12:47 Day 1

"She must know." Michonne smirked and snorted out a laugh. The pleasingly proportioned shape of her, draped in the cling of white jersey shorts and a certain denim shirt, leaned on the doorpost of Judith's room drying her hands with a dish towel.

Rick pressed his eyes closed to gather himself and find a little zen. Judith vibrated like she had an internal motor, cracking up on the floor beside him. Her eyes were noticeably heavy, maybe she was deliriously sleepy because she was in the silliest mood. Stacking blocks then knocking them over was comedy of the highest caliber to her at the moment.

Turning nose to nose with the little one, he exhaled with a disgruntled sigh, "You're killing me, little girl." Michonne gave a throaty laugh to his frustration.

After baby Grimes fell asleep in her high chair over steamed veggies and ramen- the latter having stuck to her forehead, cheeks and hair- her tickled mother had wiped her down. Performing a miracle by not waking her up. But Rick, impatiently wanting to speed things along for alone time with mommy, carefully pulled his sleeping daughter from the high chair and took her upstairs to lay her down, while Michonne cleaned up the rest of the mess. As soon as her dad reached the top of the steps, Judith open her eyes and lit up in his arms. She seemed to have been revived, renewed with energy and the intent to play all afternoon. Now Rick sat on the carpet with his back against her changing table in a flood of toys, mentally willing her to go to sleep.

When Rick walked through his front door this morning he was immediately greeted by the sight of his family. Carl was seated at the table in the kitchen with a pen and paper and Michonne stood over him, pointing at whatever he was writing with one hand, Judith supported on her hip with the other. The composition of his most intimate crew wasn't any different than it had been when they first got to Alexandria: his son, his daughter and the woman who was beyond description and more than a friend to everyone in the house. But now she was something unique and sacred to Rick and Rick alone. Before he made his presence known, he stood in the foyer of their home and indulged in the sight of her.

In his mind, he heard the sophic words of a man who had found his true love quickly in the aftermath of the apocalypse. A man who had been smart enough and fearless enough not to waste anytime making that woman his wife. He heard the voice of Glenn Rhee.


Duty had placed one bothersome call after another, non stop, right at the door of Alexandria's leader for the past two of days. A malfunctioning grid on the solar panel, that required a very specific piece of hardware to fix, had sent Rick, Eugene and Glenn out on an unexpectedly long run. Rick was not the best company, silently cursing every office supply and electronic store that didn't have what they needed, knowing it would keep him away from her a few more hours. He was tolerably testy with Glenn who was being very understanding and somewhat snippy with Eugene who was being mildly annoying.

Once they struck gold in a ransacked Best Buy, Rick was outvoted two to one to spend the night there instead of driving through the dense dark of night in unfamiliar territory. They had cleared and secured the large depot and bedded down for the night after a grueling day of driving, killing walkers and babysitting their resident geek. Rick and Glenn would have loved to leave Eugene back in Alexandria but he was the only one who knew what to look for and was there just in case they didn't find exactly what they needed. There was the possibility that he'd have to improvise.

Rick had volunteered to take first watch since he knew he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon without the warmth of her legs wrapped around his or her scent pacifying and lulling him to sleep. But Glenn knew the look of a man going through withdrawals. He was in recovery himself and experienced frequent relapses.

"Only one thing can make a man that miserable in the middle of the night." Glenn said to a noticeably glum Rick over the windy snore of Eugene. He crushed his jacket behind his neck and wiggled down into a comfortable position.

Rick scoffed audibly at being called miserable. There wasn't a word in the English language suitable for his agony. Then he gave a secret scoff at hearing Michonne's voice in his head saying 'Don't be so dramatic, Grimes.' But the dippy look on his chosen brother's face made him decide to bite. He turned to Glenn, "Really? What's that?"

In answer, he leaned in Rick's direction and whispered, "Love." Glenn brought the tips of his fingers together and floated them down through the air, drawing an invisible heart-shape in the space between them.

Rick wanted to laugh but wouldn't give Glenn the satisfaction.

"Only one thing that can cure that misery." Glenn added. "And I love you man, but I the most I can offer you is like, a hug."

Rick grumbled instead of chuckling like he could have.

"Reminds me of this song I know..." Glenn tapped his chin as if he were searching his mind for the lyrics, "It goes- Rick and Michonne sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G... You can sing along if you know the words, Rick."

Rick faked a laugh to hide his actual amusement. "Ha Ha... asshole. Know any songs about annoy'n Korean guys?"

"Only one. It goes- Glenn and Maggie sitting in a tree K-I-..." They both broke into laughter. "Look dude, I know how you feel." Glenn sympathized. "Trust me, I would definitely rather be home with my wife than stuck here with you... and him." Glenn nodded towards a drooling Eugene in the fetal position. "But how much would it suck if we pushed to get home and then got stuck somewhere or even worse, got gobbled up by walkers? I'd be in so much trouble with Maggie. We gotta pick our battles with our women, Rick..."

"What," Rick chuckled out, "...are you gonna give me relationship advice?" Rick asked doubtfully. "Suddenly 'cuz you're married now, you're the go-to guy for advice huh?" He teased. "You know I used to be a married man too, right?"

"Look, Rick, no offense- but you used to be a married man and let's be honest Lori was nothing like Michonne." Glenn rolled over on his elbow, suddenly more excited by the conversation, "See, I got a theory about women like Michonne, Maggie, Sasha, Carol... I think the turn... did... something to' um. Like changed' um." He said narrowing his eyes like he was speaking of legend. "So," he shrugged, "you pick your battles, dude... and really the only battles where every body wins are the battles fought in the bedroom."

"Do I wanna hear this?" Rick jokingly asked, suddenly uncomfortable with the turn of this conversation.

"I think you already heard it." Glenn said to him knowingly.

Rick raised a curious brow. "Did I?" He felt like he should be grasping something from all this but damned if he knew what Glenn was getting at.

Glenn gave a patient sigh. "Look, right now, you're like... a boxer!" He adopted the metaphor, determined to make it work to get his point across to Rick. "You're in your corner right now." Glenn sat up and gestured, setting the scene. "You're anticipating her next moves, calculating your own... And when you get back to her... that's when the bell dings... You come out the corner swinging. TKO's, round after round." Mimicking jabs and uppercuts, he reiterated, "Round after round, dude. Don't let her catch her breath."

Rick thought it was priceless to hear this from Glenn, of all people. But still, he heard him. He had really been holding back with Michonne. He had been holding back since their days in the prison. The penitentiary was such a poetic location for pent up feelings. But even now, with things being so new, he thought a more measured approach was called for. So he made love to Michonne long and deep and he was positive she enjoyed it. But in the hindsight of Glenn's comments, he saw that the ache of being away from her was heightened because of the unconscious frugality of everything he was giving her. He was behaving like a regular guy with a regular girl- birds and the bees stuff- when they were both definitely higher up the food chain. Rick's meal came to him willingly and frequently to be devoured. What was he thinking leaving their bed with a doggy bag? Never again.

He looked over at Glenn, who was drifting peacefully. Rick stopped pouting and started plotting. He stayed up the rest of his watch thinking about her, constructing scenarios, hatching prophecies about her reactions to the full width, breadth, height and weight of him. And when his 3 hours were up it was no problem at all for him to fall asleep. He wanted to be well-rested when he saw her. So he dozed off, much as his first friend in this world had- smiling.


All morning Rick and Michonne had flirted with each other. Domesticity bringing them into the ring but only to dance around each other thanks to their little blonde-haired referee. She seemed determined to interrupt any kiss or touch that lasted more than a second.

"Yeah, you know. Don't you, Jude?" Now entering the baby's room, Michonne illuminated with a teasing gaze and sank down to her knees and then onto all fours. She crawled seductively through the scattering of blocks, books, plush toys and puzzles until she hovered over Rick's lap, leaving the roundness of her rear like a mirage before him. Rick threw his head back at the torture of her proximity and position. He rolled his eyes the length of her. Starting at the chocolate cheeks spilling from the hem of her tiny shorts, he made notes. His eyes wandered to her petite waist peeking from the tied front tails of Rick's stolen denim shirt. He stopped at her lips, puckered to give their little nap-evader a kiss.

"Heard that, Jude? You're killing daddy." Michonne swung her locs over her shoulder to see Rick's tormented face without obstruction, meeting his lustful stare and the sight of his tongue sweeping his bottom lip.

Wild with hunger, he reached up to grab a piece of the cake she was presenting him, but instead he shifted in his jeans to get a little relief and warned her, "Don't be cute."

She taunted him, "Thought you liked me cute, Sheriff." She had no idea that he'd spent half the night composing formidable strategies that would guarantee his victory, round after round. His eyes were like frozen fire consuming her, but he only shook his head with a skewed smile as she obliviously ensured her own undoing.

Michonne sat back on her heels, kneeling before him. She reached out and said to Judith dryly, "Can't let you kill daddy, Honey." She lifted their daughter into her arms and the baby immediately rested her plump cheeks on Michonne's shoulder. Rick watched in amazement as the black magic before him stood on her feet and swayed his daughter sound asleep in less than one minute.

Rick stood up too, "Why didn't you do that twenty minutes ago?" he asked, his boots producing a short-lived beat as he walked over to Michonne who was marveling at the angelic face resting on her body. She shrugged nonchalantly at Rick's question and raised an affectionate hand to smooth gently up and down Judith's back, enjoying her stillness for a moment. Rick had already paid worship to this scene hours ago from his front door. With no further ado, he was ready to enter the shrine and make an offering. Walking pass her, he pressed a kiss to Judith's head, before applying a different kind of kiss with those same lips to Michonne's unoccupied shoulder. He snaked his arm around her waist, up under the knot she'd made just above her bellybutton with the fabric of 'her' shirt. He ghosted his finger across her skin and below the flesh and muscle, her womb began to flutter, her deep pink lotus flower began to bloom.

"I missed you." Country twang confessed. His breathy undertone suggested that his need for her was strangling his self control. "Been a long night without you."

Michonne radiated. She'd had a rough time of it last night as well. But she couldn't afford to be sluggish with her toddler on the loose. She had to get some sleep. So she made love to herself as his proxy, with two fingers as her only sense of touch and flashbacks of the pervading scents, sights, spice and sounds of sex with Rick Grimes. She forged his signature on the orgasm that finally got her to sleep, but she could not ignore what a cheap knock-off it was. She let him know with a ready sigh, "I missed you, too."

"Lay her down," He caressed Judith's soft curls with one hand and pulled the back of Michonne flat against him with the other, "... and come with me so I can take care of you. I owe you." Rick walked across the hall to their room and began to undress.

When she shut and locked their bedroom door behind her, what she saw made heat rise hot into her cheeks. She approached where he sat, naked, at the foot of the bed. He held onto the mattress' edge with his large hands, his arms straight out to his sides, in a lazy, impatient slouch that displayed the well-defined grouping of his abs. He leered up at her from under his brow and dangle of curls.

He took her hands and led her to stand right between his thighs, where his manhood laid extended and swollen but not yet fully erect. She tried to keep her eyes focused on his, but the sight of him in all his glory made her knees weak.

He broke into her thoughts, "Am I ever gonna get my shirt back?" He looked up into her face and she gave him a bashful grin.

She rolled her eyes, retreating from his, looking off to his nightstand and pretending to focus on an object there. Had there been a quiz on the contents of that nightstand, she would have failed completely. Her vision was becoming hazy as he began to unbutton the shirt in question, slowly.

"I guess no answer means no?" He concluded, his voice snapping her out of hypnosis again.

"Smells like you." She edged off her tongue, shakily as he kissed her bare stomach. "I like the way you smell... feels like you too."

He chuckled at her words and breathed her in deep, "Mmmm." he acknowledged. Then speaking into her belly with the rumble of an oncoming train and the hiss of a dragon, he wondered, "What do I smell like?"

Michonne looked down into a blue abyss as Rick looked up into a copper-toned heaven. She held onto his curls, "Good." was her absentminded answer.

"What do I fell like?"

"I don't know." She couldn't think through his touch anymore. "Remind me and I'll tell you."

Moments later, her head was lying between their pillows, her thighs tightening and relaxing on Rick's bearded face. She had asked him to remind her, but that's not what he was doing. She didn't know what he was doing. But Rick knew. He was neck-deep into round one of her re-education.

The last time he gave her this kind of attention, he had rebuked himself the entire time. 'Slow and steady, Rick' he calmed himself as he languidly lapped and tongued her tentatively. 'Relax, she's yours. She's not going anywhere' he'd found it helpful to remind himself. He had made more noise than she did, trying to simply taste and not devour, lamenting the agreement that he'd made with himself to 'Go easy on her'. When he was done, Michonne had let out a grateful purr and seemed content...

This time things were not so serene or civil. His tongue honored no boundaries, his lips were rapacious, she even sustained a bite or two on her well-padded posterior. Michonne rose her head to watch him. She saw sapphire peering back at her, minding her every twitch, thrust and outburst. She had never seen any man so dutiful about exploring every possibility of pleasing her. Her emotions demanded more but her body was at risk of tapping out. Her muscles compressed and her toes curled and she ruptured from bliss without warning.

"Sorry." She forced out the word, flat on her back, into the air, "I was trying... I tried to tell you I was close." She attempted to atone for the overflow that left his whiskers and nose glistening.

"Oh, baby. I could tell. You didn't have to tell me." He kissed her inner-thigh and then the other. He relished in letting her in on his proud secret, "Chonne, you're witnessing the successful execution of a master plan." He wiped his beard with his hand and climbed her body, leaving moist trails and teeth impressions along the way. She blew out a quivering breath as tears rolled into her ears. His voice was distorted and echoing, her climax still disorienting her. He kissed her mouth, suppressing his full-grown cock in the grip of his hand. He pushed into her and she anchored him into her depths. "So what do I feel like, swee'heart?"

No answer came, but she did-

Over and over again.

A winner was declared.

Round one belonged to the man with the plan.