Chapter 5- The BBQ, The Truth, and The Plot
Rick was standing in front of Noah's house debating on whether or not he wanted to go through with attending the BBQ. The thought of sitting around a bunch of people that hated his guts was not an appetizing situation to be in. Michonne waited patiently with her husband as he stared at the doorbell deciding what to do and knowing full-well she would ring the doorbell if he decided to try and leave. She rubbed her husband up and down the arm in a show of comfort and support.
"Rick, I am with you. We are in this together and I will be by your side every step of the way in there, if it gets too rough, then we will take the kids and leave immediately," said a concerned Michonne.
He was still trying to decide when his kids started to get fidgety and huffing out loud breaths towards their father. He narrowed his eyes at his kids and told them not to rush him. Carl and Andre snickered, Judith rolled her eyes, RJ and Jackson started talking amongst themselves and ignoring their father completely and Abigail grabbed and squeezed her father's hand. She looked up at him with such love and devotion in her eyes that he became overwhelmed at the genuine thoughtfulness of his daughter. He looked at his wife and smiled, then back to his daughter, nodded to himself and took a deep breath and rang the doorbell right after he scowled at his other kids.
The doorbell rang and Noah looked through the peephole and groaned when he saw Rick's face. He muttered "incoming" and told them all to pass it along like a kid would in a middle school classroom when trying to spread gossip. Noah took a deep breath, looked for support from his wife Beth who stood right behind him to welcome their guests, and opened the door with the biggest fake smile that he could muster. When he scanned the group that stood on his porch, his fake smile turned into a look of someone extremely perplexed as he darted his eyes back and forth across the group. Rick and Michonne stared at each other wondering why Noah looked so strange and confused. It was not the normal look of surprise that a person would have when they saw a family that big, it was something different. Michonne whispered to Rick to make sure Noah knew they were coming. Rick nodded to his wife and shrugged his shoulders.
"Uhhh, hey Captain, welcome, come in, come in," stuttered Noah as he stepped aside and watched Rick and his wife, and nine kids enter the foyer of his home, he counted the kids in his head.
"Thanks Noah, this is my wife Michonne, and my kids Carl, Andre, Judith, Jackson, Abigail, RJ, Mia, Miles, and Major." After the introductions, Rick noticed a shift from Noah's original weird expression to one that he was more familiar with. He got that exact look often when he and his family were all together because of the sheer number of kids he had. He was used to it by this point. He never had an opportunity to discuss his family with the other officers. No one would talk to him and give him a chance to tell them about his extremely large brood. So he figured all of them would be surprised at his many offspring.
"Uhhh, ok…come…come on out to the backyard," Noah stammered as that strange look returned, he tried to shake the look of confusion off his face, "Most everybody is already here."
As they walked towards the backyard, Noah tried to subtly gaze over his shoulder to make sure what he was seeing was real. Rick and Michonne stared at each other wondering why Noah was still acting so weird. They shook it off as they both were committed to trying to turn the situation Rick was currently stuck in around to something positive, something he could build on at work.
"I didn't want my bunch to eat you out of house and home today, so I brought some added BBQ, sides and dessert for the party, hope you don't mind," laughed Rick nervously still unsure about what was occurring with Noah.
No, that's great, thanks," replied Noah still with an appearance of disbelief on his face. "Come on back, just about everyone is already here," Noah repeated for a second time. He was very short for words in his stunned state.
After putting the food down on the island in the kitchen, they all walked out to the backyard. Rick and Michonne finally noticed the look of surprise on Beth's face and Michonne grabbed Ricks hand now unsure of what exactly her and her family walked into. "I wish I would have brought by katana" she thought to herself, "these people are extra crispy weird." As if Rick read Michonne's mind, he squeezed her hand and gave her a quick nod. Michonne knew what his nonverbal communication meant, and she was ready to kick off her shoes and take off her earrings and fight their way out of that house if they had to. She looked back at her kids and then back forward towards the backyard. Michonne quickly shook the silly thought out of her head and murmured to herself, "It's just and innocent BBQ Michonne, nothing crazy to see here," trying to convince herself.
Rick and his family walked out into the huge backyard and he heard Noah holler, "Hey everyone, The Captain and his…..umm…wife and kids are here."
When all the officers and their wives and guests saw Michonne and his kids, there was a collective gasp and a confounded look on almost all of their faces. Then it got quiet, very quiet and still as they stared at Rick and his family. Michonne instinctively moved her hands to her ear, ready if she needed to take off her hoop earrings because it seemed something was about to go down. Michonne and Rick looked at each other then out over the yard full of his colleagues and then back at each other again. Finally, Beth broke the silence as she sidled around the big family and walked them towards open seating. There were murmurs and then many of the wives came up to Michonne and started aweing over the cuteness of all their children.
Rick chuckled as he declared, "Dang, I know I got a lot of kids, but I didn't expect this response!"
Abraham laughed and said "Yeah, Rick you got a lot of kids for sure, but that ain't why we are speechless."
Some of the officer's wives quickly ushered the kids into the house and Rick noticed that Lieutenant Negan looked very pale and very nervous. At the same time Rick noticed Negan, so did Michonne. She struggled for a second to place the face, he was older but familiar, but then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She used to date Negan for a year or so in college. She liked him well-enough, but she never loved him. She could admit to herself that he was more of a convenience than anything else, and she always regretted keeping the relationship going when she knew it was never going to go anywhere. It was unfair to Negan, but the horrible way they spilt, she never got the opportunity to apologize to him. Then he started acting beside himself, then it got scary, and Michonne thought the only thing he deserved was a police record. It was strange, after his abhorrent behavior that he would become a police officer. Michonne and Negan both made eye contact and she saw the anger dance in his eyes like a flame waiting to combust into a wildfire. He averted his eyes which brought Michonne's attention back to Rick and the officers.
"What's this about?" Probed Rick squinting his eyes as if everything would become clearer concerning the awkward situation he found himself if he closed his eyes to just slits.
"Well," spoke Abraham loudly, his voice booming across the entire backyard. He had the attention of everyone at the BBQ, "let's gone ahead and get this out in the open right now while all parties are present cuz either way we got a shit storm behind door A and a shitstorm behind door B," he fumed while eyeing Negan who was trying to leave the yard through the gate. "Hold up Negan, Hold up. You need to hold your left nut still and use your right nut to answer for yourself," Abraham ordered. Abraham loved talking about nuts it seemed.
Michonne laughed at Abrahams language, then stopped as she and Rick watched Negan as he defiantly stood near the gate instead of joining where the rest of the group was huddled and focused on Abraham and Rick.
"Lieutenant Negan here," Abraham informed while pointing his thumb at Negan, "got the whole precinct riled up before you started as Captain with tales of your legendary racist views and antics." Abraham revealed as he exaggerated his movements ready to expose a huge revelation, which he was. "We all thought you were the worst type of cop there could be. He claimed you were good friends with Governor Blake and despite your views, you rose through the ranks because of your connections, but it seems like your perspectives on race and equality were greatly exaggerated," said a repulsed Abraham towards Negan.
"We are mighty apologetic about regarding you in such a way that is incongruous with our normal temperaments and demeanors," expounded Eugene. "Our etiquette over the course of this last phase our relationship is unfortunate and repellent. We were just all so nauseated by what our ears perceived to be the God's honest truth that we took Negan's unscrupulous fabrications and rantings at his word because why would spin such a sordid tale? And being a detective, I feel ashamed and regretful that he pulled this deception over on me. We hope we can all end this distasteful chapter of deceit and start anew."
It took a minute to fully decipher what Eugene was saying, and once everyone got the gist, they all looked at Negan and watched as he stormed off and out the gate without a word.
"I am disappointed in you guys for assuming the worst and listening to gossip and hearsay," spoke Chief Morgan. "As police officers we are trained not to do that and instead to look at the evidence and come to conclusions for ourselves," Morgan told his group of officers. "And I will get to the bottom of this Rick, and when I do, the proper heads will roll. By the way, it is Negan that is very close to the Governor, and maybe some of Negan's lies about Rick are probably about himself. I think he may have rose through the ranks based on his own connections."
"I do not know, nor have I ever met Governor Blake. And I most certainly am not a racist." Rick said with some degree of anger in his tone. This whole situation was frustrating to Rick.
The officers all looked remorseful and all apologized to Rick and his wife profusely and decided to immediately make amends to him and his family for the poor reception that they received. Rick was furious with everyone at first because he had worked hard when he was a Sheriff in King County years ago to clean up the corruption and racism in the KCPD. He was livid because he was married to a black woman and his kids were black, and for him to even be associated with racism was mortifying. He was disappointed that no one thought to even talk to him about their perceptions of him or even challenge his beliefs. No one should have to deal with a racist in the workplace. He was also livid with himself for not taking the initiative and talking with his team earlier. But once he saw the apologetic looks on the officer's faces, he softened and became less and less angry. He was just happy everything was out in the open and the air was clear. But Rick was dangerously enraged with Negan. He was preparing for an all-out war.
"Now," said Abraham, "lets discuss the second elephant in the room, for dicks sake why do you have so many damn kids Rick! Were you trying to bake up that may biscuits or did Bisque accidently spill from the damn bowl!?" he said roaring with laugher.
Little did anyone know that Negan was standing on the other side of the fence listening to the conversations and seething with the new turn of events. He had not planned on the group finding out about his lie so soon. He wanted revenge on Rick for stealing Michonne, he wanted revenge on Michonne for leaving him for Rick, he wanted revenge for Rick stealing his Captain's job. He wanted revenge period. He would just have to change his plan and his timetable, and he was ready to get started on his new strategy. It was time to put in a call to his good friend, the Governor.