Eric and Steven talked me into unpacking Trey's and my things while we waited for Negan. Laura looked relieved that it would give me something besides fear of whatever was greeting the man I loved in Alexandria to focus on. She offered to help keep Trey occupied while we found places for all of our things.
Luckily my closet wasn't packed full, and there was an empty drawer in the dresser, so all of Trey's clothes found a spot easily enough. Not that he had a huge wardrobe, but being able to put them away made the move feel real somehow. Then came his toys, with the basket we'd kept them in at the house we shared, easily tucked under the coffee table from our first house. His cups and plastic plates, Laura helped find a spot for in the bar in the entry room. She stopped and stared at the frame that Eric had given me when she noticed it dead in the center of the bar.
"What's this?" She asked, squinting at the photo and I shot Eric a look that would have melted steel.
Eric snorted and walked over to the fearsome guard. Picking up the frame, he grinned widely at the confused woman. "THIS," he slid his finger along the dusting of hair that seemed to make up the entirety of the image, "is Negan's happy trail. It's the tamest naughty picture that Coach ever sent our girl over there, so I blew that fucker up and framed it. I mean, come on, isn't that fucking lickable?"
I heard Laura snicker and shook my head. "Please," she whispered to Eric, "call me when Simon comes up here and asks for an explanation?" Who the fuck was Simon? "I HAVE to see his face when you tell him that."
I shook my head and went back to finding places for things. The photo albums that I'd drug along for the ride, holding all the proof of mine and Negan's relationship, I laid on top of the same coffee table that had Trey's toys underneath. I couldn't help opening the book, and smiled as I felt Trey's tiny body leaning on my legs to see.
"You want to look at Mama's book?" He nodded, and I shifted the album so I could scoop him up and sit him on my lap. "See?" I watched his pudgy fingers trace the photos of his mother, Eric, Steven, and me when we were kids. "That's Mary," I whispered, smiling and kissing his head. "She was your mommy, but she didn't make it-" I felt my heart clench at the loss of her again. "She gave me you, baby, and I'm going to make sure you know her." A flip of the page and Negan started showing up in the photos. Trey, seeing me and his newest pal, bounced a little. "Yeah, that's Negan, isn't it?"
Eric and the other two had made their way over, I could feel their bodies hovering over the back of my chair. "God look at how young we all looked." Eric breathed, his own finger along a group shot of the four of us, before Mary had come back after graduating. "Coach without the scruff, Christ, remember how-"
"How I looked when I didn't have fuzz covering my mug?" His deep voice from the doorway made my heart pound, but it also released all the stress of him being gone from my body. I turned, and saw the blood splattered across his t-shirt and under his chin. Damn it.
"Negan-" I closed my eyes, hoping that he wasn't hurt. My tone was irritation mixed with relief, which was confusing even to me. Trey was lifted from my lap and I forced my eyes back open. He was cradling Trey to him, who I was shocked to see didn't seem fazed by the blood, but the bare face was clearly interesting to our toddler. His tiny hands were stroking Negan's face like he couldn't decide whether he liked the change or not. Mama didn't, if anyone wanted my input.
"Do you like that, buddy?" Negan was asking Trey, smiling at his finger poking one of his dimples. "Dada shaved." No shit, Dada shaved, I thought, glaring up at him. "Mama looks like she wants to bite Dada, Trey, what do you think?" He caught me, but then again, he was always perceptive. "Maybe your uncles and your auntie Laura," I snorted at her new title, but noticed her grinning. "Could take you to play at their place while Dada and Mama have a chat."
Laura, not Eric, stepped forward and held out her hands. I watched, no longer shocked by how easily my little one was taking to his new surroundings and the people in them, as he allowed her to take him from Negan. Of course, Negan didn't let him go without a kiss, and Laura for her part, brought him to me so I could give him one too. And then they were gone and we were alone.
"Amara," Negan started, but I held up a hand and took a deep breath. Where to fucking begin?
"Please, just give me a minute to catch my breath and calm my fucking heart down." It was true, even though the tension was mostly gone, the sight of the blood and rocketed it back up. "Whose blood is that?"
"Not mine," he offered, kneeling beside me. No shit, I raised an eyebrow. "Some asshole named Spencer." Ah, Deanna's surviving family member, gone. "He tried to get me to overthrow Rick for him." I snorted, of course he did. "I made an example out of him."
I licked my lips, they felt so dry, and my hand reached out to touch his bare face. "And the shave? What made you decide to get rid of the scruff?" I knew I sounded breathless, but I swear the man could be coated in blood and viscera and I'd want him.
He leaned into my hand, eyes still on mine as he smiled. "It felt right. I have you back and this is the face you know best." I shook my head. "You really do like the scruff better, don't you, princess?"
Shocking him, I leaned forward and kissed him, long and hard. Pulling back only enough to be able to speak, I grinned and told him that I loved his face no matter what. "Even with the blood of a traitor splattered over it." And then I was in his arms, and he was sitting on the sofa with me straddling him. Tugging the jacket off his shoulders, nipping at his lips, I felt his hands sliding up my bare thighs.
"I like you better in dresses and skirts, sweetheart," his hands were under the skirt of my dress, fingers looping into the waistband of my panties. "Easier access means-" I pulled back long enough to rip his shirt off, even as I felt him rip the side of my panties apart.
"Jeans, Negan," I growled, as his hands cupped my bare ass. He chuckled, his mouth meeting my neck as I raised up high enough for him to use one hand to unbutton, unzip and then free himself from his pants. And then he was inside of me and I rode him, my fingers tugging at this hair, my lips finding his neck and my teeth threatening to mark him as clearly as he marked me.
It might have been seconds. It may have taken hours or days. All I know is that neither of us was completely naked. Negan had gotten rid of my panties, and try as he might the dress I'd picked wasn't one that made baring my chest to him simple. He was bare chested, but his jeans and underwear were only lowered to his knees. And the realization that I wanted him so fucking badly that I would screw him still wearing blood from killing someone startled us both.
"Fuck, Amara," he breathed, our sweaty foreheads pressed together as we caught our breath. "That was a better welcome home than I expected."
I chuckled, breathless still. "Yeah, I'm not sure it's what I planned, Negan."
"'Even with the blood of a traitor', huh?" His fingertips were sliding along my thighs, and I fucking swear I could feel the urge to have him again growing by the second. "Fuck, princess, I didn't think you'd be turned on by-"
I cut him off with my mouth on his. I didn't think I would be either, but here we were. I laughed into his mouth as I felt him kicking off his boots and pants. Then he was carrying me to our bathroom where he showed me just how fucking hot he could be in the shower after murdering someone.
Darkness was falling when we were dried off, and sated for the moment. Negan used his walkie to let Laura know that Trey, and dinner, could be brought back. I had thrown on a pair of his boxers and one of his t-shirts, not the one still covered in Spencer and he was in a pair of sweats that reminded me of his time as Coach. A soft knock, and then Trey was toddling toward us on his own tiny feet.
"Look at you," Negan knelt down and opened his arms for Trey to aim for, and he was smiling as he wrapped his arms around our tiny boy. "He can walk?" It was to me and I nodded with my own grin. "Damn it, I have catching up to do."
Laura was alone and I raised my eyebrow at the lack of my best friend. "They wanted a 'date night'," she offered with a grin.
"Guess that means we get to have Trey all to ourselves, princess." He told Laura to have a good night, and I wondered about dinner. "They'll send it up, Amara." He joined me on the sofa with Trey in his arms. "What do you normally do-"
"We normally," I reached under the coffee table and pulled out the basket filled with toys and books. "Read and play while we wait for dinner." Unless I was making dinner, then Eric and Steven kept him company, but they were enjoying their own alone time. "Which book, baby?"
He chose a book about trains, and I smiled as Negan took it from me and opened it up. The book was brand new with Negan reading it, providing new voices for the characters, and the faces he made, dear God. I curled up beside them and smiled as I watched my two guys entertaining one another.
