Chapter 2

written by: cranesinthesky

"Are you ready to try again?" Michonne raised an eyebrow suggestively as she glanced at him, a playful smirk on her face.

Rick took a deep breath, his gaze steadily on her. "I think I'm ready."

Michonne smiled at him. "You're doing great," she said assuringly, grabbing his hand and holding it tightly in hers. "Here we go."

Rick nodded, giving her the go ahead.

"Sedia."

"Chair."

"Barca."

"Boat."

"Pasticceria."

"Um," he paused, averting his eyes so he could try and conjure up the translation. Michonne had spent the last hour teaching him more Italian phrases and words as they walked through the residential area of Barano and he wanted nothing more to make her proud.

Although it was hard to concentrate when his tutor was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"You can do this," Michonne encouraged, biting back a smile. She loved the focused look on his face, how his eyebrows knitted together in concentration and how he squinted those irresistible blue eyes as he tried to remember from their lesson.

"Pastry shop?" he finally answered, raising his eyebrows in a hopeful edge.

Michonne giggled. The girlish, embarrassing giggle from earlier when they had first met had disappeared and after spending the last few hours with him, she found herself relaxed and calm. Rick was great, charming and easy to talk to. Her heart would still beat wildly around him, especially when he gave her that look like she was the only other person in the world.

"You sure?" she asked, unable to hide her smile.

Rick nodded. "I'm… sure," he tried to say confidently, but she could hear the slight doubt creep into his voice.

"Three out of three," Michonne graded him, the smile on her face growing even wider. He returned it and she felt her heart nearly double in beats. There goes that look again. "You did alright."

"I have a good teacher," he remarked, winking down at her. She blushed in response, but that didn't falter her smile.

It wasn't until he felt her thumb caress the back of his hand did he realized that they were still holding hands. He looked down between them as they continued to walk, whiffs of freshly made dough swirling through the air around them.

He liked this and secretly hoped that it would never end. Fortunately, they had the whole summer ahead of them. He had always dreamed of visiting this beautiful, bright city but never would have thought that he would find this gorgeous, intelligent woman in the heart of it. Over the last few hours, he had opened up to her in ways that he had never opened up to a woman before, not even to ex-girlfriends. There was just something about her that made her different.

"Don't forget your end of the deal," she reminded him, pointing to his camera in his other hand. "I intend to be an expert by the time the summer is over."

"And you will be. How about we start now?"

They stopped walking and found themselves by the canal, the boats tied to the pier and bobbing in the water as a gentle breeze blew through. Houses painted in vibrant colors were only a few feet away from them, standing tall against the orange lit sky as the sun set in the distance. Kids ran down the sidewalks and yelled excitedly amongst each other, zooming past Rick and Michonne as they went about their adventures.

"What about that?" she asked, pointing to a canal floating underneath the bridge up ahead.

He smiled, excitement filling him to the pores. "That's beautiful. Here."

He handed the camera to her and instructed her to angle it correctly. She did as he said, her breath catching as his hands moved over hers softly. She positioned the lens just the way he said and, once confident in her attempts, snapped the shot. She nervously pulled the camera down and took a look at the screen.

It was gorgeous. At least to her amateur eyes, it was. She could only imagine what it looked like to his keen eye.

He peered over her shoulder and when he didn't answer right away, she grew nervous.

"Well?" she asked, afraid to even look at his reaction. She tore her eyes away from the screen, however, and forced herself to look at him, hoping that she didn't disappoint. She only wanted to make him proud.

To her relief, he broke out into a huge grin and his eyes crinkled in the corners. She had only known him for a few hours, but she knew that when his smile reached to his eyes and his eyes crinkled in the corners, it was a genuine happiness.

"Michonne, I think it's better than any other picture I have ever taken," he said and she blushed for what seemed to the hundredth time that day. "It's absolutely beautiful."

"I have a good teacher," she commented. She was about to hand the camera back to him when she stopped, a sudden thought running across her mind.

"Can you turn slightly for me?" she asked.

He frowned in response, but did what he was told and turned so that his side was to her. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she took a few steps back so that there was a distance between them. He missed her already.

She raised the camera to her eye, determined to get the shot. He was standing by the canal, his hands in his pockets with the sunset in the distance behind him. The glow sat perfectly around him, highlighting his profile and making the perfect shot. She snapped the photo without saying anything. One glance at the screen caused her to inhale sharply.

He was beautiful.

"Everything okay?" he asked curiously.

"Perfect," she answered, walking up to him and handing him the camera.

She watched as his face went from surprise to mesmerized to pride as his eyes scoped out every detail of her photography skills. What took him years to learn, she only picked up within a few tries. She was that brilliant.

"You're great, you know that?" he told her, smiling over at her. His eyes crinkled in the corners again and he had a look of aw on his face.

She reached out to tuck a stray curl behind his ear. His hair had dried fully now and the strands felt silky between her fingers. "Anche tu."

Once the sun had gone down and the dark sky was filled with tiny dots of stars, they made their way back to their hotels, but not before making a pit stop at a nearby gelato shop. They walked slowly with the delicious treats in hand, not wanting the night to end just yet.

"Where are you going tomorrow?" Michonne asked, glancing over at him as he lifted a spoonful of chocolate gelato towards his pink lips. What she wouldn't give just to have a taste..

"Anywhere where you are," he didn't miss a beat.

She felt her cheeks go warm. "I would like to visit Saint Mark's Basilica."

"It's a date then," he said, but quickly caught himself. "I mean… I didn't mean a date, I meant…"

She stopped him, looking him in the eyes. "It's a date."

A tinge of guilt flooded through her as she thought about her boyfriend, Mike, back home for the first time all day. After spending time with Rick- this amazing man- Mike had become an afterthought, pushed to the back of her mind with the rest of her reality. She knew that she shouldn't be with a stranger all of the way on the other side of the world but something about Rick was different. He reeled her in without even trying and she had falling before she could catch herself.

She was in a whirlwind of complications and consequences with her parents, her boyfriend and her schooling, but she was willing to take this direction of the road. This was finally doing something that she wanted and it felt so damn good.

"Good. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning for breakfast."

"Or, we can just go back to the gelato shop," Michonne recommended, taking a lick from her gelato that was spilling over the cone.

"Breakfast of champions," Rick laughed.

They finished up the rest of their dessert and threw away the trash in a nearby garbage disposal.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" she asked suddenly, her curious eyes on him.

"Of course," he said, wondering what she had on her mind.

"Your parents… have they always been supportive of your love for photography? The fact that you chose to go that route instead of a more stable profession?"

Rick didn't even have to think on it. "Yes. They knew what it was like to have people- their own family- not support them and they didn't want that for me. They've been there for me every step of the way, ever since I first picked up a camera when I was a kid. I can tell that they're not too keen on me struggling for money but it was enough to get me here."

Michonne envied him and wished that her parents did the same. She shook her head in disbelief. "My parents are so different from yours. They have always had these high expectations for me and I always try to deliver, even when it doesn't make me happy."

"But why?"

"Because they're my parents and I want to make them proud."

"By drowning out your own happiness?" Rick questioned, tilting his head to the side. "It's not worth it if it's not something that you want to do in life."

"I know," she said softly, closing her eyes in defeat. "But I'm working on that. This trip here," she motioned to the beautiful city around them. "This was my own choice. They weren't too happy about it, but I didn't care. I was going to come here with or without their opinion."

"Well, I'm glad you did," Rick said, reaching for her hand. He pulled it to her lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles.

She smiled back. "Me too."

They stopped in the middle of the street, inches away from each other, so close they could feel each other's breath. Michonne's hotel was just up the road, the destination so close yet so far away. The night was about to end but they had many more days of adventure to come.

Rick reached out to caress the side of her face with his thumb, his soft touch causing Michonne to shudder in response. Her body had practically melted. She couldn't imagine what would happen if he had did more than touch...

"How do you say beautiful?" he asked. His gaze seemed to be on her fulls lips now. He licked his own.

"Bellissimo," she said, her tongue rolling perfectly with each syllable.

He gave an affectionate grin as his finger began to trace over every feature of her face: her eyes, her nose and her lips- in that order.

"Bellissimo," he said, his eyes now fixed deeply on her own.

She felt a rush of adrenaline run through her, her cheeks burning hot at his soft touch. They were only inches away from her each other, so close she could feel his breathe on her. So close that she could see the tiny specks of gold in those irresistible blue eyes that she had been admiring all day.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked, his voice so low she could barely hear him.

But she did and she nodded her answer, wishing for nothing else more.

His lips were warm and she could still taste the chocolate gelato he had just consumed. The kiss was soft and gentle, much like him in that regard, but even in the sweetness of it, they could both feel a powerful connection between them. So powerful that Michonne pulled away, to take a breath and to make sure that this was what she wanted.

It was.

She rested her forehead against his, both trying to catch their breath. Rick wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in even closer than she could possibly take. She hoped that he couldn't feel the heat coming from off of her body.

"Bellissimo," he whispered again, kissing the top of her head.

She sighed contently, declaring to herself that being in his arms was her favorite place in the world.

She was sure that she would be there all summer.