Thanks everyone for the continued support!
Chapter Fifteen
It had been an amazing two days Rick and Michonne had spent together. They'd fell right into coupledom, interacting as if they'd been dating for ages. Rick had continued to stay each night at her condo, even bringing his bag as if he was moving in. During the day they'd go their separate ways, with Michonne going at the Marketing agency and Rick to the Law Enforcement Summit. When they had time, they continued to text throughout the day as they would've if they were still hundreds of miles apart, then returning "home," to Michonne's condo, in the evening to discuss their days, unwind with dinner, mindless and meaningful chatter before making love. It had been a wonderful time which they'd decided to end with something special since that night was the last that Rick would be in town. Michonne had planned to cook him a homemade meal since they'd done takeout the entire time he'd been there. However, Rick had reminded her that he'd yet to take her to dinner, something he'd wanted to do since he arrived. Michonne had accepted his request. Thus he'd picked her up from work, and they'd driven downtown to Ray's in the City for dinner.
"How does it feel?" Rick asked after managing to convince her to do the unthinkable, to sit on the same side of the booth as him. She'd seen couples do it before and always thought that it was a bit much. 'You mean you can't spend an hour or two sitting a feet or two across from each other? You're so in love that you've got to share the same space while you're eating?' She'd muse, rolling her eyes within, but somehow Rick had convinced her to try it, to do what she'd internally mocked others for, saying it would be nice being so close during dinner and if it wasn't, she could always move to the other side.
"Still a little strange, but nice." She admitted, a hint of uncertainty in her voice, still wondering how she ever let him talk her into this? But she knew how, her heart, which she still fought to admit so soon after knowing him, had been captivated by Rick Grimes.
"Well then let me try and make you more comfortable". Rick softly replied, then tenderly kissed her lips, making her feel breathless and shy. "What? Too much?" He whispered against her mouth as she coyly pulled away.
"A little." She uttered as she briefly looked down.
"You know this is what sitting on the same side of the booth means." He smiled as he gazed at her with love, completely charmed by her blushful response.
"What kissing and touching the whole night?" She feigned shock, returning her eyes to him.
"Umm Hm." He said then tasted her lips once more, skillfully slipping her his tongue, from her heart to her core, filling her with a scorching warmth.
"I can't do this." She breathlessly sighed as she moved to scoot to the other side of the booth, but Rick stopped her, gently grabbing her hand.
"Why not?" He huskily asked.
"Because touching me and slipping me your tongue is too much." She honestly, weakly replied. "We're not teenagers at the drive in." She quietly continued. "We're adults in a very nice restaurant."
"Am I turning you on?" He suddenly questioned, his voice husky and deep, disarming her and heightening the fervor growing within.
"You are." She didn't deny, wanting to kiss him again, but her acute awareness of them being in a restaurant stopped her.
Should we leave?
"No." She gently rejected. "The Lobster Bisque is delicious here, and I'm not passing it up." She lightly added, then forced her eyes back to the menu, even as she was tempted by his heated idea.
"We can get it to go." Rick quietly posed as he caressed a lock of her hair and lovingly pushed it behind her back.
"I want to eat it here." She uttered in the same quiet tone, returning her eyes to him.
"You sure?" He challenged, then took her lips again, tentatively teasing them with hotness.
"Yes." She sighed and again succumb to the closeness of his mouth, tasting it once more, before willing herself to pull away.
"So what's good here besides the Lobster Bisque." Rick then asked, after finally taking a look at the menu, while still struggling with the desire their kisses had stirred. Welcoming the much needed distraction that would keep her mind off of forgoing dinner for making love, Michonne listed various seafood dishes on the menu that were her personal favorites, with Rick settling on the Georgia Mountain Trout and Heineken to drink. Michonne had gone with the Lobster Bisque as a starter, and Springer Mountain Farms Chicken for the main course with a glass of red wine. She and Rick also shared a huge side of Grilled Jumbo Asparagus and Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes. As expected, the food had been outstanding and the conversation good. They'd talked Halloween. Michonne had told Rick about a party to which she'd been invited. She planned to go but had not decided on the character she would play. Rick had revealed that he would be taking Carl trick or treating and mentioned how he was going to enjoy it while he could, due to his son quickly getting to the age where he was no longer interested in participating in that specific activity that was associated with the holiday.
"He's excited about his costume though." Rick said.
"Has he decided what he's going to be?"
"Not yet." He replied, after taking a swig of his beer then cutting another piece of his trout. "He loves comics as much as you, but he's tired of doing the Superhero. So he wants to do something a little different this year." He explained. "He's trying to decide between Wolverine and Hawkeye."
"Ah, the X-men or the Avengers." Michonne declared. "I think the Avengers are more hip right now."
"Maybe they are, but I told him Wolverine seemed more like Halloween to me than Hawkeye."
"It is the more creative costume with the claws and the facial hair. Though I can't imagine a 10 year-old successfully achieving that look." She lightly pointed out.
"We looked at a yellow and blue Wolverine costume at Walmart."
"Yellow and Blue?" Michonne laughed.
"That's what Carl said when he saw it." Rick chuckled. "It was more like a superhero costume than the Wolverine we see in the movies."
"It sounds terrible." Michonne said, unable to stay her continuous amusement.
"It was." Rick admitted. "Carl certainly wasn't happy with it."
"I'm sure."
"I can't wait for you to meet him." He said, giving her serious eyes, sobering the moment. "He's a great kid, and…I think you'll get along well."
"You think?" Michonne questioned with a mix of earnest and concern. "Cause I should remind you that… kids, aren't my strong suit." She confessed, thinking that she knew this was coming, that one day she'd have to meet Rick's son. Though she knew it wasn't happening today or even next week, when it did happen she didn't know if she'd be ready.
"Do you want them to be?" Rick asked, confusing Michonne. "Do you want kids?" He clarified, feeling a bit anxious about his query and her potential response. Michonne pondered his question. Though they'd talked about his son many times and even kids in general the question had never come up in this way. She always said she wanted kids someday and a part of her did, but a much bigger part of her was happy with what she had now. She thoroughly enjoyed the freedom she was allowed to experience with her work and personal life due to not having children to tie her down. She enjoyed being able to travel and go out at her leisure, but if she wanted a future with Rick, would her being on the fence about kids be a deal breaker for them? Michonne pushed the thought aside realizing that she was getting way ahead of herself. She'd just started a relationship with Rick and he wasn't even divorced. A future involving a life together and kids was a long way off, if it even happened.
"Maybe one day, when my life is more settled and there's less demand from the job." She honestly answered then took a sip of wine to calm her nerves, her thoughts, while Rick struggled with the unease he felt at her answer.
"I've found that life never gets more settled, only more chaotic with time." He then stated, watching her as she swallowed more wine.
"Well that's encouraging." Michonne sarcastically replied as she set her wine glass down and returned her attention to her food.
"It's good chaos, especially for those who can share it with someone they love." He softly uttered as he gently touched her knee, sending a heated wave through her, drawing her eyes back to him.
"Do you want more kids?" She silently questioned as she held his gaze, completely bound by the tenderness she saw there.
"I do." He stated without hesitation.
"How many?" She asked upon forcing her eyes back to her plate, specifically on chopping up more asparagus to eat.
"Hmm, maybe seven, eight more." Rick replied, feigning sincerity, then laughed at the horrified look Michonne flashed him. His hilarity lightened the mood causing mirth to be peppered throughout Michonne's scolding of him, which quickly led to a brief discussion about politics and the upcoming election when she mentioned him needing government assistance to support that many kids. Rick had gone on to mention that the election may result in him getting a new boss. His current boss, the Sheriff of King County, had an opponent in the election. The opposing candidate seemed to be more progressive than the current Sheriff and may actually be good for the County. He'd said and from there the conversation had drifted to the Law Enforcement Summit which they hadn't talked much about, with Rick telling her about the forum they'd had that day with some local community leaders and activists.
"What was that like?" Michonne asked, abandoning the mashed potatoes to give him her full attention.
"Interesting… and tough." He said as he recalled the many things discussed. "The issues are…complicated, which means it's going to take quite a bit of effort and time to get things where they need to be."
"That's not surprising considering how long the racism and brutality has been going on. It's ingrained in our culture, something that's not driven by the law but what's in people's heart. How can you change that?" She questioned aloud.
"You can't." Rick sadly stated, what she already knew. "All you can do is educate and root out those cops that are corrupt and carry hate as best you can."
"Yeah." Michonne somberly replied as she resumed scooping more potatoes onto her plate. "What's your experience been like?" She then asked. "Any situations where you acted too quickly or not quickly enough?"
Rick had replied that he'd acted too quickly once, when he was a rookie. He'd been involved in a high speed chase and when he'd caught up with the guy his adrenalin and anger was on full throttle. As a result, he was too rough with the suspect. He hadn't physically assaulted him, but he'd went a bit overboard when getting him out the car and wrestling him to the ground. "Race wasn't even in play. It never is for me." He revealed. "In fact, this suspect wasn't even a minority." He'd said. "It was adrenalin, anger and a little bit of fear. Thankfully I didn't shoot the guy but I could've which would've made me no better than some of the asshole cops we see today shooting suspects in the back and brutalizing them."
"So what happened after that? Were you allowed to continue patrolling?" Michonne asked.
"Surprisingly no. The Sheriff at the time put me on desk duty for three weeks and after that I had to ride with a veteran deputy for six months, but I think that was only because the suspect was the Mayor's son." He said. "At the time, I was upset by the regression, but I'm glad it happened. The deputy I was assigned to was a good man, a good cop and I learned a lot of things from him."
"Have you ever considered doing something else?"
"I thought about it after Carl was born." He admitted, after nearly gulping down the rest of his Heineken. "But there weren't many options in Palmer that provided a good living except, policing, teaching or working at the local cotton mill. My skill was in policing. Plus, I enjoyed it. So I stuck with it. Does it bother you? Me being an officer of the law?" He asked what he hadn't before, looking her way.
"I can't say that it doesn't bother me that you put your life at risk everyday." Michonne conceded. "And now even more so with a lot of the growing resentment towards the police, but…you're well aware of those risks and you still find fulfillment in the work you do. At the end of the day that's all that matters."
Rick gave her a gentle smile as relief fueled the tenderness for her that deepened in his heart. He then leaned over and kissed her lips, sweetly, lovingly, driving her to rest her hand on his cheek to heighten his contentment when the waiter cleared his throat then asked if they wanted to see a dessert menu. Rick said had said 'yes' and moments later the waiter returned leaving them with a dessert menu to review.
"I don't think I have much room for dessert." Michonne sighed.
"We can share one if you want. Or take it with us and eat it later." Rick suggested, then took her lips again, hotly, hungrily, making her feel fiery, yet shy.
"You know I've been watching you all night, wondering if it was really you, but I thought surely it wasn't." They suddenly heard from a voice that Michonne knew well, interrupting the moment, causing her to immediately pull away from Rick to exclaim his name in shock "Mike!"
"I thought surely my ex who just broke our engagement three weeks ago would not be this intertwined with another man so soon." He harshly stated. "But I guess I was wrong."
"Mike…"
"Don't!" He nearly yelled, almost causing a scene. "I don't want to hear anymore of your bullshit." He said, then stormed out the restaurant with Michonne not stopping for a moment to think, leaving the table, leaving Rick to follow him.
"Mike wait!" Michonne exclaimed as she caught up to him just as the light turned red, stopping him from crossing Peachtree Street.
"What do you want?!" He angrily asked. "To explain what I just saw in there?!"
"I don't owe you an explanation for that." She strongly replied, driving him to scoff in frustration. "I want to know how you've been. I left you a couple of messages" She said. "I've been concerned…We haven't talked since…your father's funeral."
"Oh my father's funeral." He harshly laughed. "Where you told me you didn't love me, but swore to me our breakup had nothing to do with you fucking someone else." He retorted. "I guess that was a lie, considering what I just saw."
"I'm not doing this." She said, then turned to go, but Mike grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"You came out here to talk, to see how I am. So let's talk." He demanded.
"Let me go." Michonne stated with calm indignation and Mike immediately complied.
"So when did you meet? Did you get that close over the past three weeks? Since my father's funeral." Mike fiercely questioned as she moved to walk away, compelling her to stop once more, to give him what he wanted, her attention. "That's what I thought." He said when she didn't answer as he walked up to her, closing the short distance between them. "How long have you known him Chonne? Five years, Six?" He pressed with ire, his voice now lower and thus no longer drawing eyes to them. "Because we were together four years and it took a minute for you to let me in, and even after all that time, I still wasn't able to get to you the way I see this guy has." He said his tone etched with hurt, stirring Michonne with sorrow and guilt.
"Mike I…"
"Why are you even out here?" He then interrupted, his hurt quickly returning to severe aggravation. "Leaving your new man to check on me? Won't he be angry? I know I would be."
"You know why I'm here." Michonne argued with concern. "Because I care about you…"
"Don't give me that bullshit Chonne. You're here because of your conscience." Mike accused. "Well let me clear it for you. I'm fine. I don't need your pity or want to hear more of your lies. So just go back to your white boy and leave me the fuck alone." He screamed with aggrieved fury, then crossed the street, dangerously against the light, running away from a worried and guilt-ridden Michonne.