Reflections - TWD

112. Time and time again.

"Theo! I'm not eight anymore, you throw one more of your pathetic knives at us, I won't hesitate to put a bullet through your dense skull!" Isabella held her gun up high and bravely.

"Isabella," Negan grunted from the floor, Isabella didn't dare take her attention of the trees where things were being thrown from. "Go. I'll get him home."

Isabella shook her head. "I'm not leaving you out here, either of you."

"I'm telling you, go the hell home, get someone else."

"No!"

"The hell do you wanna help me for?" Negan asked. Isabella thought about Abraham. God, she missed him so much. So, so much. Even if she did only know him for a little while, he was one of her favourite people. There was so much comfort in just knowing he was there, by her side all the time.

"The hell is this for?" Abraham chuckled as he held up the picture Isabella had handed to him.  They'd been out on the road for a while and the only thing Isabella had left in her bag was paper and a couple of crayons.

"A drawing," Isabella beamed.

"Why're you giving it to me?"

"Don't you want it?" Isabella's smiled faded. Abraham realized he needed to cheer her up, quickly. She'd been sad enough recently, replaying those four words in her mind.

"I ain't your dad."

Those words hurt more than anything, more than being shot in the leg, more than being attacked by the governor.

Those words hurt more than being beat by John.

"Of damn course I do. Is that even a question?" Abraham replied and pulled the girl into a hug while he chuckled.

Isabella didn't know that she was healing Abraham too. Like how he took her in when Daryl didn't want her, Abraham saw his daughter in Isabella. In her laughter, her smile. He knew she wasn't his daughter, she was Daryl's daughter, and because of her forgiveness, she'd never leave his side. But there was a part of Abraham that longed for a daughter, a child, a family.

"Isabella, it's not a question. I'm telling you to go home," Negan said, his voice yelling over the sound of the wind howling. "So, go."

Isabella took a deep breath in. She felt like either way she was betraying someone. "I can't," she said. "Why the hell should I listen to you? You're not my dad."

"No, I'm not," Negan stood up and grabbed a half-conscious Freddie by the arm, bringing him up too. "But everyone's sick of you acting like Daryl is. The hell has that man ever done for you? Left you time and time again?"

Maybe Negan was just saying this shit to make Isabella mad and make her want to leave, but she wasn't like that. You couldn't be like that in this world.

"Why are you saying all of this stuff? I'm the one that-!"

"Saved me," Negan finished off her statement. Somehow, that sentence would always come out when she was talking to Negan. "Yeah, I know."

Isabella threw her gun to the ground out of fear of using it then spun around to face Negan. "Jesus Christ, just because I'm nice to you doesn't mean it gives you a free pass to walk all over me. I still remember what you did. I just try to separate the fact that it was you who did it."

Negan hated that Isabella forgave him so much. He was an asshole to most people, sure, he tried not to be to certain ones, but he'd slip up. Talking about Daryl not being a dad to Isabella was definitely something that would cause an argument. Most people who were at the lineup hadn't spoken to him since he was put in that cell, or had never even gotten the chance to.

Negan nodded. "Yeah. But it was me, it won't ever not be me, no matter how many times you replay it in your head."

Sure, Negan said that in a way that made sense to him, but to sixteen year old Isabella, it just made her want to sob. That was her family. And maybe this conversation was a part of her realizing that Negan will never be a part of that family, no matter how much advice he'd ever give to her.

"You didn't know them. You don't know us. Sure, I'm trying to forgive you. But that doesn't make us the same."

BANG! BANG!

Two gunshots from the distance, one cutting through Isabella's arm, knocking her to the floor, the other cutting through Freddie's leg, right next to the original cut. Negan dropped to the floor as well, protecting his own head while trying to see if the two teenagers were okay.

"This Theo guy is really a fuckin' weirdo, huh?" Negan yelled, covering his eyes and putting his hand on the back of Isabella's head to shield it as a couple more shots were fired. Isabella's blood was now turning the snow red, but she tried not to show any pain after the first initial cry of pain.

Freddie tried to stand up, but his knee kept on buckling and he would just fall back down. Isabella cried out in pain as she reached behind her, grabbing the gun and throwing it to Negan. At this point, he was probably the only one who could use it. Which he did, one shot into the distance and then just silence.

•

Siddiq had finished stitching Isabella's arm up and Freddie lay unconscious on one of the doctor's beds. Negan was lay on the other bed and was handcuffed to it, apparently he nearly froze to death after he gave Isabella his jacket. It made her feel ashamed that she took it.

Even after their argument, Negan practically carried both of the teenagers back to Alexandria.

Daryl opened the door, rushing over to Isabella and Carol timidly followed behind him, walking over to Freddie's side.

"Jesus Christ, the hell did ya go out there for? Rosita had me worried sick when she told me."

At this point, Negan couldn't do anything but stare at the wall. He was so wrong. Daryl wasn't a bad dad, and Negan had no right to have an opinion on his parenting. Isabella couldn't see her life without Daryl. He saved her from the second he saw her, even if neither of them knew it at the time, but looking back, they'd both come so far.

Carol just stood in the corner of the room, picking at the skin on her bottom lip. She'd just lost Henry. Freddie wasn't going to die from this, but it sure as hell felt like it. She couldn't lose him. It would all be too much.

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this chapter was so shitty but I have nothing else to write, s10 will be more focused on Lydia and Bells and giving Freddie a love interest!!!

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