Carl always hated hospitals. The sounds, the people and most of all the smells. Scurrying through the halls with his mom and Judith a few feet behind him, people flanked every nook and cranny of the space crying and grieving. It was always a myriad of emotions he didn't feel comfortable being subjected to. The last time he was at a hospital for any extended period was for Judith's birth. He had been happy to have a baby sister and thankful for the reprieve of tension that her arrival brought with it. When his mother announced her pregnancy, he was one of several people that were stunned. At that point his parent's relationship was perfunctory at best and he knew how babies were made. After he got over the initial shock, he hoped that the arrival of his sister would change things. And it did, but not enough to save his parent's dying marriage. Judith with her sweet yet overbearing attitude bought a distraction to the household, but only postponed the inevitable.

Carl recalled the relief he felt when they announced their divorce. It was similar to how he felt when he saw them together for Judith's birth and when he went to his dad's apartment for the first time. He loved them both, but they were not good together. The past few weeks reinforced that opinion. He saw the side of Rick that he remembered when he was young and despite his mother's less than upstanding antics surrounding his dad's new relationship; he was happy about Michonne. It would've been all too convenient and cliche for him to hate her and want to be on his mother's side, but after living with his parents, they were better versions of themselves when they weren't together. And that had to mean something.

Yes, it would take his mom some time to get over the relationship with Michonne but hearing that his dad was shot had shaken him to the core. There was no time to deal with the antics of all their post-divorce drama at the moment, even if it was staring right back at him when he opened the hospital room door. Michonne laid in the bed sound asleep embracing his dad. The display wouldn't have bothered him any other time, but with his mom hot on his trail, he only had a small amount of time to cause a diversion. Thankfully, Judith in all her three-year-old drama queen glory gave him just the help he needed.

"Mommy I'm scared," Judith said stopping just short of the door.

Both comforting his sister and trying to get Michonne's attention, Carl made sure to speak loud when he said, "It's going to be okay Jude. Dad's going to be fine. He just has a big bandaid on his shoulder. That's all. He will be throwing you up in the air in no time."

Lori eyed him suspiciously and shushed him for talking so loud. Then she leaned down to talk to her daughter. "Remember what we talked about. There will be some machines that make some noises and he may look a little sick, but he will be just fine."

Judith nodded and Carl hovered in the doorway before walking in a step before his mom and sister. He sighed in relief when Michonne was now sitting in the chair next to the bed trying to look wide awake even though her messy locs sort of gave her away.

"Daddy!" Judith took off running towards the bed, but Carl stopped her. Lori stayed by the door, eyeing Michonne and trying to figure out what had just happened.

"I'm right here sweetheart." Rick tried to clear his throat to get rid of the frog sound. Just as he had done for Michonne, he tapped the space next to him. "I have some room for you right here. You want to come lay with me?"

She shook her head and started around the bed to the other side. "Chonnie!" She squealed, finally noticing Michonne was in the room and ran to give her a hug. "I didn't see you."

"Hey there Judy Cutie." Judith giggled at her special nickname while Michonne held her. Having Lori watch her every move made her self conscious. "Let me help you up." She put the railing down, helping Judith into the spot she was just occupying.

Judith laid down on the pillow next to him, almost knocking out a few wires. Michonne worked beside her organizing all the wires so she would be comfortable.

"Carl." Rick extended his other hand to him. "Come here."

Carl smirked and walked closer. "Don't you think I'm a little old for hugs dad?"

"Not when your old man almost died, now c'mere."

"You almost died? Like went to heaven?" Judith sat up and her lip began to tremble.

Rick cursed himself. He was so busy giving Carl a hard time he forgot that Judith was at the age where she started to understand and question everything. "No honey. I was just joking with your brother."

"Not funny daddy." She crossed her arms and pouted.

"Daddy's sorry." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and pried her arms apart to pull her into a hug. "I just wanted to make a joke because I want him to hug me too. What do you think? Should Carl give me a hug?"

"Yep." Judith got on her knees to reach over to Carl and pull him closer. "Come on family hug, family hug." This was something Rick started the first night the kids stayed at his apartment. They were a different kind of family now and even though Carl thought it was a little annoying at times mostly due to Judy's antics, he appreciated his dad making sure they knew they were loved despite the split.

Rick chuckled as Carl begrudgingly leaned in, mindful of his dad's shoulder. "There you go." When the gun was pointed at him, for a split second he thought he would lose this. The last thing he wanted was to have his kids grow up without a father. And now with them in his arms it brought tears to his eyes. The weight of how close he'd come to losing it all hit him suddenly. He blinked away the tears, but not before Judith noticed.

"Daddy are we hurting you?"

"No baby." He swallowed back the emotion. "I'm just happy to see you."

She nodded and laid back on his chest.

Michonne felt like she was intruding on a family moment, but as long as Lori was there she didn't want to make a move. Her demeanor was stilted, indifferent.. It wasn't lost on her that Judith didn't summon Lori over for the family hug. She knew it was a nightly ritual that Rick developed, but as with everything it seemed, she expected Lori to try to be included. The kids chatted for a bit longer with both women trading awkward stares before Michonne finally bowed out. "I'm gonna head home."

All eyes were on her including Rick who was worried that something was wrong. "I'll be back later, just going to pick up some clothes." Lori groaned under her breath, but she ignored it and said goodbye to Rick and the kids.

Once she made it downstairs, she caught a Lyft to the courthouse to pick up her car. As soon as she got in, she pulled out her phone to call Carol. She answered on the first ring. "Michonne, how's Rick?"

She smiled, happy to see how concerned everyone was. "He's doing fine. Just heading your way to get my car."

"Oh good."

Michonne took a deep breath and swallowed. It was now or never. "Would you happen to still be at the courthouse? I need to talk to you."

Carol paused before answering. "Yes, I'm here. I was about to head out, but I'll wait for you."

Approximately 13 minutes later, Michonne was knocking on Carol's door.

"Come in."

The courthouse was quiet. Carol's office eerily so. When Michonne entered, Carol turned around in her brown leather swivel chair with her hands folded in her lip. Her face indifferent, as it usually was when she had to discuss something difficult that she had to be objective about. It was Carol's "Mary Sue" face as she and Maggie called it. When she could hide from people just how ruthless she could be which served them well in the DA's office. Whenever people accused her, Maggie and Rhonda of misbehaving or breaking rules in the courtroom, Carol would waltz in with her Mary Sue look and no one would be the wiser. They'd ask her to smooth it all out and get her folks in line, not realizing that Carol was the mastermind behind it all. "Got a minute?"

She gave Michonne a thin-lipped smile. "That's why I'm here. Just got off the phone with Hershel."

"He still worried about Rick?"

"He is but not about the gunshot."

Her head tilted to the side, trying unsuccessfully to see where Carol was going with this. "Why else would he be worried?"

Carol stood then, sighing and sitting on the edge of her desk once again crossing her hands in her lap. "Hickman is suing the Sheriff's department and Homicide. Said Abraham and Rick acted inappropriately and tried to beat him up and he shot them in self defense."

Michonne momentarily forgot the real reason she was there. This couldn't be happening. Something like this could ruin Rick. She sat down in the small guest chair in front of Carol, speechless. "You've got to be kidding me. You know he didn't do this."

Carol waved her off. "Of course I know that. But you and I know that's not enough." She paused again, watching Michonne before she delivered the next bit of news. "There's something else."

"Wait." She had to get this out before this conversation took anymore turns. "There's something else I need to tell you."

Carol interrupted her. "Negan is representing Hickman."

Michonne's face fell. God no. This was the last thing Rick needed. Negan and Rick had a run in two years ago. The timing was terrible between Rick's disintegrating marriage and Negan's need to prove himself for his fledgling law firm. Their altercations almost cost Rick his badge and Negan was almost arrested. Negan had it in for Rick for some reason and Rick being Rick was never one to back down. As usual, he wasn't talking much about anything back then but Michonne had to intervene to make sure it didn't cost him his career. "Do I need to even ask why he's taking this case?"

Sighing, Carol folded her arms and looked up at the ceiling. "I think you know why. This thing with him and Rick. I don't get it but he says it's in the interest of justice."

"Bullshit." Michonne was so pissed she had to stand up and pace. Everything was turning into a mess. Between Lori's circus act, possibly changing departments, Rick being hurt and now his career was on the line it was becoming overwhelming. But she was prepared for all of it. Rick wasn't perfect and lord knows he'd made his share of mistakes, but he didn't deserve the way life was suddenly stockpiling on him. "I'm on the case. I'll handle it."

Carol nodded in agreement and smiled. "I was hoping you would say that. I think you really got under Negan's skin last time you two faced off in court and you've got all the reasons in the world to win this one."

They stared each other down for a few seconds with the unspoken confession looming between. Cornered, Michonne looked around everywhere in the office then back at Carol, her hands clutching the back of the chair she was just sitting in. "I need to tell you—"

"You know the funny thing about my job is that you have to walk a fine line." Carol leaned back on the desk and looked around her office the same way Michonne just had. All of her plaques, commendations and pictures of her daughter Sophia lined the wall. She had come a long way to get to this point. Leaving her abusive husband right out of law school had almost cost her a chance at passing the bar. But she did. She made a life and home for her and her daughter and despite the boy's club of Atlanta law and politics, she was elected District Attorney. "It's not easy you know. Doing what's right and knowing what's right is a lot harder than it seems." She walked back to her chair, all the while leaving Michonne confused with her speech. It wasn't odd that she would lecture her, but the timing was uncanny. "I'd like to think over the years we have developed something more than just a boss—subordinate relationship. You, Maggie, Sasha, Rhonda. You're like my own daughters. Even if I don't want to admit I'm that old." The half smile gave Michonne a little relief, but it was evident this was all going somewhere and she was a little nervous, but the other part of her wanted her to just get on with it. And that's when she did. "There are parts of your life I wish you could just openly tell me. I enjoy being one of the girls and having girl talk too. But then there's this thing." She pointed to the plaque presented to her as District Attorney and then looked right at Michonne. "Rick deserves the best person working this case and defending him. That's you. And whoever I assign to represent him can't have any conflicts of interests. As far as I know."

Michonne let out a long breath she didn't realize she was holding. As long as very few people knew about her and Rick, she could handle this case. She could go to the hearings, fight Negan and it would be over. It would only take a couple of weeks at the most. It seemed like a risk and she needed time to think through all of this. If they were discovered, which didn't seem to be hard considering that King County was apparently Mayberry, that could make things worse.

"So." Carol said, leaning forward on her desk. "Is there anything you have to tell me?"

The arch of her eyebrow told Michonne everything she needed to know. Right now wasn't the time to disclose. "Just that I may need the next couple of days off to take care of a friend that was hurt."

Carol smiled again, happy that Michonne picked up what she put down. The conversation would need to happen and she would have to assign someone to the Homicide division, but for right now it could wait. "Not a problem. Maggie's got it covered. Anything else, I'll put Rhonda on."

"Thanks." She turned to leave, mind spinning from all the information that was just dumped in her lap.

"Oh, and Michonne?"

"Yeah."

"This whole thing with Rick should be solved in about a week tops. After that, I expect you back in here. For girl talk, of course."

Michonne forced a tense smile and nodded. "You bet."

With a fresh set of clothes and toiletries for both herself and Rick, Michonne returned to the hospital showered, fed and ready to tell Rick the latest of what was going on. Maybe it made sense to tell him later, but she didn't want any secrets. This was his career, his life, and he needed to hear it from her. Plus, she needed to find out everything that happened before someone from IAB came and questioned him.

She was just turning into the hallway to his room when she heard "Hey Michonne."

"Carl? What are you still doing here?" She checked her watch again to be sure it was the time she thought it was. "It's after 10pm."

"Yeah." He rolled his neck, trying to loosen the kinks from the small uncomfortable chair near the nurse's station. "They told me I could stay the night."

Michonne tried to ignore the dread in the pit of her stomach. If he was there then…

"Don't worry. My mom went home," Carl said reading her mind. "She took Judy home when she fell asleep with dad otherwise she probably would've never gotten her out of here."

Her shoulders slumped with relief and she gave him a small smile. Clearly their tension was more obvious than she realized. "It would've been fine."

Carl shook his head and started walking down the hall with her. "No, it wouldn't have."

Michonne had always enjoyed her easygoing relationship with Rick's son. Comic books and cartoons were among their shared interests and she found him wise beyond his years. It was one thing to worry about Rick who for all intents and purposes could take care of himself, but she tried to keep an eye on Judith and Carl when she could. Paying special attention to them when Rick had them at his house or the station to make sure they were coping ok. She couldn't imagine going through what they were going through between their dad's dangerous job and the divorce. "You know me and your mom have never been the best of friends."

"Especially now," Carl quipped. Upon seeing her surprised face, he said "You do know I know about you and my dad."

"Yeah of course. And it's ok?"

"It's ok. I promise." He had the same shy smile as his dad. "The only thing I'm worried about is my mom and dad getting along. We've been through enough. We don't need anything else. We just need to…heal."

Scratching her head, she walked along with him trying to maintain a neutral expression. While Carl was there, she wouldn't be able to tell Rick about the investigation. Carl would just worry more and she wanted to spare him. "When did you get to be so wise?" She asked trying to bring a little humor to the obvious, awkward situation.

"I'm still trying to figure out where I get it from."

They stopped at a vending machine and he put in his crisp dollar bill. She wasn't carrying any cash, so he split his Big Kat with her. "C'mon you know we always share." She took it from him and they walked slowly back to the room. "This thing with you and my dad. It's going to take my mom some time."

Lori was still his mother so she had to choose her words carefully. "I know. It's a change for everyone. I just want to make sure you know if any of this ever makes you feel uncomfortable you can talk to me. You know that right?" She stopped to make sure she could look in his eyes.

His hair was long and falling in his face, partially obstructing her view. "I know. It's cool."

When they turned the corner and peeked in the room, the nurse was gone and Rick was trying to get out of bed.

"Hey hey," Michonne said as they both rushed to his side. "Take it easy. Did the nurse say you could walk?"

"Yeah," he grunted, trying to cover the back of his gown so Carl couldn't see his bare butt. "She told me it would be good for me to try to move. I just need to go to the bathroom."

Carl put his hands up. "Yeah, you lost me there dad. I'm not helping you take a leak."

Rick laughed through the stiffness in his legs, holding the guardrail on his bed. "Thanks a lot, son. What happened to helping your old man out?"

"I've got it." Michonne let him lean on her as she helped him the few steps to the small bathroom in his room and shut the door behind them. It was the only opportunity she would have away from Carl for the night to talk to him and couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Are you really going to stand there and watch me?" Rick asked her amused. "I feel like we are killing the intimacy in this relationship already."

When she didn't respond, he went to the bathroom, washed his hands and watched her through the mirror. He took a deep breath, throwing the paper towel in the small trash can. "Go ahead and tell me."

Michonne hugged him and whispered in his ear. "You have to promise to keep your voice down."

Rick bit his lip and nodded.

"IAB will be here either tomorrow or the next day, probably. Hickman is claiming that you and Abraham beat him and he shot you both in self defense."

Rick started laughing and Michonne had to shush him.

They heard Carl groan. "You two behave in there."

"We are behaving," Rick answered. "Michonne." He took her hands in his one uninjured one. "I don't want you to worry about any of this. This is just some red tape. The man's an ass. I expected him to try something."

Rick tried to maneuver around her but she stopped him. "There's something else."

"What?"

She sighed and put her arms around him to balance him. "Negan is his new lawyer."

His body went stiff, his skin flushing. "That son of a bitch."

"Rick." Holding his hand, she remained calm and even. "Carol wants me to take the case. I'm going to do it. Which means we have to keep things quiet for a little while longer."

His jaw flexed, his teeth grinding with restraint. Carl was on the other side of the door and he didn't want him to be alarmed. The nurse was already doing them a favor by letting them both stay. "I don't know. Let me think about it."

That was a surprise. She expected him to be all in for her defense of him. When he saw her perplexed look, he explained. "It's not that I don't want you to. Believe me. I know you're the best but this guy is a snake." That was putting it mildly. There were much harsher words to describe him. "He will find out. Use it. I don't want any of this to jeopardize you in the long run."

"But Rick-"

He kissed her. Chaste but firm. And leaned his forehead against hers. "Let me think through it. Ok? We'll talk about it in the morning when Carl's gone."

She agreed and kissed him again, balancing him against her body to walk to the bed. "Ok."

For the rest of the evening they played cards, laughed and watched Rick's shitty hospital TV. While Carl and Michonne started debating the characters in one of the comics, Rick was grateful for the reprieve. He feigned exhaustion from his pain pills, but he was really plotting his next move. Negan was a sociopath even on his best day. Could he risk their relationship being uncovered for the sake of his defense?

If there was anyone who knew how Negan operated, it was him. He hit below the belt and had used Rick's personal life against him before. Not this time. With Michonne he didn't want to take any chances, and he certainly wasn't going to prolong anything. In the morning, he would reach out to IAB and volunteer himself for questioning as soon as possible. If Negan wanted this fight, then he would get it.

A/N: Oh Negan. Theres a story there and it will unfold over the next chapter or two. Don't worry, this fic is not turning into all serious and cop stuff. Why do you think Negan has it in for Rick? Would love to hear your theories in a review :)