The Matriarch

"We have Terbutaline," Bob said to Rick. "It's pretty effective at stopping contractions."

"So it'll stop her labor," Rick stated as he carried Michonne up the last flight of stairs leading to their bedroom in the attic.

"Well there's no guarantee but that's the idea," Bob replied as he followed behind them. "She still has six weeks to go before she's full term. The baby's lungs are underdeveloped at this point."

Rick carried her to their bed and gently laid her down. "Well than we should give her the medicine, right?" Rick looked at Bob desperately.

"Well I'm no obstetrician so I'm not sure. Terbutaline comes with risks of its own. It can cause seizures, irregular heartbeat and even cause heart attacks. Lots of people are allergic to it. She could be allergic to it and we wouldn't know until after we already gave it to her," Bob said. "Mind you, these are all worst-case scenarios."

"Okay, so if we don't give it to her and we let her labor continue, would the baby survive being born this early?" Rick asked anxiously.

"I'm not sure how to answer that. We have oxygen and steroids that we could give the baby if she delivered now but this isn't a NICU and I'm not a neonatologist either. I think the baby would have a good chance but I can't say for sure."

"I want the medicine," Michonne stated adamantly. "I don't want to deliver this early."

Rick moved closer to Michonne's bedside. He knelt down next to her and held her hand. "But Michonne, it could hurt you...it could even kill you."

"I heard everything he said. He said those are worst-case scenarios." Michonne looked at Rick with calm certitude. "I'm strong. I'm healthy. I'd rather take the risk than the baby. And Bob, I promise I won't file any malpractice suits if it doesn't work out."

Rick said nothing but just stared into her eyes with uncertainty. Her hand was still in his and he brought it to his lips and kissed it. "It's your call and I trust you."

Michonne tightened her grip on Rick's hand and quivered in pain, "I'm having another one."

"Bob, give it to her!" Rick yelled as Michonne cried through another contraction.

Bob ran down the stairs and returned three minutes later with the vile of medicine, a syringe and alcohol. He tossed the alcohol and some cotton balls to Rick, "Clean her arm off. Clean it off really good - right below her elbow but on the inside of her arm." Rick did as instructed, cleaning off blood from the walkers she took down earlier. Bob filled the syringe with the medicine and squeezed a small amount of air out. He stuck the needle into her arm and plunged the medicine in.

"Now this is probably going to give you the shakes and make you a little dizzy and maybe nauseous. That's normal. I brought Benadryl and epinephrin too, just in case you have a bad reaction."

Rick and Bob watched Michonne intently. Her eyes were closed and her body trembled slightly. Moments later, Michonne opened her eyes."I'm okay. I feel fine," she said letting out several deep breaths.

"Good. Good," Bob said with relief. "If you were going to have a bad reaction, it probably would have happened right away."

Bob pulled his stethoscope out and listened to Michonne's heart and lungs. "Your breathing and heart sound good. Even if these meds buy you another week of pregnancy, that's one more week your little one's lungs can grow. And thank God your water didn't break. If your water had broken, the baby would be here within 24 hours no matter what meds we had in our arsenal."

Rick stood up and patted Bob heartily on the back. "Thank you," Rick said, as the tension in his body finally subsided.

"Thank Glenn and Abe. They cleaned out the hospital pharmacy months ago and brought all these meds back," Bob answered.

"I'll make sure to thank them next time I see them, but I'm thanking you right now," Rick said looking Bob in the eyes. "If you weren't here with us, I don't know exactly how we'd get through things like this. Maybe we wouldn't."

"Everyone here is doing something that needs to be done. We're all pulling our weight," Bob replied modestly, "My mom always used to say, 'Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God.'"

"Sounds like a smart lady. Raised a smart son."

"She was," Bob said quietly. "I want to stay with Michonne the rest of the night and keep an eye on her. I'm gonna go downstairs while you get her cleaned up and changed into some clean clothes. When I come back, I'm gonna look at her ankle."

"Sounds good," Rick said.

Rick walked over to his dresser and poured water into a basin. He grabbed several clean rags and walked back over to Michonne. Her eyes were closed again. Rick stroked her face lightly. "Hey Baby, how about we clean you up?"

Michonne opened her eyes and looked up at him, "What?"

"I want to get you out of these bloody clothes and clean you up, okay? Are you up for that?"

"Yeah, I think I can do that," she said sitting up slowly.

Rick lifted her shirt over her head and threw it across the room. Blood had soaked through to her bra too. He reached back and unhooked the clasps on her bra. He slipped it off her shoulders and tossed it aside.

Michonne gazed into Rick's blue eyes admiringly, "You always take such good care of me."

Rick looked back at her and smiled, "We seem to have a pattern of taking turns nursing each other back to health," Rick said. "I guess it'll be my turn next."

"That's not funny," Michonne cringed as she laughed.

Rick dipped the rag into the basin and wrung the water out. "Lie back down." Michonne obeyed. Ricked cleaned the blood off of her face and neck carefully. He cleaned more blood off of her arms and hands then threw the bloody rag near her soiled clothes. He got another clean rag and steeped it into the water. He gently cleaned the blood off of her breasts then moved down to her belly. He meticulously removed every spot of blood from her upper body. When he was finished, he rested his head on her stomach.

"I can hear her in there," Rick said grinning.

"Her? How do you know it's a girl?"

"Just a feeling."

"You've never told me you thought we were having a little girl before."

"I never had the feeling before." Rick raised his head up and kissed Michonne's womb. "Now you stay inside there for a few more weeks. You're not done cooking," Rick spoke directly to the baby.

Michonne laughed. "You think that will work?"

"Well not if this kid listens to me like Judith does."

Rick knelt down at the foot of the bed and pulled Michonne's boots and socks off delicately, mindful of her injured ankle. He pulled his knife out of his belt. "These pants have seen better days. I'm going to cut them off so I don't hurt your ankle." He carefully sliced through the fabric until her legs were completely free from the blood-soaked pants. Rick thoroughly washed the blood off of her legs. He washed his own hands then went to her dresser and pulled out clean clothes.

Rick pulled a clean shirt over her head. He slipped shorts over her legs then sat down next to her. "It seems like the medicine's working."

"Thank God," Michonne replied. She stared up at Rick, easily reading a troubled expression resting on his face. "Rick, what's wrong?"

"Why did you go out there?" he asked her directly.

"I wasn't going to. I tried to get you on the walkie and then I tried to shout down to you from the roof. You couldn't hear me."

"I'm sorry. I should have been..."

"No. Don't apologize. You didn't make a mistake. It's just what happened."

"But why did you go out there? Why didn't you ask Carol or Glenn to go?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"You shouldn't have gone out there, Michonne. You're eight months pregnant."

"Do you think I forgot that?" she asked sharply. "It was Carl. I had to go. Carol tried to stop me. She said she would go but I wouldn't let her. Carl is my responsibility."

"We're all each other's responsibility!"

"Well I'm more responsible for Carl than Carol or Glenn or anyone else is. I want it that way." Michonne took Rick's hand in her's. "Rick, you said that marrying you meant being a mother again and I said yes to that. I love Carl. I love him like he's my own...same way I love Judith. Those are my kids. I had to do whatever it took to get Carl back home. I was just following my instincts."

Rick looked away from her. He grabbed his head in deep thought. "You're right. You're right. I'm not trying to make you second guess yourself."

"Good, because I'm not second guessing myself."

"Could you just go easy on me for a second? All I knew was that Glenn came running outside and tells me that you and Carl are gone. There were walkers everywhere and you and Carl were out there. I got scared. I thought I might lose you...lose the baby...lose Carl. I was mad as hell at you for leaving. I know why you made that decision but I got scared anyway. I don't want to lose you, Michonne. I can't."

"You didn't lose me. We didn't lose Carl. And the baby...she's okay too." Michonne raised her hand up to Rick and caressed his face. "This is life now. We do our best and trust God for everything else. It's all we can do. Or at least it's all I can do."

"I love you, Michonne. I love you but no matter what you say, I'm never going to be okay with you being in danger. I'm trying to have more faith and to not worry but I'm not built the same way you are. Not many people are. Be patient with me and let me do whatever I need to do to protect you."

"Okay," she finally submitted. A comfortable silence lingered in the room as they looked at each other. Rick leaned down, his face hovering over her's. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her mouth. "Kiss me," she told him. "Kiss me and I'll do whatever you want."

Rick playfully brushed his lips softly across her lips then retreated slightly. He looked deeply into her eyes and she returned his gaze. He put his hand around her neck and pulled her closer, kissing her once more. "There, I kissed you. Now you said you'd do whatever I want, right?"

"Anything."

"Stay inside," Rick said as he smiled and kissed her again.

…..

The next morning Michonne was awoken from her sleep by a knock at the top of the staircase.

"Hey, it's me and Judy," Carl said. "We wanted to check on you. You decent?"

"Yeah, come in," she said groggily as she sat up. The two of them walked into the bedroom and as soon as Judith saw Michonne she ran towards her. "Momma!" Judith squealed.

"How's my big girl?" Michonne exclaimed with a wide grin on her face. Michonne reached down to help Judy climb into the bed next to her. She smothered the giggling toddler with kisses. Filled with excitement, Judy bounced on the bed and on Michonne. "Now Judy you have to be careful of Momma's tummy and foot, okay?"

"How come?" Judy inquired.

"I got a boo boo on my tummy and foot. So you have to be gentle, okay?" Michonne explained as she held onto her stomach.

"Baby," Judy said proudly as she patted Michonne's belly.

"That's right," Michonne said. "There's a baby in there! It's Judy's sister or brother inside Momma!"

"Sorry for waking you up, but she's been begging to see you all morning," Carl said.

"What time is it?" Michonne asked as she yawned.

"Almost one o'clock."

"One o'clock? I haven't slept in this late since...I can't even remember how long."

"Well Bob said that the meds you're on might make you pretty tired. He came to check on you this morning and Carol and Liv have been taking turns sitting with you to make sure you're okay."

"That's nice of everyone. I didn't know one single person has been here all morning. I was out cold," she said. "So where's dad?"

"He's on the roof I think."

"Did the herd pass out of town?"

"Kind of. Some moved out but then the rest sort of just started spreading out through town. Dad said for everyone to just fall back and let them do whatever they were gonna do. If they haven't moved on by tomorrow, Abraham and some of the others are going to try and lead them out of town with the truck." Carl sat down at the bottom of the bed. "You don't have to worry about anything going on outside. The building is locked up tight and everything's under control."

Michonne chuckled, "You sound just like your dad."

"Great," Carl said sarcastically. "Hey Michonne, I'm sorry for running off yesterday. I feel like you being out there is all my fault."

"I'm a big girl Carl. I made the decision to go out there all on my own and nothing is your fault. I ran after you without a second thought the same way you ran after Holly without a second thought. It's what we do for the people we love." Michonne smiled over at Carl, "Look, I'm okay, the baby's okay, you and Holly are okay and I don't want to dissect and examine every little detail of what we should have done or who's fault it is for this or that. It's all over and we're all okay. Just stay here and keep me company."

"Okay," Carl replied smiling back.

Judy was starting to get antsy sitting still on the bed. "Will you hand me that basket of toys and books over there by the crib?" Michonne asked. Carl picked up the basket and placed it on the bed. Judy dumped it out in it's entirety before deciding to play with her doll. "Nice Judy," Michonne said as she and Carl laughed.

"Michonne, there's something else I wanted to talk about."

"Sure. What is it?" Carl hesitated. He picked up Judy's play phone off the bed and started fidgeting with it. "Hey, spit it out! You can talk to me about anything."

"Well I wanted to ask you something. But now that I'm thinking about it, it seems super awkward."

"Did your dad never have the birds and bees talk with you?" Michonne teased. "Well, you're a little old to not know where babies come from but it's better late than never."

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny!" Carl blushed and laughed.

"Seriously, just tell me already!"

"Well...you're going to have this new baby and you already have Judy."

"Yeah?" Michonne asked, not quite sure where he was going with this conversation.

"Well, the new baby is going to call you mom and Judy already calls you mom..." Carl paused again and continued to fidget with the toy again.

"Come here kid," Michonne motioned for Carl to move closer to her and he complied. Michonne wrapped her arms around him and held him tighter than she ever had before. Tears fell from her eyes. "I never wanted to assume that place in your life because I never wanted to take it from your mom. But..."

"My mom will always be my mom. I'll always love her. She was there in the beginning but you're here now. I love you, Michonne, and I can't help that I want you to be a mom to me, just like you are to Judy."

"Nothing would make me prouder," Michonne said as more tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'll let you in on a little secret: I already thought of you as my son so this just makes it official." Michonne finally released Carl from her embrace and she wiped her eyes and smiled.

"I'm gonna go back downstairs and get you some breakfast...or I guess lunch." Carl chuckled.

"That would be nice," Michonne said.

"I can take Judy back down with me."

"No leave her. I've missed her," Michonne said tickling her feet.

"Okay then. I'll be back in a few," Carl said walking away.

"Michonne lied down again as she watched Judy play with her toys on the bed. She held her belly and felt the baby kicking wildly. Michonne closed her eyes. A peaceful smile appeared on her face and she thanked God for the beautiful family she'd been given.

…..

A/N: Thank you all for your feedback on my last chapter. It's always so good to hear your comments on this story and my writing. Most everyone said they would like to see a sequel to this story and that's honestly the direction I was leaning. I also heard that I should do both the sequel and a different stand alone story. So, I will also plan on doing another story altogether later on down the road. And to LunaReader6127, I will DEFINITELY be including Shane in that future story. I absolutely loved Shane and can't wait to explore his psyche in writing.

Last week's episode did not disappoint (except for that lame-ass deer) and I was just gushing over all the Rick and Michonne we got. Rick didn't want their road trip to end and neither did I.

Finally, I have to say how touched I was by everyone's kind words about by recent trials. I promise I wasn't looking for sympathy but you all gave it to me anyway. Your prayers were precious gifts to me and I am so grateful for your kindness. As always, God bless!