June 5th

Rick inhaled before he clicked on Lori's name in his phone. After a long conversation with Michonne earlier in the day, they'd both agreed this was a good plan. This was the way that everyone would be happy.

"I don't think about him." He remembered his mom telling him when as a young adult he'd asked her if she was mad about his father losing contact. "He's nothing to us, he's just a man. A person I knew once. I got the prize anyway." She'd cup Rick's face in her hands and kiss his forehead as she reassured him.

He finally understood it. That's how he saw Lori now, just a woman. Not his ex wife who cheated on him with his best friend and tried to pass off their baby as his, though that was shitty by any standards. She was just a woman who was lost, stuck in an unhappy marriage. And he could help her.

"Rick?" Lori's voice sounded small on the other side of the line as she answered.

"Hey Lori."

"Are you ok? After last night?"

"I'm fine. A few stitches, a black eye... nothing major."

"I'm sorry about Shane. You know what he's like."

"I do." He sighed. "That's actually the reason I'm calling."

"Oh?"

"Are you happy with him?" He said plainly.

There was silence on the other side of the line.

"Lori?"

"I'm still here."

"You didn't say yes."

"Rick, why do you care?" She huffed. Her lack of answer forcing her to confront the issue at hand.

"I don't even know. I shouldn't, should I? To hell with both of you really, right? Carl's 18 next month, he's off to college. I don't have to see either of you again."

"Yeah." She said wryly.

"But you're Carl's mother, and it's hurting him that you're not happy. It's hurting him that Shane doesn't treat you right." He took a deep breath. "Which is why I want you to take back your half of Carl's college fund. I'll cover it all, you know I will, but you gotta promise me that you'll use the money to leave Shane."

"Leave him?"

"If that's what you want."

"Rick..." She gasped. "I don't..."

"You can have a few days to think about it. But it's enough for you to buy a little place, live there with Judith."

"Why?...Why would you?"

"I just want my son to be happy, and I want that carefree woman I met 15 years ago to be his mom."

They both let the silence hang there for a while.

"You were angry at Shane, you didn't seem angry at me." She eventually said. "I wanted you to be. I wanted you to yell at me and call me a bitch and a whore and all the other things I thought about myself."

"I know you did."

"Why didn't you? Didn't wanna give me the satisfaction?"

Rick half smiled, letting the air escape his nose in lieu of a full laugh. "I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess I wasn't in love with you any more."

Lori nodded. It was hard to hear even all these years later, even though she must have felt the same at the time. "Thank you for sticking around for Carl. Thank you for loving him even when you stopped loving me."

"Thank you for letting me be his dad."

"That was all you."

"Just let me know what you decide. About the money."

"I will Rick."

"Take care Lori."

The silence at the end of the phone call gave Rick the closure he never even knew he was still craving after all this time.

He hung up and headed out to the garden, to Michonne sat on the decking nursing a cup of green tea with one hand and her bump with the other.

It was a beautiful evening. The sun was about to set and the air was filled with the unmistakable balmy scent of summer. She was beautiful too, his girlfriend, the mother of his child. The beginning of his new family, the two of them, his son and his almost daughter.

"What?" She grinned. Rick hadn't even realised he was staring at her so intently.

"Nothin'." He blushed slightly. "I'm just glad you're here."