Sadie's POV

"You wanna hand me that?" I asked, pointing in front of Alex, who was watching me from his blanket as I worked out some kinks that needed fixing on my motorcycle from chasing down that Savior.

It took him a minute to process before he giddily picked up the small wrench that was sitting in front of him and handed it to me.

"Thaaank you." I cooed to him. "What a good little helper you are!"

He giggled at the praise, grabbing up his little plush dog and moving him to his lap, as if he needed to learn how to help too.

I chuckled at the gesture til the sound of approaching footsteps distracted him, quieting him as he looked up a little more shyly.

I looked up, myself, to find that Daryl was the one approaching us.

His expression softened slightly, briefly, as he glanced down at Alex before returning his attention back to me.

"Haven't you scarred my kid enough for one day?" I scoffed at him, referring to his earlier outburst over Dwight.

"I'm cool." He said calmly.

"Mama…" Alex's small voice said, behind me.

I turned to reach my hand over to calm him.

"Hey, It's alright, Bud. He's not gonna do anything." I gave him, what I hoped was, a reassuring enough smile. "You wanna go take a Jett for a little walk after this?"

He nodded giddily, seeming to accept the distraction, at least for now.

"That's my boy." I messed up his hair a little, which he thought was just so funny, before returning back to my bike…...and Daryl.

"So, what do you want?" I finally asked him

"...Look, what I did back at The Sanctuary, trying to end it real quick…" He explained. "...I just wanted it done…..I didn't…." He sighed. "...I didn't wanna give 'em anymore chances to take anymore of our people…...not again…I didn't care who was there….I just figured you'd know somethin bout that."

"I guess you are right then. I said. "...I have people too….certainly not a lot, thanks to some of your fine people, so I'm not gonna sleep well until he's in the ground either, even if I didn't give a shit about Maggie…...but I also meant what I said back at that truck. More of them than not may just as well deserve to be in the ground with him, I know they do, maybe even a lot of people back at Terminus did….now I'm not claiming that any of us were saints, hell I probably belong in the ground with them, but for Christ's sakes, most of us just did what we had to to survive. I mean, my God, most of our supply runners only took their job to get a break from it all because they couldn't stand what we were doing….and I'll bet The Sanctuary's no different….hell, even Tara, one of your OWN said that there were families there…..so, yeah, I do know somethin about that….and I also know a little somethin about what pulling that kinda shit back then got you….and what it got Rick."

He slammed his hands down on the bike to get as close as he could to getting in my face.

"You keep his name out of your fuckin mouth!" He growled.

I stood up and shoved his hands right back at him.

"Keep your filthy hands off my shit, and I won't have to say it!" I growled right back at him, turning back around to scoop Alex up into my arms to take him away from the scene, and pick up the plush dog which was now on the ground.

"It's okay, what do you say you and me go take that walk, yeah?" I reassured him.

He nodded a little more hesitantly as he clung to me.

"...So, you're going with them?" Gareth asked as we both watched Alex running up alongside Jett, just a few feet ahead of us.

"Yeah, Theresa too." I answered. "We're gonna split up, cover more ground."

He nodded. "Sure you don't want me to go with you? Cover even more ground….." He let a little smirk escape. "...maybe even catch some alone time, if we're lucky."

I couldn't help but smirk a little, myself.

"As good as that sounds right about now, one of us should really stay here with Alex." I explained. "In case…."

"In case…..?" He questioned. "...what?"

I shrugged. "Look, Gar, I'm not gonna lie to you. If I see Negan out there, and I do intend to…..I'm gonna kill him…...or at the very least, I'll make him wish I just would. We got lucky with Dwight, leading those other goons away like he did, but we can't take any more chances like that, not if we don't have to."

"And you don't think killing him could make that worse?" He raised with concern.

"Not if they don't know who did it." I pointed out.

He nodded, accepting that. "...What about Maggie?"

"No, she can't know. Not now, anyway. Not about me seeking him out." I said, a little more abruptly than I'd intended. "...So, you can't tell her."

"Oh, but Sadie, you know we're like totally besties. We don't keep secrets from each other." He teased.

I smacked him playfully for that. "Very funny."

"I thought it was." He chuckled. "..But no, I meant….what you said, about- "

"Yeah, I know what I promised." I explained, beating him to it. "...and I still mean it. Ideally, Maggie will get the first swing at him….it's just what I said before, though. We can't take any chances…..not again."

"Well, you sound like you know what you're doing." He observed.

"...and who I'm doing." I added with a little smirk. "I'll be around plenty when I get back, take you up on some of that alone time."

He grinned at that. "Is that a promise?"

"Have I ever let you down?" I reminded him.

"Certainly not." He chuckled, leaning in to kiss me.

I kissed him again. "Now, I've just got a couple more kinks to work out on the bike and she should be good to go. I'll let you know before I take off."

"Sounds good to me."

I nodded, walking ahead to pick up Alex.

"Buuut not without my favorite helper though." I told him when I caught up. "What do you say, bud? Wanna come with Mommy so she can finish up the bike?"

"Yeah!" He agreed eagerly, clearly forgetting about the previous encounter over there.

"Let's go then." I told him, setting him back down. "Lead the way."

I watched as he ran a little bit ahead of me, apparently already somewhat recalling the general direction we'd come from.

Jett followed closely behind both of us.

Once I'd finally been able to get to my lookout point and begin my stakeout for the bastard, it wasn't too long before I caught sight of some cars turn onto the stretch of road I'd been watching from my bike.

I pulled out the pair of binoculars I'd brought along for this to confirm that the next, black car, I saw speeding down the road was him…...and he was alone in it, at that.

Perfect.

I tossed them aside to quickly, as I could, start up my bike and speed after him.

As I gained speed and started to catch up with him, myself, I took my walkie out to radio Theresa, who was in her car not far from where I was.

I took my gun out with one hand and began firing shots. First at his tires, then the windows.

I smirked as his open driver's side window allowed me to hear him cursing me out, til Theresa showed up, pulling up ahead of me, to run him off the road.

I radioed to let her know I could take it from here, pulled the bike up close enough to where he'd ended up, and took off after him on foot.

I chased him into the dark, abandoned building he'd ended up in front of and ran into as I fired some more shots at him before I put my gun away.

He chuckled from the top of some stairs, clearly….foolishly, amused by my decision.

"Hey, Crazy!" He declared. "Out of bullets, are we?"

I took my crossbow and purposely aimed, not at, but near enough toward his head to scare him just a little.

"Don't need 'em." I pointed out, coldly, watching him rush backward to miss it and cause himself to fall and break through the second story railing and end up dangling off it by his hands.

"LUCILLE!" He shouted after his precious bat, as it plummeted down to the first floor.

..Because OF COURSE that's what he's concerned about now.

His pathetic, pleading eyes stared up at me as I took the machete off my belt and raised it to swing down and chop off his fingers.

"You bitch!" He shouted before, unfortunately, letting go before my machete could hit the ledge that his fingers had just been gripping onto.

"Shit!" I muttered to myself, as he hit the floor.

I scoffed as I heard his footsteps retreating into another room while I flicked on my lighter to let me see just a little bit better.

"Your pathetic ass is still alive?!" I called out, making my way back to the bottom floor.

"I'm a goddamn cat!" He called out.

"Yeah, well you just called me a bitch, so I guess that makes me top dog then, right?" I smirked as I leaned down to grab up the bat and carry it against my shoulder in my search for him.

"So, where's your people?!" I called out to him, turning another corner. "They should be here by now. We didn't get that far!"

"Ohh, they're comin!" He called back.

"This is where you're gonna wish you were dead." I continued to taunt him. "...in the dark….all alone."

"What THE HELL is your problem, Sadie?!" He shouted, clearly getting more irritated with me than anything…..much to my amusement. "I mean I know you and your little sidekick were close, and you're probably working through some shit from it, but if you aren't the most stubborn, know it all bitch that I have ever crossed!"

Sidekick…..was he talking about the kid?

"...why didn't you just let me save you, Sadie?" He continued on. "..I saved everybody at The Sanctuary, The Outpost, The Hilltop, Kingdom, I saved them, their kids can grow up safe, yours could too! They didn't lose one after we took over! All of those people were doing just fine before SADIE!"

I swung his precious bat at a nearby wall, hoping that the sudden noise would scare him just enough.

He only paused briefly, as if trying to process it, before he continued on his little rant.

"...you've not only failed the boy, but you've failed- "

"How'd you know about him?!" I interrupted.

Just silence on his part.

"...ANSWER me!" I demanded. "...the boy, how'd you know about what happened?!"

He paused again, thrown off by the order, before he spoke again.

"The goddamn kid…." He finally said. "...wrote me a letter.."

Son of a BITCH.

"..Because of him, there's still hope for you…" He continued. "In his honor, because I actually respected him, I'm gonna make you a one time offer…..you get Alexandria, The Hilltop, The Kingdom to fall in line, our previous arrangement is back on, and you are forgiven, Sadie. I will even lower my intake to 25%, a lousy 25%, AND you still get to choose what we take…...but you, you gotta come work for me, janitorial to start. Not bad at all! Your people, they get to live like 75% KINGS! Now that is an epic freaking Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza gift all rolled up into one considering what a thorn in my asschek you've all been. Especially you, Sadie!

I scoffed. "Now why, even if I wanted to accept it, would I trust any deal offered to me after what you did to Jadis's people?!"

"...The hell are you talking about?" He sounded surprisingly, genuinely, shocked.

"The Scavengers." I answered, a little more amused. "Michonne told me how you killed them... All of them. A whole community just wiped out. Is that how you save people, Negan? I mean, personally I could've lived without Jadis, you know? Fuck her, but a whole community?"

"Son of a bitch." I heard him mutter to himself from the next room.

I swung the bat at another wall

"Sorry, didn't catch that! You're gonna have to speak up!"

More silence except for the sound of his footsteps retreating into another room.

"...Still just me and you, man... even though plenty of your people must've seen you go. See... See, it's times like this, you realize who your true friends are. Did you get that? No one…..is coming for you!"

I held his precious bat out in front of myself and snickered to myself at the next idea I had for it.

"…What you had... oh, that was never gonna last. Sooner or later, yoouou were gonna meet someone like me. You can't save me, or my people, or even yours. You can't save anyone, because you don't care about anyone. You use people to bring food….to sleep with you….to protect you. The only thing you care about... is this goddamned bat….and you can't even save that….I'll make you a deal now…." I flicked my lighter back on. "..I'll let you kiss her goodbye."

Boy, would I love to see the look on his face, right about now.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" He shouted.

I held my lighter closer to it and watched it light up in flames in my hand.

"Come and get her, pussy!"

I started beating it against the next door I found until he finally jumped out and tackled me, trying to wrestle the bat away from me as I kept swinging closer and closer to him.

I managed to break free from him, with the bat, and stood up.

I smirked as I lit the area around us on fire and watched as he struggled to get back up.

"You goddamned psychopath, you're gonna kill us both!" He shouted.

"Just as long as it's you first, asshole!" I sneered.

I started swinging the bat at him again, watching as he desperately searched for an angle to grab it back from, til he realized there was none and fled into the smoke.

I chased him til I couldn't see him anymore, until I heard glass shattering in another direction.

I found him just in time to see him escaping out the window he'd just broken and jumped out after him, just a little too late.

Shit.

Well, at least I'd gotten his goddamned bat back.