Thanks everyone for reading and responding as always I appreciated it!

Chapter Ten

The night was quiet with a hint of coolness. The midnight sky completely cloudless and perfect for what was the 10th Skype "outing", "date" Rick and Michonne had over the past three weeks. Since Rick had opened that door with the suggestion of catching a movie over Skype, he and Michonne had been interacting more than ever. In addition to texting and talking on the phone, they were Skyping almost three times a week, sometimes over a meal, a movie and that night it was for stargazing. Rick had suggested the outing, after thinking it was something they could do if they were ever in the same city again. But then he'd had a lightbulb moment, and thought why not try it over Skype.

He was renting a small house in a remote part of Palmer, and he knew that the Angela's house, which was where Michonne was still staying, was on a dark country road in the suburbs outside Atlanta, places that would be perfect for a stargazing "outing." Though they were talking a lot and spending more time "together," Rick and Michonne were still defining themselves as friends. However, they both knew, the unspoken truth, that neither, especially Michonne, was willing to admit aloud, that they were dating and had been since they'd met that hot July day in King County. Michonne finished setting up her lawn chair and opened the "Starlight" app on her phone. She then looked to her laptop that sat on a small table next to her chair and saw that Rick was doing the same, when suddenly there was a weird noise and he disappeared out of frame.

"What happened?" She asked.

"The dam chair buckled." Rick stated out of frame.

"You okay?"

"Just a bit of a bruised ass, but other than that I'm fine." He said, coming back into frame, looking particularly attractive in what looked like a dark brown t-shirt that somehow brought out the intense blue in his eyes.

"Did you get it fixed?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to get a new one before the next time we do this." He said as he settled in the questionable chair.

"You're counting on a next time?" She playfully asked.

"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?"

"Maybe." She teased.

"Well then I guess I better make the best of this time." He whispered with ardor.

"I guess you better." She quipped as their gazes met, their emotion fervent, illuminated in the darkness by the lanterns they had lit nearby.

"Where should we start?" Rick then asked, after taking a breath and reluctantly turning his eyes to the sky, thinking how hard this was going to be. He'd enjoyed so much the Skype time they'd had over the past few weeks. He thrived off the deep intimacy they shared, but it was getting more difficult to just Skype, due to the distance. He wanted to really see her, to smell the sweetness of her scent, to touch her, all impossible over the computer.

"How about Ursa Minor?" Michonne suggested the only constellation she knew as she too struggled within with the ongoing physical distance between them. Though she was pleased with how things were going, how much their connection had grown, she wanted more. But she'd asked for this, time for them to resolve the lingering relationships in their lives, time to be certain that what they were feeling was solid. Thus, she'd see it through. She had to. It was for the best. She tried again to convince herself.

"The Little Bear. A.K.A. the Little Dipper?" Rick replied.

"You know it?"

"I didn't ask you here for nothing." He smirked, intriguing Michonne. "Tonight it's in the northern sky, resting in the curve of Draco, better known as the Dragon, the tail is a curve of stars just to the left of the dipper. You follow me?"

Michonne darkened her lantern as Rick did the same, then easily found the constellation, surprisingly without using her star app. "Yes, I follow." She confirmed.

"The story is that a dragon guarded the entrance to Hesperides, where golden apples grew and was killed by Hercules, who's a little further to the west." Rick continued. "There's also the story that Athena threw a dragon into the sky after it attacked her while she was fighting the Titans."

"You've been holding out on me." Michonne stated in surprise as she observed in awe, the constellation Draco, that covered a modest section in the sky, around Ursa Minor a.k.a. the Little Dipper.

"Nah. I just read up on a few of the constellations before this outing." Rick joked.

"Oh did you now?" She laughed. "What else did you learn?"

"That I love to hear you laugh." He uttered.

"You found that in your research?" She softly asked as she looked towards the screen, and was disappointed to only see the faint silhouette of him doing the same.

"Something like that." He responded in quietness.

"I'd love to hear more."

"I'll tell you when I see you." He promised.

"You can see me now." She gently countered.

"No. I mean when I can SEE you." He clarified, his tone tender with desire.

"That's four months away." Michonne faintly stated with a hint of complaint.

"You counting down to when we can "see" each other?" He asked his voice suddenly beaming with delight.

"Aren't you?"

"You bet I am." He answered without hesitation, which deepen the happiness and fervor in Michonne's heart, pushing her dangerously close to the edge, to the choice to throw caution to the wind and change her decision to stay friends for 6 months, but she stayed the course, sticking to the decision she'd made...

"We should…get back to the sky." She said with focus and strength.

"Whatever you want." Rick huskily replied, nearly undoing her with his simple response. "So where to next?" He then asked while trying himself to control his emotions, to not ask her for what she might not quite be ready for.

"You tell me." Michonne quietly declared.

"You sure about that?"

"I'm ready for where ever you want to go."

"And I'm more than ready to take you there." Rick answered with impassion. "But it's not possible tonight…so we'll have to settle for the stars."

"How disappointing." Michonne sighed, heating Rick, heightening his desire to see her, to touch her with a fever that had intensified in that moment. There was a second of quiet with both using the silence to re-engage the sky, to meditate on its brilliance and settle the powerful wanting that was threatening to overwhelm them.

"Pegasus!" Rick then abruptly exclaimed after the hotness he felt gradually melded into a smolder, controllable.

"The Winged Horse that sprang from Medusa's blood." Michonne asserted as she too calmed. "I studied some Greek mythology in college." She answered before he could ask.

"Let's see if you can find it." He responded with a challenge.

"It should be easy with my constellation app." She said, which caused Rick to scoff in feigned annoyance. "Hey not all of us grew up in the country and can do this without help." She quipped.

"You making digs at my country upbringing?" Rick questioned, pretending to be insulted.

"No. Just speaking the truth."

"Hmrph". He amusingly scoffed before they went on to discuss the mythology around Pegasus then spent quite a bit of time exploring the surrounding constellations in the northern sky – Hercules, Cassiopeia, Lyra, Cygnus, Cepheus, all the while talking not just about the stars and the history associated with them, but about their life experiences. Rick had revealed that his knowledge of the stars came from years of camping and hunting as a kid with his father, which had led the conversation to fishing and hiking. The former being something Michonne had never done, with Rick promising to take her one day, when their discussion had turned to travel, not just in Georgia, but outside the United States.

Rick had admitted that he wasn't particularly gong ho about traveling extensively overseas, mainly because he didn't know if he could stand being on a plane for more than four hours, but he wasn't completely closed off to the idea. Michonne assured him that the flights weren't bad. You sleep and eat for most of the trip and by the time you finish that you're there. She'd said. Rick had followed up her statement with questions. Inquiring about the longest flights she'd ever taken and about the best places she'd ever visited. He'd been most intrigued by her experiences in Africa and was specifically interested in exploring the wild and encountering the native tribes first hand.

"You have to go. At least once in your life." Michonne excitedly suggested as the discussion wound down.

"I'd love to, but only if you come with me." Rick replied in a quiet tone.

"I can do that." She assured, matching the softness in his voice.

"Shooting star! Make a wish!" He then suddenly exclaimed. Michonne quickly searched the sky and spotted the bright object streaking across the heavens just in time enough to embrace the tradition. "What did you wish for?" He then immediately asked.

"I'm not telling." She lightly rejected.

"I'll tell you mine." He temptingly offered.

"I'm still not going to tell you."

"Hmm. Beautiful and coy." He softly deduced.

"I'm not coy." Michonne denied, even as she blushed, feverishly at his 'beautiful' comment. "I'm just not telling."

"We'll see about that." Rick warned, mischief in his tone.

"What're you going to do?" Michonne asked with a laugh. "You're 300 miles away."

"Who says my plan is to get it out of you tonight?" He smoothly retorted. "I could be playing the long game."

"Okay, and what is this long game?"

"If you don't know, then I'm already there." He huskily declared, leaving Michonne speechless and feverish, knowing that he was right. He'd already won the long game, the war, whatever he chose to call it. She was just delaying the inevitable with the restriction she felt she needed to put on their relationship. Michonne again focused on the sky, zeroing in on a spectacular orb in the west, reminding herself that for now, the distance, their "friendship" was for the best. The silence was companionable which was rather strange with them being hundreds of miles apart. However, even with the distance, they felt the kindred between their spirits as they admired the bright beauties in the sky, savored the tranquilness in the sounds of night and the company of each other.

"Do you think we're the only ones out here? I mean we, the people of earth, the only ones in the universe?" Michonne asked into the silence as she continued to look in amazement towards the heavens.

"I don't. Do you?" Rick replied.

"I don't know." She answered with honesty. "It only makes sense that there would be more beings out there somewhere, but what does that say about God and creation, if more worlds than our own was created with other people out there?"

"I don't know, that what we read in the Bible is untrue?" Rick stated what'd he'd thought when the subject had come up with others in the past. "Or that it's only true for this world?" He further clarified.

"Good point, but the Bible was written by man..."

"But man was supposedly directed by the spirit of God."

"This is the belief, but that had to be influenced heavily by scientific beliefs at the time, that the universe revolved around the Earth, that the Earth was flat etc." Michonne pointed out, revealing her own struggles with the beliefs in the Bible. "I'm sorry." She then said. "I didn't mean to open Pandora's Box that is religion."

"No apology needed. I like this." Rick truthfully stated. "We've been talking Greek, Roman and Egyptian Mythology all night, why not talk Christianity too." He said, easing Michonne's uncertainty about broaching the subject, causing her to appreciate his openness.

"If there are other worlds, what do you think the people are like?" She posed, slightly changing the subject. "Anything like us here on Earth?"

"Nah."

"Really?"

"If God made the Earth, why would he make more worlds with identical beings? Even the planets and galaxies that have been discovered aren't the same." Rick argued. "I think if there are more people…beings out there, they're different from us."

"You've thought a lot about this." Michonne noted aloud, finding his thoughts, as always, provocative.

"I've had a lot of time on my hands lately." He stated in jest.

"Somehow I don't think this started as of late." Michonne humorously countered. They'd then gone on to theorize about other people in other worlds, that eventually caused the topic to drift to sci-fi movies, then horror, which they'd quickly abandoned due to where they both were, outside in the darkness, in the middle of the night, alone in their respective locations. Next, the conversation had landed strangely on breakfast and the impending sunrise that was only about an hour away. Though they were both starting to feel the effects of being awake for hours after they'd have normally gone to sleep, neither wanted the night to end, and thus were set on doing breakfast over Skype.

"So how is this going to work?" Michonne brightly asked. "Should I sit my laptop next to the counter so you can watch me fry an omelet?" She guessed, causing Rick to laugh.

"That'll work." He smiled, loving the idea of watching her cook.

"I'm sure it would for you." Michonne playfully sniped, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "But what about me? I think I want to see you take on meal and cook something."

"I'm not cooking."

"Why not?!"

"I only got cereal in the house."

"Convenient." Michonne scoffed, rolling her eyes and was about to say more, but her cell phone began to ring. Alarmed, she immediately looked to see who was calling and saw that it was Mike. Something was wrong. She thought, then told Rick who it was, before fearfully answering the call.