"So I got a thang in a couple weeks I was hoping you would come to..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey!" Michonne rushed through the door Rick was holding open, her heels clicking on the hardwood of his entry way and a black garment bag slung over her shoulder. She had a deep maroon hue swept across her lips and varying shades of gold shimmering around the thick, black line of her lashes. Her locks were woven on the top of her head into an elaborate pompadour, leaving her long neck and dainty collarbone exposed to his stare."Am I late?" she asked, taking in his slightly agape mouth and lack of greeting.

"No, no, you're fine," he finally managed, as she handed him the bag and shut the door behind her. "You look gorgeous."

"Thank you," she smiled. "I'm ready except the dress." She pointed to the bag he hung over the banister for her and let her eyes drop down his front, her face breaking into a grin on the way back up. "And you look very handsome," she purred.

His dress uniform, which rarely made it out of his closet, included full sleeves, a tie and a jacket and he was glad to hear it was at least pleasing to Michonne, as he had been cursing the extra layers since he put them on. "Thanks," he replied. "Let me take your coat. We have a few minutes till we have to leave."

Michonne clutched her ivory pea coat closed, putting a hand out to stop him. "Actually, I was rushing out of the house and I didn't feel like finding other clothes to wear just for the drive, so...I didn't."

"What do you mean?" he smirked, eyeing her suspiciously. He gently removed her hand from the lapels of her coat, untying the belt with his other hand.

Her coat slipped open and his wide eyes were met with nothing but her bare skin and a pair of pink panties. "You're killing me, Michonne," he said, running his tongue over his bottom lip, as his hands instinctively reached out to touch her. "Did you drive all the way over here like that?"

"Yes," she admitted, "but I wasn't even going to show you, I was just going to run upstairs and put my dress on as soon as I got here." She eased his hands away from her hips, lacing his fingers with hers to keep them from wandering.

"But now I know," he argued, reaching forward to press his lips to her chest as she restrained him.

"Rick, we don't have time," she laughed, squirming away from him. "Besides, you wreck this hair and makeup before we get there and we're going to have a problem."

"Can I wreck it later?" he asked, relenting slightly when he glanced at the clock hanging on the wall over her shoulder.

"Yes, you can do whatever you want after we get home, but right now I need to get dressed."

Considering that to be a fair deal, he took his hands back and stepped aside so she could make her way to his room to get dressed, heading to the kitchen to pour himself a drink while he waited.

True to her word, she only took a few minutes to slip into her dress, descending the staircase slowly in her tall heels, one hand on the railing and the other holding the coat she had finally removed. He turned from the counter where he was mixing his cocktail and found her standing in front of him, holding her hands out to her side to give him an unobstructed view of her gown.

"Jesus, Michonne," he said, before he could stop to think of something more eloquent.

"Is it ok?" she asked, doing a little twirl so he could see the other side of the dress which was almost non-existent. The shimmering, champagne colored fabric crisscrossed on her shoulder blades, then took a deep dive, exposing the smooth planes of her back before coming together again and clinging to her round backside. "I've never been to one of these before, so I wasn't sure." She looked back over her shoulder when he didn't respond right away, his bottom lip between his teeth as he perused her curves. "I have a simple black one in the car if this is too much…"

"Don't you dare change out of that dress," he answered, taking a sip of his drink and letting his eyes explore the deep slit of the skirt where her bare leg peaked out.

"Ok," she agreed with a relieved smile. She reached for his glass and stole a sip. "I'm a little nervous."

Rick laughed, gesturing for her to keep his drink while he turned to mix another. "You've got nothing to be nervous about. It's a bunch of guys like Shane and me who were forced to get dressed up and attend this thing for work. You're probably more comfortable at an event like this than any of us."

"Maybe," she smiled as he finished his pour and turned to tap their glasses together. "But still, it's going to be like old home days for you. I haven't met many of your friends besides Shane and Abe."

"Well, Shane will be there too, so you'll know him and besides, it's about time I paraded you around town."

He finished his drink and took her empty glass to the sink, returning with his arm outstretched to lead her to the door. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she said, slipping into her coat that he held out for her.

…

"Prepare yourself for a lot of ogling tonight," he whispered into her ear as they entered the ballroom of the only hotel in the area surrounding Rick's home town. His hand settled on the small of her back, leading her through the double doors and into the romantically lit space, quiet music and boisterous laughter greeting them as they crossed the threshold. "I shoulda warned them all before bringing you in here," he said. "Some of the older guys are liable to have heart attacks."

"Stop it," she giggled, hooking her arm through his and taking in the room. It was a sea of brown and khaki punctuated by an array of colorful gowns and everyone in attendance was chatting like old friends already. Rick did a quick scan of the crowd, making a mental note of who he should make a point to talk to for political reasons, and who he wanted to make sure got a glimpse of Michonne on his arm.

"You want a drink?" he asked, spotting one of his men at the bar and figuring it was as good a place as any to start showing her off.

"Of course." She followed, squeezing her fingers around his bicep as they walked across the low pile carpet, maneuvering through groups of his colleagues whose heads swiveled on their necks as they passed.

Rick nodded to a couple of the rookies who were under his command, forcing himself to bury the grin that threatened his hard nosed reputation when he spotted them stealing glances at his date. They found an empty spot at the bar and he asked the bartender for a rum and coke, having memorized her drink of choice by now, and ordered himself a beer. "You're doing wonders for my image right now," he said, gesturing to the group of young men to her right who looked like they had just graduated from the academy. Three of them stood together in a tight circle, struggling between their appreciation of her and their fear of getting caught by Rick's threatening stare.

"I'm sure you do just fine by yourself," she smiled, taking in the way their heads snapped back to their conversation as he shot a warning look across their bow.

"Someone has got to keep them in line." His face softened again when he turned back to her. "But, I can't blame 'em too much for staring."

"So, who am I going to meet tonight?" she asked, taking a step closer and tilting her chin up toward him. "Looks like a lot of important people here."

"No one too interesting. The Sheriff and his wife are over there," he said, pointing to a large table full of white haired men with gold stripes on their sleeves. "Couple of town councilors. We don't have too many celebrities around here."

"Ok then, introduce me to your friends."

"These are work associates, not friends," he joked, "but Shane will be here any minute so you'll have to put up with more of him and whatever girl he's decided to torture for the evening."

As if on cue, a loud giggle came from over Michonne's shoulder and Rick straightened his posture to watch a blonde girl with a cotton candy colored, taffeta dress waltz toward them holding a glass of wine in one hand and her clutch in the other. Shane was following at a slight distance behind her, his eyes roaming her curvy figure as she led the way.

"Well, look who it is," Shane announced as the two saddled up beside Michonne, and Shane's smiling date looked them over. "Michonne, it is a pleasure to see you again." He took ahold of her free hand, pressing his lips to her palm while Rick eyed him with displeasure. "This is Carrie. Carrie, Rick and Michonne."

Michonne and Rick both took turns shaking the woman's hand, exchanging a private look of amusement when she turned back to her date. "You find a table yet?" Rick asked Shane, feeling slightly sorry for the fact that Michonne was probably going to be stuck making conversation with Carrie for most of the night once they took their seats.

"I did. Saved you two some seats, but first we need a round." Shane waved at the bartender, beckoning him to their section.

"We already have drinks," Rick said pointing with his beer bottle to Michonne's glass.

"Round of shots, man. Come on."

Rick groaned as the bartender filled Shane's order, handing over four tiny glasses of Crown Royal mixed with apple schnapps."

Michonne smiled, as she accepted the fruity shot from Shane, toasting her date as he reluctantly swallowed the mixture with a look of distaste. "Come on," she said, taking his arm again and following behind Shane. "We're here. Let's have a good time."

…

"And that's when Rick here, takes out his cuffs and pretends to arrest the thing," Shane said, pausing to control his laughter. "He goes as far as to read it it's ghostly rights, when the woman looks at him like he's the crazy one and yells 'No Officer! It's over there!'"

The table broke out into a fit of giggles at the culmination of Shane's story with even Rick cracking a smile at his own expense. Shane had been feeding them drinks and tales all night and the carb heavy buffet hadn't been able to keep up with the buzz they were both building. The music finally picked up on the ballroom floor and Carrie squealed in delight, pulling Shane's jacket sleeve until he followed her out to the center of the floor. The two other couples who had joined them for dinner, deputies and their wives who Michonne found much more interesting than Shane's date, slowly made their way out to dance as well.

Rick pushed his chair closer to Michonne's when they were left alone and ran a finger along the tight collar of his dress shirt. "You wanna join 'em?" he asked, clearly reluctant to hear her answer.

"Not yet," she smiled, to his relief. "I finally have you to myself again."

Rick glanced at his watch. "Couple more hours until we're really alone."

His drawl was getting thicker and she smiled at the tell, noting Shane had succeeded in his mission to loosen him up. "You know, we spend a lot of our time together under the influence," she offered, feeling her own words start to swim.

Rick shrugged, lazily. "Guess that's what happens when you only see each other on weekends."

"True," she agreed, thinking back to the dive bar they met at and the weddings, and work parties, and BBQ's they had been accompanying each other to week after week since.

"Does that bother you?" he asked, turning his shoulders toward her and reaching for his glass of water.

"No," she said, noticing the gesture. "It just seems like we're still on vacation sometimes. Not doing the harder stuff like you said."

He nodded, looking as if he was searching for a solution in his head. "So, tomorrow we'll stay in," he decided. "You can watch me do laundry and clean out my fridge and then we can argue about what to watch on TV, like a Tuesday night couple."

"Deal," she laughed, thinking that sounded like a very enjoyable day.

He took her hand, settling it onto his lap as they watched the crowd on the dance floor become more and more animated when the beat picked up. They both chuckled as Shane tried to keep up with his date and the younger deputies quickly forgot about the judging eyes of their superiors, letting loose with their pretty dates.

"I read something interesting about couples once," Michonne said, pulling his attention back to her. "It said a good way to tell if you're compatible is to go to a party together and if, after the party ends, you find yourselves left with the same impressions of the people you interacted with, then you're going to do alright together."

"Really..." he said, his interest piqued. He sat up a little straighter and scanned the crowd again, lingering on a few of the people he had introduced her to over the course of the night. "Alright then, tell me what you think so far. What are your first impressions?"

"Ok. Let's start with Shane's date. She seems interesting," she offered, secretly anxious to hear what Rick thought of the bubbly blonde.

"Hey now, this is your game. You gotta play fair. Say what you really think?"

"Alright," she relented. "She's a little...obnoxious." She laughed at her own candidness, feeling emboldened by her many drinks.

"We're off to a good start then," he replied, joining in her laughter. "Who else?"

"Hmm," she said, glancing around the room. "The Sheriff." She pointed her chin at the table where Rick's boss sat, still finishing his dinner. "He seems like a good man. I'm sure he excels at the political part of his job, even if his jokes are a little dated."

"Can't argue any of that," he shrugged. He took another sip of his drink, searching the dance floor. "What about Leon?" he asked, pointing with his beer bottle to one of the deputies who had recently left their table.

Michonne looked in the man's direction, taking a moment to choose the right words for her response. "He was nice enough," she started, "but I hope he doesn't go on a lot of calls with you. I'd hate to think of him as your backup."

Rick chuckled quietly. "You don't have to worry about that. He stays behind the desk mostly. For good reason." He gestured with his head toward the bar where a few more of his men were gathered. "Anyone else?"

Michonne scanned the group, her eyes falling on a blonde woman in a dark green dress who she had noticed at previous moments throughout the night. Their eyes had met a few times in a way that could very well have been accidental, but she had a feeling it wasn't. "The girl in the ponytail, next to the Sheriff's wife," she said, pointing with her glass.

Rick turned over his shoulder to follow her gaze, just as the woman glanced toward them. Rick gave her a polite nod, then turned back to Michonne with his head tilted to the side and his eyes darting around her face. "What about her?"

"She seems more interested in you than in her date," she noted with a sly grin.

He reached for his beer again, sipping before he replied. "That's Jessie Anderson," he said. "She and I went on a couple dates a long while back."

Michonne's face fell, unpleasantly surprised by her own perceptiveness. "You said you hadn't been with any..."

"I hadn't," he jumped in, cutting her off before she could fully form the accusation. "We didn't." He shifted in his seat, turning his back completely to the bar and seizing her gaze back from the unintended visitor to their conversation. "It was a couple dates; it didn't go anywhere. I shoulda known it wouldn't but…"

"But what?"

"It was a few months after my ex wife left," he said, blowing out a long breath and leaning back in his chair. "She just...she reminded me of her in a way and I thought I wanted that...needed that. To go back to what I knew, to knowing what was expected of me. But I'm sitting there, staring across the table at Jessie and I'm seeing Lori, hearing her voice in everything she was saying and it hit me that this was a story I already knew the end to. Like I'd heard this song before, you know?"

"I do know," she whispered. It was exactly how she felt when she met up with Mike all those years after they had broken up, thinking she wanted that familiarity, that comfort. She quickly realized however, that she had been broken and put back together in a completely new way and they just didn't fit anymore. She imagined it was like that for him, trying to fit into a box you had outgrown.

"So is that four for four?" he asked, after they had both taken a few moments with their thoughts.

"I don't know if that one really counts, but we were doing pretty well before."

"I guess we're gonna be ok then," he smiled. "I coulda guessed."

She smiled back, squeezing his hand . "I'm sorry I brought that up...Jessie."

"You say that a lot, like you think I don't want to do the hard stuff with you." He brought his free hand up, running his thumb over her cheek. "Do you wanna do the hard stuff with me, Michonne? Cause you were just saying this was feeling a little too easy."

"I didn't say that," she said quietly, feeling his eyes running the length of her. "I want to do everything with you."

He leaned forward, dropping his lips to her bare shoulder for a quick kiss. "What do you say we get a cab and head out early?"

"Are you trying to get out of dancing with me?" she flirted, tossing a look at the still bouncing dance floor.

"Only thing I'm trying to get us out of are these clothes."

"Mmmhmm. How about you call a cab and give me one dance while we wait?"

"Deal," he said, fishing his phone out of his pocket. "A slow song."