A/N: I have posted every chapter on Tumblr until now so I decided to bring it to FF, I know there aren't many Dixonne fics so I figure we need another! Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Dixonne owns my heart. The title Two Way Street belongs to Kimbra whose amazing song inspired the title and the fic.
Michonne crept through the thick of the woods as silently as possible, without her walkers she couldn't help but feel exposed. Her protection from the walkers was gone leaving her open to attacks and now her last connection to the world before it went to shit was also gone.
She tried to stop herself as her thoughts turned bitter, but it was all too late. Her mind was back on Andrea, the one person she had counted on spending the rest of her days with, the one woman she loved. The 8 months they spent together had been forgotten in the blink of an eye when Andrea had chosen The Governor over her.
The one person she felt she could rely on in the world had picked a man with walker heads in fish tanks and child walker locked in a cage. Andrea had seen all of that and she still kept that gun at Michonne.
"What have you done?"
The words echoed in her mind, Andrea was asking her what she had done. That was when Andrea had made her decision, the division between them made clear in those 4 words.
Michonne tried to ignore the heartache those thoughts produced, she was lonely and it didn't look like that was changing any time soon, the prison survivors had all but cast her out and treated her like pariah.
She understood their apprehension but she felt so alone and unappreciated. She had helped them get their people back from Woodbury, whether they believed it or not. It wasn't her fault that they had lost two people in the process which she was sure caused a lot of pain but she was sick of being blamed for that.
She knew they were sceptical because she hadn't saved Glenn and Maggie from Merle in the first place, Michonne had wanted to save them but she knew he would've killed her first, she didn't have her full mobility and sadly guns were faster than her sword. It worked better on walkers.
She kept her steps quiet even though all she felt like doing was stomping her feet, none of this seemed fair and all she wanted to do was act out. No one wanted to accept her into their group and no one actually cared for her well being.
Michonne heard Mike in the back of her mind telling her not to take it to heart and she knew he was right. He always was, he was always there giving her advice and sometimes she spoke aloud with him but most time she just took his statements and advice to heart and lived by it.
Right now, she wasn't sure what hurt her more, losing Mike or losing Andrea. She always knew Mike loved her, he always told her and made it clear. With Andrea, there was no expression of feelings, but Michonne had believed the feelings were clear between them.
Blinking the tears back she stopped for a moment to compose herself. She really needed to get a grip.
"I'm impressed Sugar, yeh certainly showed the gov whose boss and saved our asses" the familiar voice broke Michonne out of her grief stricken, self pitying state, Merle Dixon.
She'd be damned if she was going to let him get away alive.
"cool your jets Merle, I did this to save Daryl. You're only alive right now because you're his brother and I know what it's like to lose a sibling" Andrea's voice was clear, but Michonne just didn't care any more. Michonne leapt out from behind the tree, the tip of the katana resting on Merle's jugular.
"Well I'll be damned. Yeh just don't die do yah" the red neck let out a hearty laugh as if she'd told him a hilarious joke instead of threatening his life
"drop the damn sword" a male voice came from behind her, she knew it was Daryl.
She took her eyes away from Merle, not only did Daryl have his crossbow trained on the back of her head but Andrea had her gun aimed at her again.
Before Michonne had a chance to compose herself she was speaking, her emotions still swirling within her, anger, guilt, sadness.
"Did you know that your precious govnah sent Merle and his men to kill me? He wanted my katana and my head, I heard them talking about it as they tried to track me." she kept her eyes focused on the woman she had considered a friend, there was a look of disbelief on the blondes face that had Michonne's heart breaking all over again. "Isn't that right Merle."
She eyed both the blonde and the older Dixon refusing to drop her katana when she realized neither Andrea nor Daryl were relenting.
"You can shoot me Daryl, but I'm taking Merle with me. If I die, he does too." she hissed
"I..I don't believe you" the blonde's face wore the same hardened expression she'd seen in the governors apartment.
"It's true blondie" Merle finally spoke up letting out a chuckle "she appeared out of thin air and killed two of our best men while we were reading the bitergram she left us. After we were attacked by walkers I decided to give up the chase, let er get away. I'm not gonna waste my time chasing after some bitch who'd probably kill me anyway" he cackled.
"Drop the sword Michonne" Daryl spoke again, his voice vicious
"Please just drop it" Andrea sighed as if she had been wronged.
Michonne let the katana drop to her side, she was just too tired to bother any more, none of them were worth the time and energy she was expending so she'd settle for bringing Daryl back to the prison, might at least show the group she was trustworthy or something like that.
"Are you comin' or what?" she pushed past Daryl and started walking in the direction of the prison. They wouldn't want Merle there but if they wanted Daryl back they'd have to deal with it. They could always lock him in a cell like they had her.
Michonne trudged ahead of the others barely managing to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. No one could see her cry, she needed to maintain her strong image because these people were not the ones who should see her weak. Especially not Merle.
"Sorry about my brother"
Michonne just about tripped over she was so startled by the younger Dixon, he was near on silent on his feet and she wasn't focused on anything other than walking.
"it's not your doing" she responded quietly "it isn't even his really, he just did what the Govenah told him to do"
"Sorry all the same" he continued to walk alongside her.
They reached the gates within 20 minutes, as the other survivors crowded near entrance, Rick unlocked them and pulled them open with ease. The was no need for them to look around beforehand there was a strange lack of walkers around that always made Michonne uneasy.
Daryl was greeted with warm smiles and some hugs whilst Michonne was greeted with the same unease she was beginning to get used to.
"We bought more company" Michonne spoke up tilting her head toward Andrea and Merle.
Most of the group looked apprehensive about their presence, Merle she understood but Andrea, she didn't. Andrea had talked about them as if they were family and here they were giving her looks of distrust. It had been 8 months and she'd realized the group knew she was part of Woodbury, why else would she be with Merle and Daryl.
"Why is he here?" Maggie spoke up looking horrified at the sight of Merle
"He's my brother" Daryl looked across at the brunette challenging her to speak again
"well since he's here and we're not about to kick him out, you wont mind if we lock him in a cell" Rick spoke in a harsh tone, one that had previously been reserved for Michonne. She supposed she was the lesser of two evils, she'd proven to be somewhat trustworthy, where as from what she had gathered from the whispers and looks of fear and apprehension now, Merle had been terrible from the start.
"Fine. Merle come on." Daryl led his brother away from the group through to the cell block as the group followed.
Michonne was stunned by Merle's willingness and silence as he was led to be locked up, maybe he cared enough about his brother to try and earn the groups trust. Though if he cared about his brother so much, she failed to understand why he forced Maggie and Glenn to Woodbury instead of the prison.
"Mesh can we talk?" Andrea startled her from her thoughts
"What's there to talk about Andrea? you made your choice, now you've got to live with it" Michonne left the woman standing there as she walked to her own cell and settled on the top bunk.
The voices echoed through the cell block, she figured the walls were designed that way, to highlight all sound, big or small.
"we're going to need to lock you in a cell too Andrea" she heard Rick speak, his tone was surprisingly cold.
Michonne imagined that Andrea wore that familiar look of pain that she'd grown used too. All Andrea had talked about was Amy and getting to the group.
"sure…" the blonde answered quietly
Michonne listened as two cells were closed and locked, expecting hers to be the third but no one came. There were more foot steps and a lot of chatter, now that Andrea was safely locked up in her cell Michonne was free to walk around. She wasn't ready to sleep now.
Stepping out of her cell she spotted Rick sitting on the steps with Daryl, the two of them having an extremely quiet discussion.
"Rick" she spoke up gaining his attention right away "I can take watch in the tower tonight"
The former lawyer had always been a night owl and could last on very little sleep. She just needed to feel useful and unrestricted.
"Fine, you and Daryl are on watch in tower number four tonight." he nodded at the two of them and stood heading to the cell he shared with Carl and the baby.
"Come on" Daryl led the way, picking up two machine guns handing one to her as they walked side by side.
The walk to the tower was silent but not entirely awkward, Michonne felt oddly comfortable with him.
They climbed the stairs taking their positions in separate corners of the tower only pausing to glance at one another.
"So I see yeh already know Andrea. How?"
"I found her running from walkers when the farm got overrun, her ammo had run out and she about ready to give up. I saved her. We been travelled together for the last 8 months. We saw a helicopter crash and went to find out what happened, The Govnah and his men showed up as we hid." she paused for a moment "We were found by Merle and he took us to the Govnah and Woodbury. He presented himself and the town as something it wasn't and Andrea bought it." she tried to keep the emotion out of her voice "she chose to say, ignored my warnings."
"She seems to care about yeh" he shrugged
"Sometimes caring ain't enough" Michonne spoke up stopping their conversation in its tracks. It felt odd telling him what had happened and she putting a stop to it.
The two went back to being silent, only speaking to point out walkers. Rick and Carol came to relieve them at 4am, Michonne hadn't failed to notice the brief looks exchanged by the three of them.
"So far we've only seen walkers, no signs of humans. Merle said they'd probably strike once they had all their weapons together and once they'd figured out what our situation was. They might even turn up waving the white flag." Daryl whispered
"They took out a bunch of national guard officers a few weeks ago. Guessing they waved the white flag and ambushed them, got all their weapons and their trucks. They're loaded. The Govnah had a cabinet full of individual weapons, they were his trophies. He's clearly practised at this." Michonne paused for a moment
"I suggest we get everyone up bright and early and start getting them ready. He doesn't want the prison, he certainly ain't planning on taking any of us back to Woodbury. He wants to take everyone out, take our weapons and make this place uninhabitable. Those new people, Tyreese and the others, we could use their help as well, they've survived this long, they're capable." She allowed her words to sink in before continuing
"Andreas a really good shot, get her and whoever else with those skills in the towers, they might be able to take some people out before they even have a chance to think about shooting at us." She left the tower ahead of Daryl, allowing them to have a discussion. This was probably the most she'd spoken to Rick at once. With so much time to think she'd come to realize a few things.
They were gaining an understanding and she appreciated that. Now was not the time to push that. They might not take all of her advice and insight but she was glad to show them she knew something.
It was clear Rick hadn't welcomed Tyreese and the others, he'd given them the cell block that had originally been cleared for the prisoners. She wasn't quite sure why she wasn't stuck in the separate cell block with them but a part of her was thankful.
Michonne just knew that keeping them separated was a bad idea, in a world like this, with the governor and Woodbury breathing down their necks they had to welcome them into fold and make sure they were prepared to protect the group.
She knew things were about to become crazy, people were going to die and she had no plans of being one of them.