Chapter Text
When Rick woke up, he found himself panicking at the sight of Michonne’s empty side of the bed. For any normal couple, this wouldn’t have been an issue, but they were far from ‘normal’. It was a rare occurrence for Michonne to wake up before Rick, and when she did, she usually just laid in bed until he woke up too.
Rick was about to reach for his gun when he remembered how Michonne had been tossing and turning the night before. He felt himself breathe again at the realization that Michonne had probably just had a nightmare, couldn’t fall back asleep, and had decided to get an early start on the day. It didn’t happen all that often, not anymore, but it was still a common enough event that Rick no longer saw the empty bed as a cause for alarm.
Rick shook his head at himself for panicking so quickly, he was always quick to assume the worst when it came to those that he loved. He sighed, putting his gun back down and reaching for a shirt and sweatpants instead. Rick pulled the clothes on and made his way out into the hallway.
He walked over to Carl’s room first, prepared to be greeted by a grumpy “go away” from his son. After all, Carl had never been a morning person, and it had only gotten worse as he got older.
However, when Rick knocked on Carl’s door, Michonne’s voice rang out instead. Rick slowly opened the door, and saw Michonne sitting on Carl’s bed, flipping through a comic book. Carl, meanwhile, was asleep, curled up next to Michonne with his head in her lap.
“ ‘Chonne? Why’re you in here? Everything all right?” Rick asked. To say that this was odd was an understatement- the last time Carl had wanted someone to stay with him while he slept was when the first got to Alexandria, before they knew if they could trust the people here.
“Not really.” Michonne admitted, looking down at Carl for a moment with a sad gleam in her eyes before turning her attention back to Rick. “We should talk.”
Rick nodded shakily, his heart racing at all the possibilities of what could be wrong. Meanwhile, Michonne was putting the comic book down and attempting to get off of the bed. She lifted Carl’s head off of her legs and gently put it on the bed, placed a kiss on the boy’s forehead, and then finally left the room with Rick in tow.
“Tell me what’s goin’ on, ‘Chonne.” Rick demanded as soon as they were downstairs and out of ear-shot of the kids’ rooms. He felt like he was going to throw up, fear that something horrible had happened quickly growing in his gut.
“I will, but first, sit down and take a breath. No one is seriously hurt, no one is dead, this is something we can work through.” Michonne reassured him, sitting down on the couch and gesturing for Rick to join her, which he did.
“Last night,” Michonne began to explain. “I came downstairs and found Carl sitting at the table, just staring off into space. I talked to him for a little bit, and he wound up telling me that when he and Enid were hanging out earlier, he had told her about those men who attacked us on the side of the road.”
Everything went silent, images of that awful night filling Rick’s head. He could still see the creepy way that pervert had looked at his son, could still hear Carl whimpering as he was pinned to the floor. Rick had been absolutely terrified for Carl that night, terrified that those men were going to violate his son, that they were going to strip him of what little innocence he had left. The rage that Rick felt just from thinking about that night was indescribable.
“Carl said that when they were talking about it,” Michonne continued, pulling Rick out of his thoughts. “Enid had to explain what those men were planning on doing to him. That the man who had grabbed him was trying to- to rape him. Rick, Carl didn’t know.”
“What?” Carl wasn’t naive, he knew much more than he should for someone his age. “But- but, I thought…”
“I know, I thought he knew too, but it’s understandable.” Michonne sighed. “The only people who even knew about that night were you, me, and Daryl. None of us ever talked to him about it, so how would he have known?”
Rick felt a cold wave of realization wash over him. Michonne was right, even if Carl was mature for his age, there were still going to be things that he didn’t know. Things that the adults in his life needed to teach him, and no one had. The most Rick had ever done was giving him ‘the talk’ when Lori had gotten pregnant, and it had been as straightforward as Rick could make it.
“Did you say anything to him?” Rick asked after a moment, grateful that Michonne hadn’t said anything else, giving him a minute to process instead.
“I did.” Michonne replied. “We talked for a while, and I tried to help him through it, but he was so upset. More upset than I’ve ever seen him- he cried for hours, and begged me not to leave him.”
Rick was starting to see red, he was fuming over the thought of his son in such distress. Rick wanted to go back and kill that son of a bitch who’d hurt his son all over again, he wanted to draw it out for days until that bastard was begging for death. He was furious that that fucker could continue to cause his son pain, even in death.
Michonne put her hand over Rick’s, pulling him out of his homicidal thoughts. “Rick, you should talk to him. He needs his dad.”
“I will.” Rick squeezed Michonne’s hand. “And thank you, ‘Chonne, for being there for him.”
Michonne smiled. “You know you don’t have to thank me, I’d do anything for that kid. Just make sure he’s alright.”
Rick nodded, and walked back up the stairs to Carl’s room. He opened his son’s door and found him still sleeping, splayed out on his stomach with his long limbs going in every direction. Rick chuckled to himself, it was almost enough to make him forget the reason why he came in here. Almost.
“Carl.” Rick sat on the edge of Carl’s bed and shook his shoulder lightly. “Carl.”
Carl shot up, looking around wildly. Rick saw his hand go towards the knife strapped to his side, and he quickly grabbed Carl’s wrist to stop him from hurting himself- which was a mistake. Carl immediately yanked his wrist out of his father’s grasp and scrambled backwards until he hit into the wall with a resounding smack!
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best time to be doing this. Oh well, too late now.
“It’s me, Carl. It’s dad. You’re safe.” Rick put his hands up, not moving until Carl started blinking slowly in recognition.
“Dad?” Carl looked around the room like he was confused. “Wait, but where’d Michonne-”
“Everything’s fine, she’s just downstairs.” Rick answered, already knowing what his son was going to ask. “She thinks I should talk to you, though.”
“About what?” Carl was picking at fuzz on his comforter, not looking Rick in the eye.
“About what you two talked about last night.”
Carl sighed, glancing up at Rick. “She told you?”
“ ‘Course she told me.” Rick said. “It should’ve been me talking to you in the first place. Honestly, I should’ve done it right after it happened, but then there was just so much goin’ on… either way, that’s not an excuse. Point is, I should’ve talked to you a long time ago, and I’m sorry I didn’t.”
“It’s fine, dad.” Carl shrugged. “It’s really not that big of a deal.”
“No, it is.” Rick insisted. “Something bad happened to you, and I should’ve been there for you afterwards.”
“Nothing actually happened, though.” Carl argued. “That man, he- he tried to do something to me, but he didn’t actually do it. I honestly don’t even know why I was so upset last night.”
“Hey, don’t write off your feelings like that.” Rick put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You have every right to be upset. It’s an extremely traumatic thing for anyone to go through, especially at fourteen.”
“But I didn’t go through anything!” Carl shoved Rick’s hand off, frustration evident in his voice. “So what if that man touched me? It’s not like he actually raped me! I’m sorry for making such a big deal of it last night and getting you and Michonne all worried, but I’m fine now!”
“Carl, stop!” Rick put a hand on Carl’s cheek, forcing his son to look at him. “You did go through something. Just because that man didn’t get very far, doesn’t mean it was nothing.”
“But he didn’t actually do it!” Carl’s voice was a little calmer now, but he still seemed annoyed that Rick wasn’t letting this go.
“So?” Rick’s tone had softened a bit as well. “Attempting to rape someone, or touching someone in the way that man was touching you is considered sexual assault. Carl, you were sexually assaulted, and that’s a big deal. You should be upset about it, I’d honestly be worried if you weren’t.”
Carl was quiet. Rick moved his hand off of Carl’s face, wanting to give his son room for whatever reaction he was going to have, but nothing happened. Carl just ducked his head down and started pulling at his comforter again.
Rick was about to say something else, when he heard Carl sniffling and noticed how badly his son’s hands were shaking. Rick quickly wrapped his arms around his boy, pulling him into his chest. Carl wrapped his arms around Rick in return, burying his face in the crook of his father’s neck as he began to sob.
“I’m sorry, Carl.” Rick whispered into his son’s hair. “I’m so sorry that you have to go through this, but Michonne and I are here for you. We always will be, and we’ll help you get through this. It’ll be okay.”
“I love you, dad.” Carl choked out between tears.
Rick kissed the top of his son’s head. “I love you too, Carl.”