A/N

Sorry for the delay, I don't have a lot of motivation at the minute. I have ideas but no energy to put them into sentences haha.

Anyway, please enjoy and review - hearing your thoughts really does motivate me to write x


When Wren got up the next morning, she was pleasantly surprised to find Negan asleep on the sofa in nothing but his underwear. Not that she would've admitted such a thing.

Tiptoeing over to the kitchen counter to get herself a glass of water, Wren couldn't help but sneak a glance at Negan's body. He was lying on his back, one hand rested across his stomach while the other dangled lazily off the sofa. Despite sharing living quarters with Negan for a week, Wren had never seen him shirtless, but she wasn't surprised to see that he had a very toned chest, clearly looking after himself even after the world had ended. Perhaps she'd been staring for a few moments too long.

"Good morning, Birdie."

Wren jumped and dropped the glass of water on the floor. "Why would you startle me like that!"

"Me?" Negan chuckled, sitting up on the sofa, stretching his arms as he yawned. "Why were you staring at me like that?"

"I was not staring." Wren pouted, "you're so full of yourself."

"Look, I know we've already established that you're fucking obsessed with me, Birdie but you gotta stop. I'm a married man." Negan grinned, revelling in being able to push Wren's buttons so easily.

Wren rolled her eyes and began to rummage under the kitchen sink for a dustpan and brush. With a wicked smirk, Negan crept over to her, being careful not to tread on the broken glass in the process. "I'll clean this shit up, don't worry about it."

"Why?" Wren asked, reluctantly handing Negan the dustpan and brush.

"Always with the fucking interrogations, Birdie. Can't you just let me clean up the fucking mess I made?" Negan sighed and started to sweep up the stray pieces of glass from the kitchen floor as Wren lifted herself up onto the kitchen counter, dangling her legs off the edge.

Negan couldn't help but smile at how far from touching the floor Wren's feet were; he'd always noticed that she was smaller than most women he'd encountered, but just seeing her short legs swinging so high from the floor made him chuckle.

"What?" Wren asked quickly, reminding Negan that while she was short, she was also more ferocious than most women he'd encountered.

When Negan looked up, he instantly saw Wren's frowning face looking down at him. "You gotta stop being so fucking distrusting of me, Birdie. I thought we were friends now."

"I tolerate you now." Wren corrected him, "but whenever you laugh like that it's hard to trust you."

"Like what?" Negan set the dustpan and brush down, genuinely curious as to what Wren meant.

"You do that low chuckle and I just know you're thinking of something either dirty or twisted." Wren folded her arms across her chest. "So which one was it?"

"Neither of the fucking above!" Negan exclaimed, standing to his feet. "I was just…" He paused mid-sentence, knowing that Wren still wasn't going to like what he was about to say. "You're very…short."

"Asshole." Wren pouted, sliding off the counter, although she hid a slight smile at Negan's comment. "Are you leaving the Sanctuary today?"

"Yeah, collecting my shit from one of our neighbours." Negan said as he finished cleaning up the rest of the glass and swept it into the trash.

"Can I come?"

Negan was surprised by her request. "Why the fuck would you wanna do that? You fucking hate the way I run things."

Wren shrugged, "yeah well I haven't left this place since you kidnapped me. I'm going stir crazy."

Normally, Negan didn't allow people who hadn't been assigned to collecting or hunting to join him and his men on ventures outside of the Sanctuary, but this was Wren: the young woman who he was tirelessly trying to make happy for reasons still unbeknown to him. Besides, he was curious to see how well she handled herself.

"Fine, but you gotta stay fucking close and not get your ass into fucking trouble."


"You gotta be fucking kidding me…" Simon muttered as he saw Negan headed towards the van with Wren in tow. Simon was well aware that Wren was the reason that Negan had been spending most of his nights in his quarters and had hardly trusted her since her arrival at the Sanctuary.

"Simon!" Negan called him over, and Simon quickly obeyed, being his right-hand man and all. "Listen, I'm gonna need you to ride in the truck with the guys. Birdie's gonna ride up front with me. That alright?"

Despite his frustration, Simon forced an obedient grin. "Whatever you say, boss."

Negan handed Wren the keys and she went away to climb into the truck, leaving Simon alone with Negan and a head full of questions. "Why's she…" Simon stopped himself, deciding to rephrase his question in a way that wouldn't offend his boss. "Do you think it's a good idea to bring her along?"

"I don't fucking know. But she really wanted to fucking come so…" Negan stopped when he realised how submissive that sounded.

"When did you start letting a pretty face boss you around?" Simon snickered, although his mockery quickly ceased when he noticed Negan's furrowed brow. "I'll get the truck started."

"Yeah, fucking do that." Negan huffed, before going to climb in the truck beside Wren.

She looked him up and down, instantly sensing his frustration. "What's wrong with your boyfriend, he jealous that he doesn't get a seat in the big boy truck?" Wren smirked, glancing out of the window to see Simon huffily climbing into the other truck.

"Yeah, somethin' like that." Negan sighed, before realising what Wren had implied. "Hey, he is not my fucking boyfriend."

"Ah so he just sucks your dick, right?" Negan's frown made her laugh. "Oh come on! You can make crude jokes all the time but I can't?" Wren rolled her eyes, "who pissed in your cereal?"

"I don't think you should come with us." Negan told her sternly.

"Why not? Because Simon said so?" Wren replied jokingly. "Look, I've been cooped up for far too long. Give me a chance to prove myself."

"Fine." Negan started the engine, remembering how Simon had called him a pushover when it came to Wren. "But you better stay out of the fucking way. And if you get fucking hurt, it's your fucking fault."


Wren did as she was told while Negan played the part, ordering people around and listing his demands like the world owed him anything he wanted. It was strange to see him this way. She knew it sounded stupid but spending so much time behind closed doors with Negan had made Wren forget what he was like in front of an audience. In the space of fifteen minutes, he'd already called everyone 'dicks' twice, threatened to bash three people's skulls in and beaten a man to a bloody pulp over a lack of bread and beans.

She'd forgotten how cruel and ruthless he could be. Seeing him like that again made her feel disappointed.

Eventually, Wren couldn't take any more of his forceful dictating and decided to step outside the small civilisation. She wanted to get away from his cursing, his threats. It was too much like looking in a mirror, back to the time when he tore her group apart.

She needed to go for a walk, to get as far away from everyone as she could.

The feeling of the fresh breath of air nipping at her neck felt so refreshing; it had been so long since Wren had ventured out into the world unaccompanied. It was nice to be alone with her thoughts, yet most of those thoughts included Negan. Why did she feel so shocked by his firm and forceful behaviour? She'd always known what he was like, but all those nights playing cards and checkers had blinded her to the truth. Even in those moments where Negan had shown her kindness or vulnerability, he was still the same cold-hearted man he'd always been.

People never changed. Wren knew that better than anyone.


"That's the last of it, boss." Simon called to Negan as he finished loading up the truck.

"Well it's been great folks. Thank you very fucking much for your hospitality." Negan grinned, taking a bow in mocking. "See you dicks real fucking soon."

As Negan and his men headed back to the trucks, it dawned on him that Wren wasn't there. "Hey, any of you pricks seen the woman that was with us?" His voice was loud and commanding, to mask the hint of fear he felt. They all shook their heads, praying for Negan to just leave.

"Come on, I know someone's fucking seen her." Negan clutched Lucille slightly tighter than normal. "Brunette, about 5"1, very stubborn. Surely one of you pricks saw where she went."

"She left." A woman by the gate told Negan. "About twenty minutes ago."

"Shit…" Negan quickly ran out of the town, signalling for his men to follow him. "Why the fuck didn't any of you fucking tell me she fucking ran off!"

It wasn't long before Negan had organised his search party. He had no idea how far Wren might've gotten in the twenty minutes she'd been unsupervised for. He ran through the forest, desperately calling her name like she was the only thing that mattered.

Eventually Negan found her in the depths of the forest. She was just standing there, staring off into the distance. But as he got closer, Negan realised that Wren wasn't alone.

Wren found herself frozen; time almost stopping all around her. Except for the groaning shadow that approached her. All she could see in those dead eyes that approached her were David's lifeless orbs staring at her as she'd killed him. He was haunting her, refusing to let her forget what she'd done. Just as he had done in life, David was still torturing her even in death.

Wren felt as though she couldn't breathe. She couldn't move to defend herself but she couldn't scream for help either. Her whole body felt numb and she had no control, like David's memory had entrapped her.

She didn't even hear Negan shouting her name.

Negan wasted absolutely no time in bashing the walker's skull in with Lucille, smashing the bat down again and again just to be sure. Just to make sure that Wren would be safe. He didn't know what had come over him; he was like a man possessed, smacking Lucille down over and over, even though the threat was long dead. He didn't know how he felt. He'd felt both angry and terrified at once. All because of her.

He then grabbed Wren by the shoulders, shaking her furiously, breaking her away from her trance. "What the fucking shit were you fucking playing at?!"

She blinked in surprise, as though she had no understanding of time or place. It all felt like a deadly dream.

"You could've fucking gotten yourself fucking killed, Wren!" He let go of her shoulders when he saw the tears in her eyes. "Shit…what the hell were you fucking thinking?"


The drive back to the Sanctuary felt like an eternity. Wren and Negan spent the journey in silence, with Wren staring glumly out of the window, while Negan continually kept stealing glances at her. He felt awful for how he'd handled the situation; flying off the handle at Wren like that. He'd instantly recognised the fear in her tear-glossed eyes and he never wanted to see her look at him like that again.

When they arrived back at the Sanctuary, Negan turned the engine off and looked at Wren. "Listen, I'm sorry I lost my shit with you earlier." Wren cautiously turned around to meet his eyes. "I just didn't want to see you get fucking killed. I was fucking scared, Wren."

Wren nodded, understanding his anger. "I don't know what came over me. I just…couldn't move. It was like I had no control over my body…" She looked down at her lap, "I…I just couldn't stop seeing his face. His eyes staring at me as the life drained from them. I knew it wasn't David - I know he's gone for good - but it all felt so real..."

"What happened to David was not your fault. He got what was fucking coming to him." Negan gently took Wren's chin between his thumb and forefinger, gently tilting her head up to look at him. "Listen to me, Wren. It's not your fault."

"It really is." Wren whispered, tears spilling from her eyes. "You have no idea of the things I've done."

"Then tell me." Negan said, instinct telling him to take hold of her hand. "Let me in, Wren. Let me help you."

Wren looked at the warmth on Negan's face. She knew his words were genuine, but she also couldn't forget how quickly he'd change between the two personas. One minute he was holding her hand, promising her that everything would be alright, then the next he was beating a man to a pulp over bread and beans. How could she trust him with the truth of her painful past?

She quickly pulled her hand away. "There's nothing you can do to help me, Negan." Then she climbed out of the truck, not once looking back at him.