|WARNING: Graphic sexual content to follow. The nature of the scene may not be to everyone's taste. Please be aware of your own sensitivities before continuing.|

MILTON

It might have been years later that they finally came to a halt with the driver hitting the brakes hard so that everyone went sliding in one direction to pile up on each other. Someone pulled open the RV door and several shotguns pointed their way. Negan, who was on top of the pile, shifted himself so that his body completely covered Milton from view.

"What the hell is this?" asked a feminine voice, and in the few seconds it took for Milton's eyes to adjust, he saw a shaved head.

"You said by any means necessary—"

"Did they resist?"

"Only that one," said the man, singling out Negan.

"Bring him to me."

Negan was pulled off of Milton and made to stand. His gag was cut as he faced the woman who couldn't have been taller than Andrea but somehow posed a much more striking figure despite the lack of hair.

"What's your name?"

Grimacing, Negan said nothing and Milton could see him attempting to size up this new tyrant.

"I'm going to pretend like you didn't hear me the first time because I want to give your people the benefit of the doubt, but if you don't answer me this time, there will be consequences. You have to be quick at making decisions in this world, so be quick, my friend. Your name."

"Negan."

"Is that it?"

"That's it."

"Well, Negan, I apologize for my people. This isn't our standard protocol for introducing people to our town. Normally we ask and escort, not bind and gag."

"But you said—" began the first man who had spoken.

"Clark, you will wait for me on my floor and I'd better not have to send someone to find you. The rest of you, this is a warning; we don't corral survivors like cattle and bring them in like prisoners. Survivors are an asset and you're lucky if these people choose to stay after how they've been treated by your hands. Cut them loose now."

The people who had followed the man Clark hastened to obey, one of them still carrying Oliver on his hip and Milton's son was screaming at this stranger that held him.

"Christ, they have kids too? Are you shitting me right now? Give the kids back and all of you turn in your weapons. You're all on probation, now get the hell out of here! Mulligan, see that they all make the list and that no one gets left off of it, and get these people some water."

Judith and Oliver ran to Andrea who brought both of them into her protective embrace as Milton stood over them, hardly daring to believe that this hadn't ended in slaughter. Someone else gave Finley back to Negan and the bald woman ordered for supplies to be brought to them as well as for a doctor to be called in.

"We already have one," said Asher.

"Do you?"

"I'm a veterinarian, but the past five years have made me more experienced in dealing with people too," said Hershel modestly.

"Then I'd be more than willing to offer you a job here at our hospital. We have eight doctors and fifteen nurses and they're in our top tier working class with some of the highest perks," said the bald woman. "But we don't have a vet and as you can imagine, it's a bit difficult to manage all of our different animals without one."

"After the welcome we got from your people, I think we'll pass on any job opportunities," said Andrea, still trying to calm Oliver. Milton took his son from her and felt the tiny set of lungs struggling to breathe. He snapped at Axel to find a plastic bag from their supplies and quickly emptied it, bunching it up at his son's mouth and instructing him to inhale. "Deep breath, Ollie. You're going to be just fine, take a very big breath in…"

Oliver tried to comply as best as he could, sobbing for his mother as he listened to his father.

"Listen to Daddy, Ollie," said Andrea. "Deep breath, just like Mommy." She inhaled and Oliver copied her. Hershel obviously wanted to offer his help, but he could do nothing that Milton and Andrea weren't already attempting. It took several long, agonizing minutes in which Milton feared that his son's air passages would close off for good and he would have to see his child die in front of him in the company of strangers. Finally, Hershel listened to Oliver's chest and gave a nod that the boy would be alright.

"Your son has asthma?" asked the bald woman, appearing curious to the situation instead of concerned that a boy had just had an attack at her feet.

"If he does, I wasn't aware until now, but it could be genetic," said Milton shortly.

The woman put her radio to her lips. "Winslow, get me an inhaler to the tunnel ASAP."

"Copy, Alpha."

"Alpha?"

"That's me."

Inwardly, Milton thought: that's stupid, but he could appreciate why she chose such a name for herself. It was a shield. There was power in a name, but also vulnerability. Phillip used the alias of The Governor because it was a title that let everyone know he was in charge and not to be trifled with. Negan never needed a title because people feared his name enough as it was, but a man with no last name was even more intimidating than a man with a nickname. Negan had revealed his middle name to Milton and Milton alone, but his surname remained a mystery, making him still somewhat powerful. But this Alpha character was just that and whatever her real name was, she wasn't telling.

"If those dogs don't bite, you can unmuzzle them and set them loose. We have lots of dogs here, too."

Beth went around to remove the muzzles and the dogs formed a half-circle around Milton's group, regarding the armed people around them distrustfully after the way they had just been handled.

Presently, Milton heard what was unmistakably the neighing of a horse headed through the tunnel toward them. It was here that Milton finally got a good look at where they were, which was at the beginning of a tunnel that had thick, metal doors blocking off the entrance while the other side was left open to whatever lay beyond. He heard the clopping of hooves on concrete and saw a horse and its rider appear seconds later. The rider handed a bag to Alpha who dug around in it and surfaced with a blue inhaler. She then handed the bag to Negan and the latter revealed the rest of the contents to be water and food.

Milton didn't trust the medicine anymore than he trusted this woman, but Alpha must have sensed his hesitation, for she took a swig from one of the canteens and then sampled some of the food to prove that the supplies were free to partake in. They sat huddled together, replenishing their lost energy and making sure the children were thoroughly fed. The rider had also brought coloring books and crayons for the children to amuse themselves with as the adults ate what remained of the rations. Before long, Alpha invited them to see the community through the other end of the tunnel—as if they had another choice.

Merle took lead with Negan and the others formed a mass around Milton and Andrea who carried the children. They moved as one unit with firm holds on the dogs' leashes as they followed Alpha through the tunnel into what Milton could only describe as an untouched city. He could see the walls at least ten blocks down and five blocks to the left and right, but each high rise was pristine, each lawn manicured. People walked about freely with children and dogs. Men with navy blue jackets rode horses as they patrolled the streets and there seemed to be a high count of people wearing leather jackets with the Greek delta letter sewn into the backs.

"What's the population?" asked Milton.

"As of this morning, five hundred and sixty-two. We just had a newborn girl delivered."

"There seems to be a lot of children," Hershel observed.

"It's a luxury we can afford with impenetrable walls. No undead has ever gotten through the tunnel."

"How long have you been here?" posed Bob.

"Since before it all began. The idea started as a safe haven from nuclear war, built into the mountains and under them and it expanded to the outside as well. We have a system of network tunnels beneath us, though they never neared the completion the initial builders were hoping for. When news first reached us of the epidemic, we closed off the main tunnel and conducted thorough searches on every survivor coming in to make sure no one was bitten. We turned the bitten away. It's a harsh thing to do, but it's how we've survived. We had close to seven hundred people, but there was a flu that wiped out at least ninety of us, including almost half of our children."

"And you've never been challenged by a marauding group or bigger threat?" asked Milton, thinking of the plunderers that had threatened to overrun Woodbury, of Negan and his Saviors.

"Our soldiers are more than equipped to deal with threats. We have several levels of administration here. My Betas are the top tier military, acting like generals and higher command. I have forty-two men."

"Only men?" asked Andrea.

"Next comes our brute police force the Deltas, which you have seen several of already," said Alpha without acknowledging her.

"Bikers," said Negan.

"A good portion of them are or were, yes. By all accounts, they look and act like biker gangs, but they have authority since they are, as I said, brute police. Then come the soldiers, normal civilians given proper training and weapons. And last are the regular citizens: elderly, children, challenged. Nearly everyone knows how to handle weapons in here with the exception of those who physically can't."

Alpha gestured at the six skyscrapers on the main street, towering over the rest of the small city.

"We're a High Rise Community. We function as closely to normal society as possible with the only difference being that we're closed off from the undead. Well, that and some necessary alterations. There's a center for training up-and-coming soldiers and sniping lessons are held on various levels of the high rises. No one is forced into joining the army, but everyone is required to train and know how to defend themselves. We have school, we have jobs for every single citizen and they're rewarded for their efforts with supplies and luxury items to make their living more comfortable like a brand new set of sheets to replace the torn ones that have been used for five years. Extra bullets for their weapons while they're on scouting or hunting duty. A battery-powered radio to drown out the sounds of the dead for those who live closer to the walls. We have entertainment in the form of art, music, and sports. We have a farm complete with livestock, horses, cattle, sheep, even dogs and cats as pets and working animals. Everyone earns their place and those who don't take up residence in our jail which can house up to eighty prisoners at once. We take in strangers, of course, but they're put on probation until I personally decide that they've earned their right to become residents. Normally the interview process includes a personal assessment with me during which time I learn everything I can about you, but with cooperation and mutual respect, the process can be over inside of a few weeks."

"I've got a question," said Andrea suddenly. "We've walked one block and I've already seen twelve women who are either pregnant or carrying an infant or toddler around and they all have different colored lanyards on. Care to explain what that's all about?"

"Women have a special job in our society," Alpha explained. "As I said previously, we lost many of our young people to the flu. We are responsible for saving our species, so as a community back when we started out as a mere fifty people inside these walls, we decided that for every woman between the ages of seventeen and forty-seven, we would require a minimum of two children to support our cause. The women can work during this time and are then granted maternity leave for fifteen weeks before they must return to work. Once they've supplied us with the required number of offspring, their contract, as it were, is up, and they are allowed to remove their lanyards."

"What do the lanyards signify?" asked Milton, not liking where this was going at all as he hoisted Oliver further up his hip.

"Women who fall into the age group are assigned to a man of strong stock who will impregnate them—if they don't already have a promising partner," explained Alpha simply.

"Oh, so like rape?" said Beth furiously.

Alpha granted Beth a condescending grin. "If you already have that mindset going into this, sweetie, you're going to have a hard time."

"And what about those women who physically can't conceive or, oh, I don't know, don't find males attractive?" Reece demanded.

"You have the option to leave," said Alpha cooly. "But if you stay and are a woman within the age group, you are bound by our laws to provide us with two children in exchange for sanctuary. If two years of no results passes, only then do we conclude that you aren't able to conceive, and are thereby released from your contract. But like I said, we only partner women with men who have either proven that they're capable of providing strong offspring, or show promise of such. Most of your party's male population seems to be the sort of men we're looking for—with one or two exceptions. The older gentleman obviously can't reproduce at his age and you—" Alpha looked Merle up and down "—might be a bit too old as well, but for the most part, I expect promising results out of all of you and your partners. Tell me, is anyone here already married or have children of their own?"

"Do you not see that I'm carrying my son?" asked Milton incredulously. "Andrea is my wife and we have two children. She miscarried once when she was shot and the baby was killed inside her at just over six months. It's not safe for her to conceive again."

"Our doctors will be the judge of that. I think it's a reasonable thing to ask of all the women here since you are in the best care possible with a safe and clean environment to deliver in as opposed to being out there with the undead. You are being given an opportunity to have a full family here without the fear of raising a child in the wild."

"Andrea had Hershel and two other doctors present when she had our son and she shouldn't be subjected to it again," said Milton, feeling his voice rise with the color in his face.

"All women are subject to a health inspection to determine age and likelihood of conceiving—just to ensure that no one tries to cut corners."

Milton handed Oliver off to Andrea and stepped closer to Alpha whose bodyguards closed in around her to keep Milton at bay.

"It's not safe for her to conceive again."

"We'll see," said Alpha with a malicious grin.

"You—"

Both Merle and Negan pulled on the back of Milton's shirt and pushed him behind them with Merle being the one to shoot him a look that warned him to shut up while Negan adjusted his hold on Finley as he confronted Alpha.

"So you'd rather risk a mother's life and by the same token, the lives of her husband and kids just to make her give you one more kid? She already has two, so there's your contribution."

"The girl isn't hers, nor is it his," said Alpha, nodding at Milton and Andrea. "She shares none of their looks, which tells me she was either adopted or found. She is precious and will be a great asset one day, but she doesn't help them meet their quota. Or, I should say, her quota. She and the other blonde one are the only women fit for bearing children in your party. The older woman is exempt and will find a job. I will allow the younger woman to be impregnated by her current partner for the first child, and if the child is strong and healthy, they may partner again. And I'll find a good match for you after we've had a long talk, honey," said Alpha with a smile at Reece. "The rest of you will be paired with someone if I find a potential match." Alpha glanced at Finley and continued to Negan, "I assume the boy is yours and that his mother didn't survive."

"And?" said Negan.

"I would have a word with you privately."

"You can talk to me right here."

Alpha came to a dead halt, her genial expression gone. Unlike the past tyrants that Milton had dealt with, Alpha didn't go for the fake façade: her anger came out in full-swing and she found no use in hiding it, which made her unpredictable in her mood swings.

"If I'm going to have a problem with you taking orders, tell me right now and we can settle this."

Andrea pushed at Negan, relieving him of Finley as she stared pointedly at him to make him follow Alpha. The silent battle of wills ended with Negan's loss.

"I'll have my Betas set you all up in some empty apartments in HR Silver, the obvious big silver building. I own the penthouse up top and the floor below is for my Betas. You need special access to get to those floors and can only get there with special permission or appointment. A thorough search is conducted before entering my quarters, but for the lower levels, you're welcome to just walk in. You'll understand of course that I'll be keeping your weapons."

Milton put his hand on the small of Andrea's back and guided her after one of the Betas, glancing back at Negan uneasily. So they were being subjected to forcibly having Andrea, Beth and Reece impregnated. As crazy (or not) as it sounded, Milton would rather stay out on the road, so he made the decision for the group that they would stay one night and leave at daybreak. No safety was worth the lives of his wife and other friends and if they hadn't already, the others would just have to agree with him.

/ /

NEGAN

Alpha's penthouse showed the entirety of the city from the twenty-third floor. There was a small stadium, a barn and corral for the horses, a dog training facility, various shops, warehouses, and office buildings. There even appeared to be a movie theater. Gardens were placed atop many buildings to conserve space and if he hadn't seen chompers roaming about on the other side of the walls, he could have fooled himself into believing the world had returned to normal overnight.

What peaked his interest most was a piece of canvas stretched between ten buildings on either side, completely shielding what lay beneath and Negan had a gut feeling that there were chompers packed in there despite Alpha's insistence that none had ever breached the walls. Perhaps they were used for target practice or some other means of training, but either way, it made Negan that much more unwilling to freely walk the streets.

"So no family besides your son?" asked Alpha, rousing him from his observations.

She had been grilling him on his life pre and post apocalypse, asking him about what he did, his family members, what the significance of Lucille was, how his son was conceived, and throwing in random questions like his political views to shake things up. She sat at a large desk Negan associated with executive assholes except she didn't have a plaque with her name written on it. She took notes in her notepad as Negan gave her the quickest, most undetailed answers he could.

"What was the question?"

"Any living family?"

"Just my boy."

"And did you have family before you met these people you're currently with?"

"No."

"So how did you come to be with them?"

This was the question Negan had been hoping to avoid. He didn't want to bring up anything related to his time as a Savior. That was the key to forgetting and forgiveness, but the world seemed determined to not let him erase that chapter of his life.

"I think it's time I asked you a few questions starting off with why Andrea needs to give you two kids when she already has two. It doesn't matter if the girl is hers or not; she's raised her and gotten her this far. Her parents…they didn't make it, and Andrea took up the role of mother without being asked. As far as the girl is concerned, Andrea is her mother."

Alpha set her notebook down, resting her combat boots atop her desk. "Quantity doesn't matter as much as source. She could have fostered a dozen children and I would still require two children from her womb."

"Look, I was there when she had her first miscarriage. She was shot and the bullet killed the baby inside of her. I had to pull it out myself and she almost died from it. She was bedridden for two months after having the boy and that's her body's way of telling her to quit while she's ahead."

"Milton was the father to both children and both of them nearly killed her. Andrea has already had one child by way of her husband and if their boy turns out to be anything like his father, he'll be frail, weak, and sick. You saw the asthma attack he had in the tunnel and Milton admitted that it's probably genetic, which leads me to believe that Milton is less than physically apt. I require sturdy children to continue bloodlines and save our kind, so the boy will have time to prove himself, but in the meantime, Andrea needs a seed of stronger stock. I have plenty of men here who are the fathers to at least five children apiece, but I want to see what you and your people have to offer. You have a child as well, and you took him when the mother died, which shows me that you're a dedicated father. That's a rare quality in the men I have working for me. So I'm going to give you a special opportunity to have another child, and with the woman you obviously have a hard-on for."

Alpha didn't even give Negan time to protest as she continued on, "I was just like her once, a married woman with my eyes on a different man, so I know what those stolen glances mean. The way she was looking at you makes me think that she wouldn't be entirely opposed to having you be the father of one of her children. I could feel the sexual tension like it was a vibrator set to maximum. Make her give me a child, and then she is free to go, but until then, she stays, I own half of her, and you own the other half, so she goes where you tell her to and does what you say and only I have higher authority over her than you. Have her pleasure you as often as you like, but I want a child out of her and if she doesn't deliver, her husband's head is mine as well."

Negan waited, positive that he had misheard her and he gave himself a few moments to gather his thoughts before he spoke. "I'm sorry, but what the actual fuck did you just say to me?"

"You'll be starting out as the lowest sort of worker, which is a yellow lanyard. The higher up your job takes you, the higher your status, and the color of the lanyard changes as you climb the ranks. Women who belong to higher-ranking men have the opportunity to earn privileges for themselves, so by doing your job well, you're earning her the chance at freedom a lot quicker than if you stayed at the level you're currently at."

"Yeah, I'm gonna say with one hundred percent assurance that Andrea's gonna walk right back out of that tunnel when she hears that she belongs to me, and every other person that came in with her is gonna do an about-face and follow her."

"Then they'll be shot down," said Alpha simply.

"Excuse me?"

"When presented with our requirements, we hope to get people to stay of their own accord, but if they decide that they don't want to contribute to our race and cause, they're no use to the world, are they? We're trying to rebuild our way of life, which means rebuilding our population from the ground up. All women have a job to do and asking for two children out of them isn't much."

"You're not asking. You're demanding, and if they refuse, you shoot them down like wild animals. You heard Milton; tryin' to have another kid'll get Andrea killed."

"If Milton is the father, then yes, because his seed is weak. Yours is not. I'm presenting you with this welcoming gift as a gesture of good faith because I see potential in you the likes of which hasn't come by in a long, disappointing amount of time. I see you becoming one of my Betas."

"I'm real flattered, but I'm not takin' another woman as a gift like she's a mule. You want to rebuild the human race? Start treating all of us the same."

"If I did that, we'd die out just as soon as we did the first time. This is a necessary evil to winning back this war from the dead, Negan. I feel like you know this already. You were a leader once, weren't you?"

"Once," Negan growled. He wasn't about to explain to her how Merle Dixon overthrew him and forced him out onto the road. "And if it's so important to you, where's your contribution to the world?"

"I've already serviced the cause. I had two girls, one of whom died in the initial outbreak, and one that's alive and well in the Community. She's expecting her second child sometime in March."

"Christ, you made your own daughter spread her legs for some man she didn't know to rape her? What the hell's wrong with you? Who agreed to make women sex slaves in this community? You force 'em to do these things, your results are gonna come back to bite you in your ass."

"I don't believe so."

"You just don't want any women competing with you, so you proposed the idea that it'd be just dandy makin' 'em all walking baby-pumping machines and every dick in the vicinity stood up at full mast at the promise of bangin' some hot ass, is that it? God, I'm gonna be sick."

"Don't tell me you've never put your status as a leader into effect for the same results?"

"You're damn right I didn't. Rape was punishable by death when I was large and in charge and here—it's encouraged. Ordered."

"Exactly. You have your orders, and you'd best fulfill them and pray I don't revoke my gift and offer her to another man—one she doesn't know. At least with you it'll be easier on her since you so obviously have been wanting her for some time. Do this and report back to me in my penthouse once you've finished and I'll reward you with a bed for your apartment. For every task you complete for me, you'll earn your living space piece by piece. Work for me a month and you could have everything you might ever need for you and your son. Disobey my orders and I will find a new father for your son who won't be so reluctant to do what is best for society."

He was caught in the crossroads now and had nowhere to go that didn't result in grave consequences for him. Did he value Andrea's honor or his son's future more? Would he risk becoming the very thing Milton hated just to save Finley from being raised by strangers? And he would also be risking Andrea's life in forcing himself on her to make her give Alpha a child, but if he didn't, some sick-minded perv would replace him and hurt her far more.

"Do we have an understanding, Negan?" asked Alpha, fingering the pistol at her side.

Dare he take his chances and refuse? He had never been in this position before, always on the other side of the threat. That's how he had become head of the Saviors; he had no one and nothing with which other people could threaten him, but now that he had a son and people like Milton and Andrea who he actually gave a shit about, Alpha had found his weakness instantly and exploited it.

"Well?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Then take this radio and keep it on your person at high volume at all times so that you never miss my summons. If you find Milton before I do, send him to the penthouse. He and his family should be set up on the second or third floor of HR Silver."

"Great."

"And Negan, I like you, so for your son's sake, let's try to keep it that way. I'd estimate that you have an hour from the time Milton enters my penthouse to do what you need to do."

"Fine."

"You can take your weapon with you."

Alpha handed him Lucille handle first and he considered taking his bat in both hands, swinging it wide and cleaving Alpha's skull in half. Instead he kept walking.

Twenty minutes later he was running along the third floor hallway to HR Silver, knocking on all doors to locate Milton's apartment. The building had at least fifteen apartments per floor and he was already sweating from running from door to door.

"What's the scoop, boss?"

"God Almighty, not now," moaned Negan into his hands.

"Bad time?" asked Simon, gliding along beside Negan without making a sound. "I heard the word is that we're closing in on Milton's girl."

"Fuck off."

"It's not like I'm not gonna be there while you're banging her hard on the kitchen counter—"

Negan swiped at the air where Simon stood, but a second later, there was nothing but himself and an empty hallway. He kicked at the wall and made a hole in it, but he didn't care what the charges were. He had less than no options right now and within the next four hours he needed to find a way to hide anyone Alpha could use against him which included, but was not limited to, Andrea, Milton, Finley, Judith, and gradually the rest of Milton's people. His head needed to be clear and having the unavoidable ghost of a dead man following him around wasn't a good way to start things off.

He picked up the bag, tucking Lucille back into her holster. It had been another sign of Alpha's trust that he was allowed to take back his weapon while everyone else had to check in with a Beta to get theirs. Even Merle had had his blade attachment removed, but Alpha didn't take into account how little Merle actually needed a weapon to do serious damage, and Negan was relying on that to factor in when he carried out his ill-conceived, hastily compiled plan.

On his way down to the second floor, he nearly collided with Milton who was on his way up.

"We can't stay here—" began Milton, but Negan cut him off.

"Alpha wants to talk to you. Take the elevator up to the twenty-second floor and the Betas will let you up to her."

"She can wait."

"She's not gonna. Get your ass upstairs."

Milton blanched. "Excuse me?"

"I don't have time to tell you why, man, you just gotta go because she's not dickin' around. We just walked into a hornet's nest with one nasty-ass bitchy Queen Bee and hellfire's gonna rain down on us if we don't watch our step. So go up to her and whatever you do, don't argue with her."

"If you think I'm not going to protest the fact that she wants me to force Andrea into having another baby—"

Negan shoved Milton against the railing and held the front of his jacket firmly.

"Do—not—argue—with—her. She's not me or the Governor who came before me; she doesn't like you. I just spent an hour talkin' to her and she told me to my face that she thinks you're weak, likely to die soon from gettin' bit on a run or some shit. She thinks you're useless, so don't make this harder on yourself or your family. Do exactly what she says."

"Or she'll what, exactly?" scoffed Milton.

Negan slapped him. "Wake up, you idiot. You've been in this situation before, you know how it works. What did you do when I found you? You obeyed, and you lived. Do that now and do it right because I'm not explainin' to Andrea why you're a grease mark on the pavement tomorrow morning. This isn't about winning an argument or showin' that you're not scared of her; it's about keepin' your head down and following orders, so do it."

/ / /

ANDREA

She had just put the children down in the spare bedroom on a pile of blankets that had been offered up by the neighbors when she heard an insistent pounding coming from the front door. The hammering continued until she opened it to see Negan rush in with rope, a muddy brown pack, a few cans of food, and a canteen of water. He was more panicked than Andrea had ever seen him as he went to the kitchen where Andrea had been unloading her belongings and began to transfer them to the brown bag. After stuffing a few items in, he threw the pack at her. "Saddle up, you're leaving."

"Oh, am I, now?"

"Yes, you are."

"Want to tell me why?"

"You're the one who pointed out all the lanyards in this place and how none of her Betas are women. You tell me."

"I'm with Milton."

"Wake up!"

Negan once again began cramming the supplies into the bag, but she stopped him by hiding the bag behind her back. "No packing until you tell me why."

"I can't get you, Beth, and Reece out, so I hate to say it, but I'm choosing you. You're gonna leave and you're not gonna come back. You're gonna find a place to hide until I can get the rest of 'em out."

"I'm not going anywhere without my children, Milton, and Merle—"

Negan grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "This is for them. Alpha explained how the lanyards work, how this place works, and you're in for a world of hurt if you think that you can stay here. Milton and the kids will be fine; I'll see to it. But you've gotta leave while I can get you out or you're gonna find yourself in a lose-lose situation."

"Explain."

"The lanyards represent ownership. All the women in that age group have to wear them until they pop out two or more kids. All the women are assigned to men who'll provide healthy children. Alpha doesn't see Ollie as healthy because Milton's the father, so she just reassigned you to a new man who shows more promise. Wanna guess who that man is?"

Andrea scoffed. "I'll bet you fought hard to not be privy to this."

"You think I asked for the chance to own you? You know me better than that. You know I'd never…frankly, I'm hurt that you'd even say that to me. Alpha labeled you as my property now and if neither of us follow through, we're in for a bad time."

"This seems like very familiar territory. Didn't you call Merle and Milton your property once upon a t—"

"I'm not shitting you, Andrea, this is some serious shit here. She gave me leeway to do with you whatever the hell I want—and what she wants. You can't do anything I don't give you permission to do—outside of this room. Whatever you do, you have to lie and say that I allowed you to do it. So when Alpha asks why you sleep in Milton's bed every night, you tell her it's because I allowed it."

"Why wouldn't I be allowed to sleep with my husband?"

"Because as far as Alpha is concerned, I'm the only one given permission to do that."

She had expected something like this since she got the news this morning that all women were required to give Alpha two children. But she thought it would just mean going through childbirth one last time, giving Milton one more baby to call his own. She never anticipated that Alpha would demand that someone else impregnate her, and of course it had to be Negan. How very funny and cruel fate must find this situation…

A sob wanted to escape her throat, but she wasn't sure if it would come out as such or if it would enter existence as maddened laughter. When she found her voice, she took a long, hard swallow and asked, "When?"

"Every week."

"Until what?" She wasn't intentionally playing dumb; she was just trying to hold off the inevitable answer and conclusion that she knew had to come.

"What do you mean 'until what'? What do you think until? 'Til you're carrying my kid, or do I need to add, 'no, duh'? That's what she pulled me aside to talk to me about. She wants confirmation that we did it by the end of the day."

"And what did you say to her?"

"I fought her on it and she said we both go through with it, or we both pay for it in blood. Take a good guess who she threatened."

"She wouldn't touch my children."

"She wouldn't, but she would do something to Milton. She doesn't see any use for him. But she did threaten to have my boy taken away from me, given to another family, raised into labor. I was willin' to hand him over to your people because I knew that however much you hated me, you'd take him and care for him, but don't ask me to give him up now into slavery."

"I'm not, and I wouldn't. Your son will stay with you and I'll stay here because the thought of having a baby doesn't scare me nearly as much as being alone and dying alone does. I can do this. I owe it to Milton to stay, and you owe it to him to try."

Negan took a seat at the island counter, his shoulders hunched in defeat. "I gave everything for him and you know I'd do it again, but not at the extent of raping a woman, and not just any woman, but his wife. Come on, Andrea, you know I'm not gonna go through with it."

She knew there was relief to be seen on her face at his unwillingness to do this to her despite his deep-rooted affection and lust for her, but she did catch that flicker of disappointment on his face that he was passing up his one chance to have her as he had always wanted. He wouldn't go through with it because despite everything that said otherwise about him, he was noble enough to tuck it back in his pants and deny himself his greatest wish just to save Andrea the embarrassment and shame.

"What if I asked you to?" she said suddenly.

"You won't. There's another option for you and Alpha won't punish Milton and your kids if you're out of the picture, so that's why I'm here. I found out the guard rotations and I can sneak you out tonight by causing a distraction, then you're home free."

"So you think that I'm going to hop that fence and abandon my husband, my children, and my people just so that I don't have to sex with you?"

"Well, gee, weren't you willing to do that before at Savior HQ?"

"I'm not leaving. Alpha will know you helped me and she'll punish you, then she'll execute Milton all the same. You had to know that that was going to be how this ended, or did you think I was stupid enough to not see it?"

"I didn't know what would happen next, but my plan was to get Milton out after you as soon as I could and to hide him until then," said Negan evasively.

"My chastity concerning you isn't worth my husband's life, so I'm staying, and if I'm staying—"

"You don't want this anymore than I do. You—don't—want—this," said Negan, and he was on his feet again, towering over her and looking as he did the very first time she had hit him in front of his Saviors. He had threatened her then, and she had experienced her first inkling of fear of this man and though he wasn't threatening her now, she had the same fear of what he could and would do to protect her from himself.

"I want Milton to be breathing at the end of the day and after what happened before, I think it's pretty fucking clear that I'm willing to do anything for him," said Andrea viciously before he could get in a word. "If this is what it takes, then so be it. But I can't do it on my own."

"You're fuckin' kidding me."

"No, but while we're on the subject of fucking, I need you to help me. Please, Negan. It shouldn't be hard for you because you've wanted me since you found out I was taken."

"And that doesn't scare you? The fact that I want this and you don't and—it's—still—rape?"

"Just…just think of one of those times when you thought I might cave in to you—if it'll make it easier."

"This isn't easy!" Negan bellowed. "You think I can get it up to rape you? Get a fuckin' grip—"

"You have my consent. It's not rape. Don't make me beg you."

"Don't you dare beg. Jesus, Andrea, I can't—"

Andrea grabbed him by the front of his jacket and put her hand on his midsection. "Tell me that me touching you doesn't arouse you."

Negan avoided her eye. "God, you know it does and I hate it. I shouldn't be standing at full mast at the prospect of impregnating a married woman to save her husband. Hell, Andrea, I killed men for tryin' to do what you want me to do to you right now. Maybe I'm not a Savior anymore, but I didn't suddenly decide rape was a good thing. I've done my share of fucked up shit, but this—"

"Is necessary. Whatever it takes, remember? This is what it takes. Whatever will put you in the mood, whatever will get you there, do it. I promise; I'll help however I can. And if this is what we have to do for Milton, we're going to do it, dammit."

"He wouldn't want you to do this for him."

"I don't need consent from anyone to save my husband's life and neither do you. You care about him as much as Merle does, and if Alpha had told Merle to do this instead of you, he wouldn't hesitate."

"Then go get him to do it, but I'm not—"

"She'll know if it isn't you. When the child is born, she'll know whose it is and I don't have dominant genes, so if it comes out as a blue-eyed, sandy-haired baby, do you honestly think she'll believe it's yours? Finley looks exactly like you, Oliver looks exactly like Milton, and this baby needs to look like you. If you don't come through, she'll force someone else on me that I don't even know. Call me crazy, but I'd rather it be you than one of her Betas."

God, what had just come out of her mouth? She would rather Negan force himself on her than someone she didn't know? What the hell was wrong with her?

Negan combed his fingers back and forth through his hair, pacing and looking like he was about to have a meltdown. She didn't know why he was hesitating now, when he finally had his chance to have her like he always wanted. He'd been working toward this since he came back. This was what the forgiveness had been building up to. She had no way out of this that would see Milton and her children through unless she carried Negan's child and gave Alpha the last due.

"Stop pacing; you're making me nervous."

"I'm—you're not…I'm making you—come on!"

Andrea stepped into his walkway and blocked him from continuing his indecisive ambling about. "The longer you put it off, the less likely you are to do it. And I want to get it out of the way so that Alpha doesn't come barging in on Milton and me, asking if I've had sex with you yet. I want Alpha to know that we're willing to comply so that she doesn't send a chaperone to watch every session. And I don't want Milton to ever know."

Negan let out a nervous laugh. "You don't think he'll know when you start to look like you're carrying a watermelon under your shirt?"

"No, because I plan on having sex with my husband to combat the suspicion that I've ever slept with another man. As far as he knows and will ever know, the baby is his, not yours."

"But if it comes out lookin' like me—"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, we need to get this done quickly before Milton gets back from his meeting with Alpha."

"He'll be there for a while yet. She asked to speak with him to buy us both some time to—finish our business," said Negan, rubbing at the back of his neck in embarrassment. It was a thing to behold, Negan looking flustered like a schoolboy admitting a crush. Powerful, confident Negan was terrified of the situation.

"You're absolutely, one hundred percent okay with this?" he asked, sounding as if he hoped she would say no. "You're giving me your full consent, no take-backs, all in, swear-to-God permission?"

No. She would never give her mental consent to carry Negan's baby, to have sex with him, to let him in as he had always wanted, but her mouth said otherwise.

"Did you hear me stutter?"

Relenting, Negan threw his leather jacket aside and cupped the back of Andrea's head to allow him better access to kiss her neck and send reluctant tingles into her extremities. He nuzzled the tender skin along her jugular with his nose, curling his fingers around her hips to grind them against his. Instantly Andrea's breath hitched in her throat and her own fingers clenched on Negan's shoulders as he worked to get her aroused. God, to get her aroused enough for him to painlessly impregnate her. She never could have predicted that she would one day be fighting for Milton's life by allowing her former tormentor, her former enemy to take her right here in her and Milton's apartment. He had restrained himself for years, never overstepping his boundaries to this extent and though he was trying to be gentle with her, she could feel the need in his touch.

Working at the buttons on Andrea's blouse, Negan's nimble fingers pried their way through to reach the steaming flesh of her stomach as he licked a spot behind her ear. Fearing that she would lose her courage if she didn't become properly aroused quickly, Andrea seized Negan's hands, placing them upon her breasts. He stopped his exploration of her to see where she had placed his hands and looked to her for confirmation.

She couldn't give it to him through words; she couldn't give it to him through expression, so she closed them and threw her neck back to tell him to continue as she tossed off her blouse. Thankfully he needed no second urging and began to caress her, fingers on one hand traveling with the natural curves of her body while the other slipped down her abdomen to the button of her jeans. She helped him work the button apart, followed by the zipper, and then his deft fingers were reaching into her underwear, searching for that one spot that would bring her into a full state of arousal.

And find it he did, so sharply and instantly that Andrea felt herself buck toward him, clamping onto him for support at the power of his stimulation. He worked her, rubbing vigorously, but not to the point of it being uncomfortable. In almost no time, he had her gasping, and sopping wet.

Negan detached himself from her to peel off his sweaty shirt, adding it to the pile of clothes around their ankles. He freed himself from his jeans, pushed them down to his knees, and then gave an impatient tug at Andrea's own as a hint to have her kick them off. She slipped out of them at the same time that Negan had fully unveiled his intimidating and raging erection from his boxers. Jamming himself against her to resume kissing her neck, Negan placed his hands under her buttocks and lifted her from her feet so that she had to wrap her legs around the small of his back to support herself.

She felt his stiffened manhood nudge against her thigh and faltered, biting back the sob that she knew was coming as she entered this point of no return. Sensing her hesitation, Negan secured her hold on him to make sure she wouldn't fall and then took her face in his hands.

"Tell me to stop now and I swear, I will," he breathed. "Or I'll go through with it. I won't do anything unless you tell me."

"We've come this far. Whatever you do, don't stop," Andrea responded.

"You tell me if I hurt you, do you understand? You—tell—me."

She couldn't say anything else at this point, so she just nodded and lifted her hips in suggestion to him.

Resigned, Negan pushed her against the wall so that it could take some of her weight, and then he was prodding at her sopping entrance. He cast one last uncertain glance at her before pushing in, fully sheathing himself within her. She nearly choked as she felt him fill her utterly and completely. Her fingernails were digging into the skin of his shoulders and she was sure that he would have multiple half-moon cuts, but this was the only way to hold on as he began to pump into her at an experienced speed.

He knew what he was doing and any pause he had was only due to his reservations concerning the task, not his ability. This had been a fantasy, a goal of his since he first cornered her in her cell and invited her to come live at the Savior compound with him. He had dreamed of this and wanted it, wanted her for so long. How unfair was it that he now was experiencing it in its full glory as she sat victim to it? And how cruel was it that she was enjoying it? He battered against her cervix with every thrust and within just a few minutes, she heard herself crying out from both pain and pleasure. She knew there were tears on her face and tried to brush them away, but both of her hands were occupied. Instead, Negan's thumb came up to wipe at them before he cupped her chin and placed the softest kiss upon her forehead.

She felt his rhythm dissolve into sporadic movements as his pumping turned into a sensual twisting; he made sure every inch of him filled her in just the right way to send her screaming over the edge. A few more slaps of his skin against hers and he joined her in completion, coating her channel with his release.

"I've gotcha," he told her as she felt herself falling from his grip.

When the overwhelming wave of the moment subsided, she unlatched her fingers from his skin and let go, embarrassed at how her skin stuck to his with sweat. Her feet found the floor and she looked down and away, feeling for her clothes with her toe to avoid his gaze. To her relief, he stepped back and scooped up his own clothes under one arm before offering out the other pile to her and she quickly donned them all until the very last button on her blouse was fastened.

"Let's hope you're fertile," she said, opening the door to show him out once he had replaced the very last article of clothing, his jacket. "Bring me a maternity test when you get the chance and if it doesn't work, I guess we'll do this again in a few days."

"Andrea—"

"I need you to leave now."

She knew he wanted to stay and comfort her, but the dilemma in that was that she needed comfort from someone else because he was the problem.

He went to the door and stood on the threshold. "I'm sorry."

Malicious intentions claimed her better judgment and she delivered a line that she hoped dug deeper than the cuts from her fingernails. "Looks like you got your way in the end."

Negan's jaw tightened. "Don't do that—"

"You couldn't have Milton out of the picture, so Alpha did it for you in a way that Milton stays alive and doesn't know and you get what you've always wanted."

"You agreed to this," Negan snarled, marching back inside. "I had the pack ready to go, I had an escape route planned out, I was prepared to accept the consequences and risk my boy's future, and this is still my fault? I gave you so many chances in the past half hour to walk away from the second I walked through the door to right before we sealed the deal and you have the fuckin' gall to stand there post-coital and accuse me of long-term rape? Oh, honey, I'm so disappointed in you."

He gestured at the air and the musk of their sex still on it. "Smell that? That's the scent of the very last thing I could possibly give you to have finally handed over everything to you. But you still wanna call me a motherfuckin' rapist like Wilks, like Cooper and Keller, and that bastard that ran Woodbury before you came along. Excuse the shit outta me, but what the hell, Andrea? Do you want this arrangement to go on, or do you want me to go to Alpha and tell her that you're not havin' it so that she can find someone else to stick his dick in you and believe me, he won't be gentle. You told me—you said the goddamn words to me before we did it—that you'd rather it was me than someone you don't know and I can still arrange that if this meeting didn't result in a kid."

He was right about every single word, but she couldn't hurt Alpha for bringing this upon her and forcing her into this arrangement, so Negan was the next closest thing. Alpha liked him already and he was living quite literally higher than the rest of them without being here twelve hours and he was being handed everything he wanted on a silver platter. Andrea's people had taken the sacrifice in accepting Negan back and yet he was the one back on top. Of course she was irate and frustrated and above all, she felt soiled and unclean with the fact that she might be carrying his child even now.

"You have no right, no—damn—right in treatin' me the way you are or talkin' to me in the way you just did because you're as much to blame for this as me. Alpha sent me to you because she 'could feel the sexual tension like it was a vibrator set to maximum', so in order for that to happen, there had to be some reciprocation on your part, which there most certainly was. I want you to admit to me right now that you've wanted me too for quite some time—a very long time, if I'm not mistaken. I would say since the night I resuscitated your husband and you came to my quarters on your own to speak to me. You've had sexual fantasies, so how dare you shame me for bein' the only one who had somethin' to gain outta this."

"I haven't had fantasies—"

"Bullshit! I call double bullshit on that, just like when you denied it the first time. Honey, this is never gonna work out unless you stop lyin' to yourself and to my face about what you want, and what you want…is me."

Even if that was true, she would never admit it to him, but the walls were closing in fast and she had upset him in a way that only she could that scared her, not because of what he could do to her (she knew he'd never lift a finger to her), but because of what the alternative was. She had asked for him, for this, and the very least she could do was follow through with her side of the bargain.

"Tell me what you want, Andrea Mamet, because I am not comin' back through this door if you kick me out this time on the pretense that this is somehow my fault."

"I don't want…this. This place, these people. I want just my people, my family."

Negan softened toward her and she allowed him to rest a cautious hand on her shoulder. "If you can trust me, I can give you that. It won't happen overnight and what we did here might need to happen more than once, but you know I have a way of gettin' what I want, and if I want Alpha dead, if I want this place as my empire, I'll get it. I swear on it, and if I lie, God Himself cut off my ballsack. But for now, for this moment, you've gotta trust me and above all, I need you to not try to hurt me when I'm givin' it all for you and your family."

Then he held her. She kept her arms down, afraid to touch him anymore than necessary, but he stroked his hands along her back and slowly started to rock her to a nonexistent rhythm to lull away her uncertainty. Presently, a voice from within his jacket pocket said, "If you haven't finished, you might wanna get a move-on; Milton's on his way back down."

"Was that-?"

"Alpha, yeah. She gave me a radio to keep communications quick, and if Milton's on his way down from the penthouse, you need to air this place out and spray somethin' in here."

"I don't have any air spray. I don't have anything. I haven't earned it yet," said Andrea, and for the first time, she truly realized the weight of that statement. They had an empty two-bedroom apartment. No curtains on the windows, no linens in the closet, no furniture, no toilet paper, no anything. They were starting from the beginning with absolutely nothing but what they had carried in and they would have to work for all of it so that they could fully appreciate labor and the value of it. There were things they would have to do without because other things were more important. Blankets were more important than a bed. A first-aid kit was more valuable than hot water for a shower.

"You still got that coloring book?"

Andrea unearthed it from her bag and Negan ripped out several pages, wadding them up and holding them over the kitchen sink. He took a lighter from his pants and set the wad on fire so that it went up in ash and smoke in seconds. He wafted the smell of burned paper toward the area where they had had sex and then opened a window. Then he told Andrea to wipe her face clean of any previous emotions as he crossed his arms and leaned against the sink to make it appear that they were in a troubling conversation just as Milton entered the apartment.

Judging by the stone-cold expression he was sporting, the discussion he had had with Alpha did not go well, but then his nostrils turned up at the stench of ash.

"Who burned what, and why?" he asked.

"I was testin' the stove to see if y'all had gas an' the damn colorin' book was near it and caught fire," Negan invented. "What'd Alpha say?"

"She said she's certain the doctors will conclude that Andrea is still healthy enough to deliver a child by C-section, if not naturally, so it's a no-go on bypassing. And even then, there's still Beth and Reece to consider, so as secure as a place as this is, I don't think we should stay."

"Well, then, hold onto your britches, Sonny-Jim, because I've got bad news."

/

|AUTHOR'S NOTE: You'll notice that I took several artistic liberties with Alpha and the Whisperers in relocating them, changing their end-term goal, the fact that they don't harm walkers, the fact that there's multiple Betas and not just Beta, etc. I did the same with Negan in my last story. I didn't think I was capable of writing a convincing sexually graphic scene, but the story demanded that I grow some lady-sized balls and just do it. Like I mentioned in the pre-warning, it may not be to everyone's taste, given the circumstances, but I did warn at the end of the last story that this story would take a much darker turn.|