A/N: Hello! I know last chapter was rough. I tried to make Mama Viv and Judge light... but they didn't cooperate and we got that harrowing dinner scene (see even with me they don't listen). Sorry for that tense moment but a few lighter ones are coming. Everything with Andre will be revealed, I already wrote that part along with other aspects of the story. I just have to connect everything.

I forgot last chapter but a SUPER BIG THANK YOU TO QUIETGIRL72! Thank you so much for editing the chapters and your thoughts. It is truly appreciated! Seriously *hearteyes*!

Thank you for reading, favoring, following, and commenting! It is all appreciated! I read every comment and take your thoughts and views into consideration. Once again thanks! - fithola

Chapter 10

Rick sits in his office finishing up some paperwork when his door violently swings open and Shane marches in.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Grimes?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"So you came into work?"

Rick glances at the clock, it is a little after midnight; he should be asleep. Actually he should be in the arms of his wife. After the disastrous dinner with Michonne's parents, Rick drove the hour and a half back home but instead of actually going home he decided to head into the station. With Carl and Judith gone for another week at his mother's, he didn't want to be in an empty house.

"Thought I could catch up with some paperwork."

"Could you do mine while you're at it?

"Hell no!"

"It was worth a shot," Shane chuckles before plopping down in one of Rick's guest chairs and putting his feet up on his desk, "So how was the date with the misses? I would have thought you would have stayed in the city with her for the night."

Rick groans before running his hand over his face and sitting back in his chair.

"That bad?"

"We ran into her parents."

"Oh shit!"

"Then we ended up having dinner with them."

"Oh shit!" Shane says with a chuckle, "Safe to assume it didn't go well?"

"If it did go well I wouldn't be here. I would be with my wife… this.. this.. was-"

"That bad?"

"It started as an interrogation then become a form of torture that was so bad that ISIS would be jealous."

Shane sharply inhales, "Fuck."

"Fuck is an understatement."

"What fucking happened?" Shane asks throwing his feet off Rick's desk and leaning towards his best friend.

Rick sighs and shakes his head as the memories of the dinner come back to him, he winces at the cruelty of Michonne's parents. He briefly recounts the tale of the torturous dinner with Michonne and her family.

"It was only y'all and her parents?" Shane asks interrupting Rick's tale.

"Her brother Glenn and his wife, Maggie, were there."

"Maggie? I feel like I may have fucked a Maggie."

"You probably did but not this one. She's was in Vegas too, the brunette."

"The lesbian cock-blocker who blocked Daryl? The one Abraham was trying to fuck?"

Rick chuckles at Shane's crudeness, "Nah, the stoic one."

"The one with resting bitch face?"

"Yea."

"She just needs a good dick down!"

"She's married."

Shane gives Rick a disbelieving face, "You act like that's stopped me before."

"She's married to my wife's brother!"

Shane shrugs, "So Maggie didn't snitch about y'all being married?"

"No."

"Hmmm…she looks like the type who would snitch," Shane comments.

"She played along with the entire lie."

"Does the brother know?"

"Yea, Glenn knows we're married but her parents do not. I came close to telling them several times but Michonne didn't want them to know. She introduced me as her friend."

Shane burst out in a chortle, "Shit."

"I understand why she didn't introduce me as her husband but I couldn't even get an introduction as her boyfriend. Just her fucking friend."

The anger from earlier rises from the memories.

Shane laughs at his friend's discomfort for lying, "What else happened? They were grilling you and tearing down the misses, how did you survive dinner?"

"Honestly? We didn't," Rick releases a heavy sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose, frustration rolling off of him in waves.

"Fuck, man. I'm sorry."

"Glenn and Maggie, they kept shifting the conversation when it became too uncomfortable or tense. It is like her parents do not like her. The family dynamic is fucked up. They would praise Glenn and Maggie but Mich- Michonne, they would cut her down and berate her at almost every chance. She's like the black sheep of the family. Her mother even had the audacity to call her fat."

"Get the fuck out of here! She has a banging body, she has a fat ass maybe but that's a good thing. I wou-"

Rick sends Shane a hard glare cutting off his praise of Michonne's body.

"That's my wife."

Shane has the decency to look embarrassed, "No disrespect, Rick. You know I would never… I'm just stating the obvious."

"I know," He nods knowing Shane means nothing from his comment but his frustrations from the entire situation cause his temper to shorten.

Shane breaks the eye contact and rubs the back of his neck. "So… how is she the black sheep?"

Rick sighs and looks around his office as if the walls held the answers he was searching for, "I don't know how, but I do know everything she did or said wasn't good enough and pissed off her mother."

"And her Dad?"

"Judge-"

"Who the fuck is Judge?"

"Her father."

"She calls her father Judge?"

"Yes," Rick sighs pinching his nose trying to relieve the pressure of his frustration and anger.

"Shit, is he the jury and executioner as well?"

"That's what I fucking asked her!"

"And?"

"That's her mother."

"Fuck."

"I thought Michonne was joking," He pauses and sighs, shaking away the memory of the dinner, "Judge, her father was relatively decent to her but he shouldn't have allowed his wife to talk to Michonne the way she did. Fuck… I shouldn't have allowed Vivian to talk to Michonne the way she did. I left her."

"Rick-"

His shoulders slump and he shakes his head in defeat, "I left her. I shouldn't have left her. I should have shut that shit down as soon as they started. I shouldn't have allowed it to go that far."

Guilt. The frustration and anger that boiled within him gave way to the true emotion eating at the center of his gut, guilt. Rick goes on and finishes recounting what occurred at dinner, ending his tale with how he left Michonne at the mercy of her parents.

"This ain't your fault."

"Nah… but I should have stopped it. Her father is a coward for not stopping his wife but I'm just as bad. I'm a fucking coward for not protecting my wife when she needed me. I fucking left her. I should have stopped them. I should have thrown Michonne over my shoulder and carried her ass out of that restaurant."

Shane chuckles at the imagery, "Michonne is a grown woman. From what I hear, this shit with her parents ain't new. She's gonna have to deal with it sooner or later. You carrying her ass out would have saved her from one conversation but she needs to battle this out."

With wide eyes Rick takes in the wisdom of his normally crass friend. He slowly nods agreeing with Shane even though he doesn't like the thought.

"Listen, I know you feel guilty because…. Fuck you wouldn't be Rick Grimes if you didn't try to carry the fucking weight of the world on your shoulders. I ain't saying for you not to be there, I'm saying that this is ultimately Michonne's war. All you can be is her support system."

"How? How do I support her? I don't know how to let her fight this battle and help her at the same time."

The two men are quiet for a moment until Shane speaks up, "You have to be there for her and let her know that you love her just the way she is."

Rick looks into Shane's brown eyes, he sees the blanket of sadness and remembers Shane always being over at his place anytime Rick's parents would allow. He nods remembering his friend's rough childhood, hoping he can be the same support to Michonne he was to Shane.

"Someone died, someone the family cared about and it seemed like Michonne had something to do with it."

"She didn't tell you?"

A deep frown rests upon his face as he shakes his head.

Shane leaps to his feet, his sudden movement startling Rick. He moves behind Rick's desk, Shane taps Rick's keyboard to wake the computer. "We can look it up. What's her last name, Cooper?"

Rick thinks for a moment. He could use his police access to look up any death related to Michonne. Shane taps on the keyboard and pauses looking at Rick.

"How do you spell Michonne? O…"

Rick snaps out of his spell and pushes Shane's hand away from his keyboard.

"I do not want to look it up."

"Why?" Shane pouts reaching for Rick's keyboard.

"I want her to tell me! If I look it up I'm breaking her trust."

"Do you think she'll tell you?"

Rick remembers how she almost said she loves him, his heart flutters with hope, "Yes… she'll tell me."

"Are you sure because a few keystrokes and we'll have all the answers we need."

"Nah…" Rick holds onto the memory of Michonne's almost confession, "She'll tell me."

XxXx00000xXxX

Sitting in his squad car the next day Rick talks to Carl, catching up with his son while on lunch break. He's still troubled by the previous night's dinner with Michonne and her parents but speaking with his son brightens his mood some. His passenger door opens and Shane hops in dressed as a civilian, in a t-shirt and jeans. The deputy shouldn't be there, he should be at home asleep having worked the last four nights on a graveyard rotation. Shane's eyebrows raise in question at Rick, wanting to know who he's on the phone with.

"What did you say, Carl?" Rick asks not hearing the last thing Carl said.

"I said when are we going to go shopping for a new glove and cleats?"

"Carl? Let me talk to my favorite nephew!" Shane calls out next to him reaching for Rick's phone. He bats his hand away and continues with his son.

"We can go shopping next weekend, when I come pick you and your sister up."

"Okay, cool! When are you driving in?"

"I'll be there before noon, next Friday."

"Cool! Are we still going to do a bonfire on the beach like last time?"

"Of course!"

"Great! I can't wait… I miss you!"

"Miss you too son," Rick says with a wide smile, "Shane wants to say hi!"

"Uncle Shane with you?"

"Yea."

"You said he was off… I bet he only came to mooch lunch off of you,"

Rick laughs as he looks up and sees his lunch order is ready, "You know your uncle so well."

Rick passes his phone to Shane, he then slips out his car to go pick up his lunch order at Jackie's a drive up barbeque pit hole-in-the-wall grease joint. The place has no sitting area inside the tiny restaurant but there is always a line that runs outside the door and wraps around the small building twice.

As Shane talks to Carl he watches Rick pick up his order before he's stopped by Mr. and Mrs. Niedermeyer, Shane's thankful it is not him trapped by the ancient talkative couple.

"Aw'ight kid, kiss the little princess for me and see you soon."

"Will do, Uncle Shane."

Carl disconnects from the line and Shane puts Rick's phone in his cup holder as he waits for his best friend to return with the meal that Shane plans to rob him of.

He watches Rick force a smile as he talks to the old couple who's been married since the dawn of time. Shane thinks about Rick and his new wife, Michonne, and how happy his best friend was at the beginning of the week texting Michonne like a school girl.

A crazy thought crosses Shane's mind, before he can think better of it he picks up Rick's phone again. He knows there's a good chance Rick will be mad but he goes on with his plan. He finds the number he's looking for and sends a thoughtful message.

XxXx00000xXxX

Michonne's phone chimes, before she has a chance to pick it up Andrea beats her to it.

"Give it back!"

"Ohhh…. It's a message from your hubby!"

"Give it back!" Michonne snaps.

Andrea springs to her feet and walks away from Michonne, who quickly leaps to her feet and follows after her. Michonne has been in a foul mood all morning, Andrea could easily understand after hearing in detail about the harrowing date with Rick, Maggie, Glenn and her parents. Michonne's parents are intense, even after knowing them for fourteen years they still frighten her. It also doesn't help, Michonne's mother outright dislikes everything about Andrea.

Andrea rounds Michonne's desk as her friend gives chase. She punches in Michonne's code unlocking the phone and reads the new message.

"Andrea! I'm not fucking around!" Michonne yells. Michonne reaches for her phone but Andrea dodges her grasp.

"He says sorry about last night but he wants to make it up to you with a barbeque for you and your friends!"

Michonne finally succeeds with snatching the phone away from Andrea. She reads Rick's message: I'm sorry about last night but we need to talk. Last night was heavy, let's keep it light. A barbeque in King's County invite your friends. We can talk then.

Michonne huffs, a frown settles on her face as her heart doubles in pace at the mere thought of talking to Rick especially after the previous night.

"You're not going to respond?"

"No… I think we need some space."

"Fuck that, the last thing you all need is space."

"Andrea… I th-"

"You all need to talk about what happened last night."

"We fucked up… I fucked up… I didn't go with him. I allowed my parents to disrespect me and him… how do I go back from that? He called my father a coward but in truth I am. I should have… may- maybe it is best this way."

"Bitch! I fucking swear for being as smart as you are you sure do dumb shit!" Andrea says. Andrea starts to sit in her seat returning to her case brief, Michonne does the same placing her phone face down on her desk. Before Michonne can react Andrea snatches Michonne's phone again and races to her private bathroom adjacent to her office. Andrea locks the door behind her just as Michonne reaches it. She screams, threatens, and beats on the door as Andrea sends a reply to Rick's message.

XxXx00000xXxX

"What the hell did you do?" Rick panics looking at the sent, received, and read text message to Michonne.

"Relax," Shane starts smiling as he pulls Rick's lunch out from his hand. He pulls out the large order of French fries from Rick's lunch bag and stuffs a handful in his mouth.

"Shit Shane! What did you fucking do?"

"I'm helping you!"

"This is not helping. This is giving me a fucking heart attack, the way we left thangs last night… it's too fucking soon. Fuck Shane," Rick yells.

"Too fucking soon? Y'all fuckers got married after a fucking day, this shit needs to happen soon before the shit can fester," Shane says coolly ripping open Rick's brisket sandwich and taking a big bite.

"What if she says no? What if she doesn't answer? What if she doesn't want to see me again? I left her at that restaurant! I left her with them!"

Between bites Shane comments, "After you asked her to come with you and she didn't! That's on her not you."

"I should have kept my cool. I shouldn't have snapped. I shouldn't have left her. I shouldn't have called her mother malicious. I shouldn't have called her father a coward. What if she doesn't want to try?"

With his mouth full, Shane takes Rick's soda and swallows several gulps before he turns to his friend, "Didn't you read the text I sent? That's why I invited her friends, make it light, make it seems more causal and fun, plus I wouldn't mind seeing that sweet ass Andrea again."

Rick looks at his best-friend with wide eyes as he takes another bite of his sandwich. Before Rick can say anything to Shane, his phone rings once and vibrates signally a new message.

XxXx00000xXxX

Andrea opens the restroom door to find a seething Michonne waiting for her. Michonne snatches her phone from Andrea and stalks to her desk. She reads the message Andrea sent on her behalf: Yes, we need to talk. A barbeque sounds light. I'll let the girls know.

"I can't fucking believe you!" Michonne spats.

"I'm just helping you!"

"How is this helping Andrea?"

"You're the one who said you're willing to try, this is you trying!"

"'I'm going to cancel!"

"You made a promise to fucking try, Michonne!"

Michonne collapse in her chair with a heavy sigh, "I know but with the campaign and the way Rick left… I don't know. I'm surprised he even wants to see me."

"Of course he wants to see you plus you're not thinking of this clearly."

Michonne only raises her head and looks at Andrea with a raised eyebrow.

"Sasha and I will go with you, we can be your buffers and I'm sure Rick's friends will be there as well. Also you should invite Glenn and Maggie; the better they know him the more likely they'll vouch for him with Judge and your mom. And this is just another great way to get to know him better. If things get too heavy or go downhill, we can sweep in and snatch you out of that house so fast that if you wore a wig it would be left behind."

Michonne considers Andrea's words for a moment. When her phone chimes again. Andrea makes no move to take her phone away, Michonne reads Rick's message.

"What did he say?"

"He's asking if tomorrow at 4pm will work?"

Michonne watches as Andrea grimaces as her mind races.

"What is that face for?" Michonne asks.

"I was hoping he'll say Sunday, so I have enough time to get my lady parts shaped up."

"What?" Michonne asks.

"Shane… he's probably going to be there and I was hoping we could reconnect, figuratively and literally."

"Andrea," Michonne groans, "You did this to see Shane again? I thought you were going to be my buffer? You said if things go downhill you'll be there for me!"

Andrea waves her hand at Michonne in a shoo-away manner, "I know what I said! Shane, he's just a bonus. I did this for you and Rick! I want to be ready for Shane when things goes well for you and Rick, Shane and I can possibly sneak away and you know… reconnect."

Michonne rolls her eyes at Andrea.

"So?"

"So what?" Michonne asks.

"Are you still going to cancel?" Andrea questions, her eyes bright with hope.

Michonne thinks for a moment and replies, "What should I say in response?"

"Tell him ok and ask him what we should bring."

Michonne nods and sends the message. She looks up from her sent message to see Andrea gathering her files and case briefing.

"Where are you going?"

"I think I can get an emergency appointment to get my lady parts shaped up with Carrie late this afternoon and I need to get my eyebrows, nails and toes done," Andrea answers as she stuffs her things in her briefcase before she hustles out of Michonne's office. Michonne shakes her head as she watches her friend leave. She sits in silence, suddenly a slow wave of anxious nerves sweep over her at the thought of seeing Rick again.

XxXx00000xXxX

"Shit. She said yes," Rick says in awe, looking at his phone. A surge of hope races across his chest. This… they can make it work.

"Wipe that goofy ass look off your face," Shane quips stuffing fries into his mouth, "I knew she was going to say yes."

Rick smiles wider at the thought of seeing Michonne and making up with her.

"So when are we going to have this barbeque? Sunday? Make it a real Sunday Funday, if you catch my drift," Shane says wagging his eyebrows.

"No, tomorrow at 4pm," Rick says sending the message to Michonne.

"That soon, huh?"

"Yea, I'll tell Daryl, Abraham, and a couple of others."

"Are you going to invite Carol?"

Rick's head snaps up to Shane, an eyebrow raised in question, "What's wrong with Carol?"

"After her divorce she's a bigger cock-block than Abraham."

"Carol is a good friend plus she's dating that guy… Tobin."

"He must not be fucking her right because she looks and acts more evil now than during the fucking divorce."

Chuckling Rick shakes his head, "Damn Shane."

"I'm just saying... she needs better dick in her life."

"Are you offering?" Rick jokes.

"Fuck no!"

Rick's phone rings and vibrates, another message received.

"What did your wife say?"

"She's says that's fine and asks what to bring."

Shane chuckles, "Do you want the rest of your lunch?"

"Nah… I don't think I can eat," Rick answers the hope in his chest melding with nerves.

"Good because I ate it all," Shane says tossing the empty lunch bag at Rick. He pushes the passenger door open and steps out the squad car. Rick watches his friend incredulously as he walks to his own truck. As Shane gets in his car he yells back at him with a laugh.

"Tell her to bring dessert."