Again, thank you for all the reviews! I love reading them all. I am so glad you liked this little story of mine.
To those that asked why didn't the officers just ask Rick. Well, when someone you trusted in your precinct tells you something, you tend to believe it, especially if you trust them. Also, part of the rumor was that Rick had really high connections despite the views they thought he held, all the way up to the Governor, so they would have been hesitant to confront Rick. And Third, Rick was their boss, they did not want to risk their jobs. All those things combined made for the horrible week, and Negan being smart knew all of this.
Also, Happy Thanksgiving! I got up a little early to post, so I did not have much time to really do a good edit. I will fix any issues later. And, unfortunately there was a death in my family so I have a wake and a funeral and I probably will not have time to post chapter 7 until Sunday mid-morning. This is why I got up early today to make sure to post chapter 6 for you. Enjoy!
Ch 6—The Termination, The Bat, and The Disturbed
"Well that was interesting," said Rick to his wife once they were settled back at home from the BBQ.
"Yes, in more ways than one," whispered Michonne thoughtfully. She was trying to think of the best way to tell Rick about her and Negan's background. She knew he was possessive and had a temper so she would need to tread lightly and make sure he did not run out of the house with his colt cocked and ready to find Negan and shoot him full of holes. She thought about effective ways she could break the news. She could hold him in place by straddling him while she told him to keep him from leaving the house. She thought about tying him to the bed and telling him mid-coitus, but was shaken from her thought when Rick asked, "what now?" after he noticed she had a far off and nervous look.
"Ok, I need you to stay calm while I tell you something, do you promise to stay calm Rick?" Michonne asked with pleading eyes.
"No," said Rick simply and plainly.
"Rick, please," begged Michonne.
"Tell me," Rick breathed as he blew out a breath preparing for worst.
Michonne took a deep breath and decided straddling her husband was a good idea and crawled in his lap. He smiled and placed one hand on her waist and the other on her ass and watched her, waiting to hear what she had to say. She opened her mouth then closed it and then opened it again and let it out as fast as she could, "neganandiusedtodateincollege."
"What?" Puzzled Rick with is head tilted to the side and his fingers massaging the bridge of his nose.
Michonne went on to explain how she and Negan were dating, well more than dating when she met Rick in college. She informed him how they met at a speed dating event her sophomore year and were together right up until she met Rick the latter half of her junior year. When she broke it off with Negan, he was devastated, but mostly, he was angry. He did not take the break-up well. He constantly called and came to her apartment banging on her door for her to open up and let him in. He would try and meet her after she got out of her classes and she always had to take an alternate route to avoid him. Negan always managed to show up when she was out and about with her friends. He would appear when she was at bars, or restaurants, or parks, or anywhere and just watch her every move. It was awkward and uncomfortable, and she eventually stopped hanging out with her friends out of fear that something would happen. Her friends were not having it, they were true blue, and they moved most of their hangout sessions to Michonne's place. They did not want to leave her out of all the fun and most importantly, alone. They also encouraged her to file a police report and a restraining order against him.
There were a few times that he showed up when she was out with Rick. She never told Rick at the time and instead confronted Negan and informed him that if he could not let her go, she was going to have to file a restraining order. Once she told him that, the late-night phone calls where he said nothing, just breathed on the line, stopped. The name calling stopped. The showing up at her apartment off-campus stopped. The following her when she was with her friends or Rick stopped. Everything just stopped. She was so grateful that she did not give him another thought. Rick sat and gazed at Michonne, angry with himself that all this was happening to Michonne and he did not even know. Happening right under his nose. He was distressed that she had to go through it all alone, that he was of no help. And his anger for Negan pumped up from irate to furious to enraged in just a matter of seconds. As if reading Rick's mind, Michonne still on his lap, hugged him closer and kissed his forehead and began to rub her hands through the curls on the back of his head. Playing in and massaging his head always relaxed Rick and he normally would settle down immediately. Not this time, however.
"Babe, don't beat yourself up about this," Michonne sighed, "I didn't tell you what was happening, I should have, but we were just so new that I didn't want to ruin our relationship and what we were building before we even had a chance to get started."
"This will be handled tomorrow quickly, and I hope painfully," Rick seethed.
Rick moved his wife from on top of him and got up and called Shane. Although Shane was not at his current precinct, he trusted him more than he did those officers that were at his new one. Rick did not want to chance asking this favor from any of them and getting denied, or worse, them involving Chief Morgan about his wife's background with the soon to be dead man. He knew Shane, he was his brother also a damn good detective at his former precinct. He informed him of the situation and asked him to do a background check on Negan and let him know the details ASAP. He did not trust the officers in his new unit, he was not fully sure of their allegiance to Negan. He and knew that his good friend would not let him down for sure. After he hung up the phone, he walked over to Michonne and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on her temple.
"Do you think this has to do with me?" worried Michonne. "You think he started the rumors about you to get back at me?"
"Michonne," Rick soothed, "none of this is your fault. You did nothing wrong. There is something seriously wrong with Negan that maybe even a licensed psychiatrist can't fix. I want you to trust me that this problem will get taking care of soon and I don't want you to worry about anythang."
Michonne nodded her head to assure her husband that she heard him, but she was not so sure that what he was saying was accurate. She felt deep down that she did have to worry, and she had a sinking feeling that the worst was yet to come.
When Rick got to the precinct the next day, they were in meetings with the Chief about the allegations against Negan. Immediately following the meetings, Negan was called into the office.
"You are suspended with pay pending an investigation. I want you to know that what you did was despicable, and I advocated that you not get paid while suspended, but there are protocols that must be followed. But trust me, the investigation will be swift. Dismissed," Chief Morgan hissed.
Negan's face contorted as he stood and listened to the Chief. He was now sure that he needed to kick up his plan in high gear. Payback was going to be so sweet. When he found out Rick was going to be his Captain, HIS Captain, he was livid. In his mind Rick was inferior to him, he should have been Captain. How dare they pass him over for promotion. He was tired of being passed over by everyone. It was time for him to be top dog. It was time for him to get what he wanted, and what he wanted mostly, was Michonne.
"Simon," Negan growled on his way out of the police station into his cell phone, "Let's roll with the plan." Negan walked to his car with a huge grin, "First stop," he smiled to himself as he walked with a lean towards is car, "home to pick up Lucile." Negan started towards his home on top of the world. He was finally free to be who he always wanted to be, THE BOSS.
While Negan was getting his plan together, the next month was great for Rick professionally. He was back on track building relationships with the officers and staff, Negan was gone and had since been terminated. It was found that his actions constituted gross misconduct that could have put the lives of officers in jeopardy. No one had heard from him since. Home life was great, since his stress level and work anxiety significantly lessened, his home life became much less tense. He was able to relax and fully enjoy his wife and children without thinking about what was happening at his job. He was able to focus on them 100% while at home.
"Hey Michonne", Rick said while lounging in the family room, "Where is Abigail?" As he looked around the room and located the rest of the bunch.
"She is probably in her room," Michonne said worriedly. "I'm going to take Abigail out for some mommy daughter time. She is so quiet and sometimes gets lost in the middle of all her chaotic, outgoing siblings. She needs some one-on-one time with me. We are going to have a girl's day, just me and her."
"Ok, whose turn is it to take the triplets?" Asked Rick, "my parents or yours?"
"Mine, why Rick?" Rick ignored her question and continued discussing his plan for the triplets.
"I will drop them off at your parents in the morning, and the rest of em can go to my parents at the farm. Maybe make an overnight thing of it," said Rick.
"The rest of em? How many will you keep with you?" Michonne probed already shaking her head and knowing the answer.
"None of em," said Rick as he hunched his shoulders up as if to say that was a ridiculous question. "If I can't spend my day with you, then I will relax by myself, or maybe invite the guys over."
"Your need to be with me all the time is unhealthy Rick," Michonne laughs, "and the need to not be with your kids, Rick that is just terrible!"
"Being with you all the time is the healthiest thing I can do, keeps my heart rate up! Keeps me young! And Being with my kids brings me incomprehensible joy ninety two percent of the time.
"Ninety two percent Rick? Really?" Laughed Michonne.
"Yes, Really, you telling me you never need a break from all that? WE have NINE kids Michonne!" Exclaimed Rick.
Michonne smirked at her husband, "At least you are back to saying 'we' and I'm done taking breaks Rick, BUT, a little time-out never hurt nobody," she chuckled.
"Come 'ere," Rick said as he waved his hand then patted his thigh for her to come sit on his lap.
Michonne sauntered over to Rick with a wide grin on her face and makes herself comfortable sitting on her husband, arms draped over his shoulders. "Make sure you drop Abigail off at your parents after your day so we can have the house to ourselves," Rick tells her while kissing her along her jaw line and down her neck. "Rick, terrible, just terrible," she whimpered as she slapped him lightly on his arm.
"Hey, there are kids in here! This is the family room for God's Sake!" Yelled Carl.
"Mom please get off dad's lap," begged and embarrassed Judith.
"Is that all y'all think about?" Asked Andre pursing his lips in disgust.
Michonne and Ricked laughed as their children watched on with revulsion that their pleas went unheard.
"This is our house," said Rick, "We do what we want in OUR house, if you don't like it, go get your own."
The kids all groaned and turned back to do anything but look straight at their amorous parents while their parents did not even think about stopping their attentions. Rick just could not get enough of his wife, and evidently neither could Negan.
Negan had been watching Michonne for weeks now. She was a big part of his plan moving forward. Since his termination, Negan has slowly started to spiral into insanity. It was not too far of a drop. He was already halfway there. His number two, Simon, watched in silent horror as Negan moved forward with his master plan. Simon was amused at first with Negan's choice of weapon, a simple wood baseball bat. But when Negan put barbed wire around the tip of the bat and started calling it Lucile, he became worried.
When Negan shared his kidnapping plan, Simon wanted out. He was ok with petty crimes and robberies, but kidnapping? No! And the plan to kill her husband the Police Captain, Hell no! That is some death row, throw you under the jail, self-destructive shit. Before Simon could tell Negan that he was going his separate ways, and to wish him the best of luck, Dwight, a member of the crew beat him to it. After Dwight informed him of this plan to leave, Negan went into a blinding rage and took a heated metal iron and burned half of Dwight's face. It was brutal. And while he was writhing in pain, Negan informed Dwight that his wife, Sherri, was now his property to hold onto until the plan was executed to completion. He also hinted that she was his to do with what he liked. He had Simon get her and take her to "The Sanctuary," an abandoned warehouse that was the base of their operations.
Negan knew Dwight would never leave without his wife, and he also knew that this would deter anyone else from trying to leave. Simon was terrified. Simon was also wedged into this ludicrous situation, with no way out. He thought about running, but with no money and nowhere to go, he was stuck with Negan. He could not go to the police because he knew the connections Negan had, and how he managed to get out of every single possible charge because of those said connections. He was indeed stuck. He made sure to keep his mother and sister a secret from him, he did not want either of them to get a visit from Negan, or Lucille. So, there he was, about to kidnap the wife of the Police Captain, so that a delusional man could build a new life with her after killing her husband. Simon asked himself how in the sam hell did he get to this point in his miserable life.