Chapter Five:

Sam had been at the Sanctuary for little more than a week and she hadn't had much interaction with Negan since he left her room on her first night. As she'd suspected she hadn't been able sleep much, if at all since her arrival. Some of the Saviours had been pleasant, the others not so much. Dwight had been indifferent towards her but she put that down to him despising where she was from, but unfortunately for him even he couldn't deny the Sanctuary's need for a properly qualified doctor.

Sitting in the make shift clinic Sam couldn't deny that she had been kept busy, the number of work related injuries ranged from burns from the stoves to bullet wounds received when collections had gone south. In the down time Sam had been taking stock of the supplies, they were very well equipped, she couldn't deny that, some of the things she had access to she hadn't seen since her ER days. It was as she was taking stock that she heard a commotion, two Saviours clamouring through the door, carrying one of their comrades who was screaming in agony.

"What happened?"

Sam cleared one of the beds and the Saviours placed their friend onto the bed, it was then that she was able to see the wound clearly, he'd been bitten on the forearm, his bone and muscle exposed.

"How long ago did this happen?"

One of the Saviours was panicking, he was clearly close to the man on the bed in front of her, but this wasn't the time to be emotional and panic, treating a bite was time sensitive when it was on an area that could be amputated.

"I know this is hard, but I need to know how long ago this happened, it is the difference between whether I try to save him or put him out of his misery and save him from an agonising death."

The Saviour looked to Sam and nodded.

"About five, maybe ten minutes, we were just coming back…"

Sam cut him off.

"I don't need to know details."

Her mind was racing, he was close to the limit, the infection spread fast, anything more than ten minutes and it was futile to attempt anything. Grabbing a tourniquet, she wrapped it around the man's forearm, above the bite. Turning the man on the table, she picked up a cloth and made it into a ball, she put it into the mans mouth and apologised.

"I'm sorry, this is going to hurt like hell."

Sam looked up at the Saviours who had brought him in.

"I need you to hold him down and keep him still."

They both nodded, grabbing the surgical saw she turned it on, taking a deep breath she began the amputation. The moment the saw hit the skin the man screamed out in agony, his friends pinning him down, concern for their friend evident in their eyes. The blood spray was unavoidable, Sam was covered, but the arm was off and the cut had been clean. Sam didn't have time to rest, now the arm was off she knew she needed to stop the bleeding. Grabbing a suturing kit and clamps she started tying off the blood vessels and slowly the bleeding stopped. The man on the table had passed out not long into the procedure, the pain too much to bare. Sam rubbed her forehead with the back of her forearm. She hadn't done an amputation in a while, there hadn't been a need for it at Alexandria.

She checked his pulse and it was strong, she looked up at the two Saviours that had brought him, a somewhat shocked and relieved expression on their faces.

"He's not out of the woods, he's going to need a blood transfusion and antibiotics to fight off any infection…but if he's already infected…then there's nothing more to be done, we should be able to tell in the next couple of hours."

The two men nodded, as Sam turned around she saw Negan standing in the doorway, clapping.

"Wow…now that was some fucking freaky ass shit there."

Shocked Sam was speechless, she hadn't expected him to show up especially now.

"You're thinking 'what is he doing here?' Well darling let me tell you, I wanted to see the dumb shit that got bitten right outside the gates."

Sam frowned.

"I mean, what kind of fuckwit lets themselves get bitten so close to home? I just had to see his sorry excuse for a face…is he going to live?"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing clearly he wasn't as caring as she had been led to believe, or was it only people in his 'inner circle' that he cared about?

"The bleeding's stopped and his temperature is normal…so I'm cautiously optimistic, but from the sounds of it you couldn't care either way."

She should've known by now that backchat wasn't something Negan was a fan of, so why did she keep doing it? Negan smiled, but it wasn't a friendly smile, it was sinister. Taking a step towards Sam he rounded the table, as per usual he was wearing his trademark leather jacket and was carrying Lucille. One thing she hadn't succumbed to yet was kneeling, the two Saviours had fallen to their knees when Negan had made his presence known, as did everyone, not Sam and for some reason he seemed to let it slide, he let a lot of things go which if it had been anyone else they'd be severely punished.

"Watch the way you talk to me Samantha…"

As he leaned in close he whispered only loud enough for her to hear.

"…I'll only tolerate that shit in private, don't disrespect me when we've got company."

Sam nodded, her cheeks flushed. She didn't know why but the touch of his breath on her skin always made her forget why. What made it worse is that she was pretty sure he knew it as well. Her eyes locked with his and her breath caught in her throat. Ever since they kissed in her room back at Alexandria she'd been trying to forget but moments like this when he was so close made her want to repeat the experience. He looked to the two Saviours in the room and tilted his head towards the door, getting the message they made their exit swiftly.

"Now we're alone…"

Negan took another step forward but Sam took a step back, she could feel the tension filling the room, the ache in her stomach, yearning for his touch.

"But we're not alone, I need too…"

Sam tried to look towards the man on the table but Negan stopped her with his gloved hand cradling her cheek, which she remembered was covered in blood spray, in fact the whole room smelt of blood and there was a dismembered body part on the floor between them…she didn't want this, at least not like this.

"Please stop…I can't, I won't."

As she asked he stopped, but he didn't remove his hand from her face. His eyes looked into hers.

"Why…I can tell you want this, you've been denying it since you first fucking clocked eyes on me, but that kiss…damn doll that blew my mind."

Sam's eyes searched his, she needed to be stronger, she couldn't deny what he was saying, but he was the enemy and their kiss had been a mistake.

"Please…I can't…I need to focus on him and his recovery, I don't…"

Negan didn't say anything but nodded in acknowledgement.

"I'm not going to force you into anything Samantha, but once this guy is out of the woods and you're cleaned up we need to talk."

Negan left the room, leaving Sam flushed.

TBC