A Life Interrupted, Carry On
Half of me loves those Richonne stories that are just about the everyday normal life (fan fiction normal at least) of Rick and Michonne. Just cute little balls of fluff that are just so fun to read with no real conflict, like Taking Chances and Realization of Bliss. I love those two in particular. The other half of me likes conflict. Loves conflict in fact. So this particular fiction is a bit of both, but one much more than the other.
Some of the chapters lead to a major conflict, but most of this twenty-chapter fiction is just the family living day to day. In was an interesting and harder write for me. So this one is slower paced at times and faster at others. My other works had conflict built up over each chapter until an explosion happens. With this story, the major conflict happens AROUND the day-to-day story. It can almost be lifted out and not make a big difference to the plot and it only covers a few chapters, so I will say 70% of the story is day-to-day normal life, especially the last seven chapters. I wanted to end this at chapter 15, but when I got there, I did not address all the stuff that I wanted to, so I continued to twenty.
As always, all the chapters are fully written, and they each just need a light edit before posting (this is where my long-windedness gets me in trouble. Pray that I keep control during the editing process.) So a chapter should be posted weekly give a take a busy week or two.
Anyway, I hope you like it.
Chapter 1—Rick and Michonne Interrupted
"Marry me, Michy," Rick grinned to the girl that he loved more than he loved himself.
Loved more than life itself.
"No," Michonne giggled knowing full well that she was going to walk down that aisle, or rather wobble, sooner rather than later.
Rick and Michonne were high school sweethearts despite the obstacles that were constantly blocking their path. The first obstacle was their skin color. It was always a wonder to them both that someone could hate a person simply because one had more melanin than the other, but such as it was. Dating while in King County had them encountering bigoted, racist views everywhere they went. King County was small, and the black population was tiny to begin with, but not everybody in King County held those views, but the ones that did were often the loudest and most vocal. Rick gave zero fucks about what anyone thought, and his left hook and uppercut were mean, nasty, and legendary, so most were reluctant to share their views within his earshot.
The second obstacle was their socio-economic status. Rick's parents were of the upper middle class and owned a working farm. Rick's Uncle Herschel was a high-ranking Sheriff's Deputy that was going to run for King County Sherriff in a couple of years. The Grimes's name was one that garnered respect. Herschel was a Greene, and was the older brother to Rick's mother, Ella, and the Greene name garnered much respect too. The Hawthorne name, however, did not.
Michonne and her father were what one would consider poor, and she lived metaphorically on the other side of the tracks with her alcoholic father. Poverty was a recent phenomenon for Michonne. Just a few years previous, her father, Andre Hawthorn, was known in many circles in Savannah, Georgia as a rising architect. Alma, her mother, was a professor of literature at Savannah State University. They were successful, well-off, and happy, until cancer struck Alma when Michonne was eleven. Alma hung on for her daughter and her husband for two years before she succumbed, and as Alma fell ill physically, Andre fell ill mentally. Andre Hawthorn never recovered from the death of his wife and an eleven-year-old Michonne could only sit back and watch in utter despair as the happy, successful family she once knew crumbled right before her eyes.
By the time Michonne was thirteen, her father became the walking dead. Michonne did not know which was worse, a deceased mother or a zombie father. Michonne watched her father go to work less and less, then not at all. The less Andre Hawthorne went to work, the more bills filled up their mailbox. The more bills that piled up, the more Andre drank. Halfway through Michonne's eighth grade year, she left all of her middle school friends in Savannah and transferred to King County Junior High. It took a week before Michonne could get her father sober enough to register her in school. His choice was to be numb to the world and although he loved his daughter deeply, mentally the death of his wife sent him into a deep spiral of depression.
Michonne was living in small town hell, and every day she was baffled how her father could let himself go from up-and-coming architect to small town Handy Man, at least when Andre was sober enough to work. Michonne was resolute for that to not be her fate. Michonne was determined to graduate, early if she could, get good grades, and hopefully a scholarship to college and get the hell out of King County. Then she met Rick, and detoured off her plan, but just a little bit.
The third obstacle could eventually be seen from a mile away. Rick smiled as he rubbed Michonne's round belly as the two seventeen-year-olds sat on a blanket in the park.
"Let me make an honest woman of you Michonne, before the baby comes," Rick plead with puppy dog eyes and a tone that left no uncertainty that he was serious and ready to be her husband.
"I already am an honest woman, Rick. But we are seventeen. Where are we going to live? Your father already made it clear it was not going to be with them, and my house is a shack that I am sure will blow over with the next major storm. What is the plan?" Michonne asked her boyfriend with a tilted head of confusion.
"My father thinks if I want to act like a man, and do things like a man, then I should make my own way like a man," Rick mimicked his father's voice with annoyance, "But my mama won't let that happen. You know she likes you! And she will make my dad come around."
Michonne eyed her boyfriend and wondered if Rick really did not know what his father actually was. Michonne would hand it to Richard Sr, he was slick and careful and kept his views so close to his chest that he fooled his own family. But Richard Grimes, Sr did not fool Michonne one bit. Michonne read people well, and she read Richard like the KKK manual that he was. He was always smiling when Michonne would come around, but she saw the sneer underneath that fake grin.
Ella, Rick's mother, was the complete opposite, and was a genuinely good person. Michonne saw no trace of bigotry or racism in her, and she wondered if Ella was oblivious, or if she knew but would rather just ignore the white rhino in the room. Michonne knew Richard told Rick he was kicking him out to be a man, but had Michonne been white, she knew one hundred percent, Richard would have made room on that farm for her and their baby. Would have probably even thrown them a full-blown hoedown wedding. Michonne narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. Rick had no clue. Richard Grimes Sr was way too slick to let Rick know his true feelings. Or Rick was way too naïve to realize his father was a bigot. Either way, it was not her place to inform Rick. It was best he learned on his own.
"If you say so Rick, but I think we need a good plan B, okay?" Michonne answered knowing full well that farm will not be plan A, even if Rick's mother demanded it.
"I love you Michonne, we will figure it out. But one step at a time. Let's go to the courthouse and get married. I am almost eighteen and I planned on joining the police academy anyway. I can do that while you go to school. It will all work out," Rick grinned naively and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.
"You just turned seventeen four months ago Rick, you are not almost eighteen and I just turned seventeen last week," Michonne laughed, "And you wanted to go to college before the police academy. What happened to that plan?"
Rick ignored the college comment. That would have to take a backseat and it was no use in dwelling on it, so he bought the conversation back around to her birthday.
"On Valentine's Day no less. I had to buy you TWO gifts," Rick chuckled and thought about their ages again, "tell me how we are both in the same grade again? I mean, you should really be a junior right? How are you a senior?"
Rick knew, he just wanted to talk about something else for a minute and he loved to hear Michonne talk.
"You have a bad memory mister, I told you a hundred times already," Michonne giggled, "You started school too early Rick being your birthday is October 24th, you should technically be a junior too, but I guess in small towns, birthdays after September 1st don't matter when your parents are ready for you to start kindergarten. I was moved up a grade in elementary school because I was smart. So, there you have it, two people who should be juniors in High School are both Seniors," Michonne grinned, and Rick gave her a chaste kiss.
"So, courthouse since I'm almost eighteen," A charming Rick grinned and Michonne found him hard to resist, "I love you."
"Okay," Michonne grinned, 'I love you too Rick. More than anything."
"Okay?" Rick smiled happy that she finally said YES.
"Okay," Michonne confirmed with a vigorous head nod.
"Let's do it soon, maybe skip school and go this Friday?" Rick asked, hoping Michonne would say yes again.
Michonne laughed at his comment. The juxtaposition of it all. They were doing adult stuff. Mature thangs. But they had to childishly skip school to do so.
"What's so funny?" Rick asked as he tickled her sides which made her giggle even more.
Rick loved her laugh and he thought he could listen to it forever. Make a recording of it and that would be the only music he would listen to for the rest of his life.
"Nothing. Ok. Friday it is," Michonne agreed, and Rick grinned from ear to ear and pushed her down on the blanket for less than chaste public kiss.
Rick and Michonne never made it to that courthouse. By Tuesday, all hell broke loose and by Thursday, a six-months pregnant Michonne was gone. Rick was inconsolable.
Even eight years later, Rick still thought about the day Michonne disappeared from time to time, but Michonne herself? He thought about her every day since she left town all those years ago. Rick at first attempted to force himself to forget her face, but found the more he tired, the more he remembered. Her big brown eyes and thick lips would flash across his mind when something reminded him of her. And everything reminded him of Michonne. He would smile when he saw women who wore her hair like Michonne did, all wild and free, just like she was when they were together. Just like she made him feel too. Wild and free. But looking at the eight-year-old boy currently sitting on the side of his deputy sheriff's desk in late-September, Rick found that he did not have to remember Michonne's face because he was looking straight at it, but mostly, Rick found that he was staring at his own mirror image too.
When the front office secretary walked over and told Rick there was a young man by the name of Carl Hawthorne there to see him, his heart started beating faster.
"Did you say Hawthorne Jessie?" Rick asked to be sure he heard correctly.
"Yes, Carl Hawthorne. Should I send him back?" Jessie questioned unsure how to handle the seemingly simple situation.
Rick could barely remember whispering nervously for Jessie to send the boy back as he sat in a trance staring at the boy with the warm tan skin tone, bright blue eyes, and chunky curls surrounding his head. The boy was beautiful. Rick noticed the boy's hair was not as fine as his own strands, they were more textured, and Rick wanted to run his fingers through it. Through whom he knew was his son's hair. Rick wanted to pull him close into a hug and kiss him on top of his head and beg him for forgiveness for not being there for him. Yes, Rick immediately knew who Carl was, and it broke his heart.
"Sir?" The boy repeatedly announced trying to get the officer's attention.
Rick observed the boy and then looked around the station hoping to spot his mother. Michonne. When he did not spot her, he looked at his watch and wondered why the kid was not in school. It was 10am in the morning.
"Uhh, yeah. Ok. What's your name again?" Rick asked, already knowing the answer to that question but struggling to get his mind to work right.
Rick's mind was everywhere at once.
"Carl Sir, Carl Hawthorne. If you could just let me swab your mouth with this, I can be on my way," Carl stated nonchalantly like what he was asking Rick to do was an everyday chore like sweeping the floor after making a mess.
And in a sense, it was exactly like that. Carl was there to clean up a mess of Rick's own making.
'How old are you?" Rick asked timidly.
"Eight," Carl answered and smirked at Rick realizing that maybe the swab was not necessary.
Carl noticed the familiarity in Rick's eyes, and he was sure Rick noticed the similarity in his. Rick gulped and stared at the boy with the complexion the color of sand. He was the right age Rick calculated as he counted on his fingers nervously under his desk.
"When is your birthday?" Rick asked tentatively.
"May 13th," Carl answered directly, "I was born a few weeks early though. Mom said I was too anxious to get out and she was too anxious to keep me in, but I won," Carl grinned widely.
Rick watched the boy furrow his brow at his questions. When Carl squinted his blue eyes and tilted his head and pursed his plump little lips, Rick gasped. He didn't need the swab to know who the boy was. He knew the moment he saw the boy walk towards this desk, but confirming the age and birthday made it all real. Set the whole situation in stone. Rick could not breathe and was having his first ever panic attack.
"No, no. This can't be right," Rick uttered as he looked everywhere but at the boy.
"What can't be right sir?" Carl asked and looked around to try and figure out what the deputy was searching for.
"What is your mother's name?" Rick finally was able to utter in between deep breaths.
"Michonne. Michonne Hawthorne," Carl answered, and Rick's head was swirling so much that he blacked out.
When Rick awoke to another deputy patting him on the cheek, and Sherriff Herschel Greene calling his name, he came back to his senses and jolted up to his feet.
"Hey, calm down there son," Sherriff Herschel worriedly stated, "sit down before you hurt yourself. What happened?"
"The boy, where did the boy go? CARL!" Rick shouted as his eyes darted all over the station.
"He left. He said he would come back when you were feeling better," Leon Bassett stated matter-of-factly.
"YOU LET HIM LEAVE? WAS HIS MOTHER HERE?" Rick shouted in desperation worried that his son was wandering around King County alone.
"Leon, did you see the boy's parents?" Sherriff Herschel asked his dullard of a deputy.
"No Sir. He just said he would be back and left," Leon answered and shrugged his shoulders nervously.
Rick ran outside and looked in every direction, then ran to the end of the sidewalk on the left side of the station and did the same before running to the right side and repeating the action. Then he ran across the parking lot to the other side of the street. No sign of Carl whatsoever. Rick panicked and was hyperventilating, bent over with his hands to his knees. Sheriff Herschel came running out curious as to what set Rick off, but he had just gotten a call and had emergency news to share with Rick. The conversation about the boy would have to wait until later.
"Rick! Your mother just called. Your father had a heart attack. Let's go!" Hershel screamed and when Rick did not move, he ran over and pulled Rick to standing, "let's go Rick!"
"Herschel, please send some deputies to look for my boy," Rick begged, and Herschel nodded noting Rick was claiming the boy as his own and quickly remembered his old pregnant girlfriend that disappeared off the face of the earth.
Herschel did not remember too much about the situation, he was busy drowning in his own alcoholic sorrows after the loss of his wife Patricia.
"I will Rick, but I need to get you to the hospital," Herschel uttered and put an APB out for the boy as he drove his nephew to his parents.
Rick was overwhelmed. Over stimulated. He heard his mother's cries. He heard the beeps of the machines. But all that Rick was focusing on was Carl saying his name to the beat of the heart monitor. Carl Hawthorne. Carl Hawthorne. Carl Hawthorn. Rick was feeling panicked again and had to step out of the room hospital room for a moment.
"RICK!" His mother Ella yelled again to try and get Rick's attention.
"Yeah, uhm Sorry. What did the doctor say?" Rick snapped to and concentrated on one of two urgent matters that he was faced with currently.
Rick prayed Herschel was out looking for, or better yet found, his other urgent concern.
"Richard, he wants to see you, Rick. He's asking for you," Ella stated, "go on back inside Rick."
Rick walked slowly into his father's hospital room and was disturbed at how weak his father looked. Richard Sr. was always a strong man. Now he looked pale, gaunt, and almost lifeless.
"Rick, Rick, come here. Sit here. I need to tell you something," Richard mumbled with a conscience of a guilty man trying to atone for his sins before death takes him.
"Dad, rest. You can tell me later," Rick tried to persuade and watched as his father furiously shook his head back and forth.
"No, I can't die with this. I wanted to tell you what I did, but I was a coward. I was a coward, but I need to make it right. All these years Rick. I'm sorry. I hope after all this. After what I have to tell you. After what I done to you. I hope you can forgive me. I hope you can forgive Shane too," Richard pled as he tried to sit up in his hospital bed.
Rick was pissed his father would even bring up Shane's name. After all the shit he pulled over the years.
"Shane? Why in the hell would I forgive Shane? He fucked my girlfriend, might have had a baby with her," Rick yelled but stopped abruptly.
No, Carl was his. Michonne might have cheated on him with Shane, and whomever else, Darryl, he suspected, but the person that got Michonne pregnant was now confirmed to him. There was no denying it after looking at Carl face-to-face.
"Rick let me explain what happened," Richard tried to interrupt but Rick did not allow it.
"Then that motherfucker fucked my wife Lori and got her pregnant and ran off with her after the baby was born. He made me look like a fool again. Fuck him. I can't forgive that!" Rick hollered at the audacity of his father for even making that insane request.
"Son, just listen. Please. Let me tell it. Don't interrupt. Just let me tell the whole story first, ok?" Richard asked through gasps and deep breaths and Rick nodded then looked at Ella who sat there quietly without a word.
Listening to Richard, Ella had an inkling of what her husband wanted to confess. She was sure it had something to do with Michonne leaving King County. Her leaving the way she did never sat right with Ella. It felt wrong back then, and she was never able to shake that feeling. Ella shut her eyes tightly and prayed that she was wrong. She prayed her husband did not do what she always suspected, but the rumbling in her gut threw her prayer request to waste. Ella started trembling and Rick grabbed her hand.
"Go ahead Dad, but if it looks like you are struggling. I will have to stop you, ok? Me and mama need you back healthy," Rick smiled tightening his grip on Ella's hand for support.
Ella knew in her bones she and Rick were about to hear something horrific, and she did not squeeze Rick's hand in return, but rather she pulled her hand free and gripped it firmly around the arm of the chair to brace herself for the confession.
Ella never fully believed the story that was told about Michonne, which ultimately made Rick's pregnant girlfriend and Darryl Dixon run off together. Michonne was not the type to fool around, she was a good girl. Michonne was smart and had a plan in life and the one thing Ella knew about Michonne Hawthorne more than anything else was that she loved Rick. Loved him something furious. Something fierce. But Ella had no proof to ease her son's burden back then at the terrible allegations placed in front him by Richard, especially compared to the overwhelming amount of proof her husband put forth. So, Ella stayed quiet back then concerning her unfounded suspicions and hoped Rick would heal in time.
Ella glanced over at Rick sitting in that hard hospital chair. It saddened Ella that her son still had not recovered from it all. That he was still sleepwalking through life waiting for Michonne to wake him up again. Ella looked at her husband and nodded her head for him to begin. Richard took a deep breath and began the story that altered Rick's past in the most devesting of ways and would surely change his future.
"Son, I lied on your girl. On Michonne. I didn't think back then that it was right for you, that it was good for you or for your future to marry that black girl, so I made up the whole story about that baby not being yours," Richard began and the gasp he heard from Rick and from Ella hurt Richard deep into his damned awful soul and he knew the odds of them forgiving him were slim to none.
"Oh my God Richard," Ella uttered through tears that were already flowing.
Richard told the story to an angry Rick and a disappointed Ella and the more the bedridden man spoke, the angrier they both became. The only reason Rick stayed silent in his fury was because he needed to hear the story, the truth, from start to finish. Rick sat back and listened.
When Rickard found out Michonne might be pregnant, he was livid and told Ella as much.
"Ella, it is one thing for Rick to go galivanting around King County with that girl. It ain't right. People coming up to me asking me what the hell is going on," Richard griped at an annoyed Ella.
"What people? Who gives a damn about those small, minded people and what they think Richard?" Ella barked and Richard held up his hands in defense.
"I got nothing against her, but that girl ain't right for Rick. She ain't the one! She needs to be with her kind. And Rick needs to be with his! And now, rumors are that she is pregnant!" Richard hollered as he paced around the kitchen in a rage.
"She is a sweet girl, Richard. And what do you mean HIS KIND? Please do not tell me, that you have a problem with her because she is black?" Ella asked tentatively praying that was not the case.
Ella grew up in King County. She knew the way some people were, but her and her family and many others that lived there were not bigots or racists. The Greens welcomed all people. She thought Richard Grimes held similar values and that's why she married him. To Ella's knowledge, Richard never once said a racial slur, or judged a person by their skin color. Then Ella realized it was because Richard never had to. The town they lived in never really gave Richard a real opportunity to display his true feelings until Michonne came along. It was mostly a white town, but the few black people that lived there seemed to get on fine with Richard. Or at least it seemed.
Richard seemed to not have issues with Ella's friend Letty who was married to Morgan Jones, Sr, a man who owned the tailor shop in town. Letty had been to the house several times, the last to bake cakes for the booth at the King County Fair. The last time Ella saw Letty, they were at the community center laughing until Richard walked up. Letty seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden, but Ella thought nothing of it. She put it in her mind to ask her friend about it the next time she saw Letty.
Richard also seemed fine with Scott and Morgan Jr., Rick's friends from school the few times they visited the farm to hang out with Rick and Shane. But had Ella studied her husband a little closer, she would have noticed the fake mask Richard wore as he tried to pretend to be tolerant of Rick's black friends on his property. Had Ella kept her eyes focused closely on Richard, she would have seen the slight grimace behind that smile when they were inside his home. Richard preferred his son to keep those types outside the house. Had Ella paid closer attention, she would have observed a blink and miss-it microaggression before Richard quickly put the fake smile back on his face as he encouraged all the boys to go outside and get some fresh air.
But Ella did not notice all those signs, so she needed clarity on just what her husband was saying. Richard saw the storm brewing in Ella's eyes, and he was not about to start problems in his own home. So, he tried another tactic.
"Look Ella, it ain't really that, but look where she lives? Look at her father?" Richard tried to redirect the conversation, not willing to admit that Michonne's race was his single biggest issue.
If he did, Richard knew Ella would leave him where he stood for good. She would go back to the Greene Farm and forget she even knew him and take Rick with her. Richard did not want to take that chance.
"So, it's because her father is an alcoholic? Because they are poor? How is that Michonne's fault? She is a smart determined girl. Yes, I hope she is not pregnant because they are both too young for all of that responsibility. I think both of them should go out and experience the world. But if she is pregnant. We WILL support them, Richard. That is our grandchild she is carrying." Ella spat with equal disgust still trying to figure out just what her husband's problem actually was.
Richard noticed her distaste. He needed something to get rid of Michonne and keep his bloodline intact without running off his wife and losing his son and, most importantly, without either of them catching on the reason as to why.
"No Ella, of course not. I guess I am so flustered, I am not making myself clear," Richard stated then paused and swallowed hard as his wife eyed him.
"Well Richard? Make yourself clear," Ella demanded, still waiting for some clarity.
Richard sneered. The Greene's were too open for Richard's taste, and despite the fact that Ella was a Grimes now, she was still a Greene through and through. Richard knew his wife would roar if he kept going down the road he was headed, so Richard settled on something that Ella could not be upset with. Something she could not argue with. Something that did not have to do with race, or socio-economic status. Something Ella could support. Something that would run Rick away from Michonne in a quick hurry. Something that did not expose Richard for the bigot that he was.
"Look Ella, I asked around about that girl. Rick ain't the only one she has been sleeping with. I know for a fact that she was with that Darryl Dixon boy and one other," Richard lied and took a glimpse at his wife who did not believe one preposterous word that her husband was saying.
Ella saw Rick and Michonne together. Michonne loved Rick just as much and Rick loved her. That was a fact she knew. Or thought she did. She faltered with Richard's next comment.
"Shane too. He told me he had her too. He told me because he did not want to see Rick hurt when that baby came out and it didn't look like him," Richard lied grasping at straws.
"No. Michonne is sweet girl. And Shane is Rick's best friend. They have been friends since grade school. Shane knows how much Rick loves Michonne! NO! I will not believe that! And we don't even know if she is pregnant. It could all be a rumor, Richard!" Ella shouted disturbed at the turn of conversation.
Richard knew his wife and son were going to need proof of his lies and he set about doing just that. The first thing he needed to do was to get Shane on board. Shane would be difficult. He loved Rick like a brother. Hell, they were brothers, but Richard knew exactly how to manipulate Shane into going along with the plan. It was dirty. It was deceitful. But Richard did not care. Rick was his priority. Not Shane Walsh.
"Shane! Hey son. I need a big favor from you," Richard muttered to a wide-eyed Shane.
"Sure Richard. Anythang. You and Ms. Ella have been more like parents to me than my own. Name it and its done!" Shane excited, his face slowly falling the more the man he thought of as a father spoke.
"Richard. I can't do that to Rick. It would ruin him. Ruin us. I can't tell Rick I slept with his girl. It would devastate him. And I am dating Lori, a girl from the county over. If she finds out, she will leave me. I plan on marrying her!" Shane begged Richard to change his mind.
Unfortunately for Shane, it is hard to change the mind of a bona fide racist. Richard was dead set on his son not marrying that black girl. Dead set on not bringing a black child into the family. And dead set on not losing his only son in the process. Everything thing else, and everybody else, including Shane, was just collateral damage.
"I guess then I will have to let Herschel know that your daddy, high on drugs like always, was the one that robbed that store over in Manville a year ago. Let em know you were the one that picked him up when he called you to come get him, makes you an accessory," Richard started but was interrupted by Shane.
"Hey, wait now, my daddy had nothing to do with that mess. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, hanging with the wrong people. He ran because the police would not believe he wasn't involved. Since that day, he has been clean. Ain't done a single drug. Maybe some drinking, but no drugs!" Shane protested pissed off, but Shane was no dummy and knew right then Richard did not give a shit about him or his daddy.
"If you don't do what I ask, then I will send in a little tip to the Sherriff, and you, and your daddy will both go to jail. And bye-bye to your career in law enforcement. You will serve your time and end up living in those trailers and shacks at the edge of town with the other trash," Richard said to horrified Shane and using his young naïve age against him, "Look, Rick will forgive you. He will never choose a whore over his brother. It will take time, but he will eventually."
"Michonne ain't no whore and you can't prove my daddy was even there, and!" Shane uttered and flinched as Richard patted him on the back.
"You sure about that? They still have the blurry picture they showed on the news. Herschel, you know my brother-in-law, the man that will be Sheriff of King County in the near future, well he still looks at that picture from time to time and even talks with his deputy friend over in Manville about it. Herschel swears he knows who it is but can't quite put his finger on it still to this day. The only reason I know is because you told me what happened cuz you were scared. Remember what I told you then?" Richard asked and looked at Shane.
Shane nodded. But Richard needed more. He needed Shane to say it. Acknowledge it. Shane finally caught on.
"You said not to worry," Shane spat, "that you can't tell anybody in that picture for anybody else, but now that you knew who it was, you could recognize my daddy clear a day and that I should shut up about it and never say a word about the robbery or the picture, or that I picked him up."
"Glad you remember. So, you know, with a little prodding, a little push to my brother-in-law, the soon to be Sherriff of King County," Richard repeated the title for emphasis, "the person in that picture will become really clear to him too," Richard grinned and watched a dejected Shane nod his head.
"This ain't right," Shane stated with anger running through every vein and nerve in his body.
Shane was shedding uncontrollable tears. This would end his friendship with Rick. Shane was distraught. They had a plan. They were going to tear the world a new asshole together, probably with Michonne slicing and dicing right with them. And his girl. Shane always thought Michonne and Lori would get along great. Shane was planning on getting them all together to meet as soon but had never really mentioned her by name or really even talked about Lori. Shane wanted to kept her to himself for a little while. She was different. Shane saw how Rick kept Michonne close and preferred not to share his time he spent with her with anybody else. Shane wanted that too. He wanted to keep Lori a secret, and just for himself for as long as he could.
Shane met Lori when he would ride to Manville with his drugged-up father in their shitty ass car to go to a work site when he was in between jobs, which was more often than not. Manville had a worksite, and if he got picked, Shane's father could earn and day's pay. Three weekends a month, and anytime Shane was off from school during the week, he went with his father. Sometimes Shane worked alongside his dad for extra money, but most times, Shane spent a little time with Lori. He always looked forward to going to Manville. And Lori always looked forward to seeing Shane too.
"I will tell you when I need it done and I need you to be ready. I just need to verify the pregnancy first," Richard explained as if the favor was something easy and normal to do to a person considered family.
Two months later, in early February, Michonne started fully showing and it could not be denied that she was at least six months pregnant, there was no way her oversized clothing could hide it anymore. Richard called and Shane reluctantly started the nefarious ball rolling. And it got bad. After the brutal fight that left Shane bruised and battered, but refusing to fight back against Rick, Richard showed his son a picture of Michonne innocently being kissed on the temple by one of her best friends, Darryl Dixon. Rick saw red.
"Rick why are you saying these things? I never slept with anybody but you! NEVER! I Love you!" Michonne cried trying to understand why Rick was saying such horrible things to her.
Just a few days ago, Rick was begging her to skip school and marry him.
"I don't even know if that child is mine. In fact, I know it ain't. We used condoms half the time. You slept with Shane in the middle of the fucking field ON MY OWN FAMILY'S PROPERTY!" Rick screamed furiously.
"Rick, he is lying. I never…" Michonne tried to convince but the conversation with Shane kept playing over and over in his head.
"HE ADMITTED IT! DON'T FUCKING LIE TO ME! And I saw the picture of dirty ass Darryl Dixon kissing you Michonne. You like that shit? You like dirty trailer trash kissing and fucking you? I guess you do. I loved you and you do this shit to me? You cheat on me and make me a laughingstock?" Rick roared and Michonne closed her eyes wondering why Rick chose to believe Shane over her.
Richard thought of that too. Rick would not just believe anybody. It had to be someone he trusted. Some close to him. Someone with everything to lose. Someone that Rick could not help believing. Adding Darryl to the mix was the whip cream on top of the sundae. But even so, the picture was circumstantial. The cherry, however, well, that came from a third person that Rick would have to admit painted a pretty damming picture.
"RICK PLEASE! I it's not true. Trust me please. I don't know why they are saying these things. I never did anything with anybody but you!" Michonne cried out trying to convince Rick to trust her.
To believe her. But it fell on deaf ears. Rick had too many stimuli coming at him that looked like proof. It all overwhelmed and angered him.
"Your Dad. I went over there looking for you after my fight with Shane. Your father said you were somewhere running around with your boyfriend Darryl. Even said he spends the night from time to time," Rick spat with disgust.
"What? Why would my father lie like that?" Michonne uttered more to herself more than for Rick.
"Go cry to Shane or Darryl or whoever's baby it is you are carrying. I am done," Rick spat and turned and walked away from Michonne.
Rick wanted to look back. He felt an overwhelming urge to see her one last time despite the accusations. Despite what he thought she did. Rick hated to admit it, but he still loved Michonne. He tried to hate her, but it just was not in him to do so, but he would be damned if he allowed her to see his tears. If Rick had looked back, he would have noticed that Michonne was still stood in the same spot, frozen and perplexed about her father's role in this whole farce.
Two days later, Michonne was gone. Rick panicked and went looking for Darryl for her whereabouts, but the biker had disappeared too. That confirmed for Rick that Darryl was probably the father and what Michonne's father said was true. In Darryl's absence, Shane took the brunt of Rick's anger. Rick had no one else to focus it on. Shane in an instant became enemy number one and he felt hate every time Rick stared at him. There were a few times when Rick would ask Shane why he did what he did as he openly wept at the loss of Michonne, and when Shane could not answer, Rick's tears turned angry, and Shane incurred more of Rick's wrath. Shane could only cry his own tears as he silently watched his brother shatter into pieces.
Rick never really recovered, but he tried to move on. Tried to bury his love for the woman that broke his heart. But it was obvious to all who saw Rick and Michonne together, especially to his mother Ella, that it would be near impossible for Rick to recover from the betrayal of two of the most important people in his life. Ella was devastated also. She never would have expected the underhanded actions of either Shane or Michonne and tried to support her son the best way she knew how.
Six months later, Rick went to Emory and got his Criminal Justice degree. The experience was not what he envisioned without Michonne by his side, but he stayed focused and took summer classes and finished in three years. Rick was twenty-one when he joined the police academy without Shane, it was almost unbearable. Rick heard through some of the instructors that Shane graduated from the academy two years previously. Rick tried not to care and focused on his own academy graduation.
On a random day, Richard saw a woman sitting alone in the diner and thought she would be perfect for Rick. She was the very picture of what a nice southern white boy should have on his arm. Richard sat down and struck up a conversation with the woman, then showed her a picture of his nearly twenty-two-year-old son. The woman had to admit, Rick was extremely handsome and maybe he would be a welcome respite while she tried to get over the man she loved. A man she reconnected with but ended up running away from again.
"Tell me more about your handsome son," The woman smiled a smile that did not reach her sad eyes.
"He is at the deputy academy, will be graduating soon. I think he would claim to owe me a hundred favors if I introduced him to your pretty little self," Richard grinned wanting to finally get Rick on the right track and to stop mourning over Michonne.
Richard thought for sure his son would have forgotten about that black girl after all this time had passed, but Rick had been stubborn, and Richard thought his son just needed a slight nudge in what Richard considered the right direction.
"I wonder," the woman answered doubting what Richard had proclaimed.
The woman noticed in the picture that Rick looked sad. She could tell it in his eyes because they echoed the ones that stared back at her in the mirror every day. Some days she could barely tolerate her own reflection. Rick had lost a deep love like she had. She felt it in her gut.
"Where are you from? I have not seen you before around here?" Richard asked, knocking the woman from the sadness that overwhelmed her on some days.
"Originally from Florida. My family moved to Manville when I was in high school, then I went back to Florida for college, and now I'm here. I needed a change. My old boyfriend got a job in Manville and, well, I need a change," she smiled sadly, "My name is Lori Wayne by the way."
Richard put two and two together from the limited information Shane shared when he begged Richard to rethink the plan. Lori was Shane's love. Richard smirked and thought Lori was much better suited for Rick than Shane. There was an invitation to dinner, an introduction, and both Rick and Lori, without realizing the reason why, were both attracted to each other. It was not because of appearance, or love, but rather they shared a need to connect with anyone that could help rid their constant feeling of emptiness.
Rick was twenty-two when he married Lori after five months of dating after she admitted to being two months pregnant. That was when Rick closed his eyes and slipped into a full-blown walking coma. Rick was the very definition of the walking dead. He put on the face the thought he was supposed to wear. He laughed when he wanted to cry. He smiled when he wanted to frown. With Lori pregnant, Rick switched his smiling mask to the one that indicated he was overjoyed. Lori, however, was terrified. No mask required. Rick and Lori were not very sexual. She could count on a three-fingered hand the times they had sex before she found out she was pregnant and on a zero fingered hand afterwards outside of the emotionless wedding night missionary sex they had because they thought they had to. What terrified Lori was the timeline did not match for Rick to be the father. Rick was too dead inside to even bother to do the math in his head.
Rick would learn later that Lori slipped and had sex with Shane on a visit to see her parents, and both cried because it felt right. Like they were destined to be together. Like they were supposed to be together. It happened a few more times and Lori was happy again and was going to break up with Rick. Richard found out about the two one evening when he noticed Lori talking with Shane. Richard needed to act fast. He paid a visit to Lori's apartment and told the story of a terrible best friend who wronged his son.
Lori was stunned to find out Rick was Shane's former best friend and, after knowing Rick, the disgust she felt towards Shane rushed back to her in an instant. Now Lori was disgusted with herself too, and she pushed Shane away. She could not hurt Rick like that again and so Lori went to sleep too. Ella noticed both Rick and Lori were unconscious at their own wedding on the Grimes farm. Ella wanted to cry, as she watched two comatose people say, "I Do." Ella was overwhelmed with grief for her son.
The day Lori gave birth, she took a DNA test, but she knew the baby was Shane's. Lori tried, but when Vivian was a month old, she stopped fighting her feelings. She called Shane to come and get her and the baby.
"Fuck you, Shane. Fuck you," Rick uttered dejectedly as he held the DNA letter in his hand.
Rick felt like he was watching a repeat episode of his life on television.
"I'm sorry Rick. I called myself every name in the dictionary from A to Z. Asshole, bastard, Dick, Hypocrite," Shane stopped as he got into the driver's side of the car.
That last one shattered Shane's heart knowing he was fighting for his daughter, when Rick did not have the chance to fight for his own child. Rick did not feel a loss for Lori or the baby. Rather the loss Rick felt was more damaging. Rick lost confidence in himself after losing another woman to Shane.
Rick stared at his sick father with such intense hate that he felt like a fire was going blaze from the inside out. Rick was so disgusted he cried.
"You knew Lori was Shane's woman when you introduced us?" Rick asked angrily, already knowing the answer.
"Son, I am so sorry. I could not see beyond my own prejudice. My own hatred and I tried to control your life so much so that I tuned it to shit. And I regret doing that to you, son. I just…" Richard started and noticed the fire lit in Rick's eyes and stopped and looked at Ella who was sobbing.
"Your lies cost me the love of my life. My child. My brother. If you were not in that bed, I would beat you like you were nothing to me but a fucking enemy. You made me a mess. You convinced me that I was not worth loving. YOU DID THAT TO ME!" Rick yelled and stood from his chair so fast that it fell over backwards.
"I am so sorry Rick," His father uttered again.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR DAMN SORRIES," Rick yelled and then calmed himself down, "I met my son today. He came to visit and when I saw him, I knew he was mine. I KNEW!" Rick teared up again unable to control his tears.
Ella snapped her head up to Rick at the news.
"Rick, I am so sorry," Richard whispered again, "Please, please forgive me."
"You are dead to me. If you make it, and I hope you do so that you can live with what you did. Live with the judgment of everybody around you. Live without your son in your life," Rick had more to say but was interrupted.
"And live without your wife. What you did is reprehensible," Ella grit through her teeth trying to hold back the disgust, "Rick, come sit with me and tell me about meeting your son. My grandson."
Ella walked out of the hospital room followed quickly by Rick, but he stopped short at the door.
"How did you get Michonne's father to play along?" Rick asked, staring at the wood door, and fidgeting with the handle.
Rick could not look at his father anymore. He was too angry. Too disgusted. If he looked at Richard, Rick knew he might punch him with everything he had in him. So, Rick just stared out into the hallway where nurses, and patients, and doctors passed without a clue that the real sickness was the malevolent soul inside that room. Rick wondered just how Richard's heart failed when he never really had one to begin with.
"I told him that the law was looking for Michonne and he needed to protect her. That I was gonna come around asking a question about Michonne and if he did not want to get her in trouble, he would say she was with Darryl. Say Darryl spends the night as an alibi. I also gave him a few bottles of whiskey," Richard admitted, and he was even disgusted with the admission.
"So that's why Deputy Gill was there with us that day," Rick uttered angrily.
Rick meant to ask back then, but everything was happening so fast, and when Andre Hawthorne opened the door that day, his question was forgotten.
"I asked him to put on his uniform and come with us for safety reasons. I didn't tell him the real reason why I needed his presence there. When Michonne's father saw David standing there with us in his uniform, he did exactly as I knew he would. He said exactly what I told him to say, so you could hear it straight from his mouth. Michonne's own father's mouth. I told myself he did it more for the whiskey, but I knew he was a father trying to protect his daughter the best way he could. Just like I thought I was doing. I did feel bad he died without ever seeing his daughter again. I would not wish that on anyone," Richard admitted.
Rick beat his fist hard on the wooden door causing Richard to jump before walking out of that hospital room on a mission to make things right. His first order of business was to find his son. And her.
Richard Grimes Sr. looked up to the ceiling and prayed he would not make it out of the hospital because he knew if he survived, it would be a long, miserable, lonely life as he was forced to watch his wife and son move on with their lives without him.