Chapter 2:

It was 11 o'clock at night and the small town was asleep for night. With all but one person. Rick. He was strolling the streets and enjoying the chill of the night. He found on the nights that Carl wasn't with him he struggled to sleep and he the cool of the night helped calm him. He also enjoyed being out here because no one else was. He didn't have to deal with stares from others, the whispering, the potential fights. He was alone and enjoyed that.

Since his divorce from Lori, Rick's sadness about the situation turned into anger. Anger that pushed everyone away from him. Anger that caused him to be put on leave from his job indefinitely. He sighed, when he was kid he would have never imagined this would be his life. But he also never imagined that Michonne would leave for ten years, not talking within that time, and then come back. He was angry and so was she but he couldn't figure out why. She was the one left. He knew nothing of her life in New York just like she knew nothing of his life in Kings County.

Ten years ago when she left he was mad at her. But mostly hurt. They had talked about staying in Kings County forever and then all of sudden, for what seemed like no reason at all, she wanted to go to New York. He never stopped wondering what she was doing, who she was with, if she stayed in New York or if she had moved somewhere else, if she was happy. But he was hurt and stubborn and refused to be the first one to reach out. He assumed she had forgotten about him and this small town but from what had happened earlier today she clearly hadn't. She even said his name the same but now the sweetness that use to be in it was no longer there.

He was walking along a street full of houses when he stopped and heard that same familiar voice.

"You stalking me now, Grimes?" Asked Michonne dryly. She was sitting on her porch swing, a glass of Merlot in her hand.

He smirked and walked up to her porch, "You're the one stalking me. This is my street." He leaned against her railing, blocking her view with his body.

"Move." She said firmly.

He paused for a moment and then moved over just a bit. Michonne sipped on her wine before filling the silence, "Don't you have a home? A bed to sleep in? What are you doing out here?"

"I can ask you same thing." He responded.

"I'm not wandering the streets like a bum. I'm sitting on my porch." She took another sip of her wine.

"...It's too quiet in my home." He said, finally responding to her question.

Michonne nodded a bit, as if she understood. "The whole fucking place is too quiet." She said with a sigh.

"What's New York like at night?" He asked.

She gave him a slight smile and moved over on her swing, indicating she wanted him to sit next to her and he did. "At this time of night people were just going out, music would just start blaring from the bars and clubs. While people here are sleeping in New York everyone is just waking up….It was great." She had a soft smile on her face as she looked out on the quiet street and it was clear her thoughts were no longer here in Kings County.

There was a silence between them as Michonne inwardly reminisced. "Why'd you come back here then?" Rick asked roughly.

Michonne sighed, annoyed that she was brought back to Kings County due to Rick's words. "We already went over this Rick."

"You left." Said Rick anger beginning to come to the surface of his voice.

"Oh fuck you Rick. What was I supposed to do stay here and do what? Become like you?" She scoffed.

"You think just cause you ain't fighting you're not like me?" He chuckled dryly. "You're bitter Michonne. You're angry. You left and you still ended up like me." While Rick felt like he didn't know Michonne anymore he could still read her easily and he could tell that she wasn't much different from him.

"Fuck you. You think you have it bad, Rick? You got a divorce. Get over yourself, life moves on."

Rick smirked to himself, "So you've had it worst in New York?"

Michonne glared at him but stayed silent. Yeah….she did he thought to himself. He could tell that something had happened to her but he knew she wasn't gonna tell him anytime soon, if ever. There was that silence again.

"Why are you here? On my porch Rick? Are you just looking for a fight?" Michonne asked after several minutes.

"Would you believe me if I said I'd missed you?" Asked Rick.

Michonne laughed bitterly, "Maybe if this was 10 years ago and we were still friends."

"You didn't call." Replied Rick.

"Neither did you." She responded.

He sighed and glanced at her through the corner of his eyes. How was it possible that she left and came back prettier than before? Angrier than before? He bit down on the corner of his lip, forgetting he had a fresh cut on it. "Fuck." He said, tasting a bit of blood, wiping it with his thumb.

Michonne glanced at him and sighed, getting up. "Come on Rocky let's clean you up." She said, waving him towards the door as she opened her home to him.

He followed behind her, glancing at her living room as they walked inside. There were still many unpacked boxes they had to navigate through but overall her house was very large compared to most houses in the neighborhood. That New York money must have been good to her he thought to himself as they landed in her kitchen which was just as large as the rest of the house.

"Come here," she said softly, as she placed a damp rag on his lip. They stayed like this for several moments, Michonne lifting the rag every minute or two to see if the bleeding had stopped. Once it had she finally took the rag off. "You need ice for that?" She asked.

Rick shook his head. He couldn't remember the last time someone was there to clean him up after a fight. "You didn't have to do this."

"And do what? Let you bleed all over my freshly painted porch? I don't think so….You need to stop fighting Rick." She said firmly, one hand on her hip.

"I don't think I can." Said Rick with a low voice as if he was afraid others would hear.

"Why? Cause you're angry? We're all angry Rick. I wake up every day and I want to fight everyone but I don't. You need to get it together before you lose all the friends you got left."

"It might be too late on that front...I think you're the only friend I got left," he said with a smirk knowing that statement would annoy her.

Michonne rolled her eyes and sighed, "Friends don't go 10 years without talking to each other."

"Have you let anyone in your house yet?" Asked Rick.

"No." Responded Michonne.

"Let them on your front porch?"

"...No."

"Have you even talked to anyone?"

Michonne rolled her eyes yet again, "what are you trying to get at Rick?"

"I'm saying I'm the only person you've actually talked to here. The only person who has stepped in your house." He shrugged, "I'm the only friend you got."

Michonne glared at him and began guiding him back towards the door, making it clear she was done with this conversation. Once they were at the door Michonne opened it for him. "We are not friends." She said simply.

Rick smirked as he stood in her entranceway, "keep telling yourself that. Sweet dreams," he leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead, something he use to do often ten years ago. Michonne sighed and maintained the frown that was stamped on her face but accepted the soft kiss.

"Goodnight Rick." She said closing the door behind him.

A/N: Whaaaaaaaat new story?! Okay, I'm not gonna lie I did not think that I would get another story idea for a while but this one came to me a few days ago. If you are reading fallingforyou do not expect the same richonne here haha. They will become canon but they are both dark and angry and kind of sad. I don't have this one as planned out as fallingforyou soooo let's just see how this goes lol (srsly tho). If you recognize the title it's cause it's from "Can't Live With the World" by Laura Mvulva! This story isn't inspired by this song but I do feel like it reflects richonne in this fic very well so def go listen to it! Let me know what you guys think and what you wanna see throughout this story! Fallingforyou will be updated tomorrow! :)