Heaven in Hiding (Negan)

Chapter 43

Months passed and my abdomen grew. I was very obviously pregnant but that didn't matter. I did what I had to. To keep the Sanctuary up and running. Food in the stomachs of my people.
It was our monthly meeting between communities today and I was getting ready to head out.
"You got yourself some water?" Liz asked me as she sat in the drivers side.
"Yup." I said holding up the canteen. "Let's get going." Liz gave a nod and off we went.
"How's the baby?" She asked. Trying to stir up some conversation.
"Fine. I guess. They kick a lot." I said putting my hand over my stomach. "Make me crave shit I can't get. Like pizza and slim Jim's." I laughed.
"Sounds fun." She joked. "Any names picked out yet? You're real close to your due date aren't you?"
"Not sure yet. I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl."
"Well that's your fault, the doctor asked if you wanted to know."
"Yeah. I want it to be a surprise. I'm sure I'll know their name the first time I see them."

We pulled up to Hilltop and made our way in. I went right to Maggie's office and saw everyone there already.
"Sorry you all had to wait for me. I'm moving slower now." I said as I looked over at Maggie who now had an infant in her arms. "When did you-?"
"Few weeks ago." She answered. I smiled.
"Well. Congrats."
"Thanks. But that's not what we're here to talk about." She said, sitting in her chair behind the desk. "How are the communities doing?" She asked.
"Alexandria is thriving." Rick said.
"As is the Kingdom." Ezekiel spoke.
"Sanctuary is okay. We still have a few small groups we pick up from but, our garden isn't doing good. Our plants got some sort of disease. A lot of our vegetables died off."
"You got anything to trade?" Maggie asked.
"Well, we do have a lot of clothes. Including baby clothes since there's only three babies at the moment." Maggie nodded.
"Well give you some produce in exchange for clothing." I nodded. "Anything else?"
Everyone stayed silent. "Alright. You're welcome to stay the night if you'd like. Since it's getting dark already. Dismissed." As soon as we all started leaving her baby started to cry. I looked back to see her hushing him sweetly.
"Hey Rick." I called out as I walked up to him. He turned to look at me.
"Prudence."
"How's he doing?" I asked. "Negan. Is he okay?"
"He's alive. If that's what you wanna know." Rick answered.
"Just because he's alive doesn't mean he's okay. He's stuck in that dark cold cell all the time."
"That's what happens when you're a prisoner Prudence." I sighed.
"Can I see him again? Sometime?" Rick sighed and put his hand on my shoulder.
"Prudence, you know I can't let you do that. We ain't making a habit out of it." I bit my lip and nodded. I could feel tears start to well up. Between all these pregnancy hormones and running the Sanctuary, I was run down. I was emotionally spent.
"Yeah. I get it. Okay." I said and pulled away from him. Rick let out a sympathetic sigh, I'm sure he cared about me a little. We've gotten pretty close the last few months. He had two kids so I'd always ask him about things since Maggie still wasn't very fond of me. Rick went to say something but I spoke first. "It's fine Rick. I get it. It's just these fucking hormones are killing me. I'm not used to being this emotional all the time. It's killing me." I joked to hold back my tears. He gave me a half smile.
"Well you are about to pop. No one would blame you for being emotional. Hell Laurie was a demon when she was pregnant." Rick said.
"Yeah. At least she had you. I'm doing this on my own." I said as we walked out of the building. Liz who was relaxing against the rail of the porch stood up.
"Ready to go Boss?" She asked as I walked over to her, Rick on my left.
"We'll get going in the morning. Maggie offered for us to stay the night. Don't really wanna drive home in the dark with no headlights." I told her with a laugh as I rubbed my stomach.
"Alright. Just let me know what you want to do."
"I will. Just go bring the truck in and park it by the east gate." Liz nodded and off she went. I felt a my stomach cramp a bit and my face must have scrunched because Rick placed his hand on the small of my back.
"You Alright?" He asked in that thick accent of his.
"Yeah, I think so. Just false pains. It's been on and off the past few days. I have about another few weeks at least."
"Okay. Just drink plenty of water. It helps with the pain."
"Yeah. Hard to do that when I want my people to have it and not just me." I told him as I gripped the railing to help with the pain.
"You can ask for help."
"Can I though? Everyone hates us Rick. You know that. I've been doing my best but every time we meet up for these things I get the stink eye from every person. I get they hated Negan but shit. I'm my own damn person." I complained. Rick rubbed my back lightly.
"It's gonna take a while for em Prudence. It's all still fresh in their minds." I let out an irritated sigh.
"Yeah yeah. I know. But shit. You slit Negans throat and threw him in a cell and we're pretty damn civil. I didn't even do anything to these people." Rick patted my back a few times before pulling away.
"Go relax. Stressin ain't good for that baby." I gave him a small smile.
"Yeah. Thanks Rick." He have a nod and walked off. I heard cooing from behind me and turned to see Maggie and her baby. "He's cute."
"Thanks." She said as she swayed side to side to keep the baby calm.
"How was it? The birth?" I asked her. Trying to stir up some conversation.
"Fine. Not as hard as I thought it'd be." A few moments of silence passed and she spoke up again. "You can stay in that trailer over there." She said pointing to the gray trailer off to the right. "Everything you need should be In there. We eat dinner at about seven."
"Oh. Okay. Thanks Maggie." She gave me a slight nod and went back in. I walked down the stairs and over to Liz who was on her way back to me. "Let's get settled. She said we can stay in that little trailer over there."
"Cool." Liz said as she looked me up and down. "You sure you're okay? You don't look so great."
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit of cramping but that's normal around now." She gave me a worried look but dropped it.
We got to our little home away from home and sat down. It was a nice little trailer with a kitchen table two beds and a few other homey things around. Not to mention it was so quiet here. No shouting or arguing which is all it was at the Sanctuary now. People were never happy there after the new changes. It surprised me how many people liked the way Negan did things. The silence was so calming I closed my eyes and took it all in. The occasional huffing of horses and the sounds of buzzing bugs was oddly calming.
"Take a nap Boss. I'll wake you for dinner." I happily accepted her offer as I let sleep overtake me.