"We deserve to live in peace. Negan and the saviours tried to take that away from us. Alexandria and the hilltop, The Kingdom and Oceanside came together to fight for a better future. We won. Not without painful loses and today we try to heal, to forgive... now the work really begins. The new worlds begins." -Rick Grimes.

Chapter Ten

"Im not dying for a fucking canoe!" Rose grumbled at Daryl who was stood across from her holding the other end. She received one of his very rare laughs as he shook his hair out of his face.

"I won't let ya die." He assured her. "C'mon."

"If this glass goes theres not a whole lot you could do." She shrugged gesturing to the glass floor they were stood on, too many walkers to count milling around on the floor below just waiting for dinner. Of course the museum they went on a run to had a glass floor, it just went with the rest of her awful day which had started with stubbing her toe. Sure in the grand scheme of things that seems rather minuscule but straight after that she had a very moody Negan telling her they were going on a "useless run" and then continuing to act like a child and tell the woman she "must have a god damned death wish" until she left. What annoyed her the most about that was the fact that he had a habit of being right about these things. More recently Rose had Maggie completely ignore her and give nothing but dirty looks since she found out what Rick had asked her to do. Then there had been the single worst walker she had ever seen, the decayed body of a man with spiders crawling out of his face. It had been a long time since she had ran away from a walker but it was more the spider she ran away from, causing the surrounding people to laugh hysterically at her. Rose wasn't as amused and still felt like the bastards were crawling on her.

So by this point she was just in a shitty mood and after the glass had already started to crack... here they still were, asking for trouble. Walking as slow and steady as she could, keeping to the metal beams she held her breath until they were on solid ground. As she got to it she felt Rick's grip on her arm, pulling her back and helping to lift as he watched the glass part of the floor with panic.

"It's goin' down!" He shouted and Daryl dived into solid ground beside Rose as they watched the floor fall from beneath Ezekiel.

Organised chaos began as it always did when one of the group was in danger. Rose getting behind Rick to help him hold the rope praying it wouldnt be cut by the sharp edges of the hole he had gone through.

Daryl stood as selfless as ever by the edge ready to shoot any walkers who might get too close as Carol put something down for Ezekiel to be able to grab on to. All Rose could concentrate on was the feel of the rope cutting at herbpalms and the anger that they couldn't have just left with the fucking seeds and not risked anybodies life. Rose used this to keep pulling until the man who named himself a King had pulled himself to safety and was wrapped in the arms of the woman he loved.

Watching them made her chest ache with the lonliness that she just kept buried, knowing it wasn't important these days. She missed someone needing her.

Rick had collapsed onto the floor from the strain of taking so much weight which Rose thought was very "Rick" of him.

"Hope your fuckin' seeds are worth it." Rose sighed earning quite a few annoyed looks.

"Don't forget about the canoe." Daryl added breathlessly making her snigger quietly to herself.

Rose loved riding. Something she couldn't say around Negan but none the less true. It was one of the many hobbies she tried out as a child and the only one she had enjoyed, it was one of the parts of this world she liked. One of the parts she didn't like though was how hard it was to get from one place to another, things happened like bridges collapsing. Yet another reason she should have stayed in bed that morning.

"Rose and Gabriel, y'all can head to Alexandria from here. The rest of us can go to the sanctuary or hilltop. Stay the night and head on from there." Rick decided.

"I can come with you guys." She told him, wanting to be there incase anything happened.

"We'll be okay, Rose." He smiled gently at her. "Take care. And get home safe."

"I noticed how Maggie was towards you." Gabriel told Rose as they approached Alexandria.

"Oh you mean down right ignoring me then giving me the dirtiest looks I've ever received. Yeah I noticed too." Rose sighed, well and truly over people treating her that way because she was now a villain thanks to her connection to Negan.

"How does that make you feel?" Rose snorted.

"Isn't that my line?" She asked the man.

"I suppose but who ever asks you how you are?" He asked her still facing forward with that all knowing look on his face.

"Honestly... it makes me feel like shit. I really care about her and I did about Glenn too. I'd have swapped places with Glenn in a heartbeat so he could have seen his baby born." Rose shook her head as she looked up at the sky getting teary. It was true, nobody would have really cared if she'd been killed that night instead of Glenn.

"That's quite a statement." Gabriel told her knowing exactly what she meant as he had felt the same way for so long. "You're just as valuable as everyone else."

"You have to say that." Rose laughed. "We both know nobody would have really missed me. It'd have been sad but I wouldn't have been a real loss to anyone."

"What about Negan?" Something he said so calmly set Rose' heart racing.

"What about him?"

"Well I'm sure you'd be a real loss to him. I really admire what you're doing for him, you've really made an impression on him. I go to talk to him every now and again to offer any... religious help he may need. He doesn't want to talk about Jesus or any god at all. Just you."

"What does he say?" She asked because she wanted to know how he acted towards other people but mostly she wanted to know for herself.

"That you're an angel." Her heart squeezed and she couldn't help the tight smile on her lips. "It's okay to not hate him you know." Rose just looked over at him. "You show a kindness not many can give over so easily. Its refreshing in this world, I've always told you that." And he had. He was the first person to point out her good natured countenance.

"Thanks, Gabe." She grinned over at him. "At least I know one person wont hate me for being his friend."

"I'm just glad he has one." He smiled back.

As they approached the gates the few Alexandrians who had come back with them dispersed as did Gabriel and so Rose found herself stood near the building she knew rather well. The one that she knew he was in, sat there all alone, it was only fair she let him know she was home safe.

As she walked down into the cell she heard voices and stopped half way down the stairs.

"You're fuckin' pathetic." It was Negan's voice in a nasty tone Rose wasn't used to.

"You're a horrible man! I don't know why Rose bothers with you!" The voice she recognised as Nora's replied. She was one of the poor souls left in charge of Negan whenever Rose had somewhere else to be.

"Well thank fuck she does. I'd have caved my own head in by now if you fucktards were my only connection to the world."

"I don't enjoy coming in here you know." Nora's voice was quiet and Rose silently willed the woman to call him something just as horrible.

"Oh come on." He sneered. "Not like you have anywhere else to be right? I'm not having that you have a hot date. I know it's slim fuckin' pickings out there but the actual librarian look ain't screamin' fuck me to no man!"

"Negan!" She shouted, having heard enough she had marched into the room looking furious.

"Oh shit. Now I'm in trouble." He said chuckling.

"You say sorry to Nora!"

"Exfuckin'scuse me?" He asked her stalking towards the bars.

"You heard me." She said suddenly feeling a lot less confident and waiting for him to embarrass her.

"Why the fuck would I do that? I'm just messin', right Nora?"

Nora looked over to Rose uncomfortably. "It's fine, Rose. I appreciate it but I just want to leave now."

"Nora he said awful things to you, you deserve an apology!"

She just looked at Rose as if she was crazy. "It's Negan. It's not exactly a surprise, it's how he's always been. I'm used to it by now."

The statement hit Rose so hard she lost all arguments she thought she had. He had never been like that with her so why was he so awful to everyone else, sure she knew he wasn't exactly Mr sociable but she never thought he'd be so horrible to people just trying to help. Same as her.

"I'll see you later, Rose." Nora told her on her way past, quietening her voice to say, "thank god you're back."

She only dared look at Negan once she knew Nora had gone and saw him standing there grinning at her with a mischievous look in his eyes. "How was the run, angel?"

"Why were you being so horrible to her?!" She was still furious. "There was absolutely no need."

He just shrugged looking like a rebellious teenager and all she could think about was sending Negan to his bedroom... or hers.

"Are you like that with everyone who comes in here?"

"Except my angel." He smiled.

"Why do you treat people like that? No wonder everyone thinks I'm crazy saying you're actually kinda nice!"

"You been tellin' people I'm nice?! Fuckin' don't, you'll ruin my reputation." He laughed. "I'm nice to you. No one else fuckin' deserves me to be nice."

"Oh I'm so honored." She said sarcastically.

"You're welcome."

"Oh shut up!" She spat.

"What is it? Is it cos you're bored? You just like messin' with people as you called it?" She asked grabbing her usual chair and sitting down with a groan.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "You okay?" He looked her over and she got the same shivers she always did.

"Yeah. Fine." She grumbled.

"Ya don't sound it. C'mere and sit on Daddy's knee... tell me all about it."

Rose felt herself soften just at the tone of his voice, the bad half of the day melted away. "You're sick."

"And you're in a fuckin' bad mood. Considering you didn't shit in a bucket this morning you're already having a better day than me."

She scrunched up her nose at him. "I know. I shouldn't be moody I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise, sweetheart. We all have them days."

She just nodded not wanting to tell him why she wasn't in a great mood seeing as her circumstances were always better than his.

"C'mon. Tell me... I don't get much entertainment."

"Fine..." she sighed, leaning forward onto her knees and deciding she would leave out the fact that she had stubbed her toe she began. "So this museum. First off I'm getting so much shit for coming here talking to you everyday... like people I thought were really good friends just cutting me out and I don't get it! I mean I get why they hate you... any way then there was the most fucking awful walker." She shivered. "Spiders! One the size of my actual hand crawled out of this bastards head!"

"Ya scared of spiders?" He laughed. "You'd think you'd have outgrown irrational fears once the dead started walking."

"Yeah... well I haven't okay so I ran away!"

"Ya ran away!" He was really laughing now just like everyone else had but his laughter didn't make her angry.

"Yeah... and everyone laughed just like you."

"Oh I miss runs." He lowered himself onto his stool. "Sure the worlds fuckin' awful but every now and then someone would do some stupid shit and it'd be funny as hell."

"I can imagine you being in your element." She laughed.

"Tell me some more." He said watching her.

"You know when you just know something's a stupid idea?"

"Yeah..."

"Well we apparently needed this really heavy piece of equipment so badly that we risked dragging it across a glass floor."

"Are you shittin' me?!" He said with a raised voice.

"I wish I was."

"How the fuck your group has survived this long under Ricks leadership I'll never know."

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes. "So it cracked of course." The look on Negans face was one of anger and concern, his brown creased and his mouth turned tight as he watched her. "Somebody ended up hanging there like a piñata."

"Wasn't you?"

She just shook her head. "Nobody died by some miracle but I dunno... I kinda think it was stupid to risk someone like that even after the glass had cracked."

"I agree." He nodded. "Fuck, Rose." He rasped quietly. "Every time you go out it fuckin' kills me I ain't there to look after you."

All her breath left her in a shaky gasp as her chest clenched tightly and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "Negan." She whispered. That was all she had wanted for so long, somebody to care about her so much and for her to care about them the same way. The way Rick and Michonne had each other's backs no matter what.

"I can take care of myself." She told him the same thing she had always told herself whenever she craved that connection.

"I've no doubt about that." He laughed. "But I know I'd keep you safer than any of them."

She was sat clenching and unclenching her hands were the rope had grazed her palms. "I'm fine." Rose lied.

"I know." Negan pretended not to know she was lying.

A/N

The last chapter was one of the favourites I have wrote and I got quite a good amount of follows and favourites! I'm so happy, so thank you to anyone who has joined me and those continuing to read.

Massive thank you to the three reviewers for the last chapter, Eruditeamber Lady Fin-we xlDarkstarlx! Every single one made me smile so much and I will reply also to you all via PM. :)

I hope any readers had an amazing Christmas or whatever you celebrate! I'm already half way through the next chapter so it won't be long!