Sadie woke up at nearly four in the morning, in the mood to kill. Not a zombie, but a human. She blinked as Negan pulled the blankets off of her, still fast asleep. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a can of beer out of the fridge. Sadie shrugged and looked out the window.
After sipping from the can, she pressed her lips. 'Bit strong, but now I'm wide awake.'
Negan wrinkled his nose at the scent of the beverage and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He quietly stood in the doorway as Sadie sighed, drinking from the can. 'Has a mind of her own.' He folded his arms. "Mornin'."
"Hey." She cleared her throat, not turning her head.
"You hungry?"
Sadie shook her head. "I'm not." She set the half empty can on the counter and threw on her hoodie.
Negan huffed and followed her. "Sadie?" "Yeah?" She opened the shower door. "This is serious babe. Look at me."
After starting the water, Sadie turned to face him. "What's up?" "I..need to let you go for a while." She looked at him and nodded with her eyes half closed. "Understood." A tear slid down her cheek.
"Alright." He folded his arms again. "I uhh..l'm going out with the men to investigate this whole f*ckin' hissy fit deal Rick had. Will be a while. Week at most." He knelt down to her and cupped her right cheek. "You'll be free to roam the Sanctuary. With food, water, everything you'll need."
"Except you." She whispered.
His mouth dropped. "Don't make this difficult for me babe. I hate to do this but.." "You're protective. I know." He cleared her eyes with his thumbs. "It's who I am Sadie. What I've become. If you can't take it, you can leave."
"I'll never leave!" She tightly hugged him and hiccuped. "I love you." He sighed and picked her up, hugging her back. "Dr. Carson will check on you from time to time." Sadie nodded and looked at the clock. Negan kissed her on the lips. "I'll be back before you know it." He placed her back on her feet.
Sadie looked up and met his eyes like a lost puppy. He sighed and walked to the door. She had the same expression as he looked back at her. Negan huffed and closed the door behind him.
She blinked and sat on the kitchen floor. "I didn't even get to say goodbye to Claude." Sadie traced her fingers along the squared lines in the floor. "It's deadly quiet." She huffed and lay down on her arm.
"Move out!" Negan shouted as ten Saviors loaded into one of the trailers.
Claude huffed and silently obeyed. 'I hope this won't be too long.'
"Rest of you, Don't shit your pants." Negan grinned and grabbed Lucille before heading out the door.
The other twenty Saviors looked at each one another, puzzled. "Stop stalling and get back to work! It's not a holiday!" Simon barked. He then sighed, thinking of paying Sadie a bit of a visit. Simon walked up the balcony and opened the door to Negan's place.
Sadie closed her eyes and looked at the wall, not wanting anyone to see her cry.
"Hey."
"Hi." She huffed.
"Why don't you come downstairs? Join the crowd?" "I'd rather not." Sadie blinked and wiped her eyes. "Turn that frown upside down kid."
She looked at him and straightened up. "I prefer to be alone for a while. I'll show up eventually." He shrugged and left back to the warehouse.
Sadie slapped herself on the cheek and left back to the bedroom. She stepped into Negan's closet with a smile. "Ah. The sweet smell of masculinity." She grabbed a black long sleeved t-shirt and went to shower.
Soon after, Sadie smiled and left down the staircase after putting on her shorts.
"Sadie!"
"Can't a girl get some peace and quiet damn it?" She muttered and met up with two of the Saviors. "How do you know my name?" "Lucky guess." One of them smirked. "Think Negan was gonna let you wander around here anonymous?"
She sighed. "Shit. Alright, What's going on?"
They shrugged and handed her a baby wrapped in a white blanket with animals on it. She widened her eyes and took the baby in her arms while supporting her head. "Was I knocked out when this happened?"
He smiled and glanced at her stomach. "Nah Sadie, you weren't. Her name is Gracie. She was being protected at one of the outposts but obviously Rick and his piece of shit team took out everyone there, except her."
"Oh. Poor baby." Sadie slowly moved her body side to side. "Well I wasn't exactly yearning to play the role of a mom today, but I can dig it. Does she have diapers? Food? That kind of stuff?" "Yep she does." A green duffel bag was set on the floor.
"Okay then." She smiled and lightly bounced Gracie while holding her. "Does she have a crib or.." "Did. But it would have taken too long to dissemble. Not to mention risky." "Ah. I'll figure something out." She nodded and held out a fist.
"You rock girl." He bumped it. Sadie smiled and took Gracie's tiny right hand in hers. "Someone's sleepy." She hauled the bag over her shoulder and strolled around the Sanctuary.
"Well that escalated quickly." Another man joked.
"Oh yeah. Very funny. I think my figure came back nice don't you?" She stuck out her tongue. He softly kissed the baby on the head. She opened her eyes and was about to cry.
"Please don't cry." Sadie gulped. Gracie sneezed and closed her eyes. "Well that went well. I'll go..sing to her or something."
"Oh wait! I think there's a rocking chair in this place somewhere." "Really? Cool! Let me get her settled upstairs and I'll grab it."
He shrugged as she disappeared up the stairs into Negan's bedroom and hummed.
"Let's see..Where can I set you for now?"
The door opened two minutes later.
"Ah great. I could have brought that up here though." The chair was brought inside the bedroom and was put in the middle of the floor. "Ah don't sweat it. So yeah, She normally gets three to four bottles a day." "Awesome. Thanks. Uh.." "Gary. And uh..there's toys in the bag too."
"Gotcha." She sat in the chair with the baby on her lap.
Gary left the room and closed the door behind him. Sadie shut her eyes. "Could be worse."
Gracie started crying and tried to squirm out of Sadie's arms. "Hey. It's alright." She half smiled. "I bet you're hungry. She dug into the bag and took out a bottle. "Gonna be a long week." She adjusted herself in the rocking chair and held the bottle as Gracie hungrily drank from it.
"Woah. Easy there kiddo." Sadie rocked the chair and sighed. "You're so cute." She turned on the stereo and lowered the volume as Easy Street played. "Is that the only song that's allowed in here?" Gracie pushed the bottle away and sneezed. "That was dis-gust-ing!" Sadie wiped her nose with a tissue and the baby grabbed the rest of the bottle.
Sadie smiled and shut her eyes. Gracie started to cry after the bottle was empty. "Mhhm." She lightly pat her back. The baby quietly burped and closed her eyes, resting her head on the girl's left shoulder. She started sucking on her thumb. "Good girl Gracie." Sadie sighed. "I wonder what happened to your mom sweetie."
She gasped as the door opened.
"I suppose you can call it beginner's luck." Sadie sighed. "Well she is a baby. They don't do much besides leak body fluids." Simon picked her up. "Why don't you clean yourself up? Go get somethin' to eat." She nodded and stood up. "How's security out there?"
"Still a bunch of.." Sadie covered Gracie's ears as Simon was about to swear. "..god damn chaos." She took her hands back.
"But I got another job for you. Actually, multiple. Since all the men are acting like.." Sadie covered Gracie's ears again. "..f*ckin' pussies,.." Sadie blinked. ".. I want you to open five packs of beer, haul some boxes into the back room, then guard outside, and finally give the little pain in the ass a bath." "Man. When you said multiple, you weren't screwing around. Not like I can go crying to Negan."
She smiled and backed up. "I'll get right on it." She ran down the hall to brush her hair and grabbed an apple off of the counter. Simon sighed and sat down in the rocking chair. He rolled his eyes as the talki in his shirt started to static.
"What?" *"Be prepared for a little blackout. One of the outposts was freakin' demolished."* Gracie cooed and playfully smacked it. Negan hummed. *"Hey sweetheart. So yeah, I'm going to need you to push Sadie a bit harder in order to get shit back on schedule."*
"Already have her playing bartender, security, and mom. What else do you want?" Negan groaned. *"Have her scream at people! Last thing I want is for people to start killing each other. Okay? Give her the orders and she'll do the rest. Should be back in a few days or so."*
"Alright. On it." *"Good. Let everyone else be. Don't say anything and I'll deal with them accordingly when I get back. And try to find a dress for her. Can't come home to a little boy."*
Simon narrowed his eyes and covered the baby's ears. "The f*ck does that even mean?"
Sadie came back with her hair in a ponytail. She scribbled a checklist on her hand with a marker and put on her sneakers. "I'm out." She shut the door before Simon could answer her.
After running to the pit, she grabbed the bottle opener and started to open all thirty bottles. Once opening the last one, she sighed. "I just want to lay back down."
"Tired?" She turned around, seeing Negan behind her. "No..Not at all. I mean.."
"That's fine. Sit on your ass and just look f*ckin' pretty for me." Sadie tightened her eyes and held her breath. "Hey. You okay?" She nodded. "Yes. One hundred percent." "You don't look like it." He frowned. She shivered. "Negan I.."
"Negan? My name is Regina." A woman with short gray hair flicked her on the forehead. She fixed her gray top and open black vest.
"I have got to cut back on drinking." Sadie turned her head away and shamed herself. "Sorry about that." She left out the door to her next objective. 'So the female population does exist in here.'
"What's your name? I haven't seen you before." Regina called after her. "Sadie." She called back and started to bring boxes to a large storage room. As she lifted the first one, Sadie groaned and instantly let go. "Weighs like forty pounds! And there's ten!" She rolled her eyes and squatted down, taking a deep breath before lifting it. "Ugh."
Once dropping it off down the hall, she went to get the others. Sadie smiled as Simon's shouting was heard all the way from the conference room, but stopped and quickly ran to check on the baby.
Gracie lifted her head with a teething ring in her mouth and cooed. A multi colored play pen was organized around her. "Hey sweetie." She half smiled. 'Where the hell did that play gate come from? Oh well. At least she's safe.'
Before returning to her so called job, Sadie closed her eyes. 'You can sleep later. Stop.' Sadie quickly poured a glass of water and lightly smiled. "When I get back, you're getting a bath." Gracie stuck out her tongue. She gasped. "Not in this house missy." Sadie pointed and hurried downstairs, but was stopped by one of the Saviors. She backed up, intimidated by his built frame and muscles.
"What the hell are you staring at?" He scowled. "Get back to work." She blinked, unsure of whether or not to respond. "In fact, Why don't you come out of your little cry corner and step up to the plate."
Simon covered her mouth from behind her. "Statement's made. Now go." "Little bitch." He muttered as he walked away. Sadie narrowed her eyes. "Say that to my face you piece of shit!" The man smirked and continued walking.
"Last time I checked, you had a couple of tasks to accomplish." "I can't do all of this by myself!" He snickered. "You do not want to cross the line today." He shoved her outside. "Damn it!" She wiped her eyes in anger and grabbed a spear.
*"How's she holding up?"* "Shitty. In fact she just came inside." Simon blinked, hearing the door open. *"Let me talk to her."* He rolled his eyes and motioned her to him.
"Shit." Sadie gulped and took it from him. She sat in a corner and sighed. "Gracie's safe." *"I'm not asking about her! I'm asking about you. What happened?"* "Just overwhelmed." *"Suck it up. That's life."* She widened her eyes. *"Tomorrow I'm just going to have you play with the baby. Got it? I'm giving the boys a piece of my mind tonight."* "Okay."
She handed the talki back to Simon and went upstairs to give the baby a bath. Gracie happily crawled over to the side of the pen and cooed. Sadie picked her up and sighed. "I'm so not cut out for this mothering thing." She carried the baby to a small bathtub and started the water.
After testing it's temperature, She undressed the infant and sat her in the water. Gracie smiled and splashed Sadie's shirt. "Hey!"
The baby opened her mouth and giggled, doing so again. "Alright that's it." The girl gently splashed her back then went to get shampoo from her bag. "Come here you." Sadie poured a little in her hands and sighed.
Her mothering instincts starting to kick in.
After getting Gracie all nice and clean, she dressed her in cozy pink and white footy pajamas. "Last bottle." Sadie smiled and picked her up. She took one from the bag and sat in the rocking chair. Gracie smiled at her then started crying. Sadie gave her the bottle and she stopped. The girl rocked the chair back and forth and sighed. "I wonder what happened to your mommy. Your real mom." Sadie wiped her right eye. "I'm your mom now." She kissed her on the forehead.
Once she finished her bottle, Sadie quietly burbed her. "Time to go to sleep. Are you sleepy?" The girl undressed to her bra and underwear. She put on the sweatpants that Negan let her borrow and huffed, worried if Gracie would fall off of the bed in the middle of the night. "She won't. Just surround her with pillows."
After doing just that and getting under the covers, Gracie crawled on top of her and giggled. "What's so funny?" The baby babbled something and put her mouth on Sadie's left breast. She shivered. "There's..nothing there sweetheart. Are you comfortable there?" Gracie rolled over onto the bed and closed her eyes. Sadie placed an arm around her and quietly sang to her.
Frollo sighed as his thoughts resorted back to Sadie as he lay down in a bed at an abandoned Alexandrian home. He turned on a stereo and the song that played caused him to sit on the edge of the bed, full of regret.
I'm not a perfect person. There's many things I wish I didn't do. But I continue learning. I never meant to do those things to you. And so I have to say before I go, That I just want you to know. I've found out a reason for me. To change who I used to be. A reason to start over new. And the reason is you.