The oak tree at the side of the Grimes house wasn't quite large enough to conceal both Rick and Rosita's figures, even under the darkening Virginia sky.

"You told me to be natural and bold." Rosita said in a hushed tone.

"You were just going to yell out 'put a ring on it' and that was it? That was your 'plan of action'?'"

"That's me at my most myself. What else did your want me to say?"

Rick shook his head. "If you want to shadow what I do around here, you need to see that I, one, make sure there's a follow through, and two, if Michonne doesn't like it, we don't do—"

"--Wait," Rosita stopped him. "I just realized. This isn't the first time you tried to propose, is it? If it was the first time, it would just be between you two, and you'd get down on one knee. You're a square like that."

Rick cocked his head to the side.

"What? Being cheesy is probably why she loves you so much. The thing is, she was an attorney in metro Atlanta before all this. I could see how being called a 'wife' by the cute corny county sheriff wasn't exactly on her life's Bingo card."

Rick grabbed a piece of paper out of his breast pocket. "I'm about to end this conversation right now, so last chance to get in any more insults you have about me. Am I wearing a 'kick me like Eugene' sign? At least he came prepared."

Rosita shrugged. "I wasn't insulting! I said you were cute. And I only told Aaron."

Rick nodded. "For some reason Negan knows, I think he must have heard us through the window in his cell. Here," he handed her the memo. "I want you to gather these things tonight and meet me here at 7 AM tomorrow."

Michonne, still in her white sundress, put Judith to bed. She popped open two beer bottles she grabbed while leaving the dinner party and flopped on the couch. She watched darkness wash over in the windows surrounding her.

She took a sip, embracing the citrus notes while trying to ignore the slight staleness of the IPA. Beer was of no interest in her past life, but it transformed to an adjusted taste in her current one.

Her body seemingly sunk into the couch, Rosita's outburst at the dinner table stuck with her. Not the sex tape bit, though that was a strange admission, but the "put a ring on it" part. Now that everyone was living in a post Negan ruling Saviors society people have the time to get back into personal affairs and gossip. She could see where a normal person would think "these two people need to make another commitment to each other" but simply put, it wasn't her style.

She scanned the windows again and noticed Ricks figure with a woman by the oak tree. Wait, was that Rosita? They seem to be arguing. Michonne blew a raspberry in realization.

A set up. A poorly executed one, at that.

"Hmmm, interesting." Michonne took another swig and recalled the first time Rick proposed, their second ever night intimately together. He was a fine looking man doing practically anything anyway, but his vulnerability and eagerness that one time added to the heady elixir of love. If she didn't confess about Andre, maybe, in her fog of lust, she would have said yes if he wore her down enough. But when Negan and the Saviors reared their ugly and territorial heads soon after, the thoughts of entertaining a proposal fizzled.

It was that this moment that Rick came in. Upon seeing Michonne he stared, took an extra moment to shut the door.

"I just realized where I've seen that dress. You look just like a vision I had once." He was still standing at the entryway, seemingly afraid to move.

"Good one or bad?"

"The vision was good, everything else around it was terrible." He walked over to the couch. "Glad that's over. You ready for Maggie's visit tomorrow?"

Michonne chuckled. "Negan isn't." Then her eyes turned serious. "You want to talk to me about the dinner party?"

Her beautiful big brown eyes expressing concern. Rick had seen it a lot less since the Saviors were defeated, but he knew it all the same.

Rick gulped down half of his beer. He knew it was too late to deny involvement. "Well, I was thinking, what if us getting married would be a good event for everyone? It's a happy occasion, it can bring down some of the tension within the other communities."

Michonne wanted to laugh. Damn, hes playing the 'bring everyone together' angle, he knows me so well. "Are you talking about a festival, a party, or a wedding? The first two I would understand. If you want a big wedding, I think that would serve us more than the other settlements. Also I would have some demands."

Ricks baby blues grew wide. "Are you saying 'yes'?"

Michonne shook her head. "No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that if I agree to a wedding, I have items that are non negotiable." She gave a little laugh in a foreboding cadence that meant that she was about to metaphorically pitch a fastball that may or may not hit his head.

"Like what?" Rick said gingerly.

"First, Jesus needs to be a major part in our ceremony. Its predestined. Our first conjugation was witnessed in His eyes."

Rick took a sip of beer that was rapidly decreasing volume. "Sure. You're not religious like that, I thought. I mean Gabriel is a part of the wedding anyway—"

"No, I mean our buddy from Hilltop. I want him to be our usher at least."

Rick cleared his throat, already uneasy. "Oh, right. It's something to consider. What are your other demands?"

"No offense to Eugene, but if he thinks we aren't going to ask Ezekiel to MC the reception, he can go back to living with the Saviors, I'm sure they'd love to see him again."

Rick scoffed and smiled at the realization that Michonne was a little genuinely thoughtful about this. "That seems reasonable."

Michonne smiled back at him, clinking her bottle with Ricks as they finished their beverages up. "Good. Embrace this feeling. Because you are going to think I'm being facetious with my last request. I want Anne slash Jadis tied to a chair and watch us have sex."

Rick did a spit take with the rest of his beer.

Michonne gazed as he collected himself. "It's a power move. You know I'm not a huge fan of those unless it's absolutely necessary, which in this case it is." She ran back and forth with a kitchen towel.

"Mich, I think she's with Gabriel." He began to clean up his astonishment.

She laughed. "I don't know if she's a monogamous person, but that's not what I meant. She's aware of the influence of being a leader. There's just something about her that has me thinking that she's up to no good. If we have her watch us have sex, it will show her that you are an unstoppable force in all areas, so she shouldn't fuck with us. And if its on wedding night, that will show her what a powerful union we have."

"Unstoppable force? In the bedroom?" Rick cocked his eyebrow, his lips forming a half smile upon realizing that Michonne was complimenting his sexual prowess. "I'm flattered, but I don't know if I can perform like that with her as a witness."

Michonne reached for Ricks face, gave him a simple peck on the lips. "I don't know if a wedding is right for us, then." She poised herself for a bigger kiss, but Rick begrudgingly, reluctantly, pulled away.

"I want to call you my wife."

Michonne shook her head at his sudden attempt at possessing her. "Why?"

"Because I love you, honor you, definitely obey you, and obviously you're family. You're my family, and Judith's family. If I call you my wife, and it's written down somewhere in the Alexandria record books, then the next world will know it too. I know it's a little old hat, but it's just a part of who I am."

"I don't want to be known as that. I'm my own person."

"Mich, everyone knows who you are."

She shook her head. "Not the Saviors. They think I'm Rick Grimes gal pal."

Rick held her hands. "They'll know you soon enough, believe me."

"I'm sorry, Rick, I just don't see marriage as important as other things going on. We know who we are to each other, what's the point of some record that could honestly be trashed at any moment?"

Her feelings on the matter were something Rick already knew, but it hurt him all the same. "It's important to me." He slowly let go of Michonne, running his fingers through his scalp. "You know, I've been thinking about a haircut."

Michonne's eyes grew. "Really? Maybe a trim."

He shook his head. "Its about to get really hot out and I'm tired of my hair hanging on my neck. Besides, I'm my own person."

She was so stunned that she started laughing. "Wow, so you are petty." She lunged forward, her chest pressing against his. "What can I do to convince you to reconsider?" Her fingers found their way into his curls.

Rick couldn't help but smile. "This is a start."

Michonne kissed him slowly, softly, coaxing him back into intimacy. "Also, we never christened the couch."

Rick felt his face heat up. "You really don't want me to have a haircut, huh?"

She ignored his question by using her other hand to travel up his firm denim clad thighs. "Let's think about it. Daryl's at the Sanctuary. Carol's gone."

Rick raised an eyebrow. "Judith?"

"Upstairs. Probably even better if we do it here, don't want to disturb her."

He closed his eyelids, leaning into Michonne's massaging talents. "Damn, you're irresistible."

Their mouths met, tongues battling for domination. Michonne lightly bit Ricks bottom lip, and in response he pressed his burgeoning growth onto her thigh and flicked off one strap of her halter dress, exposing one of her full breasts.

Michonne released him, trembling as his beautiful mouth and bristling beard landed on her neck. "Make me play with your hair," she whispered.

The other halter strap slipped off.

"I knew you weren't wearing a bra." He slipped his way to kneel off the couch, cupping and capturing her breasts before his hands made quick work of lifting up just the skirt of her dress to look at her full coverage underwear, brown colored with white flowers, with a wet spot in the shape of her aching womanhood.

Michonne, not able to completely see due to the fullness of her dress, was tickled at the realization that Rick had never seen her wear such unsexy drabness since her constable uniform. "My granny panties. I didn't want to show my ass off in the sunlight wearing a white dress." She chuckled.

Rick knew that those tight little pants his…girlfriend?…wears accompany equally snug and brightly colored underwear. He also didn't give a fuck about the old-fashioned garb that was between him and what he lusted for. "I understand. And I also would understand if you did want to show that ass off." He hooked his thumbs around the side bands, taking them off, his palms skimming down her delicious looking legs along the way.

Michonne tingled at the sensation and her rare ping of surface insecurity fizzled as Rick stared at her feminine glory, then moving his eyes up to gaze at the dark beauty that was before him. He caressed what plump ass he could grab by her sitting down. "You're beautiful. Come here." With confident hands he guided Michonne to sit almost on the edge of the couch, then bunched up the fabric of her dress by having her sit on it.

A fingertip grazed against where her inner thigh met her pubis, causing Michonne to suck in her breath. "I always imagined this as your wedding dress."

"There's another one that could work, its in the back of the closet." Michonne stunned herself with her admission.

Rick smiled and looked up at her face. He wasn't going to take advantage of his lady while she was literally in a vulnerable position. "Just play with my hair."

Michonne followed his order. She combed with her fingers as his tongue pressed against her. She let out breathy curse words and wrapped his curls around as he grunted, appreciating her taste as his lips gently sucked on her clit. Her thighs jiggled around his ears and she patted his head while he slowly took two fingers into her entrance, her body making slick and obscene sounds as she was so close. As she rode the ultimate wave of heated pleasure, she tugged at his hair, losing all other control in her body.

When she used her feet to push Rick away, giggling, Michonne stood up and let the dress slip entirely off of her. Rick sat back on the floor, at once admiring the head to toe glistening badass before him while also wondering when did he have time to loosen his belt and unzip his pants, his raging hard on out in the open.

She grinned at him, her chest rising and falling. Then she spun around and braced her knees on the couch cushions, on all fours, all of her splendid backside in his eyesight.

Rick almost gasped from the vision before him. He took off his clothes and grabbed her hips after his rough hands caressed her smooth glorious ass. He slowly entered Michonne, both of them gasping, marveling, him at how wet she was, her at how his hardness filled the aching need inside of her. She pushed herself into him, her hair bouncing off her upper back. He thrusted teasingly slow at first, then gradually sped up in an out of control pace until it was too much. He spilled his hot white seed into his palm.

"You didn't get any on my locs, did you?" Michonne asked, breathless and giggling.


They moved to the bedroom soon after, Michonne enjoying being in Ricks arms, his beard nuzzling against her shoulder and neck.

Got him to do it in a position we don't do a lot. It's gonna be enough to make him forget about his silly little haircut. She smiled, the thought bringing her to a comforting sleep.