Gahh. Sorry it took so long to post this-only had time to edit the beginning of day one. The rest will be up after Christmas. No more posting with a bunch of typos :) Thanks for the feedback and support.

Hope you like this bit.

NOTE: This chapter takes place before Daryl and Judith show up/so basically it's a flash back. The next few chapters will cover those three days left out of the second chapter.

Once again, none of these characters belong to moi.

Day One

Michonne woke up in a bind. Her arms were wrapped around the neck of a man. She was certain of that much as chest hair tickled her nose and a strong-arm pressed her even closer to bare skin and a bulge. She felt her leg lazily draped over what she thought to be the mans upper thigh. This was not a typical begging to her morning routine at the prison. Not there anymore... Yesterdays memory lulled the panicked pumping of her heart. Rick.. She felt his breath against her cheek. It seemed like they had embraced the entire night, since her arms were sore and still tingled with sleep. Really wish I'd slept on the couch. She felt the same uncertainty and need wash over her.
When fully conscious and in control she managed to avoid awkward moments such as this by making a quick exit or staring unwittingly but waking up in his arms felt like an inviting storm. That might strike her down, she thought. Michonne quickly unhooked her leg and tried to twist out of his arms, but the movement made him grip her waist tighter. This is going to be weird when he wakes up. She looked up at the sleeping man, his face was healing, all the bruises were fading into faint pattern, and the sun had begun to rise so she could see all of him. First she saw faint wrinkles, a wiry beard, and slightly chapped lips-then tear slicked skin at the corner of his closed eyes. Michonne thought about the sources of his pain, and how they were so similar to her own.

Not long after they had fallen asleep, Rick woke up with a familiar pain in his leg. He gently rubbed the area around his injury. Then he let go of Michonne's hand, rolled toward his adopted nightstand and found the painkillers waiting for him. He took two of the little capsules with water and returned to his earlier position, slowly drifting to sleep as he settled closer to her back.
The medication had dull his physical suffering-but the nightmare he woke up from had a painful grip on his subconscious. Everything seemed to catch up to him in his sleep. Rick began to take calm breaths-knowing the line he didn't want to cross again began with nightmares. There was a small tremble next to him. Chonne.. The room was completely dark but he wanted to hold Michonne's hand again so he reached toward its past location, but there was only soft skin. He took his hand back not sure what part of her he'd been caressing. She must've rolled over… "Michonne." he said, whispering in her direction. She let out a small grown and reached out, then he felt her hands against his chest so he grabbed her wrist and put them over his shoulders. "Mmm.." she moaned as they closed the space between them. He smiled and pulled her closer with one arm letting his other one rest above her head on a pillow. The nightmares seemed more bearable to him now, so he quit fighting sleep and slept.

When he opened his eyes, cerulean met deep chocolate. "Heyyy." said Rick, voice husky with sleep. She meant to say something but she could only manage to smile up at him. His eyes flicked down to her arms, which were pulled tightly against her own body. No one should sound that good after waking up with tears in their eyes. She was having a twisted battle of emotions looking into his blue pools. He removed his arm letting her slowly twist away from him. Michonne sat up and got out of bed. He adjusted the pillows, to prop himself up, and watched her flit around the room. "I'll go see what Carl's up to." she said while pulling jeans, a tank top, and boots on "Be back in a bit.". He just nodded and continued to study the clothes she'd put on so quickly. The she flashed him another small smile and left.

"I was just about to check on you guys."said Carl from the kitchen as she came down the stairs. "Is my Dad up?" he asked heading in Michonne's direction with two bowls of cereal. He had gone through the food they collected on their run yesterday and picked out something that wasn't in a can and looked appetizing. He had already eaten two dry bowls of the stuff before he heard Michonne coming down the steps.

"Yeah. He's awake." she said walking up to the kid. She made a face at their impending breakfast. "I know you love it, but we really can't survive on this stuff, it's empty calories." She took a bowl from his hand "I'll go see what I can find. Ricks gonna need some real food if he's going to get his strength back." she said setting it down on the coffee table.

"Oh. Alright, well, let me go with you I can hunt well enough." said Carl head tilting slightly to the right.
Michonne steeled herself internally, saying no to Carl always left her a little torn up inside, since she always aimed to tell him the truth. "I know, but you can help your Dad more than me right now...and..I was looking forward to some alone time." He nodded.

"Alright, I'll stay here then." he mumbled eyes focused the dusty rug beneath his feet still holding the little bowl. "Dad gettin' on your nerves?"he asked.

There was sarcasm in his tone, so she laughed and nudged her boot against his boot, causing him to look up at her. "Listen it's not like 'I need to get away' from you guys." she put a hand on his shoulder "It just helps me think and...recharge. I guess.". She understood why he was hesitant about her wanting to be alone-since she'd spent most of the spring and summer outside the prison. Maybe he thought she'd be gone for just as long this time. "Look. I'll be back before it gets dark out, okay?"

"Yeah. No worries." he smiled, his posture changed in obvious relief. He turned to return the cereal to the kitchen but stopped mid-way. "You know I care about you right?"

She nodded folding her arms. "Love you too Carl."

The back of his neck flushed pink, "So does Dad." he said sauntering into the kitchen without looking back at her.