hey guys, i apologise if i have been updating really late recently. i'm currently on my semester break and i've been pretty lazy. i had a really stressful and busy semester so i guess i just really wanna spend this break doing absolutely nothing, not even editing and publishing my drafts

anyways, here's a fresh new chapter. i wanna finish this story soon so i've been publishing more chapters of this story in comparison to my other Negan story. This chapter is really short but DW i swear i'll update again in a couple of days, I pinky swear :D

i hope you guys will enjoy it and don't forget to drop a review to let me know what you think :)

III

'EUPHORIC HEAVEN'

Negan glanced at the passenger side of the truck as he drove through the desolate road. She sat quietly with her knees to her chest, she wore his black leather jacket that bore his familiar scent and in her hand was the pregnancy test stick that kept her occupied most days. Often, he would see her staring at it with a little smile on her face. In a way, Negan knew it was stupid and almost cruel that they were going to bring up a child into the new world where everything was worse than it was ever before. At the same time, he was just as happy as her as soon as he learned the news. He was going to be a father. For years, his ex-wife deprived him of the opportunity to be a father. She would always say that he will never be a fit father since he can't even take care of her. However, he was no longer the Negan his ex-wife married. In fact, he was not the same Negan from a few months ago when he first met Lu. He was a new man and this new Negan was ready to be a father. The baby was a symbol of hope. The fact that something beautiful and pure would arrive in several months was a symbol that the world wasn't in the state of decay that he had always believed it was. The world was still thriving.

"Do you think we're having a boy or a girl?" she turned to look at him her hand reaching for his' that were on the steering wheel.

"Shit, Lu, hold your fucking horses," Negan chuckled. "We just found out a few days ago."

She blushed as she chewed on the cuticle of her thumb. "Do you regret it?" she wondered out loud as she removed her hand that was resting on top of his'. He glanced at her quickly and noticed that she was looking ahead at the desolate path.

"No. Do you?" Negan replied.

She turned her gaze away from the road ahead when she felt him relocate one of his hands on her lap. "Never," she smiled and she reached down to hold his hand once again.

A few hours later and they stopped in the small diner after concluding that they would stay there for the night. The sun hasn't set yet and Negan would always make sure that they find shelter before nightfall. If there was one thing Negan wished she would do since the pregnancy, it's was to let him handle everything himself. However, Lu, being the independent woman that she was refused to sit around and let him do the work. He watched, unimpressed, as she helped him clear the diner, knocking down the horrendous looking walkers with her baseball bat covered in barbed wire before hitting them with the final blow once they were on the ground. He often feared that she would endanger herself even before the pregnancy. He knew she was strong and independent but a little part of Negan almost wished she would be a little more dependent on him. He truly felt like a little pussy as he watched her take down entirely all the walkers in the diner with very little help from him.

"That's makes seven for me today and three kills for you," she pointed out rather cockily. Negan simply laughed to show her that it didn't affect him although the fact that she often killed more of the undead than him always left his ego heavily bruised.

She turned to look at him to tease him some more when her smile faltered at the sight of a group of heavily armed men that stepped inside the diner. Negan, who took note of her frozen form and the direction she was gazing at, turned to look over his shoulder, a curse escaped his lips as he cupped his gun.

"Don't move, asshole," one of the armed men spotted where Negan's hand was, "I'll blow your girl's pretty head off if you don't drop that gun, I know you're holding it right now," he grinned.

A series of colorful words escaped Negan's lips. If he was alone, he would've ignored the threat and acted according to his will but one of the armed men was pointing his gun at Lu. As result, Negan dumped his gun on the ground as the armed men welcomed themselves into the diner by further stepping inside.

Immediately, the one who spoke to Negan approached him and removed the rest of his weapon while a burly man snatched Lu's baseball bat off her hands. "We've been watching you two clean up this place," the man who took Negan's weapons away spoke. He was a scrawny man with the lower half of his face riddled with acne scars. He held what seemed to be a fully loaded AK-47 in his hand. "I gotta say, it was hella impressive, especially her," he claimed, pointing his gun at Lu.

"What the fuck do you fucking want from us, fucktard?" grunted Negan as he glared at the scrawny man.

"Language, watch out your language," chuckled the scrawny man. "You two look like you can be potential members of our group. I'm Danny, the burly Mexican over there is Emilio and the twins are Will and Darcy," he paused as a woman, just as heavily armed as them, stepped inside the diner. "That lady over there is Monica."

"They have lots of stuff in that truck," Monica announced, alerting Lu and Negan who realized that they have snooped through the contents of the truck.

"We have a small settlement of about 50-something people. The rules are simple, your name gets added to the roster and you're given a role and a responsibility. You get to be a part of a community again, it's real nice, I tell you," Danny continued. "So?"

Lu turned to look at Negan, expecting a response to him just like the armed group of people. "I've considered your kind offer," Negan spoke after a minute of pure silence. "I'm thinking of an answer somewhere between no motherfucking way and go fucking fuck yourself," he spat. "Oh and fucking excuse my motherfucking French."

Upon hearing Negan's response, Lu was truly convinced that Negan's potty mouth and ego was going to get them both killed. She was surprised when the other men began to laugh, including Danny who seemed to be the leader. "I like this guy already!" Danny declared.

"Wait," Monica interrupted. She pulled something out of her pocket and flashed it at Negan and Lu. It was the pregnancy test stick that she found in the truck. "We have a doctor, if that will help you two change your minds."

This time, it was Negan who looked at Lu. He knew that Lu would eventually need a doctor. The new world they lived in was harsh and full of obstacles, there were no more hospitals around where he can take her once her water breaks so that she could have a pleasant delivery... that doesn't exist anymore. He pictured the bad things that could happen during the course of her pregnancy without a doctor. He didn't want to lose her or the baby.

"Fine, we'll join your motherfucking group."