Hey all! So this is my submission for the Richonne- O- Ween week on tumblr. This is in the middle of Trick or Treat Tuesday and Widow(er) Wednesday I think, but I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading!

The leaves were turning in Alexandria, Rick noticed. He was eternally tied to the Fall, it's the one where he met Lori, and she added meeting him to the list of why she loved the season. As soon as the temperature started dropping she would begin preparing pumpkin pies, and planning Carl's Halloween outfits. The bitter cold mornings came and he expected Lori's warm fingertips to graze his back and embrace him in a hug. But she wasn't there. She wasn't there anymore.

He'd come to terms with it though, and was ready to carry on with Michonne. They'd decided to take it slow after confessing to each other not even two weeks ago. Now, Halloween was right around the corner, only 3 days away and he thought about his wife reprimanding him in his head for not finding Carl and Judith a proper Halloween outfit, especially considering this would be Judith's first walking Halloween which was just more important than the first to Lori, even though she was not talking yet. Back then, Rick was forgetful and simply was not the kind of person to plan those things. Plus, sending Glenn out on a run for Halloween costumes seemed like such a waste of much needed space.

Rick mentally kicked himself on the porch, a little solemn, it was too late to try and rustle up something for Judith to wear.

"RICK! What do you think about it?" Michonne came busting through the back door to meet him, Carl soon follows, looking amused.

He wasn't paying attention though he's heard them playfully arguing in the back for a while.

"What?"

"Dad, Michonne thinks I'm 4 years old." Carl crosses his arms.

"You're never too old to dress up, okay?" Michonne counters as Rick blankly stares.

She sighs, catching that he wasn't listening "I was just thinking, maybe we could dress Carl and –

"Just Judith." Carl interjects.

"Okay then, Judith. Find or make even, a Halloween costume for her. I think it's a special one for her, considering it's her first walking Halloween. I know she's not walking walking yet but still I think it would be, well, cute."

Rick stares at Michonne for while in bewilderment, they were on such a level with each other he swore she could sense thoughts. This was just one of the many reasons why he loved her. Rick undertones "Y- Yeah. I think that's a fine idea, Michonne. Have you thought of anything she could be?"

She had. A lot. She figured that anything of the spooky sort of outfit wouldn't do. They see far too much on the regular to have her as a ghost or monster. Something sweet would have to do.

"I was thinking of a butterfly? We have some fabric scraps and net around, we could make due. Nothin' fancy but it'll work." She lists off, finger placed thoughtfully on her mouth.

"We'll since I'm not participating I could at least help." Carl places a hand on Michonne's shoulder assuringly, "Dad, are you helping?"

Rick stands up and puts his hands on his hips "Sure, I got some time to spare."

After that, the hunt began for supplies for Judith's outfit. There was not much to go on from just what was available in Alexandria. They had some left over fishing net ruled unusable recently and some paint they found at the school. Using everything sparingly, they managed to create wings, and a headband with two marbles taped to some pieces of spring as a headpiece. They'd taken a toddler hoodie that was too big for her and some tulle they found and bunched it around her. This was the culmination of many hours of searching and resourceful thinking.

Throughout the night, this project silently became a form of mourning, to remember those that were not with them. All wordlessly sensed and respected in each other that this costume, as silly as it sounds, was a love song to those they had lost.

Carl was there all the way to see the costume to fruition, he's deathly missed things like this with his own mom. Rick and Michonne were so giddy that they'd decided to try it on Judith even though it was a couple of minutes after her bedtime. Carl had declined to see the final fitting, opting to wait to Halloween day to get the surprise, promising to scavenge for some candy to give her day of.

With the last bunching and adjusting of the tulle from Michonne, both her and Rick stood back in admiration of the butterfly costume. "There! All done." she exclaimed. It was painfully ridiculous. Neither Rick nor Michonne were great with sewing and the marble attached to the spring were already falling from the sheer weight of it. It was not store brought or anything, but it was still charming and they were proud of it. It was still good.

Michonne smiled at Rick approvingly and he returned. When she looked back at Judith, her eyes began to changeover. Andre is all that stood before her, her little peanut, that never got a chance to get a walking Halloween. Distraught and trying to keep her composure, she moved in on Judith to rearrange her tulle skirt. "Maybe we could get her some flowers to put in her hair, huh Rick?" her voice breaking. Rick was silent. Stubborn tears began to fall to her face. Judith reached to touch them, "Mi Mi…" she called, confused.

Realizing that Judith could understand her feelings, she looked out and away. To her surprise she caught a glimpse of Rick's tear stained face. He was embarrassed that she had saw, but it was erased when he realized the mutual sadness. Michonne stood up to level at Rick's face, searching each other's pouring eyes, already knowing the reasons they wept.

They grabbed onto each other for everything. Silently reassuring and wiping tears from each other's wet faces, Judith stumbled over and tugged at Michonne's leg, to which she lifted her up and placed her on her hip. A slight smile appeared from under her sullen frown.

Rick slightly yanked at her free arm and placed his hand on Judith's back, with eyes that were so grateful he breathed, " I want you to know that… I'm so glad I have you." And she replied with closing the small space between them. With quivering lips they kissed, knowing that they were not alone.

What Rick and Michonne had was the culmination of the little pieces, the parts of them that they thought were unsalvageable, all put together to make something so beautiful. And it was hard and it was scary and they had to fight for it and, in the world they were living in, they could even die for it.

But they were proud of their love.

And it was still good.

Xxx

Serving you Lilo and Stitch feels! Again, thank you for reading!