Rick stood and brushed the dirt from his knees. He turned and looked away from his plants.

Walkers were lined up along the fence, all the way around the prison. There wasn't a single open space, every inch was filled with the hungry, moaning corpses, and more kept coming. Everywhere he looked, all he saw was walkers pressed up against a chain link fence.

The sound was a steady thrum in his ears, growing louder by the minute. Rick rummaged through his pockets looking for his music player, desperate for anything to keep that sound at bay.

It was nowhere to be found. He must have dropped it earlier.

He walked through the garden, up and down each row, eyes searching the ground, again and again. Each time he walked through, the walkers lined up on the fence seems to get closer. He ran faster and faster, looking for a way out.

"Shhh...it's okay," a soft voice reached his ears, somehow drowning out the walkers.

Rick spun around.

"Michonne! We have to-" he started to tell his friend something urgent. They had to get out of there! They had to find Carl and Judith and get out of there!

"Hey," Michonne said calmly, putting her hands on his shoulders so he wouldn't run any more.

She was standing so close. The fence, he had been sure it was about to collapse at any moment, faded from sight. They were standing in the field surrounded by tall, leafy green stalks. The sky was clear and blue.

Michonne brushed his hair out of his eyes and he felt his worry begin to fade. She caressed his cheek.

He was frozen in place, enthralled by her touch, by the soft look in her brown eyes.

"As long as we stick together, it'll be okay," she whispered, her hand still on his cheek, then leaned forward a little bit and kissed him.

Rick closed his eyes, enjoying the tender sensation of Michonne's lips against his. He wanted to kiss her back, to wrap his arms around her, but he couldn't move. His body wasn't responding properly.

Stop. This is...you're dreaming, he thought, Wake up!

Rick opened his eyes and all he could see were Michonne's brown eyes above him. He blinked.

It wasn't a dream. It was real!

She pulled away quickly, her dreadlocks brushing his face as she moved. She sat facing away from him, not saying a word.

Rick sat up slowly, wary to disturb Carl who was sleeping beside him. He scooted over so that he was next to Michonne. He touched her arm but she still wouldn't look at him.

"Michonne," he said her name softly, so only she could hear. You kissed me, didn't you?

She turned and met his eyes hesitantly. Her expression said, You caught me.

Rick grinned. It was rare to catch Michonne looking embarrassed.

Suddenly the atmosphere felt more serious. Rick couldn't take his eyes off Michonne's face. She kissed me. That means she must...

Michonne cracked a small smile then her expression softened. She looked back at Rick with a mix of anticipation and longing, as if she was waiting for him to answer a question.

Rick felt tenderness well up in his chest. Without really deciding what to do, he acted on instinct. He cupped her cheek with his hand and moved so close that he could see the individual flecks of color in her eyes.

A small part of his brain was realizing that this was exactly what he'd wanted to do for days now, weeks even, since before the prison fell. Hell, maybe even for months. He used to always find himself thinking about Michonne, watching her, waiting for her to smile. Always hesitating to put what he was feeling into words, even in his own mind, distracting himself with other things instead.

Michonne, on the other hand, was the kind of person that, once she made up her mind about something, didn't like to hesitate or overanalyze things. She trusted her heart. She tilted her chin up and finally captured Rick's lips in a warm kiss.

Rick pulled away from the kiss slowly, let his forehead rest against Michonne's, trying to catch his breath. He closed his eyes, everything else around them forgotten. It felt so good to finally be on the same page, to not have to guess what the other was thinking.

At some point Michonne started running her fingers through his hair. Her touch was at once soothing and hypnotizing. Rick kissed her again, long and lingering.

Gradually, the rush of the moment fell away and the outside world closed back in on the two survivors.

They were still trapped, sitting alone in a tree house next to a sleeping Carl, surrounded by a herd of walkers. The knowledge was sobering, to say the least.

After several long, thoughtful moments, Rick spoke up. They were still leaning against each other, embraced.

"We're not giving up," his voice was quiet but determined, "We've been through worse than this, we both have. We'll wait it out."

He caught Michonne's eyes, "We're not out of hope yet."

She nodded, reassured by Rick's determination. She wasn't ready to give up hope either.

They settled into a comfortable position, sitting side by side, watching the sunrise colors fill their little view of the forest, Michonne resting her head on Rick's shoulder.

After a while, Rick realized that Michonne had dozed off. He smiled. This was the second time that she'd fallen asleep like that. Was this becoming a pattern?

Despite the imminent danger around them and the gnawing hunger in his stomach, Rick found it difficult to focus on practical issues. He kept thinking about how nice it felt to have Michonne tucked up against his side. In a way, more than any affectionate look or passionate kiss, that was what meant the most to him.

This was the woman who walked around by herself for months with only a sword and two chained-up walkers beside her, who ran off and tried to kill the Governor by herself without telling anyone, who walked for days to find Rick and Carl holed up in an abandoned house.

She doesn't need help from anybody, Rick thought to himself, but she chose me. She could have left at any time, chosen anyone else, but she didn't. She chose to stay by my side, to love my son, to rest her head on my shoulder...

Rick glanced over at where Carl was sleeping uneasily. Carl stirred in his sleep, and then sat up abruptly, looking at Rick.

"Did you guys hear that?" he whispered urgently.

"What?" Rick asked. He'd been lost in thought and Michonne was sleeping so they hadn't heard anything.

"Shhh!" Carl hissed, eyes wide and alert.

Rick was quiet. He turned his head, listening for anything besides the constant groans of the walkers or the wind in the tree branches.

"There was something. I heard it," Carl insisted, "It sounded like a motor!"