Michonne opened her eyes and stretched still lying in the bed. The sun had just begun to fill the room with morning light. The house was very quiet. She looked over to the clock on the wall, 5:50 A.M.. She looked to her right to see Rick sleeping beside her. When she looked at him her heart became alarmed. She remembered the deep and intense kiss they shared right before going to sleep. Regret rushed into her mind. She put her hand over her mouth realizing what this might do to their friendship.

What have I done? I took advantage of him, she thought. He wasn't intending to kiss me, he was just searching for some escape from his pain and here I am, hungry for some kind of affection, I played along. Damn it!

She quietly pulled the blankets back from off of her and lifted herself up and off of the bed with her eyes fixed on Rick to make sure she didn't wake him. He was lying on his back with one hand on his stomach and the other behind his head. She took notice of his jacket which he still had on. He wasn't even himself last night, she continued to berate herself. He was so out of it he didn't even take his jacket off. She shook her head disappointed in herself. Disappointed not just because she kissed Rick whilst he was weak and drunken in sorrows, but also because she was herself at the time. She was not overcome by sorrow like him, her mind was fully functioning and truly, she hated to admit it to herself but she knew she truly wanted the kiss. And not just any kiss, but his kiss. Rick's kiss. Some part of her was craving that kiss and not only the kiss but to be maybe even with Rick. These feelings she had never felt or acknowledged before scared her. This wasn't right. Where did these feelings even come from? He doesn't share the same feelings. He really wanted Jessie, he just needed comfort and I was there. He probably wasn't even thinking of me when he kissed me, she thought.

Michonne walked around the bed to the door and as quiet as she could she twisted the door knob to open the door. She slowly pulled the door open and left the room quietly closing the door behind her. She peeked in the room where she had put Judith to bed the night before. Judith was still asleep. Poor baby was so sleepy, she thought. She went downstairs and into the room where Carl lay sleeping on the bed that he'd been on for the past week now. Denise was asleep on a mattress on the floor on the other side of the room. Michonne quietly walked over to Carl who was still recovering from his wound. She rest her hand on his forehead. He was warm. He looked much better today. For the first time he wasn't drenched in sweat, his breaths weren't strained. He took steady breaths. He looked like he was resting not trying to survive. With her hand still resting on his forehead she leaned in to give him a kiss on his cheek. When she kissed him he shifted a bit and opened his eyes. Michonne grabbed his hand with her free hand and smiled at him.

"I've been waiting for you to wake up," she whispered as tears began to fill her eyes and run down her face. He looked at her with his surviving eye and stared back into her brown eyes without saying a word. "Carl, can you speak?" she asked softly.

"Yea," he whispered back. He gave her the best smile he could and closed his eyes again. Michonne kissed his forehead and left him to rest. Seeing how he was recovering brought relief to her.

In the kitchen she sat at the table with a cup of tea in her hands. Her mind still playing over this kiss she shared with Rick the night before. She didn't want to think about it but she couldn't help herself. She couldn't stop her mind. As she sat there deep in thought she heard footsteps on the stairs that startled her. She knew it was Rick. She felt nervous and anxious and just wanted to jet out the house as fast as she could but she prevented herself. This had to be dealt with. Michonne could hear the footsteps reach the end of the stairs and then, to her relief, head to the room Carl was in. It was quiet again. Michonne wanted to run now while she could but her feet just wouldn't move. She remained in the seat until she heard the footsteps again several minutes later heading towards the kitchen.

"Good morning," Rick said as he entered the kitchen.

"Morning," she responded quickly avoiding eye contact. When Rick turned his back to her to get himself a cup from the cupboard she looked up at him. He seemed like his normal self for the first time since the incident with Carl. He surely didn't seem to be feeling the awkwardness she felt. Maybe seeing how well Carl was recovering made him himself again.

"Rick..." Michonne wanted to get past this now. Her heart was racing and though she'd rather go on like nothing ever happened she needed to clear the air, for her own sake.

"Yea," he said his back still turned to her as he washed the cup he picked out. Maybe he doesn't remember the kiss, she thought. He was acting too normal, there was no way he remembered. "I'm sorry about last night."

"Sorry about what?" he turned to look at her. Michonne looked up to meet his eyes but she couldn't look at him. She stared back at the tea in her cup. "Am I missing something here?" he asked.

"Last night Rick, you were crying…

and you were hurt and…

we kissed," Michonne said eyes still on the tea.

"I was hurt, not drunk Michonne, I know," he answered. Michonne could tell by his tone that he had a smirk on his face and wanted to look up to see his expression but she couldn't get herself to do it.

"I know you were hurt and it wasn't your intention to kiss m..."

"It wasn't my intention to what?" Rick's tone did not sound so playful this time, he sounded serious. Michonne forced herself to look up at him. She cleared her throat and attempted her sentence again,

"I know that it wasn't your intention to kiss me. That you were just- hurt and looking for some comfort and that's okay Rick." Rick looked back at Michonne. He paused for a bit before responding.

"And what was your intention? Was it not your intention to kiss me?" he asked. This question made Michonne feel uncomfortable. She knew very well what her intention was and feared Rick might be offended if he knew.

"I..." Michonne didn't know what to say. She never lied to Rick before. She knew she'd be lying if she said it wasn't her intention, but maybe he would be relieved if she said it wasn't.

"I.." she didn't want to lie to him, "I intended to kiss you," she admitted ashamed of herself, "but I'm sorry Rick and it won't happen again." Rick stood facing Michonne leaning his back against the cupboards. He looked down at the empty cup in his hands and then back at Michonne.

"Well that's too bad," he answered. Michonne's eyes widened completely and utterly shocked at what Rick just said.

"What?" she asked doubting that she heard him correctly. Rick walked over to the table where Michonne was sitting and sat in the chair beside her. He sighed and looked down at Michonne's hand that was resting on the table.

"I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you Michonne. I knew what was happening and I wanted it just as much as you." Michonne looked back at the tea. Hearing Rick say this was bitter sweet. Her heart felt a bit of relief but she was scared. She didn't know if she could let someone in again. Not to this extent. "What happened to Carl," he continued, "it just made me realize that I can't go on not telling you how I feel. If I lost you I don't know what I would do. I'm done going on keeping this in."

Rick stared at Michonne and could tell she was pondering over what he just said, trying to process it and come to terms with it. Flashbacks of Deanna on her death bed asking her what she wanted for herself flooded into Michonne's mind. Up until now she hadn't known. For the first time she felt like she knew why Deanna asked her. For the first time she felt like she had an answer. Now she knew what she wanted. But she knew it was something she maybe shouldn't have. It wouldn't work. I couldn't work, right? she asked herself.

"Michonne," Rick said putting his hand on hers. "I know your scared and I am too. But there is no one I trust more than you. There's no one who I'd trust to look after Carl and Judith like you. I trust you with my life Michonne." He squeezed her hand gently, "Do you trust me?"

"Yea," she said meeting his eyes with her own.

"Do you want this?" he continued.

"Yea, but..."

"But what Michonne?" Rick interrupted. "Why do you think you don't deserve to be happy? You do. We deserve to be happy. I'm willing to try this, I want this and I know this is what you want. Can you look at me right now and tell me this is not what you want?" She sat there still for a moment. It was all too sudden. Just last week they had no intention on becoming more than friends. Just last week, Rick was kissing Jessie. Her mind told her it would probably be best to deny Rick. But just for once she wanted to listen to her heart and her heart wanted to be with Rick. Just this time she wanted to not think of all the things that could and would go wrong with this. She wanted to give her heart a break. Michonne looked up at Rick.

"I do want this," she said. Rick smiled at her. He slowly lift his hand to touch her face. She closed her eyes as he moved his fingertips slowly down the side of her face to her chin. He moved toward her very slowly and paused to look at her right before his lips met hers. She gently placed her hand on his cheek and leaned in to close the gap between them kissing Rick. As the kiss became more passionate, Rick reached his hand across Michonne's lap and grabbed the side of her chair pulling her closer to him and rest his hands around her waist. Michonne freed the hand that still held onto the cup of tea and ran her hand down Rick's back, the other gently pressed against his neck.

BOOM! The sound caused the two to quickly separate and rush to Carl's room from which the noise came.

"Sorry guys," Denise whispered stacking a pile of books she knocked over.

"Oh yea Rick, Carol told me last night that she needed you to come help her with a gap in the wall as soon as you got up," Denise remembered as they helped her stack the books.

"Alright, I'll go now then." He walked over to Carl and rest his hand on his shoulder for a bit before turning to leave the room. On his way out he stopped by Michonne and grabbed her wrist. "I'll talk to you later?" he asked.

"Yea," she answered. He gave her wrist a gentle squeeze and left the room. Michonne and Denise could hear the front door close behind him.

"You need any help?" Michonne said as Denise opened a book and began to gather materials. Before she could respond the sound of Judith crying caught their attention. As Michonne turned to head up the stairs for Judith, Denise stopped her.

"I'll get her Michonne. It's okay. Glenn and Maggie need your help anyway."

"Are you sure? I could grab her before I go," Michonne insisted.

"No, I'll be fine. I got her," Denise reassured her heading toward the stairs to get Judith.

Michonne nodded her head, "Okay then, I'll see you later." She looked at Carl, who was looking back her now and smiled at him before heading to the living room to grab her vest. Her mind just couldn't get past what had just transpired between her and Rick. It felt so right. How could something feel this right the way the world was now. She tried to clear her mind but she could still feel Rick's kiss, his voice still echoing in her mind.

She put on her vest and grabbed her katana and then headed to the house next door where Glenn and Maggie were.