That's Amore

“What’s going on here?”

After putting Judith down for a nap, Michonne entered the kitchen to find Rick standing at the counter with a piece of paper in hand, a bunch of items lined up before him, and a look of dismay on his face.

“Carl’s 15^th birthday is today and I wanted to make him something special.”

“What would that be?”

“Pizza. He hasn’t had it since before the Turn and I thought I’d surprise him. The only thing is, I’m a shitty cook under the best circumstances. I can barely boil water.”

Michonne nodded her understanding. “And these aren’t the best of circumstances.”

“Not by far,” Rick agreed. “This is a wood burning stove. I can’t just dial up an exact temperature. I have to make the crust by scratch…”

Michonne nodded at one ingredient on the counter. “Where did you get the cheese?”

“Mrs. Gunderson. She makes it. I traded a fully charged battery for six cups of shredded cheese and the recipe.”

Michonne made a show of rolling up her sleeves. “Then let’s set to work. Between the two of us, we should be able to figure this out.”

“And what do I have to trade for your help?” he asked playfully. He’d gotten into the habit of flirting with her lately, in his understated way, and she liked it. She winked at him.

“We’ll discuss that later. For now, let’s make the dough.”

Half an hour later they had enough dough for two crusts sitting on the counter to rise. Rick looked particularly pleased when he said, “We got through that and I only wasted one egg.”

Michonne frowned. “We didn’t use eggs in the crust.”

“I know. I dropped it when I went to store it away. You didn’t notice because you were adding olive oil to the--”

He moved to grab a towel to clean up the egg when he slipped in it, sending his feet into the air. On instinct he grabbed onto Michonne, but she couldn’t stop his fall and he only succeeded in pulling her down atop him.

“Are you okay?” she asked, worried she’d hurt him.

“Yeah,” he said, struggling to catch his breath. “You?”

“You broke my fall. Did you hit that hard head of yours?”

Rick started to grin, which made Michonne frown in confusion. “What's so funny?”

“You’ve got flour on your nose. It’s cute.”

“Is it? Maybe I should wear it all the time.”

He shook his head. “It wouldn’t look right outside of the kitchen.”

They shared a look that went on longer than necessary. That had been happening a lot with them lately.

“Tell me something,” said Rick. “How is it I haven’t kissed you, yet?”

“Well, I can be kind of intimidating,” she offered as an explanation.

He nodded. “You don’t intimidate me. Not now, with flour on the tip of your nose.”

She shifted so that she could comfortably straddle him. “You should do something about it, then. There’s no time like the present.”

He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her down, pressing his lips gently against hers. She eagerly deepened the kiss and slipped her tongue into Rick’s mouth. He tasted of the summer peaches they’d eaten at breakfast, and the smell of fresh air and kudzu clung to his hair. Thankfully he’d shaved the beard, and now his face was smooth beneath her fingertips. She felt him slip his hands under her shirt, but he froze when Judith began to cry.

She pulled away and they sighed. “She has perfect timing for interrupting the grownups, I’ll give her that,” said Michonne. She got to her feet, carefully, and helped Rick up. He used dusting flour off her pants as an excuse to touch her ass.

“We’ll finish this later?” he asked.

“You can count on it,” Michonne replied, and then went to take care of Judith.