Disclaimer: AMC owns the story and characters of The Walking Dead, a ship everyone is jumping out of.
Author's note: I'm back for another tuesday and another chapter and I just like this one sooooo much.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Now
The Sanctuary, VA
Tory woke up slowly to a dark room. Her body felt tired, and just the right sort of sore. She felt warm and protected with Lucas' arms around her.
The peace and quiet told her it was still early.
Not long after their last tumble on Lucas's bed.
Their bed now.
"Tory, I can feel you thinking." Lucas muttered intoher hair. "Sleep now."
"It's okay." Tory sighed. "I gotta go prepare stuff anyway. And take a shower too."
"You smell amazing." Lucas told her in a raspy voice.
A smile spread acrossher lips.
"I smell like you and sweat and cum." Tory paused. "I've got no problem, but I should smell clean, it's a special occasion."
"I know you still have time, California." Lucas said, tucking her hair from her back to her neck, where he placed some delightfully sloppy kisses.
"Lucas. I. Can't." she groaned, feeling her body react immediately.
"Oh, Cali, I know you definitely can." Lucas moved the hand around her waist,down to her sex and she gasped.
"Damn it." Tory hissed. "Just one more time."
• • • • • • • • • • • •
The people of the Sanctuary had donned their best clothes and everyone was muttering in excitement.
Tory was watching through one of the doors as Vera fidgeted with her clothes.
Her friend was wearing a baby blue dress that reached just under her knees in a flattering cut, and a wild flower bouquet, courtesy of Vivienne. Frankie had offered her expertise, along with Amber to fix Vera's hair and makeup. She was done pretty and was glowing withhappiness.
"Who's giving you away?" Tory asked, trying to distract her friend.
"I was expecting Ben to do it." Vera whispered, removing something in Tory's memory. "But that's not possible, so Lucas will."
Tory blinked in surprise. "He didn't tell me."
Vera's eyes flashed at her words, but she stored the information for later.
"He and my brother were friends. Ben died at the outpost."
The grey eyed girl felt her stomach clench with regret and guilt but ignored the feeling.
"Well, you can remember him, right?"
Vera nodded.
"You don't look like you rested much, Tory." Vera commented with a sly grin, distracting both girls from the grim topic.
Tory blushed hard and looked away and passed a hand through her hair, catching a few gnarls with her fingers.
"I…well."
"You don't have to say anything." Vera told her, smugly. "I saw the love bites on Lucas' neck."
Tory felt her skin boil.
"I approve." Her friend informed her with a satisfied smile.
"Thanks?"
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Negan had tried to learn the speech that his soulmate had corrected for him.
He didn't exactly know how insightful she was about his people, but Negan had a hard time thinking about it.
Now, his challenge was to get Gelato girl and her boy toy married, and he wasn't sure how to do that without letting go a couple of curses every other minute. Negan's memory of his own wedding was fussy at best, he could definitely remember Lucille's wedding dress, and the smell of her perfume, the champagne that they had their fill of…
The leader of the saviors shook his head. It was not the moment.
The people of the Sanctuary stood around in a semi-circle close to the exit doors of the building. Somehow, no one thought that having the wedding facing the furnace would be a good idea, no matter how extremely badass it sounded.
The blond kid arrived first, looking clean and nervous.
"You sure 'bout this, Chasey-boy?" Negan asked, regaling the man with a cynical grin.
"Yes, sir." Heanswered, firmer than he would have, seeing as Chase had a difficult time swallowing.
Negan was about to tease Chase again when the people parted for the bride. Negan always knew Gelato girl cleaned up good, and he thought she looked radiant.
And damn, if he didn't envy Chase when he smiled at her like the proudest fool on earth.
He exchanged some words with Lucas, who had a stern expression on him.
The murmuring was getting on Negan's nerves and he lifted his hands to appease the miscellaneous crowd that his people made.
"I'm not gonna start this with dearly beloved." Negan declared. "We all know these two."
He turned to Vera.
"Is not too late, V-girl. I did ask you once." He gestured at her with a flirty wink.
Vera smiled bright.
"Thank you, but no. We're fine."
"A damn loss, I tell you. Where was I?"
"Not dearly beloved." Chase chuckled.
"Damn right!"
Great, the first one.
"Vera and Chase want to get married and who am I to say no?" Negan's voice boomed in the suddenly undisturbed silence of the factory floor. "I don't think they need to make that commitment, but here we are all the same."
Some giggles could be heard and his people smiled, making Negan feel a slight flutter of pride in his chest.
"Marriage…" He continued, but fell had been a shitty husband to his splendid wife and Negan tried to remember the words he had read over and over again. "Is more than saying I have a wife, and I have a husband."
Chase and Vera looked at each other with big smiles.
"You're not gonna be happy all the fucking time." Negan could hear the winces as he cursed again. "You're gonna fight and disagree, but at the end of the day, you're gonna be there for each other."
Negan caught Martha smiling, surprised and proud of him. This felt good.
"Chase, boy, you gotta take care of your girl, she is way better than you."
He mouthed 'I know'.
"Are you sure about this, girlie?" Negan asked again, only to be glared at by Vera. "okay, okay. Let's get to the fucking point."
"Chase, do you take Vera as your wife, to protect and care for her, for better or for worse, mostly worse, let's be real…" Some people laughed at this, but he was serious. "You know all speech." Victoria had written till death do you part, but Negan couldn't bring himself to say it.
"I do." Chase smiled and squeezed the hands of his very-soon-to-be-wife.
"Vera, do you take this big fool here, to protect and care for, forbetter and worse, even when you had an even better proposal?"
"I do."
Damn, no hesitation. Stone cold, she was.
"Okay, rings…uh…"
At this, the faces of both groom and bride blanched and Negan had to bite his lip hard not to laugh at them.
"I've got them!"
Well, if it wasn't Gorgeous walking towards them, nothing in her hands as she pushed her way to the unsuspecting couple.
"Here." Gorgeous said, lifting a thin chain from her neck, showing two pretty wedding rings. "Be careful okay?" she warned as she unclasped the chain and gave each the right ring.
Negan stayed silent as the exchange occurred and then:
"I know nobody will object so I present you…What's your name, boy?"
"O-Owens." Chase stuttered.
"Yeah, that." Negan muttered. "I present you Mr. and Mrs. Owens."
Finally, he was fucking done.
Negan was about to turn around when he remembered: "Oh, yeah, kid, kiss your bride."
In the end it Mrs. Gelato who jumped Mr. Gelato, and Negan was not even a bit surprised.
The girl had balls.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Tory had walked up to Lucas to see the rest of the wedding, feeling the absence of the rings acutely, but she was never going to use them anyway.
"That was sweet of you, California." Lucas said, squeezing her marked arm affectionately.
She smiled up at him.
"I think they deserve all the happiness they can get."
Lucas nodded.
"That they do."
• • • • • • • • • • • •
The celebration took most of the day and no one even commented on how that would make a dent into the steady production of the Sanctuary.
Everyone was happy with a bit of celebration, good food and alcohol.
Negan felt satisfied seeing the children run free in the sea of people, and hearing the old tunes of the rackety jukebox his men had found long ago.
The happy couple was dancing as if they had no care in the world. Actually, no one bothered them as they swayed slowly, even if the tune wasn't the right one.
Then he heard it.
"...but I can't help, falling in love, with you…"
He thought no one noticed as he slipped out of the celebration, but hazel and grey eyes noticed him leaving, and neither woman decided to follow.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
It was late into the night when Lucas pushed Tory into their room, trying to disrobe her as fast as he could.
"Why the sudden urgency?" Tory panted, letting him kiss her slim neck as she pushed his shirt off his shoulder.
"Celebrating." He murmured after nipping slightly at the skin of her shoulder.
"Celebrating, are we?" the brunette moaned when Lucas fell to his knees to undo her jeans.
"For Vera and Chase." Lucas murmured against the skin of her abdomen, kissing the puckered skin of the scar under her belly bottom.
Tory felt something akin to love burst in her chest.
"Okay."
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Tory felt slightly hungover.
Beer was the worst.
And yet, it was a welcome feeling, even if she usually detested it.
Harlan seemed to be happy though, and the whole infirmary felt lighter because of it.
"You'd think young people would have other priorities." He had mentioned.
Tory smiled.
"We live in a different time, not a different world, we can use the love, right?"
Harlan had smiled fondly and nodded.
"Do you want coffee?" he asked withhis hand on the door handle. "I'm going to see if I can get some."
Tory could use some caffeine. "Sure."
The doctor nodded and left, closing the door gently behind him.
The young woman sat and started taking note of how many aspirins they had given away this morning already. Tailing the points was easy, but it was tedious too.
Then, way too soon for the knock to be Harlan's, someone called to the infirmary.
"Come in."Torycalled, without looking up, until perfectly clean, pointy black shoes appeared on the floor, directly in her field of vision.
Tory turned her eyes up to find Martha, wringing her hands nervously.
"Morning." The wife said shyly.
"Good morning." Tory answered.
A silence stretched between them.
"Can I help you with something?" Tory finally asked, putting her pencil down.
Martha fidgeted a bit more and blushed slightly, trying to tuck a rebellious lock of hair behind her ear, her eyes resting firmly behind Tory's head.
"I need a pregnancy test, okay?" she blurted out.
Tory blinked in astonishment a few times. "What?" she asked, still baffled after a long, long minute.
"Test. For pregnancy." Martha enunciated carefully.
Tory nodded and stood up, ready to dig into the cabinet where those things were zealously kept, along with the really strong sedatives and sleeping pills.
She gave Martha a little plastic cup and signaled for the backroom so she could 'fill' it.
This was awkward, and not only for her, but Tory was suddenly conscious of who Negan was and what Martha was to him.
Also…wasn't he too old?
Her musings were interrupted when Martha came back, looking red in the face as Tory dipped the newly opened test in.
"Please, have a seat." Tory said, feeling awful for forgetting her manners.
Martha did sit,quite primly.
"How long does it take?"
"A couple minutes."
Silence made those two minutes seem like years.
Tory checked the test. No color change, no nothing.
"I…I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I just thought…" Martha hugged herself and Tory had a hunch she was going to break down.
"It's okay…it does happen." Tory said, trying to find the right words.
Martha sobbed and she couldn't help but embrace the woman in front of her. Tory had to accept Martha reminded her of her mother, and she had always hated when her mom cried.
"I get it." Tory said. "You can keep trying."
Martha sniffled some more. "He won't touch any of us anymore." Another round of sobs started. "I can't blame him, he misses her."
Tory frowned as she rubbed tiny circles on Martha's back.
"You mean Lucille?" Tory asked, feeling Martha stiffen in her arms.
"We don't talk about her." Martha said, pushing against Tory gently, trying to recover from her breakdown.
Tory rose one eyebrow in disbelief.
"Hardly true, the man named the bat Lucille."
"It's not Lucille I'm talking about." Martha whispered and checked for arrivals. "Her name wasElle."
Tory's arm tingled, it felt funny.
And then she remembered.
This fucker killed Eric. He killed our people, Elle.
I can't lose you, I'm sorry.
I love you.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
