As Frank Herbert said, "There is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the story." We've come to that point. What can I say? I wasn't sure what all this story would entail when I started it, so thank you for taking a chance and believing I would show the love between Rick and Michonne. I wondered how many people could take another woman interrupting Richonne's Happily Ever After, especially one such as Lori, who already elicited so many negative feelings before she ever uttered a word in "7 Days." But I never thought this story would be over 100,000 words and I never thought an unknown writer would get almost 600 comments. But that's a testament to this fandom. To all of you who make it so welcoming. All your comments and support have meant the world to me. Thank you for encouraging me to stay true to my path and supporting this story even when I caused some pain or came up short in execution. I'm grateful. I can't promise another long form story. I have commitment issues in more ways than one, but I won't completely disappear. I'm sure I will be inspired to write some one shots here and there.

Much love! 💖🍎

Chapter 23: Back to Life, Back to Reality
Rick
Monday

"Glad you and Michonne got things back on track," Daryl said.

He stood in the corner with his head down watching Rick behind a curtain of stringy long hair covering his eyes. He was the only one that managed to look like he was still living in barns and cars thanks to a thin film of dirt on his skin. Not too much to be a health hazard or so you could smell him when he entered a room, just enough to remind everyone of his need to be an outsider. Different. Untamed. Meanwhile, his apartment was dark; the blinds were shut and the curtains drawn. It was enough to make the happiest person feel down in the doldrums.

"You're just happy I'm moving out." Rick laughed as he placed the few things he bothered to unpack back in his duffel bag. He mostly lived out of the bag, not wanting to get comfortable, hoping soon he would remember his life and stop feeling like he was in limbo. And now he did remember. At least enough to resume what he knew was a nice, happy life.

"Well, I ain't upset about it." He picked at his finger before he stuck it in his mouth and bit at his fingernail. "Have your romance novel."

He nodded. "Thanks." He made it to the door.

"Hey Rick," Daryl's gruff voice called out after him.

He turned slightly, hand on the doorknob, and looked at his friend.

"I'm happy for you." Daryl's head was down.

Rick laughed. He was happy, too. Living with Michonne definitely trumped bunking with Daryl anytime. When you threw in the added benefits of good cooked food, a clean home, and great sex it a no-brainer.

Rick stood there at the door and stared at his friend until they finally made eye contact. When they did, he gave a smile then left. He knew that was as much touchy-feely as Daryl could handle.

As much as Daryl had grown, there would always be part of him that would hesitate before showing affection or receiving it. He wasn't like Maggie, who knew love all her life. Nor was he like Michonne, who had once known love and trauma made her afraid of intimacy until she dared to let people in. Daryl never knew it. But he was surrounded by love and the rest of them wouldn't allow him to keep running from it.

After only a short time in Daryl's place, the bright sun still took time to get used to. He didn't know the day of the week, but the community felt like a Saturday. At least how Saturdays used to feel. Kids were running around playing. A few adults were out in the yards, pulling weeds and planting flowers. As he carried his duffel bag down the sidewalk, headed to the brownstone, he noticed Glenn sitting on the front porch of a house. Should he pretend he didn't see him? Things weren't perfect with his friends but had they been reduced to this?

"Rick," he called out. "Hi."

He planned to keep walking and toss out a greeting but before he knew it he had stopped. "Glenn."

There was nothing familiar about his greeting. It was perfunctory, not the greeting to give the person who saved his life back at the beginning. Who had his back from that moment on.

Glenn stood and walked to the edge of the porch just before the stairs. "You going somewhere?" He nodded toward the duffel bag.

"Moving back to my home. With Michonne."

"Oh yeah, I heard. Carol mentioned it. I mean, that you and Michonne seemed to be trying." Glenn looked beyond him, then up and down the street. "I'm glad everything is the way it should be. Wish it happened sooner. I feel bad it didn't," he said.

Rick stared at his friend as Glenn began to fidget. They stood there in silence. Rick didn't feel there was really anything for him to say. His friends had done a lot of talking about him. It was time they instead talked to him. He was all ears.

"I feel bad that I didn't do anything to make it happen sooner."

The thing about Glenn was that he was a horrible liar so whatever he said, Rick knew it was sincere or it would be obvious. And he always looked you in the eyes no matter what he was saying, unlike most people. And while most people survived this new world by deceit, Glenn was one of the few who was honest. Probably more honest now than before. He had a code based on honesty and humanity and the worse the world got, the more he was committed to his code. All the more reason his silence confused Rick.

"I do wish you had said something but it wasn't time until it was time."

"What...what do you mean it wasn't time?" He squinted at Rick.

"Even if I had known the truth, I can't imagine I would have lived with Michonne when I didn't have my memory." He placed a foot on the first step. "But we're back together now."

"But there's still the Lori thing."

"Yeah, the Lori thing," he muttered as he looked down at the ground. Like leaving his girlfriend in the lurch to try to repair things with his ex-wife was a minor detail.

"Maggie and I tried to talk to Lori, tell her you needed to know. When we left, we weren't sure she would do the right thing."

They probably threatened to tell him the truth and Lori figured it would look better if she spoke up. He should have known. Lori was often one step short of being on the right side. No matter though. Things were getting back to normal because he could remember things.

He remembered his first kiss with Michonne and the first time he made love to her. He remembered not just words and actions but the feelings they brought out in him. When he thought about Michonne telling him she loved him for the first time he could feel his heart beating harder than it ever had in his life. The sound of her laughter made his shoulders relax.

"Well, it's a good thing she told me. If it were up to everyone else I guess I'd still be waiting."

"I think we were just all waiting for someone else to be that person," Glenn said. "I felt torn between not just right and wrong but friends who all had feelings. And Lori's feelings for you, no matter how futile, are real. Seeing her after you left her, how much that hurt her...it wasn't just some game for her. It was like a desperate second chance, and who doesn't want to make things right when they get that opportunity?"

"I can understand your loyalty for Lori; I guess that's the word. But there was another person with feelings too. Who has earned the same thing. Care to explain how you decided on that?"

Glenn sighed. "When Michonne stepped back, when she told Maggie she wanted to play it that way, I went along with it. It was Michonne's decision. Maybe that's a cop out."

That's exactly how Rick saw it.

"And me? Two other people got to decide my life for me?"

"It was all bullshit. I felt like no matter what we did someone would feel betrayed."

"You can't straddle the fence. Not anymore. Not in this life. There is no happy medium. Either you do or don't. You is or you ain't. You like doing the right thing because it makes you feel good. But the truth is, just because something is the right thing doesn't mean it'll feel good. Like the saying goes, sometimes the truth hurts."

He could tell Glenn felt what he said, took it personal. His intention wasn't to make Glenn feel like shit but Rick was following his own beliefs. He preferred hard truths over false peace every time.

"See you around friend," Rick said before walking away.

He had no intention of having a strained relationship with his family. In time, they would be back to how things used to be. Right now, his concern was Michonne and making sure their relationship was okay.

xXx

The sun began to set as Rick and Michonne relaxed on a picnic blanket. They were in the backyard of a vacant home in the back corner of the community, as secluded as they could hope for in Alexandria without being behind closed doors. His head was in her lap as she fed him from the wooden cheese platter with an impressive spread of sliced apples, cheese, jam, figs, bread, nuts, and grapes. They were polishing off the last of the wine they opened the previous night.

Each day this community was more impressive. He had yet to see or even hear a walker in a week and he hadn't been hungry in that time either. He wasn't rushing to stop a walker herd, scavenging for food, or fending off those who wanted what they had. They simply lived. Right now he was having a picnic in the backyard with his head in the lap of the woman he loved, even if their current topic could have been a more interesting one.

"I can't believe she had the nerve to ask for your help with Carl. I can't believe you didn't tell her where to go."

"Not worth it. I know you think she should pay for what she did. I think part of her wants that too. Maybe it will give her some type of absolution instead of lingering embarrassment. But I have everything I want and everything I need. I have you and she knows it. I didn't need to say it just to make her feel bad. I'm just trying to live my best life."

He couldn't help but grin.

"What?" She smiled down at him. She was leaning back slightly on one hand while the other ran through his hair.

"You told me you loved me. This morning."

"Did I?"

"You did. Though I'm not sure if you were telling me you loved me or what I was doing to you?"

She laughed. "I'm pretty sure even with a diminished memory, you know I like what you do to me."

"Just so you know, I love you too," Rick said. "I know that for sure. I know because of how I feel when I'm with you. Falling in love with you again, that has meant everything. I love what I remember and I'm excited about what's to come, whether through memory or experience."

He could see a gleam in her eyes, a light of happiness. Her growth from when he first met her to now was remarkable. She was a dangerous stranger. One who couldn't be trusted. She was mysterious, angry, and closed off. He never saw her smile until months later. Now, that smiled stayed on her face and it reached to her eyes. She not only smiled, but laughed, and giggled. And held her head down to hide her shyness.

"Here, eat your apple." He held a slice to her mouth, running it over her lips before she took it in her mouth and he was reminded of some amazing things she did that morning with that same mouth.

She moaned and her eyes closed. "So good."

"Never knew someone could love apples the way I love a good steak."

"Probably the best fruit on the planet. I mean, I have a rating system for apples."

"I'm sorry. What?" He laughed.

"All apples are not equal. I mean, nothing is worse than biting into an apple and it's mushy. It's such a disappointment. The best apple is the SweeTango, then there is the Jazz Apple, and the Honeycrisp. I haven't figured out what type of apples these are."

"You're nuts."

"Never said I wasn't," she said with a laugh.

There it was again. That laugh. It was like music to his ears. Back in King County when he woke up in that hospital alone, in pain, confused, he never thought he'd laugh again. That there would be anything in this world worthy of such a thing and then he found his family. Then his boy was shot and they lost the farm, but they found shelter at the prison. And then they lost that too. If he wasn't in this place, with her and his kids, he'd think having the audacity to be happy only brought more pain. So he chose to look at life not as a series of setbacks, but rebounds.

"Everything I need, everything I want is here. Inside these walls with you."

Her smile fell just a little but it was still there, less like amusement and more like awe. "You got serious on me all of a sudden." She rubbed her hand up and down his chest.

"I never want to keep anything I'm feeling or thinking from you. Time is a limited thing. We're here until we're not. And as long as I'm here, I'll never let you doubt what you mean to me."

"I love you," she said softly. "Sitting here on the ground, fully clothed and talking...I love you. Time is a limited thing. You're right. We only have so much and we don't know how much we have. That's what I told Maggie when I told her I don't want to spend time being upset about the choices we all made when you woke up."

"When did you talk to Maggie?"

"When you went to Daryl's and got your stuff. We ran into each other at the pantry." She shook her head and looked up at the sky. "She felt so bad. Tears and everything. I hared seeing her like that."

"Must have been around the same time I talked to Glenn."

They looked at each other.

"I don't want to be upset with anyone," she said. "One moment you and I were happy and the next, even though you were still here, I didn't have you anymore. Just like that," she said as she snapped her fingers. "It can all be gone that fast. I don't want to waste time. Not on worrying about the past. I'm in the same boat as the others so, in a way, I understand why things happened the way they did. How it wasn't easy to make the choices made. So I need you to forgive them, like I know you've forgiven me."

"In time."

"Rick."

"I won't hold any grudges. Tell you what, I promise to allow the natural progression of things."

"That's fair," she said softly.

She grabbed the book with the two bookmarks they had been reading together; they finished another section together during their picnic.

"Right after we finished Seven I went on the trip with Aaron and then you got hurt and lost your memory for almost seven days. We were apart just like the husband and wife were apart. Except for them it was seven years."

"Remember what happened at the end of the story?" He smiled.

She stroked his beard. "They had sex seven times to represent the seven years they were apart."

"I think we need to do the same. Seven times for seven days."

"Technically, more like six. Maybe even five."

Swiftly he was off his back and had her on hers. "Life is short. Don't limit orgasms."

"What? Is that some type of life philosophy?" She smiled, looking up at him.

He prayed he never tired of her smile, her presence, or took her laughter for granted. He wanted his stomach to drop whenever he saw her. Hear what she had to say whenever she had a thought. He wanted to desire her whenever her body was near.

He pinned her arms to the ground and kissed her neck before capturing her mouth in an intense kiss. Since he regained some of his memory he didn't know any other way to kiss her. He would start off gentle but something took over him and he wanted to devour her mouth. When she bit down on his bottom lip he moaned despite the slight pain that momentarily surged through his lip. He kissed across her jawline and down to her neck, underneath her ear. He gently, slowly began grinding against her.

"This isn't the middle of nowhere on a run." Her voice was soft. Sensual. Breathless.

He could tell she was feeling just as aroused as he was by the sound of her voice.

"That means we can't do this now." She made no effort to stop. In fact, she held him tighter.

Her hands slid between them at his waist and she fumbled with his belt. Once she unbuckled it she undid the button of his jeans and lowered the zipper.

"I thought we couldn't do this now," he said, amused at her change of mind.

"We can't do what you want but we can do things."

She wrapped her hand around his semi-erect dick and had a rhythm and method that rendered him helpless and under her complete control. His face disappeared against her neck. It felt so good he couldn't remain still. His hips had a mind of their own as he thrust into her hand. He moaned, his pitch higher than usual. He sucked her neck, hoping a mouth full of her stifled his loud moans of pleasure.

Just when he was about to lose it, she pushed him on his back and got on her knees next to him. Her head lowered and he held his breath as he watched her mouth open and swallow him. His voice had a guttural tone as he thanked her. He closed his eyes and the only thing he could hear and feel was her sucking his dick. It was loud. It was wet. When she moaned, that humming sensation surged through his dick and he quickly lifted his hips off the ground. It caused her to take in more of him than she was prepared and she gagged a little.

The look she gave him when she did turned him on even more and he noticed her ass was close enough to touch. He reached out and smacked her ass one time before running his hand between her thighs and rubbing her, wishing her pants weren't a barrier to what he really wanted to touch — her bare, wet pussy.

She alternated speeds, going from agonizingly slow to frustratingly fast, going clockwise and then counterclockwise as she sucked down to the base of his dick. She made him crazy. He wasn't sure if he wanted it to last forever or he needed to feel the satisfaction of exploding in her mouth the second time that day before the sun went down.

"Fuck," he groaned as he grabbed her head, not that she needed any direction from him. She was doing more than fine.

It wasn't much longer before his release. Once again, she took all he had to offer.

"I'm glad we're behind walls," he said.

"Why?" She asked before taking a gulp of wine and then moving back next to him.

"Because I'd be pretty useless right now if a herd of walkers showed up." He didn't even have the strength to put his lifeless dick back in his pants.

They laughed and held hands, fingers intertwined as they lay next to each other staring up at the darkening sky.

xXx

He enjoyed every moment alone he shared with Michonne, getting to know her again, reminiscing, and being intimate, but he couldn't deny how whole he felt having his kids with him that evening at the brownstone. Judith sat on his lap offering him her toys while Carl and Michonne were sitting on the floor using the coffee table to play a few hands of UNO.

He had a memory, maybe it was a dream or vision, of him entering Judith's room just in time to catch her from falling on her head as she made a great escape from the crib. Since he saved her, he'd like to think it was a memory. He'd have to ask Carl or Michonne about it later. Right now they were engrossed in a fierce hand, and a chocolate bar was on the line. Carl quickly went from one card to nine after a vicious Reverse, Draw Four, Draw Four combination by Michonne.

In that moment, of utter happiness and contentment, he reflected on a life he never dreamed possible. Not when they were at their lowest after the world changed, not even before. Before, he felt an obligation to the woman he loved. Now, it was a different love. A forever love he felt for the first time in his life. It was that kind of love where separation, even for a few hours had him missing her. It was the kind of love that made him want to be vulnerable so he shared instead of trying to protect himself. Where he didn't see his feelings as future weapons to be used against him during an argument, but instead building blocks to make his relationship stronger.

He was amazed at all these feelings he was experiencing and there were still gaps in his memory. And who knew? Maybe he would never get it all back but he remembered what was most important. He remembered his family — Carl, Judith, and Michonne. He looked over and caught Michonne's eye. As she smiled at him he knew for sure life could never be better, he could never feel more alive than with her by his side. It was hard to believe he went through so many emotions; that he lost, found, and made so many memories in the span of seven days. But he came out of it with a love he knew could never be destroyed, for they had been tested more times and in more ways imaginable and they were on top.

THE END