Richonne (Short Love Stories) Grimes v Grimes (Chapter 25)
A/N: This is a sequel to How Many Drinks. Rick and Michonne may be having marital problems. Hope you enjoy.
They sit on opposite ends of the couch, staring at any and everything but each other and the counselor who sits across from them. The session began five minutes ago and neither of them is willing to start talking about why they are there as the counselor suggested.
The counselor sighs as she is used to this with couples seeking counseling for the first time. They are torn because they want the help, but at the same time don't feel comfortable airing out their problems to a stranger. "Well, I guess we could start with me asking some specific questions. Would that be ok?"
She finally receives eye contact from the wife and a reluctant nod. The husband remains stoic and unresponsive.
"Michonne, why don't you tell me what you're feeling at this exact moment regarding your marriage? What brought you here?"
The beautiful woman drops her eyes to her clasped hands in her lap. "I don't feel loved anymore."
An audible gasp is heard from the opposite end of the couch as her husband turns to her with a look of disbelief on his face.
Three months ago
The house is quiet as the couple move to their bedroom after tucking their kids in for the night. Rick begins his nightly routine, preparing for a shower, but Michonne detains him.
"I need to ask you something and I need you to be completely honest with me," she tells him.
"I'm always honest with you," he returns. There has been some slight tension between them as Michonne has started hinting that she would like to start trying for another baby. Something that Rick is not open to.
She sighs as she already knows the answer to the question. She just needs to hear it from him. "Did you buy condoms from Walgreens?"
Rick frowns as he looks at his wife. "What?"
"Condoms? From Walgreens? I was in there today and they always print out coupons based on recent purchases. Imagine my surprise when I got a coupon for a box of Trojan condoms," she informs.
He drops his head, not really ready to reveal or even discuss his purchase. "Yes, I bought them."
"To use them with who?" She demands.
He scoffs. "With you? Who else?"
"Me? Your wife of seven years? The woman that you've never used a condom with? Not even when we were dating?" Michonne is incredulous as she cannot believe what she is hearing at the moment.
"Yes, I bought them to use with you. You've been talking about getting pregnant again and I don't think that's a good idea right now. This is a precaution." He watches as his wife physically deflates.
She sits down on the bed, her back to him. "You're that serious about not having another baby?"
"I told you I was, but you haven't been listening to me. You refused to get your tubes tied after Judy, you stopped using the pill, you'd kill me if I even consider a vasectomy, so what am I supposed to do?" He asks.
"But we talked about this. We talked about trying again," Michonne reminds him.
"No, you talked about it. You made that decision and just assumed that I'd go along with it. I'm not going along with it. You and Judy almost died during childbirth and I refuse to go through that anguish again."
They both fall silent as Michonne can't believe she and her husband are not on the same page about this. Rick is mimicking her thoughts as he can't believe that she won't consider his point of view. His answer is to walk away, moving into the bathroom to start his shower.
Michonne looks at the closed bathroom door and determines right then and there to change his mind. She has no doubt that she can.
A week passes before they even attempt to be intimate again. Michonne initiates the sex and can't describe her disappointment when her husband dutifully pulls out a condom and proceeds to put it on. She knows her best course of action is to leave it alone, but she is just a little upset with him at the moment.
Afterwards, she can't help but broach the subject with him.
"That was different," she surmises.
Rick knows exactly what she is talking about as the sensation was definitely not the same. That thin slip of latex really makes the experience different and it wasn't a good different either. Damn. "Yeah it was, but we'll get used to it."
Michonne tries her best not to scream at him. She removes herself from the bed and goes into the bathroom to shower. How am I going to convince him to get rid of those things?
Several weeks pass and the relationship has taken a turn for the worse. Rick is limiting their intimate time together as Michonne is getting more vocal about not using the condoms and she is beyond frustrated. He has even taken to spending more unnecessary time at work. Daryl pretty much runs everything and Rick is hardly ever needed, but he has started working a lot of overtime.
Michonne sees right through what he is doing and just bides her time to call him out on it.
It's a Wednesday night and Michonne arrives home, pleasantly surprised that Rick had already picked the kids up from school and daycare. She was expecting them to be home, waiting for her so they could have dinner. She is even more surprised to realize that they are not home. She grabs her cell phone from her purse to call her husband. No answer.
She decides to wait for him to return the call. In the meantime, she is going to enjoy the time alone as she hardly ever gets that at home anymore.
An hour later, she is sitting in the living room, her emotions ranging from worried to pissed off as Rick hasn't called her back and she has no idea where her family could be. She hears the garage door opening and moves into the kitchen to greet them, relieved that they are home and safe.
Her family walks through the kitchen door, Carl and Andre racing to her to give her a hug. Rick is holding Judith who immediately starts reaching for her mom. She gives them the love and affection they are craving before turning her attention to her husband. "Hey. Where were you? I called but you never called back."
"Dad took us to the Kid Zone and we ate pizza and we had ice cream and soda and we had so much fun. We did that on a school night." Six year old Carl is animated as he talks about their outing.
"Well, that was so nice of daddy, wasn't it? Do you guys want anything else to eat?" Michonne asks.
"No, dad said we have to take our baths and get ready for bed as soon as we get home," Andre contributes. "We're gonna be good and obey what he said."
Michonne laughs at her youngest son. "Ok. I'm glad you're going to obey. Come on, let's get ready for bed." She walks out of the kitchen and up the stairs with the kids, trying to rein in her anger. She realizes she shouldn't be too upset, but why didn't Rick call her and let her know what he was doing? Most of all, why didn't he include her?
Days later, she decides to put her anger to the side and be open to enjoying a night out with her husband. They are in Atlanta for the night, celebrating Andrea and Shane's engagement along with Daryl and Sasha. The couples go out for dinner and drinks, catching up with each other and enjoying the company.
Rick's parents drove up from King's County to pick up the kids as they would have them for the entire weekend. Rick insisted that they spend the night at Shane's instead of procuring a hotel room for the night and Michonne realizes why. He refuses to have sex with her under the pretense of being in someone else's house. She laughs to herself as she concludes she is going to have to play dirty in order to get what she wants.
They arrive home late in the afternoon the next day and Michonne immediately puts her plan into action. She leaves him to his own devices, allowing him time to peddle around the house, doing what he enjoys while she relaxes in a nice, scented bath. Curiosity gets the best of him as he hasn't seen his wife since they arrived home. She is in the closet, adjusting her outfit when she hears the bedroom door open and close. She knows her husband so well. She knew it wouldn't be long before he came looking for her.
"Babe?" He calls out to her as he walks further into the room.
She emerges from the closet. "Yes?" Her smile is all knowing as she relishes in his sharp intake of breath at the sight of her. She is wearing an all-white fish net body suit, the contrast of the white against her skin is fascinating and has her husband mesmerized as usual.
He watches with bated breath as she walks up to him, exaggerating the sway of her hips.
She stops just inches from him and turns around in a full circle before facing him again. "You like?" She bites her bottom lip as her husband appears to be speechless, but nods his head slowly, never taking his eyes off her body. She closes the distance between them as she places her hands on his shoulders and pulls him in for a kiss.
Rick responds like a starving man as he has missed times like this with his wife. He feels like it has been a long time for them and he plans to enjoy every second of this lovemaking session.
She knows exactly what she is doing as she starts to place kisses along his jawline, down to his neck, stopping only to lift his t-shirt over his head before she continues. She smiles as his stomach muscles contract with her ministrations. She grabs his belt and starts to unbuckle it, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans, pushing them down to his ankles. She remains on her knees in front of him, grabbing the bottom of his boxers and pulling them down to reveal his swollen manhood. She smiles as she wraps a hand around him and guides him to her mouth.
Rick jerks with the contact, never tiring of this act no matter how many times she has performed it over the years. He starts to pant as it is never long before he feels the overwhelming sensation of being enveloped in the warmth and moisture of her mouth, her tongue sliding against the most sensitive part of his tip.
She smiles inwardly as she knows she has him right where she wants him. She knows how to drive her husband crazy and that's exactly what she plans to do.
His moans and groans grow louder and shriller as he gets close to his release. He jumps when she cups his sac and increases the pressure and pull of her suction. All he can do is throw his head back and let go.
Michonne feels the vibration of his member, knowing that he is at the brink of release. She pulls him from her mouth with a sound pop and waltzes over to the bed.
Rick looks at her, then down at himself, desperate for her to finish what she started. His eyes find her again and he gasps as she lies back on the bed, spreading her legs, revealing a round opening in the seat of the body suit.
"I want you inside me now….right now," she tells him.
He kicks himself free of his jeans and boxers and races over to the night stand on his side of the bed to retrieve a condom. He frowns with confusion when he can't find the box. He takes another look at his wife. Fuck it. He moves over to her, covering her body with his and enters her surely and immediately.
They work together in unison, enjoying each other as always. Michonne is too concentrated on making sure her husband gets off to even consider her own pleasure. She smiles when she feels Rick stiffen, waiting to feel the warmth of his seed as it spills inside of her. She gasps in outrage when she feels him pull out, then frowns as he ejaculates into his hand.
"Why would you do that?!" She yells in frustration.
His breathing is accelerated as he moves to the bathroom to wash and dry his hands. He walks back into the bedroom, looking directly at her. "The same reason you took those condoms out of the night stand." He points a finger in that direction.
She sighs as she knows she is guilty. "Just tell me why. Why can't we have another baby?" The tears start to flow as the frustration of the situation hasn't left her.
Rick scrubs his face with both hands as he never wants to see her cry, but he just can't give in on this. He sits on the bed, gathering her into his arms. "Please don't do this. You know there isn't anything in this world I wouldn't do for you, but babe, you need to understand. I almost lost you. How can you even ask me to take another chance like that? The doctor told us another pregnancy would be high risk. Knowing that, I don't see how you're even considering it."
She sniffs as she listens quietly. "Because I know it would be ok just like it was before. We can do this."
He sits her up beside him and turns toward her as he cups her face. "I'm not agreeing to this. I'm not going to do it, so just stop this and get it out of your head." He searches her eyes, hoping she will finally relinquish this idea of hers. "If you don't, I'll just look into a vasectomy."
Her eyes narrow with anger and more tears form as she realizes her husband is serious and he won't cave on this. She backs away from him, pulling her face out of his hands as she slowly climbs from the bed and walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
A silence develops between them and only seems to grow as Rick retreats more and more, spending more time at work than at home. Michonne grows resentful and feels neglected. Their sex life suffers as she feels she is not receiving what she needs from him and she refuses to use condoms. Rick feels she will have an ulterior motive when it comes to sex, so he never initiates it. They miss each other immensely, but both are stubborn and refuse to give even a little.
Michonne realizes they need help as she actually fumes with anger and considers divorce for the very first time in her marriage. It's Saturday morning and Rick failed to come home, call, or even answer his cell phone the night before. Her mind is racing with all sorts of possibilities as she sits in the living room, contemplating what to do. What breaks her heart the most is the children asking about their father's whereabouts and the fact that she chooses to lie instead of telling them she doesn't know.
He walks through the door in the same clothes as the day before, looking disheveled and hung over. He drops his head as soon as he sees her. "I'm sorry. I got drunk with Shane and fell out at his place."
"And is that supposed to explain away the fact that you didn't call? I sat here awake all night wondering if something had happened to you and you were too busy getting drunk, so you say, to even let me know you were ok?" She tears up as she can't believe that he would be that insensitive and uncaring.
"I was wrong and I'm sorry. Things….I hate this strain between us, so I met up with Shane and I had every intention of coming home. I just had too much to drink and that wasn't the best idea," he explains.
"So, Shane was too drunk to call me? Where was Andrea? Was she drunk too or ARE YOU JUST FUCKING LYING TO MY FACE?!" She stops her tirade as she hears little feet pounding down the stairs.
Andre and Carl come racing towards Rick, yelling "Daddy!"
She leaves the room, making her way to Judith's bedroom, spending time with her baby girl in an effort to calm down. She avoids her husband as much as she can, still unable to believe his irresponsibility. She did not deserve this behavior as she would never act in this way towards him.
Later that night, she listens as he apologizes but her feelings are just numb. She's angry about his stance on another pregnancy, she's angry about him staying out all night, she's angry that he is the cause of the state she's in, and most of all, she hates the fact that she is angry and can't seem to let it go. She wants to get to a better place, but can't even begin to contemplate how to do that as the anger has completely taken over.
Rick realizes they're in trouble when Michonne completely shuts down. She only speaks to him when it is necessary, she never initiates sex anymore and when he does, she allows him to wear a condom without one complaint. He doesn't know what to do. Will she talk to him if he attempts to engage her to find out what they can do? He still loves his wife and doesn't want to lose his family. He is so desperate that he may even reconsider another pregnancy.
They are lying in bed, wide awake, but silent. Michonne has come to a conclusion and she feels she'd better let her husband in on it as he will be affected.
"Rick, I think we need to see a marriage counselor. I haven't been able to let go of this anger and it's starting to scare me. I don't want to live like this anymore, so if we can't fix it, we may as well call it quits." She watches as he pops up to look at her.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying? You'd actually walk away from me because I don't want another baby?" He asks in disbelief.
"It's more than that and you know it. Do you want to save this marriage?"
He nods quickly. "Yes. Yes, I do, but counseling? Do we really have to do that?"
"It's that or a divorce. You choose." With that, she turns her back to him and tries unsuccessfully to get some sleep.
He falls back onto his pillow, feelings of anxiety and anger warring with each other. Anxiety because the last thing he wants is to lose his family. He still loves his wife. Nothing will ever change that. On the other hand, he feels anger because she has the audacity to give him an ultimatum. She's just as responsible as he is for the decline of their marriage.
A/N: Part II will be up soon. Thank you.