The man sat solemnly at the end of the bar, the furtherest away from people he could be. The dim lighting of the area made him nearly unnoticeable, which would explain why he was without a drink. She approached him casually, eager to not only take his order but find out why he seemed to be so alone. Hell, even other guests who had arrived at Michonne's Lounge alone quickly found themselves surrounded by others. This was a very friendly place where everyone felt welcome and no one was left out. Even on this early Wednesday night, there were plenty of people mingling. The community aspect was one of the lounge's biggest selling points and the establishment's owner Michonne Hawthorne prided herself on maintaining it.

"How are you tonight, sir?", she politely greeted him. Her soft voice instantly grabbed his attention causing him to look up at her. Finally getting a glimpse at him she thought he was especially good looking. The sight of him sent a warm tingly feeling throughout her body. And by the way he was looking at her, it appeared her presence did the same thing to him.

He flashed a dazzling, yet slightly somber smile. "I'm alright, ma'am. How are you doing?"

Her heart skipped a beat. He had a gruff voice with a strong southern accent, and while that usually didn't turn her on, in this moment it was really doing a number on her. She tried her best to play it cool, something she was typically very good at. "I'm doing pretty good. Is there anything I could get for you?"

He hesitated. "It's a Wednesday night. I got work early tomorrow. Maybe I shouldn't."

"So you came to a bar on a Wednesday afternoon just to sit in the corner all night like some... creeper?" She pushed out the joke hoping he would know she's only kidding.

His let out a little chuckle. "Right. I'll take a whiskey. Neat. Thank you."

Michonne fixed his drink and served it to him promptly. He sipped it slowly, grimacing as the hard liquor poured down his throat. "Mind if I ask your name?"

"Rick. Rick Grimes. And you are?"

"Michonne. Hawthorne."

Rick's eyed widened with surprise. "Michonne's Lounge. This is your place."

"Yup. What brings you to my place, Rick?"

He looked like he wanted to open up and pour his heart out to her, but stopped himself and gave a much more reserved answer. "Just... family trouble."

"Yeah? What kind of family trouble?"

A smirk grew on his face. "You ask a lot of questions, Miss Hawthorne."

Michonne laughed in response, showing off her captivating smile. "Sorry. I was just curious. I can leave you to it if that's what you want."

Rick's smirk grew bigger. "No. No. It's good to have the company... just... I don't know. Recently me and my wife have been having a lot of trouble."

Michonne's heart sank upon hearing the word "wife." She did not want to hear that the beautiful man sitting before her was taken. "Go on."

"The trouble being I don't wanna be married to her anymore." He stared at her mischievously.

"Divorce her." Her big brown eyes looked deep into his ocean blue ones.

"I'm in the process."

Michonne wanted to ask another question but figured she should let him open up on his own. "Well, Rick. If you don't want to be with her anymore... why are you upset?"

He let out a long sigh. "It's about my son. Carl."

She nodded sympathetically. "Divorce can be tough on kids. When my boyfriend..." Rick attempted to hide the disappointment. "My ex boyfriend, I mean." His demeanor perked up again. "We broke up a few months ago when I moved here to open this place. Our three year old son Andre had a tough time for a while. But..."

"But?"

She couldn't believe how this man made her so willing to open up. Of course she was always good at conversing, she had to be in the business she was in, so she could always pretend to open up for the scarce customers who needed a friendly pair of ears. However with Rick, this was something different. She felt safe enough to genuinely open up to the stranger before her. She wanted desperately to play it cool but Rick Grimes was chipping away at those barriers. It was almost as if Michonne was drunk and yet she was stone cold sober. Before she said something stupid, she centered herself and regained control. "You know what they say. Time heals all."

Rick nodded. "That's true. The divorce will be hard on him, but I know he'll get through it. He's still a kid. It's easy for them to forget. It's his mother's boyfriend I gotta worry about."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I know it's not for me to say who she should be with, but I definitely don't want that guy around my son." He took a big swig of whiskey leaving the tiniest of swallows left in the glass cup. "He wants to push my son away from me. I can't let that happen."

"It won't happen." She did her best to assure him, although she didn't understand the extent of his situation.

"I know Carl loves me. I know it. But if it was up to him I have this gut feeling he'd never let me see my son again."

"Would your... wife... do that to you? To her son?"

Rick pondered for a few moments. "I don't know what she'd do. I don't know her anymore. Haven't... for a while now."

"And yet she's your wife?"

He squinted at her, a slight grin on his pink lips. "She's my wife except... not really."

Michonne laughed very loudly causing Rick to do the same. "Not really?!"

"What I mean is... the only thing that classifies us as married is the paperwork. I don't live with her. I hardly see her unless I'm picking up or dropping off Carl."

"I see."

The two stared at each other, forgetting that they weren't the only two people in the world. Rick's heart beat fluttered as he took her all in. He can't remember a time he saw a woman this breathtakingly beautiful. He felt an instant connection to her and he hoped she felt it too. Otherwise he feared he was just some pathetic guy in her bar. But according to the way she was looking back at him, he had an inkling she felt the exact same way. He wanted to say something else before a guest snatched her attention away from him.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I'll take another one of these." Michonne took the empty can away from the customer and replaced it with a fresh unopened one, glancing back at Rick and smiling. Rick was too busy appreciating her beauty to take notice of whatever the hell the guy was drinking. "Thanks."

She didn't respond and instead walked back to the end of the bar ready to give back her undivided attention to this handsome stranger.

Rick took the last sip of his drink feeling a little anxious. He had no idea how to talk to a woman like this.

"So where were we?" Michonne asked flirtatiously.

"I was just about to ask you about yourself. I wanna hear about Michonne."

"What about her?"

"About how she owns this very nice lounge in my hometown, apparently for a while now, and somehow this is my first time seeing her. Had I known she were here I woulda shown up sooner."

"Little bit of a long story. How about another drink?"

Rick silently slid his glass back to her and watched as she bent down to grab the bottle of whiskey. He realized she didn't do that for his first drink as that bottle was on the shelf behind her. He could feel the flush consume his body as his arousal grew stronger. He wasn't getting out of that stool anytime soon.

Their fingers glided against each other as she handed him his new drink sending chills down both of their spines.

"Well?"