Thank you for all the reviews, everybody! Of course, some will find Rick nice, he can be, and some find him ravening, he's that too. It's part of the power dynamic, you see? IMO anyway.

There are some adult situations in this chapter. Including a bit with Rick and Lori.

Special Occasions

Michonne wasn't sure what she expected the first time. She always listened to her friends' stories of fun nights and pleasure. But they never shared much about their first. Sasha did tell her it wasn't what everyone hyped it up to be. The first time lasts a total of 5 minutes with some guy who would awkwardly clean up his mess.

But this night, into the early morning of her birthday, is filled with Rick's lips against hers and the night lasts longer than what she was told.

Michonne didn't know that sex included the moments before. Moments where Rick kissed her and languidly touched every part of her as if it was his first time too.

Michonne didn't know someone could look at her so earnestly. Never losing eye contact while his fingers were inside of her. That a look could be part of what makes her feel alive.

Rick watched every second she would come undone as if he experienced what she was feeling too. He's controlled when he's watching her come apart from his hands, his body still. But his eyes tell a different story. A story of restraint.

Michonne just wanted the first time to be over and done with. She didn't believe in saving herself until marriage. It's better that she could just prove there was no hell she'd burn in should she commit such a sin.

An experiment she told herself. She was tired of hearing that her virginity was some golden ticket she should carry with pride. It was a silly notion.

That motivation to prove it was a foolish concept, brought Michonne to invite Rick into the house after she put Maggie on the sofa. At first, Michonne changed her mind, she wanted to just call it night. Let this married man she met a few hours ago go home and figure out his life.

"Michonne." Maggie slurred as she grabbed her friend's hand. "Don't be such a chicken. Invite him in for coffee."

"Just say that?"

"Duh." Maggie smiled and closed her eyes, settling into the couch. "He'll get the hint."

Rick was still at the door about to turn away when Michonne invited him in with the exact words Maggie suggested. He stopped and his eyes traveled along her face, considering her before he gave a short nod and followed her into the home.

They had more talks that night and the conversation flowed easily. She felt a lot safer than Rick when initiated the call to his friend's home so she could speak on the phone to Sasha. Reassuring this was safe, he was safe.

A part of her imagined she could talk to him for hours, that same attraction she felt at the bar. She hung on to his every word, every look he gave her made her want just a little more.

Her first time started with attempts to start the fancy coffee maker. But it became insignificant when she felt Rick's light touch along her elbow and he turned her around to press his mouth against hers, the kiss was gentle.

Now they were in each other's arms, in one of Sasha's guest bedrooms upstairs. When he entered her for the first time he stayed completely still.

Rick is patient, she noticed, even when she heard the lust in his voice as he asked her if she was okay.

Michonne's first time lasts long into the morning, and through it, he communicates with her. He would always ask her if she's sure, and reassure her she could tell him to stop and he would. But there's no way she could even think about telling him no when he knows how to use his mouth and hands.

They found a rhythm that could seem lazy to a watchful eye, and she didn't feel that same eruption as she did earlier. But she could see how it could lead to that, how this rhythm inside her could create just the very beginning of the fun her friends bragged about.

Michonne watched Rick's face above her, his eyes closed, face contorted in pleasure.

Since her pain disappeared and it was just a bit of discomfort he moved a bit faster. Rick pressed against her, held her hips, and a few of his thrusts turned into fast jerks almost clumsily as his body shook on top of her. Rick stilled suddenly and collapsed against her while he caught his breath. When he calmed down he kissed her lips, her nose, and forehead.

The after. It seemed much more intimate to Michonne, she felt herself relaxing in his arms, her fingers treading along his back as he was still planted inside of her. Before she got too comfortable with this feeling, she had to remind herself this was nothing more than an experiment on her to-do list.

She watched as Rick moved away from her, back turned as he took off the condom and threw it in the waste bend by the bed he stood and walked to the bathroom. Minutes later she heard the shower running and was tempted to join him. But she lay back on the bed, eyes glued to the ceiling.

Nothing more. She told herself.

Rick pressed the doorbell of Sasha William's front door again.

This was his third time this week.

About four weeks have passed since he last saw Michonne.

This time of year, knowing Michonne's kind of social circle. They would spend the summer anywhere outside of this town.

But that's the thing. he didn't know her at all. At least that's what his brain nagged him about. But he could know her if she wanted to. He should have said something that morning.

But right after, he realized this was different, and it made him close up, and as he showered he thought about the act he just committed with this young girl. Tried to think about Lori and remind himself how much she meant to him.

But all he could think about is how he still wanted to spend time with Michonne. Rick remembered her rejection after he invited her to a Rodeo show that night.

"Look, Rick. You're nice and this was fun. But we don't have to make this a thing." Michonne said, face carefully blank as she was dressed in her preppy outfit and pearl earrings. No longer the uninhibited, passionate girl he met the night before. She was controlled, pristine before him.

He rang Sasha's doorbell one more time, hoping she could answer and give him Michonne's address. The horn of Shane's car honked, this time Rick turned and could see Shane staring back at him, eyebrow arched, tapping his fingers on his steering wheel.

Rick finally made it back to the car and Shane started speeding on the road away from Sasha's home.

"Told you Sasha wouldn't be there. Most people on this side of town are over at their Miami Beach fronts and country clubs by now."

"Yeah, yeah." Rick replied, "You couldn't get her friend's number?'

Shane scoffed, "Getting her number? Man, that gives them mixed signals. She's 18. what the hell was I gonna do, take her out to dinner, marry her in a few months?"

There was silence and Shane laughed.

"Don't tell me you're expecting it from this chick?"

"I didn't say that." Rick replied, "But Michonne, she's different. "

There was a pause between them, Rick knew Shane, he was itching to say something.

"Brother, what the hell are you doin'?" Shane turned and headed back to their side of town, the windows down, bringing a breeze to the warmth that afternoon.

"That night was supposed to be you getting your rocks off after everything that happened with Lori."

Rick looked ahead saying nothing as Shane scolded his actions. He knew more than anyone what that night should have been. He should have found a girl, slept with her, and never called or saw her again, doing it that same way over and over until the pain with Lori became a distant memory.

But then he met Michonne and she wasn't what he expected.

It was just one look, the moment he laid eyes on her. He didn't believe in love at first sight, but damn he was close.

It's not like he wasn't a first for a girl before. It was a common thing back in King County high, a group of girls drawn to him or Shane, the popular boys at the school. The ones Rick was intimate with in the past, they dated, though briefly. He got to know them before committing to the act itself. This one time he decided he was going to be like Shane.

Rick was going to meet some girl, use her for the night, then leave, and never hear from her again.

But he didn't expect Michonne's first time to be his too. The first time where he felt so consumed by a woman. It was the first taste of something he couldn't get enough of. He can't remember it being feeling that way with Lori. Where he could come close to being undone just by touching her, giving her pleasure.

Losing control.

With Lori, it was always just a sweet familiar love. It wasn't love at first sight, but they built their relationship through mutual friends and commonalities that helped the courting stage.

No. What the hell was he thinking? He couldn't compare love so soon.

And he loved Lori. He had to make that work he told himself, over and over again.

The plan before he met Michonne, was to be patient with Lori while she moved back in with her parents, while she figured out what she wanted. Maybe she'd realize she wanted him and she wanted to make it work.

"I'm not sure what I'm thinking, I just want to know her, is all," Rick said as Shane pulled into a diner. Shane turned off the car but leaned back in his seat, considering Rick's words.

"You know what you need? A hobby man, go to that new shooting range out in Fayetteville, hell, pick up golfing or some shit." Shane looked at Rick "This is pure masochism. You're so used to the pain from your mom, you gotta find someone to replay that shit."

"You learn that from your psych 101, Shane?"

Shane scoffed and opened his car door, "Just observation, my friend. This girl, she's got a different path, get off it."

But Michonne. This was the passion he's heard about. The passion that made someone do something that wasn't their usual. The passion could be addicting.

The passion that has him trying to find her for the last three weeks.

Rick knows graduation happened this morning for Sacred Heart high school.

The last four weeks her side of town hasn't seen much of her these days. Rick doesn't ask too many people, he doesn't want them to judge what's he's doing outside of trying to get back his wife.

Rick is so distracted with finding Michonne he forgets his 3rd anniversary. His forgetfulness has his estranged wife knocking at the door.

When he opens it he takes Lori in, her lips pursed and the smell of beer on her breath. She has on a baby blue dress that flows on her frame that he's sure it's taken her a bit of effort to dress in. But she would make those efforts for other men, never for him. Never. But it was a special occasion. Maybe she wanted to show she could.

"You didn't pick up the phone, baby." Her voice sounds broken, unshed tears in her eyes looking at him like it's almost his fault.

He blames himself almost every day. She barged into the house and walked through it.

"You're moving?" She asked sadly, she was in front of stacked boxes, swaying lightly.

Of course, he's moving. They purchased this home a year ago, with 4 beds and a dining room, a nice size backyard that was supposed to have toys all over the backyard, and a tree swing he would build for their kids.

"What are you doing here, Lori?" Rick closed the door and followed her a few feet away as she walked into the home, her fingers tread along the pictures on the table and walls.

Lori halted, turned around, and leaned against the hallway wall. "Here to get my husband back" she declared, turning and staring at him with her dark eyes.

"You drove here?" He turned away and walked back to the door. Stood by it and hope she would realize this was a mistake. She didn't answer, only followed him and stood across from him.

" Could have killed someone, you could have been pulled over." Rick shamed her, but this was what he wanted, he wanted her at his door. Begging. But now that she's here, the want seems like a stranger. A cold taste of reality.

"Shane told me you were here. Sulking" She said softly as Lori followed him to the door. She sat on the staircase and Rick stilled and stared at the black and white tile she chose.

"You never talk, Rick, about us. Maybe if we talked then…" She started softly,

"Then what?" He asked with gritted teeth.

God. He couldn't even look at her, couldn't be in the same room as her without the instinct in his gut telling him to react, to scream at her, scream obscenities.

But he always held back, always stopped himself when he saw the fear in Lori's eyes. She always begged for his reaction but deep down Lori didn't want to face that part of him. Lori always steeled herself in their marriage, he realized.

She would entice for a reaction on his part then prepare herself for the punishment. It was a dance they did for two tiring years.

"Then maybe.." She continued as she stood up and walked over to her husband, grabbed his face so she could get him to look at her.

" Then maybe I wouldn't run. Baby, what I did, wasn't you. It was me. I know that now."

"That's great, Lori, that you had that realization. Now what?"

"We make it work.." Lori suggested, "We try."

"Didn't I, try? Didn't I try with the first guy?"

Did she not expect this part of the conversation to come up? She couldn't have expected it, because her eyes widened, mouth agape as she searched for words, and stepped back, "Rick-"

"Oh, maybe I should try with the second one. It might be different since he was just some stranger-" In the last part he raised his voice, thinking of that night when he watched her in her car with some bartender over at Peachtree city.

There was a time where he followed her, obsessed to catch her in the act.

"Please, baby, don't do this." She begged and moved closer to him. Rick tried to move away as she placed her lips placed against his neck.

Rick can't respond. He tells himself not to because she'll brace herself.

But it takes him a minute before he has Lori against the wall, her back to his chest.

He unbuttoned and pulled himself out, he reached under her dress and quickly dragged her panties to her mid-thighs. She whimpered when he was inside of her.

He found thrusts that were rough and punishing, his hand against her throat.

Rick's other hand grasped her breast. She does not say no. Instead, she moaned, and his name came from her mouth in a repeated prayer. He wondered just for a second if Michonne would sound the same way.

He doesn't care if Lori feels pleasure or not, doesn't care if she's trying to chase her release as she thrusts her hips back with the little space he's given her.

He comes with a sharp cry. Hips locked against hers as he caught his breath.

Rick twisted away and buttoned himself back up.

He could feel her eyes on his back.

When he acknowledged her, the only evidence of his action moments before is the sheer hurt on her face. Her cheeks were wet from tears.

Lori opened the door and clumsily walked out. The front door slammed. He could hear her start her car a few minutes later. Rick can't bring himself to be concerned with whether or not he should drive her home, or get her to stay so he could try to fix it.

He's tried enough.

This story is all types of messy. The first chapter is time moved forward and we see Shane encouraging this union between Rick and Michonne. You'll see what's changed as time goes on. If you're into it, stay tuned, leave a review if you can, or follow. Thanks for the support.