AN: This is my second fanfic ever. I wrote it with the encouragement of the wonderful people at Tell It To The Dead - especially Flower1petals, michrick, and HustleBunnee, who challenged me to imagine an alternative first kiss between Rick and Michonnne. TWD is not mine - I am but a witness to it's splendor and now a servant to it's inspiration.

Tranquility. Rick had felt it the moment he entered the house. His home. He knew without a doubt, his family was here and resting safely. This kind of peace was rare and precious, and he would never again let moments like this go unappreciated.

Closing his eyes as he stood at the base of the stairs, he sent a silent thank you to the universe for allowing them this night, when he heard the soft sound of a sweet, throaty humming coming from the second floor.

He quietly made his way up the stairs, the acoustics carrying each note him like a breeze. He knew that voice, but he'd never heard it like this.

Approaching Judith's room, the lyrics became clear, and he paused before reaching the open doorway to listen.

Little one close your eyes

sleep until the sun will rise

peaceful as can be

you are always safe with me

Michonne's voice was soft and she held a cadence so smooth even Rick could feel it's coaxing pull.

Little one settle down

forget about this busy town

calmness all around

you should now be dreamland bound

But it was the tone that stirred him, that touched him, that both weakened him and strengthened him. And that was the moment he knew.

So, Little one close your eyes

sleep until the sun will rise

rest the whole night through

my love, my love will shelter you

The words trailed off to soft murmurs, and he stepped forward to fill the doorway in time to see Michonne placing a sleeping Judith in her crib.

Rick swallowed hard at the vision before him. Humbled by this woman and the way she had slipped into his heart unnoticed. He tried to slip into the room to join them just as quietly, but he was sure his Michonne knew he was there.

'She's been practicing all day. I think she's worn herself out,' Michonne whispered in the darkened room. Her attention was on Judith, but she gifted him with a quick glance and a small smile. Her fingers rested on the crib's railing and she looked like she would be content to watch a slumbering Judith for hours.

Rick took the few steps needed until he was standing behind Michonne, and peered over her shoulder to see his adorable daughter fast asleep. He gently placed his hand over Michonne's, enjoying the serenity of the moment. She turned at his touch and their eyes met in a look that told him she appreciated moments like this, too.

Michonne shifted to leave, probably expecting him to move back, but he didn't. He couldn't. Rick felt his fingers lacing through hers and squeezed softly at first. Then, as his eyes abandoned the confusion so evident in hers to wander down to her lips and linger there, his grip on her hand tightened.

And her lips, as soft and lush as he had always imagined - and he had imagined it, because in a world where nothing was soft and lush, her lips always struck him as rare and beautiful - her lips, parted in response to his touch.

It was all the invitation he needed to bend closer and touch his lips to the perfection that was hers. And for the first time, ever, he knew paradise.

Stepping closer, he released her hand to move his fingers up her shoulders and over her neck to cup her face as he tilted his head to one side and deepened the kiss. His mouth opened and closed around her, his tongue licking at her the space between her lips until he felt his tongue brush hers.

She moaned. Moaned. And it nearly undid him. One kiss, and he was lost to her. This shift literally shook him to his core and he held her face closer and kissed her harder to try to quell the thirst that had taken firm hold of him.

He barely registered that they were still in Judith's room, until the tug of her fingers on his belt seemed to guide him backward in the direction of the doorway. He obliged, still kissing her this way and that as he backed out of the room and into the hallway, crushing her against the first bare section of wall in their path.

Now, his hands were everywhere. Caressing her neck, circling her shoulders, rubbing her bare arms, cupping her breasts. Every part of her felt incredible against every part of him.

And she tasted so damn good. His drank her in before boldly slipping his tongue between her parted lips to explore every inch of her mouth, needing to be closer.

Her breath fanned across his cheek and he could feel her eyelashes flutter over his, but this still wasn't close enough. He needed her. The idea of being incomplete without someone never made more sense than it did right now.

Rick poured all he felt for Michonne into the kiss. And he was not surprised to find his woman gave as much as she got. They were a perfect union. When he licked, she sucked. When she moaned he growled. And when she moved her hand to cup him over his jeans, he sucked in a breath and tried not to die happy right on the spot.

Pulling away just enough to look into her eyes, needing to see if any of the torrential onslaught of emotions he was experiencing were evident on her face. Rick was shaken by the mirror image of his heart held in her dark eyes.

There he saw all the wonder, joy, desire, need, and love… the love was so clear. It was like hearing a song that captured exactly how you'd been feeling forever. Or seeing a piece of art that spoke to your own trials and tribulations. It was all right there. Like he'd poured his love all over her and she had absorbed it all and now it was staring right into his soul.

She was precious to him and he needed to tell her. But he couldn't find his voice in a moment like this. So, he kissed her again, softer this time, guiding her toward his room where he would try to show her. He would try to at least begin to show her. Because suddenly, it became a mission in this new world that someday this woman would know all she meant to him.

But Michonne's lips were feverish against his, and the kisses he intended to keep light until they got to his room where he could worship her became a tangle of thirsty lips and greedy tongues.

They were kissing and panting as his back hit the door to his bedroom, and he fumbled with the handle that suddenly was the most complex contraption known to mankind.

He groaned into her just as he got the door opened, only to be greeted with the room's half awake occupant standing there squinting his one good eye and the two adults who had been just about to enter what was clearly the wrong room.

A barely audible 'Shit' escaped Rick's lips while Michonne's body when full on rigid.

It was Carl who maintained his composer, taking in the sight. Even with one eye, it was plain to see what was going on. But Rick really hoped he wouldn't ask.

'What's going on?' asked Carl, tilting his head in that signature Grimes fashion.

Rick exhaled a long sigh, his plans for Michonne temporarily sidetracked. 'We were just…'

'Putting Judith to sleep' Michonne offered. Something about being caught with her hand in the cookie jar made her look all the more adorable to Rick.

Carl let his eye travel between the two, not missing the evidence before him in the form of their lips swollen and hands frozen in place on each other. He gave Michonne a Come On look, a You Don't Expect Me to Buy that BS look, a Can We All Agree I'm Not An Idiot look he had no doubt learned from her.

Rick gave her a Nice Try Baby look, and tried not to smirk at her bashfulness under Carl's scrutiny when Carl piped up with his next question.

'So, are you two together now?' he asked, and Rick was grateful for the softball question.

Rick and Michonne answered in unison.

'Yes' he said. 'No' she said.

Rick turned his eyes away from his son/momentary-cock-blocker to give Michonne a look that said What is this 'no' bullshit? And he said sternly, 'We. Are.'

Michonne ignored his look and his words. She took a step away from Rick, folding her arms in front of herself.

Oh hell no, Rick thought as he watched Reasonable!Michonne take over.

'Let's all say goodnight and we can talk about this tomorrow,' she said. As if Rick could ever sleep again before settling this and claiming each other. There was a glimmer of pleading in her eyes that asked him to accept this even though she knew he didn't want to.

'Yeah, that's not gonna work for me,' Rick answered her nonverbal question in a voice that said this conversation is over.

He stepped toward her and seeing the surprise in her eyes bent to lift her over his shoulder. They would work this out, together, tonight, and preferably naked.

'We are most definitely together.' he paused a beat almost daring her to disagree again. But she was quiet apart of some squirming she did to try to get out of his hold. Good luck with that, he thought.

'We'll talk about the rest tomorrow. Goodnight son.' And he turned to leave a smiling Carl in doorway.

Rick's whole world was in these walls, and Michonne was going to have to accept her place by his side in it, because now, he couldn't see a future where he wasn't by her side, and her by his. Doing the math, he figured they could spend three minutes agreeing on there future together, and the the rest of the night embarking on that future in all the ways that grown ups do.

That is, until felt Michonne's body jump and he placed her down suddenly alarmed. He turned to face Jesus, the man who had caused him so much trouble earlier today. His arms were up in a surrender pose when he said, 'We need to talk.'