A/N: This is long overdue. Writing has been hard for me lately, which sucks because I know there are those who have been patiently waiting for me to get my proverbial shit together and update these fics.

Like many others in the fandom, the news of Rick & Michonne's reunion in an upcoming series was just the spark I needed to get back to doing what I love to do - write about anything and everything Grimes Family related. Our ship is sailing once again and life is good!

For those who follow The Evil Next Door - an update is coming in the very near future! Thank you for putting up with my unintended hiatus.

About this chapter...please keep in mind the last episode of TWD I watched was when Michonne rode away on that horse. I have no idea if Alexandria is still a thing or not, but I like to think it could be. Anyway, this is how I envision Rick's first night back home, under the same roof as his family.

I may add a part 2 to this, still deciding...

He had missed so much.

It was Rick's sole reoccurring thought, having now faced the day he had simultaneously dreaded and longed for, for the last six years.

All day, he had been in a state of anxious disbelief, waiting for the hammer to fall. For him to wake up and be viciously torn from the vivid world his imagination had conjured.

He had dreamt of his family every night, and every time he woke up alone and heartbroken.

But as he stared at the little boy with dark curly hair and a dimpled smile, asleep in his bed, he knew this time was different.

Logic forced him to recognize that even if he had known about his son's existence, it would have done little to change his circumstances.

Still, Rick cursed every minute of every day that was robbed from them.

He had missed all of his important firsts. His first steps, first words...his birth. All the moments he and Michonne should have experienced together, she had to go through alone.

A wife without a husband, children without their father.

Even in this moment when he knew he should be grateful that in spite of everything they were finally together, he was still angry at the loss of what could have been.

When he first laid eyes on the son he never knew existed, it was like someone had punched him in the gut.

Michonne had done her best to ready him for their first meeting, of course. But nothing could have prepared him for the sight of their boy.

Their boy. His and Michonne, equal parts of them both materialized into a little human being.

Rick exhaled a shuddering breath, afraid that if he were to so much as blink the child would vanish before his eyes.

He heard the soft footfalls of his wife as she quietly made her way down the corridor towards him.

Michonne smiled softly as she leaned against the opposite side of RJ's bedroom door.

"He'll be there when you wake up, you know," she whispered.

Rick shook his head slowly. "I wish I could believe that," he returned in kind.

Michonne reached out to rest a gentle but firm hand on his folded forearms. "This is real, Rick. We're real, and we're together."

Rick sighed heavily, hating that she had to reassure him of that.

He looked back over at their son, sleeping soundly in his bed. Safe and healthy.

He knew that was only because of Michonne's resilience, but it still pained him to think of all she had to endure to keep their children safe.

Rick turned to face her, taking the hand she had placed on his arm to pull her towards him.

The feeling of her in his arms was still so familiar to him after all this time.

"Thank you," he murmured, resting his forehead against hers as his eyes slipped closed.

Michonne brought her free hand up to caress his solid white beard, inhaling softly. "We've missed you so much."

Rick pulled back to press a kiss to her forehead. "I've missed this," he returned in a gravelly whisper.

She hummed a response, and he cherished the sound.

So when she started to pull away, his arms tightened around her, afraid to let her go.

"We have all night," she promised him, leaning up to kiss him softly before saying, "but there's someone who wants to say good-night to you first."

Rick followed her gaze to the bedroom just down the hall. A dim light peeked through the cracked opening of the door, letting him know the occupant inside was waiting for him.

He turned back to Michonne, feeling somewhat anxious.

"Go on," she encouraged as she gently smoothed back his hair. Then she gave him a light shove to get him started.

As Rick stood outside his daughter's bedroom, he felt oddly nervous.

The young woman on the other side of the door was a completely different person from the toddler he had unwillingly left behind. He was unsure of how to navigate the transitions she had made during the time they had lost. But he had hoped they would be able to figure it out together.

He inhaled slowly before raising his fist to carefully knock on the partially opened door.

"Come in," a soft voice replied, and his heart caught in his throat as he was still adjusting to the sound.

He stepped inside and found Judith sitting on the edge of her bed, anxiously kicking her bare feet back and forth.

Rick offered her a small smile, realizing she was probably just as nervous as he was.

"You smile the same," she said, relaxing slightly.

"Oh yeah?" he mused, gingerly taking a seat in the nearby chair. "So do you."

Judith's smile grew at his words, and in that moment he saw the features of her biological mother appear in her countenance. Especially when her brows furrowed and he knew a question was brewing beneath her inquisitive gaze.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked, almost hesitantly.

"Nothing hurt more than being away from you," he replied honestly.

"Mom said the people that took you tried to keep you from us," she murmured, dropping her gaze to the floor. "She said you did all you could to come home but they wouldn't let you."

Rick leaned forward, nodding slowly. "You were all could think about, every day," he told her, squinting his eyes with emphasis. "Every day."

Judith shifted her eyes up to him. "I know."

"It doesn't change the fact that I wasn't here," he acknowledged, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I should have been here for you and your brother."

"I know you would have been if you could've," she said softly, then ducked her head when she admitted, "I had almost forgotten what you sounded like."

Tears burned behind his eyes at his daughter's omission. It was hard truth to contend with, but given how young she was when he was taken he supposed he shouldn't be surprised.

"I tried to remember, but it felt like the harder I tried the more it slipped away," she revealed with a shaky voice, gripping her fist into her bedsheets. Then, she looked up at him with watery eyes. "Until I saw you walking towards us with Mom, and you said my name...I remembered everything when you said my name."

"Oh sweetheart," Rick breathed, shifting from the chair to kneel on the floor in front of her.

He took both her tiny hands into his and lifted them to lips, pressing a firm kiss to her fingers.

"It's okay," he said, reassuringly.

But Judith stubbornly shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks. "No it's not," she whimpered.

Rick scooped her into his arms and she desperately clung to him in return as all the emotions she had bravely held in since their reunion came to the surface.

As he held his daughter close, he realized that as much as she had grown at the end of the day she was still his little girl.

How many nights had he held her to his chest just like this?

Back when they could barely manage to keep a roof over their heads, back when all they had was each other.

He rocked Judith slowly in his arms, and thought how funny it was that things could change so much but still manage to stay the same.

"When you were a baby, I used to hold you just like this and walk around for hours trying to get you to sleep," he recalled as her tears started to slow down.

He peaked down at her and found her bright eyes staring back at him. Those same eyes.

"You could never just fall asleep, the walk was mandatory," he explained, "Carl used to say I was spoiling you, but then I found out that some nights when he would watch you he'd end up doing the same thing."

Rick chuckled at the memory, and was surprised when Judith did the same.

"Really?" she asked, curiosity peaked.

Rick nodded, shifting so that his back was to the bed. "He almost had me convinced that he actually managed to get you to sleep without doing it, but one night Michonne and I caught him walking around the cellblock with you in tow."

"Cell block?"

"Back when we lived at the prison," he clarified.

"Mom told me we used to live in a prison," she said, her face pinched, "I didn't want to believe her."

"It was a good home for a while," he replied with a light laugh.

Judith reached up to fiddle with the button on his collar, that curious look in her eyes again. "Carl would've liked RJ, don't you think?" she eventually asked.

Rick nodded, hugging her close. "He would've loved him," he said, his voice nearly catching.

"I don't remember much, but I remember he was always there," she said, "I remember he used to play with me, and tell me stories. I do those things for RJ because I learned them from Carl."

Rick rolled his eyes upward, blinking back the tears her words were evoking.

"Daddy? Are you okay?" Judith asked, looking up at him in concern.

He nodded, lowering his head to press a kiss on top of hers. "More than okay, sweetheart."

"Tomorrow, we should tell RJ more stories about Carl. Mom and I tell him some things, but you would know ones we haven't told him yet."

Rick smiled at her. "I would like that."

Judith snuggled closer, sighing sleepily. "Me, too."

He didn't know how long they had stayed that way, he was far too content simply holding his daughter to be concerned with something so trivial.

Even when he realized she had fallen asleep, he was hesitant to move. Instead he was too busy trying to memorize everything about her.

When Michonne appeared in the doorway, this was how she found them.

She smiled as she clasped her hands loosely behind her back and leaned against the doorframe.

"She's grown so much," he murmured without looking up.

"Children tend to do that."

Rick huffed a little laugh. "Too quickly, in my opinion."

Michonne nodded, smiling. "I would agree."

Rick sighed heavily, pressing his nose to the top of Judith's hair and inhaled softly. Then, he used his free hand to push himself up with her tucked into his arms before carefully shifting to settle her into bed.

Michonne rounded to the other side, leaning down to kiss her daughter's forehead as she brought her comforters up around her shoulders.

Rick watched her, knowing this was likely a routine. And he felt yet another pang of guilt for his absence - unwilling as it was.

The entire evening was a constant reminder of all responsibilities Michonne had been forced to shoulder alone.

The demands of community leadership were crippling enough, without adding being a single mother of two young into the mix.

By all accounts, Michonne had every right and reason to go on with life without him. Mourn him? Yes. Carry on his memory with his children? He could have only hoped.

But not only did she manage to do all of those things, she added on the impossible task of finding and bringing him home.

He marveled at the woman before him.

He had always known she was remarkable, but he was only beginning to digest how true of a sentiment that was.

As Michonne stood, she tilted her head curiously at him. Then, without a word she returned to his side to take him by the hand.

Rick willingly followed her out of the room, softly pulling the door closed behind him.

"Wait a minute," he whispered, using their joined hands to steady her in place.

Michonne turned to face him, her bright eyes nearly glowing in the dim light of the hallway.

Rick stepped towards her, closing the distance between them. He reached a hand up to cup her cheek and angled her face as he kissed her tenderly.

She sighed as she leaned into him, melting in the familiarity of his embrace.

"Do you have any idea how amazing you are?" he breathlessly asked when he pulled away.

"I'm glad you think so," she returned with a small smile.

"I mean it," he insisted, wrapping his arms around her. "You are the most amazing person I have ever known, Michonne. Thank you for bringing me back to my family."

Michonne leaned up to capture his lips once more, kissing him deeply.

Her fingers wove together at the base of his neck, playing with his overgrown curls as she melded her body against his once more.

When they broke apart she rested her forehead against his. "The world needs Rick Grimes," she breathed.

"I need you," he returned, squeezing her sides, "I need those kids. You're all I need."

"You have us," she assured him, "we're together, the way it should be."

"The way it should have always been," he muttered bitterly, a distant look growing in his eyes.

"Hey," she said, hooking a finger under his chin to draw his attention back to her. "All that matters is right here, right now."

He exhaled slowly and nodded, knowing she was right.

There would be time to deal with all the rest.

At this moment, for the first time in years, what mattered to him most in the world was under the same roof as he was. And he refused to waste that.

The world may need Rick Grimes, but all he needs is his family.