Negan stood with his hands on the frame of the open window in his room. He glanced outward and snickered to himself before shaking his head. "I can't believe this shit."
"What?" Alexandra asked him.
"Dwight's fucking alive." He shook his head again and laughed quietly to himself before slamming the window down.
"Was he not supposed to be?" She gave him a puzzled look and Negan glanced back at her.
"He got captured by Rick's people..." Negan smiled to himself. "But it seems they let him go." He paced into the living room and drew his hand over the handle of Lucille. "I guess they got the fucking point."
Alexandra nodded. "That's a good thing."
"Understatement of the fucking year." He turned to her. "You don't have to work, ya know?"
She pressed her eyebrows together. "What do you mean?"
"You're with me now..."
"Would you object if I say I want to work?" Alexandra half-smiled. "I wasn't lying when I told you originally that I was the best doctor you have."
"Whatever makes you fucking happy doll." He touched the bottom of her chin with his thumb and index finger. "I'm going to go talk to him... see what the fuck happened."
Alexandra nodded. "Okay. I'm probably going to head down to the medical building."
"Do what you want..." He went to leave and then turned back to her. "Oh, and if you hear me talking a little shit... don't take it personally."
"What do you mean?" she asked, "Why would I take it personally... talking shit to who?"
"Well which question should I fuckin' answer first?" Negan smiled wide. "Jesus." Alexandra shrugged, and so he went on. "Talking shit to Dwight..."
Alexandra wasn't wholly sure what he was referring to and so she shrugged and agreed with a simple, "Okay," before throwing her hair into a ponytail and pulling on her work clothes.
Negan wandered out of the room and down the hall well ahead of her and greeted Dwight in the courtyard. "Surprised to see you alive," he commented with a chuckle.
Dwight couldn't keep a glare from his face at the lack of sympathy for his situation. He knew Negan wasn't about to go out looking for him to protect his well-being. "Yeah... I'm fucking alive." He couldn't keep a snarky edge from penetrating his voice.
"Don't worry," Negan told him, "I've been keeping your old lady company since you've been gone. She's been begging me to fuck her so I finally gave in." He laughed to himself and hurried past Dwight to check out the supplies his other men had brought in from Alexandria.
A wave of gunshots filled the air and everyone in the immediate area was suddenly on edge. "He's over there!" one man shouted, "Fuck! He shot Steve!"
"Two down!" Another man screamed and then the chaos stopped.
Negan stood still, taking everything in and ready to slaughter someone if necessary. "This better not be one of Rick's fucking people," he said to himself.
Dwight hurried back to Negan's side, despite their minor altercation and they stared ahead in the distance.
"He wants to talk to Negan!" a man's voice shouted.
"Fucking Christ." He glanced to the side as Alexandra appeared. She seemed to have a million more questions to ask but she didn't and Negan marched up toward the gates in a heated fury. When he arrived seeing his men on their knees and Rick's son Carl standing there with a rifle he felt a wave of shock.
"I wasn't expecting this shit," he said aloud, "This kid fuckin' scares the shit of out me." Without a hitch the rifle sounded off again, almost making Negan jump back. Several more of his men, the ones on their knees, fell to the ground dead from single bullet wounds before the large gun finally got the best of the teenager and he fell back from the force of the recoil.
Dwight charged, kicking him in the stomach and retrieving the weapon. "You little shit! I'm going to fucking kill you!" He raised the gun, but Negan put a hand on the barrel and pushed him back.
"We're not going to kill this kid Dwight," he told him firmly, and then stared at where Carl lay glaring at him on the ground. There was no fear in the boy's remaining good eye as he stared Negan down as if he was anybody else. He smiled to himself, slightly intrigued by the boy's psychotic courage. "Is that any way to treat our new guest?" He reached a hand down and helped the boy to his feet. "Come on kid... I'll show ya around the place. Dwight, you and the guys over here that aren't fucking dead burn the ones that are. I don't need any of these fuckers turning and causing a fucking problem."
Negan re-entered the complex with Carl at his side and looked around as everyone in the area was staring in their direction.
"What are you going to do to me?" Carl asked. His voice never shook, but Negan could tell he wanted an answer.
"Listen kid, can you at least pretend to be a little fuckin' scared of me? I have a reputation to keep here... shit." He saw Alexandra watching the two of them walk and he flashed her a wink. The look on her face screamed fear and concern. He knew half of it was for him, and the other half for the boy.
"What are you going to do?" Carl asked again.
"I don't want to ruin the fuckin' surprise, kid," Negan went on, "Where's the fun in that?"
They pressed on toward another building in the complex prompting a group of working men to kneel as Negan and Carl walked by. "That's what you call fucking respect," Negan said quietly to his new acquaintance. The two of them entered the building together and Carl took in all of the surroundings.
"Hi Negan." A woman gushed with a smile. He grinned back when she told him she loved him and then looked to Carl, who appeared a bit intrigued himself. They proceeded to pass by a handful of other woman all greeting him with smiles and eager to seek out his attention.
"Who are they?" Carl asked, still glaring up at him.
"My wives," he explained, and then proceeded to lead him up toward his living quarters.
Carl took in everything around him - the luxurious furniture, the bottles of whiskey, the almost too typical living arrangements for their time. It was even better than Alexandria.
"Did you see Dwight's face?" Negan asked him, offering the kid a seat across from him at the desk. Both of them sat.
"Yes."
"That's my own man." He smiled and crossed one leg over the other. "And that's what I fucking did to him when he fucked one of my wives."
"What do you mean... like sex stuff?"
"I'm not getting into that shit with you kid... point is, you killed five or six of my men out there just now." Negan grinned. "And I have to think of how to make you pay for it. Shit..." he chuckled, "Dwight didn't commit half the sins that you did and look what I did to him. I burned his face with a fucking iron so he would never forget what crossing me feels like."
Carl glared back at him, trying to show his strength still.
"Take off the eye patch. What the hell happened to you?"
"No."
"I'm not going to ask you again," Negan demanded harder.
Carl continued to glare and then revealed his injury, making Negan's eyebrows raise as he grinned.
"Shit... that's a hell of a fucking injury. Go take a look in the mirror over there. I can see your fucking eye socket."
Carl finally broke down and put a hand over his face and began to cry.
"Jesus, kid... stop that shit." He held a guilty expression, viewing the boy as a warrior rather than the teenager he actually was.
"Can I put the bandage back on?" Carl asked, embarrassed by his own tears and weakness.
Negan looked at him for a moment and then laughed. "Nah... and that's going to be the start of your punishment." He was pleased to break Carl down, even if just a little bit, because he knew the boy had it in him to kill and be strong. There was a real part of Negan that held a glimmer of fear and respect for his warrior attitude. He finally radioed down to his men to take Carl into a holding cell for the time being while he thought about what to do with him.
"Don't fuckin' harm a hair on this kid's head," he warned when a Savior came up to his room.
"Yes sir." Negan handed Carl over and then sat in his room for a while before making his rounds to see what his men had managed to gather from Alexandria. He soon found that Carl had snuck into the car they'd used to load supplies and that was how he made his way to The Sanctuary. His final stop of the day was the medical building where he rounded up Alexandra and the two of them headed back to his room.
"Where's the boy?" It was her first question when she found the room exactly as they'd left it.
Negan pulled off his jacket and shook his head with a smile. "You are full of fucking questions today, aren't you?"
"Did you hurt him?"
Negan stared her down. "He killed six people out there."
"Did you hurt him?" she repeated, eyes begging him to say no.
He shook his head. "In-fucking-believable." Negan laughed to himself again. "You know they always said in those mafia movies that women are usually the downfall to the boss." He grinned a little wider at her. "I'm starting to realize that Hollywood had that little fucking fact right."
Alexandra continued to stare at him. She ignored everything he had just said. "Did you kill him Negan?"
"No, I didn't fucking kill him." He sat down the chair at his desk. "Fuck..."
"Where is he?"
"He's in a fucking hold cell until I figure out what to do with him."
"Bring him back," Alexandra urged "I know what he did-"
"I burned Dwight's fucking face for fucking one my..." He stopped and stared at her a moment, and then cleared his throat so he wouldn't have to finish the sentence.
"Oh, I understand your concerns from earlier now," she shot back.
"What concerns?"
"The shit talking to Dwight..." Alexandra raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, Randy and Dwight were talking and Randy just loves to try to make me doubt you."
"Do you think I need this shit right now?"
"You can fuck whoever you want," Alexandra went on, "Sherry... whoever."
Negan cocked his head back and laughed. "First off, thanks for the fucking permission... second of all, I told you I've only been fucking you... and a lot at that. Even my dick needs a fucking rest sometimes."
She took a deep breath and tried to put her jealousy on the backburner because she knew it was something that would push Negan away anyway. She acknowledged the greater issue here. "You should return him to their community. He's a boy."
"He's a warrior."
"Who's all of sixteen... at the most."
Negan rose to his feet and poured himself a shot of whiskey, downing it before taking a deep breath. He stared back at her for a moment and took in a deep breath. "I don't have any intention of killing the kid." He cleared his throat again. "I never fucking did... I just... I don't know what I'm going to do yet."
Alexandra crossed the room and was pleased when he allowed her to put a hand on his chest. "Negan... I never get in your business... and if he was a grown man I would never even consider it."
"But you want me to bring the little shit back to Alexandria."
She nodded. "Yes."
Negan shook his head, partially thinking he was going to regret the decision. He poured himself another shot and then gave her a hard stare-down. "I'll fucking think about it."