Chapter 48:
'Not obvious...'
Rick was leaning against the kitchen counter as he watched his children eat their breakfast. His stern gaze only left Carl to look at Judith when she spoke to him, but otherwise, he only had eyes for Carl.
"I'm finished", Judith chirped pushing her chair back to stand.
"Good girl", Rick smiled, watching her take her bowl to the sink, "Go get dressed, Mama's going to do your hair when she's done"
"Okie doke", His darling daughter skipped out the kitchen, her dark mane bouncing behind her. When Rick heard Carl drop his spoon in his bowl and he saw the teenager stand, he growled, "Sit. Now"
Carl froze for a second, before sitting back down with a thud, muttering something under his breath.
"I'm sorry, what was that?", Rick tilted his head at his son as he strolled over to the breakfast table and put his cup of coffee down.
The teenager said nothing, instead keeping his gaze on the empty bowl in front of him.
Rick pulled the chair out and sat facing his son, "I'm going to give you the opportunity to explain yourself, but if you still feel like you don't have anything to say, then I'd like to get straight to the point. So what's your pleasure?"
Carl didn't even attempt to open his mouth.
Rick stared at him for a few more moments, then slowly nodded as he prepared to read him the riot act, "You see, that's fine. That right there, what you're doing? That's fine. If you're not ready to talk about whatever it is that has you acting like this, then your mother and I won't force you. We'll wait until you're ready to come to us to talk about it, and we'll try to help you anyway we can, because that's one of the many thangs that were here for. To help you, to look after you and to be there for you when you need it"
He noticed his son's jaw clench as his frown intensified.
Rick sat forward, resting his forearm on the table as he lowered his voice, "That won't ever change, and it doesn't matter how old you get, we'll always be here for you like no other. Now I'm duty bound to play that role in your life, because I helped make you, and it's because of that that I love you more than I love my damn self. That's usually what happens when you have a child. But you see that woman upstairs? The one that stepped into our lives with open arms, for both of us? She chose this role. She decided you were her own the first time she laid eyes on you, and ever since then she has been willing to fight tooth and nail for you. I have never had to question how much she loves you, and do you wanna know why that is?"
His son kept his glistening eyes fixed on the bowl.
"Because I've seen how it hurts her to know that you're hurt. I've seen how down she gets when you're not happy. That's the kind of effect a child has on their parents, and I know you're aware of that, and you feel the same when she's hurt or upset, but for some reason, you decided that none of that matters yesterday. You decided that you didn't care who you hurt or who you upset, and you decided that you didn't care that your mother was on the receiving end of that. Now this is where I have to remind you who your father is, because everythan' you did yesterday, comes under the list of thangs that I don't stand for, and treating your mother the way you did, is the very first thang on that list"
Carl wiped a stray tear with the back of his hand, still not looking at his father.
"I don't ever want to hear anythan' like that again, and I better not witness anythan' like that either, because your mother won't always be able to stop me from getting to you. Are we clear on that?"
Carl sniffed as he gave his father a quick nod.
As disappointed as he was, and as angry as he was, seeing his son cry caused a lump to grow in Ricks throat, and he sat back as he took in the slightly distressing sight, "You feel like you want to talk about it now?"
Carl sniffed again, wiping another tear as he answered quietly, "Lauren thinks... she's pregnant"
Rick's chest caved, as he cocked his head at Carl, "Excuse me?"
"By….Gerald"
Rick face went through a range of emotions as he tried to absorb their shocking news, "Your cousin, Gerald?...My nephew?...My brother's son? That Gerald?"
The teen gave him another little nod.
Rick stared at him with pure disbelief, his mouth agape and his eyes narrowing, "She told you this? Yesterday? That's why you left?"
Another nod from his son.
It was the very last thing he expected to hear from Carl, although he should have suspected it, as his son wouldn't behave in such a way over something trivial. He groaned, running his hands over his face as he tried to gather his thoughts, "Have you spoken to Gerald? Does he know?"
"No", Carl sighed, finally letting his gaze roam, "And he doesn't know"
Rick slowly nodded, "Well… he will do. Pretty soon. I'll make sure of that"
"Can I go now?"
"Yeah, go on", Rick huffed, scratching his brow with his thumb. He watched Carl stand up and take his bowl to the sink, before calling, "Wait. Come here"
Carl did as he was told, trudging over to his father. Rick stood up with open arms, and he was surprised at how easy it was for the boy to crumble into him, as if that's all he had wanted all along.
"I've been there", Rick exhaled tiredly, resting his chin on top of the boys head, "It's… well, let's just say it's not a nice feeling at all, and you're probably gonna feel like this for a while, but it's… it does get better. It will get better"
Carl nodded, his tears soaking through Rick's uniform shirt. Rick rubbed his back in a soothing motion, hoping his son would find some comfort in his words. He heard footsteps descending the stairs, and his wife stepped into view, wearing her white blouse and black skirt for work. She stopped when she saw Rick and Carl in the kitchen, her eyes wide with alert. Rick gave her a discrete wave of the hand to signal that everything was fine, though it wasn't. He was sure he saw her jaw quiver before she continued her way into the living room.
"It'll be alright", Rick insisted, a new found rage brewing for his nephew, "It will. But you need to get ready for school, we need to have a word with Mrs Monroe about yesterday…"
Carl broke away from him, nodding solemnly, "Okay"
"Go on, go get ready", He patted the boy on the back, and watched him drag his feet down the hall.
Rick knew his wife would appear as soon as the boy had climbed the stairs, and she almost sprinted into the kitchen, "What happened? What did you say? Was he crying? Why was he crying?"
He raised a hand to stop her, "I talked to him, and… I'm not excusing what he did, but I can understand-"
"Oh my god, what is it?", She urged, stepping closer with anticipation.
"Apparently Lauren thinks she's pregnant by-"
"What?!", Michonne screeched.
"By", Rick continued firmly, "Gerald."
"Oh, Gerald?", His wife frowned for only a second, before her face fell, "Gerald? Gerald? Your brothers-"
"Yes. His own cousin. That, Gerald"
Michonne had the same reaction Rick did, her eyes darting all over the place, "The cruise?"
"Must have been", He sighed, adjusting his shirt.
She rested her hands on her hips, "Does he know? Has he spoken to him?"
"No and no, but I'm gonna give Jeffery a call. Let him know"
"You better! They're only fifteen, Rick! They're too young for all that mess!"
"I know. You're not wrong. Hopefully she isn't but… we're gonna have to wait and see"
"Poor Carl", She looked back towards the stairs, "He's probably crushed…"
"He is."
"Maybe we should let him stay home-"
"He's going to school", Rick deadpanned, "He's not taking another day off to run around town, Michonne"
"He just needs time-"
"He will have time. Just not time off", He shrugged, "You have to can't sit around and let it eat you up. No good comes from that"
She gave him a sympathetic look, placing a hand on his arm, "Yeah... Oh, you got an invitation to your high-school reunion this morning".
Rick's brow furrowed at her, "Yeah?"
"Yes. It's next weekend"
He cocked his head at her, "Why do you love to open my mail?"
She raised her eyebrows at him, "Our mail."
"If it's got my name on it-"
"Then it's for my husband, so I can open it", She countered, rolling her shoulders back.
"Is that right? Remind me of when I agreed to that?"
"When you said 'I do'...", She gave him an innocent smile, tapping his arm.
He threw his head back as laughed at her, "I walked right into that one"
"You did", She sniggered, tucking her shirt into her pants.
Rick's gaze dropped to her shirt, "I noticed you're looking a little more…"
She looked down at herself, running her other hand over the material that covered her stomach, "Is it obvious?"
His hand traced over the small lump, "Not obvious… but I can see somethan'-"
"Are we talking to the baby?", Judith quizzed as she stood at the top of the hall, dressed in a red t-shirt and jeans for school. She was soon planted in front of her mother, yelling at her abdomen, "Hi baby! It's me, Judith!"
Rick and Michonne shared a look of amusement as he muttered to her, "This one might come out with a hearing problem"
She snickered, resting her hands on Judith shoulders, "Come on, we need to leave. You too, Sheriff"
"Yes, mam."
…
As soon as Rick closed to the door to his office, he retrieved his phone from his pants pocket, preparing to call his brother. He knew his sibling would be approaching his lunch break, and he figured he would need some time to himself after hearing the news.
He took a seat at his desk as the phone rang, using his thumb and index finger to massage his brow, "Jeff?"
"Hey? What's going on?", Jeffrey answered, in the midst of loud banging and crashing.
"You on site?"
"Yeah, about to come off though, what's wrong? Is Ma' alright?"
"She's fine. I have to talk to you about somethan' though…"
"What is it?"
Rick sighed, sitting up in his seat, "You might be a grandfather soon."
Jeffrey was silent for a moment, before quizzing, "What? Grandfather? Carl? Carl got somebody-"
"If it was Carl, then you'd be a grand-uncle", Rick responded dryly.
His brother was silent again before spitting out, "What?!"
"Yeah. Remember Lauren? Carl's little girlfriend?"
"What? Her and Gerald?"
"Yeah. She told Carl, said she hasn't told Gerald yet…"
"What? When? How?"
"I'm guessing when y'all were on the cruise after we left…"
"No. Not Gerald. He doesn't even know how to talk to girls! He goes red in the face and starts stuttering all over the place!"
"Well, seems like he's learnt how to do a whole lot more than just talk to them..."
"Oh my god…", Rick heard a door slam, "What the hell… I need to talk to him. I need to find out if this is true"
"Call her parents or somethan'. They need to talk to her, find out if she actually is, then y'all can figure out what to do next"
"I'm gonna kill him! That's what's gonna happen next!"
Rick could relate to his brother's anger, "You know I'm gonna need to speak to him, right?"
His brother was silent a third time, "Oh god, Carl? How is he? Is he alright?"
"No. Far from it actually. He started acting out, he disappeared for most of the damn day, then popped back up and decided he wanted to have an attitude with his mother"
"Oh boy-"
"Yeah. I wanted to bury him in the back yard for that. If Michonne wasn't pregnant I would have moved her out the way to get to him-"
"What? Michonne's pregnant? Really?"
Rick stilled, quickly recognising his slip up, "Yeah, she is actually"
"Well, congratulations, little brother. I'm happy for you… I am"
"Thanks. Appreciate it."
"God, what kind of phone call is this..."
"Yeah… sorry to drop all of this on you, but, I had to give you a call… let you know what you're in for."
"Yeah, well thanks, I guess"
"Don't mention it."
Rick bid her brother farewell and sat back with a huff, still worried about his son. While Rick would have preferred that the fifteen year old never experienced such a scenario, especially so young, he felt equipped to help Carl, having been through it himself.
"You are going to love me"
Rick peered at Leon in the doorway as he burst into the room, "You finally stopped leaving food in the squad cars?"
The other man shook his head, "Nope."
Rick stared at him with a blank expression for a few moments, before yelling, "Then tell me?!"
"Alright! First, I managed to track down Molly, we brought her in for questioning, and the boys over in Macon just arrested a man they caught robbing a jewellery store over there, and they called us because I was the one that told them what happened over here"
Rick's eyebrows shot up, "Yeah? Really?"
"Yep.", Leon nodded excitedly, obviously proud of himself.
"But yet, you can't throw out a burger wrapper every once and awhile", Rick muttered under his breath as he stood up, "Well you did good, Leon"
"No problem at all"
"So Molly Deene's here?-"
"Grimes!", Andrea barked from somewhere outside his office, causing Rick to snicker.
"Oh god", Leon huffed, stepping out of the way as the angry woman stepped into view.
"How dare you!", She fumed, marching up to his desk.
"How may I help you?", Rick plastered on a fake smile.
"You knew that I was looking for Deene for my client, and just as I'm about to get her, you sweep in like the grim reaper that you are and take her!"
He shrugged, "You should have been quicker"
"You should have been quicker", the blonde mimicked, pulling a face at him, "The only reason you even knew about her is because you poke around in my partner occasionally!"
He grinned, "Obviously, I must be doing somethan' right then"
Andrea's lip curled in disgust, "You are so old that that is not even cute"
"My wife will think it is"
"Of course she will! She's been blinded by the grey hairs in your beard for so long, that she doesn't know any better!"
He squinted at her as he cupped his ear, "Do you hear that? It's the sound of a highly intoxicated and unwilling man passing out a bar, you should go get him before the other scavengers do"
Her eyes widened as she spat, "Cradle snatcher!"
"Christ", Daryl announced, strolling in the room with a frown, "It's too early for all that"
"I want to be there when you question Molly", Andrea demanded.
"She's not your client", Rick shook his head.
"I don't care! You get your information in some of the most unethical and unprofessional ways so you can't start following the rules now!"
"God, can you stop squawking? You're like damn crow", Rick recoiled away from her.
"No! You let me in there or so help me god I will haunt you. I will be your shadow. Every time you come home from work, I'll be there. When you come down for breakfast on the weekend, I'll be there. Whenever you drape that old body of yours over my poor, blind best friend, I'll be there!"
Daryl gave Rick a little tilt of his head, signalling for him to relent. The thought of seeing Andrea more than once a month made Rick shudder, so he sighed, "If I let you in that room with me then you better keep quiet, I mean it, I don't wanna hear a peep from you"
Andrea sent Rick an evil smile as she straightened up, adjusting her shirt, "Deal. Now let's go, some of us actually have work to do"
Rick scowled at her, muttering loud enough for her to hear, "Yeah, like sanitising your desk"
Andrea froze for only the briefest of moments, before lifting her head up high and stalking out the room as if she didn't hear anything at all, while Rosita swiftly stepped in.
"I've made up a list of things for you to talk about with the kids", Rosita handed a sheet to both Rick and Daryl, "I know you've done this before but I think I've been able to put a new twist on things to keep the kids interested"
Rick frowned at the sheet of paper, "What is this?"
"For career day! Tomorrow!", the woman stressed.
"Oh… Oh", Rick groaned, sliding the sheet onto his desk, "Sorry. I forgot"
"I thought it happened already", Daryl snorted, folding the piece of paper up.
Rosita shook her head at both of them, "Be at the gymnasium for ten and don't forget those sheets, okay?"
"Yeah yeah. Got it", Rick muttered, starting out the room, "Come on, we got a few thangs to-"
"Grimes!", Andrea yelled from down the hall.
"Alright!"
