A/N: Hey everyone, so this fic is based off of the song fallingforyou by the 1975. I recently went to one of their concerts, I don't listen to them much but I went cause my sister wanted to go and I heard this song and immediately thought of Richonne. I intend for this to be a slow burn. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 1: Baby Face

Rick was single...again. His 1 year long relationship with Jessie was at first exciting and new but quickly became bland and boring and Rick quickly stopped looking forward to seeing her. He had just broken up with her at her home and had driven back to his own home, now he was about to enter his home.

Inside he heard the high pitch screams of laughter coming from his youngest daughter and then a deeper laugh coming from his son. He opened the door and smiled, "Y'all sure are rowdy." He said, as a woman stepped into view and smiled. She had dark skin, large and dark almond eyes, full brown lips and locs that fell down to the middle of the back but for today were up in a bun. She wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a loose v-neck orange blouse that stood out against her skin tone. Her black sandals sat near the door.

"Judy was playing hide and seek with Aunt Michonne, who is a surprisingly bad hider." Said Carl, his oldest child. Carl was 16 and was a spitting image of his father with his blue eyes and similar tone the only difference was his long hair that often covered his eyes.

"Hey!" said Michonne who smiled widely. "I was trying to give you guys a chance to find me, now if I was playing for real the both of you would still be looking for me." She said, as she then scooped Judith into her arms and walked over to Rick placing her in his arms. Judith was Rick's youngest at 6 years old and she smiled widely and held her arms out as she got closer to her father. "Daddy!" She squealed in a high pitch voice.

"Hey baby girl." He said, smiling brightly at her. "You had fun with Auntie?" She nodded and nuzzled her head in her neck. Rick walked over to Carl and patted his head, lightly kissing the top of it. Carl scrunched his face at his father's kiss and sighed, "Okay this my cue to go upstairs bye now." He said as he moved towards the stairs he stopped before going up and turned towards Michonne. "Are you staying for dinner?" He asked, hopefully. Carl and his Aunt Michonne had a great relationship and were incredibly close, often telling her things before he told his father.

"Not tonight, I'm gonna go see Mike but I'll come up to say bye. I promise." She said, smilingly as Judith began to wiggle out of her father's arm noticing that Carl was going upstairs and she wanted to go as well. "Can I go with Carl?" She asked, looking up at her father. "Come on Judy." Carl said, smiling as he held out his hand for his sister as the both went upstairs.

"So…." started Michonne. She and Rick were best friends and knew each other for years and therefore have both seen the other in relationships. Michonne knew he was going to see Jessie today and he had intended to break up with her. "How'd she take it?" She asked, as she walked over to the living room and then sat on the couch, patting the sat next to her indicating for Rick to come sit.

Rick sighed as he walked over to the couch, plopping down on the seat next to her. "She cried….a lot. It was uh...awkward to say the least. I just...I don't know I can't get into the swing of things with this relationship stuff since the divorce, you know?" Rick was divorced from his ex-wife, Lori a few months after having Judith. He had discovered that she had cheated on him with his friend, Shane and it was something that neither of them could get past. Even before their divorce and the affair their relationship was on the rocks. They often argued and he found himself constantly telling Michonne about their arguments and even spending the night on her couch a few nights. Even though it was quickly becoming 6 years since the divorce, dating was still something Rick didn't find easy.

Michonne nodded and gave him a small reassuring smile. "You'll get there, you were married for a long time, gotta learn how to date again. I know I make it look easy but trust me it's not." She said, widely with a grin on her face. Rick laughed lightly, "You do make it look easy. Got any tips for the old man?" "Yeah clean up that scruff you got going on and maybe then you'll get some ladies, instead of everyone thinking you're a grandpa." She chuckled lightly, as she reached over and gently touched his rapidly growing beard with her thumb.

Rick felt a leap inside of him as she touched his beard. There had always been an attraction towards her from the moment they met. But he never initiated anything with her. First, he was married when they met and Michonne was the single one. Then he was divorced and she was in the one in a 4 year relationship. Her ex moved fast, for Michonne's standards at least, and pushed for marriage and therefore pushed Michonne away. They broke up after his second failed proposal to her. Then Rick had started dating Jessie and now that he was single again Michonne had recently started seeing someone, Mike, for 3 months. They had never managed to be single and ready at the same time and Rick wasn't sure if she had even felt the same way for him. He kept his feelings at bay as their friendship got closer but every now and again they bubbled up to the surface. Her touch was one the ways, to do just that, to remind him of his feelings for her.

"Now don't you think grandpa is a bit of stretch?" He asked, smirking at her. "Nope." She said, in a matter of fact way smilingly widely. "You're just saying that cause you like them baby faced boys. Mike looks like a kid." "Oh please," she said as she playfully rolled her eyes. "You guys are the same age, the difference is he doesn't want to look 60 when his 42."

Rick laughed lightly deciding to change the topic off his beard, "How's it going between you two?" Michonne shrugged, and moved her hand around to indicate, "so-so." "I mean, it's going...I like him but at this point I don't see me bringing him home to meet the parents or to meet you people" She said, indicating him by pointing at him with her chin.

The last man Michonne had dated she introduced him to Rick and their friends around the 7 month mark. Simply put, they didn't like him. They were all an overprotective bunch, with Rick leading that pack, and it was rare for any of them to bring someone into the group that was well received. She knew that if her boyfriend could handle them then they could move on to meeting her family and she knew that she wasn't at that point with Mike.

Rick looked at her pretending to be shocked with his eyes wide and mouth open, "You people? I don't want you're talking about 'Chonne." Michonne laughed lightly, "Yeah whatever you say Grimes." She said, as she jokingly rolled her eyes. She looked down at her watch, being unaware of the time as she sat and talked to her best friend. She lightly sighed and gave him a small smile as she got up. "Time for me to go Grimes, don't want to be late for my date with baby face." Rick, lightly smiled as he also got up. "Yeah don't want to keep him up past his bedtime," he said with a grin. Michonne laughed lightly, "Oh shut up," she said as she brushed past him her shoulder, touching his arm. "I'm going to say bye to your kids. Feed them well tonight, put some vegetables on those plates." She said as she moved up the stairs. "Yeah, yeah," said Rick, with a smile as he watched her go all the way up the stairs and then turned left to say goodbye to Judith and Carl, now no longer in his view.

He let out a breath when he was out of her sight, and looked down smiling to himself. There it was again, that feeling that happened whenever they touched. "Bye Grimes," said Michonne as she came back down the stairs after a few minutes breaking his daze. She picked up her purse that was sitting on the coffee table and walked towards the door, Rick a few steps behind her. "Have fun tonight," he said, as he opened the door and leaned back against it so they were both standing in his entrance way. "I'll try, I'll tell you about it later, okay?" He nodded, and she leaned in putting one hand on his waist and giving him a light kiss on the cheek, something that she did with all of her close friends. "Talk to you in a bit Grimes." She said, as she walked out and towards her car that was parked in front of his home. Before she entered her car she looked back at him and smiled lightly waving with her four fingers and then entered her car, driving away after a few seconds.

"Fuck." Rick said to himself as he watched her car drive away. He could still feel her lips lingering on his cheek, her hand at his waist. Don't look into it, she says goodbye to everyone like that he thought to himself but he couldn't help it. He was painfully aware of how deep his feelings ran for her. He knew he would be thinking about their touch for the rest of the night like he often did. "Dad, what's for dinner? We're hungry!" yelled Carl from upstairs, shaking his Dad out of his thoughts. "Give me 15 minutes I'll whip something up." He yelled back again, still leaning against his door. He let out a light sigh, and finally moved away from the door, closing it behind him.

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A Few Hours Later

It was now quiet in the Grimes household, Rick had just finished bathing Judith and put her to bed and he noticed the light peeking out from underneath Carl's door was now gone after reading his last comic for the night. Rick flopped into bed, wearing only his pajama pants. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed, lightly rubbing his beard with one. He bit down on his lip and paused for a moment still touching his beard.

After a minute or two he quickly got up and walked over to his bathroom, flicking on the light. He grabbed his electric razor and plugged it, the low buzz of it now filling the small room. He looked up at himself and eyed his beard, he gave himself a small nod and began to shave it off.