Chapter 7: Between the Devil and Me

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead, nor do I have the rights to any lyrics by Alan Jackson

A/N: So Michonne has actually been taken now (instead of just being missing) and Rick and Daryl are in pursuit! I intend to show what's happened, but right now, this instalment looks back to how Rick and Michonne first came together by addressing their mutual attraction. This has insight into how Rick is preoccupied with Michonne and how good she looks yet still feeling guilty.

This world can take you by the hand and tempt the soul of any man

But you can choose your path; there's two roads you can take

One way is right and one way is wrong; the flesh is weak, but love is strong

And she's all I see between the devil and me…

Sometimes the fresh morning air was hard to breathe, especially when the weather was cold. The steady bursts of sun light did little to warm her body, but Michonne finished doing her stretching and proceeded to jump three or four times on the spot in preparation for her morning jog. She usually ran along the inside of the prison yard a few times of a morning; she found that it helped to clear her head if she had too much on her mind. It also helped her to keep fit. It was the only time that she did not wear her skin-tight garments and boots. She opted for runners and sweats.

She had already started her second lap when Rick Grimes made his way outside to check the perimeter. He stopped and watched her a moment; always thoroughly impressed by her physical capabilities and secretly impressed by her physical attributes. He found his eyes roaming freely over her feminine form from time to time, much like he was doing presently. Her movements caused her weighty and full breasts to bounce; something he could see regardless of the loose fitting sweatshirt she was wearing. Rick licked his dry lips and continued to watch. He was tempted by her. He was tempted by the sway in her hips and the graceful way she strode. He was tempted by her strength and the mystery that surrounded her.

Rick felt bad for stealing surreptitious glances at Michonne; he knew it was wrong because she had become a friend of his and he had become somewhat of a leader to her. He knew it was wrong for he had recently lost his wife and was still haunted by her ghost; but there was something else about Michonne that he could not fully explain. There was an attraction there that Rick could not make sense of, and it was not just her pleasing aesthetics that appealed to him.

Michonne's beauty was quite obvious to anyone who had had the pleasure of being able to throw a glance in her direction. The way her hair fell about her pretty face, framing her dark brown eyes and plump, heart shaped lips; draped down her elegant neck and resting at her toned shoulders and flawless collarbones. Her long legs and perfectly rounded bottom that the fabric of her jeans clung so tightly to, leaving very little to Rick's imagination.

He admitted to himself that he enjoyed looking at Michonne; she seemed to be a pretty distraction from the ugliness of the world that they lived in. Some survivors stopped and admired the vast array of colourful flowers that bloomed along the side of a road; others continually marvelled at the way that the setting sun kissed the darkening sky with streaks of red, purple, pink and orange; yet Rick found that he was increasingly thinking of Michonne's lovely face when he needed reminding that there was still beautiful things to be appreciated in the world.

Even when she was flustered from a workout or because of having to fight off an attack, she still looked quite stunning. Rick sometimes could not help but muse that her delicious skin might actually have absorbed the rays of the sun that caused her to shimmer in the light of midday; the delicate sheen of sweat could easily be described as the soft fingerprints of a deity that danced all over her mahogany tones. For all of her beauty, Rick thought, somehow proved that Michonne was truly touched by the gods.

Rick shook his head slightly as he came back to reality; drawn out of his thoughts of Michonne, he walked down to the fence line and made his rounds. He ran his hands over the cold wire and pushed sections to test their durability. He felt secure in knowing that they had a safe place to live in now; and then he felt guilty once more. Guilty because he could not save his friends and his wife, yet here he was, alive and well with a place to call home and thinking about another woman.

Rick stopped and rubbed his eyes; he looked through the mesh of the fence and saw Lori's fading figure dressed in white. She was visiting him less and less and he felt bad about it. He did not hear Michonne come to a halt beside him until she placed her hand to his shoulder. Rick jumped, slightly startled; then looked at Michonne, who stood wearing a knowing look.

"You okay, Rick? You see somethin'?" she asked, slightly out of breath from her jog.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just checkin' the fences. It's fresh out here this mornin'," he offered, trying to draw the attention away from being caught in the midst of a vivid hallucination.

"Sure is. I'm pretty warmed up now though," she said with a small grin that Rick found contagious.

"Fancy some company?" Michonne then added while Rick appeared to be confused by her question.

"While you check the fences, would you like me to walk with you?" she asked.

Rick smiled slightly wider this time before answering his friend.

"Sure, let's go."

Rick and Michonne began to walk slowly and in comfortable silence; he glanced back over his shoulder to where the apparition of his dead wife was and noticed that she had disappeared altogether. His gaze fell back to Michonne and he felt a heat spread through his body as their shoulders inadvertently came into contact. Michonne, he thought, was tempting him and she did not even know it.

The flames are spreadin' everywhere;

But through the smoke I see her there.

She's all I see between the devil and me.

A/N: Next we'll find out what Michonne thought of Rick and see what they will inevitably do in response to all of those thoughts.

Sorry it was all a bit airy fairy, but she is my muse and my girl crush after all lol.

Thanks for reading. More to come!