Michonne cursed under her breath as she sat inside her black Mercedes Benz pickup truck. She parked right across from the police station and got out. Without hesitation she changed her flats into her heels and pulled a white blazer from her backseat.
She knew that appearances were important when it came to bending the law. She was annoyed though. Michonne didn't know how to react when she saw Rick. This was bonkers. They had known for a couple of days and she was already bailing him out of trouble. She went inside with confidence because the plan had formed in her mind soon as he was taken in.
She waited by the entrence for a familiar face. Thankfully, she had her connections.
"Michonne Anthony," The much older man approached her with his hand out, "I didn't know you were in town. What can I do for you?"
"Sheriff," She shook his hand and smiled brightly, "I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't urgent."
"You helped my daughter and grandson. I told you I'm always on your side, whatever you need," he squeezed her hand and grinned, "As long as you didn't kill anybody. I think I can help you."
Michonnes smile faded, she sighed and told him bluntly, "My friend got into an altercation and I need to get him out without the paper work. There can't be anything traced back to him. No charges, no police report, no investigation."
The sheriff of Clark County, Paul Vasquez, was a very good man, but he was also very passionate over his job, "That's a hard one. What did he do?"
"Broke somebodys nose and a bit more." She felt a bit hesitant as she explained the situation.
"Assault and battery?" He chuckled, "A woman of your caliber could find some better company."
"He is a friend," Michonne reminded him, not wanting to give out the wrong impression, "closer to a acquaintance than a friend, but he was defending me so I feel responsible."
"Sure," He nodded nonchalantly," Well you know how it works. Whoever it is who has that broken nose is holding the power. If he decided to report it, I would imagine he did, there is no way to erase anything. He drew blood and broke bones, prosecuter always charges after that kind of damage. Tell your friend that next time he walks away."
"He is one of you," She said quickly as she felt like she was losing the battle, "He is a sheriff. Rick Grimes, works in King County. Check his credentials. He could lose his job and the income for his family if you decide to charge him. He had a bad fight with a fellow officer years ago. He found out that his coworker had been having an affair with his wife. Other than that he has been excellent at his job."
He sighed. Michonne knew he would be more sympathetic towards a fellow work colleague, "He has a bad temper then, maybe that's something he should work on."
"I'll vouch for him personally," She insisted, trying sway his decision, "You know me. I wouldn't go through the trouble if it wasn't the right thing to do."
"You want me to make this go away?"
"I do," She was not giving in, "He did the wrong thing, but we both know sometimes even the good guys make mistakes. Sometimes papers get lost and things disappear, we both know that."
He narrowed his eyes, "Miss Anthony, you know I have a great deal of respect for you, but you are asking for me to interfere in matters that are impossible."
"Nothing is impossible sir," She reminded him, "I got your daughter full custody when the only proof she had on her ex husband was a text message. Everybody else turned you down. I believed you and your daughter when you told me he abused her for all of their relationship and I got the job done."
He stared at her and she felt uncertain. She knew she was asking this man to look the other way. She wasn't proud of using his own flesh and blood as leverage to sway his decision, but she knew she needed to get this done in a way that protected Rick.
"I can't do anything about the person who will report him, but I can make sure that his district or the prosecuter never finds out," He finally said and lowered his voice, "I know you wouldn't ask me of this if it wasn't necessary. If you get him to cancel the police report then you're on the clear."
"I will deal with him." She assured him.
Lori stared at her phone. She had tried to think of ways to end her communication with Shane. She was afraid of letting go again. Cold sweat took over her body and she had to sit down again.
"Mom," Carl stood in their bedroom doorframe, "Can we talk?"
She was startled to see him, "You should be at school."
He stepped inside and swallowed nervously, "I know about Shane. I heard you and Lucille."
Her eyes widened in shock, she was like a deer in headlights, "What?"
He sat down next to her on his parents bed, "Why did you lie about not knowing where he was?"
She felt ashamed because she didn't have an answer for that. Lori never wanted him to get hurt or be in the middle of this.
"Did Judith-"
"No, she didn't hear," He would never want his little sister to be in the middle of this drama, "Answer me!"
"Carl," She almost whispered his name, "it was complicated. I promised your dad that I would never talk to him again, but after he was shot I felt like I needed a friend."
"Why doesn't dad want you to talk to him?"
The innocent question broke her heart.
She turned towards him, and brushed his long hair behind his ear, "Carl. It has been years and we've all moved on."
Carl narrowed his eyes at her, his eyes mirrored his fathers gaze, "Clearly you haven't, if you still talk to him."
Lori understood his point. She didn't know how to even talk about this with him. He wasn't supposed to know, "I never wanted you to know because I knew it would hurt you. I wouldn't have lied if it wasn't for your own good. I know it's hard to swallow, but it wasn't like I made an effort to cover anything up."
"You should have told me! I deserved to know!" He snapped as he stood up, "Did you cheat on dad?"
Lori looked at him with tears in her eyes, "No, not like that."
"But you are still lying to him!" He yelled at her.
"Because sometimes it's not that black and white Carl!" She raised her voice back at him, "I've known Shane for almost all my life. He is very important to me and sometimes dad doesn't listen when he should. Sometimes I need a friend who will listen. It's nothing else!"
Carl looked at his mom with confusion, the burst of emotion was unexpected from her. He did understand in a way. He knew when he was little, there were many years that she was absolutely miserable and lonely. Shane spent a lot of time with their family and it was not a surprise that his mom felt close to him.
"Mom," He said softly and looked at her with sympathy, "I'm not judging you and Shane for being friends. I don't know what happened years ago, but it's even worse to lie to him now. He deserves to know because we are his family and he trusts us."
"Baby it's not that easy," Lori managed to mumble, "You know your dad. You think he would forgive me? He doesn't understand."
"Then why are you even with him?"
The question stopped her dead in her tracks.
Carl continued, "Why are you playing house with dad if you're so miserable? you can't even tell him honestly what's going on in your life."
Lori kept staring at her eldest child. She hadn't realized how grown he was before this moment. It caught her offguard.
"I love your dad," She said with a very serious tone, "We have built everything together, this family is everything to us and I'd give up anything if it meant keeping us together."
His son took a deep exasperated breath, he was frustrated that his point didn't seem to get through to her, "Then you need to tell him the truth."
"I'm not going to talk to Shane anymore," She insisted, "There is nothing to tell."
"Mom," Carl groaned, "Either you tell him when we get to Las Vegas or I will."
"You know he won't forgive me." She whispered to his son who stood across from her.
He felt guilty. His mom really was acting like she was the one who was wronged and maybe in her world she was the one who had the biggest wounds, but Carl knew what was the right path.
"You thought about telling him yourself, I heard you last night," He reminded her, "So you know what you have to do."
She stared at her phone and gathered her thoughts, "You're right. I will talk to him, I promise."
Carl nodded, hoping that his parents could face the music and come out of this happy. Together or separate, but most importantly happy.
Rick stared at the ceiling inside his holding cell. Thankfully he was alone. Soon as they booked him and discovered he was a fellow police officer, they put him alone. He looked at his hands that shook from the adrenaline. His right knuckles were tinted red from the blood. He didn't know what happened. He lost control, again.
He felt like his actions were justified. He didn't regret standing up for her. He would have done the same thing for any other woman, or that was what he wanted to tell himself. He wasn't sure if he was buying it even himself.
Rick leaned against the bars on his cell and tried not to think about the repercussions from this. It could spiral into something that affected his job.
"Rick Grimes." A man approached. He stopped in front of him, only the cell separating the two.
"Yes?" Was the only thing he could muster out. He knew they would probably keep him there for the day. He knew how these things went.
The man said nothing at first and then opened his cell door, "You don't need to be cuffed do you?"
"No, sir." He tried to keep it polite as possible.
"Follow me." He instructed and walked ahead.
Rick was perplexed, but decided to follow him and keep calm. His hand hurt now, he felt slightly embarrassed that a fellow colleague had to witness his bloody hand.
The man led him into the hallway and then they stopped behind a room that Rick immidately knew to be a interrogation room. Shit, he thought. He really didn't need this to turn into a proper investigation.
He felt defeated, but then they stepped inside and all those worries melted away.
Michonne stood there, hands crossed and a proud smirk on her face, "I heard you got into trouble."
Rick looked at Michonne and then back at the man who had brought him there.
"Sheriff Paul Vasquez," The older man introduced himself and held out his hand, "You should head to the Casinos because it's your lucky day."
"Rick Grimes," Rick said as he shook the mans hand, still wondering what was happening, "I'm sorry what's going on?"
The other sheriff picked up a file from the table and handed it to him, "You are free to go."
Rick felt a little dumb, but he had to repeat himself, "What?"
"This never happened." Michonne said this time.
"You seem to know the right people," Vasquez explained to him and looked at Michonne, "I owe Miss Anthony a favor and well, this time I can look the other way. No reports, no papers on the prosecutors desk. You can thank her for saving your ass."
He didn't know what to say, he was left speechless because the whole thing was hard to believe.
"Listen," The older man continued with a serious look on his face, "I never want to see you here again if it isn't work related. You're in my home town and I expect you to have the same respect for me as I would for you. Stop acting like an damn animal and get your shit together."
Michonne hid her grin as she looked at her heels while the man was scolding Rick.
"You have my word." He promised him.
The sheriff looked at Michonne before heading out of the door, "Miss Anthony, always a pleasure."
She gave him a knowing look, "Thank you."
Rick looked at his bloody hand and then at her as she tossed her blazer on the backseat of her car.
The sun was going down as they were ready to make their exit from the parking lot.
"I don't know what to say." Rick admitted to her.
Michonne didn't want to dwell on the whole mess, she simply chuckled, "Did you go to anger management the last time this happened with your friend?"
"I did," He answered simply, "They made me."
"Yeah, well you need to ask for a refund." She smirked from the other side of the car.
"How did you even do it?" He took a step towards her, "I know how the process goes. The Sheriff has no say if somebody files a report."
She shrugged, "Well he didn't file a report."
He looked at her, squinting his eyes in a way that was signature for him, "What did you do?"
She sighed, "It was no big deal."
"Tell me." He insisted.
"I got his name and found out he was divorced," She explained very casually, "I told him I would call his ex wife and represent her in court. I would annihilate him and he would have to pay double in child support."
His jaw almost dropped. She was something else.
"I knew this was the type of pig who would rather die than give his ex more money. So he pulled back the report and apologized."
"You're insane." Rick laughed.
"Insanely good you mean."
He kept staring at her in a way that made her flustered. There were moments between them that made her knees weak, and she hated to admit that to herself.
"No way!" A deep voice came from behind them, "Michonne?"
Rick watched by as she turned to look at the man. She immediately seemed to recognize him. She was smiling wide, not covering up her delight of seeing this stranger.
"I can't believe it!" He ran up to her and the man hugged her tightly, "It's been ages!"
Rick kept staring at him. He looked like he walked out of a Calvin Klein billboard. His head was shaved, but he sported a very immaculate stubble. He was of course built like a greek god under his expensive suit and had darker skin. His eyes were strikingly green. This dude was basically sex on legs.
"I didn't realize you moved here, "Michonne smiled at him, her eyes twinkling, "I would have called if I knew."
"Well now you know." He smiled back at her.
Rick's eyes went from her to him and then back. Why was this turning into a moment and why was she so glued to his eyes.
He scoffed to break the moment.
"Sorry," Michonne looked at Rick and introduced the stranger, "This is Marcus. He is my friend from back in the day."
They quickly shook hands.
"Yeah, we used to live in the same apartment building when we both lived in New York. She was studying law and I was figuring out what I wanted," Marcus flashed his million dollar smile at her, "I can't believe it, what are the odds of us seeing each other here!"
"Yeah what are the odds." Rick didn't mean to sound bitter, but it came out exactly like that.
"Oh and this is Sheriff Rick Grimes." Michonne introduced him on his behalf when she noticed his sour attitude. She just hoped he didn't start swinging his fists around this time.
Rick noticed that she introduced him with his work title and it annoyed him deeply.
"You two here on work," Marcus asked as he looked at them, "Or pleasure?"
She laughed and patted Ricks arm awkwardly, "He is... a friend. It's very hard to explain."
The man wasn't shaken by the cryptic answer, "You can explain when I take you out."
Rick looked at her and wondered if she thought Marcus was arrogant. He certainly thought so.
But to his disappointment she just kept smiling from ear to ear and looking at him with admiration, "So, what are you doing here?"
He lifted his suit jacket and showed them his badge that hang on his waist, "Homicide."
Rick didn't know what to think. Obviously the universe had to mock him and he also had to be a cop. He was so done with this encounter.
"That's impressive." Michonne was still smiling at him.
"So how's Mike?" he asked curiously, clearly testing the waters.
"He is being Mike." She dodged his question with talent.
Thankfully his phone buzzed, "Listen I got to go," He tucked his phone away, "I'll message you, but I hope I can take you out to dinner tomorrow."
"Sure why not," She nodded and quickly glanced at Rick, "I have nothing better to do."
Marcus hugged her once more before leaving out of their sight.
They didn't say a word when they climbed into her car. He wanted to pretend that these last few days didn't happen. He quickly glanced at her and realized he played with fire every single time he looked at her. He felt pathetic.
"Your wife is going to be thrilled with the black eye and bruised knuckles," She tried to lighten the mood, "Those will look nice in the pictures."
He looked ar her and she smiled back. That smile. There it was again, threatening to take away every single bit of sanity he had left. He looked at his hand. It was starting to ache more. Too bad it was the least of his problems.
Something had shifted between them. It felt like neither knew what to say. Maybe they both knew they were at a crossroads. This could go two ways.
She suggested that she would clean his hand before he returned to his friends. It seemed like a good idea since he had disappeared again for multiple hours. He did text them, but he lied about where he was. He didn't need anymore opinions from others.
She was talking, but he didn't register what she was saying as she looked for the emergency kit in her hotel room.
He just stood there awkwardly.
"Found it," She had the kit in her hand as she came from the bathroom, "Sit down."
Her room was smaller, but still spacious. He sat on the lounge chair that was in front of the window. She poured him a glass of water and set it on the small table next to his chair. She sat down across from him and pushed her chair closer to him. Michonne didn't give him a chance to protest as she pulled his injured hand on her lap and started to clean it.
"This is not gonna feel nice." She warned him as she took out the other wet towel she was using to scrub away all the dried blood.
He was still quiet which made her incredibly frustrated.
"Are you seriously giving me the silent treatment?" She asked, eyeing him.
"What do you want me to say?" He finally muttered out, "I ain't exactly jumping from joy because I've had a shitty day."
"I should be the one who is pissed off," She exclaimed, "You did this to yourself! I was not some damsel in distress. I could have handled it on my own, but you just had to fuck everything up and act like a dickhead."
"Oh, of course it was my fault," He hissed back as she kept cleaning his injured hand with the towel, "I should have just watched by as this asshole berated you!"
"I don't care if someone calls me a bitch!" She never broke eyecontact, "I deal with men like him daily! It wasn't your place to get involved!"
"Fine, next time I'm not helping you!"
"Fine!" She roared back and tossed the towel at him as she got up, "You should go!"
"Sure," Rick muttered out as he headed towards her door, "I won't bother you, run along to your date or wherever."
Michonne couldn't believe him, "Excuse me!"
All of the feelings he had been feeling lately had formed a confusing mess that made no sense to him. His behavior was irrational and he knew it.
She was not going to take it. The nerve this man had. She crossed the room to him, "Who are you to even say anything about who I date? What are you even saying?"
It drove her crazy that he didn't have any answers or words when she demanded them. He didn't make any sense whatsoever.
"How dare you!" her eyes narrowed at him, "After what I did for you today!"
He just stared. The tension was killing her. Michonne felt that they had made an silent agreement between them, but it seemed like he couldn't keep his end of the deal. She refused to give into this itch when life was already complicated.
"What is this?" He whispered as he took a daring step towards her, his nose inches away from hers.
He could see her body stiffen, she was angry and he knew why. This, whatever, it was that was between them was never supposed to be talked about. He couldn't help himself. The craving blurred everything. He knew, he fucking knew how bad it was and still, here he was doing it.
She didn't have chance to say anything when he put his rugged hands on her bare shoulders. His fingernails dig into her dark skin as he tightened his hold on her. Shock didn't take over her features like he thought it would, it was like she had expected him to grab her.
He moved his right hand on the side of neck and felt her swallow. She didn't even flinch. He hoped that she would have been revolted by his touch, but she held her gaze on him. She was warm, so soft to the touch.
"Rick? " She whispered.
She said his name with doubt, it was an question about what he was doing, but he didn't know what to answer because he didn't know what he was doing.
He moved his fingers in circles around her neck and then abruptly let go of her. This was not how he wanted their story to end. It took everything from him not to kiss her. He knew if he crossed a line, it would be the end of it and he would never see her again.
"Thank you." He said suddenly.
"For w-what?" Michonne stuttered out and searched his face for answers.
Rick walked towards the door and then turned, a smile on his face, "For being a friend."