*count how many times the word close is said this chapter*

Michonne's P.O.V

It was a good night's sleep, being close to Rick and all.
We didn't knock boots, or anything like that, instead we held hands like teenagers and talked all night, afraid to get too close.
I told him about Mike, and the horrible things he did to me ...and the only thing Rick could do was hold me. And it felt comforting, it was my sweet escape.

Here I am, up a little extra early to cook for Rick and the boys, but
My morning hums and pancake flipping were interrupted when Carl trailed back into the kitchen for the 10 millionth time this morning.

"I told you it's not ready," I smiled as I placed another pancake among the plate of many others.

"Yeah, but Andre said he's thirsty so I came to get him a juice." He smirked, walking over to the fridge and grabbing 2 caprisuns.

Since they first woke up, Carl and Andre have been playing Just Dance on the Wii, jamming to
One Dance and Work.. it's basically the only songs Andre knows. And Carl's only doing it for him to have fun, so he played along.

"Oh, well, uh.. have fun! Breakfast will be done in 5."

He smiled and haphazardly flipped his hair, staring shyly at his feet.
"Thanks for all of this.."

"What do you mean?" I smiled

"For the pep talk last night, for bringing Andre into my life, for making my dad smile again... You know, you might actually be the woman he won't be afraid to get close to."

And with that, he trailed out the kitchen and joined Andre in the living room, leaving me speechless yet beatific.

I shook the thoughts away of me and Rick actually moving forth from this day, and continued cooking pancakes.

Although the thought of becoming something more than his girlfriend gave me a slight, blissful chill.. It gave me hope as well.

Hope for better days, hope for something more than what I used to have, hope for not getting my heart broken again.

Finishing the final pancake, I cut the stove off and brushed my hands, staring back at the fried green tomatoes, pancakes and bacon as crispy as Donald Trump's sunburn.

"Come get it boys!" I yelled

Andre and Carl then raced into the kitchen, toppling over each other to get to the table.

"Go wash up." I smiled

"First one to the sink is a rotten egg!" Andre exclaimed, smiling widely at Carl.

"Oh you're on."

Having said that, they took off down the hall way once more... happily laughing and screaming like the joyous little boys they are.

You know, I'm really glad they're getting along.
Really, really glad.

Unanticipatedly, Rick's deep Southern voice broke me from my thoughts as he wandered behind me.

"Good morning, beautiful." He whispered, pecking a small soft kiss upon my cheek.

I turned around and sucked in a sharp breath as his shirtless torso was exposed to me. Gawking wouldn't quite describe my state... I mean, I was shocked, stunned, flabbergasted, amazed, wonderstruck... mesmerized by his structure.

It was like nothing I've ever seen before.

His body was drool-worthy. He had a chiseled chest and the skin on it was glowing healthily. His abdominal was sculpted to perfection, his V line dented deeper than Taylor Swift's lyrics, and his pants were so low you could see his happy trail that led from his belly button, get a bit harrier as my eyes trailed lower.

"Dang." I mumbled

"You cooked?" he smiled, brushing his curls behind his ear.

"Yeah, uh.. um.. it's all y- yours." stammered.

He glanced at me and smirked mischievously, like he was trying to give me a heart attack from his well built physique.

He then picked up a tomato and popped it into his mouth, closing his light blue eyes as he chewed it and savored the flavor.

"You're a piece of art, Rick Grimes."

"And you're a beautiful mess, Michonne."

I giggled lightly and pressed my lips against his, to which his eyes widened and he pulled me closer.
"Ewwwww!!" Carl groaned, as he came around the corner with Andre on his back.

I pulled away from Rick and laughed faintly, "yeah, yeah." I said, trying hard to hide my embarrassment.

We all took a seat at the table and fixed our plates on our own.
Andre drowned his pancake in syrup but I didn't care since we're going to the trampoline park today.
That sugar will keep him jumping all his energy out, that's for sure.

"So, how'd you two sleep?" Carl asked, attempting small talk.

"Fine, and nothing more." Rick chuckled.

Carl faked a smile and nodded his head slowly, "Me too.. me too." he mumbled

"So, uh.. Dad."

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you something, and you may not be happy about it but I can't keep it in."

Oh snap.. is he going to tell his father that he's gay? Um......

"I know, Carl. I know about Ron."

UH OH.

"Y- you know?" Carl nearly choked as he took a bite from his bacon.

"Mhm." Rick nodded.

His face showed little to no emotion, he looked worried for some reason.. but that's all. Not disappointed, not angry, not sad and not confused.

"I'm sorry." Carl draped his head down and I was five seconds away from excusing myself from me table.

"Uh, Andre and I are gonna go... walk up and down the hall for the fun of it." I outbursted.

Rick chuckled lightly and I grabbed Andre's hand and helped him from his chair.

Before walking off, I pat Carl's back and quickly glanced at Rick..
Shooting him a look that spoke a million words.

Please accept him.

Andre and I wandered into the hallway and I stopped at the edge, so I could ease drop in case Carl froze up and couldn't take it any more.

I gestured for Andre to stay very quiet and he nodded obediently.

"You knew?" Carl asked, once more.

"Yes, and I'm fine with it."

"Dad, I know you're lying, that's not how you raised me and I bet you're dying on the inside hearing thi -"

"I really am Carl.. you know, not everyone grows up to be the way their parents raised them. Take the Olsen twins for example, or Macaulay Caulkin, I mean atleast you're not on drugs."

"But..what I'm doing is a sin," Carl's voice cracked and he nearly broke into cries "If you're a Christian, why aren't you trying to talk me down?"

Rick sighed deeply and I could hear his seat shift sightly.

"Carl," Rick started. Which sounded like Coral, but hey, I'm not judging his sexy southern accent.

"Because I believe in you more than I believe in any God."

And when the words left his mouth, my body shook a bit because the statement was so deep, I could cry.

That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

After a long pause of silence, I trailed back into the living room with Andre's hand in mine, to find them hugging each other with their head in one another's shoulder.

Before I could turn around to leave the room once more, Rick had already noticed my presence.

He then pulled away from the hugged and cleared his throat majestically, as Carl embarrassingly wiped a few tears.

"You know what? Why don't you invite Ron to the trampoline park with us?" Rick smiled.

He's such a good man, bless him.

Carl's face lit up but he continued to rub at his eyes, "I'll call him."

He arose from the table and sprinted to me, stopping a foot away from my personal space, and wrapped me in his embrace.

"Thank you," he whispered into my chest.

As I hugged him back, and ran my head over his head, Rick eyed us up and down with a sly smile across his face.

Well, okay then.
____________________________________

Rick's P.O.v

As we stepped into the trampoline park, sounds of laughter and screams from young kids filled my ears, the place smelled like socks and sweat, but the park was well built.

There were trampolines everywhere, of course, and there were balls and styrofoam swords, a ball pit, a net rockwall, and strangely set up courses you could run..



(A/n: sort of like this, except for the jungle gym. That's where the courses are.)

Michonne glanced at me and back at the small trampoline course, "Oh you're going down Ricky Dicky."

Ricky Dicky?

....okay.

"Bet on it." I smiled "If I win, you have to sleep over again tonight."

She nodded convincingly and smiled, "okay, and if I win.. you have to go to the art gallery with me next week."

Ugh, I'm not really am art person but I'm going to do whatever makes her happy.
Whatever I can do to get close to her.

"Deal." And with that we shook hands.

Abruptly, Jay, Michonne's cousin, ran up and greeted us with a big hug.

"Aye cuzzo!" He and Michonne did a special handshake and they finished it off with a bang.

He then looked at me and grinned faintly, "I see you brought yo white chocolate."

He nodded upward to me and I did the same.

"So, since y'all cool fam, imma get you in this place with a discount!" He exclaimed.

He walked over to his counter and we all followed.

"So, 2 teenage boys, 2 adults and a child." Jay said, counting over Michonne, Me, Ron, Carl and Andre.

"Regular price would be $68 but I can get you in for $34." He smiled.

"That would be great," I chuckled
"I gotchu." Jay scanned his badge that dangled from his neck across the scanner and the price popped up on the screen.

"$34." He smiled.

Michonne began to dig into her pocket but I stopped her and pulled out my wallet.

"I've got this."

She lowered her eyebrows and grinned at me as I handed Jay my debit card to swipe.

"You're welcome cutie." I smiled, gently caressing her cheek.

"PDA." Ron scoffed.

Honestly, I'm still shooken up from the fact that Carl's homosexual, but I'm accepting him. After all, it is his life. Not mine, I cannot live it for him.

If that's what he wants to be, then of course I'll support him, I wanna be a good father. I don't ever want Carl and I to lose our bond, we are too close to drop out over a lifestyle he chose.

Jay then handed me back my card and gently opened the gate for us to continue into the park.

"Chuck yo shoes off."

I did as told and took off my boots, placed them onto the counter and so did everyone else.

And then, it was go time.

"You may proceed!" Jay exclaimed.

"Hey wait," Carl said "come join us when you get off."

Jay shrugged and slightly smiled at Carl, "I'll think about it."

With that being said, Carl and Ron took off running down the green padded path, with Andre following closely behind.

I've never been here, so I was sort of hesitant.. luckily, Michonne was there to lead the way.

Literally.

She grabbed my hand and ran me to the far back of the building, where we had the small trampoline to ourselves.

She grabbed my hand and began jumping up and down with her dreads bouncing everywhere, and her shirt even going up a bit, revealing her smooth, flat stomach.

She then threw herself backward while she was in midair and landed her backflip.

"Holy hell." I mumbled to myself as she continued to do back hand springs all the way to the wall, which was also a trampoline.

"Show me your moves," She smiled.

She's so pretty. . . And I don't wanna embarrass myself.. it's been ages since I landed a backflip.

"I can't, my back!" I lied

She folded her arms and pursed her lips at me.

"Oh really?"

Before I could even speak, she ran over and hopped on my back..

And although she was surprisingly light, she still took me down and we both fell onto the trampoline in laughter.

She fell on my chest and when I sat up, we were face to face... still laughing like idiots.

She kissed me and pulled away quickly, but then kissed me again, more passionately this time..

The kiss was broken when she suddenly bursted out laughing once more, and for some reason I did too.
I tried to kiss her again but for some reason, we couldn't stop laughing.

That's the best kind of kiss.. when you're so into each other, you can't stop laughing or smiling.

She hopped off of me quickly and helped me up, and that's when I let loose.

I began jumping around with her, laughing and giggling for no reason at all.

I was laughing because she was so beautiful yet clumsy, I don't know why she's laughing.

❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣

An hour or so went by, and it consisted of Michonne teaching me how to do a backflip, while taking breaks to go get water together every now and then.

The kids were everywhere, I mean we couldn't keep our eyes on them. One minute, they were running the course and the next they were jumping around with some random people and the next they were tackling each other on a separate trampoline.

"You think you got it?" She smiled, breaking me from my thoughts.

"If I try it, will you laugh at me?"

"Psh," she scoffed "Of course not."

I rolled my eyes and ran my hands through my curls, hesitantly staring at the trampoline.

I can't believe this girl has got me doing this.

If I don't land this back flip, I will really have back problems and most importantly, I'd embarrass myself in front of her.

"Just do it!" She smiled

"I can't,"

She pulled my neck closer to her lips and jumped up to place a kiss on my forehead.

"Yes you can."

"Was that a good luck kiss?" I chuckled.

"It was a don't-break-your-legs-old-man, kiss."

This woman.

I shook my thoughts away and warmed my body up by sprinting around and jumping at the same time.. and then all at once, I took a huge jump and threw my legs backward.

I flipped through the air, and time stopped for a moment.
The breeze hit my sweaty curls and my body shivered, and in the spur of the moment, my feet landed upon trampoline.

Perfectly.

I stared at my feet for a second, because I just couldn't believe I landed a flip.

"That's my boy!" She ran over and threw her arms over my body, that was sweaty and much bigger than her.. but she didn't care.. I didn't care.
She was sweaty herself, but she was still so beautiful.
And although it's super hot in this place, and my body's burning up, I still hugged back because I just love being close to her. I cannot stress this enough.

No matter the temperature.

Suddenly, many arms wrapped around us and pushed us down.
I regained my balance and looked up to find Andre, Ron, Carl and Jay with their arms folded.

"You wimps wanna play freeze tag?" Ron smirked.

"What are you, four?" I scoffed.

He shrugged and pretended to contemplate for a second, "To each their own."

"Shut up," Jay bellowed "What he tryna say, is us vs y'all.. last man standing wins."

"And what's the prize?" Michonne asked, quietly panting for air.

"If we win you have to let us stay at Jay's house for the night and if you guys win, we'll clean the whole house tomorrow." Carl explained.

"No," I started.

"Why not!?"

Well first of all, I don't Jay and Carl and Ron barely do.

"You don't know h--"

"He's a good kid, Rick. They'll be fine." Michonne cut in.

Ugh, why does she have to put her 2 cents in? She knows I'll reside with her.

"Fine." I sighed.

"Yay!" Andre squealed, jumping up and down anxiously.

I can't believe I'm doing this..what has my life come to?

Happiness. That's for sure.

Michonne and I stood up and faced the boys like we were about to have a Western shoot out.

"Maybe the best win." Jay narrowed his eyes at us and gestured for his team to back up.

Michonne and I did the same.

"You go for Ron," She whispered "I'll get Jay."

"What about Carl and Andre?" I asked.

"They'll stick together and Andre will slow him down, leaving us with an easy win."

Dang..
She's right.

"Stay close to me though," she nodded.

"Kay."

"MARK," Ron yelled
"SET? .... GOOO!!"

Carl scooped Andre up and ran off, just as Michonne had planned, and Ron and Jay zig-zagged around us.

I tried my hardest to keep up with Ron, I chased him all around, yet I couldn't catch him.. that is until he fell!

I quickly ran over to him and hit him softly before he could even get up.

"Ha!" I smiled mischievously.

"Ricckkk!"

I turned around quick enough to find Jay lunging at me.

I ducked and he literally flew over me, to which I turned and smack his leg in defeat.

"How does it feel to lose?"

He rolled his eyes at me and sat up, "it's not over yet white boy."

I walked over to Michonne who was sitting down.. she got tagged.

"It was Jay." She sighed "you have to win this game for us, your garage is terribly messy and you could really use the cleaning service."

True.

"Hey mister Rick!" A high, faint voice called out from behind me.

I turned around to see Andre with his eyes narrowed at me and his tongue out.

"No mercy." Michonne yelled.

And with that, I took off after her son and he ran like the wind.
Kid is fast, no wonder why he plays soccer.

Right when I began to gain on him, he cut corners, causing me to slip.

I quickly jumped back up though,  and continued to chase the little rascal.

Wait, where's Carl?

Andre ran to the ball pit, and dived in without hesitation.

The pit was filled with kids, I can't just jump in there.

Agh, but I have to. This is for the win!

I shook my hands and dove into the pit, nearly drowning amongst other kids.

I searched and I searched for Andre, and that's when I spotted him trying to get out to the other side.

Not on my watch, I reached for him and pulled him back into the pit, tagging him as he fell back.

"I win!" I exclaimed.

Unanticipatedly, Carl popped out of the balls beside me and tapped my arm before I could even react.

"No, I win."
____________________________________

After another hour or two, Michonne and I decided that since the kids were going to Jay's.. WE COULD JUST STAY AT MY HOUSE FOR THE NIGHT.

Today was perfect, I seriously couldn't ask for anything better.
And maybe tonight will be even better? I doubt it though.

I'll probably be out cold on the chair watching Netflix with my arms around her.. I'm pretty tired and I have work tomorrow.

"What a day!" I sighed, as Michonne and I stepped foot into my big empty home.

"I wouldn't have spent it with anyone but you." She smiled.

I raised my eyebrows at her as I took off my jacket and threw it onto the rack.

"I'm so hot," I said in exasperation.

"You can say that again."

Smooth, Michonne, smooth.

Without thinking, I lifted my shirt over my head and threw it off completely.

"Dammit, Rick!" She sighed as her eyes met mine.

"What?" I asked, a befuddled look across my face.

"You gonna give me a heart attack."

"What? Cause I'm shirtless. Well I've got news for you," I began to unbuckle my pants and kick off my boots, because I'm gonna walk around in my boxers! It's a  hot summer night, what does she expect..

"W-what are you doing?" She stammered.

She's so cute when she's nervous.

"What? We are close enough to where I can walk around in boxers, right? It's like I'm in a swim suit," I chuckled "besides, I'm taking you to the beach next week anyway."

Hell. . .
Aren't I great with keeping secrets?

"You are?" She smiled.

"If you'll come with me." I then unfastened my pants and dropped them, kicking them across the room.

Her eyes trailed down and she quickly looked back up, like I didn't catch her.

I shook my head and wandered over to the couch, she followed close behind and took a seat right beside me.

"Is it slutty to sleep with someone if you've only known them for a month and a few days?" She mumbled.

Ah... I know where this is going..

"No." I shrugged, reaching for the remote on the other side of her.

She stopped me and absent-mindedly grabbed my hand and interlocked her fingers with mine.

We stared at each other for a second, I was staring deeply into her eyes and she was reading my expression.

My mind was screaming, "ride me!!!!!"

But my smile was saying, "on your mark."

Suddenly, we began moving closer to each other.

I cupped my hands around her face and kissed her like she was a fine drink of water and I couldn't quench my thirst. I kissed her like I was drowning and she was my air. So passionate and tense.

We moved in sync, her hips grinding against mine and she sure did get me excited.

I then ran my hands up her sides and pulled her shirt over her head, revealing her small but pleasing chest, her perfect sculptured abs, and her small waist.

I couldn't speak, I was as breath taken as she was this morning when she saw me shirtless.

She pushed me off of her, and aggressively threw her bra off, and ... I almost passed out.

She was so beautiful, the way she hovered over me shirtless, smiling widely yet still biting her lip sexily. She ran her fingers through my curls and we began kissing again..

This time, my hands were going places.. doing big things.

Until, the thought of Lori shot across my brain.. and I suddenly pulled Michonne away from me and sat up.

"What?" She panted heavily.

I haven't been this far since Lori died, and I can't let this just be a one night stand.. like Michonne said the night she was roofied.. I can't stand another heart break.

"Tell me something," I said, running my hands over my face in exasperation.
"Is this it? Will we go farther or will you just ask for space?"

She glanced at me with a befuddled look across her face and smiled, "space is just a word made up by someone who's afraid to get too close.."

She chuckled faintly and leaned in to kiss my neck, "and I'm not afriad anymore."

Her words sent a shiver down my spine since she was so close to my neck.. so close to my hot spot.

"Me neither." I bellowed, and with that, I yanked her off the couch and wrapped her legs around my body.

"You think you're stronger than me, Ricky dicky?" She laughed, still so close to my neck.

"I know I am," I chuckled as I began to slowly walk down the hall, holding her close to me.

"Prove it." She whispered.

You.
Don't.
Have.
To.
Tell.
Me.
Twice.
***********************************

HEY PLEASE VOTE RN BC LIKE 40 PEOPLE READ EACH CHAPTER BUT ONLY LIKE 5 VOTE, come on. Please vote. It'll make my night/ day.

Lol if you really counted how many times close was said, comgrats, you the real MVP.

Idek how many times I typed it XD.

Excuse the typos,  I'm trash.

Anyway, I'll try to update twice a week so I can have this book done before school starts back (I go back Aug 3).

I'm actually really excited for school, bc summer is boring as hell. Lol, I don't have a car so I can't really go anywhere, my friends usually ignore my texts and calls, and I'm a lazy potato!

Don't be afraid to message me lovelies, I need frens!

Alright, till next time!!