Chapter 3: Alone

A/N: I just wanted to say thank you to the many followers/faves of this story and the reviews! I do have an end point for this story so I hope you all enjoy. This chapter takes place in the past to show how much their relationship has grown. Also this helps give a clear picture as to why Michonne moves so slowly in her relationships. The following chapter will be the party. Also shout out to whoareyouandwhyshouldicare on tumblr for the cover art! Enjoy and continue to leave your comments!

8 years ago

"Fuck!" Michonne shouted out in anger as her many papers fell on the ground after running into a man, who was clearly not paying attention. It was Michonne's first day at her new law firm and she was already running at least 10 mins late and this interruption was not helping her.

"Let me help, I'm sorry." Said Rick as he bent down to help this unknown woman pick up her many papers. Rick had been talking on the phone with Lori and had become unaware of his surroundings until he ran straight into Michonne.

"Yeah, no thanks you've done enough." Said Michonne, clearly annoyed as she put her hand up to signify that he could stop. She could hear this man sigh as he got up and she rolled her eyes why is he the one sighing? I'm the one running late and he's the one who ran into me she thought as she picked up the rest of her papers finally getting up.

"Look, I was just trying to help I said sorry." Rick could tell she was in a rush and clearly flustered but he didn't appreciate her tone with him. Michonne signed and adjusted the bottom of her skirt, pulling it down as it had risen a bit in picking up her papers. "If I had the time to stand here and argue with you trust me I would but right now I don't. And I don't care about your sorry." She said rather abruptly as she began to quickly walk off not trying to be any later than she already was.

Rick sighed and shook his head, clearly this woman wasn't a pleasant person but at least she didn't have the time for an argument. He watched her as she quickly walked away his eyes moving down her as she walked away. An angry woman with a nice ass, what a shame he thought as he turned away once he was out of her view. He opened up his phone again, calling his wife back "hey, sorry I ran into a woman...no I physically ran into her…" He said, as he began to walk away his voice trailing off.

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A few hours later

Michonne had survived her first day at her new job. It was hectic to say the least and her lateness did not help her in having a positive first impression on her new boss but she managed well enough and promised herself that she would be at least 10 minutes early tomorrow. But for now she needed a drink and walked into the town's local, and what seemed like, only bar.

"Jesus Christ, how fucking small is this town?" Blurted out Michonne rather abruptly as she opened the door to the bar and found the same man who she had ran into sitting at one of the stools. He looked up at the sound of the familiar voice with the same amount of annoyance from earlier and smirked, "you must be new here."

Michonne sighed and rolled her eyes as she sat about two bar stools away from Rick. Her locs were now down instead of the bun they were in earlier in the day and she now wore flats instead of the heels that she quickly learned were not comfortable. "Am I going to have to see you every day? Is this gonna be a thing cause I don't think it's gonna work out."

Rick chuckled lightly, he was on his 1st drink at the bar and even though this woman clearly had a chip on her shoulder he greatly preferred this environment than the one he had to come home to. "Now it wouldn't be too bad running into each other, would it?" "Uh, yeah it would be actually. Late to my first day on the job because someone doesn't know how to talk and walk and that someone seems to be everywhere I am." "...Where's the new job?" Asked Rick bypassing by her other comments, the alcohol lightened his mood and at this point he was getting a bit of joy out of her annoyed demeanor.

Michonne glanced at him a look of confusion on her face, is he really trying to start up a conversation with me? He must be drunk already. "Bartender, a gin and tonic please. Don't go light on the gin." She said, pointing a finger at him as the bartender nodded and prepared her drink. "I'm a lawyer" she answered, taking a sip of her drink once the bartender put it in front of her.

Rick nodded, of course she's a lawyer with that attitude. "Well we may be seeing each other more often then, I'm this town's sheriff, the name's Rick." He said as he leaned over to reach out his hand. Michonne turned to him her mouth slightly open, "fuck, I gotta get the hell out of this town," she said before reaching out her hand and shaking his. "It's Michonne."

Rick chuckled lightly at her comment, dropping her hand after a few seconds. There was an initial small spark when they touched but he ignored it, blaming it on the alcohol. "So today was your first day on the job, huh? How'd it go?" He asked as he then finished his first drink, shaking the empty glass at the bartender indicating he wanted another one.

"Well I didn't get fired so there's that." She said shrugging as she sipped on her drink, she could feel the stress of the day lifting off of her. "What are you drinking?" I bet….he is a whiskey man. Definitely. Looked neat. She thought to herself before he could answer.

"Whiskey. Neat." Rick replied as he the bartender refilled his glass. He heard Michonne chuckle lightly, his first time seeing her smile, and even though it was small it was still bright and seemed to fill the dimly lit bar. "What?" He asked, "I knew it." She said, looking up at him giving him a small smile. "Really, you think you can read me that well?" "Well it is what I do for a living so yeah," Michonne replied also requesting for a refill on her drink in a similar fashion to Rick.

"You ain't the only person who can read people, let me see…" Rick turned to her so he was fully facing her so he can also take a guess about her. "Well, I already know you're drink but what else…" He took her in for a moment, briefly looking her up and down "I'm gonna guess you're from a big city."

Michonne smirked and turn in his direction, "Well no duh. Geez is that the best you got? I hope you're better at this when it comes to criminals." Rick laughed lightly, "who said I was done, huh? Alright you're from a big city which is...Los Angeles. No." He said, quickly taking it back as she opened her mouth to speak. "It's...New York. You're from New York City." "Is that your final answer?" Rick nodded, "just tell me if I'm right or not." Michonne chuckled lightly, "yeah, yeah you're right I'm from New York," she said waving him off.

"Now it's my turn." She said as she moved closer to him now only one stool separating them. "Why are you here Rick?" She moved her eyes down him and spotted a wedding ring, "let me guess. Whoever you were talking to on the phone when you ran into me was your wife and...There was an argument or something like that and so now you're here drinking your whiskey. Neat." She said, smirking as she took a sip of her drink.

Rick let out a small smile, she's good he thought. "Yeah, I guess that's close enough anyone could have guessed that but you know that was good." He said with a shrug. Michonne laughed lightly, "oh shut up." "My turn," said Rick, "You….grew tired of the big city life...and grew tired of the people so you closed your eyes and choose the first city your finger landed on and now you're here." "Yeahh...it must suck not being as good at reading people as you thought," she said smiling widely at his wrong guess as to why she had moved to Kings County.

Rick laughed lightly, "Alright so tell me then why are you here?" Michonne took a long sip of her drink, finishing it off and taking a minute to answer him. Michonne was not one to open up to people, especially now with what happened in New York and especially not to people she just met. "Sometimes...you just need a change of scenery." She said, with a small smile. She got up from the stool and looked down at her watch, "Well I have to go, thanks for the talk. I still don't like you." She said pointing a finger at him and squinting at him playfully. Rick laughed lightly, "Yeah whatever, you have a card or something? We might need to get in contact for work at some point." Michonne nodded, digging her hand in her purse as she pulled out her card, handing it to him. "And you?" "Naw, I don't have mine on me. But if you need me call the station and ask for Grimes." Michonne nodded, "Grimes. I will. Cabs still running in this town at this time?" "Yeah, should be a couple waiting outside. See you around?" "Um, with the size of this town and my luck you'll probably be my next door neighbor." She said, she turned around and gave him a smile and a small wave before exiting the bar. Rick chuckled lightly as he watched her leave, for the second time today, "Yeah….probably" he muttered to himself with a small smile on his face as he played with her card for a few seconds before putting it in his pocket. He turned around and waved for the bartender, "Another please. Thanks."

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1 and ½ years later

Michonne sat on her couch, it was around 10 at night and her lights were dim as she read To Kill a Mockingbird for the 3rd time. She had her locs pulled high up into a ponytail and she was wearing an oversize shirt and pajama shorts her usual nighttime wear especially in Georgia where it was hot year round. She was abruptly shook from her book as she heard a loud knock on her door. She looked to see who it was from the couch and squinted seeing what looked like a male figure standing by the door and the knocking continued, now more insistent. She sighed and set her book on her coffee table in front of her and went to see who it was. She looked through the peephole and saw who it was, Rick, and he looked terrible. She quickly unlocked the door and opened the door, "What's wrong?" She asked, taking in his condition.

Rick's eyes were bloodshot and his dark circles were deeper than usual, his clothes were messy and his hair disheveled like he had gotten dressed in a haste. "We're done." He said, his voice raspy as if he had just been yelling for hours. His eyes jumped to everything but Michonne as he tried to control his tears from welling up again. She knew right away that he was talking about Lori, their arguments had gotten worse and their relationship had quickly gone down the drain after the reveal of her affair. It had gotten to the point that Rick found himself on her couch on quite a few nights. "Oh Rick." Michonne said softly, gently pulling him into her home by his hand, closing the door behind him and leading him towards her couch. She gently rubbed his hand with her thumb once they were seated, "What happened?" "...We...I just can't anymore," he said, biting down on his lip now trying to physically stop his tears, "I tried...I tried to move on from...Fuck." Tears were now coming out, slowly at first and then faster and faster as he was unable to control them. "Rick," said Michonne softly, now pulling him into her chest her arms tight around him, "its okay. You're gonna be okay." Rick's arm wrapped around Michonne, tight, as if letting go would cause him to fall apart. He breathed deep and slow breaths after a few moments as he began to calm down. He looked up at Michonne, tears still coming out but now at much slower pace. "How am I...supposed to come back from this?" "You will. You're strong. You have us. Carl. Little Judith. You're gonna be okay, Grimes." "I….I feel alone." Said Rick, his voice barely above a whisper at this point. "You're not," said Michonne as if it was a fact, she was now gently stroking Rick's cheek with her thumb and they were close to each other, just a few inches separating them and it felt like his blue eyes were drilling holes into her. "Wanna know why I came to Kings County?" She asked, after a moment of silence. Rick gave her a small nod, a bit relieved that she was giving him a temporary distraction from his pain.

She gave him a small smile and started her story, "I was with someone too. For a really long time. Almost 10 years. We met when I was 18 and I fell in love with him hard and fast. I thought he was the best thing that happened to me. And we were really good and then it was like the light was switched off and we weren't." She said softly, Rick looked at her intently showing her that he was listening. "It was like you and Lori. We argued. Every day. About the stupidest of things. And every day I woke and up thought, maybe today will be better. Maybe today we will be happy. And then every night I went to bed and thought...yeah, not today. It got bad. I think he hated me at the end and I hated him. But we were comfortable in our anger and we we're scared to let go and start all over with someone new... At least I was. One day he walked in after work and he said, 'I don't love you anymore. I can't do this,' and I remember sobbing every day after that. I sobbed when he told me, I sobbed as I moved my stuff out of our home, I sobbed when I saw him with someone else a few months after breaking my heart. I think it was the most intense pain I've ever felt. I was suffocating underneath it all and so...I closed my eyes and picked the first place that my finger landed on on the map," she gave him a small smile as she recounted his assumption at the bar the day they met. "I was right?" Asked Rick his voice still raspy as he gave her a slight smile in return also remembering that night in the bar. Michonne nodded, "you were right Grimes," she said as she pulled back from him now resting her head on her couch. "Anyways, the point of that story is that you're not alone physically and you're not alone in your pain either. I didn't have kids with him. We weren't married but my god I thought he was the sun. But he wasn't. And neither is Lori. You'll be okay. It'll take some time but I'm here, whenever you need me."

Rick nodded at her words his eyes were still glazed over but his tears had stopped, "Thank you 'Chonne." "You're welcome...you need a place to lay your head?" Rick nodded giving her a small smile. "If you don't mine." Michonne smiled, and stood up from the couch. "Now Grimes you know if I minded you would have knew already." She said, with a smirk as she walked towards her closet near the door that had extra pillows and blankets. "Yeah...I know." Rick said, softly, mostly to himself. Michonne walked over to him and handed him some pillows and a blanket. "Get some rest Grimes and don't leave until I've made you some breakfast, okay?" she said, smilingly softly as he nodded and she walked towards her staircase to her own bedroom. Rick turned to her as she was halfway up the stairs, "Goodnight 'Chonne." She paused and looked back at him, "Goodnight Rick," she said before continuing up the stairs again and disappearing into her room.