Chapter 12

Michonne woke the next morning to what sounded liked the chattering of a thousand voices. She got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt to see what was going on. When she walked out of the bedroom she found at least thirty people doing various things around the house getting ready for the wedding.

"Oh good you're up. Rick didn't sneak back in last night did he?" Mrs. Grimes said pretending to be upset.

Michonne just smiled and shook her head.

"No."

"Good. Now if there is anything you want changed or adjusted speak up because this is your day and your say. First go eat some breakfast." Mrs. Grimes said gently nudging Michonne toward the kitchen.

Her cell phone rang and she looked around for a quiet corner to take the call.

"Good morning." She said smiling.

"Good morning. Is there some tradition that says I can't talk to you before the wedding?"

"I've never heard of one. How are you?"

"Nervous. I've shaved twice. If Carl hadn't been here, I would have shaved a third time."

Michonne laughed softly.

"Your mom asked me if you sneaked back into the house. I half expected you to."

"Trust me, the thought did cross my mind."

"Your mom has a small army here."

"Yeah, she can rally the troops at a moment's notice."

"Two o'clock seems a lifetime away." Michonne said quietly.

"Yeah it does. I'm tempted to go get another haircut just to waste some time."

"I have a suggestion. Call Jake Wheeler and have his daughters teach you how to do the cupid shuffle. We're dancing at the reception."

"What? I don't dance Michonne."

"You will today my love." She said sweetly. "I'll see you in front of the preacher. I love you."

"I love you too." He said grimacing at the thought of dancing at his wedding, but he had to comply. His mother called him last night to remind him that it was Michonne's day so whatever she wanted, she got. Even though he knew he had no talent for dancing, he contacted Jake Wheeler as she suggested.

Michonne went around watching as flowers, chairs and place settings were being placed and arranged. An enormous tent was being set up in the pasture for the reception.

"How much is all of this costing?" Michonne asked as she watched Mrs. Grime's friends move about like ants in an ant farm.

"This is our wedding present to you and Rick. We wanted to send the two of you off somewhere, but he has a surprise set up for you."

"No cabin?"

A tiny smile formed on Mrs. Grimes face.

"No. You should have him take you up there another time. I love it there. After the boys were born and we were working this place, we would go to the cabin at least one weekend out of the month to reconnect. It's a special place."

"I'll make sure he takes me there." Michonne said hugging Mrs. Grimes.

At 1:45 p.m., Michonne put the final touches on her look. She dressed in Mr. and Mrs. Grimes' more spacious room. Mrs. Grimes helped her with her dress and they stood in front of the full length mirror smiling and nodding.

"He's going to cry you know."

"Yeah." Michonne said giggling.

A knock came at the door and it was Mr. Grimes.

"Rick and Carl just arrived. You have about five minutes Michonne."

"I'm ready now Dad."

Mrs. Grimes shoved a handkerchief into Michonne's hand.

"This is for Rick."

They both laughed and Michonne walked out of the room to join Mr. Grimes. Mrs. Grimes took her place to walk outside before Michonne.

"Gifts from Rick and Carl."

Mr. Grimes handed her two boxes. One thin and rectangular, the other small and square. She opened the small box from Carl and smiled at the earrings. She opened the other box and found a beautiful charm bracelet with three charms on it. One said 'I love you my wife,' and the other two were the letters M and G. She smiled brightly and Mrs. Grimes helped her put on the earrings and the bracelet.

The music started to play and Mrs. Grimes walked down the front porch steps, across the yard to the flower covered archway where Rick and Carl stood together. Michonne and Mr. Grimes followed and everyone stood, turning to look at her. She scanned the crowd of people and managed a nervous smile. Most of them were strangers to her. Her brief look around at the guests ended with the smiling, handsome man waiting for her at the end of the aisle. He smiled, but she could see even before she got to him the tears in his eyes. Mr. Grimes stopped just short of Rick and answered the preacher's question declaring he was the one giving Michonne away. He kissed Michonne's cheek and placed her hand in Rick's. She smiled at Rick and wiped the tears from his cheeks with the handkerchief making a few wedding guests laugh. That was another thing she admired about Rick, he wasn't shy about expressing his emotions.

"You look incredible." He said taking the handkerchief to finish wiping his face.

"So do you."

She looked over at Carl and blew him a kiss and discreetly pointed at the earrings he gave her.

The preacher got right to the point talking about what real commitment is and what it takes to make a marriage work. They said their 'I do's' and Carl stepped up and handed the preacher the rings which they in turn placed on one another's finger.

"You may now kiss your bride Rick." The preacher said.

Rick turned to Michonne and took her face in his hands and kissed her. Focusing only on her and almost forgetting there was a yard full of guests gawking and whistling at them.

"Save some for later." Michonne said nearly breathless when he finally broke the kiss.

"I have lots more where that came from." Rick said smiling with his nose touching hers.

"Atta boy Rick!" Someone in the crowd yelled.

After the laughter died down, the preacher spoke again. "Ladies and gentleman, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Grimes."

Rick took Michonne and Carl's hand and they walked up the aisle together into the house where a photographer waited for them. After the pictures, Rick, Michonne and Carl made their way to the reception tent. Michonne took this opportunity to talk to Carl. She knelt down and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you for being in our wedding."

"You're welcome." He said kissing her back. "You really look pretty."

"Thank you." She said smiling at Carl.

The three of them stood in a line while the wedding guests walked by them and gave them their best wishes. Lori's parents were among the last in line. Both Rick and Michonne were surprised to see them.

"Hello, it's good to see you again." Michonne said shaking hands with them. "Thank you so much for coming."

"Thanks for coming." Rick said shaking Bud's hand.

"Congratulations." Lori's father said to Rick. There was still a sad look in his eyes over the loss of his daughter.

Inside of the reception tent was an area for a band which was already playing, a long wedding party table, and several small circular tables for the guests. The guests stood and applauded when the Grimes family stood at their places at the table. Rick and Carl held Michonne's chair while she sat down. Rick sat down beside her and Carl sat on her other side. Food was served and from time to time during the meal, a well-wisher would stop by the head table to congratulate Rick and Michonne.

Shane came over and kissed Michonne's cheek, shook hands with Rick and signaled Carl to join him. They walked over to the microphone and the band stopped playing.

"I wasn't chosen as best man, but the better man was." The guests all clapped for Carl.

"Carl has something to say to his father and stepmother. You ready buddy?" Carl nodded and Shane lowered the microphone stand for Carl.

"Dad, you did good."

Rick smiled and nodded at his son and the guests laughed.

"Michonne, thank you." Michonne blew him another kiss and smiled.

"Before the bride and groom take their first dance, I know that the groom would like to say a few words." Shane took the cordless mic off the stand and walked across the dance floor and handed the mic to Rick. Rick stood and looked at the guests.

"First of all Michonne and I would like to thank you all for being here." Then he looked at Michonne. "Thank you for being here. I love you. You've made me extremely happy, and I'll tell you the rest later." She smiled knowing there was more he would have liked to have said in front of everyone, but out of respect for Lori's memory and her family at the wedding, he didn't. The guests laughed and cheered. They cheered louder when he bent down and kissed her. He put the mic down and the band began to play a song Rick chose for their first dance together.

"They're playing our song." He said helping her up from her seat.

A hush came over the crowd when Rick put his arms around her, and swayed gently to the soft music. Michonne looked into Rick's eyes and it felt as if the two of them alone existed in the world. The guests watched on at the couple whispering in each other's ears and the smiles they gave each other.

Suddenly the music changed and Jake Wheeler's daughters walked onto the dance floor and moved Rick to one side of the dance floor.

The band announced that they were going to open up the dance floor to do the cupid shuffle.

"You might want to move back." Rick said winking at Michonne.

She smiled as she watched in awe as he started dancing with the girls. She giggled at how much he was enjoying himself and how well he had the dance moves down. She quickly walked forward and stood next to Rick to join in. Pretty soon nearly everyone was up dancing. When the song was over a tall man approached Michonne. She looked up and into the eyes of Tom; the man who harassed her at the repast after Lori's funeral.

"Mrs. Grimes."

"Tom." She said seriously.

Rick stood close by and was soon joined by Shane.

"I wanted to tell you congratulations, and that I was sorry about how I acted a few months back."

"No problem Tom, and you can call me Michonne."

He smiled and nodded.

"Besides, I figure I better get on your good side considering you're the new sheriff in town."

She smiled and reached out a hand to shake his.

"Keep her happy Rick." He said shaking Rick's hand as well.

"I plan to. Thanks Tom."

When Tom walked away, Shane moved to stand close to Michonne.

"A lot of people are going to try you in this town."

"Yeah, it won't be the first time. I'm just glad he came around."

Before Rick and Michonne could get off the dance floor, Lori's father Bud walked over to them.

"Rick, may I talk to Michonne for a few minutes?"

"You'll need to ask her Bud."

"Sure Mr. Stafford." Michonne said leading them off the dance floor.

"Michonne, I want to apologize to you about my attitude. There was a lot I had to overcome after Lori died."

"I understand."

"Thank you. It didn't dawn on me until I saw how happy Rick and Carl were. Seeing the three of you together made me wish my daughter had made them as happy. I believe it was because I spoiled her to where all she knew was having everything her way. Good luck to the two of you."

"Thank you Mr. Stafford."

He bent down and kissed her cheek and Rick, who was looking on, had to blink to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing.

Michonne turned and joined Rick and Carl at the table.

"That was Bud Stafford, right?" Rick asked looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, He apologized."

"Wow. This really is a special day."

The reception was still going strong at 8:30 p.m. Michonne looked over at Carl and saw he was nearly falling asleep at the table. He had gotten up for a while and ran around with the other children, but soon came back; taking seriously his role as best man. She tapped Rick's leg and tilted her head toward Carl.

"Let's go put him to bed, and then you and I can duck out of here." Rick said standing.

"Sounds great."

He held Michonne's chair while she stood, and told Carl to follow them.

Carl was so sleepy, Rick helped him get undressed for bed.

"Was this your room Dad?"

"Yeah. It can be your room now."

"Do I have a room in the new house too?"

"Of course you do. You live where Michonne and I live."

Carl yawned and nodded barely able to keep his eyes open.

"Go to sleep now. Thank you for standing up with me today."

"You're welcome."

Michonne bent down and kissed Carl's head.

"We'll see you in a few days."

"We love you." Rick said kissing his son's cheek.

Michonne started to change out of her wedding dress.

"You don't need to change." He said smiling. "We're spending our honeymoon in our house."

She smiled brightly.

"They finished our house?"

"Just in time. I want us to spend our first night as a married couple in our home."

"I like the sound of that."

"You know we need to go say good night to everyone." Michonne told Rick.

"I know. You ready?"

"Yeah."

Before they could get out to the tent, Rick's parents met them.

"Carl's in bed." Rick said.

"Good. He looked like he was about to drop."

"Unless you two want to stay longer, now would be a good time to skedaddle." Mr. Grimes said kissing Michonne's cheek. "We came out to send you off."

Rick and Michonne smiled.

"Good, we weren't looking forward to having to say goodnight to everyone." Rick said.

"Get going. We'll see you two in a few days." Mrs. Grimes said tearing up.

"Thanks Mom." Rick said kissing his mother.

"Goodnight." Michonne said hugging her in-laws.

They stood in front of their new house and when Rick opened the door, he picked Michonne up and carried her across the threshold. There was one large candle lit on the coffee table in the living room, and Michonne looked around to see her furniture she brought with her from Detroit.

"Welcome to your new home Mrs. Grimes."

"Rick when did you do all of this?"

"The furniture was moved in yesterday. Remember when I asked you for the key to the storage unit so I could put some things inside?"

She smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you."

"That small army of my mother's came in and moved things around. Of course the set-up is temporary and I'm at your disposal to place things where you want them."

"This is great. I trust your mother's style."

"Carl and I moved in yesterday. We'll need to go back to the apartment to pack the kitchen, but everything else is in storage."

"The two of you packed the apartment?"

"We had help."

He watched her walk around lightly touching the furniture and smiling which made him smile.

"There's cake and champagne." She said. "I'll go upstairs and change out of this dress."

"Hurry back down here. I want to talk to you."

"Okay." She said wondering what that was all about.

When Michonne came back downstairs, a fire was lit in the fireplace and Rick had opened the champagne. He looked at her and laughed. She was dressed in what had to be his uniform. The shirt was unbuttoned, and she had to hold up the pants with one hand.

"Is this my bachelor party?" He said smiling brightly at her. "Even though my uniform is hanging off you, you look adorable."

"I got upstairs and thought how I didn't want to spoil you looking fabulous every night. I plan on keeping you on your toes."

He handed her a champagne glass.

"I just may insist on you dressing like this often. I like it."

She smiled and shook her head.

"Michonne. I just wanted to say how happy I am. I'm blessed to have you with me, and I feel honored to be with you."

He touched his glass to hers.

"Well hang on Grimes." She said smiling.

"I look forward to the ride." He said kissing her.

They ate wedding cake and sat cuddled together on the couch in front of the fire.

"What was your childhood like?" He asked out of the blue.

"Miserable for the most part. I lived with two different foster parents until I was out on my own. I've never felt more loved and welcomed than I do right now."

"Didn't your boyfriend love you?"

"No. Back then I wasn't confident about love or even how to show affection. Our relationship was mainly physical. I thought that was what it was all about. He had to show me everything."

"Why did you run from me?"

"You scared me. Mike didn't just break up with me because he didn't want a family. When I joined the FBI, he felt intimidated. He told me he didn't want a woman who thought she was smarter than he was. He left our apartment so fast it was difficult to tell he had ever been there."

"I'm sorry Michonne."

"It doesn't hurt much anymore. Not now."

She lifted her head from his chest to look in his eyes.

"I've never had as much as I have now. I don't mean in material things, I'm sure you know that. The first time I ever felt love was from my son. He looked at me the way you do. When he died, the love I discovered didn't die with him. I knew I would find it again."

Rick smiled and drew her to him and kissed her.

"You have, and I'm going to keep loving you within an inch of your life, and then some."

"I'm going to hold you to that."

As they gazed into the fire, Rick noticed Michonne's heavy eyelids.

"Let's go to bed, we're both exhausted." Rick said pulling her up from the couch.

"Okay." She said yawning.

They both pretty much fell asleep instantly. Just before she closed her eye, she looked down at her wedding ring, and the ring on Rick's finger. She smiled knowing she was in a good place with a good man.

Rick's eyes flew open and he sat up in bed. He first looked at Michonne, and then the clock and noted that they had been sleep for about two hours. A dream woke him which was odd and would not leave his mind. He got up and walked over to their bedroom window and looked out across the back yard and into the woods behind their property. The dream had a haunting feel to it that somehow brought out in him a harsher side of his personality that was new to him. Michonne sensing Rick was no longer in bed, got up and joined him at the window. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and he lay his arm over hers and laced his fingers with hers.

"Why are you up?" She asked kissing his shoulder.

"I had a weird dream."

"Do you remember it?"

"Yeah. It was kinda vivid."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I think I should. You were in it. So was Carl."

"Rick." She said concerned by his seriousness.

She could feel the chill over his body. He took her hand and they walked over to the bed and sat down.

"I don't know what the situation was, but the three of us were walking through the woods. I have no idea where we were going. We may have been camping, but there was an eerie feel to us walking through the woods. It was like we were going somewhere. We obviously had been walking a while because I nearly had a full beard, and Carl needed a haircut."

"Maybe that's how you felt yesterday after the wedding; like a man with a new family." She said grasping at straws.

"No, that wasn't it. The dream wasn't as disturbing as the feeling I got from what I was seeing. What I felt was a desperate need to keep the two of you safe, and a willingness to do whatever I had to."

"Safe from what?"

"I don't know. Maybe the dream did come from the wedding and my role as a husband and father, but this was out of desperation."

"Whatever it was, your priority to keep us safe is nothing less than what I would expect from you in any situation. I know you would do whatever you had to do."

"I would." He said looking seriously in her eyes.

"I will always love you Rick because you are who I know you to be, and no matter what happens, no matter what is in our future, we can accomplish anything together, and know without doubt that I'm with you."

He smiled and felt comfort from what she said. He put his arms around her and held her tightly.

"Thank you." He kissed her forehead and then her lips. "Aren't we supposed to be on a honeymoon?"

"Oh you finally realized that."

"I told you I can be slow sometimes."

"It just so happens I like slow, sometimes."

He took her in his arms and they spent the rest of that early morning and past noon in bed. For the first time in both their lives they were whole and satisfied. They knew their love would surpass all barriers and exist through time because their love was gentle, intense, encouraging and strong. It would endure.