Michonne's reality starts moving in slow motion as she watches Rick's face look back and forth between her and the road while driving through the gate. She wrinkles her brow at how slow his speech sounds when he asks her twice, "What? Who's Andre'?" Michonne, who's Andre'?"
Her brain activity is slowing down; the view of unfolding events moves as though it's a daydream.
She gazes out the car window watching the slow dance of the blizzard.
The short burst of cold air that hits her face as Rick jumps out the car doesn't jolt her at all. Her eyes become heavy as she tries to remain conscious; she can hear the voices of people talking outside the car but she doesn't have the will power to pay attention to the words.
As she starts listening to the howling wind of the blizzard, she starts closing her eyes.
"Listen there's a pillow case full of prescription meds, get them to the infirmary and anything else that you think could help Denise. Abraham help me grab Michonne!", Rick yells.
He looks around at Daryl, Abraham, Glenn and Heath, "Who's getting Denise?"
"Rosita went to get her", Daryl begins grabbing items from the trunk.
Rick rushes over to the passenger side door; when he opens it he sees Michonne closing her eyes, "Oh, no! Michonne don't go to sleep." He turns to Abraham, "Help me carry her in the house."
As they begin taking her out the car Rick sees Rosita and Aaron running towards them, "Where's Denise?"
"Eric has a ruptured appendix. Denise is in the middle of surgery, but I can help I've dealt with hyperthermia before", Aaron yells.
"Shit, alright what do we need to do?" Rick asks.
Aaron starts instructing Rosita, "Go inside and get the fire place going and push away everything so there's enough room to put a mattress in front. Then grab as many blankets and towels as you can then find something dry and loose fitting we and put her in."
They finally get Michonne out the car; Ricks yells towards the back of the car, "Everything else bring inside house and don't forget to grab her sword and the rest of the stuff in the backseat".
Aaron pulls 3 heating packs out of his pocket while holding the door for Rick and Abraham, "Lay her down on the couch, Rosita start taking off her clothes. After that start patting her skin dry with the towels. Rick, you and Abraham get a mattress and lay it down in front of the fire."
Rosita starts to cry while trying to undress her, Michonne lips were close to a dark blue and her movements bordered on unresponsive.
Once she has Michonne undressed she begins patting her arms and legs with one of the towels. She whispers under her breath, "Come on, Michonne you home now. Feel the towel on your legs? You've come too far to go out like this."
A few minutes later, Rosita dresses Michonne in an extra-large T-shirt then wraps Michonne's hair tightly with another towel.
Aaron comes from out of the kitchen with a bowl of the heating a packets from his pocket, "That's good, you wrapped up her hair we don't want anything cold or wet touching her skin, especially around her neck." He grabs a smaller towel; wraps one of the heating pads with it and places it under Michonne's neck.
"Do the same thing with those", he points to the bowl, "Then place one under each of her underarms." He grabs Michonne's hand and presses on the tips of her finger to see how fast the blood flows back.
"Help me get her on the floor in front of the fire, her blood flow is too slow."
Before they could move her, Rick and Abraham come back in with the mattress and place in in front of the fire. Rosita and Aaron lay Michonne's body on top.
Aaron places the heating packs back in on Michonne then he begins to placing multiple blanket on her tucking the edges underneath her to restrict any body movement.
Rick looks over at Aaron and Rosita, "Well how is she?"
"I pressed on her finger tips; the blood rushed back really slow. If her blood were circulating normally the blood would've rushed back the minute I removed the pressure. But like I said, it did rush back so the only thing left to do is wait." Aaron explains.
"I saw her eyes flutter for a second or two, but nothing to confirm that she's there", Rosita adds.
The front door opens wide letting out the heat that's built up in the living room, Daryl walks inside.
"Close the door! Hurry up!" Rick and Aaron yell.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry", Daryl closes the door, Listen we need some help pushing the car in to the garage, the engine won't start and we're pushing against the wind.
"You two go, Rosita and I will stay until you get back Rick."
After pushing the car in to Ricks garage, Heath asks, "Alright we good? It's fucking cold and I wanna get back before I can't see shit."
"Yea, go ahead home." Rick tells him.
Glenn, Abraham and Heath take off; Daryl's about to close the door when Carol starts calling for Rick on the walkie.
"Rick…Rick, you need to come by here. Carl was watching through the window when Michonne was being carried in to the house. He's getting dressed to come over. I told him to stay but…"
"Damn it! Alright tell him I'll be right there", Rick releases his finger from the walkie button, "Daryl, help me make a rope path from here to Carol's.
After grabbing some rope out of what used to be Jesse's garage; Rick and Daryl make a path from Rick's place to Carol's then over to the infirmary and armory.
Rick uses the rope path to get back over to Carol's just as Carl's about to leave for home.
"Carl!" Rick yells, "Hold on!" He makes his way on to Carol's front porch.
"Dad, what's wrong with Michonne?"
Carl's face looked better than when he last saw him but he still looked sick. Rick didn't want to lie but he knew that Carl would do something even more dangerous if he didn't believe him.
"Michonne and I were searching a house, she went out back to look in the shed and fell in a pool. It was an in-ground pool, completely covered with snow."
"Is she gonna be alright?"
"That's what Rosita and Aaron are trying to do right now."
"Why didn't Denise go and help her!" Carl starts coughing.
Rick opens the front door and ushers Carl inside the house and closes the door behind the two of them.
"Listen Carl, the last thing that Michonne wants is for you to come out in the middle of a blizzard while you're sick. Just stay here while the storms going on. Get some rest, by the time this storm passes you'll be somewhat well enough to come back to the house."
Carol, Maggie and Enid stand in the living room doorway as Rick explains why Carl should stay.
Carl looks at the them then back at his father angry because he knows his father is right, "You call the walkie and let me know how she's doing", he grabs the walkie talkie out of Carol's hand then walks upstairs to the bedroom he's staying in.
Rick was about to call Carl on his rudeness to Carol but, she raises her hand, "Don't worry about it Rick, he's sick and angry; two things that don't help one another at all. Go home and let us know how she's doing."
Daryl and Glenn open and close the front door immediately, "God damn it's cold as shit out there", Glenn announces while taking his hat and glove off.
"Hey, the rope set pretty good, you better get back before it gets any worse out there", Daryl walks over to Rick while Maggie walks over to help Glenn take off his coat.
He whispers, "I put that suitcase in the basement utility closet."
Rick taps Daryl shoulder, "Thank you."
"Carol you let me know if he gets worse, Aaron said Eric had a ruptured appendix so Denise is in surgery", Rick says while bundling back up.
"Of course and you keep us posted on how Michonne's doing. The walkie's are about to run out of juice so I say we do one more update in an hour, then we charge them over night. Everybody can check in around 8 in the morning.",
Carol walks him to the door, "Yea, that sounds good."
Rick walks out the door grabbing rope path making his way back to Michonne.
Rick reaches his front door and sees a sign , "Go around back, DO NOT open the front door."
So he enters the house through the garage.
Once he makes his way to the living room he sees Rosita on the mattress hugged up against Michonne and the fire place was hardly lit.
"What happened to the fire?"
Rosita wakes up, "Oh, something's wrong with the flue in the chimney. One of the flaps won't open so it piles up with snow and wets down the fire."
She stands up in her pants and bra.
She reaches or her shirt, "Aaron wanted to get back to Eric so he left a while back. I didn't know what to do about the flue so I figured the next best thing was body heat."
Rosita puts her shirt back on, "Come here take off your shirt and lay down close to her while I start the fire again."
Rick quickly removes his shirt and shoes then lays down next to Michonne.
After Rosita gets the fire going she says, "The flue's wide open so the fire's gonna burn out faster. Let's hope it burns hot and long enough to bring he body temperature back up."
Rick listens while pulling the covers over himself and Michonne, he wraps his arm awkwardly around her waist as she continues to lay flat on her back.
"I'm gonna go", Rosita tells him.
"Go out through the garage and around to the front. There's a rope path that'll lead you to Carol's and the infirmary."
Before leaving Rosita says, "Make sure to let us know how she's doing".
Rick feels the heating packs to see if they still have any warmth, they're luke warm. So he removes them from under Michonne's underarms and turns her over so she's laying on his chest.
He starts rubbing her back slowly trying to keep her body temperature warm and steady.
Between the sounds of the storm outside and the crackling noises coming from the fire; Rick feels at peace holding Michonne in his arms.
"Who's Andre' Michonne? Who's Andre'? You seem to know me like a book but I don't know anything about you", he quietly says to himself.
"You function like you don't need anybody; I never have to worry about you being out there on a run or fighting off walkers cause I always know you're coming back but…" he glances down at the towel wrapped around her head, "…I didn't expect something like this to happen to you. I'm always thinking there'll be more time to get to know you.
That's one of my biggest flaws; waiting for an opportune moment; you'd think I'd learn my lesson by now…waiting for the perfect moment to say how I feel about yo-…", he pauses a moment remembering how he missed the chance to make things right with Lori.
"I'm using the groups need for survival as an excuse to avoid feeling anything other than attachment."
Rick lifts Michonne's hand to press the tips of her fingers hoping to see a normal blood flow. He analyzes the softness of her hands and the tiny scars that have formed from her swinging her sword. Then rubs his lip with her fingers.
"The irony of it is that this is the moment I've been waiting for, but", he chuckles, "…you're unconscious."
He places her hand back beneath the blankets, "Look, I need you here with me. I know you don't need nothin', I know you don't need anybody. But the truth of it is that you make me better. And I need someone like you to keep me grounded in this scary world. I just wish somehow you needed me just as much as I need you."
Rick wraps his arms around her and quietly doses off to sleep to the sounds of the blizzard outside and the crackling sounds coming from the fireplace.