Hey guys sorry for the long wait. I'm trying to get back into writing more consistently, hopefully I can find my groove (and the time) to do so. And I really appreciate the reviews and hearing you guys' opinions and takes on the story. If anything about this chapter is confusing or if you have questions please let me know. I say that because when I take a long break like this, its hard for me to catch the inconsistencies or the things that may not be so clear. Anyways, hope you enjoy.
Oh and also who thinks Rick's "After this, I'm following your lead," to Maggie was code for, "Maggie, I'm trying to put a baby in 'Chonne, but shhh, don't tell her. She'd kill me if she knew I was trying to knock her up on purpose." This happened in the preview on Talking Dead and I even feel like Maggie looked at him like "Wait...what? Did you just give me way to much information?" LMAO
The two men stopped and watched as their friend walked out of the front door, letting the screen door slam behind him. He walked angrily down the steps of the house and strutted off in a direction away from them, not even acknowledging their presence.
He had left their dinner group abruptly the night before after being relatively silent throughout the entire meal. They'd thought that maybe he was just tired, that finally the weight of it all was starting to take its toll, but now they were starting to think it was something else. It was almost as if he was angry at them.
"I'on know," Daryl said to the Asian man as they both continued to watch their friend go off into the distance. "You think we should tell him?"
"Yeah, but…," Glenn paused. "I don't know. He seems kinda pissed at something. What'd you do?"
This caused Daryl's head to snap towards him. He looked the man up and down before replying, "Why'd you think I did something?"
"Well, I'on know," he said shrugging his shoulder. "Being Merle's brother and all…," he left the rest open to interpretation as they both knew he had made his point.
"And that trumps his best friend screwing his wife?", Daryl pointed out.
They both stared at each other before staring after Rick. "You think he found out?"
Daryl grunted, and it sounded like an "I'on know." "Let's go find out," he said as he stood straight from leaning on the truck.
Glenn was about to follow him but saw Michonne exiting the same front door Rick had just come through. "Maybe we should bring some back up."
"Yeah," Daryl agreed as Michonne sauntered over to them.
"Hey," she greeted them. "You guys tell Rick about the barn walkers yet?"
"No, he isn't talking to us it seems like," Glenn told her.
"You talk to'em?" Daryl asked, knowing that if Rick would have talked to anyone outside of the people he'd known before the fall, it would have likely been Michonne. He seemed to have taken a liking to her.
"Nope," she said looking towards where Rick had stopped to dig in some of the crops Herschel had probably begrudgingly told him he could have.
"Well he's pissed about somethin'" Daryl pointed out.
"Only one way to find out what?" she said as she started making her way toward the crops.
Daryl and Glenn shared a look before following behind her. "If he starts some shit, ten of those candy bars you picked up says she kicks his ass," Daryl smirked at Glenn.
"Pft," Glenn said. "No thanks, I'm not into giving away my hard-earned merchandise."
"Rick," Michonne said as they approached the fence that surrounded the crops. "We wanna talk to you about something."
"Really?" The man replied with an inflection in his voice she couldn't quite place. But he said nothing else, and continued to dig in the dirt.
"Yeah, Glenn and I were by the barn earlier and…" she didn't get a chance to finish as he cut her off.
"Well that sounds like a problem you and Glenn need to solve," he countered, finally looking up at her.
Her brows furrowed and she continued to watch him, the two men behind her a little offended that they had no clue what the hell he was pissed, seemingly at them, about. They watched as he gathered the vegetables in his arms and walked out of the fenced in area, passing by Michonne but attempting to ignore her.
"Hey," she said reaching out to grab his arm. "What's your problem?"
"Yeah, Rick. What's itchin' your ass?" Daryl chimed in.
"I don't have a problem," he told her. "I just have other stuff to worry about. I have a son and pregnant wife to keep alive."
All of their facial expressions turned to one of realization, and he didn't miss the uncomfortable shifts in their demeanors. He looked them all in the face, and they all seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him, except for Michonne who eyes showed…
"I don't need your pity," he told them, growing angrier at the look she was giving him. "A heads up would've been nice though, that Shane and Lori were screwing each other."
"Nobody's pitying you," Michonne said, a confused look on her face at the hostile tone he was taking with her. He just stared at her, clearly upset.
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence that settled between the group.
"Sorry about that," Daryl grumbled.
Glenn swallowed thickly. "Is it yours?" he asked causing Daryl to nudge him with his elbow and give him a look asking what the hell was wrong with him. He only shrugged his shoulders and mouthed 'what?' He wanted to know, mainly because he could offer some words of support if it wasn't. If it wasn't his that meant that Rick didn't have to bear the responsibility of be caught up in Lori and Shane's craziness. If it was, well…
"Yeah, well don't be," he said, turning away from them and heading back towards the house.
Michonne stood there for a minute, looking after him before she made to go after him, picking up a light jog to catch up with him.
"Hey," she called after him. He ignored her. "Hey!" she called again. He didn't stop.
She finally caught up with him and grabbed his arm before turning her body around to step directly in front of him, blocking his path.
"I'm trying to talk to you," she told him, becoming a little pissed herself.
"What?" he asked dryly.
She just stared at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" They just stared at each other. "You cannot be serious. Trying to blame us for what Shane and Lori did."
He gave her a look that warned her she better watch her mouth and she returned with one that screamed 'Or what?'
"That is not our fault," she reiterated.
"No, but I bet everyone got a big kick out of me running around here doting over Lori and talking about all the thangs Shane and I did before…," he started.
"We wanted to tell you," she said, then realized she may have been speaking for people who didn't necessarily feel the same as her. "I wanted to tell you."
"Well why didn't you?" he asked taking a step closer to her.
"Because it wasn't my place," she said looking at him as if he had lost his mind. She didn't understand why he thought it would be okay for a complete stranger to waltz into his life and just destroy his relationship with two of the only three people he had left. Two people who clearly meant a lot to him. "And even if we did tell you, would you have believed us."
To that he didn't respond right away and she tilted her head to the side, still looking up at him, as if she'd made her point.
"Maybe not at first," he told her. "But you knew… I knew, something was off with them. If one of you would've told me."
"Or if they would have told you," she corrected him. "They were the ones that you trusted, that had a relationship with you. They signed the contract to be your wife and your best friend. They were supposed to be the ones to let you in on that secret, not us."
"Good to know we aren't friends," he tried to derail the argument because he knew she'd proven her point.
She opened her mouth to respond but then closed it again. She pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek and let out a frustrated laugh. She got it. He was hurt, and embarrassed, and angry, and honestly, she would be too but she'd like to think that she'd direct those emotions at their rightful targets. "Fine," she told him. "If you don't want to associate with us anymore so be it. But it still doesn't change what I just said. So if you want to be pissed at someone, be pissed at them. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to go try and figure out how to convince Herschel to get rid of the walkers he's keeping in his barn."
With that, she walked away, leaving him standing there, fighting against himself not to go after her and start another argument. He didn't know why he wanted to do that, probably so he could circle back around to that friend thing and retract that comment he had made. But then he realized something. "Wait…" he said as he turned around to face her, "what?"
She only turned and rolled her eyes at him before proceeding to ignore him and head back over to where Glenn and Daryl were. He looked down at the produce in his arms, and decided to place them on the hood of one of the cars before he went off behind her.
They were already deep in the discussion by the time he reached them. "Herschel's keeping walkers in the barn?"
"Oh," Michonne said shifting her weight to one leg as she folded her arms across her chest, and causing the three men to look at her "look who's talking to us again."
Daryl looked at Rick who continued to stare at the woman before looking back at Michonne, who refused to even look in Rick's direction. He smirked to himself and looked down at the ground. Glenn just looked between the two hoping Rick didn't say anything to annoy Michonne further. After all, her katana was still securely strapped to her back.
"Yeah," Glenn finally spoke up. "I talked with Dale. He said Herschel thinks that they're still people and that they're just sick and he's keeping them there for when they find a cure."
"He still doesn't know what's going on beyond this farm," Michonne said.
"It's dangerous," Rick said. "If they get out, we're all in trouble."
"Maybe one of us should try talking to'em again," Daryl suggested.
"Does the rest of the group know?" Rick asked.
Glenn shook his head. "We gotta tell'em."
Herschel continued about his kitchen as he gathered things to make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He was completely aware of the pair of eyes that had been spying on him for the last five minutes or so. The little boy would peek his head into the kitchen every now and again but pull back quickly every time he thought he was about to get caught. It was almost laughable because he was doing such a bad job at keeping himself concealed. He didn't know why the little boy was spying on him. He didn't think much of it. As a matter of fact, the two children were the only reason he hadn't kicked that entire group back out into the wild to fend for themselves. He had planned to do just that after Carl had healed enough to be up and around, but after talking to his family, he had decided to let them stay. Especially since the little boy currently peeping at him from the hallway seemed to be the only person keeping his youngest daughter from spiraling back into her depression. He wished that he could pick and choose who he actually let stay but it was clear that if he kicked one out they would all leave, and he just couldn't do that to the children, especially after finding out they had already lost one child on the road. He didn't know how he would be able to face his girls again or his wife if he kicked the whole group to curb, those two boys included.
"You know if you come from around that corner, you might just find a snack in here waiting on you," Herschel said out loud to no one in particular as he finished putting the raisins on the last of the peanut butter laced celery sticks.
A few seconds later Andre walked into the entryway of the kitchen, revealing himself completely. He just stared at Herschel with those big, bright inquisitive eyes that resembled his mother's.
"You hungry?" Herschel asked the boy. Andre nodded immediately. He had actually come to the kitchen looking for an adult to make him a snack but it seemed they were all busy doing things outside of the house. Even Beth and Maggie were outside and his mother had told him not to leave the house unless he informed her first or he was with an adult.
"Well then come on in here and get you a belly full," Herschel said as he sat the plate on the table. He watched with a smile on his face as the little boy scurried over to the table, the oversized clothes trying to swallow him as he did, before climbing into the chair with a slight struggle and sitting on his hunches, digging into the ants on a log.
"Why didn't you just come in here and ask for some food if you were hungry?" Herschel asked him as he put his plate on the table and took a seat next to the child.
"Cause Mama said to stay out of your way," he said with a mouth full.
"Well why'd she tell you that?" Herschel asked already having a clue. He had let them know from the beginning that any problems and they would be gone immediately. It seemed that they were trying to make their presence as little known as possible around the house. He appreciated the thoughtfulness of it all and the fact that they were trying to respect his rules, but he'd started wondering if he'd come off too harsh. A few of them he still didn't trust, but the girls seemed to have taken a liking to a few people in the group, the little boy and his mother being two of them. They had been trying to help out around the farm and pull their weight as well. But Otis was still gone, and he didn't trust Shane as far as he could throw him and he was still trying to figure some of the others out.
The little boy just shrugged in response as he continued to dig into his food. Herschel smiled to himself before taking a bite out of his sandwich. They ate in silence for a while before Herschel noticed something. "Where's your partner in crime."
The child just looked at him as he popped a raisin in his mouth, so he decided to clarify. "Carl, where is he?"
"I don't know," Andre said innocently as he licked some of the peanut butter from his little fingers.
Herschel sighed. He really didn't like the way the older boy was always running off by himself. He figured that was one of the reasons the boy had gotten shot in the first place. And he hadn't spent all that time and effort saving the boy's life just for his parents to allow him to wander off and get eaten by a biter.
"You know Carl shouldn't go running off like that without an adult," Herschel said, hopping he was getting the message across to Andre that he shouldn't pick up on Carl's bad habits.
"It's okay," Andre said innocently as he picked up another celery stick, "the monsters won't eat him."
"Oh," Herschel said, with heightened interest, waiting to hear the child's reasoning for what he had just said. "And why is that?"
"Because he tastes bad," the boy stated forwardly causing the gray haired man to burst into laughter.
Andre was surprised at first to see the man laughing. Usually all he did was scowl. The man's laughter caused him to start giggling as well, as he didn't really know what they were laughing at, but he was happy Mr. Herschel had finally gotten happy too.
Rick heard the laughter but it didn't really register until he passed by the kitchen. He almost passed straight by until he realized what he had just witnessed. He backtracked and stepped into the kitchen. "Dre," he called to the child not stopping to assess the fact that Herschel had a smile on his face and didn't seem upset. He had been threatened enough by the man that he would make them leave if they didn't stay out of his way and he wasn't sure how Herschel would take to the children, even Carl, now that he was out of danger. "What are you doing in here?" he asked scooping the boy up from the chair. "Didn't your mother tell you to stay out of the way?"
"But I got hungry," Andre said as he patted Rick's cheek with his little hand.
"Oh leave him alone," Herschel butted in. "He's quite alright. He's just a child." He knew the boy's intentions. His were easier to decipher than the rest of the group.
Rick watched as the man finished his sandwich and placed the saucer in the sink. He eyed the man, not sure where his partially welcoming demeanor had come from. It wasn't until Herschel stopped next to him as he made his way out of the kitchen, that he started to get it.
"You don't listen to them Andre," Herschel told the boy with a smile on his face. "You can come and talk to me any time you want to." He ruffled the boy's curls before walking away.
"Did you get the monster out of the water hole?" Andre asked.
"No bud," Rick told him, thinking back to the failed attempt. Not that it would have helped anyway; the water was probably contaminated before they made their failed attempt. "Did you get enough to eat?" Rick asked deciding to change the subject as Michonne had told him that Andre was still having nightmares about walkers. The boy responded by nodding his head.
"You go run upstairs and grab your coloring book," he told the boy, "and I'll send Carl in to color with you in a little bit. But I have to go talk to Mr. Herschel first."
"''Kay!" Andre beamed as he ran to the stairs and began to make his way up them, crawling on all fours to help him complete the feat faster.
Rick watched him a while before looking back down the hall in the direction Herschel had gone. He sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to be an easy talk. One reason being, he'd had this talk already with no success. But his group, namely Shane, was becoming more unsettled about the walkers the man was keeping in his barn. Everyone agreed with him that it was crazy and put them all in unnecessary danger, but at the end of the day, it was still Herschel's farm and their presence there was still tenuous at best, but Shane, being the bully he had become, had wanted to storm in the barn and take down all of the undead. So now he was balancing the act of trying to keep their group safe by not offending Herschel and trying to placate a man whose guts he'd slowly come to hate. All while dealing with the betrayal from his wife and trying to force himself to still be a husband to her.
He and Lori had talked about the pregnancy and she'd made it clear that she wanted him to be the father. That was one thing, he guessed, but he didn't whole heartedly believe her. And after Shane had found out, well, it was safe to say that things were always on edge with the three of them. At least Carl was able to leave the house again. They also still had to find Sophia and Michonne was still only minimally talking to him after their little spat. He'd tried to apologize multiple times, and she'd accepted, begrudgingly but was still giving him the cold shoulder. He knew she'd eventually come around, but he still felt like crap because of it.
He took in a deep breath and blew it out before sucking it up, and following after Herschel.
(1 week later)
"Okay, I'm sorry, but even with all the walker guts I've seen," Michonne said, "this is still gross."
"I know," Maggie said in her southern drawl. "This has always been my least favorite chore. 'Swhy Daddy never made me do it, unless I was in trouble for something."
Michonne faked a gasp, causing Maggie to smile, "You? In trouble?"
Maggie laughed. She had taken a liking to Michonne. And Glenn. And pretty much everyone else in the group save for Andrea. Who, speaking of.
"You guys need any help?" The blond asked stopping outside of the pig pen.
Michonne took a deep breath before standing straight, one hand on the shovel, the other on her hip. "As a matter of fact," she was cut off by Maggie.
"No. S'okay. We got it," she said without looking up from pouring the pig slop into the trough.
Michonne looked between the two women, Andrea with a sad look on her face, but too stubborn to admit that maybe she had been wrong for leaving Beth to her own devices and Maggie still too pissed that the woman could have caused her to lose her baby sister due to her careless antics and need to seem in control.
Michonne had to admit. Ever since getting to the farm, Andrea had been a little obnoxious, for lack of a better word. She'd understood at first, after losing Amy and all, that the woman would be a little anxious. She had abandoned the thought of wanting to join her sister in death, but now seemed to be trying a little too hard to prove something to either the rest of the group or to herself.
Andrea nodded to herself, before turning and walking back in the direction from which she had come. Michonne sighed again and looked over at Maggie who seemed wholly unbothered by Andrea's presence and subsequent absence.
"You know she only did it because she thought she was doing the right thing," she told Maggie, trying to keep her voice non-accusatory.
"Well it doesn't seem like she's very good at making good choices," Maggie countered, still continuing on with her chore.
"She's been through a lot," Michonne countered.
"We all have," was the younger woman's dry response.
Michonne looked off into the distance, contemplating her words. "Yeah." was her only response.
It was true. They'd all been through a lot, and the last few days had definitely taken a toll on their group as whole. The main event being Shane taking it up on himself to march over to the Greens' barn and proceed to destroy the lock they'd had on it keeping it closed before anyone could stop him. This had forced them to come up with a quick plan to dispatch the walkers without anyone getting hurt.
After putting all of the walkers down, she'd been the first to get in Shane's face about it since not only had the kids been outside that day, and he hadn't even discussed it with them before he let his rage take over and decided to unleash the dead, but he'd also encroached on Herschel's territory, the man who was allowing them to use his property as somewhat of a safe haven. The man who could still decide to kick their asses off of said property, even if he had given them the okay to stay a few days prior.
Her and Shane had been going at it pretty heavy, and she had just reached for her katana after he'd pushed her, but Daryl had jumped between them pushing the man away from her, and Rick had stepped in front of her as well as Shane had tried to charge her again for questioning his perceived authority.
"Don't," was the only word that had fallen from Rick's lip, and this had made Shane stop in his tracks. She'd thought the two men were about to get into a scuffle until a noise coming from the barn drew their attention. It sounded like a walker, or maybe a wounded animal. It wasn't until they saw the little girl they'd been searching for, for weeks amble out of the barn that they'd realized that that sound was the first sign of their worst fears coming to life.
She'd stared at the little girl, not believing her eyes as she heard Carol break down a few feet away from her as Lori held her back. The next thing she'd registered was Andre trying to climb her body as he'd seen his friend had turned into one of those dreaded monsters. She scooped him up, and held on to him for dear life as he hid his face in her neck.
It'd been Rick, who'd ultimately put Sophia down and she'd decided to finally forgive him for their mild differences and sought him out to make sure that he was okay afterwards, while Lori ran around comforting Carol and half-heartedly telling Shane to back off.
Herschel had handled his grief by escaping the farm and wandering into a local town to grab himself a drink for the first time in years, which had led to Rick, Shane, and Glenn going after him, which had ultimately led to them finding and capturing the young prisoner that was being kept in the barn as they tried to decided what to do with him. Yeah, the last few days had been emotional and crazy, but at least Herschel hadn't kicked them off of his farm.
She stayed quiet for a while before continuing to try to get her point across. "She's still a good person," she said turning back to face the brunette. "We all are."
Maggie let a moment pass before she replied. "I know. That's why I talked with Daddy about letting y'all stay."
This piqued Michonne's interest and took it away from Andrea. "So that was you're doing?" She asked.
"Well, some of it. Y'all had a lot to do with it too I suppose…minus Shane and all" Maggie said finally looking up at Michonne, a smile on her face.
Michonne smiled back. "Thank you," she said sincerely.
"No worries," she said. "I couldn't be at peace knowin' we'd sent ya'll back out there. And Beth'd probably catch a case of the vapors if y'all took Andre away."
They both laughed as it was clear Beth had taken a liking to the boy. It was probably because after they told Andre that Beth was sick, and his mother had explained to him that it meant sick like his Daddy and Uncle Terry, he'd spent much of his days sitting outside of her bedroom door trying to get her attention, either by passing pictures he'd drawn under the door and calling her name repetitively in a sing song manner until she agreed to come out and play with him. He had ultimately helped to bring her out of her funk, by being as persistently annoying as only a three-year-old could be, and she had taken a liking to him, becoming somewhat of his babysitter since she still wasn't up to wandering past the front porch on some days.
Michonne looked up and to the right as something caught her eye in that direction. It was a brown sheriff's hat, sitting on top of the head of the eleven-year-old boy, whose father it belonged to. She watched as he and Carol passed words and became horrified as he raised his voice, allowing them to clearly hear what he was telling the older woman.
"He's a sassy little something ain't he," Maggie said. "He's lucky Annette ain't here or his backside'd be redder than a spring rose."
Michonne continued to watch with a look of disapproval on her face. It wasn't until Carl and Carol started to stalk away in different directions that she started towards the boy. "Don't count him too lucky just yet."
Maggie just watched for a minute before she went back to feeding the pigs and cleaning their sty.
"Hey," Michonne called as she stalked after Carl. He ignored her, but she knew he had heard her. "Hey!," she called more harshly, causing him to stop and turn towards her.
She continued towards him until she was a few feet in front of him. "What was that?" she asked him, clearly not pleased with what she had just witnessed. He just stared at her.
"I'm talking to you," she told him, just in case he was confused, but knew that he wasn't. Still she wanted to give him a second chance, because even though Lori and Rick were somewhere around, she was not about to sit by and watch him become a little asshole. Which she slowly saw happening since he had awakened from his coma after being shot. It was somewhat understandable, being robbed of his childhood the way he had then thinking he had lost his dad to the only other kid his age now gone missing and subsequently being found in walker form, but she wouldn't stand by and watch as he let that consume the sweet boy she had grown to know. He was still a child, and he still needed parenting. And since his mother didn't seem to have her head on straight yet and his father seemed preoccupied with his guilt and ensuring their long term survival, she thought it best that she stepped in.
"She was saying stupid stuff," the boy finally said, still clearly angry but obviously trying to dial back the tone he had used with Carol. "About Sophia and," he motioned outwards with his arms and hands, "everything."
"So that gives you the right to say those awful things to her?" she asked.
"I was just telling her it's dumb to think Sophia's happier in heaven. She was one of those things, even if there was…," she cut him off.
"Carl," she said, disappointment obvious in her voice. This caused the boy the stop talking and start to doubt his actions. "Are you kidding me right now?" He didn't respond. "I understand you are hurting. You've been through a lot, and I'm sorry for that. Sophia was your friend, but she was Carol's daughter. If you're hurt by what happened to her just after a couple of months of knowing her, imagine what her mother feels like. Imagine what your mother would feel like if she lost you like that. Would you say those mean things to me if I lost Andre like that? I almost lost Andre like that, Carl." He didn't answer though his head hung lower, but he still tried to maintain some of his anger. "If believing that Sophia is happy in heaven gives Carol some peace about this, none of us, including you have any right to take that away from her, no matter how much we are hurting." Still he did not answer. "Do you understand me?"
"You're not my mom," he tried her, his voice trying to defy how crappy he felt inside.
"And you better be damn sure glad I'm not," she told him. "You've been parading around here for the last couple of weeks being a little terror and everybody's been letting you get away with it, but it ends today," she could see the defiance that had sprouted up in him a few moments ago start to dissipate as she took on a firmer tone. "Now, I said do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said begrudgingly, which took Michonne back a little. She could still tell he was upset and surprised she got a ma'am out of him. He had only ever used ma'am when addressing her once before and that was when he thought she was angry at him for pushing Andre down. She felt a little bad because she wasn't angry at him, disappointed yes. Still, she wanted to get her point across. She'd have a heart to heart with him later, after they both settled down.
"I think you owe Carol an apology," she said, causing his head to snap up, defiance in his eyes. She gave him a look, preventing him from saying whatever was itching his tongue. He then proceeded to pout and drop his head back down before turning and stalking angrily back in the direction Carol had gone. She followed him to make sure he followed through.
When they found Carol, she was near tears as she was telling Rick and Lori what had just transpired between their son and her.
"Carl," Rick tried, but Lori cut him off. "What did you say to Carol?"
He didn't respond. He only looked back at Michonne, a scowl on his face letting her know he wasn't happy about what he was about to do.
"I'm sorry, Carol," he said.
"For what?" Michonne asked, causing Carl to turn and give her another look that implied she was pushing it. She just folded her arms and tilted her head. He looked back to his parents, his mother's body language reading more of Michonne's as his father still seemed to be trying to figure out why he would do such a thing.
"I'm sorry for saying those mean things about Sophia," he said.
"You should be," Carol said before stalking off.
Carl huffed, before turning to Michonne, not pleased with Carol's response to his forced apology. He'd expected more appreciation for doing something he didn't even want to do. "Can I go now?"
"I don't know," she said nonchalantly. "I'm not your mother." she reminded him. "Ask your mother."
He turned to Lori, then Rick, who raised his eyebrow at him letting him know that he was not going to side with him on this. So he turned back to his mother. "Can I go now?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"Please," Michonne added from behind him in a less firm tone, causing Rick to look up at her. She was now smiling down at the obviously still pissed preteen.
Carl took a deep breath and let it out, "Can I go now, please?" He said before turning to look at Lori who seemed to be on board with the discipline Michonne had dished out.
"Yes," she told him, still clearly upset with him about what he had done. "But you make sure you stay near the house. Don't go past that tree in the front yard."
His face fell. This was his punishment. He knew it. His mother always put him on a string whenever he was in trouble. "But," he tried. His father stopped him with a firm, "Carl." He responded by huffing and turning to go back to the house, stomping along the way to make sure that they knew he was angry.
Michonne smirked as she watched him leave and made her way after him.
"One thing's for sure," Lori said, turning to go apologize to Carol again. "He's your son."
Rick just looked at her shortly before his eyes turned back to his son just in time to see Michonne knock the hat off of his head. He fumbled a little, but caught it quickly and gave her a look as he continued walking. She laughed as she had clearly made the boy's angry retreat into a goofy get away by doing so. Rick laughed as she did the same, before turning to him and giving him one of those smiles that put the sun to shame. His breath caught in his throat a little and he looked down, a smile still on his face as he tried to contain the butterflies in his stomach.
He looked up again when he heard her voice and saw her pinching Carl's cheek. "You're so adorable when you're mad."
Carl pulled away from her, still trying to seem angry, but Rick didn't miss the brief smile he tried but failed to suppress.
He watched them a little while longer before he turned and headed towards the barn to check on T-Dogg, who was guarding Randall, their prisoner.
A/N: I know that was probably a lot. But if I didn't specifically mention it, everything else is going on as it happened in the show and hasn't really been altered by Michonne's presence. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you review, and again let me know if anything needs to be cleared up.
