On the last morning before they were due to arrive home, Rick awoke before Michonne in their motel room. Her head rested on his chest and her arm was slung across his abdomen, the sheet haphazardly strewn across his waist just below his navel and draped over Michonne's back. Rick looked at the clock and saw it was just past nine. Check out was in less than two hours and they both had to shower, but Rick was distracted by Michonne's bare skin. He ran his index finger along her shoulder, down her upper arm and back to her shoulder before he let it trail down her spine. He repeated the pattern until Michonne stirred about ten minutes later.

"Good morning," Rick whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead as she angled her head to look up at him.
"Good morning," Michonne yawned back.

"You look pretty," Rick complimented her.
"You're only saying that because I'm naked," Michonne snorted.
"Hey, I resent that," Rick objected. "I told you that last night too, while we were at dinner."
"You only said that because you wanted me naked."
Rick grinned, "Well it worked, didn't it?"
Michonne shoved him playfully before pulling herself on top of him, straddling herself over his stomach. She felt his hands reach behind her to grab her bottom and could tell Rick was trying to urge her backwards, dying for a repeat of last night's performance. She looked down at him sternly before reminding him, "We have to check out at eleven Rick."
"I know, so you should really let me get on with this," he taunted.
"We both have to shower," Michonne argued.

"We don't need a separate shower," Rick reasoned, pulling Michonne's hand to his lips so that he could kiss the back of it. His other hand remained firmly planted on her ass.

"Fine," Michonne groaned. "You better make it worth my while though."

Rick was already pinning her on her back and spreading her legs before she could finish uttering the condition on which they could have sex before leaving this motel room. Michonne found herself squealing excitedly as Rick kissed down her body, starting with the lips on her face, passing her collarbone, focusing on her breasts, teasing her navel and lingering on the inside of her thighs. She felt annoyed when she didn't feel him at her center and she propped herself up on her shoulders to glare at him.
"I just wanted to make sure you thought this was worth your while," Rick explained, a playful glint in his eye and a smug smile on his face.
"Yes!" Michonne hissed before Rick proceeded to feast on her.

By the time they had had their way with each other it was well past ten and when Michonne realized how much time had passed she jumped out of bed.
Shouting over her shoulder at Rick, "I knew you would do this!" she turned on the water to the shower, brushed her teeth and began throwing her other toiletries into her suitcase.
Rick pressed himself up behind her when she tried to enter the shower and kissed her neck softly saying, "It was worth your while though, wasn't it?"
Michonne sighed, "Yes, it was, but now we're going to be late!"
"We'll be less late if you let me in the shower with you," Rick said.
"Somehow I find that hard to believe," Michonne answered dryly.
"There's only one way to find out."

The joint shower found them leaving their room key on the front desk at 10:59.
Rick carried their bags to the van, commenting, "I told you we would have plenty of time."
"One minute is not plenty of time, smartass."
"I disagree, love," Rick said, trapping her against the van between his arms. Michonne reached up and threaded her arms around his neck.
"What did I tell you about pet names?"
"That you love when I use them, and should in fact do it more."
"That is definitely not what I said."
"Why don't you remind me what you did say?"
Michonne pulled Rick's face closer to hers so that she could kiss him and when she pulled away she said, "I think I did that, just so you would stop trying out different ones."
"That sounds about right," Rick chuckled. "Do you want to drive?"
Michonne nodded as she took the keys from Rick's front pocket and snuck her way out of his embrace to start the car.

On the road Rick said, "It was a shame we didn't get to see the Grand Canyon."
"I suppose we can always just make another trip."
"Yeah, just," Rick said. "Like it's that simple."
"I never said it would be simple, just that we could do it. Andre would love it, and I think that any kids we happen to have would too."
"Don't go teasing me with the promise of more kids if you don't mean it 'Chonne," Rick said quietly.
"I'm not teasing."
Rick perked up; Michonne had his full attention and he asked, "Are you serious?"
"I'm not not serious," Michonne answered. "I've been thinking about it, and I think that at first I was scared of having another child because it made me think that you would leave, but this ring has a lot to say that would contradict that. I'm not saying I want anything right away, but I do think it's something we should talk more about."
"I want a girl," Rick said.
"Not sure we get to choose that," Michonne laughed.
They chatted about hypothetical children until Michonne noted they needed to stop for gas, but that it would be the last time before they returned home. After they both used the restroom they continued on home and once they were within the Georgia state line, Michonne couldn't contain how excited she was to see Andre again.

It was nearly dark when they arrived at Michonne's mother's house to retrieve Andre. Rick barely had time to put the car in park before Michonne bolted out of the door to run into her mother's house. He watched her throw open the front door and smiled to himself, completely and wholeheartedly reassured that he had chosen the right woman to marry. It wasn't even reassurance, as he hadn't been hesitant to begin with. Michonne loved so purely, sincerely and completely and Rick was fortunate to have earned that love. He also overly enjoyed watching Michonne bestow that love upon her son and couldn't help but imagine the way that she would love a child that was both him and her. Not that Andre wasn't his, because at this point Andre was. This was evident when Rick saw the front door swing open again, but instead of Michonne darting in, it was Andre running out.

Rick got out the side of the van and caught the nearly seven-year-old boy calling out "Daddy!" as he ran at him. Rick picked him up and spun him around, placing a kiss on his cheek. In the years since that first event at the park where Rick felt the need to tell others that Andre wasn't his, Rick now embraced the boy without any sense of awkwardness. His affection towards the boy almost anyone walking by to question if Andre was Rick's son. The answer was yes; Rick had come to love Andre as his own and would undoubtedly do anything that he ever needed without question.

"How are you, bud?" Rick asked excitedly. "How was Grandma's?"
"We made so many cookies," Andre answered back, his enthusiasm rivaling Rick's. "We drew, and we went to the park and Grandma got a fish. I wanted it to be my fish, but Grandma said Mama doesn't like fish so the fish has to stay here, but when I'm here it's my fish and when I'm not here it's Grandma's fish."
Rick listened to Andre babble on, recounting everything that Rick and Michonne had missed over the last two weeks as he walked inside with him. Andre squirmed to get down once they were inside and dragged Rick to come look at the beta fish that Michonne's mother had welcomed into her home to appease her grandson.

Michonne smiled at Rick from where she was conversing with her mother before her eyes fixated on her son. As she watched Rick let Andre show him the fish's food, tank, and cleaning supplies, she received further confirmation that Rick was the right man to marry. Deep down, she had known it all along. It took a special man to befriend someone with her baggage and an even more special one to embrace her baggage. In addition to being her best friend, confidante, paper editor, sounding board and designated source of stress relief, Rick was an amazing father to Andre. It took the most special of men to be a father to a child that he most certainly could not pass off as his own. Andre was far too dark to even appear as though his father could be white, and it was definitely a sensitive subject when they first dated. Now, Rick played with Andre, helped him with his homework (math was tough) took him to the toy store and the ice cream shop like it was the most natural thing in the world, and Rick did these things because they were the most natural things in the world to him. Love came naturally to Rick, and Michonne was grateful that she and Andre were the recipients of his affection.