February 7th

Michonne let her head fall back against the headrest of her office chair. Her eyes stung with tiredness. She had just sent Jesus home after he dozed off typing up the minutes from yet another meeting between Michonne and her client Deanna Monroe. He was exhausted. She was exhausted. And they were nowhere near done yet.

It was past 9 already on a Friday night and she'd been working solidly since 7am. The Alexandria merger she was working on was huge. Deanna was a formidable force, Michonne admired her tenacity and busines acumen, but it was exhausting. She'd hardly seen anyone, Colette was worried about the hours she was working, her message screen with Rick was a sea of grey with a few short blue texts interspersed.

She shook her head, hoping the action would awaken her energy reserves and push her through for a couple more hours. She picked up the handset of her desk phone and dialed the now familiar number.

"Deanna Monroe." She answered instantly.

"Deanna, it's Michonne. Sorry to call so late."

"Hi Michonne, don't apologise at all." Her voice immediately softened as she realised who was on the other end. "Everything ok?"

"Everything's fine. I was just looking over the contracts that Spencer sent over with the latest revisions." She flipped the sheets of paper over until she found one of the many highlighted lines.

"Mmmhmm." Deanna was immediately skeptical of anything involving her son.

"I just wanted to double check the commission percentage for all the nationwide vendors going forward. Because Spencer has written 4%, but the meeting we had last week you said 3%..."

"3% is correct. I'll have a word with Spencer."

"Ok great, well I'm almost finished with these revisions so I'll send them over in the next hour and we can discuss on Monday?"

"Sounds great. Thanks again for all your help on this, Michonne."

"No problem. Have a nice weekend."

"You too. Bye."

"Bye."

No sooner had she hung up the phone, there was a soft knock at her office door.

"Hey stranger." She smiled as she beckoned Rick inside. "Did you just get in?"

Rick had been in Utah for a week visiting one of his factories. He had clearly slept on the plane, his curly hair was sticking up in random places even though he'd made half an effort to smooth it with his hand.

"Landed an hour ago. Came to see if the hardest working attorney in Manhattan wanted a ride home?" His voice was a little gruff from the flight and days of non stop talking.

Michonne yawned. "I wish! But I've got to finish this or I won't relax all weekend."

"Ooh yeah your trip with your mom! You excited?" He sat down in the chair opposite her. Although Michonne did enjoy his company, she needed to finish the contract, and him sitting opposite her expectantly annoyed her when she was in her zone.

"I could really do with actually getting a head start on next week's work, but it'll be nice to see her, and it gets her off my back about working all these hours." She didn't take her eyes from the screen.

"She's just worried." He said quietly, not daring to admit he shared the same sentiment. Michonne was exhausted, her usually bright eyes seemed dulled, and she wasn't smiling or laughing like she usually did. Rick knew it wasn't his place to say, and he knew how much her career meant to her, he just wanted her to rest a little.

"I know." She said sharply.

"You need me to get you anything? Something to eat?" He changed the subject to one he presumed was safe.

"I'm fine."

"I should head out." He stood up, getting the hint. He was used to putting in long hours himself, he knew the drill. "I'll catch you next week sometime?"

"Hopefully. I'll call you over the weekend for sure." She leaned her head into his kiss, he squeezed her shoulder before departing.

"You're doing amazing." He said, and he was gone.

February 14th

Michonne finally made it home after what felt like the longest week of her life. She was glad she was into her second trimester, glad that the nausea and exhaustion of the first three months was done with. But it was still tiring, she was still growing a human with her own body. Her mini-break to the lake with her mom the weekend before had been nice, but a little poorly timed and meant she had to catch up with a tonne of work.

She kicked off her shoes, wondering how many more months she'd be able to wear high heels for. Her buzzer sounded and she was half tempted to ignore it until she saw her phone light up with a call from Rick. Figuring the two were related she reluctantly dragged herself up off the couch.

"Special delivery from Saint Valentine." His voice was unmistakable.

"Come on up." She yawned, unlatching the door.

There was only one sight that beat Rick Grimes walking into her living room on a Friday night, and that was Rick Grimes walking into her living room carrying pizza.

"Figured you'd be hungry." He said, smiling as he flopped down next to her. "Also figured you wouldn't have time to cook." He flipped the lid open. "Also figured the mother of my child should be treated on valentine's day."

"Half pepperoni, half ham and mushroom." She nodded her head. "Good choice. But I hate valentine's day."

"Oh me too." He helped himself to a slice while she did the same. "How's the merger going?"

"Urgh." She shook her head. "It's getting there, but my god I've never had such a big task, and usually Morgan or Zeke take the lead but since the aim is for me to become a partner this year they're leaving it all to me. I'm grateful...but so goddamn tired."

"It'll be worth it though, right?" He studied her face.

"I hope so." She said as she finished her mouthful, she didn't realise how hungry she was.

"You wanna watch a movie?" He asked after a few minutes of them eating in silence.

"I'm kind of tired." She said carefully.

"Ok." He paused for a moment. "Do you want me to leave?" He asked quietly, turning his head slightly to look at her.

"I don't know." She answered truthfully. Selfishly she liked him being there, and she was afraid of what would happen if he left now. What would it mean for them? But she also felt like she didn't have anything left to give him, not right now anyway.

"I think I should go." He decided. He was smiling slightly, but he just felt flat.

"It's not that I don't want you here. And it's not that I don't appreciate everything you do for me..." She tried to pacify him, feeling an immediate pang of guilt at the disappointment on his face.

"Look I want this to go somewhere." He said. "I'm not trying to put pressure on you, I just want us to be honest. And it feels like it's not the right timing for you?"

Michonne sighed. He'd hit the nail on the head.

How was he so smart and so earnest and such a good communicator. His lack of imperfections were starting to get annoying. Did he hatch from a fucking egg?

"I'm just so busy." She reasoned. "If I go in with you, I want to go all in with you."

"I get it." He pushed his lips together, the vague remnants of the smile he was trying to force sat at their corners. "There's no right or wrong way to do this, I guess."

"Why don't we do our own thing for a week or two?" She suggested, she was so close to her finishing point with all this Alexandria stuff. She knew it would be so much easier when it was done, she'd have so much more time for Rick, for them. "I'll have more time...I'll be less tired."

He nodded. "Sounds good to me." It didn't sound good to him. A week without her sounded like torture. Two weeks even worse. "Then we'll go from there."

"I'm sorry." She grabbed his hand.

"Don't be sorry." He placed his free hand over hers before standing up. "Just call me when you're ready."

"I will, I promise." She said, but he was already gone.