The Charge – Chapter 13
Rick was dying to tell someone about his time with Michonne and the only person he could confide in was Maggie. He went into her office and she was on the phone. He grabbed it and hung up.
"What the hell? That was an investor!"
"I have to talk to you about something."
She noted her brother's excitement.
"What is it?"
"Michonne and I went out on a date."
Maggie squinted at him.
"A date?"
She sounded sceptical.
"Well…not a date date but we played at baseball game together."
Maggie looked visibly shaken.
"In public?"
"Of course in public. Where else will we play baseball?"
"What the f*ck Rick?! I told you to tread carefully with Michonne!"
"What did I do?"
"You went out with her in public!"
"So what? All of a sudden you don't want me to be seen with her? You know how I feel about Michonne so where is all of this coming from?"
"You think I don't like Michonne?"
"Yes! I'm starting to think so!"
"That's not it Rick. It's…"
She was struggling with whether to tell Rick about Michonne's issues with Director Thomas.
"What is it Maggie? You said she's not married and is not seeing anyone. We had a good time. No harm was done."
"Michonne is having problems with Director Thomas."
"Problems with Director Thomas? What do you mean problems?"
Rick's face grew dark and Maggie was hoping that she was doing the right thing.
"Director Thomas believes that the CIA is no place for a woman and he has made it his duty to try to get them out." She paused before continuing. "All of them."
The air was tense in the room.
"Has he been pressuring Michonne?"
Rick's voice was a low menacing growl.
"Yes. He wanted to pull her off your detail after the attack at the rally. He was trying to insinuate that she could have done better and handled the situation differently."
"Are you kidding me?! She saved my life!"
"Agent Ford defended her so she was spared." She walked up to him. "He is digging into her everyday life. She has to be on point at all times. He threatens her job."
"Have you actually witnessed this? Thomas threatening her?"
"I didn't actually hear anything but I have seen them from far away. They were definitely arguing. That much I'm sure of it."
She didn't like the look she saw on Rick's face with this new piece of information that he just received.
"Michonne's handling it Rick. Don't get involved. It will only make it worse for her. She has worked way too hard to get where she is in her career."
She touched his shoulder. She knows that her brother will now have the need to protect Michonne but he needs to stay away.
"She needs to do this on her own. She'll be fine. So far the Director can't touch her despite his best efforts."
"Ok but promise me that if you hear anything else about Michonne's situation you will tell me."
"I promise."~*~*~*~*~*
It has been two weeks since she visited her old home that Tyrese now shares with Andrea. He has denied her access to their girls. She looked at Rocky, sleeping on the pillow and for the first time she resented his existence. He had become a burden to her as his father was no longer in the picture. She heard a knock at the door and heard when her mother answered. She listened and the door closed as quickly. Cicely called out to her.
"Karen!"
She answered grudgingly as they still were not on speaking terms. Her mother only spoke whenever she needs to ask what Rocky needed.
"Yes."
Cicely gave her the brown envelope and watched as she opened it. It was an official PETITION FOR A DIVORCE notice. Her mouth opened as she skimmed through the body of the letter. Tyrese was asking for full physical and legal custody of Chelsea and Ariel with no visitation and communication whatsoever.
He was willing to pay her a lump sum payment instead of a monthly alimony. He was also asking the court to have the matter decided early and swiftly in a closed hearing in the best interest and justice for all parties involved.
Karen was incensed. It was bad enough that he wouldn't forgive her but now he is actually going through with keeping the girls away from her. Who does he think he is? She is still their mother no matter what they call Andrea. Cicely saw the stoic look on her face and took the letter from her.
"Whether you like it or not, Tyrese is doing the right thing for Chelsea and Ariel. They come first."
She grabbed the letter and stormed upstairs.~*~*~*~*~*
Later that night…
Karen slipped out of the bed. Rocky stirred slightly and she froze. When he settled back down, she left the room, closing the door behind her. She tiptoed downstairs and out of the house.~*~*~*~*~*
Karen has been watching her former matrimonial home for the past twenty minutes. It was 10:45 pm. The lights in the master bedroom suddenly came on and she saw a shadow in the window. It was too slender to be Tyrese's. A silent rage was boiling slowly inside her as the shadow moved up and around the room.
Then a second shadow appeared, a much larger one. She knew that it was Tyrese. After a couple of seconds, both shadows embraced and fell backwards. In a fury, she picked up a rock, ran across towards the house and threw it. She watched its trajectory as she wasn't sure that it would hit its mark. The window shattered and she took off running down the street.~*~*~*~*~*
Karen paid for a large bottle of vodka and left the store. She leaned against the wall and took a huge gulp and noticed a man standing idly across the street from her. He just stood there, hands in his pockets, leaning against the wall of the closed grocery store. She crossed the street.
"How much?"
"Excuse me?"
"How much?"
"How much what?"
"How much for what you have?"
The man leaned up against the wall.
"I don't know what you're taking about. I don't have anything."
"Look! Don't need to lie. I know the signs. I know you're holding."
The man looked around and pulled out a revolver from his pocket.
"Who the f*ck are you?! Are you an undercover cop?"
She took another gulp of the vodka.
"Do I look like a f*cking cop?"
The man glanced at her up and down.
"This way."
She followed him down the alley when he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall.
"Don't f*cking move!"
He patted down her body and ripped open her shirt. It was then he was calmed down.
"I'm not wearing a wire because I'm not a cop. Satisfied?"
The man said nothing.
"So…what do you have?"
"What do you want?"
"Anything."
He pulled out a small pouch from his back pocket and opened it. It contained small discoloured rocks. She handed him the rest of money in her pocket and he gave her three small rocks. They quickly parted ways.~*~*~*~*~*
Andrea was in the kitchen making breakfast when Tyrese walked in.
"They will find who did this."
"I hope so Ty. The girls are scared." She turned to him. "Who would do something like this?"
"I might have an idea."
"Who?"
"Karen. She was served with the divorce petition yesterday morning."
"Oh."
She continued making breakfast.
"I'll handle it." he whispered before walking out.~*~*~*~*~*
Karen have been staring at the crack cocaine for ten minutes when a van pulled up the driveway. She sprang to her feet joyful but then she stopped dead in her tracks. What if he knows that it was her that busted their windows last night. She went to the window and watched as he got out of the truck and greeted her mother. They spoke for a few minutes and they looked up at her bedroom window. Their eyes connected. She couldn't hide from this.~*~*~*~*~*
They stood in the living room.
"Did you get my package?"
"The divorce petition? Yeah! I got it!"
"So where were you last night?"
"Are you kidding me right now?! You come over here just to accuse me of something?"
"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm asking you a question."
"And what gives you the right to know about my whereabouts?"
"Since you got the divorce papers yesterday morning and my bedroom windows got busted last night! Now where were you?!"
"F*CK YOU TYRESE!"
He was about to give her an equally appropriate response when a little boy appeared behind her. The boy had jet black hair like his mother with hazel brown eyes. Karen looked behind her and saw what he was looking at.
"He should have been yoursTyrese. He should have been our son."
"If I find out that you had anything to do with what happen last night, you be spending a couple nights in the county jail. Do you understand me?"
"And I hope you know that I am planning on contesting the divorce. Do you understand me?"
"You have already done your worse Karen. Do whatever you want. My aim to protect my girls, even from you."
Tyrese said nothing when he left.~*~*~*~*~*
The information that Rick received from Maggie bothered him. He didn't know all this have been going on with Michonne and still she has managed to discharge her duties without falter. He desperately wanted to talk to her about the situation but he promised Maggie. Instead, he called her to discuss the renovations and she gave her consent. That was two days ago. She promised to visit and he anxiously waited for her.~*~*~*~*~*
When she pulled up to the soup kitchen, she was forced to park on the opposite side because of the construction truck and materials that was lined up at the front of the building. She parked and crossed the street. Mr Wilfred was directing workers on where to put various building materials.
"Rick's upstairs."
She nodded and went inside. When she arrived on the second floor, there were construction workers measuring, cutting, mixing, pounding, sawing etc. The air was thick with dust and it burned her eyes. Stumbling out of the room she walked straight into Rick.
"Hey. Are you alright?"
She opened her mouth to answer but went into an uncontrollable sneezing fit. After the seventh bout, she was gasping.
"I need to get out of here!"
"Come up on the top floor. It's clean. No work has begun there as yet.
She went into another bout of sneezing. He steadied her from behind until it stopped.
"Let go."
They both sprinted up the stairs and Michonne headed for the nearest opened window. A gust of fresh air brushed again her face and she felt the mother of all sneeze coming on. She tried to fight it but that was a mistake. The sneeze ripped from her with such force that it threw her head forward and down, slamming it against the burglary proofing on the window. She didn't remember nothing after that.~*~*~*~*~*
She heard her name being called but it was the pain that woke her up. The lancing, skull crushing pain.
"F*ck!" she gasped softly.
She opened her eyes and she was propped up on a group of chairs pulled together like a bed and a strange man was standing over her. When he touched her forehead she screamed out in pain.
"Ahhhhh!"
"I'm sorry but you have to keep still."
"Who are you?"
"Dr. Douglas. You hit your head."
"How long was I out?"
A familiar voice answered.
"Five…ten minutes tops."
"Rick?"
He appeared by her side.
"I'm right here."
"What happened?"
"You lost to a sneeze."
She winced again.
"Almost done."
"How did you get here so fast doctor?"
"I'm one of the volunteers in the soup kitchen. Rick came downstairs screaming for help."
Rick turned beet red from the doctor's description of his behaviour. The truth is, he was screaming. He was screaming bloody murder. He heard the sneeze then the slam and Michonne was free falling to the ground. She landed with a thud so hard, it made his own back hurt.
He called out her name as he rushed over but she was unresponsive. He really started to panic then. He ran down the steps, skipping three at a time. Dr Douglas was serving sandwiches when he rushed in. The doctor rushed over to him, thinking that he was the one in distress by the way Rick was breathing.
Rick explained to him in quick painful breaths what had just happened to Michonne and they rushed back upstairs. Dr Douglas put the finishing touches on the bandage to cover the gash on her forehead.
"I think she should go to the hospital. You need to go to the hospital Michonne."
"I'm fine."
"You don't know that! You scared the living shit out of me!"
Dr Douglas's eyes brows perked up at Rick's outburst. Michonne was taken aback by it as well.
"I just have a headache. If it gets worse I promise I'll go to the hospital. Deal?"
"Deal."~*~*~*~*~*
Rick checked on Michonne three times since Dr Douglas left. She had fallen asleep in the same spot where he had left her. He listened to the soft hum of her breathing and smiled. He touched her cheek. He felt closer to her than ever.