It was almost like he had stepped into a painting, a beautiful piece of art playing out right in front of him. The love of his life was right in front of him, her back turned to him, her arms flexed while she wields her katana to come down and split the skull of a walker. It was the height of perfection in this new fucked up world. He took a moment to just take her in, because there she was, after 6 years he had found her. Her hair had changed, it now hung on one side while the other side was short and he couldn't help but smile at how beautiful she was. He recognizes she is wearing one of his old shirts and he feels his heart lurch at the fact she still keeps whatever she had left of him close to her.
Daryl takes a few steps ahead of him. " 'Chonne?" He calls out to her.
"I'm a bit preoccupied at the minute Daryl. Give me a minute." She states without even looking in their direction, continuing taking down the remaining walker's around her. Daryl looks back at him and shrugs.
He watches her finish the walker's off one by one. Rick sees one of the them coming up close to her right side, too close for his own comfort. He pulls out his gun, aims and shots the walker directly in the head. Michonne finishes the last one off, barely looking down at the one Rick had shot.
"I could have handled that." She says deadpan, placing her katana on her back, assuming it was Daryl who had struck the walker down. Rick steps forward slightly as his heart began to race.
"Yeah" He drawls, bemusedly, trying to keep in the tears threatening to spill over "I know you could've."
He sees her shoulders tense up, her fists clenched together as she turns her head, looking directly at him with an unreadable expression on her features. Silence fills the clearing, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Rick doesn't understand why she is looking at him but not seeing him. He cocks his head to the side in contemplation. "Michonne?" He says, voice raspy. She closes her eyes briefly, squinting them tight before opening them again.
Daryl comes closer to Rick, putting a hand on his shoulder, nudging him forward. This simple act of Daryl interacting with him set off a reaction in Michonne. He sees her eyes dart and glare at Daryl in shock, watching as he pushes Rick and inch forward. He hears her gasp and her face begins to crumble, lips quivering and eyes filling with tears.
Rick walks slowly up to her, so there is only an inch or two of space between them. "Hey." He whispers in comfort as her eyes dart across his face repeatedly. Just being in this close of a proximity of her was making his head spin. She hesitantly reaches out her hand to his cheek, the contact immediately filling him with ease as his eyes close and he leans into it. She lets out a shuddering breath as her tears fall freely down her cheeks.
"You're 're really here." She whispers, almost brokenly and he opens his eyes. He brings his hand over hers that resides on his cheek.
"I am." Rick chokes on a sob that's stuck in his throat. Michonne's mouth turns up in a shaky smile before she moves her hand to his nape and burrows her face in the side of his neck. He holds her head with one of his own hands and the other wraps tightly around her waist as her sobs shake her figure. He feels her hot breath on his neck as she breathes him in, sending goosebumps through his skin. She plays with the beginnings of his curls at his nape and it was in that instance he felt an overwhelming sense of peace.
He brings his lips to her temple, pressing a kiss there as he tries to compose himself. "I'm so sorry." He murmurs into her hair and she pulls back to look at his face again, her eyes filled with awe. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you." He continues, feeling the beginning weight of guilt settle within the pit of his stomach. She shakes her head grabbing his face with both hands.
"You are here now." She says with conviction as he stares at her, feeling the total adoration he has for the woman he is holding flood through him.
"I love you." He whispers to her and brings his lips to her own. It's soft at first, almost as if they were both too afraid that it was too good to be true until the deprivation of not being with her over the last 6 years catches up with him and with that it intensifies into a passionate and desperate kiss that was like coming home. When they break apart, their foreheads move to lean against the other, refusing to cease contact.
"I love you." Michonne whispers back to him and he smiles widely to which she returns the gesture, tears still streaming from her eyes. They stay like that for a few moments, just reveling in each other after so long apart.
"Rick, what happened to you? We all saw the explosion on the bridge." Michonne asks him hesitantly as she moves her hands to his grasp his own.
"I was taken away somewhere, and it took me awhile to get back. I- I went through some things and i-" Rick finds it hard to finish which Michonne catches because she tightens her grip on his hands.
"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it yet." Michonne reassures and he nods in appreciation. A sudden look of realization and nervousness flit across her face. "Rick, have you been into Alexandria yet?"
Rick frowns and shakes his head negatively. "I found Daryl outside and then he brought me to you."
Michonne glances over at Daryl who had given the lovers space to reunite, watching the clearings perimeter for any threats until he met Michonne's stare. A look is exchanged between them that Rick doesn't understand. Michonne turns her gaze back to him and her face softens in an instant.
"Let's go then, I think you have some people to see."
He grins at the thought of the rest of his family, putting the weirdness of Michonne and Daryl's exchange to the back of his mind.
"Yeah." He agrees and Michonne keeps tight hold of one of his hands as they make their way back to the front gates, Daryl a few paces ahead of them, giving them a few more precious moments.
"I'm sorry about not being able to tell you what happened to me right now, it's just a long, hard story." Rick leans closer to Michonne and she gazes at him in understanding.
"It's okay Rick, a lot has happened in these 6 years." She states.
"I hate that it took me so long to come home and I understand if things and people have moved on." He says hesitantly. He wouldn't blame any of them, he was dead to them so he would want them to move on and be happy.
"Don't be stupid, there is no one else, there never could be." Michonne says with strong conviction as she tightens her hand around his. He gazes affectionately at her, truly overwhelmed with how much he loved her and feeling like the luckiest man in the world that this wonderful woman loved him back just as much.
They approach the front gate and he feels relief as they slow their pace, his breathing was harder right now. They are let in by the guards on post, and as he enters he is given a view of a place he sometimes never thought he would see again.
"I have to get somethin', I'll be back in a bit. It's good to have to back, Brother." Daryl says as he briefly smirks before heading off leaving him and Michonne to walk through the streets of Alexandria hand in hand, as it should be he thinks to himself.
"Look at this place." Rick smiles as he takes it all in. "I knew you could make this something, you are the only one who could."
"It's not exactly the way we wanted it." Michonne admits.
"Maybe not yet, but it's still working, and some things take longer to achieve." Rick smiles softly at her and squeezes her hand to which she gives a smile of her own in return. She stops him from walking and he turns to her in question.
"Rick, there's something I need to tell-" Michonne begins.
"So it's true. You really are alive." Carol cuts in with awe. Rick turns to her, taking in her longer hair with an arched eyebrow. She gives him a stern look before breaking into a grin and moving into hug him. She moves back and places a gentle hand on his face, tears in her eyes. He squeezes her shoulder in return, both of them not needing to say much.
Rick breaks the contact and looks around for any sign of his travelling companion. "Did Heath come in?"
Carol nods. "He's the one who told me you should be here soon too. He went looking for Tara."
"Good, good." Rick murmurs as he looks around, still finding it surreal that he was actually here after all these years. He keeps expecting himself to wake up any minute, back in his poorly lit cell, waiting to be dragged down to the lab for another experiment.
"Dad?" A small voice brings him back to the here and now. It comes from behind him and he turns to find his 10 year old daughter, wearing the Grimes stetson and an unsure look on her face. Rick feels tears spring to his eyes and a lump form in his throat. He clears his throat before calling out to her.
"Jud- Judith."
It was either his voice or him calling her name that confirmed it was actually him as a big smile overtook her face and she sprints towards him. He catches her as she throws her arms around his neck, holding her close. He puts her down as his energy starts to slowly diminish but he holds it together enough to keep standing. Judith looks at him with sad brown eyes and a confused expression on her features.
"I thought you died." She states but he can hear the question in it. He nods slowly, glancing over at Michonne who was watching the two of them with misty eyes.
"It's very complicated but you and everyone else, all had reason to believe I was. But I'm home now and I missed you so much."
Tears fall gently down Judith's cheek as she nods and smiles again, this time her expression held so much happiness, Rick's heart nearly burst. She hugs him again, her arms going round his waist.
"I'm so glad you are back. I was starting to forget your voice and that scared me." Judith mumbles into his stomach and his insides turn with guilt and sadness.
"You don't have to worry about that now, I'm here." He whispers to her, kissing the top of her hat as she tightens the hug.
"You're really sweaty Dad." Judith tells him as she still holds onto him. He chuckles, trying to ignore how he felt the complete opposite, how he had to suppress the cold shivers that tried to break free.
"Yeah, I walked a long way to get back." Rick admits and Judith pulls away, instead taking a hold of his hand and giving him a bright dazzling smile. He looks at Michonne who all of a sudden gives a brief observation of their surroundings, her brows furrowing.
"Jude, were is R-"
"Mama!" A child's voice interrupts her and Rick turns to see a small boy with curly brown hair running towards Michonne. The boy jumps into her arms, laughing with joy as Michonne picks him up.
Rick's heart pounds in his ears, all thoughts leaving his head as he took in the sight in front of him. Michonne meets his eyes and the emotions there almost make him lose his breath. She puts the child down on firm ground and turns him towards Rick as she crouches down at the boy's side. A pair of dark chocolate eyes, so similar to the ones he always loved staring into, look directly at him and Rick covers his mouth with his free hand in an attempt to keep in the sob that tried to surface. An instant familiarity and connection form within that second and he doesn't even need to do the math to know who this little boy was.
"This is RJ, your son." Michonne tells him shakily, her lips quivering with a watery smile. Rick kneels down to match RJ's height, hand still holding Judith's tightly. This was his son. His and Michonne's son. He couldn't even process the emotions storming inside him at this very moment.
"Hey there, RJ." Rick chokes out, the little boy smiles shyly and looks to his mother. Their little boy. Michonne squeezes his shoulder, smiling at their child with so much love .
"This is your daddy." Michonne tells their son with joy and disbelief clear on her face, almost like she never thought she would ever get the chance to introduce them. RJ looks between both Rick and Michonne for a few moments.
"My daddy? Like in the stories?" He asks with childlike wonder. Michonne nods, not being able to speak, too overcome with this unbelievable situation.
"Yeah RJ, he's our daddy from the stories Mom tells us every night. He came home to us." Judith tells her little brother and Rick's heart swells with adoration at his children, tear flowing freely down his cheeks but he was beaming from ear to ear.
His son looks at him with fascination and all of a sudden he lunges for Rick, his tiny hands wrapping round Rick's neck. Rick brings his arm securely around RJ, his nose buried in the brown curls that are so much like his own. Judith let's go of Rick's hand only to join in the hug, wrapping one arm round her brother and one around him. Rick watches as Michonne lets out a small sob before joining them and he makes sure to engulf all of them into his embrace.
He doesn't know how long they stay locked in this little picture perfect moment but Rick realizes that for the first time in 6 years, he finally feels relief, he feels safe and relaxed. His fight is done for he has found his family again. At the same time the fight leaves him, he feels his body become weaker, sub coming to the fever that had been sneaking up on him the past hour.
When the kids start to move out of the embrace, Michonne pulls away too, looking at him with concern at his slightly uneven breathing and heated skin. Before she can ask him anything, Daryl comes into his eye line, a walkie up to his mouth as Rick catches the end of his sentence.
"You are never gonna believe who's here Mags."
Rick stands up albeit a little wobbly as he walks over to take the radio off Daryl, Michonne grasping his hand, whether to support him or to just hold on to him he didn't know .Judith takes hold of RJ's hand and moves to the side.
Rick brings the radio to his lips. "Hey Maggie." He says gruffly, feeling his surroundings swirl around him. There is a pause on the other end, then a gasp.
"Rick?!"
He laughs weakly. "Yeah, it's me."
Maggie lets out a shocked laugh "I can't believe it."
Rick takes a moment to compose himself as a cold shiver runs through his body, Michonne frowning deeper at his side, watching the bead of sweat drip down from his forehead.
"Yeah, I think that's how everyone is feelin'." He speaks into the walkie. "Are you and Hershel..?" He begins to ask, hoping that they were okay. After everything and everyone Maggie had lost, he just prayed the remains of her family were safe.
"We're good Rick, and we are coming to see you, be there tomorrow, I have to see this with my own eyes because i'm strugglin' to wrap my head round this."
Rick chuckles weakly, grasping onto Michonne's hand tighter as he swayed again. "Okay." He stumbles into her but she levels them both out in time.
"Rick, what's wrong?" She asks, panic raising in her normally calm and collected voice. He looks towards their children, then back at her worried beautiful face. He grins, shaking his head.
"Nothin's wrong, not anymore. I found you." He kisses her forehead softly before extending his arm to hand the walkie back to Daryl who's eyes drop to his arm.
"Is that blood?" Daryl asks with concern, eyeing the dark red on Rick's sleeve, mixed with the mud stains.
"What?" Rick asks confused, his mind clouded, Daryl's words not fully registering.
"Rick you're bleeding." Michonne states and Daryl grabs Rick's extended arm, pushing up the sleeve causing both Daryl and Michonne to gasp. Rick looks at what had grabbed their attention and one of the newest bites he had received a few days prior, one Dean had stitched up, must have be reopened, the blood seeping from it covering his arm in dark red.
"He's bit." Daryl whispers heartbreakingly. Rick shakes his head, trying to clear it from the murky water his thoughts seemed to be stuck in.
"No. no." He heard Michonne muttering in utter despair, feeling her hands grip his arm so tightly it will probably bruise.
He tried to tell them it was okay, that he was fine but his mind was completely dazed, and the world around him was off balanced. He shakes his head as another severe shiver escapes him.
"I'm no-" He mumbles before it all becomes too much and he collapses into a pair of arms and darkness takes over.
Part 4