Sorry for the late update. Thank you for all your comments and support! I find it interesting to read through and see what you guys think will happen later on.

Enjoy this one.

"We have to go," Negan insists, stomping over to the entrance of the abandoned mall. Maddie watches him, feet already following without her thinking.

Martin stares at them, confused, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Back," Negan growls, turning around, "Come on, Maddie. Now."

Martin's curiosity fuels hers and she stops, "Wait… why?"

He looks at her like she should never be questioning him. But he's been wrong before.

"There are fucking people here. We're stealing," he tries to play the morals card.

"They're not here now," Martin shrugs.

"Maddie," Negan warns, clutching his gun. She sighs and walks up to him hesitantly.

"There is a lot of stuff here that we can use," she says.

"We're not taking from them."

"Who's them?"

He dumps the stuff they found and takes off without her. She is left with no choice but to follow. It's that, or staying here with Martin. Maddie is positive that he took some of the medicine, with the way he was dawdling behind on the way back.

The day is over when they get home. Maddie takes the leftovers of dinner and brings them out onto the porch where Negan is smoking like a chimney. She glances around to confirm that there is nobody else here and takes a seat next to him.

"Thanks, doll," he takes one of the plates off her.

She grins and they begin to eat in silence. That lasts for about ten seconds. And then Martin walks out along with Mike and Trevor.

Maddie notices most of the bruising is gone and sighs in relief. Negan grunts like an animal.

"Can we have a word?" Mike folds his arms. Negan puts his plate down on the wooden floor. There must be a limit to how many times he should hear that.

"A word about what?"

Martin places his hands on his hips, puffing his chest out to present authority. Here it goes.

"About the medicine we had to leave behind," he answers. Maddie feels her chest tightening between the two sides of the argument and gets up to lean against the railing.

Negan gets up too, though he doesn't have to. Any person with a brain cell can tell that if you piss him off, he'd go on a rampage. Not these three idiots.

"You're a survivor, Negan," Mike begins, looking at the floor, "You know what is at stake here. Why do you feel the need to purposely bring this group down?"

Negan clenches his fists to stop himself from exploding. He takes a deep breath, "Those supplies did not belong to us."

"Who cares?!" Martin waves his arms about. Mike raises his hand to shut him up and continues the conversation.

"Nobody was there. And there were a lot of supplies, Negan," he nods, "Surely taking one third of it would not have made a difference?"

The way he repeats his name sets his teeth on edge. Patronising prick.

"Yes it fucking would have," Negan spits. Maddie bites her lip, sensing his reason without him having to explain himself. She knows he must sound bizarre to these people.

Mike sighs deeply before gesturing for everyone to go back into the house. Before he walks in, his eyes focus on Negan, "You will not be making any more supply runs."

Maddie senses that he has a clever comeback that would probably make things worse, but he keeps his mouth shut. She is proud of him.

Once everyone has disappeared, he turns to her, "Can you believe these fucking cocksuckers? Fucking ass wipes."

"Just finish your dinner."

He raises an eyebrow, "Wait, you're on their side? Do you think I'm being fucking unreasonable?"

"No!" she presses her face against his chest, thankful that he wraps his arms around her, "Was it… Was it the Saviours?"

She tries to remember the group name he told her. Once his body goes cold, she knows she must have got it right.

He hugs her tighter, but does not reply.

He revealed little information about The Saviours, and all she knows is that he did something wrong and things did not work out. He doesn't look like he is going to elaborate on the topic, so she gives him a push in the right direction.

"Are you afraid of them?" she looks up, earning a kiss on the forehead.

He is visibly uncomfortable, "No… I'm not afraid of them."

"Then why do you keep running away?"

"It's complicated," he sits back down on the bench. She watches him rub his beard, turning the cogs inside his head. They needed supplies and they left them just because Negan told them to. Mike does have a point. There were mountains of medicine, and taking a little bit would not have been a big deal. Right?

"Talk to me," she sighs, "You're afraid, aren't you?"

"Maddie," he leans back, grabbing a new cigarette out of his pack.

"Maddie what?" she smirks slightly. He rolls his eyes, "I know for a fact that if this was another group, you'd have no problem stealing."

He starts to smoke, ignoring the plate of food he has not yet finished, "They're under bad fucking leadership. And getting involved with them is a shit show."

"How do you know they're under bad leadership?"

"Because I was there when everything changed."

She remembers the time when he told her he was the leader. The time when they were cornered into a closet by the Saviours and had to fight their way out. She got sick shortly after that.

She remembers how he told her there was a target on his back. Something went wrong. And he still can't tell her what.

She rests her head on his shoulder, listening to the distant hooting and howling. She tries a different approach to the topic, "Do you think they'll kill you if they find you?"

"Yes, darlin'," he puts out the cigarette and wraps his arm around her, "They would have found me eventually if I got the fucking supplies. They would have a fucking reason to look."

She nods slowly. Maybe if Negan can convince the Saviours that he is dead, they will back off. It's like he is hiding from the law.

"Mike wants to go back for the supplies," she reminds him.

"It's his funeral."

She bites down on her lip before sticking her thumb into her mouth. She starts to bite off the skin before Negan tugs at her wrist.

"Holy shit," she whispers eventually, "We can't just let them go there. The Saviours might be there this time."

Negan closes his eyes, "They're deaf to common sense, doll. Don't waste the energy."

For some reason, she does not feel very afraid for them. Negan is with her. That's all that matters. But then she gasps, "But what if they lead them back here?"

Negan opens his eyes to that, "If we say something, they'll kick us out. If we don't, I die."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Negan- hey!" she slaps his chest, "How are you acting so relaxed right now?"

"I'm not acting."

She shakes her head, "Can you be serious? What do we do?"

He stays silent for a long minute. Is he finally thinking of a plan? She glances at him. He is looking into the distance.

"I'll talk to them tomorrow, okay?"

"And convince them not to go?" she raises her brows.

He nods, "I'll try, babygirl."

She puts her head back on his chest, somewhat comforted.

"So you've been dumped from clearing the holes, and now scavenging supplies."

He says nothing, waiting for her to continue.

"What are you gonna do?"

Negan chuckles softly, hugging her closer, "Can I decide tomorrow? I'm too tired to think, doll."

She rolls her eyes, "Fine."

They swing on the bench until Maddie hears the faint sound of snoring. She looks up at the man, amused.