She'd screamed most of the night, yelling out profanities that made even Negan blush at times. He sat with Eugene, waiting for her to tire herself out. Eugene had proven poor company, since he wasn't fond of Negan, and Negan couldn't understand much of what came out of his mouth.

At around two in the morning, Negan thought his ears had finally packed in, then quickly realised it was silent.

He makes his way down the stairs, turning towards her cell. Negan holds onto the bars as he watches her sleep with her knees almost tucked up to her chest. It felt strange to be on the other side of the bars. The last time he'd been down here, he'd been exactly where she was. As he stands there, he wonders genuinely for the first time what could've happened to her, and his plan to get in her panties seems to take a back seat as he shivers at the thought of a beautiful, little thing like her out there alone. Negan drops his head, feeling like a shit for thinking only of himself and what he can get from her.

He heads back up, the stairs creaking with every other step.

Eve opens her eyes, staring at the cell door. She'd wanted to scream at the man, but she knows that won't get her anywhere, so she'd feigned sleep instead. She had recognised one of them, or at least she thought she had. It didn't really matter. She'd seen a million faces that had seemed friendly at first, and they'd all turned out to be wearing masks, hiding the ugliness beneath. The man she recognised was probably the same as the rest, just wearing a mask like they all had, waiting for her to let her guard down, and that's when they'd pounce, like the animals that they are.

Eve suddenly feels the need to pee. She makes her way to the corner of her cell, drops her panties, and pees right there on the floor. Making her way back to the cot, she crawls underneath. She'll stand a better chance of them leaving her alone if she hides under there, they'll find it harder to hurt her. After five minutes her eyes become heavy, and she gives in to sleep.

"So do you know how long she was out there?" Carson asks as he leans back in his chair.

Rick shakes his head. "She hasn't said anything.. other than screaming profanities."

"How long since you saw her last?"

Rick chews on the inside of his cheek as he thinks back to the prison. "About five years. We all got separated at the prison. A lot of people didn't make it."

"And she did that?" Carson asks as he gestures towards Rick's arm.

"Yeah. It's like she didn't know who i was."

Carson nods his head. "Okay. Well i'll come down and check on her, but if she's as bad as you say she is, it could take a while before she even talks to us. I'll try though," he assures him.

"Thanks, doc." Rick smiles as he gets to his feet.

Carson stands outside the cell with Negan and Rick, emitting a deep sigh as he sees her sleeping under the cot.

"She wasn't there when i checked earlier," Negan says.

Rick turns to him with a frown. "What were you doing down here?"

"What the fuck do you think? I was checking on her.. didn't i just fucking say that?"

"Has she eaten anything?" Carson asks.

Rick shakes his head. "I just asked Janet to bring something. She didn't exactly seem in the mood for eating when we brought her in, thought it best to leave her to calm down."

"Well she's hydrated, that's for sure," Carson says as he gestures towards a puddle in the corner of the cell.

Rick stares at it with a grimace. "Shit. It's been a while since these cells have been occupied, i didn't think to put a bucket in there."

"Thank Christ she didn't need a shit, that'd be too much even for me," Negan says with a chuckle.

"This isn't funny." Rick frowns.

"I fucking know that, Rick. It's just what i do, you'd think you'd fucking know that by now," Negan says.

Carson kneels down on the floor near her cell. "Eve."

"You think it's wise to wake her?" Rick asks.

"She's not sleeping. If i had to guess, i'd say she woke up the minute we step foot on the stairs," he whispers. "Eve. My name's Carson. I'm a doctor. You wanna come out from under there?"

She shakes her head to Rick's surprise, who genuinely thought she was sleeping.

"Well that's okay, you don't have to," Carson assures her. "No one here is going to hurt you, i promise you that."

"Fucking liar!" She hisses.

The three of them stare at her as if she were a wild animal that had just been discovered.

"Why would i lie?" Carson asks, his voice soft. He's met with silence as she refuses to answer. "Rick said he knows you. Do you remember him?"

"He wears a mask, like all of you fuckers!"

"A mask? You think people wear masks?" Carson asks. She shuffles further under the cot, appearing nothing more than a shadow. Carson rises to his feet and head upstairs with the others behind him.

"What do we do, doc?" Rick asks as he rubs at his temples. "What's wrong with her?"

Carson shrugs his shoulders. "I'd say an extreme form of PTSD. But it's probably not as simple as that. Hiding under the bed, talking about people wearing masks. It could be any number of things. The hiding under the bed thing is very childlike, a sign that she's regressed. She's obviously been through some kind of trauma, which we all have, but if i had to guess, i'd say she's been alone for a good while. It makes it harder to come back from something when you don't have someone to comfort you. If she's had a few bad experiences with strangers, then she's probably gonna be reluctant to trust anyone. Of course, i'm just speculating."

"So what do we do?" Rick repeats himself.

"Try and assure he she's not a prisoner here. That she's in there for her own safety. Try and earn her trust. Don't stifle her with questions, because she's most likely just gonna get agitated and shout curses at you. Make sure someone comes down a few times a day, just sit outside the cell. Be tactful though. You don't want her to feel as if she's an animal in a cage that's being observed."

Rick nods sombrely.

Negan walks down the stairs with a tray of food in his hands, silently praying she isn't taking a shit in the corner. As he comes within view of her cell, he needn't worry. She remains under the cot, Negan once again unsure if she's sleeping or not. He guesses she isn't. Living out there she probably has the ears of a cat, waking at the slightest thing.

He takes a key out of his pocket, unlocking the cell door and quickly setting her tray down. Negan fights the urge to approach her, knowing most likely it won't end well. "Grub's up," he says as he locks the door. Negan pulls out a chair, taking out a book that he'd stuffed in his back pocket. He had no intention of reading it, but he thought it were a good idea rather than just sitting there like an idiot.

The book turns out better than he thought, Negan chuckling loudly as he forgets his surroundings.

Eve turns her head towards the door. She knew he'd been sitting there, probably with the intention of hurting her when she least expected it, so she hadn't budged an inch, in spite of the rumbling in her stomach. But as she watches him read his book, she ponders the idea that it might be okay to quickly leave the safety of the cot so she can grab the tray. She moves an inch, but then her body won't allow her to move any further.

With her gaze fixed on the tray, she fails to see Negan watching her. Negan, though not the most sensitive of people, sees that she wants the tray, and yet she's reluctant to leave, most likely because he's there. "I'm gonna head upstairs, you want anything?" He asks casually, rising to his feet as he snaps the book shut. She flinches, moving back the inch she'd progressed. "I'll come back in about half an hour." As Negan gets to the top of the stairs, he smiles as he hears the sound of the tray scraping the floor.

Three days had passed since they'd brought her back to Alexandria. Negan had gotten into the habit of taking her food to her, except for the second day. Rick had insisted on taking her food instead. But after he'd found her tray still full in spite of him leaving, he decided it best that Negan continue in future.

Negan had somehow managed to keep his mouth shut. Saying nothing other than that her food was ready, and telling her when he was about to leave.

As he sits in front of her cell, reading a page from another book that he'd found interesting enough, he shifts his feet, just about ready to leave when he hears the tray scrape across the floor. Negan looks up in surprise, then he quickly drops his head back into the book, not wanting to make a big deal of it.

Eve had taken the tray quickly towards the cot, yet she sat on the floor in front of it rather than crawling under, figuring if he were stupid enough to try something, he'd get a spoon in the eye for his troubles. She went about eating her food, not taking a second glance at the quiet man that came to visit her.

Though he'd tried hard not to stare, he can't help it. Negan takes a good look at her, for the first time noticing that she's wearing what appears to have once been a summer dress. Now it hangs off her slight frame, it's original colour unknown. He'd thought she'd been wearing pants, but her legs are so filthy it just appears that way. Her feet are bare, but then he realises they had brought her in with bare feet. He looks away quickly, wondering whether he should say something. He decides against it, at least for the time being. She'd felt confident enough to grab the tray whilst he were still there, that was a big step he supposed.

As she finishes her last bit of food, she watches him warily, trying to get the measure of him. He wasn't like the others she'd seen, he was different somehow. The others seemed to look at him differently, as if he were some kind of pest that they wanted rid of. Maybe that's why they had him watch over her? So he was out of their way? Maybe he was a prisoner as much as she was?

Eve grabs her tray and walks half way across the cell, kneeling down as she places it on the floor, pushing it towards the door. He looks up from his book, his face soft as he smiles at her. But there's a darkness in his eyes that she recognises, and she crawls back a little, unsure whether it makes him a threat or an ally.

Negan slowly shuffles off the chair, instead sitting on the floor. She looks him straight in the eye, and he wonders how he never noticed how blue they are, especially as they peek out from her dirt covered skin, they're piercing in fact.

"Your eyes are dark," Eve says. Negan is a little taken aback, unsure of what to say, but then she saves him the trouble. "Have you seen things? Or have you done things?"

"Both," he answers honestly. "I've seen a lot of things, and i've done a lot of things.. things i'd rather forget."

"But you can't," she says.

Negan shakes his head. "No, i can't. I don't think any of us can. It'd be a fuck load easier if we could." He contemplates asking her what she'd rather forget, but decides against it.

"You're not like the others." She shuffles a little closer to the door. "They don't like you.. why?"

He stares at her, surprised that she'd managed to take notice even from her cell. "I.. i made some bad choices. I was trying to keep people alive, but.." Negan shakes his head. "I was in that very cell where you're sitting for a long fucking time."

"Help me get out," she says, rushing towards the cell door and grabbing the bars.

Negan almost stumbles backwards, her expression crazed and desperate. "You're safe here," he assures her.

"I'm not." Eve shakes her head, her eyes wild. "I can't be here. They'll hurt me."

"They won't."

"Then you're a fucking liar! Just like the rest of them!" She snaps, then proceeds to make her way back to the cot, sliding beneath it.

Negan's face falls, but he stays where he is for a good five minutes, then goes back to his chair, refusing to leave her.