Chapter 13:

When Glenn turned up at Michonne's door, slightly panicked and telling her to follow him, she naturally grabbed her katana and flew out her home with him, no questions asked. He had informed her as they ran that Dwight had turned up, and he and Rick were engaged in a Mexican standoff, as Dwight was demanding to see Negan. Glenn of course, had no clue why, while Michonne knew from the moment he mentioned her friend's name.

Both men held their pistols aimed at each other, standing only feet apart. Dwight was obviously fuelled by emotion, as his hand shook slightly, and his eyes bounced all over Rick, who was chillingly calm, barely blinking, and his finger sat comfortably on the trigger.

"You're protecting him too now, huh?!", Dwight smiled with disbelief, in a crazed fashion, "This is fucking ridiculous!"

"I'm not protecting him", Rick sniffed, tilting his head a fraction, "Believe it or not, I'm actually protecting you. Now I don't know what he did for you to come storming in here wanting blood but if you calm down, we can talk about it? There's no point in you shooting me and then me killing you, all because of that asshole"

Dwight shook his head as he frowned, "He's fucked me over enough, and now this…"

"Dwight?"

Both of them turned to Michonne, who kept her sword by her side, as not to alert him anymore. She inched towards him, "I know, what's happened, and I understand-"

"You knew?", Dwight spun the hand that held his gun towards Michonne, "You knew?!"

"Hey!", Rick roared, stepping closed to Dwight with his python raised, now aiming for his head, "Calm down!"

"She came and she told me", Michonne explained, her weapon still at her side, "I told her to tell you. I told her you would understand-"

"What is there to understand?!", Dwight spat at her.

"That she did what she did to protect the both of you! She was trying to make things easier for you and she did! What happened between them was just the bad part of the deal she made!"

Dwight's face began to soften, "I don't want him near-"

"He can't go anywhere Dwight. He quite literally can't. So move your gun from my face because I'm starting to get a little offended", She raised her eyebrows at him.

The man huffed as he dropped the weapon to the floor, and through the bat away from himself. He paced around in a circle, shaking his head, "I'm sorry Michonne. I am-"

"It's okay. Not the first time someone's pointed a gun at me", She didn't mean to glance at Rick when she made the comment, but his reaction to her sly dig was amusing.

"Sorry Rick", Dwight exhaled, brushing his hair back from his face with his hands.

"Yeah, don't worry about it", Rick glanced over his shoulder, "Glenn can you take Dwight over to the Monroe's… let him… calm for a while"

"Sure", Glenn nodded, lifting his hand to Dwight.

The other leader followed Glenn, still looking incredibly bothered, but Michonne was glad he was no longer armed with anything.

"I'll be right over", Michonne called as she picked up Negan's bat from the floor, "I should probably keep this"

Rick furrowed his brow as he looked at her and she figured he was waiting for her to explain what that was about. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she hesitated.

"Never mind. I honestly don't even care, as long as he doesn't go waving a gun around at anyone again", Rick rested his hands on his sides, looking back in the direction that the two men had gone.

She bit her lip as she felt oddly comfortable, and compelled to tell him, but she knew it wasn't her position to do such a thing, "I'm going to go check on him… are you going to be here for a while? I'll probably have to go see Negan after..."

His eyes slid back to her, "I'll probably be around, even if I'm not, it won't be hard to find me"

She slowly nodded, "Alright"

Ever since their last interaction, the previous afternoon, Michonne had been avoiding Rick, and she was sure he was avoiding her too. When he left her home she had felt like a fool for spewing some nonsense about comic books. She didn't even need to tell him to pass on the message to his son as she knew where to find the teen. She was feeling too much compulsion to keep him in her company for a little while longer whenever he was around, and it scared her, quite frankly. So hiding from him had become the go to option for her, and it had worked, up until Dwight came bursting in the community.

She found her friend in the Monroe's home, still reeling about the news of his wife's pregnancy, and Glenn was polite enough to give them some privacy when she arrived.

"What do I do? How can I even… this is my wife, Michonne-"

"I know", She slid him a cup of coffee and sat on the other side of the dining table, "It's a lot to deal with. It's a big thing to accept"

"I don't want to have to look at this child and… and just see him! Him of all people!", Dwight threw his hands up in the air.

"I know this won't be easy right now, but I want you to look at the bigger picture here. It's a baby. A baby that won't know care about anything other than its parents… and if you stay with Sherry, then that's going to be you. Yes, biologically, the child's Negan's but he won't be there to raise it… he won't spend anywhere near as much time as you will, so you'd be what he or she knows as a father… and I think in a time like this… it's such a privilege to have someone that will love you unconditionally, and to have someone you can love unconditionally too"

Dwight looked subdued as he shoulders fell, "It is"

"Sherry loves you. All she was worried about was telling you. Negan wasn't even a factor-"

"Does he know?"

She shook her head, "No. Not at all"

"You're going to tell him, aren't you?"

She huffed, sitting back in her seat, "Who else would take on such a deed?"

He shook his head in annoyance, "He doesn't deserve this. I know he's your friend and I'm sorry, but he just… he's ruined too many lives to deserve this"

She crossed her arms over her chest as she allowed him to vent.

He exhaled tiredly, "Thanks for talking to Sherry about this… I don't think she could have talked to the others"

"Don't mention it… you want to stay the night? Go back with a clear head in the morning?"

"You live here?"

She shook her head, "No. Over by the edge of town"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure. Thanks"

The two of them sat having a considerably more relaxed conversation, before she left him in the home to find Rick. She would rather deal with Negan sooner, as opposed to later, and she had planned on going to see him to drop off the polaroid she had for him. She was killing two birds with one, very large bombshell.

She arrived at the gate to find it open, and a few members pulling corpses away from the community. Rick appeared, and to her dismay, the man had taken his jacket off and wore a t-shirt that fit him a little too snug. She forced her eyes to stay above his chin as she approached him.

"What happened?"

"Just a small group of them", He shrugged, noticing her eyes darting all over his face, "I fell back, one dropped on top of me and, I got covered in… well, guts"

He smelt diabolical, and yet, she wasn't as repulsed as she should have been.

He reached in his pocket and took the cell key off its ring, "Might be easier if I just give that to you from now on"

She raised an eyebrow at him as she took it from him.

"Well you've stuck to your word on most thangs… I can't really think of a reason not to give it to you?", His head tilted and squinted at her.

She was very taken back by his suggestion, and it took her a short moment to reply, "Well I think it makes sense. I am here to keep an eye on him… and I don't think anyone else really wants that job"

He pursed his lips.

She rolled her eyes, "Well, I know no one else wants that job".

"Yeah. That's just you", He smirked, and Michonne's eyes nearly fell to his chest as he flinched.

She gave a small, playful smile, then span on her heel and walked away. She was glad he was entrusting her with the key so soon, especially as she thought he'd guard it with his life for many more months before such a thing happened, and because she could continue to avoid him with ease.

She wasn't a naive woman. She had figured that it was some sort of attraction she felt towards him when she found herself growing uncomfortable whenever he was close to her. It was discomfort from having to hold back on the urge to touch him, to inhale his scent deep within her airways, or to feel his breath tickling her lips. However, it was all too much for her to handle, and the last thing she needed was to lose herself at a time like this, in inappropriate thoughts.

Burying her feelings was her only option.

Negan was doing push ups, with his limb behind his back when she walked into the cell. She was incredibly impressed with how well he was adjusting to his new form, but she wasn't at all surprised, as the man was well built to begin with.

"Here", She held out the polaroid to him, watching as he moved to kneel.

He was barely panting, or sweating, and took the photo from her. A large smile spread across his face, "I was wondering if you saw it"

"I did", She leaned against the wall and slid down into a crouched position, "Only picture of us. Ever"

He stood up and walked over to his mattress, dropping himself down on it, "What's wrong with you? You're doing that Debbie downer thing?"

She dropped her head back against the wall as she looked at him, "Sherry's pregnant"

He stared at her, "Sherry? My wife-ex-wife is pregnant?"

"She is".

His face went through a large range of emotions before he settled on anger, "Where is she?"

"Back at the Sanctuary"

"Why the fuck isn't she here telling me this?"

"Because she's scared of you, Negan", She was sure to put a little enthuses on the word 'scared'.

"I want to see her. You have to bring her to me 'Chonne"

"I will ask her to come, but I can't force her too-"

"Are you trying to fuck me? Are you really trying to fuck me in the ass right now, 'Chonne?", He squinted at her, "I want to see her!"

"And you will! When she's ready to come by! I am not going to drag her here kicking and screaming, I am going to ask her to come when she's ready and that's it", She hated that she had to raise her voice at him, but the man was loud.

His eyes roamed all over her face, "Do you see what I'm in right now? A cage! A shitty little cage that some fuckwit farmer built and you're telling me that I'm going to be a father? How? How the fuck can I do that from here?!"

"These are things you and Sherry have to come to agreement on. I can't make these decisions for either of you-"

"You helped him put me in here!"

"Because you're awful when you're free! You're a bully and a thief and just an all-round horrible leader!"

He blinked at her, "You're still going on about all that shit?"

She balled her fists as she tried not to yell at him any further.

"We need to figure something out here. If I'm going to be a father then I want out this fucking shit hole-"

"Negan. That can't happen and you know it can't-"

"You need to make it happen! If this was vies versa- Oh wait, this wouldn't be the case because I wouldn't cut your arm off and put you in fucking jail! And I definitely wouldn't be co-conspirator to that son of a bitch southern Belle that's running around up there!"

She stared at the wall in front of her, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth as she tried to pull the conversation away from a screaming match.

He dragged his hand over his face and looked to the ceiling for a few moments, "I want you to raise it".

Her eyebrows shot up into her forehead as she looked at him, "Excuse me?"

"I want you to raise the baby. You've done this, and I don't trust anyone else-"

"You don't get to decide who can raise your child Negan! Well, I mean, you're meant to but you chose Sherry when you had unprotected sex with her! So you can't decide to take her baby from her and give it to someone else-"

"Who the fuck even is Sherry?! The only thing I know about her is that she had a great vagina! So great, Dwight couldn't even leave it alone! That's it! And now she's having my baby? My child?"

Michonne was watching him with a disgusted expression, "I cannot believe you"

"It's the truth. I won't apologise for the truth", He looked at her with serious eyes, "The fact of the matter is, if she confirms to me that this is my child, then I want it safe. And until I get out of here, the safest person it'll be with is you. Sherry may be a nice girl and blah shit blah, but I knew all my wives' well enough to see that they were pretty useless with anything that didn't involve a cock, so to have a baby? In a time like this? There's only one person I know that's strong enough to handle that. And it's you"

She shook her head as she looked up at the window, "I couldn't even protect my own child, so I don't know-"

"No! Mike couldn't protect your son, that piece of shit wanted to bury his pinhead in the sand when the world was going to the fucking hell hounds and it's his fault that Andre didn't make it. Not. You. So don't ever fucking blame yourself for his mistakes"

It was Negan's tone that drew her to look at him. His eyes were still stern, his hands arms rested on his bent knees, mimicking her own position. She sighed, shaking her head, "You can't ask me to take another woman's child from her, and I hate that you would even think like that"

His lips pursed, his tongue rolling around his mouth, his eyes scanning her face as he thought, "I want to see her"

"I will talk to her then", She rolled her head back to face the window.

He stood up rolling his shoulders back, "I'm going to be a fucking dad. Who would have thought, huh?"

Her eyes crept over to him as he went back to kneeling.

"How'd you feel about it all?"

Her eyes sailed to the wall behind him, "Not the best circumstances but, I'm happy for you, and Sherry".

"You probably know her better than I do", He scoffed, leaning on his hand, "Come on. Get on my back while I do this set"

Her conversation with Negan left her feeling uneasy, and she didn't think such a milestone in his life would have any impact her, but it did. It dawned on her that he would want her around for such a time, and while she was adamant that she wouldn't raise the child, she would be expected to be around the baby girl or boy, and that scared her the most.

She had only seen one very young child since her son, and that was Rick's daughter. She had no bond to that child at all and yet, she was ready to run for the hills when she first laid eyes on the toddler, so she couldn't imagine how she'd feel with Negan's child. It was a hurdle she didn't think she'd be able to tackle anytime soon, but she hoped it wouldn't always be the case, as she did adore children, and being a mother was something that brought her remarkable happiness.

After leaving him to continue his work out, she emerged on the street and her eyes fell on Carl, who was coincidently, walking right towards her.

"Hey", He smiled, wearing a brown sheriff's hat, "Hope you aren't busy or anything… my dad told me about the-"

"Comics. And no, I'm not busy at all so you can come over now if you want? I just need to get Dwight from the Monroe's… and we can all head over to my place"

He beamed, "Yeah, sure"

They both slowly began to walk up the street, "Alright, so first things first, Marvel or DC?"

Carl squinted into the distance, "It's gonna have to be DC for me-"

Michonne let out a dramatic gasp, "How dare you?"

The teen chuckled, "What? I mean Marvel is okay and all but..."

"You're so lucky I haven't got anything to do for a while, so we can have this argument for the rest of the evening"

The teen rose to the challenge, holding his head up high, "Fine, let's do it"

"Oh. We will".