Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Ninety-Seven: Cat's Out of the Bag

•ninety-seven•

Beatrix

"Stand him up," Negan orders Dwight, who then grabs Daryl by the collar of his button up shirt, pulling him to stand up outside of the room, less than two feet away from me.

"Trixy," he mumbles, reaching out for me. Before he can touch me, though, Negan shoves his bat in front of our faces, and Daryl drops his hand.

"I know you're new here, Daryl, but what we don't do, is we don't lay a hand on my women. Not my wives, and sure at shit not my super fucking hot fiancé!" Negan exclaims, smiling from ear to ear. Daryl clenches his jaw tightly, straightening his stance as if he's ready to fight. "Now I do understand that prior to a few hours ago, she was your super fucking hot wife. How you managed to pull her, I still don't know, but I do digress. Beatrix, here, has agreed to marry me and raise her children with me! Isn't that sweet of her?"

I look at Daryl, trying to tell him with my eyes that I didn't have a choice, that I would never willingly do something like that unless I had to. He has to know that, right? He has to know that I won't let this happen much longer. It's only temporary, until Rick can come up with a plan. Hopefully he can too, if he does what Negan wants. The two of us can come up with a plan together, from the inside.

"Over my dead body," Daryl replies, his voice low and threatening. I hope he understands that if he tries to make a move, I'll help, but the two of us will not win. Thankfully, he stays standing still.

"You see, that's the thing! It can't be over your dead body, because you can't die! It's fucked up, I know, but that's the one stipulation she had for saying yes to me. I can't kill you," Negan shrugs, stepping closer to wrap his arm around my shoulder. "So the best course of action for you, Daryl, is to be like Dwight! His wife, well ex-wife, had a super hot sister. The problem was that the super hot sister needed medicine, and that shit is hard to scavenge. It costs a lot of points, and she couldn't afford it. So I, being the stand up guy that I am, offered to marry her. I would take care of her. Super hot sister tells me she'll think about it.

"Then, next day rolls around and I'm dealing with a code orange situation. Dwight here stole all of the medicine and took off with his super hot wife and her super hot sister. I wish I could have let it slide, but you know me. I can't let shit like that slide. We have rules in place for a reason. I spent a lot of resources sending my men after them. They still got away, though, but you know what? Dwighty boy wised up. He came back. He asked me for forgiveness! See, I like that. That means something to me. At that point, of course, the super hot sister turned up dead. So guess what happened?"

Negan pauses for a moment, looking between the three of us. It's super fucking uncomfortable for all of us, and Negan is having the time of his life. It's so fucked up.

"Dwight's super hot wife begged me not to kill him. She said she would marry me if I didn't kill him! And look where we are now. Sherry is my super fucking hot wife, and Dwight is one of my top men! It can be like that for you, too, Daryl. You can live like a king!"

"Just do it, man," Dwight advises him, and I'd like to punch him in the face. I see why he is the way he is, now, but what a sellout. Why go back? He stole Daryl's things just to come back to this? He's a fucking idiot.

"Who are you?" Negan turns to look at me, a sweet smile on his face.

"Me? Uh, I'm Beatrix?" I say, more as a question than as an answer. Negan shakes his head at me, and fuck, I know why he wants me to say. "Oh, I'm Negan? Sorry, yes. I'm Negan."

"Good girl. You're learning," he rubs his thumb over my cheek before turning to Dwight. "Who are you?"

"Negan."