Negan and Daryl, somewhere near Alexandria

[Negan's point of view]

I was thinking about what I thought earlier. Maybe Dixon was right, maybe I would break Quinn even more. But if I take her with me, she wouldn't or just rarely see her family. Not gonna lie to myself, but I would be happy if she wouldn't see Dixon so often, but seemed like they were important to each other so… I have to accept that bond they formed, whatever it might be. What did she like about this one? I glanced at Dixon as he was walking a couple of steps in front of me. He was muscular, but that's it? That must not be just it. We were so different, how on earth did Quinn like this guy, seriously?

"You're unusually quiet," stated Dixon suddenly, interrupting my thoughts.

"Nothing…" I said, then after a moment of thought, I continued: "I'm just trying to figure out what to do. You know what you said earlier… nothing seems to be working. If I stay, Maggie will make our lives a living hell. If I go alone, Quinn will break. You were right. But if I take her with me she'll barely see her family… I can't ask her to choose between me and her family. I have no idea what to do," I admitted. Suddenly Dixon stopped and turned to face me.

"Stay and shut up… for now," said Dixon.

"Maggie will kill us."

"She won't," he said as he turned his back on me and continued walking.

"I know you're gonna protect us because you're holy Dixon, but you are not around 24/7. You go out hunting all the time. Like now. What if I was at Alexandria and Maggie would be slitting my throat right now and you're out? Anyway, I don't want anything from you, so you don't have to protect me. Probably the best way is to leave with Quinn, but then you have to visit her sometimes. Carol too. Because she'll go nuts…"

"I regret saying you were quiet." Dixon interrupted. "Be quiet again," he said while glancing at me above his shoulder, then he turned his eyes back ahead again. I made fun of Dixon while he didn't see me, imitating him talking, overacting, but I stopped suddenly when he glanced back at me. "I'll talk to Maggie," said Dixon glancing at me once again.

"You think it will solve anything?" I asked in a tired manner, now back to serious. "A few people already talked to her and nothing changed," I stopped for a moment, then I continued, looking forward to his reaction. "What if I want to marry Quinn? Or have children with her? Maggie will go nuts."

Dixon stopped dead. I smiled to myself, I'm getting the reaction I wanted.

"Marry? Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Dixon took a couple of seconds to think about it, but then I realized he was thinking about how to insult me.

"Should I get you another bat so you can name it Quinn this time?" asked Dixon to provoke me.

"That's not funny," I said seriously.

Dixon chuckled and continued walking. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke again.

"I'll help you. But just because of Quinn," he said without looking at me. "I'll talk to Maggie. And make sure no one goes anywhere near you."

"Alright. Can't wait to see how that goes," I said sarcastically, then I changed my tone. "Hey, uhmm… would you mind not telling Quinn about this little incident?" I asked unsurely. He stopped and looked at me.

"You askin' me for a favor? Nah," he shook his head slightly. "Grow some balls and tell her yourself," he said pushing my chest a bit, then he turned his back on me once again.

"Thanks, I guess…" I said frowning my eyebrows concerned.

We were almost back at Alexandria. I started to think about coming up with an excuse I'll tell Quinn about why I disappeared today.

…

Alexandria

Carol hurried to the back porch and found the door wide open. She hurried inside.

"Quinn?" no answer came. She checked upstairs, downstairs, everywhere then she returned to the back porch where Jesus and Gabriel were waiting for her. "She's not here. She must have run outside, leaving the door open," she said as she walked through the garden. Jesus jumped over the fence.

"I'll pass that today, sorry," said Gabriel as his leg was still in pain. Carol climbed over too.

"I'll let you know if we find out anything," said Jesus and hurried away with Carol, towards the walls. "Do you think she came this way?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. She ran," said Carol as they hurried to the walls and started examining it. "Look! There. That's a shoe mark," said Carol pointing at a black stain on the wall.

Jesus quickly climbed over and Carol heard a thump as Jesus landed on the other side.

"Do you see anything?" asked Carol raising her voice a bit so Jesus could hear.

"Something definitely happened here, but I can't tell where she went," replied Jesus. "We need Daryl for this."

"Yes, we need Daryl…" Carol repeated. Since the supporting pillars were inside, one could easily climb out, but they couldn't climb in from the outside.

"I'll meet you at the gates," said Jesus.

"Okay," answered Carol and she walked towards the gates. Where are you Daryl? Come back soon, please!

As Carol opened the gate for Jesus they saw Daryl and Negan on the road coming towards Alexandria.

"There you are!" said Carol as she hurried to Daryl.

"What's goin' on?" asked Daryl.

"It's Quinn. I think she ran away," said Carol worryingly. Negan's eyes widened and Daryl glanced at him like he was already blaming him for it.

"Follow me, I found the place where she climbed over the wall. I'll show you!" said Jesus and everyone followed him to the spot.

"What the hell happened?" asked Negan while they were walking fast.

"Maggie's friends started bullying her and she locked herself in her house, but they followed her, they were yelling at her," started Carol worryingly. "I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't. Jesus and Gabriel came too, trying to calm Maggie down, but we couldn't. Most likely while we were talking outside, she ran away through the backyard."

"It's okay, I'll find her," said Daryl, trying to calm Carol down.

"See? That's what I was talking about!" said Negan angrily.

"What?" asked Carol.

"This one wanted to leave too. I stopped him, brought him back to Quinn, and she's the one goes missing," said Daryl grumpily.

"You wanted to run away and leave Quinn? How dare you!" said Carol and hit Negan's arm. He was lucky Carol was walking on his other side, where his healthy arm was, so she didn't hit his wound.

"Hey! I'm back, okay? I came back for her! But I told Dixon this is what's going to happen! They'll bully her because of me!" Negan said raising his voice a bit while massaging his arm where Carol hit him.

"Here. Look at the leaves," said Jesus, showing Daryl where Quinn landed as she jumped down.

"Yeah, I see it," said Daryl and started examining the leaves. He quickly picked up her trace. "Come on," he said and started following the footprints only he could see.

"I really don't know how could I help her," Jesus started thinking out loud. "I love Maggie, but she is going too far now. I don't want to pick sides between them."

"No one wants," said Carol gently.

"I can see both sides' point," added Jesus.

"We can't solve this. Either Maggie goes or Quinn and Negan. There's no other option," said Carol glancing at Negan, who nodded understandingly.

"She has to stay because of the kid," said Negan, referring to Maggie. "We find Quinn and we leave," he stated.

"Not yet, you have to recover and sleep first. Both of you," said Carol.

"I'm fine," said Negan grumpily. Carol exhaled sharply, then she glanced at Daryl, who was walking with fast, long steps, to get to Quinn.

"Don't you have a feeling of déjà vu?" asked Jesus suddenly, referring to the night when Quinn got kidnapped in the forest.

"That's not funny, Jesus," Carol shut him down quickly.

"Sorry," said Jesus.

"Quinn?" asked Carol but no answer came. They kept walking for a while until they all saw something on the ground. A body was lying there. They all started running towards her.

"Quinn!" gasped Negan. She was lying on her back, covering her eyes with one arm over her face. Negan didn't think twice, he kneeled beside her and embraced her tightly, pulling her up from the ground to a sitting position. "Quinn? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Leave me here," said Quinn quietly. She backed away from Negan, avoiding eye contact entirely. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"No one's leaving you here, we're going back to Alexandria," stated Negan, but Quinn gently pushed him away.

"No. I'm not going back."

Daryl glanced at Quinn's leg as it was bleeding, he kneeled down and quickly bandaged it while they were talking.

"Quinn, honey, come on, please," said Carol gently, crouching beside her. "We're with you. We won't let anyone hurt you," said Carol trying to calm her down. Quinn shook her head slightly.

"She wants to kill me. Maggie wants to kill me. She's so angry…" Quinn said battling with herself not to cry again. Negan embraced her once again, this time a little bit more gently.

"She won't. We won't let her," said Negan in his low, loving voice Quinn loved so much.

"It's almost dark," Daryl pointed out.

"Come on, Quinn, don't be scared of her. We'll figure something out," said Jesus reassuringly. Quinn wiped her eyes, then Negan and Carol helped her up. Her leg hurt so she was limping a bit. Carol noticed the injuries on her lower arms too, where she tried to dampen the fall.

"We go back and clean you up, okay?" she asked.

"What happened?" asked Daryl gently.

"I fell," said Quinn, her voice hoarse from crying. Negan's heart fell out of his chest, seeing her like this. Neither of them had any idea what she's been going through.

They were walking in complete silence as they didn't know what to say or do. After a long while, Quinn broke the silence.

"Jesus? Do you hate me too?" she asked.

"How could you think that? Of course, I don't!" he replied.

"I'm a monster in Maggie's eyes…" she continued.

"No," Negan interrupted her. "I am the monster. And you are the most wonderful being who was the only one capable of feeling something towards this monster," said Negan. Quinn didn't look at him the whole time. She was avoiding eye contact with everyone. No one knew what she felt and what she was thinking. Negan's heart was aching seeing her like this. The rest felt for Quinn too. Negan had Quinn's one arm around his neck, while Carol had her other arm, to help her walk. Daryl was walking in front of them, Jesus behind them, looking out for danger.

"Hurry up a bit, it's almost dark," said Carol, and they did so. They were almost back to Alexandria.

"I can walk by myself," said Quinn quietly, but confidently and pulled her arms back from Negan and Carol. She was walking limping a bit. Carol didn't want to let it just be, so she gently hook her arm with Quinn's. Negan glanced at Quinn, heartbroken, but he respected her decision, so he didn't do anything, but kept walking next to her. No one said a word till they got back, because they didn't know what to say.

…

Author's notes: Listen to "Nobody's Home" by Avril Lavigne once again.

Describes Quinn's feelings so well. ❤

Thank You for reading! ❤