Arriving back at the Sanctuary after retrieving their new doctor, Lilith went to update her father. She expected to find him lazily lounging about, maybe a drink in hand, maybe a wife on each arm.

Instead, he was not in his room at all. Wandering about, she eventually found him in the meeting room with others. Entering slowly, all heads turned to her.

"Anyone care to share what I missed?" She asked.

Her father smirked before answering, "We had a break in last night—little lady's one of Rick's people. She was in the clearing that night."

Lilith was surprised to say the least, "I'm guessing you caught her?"

"That we did."

She pulled out a chair that scraped loudly against the floor and sat in it, propping her feet up on the table. "So? What's being done about this? Where are you keeping her?"

"Where do you think?"

Raising her eyebrows, Lilith said, "Don't tell me it's the exact same cell you kept Daryl in."

Negan chuckled, "It's symbolic! Daryl breaks out, a friend of his breaks in a week later. Like come on"

She rolled her eyes, "So what's your plan?"

"I want to use her. She can be good leverage. I know she can."

"Leverage for what?"

"Getting what I want. Besides, with how Alexandria has been acting up recently, they need to be put in their place. I know you agree."

"Ah, okay, right. Here's the dilemma though—how are you gonna go about that?"

"Get the intruder to trust us," Another savior at the table interjected.

"Well yeah, no shit. How though?" No one answered, and Lilith rolled her eyes again, "Y'all really are a bunch of geniuses, aren't you?"

Then she got up and left, suddenly bored with the topic at hand.

————————

Taking the long way back to her room, Lilith struggled to let off steam. She couldn't help but feel like her dad was starting to shut her out of the room where it happens. Like he peeling away her authority piece by piece. And she didn't know why either. It was infuriating.

Still in her thoughts, she didn't recognize whoever it was walking the opposite direction in the hallway until they had passed her. She was about to turn a corner when she paused in her step.

Backtracking, she pictured the dirty hands, stained flannel, and greasy hair. She shivered as she did so, then looked back down the now-empty hallway. Where the hell was creepy Dave going in such a hurry? She thought to herself.

Out of curiosity (and boredom) she elected to follow him discreetly. The hallways winded and she almost felt dizzy trying to keep up while staying hidden. Finally, he slowed and opened a door that she didn't recognize. Or she did, but she hadn't thought it to be important.

Davey stepped inside and Lilith crept closer, along the wall. It wasn't until she heard him speaking to someone that she fully processed the situation. Taking in her surroundings, she finally recognized the small room as the same closet Daryl was kept in during his short stay with them. Using logic, she assumed their newest Alexandrian hostage was being held in there as well.

Stepping into the doorway, and therefore revealing herself, Lilith discovered what she already knew. She'd been wanting to take Davey down for a while but technically never had a good enough reason to do so. And she decided this was a good enough reason.

The man's back was to her, and he didn't seem to notice her presence as his hand still gripped the poor woman's partially torn shirt. It wasn't until said woman looked up at Lilith, making eye contact, that Davey went silent and turned around. His face immediately turned white when he saw her.

"Gotcha," the girl smirked deviously. She crossed her arms and gestured with her head before saying, "Stand up."

The man immediately obeyed.

"Were you doing... what I think you were doing, Davey?" She asked calmly. The man only stuttered in response, sweat visibly dripping down his forehead. "Yeah, you were. And you know what—something tells me this isn't the first time you've tried."

She paused a moment before reaching down and taking out her knife. Taking a step forward, she noticed him tense in fear, "Tell you what, Dave. I'm gonna give you two options. You see, if my dad had been the one to find you here, he probably would've given you some drawn out speech about "the rules" and how "he won't stand for this" and then he'd kill you on the spot. That's option one. I call him, he takes care of it, and I don't have to get anymore involved than I already am. Option two, you apologize to this sweet woman, and we move on. I keep a close eye on you and we never let this happen again. Everyone's happy. What do you say? You wanna go with the latter?"

He nodded shakily.

"Well, go ahead then."

"I-I'm... I'm s-sorry," his voice trembled.

"Not to me. Her."

Davey slowly turned to face the woman behind him, "I'm...sorry."

There was a pause as Lilith stared at the stuttering creep. She clicked her tongue and then looked to the woman who'd been violated by the sicko among them. "So?" Lilith asked, addressing her.

"What?" The woman replied confused.

"Sorry, did I forget to mention? You have to accept his apology in order for option two to actually work out. So? Do you accept?"

The woman looked into Lilith's eyes with slight disbelief then glanced at Davey and then back to her. "No!" She answered in exasperation.

Another pause. The tiny, cold room ached with silence. Then, chuckling filled the room. And it all happened so fast. "Oh! Thank god," Lilith cheered before flicking open her knife and shoving it deep into Davey's neck.

She pulled it out and blood sprayed across Lilith's face and down her shirt. The man collapsed on the ground—dead. His lifeless eyes were wide as they stared up at the ceiling.

Lilith looked to the woman who stood against the wall, her shirt having caught some of the blood spray. "I'm sorry about... everything that just happened," she said while cleaning her knife off. "I didn't catch your name..."

The woman clenched her jaw before telling her, "It's Sasha." The blonde girl nodded, thinking to herself when Sasha spoke up, "I was there."

Looking up, Lilith furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "Sorry?"

"That night... in the clearing when you—" She inhaled sharply, "I was there."

Lilith sighed, looking down for a moment. "Well, I'm sorry for everything that happened there too," she responded sincerely. Hesitating, she took a small step backwards. "I'm gonna get someone to take care of him," She gestured to dead Davey and the massive pool of blood growing around him. "But I'm gonna have to close the door because I can't exactly trust that you won't run away so... in case you need it," Handing her the same knife she'd just killed the man with, Lilith turned on her heel and shut the door.

Then she went to deal with this... situation.

—————

Negan was aggravated with his daughter. The two of them stood in the meeting room after sending Eugene to bring Sasha some supplies and get rid of Davey's body. "Why the hell didn't you come get me?!" He demanded to know.

Lilith rolled her eyes, "Here we go," she mumbled to herself.

"We could've used this! If I were there, I could've turned this into a way to get her to trust me!"

"Dad, a woman was almost raped, are you kidding me? That's what you're worried about?"

"Okay, no, obviously I'm appalled and glad to be rid of him, but—"

"But what? Go ahead, finish that sentence."

"Oh, don't turn me into a villain here," the man groaned, facing away from her.

"I'm not, I'm just saying you seem to be concerned about the wrong things. Besides, how does me handling it make her trust us any less? Honestly, Dad, recently it seems like you don't trust me at all. All these decisions being made without me? Since when is that a thing?"

"Lili, I thought you hated being involved? I was trying to do you a favor?"

"What the hell gave you that idea?" Lilith huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I just assumed—"

"No, you did not. Did someone tell you that about me?" Negan's silent response gave her her answer. "Was it Simon? I swear to god, that man is vile. He's a creep who's slowly trying to tear this place out from under you, and with the way you've been treating me recently, he might just succeed!"

"Can we not do this right now? Please honey."

"I knew it," Lilith scoffed, shaking her head.

Her father sighed, like he'd given up. He moved to step around her, walking out the door, "I'm gonna go talk to the prisoner."

"Sasha," Lilith snapped, correcting him. The door clicked shut a second later, indicating he probably hadn't even heard her.

——————

That night, Lilith curled up on the faded pink bean bag in the corner of her room, throwing a tennis ball against her wall and catching it repeatedly. She threw it and it hit the corner of her dresser, causing it to roll away just as her bedroom door opened.

Negan stepped in and the tennis ball gently tapped his boot. He leaned down and picked it up, rolling it in his hand. The blonde girl huffed in annoyance.

"You get what you wanted from her?" She asked.

He nodded subtly, "Mhm."

"Which was?" There was a pause, and Lilith grew even more frustrated. "You're seriously going to continue to shut me out?"

Negan sighed but shook his head. "Leverage," he told her.

His daughter nodded, satisfied with the answer but still visibly upset with him. "Smart, I guess," she muttered. Noticing him falter in his stance, Lilith furrowed her brow. "What's up?" She asked.

"Um..." Negan hesitated, "Earlier you said Simon was trying to steal this place from me."

Sighing, the girl shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, he just seems like the type to. When I go on runs with him... I don't know, he seems to think he has more power than he does. It's unnerving."

Her dad nodded, "But he's never done anything, has he?"

"No... but he will. I know he will."

"Alright, I'll keep an eye out."

"Mhm. Sure."

"I will."

"Whatever you say, padre."

Negan huffed, placing the tennis ball on top the dresser then stepping closer to place a hand on his daughter's hair. "Goodnight, Lil," He said. Then left her room, content with the idea of semi-settling an argument.

But to Lilith, something still felt off. Like something was brewing. She guessed she'd have to wait and see. Climbing into bed, she tried to force herself asleep. Her mind was racing with thoughts of what the day ahead held.

The day they would return to Alexandria again.

———————

(word count: 1855)

mmmmmmm idk if I like this but here.

let me know what y'all think.

ONLY ONE CHAPTER LEFT OF ACT ONE.

if u have any hopes or wishes for the upcoming season 8 era, let me know.

I've got a LOT in store for you.

much love,
Chloe <3