Hi! I am submitting my first piece of fiction for you guys to tear apart…no really that's how I feel. I have no idea where this idea came from or why I would think you guys would be interested but I hope you like it…maybe a little?
Any whoo…I obviously don't own TWD or any of the beautiful characters that come with it. Please review and let me know what you think about my attempt. Okay? Coolbeans? Thanks!
-Ashley Nichole
It was a quarter to six in the morning when Michonne's biological clock caused her to stir. Rick instinctively tightened his arms around his wife when she began to scoot closer to the edge of their bed in protest of her going anywhere.
"Rick…" she complained with a groan that turned into a giggle when pulled her back flush against his chest and buried his face in the crook of her neck, nipping at the tender flesh there.
"Where do you think you're going?" he murmured against her and Michonne tried not to get lured in by his drawl that was always significantly heavier in the morning, thick with sleep.
"To pee," she returned, pushing against him, "then to start breakfast. The kids will be up soon."
Rick did not loosen his hold. Instead he rolled her on her back and braced himself above her, planting to hands on either side of her while he looked lovingly down at her lush lips.
"But isn't that why the older ones are here?" he returned, taking one hand to slide the thin strap of her night gown down her shoulder, pressing a kiss just there. "To help out?"
Michonne sighed, running her fingers through his bedhead of curls as he continued to drop warm, open mouth kisses to her neck and collarbone. "They didn't come all the way from the Hilltop to serve us, Rick. They're here to visit and help us with Dani."
Rick snorted as he pulled back and Michonne lifted a questioning eyebrow. "You mean they're here to practice with Dani."
Michonne's bright brown eyes lit up as she sat up a little, nearly knocking foreheads with her husband who luckily pulled back in enough time to avoid a concussion. "Who said that? Did they say that?"
Rick chuckled at the mixture of curiosity and eagerness lighting her tone. "Not out right. But Carl isn't nearly as clandestine as he'd like to believe with some of the questions he's been throwing at me."
Michonne frowned. "What questions could he have? He practically co-parented Judith with us."
Rick chuckled in response. "Yeah…" he drawled as he let a hand slip under the covers to the hem of her short gown where his fingers toyed with her skin there. "Probably more nerves than anything if they're seriously considering it."
Michonne chewed on her lip thoughtfully for a moment and Rick paused his wondering hands to consider her face.
"I'm sure he was planning on telling you once it was official, Chonne," he offered, thinking that was the reason for her expression.
Michonne blinked at him momentarily confused and then she waved her hand dismissing that as her concern. "I know," she replied, pressing her lips together.
"You sure?"
She nodded her head as a sheepish expression tugged at the corners of her lips.
"Well, what is it then?"
Michonne shrugged her shoulders off-handedly before admitting her worry, "I'm too young to be someone's grandmother."
Rick scoffed under his breath at her assessment but when he realized she was serious he outright laughed. "You're joking right?"
"Rick," she admonished, slapping his shoulder. "I just had a baby!"
Rick nodded, feigning understanding. "Well look at this way, by the time Danielle gives us grandkids at least we'll look the part."
Michonne arched an eyebrow at him as she lifts a hand to gingerly caress his salt and pepper, which was turning into more salt than pepper, stubble. "Let's be honest, baby, you look the part right now," she returned sweetly.
"Yeah well," Rick ventured, as returned his hands to her hips then quickly and forcibly yanked her underneath him once more. "This old man can still wear your ass out, so keep talkin'," he warned.
Michonne giggled from under him, letting her hands lock around his neck as he leans in closer. "You're still sexiest old man I know," she playfully replied with his mouth hovering inches above hers.
"Uh huh."
Just as Rick captured her lips with his they hear the distinct pitter patter of bare feet on hardwood floors trampling closer to their bedroom door. Rick pecks Michonne's lips before promptly pushing off of her and diving back into his sleeping position, with one arm draped over her waist and his face buried in her neck.
Michonne looks over at her husband disbelievingly just as their door peaks open.
"You know you ain't shit, right?" Michonne hissed to him, he only tightened his grip around her in response.
"Mommy…"
Michonne turned her head to see her daughter peering around the bedroom door, her blue eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
"What's the matter, Judy Bug?" Michonne whispered as she slid herself up into a sitting position. She glanced down at her "sleeping" husband and rolled her eyes before looking back to Judith, opening her arms to her. "Did you have a nightmare?"
Judith shook her head as she raced to her mother and buried her face into her mother's chest. "No," she mumbled into the fabric of Michonne's tank top.
Rick shifts on the bed and Michonne turns to see him looking worriedly up at her. What's wrong? He mouths to her.
Michonne shrugs as she strokes through Judith's curls. "Sweetie, what it is?"
"I think I'm sick," Judith whispers, pulling back to look at her mother with genuine fear in her expressive blue eyes.
Michonne brushed her fingers along Judith's cheek then pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "You don't have a temperature. Does your belly hurt?"
"No…"
Rick decides playing possum isn't helping the situation anymore so he leans up, resting his chin on Michonne's shoulder to look down on their daughter. "What's wrong, sweetheart," he asked her softly.
Judith sniffled and looked up at her father. "I promise I didn't do anything I wasn't s'pose to do Daddy!" she nearly wailed.
Rick and Michonne exchanged worried glances before Michonne lifted the child and planted her in between both her and Rick on their bed. "Why would you say that, Judy?" Michonne questioned, reaching forward to wipe a stray tear from Judith's reddening cheeks.
Judith bit down on her lower lip as she dropped her gaze to her hands bunching the fabric of her nightgown together in her lap. "Because…cause…"
"Judith, if something is wrong you need to tell us," Rick urged her a little firmer now as he tilted his head slightly.
Judith blinked at her father, her mind was registering something her parents did not fully understand and then, as if a cord had been snapped, she burst into tears and lunged for her mother's chest.
Wide eyed and panicked, Michonne looked at Rick as she held her daughter close unsure what to do.
"Ju—"
"I'm turning!" Judith cried out to her parents with hitching breath.
"What?!" was their simultaneous response.
"But I wasn't bit! I wasn't! I promise!"
Rick was stunned into silence unable to comprehend the words his six year old was rattling off.
Michonne was only slightly more cognizant, realizing they had to have missed something somewhere along the line.
Of course Judith was not bitten, therefore, she was definitely not turning. She was, however, a child with a very vivid imagination. Michonne repeated these reassurances to herself as she subtly checked over her daughter for anything out of the ordinary that would make her believe she would be turning.
"What's going on?" Carl asked as he stopped in front of his parent's open doorway. He was cradling his infant sister in his arms as he was en route to the kitchen to prepare a bottle for her when he heard the commotion.
"I'm turning!" Judith now openly sobbed, covering her face with her hands as her little body shook with her tears.
"Baby, there is no way that is possible," Michonne offered, cradling Judith as she rocked back and forth. "Tell her Rick," she said pointedly to her husband who was still stuck in a stupor from Judith's assessment of her situation.
Rick blinked away an unreadable expression and lifted his hand to rub Judith's back. "You're not turning, honey, you weren't bit or scratched." Rick pulled her hands away from her face and turned her arms over for her own inspection. He then reached for her ankles and tickled the soles of her feet until she begrudgingly let out a watery giggle from his touch.
"Why would you think you're turning, Judes?" Carl asked curiously, re-shouldering the one month old in his arms who had taken to gnawing on his finger in lieu of her breakfast being late.
"I think I may know why," Enid chimed in coming around Carl to lean on her in-laws' bedroom doorframe. She held up a small item pinched between her thumb and index finger with an amused glint in her eye.
Carl tilted his head to inspect the item his wife held between her fingers before realization had dawned over him and he turned back to his parents' bed with a wide grin. "Judy, is this why you think you're turning?"
Judith nodded quickly then pulled at her bottom lip to show her parents the new gap on the bottom row of her teeth. "My teeth are falling out!" she finally admitted, "Two more are loose!"
Michonne blinked having not expected that proclamation at all. Had Judith been a child in the old world losing her tooth would have been an expected if not anticipated process. Had Michonne thought twice about it she would have encouraged Judith to place the lone tooth under her bedroom pillow for the "tooth fairy" to claim and leave a present in return. But she had not thought about it because rebuilding the world from the ground up left too little time for those types of nuances anymore.
"Oh Judy Bug," Michonne exhaled a humored breath of relief she had no idea she was holding. She wiped away Judith tears and kissed her cheek. "You're not turning. You're growing up."
Judith scrunched up her face in confusion. "But…you still have all your teeth and you're grown up."
The adults cannot help but to laugh at Judith's innocence.
"Trust me, kid, we all had to go through it at some point," Enid offered, smiling.
"Really?" Judith asked, whipping her head around to her father. "Even you Daddy?"
Rick nodded. "Even me."
"Oh…okay," Judith said simply, as if she did not just have a complete meltdown five minutes before.
"Are you better now?" Michonne asked, still concerned.
"Yes, mommy, I'm fine," Judith assures her with a wide gaped grin.
"Come on, Jude," Carl said, inclining his head towards the hallway, "let Mom and Dad get some rest. You need to wash up and put that thing under your pillow anyway."
"Why?" Judith questioned, crawling over her mother's lap. Michonne helped ease her towards the floor and Judith took off to join her siblings and claim her tooth.
"You ever hear of the tooth fairy?" Enid asked, taking Judith's hand.
With wide eyes Judy shook her head. "A fairy?"
Enid nodded. "Yep. Come on, I'll tell you about it while you brush what's left of your teeth." She winked at her in-laws before leading a quizzical Judith out of the room. The child could be heard firing off all sorts of questions on the topic as their voices drifted away.
"I can take Dani if you want," Michonne offered, nodding to the infant resting comfortably in her brother's arms.
Carl smiled down at the youngest Grimes to find her bright blue eyes staring straight back at him, her full heart shaped lips pulled back in an adorable grin as she garbled nonsense at him. "Nah, we're good," he replied, nuzzling her mass of black curly hair. "Get some rest, breakfast will be ready soon."
Michonne watched them leave smiling as Carl had the decency to close their bedroom door quietly behind him. She was staring at the door even after her children were gone.
"What is it?" Rick murmured from his prone position beside her as he ran his fingers lazily up and down her spine.
Michonne glanced down at him. "Our daughter thought she was turning into a walker because she lost a baby tooth. Rick, what is wrong with that picture?"
Rick shrugged and chuckled. "I'd imagine plenty."
Michonne shook her head. "We're terrible parents," she said, rubbing her temples.
"Nah, we're doing all right. Besides if we screw one up at least we got two more to work with."
"Rick…"
"I'm kidding…mostly."
Michonne sighed in exasperation and slid back down into the covers. Rick mimicked her position and flashed her a cheesy grin. Michonne rolled her eyes and shoved him away from her but he caught her hand and pulled her closer instead. He dropped a gentle kiss to her palm before letting it go to wrap his arms around her and pulled her into his side.
"I can't believe how nonchalant you are about this," she murmured against his chest.
It was Rick's turn to sigh, seeing how she was not letting this go. "So we forgot the tooth fairy business. With everything that goes on around here is it really that hard to believe something like that slipped through the cracks?"
"But if she thought she would turn to a walker just because her tooth fell out can you imagine what she'll be like during her first menstrual cycle?"
Rick visibly shuddered. "Chonne, I have faith you'll handle that situation a little more proactively."
"I'll handle it?" Michonne returned indignantly, sitting up slightly to look at him.
Rick pulled her back down to him. "Enid's pretty helpful. You can recruit her for assistance if you want."
"You are unbelievable."
"Look at it this way, once Dani's of age you'll have it all down by then."
Michonne snorted despite herself. "You mean we will."
"We'll see."
She glared at him through narrowed eyes and Rick chuckled at her unspoken threat. "I'm kidding," he said lightly, tracing circles into her shoulder. "We're a team. Besides, you should give yourself more credit. I can't tell you how many times Lori and I forgot to play tooth fairy for Carl in the old world. After a while he would just barge into kitchen in the morning holding a tooth in one hand and his other one was stretched out waiting for a quarter."
Michonne laughed at the image in her head of a younger Carl with hand outstretched and with a firm scowl in place.
"You're picturing him, aren't you?" Rick asked, knowingly.
"Yeah," she laughingly admitted.
"And even though we neglected that very important part of his childhood from time to time, he still turned out okay."
"Yeah," Michonne snickered, "that was the neglected part."
Rick chuckled at her sarcasm. "He still turned out okay," he reiterated proudly.
Michonne leaned up on her elbow and looked down at her husband. She let her hand caress his stubbled cheek as she bent to place a warm kiss on his waiting lips. "Better than okay."
Rick reached down into the comforter seeking her out, his hand easily found her thigh and he pulled it over his waist and smiled when she easily straddled into position on top of him. She traced her fingers through the fine hairs on chest as she pulled herself up. "He'll be a good father. You should let him know that the next time he starts his twenty questions."
Rick nodded, digging his fingers into her hips as he began to gyrate her back and forth on top of him. "He will and I have told him," he returned, though he was obviously distracted.
"I know what you're doing," she said with a smirk, making no move to stop him.
"Mmhmm…"
"Carl and Enid are getting breakfast ready. They'll expect to us to be down soon."
Rick wrapped an arm around her waist as he sat up. He hooked a finger under the hem of her tank top and quickly pulled it over her head and flung it carelessly across the room. "They'll be fine," he countered, and she knew he really wasn't listening anymore. "They're getting their practice in."
"You're hopeless."
"And you're talking too much."
Any response Michonne may have had died on her lips when Rick covered them with his own. His warm hands roamed over her body and she allowed herself this moment to let go because he was right. One neglected piece of childhood wouldn't ruin their children, not with everything else they had built up around them. The children were okay, better than okay.
And when she looked into her husband's eyes and saw all the love held in that gorgeous blue gaze, it was not hard to understand why. As long as he was okay, then she was okay too. It would only make sense for their children to fall in line with that mantra.
"I love you," she whispered the moment he filled her.
Rick tightened his arms around her. "I know," he answered, gently nibbling on her earlobe.
She smiled letting her head fall back as his strokes took her over in a blissful way. Of course he would understand where her mind was. "How?" she breathed out, sounding more like a moan than an actual question.
Rick brought a hand up to her cheek, coaxing her face back to his wanting and needed to get lost in the depths of her beautiful brown eyes. He found the same reassurance in hers that she found in his. "Because…I love you too."
-The End-