Author's Note: This is a one shot, but it could possibly turn into more. This story is a remix of the cell scene from "Hearts Still Beating." Much of the dialogue is the same. I generally don't use dialogue from a show, but that dialogue was fantastic, so I only tweaked it a bit. This being fanfiction, I also made a few additional changes I felt were warranted. Happy Reading!

Michonne drew a deep breath as she approached the basement door. She had committed no crime, but standing on the other side of the wall that housed the unofficial ASZ Jail, she knew a true battle for freedom was about to be waged. There was so much she had to say, but no clue as to how to say it. This argument had to be made. Of that there was no escape.

Her stomach rippled uneasily. When it came to Rick, she had never felt nervous, but there was no denying that emotion had somehow seeped into her very pores. They'd never been tested like this before. The romantic change in their relationship was surprising, yet, not. She couldn't pinpoint when she fell in love with him, but his gift of mints, his second best to her requested toothpaste, brought about the mutual epiphany. She equated their love to the sun breaking through gray skies; always there beyond the surface, but just waiting for the right moment to make its presence known. Much like this moment. It was time for another change.

Returning to ASZ from her time for reflecting and discovering that two people she'd cared about had been murdered and one other forcibly taken away by Negan and the Saviors made clear what had to be done. This would not be easy, but easy hadn't been a frequent guest in their lives. Necessity trumped everything else. Being quiet, willing providers would no longer do. They had to fight. She believed in Rick. Somehow, someway, she had to make him believe in himself again, and what they could accomplish together.

With a quick intake of breath, she strode purposefully into the cell and found Rick on his knees staring intently at a sheet of paper, his trusty hatchet close by. Whatever held his attention so rapt would have to wait. "Carl told me you were here," she said, continuing her approach.

Rick moved swiftly to his feet and greeted her with a hug. Since those pre-dawn hours in the clearing, when Abraham and Glenn were so savagely ripped from the lives, there'd been an underlying level of tension between them. Not anger or hostility, just a persistent strain that was born of, bred, and thrived on one person - Negan. Though Rick clung to her, his body and soul silently screaming for the comfort she desperately wanted to give; Michonne could not provide that need at this moment. Something far more pressing was at hand. Steeling herself, she pulled out of his arms.

Hurt flashed across his handsome face. "Michonne…"

She pressed her hand to his lips, silencing his words. This was not rejection or a rebuke of him, but a desperate attempt to save him, them, and all those they loved. "I found what I was looking for," she readily explained. "I wanted to go with you and Aaron, but I couldn't. I had to go my way, to find my answer. My." She chuckled humorlessly. "When I found it, I realized I didn't want it to be my answer or my way. I wanted it to be ours." She pressed her finger into his chest and then her own. "You and me."

Rick swallowed audibly, his blue eyes intense, his attention laser-focused. His receptive response buoyed her. Her resolve strengthened. She could do this. "There are more of them, even more than we thought." Michonne recalled the scores of people, all the 'Negan,' the redhead had shown to her. It frightened her at first, but, now, coming home to the news of Spencer and Olivia, it made her determined. "We are outnumbered," she said, "it's not even close. But that doesn't change the way I feel, because it doesn't change the way things are. So much has happened, Rick, so much that we shouldn't have lived through: the Governor and fall of the prison, Terminus, all the weeks on the road and cutthroats we've encountered, and in spite of it, or maybe because of it, we did. We're still here, the two of us. We're still standing, and we're gonna keep standing. So, what do we do with that? How do we make that mean something?"

She'd asked the questions, and as she watched him soak in her words, she knew he was formulating an answer. The same answer she'd come upon during her short time away. She saw it again. It was a flicker, but present, that spark in his eyes that had been smothered by the torture and cruelty of Negan. She could bring that fire all the way back. She would bring it back. " 'We're the ones who get things done,' " she said, punctuating every word with a poke to his chest. "You said that. 'We're the ones who live.' And we are. That's why we have to fight. Not for us, but for Judith, for Carl, for Alexandria, for the Hilltop - for all of us. We can fight them, Rick. We can find a way to beat them, we can do this, but only if we do this."

Rick nodded. "Yeah, I know that now." Cupping her cheek, he stepped forward, the light in his eyes bigger, brighter, and stronger than ever. "I know that now."

He lowered his head, possessively claiming her mouth with his. His tongue brushed eagerly against her lips, readily seeking hers. Settling into his fiery kiss, Michonne closed her arms around his head, her fingers threading his silky thick curls. Rick moaned low and deep and then slowly pulled away. His crystal blue eyes had taken on an almost cobalt quality. Something baser and rawer had joined the light that filled them moments before: pure unabashed desire. Michonne's pulse quickened. Talk about a turn-on. If the intense throbbing against her thigh didn't already tell the story, the seductive turn of his kiss-swollen lips definitely did. She returned his alluring smile. She was definitely all in.

In a flash, Rick had their belts unloosened and jeans in heaps around their ankles. Clutching her bottom, he pulled her into his arms and lowered her on his straining length in one swift motion. They cried out in mutual pleasure as he surged in and out of her depths. Michonne locked her legs around his waist and tightened her grip on his hair as he pounded deftly inside her. It had been way too long. Their physical relationship was still relatively new, but their way with each other was as old as time. Rick always knew what she wanted and just how she wanted it. And right now she wanted it rough, hard, and fast. He feasted hungrily on his lips, tearing his mouth away to kiss, nip, and suckle the throbbing pulse points of her neck, before coming back to her mouth for more.

Michonne's head swam as their tempo increased and the familiar stirring swelled inside her. She was spiraling to the shore, and was determined to bring him along with her. Their frenzied pace at its maximum peak, Michonne clenched tightly around him and arched her back.

A string of curses flew from Rick's lips as one final pump brought them to an intense mutual release. With her legs hanging loosely around him, Rick sank to the floor, his hands still gripping her rear.

Neither able to speak, they touched foreheads and smiled, trying mightily to catch their breath.

Soon thereafter, Rick pressed a kiss to her nose. "Thank you," he murmured, taking her hand and linking her fingers with his. "And I mean for everything."

Michonne's smile grew. She found Rick's 'aw shucks' country boy accent and manner so charming. Rick Grimes wasn't a perfect man, but he was the perfect man for her. "You don't have to thank me, Rick." She combed her fingers along the hair at his temple. Those chestnut brown curls with a light sprinkle of gray were an aphrodisiac in themselves. "I believe in you, and I am always with you. No matter what."

"You amaze me." He brushed a soft kiss to her lips. "Lori used to always say I didn't talk enough, share enough, and that's when things were supposedly good between us. Towards the end, it was so bad… I - I take responsibility for a lot of that," he said with a little nod of his head. "I wasn't fair to her, and after she died, I had a lot of guilt, a lot of it. I had a son with no mother and a new baby that wasn't mine to raise in this crazy new world, and a group of people who looked to me as their leader. I didn't know how I was going to do it. How I was going to make it. One day later, a bleeding and limping woman, carrying a basket of baby formula and surrounded by walkers, stumbled into our lives, and she showed me how." His fingers twined in her locs. "And then she showed me more. With you, I don't have to talk, but I want to. I love you, Michonne, and I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'll never have to know, Rick." She pecked his lips. "I love you, too, and I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm going to make sure of it. Negan and the Saviors took Eugene, but that paper over by my axe, that's his instructions on how to make bullets." Michonne glanced over at the sheet. No wonder he was so focused on it when she came in. "I made Negan a promise that morning in the clearing, and I mean to keep it." Michonne's heart swelled with love and pride. Take no prisoners Rick was back, primed, and ready for war. "I'm going to kill that bastard."

~Thanks for Reading~