The air hung heavy with fear. Everyone in your group was panicking and rightfully so. The unknow was far more terrifying than any walker you'd ever met. You'd been forced to your knees in the dark, awaiting judgment as it were. You fought back at first but all you'd received for your efforts was a split lip and a few bruises. So you now knelt on the ground and kept your head down.

You'd been with this group since Atlanta, finding them right after the CDC blew to oblivion. Despite the length of your acquaintance, you still weren't close with anyone other than Rick and Daryl. Well, and Rick's little girl Judith but what kind of asshole didn't get along with a baby? No one seemed to mind your loner tendencies though. You were good at staying alive and keeping others that way and that was enough for them. They were content to leave you to your hermit lifestyle.

You hadn't always been that way. In fact, when the world went to shit you were with the love of your life. He'd been quick to take on a leadership role. Like Rick, he was a natural. You'd had a group. Nothing big, nothing fancy, but you'd trusted them. That was your first mistake, and one you didn't intend to make ever again.

"Time to meet the man," a voice yelled and you froze. You knew that voice, but it couldn't possibly be him. But if it was, you hoped he enjoyed his final moments because you were going to kill him.

It was the next voice that really threw you. "Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. It's going to be pee pee pants city here real soon." And he laughed. Then you laughed. You tried not to. You were just going to look up and make sure it was him, but of course it was. No one else could possibly have that voice. That laugh. Mother fucking Negan.

Rick hissed your name from beside you. "What's wrong with you? Stop."

And you wanted to. You knew he was terrified you'd get yourself killed, but you couldn't help it. You'd spent a good portion of the apocalypse looking for this man and you found him like this. The irony was too perfect.

"What the fuck is this?" that voice said. "You find something fucking amusing, sweetheart?"

You coughed as you tried to stop laughing. "Yeah, this is fucking hilarious."

He laughed again but this time it was more of a 'you've got to be kidding me' sound than an indicator of actual amusement.

"That's enough," Daryl said from behind you. His voice was low, scared. And that pissed you off because Dixon was your friend. And your friend didn't get scared.

Negan decided to ignore you and proceeded with pacing in front of you while he swung his barbwire covered baseball bat. You remembered that bat. You were the one that made it for him. "Which one of you pricks is the leader?" he growled.

"Hey, Negan. You wanna hear a story?" you asked before he could torment Rick any further.

"We know each other, sweetheart?" he asked.

You smiled but didn't life your head. He'd always been a smart son of a bitch. He had picked up immediately on the fact you knew his name despite the fact he hadn't introduced himself yet.

You hummed in agreement. "You, me and Lucille used to be pretty fucking close."

He stopped his pacing and dropped to a crouch in front of you. He placed a hand beneath your chin and lifted your head so he could see your face. His eyes widened in surprise then went soft. He ran his thumb along your lip next to where it split. His tongue darted out to moisten his lips and you could tell he was holding himself back, wanting to see what you were up to. He knew you didn't talk for no reason. He wanted to see how this played out.

He stood and stepped back though he remained in front of you. "You said you had a story. Please enlighten us."

You locked your gaze on his. "One time toward the beginning of all this shit, I was on a run with a small group. We'd started our own place It was safe enough but we still needed supplies of course." You wet your lips and played with the cut in your lip with the tip of your tongue. "My man ran everything and everyone seemed okay with that. There were a couple of the men though that didn't like that I had his ear, that he listened to me more than them. One of them put a bullet in my leg on that run and left me for the walkers. Told my man I died. Ain't that some fucked up shit?"

"How do you know they told him you were dead?" Rick asked from beside you. You hadn't shared this story with them before. Negan glanced at him but didn't tell him to shut up.

You smiled. "Because he would have found me otherwise."

"Who?" Negan asked, Lucille propped on his shoulder. His knuckles were white from the force of his grip.

Your gaze shifted to Simon who stood to one side. He hadn't gotten a good enough glimpse of you to recognize you yet. Negan nodded and stared at the ground briefly before looking back to you. He tilted his head to indicate Rick and the rest of your group. "And them?"

"Mine. Have been for a while."

"Well, ain't this a fucking surprise?" Negan said suddenly, loudly. "Simon, come see the pretty little treat we have here."

"What the hell are you doing?" Daryl whisper shouted from behind you.

You made a motion with your hand trying to let him know that you'd be okay. That hopefully you all would.

Simon strolled over, a smile on his face, undoubtedly thinking Negan had something special planned for him. Well, he was right in a way.

His smile fell quickly when he saw you. His gaze darted between you and Negan as he tried to get a read on the situation as he stuttered out your name. "I thought you were dead. Well, this is just great, isn't it Negan? We've got your girl back."

Negan's smirk contrasted with the angry look in his eyes. As the dimple flashed on his cheek, he turned, swinging the bat as he went. Simon was thrown backward by the impact. Negan hit him a few more times for good measure, making sure his former friend was well and truly dead. Negan's people looked on with blank expressions that you knew must have been trained into them.

Your group gasped, not understanding what had just happened or why. They also didn't know what the hell it meant for them.

Negan turned back to you and held out a hand. You took it and let him pull you up. No sooner had you gotten to your feet before he tugged you against his chest. He laid one arm across your back to keep you pressed tightly against him. His eyes ran over your face as if he still didn't believe you were really there. "Damn, I missed you."

You wrapped one hand around the back of his neck to let your fingers play in his hair before pulling his head down to close the distance between you. The kiss was slow and tender as you got used to one another again. "I never stopped loving you. Never stopped looking," you whispered, your lips brushing against his as you spoke.

He laid his forehead against yours. After a moment, he pulled back and pressed his lips against your head. "Hold Lucille, darlin'," he directed as he handed you the weapon.

He turned his attention back to the others and extended a hand to Rick. "You took care of my girl, so we're going to call this even. Doesn't give you a completely free pass, but we can work this shit out, yeah?"

Rick stood and shook Negan's hand, but glanced to you in confusion, obviously still at a loss as to what exactly was going on. Negan used his grip to pull Rick closer and lowered his voice. "Of course, if you kill any more of my people we'll need to revisit the original conversation."

Rick nodded as he pulled his hand away and stepped back. You gave him a small smile hoping he took Negan's warning seriously. You glanced to the rest of the group. "You guys can get up now. It's okay."

You gestured to Maggie. "She needs a doctor."

"Yeah, I can fuckin' see that. You look like shit," he said to her.

You shook your head. "Nice, Negan. Real nice."

He grinned and gestured to a couple of his men standing to one side. "Load the half-dead momma and her man up in one of the trucks. Everyone else, move out," Negan called and men began scrambling to do as instructed.

He reached over and took Lucille back from you before wrapping his free hand in yours and tugging you against his side. You had a feeling it would be a while before either of you let the other out of your sight.

Daryl came to stand beside Rick. "You sure about this?" he asked you.

You nodded once and gave him a smile. "He's what I kept living for."

Rick put a hand on your shoulder. "Then we're happy for you." His gaze flicked back to Negan. "Sorry about your men. We were misled trying to get help for our people."

Negan flashed that grin you'd always loved so much. "And we will discuss that when we return your people. Now, I need to get my woman home and disappoint my wives."

As you turned to walk to the RV he draped his heavy arm across your shoulders.

You frowned up at him. "Did you say wives?"

He chuckled and grinned again. "Well, you were dead, darlin'. It wasn't like any one woman could possibly replace you. Hell, five couldn't do it."

"They're gone. Tonight."

"Already forgotten their names," he said as he opened the door for you to step in.

You gave him a narrow-eyed look as you stepped past. He grabbed your hand to stop you and pulled you back. He gave you a quick kiss as he looked down at you. "Baby, as long as you don't leave me again, I'll do anything you want. Hell, I'll give you the fucking world at your feet if you want it."

"Not the world, Negan. Just you."

"As you wish, ma'am."