No one had seen Rick the whole next day. He'd known about the Wolves' attack- he had to have known. Everyone had questions, fears, worries about their future...and naturally, by now, most of the Alexandrians were turning to Rick for answers. Of course, there were some doubters, some who not only mistrusted Rick, they hated his very presence. Not so much whom he was, although even Michonne had to concede that Rick's actions had brought about some of their responses. She didn't blame them, but she didn't fault Rick. She saw Rick. She knew who he was, what he'd been through...why he was the way he was. She knew Rick.

Michonne didn't know Morgan well at all quite yet, but she knew she liked him. During some of hers and Rick's talks while out scouting around the prison, and during the aftermath..Rick had talked often of Morgan. She'd even met him once, but he was clearly not the same man that stood before her, questioning her about why Rick had chosen to go into hiding, why now, what were his plans.

Michonne was still in shock, realizing that Glenn was not coming back to them...she hurt for Maggie, for the loss of the young boy she'd come to trust as a friend (and even now she was careful to label just anyone a friend)...what the loss of Glenn would mean to her, to the group.

What Glenn's death would mean to Rick.

Michonne, wiping the blood, sweat and tears away from her face (whom they had belonged to, even she wasn't sure)...looked at Morgan.

She looked, didn't blink, but took a long, deep breath.

Still, she looked.

Morgan again persisted, wondering about the whereabouts of his friend, the only person in the world who knew of him, who had known his wife (albeit in walker form), and just as importantly, had known his son.

The two people in all of Alexandria most invested in Rick's well-being stood face to face, both struggling with the inner turmoil caused by the different events they'd both just survived.

Most of all, they worried about Rick.

Michonne didn't blink as she sternly but quickly stated, "Rick will be fine."

Morgan opened his mouth to question her, but she wasn't having any of it. Michonne didn't look back as she walked to the house Rick shared with his children, and replied once more. "Rick will be fine."

000000

Carl was sitting outside of his place, not even daring to go in. Michonne approached her friend's son, a boy whom in his own right came to mean a great deal to her. "Where's your dad?" she stated, hiding every bit of worry that she had about Rick. Carl's sister was gone, presumed dead by the hands of the Wolves. The sister that Carl's mother died while giving birth to, their shared mother Carl, he'd confided in her just once, Carl had to put down due to her injuries. Lori had never even gotten to hold her only daughter.

Carl was just playing with an empty can, just tearing the label off of it, ripping it piece by piece, anything to physically distract him from the prison of just being alive. "In there," he muttered, not even looked at Michonne. "Of course he's in there."

Michonne took away the can and looked down straight into Carl's eyes. "I know you didn't mean that..."

"Of course, he's hiding. That's what he does. When my mom died...I was the one having to kill her. At the prison, he got Hershel killed because his head was so far up his own..."

"That's enough," Michonne said so sternly that Carl actually jumped. He knew she'd never hurt him, and he knew she was the most fierce woman-person- he'd ever known. But still...his dad wasn't the only one whom was hurting.

"You don't know my dad!" Carl protested, standing to attention. "He hides. Where was he when all of this went down? On a stupid mission that he didn't need to do. That damn quarry could have waited. But no...my dad...he does what he wants, and he doesn't think."

"He's human, Carl. Your dad does what he thinks best," Michonne responded calmly.

"Best? Best? You come back here, Glenn's dead. My sister's dead! All these people here...dead! You think what my dad does is for the best? You don't know my dad the way I do," Carl spat out as he ran off, leaving a hurt but understanding Michonne behind.

She took a few minutes to compose herself, but then let herself in the house. She approached Rick's room, and knocked.

No answer.

"Rick, I know you're in there. You're going to have to come out," Michonne announced herself.

She waited, but heard nothing.

"Rick, I'm not going away. You can either let me in, or I'll knock this door down. I don't want to have to do this. But I will."

She gave him a minute. She tried turning the knob, and as suspected, the door was locked. "Rick, I'm not letting you do this. This door is going to have to come down."

She waited, fully intending to keep her word, gave him one more chance. "Rick this door between us, it has to come down."

She could hear the faintest trace of movements- he was definitely in that room. But he wasn't letting her anywhere near him. In a way, that was almost symbolic of their relationship.

She took a deep breath, readied her katana, but at that moment, Rick unlocked the door. He didn't open it to welcome her in, but he unlocked the door for her.

Even in the dark small room, with blankets upon blankets strewn over the window panes, Michonne could see Rick was hurting. His back was turned away from her- he'd now sat in the corner barricaded off by the dresser, his back to her.

Not much made her cry in this world. She wasn't crying now, but for the first time in a while, since the loss of Hershel- she sure wanted to cry.

She said nothing, trying to think of where to begin.

He astonished her by speaking up. "Close the door," he hoarsely barked at her.

She nodded, and complied. She felt her way to the bed, and she sat, looking at not much more than his back.

"Rick..." she started, strangely having a hard time finding the words to say to him.

"Leave me be," he emitted in his low, accented voice. She could almost audibly hear the pain in his voice. Not that she blamed him for hurting so at this moment.

"No, Rick." Michonne summed an inner reserve of strength that shocked even her. "I'm not leaving you."

Michonne didn't even flinch when he started to curse her out, ordering her to leave, barking that he never wanted to see her again.

They were hurtful, all of the words coming out of his mouth. He so violently protested her presence with his words that even Michonne felt her lip tremble. She wouldn't cry, no matter what.

This wasn't Rick. But then something else occurred to you. "Rick, it's me. I'm here."

"Well you're fucking stupid," he snapped.

"I wanted to say this is you, but I'd be lying. This is you, all right, Rick Grimes."

"Well then, there you go. You know me. So what the hell are you doing here?" Rick questioned, his head still facing downwards towards the floor. She could see he was rocking himself, a way to self-soothe. Her two year old son had done that when his father would yell at her after a night of drinking.

"Rick...this is you. You're stubborn and you're scared and you've messed up. There, I said it, so you don't need to. You messed up."

"Gee, and you're my friend..." he sighed.

"You listen to me, Rick. You messed up, but you did what no one else would. What no one else wanted to, what no one would have if they had wanted to, what no one else but you could have done. You did something, Rick. You did something."

"And now because I did something my little girl..."

"You stop that," she hushed him. "We don't know that. And if there's anyone in this world who knows how to find that little girl, it's you. But you can't do anything right now, Rick. You're like the rest of them here at Alexandria."

She knew that was a painful comment for her to say to him, but Michonne had a reason to say it. "Rick, you are here, doing nothing. Let me correct myself. You're feeling sorry for yourself. I would do, so don't take it that I'm condemning you for a really human reaction. That's just it, Rick. You're human. Your plans fell apart. You did something, though. You're a man who takes risk, who puts his balls out there for the public who is just chomping at the bits to castrate you bit by bit. You're a leader, Rick. That's who you are. You make decisions. You're looking out for everyone here, that's what makes you strong. Do you want to know your one weakness?"

Rick sighed. "Something tells me I'm going to hear it."

"You don't look out for yourself."

Rick didn't even turn around. "You see what happened today...I can't take care of anyone. Glenn..Judith...I have no business even taking care of a rock, let alone anyone else, myself included."

Michonne didn't even blink."Right now, you can't take care of yourself, I get that."

"So why are you here?"

"I'll take care of you."

Rick said nothing as he continued to move his upper body in slow, repetitive motions.

"I'm a woman of few words- I think you get that about me. You also get that I don't trust anyone, I don't let myself get close to anyone. I have my reasons, and I do get you're smart enough to figure that out," she whispered.

"If you're so smart why are you in here, looking after a failure, a weak man, a man who is so blind to the ways of this world that he got his own daugh.."

"Stop that!" Michonne spoke harshly. "We don't know that. Nobody knows that. All I know is that Daryl and Aaron are out there as we speak looking for that little girl. Why do you think they're doing that?"

Rick sighed. "Because they know that any man can do a better job being a protector of Judith.."

Michonne walked up and touched his shoulder, which he jerked away angrily. "Don't touch me!" he yelled to her surprise.

"I know you're angry, you're hurt, you're scared. It's okay. Let it out. I can take it."

"Why are you here, you're patronizing me. You're just like everyone else..."

Michonne gulped. "Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that you're not like everyone else. And from where I sit, that's a good thing. A damn good thing."

Expecting him to turn around, for him to react, nonetheless she continued despite his motionless rejections of her attempts to comfort him. "You're not like everyone else. You make the hard and uncomfortable calls. You make sure things get done, that we all do what we need to get done. You're a strong, strong man, Rick. But being the leader, I imagine, is the loneliest position in the world."

Nodding, he just muttered "you have no idea."

"I do have an idea. I watch you. I've seen you struggle, I've seen you come back from the brink of insanity, I've seen you fall and pull yourself back up by the bootstraps. I've seen you every morning make the decision before you get out of bed to do what you have to do to survive, to make sure we all survive. You're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, when the weight would cause all of us put together' shoulders to collapse. You're a brave man, Rick. You're fearless, you are the most loyal person I've ever met. But most of all...you're human. You're human, and you cannot possibly take on the world all by yourself."

His voice cracking, Rick barely was able to speak. "I feel like I have to..."

"You don't have to, Rick, because I'm here. You're not alone. I will support you as you rise and I will be here to catch you when you fall. You're not alone. You have me. You always have and you always will."

The morning sun breaking through Rick's attempts to drown out his world, Rick turned to look at her, and he realized he was seeing a whole new side of Michonne. A side, that in his right mind, he would appreciate, cling to forever.

"Michonne..." he sighed. "I'm...I'm sorry...Carl, he hates me..."

"No he doesn't. He's a teenage boy. Before this..this world we now occupy, think back. When you were a teenage boy, didn't you ever go through a phase where you hated your parents?"

Rick wanted to protest, but he smiled a very exhausted and while smile. "Michonne..."

She walked up and kissed the top of his head. "Give me your hand, Rick. You're going to go to sleep, and I'm going to stay right here with you until you're rested. Don't fight me on this. I don't give up easily."

He nodded and obeyed. "That's why I love you, Michonne."

He was asleep in seconds, but Michonne stared at him, his blanket wrapped around his body firmly as he lay on his stomach.

"I love you, too, Rick."

She hadn't really ever uttered those words to any man in her life. And she was sure Rick, in his state of mind had no idea what he was saying, and hadn't meant it the way it sounded.

But Michonne knew exactly what she was saying. She told him she loved him, and she did mean it.

As it turned out, the walls of Alexandria weren't the only one to come under attack. For now, Alexandria was still in tact. But the walls..the walls to Michonne's heart had not only come under attack, they had been completely torn down. Let the world tumble around them. An unexpected and amazing feeling crept across her heart as she wanted to reach out to Rick, to hold his hand, to assure him that there was still hope, despite the utter hopelessness of their situation.

It was at the moment Michonne saw all the blood, and her eyes had wandered and realized that Rick no longer had his hand...it was at that moment she knew she would love Rick Grimes for the rest of her existence.

She just prayed she would survive long enough for Rick to realize that.

TBC