"Oh look at you Miss Judith. You've got to be the prettiest thing here. Where's your daddy tonight?" Judith plastered on her best smile and used the manners she was taught to answer the woman who was standing a little too close and had on far too much perfume.

"He's not here yet." She answered as sweetly as she could, making sure she looked her in the eye as she spoke.

"Oh no." The woman responded worriedly, looking around to make sure Rick really wasn't there. "Who are you here with? You know you have to be here with a parent."

"She's with me." Michonne told her calmly, taking Judith's hand. The plastic bangles that she insisted on wearing were covered in yellow glitter and clinked together when Judith's arm moved with Michonne's. Her matching yellow dress had a white ruffle underneath and a white bow that was tied at her back. Getting dressed was more of a fashion show with Judith showing Michonne how her dress ballooned up when she would spin and jump up and down. And the silver shoes that she picked out shined under the strobe lights in the cafeteria and showcased the pretty ruffled socks that she choose to wear.

"Oh Ms. Bowers." She looked a little taken aback by the closeness of the two. "Judith is with you tonight?"

"Yes she is Mrs. Anderson." Michonne ignored the way she scanned her body from shoes to the top of her head. "Is Sam here?"

"No," She shook her head from side to side quickly. "He's not that into... crowds. He's a big introvert, ya know." She looked around again, darting her eyes from left to right. "Where are Carl and Andre?"

"They're with Daddy." Judith answered enthusiastically. She was all too excited to "trade" parents with the boys last night.

"Oh... Rick has them?" Mrs. Anderson asked skeptically.

"Yeah, they went to get haircuts. They should be here soon. Can't come to the May Mixer without a fresh haircut."

"Well that sounds great." Michonne noticed the way her smile seemed to dropped after she told Mrs. Anderson that Rick had Carl and Andre. She stored it away for later, not wanting to allow the school secretary to ruin her evening. "You two really help each other out don't you? It must be nice to have a friend like that in your life. You know with you being new here and all." The way she said friend made it seem like Rick and Michonne were buddies that high fived and played on the same weekend softball team. Michonne bit the inside of her cheek to keep from blurting out that his lips on hers or his hands on her ass made them very good friends indeed. Instead she took the high road and agreed.

"Yep. Friends are great."

"Fay told me she saw you at the beauty supply last week. Said you were stocking up on all kinds of nail polish and body washes." Mrs. Anderson looked down at Michonne's hand which Judith had dropped to hold up her newly painted nails.

"We did mani pedis." She lifted her foot up, forgetting that she was wearing closed toed shoes. She frowned a bit and then shrugged. "It was a lot of fun."

"Girls night out." Michonne added with a big smile.

"It was a sleepover. We had so much fun!"

"That is wonderful." It wasn't genuine and Michonne could tell she felt a bit awkward. "Well, I guess I'll see you later Miss Judith. Ms. Bowers." She nodded her head at Michonne and then turned and walked away.

"See you around Mrs. Anderson." Michonne said to her back.

"She's not very nice." Judith told Michonne. If she had to compare the two, Mrs. Anderson didn't come close to Michonne and she hoped she'd stop asking her about her daddy because she was tired of answering her questions.

"No, she's not. Some people just can't help it." Michonne took Judith's hand again and squeezed it gently with a smile. "How bout we dance while we wait for the guys. You like this song?"

"Yeah!" Michonne and Judith made their way to the center of the dance floor and let the groove of the music move them. They laughed and sang along to the songs and were quickly joined by a small group of Judith's friends who wanted to be in on the fun. Six songs later and Michonne had stopped to wipe the sweat from her face when she felt familiar fingers tap her on her shoulder. She turned around and smiled at the sparkling blue eyes that were looking back at her.

"Oh, you made it!." She looked from Rick to Carl and Andre. "Look at y'all, you look so handsome." She ran her and over the tops of their heads noticing the embarrassed look they gave with her touching them.

"Stop mom. Carl whined.

"Sorry, we're late, but we had to stop and pick up these." Rick handed her a white calla lily wrapped in yellow tissue paper and then handed a pink one to Judith who was standing next to Michonne. She squealed and sniffed it before holding it up to show the other girls who were watching nearby.

"He said he had to bring his girls something since he hadn't seen them all day." Andre blushed, at the fact that Rick considered his mom one of his girls. Carl laughed at his brother who had been rolling his eyes at the way Rick gushed over Michonne all day.

"Thank you daddy."

"No problem sweetie." The girls heard the music and they all started dancing again. Carl and Andre walked over to where the other boys were standing around watching the girls dance.

"You look very nice." Michonne told Rick, impressed by the way he looked in a simple light blue button down dress shirt and grey slacks.

"I look acceptable next to you." Her lime green dress hugged all her curves and showed off her calves falling just at her knees. The strappy heels she wore allowed him a peak at the toes he liked to tickle so much, painted red to match her fingernails. "Looks like you and Judith made a whole day out of it."

"We did. Hair, nails and toes." She held up her hand and wiggled her fingers. Rick took her hand and pulled her close, dipping his head to her neck.

"And a little perfume."

"Just a little." Michonne giggled, feeling his nose on her skin. Remembering where they were, he lifted his head and smiled.

"Let me buy you some punch." They walked over to the refreshments table that was covered in trays of cookies that sat atop white vinyl tablecloths and stopped in front of a faux crystal punch bowl that was filled with orange sherbet punch. The PTA mom behind the table handed Rick two paper cups and he handed one to Michonne. They were able to find an empty corner that was away from the speakers so they could talk for a little bit.

"So how was the barber shop?" Michonne asked, handing Rick her cup so she could tuck the stem of the calla lily in her pinned up locs.

"They treated me like I was brand new since I had the boys with me." Rick ran his hand over his freshly cut hair. "Didn't have to wait or anything. I'm taking them with me every time I go from now on. They got the chair first, but I didn't mind waiting."

"Shop talk wasn't too vulgar was it?"

"Can't answer that."

"What? Why not?"

"What's talked about in the barbershop stays in the barbershop." Michonne placed her hands on her hips not believing that he wasn't going to tell her. "Don't look at me like that, that's the rule. Besides, they said they can't wait to go back, so it wasn't that bad." She sighed and decided to give him this one.

"You are more than welcome to take them anytime you want " Michonne stared at him and the sly smile he gave her. He wondered if she knew he would take them and her in a heartbeat to anywhere they ever wanted to go. "You know Mrs. Anderson was trying to give me a hard time earlier since she didn't see Judith with you."

"You were here." His brow furrowed at the thought that she was given a hard time.

"But you're her parent."

"When she's with you, I wonder about that sometimes." He decided to lighten the mood and not let Mrs. Anderson dampen the night for them.

"Is that jealousy I hear?"

"Just a little, but I get it." Michonne was always a topic of discussion in the Grimes household especially after the mural that she painted in Judith's room. Rick had no problem taking second place to Michonne with the way Judith gushed about her.

"Hey, the boys talk about you constantly. It's always Rick did this and Rick taught us that…"

"Let's just agree that we're both equally great."

"Yeah, we are." Michonne agreed with a smile, then watched as Rick's eyes looked her up and down again.

"Are they playing any slow songs at this thing?" His voice was deep as he asked near her ear.

"I don't think slow is on the agenda tonight." She shook her head and laughed at his frown. They both looked out to the dance floor where the boys had finally started dancing with the girls.

"What in the world are they doing?"

"Dancing?" They both laughed at the uncoordinated movements that the kids were doing.

"Oh Rick, you made it." Michonne and Rick turned their heads at the same time to the voice that had intruded on them.

"I did. How are you Mrs. Anderson?" HIs face was serious and showed no signs that he actually cared.

"I'm good." Mrs. Anderson blushed under the stare of his blue eyes. "This is a great turn out huh?"

"Yeah, music and food usually brings everyone out." Michonne answered. Mrs. Anderson ignored her and spoke to Rick again.

"I was telling Ms. Bowers how pretty Judith looks tonight. Her dress is so cute." She pointed to Michonne, but kept her eyes on Rick as she spoke.

"That's all on Michonne." He put an arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. "She's the expert on pretty things." Michonne shrugged at a bewildered looking Mrs. Anderson who was losing the pink of her blush for something a little on the grey side.

"Well... I'll let you two get back to doing what you were doing."

"Have a good night Ms. Anderson." Rick said with a single head nod before she turned her back to them and walked away.

"I think she left some of her face on the floor." Already done with Mrs. Anderson, Rick changed the subject.

"Guess what I found yesterday."

"What?"

"I found your shirt."

"Where was it?" Michonne asked astonished. She had given up ever seeing it again.

"Behind Judith's bookcase."

"How in the world did it get there?"

"No clue. I'll try and get the paint out, but I don't know if it will." Operation paint a mural on Judith's wall had started out great. They painted her entire room sky blue and then Michonne painted giant flowers in all different shades on one wall. Reaching the high spots left her shirt covered in drops of paint and a few drops in her hair. Rick lent her one of his shirts and at the end of the night when it was all over, the room was beautiful, but her painted up shirt was nowhere to be found.

"Don't worry about it. I'll just keep the one you gave me."

"The one I let you borrow?" He was only kidding as he looked at her with his authoritative deputy face. He couldn't get the image of her wearing his favorite baseball teams shirt out of his mind.

"Well, you know where it is if you want it back." He did and was prepared to go after it when the time was right.

"Mom, come dance with us!" Carl yelled out to Michonne.

"Looks like I gotta go show them my moves." She started to walk away leaving Rick to hang back and watch what they did.

"You too Rick!" Andre said. Grinning, Rick caught up to Michonne and smiled.

"I forgot they said they'd show me how to Floss" he motioned like he was flossing his teeth and Michonne roared with laughter at his goofy side.

"Oh boy, this should be fun." Rick stood in the middle of Carl and Andre and they slowly taught him all he needed to know about the Floss. It took him a few tries to get his hips to move with his arms, but once he figured it out he was leading the whole dance floor of elementary kids like a second rate dance show.

By the time Rick's arms were tired of moving back and forth, Michonne's sides were sore from all the laughing she'd done. He stopped and walked over to her, took her hand and led her away from the dance floor.

"This is way more my speed." Twenty minutes later, and Rick had Michonne pressed up against him in a slow dance that didn't match the uptempo song that that was playing through the speakers. "I might have thrown my hip out trying to do that dance. Why do they even call it a dance?"

"I have no idea, but you looked great doing it." She was laughing as she said it, but he believed her anyways.

"I'm sure I did." He raised her arm and spun her slowly, making sure to her a good look at her behind in the process. "Hey, as long as the kids are laughing huh."

"Yeah. There was lots of laughing." She felt his fingers at the small of her back tapping lower and lower along her spine. "Make sure your hands stay at an elementary dance appropriate level."

"I'm being really good. It's my hands that seem to have a mind of their own."

"Uh huh." Rick gave her a few kisses along her jaw and then one to her smiling lips.

"How long are you and Judith going to be gone next week?"

"I'll be gone a few days to drop her off. She'll be there for three weeks." Judith was going away to spend time with Rick's parents right after school let out for the summer. It would be three weeks without her and Michonne wasn't sure if she could handle it.

"They have a whole farm Rick, will she want to come back?" Her sad face made Rick smile.

"She'll want to come back to you. You're her favorite. I'll make sure she calls you okay."

"Good, I'm gonna miss her." Michonne looked at her nails and thought about the fun she had with Judith. It was different than hanging out with Carl and Andre. Judith shared her love of glitter nail polish and lip gloss that they couldn't tell Rick about. "The boys are gonna miss her too."

"Three weeks will go by fast. She'll be back before you know it."

"I hope so."

"So what about me? I don't get to be missed?" Of course she'd miss him. They'd seen each other everyday for almost six months. She was glad for FaceTime because she wasn't sure how she was supposed to not see his face for a few days.

"I'll let you know when you come back." She played it off, but he saw through it.

"Maybe I can take the boys to a baseball game or something. Let you relax by yourself for a while." Michonne looked at him with an excited stare. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been by herself for more than an hour. She started running through all the things that she could do in an empty house and all the errands that she'd fly through without waiting for groaning boys to get out of the car.

"If you're serious, I'll buy the hot dogs."

"I am, and I can buy the hot dogs." The song had changed, but they were still slow dancing to whatever song Rick had in his head. Michonne was sure it was the longest version of the slowest song he knew, but she didn't mind because the strength of his arms around her was enough to keep her right where she was without any music at all. "You know what we should do?" He looked around to see who was watching and then placed a few kisses to her neck."

"What?"

"We should get the kids and go take a picture over there." He spoke into her neck about the photographer on the other side of the room, the scent of her perfume keeping him from lifting his head. "They print them right after."

"I like that idea. We can even take one together. Like prom night." He turned her around so that her back was pressed to his chest.

"Yep, just like that. Hold your hands like this," he placed her right hand in front of her left and held them at her belly. "Then I'll put my hands awkwardly on your waist and try not to blink at the flash."

"That sounds perfect. Let's go get them."