Advice – Part 2

Summary: Unsatisfied with Michonne's inconclusive advice, Carl turns to his father for help.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait between updates. This story has become much longer than I originally anticipated, but I think it will be worth it! Part 2 is happening in parallel to Part 1.

Warning: There is a small mention of Jessie, but don't worry; she has only a very brief, indirect involvement in this story. Also, assume it's been several weeks since the S5 finale. It is quite possible that the Wolf people were, in fact, mauled by a bear and will never arrive at all.

Rick Grimes woke up late. By the time he got up and dressed, everyone else had already started their days, leaving the house nearly empty.

Unnerved by the quiet, Rick quickly went downstairs and was relieved to find Carol in the kitchen with Carl and Judith.

"Morning," Rick greeted them.

He bent over to kiss Judith. She gurgled happily in her high chair.

"She's already had a bottle," Carol said.

"Thank you," Rick told her.

"Another late watch?" Carol asked and Rick nodded an affirmative.

"Dad, you know I can help, right? Why don't you let me take a shift too?" Carl spoke up from his place at the kitchen table, his school notebook spread out in front of him.

Rick looked at his son, who had grown so much over the past year.

"No," he decided, "I want you to focus on stuff here. School and things."

"Really?" Carl looked a little incredulous but he didn't protest too strongly.

"Yeah. For now. I know you'll be ready when I need you," Rick said and that seemed to satisfy Carl.

It'd be a mistake to think that he could shield Carl indefinitely from the violence that always happens, but Rick wanted to shield him for a little longer, if possible.

"I have to bring this over to the community kitchen," Carol indicated the pan of casserole sitting on the stove.

She added, "Michonne already left for the wall. Rosita is next door, watching over Tara. She said it's okay if you want to bring the little one over during the day."

"Okay," Rick said.

He felt a pang of guilt at being away from Judith so often, leaving her with Carol or Rosita as babysitter while he donned his constable's jacket. After being on the road so long, he'd gotten used to always having Judith within arm's reach.

Actually, he'd gotten used to having a lot of people always within arm's reach.

Now Daryl was often gone days at a time searching for recruits. Michonne was as busy as he was, coming up with ideas to improve their defenses. Some days he barely saw her.

Rick checked the refrigerator and the cabinets before deciding to make himself a sandwich. Carol put a sheet of aluminum foil over her pan and left to go to work.

Rick sat down across from his son. The Grimes family spent several minutes in companionable silence, Rick enjoying his late breakfast, Carl half-heartedly solving his assigned math problems, and Judith watching them happily.

"Dad, can I ask you something?" Carl looked up.

"Mhmm," Rick answered, caught with his mouth full.

Carl hesitated before speaking, which he tended to do when he was about to say something serious. Rick began to worry.

"How do you know when you're in love with someone?" Carl finally asked.

Rick swallowed his mouthful of sandwich.

"What makes you ask something like that?" Rick questioned, stalling.

Rick's paternal instincts kicked in and he quickly added, "Carl, is this about a girl?"

Carl eyed him warily before answering, "Yeah…There's this girl, Enid. She's like us, only got here a few months ago. Anyway, I think I kinda like her but I don't know if she likes me back or anything…"

Rick frowned. He was unprepared for how to deal with this unexpected turn of conversation. Fortunately, an easy solution jumped to mind.

"It doesn't matter. You're too young to be dating," Rick declared resolutely.

"Are you serious?!" Carl shot back incredulously, looking at his father as if he had suddenly grown a second head.

"Yes," Rick said more decisively than he felt.

"So I can shoot walkers with an automatic rifle but I can't like a girl?" Carl demanded.

Damn it. He has a point, Rick rubbed his face in frustration. He could practically see his fatherly authority slipping through his fingers.

Rick sighed and relented, "Fair enough."

"You never answered my question," Carl wasn't ready to let the matter go.

"What question?" Rick stalled once more.

Carl rolled his eyes and repeated, "So, how do you know if you're in love?"

Rick thought about this for a moment, decided he needed another moment, and took a large bite of his sandwich. Carl watched him expectantly.

"Son, I think you know I'm hardly a love expert. Maybe you should ask Glenn or – " Rick broke off, suddenly remembering the circumstances of how Glenn and Maggie initially got together.

He hurriedly adjusted, "Actually, no, don't ask Glenn. Or Maggie."

"Uh, okay," Carl said uncertainly.

"Why don't you ask Michonne?" Rick said, feeling pleased that he'd finally come up with a good solution.

Michonne would know how to handle this. She always knows the right thing to say.

"Trust me, I asked her first," Carl said despondently, "She wasn't much help either."

Michonne unable to give good advice? The thought was perplexing to Rick but he didn't press the issue.

Carl, evidently fed up with the whole conversation, went back to solving his math homework. Rick stared at his half eaten sandwich in silence for several minutes.

What's the matter? I've been in love before. It's not that hard a question…But it is. I was in love with Lori, very much in love, but our love started to turn sour even before the world changed…Then there was that mess with Jessie. Wouldn't be fair to call that love, more like chasing after Lori's ghost again…

Anyway, I'd better come up with an answer or he's going to ask Glenn for dating advice!

"Carl…" Rick began slowly, "You know you love someone when you feel…different, better, when you're around that person."

The boy listened quietly and Rick continued, "They have a special place in your life, and no one else can quite fill it. When you feel lonely if she's not by your side, even if you're around other people. When she's the only one who understands you, when everything else is going crazy, she's still there with you."

Rick trailed off, feeling like he had spoken more honestly than he had in weeks, maybe longer. It was rare for him to crack open his heart that wide.

Carl let his father's words sink in.

He smiled thoughtfully at Rick, "That's like you and Michonne, isn't it?"

"What?" Rick blinked in confusion, caught off guard again, "What about Michonne?"

If anything, he'd expected Carl to ask about his mom, but apparently he had something else entirely on his mind.

"You know…" Carl said, as if it should have been obvious, "You're always happier when she's around. You know how she's always looking out for us, you especially."

Rick couldn't help but smirk at that last bit. He was secretly grateful for Michonne's habit of always checking up on him, making sure he wasn't about to do something crazy, not to mention her occasional does of 'tough love' when he needed it.

But that doesn't mean she… Rick frowned.

"Did she say something? About me?" he asked, his mind reeling. Are you saying she's in love with me?

Carl sighed, "No. Not really. I don't know."

What does that mean? Rick looked at his son oddly. Carl was being strangely evasive.

"I'm going to read for a bit before school," Carl said, gathering up his notebook and pencils and heading upstairs to his room.

"Okay," Rick said to Carl's retreating back.

At a loss to explain the abrupt end of the conversation, Rick turned to his remaining companion and asked aloud, "What was that all about?"

Judith's only response was to smile and wiggle in her seat.

"Come on, we'd better get to work," Rick said.

He dropped Judith off next door with Rosita and Tara before heading out. Tara was steadily healing from her head injury, but she was still prone to severe bouts of dizziness and migraines, so she didn't stray far from home these days.

There was more than enough work to go around and Rick found himself on one of the construction crews nailing together a new lookout platform. It felt good to do something physical that, for once, did not involve either violence or running for his life.

Many of the other people in the community were still very guarded around Rick. For the most part, the other men on his construction crew left him alone, only speaking to him when they had to, but Rick didn't mind.

Today he was preoccupied with his own thoughts. His conversation with Carl kept replaying itself in his mind. Unbidden, his old police instincts kicked in, processing and analyzing what Carl had and hadn't said.

Carl asked Michonne for advice on love, but she wasn't much help. When I asked what she said, he was evasive and wouldn't answer directly. He suggested that Michonne and I are…he thinks I love her.

Thinking about how things must look from Carl's perspective, Rick realized that it wasn't at all surprising that Carl would see it that way. Michonne's become almost a stand-in mother to him.

It seemed like every time that Rick's feelings for Michonne surfaced, it wasn't long before some new danger snapped his attention away and he had to force those feelings back down again, stored away indefinitely.

Time after time, he came so close to breaking down and letting her in. He'd spent so long walking around only half alive because that was the only way he could kill without hesitating, and if he hesitated, then it was his family on the line.

"Hey. Rick?" a tentative voice interrupted his thoughts.

Rick blinked and realized that he'd run out of nails some time ago. He'd been staring into space. He looked up to see Tobin watching him curiously.

"Hey, man. You alright?" Tobin asked and Rick got the distinct impression that the man had already formed his own answer.

"Yeah," Rick said, noticing the odd looks he was getting from the other workers.

"I'm taking a break," Rick added, tossing his hammer and gloves onto the half-built platform.

With no further explanation, Rick Grimes turned and walked off, pausing only to grab his windbreaker from where he'd shed it earlier. He was in no mood to deal with prying questions and accusing glances, so he decided to take a walk and try to clear his head.

Virginia was on the tail end of the warm Autumn days and Rick felt like any day now the brightly colored leaves would fall and it would turn much, much colder.

Rick walked through the streets of Alexandria until he came to the gazebo beside the small lake. Grateful to find it empty, he sat on one of the benches, lost in thought.

TBC!

Preview: Will Rick decide that it is finally time to confront his feelings for Michonne? Will Tobin ever accept Rick as part of his crew or will Rick have to eat lunch by himself again? Will Carl discover the true start of Glenn and Maggie's epic romance?