A/N: Thank y'all so much for the reception and the feedback! I'm trying to incorporate that as I write my first, well, book really *excited squeal* The power of Richonne is unyielding and the fandom feels it even more now! I hope you enjoy this chapter

~ Kivonshe

RICK

Never did Rick imagine Michonne making such a big decision without him...

Amethyst strained her ears listening to the Grimes's argue about her staying at the Commonwealth. No, not just the Commonwealth, but in the home with them. Her brother was saying something to her in the background but her eyes were laser focused on the body language of the man of the house, the man of the Commonwealth: the famous Rick Grimes. He was upset and rightfully so. She watched as he aggressively grabbed the bridge of his nose and scratched at his right brow. Michonne's face showed a sign of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel.

Amethyst didn't hold her breath. Kindness wasn't a virtue before the apocalypse and it definitely wasn't after the apocalypse. Lost in thoughts from before, Amethyst was startled when striking cerulean blue eyes pierced her from the other room. Shit! They both walked towards her in the great room, faces of stone. She couldn't read them. Amethyst mentally and emotionally prepared to be on the road again. "Here we go" she whispered under her breath. Rick's gravelly voice broke through the noise of her own thoughts.

"Sit" he commanded.

*

Earlier...

"Hey baby, you ready to take us home?" Michonne cooed. Two days passed and it was time for her and baby Mj to go home. Michonne and the baby were healthy with no signs of lingering issues from the emergency C-section.

Rick's smile spread broad across his face. Finally, he thought, I get to spoil yet another member of this family. His smile widened even more.

"What?" she asked bashfully.

"Nothin'." He couldn't contain his happiness. "It's just that...I didn't think I could be happier than when you first told me you were pregnant with our baby. Seeing Mj grow inside of you, feeling her kicks, singing to her doesn't amount to what I feel now just seeing her, seeing you with her, right now. I'm just...happy." He confessed.

Michonne beamed but then something shifted behind her eyes. Something was up.

"What's wrong?" He asked. She bit her lip, closing her eyes to gain composure. I'm not gonna survive six weeks, he thought as he looked to the sky to quell his growing erection.

"Sit down, baby." Michonne patted a space next to her on the hospital bed, carefully cradling a sleeping Mj.

She let out a long breath, looking at me with those beautiful doe eyes, making the expression she made when she wanted to disarm me before asking me for a favor or telling me bad news. Her brows weren't furrowed. No crease in her forehead. So it couldn't have been that bad.

"I spoke with Amethyst--."

"Amethyst?" Rick asked, cutting her off.

"Yes, the woman who also gave birth two days ago. I spoke with her. Rick" she paused, "her, her baby Ruby, and her brother Alexander have nowhere to go..." she trailed.

"And you want to have her stay here at the Commonwealth?" Rick smirked. He didn't understand what her concern would be. This was an easy decision. Michonne was a great judge of character. If she agreed, he agreed. Then why was the worry still behind her eyes. "It's fine, Chonne. I trust you. Hell, I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for your instincts, if it weren't for trusting you." He said placing a soft kiss on her lips.

A mistake.

Rick felt his cock jump. The added weight of pregnancy did something to him. He loved Michonne's lean body but something about her weight turned him on even more. The extra softness when he squeezed her ass. The fullness of her breasts. Even the extra fullness of her lips that he loved to kiss sent him over the edge. These changes, all things he'd missed with Rj that he made sure to focus on and admire during this pregnancy.

He'd made love to his wife for the duration of the pregnancy until it became uncomfortable for Michonne to do so. Their compromise was him pleasuring her with his hands and his mouth. He would dial it back, but only so much.

"What's wrong, Chonne?" He asked placing another kiss on her lips and a gentle kiss on the forehead to a sleeping Mj.

Michonne bit her lip again.

"Mama, if you keep biting your lip I can't promise that I'll follow the doctor's orders about the six week thang. What's wrong?" Rick rubbed his thumb along her cheek, willing her to speak. She hadn't looked like this since Judith and Rj asked to move out.

Judith and Rj decided they didn't want to sleep under the same roof anymore...

After Rick's return, they all slept together every night for two weeks. But Rick was desperate for alone time with his wife.

8 years.

At first they attempted to be quiet. Unfortunately, Rick was a loud groaner and Michonne had become quite vocal. It turned Rick on so much he stopped trying to quiet her musical screams.

One morning at breakfast, Judith looked pale. Sick. "What's wrong, Jude?" Rick asked. She bit her lip. She was just like her mama, making the same pensive look whenever she struggled to have a deep or difficult conversation.

"Can Rj and I...I think maybe we can build a small home for us in the backyard." She said. Rick sat back, a little hurt.

"After a few weeks of being back you don't wanna be around your dad?" Placing his hand on his heart, pretending to be hurt. "My heart! I can't take it" he joked. Judith wasn't amused.

Rj sat eating his breakfast, seemingly oblivious to the situation. A small clearing of his throat made Judith look at him quickly. But not quick enough for Rick not to notice.

"Here are the rest of the pancakes if you guys want seconds" Michonne stated in a sing-song voice, placing a kiss on Judith and Rj's foreheads before sharing a long drawn out kiss with her husband.

Michonne sat but immediately went into worry mode. "Judy, why do you look like that? Oh my God, did your...is it time?" Michonne wondered if Judith's period started. She looked so worried, making the same expressions Michonne made when in some form of crisis. She's so much like me, Michonne thought.

Michonne grabbed her hand, rubbing her thumb across Judith's knuckles to calm her. "It's ok baby, it's normal and you're at that age..."

"We heard you." Rj cut in, matter of factly. He didn't look up from eating. "Last night. And the night before. And the night bef--"

Judith cut in before she vomited at the table. "What Rj is trying to say is...we think you two need some alone time. Without us. In this house."

Michonne's eyes widened in horror as she clamped both her hands over her mouth. Rick roared with laughter.

"It's not funny" Michonne said, playfully hitting Rick on the chest. "I'm a horrible mother. Oh my God." She said covering her entire face with her hands.

"You're a great mom. And dad, we love having you back. I'm simply asking that maybe we build a little house of our own in the backyard. We'll still be here just not in...here."

Rick's laughter subsided as he responded, "let me and your mama talk it over. For now, finish your breakfast and get ready for school."

Rick chuckled at the memory but his playfulness and flirtation was beginning to subside with Michonne's growing silence.

"I told her she could stay with us..." Michonne's eyes searched his, silently begging him to understand why she would offer such a big gesture, but he didn't.

"You told her what?" Rick squinted.

Michonne knew what the squint meant. Her chest heaved up and down at a steady pace. She wasn't scared of his reaction, but he could tell she was taking measured breaths.

"There's something I need to tell you about her, but not here. I don't want anyone knowing. Can we go home and talk about it?" Michonne asked.

If it weren't for the good day Rick was having, he would've debated about it right here in this hospital room. But he missed Michonne in their home, in their bed. Home was the only thing on his mind.

"Okay." He groaned.

"Okay?" she grinned.

That smile.

"Okay, Chonne. Home." Just as Rick was helping her get up from the bed, Amethyst walked back into the room, shaking the curtain that separated their beds.

"Michonne, you decent?" She asked.

"Yes, come on over and meet Rick." Michonne responded.

Amethyst pulled back the curtain, Rick eyeing her suspiciously, fighting a squint and a head tilt that would alert her to his apprehension. For Michonne.

"Hi, I'm Rick Grimes." He reached out his hand.

After a moment and a short stare down, Amethyst looked at his hand and shook it. "I'm Amethyst. And this little one here is Ruby, Mj's twin sister, isn't that right Rubear?" Amethyst stated rubbing her nose against the cooing baby.

Rick looked at Michonne with questioning eyes. "Later" she mouthed.

"Michonne said it was ok for us to stay at your place since a couple rooms freed up. I really appreciate the hospitality and I hope to help you in any way possible. I can cook, clean, help with both babies, I do karaoke because I love to sing although I haven't sang in a long--" She rambled.

"It's fine." He drawled, his accent always the thickest with annoyance or excitement. This time, he was annoyed.

Amethyst looked down at her shoes then at Michonne, offering an apologetic smile for rambling. Michonne returned her smile with a reassuring one.

"Well, Xan is waiting outside with our stuff. We're ready when you are." Amethyst left the room, leaving Rick to turn to Michonne with a what the fuck look on his face.

Michonne planted a deep wet kiss on Rick's pouty lips. He squeezed her ass and let out a groan, deepening it further. "Let's go home." She breathed.

*

Michonne had Amethyst wait in the great room while they spoke in the kitchen.

"She's Jocelyn's sister?!" He exclaimed loudly.

"Keep your voice down" Michonne retorted through gritted teeth. She quickly looked towards the great room, letting off a weak smile before returning to the conversation.

"Why would you bring her in? Bring her here and with a new baby Michonne?" Rick struggled to see her point of view.

"I know it seems ridiculous. Maybe it was the hormones I don't know. But she left, Rick. She left Jocelyn way before she and I crossed paths again. She doesn't appear to be like her, not in that way at least." She explained.

"But we don't know that, Chonne" he said through gritted teeth. "Letting her and her family into the community is one thang, I get it. Watch her. Keep tabs, see who she is from a distance. But our home, Chonne? Around the kids?" He let out a grunt.

Michonne rolled her eyes. He hated when she did that.

He grabbed her gently by the elbows, bringing her closer to him. He hated any distance between them, including emotional distance created by difficult situations. He would not have a repeat of that time again.

Never again.

"Chonne...mama" his pet name for her when he wanted to show her he was completely at her will, "I want to understand your decision. Help me. I don't wanna fight." Rick stared at her until her eyes met his again.

Shit!

They were tearing up.

"At the gates...when she walked in with that huge gash across her belly. Her baby...it took me back. It might be what caused my labor. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. I saw me when I saw her. I was so alone after. Carrying that pain, that burden, that secret with Daryl. With Judith. It weighed on me. I felt compelled to be to her what I wish I had. Someone to talk to, confide in, to unload the horror of what happened so she didn't walk around alone in her own pain."

Tears flowed steadily down Michonne's face as he listened. If he could kill Jocelyn all over again, he would. He wasn't sure if Amethyst carried the same psychotic gene as her half sister but he trusted Michonne with his soul.

"Hey, hey" he said, placing his hand under her chin, kissing her tears, "I get it...thank you, Chonne. I wish I could take those feelings away from you. Every--" Rick stopped, throat swelling with emotion, "every day that I continue to live is to make you, Judith, Rj, and Mj have the easiest life that you can have. I regret it. I can't change it but I regret not being here. Not being able to stop it. But...I get it. I get it." He kissed her again, taking her in his arms to allow residual emotions to flow before getting back to the reason they were having this conversation.

"Now what?" Michonne whispered. Rick smiled. He knew she knew what to do but he loved when she let him lead. She didn't have to. Hell, he didn't want to, if he were being honest. But he loved it nonetheless.

Rick grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through Michonne's.

"Let's go properly welcome our guest."

Now...

"Sit." He commanded.

Rick watched as Amethyst and her brother took a seat on the couch opposite him and Michonne. Xan, as she called him, looked openly nervous. However, Amethyst had an expression of stone. Unreadable. Unmoved. Unintimidated.

Rick looked to Michonne. He could see why she would be drawn to a woman like this. She was unafraid, like Michonne, reminding him of the day he and Michonne met. He would get back to that memory a little later.

Michonne smirked at him knowingly then turned her head back to her guests.

Rick turned to Amethyst, squinting his eyes and tilting his head. His look hardened, went deadly before he spoke.

"How many walkers have you killed?"