I've been frustrated with the lack of female bonding on TWD. Are Michonne and Carol even friends? They've said two sentences to each other in three seasons, grr... Anyway this is just a little one-shot, I hope you all enjoy.
Food and Friends
Snow from the weekend still covered the ground as Michonne walked back to the house. The chilly wind blowing underneath her jacket gave her goosebumps. She use to hate the winter weather; the ice, the cold, the fact that an inch of snow would have shut everything down in Atlanta. But, now, she looked forward to it because the walkers wouldn't be a problem for months to come. She reached the house and stepped onto the porch, stomping her feet to rid her shoes of the clumps of snow that gathered at the bottom. Michonne then shuffled the pile of produce she carried in her arms so that she could turn the knob, but the door swung open and before her stood Carol.
"I saw you coming," Carol grabbed the potatoes, onions, and collard greens from Michonne arms, "you should have told me you were getting these, I would've helped."
"It was spur of the moment," Michonne walked behind Carol, closing the door behind her. She kicked off her boots and placed them next to a pile of shoes and then hung her coat on the rack. She shivered as the heat from the fireplace warmed her skin. "They just arrived with the rest of the food we need for Thanksgiving dinner."
Michonne followed Carol into the kitchen, the aroma of food hit her nose causing her stomach to grumble. She surveyed the array of vegetables, meats, and side-dishes on the counters and kitchen table.
"Did Maggie bring the baby?" Carol asked, putting the produce on the counter.
"Yes she did," Michonne replied, washing her hands in the sink. "He's so cute. Maggie will be over in a few and Sasha should be here as well."
"Good. For a minute I thought we were the only ones who would be doing the cooking today." She smirked and started removing the husk from the corn cobs.
Michonne sat on the stool and grabbed the collard greens and began picking off the stems, "This is great. Did not realize how much I missed everyone until everyone started arriving."
"I think it's great we're not getting together just to plan a war."
"That too, although the men seem to be hatching plans to declare war on a turkey." Carol eyed Michonne quizzically.
"Where are they going to find a turkey and whose going to cook it?" she asked.
Michonne laughed, "that's what I asked Rick. He said Aaron told him there use to be a turkey farm a couple of miles from here."
"Whatever turkeys that were on that farm were eaten a long time ago."
"That's not going to deter them from being the ones to find that elusive turkey."
Carol shook her head, "I need more water for this dough."
"I got it," Michonne grabbed a cup and went to the sink. As she filled it up with water she gazed over to the counter, realizing a plate of food was missing. Her eyebrows furrowed as she retraced her movements from this morning. With the cup halfway full she went over to Carol. "Is that enough?"
"It's plenty, thank you, "Carol took the cup and wet the dough and kneaded it into a big ball. Michonne watched her work while still thinking about the missing plate.
Rick didn't take it, I told him I would do it. She looked up at Carol again, "You visited him today?" Carol shook her head and shrugged.
"I brought him his breakfast," Carol's lips pursed, she move the dough to the side, threw the husks into the trashcan, and cleaned the counter. "I thought if I just sprinkle some of that old rat poison that is under the sink in his food and watch him choke and die in front of me, I'll feel better."
Michonne took a deep breath and leaned on the counter. Carol stopped her task and met Michonne's eyes, hers were watery and her mouth turned up into a smile, "but I didn't. I don't want another death on my hands, not even that scumbag's."
Michonne pulled the other woman into a hug. "We've done things one way for so long, it's hard to change course," Michonne said. She could feel Carol shaking and her tears wetting Michonne's sweater. Michonne hugged Carol tighter as she tried to keep herself from crying as well.
"I miss him," Carol said sniffling. "I just miss talking to him, being around him, knowing that he'd always be there, but he's not."
"He would have been the one to find that damn turkey." Both ladies chuckled.
"I loved Daryl," Carol sighed. There was a pregnant pause between them, Michonne always had a feeling there was something deeper between Carol and Daryl then just a friendship.
"I don't think you ever stop loving someone. You love him and you always will," Michonne gave Carol another squeeze and let her go.
"Ya'll cutting onions up in here?" Michonne turned to the kitchen's entryway and saw Maggie coming into the room. And behind her was Sasha. Both of them with wide grins despite their tired eyes.
"Maggie!" Carol exclaimed, she wiped her eyes and sped walk to Maggie and gave her a hug. "Oh my God, Sasha!" She reached out to pull Sasha into the hug as well.
"It's so good to see you Carol," Sasha confessed. "And you too," she said to Michonne. They embraced each other in a hug, their friendship coming a long way from when Sasha had slapped Michonne's hand away months ago.
"Is that baby Hershel?" Carol asked. Maggie sat down a car seat as Carol bent down and removed the blanket from the sleeping baby. "He's beautiful Maggie," she caressed his cheek with her finger which made him stir a bit.
"You can hold him," Maggie offered. "He slept the whole way here." Carol nodded and began gently lifting Hershel Jr. from out of his car seat. Maggie went over to Michonne and gave her a hug, "did we bring everything you needed?"
Michonne nodded, "Mhm yes, the veggies look really fresh." She moved back to the counter and scooped the stems into her hand to throw away.
"A lot of the vegetables we got planted during the spring, so that they'll be ready during the fall." Maggie sat down on the stool Michonne had left and grabbed the potatoes. "Sasha you're sure you can handle the potato salad?" She gave Sasha a sly grin and tossed the potatoes one by one to her.
"Are you insinuating that I can't cook? When you have to serve dinner for 30 hungry firefighters, you betta know how to cook," Sasha scoffed.
"I just cannot picture you cooking," Maggie laughed.
"Well start taking pictures," Sasha joked, playfully elbowing Maggie, "and hand over the peeler."
Michonne filled a stock pot with water and began cleaning the greens. Carol cooed over Hershel Jr. who was now awake and smiling up at her when Carl walked into the room.
"Maggie? Mrs. Wadley is ready to take Hershel Jr.," he announced. Mrs. Wadley was in charge of daycare which currently only had three toddlers occupying it; one of them being Judith. Sasha gave Carl a wave hello which he tentatively returned.
"Where's Glenn?" Maggie asked.
"Him and dad and some of the others went looking for a turkey?" Carl fidgeted with his eye patch and then folded his hands.
Maggie sighed, "he promised," she whispered. "Does Mrs. Wadley have anyone helping her?"
"She's only watching Judith today, so not really," Carl said. Maggie shook her head and began running her hands through her hair.
Concern, Carol stepped forward, "Mrs. Wadley is very good with Judith. The baby will be fine, I'll take him over myself."
"No," Maggie rubbed her eyes and sat her hands in her lap. "It's fine, Carl can you drop him off and maybe ask Enid to help Mrs. Wadley out?"
Carl shrugged, "yeah sure." Maggie got up and kissed Hershel Jr. on the forehead and caressed his hair, her and Carol met eye to eye and she smiled. Maggie then went to the sink where Michonne was and helped with the yams. Michonne looked over her shoulder and saw Carol placing Hershel back in the car seat, she then turned back and studied Maggie's face. Maggie looked sullen and was peeling the yams harshly, Michonne gave her a hip bump to get her attention.
"You're not okay," Michonne whispered. Maggie eyes widen and then darted to the sink.
"The realization that I'm raising a child in a world like this keeps hitting me in the face." Carol appeared on the other side of Maggie and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"It's been almost a year without any incident from walkers or people," Carol said.
Maggie looked behind her to see that Carl had left with Hershel Jr. and sighed, "I know. The stress of being a mother and a leader seems overwhelming at times."
"But Glenn's taking on a lot of the responsibilities as well," Sasha piped in, "and I have no problem doing more if you need me."
"Thank you Sasha, but when I took leadership position from Gregory, I reassured everyone that I could do this, but I'm just…" Maggie's shoulders slump, "I feel like I'm failing, especially as a mother."
"Maggie!" Carol exclaimed, "You're a first time mom and it's scary. I've been there; you're going to make mistakes…"
"But," Maggie interjected, "what if another Negan shows up? Or another herd? There's just too many things that are out of my control."
"And even the things you think are within your control are sometimes not," Michonne whispered. She swallowed and looked up at Maggie, "When my son died I tortured myself with 'what ifs' for months. Dragging around the dead father of my child in chains. I thought I had everything under control, but I couldn't be at two places at once, and I didn't expect Mike to fail me, it happened, but it doesn't make me a bad mother. It took me a long time to come to that understanding." Michonne reached up to her little gold necklace and fiddled with it, her eyes glazed over as she remembered her little boy's smile and the joy he had brought to her for only a short time.
"I wish I could give you words that could ease your fear, but Yes, there are too many threats out there and we don't know what the future holds. Then again, we have four fully functional communities that have each other's backs if we come across any threat," she continued. "If there is one thing I'm grateful for is that Judith is still here, she's growing and she's healthy, so is Hershel Jr."
"Maggie, we're here for you and you know I'm only a door away," Sasha reassured.
Maggie smiled tearfully and wrapped an arm around Michonne's waist. "Now I'm crying and the food ain't getting done," she laughed.
"Then you better get started on those onions," Carol playfully suggested.
The greens were on the stove cooking, casseroles were in the oven, and Michonne and Carol were walking back to the house after checking on the roast chickens and deer that were baking next door.
"How's Carl? Is he getting better?" Carol asked.
"Carl's a lot better than before, he has most of his memory back, but he still has moments where he shuts us out." Michonne opened the kitchen patio door for Carol.
"He'll never be the same," Carol said somberly.
Michonne nodded and bit her lip, closing the door behind her she took off her jacket again and hung it on the back of the chair Sasha was sitting in.
"Are you going to tell her?" Maggie asked, grinning and pointing her head in Michonne's directions. Sasha sighed and mouthed 'no'.
"Tell me what?" Michonne asked, she went to the fridge and set out the pie she made last night.
"Is that sweet potato pie?" Sasha got up from her seat and craned her neck to get a better viewing. "How in the hell were you able to make this."
"Sweet potato pie is easy to make and we had the ingredients," Michonne set the pie on the counter and blocked Sasha from getting her hands on, "don't change the subject, what do you need to tell me."
Sasha rolled her eyes, "look, what we're doing is already too 1950s for me, I don't want to talk about relationships on top of that."
"You and Abe broke up? Again?" Michonne asked.
"No!" Sasha pouted, "Not yet, maybe, well he probably will break up with me."
"Why?"
"He asked me to marry him. So stupid," she huffed.
"You said no?"
"I don't want to get married," Sasha sat back down and chopped the boiled eggs that would go into the potato salad.
"What are you going to tell Abe?" Maggie asked, she looked horrified by Sasha's decision.
"That I don't believe in it. I never understood the point of it, us women vowing to be submissive to our husbands, for what? A tax break. We don't even get that anymore."
"Marriage is more than that Sasha," Maggie said defensively.
"I know," Sasha resigned, "for you and Glenn, but it just doesn't have the same meaning for me."
"If I could do it all over again, I would've said no when Ed proposed," said Carol. She was cutting round circles into the dough she worked on earlier. "I never believed in marriage either, I did it for convenience."
"And I think that's why Abe propose to me because it's convenient," Sasha scoffed.
"I think Abraham loves you," Michonne said.
"I just wish it was easy and just about sex, but we bonded before we even cross that line and I kind of wish we hadn't."
"Sasha, you're running away again," said Maggie. "You don't have to marry the man, but you need to be honest with him. Tell him no and tell him why."
"Can we change the topic," Sasha asked, "because I really want to know how Michonne made that sweet potato pie?"
"Deanna would be really proud of you," Maggie said. "Alexandria is becoming even better than what it was when we first arrived." Michonne beamed from the compliment, as soon as they were able to catch a breath she started working on making Deanna's blueprints a reality.
"She had a vision and I had motivation. Alexandria is a place I wanted for my son, where he could have grown up safely," Michonne paused, she wasn't sure if she was ready to share the news. "I couldn't bring Andre here, but I'm happy Judith made it and despite what happened to Carl, this place is good for him. And now Rick and I…," Michonne closed her eyes and took a calming breath. Opening them up the three other women looked at her with concern, but she gave them a reassuring smile, "Rick and I are having a baby. I'm pregnant!"
"WHAT!" Carol, Sasha, and Maggie shouted at once.
"How?" Maggie asked, "Wait! Don't answer that," she sheepishly grinned.
Carol touch Michonne's small pregnancy bump and Michonne covered her hand, "I think I'm about two months, maybe a little more."
"Rick knows?"
"Ha! Actually he knew before I did."
"I get to see you pregnant, oh my god," Sasha exclaimed, covering her mouth.
"How's Rick handling it?" Maggie asked.
"Better yet how are you handling it?" Carol added.
"I'm doing well. I forgot how much morning sickness can be a bitch. Yesterday I freaked out a little that I couldn't do this again…"
"Michonne," Maggie reached out and held her hand.
"But," Michonne continued, "I think he's my miracle baby."
"He?"
Michonne nodded, "I have a feeling it's a boy."
Carol tearfully hugged Michonne, "I'm happy for you."
"You'll find your happiness as well," Michonne whispered in Carol's ear, "I'm sure of it."
"We should do a speech." Michonne said excitedly. All the meals for the Thanksgiving dinner were done and Carl, Enid and Aaron were coming in and out of the kitchen, grabbing the dishes to set onto the banquet table. The other three women stared at Michonne in disbelief as if she suggested they do something outrageous.
"No," Carol said, she tried to make her exit, but Michonne stopped her by putting her arm around Carol's shoulders.
"A small speech. We'll just say why we did this and what we're thankful for. Please?" Michonne gave Carol a huge smile.
"I'm with Carol. Nope," Sasha chimed in. Michonne gave Sasha the hand and her pleading eyes met with Maggie.
"I give speeches all day, every day," Maggie said, joining Sasha and Carol in their refusal.
"Ya'll are no fun. Fine, I'll do it. BUT…" Michonne turned around and grabbed a bottle of wine that she was saving for the dinner and popped it open with a corkscrew. "Can you guys at least amuse me by giving a toast, right now. What are you thankful for?" Carol and Sasha shrugged in agreement, Maggie strolled over and took the bottle of wine out of Michonne's hand and sat up on the counter.
"You're not drinking," she instructed.
"A glass a day—"
"Not on my watch," Maggie refuted. Michonne playfully pinched Maggie and reached up for some cups and passed them to the other women.
"Sasha you first," Michonne said.
"You're bossy. You know that?" Sasha joked as she waited for Maggie to fill her cup. "Ok, I'm thankful for friends. I'm pretty sure, I've pushed each one of you away at one time or another. Especially you Michonne and I'm thankful you never gave up on me. And I'm thankful I found control in my life before it was too late." Sasha raised her glass and took a sip, Michonne reached over and squeezed her hand.
"I'll go next," Maggie jumped in. "I'm thankful for my husband, my son, and our thriving communities. I'm also thankful for my friends who I can always count on for support. I've lost so much, Daddy, Beth, but I've gained so much more. You all are my sisters, always and forever."
The women again all raised their cups and took a sip, Michonne filled her empty cup with water. Carol cleared her throat and step toward the center.
"I'm thankful for peace. I feel like I can finally breathe again and I'm thankful I'm no longer being choked by guilt," Carol wiped tears that had fallen on her face, "I'm thankful for you girls, I never had girlfriends before all this happened. Wasn't allowed. But not only do I have plentiful, I now know that I do not have to carry the burden this world dumps on me, on my own. Thank you."
"Aww," Maggie jumped off the counter and gave Carol a bear hug, "I love you."
"Where do I even start?" Michonne asked, "I have so much to be thankful for, but I'll just start with this moment. I'm thankful we can have days like this to gather and be a family. I'm so thankful we still know how to laugh and that we didn't let this world kill us. I'm thankful that I have a family again and that my child will have four wonderful aunts who will probably spoil him rotten."
"I'm the cool auntie, right?" Sasha asked.
"You? Cool? Where?" Michonne asked laughing. Sasha sat down her cup and pretended to be angry, rolling her eyes at Michonne's joke, but then cracking a smile.
As the women chatted away, the front door slammed opened, alarming all four of them. Carol grabbed the rolling pin from the table, Michonne inch her hand toward the carving knife.
"Twist it around and it'll fit," Rick's voice could be heard breaking the tension in the kitchen. Michonne walked out of the room to see Morgan and Glenn struggling to squeeze a tree through the door.
Before Michonne could protest, Rick ran over to her and gave her a quick kiss and a cheeky grin, "I know what you're going to say—"
"That you're crazy if you think that tree is coming in our house?"
"Oh Rick, a Christmas tree! I can't wait to decorate it," he said mocking her voice. Michonne glared at him, but her eyes soften when Glenn and Morgan finally brought the tree to the middle of the living room. It was full and beautiful.
"No luck on the turkey?"
"Abe's face scared it away."
Michonne chuckled and lightly slapped Rick on the arm, "very funny, dinner's starting in a few."
Rick wrapped his arms around Michonne's waist and pulled her closer to him. He gave her another kiss, this time on her neck and moved up to her lips. "Every thang smells great. You've outdone yourself."
"I had lots of help," Maggie walked past, giving them a wink and a smile. Rick nodded and let her go. Michonne went back to the kitchen to grab the pie, only to see Sasha leaning over it.
"BOO!" She shouted. Sasha jumped and clutched her chest while Michonne grabbed the pie.
"You have to scare me like that?"
"You have to breathe all over my pie?"
"You know what," Sasha walked to Michonne's side and linked arms, "I think you need an escort?"
Michonne burst with laughter as her and Sasha walked to the Thanksgiving banquet. The temperature dropped, but seeing family from Hilltop and the Kingdom come and gather at Deanna's old home for the feast, welcoming each other with open arms and huge laughs, gave Michonne all the warmth she needed.