Chapter 1:

"You enjoying yourself Cha-Cha?"

Michonne spun around on her tiptoes in the soft sand, the gentle ocean breeze tickling her bare chest. The skirt she wore flew up around her hips, exposing her blue and white frilly underwear. She felt as light as a feather, almost as if she was floating in the bruised sky, the countless bangles on her wrists making a gentle chimes as she moved.

Rick sat back on the sand watching her with red, hooded eyes, taking a swig of his bear. His denim cut offs were soaked from the water, and he had lost his shirt earlier in the night, but he was to inebriated to care. His hair was stuck to his head, droplets still clung to his face.

Michonne stopped spinning, and fell to the sand in a fit of giggles. She crawled over to Rick, her eyes glistening from the early evening sunset.

"I'm dizzy…", She straddled him, sitting on his lap.

"You should be. You've been spinning around for a while now", He smirked, resting his free hand on her waist.

"Am I meant to feel like this?"

He squinted as he thought about it, "Do you feel good?"

She nodded, "I do"

"Then yeah… you are"

She looked back at the large body of water coming towards them and sighed, "I don't want to leave…"

"We can stay. You know we can"

She turned back to him, shaking her head.

His lips pursed, in a way he often did when he was trying to hold back his words. She didn't want the mood to sour, so she cupped his face with both hands, "We'll do this again"

His gaze sailed off behind her, "Yeah..."

Fireworks popped off further down the beach, causing her to flinch as she looked towards them. They reminded her of the ones Rick had often set off with his friends in their hometown. She began to smile, her eyes following the multi-coloured explosions.

"Michonne..."

Her eyes crept back down to Rick and her hands fell from his face. She rested them on the sand and pushed herself up to stand. She turned away from him, strolling back to the waves.

…

Michonne watched Rick in the side view mirror. He was standing towards the end of his vehicle, smoking, watching the cars fly past on the highway. While he didn't usually smoke more than five or six cigarettes a day, trying to get him to give up was proving difficult. His expression wasn't a friendly one, she could easily tell that something was bothering him, but she wasn't in the mood to probe.

"You want anythan' from that store?"

She poked her head out of the open window, peering back at him, "No. You can go get something though… I'll wait here"

He gave a half-hearted shrug, "Nah"

He threw the remains of his smoke away and walked back around to the driver's seat, "Put her in the back"

"No.", Michonne held Rocky close to her chest, "She likes it up here"

He snorted as he started the car, "Hotel?"

She nodded, her newly locked her bouncing on her shoulders. After seeing a woman at a festival with the hairstyle, Michonne was hell bent on having it done on her own hair, and so they drove around until they found a hairstylist able to do it.

They joined the other cars on the long stretch of road heading back into Atlanta, both feeling a little anxious about returning home to Kings County. Their weeks of self-imposed exile had been a mostly magical one, and Michonne wished it didn't have to end, but she still had college to think about, and Rick was due to start his training at the police academy soon.

A majority of their journey was spent in silence, and it was something that was happening more regularly than she would like to admit. It wasn't a comfortable silence, she knew the difference between the two. He was sighing more, slamming his car door or glove compartment when there was no need. The softness which he had often spoke to her with was only used in the mornings, when they just woke up. By afternoon his dry monotone returned.

Michonne wasn't sure how she felt about his attitude. While she wished he would lighten up, she didn't think it was entirely misplaced.

"Where's my card?"

She snapped out of her thoughts to look at him, "What?"

"My card, where is it?", He repeated a little more slowly.

She narrowed her eyes as she quickly peered around the car, "I haven't had it? Where did you last have it?"

He ignored her, sitting back and patting his jean pockets, before leaning across the car to open the glove compartment. The bank card was sat right in plain view, and he snatched it from its hiding place, then slamming the compartment closed.

Michonne huffed, rolling her eyes to the passenger window again, continuing to stroke Rocky behind her ear.

"They probably won't take cats"

Her brow began to furrow, "The motel we stayed in before didn't mind. We can go there"

He muttered something unintelligible under his breath as he began driving again. She was tempted to sneak a look at him but chose not to, knowing he was slipping further and further into his dark mood.

Her phone vibrated in her lap, causing Rocky to jump up from her relaxed position. Michonne smiled at the screen when she saw it was Sasha calling, "Hey!"

"Hey! Where are you? Are you back yet?", Sasha questioned excitedly.

"Nearly, we're looking for somewhere to sleep for the night, we're in Atlanta though-"

Sasha squealed, "Oh my god! I can't wait to see you! I have so much to tell you! And I want you to tell me everything!"

"I can't wait to see you too. I'll pass by as soon as we get back"

"Yes! Okay, I gotta go, I have to help with dinner-"

"Alright, go on, bye!"

"Bye!"

Michonne hung up, feeling excited about the prospect of seeing her friends again. She only spoke to them a handful of times in their weeks away, and usually it was only for short bursts at a time, so she didn't get the chance to really catch up with them, or inform them of their travels.

"Sasha?"

She glanced over at Rick, a ghost of a smile still lingering on her face, "Yeah."

"You're already planning to get away from me then?"

Her face fell into a blank expression, "We just spent every waking moment with each other-"

"You always say it like it was a bad thang", He countered, his brow beginning to furrow.

"I don't say it like it's a bad thing, I say it as a reminder. Day after day, and night after night-"

"Not every night".

Her eyes snapped shut, and she turned to face the window, "I'm done talking to you"

He sniggered, "Yeah. What's new?"

"I mean it, Rick", She snapped, "Just leave me alone"

He had reached the pit of his bad mood, and she sat back in her seat, her hand slipping back to Rocky's neck. Her gaze found the window again that's where it stayed for the remainder of their ride.

The motel they had stayed in when they first left town was a nice one, small but very clean, with a contemporary design. When she thought back to that first night, she was so excited to leave with him, and this time around she was excited to return home with him.

Rick went to the office to arrange their stay, while she leant against the bonnet of his car, with Rocky in her arms. Her once white converse were now grey, and the oversized blue plaid shirt was washed out. She still had silver temporary tattoos on her arms and legs, and her hair still had glitter in it from the night before.

Rick appeared, swinging the room key in his hand. He had started a love affair with trucker hats while they were on the road, and the only time he was without one was when he was sleeping. He wore it backwards that evening, along with his denim cut offs that he'd near enough lived in, and his favourite black timberland boots. Michonne eyed him, having noticed a change in his demeanour; he was appearing older. His birthday was approaching, but he looked as if he was stepping into his early twenties, and not nineteen.

She was sure that's what attracted older women to him. She witnessed it on a daily basis; their eyes would light up when he walked into a room, and when he flashed that devilish grin of his, Michonne was sure she could hear every red blooded woman's heart sigh. The only thing she could appreciate was that he wasn't arrogant about it, but she had seen how easy it was for him to have the pick of the girls before, and the thought often stayed with her.

Their room was only two doors away from where he parked, and she followed behind him to put Rocky down.

"You wanna eat first?"

Michonne shrugged, turning to face him, "I don't mind. You?"

His eyes were roaming the room, "We'll bring a few thangs in from the car then…"

She didn't say anything else, instead she made her way back to the car to grab Rocky's things as well as one of their bags that held clean clothes. They had stopped at a drive through before arriving at the motel, and she was glad for it, as she was well and truly hungry by the late evening.

They ate in silence, watching any cartoon that came on the television, both with their backs against the headboards. As soon as Rick finished, he got up and went outside, going to smoke another cigarette. It was his seventh one that day, and it made Michonne wonder if it would be the last one.

She threw away their food containers and went to take a shower, expecting to see Rick back in the room when she was done, but he wasn't. She dried herself, pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of his black socks before poking her head out the door to see if he was nearby.

The parking lot was near enough empty, and besides the sound of passing cars, it was quiet. She leaned against the door frame, gazing around until she saw him, walking towards her from across the lot. He had a brown bag in his hand, and he threw the cigarette away from him before he reached the door.

He handed her the bag as he stepped past her, and she closed the door with her foot before looking inside.

"A doughnut, a snow globe and…more cigarettes?", She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"And a keychain with your name on it", He informed, kicking his boots off.

"My name? It says Michonne?"

"Yeah. First time I've seen that, so I got it"

She smirked, reaching in the bag to retrieve it, "I've never seen my name of one of those things"

"I thought you'd like the snow globe".

She slipped the key chain on her finger, and took out the snow globe, which had a tiny model city in the middle of it, making her smile, "I love it"

He laid back on the bed, watching her marvel at the new souvenir, "Thought so"

She joined him, much to Rocky's annoyance, as she was just falling asleep, "I bet Shane will be happy to see you…"

He almost smiled, "Maybe…"

"No. Not maybe. You know he will. They all will"

His gaze rolled up to the ceiling as he huffed, "Yeah."

Her eyes fell to his new tattoo of an eagle on his chest, "That's healing up well"

"It itches".

"Well you can't itch it. Put that ointment thing they gave you on it"

"Later, come lay with me".

She hesitated, not entirely sure why, but she crawled over beside him, laying her head on his shoulder, and wresting her leg on his. He smelt of Right Guard, with the faint smell of cigarette smoke. She could feel his heartbeat against the palm of her hand, and she watched his chest slowly rise and fall.

"Do you love me Cha-cha?"

A shy smile began to tug on her lips, "No. In fact I'm pretty sick of you now-"

He rolled his eyes as he started to tickle her, "You and your jokes-"

She squealed as she tried to break free from his vice like grip, "Fine! Fine! I love you!"

He relented, pulling her on top of him, finally giving her a smile that day, "I love you too"

She exhaled tiredly, tucking her locks behind her ears, "I really like the snow globe"

"The doughnuts mine"

"We can share it-"

"It's not sharing when you just lick the sugar off the top and suck all the jam out the middle", He frowned at her, his hands resting on either side of her hips.

"Who are you? The doughnut police?"

He chuckled, "Remember when I brought all those doughnuts home from the county fair and we had that contest?"

"I threw up", She responded dryly.

"You only had about seven or eight-"

"I had ten-"

"You did not have ten because I had about eleven or twelve, and I was still eating when you was getting ready to hurl everywhere-"

"Well it felt like I had ten"

"Daryl helped me steal a tray full. Glenn was pretending to choke and Shane was giving him the Heimlich manoeuvre and I remember he almost broke Glenn's ribs"

Michonne watched him chortle evilly at the memory. It was one of the increasingly infrequent moments that she genuinely believed that things between them were just like how they used to be, "The good ol' days, huh? You can't do anything like that again now you're at the academy-"

"I can still have fun… just not illegal fun", He shrugged, "You'd be surprised to learn what's not illegal though"

She laid her head down beside his, "Go on, tell me"

"Well first off…"

…

Rick's parents' home smelt exactly the same as they walked in, but it didn't look the same, from what she could see. There were brown boxes piled up in every direction, blocking most of the entrance and filling the living area.

"What the hell-"

"Rick?! Is that you?!"

"Yeah!", Rick huffed, climbing over a box and dropping their bags, before turning to help Michonne over.

His mother came barrelling down the stairs, and both of the teens froze when they saw her, "Hey! I thought you'd be back later! Come and give me a hug!"

Michonne nearly squinted at the woman as she put Rocky on the ground, trying to see if she could find any remaining trace of Rick's mother under her make up. She was slimmer, and her hair was a platinum blonde, and flowing past her shoulders. She usually wore pantsuits, or floral shirts with beige pants, but that day she chose to wear light blue, high waist jeans with a black tank top tucked in.

"Who are you?", Rick frowned, looking her from head to toe before she hugged him, "What did you do to your hair?"

"Don't you like it?", His mother pulled back to look at him, smoothing her hair down with her hand, "I wanted something different, and the lady in the salon called these 'extensions'! Their attached to my actual hair!"

His mother span around, slapping Rick in the face with her new hairstyle. Michonne tried her best to give a warm smile but she didn't know how to react to what was happening before her.

"Come and give me a hug, you!", Eileen grinned, holding her arms out to Michonne, "I've missed you both around here so much, I can't believe that you just-"

"Are they here, honey?!", a male voice called from the back of the house.

"They are!", Eileen called back, squeezing Michonne in a bear hug.

"Who the hell is that?", Rick questioned, his brow falling to a straight line.

"Oh, I want you both to meet someone- Ezzie! Come out here!"

"Ezzie?", Rick repeated with a disgusted expression.

A tall dark male appeared from the kitchen, with long grey dreads, pulled back in a low pony tail. He wore a black shirt and black pants, and he was very handsome, though Michonne couldn't admit such a thing out loud.

"This is Ezekiel. Ezekiel, this is my son, Rick and his girlfriend, Michonne", Eileen introduced with and large smile.

"It's great to finally meet you!", Ezekiel held out his hand.

Rick's eyes fell to the man's limb, "Who are you, exactly?"

Ezekiel didn't miss a beat, "Your mother and I have been dating for a while now-"

"We've been gone for about a month, so how long is a while?"

Ezekiel and Eileen glanced at each other, giggling, before the man answered, "About that"

Rick's eyes darted up and down the man, before he finally shook his hand, for barely even a second.

"And Michonne, is it?"

"Yep", She nodded, shaking his hand more politely, "Nice to meet you"

"You too-"

"What's with all the boxes?", Rick quizzed, tipping his head towards the living room.

"Oh. Your father is coming to pick his things up…", Eileen explained, straightening her posture, "It's stuff from the attic and the garage too…"

He rolled his eyes, "Right. Well, this is weird, so we're going to go put our stuff away. Don't tell Frank we're back."

"Oh, yes, go on. I'm going to get dinner started", His mother waved a dismissive hand at them as she turned to face Ezekiel, "We have a lot to catch up on!"

Michonne sheepishly followed behind Rick, keeping her head down when she noticed Ezekiel was nuzzling his face in Eileen's neck. It was a sweet display, though hard to swallow at first glance, as his mother seemed to have had a complete personality transplant. She could tell Rick was not happy about the changes that had accrued in their absence, and while he was only a little rude in front of his mother's new boyfriend, she knew he had way more in store for the new man.

"He seems nice", Michonne offered as she sat on Rick's bed.

"We don't know who he is yet. Frank seemed nice, turns out he was fucking the principle-"

"Rick.", She nearly shuddered at the visual that dared to flash in her mind, "Your mom seems happy, just look at her-"

"I wish I could! I don't even know where the hell she is! That lady down stairs ain't her!", He protested, kicking his boots across the room, "He better not be staying over here-"

"If he is, then you talk to your mom about it. Calmly. Just ask her how she feels about him and what he does-"

"He looks old enough to have kids. He's probably divorced or on his way to getting one as well. His was wearing a Rolex so he probably has money too, maybe owns his own business or somethan'... and he looked me dead in the eye down there, so he probably approached my mom first"

Michonne squinted at him, "You got all that from seeing him for two minutes?"

Rick shrugged, sitting on his chair at his desk, "Wild guess, but I could be wrong. He could be a criminal mastermind. He could have no kids, no ex-wife and no job, and he stole that watch and he's planning on robbing my mom blind"

She stared at him for a few moments, "Your first guess seems more realistic"

"How do you know that though? What gave you that impression?", He sat forward as he interrogated her.

Her gaze trailed around his room as she thought, "I don't know. He has kind eyes"

Rick's face pinched in confusion, "Kind eyes?"

"His eyes. They were… friendly. I don't know. He just seemed genuine. I don't know, I could be wrong…", She sighed, "Give him a chance"

"I'm giving him a chance to explain himself at dinner, if he's staying till then. If I don't like him then he's gone"

Michonne could tell by the way his eyes focused on something on the other side of the room that he had already made up his mind. She could easily counter his argument, but sadly, she had no energy left to battle with him, and she had a new way of letting him know this, by lying back on his bed, and drifting off to sleep for a quick nap, without another word.