A/N: Hi guys! So I'm sorta new to the Richonne/TWD fandom. New as in I actually started watching the show when it first aired but then kinda fell of, not all the way, just not catching all the episodes like I did before (I missed the majority of season 2). I came back with the introduction of Michonne, I mean because how could you not, plus I hadn't read the comic so I was wondering who this awesome, mysterious woman was. I was obsessed her character from the beginning and I was pissed that it took as long as it did to give me more of her back story, but of course that kept me coming back. Then for life reasons I fell off again shortly after the meeting at the fence and was kinda splotchy throughout the rest of the series until about a 3rd of the way through season 6. I don't plan on falling off again because I recently binge watched all 6 seasons just to catch up on the things that I missed and to get my timeline straight, and of course I immediately became invested in the characters and even more obsessed with Michonne/Richonne. I read so much fanfiction...the story lines are starting to blend in with the actual story lines of the show. I did it also so closely together. I've been wanting to write Richonne fiction for a while so this is the beginning of my first attempt. There are some awesome fic writers in this fandom and some of you guys should seriously think about changing characters' names and getting your work published. This won't live up to their work, but I hope you find it enjoyable anyway, because I'll enjoy writing it.
Alright, so now an intro to the fic itself. So this is basically my take on what would have happened if Michonne and Rick had crossed paths earlier in the series than they did. It won't follow the series exactly (obviously) but most of the big events will still occur. But I think it would have kept their characters from becoming so cold at certain points in the series and added an entirely new dimension to their characters (not that anything is wrong with the characters now, I just think having each other to lean on from the beginning would have made them different people than they are now). So they will still be just as badass, Rick will be just as cocky, slightly crazy (Seriously, Rick was certifiably insane when they first got to Alexandria. I like to think part of that was because he knew Michonne wanted it so badly that her guard might be down and he wanted to make sure that she was still protected, but he also wanted her to be happy among other things). Michonne will still be just as awesome and everything that she is. I was conflicted between posting this fic and starting a more Michonne worshiping one (especially since I've been seeing all the microagressive Michonne/Richonne hate), but I will prob get to that one later as a get further along in this fic...this one will still probs be worshippy.
He surveyed his surroundings as he pulled up to the camp. It was a good location. Not for the current circumstances but, it would do. It had obviously been working for them. It was secluded enough. Away from areas that were usually frequented by large groups of people, and off the beaten path, so it wouldn't easily be happened upon by any random passers-by. But it wasn't too secluded. It was close enough to the city and to the main road that if help came, they wouldn't be too hard to find or impossible for the group to notice. But still, it wasn't necessarily a spot he would have picked. It was open. They were exposed. The space they occupied was not defined. There was nothing to defend except themselves and their stuff. They had no where to build, no safe space. But he would keep his critiques to himself. After all, what these people had obviously worked for them. This was their home now, and he didn't want to offend anyone. Though he continued to survey the landscape, looking for possible suggestions he could make.
He took a few steps towards Glenn, who seemed extremely pleased with himself until he started getting reprimanded by some of the occupants of the site. The first person he noticed was a lean, dark skinned woman with long hair that fell down her back and over her shoulders, a headband keeping the long locs from falling into her face. He gave her a once over without really meaning too. His view of most of the tenants of the camp was obscured, and of the ones he could see she was the one that commanded his attention, or anyone's attention for that matter. She stood out glaringly. But not in a bad way, at least he thought. Besides if the people he had come to know over the last few hours trusted her enough to leave her alone with their loved ones, he had no other choice but to trust her, and the rest of the people at the camp for that matter.
He watched still as she looked at Glenn, shaking her head disapprovingly but a small smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth. Her mouth...his head tilted to the side slightly, acknowledging that something in him was already fascinated with this woman.
He managed to pull his eyes away from her long enough to look back at his friend who was being scolded by an older gentleman as everyone seemed to be in an uproar about the noise the car was making. Glenn tried to explain to them that he didn't know how to turn it off and soon the hood was flying up, obscuring his view of the rest of the group further. He watched as Morales bent to scoop up a couple of kids that ran to greet him, a beautiful woman following them, a large smile on her face at seeing their family unit reunited again. A sad smile played at his face remembering why he had gone to the city in the first place. He didn't know if it was a way to distract himself, but he found his eyes being drawn back to the dark skinned beauty who had just finished poking fun at Glenn as he tried to defend himself. He watched as something else caught her attention, causing her smile to disappear and a sad, empathetic look to overtake her face.
He again managed to tear his eyes away from her and started to walk towards the group as he heard someone say something about a new guy. He made his way around the car and was almost stunned into a state of catatonia as he noticed his best friend. The man seemed to have the same reaction as a look of...disbelief...overcame his features.
He could feel the man's name forming on his lips, but something else caught his attention, and he felt his feet beginning to move again, even faster than they were before. He couldn't...this couldn't... Not after all of the death and destruction he had seen. He couldn't have found them. Not this easily. No. Still he continued to move towards them.
Carl was the first to notice him. A huge smile brightened his face, his tears seemingly forgotten now.
"Dad!" she stopped mid stride as she saw the look on the boy's face. She had been on her way to offer her comfort to him as they had become friends during their time together at the camp. His mother seemed to be in a state and it didn't seem like her focus was entirely on being responsible for her son at all times. She seemed to think that it was the men's responsibility to keep all of them safe. And she wasn't passing judgment. Maybe Lori was still finding her footing, trying to find her role in this new world that they had been thrust into. She understood. All of their lives had been disrupted. They were all struggling trying to find their footing. She had no idea how that translated into not knowing where your kid was at any given moment given the circumstances the world had found itself in, but that was neither here nor there. She had taken a liking to Carl, who had taken a liking to her and her younger son. He was a sweet boy, so she had taken it upon herself to keep a subtle eye on him, as not to offend his mother,until she got her shit together. Which seemed to be falling further apart as she watched the scene unfold in front of her, the implications of what it meant for the people involved dawning on her as she watched the woman throw herself in the new guy's arms, who was obviously her dead husband, her current lover's best friend.
"Mommy," she heard and managed to reel in her outdone-ness in order to give a smile to the toddler that was now launching himself at her.
"Hey, Peanut," she grunted out as she lifted the weight of the small boy, securing him to her hip as her eyes drifted back over to newly reunited family. She glanced at Shane, who seemed to be in a state between pissing his pants and his head exploding. She looked back at the two embracing adult, the little boy between them seemingly so happy, and she felt fear rising up in her chest for him. The world had already gone to shit and he had already had to deal with the loss of his father and childhood within a matter of a couple of months. She hoped that whatever mess the adults had evolving around them didn't cause him any more grief. Carl loved his father fiercely and he loved Shane as his father's best friend, and the man had clearly tried to take on more a paternalistic role in the boy's life since his father's suspected passing. And Carl had began buying into it, she just hoped that he didn't end up getting hurt.
"Well shit," she heard coming over her right shoulder, and turned to see Andrea standing next to her and taking in the scene. They shared a look before her eyes drifted back to Shane, then the family.
"Tell me about it," she turned back to the woman."Did you guy's get anything?"
"Yeah," Andrea told her. "Not as much as we would've liked but we got trapped."
Michonne nodded, knowing something had to have happened for them to take so long and then for Glenn to come riding in like a bat out of hell with that walker baiter.
"Loss something too," Andrea told her with a cocked eyebrow.
Michonne looked around the group, as she slowly realized what or who was missing. "Where's Merle?" She wasn't particularly fond of the man, but she tolerated him mostly for the sake of the group and his brother. Daryl was a little standoffish but he was better than Merle. He seemed more like a shy, kindred spirit.
Andrea just shook her head. "Daryl's going to be pissed," was her response.
Carl's head turned to his left as he noticed movement coming from the other side of the fire. They had just finished having dinner and he was in a deep conversation with his dad. He hadn't let go of the man's hand since he arrived at the camp, and they hadn't stopped talking either, well except for a few minutes here and there for his mom and dad to make sweet eyes at each other. He had missed his dad, and didn't think he would ever get to see him again, so he couldn't contain himself when he realized that he was no longer a fatherless boy. He watched as Michonne scooped up Andre and rose from her chair. He realized, he hadn't spoken to her the entire evening and even further, he hadn't introduced her to his dad. He hadn't introduced the coolest people he knew pre and post apocalypse and he was excited for his dad to meet his new friend because she was so cool. Well, they knew each other's names from Glenn's brief introduction of everyone.
"Michonne," she heard her name being called and stopped at the opening of her tent. Adjusting Andre, who was quickly falling asleep in her arms. She hadn't had time to turn completely around before she heard her name being called again, just as eagerly as the first time.
She smiled as she already knew who it was and found Carl running towards her, dragging his father close behind him. "Hey bud, what's up?" She asked running her fingers through his hair admiring his new haircut and happy his hair wasn't obscuring his view anymore.
"I wanted you to meet my dad," he told her smiling up at the man proudly.
Michonne smiled at the sparkle in the child's eyes as she glanced up at the man then looked back down at the boy. "Yeah, I was starting to think you ditched me after your dad got here." Carl smiled shyly. She then turned to the man with the same piercing eyes and reintroduced herself formally.
"Hi, I'm Michonne," she smiled at him, and reached out her hand to shake his.
"Rick," he said not being able to look away from her eyes, and almost forgetting to let go of her hand. He was seriously enchanted by this woman and he didn't quite know why. It wasn't anything sexual, he was still very much attracted to his wife, he thought before giving her a once over. Although it could've been, because the way her pants hugged her obviously toned calves, thighs and backside, which he had found himself inadvertently starring at every now and again, before stretching over the enticing curves of her hips to stop short of where her shirt began, revealing the lower segment of her toned abdomen before the tight fitting shirt began, showing off her slender waist before stretching further to accommodate the swell of her pert breasts. No, it definitely wasn't a sexual attraction.
It was more of that feeling you got when someone said and did a string of things that resonated with you so deeply that you had no other choice but to seek them out just so you could find out more about them. The only problem was she hadn't done or said anything other than what everyone else at the camp was saying. But he felt like a kid meeting someone he wanted to be best friends with. He just felt a pull towards her. Maybe it would fade away in a few days, who knew?
"You doing, okay?" she asked nodding at him, as she brought the hand she had just offered him back around the toddler in her arms. "It can be pretty traumatizing having a bushel of dead squirrels thrown at you." She smiled and he suddenly felt like the sun had decided to make a reappearance to battle with the moon for the rights to the sky. He almost looked up at the sky to double check, after all, it wouldn't have been the craziest thing that had happened in the last couple of months.
He laughed softly, and shook his head remembering the events from earlier that day. He felt awful about leaving the man's brother behind, but it wasn't done intentionally, though he had promised the man that he would go back with him to search for his brother. "Yeah, well, I guess I didn't make the best first impression on you guys."
"Mmm, you did okay," she reassured him. "Daryl's rough around the edges but he's a big teddy bear underneath all that leather, grime and emo teen persona he has going on. Plus anyone who's on this guy's cool list is a friend in my book," she said ruffling Carl's hair again.
Rick turned to his son to see his smile grow even wider. He couldn't help the smile that came to his face as well. He was starting to think that maybe he wasn't the only one she had that effect on.
Andre sighed and made to do a large flop in his mother's arm, but before he could she placed her hand on his back to make sure he didn't flop completely out of her arms. He settled on turning his head before letting it fall heavily back onto her shoulder.
"We better get to bed," she smiled back at them.
"Aww you're going to sleep?" Carl asked disappointingly.
"Yeah," she told him. "You know Dre. He's a lite weight," she nodded to the boy in her arms.
"But it's still so early," he protested.
"Well you guys tired him out at the lake today," she told him. "He's a little guy, he can't hang with the big kids just yet."
Carl looked down dejectedly. He had wanted them all to talk, so she could convince his dad how cool comic books and everything else they had in common was. Maybe he'd listen if it came from another adult.
"Carl," Rick said with a laugh, amazed at how cranky his son had become at realizing that he wouldn't get what was obviously his frequent quality time with the woman. It was clear he had taken to her quickly and firmly,"She has to put him to bed, son."
"I know," he replied sadly.
Michonne looked down at him, feeling a little guilty that she was turning him away when all he sought was her attention. "I tell you what," she offered. "How about I see if Ms. Jaqui will watch Dre so we can do a quick perimeter check?"
Carl's face brightened, and Michonne smiled at him before telling Rick she'd be right back. He watched as she walked over to the older woman and started a conversation. The older woman looked conflicted as she looked over at the two men sitting near the opening of Michonne's tent. He watched still as Michonne tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow before replying to whatever the woman had just said.
"Girl, I don't want to be caught in the middle of whatever you two have going on," he overheard Jacqui say and suddenly became more interested in what was being said between the two women.
He noticed some movement near her tent and noticed one of the men standing as he glared over at the two women. Michonne continued to discuss with the woman. After a few more exchanges, the woman sighed visibly before reaching out her hands. Michonne shifted the young boy from her shoulder and into the waiting arms of the woman standing in front of her. Jacqui then said something before nodding towards Michonne, causing her to turn around.
Rick noticed one of the men walking towards them, as she folded her arms and shifted her weight to her left leg, as if preparing for an argument. Jacqui disappeared into her tent with the boy.
"What the hell is that Meesh?" the man yelled, not bothering to hush his tone as the two women had been previously doing. "You don't trust me to watch my own son anymore?"
Rick's eyebrows raised, so one of them was the father of her son. He'd figured either him or the other guy was, but he hadn't seen a ring on her finger and her relationship with both of them seemed estranged. He had seen her hugging her son's father earlier but it seemed more like a comforting hug shared between recently quarreling friends more than one shared between lovers.
"Mike, calm down," Michonne said dismissively. "I'll be gone ten minutes at most."
"And you don't think that I can keep him safe while you're gone?" he questioned stepping closer to her.
"Your words, not mine," she said turning to walk away but he grabbed her arm. She pulled away from him.
"He's my son too," the man spat at her. "I can take care of him."
"Well prove it then," she said, her anger visibly growing. "Show me you can take care of yourself first, then, maybe, I'll think about trusting you with my baby. For now I don't. You want to change it, then get your shit together."
She stalked away from him and towards Rick and Carl. Rick grabbed his son by the shoulder and pulled him next to him and out of the woman's path. He didn't know if she was seeing straight enough to not run him over as she got closer to them.
"Com'on," she growled as she headed towards the trees, not missing a step.
"I know," she told him as they walked side by side, Carl a few steps ahead of them, "it seems a little crazy. Everyone thinks I'm wasting my time. But it helps to ease my mind if I know they haven't breached a certain area around the camp."
They had made it halfway around the 'perimeter'. At first, he had tried to get her to talk about what had just happened between her and the guy back at the camp, but she had refused, saying it would just serve to make her angrier, and it would be no fun for him to do a perimeter check with her while she was angry.
Rick nodded as his eyes drifted from the sheathed sword on her back to the makeshift perimeter she had set up around the camp. It was sticks stuck in the ground with some wire wrapped around them and stretching from one to the next. There were small piles of leaves trailed just on the inside of the perimeter that had been bunched together, he assumed any distortion of the leaves would clue her into the barrier having been breached.
"The kids helped me to set it up," she told him. "I thought it would take forever but you'd be surprised what a bunch of bored kids could do when given such a tedious task." She smiled up at him before her eyes traveled a few feet in front of them. She warned Carl not to get too far ahead of them and the boy immediately slowed his stride, but still shining his flashlight on the trail of leaves.
"Yeah, well," he started, "I think it's a great idea. Not the best protection, but something's better than nothing."
She sighed and turned her head to the side. "I keep telling them," she offered. "We need to move. Find some place safer, but no one listens. She was about to make a comment about the leadership, but she knew he and Shane were best friends, so she refrained. "I wanted to leave, but Mike and Terry are afraid to leave the group. Which I get it, it's safer in numbers, but it's also safer if you have more than open space between you and them."
"Why don't they want to leave?" Hell, he had wanted to leave since he'd gotten there. He'd hoped it was just a rendezvous point, but he quickly noticed it wasn't by the way everyone looked settled into the area. He'd wanted to take his family and the rest of them, and go somewhere more secure, but again, he didn't want to be the asshole newcomer suggesting they just disrupt what had obviously become their new normal.
"That," she looked up at him with a judgmental and unamused look, "you would have to ask your friend Shane." He continued to look at her. "When we found this group, he had already started taking on the role as leader. From the jump I was never really impressed with his leadership skills," she continued jokingly, but with a serious undertone. "The camp we had been staying at had been overrun about a week before and we had been on the run ever since. We needed a break. I needed a break, I needed a minute to just think," her speech slowed. "I had to keep my baby safe...Mike and Terry...they've been...out of it since all of this happened."
He remained quiet, waiting for her to continue. She did. "Everyone seemed relatively nice, so we stayed. I had only planned to stay one night, two at the most. But Mike and Terry, they were scared...afraid to leave. I couldn't just leave them...so, we stayed."
She looked up at him with a smile that didn't reach her eyes like the one she had given Carl earlier. He smiled back at her, and she looked back in front of them making sure Carl hadn't gotten too far ahead of them.
"What about you?" She asked him."How'd you end up finding Glenn and the group?"
He sighed before he started talking, telling her his whole story, from being shot to waking up in the hospital, to wandering home to find his family, Morgan and Duane, continuing the search for his family.
"Soo, you decided to just waltz into a city full of walkers to try and find them," she said a hint of amusement in her voice. He looked down at her and couldn't help but smile as he looked away again. She was teasing him. "And what was the sheriff uniform supposed to do?"
"Look," he said trying to hold back a laugh as she giggled, "I found them didn't I?"
"Yeah, yeah," she said nodding as their laughter started to die down, "you did." She waited a beat as the gloom of their reality started to fall back over them. "Unfortunately...that may have been the easy part."
"Yeah," he agreed.
They continued on in silence for a few more moments before she noticed that a part of their makeshift perimeter had been disturbed. She shined her flashlight in the area. Whatever it was it surely had not bothered with trying to cross into the territory incognito. She shined her light around the inside of the perimeter and saw a boot print.
"You think it was one of them?" He asked.
"Either that or someone was injured," she said continuing to shine her light on the trail of footprints. "Look how the prints drag."
She continued to follow the footprints with her light and Rick noticed that what or whoever it was had gone off in the direction ahead of them. He noticed Carl was still slightly ahead of them as well.
"Carl, get..." Before he could get the rest of the sentence out a walker lunged at him from behind the tree.
The boy screamed as he fell to the ground. And Rick pulled out his gun as Michonne started towards him, her Katana already in hand. The walker went for him again, but he was able to roll away from the corpse just as it pounced.
She heard a shot coming from somewhere behind her and saw that it just missed the walker's head as he disappeared behind a tree, going after the boy.
"Don't shoot the gun," Michonne admonished him.
"I know, I know," he said scolding himself, as he raced slightly ahead of her in the direction Carl and the walker had gone.
"Dad!" They heard him calling.
"Carl!" Rick called back trying to zone in on where his voice was coming from.
"He's fine," Michonne said, already discerning that the boy's voice was coming from slightly higher up than they were. "He knows what to do."
What did that mean? Rick wondered. He was an eleven year old boy, whose world had just turned upside down. They, as adults, didn't know what to do, so how could he possibly know what to do?
They came to an abrupt stop when they saw a walker clawing at a tree. The looked in the tree and could see Carl's sneakers as his feet worked to keep his footing, slightly out of the walker's reach.
"I've got'em," Michonne said as she walked over to the tree. The walker noticed her approaching and turned his attention to her. As soon as she was within distance, she lifted her sword and sliced diagonally through the walker's head, a slight grunt leaving her small frame as she did so.
Rick stood in awe at what he had just witnessed. He had seen her carrying the thing, but he hadn't imagined that she could use it with such grace and power. His eyes stayed on her until she walked closer to the tree and reached up a hand to help Carl down.
Rick ran over, wanting to check his son over for any scratches. Michonne had started the process before he made it over to them.
"I'm fine," Carl said in a voice that let them know that he was quickly becoming exasperated with his impromptu physical exam. Still she turned him and lifted his shirt to check his back.
Rick dropped to his knees and gathered the boy in his arms. "Dad, I'm fine," Carl tried to explain once again, but still hugged his father back.
Rick finally let him go only for him to be met again by Michonne's mostly fearful, yet somewhat scolding tone."You stay close, or next time you stay back at the camp."
"Sorry, Michonne," he said, his eyes turning towards the ground. She just stared at him a second before pulling him into a hug. "Come, here." Rick looked on as he watched the woman hold his son, her eyes closed and a sense of relief and residual fear on her face.
"Be careful, " she told him, as she pulled away and looked him in the eye. "Don't be sorry. I told you, we don't have that leisure anymore."
"I know, I'm sorry," he reiterated, not knowing what else to say.
"It's okay bud," Rick said as he ran a hand through his son's hair. "Just don't let it happen again."
"I won't, Carl reassured them," with a smile. Happy that he wasn't in as much trouble as he could've been in.
"They're getting closer," Michonne said, breaking the silence. "They've never breached the perimeter."
"There's not much of a perimeter to breach," Rick reminded her.
They shared a look, both of them acknowledging that they couldn't stay there much longer.
"We better get back to the camp," he told them. "They're gonna be worried after hearing that gunshot." She nodded and the three of them headed back in the direction of the camp.
A/N: There's the first chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed. Review and let me know.