Note: It's been almost two weeks since I updated. Sorry for the delay, but I hope you'll like the longer chapter. Thank you to everyone who keeps reading and supporting this story! :)
P.S. I am so happy about the ending of 6x10! [SPOILER ALERT!]Richonne is OFFICIAL! :D Now I just need Beth back.
Endurance
Chapter 7
Daryl sat still in the chair as Carol cut off a few inches of his hair. She's taking small steps around him, combing through his hair every once in a while to make sure that she's making even cuts. Not that he'd care about that, but he's aware of the fact that she wants to be able to tell herself a job well done.
Jessie had offered to cut his hair numerous times, even after she and Rick broke up but despite having known the woman for three years, Daryl still felt the most comfortable with having Carol do it for him, no matter if they had been growing apart for a while. He still loved her and respected her and she was a part of his family, something that he would always prioritize. It didn't matter if she had made bad decisions or if she had been close to going so far that there would be no redemption for her. He kept telling himself that because he knew that he too once upon a time would probably have made bad choices.
Beth had probably made some bad choices too.
Daryl furrowed his eyebrows at himself. He didn't want to be thinking about Beth now. It was enough that he had barely gotten any sleep at all last night, going over their meeting a thousand times, wondering if he had somehow imagined her coldness. He knew that what Eric had said to him the night before was true and a part of him wanted so bad to go after Beth, even though the other knew very well that Beth had explicitly told him that she didn't want him to save her.
He pushed the thoughts of the blonde away for the hundredth time that morning and instead focused on holding up the mirror that Carol had offered him, to look at how she had done with his hair.
"'S good," Daryl grunted.
"It's better than it was," Carol corrected. "Morgan's hair is much easier to cut than yours."
"That's 'cause your man don't have no hair at all," Daryl said, placing the mirror on the counter as Carol removed the cover she had put around his shoulders.
"Your humor certainly doesn't get better with age," Carol noted.
"It's 'cause I ain't no damn wine bottle," Daryl quipped and Carol just rolled her eyes. He watched her as she began cleaning the scissors.
"So," she began casually, "you have any idea what this family meeting Rick has called us all in for is about?"
Daryl froze for a moment. So much for not thinking about Beth.
"Something's come up," he told Carol. "We're gonna have to make a decision about it together."
Carol looked over at him curiously. "A decision? I can't remember the last time we all had to be involved in the decision-making," she mused. "I even asked Michonne about it this morning, but she told me that Rick hadn't said a single thing to her."
"I see you've all gone back to gossiping," Daryl snorted.
"Gossiping?" Carol raised an eyebrow. "Not necessarily. Although, I guess that Michonne might have been a little worried about Rick since he's been very distant since Glenn's attack and no one has said a word about any of it yet. Then there's you."
"What 'bout me?" Daryl muttered, glancing downwards. He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes.
"You up and leave on your own," Carol said, "then come back late with a split lip and bruises on your face, but no one says a word about that either."
"We'll talk 'bout it later," Daryl said quietly. He didn't want to get into it with Carol now because he knew he would just get a hell of a lot of questions that he didn't even have an answer for. In his mind, he already knew what to expect from the family meeting that Rick had called. He would be there to re-tell how he had seen Beth and try to convince everyone that going after her isn't what they needed to do considering how dangerous the group she was with seemed. That Negan fella that Beth had mentioned seemed like someone who wasn't really stable and considering how Beth herself had been, Daryl knew that the best thing for all of them now was to lay low.
"Well, can you at least tell me if it's something that I need to mentally prepare myself for?" Carol asked, her tone a little sarcastic. Still, Daryl could tell that she was being serious too.
"Yeah," he replied. "You could say that."
-§-
Beth buried her face in her hands as she sat on her small bed. Her thoughts kept running through her head, clouding her mind like a thick fog that she kept getting lost in. She couldn't seem to stop thinking about everything that had happened withing the past forty-eight hours. Seeing Glenn, finding Daryl and arguing with him; learning that her family is still alive somewhere and then deciding to leave them all behind because she knew it was better that way.
It was all crazy.
But the even crazier one in the whole thing was Beth herself.
She knew why she had made the decision to leave Daryl behind and not go with him; she knew that it was the best thing for all of them. If she had gone with him, Negan would without a doubt have sent someone after her – probably Dwight – and they had found her with Daryl and the others, she knew that all of them would have ended up dead. She kept telling herself that it was for their own good and that she had done it to protect them, but at the same time, she knew that a part of her was afraid of what might have come if she had just gone to stand with them.
There was something else bothering her too, though. What she had done the night before made her hate herself deeper than she ever thought possible. She had been angry, yes, and she had felt as if she needed to reach out and hold on to something, to get control over what was happening with her emotions that she had tried to keep buried for so long. Negan's games had gotten to her worse than they ever had before and she knew that part of it was because she was slowly slipping. Her mask of indifference was falling off and she had just known, the moment that she had seen Daryl and realized that he was actually there, that she wasn't going to be able to hold on for much longer.
Before, the idea of her family being too far away to reach had made her want to keep going, just so that one day, somehow, she might cross paths with them again. Now that she knew that they were close, her entire body seemed to itch with want to just leave the Saviors and the Sanctuary behind and go to them. It wasn't possible at the moment, but she still wanted it, no matter how much she kept telling herself to instead keep them safe. Seeing Glenn and talking to Daryl made her want to speed up her original plan, although, she knew that it would be even riskier now than before. Things were different and there were other players involved. Before, it had been just her, but now her conscience had decided to reappear to her in the voice of Daryl. She kept seeing his face of disappointment and she kept imagining how much Maggie and everyone else was going to hate her when they found out everything she had done. They would never look at her the same again and Beth knew that once their view on her changed, there truly would be no way for her to redeem herself. The strong emotions that had been visible in Daryl's eyes alone had been enough to make her see that she had started on a dark path that she wouldn't be able to turn back from. Her decisions nowadays were all about survival and being strong, but in that, she had lost a part of herself that she knew that the others would expect to see. Daryl had clearly been expecting something else and when he hadn't seen it in her, he had pulled back and snapped back. He had seen part of who she had been forced to become in order to survive and he hadn't liked it at all. She wasn't stupid and she most certainly was no longer the naive young girl she had been before; there was no way in hell that her family was going to accept her.
Daryl's final embrace had been running through her mind all night long. Luke had fallen asleep shortly after they had finished and she had gotten dressed quickly and left for her own room. There, she had remained awake and her mind had wandered to those dangerous places where she wondered whether she still held some small semblance of hope inside of her. Her answer was no, but every time she thought it, Daryl was screaming inside of her head that she was lying to herself. Everything was confusing to her at the moment, but after so much time of consideration, Beth knew for sure that the hug that she and Daryl had shared had been more about him needing to get closure. From what she had gathered back at Grady, her family had been forced to run and leaving her in the trunk of a car had been a spontaneous decision. No one in her family had gotten to say goodbye to her properly and Beth was now certain that that was why Daryl had embraced her.
Then there was her other problem: Luke.
She felt awful for using him and treating him the way that she was. Not even the new her was enjoying doing what she was doing to him. It had started months ago though, when she had thought that she needed an ally in the Sanctuary. Luke was an easy target because he had been new and Beth had known, the moment that she had caught his eyes while he knelt in front of Negan and swore his allegiance, that he was exactly what she needed. Still, after months of knowingly using him, Beth was aware of the fact that Luke seemed to understand what it was that she wanted for him. It wasn't really about sex or living dangerously because it was more about him being her foot out of the door.
Negan trusted Beth because she had saved his life and because she had joined him. He hadn't always been the way that he was today and Beth had been there to see the change in him take place. The moment the other communities began fearing him and the less worried he got about the walkers that the Saviors handled, the more cruel and dangerous he became. He began slipping, but in the beginning, Beth tried her hardest to keep him off the ledge. His love for Lucille that had started out as a joke, became an obsession that Beth couldn't even fully grasp. It frightened her somewhat, that a man that even his own people feared held her in such high respects, merely because she had saved his life once when she could have easily just walked the other way.
She almost wished that she had walked away, but she hadn't and now she had to deal with it. Now, Luke had to be a pawn in her game, much like she was a piece on Negan's board. It was horrible and it was wrong, but she couldn't let herself think about it. She needed to keep thinking about the big picture and the endgame and she needed to keep herself focused. At the moment, she needed Luke for her plan to work. She didn't have anyone else in the Sanctuary that she knew was loyal to her and her alone. Everyone else was afraid of Negan and what he would do to them if they disobeyed, but Luke was blinded by what Beth only saw as puppy love and lust, perhaps.
After all, lust was what was keeping Negan from seeing what was really in front of him. It kept him from seeing that Beth was pulling away from him and what he stood for and that she wanted to make a stand on her own and escape his clutches, once and for all.
-§-
Daryl sat in the living room in Rick's house, looking out the window while the other members of his family talked about why they had been called in like this. Deanna would be present at the meeting too and Daryl knew that Rick had already gone to fill her in on the matter. This was something they would need to decide upon together, but Daryl had decided to remain standing on the side he had chosen. Beth didn't want to leave those men, he wouldn't force her and he would damn well make sure that no one else did either.
Rick walked into the room, followed by Deanna. Behind the two of them, Denise and Sarah were wheeling in Glenn in a wheelchair, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Glenn's injuries were still fresh, but he had been adamant about being present at the meeting to voice his own opinion on the matter. Daryl looked toward his friend, though somehow, his eyes traveled to behind him, where Sarah stood, making sure that the wheelchair wouldn't move. The woman looked up, meeting his gaze and he didn't look away from her green eyes. A blush appeared on her face, much like it had that night that she had kissed his cheek and even though Daryl's brain kept telling him to stop staring at her, he couldn't for some reason. He didn't like it at all, and he felt horrible over the thoughts that moved around inside his head. Now that he knew that Beth was alive, some part of him was glad that he had never given Sarah a chance. Another part was wondering if he might have spared himself the confusing feelings that were leaving him sleepless at night.
"I know you've all been wonderin' why we called this meeting today," Rick began speaking as the others settled down. Daryl looked away from Sarah, wondering to himself whether she and Denise would also be present at the meeting. Considering that Rick had already started it, it seemed to him like they would. A moment after Rick began speaking through, Sarah and Denise stepped out of the room and Maggie walked over to Glenn, standing by his side as she held baby Hershel who was happily twisting her wedding rings.
Daryl looked out the window again, his fingers brushing against the knife holstered to his belt for a moment before lifting his hand, bringing the pad of his thumb to his mouth and biting down on the skin. He needed to calm himself down if he was going to be able to speak later, but the crowded room was already beginning to become too much for him.
Aaron and Eric had offered to come and stand by his side – even though Eric had expressed just how disappointed he was over the decision Daryl had made to not dig a little deeper into the matter – but Daryl had declined, telling them that it would be better if they were there when they filled in the rest of the community on the new threat. Deanna, as a co-leader, was supposed to be there either way to give her moral support and objective opinion.
"The thing is," Rick continued, "that a lot of things have been goin' on these past two days. As y'all know, Glenn's team was attacked on their latest run. Steve and Johnny were both killed, Annie and Emma were taken and Glenn was beaten by a large group of strange men."
It was all so formal, Daryl thought to himself. Too formal.
"What's going on, Rick?" Michonne wondered, taking a step toward the man. She was holding on to little Judith's hand as the girl looked up at her father, as confused as any child would be in a situation like this. "There's no point in talking around the subject. Be direct with us all."
Rick ran a hand through his hair and Daryl twisted around where he sat, turning so that he could look at the others. He met Glenn's eyes and he nodded at him, knowing that this wasn't something that Rick could say all on his own.
"The men that attacked us were stopped from beating me to death by a woman," Glenn said, his voice hoarse, but it did the trick and gained the attention of the rest of their family.
"A woman?" Abraham repeated, his eyes moving from Rick who had lowered his head, to Glenn.
"It was Beth," Glenn said, looking right ahead. This time around, his voice didn't waver. "She's alive."
Complete silence filled the room. Daryl looked around, taking in the others reaction, but from what he could see, there was pretty much only shock and surprise evident on their faces. Glenn's sudden revelation hadn't been expected at all and Daryl knew without a doubt that when his family had been called in, no one had expected this.
"Beth," Tara was the first to speak. "Beth, as in, Maggie's sister Beth?"
Daryl's eyes moved to Maggie, who was staring blankly ahead, her grip on her son looking a little looser than before.
"Yes," Rick answered. "Beth is alive." He turned to Maggie then. "Your sister is still alive."
Maggie looked up at him, her face almost ashen as her lower lip quivered. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" she asked as she took a step away from Glenn and Rick both. She walked over to Carol and handed over baby Hershel before looking back at her husband. "Why would you say such a thing?" she demanded. "Why would you–?"
"It's true," Daryl spoke, finally standing up from his seat. "I went out an' checked the place that they were attacked. We came across one another… Didn't wanna believe it at first either, but she was there. She's alive."
"It's impossible," Maggie said through gritted teeth. "She was shot dead three years ago. We left her body behind, but she was dead." Her eyes had teared up. Daryl figured it might have to do with the same guilt that he was feeling inside. He remembered what Beth had snapped at him when she had been yelling at him; about Maggie not even being there at Grady to help get her back. At least that was something that he didn't have to feel sorry for, because he had been there.
"Maggie," Deanna spoke up. "I've talked to Rick and I understand how difficult this must be for you to believe. Glenn debriefed me too the other night after Daryl told Rick what he had found on his exploratory mission and Rick and I have been talking it over all morning."
Maggie didn't answer the woman, only turned to her husband again. "Glenn?"
"You know that I wouldn't lie about this," Glenn said, looking desperate for her to believe him.
Maggie flinched visibly, lowering her head as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. She hugged herself and her whole body seemed to shake with the effort of holding herself together.
"What are we going to do about all of this?" Carol took a step forward, holding on to the baby in her arms. "If she really is out there–"
"She is," Daryl interrupted.
The woman looked at him and nodded slowly. At least now she knew why he had been acting the way he had this morning. "What are we going to do about her then?" Carol repeated her question. "What are we supposed to do?"
"From what I've gathered, Maggie's sister is with an extremely dangerous group of people," Deanna said. "We need to think of the community first, if anything, when we make our decision."
"Ain't no decision to make," Daryl pointed out. "She told me that she didn't want no one comin' after her, so that's what we're gonna do."
Another beat of silence passed in the room. Daryl kept his eyes away from everyone, not wanting them to see just how bad he felt about speaking this way. Deanna was right when she said that they needed to watch out for the community first and he had now officially made his stand on the matter.
"You can't be serious," Maggie hissed at him. A moment later, she was standing in front of him, so close that he was forced to look up at her. Anger was evident in her eyes and he swore to himself that if looks could kill, he would be a dead man. "That's my sister, you're talkin' about!"
Baby Hershel began to fuss in Carol's arms at the sound of Maggie's raised voice.
"She made her decision," Daryl said, narrowing his eyes. He didn't want to deal with all of this. Even though he had to, he told himself that he could show everyone that he didn't enjoy it one bit.
"She made her…" Maggie trailed off. A strangled cry escaped her throat as she began laughing and shaking her head at him. "My God," she said, wiping her cheeks. "First you tell me my sister is alive, that she's with a dangerous group of people and then you say that we're not going after her? What the hell, Daryl?"
"I ain't the one callin' the shots, Maggie," Daryl said. "Deanna's right though. We gotta watch out for our community first."
"So you're tellin' me that all those weeks you spent mourning my sister meant nothing? Was it all some kind of game for you?" Maggie demanded to know. "Did you pretend to be all torn up about her death for so long? Now that we have a chance at getting her back, you're just givin' up on her?"
Daryl stood up, nostrils flaring. Maggie was forced to take a step back from him so that she wouldn't be knocked over by his sudden movement and out of the corner of his eye, Daryl saw Rick move toward him and Abraham take a small step closer as well. It angered him that they would think that he would lose his shit on Maggie, but then again, he felt like he might just slip, so maybe it was better that they were there. He would never put a hand on a woman, especially not one he considered family, but the way that Maggie was challenging him now and the way that he felt as if everything was breaking around him, Daryl wasn't sure what he would be capable of doing.
"Don't go tellin' me how I felt 'bout her death," Daryl growled. "Ya don't know anythin' 'bout what I felt. The only reason I ain't huntin' your sister down right this fuckin' second is 'cause she told me not to."
"You should have gone after her immediately!" Maggie argued back.
"An' what? Knocked her over the head an' took her back here by force?" he asked. "She ain't the girl you remember!"
"It don't matter, at least she would have been here! Here is better than there with those men!" Maggie yelled.
Daryl glared at her, "Ya best get out of my face, Maggie, before ya take this to a place that ya won't like."
"Daryl," Rick said, placing his hand on Daryl's shoulder. Daryl continued to stare down Maggie, but he took a step back from her, trying his best to keep things from escalating.
"You should have gone after her," Maggie said again, this time sounding a bit calmer.
"I fuckin' did go after her," Daryl finally snapped. He looked at the brunette and took a step toward her once again, brushing away Rick's hand even as it tightened its grip on his shoulder. "Remember? Back when you were too damn busy runnin' off with people ya barely knew to look for a fuckin' cure that didn't even exist?"
Maggie closed her mouth and Daryl saw how her chin trembled, even though she remained standing with her head high. Silence filled to room and Daryl looked around, noticing the faces everyone else was sporting. For the first time in three years he had brought up the fact that Maggie never looked for Beth after the Prison fell, something that everyone else had decided to be graceful enough to never speak of. Daryl wasn't a fucking ballerina though and enough was enough. He had spoken his mind and even though he didn't enjoy hurting Maggie like this, he knew that he needed to say it. She had gone off on him about not doing the right thing and he had needed to get that off of his chest. Everyone else seemed to understand, but he could see that they too were as surprised as Maggie that he had actually called her out on her shit.
"I'm sorry," Maggie said after a moment. "I shouldn't have said what I said. I know you're only lookin' out for us all… Beth included."
"'S okay," Daryl muttered, finally sitting down again. He didn't need the drama of dragging it all out any further. Things would probably go to shit anyways whenever the Saviors found out about their community and he would rather they not find out too soon; the Zone needed to be informed of the threat and they needed a plan for how to deal with the storm that was coming.
"It's not," Maggie shook her head, "but we'll leave it at that if that's what you want."
Daryl knew without a doubt that this wasn't something that Maggie was going to just drop. Sure, she would do so in front of everyone else, though, he knew that once she found time and they were alone, she would bring it back up and try to talk to him about it.
"We still need to decide on what to do," Deanna said then, looking almost hesitantly between Daryl and Maggie. He understood that she hadn't expected such a strong reaction from him because of the fact that it had been such a long time since he had shown this side of him. A couple of months after having dealt with the Wolves, he had been distant for a while, not trusting outsiders much. As time went on though, his loyalty to Rick and his family won him over and he instead became someone who did everything he could in order to protect the community. It wasn't a big surprise to him that Deanna and everyone else was shocked to see that darker part of him rear it's head again, but he was exhausted of all the curve balls that had been thrown at him by life these past few days.
"From what Daryl has told me, Beth isn't the same girl she was when we knew her," Rick spoke up. "I agree with him that we need to know more about this group before we jump into anything."
"Rick and I made the decision to inform you all in private before talking to the rest of the community," Deanna said. "This way, you'll have time to prepare yourselves. We don't know for certain how much this other group knows about us or if they know anything and we need to consider whether or not we can actually trust the younger Ms. Greene or not… It pains me to say it, but if Mr. Dixon himself says that he doesn't think we should try to find her, I am going to have to trust his judgment and agree with him as well." She looked at Daryl, who nodded curtly at her before looking away, out the window again. "That said, Rick and I need to tell you that we've decided to issue a strict order against any runs or hunting trips until we know what we're dealing with."
This caught Daryl's attention and he looked over at Rick, who only nodded. "It's the most logical thing to do," his brother said. Daryl had a feeling that he had spoken directly to him. "We'll inform the rest of the people about what has happened, but we'll keep the details on Beth out of the announcement. No one knows about her and we'd like to keep it that way until further notice."
"We're just going to say that there's a possible threat out there then?" Tara piped up. "People are already wondering why things have been so hush-hush about the attack on Glenn and Heath's team. Do you really think that they won't want to know more?"
"We don't even know anything yet," Rick pointed out. "The only thing we know is that Beth is with that group and that she warned Daryl off. That doesn't tell us anything but we saw what they did to Glenn and we know that they took Annie and Emma and that they killed Steve and Johnny."
"As far as we know, those men don't even know about Alexandria," Deanna said. "That's why we need to lay low for a while until we decide on how we're going to go about getting more information on them."
"Don't you think it's better to just leave them be?" Rosita wondered. "If they are dangerous, maybe looking for more information about them will get us all in their sights? Maybe we'd be risking this place and what we built over these past three years by becoming a target?"
"That is something we've taken into consideration," Rick nodded, "which is why we're not going to go looking for any trouble by going out there. We have enough supplies as it is for now and there's no need for us to go scavenging for anything. From now on until we know what we're dealing with, no hunts and no runs. Are we all clear?"
A murmur of agreements filled the room and Daryl closed his eyes for a moment as he leaned back against the wall. The need to get away from everyone and everything had only grown with the decision that had just been made and he knew that there was no way that he would be able to obey.
-§-
Beth sat in the lunch room, staring down at the broth that one of the women in the Sanctuary had cooked up with the others who were on kitchen duty. It reminded her of some of the things that Carol had made for them once or twice back at the prison and that thought alone was enough to send her back to a time when she had been happier and more carefree.
"Well, won't ya look at that?" a voice sounded behind her. A moment later, she felt the presence of someone behind her, but Beth didn't even bother looking up from her bowl as she took a spoon of the food and raised it to her mouth, blowing on it lightly. "Lil' Ms. Angel has finally decided to step down on Earth to join the rest of us. What happened, Sweetheart? Did Boss-man tire of havin' ya at his beck and call all the time?"
"Walk away, Turner," Beth heard Dwight say.
"I don't follow your orders, Dwight," Turner snapped before lowering himself down on the bench, sitting next to Beth.
"Suit yourself," Dwight muttered, but Beth knew that he was still there in case things with Turner escalated. Considering how she was itching for something to happen, she knew that it without a doubt would.
"So, what 'bout it, Sweety?" Turner cooed. "Tell Mr. Turner all 'bout what made ya come down here and eat with the rest of us?"
"I'm a part of this group," Beth stated. "I can eat wherever I want."
"We both know that the Boss don't like it when ya eat with us though, don't we?" Turner continued to mock and it seemed like everyone else had fallen quiet to watch the exchange.
"I can eat wherever the fuck I want," Beth repeated. "Negan has no orders on where any of us should eat our food."
"Manners, lil' girl," Turner grinned at her, a dangerous glimmer in his eyes that she remembered seeing a few times before.
"Don't start something you're not gonna be able to finish," Beth warned him, putting the spoon down on the table again. Her fingers moved on instinct to her dagger that was strapped to her thigh.
"Who said I won't be able to finish it, Angel?" Turner asked. The moment she felt his hand settle on her other thigh, Beth twisted around in her seat, pushing the man with as much force as she could away from herself. He hadn't expected the move and stumbled backward and off of the bench, landing flat on his ass with a shocked expression on his face. Laughter filled the room and Turner narrowed his eyes, face turning red as he gritted his teeth at her and growled, "You're dead!"
Beth stood from the bench and took a stance, gripping her knife, preparing herself for a fight as Turner scrambled up. She could see Dwight move behind the man, raising his crossbow toward the man who was threatening her, but not doing anything to stop him as he advanced on her. Turner was bigger than her, although fueled by rage and embarrassment, he wasn't the most skilled fighter. Beth dodged the punch he threw her way and lifted her dagger, slicing his arm with it as she moved past him. The man only let out another growl and reached out to grab her again, but Beth managed to avoid him once more, getting another shallow cut into his side in.
"Are you going to actually fight me, or do you wanna keep dancing?" Beth mocked, a mocking smirk appearing on her face. The people in the room only laughed harder as Turner's face turned even redder.
"I am going to–"
"What, Mr. Turner?" All the laughter in the room ceased immediately and even Beth turned to look at Negan who had just appeared on the platform above the dining hall. "What the fuck are you going to do?"
The tone Negan was using sent a chill through Beth's spine. She gripped her knife tighter when she saw just how tightly the man was gripping the railing as he looked down on them. Negan was pissed, obviously, but the worst thing about the situation was that in his hand, he was holding Lucille, which made it all even more dangerous.
"I- I…" Turner stumbled over his words, his rage disappearing as it was replaced by fear. Beth looked at him and noticed that his gaze had dropped to the bat in Negan's hand as well.
"You, what?" Negan asked in a mocking tone as he began walking toward the stairs, slowly descending them. "I was just up in my room, eating my fucking dinner than one of our own spend so much fucking time preparing, only to be interrupted by one of you fuckers who decided to share that someone was making a fucking scene in the dining area," Negan said, taking one slow step down the stairs at a time. "Imagine my fucking disappointment at having to leave my fucking dinner to handle this shit and then imagine my fucking surprise when I fucking learn that someone decided it was a good idea to disturb Beth here because she decided to have her dinner down here and that they dared to put their dirty fucking hands on her."
"Sir, I didn't- I didn't mean to–"
"I believe you know Lucille, Mr. Turner," Negan stated as he finally reached the lowest step. He held up the bat, inspecting it with care, fingers brushing over the barbed wire wrapped around its top. "I believe you and everyone else know how much I fucking love this girl," he said, shifting the bat from one hand to the other. "Do you know what else I love?" he asked.
"Sir, I–"
"Order, Mr. Turner," Negan interrupted, his voice dangerously low. "I love it when people do as I say and don't disobey me." He moved to the man, still gripping the bat in his hand. For a moment, Beth thought that he looked as if he was actually going to lose it on Turner and beat him with it, but instead, Negan only lifted the bat and rested it on the other man's shoulder. It didn't escape Beth's attention how Turner still flinched. "I don't fucking like it when people fuck with what's mine," Negan said. "Everyone here knows that Ms. Greene is not to be touched, and yet, you decided it was a fucking good idea to threaten her."
"I'm sorry," Turner said, his face losing its color as Negan pressed the bat down slightly, against his shoulder. Beth could see small prickles of blood seeping through the man's shirt where the barbed wire dug into his flesh, and Turner flinched.
"Apologize to the woman you tried to fuck with," Negan said, towering over Turner.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Greene," Turner said, his voice shaky. "I'm sorry."
Beth looked at Negan, who still hadn't looked at her.
"Now, I'm a man who isn't big on too many second chances," Negan continued. "However, since you're one of the few good hunters we've got in this place, I think I'll let you go this time around."
"I- I… Thank you, Sir," Turner stammered. Negan lifted Lucille off of his shoulder and nodded curtly.
"Don't let this happen again, because if you fucking do, you're going to regret it," he said.
"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir," Turner nodded.
"Now leave, before I change my fucking mind and let Lucille play a game with your fucking head."
Turner hurried out of the room, not daring to even look up at Beth as he passed her. He was headed to the infirmary, from what she could tell, but she didn't care at the moment. She knew very well that Negan was still angry and she knew that he would want to deal with her as well.
"Ms. Greene," Negan said as he walked back toward the stairs. "Come with me to my office."
Beth sheathed her dagger and followed him. She met Dwight's eyes for a moment and sent him a curt nod as a sign of some kind of gratefulness. When she reached the top of the platform, she saw Luke standing there with his hands wrapped around the strap of the assault weapon he had on his back. By the guilty look on his face – a look that was also mixed with relief – she knew that he must have been the one who had gone to get Negan.
Stupid boy, she thought to herself. How could he not see that he was risking everything by putting himself in Negan's line of sight? If Negan suspected something was up, he would instantly start questioning why Luke had been the one to inform him of the fight that had been going down in the dining area. Luke might be older than her by a few years, but it didn't mean that he could control himself and not let his emotions get the better of him.
She walked past Luke, ignoring the look he was giving her and kept following Negan until they reached his office. As soon as she was inside the room, he slammed the door shut and locked it, turning to her with anger written all over his face. He walked over to his desk and sat down, motioning for her to sit in the chair in front of him. Beth lowered herself into it and looked at him, not wanting to show how worried she was on the inside.
"Imagine," he began, his voice low as she walked toward her, "how fucking angry I was to find out that you allowed that son of a bitch provoke you into starting a fight."
He didn't say anything else and Beth didn't need him to.
"I didn't do anything wrong," she said. "I was minding my own business when he approached me. Dwight told him to walk away and I warned him to not start something he wouldn't be able to finish."
"How the fuck am I supposed to protect your fucking ass if you keep trying to get the attention of every goddamn asshole in this fucking place?" Negan asked.
"I'm not trying to get anyone's attention," Beth countered. "I told you that I was just eating when he decided it was a good idea to put his hands on me. I didn't let him touch me. I didn't want him to touch me."
"And who do you want to touch you then, huh?" Negan raised an eyebrow. "It sure as fuck isn't me."
"I don't want anyone to touch me," Beth said, trying to calm herself down. The last thing she needed now was to lose her temper.
"You better," Negan said as he placed Lucille on his desk, standing from his seat as he walked around the table. He roughly grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Do you remember what happened to the last man who dared to lay a hand on you?" he wondered, lips twitching up into that lazy smirk of his that made Beth feel uncomfortable.
"It's hard to forget when I see him every day that I go out there," she replied.
"Good," Negan told her. "It's supposed to be a reminder for both you and them. Turner is fucking lucky that I didn't castrate him with Lucille." He released his hold on Beth's chin and stood up straight. "You handled yourself well down there, but that doesn't fucking mean that your behavior was acceptable. I can't have people thinking that what you did is forgivable."
"You mean that you can't let them think that I'm your favorite," Beth corrected, looking up at him with her had tilted. She couldn't help but blink a few times as she stared directly into his eyes, knowing exactly how he reacted to it.
Negan's lips twitched again, "You're a fucking tease, Ms. Greene."
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Sir," Beth said innocently.
Negan narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head, stepping around the desk again to sit in his chair. "If you keep stirring shit like this, I won't be able to protect you," he said. "The people will want me to fuck you up for talking back all the time and I'm gonna have to show them all that that kind of fuckery isn't accepted here in the Sanctuary."
"I understand," Beth nodded.
"Don't make me do something you know I don't wanna fucking do, Beth," Negan said.
"Understood," she repeated curtly. They remained silent for a few moments, both staring the other down. "Am I excused?" she asked when the need to get away from him got bigger than the need to prove a point.
"Yes, Angel," Negan smirked. "Go back to your room and stay there for the rest of the night. Consider yourself grounded."
Beth almost snorted at that but nodded again, nonetheless. She stood up from her seat and was halfway across the room before she stopped herself. Slowly, she turned back around to face Negan, who was still watching her intently.
"Why did you spare him?" Beth frowned. Negan had made it clear to her and everyone else what would happen to any man – or woman for that matter – who laid a hand on her. It didn't make sense for him to spare Turner when he clearly knew that the other man had tried to do.
"I meant what I said down there," Negan said. "Turner's a damn good hunter and I'd be fucking stupid if I killed him for this. You know I'm not fucking stupid, don't you, Angel?"
"I know," Beth replied, but his answer still didn't sit right with her. "Have a good night, Negan." She went for the door again, but his voice stopped her.
"Besides, Turner's a big man," he said. "It would be good to have him in my fucking corner if anything ever went down. Muscles, but no brains. If he's afraid of me, then he'll fucking do anything I order him to do."
There was something about the way he said it that made Beth wonder if he knew something that she didn't.
"That makes sense," she agreed.
"Having the kind of power to make people do whatever you tell them to fucking do is exhilarating," Negan said, giving her a pointed look. "Of course, the fact that it doesn't always work can be annoying as fuck as well."
Beth glanced toward the door again. "Good night, Negan," she said, not commenting any further on what he had said. He was losing his patience, clearly, but she had to keep believing that he wouldn't actually go against his own morals and just do whatever he wanted to her.
"G'night, my sweet little Angel."
Beth closed the door behind her and walked with hurried steps towards her room. When she reached it, she closed the door quickly and locked herself in. She was breathing hard but counted backward from ten in order to calm herself down. Something wasn't right and she knew it. Negan was beginning to suspect something and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to keep herself from doing what needed to be done. Her mind was swirling with questions that she didn't have any answers to and she dreaded the day that she would be forced to deal with them.
She knew for certain that that day was going to arrive sooner than she would have liked.
Note: Who dislikes Turner? What did you think of Negan in this chapter? So calm, yet not, right? And Beth, sigh, what am I going to do with her...? And Daryl, you stubborn man... What did you think about Maggie's reaction and her argument with Daryl?
So, feel free to tell me what you liked the most about the chapter and what you're looking forward to seeing in the next chapter! Thank you for all the support so far and thank you for reading! :) xx
