Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead.

"You okay?"

Judith said nothing. She wouldn't even look back at him from her position on the stairs next to the cell window. Negan wondered if she was even aware of where she was sitting. He had just happened to catch the girl coming along out of the corner of his eye. At first he grinned just like he usually did whenever he saw her coming, but it dropped when he saw the downcast eyes. Judith never gave the impression of being happy to see him whenever she stopped by, but she had never given the impression that she was sad about it either.

Without even tossing him a look, she turned and plopped down on the end of the stairs, curled up her knees, and dropped her head against them on her arms as if she were crying. Negan didn't hear so much as a sob. She was just completely silent.

"Come on princess, tell me what's wrong," he tried again.

She twitched but didn't raise her head.

"I know something happened. It's not normal for you to be this quiet." He pressed closer against the bars of the window in an attempt to see her face, but it was well hidden. He imagined whatever it was, it had to have happened at the Kingdom since he knew she, along with the majority of Alexandria, had headed that way for an afternoon of fun and games. "Did some little asshole at the fair call you names? Did they snatch up some doll you won on a game?"

"I don't play with dolls," she stated flatly.

Negan's lips turned into a slight smile upon hearing her speak at last.

"That's right. You're too good for that shit."

"Language," she remarked, though not in a reprimanding sort of way. In fact, her voice had definitely cracked, which alarmed Negan.

He stared at her before dropping his head and closing his eyes. There was something more serious happening than potential child bullying. And even if bullying was the case, he had no doubt that the little bad-ass would've been able to handle herself. It wasn't the kind of thing she'd get upset about anyways.

Then his stomach twisted as he imagined the worst thing that could have happened to the sweet girl. She had already lost a father. What is that she had recently lost her mother too, or her brother?

"Judith," he started slowly, "is Michonne alright? Is RJ?"

She sniffled then raised her head. She didn't even look back at him.

"They're alright."

A sense of relief hit Negan then. He hated the idea of her losing anymore of her family. The loss of Rick was bad enough. He couldn't imagine how it would be if Judith lost more of those closest to her.

"If they're okay, what's got you so upset?"

"Something bad…something bad happened at the fair."

Negan wrapped his fingers around the bars as he thought about what could have gone wrong. He had heard the gossip from the windows that there was some maniac group out there causing concern, but he didn't know all the details. He'd heard some weird things about them wearing dead skin, but that was absurd. He figured they were just throwing some crap out there because they had caught on that he might be listening in.

"How bad?" Negan started gently. "You want to talk about it?"

She looked like she was considering this, but then she shook her head.

"So you didn't come here to talk about it," Negan replied. "That's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to." She dropped her head against her arms again and just looked defeated. It twisted his stomach in a bad way. Judith Grimes shouldn't ever look defeated. "You know a lot about me kid, but did you know that one of the worst things that happened to me was losing my wife. She was sick before all this shit happened. I…I wasn't a good husband to her, so when she went...I regretted not being the man she deserved. I lost her right when the world changed, so I was forced to watch as she came back." He dropped his head against the bars and closed his eyes as the memory squeezed at his heart brutally. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't…put her down. I've done a lot of shit since then, but that doesn't mean I forgot what it's like to lose someone you love."

Silence hovered over them for a long minute before Judith raised her head.

"People were taken from the fair," she said. Negan looked up at the sound of emotion in her voice. "They were killed. Siddiq said they fought back. They defended each other, but, they still died."

Negan felt a flutter of concern as well as great interest in who had been murdered. He started to ask, but felt he might be pushing it.

"I'm sorry."

"They didn't deserve it. They didn't deserve to die the way they did."

"Nobody deserves to be taken and killed by any kind of asshole."

"Some of them were my friends."

"Jesus...I am truly sorry." Various scenarios of Alexandrians meeting their end played in his head. "But, at least they fought back. They didn't go out like cowards."

Judith sighed then stood. She ran a hand across her eyes before finally turning to look at Negan. There he saw the look he was used to seeing on her face. The look that told him he was dealing with a confident girl who wouldn't take shit lying down. It filled him with a sense of pride, at the same time it scared him. Though he didn't know the details of what had happened at the fair, it had suddenly occurred to him that she could have easily been one of the ones taken and killed. He knew she was a capable survivor, but the last thing he wanted was for her to get in over her head by trying to do something about the situation.

"What are you going to do now?" he was a little afraid to ask it.

She shrugged.

"I don't know. We have to fight, and I want to help."

Dread filled Negan at such words.

"Look, I know you like to help people, but you've got to know your limits. You can't get so consumed with helping that it gets you killed!"

She just stared back at him, looking just as determined as ever. Negan squeezed the bars, frustrated, as a great desire to protect her washed over him. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do so long as he was a prisoner.

"I'm not alone," she insisted. "Other people will help."

Negan dropped his eyes and smiled sadly.

"And you'll give those assholes hell," he said softly. "I know you will. If I wasn't in this cage, I'd be helping right alongside you."

"You'd try to protect me," Judith clarified knowingly.

"I sure as fuck would."

She dropped her eyes in thought before nodding.

"And I would protect you."

It was enough to push aside some of the dread and warm his heart. He smiled back at her in gratitude. Judith turned to head back, but Negan called out to her.

"Tell Michonne, If you see her before me…tell her I'd like to help too."

Judith didn't look back, but she gave a nod before disappearing around the corner. Negan smiled and leaned against the bars. He knew it was highly unlikely that Michonne or anyone would trust him enough to help with a war they could potentially face. No one would trust him not to turn on them, and he didn't blame them. But, if he heard that anything happened to Judith Grimes, he'd do everything he could to escape the cell and bash in the brains of whoever dared to hurt Rick Grimes's bad-ass daughter.

On the fly I pictured Judith coming to Negan after what happened, so I felt compelled to write something for it. From the show, I don't get the impression that Negan really knows about the whisperers, but he might here a thing or two drifting in though the window. I also can't imagine Siddiq went into detail about how those people died when he gave his speech, so I don't imagine Judith knows about the pikes.