Chapter 2

Michonne closed her eyes at the sound of her name and slowly she turned around. She locked eyes with the voice that called out to her.

"Hey Sherri."

The woman leaned on one side...hands on her hips. She glanced down at the grocery bag that had fell down when the front door had opened…annoyance flashed across her face.

"So what? You were gonna leave? Just like that?"

Michonne stared at her older sister. She doesn't want to get into any argument with her.

"Don't start with me."

"Why did you even come back here? It's not like you care."

"Are you really going to do this here? Now?"

"You are still the selfish bitch as always! Everyone made a sacrifice for this family to work but not you! You think you are so special…better than all of us but you're not!"

Michonne stared at her sister, totally shell shocked at what was just said to her. Tears stung her eyes as they fought to reach the surface.

"Sacrifice!" Michonne semi screamed at her.

"Yes Michonne! Sacrifice! I did it…why couldn't you?"

"I can't believe that you are saying these things to me!"

Sherri folded her arms across her chest and looked at her.

"You could have done it for mom! You have no idea what we went through after you left!"

Tears ran down Michonne's cheeks as her sister's words cut her deep. Sherri seemed to enjoy Michonne's pain as a small smile appeared on her lips. After a minute Michonne composed herself as best as she could and looked at her sister defiantly.

"I don't have to listen to this bullshit!"

"Well leave Michonne!" Sherri screamed at her. "Leave! We don't want you here! We survived without you after all these years. Me, mom…Natalie."

Michonne laughed at her.

"You call what happened to Natalie surviving? If it was all good she wouldn't have done what did!"

"F*ck you Michonne."

"F*ck you too Sherri! You don't get to judge me because I didn't do what you did...follow in your footsteps. I made a sacrifice too! We all did what was best for us at the point in time. Just because you don't agree with my choice doesn't mean it meant any less than yours!"

The sisters glared at each other...both angry and hurt for different reasons. Then Michonne noticed a small child peeping at her from behind the front door. Sherri followed her gaze and saw that it was her daughter Mel. The child smiled at Michonne.

"Get back inside! This doesn't concern you!" Sherri barked at the child who ran back into the house. She turned back to face Michonne.

"I think you should leave."

Michonne shook her head disappointed. She couldn't believe that her own sister was kicking her out…treating her this way at a time like this.

"I'll leave but I will be back. I am here to see Natalie…make sure she's ok. After that, you'll never see me again."

"Good."

Michonne was walking down the steps when Sherri called out to her.

"Hey!"

Michonne turned around and saw Sherri was walking up to her with the bag of groceries she left at their door step.

"You left something." Sherri threw the bag at Michonne but it fell short of the distance, its contents spilling on the ground. "We don't need you, your groceries or your money. We are not your charity."

Michonne watched heartbroken as Sherri turned and went inside the house, closing the door behind her. Michonne cried as she bent down, picking up the items off the dirty floor.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rick rushed out of the shower when he heard his phone ringing but by the time he reached by the bed it had stop ringing. He checked the call log and recognizing the number, he frowned. It was Jessie Wallace, one of the many women who he tries to avoid on a daily basis.

He didn't want any trouble with any of the husbands of these ladies or other men in Crystal Savannah but they are persistence as hell. He was a priest so he had to talk to them…in church, whenever they come to confession, which was quite too often of late. He couldn't avoid them. His phone began to ring again…it was Debbie-Ann and he ignored it.

He looked through his closet trying to choose what was the best thing to wear so as not to grab anymore unwanted attention from the community residents. He quickly decided on a blue washed out jeans and a blue jeans jacket. The phone began ringing on the bed for the third time when he left the house to go to the market.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michonne spent the first night in the motel room she rented for a few nights crying. She knew that coming back to Crystal savannah would have been hard but she didn't know that it would have been this hard. She made a lot of mistakes but she believed in her heart that her leaving wasn't one of them.

Natalie was so young when she left….only three years old. Natalie would follow her around like a puppy and she loved that about her. Michonne and Sherri never got along since she could remember when they were kids so she was very happy to finally have the bond with a sibling that she never had with Sherri. She took Natalie with her everywhere she went.

Michonne was 11 when Natalie was born and she soon became her primary caregiver. Sherri's hate for Michonne grew after that. Things got so bad at home after that that by the time Natalie was three years old she had to leave. She didn't have a choice. So she left and didn't look back. She got up, showered, dressed and decided to take a brief walk around town before visiting Natalie in the hospital.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rick walked briskly down the street and into Carol's Grocery. There he saw Carol's two daughters, Heather standing at the cash register and Megan stocking the shelves. A broad smile instantly appeared on Heather's face and she called out to him.

"Good morning Father Rick! How are you today?"

Rick trying to be polite, smiled back.

"I'm good Ms Leacock. How are you?"

Heather left the register and walked over to Rick. Megan smiled.

"Father Rick…I told you to just call me Heather. Just Heather."

"I'm just showing you some respect. Is that wrong?"

"You are such a gentleman. Ms Leacock is my mother. You make me feel old calling me Ms."

"That wasn't my intention."

"I know. Are you coming to the community fair?"

"I don't know."

"You have to come! Everyone will be there!"

Rick smiled tightly as he quickly dropped some items in his basket and walked passed Heather heading towards the cash register. Heather followed closely and after ringing up his bill and Rick paying, she slowly packed his groceries in a brown paper bag. The store door opened and a woman dressed in fitted blue jeans, black boots and a red and white pinned stripe top entered.

She wore large sunglasses that covered most of her face and her dreadlock hair was tied up in a neat pony tail. Rick briefly glanced at the woman and Heather, seeing an opportunity slipped the store's business card with her number into his grocery bag. Her sister Megan saw and snickered to herself. Rick turned back to see Heather smiling at him. He took his bag and walked out of the store, passing in the same lane as the woman.

"Bye Father!" Heather called out to Rick. He didn't answer.

"Good morning." Rick greeted the woman

"Good morning." The woman answered back softly.*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Heather and Megan looked at the female customer in the store and went about their business. Michonne recognized them but she was glad that they didn't recognize her. She was browsing for about a minute until she came upon a chicken sandwich in the deli section. She took up two and a large bottle of water and went to the cashier. She kept her head down as Heather rang up her bill. She paid and left the store undetected.

"So far so good." Michonne mumbled to herself. Looking at her watch Michonne hailed a taxi to her next destination.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michonne walked into the County Memorial Hospital a bundle of nerves. Although she has spoken to Natalie dozens of time on the phone over the fourteen years, they haven't physically seen each other since she left home. She doesn't know what Natalie looks like and vice versa.

"Natalie Downer room please." Michonne asked the nurse at the nurse's station. The nurse checked her computer briefly.

"Room 325."

Michonne nodded her head in appreciation and went in search of the room. She smiled when she saw the 325 on the room door and was about to push it open to go inside when she heard a voice…a familiar voice. She froze. Pushing the door in slightly she saw her mother Antoinette sitting at the side of a young woman's bed...rosary beads in her hand. It had to be Natalie.

Antoinette was crying and praying beside Natalie's bed who had tubes hooked up to her everywhere. Michonne looked at her sister's wrist and saw that she had indeed do what she promised to do in the one and only letter that Natalie had ever written her. Michonne remembered when she got the letter in her mailbox…nine days late from the date that the letter arrived at her local post office.

She had found it was strange when Natalie asked her for her postal address but just thought that she was planning to finally visit like they have been planning for the past two years. However, when she opened the letter, she was horrified at the words as the anguish of them rang so familiar in her own ears.

'I can't take it anymore! I am going to end it all! I love you Michonne...Please forgive me!'

Those 19 words had torn through Michonne when she read them. She called home and her mother through tears told her what had happened just days earlier. Thankfully, Natalie had survived. She then began to berate Michonne for abandoning her family and told her to f*ck off...that she wasn't welcomed back in Crystal Savannah. Despite her mother's painful words Michonne bought a ticket the next day for her native home. She wasn't going back for them...she was going back for Natalie. The memories of receiving the letter overwhelmed Michonne as she slowly backed away from the hospital door and into another room. She burst into tears. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michonne waited for an hour until her mother left Natalie's room then quietly slipped inside. Sitting on the chair beside the bed, Michonne burst into tears again as she held her sister's hand.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I should have been there!"

Michonne had been in the room for ten minutes when she jumped to her feet and spun around as the door opened behind her. She stared at her mother and her mother stared back at her.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Antoinette looked at her long lost daughter. Fourteen years. Michonne looked as beautiful as ever…but she always was the prettiest of all her girls and that didn't go unnoticed. Suddenly she became annoyed at her. Michonne didn't care enough for her family to stick around...to ride it out. Instead she took off leaving all her loved ones behind. For the first couple of years after she left Antoinette hated her daughter but it soon subsided. Now she was here…in person, all those old feelings was now bubbling to the surface. Michonne smiled at her.

"Mom…"

Antoinette put down the sandwiches she brought from the hospital's vending machine on a small table in the room.

"I thought I told you not to come back."