Chapter Text
Rick has found himself trying harder and harder to make Michonne laugh, get a grin out of her or even a genuine smile the way that Daryl, Maggie, and Glenn, and Carl seem to be able to do with utter ease. Her and Carl have become almost inseparable and he watches it make Lori crawl out of her skin, Carl growing ever distant and angry with her for reasons he isn’t sharing with Rick; ones that Lori seems to have a sense of the reason for but wont share with Rick either.
He succeeds on this day and it is more of a success, because he isn’t even trying. Daryl has been running low on squirrels of late and instead drives up beside where Rick is trying to get Michonne to take an interest in the quality of the compost beds with no real results, a string filled with mourning doves tied around his back.
Rick looks at them and then says into the air ‘Prince warned us what this would look like,’ before squatting down again to spread the fertilizer and nearly falling over at the suddenness of Michonne laughing from her belly in the most enchanting sound and overwhelming sight. Both him and Daryl, who hasn’t a clue what is so funny, stare at her in the throes of mirth and when she is finished and down to a wheeze a good while later she does the favour back and stares at Rick in a sort of wonder. ‘Who’d have thunk it Rick, you just pulling a proper sense of humour out of nowhere like that eh? Dark horse shit.’
She turns, still wiping tears from her eyes and they watch the poetry of her walk away as they always do, only standing side by side gazing makes them feel a bit grimy and they both look away and down rather more quickly than usual. ‘The hell?’ Daryl asks, ‘she drunk or something? What’s a prince got to do with pigeons?’ Rick laughs now and Daryl rolls his eyes and starts the bike again, mumbling ‘finally get along and it’s to be fucking weirdos together’ before rolling off.
Later that night, after they are all feeling the pleasure of having almost chicken for dinner, Rick finds Michonne in the corner and tries to press his luck. She is playing gin rummy with Carl and trying to ignore Lori’s frequent warnings that it is Carl’s bedtime soon and complaints that the dishes make her back hurt. It is an ongoing theme, her making a scene around Michonne not really engaging with the domestic work, but focusing on runs and the manual labour with the men, something that only Maggie does on occasion to be with Glenn.
Never mind that it is Michonne bringing special things just for her pregnancy and health from prenatal vitamins to baby clothes, Lori remains a bit distant and haughty in Michonne’s presence and it only seems to make Rick and Carl more friendly with her and defensive of her, much to Lori’s irritation. Michonne has on one occasions at a group meeting even suggested to Rick that he stays with Lori and lets her and Shane handle some of the runs and labour, but bit her tongue when
Lori didn’t take to the suggestion, instead rolling her eyes and asserting passive aggressively that Rick would rather be out with Michonne than home with her anyway, causing Rick to stalk off in disgust and Shane to wait until he’d stalked off to follow Lori. It both irritated and suited Michonne who found herself struggling to feel comfortable on runs with Shane, preferring Rick or Daryl by far.
Rick sits on the bench seat beside Michonne now, but facing the other way so that Carl cannot see him, mostly so that he can gaze directly at her without distraction. She is concentrating on arranging a suit within a rather large deck she has picked up much to Carl’s delight. “I’ll have you know,’ he starts, ‘that I’m actually hilarious and it didn’t just start today, you only just saw it for the first time, cuz you know, it’s the end of the world.’
He says it with as much smugness as his strange nervousness around her will allow and she plays her hand slowly in silence before gazing in his direction. ‘The thing about humour, Rick, is that it hates remaining hidden, but maybe playing the hard man at the cost of suppressing all else is just another one of your superpowers.’ He almost lets it hurt him, her description of him seeming rather calculating and soulless, but sees that her eyes go a bit softer reading that and grins back. “You think I’m a hard man with superpowers eh?’
This time the smugness is real if as confident as it could be. Her eyebrows go up, and she gives him a slow nod as her gaze changes to something more appreciative, a foot to forehead taking in of him that warms him from the inside out. The outward current goes between them, holding them in a shared space, something that has previously happened but rarely in friendliness and not just to communicate a plan.
Carl hears the loudness of them being quiet in their connection and looks up and between them in irritation at Michonne’s attention being taken from him. ‘Dad, it’s my time with Michonne, you can talk with her about boring stuff later.’ Michonne breaks the gaze, leaving Rick feeling as if the sun has gone behind the clouds and kisses her teeth at Carl. “Don’t rush to losing buddy, if I’m not focused, you’ve got a much better chance of beating me innit?’
He rolls his eyes and lays down three suits, causing her to whistle in admiration. You and your dad teaming up to distract me?’ “You’re welcome Carl,’ Rick says, and then Lori is standing over them with her hands on her hips and a look on her face. ‘Sorry Michonne, but I need my menfolk to wrap up their fun time and get ready for chores and bed.’
It comes out exactly as awkward as it should, and for a moment, they all just look at her. Michonne stands and gathers the cards, putting hers in her pocket and telling Carl to put his in his to be continued the next day, then strolls away before more can be said. She hears the complaints from Carl begin and hears Rick say, ‘Jesus Christ Lori’ in a low fury before she is around the corner and out of range.