Chapter 7:
'Put it on'
"She didn't even let me talk! She just screamed at me the whole damn time! Marching around the house and picking up her stuff"
Rick glanced over at his friend, listening to his tale.
"He's not even in the goddamn house! He's sleeping on the old couch in the garage! The doors locked so he's not getting in the house and I'd beat him within an inch of his life if I found any drugs on my property!"
Rick sighed as they stopped at a red light, "I told you. None of that matters, she's still gonna be mad"
"We need him for what? A few days? Just a few days so we can get some information out of him and then he's gone!"
"Look, Sasha's with us and she and Lily are fine, so the sooner we get what we can get for Merle the better"
Daryl groaned, "She cuss me out when she get there?"
"Up until this morning" Rick answered as he stated out the windshield.
He groaned again.
"You can come over later, talk to her…" Rick winced, "Well, let her talk, just agree to everythan'... smooth it over"
"I'm gonna have to" He scowled as he looked out the passenger window.
"Uh Grimes… You have your phone on you? Over"
Both men frowned at the radio, before Rick reached for the receiver, "Yeah, why?"
"You might want to answer it. Over"
His frown didn't falter as he hung the receiver back up.
"What's that about?" Daryl watched him take out his phone.
Rick quickly glanced at the screen, "Fourteen missed calls from Michonne?"
"The baby?"
"I doubt it, I would have heard her from here"
He waited until the pulled in to the police department parking lot before he called her back.
"My phone was on silent, what's-"
"You ass!"
Daryl looked at him with wide eyes before stepping out the car.
"When I asked you if Ed had caught us on tape, what did you say to me?"
He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No, we're fine! I checked all the tapes! Then Andrea goes to views the tapes and who's on the first tape she sees? Me! Why does she see me Rick, if you said there was no tape?!"
He slowly brought the phone back to his ear, "Ironically, I didn't want you to get worked up-"
"So you lied? You waited until someone could come and tell me?!"
"No, I just hoped you never heard about it-"
"They would have shown it in the courtroom you jackass!-"
"Okay, can you calm down, think about the baby-"
"Oh the baby! We probably have his conception on tape!"
He winced as he moved the phone from his ear again.
"Is that why you fixed the damn porch light? You thought a porch light would make me feel better about us getting caught fucking in your car?!"
He sighed, knowing she didn't actually want him to answer the question, "I was wrong alright. I'm-"
"Who else has seen it?"
He tried not to sigh, "Just me, Daryl and Leon. That's it-"
"Oh! Well that's not awkward!"
"I dealt with him okay? As soon as I found out I was in that cell-"
"Oh that just makes it all better?! It's okay that I lied about our sex tape, because I'm Rick Grimes! I beat up the guy and I fixed a damn porch light and ordered some paint! See, that fixes all our problems, doesn't it?!"
He stared through the windscreen as he listened to her mock him on the phone, "I'm sorry, alright? I should have told you"
"Oh don't you worry, I'm gonna show you what sorry looks like"
She hung up and he sat staring at the phone for a while, before finally exiting the vehicle. Daryl threw his cigarette butt down and side eyed him.
"She find out about…"
"Nah… she found out about the tape" Rick sighed.
Daryl's eyebrows shot up, "You didn't tell her about that?"
"Nope. Real smart of me right?" Rick shook his head as they walked towards the building, "Good thing her birthday's coming up"
"How's that going?"
"It's… going"
…
"So glad y'all could make it!"
Rick made a pathetic attempt to smile at Shane, as he had grown accustomed to. He handed the other man the medium sized gift for his daughter and followed his family into the one story home. It was nicely decorated for the occasion, with a few familiar faces scattered around the living area.
"How long are we staying?"
Michonne ignored him, "Why don't you go play with Milly, honey?"
Judith nodded and went over to the other girl.
"So, what can I get y'all to drink?" Shane offered as he clapped his hands together.
"Can I just have a water, please?" Michonne asked.
Rick nodded, "Same, please"
"I'm fine, thanks" Carl declined.
"Alright, coming right up"
Rick checked his watch as soon as Shane's back was turned, "One hour. Tops"
Michonne side eyed him.
He sighed as he scanned around the room again. He tensed when he saw Lori, who was sat beside her sister, talking.
"I don't want her near Judith" Rick spoke quietly to Michonne.
Her eyes darted around the room, then stopped, and she groaned.
"So what's been going on with y'all?" Shane returned, holding out the bottles of water to them, "You know what you're having yet?"
"Yeah, little boy" Michonne smiled as she took the bottle from him.
"Oh another boy? Ain't that somethan'" He raised his eyebrows at Carl, "You can teach him a thing or two"
"My life's pretty boring so I doubt it" Carl confessed.
"It's better that way" Michonne added dryly.
"You're fifteen right? How's your life boring? You should be out with your friends! You got a girlfriend?" Shane nudged him.
Carl's face turned the brightest shade of red.
"I take that as a yes" He teased, "Your dad here was about your age when he got his first girlfriend, what was her name?"
Rick groaned.
"Penny, right? Little red headed thang?" Shane grinned, "They were stuck together"
"Aww!", Michonne tilted her head at him, "You and Penny, huh?"
"Stop it, woman" He warmed.
"No" She raised her eyebrow at him.
"So you got a grill going?" Rick asked, changing the direction of the conversation.
"Yeah, y'all can head outside, take a seat"
They filed out to the back yard. Rick was counting down the minutes until they could leave. He felt incredibly awkward being in Shane's home, with Lori not too far away. He wished he'd just feigned illness, but he knew Michonne wouldn't fall for it. She was still angry about him not telling her about the tape, so she was finding new and colourful ways to make him suffer.
"We should probably get a date set soon"
Michonne frowned, her eyes still roaming over the rest of the yard, "Set where? We haven't picked anywhere?"
"I thought we were going with the hotel that Judith had her pageant at?"
"No. You said you wanted to check it out. That's it"
He huffed as he too, looked towards the back of the yard, "Well why not there?"
"No… maybe that nice home on the edge of town? You can rent it out, and it has a beautiful garden"
"And how much is that gonna-"
"Hey there, how are y'all doing?"
They both looked up from their discussion to see Laura, Lori's sister stood next to the table. Rick forced a smile on his face.
"Hey… how are you Laura?"
"I'm good… it's been awhile hasn't it?" The woman smiled nervously.
"Yeah, uh this is my fiancé Michonne, and our son Carl" Rick introduced awkwardly, as Carl had never met his aunt.
"Hello! I'm Lori's sister" She waved.
Michonne gave a strained smile, "Nice to meet you"
"Hey" Carl did the same.
"It's great to finally meet you…" The woman shifted nervously, "I have two sons, their around here somewhere… Tommy's twelve and Jared's ten so they're your… they're… well you know"
Rick couldn't regret coming to the event any more than he did in that moment.
"Oh… cool" Carl nodded.
"Congratulations by the way" She motioned at Michonne.
"Thanks" The smile Rick wore was beginning to hurt.
"No problem… I'll send the boys over to say hello when I find them, so y'all enjoy yourselves"
Rick was so relieved to wave the woman off. While he never had anything against her, it was a strange situation, having his son meet the other side of his family. He had become so accustomed to seeing Michonne's family as the other side that it felt alien to him to talk to Lori's sister.
"Well… that wasn't weird or anything" Carl quipped.
"Oh it was. Very" Rick sighed, "At least you met them?"
"Yeah, I guess"
"Can we leave soon?" Rick hissed at Michonne.
"Yeah mom, please?"
She rolled her eyes at both of them, "We've been here for all of twenty-five minutes"
"It's been longer than that" Rick checked his watch, his eyes bulging when he saw that she was right, "Great"
By the time the food was cooked, Rick didn't want any reason to prolong his stay. He was bored and uncomfortable, and he could see Carl was too. The only person that was enjoying them self was Judith, which was purely because she was playing games with the other kids. Rick envied his daughter's care free spirit.
He was on his way back from the bathroom when he saw Lori crouched down, talking to Judith and Milly. He wasted no time stalking over to them.
"Oh look here's your dad now Judith-"
"Judy sweetie, why don't you go play with Milly outside" Rick smiled down at the two of them.
She nodded and waved goodbye to Lori before they both made their way outside.
Lori stood from her position with a sigh, "I wasn't going to-"
"You don't talk to my daughter" Rick warned calmly, "You keep well away from her"
Lori's head jerked back in shock, "Do you think I'd say something to her?"
"I don't have to give you a reason to stay away from my daughter. I don't want you near her and that's it" He tilted his head at her.
"Do you realise how ridiculous you sound right now? I was just-"
"Remember what I said?"
She crossed her arms, "So if your daughter comes up to me, I'm just meant to ignore her?"
"Do you remember what I said?" He reinforced, his tone stern.
She huffed and shook her head as she stomped away from him. He straightened up, trying to calm himself before going out in the back yard, though his steps faltered when he saw Michonne stood with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed at the sliding doors. He pursed his lips in annoyance as he approached her.
"I just told her to stay away from Judith" He explained, his eyes roaming all over her face.
She stared at him, then let her eyes drop the whole length of him and scraping their way back up to meet his gaze. She let one hand fall to her hip as she spun around, her dreads swinging after her.
It never seemed to amaze him just how much she could communicate to him without saying a word.
…
"How long have they been out there?"
Rick joined Michonne at the kitchen window, both looking out at Daryl and Sasha, who were appeared to be having an argument.
Michonne glanced at him from the corner of her eye, "I don't know".
He glanced at her in a similar fashion, knowing she was still annoyed with him for, what was coming to be, a number of reasons, "You still mad at me?"
"Yes."
"I said I'm sorry-"
"You said sorry for not telling me about the tape, and don't worry, you bought me a lovely new purse to make it up to me and I'll adore it when it arrives tomorrow…"
He stared at the side of her face.
"But you know that I know that you're keeping something else from me and I hope that one of these days you feel comfortable enough to come and tell me what that is…" She turned and faced him, hand on her hip, "...Until then, you better not let me find, discover, locate or detect anything, because I won't be happy and if I'm not happy then you won't be either"
He clenched his jaw as he registered her threat, his eyes slowly trailing down her torso, then stopping at her hand on her hip, causing his brow to furrow, "Where's your ring?"
"Upstairs", She answered nonchalantly.
"Put it on" He demanded, his head tilting a fraction.
She said nothing, though he was certain he could almost read her mind.
"Hey…"
Rick tore his eyes away from Michonne, and tried to straighten himself up as he looked at his two friends.
Daryl cleared his throat, "Yeah, we're gonna get going…"
"Yeah, thank you guys for letting me and Lily stay, it means so much" Sasha smiled.
"Oh, well we were gonna let the girls watch a movie later" Michonne informed, "Why don't you two go home and we'll keep her for tonight, drop her at school tomorrow?"
Daryl looked at Sasha, and they made a quick agreement with their eyes, "Y'all don't mind?"
"No of course not" Rick shook his head at them, "It's fine"
"Alright then, let me go get packed" Sasha stepped past Daryl and headed out the kitchen.
"All good?" Rick asked when she was out of earshot.
Daryl nodded, "Yeah… Merle has to be out by Wednesday the latest"
"We'll work him like a mule tomorrow then"
"You bet. Thanks for watching Lily by the way, we appreciate it"
"Not a problem. I don't think Judith's ready to let her go anyway" Rick smirked.
"I doubt it. Let me go see 'em before we leave"
Rick watched his best friend leave the kitchen, before turning his attentions back to Michonne, who was taking vegetables out the fridge.
"I don't want to see you without your ring on again"
She rolled her eyes as she put the food down on the counter and pulled open the utensil draw.
"I mean it"
She put the knife down hard on the counter and looked at him, "I need to cook, leave the kitchen"
"You hear what I said?" He cocked his head to the side as he stepped closer to her.
"Loud and clear. Now get out"
He pursed his lips in annoyance, not ready to be away from her just yet, "Give me a kiss and I'll be out your way"
He didn't need to look at her hand to know the grip she had on the knife tightened. Without breaking eye contact, he ran his hand and down her forearm and plucked the potential weapon from her hand, chucking it away from them.
"What are you afraid of?"
"You." He raised his eyebrows at her as he pulled her closer to him.
Something about kissing her when she wasn't in the mood always excited Rick. She'd force her tongue in his mouth and bite his lips in a way that could almost make his head spin. He was certain she enjoyed it too, though she pulled away just when his hands slipped from her thicker waist to the top of her thighs, and she waved a dismissive hand at him.
"Now go".
…
"I ain't never known who's been in charge of the guys that sell to me. I just call who I need to call and that's it"
Rick clenched his jaw as he watched Merle from across the table.
"I can't give you all the names though, I still have a habit to feed and all"
"We already went through your phone" Rick added dryly, "We got what we need from it"
Merle's jaw hung, "Can I at least get some time to get somethan' before y'all start going around kicking' in doors and arresting everybody and their mama?"
Daryl growled at him, "You get caught with anythan' and you're going right back jail"
Merle tilted his head at him, "Well then don't look for me and you won't have to catch me!"
"You know Thomas?" Rick sat forward, growing tired of the man's voice.
Merle's head jerked back, "What about him?"
"You know who he works with?"
Merle shrugged, "Nope"
Rick squinted at him, "You sure about that?"
"Look. I already told you, I get what I get and then I go. I don't sit around, waiting to see who else is coming and going"
"How'd you know who Thomas is then?"
Merle's lip curled, "He came out one time when the usual guy didn't show. Only caught his name cause some other guy he was with said it"
"What the other guy look like?" Daryl questioned.
Merle shrugged again, "I dunno, tall, white"
"You didn't catch his name?"
"I can just about remember your name, little brother" Merle answered dryly.
Rick groaned as he stood from his chair.
"We done here? I know y'all gotta get home to your little brown families-"
"Quiet!" Daryl barked at him, before turning to Rick, "We gonna talk to Thomas again?"
"Yeah" Rick sighed, dragging his hand over his face.
"So can I ask you a question?" Merle sat back and crossed his arms as he looked at Rick.
Rick turned his head towards the man, his patience already non-existent, "Merle, I've lost count of the amount of times I've kicked your ass, but I'd love for you to give me another reason to do it again"
Merle shook his head at him, "You and that chocolate woman of yours deserve each other. Both always so mad all the time"
"Rick, can I talk to you a minute?"
He turned back towards the door to face a slightly bothered Shane. Rick gave Daryl a nod before leaving the room. He led the way back to his office, already somewhat aware of what Shane wanted to talk to him about. The other man shut the door once they reached the room, and Rick took and seat behind his desk.
"I spoke to her. She told me everythan'" Shane put both hands at his sides as he looked at him.
Rick stared at him.
"I know we haven't had the best past, and I appreciate what you've done for me, even after what I did to you, but this isn't somethan' for you to do-"
"I already did it" Rick interjected, sitting back in his chair.
Shane's eyebrows rose, "What?"
"I already did it. It's done and that's it"
Shane's eyebrows dropped back down into a frown, "Rick, this ain't your problem-"
"No it's not. It's definitely not, but I was thinking about your daughter and that's it"
Shane rubbed his head as he slowly paced, "Look, I'll be the one-"
"I don't care about any of that. That's somethan' you and her can argue about in your own time" Rick sat forward in his chair, "My condition is this, she doesn't come near my family again, and the only way Michonne hears about this is through me"
Shane stopped pacing, "She doesn't know?"
Rick sat back again, clenching his jaw.
Shane held his hands up in surrender, "Alright fine, I'll make sure"
"Good".
