Present. "You a married man Rick?"

Negan asked from behind the wheel of the R.V. Just minutes before he had murdered both Abraham and Glen in cold blood right in front of the others. After dragging Rick inside the R.V he slammed down the hatchet and sat behind the wheel of the vehicle. Rick, who was merely just on the edge of having a complete mental breakdown laid on all fours, feeling his entire body shake as his bloodshot eyes darted around helplessly.

Negan's back was to him and he kept glancing over at the hatchet, now driven deeply into the wooden fold out table. Feeling his blood pressure build, his eyes narrowed glaring at it. Negan sighed, still not facing him. Instead he held onto the wheel and shook his head.

"I've been married...twice. Last one stuck so hard and fast I thought it would kill me. I guess I tried to make her into something I once had. I treated her horrible, and I brought everything that happened onto myself...still, I would like to believe she's still out there..."

Rick waited, listening to Negan ramble, completely dismissing the rest of the words he said. When he did jump up and lunge for the gun he was surprised by Negan spinning around holding an assault rifle.

Later...

Once Negan's men headed back to camp, and he left Rick and the others with a truck to go back, he sat in the passenger seat of the van that was transporting the man named Daryl. All in all he was pleasantly surprised by how things turned out. He had Rick exactly where he wanted him, and knew he would come to good use further down the line. Sitting back, chewing on a toothpick with Neil driving beside him, he chuckled at the loud bangs coming from the back where Daryl was being held. He had great plans for him. Great plans indeed. Smirking, he sat back, staring out the window with his bat resting between his legs. That's when he thought of Lucy. How beautiful she looked the day she jumped. Her hair blowing into her eyes, her stomach swollen with his sons, and the horrible fear he hadn't felt in years when he saw she had chosen death over being his any longer. It killed him when she jumped, not just killing herself, but his children with her. He had held off hope when no body had been recovered. He had spent months searching high and low and in the end all he found were a bunch of abandoned cabins, and lots of woods with no sign of Lucy anywhere. Still, he had men searching that entire area for months. The body should have came up by now...shouldn't it?

Night after night he was plagued by nightmares of that look in her eyes right before she threw herself backwards. He craved her like a drug and the reality that she really was dead still hadn't fully sunk in. Until he honestly saw her rotting corpse, he would still live in the fantasy that she was still alive. That somehow in the million in one changes there were, she had survived and he would find her. To the men he had given up, but to himself night after night he laid awake thinking of her. No, she hadn't killed herself to escape him. In his mind it had been a simple accident and she had fallen before he could grab hold of her. That time had stood still and when he did find her, even after all these months everything would go back to normal. His mind wouldn't linger too long on the babies, he refused to believe it. Instead he pretended that they were still waiting for him, and that one day he would find his family and never let them out of his sights again. Glancing down at his bloody bat, tiny chunks of brain still stuck in the wire a grin formed on his lips.

He had seen those women react in horror once he beat the Asian and Red to death. He loved spreading the misery. If he couldn't have his love back, nobody would. With each swing of that bat he felt a power he had never felt before this all began. He would continue using this power to numb out the actual pain he felt inside.

Elsewhere...

"Want some more?" Joe offered a can of beans to Lucy who sat on the hood of a now rusting Buick that sat in the parking-lot of the used car dealer ship they had stopped at. The latest town off the back highway had been deserted like all the others. The two had been traveling off and on for the last few months and had gotten used to avoiding the areas where the walkers were the worst. Currently they had headed back in this direction, hoping to head further down South before the truly cold winter months took over. They spent their time hiking in the woods, traveling from town to town, and getting what little supplies they needed. Lucy, who was currently named Darling sat in jeans and a button down blouse. Her hair tied tightly back with a bandana, she sat Indian style and smiled shaking her head at the food before Joe, who was sitting beside her shrugged and finished off the can.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, and they had planned to get another twenty or so miles done ahead of time. Lucy's memory had completely come back. There were vague hazy little memories, but that was about it. She still had no idea what her real name was, where her family was, how old she was, or where she originally came from when this all began. She had faint little flickering memories but that was about it. The memory that was the strongest was the image of an older man with a leather jacket and salt and pepper beard. She had assumed that whoever this man was he might have been the father of the children she had given birth to. The recovery following the delivery had been terrible. Every once in a while Lucy's fever would spike and the two would be forced to hold off somewhere until it broke. Lucy had a bad leg now that often ached if they walked for too long, and had trouble sleeping. Joe had tried often to bring up her other baby, asking if she was ever interested in ever trying to find him. Lucy always told him the same answer, that the kind people who had taken her in and helped deliver them had him. She prayed he was safe and sound, and was doing a whole lot better than them. Still, most nights she woke up in a cold sweat thinking of her sweet dear other baby, turning in her arms shortly after being born and then being forced to destroy him. This was a terrible reality she knew she could never escape and it killed her. Still, she often wondered what her life was like before all of this. She knew she couldn't have been any older than twenty or so. She had no ring on her finger. Was she married? These questions often haunted her, but she pushed them away knowing it would only confuse her and fog her judgement. At the time she was taking each day at a time trying to survive. Joe had been a kind friend and partner to her, teaching her how to shoot, and hide from these creatures.

Even though they slept side by side every night, sometimes even curled up against each other they never once tried anything. She looked at him as her friend or older brother. Nothing more, nothing less. Joe respected this, and the two hadn't seen any other survivors going on two months now. Together and traveled, with little to no purpose. Today after a good fifteen miles of walking they saw the used car lot and Joe had cracked a few jokes about returning back home before they sat up on one of the weather beaten cars, it's price in the dusty window now faded and sun cracked and shared lunch. Lucy hadn't wanted to tell Joe but she felt as if some more memories were coming back to her. Memories of that man in the leather jacket. Just the other night she had been awoken by a rather arousing dream of him laying on top of her and pinning her down. She wasn't exactly sure what this meant, but it seemed with each passing day he was all she could think of... "You ready?" Lucy snapped out of her thoughts and nodded as she slid off the hood of the car, her boots clicking against the pavement. Slowly Joe and her helped each other put their packs on before Joe mentioned cutting through the woods at the end of town. Together they carefully walked by, hearing the faint echo of walkers, and continued on their way.

"You need to understand this isn't a military school Negan. These are just kids in high school and we've been getting a lot of complaints about your methods..."

Negan was nearly five years younger, dressed in his T-shirt and shorts with Evertmont High's lego on both. His whistle around his neck, and his eyes rolling as this dickhead spoke to him from behind his neck. He knew Luis wasn't going to do jack shit. He had worked as this school's gym teacher for nearly seven years now and he knew for a fact Luis was scared of him. Annoyed, he leaned back in his chair and listened and Luis stuttered and continued on looking over the paperwork.

"We've had several complaints. Children telling their parents of you using foul language to them during class or sports games."

"They need to learn somehow. Life ain't all candy and roses. They play like a bunch of pussys I'm going to tell them."

Luis sighed, his face blushing. "I understand Negan but you can't be so hard on them.

They are just kids..."

"No buddy...they aren't just kids. They are walking talking whine bags who can't hit a ball or score a goal for shit. These parents don't like my methods then they can take it up with me..."

Negan stood up, towering over the desk as Luis dropped his eyes nervously looking over the paperwork again.

"I understand but..."

"Listen I gotta go, I'm picking up Lucille..."

Luis' eyes lit up.

"Ah yes, how is she doing? I heard she's responding quite nicely to the treatments..."

Negan shot Luis a look before rubbing the stubble covered neck.

"See you around Lou..." With that he turned and walked straight out of the office...

Negan was woken to the sound of the door of his trailer being hammered onto. His hazel eyes snapping open, he found himself laying in the back bedroom completely wiped out after this morning's events. The kid named Daryl was being held captive, and he was quite excited to see what was in store for Rick and all of his other little asshole friends. Sitting up, rubbing the back of his neck he knew he must have fallen asleep. Standing up and cracking his back he yelled he was coming when he hammering came again. Making his way to the door, he yanked it open more annoyed than anything else. "What?!" It was Neil, looking white as a ghost.

"Um...Negan..."

"What?"

"Two people wandered into our camp fifteen minutes ago..."

"More of Rick's people?

"Um no, two hikers. I thought you would wanna see this..."

"Tell them to get lost or shoot them, what's the big deal..."

Neil gulped before standing to the side.

"Well, I was going to but..."

Negan raised his head and saw the two hikers. One man, one woman. Their packs taken from them and both standing side by side with their hands behind their heads as a few of the men circled around holding rifles. Instantly Negan blinked believing he was dreaming.

No, he couldn't be... There, the woman standing beside the man with the dark hair was Lucy. His Lucy. She looked exactly as she did the last time he laid eyes on her earlier this year. Speechless, he nearly pushed Neil out of the way and stumbled down the three metal steps before locking sights with her as she nervously looked around. Approaching, he couldn't believe it. If anyone at this exact moment tried getting in the way he was certain he would kill them.

"Lucy?" The woman looked over and locked eyes with him.