Moments later, Negan was turning the truck onto the highway, headed back towards home as they raced to the beat the setting sun. Reaching across the cab, he opened the glove compartment, swerving back and forth across the road as he felt his way around it.

"Clearly no one ever taught you how to drive, either." Peyton reached over and pushed the wheel back into alignment before they careened off of the asphalt and into the tree line. Negan straightened back up and took it back, no indication that he had even noticed what had happened showing up in his face.

"What tapes we got here? I could use some tunes after this awesome day. How about you?"

She rolled her eyes, leaning towards the compartment and sifting through the tapes that were strewn about inside.

"Let's see. We have some Reba, Garth Brooks, George Straight-"

"God damn! All this asshole listened to was country? That shit ain't gonna work right now. Hell fucking no!"

"I didn't know you had such strong feelings about musical genres." Peyton said, continuing her search before pulling out one she thought diverged enough from the others. "Lynyrd Skynyrd?"

He laughed loudly, throwing his arm up across the seat behind her. "Perfect. Put her in."

She took the tape from its case, looking it over before placing it inside the cassette player. As the notes began to play, Negan turned the volume dial up a considerable amount. They sat there in silence for a few moments, save for the music coming through the crackly stereo speakers. Peyton was slightly in awe, unable to remember the last time she had heard music. There were a few CD's spread amongst the homes back in Alexandria, but listening to them wasn't a luxury that anyone typically indulged in. Not to mention that most of them had been owned by the town's former leader, and though Peyton had never met her, she could only gather that their taste in music was nothing alike after seeing that the majority of them were made by artists who had played the last shows of their careers in Vegas.

"Nothin beats this, does it?" Negan offered, breaking the silence between them.

"Beats what?" She looked over to see a grin that spread from ear to ear across his face as he looked out the window, his left hand draped casually over the steering wheel.

"Drivin down the highway, no speed limit. Music blaring out your windows. One of the best feelings in the world." Peyton vaguely remembered these feelings, experiencing it while cruising town with her girlfriends or leaving school on a half day in highschool. She tried to relive that feeling, like there was no care in the world as long as she was in her car with the wind whipping her hair around as she listened to her favorite song. Passing a trio of walkers on the side of the road as they hobbled amongst some abandoned luggage, her imagination quickly dwindled and brought her back to reality.

"Yeah, it's a little different these days, though. We'll be lucky if we don't lead anyone straight to us doing this now with how loud you have it. And don't forget the matter of making sure we have enough gas."

He turned his head to look at her, periodically glancing back at the road. "Don't kill my hypothetical buzz. I'm in a good mood here."

She nodded, facing away to look out her own window. The road and surrounding forest appeared empty now, and she was thankful that any attention they garnered would hopefully be limited. Taking a moment to rehash the events of the day in her mind, she wondered what the reaction at their arrival would be. As much as she wanted to go straight to Tobin's house and kick him square in his manhood for getting her into trouble in the first place, Peyton knew it would be best to treat the matter as old hat. Shit happened and it was over now. Whether or not she would let Rick take Tobin out again without giving him a piece of her mind would be something to handle when the time came. What bothered her more so currently was how to behave around Rick knowing what she now did about how their relationship with Negan had come to be in the first place. She wanted to think that it didn't matter, but deep down inside of her where her ideas of right and wrong still lived, it did matter. Alexandria had been presented as a place of hope, somewhere where good people could still come together and make a world worth living again, but in reality they were not so different from any other group out there trying to survive. The more she pondered Negan's words the more the actual act didn't upset her, so much as the lie that it was hidden by. Negan was bad, we were good. That was what they had all been led to believe. It made her stomach turn to think that all along, they had been the ones to throw the first punch in the fight against the Saviors. And what a painful punch it was.

"Where are you off to over there, P?"

Negan's voice snapped her back into reality, her eyes immediately finding his. As she looked into them she couldn't help but notice the slight twinkle in them, the odd sense of happiness they held that seemed so out of place. It made Peyton wonder what he had been like before the world had fallen apart. Was his charm and twisted joy something he had always had, or had the end of the world just brought it out in him? She tried to imagine him sitting at a desk in a suit and tie, driving home at the end of the day and eating dinner at a set table, maybe watching some tv with a wife and two kids, but the vision was just to awkward to be real. She shrugged as she thought of how to answer his question.

"Just spacing out I guess."

"Bullshit. Your wheels are turning, I can see it. I wanna hear it."

"Why?" she asked her face scrunched with curiosity.

It was his turn to shrug as he switched hands at the wheel. His left hand rubbed at the scruff on his chin as he stared forward.

"We've had so much quality time together today, who says the sharing needs to end now? That's no way to keep a friendship going."

Peyton chuckled, rolling her eyes again. "Friends? Is that what we are? I thought we already labeled this a conqueror-conqueree relationship."

His eyebrows rose as he smiled at her. "I don't think I've conquered you just yet."

Peyton closed her eyes, grimacing as she realized what she had said and how much he enjoyed twisting it. It was hard for her to get used to this side of him; the normal guy, one who wanted to talk to people and make jokes. Granted, she knew she should have felt violated by his insinuation, but for now she was too distracted by how much he seemed like your regular Joe. A terrifying Joe, but regular nonetheless.

Exhaling loudly, she turned back to face him in her seat. "Well for one, I was just thinking that you're nothing like what I expected."

"Oh yeah?" he began, looking at her sideways. "Did you picture a blonde?"

She couldn't help but giggle a little at how stupid the joke was. "No, that's not what I was thinking. I guess I was just imagining someone more…. Stern I guess."

"Stern, huh? Like old?"

"Geez, will you stop? No, just not so... normal."

"Is that what I am? Damn, and here I thought I was pretty damn impressive but I guess I gotta get my ego in check around you."

"Yeah, maybe you should." Turning away, she questioned how much she wanted to know about the man sitting next to her. Chances were that once they returned to Alexandria their encounters would become much less frequent as they went back to their everyday lives. He would have to leave at some point and head back to his own community. Though that fact was meant to be appreciated, Peyton couldn't help but feel as if she would be left with so many more questions. Negan was oddly intriguing to her, and had become so much more so the moment he saved her life. So she decided that rather then sit the rest of the car ride in awkward silence, she might as well make the best of it and learn more about him. If anything, perhaps she could find some useful information about him to be used in the future.

"How did you get here?" She looked back into his face, a solemn expression on her own. He looked back at her questioningly.

"I seem to remember a girl that looks exactly like you finding this car and hopping in, then driving my ass down this damn highway. Oh, wait. That was you."

She shook her head, frowning. "No, that's not what I meant. I mean how did you get to this point? Leading your group. Did you know a lot of them before the turn?"

He shrugged, shaking his head slightly. "Nah. Made my way around just like anyone. Met one of them fuckers who took me back to his group. The assholes couldn't figure out a run if their lives depended on it. So yours truly had to make some adjustments. Figure out how to keep these people alive. Being in charge ain't hard when you're the one putting food in people's mouths."

Peyton pondered what he said, imagining him alone in the wilderness when it all began. Not knowing if she wanted to touch that subject, she continued to question his rise to power.

"Did you always use so much force from the get go? Or did something happen that made you think that was necessary?"

He chuckled. "You just can't get past that can you?"

She shrugged. "Just curious."

He went on, a look spreading across his face as if he was remembering it all in his mind's eye. "I wouldn't say it was right from the start. But the longer we went on and that more people we ran into it became pretty clear that this world needed someone to keep people in line. The violence, rape. The worst comes out in people when there aren't rules to follow. And as fucked up as beating the shit outta people might seem you gotta look at it as something that helps the greater good. Better to take out one person than have to take out a whole group if they're gonna start shit. If I scare the shit outta enough people they might get in line. Then you put 'em to work and that helps everyone. People just gotta get their heads outta their asses and it might make some damn sense." He looked back at Peyton and smiled again. "How's that for normal?"

Looking down, Peyton squirmed a bit in her seat. Hearing him talk about his philosophy reminder her that he was not the normal joe she had pictured. But then again, what was normal now.

Turning her body back to face forward in her seat, she noticed the marker on the side of the road indicating that they were only a few miles away from Alexandria. The thought of her bed made its way into the forefront of her mind as the exhaustion crept back up on her. She leaned back, placing her head against her right fist as she closed her eyes for a moment. Her rest was quickly disturbed as Negan continued the conversation.

"You for one are anything but normal."

Her head lifted as she looked back at him. "How do you figure?"

"You're a little warrior. You get what it takes to make it out here. Now, I guess I can forgive the stupidity it took to go back for that asshole because at least you had the balls to do it."

"If I remember correctly, you came back for me."

"Yeah, but I'm awesome," he replied, facing her as he grinned widely. She cocked her brow, attempting to look as unamused as possible. He continued, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "I need people like that back home. Someone who knows their shit. Someone that doesn't have to be watched all the time, can pull their own weight. Someone who can help us bring the world back. I think someone like you might be just what we need."

As he spoke, Alexandria appeared over the horizon. Rosita stood at watch, and as they drove closer Peyton could see the look of shock on her face as she realized who was headed her way. She lowered her gun and turned around, yelling to someone a ways off. Peyton turned back to Negan, shock and confusion spreading similarly across her own face.

"What are you trying to say? You want me to work for you?"

He shrugged, resting his foot on the brake as he waited for the gates to open.

"I haven't really decided what I want out of you, P. But whatever it is, I think I'll need you to come back home with me to get it."

The gates opened, revealing Rick, Rosita, and Aaron all in various states of disbelief as the truck rolled slowly in.

"Well, fancy seeing you assholes here. Tell me, do you always run off with your tail between your legs or was today just a special occasion?"

Rick looked past Negan, speaking directly to Peyton. "You alright?"

Peyton jumped out of the passenger side, making her way around the front of the truck to where he stood. Taking her shoulder in his hand, he gave it a light squeeze as he looked up and down her body. She nodded her head, looking to Aaron in reassurance. She could see the guilt in his eyes as he stared at her, clenching his fists at his side.

"I'm so sorry, Peyton," he began, making his way over to her. Taking his hand in hers as she moved towards him, she shook her head as she shrugged his worries off.

"Don't. You did everything you could. I made it out. It's all good."

A door slammed behind them, and they all turned to see Negan exiting the truck.

"Not to interrupt this happy reunion, but there's a shit ton of supplies back here that need to make its way onto the back of my truck. So I suggest you fuckers get to work." He reached into the bed of the truck, pulling out his bat and resting it on his shoulder. Peyton groaned inwardly as the others glared at him, clearly wanting to take a moment to absorb the knowledge that Peyton was in fact alive, having been left by each of them. She motioned towards the truck, beginning to walk towards the back when she heard her name being called.

"Peyton! What do you think you're doing? You've worked your ass off enough already. Those assholes can take it from here."

She turned towards Rick and the others, wide eyed and unsure of how to proceed. Rick nodded back to her, again taking her shoulder in his hand and whispering in her ear.

"For once he's right. You need some rest. We can catch up in the morning."

Nodding quietly, Peyton backed away and began heading in the direction of her house. She saw Negan up ahead walking up the steps to a house that up until now had been uninhabited. A few of his men stood on the porch, and his voice rang out as he demanded to see those who had left him behind on the run. A look of fear tinged the faces of those outside as he spoke, and she could only imagine what was in store for those who had actually been present today. Before entering the house, Negan took one last look onto the street, eyeing Peyton for a moment before turning away and entering. His words before reaching Alexandria played over in her mind, the thought of what he proposed causing an uncomfortable tightening in her stomach. The thought of becoming a member of his group, the same group that terrorized her people, was something she could not even begin to fathom. How he even thought to pose the idea shocked her enough as it was. How she would turn the idea down she wasn't quite sure yet, but she imagined that in doing so their odd relationship would most likely be coming to an end, and was surprised to find herself feeling a slight emptiness at the thought. She by no means wanted a 'friendship' as Negan had so boldly defined their interaction over the last two days. But his presence had been intense, the kind that left a giant thumbprint on that one moment in her life, and she knew she would never forget it.