Chapter 22

"Guess what I was able to pick up." Michonne walked over to her bag hanging on the hook by the door and pulled out the comic book she found yesterday at lunch.

"What's that?" Carl stopped making his sandwich, her excitement making him more curious.

She handed him the comic book and beamed at the smile across his face. "This is a collector's edition." Luckily Carl's teenage years so far hadn't been too angsty.

"Cool, thanks. I can't wait to show Ron."

"Ron? You two cool again?" She'd heard that their friendship was a little strained because of Ron's crush on Enid.

Carl shrugged in his usual nonchalant way. "Yeah, we're cool. He got a girlfriend so I guess he let it go." Teenagers. Life was easier for them even when they didn't think so. A simple rivalry resolved that quickly.

"You and Enid still doing okay?" Her and Carl rarely got time alone because whenever Judith was around she tended to dominate the space. Carl didn't seem to mind. With Rick out with his new partner Tyreese, this was the perfect time to catch up.

Carl picked up his sandwich and took a bite. "We're fine. We're probably gonna catch a movie later."

Michonne took the ingredients left on the counter and started to make her sandwich too and passed him the chips. It was a quiet Saturday afternoon and she was enjoying lazying around. "Is she gonna meet you here? I would love to meet her."

Carl stopped midchew. "Oh no. This isn't some parent interrogation thing is it? You sound like dad."

She didn't have a chance to absorb the fact that he viewed her as a parent before he kept talking. "You're not going to give me a sex talk too are you?"

Michonne laughed, putting her sandwich on a plate and faced him. "No definitely not but—"

Carl groaned. She continued. "Just make sure if anything happens that you guys are safe."

"Geez." He sat in one of the barstools and took another bite of his sandwich. "Like I told dad nothing is happening."

Michonne put her hands up in surrender. She definitely didn't want to make him uncomfortable or overstep.

"But I promise if something happened I would be safe. Ok?"

He sounded a little more amused than annoyed so she gave him a nod and kept eating. The two of them shared the chips and settled into a comfortable silence before he chuckled to himself. "You know it's pretty rich that you and dad are having the talk with me. If theres anyone that's going to be pregnant around here, it's you."

Michonne choked and Carl patted her on the back. Drinking her water, she was able to get hold of herself. "Trust me nobody is getting pregnant anytime soon."

"Tell that to these thin bedroom walls," he said smirking.

She went white as a ghost. She was going to die, literally die. He'd heard them? Dammit she was going to kill Rick . They needed to be more careful. "You heard us?"

Carl smirked. "Thank god for noise cancellation headphones."

Yeah, she was going to die. It was solved. When the kids were there, no more sex. Obviously being quiet was not really much of an option. "Carl, I'm—"

"It's okay," he said cutting her off. "I'm just glad dad is happy, as much as the thought of my dad's sex life grosses me out."

This was definitely not how she pictured this conversation going. The tables had been effectively turned on her. Maybe Carl also had a bright future as an attorney ahead of him. "Thank you for being okay with all this."

"With you and my dad keeping me up at night?"

She stilled, fully moritifed.

"I'm just joking I swear." He bent over laughing, holding his stomach and after a moment she joined in. He had her going there for a second. "But seriously if you were to get pregnant that wouldn't be a bad idea. Just so you know."

For goodness sakes, where did all of this come from? Of course she wanted to have kids down the line but she didn't know Carl was already keeping tabs on her uterus. First Maggie and now him. Her and Rick hadn't really discussed it yet, at least not in detail. She hated that a part of her wondered if there was some discussion of it with Lori. Although she had been fairly neutral so far, there was always the concern that at any moment the other shoe would drop. If there was any talk of babies around her, the shoe wouldn't just drop but make a loud bang. "You're way ahead of us. Plus there needs to be a marriage before babies."

Carl shrugged, taking the last bite of his food and going into the kitchen to throw it away. "Not necessarily. Not in this day and age but either way I figured you guys would be getting married pretty soon anyway."

Damn, who had he been talking to? Had Rick said something?

"Your approval means a lot to me. It really does." And that was the truth. There wasn't one step in this relationship that she felt comfortable taking if it meant the kids were on board. They were Rick's world and by proxy had become hers too. Despite the Lori drama, they had adjusted well.

"I'm hungry." They both turned to see Judith in the hallway holding her blanket with her thumb in her mouth. "Can I have a sandwich too?"

Michonne picked her up, rubbing her mess of curls. "Of course you can sweetheart. Do you want ham or turkey?"

"Both," she said emphatically. "And can I have some chips too?"

"Of course. How about you sit here," she sat her on the barstool. "While I make it for you."

"Okay."

Judith and Carl chatted while she fixed her lunch, cutting the sandwich into triangles just how Judith liked it and fixing her favorite apple juice. She'd learned more about their likes and dislikes in the past month than she knew over the years. Some things she just noticed and others Judith made sure to let her know when there was something particular she liked. They ate their lunch while Judith spent the time telling them all about her dream of a unicorn chasing her. Carl went back and forth between texting who she presumed was Enid and indulging his sister's over the top story.

"And can I have some cookies too? Pleaseeee I finished all my food. See." Judith held up her plate. If there was one thing she didn't have to worry about was Judith finishing her food unless there were vegetables on the plate.

"Yes you can have some cookies," she said pulling the box down from the counter. "If you eat two carrots."

Judith's smile dropped into a frown. "Oh no. Carrots are gross."

"They're good for you."

"But they taste bad," Judith countered.

Michonne stood firm. "Carrots for cookies Judith Marie. Is it a deal?"

Judith pouted while Michonne laughed at her flair for the dramatics. "Okkk," she whined. Michonne put the carrots in front of her and with each bite Judith looked like she was chewing glass.

Carl shook his head and mouthed to Michonne, "Just wait until you have one." Then he took off for his bedroom. Watching Judith with her blonde curls and spunky attitude she couldn't help but think about a mix of her and Rick. What would he or she be like? What would he or she look like? Would the baby have his curls and her attitude? There's one thing for sure the baby would definitely be stubborn. That mixed with Judith's dramatics meant it would be a lively household for sure. Thank goodness Carl was pretty mellow. Gosh, what was she doing? She was getting far too ahead of herself. There would have to be a lot of conversations and changes made before they could have a baby. Her schedule was a mess with work and he was just starting a new job and there was still that pesky thing about getting married. She wanted that first even though she didnt doubt his committment to her for a second.

"All done," Judith announced breaking her reverie. "I'm ready for my cookies."

She was precocious but she was so cute. "Here's your cookies sweetie."

"Thank you."

Carl was right. She really couldn't wait for the day she had a baby.

"Daddy what does pregant mean?"

Rick paused for a second while putting on Judith's slippers. What the hell? Where had she gotten that? His eyes flashed to the kitchen where Carl and Michonne were putting the finishing touches on the salad and apparently hadn't heard the question. "Do you mean pregnant?"

She nodded, putting her foot in the other bunny slipper. "Yeah that's what I said. Pregant."

He didn't bother to correct her again but was instead focused on where she heard it. "Where did you hear that word?"

"What word?" Michonne asked placing the salad bowl on the table. "Come on, everything's ready."

They settled around the dining room table that Rick insisted on buying. There wasn't much room for anything but a small dinette set in his other apartment. In this place they had plenty of room and he wanted these family moments more than anything.

"What word?" Michonne asked again.

Rick smirked and then looked to Judith who was already trying to drink her juice even though she hadn't eaten any food. "You know the rules. No juice until you eat some of your food." Before her pout could form he directed Michonne's question to her. "Why don't you tell Michonne what word you asked me about?"

"I asked daddy what pregant meaned," Judith said nonchalantly.

Simultaneously Carl and Michonne froze and then looked at each other. Clearly she had been listening to their conversation a lot longer than they realized earlier. Rick caught their guilty glances and his intrigue was peaked. "Would you like to take that one?" He asked her.

Michonne cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure. She was going to have to be a lot more careful. Judith was like a ninja, just sneaking up out of nowhere and not making herself known until someone ratted her out or when she wanted to be seen. "It means that a mommy is having a baby."

"Oh." She seemed satisfied and began to eat her chicken.

Michonne thought she dodged a bullet until she saw Rick looking at her inquisitively. No, she was not going to have this conversation in front of the kids but knew it was eating at him to know more. She would just explain to him later.

"How do the mommy get the baby?"

Or maybe not. Carl tried to hide his laughter behind the hand lifted to his mouth while he chewed. Rick started coughing but no way was she going to be stuck answer this question.

"Now would you like to take that one?"

Rick steadied himself not backing down from the challenge. His daughter was naturally inquisitive so it was only a matter of time before she had questions, but her questions typically spun off follow ups and he wanted to tiptoe around this one. "The daddy gives the mommy the baby." It sounded simple enough in his mind so he continued. "I gave your mommy you and Carl and it was the best decisions I ever made."

There. A satisfied smile crossed his face as Judith chewed seemingly taking in this brand new piece of information. He nailed that explanation and threw on a little charm at the end that would hopefully kill the follow up questions. He waited a few seconds and when he heard nothing, he noticed Michonne visibly relax and turned his attention to Carl. "How was the movie?"

"It was good."

"Why didn't you invite Enid to dinner? Would've been nice to see her."

Carl scoffed. "Yeah right. So she could face the parental interrogation, no thank you. Maybe another time."

Rick had the nerve to look affronted. He wasn't that bad was he? Yes the relationship had gone on a little bit longer than he thought and he had waded through an uncomfortable but necessary sex conversation with Carl but he wouldn't embarrass his son. Well, at least not in front of his girlfriend. "How about next—"

"Daddy does that mean you're going to give Michonne a baby?"

Michonne's gasp was audible and Rick dropped his fork. This time Carl didn't attempt to hide his laughter and reveled in a chance to embarrass his dad after that awkward conversation he had to endure. "Yeah dad. I think Judith here has a good question." He looked to Michonne, his eyes dancing with amusement. If she was going to be in this family, she was going to have to get used to taking her fair share of ribbing.

Attempting to pull it together, Rick picked up the fork and shoved some salad in his mouth attempting to buy time before he answered the question. He was a second away from putting her on the spot and saying he would give Michonne a baby right away but he was sure that would earn him a few nights on the couch. Plus they hadn't talked about it yet and he didn't want to put her on the spot so he settled for the next best thing. "That's up to Michonne."

She was going to strangle him. No really, there would be crescent shaped marks in his neck from where she would bear her nails down. They all looked at her expectantly and she didn't know how to weasel out of this one. "Sure honey, one day." Short, simple, noncommittal.

"Like tomorrow?" She asked.

For fuck's sake. "Rick, you wanna help me out here."

He grabbed his wine glass, biting his lip to hide his smile. "Nope, I think you have it covered."

Strangling wouldn't be good enough. He deserved something far worse. What punishment would he get? "Not tomorrow sweetie but someday."

"Aww man. Someday sounds like forever," she whined in all her dramatic flourish.

Seeing Judith excited about the prospect of a baby did make her feel better. She assumed that she would want to remain the youngest and have the bulk of attention on her. "Not forever, just not tomorrow," she explained touching her little hand for emphasis. "Okay?"

Judith sat thinking about it and finally said, "Okay."

Michonne let out a sigh of relief and shot Rick a dirty look.

The rest of the meal went along as normal despite Judith's inquiry. The kids caught Rick up on their week since they had been at Lori's. He enjoyed hearing about their lives and although he talked to them everyday it wasn't the same as getting to see their facial expressions and be face to face with them when they told him about it in detail. And lucky for him Michonne stopped shooting daggers at him and lightened up when talking to the kids. He told them about his new partner Tyreese and his new office. They had gone to lunch together and he was feeling more and more comfortable with him. Tyreese gave him the lowdown on the cases they would be working and he would be set for his first day at work on Monday. He was curious though as to what conversation Judith overheard that made her ask the question if Michonne didn't kill him first, he was going to ask her about it. He was ready whenever she was and if the conversation was anything about that, he would be ecstatic.

Later, Rick laid on the couch, the day's activities finally getting to him. He was more exhausted than he realized. Michonne gave Judith a bath and put her to bed while Carl cleared the table and he cleaned the kitchen. They had moved into a routine without trying. Negan and Lori made things difficult but when it was just them it was effortless making a home and a family. Shane's words about a sign to propose was ringing in his ears. He hated that it came off the back of eavesdropping but it made him feel better that she was closer to where he was in terms of marriage. There were some fears in his mind that he was pushing her and she wasn't ready to take that step, now he was planning a proposal and wanted the kids to be a part of it.

"Move," Michonne said kicking his leg on the couch.

He sat up without a word and leaned back into cushions, patting the space beside him for her to sit down. "Judith wear you out?"

Michonne smiled, momentarily forgetting her bone to pick with him. "Something like that, but it's a good worn out. She rolls over a lot in her sleep."

"You stayed in there until after she fell asleep?"

"I had to. She holds on to me to get me to stay in the bed sometimes but I've figured out the perfect way to maneuver my way out."

Rick smiled, humbled. He loved to see her and Judith together. "Lay back. I'm going to rub your feet."

She eyed him suspiciously and he laughed. "I'm serious."

"No funny business?"

"No funny business."

She laid back, relishing the feel of the pillow behind her head. Rick took her foot in his hand and started rubbing in circles, stretching out her foot. A moan escaped her lips and she melted into his touch. "That feels wonderful."

"Good," he said massaging her toes and pulling her legs more into his lap.

"Don't think I have forgotten about ringing your neck."

He chuckled loudly, and then got quiet remembering the kids were sleeping. "What did I do?"

"Don't give me that. You know exactly what you did. You hung me out to dry with Judith and that pregnancy question," she said trying and failing to sound upset. If she was annoyed, he couldn't really tell thanks to the curl of her lips. Maybe his foot massage was working better than he thought.

"I answered a part of her question and then you did. Team work. That's what it's all about right?"

She waved him off, settling more into the cushions. She wished she was wearing her pajamas now. She could only get so comfortable wearing her jeans. "Yeah yeah."

"Where did she hear that from anyway?" He asked, finally asking the question he'd been wondering since dinner. "Were you and Maggie having one of your girl talks again."

Michonne stalled wondering how he would take it knowing that it was her and Carl that were discussing it. "Actually, it was me and Carl."

He stilled for a moment and then continued the massage only giving a non-committal "hmph."

She sighed and explained. "I asked about Enid, one thing led to another and he mentioned in passing about the sex talk you had with him and that's how pregnancy came up."

Rick nodded, listening. "So Judith just heard pregnancy and associated it with you?"

"Well not quite."

Rick arched his eyebrow compelling her to go on.

"I have something to tell you."

His eyes got big and she hurried to reel it in. "No no not that. I'm still on the pill you know that."

"Oh, what is it then?"

Was that disappointment on his face? She was shell shocked about his reaction. If anything she expected him to be at least a little nervous. "Carl can hear us having sex," she deadpanned.

Rick let out a loud laugh again and couldn't control himself. She slapped him on the arm. "Rick stop I'm being serious. He said that's why he's happy he has noise cancelling headphones." Saying it out loud made her realize how funny it was but in the moment she was mortified.

Swiping a stray tear from his eyes, Rick rubbed her leg to give her some solace but she felt like he was patronizing her. Soon, she was laughing right along with him. "Ok ok, maybe it is a little funny," she acquiesced. "When he mentioned it I was so embarrassed."

His laughter died down and he set her feet on the floor. "C'mere." She shifted her position and laid in his lap while he wrapped his arms around her. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Rick, he heard us!"

"First of all, I dont think he did or he would've made a smart comment to me when I talked to him. Second, even if he may have heard something it's not going to kill him. He's a teenager, he knows we are in a relationship and I'm pretty sure he knows we are not celibate. I'm sure he would rather not hear it but honestly I like that he's getting to see what a healthy relationship looks like. The last few years all he's been around is tension and distance. It's good for him to see the other side."

Wow. She hadn't even thought about that. The prospect of him joking about hearing them was one thing but setting an example of what a healthy relationship should look like was something far different. It had been years since she saw a model couple and all of her past relationships was certainly nothing to covet up close or afar. Everything with Rick was different. "I guess you have a point."

"Of course I do."

She chuckled, "now don't go getting all cocky."

He whispered in her ear. "I thought you liked it when I was cock-y." He thrust his pelvis into her back.

"You are so nasty," she giggled and turned her head slightly to kiss his neck. "I should still strangle you for putting me on the spot with Judith."

"Well the girl had good questions," he paused. "A question I wanted the answer to myself."

Michonne was stunned but wasn't sure if they meant the same thing so she asked, "What question is that?"

His face rubbed against her cheek. "I think you know which question. When am I going to give you a baby?"

Yep, that was the question. "You're serious."

He was. The last month since he knew the truth of his relationship to Negan he'd thought about how lucky he was and wouldn't waste a single second. There wasn't much he thought he and Michonne couldn't overcome but seeing how Negan had been broken down to the point of risking his career on a revenge agenda shook him. He was going to be grateful for every moment. "I'm very serious but I know you need time."

Michonne took a deep breath trying to get herself together. This was what she wanted but it was still overwhelming feeling like all your dreams were coming true. "I do need time, I want the kids to be more adjusted and you with your new job—"

"Do you know why I moved to Cold Case?" He asked interrupting her.

"Yeah, you told me it would be better hours for the kids."

"I didn't just mean for Judith and Carl. I was thinking longterm. Your schedule is always all over the place and I don't want you to have to change that. With a normal schedule that will come in handy with a new baby. When you're off maternity leave and go back, this schedule will be helpful to get the baby from daycare or to meet a nanny whatever you want. This wasn't just the best decision for now but longterm too."

Rick certainly had a way of taking her breath away lately. He'd been thinking about their future and expanding their family. "Thank you," she whispered trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.

"You don't have to thank me. I told you I'm ready when you are."

She kissed him in response.

"While I'm making confessions, I have something else to tell you," he said pulling away from her lips.

"Okay."

"I may have told Glenn about your conversations with Maggie."

She searched around for what he could've been talking about. "Maggie and I talk all the time, you're going to have to be more specific but I feel like any one you pick is going to get you in trouble."

Rick buried his lips into her neck. "I told him that he didnt need to worry how Maggie felt because I know from listening to you two talk that she was serious about him."

"What?!" She shrieked.

Rick shrugged and gave her his best innocent smile. "The guy is having a hard time. He can't read her and was worried that maybe it was just sex. I think he needed to know."

She contemplated whether or not she needed to be mad at him. It wasn't surprising that he eavesdropped on their conversation but she thought he would at least keep it to himself.

"I was just trying to help him like Maggie helped us," he added pleading his case.

She let that sink in. "You know you have a good point." Part of her wanted to get revenge on Maggie for her display at the bar that night but it was hard seeing how far her and Rick had come to be mad now. She was grateful for her meddling. "Maybe they just need a little push like we did."

"Yeah," he said thankful that she was going along with it and not mad at him.

Michonne kissed his lips and stopped him before he could deepen it. "I'm happy everyday that she meddled. You know that right? You and the kids are everything to me."

"I know now. I'm happy for her meddling too, but promise me that we never have to tell her that."

She laughed and kissed him again, running her hands through his soft curls. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They laid there in comfortable silence and sharing kisses every few minutes. Rick realized that Shane's affirmation wasn't what he needed. Laying there with her , talking about the future and everything that happened tonight gave him the real sign he needed.

It was time to propose.