"Maddie, what's wrong?" Negan's eyes widen, only processing her backing up against the tree. When her eyes glaze over and she falls onto the ground, head bouncing with the leaves as if she was a doll, that's when he freezes.
"Maddie!" he clenches his fists for a moment, waiting for her to blink. Her eyes stay open, staring blankly at the dark clouds. Some rain lands on her cheeks, sliding down her skin. She doesn't flinch.
His heart sinks and his stomach turns upside down. This is all too familiar.
He snaps out of his frozen state and drops by her side, "Maddie! Maddie!"
Automatically, his hand goes to her cheek, slapping her soft skin gently. He smears the rain water around her face, accidentally closing one of her eyes.
"No, no, Maddie, come on," he opens it up again, leaning down. Her pupils start to shrink and she blinks once. Then she blinks again.
Negan swallows his discomfort, finding a glimmer of hope. She's okay. She's going to be okay.
"Sweetheart, come back to me," he uses one arm to lift her up. Miraculously, she holds up her own head and groans as it falls into his chest. The muscles in her face tense up and she squeezes her eyes shut. Then she coughs.
Negan places one hand on her hair, feeling the living and breathing person in his arms.
What just happened?
He looks down at her, sensing discomfort and pain on her face. Was it the cough? Was it the lack of food? No, surely not… they have been eating well for the past few days. Was it water?
No, it must be the cough.
Shit. Fuck. He should have acted sooner.
"Darlin', what's wrong?"
She stirs in his arms, whimpering out a reply. To her it probably sounds like words. He can't make out any of it.
The rain starts falling harder and that's when he remembers about the barn. Their next destination. He turns to look at it. It's becoming blurry due to the rain. A few seconds pass, and it's just the outline.
Thankfully, the pair have a tree for now to keep them from getting soaking wet. Negan blinks as a few heavy drops land on his eyelashes. He grips the front of his red scarf, pulling it off his neck. The girl shivers against him, one of her legs twitching against the leaves. She's becoming delirious.
With one hand, he wraps the warmed scarf around her neck, tucking the ends into her coat. His calloused finger grazes against her chin, feeling how cold it got. It makes his hand want to travel up to her forehead. It's cold. No fever.
"Alright, sweetheart, we need to get going," he says.
Maddie shudders against him, eyes closed.
Negan tugs the bag off her shoulders and slings it onto his back, picking up the rifle as well.
There is growling coming from among the trees, as if trying to kick the pair out of the woods.
Negan grabs the back of Maddie's head, helping her to rest it on his shoulder, "Come on baby, help me out here."
She seems to come alive at his words, pushing into the ground with her feet, "I'm fine."
They stand up together and he lifts her up, keeping her head on his shoulder. It's hard to carry all their things and half of their group, but his worry about what might happen if they don't get to the barn quickly seems to spur him on.
A walker stumbles out from behind the trees, ribcage caved in, all black and burnt. Negan gives the dead fucker one last glance and starts jogging through the rain, Maddie's legs dangling at his hips.
Once they reach the building, Negan kicks the double doors open, surprised to find them unlocked. He looks around quickly, scanning for any forms of life. If somebody is in here, he can reason with them. He has a sick girl in his arms. They wouldn't shoot.
However, his fingers itch for his gun, and he has to ignore the urge to grab it.
The rain rattles on the roof, but no water seems to be leaking through. On the left, there are two stables where Negan presumes cows would have been kept. There are saddles draped over the wooden doors and haystacks piled on top of one another. The hay is orangey-brown, meaning it has been here for a long time.
Negan looks to the right where more hay is piled up in the corner. As the material reaches the middle of the barn, it scatters into thinning sheets. Somebody was here. And they made a mess.
Maddie groans quietly against his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. He walks over to the hay, dropping her onto the pile carefully, "There we are. Nice and fucking cosy."
He furrows his brows as he looks at her pale face. She frowns against the sound of the rain, squeezing her eyes suddenly when a bolt of lightning flashes behind him. Negan glances at the open doors, seeing nothing but water.
"I better go shut them," he stands up, not waiting for a reply. The weapons and bags get dropped by the hay, and then he makes his way to the entrance of the barn. The howling wind has invited some water into the building, splashes coating the dusty floor.
He grabs the two doors from each side, slamming them shut with a grunt. Fuck, they're heavy. The wind does not make things any easier.
He sees a plank of wood by the wall, using it to keep the doors somewhat stationary. They still sway with the wind, "Fuck, it'll have to do."
A clap of thunder shatters their surroundings. Negan runs a hand into his wet hair, slicking it back. Hopefully, nobody will stumble upon this place… or come back to it anytime soon.
He makes his way back to the girl, who to his surprise is sitting up, holding her head in both hands, "Take it easy."
Maddie mumbles something incoherent, losing the colour in her face with each second that goes by.
"Do you have a headache?" Negan tries, grabbing both of her hands and pulling them away. They are both freezing. He covers them in his own, moving his fingers up and down her wrists.
"No, I…" she leans into his touch, craving nothing more but warmth, "I just don't feel good."
"Were you bit?" he asks, clenching his jaw.
Maddie shoots him a look, "No, of course not."
Negan sighs, ruling it out.
His hands worm into the sleeves of her coat, feeling cold skin with every inch. That's when he becomes very aware of how wet they are. They need heat.
He unzips his leather jacket, receiving a curious look from Madison. She eases back into the hay, closing her eyes when her back is supported. Meanwhile, Negan takes off his signature covering, "Come on, doll. You'll freeze in that."
Maddie wraps her arms around her middle protectively, "I'm already cold."
As if to prove her point, her jaw starts to wobble, teeth chattering through her words.
"I'll dry it. And then you can fucking wear it again," he extends his hand, waiting, "That wasn't a question. Take it off."
Maddie bites into her bottom lip before slowly unzipping her coat and wrestling out of it. Goosebumps raise on her skin. She looks up at Negan who has a greying part on his white shirt due to the dampness of the material. Some droplets hang on the strands of his hair. His pants are wet from the bottom to the thighs. She notices that the same goes for her.
Negan glances at her legs, deciding not to say anything. Maddie sighs, reaching for the zipper on her jeans, and then there is the sound of her pulling it down.
The man tries to look busy arranging the coats in his arms, jutting out his jaw. He walks over to the stables and hangs their clothes on the doors. The smell of death hits him suddenly when he notices a rotting carcass inside the stables. Horns stick out of the skull of a clearly dried up skeleton of a bull.
He shakes his head before walking back over to the girl. And when he does, he does not know where to settle his eyes, because she has taken off her pants and is sitting in the stacks of hay, hands under her legs to keep them warm.
The slight glare in her eye does not go unnoticed, so Negan decides to rummage through his bag and pull out the three large shirts they acquired earlier.
"Take your pick," he tosses them at her head. She catches the first one and pulls it on over her own shirt.
As the rain gets heavier and heavier, Negan builds a fire in the middle of the barn. He circles the flame with rocks and keeps it going with the limitless amounts of hay that they have laying around. Maddie shuffles closer to it, curling up into a semi-circle beside their bags.
Her sudden drop still baffles Negan, and he pokes at the fire while rubbing his beard. She isn't bit… maybe it's just a virus? Or some sort of sickness? It's not too uncommon when they're living in conditions like this…
He looks down at her, his hand following his gaze to her forehead. Still cold. Pneumonia?
Maddie opens her eyes to his warm touch, pulling her bare legs closer to her chest, "What are you doing?"
Negan ignores her, "Are you feeling better?"
She must turn her head to look up at him, but that seems like too much effort. She does not move, "I think I just need to sleep."
"Alright," he murmurs, swiping some hair out of her face. His fingers pass her cold ears, noticing for the first time a stud in her earlobe. He smiles slightly, fingering the black stone. It makes him wonder about her past. When did she get her ears pierced? Was she young? Did she decide to wear these when the world went to shit? Or are they her default pair?
The girl hums as his thumb slides back and forth. He pulls his hand away.
He realizes that there is a big part of the barn he has not explored yet, so he gets to it. Ignoring the carcass in one of the stables, he moves to the second one, finding nothing but more hay and a maroon blanket underneath. He smiles slightly, pulling it out and shaking the dirt from it. It stinks and it's torn, but it will have to do.
Negan goes back to Maddie, covering her form with the blanket. She opens her eyes slowly, and he notices how she started to breathe from her mouth.
He goes back to the stables and spends most of the afternoon looking for weapons, tools, clothes, anything that could be useful in the future. But the blanket is the best he could find after all.
When the lightning strikes again, it lights up the cracks of the barn, making it momentarily white. Then it goes back to being dark orange.
Maddie sits up again, looking at him from her spot. He scratches his beard, walking up to the fire, "Shall we try to eat?"
She nods, giving him a small smile.
Her eyes are full of sleep and she does not shuffle closer even at the smell of a warm can of beans.
Negan wraps one of the cans in a rag and hands it to her along with a close representation of a wooden spoon. Maddie always found it gross eating food off dirty objects, but in this world, she has no choice. She could always use her fingers, but how is that any better when they don't have soap?
She finishes a whole can and takes a few sips of water before laying back down in her dented space. Negan cleans both cans up, aware that he should scavenge for live food tomorrow if they want to keep the long-lasting option for longer.
Maddie coughs into her elbow as she looks up at the ceiling. Negan sits beside her head, running a few fingers into his growing beard. She smirks slightly.
"If we find a razor, will you shave it off?"
Negan smirks down at her, "Why? Don't you like it?"
She coughs again, turning to lay on her side, "I don't know any different."
"Are you still cold?"
"Mmmm… no," she hums, "Not really."
He leans against one of the stacks, keeping an eye on her, "You don't have to keep your face on the hay. It must be itchy as fuck."
Maddie puts a hand under her face, shrugging, "Now that you've said it."
"Here, just," he gestures with his hand, pulling her further up, "Put your head on my lap, I won't bite, daisy."
Surprisingly, she goes along with this and uses one of his thighs as a pillow. The trousers are still slightly damp from the rain but it feels good against her heating skin.
Negan strokes her hair idly, trying to concentrate on anything but his dick twitching to life.
He clears his throat, remembering the conversation they shared earlier. About the Saviours. It's silent for a long time before he speaks. And even then, he thinks that Maddie is sleeping.
"There was a war," he reiterates, swallowing his pride, "I don't even fucking remember how it started… maybe it was a build-up of things. I don't fucking know…"
His hand goes into Maddie's hair, careful to avoid the bruised patch on top.
"There was this fucking prick called Rick," he shakes his head, knowing that the details are irrelevant, "Well, anyway… he was the leader of another group. He killed some of my people… in their fucking sleep," he runs his fingers through her locks gently, "And I decided that it would be fair to kill some of his."
Maddie bites her lip, snaking her arms tighter around his thigh to let him know she is listening.
He grabs the blanket around her legs and pulls it up to her shoulders slowly, "It escalated from there."
"Why do you have a target on your back?" Maddie asks, quoting his previous statement. He runs his hand over her ear, sighing.
"We poisoned our weapons in walker shit," he tenses at the memories, "And… well it backfired, darlin'."
Maddie turns on his lap, staring up at him, "Did your people get infected instead?"
She catches on quick, he doesn't even need to explain the gory details. He smiles slightly, stroking her hair.
"My people... Kids," he trails off, "And fuck. When it's kids… that's when the group falls apart and everyone blames the leader."
She shakes her head, stretching her legs out.
"It backfired, Maddie," he explains, "And I take responsibility. But there is so much of the grey area in the situation, it's… it's complicated."
"I get it," she grabs the hand in her hair, squeezing her cold fingers around his warm ones, "Thank you for telling me."
It seemed like a good way to end the evening. Maddie was not mad at him… but maybe she would have been if she heard the whole story. It doesn't matter. He told her. And it's like a weight has been lifted off his chest.
He was drifting off to sleep when he heard a retching sound.
His eyes snapped open and panic settled in when he saw Maddie hunched over in the corner of the room, trying to hold her hair back.
"Jesus," he whispers, darting up and running over to her aid. He sees the contents of her stomach on the floor. The whole fucking can of beans. He swears under his breath as he waits for her to finish.
She coughs for the last time and collapses against his chest. He furrows his brows as he holds her in place, feeling her forehead.
"Shit, you're burning up," he mutters, collecting her into his arms and bringing her back to the sleeping area.
The fire in the room highlights her paper white skin, her chapped lips and the sweat dripping down her face as if she just emerged from water.