A/N: A rumor is spreading around King County like wildfire...
thank you for the support! I hope you're all still enjoying!
No one in King County was remotely surprised when Rick Grimes punched Shane Walsh square in the face. In fact, many wondered why it had taken so long. After all, it was King County High's worst-kept secret that the baseball team's catcher had been caught with his mitt under the pitcher's girlfriend's skirt during their last semester of senior year. And even though Grimes didn't seem too fussed about it, it was clear that Walsh had earned an ass whooping. Fair was fair.
However, when the hit did come, the reason behind it left more than a few people thoroughly confused.
Most of them didn't even know that Rick and Michonne knew one another like that. Sure, they'd been prom king and queen, but they were both popular, so that made sense. Rick ran with the jocks, Michonne reigned over the intellectuals. Those worlds didn't often cross steams.
They must have crossed somewhere though, because apparently Rick Grimes and Michonne Bechet were routinely hooking up in Rick's truck somewhere near the lake. Or, so went the rumor.
Garrett heard it from Glenn who'd heard it from Maggie. Maggie got the story from her sister, Beth, who heard it from Daryl. Daryl found out from Carol when she saw Andrea crying behind the movie theater over Shane. Shane, who apparently didn't want to burden himself with monogamy, heard it from Lori.
Rick and Michonne were bumping uglies in the backwoods of Georgia. Lori was pissed, and Andrea was hurt that her friend hadn't told her. She'd called her at least five times last night, even left a message, but there was no response.
"Maybe she's busy with her new boyfriend," Andrea had sniffled through tears to anyone who would listen, drawing out the last word like it was a derogatory slur.
Sasha, by contrast, was likely to slap the next person who came up to ask her about it, insisting that it was none of her business and defending her friend. Reportedly, Jessie was bummed that she'd missed her shot.
And Rick? No one had ever seen him that angry before. To hear Zeke tell it, Rick didn't like it when people talked shit about his girlfriend. Shane learned this the hard way.
The facts were these: Shane's nose was broken, Rick's hand had seen better days, and Michonne and Rick's secret was out.
Michonne was just as shocked about it as everyone else.
-l-l-l-l-
"I'll see you tomorrow," Michonne called backward into the theater, waving goodbye at her manager. It'd been a long day. Batman Forever and Pocahontas had both released this weekend, and everyone and their mom had rushed the theater. She was dog tired, barely standing on her feet.
She eagerly locked the door to the building, spinning on her heel to head towards Rick's truck. He'd gotten off before her this afternoon, but he'd promised to pick her up.
She could hear him before she could see him, his low baritone rumbling across the parking lot. There was something in the sound that already didn't sit right with Michonne. Rick was talking to someone, and he didn't seem happy about it.
She squinted out into the dark, straining her eyes. Rick was outside of his truck, parked beneath a streetlamp. Shane Walsh was standing near him. Whatever the two boys were discussing, it did not look pleasant. This struck Michonne as odd. Rick had barely deigned to look at Shane since graduation, let alone talk to him.
Michonne sped up her steps, wanting to be near enough to hear what was going on without interrupting the exchange. Perhaps Rick had a score to settle with his old teammate. Michonne didn't want to be in the middle.
It wasn't until she heard her name get thrown around that she realized she was already in the middle of it.
"Keep her name out of your mouth, Walsh!" Rick took a step toward the other boy, looking ready to kill.
"Why?" she heard Walsh's response as she quickened her steps. "You afraid I'm going to steal her too? Sounds like it'll be easy. Didn't take her long after Mike to start messing with you-"
The crack of bone meeting bone could be heard for at least 100 yards.
"Rick!" Michonne rushed forward, calling his name. The distance between the back door of the theater and Rick's truck in the parking lot seemed insurmountable.
"Say one more thing, Walsh. I dare you," Rick's voice was deadly serious as Michonne arrived on the scene, breathless and panicked.
"What happened?" she stepped over Shane, coming forward to grab Rick's bloodied hand. Zeke and Phillip were in the parking lot too, each looking equal parts bewildered and entertained.
"Walsh needs to learn to keep his mouth shut," Rick all but growled.
Shane chuckled, holding his bleeding nose as though it was of no consequence. "I ain't saying nothing no one else ain't already talking about. No one knew Michonne got down like that. The boys are excited she's on the market."
It was Michonne's turn for anger now. She whirled on her heel, looking down at Walsh. "What the hell are you talking about?" she hissed.
"You and Rick going to town in this pickup truck," Shane banged a free hand down on the hood. "Looks like Lori ain't the only notch in Grimes' belt now."
Rick made a motion to hit Shane again. Zeke held him back, catching his arm at the elbow.
"Walsh, get the hell out of here," the dark-skinned boy pushed space between the two adversaries.
"Tell 'em, Zeke," Shane challenged. "Tell her what they're saying about her."
Michonne turned expectantly to Zeke. The dreadlocked boy looked down at his feet, suddenly nervous. "I didn't believe it when I heard it," he rumbled out. "I'm sure I can't be the only one."
Her stomach dropped, her mind racing back to the answering machine she'd neglected to check this morning. She wondered how many people were talking about her now, how many people Lori had told.
"It ain't true," Rick came to Michonne's defense immediately. "Lori loves to talk shit. You know she made it up." He turned to her, a wild look in his eyes. "Chonne, I'm sorry. She'd probably just jealous—"
Michonne nodded, listening to Shane laugh lowly. "Can we go, Rick?" she asked. This was the last place on Earth that she wanted to be right now.
"Need a condom?" Shane called after them.
Rick made a motion to rush for him again, but Michonne grabbed his arm. "Let's just go," she said forcefully. Rick followed her to the truck door. He mumbled something to Zeke who nodded in agreement before turning to his girlfriend.
"Chonne," Rick began.
"Rick, really, I just want to get away from here," she shushed him, an odd calm settling over her. "We can talk in a minute."
Rick nodded, still flushed. His knuckles were beginning to bruise already. He winced as he threw the truck in gear.
"Can you drive?" Michonne reached for his hand. He let out a cry of pain that sent panic bolting through her.
Rick scowled, seeming to notice the state of his knuckles for the first time. "Do you think I broke it?"
Her heart pounded in her chest, thoughts of Rick's future, of his baseball scholarships, flashing in her mind. They needed to get to the ER. Michonne let him go, opening the car door with a bang. In seconds, she was out, stomping towards her new least-favorite person in King County.
"Walsh!" the sound of her voice hit Shane in the face like a slap. The smirk he was still wearing melted off of him. Even Zeke took a step backwards.
"Came back for more?" Shane questioned, his confidence not quite reaching his eyes.
"Shut up," Michonne snapped. She seized him by the front of his bloodied shirt, yanking the boy down towards her like he didn't have 3 inches and 30 pounds on her. "You're driving us to the hospital, now." Her tone left no space for argument. Shane tried it anyway.
"I ain't driving ya'll nowhere," he countered.
"Your nose is broken. If they don't fix it, not a girl in King County is going to want to hook up with you again, not even Lori. And if Rick ended up breaking his hand on your dumbass face, you're really going to need the emergency room. Because I'll break more than your nose."
Shane blinked in surprise. "You wouldn't—"
"Try me," Michonne challenged. She reached for his face, preparing to hit him if necessary. A silence stretched between them. "Get in the damn truck, Shane."
Wordlessly, he complied.
Michonne sat in the backseat with Rick, clutching her boyfriend's uninjured hand as he glared daggers through the front seat. Shane navigated nervously, glancing at Michonne in the rearview mirror every few blocks. His face was smeared in blood, his nose sitting crookedly, already swollen and purple to match Rick's knuckles.
"You think your hand is broken?" he piped up suddenly.
If looks could kill, Rick would have dropped Shane dead in a glance.
"That would suck, dude. I ain't mean for it to go this far..." Shane continued rambling. "First Drea comes screaming at me talking about me cheating and crying and making a damn scene. Then Lori started up, claiming you embarrassed her and I don't know dude, it got me all worked up, man. You know how she is."
Rick continued to glare. Shane turned his attention to Michonne. "I didn't mean to talk about you like that. Lori was running her mouth and I got carried away."
"I'll deal with Lori later," Michonne promised him.
Shane swallowed thickly. Even Rick gave her a look of surprise. Michonne said nothing further, just kissed him gently.
"So ya'll are really dating then? They weren't bullshitting?" Shane asked.
"Walsh, mind your fucking business," Rick snapped at last, kicking the back of the seat.
For once, Shane shut up.
An hour later, Michonne sat alone in an anxiety-riddled vigil. Shane had been the first ushered through, Rick shortly afterwards. Michonne was not allowed to go with him. She dutifully called his parents, then her own.
The waiting room was cold, sterile, full of people in different forms of distress. A man to her right was bleeding in a steady trickle from his leg. To her left, a woman who sounded as though she was coughing up a lung vacated her plastic chair. Michonne glanced wearily around, looking for a familiar face.
"Chonne!" Sasha entered through the automatic doors, her head swiveling back and forth. Michonne almost cried in relief. She stood up, reaching for her friend.
"How are you here?" Michonne questioned, hugging her tightly.
"Your parents called mine. I figured you'd need a ride," she sat beside her, collapsing into the empty chair. "What the hell happened? I heard Rick went off on Shane."
"Punched him in the nose," Michonne confirmed, sitting back down.
"About time," Sasha nodded sagely. "I'm guessing Rick found out what everyone's been saying."
Michonne sighed, exhausted. "I really don't care what they say. It's not worth breaking a hand over." She glanced at the doors again, hoping to see a glimpse of Rick.
"So, you two are dating?" Sasha asked.
"We just started," Michonne explained. She hadn't intended to leave her friends out of the loop. "I meant to tell you, but we were still figuring things out."
Sasha was nonplussed. "I kind of already knew. Zeke and Rick are pretty close."
Michonne chuckled in surprise. "Are you dating Zeke?"
"Something like that," Sasha grinned. "We're still figuring stuff out too."
Michonne huffed, her eyes straying to the hallway Rick had been shuttled down. His parents had arrived in a cloud of worry, his mother pausing to hug her before bustling after her son. It was not the circumstances she envisioned meeting his family under.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked her friend. "I was gone for one day."
Sasha laughed ironically. "The same dramatic bull crap. Guess Lori didn't appreciate you showing her up at the movies. She had to save face somehow. She told her little crew that you and Rick were doing the dirty in his truck by the lake. Zeke told me that's where Lori and Shane hookup."
Michonne blushed, making a mental note to never frequent that spot again. "It wasn't the dirty. Not exactly."
Sasha shrugged. "I ain't mad at you. But Lori's having a damn field day."
"That's pretty sad," Michonne observed. "She needs to stay out of my business and get some business of her own."
Sasha laughed. "Well, the queen bee wasn't ready to be dethroned. You took her crown and her man."
"I'm so sick of this small town BS," Michonne lamented.
"There's only two months left," Sasha was unconcerned. "Then we're both out of here."
"If Rick broke his hand on Shane's face, I'm going to whoop both of their country asses," Michonne groused.
"I'm thinking Lori wants him to break it. Then Rick will be stuck here. Shane's dumb enough to be manipulated into doing her dirty work," Sasha shook her head. "And now Andrea is crying all over the place, acting like we didn't tell her that boy wasn't shit."
"I'm going to have to pay her a visit," the wheels in Michonne's head were furiously turning.
"Lori or Drea?"
Michonne snorted. "Both."
"Should I stop home and get my Vaseline and straight razor?" Sasha asked, half-joking.
Michonne dissolved into giggles, thankful for the reprieve from her emotions. The girls' laughter evaporated when Rick's father emerged from the double doors leading off into the hospital. Michonne was on her feet in a second, rushing forward.
"Mr. Grimes, is Rick's hand ok?" she asked, flustered.
Her boyfriend's father smiled wearliy at her. "The x-ray is going to take a while. You should go on home. I'll have Rick call you in the morning."
Michonne nodded, her worry mounting. "Ok," she paused. "Can you please tell him that I'm thinking about him and that I'm sorry?"
Mr. Grimes blinked in surprise. "Sorry for what?"
Michonne swallowed nervously. "He punched Shane because of something Shane said about me," she confessed.
"He punched Shane because he wanted to," Rick's father sighed. "It ain't your fault. Go home, hon. Rick will talk to you soon."
it was as polite of a dismissal as any, but Michonne left the hospital with a heavy heart.
"His hand is going to be fine, Chonne," Sasha assured her in her car.
Michonne nodded, mustering a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.
