The workweek was long with Rick working 10pm to 6am Tuesday thru Saturday. He used Monday as an adjustment day. After he sent the flowers to Michonne he sat around his house and took a few naps, hoping to be able to stay up during the night to get his body ready for the new work hours. Michonne had talked to him until midnight Monday night until he told her to go to bed. He appreciated her help to keep him up, but he didn't want her work suffering because she couldn't stay awake.

He met Michonne for breakfast on Wednesday morning after his shift was over and before she went in to the office. He had to wait an hour for her at the station, but he wasn't about to go home without seeing her. She met him at the station and they walked hand in hand to the diner. SueAnn greeted them as they walked in.

"Well, look who it is? How are ya'll this early morning? We have fresh cinnamon rolls hot out the oven if you want some."

"Good morning SueAnn. Can we have a couple coffees for now?" Rick asked her as he motioned with his head for Michonne to head to a booth in the back.

The cinnamon rolls smelled delicious, but Rick just wanted to sit close to Michonne for a while before he ordered any food.

"How was your shift?" She asked him as she scooted into the booth. Rick sat right beside her.

"Nothing too bad. Had to break up an argument over at Bucky's. People don't seem to want to be able to hold their liquor these days. Other than that it was uneventful. Thought about you a lot."

"Thought what about me?" She asked.

Rick placed his arm on the back of the booth and angled his head towards Michonne before bending his head and leaning into her neck.

"What you would smell like today." He said into her neck as he breathed in her scent and lightly kissed her.

"And what do you think?" She asked taking a deep breath.

"I think I like the real thing much better." He kissed her neck again this time lingering a little longer and Michonne noticed the kiss was a little wetter from where he had licked her skin.

"Here, ya'll go. Two coffees. Ya'll ready to order? SueAnn smiled at them knowing she had just interrupted something.

Michonne cleared her throat and picked up her menu. She ordered the first thing that caught her eye; pancakes with bacon and hashbrowns. Wanting to get back to the warmth of Michonne's neck, Rick ordered the same thing. SueAnn smirked as she wrote down their orders and walked away smiling.

"Where were we?" Rick asked as he tried to resume his previous position.

She grabbed his hand as his lips found her neck again.

"Your coffee is getting cold, deputy."

"Who cares? I haven't seen you since Sunday. I have time to make up for. Besides your neck is warming me up plenty."

"I think I created a monster. You get one kiss and you can't get enough."

"Kiss me again to test that theory." He said as he sat up looking into her eyes.

She leaned over and kissed him lightly once before pulling back to look at him and then harder and deeper the second time. Leaving her breathless and warm.

"Maybe it's a mutual thing."

"I don't know Michonne, do you know how soft your lips are? You can't blame me for always wanting another kiss."

He leaned in for another one just as SueAnn placed their breakfast on the table.

"Do ya'll need any extra butter or anything? Looks like you've got plenty of sugar over here."

"Thank you SueAnn, this will do just fine." Rick said as he watched her walk away laughing.

"Eat deputy. My lips aren't going anywhere."

They turned to their plates and Rick watched Michonne slather syrup on her pancakes while he peppered and poured ketchup on his hashbrowns. He hated that eating was keeping him from kissing her, but her did like to watch her lick her lips of the syrup as it dripped from her mouth sometimes.

Once breakfast was over they both sat in the booth talking after SueAnn had cleared their plates. Rick got his wish and a few more kisses from Michonne. He could taste to syrup on her tongue. Michonne broke the kiss as Rick started to slide his hand up her thigh. She was glad she wore pants to work that day, who knows where his hand

would have ended up if she were wearing a skirt. She looked at her watch to see it was 8:45.

"Rick, I have to get to work."

"Yeah, you do. Come on, let's get you there."

They walked hand in hand again as they strolled back up the sidewalk to the D.A.'s office. Michonne separated their hands to grab her briefcase out of her car.

"I'll give you a call before I leave for work tonight." Rick told her

Rick grabbed her briefcase and hugged her tightly around her waist. With her hands free, she reached up and hugged him around his neck. She inhaled his warm scent, he smelled rugged and natural and inviting and she had to break away before she was intoxicated by his smell and allowed her body to overtake her minds good sense.

"I'll be waiting for that call."

"Hey Rick. You just getting off, of work that is?" Andrea teasingly asked.

"Good morning Andrea." Michonne said smiling and ignoring her crass question.

"Andrea. Morning." Rick said nodding his head to her.

"I'll talk to you later."

"Have a good day, Michonne."

"You okay there? Looks like I interrupted something."

"It was just a hug Andrea."

"Right on the sidewalk for all to see, Miss tight lips about relationships. Someone might see something."

"Do you want a hug too?" Michonne asked as she reached out for her friend who playfully swatted her arms away.

"I'm just giving you a hard time. I wouldn't be me if I didn't. Plus I think you two look great together and you should flaunt it more. That look in your eyes now a days looks good on you."

"Thanks."

"Good morning ladies." Glenn enthusiastically said to the both of them, Maggie beside him smiling.

Andrea looked at Michonne questionably at the arrival of them together.

"I'll find out what that's about. I'll let you know later."

"I'm sure you will."

By lunch, Andrea walked into Michonne's office looking disappointed.

"Couldn't get him to talk?"

"No. Looks like he's taking after you in the tight lips department. I did get him to blush when I mentioned them walking in together though. Maybe you can ask Maggie. She'll talk to you."

"Nosiness really isn't my thing. You know that Andrea. If anything's going on, they'll tell people when they're ready. I swear you went into the wrong profession. You should have been a gossip columnist."

"So what's for lunch today? That enchilada casserole you made last week was so good. Let me know when you make it again. I'll come eat with you and Carl. How is the little guy anyways? I know you have something delicious planned for this week to feed him."

"Carl is at his mothers house this week, so I won't be cooking anything for him and I brought chicken salad for lunch. Yes, enough for you too, before you ask."

Michonne reached for her lunch in her strategically placed mini fridge. She pulled out two containers one with chicken salad and one with leafs of lettuce. She handed Andrea a bottle of water and they went to sit at her small conference table.

"So with Carl away, are you and Rick gonna play?" Andrea asked shamelessly.

"If you mean will I still invite him to dinner, yes. He has time before he goes in at night. I'll have to ask him tonight."

"I'm sure he'll like a little dinner and you for dessert."

"Just because Carl won't be there doesn't mean anything besides a little kissing might happen. We have a while before we're ready for that step. Or I do rather. It's been a while and I don't want to rush into anything."

"How long is a while? You're so secretive about men you date. I don't think you've talked about anyone since Mike and that was…" Andrea paused in thought.

"Two years ago."

"Shit Michonne." Two years. We really have to get you laid. I'm for sure Rick would love to dust that off for you."

"Why am I your friend? Can we change the subject?"

"Fine. You want to go with me to a haunted house on Saturday?"

"You know I don't like haunted houses. I'm not going to pay to have some stranger jump out of who knows where to scare the hell out me. Where's Caleb?"

"He's a business man, so he's off working. I don't think he's going to work out. He works too much. I need someone who will drop anything to come when I call. Is that too much to ask for?"

"No Andrea. That sounds totally reasonable." Michonne said while laughing.

At 8:00pm on Thursday night Rick knocked on Michonne's door for dinner. She opened the door to see him smiling at her. She smiled back and stepped aside to allow him to enter her home. Her hugged her around the waist and then glanced over at the wall to see his painting, framed and hanging.

"You really hung that up?

"I told you I would. What do you think?"

"I think you are really good at keeping your word. You can take it down now."

"Not a chance. I think it looks great right where it is. You hungry?" She asked him as she grabbed his hand and lead him to the kitchen.

Dinner was pot roast with red potatoes and carrots that Michonne had put in the crockpot before she left for work that morning, along with some homemade cornbread. She fixed Rick a plate and set it down in front of him with a glass of tea. He waited for her to sit down with her plate before he started to eat.

"This is good, Michonne. I don't know how I'm supposed to work after this." Rick said as he sat back in his chair and finished his tea.

"Thank you. You know I love to cook. I'm glad you liked it."

She got up to remove the plates from the table, but was stopped by Rick grabbing her hand.

"Come here. Sit with me." He pulled her down to sit on his lap. "Can I kiss the cook?"

"Absolutely."

Rick leaned up and placed a deep kiss on her lips, gripping her thigh with his right hand. He broke the kiss well aware of their surroundings and that no one was around for them to worry about.

"I feel like SueAnn is going to sneak up on us again."

"It's just us here tonight. Which is why I should get up off your lap before things go too far."

He tightened his grip on her to keep her from moving off him.

"You don't have to go anywhere. I'm perfectly content in just kissing on you. We'll go as far as you feel comfortable going. This is pretty new to me. Having a girlfriend and all. I would never do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. You know that right?"

"Thank you. It's new for me too. So does that make you my boyfriend?"

"If you'll have me." He looked at her his worried eyes pleading.

"I wouldn't be sitting here if I wouldn't." She emphasized her point by lightly bouncing on his leg.

"Maybe you shouldn't do that."

"Sorry" She said as she laughed before kissing him again.

At 9:30pm it was time for Rick to head to work. They hugged at the door and he stole a few more kisses from her. He would only allow her to walk him to the door and not out on the porch.

"Come to my house in the morning before you go to work, let me make you breakfast." He said to her.

"I've never been to your house."

"Come over around 7:30, I'll feed you pancakes better than the diner. Don't tell SueAnn I said that. And I'll give you a tour of my house. What do you say?"

"I'll see you in the morning then. Don't work too hard, deputy."

He got one more kiss before he turned and left for work.

"Good Morning." Rick said tiredly as he opened the door to Michonne.

"Morning handsome." She said to Rick as she took in his worn out expression. "Rick, you should go to bed, you look so tired. We can do this another time."

"No way. Get in here. I'm waking up just looking at you."

The night had been quite grueling for Rick. With Halloween on Saturday, there had been a lot of calls regarding damage to properties and a few prank calls thrown in too. All the calls had to be responded to, so he spent most of his shift outside of the station reporting to calls. Although he was spent and dragging around, he was not going to miss making breakfast for Michonne. He needed to see her face and make her smile before he laid his head down to sleep for the day.

"It smells good in here."

"I hope you're hungry." Rick led her to his kitchen table where he had all the food laid out, pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs.

"I forgot to ask you how you like your eggs, so I hope you don't mind scrambled."

"That's how I like them."

"How was your night?" She asked as she sat down to the plate that Rick set in front of her.

"Not too bad, but nothing I want to discuss right now. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I think dinner and those lips of yours made me sleepy. I slept like a baby."

"Glad I could help."

"Who taught you how to make pancakes? These are fantastic."

"My mom did. I went through a period where all I wanted was pancakes for breakfast for about 2 months. She taught me how to make my own when she got tired of doing it."

"Is she still around? Your mom?"

"No. Both of my parents passed about seven years ago. Car accident. Drunk driver hit them on the highway."

"I'm so sorry, Rick."

"Thank you. It was hard that first year without them. I'm glad they got to meet Carl though. They spoiled him rotten while they were here. I wish they could have meet you."

"They didn't like Lori?"

"They liked me happy, and you make me happy."

Michonne smiled at his statement and they both finished their breakfasts in comfortable silence.

"What about your parents?"

"They are still around. And by around I mean around the world. Once I was grown, they didn't feel the need to be rooted anywhere anymore. I get a postcard from them once a month, a few phone calls. Last I know, they were in Singapore. That's why I was so close to my grandmother. She was always there when I needed someone."

Michonne looked down at her plate and took a deep breath. She felt Rick grab her hand and squeeze it.

"Come on, I'll help you wash these."

They cleared the table and washed all the dishes. Rick liked having Michonne at his house standing next to her doing something so domestic as washing dishes. After they were done in the kitchen, Rick gave her a tour of his house.

"You have four bedrooms for just you and Carl?"

"It seems like a lot, but it's nice to have a place for someone like Shane or Daryl to crash after they've had too much to drink during the playoff game."

"That makes sense."

"Let me show you this one."

Rick walked Michonne to a small room at the back of his house.

"Jenny called it a study. I come in here to read sometimes. Carl does his homework in here."

"Is that my painting?"

"Yeah. I found a new reason to come in here."

"You are smooth deputy."

"Let me show you how smooth I can be." He leaned down and captured her lips and circled her waist with his strong arms at the same time.

Moaning into his lips, she accepted his kiss and his tongue and matched it with her own. Somehow she found herself up against the wall reaching up to finger the curls at the nape of his neck. An action that didn't go unnoticed by Rick who had to put the brakes on their make out session before it went too far.

"Get going before Deanna comes after me for making you late." He said with his forehead against hers as he caught his breath.

He walked her to her car and opened her door for her.

"Thank you for breakfast." She said as she sat in the drivers seat. "Go get some sleep. Give me a call before you go in tonight."

"I will. Bye Michonne."

"Sweet dreams, Rick."