They ignored each other.

More like Michonne ignored Rick.

She kept herself busy and disappeared whenever he entered a room, when Rick was so sure he would find her there. It was a game of cat and mouse, where usually it would be a game of cat and cat as both were too strong to be mere mice.

To Michonne, the memory striked up fear and a panicky feeling, one she thought may have been equivalent to the fear that formed in someone's chest when they realised they were drowning and could do nothing about it.

On the other hand, the soft sleepy haze that Rick had experienced the forehead kiss in followed him whenever he thought about it.

He had thought about it when he had rolled off the sofa in the morning, breaking him out of his dreamless sleep, and when he got into the shower and the patter of the water reminded him of the rain in old romance movies he couldn't remember the names of. It continued to follow him, like a duck who had imprinted on it's mother, always there, never far away. Eager to show it's importance.

He could hear the shower right now, as he stood at the bottom of the staircase, holding up his body by pressing one hand against the wall right beside it. Part of him wanted to call out her name, knowing he wouldn't get a reply and use that as an excuse to get even closer and knock on the door. He wondered if she would let him in.

But, it had dawned on him that they hadn't spoken at all since last night and mid-day was fast approaching.

Michonne mirrored a fleeting feeling today, Rick thought, remembering how he would enter a room and the smell of her would be there, strong as ever, but she wouldn't be. Maybe she was ignoring him.

Maybe he shouldn't be the first one to speak.

Maybe she wants to forget about it.

Rubbing his stubble Rick smiled, he remembered her doing so right before the warmth of her lips reached his forehead.

The shower stopped then and Rick felt a twinge of anxiety at what could unfold if Michonne saw him, how she would react, if the imbalance in their dynamics now meant that she wasn't so sure about her always being with him.

Clearing his throat and straightening his back, he got enough courage to talk, knowing she could full well hear him. "I'm going to drop Judith off and then I have a late shift, okay?"

He got a reply. Only from Carl. "Okay Dad!"

He waited. The -click- of the bathroom door had given him hope, maybe she'd reply.

But when Rick heard the fast, soft patter of feet against the carpeted floor his heart sunk just enough for him to turn, pick up Judith from her chair and head out, where the shining sun irritated him just a little.

"Anybody here?" Rick knocked on the garage that was partially open.

The grumble he received confirmed that it was Daryl and Rick crouched under the garage door, not surprised to find that Daryl was peering at his motorbike, frowning so hard that all of his face seemed to sink in.

Judith squirmed in his arms and reached out a hand to Daryl, who looked and smiled, but still went back to frowning.

"What's up?"

"I aint got no rags to clean this thing. I aint got no paint either." Darl sucked air through his teeth. "It's hard to ride in style when the zombie apocalypse gives you nothing but dirt!"

Handing Judith over to Daryl, Rick dug in his back pocket for an old peice of cloth. "Got you covered."

Daryl chuckled, holding Judith in one hand and taking the piece of cloth in the other. "This little ass kicker sure is growing." She giggled in return. "You waiting for Carol? She'll be here soon."

Handing Judith back, Daryl began to wipe the bike down and Rick rocked on his feet, looking around the garage. The gears in his mind loud and churning so much so that Daryl finally asked him a question.

"What's on your mind Rick?"

"I gotta question." Daryl grumbled in return. "What do you do when things start to change... become better things?"

Daryl whistled a long note and stopped rubbing the seat of his motorbike. "I guess you just got to accept the change... you just got to. As long as it aint causing nobody no harm."

Rick pondered and his mouth hung open just a little as he tried to find words to respond. It made sense. A lot of sense, and he had known the answer before Daryl had said it.

Just then, Carol popped up under the garage door and a bright smile covered her face. "Hey Rick, hey little bug. I'll take her off your hands and see you later?"

Rick nodded, the thoughts in his mind over-crowding all his senses to the point that he had caught only a few words of what Carol had said. Something crossed over her face as she looked at him and then Daryl, who just shook his head and carried on trying to make his motorbike sparkle.

Michonne sighed happily and rested against the kitchen counter, looking at all her work. It had been a distraction to clean every crook and cranny of the kitchen, but it had been a good one while it lasted.

She was well aware that she had time to regain her composure as Judith was out and Carl was too and Rick was on a late night shift.

Her eyes stung. She hadn't slept last night.

That was a lie.

She had gotten a few winks but in between those she had felt every single emotion under the sun. Anger for running away.

Happiness for finally feeling something so strong. Strong enough to do that.

Sadness for getting rid of that feeling so soon.

And she was jealous. Jealous of the way he seemed to go about his day as though it was normal, while she ran around every corner and felt every thump of her full heart whenever his scent darted across her nose.

It was all so unsettling.

It unravelled her, stripped her down to her bare emotions and made her feel, all of it was raw. Sometimes she compared it to the feeling she had with Mike, but it was so different. This time, your heart was more on the line that ever. The never-ending impending doom of death meant that everything was so brief and constantly slipping through fingers that grasped at them desperately.

Well, she sighed, at least she could have a bath in peace and possibly fall asleep before-the door slammed.

Her body tensed. "Who is it?"

"It's me." A smile appeared on his face - that Michonne couldn't mirror because of shock - as he finally found her in a room. Blue eyes met brown and the air was electric.

Michonne was sure that this is what Adam and Eve must have felt.

"Are you okay?" The way he said it washed away all the bruises she had created in her mind from beating herself up over what had happened. She was okay. He was okay. Everything was okay. But the gentle feeling couldn't disrupt the fact that the dynamics had changed and he... he was looking at her and still expecting an answer.

"Of course I'm okay." Her eyes met the ground. "How was your day? Why are you... home, so early?" She had choked on the word as the weight of all her emotions centred in the middle of her chest and home brought images, images of his smile and Judith's laugh and Carl's constantly changing temperament. It brought images of him coming back to the house, with meat he'd gotten from hunting with Daryl and the faint brush of his skin against hers under the covers, in a way that made her cheeks hot.

"I wasn't thinking straight." Resting against the counter right beside her, the warmth of his body created goosebumps on her skin. She was afraid and Rick saw the way her shoulders raised and he couldn't bring himself to speak after his confession.

He knew that Michonne knew now.

Knew that he had been thinking about it and that the haze of sleep hadn't distorted any part of the memory. That the glow he hoped she felt was real and bright within him too.

He was afraid.

Gosh damn he was afraid.

The feeling of getting shot didn't compare to this.

Neither did the feeling of first learning to ride a bike.

Or getting down on one knee to ask Lori to marry him.

There was something in here that was different, that meant more.

There was more on the line.

They weren't guaranteed a house or each other or a home or a child even.

It was just the now. The now and them.

"I-" They both started and sheepishly sunk back into themselves when they realised.

She tasted it. He tasted it. It was the feeling of a beginning in the air and it was so bittersweet on their tongues. For the loss that they had endured to get to this point still weighed heavy on their shoulders and sat with all the grief and guilt on their collarbones.

"You first..." He needed to be the one to say something. To pave the way. Michonne could lead in almost anything but this. She couldn't look at him without her chest tightening, like a fist formed in anger.

Of course Rick knew.
He knew he had to be the one to open his chest and allow the caterpillars that hung on his ribcage to bloom and become butterflies, so Michonne was well aware that they had been growing in him too and if they had left this situation just a day longer he would have felt butterflies as well as shaking hands around her.

She was driving him crazy right now, with the way she wasn't looking directly at him, rubbing the goosebumps on her upper right arm with her left hand and biting her bottom lip.

"You..." His hand moved closer to hers on the counter and they both didn't look down when his pinky finger finally hooked around hers. It was so innocent and made Michonne warm in her face and in places that hadn't been warm in a long time.

Rick licked his lips, unsure of how to continue.

How could he sum it up?

You are the sun and the stars and the moon to me?

You are all I think about when the zombie noises drone out enough to make me think we have a chance at a normal life?

You make this possibly temporary place feel like home?

You shine. You are Gold. You are the sum of all my parts.

The words weren't good enough, they were too shallow for her. She was so much more than a few words and all he wanted to do was kiss her, slowly. To have her tongue swirl around his and have her plump lips rest against his, wet and damp when they broke away from each other.

His lips tingled at the idea and his cheeks rose in colour.

"Daryl told me that you've got to accept change."

Daring to be strong, Michonne squeezed her pinky finger around Rick's as they both looked ahead and didn't dare to look at each other. They were both aware that words needed to be said and that if their lips met, there would be no going back, they needed to be sure that the other felt how the other felt. Rick knew it started with him.

If only he'd get the words out.

"... and this. This is changing." Sighing, he rubbed the back of head with his other hand. Not wanting to break contact with her pinky and his. "You're something good. I'm catching a break with you and it's good. It's too rare."

Michonne wanted to look at him. To touch his stubble and heal all of his wounds with kisses that left trails of fire on his skin.

"It's hard to feel." Her body temperature dropped and she froze right beside him, it was such a loud statement in the quiet that Rick cursed inwardly. The warmth of her pinky drew from his and he caved in.

"Don't force it then, Rick." Turning, Michonne started to walk away.

And once again it all fell apart.

And it could of stayed that way, but Rick grabbed her arm because he saw the gold that was embedded in her DNA and the sunshine that poured out of her pores, so bright that his retina's couldn't take it. How could you let something so good go in a world that offered you nothing but bad? Luck... luck was so rare and here it was, in front of him, almost out of his grasp... almost.

Michonne gasped at the burn of his fingers on her skin and let her mouth part as he slowly turned her. She saw his blue eyes and there was no grey, he was seeing clearly, Rick Grimes was here with her... for her. And his stubble that kept growing and could keep growing and would never change how she felt about him slowly killed her.

Michonne couldn't care less about kissing forehead now, she wanted more.

"If I make this decision," Rick stepped closer and the proximity almost killed him, nearly left him choking for air and weak in the knees, "Are you still with me?"

How had they gone this long without being?

They laced fingers and moved until she rested her head on his shoulders, breathing him in, feeling the home within him that she had kept thinking about over and over again.

They didn't have to say it.

But both hearts knew that they were beating in time.

And she was gold.

And he was golden.

And they kissed until their lips were numb.

It was then that Rick knew her answer was yes.