The mid-summer sun beat down on you, heating the skin on your shoulders and reminding you it was time to reapply your sunscreen. Not that you were certain it even helped anyway. How long did sunscreen last past the expiration date? Another one of those post-apocalyptic questions you never thought you'd need to know the answer to. You drove your shovel into the ground so it would stand on its own then took a drink of your water.

You wiped the back of your hand across your forehead and squinted as beads of sweat stung your eyes. The bandana tied around your wrist was just as soaked in sweat as the rest of you, but you used it to wipe some of the moisture away from your eyes. Your clothes clung to you as you worked and you had long ago shed your socks and tennis shoes in an effort to get more comfortable. You wriggled your toes in the freshly turned dirt you stood on.

This was your element. You thrived outside. The sun, the heat, the dirt. You loved it all. Always had. Even as a young child you ran around barefoot all summer and helped your mom in the garden. And now you were in charge of all things green in the Sanctuary. You had a plan to double crop production and were turning the land you needed to accomplish that. A glance around at all the progress you'd made had you grinning. It was a good day.

"Y/L/N!" a voice cut through the peace and your smile slipped away.

Shielding your eyes with one hand, you turned and found Simon standing on the other side of the work area. "What do you want?" you snapped. "I'm a little busy as you can see." You never had liked Simon. Maybe it was the way he was so quick to worm his way into Negan's good graces. Or maybe it was the pornstache. You ran your eyes over him. Yeah, definitely the pornstache.

"Boss wants to see you."

You frowned as you tried to think of an excuse to not answer Negan's summons. Of course, an excuse would just piss him off, but you knew by now how to handle a pissed off Negan.

"Now." Simon added with a smirk when you didn't immediately respond.

You stomped across the dirt toward him, mentally cussing him out the whole way. When you reached him, you put your hands on your hips and sighed. "Where is he?"

"Office. He sent these." He handed over a pair of flipflops. A quick inspection showed them to be yours.

You tossed them on the ground in front of you and stepped into them. Immediately you turned and headed toward Negan's office. Simon fell into step with you. "Pretty sure I know the way by now. You can go elsewhere."

"No can do. I am to escort you to his door. He doesn't want you to get lost."

Irritation spiked through you. "He actually said that?"

"So to speak. I believe his exact words were 'and walk her to the fucking door so she doesn't get fucking lost on the way'."

You clenched your teeth and a muscle twitched in your cheek. Fucking Negan. You stormed your way silently to his office as you thought of all the things you wanted to make sure you told him once you got there. Simon didn't make any move to leave once you arrived and you stared at him with your hand on the knob. When he didn't take the hint, you arched a brow.

"Fuck off."

He held up his hands and backed away. You barely resisted the urge to flip him off. Once he was gone, you let yourself in Negan's office without knocking. After you stepped inside, you slammed the door behind you. His head snapped up from the papers he was looking at on his desk. "How dare you?" you said, pointing a finger in his direction while your other hand was fisted on your hip. "First you sent Simon after me. Then you had him escort me like a child. Are you fucking serious, Negan? What the fuck were you thinking?"

For a long moment the only sound that filled his office was your angry panting. He just stared at you, his expression giving nothing away. Finally, he placed his hands on his desk and pushed himself to his feet. "Sit. Down."

If he'd yelled you might have gone off again. But his voice was quiet. The tempered anger evident in the roughness of his tone. You swallowed the words you wanted to say and sat in the seat he indicated with a gesture.

He moved around his desk and handed you a glass of water. "Drink that. Slow."

Once you were done, he took the empty glass and refilled it from a pitcher on his desk. Next, he took a rag from a bowl you hadn't noticed before and wrung the water from it. He folded it into a rectangle and placed it on the back of your neck. You bit back the sigh of relief that threatened to escape. Damned if you'd let him know how good that felt. "Hold that there."

He leaned against the front of his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "I took a break not long ago. Turned around in my chair and what do I see but my Earth goddess in the field below me. And is she sitting in the shade giving orders like I agreed too? No, of course not."

You diverted your gaze and bit your lip. You knew what you'd agreed to, you just wanted to do more. At the time, you'd convinced yourself he wouldn't mind. Apparently, you were wrong.

He placed his hands on the arms of your chair and leaned forward. You kept your eyes turned to the floor. "You were standing in the middle of that damn field on bare fucking feet breaking up the ground with a shovel. Sweat's pouring off you and you're grinning like a fool. And I wanted to enjoy it because God knows you're sexy as fucking hell like that, but I couldn't. Would you like to guess why, Y/N?"

You shook your head.

"Look at me."

You shifted your gaze but didn't lift your head.

"Fucking look at me."

You sucked in a breath and repositioned yourself so you were looking him in the eye properly.

He locked gazes with you. "Could it perhaps be because you're fucking pregnant and aren't supposed to be doing shit like that? Especially without me or the doc around." His volume raised with each word and you were wincing by the end.

"I'm sorry." Your voice was quiet.

He tilted his head. "Sorry, princess. I didn't hear that. You want to repeat it?"

You scowled at him. "I'm sorry, Negan but I'm fucking pregnant, not dying. You won't let me do anything and it's driving me insane."

He straightened and wiped a hand down his face. "Christ, Y/N. What do you want me to do? I stay up half the fucking night worrying about both of you. Things aren't like they used to be. Our options are limited here if something goes wrong."

"I want you to quit treating me like I'm going to break if I do anything. I've never been the kind to just sit around on my ass. You know that."

"I am well aware. That is why I consented to you barking orders at the other assholes around here. If it was up to me, you wouldn't leave my sight until that baby is born and maybe for several months after that."

You tilted your head back and closed your eyes. Frankly, you were tired of having the same argument with Negan every damn day. You knew it wouldn't be too much longer before you didn't feel like doing anything so you wanted to work while you could.

A warm hand cupped your cheek and you opened your eyes. Negan's worried gaze met yours. "I can't lose you, Y/N."

You sighed and took his hand in yours. "You're not going to lose me, Negan. I'm too stubborn to die. Besides, someone's got to keep your ass in line."

"Since when do you keep me in line, sweetheart?"

You shrugged one shoulder as you stood. "Maybe I don't, but I'm tired of arguing." You kissed the corner of his mouth and patted his chest before turning to head into the bedroom. "I'm going to take a shower. You can sit out here and pout if you want."

You paused in the doorway to look back at him. "Or you could come help me scrub up. Not sure I should be bending over to clean the dirt off my feet. I'm pregnant you know."

Negan grumbled as you walked through the room stripping clothes as you went but it wasn't long before you heard him following behind. After all, he wouldn't want you to hurt yourself.