Rick's head pounded harder and harder as the bright morning sunlight blinded his eyes. The drive was less than fifteen minutes but each second felt like an hour thanks to the exhaustion of the very recent all nighter he pulled. All of these signs should point to him being utterly miserable, and yet he felt the happiest he had been in a very long time. He laughed to himself as he replayed the night's events in his mind. His mood began to damper though as he pulled up to the house he use to call his own. Legally it was still his, but he hadn't lived there for about a year now.
He begrudgingly walked up to the front door and knocked on it lightly. His first instinct was to ring the doorbell, but he remembered it had been out of commission for years now. He was preparing to knock again before he heard footsteps approaching. The red door swung open to reveal his soon-to-be ex wife and mother of his only child.
"Rick?"
"Hey, Lori."
She stared at him, wide eyed and confused. "What are you doing here? Shane already dropped Carl off at school."
Rick gritted his teeth. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you. Could I come in?"
"...Why?"
"I'm ready to sign."
"Took you long enough. It's been almost a month."
"Yeah, well, I'm here now."
"Okay, okay. Let me grab the papers." She shut the door and slowly returned with the documents. "Here."
"Okay. I'll finish filling it out and drop it off whenever I pass by the court house." Rick was planning on dropping them off as soon as he left.
"No, just drop them off here whenever you pick up Carl tomorrow."
"Okay. Speaking of Carl... shouldn't we have a talk with him together? You know, break the news gently."
"I don't know about that, Rick."
"Look, I'm not the biggest fan of it either. But I wanna make this as easy on Carl as possible. I read somewhere it's best to present ourselves as a united front." He didn't read it, Michonne told him.
Lori's expression softened as she thought about Carl. "Fine. If it'll make it easier on him, I'll do it."
Rick nodded his head. "Okay. How about Sunday night, my house, 7pm. Whenever you come to pick up Carl, you can stay back a while."
"Okay, Rick. That'll work."
Michonne watched through the clean bathroom mirror as Rick climbed upon his bed while she shook the excess water off of her purple toothbrush and placing it in the holder next to the sink. She thoughtfully switched off the light before crawling onto the tall bed and into Rick's arms. The bed was as hard as a rock but his body made a satisfactory pillow. He pulled her in closer, laying a kiss on her forehead.
Rick sighed. "I don't know about you but I cannot remember the last time I pulled an all-nighter like that."
Michonne laughed. "I've pulled a lot of all-nighters these past few months. None as fun as last night." They shared a lengthy kiss, both pulling away with huge grins on their faces.
"I have news."
"News? What kind of news?"
"I took your advice. About Lori. I signed the papers."
"That's great, Rick."
"Yep. And turns out there's no reason for me to worry about losing Carl. There's a term in there that promises I'll get him every weekend and major holiday."
"I'm so happy for you."
"Thank you." He thumbed the back of her hand. "Lori and I are gonna have a serious talk with him Sunday."
"You nervous?"
Rick let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm worried about him. How's he's gonna take it."
"He might not take it as harshly as you think. You and Lori haven't lived together in a long time. What does he thinks going on right now?"
"I don't know."
"Well what explanation did you give him when you first moved out?"
"I- I didn't really give one. I just told him that even though I won't be living in the same house as him anymore that it won't stop us from seeing each other. It's kind of why I want to do this. Carl deserves an explanation. I don't wanna ruin him."
"Baby, you won't. Your his father and he'll always love you. He may get a little upset, but that's understandable. You can't take it personally."
His expression softened. "You're right. I can't wait for him to meet you."
Michonne smiled. "You're already thinking about introducing us?"
"Call me crazy but I think a man's son should meet his fiancee."
"You are crazy."
"I'm crazy?"
"Did you or did you not propose to a woman you didn't even know for a full twenty four hours?"
"Mmm. Well, the woman was you. And you also very eagerly said yes. So sounds to me like you're equally as crazy."
Michonne giggled. "I'm NOT crazy."
"You are."
"Not."
"Maybe a little?"
"Not even a little."
"Sounds like you're pretty stubborn, too."
"Nope." Rick cackled and Michonne couldn't help but be amused by his old man laugh. "Rick..."
"Yeah?"
"I hope you don't mean this weekend."
"No, not this weekend. Probably too soon for him."
"Yeah. We should wait at least a few more weeks."
"Definitely."
"He comes tomorrow?"
"Uh huh."
"I guess I'll be going home for the weekend."
Rick frowned. "I'm gonna miss you."
Michonne glided her hand across his face. "I'm gonna miss you, too."
Rick turned off the eye of the stove, admiring his work. He looked behind him to see the table was still unset. "Carl!" His yell echoed throughout the house.
He ran from his bedroom into the kitchen. "Yeah, dad?"
Rick grinned as he raised his eyebrows. "I thought I asked you to set the table."
Carl grinned back. "Sorry, dad. I'll do it now." He laughed as he reached for three bowls out of the cabinet. He began to place the bowls in front of their respective chairs.
"Wait, son." Rick grabbed the placemats next to the sink and handed them to Carl. "Put these down first."
"Placemats?"
"Uh huh."
"Where did you get these from?"
"Oh-uh. Um. Uh. You know. Just... a-a friend gave them to me."
"A friend?"
"Yeah."
"Was it Morgan?"
"It was not."
"Oh. Was it Aaron?"
"No. Someone else. You don't know em."
He began to place the mats and bowls down. "Who?"
Rick grinned again. "Like I said, you don't know em."
He could tell his son was about to ask him another question, but luckily he was interrupted by a heavy knock at the door. "That must be mom!" He ran to open it, giving his mom a tight hug.
"Hey, mom!"
"Hey, baby. Smells good in here." Lori shut the door behind her, following Carl to the kitchen.
"Hey, Lori."
"Hello."
"Come on, mom. Sit down." She took her seat on the opposite end of Rick.
"Thanks for comin."
Carl was beaming.
"You use placemats now? Where was that for our entire marriage?", she joked.
"What are you talking about? I've used placemats before."
"I've asked you to set the table hundreds of times during our marriage and not once did you ever use the placemats we had."
"His friend gave them to him, mom."
"Ohhhh. How nice of them.", she said sarcastically.
"It was nice of them.", Rick confirmed.
Lori nodded silently. She wondered which one of his friends would ever give something like that.
There was an awkward silence as the trio dug into their chilli.
"Can I ask a question, dad?"
"Go 'head."
"Why is mom here? Does this mean you are moving back in with us? Or are we moving in here with you? Because I'm happy with either."
Lori looked off while Rick let out a lengthy sigh.
"What?" He glanced at both of his parents, practically begging for an answer. "What is it? Tell me."
"Carl. There's no easy way to say this. But I invited your mother here today because the two of us have something important to tell you."
"What is it, dad?"
"Your mother and I... we're getting a divorce."
"What?", Carl said shakily. "You're what?"
"I'm sorry, baby." Lori grabbed Carl's tiny hand and rubbed it.
"But why?" Tears dropped down his freckled cheeks.
"We just aren't meant for each other, Carl."
"Yes you are! You're my mom and dad! You're suppose to be together!"
Rick's heart clutched. "I'm sorry, son. We can't be together."
"Why not?! Huh?!?! Why not?!?!"
"Your father and I got married very young. We were different people back then who wanted different things. Now that we've grown... we've come to see that we don't belong together as a couple."
His crying turned into full on bawling. "I can't believe this. Why is this happening to me?!"
Rick squeezed his shoulder. "I'm sorry, son. Believe me please. I'm sorry."
"No, you aren't! You didn't even try to make it work! This is your fault!" Rick jumped back at the accusation, unable to speak.
"No, Carl. It isn't your dad's fault." Lori defended.
"He just left us-"
"No. He didn't wanna leave. I asked him to."
"You what? Why would you do that?"
"I thought some space would do us good."
Rick was pleasantly surprised to see Lori show up for the dinner, and even more surprised at how she was defending him.
"Yeah, well, it didn't.", Carl replied sardonically.
"Besides, Carl. Sometimes these things just happen. It's never really anyone's fault."
Still visibly distressed, he slowly calmed down. "So what happens now?"
"Things won't change much from the way the have been.", Rick responded.
Carl nodded his head in disappointment. "I miss us being a family."
"You know, if it's okay with your father. I'd be fine with having these dinners every so often. I know it's not exactly us back as a family, but I think it could be nice for us all."
"Really?"
"If it's okay with your dad."
Rick had never seen Lori so understanding. "Yeah. Yeah. If that's something you want, Carl. We can definitely make it happen. What do you say?"
"I think I would like that, dad."
"Well, okay. That's what we'll do."
Carl stood out of his seat and walked to Rick, wrapping his arms around his neck. "Thank you, dad.", he whispered. "I'm sorry for what I said."
Rick rubbed his back. "I know, son."
"I love you, dad."
"I love you, Carl."
Lori stared at Rick and Carl contentedly. After Carl sat back down, the three enjoyed not only conversation but Rick's tasty chilli.
As the moon began to replace the sun, Lori decided it was time to take Carl home. Carl put on his backpack as Rick walked he and Lori to the front door.
"I really liked this.", Carl stated cheerfully. "I can't wait to do it again."
"Me, too.", Rick agreed. "Got your backpack?"
He had a face of realization as he ran back to his bedroom, leaving Lori and Rick alone.
"That was going pretty rough for a second there.", Rick pointed out.
"Yeah..."
"But thanks. I'm real glad we can be amicable about this."
"Me, too. And you were right. This can be good for him." He nodded in agreement. "Oh, uh, is it okay if I use your bathroom before we go?"
"Sure. It's straight at the end of the hall." She smiled as she headed to his restroom. She got a huge whiff of air freshener as she walked in, liking the floral scent that seized her nose. As she closed the door, she couldn't help but notice the feminine products surrounding his sink. "What the fuck?", she murmured. She bit her lip in vexation. Despite the fact Lori and Rick were no longer together and had positively no chance of ever reuniting, an unfathomable anger consumed her at the thought of him being with another woman. She took pleasure in the fact that she had been a woman revered by two separate men at the same time. Was that just a lie? Did Rick really move on from her? Had she been replaced? She had so wanted to make this co-parenting thing work for Carl, but to see this betrayal from Rick had her ready to tear the whole thing up.
Lori could not let him get away with it. She wished Rick could feel double the hurt she was feeling right now. And not just him, but this mystery woman, too. And in this moment she swore at the very bottom of her soul to make it happen. Neither of them were going to get away with this.
