Thank you to everyone for your reviews. This is officially my most reviewed story and I am over the moon about it!

I've discovered a few things with bringing my story into line with the show... 1. It doesn't allow me as much freedom as I like and 2. I find myself having to wait for the next episode to air before I can continue on, so I'm sorry if I don't update this as much as I normally do, but it kind of hinges on what is happening in the show at this point but I hope to be able to throw some more of my own story in there soon.Thanks for your patience. Enjoy...

Carl followed Negan into a large factory type room, watching silently as he clanged Lucille against the metal of the bars. Everyone in the room began to kneel at his presence, even Daryl, and he saw a man tied to a chair, already beginning to sob. Negan came to a stop and handed him Lucille. "Hold that for me" he said, and Carl cautiously took it without a word.

He continued to follow him as he sauntered along the cat walk, oozing his usual swagger. "You know the deal" he said as he addressed the crowd. "What's about to happen is gonna be hard to watch. I don't wanna do it. I wish I could just ignore the rules and let it slide but I can't!" he told them. "Why?"

"Rules keep us alive!" the whole room chanted back to him.

"That is right!" he said as he began to descend the stairs with Carl following behind like an obedient puppy dog. Stopping on a platform he began to speak again. "We survive… we provide security to others, we bring civilisation back to this world! We are… the saviours… But we can't do that without rules. Rules are what make it all work! I know it's not easy, but there is always work. There is always a cost! Here… if you try to skirt it, if you try to cut that corner!" he yelled before he chuckled lowly. "Then it is the iron for you" he grinned. "On your feet" he said as he continued down the steps and wandered out in front of everyone, clapping Mark on the shoulder as he went.

"Simon" he said as he approached his man and put on a hefty looking glove. Simon handed him an iron, fresh out of the furnace, gleaming bright red. Eyeing the man destined for the punishment he spoke again. "Mark… I'm sorry. But it is what it is. You skipped out on your duties to be with a woman..." he said as he stepped closer. He pushed the red hot chunk of metal into Marks face as he screamed out in pain. Holding it there for a good ten seconds, so that all you could smell was burning flesh. As the man passed out Negan peeled the iron from his face, lifting away some of the skin with it, chuckling with some sort of satisfaction. Of course it was all part of his bad ass leader persona that he had to keep up. He didn't actually enjoy it, not at all. But he needed everyone to think that he did.

"That wasn't so bad now was it" he smiled as he handed the iron back to his right hand man Simon. "Jesus… he pissed himself" Negan said in disgust. Looking to Daryl he said "Clean that up" as he got real close to the man and he silently obeyed.

"Doc… I'm all done, do your thing" he said to Chris who was waiting in the wings to treat Mark once Negan was done with him. He was glad that it hadn't been Sky. He didn't want her to witness the animal he had to be. He wanted to keep that side of her far from him. It wasn't that he tried to hide it, she was well aware of who he was, every part of him. He'd just rather she didn't have to see the horrible things he had to do sometimes.

"Well… pussy passed out" Negan said as he addressed the crow once more. "But it's settled, we're square, everything is cool. Let Marks face be a daily reminder to him, and everyone else that the rules matter! I hope that we all learned something today, because I don't ever wanna have to do that again" he said as he looked at Carl with a smile. Walking over to the boy he leaned in and whispered "That's some crazy shit huh… you probably think I'm a lunatic" and grinned at him. "C'mon, let's go figure out what to do with you" he said as he placed a hand on his shoulder and led him from the room.

As Carl sat with Negan in hiss private quarters while he scribbled in a notebook Carl spoke up. "Can I wrap up my face now?" he asked.

"No" Negan replied. "You absolutely cannot" he smiled.

"Why the hell not!?" Carl demanded angrily.

"Look at this badass" Negan chuckled. "You can't because I'm not done with you" Negan told him. "And I like looking at your disgusting rad-ass bad-ass eye. So its staying out. What… you got something to say?" he asked as he eyed the boy.

"Why haven't you killed me? Or my Dad? Or Daryl?"

"Daryl… is gonna make a good soldier for me" Negan explained. "You see he thinks he's holding it together, but you saw it. Your dad… he's already getting me great stuff. You on the other hand… well… we shall see. It's more productive to break you. More fun too. You thinking that's stupid?" he smiled cockily.

"Thinking were different" Carl told him.

"You're a smart kid… what do you think I should do?" Negan asked. "You know I can't let you go. So, do I kill you? Iron your face? Chop off your arm? Tell me. What do you think?"

"I think you should jump out the window to save me the trouble of killing you" Carl growled as he got to his feet, looming over Negan.

Negan looked up at him as he began to chuckle. "Now there's the kid that impressed the hell outta me" he smiled.

"I think you're not saying what you're gonna do to me, coz you're not gonna do anything" Carl accused. "If you knew us, if you knew anything… you would kill us. But you can't".

"Maybe you're right" Negan smiled. "Maybe I can't…. let's go for a ride kid!" he said as he hopped up and grabbed Lucille. In the truck they began to make their way out the gates where Negan saw Daryl working. He couldn't help himself he just had to torment the man a little.

"Daryl!" he called out. "You seem worried, so I'm taking the kid home" he said with a smile.

"If you do anything to him…" Daryl warned.

"Simon!" he called out to his man as he thumped the side of the truck. Daryl needs a time out put him back in his box for a while" he said with a grin and as the truck pulled away he just had to flip Daryl off.

Back at Alexandria Negan sauntered into the house where Olivia was, Carl still at his heels. "Where's Rick?" he asked.

"I… I…" she stuttered in response.

"Dooooon't caaaaare!" Negan all but sang. "Where's Rick?" he repeated.

"Um… out scavenging for you" she told him.

"Cool" Negan smiled. "I'll wait"

"Ummm he went out pretty far, he might not bed back today" she announced. "We're running really low on everything… we're practically starving here" she declared.

"Starving? You?" he said as he pointed to the larger framed woman. "By practically you mean not really" he taunted with his trademark smirk, and the woman began to sob.

"Really? You people seriously don't have a sense of humour" he said as he looked back at Carl.

"Excuse me…" he said as he looked back at the woman. What's your name again?"

"Olivia…" she ground out.

"Right… Olivia… I'm sorry for having been so rude to you just now. It looks like I'm gonna be here for a while awaiting your fearless leaders return. If you'd like… I think it would be enjoyable to screw your brains out" he grinned. "I mean if you know, you're agreeable to it" he smirked and he was met with a swift slap to his face for his comments and he looked at her in shock before he smiled once more. "I'm about fifty percent more into you know" he grinned. "Just saying…" he said as he got right up in her face, taunting the woman some more as he chuckled.

"Alright well… I'm just gonna put my feet up and wait for my stuff to get here" he smiled. "Olivia… would you be a lamb and make us a little lemonade" he smiled politely. "Now I know I left ya'll some of that good powdered stuff".

"I'm not supposed to-" she began.

"Make it!" Negan ordered. "Take your time… make it good" he instructed, and she left to do as she was told.

"Alright kid… take me on the grand tour!" he said as he looked back to Carl. As they made their way around the house he came to a close door. "What about this one?" he asked.

"Oh it's just a water heater" Carl tried to cover.

"You serious kid…. C'mon" Negan said as he opened the door and to his surprise he found something very special. "Ohh oh oh my…" he said as he eyed the beautiful little girl with a sweet smile and handed Lucille to Carl to hold. "Look at this little angel" he smiled as he picked her up in his arms and laughed as he bounced her in his arms.

Out on the porch he sat in a chair with little Judith snuggled up in his arms and he couldn't help but think about how much he was going to enjoy this with his own children when they arrived. "Oh this little girl is precious" he smiled as he cuddled her.

"Hey neighbour" he said as he waved to a passer-by. "Why don't you come by later, we might grill out" he chuckled.

"Oh I like it here" Negan smiled. "I might just have to stay here. I was thinking about what you said earlier Carl… maybe it is stupid keeping you and your dad alive" he said as he adjusted the girl in his lap and looked at her pretty little face. "Why am I trying so hard?" he asked her gently. "Maybe I should bury you both down in one of those flower beds" he said in his gentle tone like he was talking about something nice to the baby girl and not about murdering the family. "Then I could just settle in to the suburbs" he smiled at the girl. "What do you think about that?" he asked as he bounced her on his knee and gave her a soft kiss like it was the most natural thing to him in the world.

I just had to do the Judith bit! I really loved it and it totally melted my heart and shows just how warm Negan can be and that he is actually human deep down. I can't wait to bring this out with his own kids.

As always please review and let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading!