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richonnejustdesserts · 7 years

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Teacher's Pet : A Richonne Round Robin Fanfic

A small town sheriff and preschool teacher find love thanks to the cutest little matchmaker around. [RATED: T]

Chapter 1 (written by @birdnmouse)

Rick glanced in the rear view mirror of his truck and grinned at the sight of his four year old daughter sitting in her car seat swinging her feet back and forth as she happily hummed along to the country song that was playing on the radio, one he was certain she didn’t know. She had insisted on changing out of the jeans and purple polka dot shirt she had worn to school that day, opting for a little light blue, ruffled seersucker sundress and some white sandals in honor of this special occasion instead.

“So is Miss A going to give you a good report or a bad report tonight?”

“Good,” she answered from the back seat before going back to humming along to the music as she looked out the window.

“Are you sure?” he goaded.

“I got all green lights this week,” she answered indignantly as she met his eyes in the mirror, furrowing her blonde little eyebrows and puffing out her chubby cheeks. She was telling the truth, then again it was only Tuesday. “I like her better than Mrs. Miller,” she declared.

“Because she gives you green lights?”

“Yes,” she answered honestly, causing him to crack a smile. “But also she’s nice. And pretty. And she reads stories better.”

“How does she do that?”

“She does the voices like you do,” she explained of his silly habit of putting on different voices for each of the characters in her bedtime stories.

It was their little thing, or so he thought. His stories always tickled her to no end, sending her into a fit of giggles as she nuzzled up closer to him while they sat in her bed which made it worth the extra effort for him.

“I see…do you like her stories better than mine?”

Much to his surprise, she actually cocked her little head to the side and pursed her lips as she pondered it.

“Yes,” she decided after a moment.

“Then I guess I should just quit…” he teased with a put upon frown and a mopey voice, although he had to admit that she had broken his heart just a little bit with that admission.

“No!”

“But you said hers are better…” he countered, laying it on a little thicker.

“Only sometimes,” she backtracked. “Don’t be sad, daddy,” she pleaded in a tender little voice.

“I’m not, sweetheart,” he assured her with a smile to prove it. “I was just teasin’ you. I’m glad you like your new teacher.”

Just as he was pulling into the parking lot of his daughter’s preschool, his cell phone began to ring from its spot in the center console. He kept his eyes on the road, not wanting to glance down until he had finished parking, but his little helper was on it for him.

“It’s Mommy!” she announced upon spotting the picture of Lori, Carl, and herself that popped up on the screen. “Can I answer it?”

“Of course.”

Right after he threw the truck in park, he reached down and passed the phone back to her, turning to watch as she expertly handled the device and answered on speaker, holding it out in front of her face like a little adult.

“Hi Mommy.”

Her forehead scrunched as she was met with nothing but a loud barrage of indiscriminate background noises coming through the speaker. As it went on for a few more seconds, he assumed that she had just butt-dialed them, for lack of a better description.

“Lori?”

“Mommy?” Judith repeated.

“Baby?” she answered finally. “Is your dad there?”

“I’m here,” he called out.

“Hey! Do you hear that?” He wrinkled his forehead as the noises replaced her voice again for moment. “Carl hit a homerun!”

Rick and Judith began to cheer along with the crowd from the cab of his truck, and although he was thrilled for his son, he felt his heart break again for missing out on his first homerun.

Michonne stood at the front of the classroom, her palms feeling slightly clammy and her heartbeat starting to speed up just a bit. She always got a little nervous at these things which was silly considering she spent her days speaking in front of crowds. Her usual crowds were students that came just up to her hips, however, and tonight they were all accompanied by one of both of their adults. She was outnumbered by far. She rubbed her palms down the side of her dress, took a deep breath, and put on her best smile.

“Everyone, can I have your attention for just a moment?”

The buzz in the classroom died down quickly as the children and parents stopped their conversations and found places to settle down across the room; some against the walls, some along the shelves of cubby holes in the back, and some in the long rows of tiny desks that ran the width of the room.

“I just wanted to take a moment to welcome you all to the spring semester open house. My name is Michonne Anthony, but you may know me better as Miss A or The New Mrs. Miller,” she quipped, referring to recently retired, long-long time teacher she had just replaced.

Her joke, thankfully, earned some knowing laughter and chatter from the parents, some who only knew of her as the former through their children and some who were guilty of the latter themselves. In the midst of the laughter, her eyes were drawn to the center of the room where Judith Grimes was practically crawling out of her father’s lap as she waved excitedly at her. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight, and gave a small wave back as Judith’s father reigned her in and whispered something in her ear, likely to the effect of sit still and behave judging by the look on his face.

“Just a little about me, first,” she continued once the room quieted down again. “I have a background in art education, clearly,” she said gesturing to the walls that were completely covered in paintings and drawings, “and I’ve worked with just about every age group throughout my career, but I always enjoyed working with my youngest students the most which inspired me to go back to school for a degree in early childhood education. After graduation, I taught at a Montessori school in Atlanta for a few years before taking this position.”

She continued to scan the room, trying to make eye contact with each and every person as she spoke, but her eyes kept landing on Judith Grimes’s father, and the way he was so endearingly crouched into his daughter’s tiny desk chair with her on his lap. He was by no means the youngest father of the bunch, but he was certainly the most handsome, distractingly so actually.

He was easily in his early forties judging by the deep creases that formed around his eyes every time he smiled at one of her attempts at humor and the ample amount of grey running through the scruff that covered the lower half of his face. He was dressed in a light blue plaid button down shirt and jeans like at least half of the men were, a standard casual dad look around these parts, but he wore his well so well on his lean frame.

“Getting to know your children over the past month has been an absolute pleasure,” she carried on, purposely forcing her eyes away from him, “and I’m looking forward to meeting each of you this evening. There are refreshments in the back and many projects hanging around the room that I’m sure your children are eager to show you. Please enjoy!”

As the chatter in the room started up again and the parents and children scattered to begin exploring the classroom, there was one voice that rose above the rest.

“Miss A!”

“Miss G!” she exclaimed at the sight of the pint-sized blonde making a beeline toward her.

“Did you see me waving?” Judith asked with breathless excitement as she came to a stop in front of her.

“I did. Didn’t you see me wave back?”

“Yes,” she answered sheepishly knowing full well that she had. “This is my daddy.”

“I thought that’s who this might be…” Michonne couldn’t help but smile at the obvious introduction, but then it was the polite thing to do. “Hi Mr. Grimes,” she said bringing her gaze to his face as she extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Rick,” he said as he shook her hand. “And it’s nice to meet you as well. My daughter is a big fan,” he joked, referring to her previous antics, which caused Michonne to chuckle.

The raspy, but warm southern drawl that had come from his smiling mouth caught her off guard. He was even more handsome up close, his blue eyes striking in their color and clarity, and his lean frame on full display as he stood before her, at least a head taller. Objectively speaking, Mr. Grimes was hot. And while it would be unprofessional to say so, she could at least allow herself to appreciate their interaction as a perk of the job.

“Well, I’m a big fan of hers,” Michonne said, making sure to keep her focus strictly business. “She’s very bright and curious, and brings such a wonderful energy to the classroom.”

The corner of Rick’s lips twisted into a lopsided grin at Miss A’s very kind take on what Mrs. Miller had previously referred to as Judith’s disruptive behavior. But then Miss A was not like Mrs. Miller. At all. She was younger than Mrs. Miller by at least a quarter of a century, and younger than him by at least a few years he figured. She was nice, as Judith had told him, and not in that cloyingly sweet way that some of his son’s teachers had been. And funny. And pretty. Though his daughter had missed the mark on that one because she was absolutely beautiful. There was a glow about her, especially when she smiled; the smooth, dark skin of her cheeks just seemed to radiate warmth. Her hair was twisted back into a loose bun at the base of her neck, and she wore a simple, flowing floor length black dress paired with a snug grey cardigan to cover her arms and shoulders. Her wrists were adorned with a thick collection of gold and brightly colored beaded bracelets, and gold metal earrings that were hammered into an ornate design dangled from her earlobes. She had an easy-going, yet elegant way about her which made her all the more intriguing and difficult to take his eyes off of.

“Miss A, do you want to know something?” Judith piped up, almost as if on cue, helping him do just that.

“Sure,” she answered

“When I told my daddy I like your stories better, he cried.”

Michonne bit down on her lips to hold back the laugh that wanted to escape them.

“I didn’t cry,” he scoffed uncomfortably, his cheeks warming slightly from embarrassment.

“I forgot to mention, she’s very good at sharing, too,” Michonne grinned.

“Yeah,” he huffed out at her gracious description of Judith’s talkative ways.

“I know that your son, Carl,” she inserted proudly to prove her point, “has a baseball game tonight, and he plays for a team called the King County Crushers which is why your wife couldn’t be here this evening.”

“My ex-wife,” Rick corrected casually as he chuckled at the level of detail his daughter had given her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize–”

“That’s OK,” he assured her as he waved it off.

She nodded with relief as she watched a grin form on his lips, one she imagined was meant to put her at ease. And it did, as she felt a warmth spread through her cheeks as she grinned back. They fell quiet for a moment as she allowed herself to steal another look at his handsome face, and she could have sworn he might have been doing the same to her.

“Carl hit a homerun tonight!”

The high little voice broke their gaze as they both looked down at her, with Michonne being thankful for the distraction.

“Way to go, Carl!” she said in return before glancing over her head to be reminded of the nineteen other sets of parents and children who also deserved her attention this evening. “Well, I should probably keep making the rounds. It was nice to finally meet you,” she said as she extended her hand out again.

“Likewise,” he nodded as he shook it in return.

She gave him a small grin as she pulled her hand from his then moved along to the next family. He watched her walk away, giving the same smile, introduction, and handshake to the next dad. He could have sworn he felt a little something between them, but maybe it was all in his head…

Thank you for coming…good night…thanks for coming…have a nice night.

She felt like a broken record as she stood at the door bidding the parents and their children good bye as they filed out of the classroom. The steady stream had slowed to a trickle as the last few stragglers made their way out.

“I’m not ready to go yet!”

She glanced back into the room to see Judith still sitting at her desk, refusing to move as her father leaned down beside her with a gentle hand on her back.

“You have to go to sleep so you can come back to school tomorrow,” he explained patiently.

“But I’m not tired,” she insisted.

“But I am,” Michonne said with a well-timed yawn as she walked toward them. “It’s been a long day, Judith. I need to get my rest, otherwise I’ll be too tired to come to school tomorrow…”

“No,” she said with alarm.

“…definitely too tired for story time or art class…” Michonne carried on.

“You have to go to sleep,” Judith instructed with great concern. “I will, too,” she promised.

“OK,” she nodded causing Judith to pop up from her chair.

While she was pushing it in under her desk like Miss A always reminded them to do, Michonne glanced over at Rick who was looking her way grinning. She gave him a knowing wink then began walking toward the door with them. When they arrived, Judith simply turned to her and wrapped her arms around her waist, giving her a hug good night. Michonne took a step back, caught of guard by the sweet gesture, then steadied herself and leaned down to wrap her arms around Judith’s back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Michonne said as she gave her a tight squeeze. Judith nodded then turned and grabbed her father’s hand.

“Have a good night,” she said quietly as she glanced up at Rick.

“You, too,” he nodded before his daughter tugged on his hand to get them going since she was completely on board with this sleep thing now.

As they walked to the car, Rick glanced down at his daughter, touched by how taken she was with her new teacher. She could be a handful, but it was clear there was a connection between the two of them.

He glanced back over his shoulder to see Miss A still standing in the door of her classroom, her silhouette backlit by the light coming from inside, watching them as they walked to their car. Upon meeting his eyes, she gave a shy smile then dipped her head and turned to walk back into the classroom. He reached into his back pocket and pulled his keys out, giving them a twirl around his finger as he smiled to himself. Maybe it wasn’t all in his head, after all…

#author: b and m #richonne #richonne fanfiction #richonne round robin #teacher's pet #michonne #rick grimes #rjd writing network

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