A woman, about thirty years old, reached up and wiped at the skin under her eyes, removing all the clear liquid that had accumulated there.

She reached out and grasped onto the hand directly in front of her, giving the lifeless limb one last, firm squeeze before tearing her eyes away and forcing herself to her feet.

Without allowing herself a single glance back, knowing that it would do nothing but give her reasons to stay, she opened the door and stepped out into the bustling hallway, gently closing it behind her.

Nurses and doctors alike barely spared her a second glance, no doubt long since used to the emotional people that passed through the halls of their hospital.

The woman stood there for a moment, resting her forehead against the cool wood of the door, her eyes squeezed shut as she let out a long breath of air.

"Heading home?" An all too familiar voice spoke up from behind her.

Peeling her eyes open, she turned to face the man, crossing her arms tightly over her stomach, pushing a small, weak smile onto her face, though it no doubt looked more like a grimace than anything.

His eyes swept over her, concern resting in his brown orbs as he leaned his shoulder against the closest wall, copying her stance by loosely crossing his arms over his chest.

"I have to get back to work," She spoke softly, unable to raise her voice a single octave higher, "I'll be back in a couple weeks, though."

Her childhood best friend's lips twitched upwards, "Got a lot of sick time saved up?" He asked teasingly, knowing that she almost never missed work, hating having to make up whatever she had missed.

The smile was easier this time- just by a bit- as she detached one of her arms from around her stomach and pushed a fistful of blonde curls out of her face, "Something like that."

Shane titled his head to the side, "You gonna be okay, Thea?"

Athena let out a shuttered breath, eyes turning down to her shoes, both of them already knowing the answer, even as she picked a single shoulder and let it fall heavily, "I don't know."

Lie.

Thankfully, the man didn't say anything, instead, letting the truth hang heavily between them, "He'll be okay."

Her head turned back to the door to her right, gazing at it almost longingly, thinking about her twin brother, laying in that bed, helpless and in a comatose state.

"He has to be." When Shane spoke again, his voice wavered slightly at the end, giving up whatever shield of strength he had been trying to portray for the woman's sake.

Athena smiled tightly, holding the strap of her to-go satchel tightly around her body before she took a step forward.

Shane's arms were open in seconds and he was sweeping her into a familiar, comforting embrace. They held one another close, neither of them commenting on the quiet sniffles they each let out.

When they finally pulled away, Shane smiled lightly, gently swiping his thumb across the woman's cheek to rid her of a tear that had managed to slip past her eyes once more.

"Chin up, Thea." He said playfully, "Rick will be up and about in no time. Then we can all have that rematch pool game we've been dragging out for years."

Athena laughed at that, true amusement and joy lighting up her face for the first time in weeks, since she had gotten the call about her twin brother being shot and dropped everything to come be with him and the family.

"I hope you know that I'm gonna kick both of your asses." She snickered, taking any chance to reminisce in her victory over her brother and their best friend during their college years, to which they had demanded a rematch that had been held off a decent number of years.

Instead of bashing back like he normally would, Walsh just smiled gently before patting her shoulder once more, "They're in the lobby for when you're ready to say goodbye." Were his last words to her before slipping into the room leading to Rick, being kind enough to keep the door closed enough where she didn't have to see her brother.

After drawing in a breath, the blonde woman surged forward, weaving in and out of the crowd that took up the hallways until she came close to the exit, her eyes immediately finding her sister in law and nephew sitting in some chairs in the middle of the room.

The former had an open magazine on her lap, though her gaze, which was trained on the empty space of the wall across from her told Athena that her mind was elsewhere. Carl, however, was furiously coloring in the notebook that sat opened on his lap, almost as if he was refusing to let his mind wander.

Lori had ushered Carl out of his fathers room in order to give his aunt some space to say goodbye alone.

The brunette woman hadn't even noticed her approach until Thea gently reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

Her head snapped up, eyes slightly wide, before she relaxed at the sight of her sister in law, a sad smile coming over her face, "You sure you have to leave now?" She asked, her voice almost hopeful, as if it could get her to stay.

Athena shook her head softly, blonde curls bouncing back and forth as she did so, "I have to get back home for a few weeks, but I'll be back as soon as everything's in order."

Though clearly saddened, Lori nodded slightly in understanding, reaching out and bringing to the woman into a tight hug, "We'll see you soon."

When Athena pulled back, she titled her head slightly, lowering her voice so her still-busy nephew couldn't hear her words, "You two need to get out of this hospital. Get some air. Take Carl out somewhere. Go to Atlanta. Have a fun day tomorrow. You both need it." She ordered softly.

Lori seemed to think for a moment before nodding, smiling a little, "I think I will."

"Good." She nodded before turning to Carl, crouching down in front of him so they were eye level, "What's up, little man?" Her voice was light and playful.

The young boy looked up and grinned widely at his aunt, flipping his paper around to showcase his masterpiece, "Look what I made! It's you, me, mom, and dad at the fair! Remember when we went for my birthday last year?"

She grinned widely, masking the wave of sadness that splashed over her at the thought of the happier times in her life, "I do, we've definitely gotta do that again soon, don't you think?"

"Definitely." Carl beamed before launching himself forward and wrapping his arm around the woman's shoulders, her immediately catching him and holding him close in return, "You'll be back soon?" He whispered, hugging her a bit tighter.

"Soon." She promised, giving it another moment before detaching herself from him and playfully ruffling his hair, "I hear you're going into Atlanta tomorrow, anyway, you'll have lots of fun and you won't even notice I'm gone."

.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

As Athena paced back and forth, eyes wide and crazed, gnawing on her thumb nail, she felt as though she couldn't breathe. She also couldn't stop moving, though, knowing that the second she did, she would collapse to a sobbing heap on the ground.

She couldn't have that.

Instead, she paced back and forth in her dust-ridden living room from the weeks spent away, her travel bag thrown carelessly to the ground somewhere behind her.

Her eyes never once left the screen.

The news was on, flashing in colorful lights the darkest images Athena had ever seen in her life. Images of dead corpses roaming the earth, tearing flesh off of screaming, pleaing people.

Time had long passed since the outlet stopped giving a warning that the footage would be too graphic for children, nobody could find it in themselves to care. Not as once lifeless, delimbed bodies stumbled around, ripping into the living.

Never in her life had Athena Grimes been as scared as she was in that very moment.

Not when she first moved away from her family. Not when she first learned of her parents' deaths. Not when she received the call about the hospitalization of her twin brother.

Nothing- not a single damn thing- compared to that moment, as she stared at the television screen, images flashing between the corpses and the city of Atlanta, currently going up in smoke as bomb after bomb was dropped onto it.

It was only a day after she left Atlanta to return to Virginia- how had everything gone so wrong? How has the world turned into this? It must have been a nightmare, it had to have.

But Athena didn't wake up.

Instead, she was left, paced there in her living room, now unable to move, as she watched the city that Lori and Carl had taken a day-trip into that day on her suggestion.

Her family was as good as dead and it was all thanks to her.

Athena finally stopped moving just in time for her legs to give out as she fell to the floor, a gut-wrenching sob escaping through her lips.

.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

Helpless.

That was the only thing Athena Grimes had felt since the end of the world had occurred.

First, she had been watching the city her family was in being bombed. Then it was the realization that her brother- who had been in a coma- would have no one to take care of him now, and there was no doubt that he would die as well.

Following that was her first real encounter with a roamer. She had fallen to the ground, unable to get away as it had snapped its jaw furiously at her. It had only been until it was mere millimeters away from her face that she had been able to grapple a rock into her hand and smashed it into the side of its head. She hadn't stopped until its head looked like a crushed watermelon.

That helpless feeling hadn't even ended there.

After fleeing her apartment building, which had become like corpse-central with all of the dead that broke their way in, she had thrown herself into the havoc-wreaking streets, only for someone to promptly grab her from behind.

Before she even had the opportunity to let out a scream of terror, she had been dragged forcefully backwards into a dark alley that- by some miracle or curse- had not been infested by the dead.

"L-look-" The unfamiliar voice of the man who was holding her against his front let out a hiccup, "Look what I found wandering the streets looking all small and scared."

"Heh, d-don't ya know that it's dangerous to be out here right now, girl?" A new voice spoke, this one equally as drunk as the last.

Athena's heart had dropped to her stomach the second she was grabbed, but now, after hearing them speak, it went pummeling to her feet.

"Wh-what should we do with her first?" The voice behind her asked.

The woman was still yet to see either one of the men that were in the dark alley, the one not holding her enclosed in the darkness.

Desperately, she tried wriggling herself out of his grip, but even intoxicated, his hold was firm, unbudging. He even skillfully maneuvered his body just as she reeled her foot backwards to hopefully land a swift kick.

Rick and Shane would be so disappointed in her. After all that time they spent teaching her how to look after herself after she had made the announcement that she was moving across the country, and she had nothing to show for it. She couldn't even get a drunk guy to loosen his grip on her.

The apocalypse had just started and these men didn't seem to be worried about it in the slightest. In fact, it was almost as if they were taking it to their advantage.

A hand- one not holding her- reached out from in front of her and even though Athena couldn't see the rest of the body, all she could do was watch in horror as the grimy hand began moving her already loose fitted shirt down her shoulder.

Athena began thrashing around in a frenzied state, a mixture of panic and dread driving her movements, but it didn't seem to bother either man in the slightest as the one across from her kept dipping his hand lower, and lower, and lower-

All of a sudden, a deafening crack followed by a thud rang out through the alleyway, bouncing off the walls as the hand suddenly flew to the side, disappearing in the encompassing darkness.

"What the hell-" The gruff voice behind her didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was yanked harshly backwards, the sheer surprise of it all making him effectively let go of Athena, causing her to fall to the concrete ground below.

She didn't even feel the slight burn of the gravel against her arms and legs when she fell, head whipping up instead with wide eyes as another crack followed by another thud rang out before a dead silence fell over the space like a blanket.

The woman hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath until her lungs began screaming from air, to which she complied, though shakily.

A single footstep that sounded following the couple long, frightening, seconds of silence had Athena desperately scrambling backwards, more towards the street once more, but keeping her back firmly against the brick wall that made up the side of the alleyway.

"Woah, hey, hey. I'm not gonna hurt you." A voice hurried out before more footsteps followed and a figure finally stepped into the light, his full body being reflected.

All Grimes could do was stare up at the black haired man before her, his eyes slightly wide with panic and his hair tousled.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." He repeated slowly, his voice gruff, but softer than the previous two peoples had been. Athena realized in that moment that neither of those people had said anything, let alone moved into her line of vision within the last minute.

The man had a muscular build and tall frame, but the thing that caught the woman's eyes was dangling loosely in his right hand.

He was holding a bat that had barbed wire wrapped around the end of it, red liquid dripping off of the metal, landing softly on the ground below.

His gaze followed hers and noticing her eyes widen even more as she seemed to shrink back into herself more, he quickly placed the object behind his back, it becoming obscured by the shadows once more, "I was just across the street when I saw those fuckers sneak up on you, and obviously I couldn't just stand by with my dick in my hands and do nothing-" He halted himself, watching the woman's panic only grow, "I'm sorry." He apologized softly, "I didn't mean to scare you. I was only trying to help."

She just continued staring up at him, unsure what to say, unsure what to do.

"I'm Negan." His voice was still gentle as he spoke.

It was silent for another moment before finally, "Athena." It came out so quiet, barely a whisper.

Nonetheless, the corners of Negan's mouth twitched upwards, "It's nice to meet you, Athena."

"Thank you." She thinks she surprised both of them, "For saving me."

She had felt so alone, so helpless. If it hadn't been for this stranger, the men would've been able to do whatever they pleased and she would have been powerless to stop them.

Instead of answering, his lips just continued to raise upwards a bit more, and Negan wordlessly held out his free hand to her.

As their eyes locked, his hand hanging in the air between them, Athena couldn't help the wave of determination that overcame her.

Never again would she feel as she had felt all day- or practically her whole life, for that matter. If it took the end of the world for her to finally step up, then so be it.

Athena Grimes would never allow herself to feel helpless again.

She took Negan's hand allowed him to pull her to her feet.

A/N: Just a quick note- as much as I hate to do it, I've taken Lucille out of the story entirely for the point of the plot. Negan was never married and therefore never stayed with Lucille for the seven months in the beginning of the apocalypse