Bo waited in her office for Mark to finally come in. He looked a little too happy for someone who just came in from guard detail. He smiled at her despite her glare. "Hey beautiful." He said - it lacked any kind of meaning. Or maybe she just heard it that way because she realized he really was using her. She decided then and there that she didn't want him anymore. She had intended to tell him and try to work it out but he honestly wasn't worth it.

"Get out." She said flatly.

"Whoa. Bad day?" He asked. Now that Negan enlightened her she could see through his facade. Had she been so starved for affection that she accepted his sweet talk as legitimate attraction. Maybe at one point he had wanted her but as soon as she told him she wanted to wait to have sex all that adoration ended.

"Ever since you showed up with your bullshit - yes." She answered. "Get out!" She barked at Simon when he came in to give her an update. He didn't even look upset as he immediately did an about-face and left the room.

"Calm down. You can't yell at him that way - you'll get us both skinned. What's going on with you?"

"With me? Not a damn thing. You however have been a rather busy little bee." Bo said as she got up. "Spreading your 'honey' to Tonya and Alex and that gutter slut Lauren while I'm working hard to make your life easy. Get you easy guard duty, let you sleep in my nice room, on my clean sheets. Thinking the whole time you were respecting me while you're actually laughing behind my back. I'm giving you a chance to walk out of here with you teeth still intact."

"Oh you're giving me a chance? How noble." Mark said sarcastically. His true colors coming through without much persuasion. "You should've been honest with me from day one."

"About what?"

"How about the fact that the reason you don't want to have sex with me is because you're a god damn tranny!" He yelled. "What the hell did you think would happen? Did you think you'd tell me and suddenly I'd want to suck your cock!?"

"None of that matters cause I never want to see your lying ass again."

"Me? Lying? That's truly funny coming from you. Look at you! Your entire existence is a fucking lie! You know what I love? That in a world full of freaky shit you're still the biggest fucking wierd-o!"

Negan dodged a chair that came flying out the door to Bo's office. He glanced at Simon who was calmly waiting on the other side of the hall. He just shrugged. Negan looked in the room and there were papers every where. "Stay away from me!" Bo screamed as she picked up another chair. Mark got closer and she managed to hit him with it and made a break for the door. She noticed Negan there and hesitated long enough for Mark to tackle her. "Get off me—"

"Sick fucker!" Mark back handed her.

"Should we help?" Simon asked. Negan held up his hand.

"Give her a minute." He said. He wanted to see what she could do. Mark was stronger than her and if she wanted to hold her position she'd have to deal with people challenging her. If she lost Mark would kill her. If she won she'd more than likely punish Mark severely. Either way Negan was enjoying the show.

"Fucking traps are god damn disgusting!" Mark said as he managed to get his knife out. "—Doing the world a favor getting rid of you." Bo freaked out when she saw his knife. She bit his hand and head butted him right in the nose. When he was disoriented she grabbed the knife and stabbed what ever part of him she could reach. Mark wailed and flopped on the ground as his arm gushed blood. Bo pulled the knife back and thought to aim for his neck but hesitated. Instead of killing him she just stood up and watched his pathetic writhing.

"You dumb bastard." She said before she kicked him in the gut. "You're so fucking stupid but you'll learn. I'll make sure you learn." She looked up at Negan and Simon - out of breath and bloody. "Get the doctor to patch this asshole up. Toss him in a closet down in the basement for a few days - see if we can't teach him about tolerance and understanding. Respecting peoples trust!" She kicked him again. Negan was actually impressed. For all her pencil pushing and prissy habits Bo held her own. He nodded at Simon and he went to retrieve the doctor.

Everyone took notice of Mark subjugation. Rumors swirled about why Bo was suddenly treating him like trash when a week prior she was blowing him kisses. Her mixed gender was now common knowledge and there were a few guys that jeered at her and they too soon found themselves naked in a closet in the basement. When they complained about their demotions Bo teasingly asked them if they had gold. She explained to Negan later on that gold had been the proper payment to a Filipino chief that had been insulted. If they didn't have gold they'd have to serve as the insulted parties slave until the debt was deemed repaid. She had been appointed as a 'higher-up' they had to respect her - when they didn't they had to pay. If they couldn't pay they had to serve. It was elegant simplicity. It instilled a hierarchy that anyone could follow.

Negan became enthralled with the practices of her race. In all honesty it was a history she hadn't thought about in a long time. But then again the world had devolved back to tribes. It was then that Negan dubbed their group 'The Saviors' seeing how they saved people from the walkers. Roman of course found issue with the archaic trials of a foreign third world country. When Bo told him the out come of two chiefs in a dispute Negan thought it was a great idea. But then again it involved them going out and bringing him back as much stuff as they could for a grand 'feast'. Roman reluctantly agreed just to prove he could do better than Bo - which he did.

Bo wasn't upset about the loss - chiefs never enslaved other chiefs - his win amounted to her giving him a hearty handshake. During the ensuing party while everyone was watching she stood up held her hands palm up and bowed her head slightly - she then vowed to forever have respect for him. The gesture seemed to appease the other man and afterwards he never found fault with her tactics. "That's the kind of shit I'm talking about!" Negan roared. "Respect! Order! Resolution!" Everyone cheered after his speech. The party kept going and Bo found herself watching Arat arm wrestle Dwight with great amusement.

"That was fucking amazing." Simon said as he came up to her. He offered her one of the shot glasses in his hand. She watched as he filled them up with Vodka. "You are fucking amazing."

"Thank you." She said. He noticed her sullen tone and the way she was staring at the drink in her hand.

"Something wrong? Are you not allowed to drink because you lost?" He asked.

"No, nothing like that." She said. Truth be told, vodka reminded her of Dima - and in that moment she missed her more than anything else. Their time together had been so brief. She had fallen in love with Dima so quickly. With Dima and Daryl everything just seemed so perfect for those months they spent on the farm. Bo hadn't had vodka since then - as she thought about it that was nearly a year ago. "Vodka reminds me of my girlfriend." She tried not to laugh at the look on Simon's face when she said that. If his eye brows shot up any higher they'd fly right off his face.

"I thought you said you lost your man?"

"I did. But we also had a girlfriend. She was Mongolian, Russian accent, loved her vodka."

"I'm sure she misses you too." Simon said as he looked her up and down. "Who wouldn't miss you?" Bo gave him a weird look. It seemed like his attraction to her had doubled since Mark ousted her. She never experienced that before and found the behavior suspect.

"Hey little Bo peep!" Negan called as he slid up beside her. "What do you say in the spirit of forgiveness we bring your boy up and see if he wants to reconcile." She knew he wasn't really looking to mend fences. He wanted a complete shit show to make him laugh. Bo downed the shot of vodka and smirked.

"Sure." She agreed. She was frustrated and if Negan wanted to see her take it out on Mark then so be it. One of the other men brought Mark to her once Negan gave the word. The lights in the mess hall seemed to be hurting his eyes. And he was twitchy in front of everyone. "Negan wants to know if you're sorry - I want to know do you regret attacking me? Would you take back what you said?" Bo asked.

"W-what? What did I say?"

"That transgenders are disgusting. That I'm a sick freak. That you were doing the world some kind of huge favor by killing me." She reminded him. He froze when she raised her voice.

"That's just rude is what that is." Negan said as he came to stand beside her with his bat over his shoulder.

"Everyone else doesn't think that. In fact they seem to love me more now that you've told everyone I'm trans. So what do you have to say for being such a hurtful biggot?" she asked.

"I'm sorry." He rasped out and she gestured like she couldn't hear him. "I-I'm sorry." Bo snorted as she glanced at Negan.

"That doesn't seem genuine to me." He commented. "Seems like someone truly repentant would be on his knees, right?"

"You're so right." Bo agreed.

"It's why I'm the boss." Negan said and shrugged.

"Get on your knees Mark." She ordered.

"What?"

"On your knees! You see an other Marks' here?"

"I am." Came a response from the other guys.

"Shut up, white Mark." Bo said. She snapped her fingers before she pointed at the ground. Mark looked to Negan to call her off but he just smacked his bat into his palm. Mark practically collapsed to ground at his silent threat. "Now what do you say?"

"I'm sorry, Bo." Mark said - shaking and gasping at the aspect of more punishment should he not get it right. "I'm so sorry for everything I did to you."

"I'm still not buying it." Negan said and Bo nodded like she agreed again. "I'm think a blowjob would send an even bigger message of understanding." Mark looked horrified and disgusted. A string of whistles and cat calls rang out in the mess hall. Surely they didn't expect him to fellate Bo in front of all of them. She noticed the look on his face and cupped his jaw.

"What's wrong Mark? You never had to suck a dick? Find it demeaning somehow you'd ever have to do it to anyone. It's what you wanted me to do. Open wide and just take it while you used me and fucked every skank here. Maybe you'd rather take it up your ass—"

"I get it." He cried. "God, I'm sorry… please…" She suddenly back handed him.

"You're not pretty enough to suck my cock."

Negan became obsessed with the thought of making people kneel to him. His lieutenants only had to bow their heads a little in acknowledgement. He felt the need to instill fear in all the newcomers so they didn't get any bright ideas. There were still a few willful ones that glared at him, even when he brandished his bat. They didn't seem to find it scarier than a gun so he wrapped it in barbed wire. He'd practice swinging it everywhere - during meetings, at lunch time in the mess hall, as they scavenged. It was irritating especially while trying to have a conversation.

"What'd you say?" Negan asked Bo as he glanced at her.

"I said we hit a hundred and fifty people the other day." Bo said. "Arat, Wade and Jiro have enough brownie points to be bumped up to lieutenant. And we're going to need more soon. According to Paula we're running out of food cause we're not utilizing everyone."

"Wow." Negan said. "That's impressive."

"It is but it'll mean nothing if we all starve. We need to make our in-house garden bigger." She said. "That community to our North the… Hilltop Mansion crew - Bud thinks they might be holding out on us. Big fucker and his brother have been giving him problems and their leader is becoming increasingly pithy."

"You go sweet talk him." Negan said.

"I might be the wrong color to persuade him. Plus I have breasts. He might bend to a male presence taller than 5'8." Bo suggested.

"All right." He said. "What were the names of the new lieutenants?"

"Arat, Wade and Jiro. Oh and some peckerwood named Nate."

"What do you think of them?" Negan asked. Bo was surprised he asked her opinion - lately he had been feeling himself and just doing what ever the hell he wanted.

"They're okay." She shrugged. "Certainly no where near as efficient as Gavin. I'd promote them before I'd promote a numbnuts like Davey, Joey, fat Joey or Anthony." She looked at her notes. "Arat is fierce - she'll be able to use that pretty face to get peoples guard down. Simon has been grooming Wade so no worry there."

"And Jiro?"

"Don't know much about him. Roman has no complaints about him which is high praise coming from Roman. He's got the height."

"Some reason you avoiding him?" Negan asked as he looked over her shoulder. She twitched when he casually wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He looked at Jiro's photo and hummed. "Oh… he's a hottie, isn't he? Is that why? Trying to not be ruled by your genitals or did he already turn you down."

"Looks aren't everything." She reminded him. "Sometimes you want something else in a partner."

"Like what?" Negan asked like he didn't understand.

"Hey baby doll—" Simon cut himself off when he saw Negan leaning over Bo the way that he was. His expression dropped and Bo nudged Negan away from her.

"Hey." She greeted Simon. "You feel like going to Hilltop with me?"

"Of course." He accepted. Negan noticed the way they were looking at each other and couldn't help the mischievous grin that spread across his face.

"Let me just tell Wade, Arat and Jiro their new jobs and we can go." Bo said before she collected some walkie talkies and trotted off. Simon watched her go down the hall until she was out of sight. When he turned back to Negan the other man just smiled knowingly at him.

The ride to Hilltop was a little awkward. Negan volunteered to sit in the middle seat and he never did that. He seemed positively giddy that they could feel the tension building in the cabin of the box truck. "You know I hear the way to a girl's heart is through her throat." Negan said before he made an obscene gesture - jerking his hand into his mouth while moving his tongue in his cheek. Bo couldn't help but chuckle at his goofy behavior. It was a side of Negan only a few people saw. He was like an immature teenager sometimes. She knew that attitude would disappear when they made it to Hilltop.

"That's funny, cause I heard it was 'butt stuff'." Bo said before she made a ring with her thumb and index finger. Negan put the handle of his bat through it and they all laughed. Bo noticed Negan's grin and knew he was going to ask something invasive. He always did - the man didn't know the meaning of the word 'boundaries'.

"Don't keep secrets Bo-peep… you sweet on my man Simon?" Negan asked. Simon cleared his throat and adjusted in the driver seat.

"Why don't you just read my diary, Negan?" Bo said. "A girls gotta have some secrets." He glanced at Simon who avoided his gaze by pretending to watch the road closely. He turned his attention back to Bo.

"Do you fuck people with it?" He asked. "With your cock." He clarified. "Or are you strictly a bottom."

"We're here!" Simon announced loudly.

"Thank God." Bo sighed.

Making the rounds to collect on all their communities was a taxing job but apparently a lot of them had started short changing them because Negan hadn't made an appearance in a while. Bo didn't enjoy watching Simon and Bud kick the crap out of people but they had to learn. Bo even had to lay out some big bitch at Shirewilt for threatening her. The community was dwindling fast but not because of walkers. Apparently there was some kind of crazy gang picking them off when they went out on runs. With so many people coming in to the sanctuary and the enemies they were making Negan decided to set up outposts in every direction. There were more than enough places to clear out and protect. And it gave some of the more cagey lieutenants room to do their own thing. The outposts were actually a good thing when all the lieutenants had to meet - it never put them in the same place each week.

As far as gaining points through the system Negan thought there were more than enough jobs to go around. For the men at least. A lot of the women found themselves idle throughout the day. Negan and Dave had the genius idea to set up what they called 'the Pussy Bar'. "Absolutely not." Bo objected and it earned her a roar of groans in the meeting. Even Paula and Arat seemed annoyed with her objection. "You want women to whore themselves just so they can feed their children?"

"Prostitution is the world's oldest profession. Men want to fuck, there are women willing to fuck them for food and protection." Negan rationalized. "The key word is 'willing'. They don't want that job they can work guard duty with their husbands or in the kitchen or at the outposts or keep house for everyone in their group - beds need to be made, single dads need babysitters while they go out on runs, laundry is piling up. I'm just creating another job for the more aesthetically pleasing ones who aren't very good at… 'life stuff'."

"Fine. But there needs to be an age requirement." Bo said sternly.

"Thirteen." Dave suggested. Nearly everyone in the room gave him a disgusted look.

"Nope. Not using this job as a false pretense to satiate your pedophelia." Negan scolded him. "Seriously man, having sex with children is not cool."

"Twenty five." Bo suggested.

"Damn why not just make it fifty." Gabe scoffed.

"Good idea." Bo feigned a big smile. "That way they can't get pregnant - and speaking of which—"

"Ok one thing at a time." Negan interjected. "And in the spirit of compromise… eighteen. It was the legal age before and it's just about the middle of what you both want." He said.

"Fine." Bo said before she made a note of it. There were quite a few recent practices that she wasn't in favor of but they were yet to inconvenience her. She saw the lower level families and how they had to live at the sanctuary but she found it so hard to care about their struggle. They had all been through a lot. And if they didn't like it they could leave. No one was stopping them. In the back of her head she knew there'd be a coup or someone would get sick of handing half their stuff over to a bunch of bullies but it was easier to just let go and roll with it than fight it. And after all Negan did still believe in some form of fairness. He didn't keep walker heads in fish tanks. He let everyone have their say most of the time. And that would have to be enough. "Should I hold interviews for the positions—"

"Yeah, I'd like to be present for that." Negan agreed. She hid her distaste for sharing bedmates amongst so many people. It would only lead to an outbreak in STD's and unwanted pregnancies. And apparently Negan didn't like it either as he had taken a third wife in anticipation of this new job position. Soon enough they got back to legitimate business before dispersing. Bo was waiting by their truck trying to enjoy the fall weather when Paula came by.

"It's actually a good thing. You'll see." She said. "Men are wolves in sheep's clothing - the 'brothel bar' thing will cut back on a lot of misbehaving. It'll definitely take the pressure off the women like you and me trying to do our jobs without getting felt up." Bo looked at her for a long moment and smiled. "What?"

"Nothing. You remind me of a friend I lost. This was back when this 'dead people walking' thing was 'simple'. She was a mom and had this way of looking out for everyone. She used to talk to me and make me feel better just like you did. Thank you. I haven't thought of her in a long time." Bo said. Paula took her hand and squeezed it.

"We're not all assholes… well not all the time." Paula said and they chuckled. "Except maybe Arat - she's always a bitch." Bo smiled as Paula departed with her group. Paula didn't even realize that she said 'women like you and me' to Bo and that made her immensely happy when most of the men treated her like a freak.

"Hey Bo-peep." She turned to around when Simon came up to start the truck. "What do you say… to a rub down?"

"What'll it get me?" She asked instinctively. She learned to ask when ever someone asked her for something. Borrowing her pen even had a price. She felt a little bad when Simon's smile faded. She realized he was genuinely coming on to her. For weeks she had been trying to decipher his real feelings from his jokes and posturing. When she found it to be real attraction she didn't know what to do about him.

Simon was closer to Negan than anyone else. One didn't get that close without adapting some of the man's personality. But Simon was still his own man. His own extremely quirky man. And when there wasn't business to handle his pretty brown eyes softened and she could see the goofy puppy dog he really was - or the one he used to be before he had to start fighting the dead. She couldn't help but compare him to Daryl. For one thing Simon talked more. He smiled more. He carried himself more confidently. He wasn't afraid to show his attraction to her even though everyone knew what she was.

There were fifteen 'real' women her age - two of them Asian. Grand total there were about thirty single women he could pursue. Daryl's options had been so slim when they started their relationship - Bo briefly wondered if he had more prospects would they have even spoken. Out of all the women he had to choose from Simon still wanted her.

Bo leaned against the truck and tugged the front of his shirt until he got the clue to come closer. He studied her coy expression - silently wondering why she was speeding things up. When she ran her hands down his sides he snorted and bucked his hips forward a little. Bo tried not to laugh - he was ticklish.

"Oh! What would you like?" He offered.

"Can I think about it?" She asked. Her eyes went to his lips when he flicked his tongue out to wet them.

"Oh yeah, we've got the whole ride home - think long and hard about it." Simon growled. They pulled away from each other when they heard Negan coming. Bo completely forgot that he was the third passenger in their truck. It was indeed going to be a long ride to the sanctuary.