A/N: Your continued love is so appreciated! Here's chapter 4 and it's a lot of dialogue.

Moving Forward

It's been a few weeks of training for Rick and Michonne, slowly but surely Rick can feel the strength rebuilding in his shoulder, but more importantly he can start to feel the strength rebuilding in his bond with Michonne. He's tried, boy has he tried to keep his mind focused on getting back to the field, but she makes it damn near impossible for him to not feel like a hormonal teenage boy again.

He observes her as she sets the weights for the lat pulldown machine. Her hair being up in a top knot gives him the perfect view of her sexy figure. Her strong arms, her slim waist, and her sexy legs. He is reminded daily that he let her go, and every day that they work together, he's reminded that it was the biggest mistake of his life.

"Alright Rick, let's get you on the lat pull down for two sets of twenty." She says completely unaware of the hungry wolf whose been stalking his prey.

He takes a seat on the machine and allows her to make the necessary adjustments, longing for her touch to last longer than necessary, begging for her scent of vanilla and lavender to sit in the air for just a few seconds more. In the weeks that they have worked together, they've had a friendly banter, but they haven't gone deep in what has happened in their lives for the past five years. Rick is ready to change that.

"Okay, nice and easy. Focus on your movements and breathing. Let me know if it's too much weight." She says calmly from behind him zeroed in on his shoulder.

"Nah, this weight is good, thanks Chonne."

He's noticed that she doesn't freeze up as much anymore when he refers to her by her nickname, not like the first time he said it. They continue through the rest of his workout, her being completely focused and in her element, and him with his mind raging with how he can use his cool down and stretching section of the workout to break the ice a little bit.

"Sooo, when do you think I can get some practice pitching in?" he begins as she wraps his shoulder with the ice pack.

"Rick" she sighs already exasperated with his stubbornness. Between him asking at least once a week, and the front office checking in daily on the progress of their franchise player, she needs a little less pressure, and more freedom to do her job.

"I'm getting restless here Chonne."

"No, you're being hardheaded and stubborn, as usual." the last part she mumbles as she takes a seat on the exam table across from him.

He can't help but chuckle at her side remark. He has found his opening.

"You remember in high school, freshman year I didn't make varsity after working out all summer long…"

"You were so upset," she smiles at the memory of simpler times.

"Yeah, you all had to drag me from the fields every afternoon, and every weekend."

"You were determined, hardheaded, but determined."

"And next season…"

"You were the starting pitcher on varsity," she finishes his sentence. "I don't think you have ever been so heartbroken like you were when your name wasn't on the roster for varsity."

"Yeah, I have…" he states somberly, looking up at her.

"Rick…"

"What Chonne? We can't talk about what happened?"

"What is there left to say?" she genuinely inquires.

xxxxxx

Five years ago…

"I'm late…"

"What did you say Chonne?"

"I-I said I'm late, Sash"

"Oh shit. When is the last time you saw Rick?"

"Like a month ago, he's been training so much it's been hard for me to find time to get to Atlanta to see him, or him to come visit me."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I guess I need to take a test, but I don't want to without him."

"Then I guess you need to find the time to get to Atlanta. You've got one more final, then you can head on down there."

xxxxxx

"I'm just not sure why it's been so hard to get into contact with him, I tried to tell him I was coming home for break, but he hasn't responded to my calls and I don't want to waste the text." Michonne states over the phone to Maggie and Glenn via facetime.

"Chonne, maybe you should wait until you talk to him…" Glenn states.

"What? Why? It shouldn't be a problem; the season hasn't started, and I can just treat it as a surprise. I know it's been complicated since he got drafted and I left for school, but it's still us." She says optimistically, knowing that things haven't been truly right since she left for school.

"Sweetie, um. There's been something we need to tell you…" Maggie begins.

"Maggie…"

"My momma told me, that GG told her, that Lori has been hanging around. A lot."

"Well she's been that way since forever."

"I know Chonne. But we haven't hung out with Rick in a while, and whenever we do, she's around, and not in a platonic way."

"Well. We don't know what kind of way, but it's still weird that she's around and he allows it." Glenn adds.

"Rick, he wouldn't do anything like that, no-not to me." Michonne says firmly.

"I know sweetie, but I think that maybe before you speak with him about being late, you need to get some clarity about what's going on."

"I don't need clarity. Rick wouldn't betray me this way."

xxxxxx

"Chonne?" Rick asks panicky when he opens the front door of his downtown condo.

"Surprise!" she shouts ecstatically coming face to face with him.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"What, I need a reason to visit you now?" she asks curiously at his not so warm welcome.

"No, of course not baby. I'm just surprised that's all." He responds nervously.

"Are you gonna keep me out here or are you gonna let me in—"

"Rick? Is that our food? You wore me out. I'm starving" a feminine voice says coming up behind him. "Oh. Michonne. Hi." Lori says when she fully comes into view in the doorway.

Rick is in a complete panic. He can see how this looks, he can see that beautiful mind of Michonne's working in overdrive and he can't stop it. Michonne can't seem to catch her breath as her world seems to come crashing down on her all at once.

"I'll give you two a minute…" Lori states masking her smirk at victory.

As Lori takes her leave so does Michonne, dizzily stumbling away from Rick's front door and towards her car.

"Chonne!" Rick cries out after her.

"Chonne! Baby, please!" his cries go unanswered as he chases after her. Michonne can't stop she has to get away from him, but her car seems to be getting further and further away rather than closer. Before she knows it, she's being whirled around by Rick's strong arms, holding her close to him.

"How could you do this to me?" she cries out to him as she tries to break through his embrace.

"Chonne, baby please. Just let me explain" he begs holding her tight in his arms.

"Explain what Rick?! Huh?" She's able to push herself away from him. Hard. "Explain how you've been cheating on me. Me!?"

"It's not like that. Just please let me–"

"You haven't said anything worth hearing yet Rick. You want to explain, then explain it to me! Explain to me how I have been trying to reach you for days with no answer. Explain to me why that whore is in your home wearing your shirt, talking about "you wore her out"! Explain! Explain it!" she is infuriated.

"She's just been here Chonne. After the last visit we had, I've just been missing you so much baby, and she just caught me in a moment of weakness, that's all."

"A moment of weakness? So instead of calling me, talking to me, leaning on me during your moment of weakness regarding our relationship. You go to her? That's bullshit Rick."

"I'm-I'm not explaining this right. It's just that after you left for PT school, and I just got thrown into this world, I needed a familiar face. That's all, baby, please, it's not what you think it is."

"Wait. Wait are you blaming me?"

"No! Of course not. But Chonne, it's been a lot of transition, and I just needed some normalcy, and only seeing you once a month if not longer, it just wasn't enough. I haven't been myself without you. Can't you see that? I'm a mess baby!"

"What about me?! Huh? What about the mess I've been without you? This transition hasn't just been happening to you Rick! But instead of leaning on someone else, I came home to be with you! I wanted and needed you, so I came!"

"Chonne, we just need to take a step back and—"

"Your right. We do need to take a step back"

"Excuse me? What, what does that mean Chonne?"

"It means that I needed you, so I came to you, and you couldn't do the same for me. I don't know what's going on, and you aren't telling me anything worth hearing. So, I'm done."

"You don't mean that Michonne. You hear me? You don't mean that." Rick retorts with fire burning in his chest.

"You should get back to Lori."

"Michonne, don't you walk away from me."

"How can I walk away from you Rick when you've already left me."

xxxxxx

"What does it say?" Michonne asks Maggie with bated breath as her friend stares at the test.

"Negative." Maggie whispers to Michonne. Seeing her friend through the mirror she drops the test and rushes over to Michonne and catches her as she begins to fall towards the bathroom floor. "Shhh, shhh Chonne. It's okay. I've got you."

xxxxxx

"Glenn, I just need to see her, and I just need her to let me explain. Please!"

"Rick. I love you like a brother, but Michonne, Michonne is my person. She's not okay right now."

"Glenn, I love her, and I need to see her, this can't be it. She just needs to let me explain."

"I'll talk to her, see if she wants to, but I won't force her Rick. She's going through it right now."

"Please, do what you can."

xxxxxx

Present day…

"I never cheated on you." Rick states somberly looking directly at Michonne.

"What?" she whispers.

"I never cheated on you. The day everything went down, Lori came over to do a workout with me."

"Why didn't you—"

"I tried to explain, but I couldn't get my thoughts together. You came in and saw her and your mind was already made up."

"Rick you should've told me."

"Would you have believed me?" He asks. "We were in a really bad place Chonne. I wasn't responding to you, not because I didn't want to or because I was being sneaky, but because I couldn't handle the distance that was growing between us anymore. It was a shitty way to go about it, and I should've spoken to you about how I was feeling, but part of me just didn't want to make it real."

"All these years, you would rather me think that you cheated on me. That was the better alternative?"

"Of course not! But we had never been in a place like that before. I saw how you looked at me and I knew you wouldn't let me explain. I knew we were over."

"Rick I was upset. This girl who has always wanted you is at your home, you aren't responding to me, how was I supposed to react?"

"You were entitled to your reaction Chonne. I guess, a twisted part of me wanted to know that you would fight for us. Fight for me. And when you didn't…"

"You gave up on us."

More silence stretches between them as Rick feels a heavy weight lifted from his shoulders that's been weighing on him for years. Meanwhile, Michonne can't help but feel weighed down by this new information.

"I thought I was pregnant." She reveals on a deep breath.

"What?"

"When I came to visit, I wanted, to um, take the test with you. Since it would've been yours."

"Would've?"

"I took the test with Maggie after I left your house. It was negative."

"Chonne…"

"I figured that when the test came back negative it was a sign that we weren't meant to be. You were here and I was in North Carolina, we didn't know how to deal with the change."

"So, I guess we both assumed things that we shouldn't have."

"I guess so."

More silence fills the air as they both deal with the information that was shared between them. If only they were mature enough to sit down and have a conversation with one another, maybe so many years wouldn't have passed between them. Who knows where they would've ended up with both of them having demanding careers, but it probably would've been better than this.

"So, what now, where do we go from here?" Rick asks.

"I don't know Rick. Too much time has passed, and you have Lori."

"But if she wasn't in the picture, would that change anything?"

"I-I don't know."

A/N: I hate angsty chapters lol. I love to read them, but I hate to write them because you want to do it right. I hope I did. I didn't really know where to put the reveal of their past within the story, but my mind keeps changing and so I figured just put it out now. With it out the way, I can focus on them rebuilding honestly. Please let me know what you thought!