"You don't seem too worried?" Michonne studied Rick's face as he took a slight detour from their intended route, towards wherever Carl was presumed to be hiding.
"Ha!" He laughed. "I'm not. More often than not Carl just doesn't want to go home and face Shane."
"Shane?"
"Shane's kind of a hard ass." Rick explained. "That's Lori's new husband...my old buddy." His jaw clenched as he said it. "He used to be a cop, NYPD, until he got medically retired after taking a bullet that lodged in his hip."
"Ouch." Michonne flinched.
"Uh huh." Rick grimaced. "I don't know exactly what goes on, but I think he kinda still things he's the law enforcement in that house and Carl doesn't like it. Not used to it I guess."
"It's nice you're still close to him."
"Yeah. He wanted to come live with me, after it all happened. But because I never legally adopted him I didn't have a leg to stand on. I spoke to a lawyer, but any court would have decided he was better off with his mother." Rick puffed out his cheeks. "Me and Lori talked about the adoption thing, Carl's father hasn't been in the picture since he was born, but it never seemed to matter. Until it did."
"You said you thought you knew where he is?"
"Well, I hope I do, otherwise this time he really is missing." Rick's calm demeanor hinted that this wasn't the first hunt he'd been on the hunt for his stepson. "He's got some friends a couple years older than him, they go to NYU. God knows where he met them or what he does with them, but he stays there sometimes. I've picked him up from these dorms before in the middle of the night when he got found by campus police." Rick shook his head at the thought of his wayward boy.
Michonne took all the information in. When Rick said he saw his stepson still she assumed he took him for a customary McDonald's every now and then, or to see a movie. She didn't imagine him driving across the city in the middle of the night to rescue a child that wasn't even his. If there were any negative qualities to Rick Grimes she had yet to find them. She subconsciously rested her hand on her belly.
The dorms sat at the edge of Washington Square Park. Rick had to circle the block several times before finding a space outside.
"I'll be right back." He assured Michonne as he stepped out onto the now bustling sidewalk.
He emerged twenty minutes later with what Michonne assumed was Carl. A skinny, long haired boy wearing a plaid shirt and skinny jeans. He walked awkwardly, as most teenagers tended to do, his shoulders hunched forward and his lips curled in a surly expression. He got into the back seat and immediately turned to face the window.
"Hi." Michonne said breezily.
"Hi." He practically grunted, his eyes still fixed out the window.
Rick got back into the car, his phone held to his ear.
"Yeah I got him." He said, presumably to Lori. "Yep, he's fine. Slept through his alarm...got caught out in a lie." He winked at Carl who scowled back at him. "I'll bring him home now." He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. "Carl?" He said firmly to the teenager, willing him to look in his direction. The boy did so with a huge eyeroll. "This is Michonne."
"New girlfriend?" He quipped.
"Just a friend." Rick looked to Michonne who smiled her confirmation. "In case you're wondering." He turned to Michonne now. "He really is always this enchanting." She laughed at his dorky dad act. Carl sighed heavily and returned to staring out the window.
"Take me straight to school, Rick." Carl pleaded. "I don't want to go home to one of Shane's lectures."
"Your mom wants to see you. She was worried." Rick glanced at Carl in the rear view mirror before pulling away into the steady stream of traffic.
"Hah! She wasn't worried. She'll be backing Shane up, talking about respect. Respecting their rules respecting their house..."
"Well, son." The word fell easily out of Rick's mouth, Michonne noticed. "They're right."
"Great, that's all I need. You siding with them."
"It's not about sides, kid. I don't like that you lied to your mom. I don't like that you used me to lie to her. This isn't a game, you're seventeen years old. This is New York city, you can't be out at all hours doing what you want. You're in high school!"
"Yeah well I'll be in college soon enough, then none of you can tell me what to do?" He folded his arms and sunk lower in his seat.
"Is that right?" Rick smirked into the rear view mirror. "And who's gonna be paying for that?"
Michonne heard Carl behind her shifting in his seat along with a dramatic exhale. He didn't speak for the rest of the journey. Even when Rick pulled up onto what Michonne assumed was Lori's driveway and he exited the car, he barely grunted his goodbyes.
"I'll be a minute." Rick said to Michonne and went to greet his ex wife. Michonne noticed her stood in the doorway, she had her arms folded across her chest and wore a pinched expression on her face. Michonne couldn't make out what they were saying, but could tell that Carl's anticipated lecture had already started. Rick hugged Carl goodbye and made his way back to the car.
"Rick! Rick!" Michonne heard the muffled sound of a younger child through the window, a little girl around six or seven ran into Rick's arms. He bent down to her level to talk for a moment before Lori ushered her back to the house.
"See you guys soon." Rick called back to the house as he opened the door to get in. "Sorry about that." He said to Michonne. "Let's get you home now. You feeling ok?"
"A little sick...a little tired...a little pregnant." Michonne sighed as she leaned back in her seat. Rick smiled at her and rubbed her arm.
"You're doing a great job hanging in there." He said reversing off Lori's drive. "Sorry about all that. Carl's such a pain in the ass at the moment. You wouldn't believe it, but he's a sweet kid really."
"Who was that little girl?"
"Judith? That's Lori and Shane's daughter."
"Cute. I didn't realise they had a kid too?" She realised as she said it that there would have been no reason for her to know anything about Rick's life.
"Yeah." Rick bit his bottom lip and fell silent.
He barely spoke on the drive home, aside from occasionally checking how she was feeling. She realised that actually she was feeling alright. She felt calm when she was with Rick, she was used to going a hundred miles an hour at work, even when she was home she felt like she should be constantly keeping herself busy. It was rare that she just sat down and watched the world go by. She also realised how much she was enjoying spending this time with Rick, in spite of herself she kept feeling flutters of excitement about the fact she could potentially be having his child. She knew she had a decision to make, and she knew she was running out of time to make it.
"Here you go." Rick stopped the car at the entrance to her apartment block. "Sorry again for this morning. Thanks for coming along for the ride."
"It was no problem. Thanks for coming to the scan."
"Course." He smiled.
"Rick?" Her voice sounded shaky, unsure even though she suddenly felt certain about what she was about to say. "I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna have the baby." She couldn't believe she was saying it, even as the words came from her mouth it didn't sound like it was her saying them.
"For real?" His deep blue eyes stared into hers, mouth halfway open, not allowing himself to believe it could actually be real.
"I could never picture it before. How it could all work out perfectly. But it doesn't have to be perfect, does it? At least not white picket fence perfect." She peered at his face to try and discern an expression. "Alright?" She prompted.
"Alright." He finally allowed his face to break into a huge smile. He chuckled. "Alright." He nodded as he repeated. "Let's have a baby."
"Let's have a baby." She repeated, her smile matching his as she got out the car and start her new life as a pregnant woman. Michonne Hawthorne, career woman, top corporate lawyer, was about to have a baby with a man she barely knew. She smiled and shook her head before giving one final wave to the stranger she'd be sharing the next 18 years with.
