He hadn't meant to say it. The words came out as a reflex, no thought at all put into them.
His dad was on a run with Aaron, and it was just Carl, Michonne, and Judith in the house. Alexandria was running low on food, but Michonne had managed to scrape together enough to make pancakes for breakfast.
"The eggs are blackbird eggs and I had to use that evaporated milk, but once you cover it in syrup, it will taste alright," Michonne had promised as she handed him a plate. "Judith likes it, anyway."
Carl glanced at Judith, sitting in her high chair with her cheeks and hands sticky from the syrup. Judith gave her brother a peal of laughter when he smiled at her.
"Thanks, Mom," Carl said as he took the plate from Michonne's hand.
Suddenly, Carl was very sure all the air had been sucked from the room. He felt the blush burn in his cheeks. He was glad the eyepatch covered so much of his face, that his daily annoyance would actually help for once and hide his embarrassment.
"I didn't..." Carl started to say as he looked, horrified, to see Michonne's reaction. But she was smiling in that soft kind of way she smiled at his dad: full lips curving upward slightly, a warm, ember-like glow lighting up her eyes.
Carl felt the blush recede as he turned his eye to his pancakes. "I did mean it."
Michonne didn't answer, but when she reached out and gave Carl's arm a squeeze, he knew she agreed.