So this one wasn't inspired by any particular person (Aside from Rick and Michonne.) But I thought I'd complete the Holiday short stories with it. It is a bit graphic and has intense stuff in it. This one is not a fluff story.
"One Thanksgiving Night"
Rick leaned back against the refrigerator watching Michonne putting the final preparations on Thanksgiving dinner. She was quiet and he could see by the harsh way she stirred the already mashed potatoes that she was angry. He bit his top lip trying to think of what he should say.
"I just wish you would try and understand my position on this." He said looking down and raising his eyebrows.
"Your position?" Michonne shot an eye at him.
"It's too dangerous. I don't understand what you don't get about that." Rick sighed trying to make her understand.
"What I don't get is that we're supposed to be partners in this. Deanna put us both in charge of security for this place and now you want me side lined." Michonne replied fighting back the anger.
"Michonne, I'm not side-lining you."
"I'm not helpless, Mr. Grimes." Michonne turned to face him.
Rick clenched his jaws.
"I know you're not…" Rick started to say.
"I've taken care of myself long before we got here, long before this asshole started hurting women, and long before we…" Michonne bit her bottom lip and turned to finish stirring the beaten potatoes.
Rick watched her as she started back up with the potatoes. He slowly walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to hug her. He could feel her take a deep breath as she pressed her fists against the countertop. Rick leaned in to kiss her on warm shoulder.
He hated arguing with Michonne on this, there were many other things he'd prefer to be doing with her. But, two of the Alexandrian women had been attacked, both around Michonne's age, both with her skin tone.
Rick knew that this guy had a type and for the past week he worried every time Michonne went out alone. The fact of the matter was no one knew who this rapist was. There was no lab for a DNA test. Both cases were blitz attacks. Both victims barely survived and neither could give a description of their attacker.
Rick had done his best to weed out the sick bastard, but none of the men had marks on them and they all had alibies for the times of each attack. One of the most obvious clues were that both victims were African American women and new comers to the community. While he and the others were concerned for the protection of all the women of Alexandria, Rick had a feeling that the perp would make a try for Michonne.
"I know you can take care of yourself." Rick whispered.
Michonne closed her eyes as Rick's lips brushed against her ear.
"Just stay here and let me handle this one?" Rick asked.
"Why don't you want me out there, Rick?" Michonne pressed, pulling his arms from around her and turned to look him in the eyes.
They stared at each other as Michonne tried to read his face. She felt there was something he wasn't telling her. Michonne knew the two women that were attacked shared some physical traits with her, which made her a likely target, but it was her job to help secure this place and Rick's reservations appeared to be more about their new found relationship than what needed to be done.
She and Rick had finally given into their feelings for one another. A talk turned into a kiss, that kiss turned into a three hour sweaty sex fest which left both of them exhausted the next day. It was the following afternoon that news reached them about the first woman. She was unconscious, but it was obvious what had happened to her.
Rick didn't seem to have any problems letting Michonne do searches on the houses alone or interrogating the men. It wasn't until the second woman was found barely conscious when things changed. Michonne recalled Rick, Sasha, and Morgan carrying Marie to the infirmary and the look on Rick's face when he came out. Almost immediately it was decided that the women would be assigned to certain houses in groups.
Michonne thought it was a logical move but didn't understand why Rick and Deanna made the decision without ever consulting her. She realized Rick was experienced as a sheriff but Michonne was also a peace keeper of Alexandria.
Rick sighed as they stared at one another.
"If you're here I know that you're safe. I know the other women in this house are safe. When you're out there I'm worried about you…I'm distracted. It's not you…it's me." Rick admitted as he looked at Michonne.
Michonne sighed as she considered Rick's words. She didn't like that he worried about her but knew there was no use in being angry about it. She figured it was one of the things they'd have to work on. For now, they needed to find this coward. If her stepping aside made this happen quicker than so be it.
"I just want to get this guy for what he did." He reasoned shaking his head.
He could still see the battered faces of the women who came here for a chance at a normal life. Alexandria had failed them in the worst way, and once again Rick was reminded of how horrible people could be even behind the safety of walls.
Michonne closed her eyes and nodded. Rick nodded, relieved that she agreed. He reached out and gently squeezed her hand before pulling her in for a kiss.
"Michonne…"
"…Yeah?"
"Please don't call me Mr. Grimes. I hate that."
"I know."
Michonne rested her forehead against his neck as they held each other.
Michonne smiled at Carl from across the table as he wiped Judith's face. It was around 7:30 pm. Rick and the other men from their group were on patrols checking houses in Alexandria. He told her he'd check in at midnight and reminded her to only open the door for members of their group.
Pam, Enid, Lydia, and Sasha were temporarily sharing the house and Thanksgiving dinner with Michonne, Carl and Judith. Michonne was relieved that their group would be staying at her house but as she sat at the table watching the others eat, the thought that she should be doing something relentlessly nagged at her.
"You're kidding, you've never seen "Nightmare before Christmas"?" Pam gave an amazed glance at Enid who shook her head.
"Wow, well you can watch it with me after dinner." A cheerful Pam decided as Enid and Carl looked at each other.
Michonne finished her dinner and went upstairs while the others cleaned up and prepared to watch the movie. She sat on the bed to take her shoes off, looked over at the closet and sighed seeing Rick's dirty clothes thrown near the hamper but not quite in it. She'd have to get used to sharing a room with a man again.
She looked over at the clock which read 11:13 which gave her some time before Rick would be home. Michonne got off the bed and went into the large bathroom to start the shower. She left the lights off, as she always had, needing only the moonlight that poured in from the window. She took off her clothes and stepped into the steaming water closing the door behind her.
Rick and Daryl opened the door of one of the empty houses. It was dark and quiet but as they entered Daryl could tell something was off.
"What is it?" Rick asked noting the look on his friend's face.
Daryl eyes scanned the living room and hallway.
"I smell candles. Someone's been here." He said pulling his crossbow off his shoulder. Rick readied his colt.
"You search upstairs, I'll look down here." Daryl nodded and moved upstairs. Rick moved into the dark kitchen.
At first glance, everything looked normal, nothing was out of place. The home appeared to be fashionably ready for new occupants. But as he neared the island in the middle of the kitchen something caught his eye.
Black ashes were peppered along the stainless steel sink and inside were drenched burnt pieces of clothing. Rick scanned the room before lifting a piece out of the sink. It appeared to be some sort of jacket that was cut in two. There was a blue and white emblem on the jacket but he couldn't quite make out what it was in the dark.
"Rick!" He heard the insistent call from upstairs.
Rick hurried upstairs still on the lookout for the perp. As he entered the room where Daryl's flashlight was shining he could see something had Daryl's attention. Daryl shinned the light on a mural on the wall.
Rick saw the name written dark letters. MICHONNE, it read in angry writing. Rick moved closer to investigate.
It looked like something straight out of a murder-mystery novel. Pictures strung under the name. Violently penetrated holes through most if not all the pictures. There were torn pieces of paper and a pair of silky black panties nailed to the wall that were shredded at the crotch.
Rick could somewhat make out one of the pictures and recognized the person whose head had a puncture through it.
"What's that?" Daryl asked shinning the flash light on the dangling piece of burnt clothing still in Rick's grasp.
Rick looked down and could read the blue letters clear now. Alexandria Sheriff's Dpt.
"Shit!" Was the only word Rick could muster as he turned around and darted for the stairs. Daryl turned to run after him.
He inhaled deeply getting the longest whiff of Michonne as her scent entangled with the steam. He could only see her silhouette through the mesh glass of the shower doors.
Once again he felt her playing this game with him. Their minds entwined, her soul in the palm of his hand and his to control.
He watched as her body turned and she raised her arms to wash her hair. Water cascaded down every inch of her body. She knew he was there, he thought to himself. She was enticing him.
"That's it, my perfect angel." He finally spoke out loud and watched as her body tensed at the sound of his voice.
There was a silence as he stepped out of the bathroom closet. He thought she'd open the shower door to see him, maybe try and run. But she stood there, frozen. Arms still above her head.
"Who are you?" She finally asked.
He smiled seeing her panties neatly folded on the side of the hamper. He slid his knife under them and brought them to his face. His eyes rolled in ecstasy savoring her private scent. Kneading his face in it, he breathed them in deeply until he caught another scent…his scent. The scent of the man she had given herself to. The scent of the man she betrayed him for. Rick. The thought of Rick touching her made his blood boil.
"Why did you do it, Michonne?" he asked hearing his own voice break as the tears stung his eyes.
"It was supposed to be me and you…Me and You!" He lowly growled continuing to approach her.
"Who are you?" She asked again her voice more demanding this time.
"Who am I…I'm the man who's loved you from the beginning. I gave you my fucking heart and you destroyed it." He yelled angrily beating his fist against his chest.
The room fell silent save for the prickling sounds of the shower.
"I waited for you and you spread your fucking legs for him. Made me listen!" He groaned as his hands began to tremble with rage.
He stopped right in front of the shower. So close he could see the curvature of her breasts, the perfect slopes of her thighs.
"Never again!" He swore grabbing the shower handle and slamming it open.
He drew his knife back as their eyes finally met. The look on her face gave him pause and as his eyes trailed up her raised arms he could see she was not alone. As soon as he saw it, it came crashing down with a single swipe causing him to jump back.
He heard the thud as his knife wielding hand fell to the floor in front of him. He instinctively grabbed his bloody limb as a stream of blood shot from one of the severed cords.
He groaned as he fell back in shock, the pain not quite registering yet.
Michonne rested her katana by her side. She stepped out of the shower clad in her bare skin and walked toward her wounded stalker.
He looked up at her, breathing shallow breaths and still holding his bleeding stub. His eyes going from her cold stare to her slender yet muscular arms with streams of water that melting off her skin.
He smiled as he leaned back against the sink.
"…My angel." He proclaimed gazing at her in awe.
Michonne took another step towards him kicking his severed hand out of the way as she glared down at him.
She kneeled directly in front of him.
"I'm not your angel. I'm not your anything. You're delusional and sick!" Michonne's lips quivered as she looked at him in disgust.
"The only reason you're still breathing…" Michonne tilted her head. "Is to answer for what you did."
"You love me, you know you do. You're mine." He said between hurried breaths, desperately nodding for confirmation.
Michonne's eyes narrowed.
"You're insane." She declared with a tone of finality.
The man began to shake his head and let out an awful tormented cry.
Michonne narrowed her eyes as the man lunged at her wrapping his arms around her legs. She quickly spun her katana and hit him in the back of the head with the butt of it, knocking him to the ground.
There was a commotion outside of the bathroom before Rick stormed through the door, gun drawn.
His eyes immediately darted over to Michonne and then to the bloody man groaning on the floor. Rick quickly aim his gun at the man's head and looked back at Michonne shaking his head.
"Did he…Did he touch you?!" Rick yelled cocking his gun.
Michonne continued to stare down at the man her own anger still seething inside.
"Michonne?!" Rick yelled again.
"No." She said turning to look at Rick whose face was riddled with concern and fury as he rocked from one leg to the other.
Michonne took a deep breath and shook her head.
"No." She assured him.
Rick looked around trying to calm himself and then down at the barely conscious intruder.
Michonne grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her, and turned off the running shower.
Daryl moved into the room. His eyes quickly did a scan of the scene to get the story. He shot an eye over at Michonne understanding what happened. She was alright, pissed but alright.
"That's Frank." Daryl asserted, recognizing the man on the floor.
"Aint he suppose to be out with Spencer, Heath, and the rest of em, on that run?" Daryl glared down at him.
Michonne had seen and heard enough. She started passed Daryl and Rick when Rick reached out and touched her arm. She turned to see his face had softened to one of concern. Michonne forced a faint smile.
"I'm okay." She said with a little nod and left the room.
Rick couldn't smile, he was relieved that she was okay, but the anger searing inside him wanted to close the door and educate this asshole on how he felt about rapist. That was unlikely to happen as Daryl seemed to pick up on Rick's thoughts and decided it was time to get Frank out of the house.
Rick glared at the man as Daryl roughly pulled him to his feet. Frank, still writhing in pain, caught Rick's stare and smiled.
"She'll always be mine." He contended as Daryl swung him around and Rick slammed his face into the door. Rick reached down and grabbed a knife from his belt and brought it to the throat of Frank.
"I got him, Rick. Let me take him to Deanna." Daryl advised.
Later that night, as the two lie in bed, both stared at the ceiling. The ordeal had been draining for both of them and as the dark hours continued to pass, the two remained in silence trying to make sense of it all.
He blamed her, Michonne thought to herself blankly staring up as Franks words recycled through her mind. Michonne wondered if she had noticed Frank's obsession earlier maybe she could have stopped him from attacking Marie and Gloria.
Rick wondered what exactly happened in the bathroom before he got there. What Frank said or did to her while they were alone. He went over the pictures Frank had plastered on the wall. Some of them looked like they were taken soon after they'd arrived to Alexandria. How long had he been watching her? Rick silently questioned. And the sullen look on Michonne's face. Rick wondered how she felt about it, but when he asked she just shook her head. She didn't want to talk and Rick understood.
She was strong, strong willed and strong minded, but there was a fragile aspect of Michonne that she kept very guarded. Rick liked that she had begun to open up to him, not just intimately but with her secret thoughts. He didn't want her to withdraw again. He knew that she had been affected by what happened. Behind all the "I'm okays…I'm find…it's nothing" Rick could see that something in her was wounded. He'd be patient with her and let her open up at her own pace. For now he'd simply remind her that he was there for her.
He reached out and gently took hold of her hand and felt her give his a little squeeze.
She exhaled, comforted by Rick's gesture. She realized that the only thing they could do was move on. She'd check on the women in the morning, do whatever she could for them. But she wouldn't blame herself.
Sleep finally found them and somewhere during the night their bodies became restfully entangled.
The End ~