A/N: Okay, here's the second chapter. If anyone would like to be a Beta for this story let me know. The program I use to type the chapters up isn't really compatible with the FF website, I guess, since parts of my sentences always come up missing and I always have to go back and undo things that it's done in transferring the chapter over.
"Hey," Andrea said walking up behind her friend and placing both of her hands shoulders.
Michonne turned her head slightly to look back at her. "Hey," she greeted. "What are you up to?" She smiled seeing the mischievous smile on the woman's face.
"Oh, nothing," Andrea told her. "I just decided to come help you out. The rest of the girls are fun but they aren't really giving me the juicy stuff," Andrea said nudging her as she began to help her take down the clothes from the makeshift clothes lines.
"And what juice would that be?" Michonne asked, pausing her chore for a moment to turn towards her friend.
"You know," she told her. "How little miss homemaker is going to make a decision between her husband and her boyfriend."
"Drea, come'on now," Michonne said trying not to get caught up in the gossip, though she did find the predicament pretty interesting. She would just rather not bud into other people's business. Plus, she already wasn't Lori's favorite person which the woman had made obvious over the last few days. She had always known, but since she had volunteered to go on the rescue mission for Merle, the woman seemed to have taken more of a disliking to her. Michonne really wasn't her biggest fan either and that was mostly because she came off a little flaky and needy, a damsel in distress type. And she had no problem with that, she had played that card many of times herself,back before the turn, but now was not the time.
"Come'on my ass," Andrea told her. "She doesn't only hate me now, she hates your ass too. The two bitches that stole her boyfriend and her husband."
"Really Andrea," Michonne said giving her a look. "Why do you keep on trying to insist that because you're hot behind Shane, I'm hot behind Rick? You and I are two different people and I actually have a three year old son to focus on keeping alive. I can't be concerned with getting laid all the time."
"Oh, come on Miesh, it's not all the time," Andrea defended. Michonne gave her a look that made both of them laugh. "Plus I didn't say that it was you who was hot behind him." Andrea paused and nodded at the path leading from the lake back to the campsite. "That man can't keep his eyes off of you girl."
Michonne turned to see Rick stalking towards her with that bow-legged strut of his she found absolutely adorable. Over the last few days and after heading into the city on a rescue mission together, they had become closer friends. Andrea may have thought they were sharing looks of infatuation, but she assumed she was referring to him often trying to catch her attention to communicate with her about something. They were currently trying to convince Shane to convince the rest of the group to move. She had all but convinced Andrea to be on board with their plan, and if Andrea went, that meant Amy went. If she took Andre and they had a few other people in their group, she was sure Mike would be on board and Terry would follow. So that left her group, and Rick's family. She was sure they could convince T and Jacqui, Carol would do whatever Ed would do and she would leave him up to Rick because she hated the man's guts and would probably end up spearing him with her sword if she was forced to interact with him. So that would leave, her and her group, Andrea and Amy, T and Jacqui and Rick and his family. Jim and Dale could go either way, and she was sure that Daryl would probably follow now that he wasn't expecting Merle to return to the campsite looking for them.
"Guess that's my que," Andrea said touching her on the shoulder again. The blonde then started to walk off back towards the lake to finish helping the other women wash. "I'll be back to help you in a bit," she threw over her shoulder.
Michonne sighed and shook her head. She turned her head towards Rick when she heard his footsteps approaching.
"Hey," he shot her a smile.
"Grimes," she greeted him with a warm smile as she went back to taking down the clothes. "What you got?"
"Well I talked to him," he informed her.
"And?" She encouraged him to continue when he didn't.
"He's still not convinced," he finished.
"Of course he's not," she said with a frown. "We can always just leave him." She said her tone serious with a hint of frustration.
Rick's body language showed how much he hated that idea. "Yeah," he stated shifting to his left leg and putting his right hand on his hip as he ran the fingers of his left through his hair. "I don't want to do that."
'You might change your mind if you knew he was fucking your wife,' she was tempted to say, but she held her tongue. Her intentions here were not to hurt Rick. He was doing nothing wrong, just trying to be an honorable man and a good friend. So instead she said. "I know you don't,"she gave him a sympathetic look as she took the last piece of clothing off of the line.
She stooped to pick up the basket of clothing, before standing and looking back into his eyes. He took a glance around the lake, both his hands on his hips now as he squinted at the brightness of the day. "You know I've been thinking about what you asked me the other night," he started, "we'd have a better time convincing them if we had some place safe to go." She looked up at him expectantly. She knew that him bringing it up again, meant he had come up with a plan. "Before, I got to the city, I heard them saying something about the CDC over the radio. Now I know that place has all kinds of precautions for all kinds of things."
"Yeah,"Michonne said sounding more hopeful about them actually convincing everyone to get their asses out of there. And even if they had to leave a few people behind, even if Rick didn't want to leave Shane, he knew that he eventually would if it meant keeping Carl and Lori safe.
He continued, "I chaperoned a field trip there for Carl's class once. They have a lock down mechanism. They lock everything down. Keep anything from getting out, or in."
"Well that settles it then," she told him. She was about to say that they should head out at first daylight the next day but she was interrupted by an upset Andre, tears streaming down his face.
"Mommay," he said his hands stretched out towards her.
She barely had a chance to set the basket down before he was throwing himself into her arms. She scooped him up. "Baby, what's wrong?" she asked before she began wiping at the tears.
Both the adults shared concerned looks, Rick doing a quick check around the area to make sure none of the 'stinky monsters' had scared the boy.
"Cawl's being mean to me," he sniffed out.
From their opposite reactions, it was obvious that the two people had different levels of experience with their children's bickering. "How was he being mean to you?" Michonne asked, fighting her way past the child's curls to lay a kiss on top his head.
"Carl!" Rick called to get his son's attention. He hadn't really got to see the two of them interact but he didn't want his son bullying anyone, but especially someone smaller than him.
The older boy looked in the direction he heard his dad's voice coming from with a confused expression. He saw his father wave his hand, gesturing for him to come over. He looked between the two adults and the curly headed toddler and his mouth fell open. He knew what this was already, and he was about to try to defend himself. His dad picked up on that and said, "Get over here," before he could get a word out.
"Can I cry now Mommy?" Andre asked, ignoring his mother's questions.
Rick looked back at the mother and son as he registered the question the child was asking. She had even trained the boy to be quiet. To get permission that it was safe to cry or throw a tantrum, as he picked up on it was more of the later they were bordering on. He looked at Michonne as she stared at the boy, a smirk on her face, impressed at the way she had adapted her mothering skills to fit this new world they had been tossed into.
"I didn't do nothing," Carl said as he approached them.
"He wouldn't let me catch frogs with them," Andre finally admitted.
Rick looked at Carl waiting for an answer as Michonne smiled down at him. She knew that Andre was probably being dramatic. She had soon learned after arriving at the group that her son and her young friend were best friends one minute and fought like cats and dogs the next. At first she'd been a little concerned about it but she had soon learned that her son was perceptive and knew that he could get Carl in trouble easily since the adults tended to take his side, including Lori just because he was 'a baby'. She realized that Carl admired her and had too much respect for her to ever intentionally hurt Andre. One time Carl had been sent to the RV for almost an entire day after pushing Andre and causing him to cut his knee. The first thing the boy had done upon being allowed to exit the camper was find her and apologize for hurting her son. He had admitted everything that happened. He had told Andre not to climb the tree they were climbing for fun and Andre had started throwing pebbles at him, hitting him multiple times and being told to stop multiple times. Carl had lost his temper and pushed the smaller boy causing him to trip and hurt his knee. He had admitted he didn't see the large rock the boy had tripped over and he hadn't meant to shove him into it. Carl had broken down crying in her arms and she had ended up comforting him too, reassuring him that it was alright and that she didn't think ill of him because of the incident. Before all of this, her son had had cousins, and other playmates, him getting into altercations with other kids wasn't new to her and she knew Carl hadn't meant to hurt him. So yeah, this wasn't new to her.
"The water was too deep," Carl defended. "He keeps trying to come out further with us, and he keeps falling into the deeper part and I kept having to go back and get him because the water was over his head." Every time Andre would venture out too far and walk off the small underwater cliff, he found himself struggling to stay above the water. Then he would call out to Carl for help and Carl would have to stop playing to help him back into the more shallow part. "He's too little to come out where we are."
"Waaahh," Andre's head fell back as he let out a loud wail. Not loud enough to draw any walkers, but Michonne covered his mouth with her hand none the less. It was so dramatic and sudden, Rick couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. He guessed she hadn't perfected her new parenting skills just yet. Michonne's face split into an even larger grin after hearing him laugh, like she said, her son knew when and how to put on a performance. "Not so loud Dre."
Andre responded by looking at Carl, "I not too little," he hit at the boy.
Carl smiled, "Yes you are."
"Nooooo!," Andre wailed again. Again Michonne covered his mouth. "Dre," she said firmly, trying to hide her amusement at Rick cracking up now. She looked at Carl and gave him a look, he smiled back at her shyly. He had apologized for hurting Dre, and he had never done it again, but he had never apologized for teasing him. It was the only way he could get back at the small boy for antagonizing him. Dre purposefully annoyed Carl and Carl purposefully teased him back.
"He okay?" Carol asked, as all the adults were looking over at them now, a slightly amused look on their faces. They were not unfamiliar with Carl and Andre's antics.
"He's fine?" Michonne reassured them.
"Carl what did you do to him?" Shane yelled from his lawn chair.
"I didn't do him nothing," Carl smiled in disbelief. He didn't think he and Andre fought as much as all the adults liked to make it seem.
"Calm down bud," Rick said ruffling the boy's curls as he tried to suppress his laugh. "It's not that bad."
"Yah huh, Cawl's Daddy," he said, causing both the adults to laugh again. Rick shook his head. They had told him Rick's name multiple times. He supposed it was better than just plan old generic 'Man'. The boy never allowed for a dull moment.
"Are you gonna put him down for a nap?" Carl asked. Michonne's mouth dropped open. Carl knew how Andre felt about naps. He took them because he needed them, but he didn't like the older kids knowing about it.
"Mommy, Cawl," Andre said sobbing quietly as he pointed at Carl, no longer able to form sentences due to his state of fatigue and distress.
"You are really on a roll today, huh?"she said running her fingers through Carl's hair before pushing his shoulder slightly.
Carl smiled at her before running back over to the lake to finish playing with Sophia and the Morales'.
"Dre, it's okay," Michonne said stroking the boy's curls. "Com'on you don't need to hang out with those lame big kids. Come and hang out with Mommy."
"Okay," Andre sobbed quietly.
She and Rick shared a smile before she walked off towards the path leading back to the campsite. "Can you bring those back for me?" She nodded at the clothes basket.
She went on ahead and Rick stooped to pick up the basket, before turning to follow her back to the camp. He was stopped by Lori.
"Hey, where've you been all day?" She asked, a curious smile on her face.
"Hey," he told her. "I've just been talking to Shane."
"Really?" And he didn't miss the change in her demeanor. He could tell something was weird between Lori and Shane, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. They seemed to be mostly avoiding each other. They were both fine with him, but they were just, he couldn't put his finger on it. He supposed it could be that Shane had told Lori he was dead. He could see how she would be upset with him because of it and how he would feel weird about it. He hoped that she would forgive him and he would forgive himself, because he could definitely see how Shane could have thought he was dead. Hell, he still hadn't figured out how he survived.
"What about?" She asked.
He paused a second,because he hadn't brought this up to her yet, at least not seriously. "About where to go when we leave here."
Here eyebrows shifted up. "We're leaving here?"
"It's not safe, Lori," he said immediately beginning to explain his argument. It seemed he didn't need to though.
She stared at him in thought before simply replying, "So where are we going?"
His eyes softened at the realization that he wasn't going to have to argue with her. She was trusting him.
"The CDC," he told her. He'd figure out the mechanics of convincing Shane later.
Michonne stood with her arms folded, sword on her back, and most of her weight shifted to her left leg, a curious look on her face as she looked up at Rick. She thought when he said he would convince Shane, his argument would have been a little more savvy than, "Shane, we can't stay here. It isn't safe. We have to leave."
Rick looked from Andrea to Shane, as they both stared at him with a blank, yet somewhat confused expression on their faces. He expected one of them to say something, he waited for them to say something, but they didn't. He knew he would have a resistant audience, but they were looking at him like he'd just suggested they run through the city with blow horns and dinner bells.
Okay, it didn't seem like they were budging. He looked between them once more before turning to the one person in their circle of four he knew was on his side. She only tilted her head slightly and lifted an eyebrow before nodding once. It wasn't what he was looking for. It said valiant effort, but it was the participation trophy of nice try.
So maybe he could have been a little more wordy with a little more detail. But this was Shane, his best friend. They followed each other's lead. If Shane could see how much he truly believed this, he'd be on board with the plan. Finally Andrea spoke.
"And go where?" she said in a voice that clearly said she expected him to not have an answer to that. Or at least not as good a one as he did have.
"The CDC," he said his confidence restored a little.
At this Shane threw his hands up in the air and turned before taking a few steps away from them as if he was frustrated. Michonne rolled her eyes at him, as Rick continued to try to relay his plan.
"I heard it on the radio before the signals went out. They're looking for a cure, and Shane you know the security they have around that place."
"But it's back towards the city Rick," Shane told him. He knew it was too dangerous to travel towards the city.
"We can go around," Rick suggested.
"That'd take hours," Andrea retorted.
"Well we can go the straighter route," he told them.
"And just walk into our deaths?" Shane said, growing unnecessarily angry. Michonne stood studying him. She had a feeling that his anger had more to do with Rick's wife than his plan.
"We can't get that close to the city Rick?" Andrea tried to reason with him. "Not the entire group, we barely made it out there alive and you want us to drag Carol and Ed's unstable ass along with us. And the kids? I just don't think that's a good idea."
"What difference does it make, if we take our chances by getting closer to the city? They're already on their way to us," Michonne supplied.
"What?" Andrea asked. But Michonne didn't reply as she was engaged in a stare off with Shane. "What do you mean they're getting closer to us?" Still no one responded to Andrea's question.
Rick looked down at the ground and passed a hand over his brow. He hadn't wanted to spring that piece of information on them just yet. But, it seems it had them a little more interested in what he had to say now.
"What the hell is she talking about?" Shane asked, finally looking away from Michonne.
Rick chanced a glance at her and she nodded towards Shane, as if saying, 'Tell him'. He did.
"The other night," he started of almost hesitantly, "when we were walking the woods before we went to bed, we saw one."
"You saw one? What? A walker?" Andrea asked, not wanting to believe what they were hearing. They hadn't seen a walker since they had settled on that spot.
"Yeah, about a half mile away from the campsite," he admitted.
"That's impossible, they've not gotten that close before," Andrea said searching both of their faces for more of an explanation.
"The city," Rick began giving his hypothesis on the subject, "it's dried up. Everyone who was there is already dead, or turned, or very well hidden. Their food source, it's running low. They're leaving the city."
"And you want to meet them halfway," Shane added.
"No," Rick told him. "I want to get to safe place before we find ourselves in a position where we're waking up with them in our backyard."
"How many of them were there?" Andrea asked.
"One," Michonne told her. "Only one. But more are sure to follow," she turned to Shane. "And soon."
"So the two of you just want us to go out on a whim and take our chances with this?" Shane reaffirmed. "Just put all of our lives in danger over some hunch."
Rick threw his hands up in the air, mimicking Shane's gesture just a few moments before as he turned his back to the group. He didn't think that his friend would be this stubborn. It was obvious they weren't safe where they were.
"Rick," Shane called, willing the man to face them again.
"We don't all have to go," Rick spat out, clearly frustrated. This made Michonne's head turn towards him again. She didn't know where he was going, but maybe he was finally actually putting effort into convincing his best friend as he said he would. Rick continued. "Some of us can go, check it out. If it pans out, we come back for the rest o'ya."
The four of them stared at each other. Andrea's eyes travelling to every member in the group, Rick and Shane staring each other down and Michonne staring at Shane wondering if he was entertaining to idea of sending Rick out to his death, so he can inherit his family again.
"Alright," Shane said before all but confirming her thoughts. "When are you leaving?"
"We can head out tomorrow," Rick suggested.
"Wait," Andrea chimed in. "We didn't get much supplies the last time we went into the city. What if it takes you longer than expected? What if we need something? We're already going to be down people."
They all stood contemplating the questions. Rick wanted to suggest that there was a possibility of them not coming back at all. And that the group would ultimately have to learn to survive as a smaller group if that were to happen, but she did have a pretty good point, if he was being optimistic about it.
"We can go on a run before we leave," he suggested. "Tomorrow. Me, Michonne, Glenn, and Daryl. We'll have to go further out, not the city. Too dangerous," he said aloud but seemingly talking to himself as the plan formed in his head. It should only take us a few hours at most. We come back and rest up, the next day. I take Morales, Daryl, and Glenn, we head out to the CDC."
Michonne furrowed her brow at him wondering how she came to be replaced by Morales for the CDC run. She'd take it up with him later. For now, it only mattered that they get everyone on board with their plan.
Andrea and Shane looked at each other, before he looked back at his best friend, "Alright."
A/N: Sorry about any major mistakes guys. I really just wanted to get this posted but they just called for my plane to start boarding. I'll come back and fix them later, but let me know what you think, leave reviews, and remember if anyone want's to beta, please PM me.
One of the most under appreciated scenes of TWD that showed early signs of savage Rick was season 2 when Rick and Shane were in that old school yard and they had the other guy with them and the walkers trapped Shane and Rick came back with the guy, and he had duck taped the guys neck to the seat so he couldn't escape. That was hilarious.