Chapter Three: It Will Come Back

~You know better babe; you know better babe

Than to look at it, look at it like that

You know better babe; you know better babe

Than to talk to it, talk to it like that~

Rick woke up to find a goddess sleeping by his side.

He admired the peace in Michonne's face as she slept. The arch of her brow, the fullness of her lips, the definition of her collarbone – it was all perfect. Rick pinched the sheet that covered her body between his fingers and inched it down, past her clothed, pert breasts.

He took in a heavy breath.

He didn't completely understand his pull to the beautiful woman beside him, but waking up next to her, he knew that this was where he wanted to be. He hadn't felt this whole since his wife had been alive.

Michonne's chest rose and fell with deep, slow breaths.

He settled in, ready to watch her for an eternity more, but she surprised him by speaking. "What are you waiting for?"

Rick raised his head from the pillow. "Hmm?"

Michonne opened her eyes. It seemed she had been awake maybe even before Rick. She turned onto her side to face him. Rick smiled when her eyes met his. The usual headache he would feel after the drinking binge he had gone on last night was nonexistent. He attributed that to the woman in front of him. Nothing felt wrong, or hard, or painful when he was with her.

She took his hand and guided it to her breast. "I'll let you have me one more time," she said. "Get it out of your system. Then you can go back to your home and your life...never looking back."

~Don't give it a hand, offer it a soul

Honey, make this easy

Leave it to the land, this is what it knows

Honey, that's how it sleeps~

Rick's brow furrowed. "I told you I'm not leaving."

Michonne's brow furrowed in response, a bit of anger flashed across her features. "Look," she said. "I get it. We had a good time. You like the fantasy, you like the chase. But that's just what this is. A fantasy. This can't work. I leave, and you stay. That's the only way this goes."

Rick shook his head. "No. No, it's not. We can make this work."

"How?"

"As long as we're together-"

Michonne sighed. A long, suffering sigh. Rick stopped talking. He could see in her eyes that she didn't believe things were that simple.

Movement and bustling sounded outside the bedroom door and Michonne knew that her mother and the rest of the house was getting up and preparing breakfast.

She hoisted herself over Rick's torso, her breasts brushing his chest. Rick's breath caught in his throat and his hand automatically went to her back. His fingers splayed across it and he marveled at how his hand almost took up the entire width of her. With his other hand, he brushed her falling dreads over her shoulder and away from her face. "Come outside with me," Michonne said. "We have to honor my mother's house."

His response automatic, Rick nodded once. He was hers to control.

~ Don't let it in with no intention to keep it

Jesus Christ! Don't be kind to it.

Honey don't feed it – it will come back. ~

Michonne stepped out into the kitchen with Rick following behind her. His hair was still disheveled and his eyes were somewhat bloodshot. He looked every bit like he had binged on alcohol the night before. He carried his overshirt in his hand while his undershirt hung loosely on his body and his pants hung, wrinkled, on his hips.

He stood in the doorway of the kitchen, feeling just as out of place as he looked. Michonne's sisters and mother stopped what they were doing to look at them. Marsai was still sick and had wrapped herself in a blanket while she sat at the kitchen table, but she pretended to be busy after a few seconds of awkward silence. The other sisters followed her lead.

Rick met Michonne's mother's stern glare as she stoked the flames in the fireplace. He bowed his head slightly. "Ma'am..."

Rick didn't receive a greeting in return.

"Rick," Michonne said, turning to him. "Can you go outside and wait for me?"

Rick was embarrassed to be in front of his lover's mother in such a sorry state so he did what she asked without question. He nodded his head toward Michonne's mother once more and then went to the front door and stepped outside.

When the door closed behind him, Michonne's mother spoke. "You sendin' him away?"

Michonne nodded. "Yeah. I am."

The sisters pretended as if they weren't listening. Michonne's mother nodded. "Good," she said. "Make sure he eats somethin' before he goes."

Michonne's eyes traveled to the basket of apples on the table and she grabbed one as she headed for the door.

"Michonne?" Michonne's mother called, stopping her. Michonne turned to look back at her. "Best if you make it short and sweet," her mother said. "Eve's biggest sin wasn't partaking of the fruit; her biggest sin was that she liked it."

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Farther along the bank of the river where they had first met, Michonne laid atop Rick and tongued his neck. The sun was directly above them and was visible through Rick's half-lidded lashes. With her kisses, soft and wet against his neck, he felt drugged and unwanting of sobriety.

"We can move up North. Find a place big enough for your family. And us."

Michonne licked at the delicate skin on Rick's neck. She felt his heart beat there. "And we'll just magically run across this place?" Michonne asked. She brought her kisses to his cheek, soft and slow. She didn't mind the stubble there. It tickled her lips.

"I have a brother," Rick said. He laid his palm against Michonne's hip. She had moved her attentions to his ear, teasing him with her tongue by licking gently around it. He didn't know that could spark such arousal in him until now. "He moved up North to manage a railroad station. He'll put us up until we can find a place of our own."

He gripped her hip in his hand; Michonne reacted by pushing herself against the hardness she felt pushing against Rick's trousers. She closed her eyes, again enjoying this more than she expected or wanted to – just like she had the first time. "You just have it all figured out, don't you," she whispered in his ear.

Rick cupped Michonne's face in his hands and made her stop kissing him so that she could look at him. "We can make this work," he said.

The sincerity and plea in his voice gave Michonne pause. But her pragmatic side won out. She didn't believe a word he was saying. She couldn't. This was a goodbye. She was sending him off like she told her mother she would. There was nothing "short and sweet" about it, but she wanted this one last time with him. If that was a sin, she was ready to pay for it at the Pearly Gates.

~You know better babe, you know better babe,

Than to smile at me, smile at me like that

You know better babe, you know better babe!

Than to hold me just, hold me just like that~

"Stop talking," she whispered. Her lips brushed over his before she captured his mouth in a deep kiss, consuming all of his words and promises.

She pushed her tongue into his mouth and Rick welcomed it wholeheartedly. Words were not only gone from his lips but from his brain as well. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight against him as he moaned into her kiss, letting her know just how much he loved the taste of her.

A snake of passion and lust coiled in Rick's stomach when he felt Michonne's hand slide down to his trousers. He gasped when he felt her unbuckle him and then reach deep inside to grasp his shaft. Her hand was hot against his flesh. His loins tightened and he hardened further still.

Michonne lifted herself to look into Rick's face as she worked his pants and undergarments down over his hips just enough to fully release his manhood.

She then slid her hand underneath the skirt of her simple dress to pull her underwear to the side.

Rick breathed heavily. Anticipation to copulate again with the woman who had constantly been on his mind since their first time together filled his chest. He only wished she believed in what they could have as much as he did. He knew he hadn't convinced her to run away, together, with him.

She maneuvered her hips over his hard member. Rick grasped her dress-covered thighs as he felt his tip touch her hot, wet center. She slowly began to engulf him inch by inch. Rick's fingers curled into her dress, clutching the fabric, because the sensation of entering inside of her felt so good. She pushed herself all the way to the hilt and they both released sighs of pleasure. Rick fought to hold himself still as Michonne began to roll her hips. His eyes almost fell closed, but he kept them open with the strength of his will. He wanted to watch all of the ways her face changed as she rode him; he wanted to commit to memory the way that the sun streamed through the branches of the trees above them and the dreads of her hair. Everything seemed heightened as she moved atop him. The grass seemed greened, the breeze seemed cooler, and his pleasure seemed insurmountable.

Michonne grabbed Rick's face in her hand. The way he stared at her should be criminal. It heated her from the inside out and in more than just a lustful way. Michonne began to grind faster onto him, trying to speed up the process of reaching climax. As she rode him, she realized her mother was right. A quicker goodbye would have been better. What she was doing now was dangerous. The thought of wanting to be filled with him forever was too enticing. Michonne bucked furiously against him. She grabbed his hand from her thigh and placed it over her breast.

Rick's mouth fell open and he elicited heavy, lusty breaths as Michonne's gyrating from above unsettled the very Earth beneath them. He pushed his hand into the top of her dress to pull her breast free. He then turned his attention to her other breast, wanting to see as much of her as he could. He pulled the fabric of her dress down, baring her shoulder, and exposed her other breast to his sight. In his haste, there was a slight ripping sound that accompanied the action. "Don't rip my dress," Michonne said, still riding him. Her breasts were now bouncing freely. She was thinking about how she had to pass in front of her mother and sisters again when she went back inside and she didn't want her dalliance to be on full display by way of a barely hanging on dress.

If he heard her, Michonne didn't know. Rick wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted himself to capture her breasts in his mouth – first one and then the other. A small groan, reminiscent of a growl, left his throat.

He was growing hotter.

He pushed the skirt of Michonne's dress up and pushed his hand underneath it. He slid his fingers along her bare thigh until he reached her most sensitive area. He pressed his thumb against her bud as his member slid in and out of her. Michonne gasped and threw her head back. Rick took that moment to move his lips from her breasts to her slender neck. "I'm going to make you my wife," he whispered against her skin.

Michonne slowed her pace but she rolled her hips harder against him, causing him to sink further inside her walls. She had never dreamed of being anyone's wife. And she couldn't start now. She had to end this. "No, you won't." An involuntary whimper left her throat as Rick feathered the pad of his thumb quickly against her bud of nerves, as if in protest to her last statement.

Before she knew it, he flipped her over onto her back. His eyes were electricity. "Is that a challenge?" His hand moved from beneath her skirt, which had now fallen to her waist, and lifted her hips so that he could bury himself more fully within her walls. Michonne groaned and gripped his shoulders in her hands.

The blades of grass gently pricked Michonne's exposed skin as Rick began to pump in and out of her. He laid against her and swiveled his hips so that his pelvis brushed against the spot that caused her the most pleasure on each stroke.

Rick reveled in how amazing and right it felt to be buried within her heat. He propped himself up onto his elbow and began to grind into her harder and faster. He wanted it to feel as right for her as it did for him. His lips found the skin of her neck again and he tongued and bit her, bringing her closer to the edge along with him. "You're mine," he whispered against her skin. "And I'm yours."

~ I know who I am when I'm alone

I'm something else when I see you

You don't understand, you should never know

How easy you are to need ~

Michonne moaned and lifted her hips with each of Rick's thrusts, matching his hastened pace.

Rick lifted himself to look into her face as they came closer and closer to climax, but Michonne turned her face away. Her eyes fell on the red apple lying in the grass, long forgotten in the heat of their coming together.

Michonne felt herself coming undone from Rick's continued intercourse. Her lids grew hooded and she began to moan loudly.

Rick grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him again. He wanted to see exactly what he was doing to her. Exactly how he was making her feel. The pleasure on Michonne's face and the feeling of being ensconced in her walls brought Rick over the brink. He rode Michonne faster and when he felt her walls clenching around him and her back arch up off of the ground, he felt himself release.

His hot seed spread within Michonne and she shuddered with more pleasure.

Some of Rick's seed spilled out and fell into the Earth below, mixing with Michonne's own.

Rick slowly collapsed onto her and lazily peppered more soft kisses against her neck. "This is where I belong," Rick said, still nestled inside of her. "This is right."

Michonne sighed and closed her eyes. She placed her own kisses against Rick's cheek. He turned to meet her lips and they shared a deep kiss under the sun before Rick pulled away, gave her one last gentle look, and then rolled to the side. He laid on his back and put himself away while Michonne did the same. She sat up and straightened her gown. Then she took the apple into her hand and took a bite. It was sweet on her tongue. She handed it to Rick, who also took a bite.

"You ruined my dress," Michonne finally said after a few moments of silence. She kept trying to pull her sleeve up over her shoulder but it would continuously fall back down. She finally sighed and gave up.

"I'm sorry," Rick said, turning over onto his side to look at her. "I didn't mean to." He pushed himself to a sitting position and began to brush grass out of her hair. She let him, wanting to have at least a little respect when she walked into her mother's house again.

Rick smiled gently at her as he helped her to clean up. "You're the only other woman I've been with besides my wife. And it was never like this."

Michonne glanced over at Rick. She didn't know why he was telling her this, but it caused her to feel slightly somber. She was more convinced than ever now that his lack of experience was the reason he was romanticizing this. She was an exotic sexual experience for him, nothing more. "You've never slept with your fiance?" she asked.

"No," Rick said. "We don't really have a connection. Plus, it's not really the gentlemanly thing to do."

"And I'm not a lady so no need to be a gentleman, right?"

Rick gently picked the last visible blade of grass from Michonne's hair. "You handled Mrs. Dixon's prejudice with more grace than I would've ever been able to muster in your situation, you took in a drunken fool and nursed him back to health, and then you brought us out here to make love in the grass because you didn't want to disrespect your mother's house.." They laughed together. "You're every bit a lady and I think you know that." He pulled Michonne's dress down over her shoulder and kissed her bared skin. He released the apple in his hand and let it roll into the river, more wanting of Michonne's taste than that of the fruit.

"I do," Michonne said, playfully pushing Rick away and bringing her dress back up over her shoulder, "I was just making sure you knew it." She watched, amused, as Rick began to laugh again.

She could easily imagine them spending every day like this. She shook her head.

Rick's laughter died and he enjoyed the sunshine for a bit more before he spoke again. "You're still going to ask me to leave, aren't you."

"It's not going to work," Michonne said. "It can't. This isn't a fairy tale."

Rick was quiet for a moment. "...Okay," he finally said. "I'll leave." Michonne was taken aback at how quickly he agreed. She had been expecting him to put up a bit more of a fight.

"But I'm going to come back," he finished. "And if you tell me to leave again, I'll come back again." He invaded Michonne's space and wrapped his arms around her. "I'll come back again. And again. And again." He placed kisses on her cheek between each declaration. Michonne drew away from him and looked at him like he had two heads. It didn't bother him. He smiled. "So you might as well get used to me being here."

He placed another kiss on her lips and then stood up. "I'm going to travel back into town and say goodbye to my mother." He picked up his overshirt and brushed it off. "Wait for me. Okay?"

Michonne shook her head at Rick, who was smiling down at her. "You're crazy," she said.

"Even so, you'll still wait for me, right?"

Michonne stood up as well, the left shoulder of her top still falling sloppily downward due to Rick's earlier handling. "I'm not making any promises."

Rick frowned. "And I thought courting Lori had been difficult," he mumbled. "Her father couldn't stand me," he said by way of further explanation. "Well, at least promise me you won't be in a rush to leave."

He waited until Michonne gave him a nod before he was satisfied.

On a sudden thought, he took a pocket watch from his pants pocket and handed it to Michonne. "Here...take this. So you can think of me every hour."

Michonne rolled her eyes and handed it back to Rick. "I'm not taking this; it looks expensive."

"Tch," Rick said. "You're really stubborn." He took the watch back. "Fine." He unhooked the chain from the watch and grabbed Michonne's left hand. Michonne resisted initially, but once she realized what he was doing, she stilled. He wrapped the chain around her ring finger and hooked it there. "There," he said. "You're mine, and I'm yours." He kissed her one last time; Michonne closed her eyes, savoring the moment. "I'll be back," Rick said when he pulled away. He moved around her and started on his way back. "I promise. I'll be back."

Michonne watched him go, reluctant to believe his promise, but begrudgingly hopeful of it anyway.

~Don't let me in with no intention to keep me

Jesus Christ! Don't be kind to me.

Honey don't feed me – I will come back~

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Rick stood on the edge of his town when he made it back and just observed. Everything looked dimmer. He felt smaller.

He was more certain than ever that this was the right thing to do.

He hurried home and walked through his door. His mother and Jessie were there looking through magazines. They looked up when they heard him come in. The smiles disappeared from their face, though, when he appeared in the doorway and they could see him fully.

"Good lord! What's happened?" Rick's mother asked, getting up from her seat.

Rick was confused at the horrified faces for a moment before he looked down and realized what he must look like. Not only were his eyes bloodshot from the drunken bender of the night before, but his clothes and hair were now also a mess from rolling around in the grass and dirt with Michonne. He quickly shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "I just...had a little too much to drink last night."

"Is that why you didn't come home?!" his mother continued questioning him. "Where did you sleep?"

"I uhh...It doesn't matter. Look, mom, I came to tell you something. Jessie, I'm glad you're here; you stay for this as well." Rick led his mother back to where she had been sitting and then he sat on the sofa adjacent to her – Jessie sat across from him. "I'm uhh...I'm going to go up North and stay with my brother for a while," he said directly.

His mother was startled by this news. "What? Why?" she asked. "How long will you be gone?"

"I'm thinking about moving there," Rick explained. "Finding a place of my own and then staying..."

"But..." His mother seemed to not know what to say or where to start.

"...What about me?" Jessie asked. "I can't just pack up and move up North."

Rick sighed, feeling slightly guilty. "I'm not asking you to," he said. "I think...I think we should end our engagement."

The blood drained from Jessie's face. "Why?" she asked.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" his mother asked at the same time.

"It's not that sudden," Rick explained. "I've been feeling out-of-place here for a while."

"Well, you're just mourning, dear," his mother said. "You're still getting over Lori's death. If you need a little more time before the marriage, that's fine. But to call it off-"

"It's not that," Rick said. "I'm not still mourning." He looked at Jessie. "We're not meant to be. And you know it. I don't love you." He tried to let her down as gently as possible with the facts.

"Love?" his mother asked. "Since when did you become a romantic?" Her expression changed as realization dawned on her. "...Is that what this is about?" she whispered. "Love? Have you found another woman, Richard?" She looked over the state of his dress again. "Is that where you were last night?"

Jessie's lips pinched together.

Rick didn't say anything. He didn't quite know what to say.

"Of course," his mother continued. "I should've read the signs; men are so easy. Well...who is she? Can't be anyone decent since you're trying to run away with her and not introducing her in the proper way."

"I'm not going to talk about this," Rick said, standing up. He was conscious of the time. "I just came to say goodbye and grab a few things. I'll write you when I reach Virginia." He started off towards the stairs.

Rick's mother stood up indignantly. She was at a loss for what to say. "This can't happen," she said when it was just Jessie and her alone in the room. "You need to do something," she said to the other woman. "Hold onto him. I can't have my son running around with some...whore. He stands for something in this community. Our good name can't be tainted!"

"What am I supposed to do?" Jessie asked. She looked somewhat panicked.

"Give him something he wants," Rick's mother decided. "A son."

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Michonne, changed into unsullied clothing now, stopped by the front window for maybe the hundredth time and peered out. The sun was beginning to set now. She knew they were planning to head out at dark.

She sighed and turned back from the window. Her bag sat on the table in the middle of the room. Everyone had just packed one makeshift knapsack full of things they wanted or needed to take with them.

Her eyes belatedly landed on her mother who stood in the doorway watching her. Her mother's eyes flickered down to the chain around her daughter's finger. She shook her head and tsked. "You can lie down and get some rest," she said. "We won't be leaving tonight."

Michonne tried to hide the spark of happiness she felt at that news. "Why not?" she asked.

"Your sister started vomiting again. She won't be able to make it far in that condition. Now stop standing at that window and go bring her some soup."

"Yes, Mama."

She hurried off and collected a bowl of soup. She found her sister huddled in a blanket and shivering when she brought her the soup. "You look terrible," she said, concern steeping her voice. She rushed to her sister's side and brought the bowl of soup to her lips. As her sister drank, she felt her forehead. She was burning up. "Is the medicine not working?"

"It seemed to be working this morning," Marsai said, her voice raspy. She coughed and took another drink of her soup. Michonne felt her forehead again; Marsai stopped her by taking her hand. She had noticed the silver around Michonne's finger. "Did he give you this?"

Michonne took her hand back. "Yeah," she said. "It's silly. He thinks by talking all dandy and giving me silly things like this that he can make me believe he's serious about me or something."

"Girl, I think he is serious about you."

"Why?" Michonne asked, almost eagerly.

"'Cause I've seen the way he looks at you." Marsai cleared her throat to try to make her voice clearer. "And the twins told me about the way he acted when they went to town with you." She smiled. "They said he was practically falling over himself trying to please you."

Michonne hid a smile. Another second and she sobered herself up though. "Yeah, well, I'm not serious about him. There's no use. It could never work."

"Nothing is impossible," Marsai said, taking another drink of the soup. She closed her eyes, as the liquid hurt her sore throat on the way down. "Watching mama has taught me that. Sometimes it seems like that woman can work miracles. And you know I think she's mostly full of shit."

Marsai and Michonne shared a laugh. Marsai has always been the only one of them to be critical of their mother's beliefs and her way of life. Michonne didn't know if she believed all of the spiritual mumbo-jumbo her mother spouted all the time either, but she didn't mind it at all. The fact that their family was now known for their voodoo is one of the things that kept them safe many times before.

"I was against Mama sending you to him in the first place, you know," Marsai said. She reached out and touched Michonne's stomach. "But who knows? Maybe this little guy really is special."

Michonne placed her hand over Marsai's. "I know he's special."

"You know Mama's not just staying another night for me, right?" Michonne looked curiously over at her sister. "She knows you're waiting for him."

"I'm not waiting for him."

"Sure," Marsai smiled. "Keep telling yourself that."

"I'm not. It could never work."

"Keep telling yourself that too." Marsai finished off her soup and then handed the bowl back to Michonne. "Here. Now leave me alone. I'm going to go back to sleep." She turned over onto her side, putting her back to Michonne, and snuggled under her blanket.

Michonne sighed, wanting to continue to argue, but she stood up from the bed – leaving her sick sister to recover.

When she reached the kitchen, she put the bowl in a bucket of already soaking dishes. As she drew her hand back, her eyes fell on the silver chain around her finger. She started to unhook it, but then stopped. 'I don't want to lose it,' she thought. 'If he does come back, he'll need it for his watch.'

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- I had to include the sharing of an apple. Callback to canon. :) -