"Chip!" Mrs. Potts clawed through the rain as she sprinted toward the ginger haired boy emerging from the woods. Chip threw his arms around his mother as she scooped him up, squeezing him tightly. "You gave me such a fright! Don't you ever run away like that again! My boy!" Water poured angrily from the sky around them as she held him, breathing a sigh of relief. Arat, Dwight, Simon and Sherry, who had all taken off after Mrs. Potts, came to a stop once they reached her side.
"Mama!" Chip cried. "Miss Belle saved me! There were men in the woods and they hurt Miss Belle! She told me to run! Mr. Negan ran by me but I don't know if they're ok! I'm scared, mama!"
"Which way did they go, Chip?" Simon asked, alarmed. They all exchanged looks of concern. Chip wiped the tears and rain from his face and pointed through the trees.
"They could be anywhere," Dwight said, nervously running his hands through his stringy, wet blonde hair. "We have to split up. Find them."
"There they are!" Chip exclaimed, pointing to Negan and Belle as they came into view amongst the trees.
"He's been shot!" Belle yelled. "We need a doctor! Help us!"
"I'll go get Dr. Carson!" Sherry gulped as she turned on her heel and ran back toward the Sanctuary.
"Get him inside now!" Arat commanded Mrs. Potts. "We don't know if there's still a threat out there! Alert the guards!"
Simon, Dwight and Arat rushed to the edge of the woods where Belle was struggling to keep Negan upright. "What happened?" Simon asked, as he and Dwight moved in to shoulder Negan's weight.
"Three men attacked me!" Belle trembled, shivering against the torrent of rain. "They said they would kill Chip! I told him to run and I tried to fight them off. But there were too many of them! Next thing I knew, Negan was there. He saved me. If he hadn't been there….." Simon and Dwight exchanged a look and quickly carried Negan to the doors of the Sanctuary where a couple of Saviors had appeared with a gurney.
"It's ok, Belle. You're ok." Arat, placed her hand firmly on Belle's shoulder.
"He's lost a lot of blood…." Belle trailed off, an unsettled look on her face.
"Dr. Carson is the best there is," Arat assured her, guiding her back toward the Sanctuary. "Thank you for bringing him back. Let's get you inside and find you some dry clothes."
"Thank you," Belle whispered as they crossed through the gate and entered the front entrance of the Sanctuary. "And Arat?"
Arat looked up at her quizzically. "Hmm?"
"I'd like to go see him."
What am I doing here? I sat in the small makeshift hospital room, watching Negan sleep fitfully.
"You saved his life. Thank you." Dr. Carson said quietly, placing a hand on my shoulder. "How are you feeling?"
"Conflicted. Confused." I put my hand to my mouth as if to stop more words from escaping. I realized in that moment, that was not the type of 'feeling' he was asking about. I glanced up at him as he knelt down beside me. "I'm sorry…..That's not what you were asking."
"Maybe not," he chuckled softly. "But tell me about it anyway."
"I just don't know what I'm doing. I could have left. I should have left. This guy has done horrible, unspeakable things." I shifted uncomfortably in my chair as I looked the doctor in the eye. "He took my life from me. But…"
"But he also saved it?" Dr. Carson asked thoughtfully. I shrugged and nodded lightly. Dr. Carson's kind green eyes looked up at me with empathy. "Taking him out of the equation, I think it says a lot about you."
"That I'm stupid?" I sighed and put my head in my hands.
Dr. Carson placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "That despite what evils have been done to you, you refuse to let them change who you are. Sure, you could have left him there to die. You could have shown him the ugliness he's shown to others. But instead, your beauty prevailed. On this day, light drowned out the darkness."
Lifting my head, I looked over at his sincere face. "He could have had me shot. Or let those awful men have their way with me. He could have killed me himself out there for escaping but instead he took bullets for me. Why?"
"I know your experience with him up till now has been one of terror." Dr Carson replied. "And I am so sorry about what he's done to you and to your friends. But that's not all there is to him. Maybe you got a glimpse of that tonight."
I shook my head furiously. "He murdered my friends. Right in front of me," I choked out, tears forming in my eyes. "How could anyone do that?"
Dr. Carson looked down for a moment, appearing to be deep in thought. Finally, he spoke. "Belle, I wish I had a good answer for you, but I don't. I know that sometimes people do awful things when they're afraid or when they're hurting."
"You're all so loyal to him." I muttered, wiping away a tear that escaped my eye. "I just don't understand why."
"Well, truth be told, he has saved many of us." Dr. Carson answered. "I know how it seems. But he's done his best to create some sort of order for us. He's far from perfect, but he's always tried taken care of us. I haven't known him as long as Simon, Dwight, Sherry, Arat or Mrs. Potts have. They know him better than any of the rest of us. But we have all heard stories about the man Negan was. We see glimpses of that man here and there. And we keep hoping that guy will come back around." Dr. Carson stood, removing the stethoscope from his neck and checked Negan's pulse. After a couple of moments, he nodded and draped it around his neck again. "Pulse is strong and steady. The sedatives should be wearing off soon." He opened the door as if to leave, but paused for a moment. "You should really get some rest. You have experienced a lot the last few days. You need rest."
"I think I'm going to stay here a little longer." I whispered, my eyes not moving from Negan. "Can I ask you something, Dr. Carson?"
"Of course," he responded.
"I went into Negan's room earlier and I saw a picture of him with a woman. She was beautiful. It looked like it could have been a wedding picture." I looked up at Dr. Carson curiously. "Who was she?"
He gazed at me plaintively and for a moment I thought he wasn't going to answer. "It was his wife; Lucille."
I tried to move but quickly realized that was a bad damn idea. Everything fucking hurts. I opened my eyes, and looked down to see bloody bandages peeking out from beneath the blanket tucked loosely around me. I groaned in misery from the white hot pain in my right shoulder. I heard a soft sigh and my eyes focused in to see Belle asleep in a chair to the side of the bed. Her legs were folded up while her head rested against the wall. Soft waves of hair fell across her face. Goddamn. She was beautiful.
The memories of the events that got me in this hospital bed flooded through my mind. I studied Belle and her small frame in awe of the fact that she had gotten me back to the Sanctuary in one piece. I remembered those dirty fuckers pawing at Belle, tearing at her clothes and the rage I felt seeing her hurt. Shame set in as I thought about everything that led up to her running out of the Sanctuary like her pretty little life depended on it. What I did to her friends. How I yelled at her when I found her in my room with the picture of Lucille. She should have left me for dead out in the woods.
And yet here she was.
Belle's eyes blinked open and caught me staring at her gorgeous face. Fuck. "You're awake." Was that fucking relief in her voice? What medication did Dr. Carson give me?
"It would appear I am. So if you were waiting to see me catch my last breath, you may have to come back for the 7 o'clock showing of 'Negan bites the fuckin' dust," I quipped as a twinge of pain caused me to grit my teeth.
"Well, that would be a waste considering I brought you back here so the doctor could save your life," she snapped bringing her feet to the floor. A shiver ran through me and I wasn't sure if it was from my injuries or the hurt in her eyes. She came to her feet slowly and walked toward me until she was standing directly over me. Was she going to smother me with a fuckin' pillow? She gently pressed the back of her hand to my forehead and then to the side of my face. "You feel a little feverish. I'll go get Dr. Carson."
She turned to leave but before I even realized what I was doing, I grabbed her hand to stop her. "Wait a second."
Belle turned back slowly and even though I was laid up looking like fuckin' death on a stick, she still looked afraid. Shit.
"I've been nothing but your worst goddamn nightmare since you laid fucking eyes on me, Belle. There's nobody in here. Now, I'm sure you could have found something to use to put me out of my fuckin' misery. You mean you don't actually want to fucking kill me?" I stammered, completely awestruck by this woman in front of me.
She delicately placed my hand back on the bed, chewing her bottom lip in thought. Tears filled her eyes, threatening to spill over. "Not today."
"Why not?" Suddenly she was looking me directly in the eye and I could see nothing else but her.
"Because today, light drowned out the darkness." Her voice cracked as she turned to walk toward the door. I knew instinctively that I was the fucking darkness. And she wasn't wrong. But in that moment, all I wanted was to be the light she needed.
"Thank you," I said softly, my words falling off her back. "For saving my life."
She placed a hand on the door frame, steeling herself and nodded solemnly. I didn't think she would say another word, though I desperately wanted to hear her voice again.
Suddenly her sweet voice came, barely above a whisper. "Thank you for saving mine."
