John lifts his head from the pillow, rubbing at his eyes. He'd slept on the floor, giving Katie and Emma the bed. John gets up, looking down at them both sleeping. He smiles, walking over to the set of drawers and throwing on his clothes.

Katie stirs, turning on her side to see Emma sucking her thumb. She sits up, looking over at John. "You're up early," she whispers.

"I wanna make a start on her Mom's grave, the sooner we do it the better."

"You sure it's a good idea?"

"She needs to say goodbye," John looks down at Emma sleeping soundly. "She'll regret it as she gets older if she doesn't."

Katie nods, rubbing at her eyes. "I'll try and get her to eat once she's awake, she didn't have much yesterday."

"Can't blame her, poor kid," John says. He leans over the bed, kissing Katie on the forehead. "I'll seeya later, beautiful."

"Seeya," she smiles.


John wipes at his brow, sweat pouring off him as he rests his arms against the shovel.

"You need a hand?"

John turns his head. "Hey, Simon. If you don't mind, i'm sweating my fucking ass off here."

"Not at all," Simon smiles, grabbing another shovel. "Looks like it's gonna be a damn fine day, burial aside."

"Yeah," John says, tossing dirt aside as he goes back to work.

"You know, it's been doing the rounds that you might have had something to do with the passing of our resident asshole pervert, Chris," Simon says, as he begins to dig.

"Really?" John frowns. "I wouldn't have thought that you were the kind to listen to gossip, Simon?"

Simon chuckles. "Yeah, well, there's not much else to do around here other than speculate."

"Yeah, i've noticed that," John says.

Simon nods. "Between me and you, it was good riddance to bad rubbish."

John looks up at him. "You think so?"

"Yep. Could do with someone taking out the rest of the trash, there's too many assholes here that don't belong," Simon frowns. "I'm not exactly what you'd call a good guy. But i got nothing on some of the pricks here."

"Yeah, i most certainly fucking agree, strictly between me and you of course," John smiles.

"Absolutely," Simon nods.


They stand by the makeshift grave, Emma sniffling as they cover the white sheet covering her Mom in dirt. John places a hand on her shoulder. She rests her head against his leg, wiping her nose against his jeans.

As Negan's men pat down the last of the dirt, Emma steps forward, placing her favourite white rabbit teddy on top. She walks back to John. "Now Momma won't be lonely."

John kneels down, his hands on her shoulders. "No, she won't," he smiles. Emma buries her face in his shoulder. John picks her up. "I'm gonna take her inside, try and get her to eat something."

Katie nods her head. "I'll be along in a minute."

Negan stands beside her, Lucille hanging over his shoulder. "Did she have any other family?"

Katie shakes her head. "No, but we'll take care of her. She's really taken to John."

"Yeah, he was always good with kids," Negan smiles.

Katie turns to Negan, wide eyed. "Did he have any?"

Negan shakes his head. "No, neither of us did. Never got round to it, both too fucking selfish i guess."

Katie crosses her arms over her chest. "It's so sad, leaving her little girl like that, what must she have been thinking?"

"She obviously fucking wasn't thinking, maybe it all got too much for her?" Negan says.

"I guess, doesn't make sense to me," she shakes her head.

Negan turns to her, Katie's hair blowing in the breeze. He'd tried to stop thinking about her, but it was hard, literally. The other night, balls deep in his wife, he'd pictured Katie and almost called out her name, not that his wife would've cared if he had. He shakes his head, trying to put it out of his mind. "Me neither."


John sits with Emma in the main hall, watching as she picks at her food.

"If you don't eat then you'll never be a superhero," he says, resting his elbows against the table.

Emma looks up at him. "I don't wanna be a superhero no more, i wanna be with Mommy."

His face drops. "Hey, you can't be with your Mommy, sweetie. She's gone."

"I wanna be gone like Mommy."

John gets up from his seat, making his way round the table as he kneels in front of her. "Your Mommy is watching over you right now, and she wouldn't want you to be gone. She'd want you to grow old, she'd be sad if you didn't grow old."

Emma shakes her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I don't wanna make her sad."

"Of course you don't, sweetie. Why don't you try eating as much of that as you can, and then we'll go find something fun to do?"

Emma nods, spooning her food into her mouth.

"You're good with her," Frankie smiles.

John looks up, resting his hand against the table as he rises to his feet. "She's got no one else."

"And few people would give a shit like you do, just goes to show the kind of person you are," Frankie says.

"Well thanks, but it's nothing. I'm sure Negan would do the same," he smiles, trying not to let his eyes go any lower than her neck.

Frankie tilts her head. "You think so?"

"What kind of asshole wouldn't?" He frowns.


Negan watches John and Frankie from a distance. His knuckles turn white as he clutches at Lucille, his jaw clenched. How the fuck does that fucking asshole do that? He frowns, as he watches his wife smiling like a love sick teen. None of his wives had ever looked at him like that.

He drops his head, shaking the thought from his mind before he heads back down the corridor.


John tucks Emma under the covers, kissing her forehead. It'd been a long hard day, and it had taken a lot out of her. "Night, sweetie," he smiles. John turns his head at a knock on the door.

He opens the door, a small woman stood there nervously, looking up at him unsurely.

"Hey," he smiles. "Can i help you?"

"I.. i'm not sure, this is..," she shakes her head.

"I'd ask you inside, but i just got Emma off to sleep," he says, closing the door behind him as he steps out into the hall.

"This is probably really stupid, i mean, you're Negan's brother. But.. people have been saying good things about you."

"Well that's good to hear," he smiles. John looks down at her, sensing the worry in her features. "If you've got something you wanna tell me, then i fucking assure you it won't go any further. I know how to keep my damn mouth shut.. well, when it counts anyway," he chuckles.

She nods, looking left and right before facing him again. "It's about Julia."

"Emma's Mom?" He asks, raising an eyebrows.

"Yeah, i was close with her. She.. she was struggling with earning enough points to get by. For her and the little one. Some of Negan's men offered her food in exchange for.. sexual favours. But, i think they were hurting her."

John clenches his jaw, his fists curled at his sides. "Who?"

She shakes her head. "I don't know, but i think she said she spoke with Negan about it, or she was going to?"

"Fucking fucker," he growls, trying to keep his voice down.

"I'm not in trouble am i?" She asks, playing with her hands nervously.

John's face softens. "No, sweetheart, you're not. We'll keep this between us while i figure out what the fuck i'm gonna do about it."

"I don't know that Negan knew for sure," she says.

John nods. "Well i sure as shit appreciate you telling me this."

She nods before heading down the corridor.


Negan slams his hips, his head buried in the crook of Frankie's neck. "Fuck!" He groans, his legs tensing as he shoots his load inside her.

Negan rolls off her, his breath heavy. He turns to Frankie. "What were you talking about with John earlier?"

Frankie turns to him. "When?"

"Don't act fucking dumb, you were all over him in the main hall, don't think i didn't fucking see you."

"I was just telling him how nice it was that he was taking care of Emma," she frowns.

"I bet you fucking was, that's my brother all over. He just rocks up wherever the fuck he wants, chats a line of bullshit and comes up smelling of fucking roses," Negan sneers.

Frankie sits up on the bed. "He's doing a good thing, Negan. Taking care of her like that, it's not like he has to."

Negan reaches over to her, placing his fingers under her chin. "You just make damn sure that he keeps his hands to himself," he frowns, his eyes cold as he curls his fingers around her neck, his grip tightening. "You so much as let that fucker put his hands on you, you'll fucking regret it, the pair of you, you hear me?"

Frankie nods, his hand wrapped so tightly round her throat she's incapable of speech.

"Good," he smiles. "Now get the fuck outta here, i got shit to do."


Katie works the fence, pulling the crowbar from the skull of a dead one. She'd gone back to her room, but John had been in a strange mood. So with Emma sleeping soundly, she'd come out here to keep herself busy.

She liked the women here, especially those who were working the fence with her. They were strong, and not afraid to get their hands dirty.

Joanne, who was currently elbow deep in the remains of the dead, had killed three men apparently.

"Does it not make you feel bad?" Katie asks, wiping at her brow.

"Why would it? They were bad men, sick even. First time, i was with a guy, we came across two men outside a convenience store. They wanted what we had, that included me," she grimaces. "They killed the guy i was with, but i took out my gun and shot them both in the head before they could take me. Second time, i came across this creepy ass guy out in the woods, just before i found this place. Had a W carved in his forehead. His breath stunk something awful."

"Sounds creepy," Katie frowns. "So did he try and attack you?"

Joanne shakes her head. "I didn't give him the chance."

Katie lowers the crowbar, turning to her. "So you killed him without knowing one way or the other?"

Joanne looks at her, raising an eyebrow. "Honey, i wasn't taking any chances. My instincts told me he was bad news, so i went with it. You'd do well to trust your instincts, otherwise you might end up dead, and there's no coming back from that.. well, except as one of these dead fucks."

Katie nods, turning back towards the fence. "Looks like we got them all, for now. I wonder why we get so many?"

"Noise maybe? But i think they can smell us in here," Joanne says. "You wanna go get something to eat?"

"Sure," Katie smiles, heading back inside.


John sits with his head in his hands, the room dark and quite. The only sounds are Emma's constant breaths as she sleeps.

He rubs at his temples, wondering what the fuck he's going to do. Would Negan really have done nothing if Julia had gone to him? John didn't want to believe it, but with the way things were going round here, it didn't exactly instill him with confidence.

Negan had always been a bad egg. Everything he touched seemed to turn to shit, or at the very least left icky finger marks all over it that John always seemed to have to clean.

It'd be better if he was gone, John thinks, then he scolds himself mentally for thinking such a thing of his own brother. Christ John! What would Mom think if she heard you thinking shit like that? He sits there in the dark, trying to think of a way forward.