A/N: Hi everyone! Phew! People are pissed off at Michonne! Hehe
This is a filler, but I hope it explains a little bit more about our faves and why they act the way that they do.
Thanks to all of the guest reviewers, silent readers and those who left some feedback: K1k1-Wr1tes; ShunnieIsFine; BlkPunk311; Selfyshhhluv; ComicRichonne; zeejack; LadyLuckAJ; Makennas Hunter; Jaylinn; dirtiebertie17; alexis; DixonGrimes; Liberian Girl 85; TheHedgeRider; ElleWatt; and Neecee81.
Guest: Yes, we can sympathise with Rick, but we can't forget about what Michonne has been through as well...Great point!
Sleepywitchysamurai: That was a lot of 'oh nos' in that review LOL
Literaturechick: That was a perfect explanation: Rick did not come to play!
"Thanks a lot for this," said Michonne to Bobbi the news reporter. "We need all of the help we can get with promoting this Program."
"It's my pleasure," Bobbi replied. "Thanks for contacting us, and thank Deputy Grimes for us when you see him. He seems to have taken off before I could give him my business card. Would you mind passin' it on to him?"
Michonne did well not to scrunch her face up at the busty redhead and took the card from her with a courteous smile.
"Of course I can do that for you," she replied and looked around the area for Rick; he had already left, it seemed.
Michonne sighed, shoved Bobbi's card into her purse and trudged off back towards her office building. Once inside, she took out the phone that she had been using all day to avoid interacting with Rick and brought his name up on her screen. She debated whether or not she should call or text him, or wait until he calmed down a little.
"Screw it," said Michonne as she typed in a text message and then hit send.
xXxXx
Rick looked at the screen of his phone and saw her name flash up. Even though he was annoyed with Michonne, he still felt a flutter in his stomach when he saw that the text was from her. He inhaled deeply and then read what she had written:
Rick, I'm sorry if I upset you. I wasn't lying to spare your feelings.I wasn't lying. I'm not implying or denying you have feelings. I'm not good at this. Can I see you later? Do you want to come over so we can talk?
Rick sighed audibly and then placed his phone on the desk, causing Shane to stop his two-finger typing at his keyboard.
"Who shit in your cereal?" asked Shane; Rick stared at him despondently.
"I ain't cut out for this," said Rick as he rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth.
"What you talkin' about, man?" asked a concerned Shane.
"Tell me somethin', is it supposed to be so hard when it comes to arrangements like what I got with Michonne?" asked Rick as he lowered his voice.
"Buddy, it is meant to be hard all the time if ya know what I mean," Shane joked.
"I'm bein' serious, man," said Rick as Shane gave him an apologetic look.
"Sorry, man. What's wrong?" Shane asked.
"I don't think I can keep seein' her," said Rick.
"But you like her," Shane said, his brow furrowing.
"And that's the fuckin' problem," Rick declared. "I like her and it's great bein' with her, but then we get back to reality and I remember she don't want me, not really. She don't want me in public, out in the daylight."
"Come on now, you know that ain't true…"
"Isn't it? We work together, right? I asked her to get some lunch today after we did the interview for the paper, like you do with any other colleague and she acted like I didn't exist and made some excuse. Told me she was meetin' Andrea…"
"Nah man, me and Andrea were together," Shane said. "That's a fact."
"I know that because my dumbass went to Molly's and who should be sittin' up laughin' her ass off? Michonne…and Morgan Jones. I feel like a dickhead 'cause I'm not cut out to be some friend with benefits. I acted like a jealous school boy. I was pissed at her and then showed my ass because I'm into her more than she likes me. Story of my fuckin' life, right?" said Rick. "She had to lie to me so she wouldn't hurt my feelings. Am I really that much of a loser?"
"Buddy, I'm sure it ain't like that," said Shane, unsure of what else to say.
"Well, it felt that way," Rick countered.
"And you're not a loser," Shane added quickly.
"It's easy for you to say, man. You've had all of the luck with women. I find one who is smart and funny and beautiful, and surprise, surprise; she don't like me half as much as I like her," Rick sighed.
xXxXx
Michonne changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before fixing her scarf to her head and plopping down on her large, empty bed. She checked her phone again, and saw only notifications for emails; Rick had not responded to her message from that afternoon.
The last thing she wanted to do was upset him, but she knew she had even if it was not intentional. She understood where he was coming from as she had been the one to set the terms of their relationship: Work was for work and in their spare time she would fuck his brains out. It sounded simple enough, but she knew it was not, mainly because she had deeper feelings for Rick that she was not yet ready to admit. She was the one who was adamant that they not talk about their relationship during business hours, yet only that afternoon she wanted to have a conversation with Rick in an effort to clear her own conscience. She knew she was keeping him at arm's length because she did not think she deserved to be happy. Michonne realized that she was not equipped for the arrangement they had in place. She knew Rick was most likely going to call it all off, and she did not blame him as she felt she was not worth his time anyways.
She felt the tears stinging her eyes: "Good one, Michonne," she said to herself. "Way to fuck everything up."
Angry at herself, as well as a little at Rick for ignoring her, she found Bobbi the reporter's business card in her purse and took a quick picture of it with her phone. She added the picture to a message, typed something and then sent it to Rick. Michonne then wiped her eyes, turned off her lights and got into bed. All of those bad names Mike used to call her played over in her mind and she knew she deserved it; she did not roll over when she heard her phone vibrating on her nightstand.
…..
"Fuck," Rick cursed when he opened up the message from Michonne.
There was a picture of a business card that seemed to belong to the reporter who had interviewed them that afternoon. He was not worried about that, what had concerned him was the message that accompanied the picture:
Bobbi from the station wanted you to have this. Maybe you can give her a call since you're obviously done with me now.
Yes, he was upset with her, but he did not want her to think that he was ignoring her or that he was using her for sex. That was not his motivation for being with her, even if he felt she was only in it for the sex with him. He tried to call her but she did not answer. They seriously needed to sit down and talk, Rick reasoned to himself as he sighed and felt a headache setting in.
xXxXx
"Hey," said Andrea to Michonne as she held the phone in one hand and stirred the pot in the other. "Are you coming over tonight?"
Michonne kicked off her shoes and sighed loudly.
"Is Rick gonna be there?" she asked while flopping down on her sofa.
"Yes," Andrea answered.
"Well you can count me out," Michonne said.
"What the hell happened now?" she asked.
"Nothing. I was just stupid for thinking this could work," replied Michonne.
Andrea remained silent.
"Just say it," said Michonne.
"Say what?" asked Andrea.
"Oh, just the 'I told you so' you've been biting your tongue to hold back," Michonne said a little more harshly than she had intended.
"Mich, that's not what I was going to say. I'm just here listening to you, babe," she said softly.
"Sorry," said Michonne. "I know you've got my back, always have. I'm just a little confused about everything that's going on. If it's to do with work, I'm fine; I've got it covered. All of this other stuff is just…it's just so hard to navigate."
Andrea nodded, "Maybe you should come over and talk to Rick."
Michonne shrugged, "I don't know."
"Look, no pressure. Come over for a meal and if you feel like it then, go and talk to him. You're upset, babe; you need to work this out."
A deep sigh escaped from Michonne.
"Okay," she said. "I'll talk to him."
A/N: Next instalment: will they have the conversation, wind up in bed again without talking it through, or end it all together? More to come!