16.

Something was wrong with Ana's food, but she couldn't figure it out. So, she used her fork to twirl around the leaves and tomatoes, looking for a flaw.

Negan watched her curiously as he shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth. "Didn't I ever teach you not to play with your food?" he joked. The joke flew past Ana's ears as she was deep in thought, trying to figure out the problem with her meal. Negan groaned as he realized she wasn't paying attention.

The two sat on a couch next to each other, in the room Ana had been in the day before. She was still wearing Logan's baggy clothes.

"What were you doing in that cell? Did you get lost and decide to take a nap?" Negan placed his fork and knife on the plate in front of him, and shifted his body to face Ana's. He was ready for some answers.

Ana flicked her tired eyes up at his, her mouth curled downwards. He could see the pain behind her eyes, and ached for her to confide in him. She swallowed thickly and turned her gaze back to the food.

"Come here," Negan ordered. Ana's memory flashed back to his hands pushing into her bruises and she winced. It seemed as if everyone around her was using her for their own personal gain. Negan of all people should be able to understand her reluctance to obey him. He hurt her. But then again, his arms protected her. They kept her safe from Simon and her demons.

Ana sighed. It would be easier to be alone.

"Ana," Negan broke her from her thoughts.

"I don't want to be touched, Negan."

The words cut into his skin, creating a deep gash he would have to recover from. An hour earlier she was curled into his arms, crying and pulling herself closer to his chest in comfort. Now she was cold as ice, wanting nothing to do with him. What did he do now?

Ana herself wasn't sure if she wanted his arms or not. She knew when she woke up that he was all she wanted. But now, the tape of Simon pushing her against the wall played on repeat, and the idea that Negan had purposely hurt her made her stomach curl and twist violently. There wasn't something wrong with the food in front of Ana, there was something wrong with her.

She put her fork down on the plate carefully, deciding that bothering Negan was not a good idea. Perhaps not telling him the truth was bothering him as well. Perhaps Ana should just come out with the truth and face whatever consequences and embarrassment it brought.

"If we're going to make this work you need to talk to me."

"If we're going to make this work you need to get rid of your wives," Ana spit back accidentally. She didn't mean to bring up the topic of wives when there were so many other subjects to discuss, but something pulled the words from her throat. Negan sighed heavily and shifted his position on the couch, carefully setting down his plate of food on the table and placed his hands in his lap.

"Is that the reason you're acting like this, Ana?" he asked, looking down at his hands.

"Yes," Ana croaked out, though she knew that his wives were only part of the reason she felt like the world was caving in around her.

Negan carefully thought out his next response. "They are here for economic purposes. If you would like I can stop sticking my dick in them, but they will still hold the title of being my wife."

That was fair enough for Ana. Knowing that her husband would stop bedding these women took some pressure off of her shoulders. Now what?

She would have to go through with her plan to attend to Negan's desires in attempts to escape the compound. Carefully, she slid her thighs across the cushion towards Negan. He noticed what she was doing and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards him. She inhaled sharply at his touch but somehow managed to overcome her fear and anxiety through a couple of deep breaths.

"Atta girl," Negan breathed once Ana's head resided just below his chin. He kissed her hair and inhaled her scent. She cowered beneath him, wrapping her arms around each other and resting her hands on her shoulders as his hand stroked her side. Each painstaking moment brought her closer to breaking, brought the lump in her throat closer to the surface. Just when the tears began to spill from her eyes, Sherry burst through the door with a sandwich in her hands and cast a negative look in their direction. Ana used her entrance as an excuse to sit up straight, wipe the tears from her cheeks before Negan saw them, and straighten her shirt.

"Sherry, what the fuck are you thinking?" Negan groaned, obviously annoyed by the lack of Ana's head on his chest.

"I was thinking I needed a break, and some alcohol," Sherry shot. She bit into her sandwich while striding to the bar, where she looked for a bottle of anything besides aged wine.

"Well, I'm going to go beat my meat in the other room." Negan said sharply before kissing Ana's forehead meaningfully and leaving the room.

"He has a million women to have sex with-" Sherry began.

"Ana!" The door opened again, revealing a very distressed looking Logan with her dark chestnut hair tied up in a messy bun.

"What?" Ana folded her hands in her lap and looked up, confused at the sudden rush of action. Moments ago, it had been much more quiet. Though, she was thankful for Logan and Sherry's entrance.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. Come here." Logan abruptly grabbed Ana's hand from her lap and hauled her off of the couch, pulling her into the hallway before Ana had time to bid goodbye to Sherry. Once she was on her feet, she was dragged a few doors down and pushed into Logan's room. The door closed hard behind them.

"What's wrong?" Ana questioned.

"Nothing," Logan smiled brightly, "I just wanted to hang out with you." She jumped onto the bed, landing with her legs crossed as she dug through a pile of papers before finding a blank one. Then, she turned around and grabbed a pen off of her pillow. "Tic-tac-toe?"

Confused at Logan's excitement, Ana calmly sat on the corner of the bed and realized she had nothing to do but accept the offer. Logan beamed, quickly drawing the playing board multiple times on the paper. Once done, she handed the pen to Ana.

Ana cautiously drew an x in the center of the board before returning the writing utensil.

"So how is it going with Negan?" Logan asked, making her move on the piece of paper. They continued exchanging the pen while they conversed.

"It's going good, I suppose."

"No, really, Ana. How is it going? It's always hard when you first sign up to be his wife. All he wants to do is sleep with you, but that'll go away after a week or so." Logan noticed Ana's expression as she mentioned Negan's habits in the bed. Her face curled into pain. Was that jealousy or did something sinister happen?

"He hasn't expressed that desire, yet," Ana mumbled, realizing she lost the game and beginning to start a new one.

"Surely that's a good thing?" Logan asked. She knew not to pry, but couldn't help herself.

"It depends."

"On what?"

"Logan, I really don't want to discuss this right now."

That was Logan's cue to stop. She pulled back her prying fingers and focused on the task at hand. She knew Ana was hurting, for whatever reason, and knew that she needed a distraction. So, once she allowed Ana to win the second game of tic-tac-toe, she brought up a different topic. "Do you like singing Ana?"

"Huh?" Ana was trying to keep up with Logan's habit of switching topics quickly.

"Singing, you know, la la la la. I used to sing all the time when I was little. I still do, just not as much. It's hard to find privacy to sing alone considering everyone here lives back to back."

"I don't sing much," Ana said honestly, and shrugged at the look Logan replied with. It was a mix of confusion and playfulness. Truth be told, Ana hadn't sung more than a few lines since Lucille had passed. Lucille always enjoyed Ana's short songs before bed time. They calmed her and allowed her to sleep peacefully. Now every time a melodic tune left Ana's lips, she was brought back to the painful memory of Lucille burning in the flames.

"Singing is a great way to get your mind off of your problems. Considering MP3 players don't work anymore, and we aren't exactly the hub for walkmans, you have to make your own kind of music."

When Ana didn't reply, Logan huffed and placed the pen in her hand on the bed, shoving the paper out of their way.

"I'm going to make you sing with me," she concluded, "whether you want to or not."

Ana wasn't sure singing was the best alternative to discussing her sex life with Negan. Either topic was likely to make her cry, but it seemed as if she couldn't back out of this corner.

"Now what's a classic song you know?"

Ana had to think about the question. She hadn't sung for a long time and figured that most of the songs she knew were in bits and pieces. However, after a minute passed with Logan impatiently waiting for an answer as she tapped her foot against the bed, a song floated through Ana's mind. She grabbed at it and slowly, all of the lyrics came back to her.

"Father and son," she said. It was something she used to sing to Lucille as a baby. With regret, she locked in her choice of song with a slight nod. "Yeah, that one."

Logan burst with excitement and pent up tension, "finally! I think I know that one. It's by, uh, uh," Logan looked for the name of the band within the tangle of wires that made up her train of thought.

"Cat Stevens," Ana offered. She curled her hands together, observing her fingernails.

"Alright I'll start…ready?"

Ana did nothing but move her head up and down.

"Dun dun dun dun, duneaw, duneaw," Logan imitated the guitar with great difficulty, but it got the job done. She continued like this for a few more seconds before belting into the first verse. "It's not time to make a change! Just relax, take it easy."

Ana was caught off guard by Logan's voice. It was not similar to Cat Steven's in any way. His voice was jagged though calm. Her's was graceful and pure. Ana wasn't sure she could live up to the job. Her own voice was more mellow and quiet, like her personality.

"You're still young, that's your fault," Ana offered quietly. Logan smiled wildly as she heard Ana's voice chime in. They continued singing together, even getting up and dancing on the bed at one point. At another, Ana started to cry but Logan quickly grabbed her a tissue and told her a few jokes to cheer her up. Ana continued dancing once she had a hold of her emotions. Logan was able to see a different side of Ana for the first time. Negan was too, as he burst in on their dancing in order to call Ana to a meeting he was arranging with Simon and a few of the others.

"I don't want to go," Ana said earnestly, afraid of seeing Simon since the whole ordeal. She was standing on top of the bed, but quickly resumed a sitting position once stating her opinion.

"You don't have to talk. I just need to introduce you to a few people."

"Negan…"

"C'mon baby girl."

"Negan they don't need to know who I am."

"I beg to differ," Negan teased, taking a step into the room. Logan was still standing on the bed, her arms crossed as she watched the exchange.

"Fine," Ana whispered gravely, joining Negan's side. He wrapped a hand around her waist possessively and bid adieu to Logan with a quick wave. Then, the two departed into the hallway and Dwight joined them. Had he been listening in on their entire conversation? He was carrying Negan's choice of weapon in his steady hands, gliding it through the air with precision. Negan's fingers tapped against Ana's fragile skin in a rhythmic pattern as he chose between two hallways leading opposite ways.

"Right here," he said once they chose a hallway. A large metal double door was opened by Dwight, revealing a group of Saviors sitting in garnet leather couches. One was browsing books that lined the walls and another was standing over a mocha colored desk behind one of the couches. Simon was sitting on a couch, next to a female with brown hair and dark skin. His eyes slid down Ana's body before meeting her eyes, winking. Gooseflesh covered her arms and she sunk against Negan. Negan himself watched the exchange, from the very first moment they opened the door. His free hand balled into a fist with anger before relaxing. There was no reason to think that Simon would move on Ana.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my lovely bride, Ana," Negan announced, peeling his eyes from Simon and back at his wife who was shriveled against him in attempts to make herself seem smaller.

"Ana, that's Arat," Negan said, pointing to the dark skinned girl next to Simon. She smiled warmly at Ana. "You know Simon. That's Gavin," he said about the man looking at the books. "And that's Wade," he pointed to the man near the desk.

"Okay," Ana mumbled softly, stilling looking at Simon. There was something about the look in his eyes that told her that she wasn't going to survive tonight.

A/N: Oh my. It's been a long time since I posted a chapter and for good reason. In the past three months I've been to three hospitals and had some outpatient things to attend. That, and the end of the school year (exams, projects, etc) meant there was very little time for me to find to right. Now it's summer and I'm thinking of writing another fanfiction for the TV show Supernatural!

Replies:

Thanks to everyone who replies, I greatly appreciate reading them.

I'm a Nerd and Proud: Rick has gone off the deep end. Hopefully he can still salvage parts of himself. I tried to include another Logan scene in here just so I can build their bond together :) I'm glad you took time out of your day to read

VampWolf92: Thanks so much, it means so much knowing you enjoy this story.

StTudnoBright: Don't worry, Simon will be punished soon enough ;). I hope you enjoyed the small AnaxNegan scene I added in here!