Thank you so much for the positive reviews, follows, and favorites. Lori is going to do what jilted lovers do, but I am bringing that with a twist. Expect a brief mention of some WD characters and others to be woven into the plot. With that said, I hope you enjoy. This chapter is a fluff piece to move the story forward.

Chapter 3

When Hershel text his sons that he wouldn't be joining them for dinner because he was having dinner with a friend, Rick took the opportunity to celebrate Michonne's homecoming. With Maggie's help, he planned a small dinner party for their circle of friends in the private dining room at the inn.

Shane decided not to bring anyone, hoping Andrea would be alone. Daryl didn't hesitate when Sasha asked him to pick her up. Rick wanted to surprise Michonne, so he told her he was taking her out so that they could officially celebrate her being home. Michonne was overwhelmed at the gesture when they entered the dining room to find everyone there for her. She turned her face and tucked it into Rick's neck until she had better control of her emotions.

After dinner, they sat around the table drinking and sharing stories with Andrea about what it was like growing up together in Sutter. She and Michonne shared their many wild adventures in Europe. "Remember that time Rick pissed Chonne off and somehow… neither will say what happened... but he ended up coming home naked after the Founder's Day barbecue?" Shane howled, laughing uncontrollably just thinking about his brother coming down Hwy 94 stark naked.

"In my defense, Chonne was just plain evil back then," Rick squeezed Michonne's hand placing kisses along the back of it.

"Evil? Pfft." Michonne scoffed.

"Ladies, help me out with this one. What would ya'll have done? Loverboy here sends me a note to meet him at the boathouse on the other side of this here lodge."

"Wait, I never sent you a note. I got a note from you saying to meet you there and to have my clothes off," Rick injected with a confused look on his face.

"No Rick. First, why would a 14-year-old girl send you a get naked note? You sent me a note saying how much you loved me and how you couldn't wait to see me," Michonne argued.

The fit of laughter coming from Daryl commanded everyone at the table's attention. "I wrote them," he admitted and doubled over laughing. "Both of you were too stuck on stupid to admit how ya' felt about each other, so I helped you out."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rick snapped. "I was standing there with my 15-year-old frank and beans all shriveled up." Everyone erupted in laughter, shedding tears from the sheer humor and the image.

Michonne was floored by the new detail. "I thought you were a disgusting and was only after one thing! That's why I bolted."

"You didn't just bolt. You took my 3-wheeler and took off."

"How was I supposed to know you'd managed to stash your clothes on it?" Michonne argued.

"You took his clothes?" Andrea asked dabbing at the tears in her eyes.

"She sure did," Rick scoffed.

"Not intentionally! He scared me! I spent the rest of my early teen years looking at men wondering if they all looked like Rick." More uncontrollable laughter filled the room. "I couldn't look my daddy in the eyes for weeks after that," she added.

Only Rick noticed the solemn look that briefly found its way across Michonne's beautiful face. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her cheek letting her know non-verbally that he knew what she was feeling at that moment. "So ya'll can imagine how I looked peddling her purple mountain bike down the road in all of my glory," he stated to lighten her spirits again.

The others continued to laugh gasping for air. "Oh my gosh! I remember that bike! It had hot pink streamers in the handlebars," Sasha injected, which made everyone laugh even harder at the image of a naked teenaged Rick riding a girl's bike.

"When Deputy Axel drove by I thought I was going to jail. He slowed his cruiser down and asked if I was alright. I said 'yes sir' and that rascal drove off. Didn't offer me a ride home or nothin'."

"So let me see if I have this straight," Andrea started taking a sip of wine trying to collect herself after Rick's tale. "Shane, you and Rick are the same age? How'd that happen?"

"We were born 11 months apart?" Shane nodded in agreement. "And Daryl is a year younger than Rick."

"Yeah, and Shane thinks he's the boss of every damn body," Daryl grumbled as he shuffled his body around in his seat after getting a hint of Sasha's perfume.

"Stop all that damn cussing," Shane snapped.

"Daryl, Chonne, and Sasha grew up together, and Maggie is the baby of the group," Rick said.

"I'm 21. I'm not a baby," Maggie snapped still trying to control her laughter.

"Chonne graduated a year early so even though she was our age, she graduated with Rick," Sasha explained. "

"So Maggie, where's your beau?" Andrea asked, breaking the one hard and fast rule the ladies of the group had. Never speak about Maggie's love life in front of her father or brothers.

"I'm too busy finishing school and working with daddy," she lied. She and Sasha exchanged quick glances that Michonne and Andrea noticed, but they didn't say anything.

"I gotta take piss," Daryl mumbled, standing up from the table.

"Nice manners," Shane said shaking his head. As the oldest, he constantly felt he needed to keep Rick and Daryl in line while they constantly gave him their butts to kiss. The battles between the Green boys were epic but paled in comparison to some of the brawls they'd had with other men around town in their much younger years.

"I'm gonna go to the powder room to take a leak. Is that better ma?"

Shane shook his head again disbelieving his brother's crassness. He was trying to make an impression on Andrea, but Daryl was goading him into a fight. He settled on giving him a middle finger, and the younger of the two made his way out of the private room into the large dining room. He smiled at the other diners as he passed their tables but halted his stride, when he came upon his dad and Michonne's mom making goo-goo eyes at each other. He quickly turned around and went back into the private dining room with the others.

"Damn, man, that was the fastest piss in history," Rick chuckled.

Sasha looked at him and studied his face. He was ghost white and appeared to be stunned. "Daryl, what's wrong?" she demanded.

The sound of her voice snapped him back. "Oh, um…nothin'. I… my stomach feels weird," he fumbled for words to satisfy her nosiness.

Sasha knew he was lying, but didn't want to press him in front of the others. "Well, go take a leak and then take me home. You're my date remember?"

This time instead of Daryl taking his, 'all eyes on me because I'm a Green' walk through the tables he scampered the long way around the main dining room to avoid their folks seeing him. His beer consumption made caused his release to take longer than normal. He was rushing to wash his hands when Hershel walked into the men's room.

"Well, I didn't know you were gonna be here tonight," Hershel greeted.

Pretty sure, Daryl thought. "Yeah, ummm… Rick got the private dining room for a welcome home dinner for Chonne."

"Why didn't ya'll tell me or Barbara?"

"Well… umm… it was just us you know. Her friends."

"Oh! I see," Hershel chuckled. "I'm having dinner with Barbara. We'll stop in to speak in a few minutes."

Daryl couldn't get the way his daddy and Miss Barbara were staring at each other out of his head. "Daddy is there something going on between you and Miss Babs?" he decided to just come out and ask instead of assuming.

"She's a beautiful lady, and I enjoy her company and friendship."

Nodding his head, Daryl knew not to press any further, but he also knew that his father was a master at telling the truth in the shadow of omission. "Okay. See ya' later, then. Sasha's ready to go."

Hershel perked up at hearing who his son was with because he loved Sasha dearly. Like Michonne, she was quick to call bullshit when she saw it. Her daddy had been the Green's attorney since he and Hershel returned to Sutter after college and lifelong friends. "You'd be smart to lock that one down, son."

Daryl laughed. "Well, she sees me as a brother, so that's gonna be hard to do."

"Hard ain't impossible." The son studied his father for a moment nodding in agreement wondering if there was a hidden message in that statement for his dad as well.

A little later, Hershel escorted Barbara to the private dining room so they could greet the others. Daryl watched the others and no one seemed shocked that the pair was together, but the older couple was no longer giving each other the take me now looks they were throwing at each other before.

After the party Rick and Michonne returned to the guesthouse at the Rolling Green, they faced each other lying in bed bathed in the dark room by the moonlight shining through the windows. "You're beautiful," he whispered taking his hand and gently gliding his finger down the bridge of her nose," Michonne responded with a blushing smile. He reached under his pillow and pulled out a small velvet box. "I bought this when you left," he started, opening the tiny box to present her with a French Pavé Crown platinum diamond engagement ring."

A gasp escaped Michonne's lungs. "Rick," she breathed, trying to gather her thoughts from seeing the size of the diamond. "So you just knew I'd say yes?" she smiled up at him absorbing the love she saw in the blue orbs staring back at her.

Rick immediately became solemn. "No. I just knew I'd never let you go again."

Tears poured from her chocolate colored eyes and she inched closer to him so that her bare breasts were pressed against his well-defined chest. "Yes, Rick. I'll marry you."