Author's Note: Special thanks to Lyra Verse for giving me that spark that I thought was long gone. Also a Special thanks to Arctic Monkeys I wanna be Yours for giving me the finishing touches!

Bent

Part I

Rick's lips were numb, a foreign buzz on his mouth lingered from the kiss he shared with Jessie. Rick's stomach unsettled, as he back tracked to what happened just seconds before.

He wasn't sure why he did what he did. Thoughts became a fog in his mind. He was so tired, so fucking tired of thinking. For once he wanted to live on that impulse of desire, the feelings he felt so long ago.

So when his lips parted from Jessie's swollen lips. She opened her eyes, watched him curiously and awed with her wide blue eyes. Her pupils were dilated, signifying her attraction to him.

An attraction he could not reciprocate.

Suddenly, he was filled with questions, questions of the desire he thought he had for Jessie. Those questions were challenged by the needless end to escape what is reality. To escape the pain and doubt he was feeling.

The questions of why he couldn't feel that for her lingered in his mind. Maybe it was the ever worrying state of his family's existence that was weighing in on him. Maybe his expectations for the release of sex were too high of a standard.

Rick, made some poor excuse of checking the perimeter before leaving her alone in the garage. Jessie called after him but he chose to play the game of avoidance.

Rick's head bowed, the darkness surrounded him and the faint sounds of groans outside the gate gave him a comfort of the present. What he needed to do now, next and tomorrow were familiar thoughts and an easily settlement for the rest of the walk back home. He pushed to forget about the intimacy he shared with Jessie moments ago.

As he approached the house, he heard hushed whispers. The familiar voices of Michonne and Carol. Carol held the sleeping Judith, standing beside Michonne. Michonne was resting half her body on the porch rail, and the look on her face showed him something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"What is it?" He asked, Carol turned her attention from Michonne to Rick as he walked up the steps, and came closer to the two women, Michonne watched him grimly.

"I was just telling Michonne about Morgan's Gandhi trick this morning. He let five of those killers escape. " Carol's face wrinkled in disgust for Morgan choice.

"They can come back, and kill us any minute." Carol stated, voice laced in anxiety for the ominous future.

"They won't be coming back." Rick softly said, realizing the identity of the killers.

"They were the ones, who attacked me out there. In the Rv." Rick explained

Michonne nodded holding the same disappointment.

"What do we now? He's on watch-" Michonne began to ask but Rick started instructing what should be done.

"We need to talk to him, tell him that's not how things work." Rick softly ordered, dreading the moment that will come between he and Morgan, but understanding what needed to be done. He paid sudden attention to Michonne as her body raised from the porch railing.

"What if he disagrees?"She asked, the familiar softness and even scale of her tone was present, but he knew her well, he knew the challenge she brought as she asked him a question that needed to be answered before she followed any of his orders.

"If he disagrees, then he can leave." Rick answered, eyes glint as he saw her sigh, her hands together and a small grunt came out of her lips before she spoke her usual reasoning.

"Rick, we need to think this through, Morgan seems like he's a listener. You know him-"

"No, I know who he was, I know what he once was, but right now he's putting everyone in danger." Rick reasoned, he noticed his heart rate began to speed up, as the passion for his argument graced the very air he breathed.

Just as he predicted, Michonne met his argument, his reasoning and challenged him with her own views.

"We're not exiling anyone, we can use Morgan, and now is not the time to get rid of anyone!" She harshly whispered.

They were interrupted from debate when Judith softly whined, stirring from her sleep. The adults stilled, Rick had almost forgotten that Carol and Judith were near.
His focus was on Michonne at the moment.

Michonne took a deep breath and leaned against the porch, she crossed her arms, collecting herself before she began to speak.

"Look, it's been really stressful, and you know what you know, Rick. Morgan's decision was not right. I know that-"

He sighed heavy, jaw cleaned as he listened to her calm reasoning.

""We all know that." She paused, her brown eyes worrisome as she stared into his, and he gazed at her back, suddenly his attention was on her lips, then back to her eyes as she stared back at him curiously.

" You look terrible." Michonne said, a playful smile on her face, trying to lighten the mood

" Go get cleaned up, and we'll talk in the morning."

"It's not a bad plan." Carol reasoned, her voice soft so she could not disturb Judith.

"When everyone is on watch in the morning, we can all sit Morgan down, and see exactly where his head was when he made that stupid decision."

Rick watched Carol as she rocked Judith.

"I'm going to put Judith to bed, and we'll talk more about this." Carol added, heading to the door.
Carol's orders were ignored.

Rick's breath still heavy. His attention on Michonne's soft breaths next to him. A realization hit him that he was so aware of her very presence. Aware of how she made him feel, and challenged all his ideas. Michonne was the only one who could irk him, and get his respect all at once.

And bring out other things.

Suddenly he needed to go in the house, and follow her orders.

"Wait." He walked next to Carol, and signaled for her to give him his sleeping daughter.

"I'll take her, you two get some sleep." He mumbled. Before walking upstairs briskly.

With hands empty, Carol turned to Michonne.

"I thought stressing him out was my job?" Carol smirked coming to rest next to Michonne, and playfully nudged her arm.

"Rick stressed doesn't give him the right to make all the decisions." Michonne reasoned, she straightened her back pained from all that running she did earlier in the day.

"No,that's what you're here for." Carol exclaimed with cheerful sarcasm, causing Michonne to cast her a look. Carol shrugged.

"Just a joke. We all should challenge Rick. We have, in the past. We challenged him a lot." Carol sighed before she continued.

"But it was different then, we challenged him because we didn't trust him. And he knew that."

They were silent for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's a burden." Michonne whispered, feeling a small twinge of guilt for debate she seemed to always have with Rick. Carol turned to her and solemnly smiled. "But you're a good challenge."


Rick rest his body against the shower walls, taking in the hard scalding water against his flushed skin. The day finally weighed in on him, gripped his muscles and held on.

He pondered on making stupid decisions, with Michonne's tone that condemned him. But despite his annoyance, he respected it greatly, because she always proved her interest was what was best for the group.

It was a relief he was grateful for.

But, still,when she challenged him just now, and plenty times before tonight, it brought more than just that irritating headache of having to answer questions as a leader should to his comrade.

It was a rush. A rush for the challenge he could live up to Michonne's standards. He could provoke that expectation and high regard she held for him as her equal and her leader.

The rare affection he had for Michonne, was something he hadn't dealt with quite yet, but It had always been alive. That much he knew.

The need to dominate her, and chase the very stubborn quality he enjoyed. The rush he would feel, When she would grace him and gift him with her vulnerability, her compliments and approval for him to lead her.

How he would anticipate that day where she would open up to him and show her the very thing he pursued. The softness, and acquiescent quality before him. The mysterious yielding that Michonne could and would share with him and him alone.

He had a taste of it, just a week ago, when she promised that devotion to him without question as he tried to hand her his gun.

There was never enough time to deal with his anticipations and needs for Michonne. He would always bury those it with excuses that every chauvinistic male would feel that way about Michonne. But now they were digging their way out, clawing with vengeance to the surface.

"Shit." He softly cursed under his breath, as he felt the familiar stirring in his loins for Michonne.

It was primal.
Primal urges was what they needed in this world, and he met his primitive instincts usually with violence and the thirst for leadership.

But he finally realized he hadn't met the primal needs in other ways. Not for a long time.

Clarity was a thing Rick had long searched for, it was something he was always searching for, chasing it just as much as he did security.

It's a saying he's heard plenty of times, that clarity comes less from half assed commitments. Clarity can only come in engagement.

Whether when he was engaged to the well being of his family's safety, he had clarity for how important they were.

His clarity for how engaged he was with Michonne for each time they held a tit for tat, when he needs to prove to her how good of a leader he is, and get her to respect him.

Clarity, it's a funny thing alright. For his clarity, was his only way to feed his primal urges was to pursue Michonne.

TBC

Part two is on it's way!Thanks so much for reading! Reviews are very welcome.

After Sunday's episode, and the lovely Richonneers thought provoking ideas, it brought a writer's idea in me that I thought was long buried.