Rick

I left work, and just went straight home because I truly had no business going elsewhere. When I pulled up in my driveway, I just sat in the car for a while, to kill time I guess.

It was now quarter to nine and Carl didn't get out of school until half past twelve so I would have absolutely nothing to do until then. When nine o'clock hit, I got out of the car and went inside.

I went straight to my room and I didn't even think twice about it. I took my uniform off; all visible use for it had vanished. I simply changed into some shorts and that was that.

Ding dong

I was on my way into a semi-deep sleep when my doorbell rang. "Who in the hell?" I muttered to myself, heading downstairs and to the door. "Who is it?!" I called out. "Lori. Let me in, please?" Sighing, I opened the door. "Yes?" I questioned, wondering why the hell she was here in the first place. "Changing the locks, Rick? Classy." She brushed past me and into the house. "This house no longer belongs to you. Just me." I closed the door and followed her in.

"Only two people that have a key now are Carl and I." She nodded, and took a seat at the kitchen table. I eyed her carefully. "You gonna tell me what you're doing here?" I started. She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off before she could get out a word. "Oh, o-or you coming to tell me you're pregnant?" She cut her eyes at me. "I was gonna tell you."

I scoffed. "When? When you were in labor?" Her eyes were still fixed on me. "What type of husband are you anyways? You couldn't tell?" I chuckled. "Newsflash: I'm not. And it'll be finalized on paper sooner than later." A quick silence consumed the room until I spoke again.

"My best friend, Lori? Really? How low did you have to let your mind and body stoop to do that?" I didn't know what had come over me, because usually I would be the tranquil one, but right now I couldn't contain the anger that swept through my body. "Rick, I was in need. You were not giving me what I needed."

"So, so you mean to tell me that because I wasn't giving you what you 'needed,' you go and have sex with my best friend? You didn't even try to talk to me, Lori. You always screamed about communication but didn't even attempt to talk to me about what I 'wasn't doing.' How is that fair?" She sighed. "Rick, you were never home! You were always at work. It was always about work, work, work! 'The sheriff called me in today,' 'the sheriff said I can do overtime today.' It was constant! Like an excuse to get away from me!" When I saw tears, I slowly began to regret everything.

"Damn it, Lori, I had to put food on the table for you and our son. I had to do what was necessary to keep a roof over your heads and your stomachs full," I started, and then I remembered what she'd done. And now, I felt less remorseful about my words. "Rick, I don't even know if I want to keep this baby..I don't know if I love Shane, for real. I don't even know-" I cut her off. "Go tell your sob story to somebody else," I said, "You should've thought about all of that before you opened your legs to him. Now please, get out."

I made my way to the door and opened it for her. She stood up and walked to it, but before she left, she turned to say something. Before she could, I spoke. "Please, don't," I just widened the door for her. She left, and as soon as she did, I closed and locked the door.

I went and sat on the couch, thinking of what just happened. Maybe it was the realization that our marriage had become toxic over the years, or the simple fact that she'd betrayed me in the worst way possible, but I couldn't let her rule me anymore. I couldn't let my feelings toward the good side of her get in the way of what had to be done. I was knocked out of my thoughts by my phone vibrating.

404-325-1101
Hey Rick. Its Michonne.

A smile involuntarily crept up on my face as I responded.

404-915-1412
Hey. What's up?

404-325-1101
I was just making sure you had my number lol. Now you can save it.

404-325-1101
I'll leave you to your work now

404-915-1412
Funny story. I had a slight change of plans. I'm home now.

Michonne
What happened? If you don't mind my asking.

404-915-1412
We could talk about it over coffee at Joe's if you'd like.

Michonne
Sounds good

I smiled after I read message and got up off of the couch to head to my room. I washed up and brushed my teeth, just to be sure I was fresh. I put on a button up and some jeans, then my shoes. After all of the drama I encountered earlier today, I could use a breather.

The time was just about ten when I got to the café. When I walked in, Michonne motioned to me from a booth not too far from the door. I walked to it and sat across from her, and smiled. "Hey," she said, a small smile on her face. "Hey." I said. Alright, don't make this anymore awkward than it already is, I said to myself.

"So," she started, "You gonna talk about what happened at your job now?" she chuckled.

"Not before you tell me where little Andre is." I joked, even though I was genuinely curious as to where the little guy was.

She sighed. "With his father for the week starting today," she shook her head, "I hate having to alternate every week. We have to do it until he's eighteen, and he's only four now," She had a slight frown on her face, but it lightened up a little when she spoke again, "But, Mr. Grimes, enough about me and my problems."

I chuckled. "Come on, it wouldn't have been a problem. I'd listen if you needed me to."

She smiled. "That's sweet of you, Rick."

I nodded. "Never a problem. And I can even make this long story short for you, too." I laughed.

She shook her head. "I'm all ears for the uncut version of it."

A whole hour filled with my story about why I wasn't at work, and then silly stories about each other went by in the blink of an eye. I learned so much about her, and she learned just as much about me. Our favorite colors, favorite foods, middle names; the whole nine. But the kids were almost out of school, so we knew we would have to cut our last conversation a little bit short.

"We could finish this whole thing at my house," I said, "Noah's gonna be over for a few." I said and she nodded. "Sounds good." I smiled. "We could also just go pick them up together if that's convenient for you," I said, "I could take you to my house so you can leave your car there and we get them together in my truck." She nodded again at my proposition. "And this also sounds good," she chuckled.

When our waiter came and gave us the bill, we both reached for it. "Nope, don't even think about it," I said, my hand still resting on the bill. "Come on, Rick," she insisted, "I'm well able to at least help pay this." She looked up at me, but I wasn't giving in. "Nope." I said, putting the money on the table. "Alright, then I got the tip," she said, putting five dollars on the table on top of what I'd already set down. "Wow, Michonne." I chuckled at her. "What?" she questioned as we both stood up from the booth and headed out. "I don't know if you're headstrong or hard-headed, but I think I like it."

**

After I guided Michonne to my house so she could leave her car, we were on our way back in the direction of Carl's school. When we got there, Carl and Noah were both waiting for us outside, which was strange because it was only 12:10, and they weren't supposed to be out until 12:30.

When they got into the car, they were finishing a conversation they were holding outside. "Hey, dad," Carl gave me a pat on the back and continued, "Hey Michonne." She looked at him and smiled as we spoke in unison. "Hey." Michonne looked over at Noah. "Hey, you." She said, smiling at him as well. "Hey, Michonne. Hey, Mr. Grimes." I started the car and made my way out of the parking lot before traffic got too heavy.

"Hey, Noah. What you two doing out this early? And what happened to Sophia?" I asked them, and they shrugged. "Our last hour teacher told us we were free to leave if we finished all of our finals," Carl said, "So we left. And Sophie said her, Carol and Daryl were going out, so she couldn't come." I nodded. "How you two think you did on your finals?" I looked at them through the rear view mirror and they both looked content.

"I think I did fine," Noah said, followed by Carl nodding in agreement at his statement. "You guys' report cards are gonna be nice to look at?" Michonne joked. They both nodded, now paying more attention to their phones than anything else.

Michonne and I just laughed it off as we pulled up into my driveway. We all got out and went inside, but the boys' first stop was the kitchen. They came out with their hands full of bags of chips and packs of cookies. "Don't overdo it, you two." I said, followed by Michonne and I sitting down in the dining room. "You hungry? Thirsty?" I asked, looking at the kitchen, then her. She shook her head and smiled at me. "No, thank you." I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off by her cell phone vibrating. "Excuse me," she said, getting up from her seat and walking to another area.

When she came back to the table, I looked at her as she sat down. "Everything alright?" Her face went from frown to a semi-forced smile as she nodded. "Everything's fine. Thanks." I nodded at her in response. "Dad, come play with us!" Carl yelled from the living room. "Carl, I have comp-" I was cut off by Michonne.

"Come on, Rick. You scared the boys gonna beat you?" She had a sly, but playful smirk on her face. "Well I can't turn a challenge down, I guess." I chuckled. Michonne and I got up and went to the living room with the boys. Hours and hours passed by, and before we knew it, the sun had set and the sky was moonlit.

"Its getting late," Michonne said, looking at Noah. "We can stay a little while longer," Noah said. Michonne looked at me. "I mean, I wouldn't mind." She shrugged her shoulders. "If its fine with you, then its no problem with me," she chuckled. "Dad, Noah and I are gonna go upstairs for a minute." Carl said, getting up. I didn't know what trick he thought he was pulling from out of his sleeve, but I was curious to see where he was going with it.

"Alright, I'll play while you two are gone." I laughed and they chuckled at my joke, followed by them leaving the room. "You wanna play?" I looked at Michonne. "Sure," she grabbed the controller sitting next to me. We played Call of Duty for a while like two little kids until we got bored, and turned it off. By now, she was laying on the couch and I laid on the floor next to it.

I closed my eyes, though I tried to fight the drowsiness coursing through my body. "I think Noah and I are gonna get ready to go," she sighed. "You two don't have to leave," I said, opening my eyes and looking up at her. "Yeah, but I mean we're guests and I don't wanna wear out my welcome." She sat up and stretched. Like clockwork, Noah and Carl came running down the stairs, and into the living room. "Come on, Noah. We're going home." Michonne said. "Aw, come on, M. A few more hours?" Noah pleaded but she shook her head. "Its almost past midnight." She grabbed her purse and made her way towards the door. Noah exited after saying his goodbyes to Carl and I, leaving Michonne to go afterwards. "I had a good day with you, Rick. Thank you."

She got into the car with Noah, and I, instinctively, didn't close the door until they were long gone. I went upstairs to my room, and put my robe on before laying down on my bed and letting myself drift off.

What a day
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hola amigos. I hope you enjoyed this. I knowwwwww it was very, very long, maybe even a tad bit tedious, but please bear with me; it'll get better!
Love to all,
lolfanfiics 💕

(also please excuse any spelling or grammar errors. I will be checking for them in a minute.)