"Seasons change"

A/N: My story takes place in Alexandria, after the welcoming party. It will be focused on Rick and Michonne's relationship. There's a lot of conflict and misunderstanding in the beginning… what will become of them? Watch out for graphic language and situations! Kid, go away! I also apologize for my writing, this is my first story ever and I'm not a native English speaker. Please if you see any mistakes you can let me know and I'll fix them. I'm trying to practice and learn more.

It had been a week since they were formally welcomed at Deanna's house. There had been drinks, food, music, everyone was well dressed and it was a very strange night for them all. To go from what they had gone through and travel back in time to a place where these things were still normal, it took a lot of getting used to. Everything had changed since that night.

Michonne could feel the wall between Rick and her. Maybe things hadn't really changed and she was the one that was forcing these changes. She found herself thinking a lot about their time on the road. Their time as nomads had brought them a lot closer than they ever were. Michonne realized that Rick was…is her best friend, that they're family, but maybe the connection she thought she felt, was nothing else but the bond of friendship.

Rick was standing in the kitchen feeding Judith some oatmeal. She kept pushing it away and making a mess, insisting on feeding herself. He kept on laughing until he gave up and gave her the spoon as this seemed like a battle could not be won by him. He kept his eyes on the bowl trying to be ready from when she eventually knocked it down from the high chair as she always loved to do, but he could always tell when Michonne was in the room, no matter how stealthy she tried to be.

"Are you off to work already? It's still so early. Why don't you join us for some breakfast and then we can go together? Carol is watching Judith today". He was trying to fix things, but he could feel the distance too, except he didn't understand what had caused it.

He looked at her trying to understand what was going through her mind. "What could have gone wrong" he thought as he stared. He had hoped that once they had settled somewhere, they would have the time to continue developing their relationship, he thought they had something special, but now it seemed like the opposite of what he hoped for was happening. Michonne kept looking around in the kitchen, not entirely oblivious that Rick was trying to talk to her. She moved gracefully and ended up settling on an apple. She gave him a quick glance and in a dry tone said "I couldn't sleep so I figured it was pointless to stay in bed… and I got breakfast already". She turned her apple around, almost mockingly. Rick was starting to feel frustrated, he loudly exhaled as he rubbed the bridge of his nose…

"Do as you wish 'Chonne".

"I'll do what I want, just like you've been doing" was her reply. The scorn in her voice was palpable.

Rick tried to gently tap her arm, but she quickly shifted her shoulder as to avoid his touch, proceeded to kiss Judith's forehead, who by now had dropped the oatmeal all over the kitchen floor, and went out the door without looking back. Rick didn't understand her behavior and felt like he was reaching his limit, maybe he no longer wanted to.

"Maybe you know what her problem is Judith? What did you do to Michonne?" Aware that he was talking to himself, he chuckled. He also had to laugh at himself for thinking he was done thinking of her.

"What happened with Michonne?" asked a half awake Carl as he lazily came down the stairs. Rick knew Michonne and Carl were good friends, she was almost like a mother to him, and he figured that the best thing to do at this point was to ask.

"Does Michonne seem weird to you, Carl?"

"Hmm…not really. I just thought she was mad at you, Dad, but I didn't think it was my place to ask."

"Mad at me? I can't think of anything I've done to upset her."

"Dad, I don't really know what's going on, but don't you think that you should be having this conversation with her instead of me. Just ask her what's up." Carl somehow made it sound easy, but Rick had to admit that he was right. He was wasting time dancing around the issue.

Michonne was on patrol and kept replaying Rick's encounters with Jessie, the lovely blonde housewife of Alexandria. She was nice, pretty and friendly. Rick always seemed to give her a beaming smile, but Michonne thought that he was trying to be cordial, to adapt and fit in with the community. At the party she saw that it was a lot more. Rick and she got separated early in the night when she saw Carol and him conspiring, it was obvious they wanted her to stay out of it and so she did. Rick spent the rest of the night avoiding her because it was so hard for him to keep things secret from her. Jessie brought him a drink and even though he refused several times, he ended up taking the bourbon of her hands. It brought back a lot of memories and he was happy she insisted. She stuck by his side for the rest of the night, making him laugh and feel relaxed. He realized how comfortable he felt around her and how much she reminded him of an old life. They had a couple drinks and he didn't even notice when he got drunk, but knows that he did. Michonne saw the whole thing, she couldn't believe how his piercing eyes were fixated on her, but her heart ached when she saw that Rick got real close to her and kissed her, just a small peck on the lips. She didn't stay to watch what happened after, she was hurt and went home. She couldn't believe what he had done, "A married woman? He doesn't even know her." She felt stupid for being jealous, even more so because as time had gone by she thought Rick liked her and that maybe they'd become more than friends.

Michonne was insider her own head and not paying attention to anything that was going on in Alexandria. She realized she had to stop these thoughts, it wasn't Rick's fault if she had misinterpreted how things were between the two of them and she needed to stop the pain she was feeling. "Get it together, these things no longer matter." She said to herself, thinking how she wasn't appreciating how lucky they were to be where they're now.

A voice that came from behind her interrupted her thoughts. "Hey Miss Constable… nice uniform!"

She turned around to see Spencer, Deanna's oldest son, grinning at her suggestively. He was tall, handsome, he always seemed to be in a good mood, and he was also younger than her. Maybe some innocent flirting was what she needed, although there was a glint in Spencer's eyes that didn't seem so innocent. Michonne had been so focused on surviving for so long that she had almost forgotten this side of her. She decided to have some fun.

"You got a thing for uniforms? I'm sure we can make you one for whatever job it is that you do here." She teased, she changed her stance and rested her right arm on her hip.

He stared directly into her eyes as he said "It's not the uniform I like, but what's in it". Michonne smiled, she was surprised that he had replied in that way, she had always been good at intimidating men. There's no denying that she enjoyed feeling wanted by a man, even if her heart was somewhere else.

Rick had been watching the entire exchange between Spencer and Michonne from the porch of their home. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he intently observed their body language. He didn't like how close Spencer was to Michonne, he didn't like how close he was to him either. Rick was trying really hard to restrain himself, after all Michonne could handle herself and wasn't the type of woman who needed saving. The more he watched, the more he realized that was he was feeling was because it made him uncomfortable, more than anything else. He continued to observe them as he tried to stay out of it.

Michonne had always had always had a thing for direct, dominant men, but she always liked to push them to see how easily they'd back down. She chuckled, trying to hide the fact that she felt flattered, but it was too late. He saw the look in her eyes and how she took a moment before reacting.

"Now, now kid. I think you should find a nice girl to go flirt with, and leave the women…" she paused and raised her eyebrows, she looked intensely into his eyes as she perfectly enunciated "… to the men."

Spencer knew she was trying to have the upper hand, but in reality all she wanted was for someone to take control. She had already turned around to continue on her patrol pleased with herself when she was aggressively yanked by her right arm. Spencer got real close to her, she had never let anyone outside the group stand so close to her before and she met his gaze with the same fire that was in his eyes/

Spencer whispered in her ears "I can't do the things I want to do with a nice girl… I think this kid is what you need… when was the last time that you…" His voice was low and seductive. Michonne wanted him to ravage her right then and there, but she was soon taken out of her thoughts and Spencer's seduction was interrupted by the sounds of someone walking menacingly towards them. She knew it was Rick, she recognized the sound of his boots meeting the asphalt anywhere.

A growl soon followed "Let her go. Now." He didn't raise his voice, he didn't have to. His tone showed that if Spencer knew what was good for him, he'd let her go. He tilted his head to the right, you could see the fury in his eyes and he kept on rubbing his index finger and thumb together as if trying to calm himself down and resist the urge to knock him out. Spencer backed away, while shaking his hands profusely as to say sorry…

"Hey man, I didn't know it was all like that. We… we were just talking, no reason to get upset. I didn't know she was your woman. It's all good". Spencer knew Rick had just come from the outside and he could tell this was not a man to mess with him, but somehow he kept a chill attitude and didn't seem to be scared. After all, he was the leader's son, "what could anyone do to him?" he thought to himself.

Michonne recognized the look in Rick's eyes and tried to defuse the situation. She moved as to be more in between them and sternly said "I'm not his woman, I'm not anybody's woman…Rick, Spencer and I were just talking and if there was a problem I don't need anyone to come rescue me. You know that."

Rick really didn't want to infuriate Michonne more than she already was, it had been a rough week with things being so weird between them, but he didn't like the smug look in Spencer's face. "Well…it looked like…to me, you were done talking" and grabbed her by the arm and started walking with her away from that asshole.

Michonne turned back and gave an apologizing look to Spencer. He shrugged and laughed. He always enjoyed a challenge and life at Alexandria tended to be perfectly boring.

"Can you let go of me now, Rick?"

"Oh... so you do know how to ask a man to get his hands off of you? What were you thinking Michonne? You don't know that guy, why would you ever let him get so close to you?"

"What is your problem, Rick?! So let me get this straight… you can get smiles, haircuts, kisses from a married woman, and a guy can't touch my arm? I'm a grown woman Rick and I think that's my business who I let put or not put their hands on me!"

"I just thought he was bothering you, I would have done that for anyone…" He knew he was protective of everyone in their group, but this was something else…"and what are you talking about? What kisses? He said with an incredulous tone in his voice.

Michonne scoffed, rolled her eyes and walked away as she said "Yeah, it's better if we pretend that didn't happen."

Rick hurried in front of her, he didn't want to fight anymore. Not with her and his pleading blue eyes met hers. He softened his voice and said "'Chonne, I don't know what's been going on this whole week… I feel like you've been so mad at me and I really don't understand why. I… I think I've always been a good friend to you, in fact you're my best friend… and I think I've always been respectful of you… I'm sorry for snapping at that guy now. I just, well we don't know that guy and I wanted to make sure you were ok, that's all. "

"I understand that, Rick, but now that we're here, in a place like this… you have to accept that we'll both get close to other people and that's just bound to happen to everyone in our group, we've never had somewhere like this, there's never been any time to relax… When I saw you kissing Jessie at the party, I wanted to go and..."

Rick interrupted her and shockingly asked "When I what?!"

"Rick… I saw you. Maybe you're ashamed because she's a married… and honestly as you friend, I don't think is right for you to be kissing married women, but you don't need to pretend it didn't happen." She said in a flat tone, trying to hide how she really felt.

"I'm not Michonne. I don't remember, I think maybe I drank too much. I shouldn't have drank at all, that much is obvious to me now." He tried to think back of that night, but nothing came to him.

"Whatever…it's not my business. You can do what you want, but don't blame me for doing the same."

"Michonne, I'm not. That was not my intention. I care about you, besides my kids, you're the person I care about the most. I always felt like we understood each other, but lately it feels like we're doing everything but that."

"I feel like that too, but it's different here. Out there… there wasn't time for any of this. This would've gotten us killed, maybe the only thing for us to do now is to give each other some space." She was trying her best to hide her disappointment.

"Michonne…" his voice sounded defeated. "Please don't move out. The kids, we all need you."

"I'm not, but maybe you can try to not scare away the people who try and talk to me…" she almost smiled as she said it.

"I…I don't know if I can do that"

Michonne understood what he was trying to say and felt that maybe they could work on tearing down that wall, but just as she was ready to say what she felt, a cheery voice stopped her.

Jessie covered Rick's eyes and childishly asked "Guess whooo?!"

Rick gently removed her hands, trying not to show that he felt disturbed and this was the last thing he needed. Michonne was gone.

"Hi Jessie" he said trying not to sound bothered.

"Hello officer! Haven't you see since the party…" she gave him a slight grin.

Rick watched her face, it was obvious she was attracted to him. He couldn't deny that he found her really attractive too, but right now he was mostly annoyed… "About that…I have to apologize for my behavior, it's been a long time since I had a drink and I think one was too many."

"Oh Rick, you have nothing to apologize for". Jessie was happy that Rick had kissed her and it made her like him ever more that he was decent enough to not pretend it didn't happen.

"I do Jessie, I don't normally go around kissing women I don't know, particularly married ones." He wanted to make it clear he wasn't looking to break up a marriage and that what happened wasn't his style.

Jessie looked down and sheepishly said "Maybe if my husband wasn't such a jerk I'd feel guilty too, but I don't Rick!" She walked away as her eyes started to tear up.

Rick felt like he couldn't do anything right. He wanted to go find Michonne, but knew he needed to respect her desire for space. He continue his patrol alone with his thoughts.