"Do you have me on speaker?"
"Yes Andrea. I'm changing the sheets on my bed. I can't do that while holding the phone. Don't you have some consulting to do?"
"I do, don't you have some art to sell?"
"I already did." Machine told her.
"Morgan's coming in an hour to talk about his new store. Did you and Rick mess up another sheet set with your insatiable asses?" Michonne rolled her eyes at Andrea and ignored her question.
"I can't believe he's opening a cheese shop. He's so hard to figure out. What did you say he's calling it again?"
"The Cheese Maker. It's catchy. Where's Carl, is it nap time already? It's quiet over there."
"Yes. All the moving around he's been doing just tires him out these days. He's pulling up on everything; those first steps are coming soon."
"Awe. He's just getting out the way for the new baby. I can't believe you're not gonna find out the sex again."
"For what? We'll be excited just the same, no matter what comes out of me."
"Why can't you be like Maggie and Glenn? They already know they're having a boy. At least with them I know what to shop for."
"It's not like they don't sell blankets in green and yellow Andrea. Besides we can still use all the things we used for Carl for this one."
"Ugh. Hand me downs, poor kid."
"Family heirlooms." Michonne said a bit out of breath, tucking the sheets under the mattress was more work than she thought.
"Can you tell Rick, I'm tired of seeing his face plastered all over town."
"Funny Andrea, I would be offended, but he would probably agree with you. The election will be here before we know it and all the posters can come down. He hates seeing them too, even though Aaron did a great job on them. He looks so handsome. Ms. Evelyn can hardly contain herself when she sees one. I think she's taken Carl's picture next to about 10 of them."
"Why are they even having an election? He's running against a retiring sheriff who is happily giving up his job to him."
"People still have to elect him. Just make sure you vote for him."
"Who would of thought that you'd be married to a sheriff one day. I'm still waiting on my matchmaker gift. If it weren't for me, you two would never have met."
"I'm pretty sure we were always destined to meet, with or without you and Shane. Y'all just made it easier for us."
"You know I like jewelry right?" "Hey Andrea, is this the only soap you have?" A strange voice called through the phone startling Michonne.
"Who was that?"
"Uh. No one. I gotta go."
"Andrea!" Michonne called her name but was met with dead air after Andrea hung up on her. She was just about to call her back when the doorbell rang. She walked to the front door and saw her guests through the frosted glass pane on the door.
"Hey Ms. Evelyn, what brings you by?" Michonne hugged her mother in law when she stepped in and closed the door behind her.
"Just came by to say hello." Michonne was a bit skeptical about that. "You know you make pregnancy look so good. This one must be a boy too. Oh, I brought you some more spaghetti sauce and some pickled okra, I know how much you like it." Michonne walked her to the kitchen where she put the spaghetti sauce away in the pantry and immediately opened the okra jar.
"Next year, I'm planting these and you'll have to teach me how to pickle them. They are so good. The baby's gonna start doing his happy dance in about 15 minutes, they're his favorite."
"I'm glad to hear that. I'll be ready when you are. I stopped by and saw that husband of yours earlier. I think it's time that he shaved his beard, what do you think?"
"I think he looks fine either way, but I know he hates shaving everyday though."
"He said something to that effect." Ms. Evelyn shook her head since she was unable to sway Michonne to her side about the beard. "Is Carl asleep?" Michonne looked at the clock to see how long he'd been down.
"He should be waking up soon, you can go get him if you want." She watched Ms. Evelyn's delighted face as she quickly made her way to Carl's room. She came back a few minutes later with a bright eyed Carl who was smiling ear to ear. "Hey pumpkin, are you happy to see granny?" She shook his little foot and he giggled.
"Of course he is. He was just looking up at the ceiling when I got in there. Talking to the angels I guess."
"Where are you taking him off to today Ms. Evelyn? I know that look of yours." Michonne said to her jokingly even though her hand was on her hip.
"Your mama thinks she knows me Carl. Well she's right." She said to Carl before she looked at Michonne and smiled. "We were just gonna go by the community center real quick and see a few folks. Hattie Mae swears her granddaughter is the cutest and smartest thing around, but she's never met Carl. I just wanted to shut her up for a while. We're gonna show her, aren't we?" She asked Carl who just smiled at her.
"Ms. Evelyn." Michonne shook her head at her, not at all surprised by her pettiness.
"What? Some people have to be shown more than told. Then he's gonna help me make cookies for the fire station."
"Are you writing RG on them in icing again? Rick didn't really like that last time."
"No, but the tin has his face on it." Michonne put her head in her hand.
"Does he know that?"
"Does he have too? I'm just trying to help out. What's he gonna do anyways? It's all part of the campaign process."
"You are something else Ms. Evelyn. I'm gonna leave that between you and him. When should I expect my baby back?"
"Later tonight, tomorrow. Who knows? You know how Carl and I get when we're together." She grabbed her bag and started for the door. Michonne didn't bother with getting any of Carl's things because Ms. Evelyn had everything she needed for him already.
"Okay. Well, don't tear up the town too much you two. And don't let him eat any cookies." She knew that fell on deaf ears, but she said it anyways. She walked over to Carl and kissed his cheek, he laughed, but didn't make any moves to go to her. Ms. Evelyn saw the sad expression on Michonne's face.
"Don't you worry dear, he's just making way for the new baby."
"I keep hearing that. But he's still my baby." She kissed him one more time. "Don't let him take his first steps without me okay."
"I won't push him down if that's what your asking, but I can't stop it from happening." She smiled at Michonne and patted her arm. "You're a doll dear. He's always gonna be your baby, just like Richard will always be mine." Michonne nodded her head in agreement and walked them to the door. "Tell mama bye." Carl babbled something on his way out the door.
"Y'all be good." She watched Ms. Evelyn buckle Carl into his car seat. He babbled and cooed the entire time. As they drove off and she closed the door she looked around not knowing what to do with herself now. Her baby was off with his granny and she didn't have anyone to talk to. She needed her big daddy baby.
"I'm telling you Grimes, his clothes smelled like he rolled around in ten tons of cat pee. Be glad they didn't call us out there. Sherman will have to air out that cruiser for a month to get that smell out." Tara told Rick.
"Damn, and they found him in that abandoned lot off of Turner?"
"Yeah. It won't be abandoned for long, looks like they're about to start developing it."
"Good. Maybe it'll keep the riff raff away." Rick said to her picking up his phone to read his text message.
Michonne: Your mama just took Carl away. She's gonna go rub him in someone's face because so smart and cute and then they're baking cookies. He wasn't even sad to leave me.
Rick: Granny gives him anything he wants. Why would he be sad?
Michonne: Because I'm his mama and he needs me.
Rick: Of course he needs you, but y'all can't spend all day staring at each other.
Michonne: You're not helping.
Rick: So now you're all alone and don't know what to do with yourself.
Michonne: Something like that.
Rick: I know what to do with you. Give me 20 minutes to get there.
Michonne: I'm setting the timer.
"Tara, I gotta go check on Michonne, my mama took Carl and now she's feeling a bit lonely."
"You need some reinforcements?" She asked him.
"Nah. I can handle her myself." He gave her a look that told her she probably wouldn't want to be anywhere near him and Michonne when Carl wasn't around anyways.
"Got it." She said in understanding.
"Hey have y'all seen Walsh? That fucker was supposed to be in my class this morning, this is the second time he's missed training." Abe said to them in a huff making his appearance even more odd with his red face and orange hair.
"Haven't seen him, might have called in." Rick answered
"You checking out already?" Abe asked him noticing his keys in his hand.
"Gotta check on Michonne. See you in a bit Tara." He walked off headed to his truck.
"Check on Michonne my ass, that son of dick is going home for some afternoon delight."
"Has anyone ever told you how elegant you are with words?" Tara asked Abe
"You would be the first."
"Hey, you and Eugene still rooming together?"
"For the time being, why you want to take him off my hands?" Abe asked him.
"Denise is just fascinated with him. We have an extra room if you ever get tired of him."
"You tell Denise, I'll seriously consider it, but that is one nut she might not want to crack."
"You're late. The timer went off 1 minute ago." Michonne said to Rick as he walked into the house.
"By 1 minute. Abe came by asking about Shane, held me up for a bit. I'll make up for it." He kissed her on the lips since they were turned in a faux pout already.
"What about Shane?" She asked him as light bulbs starting flashing in her mind.
"I guess he called in today, missed training, he wanted to know where he was." They walked to the couch and Rick sat down before pulling Michonne into his lap.
"Huh. Tell him to check Andrea's house next time. That sneaky cow, she should have known I'd find out."
"I don't even want to know." Rick shook his head and tried not to think of any scenarios that would pair Andrea and Shane together again. "You feeling better?"
"A little since you're here. Tara must think I'm a big pregnant baby."
"No. She understands." He kicked his boots off and reclined on the couch resting Michonne against his front. His hand went to her belly to rub it. "He's excited today isn't he?" He could feel the baby moving around against his hand.
"Yeah, your mama brought over some pickled okra. You know he loves it."
"You know I was with you when you knew Carl was a boy, but this one could be a girl."
"We've got a 50/50 chance. We can find out if you want to. I can see you with a pretty little girl dressed up in pink ruffles. Her boyfriends don't stand a chance."
"There won't be any of those, so I don't have anything to worry about." He said to her.
"Well like I said, we can find out if you want to."
"Nah, I like being surprised."
"You ready to deliver another baby?"
"I'm ready when he or she is." He went quiet for a minute. "Is my mama putting my name on those cookies she and Carl are making?" Michonne laughed at him.
"No, not this time. She said only the cookie tin will have your face on it. Just let her have this, she's so proud of you. She said you're still her baby."
"I'll let her have it. It's almost over anyways. I don't know what I'm gonna do with her."
"She tried to get me to tell you shave your beard, but I told her I liked it."
"Did you tell her that you like how it feels on the inside of your thighs?" He squeezed her leg and nipped at her neck.
"No, I left that to myself." She said playfully slapping his arm. "Well, your time is ticking away and I remember you saying something about knowing what to do with me." Michonne said to him, noticing the time on his watch.
"I know exactly what to do with you." His voice was low in her ear and his lips were on her neck while his hand was ,aking it's way past her waistband searching for the source of heat it felt below her belly. "I think it's time to shave again." He patted her short patch of curly hair. "We'll do it later." He separated his fingers and parted her lips moving them up in down until her arousal was coating his fingers and slicking her folds enabling him to move faster along with Michonne's breathing.
"Rick." She whispered started to move her hips in time with his fingers.
"It's just us Michonne. I know you can get louder than that."
"Fuck Rick!" She moaned loudly to his enjoyment when his fingers slipped inside of her.
"There you go. Let me hear how good it feels."
"Shit. Take your pants off!" She said to him, not wanting him to move, but not knowing how he would manage to pull his pants off without his hands.
"But my fingers like playing inside you. And I know you like this." He was teasing her with his words and his thumb on her clit. She was sure he was spelling something on her cervix because she couldn't talk for a good two minutes. He brain couldn't figure out how to.
"Rickkkk!" Her whole body was warm and tingly; her orgasm shook her whole body. Rick watched her feet arch and her heels dig into the fabric of the couch. Her nails dug into his arm. Her head fell back against his chest and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "fuuckk." She rolled her hips coming down from her blissful high. "Damn. You always have known what to do with me." She smiled while blowing out a breath. He removed his wet fingers and sucked them clean.
"I gotta get back to work. You gonna be alright?" He smiled at her knowing she was feeling more than alright. She shook her head at him and he moved to put his boots back on.
"I am now. Have I told you how good a husband you are?"
"You've said it a few times." They stood up and walked to the kitchen and Rick grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl to eat on the way back to the station.
"Do you have time to sit down and eat?" She asked him, now hating that he took care of her on an empty stomach.
I'll just eat this apple on the way back, I'm sure someone brought something for us to eat. I'll be fine."
"Here." Michonne said walking to the fridge and grabbing the sandwich she made him earlier. "Thought you might work up an appetite so I made this for you before you got here." She handed him the sandwich and a bottle of water, before walking with him to the front door.
"Thank you, I'll eat this in the truck. Don't want to give Tara any more reasons to think I came home for more than just lunch."
"I'm sure she knows exactly what you come home for."
"Yeah, she does. Don't worry about Carl; you'll always be his favorite. I gotta run. He kissed her forehead and she opened the door for him. "Make sure you got some shaving cream for later!" He yelled before getting in the truck. She closed the door and rubbed her belly. The baby was turning flips now after their lunchtime activity.
"Shaving cream. Yes sir."