Hi, lovelies!

I hope there are people still reading this *pretty please*. If you are here's the update. Can't believe how much life can get in the way of writing.

Thank you for the reviews of the preview(s) chapters. As usual, I appreciate them all.

Enjoy this one!

A.


15. Set Fire.

Daryl was standing near the entrance when he felt Rick passing near him and palming him in the back. He almost broke his neck reaching behind to find Michonne speaking to a journalist. He squinted at her and looked back at Rick, who was now busy telling something to Morgan.

"Thank you, Daryl", he heard Michonne whispering and she remained next to him. He nodded.

"Sasha wanted to talk to you but I told her you had a migraine, otherwise she would have called you last night. Insistently."

"I'll call her later."

"Yeah, I don't want to lie to her again so you better fess up before I do." She rolled her eyes at him.

"I said I'll talk to her, but not now."

"No visible hickies I can see... ouch! Chonne! What the hell?", she had smacked his arm.

"Keep talking about it", she hissed. "Don't forget I know how to use a katana, Daryl."

"Ow, woman. Calm down. It was a joke."

"Stop with those jokes in front of everyone. We don't want anyone knowing."

"I know, I get it." He remained silent for a bit. "I'm happy for y'all."

That made her smile. She was happy, too.


Although their relationship kept blossoming behind doors and they necessarily did not hide it from their closest friends, Rick and Michonne decided it was best to keep it from the general public and the media. They were both very conscious of their images and his recent divorce, which only put her in a place she never was or wanted to be. The media could be the worst and even if she did not care much about what was written about her or sought their approval, in this line of work it was smart to stay out of their radar as much as possible.

Michonne was trying to finish gathering her belongings. She needed to get to the airport as soon as possible, and she still had to stop by her house. But Rick was bent on making her late. She grabbed his face and gave him one more kiss and pushed him. He snorted.

"Stop, Rick. I can't miss the plane."

"I hate that photo session already," he said and moved a bit out of her way. He was not going to see her for the whole weekend and some. He was really kind of hating all this Marvel thing.

"No, you don't. Besides, you'll have company", she said, still grabbing clothes and stuff without looking at him, but she knew his face lightened at the mention of his kids.

"Yeah, I know. I can't wait to pick them up." Then he got really quiet and she looked up to see what was happening. She found him staring back at her with a shy expression. "I'll miss you".

It was almost like a whisper but Michonne felt her heart turning around and aching. She walked to him and put her arms around his shoulders. Rick circled his own arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"I'll miss you too. You know that."

"I'll miss you more…" she put two fingers in his mouth to shut him up.

"Let's not get into that silly contest."

"I'm up for it any day. But it is true. I will miss you, a lot." He moved up one hand from her waist to her face and with his thumb caressed her brow, her cheek, and then her lips.

"I'll see you in LA for the 100th episode's premiere," she said and gave him another kiss and moved back to try and finish collecting her things. He sat down to wait for her.

"Did you tell your parents yet? I'd love to meet them, even if it is in that insane place."

"No, but I will."

"Chonne, don't... Tell them, please, ask them to come. I'll pay for their tickets if I have to."

"That's so sweet of you but unnecessary. I promise I will ask them to come but I don't know if they have something else to do over that weekend."

"That's a load of bollocks but ok", she laughed because he knew her well, however, he had been always one to keep his promise, so she would try to have her parents come to LA and meet him. She couldn't wait for him to meet them.

"Come here", he requested in that gruff voice of his that always made her insides melt and twitch. That man was going to be the death of her. And she needed to be somewhere else. He couldn't be playing these games now.

"Rick…", she only looked at him. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Just one minute. C'here, please."

No point fighting, girl. You know you want to go.

Michonne moved back where he was and Rick hugged her by the hips and pressed his body to hers. She threaded her fingers through his curls, caressed his tresses and his beard looking into his perfectly blue eyes.

"Your hands are always so soft," he said and brought her down to kiss her. "Your lips are always just too kissable."

She hummed slightly and gave into the kiss. She was going to be miserable without him and she knew it. She felt his tongue asking for permission to invade her mouth and she let it in. Every time was a delicious feeling. She began to feel her skin on fire, the depths of each other's mouths, that familiar happiness in the pit of her stomach. She moaned. He hugged her tighter and the kiss intensified. Michonne placed both legs on his sides, sat on his lap, and took charge of the moment. Rick moved his attention to her neck and she thought she was going to go wild. Feeling him underneath her and she moaned for the second time, now in his neck when Rick squeezed her butt.

"If you keep making those noises, I won't be able to stop myself", he whispered in her ear.

"It's your own fault. You shouldn't tease me like this." She gave him one peck and looked directly and him. "You better go before we start a scandal."

He snorted. Yeah, the death of me.

"I'll behave. I want to walk you to your car. I'll stay here quietly and keep my hands to myself so you finish packing."

"Good."

One more kiss and she stood up. He always kept his promises. Not that she didn't want his hands all over her, but the stupid plane was going to let her if she didn't move faster. This man was good at that and definitely one of the things that attracted her to him. She added a few more things to her suitcase, closed it, and grabbed her purse.

"Ready?" she said.

"Not ready to let you go but it is what it is." He opened the trailer door for her and they both walked outside.

Just a few more days.


Sam was reviewing a few things of the upcoming episodes with Anne when they felt a knock on the door. He wondered who it might be since usually everyone knocked and opened up immediately. Anne was closer to the door so she opened it to reveal Lori standing there.

"Oh, hi."

"Hi, Anne. Is Sam in there?", she asked dryly.

"Yes, he is here." Anne looked inside the trailer and Sam nodded, so she let Lori in and closed the door behind her.

"Hi, Sam. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure, it's unusual to see you here, if I can say that." Anne opened her eyes as a warning sign. The man was never a fan of Rick's ex-wife but he noted that Anne was right, it would do no good bringing back that old sentiment.

"I just came to bring Carl and Judith. They are staying with Rick for the weekend", she explained. "But... ", she hesitated.

"Whatever it is you can say it. Anne knows as much or probably more than me about what's going on here."

Anne just sighed. There was only one reason why Lori was standing there and Sam, with no sense whatsoever, walked himself into the conversation. Idiot, she thought.

"So you both knew that Rick was sleeping with Michonne? That SHE is the reason why my children have divorced parents?", she said, looking from one to the other. She was going to let it go, but being on the set again and passing this trailer she felt she had to call the production on their shit.

And here we go, thought Anne rolling her eyes.

"Lori… I understand that you are still…"

"Still what? WHAT, Sam? I'm still divorced, that's what I am."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how my knowledge or not knowledge of what was going on with two of my actors is relevant to you."

"Really? That's why you never told me?"

"Told you what? I owed you no explanations. What is this for god's sake? You come in here claiming what? That I covered their "affair"? You know me better than that. This is the only thing I will say about it: I talked to Rick. And no, Rick said that nothing ever happened before the divorce was official."

"Yes, and I'm supposed to believe that?"

"I don't care honestly! Why, again, are we even having this conversation?"

"Because you knew! You could have done something…"

"Oh. My. God", Sam was not ready for this right now. Anne moved from the door and closer to Lori.

"Lori... we didn't know. That's the truth, you can believe it or not. But from where I can see it, Michonne had nothing to do with your divorce. We even told you to keep up appearances at Comic-Con. Did it help? No, because your marriage was already broken."

"I can't take back time and unsigned the papers, but I wanted you to know that you didn't fool me, you knew and you let it happen even knowing he was married, that he had kids, a family! Is this the kind of set and environment you promote here? I'll make sure everyone knows!"

"Do whatever you want, Lori. This is just ridiculous. And now, please, can you let us do our job?"

She turned around and walked out of the trailer slamming the door. Anne and Sam stood there looking at each other.

"She is going to cause trouble, Sam."

"No, she is not. There's absolutely nothing she can do and I'm glad if I'm honest. She can go and live her life and let us the fuck alone."

Anne smiled; bad words coming from Sam only meant that he was really pissed and was not going to take any crap Lori thought could bring on them.

"Alright, back to work then."


Rick put Michonne's bag in the car and moved away to hug her one more time.

"You won't even notice I'm gone", she said.

"Oh but I will." He smiled and the crinkles in his eyes were so delicious. She wanted to kiss them right there. Also the stupid mole on top of his lips.

"Meet you back in LA, right?", she said trying to focus on something else.

"Yes. Let me know when you get home."

"I will, and... have fun with the kids. Enjoy this time with them. You deserve it."

"I wish you were there."

"Too soon, Rick. Baby steps."

Rick moved to open the car door for her when he heard someone calling his name. They both froze when they recognized the voice.

Lori.

"Hello, to you both", she said in a very dry tone.

"Hi Lori", said Michonne.

"Lori." was all the acknowledgment Rick did.

"I brought the kids. I had to run an errand and thought about saving time. They are with Daryl since I didn't see you, came looking for you but couldn't find you…" she looked at Michonne again, who stood there holding her head high. "Should've looked somewhere else obviously."

You can't be trying to pick up a fight, girl, Michonne thought.

"Why did you leave the kids with Daryl if you were looking for me?", Rick asked.

"I wasn't sure where you were and they wanted to stay with him anyway."

A match of glares now. Michonne turned to Rick. She didn't have time for this.

"You better get and find them. I'll talk to you later." He nodded and kissed Michonne. He was not going to play by Lori's rule or care about what she thought anymore. He respected her for the sake of their children but he owed her nothing more than that.

"Next time, please let me know you are bringing them," he said and walked past her.

Michonne and Lori remained there. In silence. Michonne rolled her eyes and turned around to open the door to get into the car when Lori spoke:

"So, it was you. Always you."

Michonne turned back around.

"No, it wasn't. That your marriage failed had nothing to do with me and everything to do with you."

"How can you say that?"

"What do you want, Lori?"

"What did you do? You wanted a rich and famous man by your side? How selfish can you be to break a home?"

"Please don't project your delusional wishes on me. I don't need a man to validate me or to prove how much I'm worth. In case you haven't noticed, I already have a name in the industry and I needed no one to have that."

"So independent, making the rest of us women look bad", she scoffed. "But still you needed to get someone else's husband."

"Let me be clear: when we started our relationship he was no longer married to you. Nothing happened before."

"Why should I believe anything you say? You were there, you stood there and you knew my husband was falling for you and you said nothing!"

Michonne couldn't answer that. They were never best friends, she and Lori, but she had indeed been silent about Rick's feelings for her.

"All the time you knew he was falling for you and you did nothing! You knew he was in love with you and said nothing!"

"You knew he was not in love with you anymore and you did nothing! Not even for your kids! and you say I'm selfish? Why do you even want him?"

"I love him."

"You love the idea of being married to him. I don't doubt that you did, but clearly your idea of loving someone has changed. Or maybe not. Does not matter, Rick doesn't love you anymore. Just face it."

"Rick will always be the father of my children", she said defiantly and something sparked in Michonne's heart.

"He will. I wouldn't dream of interfering with that. But he will be the father of mine one day too. So, get used to the idea that I'm not going anywhere. WE are not going anywhere."

She got into the car and drove away from the craziness that was talking to Lori and her absurd demands. She drove away also to count the minutes to see and have Rick back next to her again.

Just a few more days.


Thank you for reading! Reviews and all the love is appreciated. Hope you enjoyed this one. We are close to the finish line, y'all!

Stay safe, still!