December 15th

"So wait." Jesus sipped at his glass of red wine. "You had a baby scan, met his stepson and met his ex wife on the same day?"

"Yep." Michonne lay back on her couch, ginger ale in hand as usual. "Apart from I didn't really meet the ex wife, she was just kinda stood there." She screwed up her face, remembering Lori's taut expression.

"Wow." Sasha looked up at her from her position on the floor. "Talk about jumping in headfirst!"

"His wife's daughter was there too." Michonne gestured to Sasha to pass her the olives.

"Ooh I heard about that!" Jesus said with a knowing look.

"What do you mean?" Michonne tilted her head, unaware of any story.

"What's Rick told you?"

"Nothing he just said she was Lori and Shane's daughter then he went weirdly quiet."

"I'll bet. Poor guy."

"Wait so what's the story?" Michonne rolled her eyes at how much Jesus loved to be the keeper of information.

"Yeah Jesus you can't leave us hanging!" Sasha leaned forward, her mouth already agape.

"Well I only know what Daryl let slip." He set the wine glass down on the coffee table. Michonne and Sasha looked at each other, that always meant a juicy story. "But basically what happened was, Rick was married to Lori and she got pregnant. They went for the scan and Rick realised literally in the exam room that there was no way it could be his baby."

"What...the...?" Sasha stared from Michonne to Jesus, her mouth hanging open.

"Yeah. It gets worse. So the reason he knew this was Lori used to travel a lot for work, so she went away for two weeks, came back and Rick wound up in the hospital for two weeks."

"No way?" Sasha again, this time with a sharp intake of breath.

Jesus nodded. "Remember when everyone caught e-coli from that shrimp restaurant in Tribeca? Well he was one of the unlucky ones apparently, got really sick. Anyway he comes home from the hospital and boom! Two weeks later Lori takes a test and she's pregnant."

"And he had no clue about her and Shane?" Sasha's eyes were so wide that Michonne would have laughed if it wasn't for the bombshell Jesus had just dropped.

"None at all. He said to Daryl it had been literally weeks since they'd had sex, then suddenly she wanted to have it all the time! To cover it up I guess and hope he wouldn't figure it out. He confronted her and she came clean about everything. Shane was his buddy from high school. They moved up here from Georgia together."

"So not only did she cheat on him...she got pregnant with his best friend's baby...while he was in the hospital?!" Sasha reiterated, turning from Jesus to Michonne open mouthed.

"That's what Daryl said." Jesus reacquainted himself with his wine glass. "Rick took it really hard, it was seven years ago now and he hasn't had another relationship since."

"And Daryl just 'let slip' all these details?" Michonne spoke for the first time since he started telling the story.

"Mmmhmmm." Jesus nodded. "Well..." He said with a wry smile. "...he let slip the initial bombshell. The rest of the information I had to...coax out of him...shall we say."

Sasha and Michonne shrieked with laughter.

As Sasha and Jesus finished one bottle of wine and started on another, Michonne lay quietly looking at her phone. It had been over a week since she'd seen Rick, but they'd been texting every day. She looked at the latest one he'd set an hour ago.

"I hope you enjoy your evening with your friends. What would you say to me taking you out at some point? Nothing fancy, nothing official, just want to get to know you that's all."

She wasn't sure why she'd left it unanswered, for some reason it felt like a big step. Despite the fact that she was pregnant with his child, a date with Rick seemed huge. She hadn't been on a date in years, not really, not since Mike. Maybe it was time to change the narrative. Her and Rick seemed to have been on weird parallel paths the last few years. It was a big step for him too, she realised, besides the fact that they'd have to get to know each other eventually...

"Sure, sounds good. Whenever works for you." She typed quickly and pressed 'send' before she had a chance to talk herself out of it.

She didn't even get a chance to lock her phone before his reply buzzed through.

"How about Friday? I'll pick you up at 6 so you don't get too hungry or too tired."

"Perfect. I'll see you then."

"Who are you smiling at?" Sasha brought her back into the room.

"No one, just catching up on texts." Michonne smiled coyly.

"Aaaand?" Jesus flapped his hand wildly begging her to elaborate.

"And nothing, just my mom."

"I've seen you text your mom your mom doesn't have you smiling like that." Sasha rested her head on Michonnes knee.

"I was just arranging to meet Rick."

"For an appointment? Or extra curricular?"

"Neither! Just...dinner."

"So a date?"

"Dinner!" She reiterated in a stern voice.

"For what it's worth." Jesus was smiling now. "Having spoken to Daryl and thoroughly vetting him for you, you could do a lot worse."

"I'm starting to figure that out." Michonne said quietly.


December 20th

Rick Grimes was prompt, she could say that about him for sure, which to a worn out hungry pregnant woman on a Friday evening, was a godsend. He texted her at 5:55 to say he was outside whenever she was ready.

"Good evening." He grinned as she exited through the revolving doors. "What an entrance." He gently held her elbows as he kissed both her cheeks. "You look amazing." He shamelessly looked her up and down. She looked effortlessly sexy with a black jumpsuit peeking out from underneath her grey overcoat.

"Thank you, I figured I wouldn't have many other chances to get dressed up." She felt her cheeks flush slightly as he kissed her, enjoying the feel of his neatly trimmed beard on her cheek. He'd got a haircut too, she noticed. She liked the longer, slightly scruffy look she'd seen the previous three times, but the fade he'd gone for this time definitely added a layer of handsome. "Where are we going?" She asked, hoping he didn't notice how flustered she was.

"You'll see. Come on let's get a cab." He gently touched the small of her back to guide her nearer the road.

"A cab? That's different for you isn't it?"

"I like to change it up every once in a while, I guess." He hailed a cab with remarkable ease considering the time of night, and they headed downtown. "See if you can figure out where we're headed..." He quizzed her as they headed towards the harbor.

She looked out the window, noticing Rick stealing glances at her from the seat next to her. She smiled to herself at how obvious he was being.

"Boat dock?" She figured out as soon as the cab pulled up.

"Yeah..." He paid the driver and rushed round to open her door.

"Circle line?"

"Uh huh. You ever done it before?" He held out a hand to help her out of the cab.

"Never."

"Never?"

"Have you?"

"Yeah, I was such a tourist when I first moved here." He admitted as he brought up the e-tickets on his phone. "This is a good one, harbor lights tour."

"I'm excited!" She linked an arm through his. "Thank you."

"There's food too." He reassured her. "And a bar though that's not really your scene right now."

"Perfect for our fourth date."

"Fourth date already." He raised his eyebrow. "You know what that normally means?"

"I'd say we broke that rule already!"

"And then some!" He chuckled, enjoying their easy banter.

He helped her onto the boat and made sure to head straight to the burger bar to get them some dinner before leading Michonne to the top deck.

It was perfect, Michonne thought, as the huge vessel cut through the water and they looked up at the city lights as if they were seeing them for the first time. And without the pressure of a formal sit down date, and without the pressure of it being a romantic evening, they talked about everything. Their families, their failed relationships, their childhoods. It was weird, they came to realise, for two people who had met by accident they had very similar upbringings. Both were raised on a combination of strict discipline and unlimited love. Both agreed that was how they wanted to raise their child.

"I know about Lori, and Shane...and Judith." Michonne said as they made their way back to the boat dock, the two of them were stood on the top deck looking out at where the sun had set a couple of hours earlier.

"Yeah." He said slowly. "I figured you'd find out. Daryl isn't exactly known for keeping a secret. Not that it's a secret, I just don't really talk about it."

"I'm sorry it happened. I'm sorry I brought it up. I just didn't want you not knowing that I knew."

"I appreciate it." He was looking at the horizon still, although it was dark and there wasn't much to see anymore. "No one really talked about it, not to me anyway. It was always about the divorce, or what a jerk Shane was, no one really wanted to broach the subject of Judith, or the baby as she was then."

"They probably didn't know what to say, or how to say it."

Rick took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just wanted someone to say to me: 'that sucks man. You thought you were gonna have a baby and then...nothing.'"

"Yeah."

"I punched Shane so hard I broke my hand." Rick smirked slightly in spite of himself. "He barely had a mark on him, I had to go to the emergency room." He was flexing his fingers as he recounted the story. Remembering the searing pain as he made contact with Shane's smug face.

Michonne couldn't help but giggle. "You broke your hand?"

"I never really punched somebody before." Rick was laughing too now. "I didn't know there was a right way or a wrong way to do it. Lori had to drive me to the hospital...that was awkward."

"I can imagine!" She smiled, but as she looked at him again his expression changed. He looked at his shoes as he took another deep breath.

"I think the worst part was...I could have lived with Lori's betrayal... I knew she was seeing someone, I'm not stupid and to be honest things hadn't been right for a while. But Shane..." He shook his head. "He was my best friend."

Michonne moved closer to him, taking his gloved hand in hers. "Do you think about her? Judith?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He said, barely audible.

"I'm sorry Rick."

"I've made peace with it now." He turned to look at her. "It was a long time ago."

"I'm not gonna shut you out." She said as she squeezed his hand. "I don't just want you to be a baby daddy, I want you to be a proper daddy. School runs, holidays, vacations...I want it to be 50/50."

Rick smiled. "I want that too, I'm never going to let you down. Both of you..." He placed a hand on her belly over her coat, even though there were several layers in between them she felt the warmth emanating from the contact.

They were stood facing each other now, the cold New York winter air biting at their faces. Rick looped his arms around Michonnes waist. "I believe you." She whispered. He pulled her closer to him. It happened slowly, she saw his head move towards her, but she was still surprised when his lips made contact with hers.

She stood rooted to the spot for a split second, unable to move, before her body decided to surrender. Her arms around his neck, she deepend the kiss. Their lips moved like they remembered each other, though neither of them could really recall what it felt like.

Rick was intoxicated, he couldn't figure out the effect she had on him. As her tongue danced with his he just wanted to take her home and show her how much better he could do then that first night. He forced himself to stop so he didn't get carried away.

"Sorry." He panted as they finished, their foreheads still pressed against one another.

"Don't be." She whispered back. "But we can't go down this road."

"Can't we?"

She didn't answer, she turned back towards the view, her head still spinning from their kiss. He stood next to her.

"Sorry." He said again.

"I liked it." She smiled. "Don't apologise. I just want to go really slow."

"Really slow." He repeated. "So it's not out of the question?"

"Not forever."

"I'll take that."

The circle line boat was pulling into the dock. Michonne had enjoyed her evening with Rick, she was scared to call it a date, although she wasn't sure why she was scared. He took her hand to help her off the boat and neither of them let go as they continued walking.

"I'll walk you home." He said. "Unless you're tired."

"Walkings fine, it's nice."

"This is nice. I enjoyed our fourth date."

"Me too."

"I'm heading back to Georgia tomorrow for a week or so."

"Oh really?" Michonne wondered why the thought of him being in a different state bothered her, she liked the security of knowing he was only 30 minutes away.

"Yeah, I always spend Christmas with my mom down there. And Shane and Lori are spending it with Shane's folks so I get to see Carl on Christmas Day."

"That's nice."

"Yeah I'm sure he'll be thrilled and full of great conversation." Rick joked. "That boy was such a sweet kid, but they turn into monsters when they hit their teenage years."

"I guess the divorce was hard on him too." Michonne felt Rick stiffen up next to her as she mentioned it. "Then having a new sister thrown into the mix too. Can't have been easy."

"When you put it like that, it was a lot for a 10 year old to deal with."

"This is one reason I never wanted any kids."

"Well I'm sorry for changing that one."

"No apologies necessary, I'm cautiously excited."

"Me too. I've never experienced it from the baby stage before, so I'm sure it'll be... interesting."

"You gonna change his diapers?"

"Oh of course! Wait... he? You think it's a boy?"

Michonne nodded. "Do you?"

"I've not really thought about it, but I always imagined myself having a little girl."

"Well, one of us will be right. I don't really mind."

"Me either."

"You gonna tell your mom over Christmas?"

"I think so. Are you?"

"I'm not sure yet. I probably will, she'll figure something is up anyway."

"Well...here we are." They'd reached Michonne's apartment building. It was only when he let go of her hand that Michonne realised they'd been holding hands the entire way. "I guess it'll be after Christmas now that we see each other? I'm back on the 30th."

She nodded. "I have an appointment with the doctor on 2nd January if you want to come?"

"Course. I'm there."

"Merry Christmas, Rick."

"Merry Christmas, Michonne."

He hugged her goodbye and, completely in spite of herself she gave him another kiss. This time a quick, chaste peck on the lips. Rick blushed and stood dumbfounded for a few seconds which made her giggle.

"I'll see you soon." He stuttered and turned to walk off, a new spring in his step. She watched him leave before she entered her building. It might have been because it was almost Christmas, or it might have been the pregnancy hormones, but as she walked through the lobby and pressed the button for the elevator she realised Rick Grimes and his cute bow-legged walk and his weirdly innocent Southern charm were winning her over.