June 24-25, 2017
- Honey -
Negan's team arriving back without Simon was the last thing Honey expected to happen after their off schedule jaunt. Simon's soldiers look unsettled, but none comment on what happened. Negan's own soldiers just look self-satisfied, bragging openly about how they'd cleared the foundry as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Of course they had, since Negan took twice the soldiers normally sent on such a mission.
Since the Saviors don't usually worry much about burying their dead, Simon's body isn't available to glean any clues from, and that makes Honey nervous as hell. Being summoned to his quarters, something he hasn't done since the day he tried to provoke her by having sex with Amber in front of her, makes her even more uneasy. Negan's been too calm over the issue of the baby, and she fears she's about to pay the piper.
Instead of something shocking, she's surprised to find Negan sitting in an armchair, his head in his hands. His signature black leather jacket is tossed to the end of his bed, and it takes her a minute to find the bat where it's rolled halfway under the bed. If it were anyone other than Negan, she'd say the man was grieving.
"Negan?" This has her completely out of her element where this man is concerned, and for the first time, she wonders if he actually is capable of forming an attachment to someone.
"Hannah." Negan clears his throat after nearly flubbing the simple syllables of her given name. She normally hates hearing him voice it, preferring the stupid nicknames like Princess or Gorgeous, or even Honey. Hannah is a name that only Eugene or Jazz uses, so someone like Negan saying it is abhorrent.
But that? It's the first time he's called her anything that didn't make her want to kick him in the balls immediately afterward. He sounds… heartbroken, and that's so foreign to her concept of who he is that her mind just goes blank. At a loss for what to do, she falls back on reacting like she would with anyone else who seems to be undergoing a loss. "I'm sorry about Simon."
"I doubt that," he mutters, but he finally raises his head. His hair, normally slicked back and tacky from whatever hair product he uses, is tousled from his own fingers. His knuckles are split and bleeding on his right hand, and a skimmed glance to the wall behind where he's sitting shows her a fist-sized hole in the sheetrock.
Sighing, Honey goes to the pitcher of water on the table and pours some onto a handkerchief, dabbing at the blood. He allows the attention with a passivity that adds to the surrealness of everything. From the damage, she thinks he must have hit a stud or nail in punching the wall. "You're going to need stitches."
"Is that in your neverending skillset?" he asks, voice still hollow.
"Yeah, but I'll need a kit." She doesn't move to go fetch one or to send anyone for one, instead wrapping his hand with the handkerchief as a makeshift bandage. "What happened to Simon?"
"I did." Negan is staring at her now, hazel eyes free of anything near tears, but the strain around them makes him look his age for once.
Honey freezes, because out of all the lieutenants, she always figured Simon was the safest. In some ways, he's probably a sop to Negan's conscience, a reminder that there are men worse than himself in the world. She decides to aim for assuming Simon did something wrong. "What did he do?"
"Nothing. It's what he was capable of doing that was the problem." Negan takes a deep breath, before placing his left hand across her belly. "Simon's killed children before."
That's no surprise to Honey, because she knows that's what he did to cause those women and children to flee to Virginia and later even further south. That community rebelled, and in retaliation, Simon slaughtered every male older than ten. But it's not a story anyone's officially told her, so she can't acknowledge it, not yet. "You think he would kill our child."
"I don't know, but I wasn't taking the risk." Negan rubs his hand back and forth across her cloth covered belly, staring as if he can somehow see the child within. "We need your brother to move here, and he can bring his family. You need medical care that isn't sixty miles away."
"Jasper is primarily a veterinarian." Jesus Christ, the idea of her brother any closer to Negan than he's been during supply pickups makes her blood run cold. Worse is the thought of MJ anywhere near this man. She'd sooner slit her own throat than bring her nephew here.
"One mammal's birth is much the same as another, isn't it?" Negan finally drops his hand, leaning back in his chair so he can look up at her, hazel eyes clear and assessing. "And I've heard your actual doctor might not be trustworthy."
Part of Honey wishes she'd admitted to the Kingdom having a second doctor, but to be honest, Dana belongs here at the Sanctuary even less than Jazz does. Her mother is a skilled midwife, but Carol's stayed at Alexandria, and Honey isn't sure she can summon her to the Kingdom in time. "He has delivered a few babies," she admits. "But I don't need any care right away."
"What if something goes wrong?" That odd note is back, and for the first time, Honey truly wonders who Negan was before the turn. He sounds plaintive, which is an emotion she never thought she'd attribute to him.
"Right now? There would be nothing they could do to save the baby," she says softly. Pretending to think it over, she takes a few steps away. She can feel his eyes on her every second. "Once we finish the walls should be soon enough. No sense making him move sooner, and that'll give him time to get through the next lambing, too. We want to keep up the supply of fresh meat, right?" Moving the subject away from what is getting too personal is best, because she cannot let a moment of humanity from the man dissuade her from her chosen course.
"That's a good point. Maybe we should see about our own fields here, too. All that green space between here and the river should be useful for something."
"I'll make that the next project. It'll be easier than the first set of walls, since the river will act as the south wall and our new walls as the north." It's thrown out there as her mind circles back from the distraction of him wanting Jazz here to the fact that Negan admits he killed Simon to keep the baby safe. That makes her approach him again, studying him as closely as he's studying her. "What will you tell the others about Simon?"
"That he was planning to betray me when I said we were staying here rather than continuing to travel south."
"Will that sway his soldiers?"
Negan shrugs. "Some, but not all. My soldiers have their orders to keep watch. I'll eliminate any of them who can't accept the change of plans. We don't need brute strength here as much as we did where we were before."
Even though Honey's been planning the end of those same soldiers, she's a little astounded that Negan dismisses them so easily. Simon's soldiers are the most like his own, after all. "Should I have mine keep an eye out as well?"
That earns her the first thing near his usual smirk. "You just want permission to go after that little shithead that captured you and killed your older brother."
"Like that surprises you one little bit." Her willingness to kill as needed is part of his attraction to her. It might be a former attraction now, since he's not made any move to crudely flirt or touch beyond the single palm onto her belly. He wouldn't be the first man who found pregnancy a complete turn off.
"No, it does not." Negan stands, stepping in close to her personal space, but there's still nothing sexual about it. "Your pet says there's no point in securing a world for no one to inherit. I'll take care of the rest of making sure our heir survives to inherit our little empire, if you promise to keep building it." His eyes are solemn, searching for a declaration she never expected him to need from her.
The funny part is that she can make the promise honestly. The fact that she doesn't intend for Negan to live to see that child inherit anything doesn't mean a damn thing. "I promise a stronghold for our child to live in that will make the Kingdom look like a child's playground."
It doesn't matter if that's this place or somewhere else. Honey has never left any place that any of her family lives in weak enough to fall easily. She certainly won't start now.
Negan keeps studying her, long enough to make it uncomfortable for them both. Normally, the only time they're this close, they're about to have sex, and that doesn't seem to be part of his afternoon plans. Finally, he nods, brushing his fingertips across her belly in a touch so light she almost questions that he did it at all. Then he retrieves Lucille from under the bed, dons his jacket, and leaves the room without another word.
It's that uncharacteristic silence that adds even more eeriness to the encounter. In their entire conversation, Honey realizes that Negan uttered only a single curse word. It's almost as shocking as if Hershel Greene went on a profanity laced tirade, to review their conversation and note there wasn't a single "fuck" or "damn" anywhere in it.
What in the hell is going on in Negan's mind now, and how does she adjust her own plans to cope with it? Honey only prays the man's not planning something underhanded of his own, because moving without any warning will lead to more deaths than she wants to consider. The psychopathic predator she knows how to handle.
This man? She doesn't have the first clue who he is.
- Eugene -
Negan's strangely polite distance from Honey continues, setting Eugene's teeth on edge. The man keeps his word to Honey by brutally beating the only one of Simon's men that dares to openly object to the idea that Simon planned to betray Negan. Watching as the barely alive man is dragged away by two of Negan's most loyal to be hung on the fence, Eugene swallows hard. Honey's standing with the lieutenants, so Eugene is kneeling between Fat Joey and Amber.
"Will the others capitulate?" he asks, knowing his two companions understand far more of the inner workings of the Saviors than they normally like to allude to.
Joey's gaze skims the assembled soldiers, who kneel closer to Negan and the lieutenants. The workers, even the skilled ones such as Eugene, are at a further distance, witnesses and not participants in the gruesome pageantry Negan is enacting. "For now, maybe. It depends on whether or not Negan is willing to feed their need for chaos."
Eugene thinks that over, recalling that while Negan has an extreme capacity for violence, the man also has a unique set of restrictions on what is and is not allowed. He'd used Simon's unauthorized slaughter of the children of the northern community as a basis for the man's death, stating Simon preferred death and destruction to alliances such as the one with the Kingdom keeping them all fed.
Even Negan's own men look upset by the idea they might not have all the bounty they've been given lately if Simon's plot to move against the Kingdom worked out. The imaginary plot is a good cover for what Negan's done, Eugene has to admit.
"And if they refuse to remain cowed and seek to avenge their leader?"
Joey shrugs. "They'll die. They'd only have a hope if Regina stepped forward. Look at her. She's damn near wetting her pants."
Eugene turns his gaze on the woman in question and sees that Joey is right. Regina looks so absolutely petrified that he wonders if there's an incident of wholesale slaughter in her past that she fears Negan will bring to bear in toppling her from power, too.
They're dismissed at last, the workers looking thoughtful as the soldiers look afraid. It's a nice change for Eugene to see. For the first time in years, brawn and firearms aren't as useful as clever hands and hard work. They're trying to figure out the change in the regime, and more than a few have eyes on Honey.
Resolving to keep an eye on that, Eugene heads for his own quarters with Amber and her mother. Honey's still with Negan and the lieutenants, probably working out how to best redistribute soldiers. He somehow doubts they'll promote another lieutenant, but he could end up surprised.
The night passes without Negan coming to Honey's suite once again, and Eugene can't quite figure out what the man's intentions are. Honey is equally confused, relaying an encounter that seems almost gentle on Negan's behalf.
Negan's absence changes abruptly at dawn. His yelled greeting probably terrifies Amber and her mother, but Eugene simply falls into his unflappable persona and eases away to get dressed. Honey's a little slower, but she's got the right to glare at the man that few others do, and morning sickness has always brought out her bitchier side. She shoulders past Negan on her way to the bathroom.
Over the sound of vomiting, Negan arches a brow at Eugene. "That shit happen often?"
He shakes his head and pulls a shirt on, buttoning it with clumsy fingers. "Just the last few days."
Negan stares toward the bathroom door and nods. "She doesn't let on."
It doesn't seem to merit a reply, so Eugene finishes dressing even as he hears Honey brush her teeth, cursing her hormones softly as she does so. "Where the hell is the fire?" she asks when she emerges from the bathroom.
"We're going over to the Kingdom a bit damn early this week. It seems I fucking missed out on a particular milestone with our little heir, so I figured we'd get that out of the way today." Honey frowns, obviously puzzled, and Negan smiles broadly. "Tradition seems that fathers get to see the baby on a goddamned ultrasound, right? Seems better to take the baby to the ultrasound rather than fetch the machine to the baby."
"Okay." The single syllable agreement makes Eugene want to end things right now, but Simon's early demise means reshuffling a few things. Negan has earned no right to see Honey's child on that screen.
He honestly expects to be left behind, but Negan orders him into the back seat of the SUV he's driving. More disturbing is the fact that Honey's soldiers are left behind in favor of a large component of Negan and Regina's soldiers. The very combination of the volatile leader and the lieutenant Honey trusts the least make him run scenarios all through the ride to the Kingdom's gates.
Regina smirks at Eugene when they exit the vehicles, all neatly parked outside the exterior gates like always. The vehicles form an odd half-circle, something Eugene hasn't seen the Saviors do before, and his unease continues to increase.
When Ezekiel appears with a component of two dozen of his own soldiers, Negan just laughs. "Such concern and prompt fucking service, your majesty. You didn't bring the tiger?"
Ezekiel spreads his hands in a manner meant to soothe. Behind him, Eugene can identify Abraham as one of the larger guards, alongside Jerry and Jazz. A flash of Michonne's dreadlocks catches his eye, but the oddity is that he doesn't see Dianne anywhere. Since they first met with Negan, Ezekiel's wife and head of his security has always accompanied him. Part of him hopes that Amber remembers the lessons he gave her on the morse code radio, but he's equally convinced the young woman will panic and hide.
No matter what Negan's excuse for this trip is, something doesn't feel right.
"The tiger is not needed when meeting with an ally, my friend," the king intones, stepping out away from his people. They tense, disliking the exposure, but they're too well trained to object. "What can we do for you today? The food delivery is not yet gathered, but if you would like to wait, we can assemble that swiftly."
Being grabbed by the back of his shirt startles Eugene so much that he doesn't formulate a plan of action before he's forced to his knees. There's a hand in his hair preventing him from turning his head to look at Honey, but from the scratch of nails on his scalp, he suspects it's Regina.
"It seems my people require proof of loyalty of one of our own," Negan intones, and Eugene finally assembles the puzzle, too late to do anything. From the horrified look on Ezekiel's face, the king realizes it as well, even before he feels the nudge of a gun barrel at the back of his skull.
"There is no need to test anyone's loyalty," Ezekiel begins, only to stop when Eugene hears the distinct sound of a revolver hammer being cocked. He swallows hard, giving a little shake of his head when Abraham takes two steps out of formation. They can't show weakness. Not now.
"Oh, but I'm sure there is, your majesty. Despite the unquestionably fucking valuable services our little pet engineer has rendered to my community, his services are not as essential as he thinks."
He'd gone too far that night Negan was drunk, he knows now. Revealed too much that wasn't the mentally disabled man, he thinks. For all the times he's wept on demand since meeting this nightmare of a man, he can't seem to find any tears now. He's going to die, because even if Ezekiel makes a move, they can't save him from a point blank gunshot to the head.
It seems Negan isn't through with his level of horror today, because there's a shuffle behind him, and the gun waivers, changing hands. Behind him, he can hear Negan nearly purr, "Prove how loyal you are to our child."
Terror bleeds through him when he feels the gun retreat and Honey's familiar touch petting his hair. "He is mine," she says softly. "He would invade hell itself if I told him to."
"And yet that loyalty will never fucking be to me," Negan intones. "Either you kill your little pet, sweetheart, or I'll let Regina play with him."
Honey continues to pet his hair, movement slow and gentle as if she's trying to erase where Regina touched him, and Eugene wishes he could risk tilting his head back to look at her. That hand slides down to cup his cheek before resting against the skin just inside his shirt collar. She taps against his skin, a pattern of 1-4-3 in her fingers; "I love you". Just when he thinks that Negan will snatch her away, he feels cold steel at his throat. Her single remaining karambit, blade curved and wickedly sharp, presses against his skin. Blood wells up where the tip breaks skin, and he uses the sharp prickling of pain to focus.
Abraham loses it then, pulling his gun, and it's only Jazz's quick action that stops the big redhead. Eugene hears the sickening snap of breaking bone as Jazz disarms his friend. He's large enough to slam even a man of Abraham's size to the ground. "Point a gun at my sister, and you die," Jazz growls out.
For a brief moment, Eugene thinks that maybe they'll both die here, staring at each other across thirty feet of graveled road. All Abraham's struggles have done is get him in a choke hold, and the last time Eugene saw his young brother-in-law hold a man like that, he broke the man's neck. He closes his eyes, not wanting to see how far Jazz will go to protect Honey.
"Don't kill the fucking bastard just yet, Jasper, my boy. Make him watch." Negan's amused, voice ringing out the command, and Jazz eases back with the pressure just enough for Abraham to gasp a breath. He wasn't going for the kill at least, not just yet.
"So, darlin', you gonna prove yourself just as loyal as your brother there did?" Negan purrs, and from the shifting movements, Eugene can only imagine that he's plastered himself to Honey's back. Whatever happened to push the man from dispassionate and accepting to crazy and demanding, maybe he'll never know. He just hopes the seeming acceptance of the baby keeps Honey safe through today.
"You think it's time that I kill my pet?" Honey asks, tone sweet in a way that spells danger for someone, and her fingers repeat the 1-4-3 pattern on Eugene's collarbone. Her boot shifts on Eugene's right, as she adjusts her grip, and he feels the hard metal of her ankle holster dig into the outside of his thigh. "My pet who has outlived his usefulness?"
"I sure as hell do, princess."
The knife moves, a flash of cold, curved steel, and hot blood splashes onto Eugene's skin.
A/N: Gonna be honest with you... rough draft of Eugene on his knees at the Kingdom's gates was one of the first things written for this story. I deleted a Negan scene in the middle, because honestly, it took away from Eugene's scene, and he's the hero of the story, not Negan.
Now... I'm gonna slip over and exit stage left to hide in my bunker for a day or three.