Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the original characters and original situations/ideas in this story. TWD is simply my playground.
She arrived at her room and began to pull out the necessary supplies to fix up her face. She had everything she needed, now she just required something to look into while she stitched everything up. The last thing she wanted to do was have to go to the showers and sew herself up in front of everyone. She dug around, finally finding a little mirror that she could prop up on her table. She set everything out, getting ready to begin her work, when the light over her door began to blink. She grinned at her self made doorbell, glad that it prevented people from knocking and then coming in. She opened the door, greeted by a certain dark haired Savior, looking far from happy. Lucia stood aside, allowing him entrance into her room.
"The fuck are you doin', Luce?! Go to Carson and get your fucking face fixed, that's an order," he fumed.
"I can take care of it myself, Carson is gonna be busy cataloguing everything that we brought back. That's much more important for him to focus on." She shifted her weight, nervous about the fallout of this conversation. She could tell that Negan was upset and that she was clearly the cause. She just hoped that she could get through this conversation unscathed.
"You can take care of your fucking self?!" Negan roared. "Are you about to fuckin' tell me that you're gonna sew your own face up?"
Lucia sat down, gesturing for him to do the same. She didn't want to become as heated as the man in her room was. She knew the consequences of anger in a place like this, especially when that anger was directed at a superior, or in this case THE superior.
"I can and I will fix my face," she replied calmly. She refused to take the bait.
"I didn't fucking ask you if you could or couldn't do it yourself. I'm telling you that I want your face looked at by a medical fucking professional. You need to go see him about that hit that Davy gave you, anyway." he snapped. He refused the seat that she offered him, instead opting to pace the small room with Lucille swinging.
"Stop pacing, I can't read your lips."
He stopped right in front of her, crouching down to her level. "I want you to go get checked, Lucia, you can't do this yourself. You're a fucking wife and professor, not a doctor."
Her blood began to boil, she was desperately trying to temper down the flames that threatened to engulf her. Try as she might, the words began to drip off her lips. "Yes, Negan, I was a fucking professor. Did you ever think to ask a professor of what? I was a nursing professor specializing in advanced practice registered nursing. The only reason that I fucking taught was because my kid died. I couldn't handle trying to save other kids when I couldn't fucking save my own. And yes, I was a goddamn wife. That wife of mine, she was a fucking paramedic, Negan. We worked in the medical field saving lives and we couldn't even save the life that truly mattered. Then the world ended and here I am. So I am perfectly qualified to sew up my own goddamn face and do it fucking perfectly. If you wanna help me, fucking great, you can let me use your bathroom because the light is better and you have a big mirror. If not, leave me be so I can focus on sewing my face back together!"
Negan raised his eyebrows, stunned at her outburst. He stood up, wiping a hand on his salt and pepper beard. He had expected her to react, but not in such a volatile manner. She was seething and pissed off, he could feel the intense emotions radiating off of her.
"Get up, grab your shit, let's move."
Lucia nodded, gathering up her equipment in her hands. It startled her when a strong hand gripped her upper arm, propelling her forward. She didn't say a word, it wasn't as if she could see his response anyway.
The walk up to Negan's rooms was hurried and uncomfortable, at best. His tight grip on her arm was going to bruise if he didn't lighten up soon. The workers and Saviors that they did encounter hurried out of their way, not wanting to be on the receiving end of their leader's wrath. The last thing anyone wanted was to be an excuse for him to use Lucille.
Once they reached his rooms and opened the door, he led her in, letting go of her arm as he did so. "Go, fix yourself up, then we'll talk."
She nodded again, keeping silent as she made her way to the bathroom. As Lucia washed up, she watched the Savior behind her through the mirror's reflection. He paced, clearly agitated, barking orders into his walkie talkie from time to time.
The suturing process was fairly easy. The gash running down her left jawbone was long and deep, but the edges were smooth, making sewing herself together simple. The gash that went vertically through her eyebrow wasn't even severe enough to warrant stitches. Instead, she simply closed it with a few butterfly bandages. They would both more than likely scar, but she wasn't too worried about it. In this world, scars were inevitable, so there was no use worrying about it. These weren't her first scars, nor would they be her last.
Lucia gathered up her supplies and cleaned them the best she could. She would have to sanitize what she could later and then ask Dr. Carson if he would want her to keep them or dispose of them. She placed everything neatly on the counter before washing her hands. She sighed, she had prolonged the inevitable. It was time to simply rip off the bandaid and have a conversation with the Savior waiting beyond the door for her.
Negan sat at his desk, looking over some papers and maps for a future run. She could see that he was clearly agitated and she knew that she was the cause of it. She felt no remorse for her actions, though, her anger at the Savior in front of her was justified. Nevertheless, even justified anger came at a price.
He looked up and saw her standing before him, quietly shifting back and forth on her feet, waiting for his attention to pass to her. Seeing the stitches on her face, he softened a bit, getting up to inspect them. He held her chin lightly, surveying her work. Her stitches were clean, even, possibly even better than Dr. Carson himself. She was right when she told him that she could take care of it herself. Negan gently ran his thumb across the bruise that had bloomed on her cheekbone, careful not to cause her any pain.
"How's the cheek feelin', doll? You took a hell of a hit from Davy." His fingers ghosted down her cheek, wandering down to her jawbone, tracing right above the wound on her face.
She looked up at him, her eyes studying every inch of the Savior's face before her hands fluttered to life, answering his question. "I'm fine, it hurts, but I'll be fine."
The Savior nodded, deep in thought, before pulling away and sitting down on one of the chairs in front of the window. He motioned for her to sit with him. Lucia took a breath before following and settling down in the opposite chair.
Negan studied her for a moment, taking in her appearance before he began. "We need to talk, Luce, and I think you're well aware of that fact."
She nodded, tersely signing, "I know."
"You can't dig into me like that in a place where others can hear, and fuckin' trust me, they did hear because, doll, you are a loud mother fucker when you get pissed. I don't think you realize just how loud since you can't actually hear yourself. In here, if you wanna let off steam, scream, yell, give me fuckin' hell, I can live with that. But outside of these rooms, you can't do that and you know it. You've gotta follow the rules and the rules are that you give me the upmost fuckin' respect. I can't have you doin' what you did. You understand that, right?"
Again she nodded, staying silent. She could tell that he wasn't finished yet.
"I need you to answer me on this one, Luce, do you understand?"
Her fingers fluttered as words poured out of her hands, "I understand."
"You know I have to punish you, right? I don't wanna, but I have to. Rules are rules and the rules are what keep us alive."
Finally, she spoke, the words quiet, barely audible, "I expected as much."
He watched her for a moment, noting her clear discomfort. She was usually so stoic in moments such as this, but today was different. He could see that her earlier outburst had opened a few new wounds, cracking the walls that she worked so hard to keep in place.
"You were some type of hyper qualified nurse before this shit show, correct?"
"I was an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, for me, that meant that I worked in a hospital and was able to see patients on my own, write prescriptions when needed, do stitches like the ones that I did on my own face...I could do quite a bit."
The Savior across from her ran a hand through his salt and pepper scruff, deep in thought. She could see the cogs turning in his mind as he put the pieces together. She suspected where this line of questioning was going, but she wasn't sure yet. She waited patiently, knowing that pressing Negan would only cause him to take more time.
"Alright, then, I've made up my mind. You're going to be working in the infirmary for the next two weeks. We've got some shit coming up and I think Dr. Carson would be grateful for the extra hand. You don't get to be apart of the shit that's going down, but you will be patching everyone up afterwards. That's your punishment. You cannot argue with me about this one because I am being lenient as fuck with you and you know it. You'll be useful there and it'll give you time to figure out some shit. Get into the swing of things, do your job well, and we can talk about this in two weeks. If you still aren't comfortable with being back in a medical setting, I won't force you to stay. If you feel that you are, then I'll put you into rotation a few times a week and have you run in on emergencies. You did well today, leading that run, so I don't want to completely lose you to the infirmary. So Luce, what do you think?"
Lucia's cool grey eyes met his as she considered what she was going to say. She knew that her punishment should be far more severe for her insubordination, she knew that if she was anyone else, it would be much worse. Her hands moved, softly and smoothly, her signs quite small. "I don't want to, but I'll do it. It's more than what I deserve."
With that Negan stood up, offering his hand to the sitting woman. She accepted, allowing him to pull her up. His hands created words for her, treading into the unspoken territory that they often shared. "You're still filthy, Luce, let's go get you cleaned up. A shower will do us both some good."
Her face lit up into a small smile. He took a closer look at her, really studying the woman in front of him. There were dark circles under her eyes, a sure sign that she hadn't been sleeping properly. He could tell that they were worse than normal, the purple half moons taking over her alabaster skin. He wondered if she ever truly slept, for as long as he had known her, the darkness had been there. His eyes wandered to her cheekbone, where the dark bruise glared up at him. He pursed his lips, making a note to himself to have a little conversation with Davy about hitting women. He could tell that she wasn't eating enough either, her cheeks were slightly sunken in, making her look halfway hollow. He would have to make sure that she was actually eating. The last thing he needed was to find Lucia passed out on the fucking floor due to the fact that she simply didn't eat.
"No funny business tonight, darlin'. Let's get you showered and changed and then we can have somethin' to eat. We can screw around tomorrow if you feel up to it, but tonight I just want a quiet night."
A bigger smile crossed her face as she surveyed the Savior in front of her. Her hands danced, telling him just what he wanted to hear. "That sounds nice. I think I'd like that."
Their shower was quiet, void of any conversation, spoken or otherwise. It was just two bodies getting clean together. As the warm water hit their bodies, Negan leaned the blonde Savior back to wet her hair. Slowly and methodically he massaged her scalp with fragrant shampoo that was far beyond what anyone else had in this place. He worked at her long curls, washing the blood, dirt, and grime out. As he worked, he listened to the hums of pleasure coming out of the woman in front of him. He grinned in a cocky manner, enjoying that his touch could elicit such lovely sounds from her mouth. If he had known how much she enjoyed his fingers in her hair, he would have done it much more often. He leaned her back once more to get the suds out of her hair, keeping her head under the stream of water until the water ran clean once more.
The blonde Savior grinned as she leaned forward, grabbing the shampoo from the shelf. She reached up, tangling her fingers up in Negan's hair and washing him in return. They stayed like this for some time, taking turns washing the other. Eventually, they were both clean and refreshed, ready to leave the safe haven of the shower. Lucia sighed, enjoying the lazy state that she was in, before looking up at the man before her and signing, "I'm finished, ready to get out?" He nodded, turning off the water and taking her hand, leading her out of the small space. They toweled off quickly, the winter chill setting in quite fast.
Negan threw a grey shirt and a pair of boxers in the blonde Savior's direction, she caught them, looking at him with a brow arched in question. "It's useless for ya to put on your dirty clothes and I'm pretty fuckin' sure you don't wanna spend the rest of the day naked. I wouldn't be against it, but somethin' tells me that you might get cold. I'll have someone wash these so that you have them for tomorrow."
She nodded as she shrugged on his clothes. They were soft and smelled like him. She wouldn't say no to wearing his things. By the time she looked up, the dark Savior was in his customary white t-shirt and grey pants, pulling his boots on. She looked at him questioningly, "Are you going out?"
"Just to grab us some food and get someone to clean these for ya. You need some food in ya and I would have to say that I'm pretty damn hungry too. I wanna check in on Simon and the doc, too. I won't be long, make yourself comfortable."
Lucia bit her lip, weighing her options. "I should go back and check on everything, it was my run after all. I want to make sure that everything got done like it was supposed to."
"Nah, don't worry about it. I'm headed that way, so I'll get all the log information that we need and bring it back up. You did fuckin' good today, Luce. I'll be back in a bit."
Negan left his rooms, making his way through the Sanctuary, swinging Lucille and whistling a merry tune as he went. As pissed as he was that Lucia had insisted on fixing her own damn face, he had to admit that she had done a damn good job. Hell, her sutures were pristine. He could of done much worse than assigned her to the infirmary for a few weeks, but if he was being honest with himself he simply hadn't wanted to. He shook his head, that woman might be right about that soft spot.
Author's Note: Well, well, shit went down. Now Lucia has to pay the price. It was my day off today and I was on a writing kick, so I hammered out a chunk of the story. I thought that since I did write a bit, I could share more with you guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave me a review, let me know what you're thinking about everything :-) Thank you for your reviews Guest and Nicole. They're appreciated and definitely fuel the fire when it comes to my creativity. -Kat