Heart of an Inmate

Chapter 10

Loud clattering woke Negan up. He was immediately irritated. He hadn't been sleeping long. He had foregone listening to the council meeting because he really had been tired and sore.

"Now what? Can't a body get sleep around here?" He raised his voice "You'd think in a goddamn cell..."

He trailed off when he saw Theresa being pushed by Laura who had a gun against Theresa's head. He watched with interest as the door was unlocked and Theresa was shoved in before Laura slammed the door and locked it again.

"Wow. Thank you, Laura." He said gleefully "It's a little early for my birthday but I do love presents. It's nice you remember just how much I loved them." Negan gave her his trademark grin.

Laura's face tightened and she turned without a word and left. Smart girl. It was too easy to rile her up.

Theresa leaned against the bars and then slid down to the floor dropping her head onto her knees.

"Cheer up baby. With you here, we can make all kinds of improvements. Little love here, little love there..."

She looked up at him balefully pressing her fingers against temples. "They're going out to find my brother."

Negan's smile slowly died away.

"I'm sorry. You had to have known this would happen sooner or later. Alexandria is well guarded, strangers not welcome. Sometimes I wonder why they don't tear that goddamn welcome sign down."

"I was hoping to be gone by now. I thought my brother would be better. Well enough to travel." Her head dropped back.

"Now I'm going to lose him too." She began to cry.

Negan hesitated. He didn't like crying women even when he was the cause. He got up and walked over to her and pulled her up to hug her tightly.

"Come on now. Off with the waterworks or I'll think you don't like me."

He guided her to the bed and sat her down. He rubbed his eyes and tried not to yawn. Christ, he was tired.

"Look you had a ruff night. Lay down with me. See if you can get some sleep. Worrying yourself sick won't help anyone. Michonne's not stupid. She'll know he's not the kind of sick that the town needs to worry about. Probably bring him back here and stick him in the cell with us...which might be interesting. He can always stand in the corner while we get our jollies off." He got her to lay down. Her face drawn eyes shuttered. Again that stoic look. Like nothing could touch her. He was impressed. "That a girl." He murmured while he laid down next to her urging her to curl up with him.

Just like that, he was fast asleep.

Once he was breathing deeply Theresa slowly extracted herself from his hold. Staying as silent as possible she stepped up to the door and studied it. She ran her hands down her clothes until she felt the inside pocket she had added to her jeans. She had things carefully sewn in such a way they followed the seams of her clothes and during a quick pat down which is what most people gave her they missed things.

From this particular pocket, she pulled out a variety of picks. She had some that fit cars, houses, even a smaller set in her shoe that included a handcuff key.

If there was one thing she had learned was that you had to stay ahead of the game and she had plenty of time to practice doing just that.

She knelt in front of the door and patiently inserted the picks into the lock.

Sometime later Negan woke up. He looked around the cell when his eyes locked on the door.

It was open.