AN: I want to thank you all who took the time to review.
Since you were so kind, I've decided to put out another chapter and continue with my exploration of what happened with our ladies.
A reminder to everyone who reads, I am not going to be following much (if any) of the plot from the television show surrounding these two. I was a late comer to the TWD fandom and missed quite a bit from the early part of Season 3. I don't have access to the season at this time, so I'm just writing my own version. Sorry for those of you who are sticklers about that, but there's really no way around it for me. Also, although I don't intend to make the characters OC or go too OOC, I will be interpreting them my own way.
That being said, I hope you enjoy, regardless.
Please review if you feel so inclined, I greatly appreciate it!
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Andrea was awakened by the feeling of Michonne nudging her with her boot and pulling the blanket away from her. She stirred a little, vaguely aware that the fire was almost out. She had slept very deeply, more deeply than she had in some time. She wondered if the presence of Michonne sleeping near her had anything to do with it. It was difficult not to feel safe in her presence.
"You can come with me, or you can stay here," Michonne said, "but the blanket is coming with me."
Andrea absentmindedly relinquished the blanket and sat up. She watched as Michonne quietly folded it and returned it to her bag. She loaded the two Walkers again and started to unchain them from the tree that held them hostage.
"I'm coming," Andrea said. She struggled to her feet, not entirely awake.
Michonne didn't respond to her in any way, she just finished kicking out the remaining smoldering embers from the fire and started forward, giving the two Walkers trailing her a little jerk. Andrea fell in step beside her.
"Where are we going?" Andrea asked. She was used to her group always having a destination. They knew where they were going, or at least where they hoped to be going. There was always some sort of answer to "where?" and when there wasn't they were camping and attempting to make the most normal type of lifestyle available to them in the madness that surrounded them. This woman, who currently seemed to Andrea to be only a little less than a mythical creature, didn't seem to function on the same set of rules. Their "camp" had only been a place to sleep, and now they were moving again.
The woman didn't respond in any way and Andrea grew a little tense. Was this how it was going to be from here out? Was she actually going to be expected to travel in silence? They hadn't eaten anything for breakfast either, and Andrea could feel that the beans from the night before were gone. She didn't want to ask Michonne anything about breakfast, though, sure that she wouldn't get a response anyway.
"So is it something about me, or do you just never talk?" Andrea finally asked after they'd been walking along in silence for a bit. They'd encountered maybe three roaming Walkers and Michonne had taken them down, without even much concern, before Andrea had even thought about responding.
No response from the woman, of course.
"I don't have a weapon," Andrea stuttered. She realized that when the last Walker had appeared. Michonne had loaded the bag of guns, essentially useless, onto the shoulders of one of the Walkers. Andrea had lost her knife at the farm. She was unarmed and at the mercy of the samurai in front of her.
Michonne stopped a moment and turned to face Andrea. Her cloak was tied securely around her shoulders, but she'd left the hood down, for now. Andrea regarded her face in the daylight. She was surprised at herself, but she couldn't help but think that the woman was remarkably beautiful, and though she wore a blank expression, there was something in her eyes that seemed a little softer than her tightly pursed lips suggested she was.
"It's not smart to go about unarmed," Michonne said quietly.
That she responded to, Andrea thought.
Michonne walked around behind the Walkers and dug in her bag a minute, joining Andrea again after securing the bags once more. She produced a knife and handed it to Andrea.
"I hope you're not too afraid to use it," she said.
"I'm not," Andrea said, now unsure of what the woman must think of her. "I lost mine when a herd attacked the farm that I was staying at. I don't usually go around without a weapon."
"No, I can see you had plenty of guns," Michonne said, responding with a slightly sarcastic tone, "but they're a lot more useful with bullets. Knives are better, it doesn't make much sense to use a weapon to kill the Dead with a weapon that's just going to draw the attention of more Dead."
It was Andrea's turn to be silent now. She frowned at Michonne, but didn't respond to her. Michonne gathered up the chains again without a word and gave it a quick snap, the Walkers behind her sparking again and following her. Andrea stood there a minute, and then jogged ahead to catch back up with Michonne.
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The blonde, Andrea, asked a lot of questions. Michonne wasn't a fan of answering questions. She'd never really been a fan of it. That's why she had been a lawyer. She'd been the one asking the questions, not having to respond to them. It had even been something she'd struggled with from time to time with her girls. They'd both been in the stage where they asked a lot of questions. Mostly they wanted to know "why?" about everything, and they'd used the word incessantly. She'd been patient with them, though, they were her babies. The blonde was nothing to her, and she didn't want to entertain all of her questions, especially the ones she didn't have an answer to.
She hadn't really intended to have the blonde follow her around after she saved her from the Dead. She had thought the blonde maybe had somewhere to be, someone to be with, but it seemed now that she had unknowingly gained herself a travel partner, one who had no supplies, and even lacked a weapon.
The first place they were going was to the nearest town. They needed food, and Michonne needed to give the blonde the opportunity to stock up on whatever it was she would need. Winter wasn't going to be kind to them, and Michonne didn't want to have to be wholly responsible for the both of them. If Andrea was going to stay with her, she was going to pull her own weight. Michonne had lost her babies, and in her mind they had been the only two people that she was responsible for. She wasn't going to be taking care of this woman now, not because she'd just stumbled over her in the woods and decided to buy her another day to live.
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Andrea had followed along in silence, a little annoyed at her growing belief that Michonne considered her someone who wasn't able to take care of herself. She hadn't left the farm unprepared because she thought it was a great idea, she'd done it because there hadn't been time for anything else. Her departure had been abrupt, to say the least, but it didn't seem like Michonne was even considering that factor.
When they emerged from the woods, visibly not far from a town, Andrea assumed that Michonne had some kind of plan in mind, but she wasn't going to ask her anything else. She could be just as quiet as her travel companion.
She'd followed Michonne into town, the woman in front of her taking out any Walkers that they encountered before Andrea even had a chance to draw the knife she'd been given. She sulked a little as they made their way down the street. She couldn't prove to Michonne that she was capable of defending herself, of defending both of them, because she wasn't being given any sort of chance to do so.
She followed Michonne into what appeared to be some kind of outdoor supply store. The store was empty of Walkers except for two that were ambling about and lost their heads before they'd ever even become fully aware of the two women. Michonne led the way to an aisle, and apparently finding what she was looking for, stopped before some packs. She plucked one from the shelf and tossed it at Andrea. Andrea caught it.
"Get whatever you need," Michonne said. She took another.
Andrea wasn't really sure what she needed. It had been so much different in camp and on the farm. They'd stockpiled supplies, sending Glenn out for bulk of whatever they needed. She hadn't ever had to carry supplies in the manner that Michonne did, using Walkers as pack mules. She tried to get her mind into gear to think about all the possible things she would need. Michonne was ambling about packing her own bag that she'd selected.
Suddenly, Andrea became aware that Michonne was strapping her bag to the Walkers, apparently preparing to go, but Andrea hadn't finished.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"I'm going to get food," Michonne said.
"Don't leave me, I'm almost done here," Andrea said.
"Finish up, you'll find me across the street, two stores down," Michonne commanded.
"You're not going to leave me here, are you?" Andrea asked.
Michonne just looked at her, apparently slightly annoyed. Andrea wished she hadn't asked the question, but she didn't want to be left. Losing her group had been traumatic enough. Now she didn't want to see this woman walking away, abandoning her here in this ghost town.
"You'll find me, getting food," Michonne said. She turned to go, tugging her pets after her.
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Michonne made sure to double everything she picked up. It was going to take some getting used to having to carry twice the food between stops that she normally did. The blonde wasn't in any frame of mind to think of all that she would need, so Michonne would have to think for both of them until she adjusted. She just hoped that the blonde adjusted soon.
She filled the sacks and secured them to the Walkers just as Andrea appeared in front of her, her sack slung over her shoulder. Michonne reached out for it and Andrea offered it up. It was full, but Michonne had no idea what the woman had chosen out of the store. She secured it to the back of one of the Dead that she was leading around and felt satisfied that they could move on now.
Michonne was anxious to get back into the woods, farther away from people, and start considering where they might make camp. If she could find a nice body of water somewhere nearby, she might even get to bathe, even though the water would be freezing with the dropping temperatures. If they were camping close enough, she thought, she could warm some water over the fire to wash herself down with, and she could boil some more to fill the canteens that were running low at this point.
If they were going to find such a promising location, especially before nightfall, they had to get a move on. She gave a swift tug to the Dead that were ambling behind her and led them and the blonde back out of the town and into the surrounding wooded areas.
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Andrea didn't know if it had been Michonne's plan, but the camp they had found was perfect. They were close enough to a spring that she could hear the slight rippling of the water. Michonne had started a fire and had boiled water, filling the canteens she'd hung around the pets who were now secured to a tree. She'd also warmed water for them to bathe.
Andrea had accepted the bath water a little shy. The camps that they'd stayed at before had offered little privacy, but she'd at least been able to bathe without anyone looking at her. Michonne hadn't offered to walk away, nor had she walked away to bathe herself. She had unashamedly stripped out of her clothes and quickly gone to washing herself, seemingly unaware of Andrea's presence.
Andrea didn't dare trail too far, though, since it was dark. In the firelight she also stripped off her clothes, trying to hide as much of herself as possible from Michonne, who was paying her little attention and didn't seem to mind whether or not Andrea could see her exposed body. Andrea tried to avert her eyes, but she was drawn to looking at the woman, for at least a moment.
In all her nudity, the woman wasn't quite the same intimidating figure that she was when she was clothed and armed, but her body was well built, and sculpted, no signs of starvation or missed meals. Andrea realized that this was a person who had done well for themselves since all this started, at least in the way of nutrition.
Andrea washed quickly and dressed in clean clothes that she had picked up at the outdoor supply store, noticing that Michonne had done the same. She wondered how the laundry worked around here, since it was clear that she didn't have Carol coming around to collect her dirty clothes. Michonne's only response to laundry so far had been to gather up their dirty clothes and pack them into one of the bags.
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"Here, eat," Michonne said, offering Andrea one of the heated cans of food and taking one for herself. She felt good. Baths always made her feel better, especially if she could have the water heated. Michonne was cold natured, and the dip in the temperatures wasn't something that she relished.
They ate in silence, just the way Michonne had hoped the meal would go. Maybe Andrea was learning that she didn't care much for chit chat. Before all this had happened she hadn't minded at all sharing a good laugh and some idle gossip with her friends, but it just seemed like now there wasn't a place for it. There wasn't room for chat in a world where only survival mattered. Besides, if they did chat now, the only topics available to them were their lives before all of this, or the tragedies that they'd suffered since. Neither of which was something Michonne wanted to discuss. Both dredged up memories she'd like to leave where they were, especially before she tried to sleep.
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As they were settling in to sleep, Andrea took her blanket from her bag and started looking for the most leaves that she could find to offer as some sort of cushion against the punishing ground. She had found a spot that didn't look extremely comfortable, but it was better in comparison to others.
She noticed Michonne unloading her things from the Walkers. She had a blanket and a sleeping bag. Andrea hadn't noticed her pluck that from the store, and she was silently cursing the fact that she hadn't thought to do the same thing.
"A sleeping bag, that's a good idea," Andrea said.
"Should have gotten one while we were out," Michonne said, arranging her bed.
Andrea thought about it a minute. That was far better than leaves, and she thought she might be able to sway her companion into sharing.
"You know, if you unzip that it would easily sleep two," she said. "We could share it as a mattress and cover ourselves with the blankets. Double the blankets would mean double the heat, not to mention the body heat," she offered.
Michonne was quiet for a minute, but she'd stopped arranging the bed. She was apparently considering Andrea's idea.
In response, Michonne began to unzip the sleeping bag. Andrea didn't move from her spot for a moment, studying the movements of the woman. When she'd laid it out flat, she looked at Andrea.
"Well, are you coming?" She asked. She lowered herself to the sleeping bag and Andrea smiled to herself. She got up and brought her blanket, lying down on the sleeping bag beside Michonne and helping to arrange the blankets on top of them. She was immediately thankful for the noticeable difference in comfort between the sleeping bag and the pile of leaves she'd been planning on sleeping on before. She had to admit, too, that her assertion about the heat provided by both blankets and the trapped body heat was true.
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Michonne was cold natured. She hated the cold. That was the only reason she'd decided to accept the blonde's proposal. She had to admit, though, that lying under the blankets, not inches from the blonde, was warm. In fact, it was the warmest she'd been in a while and it made her instantly relaxed, renewing the feeling she'd enjoyed after the bath while she'd eaten her dinner. She felt herself growing sleepy and didn't try to fight the lull that was creeping over her. Maybe it had been a good thing that the blonde, Andrea, hadn't had enough foresight to scavenge a sleeping bag of her own.
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For a moment Andrea felt strange lying so close to the woman that hardly spoke a handful of words to her during the day. The sleeping bag, though, was comfortable, and the heat was more than enough to make her not pay attention to the chill seeping up through the sleeping bag from the damp earth below.
Andrea lie awake a few minutes, listening to the sounds around her. She could hear the familiar nature sounds of the surrounding woods, the occasional crackle of the low burning fire not far from them, the growling of the Walker pets that tailed them everywhere, and she could hear the steady and rhythmic breathing of the woman who had saved her life.
At least she knew that her mythical woman slept, and she trusted her enough to sleep only inches away from her. Andrea closed her eyes and drifted off, hoping for another night of sleep as deep as the one she'd had the night before.
