Chapter 103-Easier with you

One year later

Negan's P.O.V

Negan drives a truck into Alexandria and stops it by the church. He climbs out of the truck and looks at Rick as he walks over to him. "What are you doing here?" Rick asks him as he stops by the front of the truck.

"Hey, Ricky boy, how's the leg?" Negan grinned.

"Same as always, asshole," Rick says with a slight smile, but then his brow furrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to get Arya. Carl asked me if I wanted to take her out for a little bit. Apparently, he has something planned."

"Carl's not here. He left for Hilltop."

"I know. I'm getting her from Enid," Negan tells Rick, who stares at him for several moments, but then nods.

"Keep her safe," Rick soon said.

"I will," Negan tells him as he walks towards Carl and Enid's house. He knocks on the door, and Enid opens it a couple of seconds later.

"Howdy Ma'am."

Enid looked at him then nodded politely. "She's getting her things. She'll be down in a minute. Thank God."

"She getting antsy?" Negan joked as he stepped inside.

"You have no idea. She's firmly saying she's old enough to go on runs now and has been begging to go out for months."

"Do you know why Carl is sending her off with you?" Enid then asks Negan, who shakes his head.

"He asked if I could watch her, and I said yes. Besides, always have time for my favorite little Wolf girl." Negan says as he sits down.

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you travel by yourself," Enid says as she sits down across from him.

"That's because I wasn't allowed to leave by myself. Daryl and Shane thought it was too dangerous, and I think at first they were convinced I was gonna run off to God fucking knows where. Either that or Maggie or Tara, or one of the other Saviors, or hell anyone would try to put a bullet in my dome." Negan explains.

"What's changed?" Enid asks him, an eyebrow raised in admitted curiosity.

"Maggie has. She still hates me, and I know she'll never forgive me for what I did to Glenn. I don't blame her, but she isn't as hostile to me anymore or at least not enough to want to shoot my ass. She lets Hershel stay at the campgrounds with me there. I'm not worried about her killing me. I'm okay with the fact that Daryl and Carl forgave me."

"Do you think I forgive you?" Enid asks Negan, who just looks at her for a moment, but is cut off as Arya comes down the stairs.

"I'm ready!" Arya says with a smile. Negan and Enid nod as they stand up. Enid hugs Arya and kisses her head.

"Be safe and do everything Negan says," Enid tells Arya, who nods as he goes to the door. Negan and Arya walk to the door. Arya goes out first. "Negan," Negan looks at her. "I have forgiven you."

Negan just looks at her for a moment, then Arya called out "Let's go!"

Shaking his head, Negan walked out, a smile forming on his lips.

Carl's P.O.V

Carl stops his car inside Hilltop and climbs out, immediately heading over and looks at Earl as he walks up to him. "Is it done?" Carl asks Earl, who nods.

"You bet your ass, you want it now?" Earl asks him.

"No, I'll get it before I leave. I have to talk with Maggie." Carl tells Earl, who nods.

"Best of luck son." Earl joked, causing Carl to snort and follow inside.

Carl walks inside Barrington house and looks at Beth's office where Maggie and Beth were talking.

"Hey, Carl. What are you doing here?" Beth asks, surprised.

"I need to talk to Maggie," Carl asks Beth.

"You guys can use the office." Beth says, her tone curious, as she leaves the office. Carl shuts the door and sits across from Maggie.

"Is there a problem?" Maggie asks Carl.

"No, I need to ask you something. You're the closest thing Enid has to a mother. I want to marry her, and I would like your blessing."

Maggie smiles and nods. "Carl you don't need to do that...but yes you have my blessing, Carl. What, you scared I was gonna say no?"

Carl grinned weakly "Maybe a little."

"You know Glenn did the same thing. He asked Daddy for his blessing before he proposed to me." Maggie informed, her eyes soft in remembrance as Carl looked at her surprised.

"Glenn was a good man."

"You have a ring?" Maggie asks, changing the subject.

"Earl made me one. I have it planned out. I'm gonna do it when I get back to Alexandria."

"Arya?"

"She's with Negan. I don't know what they are doing, but she's with him."

Maggie nods as she stands up and hugs him. "Then you should be on your way," Carl nods as she walks towards the door. "You hurt her, Carl, and nobody will find the body."

Carl smiles as he goes outside and walks over to Earl, who hands him a case containing the ring. "Good luck, kid. You're about to trap yourself in something you can't get out of."

Carl smiles and takes the ring as he goes towards his car.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan stopped the car on the side of the road and climbed out of the car. Arya followed him and looked at him, confused. "What are we doing here?" Arya asks as she stops beside him as he looks at Washington.

"I was told to keep you busy, and then I had an Idea been wanting to think about for a long damn while now," Negan tells her as he looks at Washington. "I had outposts in Washington when I led the Saviors."

"Do you miss it? Leading the Saviors?" Arya asks him. Negan looks at her and shakes his head.

"No, I don't. Being a leader is a lot of responsibility. Having to care for so many people and I was an asshole."

"You're still an asshole." Arya says with a smirk.

"Thanks," Negan says with a smile. "I was a bad man. If anything good came out of what I did to Glenn and Abraham. It was that they stopped me and everything that has happened since the end of the war."

"Is there a reason you brought me here?" Arya asks as she looks at Washington.

"I wanted to see it, was born here and raised her practically all my damn life," Negan tells her. "I can point out some monuments."

Arya looked at the city in the far distance, seeing a tall white obelisk "What's that?"

"Oh you see little Lady, THAT is what is called the Washington Monument..."

Carl's P.O.V

Carl stopped his car by his house and climbed out as Enid came out of the house. "Everything okay?" She asks him as he gets out of the car.

"Yeah, I wanna show you something, come on," Carl says. Enid nods as she follows him to the gate. They leave Alexandria and go into the woods.

"Carl, what are we doing out here?" Enid asks as she walks up beside him.

"You'll see," Carl says with a smile. "It's a surprise."

"A surprise?" Enid asked dryly. "Does it have something to do with why you went to Hilltop?" Enid asks Carl, who nods. as he stops in the woods.

Enid looks around and stops when her eyes land on the tree that Carl and Enid had hidden in all those years ago. "What are we doing here?" Enid asks as she turns around and looks at Carl, who is on one knee. Enid stares at him with wide eyes, her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Oh my god what's happening, Carl?"

"The last few years have been crazy. The walkers invading Alexandria, the saviors, Jocelyn, Richmond. It's been easier with you beside me, and I know that as long as you're with me. We can beat anything. Will you marry me?"

Enid smiles, her eyes full of tears, just reaching down and hugging him. Carl stands up, pulling her up, and puts the ring on her finger. "Why here?" Enid asks after kissing him.

"This was the first place we bonded. Running through the woods and hiding from the herd in that tree." Carl answers. "I figured it was the best place to do it."

Enid nods as she kisses him again.

Carl chuckled "So that's a yes?"

Softly chuckling and tears starting to fall, Enid said "Yes Carl Grimes. I will marry you."

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl stood by his cabin, working on his bike. He looked up at Deacon as he walked up to him. Daryl stands up and wipes the grease on his pants. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Want some help?" Deacon asks him, looking at the bike with a visibly impressed look

"You know what you're doing? I know you drive a bike. Ever fix one?" Daryl asks him, already kneeling down

"Worked as a mechanic before the fall." Deacon tells him. "Yes, I know what I'm doing."

"Part of an MC before the turn as well." Daryl says as he leans up against the cabin.

"The man who owned the shop. He offered me a place in the MC."

"You can help," Daryl says. Deacon nods as he starts to help him.

Rick's P.O.V

Rick was sitting in his house watching Judith and Andrea as they played in the living room. He looked at the door as Carl and Enid walked in. "Mom here?" Carl asks Rick, who nods.

"Michonne!" Rick calls out. Michonne walks down the stairs and looks at the two of them.

"Hey!" Michonne says as she sits down beside Rick. "What's up?"

"We're getting married." Carl answers with a grin, both of the adults whipping their heads to him at the news...there was silence for a moment...

"What!?" Rick suddenly asks and yelled as he stands up and goes over to them with Michonne. Michonne takes Enid's hand and looks at the ring as Rick hugs his son. "Is that why you went to Hilltop?"

"I wanted to ask Maggie for her blessing." Carl tells him as Michonne hugs him, kissing both cheeks.

"Earl make this?" Rick asks Carl, who nods. "Congratulations. Bout damn time son." Rick says with a smile.

"Arya will be thrilled...and I can already imagine the jokes from Negan." Michonne rolled her eyes.

Boozer's P.O.V

Boozer sat on his porch with Jack by his leg. His head was laid back against the wall with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and looked up at Leah as she stepped on the porch. "Dinner's ready."

"Thanks." Boozer says as he rubs his eyes.

"How'd you lose your arm? If you don't mind me asking."

"Two years after the turn, we were getting a part of Deek's bike. There was a group in Oregon. Rippers are what we called them. Their leader was a former member of our MC, and we kicked him out. He found out Deek, and I were alive and sent some guys after us. They caught me and burnt the shit out of my arm, and we didn't get it looked at. We were on our own, and I got blood poisoning, and Deek took me to Addy, and she had to take the arm to save me."

"What happened to the Rippers?" Leah asks.

"We blew up a dam and drowned and shot the bastards."

Leah nods as Boozer stands up and follows Leah towards the big cabin. "What do you miss the most about having two arms."

"Riding my bike."

Negan's P.O.V

Negan stopped his car in Alexandria as the sun was setting. He looked at Arya, who had fallen asleep on their ride back. Negan smiles as he climbs out of the car and looks at Carl and Enid as they walk up to him. "She's asleep." Negan tells them. "So why did you have me take her out for the day and what's with the smiles?"

"So I could propose to Enid." Carl answers. Negan looks at Enid, who smiles.

"Well, damn, kid! You do have some beach ball-sized balls." Negan says with a smile as he hugs Carl. "Good luck, kid," He whispers in Carl's ear.

"Hmm?" They paused as Arya shifted in the back mumbling.

"Dammit you are loud," Enid grumbled, half playful and half annoyed.

Negan pulls back and pats his shoulder with a grin as Enid picks Arya up and walks back towards their house.

Carl looks at Negan. "Thanks for taking her."

"No problem, kid. We had fun."

"You wanna stay the night? It's pretty late."

"No, thanks. I don't want to hear you and Enid doing the freaky deeky. Just be quiet for the kid," Negan says with a smile.

Carl blushes as Negan goes towards his car "God you're gross."

"Love you too Kiddo."

Thanks for reading. This was a very Carl-focused chapter which I had a lot of fun with. I planned on doing the proposal later on but changed my mind, and doing it now will make it easier stuff coming up in these chapters and the whisper arc. I am going off to college next week, so there won't be an upload next Tuesday or Friday, and there is a chance there won't be one the Tuesday after, but it is a small chance, but there still is one. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.