They've been gone on patrol for three days and Rick can tell that Michonne is starting to get antsy. They sent out a handful of patrols, all heading in different directions, hoping to cover more ground and scope out the surrounding area comprehensively. Given the strange lack of walkers surrounding Alexandria recently, this has become a priority for Rick.

It indicates that something is drawing them away. As Michonne has pointed out to him, maybe they shouldn't be seeking that something out, especially not if it's of the human variety. But, as it stands, Alexandria is not in the most defensible position. So being aware of any potential threats is key.

But they've yet to come across anything. It's been three days of occasional supply grabs, straggling walkers, and egregious car sex.

The latter is most applicable in this moment, as they lay across the backseat, Michonne pressed to Rick's bare chest. He's got his arms wrapped loosely around her waist, fingers trailing over her stomach as she reaches up to play with the curls at the nape of his neck.

"Are we hiding out?" Michonne murmurs. Rick glances down to find her eyes closed as the steady rise and fall of his chest continues to lull her.

"What?" Rick mumbles, shifting her closer. "No."

"Really? So you're not avoiding going home just so you don't have to talk to Carl about us?" She glances up over her shoulder at him, greeted by his impish smirk.

"First off, we will be having that conversation with Carl," he warns her. "And when did you get so antsy to head back?"

She sighs deeply. "I just don't know what it is you're looking for out here."

Rick stops short, considering her words for a long moment. What is he looking for? Maybe this trip is a fruitless endeavor. Maybe there really is nothing to worry about. Maybe Rick has just dragged Michonne out here for some kind of self-indulgent apocalyptic honeymoon. But it feels like more. He can feel that there's something out here, something they need to find.

"Don't you think it's strange?" he whispers. "Nothing for miles… No signs of life."

"Exactly," Michonne huffs. "It feels like you're chasing shadows, Rick."

He lets out a slow breath, ducking his head so his lips rest against her shoulder. Being this close to her is intoxicating. He knows they'll have to return to the real world soon- knows that this relationship with Michonne will have to exist outside the confines of a belltower or a backseat. But Rick is enjoying the bubble, just for now. Just while he can.

Things are changing, for he and Michonne and for all of Alexandria. They're on the precipice of something.

"We're close, Michonne."

"To what?"

He doesn't know, and this feeling in his gut can't quite be explained. "One more day, alright?" He plants a kiss in the crook of her neck and she curls her hand into his hair more firmly, pulling him back to look at her. She's beautiful, that's an objective fact as far as Rick's concerned. But when she's looking at him this way, she transcends beauty. They kiss- long, slow, deep- parting only for Michonne to concede, "One more day."

—

They come across the school by accident the next morning. From outside the fence, it's clear that the place was set up as a shelter of some sort- though it seems that didn't quite work out. The grounds have been overrun but the school itself looks to be locked up tight, meaning…

"We might've just stumbled on a gold mine here, Michonne."

She's got her brows furrowed and her katana poised, jabbing it through a hole in the fence at a gargling walker. "I didn't know we were on a supply run."

"When in Rome," Rick shrugs.

She huffs, fixing him with a narrow-eyed look. "We don't need to do this."

Rick surveys the area, cocks his head with a smirk. "We could though."

"Oh we definitely could," Michonne grins. "And it would be nice to have something to show for being gone four days."

Rick smiles wide at that. "I do occasionally have good ideas."

"So I'm told," she rolls her eyes before turning back towards the fence. "So what's the big plan for getting in there without being swarmed?"

—

There's a parking lot and a playground between them and the school, along with a meandering herd of walkers. Michonne's job is to make a beeline for the school to look for a way in while Rick holds off the walkers. Work quickly and work quietly, that's the plan.

The plan almost immediately goes awry.

Michonne leads, cleanly cutting through walkers as they make their way through the parking lot. Rick is cleaning up after her with his axe, covering them to the left and right. Things are going well until a group of walkers smash roughly into the side of the car next to them, setting off the car alarm.

"Shit," Michonne hisses, watching as walkers from all directions are drawn towards them. She quickly redirects, swinging to make a wide arc towards the school entrance instead of straight towards it.

Rick quickly follows her lead. "Deja fuckin' vu, huh."

"Maybe we're cursed."

"Maybe not," Rick observes as he knocks out another gaggle of walkers. "Look, they're clearing away from the entrance."

"Yeah and coming straight at us," Michonne responds tritely, slashing through the heads of the walkers before her.

They make their way to the playground and a clear path finally emerges for Michonne, although Rick finds himself drifting further from her. "Michonne, go!"

"Not without you!"

"I'm right behind you," he lies. "Go find a way in!"

She hesitates before finally breaking off and heading towards the school. Rick finds himself in the thick of it. With no other option but up, he scales the playground equipment- crossing the top of the monkey bars and ending up perched on top of a plastic roof piece, staring down at the dead. Shit.

He looks around, searching for a way out of the mess he's got himself into. That's when he sees it- a deer. Standing right there by the playground, so out of place that Rick has to blink twice at the sight. It settles the dread just the tiniest bit, reminding him of Carl, reminding him of Michonne. This beautiful, innocent thing in the middle of all of this.

He's so caught up in it, he doesn't notice the walkers moving towards the deer, bumping roughly into the playground equipment and jostling a distracted Rick so hard that he's sent toppling off of it. The fall knocks the wind out of him, leaves him staring wide-eyed as walkers begin to devour the deer. The deer that might have just saved his life.

"RICK!"

Michonne's piercing yell cuts through him, forcing clarity upon him as he recovers from the fall. Rick quickly retrieves his fallen axe and shuffles backwards, away from the walkers advancing upon him. His only option is to crawl up the tube slide. Desperation claws at his insides as he shimmies up the slide, kicking away walkers at his heels.

"Rick?! RICK!" Michonne continues to call out for him, the sound muffled and echoey through the slide. He emerges at the top of the slide, standing to find Michonne frozen on the ground below, staring defeatedly at the walkers tearing into the deer. He watches in horror as her katana slips from her grasp and knows without a doubt where her mind is. It feels like ice in his veins to see what that grief looks like on her- something he was never meant to see. It paralyzes him for a moment.

That is, until he sees a walker approaching her, and his survival instincts kick in instantly.

"MICHONNE! BEHIND YOU!"

He sees the shock and relief rush over her in a single instant before she's picking up her katana once again and swinging out with renewed resolve. It inflates Rick's chest with a breath he didn't realize he'd been denying himself. He quickly descends the jungle gym, clearing out the remaining walkers before running over to Michonne who meets him halfway and throws herself into his arms. Rick catches her with a gasp, surprised by the force with him she clings to him. It's then that he hears it, the quiet sobs she's muffling against his shoulder. Rick squeezes her impossibly tighter, comforted by the feeling of his racing heartbeat against hers.

"I thought you- y-you were-" Michonne struggles through heaving breaths as Rick lowers her feet to the ground, cradling her head with his palm.

He shushes her quietly. "I'm here, I'm here, sweetheart."

"Fuck," she whispers breathlessly, pulling her face away from his shoulder long enough to kiss him fiercely. He responds instantly, holding her cheek in his palm, smoothing away the tears he finds there.

The sounds of approaching walkers have them pulling away.

"Shit," Rick mumbles, readying his axe.

"Follow me," Michonne replies raspily, tugging him towards the school, killing anything that comes near her. She uses a nearby school bus to hop up onto the roof of the school, ushering Rick along with her.

He bends over at the waist, hands on his knees as he attempts to catch his breath. "Small improvement from the top of the jungle gym."

"School's locked up tight," Michonne informs. "I didn't have time to break in before-" She cuts herself off before she can explain the horror of discovering what she assumed was Rick's dead body.

"We made it," Rick says as he straightens to his full height, moving to stand before her. "We'll figure out the rest."

The instant he says it, the roof gives way, sending them plummeting into the building below, standing water and debris splashing over them. Rick steels himself for a hard landing but it never comes- they land atop an air mattress in what was once a school cafeteria, surrounded by boxes upon boxes of military issued ration racks. The pure ridiculousness of the moment, the sheer dumb luck of it all, overwhelms them, sending them both into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Guess we figured it out," Rick chuckles as he sits up, helping Michonne dust herself off and sit up as well.

Her laughter tapers off weakly, leaving a troubled look on her face as she gazes off tiredly. "We need a plan for transporting all of this."

"That sounds like a problem for tomorrow morning, Michonne," Rick tries to softly divert her attention. He can see the waves of exhaustion, both emotional and physical, radiating off of her. The last thing they need to do right now is plan their escape.

Michonne ignores him and goes to inspect the boxes of food instead. "There's a loading bay off the cafeteria- any luck, there'll be a truck we can use-"

He stands as well, approaching her carefully. "Michonne, come on-"

"Swing around to our car, gas up and starting heading back tonight-"

"Hey," Rick stops her with a hand on her arm, forcing her to finally look at him. "Slow down for a second."

"I want to leave, Rick," Michonne tells him brashly, red-rimmed eyes fixed on his.

The desperation in the single sentence leaves Rick at a loss. He keeps replaying the image of her staring down at the walkers, the katana falling out of her hand. The horror on her face, and the knowledge that he caused it, will haunt Rick forever.

It kills him to deny her the one thing she's asking him for. He feels like a selfish prick because he asked for one more day and she gave it to him. Now, he's standing here asking for more.

"Michonne," he starts softly, smoothing his hands up her arms, unfazed by the blood and sweat covering them. "We're gonna take the night. Because we both need it, you know that." She shakes her head at that, turning her gaze away with a stuttered breath. "We'll leave tomorrow morning."

She hates it, everything in her body language is screaming discomfort and anger. But Rick can't let her push this, it'll break her down. She nods at last, roughly pulling herself out of Rick's hold to begin inventorying the food.

And that's when Rick knows it's going to be a long night.