A/N: I kind of forgot that Merle lost a limb in canon, I was too far gone into the chapter and mentally exhausted to fix it. Enjoy.

Chapter 12

The relatively peaceful and harmonious atmosphere that had been present moments ago was disturbed by the raucous sound of gunfire. Michonne barely heard the cacophony that erupted inside the house as she stood motionless by the sink. Adrenaline caused her heart to beat faster and her other senses seemed to dull for a second, making it appear as if the people around her were moving in slow motion. As if through a fog, she saw Rick talking to Carl, most likely issuing orders that were immediately followed, it was that frantic movement that propelled her out of her frozen state. Her feet barely touched the ground as she ran out of the house and narrowly avoided missing the last staircase and landing on her ass. She hit the pavement running, her gut churning with dread.

When she caught up to Rick, she spied the look of anger and determination on his face and it fueled her growing trepidation. Several people were making their way up the road and among them, her friends whom she'd seen not so long ago. As soon as they went past the armory and infirmary, Michonne heard a familiar, loud and grating voice demanding that they all disarm and return to their homes. They came to a standstill a distance away but no one dared to relinquish their weapons.

Michonne slinked her way to the peripheral edges of the crowd and remained hidden in the shadows, out of Merle's direct line of sight, instinctively knowing the situation would escalate if he caught sight of her.

"What do you think you're doing?" demanded Rick.

At the sound of Rick's voice, Daryl who had been heading towards a pick-up truck stopped in his tracks. The crossbow slackened in his grip causing it to slide down his back as he turned to face Rick and the rest of the community that had gathered but made no effort to explain their current situation. The issue being how Merle got his hands on a knife and a gun, let alone, why Jessie was being held hostage. Daryl stared at the ground as if it held all the answers as to why there was a truck loaded with supplies from their pantry and armory.

Michonne glared at Daryl, disgusted by his cowardly behavior and that even now, when it was apparent that there was nothing humane about his brother, he was still helping him. To think, she had saved him from certain death a few months ago when he was nothing more than a stranger. Twice now, he had raised his hands to help his brother and one of those instances, even threatened to kill her. Unbidden, a sense of betrayal gnawed at her heart and whatever little sympathy she felt for him- being caught between the family he'd made along the way and his own flesh and blood- died a swift death.

Michonne shook her head, trying to dispel her train of thought as it would inevitably question Rick's own culpability in the situation. Instead, she tried to think of a viable solution because if it came down to it, no way would she let Merle walk out of Alexandria, alive. Suddenly, she turned her head sharply to look at the watch tower where she could make out from the outline of the body-build that Spencer's was in the booth, his gun pointed at the scene below. Michonne groaned softly in disbelief, the fact that Merle was still alive was clear indication that Spencer didn't have the balls to do it. Hearing Jessie her cry out, she looked back in time to see her being manhandled by Merle into moving backwards, taking a step closer to their escape car.

"I don't want any trouble. Let us go and you can pick this pretty little thing, where you found me," Merle bargained. His eyes narrowed as he bared his teeth at them, a cruel smile gracing his lips. "But if I see anyone following us, you won't like what I do with her." He pressed the blade into Jessie's neck, making the frightened woman whimper when it cut into her skin.

"Merle," growled Daryl.

"Get in the car if you know what's good for you, little brother."

She watched Merle continue to shorten the distance between himself and the car, dragging the sniffling woman with him as he went. Michonne gritted her teeth, hands tightening around the handle of her katana helplessly, having left her gun at home before heading out to the dinner.

"Daryl, you don't have to do this." Carol who stood next to Rick spoke up for the first time, she took a step in the direction of the car, only to stop abruptly when the gun was pointed in her direction.

"Lady, you need to shut up and-" began Merle, no longer moving to focus on Carol.

Carol raised her chin at him. "You don't owe him, anything!" burst out Carol, heedlessly. The lack of movement from the car where Daryl now sat behind the wheel seemed to push Carol over the edge and she raised her gun unflinchingly at Merle.

"Uh-huh, wrong choice. Control your people, Officer Friendly, or else this one ain't gon' make it." He used the barrel of the gun to part Jessie's blonde hair. "Speaking of people who ain't gon' make it, where is my Nubian queen?"

Rick swiftly aimed his gun at Merle's head.

Others seeing this, followed suit which distracted Merle as he began yelling insults, there was a wild look in his eyes that indicated how fast the situation was about to deteriorate. Seeing the opening that Carol and Rick had unwittingly, she easily disarmed the brown-haired, stocky man that stood next to her. Her movements were sharp and precise, giving him no opportunity to tighten the lax hold he had on the Uzi pistol in his hand. In the next moment, her heart in her mouth, she flitted along the edges until she slipped undetected behind the shrubbery. She could barely breathe for fear of being detected, not to mention, all the noise she was making along the dirt pathway until she was a short distance away from her quarry.

Michonne peered around the foliage and saw Rick slowly approaching Merle as he tried to bargain with him. Unfortunately, Merle issued his first real warning that he wasn't afraid to spill blood when he shot at the crowd. The chaos that ensued and screams of pain that broke into the night, made it difficult to stifle the urge to jump into the fray. A door banging open alerted her to the fact that Daryl had finally left the confines of the car as he burst on to the scene.

"What the hell Merle, we had a fuckin' agreement," yelled Daryl, his crossbow leveled at his brother.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" hollered Merle, his movements frantic as he dragged a struggling Jessie by her hair.

Michonne's hands shook, acutely aware that her window of opportunity was about to slip from her fingers. In a flurry of movement, she emerged from her hiding spot and charged at Merle with enough strength to knock him off his feet causing him to land on top Jessie who tried to crawl away. Just as she pointed her gun at him, a vicious yank on her arm had her locking eyes with Daryl, he tried to wrestle the gun from her and Michonne grunted with effort as she fought off his attempts. In the struggle, another shot was fired halting their movements and they stared at each other with wide eyes, both realizing that it had gone off behind them.

Rick stood above the prone figure at his feet, unloading another bullet into his skull and kept on firing until there was nothing left to empty. The heavy silence that followed, was reminiscent of the first time she met him, only this time, the blood flowed at his feet instead.

Michonne walked toward him, transfixed by the sight of Merle who lay motionless on the ground, finding it hard to believe that it was over until she came to stand over him and saw the copious amount of blood seeping out of him. A sweaty palm clamped around her arm and she was forcibly pulled her away from the corpse. They didn't stop moving until they came to stand on the other side of the truck, away from prying eyes. Rick stood before her, his lips pressed into a thin line and his eyes shone with anger. He pried the weapon from her grip with his other hand and laid it down on a seat inside the truck (through the open window) all the while, glaring at her.

"What were you thinking?" he asked, incredulity ringing loud and clear in his voice. "That was fucking reckless."

Michonne reeled back in disbelief that quickly turned into anger, recalling with great clarity that Merle had shot at him. How could he be so blind to his own actions, she wondered.

"Reckless?" The word rang sharply into the air. "I'm not the one who tried to bargain with a sociopath and thought approaching him would be a good idea, and you almost got killed for it!" she carried on in a scathing tone, ignoring the warning gleam in his eyes that intensified at her words.

Rick's head tilted in that dangerous it always did when he was pissed. "In case you missed it," he said, mockingly. "I was trying to avoid a blood bath that would have taken out not only Daryl but could have caused him to open fire on us."

Michonne laughed humorlessly as she tried to pull her arm free but gave up when he held on tightly. "And you were so concerned about a man who could so easily betray you? Betray what you've tried to build here and putting the people you love at risk?"

Rick let go of her as if her words burned him and drew back, frowning. "Don't you think I know that, he's like a brother to me and his actions put you in danger. It's all I can do not to-" He stopped talking abruptly, a tick visible in his jaw.

The words that he couldn't say and the raw emotion in his voice clued her in to his inner turmoil, leaving her momentarily, speechless. To her horror, she felt the tell-tale pinprick of tears welling in her eyes. "You protected me tonight when Daryl intercepted me, Merle could have gotten up and taken advantage of me being distracted," she disclosed, it hadn't occurred to her then (so focused on her goal as she was) how things could have turned out disastrously. "But, you once told me that you were on my side, do you remember that? But it never felt like you were when it came to this. Part of me, at least for a moment, thought you were still punishing me for hiding things from you."

He gaped at her. "God no!" he said, shock evident in the tone of his voice. "I meant what I said, I-"

She gestured with her hand to forestall his protest. "No, I know we talked about that and I'm not bring it up again to hurt you. It's just that when you say something like that, your choices, your actions also hurt me." The apocalypse had taught her to always rely on herself, fighting was now a part of her, it was hard to just…stop. A sob escaped her lips, she felt shaken to her core and unable to hide how she was unraveling, she made to walk away but he wouldn't let her. His warm but firm hand landed on her shoulder and turned her back to face him.

His hand glided off her shoulder to her face, his thumb pressed softly against her smooth skin as it brushed at the curve of her cheek slowly. "I'm sorry…I am so sorry."

Michonne swallowed against the painful lump in her throat, she closed her eyes at the imploring tone in his voice and the way he was touching her. It had not escaped her notice how much of tactile person he was that she found herself leaning into his body, her arms going around him.

Although caught off guard by the unexpectedness of her actions, he did not hesitate in returning the hug. With one arm curved around her waist and the other caressing her head, he held on tightly. It hit him suddenly, how long it had been since he let his guard down for something like this, the last woman he'd even remotely embraced this way had been Lori. Rick shuddered as a wave of relief rolled over him, his mind only now accepting that she was at least physically unharmed. Psychologically and emotionally, she was far from alright and it grieved him to know that he was partially responsible. Because the more he got to know her, he found that underneath all that armor and no-nonsense attitude, she really wore her heart on her sleeve, she was smart, caring and could be funny when she wanted to be.

Before everything had gone to shit, when he had approached her that morning to invite her to dinner, he'd sensed that the awkwardness from the previous night lingered on in the way she tried to avoid him. Panic had filled him the longer she continued to refuse his invitation but he was just as stubborn and his persistence had paid off. Dinner had been perfect despite the rift between him and Daryl. Even Michonne's obvious reluctance to bond with Judith wasn't enough to dampen his mood. They had talked and teased each other almost like old friends in the kitchen as they washed up after dinner. Of course, the thorny subject of Merle had come up and as it stood now, everything had come full circle.

Rick felt her starting to withdraw from his embrace and reluctantly let her go. Michonne didn't make any eye contact as she walked around him, he turned in time to see her reaching into the truck and retrieving her gun.

"I'll grab some people to check the perimeter to make sure we don't have any visitors," she said, her voice steady.

The look on her face told him the moment had passed and her walls were up again.

"Are you sure?" he asked, concerned that she was not be in the right frame of mind, especially if she was going out there.

"I'm okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," he said softly, watching her retreating back thoughtfully, hoping that her inclination to avoid him whenever they shared vaguely intimate moments wouldn't kick in when tomorrow came. Realizing that he couldn't stand there the whole night, he followed her example and went to deal with his responsibilities. The first problem he tackled was removing Spencer from the watch tower, he felt no qualms in telling him how useless, he found him and to never step foot in the structure again. He later bumped into Sasha on his way to the infirmary where Daryl was being kept under guard. She carried a rifle with her, informing him that Michonne had already approached her to take over from Spencer. Rick couldn't help the smirk that grew on his face at how much they thought alike.

Abe greeted him with a disgruntled look on his face when he got inside the infirmary. Carol, on the other hand, continued to talk to Daryl quietly but stopped when he didn't appear to be listening to her anymore. Although Carol seemed reluctantly to leave, she left without putting up much of a fight.

Rick had not allowed himself to completely dwell on the role Daryl had played in all this, but Michonne had intuitively known how he truly felt. Betrayed. Furious, he cleared the distance between them and aimed for his abdomen. The impact of fist connecting made Daryl grunt as he doubled over. He threw another punch to the side of his face that caused him to fall to the ground and left him lying on his side.

"Get up," demanded Rick, through clenched teeth, pacing before him. He kept an eye on him, watching apathetically as he staggered to his feet. Daryl's face was turning red and an ugly bruise was beginning to form on his face. He was barely standing when Rick landed another blow on him, there was a satisfying crunching sound of his nose breaking. He staggered backwards, but he grabbed onto the railing of a nearby bed, breaking his fall.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" he fumed, barely resisting the urge to strike him again. "You put everyone in danger and it's fortunate that none of our people got hurt. But why, you did all of that for what? To help Merle run off with our supplies?"

"Jessie and Tobin are our people too," Daryl told him in an indignant toned he righted himself slowly. His hand visibly trembled when he wiped the blood now dripping from his nose. "It wasn't supposed to go down like that," he added weakly, "I should have known not to trust him." He sat down heavily on the edge of a bed and the bed-springs groaned in protest. Using a rag, he pulled out of his back pocket, he held it to his nose.

Rick looked at him skeptically, was he really trying to make him feel guilty for not caring? The muscles in his face tightened as he watched the hunched figure sitting on the bed hiding behind a curtain of dark hair. "What was the plan then?"

Daryl removed the rag away from his nose. "What happened today is on me, I know that, " Daryl said gruffly, finally making eye contact. "He wanted us to go back to Woodbury to take over, I wasn't going to do that but he kept on saying all this shit about Michonne and I knew he couldn't stay here no more. I wanted to tell you but I knew you would lose it and when I even brought up me going with him to Woodbury, we argued. Anyway, Jessie caught us, he tried to shoot her but I stopped him in time. But because of the gunshot, he knew people were gon' show up, so he decided to use her instead."

In disbelief, Rick followed suit and sunk down on the next bed over, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "Why didn't you end it then?"

"I wanted to but there was a risk of hurting Jessie and then everyone else showed up. But when I heard the gun going off, I thought…" Daryl sprang to his feet and started pacing in front of Rick, pulling at his hair. "I was so blinded by my own feelings that I forgot what he was like, that he could be a danger to anyone who crossed his him." His pacing ceased. "I had to get him out of here before anyone else got hurt because of me. I'd do what needed to be done."

Rick glared at him. "And after everything that's what mattered, killing him on your own terms?"

He wondered if everything that had happened since bringing Merle here, could have been avoided if he had not intervened that day. How could he have overlooked all that Michonne had shared with him, with all of them, to protect a non-existent relationship between the brothers. Disgusted with himself, he stood to leave, unable to continue sitting there and play the blame game. He froze at the exit when a hoarse voice spoke behind him.

"What… what's gon' happen now?" asked Daryl, his body half-turned away.

"I don't know yet," Rick said honestly. Once again feeling the pressure of being a leader in this delicate situation. Would he have to banish him as he did Carol? "We've been through a lot together, you and I, we are brothers but your actions tonight need to have consequences. A decision will be made tomorrow." He turned to leave again but paused with his hand on the door knob. "It goes without saying that I'm trusting you to stay here, don't betray that trust again," he said in a hard voice.

It was way past midnight by the time he got home, having also done his own security sweep after leaving the infirmary. Going through the motions of checking on his family before returning home, he had also felt obligated to check on Tobin and Jessie, both having opted to convalesce at their own homes. There was no doubt about whom, Jessie held accountable for her ordeal. There had been tears and mentions of Pete that left him feeling numb and questioning what had possessed him to even approach her considering how well their last encounter ago had gone. The beginnings of a headache throbbing at his temples did not help the exhaustion he felt and seeing Carl waiting for him on the porch did not help his mood either.

"I told you to wait inside with your sister," Rick said, feeling exasperated. Carl relayed that Glenn had showed up not long ago to check on them and to inform them that the situation had been taken care of. Rick eyed him with thinly veiled amusement when he stood up from the steps and showed him a sleeping Judith on the baby monitor. "I see," he chuckled wearily as he ruffled his son's hair affectionately "let's go in then and I'll fill you in."

Rick held the door open and let Carl walk past him, he paused mid-step before entering his domain to glance down the road in the direction of her house, wondering if she was already in bed and if she would get any rest tonight. Thinking that he should also try to get some rest whilst he could, he made his way inside, determined not to dwell on the issues that remained unresolved until the morning.

"So, how did it go?"

Michonne glanced in Sasha's direction unable to hide the bewilderment she felt. "It went well, better than I expected. He actually sounded…grateful?"

"Why do you sound so surprised then?" asked Sasha, sounding just as confused. "Some of them aren't that bad."

Michonne gave her a look as if to say, come on, be real. "True but other than a handful of people and that is excluding you guys, the rest of the community hasn't been all that welcoming and I have been here for months. Tobin wasn't even angry that I took his gun and left him unprotected, said it wasn't going to protect him anyway and that I needed it more that he did because I had actually been doing something to help protect everyone."

Sasha didn't immediately answer as she handed the rifle back to her, as instructed, Michonne adjusted her stance on top of the broken-down car they'd been standing on for the past half-an-hour.

"I think, we are all still struggling to find our place here," confessed Sasha, somberly.

They exchanged a loaded glance.

Michonne shut one eye as she looked through the scope with the other, fixing her vision on the lone walker making its way towards them in the distance and took aim. The first bullet went through its neck, tearing off a chunk of deadened flesh, her third attempt hit the mark and it dropped to the ground.

Michonne pursed her lips, not pleased that it had taken so many attempts. "I suppose that was an improvement from yesterday."

"Definitely," agreed Sasha, "look at it this way, this is just day two and you are doing way better than Spencer did when I was teaching him all the good it did him though. Chocked like a little bitch when it mattered the most," she muttered, scathingly. "I heard Rick made him cry."

Michonne's stomach dipped and soared all at once at the mention of his name, she worked to control her expression. "He didn't," she finally said with a nervous laugh, her mind drifting back to their encounter that morning. She'd been waiting for Tobin to open his door when he'd happened upon her, waiting.

888

"Morning," he greeted, walking up to stand at the bottom of the staircase, eyeing her curiously. "What brings you here?"

Approaching the stairs, she explained how she had thoughtlessly swiped his gun the night before, leaving him defenceless and she'd just found out that he'd been hurt.

"You needed it and it wasn't fatal," he said dismissively, walking up a step.

Michonne pulled a face not all that shocked by his attitude, he'd made it very clear how he felt about the rest of the Alexandrians. To be honest, she felt the same way. Caring about other people only left a world of pain in its wake, she only had to think about her baby, Mike and Andrea. She had felt like she lost a bits and pieces of herself after her ordeal in Woodbury. Look at how she'd been prepared to leave Daryl and Aaron to their certain deaths at that complex. In saying that, there were people worth caring about and she said just as much to him.

Rick only nodded as he walked sedately another set of steps coming to stand a head shorter next before her, leaning against the railing. "I'm not here to argue with you," he stated.

"I'm not being combative," she pointed out.

"And I'm not antagonizing you either."

They shared a smile at that both keenly aware that it reminded them of the day they made their pact and started to make the effort to get along. Michonne watched in interest as he wiped his palms against his dark jeans and a slight blush suffused his cheeks.

His eyes roamed over her face before meeting her gaze head-on. "I wanted to say this to you yesterday… I need to apologize for not doing what needed to be done. I'm sorry for making it look like I didn't care about what you went through and in choosing what I thought was Daryl's happiness, I protected Merle. No words can make up for that and I can only imagine what you have been going through, gods, I even came to you to exact an agreement out of you that you wouldn't kill him," he grimaced. "I have no right to ask this of you but I hope you won't hold my choices against me and," he paused.

Michonne darted her eyes up to his face having found it difficult to maintain eye contact as he spoke, his words and voice affecting her in a way she hadn't expected to be. Her face felt like it was on fire and the intensity in his blue eyes caused a delicious shiver to slide up her spine.

A door opening alerted them that they had an audience and it caused them jump apart. They both looked over to Tobin who appeared to be just as surprised to see them.

"Uh…I thought someone knocked on the door?"

888

The sound of Sasha laughing jolted her back to the present.

"Yeah, he didn't cry though," she amended, "coz I'd have lost what little respect I have for him. Thinking about it now, I can't believe I ever thought he was your type. I see you being into guys like Rick, the take charge kind of guy or the soulful but still strong type, like Glenn."

Alarmed by her intuition, Michonne gathered her thoughts and tampered the urge to tell Sasha who was grinning at her what had happened that morning. To ask her what she thought Rick might have wanted to tell her because her mind was flitting through different scenarios. Instead, she teased he. "I'll be sure to tell Maggie you said that. And we really should be trying to set you up, I'm sure Spencer is up for a challenge."

"Right," intoned Sasha, sarcastically. She squinted into the distance and then looked through the scope of her own rifle. "Incoming," she warned.

Michonne's focus returned to the job at hand, deciding that she would put her big girl pants on and talk to him when they returned to the community.