A/N: Hello everyone! I want to apologize for this chapter taking so long. The story is NOT abandoned. I will absolutely finish it. Mid-spring to late fall (in the US) is my busiest time at work and I barely have time to sleep let alone write. I'm almost caught up with work so you'll be seeing regular updates again soon. I'm hoping this will keep you all happy for a couple of weeks until I can get the next chapter done. I actually have a lot of bits and pieces for future chapters written out (mostly after Daryl makes his appearance) I just have to get everything filled in, and the next couple of chapters before Daryl's introduction done. Thank you to everyone who's stuck by this story during my absence. I know how much it sucks waiting for a new chapter from a story you love so I hate doing that to you. Leave a review, I love hearing from all of you. If you're new to my story and enjoying, please follow and favorite!
The trucks rumbled down the road headed back to Sanctuary. After they'd dressed they finished the full tour of the farm. She was excited, there was so much potential for the place under the right leadership, of course. She looked over to the driver's seat when she caught Negan grinning at her. He did that often now, but there was something mischievous behind his eyes this time.
"What are you smiling at?" she asked with a grin of her own.
"I've got a surprise for you as soon as we get back home. You're gonna like it."
"I'm a little sore after that last round. You've got to give a girl a break sometimes."
"Nah, Doll, that can wait 'till bedtime. I got something else for you."
She gave him a skeptical look before resuming her watch out of the window. The rest of the drive back was quiet. The Saviors were doing a damn good job of keeping the deadhead population low around Sanctuary and the paths between the outposts. She was proud of her boys and girls. That's what they were now, her people. She needed them as much as they needed her. Alone, roaming the woods just trying to survive another day wasn't something she ever wanted to go back to. There was nothing left in this world that would change that, nothing that could take from them or from Negan's side.
Once Sanctuary's gates were closed behind them he opened her door. She took his offered hand. He was a true southern gentleman when the mood struck him.
"Come on, Doll. Let's go meet your surprise."
She barely noticed the people dropping to their knees as they passed them down the halls of Sanctuary. They were headed towards her clinic. Negan didn't know shit about medical supplies and equipment so she couldn't imagine what kind of surprise he thought he had waiting for her there.
"You know, I wouldn't call some people needing to be patched up a surprise, if that's what you've got waiting in my clinic."
His brows lifted as he smirked.
"That ain't what's waiting for you. You'll see in a second."
Everything was in its place, just as it should be when Negan pushed open the clinic door. Everything except the tall, thin, older man in a white lab coat. Now it was her brows that raised as she observed the man. His scraggly grey hair had receded several inches back, leaving him with an enlarged forehead above his long, thin face. If she were being completely honest, she found him to be a bit creepy. Especially when his beady eyes were darting around the room like a frightened animal ready to bolt.
"Crimson, my darling wife, meet Dr. Emmett Carson. He's an honest to god real human doctor. Turns out the Hilltop had themselves two doctors so I figured I'd take one of them and make your life a lot easier. The guys at the Satellite Station brought him in for you while we were out."
She didn't like it. The moment the words came out of Negan's mouth, she hated Carson. This was her clinic where she treated her people. Doctor was her god damned title and there was no way in hell she was going to let some creepy old man take that from her.
"It's nice to meet you," Carson said with a smile so awkward anyone with a functioning brain cell could tell it wasn't sincere. Though it was difficult to be sincere when you were currently scared for your own life.
"I'm the only doctor we need around here," she said through her clenched jaw.
"Aw come on, Doll. I thought you could use some help."
"Have I failed you somehow?" She turned to face her husband. "Did one of my patients die and no one told me about it?"
"Course not! I just thought,"
"This is my clinic," she cut him off. "My clinic. This is my job. I earn my place here. I'm not going to play dress up and spend all day up in your room like your other wives did. That's not who I am."
"Hey now." He gloved hand reached up to her cheek. "I know that. That's not what I want from you. All I wanted was to get you a little fucking help so your main job can be watching my back. There ain't anyone else on this planet I trust more to keep my damn fine ass alive outside these walls. No reason to get pissed off at me."
She pondered her response for a moment. "He's only here so I can go on more runs with you?"
"The only fucking reason. And his wrinkly old balls answer to you. This is still your clinic."
She reached her hand up to grasp his and gave him a smile. "Well, if that's the case, thank you." She stretched up onto her toes and he leaned down to meet her lips like it's something they'd been doing for years. She hoped, if they were both still alive in a few years, that the tingling warmth his lips brought right then was still there.
People said the excitement of a new lover wore off over time. But it never had with someone else and she expected it never would with Negan. Negan was a passionate man. He was intense with a fire that burned so hot she could feel the heat in her bones. He needed excitement and she could keep things exciting for the rest of their lives, however long or short they may be. In a world like this, excitement meant danger. It meant pushing your boundaries. It meant that one day you could push a little too far and wind up dead. But there wasn't much left in this world that didn't kill you and that kind of passion, the kind that made her feel more alive than she had in so long, it was worth a little extra risk.
Four weeks. Four weeks of waking up next to Negan's naked body. Four weeks of relative peace while they looked for the people that had killed Bud and his crew. Four weeks of fucking all over Sanctuary. The cafeteria was her favorite. The tables were just the right height for Negan to hit all the right spots when she was laid out across the cold plastic surface. Watching the 30 or so people that were in the middle of their dinner scurry out at Negan's command had been amusing. She'd never admit it to anyone other than him, but his little power displays made her panties wet.
Their time together wasn't just sex. They talked. They talked a lot. Every run outside of the gates had her seated in the passenger side of his truck. He told her so much of his previous life, though there was still much more to learn. He told her what he'd done after the dead started to walk. How he'd built his following, built the Savors and Sanctuary, that tale alone took nearly a week to tell. She knew about his wife Lucille. She knew he'd cheated on her before she'd been diagnosed with cancer. She knew that had eaten him up inside. She knew he'd never wanted to care about another woman the way he had his first wife. But he did now.
During one of the few moments they were apart on a run, he'd found a gorgeous set of matching wedding bands. A three carat ruby engagement band set in platinum with a diamond and ruby wedding ring adorned her left ring finger now. A matching men's band encircled his. The metal worker at Sanctuary had done a fine job of sizing the rings to fit them perfectly.
He knew so very much about her know. He listened to her stories of growing up with drug addicted parents in the redneck backwoods of Georgia. He knew how hard she'd worked to get out of that town. He knew how she'd wound up living with a much older redneck of her own and how she'd helped him straight his life out. She told him about her year spent searching for him. He knew how and why she'd wound up on her own, a nearly feral woman who was willing to slit someone's throat without a second thought to keep herself alive.
Four almost blissful weeks of solidifying her decision to be with Negan. Then someone hit the Satellite Station. Someone slipped inside in the middle of the night and slaughtered her men in their sleep. In their god damned sleep!
Negan had been nearly inconsolable. It took 2 days to get his office back in order after he'd ripped it apart. She's never seen him so angry. Even she'd been afraid to reach for him. She wasn't afraid of him, but he was so angry that she knew he wasn't even really seeing the things around him as his favorite liquor glass shattered against the wall and Lucille bashed his office chair over and over until shredded leather, splinters of wood, and white fuzz drifting around the air were all that was left. No, even she had to leave him be until he needed her.
"How many did we lose?" she asked. She was sitting at the end of the couch. His head was in her lap while his tall form was stretched out across the length of the couch. Her fingers made firm, calming strokes through his dark hair. He needed her now.
"34. Most of them were inside, sleeping. A few were outside keeping watch. Paul, Primo, Molly and a couple others they got at the Underground. Word is Paula captured two of their women and were going to use them to lure in the rest but those filthy, cocking suck, honorless mother fuckers got the jump on them. Set the Underground on fire!"
He tensed up again.
"Shh, it's going to be alright," It took nearly an hour to calm him down. She stood by the bedroom door until he'd worked the blinding rage out of his system. The last thing she wanted was for him to get so worked up again. We're going to find them. They have no idea who they just fucked with."
"I bet those bastards are the same sneaky little fuckers that blew up Bud too. How the fuck did I let this happen?!"
She softly scratched her nails against his scalp the way he liked it. He closed his eyes, his head rolling further into her lap when he relaxed. "You didn't let anything happen. It was only a matter of time before we came across another well-armed, organized group. You said there was another one before I came along, one where you had to kill all of the men because they wouldn't submit. This might be another one of those groups."
"I think you're right, Darlin'. This is one time I wished you weren't though."
"We will find them. You need to call in all of your Lieutenants. Someone needs a promotion to replace Paula. Arat, I think. She's earned it and you need to keep at least one female in charge."
"I got you for that," he smirked at her.
"One you aren't sleeping with. The female Savior's need to know you respect them just as much as the men. You don't want their loyalty to waiver in a time like this. Promote Arat, if you think she's worthy, and bring everyone in. We need a few different perspectives to put together the best plan. It won't be long before we find these assholes and you put them on their knees. I can feel it."
"Your damn right I will. I want to see those fuckers so god damned pissing-their-pants scared that they'll turn their mouths into a fucking hoover when I tell them to suck my XL sized dick."
Her fingers paused in his hair. She lifted her gaze to the fire dancing in the fireplace. "I want to see them bleed. I want to hear them scream. I want their tears to making a fucking river at my feet. For Bud and Paula and everyone else they took from us."
"I'll make them cry you a fucking Nile if that's what you want, Doll."
"Good. Now let's go to bed. You've got to be as exhausted as I am."
"Yeah," he nodded. "I might actually be too tired to fuck."
She smiled down at him. "I think you'd have to be dead for that to happen. But I'm not in the mood anyway. Just hold me tonight, okay?"
He nodded before he gracefully lifted himself from her lap. She'd never get tired of watch the man move.