"I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life"
― Savage Garden
...
"Well, friend it sounds like you are going to need to tell Jessie that it is a wrap. Can't avoid it. It is what it is." Shane put the fishing supplies in the back of his pickup truck.
"Do you think I can stay by you?"
"So you going to do it?"
"She had me sleep on the couch when I got in. She insisted that I had a smell."
"A smell?"
"I showered at Michonne's. We went from, Michonne's to the Birthday Party. I danced with Bertha and Quinesha and Michonne. There was marijuana that I didn't partake in and maybe some other questionable things."
"What. In. The. Hell. Are. You. Trying. To tell me?"
"I asked Jessie what is it she thinks she smelling because I didn't do anything."
"You did something Rick. You didn't do nothing. What the hell you and Michonne could have done would have been anything! Your ass told on yourself when you used that word. Fuck man."
"I showered again anyway. I brushed and gargled. She said she could still smell it. I have no idea what it is."
"She's fishing. She's insecure. Shit you shouldn't have to worry about if you had just listened to me. Break up with her. Should have done it before you met this Michonne woman. But of course you didn't know you were going to meet someone like Michonne that liked you enough to spend as much money as she did at the auction but I guess it goes to show you can't waste time with the wrong people and Jessie is and has been wrong since the beginning."
"It's the tears I can't handle."
"Do it by text and then block her and get a fucking restraining order."
"What?"
"You have to deal with tears. Women, especially the needy ones, and the ones that think it makes them prettier and garner more sympathy know how to use them at the drop of a damn hat. Emotions you got to deal with if you want to make them happy, keep them happy or leave them crazy bitches behind. Tears are just liquid. She can wipe them and move the hell on. It is not your job to provide tissues or solutions even if your ass is the problem or caused the problem. If you plan to run in the opposite direction, inform and do just that and don't look the fuck back. Is that your phone vibrating?"
"Damn. It's Jessie." Rick tapped talk on his phone.
...
"Hey, Babe where are you?" Andrea called Michonne the morning after Uncle Charlie's Birthday Party.
"Home. I was asleep why?" Michonne began to sit up in bed. Her room still appearing darkened.
"Negan is pissed." Andrea informed.
"I don't care. You wake me up to tell me that?"
"Why did you take Rick to the art showing last night?"
"Because I wanted too." Michonne stated defiantly.
"You took an unmarked, unconfirmed Sub/Dom, into a room full of DOMs? Are you fucking crazy?" Andrea questioned Michonne sanity.
"I wanted too." Michonne responded simply.
"Did he know that was what was going on?"
"It was an art showing for Heath."
"Heath who's a Dom. Did you mark Rick?"
"No! He has my scent. I scented him."
"You scented him? Did you get his permission?
"He wanted to taste me. I let him taste me."
"Michonne! You didn't warn him?" Andrea was shocked by Michonne's admitted behavior.
"No."
"He has a fucking girlfriend."
"I know."
"You did that shit on purpose." Andrea accused.
"Possibly."
"Your scent on Rick is going to drive her nuts, literally! It doesn't just go away, Michonne. He would have to abstain for two years for you to wear out of his system. What fucking Monastery is he joining?"
"No woman will want him. Not even Jessie." Michonne said confidently.
"Other than a Sub/Dom in the community and even then, they will have to seek your permission because of your ranking. Generally, they will stay away. I have no idea who would want to fuck around with any man walking around with your scent. You aren't just any DOM, Michonne."
"I am drawn to him and I don't know why."
"You must have scented him after the art show because Uncle Charley didn't pick up on it at all when you two came to the birthday party. Uncle Charley would have killed Rick where he stood, without a second thought. Why are you being reckless, Michonne?"
"I kept Rick close. I helped his mind before we went inside the art show. I shielded him with my touches. I told them he was mine."
"Negan is so very pissed. He said he had words with you about it. He said he had words with Rick who was confused about showing him a mark and that he had no mark."
"I broke the rule." Michonne realized the severity of the situation and she allowed the enormity of the weight to shift and magnify itself in her mind as she sat up in bed.
"Yes and you are going to have to convince your Deputy Rick to allow you to mark him and Brand him in order to prevent Negan from killing him. You have some time Michonne. Not much but enough since he wears your scent. Negan will kill him if he goes and does it himself, but we both know that Rick isn't in his circle and Negan isn't one to go searching. He would most likely unleash Rosita if he doesn't call on Lucille and they won't do it because he is scented and the only way Negan can't do it is if you mark him and that is minimum display that needs to be shown to Negan that Rick is off limits but not without loopholes a Brand is Eternity without doubt."
"I won't let him kill Rick but I don't know if I can convince a man with no tats that he must brand my Dom initials and a Latin phrase in his flesh."
"I have no idea if you can convince him either my dear love."
Michonne's eyes began to shed tears. The experience of regret was sudden and deep.
"I am the one that called Negan to help you with your almost arrest. He saves you and Rick from embarrassment and this is how you repay him?"
"I was being careless and reckless. It had nothing to do with Negan. I am grateful for what he had done. I am."
"Are you sure?"
What was this behavior? What were these feelings that she equated to lust. She needed to shower and jog.
"I will call and speak to Negan. If you hear from him before I do tell him to wait until he hears from me."
