"Put Alexandria on lockdown, now! No one leaves their homes" Rick spat over the radio.
"Roger that, Rick" someone answered. He then turned to speak to his people in front of him.
"Carol, Merle, do a full sweep of the area. There could be more of them out there. Sasha, you lead a group to check every inch of this building. Make sure no one else got in."
Everyone nodded at Rick's orders, and went to do what he said. Rick got on the radio again. "Do a headcount of all our people at Alexandria, make sure no one's missing. Someone had to tell that guy how to get here. He might've killed them."
Michonne watched as Rick paced in front of her. His whole body was tense, and his jaw moved up and down as he clenched it.
"If he killed any more of my people this deal is off and we're at war" Rick rumbled.
Michonne stood stock still as Rick paced. She was shocked when Merle dragged Negan's unconscious body over to them, and suddenly the walkers at the fence made sense. She knew Negan would probably try something, it was just in his nature. But finding his way all the way to the factory and actually attacking by himself? She didn't think he'd be that reckless. Not with the whole town's lives on the line.
"Why is he here?" Rick asked. She was startled to realize Rick was speaking to her.
"Why do you think?" Michonne asked. "He thought you were holding me prisoner. He was probably worried."
"You knew he was comin'?" Rick asked, tilting his head in the way Michonne learned meant he was angry.
"No. I didn't know he was coming, but I understand why."
"What is he, your boyfriend or something?" Rick asked in disgust.
Michonne's head tilted all the way to the right, her forehead scrunched up and her eyes became slits.
"Is that any of your business?" She asked.
Rick opened her cage door expectantly. "You're gonna stay in here until we figure out what's going on. Turn around" Rick said, pulling out the handcuffs.
Michonne stayed where she was, her eyes slowly taking in the handcuffs and then Rick. She crossed her arms, and stared at him.
"Let me see him" she demanded softly.
Rick scoffed. "I'm gonna talk to him when he wakes up" Rick said. "Find out what he was up to."
"Let me see him" Michonne said again. "He didn't hurt anyone. He was just concerned about me."
"I should've killed him…" Rick began.
"You're going to let me see him because you owe me" Michonne said loudly, interrupting Rick. "I saved Carl, and helped you clear your fences. This is the least you can do. I want this trade to work between our communities as much as you do, so you're gonna let me talk to him and figure this out."
Rick looked at Michonne for a moment before averting his eyes away from hers. He nodded his head slightly. "Fine, you can talk to him, but I'll be there too."
Michonne swallowed for a moment, and then accepted his terms with a small nod.
***can08writer***
"Negan", Michonne called softly into another storage locker where he was being held. He stirred slightly but didn't open his eyes.
"Negan!" Michonne called slightly louder.
"'Chonne" he mumbled softly, still not awake.
"Negan, open your eyes" Michonne demanded, and suddenly his eyes flew open. Realization shocked him awake, and his eyes scanned the room until they came to rest on Michonne's.
"Michonne! Where the fuck are we?" Negan said in a panic, leaping to his feet.
"Calm down" Michonne said softly. She tilted her head to the left slightly and Negan saw Rick watching them from a few feet back.
"The fuck is he doing here?" Negan asked, puffing himself up like a cat ready to pounce.
"You broke into his headquarters. Remember?" Michonne asked in an unamused voice.
Negan stood and made his way over to the bars of his cage, while looking at Rick.
"Are you okay?" Negan asked Michonne while staring at Rick the whole time.
"She's fine" Rick answered for Michonne, "you on the other hand…"
"Stop" Michonne interrupted. "I'm fine Negan. What are you doing?"
"I didn't hear anything about you for three days. I didn't know what they did to you. They wouldn't tell me anything" Negan said.
"Negan… I know you were worried, but this?"
"If you killed anyone on your way here, you're a dead man" Rick threatened, taking a step forward. His hand was resting on his gun.
"Don't put your murdering pants on yet, Rick. I didn't kill anyone."
"You led a herd here!" Rick said, taking another menacing step forward. "I should kill you where you…"
"Rick!" Michonne called, and just by saying his name she snapped him out of his murderous mood. He looked at Michonne, his eyes unintentionally swiping up and down her body, and then back to Negan.
Negan looked from Rick to Michonne and back to Rick for a second. He noticed how quickly her one word snapped him out of his rage. As well as how he just checked her out.
"How the fuck did you find out where we were?" Rick asked.
"One of your people brought me here. Laura."
"Where is she?" Rick yelled, fearing the worst.
"She's either taking a nap in her car, or she's on her way here right now. Either way, she's still alive."
Rick quickly spoke into his radio, ordering a group to go out and look for Laura in the woods. Michonne took the opportunity to talk to Negan again.
"Negan, I'm okay. We have a deal now, a trade. They've kept up their end of the bargain, and we're going to do the same. We're not going to fight them..."
"So you're letting her go now?" Negan asked Rick, interrupting Michonne.
Rick stared at Negan for a moment, the vein on his forehead throbbing. He narrowed his eyes.
"No. I'm not letting her go. We agreed she'd stay here as insurance that we don't get attacked by dumbasses like you. But obviously that didn't work."
"Rick, can I talk to him alone?" Michonne asked, turning to face Rick.
He scoffed and crossed his arms. "No."
Michonne sighed in frustration at both the men who were acting like children.
"Rick. Please. Just give me a minute?" Michonne asked again.
The two men's eyes were locked on each other. They looked like they wanted to kill each other. Rick's eyes slowly left Negan's and met Michonne's again. She was pleading with him with her eyes, and he knew he had to give in.
His shoulders slumped slightly, and to Michonne's shock, he turned around and walked away from the cage.
Michonne stepped up to the cage and glared at Negan.
"It was stupid of you to come here. What were you planning to do? Surround the place with walkers and then what? Even if you got to me, how were you planning on getting back out?"
"I'd figure it out" Negan said.
"You have to stop doing this Negan" Michonne said, shaking her head. "Stop trying to save me. Stop being so impulsive. Stop fighting Rick. You're going to get yourself killed."
"I'm gonna keep fighting him until he lets you go. What? Are you resigned to live your life here? When is he going to let you go back to Alexandria?"
"I don't know, but I'm okay here. They're not hurting me. They're doing everything they said they'd do. We need to make this trade work."
"That's all you're worried about isn't it? This trade. What about you? You deserve to not be their fucking prisoner. You deserve to be home. And… and what about me?" Negan asked.
Michonne shook her head slightly, still confused about what Negan was talking about. She opened her mouth to speak when Negan cut her off.
"I miss you, Michonne."
Michonne abruptly shut her mouth.
"I'm not gonna accept you being their prisoner, ever. I will do what I have to do until they let you go. Whatever it takes."
"Negan!"
"I've been thinking about us. Since you've been gone it's made me think about lots of things. Look, I don't know if they're gonna kill me for what I did, so I have to let you know how I feel."
"What? Negan, what are you talking…"
"In case I don't make it, I have to tell you…"
"Don't. Negan…"
"I love you, Michonne."
Michonne froze in place, her ears still trying to digest what Negan had just told her.
"N-Negan I…"
"It's okay if you don't love me. I know you may not be able to feel love right now. Maybe you just need some more time, but I just wanted you to know."
"Don't" Michonne said softly. "Don't love me. It'll only end badly for you."
"I can't help it. When they took you away I realized that without you my life is shit. I'm nothing without you."
Michonne backed away from the bars of the cage and shook her head. "Don't. Don't say that."
She sighed and turned away from Negan. "Don't use me as an excuse to be reckless. I'm not your excuse to get yourself and innocent people killed. I'm sorry but I don't love you. And I can't have you fighting for me when I don't feel that way about you."
"Bullshit" Negan said taking a step closer to the bars on the cage, and therefore closer to Michonne. "I mean, you may not be able to feel love right now, but there was something between us. We had something. You felt it" he said, his eyes boring into hers, begging her for some reciprocation of his feelings.
"I care about you" Michonne admitted. "On the road you were a companion. You were company. You were my person. You pulled me up when I was at my lowest point. What I feel for you is appreciation and friendship, but not love, it never was. Not the way you want."
Negan staggered back a step as if her words had punched him in the chest.
"You don't mean that" he tried one more time. "Is that prick making you say this?" He asked softly. "Michonne, you can tell me."
"No one is making me say this Negan" Michonne said, turning to face him. "I have to be honest, and we will never be the way you want us to be."
And with those words, Negan deflated. All of his bravado and tough guy attitude melted away, and finally Michonne could see who he really was, a lonely man with no one in the world.
It broke her heart to see that she'd broken his. He turned his back to her and returned to the wooden bench in his cage. He sat down facing away from her.
"Negan, I…" Michonne tried, but she realized she had nothing to say. She had told him how she really felt, she wasn't going to apologize for it. As much as she cared about him, as much as she owed him, she didn't love him.
She closed her mouth. She couldn't see Negan's face, but she didn't have to to read the complete devastation in his body language.
Michonne backed away from Negan's cage. "I'll try to get them to let you go."
Negan said nothing as he stared at the wall.
Michonne turned slowly and left the room, walking past Rick who was hiding behind a storage container.
***can08writer***
"He knocked out Laura, stole her car, and used it to lead walkers here. He broke into our compound, and because of him Carl was almost killed!" Rick said.
"But he didn't kill her, he left her somewhere she'd be safe. And Carl didn't die. Negan didn't actually hurt anyone. What he did was stupid, sure, but he didn't really hurt you or your people" Michonne defended, looking from Carol, to Merle, and back to Rick.
Rick, Michonne, Merle, Carol, Sasha, Maggie, and Carl were in the meeting room, discussing what to do with Negan. Maggie was enraged that Michonne was even with them in the room, but the others didn't say much to protest her presence.
"If we let him go, it'll send the message that you can attack us and get away with it" Carol said, crossing her arms. "We made it clear what would happen if they tried to attack us." She quickly glanced at Michonne.
"We did" Maggie said. "That's part of the deal too, right? If they attack us, Michonne gets punished. You really gonna let him go, and have no consequences for her?"
"She saved me!" Carl yelled. "She stopped those walkers from eating me. She didn't have to, but she saved my life. She's not our enemy anymore."
"Carl, calm down" Rick said.
"No!" Carl yelled again. "Maggie, you can't be serious. Michonne is on our side. She wants us not to fight with the Alexandrians. I hated her too when I found out what her people did, but I got to know her. She's okay. If anyone gets punished, it should just be the guy who broke in here. Not Michonne."
"We need to make an example" Merle cut in. "These people obviously think they're running the show. But, maybe our punishment don't have to be capital punishment. How bout as punishment, the first trade we make is them givin' us bullets, with nothing in return. And we keep this guy Negan in a cage."
"If we don't punish them the way we said we would, they'll never believe we're serious" Sasha said. "We should stick with our original deal. Michonne pays the price for the attack. And this guy too."
Michonne glared at Sasha.
"Negan was worried about me. That's why he came here. He won't do it again. I told him I'm fine. He'll cooperate now" Michonne said.
"And we should just take your word for it?" Maggie asked.
"Forming new relationships with people involves trust" Michonne said, turning to Rick. "When I offered to come here, I was trusting that you'd keep your side of the bargain. You could've shot me the moment I came here, but you didn't. I could've killed Carl when I was alone with him and had a weapon, I didn't. I also could've let Carl be killed by those walkers. It certainly wouldn't have been hard, but I didn't. Now, I'm telling you that there will be no more trouble from anyone from Alexandria. Just let me speak to them. I need you to trust me now, like I trusted you."
"She's not the problem, it's the idiot in the cage that is" Carol said.
Rick sighed and opened and closed his fist. "What makes you think he won't try this again?" Rick asked Michonne.
"If he does, I'll get rid of him myself" Michonne replied.
***can08writer***
Hours later, Michonne hopped out of the passenger side of one of The Family's trucks. She and Negan had both been blindfolded on the way back to Alexandria, but Negan's hands were tied as he sat in the back seat silently.
Merle and another man pulled Negan out of the back seat of the truck, and he was so silent that he had Michonne worried. She had never seen him so crushed before.
When the Alexandrians saw Michonne and then Negan, they nervously came forward to see what The Family, and Rick, had to say. Aaron, Eric, and Spencer gave Michonne a nod when they saw she was unharmed.
Rick stood next to her, with his hands on his hips, his right hand resting on his Python.
"We have a deal" Michonne said to the Alexandrians. "The Family is going to trade clothes with us, in exchange for bullets."
There was a gasp and confused looks from the Alexandrians. They knew they didn't have nearly enough bullets to trade.
"Eugene is going to get the bullets that we're trading, like he spoke about a few weeks ago" Michonne said, looking over at him meaningfully. Hoping that he understood that she meant he'd have to make them.
Eugene's eyes widened in understanding, and his cowardice immediately took over. "That was pure speculation and hypotheses, I said I may be able to provide…"
"Eugene, we know that you can do it, and I'm sure that everyone here will be working with you so that we're ready for the trade in a week" Michonne said implicitly.
"A week?" Aaron asked. "We won't be ready by then!"
"You have to be" Michonne said. "You need to be. You have to do everything in your power to get started on Eugene's plan."
"And we get clothes in return? Seriously?" Spencer asked skeptically.
"Yes. We get clothes in return. We need them for the children, and for the winter, in exchange for bullets."
There was silence for a few moments, so Michonne continued.
"We need everyone's cooperation in order to make a way forward for all of us."
Rick stepped forward, holding his gun to the back of Negan's head, and pushing Negan who was still blindfolded and bound, ahead of himself.
"This man snuck out of here, kidnapped one of my people, and attacked my home. After the attack that your people already orchestrated, killing many of my family already. I told you, that if any of you tried something, there would be punishment" Rick said, glaring at the Alexandrians.
The members of The Family adjusted their weapons, and the Alexandrians nervously looked around at the group that surrounded them.
"I said that Michonne would be punished if any of you stepped out of line" Rick said again. "But Michonne has proven herself to be trustworthy. Michonne has done nothing but try to convince me that you people are worth trading with. That you people are worth giving a benefit of a doubt."
Rick ripped the blindfold off of Negan's eyes, and Negan squinted and blinked around at his surroundings.
"So because of Michonne, I'm gonna let this piece of shit who attacked us go. I'm returning him here, under the supervision of all of you. He almost brought war upon you all. And if anyone tries something else, your people and my people will be at war. This is the second time I'm giving your people mercy. There will not be a third."
Rick cut the ropes that bound Negan, and roughly pushed him forward, towards the Alexandrians. Negan took a few steps forward, and then turned around to face Rick, keeping his eyes on the ground. Michonne stared at him, trying to get his attention, but Negan refused to look at her.
"And if you don't have the bullets ready in a week, you're going to experience our wrath" Rick added, specifically speaking to Negan. He then turned back to his truck and opened the passenger door.
Michonne knew Rick was waiting for her to get in the car, but she wanted Negan to look at her first. She didn't want to leave him knowing he was still this upset. He refused to look up from the ground, and after a few seconds Michonne blinked rapidly and slowly turned around, walking back towards the truck. She climbed in, and Rick closed the door behind her.
Rick walked to the drivers side and started the engine, the rumble coming from the truck was the only sound in the town. Michonne stared out her window at Negan, who still didn't look up from the ground. Rick made a U-turn with the truck and then drove through Alexandria's gates. Michonne continued to stare out the side view mirror, as she watch Negan stare at the ground emotionlessly, until the gates closed and Negan disappeared from sight.
Author's Note: Thank you for every single review that you've written me. I really love each one from the simple sentence, to the 5 paragraph analysis of each chapter (especially those!). It really encourages me to keep writing when I hear that people are very enthusiastic about the story. And if you have any suggestions or ideas about how you'd like the story to go or what you'd like to see I am open to hear it. I always have an endgame for my fics, but the stuff that happens in the middle is revised a lot, and sometimes the suggestions that readers give me actually change my fics for the better, so suggest away. Anyway, thank you for reading!