— Negan's POV —
It's still fuckin' dark out when a knock at the front door wakes me up. I'm sure it's fuckin' Rick. Yesterday, he went over my plan to take Eldritch the fuck down with Simon over the radio, but we still have shit to discuss before we actually get to it. And it can't fuckin' wait. I want to get on the road at fuckin' sunup, so we gotta get shit started.
I get out of bed quietly so I don't wake Chuck up. Yet, anyway. I'm gonna have to get her up in a few fuckin' minutes, though. I should've talked to her last night about everything she saw when she was in Eldritch's compound, but I fell a-fuckin'-sleep so quickly. She probably did, too. Neither of us sleep very fuckin' well when we're away from each other. As soon as we laid down together, it was like we could finally fuckin' relax.
Shit. I left the clean clothes downstairs last night. And I don't want to put my dirty shit from yesterday on again. Fuck, that shit went through a car crash, a trek through the woods, and two goddamn skirmishes with Eldritch and his guys. That shit's ripe, I'm sure.
I turn on the light in the hall and head down the stairs buck ass naked just to be met with Rick's eyes looking in through the window by the door. As soon as he sees me, he instantly turns his head away with a fuckin' sneer on his face. Guess he didn't want to see my dick.
I go over to the coffee table and throw on the pair of sweats that Aaron left there before I turn on more lights and answer the door.
"Really, Negan?" is how Rick greets me as he passes me to go into the living room.
"What? I sleep naked and you woke me up. And you were the one peeking in the windows like a goddamn perv." I follow him back into the living room to gather up the clothes left for Chuck in my arms. "I'll get Chuck so we can see what she knows."
Rick nods and I go up the stairs to the bedroom I left Chuck in.
"Wake up, sweetheart," I say fuckin' gently as I lean over her.
She lets out a little groan then looks up at me. "What...?" She's always so goddamn sleepy when she gets up too early. It's fuckin' cute.
I can't help but fuckin' smile. Goddamn, I missed her so much. I'm so fuckin' happy to have her back.
"Come on, baby girl. I need you to get dressed and come downstairs. We gotta talk to Rick."
"Okay." She slowly gets up and throws on the sweat pants and baggy T-shirt that Aaron left.
I guess it's good that Aaron didn't leave us real fuckin' clothes, because sweats pretty much always fit, so size doesn't matter. But I'm gonna have to at least get a pair of actual fuckin' pants from someone before I head out.
We get down the steps and sit the fuck down on the couch in front of Rick. Daryl's here now, too, sitting beside him. Rick must've let him in while we were upstairs.
"We need to know some shit about Eldritch's compound before we head out to kill those fuckers, okay?" I say to Chuck, but she's yawning. "Chuck? Are you fuckin' awake?"
"Yeah," she answers sleepily. "What do you need to know."
Rick clears his throat. "How many guys are there?"
"I'm not sure." She wraps her arms around herself, so I put my arm around her, too. I can tell she doesn't want to talk, but she's pushing through. She knows how important this is. "When I first got there, I was in a room with like thirty guys. But after that, I was mostly locked in a room by myself." She shrugs a little. "Andy said there were guys on the upper two floors, so I guess there's more than what I saw." She looks up to me. "I'm sorry I didn't-"
I don't let her finish. "It's okay, baby girl." I start to rub her back with the arm I have around her. "You're doing good."
"How'd you get out?" Daryl shifts the the focus.
"Andy led me downstairs to this tunnel that leads out."
"We know about the tunnel. We have some guys watching it," I say. "How'd you get past Eldritch's men at the end?"
"We went through this service entrance away from all the men. It led to a manhole that exited into the woods. None of Eldritch's men were guarding it."
Me and Rick share a look. If there's a separate exit then we need to know the fuck about it. Otherwise, Eldritch could fuckin' escape the shit storm I'm gonna rain on him.
Rick reaches into his jacket's inner pocket and pulls out a roadmap. "We should have people watching that. Where is it?" He stretches the map out on the coffee table for Chuck to look at.
Chuck leans over the map. "I'm not sure..."
I start to point shit out. "Here's Eldritch's compound." I move my finger over. "And here's the entrance to the tunnel." I move my finger again. "This is the road to Alexandria." Maybe that'll jog her memory.
"Um..." She looks the map over. "I-I was following Andy. He knew where we were. It was just forest. I couldn't really tell..." She's getting fuckin' upset. Shit. "I don't know. I'm sorry."
"Hey, hey." I put my arm back around her and pull her into me. "It's okay, Chuck. Don't worry about it." I run my thumb over her cheek. "How long was this service tunnel? Was it real fuckin' far away from the main entrance we know about."
She clears her throat and takes a deep breath. "I don't think it was really that far. Andy said there were guys in the garage at the end of the tunnel. I could kinda hear them talking, so they couldn't have been too far."
Daryl leans over the map and points at it. "The exit has to be in this area here." His finger is on a dense fuckin' forest. And it's not exactly that fuckin' small of an area. "How long did you walk in the woods?"
"A few miles, at least," she answers with a little shrug.
It fuckin' sucks that she can't tell us exactly where this exit is. But I don't fuckin' blame her. That was the first fuckin' time she'd been out in the shit in years. And she was running for her life away from the guy that fuckin' kidnapped her. No, I can't blame her for not knowing exactly where she was. All that really matters is that she got here. Got back to me. I'll fuckin' figure the rest out.
Rick nods. "That's good. I'm sure some of our men can find the other entrance." He smiles at her then gives me a look.
He's fuckin' lying to her to make her feel better. He knows we don't have the time to fuckin' find it. All we can do is get guys out there and hope that if anyone comes out of that service entrance, our guys'll come across them and pick them up.
I turn back to her. It looks like Rick's lie worked a little to calm her the fuck down. "Anything else you can tell us before we head the fuck out?" I ask pretty gently, not wanting her to get upset again.
She shakes her head. "How are you... How are you gonna beat him?" she almost whispers.
"We're gonna let the goddamn dead into his building and let them do the fuckin' work for us," I answer simply.
"Oh." She hesitantly nods. "There is something else. Eldritch told me about women being there, but I never saw them," she tacks on sadly.
"Shit," I say under my breath. He told me about women, but I put that shit outta my mind. Getting innocents killed is the last fuckin' thing I want to do, but I don't have a better plan. I'll have to put them in danger just to take all the rest of them out. Fuck. It makes me feel fuckin' sick to think about it now.
"We'll get 'em out safe," Daryl calls out before I can say anything more. I can't fuckin' tell if he's lying, or not. He looks pretty fuckin' determined, but he just might be a good liar, telling Chuck what she wants to hear.
Rick sure doesn't look convinced, but he quickly changes his expression to look back at Chuck. "We only want Eldritch's men. We'll do our best to keep those women safe."
"Good." Chuck nods slowly. I'm not sure how much she believes what they're fuckin' saying. "I don't think Eldritch was good to them."
We all let that shit sink in. Fuck, this is a shitty situation.
Rick clears his throat and stands up. "I'll get you some clothes so we can head out."
"I'm 6'2", remember," I remind him. I don't want to have to wear fuckin' flood pants.
"Tobin will have something that'll fit you." Rick leaves to go see Tobin, I guess.
I turn back to Chuck. "Why don't you go back upstairs and get some more sleep."
She looks back to me with those big fuckin' green eyes. "I want to see you off."
I give her a kiss on the forehead. "We're gonna be leaving in a few minutes, anyway, as soon as Rick gets back. The sun's starting to come up. And you still need to fuckin' rest."
Chuck wraps her arms around me fuckin' tight. "I love you, Negan," she whispers right in my ear. "Please be safe."
I squeeze her just as hard. "You don't have anything to worry about, baby girl. Those fuckers aren't gonna know we're even fuckin' there until it's too late." I pull back to look at her. "I love you so much, sweetheart." I don't even care that Daryl's still there listening. And fuckin' watching. I kiss Chuck long and hard, but it's sweet. When we separate, I can see that a few tears are falling down her cheeks.
She rubs her fingers over my face and gives me a few more kisses before she goes back upstairs. Me and Daryl watch her until we hear the door close.
"It's weird seein' you with her," Daryl comments.
"Why?" I bite back.
"You're so different with her."
"Different?"
He shrugs, thinking of how to clarify what he fuckin' said. "Gentle."
"I can't be fuckin' gentle?"
"Not that I've seen before."
I stare at him, not really fuckin' knowing what to say. "How the fuck should I be with her?"
"I ain't sayin' you gotta change. It looks like you're good to her."
"Damn right, I'm good to her."
He lets out a breath. "What are you gonna do if we don't find Eldritch? You know, there might not be a body with this plan. There ain't no way to tell we got him if the body up and walks away."
He's fuckin' right. If Eldritch is in there when we send the dead in, he'll either get ripped to pieces or fuckin' die and turn. Then he'll get led the fuck out with the herd. And we'd be none the fuckin' wiser.
That's not exactly the way I'd fuckin' want it. I'd rather get my goddamn hands on Eldritch myself and feel the moment he fuckin' dies, but I don't think that's fuckin' feasible. Going into that building to kill those fuckers is just fuckin' stupid. The first goddamn second we'd start to shoot, those fuckin' biters outside would perk the fuck up and probably tear the building apart to get to us.
It fuckin' sucks, but this is how it's gotta be.
Rick finally comes back in carrying some clothes in his fuckin' arms. They're not fuckin' bad, pretty close to shit I'd wear anyway. White T-shirt, gray pants a little too fuckin' baggy, but, they'll do. I go back upstairs to grab my jacket and boots, pausing to give Chuck a little kiss on the forehead. Even though she doesn't fuckin' wake up, I tell her I love her and the baby again.
Before we head out, I get on Rick's radio to coordinate with everyone that's gonna do this shit. First, I get in touch with Jesus. Rick's guys brought him up to fuckin' speed last night, but I want to talk to him myself. He tells me that right after he gets off the radio with me, he and his guys are gonna get Gregory in line. As in, they're gonna fuckin' lock him up so he can't do shit. Jesus, and by extension me, are taking Hilltop back. And after all this shit is done, I'm gonna kill that motherfucker Gregory. No matter what the hill-folk want.
Some of my guys, and Rick's, are gonna be headed to Eldritch's fuckin' compound, including the three guys who are gonna gut up and plant the explosives. Eugene's gonna be there, too, to make sure everything goes off without a fuckin' hitch. That's the most important fuckin' part of this plan. If we don't blow holes in that building, the fuckin' biters won't be able to do their fuckin' job.
I got even more guys headed out on the roads that way to help with the whole ordeal of leading that goddamn monster herd the fuck away after they do their job of killing all the motherfuckers in that compound. Some of Rick's guys and some hill-folk are gonna be meeting them out there, too, since we gotta split that herd up and lead them to different fuckin' places, our "dead zones". We already had those places set the fuck up to lead the dead and keep them out of the fuckin' way. That is, until winter, when they freeze and we can kill them off fuckin' easily. We weren't exactly expecting to lead all these fuckin' biters there all at once, but that's what's fuckin' happening now.
Me and Arat, and some of Rick's guys are gonna be at the tunnel entrance. When we get the fuckin' signal that the guys are ready to set the bombs off at the compound, we're gonna fuckin' start our assault on the tunnel. Abraham's gonna use that sweet ass RPG to collapse the tunnel and block it the fuck off so no one can escape the dead fuckin' pouring in. Then, we're pretty much gonna fuckin' wait for the dead to do their thing.
Before I get off the radio, Simon says he wants to talk to me in fuckin' private, so everyone leaves the room. "What is it, Simon?" I ask.
"So Chuck's really okay?"
"Yeah." I clear my throat. "She's got some cuts and bruises, but she's okay. She didn't want to see the fuckin' doctor last night, though. I bet Aaron'll make her see him later today."
"That's good. I'm so glad she's okay." He pauses. "But how are you doing, brother?"
"I'm fan-fuckin'-tastic! Today is a good fuckin' day. I'm gonna end this shit and we'll be rid of Eldritch and his fuckin' cronies forever." I answer enthusiastically.
"But today is..." He doesn't finish his thought for some reason. "Just keep your head in it, okay, Negan? Don't get killed today."
"Don't worry, honey. I'll be home soon enough so you can snuggle up to my big dick again," I joke.
"You're an asshole," he replies, but I know he's not fuckin' mad.
We finally head out just as the sun breaks the fuckin' horizon. Me and Arat are the only ones in our car, with me driving. And we're going to stop off at Eldritch's compound first. I gotta see my men off before they gut up and trudge through that undead fuckin' horde. Because that shit is fuckin' dangerous. I don't want my guys to think that I'm just fuckin' sending them off without really supporting them.
We park a ways away and fuckin' hike to where all the guys are, which is just outside the edge of the fuckin' herd, but still in the cover of trees. When we walk up, my guys are just starting to slice into the dead fucks who are donating their gross ass guts just for this. And my guys are taking the extra precautions. Under their clothes, they're wearing latex fuckin' suits that cover all their goddamn skin so they don't get sick from whatever the fuck germs are in those guts.
I nod at Carol who's standing by my guys and she walks over to me.
"Your saviors on the tunnel said that trucks came in, but no one's come out," Carol starts. "So we think all Eldritch's men are in that building."
"Good," I respond. "Then we'll get 'em all in one go." I turn back to my guys as they start to gut up. "We're gonna rid this world of the filth that lives in that fuckin' building and it's all because of you guys. When you get home, you're gonna be fuckin' heroes."
Two of the guys fuckin' thank me, but José just looks at me with this determined goddamn look in his eye. I nod at him, like I'm saying "That means you, too." He gives me a nod back. He still feels fuckin' bad about Chuck being kidnapped on his watch. I know he's doing this shit as some sorta fuckin' redemption. And I'm gonna fuckin' let him. He did fuck up by not doing his goddamn job and letting Conner and Andy upstairs without even fuckin' questioning them. But I know he's not a bad fuckin' guy. And he always cared about the wives. And Chuck.
They finish gutting up and Eugene hands them each the fuckin' explosives. We watch them all as they start to walk slowly toward the building. It's gonna take them fuckin' hours to get to the building and back out here. They have to move that same shuffling way as the fuckin' biters. Cuz if they go too fast, the dead'll get wise and fuckin' attack them.
Me and Arat watch them for a while before we get back on the fuckin' road, headed for the tunnel entrance. Because I definitely wanna be there when that shit goes down. Sure, watching holes get blown in the side of that fuckin' building would be nice, but I wanna get my goddamn hands dirty, actually taking Eldritch's guys out, shooting them in their goddamn faces, making sure no one runs. That's the shit I need to do right now.
Besides, after the tunnel gets sealed, I'm gonna head back to the compound to watch, anyway. Watch as the dead pour in. Watch as Eldritch's people fuckin' die. Watch as his compound lays in fuckin' ruin.
Me and Arat meet up with everyone at the tunnel and fuckin' wait for the signal that the guys on the compound are ready to blow that shit up. And we wait for-fuckin'-ever. Just watching Eldritch's guys toil around doing fuckin' nothing, really. It's boring as shit.
It's almost goddamn torture, actually. I just want to get this shit done so fuckin' bad. Take all these fuckers out. And the longer I fuckin' wait, the more my body fuckin' buzzes with anticipation.
Fuckin' finally, we get the signal and move closer to get in position. We all raise our guns and everyone waits for the order. I look over to Abraham and give him a nod. He nods back and pulls the trigger on his RPG, sending the rocket into the entrance of the tunnel and blowing that shit up.
I fuckin' smile as I see the tunnel collapse in on itself and hear Eldritch's men fuckin' start to panic. The few stragglers outside the tunnel are taken down pretty fuckin' quickly by us. Some by me, that's for fuckin' sure. It's like I'm fuckin' laser focused on them as I shoot my rifle, sending bullets right into their fuckin' brainpans. We get a call on the radio that the explosions went off without a fuckin' hitch and that the dead are entering the building.
"Fuck, yeah," I say to myself. This shit is fuckin' going well and it just tickles my fuckin' balls. I turn back to the guys I'm with to talk to them. "Kill anyone that comes around. There's a separate entrance around here somewhere, so even if no one can get through that collapsed tunnel, some guys might try to escape. You guys make sure they fuckin' don't."
They all nod and me and Arat get back on the road to get to the compound again. When we get back to our guys, they're all fuckin' silent, just watching the dead enter the building through the three huge fuckin' holes that are now in the wall facing us. We can hear the gunshots coming from inside. Obviously, they're fuckin' useless. Just a last ditch effort for those guys to get a few more goddamn minutes out of their miserable fucking lives. They're attracting more of the dead to them with all that fuckin' noise, anyway. So, have at it, I guess.
We wait a bunch more fuckin' hours until all the gunfire has fuckin' stopped. And until we see that the dead are just wandering around again, with nothing to fuckin' get them all riled up. Everyone must be fuckin' dead in that building.
Good fuckin' riddance.
We switch to the next phase and radio the guys on the roads to start to lead the biters away. Rick's men have those fuckin' trucks with the speakers they've used before. My guys have similar shit. And the hill-folk are fuckin' helping out, too. It's a fuckin' monumental task to lead all those dead away, but we got the manpower.
We start to hear the music off in the fuckin' distance and the dead slowly turn to it. Again, we fuckin' wait. Every part of this plan seems to take for-fuckin'-ever. I swear, this is the longest fuckin' attack on another group I've ever had my hands in, but it's goddamn worth it.
When the coast is fuckin' clear enough, me, along with all the other guys I'm with, head into the building to check shit out. Chuck had said that everything was on the top two floors, so that's where we all go.
We split the fuck up, half go to the top floor, half to the one below. I head to the upper floor, cuz I know that's where Chuck was. And probably fuckin' Eldritch, too. We start up the stairs, but there's a bunch of furniture blocking it. Looks like they tried their hardest to fuckin' stop the dead. But there are more stairwells and the next one we go to is completely clear. I'm sure they didn't have the fuckin' time to block them all.
When I exit the stairwell on the top floor, I see that it's a fuckin' mess. Ripped apart bodies strewn all over the fuckin' place. Weapons on the fuckin' floor like the useless things they fuckin' are against a horde of the dead. Those sorry sons-a-bitches never had a fuckin' chance. Nothing would've stopped the sheer volume of dead from making their way up the stairs to kill them.
Just like I fuckin' knew they would.
The sad part is that I can't tell who the fuckin' meat lying around belongs to. So, yeah, I don't have confirmation that Eldritch is dead. He might be this meat, or he might be walking around with the other biters outside.
It fuckin' sucks, but I'm confident that any of the men that were up here are fuckin' dead. And that includes fuckin' Eldritch. ...Hopefully.
We all start to make sure there are no survivors and simultaneously gather the discarded fuckin' weapons, and anything else worthwhile. The guys on the floor below find the storeroom filled with all my fuckin' guns and start to take them out to our cars as we still search on the top floor.
One of my guys calls out, "There's a locked door!"
Me and a few other guys go to him. The door is indeed locked, but with a padlock from the outside. That rules out that there are any of Eldritch's fuckin' men in there. "Well, break it the fuck down, then," I say to no one in particular. I'm assuming there's more fuckin' weapons in the room.
It takes two guys, but they finally bust the door in. But it's not guns behind it.
"Shit," I say aloud as all the guys with me go silent at what they see. About a dozen skinny women who look scared to fuckin' death stare back at us with glazed over eyes.
I hold my hands up to show them I'm not a threat, because they sure aren't a threat to me. The room is lined with cots and pretty much nothing else. Nothing that can be used as a fuckin' weapon, that's for sure. And they're dressed in goddamn rags, so there's no chance they got anything on them. Beside, if what Chuck, and actually Eldritch, said is true about these ladies, they should be fuckin' happy to see us.
"It's okay, ladies. We're not here to hurt you," I call out as gently as I can.
"Are they all dead?" one of the women asks. She's probably in her late thirties, but she looks way more fuckin' run down.
"Yeah," I answer simply. "They're all dead."
I hear a collective sigh of relief from the girls. The woman that spoke comes forward a little to address me. "We heard the dead come in. We heard the men's screams." She shakes her head a little. "We just kept quiet so the dead wouldn't find us."
"That was good fuckin' thinking," I reply. "I'm Negan," I say with my hand on my chest. "I lead a group called the Saviors. But there are two other fuckin' groups here, helping out. Hilltop, which is technically my group, too, and Alexandria. And I'm sure all of those places would be fuckin' happy to have you guys. We all got doctors to check you lot out, too. So, no fuckin' worries." I give them all a smile and they look back at me with soft fuckin' expressions on their faces. They know their lives just got a shit ton of a lot better.
When we've finished gutting the place, we all get back in our cars and leave. Me and Arat and the Alexandrians, along with the newfound women, all head back to Alexandria. My guys head home. The others leading the dead away are still doing their fuckin' thing, and probably will continue to do so long into the night. So we'll just have to wait for their word when they're done.
Shit, it's been a long ass day. And I can't wait to get back to my girl again.
— —
Chuck is woken up by the smell of food cooking downstairs. It takes her a moment to realize just where she is and what's going on.
I'm in Alexandria. And Negan left a few hours ago after he talked to me with Rick and Daryl. I wonder what the Alexandrians think about all this. I wonder if they blame me. I mean, they got attacked, some of their people got hurt through no fault of their own. And it's my fault.
I don't think Negan is mad at me. From how he acted last night, I think he's just happy I'm back. And I'm happy, too. I just want to move past this.
Maybe Negan is back and that's him downstairs.
She hops out of bed and walks downstairs as quickly as she can on her still sore feet.
"Negan?" she calls out before she turns the corner to see Aaron and Eric cooking in the kitchen.
"Good morning," Aaron says cheerfully. "Negan's not back yet, Chucky."
"Hey, Chucky!" Eric comes forward and wraps his arms around Chuck tightly before she can really process what Aaron had said. This is actually the first time Eric has seen Chuck in a few years and his excitement is evident in his almost stranglehold of a hug. Once Aaron and Eric had gotten serious as a couple, Chuck and her mother had welcomed Eric into the family with open arms, so they were all very close.
"Hey, Eric," she greets. "You look good," she gives him a smile, but her disappointment in Negan not being back shines through.
"What's wrong?" Eric asks.
"Just worried about how everything is going out there." She shrugs and looks over at what Aaron is doing. He is frying off some bacon on the stove as batter cooks in the waffle maker.
Chuck's stomach growls loudly at the delicious aroma, causing both men to look at her and laugh.
"I guess I don't have to ask if you're hungry," Aaron says jokingly to Chuck.
Eric laughs. "Better make sure we have plenty of waffles. She's eating for two, now." He lightly places his hand on her belly to accentuate his point.
Chuck giggles, enjoying the light banter. "You are so right. I'm starving!"
They all sit down with their breakfasts, Aaron sitting beside Chuck with Eric across from him, and dig in.
Aaron clears his throat after swallowing a bite. "Are you up to seeing our doctor after this?" he directs at Chuck.
She nods. "I guess." Even though she's sure she's fine, and the idea that she'll be examined by a strange doctor is not that appealing, she'll see him to make Aaron feel better. And she can tell Negan that the doctor gave her a clean bill of heath, too, because she knows he'll worry just like Aaron.
Aaron lets out a heavy breath. "I know you don't want to be poked and prodded, but... we just want to make sure that you're okay. And the baby, too."
"I know, Uncle Aaron." She gives him a little smile.
"You know you can talk to us." Aaron looks to Eric, then back to Chuck. "If you need to talk..."
Chuck lets out a heavy breath. "You know me. I don't like to talk..."
"I know, sweetie," Aaron says in that same way that Chuck's mother always did. "I also know that keeping it inside makes you feel worse. If you don't want to talk to me, at least talk to Negan."
Chuck nods. "I will. But..." She scratches at her nose in nervousness. "Part of it... I don't think I can talk to him about."
Aaron swallows hard. "Why not."
Chuck clears her throat of the lump that's forming. "That all of this is my fault," she chokes out.
Eric reaches across the table to lay his hand on hers. "It's not-"
Chuck doesn't let him finish. "It is! Eldritch only attacked because I make Negan weak. Eldritch told me that!" As Chuck starts to sob, she covers her face with her hands.
Aaron starts to rub her back soothingly. "Men like Eldritch... He would've attacked even without you, Chucky. It's not your fault."
"All the people that died... My people, good people. And now, all the guys Negan's killing... Those lives lost are on me."
Aaron cradles her face in his hands, making sure she looks right at him. "No, Chucky. You can't put all that on yourself."
She takes a deep breath to try to calm herself. "All of this is just horrible."
"Eldritch did this," Eric asserts. "He's the one that did all this, Chuck. Not you."
Chuck nods sadly and calms down enough to finish her breakfast.
After Chuck gets dressed in the clothes Aaron brought her, which is a pair of black leggings and a plain blue T-shirt along with a pair of slip on canvas shoes, she and Aaron go to the medical office. Aaron introduces her to Siddiq, Alexandria's new doctor. He's probably in his early thirties with dark hair and a beard, olive skin, and dark eyes.
"This is my niece Chuck," Aaron says to the man.
"Hi, Chuck. I'm Siddiq." He holds his hand out to her.
"Hello," she greets.
"How far along are you?"
"Nineteen weeks," Chuck answers, then thinks about it. "Actually, I think I might be at twenty now."
"So you know the sex, then."
"Uh... no. We were going to get the ultrasound, but then..." She doesn't finish, but Siddiq knows what she's saying.
"Well, we don't have an ultrasound machine here. Yet. But I'm sure your doctor back at The Sanctuary will give you an ultrasound when you get home." He gives her a smile. "I'll just check you out real quick to make sure everything is okay." He holds his hand out to the exam table they have and Chuck hops up onto it.
"Do you want me to leave?" Aaron asks.
"No. You can stay," Chuck answers. She'll feel better with her uncle there.
"Any cramping or discomfort?" Siddiq asks.
"No."
Chuck starts to tell him about the wounds on her feet. He looks them over and says they look fine as long as Chuck keeps them clean. Though he does comment that she has some swelling in her feet and ankles, which is normal for pregnancy. He makes her lay back and lifts her shirt to examine her belly.
Siddiq's eyes focus on the scar in her left side. "What's this from."
"Uh," Chuck starts. "I got stabbed with a pair of scissors."
Aaron lets out a surprised gasp. "You never told me that."
Chuck shrugs to try to act like it was no big deal. "It happened after I got to The Sanctuary. Actually, that's how me and Negan got really close. I lived with him and he took care of me." She stops herself from saying that it wasn't really long after that that she got pregnant. Aaron probably wouldn't want to hear about that. She can't help the smile that forms on her lips at the thought of her first time with Negan, though.
Chuck is dismissed a few minutes later with a clean bill of health. Though Siddiq recommends rest and plenty of water for the immediate future.
As Chuck and Aaron leave, they run into a woman, who introduces herself as Maggie.
"You must be Chuck," the slender woman says in her southern accent as she tucks some of her short brown hair behind her ear.
Chuck nods. "That's me. I hope my uncle hasn't bored you by talking about me too much."
"Actually, my husband Glenn talked about you. He said you kept Eugene on his toes."
"Oh!" Chuck cries out when she realizes what Maggie is talking about. Glenn had been at The Sanctuary when she helped Eugene set up the radio equipment. And she remembered Glenn mentioning his pregnant wife. "Oh, so... Okay, I remember now. So you're..." She looks down to the woman's stomach, though there's no bump in sight.
Maggie smiles warmly and puts her hands on her belly. "Yup. Fourteen weeks."
Chuck smiles at the woman. "Oh, wow!"
"I was just gonna relieve Olivia of babysitting duty," Maggie says to Chuck. "You can come with me, if you want."
"Um." Chuck has to think it over. Her options for the day are: waiting by herself for Negan to get back and probably driving herself crazy with her own thoughts, hanging out with Aaron and Eric and probably having them hovering over her all day, or wandering around Alexandria. The last option seems the best, having something to do should distract Chuck enough so that she doesn't go crazy, at least. "Yeah. That sounds good."
"Are you gonna be okay if I head back home?" Aaron asks Chuck.
"Yeah. I'm good."
As Aaron walks back to his house, Maggie leads Chuck to another.
"Is this your house," Chuck inquires.
"No, this is Rick's place. Since he and Michonne are out today, he needs babysitters for his two kids."
They step onto the porch and knock on the door. A woman with a dark brown ponytail and glasses, Olivia, Chuck assumes, answers the door. They get the introductions all out of the way and Olivia exits the home, leaving Chuck and Maggie to watch over Carl and Judith. Though Carl doesn't seem too happy about it.
"I should be out there with Dad," the teenager gripes. "And I don't need babysitters."
"Rick's just being cautious," Maggie replies.
Carl lets out a huff. "Whatever," he mutters, then crosses the living room to pick up Judith. "She needs some lunch."
After they all eat, they go back to the living room. Maggie and Chuck take their seats on the couch as Carl and Judith play with legos on the floor.
"So, you're Negan's wife?" Carl asks aloud, but doesn't look away from his blocks.
Before Chuck can answer, Judith calls out, "Nay-ghin! Nay-ghin!"
Maggie laughs. "He made quite the impression on her."
Chuck giggles. Negan is always so good with kids. "That's adorable!"
"Negan's a pretty cool guy," Carl comments. "He always fucks with Dad, which is hilarious."
"Language, Carl," Maggie chides.
Chuck laughs. "Whoops. I can see Negan made and impression on Carl, too."
"They're just words," Carl says with a shrug.
The women watch over the siblings as they continue to play, absolutely content in what they're doing. Not a care in the world, so it seems.
Maggie leans in closer to talk quietly to Chuck. "It wasn't always easy, you know. Before we got here... Being on the road out there with a baby..." She gestures to Judith. "It was hard. But being here has been amazing."
Chuck nods slowly, but can't help but think that just yesterday, this "amazing" place was attacked. "I'm sorry I brought Eldritch here," she murmurs without looking up.
"You didn't bring him here, Chuck."
"He wouldn't have come here... He wouldn't have done any of this-"
"He was always a threat to us," Maggie interrupts. "My group... after coming here, after meeting your people, we realized it can't be us against everyone anymore. We need to work together. If we want to keep all this." She gestures widely. "And we need to come together to fight the ones that would take it all away."
Her words succeed in making Chuck smile. "I'm happy we can make our little part of the world better."
As if on cue, Judith comes over to Chuck with her legos in her hand, getting Chuck to follow her back onto the floor to play with her. Chuck plays happily with Judith until the girl curls up into her lap and falls asleep.
"Oh my god," Chuck whispers with a smile. "She's so sweet!" Holding the sleeping child fills Chuck with a warmth that she's never really felt before. But she assumes she'll feel again when she becomes a mother.
Negan doesn't come back until much later, but Chuck is ready. She practically jumps him at the door, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug.
"How did it go?" she asks after pulling away to look at him.
"It's over, baby girl. They're all fuckin' dead. But the women are safe."
Chuck lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god."
"Let's just go to bed. Okay? I'm fuckin' exhausted."
They both go upstairs to their room and start to take their clothes off. But before they get to far, Chuck notices that Negan is staring at something beside her with an odd expression.
"What is it?" she asks as she turns to see what he's looking at. The only thing there is the alarm clock shining the date and time, 12:02am, Nov. 9.
"It's- I didn't even..." He chokes out.
Chuck comes over to his side of the bed and lays her hand softly on his chest, but his eyes never move from the clock. "What, Negan?"
"It's after midnight. I didn't fuckin' realize."
"Negan, you're scaring me. What's going on."
Negan finally flicks his eyes to look at Chuck. "Lucille died on the eighth. I didn't fuckin' know what day it was. I was so fucking focused on Eldritch..." He pulls away from Chuck and sits heavily on the edge of the bed.
Chuck sits beside him and starts to rub his back as he cradles his head in his arm. "It's okay, Negan." She's not sure what to do. And she's a little ashamed to admit that the fact that Lucille still has a hold on Negan makes a twinge of jealousy bloom in her chest.
"Every year since... On the anniversary, I've just locked myself in my fuckin' room and drank until I blacked the fuck out."
"Well..." Chuck feels her eyes well up with tears at the emotion of it all. "What do you need me to do? Do you want me to leave you alone?" she asks hesitantly.
"No," he answers quickly and turns to her, cradling her cheek with his large hand. "No, baby girl." He swipes the tear falling down her cheek with his thumb. "I just want you," he whispers as he sets his forehead on hers. "All I want is you."
