"If you cared about Rae at all then you'd stay away from her."

Negan turned his head to see Timmy with his fists clenched into furious balls as he stormed down the porch to where he was waiting by the car. By the grace of God he somehow stopped the laugh that practically begged for freedom. But hell, he was trying to be fucking civilised here, he wasn't trying to beat the shit out of anyone or do anything that might start a fight that he would definitely finish.

He waited for Timmy to come to a standstill before asking, as nicely as he could, "why the fuck would I stay away from Red when she wants me here?"

Timmy's nostrils flared so wide that Negan half expected steam to shoot straight out and fog up his glasses. Instead he just kept giving him the stink eye, "I don't know why she can't see right through you. You're nothing but a sleaze ball, the only reason you helped us was because you wanted to..."

Negan straightened his spine, standing full height, "wanted to what?"

"You wanted to," Tim swallowed hard, his words were barely audible, foreign on his good boy tongue, "fuck Rae."

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that Timmy," Negan held his hand to his ear, his grin impossible to control now even if he wanted to and he definitely didn't want to.

"You know what I said," Timmy spat.

"She's a beautiful woman but no matter how fuckable she is I don't risk my life for pussy. It's just the happy coincidence of being a fucking badass."

"You don't even know her. Not like I do."

"You had you're chance Timmy-too-slow, you had four long week to make your moves and get her all shacked up and settled down on your dick. Fuck me, you've had years."

"You're disgusting."

Timmy stepped closer and Negan started to believe he was going to end up in a fight afterall, he always did have the kind of mouth that landed him fights.

"And there's more than one way to be intimate with a person."

"Hows that Timmy? You tossed one out while you peeped on her? That's fucking disgusting. Am I gonna have to mark you down as some kind of dirty pervert? Peeping Tim?"

Timmy's face blanched like Negan had hit a nail very close to the head and Negan couldn't blame him for knocking one out over Rae, he'd knocked out more than he wanted to admit. "I don't know how she even talks to you!" Timmy covered, not exactly denying the situation.

"Or do you think you're intimate with Red because you chase her ass around like a lost fucking puppy?"

"It's not like that! I know her. We've spent entire nights just talking, I helped her build this place, I know where she went to college, what her favorite songs are, every house we've scavenged together. I know how she got the little scar that cuts across her jaw and how many times she failed her driver's test. And… even if I know she doesn't look at me the way I look at her, she's still my friend and I'm not gonna let you hurt her."

Negan bit his tongue. Maybe he didn't know the secrets that were locked up in Rae's head and maybe he could never promise not to hurt her because, at his core, he was always the man that had hurt Lucille and he wasn't sure he could be a better one. But no matter what, Negan wasn't going to justify a single fucking thing to anyone and Timmy was reaching the limit he had for fuckers that weren't long legged redheads.

"Good for you Timmy, you know what jersey to pick out and what album to play but here's the deal and I want you to listen very fucking closely. In a few minutes Red's gonna to be getting in this car with me and leaving with me and you, well let's face facts, you can fuck off. It's as simple as that. You don't like it? Tough shit because I'm here. I'm not leaving and you can't fucking make me," he chuckled embracing the inner kid who wanted to follow that statement up with 'nah nah na nah nah,' it was childish but it was the truth.

Tim's nostrils were flaring again and Negan lost his smile to erase any idea that what he said next was a joke or a false promise, "you try anything, you piss me off more than you are pissing me off right now and I can promise you won't live to regret it." It was almost exactly what he had said to Miguel and that had only ended one way, the only way Negan knew how to deal with troublemakers.

"Are you trying to threaten me?"

"I never try to do anything Timmy-too-slow, I've told you before, but fuck it I'll tell you again. I'm not you."

Like clockwork Rae emerged from her house with Grandma Ellie close behind.

Negan's smile sprang back into action at the sight of them both. When they were close enough to touch his hand almost reached out for Rae's before he thought better of it and shoved it in his pocket, "don't worry Grandma Ellie, I'll take good care of your Grandbaby and bring her back in one piece." He was planning on fucking her hard but he hadn't split a woman in two yet.

"You'd better," Grandma warned, wary old eyes switching from himself to Rae while Negan smiled at Tim like everything was super duper at the little house on the prairie. He even winked. If Timmy was hoping to frighten him away not only was he the most delusional motherfucker that he had ever met but he was also doing the worst fucking job in the world.

/

Rae told Grandma she was going out to look for supplies just liked she'd already planned to do after checking the bait traps. The only difference in her plan was taking Negan instead of Tim and if she was honest with herself, Negan was the better partner. She'd seen the way he fought, dead or living, he was unstoppable. If there was going to be only one other person with her, and there definitely couldn't be both Negan and Tim if she didn't want a fight on her hands, then Negan was the one that made her feel the safest. At least in the physical sense.

Grandma headed back into the house and Tim had disappeared without her noticing so it was just her and Negan. He held open the door to the car, allowing her into the driver's seat with a smirk that said, 'see, I'm letting you drive I'm not always a sexist asshole,' and Rae slid into the soft white leather with a thrill of unadulterated excitement.

This was a beautiful car. The kind of car that turned heads when you peeled down the road and it was easily the nicest car she'd ever had the pleasure of driving. She turned the key in the ignition and the engine purred to life as Negan took a seat besides her.

"Where to, Red?" he grinned as Rae pulled a folded map from her pocket before shoving it in his hand.

"You can give me directions."

His face fell to something between disappointment and confusion but even if she wanted to let go and take a joyride with Negan this was the end of the world and a woman had to be practical. They'd take the car for a spin and they'd check out the places she'd already marked on the map. It was win win. At least for her.

"You know all work and no play isn't fucking healthy. You should take the day off from being queen of the fort."

"Are you a Doctor now?"

"I wouldn't say I was a doctor but i'd happily give you a full body exam sweetheart. Just say the word..."

"Just read the map," she said with a laugh as his outrageous flirting worked its charm.

Negan snorted, unfolding the map as they pulled onto the main road. "So… you good at taking directions Red?"

She looked at him, if he was making a joke about women being terrible at directions then she was prepared for war. Instead, he had that hazel green twinkle that lived in his eyes when they were alone. "I need to know, are you gonna do exactly what I tell you to do?"

Her thoughts went to the gutter, probably the exact destination that Negan had in mind. Was taking a ride in this car an agreement that things would progress beyond a kiss? Was that the deal she was making with herself? She still couldn't decide. She liked the way he kissed her, but he was a difficult man to trust; confident, arrogant, an impossible flirt. She knew almost nothing about him. "That depends," she answered, not giving anything away.

"On what?"

Rae laughed, letting out some of the nervous energy that was coiling in her stomach as she fumbled the button on the CD player to fill the car with nothing but silence that didn't mask his need for an answer. So she played it safe again, "I don't know. Just read the map and… behave yourself."

"Impossible," he chuckled and she could feel the heat of his eyes watching her before he gave up the conversation in favour of opening the glove box and flicking through his CD's.

The destination on the map was a little one horse town, nothing more than a couple of rows of houses, a tiny convenience store and a small family doctors practice. She pulled the car up at the edge of the first house and its tall mesh fence and before they'd even had chance to climb out of the car, halfers had already began to file from the streets towards them.

Negan had his bat and she had the knife that he'd given her, the Glock on her belt was purely for an emergency. She felt a chill inch down her spine like it always did before she faced any halfers and wondered would this be it? It was morbid but it was a thought impossible to ignore after watching the world and almost everyone in it succumb to the dead.

He took the first swing, nice and easy. Killing walkers like these, slow and scattered in a wide open space was all about tactics. Don't get cornered, don't over exert. You had to pick them off one by one, taking as much time as you needed.

Rae picked her target, a woman, shorter than herself and wasted away like she had been one of the first to turn and had spent the rest of the time outside being eroded by the elements. Rae grabbed her shoulder, her knife sliced through the top of the skull like breaking the shell of a creme brulee. After that it was all a blur and just like the day outside of her apartment she settled into an easy rhythm with Negan, covering each others back and killing with precision.

When the street was cleared and they were safely inside the first house Negan rested Lucille on the kitchen counter, barbed wire dripping blood that collected into a sticky pool on the laminate. "Jesus Fuck baby, if I'd have a known our joyride would include facing hordes of the apocalypse I might not have fucking bothered bringing you a car," he teased as she opened the door of the pantry to find it empty except for a half used bottle of sunflower oil and a bag of flour.

She picked the flour up, peeling open the paper to find it filled with hundreds of tiny bugs and ruined. With a sigh she threw it back on the shelf, wondering if all the fighting had been a huge waste of energy before turning to look at Negan who was grinning and as self satisfied as he ever was. "We're almost out of food at the farm so I don't have the luxury of taking the day off. If you don't like this then you don't have to come back again or be here with me right now."

/

The way Rae snapped, the way her eyes glowed like a wild cat made him think she was going to bite his head clean off and that's when he realised just how scrawny she'd got since he'd last seen her. It was hard to tell with the heavy coat but he could see it in her cheeks and the sharpness of her jaw. It occurred to him that Rae was the kind of person who would be first to find the food and last to eat it. It also occurred to him that he couldn't remember the last time he'd missed a meal because there wasn't any food. "I brought you some things, it's not much but..." fuck his people and what they would think, "I'll bring more next time."

"No. You shouldn't take from your people to give to mine."

All he could think about was the warehouse full of Jacob's supplies, piles of food now all sitting in his own stores, not to mention all the communities he had 'working' for him. "You're my people. I already fucking told you that Red."

"I know but-"

"But nothing." He wanted to make it better, he wanted to appease the guilt he felt when he'd decided that the only reasons she wasn't at the Sanctuary, with him and all his protection, were selfish ones. "You're no good to me if you're half starved. I'll bring you food next time. I already brought you some men, they're setting up house in the farm across the field and you're gonna use them. They'll help you gather supplies and keep an eye on you."

She finished checking the last of the kitchen cupboards and gave him a pointed look, "I don't need babysitting."

"Well that's tough shit sweetheart. I'm not leaving you without protection. Hell, I shouldn't have done it the last time. We both know exactly what kind of assholes are out there. I can't always be with you but you'll have my men and you'll fucking like it."

He'd brought the ones he could trust to keep their mouths shut and told them that their only job, their only fucking purpose in life, was to live across the field and keep watch on the matchstick fort at all times. Every one of them had been happy to take the job, that had been his second requirement, he didn't want someone watching over Red that didn't want to be there. The idea appeased his guilt a little but not all the way.

"Is it Donnie?" she said over her shoulder as she headed into the lounge.

"Donnie," he wouldn't call it jealousy but he wouldn't call the feeling that swelled in his stomach entirely normal either, "you wanna tell me what's so fucking interesting about Donnie?"

Rae gave him one of her hard stares now, "is he at the house or not?"

"No, he was shot in the shoulder at Jacobs compound. He's still not one hundred percent. Either that or he's just one lazy motherfucker."

"That's unfortunate," she shrugged as she left the lounge and began to climb the stairs.

"For you or him?" he followed the sway of her ass, half forgetting what they were even discussing and half wondering why the hell he wasn't between her thighs right now with his tongue in her mouth.

"Next time you see him," her fingertips wrapped around the handle of the first door along the hall and she paused, staring at the wood, before sighing, "tell him he's going to be a father."

His gaze couldn't help but flick instantly to her waist, the place where that kind of thing happened, the tent that had grown in his pants as he climbed the stairs lost a little steam, "a father?"

"Yes," she swung the door open, her knife at the ready, "one of my girls is expecting a baby and he's responsible."

'At least someone was having sex at the little house on the prairie,' was the first thought that crossed his mind but he decided to keep that one to himself. "Your girl, my guy?" Negan laughed, lingering in the door as she checked out the tiny room. "Do I pay for the wedding or do you?"

"It's not funny," she poked him in the chest as she moved to the next room, a bathroom, blue tiles and the smell of mildew.

"Oh I think it is," he chuckled, not quite sure if he should say the next part but saying it nonetheless. "Donnie's girl is gonna be spitting blood when she finds out."

"He has a girlfriend?" Rae demanded her jaw clenching like she was prepared to fight Negan over the revelation.

He held up his hands with a nervous laugh. Donnie wasn't the only one. He felt guilty as fuck for letting the other man's cat out of the bag. It made him reconsider the men he was donating to Rae's fort and how easily a happy little snippet of information can slide so juicily from a tongue. "I mean… I-"

"Oh my god," she threw up her hands "you men are all the same!" she began bashing open the bathroom cupboards like they were practice shots at Donny's head.

Negan wiped his hand over his face, wondering why the hell he had said anything and partly wondering if it was because he wanted to know how she would take the information. Rae's angry clattered searching stopped and he looked up to see a cabinet wide open to reveal one very large, very brightly coloured, impossible to miss box of Trojans. Ribbed, for her pleasure.

His throat went dry and he hardly knew whether to laugh or cry as the room filled with a pregnant pause. He could hardly take the quiet before his boots met the tiles and he walked to where she stood, leaning his body into the back of hers. This was the sort of sign he could believe in. Her ass fit perfectly against his crotch as he reached over her shoulder and picked up the unopened box, "I guess your girl won't be needing these."

That riled her, the red of her hair was like flames licking against her alabaster skin as she turned to glare at him, poking her finger into his chest. "She's a teenager! Impressionable. She had it on good faith that they had and I quote", he'd never seen such violent air quotes, "a connection."

Negan pictured all five of his lovely wives and let's say he got a little defensive, "maybe they do. Maybe he's unhappy with the other woman. You don't know every-fucking-thing that goes on in Donnie's head."

"Is he still with her?" she stepped out of the bathroom that was suddenly cramped, all filled up with attitude.

He let her walk a few steps before following her, "I'm not his fucking stalker, I don't exactly know his business." All he knew was that he hadn't slept with his wives since he'd met Rae but that didn't mean he wasn't married to them and lying through his teeth to her.

"Well I'm sure he had a real special connection, screwing two women at the same time."

She opened the last door and stepped inside the master bedroom while he idled in the hallway feeling suitably put in his place and like bag of shit on a hot day. Jesus fuck, when had he become so bothered about what this woman thought about him? It wasn't his style, he needed to go back to cracking skulls and fucking pussy. He should be enjoying the ride rather than worrying about when he would get caught.

There was a clatter, a smash of glass on a hard floor and it all happened quickly. A frenzied shadow dashed through his peripheral so quick that it didn't register in his brain before a dead man's hands were tangled in Rae's long ponytail, clawing towards her soft skin. Her bottle green eyes were as wide, her arms desperately flailing for her knife. She lodged it in the roamers neck to the spurt of dirty blood but it wasn't enough to stop the attack as the man's teeth sank into her shoulder and dragged her to the ground.

Time moved slowly, it was like Negan could feel every heartbeat as he clenched his hands to find them empty of Lucille who still sat downstairs, forgotten. He was going to lose her. Just like Lucille he was going to watch as Rae slipped away. It was all he could think about as he stumbled forward with panicked steps. He crashed into the door, scrambling through it. His ungainliness was enough to the distract the roamer and give Rae a chance to crawl away. Negan grabbed the nearest thing to hand, a mirrored jewellery box. He slammed the corner right into the temple of the man's skull in one hard knock that split it open like an egg, all the inner goo dripping out as it slumped to the floor.

Negan's hands were shaking almost as much as his unsteady breaths as the jewellery box slipped to the hardwood floor, filling the room with more broken glass. He didn't know who made the first move, maybe it was both of them but suddenly Rae was in his arms, her face pressed against his chest, his buried in her hair and the sweet smell of her shampoo. He held her, tight, protective, not knowing if he was doing it for her sake or for his.

He let her out of his bear hug after a time, shrugging off her coat and pulling back the collar of her shirt to see a deep purple bruise flowering against her alabaster skin - but no open wounds. Her heavy winter coat had saved her, not him. "Rae I..." he didn't quite know what to say or how to word the feeling that was swelling inside where the worry and terror had been, "Jesus Christ baby." He kissed her forehead and pulled her against him again.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her fingers curling into his shirt.

"It's not your fucking fault," he nuzzled the top of her head, "I should have checked the room. I should be fucking looking after you properly."

She looked up at him and Negan realised he never held any of his wives, in fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd taken comfort in another person's body without his dick being involved. It felt good.

"I don't need you checking my rooms or taking care of me like I'm your problem. It was my fault, I was distracted. I'm sorry because... I shouldn't have even been having that argument with you."

Fuck, that was exactly the kind of argument she probably should be having with him and more. He felt even worse, "Red..."

"And you're right," she pulled from his arms, her hair half fallen from her ponytail, a smear of old blood on her cheek, "fuck responsibilities, we deserve to have the day off and to stop worrying about everyone else all the time. "

"Yeah?" he forced a smile. If she knew the truth then she would never look at him the way she was looking at him right now, trust and softness. He couldn't get enough of it. He touched his thumb to her cheek before tucking her hair behind her ear. This was exactly the kind of way he wanted her to look at him. With her lips a smile that he could kiss, her freckled skin a map still to be explored. Negan was torn in two, he just hoped Rae couldn't see the proof of it all over his face or the way his pulse was racing, not just because she was near but because he knew that one day, just like Donnie, he would get caught in all his half truths.

A/N- Thank you for reading. I hope you all enjoyed it. And a big thank you to all the comments I got last chapter! I love reading them and knowing you're enjoying the story or seeing your ideas of how you think things will progress. I still can't believe how many follower this has now! Sometimes I just picture what that amount of people would look like in a room and I swear I get stage fright! I love you all for reading my work :)

Don't forget to follow me on Tumblr superprincesspea Next week is #negansmutweek and there will be loads of great stories being posted about our favourite bad boy ;)