"Your pancakes keep getting better. How is that even possible?"

"It's always the same recipe so I don't know. Or maybe I'm just the best pancake maker in the world." It was pancake Saturday and Michonne was enjoying Rick's pancakes. Because of her pregnant belly she no longer wanted to eat them naked in bed, having to maneuver around baby Grimes made her a messy eater so she settled for her easily washed cotton robe at the kitchen island.

"That has to be it." She licked her fork of the buttery syrup and smiled when she noticed Rick walking towards her. He leaned down and kissed her.

"You sure you don't want me to drop you off today?"

"No. I'll be fine. I don't know why they insisted on throwing a Christmas themed baby shower."

"Maybe because it's a week before Christmas and they know you look great in red." She smiled and sighed, looking down at her belly and rubbing where the baby was pressing against her. "That syrup got him stirred up huh?"

"Looks like it." Rick placed his hand on her belly and rubbed at whatever body part was poking out, then he leaned his head down to talk.

"Don't give your mama a hard time today okay." He looked up at Michonne. "That should settle him down. You want to start getting ready? I'll clean up."

"I need to figure out how I'm gonna shave my legs first." Rick smiled and licked his lips. "Don't even think about it." She told Rick as he looked at her legs.

"What? I can help you with that. I've shaved my beard plenty of times, how hard could a couple of legs be?"

"Rick, you haven't shaved your face smooth in months. And you get distracted easily." Rick finished cleaning up and rinsed his hands on a dish towel before turning around and leaning on the counter.

"You do distract me, but I'll do a good job. You wanna do this in the shower or the tub." Michonne squinted her eyes at him, unable to come up with any other reasons to why he shouldn't help her; she gave in.

"Fine. But if you knick my legs you'll be cooking dinner everyday for a month."

"And when I don't, you tell me what you're getting me for Christmas. Look how steady my hands are." He held them out to her palms down so she could see. "Besides I would never mess up those sexy legs of yours. Now come on let's use the bathtub."

"Give me your leg." Rick reached out for her calf with one hand and tickled the bottom of her foot with the other.

"Rick. I'm serious, you better do a good job." She was looking at him as he smiled at her smugly. He was sitting opposite her in the tub with all his necessary equipment in reach, shaving cream and razor.

"Have some faith in your husband." He squeezed a thin layer of shaving cream on her leg then reached for the razor. He purposely made his hand shake as he inched closer to her.

"Rick, stop playing." She flicked some water on him.

"Alright here I go." He made one smooth pass up her leg making sure to go in the direction she told him to. Michonne waited with baited breath until he looked up at her and smiled, proud of his work. "That wasn't so bad was it?"

She blew out her breath. "No. That was fine."

"Will you relax now?"

"Okay." She leaned back on the tub and let Rick continue.

"You know for being almost 9 months pregnant, you make it look pretty easy. I think this has been your only complaint, if you can even call it that."

"We have been pretty lucky with this pregnancy, thankfully. We still need to figure out our birthing plan. You know you can be in the tub with me at the birthing center."

"So you decided on the tub?"

"No, I haven't. I think I was going to let the baby decide. Whatever relaxes him enough to make him want to come out without too much trouble. Maybe he'll just slide out on his own; I'm scared of the pushing part."

"Well I'll be wherever you are." He lowered her leg into the water to rinse off any remaining shaving cream then ran his lips along her skin to feel the smoothness.

"And you know we have to wait 6 weeks after he's born to have sex." She watched Rick scrunch his face up in feigned disbelief.

"I'll be ready when you are."

"I know you will, Mr. Always Ready." Her other leg was being smeared with shaving cream now.

"Always ready for you."

"You might have worked yourself into a new job. It's kinda nice having my own personal leg shaver."

"Why stop at the legs? Maybe I want to add to my resume."

"Is that right?" She pretended to be looking at a piece of paper in front of her. "It says her that you have advanced experience with shaving beards and limited experience with legs. What other body parts are you interested in adding to your resume?" She watched Rick rinse off her leg and lick his lips while taking a deep breath.

"Well ma'am, I've always wanted to venture further up the female anatomy."

"Exactly how far up? Mr..." She looked down at her imaginary paper and then up at him again. "Grimes."

"I was thinking." His hands gripped the back of her calves and he pulled her closer to him. "Right about here." Her breath hitched when his hand palmed her warmth under the water.

"That's ambitious. Why should I give you the opportunity to pursue this endeavor? From what I've heard you can get easily distracted." She heard the water start to drain and watched the level of it drop until it was low enough for her to lie back.

"Ma'am, I assure you I am completely focused right now." He smiled as he widened her knees and looked down at the object of his task. "Are you ready?"

"Doesn't seem like I have a choice. Be careful with your strokes." She warned as he picked up the razor again.

"My strokes are always careful."

"Happy baby shower!"

Michonne walked into Ms. Evelyn's house and was immediately surrounded by women throwing streamers and blowing noisemakers. Someone took her purse and someone else placed a crown on her head and another set of hands had her in a Mommy to Be sash before she knew what was happening.

"Oh my. Hi everyone." She was rushed to a chair in the middle of the living room. "Ms. Evelyn, y'all aren't wasting any time are you?" Michonne told her

"None at all honey. We've got a full day planned and we couldn't wait for you to get here. Andrea, bring Michonne a drink." Ms. Evelyn told her. Andrea sashayed over with a champagne flute full of some blue concoction that was sweet and tasted of coconut.

"Here you go. It's blue since you insist you're having a boy, but we've got pink drinks too."

"Will you tell us the name now? Your husband won't say anything." Tara said.

"Y'all do have a name don't you, ya'll don't seem like the kind of couple that waits to see the baby before they pick a name." Denise asked her.

"We have a name and we're not telling anyone until he's born. Ms. Evelyn doesn't even know it." She heard the room grumble with disappointment.

"Why so much secrecy?" Beth asked.

"We just don't want to hear peoples opinions about what we picked."

"That's not fair. I'm your best friend, you can tell me, besides if it wasn't for me none of this would be happening right now. You can thank me by naming your kid after me. Andrea quipped.

Well, my best friend already knows the name. Y'all will just have to wait. And we're not naming our boy Andrea."

"Alright, let's start with a game." Ms. Evelyn told everyone in the room.

"Grimes!" The sheriff called Rick into his office as soon as he walked through the doors at the station.

"Sir?"

"Yeah, before you get too settled, I need you to take all the packages out of Interrogation Room 2 and find a place for it."

"Isn't that a job suited for someone else sir?"

"It could be, but I saw you first. Can you get it done quickly, please."

"Sure. No problem." Rick walked to Interrogation Room 2 in a huff, not sure why he was the chosen one for such a remedial task. He opened the door and flipped the light switch on. He looked around and laughed before placing his hands on his hips and shaking his head. There was a blue cake on the table with the words congratulations written across the top. Beside it was a box of cigars and what looked like a tool belt. Against the wall were at least 30 packs of diapers in different sizes and brands.

"Heard you're supposed to get all this shit outta here?" Shane asked him as he came up from behind and slapped him on the back.

"Y'all did this?"

"Don't look at me. We were all just following orders. Tara said we better do something for you since she was at Michonne's party. She didn't want you to feel left out. She's small, but she's scary." They walked into the room followed by a few other deputies who wanted to offer their congratulations.

"We also got you these." Deputy Bailey handed him a box of latex gloves. "You're gonna need these. I hear babies poop a lot, you don't want that stuff on your hands."

"Does this go with the tool belt?" Rick asked the room.

"Oh no, that's not an ordinary tool belt. That there's called a diaper duty belt. You got a pocket for diapers, wipes, that cream stuff babies need and one for your latex gloves. Very manly" Bailey explained to Rick.

"Grimes! Didn't I tell you to get this out of here!"

"Yes sir you did." The sheriff extended his hand to him.

"Congratulations, son. I'm proud of you. Your daddy would have been very proud of you. You and that wife of yours are doing good. Keep it up. Now get this out of here. Then I need you to go out on a call. Noise complaint." The sheriff handed him a slip of paper with an address, one he knew very well.

"Come on man, I'll help you load these in your truck. I can't believe your ass is gonna be a daddy soon." Shane looked at Rick with a huge grin. "You know you owe all this to me right?"

"You might of had a little bit to do with it. Thanks for your poor judgment and impulsiveness."

"A little? I'd like to think I did enough to earn a middle name."

"Keep thinking that Shane."

"Okay okay. Looks like Denise won this last game. Congratulations Denise, you are the diaper toss champion." Andrea handed Denise her prize, a small gift bag filled with all the things you need for a perfect manicure.

"Thank you very much, I played a little basketball in high school, and I'm good with baby stuff."

"Oh you said it. Give me your pin!" Sasha shouted.

"Shit." Denise said under her breath as she handed her clothespin to Sasha who now had 12 pinned to her shirt.

"Alright, let's get some food in our bellies and then we'll open gifts. Is that the doorbell? Okay, I'll get it. Y'all eat up." Ms. Evelyn went to answer the door while the guests all made their way to the food table in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon ma'am. We've had a complaint about excessive noise coming from this address. Would you like to explain what's going on here?"

"Richard Grimes, get in here." She hugged him when he walked in the door.

"Hey mama. You ladies having fun?"

"A blast. You're just in time to eat. You hungry?"

"Not if y'all got those cute little finger sandwiches women eat at these things?" Ms. Evelyn swatted her hand at him.

"Rick! What are you doing here?" Tara asked him through a mouth full of nachos. "You spying on us?"

"More like he couldn't keep his eyes away from his wife in that sexy red dress she's wearing. He needed another look." Andrea said.

"She does look hot." Tara said. Rick shook his head and tried to look behind them to find Michonne. "She's in the kitchen dude." He made his way to the kitchen and found Michonne with a plate in one hand and Beth's hands rubbing on her belly. Michonne smiled when she noticed him walking her way, loving the way his uniform hung from his body.

"Hey handsome." She looked down at Beth and raised her eyebrows to question if she was done.

"Oh. Sorry. Hi Mr. Grimes. I was just feeling for the baby. I got a little kick from him. It's nice to see you again."

"You too Beth. I saw Maggie out there taking pictures. Is Aaron not here today?"

"He's shooting a wedding today." Michonne told him.

"I'm gonna go get some nachos before that Tara lady eats them all." Beth said as she walked away leaving them to themselves.

"How you doing?" Rick asked Michonne before he kissed her lips as if it had been days since he'd seen her and not mere hours. He took his turn rubbing her belly.

"Good. Just hungry. What are you doing here?" She stuffed a meatball in his mouth and then ate one herself.

"According to Andrea I needed to see you in this dress one more time. I have to say she's not wrong." He moved his hands to her hips and made circles along the fabric of her dress.

"Oh my god. Do you guys have an off button?" Andrea asked as she entered the kitchen. Rick kept his eyes on Michonne while he answered Andrea's question.

"I don't have one. I'll look and see if Michonne has one later tonight." He kissed her lips.

"You two are ridiculous. Hurry and eat so we can open gifts."

"You want to open some gifts with me daddy?"

"Nah. This is your party. Imma get going. The back of my truck is full of diapers, I'm gonna drop them off at home and get back to the station."

"Okay. I'll see you at home deputy." Rick gave Michonne one more kiss before leaving the party.

It was almost midnight when Rick got back home. He found Michonne in the kitchen getting a glass of water.

"Figured you'd be in the bed already."

"I got cold. You weren't here to keep me warm so I got up to put this on, then I got thirsty."

"Flannel? And the heat's on?"

"I said I was cold. I'll probably be hot in about 15 minutes so this will be coming off after a while."

"Good. So how was the rest of the shower?"

"It was nice, your mama did a great job with it. We got so much stuff for the baby. You've got a lot to put together too. Come on I'll show you."

"Great, I love to put stuff together." She led him by the hand to the baby's room. When she turned on the light, he was amazed by all the gifts that were in the room. "Damn Michonne, this looks like one of those baby stores on the square."

"Yeah it does. Those big boxes over there are all for you to put together. Thanks to the department, we shouldn't have to buy diapers for a long time. And I think we have enough clothes for three years."

"How did you get all this home?" He asked.

"Sasha, Maggie and Tara. They put some in their cars and brought it over here." They were sitting side by side against the wall on the floor in the baby's room, looking at all the things their friends and family had gifted them. Michonne laid her head on Rick's arm. "I've got to start writing thank you cards tomorrow. Everyone is so good to us; I don't think a simple thank you is enough. How did we get so lucky? In a few weeks this one with be in our arms. He'll probably have your eyes."

"A blue eyed baby with dark curly hair and light brown skin. He's gonna be perfect, just like his mama."

"Are you trying to butter me up?"

"Maybe. You still have to tell me what my Christmas gift is."

"I'm not telling you what I got you for Christmas. You'll have to wait till next week." Rick turned his face to her and smiled.

"That wasn't the deal Michonne." He started to take off his uniform shirt. "You must of really been cold, I'm starting to sweat."

"It's not that warm in here." She watched him take off his undershirt too, leaving him in just his pants.

"You're really not gonna tell me?"

"I'll give you a hint."

"I'll take it."

"Okay. It's something that you can play with." He looked at her with that mischievous smile of his. "It's not me, I had to buy it."

"Okay. Give me another hint."

"Why cant you just wait till next week?" Rick moved to his knees in front of her.

"I know how to get you to talk, just tell me."

"Rick, you're not playing fair."

"I'm not doing anything but asking."

"That's not asking. And you're not being fair. You can't have your shirt off and ask me to tell you. Not fair."

"Do my muscles distract you?" He flexed his arms.

"You're so silly." He placed his hands on her ankles and spread them apart slowly. "What are you doing?"

"Checking my work from this morning and getting you to talk." He lay in front of her between her legs on his stomach. "It's not cold enough for panties I see."

"You, Rick Grimes, do not play fair. But I'll let you try your best, I'm still not talking though."

"I'm good with that. Right now I just want to hear you scream."