AN:Do you know what today is? It's Wednesday! That means we have four more days to use fanfiction, Netflix, Amazon, DVD sets, reruns on AMC, social media, and forums to compensate for our obsessions of TWD (or is that just sad lil' ol' me)? And of course I don't own The Walking Dead, any of their characters, the AMC, yadda yadda yadda.

Alex311: Thanks for the compliments! I always loved the dynamic between Miconne & Carl. Hopefully, what happens in this chapter won't make things weird between them. Losing family is tough- I'm trying to see how I'd feel if I was Maggie.

ezilyamused: Crying all day wasn't going to get Maggie out of depression. I had to think of something to bring her up while others were going through their own thing (kicking myself for not having her talk more with Sasha…dang it! lol). Ironically, fighting seemed the way to go. Abe is a person you write as not giving a fuck when he talks or speaks…ah, I love it. Rosita might be fangirling, but she's not always a fan (you'll see).

literaturechick: Thanks, as always, for the compliments. I plan to grow some more self-awareness.

Guest: lol, are you being sarcastic? Your comment was so funny that I literally thought about it…for days. Ha! Man-tears. I should tell my current ex that he hasn't met the quota of man-tears for me to consider taking him back. But seriously, I think he didn't mourn his brother's death till the ends of time. Besides, Daryl strikes me as someone who will kick himself for crying too much (and psssst, I'm more of a Caryl-er than a Bethyl-er. If TPTB make him into a crybaby over this girl for more than one episode….I'll be highly pissed and continue to watch!). Okay, I've gone way overboard with responding to this. ::Clears throat::

kimyso: Your response also had me cracking up for days. Okay, I'll be honest – Lori had her moments of redemption, but I didn't like her too much either. I hoped their marriage could be repaired, but loved Andrea when she told her off about women's "duties". Ugh…Lori had it better than most and still made it seem like she had it the worst. Some guys like a boyish body type…I don't understand it, but yea…I'm getting too involved in this comment also, lol.

As always, thanks for viewing and reviewing.

Chapter 9: Take Care

Her mouth continued to move. In his mind, the words that escaped were angelic. He loved her energy and that beautiful smile that he hadn't seen in weeks. He wasn't the luckiest man on earth just because he was alive. He had to be because he was lucky enough to belong to her. They were on the road to possibly nowhere, but all he could feel was bliss. Some of her clouds had finally lifted. If she was lighter, his load wasn't so heavy.

"Glenn, did you hear a word I said?"

See? She was even smiling over what some of his exes punched him about when he got lost in video games. To top it off, that smile was golden.

"Maggie, I can't lie to you. I wasn't listening. I'm just happy that you seem...better."

She shrugged. "What is better, you know? They'll never come back and I feel almost like I could have tried to look for Beth like I looked for you." All her husband could do was hold her hands as her eyes showed tears that didn't shed. "But I didn't. There's nothing I can do about that now, and, seeing where she was at, I probably wouldn't have been able to. I can't stop living just because my family's gone. My family is here. You all are my family. But I can't be in my own world, like I've always been. Everyone here lost people. I can't believe," her almond eyes focused on Glenn, "I never asked you..."

His grip tightened. "All of you are my family."

"I know, you always say that. You always care and do for everyone, but what about you?"

He looked at the bus floor, sighing deeply. "Her name was Lela. My mom was Lela Rhee. It was her, my older brother Jim, and my little sister Kristen. Mom did it all by herself - I never met my dad. Whoever he was, I heard he died in South Korea and didn't want to move to the US, even though his wife and kids were here. So anyway, Mom did it all by herself. She always got on my case about doing something with my life. Jim lived in NY doing IT. Kristen went on to become a physical therapist in Dallas. In the end, it was just me and mom. Me being a pizza delivery boy, and I was okay with it. She said I'd die playing video games. Instead, I found her..."

His eyes were watery with no tears. "I'm sorry," Maggie whispered.

"Yea. You live with it every day. The people we knew, who was with us from the beginning, they're all gone now. It was another life, but their lives mattered and help made us into the people we are today - people who've survived. When I found her, I regretted not doing more with my life. But I remembered how she taught us that we were important and life is worth living, no matter how hard it gets. She loved me enough to know how to love others. And now I have all of you, especially you."

Maggie meekly smiled.

"Don't forget Jimmy, Beth, your dad. Don't forget any of them. But know they wouldn't ever want you to give up."

-000000000-

"So, have you ever been to those mountains?" asked Rick.

Abraham snickered. "Yea, as much as I've been to outer space."

Michonne spoke before Rick, "there's nothing funny about not being absolutely sure about where we're going. Besides it just being a bunch of mountains and up north, do you know anything about it?"

Rosita rolled her eyes. She was seriously getting tired of how interrogative Rick and Michonne could be. One was enough to make someone uneasy. Both at the same time made her really stand her guard. Abraham, however, seemed unfazed.

"I might not know much about the Appalachian Mountains besides an occasional National Geographic special, but unless you - Moe and Curly - can come up with something better, that looks like where we should be heading. You two were okay with it when you were in lover's paradise. What's so different now?"

Rick rubbed his beard while he and Michonne stared at each other. They didn't need words to convey that Abraham's colorful words made sense.

"Well," Rick asserted. "We mind as well stay as high as possible, and somehow near water. It would be great if we could farm there too, but that could be wishful thinking."

Michonne added, "We should get maps if we pass a gas station."

"And we mind as well get a GPS while we're at it," Daryl's voice came out of the blue. Everyone turned to him with a surprised look. Agitation was only apparent on Abraham and Rosita. On the other hand, Rick and Michonne knew he must have had something good to say. "I'm just sayin', you coulda asked me if I know anything about that area" (Michonne winced, knowing he meant that he fell into a certain stereotype) "or ask our new Olive Oil - Lori 2.0." Everyone who was there on Hershel's farm got the reference, and that was just a few: Carol, Glenn, Maggie, Carl, and especially Rick. Rick, lucky man that he was, was off the hook with Michonne. Yet, this gave Daryl jokes for days.

Rick uncomfortably shifted his pose as Carol smirked. "Why would we ask Laura?"

Laura's eyes widened. She finally got that she was part of the joke.

"She doesn't live too far from it. She might know a thang or two about it."

"And you?"

"Man, me an' Merle got around enough. Besides, I did have family up there."

Carol could tell by the way he said did that he didn't care to look for them.

"Laura, do you know anythang about those mountains," Rick asked.

"I can't say that I do. I just saw it as a place for me to not live at – it was mainly impoverished because it was so hard to get in and out of," replied Laura. Daryl sucked his teeth when she said "impoverished". He might have not gotten far in school to know many big words, but that was one he always recognized. He was slowly determining if he liked Olive Oil 2.0 being around.

Daryl grunted, "well, maybe the non-impoverished had a tough time getting' in and out. But real people didn't." He wanted to insult Laura, but recalled a visit to a country club with Beth where he had those same feelings. He chuckled to himself. Who cared about status anymore? Most of those suckers were dead anyway. "Anyway, I know an area where it's too high for those fuckin' walkers, not too high for us, and enough water."

Sasha spoke up, "and if we need some flat land, we can make it so we can farm."

"How could we do that," inquired Michonne.

"Terraforming. The Chinese did it often," Sasha responded. Everyone looked at her questioningly. "What? Abe isn't the only one who used to watch National Geographic."

Belch! Carl's face reddened when everyone's face turned towards his. Burping Judith had been successful, so successful that it lightened everyone's moods. Maybe, just maybe, things would get better for long enough.

-00000000000-

Michonne and Rick had just finished clearing a gas station. He couldn't help but to look at the sway of her hips as she swung her katana. He had a sense of fulfillment, knowing that he could now stare all he wanted to – even more, he could caress her soft skin without fearing violating. Still, it seemed nothing changed between them. This was just a progression of what always was there. Besides, he always took the liberty of looking anyway.

"Grimes, are you staring again?"

He grinned. "And if I am?"

Michonne turned to face him, her gorgeous smile brightened her face, as she whipped walker blood off of her blade. "Then you're a bad boy."

"What happens to bad boys?"

"Well," she inched closer, "they get punished."

"Maybe I need to be punished then." He wrapped his arms around her. She could feel the growth from his pants before his soft lifts planted on hers. She escaped college in the past with weed, and it would smooth out the edges of a tense period in her life. That was easy to not depend on. But this? He easily took her to a new high, and they hadn't even had sex yet. She heard the moans escape her lips as his tongue played with hers. It was easy to forget where she was and why she was there. The tingling sensation down below made her just want to own that moment and rip his shirt off. Who hadn't seen the rare moments Rick Grimes was shirtless at the prison? However, she couldn't do to his chest what she wanted to do now. All she desired was to get to know his body better – become one with it as she rode the waves of his manhood – and from the feel of it, she would not be disatisfi-

"Rick!"

"Mmmm?"

"We have to stop."

He sighed. He wanted to ravish her, but when a woman said stop, you stop. "Michonne…"

She breathed heavily while his forehead never left hers. "They're waiting for us on the bus. We'll finish this up later."

He smiled. "You can't even look me in the eyes when you say that." Caressing her cheek didn't make it any better for her resistance. "We've done nothing but wait. We keep playing around like time is always around, but it's not." Rick thought for a second, trying to figure out how to redirect the conversation. He didn't want it to continue on the path of how bad reality was. "You know, I wanted you since I met you."

Michonne snickered. "No, you didn't. You were defensive, erratic, and going through a lot."

"Well, yea, I was going through some thangs. It wasn't easy. But seeing you, I don't know, it was confusing. All you used to do was scowl and frown. There were times I thought of how I could change that look on you. At the same time, I felt guilty for even thinking that. I wanted to not trust you, but you mystified me enough that I wanted you around when I didn't want you around."

She laughed, "I was no different from anyone else who would have gone through what I did." Rick gazed at her, waiting for her to continue a narrative about events that she rarely talked about. She didn't elaborate, but he put it on his list to make sure she would one day. "I understood you, but I couldn't stand you. You know, I really wanted to kick your ass several times."

He laughed, and then noticed she was not smiling. "Is that right?" She nodded in reply. "Did you ever get over it?"

"Obviously."

"No, that's not good enough. I was a jerk. What if I let you slap me?"

Michonne frowned. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Think about how you came to the prison, and I almost let walkers bite you until Carl did somethang about it. Think of how many times I waved a gun in your face. Think about how I even considered giving you to-"

SMACK! Rick didn't even flinch. "Again." She fiercely complied. "That's what I'm talking about!" Their eyes burned into each other, only to be melt away with fiery kisses and the shedding of their pants. He lifted her onto the cashier's counter, grouping her breast as his tongue sucked on her neck. Her hands played with his curls. It was unbelievable that she was already close to ecstasy, but that was not close enough. He kneeled down and spread her legs. Her eyes rolled back at the realization that he was about to do what she thought he was about to do. His lips took over her clit. His tongue never stopped, unless it was to say "I'm sorry," "Michonne," or "I love you". She teared up from the pleasure and the pain. Rick rose up, intently looking into her soul. His eyes never left her as he slowly entered. They both gasped in unison at the feeling that they sometimes thought they would never feel again. What made it even better was who they shared it with. He wiped her tears as he pumped in and out, her wetness overflowing.

"I will never hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise." They followed it with more engaging of the lips and moans. Eventually, the moans couldn't be contained.

-00000000-

Meanwhile…

Noah and Carl decided to stand at the side of the bus to stretch out a bit and help guide Judith in walking.

"Don't you think we've been here a bit way too long," pondered Carl.

"Yea, they should be safe, right?" Noah wondered.

Carl groaned, "I don't know man. Maybe I should check it."

As soon as he stepped around the corner, Daryl rushed him, Noah, and Judith inside the bus. "Maybe y'all should stay here for a lil while."

"No, what happened? I can help, you know that," Carl objected.

Daryl left his hand on his chest to stop him without being forceful. "Yea, I know. There's nothing wrong. It's just best for y'all to stay in here for a sec."

Someone yelled from inside the gas station. It sounded almost like Michonne. OhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGod!

Noah shifted uncomfortably. Father Gabriel, who was already on the bus, motioned a sign of the cross and began to pray.

"Is that Michonne, can she be hurt?"

Noah intervened. "Nah, dude, we should just stay in here."

Carl looked outside to see others walk towards the bus. The only ones not moving were Tara and Eugene. Tara was trying to push him away from the station. It seemed like he was trying his best to peek inside.

"Ewww," was all Carl could conclude.