"I don't care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching-they are your family."
― Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty

"You want to fucking do what?"

"I want to date Lori."

"Lori, who?"

"Your ex-wife."

"Are you fucking serious right now? Are you really asking me for my permission?"

"Well, technically no. I was technically giving you a heads up."

I couldn't believe my ears. Shane and Lori? Lori and Shane? My best friend and my Ex-wife?

"I have no idea how to respond to you right now," I admitted I was at a lost for words to describe my thoughts that ranged from deadly confusion.

"You've been divorced a year now, and if it is going to be a problem, then I will back off."

"I would think that would have been the first appropriate thing. I mean I would think Lori should be fucking off limits."

"Why the fuck are you getting riled up buddy? I will back the fuck off. How the hell would I know you still had feelings."

"I don't have feelings for Lori the way you are implying. I don't care who Lori dates or sleep with I do care when it's someone who...you know what?" I stopped myself short, "You two do what the fuck you want. You will do it anyway."

I was done with Shane. Right then and Right there.

There wasn't anything he could do to make it right with me. Especially after the kids told me their Uncle Shane was staying overnight, I couldn't help but be pissed off. I tried to make sure it didn't affect our work environment in the sheriff office, but on a personal level, I wasn't fucking with Shane.

The divorce happened. We struggled to stay together, but it was easy to let go in the end. It was easy to sign those papers to free ourselves of each other.

Lori took it as an opportunity to let her hair down. She wore makeup. She was dressed more provocatively, and she was constantly on dating sites like Tinder. She always had a date or was at the local tavern.

I didn't live that far from my wife with whom I shared custody of our two kids. The short distance made it easy for Carl and Judith to just stay with me even when it wasn't my turn. I preferred it that way because the thought of random men around my children didn't sit well with me.

I couldn't get into the swing of dating. I had been set up twice, and each time there was no spark. There weren't any instantaneous fireworks, and I didn't try and just let things fizzle at the greeting. I just wasn't interested. My focus was on my job and my two kids, Carl and Judith Grimes.

It was random for me to even be on facebook at the time that I received Daryl's message about making sure he had a job lined up when he got to King's County. To finally have someone to talk to who knew my whole story was a welcome change. There weren't missing pieces of my story or who I really was to someone. Daryl knew everything about me next to maybe Lori.

"I haven't talked to you in a long time man."

"Yeah. Sorry for being a pretty shitty friend." I had admitted.

"I've been a shitty friend. Thought you and Lori needed some space to get your shit together. Never thought it would end in divorce. I am sorry to learn about it."

"It was best for the both of us. I wasn't at peace and Lori couldn't make peace. Just wasn't going to work between us."

"Sorry to hear it."

"Shane is dating Lori now."

"No shit? You didn't kick his ass for it?"

"The last thing I need is for Lori to think I am fighting over her."

"But she fought Michonne."

"And Lori got herself beat up and arrested and singlehandedly got us kicked out of the said foreign country. Shit, I would like to forget."

The whole situation was burned into my memory, and the pain was still fresh. The look on Michonne's face when I left the Japanese police station with Lori...

"That was a sad state of affairs."

"Imagine going to the Koban and not being able to get the woman you really want to be released from custody."

"Damn man. You still got Michonne on your brain?"

"Still. I can't find her and Michonne isn't on Facebook unless she has her profile hidden. I have done a search at work that comes up with no results other than she is still somewhere in South Asia Pacific. I know she said she has a relative that lives here in King's County, but I never thought to ask her who?"

"She could still be married. You probably need to move the fuck forward, Rick."

"Is she still married?"

"I would have to ask Sasha. The hell if I know. I never thought you and Lori would divorce when you got kids with each other."

"Do you think Sasha will help since she may still be in contact with Michonne?"

"Right now she is saying hell no, she won't help. Sasha still blames you for how everything went down."

A/N: Still working on cleaning this up 01/27/2019 11:35am