"Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real."
― Iris Murdoch, Existentialists and Mystics Writings on Philosophy and Literature

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"Michonne you need to go to the doctor. Granny Mabel has made the appointment for today. You got to get up."

"Just let me sleep. I just want to sleep." Michonne whined as she gripped her pillow tightly.

"That's all you've been doing the last four days. Come on. You want Granny Mabel to get you up?" Rick looked down at his very pregnant wife all snuggled up with a pillow and it was midday.

"My hands are swollen. My feet are swollen." Michonne complained.

"Well that's what happens when you all of sudden become lazy...remember?" Rick removed the blanket from Michonne.

" Ha. Ha. My hands are actually swollen see." Michonne waved her hands but Rick ignored her and her ailment that was due to water retention.

"Lazys' only cure is to get up." Rick began to laugh, "Got you back. Ha." He lightly smacks her butt.

Michonne allowed Rick to help her get to a sitting position and help her to stand up from the bed. "I need to wash up. Do I have time to do that?"

"We need to be out of here in 45 minutes." Rick tapped his watch that was on his wrist.

"Where are my babies?" Michonne tried to massage the weight of her unborn baby from her pelvis area where it sat on a nerve. "Abby and Judy?"

"They are fascinated with Granny Mabel. Follow her where ever she goes. She talks to them like they're grown and they act like they know what she's talking about. She tells them about all things they need to be aware of and that Granny blood in their veins is a good thing because that means they will have common sense because she is waking up that part of their brain early." Rick chuckled.

"If they know what's good for them they better listen to Granny." Michonne said with much seriousness in her tone. She pulled her hair up and in to a ponytail and walked into the bathroom.

Rick stood in the doorway of the bathroom and watched Michonne step into the shower. He watched the water and soap suds cover and rinse from her body. Her belly. The life she carried within her. For some reason in that moment he felt that his life was forever intertwined with hers. Nothing would ever come between that. He would defend it with his last dying breath.

"I love you, Michonne."

The tone startled Michonne. Something about his tone touched her soul, that it slightly startled her for a split second. Michonne responded when she opened her eyes to see Rick watching her intensely, "I love you too."

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Island 1

First 60 days: Mike

I blamed myself for a while that the plane went down. I blamed myself and the guilt wore me down and Granny Mabel did not help. Granny Mabel. Granny Mabel.

I was going to ask Michonne for a divorce. I was in love with someone else. Rosita. Her name was Rosita she was a Mexican goddess I tell you. She was putting the pressure on me to end my marriage. I was going to do it once Michonne got home.

Granny Mabel was the first to hear about the plane. She knew before me because I was too busy with my sinful ways if you let Granny Mabel tell it. She caught me with Rosita. I was having an affair. I was cheating on my wife in our home when Ms. Mabel came by to inform me of what was on the news. She wanted to watch it together and pray that Michonne was okay. If That plane fell in that amount of water...Michonne was good as dead. Michonne has a fear of water. That alone would have killed her. Granny Mabel would not be deterred.

When Ms. Mabel came over that day she had a baseball bat. She carries a baseball bat since her license to carry a gun was revoked. I didn't hear the doorbell because I guess the music was too loud. When I didn't answer the door Granny Mabel broke out the glass in the front door and let herself in. She saw Rosita...in the kitchen sitting on a stool with me in between her legs eating her out. If Rosita hadn't screamed when she did Ms. Mabel would have killed me because the first blow hit me on the shoulder blade. Mabel swung again and got my arm. She swung again...and again...and again.

Rosita threatened to call the police but she didn't because Ms. Mabel threatened to beat her with the bat once she got out of jail for beating my ass. Granny Mabel...I lost consciousness that night.

The grief was almost unbearable. One moment your love one is there and the next they are not. She had a T-shirt that she loved to sleep in that was still in the hamper. It still smelled like her. I would inhale her from that shirt. I grieved Michonne. Granny Mabel was around to make sure I did.

I barely remember the funeral.

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Island 2

First 60 days: Lori

First I was shocked. The first week or two just shocked. I couldn't believe that my husband was gone. Even with the official declaration from the Coast Guard I still couldn't get my mind to accept that Rick died in that plane crash.

Every time the news showed the debris I was hoping to see Rick amongst it. Every time the doorbell or the phone rung I was hoping that he was on the other side of the door or his voice would be on the other line. It took awhile to even get out of the fog. The grief was great.

I had a pregnancy test unopened. I was going to wait until Rick arrived to take it. When I got the phone call that the plane went down. I had my period. A very heavy flow when I got the news that he was on that plane... I wasn't pregnant.

The funeral...it was a blur. I fainted.

I would go into his closet. He still had a t shirt in the hamper. I would sleep with it. It still smelled like him. I don't think I ate for weeks. Luckily for my mother coming around to make sure I was ok those first 60 days.