him.
"Sam is asleep upstairs. Ron is… he's not here?" Rick wasn't surprise by Jessie's revelation, Ron had refused to stay with Rick and Carl. His anger over his father's death and Rick being the cause of it had yet to end. As far as Rick was concern, Ron not staying with them was for the best, he had already made one attempt on Rick's life, giving him the access to make a second was not going to happen. The timer on the microwave beeped, Rick pulled out the food and grabbed the fork on the table.
"I talked to Abe, he offered to have a couple of people start repairing your house, tomorrow." That was partially a lie. When Michonne walked away, Rick came up to Abe and asked that he find people to fix up Jessie's house. He didn't want any more obstacles between himself and Michonne and it was clear Michonne felt Jessie was one.
"Wow, I thought they weren't going to start cleaning up the houses until all the walls had been repaired?"
"They're ahead of schedule. I hope you don't mind that I gave Abe the go ahead," Rick said feigning concern.
"Oh, no, I think… I think Sam would enjoy sleeping in his own bed again," disappointment was etched in Jessie's words, but her face showed otherwise.
"Good, I'm going to eat upstairs, go over some stuff." Rick took a bite of the potatoes, "thanks for this." He then left the kitchen, leaving Jessie at the table.
Once in his room, Rick placed the barely touched meal on a drawer and walked over to the crib that his beautiful daughter Judith occupied. She was fast asleep with her thumb in her mouth, Rick leaned over the crib and caressed her soft cheek. He will always be eternally grateful to be given another day to watch her grow.
Rick then kicked off his boots and stripped down to his boxers and laid down on the bed. He looked over at the nightstand, the clock read 11:53, and he groaned knowing that he'll be back up in a couple of hours. Beside the clock was a woman's silver watch. It was Michonne's, he wonder how long it had been there and if she purposely left it behind. He gave it to her many months ago when she was on the hunt for the Governor.
6 months ago
"Hey you heading out?"
"Yeah, I want to track the camping site I found. Michonne was packing. Rick admired her persistence in searching for the Governor. She's been searching to put an end to his existence since Andrea was buried. And at first Rick was ok with this because Daryl as well went with her, but after two months Daryl determined the trail went cold, but Michonne refused to give up. And for the past month or so she'd come home for about a day or two and then leave for a week.
Now each time she left, her leaving began to irritate Rick. He tried to excuse his irritation to being worried for Michonne's safety and he was, but he also enjoyed that the time she was at the prison was being spent with him and Carl.
"I wanna give you somethang," Rick held out in his hand a silver watch, it was one of those cheap watches one would find at a Claire's, but it was still in working condition. Michonne turned away from her packing and gave Rick a smile.
"What's it for?"
"You talked about sometimes wanting a sense of time when you're out there, maybe this could help." Michonne picked up the watch from Rick's hand.
"Thank you," Rick was happy to see her beautiful smile grow wide. She inspected it closely and then placed it on her left wrist.
"Here, let me help," Rick walk towards her, Michonne turned her arm so that he could clasp the watch. Rick tried not to breathe too heavy, but the scent of her freshly clean skin and clothes and the tiny bit of skin to skin contact was pulling him in.
Once the watch was on he took a step back and their eyes met.
"Be careful," he said and gave her a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He didn't want her to leave because he enjoyed their friendship, he enjoyed the little talks about nothing and the tiny jokes they shared. He felt if she stayed just a little while longer, maybe he can work himself up to getting her to talk with him about something more meaningful, but he had no clue what that would be.
"I'm always careful." Michonne closed her pack, placed it on her shoulder and grabbed her katana. "Thank you for this," she lifted up her wrist where the watch now sit and began to walk out the cell. Rick couldn't help but looked down at what he thought was the most perfect behind. Michonne stopped and turned her head around, not giving Rick much time to awkwardly stare at the ceiling. "Are you going to walk me to the gates?"
"Yeah… yeah, of course," he said. He closed her cell door behind him and walked along with Michonne as he silently prayed that she would indeed be careful out there and come back to him.
Now
Taking his eyes off Michonne's watch, Rick looked at his ring and twisted it around his finger. He moved it up and down until it was completely removed from his finger. He was ready to feel some sense of loss not having the ring on. He was ready to feel guilt for removing it, but instead he felt he should have taken it off a long time ago, his heart moved on and finally his brain agreed.
Rick turned over to his side and placed the ring next to Michonne's watch. He stared at both objects until his eyelids grew heavy and sleep came calling.