Golden Cage

16/24

That night, you fell asleep easily than you had ever before, knowing that Daryl was there, sleeping on the sofa. You felt bad he was sleeping on a sofa instead of a bed, but when you had told him he'd just scoffed, telling you it was good enough. He did seem to want to sleep in your trailer instead of anywhere else, and it made you feel all kind of warm and fuzzy feelings.

However, as you slept, your fears seemed to come back to you, creeping into your subconscious. Negan was there in your dreams, having you locked inside a dark cell. You had a baby in your arms, Negan's baby, and Negan tore him away from you. You saw Negan, killing people with that bat in front of you while holding his baby,killing your new friends, Daryl, and then he turned to you...

You woke up, gasping for air...Negan...he was alive, he could escape, he could come... You sat up on the bed, your eyes finding Daryl's sleeping form on the sofa, curled onto himself. It helped you calm down a bit, though your heart was still beating fast. You wished you could go and curl up next to him... Part of you wanted to wake him up, but you knew it was silly, it'd been just a nightmare and he needed his sleep.

You thought there wasn't much time left until the sunrise, but you didn't think you could go back to sleep, and so you leaned back against the wall, hugging your knees to your chest, lost in thought. The sun was barely rising when Daryl stirred awake, his eyes landing on you as he blinked them awake, and then he frowned, sitting up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah...just a nightmare."

"Wanna talk about it?" Daryl asked, sounding as if he wasn't too sure it was the best thing to do.

"Just....just Negan...the baby..." You shrugged.

"He ain't gonna hurt you or the baby nomore." Daryl assured you, sounding so sure of it, it made you feel like nothing bad would ever happen to you.

"I know..." You gave him a weak smile. "But it's...it's not only that..."

"What else?"

"I..." You let out a sigh, trying to order your thoughts and hugging your knees to your chest more tightly, part of you wishing it was Daryl. "I want this baby, I do...and I'm sure that I love them even though I don't know them yet..." You blinked, swallowing the lump in your throat. "But...but you know they're Negan's...what if...what if they're like him? They're his kid...could...they could grow up to be like him maybe...I don't know..."

"Nah...nah, that ain't like that. They're yours too." You remembered Daryl had told you something like that when he helped you in the Sanctuary too. "And anyway kids don't have to grow up to be like their parents."

"I hope..." You were grateful for his words, but still, your maybe silly fears were there and you couldn't help it.

"You remember Judith?" Daryl asked you and you nodded, she and Gracie had been gone for less than a day and you already missed them. "She ain't Rick's...I mean, she's, but she ain't blood. His dad was someone from our group, long ago...a real ass. Tried to kill Rick. But Judith ain't like him. Your kid won't be like Negan either."

You were shocked by what Daryl had told you. You'd have never imagined the biological father of such a sweet, lovely little girl, could be the kind of man that Daryl was telling you.

"Thanks...thank you, Daryl." You smiled and Daryl shrugged, giving you half a smile. You decided it was time to get up and be useful. "Do you want to have breakfast with me?"

"Yeah, yeah thanks."

*

That day was a come and gone of people. Rick and Maggie agreed on sending the captive Saviors that had surrendered back to the Sanctuary, where they'd have to work to make something good out of it, and volunteers from Hilltop, Alexandria and The Kingdom would make sure of that. The three settlements also agreed on taking in any of the workers that Negan had kept in the Sanctuary, if they wished to leave it.