Michonne starts walking over to the shed; she looks around the yard unable to see anything on the ground but an inch and a half of snow.
She glances over her should towards the kitchen patio; a blushing grin radiates her face thinking about her and Rick sharing some whimsical banter every now and again. Or when time permitted it.
But this one was different; they casually shared something from their past that they could actually joke and laugh about.
A rush of feelings hit her at once when Deanna's words begin echoing in her head, "What do you want?"
As much as she wanted to love and be loved back; the anguish and betrayal she felt with Mike not protecting Andre', was enough that she vowed a long time ago that she'd never fall down that rabbit hole again. She knew if something like that ever happened again there'd be no coming back for her.
The idea of having to endure this already painful world with another broken heart was just too much for her to bare.
Bone-chilling winds thrusts her mind back to the task at hand, Michonne adamantly pushes thoughts of joy out of her mind and starts walking again; all the while saying to herself, "Nope no way in hell. I won't gamble with my feelings like that ever ag…"
She suddenly hears the sounds of cracking ice underneath her feet, she looks down at the snow.
Michonne anxiously scans her surroundings when another burst of snow blows in to her face.
Using her arms to shield her face from the snow; the jerking movement creates another crackling noise.
As she wipes the snow out of her eyes; she peeps the top of a shiny pool railing.
Swiftly looking back down at her feet she see and hears the crack as it pushes threw the snow covered body of ice.
Lifting one foot in order to step back is the final shift in weight necessary to cause a complete break in the ice; plunging her to the bottom of the in-ground pool.
Michonne's overcome with panic as her clothes quickly absorbs the frigid waters; before long the cold water begins penetrating her skin, sending shock waves through her body as sudden plunge sucks her deeper beneath the ice.
Her arms and legs begin flailing under water; she opens her eyes long enough to see the hole from which she fell but, her eyes start to burn from the aging bacteria in the pool.
She closes her eyes shut and hastily starts swimming back towards the light coming from the hole she briefly saw seconds earlier.
As she swims towards the top of the pool she feels around for the opening but, all she can feels above her head is ice.
Her efforts in trying to remain calm while searching for the opening are beginning to take their toll, she angrily begins to bang on the ice overhead.
Scaling across the ice with her hands she finally feels one hand emerge out of the icy pool water; she attempts to pull herself up but; the sword on her back keeps stopping her from pulling her body partially out of the water, causing her to fall beneath the water again and again.
Losing more and more body heat and energy as she fights to get out; Michonne manages to muster whatever strength she has left and thrusts herself up out of the pool to shoulders and breaking the apart the slab of ice that kept hindering her sword.
Placing both arms on either side of the hole on the ice to brace herself, she inhales as much air as possible as she catches her breath.
The ice under both her arms begins crackling so she holds her breath to restrict her efforts to move.
It's difficult for Michonne to see the kitchen patio because of all the blowing snow; she gingerly moves one arm and then the other to the ice in front of her. She instinctively tries to body crawl out of the water but, there's no progress. Every three inches she gains out of the icy waters she slides back two bring her back closer to the hole.
The next time she feels herself about to slide back; she panics by kicking her feet about wildly; propelling her further out of the water and on to the ice.
Only the tips of her boots remain submerged in the water; so she rests atop of the ice believing that she'd be alright taking a minute to rest but, she goes unconscious instead.
60 seconds later an ice cold shiver jolts through her body as the storm winds pick up in speed blowing snow throughout the yard again.
She slowly lifts her head trying to recall why all of the sudden the limbs on her body were so difficult to move.
Michonne hears Rick calling for her in the distance faintly.
One minute was all it took for her body to become camouflaged by snow so that he couldn't see her.
Every motion she takes feels like she's lifting an extra heavy weight.
She hears Rick calling her name once more but this time it's much closer.
"Rick stop! Don't move", she screams.
Rick stop abruptly as he shields his eyes from the blowing snow to see where Michonne's voice was coming from.
He finally looks down and sees her desperately trying to pull herself further up on to the ice.
"Jesus!" He quickly bends down in the spot where he stood and he extends his hand, "Give me your hand", he yells.
She advances herself a little more; then grabs his hand.
Quickly pulling her up off the ice he tries to stand her up but she collapses in his arms.
He touches her neck and cheeks, "God damn it Michonne! Your skin is freezing!"
Draping her arm around his neck, he begins dragging her back to the kitchen patio.
Once inside he gently sits her body on the couch; runs upstairs to get some blankets or towels to wrap around her body for the ride back.
Rick returns down stairs with a two king size down comforters; he runs over to her and quickly starts placing them across the front of her body.
Before he picks her up and over his shoulder, he leans over and looks in to her face, "Michonne…Michonne can you hear me?"
She doesn't respond.
Rick begins to lift her head from off the back of the couch and holds her cold wet face in both hands, "Shit! God damn it Michonne! Don't do this to me. Not right now!"
He hears the panic in his own voice; so he whispers softly, "Please baby, please wake up. Open your eye's Counselor, just give me a sign that you're still with me", he pleads touching his forehead to hers.
In a faint murmur, Rick hears her softly babbling, "Judge Scofield, this...this is a classic case of illegal search and seizure…they've…they've been harassing my client…"
She starts fading out again, "Oh no, no, no, no. Come on Chonne' we gotta get back home." He urgently hoists her on to his shoulder wrapping the ends of the comforters around her back.
Rick gently props Michonne against the car so he can open the passenger door.
After placing her inside; Rick rushes around to the driver side only taking a second to glance at the blizzard that's now on their backs with intermittent glimpses of the fading daylight.