The Dog Days

" Carl, the heat isn't going to stop those walkers coming.'" Rick pulled on his t-shirt as his son followed him through the hallway and out the house.

"Dad you're the only one who wants to work in this heat. You're going to tire yourself out!" Rick blue eyes flashed at his son. It was almost 100 degrees out, a heat wave pulled through Alexandria overnight.

For some reason, the people behind the walls didn't understand that they still had work to do.

Predominantly his son who carried Judith and followed his father. Rick understood Carl's concern. Understood it when Carl waited at his door at five in the morning knowing that Rick was going to get dress and work despite the dangerous heat.

Rick slightly caught glimpse of Michonne as she watched the father and son argue. She wore a maiden skirt she made with a t-shirt tied at the waist and her dreads high above her head. Rick briefly stared at her belly button, he barely listened to his sons complaints.

"I don't think people want to hear their leader died of heat exhaustion." Rick smirked, looked down.

"I'll be fine. Now get in the house and mind your business." Carl rolled his eyes and walked by Michonne.

"Be careful, he's grouchy today." Carl advised Michonne aware that his father could hear him.

"Morning, Rick!" She interrupted. She handed Rick a water bottle. Rick nodded his head, blue eyes pierced through her.

"Mornin.' " He simply stated he walked to the curb while Michonne followed.

"Be careful out there. I know you have to do what you have to do. Just don't go killing yourself." Michonne whispered. She echoed everything his son said, but for some reason when she said. It made him willing, able to listen and have the world stop around him.

"Will do ma'am." He teased she smiled back and walked about to the house.

The day was slow, as Rick walked assuming everyone was still asleep, until he heard commotion in the far off distance.

"Hey you got your panties pulled in a bunch or what asshole? Move the bricks towards the left!"

Abraham screamed through the truck at one of the employees as they worked endlessly throughout the haze of heat.

It was six in the morning an Indian sunrise to work through the heat wave that pulled through Alexandria.

"Abraham!" Abraham turned to see Rick, standing with his hand on his hip; eyes squinted from the bright sun.

"Mind if I join you?" Rick asked as Abraham smiled.

"Sure, the more hands the better." Abraham welcomed.

The day was filled with runs of supplies building a longer wall. Rick was glad in some way that he decided to work with Abraham.

It was a day filled with small talk. Old footballs teams they enjoyed watching. Wives, kids. It was almost as if the world hadn't gone to shit for the past hour they talked. Just two men working the day away, a few hours later Abraham sent the workers home, which left Rick and Abraham cleaning the construction site.

"It's been stressful, making sure Alexandria runs smoothly. I used to almost do a form of meditation when I would farm. It was peaceful in some way. Now it seems like nothing can help this stress." Rick confessed. Abraham nodded then, took off his gloves as loaded the truck.

"The only thing that helps in this world is fighting." Abraham said, eyes narrowed from the sun.

" Or fucking."

Rick grew quiet then at Abraham's statement. The fighting part he understood. Nothing felt better than pummeling Pete in his face those months back and that was something He had come to an understanding about himself.

The fucking part. He was doubtful.

But his body became tense when he thought about how long it was since the last time he even touched a woman. Guilt struck him them, clouded his thoughts and covered it with an ice bucket.

He hadn't notice Abe's eyes on his, Rick's head was tilted lost in thoughts.

"Been that long, huh?" Abe chuckled, a good hearten laugh that snapped Rick out of his thoughts.

"Yeah." Rick agreed, he closed the trunk to the car door.

"That long..." Rick concluded, as Abe watched Rick he put his gun back in his wast band and followed Rick as they entered the car.

"You mean to tell me, Sasha, Carol, and Michonne-" Rick tensed then starting the truck and pulling out on to the road. "And you haven't gotten a piece of any of those asses." Rick laughed, but it wasn't an easy laugh. It was one filled with tension.

"Sasha had bob, Carol it just wouldn't be right. She's almost like a sister to me."

"And Michonne?" Rick grunted. Silence filled the car as the gates of Alexandria came into view.

"You mean to tell me nothing's been going on between you?" Rick turned then to give Abe an incredulous look. Abe looked into the road.

"Well I'll be fucked."

Ricks lip twitch in the crude saying.

"If I was you, I'd be getting in that real soon, Make sure she's not screaming anyone's name but yours."

Rick chuckled, their conversation giving him nostalgia from his days with Shane in their sheriff car. Abe sympathetically looked at Rick then, a moment later offering camaraderie and trust.

"Take it from a man who's lost a wife and two kids. Anytime you can get up and find a woman who is loyal and get some comfort from in godforsaken times like these." He quieted down then. As he stared at Abe. A familiar look of loss and grief covering his face.

"We can only be so lucky; we don't know how long we got. And we might as well live." The conversation was eerily familiar when he talked to Glenn when he was so new to his relationship and feelings for Maggie, then he still believed in a world with hope, love. Now they only thing that kept him grounded was family. His family.

They got of the car and Rick helped Abraham carry the plank and enter the gates,

"Michonne and I, We've been through a lot together. She saved me so many times, helps me with Carl, Judith."

Rick sighed, suddenly getting the headache from his thoughts of just what Michonne means to him.

"I don't know what she is to me." Abraham nodded in understanding, his red hair glinting in the sunlight.

"She's a friend." Abraham whispered, Rick shook his head.

"Giving her that title, it seems beneath us, you know." Abe grunted softly in understanding. They were quiet then, the truck stopped by the gates. Abraham face was pensive then.

"She's...she's here. That what matter's Rick. Keep it alive, we don't know how long we got." He concluded. Stepping out of the truck and slamming the door.

"Michonne!" Rick closed his door, entered quietly into his home, afraid that Judith might still be sleep.

It had been a long day in Alexandria. And one of the hottest. Rick had helped with Abe and the construction he walked the safe zone and made everything stay secure.

After the talk with Abe, Rick paced the town a few times over, thinking about how he really saw Michonne. If they did form a relationship how much it could ruin things.

On the other hand, it could make them so much stronger.

There was no way he could ever think about that. Not now. Not ever.

"In here!" her call interrupted his thoughts. He came into the kitchen taking in the sight of the dim lighting and the aroma of dinner cooking on the stove.

Judith gurgled happily in the sight of her father, ready to get out of her high chair.

"Hey, everything go ok?" Rick was a little surprised, but took notice of Michonne, half her body bent and the rest, including her head in the kitchen sink. She was wearing black lounge pants, with a grey tank top.

The cool water ran down her dreads, as she moved her fingers through her hair.

"As good as expected. Besides the spitting up in Michonne's hair bit." Michonne said solemnly. Rick pulled Judith in his arms and walked over to the woman in the sink; she poured more soap in her hands and ran it through her hair, rinsing out Judith's vomit.

"Sorry," He said half regretting it, but the other half taking in the woman before him. Distracted by the sight of her neck slick with cool water. Her necklace fell sideways, the bejeweled M dangled playfully.

The water that fell along her dreads didn't just travel there, strings of it fell down her face, as she closed her eyes, some fell to her lips as her tongue peeked out between her full lips to get them even wetter. Rick couldn't help but lick his as well.

Water traveled down her prominent collarbone, and suddenly he was thirsty.

When she reached for more soap, he stepped back just a little bit, realizing how close he was. Her head quickly dipped back in the sink. He watched, some trail down her to her bosom that was covered by her gray thin tank top.

He envied it then, wishing he could follow the water that trailed down her body. He wondered if he touched her there, his fingertips tickling the collarbone. Would she shiver the same way she did with that cool water?

"It's ok, comes with the package. Besides, it's a nice excuse for me to cool down from this heat."

Rick nodded, realizing briefly and turned his head to the window. He forgot briefly how hot it really was.

She turned off the water, and squeezed her fingers around her hair, getting rid of excess water.

"What I wouldn't give, to be at the beach right now." Michonne sighed longingly, and pulled her dreads to one side to her face. She turned to face Rick, her eyes off in the distance.

"Sunbathing and soaking in the hot sun, listening to the wave's crash and feeling the warm sand under your feet. So peaceful."

Rick's blue eyes took Michonne in as she talked her voice low as If she was only one in the room.

The thin clothing she had on couldn't protect the hardened nipple that peaked beneath the surface. The water making the top transparent. Her sudden wishful thinking of a beach made him wonder how gorgeous she'd be, how tempting she'd be in a bikini that barely covered her most private parts.

The ones he could only see.

He could almost taste her between his lips. He'd take her breast in his mouth and worship her. His teeth and tongue continuing putting pleasure along her body. Michonne would pull her head back, and her dreads will fall gracefully along her back as she'd hold on to him for that dear life.

"Rick." He turned to her then, snapping out of his thoughts and taking notice of Michonne. Praying he'd come back to reality and get back to the present.

She wasn't wearing a bra. Why wasn't she wearing a damn bra? It was all he could think about, beads of water dripped down the side of her face and parts of her shirt. Particularly the parts by her breast were tainted with water. She was beautiful, her dark skin bewitching in the sunlight as she twisted her hair to side of her, and waited for him to say something.

"I was just thinking," Rick explained he walked over to the counter and grabbed bottle of water. Since when did he become so attracted to her? Had it really been that long since he had someone?

The question really was, when he wasn't attracted to Michonne. A year ago, he'd bury his feelings, not listen to the voice inside him that wanted her beneath him screaming his name over and over-

"You're out of it today, the heat must really be getting to you head, huh?" Michonne softly said with concern, she touched the tip of his neck; her fingers tickled his skin, setting it on fire.

He flinched suddenly and moved away. He changed the subject to deflect the heated situation.

"Is dinner ready?"

Dinner was filled with silence. Mostly from Rick's side of the table, mostly he'd steal looks of Michonne. Michonne would coo to Judith, feed her. Carl and Michonne will go in the natural banter and games.

When the table was cleared with Rick and Carl assigned dish duty, Michonne announced that she was going to take a shower to cool down.

"Dad. You need one to. That whole day outside, you're sweating bullets." Carl smiled jokingly at his father, grabbed Judy and left. His plans were to head to Maggie and Glenn's house for a night of poker.

Rick stopped. Cleared his throat and knocked on the door softly. She turned, a towel wrapped around her and her dreads were pulled to one side.

"Carl left?" She asked, stepping over to the sink and grabbing her toothbrush. Rick nodded and glanced briefly at her body.

"I was...wondering' when you'll be done in there." Rick explained. This part was nothing new to him, as he leaned against the shower. The six months they've been living under the same walls. They'd catch a glimpse here or there of skin. He never took a double look.

Until tonight, that was new.

She gave him a small smile as she brushed her teeth. Her eyebrow raising knowingly.

"I wanted to get a cool down tonight. It's been a long day."

She finished, she turned off the faucet.

"Is that what you want, Rick?" Rick looked over at her, confusion masked his face, with a small hint of anticipation.

Michonne slowly turned, leaned against the sink, confidence rolled off her in every way.

"I've noticed the way you looked at me. I'd be stupid not to see." Suddenly Michonne was inches from him, she licked her lips gave him a look that was in competition with his earlier when she was bent over the sink.

"Tell me what you really want." He gasped when her lips softly covered his. It was a short kiss fused with passion.

"Better yet…" A kiss followed on his neck, as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Show me." It was going by so fast, almost like a dream sequence as the room was spinning.

His mind was slow to comprehend. But his body was faster.

Rick kissed her, all this time of knowing Michonne, he was so calm. So still as water with feelings uninterrupted.

But tonight, he was a tidal wave manifested by Michonne as the undercurrent.

Suddenly they pushed their way through the bathroom door, entering his bedroom. Never breaking part of their lips and touches.

His shirt was tumbled on the floor, just as quickly the towel that was wrapped around her followed.

He pushed her on the bed then, followed and kissed her again. His lips trailed to her neck, the spot between her breast, her ribs and pelvis the inside of her thigh. He bit into her thigh roughly, she arched from the bed.

His mouth was sweet and soft however between her thighs, and she responded just right. A long mewl escaped her lips as his tongue was an unpredictable current. Rough then soft. Her body opened to him, so open she can feel her womb spread waiting for him to fill her.

Michonne was hot against his mouth, he never knew he could get so much pleasure from tasting her.

Rick stopped suddenly. He held her thighs apart. Staring at her body, her breathing almost stopped waiting for his next move.

Rick flipped her then, kissed her back and covered her like a cocoon.

He pulled of his jeans, watching her body like a shark to its prey. Her smooth back with a sheet of sweat.

Michonne turned her head, just to take sight of him, he easily pulled her body to the bottom of the bed. Rick almost smiled to himself. He forgot just how small she truly was, she was so tough when you first knew her.

Tough, take no bullshit, fearless, quiet Michonne.

Here she was, buried beneath him, gasping and moaning loudly. So submissive, so willing when he entered her. Her body so tight and wet as he thrust inside her, Rick held on to her hips his thrusts were so slow feeling her out at first, relishing how sweet she was beneath him.

When he fastened his pace, she approved, he watched her as her body thrust with him, keeping his rhythm, her hand snaked between her legs, he felt her open her thighs slightly wider and he could feel her getting slicker with each thrust. Welcoming his cock into her wet folds.

She was touching herself.

He had to watch.

Suddenly he pulled out of Michonne. He turned her and entered while she lay on her back, never losing the rhythm he had last time.

He panted, leaned over Michonne his penetrations harder, deeper as their climax built and ready to crash any minute.

"Do it. Do it." He demanded, within seconds she obeyed. Moved her hand between them rubbed her clit, as she bit her lip, matched the rhythm as soft mewls came out of her full lips.

"That's it." Rick moaned softly.

"That's it" He repeated.

"Rick!" She moaned, as he pounded mercilessly into her; a sheen sheet of sweat covered her body. Rick put a nipple into his mouth, drove hard inside her. She let go of her clit then, and held on to his arms. He held on to her hip while his other hand gripped the headboard.

Her ankles were at the base of his spine, giving him complete control to ride into her without penalty, without boundaries.

"Shit…" He grunted when he felt her orgasm wracked through her, her muscles clenched around him. Held on to him for that peak as she moaned, arched her back her body closer to him.

"Michonne..." He called her name softly, as if it was the first and last time he'd ever say her name.

When he came inside her he collapsed, his hips still moving into her as he rode out the wave, her muscles still clenched him, she held on to his forearm panting and enjoying the humidity that covered the room and surrounded them.. The silence was tranquil; the only sound was their soft breath, and a faint click of the clock in the hallway. The only light was the moon outside.

He lay quiet on her breast, their bodies damp, evident from the heat and overdrive they put themselves through.

After endless minutes, Rick pulled his softening cock out of her, collapsed beside her and closed his eyes.

She tried to think nothing of him not holding her. Tried not to be that woman that was so needy after a good fucking.

Because it was sex, pure, simple need.

But it had become so much more.

He answered her without words, grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, spooning her just right and giving her a kiss on her shoulder.

Michonne softly smiled to herself.

"Feel better?" She asked, as she played with her dread between her fingers.

"Hmmm…" He hummed, his breaths slow and easy as he relaxed with the woman he loved in his arms.

"Rick?" When he was silent, a minute later he started snoring loudly. Michonne smiled softly.

"I guess you'll shower later." She whispered, snickering to herself as she thought of round two would be against the shower walls where they could both cool down.

End.