Michonne grabbed the yellow elastic ponytail holder and wrapped it around the half section of dreads that dusted her shoulder. "All done. You ready to party Judy?" She turned away from the giant vanity mirror to address her date to Maggie's pajama party.
Earlier that afternoon, Maggie stopped by each house and left a hand-written invitation and a pair of cartoon onesies for her girlfriends. Carl happened to be home when she knocked on the Grimes' door. He opened the door and tilted his head to the right in puzzlement, the same way his dad did. Carl wasn't used to having unexpected visitors, and when they did have them, it typically wasn't on good occasions.
"Hey Carl." Maggie rocked forward and back on her toes in excitement with her hands behind her back. "I have a surprise for Michonne. Make sure she opens this when she gets home, okay?" She handed over a large sack to the curious teenager.
"Okay, no problem," he answered, eyeing the mystery bag.
Michonne glanced back into her and Judith's reflection in the mirror, prideful of the job she had done with Judith's matching pigtails. Judith smiled up at her in her new pink Minnie mouse onesie, Michonne in a bright yellow one.
"Such a pretty girl you are." Michonne nuzzled Judith's nose with her own as Rick appeared at Michonne's bedroom door frame, fawning over the pair. Seeing Michonne dressed like that made him wonder about what type of kid she was, in contrast to the mostly serious warrior she was now.
"Sun's going down. I take it you're almost ready to go." Rick gestured his head towards the bedroom window, the sky layered from a fiery orange, to dark pink, to a deep purple amongst Alexandria's quiet backdrop. Being out in nature so long made him skillful at telling time without a watch.
"I need to grab the baby monitor and few other things first. Are you in a rush to get rid of us?" She placed her hand on her hip, playfully grinning at her impatient roommate.
"Nah, Judith knows I love spending time with her. Isn't that right sweetheart?" Rick tickled his daughter as she grabbed his face, and then rose to focus on Michonne darting around the room, getting the diaper bag packed. He moved to set Judith down on the center of the bed. "You, on the other hand, were supposed to be long gone after I patched you up remember? I don't know how to get rid of you at this point." Michonne immediately spun around at his cruel joke, throwing an unused diaper in his face.
"You asshole." They laughed together reminiscing on the then tense moment together outside of Woodbury. "You like having me here." Her cheeks mounted her lips in a gummy smile, as she continued packing the bag.
"I love having you here. I wouldn't know what to do without you." He lightly grasped her elbow that held a wad of fresh diapers, and pulled her left hip towards his right and placed an adoring kiss on her forehead. "Meet me downstairs when you're done." Michonne turned away from Rick, in the direction of Judith and the diaper bag sitting on the bed. She nodded at his words, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing, as he lifted the cooing baby from the bed and carried her out Michonne's bedroom door with him.
Living in Alexandria had taken an abundance of stress off of Rick's shoulders, off of all of their shoulders. As a result, he began to display more playfulness and blatant affection than Michonne had ever witnessed in the two years she had known him. She refrained from reading too much into his flirtation towards her though. He was happy to have a fairly safe place for his children; that would put anybody in a good mood, especially in comparison to what they experienced before, yet she couldn't help relishing in their past encounters.
Michonne's thoughts drifted to last week when she attempted to teach Carl the basics of cooking. Carl made the mistake of leaving a pot of boiling water on the stove with the handle sticking outwards, and Michonne backed into it, splashing her forearm with the scalding water.
"Ah!" she cried grabbing her arm in pain.
"Sorry Michonne!" Carl said, fumbling with the pot and lid that scattered on the stovetop.
Michonne raced to soothe her arm under cool water from the kitchen faucet.
"What's wrong!?" Rick shouted from the top of the stairs, already rushing down to defend his family, colt python in hand. All the commotion in the kitchen startled Judith and she began to cry, sitting in her high chair.
Before Carl could answer his dad, Rick rushed over to inspect Michonne's arm. "Are you okay?" He set his gun on the counter, to better manage his hold on her.
"Rick it's fine. Just a little battle wound." She smiled, trying to dissipate his worries.
He sighed. Michonne could be stabbed in the leg and still call it 'no big deal'. Judith continued to shriek from the corner of the room. "Carl, take your sister upstairs and start her some bath water. It's been a long day, she needs some rest."
"Okay dad." He grabbed his sister and left the kitchen.
Rick's attention moved back to Michonne. "Do you insist on finding ways to hurt yourself?" He said sternly, holding her arm.
Michonne rolled her eyes, "Do you insist on being so dramatic? Was your gun really necessary?"
"I wasn't aware of how serious the situation was, so yea, I wanted to be prepared just in case."
"Well I'm fine." She said.
"Let me see it." He gently lifted her arm towards his face. Michonne gave up her fight and allowed Rick full control. The boiled water although painful, didn't leave a mark but her arm hitting the pot left a small, dark burn right above her elbow. He tenderly kissed a spot next to the burn, not wanting to cause her any more pain. "That's going to start peeling soon." Michonne held a gaze of wonder on her face.
Within the first weeks of moving in, he gravitated to placing his hand at her lower back whenever they shared a room. The first time took her by surprise, but day by day she grew fond of the physical attention, now his lips were finding their way to her skin on several occasions.
He was beginning to spark a yearning in her that she hadn't felt in years, which scared the crap out of her. This however, did not discount the genuine attraction she held towards him. C'mon, 6'0, slim build, electric blue eyes, dark curly hair, and muscles that had been put to good use. Whoever didn't find that attractive had to be insane.
When she made it downstairs, she took Judith in her arms, and Rick grabbed the large container of punch from out of the kitchen. "Where's Carl?" Michonne asked, glancing around the quiet living room.
"He's already at Abraham's. Since you all are having a girl's night, Abraham decided at the last minute to host a guys' night at his place."
"In other words, you all don't know what to do with yourselves with the women gone; therefore, you all are going to burp and scratch yourselves amongst company."
"Exactly, it should be interesting to say the least. We don't get to hang out much, outside of killing walkers." They stepped off their front porch in unison, walking in the direction of Glenn and Maggie's.
"Yea. Just make sure Carl stays away from the cigars and beer. I wouldn't put it past Abraham to try to slip him something, same goes for Daryl."
"What? Drinking beer with your dad's friends is a rite of passage for a young man. I had my first beer at nine, Carl's way past due."
Michonne shook her head in amusement. "Why am I not surprised?"
"What do you mean?"
"It sounds very country of you. You may as well give him a bucket for chewing tobacco too."
"I'm country, not a hick. There's a difference Michonne."
"Mmhmm."
The three reached the top of Maggie and Glenn's steps and before Michonne could knock, Maggie swung open the door with a half empty glass of wine in her hand.
"Hey!" Maggie nearly shouted, wrapping her free arm around her two new guests. "Rick you can set the punch on the table over there. She pointed in the direction of the food set up in the dining room. As Rick walked through the door, he could hear Maggie talking a mile a minute, she always got talkative when she was tipsy. Glenn walked around the corner to greet Rick.
"I see you're not on daddy duty," he patted Rick on the shoulder.
"Nope. Michonne's got Judith for the night. However Carl will be joining us at Abraham's."
"Carl's can shoot a Beretta faster than any of the men in Alexandria. He's been at least 30 years old since the day I met him." Rick chuckled at the seriousness of Glenn's statement, Carl really had matured over a short amount of time. "Let's get out of here before the rest of the glam squad gets here."
They walked side by side in the direction of Maggie, Michonne, and Judith gabbing by the front door. Glenn sidled up to his wife. "Have fun Mags, not too much fun. I don't want you puking all over the house."
"Oh hush," said Maggie before pecking him on the lips.
At the same time, Rick kissed Judith on the cheek, "bye munchkin" he said, and followed that with a kiss on Michonne's cheek, "see you tomorrow." He shortly met her eyes with flirtation before following Glenn out the door.
Maggie closed the door behind them and glanced out the window to make sure the men were out of earshot before she turned back to Michonne in amazement. "Mi-chonne, what the hell was that about!?" Maggie whispered aloud with her eyes wide, as if the two were sharing a secret.
"What?" pleasantly beamed back at her friend.
"Michonne, you know exactly what! Are you two having . . . sexual relations?" Her eyebrows jumped up twice to put emphasis on her words, as she tipped her wine glass to her lips. "I've been waiting for that to happen since we got to Alexandria. Well no, I was sure it was going to happen at the church, maybe at-"
"Oh my gosh Maggie, not in front of Judith!" Michonne giggled. "I'm going to go put her down in the bedroom and set up the baby monitor, and then we'll talk. But I'll assure you now, there's not much to talk about."
Michonne assisted Maggie in preparing the house for the rest of the guests. Maggie had surprised her in pulling out a Prince CD, Maggie revealed that on her last run she wandered into a party store that had been untouched; thus, all the materials idea for a get together was formed. One by one, Tara, Sasha, Carol, and Rosita arrived in their onesies with snacks.
All the women sat with both glasses of punch, or wine, and plates of food as Maggie stood to announce "Ladies, thank you all for coming. We've all been so busy with our jobs and responsibilities here in Alexandria, I figured we all could use a breather and take some time to be carefree like when we were kids, hence the onsies." She looked around her living room, giggling at her friends in their festive apparel and hairstyles.
"We appreciate it Maggie." Tara lifted her wine glass from the back of the room.
"You all deserve it. Now let's Party like it's 1999!" she yelled right on cue with Prince song, turning it up louder.
"Woooo!" the whole group resounded, dancing and singing around the room.
Abraham's house
"Pass me another beer Eugene." Abraham nodded across the poker table at his mullet-headed roommate.
Glenn, Morgan, Daryl, Aaron, Rick, and Carl sat around the poker table, each with a full hand of cards, strategizing their next move. Eric sat behind Aaron opting to serve as moral support. The dim lit room was filled with cigar smoke from Abraham and Morgan puffing away.
"And another for me too." Rick called out over his shoulder.
Eugene returned from the kitchen with two cold beers in hand, placing a bottle in front of Rick. "Although we have developed a considerable likeness for one another through our journey to safety, I am certain that I am not employed as you all's personal servant."
"Sorry, you were already up," Rick shrugged guiltily.
Abraham ignored Eugene as he continued dealing cards to Daryl sitting next to him. Rick slid the fresh beer over to Carl whom sat at his side. Carl gleefully scanned his father's face, contemplating if the situation was a set-up or not.
"Is this for me?" Carl asked.
Rick nodded, "I talked to Michonne about it earlier. It's about time you experience this rite of passage. My dad gave me my first beer way before I was your age, but you only get one tonight. I don't need Michonne yelling at me for giving you a hangover."
Carl smirked, imagining Michonne chastising his father. "This isn't going to taste as a bad as the wine is it?" He scrunched up his eyebrows remembering the unexpected sour taste of the red wine his father gave him a couple years prior.
"Depends on your personal taste," said Rick.
"That's not a definite yes or no." Carl smiled, not trusting his father's notion.
"Quit bitchin' and drink." Daryl lips curled into a small smirk, while the rest of his face stayed hidden under his long unkempt bangs.
"Yea take it like a champ!" Abraham cheered on, cigar hanging from the side of his mouth.
Carl cautiously placed the bottle up to his lips and glanced up at his father once more, before the room erupted in a chant of "Chug, chug, chug, chug!" Carl squinted forcefully, gulping down the whole bottle, and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "Ugh, why do you guys drink this stuff? It's . . . bitter." He stuck out his tongue in disgust, as the men looked on chuckling. "I'm convinced that the older you get, the more your taste buds go." Rick smiled in remembering his similar thought as a child.
Morgan removed his cigar from his mouth, "Abe would you happen to have an ashtray for my cigar? I wouldn't want to leave ashes on your floor."
"Nah, don't worry about it." Abraham said, waving his hand in indifference. "Rosita won't be back until tomorrow morning and she's the only one that gives a shit about that kind of stuff. It's nice to have her yapping mouth gone for a night. She's always complaining, telling me to clean up after myself or yelling about me leaving piss on the toilet. That there is a beautiful woman, but she can be as aggravating as a tick on a camel's ass. And don't get me started on Tara. Her snoring could wake a bear out of hibernation, drives me nuts. You two are lucky you don't have any women in your house, controlling your every move." He pointed over at Aaron and Eric.
Eric quickly responded, "Oh no, we get on each other's nerves quite a bit. Even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, there are still more things I rather do than to pick up this one's clothes when he leaves them all over the floor." He shook Aaron's shoulder playfully, whom responded with a shy smile, "Sorry."
Eric continued, "Every couple has their disagreements right Glenn?"
Glenn eyes shot up at the mention of his name. "Me? Oh I just sit there and take it, because if I even try to get a word in Maggie will transform into the Hulk. I quickly learned to always let her win." He said matter-of-factly, grabbing stale chips out of a nearby bowl.
"Smart man." Aaron said before taking a sip of his beer.
Eric turned his body to the other side of the table asking, "What about you Rick?" Rick shuffled in his seat, not expecting his name to be called. "You and Michonne always seem to be in sync. I bet you two rarely argue."
Carl couldn't subdue his curiosity. He always wondered about the facets of his dad and Michonne's relationship when he wasn't around, especially considering the amount of time they spent alone without any other members of the group.
Rick tilted his head, scaling her anger. "While Michonne has never turned into the Hulk . . ."
"Aside from that one time she knocked you out." Morgan interrupted.
"Yea, aside from that, we sometimes disagree but she never yells. If anything she gives me a look of disappointment, which is even worse to me. Lori used to yell all the time, I'm used to that, but those looks Michonne gives me are lethal; therefore, I usually try to give her what she wants before it even goes that far."
Daryl let out a short breath through his nose. "That's basically how we got to Alexandria."
Eric smiled towards Rick, "I like Michonne, she's a get it done type of woman, and she can hold her own. I can respect that. You're a lucky guy."
Rick shook his head smiling. "Tell me about it. I practically owe her my life . . . But we're not together."
Carl felt like he heard disappoint in his father's voice.
"Really?" Eric raised his eyebrows in shock. "I thought you two had rectified that situation by now. Isn't that part of the reason you asked her to move in with your family?"
Carl's ears burned, trying to capture all of the new information. These were all questions Carl wanted to ask his father, but Rick would always find some way to avoid answering, sending Carl off on some dire errand for the Alexandrians. But now, he had to answer there were no excuses and no way out of it.
Rick, uncomfortable with the candidness of the conversation, grew red in the face. From the corner of his eye, he could feel Carl anticipating his next remark. Rick mulled over his answer in his head.
Abraham extracted his cigar from his mouth. "Wait, you mean to tell me you watch that woman come out of the shower every morning and haven't once thought of slapping skins?"
The muscles on Carl's faced twitched as he fought not break into a smirk, sensing the embarrassment emitting from his father.
"It's complicated." Rick drew all of his focus into his hand of cards, wishing the subject would change.
"He's chicken." Daryl retorted. Rick looked up from his cards at his friend in disbelief.
"He's right dad." Carl added, throwing chips nonchalantly into the center of the table.
"Whose side are you on!?" Rick glanced over at his son. Carl looked back and shrugged.
Glenn jumped in to the rescue. "Give him his credit. Michonne obviously has a thing for Rick too."
Rick shot a look at Glenn, and whispered to himself, "What!? How did I- . . ." He couldn't believe the ten minute discussion building upon his non-existent love life.
Glenn went on to say, "Look at it like this, she's more than self-sufficient and could have left the group eons ago, but somehow she's still here, and I doubt it's for Carol's acorn cookies and casseroles. I'm just saying." He shrugged responding to Rick.
Morgan nodded, "Mhm, when a woman's in love, she'll follow a man through the depths of hell and back. I know my wife Jenny did.
Abraham to a glimpse at the men in the room. "Well shit, how'd it get so sappy in here? Leave the foo foo talk to the women. They're probably watching some crappy chick flick right now with a shirtless son-of-a-bitch running across the screen."
Back at Maggie's
Maggie stood by the tv holding up her third glass of wine "What's the first rule of Fight Club?"
The women recited in unison, "Don't talk about Fight Club!"
Tara got up from her seat on the couch, grabbing more wine for her empty glass, as the ending movie credits rolled up the screen. "Ahh, I love that movie."
Rosita, lying on the pallet of covers on the floor, lifted her head from Sasha's lap. "It helps that Brad Pitt is hot as hell." Carol, sitting close by, swatted Rosita on the back of her thigh, everyone else nodded in agreement of her statement.
Carol added, "Did you even follow the plot of the movie?"
Rosita chuckled and rubbed the pained spot on her thigh, "I didn't have to. Brad Pitt shirtless was all I needed to be entertained." The women lightly chuckled.
Sasha smoothed her puffball back. "What should we do now Mags? It isn't even midnight yet."
Maggie tipped her head from side to side thinking. "Ooo, I've got an idea. When I was a teenager, I made up this game for Beth to play when her friends would come over, it's called Pick Your Poison."
Carol scrunched up her eyebrows. "I'm old, please explain this to me." Michonne reached down from the couch and smoothed down Carol's hair in endearment.
"Each person will draw a name out of a hat, and the rest of the group has to come up with three dares for the person to choose from. Some dares may be a little crazier than the others, but it's up to the person that is 'it' to decide, hence the name Pick Your Poison. Anybody brave enough to go first?"
"I like a good game of dares, I'll sacrifice myself." Rosita stood.
"Okay, here's a notebook. Write down every guy's name in the family and place them into this hat please." Maggie pulled Glenn's baseball hat out of the front closet, handing it over to Michonne. After she finished placing the shreds of paper in, Maggie shook the hat zealously. "Close your eyes Rosita and pull a name."
Rosita squinted her eyes closed forcefully, hoping for anyone but Eugene. All the women were aware that he had a crush on her, so it was obvious that if she pulled his name, any dare she received would be somehow manufactured to kiss him. Rosita reached her dainty hand into the hat and pinched a slip of paper. Opening her eyes she stretched out the name, "Darylllll." She wiggled her eyebrows.
"Ooo," the women teased. Rosita was intrigued by this pairing, as she hadn't had too many personal interactions with him before.
"Tara, go with Rosita into the kitchen and wait for us to finish choosing her dares. Make sure she doesn't hear us." Maggie instructed.
After both ladies left the room, the remaining four women huddled together. Rosita and Tara watched from the kitchen as their friends whispered with mischievous grins upon their face. After a couple minutes Maggie called out, "Okay we're ready."
"What'cha got for me?" Rosita strolled into the room confidently, rubbing her hands together.
Sasha read from their list, "You can either A) steal one of Daryl's skinned squirrels, B) get a lock of Daryl's hair or C) lick his face."
"You guys are sick." Rosita laughed at the outrageous options. "Hmm, I don't want to go anywhere near though disgusting squirrels, and he hasn't taken a bath in I don't know how long. I'm going to go with B."
"I forgot to tell you, whichever dare you pick you will need an eye witness, or need to bring back some sort of evidence." Maggie warned pointed around the room at all the women.
"Consider it done." Rosita grabbed a giant pair of scissors laying on the nearby desk and sauntered out the front door. The women cracked up at how fearless she was in any given situation.
"Oh this is going to be hilarious! We all know how precious Daryl's long locks are." Sasha shook her head in amusement.
"Carol, care to go next?" Maggie grinned, almost spilling some of the wine from the glass that was glued to her hand.
The procession had went on until all the women had a dare to fulfill. Carol and Tara planned to visit Abraham's together, in order for Tara to grab a pair of Eugene's underwear and Carol to put saran wrap over Abe's open toilet seat.
Meanwhile, Sasha and Michonne were headed to the Grimes house together. Sasha had the fate of placing fake poop, a melted candy bar, in Carl's room and Michonne had the misfortune of leaving Rick a love note, which Maggie had concocted herself and ordered her not to look at. She couldn't help but feel she had been set up. Maggie knew that of the women's other two options, (making out with Rick, and giving him a lap dance), that Michonne for sure was going to choose the love note option.
Michonne and Sasha made their short trek through the dark neighborhood, the effects of her last giant gulp of alcohol had started to kick in. She and Sasha linked arms as they bumped into each other, giggling and enjoying each other's presence.
"I wonder if Carl will be able to tell this is chocolate." Sasha held up the warm bag gripped in her left hand. "I mean if this was poop, he would definitely be able to smell it. He's going to know something's up. It's not like you guys have a dog. That would be more believable."
Michonne threw her head to the sky, "Two kids, Rick, AND a dog to take care of? No thank you, I'm good with the three I have."
Sasha drew out a hard breath through her closed lips "Michonne, I wish I had a camera to record you right now because this is priceless. Any other time one of us brings up Rick, you dismiss it, and try to pass him off as your business partner or close friend," she said using air quotes. "Now I know to get a couple of drinks in you first." She lightly nudged Michonne with her hip.
"He is my close friend Sasha." Michonne flung her hands in exasperation, while Sasha pursed her lips unconvinced. "Even Maggie is convinced that something is going on between me and Rick. Nothing's happened, I promise."
"But you want something to." Sasha raised her eyebrow in a statement more than a question.
Michonne paused to think. "Maybe," she bit her bottom lip.
"I knew it!" Sasha skipped in front of her friend.
The two made it to the top of the Grimes' porch, Michonne taking out her key to open the front door.
"Michonne let's be real, our current circumstances can only be used an excuse at this point. I mean look at us, we have time for a slumber party, but you don't have time to tell Rick that you have feelings for him?"
"It's complicated." Michonne answered, looking around the dark living room, guessing that Rick and Carl were still out. She waved Sasha towards the stairs. Carl's bedroom door lightly creaked as Sasha crouched down emptying the contents of the brown paper bag. Michonne stood at Carl's dresser, thumbing through the comic books that lay on top.
"You know as well as I do that although we're within these walls, time with the people we love is limited. It is truly of the essence, so don't miss out on something that could be really good," Sasha pleaded.
Michonne ruminated on Sasha's words until Sasha shown her a hand full of chocolate mess. "Okay, how did I get this all over my fingers?"
Michonne giggled, "You should go wash that off. But believe me Sasha I hear what you're saying. I just haven't felt this way about someone in a long time and I've been too scared to let myself feel it, without guilt. But you're right Sasha, it's time." She reached into her sports bra. "What did Maggie even write in this note anyway?" She unfolded the white sheet of paper and read the short message. "What!? Sasha you cosigned on this?"
"Huh?" Sasha came walking back into the room. "I had nothing to do with that. You know that was all Maggie." She laughed, raising both hands in protest.
"Yea, this has Maggie all over it. I can do way better than this on my own. Help me find some paper."
The two walked into Rick's bedroom and found a notepad laying on his desk. Michonne grabbed a pen and tapped her lips with it thinking of how she wanted to start her confession. After a couple minutes Michonne had a page full and left the paper on his bed. She almost turned back to discard of it, but Sasha convinced her to leave it. Michonne folded the old note and stuffed it back into her sports bra. With both their dares complete, they made their way back to Maggie's house.
Abraham's house
Carol and Tara are surprised to see Rosita skipping towards them with a baggie of hair in her hand. As she got within a couple feet of them, Rosita stuck out her tongue playfully and stopped, "Told you it'd be a piece of cake."
"You sly fox, you really pulled it off." Carol grinned.
"Wait are you guy's going to Abraham's too." They both nodded. "You better hurry and get back, they may start to get suspicious since I just left." She continued along skipping to showcase her medal of honor to Maggie.
Carol knocked on the door, she greeted Carl in surprise, unaware that he was invited to the adult festivities. In return, Carl was starting to think the men had brought him over to play doorman for the night, as this was the second time he was ordered to invite the houseguest in.
"Hey guys, we brought over some leftover snacks from Maggie's." Carol said.
While the rest of the men thanked Carol for her thoughtfulness, Daryl squinted, familiar with her homemaker façade.
"Tara and I will lay out everything in the kitchen for you all." Tara nodded and followed Carol into the other room. Once Carol began unwrapping a platter of food, she tapped Tara on the back of her thigh. With a clenched jaw, Carol smiled and halfway sung, "What are you doing?" Tara turned to the older woman with her face scrunched in confusion.
Tara suddenly remembered the real reason they came over, and whispered "Oh, right!" In a louder voiced she announced to the men, "I'm going to go use the restroom."She grabbed the box of saran wrap off of the counter.
She and Carol had a deal back at Maggie's that since Carol came up with the fake plan, Tara would have to put saran wrap on Abraham's toilet for her because it would seem sketchy if both of them were walking aimlessly throughout the entire house.
Abraham moved his cigar to the opposite side of his mouth. "You live here, you know where it is." He shook his head and no one caught Carol rolling her own eyes, as she kept only the back of her head in view.
Tara walked down the short hallway and double checked to see if anyone was watching her before she passed the bathroom and opened Eugene's bedroom door. She quietly closed the door behind her. "I hope to God that Eugene has been washing his underwear."
Meanwhile, Daryl strolled into the kitchen, his suspicion at a peak. "What the hell is going on?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Carol's eyes stayed focused on the platter of food she was unwrapping.
"You're a terrible liar you know."
"Either way, there's nothing to figure out. Chip?" She offered him a tortilla chip over her shoulder. He grabbed it from her and walked back towards the poker table, but not before adding. "You're some piece of work lady."
Tara reentered the kitchen with a noticeable lump in her right onesie leg, Carol assumed that was where she stashed Eugene's undies. "We're good" Tara mouthed.
Carol nodded and poked her head into the living room. "We're all done here. Enjoy." She gave a sweet smile as Tara followed closely behind her.
The room resounded with a mixture of parting words. Daryl hastily walked over to the living room window to see Tara and Carol dashing back to Maggie's like their legs were on fire and giggling.
"Something wrong Daryl?" Morgan asked from his seat at the table.
Daryl crossed his arms over his vest. "They're up to something."
Maggie's house
Maggies's eyes grew as she saw Carol and Tara pull open the living room door. "How it'd go?" she asked.
Michonne and Sasha sat on the couch, having beat them to the house.
"Well captain obvious over here acts like she's never held a secret in her life." Carol pointed to Tara at her side, as she gasped.
"What? Nothing slipped from my mouth." She palmed her chest in testimony.
Everyone in the room rolled their eyes. Rosita walked up to Tara with pursed lips and her hand outstretched for an explanation "Uh oh, What'd you do?"
"Wha-? I, I-"
"She announced she was going to the bathroom in her own damn house." Carol placed her hands on her hips.
Maggie palmed her forehead but couldn't help but laugh. "Remind me to tell Rick to never make you the spokesperson, or negotiator, or spy etc. for the group."
"I thought I did a good job." Tara pouted.
Sasha pulled Tara's head to her chest and smoothed her hair. "It's okay boo, we all can't be deadly assassins like Carol."
"Or Rick for that matter." Rosita chuckled holding her glass of punch.
"Speaking of Rick, Sasha, I trust that you completed your dare, but did Michonne leave the note?"
Speaking into the new cup she picked up, Sasha lifted her eyebrows and said, "oh, she left a note alright. More like a monologue."
"Michonne, what did you do?" Maggie asked.
Michonne tried to squint past her tipsy state, eyeing the baby monitor. "I wrote a better one."
Carol almost choked on the wine she was sipping. "Well I'll be… I never thought this day would come," Carol whispered.
"You're kidding!?" Rosita asked.
"She's very serious." Sasha laughed.
"What did this new note say?" Maggie put down her wine glass. Since she was tipsy she needed to have all her senses focused in one spot to ensure she didn't drop any details.
Michonne finally looked up at the room of anticipating women. "The details don't matter, the intent was the same," she said matter-of-factly.
"Oh c'mon Mich, you gotta give us more than that!" Tara said.
"It's private. And plus I don't want to broadcast my feelings for him until I know he feels remotely the same."
Maggie sighed, "So are you waiting for Rick to climb the nearest mountain and yell his undying love for you from its peak," Michonne slumped her shoulders, as her eyes rolled in her friend's direction, "I mean it's obvious the man has feelings for you too. You all should've seen it. When Rick came to drop her and Judith off, you know from the house they live together in," her voice raised to emphasize her point, "he kissed her goodbye."
"Was there tongue?" Rosita asked with wide eyes.
"Hush child." Carol added playfully.
Michonne intercepted before Maggie carried on. "Maggie don't exaggerate, it was on the cheek."
"It would've been on the lips if you hadn't decided to wait 5,000 years to tell him how you feel. Rick is dropping massive hints, it's your move."
Michonne sighed, knowing too well that everything Maggie was saying was true. "I left him the note, so that's as far of a move I'm willing to make right now."
"I'm proud of you Michonne." She climbed behind Michonne on the couch and wrapped her arm around her shoulders in an embrace.
"Not to interrupt this sweet moment," Tara said as she squeezed the lump in her onesie leg, "but I need to cash in my reward." She pulled out the giant wad of Eugene's giant tinged underwear and threw it across the floor.
"Ugh, that's disgusting!" Rosita stuck out her tongue, her skin crawled at the sight.
Just then, Glenn swung open the living room door with Carl closely behind him, causing the women to panic, knowing that something had to be wrong.
"Maggie." Glen called reaching for his wife.
"Carl, what's going on?" Michonne ignored the floor swiveling beneath her as she rushed to stand from the couch, the effects of the alcohol still swimming in her system.
"I'm getting Judith, Michonne listen to Glenn." Carl continued down the hallway towards Glenn and Maggie's bedroom where Judith was resting.
Michonne's heart raced thinking about where Rick could possibly be.
Glenn addressed the room, "Guys, I need you all to calm down. No one is hurt, but walkers somehow got in and there were too many for Spencer to take down from the post up front."
"Shit," Rosita grabbed her forehead in frustration.
"We need to get you all to the armory to get weapons, follow me."
As the rest of the women started moving towards the door, Carol and Michonne knew something felt off. Glenn said there were walkers out, yet he came to the house without a weapon. Although Glenn has proven time after time to be able to handle himself, it would be less than smart to run around without a weapon with walkers being loose. In spite of the thought, they followed the group of women out the front door with Glenn leading the way.
Michonne stopped in her tracks realizing that Carl hadn't left the house with them, before she could take a step, Carl appeared from the hallway.
"I'll watch Judith. Go find my dad."
Michonne nodded and caught up to Carol at the tail-end of the group, she kept her eyes alert for any walkers that may have straggled near their homes. The women stopped in their tracks once they heard a twig snapping from behind large bushes outside of Mrs. Neidermeyer's house.
Glenn seized the moment and ran from the group without any of them noticing. All of a sudden, Rick, Daryl, Aaron, Eric, Morgan, Eugene, and Abraham jumped from out the bushes with large buckets of cold water, splashing the women in one giant effort and yelling in triumph.
Yells of annoyance echoed from the women as they clung to their wet onesies, and wiped water from their faces.
Daryl skipped over to Carol with a giant grin on his face. "Payback's a bitch."Water dripped from the tips of her short hair as Carol thumped Daryl on his arm.
Meanwhile Rosita could be heard smacking Abraham on the arms, "Es stupido! I should kick your ass!"
Abraham laughed, miraculously still carrying the cigar in his mouth. Rosita inciting a heated argument in her purple onesie was a sight for words, she resembled a little angry chicklet.
Michonne bent over in her onesie to wring the water from her ponytails, as Rick jogged over. The skin at the side of Rick's eyes crinkled with the widest smile plastered his face. "We got you good."
Rick noticed a wet, crinkled piece of white paper laying on the ground close to Michonne's feet and unfolded it. Michonne barely noticed as she had switched sides, bending at the waist again to rid her other ponytail of water. Rick smiled as he read the message and quickly shoved the paper into his back pocket.
Michonne finally stood feeling she had done an efficient job for the moment. "How'd you find out?"
"A little birdy tipped us off. But that's not important . . ." his eyes twinkled. "You want me." Rick's eyes smoldered while Michonne's grew wide in horror. "You've loved me since the day we met?"
Michonne patted down her chest and began digging in her sports bra, hoping to feel the piece of paper that Maggie had given her earlier that night.
Rick pulled the soggy paper from his back pocket and waved it like a golden ticket. Michonne buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.
"This isn't your handwriting, but something tells me there's some truth behind it." Rick knew Michonne's guard wasn't fully up, her being slightly intoxicated left her partially vulnerable. He learned that over the years. In fact, he grew to learn so many random things about Michonne over the years, even the most miniscule gestures.
For instance, how lethal and skilled she could be when it was time to fight, but then automatically grew shy whenever Rick stepped within the bubble of her personal space. How she laughed and cared for his children without being coerced. How she communicated to Rick without saying words. Rick knew he was falling in love with her, but he didn't want to overwhelm Michonne or scare her away. Although he still didn't know her whole story, Rick knew that she had lost a lot before they met and he knew how scary it was to jump into something new; therefore, he kept what he felt was a respectable distance, but tonight he couldn't help himself.
"Rick don't take it too seriously it was a part of a dare." Michonne struggled to avoid his question as her tipsy state was surely, but slowly wearing off; her wall of protection was coming back up.
"But is it true?" He stepped closer to Michonne, with his own buzz propelling his confidence. They both neglected the rest of the group that stood close by carrying on in their own side conversations.
"Do I really have to answer this," she whined.
"Yea," Rick took another step closer, "I tell you how I feel about you all the time." His voice grew to a low growl that only Michonne would hear. "Plus I'm always touching you . . .," he grabbed her hip, "and kissing you . . ." his lips gently touched her neck, as he now held her body in a soft embrace, "but I never take it any further because I don't know how you feel about me. So I'm flat out asking you," he whispered into her ear, "do you love me?"
Confliction welded Michonne's feet to the ground. She knew in her heart that the answer was yes, but telling him that would change everything. She didn't want things to become awkward between them, but that was already happening as the sexual tension surrounding them grew to a boil and all of the family began taking notice. It was more awkward that they hadn't had sex yet, there was only so much fucking they could do with their eyes alone.
Rick's blue fiery eyes studied Michonne's face patiently as she silently closed her eyes, recounting the words and feelings she expressed in the long letter in Rick's bedroom.
"I do." She replied in almost a whisper, her eyes fluttering open.
Before Michonne knew it, she was looking at the ground and her feet were above her head. She yelped in surprise as Rick threw her over his shoulder, similar to how he did when they first met outside the prison. His hand supported her butt from falling as adrenaline, hurriedly moved his legs towards their empty house.
"What's happening Rick?" She was concerned, but amused with his spontaneity.
His southern drawl delivered out the order like the true sheriff he was. "We get home, you're drinking plenty of water to sober up. I don't want you forgetting anything we're about to do tonight."
Hearing the commotion outside, Carl poked his head out of Glenn and Maggie's house, and jogged down with the baby monitor in hand to Daryl standing close by talking to Carol and Tara. "Hey, where did my dad and Michonne go?"
Daryl having watched their whole interaction knew exactly where the two had left off to. "They had some uh. . . business to take care of?"
"At night?" Carl wondered.
"Look kid, don't ask questions. You'll see them in the morning." He quickly calculated in his head that with the amount of tension they had building, Rick and Michonne would not be back until the sun came up.
Carl realized that was his cue to spend the night elsewhere. "Okay, but what happened to your hair? There's a short spot in the back. Looks like a missing piece."
Daryl's hand gripped the back of his head, feeling for the missing strands. "Shit. ROSITA!"