Chapter 15: Hope

"Hey," Rick cautiously called out to his girlfriend. He walked into their bedroom, finding her sitting at the edge of their bed, in tears, surrounded by paper and tape. He knew why she was crying, so he didn't want to make an issue out of it; he simply walked towards her and crouched to the floor in front of her. "You ready?"

Michonne took a deep, quivering breath and nodded, beginning to push the extraneous paper out of the way so that it wouldn't fall when she stood. "Yeah."

"You sure?" he pressed, gazing down at her leg shaking against the floor. "It doesn't have to be now."

"No, I want it to be today." She slowly stood from the bed and held her hand out to him, confirming that she wanted to do this, and she wanted to do this with him. "Carl and Judith are ready?"

"Downstairs waiting," he answered, standing again and taking her hand. "We finished decorating a little while ago."

"I'm scared to see what that looks like," she smiled, using her free hand to wipe at the tears on her cheeks and chin. "I was planning to do that myself."

He nodded at her teasing, and handed over the three unsealed envelopes she had left on the bed. "I think you're gonna need these."

"Yes." She sighed again, accepting them from him with a grateful smile. She wasn't sure how Rick would react to her suggestion, considering she had managed to involve his dearly departed wife in her shenanigans, but he had been supportive every step of the way. Even when she initially refused to tell him what she'd been writing, he trusted her, and he let it go. Everything about him that past week just reminded her why she had fallen in love with him. "Let's do this."

I just kept hoping
I just kept hoping the way would become clear

Together, the couple continued downstairs, where Michonne was pleasantly surprised to find that the boys had actually decorated their home quite beautifully. Pink and white balloons and streamers adorned the walls, mostly in corners of the room, so that it wasn't overbearing. And they'd collected these gorgeous pink lilies from outside the Alexandria gates to accent their decor. It was so unexpectedly elegant, she couldn't help but smile. "Nice job, boys."

Carl had been sitting on the couch with his baby sister, waiting for their parents to appear, and he stood to take in the view of their work. "It's super girly, but Dad said that's what you wanted."

"I wanted Judith to have something pretty," Michonne confirmed. She squeezed Rick's hand before letting him go, moving across the living room to investigate the mantle. Framed pictures were sitting on the ledge that hadn't been there before. One with Rick and Carl, another with Judith and Carol, and the frame in the middle was the photo of her with Rick that they'd gotten from Aaron and Eric. She smiled again, loving that it was the new focal point of their home. She stared at them for much too long, as if she'd never seen the image before. She just loved that candid, happy moment between the two of them. They probably had a million of those, before then and after, but she simply loved knowing that that was her life now.

I spent all this time trying play nice, and fight my way here
See I've been having me a real hard time
But it feels so nice to know I'm gonna be all right

"We should go," she declared, turning from the mantle to face her family. "I still have to come back and decorate the cake before the party starts."

Rick nodded and gathered Judith from the sofa, along with the small shovel he had waiting for him at the door. Carl also grabbed his contribution to the morning - three wooden crosses he'd made from some scrap planks he'd gotten from Abraham. His dad had told him to bring along a few extra lilies, so he pulled them from the vase on the coffee table as well. And with that, they were ready to go.

Michonne was kneeled on the ground, staring at three small, square-shaped holes before her, and the crosses that bore them. Three burial plots, for all intents and purposes, in the area of Alexandria that served as their cemetery. From where she sat, she could see Noah's plot. Reg not far behind him. A few feet to her right were the spaces for Jessie and her boys. Behind them were three Alexandrians she hadn't known very well, along with Pete and Nicholas. It was insane how much death surrounded them. All those people in just a couple of months. She took a deep breath as she stared at the three empty spaces they'd just created.

"Are you okay?" Carl called out from behind her when he saw that she wasn't moving.

Rick immediately shushed him, knowing she likely needed space for this. Silence. "Let her take her time," he said.

"I'm okay," Michonne promised, turning her head towards him as she nodded. She was shuffling the three small packets around in her hands, nervously wondering where to start. How to start. But then she rolled her eyes at how indecisive she was being, and quickly decided on the envelope with Mike's name written in her cursive on the front.

She pulled her letter from its confines, and stared at the paper as tears unexpectedly began to blur her vision. This was turning into a much larger feat than she anticipated. Moving on. It was hard. But there was also nothing she wanted more, so she took another deep breath, and began her dear goodbye.

Michael,

I've been thinking a lot about you lately, and the last time we spoke. Or at least, the last time I spoke, and heard you in my head. It used to be such a regular occurrence, and then you went away. I always wondered why you left when you did, after I found Andrea. Did you know that I was okay without you there? Were you tired of me being mad at you? Was I tired of being mad at you? I still don't know.

But that last time, after the prison fell, it felt like goodbye, and I don't want that to be the last thing I say to you. I didn't want that to be "it." Not after all the other things I'd said.

Mike, I loved you. I love you. I didn't show it at the end, too buried in my own grief, and I wish so badly that I could take it back. You were scared, and you needed me to be kind, and I was cruel. Seven beautiful years together, and you died thinking that I hated you. And I guess I have to be honest in the fact that I probably did, in some ways. But I didn't forget, and I will always remember the good days. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry, Mike. I wish I'd said it sooner, and I wish we could've ended on a better note. A happier note, if such a thing exists. But if nothing else, I hope you think of me as fondly as I do you these days. I hope you'll remember the Michonne Calvet that swept you off your feet that night at Kappa Karaoke. Because I remember you as the charming cellist that stole my heart after one afternoon at the High. You, with the immaculate smile and the giant heart. That's my Mike.

I can't say that I miss you anymore, but I mean that in a good way. I can think of you, and us, and it doesn't hurt. The ache has gone. But it's been a long, hard fight to get here, and I don't want to apologize for that. I'm sure you've watched me try to navigate this road, making mistake after mistake, so I do hope that you can be happy for me, knowing that I've found my way. When I said I knew the answer, I meant it, but I didn't realize it was staring me right in the face. I knew that I needed to heal. I needed to cleanse. And I have. I can see now that the answer was Rick.

You and Andre were the beginning of my story, and I will spend a moment of every day thanking the universe for that. Because there is no me without the two of you. But Rick and Carl and Judith are the next chapters of my life, and the most wonderful part of that is it's all unwritten, and I'm so unbelievably excited to see what comes next.

I hope you're happy up there. I hope you're okay. Because I'm okay. Finally.

-M

The next envelope, marked Andre, she could barely hold steady in her hands. Her lips trembled as she held the paper close to her heart, as if it were her little boy, and her tears came hard, streaming down her face and chest as they dampened her letter. "God…" she sighed lightly.

Rick knew Andre's would be the one that truly stung, so he didn't hesitate to sit down beside her, both him and Judith reaching out to gently rub her back as she cried. "It's all right," he whispered.

She nodded, staring at the hole where she would drop his love letter in just a few short minutes. She wiped her tears, looking over to Rick, and then Judith. "I couldn't write this without crying my eyes out, so..."

"Cry," Rick encouraged as he settled into his position on the ground. "I'm right here."

She gave his knee a soft pat, then tapped Judith's cute little button nose before she began to unfold another sheet of paper full of words that would never adequately express exactly what was inside. But for her little boy, she had to try.

My darling Andre Anthony,

There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think of you, little one, and I miss you so, so much. I often see your face in my dreams, or hear your laugh in my thoughts, and then I need a moment to collect myself, because I need that reminder that it's not real. You left a long time ago, and you're hopefully somewhere better, and that's all right.

I hope I was a good mommy to you, Peanut. I tried. God knows I did, even when the world was collapsing around us. I did everything in my power to keep you safe, and I'm so sorry that I failed you. I'm so sorry. I used to constantly do this thing where I would rewrite that last day in my head. I change it so that I never left you at that camp. I make it so that you're fine, and Daddy's alive, and nothing hurts. I fix it. ...But the reality is, I can't fix it, and I know that, and all I can hope is that you forgive me.

I've been trying to find the words for nearly two years now – the words to express my regret, my sorrow, my eternal gratitude for you. But I could never find anything that came close to articulating how much I love and miss you. Probably because there are none. This is unnatural, it's unreal. I shouldn't have to express how much I hate that I'm here and you're gone, because you should be the one that's here. And so, they've been impossible to find. Unreachable. Unspeakable.

All I'm left with is: I love you. I loved you then, I love you now.

I wish I knew where you were, exactly, wherever that may be - as long as it isn't nowhere. I wish I could know that you can still feel my love, and understand that I'm always with you. You're always with me, you know.

If you look down here and see me smiling, it's because I'm happy. I am. I met Rick and Carl and Judith, and they've shown me joy again; they've made me better. But it doesn't mean that I don't miss you with every fiber of my being. It doesn't mean that I'm not thinking of you. You will forever be the great love of my life, because it will forever be true that your life was my life's best part. I love you always, Peanut.

-Mommy

Judith stared at Michonne as she spoke through her tears, her confusion apparent as she babbled at her, and reached out, wanting to be in her arms. But Rick held on to her, wanting to give Michonne the space to complete her mission.

"I can take her," she said, once she dropped Andre's letter to his plot. She held out her arms, and Judith was doing her best to tear out of her father's clutches.

"Are you sure?" he questioned. "She'll be fine."

"No, I'd like to," she nodded, wiping at her tears. She took the toddler into her embrace, and her little hands immediately went to Michonne's face, trying to dab her face with the pads of her fingers. "You're so sweet," she grinned back at her. With a face like that staring back at her, it was hard to keep crying. "Thank you, Jellybean."

Rick watched the two of them for a moment, smiling at the small interaction that seemed to have brought Michonne back to them. "You okay?" he asked warily.

"Stop asking me that," she returned, holding onto Judith's hand now. "Carl, come join us."

"We just wanna make sure this isn't too much."

"I'm not gonna break," she promised, balancing their baby in one arm as she opened the third envelope. "This is emotional, but we knew it would be."

Rick nodded as Carl came and kneeled on the other side of Michonne, the four of them staring at the third empty hole in the ground as she spoke her final letter into the universe.

Dear Lori,

I realize that this may be strange, given the fact that we never met, and in fact, I regret that we never had the opportunity to know one another. But in a sense, it feels as though I do know you, as I've had the joy and profound privilege of getting to know your children. Through Carl and Judith, I feel as though I have this unique connection to Lori Grimes, and it's been an honor to meet you. I know that I'm preaching to the choir in remarking on this, but Carl is absolutely exquisite. He's unique, and smart, and brave, and so heartbreakingly thoughtful that I often find myself wondering where he came from. And then I remember that he came from you and Rick.

I know that you only got nine months with Judith, and it aches to know that you'll never get to look into those giant, curious eyes, or hold those little hands. She likes to hold on tight, and you can tell, already, that she'll be the type to love big and love hard. And I imagine that that's how you were. That's what I feel from her, that's what I recognize when Rick and Carl speak of you. I promise you that I'll love her back, just the same. She'll have family dinners and bedtime stories, and kisses, and hugs, and Christmas gifts and birthday parties. She will have someone that loves her just as much as you. I don't know that she'll have kids her own age to play with, or that she won't wish she did. I know that worries Carl, and I can't promise that will change. But I do promise she'll have me. I will be here, for as long as I can, as often as I can, and she will be okay. We'll be okay.

I don't know if it's appropriate to thank you for sharing your family with me, but please know that I am eternally grateful. I was wandering, lost, and hurt, and it was Rick, Carl, and Judith that found me, and they reminded me how to live. And I'm truly not sure what would've happened to me otherwise. I think this world would've consumed me. So I mean it when I say that they saved my life.

Maybe it means something that I was the first person Rick met after you. I don't know. But I do think everything happens for a reason, and sometimes we're not privy to knowing why. But I will love them, Lori. With everything that I have, and even more after that. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I already do. They're safe with me.

Perhaps, when you have a moment, you can look in on Andre and Mike for me? Just to make sure they're okay up there? Or maybe… you're already somewhere together. That would be nice.

-Michonne

She dropped the final letter into the final resting place, and Rick and Carl immediately began using their hands to push the mounds of dirt back over the holes, filling them completely. She looked on with Judith, trying to stop herself from crying again. They were mostly happy tears, but there was still an ache there that was hard to ignore. "Thank you for doing this with me," she said to Rick and Carl, and even Judith. "It means a lot."

Rick wiped the dirt from his hands as he finished his task, resting back on his knees, and glanced at Michonne. "You know you don't have to thank us for this."

"No, I do." She took three of the flowers Carl had set between them, and carefully placed one atop each of the freshly filled holes. "I know this probably looks crazy, but you supported me anyway."

"It's not crazy at all," he assured her. "Believe me, I'm the expert."

She smiled as she handed over the remaining three flowers, and the four of them all stood from the ground in unison. "I won't argue with that." She watched as Rick stooped down in front of the Andersons' plots, and very sweetly left a lily on Jessie, Ron, and Sam's graves. He nodded before looking up to the sky, and she wondered what he was thinking in that moment.

And then, he expressed it in a very simple sentiment, his voice quietly haunting as he spoke to their ghosts, "I'm sorry this happened to you."

Michonne gazed at him sympathetically, knowing that he still felt some responsibility for them, and loving his compassion. She loved that despite everything he'd been through, he still felt things deeply. He had passed that on to his children, and even to her, and it was yet another reason she was in love with him.

Rick stood with a heavy sigh and looked back at Michonne for confirmation that the task was complete. "You ready?"

She looked down at Judith, the toddler's head sleepily rested against her chest, and she nodded. "Yeah," she grinned. "We have a party to get to."

So I just kept dreaming
Yeah, I just kept dreaming
It wasn't very hard
I spent all this time trying to figure out why nobody on my side

"That's a beautiful picture," Morgan declared as he approached his friend, toting a tumbler of whiskey in each of his hands. One for Rick and one for himself.

Rick hesitantly pulled his gaze from watching Michonne and Judith share a slice of cake, and focused in on the photo behind him as he took in Morgan's compliment. The photo, of course, being the one of him and Michonne. "Thank you," he said, accepting both the drink and the praise. "It's from when we first arrived here."

Morgan nodded, not at all surprised to hear that it was from before they'd actually gotten together. They had always given off that vibe to him, and he had been more stunned to hear that Rick was pursuing someone else when he arrived. "You know, when you came back to King County with her last year, it made me wonder..." His eyes scanned the picture once more before he looked over at Rick. "I thought surely to myself, 'Rick got himself a new woman.'"

"It wasn't like that at all," he chuckled, remembering how far gone he was at the time. How little he trusted Michonne back then. "It was damn near the opposite," he had to admit as he took a small sip of his drink.

"I know now," Morgan nodded back at him. "But at the time, I didn't know your wife had died so recently. I didn't know... Hell, I barely recognized you." He closed his eyes as he, too, thought back to that awful time in his life. "Maybe I just wanted to believe it. That you could be all right." He opened them again, and turned to look at the party surrounding them. The music, the laughter, the life. "But I saw you and your boy with this woman, the three of you walking off together with that baby crib. I said to myself, 'If Rick could move on. If he could find his wife, lose her, and still manage to find somebody to spend his life with... maybe all hope isn't lost." Morgan took a gulp of his own drink as he nodded again. And he realized that even though he was wrong, he was right. "And here I am."

Rick glanced at him, and then stared into his glass as it all flooded his memories. It was just about a year ago, and so much had changed. "If it hadn't been for you, seeing you that way, I don't know what would've happened to me, Morgan. I was spiraling."

"I guess we were put here to keep saving each other then," he grinned.

Rick had to chuckle, as it certainly did seem that way. "Happily ever after together, after all," he said, harking back to their last interaction back in King County. "We came back."

"To say the least."

Rick took a glance around the room, taking in his friends, his family, his community, and he couldn't help but smile. His daughter was across the room, enjoying her birthday party with the person she would come to know as her mother. And his son was in another corner of the room with his friends – not just some kids he'd found to occupy his time, but in Enid, he had someone that truly cared for him. And it was a relief to know that Carl was okay.

The rest of his people were scattered around the room with their drinks and their food, and their smiles. Glenn in charge of the music, while Maggie went around with a camera, recording everyone. Carol trying to make sure everyone had enough to eat, while Eugene and Tara made sure they ate. Daryl and Abraham were on the front porch, drinking beers and probably not talking, much in the same way he and Morgan weren't at the moment. It was all so wonderfully mundane. He knew these people could wake up tomorrow and take down an army of walkers if they needed to, but for now, they wouldn't have to. For now, they could breathe. And finally, they weren't just alive, but they were living.

See I've been having me a real good time
But it feels so nice to know I'm gonna be all right

Darkness had fallen when Michonne stepped outside onto her back porch, where Rick was sitting quietly, staring out into oblivion. She walked towards him, tiptoeing her bare feet across the cool wood in her approach. She didn't speak, and neither did he, as she stood in front of him, between his legs, and ran her fingers through his soft curls. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, burying his face in her torso as he inhaled her sweet scent and she continued to rub his head. The two of them simply reveled in being close to one another.

"I love you," he whispered against her body, still squeezing tightly.

"I love you, too, Rick." She gazed down at him, getting lost in the way the moonlight highlighted the dark and light brown of his curls, and even the flecks of gray mixed in. She grinned at the sight. "I was hoping I'd find you out here."

He could hear the smile in her voice and pulled back to get a look at her face. "Why's that?"

"I don't know." She slowly pulled out of their embrace and took a seat beside him. Close to him. "I like it when it's just us, out here in the moonlight. After spending all day entertaining people... I just wanted to be with you."

He nodded in agreement and sat back in his seat. He thought about all the time he'd spent with her on that bench, staring at that ugly steel wall as they talked or laughed or simply sat together in silence. It was their safe space, and he loved when it was just the two of them, too. "I watched you all day today," he said, "and I didn't know it then, but it was this moment that I was waiting for. Wishing for. Just you and me."

She smiled again, closing her eyes as she leaned in to Rick, resting her entire body against him, leaning her head in the crevice between his neck and shoulder. "You and me," she repeated with a quiet sigh.

So please don't take my feeling I have found at last
So please don't take my feeling I have found at last
If I wanted to, I'd be all right

The two of them sat there for a long time, Michonne listening to Rick's heartbeat, while he listened to her breathing, both of them faint, but steady. The level of comfort between them was so apparent.

"Today was perfect, you know," he quietly proclaimed. "From start to finish."

"And it's not even finished yet," she quipped, smirking sleepily at her joke.

"If I had to bet, I'd say you're about five minutes from snoring on my shoulder, so you probably shouldn't be making any promises you can't keep."

"I'm wide awake, thank you very much." She had to suppress her yawn so as not to give herself away, and then sat up straight. "See?"

"Get back here," he said, already missing the warmth of her body. "And I'm serious. I'm trying to thank you here."

"Thank me for what?"

"For today," he said, pulling her back into his arms. "The day Judith was born wasn't exactly a great day for us. I mean, you know." He took her hand, locking their fingers, before resting them on her lap. "And I wasn't sure how Carl would take it. I always wonder how a family is supposed to handle a birthday when the mother dies in childbirth. That has to make it bittersweet or somethin'. But… you made today perfect. You made it special for all of us, and that means a lot."

"Rick," she whispered, shaking her head against him. "The three of you made my life special. You have to stop thanking me."

"I will spend the rest of my life thanking you," he returned genuinely.

So I just kept going
I just kept going, and hoping I'm growing near
Well that's good and fine
I spent all this time trying to find my way here

Michonne immediately closed her eyes, trying to stop tears from coming out, but she knew for certain they wanted to. She tried to make a joke instead, and lighten the earnest moment. "The rest of your life? You really wanna make that promise?"

"Well at the rate things are going, the rest of my life could be just another week or so."

"Stop it," she chuckled, punching him in the thigh with her knuckles. "You better find some way to become immortal, because I'm not letting you die."

He couldn't help but laugh at her very serious tone as she made an utterly ridiculous proclamation. "You're not letting me die?"

"So you can leave me with two or three or four kids?" she scoffed. "No, sir. We don't die."

"And we have four kids now?"

"Well don't be ridiculous, we have two now," she stated as if he were the silly one. "But I mean, birth control isn't exactly in production these days. I'm already rationing what Denise gave me, as is. So we're gonna run out, and all the condoms are gonna expire and then what? We can't have sex anymore? Please. So we might as well get used to the idea now."

"You're adorable," he smirked at her, amused.

"Oh, so I can't call you adorable, but you can use it for me?" She sighed heavily, pretending to be exasperated. "I'm not adorable, Rick. I'm sexy."

"You're that, too."

"But not adorable," she maintained. "Adorable women don't give head like I do. Don't call me adorable."

He snorted in response, trying to keep himself from laughing too loudly. "Are you drunk?"

"I think maybe, a little bit," she giggled, sighing again. "Carol and I finished off the Jack Daniels while we were cleaning. I think it's catching up to me."

"That much is clear," he noted, still completely entertained by it.

"Don't judge me, Rick. I'm still very sharp."

"No judgment here," he promised. He was grinning at their entire exchange, feeling some added layer of happiness at the carefreeness of it all. "I like you drunk."

And I've been having me a real fun time
And it feels so nice to know I'm gonna be all right

"You like me any way you can get me."

He had to concede that that was true, nodding as he yawned, "Can't argue with facts."

"I'm pretty sure you argue with facts all the time, but all right."

"I disagree," he immediately shot back.

"And there you go."

"First of all..." He began to protest, but decided to reposition himself first, stretching his body along their porch bench, resting his head in Michonne's lap. "That's better."

She laughed, running her fingers through his hair again when he didn't finish his sentence. "'First of all' what?"

"First of all, that was your opinion, and you can't just use your own statement to prove yourself right."

"So you're trying to deny that you're not generally argumentative?"

"Not if you present me with facts," he denied. "No."

"Rick..."

"You've gotta present a better case than this."

"Rick, just on Monday, we meet this guy, Jesus," Michonne started, recalling the events of earlier in the week.

"His name is Paul, but okay."

"He said to call him Jesus, I'm calling him Jesus," she shot back, her words slightly slurring. "Anyway. He brings us to his giant community of how many people?"

"He claims two hundred, but..."

"See! How do you not believe something that's plainly being presented to you?"

"I'm skeptical," he shrugged, smiling up at her. "Sue me."

"I just don't know how you can be skeptical of facts," she chuckled. "When they asked for help? Sure, I can understand being wary of that. But to not believe they have a full farm when they're showing us their fresh corn and shit? You're insane."

"Well I'm sorry, but I just don't understand how all these sanctuaries are just magically thriving all over Virginia. We have it good here, and I have no need to integrate with some other community that may or may not be what they claim."

"All right," she lifted her hands from his hair and his chest, holding them up in surrender. They'd had this discussion more than once since she returned from her run and their subsequent trip to this Hilltop community. There was no point in having it again. She didn't even disagree with him. "Let's talk about something else."

"Besides, this Negan person that they're having trouble with sounds like another Governor type, and god knows we don't need to get involved in anything like that."

"You're right," she agreed, repeating her previous request. "Let's move on."

"Unless he threatened us personally," he went on, obliviously ignoring her, "because then we would have to respond. But why should we go out on a limb for this-"

"Rick," Michonne cut him off by covering his mouth with her hand. When he began to lick her palm, she squealed and pulled back with an amused grin on her face. "You have no idea where my hand has been."

"I've got some idea," he shot back, quirking an eyebrow as he licked his bottom lip.

"You're awful."

"I'm fully aware," he smiled. He was gazing up at her and then his stare drifted up towards the stars. They were bright that night, as if they were twinkling just for the two of them. "You know, I didn't think about it until you said it in your letter to Lori, but I do think it means something that you walked into my life the day after she left..."

"Mmm," she smiled to herself, letting her head fall back against the house as she closed her eyes again. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know, maybe... I mean maybe fate did intervene, like you said. But is it crazy to think that Lori sent you herself? That she saw you with Andrea and just knew you should be my person?"

Michonne was instantly moved by the thought, and could feel the sting of tears again, as she shook her head. She just loved that notion – she was his person. "That's not crazy at all, baby."

"Maybe the universe knew all along," he allowed, "maybe this all happened so we could find each other. But it's gotta be some cosmic miracle for two people to find each other and be exactly everything the other person needs. How often must that happen?"

"I dunno," she whispered, allowing her tears to fall then. "Back in the old days, people always went around thinking they'd found their soul mates."

"But were they right?"

"I wasn't," she admitted, referring to Mike. "We were good together when it was good, but..."

"Lori and I weren't even that sometimes," he remembered as he watched Michonne's tears stream down her face. He reached up to wipe one of them away. "I think you and I are right about this one."

She held his hand there, over her face, her smile widening at his words, at his touch. "I think so, too."

Please don't take this feeling
I have found at last

"I'm so glad you didn't give up on me," he said, thinking back to everything he'd done when they first arrived to Alexandria. He flashed back to their conversation in his bedroom, where she said she was still with him. And then the discussion they had at their kitchen table the following night. "You said we could find a way, and we did."

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind, you know."

"I know." He took her hand and held it with both of his, absently playing with the tips of her fingers as he stared at the empty house next to theirs. "But you were still right."

"Well, I'm always right, so there's that."

Rick opened his mouth to combat her assertion, and then smartly decided against it. "I'm not sayin' anything."

She giggled at the fact that he had to actually press his lips together to keep from protesting. "You want to, though."

He only shook his head, trying not to smile.

"You're so silly," she sighed happily as she ran her thumb over his bottom lip. "I hope we stay just like this," she added, staring down at his lovely face. His pouty pink lips, and dimpled cheeks, the freckles on his nose, highlighted by the moon, and those gorgeous, daunting blue eyes that could see through to her soul.

Since the world ended, she was always so afraid of wanting things for herself. She didn't think she deserved them. But in the year that she'd known Rick, the pieces fell into place, and she saw herself in him - someone being consumed by their mistakes. And through him, she learned that it didn't have to be that way. Because of him, she could say, unequivocally, that she deserved to be happy. Because she knew he deserved to be happy, too. And she would always be a little bit scared of tomorrow, because happiness was a risk, and maybe even a fool's errand. But they'd died and gone to war, they got to come back, and now, they had one more day with a chance. And that was all she needed.

Please don't take my feeling I have found at last
Yeah, if I wanted to, I'd be all right

"Michonne," Rick called out to her softly. He had closed his eyes, but he could feel her fingers on his lips, and the sound of her quiet exhales.

"Yeah?"

"Remember how you said you're with me as long as I'm with you?"

"I do," she whispered, still studying the lines and curves of his face. "Why?"

He stared up at her then, locking in on her questioning beautiful brown gaze, and he smiled. She had snuck up on him in the most wonderful way, and he had no plans on letting go. "Because I'm with you forever."

If I wanted to, I'd be all right

-End-

A/N: And that's all she wrote! 90,000 words, you guys! I don't even know who I am anymore! Not gonna lie, this is a bittersweet one for me. I hate to end it, because goodbyes are awful, and I've had so much fun writing it and hearing from you guys. But then, I've been stressed out since August, trying to live up to my own expectations, lol. Of course, I never expected this story to get this kind of response, and I still have no idea what drew you guys to it, but I'm so thankful and just... I'm glad you liked it (at least, I hope you liked it in the end). It means a lot, especially when you're kind of questioning yourself, to hear from people truly enjoying what you're doing. I can't say how much your feedback has meant to me. It really propelled me to do some of my best writing, and it's cool when you have people that make you better by just existing and saying a kind word. So thank you, truly. I'll see you guys around! (ONE MORE WEEK TO S6!) –Ashley

Lyrics: "This Feeling" – Alabama Shakes (Sound & Color)