A/N: Thanks for the insightful reviews everyone! Sorry for the wait, I've been unwell.

"We've gotta give it a little more time," Rick said to Carl as they sat and ate dinner.

"How much more time is it gonna take, Dad? I can't stand staying there with Mom's douchebag new husband; I wanna come back here and live with you," the teenager explained.

Rick exhaled loudly and put his fork down on the table.

"I know, son; but these things take time," he offered gently. "Please, be patient a little longer. We'll get there."

Carl nodded his head: "Okay, Dad. I'll be patient."

Rick smiled.

"You know, it's good your mom gets to have a second chance at happiness; go easy on her, okay?" he asked of his son.

Carl sighed.

"I want her to be happy, I just don't want to live with them, I want to live with you," said Carl.

They sat in silence for a moment and Carl seemed to be deep in thought.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you happy?" the boy asked, surprising his father.

"Of course I am. I got you and Judy in my life. Y'all mean the world to me. I'm very happy," Rick said in earnest with a genuine smile.

Carl smiled back at his father as he shifted the food on his plate.

"Can I ask you somethin' else?" Carl queried.

"Sure. What is it?" Rick replied.

"Well, you know how Mom found someone else to marry, even though he is a dick…"

"Carl," Rick chided.

"Sorry, but he is!" the teen said.

"Okay, he is, but you were sayin'?" Rick laughed.

"I was gonna say, you know how Mom found someone else, do you think you will? Do you want to?" Carl asked.

Rick wiped his mouth with his napkin and shrugged.

"I honestly don't know," he replied thinking it was a slightly awkward conversation to be having with Carl, though he always wanted to be straightforward and truthful with him.

"If it happens it happens," Rick added.

"So there aren't any ladies you're interested in?" Carl asked.

"Are you askin' because you're worried about me bein' happy or are you makin' sure there won't be another stepparent for you to deal with?" asked Rick.

Carl contemplated the question a moment.

"I think it's a lil' bit o' both, but mostly about you being happy," he offered with a grin.

Rick chortled.

"Alright, alright. At least you're bein' straight with me," the older Grimes said.

Judith ate in silence, more concerned with her food rather than her father's love life, or lack thereof.

"I'm not seein' anyone at the moment," Rick said. "But that could change in the future."

"So you have someone in mind? Who is she? Is it that lady from the supermarket? I think she likes you," said Carl.

Rick felt his face grow warm at the thought of Michonne liking him.

"Who Michonne? I only know her through work and she's a friend of Uncle Shane's girlfriend, but I admit she is kind o' interesting…"

"No, Dad. The other lady; Ron's Mom, what's her name again?"

"Jessie?" Rick said with a frown, a little disappointed his son was not referring to Michonne.

Beautiful, intriguing, stubborn Michonne.

"Yeah, Jessie. I think she likes you. I mean, why else would she invite me and you to Ron's birthday camping trip?" Carl said as he screwed up his face.

"Ain't you friends with her boy?" Rick asked.

"Shit no!"

"Carl."

"Sorry. But no I'm not his friend. He's a dick," Carl said, taking a drink from his soda.

"Okay. Okay," Rick said with a slight laugh. "Well you must be glad I said no then."

Carl nodded.

"Hell yes!" he said as they both chuckled, only to be brought out of the moment from the sound of the doorbell ringing.

Carl jumped up from his spot at the table and made his way to the door. He opened it to find the person whom they had just been speaking of standing there with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey," said Carl. "Can I help you?"

Jessie nodded in greeting.

"Hi, I was wondering if your dad was about," she said.

"Sure. I'll go get him," said Carl, not inviting her inside as he walked away.

Shortly thereafter, Rick met her at the door and asked her to step inside.

"Hey Jessie, what can I do for you?" Rick asked.

"Well," she started. "Since you don't ever answer my calls…"
"Sorry about that. I had a pretty hectic day," Rick said, feeling as if he owed her an explanation for knowingly ignoring her calls.

"It's okay. I know what it's like to have kids and be single," she said with a smile.

"Right," said Rick, not sure where the conversation was going.

"So, since you never answer your phone," she giggled. "I thought I'd come by before we head back out to the camping grounds and see if I couldn't persuade you to join us."

Jessie sounded hopeful and cheerful at once; this caused Rick to feel guilty for having to turn her down once more. He did, however, smile at her persistence.

"I do appreciate the offer," Rick said in earnest. "But like I said before, I can't take Judy out anywhere. She's runnin' small fever and it's best if we stay indoors."

Jessie nodded. She knew it was a long shot, but was determined to pursue Rick.

"I thought as much," she said.

"I'm sorry," he offered.

"No. No, don't be sorry. That's what I like about you, Rick. You're a good father, a good man," she said softly.

Rick felt his face grow warm at the compliment.

"Thanks," he said coyly.

"Well," said Jessie. "You have my number so if you ever wanted to have a little break or get together some time when the kids aren't around, just let me know. I'm happy to meet up, if you'd like to."

Rick nodded and smiled.

"Uh sure. I'll let you know," he offered, surprising himself. "If I get some down time I'll give you a call or somethin'. We could grab a coffee."

Jessie's face lit up as she beamed widely.

"Great!" she said in a high pitched squeal.

"Okay," said Rick.

"I'll see you soon," said Jessie excitedly as she almost skipped down the front garden path.

Rick closed the door, leaned against it and hoped that he was not making a huge mistake befriending the young single mother.

xXxXx

Rick checked his text messages for the fifth or sixth time that morning; he had only just dropped Carl and Judith back with their mother the day before, and Carl was already texting him and saying he wanted to be back with his father. Rick sighed and told his son he would call him later in the day before he placed his cell back into his pocket, sat up straight and greeted Sheriff Sinclair.

"Good mornin', everyone. I trust y'all had a nice weekend," Sinclair said amicably as he set a stack of files down and took a seat at the head of the table.

The Deputies and other staff members dipped their heads in acknowledgement and waited for him to give their regular Monday morning briefing. They went through the meeting agenda and made small amendments to the daytime roster where applicable; Rick, it seemed, had a few less hours rostered on. This was news to him as he raised his hand to ask a question.

"Yes, Deputy," said Sinclair.

"Sir, it seems as if I've had a few hours cut here, here and here," said Rick as he pointed at the columns labelled Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

"Oh, yes Grimes, about that; I was goin' to have a word with you before you came in, but since we're all here I might as well get it over and done with. You'll be workin' with the Public Defender's Office on that juvenile delinquency program," he stated.

"Sir, I didn't volunteer for that Program," said Rick.

"Well, son it ain't a volunteer program. A lot of money went into it and the Justice Department as well as the Public Defender's Office wanted my best and most capable and that would be you," said the Sheriff as the other officers grumbled disbelievingly around the table.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, sir, but ain't this takin' away from policing?" said Rick.

"Not at all," Sinclair replied. "It's offering a service to our community and it's a wonderful thing to be involved with. If you're worried about the hours, they're not too long and you'll be offered training as well. It's a great opportunity, Rick. You'll do fine," the Sheriff said with a smile.

Rick nodded, always up for a challenge.

….

Deputy Grimes sat in his squad car that was parked around the back of the Youth Centre; he checked his new roster again and was relieved that the hours that were delegated to be spent working on Michonne's youth program only equated to around seven hours per week.

Michonne.

Rick felt his face grow warm at the thought of the woman. Admittedly, there was something about her that he found interesting; that was her ability to unnerve him. He was about to enter her territory and felt a little uneasy. Their past interactions, with the exception of the most recent, were always slightly challenging and Rick hoped that she was not going to give him a hard time. He flipped his visor down and then checked his appearance in the small mirror. After fixing his curls, Rick placed his hat on his head, exited the vehicle and strolled in the direction of the entrance.

Rick knew he was early as the receptionist led him through to the meeting room; he had planned on being on time so as to represent the Sheriff's Department well. He also wanted to make a better impression on Michonne, even if he was not going to admit that to himself.

"Hey, Rick. How's it goin'?" asked Morgan Jones as he walked up to Rick and shook his hand.

"I'm doin' fine, Morgan. How are you?" asked Rick with a smile.

"Yeah things are great, can't really complain. What can I do for you?" Morgan asked just as Michonne walked into the room from the back exit holding a pile of paperwork in her hands.

Rick's attention shot to her as she placed the files down with a small, adorable huff and then regarded both of the men. She looked amazing with her long hair falling freely about her shoulders, her sleeveless top hugging her form closely and her toned arms shimmering; she looked at ease in the simplicity of her elegance. Lost in his own thoughts and captivated by Michonne's beauty a moment, Rick did not hear Morgan until the third time he spoke his name.

"Rick?"

"Oh, sorry. I um, yeah; my mind went somewhere else just then. What were you sayin'?" asked Rick.

"I asked what brought you down here to see me," Morgan said with a chuckle.

"Right. Yeah, I'm actually here for the young offenders program," Rick said as Michonne approached.

"Ah, okay. So Sheriff Sinclair sent you?" she asked, staring right into his eyes.

Her intense gaze made him feel short of breath.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm here at your service," he said with a smile; the corner of Michonne's mouth turned up slightly.

"That's good," she said. "It's just training today, but I'm glad we're finally making a start as a group."

Rick nodded and thought of something else he could say; nothing came to mind so Michonne went back to doing what she was doing while Rick and Morgan stood awkwardly.

"Well, I'm glad to have you on board, Rick," said Morgan as Michonne pretended not to listen to their conversation.

"You're one hell of a good cop and a family man to boot. The Sheriff couldn't have chosen a better Deputy."

Rick smiled at his old friend.

"Thanks, man. That means a lot comin' from you. Truth is, I didn't even know until this mornin' that I'd be here. I'm lookin' forward to it though," he said in earnest. "Just wanna help where I can."

"Here," said Michonne as she tossed a pile of training manuals on the table. "Y'all can help by setting these out."

She offered them a smile and went about setting up her laptop and projector.

…..

After the initial training session that intended to equip Rick and the others with skills to work with the young offenders, Rick slowly packed away his training manual and other bits of paper. He watched as one-by-one, participants offered Michonne thanks and then left. When he thought they were alone, Rick gathered up his materials and ambled over to Michonne; he cleared his throat.

"That was, uh, that was great. Was really interesting to know all of those stats and figures," he said to her as she turned to face him.

"You're a numbers man?" she asked, thinking it was surprising if he was.

"No," he chuckled. "Not necessarily. It's just interesting the way that you presented it."

Michonne smiled genuinely.

"Thanks. There's not much you can do to make statistics interesting, but I'm glad no one fell asleep," she said with a small laugh.

Wow, thought Rick. She sounds so sweet.

"Will you be doin' all of the training sessions?" he asked, sounding so very keen and hopeful.

"I think I'm only facilitating training on one more Monday then Morgan will take over," she explained. "But I'll be here for the planning sessions on Wednesdays and the debriefings on Fridays."

Why are you telling this man your schedule? She chided herself for being forthcoming with Rick even though she swore she did not like him. It was something to do with the kindness in his eyes that she felt she could trust.

"Ah, okay. Great. Well at least I'll be seein' you around. That's a good thing," he said before feeling his face grow warm.

"Yeah," said Michonne.

Silence pervaded.

"So, yeah. Just wanted to say thanks again for today. It was informative. Really good," Rick offered as he placed one hand in his pocket.

"You're most welcome," Michonne said with a grin. "I'll see you on Wednesday."

"Sure. See you then," Rick said as he picked up his hat, placed it on his head and nodded towards Michonne.

She admired his bowlegged walk as he headed over to the exit. He did not seem that bad, Michonne thought just as Morgan came back into the room.

"So," said Morgan. "You ready to go grab a coffee?"

Michonne smiled.

"Yes," she replied. "Lead the way."

A/N: So, Rick and Michonne are being decent to one another, but there are others who are interested in them it seems. Hmmm.