I want to say "THANK YOU" to all those followers and readers. I'm popping my cherry on this Fanfic thing and to have people reading my story is mind boggling. If you've left a review, I've read it and can't say enough how excited I get when I read them. Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Rick looked at Michonne and held his arm out for her to take. "Since your escort ditched us."

"Such a gentleman. You've taught Carl well."

"I try to raise him right."

"You are doing a good job."

Trying to hide his blush. He just nodded his head. Carl was the one good thing that came from his marriage, and it was nice to know that the divorce hadn't had negative effects on him. Though they failed at being a husband and wife team, the co-parenting team was winning.

"This is the square. There's a bunch of shops here. I've heard that women like to shop so you might be interested in a few of the stores around here."

"Where ever did you hear that from?" Michonne asked, giving him a slight smile and squeezing his arm. He placed his hand over hers and feigned hurt from her squeezing.

"There's an ice cream shop down the way, a bakery on the other side. Here's the hardware store, where I bought your tool bag. I got a lot of funny looks from Mr. Henry, the owner when I walked up with that purple bag."

"He didn't think it went with your eyes?"

"Here's the candy shop. This was my first job; worked here every summer till I went off to the academy.

Michonne stopped walking.

"You want to go in don't you?"

She nodded her head in agreement.

Michonne breathed in deeply as she entered the candy shop. Everything smelled so good to her. She wasn't sure where to start so she looked at Rick.

"Give me a tour please, deputy."

"It's a pretty small store. Everything's arranged by type; chocolates, sours, fruity candies and mints. Everything's sold by the pound, except the suckers those are sold individually."

"I would have been your very best friend if I knew you when you were working here. That sounds bad, but I would have totally used our friendship to reap the benefits of your employee discount."

"I would have gladly let you."

"I think we need a basket. What does Carl like?"

"Big Kats are his favorite. They don't sell them here though. But he likes anything with sugar."

"I knew there was a reason I liked Carl. Big Kats are my absolute favorite candy. I always keep a few in my desk at work. Let's get some of these chocolate caramel clusters. Do you like those?"

"I like them well enough."

"Oh and some suckers. Cherry or green apple?"

"I'm not really a sucker kind of guy"

"You look like a Twizzler kind of man. I'm getting 2 cherry suckers. Do they have M&M's?"

"I really don't eat much candy anymore. I think this store cured me of my sweet tooth."

"Why are we the only people in this store? I can't be the only one that likes candy."

"This time of year, most people are out buying the big bags of candy mixes, getting ready for Halloween."

"Halloween is close isn't it? I forgot all about it."

"In 2 weeks"

"A little secret about me; I hate Halloween."

Rick looked at her with wide eyes, surprised by her confession.

"I hate monsters and zombies. I don't like being scared and jumping at every sound. If everyone dressed as pretty princesses and cowboys, I'd be good. Is that weird?"

"No. Not at all."

They walked to the register to pay for the candy.

"So do you watch scary movies?" Rick asked her.

"Oh no. Too much blood in them."

"That's too bad. No movies nights watching horror films so you can snuggle close to your date."

"That old trick will not work with me. I hope my date is a little smoother than that anyways and knows that I like a good mystery movie."

Rick and Michonne left the candy shop with a few bags of candy in hand. They did a bit of window-shopping as they headed back to the truck. In one of the shop windows Michonne spotted a necklace that she wanted to get a better look at.

"That necklace is beautiful. I've never seen that color of green before. Can we go in?

"Looks like it's closed already."

"Already? What time is it?"

"4:30"

"Wow, time really is flying by. That's okay, maybe another time. It's getting cooler and I left my jacket in your truck."

"Well let's get you out of the cold then."

Once inside the truck Rick turned on the heater and made sure Michonne was comfortable before he drove off.

"So is the tour over?"

"Not quite. I have one more place to show you. Your gonna love it."

They drove to the outside of town, which gave Michonne the opportunity to see more of the town even if it was just in passing. They finally reached a long dirt road, which Rick turned on. Soon the road began to incline up a steep hill that seemed to go on forever.

"Rick where are we going?"

"We're almost there."

Five minutes later and the truck flattened out. Rick turned the truck around so that the front was now facing the way that they just drove in. He put the truck in park and got out walking over to Michonnes side to open her door. He grabbed a blanket from the backseat before walking her to the back of the truck where he released the tailgate and then to her surprise, placed both hands on either side of her waist and lifted her up to sit in the bed of the truck.

"This is Beacon Hill." Rick said as he took a seat beside her. "It's county property, so not to many people come up here now. It's got the best view in the whole county."

The sight stunned Michonne. The sun had begun to set and the colors that were painting the sky were exquisite.

"How did you know about this place? It's beautiful." She whispered.

"When I was in high school, this was the make out spot. Shane brought many a girl here back then. Unfortunately, I had to hear all the stories about every girl he brought up here. I think it was sold to someone a longtime ago, and they either willed it to the county once they died or it was foreclosed on. It doesn't get used much anymore. I guess the teenagers found a new make out spot."

"How many girls did you bring here?"

"My teenage love life is a very short story. I was the quiet one; I met Lori in the 10th grade. We started dating and did everything by the book. We got married after high school. We waited until we were married to have sex, probably why we got married so young."

"What happened that caused the divorce? If you don't mind me asking."

"I think we just grew apart. We got married so young, before we even knew who we were, or what we wanted out of life. When we finally figured it out we realized we were headed on two different paths that had no way of reconnecting. Unfortunately Carl was witness to one too many arguments, but I think he can see that we're better people, parents now that were no longer married."

"Does she live close?"

"Yeah. She still has family in town and we didn't want to make too many changes for Carl. We wanted him to stay at his school and he has his baseball team. He's had the same friends since birth almost, small town. He shouldn't suffer because of us."

"So you got the truck and she kept the house?"

"She did keep the house, and there was no way I was giving up this truck."

"It's a nice truck. Did it take long to clean yesterday?" She asked trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"No, just a quick wash and a vacuum. Carl likes to do that. He sprayed something on the seats to make it smell like strawberries but it didn't last. All I smell now is your perfume."

"Sorry"

"That's alright. Your perfume smells a whole lot better than whatever was in there before."

Just then the sun went completely down and the lights of the town flickered on. Rick watched Michonne's reaction to the lights that illuminated King County.

"Wow, you can see so much up here."

"Yeah. Over there is the high school stadium, the courthouse is over there, the square is there." He pointed as he named each place.

"Oh, I see the movie theatre and the park. This view is amazing."

"I told you."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a bit, just looking around at the town.

"It's so quiet up here. I like this type of quiet."

"There's different types?"

"Yes. There's eerie quiet, when something's wrong, There's loud quiet, like when I walk into my house. And then there's this, peaceful quiet."

"That makes sense. I know those quiets. My house has that loud quiet when Carl is at his mom's house.

Michonne looked up at the sky and noticed the stars.

"That's something you don't see much in Atlanta."

She spread the blanket out behind her and laid back on it.

"My grandmother, God rest her soul. She lived in a big house in the country; lots of bedrooms and lots of land. She felt kids should have room to run around as long as we didn't mess up her garden. My cousins and I would spend our summers there. We would play, go swimming, and dig in the dirt. Anything to keep us occupied, from sun up to sun down. But for one hour my grandmother made us be still. She would tell us to read a book, pray or just sit and listen to the wind blow, but you had to be still. As a kid, it was hard, really hard; the being still part. It got easier as we got older. We each found our spot for the quiet hour. I found the perfect place under her magnolia tree. I would read comics and just inhale the sweet smell of the magnolia flowers. It wasn't until I got to college that I fully appreciated the quiet hour. The dorms were always so loud and the library was never quiet enough. This place though, is perfect for a quiet hour. It makes me think of my grandmother, I really miss her."

Rick noticed Michonnes eyes started to glisten. He lay down beside her and looked up at the stars too.

"It sounds like she had a great impact on you. I'm sorry if bringing you here made you sad. It wasn't my intention."

"I know. I think it's just the whole town. You have time to think and listen to the quiet. Reflect on life and remember the good times. I didn't get that in the city."

"You know what?"

"What."

"I have two magnolia trees in my backyard. You're welcome to come and sit under them anytime you want."

Michonne laughed and looked over at Rick. She allowed her hand to brush against his and gave it a squeeze.

"Thank you."

Noticing how cold her hand was he brought it up to his shoulder and used his free hand to rub some warmth onto it.

"I think I should get you home before you catch a cold."

"Or before Carl thinks you abandoned him."

"If he's in front of a video game, he's not thinking about me at all."

Rick and Michonne talked the whole way to her house. He told her about his upcoming schedule change to nights for Halloween week. She was disappointed she wouldn't see him as often during that week, but he assured her that he'd take care of the monsters and zombies that crept through the night. He asked her about her caseload at work and she tried not to bore him with the exciting world of family law.

When they made it to her driveway Rick parked behind her car and walked over to open her door. He carried her bag of candy for her. They noticed the Andersons sitting on their porch. Both of the Andersons waved, but only Jessie spoke.

"Hi Rick and Michonne, nice to see you again."

Rick just nodded and Michonne smiled, not wanting to speak to her and mess up the good vibes that the day had made. Rick walked Michonne up to her door and handed her the bag of candy.

"Rick, I had a really good time today. I know I said that I would give you a hug after the tour, but I feel like I owe you much more with how today was."

"I'll take the hug for now. You can save the much more for our date."

"Our date?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's if you'll allow me to take you on one." He said hopeful.

"I feel like this was a date."

"Hardly. Especially with Carl involved. Our date will be just you and me the whole time."

Michonne reached up and hugged him tightly around his neck and whispered in his ear.

"I'd love to."

Rick wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a strong hug of his own. He broke the hug first trying to be a gentleman and get off her porch before things got too heated. She smelled too good and she was too warm and her whispered words were giving him an actual physical reaction.

"Good night Rick."

"Goodnight Michonne."

Rick waited until she was inside and locked the door, before he left her porch and went back to his truck.

"Drive safe." Said the man on the porch with Jessie.

Rick didn't hear him; he was too busy thinking of where he might take Michonne on their date. He smiled as he entered and started the truck. It still smelled like her perfume and now as he drove off, he was missing her being next to him.