Marilyn walked with Nina back to her building after all of her belongings were officially in Negan's room. She took a final glance inside her empty room and a bittersweet feeling filtered through her. There was nothing more that she wanted than to live permanently with Negan but the room had been her own personal sanctuary since arriving.
"No more karaoke," Nina said with a sigh.
"Stop," Marilyn said back with a laugh but poured her lip.
"Hey Jude! Don't make it bad!" She pretended to have a microphone in her hand and Marilyn laughed harder.
"I never told Negan about that."
"Na na na... na na na na." Nina began to chuckle Marilyn rolled her eyes. "Thank God for blankets, that's all I have to say."
"I'm going to miss being right down the hall from you," Marilyn told her.
"Me too."
"Hey maybe you could start hooking up with Simon... he's right down the hall from Negan. We could be neighbors again."
Nina made a face. "Ugh... no thanks."
Marilyn continued to laugh. "Come on... take one for the team."
"Just sneak me into the headquarters once in awhile," Nina replied, joining her as they began to laugh. "Come here."
Marilyn gave her friend a long hug. "Do you really think he'll be alright when they go to Alexandria?"
Nina hugged her a little tighter. "I think he'll be fine."
She sighed. "Thanks Nina... for everything... for helping me move my stuff."
"Anytime."
Marilyn waved her toward her empty room and headed toward the corner.
"What're you doing?" Nina asked.
She leaned down and picked up a final cardboard box, handing it over to her friend. "For you."
"What the hell is this?" she asked with a laugh.
"A box of... stuff."
Nina flipped open the top and began to rummage through the top lair. "You didn't have to-"
"Yes I did." Marilyn nodded.
Nina smiled wide and was about to thank her but her eyes shifted toward the door. Marilyn followed her stare and saw Negan slowly making his way into the room. When he didn't initially say anything Marilyn cleared her throat.
"Hey," she greeted him.
"Hi." Negan fought back the smallest smile but Marilyn grinned wider when she saw it was there.
"I'll, uh... I'll just head back to my room," Nina offered but Negan held up a hand and shook his head.
"Don't be so fuckin' uptight," he told her, "No one's rushing you. You did your damn job for the day."
She let out a slow breath through her nose and tried to smile.
Negan reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and crossed the room. "Here." He handed Nina a KitKat and two small Snickers bars.
Nina's eyes widened a bit and she stumbled on her words as she accepted them. "Oh... wow... great... cool... thank you."
"You're welcome." Negan shifted his eyes to meet Marilyn's. "Take your fuckin' time but I'm heading upstairs. I was just coming down here to see what decision you had made." He glanced around the empty room.
Nina put the candy bars into the box and looked back and forth between the two of them. "I'm going to head back down the hall," she offered again, and then said to Negan. "Thank you again... for the candy."
"You're welcome."
She altered the box under one arm and gave Marilyn the tightest hug she could manage. "Thanks for everything Mar."
"You're welcome. Thanks for helping me out all day."
"Anytime." She grinned, glanced at Negan one more time and then made her way out of the empty room.
For a few seconds neither Marilyn or Negan spoke and then at the same time as she began with a, "Thank you," he started to say, "You didn't have to-" The simultaneous nature of their initiation of the conversation made both of them stop talking. When neither of them said anything again Negan went on. "You didn't hae to fuckin' do this."
"I know," Marilyn told him. "I never feel forced into anything with you." She hesitated, "Did, um... did you want me to?"
"No, I just figured it would keep the two of you busy," he joked, "Tomorrow I'll have you move all the shit back." When Marilyn failed to respond he chuckled, "Honey, I'm kidding."
Marilyn snapped out the daze and smiled before chuckling, "I know." She shook her head and then sighed and looked at him more directly. "You won't get sick of me?" Her eyes gleamed with a hint of playfulness.
Negan slowly let a smile spread across his face. "Are you fuckin' sick of me?"
"No." She kept her eyes locked on his.
"Well then..." he took a step forward. "Why don't you head the fuck upstairs and lose at least half of the clothes... I'll take it upon myself to go grab a couple of fuckin' plates from the dining hall... I'll open a bottle of wine since you can't hold your fuckin' liquor and hate the taste of scotch and we'll make use of that record player and throw on the fuckin' Beatles."
Marilyn chuckled and bit down on her bottom lip. The idea couldn't have sounded more perfect and she couldn't wait to get the night started now that Negan was standing in front of her. "Hey Jude?" she teased.
"Hey whatever the fuck you want honey." Negan smirked and planted a kiss on her lips.
"Sounds like a good night." Marilyn continued to smile, "Mind if I slip in for a bath while I wait for you?"
He snickered, "Only if you want some fuckin' company."
"As long as it's you."
"I'm not about to send fuckin' Dwight." He laughed but the name made her thoughts rewind to what Nina had said for a brief second until Negan leaned in and kissed her. He made iit last this time and brought all of her attention back on him in the moment before finally pulling away. "I'll meet you up there."
"Okay." Marilyn sighed with smile.
He grinned back and looked around the empty room. "Fuckin' ready to say goodbye to this place?"
The bittersweet feeling returned but she answered honestly, particularly envisioning the night they had ahead of them. Marilyn smiled and looked him in the eye feeling as if she had just accepted some type of marriage proposal. "Yes."