She woke several times in the night to a screaming baby, and although she did her best to soothe him quickly, she heard groans and curses from the other women in the room. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep before she felt a sharp jab in her side. She peeled her eyes open to see one of the other wives with a sneer plastered on her face.

"Negan wants to see you." Was all she said before she strutted away, her black high heels clicking on the concrete floor. Charlotte sat up slowly, careful not to disturb the baby, and saw a small pile of clothes on her bedside table. The baby snored softly as Charlotte dressed in a simple white v neck and jeans, deciding to leave her feet bare and gently picking Gabriel up. He readjusted slightly but continued to sleep as Charlotte padded out of the room, wandering around in the hopes she'd find Negan. She passed by many Saviors, most of whom looked at her with disdain, and the others simply looked over her. She finally became frustrated with her wandering and stopped the next person she saw, who happened to be one of the men guarding Negan during his stay in Alexandria, named Dwight.

"Excuse me," she said in a hushed voice, running a frustrated hand through her hair, "could you tell me where the hell I can find Negan? He sent for me and the bitch who came to get me didn't tell me where he was."

Dwight let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, Sarah can be a little short at times. I personally think she's just jealous she doesn't have Negan all to herself. This way." He offered Charlotte a small smile and began to lead her through the halls. Once again, she felt utterly lost, but trusted Dwight to take her where she needed to go. Eventually they came to an open door that led to a large room filled with cream colored couches. Dwight ushered her in, and she was greeted with the sight of Negan lounging on one of the couches, legs splayed open and surrounded by women. He had a drink in one hand and was flirting with a tall redhead, his other hand stroking her cheek. When he noticed that Charlotte had entered the room, his gaze shifted to her and he smiled broadly, pulling his hand away from the redhead to shoo the other women away from him. They exited with annoyed looks on their faces, looking down on her with disgust, and as Sarah passed her, Charlotte calmly flipped her the bird, smiling the whole time.

Negan laughed, beckoning her toward him with his free hand. As she approached, he stood, kissed her cheek and gazed down at Gabriel. He nodded to a small crib in the corner of the room and she placed the sleeping baby down gently before turning to face Negan, who had followed her to the crib.

"What a sweetheart," he commented, his voice sickly sweet. He faced Charlotte now and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face.

"So, darling wife, how are you settling in so far?"

She shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to tell him about how horrible the other women were, and managed: "Fine, I suppose. Gabe's not too happy though, he was screaming the whole night."

"Yes, uh, dear Sarah was eager to inform me of that and I do apologize, but there's just not enough room here for you to have your own bedroom. So everyone there's just going to have to get used to it. Drink?" he offered, gesturing to a table behind him on which rested a couple of bottles of liquor and a handful of glasses.

"No, thanks."

"Suit yourself." He refilled his glass.

"Is that all?" she asked, slightly annoyed that she had to wake up early for a simple check-in.

Negan looked slightly offended, leaning back from her. "Is that all? What, you want me to not give a shit if you're miserable here? I'll tell you what, from now on I won't bother to check in on you, okay?" He turned and motioned to Dwight, who opened the door and let the other wives back inside.

"Negan, I-" she began, immediately regretting her cranky comment.

"Just take the kid and go, okay? You can find me if there's a serious enough problem."

Dejected, Charlotte picked Gabriel up once more, only this time he woke up and instantly began screaming, which only hurried her out the door. She returned to her room with Dwight's help and made up some formula for the baby, frustrated tears springing from her eyes when that didn't soothe him. He screamed for what seemed like hours, and after changing his diaper, feeding him, and trying to find things to entertain him, Charlotte was exhausted and crying about as much as he was. It was late when she finally resigned to placing him in his crib and trying her hardest to rock him to sleep. The other women returned as he was still screaming, most of them muttering something along the lines of "shut that damn kid up" or "if that kid wakes me up again tonight, so help me god I'll kill it". Thankfully, Gabriel fell asleep soon after, with Charlotte following suit.

It was a week later when she felt a pair of legs straddling her thighs and something cold press against her throat, and her eyes shot open to see the smug face of Sarah. It was dark, with only a small candle illuminating the room, but Charlotte knew that there was a knife on her throat. She swallowed and the knife pressed into her skin more forcefully, the woman above her looking as if she would have no reservations in killing Charlotte. The woman's blonde hair hung down into Charlotte's face, obscuring most of her vision, and Sarah leaned down so her lips were next to her ear.

"I should do it, you know." She hissed. "Yeah, Negan would be pissed for a little while; he always loves getting a new piece of pussy, but he'd get over it after a while. I can promise you that. Don't fuck with me, bitch, or I will kill you."

Sarah slipped back to her bed on the opposite side of the room, kicking Gabriel's crib on her way and flashing a wicked grin to Charlotte as the baby began to cry once more. With no regard to the fact that she was only wearing a small slip, Charlotte quickly picked him up and hurriedly ran from the room. She wandered around the halls, once again getting completely lost, and gave up, sitting on the cold concrete floor while bouncing the baby on her lap. That's where she stayed until daylight, absolutely positive that she was going to go insane before any of the wives had a chance to kill her. People rushed past her on the way to their individual chores and duties, and she vaguely remembered Dwight crouching down next to her and asking something along the lines of "are you okay?" to which she could only shake her head before he hurried away.

The next thing she knew, a pair of strong hands was hauling her up from her position on the floor and she was facing Negan, who was looking worriedly into her eyes. He grabbed her elbow and guided her through the Sanctuary until they reached his bedroom. He took Gabriel from her, placed him in the crib, and returned to her, pushing her gently down onto one of the couches. She stared blankly around, exhausted to the point where she wasn't entirely sure what was going on at the moment.

"Charlotte," Negan said, now sitting next to her, and she turned her head to face him. "What happened?"

Her eyes remained blank until the events of the night returned to her and they filled with tears. She threw her arms around Negan's neck and sobbed into his chest. He was taken aback at this, and gently stroked her hair with one hand as the other lightly grabbed a hold of her waist.

When she finally pulled away from him and attempted to give an answer, she could barely speak through her choked sobs, "They," sob, "she," sob, "said she would," sob, "kill me and – and the baby too and, and-" at this, Negan's face turned red with rage and he pulled her back into his arms to comfort her.

When she had gotten her crying under control, she pulled back from him once more and grabbed the collar of his jacket. "Don't make me go back there and live with them, please don't make me go back." She pleaded, her grip like a vice on him.

"Baby girl, I already told you that there's no other place for you to go-"

"Please, Negan, please." She dipped her head down and the tears began to start once more.

"But I suppose there's enough room for you here to stay with me, and I guess it would be good to have someone else helping to take care of the little monster." He nodded to where Gabriel lay silently. "What do you say about that, love? Would you like that?"

Charlotte nodded fervently and slid her hands around his waist in a tight hug, whispering a genuine "thank you". He placed a long finger under her chin and tilted her head up so she looked him in the eyes, and a small smile grew on his lips: something that Charlotte believed very few people had actually seen. She wasn't sure what overcame her, but before she could think, she had breached the gap between her and Negan. Their lips met in a frantic yet soft kiss, both of them surprised at the woman's actions, but neither of them quite regretting that she did so. Negan's eyes closed slowly and his hand reached the base of her neck, playing with the short hairs there. Their lips worked together as they sat there, completely engrossed in one another, that is at least until Gabriel decided that he was missing out on the attention and began crying once more. Charlotte was the first to break the kiss, a shy look on her face, and stood to comfort the fussy infant. Negan's hand shot out to grab her wrist before she walked away and she turned back to face him. His face was soft and he looked as if he was about to say something to her, but decided against it and released her.

She picked Gabriel up and returned with him to the couch, where Negan made faces to entertain him. He stopped however when he realized that was the first time that he had ever kissed Charlotte. He eyed the woman next to him, watching her interact with a child that was not even hers, but one that she had taken in and had been caring for with no outside help. He was amazed by her, to say the least, and he couldn't help himself as he leaned in to kiss her once more, wanting to savor the sensation. She was much softer, more innocent than his other wives; something he found very intriguing and wanted to preserve as best he could.

She slept in his bed that night: they lay facing each other with her hands on his chest and his arms pulled around her waist. They had pulled Gabriel's crib into his room and some men were in charge of moving her things to his room for her the next day so she would not have to face the other women, from whom Negan decided to take a "much needed break".

That night, Charlotte slept more peacefully than she could ever remember, and she was confident in the fact that this man would protect her at least for the night. His steady breathing calmed her and the sound of his strong heartbeat quickly lulled her to sleep.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.