"Spencer had been hitting on me hard at our party. I just ignored him. I was feeling edgy. Here we were, in this nice little subdivision in the 'burbs. Surrounded by walls. These people were clueless. I was outside, Abraham had just left, when I turned to go back inside and I saw you kiss Jessie on the cheek. At first, I was confused. She was married. I'd heard about Lori and Shane at the prison. Didn't think anything of it. We'd been out there a while, we were still feeling our way. Manners; didn't need them out there. They got you killed. And I never saw you, as a man. You were my friend. A man I would follow, even when you were being a dumbass.
"So, it was kind of shocking to see you express an interest in anyone. As a man, that is. Spencer, well, he continued to pursue me. At first I thought it was because he saw me as some exotic animal. Most of them did. We were dangerous, but fascinating, and instead of looking at us through the bars of an exhibit we were walking among them. I watched you and Jessie. She didn't look at you like that. You seemed to be drawn to her. You let her stand behind you with scissors and cut your hair. The Rick Grimes that I knew would never have done that. Let someone you barely know stand behind you with a sharp instrument and trust that she wouldn't kill you? It hit me that this is what you had before the world turned to shit. Housewife and kids. And I wondered if I could do the same. Find someone that didn't look at me like I was dangerous. Like I was a person. Like I was before the world turned to shit.
"After Reg and Pete, you and Jessie seemed to get comfortable with each other. I was surprised. And happy for you. My friend had found someone that didn't shrink from him. So I stopped paying attention. You had found someone. There was hope for me."
Rick shifted in his chair. Michonne looked at him to see if he was still following her. He was. "Spencer came to me, after you killed Pete, and asked me how you could be so cold blooded as to do that. We talked about what it was like for us out there. He was in awe of what we'd survived. Not repulsed. And he treated me like a person. He…saw me. He asked me out. On a date. I thought he was crazy. It's not like he could take me to the newest art exhibit, or the newest sushi place or to a club. I pointed that out. He proved me wrong. He did take me to a restaurant. He set up one of the empty houses as a restaurant, complete with Marshall, one of his friends, as the chef."
Rick grumbled. "Do you want to hear this or not?" she stared at him.
He drank and stared back. Michonne continued. "After Rosita and I found Sasha hunting walkers I withdrew. Again. This place had made me weak. Spencer challenged me to live. Have a life. Yes, it was bad out there. This place wasn't perfect. Was I going to spend all of my time just surviving? Didn't I come here to have a chance? Those were all the things I'd said to you, when we were at Noah's. So I did.
"We shared a house, talked, worked and tried to make this place safe from walkers. You were romancing Jessie. After everything you'd done, according to the gossip, you weren't sharing and I didn't blame you, she was still dating you. That was something that you needed to keep. Just for you.
"I kept my relationship with Spencer private. I was happy for you, Rick, really, but I'd never liked gossip before and I sure as hell wasn't going to become gossip for the Stepford wives. And husbands. The relationship with Spencer was just for me. I didn't mind the family gossiping. They're family. I assumed you and Carl were just leaving me alone about it. That you were happy for me. That, like you, I was able to find someone. It was…nice."
Michonne got up and grabbed the last two beers from the kitchen. She gave one to Rick before sitting back down again. "Spencer was an investment banker before, just starting out. He'd traveled a little, liked art somewhat, theater mostly. I was able to balance what was out there with what was in here. So, we continued to see each other.
"After the Wolves, he didn't pressure me, but, tried to get me to be more open about us. Ron's little bombshell about you and Jessie just made me more determined to not be open. At first, when I heard about it, I kind of laughed my ass off. Then I thought, what the fuck. You weren't aware of who was around you? It just made me think that I'd have to find a new place to live soon. Spencer used to think I was being overly cautious when I'd secure the room before we had sex. After that he complimented me on my precautions. He wanted us to be acknowledged as a couple, just not that way."
Rick slouched in his chair. "You didn't ask me to move, so I stayed close. For the kids. For myself. In case you needed me. When we found out about that big herd I knew that balance I thought I'd found was an illusion. Restaurants, stargazing, 3D tours of the Louvre weren't real. The walkers and the Wolves were real. So I stopped seeing him. Spencer wasn't equipped to handle what we had to do to survive, at that time. And I didn't need that in my life. I had people that depended on me. I didn't want another one. And that's my relationship with Spencer."
Rick sat for a few minutes, drinking his beer. And laughed at himself. She'd thought he had been dating Jessie, according to gossip. He should have said something to her. He got up and walked over to the sofa, sitting close. He put his beer and feet on the table. She put her head on his shoulder.
"3D tour of the Louvre?" he drawled.
"Yes. He'd gone once and picked up a disc. I'd been there before. It was a surreal experience. I'd just come from a run earlier in the day. Then that night, I'm in this white dress, heels and make up, eating something, I can't remember, and we're discussing paintings and painters."
Rick finished his beer. "Finish up. I have some etchin's upstairs I want to show ya."
Michonne laughed, finished her beer and they went upstairs.
After an hour of very satisfying sex they heard the door slam. "Dad. Michonne. I'm home," Carl yelled.
Rick groaned and pulled her closer. "I don't want to get out of this bed."
"Have you noticed that since he found out about us that he doesn't like to come near this room?"
"Yeah. I noticed."
Michonne kissed him and sat up, taking part of the sheet with her. "We should play hooky more often," she smiled at him.
Rick rolled to his side, watching her as got dressed. "We should. That would be a nice date."
She laughed as she sat by him on the bed putting her socks on. "It would. Dinner," she said as she walked out of the room, shutting the door.
Dinner and homework took up the rest of the night. Rick held onto Michonne like she was going to disappear on him.
The night of the party Rick was in nice jeans and button down shirt. Michonne was in tight pants, a cropped top, boots, carrying her rifle. They met up with Daryl, Eric and Aaron. Daryl and Aaron peeled off to their tower leaving Eric, Michonne and Rick to walk to the other one, near the front gate.
"Rick, you're going to be late," Michonne reminded him as he escorted them upstairs.
"Then I'm late," he replied. "I'm not interested in goin'."
Michonne sighed and Eric laughed. "Mrs. Miller tell you about that nice young nurse that looks like Jessie?"
Rick grimaced. "Yeah."
"Just tell her to fuck off then, Rick," Michonne retorted.
"I'll figure it out."
Michonne held his hand for a minute before she and Eric disappeared. Rick walked to Glenn and Maggie's, letting himself inside. The community was dressed in jeans and nice shirts. Rick found the hosts, chatted with the new people and ignored Mrs. Miller and her husband. The nurse, Megan, stood awkwardly by him.
"I'm a lesbian," she blurted out. "Mrs. Miller is trying to hook us up. Even if I wasn't you wouldn't be my type."
"Appreciate the honesty. You're not my type, either."
Megan deflated. "Thank fuck." She stomped over to Mrs. Miller. Whatever she said had the lady drooping. She left not long after, dragging her husband with her.
Tara stood next to Rick a little later. "That nurse. She's something else. Told Mrs. Miller she needed to find another fucking hobby. Like maybe fucking knitting. Isn't that what all old women do? Or get a fucking life. Do something fucking productive."
Rick raised his eyebrows. "Word for word," Tara told him and held up her fist. Rick smiled and hit her raised fist with his.
After another hour, Rick had made his rounds, he left. He'd seen Carol slip out so he headed home. He knew Michonne still had another couple of hours before she was relieved. He wanted to spend some time alone with their kids.
Carol sighed with relief. "I hate those things. I'm going home." She left not long after. Rick had Carl come down and they sat in the living room. Carl read to Judith and Rick listened. Judith was asleep before Michonne came home.
The kids were sleeping when she walked in the door. Rick met her in the kitchen, kissing her. "Anything exciting?"
She yawned. "No. I like those nights. How was the nurse?" She put water on for tea.
"She's a lesbian. Told Mrs. Miller 'she needed to find another fucking hobby. Like maybe fucking knitting. Isn't that what all old women do? Or get a fucking life. Do something fucking productive'. Word for word according to Tara."
Michonne laughed. "Sounds like our kind of people." She was sitting down rubbing her neck. Rick got up and started massaging it. She sighed. "That feels good, Sheriff Grimes." The water went off and Rick made her tea.
"You should see what else I can do," he drawled, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
"I'm looking forward to it," she smirked.
After she showered and got in bed Rick pulled her close. "Hey," he whispered. Michonne was tired, on the verge of sleep when he spoke.
"Yeah," she kissed his chest.
"When did you see me? As a man," he asked.
"Deanna asked me one day what I wanted from this place. Specifically what I wanted. I told her that I wanted this place to work. She asked again. I said I was working on it. I think she wanted me to say Spencer. I thought about it until one day you gave me mints instead of toothpaste. When you looked at me that's when I saw you, knew what I wanted. I wanted someone that saw me, respected me, liked me, loved me, could be strong and weak with me. I wanted you."
He hugged her harder. "I've loved you for a long time, 'Chonne. I respected the hell out of you for longer than that."
"I…didn't see that. The love part. That wasn't on my radar."
"I know. Good thing there wasn't a lot of hot water at the prison."
She laughed quietly. "Really?"
He pinched her ass. "Really. Didn't you see me looking at you?"
"Yeah. At first I thought you were uncertain about me. Which is true. After that, I just figured it was a guy thing. Daryl looked at me that same way sometimes. Didn't think anything about it."
"Do I need to talk to Daryl?" he growled playfully into her hair.
"Stop," she giggled. Then she pushed him on his back and straddled him. He grabbed her hips to steady her, then took one hand and caressed her breasts, lightly pinching her nipples. She moaned and writhed on top of him.
The next few weeks they spent in the new normal, making sure the walls were strong, doing some runs, helping harvest some of the crops and taking care of the kids. Rick hadn't forgotten that he wanted to see Michonne in a dress, really see her without all the bullshit, so he asked her to dress nice for dinner one night.
"Why?" she asked. "That's not really me anymore."
"Because I want to."
"Didn't we have this conversation? You've seen me in a dress. It's just a piece of fabric, Rick."
"Just think of it as a date," he grinned. She stared at him.
"I didn't notice last time," he said quietly.
Michonne raised her eyebrows. "Why is this important to you? Why do you want to date? We have each other, we have the kids, we have…" she waved her hand around. "A relatively safe place."
They had been sitting on the sofa, side by side, when Michonne straddled his lap. She looked into his eyes. "Is this important to you?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Fine. Then ask me on a date. And not dinner and a movie because I'll just wear my usual clothes. You find something for us to do that involves dressing up, ask me out, and I'll find the shortest, slinkiest dress along with stripper heals."
Then she started fucking him on the sofa. She took charge and didn't let him have a say in what they were doing. Rick was turned on and upset they didn't start this on their bed. Before she started to ride him Michonne ordered him to their room where she continued her sensual assault. Rick didn't mind.