Chapter 2

don't know when I'll get around to a third chapter but I will eventually.

Michonne sighed gently stroking Carl's hair as he slept next to her on the sofa curled up with a blanket pulled up to his chin resting his head on a pillow with his hair flopping onto Michonne's thigh. Michonne was having a fight with herself (as she often did). She had to talk to Rick about his behaviour but she didn't want to break Carl's trust, knowing how cautious Carl tended to be and how devastating it would be for him to be betrayed like that, but she couldn't just let Rick continue ignoring his son who was clearly not coping with his new surroundings.

Too angry to have a nap like she originally intended when she got home Michonne stood and walked to the kitchen to make herself some more tea to calm down before Rick got home and she felt the urge to punch him.

"What's up?" She heard behind her swinging around to face Rick standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a giant smile plastered on his face bringing Michonne's anger bubbling to the surface once again. She huffed angrily in response ignoring his question and swinging back around to take a sip from her mug.

"Are you Okay?" Rick asked sounding confused moving out of the doorway towards Michonne,leaning against the bench.

"Yep" She said in a passive aggressive tone slowly turning to face him with a disapproving scowl.

Rick frowned unsure what he could have possibly done to piss her off. "Are you sure?" he said skeptically.

"Yep everything's fine" she replied voice dripping with sarcasm, taking a long sip from her mug.

"Okay" he said cautiously "Well I just wanted to let you know I won't be home for dinner"

"Why not?" Michonne asked suspiciously.

"Jessie invited me to dinner at her house, be nice to get to know Ron and Sam" Rick said awkwardly tapping his foot and avoiding her gaze.

"Get to know Ron and Sam" She repeated indignantly in a low growl.

"Yeah her kids" Rick replied looking up at her confused by her anger not seeing any problem with the situation.

"And what about your kids?" She asked glaring over the rim of her mug at the clearly oblivious Rick.

"What about my kids?" Rick asked,eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"You haven't really been around recently, maybe you should spend some time with your own kids before you go adopting someone else's" Michonne said placing her mug on the counter and tried to calm her boiling rage towards Rick and his obliviousness.

Rick chuckled at this only making Michonne angrier. "I'm not adopting them"

"That wasn't the point" Michonne growled "When was the last time you came to dinner with everyone?" she asked, anger beginning to boil over but couldn't stop herself "When was the last time you asked Carl how he's going? If he's okay?!" She asked becoming increasingly angry with every word. "You're not the only one trying to adjust in here! He's struggling and you've just left him to fend for himself so you can go play family" she continued moving towards Rick who was looking quite scared at Michonne's outburst. "He needs you"

"He seems like he's been doing fine" Rick said timidly.

"That's because you haven't been here Rick!" Michonne said exasperated at Rick's lack of interest and understanding for his own son.

"I have been here and I understand he might have some trouble adjusting, but he has friends now, he goes to school, he's safe in here" Rick said defensively stepping back from Michonne who had ended up inches from his face.

Michonne exhaled deeply clenching her fist in an attempt to calm herself. "Rick" she said stepping closer again "Carl is not like the other kids here, he has been through too much to go back to being a normal kid and you can't expect him too, I know you have done everything to protect him but just because he's safe from what's out there doesn't mean he's safe from his own head, how is he supposed to react having to pretend like everything out there just doesn't exist. You expected him to act like an adult out there and now you expect him to act like a kid in here and he can't handle it"she said angrily getting even closer to Rick trying to make him understand "You need to talk to him and he needs to know that you don't expect him to be like the kids in here, that you will care about him no matter what" she continued, voice softening a little "He just wants you to be proud of him, seeing all these kids in here going to school and playing around, he knows that's what you wanted for him and he's terrified that if he can't be that you won't care about him anymore, you have to stop taking him for granted" Michonne finished feeling a twinge of guilt having betrayed Carl.

"He really thinks that?" Rick asked pleadingly hoping it wasn't true

"He told me" Michonne replied sighing.

Rick was silent for a long time staring at the floor "He really thinks I'll stop caring about him?" he asked looking back up at Michonne who nodded in response. "Do you know where he is?" he asked pinching the bridge of his nose.

"He's asleep on the couch" Michonne replied, relieved that she had finally gotten through to him.

"If he wakes up can you tell him I need to talk to him" Rick said moving towards living room.

"Where are you going?" Michonne asked suspiciously moving after him.

"Gotta go cancel dinner plans" He said, smiling as he walked out to the living room.