Chapter 1-Lost of Time
It was a little after 5 p.m. when Rick pulled up to Michonne's Villa. Rick didn't get out of his Ford F-150 immediately but instead sat in silence for a while after breathing out a lengthy sigh and driving his hand through his curly, dark brown hair. The sun was beginning to go down, and the sunsets where she and their boys lived were always beautiful. He took it all in as he gathered his words, not wanting to start another fight.
Three weeks. It had been almost three weeks since he saw the three of them, and it wasn't something he was happy or comfortable with, but he knew that his time away from them was best, for her sake. He knew that Michonne was doing what she thought was best for everyone and that he was at fault for most of the mess they were in, and he wanted to fix it.
Chonne, however, never blamed him; in fact, she was always so understanding, so patient, and so calm that he didn't know how to deal with it. When you're the problem and the person you're affecting is that much of a saint, it's a hard fucking pill to swallow.
'It's funny how life works. Lori used to start fights just to get a rise out of me, and I never let her get that reaction that she had so desperately craved and begged for except for one single time. She had finally broken me with her betrayal. It hurt and shook me to my core. Lori and I were already in a bad place for a long time before that, but, it didn't matter. I had no intention of quitting my marriage for the sake of our two children, and when I found out she had broken our vows, I wanted to kill her, but, again for the sake of the children, I still played the part of a doting husband and loving father. But two years after that, I found out that our daughter may not even be mine.
She had lied to my face about how long the affair had been and that she had been sleeping with my best friend, Shane. At that point, I just felt empty. I soon informed our management at the sheriff's office, who happened to be an old friend of my father, so they could transfer either Shane or myself. He was the one chosen, and since then I have done my absolute best to never see Shane. I told Lori that if our daughter Judith was mine, I would try to make it work for the kids, even though I could barely look her in the face. Very few people knew what was going on with my family, as I had only told my parents, my older brother Jeff, my maternal uncle Hershal, and my other best friend Daryl. Usually, he could talk to either Hershal or Daryl, but he just felt so lost, so hollow. It was during that awful time he met his Chonne.
A one-time thing, that's all that was supposed to be. That's all he wanted it to be. He remembered the both of them standing at the pier, her starting the conversation, her big bright smile that caught him off guard, and her big, bright, dark brown eyes that pierced through him and made his heart flutter like some school girl. Rick didn't like it. He didn't like it, not one bit. He had always been in control of his emotions, and here stood some young woman, what? Twenty-four!? Twenty-five!? Making him a grown 32-year-old man, feel this way. He didn't like it, and yet she had this aura that just put you at ease. When he opened his mouth to speak to her, he remembered that his voice was so gentle, it scared him. He didn't realise then, but he was already gone. In all actuality, they shouldn't have been able to work. He and Michonne were worlds apart.
He was a country boy who grew up on a farm in the small town of King County, Georgia. She was a city girl who was a debutante and went to boarding school. Hell, even now, Rick was just a sergeant in a sheriff's office while she was a young, beautiful, and very capable attorney. Her father is a high court judge, while her mother is an heiress. My father was the former sheriff, and my mother was a teacher. He respected both his parents and their jobs, and in all honesty, his father was the reason he chose law enforcement in the first place, but he would be a fool if he didn't understand the gap between them. It also didn't help that her father hated him, and he had every right. Rick was a mess. Before he and Michonne met, Rick was trying to make his marriage work, and though he was emotionally checked out after he met Michonne, he still stayed with Lori again for his kids.
He tried to get the DNA test done, but Lori would push it back and delay it over and over again. Only eight months into his relationship with the woman he knew was his soulmate did his Chonne get pregnant. He didn't know how to tell his other two children about the situation without them seeing their parents' flaws, and he wanted to shield them as much as possible. He also didn't tell Lori. The less she knew, the better. Rick, however, knew that his marriage could not continue, but first he wanted to know the truth about his daughter. Life was nonetheless unpredictable and cruel. Three months later, Rick would get shot twice in the line of duty and spend almost six months in a coma, missing the birth of his twin boys, André and Rj. It was throughout this difficult chapter that Lori found out about his Chonne and all hell broke loose.
...
It was starting to get dark when Rick finally stopped reminiscing. He got out of the car and once more breathed out a lengthy sigh and drove his hand through his curly dark brown hair, and for the first time that evening, he spoke "I miss them. I wanna see 'em.".
He typed in the code and put in his fingerprint before entering the door after passing the gorgeous flower garden filled with Michonne's favourite, white camellias, at the front. As he walked towards the living room, he saw her she was on the phone, probably talking to her cousin Sasha, while looking at the twins playing with their toys on the floor.
Michonne whispered into the phone, then brought it to her chest and turned to look at him with her blinding smile. "Why did you take so long to come in?" her head slanting to the side, asking him playfully with her big, brown eyes flashing at him.
"Hey"
"Hey"
"I missed you guys," he said ever so gently, making his way over to his boys.
"We miss you too. You haven't answered my question yet, Grimes."
Rick sat on the floor behind the twins. "Just gathering my thoughts." Having finally answered her inquiry, he met her gaze.
Michonne spoke into her phone one last time before hanging up for good. All the while, her eyes never dared to leave him. The couple kept their sight glued to the other. The boys were in their own little world before his eldest son, Andre, eventually felt his father's presence. The toddler turned around to see it was his father, and a cheerful look climbed quickly to his face.
The jolly child mustered all the strength in his little legs and dashed into Rick's arms.
"Daddy!" His yelling not hiding his excitement, and André rubbed his face into his father's neck.
RJ finally raised his head and soon followed.
...
Michonne got up to finish her call with Sasha, leaving her three favourite people in the living room full of laughter. After half an hour on the phone with her cousin, she went to the kitchen to prepare something for Rick. She knew that after tiring the boys out, he would give them a bath and put them to bed. By then, he would have worked up an appetite. In record time, he entered, cuddling her from behind, laying down sweet little kisses on her neck as she giggled. She should have been used to this by now.
She placed his Chicken Alfredo on the dining table before he sat down and dug in. He always said her food went her ass, but she didn't know where his food went. Is it that smart mouth full of Southern charm, maybe? She enjoyed watching him eat, and she wanted to make sure he was full before inexplicably ruining his night with what she was going to tell him.
It did not matter how much she and Rick loved each other, the fact that they had children, or even if he hated Lori. The ugly and undeniable truth was that she was technically a mistress, even if he hated to hear it. Even if he'd never seen her that way. When he was fighting for his life in the hospital and later stuck in that coma, it hit her square in the face that she was not his wife. It was Lori, plain and simple. Lori had already suspected Rick, and when I showed up at the hospital crying and almost six months pregnant, it was obvious.
She did her best to make sure I couldn't see him, and if not for his parents, I wouldn't have. She harassed and berated me almost during my entire remaining pregnancy. Regardless of what was wrong with her and Rick, she was indeed the third party, so I couldn't blame her, but I wasn't gonna put up with the stress either, so I put my practice on hold and stayed with my parents in New York away from the drama. I gave birth there, and his mom even came to see the boys for a few days. Rick woke up a little under two months later. And though it was a happy thing, he still had a lot of work to do to get back to normal, divorce and paternity woes aside.
Michonne was in no way a victim in this situation, even if her beloved saw it so. Not her, not Rick, and not Lori. They slept together the night they met, and he told her everything after. She chose to love and be with him regardless. The actual victims were Rick's son Carl, his daughter in question, and my two boys. They were the ones getting the short end of the stick.
Now that he is in a better place physically and mentally, Rick started from where he left off. But. The divorce was nothing short of tumultuous. Both sides took offence, leaving the battlefield bloody. She didn't want her boys involved with this shitshow as much as possible, and her old man even more so.
Her Father, Reynard Augustus Hawthorne, was a prideful, upright, and powerful man. He was the one who shaped her mind, whether it was how hard she worked or how she carried herself; he was her teacher, the person she looked up to the most. Her mother doted on her and tried to spoil her every chance she got. At the same time, her old man always said that he and her mother were rich, but she wasn't. Just like him, she had to work twice as hard as he did to reach where he was in life. People respected his name not because of who he married, what he looked like, or whatever preconceived notions they may have. When they heard his name, it meant something. It had all he did behind it. It didn't matter if they hated him; his name meant something. Unlike my mother, my father didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He got where he was on his merit. So for a man like that, imagine his disappointment.
He blamed me for being naive, for putting myself in this arduous predicament. He still loves me despite his tough love, though. She understood that better than anyone else ever could, even her mother, and pushing aside his feelings for Rick, he adored his grandchildren. Which is why he'd started pushing for me and my boys to move permanently to New York with him and my mom. This was the last form of contention between the man she loved and the father she respected. Rick tried his best to respect her father, but when her dad actively wanted to separate the two, he just was not having it. He had lost time with them during and after he got shot, and he was actively trying to get everything to fall into place. She tried to reassure him that she was still with him, but she could see him unraveling, which broke her heart. Dad, on the other hand, did not care. He knew the ins and outs of the situation since, other than Rick, she told her mommy everything, and her mommy always told her dad. He may have shown his tough love, but he was also very protective of her, his only daughter, his little girl.
"Penny for your thoughts?" the low southern voice asked.
Michonne broke out of her mind to see those hauntingly beautiful blue eyes staring at her with a confused look on his face, searching hers for answers. His plate and glass lay clean.
"What's wrong?" His head perked up. "Did something happen?"
She kept her face pleasantly neutral and calmed her voice, as she usually did when attempting to deal with a difficult situation or awkward situation.
"Lori called me today."
