rag doll | TWD

[60] sing me a song

Carl huffed, "I came here on my own."

"You what?" JJ huffed in frustration. 

Negan eyed one of the wives crying to Sherry. "Can I talk to you for a minute, dear wife?"

Sherry glared but met with Negan in the corner. 

Carl saw it as an opportunity to speak with his aunt. "I came here to kill him. To get you and Daryl out."

JJ lowered her voice, but still keeping the same tone, "And how's that working out? Carl," She sighed. "What the hell? Does anyone even have any idea where you went? Your dad? Michonne?"

Carl shrugged, "Jesus."

"Awesome. Just great."

"My dad went off to look for stuff for Negan. He's cowering."

"Do you not remember what happened?" JJ sighed, "Carl, we can't-"

"Great." Carl huffed, "You're cowering too."

JJ looked over to Negan, blinking slowly. What Carl said sent her into thought, which he saw and regrated. "I didn't mean it like-...look, I just wanna fight back."

JJ nodded, "we will. We just gotta figure it out first." 

She kept her eye on Negan and Sherry's conversation. Once it ended, Negan strolled back over to Carl, placing a beer in his hand, then moving on to Amber. 

He sat across from her, inches from her face. It was close enough for Carl and JJ to listen in. 

"Amber, baby. You know I don't want anybody here that doesn't want to be here, right?"

Bull. JJ thought. 

"Mm-hmm." Amber sniffled. 

"So, if you want to leave and go back to Mark...you can. But what can't you do?"

"Cheat on you-"

"That's exactly right. You can't..." His voice lowered, adding emphasis, "cheat on me."

JJ wished that Carl wasn't standing right there. She was cowering when it came to Negan, but every time she did it was because Daryl was in the back of her mind. If she stepped out line, it would be his life at stake, not hers. 

Even if it was hers, she didn't care enough about it anyway. She'd been degraded and defiled to the point where she honestly wasn't sure if she cared about what happened to herself. 

"There's plenty of other gals who would love to take your place, and there's a few job openings that I can think of. You want to go back to Mark and your mom? Hell, I'll put you all on the same job."

"No." Amber assured, continuing to softly cry. "I wan- I'll stay. I'm...I'm sorry." 

"You know what that means, right?" Negan put his hand under her chin, bringing her eyes to his. 

"Yes." She nodded. "I love you, Negan."

"Oh, of course you do, darlin'. I don't know what you're crying. It's all gonna work out aces for you."

Negan smiled, glancing over to Carl and JJ as he kissed Amber's head. He stood up, speaking with Sherry next, "Will you get Carson for me?"

"Yeah."

"Did you see that? I wasn't hard on her, even though I am...very hard in general."

"You're an asshole." Sherry told him. 

"I know. But the messed-up thing is, you like me anyway." 

Watching as Sherry and Negan kissed made JJ feel uneasy. Things got especially awkward when Dwight and Daryl interrupted.