"You sure I can't convince you to take a car today?"

Michonne brought a handful of water to her face to rinse the last of the soap off, then turned the faucet off, and straightened up. She dabbed her face with a towel and opened her eyes, looking into the bathroom mirror and making eye contact with Rick who was standing in the entrance of their master bathroom.

"Still sure," she said as she opened a bottle of moisturizer. "We have to lead by example."

"Yeah, I know," he said as he walked up behind her, still watching her face in the mirror as she got ready for the day. "It's just been a while since you've been on a horse, and it's a long trip to make by yourself with one you're not familiar with."

"Rick."

She placed the bottle back on the counter and sighed, exasperated by him second guessing her even if it was well intentioned. They had procured a few horses from the Kingdom to aid in transportation since fuel was dangerously low, and they had to make the transition at some point.

"Fine," he relented. He wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped his chin onto her shoulder. "Please be careful. And tell Carol and Morgan I say hello. Ezekiel, too."

"I will," she promised. As he went to give her a goodbye kiss on the cheek, she pulled her head away and wrinkled her nose. With his nearness had come a strong scent that was overwhelming her senses, making her feel like she was suffocating. "Are you wearing cologne?"

"Uh, no," he answered, wrinkling his nose, as well. "You know I don't wear cologne."

If she didn't know better, she would have sworn he had bathed in cheap drugstore cologne; the smell was so potent and off-putting to her that it literally made her sick to her stomach.

"Is that a new deodorant?"

Rick lifted his elbow and took a quick sniff to double check given how disgusted she seemed. It was definitely the faint, soapy scent he was accustomed to.

"Same one I've been using for the past few months," he confirmed.

"It's just...strong," she explained as diplomatically as possible, though she was still grimacing.

She watched as Rick dropped his arms from her waist and disappeared below the counter as he crouched down, opened the cabinet door, and began rummaging through their toiletries. When he reappeared at her side, he held a home pregnancy test in his hand that he offered to her.

"What? No," she said shaking her head, and refusing to take it from him.

"You wanna make a bet?" he smirked.

"You know, for a man with two kids, you have some crazy ideas about pregnancy."

"Do not," he defended. "Just take it."

He offered it to her again, and this time she took it from his hand, but set it down on the counter between them.

"It's way too early," she explained gently as she placed her hand over his on the countertop. "We just started trying. And in the off chance I am pregnant, I doubt it would even show up yet. These things are hard to come by," she continued as she glanced down at the test, "so let's just wait until we have a better reason to take it."

He looked down at the test, as well, and nodded. He couldn't argue with her reasoning, and knew she was right even though his gut was telling him otherwise.

"OK. But in the off chance you are, will you please just take a car?"

She dropped her head and chuckled uncomfortably at his earnest concern, then looked back up at him with a soft smile. She tightened her grip on his hand just a little more.

"Rick...when I was pregnant with Andre, my doctor told me that I could continue doing whatever activities I was doing before I got pregnant for as long as I was able. Running, yoga, whatever. That's the truth, straight from a doctor's mouth. You're going to have to relax...and trust me."

"I do," he assured her quietly as he looked into her eyes.

"Good," she said with a nod and smile. She let go of his hand and patted his backside, purposely trying to break the serious mood that had taken over. "Now you better get going. I always start my rounds by 7:00 AM. People are going to think you're slacking."

He chuckled and shook his head at her then leaned again for a quick peck on the lips. "Love you," he said as he pulled away.

"Love you, too."

She smiled and took a moment to watch him walk away, then picked up the home pregnancy test and tossed it back under the sink before resuming her morning routine.

"Morning."

Negan opened his eyes at the sound of voice coming from the basement entrance, and rubbed his eyes then sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the cot.

"Breakfast in bed served by the man himself. The accommodations are shit, but the service is fucking first class."

Breakfast in bed my ass Rick thought to himself. He walked up to the bars of the cell, and held out the bowl of lukewarm oatmeal for his prisoner, requiring him to get up from his cot to get it himself. He took the bowl in his hand and stirred the contents then took a bite.

"Saw the missus last week," he said through a mouthful of the pasty mix. "She has not let herself go one bit. Still hates my fucking guts, though. Think you could put in a good word for me?"

"I don't think so," Rick said flatly. "Apple or peach?"

"Peach for the peach that I am," he joked with a crooked grin as he took the piece of fruit from Rick's hand.

Rick turned away to fill up a glass of water for him, unwilling to indulge Negan in any of his antics this morning, which only made the man try harder.

"You know I was thinking...you ever run across that group that was hold up in a motel about, oh say, forty miles or so west of here?" He watched Rick as he took a bite of his peach, slurping up the juice before it could roll down the side of his mouth.

"No," Rick said as he turned to bring the glass of water over.

"Mean sons of bitches," Negan mused. "Even by my standards. You should keep an eye out for them. If you take me out, I'd gladly show you where they are."

"That's not gonna happen," Rick said, shooting him down without giving it a second thought.

"You're really gonna keep me in this fucking place forever?"

"Yes, I am."

Rick stood at arm's distance from the cell, staring the man straight in the eyes as he placed his hands on his hips, the fingertips of his right hand coming to rest on the grip of his Colt Python. Negan took another bite of his peach, and a smug grin formed on his face as he began to chuckle at Rick's naïveté.

"You really think putting away one so-called bad guy is gonna keep you safe forever? Fucking newsflash, a psycho is born everyday. Right now some disgruntled son of a bitch is stewing in some other community, maybe even yours, just waiting for his chance to break out and take over," he explained as he rested his arms between the bars. "If you want my opinion, I'd place my bets on that guy with the mullet here. But me?" he asked as he pointed emphatically to himself. "You already know me! You let me out, and I'll go back to keeping all those other mother fuckers in check, and I will leave you be. What do you say?"

"Eat your breakfast," Rick replied, jutting his chin toward the cooling bowl of oatmeal. "Someone will be back at noon with your lunch."

"You think about it. I'll be here," he called out hopefully as he watched Rick walk away. "Fucking climbing the walls," he muttered under his breath as he backed up and sat down on the cot to finish his oatmeal and peach.

Rick stepped outside and closed the door, then stopped on the doormat, his hand still on the knob. He'd spent more than enough time around bad guys, both before and after the turn, and one thing he had learned is that they would say anything because they had nothing left to lose. It normally rolled right off his back, but there were times it stuck; got under his skin and stayed there for a few days, making him question the very things he thought he knew.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cool morning air then opened them as he exhaled; his vision of the sunlight shining down on his community was real. This and his family were reality, and he would summon this image every time Negan's words came to mind.

"Easy, Cookie," Michonne said as she pulled on the reins and patted the horse's neck as they approached the small creek running parallel to the road they'd been traveling on for the last couple of hours.

"We're gonna get you some water, girl," she said quietly as she dismounted the beautiful black mare. So far, they were getting along famously on their first journey together. She smiled as she ran her hand over the strip of white that ran between her forehead and muzzle. Poor thing had been named by her two year old daughter, and was thus subject to one of the few words in her vocabulary. "We're gonna get you a new name soon. I promise."

She patted the horse one more time before walking down to the creek to fill up her canteen so that she could hydrate while the horse did. She had been away for just a few seconds when she heard the horse begin to snort and neigh as she scuffed her hooves against the forest floor.

"Hold on. Me, then you," Michonne assured her as she finished filling her bottle.

She stood from her squatted position then looked back at the mare who was still agitated, then to her right to find the reason why. Three walkers were closing in on them slowly, but surely.

"Easy, easy," she said trying to soothe the mare as she came closer grab her katana from the saddlebag.

As the groans of the walkers grew louder the closer they came, though, the horse spooked and bucked just as Michonne reached for her sword, knocking her to the ground and tossing her weapon out of reach. She turned to reach for it, but before she knew it, one of the walkers was descending on her while the others went toward the horse. She pressed one hand against its chest to keep him away, but his hands on her arms made it difficult to pull out her gun which was now wedged between her hip and the ground because of the scuffle. She tried to lift her hips, but she couldn't get enough traction as her feet kept slipping in the soft sand. With no other choice, she coiled her arm back, bringing his face close to hers, then pushed the walker off of her to give her enough time to roll to her side to grab her gun and fire off a quick head shot before he could make his way back to her. She then sprinted to her sword and sliced clean through the necks of the other two just before they reached the mare.

She grabbed the reins to keep Cookie from running, and did a quick check of their surroundings. Once she knew they were in the clear, she dropped her sword to the ground and allowed her hands to drop to her knees as bent over to catch her breath. Once the adrenaline began to wear off, she pushed herself up and reached out to pet the horse and calm her down.

"Shh, shh. We're OK. We're OK," she whispered quietly as her right hand moved over the mare's body.

Just as she began the feel the horse calm under her touch, her eyes drifted downward to a flash of red on her right arm. She hadn't felt a thing, maybe because of the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, but there was fresh blood streaming down her arm, and her heart instantly dropped in her chest.

Michonne opened the front door of her house to find Rick and Judith mid-conversation as he bounced her on his hip while moving about the kitchen putting clean dishes away with one hand.

"...is that so?" She giggled which made him laugh, then they both looked up once they heard the door close. "Look who it is," he exclaimed for Judith's sake. His smile began to fade, though, as soon as he noticed the white bandage wrapped around her right bicep.

"What happened to you?"

"I fell," she said simply as she made her way over to them.

"Off the horse?" he asked with growing concern.

"Mommy boo boo?" Judith questioned in a plaintive little voice as she pointed to the bandage.

"No, baby," Michonne reassured her. "I just tripped on some branches. Got scraped up in the brush."

Rick's eyes moved from her head to her toes then back up again as he surveyed her for other injuries. Aside from the arm, she looked fine physically, but tired and flatter than she usually was when she came home from a trip.

"You OK? You have the doctor take a look at it?"

She shook her head and held her arms out as she stepped next to him. He passed Judith over to her, and the little girl's attention went immediately to the bandaged spot on her arm, gently fussing over it with her little hands.

"There wasn't anything to look at. I just cleaned it up and covered it." Michonne smoothed her hand over Judith's golden curls and pressed a kiss to her forehead then rested her chin atop her head. "How were things at home today?"

"Fine. Quiet," he answered as he continued eyeing her. She didn't even look up or acknowledge his answer. "The Kingdom?" he asked after a beat.

"Yeah. Fine," she said distractedly before managing to glance up at him. "Uh, everybody's doing well. They say hello."

He furrowed his brow as he waited again for her to elaborate like she normally would, but she was quiet as she lowered her chin to her daughter's head again.

"And your meeting?" he prompted.

"You mind if we talk about it later?" she asked before giving him a weak smile to soften her request. "I'm exhausted. Just want to get cleaned up."

"Sure," he said nodding slowly. He looked around him, feeling a bit helpless. He wanted to do something to make her feel better even if he didn't know what was wrong. "I'll heat up dinner while you shower," he decided.

"I'm not hungry. I'll take her up with me and put her down."

"OK."

She leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek, then turned and went upstairs where she gave Judith a bath and read her a bedtime story while rocking her to sleep in the old wooden rocking chair in the corner of her room that they rarely used anymore.

After putting her daughter to bed and taking a long hot shower, Michonne found herself ending the day in the same place she had started it. She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, wrapped in a fluffy white towel with her eyes fixed on the reflection of her right arm. They were just a few superficial scratches that didn't even call for a bandage any longer. She had no fever or signs of infection. It's nothing she tried to tell herself, but it could have been she'd think immediately after. She turned away from the mirror and hung her towel on the back of the door then walked over to her dresser. She opted for a long sleeved white henley and a pair of Rick's light blue boxers she had taken as her own.

She turned off all of the lights save for his bedside lamp and slipped into bed. She rolled onto her side, facing away from Rick's empty side of the bed, and forced her eyes shut trying not to think anymore about her close call. Within an hour or so, she heard him enter their room, quietly padding around the space while he got ready for bed. The light flicked off, then she felt the dip of the bed followed by his warm breath and a kiss on her cheek, then silence which gave way to light snoring within a few minutes. As soon as she knew he was asleep, she turned the covers down and carefully slipped out of bed then headed downstairs. Just in case.