Chapter Text
"Fine! You're always right, always! " Carl yelled back at his father as he walked away from him, towards the house. Rick had made it pretty clear to his son that he didn't approve of him sneaking out of Alexandria with Enid all the time. Even Carl questioned the safety of going out of the walls with the girl from time to time, but they knew what they were doing! What could possibly happen to them?! The argument between father and son had not gone unnoticed by the surrounding citizens of Alexandria, and both Rick and Carl could feel eyes on them as they walked home, separated by about 10 feet.
"Carl! Come here, now." Rick barked at his son. He knew that he'd got his point across to Carl, but whether or not he actually wanted to hear it and process it was still up in the air. If Carl wasn't going to listen to him, Rick would have to make him listen.
"No! You've said what you wanted to, just leave me alone..." The teen turned to look at his father when he said that, sounding more let down and sad than angry in that moment, before turning around again and storming into the house. He passed Michonne holding Judith but didn't say anything, and walked upstairs to lock himself in his room. Rick almost felt bad for a second, but shook that feeling off and came through the front door a few seconds later, only to be met by his confused looking girlfriend holding his giggling daughter.
"What's put him in such a bad mood?" She asked pointedly, bouncing Judith in her arms.
"We had a little talk about him and Enid. He wasn't too pleased about it" He replied, scratching the back of his neck.
"You didn't..." Her expression dropped. She knew how sensitive Carl was around the topic of him and Enid. He even seemed to get annoyed at her for implying anything romantic between them.
"What? I only told him that I wasn't happy with them sneaking out together all the time."
"Well, don't think we'll see any more of him tonight. You know how touchy he is about her, what did you expect?"
"Maybe for him to be a little more mature?" He said quietly.
"He's a 15 year old boy and there's a pretty girl his age running around, maturity flies out of the window at that point. Isn't that right Judy?" The little girl giggled and Michonne looked softly at her boyfriend. She knows how much he hates arguing with Carl. It puts unnecessary and unwanted tension in the family, which was unpleasant for everyone. "I'm sure he'll come around at some point."
Like Michonne said, they didn't see Carl again that night. The couple put Judith to bed at about nine, and found themselves growing tired after such a long day. They headed to bed at about 10, but with Rick being in less than a good mood after the day he'd had, Michonne did the best she could to make him feel better before they went to sleep. Safe to say that it worked, and the pair were out like a light afterwards.
Rick awoke feeling colder than usual, quickly amounting that to the lack of his girlfriend beside him. At first he was worried, but then thought that she had maybe gotten up early to make breakfast, maybe as a way to ease the tension. He got out of bed to go to the bathroom and freshen up, but as he walked he bashed his leg into the bedpost at the foot of the bed. "Shit!" He exclaimed as he crouched down to rub his sore shin. He could have sworn that the offending bedpost was farther away...
As he lifted his head up, he noticed long, brown hair blocking his vision. He quickly stood up and pushed it out of his face.
"What the hell..." He said to himself, which confused him even more. "That's not my voice..." He thought, growing increasingly concerned. He scratched his head only to feel more hair, lots of hair. He touched his face only to feel smooth skin as apposed to his stubble, and what he could only guess as a bandage wrapped around his forehead, covering one of his eyes.
"No way in hell is this what I'm thinking..." He thought as he ran out of the room, upon exiting he recognised to be Carl's. He also noticed he was wearing Carl's Pj's. He was getting more and more worried. He burst into the bathroom in the hall and turns on the light so he can see himself in the mirror.
"What. The. Fuck." He said out loud, in a much younger voice than his own.
Carl woke up at the sound of someone running around outside in the hall. He quickly tried to get up but found himself unable to move. He looked over to see what could possibly be stopping him from getting out of bed and all the color left his face. A naked Michonne had her arms wrapped around his own exposed body, which with only a quick glance he could tell wasn't his body. He suddenly had all sorts of muscles and a hell of a lot more body hair.
Mortified, he carefully peeled her arms off of himself and eased himself out of bed, quickly grabbing a pair of underwear off of the floor and putting them on. He put his hands over his face, feeling rough stubble and no bandage. He slowly crept out of the room and ran down the hall to the bathroom, forgetting about the possible intruder that woke him. When he got there however, he was greeted with someone that he could only recognise as himself staring back at him, with a worried and confused look on his face.
They stared at each other for awhile, before Carl looked at himself standing in front of him and asked,
"Dad...?" His voice was much gruffer and deeper than he was used to, but then his body, Carl's body, spoke back.
"Carl...?"