"Michonne it's me, open up." Carl says impatiently. Michonne gets up off the couch then pushes the couch away from the door. He had unlocked her door with the spare key she gave him. He rushes in and sees the bandages on her face and how it hurts for her to stand. "Are you alright, did anyone come back last night", Carl blurted out. Michonne slowly closes the door and shakes her head no. He notices that her eyes are starting to water, then he runs over to her and hugs her hard causing Chonne' a lot of pain but she didn't want to break this moment for him.
The sun was in full view on the horizon but, you could tell the day was just beginning. Michonne dreaded having to tell Carl to keep the attack between the two of them for a while so they could stay in the neighborhood longer. Michonne walks Carl over to the couch and sits him down and says, "Carl…I want you to do something for me?" "What is it?" he asks. "I don't want you tell anybody about last night." "Especially Rick", she says.
"But why", he asks.
Michonne stops and looks at Carl, "Because You and I know how Rick can get, and we need this place Carl. We can't keep moving Judith around not knowing where we are gonna land. She too little to understand what's at stake." We have to stay, for right now anyway. I will be more careful", She says while getting up off the couch. "
How will you explain you cuts, your bruises…" Carl asks.
"Well if anyone asks, you say that I am having 'women's issues', people will leave me alone when they hear that…at least for a little while." "Look, I am not asking you to lie, I just want you to hold back details, o.k.?" Then when I am better I can confront this issue in the open. And if it makes you feel better you can stop by anytime with the key I gave you. Just keep everybody from coming to see me, o.k.", Michonne says as she sits down on the couch and holds Carl's hand. "Just give me some time to heal that's all, alright?" Carl reluctantly shakes his head yes and hugs her again.
Michonne motions to Carl to go so she can push the couch back against the door. "I will try and get up at dusk to move the couch so you can get in to check on me. But just remember not to tell anybody that I move the couch in the morning." Michonne whispers.
Carl looks at her and says, 'Of course but…", He looks down at his feet and says, "You don't look…well."
"Well let's see how good you look when you take a beating like I did", Michonne says jokingly. But Carl doesn't see the humor. She smiles and looks at Carl, "Look I just need time to heal nothing more. Then I can take care of this situation. Just hold out on saying what you know alright?"
He reluctantly shakes his head yes then says, "Well at least let me clean the blood up." Carl looks at the blood stains on the floor can.
She smiles and waves her arm like a showcase girl and says, "Be my guest."
Rick, Daryl and Tyreese return with a couple of others from the urgent excursion to find supplies. When they reach the entrance to the cul de sac the driver gives the signal to let the guard know that they have no additional people with them. Once given the o.k. the group drives through the gates and park in the make shift motor pool next to a moving van, a pick-up truck and zip car that doesn't work because there are no more units that supply electricity to power the vehicles, a golf cart and a few bicycles.
Rick gets out the truck with a few bags and looks at Daryl and Tyreese, "Look, I am beat. I'm gonna go check on Carl and Judith then get some rest." Daryl and Tyreese wave and start going up the block, Rick starts heading for the little house at the end of the block with some bags filled with pet and powdered milk.
Rick opens the front door to his domicile and he announces that he's back. Jane comes running in to the living room and gives him a hug. She starts to kiss him all over his face while saying, "Oh, I am so glad you are home safe! We were so worried."
Rick, obviously annoyed by her jester pushes her away and asks, "Where's Carl and Judith?"
She drops her hands and tells him, "Well I think Carl went to class or something and Judith is in the kitchen. She grabs his hand and pulls him to the kitchen to see that Judith is fine. "Did you get anything good?" Jane says while going back to washing the dishes.
Rick grins at Judith, "Ah, yea I got some more powdered and canned pet milk."
Jane responded happily, "Good." Jane walks over to Rick then wraps her arms around his neck and whispers, "I will be putting Judith down for a nap in a little while so…so maybe we could…",
" Well I am really tired so I am gonna try and get some rest." Rick walks over to Judith and kisses the top of her head then heads upstairs to the bed room.
Rick wakes up a few hours later; gets dressed and hears Judith in the other room talking, "I tat tone, I tat tone."
He smiles, then walks in to the room and looks at Judith, "What are you talking about?" Rick picks Judith up and hugs her tight. Remembering what Michonne said in Elysium about enjoying every moment you encounter cause that is all we have let. He kisses Judith on the forehead then looks out the window passed some boarded up houses to see Michonne's domicile.
"You wanna go see Chonne?" Rick asks while looking at Judith. "Alright let me get dressed and we'll see what she's up to. He puts Judith back in her playpen then walks out of the room to finish getting dressed.
Jane is standing at the top of the stairs when she hears Rick talking to Judith about going to see Michonne. So Jane goes in to the bedroom and starts to pull out some clothes for Rick.
Rick walks in to the bedroom, "You don't have to do that I can get my own clothes", and he walks over to her and grabs her hand, "Thank you… for everything." Jane leans up to kiss him but, he turns his head to the side so that her kiss lands on his cheek.
"No, thank you for everything, if it wasn't for you and your people…me and my brothers would've been stuck at Terminus forever." Jane tells him.
She turns around and starts to open the dresser draws looking for a clean shirt for Rick to put on. "I mean Gareth was sick, but not as sick as his mother Mary." Jane begins to stare at the wall remembering the last time she held her own baby in her arms and how one day Gareth came and took their baby away never to be seen again. She turns around and hands Rick the clean shirt.
"Well, I am grateful that you looked out for Judith, Tyreese and Carol. And how you lead them to us in that train car for that I am truly grateful." Rick tells her while putting his shirt on.
She walks up on him, "You can always show me just how much…anytime you want to Rick." Jane tells him seductively.
Rick looks Jane in the face then smiles sadly at her because he knows that he needs her to look out for Judith but he wasn't grateful enough to give her what she wanted because what she wanted was him. "Look, I am going to take walk with Judith and I will bring her back a little later." Rick kisses her forehead then starts to put on his shoes.
"Knock; knock…hey guys it's me I'm back from the run." Rick says while smiling and holding Judith's hand.
"Carl." Michonne whispers. He waves his hand down like he's got the situation under control. Carl opens the front door real quick, steps out and shuts it behind him.
Rick looks at him in strangely and says, "What's up with that?" "What's going on? Is Chonne' alright?" Rick questions him.
Carl suddenly draws a blank, forgetting what the excuse was that Michonne told him to say. Michonne quickly begins to move the couch back against the door. Rick furrows his brow at the noise behind the door then he moves to the left of Carl reaching for the door knob.
"She said, she wasn't feeling well about women issues", Carl blurts out.
Michonne nearly bursts in to tears of laugh over his response.
Rick shifts his head back with a questionable grin on his face, "What? Oh, you mean she isn't feeling well because of women's issues." He corrects him.
"Yea, that's what I meant." Carl agrees with a look of relief.
"Yea well, I have been meaning to have that conversation with you soon any way. Why don't we take walk?" Rick says. And Rick, Carl and Judith take a nice troll and discuss the birds and the bees.
Rick, Carl and Judith are seating on an old iron park bench in the late morning. Rick just spent the last hour and a half explaining to Carl the facts regarding sex.
Carl was speechless, but not for the same reason as Rick thinks.
Rick thinks that he's shocked by how intimate and physical the act actually is. But Carl is really shocked because he better understands what Michonne's attackers were trying to do. Carl actually felt sick at the thought of this happening to Michonne.
"You alright Carl, I mean all of it can't be that much of shock is it?" Rick says while looking at Carl for a facial expression.
Carl snaps out of his speechlessness and says, "No, not all of it. Actually it makes sense now with all the bits and pieces that I have heard before. But Dad, where does love fit in to all this?" Carl asks.
Rick wasn't prepared for that question, "Well in most cases you would want to… aim for someone that you feel especially connected to. But for men it doesn't always turn out that way. You'll see what I mean one day." Rick says while smiling and patting Carl on the back.
For the past few days Carl has been eating breakfast and leaving right out an hour before he is supposed to be at the top of the cul de sac for a few hours of schooling. There were a few kids in the neighborhood he had gotten to know but so far no of them had been through what Carl had in the past year or so.
Rick hasn't been seeing him in the morning. He's also annoyed that Jane is constantly on him about sex. The last thing Rick wanted was another baby to have to look out for. He was never really attracted to Jane she was entirely too young for his taste. She couldn't have been more than 25 or 26. She was too anxious to live out that old patterned ways that everyone in the world used to live. But for now that old way of living is what Rick really wanted for Judith. He really wanted Judith to have some stability in her life for a little while even if the relationship between him and Jane was just a show for Judith and Carl.
Rick comes down stairs in to the kitchen fully dressed and ready to leave out. Judith is sitting in a wooden high chair eating her oatmeal with a plastic toddler spoon. "Hey Judith", Risk says while kissing her on top of her head.
"Good morning sleepy head, can I make you some breakfast?" Jane says. Rick was instantly annoyed by Jane's comment. Then she walks over to him and gives him a hug and kisses him on the lips.
Rick visibly uncomfortable with kissing her pulls her out of the kiss. "Hey, no I will get something later on our way to the perimeter check. Hey how early has Carl been leaving out in the morning?"
Jane replies, "I would say the minute Judith wakes up. He is fully dressed when I come in to get her. The minute I pick Judith up, his practically closing the front door." "Is there something wrong that I should know about?" Jane looks out of the corner of her eye while wiping Judith's face.
"No I am sure there's nothing to worry about. Do you think you could stop by Michonne's and see if she is alright? I haven't seen her around in a few days." Rick asks her.
"Sure, me and Judith will go right after breakfast. " Then Jane glances at Rick's face then says, "But I thought I saw her the other day with Sasha going toward the field to kill walkers."
"You did?" "Oh, well as long as someone has seen her recently." Rick says with relief. "Look I will catch up with you guys later. Bye Judith." Rick kisses Judith sticky hands full of oatmeal. He looks at Judith with a smile, "Mmm, that's good stuff Judy", and then he leaves.
"Look, we are gonna have to go out there and start killing the walkers that are just walking in and around the cul de sac. The less there are roaming, the less chances that they will sneak up on us as a herd. We will need to start making teams that can go out there on a regular basis and kill any walkers within a quarter mile around the neighborhood." Sasha says to the group.
Daryl shakes his head and says, "Alright, who do we have that can kill them at close range. That's you, me, Rick, Tyreese, Michonne…" Daryl stops in the middle of counting and looks around the group. He sees Rick, Sasha, Bob, Abe, Glen, Maggie Jane's brothers James and Jimmy and a couple of others, "Where the hell is Michonne?"
"Carl said she wasn't feeling well, 'woman's issues' he called it." Rick laughs, "But Sasha you saw her a few days ago right, didn't you walk with her to the breach to kill some walkers a few days ago?"
Sasha looks at Rick strangely and says, "No I haven't, in fact I went to get her a few days ago and she didn't even let me in the house. She told me through the door that she was having some really bad cramps and that she would be out for a few days…but that was maybe 3 or 4 days ago."
"Wait a minute, you mean no one has laid eyes upon Michonne other than Carl for the past 3 or 4 days?" Rick asks the group. Everyone shakes their head no. Rick looks down the block toward Michonne's house and sees Carl leaving it.
"Carl, Carl!" Rick begins to yell while walking toward Carl down the block. Then Daryl grabs Rick arm because he can feel the intensity in his voice.
"Rick, let me talk to you for a minute." Daryl says while pulling him a few feet away from the others. "Look before you go getting on Carl just remember if she wanted someone other than Carl to see her then she would've easily sent for someone. Carl maybe carrying something for her and not because of her", Daryl reasons."You probably have a better chance at finding out about what's going with her just by tripping him up a little. That way he isn't betraying her in the process."
Rick looks at Daryl and says, "Look you come by my house before sun up. I want you take Carl out on a run to check snares or something. Michonne gave him a spare key. I am going to go over there tomorrow morning around the time he has been leaving out. You just keep him out until the sun is up. You know buy me some time." Daryl agrees.
Rick walks over to Sasha, "Look, Sasha why don't' make some teams and shifts so we can start taking care of this early in the morning. The walkers seem a bit disoriented when the sun starts coming up." He tells her.
Rick's standing on the tiny cement porch with Judith, waiting for Carl to come home from working in the gardens. The sun is starting to set and Rick can feel the intensity building within him about what's going on with Michonne. He wants to interrogate Carl but, he knows that may cause him to shut down completely. So he decides to approach it casually.
Carl walks up the small sidewalk leading to the house, "Hey Dad." Carl says while walking past Rick and Judith.
Rick stops Carl and says, "Hey what's up, where you going so fast? I wanted to ask you about Michonne and how she's feeling."
" Carl looks at him in shock that he would ask him that question, "She's…getting better. She told me that she should be up and about any day now."
"Well maybe I should go over there and check her out make sure she not sick or has an infection of some sort." Rick says.
"No she usually moves the couch back up against the door once I leave so she can lay back down without having to get up..." Carl pauses,"Look I am pretty beat I think I am gonna skip dinner and go to bed, night Dad." Carl says quickly while walking in to the house.
Rick can feel the heat and emotion racing to his face as he watches Carl go inside knowing that he isn't being truthful about what is going on with Michonne.
It's somewhere between night and morning when Rick enters Carl and Judith's room. He quietly walks in and begins to search Carl's pants for the key to Michonnes'. As he pulls the pants pockets inside out he sees a key drop on the floor.
Carl wakes a little from hearing the key hit the floor; Rick quickly walks over to the key and covers it with his foot. "Carl…Carl, look I need you to go out with Daryl and check the snares." Rick whispers.
Carl wakes a little and rubs his eyes and says, "Why?"
"Well someone…called out so to speak; and I know that you know how to reset the snares that will make the checking faster." Rick tells him.
Carl agrees and starts to get dressed; Once Carl's dressed Rick puts both his hand on his shoulders and starts leading him out of the room so that he doesn't think to check for the Michonnes' spare key.
Rick goes down the steps with Carl and sees Daryl waiting in the dark living room. Daryl slaps Carl on the back then says in a whisper, "You awake brother? We got some work to do". Daryl smiles looking at Rick to see if the plan is working so far. "We should be back by breakfast", Daryl says to Rick in a low voice. Then Daryl and Carl walk off down the street with James and Jimmy waiting at the end of the block.
Rick closes the door and sits on the futon in the living room worried about what he might see by going in to Michonnes' house disguised as Carl. He begins to think that she is a walker and Carl is keeping her trapped in the house like that crazy women he met at the prison while checking for snares. Then Rick starts to think about when he and Michonne spent the night in Elysium. Rick had to laugh to himself a little cause that was exactly what it felt like being there with her; it felt like Elysium.
Suddenly Rick jumped up and started pacing the tiny living room. "Oh, no, please, please don't let it be that ! Just don't let it be that!" He thinks to himself.
Rick quickly runs upstairs and gets dressed.
"Where are you going so early", Jane says half asleep.
"Look I sent Carl out with Daryl to check the snares I gotta go check on something. Bring Judith in here with you after you come and move the couch back against the door.
Rick opens the top dresser drawer and pulls out his Python and checks to make sure it's loaded.
"Rick what is going on?" Jane says with a little more irritation.
"I will be back later, I am going to stop by and check on Michonne", He answers.
"Again, what does that women have over you that you are always so worried about her all the time?" Jane asks forgetting herself.
He stops a moment while grabbing his gun belt and says to her, "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Rick, I am just saying some people can't adjust to a social setting. Sometimes their past is too painful for them to get over that's all", Jane says while getting out of the bed. She walks up behind Rick and starts rubbing the front of his pants and stroking the back of his hair.
"Come back to bed and check on her later. She's not going anywhere." Rick suddenly turns around and looks at Jane confused as to why she would say something so callous.
"Look, we will revisit this conversation when I get back, until then come and move the couch back against the door" Rick says in a annoyed tone.
"O.K.", Jane says, then she kisses him on the lips but Rick pulls away in manner of distaste and walks down the stairs and out the front door.
Rick sits on the ground around the side of Michonnes' domicile waiting to hear her move the couch for Carl. He sits watches the sunlight slowly expand over the night horizon. He can't even recall the last time he really watched a sun rise. He closes his eyes and tries to soak in this moment, the moment of uncertainty.
In a the next few moments he was about to find out if Michonne was walker or if she was pregnant in the next few minutes; he knew his life was going to make a dramatic shift again and he was afraid that he may not be ready for it.
He opens his eyes trying to get ready to accept whatever was behind Michonnes' door. He decides that if he hears the couch being moved then she's probably pregnant. The thought of Michonne being pregnant gave Rick a feeling of fear; how would he provide for another baby when the second one can't even fend for its self.
But he prays; if she could beat that out break at the prison then, he knew she would have to have a healthy pregnancy; cause if the fetus dies She would die.
While Rick was having a rush of all these uncertainties he hears Michonne moving the couch away from the door. He stands up and glances at the last remnants of night being pushed away by the sun. He pulls the key out of his pocket and looks at it for a moment then he walks up to the door and unlocks it; walks in the door and looks around the small living room then slowly closes the door.
The deputy sheriff in him notices that someone tried to clean up the stains of blood on the floor, couch and stairs.
Michonne's in the kitchen when she hears the door shut, 'Hey Carl what are you doing here so early? Is everybody alright?" She asks.
She walks toward the kitchen entrance toward the living room; she's looking down at a canister of oatmeal trying to open it.
"Ouch, ouch, Carl I need you to open this oatmeal again my ribs are still too…" just as Michonne looks up from the canister standing in the kitchen entrance she sees Rick standing there looking at her in complete shock and disbelief at what he sees.