Chapter 6:

Rick's eyes fell on Daryl and Sasha as they walked back in the Kitchen. He suppressed a smile and acted as if he wasn't spying on them, turning his attention to a drunk Glenn and Michonne.

"What is it?", She asked him as she sniffed the contents of his cup.

"I don't know", Glenn shrugged as he swayed.

She took a tiny sip and recoiled, "Yeah, I don't know either"

Rick chuckled at the exchange, as Sasha and Daryl joined them.

"Hey do you want to dance?", Sasha smiled at Michonne.

She nodded excitedly before looking at Rick. He inwardly groaned as he got off the counter. She and Sasha led the way to the living room, which had been turned into a dance floor. He Daryl and Glenn found a space on a wall to lean against as Michonne and Sasha wormed their way to the middle of the crowd. He smiled as he watched her sing along in an exaggerated manner with Sasha. He loved watching her enjoy herself with her friend, until his eyes dropped to her waist as it swung from side to side. He didn't know how long he was staring for, but when he caught himself he looked away and kept his gaze elsewhere.

After watching them dance for a couple of songs, Rick pushed off the wall and looked at his friends. They gave him a nod, knowing what he was ready to do. Michonne came over to him with Sasha, slightly giddy from their moves.

"Come on", He took her hand and the five of them left the living room. When he reached the busy hall, he called out to the dark room, "Shane!?"

He listened for a minute then saw his friend step out the darkness with red lipstick smeared on his face. Rick shook his head and headed towards the front door. The fresh air felt almost euphoric on his skin in comparison to the stuffy crowded house.

"What are you doing?"

He smirked as he took the fireworks from the trunk, "What's it look like?"

"Where did you even get those?", She frowned at him.

He distributed them out between Shane, Daryl and Glenn, before closing the trunk and heading back to the house. He gave the smaller ones to Michonne to hold while he searched for his lighter.

"We're gonna light this place up"

Rick took a smaller one from Michonne and lit it in his hand, causing her eyes to widen at his recklessness. He threw it up high in the air, and it went off beautifully.

Daryl began lighting the fireworks and throwing them up in the air, just as Rick and Shane took two of the big ones, and handed Daryl the third, as they didn't trust and snacks drunk Glenn. They walked over to the grassy area of the front lawn and put them down, lighting all three at the same time and quickly moved away, with Rick shielding Michonne as he moved further back.

They shot high into the air in a range of colours, then exploded with such a force the cars all shook and alarms went off and all the other attendants at the party gasped as the stumbled back, losing their footing.

"Yes!", Shane grinned as he looked around.

"Did you like that Cha-Cha?", Rick turned towards her smiling.

Her eyes were wide as she gave a very slow nod.

"Good", He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead.

"Shit! Look!"

Rick turned back to face the front yard to see two trees, one in Jessie's front yard and another in her neighbours had caught fire. He grimaced.

"Uh… Rick?", Michonne questioned as she watched.

"Yeah… it's time for us to go"

He looked to his other friends and they didn't need to be told anything as they began walking too. Neighbours were coming out their homes and sirens could be heard in the distance, and it all encouraged Rick to walk faster.

As soon as Michonne and Glenn got in his car, he and Shane simultaneously did a U-turn in the street and drove away, passing oncoming police cars.

"So now you're officially one of us, you get to share a joint with me" Glenn grinned as he pretended to take one out his pocket.

Her mouth dropped open.

Rick couldn't contain himself and neither could Glenn as they laughed at her reaction.

"Not funny!", She huffed as she shook her head.

"Sorry Cha-Cha… but It was-"

Rick stopped talking as they approached her house and he saw her parents stood outside, along with two others that he assumed were Sasha's parents, all looking at the rope ladder from her window.

He looked over at Michonne, whose face was a picture of panic. He took her hand and squeezed it gently as he pulled into his driveway. He looked in the rear view mirror to see Shane had stopped in the street.

"Hey, look at me, Michonne look at the me"

She slowly tore her eyes from her house and looked at him.

"Do you want to do this now?"

Her brow furrowed as she focused on his eyes.

"If you want, we can, if not then we don't have to"

She looked back over at her home, then shook her head, "No, I am"

Rick genuinely didn't have a clue how he was going to approach the situation but he just knew he needed to keep calm. He climbed out the car and put on a stoic expression, as he figured out the best way to approach this. He watched Michonne get out and walk around the car as Sasha came up to join her. Glenn got out of Rick's car and made his way over to Shane's. Rick looked to Shane and gave him a nod, and his friend slowly drove away.

"What on god's green earth is going on? We go to check on you girls after we hear what sounded like a bomb and we find this?"

Michonne's father crossed his arms as they walked over to them. Rick couldn't tell what he was feeling as he took in the angry sets of eyes.

"We-" Sasha began.

"I made us go out", Michonne took over, looking at Sasha's parents, "It was my idea, I wanted to do something for my birthday and I talked her into it. I'm sorry"

Her father's face darkened, "Excuse me?"

She shifted from foot to foot, "It's all my fault"

Rick looked down at the side of her face, for a moment, then shook his head as he smirked.

The adults all looked at him like he had two heads.

"You can't really believe that can you? You think either of them came up with the idea to sneak out?", He tilted his head as he looked at Sasha's parents, "I talked them into it. It's something' I specialise in"

"Why on earth-"? Sasha's mother began.

"Because I thought it would be a good idea. They don't ever do any wrong, they keep their heads in their books, so I thought I'd show them a little fun. I'm sorry, but she wasn't in any harm at any time", He fought the urge to shrug, as he was already digging himself in a rather large ditch.

"Sasha, go get your things now, we are leaving", Sasha's father instructed, his eyes still angrily looking Rick up and down. Sasha gave the other teen's one last glance before going in the house.

"After all these years we've known you, you take our daughter out and you put her in this position-", Michonne's father's eyes narrowed at him.

"What position? You already treat her like she's a burden-"

"Excuse me?!", Her mother questioned.

"Let me tell you something, you don't have the faintest idea about our home life, and I will not stand here and discuss it with you, boy. You will stay away from my daughter from this point on", Her father growled through clenched teeth. "Michonne, get in the house now!"

Rick sighed and shook his head, "You can't keep her away from me again"

Her father looked at him incredulously as he tilted his head, "What did you say?"

Rick looked over at Michonne and studied her face, her eyes were glistening as if she was on the verge of tears and he felt awful for her, "You ready?"

Her chest was rising and falling quickly. She still had stray pieces of silly string in her hair as she looked at her parents. Her mother was staring at her with a pensive expression while her father's eyes bulged. She looked back at Rick and nodded.

He turned back at her parents, who both winced as they tried to understand what was happening. Rick breathed the words with ease, "She's not living with you anymore"

Both sets of parents stood stunned for a moment, no one daring to blink, before they caught themselves.

"What?!"

"Excuse me?!"

"What the hell are you talking about?", Her mother stepped forward, her eyes darting between the two of them.

"She's eighteen. She's legally classed as an adult. If she doesn't want to live with you anymore then she doesn't have to. It's all her choice now.", He tilted his head at second time as he explained himself.

His mother was frozen. Sasha's parents grabbed their daughter as she appeared at the front door and began to walk away. Rick imagined they didn't want her to get any more ideas from him.

"Do not be ridiculous! She's still in school, she has no job, she has no money-"

"My money's her money", Rick asserted.

"Do you have a job? You can support her?!", Her mother was livid as he looked at him.

"I can", Rick felt great satisfaction as he looked at them, "And I will"

Both of them stared at him with a mixture of confusion and anger. Her father's mouth hung while her mother continued to look back and forth at them.

"Michonne, you are not going anywhere with this boy", Her mother recovered quickly and set her sights on her daughter, "You will not disrespect us this way, and you will not think that this behaviour is acceptable! I want you to get in this house now! I don't care how old you are, you stay in this house!"

Rick didn't want to force her hand, but he didn't want her to feel like she had to, "What do you want Michonne?"

She stared at her parents for a moment, before slowly shaking her head, "I don't want to live with you anymore"

"Michonne, do you realise the depth of what you're doing? Do you?! You just... you just...", Her mother stepped in front of her, frantically searching for words, "You do not want this!"

"No Joanne", Her father held his wife's arm and pulled her back towards him, his eyes now stern, "Michonne, you are old enough to make this decision, but If you walk out of this house, you're not stepping foot back in it. You leave with him then you stay with him. You hear me? You run off with that boy and you're no daughter of mine"

"Fredrick, no! What are you doing?!", Her mother pulled away from him.

Michonne's began to frown as she looked at him, and Rick could see that small defiant streak that he had only ever seen a handful of times come to life, "Fine. I want my cat and my school work. That's it"

"Fine. Go ahead and get them", Her father gave her a nod and motioned towards the door.

"Fredrick, no!"

Michonne quickly made her way inside the house, with her mother running in after her. Her father put both hands on his waist as he watched Rick.

"You think you're a man now? You think pressuring my daughter to run off with you makes you a man?"

"I never said such a thing", Rick rubbed the back of his neck as he shook his head.

"She would have married a man worth ten of you and she would have been the perfect wife, she would have been the ideal for our church-"

"She doesn't want any of that. Never did"

His eyes darkened as he huffed, shifting his stance a harsh he puffed out his chest, "I always knew you were trouble. I knew you'd grow up to be nothing but a menace-"

"I'll be the first to admit I'm a pain in the ass"

The man scoffed, "That's putting it lightly! You've done nothing but poison our daughter, tarnished her pure mind-"

"Do you honestly think she wants to move out because of me? Even if I was sitting there whispering all kinds of stuff in her ear, if she was happy here she wouldn't leave-"

"You really are a manipulative little punk, aren't you? You're blaming us?"

Rick looked at her father with pure disbelief, "You really don't see what the problem is do you?"

"It's you! You have damaged her! She was going to be worth something and you've ruined her! Now she's worth-"

"What?-"

"Nothing." Her father looked at Rick with cold eyes, "You're the reason she's fallen"

He shook his head as he relented, choosing to wait for her at the bottom of the drive as her father's words enraged him. He had always disliked the man, and now he was sure he hated him.

Michonne came down with her backpack on and Rocky in her hands, her mother was a mess behind her. She walked past her father with her head down, making no attempt to look at him.

They quietly went over to his house and headed straight upstairs to his bedroom. He had to admit that it felt strange walking through his house with her, but he felt a great sense of relief none the less.

She walked into his room and stood in the centre, cuddling Rocky to her chest as she kept her gaze low. He knew it wasn't going to be easy to do, as he learnt a long time ago that despite everything, she had always hoped to have a better relationship with her parents one day.

He planted himself in front of her before he reached out and held her in his arms, careful not to squash the kitten. She sobbed quietly into his t-shirt.

"It's okay", He hushed, rubbing his hand slowly up and down her back, "We'll sort everythan' out alright? It won't be like this forever. I promise"

She nodded against his chest as she sniffed, "I know…"

He leaned back to look at her, "Come on, let's get some rest"

….

"Morning son"

"Hey"

Rick slumped into the kitchen as his mother sat eating breakfast.

"You hear that commotion last night?"

"Yep", He dragged a hand over his face as he grabbed a bowl, "Michonne's parents and me"

His mother's eyes popped open as she dropped her spoon in her bowl, "Is she here now?"

"Yep."

"Oh god, son", She sighed, "I thought we planned to sit down and go over this properly! You only told us yesterday! What happened?"

He groaned as he poured the milk, "They weren't happy when we got back from a party. It just went downhill from there"

"Great!", His mother dragged her hand through her short dark hair, "Alright… I'll go talk to them first… smooth things over then we'll all talk together… how was she?"

Rick gave a small shrug, "She was pretty upset but… that's expected"

His mother sighed again, "When she's dressed for the day I'd like to talk to her. Me and your father"

Rick dropped a spoon in his cereal and nodded as he walked out the kitchen, "Alright"

Rick huffed as he walked back up the stairs. He was still so tired and he didn't know how managed to wake up so early.

Michonne was lying in bed awake, with Rocky laid in front of her, when he entered his room. She watched him hooded eyes make his way around the bed.

"Here, you eat first"

"I'm not hungry"

He watched her back for the moment before sitting back against the headboard. He instantly lost his appetite at the sight of her. He put the bowl down on the nightstand and looked at her.

"Talk to me"

"I'm fine Rick, I just want to lay down"

"Can you at least face me?"

She didn't say anything, but slowly rolled over with Rocky and laid facing him, though she didn't look at him. He scooted down in the bed so he could see her, laying down only a few inches away from her.

"I'm sorry it happened that way"

She sighed, "It would have turned out that way, regardless"

He studied her face as she looked at him, "I'm glad it finally happened though, I can't deny that"

Her face lit up a fraction, "Me too. It feels strange though, laying here and not worrying about rushing home"

"It is… but It's exciting. I can call you whenever you want, I can take you out wherever and whenever you want, we can start our lives together now"

She smiled at him and he felt a familiar swelling in his chest, "I'm not going to be running around town with you at all hours of the night, Rick"

"Fine", He pouted, brushing a strand of hair from her face with his index finger, "My parents want to talk to you later"

She raised her eyebrows for a moment, then nodded, "Okay"

"They just want to see how you are. You know they don't really care what goes on around here, as long as I don't break anythan'", He smirked, his hand lazily stroking the top of Ricky's head as she slept, "They said we can stay here as long as we want… we don't have to move out yet… How'd you feel about that?"

"We can wait for now, I don't want you to use all your money-"

"Our money", he corrected sternly.

She huffed, "Fine I don't want to use all our money on finding a place just yet, let's put money aside so we can still have savings when we do move out...but I need to thank them though… and I need to get a job so I can help out"

"Don't worry about that right now-"

"Rick. I want to, I can now so I will", She insisted.

He sighed, not wanting to argue with her after everything that happened, "What about college?... you won't need to go away now right? If you get your license you can drive up there"

She stared at him as she thought, "Well that's true"

"Think about it..."

She nodded in agreement, then frowned down at the kitten, "...I need to get my clothes…"

"Is that all you want from there?", He shifted so he was resting on his forearms as he looked down at her.

"Yeah… that's what I need anyway"

He nodded slowly as he gazed around his room, figuring out how she'd be able to talk to her parents to get her things. He then realised how why his mother wanted to sit down and talk with them, it would have been handled better that way. Though he would never admit that to her.

Rick ate cereal first, then gave it to Michonne while he went to shower. Truth be told he was unsure of how the conversation with his parents would go, as his mother seemed to want to be more involved in what was happening, which made him question how it could go. He knew the only reason she agreed to Michonne living with them was because she didn't want him to move out either, and that was something Rick was banking on to make their plan work.

His father wasn't opposed for obvious reasons, but still came across as surprised at the request.

His mind travelled to Sasha and her parents, and he hoped she didn't get into too much trouble herself. He made a mental note to check with her in school the next day.

"So Michonne, Rick has given us a… brief insight into what was happening at your home, but we'd like to hear from you what made you two decide that this needed to happen"

Rick's mother clasps her hands together as she sat beside his father at the dinner table.

"Well… I just don't have a relationship with my parents…" She looked to the table as she spoke, then back up at them.

His mother nodded slowly, "Is there any particular reason why?"

She gave a one sided shrug, "They're very religious, very traditional… very strict…"

"You didn't think this was something you could have talked to them about?"

Her eyes widened as she shook her head, "They don't believe in that"

His mother frowned, "Believe in what?"

"Back talk"

"...It wouldn't be back talk if you sat down and talked to them about how you feel?"

"It would be in their eyes"

His mother stared at her for a moment, then looked at his father, who was as usual, quietly observing, "Okay… well, I plan to talk to your parents later on, just so we can smooth things over, hopefully you all can sit down and talk one day too"

Michonne nodded in agreement.

"You're going to need your clothes, and whatever else you need… especially for school tomorrow… we'll sort out the guestroom for you so you'll have your own space..."

"Thank you. I appreciate this so much"

"You're more than welcome. We're happy to help you out", Both his parents smiled at her warmly.

Rick felt happy about how the quick discussion went, though he was still apprehensive about what would happen with her parents, specifically her father, as her mother seemed quite upset about everything.

He was also grateful for how his mother was handling things, to the point where he almost felt bad for hiding his sleepovers from her, though he did do it out of fear that she would tell her parents. That was another thing however, he wouldn't admit to her.