Walking Home (Rick Grimes Romance)

Chapter 4.... Seriously?

Ricks POV.....

There were things I had become accustom to. Things that in high and sight I should have appreciated a great deal more than I did. Little things that it seemed time was now slowly erasing as if they never were.

"So when do you want to go tell them?" Daryl asked between mouthfuls of food.

One of the many things apparently changing was our family dynamic. We all had at least in the beginning slipped quietly and comfortably into our assumed roles. There was at one point a rhythm and a predictability to our interactions. Tonight this shift in our routine was becoming annoyingly loud.

"We have to tell them," Daryl loaded up another fork full of potatoes. "Negans going to be here in four days."

"I know," I didn't want to think about our new arrivals or Negan for that matter. Trying to push off what I was eventually going to have to deal with I suggested. "Let them settle in for the night."

This garnered an exasperated look from both Michonne and Daryl that I refused to acknowledge. God I wished things would go back to when Daryl quietly inhaled his food, I said the occasional word and Michonne and Carl babbled endlessly on.

"What difference is a night going to make," Michonne leaned back in her chair crossing her arms across her chest. "Deana came to us that first night. If for nothing else than to welcome us."

Raising my eyes from my plate I bit back my quick rising anger. Working my jaw slowly back and forth I debate on what if anything to say. "You want me to go and welcome them?"

"Someone should." Michonne's eyebrows raised slightly in a challenge. "It's only right that they know about Negan. What their getting into."

I knew Michonne didn't give a shit if I told them tonight or tomorrow about Negan. Her point, the axe Michonne was trying to grind. It had nothing to do with giving anyone a heads up and everything to do with the way I had voted.

"Whatever, you want to do it tonight." I shrugged my shoulders. My voice clip with the frustration I was feeling. "Then we'll do it tonight. But for now I'm done talking about the new people or Negan at the super table."

Michonne's eyes pinned slightly as she pushed her lips together. I knew this look and I knew it well. This meant the silent treatment was in full effect.

I did as I often had in my marriage to Lori. I gave Michonne a wide birth not wanting to jump feet first into the murky water. I helped with cleaning supper, got Judith changed for bed and had grabbed my jacket passing Michonne as I headed towards the door. All the while not a single word or a glance had passed between the two of us.

Having had enough I stopped a few steps past her letting out a deep sigh. Tossing my jacket on the chair I turned to Michonne, "I don't want to fight."

Michonne's eyes flickered to mine for a half a second as she continued to pick up Judith's toys from the floor tossing them into the playpen as she went.

"You never want to fight anymore." Scooping up the doll from the floor Michonne stopped turning to face me. "Maybe that's part of the problem Rick. Wether it's me.... Negan.... Daryl... who ever. It doesn't matter. You never want to fight."

Somewhere in my head the urge to argue back flashed but was quickly extinguished by another. The sway of Michonne's breast as she stood captured my attention. Words failed me as I greedily watched her nipples hardened under my gaze pressing against the material of her skin tight top. I said a silent prayer thanking god for tight bodies in even tighter clothing detailing ever fine curve.