Truce
Back at Sanctuary, Negan shows Bree to the wives' area, saying that she has earned entrance thanks to her "Oscar-worthy performance". When they walk into the area, Bree meets a drove of scantily-clad women waiting to pounce on their shared husband. Negan tells Bree she's more than welcome to join them in celebrating his so-called "victory" over Rick, but she declines immediately by muttering "no thanks" and moving away from him and the women. Disgusted with not only the scene in front of her, but her own weakness at Alexandria, Bree makes her way to the furthest corner of the living room and sits on the floor. Negan and his wives go into one of the other rooms with bottles of wine.
Hours later, one of the wives comes over to where Bree has fallen asleep and gently shakes her awake. Bree blinks up at the woman—she's around Bree's age, maybe younger. She has short, curly red hair, freckles, and friendly green eyes.
The woman smiles drily at her. "Welcome to the gang, Bree," she whispers, not seeming to enjoy the term at all. "Wanna be bunkies? There's an empty bunk beneath me."
Stubbornly, Bree declines. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll just use the couch. I prefer to see everything going on around me." The young wife goes and gets Bree a pillow and, after a moment of silence, quietly asks if Bree really did manage to escape from Sanctuary years ago.
Bree says she did, but Sanctuary was a different place back then. "I .. I don't know if I'd be able to manage it again," she admits. She eyes the girl carefully, not trusting her. "Why are you asking?"
The other girl nods and says, "Well … I think you're awesome. You made it out there in the wild, you know? You don't need anyone to take care of you … not like all of us." She looks guiltily at her sock-clad feet. "I never wanted to be a wife. But my grandma said Negan would take care of me. So … I just followed him around a bit. Showed some skin, got his attention. But now I regret it. I want to be like you, a free woman, able to make her own decisions. I hate living like this."
Touched, Bree says if she can find a way for them both to get out, she will.
"I'm Bree, by the way."
"Yeah, I know. I'm Lydi."
The next morning, Bree wakes up and finds Lydi cooking a hot breakfast on the stove, while the other wives are draped lazily around the room like throw blankets. Their main conversation? How much they hate Negan. Of course, some of the wives tell them to stop complaining.
"Would you rather be part of the points system? Out there with the common people?"
Bree goes over to the counter where Lydi is making plates of scrambled eggs for everyone.
"Need any help?" she wonders.
"Nah, I love cooking... One of the only perks to being a wife is I get full access to a working gas range and fridge.".
Bree notices Negan is gone and Lydi says yeah, he usually only comes around at night unless he wants us to make an appearance somewhere. Bree wonders what everyone does in the meantime, and Lydi says chill, read, talk, be bored. It's comfy and Negan does keep us cozy here during the apocalypse. And we only have one rule we have to follow—don't cheat... She says we can go out if we want, but there's a guard at the door that we have to report to. Of course, circumstances make Bree too big of a risk to wander through the base unattended.
"So, we're basically lapdogs," Bree mumbles. Her suspicions had been right over the target about Negan's wives.
Bree decides to take her leave from the area, boldly informing the guard stationed at their door that Negan ordered her to come see him in the morning. The tired guard looks confused.
"Really? Uh, he didn't tell me that."
"You can call him and check, if you'd like," Bree bluffs, hoping the guard will let it drop.
Unfortunately, the guard wasn't tired or stupid enough to fall for her bluff. He pulls out his walkie and asks for Negan, who replies back in a matter of seconds.
"What the hell do you need, Paul?"
The guard explains the situation while Bree silently dies in the background. Lucky for her, Negan is in a good mood and hungover because he replies, "Yeah, yeah, send her up. Maybe I'm just too hungover to remember talking to her last night."
The guard gives Bree a dismissive nod. "Alright, go ahead."
Left with no choice but to go see Negan now, Bree decides that before she does, she should check in with her camp.
She hides in one of the open cells and pulls out her walkie. Instead of Merle, Alonso answers, saying Merle is helping Daryl get settled in.
"Daryl's there?" Bree asks. "He's okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine. We'll let him stay here for the time being, he's good with that crossbow."
After hesitating, he asks if what the people of Alexandria say is true—Bree is a spy and has been working with Negan to gather information on their groups. She says heck no, he's forcing me to say that stuff. For the first time, she admits to him that she did run into him early in the outbreak, and they were friends then—"He helped me stay alive"- but ultimately she had to run away from him.
"He's crazy, Alonso," she says, desperately trying to get him to see that it was all a ploy. She grabs the walkie tightly. "Does ... Does Merle actually believe I'm Negan's spy? After all we've been through together?"
Alonso scoffs. "Don't act like you know that old guy; he's just some loudmouth you traveled with for a couple of days. Does it matter if he believes you or not?"
"Yes," she answers immediately. "He's the only person I fully trust besides you. I need him to know I wouldn't backstab him or any of you like this."
"No," Alonso remarks. "Me and you? We're family. Merle's just a conman you shouldn't have been hanging around with in the first place. So stop your worrying about him and just focus on getting away from that Negan person. You're gonna bring all the supplies you can back here, right?"
"…Yeah."
Alonso says he has to go and doesn't respond when she tries to get him to speak again. She sighs and pushes the walkie back down the front of her shirt.
"I'm here for a reason," she repeats in her head. "I'm here for a reason…"
She heads up to Negan's space and finds him waiting for her at the door. He says that took her an awful long while. Dialing back her nervousness, she counters that she got lost. It's not the same Sanctuary she left a year ago. He steps aside and gestures with a grand sweep of his arms for her to go into his office. She does, and he follows behind her with a predatory smile that gives her goosebumps.
"You did a bang-up job screwing over all your past relationships yesterday. After that performance, you'll be lucky not to get a bullet from dear old Rick the next time you run into their little group."
When she doesn't respond, he adds, undeterred, "Come on, theatre kid! You should be smiling! That was absolutely the best performance I do think I've seen in my entire lifetime!"
She stands in front of his desk while he jovially falls into the seat behind it. He grins up at her, waiting for a response.
Unable to hold back her anger any longer, she shouts, "You killed an innocent girl just to make a statement to a camp that wants nothing to do with your fighting! They just want to survive and be with the people they care about. And I care about those people! I've known them for a long time. They actually trusted me. Now they probably never want to see my face again, unless it's because they have a chance to kill me."
Negan doesn't look swayed by her speech, but she continues anyway.
"You're terrible for making me lose people that are important to me. It's so hard to keep people you care about in your life now. If you really cared about me, you wouldn't have done that. But this is all just fun and games for you, isn't it? You don't care."
Negan's grin only grows. "That's the nicest and longest way anyone's ever called me a douchebag."
Exasperated, she says, "Why can't you see that we all need to band together to survive this? Rick is a good man, maybe a great man. He is honest and caring and I know he will listen if you try making peace with him!"
Negan frowns and says he's not going to surrender to old officer crybaby and his town of he-man women. But this begging thing is cute, keep it up. I see the old Baby shining through.
"So what did you need to see your husband about, dear wife?"
She inhales, ready to continue reasoning with him, but she sees it's getting her nowhere. She's a woman of peace; he's a man of brute action. There's no way they will be able to see eye to eye on this, is there?
Silently, she gives him a look of disappointment and disgust and stands. She mutters that she'll head back to the wives' "playroom". He chuckles at this. "Dwight will escort you back, wifey." Before she leaves the room, he warns her, "And remember: you keep that little nosey nose of yours out of your husband's affairs, alright?"
Dwight pulls her out of the room, so she doesn't see Negan sit back in his chair and mull over what she told him.
For the next few days, it's basically the same thing: stay in the room, Negan comes at night, she keeps her distance, talks with Lydi, goes to sleep, wakes up, and repeats. Negan is preparing his people for war with Alexandria. After seeing the Kingdom allying with Rick, he knows it's time to take things a little more seriously.
Bree checks in with her brother when she can, and he assures her that Alexandria is taken care of.
He doesn't tell her this, but as the sole leader of the Phantoms (since Bree in Sanctuary), Alonso sends Merle out on longer and often more dangerous supply runs than the others. Merle doesn't like his attitude at all and complains to his brother about it.
"You had no problem listenin' to the Governor. Least this guy's not all the way gone, like he was," Daryl reminds him.
Daryl is settling in well with the Phantoms, just like Merle did. Their hunting abilities and natural thirst for the outdoors and excitement meshed well with everyone else there. Daryl wants to go back to protect Alexandria since he knows Negan is brewing something up, but he wants to stick close to his brother. Alonso never tells Merle that Bree is checking in with the walkie-talkie he confiscated from him, so Merle's trust in Bree's loyalties is waning.
Daryl also notices a bit of a change in his brother. He was still a loudmouth who did things his own way and couldn't resist a good fight, but he seemed a bit kinder now. A little less brash, a bit more thoughtful.
"Since when did you start reading the Good Book?" Daryl asks one night when he comes into their shared apartment after dinner and catches his brother reading the Holy Bible.
"Hershel reminded me that this old book's got some good teachings in it," Merle drawls as he leans back in the armchair he's seated in. "Guess it's my way of keeping that old farmer's memory alive, too."
Daryl looks at his brother, a bit taken aback by this, but he's pleased.
"That girl, Bree. She was always readin' the Bible too, when she was with us on the Hilltop."
Merle's jaw tenses. "Yeah, I know … She's a real good Christian. She probably just … skipped over the part where it says not to lie to folks."
"…You think she's really workin' with Negan?"
"Baby bro, women's all the same. I saw the same crap happen with Blondie-Andrea-and the Governor. They fall for these leader-types, get all blinded, thinkin' they can help someone, want to help them with their crazy schemes. They forget about their pals."
Daryl looks at his irritated brother before going back to changing into his sleeping clothes.
"I guess we'll see."
Since Merle is supposedly never available, Bree is also beginning to think Merle doesn't trust her anymore. Still, hearing her brother's voice is enough to keep her sane as she carries on being a part of Negan's harem.
In the weeks that she's there, Bree keeps away from Negan and works out the layout of Sanctuary whenever she is able to venture from the "playroom". She sketches up a rough map that she stows in a slit beneath the living room sofa's cushions. If she isn't able to broker peace between the two camps, and the chances of that kept dwindling with each passing day it seemed, then she was going to need a way to escape from Sanctuary.
She kept a tab on areas of Sanctuary that weren't as heavily-guarded, when scheduled mealtimes were, and when Negan was most likely to be away from the camp., Security has been tightened since Daryl's escape and Merle's capture, so it was going to be difficult to find a proper time to try and escape.
As the days pass and Bree still can't find it in her to try and start a conversation with Negan, she decides enough is enough. She's got to give reconciliation a shot; otherwise, there's no reason for her to be here or to not kill him.
One night, as the wives are sharing meatless spaghetti and swapping stories about their boring days, Bree pulls Lydi aside and tells her that she's going to start acting like a wife.
Lydi is surprised; she's gotten used to surly storm cloud of a girl floating around the room, glowering at the wives and ignoring Negan whenever he paid them a visit
"What do you mean?" Lydi asks.
Bree pulls up the strap on her black dress and shrugs. "I don't know, really. Maybe I'll be nicer to him? Cook something? Bat my lashes? I'm definitely not getting into whatever it is he does when he comes by here at night."
Lydi laughs. "Bree, that's a great idea! Personally, I think he tries to act like he's not worried or thinking about you, but he always asks us to look out for you, and he checks on you before he leaves when you're sleeping. It's kinda cute seeing him look at you sleeping like that." She smiles to herself.
"That's not cute," Bree flatly tells her. "He just sees me as … as some doll he fixed up and doesn't want to let go. I just … I don't know." She sighs in frustration. "I can't keep sitting here. I need an opportunity to talk to him, to see if we can see eye to eye, but every time I see him, I … I think of the people he's hurt and…. Honestly, I could kill him."
Lydi blinks and withdraws a little. "Um, well … There's got to be something you like about him. You knew him before you ran away, right? He likes you a lot, obviously."
Bree looks at her feet. Did he? Or was this all some sort of twisted game for him? The latter, probably. But … if he did hold some affection for her, maybe it could be the thing that would get him to relent on his ruthless attacks on the neighboring camps.
The next night, when Negan comes in loud and boisterous and happy to see his wives, Lydi presents him with a platter of cookies. He ushers the other wives into one of the bedrooms and smiles brightly at Lydi, his youngest wife.
"Now, what made you cook something like this for me, sweetheart?" he asks.
Bree is seated on the couch, leg jumping nervously as she listens to Lydi and Negan talk. Bree's dressed up a little bit (jewelry and a lilac dress instead of their standard black) and tries to work up the courage to say something, but loses her nerve as the anger of what he did to Sasha, Harry, Daryl, Merle, and her flares up again.
"Actually, Bree made these for you!" she corrects him with an excited smile. Negan does a double-take at her words and then follows her gaze to where Bree is sitting on the couch arms folded, pretending not to hear either of them. Lydi notices Negan appreciating Bree's new look with a satisfied smirk.
"Well, color me sur-prised!" he sings. Before he can go over to Bree, his other wives have come out of the bedroom and begin tugging him with them. He laughs and says, "Alright, alright!" before letting himself be tugged into the room.
Bree exhales and stands up.
"I'll be right back," she tells Lydi before going to the door that lead to the rest of Sanctuary and stepping outside. She needed to clear her mind before attempting to talk to Negan, and she didn't want to hear the noise.
Dwight is leaned against the wall beside the door, puffing on a nearly burnt-out cigarette. The rest of the hallway is empty and silent. It's night; everyone has gone to bed.
Dwight gives her a disgruntled look. "Don't try to run."
"To where?" she wonders before sitting near his feet and leaning against the wall herself. He regards her quietly before focusing on his cigarette again.
Bree is surprised she can hear everything from the inside. She looks at Dwight's fried face and mournful expression—it finally clicks for her.
"Which one of them is your wife?" she asks quietly.
She doesn't think he'll respond to her, but after a few seconds pass, he shrugs and scuffs his sneaker against the cement floor.
"What does it matter? She's not mine anymore."
Bree cringes at the noises coming from inside the room. "It's cruel to make you stand here and listen to this."
"Negan's form of punishment. A way for him to show me who's in charge." His glazed eyes clear, and he looks up at Bree. "What are you doing out here?"
"I just wanted to clear my head for a second, if that's okay…. I miss my camp and my people."
Dwight exhales smoke and asks if she misses that loud guy they captured earlier.
She hugs her knees to her chest. "Yeah…. I do. Don't know why, though. He probably hates me now, after what I had to do."
After a pause, Dwight says, "He was real protective of you while he was here. He's probably missin' you too. But like I said, it doesn't really matter for either of us, does it."
"I'm pretty sure your wife misses you. Love doesn't just fizzle out like that, you know?"
"I ... I can't think of stuff like that now. It's a new world and things work differently. We've all got to accept our places now."
It falls quiet inside and outside the room, so Bree bids Dwight an unrequited good night and goes back in. There's light giggling coming from one of the bedrooms, so she figures they're talking and about to go to sleep. Lydi is nowhere to be found.
Negan suddenly comes out alone, pulling on his pants and a shirt. His face brightens once he sees her. "Well, well, welly, well, well! Don't think I've seen your gloomy face around here for a few moons. How's Sanctuary life treating you?
Bree scoffs. "Probably better if I didn't have to wear heels everywhere."
Negan guffaws at this. " You can't tell me you don't feel like hot s*-*-*- walking around in a sexy black dress and heels everywhere!"
"Hmm. Why don't you try it and tell me how you feel?"
Negan twists his head away from her and puffs out his cheeks, holding back another laugh. "Why I do believe that was an insult at my manhood. But you're so adorable with whatever you say that I'll just let it pass," he says with a wink. "Mind if I have a seat? Feel like I haven't talked to my pretty wife in ages!"
Reminding herself that this is what she wanted—to talk to Negan—Bree scoots over on the couch and allows him to sit beside her. He finished pulling on his shirt and then leans back, draping his arms along the back of the couch. He notes that she's been getting along well with the rest of the wives. Blandly, she replies with a "yes, we're becoming regular sister wives here."
Sighing, he tries to elicit what he can do to make her happier here, completely serious. She's taken aback. He says he knows he's been tough and messed up a few times, but he wants to see her smiling again. He misses that. He doesn't say it, but she was the only person to smile and laugh genuinely with him while she was an actual resident of Sanctuary, and he hasn't had that in so long he almost forgot what it was like. She sees that he's being serious and wonders to herself why he seems to care so much about her, especially after everything that's happened between them. What makes him treat her kindly? She thought it was a power thing, some strange fetish, but she's starting to wonder if it might be a little more than that. She can't think of a thing about herself that someone might find that attractive, especially in comparison to his model-like wives. Could he actually care about her? They had been friends before she ran away…. Did he still think of them like that?
She carefully considers her options/ She knows he won't respond to her begging for peace—she'd tried that. So, instead, she says she wants to try to be friends with him again, or at least have it where they are on speaking terms once more. She suggests seeing a movie with him tomorrow.
"I noticed you had a DVD player in your office…. Maybe we could catch up with each other tomorrow night and watch a movie or something?"
He perks up and grins his trademark grin. He says it's a date, and he will see her tomorrow night. He's got to meet with some of his men in the morning. Paying her favorite rebellious settlement a visit. As he's leaving, Bree gestures towards the abandoned cookies on the counter and says he can take some, if he wants.
He smirks and asks what made her want to play at Martha Stewart tonight? She shrugs and says she just felt like it. He rolls his eyes over to her with a broad and impish smile dancing on his lips, obviously knowing she was lying. He grabs one and takes it with him after giving her a sly wink and hinting that he thinks she's starting to warm up to him. "Nice outfit by the way. You got somebody you want to impress? Well, it's workin."
Blushing against her will, Bree burrows into her blankets, turns away, and bids him a mumbled "good night". He bites the cookie and leaves, still grinning to himself.
The next day, Bree heads out to find some more appropriate clothes for her latest mission to get on Negan's good side. She picks a pair of high-waisted jeans and a pink sweater, light makeup, and styles her hair so that it's a little curly. She looks at herself in the mirror and can't believe she's doing this.
Bree is holding a blanket and a pillow as she sits on the couch that night, waiting nervously to see if Negan is coming to the wives' area. The other wives are lounging around, chatting with her and preparing for bed. As time passes, she thinks he may have forgotten. Right as she's thinking this, Dwight comes in and asks Bree to head to Negan's office. Bree notices him make eye contact with Sherry, one of Negan's favorites. When he catches Bree staring, Dwight looks away and urges her to come on. Stowing that info away for later, she lets Dwight escort her to Negan's office.
No one is in the room. She walks around, taking note of the bunch of DVDs on his desk and the light filtering beneath the door to the adjacent room. Dwight suddenly grabs Bree's wrist and warns her to mind her own business.
"Don't say a word to Negan about what you saw, hear?"
She notes that she hadn't noticed anything... But she's sorry for what they're going through, truly meaning it. He glares at her and then slams the door, leaving her in the lion's den, alone.