Cindy had loved being one of Negan's wives because everything made perfect sense to her that way. After everything had become so very uncertain, she had been offered a home where she could be certain of her place and certain of her purpose. It was not long before she felt as if this life was all she knew and all that there was for her, and she did not mind that feeling.

She loved Negan because he made things make sense for her, and even if she would not have fallen for him in her old life, this was not her old life, and she was content to sit quietly and wait until he had some use for her. It was easy to adjust to that life, and when that life was sudden;y taken from her, she did not know what to do with herself.

She watched the other girls, hoping for some clue about what to do with her life now, but Amber had already run off with Mark and Nina went back to business as usual, as if she had never been a part of the better life. Sherry was said to have found a new lover and Eileen had vanished one night, and nobody has seen her since. She had told Cindy that she was going after Negan, but Cindy did not want to go with her.

He had given her a better life and a life that made sense, but that was over for him. Wherever he was, he couldn't give her that anymore, and running off in the night would only get her killed, which is what she was sure happened to Eileen. She had never loved Negan like Eileen had; while she had been happy to sit and wait for him to need her, Eileen was always trying to make herself useful, always yipping at his heels and desperate for his attention. She was productive in her jealousy, which was likely the only reason he even put up with it.

Cindy didn't want Negan back unless he was the same man who could offer her the same life as before. She needed somebody like him, but she did not need him as he was now, and she wasn't sure how to serve her purpose anymore.

Until, one day, she realized just how obvious it was. Negan was gone, but they were not without a leader and that was where she could find her place. She decided that she needed to see what purpose Dwight might have for her.

~X~

Dwight had been visited by his fair share of people since settling back in, since the conflict had ended and peace had been reached. No one was sure what sort of leader he would be and everyone had their reasons for wanting to get their own look. Most did not want another Negan but some did, and others did not care as long as he got them what they wanted, and others still did not understand why it was Dwight in charge and not someone else.

But when he got a visit from a young woman who looked like she had not seen a lot fights or a lot of the outside world lately, he wondered what she could possibly want with him. It took him a few moments to place her as one of Negan's old wives, but she had always behaved herself and so he could not remember her name.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"My name is Cindy,' she replied, as if she knew he couldn't remember. There was a look in her eyes that he could not quite place, an unsettling mix of calmness and confusion and desperation. "I was wondering if there was anything I could do for you."

"Uh, well, no," he replied. "Nothing I can think of, anyway. What makes you ask?"

"Well, I was just hoping I could show you how useful I can be, so that you can take that into consideration when you start thinking about picking girls,' she said, and she said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I...excuse me?" He knew what she meant, but he couldn't believe that she actually coming to him with such a proposition, that she would say something like that so innocently.

"You don't have anyone yet, do you?" she asked, and she did not wait for an answer. "But when you start to choose, I'd really like it if you took me into consideration."

Of all that he had had to experience since being thrust into leadership, this was the absolute strangest thing, and he had no idea how he was supposed to handle this. She didn't seem to be at all insincere or to be making some sort of joke; she actually seemed to believe that this was a logical course of action. Cindy, for whatever reason, had just approached him with a genuine offer of marriage.

"I don't think you understand a few things," he said at last. "I'm not going to be like he was, keeping a bunch of women around."

She blinked. "But...but why not?"

"Because I'm not like,' he said. "And I'm changing things around here and it's not going to be like that anymore."

The disappointment and confusion in her face was almost crushing as she said, "But you're the leader now, and it's my job to be useful to you, and I know I'm best at doing that as a wife. I was very good at it before and I really don't know what else I'm supposed to do."

Perplexed did not begin to cover how this encounter was making him feel, and he even felt somewhat sorry for her, to see that she really could not understand herself out of her old life. "If you'd like for me to help you find a job you feel comfortable with..."

"But I know what job I'm comfortable with," she replied earnestly. "I know that I would be a good wife to you, if you'd just give me a chance."

"Cindy, I appreciate the offer, but I really don't think-"

"But I love you," she interrupted, looking so sincere that it actually made his chest ache a bit. But he knew that she didn't mean it, that none of this meant anything, even if she looked like she cared and insisted that she could. She was just confused about herself and how she fit into the world.

"You don't even know me, Cindy," he said, trying to sound as gentle as he could. Gentleness was not his strong suit, but he had to try with her and also remain rational, because she clearly did not know what she was doing.

"I know you!" she replied quickly, looking hurt. "I know you, and you're in charge and I know that I love you. That's what I'm supposed to do, and I know if you'd give me a chance, I could prove that I'm good enough."

He sighed, trying to think of what to say to her to make her understand the way things really were. It was not something he was at all equipped to deal with, and he didn't know what to do to get her to stop this without doing something to hurt her. "You don't me like you're supposed to know a husband. You know? And you don't know me enough to love me, and you don't have to. That isn't how things work anymore, and you don't have to be with me to be useful to the community."

Still, nothing he said seemed to get through to her. "Please, just let me show you," she said. "Let me show you what I can do for you." And she stepped forward, grabbing him by the shoulders as she pulled him into the kiss, and he didn't fight it.

Dwight tried to write it off in his mind as being too stunned to react, but that wasn't right. He had seen it coming soon enough to stop it before it started, but he hadn't, and when she crashed her lips onto his, it hadn't mattered who she was or what her reasoning was or that she was absolutely out of her mind; it had been a very long time since someone had kissed him like that, and he relaxed into it against his better judgment. He was lonely, had been so fucking lonely for so long, and he didn't give a damn if Cindy was crazy or whatever, he kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her and tangling a hand in her hair.

Crazy or not, she was right that she was good at this, or maybe it was just the fact that it had been a long time for him. Either way, he found himself moaning into her mouth, grinding himself against her, craving more from her than he knew he should take, desperate to take this further, knowing that that would be a horrible mistake.

But it was a mistake that he could not stop himself from making.

A/N: So, uh, this. Apparently I'm thirsty for Dwight? I mean, I always knew I was, but recently this idea has been bugging me, and with some encouragement from some bad influences, I unproudly present to you; a bad fic with an equally bad OC.
Something I gotta say about Cindy, my leading lady here: her perception of herself and how she fits into the world come entirely from how shitty the world became and how traumatic that was, and nothing else. I don't want anyone thinking that she thinks she has to do what she does because of Negan, because I know people misinterpret him as being abusive too often and that ain't the case. She was just in a bad place on her own, and thought being a wife was so good that it became her idea of how life should be.
Eileen will probably be mentioned a lot more throughout, and she's an OC I'd love to write about someday, but that day is not today.