Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters. I only own my OC.

A/N: Hey guys! So I know it has been a while and I am so sorry! I have been focusing more on my IT story. However now that I am on Winter break I'm going to try to update my other stories, including this one. This chapter is small and it has nothing to do with the previous chapter, but it is a sneak peek focusing more on Negan and Skye. I've also decided to finally let you guys know why he cares so much about Skye in this chapter. Although the reason behind it really shouldn't be a surprise. *Tehehe* I mean, it was pretty obvious why Skye means so much to him given the other sneak peek I shared with you guys.

P.S. I don't know if you guys saw the mid-season 8 finale, but (spoiler) what the hell?! How could they kill off Carl? My heart is broken into a million pieces :( I just want to make it clear to you guys I will not being following that route in my story. Once we hit season 8 in my story I'm going to make it somewhat AU. Which means no walker bite and dying Carl. Skye and Carl deserve to be happy!

Mute: [noun] is when a person has no power of speech.

Chapter 10: The first time he saw her

He hadn't intended to stay. No he just wanted to make sure she was doing alright. Except the moment he saw her peacefully sleeping, Negan couldn't help but look at her with the softest gaze he could express. He had ended up taking a seat on the chair across from her.

This was probably the closest he has gotten to be around Skye without her throwing death glares his way. Not that he held that against her. Skye had every right to show aversion towards him.

But looking at her now...completely free from hate had him going back to memory lane.

Negan remembered the first time he saw her.

It had been way before shit hit the fan. Back when things in the world were normal and people weren't eating each others faces. Now despite all the awful crap he's seen and done since the world fell apart, Negan still had a very good memory of when he first caught sight of Skye Lewis.

She had been seven years old at the time.

Seeing her for the first time was something else. As was running into her mother Cecilia again. No matter how good Cecilia looked, Negan found the encounter with her to be less enjoyable. He never did like it when he ran into old flings. And up until then it had been seven long years since he had seen the vivacious woman. Seven long years that made him forget about the night of passion he had Cecilia Lewis. Except there was no turning back when he and Cecilia crossed paths again. The distant memory of them together came up to the surface.

Negan had first met Cecilia when he had been out for a "business trip." Although that was a lie he was used to telling his wife Lucille whenever he needed time away from her. Now Negan loved his wife. Hell, Lucille was probably the only woman he has ever truly cared for. However, despite the love he had for his wife, he was still far from being completely faithful to her. He wasn't the good husband he should have been. He knew it was wrong, but still he fooled around with other woman from time to time.

A few days before cheating on his wife with Cecilia Lewis, Lucille had given him some unfortunate news.

For months Lucille and him had been trying for a baby but there had been no dice. It wasn't until Lucille went to the doctor that she found out the reason why she hadn't gotten pregnant. And when she told Negan that she would never be able to have children something within him broke. Negan didn't outwardly show his dismay...not to his wife at least. All he did was nod and then he followed said action by telling her he needed to go on a "business trip" and that he would return back soon.

And of course it was during this so called "business trip" that he met Cecilia Lewis. One thing led to another and with the help of a few drinks he and Cecilia ended up spending the night together. Negan hadn't known much about Cecilia other than what she briefly told him while they had been talking. It was simple information really. She was married to a man named Victor and they had a boy named William. She claimed to be happily married but there she was at the same bar he had gone to, drinking away her sorrows. Maybe that's why she had caught his interest...she too was going through some type of hardship in her marriage and she needed some form of escape.

Negan never did ask Cecilia what that hardship was. No, he instead was more focused on forgetting his own sorrows of how he and his wife were never going to have children. So as a way to momentarily forget about the emotional crap he was dealing with, he slept with Cecilia.

By the time morning came, Cecilia was up and gone. No note or anything. Negan didn't go looking for her. He had no reason to. For him this was just another encounter with a random woman he would never see again.

But how wrong he was about that. Seven years later he would and that memory of him and Cecilia was now like a slap to the face. Especially once he saw the little girl Cecilia was holding hands with.

Honey colored hair...light green eyes...dimples...she looked exactly like Cecilia. Despite the resemblance to her mother there was something else about the girl that awed Negan. And even standing a few feet away from them, Negan knew. He didn't need to damn DNA test or a doctor to tell him who her father was. He automatically knew by just looking at her.

Now although he had seen her at seven years old Skye never did get a chance to see him. Cecilia had very much stopped her daughter from doing so. And then without even saying anything to him, Cecilia made a quick exit.

Much to his persuasion though that hadn't been the last time he saw Cecilia and it certainly wasn't the last time he saw Skye (although the few times he got to see her it was from a distance and he was hidden from her). Negan actually managed to track down Cecilia and got her to agree to meet up.

During this meet up he learned a few things about Skye. The most important one being that she was born mute.

She couldn't talk. Not one bit.

Now did that bother Negan? He will admit that it did at first. No parent wants their kid to be burdened with a weakness. And being mute was a weakness in his eyes. During that time, Negan used to be a high school gym teacher. He knew when bullying occurred. He too sometimes would be an ass and humiliate a student every once in a while to prove a point. However, even he had his limits when it came to teasing his students.

Which is what eventually led Negan to his conclusion. So Skye was mute. She was still his. And no daughter of his would be seen as weak. She would be strong. And as he knows now, she did turn out strong.

Now Cecilia never did verbally confirm or deny if Skye was his, but her reluctance to not answer such question was enough of an answer for Negan. Although it had been when he found out the results of Victor's the blood test that really made him more sure. With Victor not a possibility of being Skye's father that only left him. Cecilia though never did allow Negan to take the paternity test. She threatened to tell his wife and as much as Negan wanted to officially prove he was Skye's biological father, the thought of his wife finding out he got another woman pregnant (when she couldn't) was too much for him. Lucille's was a forgiving person (how could she not be with all the crap he's done to her?), but Negan knew that this news would emotionally break her enough to finally leave him. Negan didn't want that...so he left behind Skye.

He did see her one last time before he left.

The last time he saw Skye (before the world went to shit) was when she was still seven years old. She was being walked home from the park by her older brother, William. Unlike with Skye, Negan got a chance to actually meet and talk to the oldest Lewis sibling. And let's just say the boy wasn't his greatest fan. And neither was Negan, but that mostly had to do with his personality because William was a lot like Victor. Now although he never got to meet Skye, Negan knew she wasn't anything like Victor's lame ass. Just like with her looks, Skye took after her mother's personality.

Now it wouldn't be until years later that Negan would run into Skye again. However, when he saw her again she no longer was that seven year old girl he saw from afar. No, when Negan saw her again she was a teenager. She looked to be sixteen years old or so. And despite being more grown up, Negan right away recognized her.

It had been like he was looking at a teenage version of Cecilia. Seeing Skye again brought back a feeling Negan had lost along time ago. She brought him back hope. That was something he had lost the second his darling wife Lucille died.

Lucille, who he never told he had a kid with some other woman. Lucille, who had died of cancer right when those ugly bastards had started coming back to life. Lucille, his number one person who he never had the damn strength to end her suffering. Lucille, who he loved with all his heart and needed, but knew he didn't truly deserve.

And just like with Lucille, Negan knew he didn't deserve Skye's love. He knew Skye didn't care for him. Not after what he has done to the people in her group. People she considered to be her family. People who he knew she did love. He knew that she especially had cared for Rick's son, Carl. Which of course had left Negan feeling annoyance and displeasure. Despite her not yet knowing her blood relation to him, Negan didn't practically like the relationship she had going on with Carl.

Guessed that's what fatherly protectiveness felt like.

A knock on the bedroom door finally brought Negan out of his thoughts. He reluctantly looked away from Skye and swiftly got up from his seat. The hard expression he got from being interrupted fell a little when he opened the door and saw it was just Dwight. "Yeah?" He answered gruffly.

Dwight kept his voice steady and his own expression blank. "Carson said he has the blood test results for you."

Negan didn't say anything just nodded his head. Dwight found his lack of verbal response to be strange but didn't comment on it. Instead the blonde nodded his head back before continuing his way down the Sanctuary hall.

Turning back around, Negan walked over to the chair and picked up his bat Lucille. He let his gaze wander over towards the sleeping Skye. He once again basked in how peaceful she looked. Negan then shook his head.

Skye hated him. Which was fine. She could hate him all she wanted. The hate she was feeling for him wouldn't drive him away from her. And once he got her see to the blood test results, maybe there was a small chance that hate would lessen...or perhaps it would grow. Negan wasn't sure, but at least then she would know the truth of who she was to him.