Chapter 14:
'We can talk like this'
"Mama can we get marshmallows please?"
"Baby, you're gonna turn into a marshmallow if you eat too many"
Judith frowned at her mother for a second, before her eyes lit up, "Does that mean I can eat myself?"
Michonne laughed at her daughter, who was sat in the shopping cart as she was too big for the designated seats for younger children.
"Girl, that laugh of yours will still with me forever"
She froze at the sound of the familiar voice. She slowly turned to see Shane walking closer to then. She immediately tensed.
"How you doing? Is this your daughter? Hey there sweetie, you got some pretty eyes", He beamed at Judith, who smiled back.
"Thank you", The little girl chimed.
"And you have the voice of an angel just like your mama here", He reached in the cart and gently squeezed Judith's cheek, who lapped up the compliments.
"Hello there, Shane", She smiled tightly.
"You remember my name and I didn't even get yours", He smiled as he leaned on her shopping cart.
"Yeah that's right-"
"You know I don't know why Rick came at me like that, you two dating or something?", His head tilted as he studied her face.
"Are you a friend of my daddy's?" Judith asked.
Shane looked at the little girl, "Well I don't know sweetie, what's your daddy's name?"
"Rick"
"Oh, your daddy's name is Rick too? Oh okay, and what does your daddy do? The 'Rick' me and your mama know is a Sheriff" He gazed down at her.
"He's a Sheriff too!" Judith smiled excitedly.
Shane matched her smile, "Oh well ain't that a coincidence! He must know the Rick-"
The penny finally dropped as Shane stared at her. He frowned, taking his attention back to Michonne, who nodded slowly at him. He immediately straightened up, "Is this Rick's daughter?"
"Yes", Michonne gave a nod.
"That's why he…"
"Yes"
"Well... that explains it… so you're Carl's-"
"Mother. Yes, I am"
He shifted uncomfortably and put his hands on his waist, "He told you about everythan'?"
"Yes, he has"
"Have y'all talked to…"
"We have"
"And…?"
She sighed as she too, shifted uncomfortably, "He'd like to meet your daughter"
Shane's eyebrows shot up, "You serious? Well that's great… wh-when? You want me to set that up?"
"Uh, Yeah sure, let me take your number", She insisted as she retrieved her phone and handed it to him, knowing that Rick wouldn't like the two of them communicating outside of him, but as far as she saw it, she still needed to have some degree of involvement when it came to her son, "So are you on your way to go and see her?"
"Actually I'm looking for a home down here"
Her eyebrows shot up, "Oh really?"
"Yeah, her mother wants to move back down around these parts and I want to be close to Milly, so I'm moving"
She nodded as she absorbed the information, taking her phone back when he finished, "Okay, I'll talk to Rick and I'll give you a call"
"That's great... yeah just give me a call, and uh, you two have a good day now alright?", Shane gave them a nod and a wave as he walked away.
She huffed as she continued on her shopping, contemplating the next conversation she would have to have with Rick and subsequently Carl, and even Judith.
"Should we get some pie for later?", She asked Judith.
"Yes please!"
She pushed the cart over to the baked goods counter, on her way there she noticed a familiar person stood there, then her stomach fell when she saw it was Terry. She didn't know whether to run or wait for him to leave but she was soon given no choice, as he turned and looked right at her.
His eyes almost popped opened, and darted around before he spoke, "Hey there"
"Hey", She choked out.
"How are you?", He turned around gingerly.
"I'm good… and you?"
He nodded, "Yeah, thank you"
She stepped closer to him, "Terry I only just heard about what happened with Rick and I'm sorry… He..well…He gets a little... I'm sorry"
He nodded again, "It's fine… you did kinda warn me about him"
"Yeah… so you've been well?"
"Yeah I have, um... I know this is a bit late but I'm sorry about your mother"
Her graze dropped for a second , "Thank you"
"I was gonna call.. or text but… well you know"
"I do…"
"Well it was nice seeing you both, have a good day"
She waved as he walked passed them, feeling terribly guilty for the man. He was always so nice to her.
"Uh, Michonne?"
She turned around to see he hadn't gotten far, "Yeah?"
"You remember that house for my niece? Well, her dad bought her a better one… well I think mines better but uh, it would be a shame for it to go to waste? Maybe you or your friends can take it for your kids?"
"Oh no, I couldn't possibly-"
"Please? It's just I would love to get something going with them so if you and one of your friends kids like it then I know I'm doing something right"
She felt truly horrible, "That would be great, sure she'd absolutely love that, thank you. I can come pick it up when you're available?"
"Yeah sure, this weekend maybe?"
"Okay, I'll give you a call"
He nodded and turned around to leave. She needed to leave the store herself, she didn't want to stick around and see who else she might bump into.
….
"Carl! You better not be in that kitchen-"
Michonne stopped when she took in the sight before her; Judith sat on the counter with the tub of marshmallows on her lap and Rick stood beside her, leaning on the counter top, eyes on his phone.
"What is going on here?", She asked as she stepped into the kitchen.
Rick turned and looked at her, almost shrugging, "What?"
"Judith, what did mama say about the marshmallows?", She looked at the little girl, who snuck one more in her mouth before pushing the tub away.
"Too many", Was all her daughter could manage to say.
"Exactly! Did you go and ask your daddy to give you marshmallows before dinner?, She quizzed, and Judith nodded. Michonne picked up the tub, surprised to see how many she'd managed to eat, "Now you know better than to go sneaking around like that Judith!"
"She only had a few", Rick straightened up and smoothed back his daughter's hair.
"Now you're not allowed to have any more of those because that was very naughty"
Judith's eyes widened and she looked at Rick, who looked at Michonne with an expression that said really?
"What do you say?", She kept her eyes in Judith.
Judith's little glare appeared. She looked down at the floor and crossed her arms.
"Judith Grimes", Michonne warned.
Her glare intensified.
"Judith, you better look at your mother and answer her", Rick affirmed as he tilted his head at her.
Her little chest raised and fell quicker, "No! I don't want to say sorry! Mama's mean!"
Michonne's jaw dropped slightly, even Rick's eyebrows shot up, "Judith that is not nice and just for that, you're gonna go get washed up, you're eating your dinner alone and you're going to bed early"
Judith finally looked at her mother with wide eyes, then her father. Her face crumbled as her eyes glistened with tears. Rick was still as she looked back at Michonne, and she honestly didn't know who that punishment hurt more. Judith sobbed to her father, "Daddy I don't want to eat alone!"
"Go on Judith, now", Michonne instructed.
Judith only sobbed louder. Rick moved to stand directly in front of his daughter, speaking firmly, "Hey hey, Judith, you better stop all that crying now. We're gonna go upstairs and we're gonna get you washed up-"
"B-b-but I-I-I don't w-want t-t-t-to e-eat-"
"You will not eat alone. Daddy will eat with you and then we'll get you to bed okay? But when we get back down here you gonna apologize to your mother and I don't want to hear you talk like that again, you hear me?"
She sniffed as she nodded, "Y-y-yes"
"Alright my sweet little angel, come on", He scooped her off the counter and she wrapped her little arms around his neck. He didn't dare look at Michonne as he carried Judith past her.
She groaned when she heard them going up the stairs, wondering how she'd ever be able to handle Judith as a teenager, with her father always there, ready to undermine a anything he deemed too harsh. It wasn't long after they disappeared that Carl appeared beside her looking concerned, "I heard Judith crying. What happened?"
Michonne sighed as she walked over to the oven to check on their meal, "She's on punishment"
Carl frowned, taking a hand full of marshmallows for himself, "And Dad's okay with that?"
Michonne inwardly groaned, "Of course not"
Carl smirked as he shoved two in his mouth, "He's probably crying with her"
A snort of laughter escaped Michonne as she nudged Carl. Sure enough, Judith came back down stairs with her father and the two of them ate together before she apologized to her mother and the two of them made up. Michonne waited for Rick to put her to bed before she said anything to him.
"You were too-", He started as he walked back in the kitchen, hand rose as if he wanted to stop her before she started.
"Don't! I was not, you spoil her so I can't say a thing without her running to you! You broke like a cheap lawn chair before her tears even dropped!", She didn't hold back.
He blinked at her, hand still raised, "Okay well, that's your opinion-"
"It's facts, Grimes! Do not undermine me when it comes to my daughter!"
"I didn't undermine you-"
"You ate dinner with her-"
"I was not gonna stand by and watch my precious little sweet angel eat by herself!", He frowned at her incredulously, "She still went to bed early and she apologized! I backed you up on that"
She stared at him, eyes squinting, "Do you hear yourself? You literally broke the punishment I put in place, and rearranged it to suit the two of you!"
He blinked at her again. She could tell by the way his eyes darted around her face that he was dismissing what she just said and moving on to something else, "She told me you saw a friend of mine today, who?"
She huffed and looked up at the ceiling, relenting the previous argument, but making a mental note to come back to it again as she did have other things to talk to him about, "Shane"
"You speak to him?"
"Yes-"
"What did he say to you?"
"I told him what Carl wants and took his number, he said he'd set it up", She explained, but her ex-husband still clenched his jaw, leading her to add, "Don't do that, Rick. This would be better for Carl since he does only want to see Melissa, not Lori"
He ignored her, "He hit on you?"
Her eyes narrowed, "Hey focus! This is good for Carl, so stop it"
"He don't need to talk to you. I'll call him-"
"Rick. Stop. That" She warned.
She knew Shane being around brought up all new insecurities for him. This was the friend that was having an affair with Lori behind his back and ran off with her. He didn't want to suffer the same fate again, but she would hope he didn't think of her that fickle.
"We talk to him, we set that up, okay?" She insisted as she stepped closer to him.
His lip started to curl.
"Rick."
He exhaled as he bit his lip and looked down at the ground, "Alright"
"Thank you"
...
"Judith, mama needs to talk to you about something"
The little girl nodded as her mother twisted her hair. She had decided to approach Judith about Melissa, because if there was a chance the little girl didn't like it, Rick would probably try calling the whole thing off.
"We are going out this weekend, to meet someone, a little girl and her daddy…"
Judith didn't say anything.
"The little girl is Carl's other sister"
Judith turned around to see her mother's face.
"He has another little sister like you"
She frowned, "So we have a sister?"
Michonne thought about her answer, "No sweetie you don't, because this little girl's mama, she carried Carl in her tummy, like I did with you"
Judith's face began to crumble in confusion, eyes searching her mother's face "Carl wasn't in your tummy?"
Michonne felt an awful heaviness in her chest as she watched her daughter take in her words, "No he wasn't, but I'm still his mama"
The little girl's body slumped, "So is Carl still my brother?"
"Of course he is! He'll always be your brother and nothing will ever change that", She cupped her little face.
She gave a little nod, then furrowed her brow, "What if he likes his new sister better than me?"
She saw movement at the corner of her eye and looked up to see Rick stood in the doorway, looking torn at his daughter's words.
"Carl loves you more than anything else in the world, you're his little Judith, and you love him right?"
She nodded enthusiastically, "I do"
"Well sometimes we have to share the people we love, and that way we get to show other people how special they are. Okay?"
Judith nodded, looking a little bit better but still confused, "Okay"
"That's my girl" She scooped her up in her arms and rocked her against her chest, "Come on, let's get you into bed, honey pot"
She pulled back the sheets of her bed and plopped her in as Rick walked in. Michonne kissed her forehead and moved aside for Rick to take over.
"My little princess in her bed already?", He smiled as he sat down.
"Yep... Mama told me I have to share Carl with his new sister" She quickly informed.
"You do, but that's okay right?", He asked as he stroked her cheek.
She nodded, looking away for a moment as she thought, "I don't have to share you, do I daddy?"
Michonne was sure she heard his heart sing before he kissed her on the forehead, "Daddy is all yours okay? And you are all mine, my sweet little baby angel. Forever and ever"
She grinned at him, the same grin Michonne had seen on his face many of times. It was a touching sight, and while she was once again feeling jealous of their relationship, it always made her heart sigh to see them together.
She huffed as she shut Judith's door behind her, "Well that went better than I thought it would"
"It did" Rick looked down the hall at Carl's room, "He's okay with everythan'..."
She nodded, "Alright, come on, we got some stuff to discuss"
Rick looked back at her with a grin, "Let's go"
Her groan turned to laughter as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her. She cursed her body for reacting so quickly at being pressed up against him, "For god sake Rick, I mean we actually need to talk"
He carried her to his bedroom, closing the door with his foot when they were in, "Oh we'll talk alright"
His mouth was less than an inch from her neck when they could hear the faint sound of his mobile ringing. She lifted her leg slightly so he could reach in his pocket to reach it.
He looked at the phone, frowning as he still answered it, "Yeah?"
She attempted to climb down off of him but his grip only tightened as he adjusted her, giving her a warning look.
"What?"
She watched how the muscles in his face started to change. He was getting angry at whatever he was being told.
"Make sure that son of a bitch can't even blink without someone seeing him! I'm coming down now"
He hung up the phone and she finally untangled herself from him, "Daryl's brother got caught trying to rob a liquor store"
She blinked at him, "His brother? He's in town?"
"Apparently he is" His head dropped back as he shook it in exasperation.
"Go handle that" She patted his chest and left him to head over to his dresser.
"...I think I'd rather handle that-"
"Go!".