CHAPTER NINE

Michonne swung her katana with practiced ease and sliced the heads off of the two walkers coming towards her. The town was in chaos. The walkers milled around the streets of Alexandria enthralled with seeing people. In their short existence of being dead, they had been filled with an unrequited need. A need they didn't quite understand but yet drove them towards the living. Many of them had not been able to realise their dream until today; the dream of eating human flesh.

They chomped and chewed and snarled their way into the dwellings of the weak. The pasta lady and Greg were not the only victims of the night. Whilst Michonne was dispatching walkers to and fro, Rick was in the midst of another crisis.

Earlier in the evening, Rick and the kids had been playing a child friendly game of peek-a-boo. Carl was too old to really enjoy the game but he made the most of it for his sisters' sake. Judith, however, loved the game and could play it on hours on end, to the discomfort of her family.

On the 100th round of peek-a-boo, Judith's hysterical laughter lifted the emotions of her father and her brother. Her brother was going through the normal teenage angst of a boy in the apocalypse, whatever that was. Whilst her father had also regressed to being a teenager, Rick was obsessing over a girl he liked. Scratch that, he was obsessing over a beautiful, sexy, goddess who was playing with his balls like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. Oh she wasn't doing it for shits and giggles, he realised that. She had no idea what she did to him. It was like he had finally woke up and saw the real her for the first time. He saw her. Not just her beauty but her strength and grace. The way she held a sword turned him on in a perverse way that should be an outlawed. And now he realised what she was to him, he had no intention of letting her go.

But first, peek-a-boo. Rick moved his hands from his face and his daughters eyes were drawn to the hound dog look on his face. After being on the road for all of her life, Judith had had little opportunity to enjoy the simple things, Now she was in relative safety, she relished her play time with her family. She enjoyed being demanding. She enjoyed spitting food in her father's face as he fed her. She now even had food favourites and dislikes. She loved Carol's apple sauce but hated broccoli. Every time she was faced with it, she would screw up her face and slowly shake her head as if to say hell no. That wasn't to say she got her way each and every time. No, she was still a child to a dominant father, but she was slowly and surely becoming herself. Not just a child but an person in her own right.

Rick looked up at Judith and saw her expression of joy. He smiled at her and grabbed at her cheeks and smooshed his lips to them in the way she liked. Judith laughed and waved her little arms crazily. Most of the gestures bounced off her father's head but he didn't care. He loved their time together. He just wished Michonne was there to enjoy the family time. Carl had grown weary of the game and was sitting in the corner, by the window. His sullen expression turned incredulous when he saw the shadows coming towards the house.

"Dad, we have trouble" whispered Carl as he continued to look out of the window. Rick went straight into action. He left Judith on the floor and crouched towards the window where he saw the uninvited.

"Carl, get your sister and go upstairs to my room." Carl looked like he wanted to argue but saw the look on his father's face. Rick looked Carl in the eye, then kissed his forehead. He did the same to Judith who, by this time, had realised something was up. She looked tearfully at her father as he kissed her goodbye. Rick moved towards the door and holstered his gun at his waist band and picked up his trusty red machete. He was going to war.

Rick waited for his children to get safely upstairs to the bedroom. He then stepped outside, closed the door and viewed the surroundings. There were at least 100walkers around the town, moaning their way through the night. Rick knew he needed to move the walkers away from his family home so he fired a shot in the air as he ran towards the centre of town. The noise alerted the walkers to and they followed him mindlessly. They had a new target.

Rick could hear the sound of a bell ringing. There was a figure in the town square, ringing the ceremonial bell. The noise drew the walkers behind Rick towards him and the sound in the distance.

The bodies piled up and around Michonne. One walker, then two, then five. All too soon the undead created a mini cocoon around the samurai. Most where deader than they were before. The others were still groaning, incapacitated. She stepped over the walker barrier, spearing the last alive ones as she moved. She flicked her wrist, releasing the excess blood from her sword.

The fight was almost over. Whilst Michonne had been dealing with her mini hoard, the rest of her family where fighting the good fight. In the distance she could see Sasha, Abraham and Rosita mowing through 10's of walkers. 100 meter from them, Carol and Spencer where using the roamers as target practice. Michonne felt confident that the threat had been vanquished. But in her search for her family, she had yet to see Rick and Carl.

Carl had come over to see her earlier in the day to invite her over for family time. Normally Michonne would over jump at the chance to be normal for a beat. To play with her kids and to laugh with her man. By her man, obviously, this was a figure of speech but in those moments she forgot the angst ridden desperation that was now the theme of Rick and Michonne's relationship. Instead, Michonne said she was busy.

Like Carl, Jamie had sought out her company earlier. After popping in to see Maggie, Michonne walked slowly towards her home. She could see the lights streaming from the Grimes household. She could even make out the forms of Carl and Rick as they sat on the living room floor, hovering over a board game. Michonne felt a gasp of terror in her heart. They were playing….Monopoly. Intellectually, she knew she shouldn't have been cross to be missing out on her favourite game but sheesh, she dominated at Monopoly. The Grimes men where her bitch when it came to capitalism with paper money.

"Hey, pretty lady. You look exceptionally fine tonight" said Jamie as he walked up to Michonne. Michonne smiled back at the handsome fool next to her. Jamie was sure to put a smile on her face and make her forget about Rick. Well, not forget about him 100%. She still remembered the panty wettingly hot way Rick had invited her to his place. He had truly dropped the mic on that one. But Michonne had declined the invite in the best way she knew possible. Avoidance.

She wasn't ready to take what Rick was giving. At least, not yet. However tempting it might be to fall onto Rick, Michonne schooled herself not to give in too easy. While her heart told her Rick was it, the one. Her head told her to enjoy her Michonne time. That wasn't to say she would continue to be the freak of the week for Jamie but she deserved to be real before she made a decision. Now if Rick truly wanted her, he would wait for her. He would show up for her. And she prayed he would.

The silence of the night brought Michonne back to the here and now. She saw a figure in the distance jogging towards her. His right hand was curled around a bloodied machete. His left hand rested on top of his gun in his holster. He was ready to fight at an instant. Michonne didn't need the moonlight to tell her it was Rick. He slowed down ten feet away from her, then went to a dead stop when he was right in front of her. He dropped the machete and drew her to him. She felt him from chest to knee. She could feel his heart, pumping madly. Whether it was from the adrenaline of the walker kill or being in her presence, she didn't know. But she was happy. He was here and alive.

Rick wrapped his arms around Michonne and rubbed his hands up and down her back as if to soothe her, or even soothe himself. No words were spoken. No promises were made. But it didn't matter. Only this moment of life mattered. Michonne's arms rested at his waist and one hand slowly curled up to rest at his neck. Her caressing drew Rick's face up from its resting place in the nook of her neck. His blue eyed stare bore into her brown, soulful eyes. He slowly moved his face towards hers, rubbed his nose against hers. Their foreheads touched. She could feel his breath caressing her face. It was time. No more messing. She was his. He was hers. Why had she even hesitated to be with him?

The sound of footsteps alerted Rick to another presence. Rick's hand moved back to its position on his holstered gun and turned around to see the interloper. It was Jamie.

"Hey Michonne, are you OK baby?" He said as he looked at his girl in the arms of Rick.

Michonne has some explaining to do! I hope you all enjoy my little story. Feedback, comments and favourites are all welcome! Till next time…