James and Jimmy knock on Jane's door in the pouring rain soaked to the bone. James is alarmed because he isn't sure if Jimmy is shaking because of the cold rain or if he is still shook up by what he did to Eugene earlier that morning.
Jane opens the door and lets her brothers in. They both immediately walk in to the kitchen and they see Karl sitting at the table and Judith in her high chair eating some left over rabbit that was retrieved by Karl and Daryl yesterday morning from the Rick's snares. "Hey Karl what's up buddy" James says with a smile while trying to shake of the excess rain, "Nothing much James, Hey Jimmy?" Karl says. Jimmy simply nods his head then walks back in to the living room. Karl looks at Jane and James with a confused look on his face, "What's wrong with Jimmy?" He asked.
Jane watches as Jimmy walks off in to the living room to sit down on the couch. While Jane is observing Jimmy, Karl is watching Jane's facial expression as it goes from freakishly cheery to cold and dark.
Karl could never get a good feel for Jane and her brothers. Once Rick found out that Jane was instrumental in keeping Judith safe at Terminus and how she managed to lead Tyreese and Carol to his train car made Rick feel eternally grateful. But Karl couldn't get over how nice she was all the time. She was never mean or upset about anything. If you heard her stomach growling she would say that it was gas. Jane didn't act normal. She always acted like everything was fine, even when they weren't. There were times when Karl would catch her with both of her hands on the sides of the stove and she would just stand there looking down at the burners. She could stay in that position over the stove two maybe three hours. But anytime Rick came in to the house she could break the trance and become weirdly happy again. Karl didn't know what to make of her, Karl couldn't say that he liked Jane but he also could say that he didn't. Which meant (at least to Karl) she shouldn't be here. But he was of the same mind as his father with regard to the safety of Judith. Jane did take good care of Judith and Karl knew his father couldn't take care of a toddler all day every day even if he wanted to. He just didn't feel the need to have her under the same roof as them. Karl would rather have Michonne than Jane.
"Karl, I am gonna take them upstairs and get some dry clothes for them. You keep an eye on your sister, o.k.?' Jane says. Karl nods his head in agreement.
Once Jane and her brothers get upstairs she closes the door and locks it. "What happened this morning?" She says while locking the door behind her. "Why isn't she gone? " Jane says with annoyance. "There was a problem." James says while looking at Jimmy. "What problem?" She asks. Jimmy looks at Jane from the corner of his eye intimated and frightened by her reactions so far. "Eugene said something to Glenn and Maggie about her being attacked so I wounded Eugene in the leg and he got bitten by walkers." Jimmy tells her with a quiet quiver in his voice. "Tara saw what Jimmy did and started yelling so I pushed her in to the same walkers that were eating Eugene, I had no choice. Michonne stayed inside. Daryl said that Carol got bit while trying to save him from walkers." James says.
Jane turns toward Rick's dresser and starts to pull out some dry clothes for them quietly. "Yea, that was a pity what happened to Carol" she tells them. "Did anyone else see what you did?" she asked. James shakes his head no while taking of his soaked shirt and pants. As Jane hands some dry clothes to her brothers she starts to walk around the bedroom slowly contemplating what they should do next. "Well just leave things the way they are until things cool off." She said quietly opening the door to leave. Just as she begins to go down stairs she sees Karl coming up with Judith. "What are doing? Did you guys finish your dinner already?" she says in that oddly cheerful voice. "Yea, Judith started falling asleep in her chair." Karl says grinning at Judith. "Oh, I'll take her off your hands." She says reaching for Judith. Karl pulls away and says, "No, it's alright I'll put her to bed." "Oh, o.k. sure" she responded.
The next morning Rick is still waiting for Michonne to wake up from the surgery the night before. He's sitting on the floor against the wall sleeping. Michonne turns over on her side with the bruised rib and wakes up from the pain. As she opens her eyes she sees Rick against the wall sleep. When she sees him she starts to remember what happened the day before and realizes that she has a huge headache.
Gradually she sits up and looks down at the gash on her leg then puts her feet on the floor preparing to get up. She moans softly so that she doesn't wake Rick. When she stands she immediately begins to scan the room for her sword. She limps to the middle of the room to get a larger view. As she begins scanning the room she starts to get nervous because she can't find the sword anywhere. "Rick where's my katana?" She walks over to Rick against the wall, "Rick, Rick, where's my sword?" Rick wakes up briefly confused as to where he was. "It's right here next to me. You were hallucinating during the surgery. So we got a little concerned that you might dice us up if you got loose," he tells with a chuckle. Michonne was in shock by the idea that she was that drugged up and says, "Really? Oh wow. Did I hurt anyone? "No, but it took a lot of strength to hold you down." Rick says smiling while get up off the floor. "How do you feel?" "Like I've been in two bar fights." She laughs while grabbing some shorts and a t-shirt.
Rick starts to moan and rubs his neck. Michonne looks at Rick, "This is the second night that you haven't slept in a bed Rick. Go home. I will be alright here." She tells him. As she walks over to the window she sees that the rain has stopped but the overcast has remained. "Rick, is everything alright at your house?" She questioned him. "Why what's up, what wrong?" Rick says anxiously while walking toward her by the window. "No, nothing is 'wrong' Rick. I mean, is everything going alright with Jane and Judith" she asks.
Rick walks over to the other window and looks out at the cul de sac and tells her, "Everything is alright I guess, she's taking really good care of Judith and Karl which is what I need somebody to do and her brothers make sure that the three of them are safe if I am not there." Michonne wants to tell him what she saw yesterday but, she's still not sure about exactly what she saw. If she mentions it to Rick It will start more problems within the group. So instead she asks, "Is that why you have her living there?" "Because I would have been more than happy to do that for you…if you wanted," she says while looking out the other window.
Rick looks over at her and he can see that her feeling are hurt that he never asked her. He walks over to her window and leans on the opposite window sill, his arms folded, "Michonne I would've love to have you take care of kids. I know this won't come out right either but the fact is that," he pauses for a moment, "You are one my best warrior Chonne. Your fearless, your smart, and you care…a lot about all of us. I just can't afford to have you babysit. Rick looks out the window then back at her again, "When I am out there on a run or when we are all on the road I feel better knowing that you have got my back. I know that I have a better chance of survival if you are there with me. And when you are with me I feel better knowing that I can have your back. You being there for me lets me to be there for you."
He walks closer to Michonne, "It's not that I don't want you to take care of Karl and Judith. I know that if something should happen to me you would look out for them. But I want to stay around for them as long as I can. And I stand a better chance of that with you close by." He tells her.
Michonne looks down at the floor and sighs a little then looks up at Rick and shakes her head, "I get it. But what about you and Jane is that…something?" she asks. Rick walks back over toward the dresser leaving Michonne at the window. "It's not something, it's nothing really. I was just soo grateful that she kept Gareth and Mary away from Judith and the fact that she helped Carol and Tyreese get to us I…I wasn't sure how to repay her. So when she assumed the role of a nannie I just continued to let her do so. There's nothing there." He says. "But does she think that something is there." She asks. Rick looks down at his floor then at his reflection in the cracked dresser mirror, "She wants something more… that I can see, but she is just too young, too innocent she doesn't have any scars. I don't see her in that way. Hell, she's probably a few years younger than Maggie. Jane is just a kid." He tells her.
"Then why not pick Maggie or Sasha or Car…" Michonne stopped speaking because she remembered what happened yesterday. "I need as many soldiers as possible in order to keep everybody safe. Man woman…kid if they know how to fight walkers I want them right there with me to help fight off walkers." Rick says.
Michonne walks over to the dresser and gently places her hand on top of his, "Listen, now is not the time to potentially damage a young girl with false dreams. You need to make up your mind. She is taking care of your children so she has power over you. If something goes wrong between you and her Judith is at stake" She tells him while walking toward the bedroom door.
Rick quickly grabs her arm and turns her back around and passionately kisses her practically picking up where they left off yesterday morning before Karl walked in. Michonne wraps her arms around Rick's neck and runs her fingers through his filthy hair while he moves his hands around her hips and back. He pulls her in close as he takes a step back to lean on the dresser with her tight in his arms. He briefly stops the lip lock with her but keeps no more than a 1/2 an inch between their lips. The only time he wanted to see Michonne weak was for him by him. Rick enjoyed teasing her this way and she liked it…a lot. He began to slowly touch his lips to hers but this time he uses more care and sensitivity in the kiss and less passion. Michonne started to fall hard in to his tender kiss. This was different than yesterday morning. The two were enjoying this kiss just for what it is. Knowing that it was not going to lead to anything more.
Rick stops the kiss to ask softly, "How long will it take for your ribs to heal?" then continuing to kissing her again. Michonne whispers, "Not soon enough". She suddenly stops the kiss and grabs his face and kisses him once more and says, "And even then I don't want to get in to a grimy session with you so close to everyone. It might…I don't want to set a bad example." Michonne slowly smiles and turns away from him, "I think I get loud when wehappen. I would be freaked out if people could hear us." She chuckles. She walks to the door and puts her hand on the door knob, "I would love to get dirty with Rick but I get the feeling that you may need to iron out some kinks in your house. It wouldn't matter to me if Jane was your wife or if you have five wives, what you and I have can always remain. I don't think this world makes allowances for monogamy any more. But Jane, if she is as young and innocent as you say, there's a good chance that she wants to play house with you. So you need to get your house in order." She tells him while opening the door for him to leave.
Rick is still leaning against the dresser with one arm folded across his chest and his other hand stroking his hairy chin. He knows that Michonne is telling him the truth she has always told him the truth whether he wanted to her it or not. He's been staying away from his house to avoid interacting with Jane. At the same time he has also been missing out on being the father that Karl and Judith deserved.
So Rick gets up off the dresser and walks toward the door, "I will stop by and check up on you…" Michonne interrupts him, "No, I am fine here, Bob and Sasha got me covered. Go and enjoy what you have been fighting so hard for Rick. I will be around." He shakes head and leaves the room.