After Michonne got Judith to sleep, she went to sleep herself. She was surprised that Rick hadn't knocked on the door, but then again, he was probably exhausted from sleeping on the floor the night before. She didn't go look for him because she was also exhausted; Michonne fell asleep pretty quickly.
A few hours later, Michonne woke up and she couldn't get back to sleep. She hated to just lay there, so she got up; she was going to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Michonne opened the door and Rick was laying in the floor asleep, with no shirt on. She sighed and gently nudged him with her foot. She woke him up after after a few tries.
"Rick, what are you doing?", she whispered.
"I was sleeping until you woke me up."
"Go to sleep... in your bed."
Rick sighed. "Fine", and got up; he started to walk down the hallway to his room.
Michonne started walking down the steps, and before she got downstairs, she heard Rick walking behind her.
"Why aren't you sleeping?", he asked her.
"I can't", she told him as they made their way to the kitchen.
Michonne got a glass and filled it up with water. Then, she went to sit on the couch, and Rick did too. He sat on the opposite end, making sure to keep his distance.
"What are you doing?", she asked him for the second time in five minutes.
"I'm sitting here."
"I know that, Rick, but why aren't you sleeping?"
"You said that you can't sleep, so I'm staying up with you", he told her.
"You really don't have to do that."
"I know, but I want to. Do you want another glass of water?", he asked her as he looked at her empty glass.
She started to get up, but he said "I can get it for you", as he got up. He took the empty glass from her and walked to the kitchen.
He came back a few seconds later with a full glass. He handed it to her and he looked her straight in the eyes. "Do you need anything else?", he asked her.
"No. Thank you", she said as she stared up and down his body. She needed something, alright. Michonne needed him to put a damn shirt on because she really didn't need to be feeling things from seeing Rick shirtless at three in the morning. It's not that he didn't look good, he looked great. If it was up to Michonne, she would have him walk around shirtless all day. She just needed him to put on a shirt right now before she jumped on him and done something she might possibly regret later.
Didn't Rick already know how she felt? Rick probably knew everything, especially the way Michonne spoke about him while telling Jessie off. So what if Michonne was staring him up and down? It's not like she could hide her feelings now anyway, so she was just going to keep on checking him out. Maybe what she needed to do now was flirt with him a little, drive him crazy, but how far could she take it without going insane herself?
How much more did Rick really need to do to prove himself? That's one question Michonne didn't know the answer to. She knew the man was trying his best, but she didn't know if she should just sit back and see what else he does or make the move. If she made the move, Michonne needed to make sure that was the right answer because, once she made that step, there was no going back.
All of these thoughts swirled around Michonne's head while sitting beside of Rick. She was just thankful that he couldn't read minds because she would have been screwed. Michonne was thinking about everything imaginable until one thing popped into her mind: brownies. She remembered that she didn't have time to fix them.
"You know", Michonne started to say, " I didn't get to make the brownies earlier because we had to clean up Judith's mess."
"Yeah", was all Rick replied.
"I can fix them now", Michonne said.
Rick looked at her. "Now?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"It's three in the morning."
"So? I want brownies", she told him as she got up and went to the kitchen. He got up and followed her.
Michonne added all of the ingredients and mixed them together and put it in a pan. She put it in the oven and set the timer.
Michonne just stood there looking at Rick, while he looked at her. He gave her that look: her look, the only way he ever looked at her and no one else. This time that look was too tempting, and it didn't help that he was shirtless. Michonne KNEW this was only going to lead to one one thing: she was going to end up on his bed with him on top of her if they didn't stop. Michonne wanted that, but she didn't know if it was too soon or not.
"So...", Rick started to say. It was like he was thinking the same thing. "Carl loves your spaghetti. I've never seen that kid eat so much in his life when it comes to your spaghetti."
"Yeah", was all Michonne said. He looked like he wanted to talk about something, not her spaghetti.
As soon as Rick said it, he knew that it was the dumbest thing he could have said, but he continued. "Judith likes it too." He really just wanted to ram his head against the wall. It was three in the morning, and he had the woman he loved standing in the middle of his kitchen. All he could get brave enough to talk about was her fucking spaghetti.
Rick wanted to ask her if she meant what she said to Jessie. He wanted to ask her if she had read his letter because he had been dying to find out. She hadn't mentioned anything about it, and that worried him. Rick just wanted to know if she was going to give him a second chance. Most of all, he just really wanted to know if she loved him.
Michonne just stood there, becoming more nervous. He just kept staring at her, while she kept staring at his chest.
She really wanted to ask him what was going on, but instead she blurted out, "How do you know what my favorite color is?" She definitely didn't want to ask that.
Rick looked confused. "What are you talking about?"
Michonnne became embarrassed. "It's nothing. Never mind."
"No. What is it?", he asked her as he walked closer to her.
Michonne didn't need him any closer to her, so she started backing away. When Rick saw this, he immediately stopped.
Rick continued looking at her, wanting an answer.
Michonne sighed. "The other day when you came down with that light-blue shirt. How did you know it is my favorite color? I'm sure you had a reason why you picked that particular shirt."
"I heard you tell Carl while were were walking on the train tracks to Terminus. You two were playing some game, and he asked you what your favorite color was. That's how I know", he said then shrugged.
"You remembered?", Michonne asked him. That wasn't exactly supposed to be said, she just blurted it out as soon as it came to her mind. Michonne was surprised that he actually remembered that tiny piece of information.
"Of course I did", he told her.
The timer beeped and both of them jumped. Michonne got them out of the oven, and let them cool off for a few minutes before she gave one to Rick.
Rick took a bite and said "This is good". Michonne smiled. Two of her favorite things were only three feet away from her: brownies and Rick Grimes.
Michonne took a bite and she thought they were really good too.
A few minutes later, Michonne saw that Rick had ate most of the brownies.
"You better save some for Carl", she told him. "He's going to be pissed if he finds out you ate all the brownies. You don't want to him to beat you up, do you?", she joked.
"Yeah, you're right", Rick said as he stepped away from the brownies. "I don't want another black eye. That thing hurt like hell."
Michonne and Rick went back to sit on the couch. Michonne could tell that he still wanted to ask her something, so she said "What you want, Rick?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. You have been wanting to ask me something this whole time, so ask me."
Rick sighed. How did she know everything? "Did you mean it?", he asked her.
"Did I mean what?"
"What you said to her." He emphasized "her", so Michonne knew who he was talking about. "When you called Carl and Judith family... when you called ME family."
Michonne looked over at him. "Yes."
The next question Rick asked was, "Did you ever.. read the letter I wrote?"
"Yes", she told him. She didn't want to admit that she had read it about two-hundred times.
A few seconds later, Rick asked, "Will... you give me a second chance?"
Michonne sighed. "Rick, don't you see that I already have? I wouldn't even be in this house right now if I hadn't gave you one." She not only wanted to give him a second chance, she needed to. She wasn't in Rick's life just for him, though he was a big part of it. Michonne loved Rick, a lot more than he would ever know, but she was also in his life for Carl and Judith because she promised to be there for them, and she wasn't going to break it. There were so many reasons why she needed it to work out with Rick, but he wasn't the only one and he knew that.
Rick smiled a little. That's what he wanted to hear, that's what he NEEDED to hear; he was so relieved.
"And Rick?", she said.
"Yeah."
"Please don't screw up or my ass will be gone for good. That's a promise." She looked at him to let her know how serious she was.
"I won't", he told her. "That's a promise."
They were both silent after that. Michonne's thoughts were swirling around in her head again. There was one thing that was really bothering her, and she was going to let him know about it. Michonne knew she was going to end up saying too much for her own good.
"In the letter you wrote me, you said that you were a monster. If you are, then I have to be one too, Rick."
Rick looked at her and shook his head. "No you're not."
"Yes, I am. I've done the same things you have, I've killed people too."
Rick looked at her like she was crazy. "Did you kill your best friend? Did you take a bite out of a man's throat? Did you gut a man with your own knife? Did you break the heart of the only person that is there for you?"
Rick wasn't about to let her think that Michonne was a monster. If he was going to let her think that, he might as well say there was no hope for anyone. Besides his children, Michonne, and the rest of their little family, there wasn't much good left.
Michonne didn't say anything, she just looked at him.
"Yeah, I didn't think so", Rick said. I AM a monster, and there isn't anything I can do to change that."
Michonne started to get angry. This was the part where she knew she was going to say more than she wanted to. "Yes, there is Rick. Maybe you can't change some things, but you need to realize you did those things to protect us.. your son, your daughter...me."
"It doesn't matter", Rick said. "I can't change who I am."
"Maybe you don't need to change. You keep us living, and that's all that really matters."
Rick didn't look at her and Michonne knew that he didn't believe her.
"Rick, look at me", she told him and he looked at her. "You aren't a monster. If you were one, you wouldn't love your family. Monsters don't love people, they try to destroy them."
"I've hurt so many people, I've hurt you", Rick told her.
"That doesn't matter, Rick. You are trying to work those things out. If you really were a monster, you wouldn't try to. If you were a monster, you wouldn't try to prove yourself to someone you love. If you are the monster you say you are, you wouldn't care that... that someone you are trying to prove yourself to, LOVES YOU back. So no, Rick, you have it completely wrong. You're not a monster."
Rick's head immediately shot up and he looked at her. Did he just hear that right? Michonne loves him?
"You love me?", he asked her.
Michonne sighed. She knew she was going to end up saying too much, but he had to know that he wasn't the person he thought he was. She did love him, and there was no use in denying it now.
"Yes", she told him. "I've already said way too much. I'm going to bed."
She started to walk up the steps, and Rick followed closely behind her.
"Wait, Michonne", he told her.
They made it to her room, she was getting ready to close the door. "Wait, Michonne", he repeated again.
"What?", she asked him.
Rick began to look nervous. "Can I kiss you?"
Michonne thought it was sweet that he asked, but she wasn't going to let him. Since, they both knew each other's feelings, this was going to be the fun part. This was going to be the part where she would drive him crazy.
She started smiling. "No."
Rick looked confused. "Do you not want to?"
"It's not that I don't want to. Just because I said what I said, doesn't mean you can just kiss me. Do something that will make me want to kiss you."
"Fine", Rick said, with his face turned into a pout. "Good night."
"Good night", she replied back. "Please don't sleep in the floor."
Rick nodded, and he started to walk down the hallway to his room. Michonne could tell he wasn't too happy about not kissing her. She kinda felt bad for him.
"Rick", she called his name.
"Yeah?"
"Come here", she told him. Rick started to rush down the hallway to her. He stood right in front of her.
He was looking in her eyes. Michonne stood up and kissed him on the cheek. She playfully smacked his cheek. "This was to motivate you to do something", she told him while smiling.
He started to walk down the hallway again, and she called his name again. He rushed back to her.
"You're not getting another kiss", she told him.
"I was hoping it would be a real one", he admitted.
"No. I just wanted to tell you that next time, you want to stay up half the night with me, wear a damn shirt. You're too distracting without one."
Rick smiled. "I will if you don't wear shirts that are so revealing. You're too distracting."
Michonne smiled and went inside of her room and shut the door. She leaned her head against it. She just hoped Rick would do something, so she could use it as an excuse to kiss him. Kissing him on the cheek wasn't enough, not even close to it.
