Quinn, Negan, Carol, Daryl, and Jesus, walking back to Alexandria

As they were walking Daryl glanced back above his shoulder, made eye contact with Jesus, and nodded to indicate him to come over. Jesus understood and walked next to Daryl.

"What happened to her?" asked Daryl quietly so the rest couldn't hear. Jesus recounted everything to him.

The rest of them didn't say a word until they reached the gates of Alexandria. Aaron took Jerry's shift for the night, he was opening the gates for them.

"What happened?" asked Aaron frowning his eyebrows concerned.

"She fell. Nothing serious," replied Jesus quietly to Aaron. The rest of them didn't even stop, just headed towards Quinn's house. "I'll let Gabriel know," said Jesus in a normal volume now to the others.

"Thank you, Jesus. Also, for your help!" said Carol slightly smiling at him. Jesus nodded a welcome to her and headed towards Gabriel's house, while Aaron closed the gate. Negan went ahead, got the key out from his pocket, and opened the door. He noticed the back door was wide open, he quickly closed it, while Carol escorted Quinn to the couch. Daryl closed the front door behind himself. Negan turned the light on and stepped closer to Quinn and Carol. Daryl glanced at Carol while she was checking out Quinn's wounds.

"Let me see your leg," growled Daryl as he put his crossbow down and crouched in front of Quinn. She straightened her leg to him without saying anything, still avoiding eye contact. Carol was checking out her arms.

"Negan, do you have disinfectant?" asked Carol, glancing at him above her shoulder.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be right back," he said as he went upstairs to the bathroom to get it.

"Do you want him out while we talk?" asked Carol quietly. Quinn slowly shook her head.

"No. There's not much to talk about," she stated like she gave up life… again.

"You should take your trousers off so Daryl can check the wound on your leg," said Carol gently.

"I don't want him to see me in pants again," Quinn said quietly with no emotions on her face whatsoever.

"Oh, sorry," mumbled Daryl confused and a bit embarrassed.

"It's okay, I'll check it," said Carol.

"I'm going to Maggie," stated Daryl as he stood up.

"Be careful," said Carol and went to him while he put the crossbow over his shoulder. "She's not the same anymore," she added quietly.

"I know," nodded Daryl, pecked Carol's cheek, and left. Carol closed the door and went back to Quinn, who was taking her trousers off, then she sat back on the couch and covered her thighs with a blanket. Negan came downstairs.

"Alright, let me see," said Carol as she crouched in front of Quinn where Daryl was a minute ago and checked out her leg. "It's not deep and definitely not broken. You're lucky," Carol smiled at her as she quickly grabbed a bowl and a piece of cloth from the kitchen and washed the wound, then sprayed it with disinfectant. Negan sat down across the room in the armchair watching them worryingly without saying anything. Carol then moved on to Quinn's arms, washed them, and sprayed disinfectant on them. Quinn hissed a bit as the spray was stinging and burning her wounds. "It's okay," said Carol and caressed Quinn's cheek, then she put the disinfectant and the bowl back in the kitchen. Then she let out a sigh, came back to the living room, and sat next to Quinn on the couch. "Quinn, look at me," she said gently and Quinn did so, but not so willingly. "I know it hurts. I know it's scary. But we'll help you with Maggie. Don't worry about her. She is living on the other side of Alexandria."

"You saw today that doesn't mean anything," said Quinn grumpily.

"I know, honey, but that's the best we can do. Try to avoid her," she smiled at Quinn reassuringly while caressing her hair. Negan was listening, without saying anything, now turning his eyes away embarrassed. He blamed himself for all this.

…

Daryl walked up to Maggie's porch and knocked on the door.

"Hey, Maggie! It's me, Daryl! Open up!" he said confidently. Soon enough Maggie opened the door. "Can I come in?" he asked.

"If this is about Quinn and Negan, then no," stated Maggie.

"Alright, then I'll talk to you here," stated Daryl, but he barely started when Maggie tried to smash the door in his face, but Daryl stopped it from reflex and pushed the door open. "Come on, Maggie! What's wrong with you?" he asked as he went inside and closed the door behind him.

"I don't care about Negan and Quinn at all," stated Maggie slowly.

"Fine, then stop caring about them and let them live in peace until we figure something out," said Daryl. Maggie shook her head disapprovingly.

"You have changed, Daryl," said Maggie a bit aggressively. "You changed and became soft. The Daryl I know would kill them both without hesitation. You agreed with me when I was against Rick about letting Negan live!"

"It's different now. It's complicated," said Daryl, trying to explain.

"Oh, wow. You have feelings for Quinn or what?" asked Maggie irritatedly.

"No. But I care about her like she was my sister," said Daryl confidently.

"Good. Like you cared about Beth?" said Maggie with no emotions in her eyes.

"Do not bring up Beth now!" said Daryl, losing patience. "I did everything I could to save Beth! And I'm doing just that right now!"

"Tsk," said Maggie while she started pacing. "So what do you want to do now? Stop me? Kill me? Convince me how good a person Negan is?"

"Of course not. I hate him, he's an asshole. But I care about Quinn and she has feelings for this jerk, so we have to respect that."

"Feelings? Respect? What are you talking about Daryl?! Respect Negan?! Do you even hear yourself?!" asked Maggie slightly raising her voice.

"Like it or not, Quinn is part of this community, part of my family and I'm not tolerating you if you're threatening her!" stated Daryl raising his voice too, confidently. "Jesus told me you said Quinn should die too! What's wrong with you?"

Maggie turned her eyes away a bit embarrassed now.

"I… I didn't mean that. I was angry. I don't care about Quinn, but I wouldn't kill her," she said in a bit calmer way.

Daryl exhaled sharply then he continued in a more gentle way too.

"We're figuring things out, okay? They're gonna leave. As soon as their injuries are healed, they'll leave. Okay? Just don't even look at them while they're here. Please?"

Maggie exhaled sharply. She glanced at the stairs, Daryl followed her gaze and they saw Hershel listening to them at the top of the stairs. Maggie turned her eyes back at Daryl.

"Five days. I'll give you five days to get them out of here," she said finally.

"Fine. Good. Five days. Okay," said Daryl. "Thank you, Maggie," he added in a much calmer way.

"Get out," she said grumpily. Daryl nodded understandingly and left. He heard the lock on the door click as he walked down the porch. He headed back to Quinn's house.

…

"Don't worry. I'm here. You're not alone in this," said Carol gently.

"Carol, I'm past these therapeutic things. I'm not suicidal this time," I said.

"Are you sure?" asked Carol. Negan was listening carefully to them.

"Carol… I'm sad and hurt, but I don't want to die this time," I stated. And I meant it. For a moment, maybe it crossed my mind, but not anymore. I was past that. I heard steps on the porch, my stomach shrank a bit, but I felt relieved as soon as I saw Daryl stepping through the door.

"I talked to Maggie," he said as he came inside. "She gave you five days to leave," said Daryl looking at me, then glancing at Negan.

"That was expectable," said Carol. Negan nodded too.

"So that's it? I won't see you again?" I asked Carol and Daryl unsurely.

"How could you say that? Of course, you'll see us. We won't be neighbors, but we'll visit you," said Carol without hesitation. Daryl nodded in agreement.

"Alright. I'll try to wrap my head around it," I said grumpily.

"You should stay inside while you're here," said Daryl. "To avoid Maggie and anyone else entirely."

I nodded in agreement. After a couple of minutes of silence, Daryl continued:

"Maggie said she didn't mean it. To kill you. She was just upset and it slipped."

"It slipped because it was inside of her. A part of her was serious about it," I said.

"Don't think like that," said Carol. I glanced at her.

"You don't have to babysit me anymore. You can go home," I said to them.

"We're not babysitting you," said Carol.

"Come on, Carol. Let 'em talk," said Daryl offering his hand to Carol. She glanced at me, then grabbed Daryl's hand and stood up.

"Let me know if you need anything," she said and they headed to the door. Daryl put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Thank you for talking to her and… for everything else," I said as I glanced at both of them. Daryl nodded and Carol smiled slightly, then they left. Negan slowly gathered himself up and locked both the front and the back doors. Then he unsurely walked up to the couch.

"I'm pretty sure we need to talk," he said. I was still avoiding eye contact with him. I hesitated for a couple of seconds before I replied to him.

"You want to break up with me?" I asked, staring at my own hands on my lap while I felt a punchlike sensation in my heart.

"What? No!" said Negan. He came closer and sat next to me on the couch. "We have to talk about what happened since we got back."

"I don't want to hear it," I said.

"You don't even know what I want to say," he said slightly offended.

"I do. Whatever I said in the forest… you don't feel that way. I get it," I said disappointed, still avoiding eye contact.

"The hell I don't feel!" he said as he gently turned my face towards him with two fingers under my chin, forcing me to look at him. "I do feel the same way," he said to reassure me. I frowned my eyebrows questioningly.

"Then… why did you avoid me after it?" I asked completely confused.

"I did avoid you… but just because I got scared of how important you were. Shit, Dixon was right… again…" he said smiling embarrassed, turning his eyes away.

"About what?" I asked.

"He said I should grow balls and talk to you. And yes, it's hard to talk about this," he said while he still didn't look at me.

"Don't accept advice from Daryl. He waited ten years to tell Carol how he feels. I'm not sure he even told her yet. Probably he just kissed her or something… But he shouldn't talk about anyone's balls."

Negan chuckled as I said that, then he looked me in the eye again.

"Yeah, you're right. What I wanted to say is… that I got scared... Scared because I don't want to lose you and scared of how important you are to me."

His eyes were mesmerizing as always. Even though I was hurt and disappointed, he still looked so handsome my heart started pounding heavily.

"You didn't want to break up with me?" I asked.

"Never," he stated. "But… I was thinking about leaving. I thought it might be better for you. You could be with your family and no one would bully you if I wasn't around anymore."

"That's bullshit. Bullies always find something to bully someone for," I said.

"Well, I didn't think about that," he said deep in thoughts.

"Of course not. Because you already decided to leave."

"No… okay… maybe. I wanted to get away from Maggie. But I know now that it was a mistake and I apologize for trying to leave and I promise I won't go anywhere without you."

"We already promised that to each other… but both of us broke it when we went outside alone," I said grumpily.

"So… are we even?"

"Fine. Yes," I said. He started smiling just to make my heart go crazy. I hated that I couldn't hate him, because he always got to my feelings. I glanced at him once again, that was when I noticed a tiny wound on his lower lip.

"What happened to your lips?" I asked.

"Let's just say… Dixon has his way of convincing people," he said with a half-smile.

"He hit you?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Don't worry, I hit him back," he said proudly.

"Now I'm even more worried. I'm not with you for a day and you beat each other immediately?" I asked.

"It's not that bad. Boys are like this," he said smiling at my reaction. I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh. I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes for a moment.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm just tired," I said.

"You had a nightmare last night," he said.

"Are you stating or asking?" I asked.

"Stating. I just… I wasn't sure you wanted me near you, so I didn't do anything," he said unsurely. I opened my eyes and turned my head towards him.

"I always want you near me," as soon as I said that my heart wanted to jump out of my chest. Negan looked moved as well. He reached his hand out and gently caressed my cheek. I continued: "Let's not do this to each other again. This avoiding thing," I said. He took his hand back.

"I agree. I grew my balls out so we can talk about stuff like this anytime," he said smiling.

"Good," I said, smiling slightly too.

"Should we go to sleep?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said and started gathering myself to stand up. Carol bandaged my wounds but I was still slightly limping as I went upstairs. At this point, I didn't even care that I wasn't wearing trousers, just my underwear. I wanted to lie down and forget about everything that happened this day.

…

Author's notes: Listen to "everything I wanted" by Billie Eilish.

Thank You for reading! ❤